Engineering Commons^™

An Engineered Fit-For-Purpose Polymer Nanocomposite Seal Repair Material For Wellbores, Moneeb Genedy

Civil Engineering ETDs

Seal integrity of wellbores has become of significant interest due to repeated leakage and spill incidents occurring worldwide that jeopardize both human health and the environment in addition to causing significant economic burden. This is attributed to the fact that wellbores intersecting geographical formations contain potential leakage pathways. The cement-steel and cement-rock formation interfaces are recognized as two critical leakage pathways.

A seal repair material that has good bond strength with both steel and rock formations in addition to the ability to completely fill thin microcracks is needed to restore the seal integrity of wellbores. In this research, engineered polymer …

Modeling And Simulation Of Damage In The Brazilian Indirect Tension Test Using The Finite-Discrete Element Method, Jeremiah C. Leyba

Civil Engineering ETDs

The Brazilian indirect tension test is used to investigate possible correlations between progressive damage and associated permeability changes. The test offers ease of replicability with a damage behavior known to lead to fracture openings as a tool for interpreting the indirect tensile strength of concrete and rocks. This behavior can lend insight into the nature of tensile damage and fracture progression in association with changes in permeability. The nature of these brittle materials is known to exhibit rapid failures in the Brazilian indirect tension test and require a method to retard the progression of damage for the possibility of acquiring …

Understanding Asphalt Concrete Aging Using Nanoindentation, Hasan M. Faisal

Civil Engineering ETDs

Asphalt concrete (AC) is created by mixing liquid asphalt binder with solid aggregates. When asphalt binder is mixed with aggregates, it creates a thin film (about 7-16 microns thick) around the aggregate surface. Fine aggregate (smaller than 0.075 mm size) get entrapped within the binder film or mixed with the binder, and create a phase called mastic. Both asphalt film and mastic play significant roles in aging of asphalt pavement. To this day, tests were performed mainly on the bulk liquid asphalt, but not on the film or mastic. In this study, for the first time, nanoindentation tests were done …