Engineering Commons^™

Virtual Reality Simulation Of Glenoid Reaming Procedure, Mohammadreza Faieghi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Glenoid reaming is a bone machining operation in Total Shoulder Arthroplasty (TSA) in which the glenoid bone is resurfaced to make intimate contact with implant undersurface. While this step is crucial for the longevity of TSA, many surgeons find it technically challenging. With the recent advances in Virtual Reality (VR) simulations, it has become possible to realistically replicate complicated operations without any need for patients or cadavers, and at the same time, provide quantitative feedback to improve surgeons' psycho-motor skills. In light of these advantages, the current thesis intends to develop tools and methods required for construction of a VR …

Transient Analysis Of Full Scale And Experimental Downburst Flows, Junayed Chowdhury

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Downbursts are highly transient natural phenomena which produce strong downdrafts evolving from a cumulonimbus cloud They induce an outburst of damaging winds on or near to the ground causing an immense damage to the ground mounted structures and aircrafts. This study investigates the transient nature of downbursts using wind speed records from full scale downburst events employing an objective methodology. This method can detect the abrupt change points in a downburst time series based on statistical parameters such as mean, standard deviation and linear trend. In addition to the analysis of the full scale downburst events, several large scale experimental …

Experimental Investigation Of The Heat Source Orientation On The Transient Flow And Thermal Behaviour Of Phase Change Material During Phase Transition, Steven Jevnikar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present study reports the characterization of transient flow and transient thermal behavior of phase change material (PCM) during solid-liquid phase change (melting) through experimental investigation. Two specific aspects of the current work, both important in the field of latent heat thermal energy storage, are to investigate the influence of the flow behavior within liquid PCM on the melting and heat transfer processes, and the impact of heat source orientation on the underlying melting and heat transfer processes. A relationship between heat source orientation and the Nusselt number was discussed. The results show that the fluid velocity is critical for …

Development Of Material Model Subroutines For Linear And Nonlinear Response Of Elastomers, Asim Gillani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The nature of elastomers has been extensively studied ever since the vulcanization of rubber in the 19th century. Elastomers have been heavily employed in various fields, such as automobile, aerospace, robotics, biomimetics, dynamics and energy harvesting. Due to their molecular nature, these materials display hyperelastic and viscous response when deformed. Their response has been studied in a number of works, which tend to explain their nature through the theory of polymer dynamics or using rheological models. As elastomers are designed as actuators, generators or artificial tissues with complex geometries, the need for finite element analysis to study their response is …

Numerical Simulation Of Three-Phase Flows In The Inverse Fluidized Bed, Yunfeng Liu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The inverse three-phase fluidized bed has excellent potentials to be used in chemical, biochemical, petrochemical and food industries because of its high contact efficiency among each phase which leads to a good mass and heat transfer. The understanding of the hydrodynamics and flow structures in inverse three-phase fluidized beds is important for the design and scale up purposes.

A CFD model based on the Eulerian-Eulerian (E-E) approach coupled with the kinetic theory of the granular flow is successfully developed to simulate an inverse three-phase fluidization system. The proposed CFD model for the inverse three-phase fluidization system is validated by comparing …

Thermo-Physical Modelling And Experimental Analysis Of The Laser-Material Interactions During Cw Laser Polishing, Shirzad Mohajerani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Laser polishing (LP) represents one of the finishing/superfinishing technologies that has experienced a rapid growth over the past two decades. However, while undeniable progress has been achieved on the experimental and/or practical side, the development of the mathematical models continue to be somewhat slower and still dominated by significant simplifying assumptions.

To address this research gap, after identification of underlying thermo-physical processes during LP through a comprehensive literature review, two CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) models are developed to simulate the laser-material interactions and eventually predict the final geometry of the irradiated surface. In this context, a 3D CFD model is …

Effects Of Grooves On Drag In Laminar Channel Flow, Yanbei Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis presents the analysis of the effects of three-dimensional grooves on the flow responses in laminar channel flows. The wall topographies were expressed using the two-dimensional Fourier expansions. A spectrally accurate algorithm based on the Immersed Boundary Conditions (IBC) was used to determine the solution for the field equations and extract information about the velocity and pressure fields. The effects of grooves on the pressure losses were assessed by determining the additional pressure gradient required to maintain the same flow rate through the grooved channel as through the reference smooth channel. Effects of groove wave numbers, groove amplitudes, the …

A Composite Material-Based Computational Model For Diaphragm Muscle Biomechanical Simulation, Brett Coelho

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer related death among both men and women. Radiation therapy is the most widely used treatment for this disease. Motion compensation for tumor movement is often clinically important and biomechanics-based motion models may provide the most robust method as they are based on the physics of motion. In this study, we aim to develop a patient specific biomechanical model that predicts the deformation field of the diaphragm muscle during respiration. The first part of the project involved developing an accurate and adaptable micro-to-macro mechanical approach for skeletal muscle tissue modelling for application …

Dynamics Of The Phase Coupling For Flow, Heat And Mass Transfer In Conjugate Fluid/Porous Domains, Mahmoud Mohamed Mostafa Elhalwagy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Porous media prevail in industry e.g. heat transfer equipment, drying, food storage and several other applications. Integrated in engineering, they form conjugate Fluid/Porous domains. Physical modelling requires characterizing the microscale heat and mass (moisture) transfer interstitially within porous media and their macroscale counterparts across regional interfaces. Characterizing turbulence and its effects on phase coupling is often needed too. The modeling literature survey shows phase coupling assumptions depending on empiricism, phase equilibrium and lack of generality. Modeling of the dynamic variations for the modes of phase exchanges, i.e. heat, mass and heat accompanying mass exchanges, on both scales and generic turbulent …

Fundamentals Of Applied Smouldering Combustion, Marco Zanoni

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Smouldering combustion is defined as a flameless oxidation reaction occurring on the surface of the condensed phase (i.e., solid or liquid). Traditional research on smouldering was related to economic damages, fire risk, and death, due to the release of toxic gases and slow propagation rates. Recently, smouldering has been applied as an intentional, engineering technology (e.g., waste and contaminant destruction). Smouldering involves the transport of heat, mass, and momentum in the solid and fluid phases along with different chemical reactions. Therefore, numerical models are essential for the fundamental understanding of the process. Smouldering models either neglected heat transfer between phases …

An In-Silico Assessment Of Stemless Shoulder Arthroplasty: From Ct To Predicted Bone Response, Jacob M. Reeves

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite the emergence of stemless humeral implants that utilize short fixation features to gain purchase solely in the metaphysis, the literature contains little information regardingthe morphology and mechanical properties of the humerus’ proximal trabecular-canal, and how stemless implants impact bone response. The present work employs in-silicotools, including CT-based and Finite Element (FE) methods, to define parameters that may influence stemless implant design.

The density and morphology of the proximal humerus were assessed using CT-derived point clouds of the trabecular-canal. Bone density was found to diminish 15-20mm beneath the humeral head resection and was greater peripherally. The depth, path and bounding …

Development And Assessment Of A Micro-Ct Based System For Quantifying Loaded Knee Joint Kinematics And Tissue Mechanics, Alexandra M. Blokker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Although anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is a highly developed surgical procedure, sub-optimal treatment outcomes persist. This can be partially attributed to an incomplete understanding of knee joint kinematics and regional tissue mechanic properties. A system for minimally-invasive investigation of knee joint kinematics and tissue mechanics under clinically relevant joint loads was developed to address this gap in understanding. A five degree-of-freedom knee joint motion simulator capable of dynamically loading intact human cadaveric knee joints to within 1% of user defined multi-axial target loads was developed. This simulator was uniquely designed to apply joint loads to a joint centered within …

Numerical And Experimental Investigation On The Elastic Properties Of Discontinuous Fiber Reinforced Composites, Xiaotian Yi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Discontinuous fiber reinforced composites (DFRC) through injection molding have been widely used in the industrial fields due to their relatively high mechanical performance and low cost. This work is directed towards developing an accurate and efficient numerical simulation package to predict the elastic properties of the injection molded DFRC for fulfilling their potential applications and reducing the expensive experimental costs.

By combining the micromechanics modeling and finite element (FE) analysis, the elastic properties of the DFRC with the aligned fibers are firstly predicted to establish a database for developing semi-empirical formulation through data fitting. Then the elastic properties of DFRC …

Effect Of Material Viscoelasticity On Frequency Tuning Of Dielectric Elastomer Membrane Resonators, Liyang Tian

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) capable of large voltage-induced deformation show promise for applications such as resonators and oscillators. However, the dynamic performance of such vibrational devices is not only strongly affected by the nonlinear electromechanical coupling and material hyperelasticity, but also significantly by the material viscoelasticity. The material viscoelasticity of DEs originates from the highly mobile polymer chains that constitute the polymer networks of the DE. Moreover, due to the multiple viscous polymer subnetworks, DEs possess multiple relaxation processes. Therefore, in order to predict the dynamic performance of DE-based devices, a theoretical model that accounts for the multiple relaxation processes is …

A Mathematical Model For Predicting Rotating Belt Filter Performance, Anthony Sherratt

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Increased demand on wastewater treatment plants has motivated the development of new primary wastewater treatment techniques. Rotating belt filters (RBF) offer a spatially compact and lower cost solution. The goal of the present work is to develop a model that accurately predicts the flow rate capacity and removal efficiency of a generic RBF. Mesh resistance will be characterized using an idealized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the mesh filter used in an RBF. To characterize the cake resistance, a gravity drainage column test was modeled and using the results from the CFD model, the cake resistance versus filtered volume …

On The Reduction Of The Driving Force In Shear-Driven Flows, Sakib Shadman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In shear-driven flows, an external driving force is needed to maintain the relative movement of horizontal plates. This thesis presents a systematic analysis on using spatially periodic heating and grooved surfaces to control this force. It is found that the use of periodic heating creates a buoyancy-driven effect that always reduces this force. The use of proper heating may even lead to the complete elimination of this force. It is further found that the use of isothermal grooved surfaces always enhances flow resistance, resulting in an increase of this force. When grooves and heating are applied together, their interaction induces …

A Numerical Investigation Of Human Cough Jet Development And Droplet Dispersion, Ran Bi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As part of the Western Cold and Flu aerosol (WeCoF) studies, the present study provides Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling of human cough flow. The cough flow is characterized in two different aspects, the flow field and the droplets. In the study of the flow field of coughing, various dynamic characteristics, including the velocity variation, streamwise penetration and power spectral density, are examined. CFD simulations using two different approaches, the unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and the large eddy simulation (LES), are performed for comparison purposes. The numerical results are validated by the experimental data obtained from the measurements by …

Development Of A Laser-Based Technique For The Assessment Of High Quality Automotive Surfaces, Navraj Heer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The quality of painted surfaces plays an important role in the overall aesthetics of the automotive products. Although a number of quantitative techniques have been developed for this particular type of quality assessment, the solutions proposed so far remain costly and proprietary such that industry continues to rely primarily on qualitative, error-prone human evaluations. To address this, the primary objective of this thesis was to explore the possibility to develop a laser-based technique for the non-tactile quantification of defects in reflective painted surfaces. For this purpose, analytical solutions were formulated to predict the reflection of a laser beam from a …

Fabrication Of 3d Conjugated Polymer Structures Via Vat Polymerization Additive Manufacturing, Andrew T. Cullen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Conjugated polymers are a class of electromechanically active materials that can produce motion in response to an electric potential. This motion can be harnessed to perform mechanical work, and therefore these materials are particularly well suited for use as sensors and actuators in microelectromechanical systems. Conventional methods to fabricate conjugated polymer actuators result in planar morphologies that limit fabricated devices to simplistic linear or bending actuation modes. To overcome this limitation, this work develops a conjugated polymer formulation and associated additive manufacturing method capable of realizing three-dimensional conductive polymer structures. A light-based additive manufacturing technique known as vat polymerization is …

A Numerical Tool For Predicting The Spatial Decay Of Freestream Turbulence., Dwaipayan Sarkar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present numerical work is an attempt towards modelling of freely decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence with its application in experimental modelling of the effect of incident turbulence on flow around 2D and 3D bluff-bodies. Both steady, Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) and unsteady, Large Eddy Simulation (LES), 3-D numerical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques have been employed to characterise the inviscid decay of large-scale turbulence in terms of the characteristic r.m.s turbulent velocity fluctuations ( ) and the local integral length scale (L_u). The large-scale turbulent properties extracted from the current numerical simulations are inter-related and are shown …

Experimental Simulation Of Density-Driven Thunderstorm Downbursts, Roghayyeh Babaei Koli

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Evaporative cooling of the precipitation within the thunderstorm cloud results in the formation of a mass of cold and dense air which moves toward the ground and after impingement turns into strong radial winds near the surface. In this study, an experimental approach was taken to investigate the downbursts. The two-fluid model was used, and the various features of the experimental setup of previous researchers were modified to incorporate the specifications of natural downbursts. First, two new release cylinders were manufactured and their capabilities in producing repeatable and symmetric outflows were examined. Then, the effects of cylinder wall design, density …