Engineering Science and Materials Commons^™

Numerical Modeling And Simulation On Deformation And Failure Behaviors Of Polymeric Materials, Heng Feng

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Featured by biocompatibility, high compliance and capacity in sustaining large deformation, dielectric elastomers (DEs) and hydrogels have gained extensive research popularity for their potential applications in the fields of soft robots, biomimetics, tissue engineering, drug delivery, and energy harvesting. The design of such soft and smart material-based devices and structures requires deep understanding and accurate simulation of their constitutive behaviors, which is challenged by their nonlinear material properties due to unique microstructures and multi-physics coupling. Meanwhile, in different application contexts, those structures are also susceptible to different failure modes, imposing further challenges in simulating and predicting their performance. To fulfill …

Significance Of The Vehicle Front Design And Gait Postures On Traumatic Brain Injuries Sustained By Different Pedestrian Populations During Car-To-Pedestrian Collisions (Cpcs) - A Computational Approach, Thava Kalishwara Kumar Gunasekaran

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

With the increasing prevalence of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in road traffic accidents (RTAs), it was identified that the shape of the vehicle's front end and pedestrian postures prior to impact significantly influence pedestrian head injuries. However, the effect of vehicle front shape parameters and gait postures on TBIs sustained in car-to-pedestrian collisions (CPCs) has yet to be quantified. This study used a computational approach to analyze the effect of vehicle shape parameters and pedestrian gait postures on pedestrian TBI risks across a diverse pedestrian population with varying body sizes. Our findings indicate that vehicle shape parameter such as BLEH …

Development Of A Wireless Telemetry Load And Displacement Sensor For Orthopaedic Applications, William Anderson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Due to sensor size and supporting circuitry, in vivo load and deformation measurements are currently restricted to applications within larger orthopaedic implants. The objective of this thesis is to repurpose a commercially available low-power, miniature, wireless, telemetric, tire-pressure sensor (FXTH87) to measure load and deformation for future use in biomechanical applications. The capacitive transducer membrane of the FXTH87 was modified, and a relationship was reported between applied compressive deformation and sensor signal value. The sensor package was embedded within a deformable enclosure to illustrate potential applications of the sensor for monitoring load. Finite element analysis was an effective tool to …

Characterization And Computational Modelling For The Garnet Oxide Solid State Electrolyte Ta-Llzo, Colin A. Versnick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The all-solid-state-battery (ASSB) serves as a promising candidate for next generation lithium ion batteries for significant improvements in battery safety, capacity, and longevity. Of the material candidates researched to replace the conventionally used liquid electrolyte, the garnet oxide Ta-LLZO (Li_6.4La₃Zr_1.4Ta_0.6O₁₂) has received much attention thanks to its high chemical and electrochemical stability, and ionic conductivity which rivals that of liquid electrolytes. While much investigation has taken place regarding the electrochemical performance of Ta-LLZO, much less is known about the micromechanics, including microstructural characterization, stress and strain development, and material failure …

Effect Of The Nonlinear Material Viscosity On The Performance Of Dielectric Elastomer Transducers, Yuanping Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As a typical type of soft electroactive materials, dielectric elastomers (DEs) are capable of producing large voltage-induced deformation, which makes them desirable materials for a variety of applications in transduction technology, including tunable oscillators, resonators, biomimetics and energy harvesters. The dynamic and energy harvesting performance of such DE-based devices is strongly affected not only by multiple failure modes such as electrical breakdown, electromechanical instability, loss-of-tension and fatigue, but also by their material viscoelasticity. Moreover, as suggested by experiments and theoretical studies, DEs possess nonlinear relaxation processes, which makes modeling of the performance of DE-based devices more challenging.

In this thesis, …

Bouncing Dynamics Of A Class Of Mem/Nem Switching Systems, Mohamed Bognash

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The aim of the present research is to understand the bouncing dynamic behavior of NEM/MEM switches in order to improve the switch performance and reliability. It is well known that the bouncing can dramatically degrade the switch performance and life; hence, in the present study, bouncing dynamics of a cantilever-based NME/MEM switch has been studied in detail. To this end, a model of a MEM switch that incorporates electrostatic force, squeeze film air damping force as well as asperity-based contact force has been proposed for an electrostatically actuated switch. An actuation force due to piezoelectric effects is further included in …

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 …

Numerical Studies For Improving Fracture Toughness Resistance Curve Testing Using Single-Edge (Notched) Tension Specimens, Yifan Huang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The fracture toughness resistance curve, i.e. the J-integral resistance curve (J-R curve) or the crack tip opening displacement resistance (CTOD-R) curves, is widely used in the integrity assessment and strain-based design of energy pipelines with respect to planar defects (i.e. cracks). This thesis deals with issues related to the experimental determination of the J(CTOD)-R curves using the newly-developed single-edge (notched) tension (SE(T)) specimens. In the first study, the plastic geometry factor, i.e. the η_pl factor, used to evaluate J in a J-R curve test based on …

Electromechanical Coupling Behavior Of Dielectric Elastomer Transducers, Jianyou Zhou

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dielectric elastomer transducers with large deformation, high energy output, light weight and low cost have been drawing great interest from both the research and industry communities, and shown potential for versatile applications in biomimetics, dynamics, robotics and energy harvesting. However, in addition to multiple failure modes such as electrical breakdown, electromechanical instability, loss-of-tension and fatigue, the performance of dielectric elastomer transducers are also strongly influenced by the hyperelastic and viscoelastic properties of the material. Also, the interplay among these material properties and the failure modes is rather difficult to predict. Therefore, in order to provide guidelines for the optimal design …

Mechanistic Failure Criterion For Unidirectional And Random Fibre Polymer Composites, Jamaloddin Jamali

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Polymer composite design in energy absorbing components requires a failure criterion that can predict the energy involved in its fracture under different modes of loading. Present mixed mode criteria are mainly empirical or semi-empirical, and are only suitable for a small range of composite types.

The purpose of this study was to develop a mechanistic failure criterion that is applicable to a wide range of polymer composites. An energy based mechanistic failure criterion is proposed to characterize the toughness of unidirectional (UD) and randomly oriented short fibre composites (random fibre composites).

In UD and random composites, the criterion predicts the …

Numerical Modeling Of Solidification Process And Prediction Of Mechanical Properties In Magnesium Alloys, Mehdi Farrokhnejad

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A formulation used to simulate the solidification process of magnesium alloys is developed based upon the volume averaged finite volume method on unstructured collocated grids. To derive equations, a non-zero volume fraction gradient has been considered and resulting additional terms are well reasoned. For discretization the most modern approximations for gradient and hessians are used and novelties outlined. Structure-properties correlations are incorporated into the in-house code and the proposed formulation is tested for a wedge-shaped magnesium alloy casting. While the results of this study show a good agreement with the experimental data, it was concluded that a better understanding of …

Continuum Modeling On Size-Dependent Properties Of Piezoelectric Nanostructures, Zhi Yan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Piezoelectric beam- and plate-based nanostructures hold a promise for device applications in the nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) due to their superior mechanical and electromechanical coupling properties. “Small is different”, nanostructured piezoelectric materials exhibit size-dependent properties, which are different from their bulk counterparts. For predicting the unique physical and mechanical properties of these novel nanostructures, continuum mechanics modeling has been regarded as an efficient tool. However, the conventional continuum models fail to capture the size effects of nanostructures and thus are not directly applicable at the nanoscale. Therefore, it is necessary to develop modified continuum models for piezoelectric nanostructures by incorporating the …

Vibration And Buckling Of Carbon Nanotube, Graphene, And Nanowire, Mohammad Hadi Mahdavi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Nanostructured materials with superior physical properties hold promise for the development of novel nanodevices. Full potential applications of such advanced materials require accurate characterization of their physical properties, which in turn necessitates the development of computer-based simulations along with novel experimental techniques. Since controlled experiments are difficult for nanoscale materials and atomic studies are computationally expensive, continuum mechanics-based simulations of nanomaterials and nanostructures have become the focal points of computational nano-science and materials modelling.

In this study, emphasis is given to predicting the mechanical behaviour of carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene, nanowire (NW), and nanowire encapsulated in carbon nanotube (NW@CNT), which …

Development Of A Novel Handheld Device For Active Compensation Of Physiological Tremor, Abhijit Saxena

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In microsurgery, the human hand imposes certain limitations in accurately positioning the tip of a device such as scalpel. Any errors in the motion of the hand make microsurgical procedures difficult and involuntary motions such as hand tremors can make some procedures significantly difficult to perform. This is particularly true in the case of vitreoretinal microsurgery. The most familiar source of involuntary motion is physiological tremor. Real-time compensation of tremor is, therefore, necessary to assist surgeons to precisely position and manipulate the tool-tip to accurately perform a microsurgery. In this thesis, a novel handheld device (AID) is described for compensation …