Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Mechanical Engineering Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Thermomechanical Characterization Of A Shape Memory Polymer Based Syntactic Foam, Damon Nettles Jan 2009

Thermomechanical Characterization Of A Shape Memory Polymer Based Syntactic Foam, Damon Nettles

LSU Master's Theses

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are a type of smart material capable of “remembering” multiple shapes and transitioning between them in response to an external stimulus. They offer the potential to self-seal macro-length scale damage in a nearly autonomous fashion. Syntactic foams are lightweight structural materials currently used in the marine and aerospace industries. This study seeks to bring syntactic foams and SMPs together, retaining characteristics of both components, to create a low-density smart composite. The SMP based syntactic foam is used as the core of a grid stiffened sandwich structure capable of healing impact damage multiple times. In order to …


Thermal Characterization Of Plain And Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Syntactic Foams, Pratap Chandrashekhara Bhat Jan 2009

Thermal Characterization Of Plain And Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Syntactic Foams, Pratap Chandrashekhara Bhat

LSU Master's Theses

Syntactic foams are composite materials in which the matrix phase is reinforced with hollow particles called microballoons. They possess properties such as low moisture absorption, low thermal conductivity and high damage tolerance because of their compositions. Traditionally, syntactic foams are used for many high strength applications and as insulating materials. But for applications demanding better heat dissipation from syntactic foam, conductive filler materials need to be added while maintaining its property of low density. Carbon nanotubes although extremely conductive, have issues of agglomeration in the matrix. In this research, a new approach to the problem of dispersion of nanotubes was …


Effects Of Processing Parameters On The Embrittlement Of Self Reacting Friction Stir Welds, David Eric Taylor Jan 2009

Effects Of Processing Parameters On The Embrittlement Of Self Reacting Friction Stir Welds, David Eric Taylor

LSU Master's Theses

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) has been adopted as one of the major welding processes for joining Aluminum. Many aerospace and marine structures are welded through this novel FSW processes currently. The Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSS), Michoud Operations, in New Orleans is continuously pursuing Friction Stir Welding technologies in its efforts to advance fabrication of the external tanks of the space shuttle. Recently, a reduction in mechanical strength (embrittlement) has been observed especially in self-reacting (SR) friction stir welds. This strength reduction was attributed to Residual Oxide Defects (ROD) but the exact reasons for this type of behavior needed to …


Aerodynamic And Heat Transfer Studies In A Combustor-Fired, Fixed-Vane Cascade With Film Cooling, James William Post Jan 2009

Aerodynamic And Heat Transfer Studies In A Combustor-Fired, Fixed-Vane Cascade With Film Cooling, James William Post

LSU Master's Theses

Pressure and heat transfer data has been generated in a high-pressure, high-temperature vane cascade. This cascade differs from many others seen in typical low-pressure facilities using room temperature air. Primarily, a natural gas-fired combustor generates realistic turbulence profiles in the high-temperature exhaust gases that pass through the vane cascade. The fixed-vane cascade test sections have film cooling holes machined into the surfaces in arrangements that closely model configurations seen in real-life first-row nozzle guide vanes (NGV). Theoretical coolant jet-to-crossflow blowing ratios (M) range from 0.5 to 3.0. Coolant jet-to-crossflow theoretical density ratios (DR) used for typical tests vary between 1.0 …


On The Effects Of Peripheral Sliding Velocity And Operating Differential Pressure In Rotary O-Ring Seals, Karan Lingerkar Jan 2009

On The Effects Of Peripheral Sliding Velocity And Operating Differential Pressure In Rotary O-Ring Seals, Karan Lingerkar

LSU Master's Theses

An O-ring seal is of paramount importance in hydraulic and pneumatic machinery used in oil and gas drilling processes. O-ring seals are generally employed to contain the environments of working fluids existing on either side of the seal from interacting with each other, to maintain a uniform pressure chamber and to eliminate the environmental contaminants that interact at the rubbing interface. Failure of dynamic O-rings in hydraulic and pneumatic machinery often results in considerable productivity loss to the chemical and petrochemical industries. Therefore, it is highly important to determine the life of an O-ring for these applications under various operating …


Atomistic Simulations Of Lipid Bilayers In The Presence Of Dimethylsulfoxide, Raghava Alapati Jan 2009

Atomistic Simulations Of Lipid Bilayers In The Presence Of Dimethylsulfoxide, Raghava Alapati

LSU Master's Theses

In a typical cryopreservation protocol, the system to be preserved is first equilibrated with chemicals known as cryoprotective agents (CPAs). CPAs have been shown to alleviate cell damage from either the solute effects or the formation of intracellular ice during the subsequent freezing process. Thus, an extensive body of literature reporting the effects of CPAs on cellular systems has been accumulated over the last 50 years; detailing largely experimental interactions between cell systems and chemicals. Recent advances in computational methodology now offer an additional dimension in our ability to understand the molecular interactions between cell membranes, idealized as lipid bilayers …


Self-Healing Of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Compoistes [Sic], Nebiyu Fikru Jan 2009

Self-Healing Of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Compoistes [Sic], Nebiyu Fikru

LSU Master's Theses

The study of self-healing materials is inspired by biological systems in which damage triggers an autonomous healing response. In recent years, this concept of autonomic healing material, where initiation of repair is integral to the material, is being considered for engineering applications. The concept offers the designer an ability to incorporate secondary functional ability of counteracting service degradation in addition to achieving the primary, usually structural integrity, requirement. Self-healing materials also have the benefit of offering lighter and optimized structures as well as reduced maintenance cost. Previous works on polymer matrix composites have shown that significant fractions of mechanical properties …


Dynamical Investigation Of A Manned Capsule/Tether Re-Entry System, Jeffrey Alan Kornuta Jan 2009

Dynamical Investigation Of A Manned Capsule/Tether Re-Entry System, Jeffrey Alan Kornuta

LSU Master's Theses

The use of tethers in space has an exciting promise in future astronautical applications, with the possibility of providing more sophisticated functionality to satellites and spacecraft. Some of these applications include adjoining satellites, creating microgravity environments, generating power, and transferring momentum between spacecraft. The focus of this project is to investigate the possible reduction in convective heat flux and temperatures on a manned capsule as a result of re-entry with an attached momentum exchange tether, including how various tether parameters affect these results. Using a “bottom-up” approach by modeling the system as a series of lumped masses and rigid rods …


Numerical Investigation Of Film Cooling Fluid Flow And Heat Transfer Using Large Eddy Simulations, David Houston Leedom Jan 2009

Numerical Investigation Of Film Cooling Fluid Flow And Heat Transfer Using Large Eddy Simulations, David Houston Leedom

LSU Master's Theses

Large eddy simulations of film cooling from discrete holes inclined at 35° with a feeding plenum chamber are performed at a density ratio of 2 and blowing ratios from 0.5 to 2.0 in order to gauge the suitability and performance of different hole shapes. Cylindrical holes at length to diameter ratios of 1.75 and 3.5 as well as shaped holes (laterally diffused and console holes) at a length to diameter ratio of 3.5 are simulated issuing into a laminar crossflow at a Reynolds number of approximately 16,000 based on freestream velocity and hole diameter. The domain extends 15 hole diameters …


Experimental And Numerical Modeling Of Stresses In Non-Conventional Cross-Sectioned Composite Pipes, Prashanth Ramachandran Jan 2009

Experimental And Numerical Modeling Of Stresses In Non-Conventional Cross-Sectioned Composite Pipes, Prashanth Ramachandran

LSU Master's Theses

Composite materials have been widely used in the ship-building, aerospace and construction industries because of their distinct advantages of low weight, high stiffness, and high strength to weight ratios. These properties are due to the low weight of the epoxy core matrix and high strengths of the glass/carbon fibers. Composite pipes used in various applications are traditionally spherical in cross-section. In this study, non-conventional cross-sectioned composite pipes [i.e. rectangular and triangular cross-sections] have been proposed, fabricated, tested and analyzed because of their ability to be bundled without loss of space. The behaviors of these pipes under an internal pressure test …


Fatigue Fracture And Microstructural Analysis Of Friction Stir Welded Butt Joints Of Aerospace Aluminum Alloys, Vinay Raghuram Jan 2009

Fatigue Fracture And Microstructural Analysis Of Friction Stir Welded Butt Joints Of Aerospace Aluminum Alloys, Vinay Raghuram

LSU Master's Theses

Friction-Stir-Welding (FSW) has been adopted as a major process for welding Aluminum aerospace structures. Al-2195, which is one of the new-generation Aluminum alloys that has been used on the external tank of the new super lightweight external tank of the space shuttle. The Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSS), Michoud Operations in New Orleans is continuously pursuing Friction-Stir-Welding technologies in its efforts to advance fabrication of the external tanks of the space shuttle. The future launch vehicles which will have to be reusable, m, an dates the structure to have good fatigue properties, which prompts an investigation into the fatigue behavior …


Dynamics Of Vortical Structures In A Low-Blowing-Ratio Pulsed Transverse Jet, Clementine Vezier Jan 2009

Dynamics Of Vortical Structures In A Low-Blowing-Ratio Pulsed Transverse Jet, Clementine Vezier

LSU Master's Theses

Large Eddy Simulation is used to study the interaction of a 35° inclined jet into a crossflow. Steady state cases, with a BR ranging from 0.150 to 1.2, are firstly examined to understand the dynamics of the flow field. Iso-surface of Laplacian of the pressure, vorticity contour and velocity fields highlight the presence of four main vortical structures: shear layer vortices, horse-shoes vortices, wake vortices and CRVP. Qualitative comparisons are performed between simulations and experiments. The dynamics of the flow field is next characterized by pulsing the jet. The studied pulsed cases have same low BR and duty cycle respectively …


Intracellular Ice Formation In Adult Stem Cells In The Presence Of Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone, Avishek Guha Jan 2009

Intracellular Ice Formation In Adult Stem Cells In The Presence Of Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone, Avishek Guha

LSU Master's Theses

The main objective of this work was to assess the effect of 10% (w/v) polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the pattern of intracellular ice formation (IIF) in human adipose tissue derived adult stem cells (ASCs) in the absence of serum and other cryoprotective agents (CPAs). Passage 1 (P1) ASCs were cultured, washed and suspended in either 1x PBS (Phosphate Buffered Saline) or 10% w/v solution of PVP in 1x PBS. The freezing experiments were carried out using a fluorescence microscope equipped with a Linkam™ cooling stage using two different temperature/time cooling protocols. Both the cooling protocols had a common cooling ramp: cells …


Functionally Gradient Syntactic Foams, Kanakaji Chittineni Jan 2009

Functionally Gradient Syntactic Foams, Kanakaji Chittineni

LSU Master's Theses

Syntactic foams are comprised of hollow microballoons in matrix systems. The superior mechanical and physical properties of syntactic foams such as light weight, high compressive strength, and low moisture absorption make them attractive materials for structural applications. As these materials are used in high mechanical performance applications, there is a need to achieve both high compressive strength and high energy absorption with minimal or no increase in density. In this study, the effect of gradient configuration of syntactic foams on the energy absorption and compressive strength is studied. Functionally Gradient Syntactic Foams (FGSFs) in five different layer sequencings are fabricated …