Engineering Commons^™

Finite Element Analysis Of Surface Hardening Treatments Of Steels For Automotive Powertrain Applications, Filippo Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Surface hardening is a procedure that is usually performed on steel components, in order to impart in these the strength and surface hardness that are necessary for their correct operation, whilst maintaining a reasonable value of ductility in the overall component.

The latter is usually composed of a sequence of heat treatments: carburizing, quenching and tempering. Each of these have different effects that, if correctly combined, can lead to the desired final mechanical properties in the component.

Carburizing is a process that increases the amount of carbon concentration at the component surface. Quenching is a quick decrease in temperature that …

Simulation Of Fracture Strength Improvements Of A Human Proximal Femur Using Finite Element Analysis., Waleed Ebraheem Alim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The most common hip fracture in the elderly occurs as a result of a fall to the side with impact over the greater trochanter resulting in a fracture of the proximal femur. The fracture usually involves the femoral neck or the intertrochanteric region. It has recently been determined that the fracture crack of a hip fracture typically initiates on the superior-lateral cortex of the femoral neck and then propagates across the femoral neck, resulting in a complete fracture. The strength of the superior-lateral cortex of the femoral neck is likely determined by the combined properties of the generally thin cortex …

Bio Inspired Lightweight Composite Material Design For 3d Printing, Kaushik Thiyagarajan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lightweight material design is an indispensable subject in product design. The lightweight material design has high strength to weight ratio which becomes a huge attraction and an area of exploration for the researchers as its application is wide and increasing even in every day-to-day product. Lightweight composite material design is achieved by selection of the cellular structure and its optimization. Cellular structure is used as it has wide multifunctional properties in addition to the lightweight characteristics. Applications of light weight cellular structures are wide and is witnessed in all industries from aerospace to automotive, construction to product design. In this …

Explicit Finite Element Modeling Of The Human Lumbar Spine, Milind Rao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Validated finite element (FE) models of the functional spinal unit (FSU) and lumbar spine are essential in design-phase device development and in assessing the mechanics associated with normal spine function and degenerative disc disease (DDD), as well as the impact of fusion and total disc replacement (TDR). Although experimental data from fully intact specimens can be used for model calibration and validation, the contributions from the individual structures (disc, facets, and ligaments) may be inappropriately distributed. Hence, creation of decompression conditions or device implantations that require structure removal may not have the proper resulting mechanics. An explicit FE formulation may …

Computationally Efficient Finite Element Models Of The Lumbar Spine For The Evaluation Of Spine Mechanics And Device Performance, Sean D. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Finite Element models of the lumbar spine are commonly used for the study of spine mechanics and device performance, but have limited usefulness in some applications such as clinical and design phase assessments due to long analysis times. In this study a computationally efficient L4-L5 FSU model and a L1-Sacrum multi-segment model were developed and validated. The FSU is a functional spine unit consisting of two adjacent vertebral bodies, in this case L4 and L5. The multi-segment model consists of all lumbar vertebrae and the sacrum. The models are able to accurately predict spine kinematics with significantly reduced analysis times, …

Short-Term Failure Analysis Of Aluminum Conducting Composite Core Transmission Lines, Brian Burks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recently the inefficiency and lack of capabilities of electric energy transmission have been put in the global spotlight; a transmission line design known as the Aluminum Conducting Composite Core Trapezoidal Wire (ACCC/TW^TM) attempts to eliminate the deficiencies. The ACCC core is comprised of a new hybrid composite material. The most probable causes of short-term damage to the ACCC core were investigated through a series of finite element models. It was found that excessive bending was the most likely cause of short-term damage to the core. During bending of the ACCC core, stresses are concentrated at the interface in …