This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.

In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.

Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.

Displaying 1 - 2 of 2
Filtering by

Clear all filters

155081-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
ABSTRACT

A large fraction of the total energy consumption in the world comes from heating and cooling of buildings. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings to reduce the needs of seasonal heating and cooling is one of the major challenges in sustainable development. In general, the energy efficiency depends

ABSTRACT

A large fraction of the total energy consumption in the world comes from heating and cooling of buildings. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings to reduce the needs of seasonal heating and cooling is one of the major challenges in sustainable development. In general, the energy efficiency depends on the geometry and material of the buildings. To explore a framework for accurately assessing this dependence, detailed 3-D thermofluid simulations are performed by systematically sweeping the parameter space spanned by four parameters: the size of building, thickness and material of wall, and fractional size of window. The simulations incorporate realistic boundary conditions of diurnally-varying temperatures from observation, and the effect of fluid flow with explicit thermal convection inside the building. The outcome of the numerical simulations is synthesized into a simple map of an index of energy efficiency in the parameter space which can be used by stakeholders to quick look-up the energy efficiency of a proposed design of a building before its construction. Although this study only considers a special prototype of buildings, the framework developed in this work can potentially be used for a wide range of buildings and applications.
ContributorsJain, Gaurav (Author) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Thesis advisor) / Ren, Yi (Committee member) / Oswald, Jay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
171814-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Intelligent engineering designs require an accurate understanding of material behavior, since any uncertainties or gaps in knowledge must be counterbalanced with heightened factors of safety, leading to overdesign. Therefore, building better structures and pushing the performance of new components requires an improved understanding of the thermomechanical response of advanced materials

Intelligent engineering designs require an accurate understanding of material behavior, since any uncertainties or gaps in knowledge must be counterbalanced with heightened factors of safety, leading to overdesign. Therefore, building better structures and pushing the performance of new components requires an improved understanding of the thermomechanical response of advanced materials under service conditions. This dissertation provides fundamental investigations of several advanced materials: thermoset polymers, a common matrix material for fiber-reinforced composites and nanocomposites; aluminum alloy 7075-T6 (AA7075-T6), a high-performance aerospace material; and ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), an advanced composite for extreme-temperature applications. To understand matrix interactions with various interfaces and nanoinclusions at their fundamental scale, the properties of thermoset polymers are studied at the atomistic scale. An improved proximity-based molecular dynamics (MD) technique for modeling the crosslinking of thermoset polymers is carefully established, enabling realistic curing simulations through its ability to dynamically and probabilistically perform complex topology transformations. The proximity-based MD curing methodology is then used to explore damage initiation and the local anisotropic evolution of mechanical properties in thermoset polymers under uniaxial tension with an emphasis on changes in stiffness through a series of tensile loading, unloading, and reloading experiments. Aluminum alloys in aerospace applications often require a fatigue life of over 109 cycles, which is well over the number of cycles that can be practically tested using conventional fatigue testing equipment. In order to study these high-life regimes, a detailed ultrasonic cycle fatigue study is presented for AA7075-T6 under fully reversed tension-compression loading. The geometric sensitivity, frequency effects, size effects, surface roughness effects, and the corresponding failure mechanisms for ultrasonic fatigue across different fatigue regimes are investigated. Finally, because CMCs are utilized in extreme environments, oxidation plays an important role in their degradation. A multiphysics modeling methodology is thus developed to address the complex coupling between oxidation, mechanical stress, and oxygen diffusion in heterogeneous carbon fiber-reinforced CMC microstructures.
ContributorsSchichtel, Jacob (Author) / Chattopadhyay, Aditi (Thesis advisor) / Dai, Lenore (Committee member) / Ghoshal, Anindya (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Oswald, Jay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022