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- All Subjects: Mechanical Engineering
- Creators: Herrmann, Marcus
Description
The central purpose of this work is to investigate the large-scale, coherent structures that exist in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) when the domain is large enough for the classical ”wind of turbulence” to break down. The study exclusively focuses on the structures that from when the RBC geometry is a cylinder. A series of visualization studies, Fourier analysis and proper orthogonal decomposition are employed to qualitatively and quantitatively inspect the large-scale structures’ length and time scales, spatial organization, and dynamic properties. The data in this study is generated by direct numerical simulation to resolve all the scales of turbulence in a 6.3 aspect-ratio cylinder at a Rayleigh number of 9.6 × 107 and Prandtl number of 6.7. Single and double point statistics are compared against experiments and several resolution criteria are examined to verify that the simulation has enough spatial and temporal resolution to adequately represent the physical system.
Large-scale structures are found to organize as roll-cells aligned along the cell’s side walls, with rays of vorticity pointing toward the core of the cell. Two different large- scale organizations are observed and these patterns are well described spatially and energetically by azimuthal Fourier modes with frequencies of 2 and 3. These Fourier modes are shown to be dominant throughout the entire domain, and are found to be the primary source for radial inhomogeneity by inspection of the energy spectra. The precision with which the azimuthal Fourier modes describe these large-scale structures shows that these structures influence a large range of length scales. Conversely, the smaller scale structures are found to be more sensitive to radial position within the Fourier modes showing a strong dependence on physical length scales.
Dynamics in the large-scale structures are observed including a transition in the global pattern followed by a net rotation about the central axis. The transition takes place over 10 eddy-turnover times and the subsequent rotation occurs at a rate of approximately 1.1 degrees per eddy-turnover. These time-scales are of the same order of magnitude as those seen in lower aspect-ratio RBC for similar events and suggests a similarity in dynamic events across different aspect-ratios.
Large-scale structures are found to organize as roll-cells aligned along the cell’s side walls, with rays of vorticity pointing toward the core of the cell. Two different large- scale organizations are observed and these patterns are well described spatially and energetically by azimuthal Fourier modes with frequencies of 2 and 3. These Fourier modes are shown to be dominant throughout the entire domain, and are found to be the primary source for radial inhomogeneity by inspection of the energy spectra. The precision with which the azimuthal Fourier modes describe these large-scale structures shows that these structures influence a large range of length scales. Conversely, the smaller scale structures are found to be more sensitive to radial position within the Fourier modes showing a strong dependence on physical length scales.
Dynamics in the large-scale structures are observed including a transition in the global pattern followed by a net rotation about the central axis. The transition takes place over 10 eddy-turnover times and the subsequent rotation occurs at a rate of approximately 1.1 degrees per eddy-turnover. These time-scales are of the same order of magnitude as those seen in lower aspect-ratio RBC for similar events and suggests a similarity in dynamic events across different aspect-ratios.
ContributorsSakievich, Philip Sakievich (Author) / Peet, Yulia (Thesis advisor) / Adrian, Ronald (Committee member) / Squires, Kyle (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Kostelich, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Many defense, healthcare, and energy applications can benefit from the development of surfaces that easily shed droplets of liquids of interest. Desired wetting properties are typically achieved via altering the surface chemistry or topography or both through surface engineering. Despite many recent advancements, materials modified only on their exterior are still prone to physical degradation and lack durability. In contrast to surface engineering, this thesis focuses on altering the bulk composition and the interior of a material to tune how an exterior surface would interact with liquids. Fundamental and applied aspects of engineering of two material systems with low contact angle hysteresis (i.e. ability to easily shed droplets) are explained. First, water-shedding metal matrix hydrophobic nanoparticle composites with high thermal conductivity for steam condensation rate enhancement are discussed. Despite having static contact angle <90° (not hydrophobic), sustained dropwise steam condensation can be achieved at the exterior surface of the composite due to low contact angle hysteresis (CAH). In order to explain this observation, the effect of varying the length scale of surface wetting heterogeneity over three orders of magnitude on the value of CAH was experimentally investigated. This study revealed that the CAH value is primarily governed by the pinning length which in turn depends on the length scale of wetting heterogeneity. Modifying the heterogeneity size ultimately leads to near isotropic wettability for surfaces with highly anisotropic nanoscale chemical heterogeneities. Next, development of lubricant-swollen polymeric omniphobic protective gear for defense and healthcare applications is described. Specifically, it is shown that the robust and durable protective gear can be made from polymeric material fully saturated with lubricant that can shed all liquids irrespective of their surface tensions even after multiple contact incidences with the foreign objects. Further, a couple of schemes are proposed to improve the rate of lubrication and replenishment of lubricant as well as reduce the total amount of lubricant required in making the polymeric protective gear omniphobic. Overall, this research aims to understand the underlying physics of dynamic surface-liquid interaction and provides simple scalable route to fabricate better materials for condensers and omniphobic protective gear.
ContributorsDamle, Viraj (Author) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Thesis advisor) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Lin, Jerry (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Wang, Robert (Committee member) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Passive flow control achieved by surface dimpling can be an effective strategy for reducing drag around bluff bodies - an example of substantial popular interest being the flow around a golf ball. While the general effect of dimples causing a delay of boundary layer separation is well known, the mechanisms contributing to this phenomena are subtle and not thoroughly understood. Numerical models offer a powerful approach for studying drag reduction, however simulation strategies are challenged by complex geometries, and in applications the introduction of ad hoc turbulence models which introduce additional uncertainty. These and other factors provide much of the motivation for the current study, which focused on the numerical simulations of the flow over a simplified configuration consisting of a dimpled flat plate. The principal goals of the work are to understand the performance of the numerical methodology, and gain insight into the underlying physics of the flow. Direct numerical simulation of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations using a fractional step method was employed, with the dimpled flat plate represented using an immersed boundary method. The dimple geometry utilizes a fixed dimple aspect ratio, with dimples arranged in a single spanwise row. The grid sizes considered ranged from approximately 3 to 99 million grid points. Reynolds numbers of 3000 and 4000 based on the inlet laminar boundary layer thickness were simulated. A turbulent boundary layer was induced downstream of the dimples for Reynolds numbers which did not transition for the flow over an undimpled flat plate. First and second order statistics of the boundary layer that develops agree reasonably well with those for turbulent channel flow and flat plate boundary layers in the sublayer and buffer layers, but differ in the outer layer. Inspection of flow visualizations suggest that early transition is promoted by thinning of the boundary layer, initiation of shear layer instabilities over the dimples, flow separation and reattachment, and tripping of the boundary layer at the trailing edge of the dimples.
ContributorsMode, Jeffrey Michael (Author) / Squires, Kyle (Thesis advisor) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
The increasing demand for structural materials with superior mechanical properties has provided a strong impetus to the discovery of novel materials, and innovations in processing techniques to improve the properties of existing materials. Methods like severe plastic deformation (SPD) and surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) have led to significant enhancement in the strength of traditional structural materials like Al and Fe based alloys via microstructural refinement. However, the nanocrystalline materials produced using these techniques exhibit poor ductility due to the lack of effective strain hardening mechanisms, and as a result the well-known strength-ductility trade-off persists. To overcome this trade-off, researchers have proposed the concept of heterostructured materials, which are composed of domains ranging in size from a few nanometers to several micrometers. Over the last two decades, there has been intense research on the development of new methods to synthesize heterostructured materials. However, none of these methods is capable of providing precise control over key microstructural parameters such as average grain size, grain morphology, and volume fraction and connectivity of coarse and fine grains. Due to the lack of microstructural control, the relationship between these parameters and the deformation behavior of heterostructured materials cannot be investigated systematically, and hence designing heterostructured materials with optimized properties is currently infeasible. This work aims to address this scientific and technological challenge and is composed of two distinct but interrelated parts. The first part concerns the development of a broadly applicable synthesis method to produce heterostructured metallic films with precisely defined architectures. This method exploits two forms of film growth (epitaxial and Volmer-Weber) to generate heterostructured metallic films. The second part investigates the effect of different microstructural parameters on the deformation behavior of heterostructured metallic films with the aim of elucidating their structure-property relationships. Towards this end, freestanding heterostructured Fe films with different architectures were fabricated and uniaxially deformed using MEMS stages. The results from these experiments are presented and their implications for the mechanical properties of heterostructured materials is discussed.
ContributorsBerlia, Rohit (Author) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Thesis advisor) / Sieradzki, Karl (Committee member) / Peralta, Pedro (Committee member) / Crozier, Peter (Committee member) / Solanki, Kiran (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Magnetic liquids called ferrofluids have been used in applications ranging from audio speaker cooling and rotary pressure seals to retinal detachment surgery and implantable artificial glaucoma valves. Recently, ferrofluids have been investigated as a material for use in magnetically controllable liquid droplet robotics. Liquid droplet robotics is an emerging technology that aims to apply control theory to manipulate fluid droplets as robotic agents to perform a wide range of tasks. Furthermore, magnetically controlled micro-robotics is another popular area of study where manipulating a magnetic field allows for the control of magnetized micro-robots. Both of these emerging fields have potential for impact toward medical applications: liquid characteristics such as being able to dissolve various compounds, be injected via a needle, and the potential for the human body to automatically filter and remove a liquid droplet robot, make liquid droplet robots advantageous for medical applications; while the ability to remotely control the torques and forces on an untethered microrobot via modulating the magnetic field and gradient is also highly advantageous. The research described in this dissertation explores applications and methods for the electromagnetic control of ferrofluid droplet robots. First, basic electrical components built from fluidic channels containing ferrofluid are made remotely tunable via the placement of ferrofluid within the channel. Second, a ferrofluid droplet is shown to be fully controllable in position, stretch direction, and stretch length in two dimensions using proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers. Third, control of a ferrofluid’s position, stretch direction, and stretch length is extended to three dimensions, and control gains are optimized via a Bayesian optimization process to achieve higher accuracy. Finally, magnetic control of both single and multiple ferrofluid droplets in two dimensions is investigated via a visual model predictive control approach based on machine learning. These achievements take both liquid droplet robotics and magnetic micro-robotics fields several steps closer toward real-world medical applications such as embedded soft electronic health monitors, liquid-droplet-robot-based drug delivery, and automated magnetically actuated surgeries.
ContributorsAhmed, Reza James (Author) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Thesis advisor) / Espanol, Malena (Committee member) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Zhuang, Houlong (Committee member) / Xu, Zhe (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Computing the fluid phase interfaces in multiphase flow is a challenging area of research in fluids. The Volume of Fluid andLevel Set methods are a few algorithms that have been developed for reconstructing the multiphase fluid flow interfaces.
The thesis work focuses on exploring the ability of neural networks to reconstruct the multiphase fluid flow interfaces using
a data-driven approach.
The neural network model has liquid volume fraction stencils as an input, and it predicts the radius of the circle as an
output of the network which represents a phase interface separating two immiscible fluids inside a fluid domain. The liquid
volume fraction stencils are generated for randomly varying circle radii within a 1x1 domain using an open-source VOFI
library. These datasets are used to train the neural network. Once the model is trained, the predicted circular phase
interface from the neural network output is used to generate back the predicted liquid volume fraction stencils.
Error norms values are calculated to assess the error in the neural network model’s predicted liquid volume fraction
stencils with the actual liquid volume fraction stencils from the VOFI library. The neural network parameters are optimized
by testing them for different hyper-parameters to reduce the error norms. So as to minimize the difference between the
predicted and the actual liquid volume fraction stencils and errors in reconstructing the fluid phase interface geometry.
ContributorsPawar, Pranav Rajesh (Author) / Herrmann, Marcus (Thesis advisor) / Zhuang, Houlong (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Owing to the surge in development of endovascular devices such as coils and flow diverter stents, doctors are inclined to approach surgical cases non-invasively more often than before. Treating brain aneurysms as a bulging of a weakened area of a blood vessel is no exception. Therefore, promoting techniques that can help surgeons have a better idea of treatment outcomes are of invaluable importance.
In order to investigate the effects of these devices on intra-aneurysmal hemodynamics, the conventional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach uses the explicit geometry of the device within an aneurysm and discretizes the fluid domain to solve the Navier-Stokes equations. However, since the devices are made of small struts, the number of mesh elements in the boundary layer region would be considerable. This cumbersome task led to the implementation of the porous medium assumption. In this approach, the explicit geometry of the device is eliminated, and relevant porous medium assumptions are applied. Unfortunately, as it will be shown in this research, some of the porous medium approaches used in the literature are over-simplified. For example, considering the porous domain to be homogeneous is one major drawback which leads to significant errors in capturing the intra-aneurysmal flow features. Specifically, since the devices must comply with the complex geometry of an aneurysm, the homogeneity assumption is not valid.
In this research, a novel heterogeneous porous medium approach is introduced. This results in a substantial reduction in the total number of mesh elements required to discretize the flow domain while not sacrificing the accuracy of the method by over-simplifying the utilized assumptions.
In order to investigate the effects of these devices on intra-aneurysmal hemodynamics, the conventional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach uses the explicit geometry of the device within an aneurysm and discretizes the fluid domain to solve the Navier-Stokes equations. However, since the devices are made of small struts, the number of mesh elements in the boundary layer region would be considerable. This cumbersome task led to the implementation of the porous medium assumption. In this approach, the explicit geometry of the device is eliminated, and relevant porous medium assumptions are applied. Unfortunately, as it will be shown in this research, some of the porous medium approaches used in the literature are over-simplified. For example, considering the porous domain to be homogeneous is one major drawback which leads to significant errors in capturing the intra-aneurysmal flow features. Specifically, since the devices must comply with the complex geometry of an aneurysm, the homogeneity assumption is not valid.
In this research, a novel heterogeneous porous medium approach is introduced. This results in a substantial reduction in the total number of mesh elements required to discretize the flow domain while not sacrificing the accuracy of the method by over-simplifying the utilized assumptions.
ContributorsYadollahi Farsani, Hooman (Author) / Herrmann, Marcus (Thesis advisor) / Frakes, David (Thesis advisor) / Chong, Brian (Committee member) / Peet, Yulia (Committee member) / Oswald, Jay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
In this dissertation, two types of passive air freshener products from Henkel, the wick-based air freshener and gel-based air freshener, are studied for their wicking mechanisms and evaporation performances.The fibrous pad of the wick-based air freshener is a porous medium that absorbs fragrance by capillary force and releases the fragrance into the ambient air. To investigate the wicking process, a two-dimensional multiphase flow numerical model using COMSOL Multiphysics is built. Saturation and liquid pressure inside the pad are solved. Comparison between the simulation results and experiments shows that evaporation occurs simultaneously with the wicking process. The evaporation performance on the surface of the wicking pad is analyzed based on the kinetic theory, from which the mass flow rate of molecules passing the interface of each pore of the porous medium is obtained. A 3D model coupling the evaporation model and dynamic wicking on the evaporation pad is built to simulate the entire performance of the air freshener to the environment for a long period of time. Diffusion and natural convection effects are included in the simulation. The simulation results match well with the experiments for both the air fresheners placed in a chamber and in the absent of a chamber, the latter of which is subject to indoor airflow.
The gel-based air freshener can be constructed as a porous medium in which the solid network of particles spans the volume of the fragrance liquid. To predict the evaporation performance of the gel, two approaches are tested for gel samples in hemispheric shape. The first approach is the sessile drop model commonly used for the drying process of a pure liquid droplet. It can be used to estimate the weight loss rate and time duration of the evaporation. Another approach is to simulate the concentration profile outside the gel and estimate the evaporation rate from the surface of the gel using the kinetic theory. The evaporation area is updated based on the change of pore size. A 3D simulation using the same analysis is further applied to the cylindrical gel sample. The simulation results match the experimental data well.
ContributorsYuan, Jing (Author) / Chen, Kangping (Thesis advisor) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
This thesis presents a study of the microstructure and mechanical properties of Yttrium-Zinc (YZn) thin films. Rare-earth intermetallic compounds have gained significant attention in recent years due to their unique structural and mechanical properties, making them suitable for various applications. However, studies on the Y-Zn system are scarce and there are very few published reports on YZn thin films. The main objective of this study is to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of YZn thin films using various experimental techniques.In this study, YZn films of various thicknesses were synthesized via magnetron co-sputtering: 200 nm, 500 nm, 1 µm, 2 µm and 11.5 µm. Then these samples were annealed at 250°C, 300°C, 350°C and 400°C to investigate their microstructural evolution and mechanical properties. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) based techniques have been used to analyze the microstructure and chemical composition of these compounds. The mechanical properties such as hardness and elastic modulus have been measured using nanoindentation.
The results show that the microstructure of YZn thin films is dependent on the annealing conditions. The microstructure of samples deposited at room temperature and those annealed at 250°C and 300°C were found to be amorphous except for the 200 nm YZn film. Annealing at higher temperatures leads to crystallization of the films. Moreover, the results demonstrate that YZn intermetallic thin films have high hardness, which varies with the film thickness and annealing treatment.
This work represents an initial effort to understand the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of YZn thin films as a function of film thickness and annealing temperatures. The results of this study can be used to guide the design and development of YZn thin films with tailored microstructures and mechanical properties for various applications.
ContributorsAkkarakaduppil, Riju Philip James (Author) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Thesis advisor, Committee member) / Peralta, Pedro (Committee member) / Solanki, Kiran (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
An approach for modeling resistance spot welding of thin-gauge, dissimilar metal sheets with high electrical conductivity is presented in this work. In this scenario, the electrical and thermal contact resistances play a dominant role in heat generation and temperature evolution within the workpieces; these interactions ultimately control the weld geometry. Existing models are limited in modeling these interactions, especially for dissimilar and thin-gauge metal sheets, and at higher temperatures when the multiphysics becomes increasingly interdependent. The approach presented here uses resistivity measurements, combined with thermal modeling and known bulk resistance relationships to infer the relationship between electrical contact resistance and temperature for each of the different material interfaces in the welding process. Corresponding thermal contact resistance models are developed using the Wiedemann-Franz law combined with a scaling factor to account for nonmetallic behavior. Experimental and simulation voltage histories and final weld diameter were used to validate this model for a Cu/Al/Cu and a Cu/Al/Cu/Al/Cu stack-ups. This model was then used to study the effect of Ni-P coating on resistance spot welding of Cu and Al sheets in terms of weld formation, mechanical deformation, and contact resistance. Contact resistance and current density distribution are highly dependent on contact pressure and temperature distribution at the Cu/Al interface in the presence of alumina. The Ni-P coating helps evolve a partially-bonded donut shaped weld into a fully-bonded hourglass-shaped weld by decreasing the dependence of contact resistance and current density distribution on contact pressure and temperature distribution at the Cu/Al interface. This work also provides an approach to minimize distortion due to offset-rolling in thin aluminum sheets by optimizing the stiffening feature geometry. The distortion is minimized using particle swarm optimization. The objective function is a function of distortion and smallest radius of curvature in the geometry. Doubling the minimum allowable radius of curvature nearly doubles the reduction in distortion from the stadium shape for a quarter model. Reduction in distortion in the quarter model extends to the full-scale model with the best design performing 5.3% and 27% better than the corresponding nominal design for a quarter and full-scale model, respectively.
ContributorsVeeresh, Pawan (Author) / Oswald, Jay (Thesis advisor) / Carlson, Blair (Committee member) / Hoover, Christian (Committee member) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Solanki, Kiran (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022