Recent studies of the occurrence of post-flutter limit cycle oscillations (LCO) of the F-16 have provided good support to the long-standing hypothesis that this phenomenon involves a nonlinear structural damping. A potential mechanism for the appearance of nonlinearity in the damping are the nonlinear geometric effects that arise when the deformations become large enough to exceed the linear regime. In this light, the focus of this investigation is first on extending nonlinear reduced order modeling (ROM) methods to include viscoelasticity which is introduced here through a linear Kelvin-Voigt model in the undeformed configuration. Proceeding with a Galerkin approach, the ROM governing equations of motion are obtained and are found to be of a generalized van der Pol-Duffing form with parameters depending on the structure and the chosen basis functions. An identification approach of the nonlinear damping parameters is next proposed which is applicable to structures modeled within commercial finite element software.

The effects of this nonlinear damping mechanism on the post-flutter response is next analyzed on the Goland wing through time-marching of the aeroelastic equations comprising a rational fraction approximation of the linear aerodynamic forces. It is indeed found that the nonlinearity in the damping can stabilize the unstable aerodynamics and lead to finite amplitude limit cycle oscillations even when the stiffness related nonlinear geometric effects are neglected. The incorporation of these latter effects in the model is found to further decrease the amplitude of LCO even though the dominant bending motions do not seem to stiffen as the level of displacements is increased in static analyses.

Dissimilar metal joints such as aluminum-steel joints are extensively used in automobile, naval and aerospace applications and these are subjected to corrosive environmental and mechanical loading resulting in eventual failure of the structural joints. In the case of aluminum alloys under aggressive environment, the damage accumulation is predominantly due to corrosion and is accelerated in presence of other metals. During recent years several approaches have been employed to develop models to assess the metal removal rate in the case of galvanic corrosion. Some of these models are based on empirical methods such as regression analysis while others are based on quantification of the ongoing electrochemical processes. Here, a numerical model for solving the Nernst- Planck equation, which captures the electrochemical process, is implemented to predict the galvanic current distribution and, hence, the corrosion rate of a galvanic couple. An experimentally validated numerical model for an AE44 (Magnesium alloy) and mild steel galvanic couple, available in the literature, is extended to simulate the mechano- electrochemical process in order to study the effect of mechanical loading on the galvanic current density distribution and corrosion rate in AE44-mild steel galvanic couple through a multiphysics field coupling technique in COMSOL Multiphysics®. The model is capable of tracking moving boundariesy of the corroding constituent of the couple by employing Arbitrary Langrangian Eulerian (ALE) method.Results show that, when an anode is under a purely elastic deformation, there is no apparent effect of mechanical loading on the electrochemical galvanic process. However, when the applied tensile load is sufficient to cause a plastic deformation, the local galvanic corrosion activity at the vicinity of the interface is increased remarkably. The effect of other factors, such as electrode area ratios, electrical conductivity of the electrolyte and depth of the electrolyte, are studied. It is observed that the conductivity of the electrolyte significantly influences the surface profile of the anode, especially near the junction. Although variations in electrolyte depth for a given galvanic couple noticeably affect the overall corrosion, the change in the localized corrosion rate at the interface is minimal. Finally, we use the model to predict the current density distribution, rate of corrosion and depth profile of aluminum alloy 7075-stainless steel 316 galvanic joints, which are extensively used in maritime structures.

Design problem formulation is believed to influence creativity, yet it has received only modest attention in the research community. Past studies of problem formulation are scarce and often have small sample sizes. The main objective of this research is to understand how problem formulation affects creative outcome. Three research areas are investigated: development of a model which facilitates capturing the differences among designers' problem formulation; representation and implication of those differences; the relation between problem formulation and creativity.

This dissertation proposes the Problem Map (P-maps) ontological framework. P-maps represent designers' problem formulation in terms of six groups of entities (requirement, use scenario, function, artifact, behavior, and issue). Entities have hierarchies within each group and links among groups. Variables extracted from P-maps characterize problem formulation.

Three experiments were conducted. The first experiment was to study the similarities and differences between novice and expert designers. Results show that experts use more abstraction than novices do and novices are more likely to add entities in a specific order. Experts also discover more issues.

The second experiment was to see how problem formulation relates to creativity. Ideation metrics were used to characterize creative outcome. Results include but are not limited to a positive correlation between adding more issues in an unorganized way with quantity and variety, more use scenarios and functions with novelty, more behaviors and conflicts identified with quality, and depth-first exploration with all ideation metrics. Fewer hierarchies in use scenarios lower novelty and fewer links to requirements and issues lower quality of ideas.

The third experiment was to see if problem formulation can predict creative outcome. Models based on one problem were used to predict the creativity of another. Predicted scores were compared to assessments of independent judges. Quality and novelty are predicted more accurately than variety, and quantity. Backward elimination improves model fit, though reduces prediction accuracy.

P-maps provide a theoretical framework for formalizing, tracing, and quantifying conceptual design strategies. Other potential applications are developing a test of problem formulation skill, tracking students' learning of formulation skills in a course, and reproducing other researchers’ observations about designer thinking.

Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is a phenomenon that affects both the physical and chemical properties of several intrinsically ductile metals. Consequently, understanding the mechanisms behind HE has been of particular interest in both experimental and modeling research. Discrepancies between experimental observations and modeling results have led to various proposals for HE mechanisms. Therefore, to gain insights into HE mechanisms in iron, this dissertation aims to investigate several key issues involving HE such as: a) the incipient crack tip events; b) the cohesive strength of grain boundaries (GBs); c) the dislocation-GB interactions and d) the dislocation mobility.

The crack tip, which presents a preferential trap site for hydrogen segregation, was examined using atomistic methods and the continuum based Rice-Thompson criterion as sufficient concentration of hydrogen can alter the crack tip deformation mechanism. Results suggest that there is a plausible co-existence of the adsorption induced dislocation emission and hydrogen enhanced decohesion mechanisms. In the case of GB-hydrogen interaction, we observed that the segregation of hydrogen along the interface leads to a reduction in cohesive strength resulting in intergranular failure. A methodology was further developed to quantify the role of the GB structure on this behavior.

GBs play a fundamental role in determining the strengthening mechanisms acting as an impediment to the dislocation motion; however, the presence of an unsurmountable barrier for a dislocation can generate slip localization that could further lead to intergranular crack initiation. It was found that the presence of hydrogen increases the strain energy stored within the GB which could lead to a transition in failure mode. Finally, in the case of body centered cubic metals, understanding the complex screw dislocation motion is critical to the development of an accurate continuum description of the plastic behavior. Further, the presence of hydrogen has been shown to drastically alter the plastic deformation, but the precise role of hydrogen is still unclear. Thus, the role of hydrogen on the dislocation mobility was examined using density functional theory and atomistic simulations. Overall, this dissertation provides a novel atomic-scale understanding of the HE mechanism and development of multiscale tools for future endeavors.

Nanoparticle suspensions, popularly termed “nanofluids,” have been extensively investigated for their thermal and radiative properties. Such work has generated great controversy, although it is arguably accepted today that the presence of nanoparticles rarely leads to useful enhancements in either thermal conductivity or convective heat transfer. On the other hand, there are still examples of unanticipated enhancements to some properties, such as the reported specific heat of molten salt-based nanofluids and the critical heat flux. Another largely overlooked example is the apparent effect of nanoparticles on the effective latent heat of vaporization (hfg) of aqueous nanofluids. A previous study focused on molecular dynamics (MD) modeling supplemented with limited experimental data to suggest that hfg increases with increasing nanoparticle concentration.

Here, this research extends that exploratory work in an effort to determine if hfg of aqueous nanofluids can be manipulated, i.e., increased or decreased, by the addition of graphite or silver nanoparticles. Our results to date indicate that hfg can be substantially impacted, by up to ± 30% depending on the type of nanoparticle. Moreover, this dissertation reports further experiments with changing surface area based on volume fraction (0.005% to 2%) and various nanoparticle sizes to investigate the mechanisms for hfg modification in aqueous graphite and silver nanofluids. This research also investigates thermophysical properties, i.e., density and surface tension in aqueous nanofluids to support the experimental results of hfg based on the Clausius - Clapeyron equation. This theoretical investigation agrees well with the experimental results. Furthermore, this research investigates the hfg change of aqueous nanofluids with nanoscale studies in terms of melting of silver nanoparticles and hydrophobic interactions of graphite nanofluid. As a result, the entropy change due to those mechanisms could be a main cause of the changes of hfg in silver and graphite nanofluids.

Finally, applying the latent heat results of graphite and silver nanofluids to an actual solar thermal system to identify enhanced performance with a Rankine cycle is suggested to show that the tunable latent heat of vaporization in nanofluilds could be beneficial for real-world solar thermal applications with improved efficiency.

Many physical phenomena and industrial applications involve multiphase fluid flows and hence it is of high importance to be able to simulate various aspects of these flows accurately. The Dynamic Contact Angles (DCA) and the contact lines at the wall boundaries are a couple of such important aspects. In the past few decades, many mathematical models were developed for predicting the contact angles of the inter-face with the wall boundary under various flow conditions. These models are used to incorporate the physics of DCA and contact line motion in numerical simulations using various interface capturing/tracking techniques. In the current thesis, a simple approach to incorporate the static and dynamic contact angle boundary conditions using the level set method is developed and implemented in multiphase CFD codes, LIT (Level set Interface Tracking) (Herrmann (2008)) and NGA (flow solver) (Desjardins et al (2008)). Various DCA models and associated boundary conditions are reviewed. In addition, numerical aspects such as the occurrence of a stress singularity at the contact lines and grid convergence of macroscopic interface shape are dealt with in the context of the level set approach.

Conventional fluid dynamics models such as the Navier-Stokes equations are derived for prediction of fluid motion at or near equilibrium, classic examples being the motion of fluids for which inter-molecular collisions are dominant. Flows at equilibrium permit simplifications such as the introduction of viscosity and also lead to solutions that are single-valued. However, many other regimes of interest include "fluids"' far from equilibrium; for example, rarefied gases or particle-laden flows in which the dispersed phase can be comprised of granular solids, droplets, or bubbles. Particle motion in these flows is not typically dominated by collisions and may exhibit significant memory effects; therefore, is often poorly described using continuum, field-based (Eulerian) approaches. Non-equilibrium flows generally lack a straightforward counterpart to viscosity and their multi-valued solutions cannot be represented by most Eulerian methods. This strongly motivates different strategies to address current shortcomings and the novel approach adopted in this work is based on the Conditional Quadrature Method of Moments (CQMOM). In CQMOM, moment equations are derived from the Boltzmann equation using a quadrature approximation of the velocity probability density function (PDF). CQMOM circumvents the drawbacks of current methods and leads to multivariate and multidimensional solutions in an Eulerian frame of reference. In the present work, the discretized PDF is resolved using an adaptive two-point quadrature in three-dimensional velocity space. The method is applied to computation of a series of non-equilibrium flows, ranging from simple two-dimensional test cases to fully-turbulent three-dimensional wall-bounded particle-laden flows. The primary contribution of the present effort is on development, application, and assessment of CQMOM for predicting the key features of dilute particle-laden flows. Statistical descriptors such as mean concentration and mean velocity are in good agreement with previous results, for both collision-less and collisional flows at varying particle Stokes numbers. Turbulent statistics and measures of local accumulation agree less favorably with prior results and identify areas for improvement in the modeling strategy.

In this thesis, a FORTRAN code is rewritten in C++ with an object oriented ap-

proach. There are several reasons for this purpose. The first reason is to establish

the basis of a GPU programming. To write programs that utilize GPU hardware,

CUDA or OpenCL is used which only support C and C++. FORTRAN has a feature

that lets its programs to call C/C++ functions. FORTRAN sends relevant data to

C/C++, which in turn sends that data to OpenCL. Although this approach works,

it makes the code messy and bulky and in the end more difficult to deal with. More-

over, there is a slight performance decrease from the additional data copy. This is

the motivation to have the code entirely written in C++ to make it more uniform,

efficient and clean. The second reason is the object oriented feature of the C++. The

“abstraction”, “inheritance” and “run-time polymorphism” features of C++ provide

some form of classes and objects, the ability to build new abstractions, and some

form of run-time binding, respectively. In recent years, some of popular codes has

been rewritten in C++ which were initially in FORTRAN. One of these softwares is

LAMMPS.

In this code the level set equation is solved by RLSG method to track the interface in

two phase flow. In gas/fluid flows, the surface tension is important and only exists at

the interface. Therefore, the location and some geometric features of interface need

to be evaluated which can be achieved by solving the level set equation.

In engineering, buckling is mechanical instability of walls or columns under compression and usually is a problem that engineers try to prevent. In everyday life buckles (wrinkles) on different substrates are ubiquitous -- from human skin to a rotten apple they are a commonly observed phenomenon. It seems that buckles with macroscopic wavelengths are not technologically useful; over the past decade or so, however, thanks to the widespread availability of soft polymers and silicone materials micro-buckles with wavelengths in submicron to micron scale have received increasing attention because it is useful for generating well-ordered periodic microstructures spontaneously without conventional lithographic techniques. This thesis investigates the buckling behavior of thin stiff films on soft polymeric substrates and explores a variety of applications, ranging from optical gratings, optical masks, energy harvest to energy storage. A laser scanning technique is proposed to detect micro-strain induced by thermomechanical loads and a periodic buckling microstructure is employed as a diffraction grating with broad wavelength tunability, which is spontaneously generated from a metallic thin film on polymer substrates. A mechanical strategy is also presented for quantitatively buckling nanoribbons of piezoelectric material on polymer substrates involving the combined use of lithographically patterning surface adhesion sites and transfer printing technique. The precisely engineered buckling configurations provide a route to energy harvesters with extremely high levels of stretchability. This stiff-thin-film/polymer hybrid structure is further employed into electrochemical field to circumvent the electrochemically-driven stress issue in silicon-anode-based lithium ion batteries. It shows that the initial flat silicon-nanoribbon-anode on a polymer substrate tends to buckle to mitigate the lithiation-induced stress so as to avoid the pulverization of silicon anode. Spontaneously generated submicron buckles of film/polymer are also used as an optical mask to produce submicron periodic patterns with large filling ratio in contrast to generating only ~100 nm edge submicron patterns in conventional near-field soft contact photolithography. This thesis aims to deepen understanding of buckling behavior of thin films on compliant substrates and, in turn, to harness the fundamental properties of such instability for diverse applications.

ABSTRACT Electronics especially mobile electronics such as smart phones, tablet PCs, notebooks and digital cameras are undergoing rapid development nowadays and have thoroughly changed our lives. With the requirement of more transistors, higher power, smaller size, lighter weight and even bendability, thermal management of these devices became one of the key challenges. Compared to active heat management system, heat pipe, which is a passive fluidic system, is considered promising to solve this problem. However, traditional heat pipes have size, weight and capillary limitation. Thus new type of heat pipe with smaller size, lighter weight and higher capillary pressure is needed. Nanofiber has been proved with superior properties and has been applied in multiple areas. This study discussed the possibility of applying nanofiber in heat pipe as new wick structure. In this study, a needleless electrospinning device with high productivity rate was built onsite to systematically investigate the effect of processing parameters on fiber properties as well as to generate nanofiber mat to evaluate its capability in electronics cooling. Polyethylene oxide (PEO) and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) nanofibers were generated. Tensiometer was used for wettability measurement. The results show that independent parameters including spinneret type, working distance, solution concentration and polymer type are strongly correlated with fiber morphology compared to other parameters. The results also show that the fabricated nanofiber mat has high capillary pressure.