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Description
Civil infrastructures are susceptible to damage under the events of natural or manmade disasters. Over the last two decades, the use of emerging engineering materials, such as the fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs), in structural retrofitting have gained significant popularity. However, due to their inherent brittleness and lack of energy dissipation, undesirable

Civil infrastructures are susceptible to damage under the events of natural or manmade disasters. Over the last two decades, the use of emerging engineering materials, such as the fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs), in structural retrofitting have gained significant popularity. However, due to their inherent brittleness and lack of energy dissipation, undesirable failure modes of the FRP-retrofitted systems, such as sudden laminate fracture and debonding, have been frequently observed. In this light, a Carbon-fiber reinforced Hybrid-polymeric Matrix Composite (or CHMC) was developed to provide a superior, yet affordable, solution for infrastructure damage mitigation and protection. The microstructural and micromechanical characteristics of the CHMC was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nanoindentation technique. The mechanical performance, such as damping, was identified using free and forced vibration tests. A simplified analytical model based on micromechanics was developed to predict the laminate stiffness using the modulus profile tested by the nanoindentation. The prediction results were verified by the flexural modulus calculated from the vibration tests. The feasibility of using CHMC to retrofit damaged structural systems was investigated via a series of structural component level tests. The effectiveness of using CHMC versus conventional carbon-fiber reinforced epoxy (CF/ epoxy) to retrofit notch damaged steel beams were tested. The comparison of the test results indicated the superior deformation capacity of the CHMC retrofitted beams. The full field strain distributions near the critical notch tip region were experimentally determined by the digital imaging correlation (DIC), and the results matched well with the finite element analysis (FEA) results. In the second series of tests, the application of CHMC was expanded to retrofit the full-scale fatigue-damaged concrete-encased steel (or SRC) girders. Similar to the notched steel beam tests, the CHMC retrofitted SRC girders exhibited substantially better post-peak load ductility than that of CF/ epoxy retrofitted girder. Lastly, a quasi-static push over test on the CHMC retrofitted reinforced concrete shear wall further highlighted the CHMC's capability of enhancing the deformation and energy dissipating potential of the damaged civil infrastructure systems. Analytical and numerical models were developed to assist the retrofitting design using the newly developed CHMC material.
ContributorsZhou, Hongyu (Author) / Attard, Thomas L (Thesis advisor) / Fafitis, Apostolos (Thesis advisor) / Mignolet, Marc P (Committee member) / Ariaratnam, Samuel (Committee member) / Thomas, Benjamin (Committee member) / Blumsom, Jim (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
Gas turbine efficiency has improved over the years due to increases in compressor

pressure ratio and turbine entry temperature (TET) of main combustion gas, made viable

through advancements in material science and cooling techniques. Ingestion of main

combustion gas into the turbine rotor-stator disk cavities can cause major damage to the

gas turbine. To

Gas turbine efficiency has improved over the years due to increases in compressor

pressure ratio and turbine entry temperature (TET) of main combustion gas, made viable

through advancements in material science and cooling techniques. Ingestion of main

combustion gas into the turbine rotor-stator disk cavities can cause major damage to the

gas turbine. To counter this ingestion, rim seals are installed at the periphery of turbine

disks, and purge air extracted from the compressor discharge is supplied to the disk

cavities. Optimum usage of purge air is essential as purge air extraction imparts a penalty on turbine efficiency and specific fuel consumption.

In the present work, experiments were conducted in a newly constructed 1.5-stage

axial flow air turbine featuring vanes and blades to study main gas ingestion. The disk

cavity upstream of the rotor, the 'front cavity', features a double seal with radial clearance

and axial overlap at its rim. The disk cavity downstream of the rotor, the 'aft cavity', features a double seal at its rim but with axial gap. Both cavities contain a labyrinth seal radially inboard; this divides each disk cavity into an 'inner cavity' and a 'rim cavity'.

Time-averaged static pressure at various locations in the main gas path and disk

cavities, and tracer gas (CO2) concentration at different locations in the cavities were

measured. Three sets of experiments were carried out; each set is defined by the main air flow rate and rotor speed. Each of the three sets comprises of four different purge air flow rates, low to high.

The mass flow rate of ingested main gas into the front and aft rim cavities is

reported at the different purge air flow rates, for the three experiment sets. For the present stage configuration, it appears that some ingestion persisted into both the front and aft rim cavities even at high purge air flow rates. On the other hand, the front and aft inner cavity were completely sealed at all purge flows.
ContributorsMichael, Mukilan Sebastiraj (Author) / Roy, Ramendra P (Thesis advisor) / Mignolet, Marc P (Thesis advisor) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015