During life of railway vehicles, shape irregularities develop on wheels and rails because of wear. The shape irregularities then affect forces in wheel-rail contact and cause further damage of contact surfaces, vibrations and noise and increase risk of derailment. A numerical simulation of railway vehicle motion with more details on contact surfaces geometry was created to investigate dynamic contact loads in wheel-rail contact. A variety of methods can be used to evaluate forces in rolling contact, the method chosen for this study was algorithm CONTACT based on boundary element method. Four studies are presented in this papers: contact loads from a wheel with a flat and with a wavy tread pattern, loads on wavy rail and load in a curve. The first three studies investigated effects of existing wear patterns, the last one looked for cause of common wear pattern developing on rails. Results of the studies with worn components used showed that the worst kind of shape irregularities is a flat present on wheel. This type of shape cause loss of contact and following impacts. The study of ride in curve showed that cause of high wear in curves, especially those with small radii, is caused by vibration of wheelset. This vibration is then caused by different length of inner and outer rail and wheels travelling along a different path.

The use of computational methods in tribology can be a valuable approach to deal with engineering problems, ultimately saving time and resources. In this work, amodel problem and methodology is developed to deal with a common situation found in experiments in tribology, namely a linearly reciprocating block-on-flat drysliding contact. The modelling and simulation of such case would allow a better understanding of the contact pressure distribution, wear and geometry evolutionof the block as it wears out during a test. Initially, the introduction and motivation for this work is presented, followed by a presentation of relevant scientific topics related to this work. Wear modelling of published studies are reviewed next, along with studies available in the literature and the goals for this thesis.The fourth section refers to the methodology used and the built-up of the model problem. In this work the Finite Element Method and Archard’s wear model through COMSOL Multiphysics® and MATLAB® are used to study the proposed contact problem. The construction of the model problem is detailed and the procedure for wear, geometry update and long term predictions, is presented inspired by the literature reviewed. Finally, the results are presented and discussed; wear increment and new geometries evolution are presented in the figures, followed by pressure profile evolution at selected times. The final geometry is also compared for different time steps. At last, conclusions and recommendations for future work are stated.

L’adaptation des surfaces pour des fonctions prédéterminées par le choix des matériaux métalliques ou des couches minces ayant des propriétés mécaniques avancées peut potentiellement permettre de réaliser des nouvelles applications à petites échelles. Concevoir de telles applications utilisant des nouveaux matériaux nécessite en premier lieu la connaissance des propriétés mécaniques des matériaux ciblés à l’échelle microscopique et nanoscopique. Une méthode souvent appliquée pour caractériser les matériaux à petites échelles est la nanoindentation, qui peut être vue comme une mesure de dureté à l’échelle nanoscopique. Ce travail présente une contribution relative à l'interprétation des résultats de la nanoindentation, qui fait intervenir un grand nombre de phénomènes physiques couplés à l'aide de simulations numériques. A cette fin une approche interdisciplinaire, adaptée aux phénomènes apparaissant à petites échelles, et située à l’intersection entre la physique, la mécanique et la science des matériaux a été utilisée. Des modèles numériques de la nanoindentation ont été conçus à l'échelle atomique (modèle discret) et à l'échelle des milieux continus (méthode des éléments finis), pour étudier le comportement du nickel pur. Ce matériau a été choisi pour ses propriétés mécaniques avancées, sa résistance à l'usure et sa bio-compatibilité, qui peuvent permettre des applications futures intéressantes à l'échelle nanoscopique, particulièrement dans le domaine biomédical. Des méthodes avancées de mécanique du solide ont été utilisées pour prendre en compte les grandes déformations locales du matériau (par la formulation corotationelle), et pour décrire les conditions de contact qui évoluent au cours de l'analyse dans le modèle à l'échelle des milieux continus (traitement des conditions de contact unilatérales et tangentielles par une forme de Lagrangien augmenté). L’application des modèles numériques a permis de contribuer à l’identification des phénomènes qui gouvernent la nanoindentation du nickel pur. Le comportement viscoplastique du nickel pur pendant nanoindentation a été identifié dans une étude expérimentale-numérique couplée, et l'effet cumulatif de la rugosité et du frottement sur la dispersion des résultats de la nanoindentation a été montré par une étude numérique (dont les résultats sont en accord avec des tendances expérimentales). Par ailleurs, l’utilisation de l’outil numérique pour une autre application à petites échelles, la manipulation des objets par contact, a contribué à la compréhension de la variation de l’adhésion électrostatique pendant micromanipulation. La déformation plastique des aspérités de surface sur le bras de manipulateur (en nickel pur) a été identifiée comme une source potentielle d’augmentation importante de l'adhésion pendant la micromanipulation, qui peut potentiellement causer des problèmes de relâche et de précision de positionnement, observés expérimentalement. Les résultats présentés dans cette thèse montrent que des simulations numériques basées sur la physique du problème traité peuvent expliquer des tendances expérimentales et contribuer à la compréhension et l'interprétation d'essais couramment utilisé pour la caractérisation aux petites échelles. Le travail réalisé dans cette thèse s’inscrit dans un projet de recherche appelé "mini-micro-nano" (mµn), financé par la Communauté Française de Belgique dans le cadre de "l'Action de Recherche Concertée", convention 04/09-310.

Fuel cells represent a promising energy alternative to the traditional combustion of fossil fuels. In particular, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been of interest due to their high energy densities and potential for stationary power applications. One of the key obstacles precluding the maturation and commercialization of planar SOFCs has been the absence of a robust sealant. A leakage computational model has been developed and refined in conjunction with leakage experiments and material characterization tests at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to predict leakage in a single interface metal-metal compressive seal assembly as well as multi-interface mica compressive seal assemblies. The composite model is applied as a predictive tool for assessing how certain parameters (i.e., temperature, applied compressive stress, surface finish, and elastic thermo physical properties) affect seal leakage rates.

In this dissertation, we developed cell stiffness as a biomarker in ovarian cancer for the purpose of grading metastatic potential. By measuring single cell stiffness with atomic force microscopy and quantifying in vitro invasiveness of healthy and cancerous ovarian cells, we demonstrated that cancerous ovarian cells have reduced stiffness compared to the healthy ones and invasive ovarian cancer cells are more deformable than noninvasive ovarian cancer cells. The difference in cell stiffness between two genetically similar cell lines was attributed to actin-mediated cytoskeletal remodeling as revealed by comparative gene expression profile analysis, and was further confirmed by fluorescent visualization of actin cytoskeletal structures. The actin cytoskeletons were innovatively quantified and correlates with cell stiffness distributions, further implicating actin-mediated cytoskeletal remodeling in stiffness alteration from the perspective of structure-property relationship. The correlation between stiffness and metastatic potential was also demonstrated in pancreatic cancer cell line AsPC-1, which shows reduced invasivess and increased stiffness upon treatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), a well known antioxidant, reactive oxygen species (ROS), scavenger and glutathione precursor. The correlation between cell stiffness and metastatic potential as demonstrated in ovarian and pancreatic cancer cells indicated that mechanical stiffness may be a useful biomarker to evaluate the relative metastatic potential of ovarian and perhaps other types of cancer cells, and might be useful clinically with the development of rapid biomechanical assaying techniques. We have also investigated the stiffness evolution through progression of the cell cycle for the healthy ovarian phenotype and the invasive cancer ovarian phenotype, and found that the healthy phenotype at G1 phase are significantly stiffer than other single cells except the invasive phenotype at late mitosis; other groups are not significantly different from each other. We have also investigated intracellular heterogeneity and mechanical nonlinearity in single cells. To this end, we developed a methodology to analyze the deformation-dependent mechanical nonlinearity using a pointwise Hertzian method, and tested the method on ultrathin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) films which underwent extremely large strains (greater than 50%). Mechanical stiffening due to large strain and geometrical confinement were observed. The onset of nonlinearity or mechanical stiffening occurs at 45% of the film thickness, the geometry induced stiffening causes an increase in stiffness which shows a strong power law dependence on film thickness. By applying the pointwise Hertzian method on stiffness measurements with AFM that were collected on living cells, we also investigated the nonlinear and heterogeneous mechanics of single cells, since attachment of cells to stiff substrate during indentation may impact their mechanical responses. Even under natural biological conditions, cells confined in narrow spaces may experience heightened mechanical stiffness. Through indentation-dependent force mapping, analysis of the local cell stiffness demonstrated spatial variation. The results indicated that the mechanical properties of single cells are highly nonlinear and are dependent upon the subcellular features under the applied force as well as the dimensions of the cellular material. We identified single cell stiffness as a potential biomarker of the metastatic potential in ovarian cancer, and quantified the effect of geometrical confinement on cell mechanics. The results presented in this dissertation not only made contributions to the development of accurate, non-invasive clinical methods to estimate metastatic potential of ovarian and perhaps other types of cancer, but also shed light on the intracellular mechanical information by developing new techniques to quantify the effect of geometry on cell mechanics.

The aim of this study is to evaluate a methodology for modeling the influence of crystallographic grain orientation on key parameters in normal and sliding contacts. The simulations of interfering cylindrical asperities, using finite element analysis, were conducted using two different plasticity models for copper: a conventional isotropic, homogeneous J2 plasticity model and a continuum crystal plasticity model. A normal contact study was conducted in which crystallographic orientation effects on different parameters were investigated. The model was then adapted for sliding contacts, which allowed other parameters such as energy dissipation to be investigated. Using crystal plasticity, the dependence of crystallographic orientation on plastic deformation and energy dissipation can be determined. The relative trends predicted using crystal plasticity are consistent with experiments that show friction depends on crystallographic orientation when plastic deformation is one of the primary energy dissipation mechanisms.

La simulation des systèmes multicorps avec une dynamique non régulière trouve ses applications dans différents domaines comme l'aéronautique, l'automobile, le ferroviaire, la robotique, la réalité virtuelle et même l'industrie horlogère. Ces industries ont de plus en plus d'exigences sur la rapidité ainsi que la précision des méthodes utilisées pour calculer la dynamique. Par conséquent, la recherche dans le domaine de la mécanique non régulière est très active et a pour objectif constant de proposer des algorithmes plus robustes et plus rapides pour calculer la dynamique ainsi que de développer de meilleurs modèles pour le contact avec ou sans frottement. Les méthodes proposées doivent en plus bien gérer les sauts dans la vitesse et l'accélération des systèmes, ces sauts résultent de phénomènes tels que l'impact et le frottement. Dans ce manuscrit, quelques méthodes d'intégration d'équations différentielles algébriques d'index 3, 2 et 1 sont testées sur plusieurs mécanismes industriels avec contraintes unilatérales et bilatérales. Ces méthodes sont ensuite comparées sur la base de la satisfaction des contraintes bilatérales, de l'efficacité numérique et de leur capacité à gérer une dynamique raide. Cette étude a aussi permis d'apporter une réponse claire sur le choix de la méthode d'intégration pour un système mécanique connaissant ses caractéristiques (nombre de contacts, présence de contraintes bilatérales, dynamique raide...). La deuxième partie de ce travail traite certains problèmes qui sont fréquemment rencontrés dans la simulation des systèmes multicorps, notamment: le phénomène d'accumulation des impacts, la résolution du frottement, ainsi que la gestion des sauts qui peuvent être provoqués par la présence de singularités géométriques. Calculer la dynamique dans ces cas est particulièrement difficile dans le cadre des schémas event-driven. La solution proposée est un schéma d'intégration mixte "event-driven/time-stepping" dont le but est d'utiliser les avantages de chacune des familles d'intégration (event-driven et time-stepping). Notre algorithme est ensuite testé sur de nombreux exemples. / The applications of the nonsmooth multibody systems field cover several fields including aeronautics, automotive, robotics, railway, virtual reality and watch industry to cite a few. These industrial applications have ever more stringent requirements on both accuracy and speed of the numerical methods used for the computation of the dynamics. As a consequence, the research in the nonsmooth mechanics domain is very active, to provide better integration methods for the resolution of the equations of motions and to develop better models for the contact problems with and without friction. Since the nonsmooth mechanics framework allows for jumps in the velocity and in the acceleration of the mechanical systems, the resulting algorithms have to handle such non-smoothness. In this PhD, several numerical schemes for the resolution of index-3, index-2 and index-1 DAEs are compared on industrial benchmarks with bilateral and unilateral constraints. The aim is to improve the efficiency of the Ansys Rigid Body solver which is based on an event-driven integration strategy. Points of comparison include the enforcement of the bilateral constraints, time efficiency and handling the stiff dynamics. This study also aimed at having a clear idea on the choice of the most suitable integration method for a given mechanical system knowing its characteristics (number of contacts, presence of bilateral constraints, stiff dynamics...). The second part discusses several issues that frequently occur in the simulation of multibody systems, namely, the problem of accumulation of impacts, the resolution of friction and handling the jumps resulting from the presence of some geometrical singularities. Dealing with such issues is very difficult, especially in the framework of event-driven schemes. In order to handle these problems, a mixed event-driven/time-stepping scheme is developed which takes advantage of both integration families (event-driven and time-stepping). Several examples are used to validate our methodology.

abstract: Current trends in the Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) involve the integration of legacy mesh-based finite element software with newer solid-modeling kernels or full CAD systems in order to simplify laborious or highly specialized tasks in engineering analysis. In particular, mesh generation is becoming increasingly automated. In addition, emphasis is increasingly placed on full assembly (multi-part) models, which in turn necessitates an automated approach to contact analysis. This task is challenging due to increases in algebraic system size, as well as increases in the number of distorted elements - both of which necessitate manual intervention to maintain accuracy and conserve computer resources. In this investigation, it is demonstrated that the use of a mesh-free B-Spline finite element basis for structural contact problems results in significantly smaller algebraic systems than mesh-based approaches for similar grid spacings. The relative error in calculated contact pressure is evaluated for simple two dimensional smooth domains at discrete points within the contact zone and compared to the analytical Hertz solution, as well as traditional mesh-based finite element solutions for similar grid spacings. For smooth curved domains, the relative error in contact pressure is shown to be less than for bi-quadratic Serendipity elements. The finite element formulation draws on some recent innovations, in which the domain to be analyzed is integrated with the use of transformed Gauss points within the domain, and boundary conditions are applied via distance functions (R-functions). However, the basis is stabilized through a novel selective normalization procedure. In addition, a novel contact algorithm is presented in which the B-Spline support grid is re-used for contact detection. The algorithm is demonstrated for two simple 2-dimensional assemblies. Finally, a modified Penalty Method is demonstrated for connecting elements with incompatible bases. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering 2010

Dans cette thèse, nous développons une méthode locale de type "mortar" pour traiter le problème de contact avec maillages incompatibles de manière optimale dans un code de calcul par éléments finis de niveau industriel. Dans la première partie de la thèse, nous introduisons le cadre mathématique de la méthode intitulée "Local Average Contact" (LAC). Cette approche consiste à imposer la condition de non-interpénétration en moyenne sur chaque élément d'un macro-maillage défini de manière idoine. Nous commençons par développer une nouvelle technique de preuve pour démontrer l'optimalité des approches de type inéquation variationnelle discrétisée par éléments finis standards pour le problème de Signorini, sans hypothèse autre que la régularité Sobolev de la solution du problème continu. Puis nous définissons la méthode LAC et démontrons, à l'aide des nouveaux outils techniques, l'optimalité de cette approche locale modélisant le contact unilatéral dans le cas général des maillages incompatibles. Pour finir, nous introduisons la formulation mixte équivalente et démontrons son optimalité et sa stabilité. Dans la seconde partie de la thèse, nous nous intéressons à l'étude numérique de la méthode LAC. Nous confirmons sa capacité à gérer numériquement le contact unilatéral avec maillages incompatibles de manière optimale à l'instar des méthodes "mortar" classiques, tout en restant facilement implémentable dans un code de calcul industriel. On montre ainsi, entre autres, que la méthode passe avec succès le patch test de Taylor. Finalement, nous montrons son apport en terme de robustesse et au niveau de la qualité des pressions de contact sur une étude de type industrielle. / In this thesis, we develop a local "mortar" kind method to deal with the problem of contact with non-matching meshes in an optimal way into a finite element code of industrial level. In the first part of the thesis, we introduce the mathematical framework of the Local Average Contact method (LAC). This approach consists in satisfying the non-interpenetration condition in average on each element of a macro-mesh defined in a suitable way. We start by developing a new technique for proving the optimality of variational inequality approaches discretized by finite elements modeling Signorini problem without other hypothesis than the Sobolev regularity of the solution of the continuous problem. Then we define the LAC method and prove, using the new technical tools, the optimality of this local approach modeling the unilateral contact in the general case of non-matching meshes. Finally, we introduce the equivalent mixed formulation and prove its optimality and stability. In the second part of the thesis, we are interested in the numerical study of the LAC method. We confirm its ability to optimally treat the contact problem when considering non-matching meshes like standard "mortar" methods, while remaining easily implementable in an industrial finite element code. We show, for example, that the method successfully passes the Taylor patch test. Finally, we show its contribution in terms of robustness and at the quality of the contact pressures on an industrial study.

Orientador: Auteliano Antunes dos Santos Júnior / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T19:33:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fumes_FabianoGonzaga_M.pdf: 12049048 bytes, checksum: df4dc1dd45d74bbdc31c6a5893edd4fe (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta a comparação entre os diversos critérios de fadiga multiaxial de alto ciclo aplicados ao problema de contato roda-trilho. Para isto, é utilizado um modelo elastoplástico tridimensional de elementos finitos capaz de permitir o cálculo tanto das tensões geradas pelo rolamento de uma roda livre de tensões residuais de fabricação como de uma roda que contenha as tensões residuais provenientes do processo de tratamento térmico, obtidas através de uma simulação térmico-estrutural. Estes dois cenários são avaliados segundo critérios de fadiga multiaxial baseados tanto em planos críticos, como Dang Van, Matake e McDiarmid, quanto nos baseados em invariantes do tensor de tensões, como Sines, Crossland e Kakuno Kawada. Pela natureza da fadiga de contato, que não possui condição de vida infinita, é estimado para cada critério um número de ciclos para o aparecimento das trincas. Como resultado, observa-se que para alguns critérios como Dang Van, Sines e Kakuno-Kawada, a vida em fadiga é beneficiada pelo processo de tratamento térmico, enquanto para os demais, as tensões residuais de fabricação provocam uma redução no número de ciclos para o aparecimento das trincas / Abstract: This work presents a comparison of different high cycle multiaxial fatigue criteria, applied to wheel- rail contact. For this, it is used a three-dimensional elastoplastic finite element model able to calculate stresses generated by the rolling of a wheel free of residual stresses from manufacturing process and also by a wheel containing the residual stresses from heat treatment process, generated by a thermal-structural simulation. These two scenarios are evaluated according to multiaxial fatigue criteria based on critical planes, as Dang Van, Matake and McDiarmid, and also based on the invariants of the stress tensor, as Sines, Crossland and Kakuno Kawada. Due to the nature of rolling contact fatigue, which has no condition of infinite life, a number of cycles for crack appearance are estimated for each criterion. It can be notice that for some criteria, such as Dang Van, Sines and Kakuno-Kawada, fatigue life is benefited by the heat treatment process, while for others the residual stresses from manufacturing promote a reduction in the number of cycles / Mestrado / Mecanica dos Sólidos e Projeto Mecanico / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica