The objective of the present work is to investigate the behavior of laminated fiber -reinforced polymer matrix composite shell structures under bending load with the help of a modified finite element computer code which was previously developed for the analysis of pseudo-layered single material shells. The laminates are assumed to be orthotropic and the formulation is adapted to first order shear deformation theory. The aim is to determine the large deformation characteristics numerically, and to predict the modes of failure by the illustration of the critical elements of the model. Therefore, several failure theories are also integrated to the code to detect first ply failure. Triangular shell elements are used and all the related data are generated from the mid-plane. Laminates under transverse loading are analyzed through several boundary conditions and ply orientations. To verify the numerical results obtained, a commercial finite element program is used to compare the outputs of the study, and the comparison is found to have shown good agreement. The onset of damage is investigated by using different failure criteria consisting of maximum stress, Tsai-Wu, and Tsai- Hill theories and close results are obtained.

Aluminum based alloys have wide area of usage in automotive and defense industry and bending processes are frequently applied during production. One of the most important design criteria of bending processes is springback, which can be basically defined as elastic recovery of the part during unloading. To overcome this problem, heat treatment is generally applied to the workpiece material to refine tensile properties. In this study, the effect of heat treatment on springback characteristics of aluminum studied both numerically by using finite element analysis and experimentally. For this purpose, two different materials are selected and various heat treatment procedures are considered. The aluminum sheets having thickness of 1.6 mm, 2 mm and 2.5 mm are bent to 60&amp / #730 / , 90&amp / #730 / and 120&amp / #730 / . The von Mises stress distributions, plastic strain values and punch load values and comparison of the numerical and experimental results are also given.

In this study, the settlement behavior of the piled raft foundations resting on overconsolidated clays under uniform loading, is investigated for different pile configurations and load levels. A total of 100 plane &ndash / strain and three &ndash / dimensional finite element analyses are carried out and the results of these analyses are compared both with each other and with the results presented by Reul &amp / Randolph (2004). The material parameters used in the analysis are selected mainly referring to the previous studies cited above on the same subject and slight modifications are made for convenience in the analysis. The analysis method and the applied pile configurations and load levels are directly taken from the reference study, excluding the soil model employed. A drained Mohr &ndash / Coulomb failure criteria is employed in the analysis of this study in modeling the soil instead of an elastoplastic model which was used in the analysis of the reference study. The results are evaluated for the average and differential settlements of the foundations and it is seen that / although the average and differential settlements calculated in this study are not always very close to the values calculated in the reference study, the calculated settlement reduction factors due to piles (especially for the average settlements) compared well with the findings of the reference study for all pile configurations and load levels considered. Based on this, a new approach is suggested to estimate the average settlements of the piled raft foundations. Moreover, correction factors are recommended in order to estimate the average settlements of the piled rafts by directly using the programs employed throughout the thesis.

In this study, equipment rack structure for a medium transport aircraft was designed and finite element analysis of this design was performed. The equipment rack structure, which was designed for a modernization project, was positioned and dimensions were determined by regarding the geometry of primary structures of the aircraft. The structure was designed such that it satisfies the pre-defined margin of safety values. Design of the structure was prepared in Unigraphics, and the finite element modeling and analysis phases were carried out using MSC.Patran and MSC.Nastran programs. For the fastener analysis, which is usually carried out by hand calculations, two analysis tools were prepared by using FORTRAN and Microsoft Office Excel programs. These tools were found to greatly facilitate the analysis and save time. As these tools can be used in other finite element analyses, in which MSC.Patran and MSC.Nastran programs are used, user manuals were prepared.

Rapid prototyping methods embrace a family of manufacturing methods that are developed to speed up the prototyping stage of product design. The sole needed input for production being the solid model of the part, mold/tool-free production characteristics and the geometric part complexity that can be achieved due to layer-by-layer production have extended the applicability/research areas of these methods beyond prototyping. Local pore formation in part that occurs as a result of the discrete manufacturing nature of rapid prototyping methods can be viewed as an opportunity for material development. In this thesis, the manufacturing-internal (porous) structure-mechanical property relations of porous materials are investigated. These porous parts are produced via Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) which is a rapid prototyping method. The elastic modulus, tensile strength, rupture strength and Poisson&rsquo / s ratio of uniform porous specimens with known porosities are determined through standardized mechanical tests for polymeric materials. The mechanical property variation profiles in graded materials are determined using the mechanical properties of uniform parts. The mechanical behavior of uniform and graded materials under applied loads are modeled using finite element method and simulation results are compared to the results of mechanical tests performed on graded materials. In addition, feasibility of producing resin filled composite parts from these uniform and graded porous parts are sought. Porous parts (both uniformly and graded) that are infiltrated with epoxy resin have been characterized mechanically and the results have been compared with the uninfiltrated porous parts.

In today&rsquo / s world, buried structures are used for a variety of purposes in many areas such as transportation, underground depot areas, metro stations and water transportation. The serviceability of these structures is crucial in many cases following an earthquake / that is, the earthquake should not impose such damage leading to the loss of serviceability of the structure. The seismic design methodology utilized for these structures differs in many ways from the above ground structures. The most commonly utilized approach in dynamic analysis of underground structures is to neglect the inertial forces of the substructures since these forces are relatively insignificant contrary to the case of surface structures. In seismic design of these underground structures, different approaches are utilized like free-field deformation approach and soil-structure interaction approach. Within the confines of this thesis, seismic response of highway tunnels is considered through a case study on Bolu Tunnels, which are well documented and subjected to D&uuml / zce earthquake. In the analyses, the seismic response of a section of the Bolu tunnels is examined with 2-D finite element models and results are compared with the recorded data to evaluate the capability of the available analysis methods. In general, the results of analyses did not show any distinct difference from the recorded data regarding the seismic performance of the analyzed section and that the liner capacities were sufficient, which is consistent with the post earthquake condition of the Bolu Tunnels.

Potential applications such as high intensity focused ultrasound in medical therapeutics require larger output pressures. To offer unprecedented acoustic output pressure in transmit without the limitations, Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer operation modes of collapse and collapse-snapback are introduced in literature. Both operation modes require the membrane to contact the substrate surface, which poses a problem on the durability of the membrane in terms of structural integrity and tribological property. Based on the additional requirements of these modes, diamond is proposed as the ultimate solution to be used as the membrane material. Mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of diamond are all in favor of its use in the microfabrication of CMUTs. This thesis introduces the design and test results of the first diamond-based CMUTs as an alternative to silicon and silicon nitride based CMUTs. Simulations are performed using Finite Element Methods (FEM) using a commercially available software package, ANSYS. The diamond-based CMUT is operated successfully both in air and immersion for the first time. Fully customizable in-house software is developed to command and control the test setup equipments for current dissertation and future work. Fresnel and Fraunhofer regions of the CMUT are characterized in sunflower oil using a combination of advanced hardware and software. The experimental results of radiation and diffraction for the diamond-based circular CMUT are verified by the theoretical calculations for a circular piston transducer. The results obtained from the first generation diamond-based CMUTs presented the diamond as a promising material for membranes in CMUTs.

Launchers are military systems that are responsible for communication with munitions, safe seperation and aiming of rockets and missiles to the target. Since they are military equipments, they are used in harsh environments. One of the most important design considerations for military equipment is its maintability and one of the most important parameter which affects the maintability is wear in launchers. Therefore, for predicting the life-time of a launcher, wear should be investigated beside other parameters such as fatigue etc. This thesis study includes experimental and modeling study about dry sliding wear in some mechanical parts of a typical rail launcher that is used in helicopters. Firstly, measurements about the material loss, which is generated during firing of missiles, were made on launcher components which have interfaces with missile. Then, these results were used to simulate the wear phenomenon by using a commercial finite element program, ANSYS. By the help of finite element model, crack initiation period depending on wear is tried to be evaluated without making additional firing tests.

Dental implant is an artificial dental root that is used to construct dental restorations, similar to the original teeth, in order to regain the function of missing teeth of patients experiencing tooth loss. At the interface between the jawbone and the roots of natural teeth, a thin, elastic, shock absorbing tissue, called the periodontal ligament (PDL), forms a cushion which provides certain mobility to the natural teeth. The restorations supported by dental implants, however, involve completely rigid structures. This causes overloading of the implant while bearing functional loading together with neighboring natural teeth, which leads to high local stresses within the implant system and in the jawbone. The aim of this thesis study was to develop a novel dental implant model involving resilient components in the upper structure (abutment) in order to mimic the mechanical behavior of the PDL. Within the scope of the study, a complete mechanical design of a new dental implant model was made. The proposed model was optimized based on the design objectives by using Finite Element Method. The optimal design was verified to overcome the problem of loosening of the abutment screw (a common complication in previous designs), yield very similar axial mobility behavior as that of a natural tooth and withstand biomechanical loads without failure. In addition, as a support of a dental bridge in combination with a natural tooth, the proposed design was demonstrated to provide uniform load sharing with the natural tooth and substantially reduced magnitude of peak stresses within the construction, compared to a rigid counterpart.

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