Hybrid Rockets are popular in the aerospace industry due to their storage safety, simplicity, and controllability during rocket motor burn. However, they produce fuel regression rates typically 25% lower than solid fuel motors of the same thrust level. These lowered regression rates produce unacceptably high oxidizer-to-fuel (O/F) ratios that produce a potential for motor instability, nozzle erosion, and reduced motor duty cycles. To achieve O/F ratios that produce acceptable combustion charactersitics, traditional cylindrical fuel ports are fabricated with very long length-to-diameter ratios to increase the total burning area. these high aspect ratios produce further reduced fuel regression rate and trust levels, poor volumetric efficiency, and a potential for lateral structural loading issues during high thrust burns. In place of traditional cylindrical fuel ports, it is proposed that by researching the effects of centrifugal flow patterns introduced by embedded helical fuel port structures, a significant increase in fuel regression rates can be observed. The benefits of increasing volumetric efficiencies by lengthening the internal flow path will also be observed. The mechanisms of this increased fuel regression rate are driven by enhancing surface skin friction and reducing the effect of boundary layer "blowing" to enhance convective heat transfer to the fuel surface. Preliminary results using additive manufacturing to fabricate hybrid rocket fuel grains from acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) with embedded helical fuel port structures have been obtained, with burn-rate amplifications up to 3.0x than that of cylindrical fuel ports.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第19008号 / 工博第4050号 / 新制||工||1623(附属図書館) / 31959 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科高分子化学専攻 / (主査)教授 赤木 和夫, 教授 中條 善樹, 教授 吉﨑 武尚 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

Nanoparticles reinforced polymer composite films have been widely studied for their enhanced mechanical, electrical and thermal properties compared with host polymer matrix. However, most research was conducted on incorporation of nanoparticles in polymer films to improve single property and there is a lack of research on the multifunctional polymer nanocomposite films. In this work, a scalable and continuous spray deposition process was developed for the production of nanoparticles reinforced multifunctional thermoplastic nanocomposite films. This process is capable of making a thin sheet of thermoplastic nanocomposites with high nanoparticle loadings. The smallest thickness can be 40um. The objective of this study is to design and optimize the thermoplastic nanocomposite films by utilizing nanoclay and helical carbon nanotube for multifunctional application: a) high electrical conductivity and thermal stability. Helical carbon nanotube paper based thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposite films have been studied. The electrical conductivity and thermal stability of nanocomposite films increase a lot due to the incorporation of helical carbon nanotube paper with high electrical and thermal conductivity. The peculiar helical configuration of carbon nanotubes could greatly improve the interfacial bonding between carbon nanotubes and polymer matrix. b)High wear resistance and thermal stability. A nanoclay reinforced thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposite coating was applied on the surface of leather. Due to the high hardness and thermal stability of nanoclay, the leather coated with nanocomposite film showed an improvement of wear resistance and thermal stability.

In clinical settings, dynamic foot function is commonly inferred from static and passive foot measurements; however, there is little evidence that static foot structure can predict dynamic foot function during walking gait. Previous research seeking to find correlations between the two have focused primarily on sagittal plane midfoot angles even though the midfoot has triplanar motion, which misses potentially important information. Additionally, the focus on kinematics alone may miss the contributions that forces play in midfoot mechanics. To address the angle limitations, a novel Signed Helical Angle (SHA) was developed to capture the triplanar motion of the midfoot from a multi-segment foot model. This was combined with foot segmental force measurements and inverse dynamics to capture dynamic midfoot stiffness. The SHA method and static-dynamic analysis were evaluated on 40 healthy subjects walking at a controlled speed. Subjects were divided into three structural groups based on static arch height (high, normal, low) and stiffness (stiff, normal, flexible). One-way ANOVA was used to evaluate differences among groups in dynamic motion and stiffness and a multiple regression was employed to evaluate relationships across the sample. Calculating the SHA resulted in a greater range of motion (ROM) compared to the sagittal Euler angle commonly used, showing that the motion in the other planes are captured in the SHA. The Finite Helical Axis (FHAx) associated with the SHA also showed that on average the population had a clear distinction between pronation and supination during the stance phase, although individual subjects exhibited substantial variability. While there were visual distinctions in the SHA and the midfoot stiffness among the three stiffness groups and the three arch height groups, the differences were not statistically significant. The only measurement achieving statistical significance was the mean of the sagittal plane midfoot Euler angles among the three AHI groups (p = 0.015); however, this is a postural measure which simply confirms that a high arch will remain high and a low arch will remain low throughout the gait cycle. The lack of any relationships between static foot structure and dynamic foot function, despite advanced modeling and measurements, further confirms that other factors play a large role in foot mechanics. Future studies should focus on evaluating the role of the intrinsic foot musculature (e.g., muscle strength, activation, and redundancy) during gait, and replacing traditional shoe and orthotic recommendations.

A set of equations describing the motion of a naturally curved and twisted slender elastic rod is determined in this thesis. In particular, a study of the vibration of a helical spring is made, and the natural frequencies from the theory presented are compared with those from a simpler theory. Comparison of the two theories shows that the simpler theory is valid for most springs. The simpler theory is then used to show how the natural frequencies for a helical spring can be obtained when the spring is subjected to any boundary conditions. Finally, an analytical and experimental study of the vibration of a helical spring clamped at both ends is made in order to investigate the validity of the theory presented. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

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