No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

A theoretical study of an electrically passive, loss-compensated, optical position sensor is the goal of this project. Optical fiber sensors exploit light as the information carrier. Fiber-optic sensors consist of a constant light source launched into an optical fiber and transmitted to another point at which a measurement is made.In the proposed optical position sensor, a Light Emitting Diode (LED) produces a constant beam of light, which is channeled through an optical fiber to a Graded Index (GRIN) lens. This lens makes all the light rays parallel to one another, a process called collimation. The light then enters a polarizer which is a lens that further orders the light rays in a process called polarization.Then the light enters a chamber in which a doubly refracting (birefringent) crystal is situated. The crystal is a wedge, and thus has a varying thickness throughout its length. The light beam strikes the crystal, sending a spectrum, or spectral signature, that is distinct to the particular thickness of the crystal. That signature goes directly from the chamber housing the crystal into a lens called an analyzer which orders the light again through polarization. Then the light goes into another GRIN lens, and this GRIN lens focuses the light onto an optical fiber, which transmits the particular spectral signature of this light to an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA). The OSA uses a Photodiode Array to accept the incoming light, a device that takes in light and redistributes it to a monitor for display by the user. Such a device is called a detector. The thickness of the crystal that the light travels through is determined by the crystal's position.If the crystal rests on a platform which is connected to an object whose position must always be monitored, then the crystal will move as the object moves. The different spectral signatures shown on a monitor reveal different thicknesses of the crystal, which reveal different positions of the monitored object. The object whose position is measured is the measurand.The selected crystal is quartz. It has a 12.5-mm length, a width of 10.8-mm at its thinnest end, and a taper angle to the thickest end of only 0.008 degrees, which corresponds to a 0.17-micron difference between the two. This angle is called the polishing angle of the quartz. The quartz itself is called the active cell. The Photodiode Array Detector receives the spectral signature from the optical fiber, and that signature is projected on an OSA, which is software built-in to the computer. A mathematical program is used to evaluate the signature, and the position of the measurand is thereby revealed. How accurate the measurement is can be revealed by use of a control device. If the quartz crystal is moved by a measuring device, such as a micrometer, the distance that the crystal moved may be measured by the micrometer, as well as by the OSA. By comparing the two, the accuracy of the spectrograph, and the position it reveals, can be known. / Department of Physics and Astronomy

Wavelength reuse techniques for bidirectional ultra-wide band (UWB) over fiber (UWBoF) networks are presented. The downstream optical signal from the central station (CS) is reused for upstream data transmission with the original data erased at the base station (BS). Two wavelength reuse schemes for the generation of a clear optical carrier at the BS are theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. In the first scheme, the wavelength reuse is based on phase-modulation to intensity-modulation (PM-IM) conversion and destructive interferencing using a polarization modulator (PolM) and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG). A theoretical analysis is performed which is verified by an experiment. In the second scheme, the wavelength reuse is based on injection locking of a Fabry–Pérot laser diode (FP-LD) and polarization multiplexing. The UWB injection signal contributes to better BERs of both downstream and upstream services and a lower power penalty cause by the wavelength reuse of the whole system than the baseband signal. A bidirectional point-to-point transmission of over a 25-km single-mode fiber (SMF) using a single wavelength from the CS in each scheme is demonstrated.

ACI Committee 544's repeated drop-weight impact test for concrete is often criticized for large variations within the results. This paper identifies the sources of these large variations and accordingly suggests modifications to the ACI test. The proposed modifications were evaluated and compared to the current ACI test by conducting impact resistance tests on 40 specimens from two batches of polypropylene fiber-reinforced concrete (PPFRC). The results obtained from both methods were statistically analyzed and compared. The variations in the results were investigated within the same batch and between different batches of concrete. The impact resistance of PPFRC specimens tested with the current ACI test exhibited large coefficients of variation (COV) of 58.6% and 50.2% for the first-crack and the ultimate impact resistance, respectively. The corresponding COV for PPFRC specimens tested according to the modified technique were 39.4% and 35.2%, indicating that the reliability of the results was significantly improved. It has been shown that, using the current ACI test, the minimum number of replications needed per each concrete mixture to obtain an error below 10% was 41 compared to 20 specimens for the modified test. Although such a large number of specimens is not good enough for practical and economical reasons, the reduction presents a good step on the development of a standard impact test.

Polymeric hollow fiber sorbents were functionalized with amine moieties for improving the carbon dioxide sorption capacity from flue gas to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. Three different experimental pathways were studied to form the amine-functionalized hollow fiber sorbents. Aminosilane functionalized cellulose acetate (CA) fibers, polyethyleneimine (PEI) functionalized polyamide-imide (PAI, Torlon®) fibers and PEI post-infused and functionalized Torlon®-silica fibers were formed. CO2 equilibrium sorption capacity data were collected by using the pressure decay sorption cell and thermal gravimetric analyzer. Other physio-chemical properties of the amine-functionalized fiber sorbents were characterized by using fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and scanning electronic microscopy. Different reaction conditions were studied on the effect of sorption isotherms. Aminosilane-CA fibers were the first proof-of-concept for forming the amine functionalized polymer hollow fibers. PEI-PAI fibers were designed as a new method to reach enhanced sorption capacities than Aminosilane-functionalized CA fibers. PEI post-infused and functionalized Torlon®-silica fibers have further enhanced sorption capacity; however they easily degrade with similar reaction for forming PEI-PAI fibers. Lumen-side barrier layers were created successfully via post-treatment technique of using the crosslinked Neoprene® polymer onto PEI-functionalized PAI fibers. PEI-functionalized PAI fibers also have good cyclic stability and low heat of sorption.

No description available.

In most industrialized countries, significant future activity in the construction sector will be related to repair and rehabilitation of aging infrastructure. This will require use of durable and high performance repair materials. Among various mechanisms cited for lack of durability in repairs, early-age shrinkage cracking in overlay materials is of utmost importance. Fiber-reinforcement can be used to alleviate some of the issues related to plastic shrinkage. However, quantifying the performance of cement-based composites under restrained shrinkage conditions remains an issue. Various test techniques are available to measure free and restrained shrinkage, but do not simulate the real constraint imposed by the substrate on the overlay. In this dissertation, an innovative test method called the bonded overlay technique is described. An overlay of fiber-reinforced material to be tested is cast directly on a substrate, and the entire assembly is subjected to controlled drying. Cracking in the overlay is then monitored and characterized. During the development of this test method, instrumentation was included to enable measurement of the crack propagation rate using image analysis, evaporation rate, heat development, and strain using embedded sensors. Using the above technique, the effect of mix proportion including variables such as water-cement ratio (w/c), sand-cement ratio (s/c), and coarse aggregate content were studied. An increase in w/c from 0.35 to 0.6 significantly increased the total cracking. Addition of coarse aggregates reduced shrinkage cracking, however, for the range of s/c investigated, no definite conclusions could be drawn. Mixes with 0-20% fly ash and a 7 lit/m3 dosage of shrinkage reducing admixtures indicated no significant reduction in cracking. The influence of fiber geometry on cracking in overlays was also investigated. Fiber types included different sizes of polypropylene and cellulose fibers and one type of glass fiber (volume fraction ranging between 0-0.4%). Glass fibers at a small dosage of 0.1% were the most efficient fiber and completely eliminated cracking. Of the two field projects considered: one was a plaza deck at the UBC Aquatic Center, where cellulose fibers were used, and the second at the UBC ChemBioE building, where polypropylene fibers were used in slabs-on-grade. Both overlays were instrumented with strain sensors, data from which were monitored over the Internet. Results clearly indicated that fibers reduced the strain development in fiber-reinforced overlays when compared to un-reinforced overlays. An energy-based fracture model was proposed to predict maximum crack widths and in a second study, an equation was proposed to correlate early-age shrinkage and flexural toughness of cellulose fibers. In both models, a reasonable correlation with the test data was observed. In addition, factorial design method was used and a mathematical model was proposed to correlate different variables such as w/c, s/c, and fiber dosage.