Superconductors present great potential for weight reduction and increased power delivery when compared to traditional copper power delivery systems, but current systems require cryogenic cooling systems. Traditional superconductor cooling systems consist of helium cooled by helical heat exchangers made of Oxygen Free High thermal Conductivity (OFHC) copper tube. The helium is cooled by bulky heat exchangers consisting of OFHC copper coils wrapped around a cryogenic cooler heat sink for heat transfer into the working fluid. Metal foams have recently been studied in a variety of heat transfer applications, and could greatly reduce the weight of heat exchanger modules in superconductor cooling systems while simultaneously providing increased heat transfer effectiveness. Aluminum and Copper foams have been available for several years, but more recently, graphite foams, such as PocoFoam™, have been developed which have particularly good heat transfer characteristics. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to model a cryogenic heat exchanger application, this study examines the effectiveness and pressure drop of several metal foam heat exchangers, and compares their performance with the traditional helical coil design for superconductor cooling applications. The CFD simulation results show that a heat exchanger with the same heat sink contact area as existing helical heat exchangers weighs up to 95 percent less and can be up to 25 percent more effective, depending on system conditions such as pressure, cryogenic cooler temperature and helium inlet temperature. Aluminum and copper foam heat exchangers had comparable weight to the PocoFoam heat exchanger, but were significantly less effective than the helical or PocoFoam heat exchanger models.

O aumento da segurança das estruturas de ônibus frente a cenários de impacto e a consequente diminuição das mortes e danos causados por acidentes de trânsito são imprescindíveis em um país como o Brasil, onde o transporte rodoviário é fundamental. Nesse contexto o presente trabalho explora a possibilidade do uso de tubos de aço preenchidos com espuma de alumínio como absorvedores de impacto em estruturas de ônibus. Foi realizada a fabricação da espuma como preenchimento dos tubos de aço, que então foram ensaiados sob compressão e flexão três pontos. Um modelo em elementos finitos foi desenvolvido no software LS-Dyna, 2006, considerando as não-linearidades geométricas e do material para representação das propriedades do tubo e da espuma. Finalmente uma estrutura de ônibus rodoviário foi modelada em software de elementos finitos e sua estrutura foi modificada pela adição de espuma de alumínio como preenchimento dos tubos para melhorar o desempenho da estrutura em acidentes de tombamento e impacto semi-frontal. Comentários sobre todos os resultados, apresentando a melhora relativa da estrutura devido às modificações propostas, são finalmente apresentados, assim como a validação da metodologia numérica utilizada para representação das estruturas. / The improvement of the safety of the road bus structure against impact scenarios and reduction of the injuries and death in traffic accidents is crucial in a country like Brazil, where the road transport matrix is fundamental in the traffic of people and goods. In this context in the present work is explored the possibilities of the metallic tubes filled with aluminum foam as shock absorber in the bus structures. With this goal, an experimental campaign using tubes filled with aluminum foam was made. In these tests, uniaxial compression and three points bending tests were performed. The finite element method was implemented in LS-Dyna, 2006, and simulations were carried out, considering material and geometric non-linearities. The material properties were calibrated using the tests cited. Then, a bus structure modeled with finite element method was modified adding metallic tubes filled with aluminum foam to improve the structure performance in rollover and semi-frontal impact scenarios. Commentaries about all the results, presenting the relative improvement of the structure due to the proposed modifications, are finally presented, as well as the validation of the numerical methodology used to represent the structures.

Metal foams have found increasing applications in a wide range of structural and functional products, due to their exceptional mechanical, thermal, acoustic and electrical properties and offer great potential for lightweight structures for energy absorption in packaging during impact at high velocities. Metal foam structures have densities only fractions of that of a solid structure and have high specific strength and higher stiffness than other contemporary packaging materials. Therefore, the metal foam in particular “Aluminium Foam” has an important application as packaging material for transportation of Reactor fuels and Radioactive samples. Nuclear materials are transported in packages which should meet stringent safety standards like impact resistance, thermal shock etc. Therefore, in the transportation of the above materials, aluminium foam can play a key role in providing a cushion for absorption of shock and impact. The aim of this work is to develop a process for fabrication of aluminum foam. Two methods are experimented to manufacture metal foams. The first method involves mixing of a foaming agent in a liquid aluminium pool and the subsequent cooling of the melt while hydrogen is released from the foaming agent. The second method of metal foaming process is based on a procedure consisting of a base metal and a foaming agent, which are milled for homogeneous mixing and then pre-compacted by cold isostatic pressing. This is followed by cold/warm extrusion. The extruded piece is then heated up to a certain foaming temperature. The heating process leads to partial metal melting as well as to the release of the hydrogen gas and consequently to the formation of metal foam in the semi-solid state. In this thesis, the technology for fabrication of Al foam having a density of around 0.2-0.3 g/cm3 has been made & discussed in detail. The effects of various fabrication parameters like compaction pressure, extrusion ratio and foaming temperature on the formation of the Al foam are discussed. The quality of fabricated Al foams is characterized in terms of density, microstructure, porosity content etc. The various mechanical properties like yield strength, tensile strength and impact energy of the Al foams are evaluated in order to understand their behavior under different conditions. The typical values of Young’s modulus, plateau stress, densification strain and energy absorbed for the foam tested are tabulated. The observations, which are made from the data, can be briefly quoted as under: a) As the length of the specimen increases, plateau stress increases which increases the energy absorption. b) The energy absorption for Al-20% Mg alloy has been found to be minimum. The foam exhibited brittle behaviour and crumbled under load application. c) Young’s modulus varies in the range of 0.057 – 0.13 GPa for the foam. d) As density increases, Young’s modulus also increases and correspondingly the energy absorption value increases for Al-foam. It is found that the variation in the plateau stress with density is marginal. But the strain value was found to be dependent on the alloy composition and the density. The strain obtained for all cases was found to be very near to 75-90%. Al-20%Mg alloy showed an inferior behaviour compared to pure Al. It showed a lesser plateau stress and crumbled while testing. This shows that this alloy is highly brittle in nature. Also, the Al-Mg foam obtained did not exhibited good luster.

O aumento da segurança das estruturas de ônibus frente a cenários de impacto e a consequente diminuição das mortes e danos causados por acidentes de trânsito são imprescindíveis em um país como o Brasil, onde o transporte rodoviário é fundamental. Nesse contexto o presente trabalho explora a possibilidade do uso de tubos de aço preenchidos com espuma de alumínio como absorvedores de impacto em estruturas de ônibus. Foi realizada a fabricação da espuma como preenchimento dos tubos de aço, que então foram ensaiados sob compressão e flexão três pontos. Um modelo em elementos finitos foi desenvolvido no software LS-Dyna, 2006, considerando as não-linearidades geométricas e do material para representação das propriedades do tubo e da espuma. Finalmente uma estrutura de ônibus rodoviário foi modelada em software de elementos finitos e sua estrutura foi modificada pela adição de espuma de alumínio como preenchimento dos tubos para melhorar o desempenho da estrutura em acidentes de tombamento e impacto semi-frontal. Comentários sobre todos os resultados, apresentando a melhora relativa da estrutura devido às modificações propostas, são finalmente apresentados, assim como a validação da metodologia numérica utilizada para representação das estruturas. / The improvement of the safety of the road bus structure against impact scenarios and reduction of the injuries and death in traffic accidents is crucial in a country like Brazil, where the road transport matrix is fundamental in the traffic of people and goods. In this context in the present work is explored the possibilities of the metallic tubes filled with aluminum foam as shock absorber in the bus structures. With this goal, an experimental campaign using tubes filled with aluminum foam was made. In these tests, uniaxial compression and three points bending tests were performed. The finite element method was implemented in LS-Dyna, 2006, and simulations were carried out, considering material and geometric non-linearities. The material properties were calibrated using the tests cited. Then, a bus structure modeled with finite element method was modified adding metallic tubes filled with aluminum foam to improve the structure performance in rollover and semi-frontal impact scenarios. Commentaries about all the results, presenting the relative improvement of the structure due to the proposed modifications, are finally presented, as well as the validation of the numerical methodology used to represent the structures.

O aumento da segurança das estruturas de ônibus frente a cenários de impacto e a consequente diminuição das mortes e danos causados por acidentes de trânsito são imprescindíveis em um país como o Brasil, onde o transporte rodoviário é fundamental. Nesse contexto o presente trabalho explora a possibilidade do uso de tubos de aço preenchidos com espuma de alumínio como absorvedores de impacto em estruturas de ônibus. Foi realizada a fabricação da espuma como preenchimento dos tubos de aço, que então foram ensaiados sob compressão e flexão três pontos. Um modelo em elementos finitos foi desenvolvido no software LS-Dyna, 2006, considerando as não-linearidades geométricas e do material para representação das propriedades do tubo e da espuma. Finalmente uma estrutura de ônibus rodoviário foi modelada em software de elementos finitos e sua estrutura foi modificada pela adição de espuma de alumínio como preenchimento dos tubos para melhorar o desempenho da estrutura em acidentes de tombamento e impacto semi-frontal. Comentários sobre todos os resultados, apresentando a melhora relativa da estrutura devido às modificações propostas, são finalmente apresentados, assim como a validação da metodologia numérica utilizada para representação das estruturas. / The improvement of the safety of the road bus structure against impact scenarios and reduction of the injuries and death in traffic accidents is crucial in a country like Brazil, where the road transport matrix is fundamental in the traffic of people and goods. In this context in the present work is explored the possibilities of the metallic tubes filled with aluminum foam as shock absorber in the bus structures. With this goal, an experimental campaign using tubes filled with aluminum foam was made. In these tests, uniaxial compression and three points bending tests were performed. The finite element method was implemented in LS-Dyna, 2006, and simulations were carried out, considering material and geometric non-linearities. The material properties were calibrated using the tests cited. Then, a bus structure modeled with finite element method was modified adding metallic tubes filled with aluminum foam to improve the structure performance in rollover and semi-frontal impact scenarios. Commentaries about all the results, presenting the relative improvement of the structure due to the proposed modifications, are finally presented, as well as the validation of the numerical methodology used to represent the structures.

Cellular materials like aluminum foam which is the subject of interest here are generally characterized by high energy absorption capacity per unit weight. Materials of this category can be ideal for applications such as packaging and vehicle body structures for enhanced impact safety. A particularly well-known variety of closed-cell aluminum foam is designated as Alporas, which is studied here. From a viewpoint of mechanical behavior, the foam being considered can be represented using either a detailed cellular approach capturing the voids present in foam structure or a phenomenological approach in which experimental stress-strain response is assigned a-priori to solid elements filling up the space occupied by a foam geometry. Both modeling approaches are studied in the present work. It has been shown for the first time that stress-strain behavior under compression including densification can be predicted well with a Kelvin cell-based model, although scope for further improvement exists. Based on a novel combination of compression tests at low strain rates in a UTM and medium strain rates in low velocity impact tests, a relation between foam strength and strain rate has been proposed. This effect of strain rate on strength is captured in a finite element model for analysis using an explicit code with contact simulation capabilities and the predictions for projectile impact tests at higher strain rates using a gas gun-based device have been found to match commendably with results obtained from the said tests.