Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-97). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-97). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Mathematics, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-117).

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Computational Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Although many fracture models are based on two-dimensional plane strain approximations, accurately predicting fracture propagation geometry requires accounting for the three-dimensional aspects of fractures. In this study, we implemented 3-D displacement discontinuity (DD) boundary element modeling to investigate the following intrinsically 3-D natural or hydraulic fracture propagation problems: the effect of fracture height on lateral propagation of vertical natural fractures, joint development in the vicinity of normal faults, and hydraulic fracture height growth and non-planar propagation paths. Fracture propagation is controlled by stress intensity factor (SIF) and its determination plays a central role in LEFM. The DD modeling is used to evaluate SIF in Mode I, II and III at the tip of an arbitrarily-shaped embedded crack by using crack-tip element displacement discontinuity. We examine the accuracy of SIF calculation is for rectangular, penny-shaped, and elliptical planar cracks. Using the aforementioned model for lateral propagation of overlapping fractures shows that the curving path of overlapping fractures is strongly influenced by the spacing-to-height ratio of fractures, as well as the differential stress magnitude. We show that the angle of intersection between two non-coincident but parallel en-echelon fractures depends strongly on the fracture height-to-spacing ratio, with intersection angles being asymptotic for "tall" fractures (large height-to-spacing ratios) and nearly orthogonal for "short" fractures. Stress perturbation around normal faults is three-dimensionally heterogeneous. That perturbation can result in joint development at the vicinity of normal faults. We examine the geometrical relationship between genetically related normal faults and joints in various geologic environments by considering a published case study of fault-related joints in the Arches National Park region, Utah. The results show that joint orientation is dependent on vertical position with respect to the normal fault, the spacing-to-height ratio of sub-parallel normal faults, and Poisson's ratio of the media. Our calculations represent a more physically reasonable match to measured field data than previously published, and we also identify a new mechanism to explain the driving stress for opening mode fracture propagation upon burial of quasi-elastic rocks. Hydraulic fractures may not necessarily start perpendicular to the minimum horizontal remote stress. We use the developed fracture propagation model to explain abnormality in the geometry of fracturing from misaligned horizontal wellbores. Results show that the misalignment causes non-planar lateral propagation and restriction in fracture height and fracture width in wellbore part. / text

A panel method derived from inviscid irrotational flow theory and utilizing hyperboloid panels is developed and applied to the simulation of steady fully wetted flows inside water-jet pumps and rocket engine inducers. The source and dipole influence coefficients of the hyperboloid panels are computed using Gauss quadrature. The present method solves the boundary value problem subject to a uniform inflow directly by discretizing the blade, casing/shroud and hub geometries with panels. The Green's integral equation and the influence coefficients for the water-jet/inducer problem are defined and solved by allocating constant strength sources and dipoles on the blade, hub and casing surfaces and constant strength dipoles on the shed wake sheets from the rotor/ stator blades. The rotor- stator interaction is accomplished using an iterative procedure which considers the effects between the rotor and the stator, via circumferentially averaged induced velocities. Finally, the hydrodynamic performance predictions for the water-jet pump and the inducer from the present method are validated against existing experimental data and numerical results from Reynolds Averaged Navier- Stokes (RANS) solvers. / text

The performance of a horizontal axis marine current turbine is predicted by three numerical methods, vortex lattice method MPUF-3A, boundary element method PROPCAV and a commercial RANS solver FLUENT. The predictions are compared with the experimental measurements for the same turbine model. A fully unsteady wake alignment is utilized in order to model the realistic wake geometry of the turbine. A lifting line theory based method is developed to produce the optimum circulation distribution for turbines and propellers and a lifting line theory based database searching method is used to achieve the optimum circulation distribution for tidal turbines. A nonlinear optimization method (CAVOPT-3D) and another database-searching design method (CAVOPT-BASE) are utilized to design the blades of marine current turbines and marine propellers. A design procedure for the tidal turbine is proposed by using the developed methods successively. Finally, an interactive viscous/potential flow method is utilized to analyze the effect of nonuniform inflow on the performance of tidal turbines. / text

Interface roughness can have a significant effect on the scattering of sound energy, and therefore an understanding of the effects of roughness is essential to making predictions of sound propagation and transmission underwater. Many models of roughness scattering currently in use are two dimensional (2D) in nature; three dimensional (3D) modeling requires significantly more time and computational resources. In this work, an effort is made to quantify the effects of 3D scattering in order to assess whether or under what conditions 3D modeling is necessary. To that end, an exact 3D roughness scattering model is developed based on a commercially available finite element package. The finite element results are compared with two approximate scattering models (the Kirchhoff approximation and first order perturbation theory) to establish the validity and regimes of applicability of each. The rough surfaces are realizations generated from power spectra measured from the sea floor. However, the surfaces are assumed to be pressure release (as on an air-water interface). Such a formulation is nonphysical, but allows the assessment of the validity of the various modeling techniques which is the focus of this work. The comparison between the models is made by calculating the ensemble average of the scattering from realizations of randomly rough surfaces. It is shown that a combination of the Kirchhoff approximation and perturbation theory models recovers the 3D finite element solution. / text

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Σκοπός της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής είναι η ανάπτυξη μεθοδολογίας συνοριακών στοιχείων για την αριθμητική επίλυση τρισδιάστατων (3-D) στατικών προβλημάτων στα πλαίσια μιας θεωρίας βαθμοελαστικότητας, που στηρίζεται σε μια απλουστευμένης μορφής της θεωρίας του Mindlin και διατυπώθηκε από τους Vardoulakis and Sulem, η οποία λαμβάνει υπόψη και την επιφανειακή ενέργεια, και από τους Aifantis και συνεργάτες. Η διδακτορική διατριβή αποτελείται από δύο ενότητες. Στην πρώτη ενότητα (κεφάλαια 1 και 2) γίνεται μία πλήρης ανασκόπηση της βιβλιογραφίας ως προς τις θεωρίες βαθμοελαστικότητας και στη συνέχεια, περιγράφεται διεξοδικά η παρούσα θεωρία βαθμοελαστικότητας με επιφανειακή ενέργεια. Στη δεύτερη ενότητα παρουσιάζεται η μέθοδος των Συνοριακών Στοιχείων (ΜΣΣ) όπως αυτή εφαρμόζεται για την επίλυση τρισδιάστατων και αξονοσυμμετρικών βαθμοελαστικών προβλημάτων, αντίστοιχα. Η ΜΣΣ βασίζεται στη διατύπωση των ολοκληρωτικών εξισώσεων των βαθμοελαστικών προβλημάτων. Οι άγνωστοι των ολοκληρωτικών εξισώσεων είναι οι συνοριακές τιμές του βασικού πεδίου των μεταβλητών και οι παράγωγοί τους, που για τη βαθμοελαστικότητα είναι τα διανύσματα των μετατοπίσεων, των βαθμίδων τω μετατοπίσεων και τα διανύσματα των επιφανειακών τάσεων. Η προσέγγιση των συναρτήσεων αυτών πάνω στο σύνορο γίνεται με τη βοήθεια συναρτήσεων παρεμβολής από τις αντίστοιχες τιμές τους σε έναν επιλεγμένο αριθμό κόμβων. Η ταχύτητα και η ακρίβεια της ΜΣΣ κατά την εφαρμογή της επηρεάζεται σημαντικά από την ταχύτητα και την ακρίβεια του υπολογισμού των ιδιόμορφων και υπερ-ιδιόμορφων ολοκληρωμάτων. Στην παρούσα διατριβή τα ιδιόμορφα και υπερ-ιδιόμορφα ολοκληρώματα υπολογίζονται με τη χρήση τεχνικών ιδιόμορφης και υπερ-ιδιόμορφης ολοκλήρωσης (Guiggiani (1992) και Huber et al. (1993)) αντίστοιχα. Στα πλαίσια της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής κατασκευάστηκε αλγόριθμος που επιλύει τρισδιάστατα στατικά προβλήματα βαθμοελαστικότητας καθώς και αλγόριθμος που επιλύει στατικά βαθμοελαστικά προβλήματα με αξονική συμμετρία. Στο τέλος κάθε κεφαλαίου, επιλύονται αντίστοιχα στατικά βαθμοελαστικά προβλήματα με ή χωρίς να λαμβάνεται υπόψη η επιφανειακή ενέργεια και με γνωστές αναλυτικές λύσεις. Τα αριθμητικά αποτελέσματα των παραπάνω προβλημάτων συγκρίνονται με τα αντίστοιχα αναλυτικά. Τέλος, γίνεται μία ανακεφαλαίωση της διδακτορικής διατριβής και διατυπώνονται προτάσεις για μελλοντική έρευνα. / In the present Doctoral Thesis a boundary element methodology (BEM) is developed in order to solve numerically 3-D and axis-symmetric static gradient elastic problems. Microstructural effects on the macroscopic behavior of the considered materials have been taken into account by means of a simple strain gradient theory with surface energy obtained as a special case of the general one due to Mindlin, proposed by Vardoulakis and Sulem. All possible boundary conditions (classical and non-classical) have been determined with the aid of a variational statement of the problem. The fundamental solution of the gradient elastic with surface energy has been explicitly determined and used to establish the boundary integral representation of the solution of the problem with the aid of the reciprocal identity, specifically constructed for this gradient elastic with surface energy case. The boundary integral representation consists of one equation for the dispalcement and another one for its normal derivative. Also, the integral forms of the gradient of displacement as well as the Cauchy, relative, double and total stresses in the interior of the gradient elastic body have been derived and presented. The numerical implementation of the integral equations is accomplished with the aid of quadratic isoparametric line (axis-symmetry case) and surface (3-D case) boundary elements. The computation of the singular and hyper-singular integrals involved is done with the aid of highly accurate advanced algorithms.