No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-52).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance to chloride penetration of specimens made with three base compositions (three different supplementary cementitious materials) and water to cementitious ratios of 0.35, 0.41, or 0.47. The specimens were subjected to bulk diffusion test or full immersion. The mixes were exposed to 0.1 M, 0.6 M, or 2.8 M sodium chloride solution for different periods of time. Also, partially immersed specimens were exposed to indoor and outdoor exposures (tidal, splash, barge). Chloride concentration profiles were obtained and the apparent diffusion coefficient was calculated. The skin effect was found only on some chloride profiles exposed to 0.1 M sodium chloride solution. The chloride binding capacity was calculated; specimens with 20% Fly Ash and 8% Silica Fume had the highest binding capacity (70.99%). The apparent diffusivity coefficient was found to be dependent on the curing regime as well as the water to cement ratio. The correlation between effective resistivity and apparent diffusion coefficient was determined. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A diversity of animals move on and bury within dry and wet granular media, such as dry desert sand or rainforest soils. Little is known about the biomechanics and neural control strategies used to move within these complex terrains. Burial and subsurface locomotion provides a particularly interesting behavior in which to study principles of interaction because the entire body becomes surrounded by the granular environment. In this dissertation, we used three model organisms to elucidate control principles of movement within granular substrates: the sand-specialist sandfish lizard which dives into dry sand using limb-ground interactions, and swims subsurface using body undulations; the long-slender shovel-nosed snake which undulates subsurface in dry sand with low slip; and the ocellated skink, a desert generalist which buries into both wet and dry substrates. Using muscle activation measurements we discovered that the sandfish targeted optimal kinematics which maximized forward speed and minimized the mechanical cost of transport. The simplicity of the sandfish body and kinematics coupled with a fluid-like model of the granular media revealed the fundamental mechanism responsible for neuromechanical phase lags, a general timing phenomenon between muscle activation and curvature along the body that has been observed in all undulatory animals that move in a variety of environments. Kinematic experiments revealed that the snake moved subsurface using a similar locomotion strategy as the sandfish, but its long body and low skin friction enabled higher performance (lower slip). The ocellated skink used a different locomotor pattern than observed in the sandfish and snake but that was sufficient for burial into both wet and dry media. Furthermore, the ocellated skink could only reach shallow burial depths in wet compared to dry granular media. We attribute this difference to the higher resistance forces in wet media and hypothesize that the burial efficacy is force-limited. These studies reveal basic locomotor principles of burial and subsurface movement in granular media and demonstrate the impact of environmental interaction in locomotor behavior.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1991.

Storage of granular solids in silos has been the practice for many years. Engineers have been faced with the problem of making the silos empty more efficiently and minimising the forces acting on the walls of the silo during material discharge. To this end the anti-dynamic tube was invented. The tube has a smaller diameter than the silo and consists of several portholes along its height and around its circumference. When the discharge gate of the silo is opened the granular material enters the tube through the portholes, flows down the inside of the tube and exits the silo through the discharge gate. Most tubes have been installed such that there was sufficient space between the base of the tube and silo bottom for the granular material to flow simultaneously through the discharge gate. The flowing material causes a down drag on the tube from the friction of the granular material on the walls of the tube. Previous research has underestimated the magnitude of these frictional forces resulting in catastrophic buckling failure of the tubes, blocking the discharge gate of the silo. A blockage of the discharge gate requires top emptying of the silo resulting in financial losses and down time of equipment. A steel model silo with an anti-dynamic tube was set up in the laboratory to measure the friction on the tube during material flow. From the results of these experiments, an equation has been derived to estimate the magnitude of the down-drag force. Furthermore, an empirical expression was developed for the effects of the speed of the flowing material on the magnitude of the down-drag force. To keep construction costs down, it is necessary to optimise the wall thickness of the tube. There is currently no theory for the buckling capacity of a thin walled cylindrical shell with multiple perforations around its height and circumference. Therefore additional experiments were undertaken on a cylindrical shell with multiple perforations subjected to a combination of an axial as well as an external lateral pressure. Following on from the experiments, finite element analyses were undertaken to compare with the experimental results. For each finite element analysis an out-of-roundness was introduced as an initial wall imperfection. From these analyses and the cylinder experiments, a method of producing interaction curves for tubes with varying ratios of open area has been developed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2003.

This thesis is an experimental study of the fluidization of binary mixture in particulate flows. A fluidized bed with two distributors was built with water being used as carrying fluid. Three types of solid particles of nylon, glass and aluminum of the same size and different densities are used in the experiments. The wall effect on a single particle fluidization, the fluidization of binary mixture of large density difference (nylon and aluminum of density ratio of 0.42), and the fluidization of binary mixture of close density (glass and aluminum with density ratio of 0.91) were investigated. Also, the effect of distributors on mono-disperse and bi-disperse particle fluidization was investigated. Results show that the presence of narrow walls reduces the minimum fluidization velocity for a single particle by as much as nearly 40%. Also, in the case of binary mixture of close density particles, uniform mixing was easily achieved and no segregation was observed, but in the case of large density difference particles, there exists significant segregation and separation. At high velocity, the uniform distributor behaves like a transport bed. To achieve a full bed in the single jet, it requires 1.5 times velocity of the uniform distributor. This behavior determines their application in the industries.

This work reports the results of a systematic study of the factors that affect the bridging behaviour of bagasse. It shows that traditional bulk solids theory is inappropriate for predicting bagasse flow mainly because of the impossibility of obtaining a reliable measure of internal friction. It demonstrates the significant influence of fibre length and moisture content on its handling charateristics. Correlations of pertinent bulk properties such as compactibility, tensile strength, surface friction and translation of vertical into horizontal pressure have been developed. These were derived as a result of measurements in equipment that was designed for the purpose. Finally, an empirical model utilising these correlations is proposed by which the likelihood of bridge formation in any piece of bagasse handling equipment can be determined. The validity of the model is assessed by comparison with bridging tests that were performed under controlled conditions. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, 1996

In a proposed design for a concentrated solar power tower, sand is irradiated by solar energy and transfers its energy to another fluid stream by means of a finned tube heat exchanger. To maximize heat transfer and minimize potential damage to the heat exchanger, it is desired to have a very uniform flow through the heat exchanger. However, performing full scale flow tests can be expensive, impractical, and depending upon the specific quantities of interest, unsuitable for revealing the details of what it happening inside of the flow stream. Thus, the discrete element method has been used to simulate and study particulate flows. In this project, the flow of small glass beads through a square pyramid shaped hopper and a wedge shaped hopper were studied at the lab scale. These flows were also simulated using computers running two versions of discrete element modeling software – EDEM and LIGGGHTS. The simulated results were compared against the lab scale flows and against each other. They show that, in general, the discrete element method can be used to simulate lab scale particulate flows as long as certain material properties are well known, especially the friction properties of the material. The potential for increasing the accuracy of the simulations, such as using better material property data, non-uniform particle size distributions, and non-spherical particle shapes, as well as simulating heat transfer within a granular flow are also discussed.