The objective of the current research was to contribute to the area of mechanics of composite polymeric materials. This objective was reached by establishing a quantitative assessment of the fatigue strength and evolution of mechanical property changes during fatigue loading of nanocomposite fibers and films. Both experimental testing and mathematical modeling were used to gain a fundamental understanding of the fatigue behavior and material changes that occurred during fatigue loading. In addition, the objective of the study was to gain a qualitative and fundamental understanding of the failure mechanisms that occurred between the nanoagent and matrix in nanocomposite fibers. This objective was accomplished by examining scanning electron microscopy (SEM) fractographs. The results of this research can be used to better understand the behavior of nanocomposite materials in applications where degradation due to fatigue and instability of the composite under loading conditions may be a concern. These applications are typically encountered in automotive, aerospace, and civil engineering applications where fatigue and/or fracture are primary factors that contribute to failure.

In this thesis ultrasonic Lamb wave measurements are performed to detect material nonlinearity in aluminum sheets. When a Lamb wave propagates, higher harmonic wave fields are generated and under certain conditions the second harmonic is cumulative. When these conditions hold the Lamb waves are serviceable for material nonlinearity measurements. For generation, a wedge transducer combination is used. The detection of the Lamb wave are performed with either a laser interferometer or a second wedge transducer combination and the results are benchmarked. A short time Fourier transformation (STFT) is applied to the detected signal to extract the amplitudes of the first and second harmonics. A relative ratio of the first and second harmonics is deduced from nonlinear wave theory to assign the nonlinearity of the material. To verify the capability of the measurement setup and to show that cumulative second harmonics are generated, measurements for different propagation distances are performed. Further measurements on plasticly deformed specimens are carried out to examine the change of the material nonlinearity as a function of plasticity.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Germanovich, Leonid; Committee Co-Chair: Skrinjar, Oskar; Committee Member: Mayne, Paul; Committee Member: Puzrin, Alexander; Committee Member: Rix, Glenn.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1997. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-155). Also available electronically via Internet.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 26, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Mian Liu. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-99). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Kausik Sarkar, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.

Neste trabalho foi desenvolvido um software para ser embarcado em um sistema autônomo baseado em arquitetura ARM, como o objetivo de detecção da posição de picos de um espectro refletido por uma rede de Bragg gravada em fibra óptica (FBG) e interrogadas pelo Interrogador comercial I-MON. O software foi desenvolvido para ser embarcado em uma plataforma pcDuino o qual permite o monitoramento em tempo real e os dados podem ser visualizados em uma interface gráfica. Para detecção da posição dos picos foi aplicado um algoritmo que aproxima os dados experimentais por uma função gaussiana através do método dos mínimos quadrados. O sistema foi caracterizado a partir do monitorado da temperatura sobre a superfície de uma célula termoelétrica, as leituras foram realizadas entre 0°C e 100°C. Comparando a posição do pico de Bragg registrada com o sistema desenvolvido e com o software Ext_Evaluation disponibilizado pelo fabricante do interrogador I-MON, verifica-se diferença média de aproximadamente 0,010 nm. A diferença média na posição do pico de Bragg é superior a resolução de 0,5 pm informada pelo fabricante do interrogador I-MON. Contudo, geralmente interessa saber a variação na posição do pico de Bragg e não a sua posição absoluta no espectro. Assim, pode-se concluir que o algoritmo desenvolvido é eficiente na detecção da variação na posição do pico do espectro refletido por um sensor FBG. / This work developed a software to be embedded in an autonomous system based on ARM architecture, as the goal of detecting the peak position of a spectrum reflected by a Bragg grating written to optical fiber (FBG) and interrogated by the commercial Interrogator I-MON 512 E. The software was developed for the ARM architecture using the pcDuino platform which allows real-time monitoring and the data can be viewed in a graphical interface. For detecting the position of the peaks was applied to an algorithm that approximates the experimental data by a Gaussian function by the method of least squares. The system is characterized from the monitored temperature on the surface of a thermoelectric cell readings were made between 0°C and 100°C. Comparing the position of the Bragg peak registered with the system developed and the Ext_Evaluation software provided by the manufacturer of the interrogator I-MON it appears the average difference is approximately 0,010 nm. The mean difference in the position of the Bragg peak is less than 0.5 pm resolution is informed by the manufacturer of the interrogator I-MON. However, usually interested in changes in position of the Bragg peak instead of on absolute position in the spectrum. Thus, it can be concluded that the proposed algorithm is effective detecting the variation in position of Bragg peaks using FBG sensors.

CAPES, CNPq, FINEP, Fundação Araucária / Neste trabalho é apresentado um estudo sobre a aplicabilidade de redes de Bragg na análise de impactos em estruturas planas. Para tanto, os dispositivos foram caracterizados, preliminarmente, quanto à deformação mecânica e temperatura. Nesta abordagem, para a validação experimental, quatro redes de Bragg foram fixadas nos cantos de uma placa de polimetilmetacrilato que, posteriormente, foi submetida a impactos mecânicos. Os efeitos de impactos produzidos na placa foram detectados pelas redes de Bragg, sendo que suas respostas em λ ao longo de 0,3 segundos foram utilizadas para treinar e testar redes neurais artificiais do tipo perceptron multicamadas. As localizações dos impactos nos quadrantes foram, então, fornecidas pela rede neural artificial, a qual demonstrou que a localização pode ser prevista com uma taca de classificação correta de aproximadamente 90% na etapa de validação. Outra RNA foi implementada para localizar coordenadas de posições de impacto, a qual permitiu fazer uma análise quantitativa dos erros, realizando uma comparação do valor desejado e o valor de saída da RNA na localização de um impacto em um plano. O maior erro médio (Em) em relação ao valor alvo foi de 0,401 cm em x, e 0,703 cm em relação à y, sendo que, o maior desvio padrão (σEm) foi de 0,896 cm em x, e 1,572 cm em y considerando cinco diferentes posições de impacto na etapa de teste de RNA. / In this work the applicability of fiber Bragg grantings as tools for the analysis of impacts on planar structures was studied. In a first step, Bragg grantings were characterized and their thermal and strain sensitivities were determined. The experiments were carried out with four fiber Bragg gratings. Being that their responses in λ along 0.3 second were used to train and test a multilayer perceptron artificial neural network. The locations of impacts in quadrants were supplied by the artificial neural network. The results demonstrate that such location can be predicted with correct classification rate of approximately 90.0% in validation step. Another RNA was implemented to locate impact coordinates, wich allowed a quantitative analysis of errors by performing a comparison of the desired value and the output value provided by the RNA on the location of an impact on a plan. The largest mean error (Em) to the target value was 0,401 cm for the coordinate x and 0,703 cm for y, considering five different points of impact in the test step.