An assessment of the validity of idealizing a concrete diaphragm as rigid was performed through the modal analysis of three existing buildings. Modal analysis was performed both by physical experimentation and computational analysis. Experimental determination of the mode shapes shows that two of the three buildings’ diaphragms exhibited flexible behavior. The experimental results were compared to computational analysis results and were shown to be similar, confirming that that the two building diaphragms are not rigid. As a standard, diaphragms with aspect ratios less than three are permitted to be idealized as rigid per ASCE 7-05. To determine the effect of the rigid diaphragm idealization, the design forces and roof deflections for each building were determined from the computational model through a spectral analysis for both a model with rigid diaphragms and a model with semi-rigid diaphragms. It was found that the design seismic demands for the two buildings with flexible diaphragms were higher when modeled with semi-rigid diaphragms than with rigid diaphragms. The conclusion is made that idealizing a concrete diaphragm as rigid solely based on its aspect ratio may result in an unconservative estimate of the seismic demands on a building.

Recent research has identified that current code level seismic demands used for diaphragm design are considerably lower than demands in real structures during a seismic event. However, historical data has shown that steel deck diaphragms, common to steel framed buildings, perform exceptionally well during earthquake events. A new alternative diaphragm design procedure in ASCE 7-16 increases diaphragm seismic demand to better represent expected demands. The resulting elastic design forces from this method are reduced by a diaphragm design force reduction factor, Rs, to account for the ductility of the diaphragm system. Currently, there exist no provisions for Rs factors for steel deck diaphragms. This research was therefore initiated to understand inelastic steel deck diaphragm behavior and calculate Rs factors. A review of the literature showed that a large number of experimental programs have been performed to obtain the in-plane load-deformation behavior of steel deck diaphragms. To unify review of these diaphragm tests and their relevant results, a database of over 750 tested specimens was created. A subset of 108 specimens with post-peak, inelastic behavior was identified for the characterization of diaphragm behavior and ductility. A new recommended method for predicting shear strength and stiffness for steel deck diaphragms with structural concrete fill is proposed along with an appropriate resistance factor. Diaphragm system level ductility and overstrength are estimated based on subassemblage test results and Rs factors are then calculated based on these parameters. The effects of certain variables such as deck thickness and fastener spacing on diaphragm ductility are explored. / Master of Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri--Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-211). Also available on the Internet.

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The diploma thesis is aimed at the constructional design of diaphragm pumps with a linear motor. This pump is supposed to be used in medicine for pumping the blood or as an artificial heart. The basic facts, which are focused on the function of the heart and artificial heart, are mentioned in the first parts of the thesis. The next parts describe the diaphragm pumps and the constructional ways of their diaphragm fixation. Furthermore, the basic calculations, describing the function of the pump, are derived there. The basic parameters of the pump are also calculated. The thesis also contains the description of the body pump construction, whose working room is optimized by CFD calculation before the pump is manufactured. The final part of the thesis is concentrated on the measurement evaluation of produced pump model.

Published Article / The design, manufacture and use of diaphragm valves in the minerals industry is becoming increasingly important since this sector is restricted from using excessive amounts of water for their operations. This forces a change in the flow properties of these devices from turbulent to laminar in nature and thus necessitates the characterization of these flows for future designs. Furthermore, diaphragm valves have a short service life due to a variety of reasons that includes the abrasive nature of the flow environment. This paper describes the activities of the Adaptronics Advanced Manufacturing Technology Laboratory (AMTL) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in the research and development of diaphragm valves using rapid prototyping technologies. As a first step, an experimental diaphragm valve was reverse engineered and retrofitted with ultrasonic transducers used in Ultrasonic Velocity Profiling (UVP) measurements. The use of this device enables measurements of velocity profiles to gain insight into the flow structure within the valve and the increased pressure losses generated within the valve. It also showed that components fabricated using the Z-Corporation machine could withstand the working environment of diaphragm valves. Research is now conducted on ultrasonic transducer placement in the device to further enhance the velocity profiling through the device. As a second step we produced a thin-walled stainless steel diaphragm valve using rapid prototyping technology and investment casting processes. A study of the durability of this device will be conducted and certain geometric and manufacturing aspects of this valve will be discussed.

Wireless sensors are an emerging technology that has the potential to revolutionize the monitoring of simple and complex physical systems. One of the biggest challenges with wireless sensors technology is power management and hence cost. A wireless sensor system incapable of managing its power consumption either by maintaining long battery life and/or harvesting from its surroundings, is simply not cost effective. Prolonging or eliminating the battery entirely would reduce the cost of battery replacement and maintenance. A viable family of materials for this purpose is piezoelectric materials because of their inherent ability to convert vibrations into electrical energy. Currently, a wide variety of piezoelectric materials are available and the appropriate choice for harvesting energy depends on their characteristics and properties. In addition to the material choice, energy harvesting circuitry is needed to efficiently convert and filter the signal from the piezoelectric device into a form that can be used by a load (battery). This thesis addresses the theoretical and experimental use of a type of pre-stressed PZT-5A Unimorph called a Thunder® to actively convert mechanical vibrations into useable power. Two types of devices of Thunder diaphragms are used: (1) a composite made of stainless steel, plain polyimide, a piezoelectric layer, plain polyimide, and copper; (2) and a second composite made with the same materials except that micro nickel inclusions are suspended into the polyimide layer. The first type produced a maximum average power of 2,585μW (~2.6mW) with a power density of 1411μW/cm2 (~1.4mW). The maximum total energy was 541,114μJ (~0.54J). The second type produced a maximum average power of 3,800μW (~3.8mW) with a power density of 2,073μW/cm2 (~2mW/cm2). The maximum total energy produced 1,187,939μJ (~1.19J). Based on these energy calculations, it was found that a plain polyimide diaphragm could theoretically charge a 1000mA-hr battery in a range from 3.32 hours to 32.32 hours depending on the energy harvesting circuit while nickel polyimide diaphragm could charge it in a range from 3.38 hours to 20.01 hours. These results show that THUNDER can effectively generate power from a steady sinusoidal source at frequencies below 10 Hz for the charging of batteries or for directly powering a device.

Respiratory motion poses significant problems in the radiotherapy of tumors located at sites (lung, liver, pancreas, breast) that are affected by such motion. Effects of respiratory motion on the different stages of the radiotherapy process (imaging, treatment planning and treatment delivery), has formed the focus of significant research over the last decade. Results from such research have revealed that respiratory motion affects the instantaneous position of almost all structures in the thorax and abdomen to different degrees based on their corresponding anatomic location and muscular attachments. As an example, diaphragm motion was found to be of the order of 1.5 cm, predominantly in the superior-inferior (SI) direction during normal breathing. This indicates a similar magnitude of motion for tumors located in the lower lobes of the lung and in the abdomen.The conventional method of accounting for such motion is to add a margin (based on an estimate of the expected range of organ motion) around the clinical target volume (CTV) that is delineated from the image data. This margin also includes errors due beam-bony anatomy alignment during radiation delivery and errors in patient position between simulation and subsequent treatment delivery sessions. Such a margin estimate may or may not encompass the "current" extent of motion exhibited by the tumor, resulting in either a higher dose to the surrounding normal tissue or a potential cold spot in the tumor volume. Several clinical studies have reported the existence of a direct relationship between the reduction in mean dose to the lung and the incidence of radiation induced pneumonitis. Therefore, subjecting additional normal lung tissue to high dose radiation by adding large margins based on organ motion estimates may result in an increased risk of radiation induced lung injury.Monitoring and accounting for respiratory motion can however potentate a reduction in the amount of normal tissue that receives high dose radiation, thereby decreasing the probability of normal tissue complication and also increasing the possibility for dose escalation to the actual tumor volume. The management (monitoring and accounting) of respiratory motion during radiation oncology forms the primary theme of this dissertation.Specific aims of this thesis dissertation include (a) identifying the deleterious effects of respiratory motion on conventional radiation therapy techniques (b) examining the different solutions that have been proposed to counter the deleterious effects of respiratory motion during radiotherapy (c) summarizing the relevant work conducted at our institution as part of this thesis in addressing the issue of respiratory motion and (d) visualizing the future direction of research in the management of respiratory motion in radiation oncology.Among the various techniques available to manage respiratory motion in radiation oncology such as respiratory gated and breath hold based radiotherapy, our research initially focused on respiratory gated radiotherapy, employing a commercially available external marker based real time position monitoring system. Multiple session recordings of simultaneous diaphragm motion and external marker motion revealed a consistent linear relationship between the two signals indicating that the external marker motion (along the anterior-posterior (AP) direction) could be used as a "surrogate" for motion of internal anatomy (along the SI direction). The predictability of diaphragm motion based on such external marker motion both within and between treatment sessions was also determined to be of the order of 0.1 cm.Analysis of the parameters that affected the accuracy and efficacy of respiratory gated radiotherapy revealed a direct relationship between the amount of residual motion and the width of the "gate" window. It also followed therefore that a trade-off existed between the width of the "gate" and the accuracy of gated treatments and also the overall "Beam ON" time. Further, gating during exhale was found to be more reproducible than gating during inhale. Although, it was evident that a reduction in the width of the "gate" implied a reduction in the margins added around the clinical target volume (CTV), such a reduction was limited by setup error.A study of the potential gains that could be derived from respiratory gating (based on motion phantom experimental set up) indicated a potential CTV-PTV margin reduction of 0.2-1.1 cm while employing gating alone in combination with an electronic portal imaging device, thus decreasing the amount of healthy tissue receiving radiation. In addition, gating also improved the quality of images obtained during simulation by reducing the amount of motion artifacts that are typically seen during conventional spiral CT imaging.Imparting some form of training was hypothesized to better enable patients to breathe in a reproducible fashion, which was further thought to increase the accuracy and efficacy of gated radiotherapy, especially when the "gate" was set close to the inhale portion of the breathing cycle. An analysis of breathing patterns recorded from five patients over several sessions under conditions of normal quiet breathing, breathing with audio instructions and breathing with visual feedback indicated that training improved the reproducibility of amplitude or frequency of patient breathing cycles.An initial exploration into respiration synchronized radiotherapy was thought to facilitate realization of reduced margins without having to hold the radiation beam delivery during a breathing cycle (as is the case with gating). A feasibility study based on superimposition of respiratory motion of a tumor (simulated by a sinusoidal motion oscillator) onto the initial beam aperture as formed by the multileaf collimator (MLC) revealed that tumor dose measurements obtained with such a set up were equivalent to those delivered to a static tumor by a static beam.Finally, a feasibility study for a method to acquire respiration synchronized images of a motion phantom and a patient (in order to perform respiration synchronized treatment planning and delivery) yielded success in the form of a 4D CT data set with reduced motion artifacts.In summary, respiratory gated radiotherapy and respiration synchronized are both viable approaches to account for respiratory motion during radiotherapy. While respiratory gated radiotherapy has been successfully implemented in some centers, several technical advances are required to enable similar success in the implementation of respiration synchronized radiotherapy. However, the potential clinical gains that can be obtained from either of the above approaches and their relative contributions to margin reduction will determine their future applicability as routine treatment procedures.

Title: Influence of the breathing muscles using POWERbreathe. Objective: The main object of this thesis is to determine, if it is possible to use 3D kinematic analysis to measure changes of trunk shapes during quiet breathing and breathing when using POWERbreathe and if it is possible to identify the changes. The thesis is divided to two parts. The first part contains theoretical part, focused on issue of kinesiology and biomechanics of breathing. The special part is concentrated on research, where I find changes of trunk kinematics during application of POWERbreathe. Method: Measurements were made on 6 probands in the same age category (women), when each measurement was performed during quiet breathing, maximum inhale/exhale, resistive breathing when using POWERbreathe and then another quiet breathing and maximum inhale/exhale. Quiet breathing was chosen as benchmark. The experimental measurements was done during one day. The research was used 3D kinematic motion analysis using system Qualysis. Were observed changes in the shape of the trunk and possibly caused breath changes during using POWERbreathe. Results: Measurements has confirmed, that the system Qualysis is able to detect mobility and the trunk shape changes. At a certain threshold load device POWERbreathe prevailed movements cranial...

The need of using the underground space was limited in the human history, but in the last century and due to the increase of world population, the use of the underground space has become essential. Underground metro stations, deep garages, tunnels and basements, etc... are examples of using the underground space inside the cities. The use of underground space is conducted through deep excavation or tunneling. Several techniques are used to conduct the deep excavation and one of the most popular and well known techniques used for deep excavation is the diaphragm walling technique which is widely used specially inside the cities to safe space because it requires a very small space to conduct a deep reinforced concreted wall under the ground. However, the construction of such walls causes deformation of the surrounding ground and it could also affect the nearby existing structures. In some recorded cases the slurry trench failed and causes a great deformation which effect the nearby structures. However, Minor damages and cracks were observed in buildings near stable slurry trenches, because the soil deformation was high. The existing structures inside the cities have been constructed on shallow or deep foundations and this research was oriented to study the effect of diaphragm wall installation on the existing adjacent piled foundation. Very limited studies were made to investigate such an effect. At Cambridge university centrifuge model tests were conducted to investigate the effect of slurry reduction on single piles. Field observation was conducted in several projects and showed the settlement and deformation of buildings located on deep foundation during the diaphragm wall trenching. Numerical analysis was conducted using FLAC 3D to simulate the laboratory and the available field works. FLAC 3D is a commercial software and it depend in its analysis on finite difference method. The purpose of the simulation was to verify the used numerical analysis method. The results from the numerical analysis were in a good agreement with the available field data results, and they were also in good agreement with the laboratory test results regarding soil settlement but it was not in such good agreement when they were compared regarding the pile. Generally, from the verification the numerical analysis method is considered to be reliable. A parametric study was performed using the verified numerical analysis method. The flexible nature of the numerical analysis allows to simulate different cases and to study a variety of parameters. The output of the parametric study was the pile deflection, the bending moment and the shaft friction. The study was divided into three main parts while each part contains several parameter combinations. The first part studied the effect of the single and double panel(s) on the single pile group that has different piles numbers and formations. The second and third parts studied the effect of multiple panels on connected pile groups and piled raft foundation, respectively. Generally, the studied parameters can be divided into three main groups. The first is related to the trench which includes the panel dimension, the number of panels and the slurry level inside the panel. The effect of slurry pressure reduction at some levels inside the trench was also studied. The second group concerned the soil type and ground water level. The third group is related to the deep foundation which includes pile characteristics, location, and formation within the group. The results from the parametric study showed that the pile behavior was greatly affected by panel length, groundwater level, slurry level inside the trench and steadiness of the slurry pressure. The piles were also affected by the different stages of construction related to the pile location from the constructed panel. The piles within the group act together so they behave different from each other according to their position. The effect of the pile on the trench stability is presented through a simple analytical approach which is based on the wedge analysis. The analytical approach provided equations that calculate the factor of safety in two and three dimensions. The pile location was governing the equation that calculate the factor of safety because the pile could be fully inside the failure wedge or intersect with the failure surface. A comparative study was conducted to find out the effect of the different pile location and other parameters on the safety factor. Generally, this comparative study showed that the pile located within the failure wedge reduces the factor of safety, while the pile that intersects the failure surface could increase it. The pile row near a trench that contains piles inside the failure wedge and others intersects the failure surface act together to balance the failure wedge. The factor of safety results of some cases from the analytical approach were also compared with those calculated from the numerical analysis. In general, the factor of safety from the numerical analysis was higher than that calculated from the proposed analytical approach. This research helped to understand the trenching effect on the ground surface and on the nearby piled foundations. It provided charts that could help to predict the soil deformation and earth pressure coefficient which could be used in the design. It showed through the parametric study the precautions that should be taken into consideration during trenching process near piled foundation. This research provided a design method for the slurry trench panel near piled foundation.