Hydrocephalus is a clinical conditon where the brain tissue is deformed by the expanding ventricules. In this thesis, the mechanical deformation of a hydrocephalic brain is studied using a biomechanical model, where the material properties of the tissue are described by a viscoelastic model. A set of governing equations is derived when the motion is quasi-static motion and deformation is small. Then, finite element method is used for spatial discretization, and finite difference and trapezoidal rule are used for time-stepping. Moreover, the computational meshes are generated from medical images of patient's brain using level set method and a program called DistMesh. Numerical stability of the time-stepping scheme is also studied. <br /><br /> Several numerical studies are conducted to investigate several aspect of the brain with hydrocephalus. The state of stress of the tissue is found to be compressive everywhere in the brain. The viscoelastic properties of the brain are investigated and found to be dominated by elastic response. Lastly, the displacement made by the ventricular wall as it expands and shrinks is found to be non-uniform.

Ultrasonic is a transport form of sound. There is no mass transportation, only energy transportation occurs in transfer process. Recently, the ultrasonic was widely used in a variety of purposes. For example¡Gsonar, non-destructive testing, washing and emulsification. Due to the effects of mechanical vibration of ultrasonic on the physiological can promote the percutaneous absorption, ultrasonic is widely used in medical cosmetic field. It can get amazing amount of spending and will continue growth every year. The skin is the body's largest organ, which can be divided into epidermis, dermis and hypodermis. There are two main approaches for drugs to be delivered through the skin: directly penetrate the epidermis and penetrate the lipid layer of cell space. The main purpose of this study is to executing numerical simulation through finite element analysis. By constructing the 3D FEM model of the skin, the effects of different level combinations of the three factors, massage time, amplitudes and frequencies of ultrasonic, on the equivalent strain distributions of the epidermis, dermis, hypodermis and muscle layers were studied, while the skin was massaged by using ultrasonic. The simulation results showed that the difference of maximum equivalent strain is nearly one hundred times between different factor¡¦s level combinations. That means the choice of the appropriate factor¡¦s level combination will affect the efficacy of ultrasonic massage seriously. The numerical simulation results also showed that amplitude is the most influential factor on the equivalent strain for every layers of skin except the epidermis.

The purpose of this study is to analyze baseball collision by using finite element method, and investigate batting effect on the sweet spot on the bat and then change the baseball geometry parameter. In addition, the researcher would like to investigate the effect of flight on batted ball by changing swing parameter. LS-DYNA is used to simulate collision on the different position on the bat after using SolidWorks to build modal, then compare the results to locate the exact position of sweet spot on the bat. By building different weight, length and radius of bat barrel, and simulate collision individually, the researcher wishes to investigate the influence of changing bat geometry parameter to batting effect on sweet spot. At last changing the undercut distance and bat swing angle, two of the swing parameter, to simulate collision, and the results of collision are used to get flight trajectory by numerical method, then analyze the influence of changing swing parameter to batted ball range. This study can provide bat geometry characteristic, swing information, and a reference for choosing a baseball bat, even help adjust batting feel for the batter.

As part of a larger effort to understand the fundamental knowledge of polymer scratch behavior, this dissertation is focused on both experimental study and numerical analysis of scratch deformation of a broad range of polymers, with an emphasis on the mechanical understanding of how the scratch-induced damage is formed. An instrumented progressive load scratch method recommended by ASTM/ISO standards was adopted for the experimental work. The commercial finite element (FE) method package ABAQUS was employed as a numerical simulation tool to describe the stress-strain fields, and it analyzes the deformation mechanisms during the scratch process. A thorough parametric study has been performed to assess the influence of material parameters and surface properties, such as Young's modulus, yield strength, and friction coefficient, on the polymer scratch behavior. Upon investigation of the scratch behaviors of a broad range of polymer materials, various kinds of scratch damage features are identified and correlated with the mechanical characteristics of the polymers. A generalized scratch damage mechanism map for polymers is presented. Correlation between different material types and scratch damage mechanisms is made. It is found that both the material characteristics and the stress state exerted on the scratched surface are responsible for the observed scratch damage mechanisms. The phenomenological deduction of the scratch damage process based on the stick-slip mechanism is established. A more realistic material law for the scratch analysis is also provided. To evaluate the polymer resistance against scratch visibility quantitatively, an entirely new automated on-set scratch visibility determination methodology is developed based on typical visual characteristics of human eyes. Its application on the evaluation of mar and abrasion of polymer is also explored. This new methodology can quantify polymer scratch resistance consistently and reliably regardless of the sample surface characteristics and color.

Electric field guided assembly of colloids is a new area of research in colloidal science where sub-micrometer particles, or colloids, are assembled using patterned electrodes. The design of these devices is often limited by an inability to characterize accurately forces and fluxes with linearized electrokinetic theory. The research presented in this dissertation describes an application of the finite element method to the nonlinear electrokinetic equations. The finite element model thus developed is then used to describe the nonlinear electrophoretic mobility of a dilute colloidal dispersion, investigate hydrodynamic and electric particle-particle interactions, and characterize particle-surface interactions. The effect of Stern layer conduction on the electrophoretic mobility and dielectric response is included using the generalized dynamic Stern layer model. The electrokinetic force is calculated using the Maxwell stress tensor method rather than the effective dipole method as it is more consistent with nonlinear electrokinetic theory. Significant results of this dissertation demonstrate the effect of nonlinear electrokinetic phenomena and extend the present electrokinetic theory. The calculation of nonlinear electrophoretic mobility of a dilute colloidal dispersion, which is valid for arbitrary particle surface charge or zeta potential, applied (AC) electric field strength, and applied AC electric field frequency. Also, the adsorption isotherm used by the generalized dynamic Stern layer theory is extended to include non-equilibrium reaction kinetics. This results in a model for Stern layer conduction which is valid for frequencies above 1 MHz. The utilization of the Maxwell stress tensor method results in a finite element model which is valid for arbitrary electric field strength and includes the effects of traveling-wave dielectrophoresis a nonlinear electrokinetic phenomena resulting from non-uniform electric field phase.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the function of the different structural designs of golf club head models (including a deep head, a shallow back, and a shallow head) and to get the optimum golf club head through the software simulation. By means of software SolidWorks, the researcher draws three main club head models. The C ++ was used for a linear programming to control the golf club head thickness including an impact face, a crown, a sole, a toe and a heel under the definite weight. The simulation also helps adjust the center of gravity position of the golf club head and integrates with the finite element method software LS_Dyna in analyzing the impact procedure between the golf club head and the golf ball. In addition, the researcher preceded the analysis by replacing the crown surface as carbon fiber reinforcement polymers (CFRP). He also investigated the off-centered hit effects through the impact analysis. It is expected that study findings can be extracted. Through the simulation of the hit effects, the golf club head designers will be inspired to create more effective golf club heads.

Abstract Accompany a rapid growth in the semiconductor industry in the past few year, most components gradually used the small dimension as its basic structures. Due to the reduction of component size will induces highly concentrated on circuit and dimension, it also incurs a lots problem, such as electromagnetic interference, high temperature and thermal stress, which will decrease the product reliability. The most common damage in the semiconductor product is thermal fatigue, which is caused by thermal stress concentrated under repeatedly temperature variation loading. Usually, the thermal cycle loading is applied to induce the fatigue destruction and predict the product reliability, but this method spends one cycle for 80min which is time-consumption. Therefore, in this thesis, the finite element method package is used to simulate and evaluate the plastic variation of solder bump and the relation between different temperatures loading and equivalent plastic strain under different temperature range test. Through the Coffin-Manson equation, the equivalent plastic strain can be used to predict the fatigue live, which can be precisely accelerating the fatigue test.

The current packaging trend toward to smaller and thinner has pushed the manufacturing technology to the limits. During the assembly processes of IC packages, delamination at interfaces and mechanical breakage of components are common mode of failure. The induced thermal stress within the package is one of the major contributions to these failures. According to the disparity of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between different components, internal thermal stress and warpage will be induced when the package undergoes temperature excursion. In this paper, the Die attach epoxy curing and encapsulation curing process induced warpage and thermal stress were studied by finite element software Marc & Mentat. As comparison, two kinds of Molding materials of the package considered, and the result will compared with the experimental data. Finally, studied the effect of the material thickness and the impact significance of each design variable on the design objective will also be discussed.

The focus of the research is to develop a consistent and repeatable method to evaluate the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of carbon fibers at high temperatures. Accurate measurement of the CTE of carbon fibers is essential to understand and develop optimal processing procedures as well as computational simulations to predict properties and allowables for fiber-reinforced composites. The mismatch between the coefficient of thermal expansion of the fiber and the matrix has a profound impact on the development of residual stresses and the subsequent damage initiation and progression, potentially diminishing the performance of composite structures. In situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is selected to perform the experimental work on account of the high resolution and the capability of evaluating both the longitudinal and transverse CTE. The orthotropy in the CTE is tested by rotating the fibers through 45° about their axis. The method is validated by testing standard tungsten filaments of known CTE. Additionally, the microstructure of the fibers is studied in a field emission scanning electron microscope as well as through selected area diffraction patterns in a TEM to observe presence of any potential orthotropy. The pitch based P55 fiber revealed a cylindrically orthotropic microstructure, but the PAN based IM7 and T1000 fibers did not reveal any orthotropy. Finite element models of hexagonally arranged IM7 fibers in a 977 epoxy matrix are developed using PATRAN and analyzed using the commercial FEA code ABAQUS 6.4. The fiber properties were considered temperature independent where as the matrix properties were varied linearly with temperature. The lamina properties evaluated from the finite element modeling are in agreement with the experimental results in literature within 10% in the temperature range of room temperature to the stress free temperature of the epoxy, however at cryogenic temperatures the difference is greater. The residual stresses developed during processing of the composite indicated a potential location for fiber matrix debonding to be in the matrix dominant regions.

¡@¡@The purpose of thesis is to study the responses of nanoindentation in fused silica. By experiments the mechanical properties of intrinsic fused silica were obtained. From the finite element simulation the response of material was estimated. Our main work is on simulation. This part includes the effects of different coefficient of friction, different indentation depth, tip rounding, and substrates of thin films. ¡@¡@First, the experimental load¡Vdisplacement curves were obtained through the nanoindentation sensing system. Then, a three-dimensional finite element was successfully modeled through the comparison of the load¡Vdisplacement curves of the experiment and the simulation. The yield stress and the strain-hardness trend of intrinsic fused silica were obtained. ¡@¡@For different coefficient of friction and different tip radii, no significant differences were found through the load¡Vdisplacement curves and von Mises stress distributions. For different indentation depths, varied trends were found through the load¡Vdisplacement curves and von Mises stress distributions. For substrate effect, no significant differences could be found through the normalized hardness. The intrinsic film hardness could be obtained for indentation depth less 20% of the total indentation depth.