Thesis (doctoral)--Tampere University of Technology, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 242-254).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 92-94).

Thesis (M.S. in natural resource sciences)--Washington State University, August 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Sept. 21, 2009). "Department of Natural Resource Sciences." Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-44).

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-61). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-94). Also available in print.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, 2009. / Includes abstract. Vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-69). Also available on the Internet.

This thesis presents the results of research on sandwich panel construction, with the aims of developing tools for modelling sandwich panel fire performance and hence to use the tools to aid the development of sandwich panel construction with improved fire resistance. The research focuses on sandwich panels made of thin steel sheeting and a polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam core. For non-loadbearing sandwich panel construction, fire resistance is measured in terms of thermal insulation and integrity only. However, these two parameters are affected by mechanical performance of sandwich panel construction due to the high distortion and large deformation nature of sandwich panel construction under fire attack. Therefore, it is necessary to consider both thermal and mechanical performances of sandwich panels under fire conditions. The work in this thesis includes development of a thermal conductivity model for PIR foam as this thermal property is one of the key values in determining heat transfer through sandwich panels; this thermal conductivity model is based on the effective thermal conductivity of porous foams proposed by Glicksman (1994) and includes the effects of polymer decomposition and increases in foam cell size. It is validated against fire tests carried out on PIR sandwich panels 80mm and 100mm thick with steel facings of thickness 0.5mm. A large 3D sequentially coupled thermal-stress model of a full scale fire test has been developed in the commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software ABAQUS to provide insight into the way sandwich panels behave in a fire resistance test and also to assess different modelling techniques. Aspects and stages of the simulation that agree well with test data are explained. Limitations of the ABAQUS software for simulating sandwich panel fire tests are highlighted; namely, it is not possible to simulate the correct radiation heat transfer through panel joints, as cavity radiation cannot be specified in a fully coupled thermal-stress analysis. Joints are key components of sandwich panel construction. In order to obtain temperature development data for modelling joints, a number of fire tests have been carried out. These fire tests were conducted with different joint configurations and panel thicknesses under realistic fire conditions using timber cribs. The joint fire tests revealed significant ablation of the foam core within the joints of sandwich panels at high temperatures. At the beginning of fire exposure, the joint temperature on the unexposed surface was lower than that on the panel due to the better insulation property of air compared to the foam. However, as the joint gap increased due to ablation of the foam, the joint temperatures became higher than in the panel. A numerical simulation model has been created to investigate this behaviour. Using the aforementioned thermal model, numerical simulations have been carried out to examine the influences of possible changes to sandwich panel design on sandwich panel construction fire performance. It was suggested that if the maximum gap in the joints can be limited to 5mm, for example, by applying intumescent coating strips within the sandwich panel joints to counter the increasing gap formed due to core ablation, then the joint temperature on the unexposed surface would not exceed that of the panel surface, hence the joint would cease to be the weak link. To increase the panel fire resistance, the use of graphite particles in the PIR foam formulation may be considered to lower the contribution of radiative heat transfer within the foam cells by reducing the transmissivity of the cell walls. Graphite particles may offer considerable increases in the thermal resistance of PIR foam at high temperatures by limiting the radiation contribution which dominates heat transfer above 300oC.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Mecânica. / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-20T20:54:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 197259.pdf: 3150760 bytes, checksum: 1babd00a556826ff3db8cc53a0580e52 (MD5)

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Mecânica. / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-21T01:44:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Este trabalho descreve os efeitos das folgas entre eixo virabrequim, bloco e bronzinas do motor Fire 999cc 8V sobre os níveis de ruído e vibração do mesmo. Para tal, foram utilizadas bronzinas de diferentes espessuras para simular três níveis de folga: mínima, média e máxima. A implementação das folgas ocorreu em duas etapas. Na primeira, foi variada a espessura das bronzinas dos cinco mancais simultaneamente, nos três níveis de folga e em cada um dos níveis foram medidos os níveis de pressão sonora, em dB(A), e os níveis de aceleração, em dB. Na segunda etapa foi variada a espessura das bronzinas de forma individual, utilizando-se os três níveis descritos. Para cada nível de folga e para cada mancal foram também medidos os níveis de pressão sonora e os níveis de aceleração. Nas duas etapas descritas as aquisições foram feitas em bandas de frequência de 1/3 de oitava. Para se determinar as regiões de frequências de interesse foram analisadas as curvas de resposta em frequência dos principais componentes do conjunto bloco/motor. A análise dos resultados ocorreu de forma comparativa entre os espectros de pressão sonora e aceleração assim adquiridos, além do uso de técnicas de análise espectral por FFT. As folgas máximas apresentam os maiores níveis de variação, da ordem de 7 dB em relação as folgas mínimas. Dentre os mancais analisados, os mancais das extremidades do virabrequim apresentaram maior sensibilidade às variações das folgas. As variações dos níveis de ruído e vibração em função das folgas são bastantes significativas nas frequências naturais dos componentes, principalmente as frequências do conjunto bloco/motor montado (pistões, bielas, virabrequim, bloco e bronzinas).