Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-131).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-269). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering." Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-163).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / Yiacoumi, Sotira, Committee Chair ; Tsouris, Costas, Committee Co-Chair ; Pavlostathis, Spyros, Committee Member ; Tannenbaum, Rina, Committee Member ; Sherrill, David, Committee Member.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-64). Also available via the World Wide Web.

In this thesis we use density functional theory (DFT) to study the solvent mediated interactions between solvophobic, solvophilic and patchy nanostructures namely rectangular cross section blocks. We calculate both the density profiles and local compressibility around the blocks and the results obtained for our model system provide a means to understanding the basic physics of solvent mediated interactions between nanostructures, and between objects such as proteins in water, that possess hydrophobic and hydrophilic patches. Our results give an improved understanding of the behaviour of liquids around solvophobic objects and solvophobicity (hydrophobicity) in general. Secondly, we look into the physics incorporated in standard mean-field DFT. This is normally derived by making what appears to be a rather drastic approximation for the two body density distribution function: ρ(2)(r,r′) ≈ ρ(r)ρ(r′), where ρ(r) is the one-body density distribution function. We provide a rationale for why the DFT often does better than this approximation would make you expect. Finally, we develop a lattice model to understand the nature of the pattern formation exhibited by certain systems of particles deposited on liquid-air interfaces and in particular the nature of the transitions between the different patterned structures that are observed. This is done using Monte Carlo computer simulations and DFT and links the observed microphase ordering with the micellisation process seen e.g. in surfactant systems.

Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is studied in shock tube experiments with an Atwood number of 0.7. The interface is formed in a vertical shock tube using opposed gas flows, and three-dimensional random initial interface perturbations are generated by the vertical oscillation of gas column producing Faraday waves. Planar Laser Mie scattering is used for flow visualization and for measurements of the mixing process. Experimental image sequences are recorded at 6 kHz frequency and processed to obtain the time dependent variation of the integral mixing layer width. Measurements of the mixing layer width are compared with Mikaelian's [1] model in order to extract the growth exponent. where a fairly wide range of values is found varying from theta approximate to 0.2 to 0.6.

No description available.

This dissertation presents an experimental investigation of heat transport through solid- solid and solid-liquid interfaces. Heat transport is a process initiated by the presence of a thermal gradient. All interfaces offer resistance to heat flow in the form of temperature drop at the interface. In micro and nano scale devices, the contribution of this resistance often becomes comparable to, or greater than, the intrinsic thermal resistance offered by the device or structure itself. In this dissertation, I report the resistance offered by the interfaces in terms of interface thermal conductance, G, which is the inverse of Kapitza resistance and is quantified by the ratio of heat flux to the temperature drop. For studying thermal transport across interfaces, I adapted a non-contact optical measurement technique called Time-Domain Thermoreflectance (TDTR) that relies on the fact that the reflectivity of a metal has a small, but measurable, dependence on temperature. The first half of this dissertation is focused on investigating heat transport through thin films and solid-solid interfaces. The samples in this study are thin lead zirconate- titanate (PZT) piezoelectric films used in sensing applications and dielectric films such as SiOC:H used in semiconductor industry. My results on the PZT films indicate that the thermal conductivity of these films was proportional to the packing density of the elements within the films. I have also measured thermal conductivity of dielectric films in different elemental compositions. I also examined thermal conductivity of dielectric films for a variety of different elemental compositions of Si, O, C, and H, and varying degrees of porosity. My measurements showed that the composition and porosity of the films played an important role in determining the thermal conductivity. The second half of this dissertation is focused on investigating heat transport through solid-liquid interfaces. In this regard, I functionalize uniformly coated gold surfaces with a variety of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Heat flows from the gold surface to the sulfur molecule, then through the hydrocarbon chain in the SAM, into the terminal group of the SAM and finally into the liquid. My results showed that by changing the terminal group in a SAM from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, G increased by a factor of three in water. By changing the number of carbon atoms in the SAM, I also report that the chain length does not present a significant thermal resistance. My results also revealed evidence of linear relationship between work of adhesion and interface thermal conductance from experiments with several SAMs on water. By examining a variety of SAM-liquid combination, I find that this linear dependency does not hold as a unified hypothesis. From these experiments, I speculate that heat transport in solid-liquid systems is controlled by a combination of work of adhesion and vibrational coupling between the omega-group in the SAM and the liquid. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisor: Geoffrey Brooks and Kenneth Coley. Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-164).