The performance of some polymeric materials is profoundly affected by long-term exposure to moisture during service. This poses problems for high precision and/or load bearing components in engineering applications where moisture-induced changes in mechanical properties and dimensional stability could compromise the reliability of the device or structure. In addition to external factors such as moisture, the material properties are also evolving due to inherent structural relaxation within the polymeric material through a process known as physical aging. Based on the current knowledge of both mechanisms, they have opposite effects on material properties. The common approach to studying the effects of moisture is to expose the polymeric material to combined moisture and heat, also referred to as hygrothermal conditions. The application of heat not only increases the rate of moisture diffusion but also accelerates physical aging processes which would otherwise be very slow. In spite of this coupled response, nearly all hygrothermal studies ignore physical aging in their investigations due to the complexity of the coupled problem. The goal of this work is to develop a numerical model for simulating the interactive effects of moisture diffusion and physical aging in a glassy polymer. The intent is to develop a capability that would also allow one to model these effects under various mechanical loading and heat transfer conditions. The study has chosen to model the response of polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS), which is a glassy polymer blend that has very similar behaviour to polycarbonate. In this study, a comprehensive approach which considers four physical mechanisms – structural mechanics, moisture diffusion, heat conduction, and physical aging – has been applied. The most current analytical models in the literature usually attempt to model two or three coupled physical phenomena. To develop the four coupled phenomena model, the current work has undertaken an extensive scope of work involving experimental characterization and finite element modeling. In the experimental part of this work, seven sets of different tests were conducted to characterize the behaviour of PC/ABS exposed to moisture diffusion and accelerated physical aging. These experiments provided a comparative study between the effects of physical aging and moisture diffusion on the material’s behaviour; and at the same time, provided data for the numerical modeling. The dual glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the material were determined using two techniques: dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA). The DMA tests provided data for studying the effects of hygrothermal aging on the Tg’s of the material and were also useful for mechanical tests such as creep and stress relaxation performed using the DMA. The Tg’s obtained using the TMA were also required for physical aging experiments using the dilatometry mode of TMA. Structural relaxation of the blend was studied by aging the material at 80 °C for 7 aging times in the TMA. These experiments gave an insight into the volume relaxation behaviour of the blend at a constant temperature. Specific heat capacity of the PC/ABS blend was also measured using another thermal analysis technique; i.e., differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), before and after test specimens were exposed to hygrothermal aging for 168 hours. The interactive effects of physical aging and moisture diffusion on the moisture uptake of the material were studied using gravimetric experiments performed at 5 different hygrothermal conditions. The experimental results were used to determine the coefficient of diffusion as well as the equilibrium moisture uptake of the samples. Furthermore, the effects of both moisture diffusion and physical aging on the mechanical behaviour of the polymer blend were investigated using stress relaxation tests. The comparison of the results of the tests performed on un-aged specimens with those of thermally and hygrothermally aged samples showed how physical aging effects competed with moisture diffusion. Also, the coefficient of hygroscopic expansion of the PC/ABS blend was determined using a so-called TMA/TGA technique. The numerical modeling of the four-coupled physics was achieved using the governing equations in the form of partial differential equations. Modeling was performed using the commercial finite element software package, COMSOL Multiphysics®. First, the uncoupled physical mechanisms of structural mechanics, moisture diffusion, and heat conduction were modeled separately to investigate the validity of the PDEs for each individual phenomenon. The modeling of the coupled physics was undertaken in two parts. The three coupled physics of structural mechanics, moisture diffusion, and heat conduction was first simulated for a gas pipe having a linear elastic behaviour. The comparison of the results with similar analysis available in the literature showed the capability of the developed model for the analysis of the triple coupled mechanisms. The second part modeled the four coupled phenomena by incorporating the experimentally determined coupling coefficients. In the developed numerical model, the material behaviour was considered to be linear viscoelastic, which complicated the model further but provided more realistic results for the behaviour of the polymer blend. Moreover, an approximation method was proposed for estimating the coupling coefficients that exist between different coupled physics in this study. It was also suggested that the anomalous moisture diffusion in the material can be modeled using a time varying boundary condition. Finally, the model was successfully verified and demonstrated using test case studies with thin thermoplastic plates. The proposed four-coupled physics model was able to predict with good accuracy the deflection of thin thermoplastic plates under bending for a set of hygorthermal test condition.

The mining of oil sands in the sub-humid region of Northern Alberta, Canada causes large-scale landscape disturbance, which subsequently requires extensive reclamation to re-establish the surface and subsurface hydrology. The reconstructed watersheds examined in this study are located at the Syncrude Canada Limited mine site, 40 km North of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. The three experimental reconstructed watersheds, with nominal soil thicknesses of 1.0 m, 0.50 m and 0.35 m comprised a thin layer of peat (15-20 cm) over varying thicknesses of secondary (till) soil, have been constructed to cover saline sodic overburden and to provide sufficient moisture storage for vegetation while minimizing surface runoff and deep percolation to the underlying shale overburden. In order to replicate the hydrological behavior, assess the sustainability, and trace the evolution over time of the reclaimed watersheds, a suitable modeling tool is needed.</p> <p>In this research, a model is developed using the system dynamics approach to simulate the hydrological processes in the three experimental reconstructed watersheds and to assess their ability to provide the various watershed functions. The model simulates the vertical and lateral water movement, surface runoff and evapotranspiration within each watershed. Actual evapotranspiration, which plays an important role in the hydrology of the Canadian semi-arid regions, is simulated using an indexed soil moisture method. The movement of water within the various soil layers of the cover is based on parametric relationships in conjunction with conceptual infiltration models. The feedback relationships among the various dynamic hydrologic processes in the watershed are captured in the developed System Dynamic Watershed Model (SDWM). </p> <p>Most hydrological models are evaluated using runoff as the determining criterion for model calibration and validation, while accounting for the movement of moisture in the soil as a water loss. Since one of the primary objectives of a reconstructed watershed is to maintain the natural flora and fauna, it is important to recognize that soil moisture plays an important role in assessing the performance of the reconstructed watersheds. In turn, soil moisture becomes an influential factor for quantifying the health of the reconstructed watershed. The developed model has been calibrated and validated with data for two years (2001-2002), upholding the sensitive relationship between soil moisture and runoff. Accurate calibration of the model based on simulations of soil moisture in the various soil layers improves its overall performance. The model was subsequently used to simulate the three sub-watersheds for five years, with changing the calibrated model parameters to use them as indicators of watershed evolution. The simulated results were compared with the observed values. </p> <p>The results of the study illustrate that all three watersheds are still evolving. Failure to identify a unique parameter set for simulating the watershed response supports the hypothesis of watershed evolution. Soil moisture exchange between the till and peat layers changed with time in all of the watersheds. There was also a modest change in the water movement from the till to shale layers in each of the sub-watersheds. Vegetation is increasing in all of watersheds although there is an indication that one of the sub-watersheds may be sustaining deep rooted vegetation. The results demonstrate the successful application of the system dynamics approach and the developed model in simulating the hydrology of reconstructed watersheds and the potential for using this approach in assessing complex hydrologic systems.

In this thesis, the moisture characteristics of spruce plywood are studied experimentally and numerically with special attention given to moisture storage and release as the indoor humidity changes diurnally. This is referred to as the moisture buffering capacity. Two test facilities (a glass jar facility and a transient moisture transfer facility) are used to measure the moisture accumulation and temperature and relative humidity profiles within spruce plywood. These measured data are used to determine the moisture buffering capacity of spruce plywood and validate a one-dimensional transient numerical model that can be used to calculate the transient heat and moisture transfer in spruce plywood. There is good agreement between the measured and simulated results over the range of test variables investigated. </p><p>This validated numerical model is used to investigate the effect of initial conditions, boundary conditions, thickness and humidity step change on the moisture buffering capacity. In addition, sensitivity studies are performed to investigate the effect of variations in material properties used in the numerical model. The properties that are considered in these sensitivity studies are the sorption isotherm, effective thermal conductivity, heat of sorption and effective diffusion coefficient. These studies show that the sorption isotherm has the greatest effect on the moisture buffering capacity, as well as the temperature and relative humidity profiles within spruce plywood. For example, a ± 10% change in sorption isotherm has a ± 7%, ± 6% and ± 10% effect on the moisture buffering capacity, and the relative temperature and relative humidity change, respectively. </p><p>This thesis also verifies the moisture diffusivity property for spruce plywood, which was developed by Olutimayin and Simonson (2005) to account for moisture storage in cellulose insulation for a single step change in humidity. It was found that for spruce plywood, the moisture penetration depth may be over predicted by an order of magnitude when moisture storage is neglected using a transient analytic solution which does not include moisture storage.

In this thesis, a numerical model for coupled heat and moisture transfer in a run around membrane energy exchanger (RAMEE) with a liquid desiccant as a coupling fluid is developed. The numerical model is two dimensional, transient and is formulated using the finite difference method with an implicit time discretization. The model for the case of only heat transfer for a single heat exchanger is compared to an available analytical solution and good agreement is obtained. It is shown that the discrepancy between the numerical and theoretical dimensionless bulk outlet temperature of the fluids is less than 4% during the transient period. The model is also validated for the case of simultaneous heat and moisture transfer using experimental data measured during the laboratory testing of a RAMEE system. The results for both sensible and latent effectiveness showed satisfactory agreement at different operating conditions. However, there are some discrepancies between the simulation and the experimental data during the transient times. It is proposed that these discrepancies may be due to experimental flow distribution problems within the exchanger. The maximum average absolute differences between the measured and simulated transient effectivenesses were 7.5% and 10.3% for summer and winter operating conditions, respectively.<p> The transient response of the RAMEE system for step changes in the inlet supply air temperature and humidity ratio is presented using the numerical model. In addition, the system quasi steady state operating conditions are predicted as the system approaches its steady state operating condition. The effect of various dimensionless parameters on the transient response is predicted separately. These included: the number of heat transfer units, thermal capacity ratio, heat loss/gain ratio, storage volume ratio and the normalized initial salt solution concentration. It is shown that the initial salt solution concentration and the storage volume of the salt solution have significant impacts on the transient response of the system and the heat loss/gain rates from/to the circulated fluid flow can change the system quasi steady effectiveness substantially. The detailed study of the transient performance of the RAMEE is useful to determine the transient response time of the system under different practical situations.

Abstract Drought is the most common abiotic stress limiting chickpea production in the world. Ninety percent of the worlds chickpea is produced in areas relying upon conserved, receding soil moisture, therefore, crop productivity is largely dependent on efficient utilization of available soil moisture. Because of the variability in drought pattern from year to year, trait based selection could have an advantage over selection on the basis of grain yield alone. Trait based breeding, however, requires trait dissection into components. Successful marker identification would facilitate integration of MAS procedures in breeding programs enabling the pyramiding of favourable alleles.<p> The genetic map produced in this study was based on a population of recombinant inbred lines of a cross of ILC 588 x ILC 3279 containing 52 SSR markers spanned 335 cM of the chickpea genome at an average density of 6.4 cM. A total of 13 genomic regions were shown to be associated with drought tolerance traits. Some of these genomic regions showed pleiotropic effect on multiple traits. This was also supported by the analysis of phenotypic data where these traits were found to be correlated. For example, early flowering and maturity had a strong association with high grain yield. High grain yield was also associated with better portioning ability between biomass and grain yield, i.e. harvest index. Drought tolerance score (DTS) was associated with various important traits including biomass, early flowering, early maturity.<p> This study also concluded that chickpea genotypes differed in terms of root length, root length density, root weight density and root length to weight ratio at every 20 cm soil layer up to 100 cm depth in response to water deficits. Consideration of an efficient root system vs. a larger root system is also important, since in this research, large root systems were offset by low harvest index, presumably due to the lack of assimilate available for grain growth. A restricted root system is important in environments like Western Canada, where crop growth termination is usually required prior to fall frost. This study also reported significant associations of stomatal conductance (gs) with each of HI, grain yield under drought, drought susceptibility index and drought tolerance score (DTS). Stomatal conductance can also be used to assess plant stress due to drought. Values of gs less than 250 mmol m-2s-1 during flowering indicated drought stress under greenhouse conditions. A higher degree of plant stress due to drought was shown by increased stomatal closure at midday (gs <150 mmol m-2s-1). The study of 157 RILs under natural drought stress during 2005-07 revealed that the 17 RILs which had high grain yield under drought (Group A), also tended to have higher gs than the 42 RILs that had lower grain yield (Group B). Group A had mean gs values of 390 mmol m-2s-1 during the week before flowering, while Group B had mean gs value of 330 mmol m-2s-1. Stomatal conductance increased at flowering and then sharply decreased later in the reproductive period, particularly in Group B. These findings were also supported by canopy temperature differential measurements as Group A was also able to maintain lower canopy temperature than Group B, indicating the ability of these plants to maintain adequate transpiration and a cooler canopy under drought stress. This research indicated that gs and canopy temperature can be used to assess chickpea drought stress and to screen drought tolerant genotypes. This study identified a QTL on LG7 for gs, QTLs on LG1, LG3 and LG6 associated with canopy temperature differential, as well as QTLs associated with grain yield under drought, HI, DTS, days to flower, days to maturity, reproductive period and plant height. These QTLs identified for traits related to higher chickpea productivity under drought stress could have important implications for accelerating the process of pyramiding of favourable genes into adapted genotypes and on future marker-assisted breeding for drought prone areas.

In this study, a numerical model is developed for determining coupled heat and moisture transfer in a run-around membrane energy exchanger (RAMEE) using two counter/cross flow exchangers and with a salt solution of MgCl2 as the coupling fluid. The counter/cross flow exchanger is a counter-flow exchanger with cross-flow inlet and outlet headers. The model is two-dimensional, steady-state and based on the physical principles of conservation of momentum, energy, and mass. The finite difference method is used in this model to discretize the governing equations.<p> The heat transfer model is validated with effectiveness correlations in the literature. It is shown that the difference between the numerical model and correlations is less than ¡À2% and ¡À2.5% for heat exchangers and run around heat exchangers (RAHE), respectively. The simultaneous heat and moisture transfer model is validated with data from another model and experiments. The inter-model comparison shows a difference of less than 1%. The experimental validation shows an average discrepancy of 1% to 17% between the experimental and numerical data for overall total effectiveness. At lower NTUs the numerical and experimental results show better agreement (e.g. within 1-4% at NTU=4).<p> The model for RAHE is used to develop new effectiveness correlations for the geometrically more complex counter/cross flow heat exchangers and RAHE systems. The correlations are developed to predict the response of the exchangers and overall system to the change of different design characteristics as it is determined by the model. Discrepancies between the simulated and correlated results are within ¡À2% for both the heat exchangers and the RAHE systems.<p> It is revealed by the model that the overall effectiveness of the counter/cross flow RAMEE depends on the entrance ratio (the ratio of the length of the inlet and outlet headers to the length of the exchanger, xi/x0), aspect ratio (the ratio of the height to the length of the exchanger, y0/x0), number of heat transfer units (NTU), heat capacity rate ratio (Cr*), number of mass transfer units (NTUm), and the mass flow rate ratio of pure salt in desiccant solution to dry air (m*). Beside these dimensionless parameters, the performance of the RAMEE system is affected by the liquid-air flow configuration and the operating inlet temperature and humidity.<p> This study concludes that the maximum effectiveness of the RAMEE system with two counter/cross flow exchangers occurs when NTU and NTUm are large (e.g. greater than 10). At any NTU, the overall effectiveness of the RAMEE system increases with Cr* until it reaches a maximum value when Cr*= . Increasing Cr* above causes the overall effectiveness to decrease slightly. Therefore, to achieve the maximum overall effectiveness of the system, Cr* must be close to . is a function of NTU and operating conditions e.g., with NTU=10, and under AHRI summer and winter operating conditions, respectively. The exchangers in the RAMEE system are needed to have a small aspect ratio (e.g. y0/x0<0.2) and small entrance ratio (e.g. xi/x0<0.1) to get the maximum overall effectiveness of a RAMEE system using two counter/cross flow exchangers. Such a RAMEE system has a total effectiveness 6% higher and 1.5% lower compared to the same cross-flow and counter-flow RAMEE, respectively (at NTU=10, Cr*¡Ö3, y0/x0=0.2 and xi/x0=0.1).

Urea is an important nitrogen fertilizer for plant nutrition, but is very susceptible to moisture sorption and caking even at low moisture contents, e.g. 0.25% w/w. When urea particles adsorb moisture followed by drying, crystal bridges form between urea particles. For particles in a bed, this process is called caking. Cakes in stored urea cause a degradation of its quality and value. Investigations of the moisture absorption in beds of manufactured urea particles and adsorption on the external and internal surfaces of urea particles are a necessary step if engineers are to recommend procedures to reduce caking and control inventories. Research on moisture adsorption and cake strength of urea fertilizer has not been sufficiently explored. Only recently have researchers started to devise tests to investigate the crystal bonding between two urea particles. Prior to this research, investigations of the moisture interactions in beds of urea were nearly non-existent. This thesis presents experimental, theoretical and numerical methods to investigate the coupled heat and moisture transfer processes in a bed of urea particles while the bed is exposed to ambient air with changing temperature and humidity.<p> Urea particles are nearly spherical with uniform particle size distribution. The particle size, its internal pore structure and rough crystalline external surface depend on the manufacturing process. In this thesis, two types of urea products are investigated, i.e. prill Georgia urea and granular Terico urea. The rough external surface and internal pore structure of each particle makes the total surface area exposed to water much larger than similar smooth and solid spherical particles. Although Georgia urea has higher external surface area than Terico urea, the latter type has larger total surface area and internal pore volume. For both Terico urea and Georgia, the internal surface area dominates the water sorption process but the external moisture sorption of Georgia urea is more important than that of Terico urea.<p> All the water vapor interaction experiments were carried out with air flow through a test bed because it shortens the duration of each experiment to a few hours in most cases. A series of experiments with step changes in inlet air temperature and humidity for air flow through a urea bed indicated that the measured outlet air temperature and humidity responses, each at a specific air flow rate, reveals a typical exponential or transient time change that can be characterized by a time constant. After formulating the theoretical problem for step changes in the inlet properties, the analytical solutions showed that the time constants of outlet response to whether a temperature step change or a humidity step change are functions of the convection coefficient and air velocity. The predicted outlet air temperature is determined by only one time constant for a temperature step change while it is determined by these two time constants for a humidity step change.<p> A new test cell with sampling test ports was developed to measure the transient moisture uptake of a urea particle bed and its distribution at any time without any interruption of the experiment. A novel particle sampling device, modified from a syringe and pistons, was designed to minimize the particle exposure to ambient air during the moisture content determination using a Karl Fischer titrator. Data from two continuous cyclic step changes in the inlet flow with relative humidities between 4% and 70% at room temperature showed a hysteresis in the isothermal moisture content for only the first cycle. After the second sorption- desorption cycle, the hysteresis disappeared. This implies that the internal pore and particle surface geometry changes are very slow after the first cycle.<p> A new theoretical porous media model was developed for a coupled heat and moisture transport process when humid air flowed uniformly through a large test bed in two coupled computational domains: internal domain (i.e., the particle phase) and the external domain (i.e., the interstitial air space). The moisture migration in two computational domains included: water vapor diffusion inside each particle, and water vapor convection and diffusion in the interstitial air space in the urea particle bed. For energy transport, the temperature was assumed to be uniform inside each particle, but heat convection and conduction between the urea particles and the interstitial air outside particles occurred throughout the bed. Both heat transfer and mass transfer in internal domain and external domain were coupled by the heat and mass convection at the gas-particle interface. The numerical simulation was compared with the data of moisture uptake and showed good agreement implying that the internal moisture diffusion that dominates the moisture uptake process is a very slow process.<p> These above experimental, theoretical and numerical research studies provide a set of information on how urea particles adsorb or desorb moisture from or to ambient air on the external and internal pore surface, which offers a useful suggestion for urea caking prevention and is also a first and necessary step to the study of further caking formation and strength.

<p>Topography, vegetation, nutrient dynamics, soil features and hydroclimatic forcing are inherently coupled, with feedbacks occurring over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Vegetation growth may be limited by soil moisture, nutrient or solar radiation availability, and in turn influences both soil moisture and nutrient balances at a point. These dynamics are further complicated in a complex terrain, through a series of spatial interactions. A number of experiments has characterized the feedbacks between soil moisture and vegetation dynamics, but a theoretical framework linking short-term leaf-level to interannual plot-scale dynamics has not been fully developed yet. Such theory is needed for optimal management of water resources in natural ecosystems and for agricultural, municipal and industrial uses. Also, it complements the current knowledge on ecosystem response to the predicted climate change.</p><p>In this dissertation, the response of vegetation dynamics to unpredictable environmental fluctuations at multiple space-time scales is explored in a modeling framework from sub-daily to interannual time scales. At the hourly time scale, a simultaneous analysis of photosynthesis, transpiration and soil moisture dynamics is carried out to explore the impact of water stress on different photosynthesis processes at the leaf level, and the overall plant activity. Daily soil moisture and vegetation dynamics are then scaled up to the growing season using a stochastic model accounting for daily to interannual hydroclimatic variability. Such stochastic framework is employed to explore the impact of rainfall patterns and different irrigation schemes on crop productivity, along with their implications in terms of sustainability and profitability. To scale up from point to landscape, a probabilistic representation of local landscape features (i.e., slope and aspect) is developed, and applied to assess the effects of topography on solar radiation. Finally, a minimalistic ecosystem model, including soil moisture, vegetation and nutrient dynamics at the year time scale, is outlined; when coupled to the proposed probabilistic topographic description, the latter model can serve to assess the relevance of spatial interactions and to single out the main biophysical controls responsible for ecohydrological variability at the landscape scale.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis research consists of two separate studies. The first study presents the assessment and representation of the effects of soil macropores on the soil hydraulic properties in land surface models for more accurate simulations of soil moisture and surface hydrology. Hydraulic properties determine the soil water content and its transport in the soil. They are provided in most current climate models as empirical formulas by functions of the soil texture. Such is not realistic if the soil contains a substantial amount of macropores. A two-mode soil pore size distribution is incorporated into a land surface model and tested using an observational dataset at a tropical forest site with aggregated soils. The result showed that the existence of macropores greatly affects the estimation of hydraulic properties. Their influence can be included in land models by adding a second function to the pore-size distribution. A practical hydraulic scheme with macropore considerations was proposed given that the existing schemes are not applicable for large-scale simulations. The developed scheme was based on the physical attributes of the water in soil capillary pores and the statistics of several global soil databases. The preliminary test showed that it captures part of soil macropore hydraulic features without sacrificing the estimation accuracy of hydraulic properties of water in soil matrix. The second study presents the development of an integrated land/ecosystem model by combining the advanced features of a biophysically based land model, the Community Land Model, and an ecosystem biochemical model. The results from tests of the integrated model at four forest sites showed that the model reasonably captures the seasonal and interannual dynamics of leaf area index and leaf nitrogen control on carbon assimilation across different environments. With being coupled to an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), the integrated model showed a strong ability to simulate terrestrial ecosystem carbon fluxes together with heat and water fluxes. Its simulated land surface physical variables are reasonable in both geographic distribution and temporal variation with considering the interactive vegetation parameters.

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