The Deck truss portion of the I-35W Highway Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed on August 1, 2007 while roadwork was underway on the bridge. The entire truss was recovered from the river to study the causes of failure. The National Transportation Safety Board attributes the collapse to inadequate load carrying capacity of the steel gusset plates connecting the main truss members at four specific nodes. Permanent deformations of the members in proximity to these nodes were documented and a surveillance video camera recorded the collapse event in a major section of the structure. The inelastic behavior of the deck truss during the collapse event is studied in this research by performing nonlinear structural analysis on a simplified two-dimensional model. Nonlinear behavior is discretized at specific locations starting with buckling of the critical gusset plates and continuing with yielding in members where the internal forces increased at a higher rate during the post-buckling behavior. The analysis results show the sequence of failure events that lead to the formation of a collapse mechanism in the center span of the deck truss, which is the first to fall into the river. Comparison between the available evidence and the analysis results validate the conclusions drawn in this research. / Master of Science

We have extended the HOLA molecular dynamics (MD) code to run slider-on-block friction experiments for Al and Cu. Both objects are allowed to evolve freely and show marked deformation despite the hardness difference. We recover realistic coefficients of friction and verify the importance of cold-welding and plastic deformations in dry sliding friction. Our first data also show a mechanism for decoupling between load and friction at high velocities. Such a mechanism can explain an increase in the coefficient of friction of metals with velocity. The study of the effects of currents on our system required the development of a suitable electrodynamic (ED) solver, as the disparity of MD and ED time scales threatened the efficiency of our code. Our first simulations combining ED and MD are presented. / text

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-02-03T10:29:28Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Felipe Cavalcanti Sampaio - 2016.pdf: 2347191 bytes, checksum: 1aee5c04358a4bdadb8bfdb66ba81a33 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-02-03T10:29:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Felipe Cavalcanti Sampaio - 2016.pdf: 2347191 bytes, checksum: 1aee5c04358a4bdadb8bfdb66ba81a33 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-03T10:29:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Felipe Cavalcanti Sampaio - 2016.pdf: 2347191 bytes, checksum: 1aee5c04358a4bdadb8bfdb66ba81a33 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-02 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Objective: The purpose of the present study was to analyze the influence of flute and shank dimensions present at the first 4mm to occurrence of plastic deformations and dimensional alterations in reciprocating instruments after RCP. Methodology: The reciprocating instruments used were Reciproc® R25, R40 and R50, WaveOne® Small, Primary and Large, Unicone® #20, #25 and #40. Scanning electron microscopy images were obtained of the first 4mm from the instrument’s tip (30X magnification) before and after shaping of simulated curved root canals. The instruments were used only once. The images were transferred to software AxioVision® to measure the instruments: flute area (µm2), shank area (µm2), flute longitudinal length (µm) and instrument transversal diameter (µm). The difference of data before and after root canal preparation (RCP) was compared by Students’ T test for paired samples and differences between instruments of similar sizes was performed by ANOVA followed by Tukey’s test. The instruments were classified for the plastic deformations presence after RCP. Results: Reciproc® instruments showed larger flutes and smaller shanks. The Reciproc® R40 showed significant difference for transversal diameter at 0.5mm from the tip. Reciproc® had no plastic deformations. Unicone® instruments showed significant differences on #20 instruments for transversal diameter at 1.5 and 3.0mm from the tip, and instrument #25 had difference at 1.5 and 3.0mm and second and third flute longitudinal length. Plastic deformations were visualized on one instrument #20m and on three #40. WaveOne® instruments showed significant differences for first and fourth flutes length of WaveOne® Primary, and tranversal diameter at 2.0mm from the tip of WaveOne® Large. Plastic deformations were present in two of three Large instruments. Conclusions: In summary, Reciproc® instruments had greater area and length of flutes and smaller shanks compared to Unicone® and WaveOne® of similar sizes. Reciproc® showed greater flute to shank ratio. WaveOne® had the lowest flute to shank ratio. Unicone® instruments showed more plastic deformations. Higher flutes and lesser shanks had less plastic deformations after curved RCP. / Objetivo: O objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar a influência das dimensões da aresta lateral de corte e do núcleo do instrumento na formação de deformações plásticas e alterações dimensionais nos instrumentos reciprocantes. Material e métodos: Foram utilizados instrumentos endodônticos de rotação recíproca Reciproc® R25, R40 e R50, WaveOne® Small, Primary e Large e Unicone® n.20, n.25 e n.40. Foram obtidas imagens por microscopia eletrônica de varredura de 4mm a partir da ponta do instrumento (aumento de 30X) antes e após o preparo de canais simulados curvos, e os instrumentos utilizados uma única vez. As imagens foram transferidas para o software AxioVision® para realização das mensurações dos instrumentos: área da aresta lateral de corte (µm2); área do núcleo (µm2); diâmetro transversal do instrumento a cada 0,5mm (µm); e comprimento da aresta lateral de corte (µm). A diferença entre os valores antes e após o uso dos instrumentos foi comparada pelo teste t de Student pareado e a diferença entre os instrumentos de mesmo tamanho foi analisada pela ANOVA, seguido do teste de Tukey. Os instrumentos foram classificados pela presença de deformações plásticas após o preparo dos canais radiculares. Resultados: Os instrumentos Reciproc® apresentaram as maiores arestas e os menores núcleos. Os Reciproc® R40 apresentaram diferença significativa apenas para a mensuração do diâmetro transversal a 0,5mm da ponta do instrumento (P<0,05). Nenhum instrumento Reciproc® apresentou deformação plástica perceptível. Os instrumentos Unicone® apresentaram diferenças estatísticas significantes (P<0,05) na largura dos instrumentos n.20, a 1,5 e 3,0mm da ponta, e no comprimento das arestas 2 e 3, e na área do núcleo dos instrumentos n.25. Deformações plásticas foram verificadas em um instrumento Unicone n.20 e nos três instrumentos Unicone n.40. Os instrumentos WaveOne® mostraram diferenças significativas para o comprimento da aresta 1 e 4 do WaveOne® Primary, e diâmetro transversal a 2mm da ponta do instrumento no WaveOne® Large. Foram verificadas deformações plásticas em dois dos três instrumentos Large. Conclusões: Todos os instrumentos reciprocantes avaliados apresentaram alterações dimensionais após o preparo de canais radiculares simulados curvos. Os instrumentos Reciproc® apresentaram as maiores arestas laterais de corte em área e comprimento e os menores núcleos, quando comparados aos instrumentos Unicone® e WaveOne® de tamanho similar. Os instrumentos Unicone® mostraram a maior quantidade de deformações plásticas por meio de microscopia eletrônica de varredura. Maiores dimensões de aresta lateral de corte e menores dimensões de núcleo apresentaram menor número de deformações plásticas após preparo de canais radiculares simulados curvos.