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Although mechanical alterations to pelvic floor ligaments, such as the cardinal and uterosacral ligaments, are one contributing factor to the development and progression of pelvic floor disorders, very little research has examined their mechanical properties. In this study, the first biaxial elastic and viscoelastic tests were performed on uterosacral and cardinal ligament complexes harvested from adult female swine. Biaxial elastic testing revealed that the ligaments undergo large strains and are anisotropic. The direction normal to the upper vagina was typically stiffer than the transverse direction. Stress relaxation tests showed that the relaxation was the same in both directions, and that more relaxation occurred when the tissue was stretched to lower initial strains. In order to describe the experimental findings, a three-dimensional constitutive model based on the Pipkin-Rogers integral series was formulated and the parameters of such model were determined by fitting the model to the experimental data. In formulating the model, it was assumed that the tissues consist of a ground substance with two embedded families of fibers oriented in two directions and that the ligaments are incompressible. The model accounts for finite strains, anisotropy, and strain-dependent stress relaxation behavior. This study provides information about the mechanical behavior of female pelvic floor ligaments, which should be considered in the development of new treatment methods for pelvic floor disorders. / Master of Science

This study was designed to assess the appropriateness of current standardized checklists used to measure stressful life events in a noninstitutionalized population aged 65-74 years of age. Previous studies, sampling from a younger aged population, have demonstrated a temporal association between an increase in stressful life events and psychophysiological disease. Before stress can be studied as a precipitator of disease onset in the aged, it must be determined if the instruments designed to measure stress are reliable and valid for use with the aged. Specifically, the following questions were examined: (1) Reliability--Are the checklists reliable for use with this population? (2) Relevance--Are the checklists valid for use with this population? (3) Are these events considered to be stressful for this population? (4) Does the scoring system used influence the results? (5) Are the events included on the checklists events that occur in the lives of people aged 65-74? (6) Are there other events, not on the checklists, which are stressful for older people? The data base for this study consisted of responses from 185 subjects aged 65-74 years. Each respondent completed three standardized checklists designed to measure stressful life events and a demographic sheet which included provision for respondents to write any stressful event(s) that had occurred. Results were analyzed by subscale. As a result of this study it was determined that: (1) Reliability coefficients across subscales were not sufficiently large to warrant using these checklists with this aged population. (2) The three checklists were not valid for use with this aged population. (3) Respondents in this study perceived most events as being more stressful than did a younger age standardized group. (4) Standardized weights for the events should be assigned by people aged 65-74 years. (5) Stressful life events are different for people aged 65-74 years than for younger aged people. It was recommended that the checklists be revised for use with this age population. This revision includes modifying events on the checklist and having people aged 65-74 years assign standardized weights that reflect the stressfulness of the events.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre o comportamento ao longo do tempo de estruturas em solos finos reforçados com geossintéticos. O programa de atividades desenvolvido para este fim compreendeu três etapas: leituras de deformações de uma estrutura real de solo reforçado com geossintéticos, ensaios de laboratório de fluência confinada e isolada e modelagens computacionais da obra de referência. A estrutura real foi monitorada em duas seções distintas, sendo uma delas construída em geotêxteis não tecidos e a outra em geotêxteis tecidos. As leituras de deformação foram realizadas por um período de quatro anos. As condições da obra real foram utilizadas como referência para o planejamento dos ensaios de fluência em isolamento e confinamento. Os ensaios confinados foram conduzidos inicialmente no equipamento de fluência confinada desenvolvido por Costa (2004), no qual o carregamento é imposto de forma indireta ao reforço. Os ensaios foram realizados empregando o mesmo solo de aterro da obra real, com diferentes níveis de carregamento vertical (140, 200, 300 e 400 kPa) e com diferentes umidades de compactação (8%, 11,7% e 16%). Os ensaios com carregamento de 140 kPa foram repetidos no equipamento de fluência confinada-acelerada desenvolvido por França (2011), permitindo uma comparação teórica e prática entre os dois equipamento utilizados. Ensaios adicionais foram realizados para avaliar o comportamento ao longo do tempo de geossintéticos confinados submetidos a um processo de inundação do solo. E para finalizar a campanha de ensaios foram realizados testes para a verificação do incremento de cargas nos reforços devido aos efeitos da compactação do maciço. As modelagens computacionais foram realizadas empregando o software Plaxis 2D. A partir dos modelos numéricos foi possível verificar os mecanismos desenvolvidos ao longo do tempo de estruturas de solos reforçados com geossintéticos. A modelagem numérica permitiu extrapolar o comportamento da estrutura para outro tipo de reforço (geogrelha) e para tempos bem mais elevados do que os tempos reais de leitura. As previsões de comportamento foram realizadas para tempos de até 100 anos. Os resultados da campanha de ensaios mostraram que os reforços confinados em solo estão sujeitos aos fenômenos da fluência e da relaxação ao longo do tempo. Os resultados mostraram que as taxas de fluência e de relaxação foram mais elevadas para os maiores carregamentos verticais. Os ensaios adicionais mostraram que os reforços sofreram um incremento significativo de carga devido aos efeitos da compactação e que a rigidez confinada dos reforços praticamente não se alterou devido aos efeitos da inundação. A previsão do comportamento do muro de referência utilizando o MEF mostrou que a estrutura deve apresentar baixos níveis de deformação para períodos de até 100 anos. A análise conjunta de todos os resultados obtidos ao longo do trabalho permitiu o desenvolvimento de um modelo analítico que permite a previsão do comportamento de muros reforçados com geossintéticos a partir de resultados de ensaios de fluência em isolamento. A aplicação do modelo proposto para o caso do muro real mostrou uma boa coerência entre os resultados previstos e os resultados medidos em campo. / This dissertation presents a study on time-dependent behavior of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls with fine soil. The testing program comprised of three distinct steps: field assessment of an instrumented geotextile reinforced soil wall, in-air and in-soil laboratory creep tests, and numerical analysis of the instrumented wall. Reinforcement strains were monitored in two different cross-sections: one built with nonwoven geotextile and the other built with woven geotextile. The strains were monitored during four years of service. The field conditions were used as the basis for planning in-air and in-soil creep tests. The in-soil creep tests were initially conducted using the confined-creep test apparatus developed by Costa (2004), which simulates the typical load transfer mechanism in reinforced soil structures. The in-soil tests were performed using the same soil used in the instrumented wall. These tests were carried out at different levels of vertical load (140, 200, 300 and 400 kPa) at the optimum water content (11.7%) and at different compaction water content of the soil (8%, 11.7% and 16%) at 140 kPa. The tests with 140 kPa of vertical load were replicated using the confined-accelerated creep test apparatus developed by França (2011). These tests allowed a theoretical and practical comparison between the two different in-soil creep testing apparatuses utilized in the testing program. Additional in-soil creep tests were conducted to evaluate the behavior of confined geosynthetics with time submitted to flooding of the top soil layer above the reinforcement. Compaction tests were also performed to check the increase of reinforcement loads due to soil compaction. Numerical modelling was carried out with the Finite Element Method (FEM) using Plaxis 2D. The numerical models allowed evaluation of the geotechnical mechanisms developed with time on geosynthetic reinforced soil wall structures. These models were also used to predict timedependent strains for longer periods (until 100 years) and for different types of reinforcements. The results of the testing program showed that the reinforcements confined in soil presented creep and stress relaxation behavior with time. The results also showed that the creep and relaxation rates were higher for larger vertical loads. It was observed that the confined stiffness of the reinforcement was virtually the same regardless the occurrence of flooding in the top soil layer. Additionally, the compaction tests showed that the larger the difference of the soil compaction water content from the optimum, the larger the loads in the reinforcement. Behavior prediction of the monitored, full-scale wall using FEM showed that the structure should have low strain levels for periods up to 100 years. The laboratory test results and the mechanisms learned from the FEM analysis allowed the development of an analytical model for predicting geosynthetic-reinforced soil wall behavior from results of in-air creep tests. The strain results of the analytical model applied to the monitored full-scale wall showed that the predicted strains are in good agreement with the field strains.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre deformações de geotêxteis ao longo do tempo, considerando interações entre reforço e solo confinante em muros de solo reforçado. O programa experimental desenvolvido para esse fim envolveu duas etapas básicas. Na primeira etapa, um novo equipamento foi desenvolvido na Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos/USP, para a realização de ensaios de fluência com um elemento de solo reforçado. O equipamento desenvolvido permite simular o mecanismo típico de transferência de carga em estruturas de solo reforçado, isto é, o solo solicita o geotêxtil. Esse equipamento também possibilita que solo e geotêxtil apresentem deformações ao longo do tempo de forma interativa. Nessa etapa, o programa de ensaios foi conduzido utilizando-se uma areia pura e um geotêxtil de polipropileno. Na segunda etapa deste trabalho, modelos de muros de solo reforçado foram ensaiados em centrífuga na Universidade do Colorado em Boulder, EUA. Os referidos modelos foram construídos utilizando-se uma areia e mantas de poliéster e de polipropileno. Alguns modelos foram carregados até a ruptura com acréscimo de aceleração, enquanto outros foram observados, no decorrer do tempo, sob aceleração constante. Nos ensaios para investigação de fluência, deformações significativas foram observadas, ocorrendo, inclusive, a manifestação de ruptura em determinados modelos, após algumas horas de ensaio. Os ensaios realizados nas duas etapas do trabalho revelaram aspectos importantes relativos à interação solo-reforço. Com base na interpretação dos resultados experimentais, apresenta-se uma discussão sobre mecanismos de deformação, em função do tempo, em muros de solo reforçado. / This thesis presents a study on the time- ependent deformations of geotextiles in reinforced soil walls considering the long-term interactive behavior between the reinforcement and the confining soil. The experimental program comprised two distinct phases. In the first phase, a new equipment was designed and constructed at the School of Engineering at Sao Carlos/USP, Brazil, in an attempt to perform creep tests with an element of reinforced soil. This equipment simulates the typical load transfer mechanism in reinforced soil structures, that is, the load is transferred from the soil to the reinforcement. This equipment also allows long-term interactive deformations between the soil and the geotextile. The testing program of this phase was conducted using a pure dry sand and a polypropylene geotextile. In the second phase of this research, models of reinforced soil walls were tested in a centrifuge facility at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. The models were built using a pure dry sand and a polyester or polypropylene geotextile. The models were either loaded until failure increasing the centrifugal acceleration or tested under constant acceleration. Considerable strains were observed in the creep tests, and some of the models failed after a few hours. The testing programs carried out in this study revealed important aspects of the soil-reinforcement interaction. Based on the analyses of the experimental results a broad discussion on long-term deformation mechanisms in reinforced soil walls is made herein.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre o comportamento ao longo do tempo de estruturas em solos finos reforçados com geossintéticos. O programa de atividades desenvolvido para este fim compreendeu três etapas: leituras de deformações de uma estrutura real de solo reforçado com geossintéticos, ensaios de laboratório de fluência confinada e isolada e modelagens computacionais da obra de referência. A estrutura real foi monitorada em duas seções distintas, sendo uma delas construída em geotêxteis não tecidos e a outra em geotêxteis tecidos. As leituras de deformação foram realizadas por um período de quatro anos. As condições da obra real foram utilizadas como referência para o planejamento dos ensaios de fluência em isolamento e confinamento. Os ensaios confinados foram conduzidos inicialmente no equipamento de fluência confinada desenvolvido por Costa (2004), no qual o carregamento é imposto de forma indireta ao reforço. Os ensaios foram realizados empregando o mesmo solo de aterro da obra real, com diferentes níveis de carregamento vertical (140, 200, 300 e 400 kPa) e com diferentes umidades de compactação (8%, 11,7% e 16%). Os ensaios com carregamento de 140 kPa foram repetidos no equipamento de fluência confinada-acelerada desenvolvido por França (2011), permitindo uma comparação teórica e prática entre os dois equipamento utilizados. Ensaios adicionais foram realizados para avaliar o comportamento ao longo do tempo de geossintéticos confinados submetidos a um processo de inundação do solo. E para finalizar a campanha de ensaios foram realizados testes para a verificação do incremento de cargas nos reforços devido aos efeitos da compactação do maciço. As modelagens computacionais foram realizadas empregando o software Plaxis 2D. A partir dos modelos numéricos foi possível verificar os mecanismos desenvolvidos ao longo do tempo de estruturas de solos reforçados com geossintéticos. A modelagem numérica permitiu extrapolar o comportamento da estrutura para outro tipo de reforço (geogrelha) e para tempos bem mais elevados do que os tempos reais de leitura. As previsões de comportamento foram realizadas para tempos de até 100 anos. Os resultados da campanha de ensaios mostraram que os reforços confinados em solo estão sujeitos aos fenômenos da fluência e da relaxação ao longo do tempo. Os resultados mostraram que as taxas de fluência e de relaxação foram mais elevadas para os maiores carregamentos verticais. Os ensaios adicionais mostraram que os reforços sofreram um incremento significativo de carga devido aos efeitos da compactação e que a rigidez confinada dos reforços praticamente não se alterou devido aos efeitos da inundação. A previsão do comportamento do muro de referência utilizando o MEF mostrou que a estrutura deve apresentar baixos níveis de deformação para períodos de até 100 anos. A análise conjunta de todos os resultados obtidos ao longo do trabalho permitiu o desenvolvimento de um modelo analítico que permite a previsão do comportamento de muros reforçados com geossintéticos a partir de resultados de ensaios de fluência em isolamento. A aplicação do modelo proposto para o caso do muro real mostrou uma boa coerência entre os resultados previstos e os resultados medidos em campo. / This dissertation presents a study on time-dependent behavior of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls with fine soil. The testing program comprised of three distinct steps: field assessment of an instrumented geotextile reinforced soil wall, in-air and in-soil laboratory creep tests, and numerical analysis of the instrumented wall. Reinforcement strains were monitored in two different cross-sections: one built with nonwoven geotextile and the other built with woven geotextile. The strains were monitored during four years of service. The field conditions were used as the basis for planning in-air and in-soil creep tests. The in-soil creep tests were initially conducted using the confined-creep test apparatus developed by Costa (2004), which simulates the typical load transfer mechanism in reinforced soil structures. The in-soil tests were performed using the same soil used in the instrumented wall. These tests were carried out at different levels of vertical load (140, 200, 300 and 400 kPa) at the optimum water content (11.7%) and at different compaction water content of the soil (8%, 11.7% and 16%) at 140 kPa. The tests with 140 kPa of vertical load were replicated using the confined-accelerated creep test apparatus developed by França (2011). These tests allowed a theoretical and practical comparison between the two different in-soil creep testing apparatuses utilized in the testing program. Additional in-soil creep tests were conducted to evaluate the behavior of confined geosynthetics with time submitted to flooding of the top soil layer above the reinforcement. Compaction tests were also performed to check the increase of reinforcement loads due to soil compaction. Numerical modelling was carried out with the Finite Element Method (FEM) using Plaxis 2D. The numerical models allowed evaluation of the geotechnical mechanisms developed with time on geosynthetic reinforced soil wall structures. These models were also used to predict timedependent strains for longer periods (until 100 years) and for different types of reinforcements. The results of the testing program showed that the reinforcements confined in soil presented creep and stress relaxation behavior with time. The results also showed that the creep and relaxation rates were higher for larger vertical loads. It was observed that the confined stiffness of the reinforcement was virtually the same regardless the occurrence of flooding in the top soil layer. Additionally, the compaction tests showed that the larger the difference of the soil compaction water content from the optimum, the larger the loads in the reinforcement. Behavior prediction of the monitored, full-scale wall using FEM showed that the structure should have low strain levels for periods up to 100 years. The laboratory test results and the mechanisms learned from the FEM analysis allowed the development of an analytical model for predicting geosynthetic-reinforced soil wall behavior from results of in-air creep tests. The strain results of the analytical model applied to the monitored full-scale wall showed that the predicted strains are in good agreement with the field strains.

Cracked pavement slabs lead to uncomfortable and eventual unsafe driving conditions for motorists. Replacement of cracked pavement slabs can interrupt traffic flow in the form of lane closures. In Florida, the traffic demands are high and pavement repairs need to be carried out swiftly typically using concrete with high cement contents and accelerators to create rapid setting and strength gain. The concrete used in these pavement replacements is usually accompanied by a high temperature rise, making the replaced slabs susceptible to cracking. Cracking is a result of developed tensile stresses in the concrete, which exceed the concrete's tensile strength capacity. This research is being conducted to determine the risk of cracking for pavement slabs with varying dosages of chloride based accelerator used to promote high early strength. To analyze the effect of the accelerator, five different concrete mixtures including a control were assessed in a series of tests with varying accelerator dosages. Experiments included: mortar cube testing, concrete cylinder testing, autogenous deformation measured with a free-shrinkage frame, and restrained stress analysis using a rigid cracking frame. The findings indicate that accelerators are necessary to meet the strength requirements, and that the higher the accelerator dose, the higher the early shrinkage in the first 24 hours determined from the free shrinkage frame. Accidental overdose of the chloride-based accelerator results in the highest cracking potential and the highest shrinkage when tested under field generated temperature profiles.

In this licentiate thesis the work done in the TURBO POWER project Influence of high temperature hold times on the fatigue life of nickel-based superalloys will be presented. The overall objective of this project is to develop and evaluate tools for designing against fatigue in gas turbine applications, with special focus on the nickel-based superalloy Inconel 718. Firstly, the constitutive behaviour of the material has been been studied, where focus has been placed on trying to describe the mean stress relaxation and initial softening of the material under intermediate temperatures. Secondly, the fatigue crack propagation behaviour under high temperature hold times has been studied. Focus has here been placed on investigating the main fatigue crack propagation phenomena with the aim of setting up a basis for fatigue crack propagation modelling. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part describes the general framework, including basic constitutive and fatigue crack propagation behaviour as well as a theoretical background for the constitutive modelling of mean stress relaxation. This framework is then used in the second part, which consists of the four included papers.

Previous decades of cartilage research have predominantly focused on decoupling the solid and fluid interactions of the mechanical response. The resulting biphasic and triphasic models are widely used in the biomechanics community. However, a simple viscoelastic model is able to account for the stress-relaxation behavior of cartilage, without the added complexity of solid and fluid interactions. Using a viscoelastic model, cartilage is considered a single material with elastic and dissipative properties. A mechanical characterization is made with fewer material parameters than are required by the conventional biphasic and triphasic models. This approach has tremendous utility when comparing cartilage of different species and varying healths. Additionally, the viscoelastic models can be easily extended in dynamic analysis and FEA programs. Cartilage primarily experiences compressive motion during exercise. Therefore, to mimic biological function, a mechanical test should also compress the cartilage. One such test is a viscoelastic stress-relaxation experiment. The Prony and fractional calculus viscoelastic models have shown promise in modeling stress-relaxation of equine articular cartilage. The elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle is used to extend linear viscoelasticity to the frequency domain. This provides a comparison of articular cartilage based on stored and dissipated moduli. The storage and loss moduli metrics are hypothesized to serve as benchmarks for evaluating osteoarthritic cartilage, and provide guidelines for newly engineered bio-materials. The main goal of the current study is to test the applicability of modeling articular cartilage with viscoelastic models. A secondary goal is to establish a rigorous set of harvesting techniques that allows access to fresh explants with minimal environmental exposure. With a complex substance like cartilage, it is crucial to avoid unnecessary emph{in vitro} environmental exposure. Additional areas of study include: determining the strain-dependency of the mechanical response, exploring the response of cartilage in different fluid mediums such as saline, synovial fluid, and synthetic substitutes, and studying the time-dependent properties of cartilage during stress-relaxation experiments. Equine stifle joints, which are mechanically analogous to human knees, are harvested and used for analysis in this study. It is believed that the proposed viscoelastic models can model other articulating joints as well. If viscoelastic theory can be used to characterize cartilage, then comparisons can be drawn between real and artificial cartilage, leading to better joint replacement technology.

Birefringence measurements are of great importance in a plethora of applications spanning from biology to optical communications. Birefringence measurements of nerve-fiber layers have emerged as an important diagnostic technique for early detection of glaucoma. Stress-induced birefringence in optical devices affects their performances by causing Polarization-Mode Dispersion (PMD) and Polarization-Dependent Loss (PDL). Stress-relaxation constitutes a key phenomenon governing the fabrication of some optical devices such as Long-Period Fiber Gratings (LPFGs). This drives the need to develop accurate optical instrumentation techniques to evaluate form and stress-induced birefringence. This thesis deals with the development of new high-accuracy techniques for the characterization of stress-induced birefringence in optical devices. The new Two-Waveplate Compensator (TWC) technique is presented for single-point retardation measurements. It is extensively compared theoretically and experimentally to existing techniques including the Snarmont and Brace-Khler techniques. The Phase-Stepping Two-Waveplate Retarder (PSTWR) is also presented for high-accuracy measurements of retardation magnitude and orientation. The Colorimetry-Based Retardation Method (CBRM) is presented to measure retardation using white-light interference colors. The technique is implemented using a polarization microscope and a spectrophotometer. The TWC and the Brace-Khler methods are implemented for full-field retardation measurements using a polarization microscope. Their accuracies are quantified over the entire field-of-view for small retardations. They are applied to the stress-induced birefringence imaging of LPFGs and polymer pillar waveguides. The TWC technique achieves an accuracy of 0.06 nm and a sensitivity of 0.07 nm. The Brace- Khler technique achieves an accuracy of 0.04 nm and a sensitivity of 0.09 nm. The spatial resolution of both techniques is 0.45 and #61549;m. A Fourier-based algorithm is presented to compute the inverse Abel transform relating the retardation to the axial residual stress profile in optical fibers. It is used to calculate the residual stress profiles of single-mode fibers from full-field retardation measurements with the TWC and Brace- Khler techniques. The stress profiles computed in this work are in very good agreement with previously reported results in the literature. The TWC technique produces the most accurate stress measurements. The TWC technique is used to investigate the stress-relaxation phenomena in LPFGs fabricated using CO2 laser irradiations.