Unintentional drop of munitions could be encountered during the storage, transportation, and loading processes. In such an impact, malfunctioning of crucial components of munitions is the worst scenario that may be encountered and level of loads should not reach to critical levels. From two possible methods, experimental one is not frequently applied owing to high cost of money and time. On the contrary, particularly in last couple of years, interest is shifted to numerical simulations such as finite element method. In this thesis, foam materials will be investigated as energy absorbers to reduce the effect of loads during the impact. However, modeling the behavior of foam materials by FE codes is a challenging task. In other words, more than a few material parameters which are not commonly specified in literature are sufficient to represent the behavior of foams in an appropriate way. For this reason, material characteristics of the selected two foam materials, expanded polypropylene and v polyethylene, have been obtained in this study. Characterization of EPP and PE is followed by the selection of the appropriate material models in LS-DYNA which is a nonlinear explicit finite element code. Drop tests of munitions on which initially specified foam materials are integrated were done to identify the load levels. Validation of drop tests which are explained in detail in this thesis has been accomplished by LS-DYNA. Final section of the thesis is related to optimization of the foam geometry which will provide reducing load levels to allowable limits. After optimization studies, three alternative geometries which succeed in to reduce loads to allowable load levels were reached. Finally, one of three alternatives is selected considering cost and manufacturing difficulties.

A nanofluid is a new heat transfer fluid produced by mixing a base fluid and solid nano sized particles. This fluid has great potential in heat transfer applications, because of its increased thermal conductivity and even increased Nusselt number due to higher thermal conductivity, Brownian motion of nanoparticles, and other various effects on heat transfer phenomenon. In this work, the first aim is to predict convective heat transfer of nanofluids. A numerical code is created and run to obtain results in a pipe with two different boundary conditions, constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux. The results for laminar flow for thermally developing region in a pipe are obtained for Al2O3/water nanofluid with different volumetric fraction and particle sizes with local temperature dependent conductivity approach. Various effects that influence nanofluid heat transfer enhancement are investigated. As a result, a better heat transfer performance is obtained for all cases, compared to pure water. The important parameters that have impact on nanofluid heat transfer are particle diameter of the nanoparticles, nanoparticle volumetric fraction, Peclet number, and viscous dissipation. Next, a heat transfer performance evaluation methodology is proposed considering increased pumping power of nanofluids. Two different criteria are selected for two boundary conditions at constant pumping power. These are heat transfer rate ratio of the nanofluid and the base fluid for constant wall temperature boundary condition and difference between wall temperature of the pipe at the exit and inlet mean temperature of the fluid ratio for constant wall heat flux case. Three important parameters that influence the heat transfer performance of nanofluids are extracted from a parametric study. Lastly, optimum particle size and volumetric fraction values are obtained depending on Graetz number, Nusselt number, heat transfer fluid temperature, and nanofluid type.

A nanofluid is a new heat transfer fluid produced by mixing a base fluid and solid nano sized particles. This fluid has great potential in heat transfer applications, because of its increased thermal conductivity and even increased Nusselt number due to higher thermal conductivity, Brownian motion of nanoparticles, and other various effects on heat transfer phenomenon. In this work, the first aim is to predict convective heat transfer of nanofluids. A numerical code is created and run to obtain results in a pipe with two different boundary conditions, constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux. The results for laminar flow for thermally developing region in a pipe are obtained for Al2O3/water nanofluid with different volumetric fraction and particle sizes with local temperature dependent conductivity approach. Various effects that influence nanofluid heat transfer enhancement are investigated. As a result, a better heat transfer performance is obtained for all cases, compared to pure water. The important parameters that have impact on nanofluid heat transfer are particle diameter of the nanoparticles, nanoparticle volumetric fraction, Peclet number, and viscous dissipation. Next, a heat transfer performance evaluation methodology is proposed considering increased pumping power of nanofluids. Two different criteria are selected for two boundary conditions at constant pumping power. These are heat transfer rate ratio of the nanofluid and the base fluid for constant wall temperature boundary condition and difference between wall temperature of the pipe at the exit and inlet mean temperature of the fluid ratio for constant wall heat flux case. Three important parameters that influence the heat transfer performance of nanofluids are extracted from a parametric study. Lastly, optimum particle size and volumetric fraction values are obtained depending on Graetz number, Nusselt number, heat transfer fluid temperature, and nanofluid type.

In this study, a Jk-integral based computational method will be developed to conduct fracture analysis of fibrous composite laminates that possess variable fiber spacing. This study will be carried out for the fibrous composites exposed to not only thermal but also hygroscopic boundary condition, which results hygrothermal load. Formulation of the Jk-integral will be carried out by using the constitutive relations of plane orthotropic hygrothermoelasticity. One of the most important challenges of this study is to change Jk-integral formulation into domain independent form, because dealing with infinitely small domains in solving the integral would be frustrating. Developed form of Jk-integral will be merged to ANSYS, a finite element analysis software. Numerical results will be generated so as to assess the influence of variable fiber spacing on the modes I and II stress intensity factors, energy release rate, and the T-stress. For validation and comparison, some of the results are also obtained using Displacement Correlation Technique (DCT).

Rotary draw bending, which has very good flexibility and easy tooling, is one of the most preferred bending types for tubular profiles. Cross-section distortion and the spring-back phenomena are commonly faced problems in bending processes. Spring-back is the inevitable problem that is to be solved by manufacturer, generally by overbending. For hollow tubes cross-section distortion is another difficulty since using hollow tubes results in higher strain rates and distortions. During the process the thickness of the hollow tube at the inner surface, which is contacting with the die, increases and the thickness of the tube at the outer surface decreases. Wrinkling is another important defect that occurs at the inner surface of the tube in large diameter thin walled tube bendings. This research compares the experimental results with the finite element analysis of the rotary draw bending process. The aim is to obtain bending characteristics of the two material types, SS304 and St37 and so, to reduce the number of the bending in manufacturing. The main parameters in rotary draw bending process are the bending angle, bend radius, material properties and the geometry of the tube that is to be bent. In this study, to deal with the process, two different materials, three different bending angles and three different tube geometries are used in experiments as well as in finite element analysis. In finite element analysis explicit method is used. It is seen that the experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical results.

In this thesis, a process is developed for designing elastomeric vibration isolators in order to provide vibration isolation for sensitive equipment being used in ROKETSAN A.S.&rsquo / s products. For this purpose, first of all, similar isolators are examined in the market. After that, appropriate elastomeric materials are selected and their temperature and frequency dependent dynamic properties are experimentally obtained. Parametric finite element model of the isolator is then constituted in ANSYS APDL using the properties of elastomeric materials and the conceptual design of the isolator. Then, according to design requirements, final design parameters of the vibration isolator are determined at the end of design iterations. In the next step, vibration isolator that was designed is manufactured using the elastomeric material chosen, by a local rubber company. Finally, design process is verified by comparing analysis and test results.

Most engineering structures include nonlinearity to some degree. Depending on the dynamic conditions and level of external forcing, sometimes a linear structure assumption may be justified. However, design requirements of sophisticated structures such as satellites, stabilized weapon systems and radars may require nonlinear behavior to be considered for better performance. Therefore, it is very important to successfully detect, localize and parametrically identify nonlinearity in such cases. In engineering applications, the location of nonlinearity and its type may not be always known in advance. Furthermore, as the structure will be excited from only a few coordinates, the frequency response function matrices will not be complete. In order to parametrically identify more than one type of nonlinearity which may co-exist at the same location with the above mentioned limitations, a method is proposed where restoring force surface plots are used which are evaluated by describing function inversion. Then, by reformulating this method, a second method is proposed which can directly evaluate the total describing function of more than one type of nonlinearity which may co-exist at the same location without using any linear frequency response function matrix. It is also aimed in this study to use the nonlinearity localization formulations for damage localization purposes. The validation of the methods developed in this study is demonstrated with case studies based on simulated experiments, as well as real experiments with nonlinear structures and it is concluded that the methods are very promising to be used in engineering structures.

A three-dimensional finite element model is constructed to predict the failure of a hybrid and thick laminate containing bolted joints. The results of the simulation are compared with test results. The simulation comprises two main challenging steps. Firstly, for a realistic model, a 3D model is established with geometric nonlinearities and contact is takeninto account. The laminated composite model is constructed by 3D layered elements. The effect of different number of elements through the thickness is investigated. The failure prediction is the second part of the simulation study. Solutions with and without progressive failure approach are obtained and the effect of progressive failure analysis for an optimum simulation of failure is discussed. The most appropriate failure criteria to predict the failure of a thick composite structure is also investigated by considering various failure criteria. By comparing the test results with the ones found from the finite element analyses, the validity of the developed model and the chosen failure criteria are discussed.

In this study the plane linear elastic problem of a functionally graded layer which contains periodic cracks is considered. The main objective of this study is to determine the thermal stress intensity factors for edge cracks. In order to find an analytic solution, Young&rsquo / s modulus and thermal conductivity are assumed to be varying exponentially across the thickness, whereas Poisson ratio and thermal diffusivity are taken as constant. First, one dimensional transient and steady state conduction problems are solved (heat flux being across the thickness) to determine the temperature distribution and the thermal stresses in a crack free layer. Then, the thermal stress distributions at the locations of the cracks are applied as crack surface tractions in the elasticity problem to find the stress intensity factors. By defining an appropriate auxiliary variable, elasticity problem is reduced to a singular integral equation, which is solved numerically. The influence of such parameters as the grading, crack length and crack period on the stress intensity factors is investigated.

Four wheel steering (4WS) is a concept proven to be beneficial in low speed applications requiring large steering angles, which is the case in city traffic or parking. By steering the rear wheels in the opposite direction to the front ones, maneuverability can be improved. However, a conflict is encountered at high speeds for all the steering strategies developed. If sharper response is achieved, this is at the expense of undesirably large vehicle sideslip angles. On the other hand, small vehicle sideslip angles are associated with heavy understeering behavior. It is not possible to improve both simultaneously in case of two-axle 4WS vehicles. The object of this study is the simulation of various steering configurations for multi-axle vehicles in an attempt to find a means of solving the problem of 4WS and to determine the best steering strategy. In addition to two-axle vehicles which have been extensively studied in literature, three- and four-axle vehicles are taken into consideration. By extending the strategies used for 4WS two-axle vehicles, new strategies are established for three and four-axle vehicles. An integrated non-linear ride and handling model in Matlab &amp / Simulink environment considering sprung and unsprung mass motions, wheel and tire dynamics, is used for simulations. It is shown by case studies that, with the application of the derived strategies for three and fouraxle vehicles, lateral acceleration and yaw velocity responses can be improved without degrading vehicle sideslip angle.