Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed October 15, 2009). PDF text: xiii, 146 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 14 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3358962. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The focus of this thesis is on electro-osmotically pumped flow of viscoelastic fluids through microchannels. Fluid transport in microscaled structures is typically laminar due to the low Reynolds numbers involved. However, it is known that viscoelastic polymeric liquids can display striking instabilities in low Reynolds number flows. The motion of polymer doped solutions electrically pumped through microchannels is studied at low Reynolds number. It is found that extensional instabilities can be excited in such microflows with standard electro-osmotic pumping (approximately mm/s flow rate regime), occurring at the viscoelastic instability threshold. The existence of these instabilities must inform design as microfluidic applications move beyond simple fluids towards using biological materials and other complex suspensions, many of which display elasticity. It is further found that discrete and persistent microgels are formed at sufficiently high current densities. Prior work has found up to orders of magnitude increase in mixing rates, however additional fluid deformation effects (notably shear) exist in other studies and high viscosity solvents are used. The flows here exclude shear, a ubiquitous feature in mechanically driven cavity flows, and low viscosity solvents typical in microfluidic applications are used. The device is also highly symmetric minimizing Lagrangian chaos deformation and mixing of fluids. It is demonstrated that viscoelastic instabilities reduce mixing relative to low viscosity polymer-free solutions. The decrease in mixing found is consistent with the understanding that viscoelastic flows progress towards Batchelor turbulence, and demonstrates that, in contrast to common expectations, viscoelastic flows are effectively diffusion limited. Electro-osmotic pumped devices are the ideal platform to study isolated viscoelasticity and elastic turbulence, where additional effects (such as shear, or Lagrangian deformation manipulations) can be introduced in a controlled manner allowing fundamental studies of viscoelasticity and mixing. Besides the viscoelastic experimental observations it is shown that (1) a recently discovered instability due to density fluctuation has an analogue in polymeric fluids corresponding to the viscoelastic instability threshold, (2) inspection of correlations in microparticle image velocimetry (micro-PIV) data in unstable polymer flows reveals the relaxation time of polymer solutions, and (3) poly(ether sulfone) polymer films can act as negative electron beam resist.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Experiments have shown that the addition of small amounts of long-chained polymer additives to a Newtonian fluid produces desirable lubricants. Additives added to oil make the fluid viscoelastic. The effect of viscoelasticity on lubrication characteristics has recently taken on added significance with the move to yet lower-viscosity lubricants for improved energy efficiency. Any factor influencing load-bearing capacity and wear is clearly of renewed importance. The general trend towards the usage of high performance lubricants and environmentally friendly products also support the design of new lubricants. This thesis is aimed at investigating viscoelastic flows within eccentric rotating cylinders (practical application - journal bearings) using a commercial finite element software POLYFLOW. Numerous validations are performed and excellent agreements are achieved. Steady shear and small-amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) experiments are performed for specific lubricants including mineral-based and bio-based lubricants to characterize their rheological behavior. Experimental data are fitted by a viscoelastic constitutive model used for numerical simulations. The effects of fluid viscoelasticity between eccentric rotating cylinders on the flow field and on the lubrication performances are revealed in 2D and 3D respectively. From 2D investigation, an increased load capacity on the inner cylinder is found to be achieved by increasing the viscoelasticity of flow. For the first time, to our knowledge, 3D results for an UCM (Upper-Convected Maxwell) fluid at steady state are presented and the flow patterns along the axial direction within the eccentric rotating cylinders are investigated. The viscoelastic effects of those lubricants on the journal bearing performances are revealed and compared at various temperatures. The modeling and numerical simulations used to predict the flow of lubricant in a journal bearing can generate important economic benefits. This research will lead to advanced predictive tools that can be used to improve the design of journal bearing and to propose new economically viable and environmentally friendly lubricants.

This study presents experimental works and finite element (FE) analyses for understanding nonlinear thermo-viscoelastic behaviors of multilayered (pultruded) composites under tension. Uniaxial isothermal creep tests in tension are conducted on Eglass/ Polyester pultruded composites of 0o, 45o and 90o off-axis fiber orientations subject to combined temperatures and stresses. The temperatures range from 0°F to 125°F, and stress levels range from 20% to 60% of the ultimate tensile strength of the composite specimen. The creep responses seem to accelerate with temperature for higher temperatures (75oF to 125oF) and do not behave in any particular manner for lower temperatures (0oF to 50oF). Isochronous curves of time-dependent material responses show that the nonlinearity increases with time and also temperature for higher temperatures while there is no particular trend seen at lower temperatures. Also, the creep responses of the axial specimens show negligible nonlinearity when compared to that of the transverse and 45o off-axis specimens. The Poisson’s effect is studied and orthotropic material symmetry conditions are satisfied. A nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive model, based on convolution integral equation, is presented for orthotropic materials. The nonlinear stress-temperature-dependent material parameters are coupled in the product form and are calibrated using the experimental data. Overall good predictions are shown but for a slight mismatch in the prediction of the responses at temperatures below 50 o F owing to the random behavior of the creep responses at lower temperatures. The numerical integration algorithm for the nonlinear viscoelastic model of orthotropic composite materials developed by Sawant and Muliana (2008) was used to integrate the constitutive material model to FE structural analyses. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to check for error in experiments by numerically simulating the testing procedure. A practical structural analysis is carried out on composite slabs using ABAQUS and our model is used to predict the responses of slabs under combined stress and temperature loading.

Hot mix asphalt (HMA) is a composite material which consists of aggregates, air voids and asphalt materials. The HMA response is typically described to be viscoelastic-viscoplastic, and its response is a function of temperature, stress/strain rate, and stress/strain level. Many researches have shown that the viscoelastic response of asphalt mixtures can be nonlinear once the stress/strain value exceeds a certain threshold level. This study presents a nonlinear viscoelastic-viscoplastic model for describing the behavior of asphalt materials under various conditions. A new method is developed in this study for separating the viscoelastic response from the viscoplastic response. The first part of this study focuses on the implementation of Schapery nonlinear viscoelastic model in finite element (FE) using a user-defined material subroutine (UMAT) within the ABAQUS commercial software. The FE implementation employs the recursive-iterative integration algorithm, which can improve the convergence and save the calculating time. The verification of the nonlinear viscoelastic model is achieved by analyzing (1) the response of asphalt mixtures tested in the Simple Shear Test (SST) at several temperatures and stress levels, (2) the response of unaged and aged asphalt binders tested in the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), and (3) the response of asphalt binders in the multiple stress creep recovery test (MSCR). In the second part of this study, the nonlinear viscoelastic-viscoplastic constitutive relationship is implemented using UMAT. The viscoplastic component of the model employs Perzyna’s theory with Extended Drucker-Prager yield surface which is modified to account for the difference in material response under compression and extension stress states. The study includes parametric analysis to illustrate the effect of nonlinear viscoelastic parameters and viscoplastic parameters on the asphalt mix response. The capability of the model in describing the fatigue and permanent deformation distresses of asphalt pavements is illustrated using finite element simulations. The constitutive model developed in this study can describe the behavior of asphalt materials (asphalt binder, asphalt mastic and mixtures) under various testing conditions. This study also achieved the FE implementation of a nonlinear viscoelasticviscoplastic constitutive model that can simulate the fatigue and permanent deformation distresses of asphalt pavement structures.

Experiments have shown that the addition of small amounts of long-chained polymer additives to a Newtonian fluid produces desirable lubricants. Additives added to oil make the fluid viscoelastic. The effect of viscoelasticity on lubrication characteristics has recently taken on added significance with the move to yet lower-viscosity lubricants for improved energy efficiency. Any factor influencing load-bearing capacity and wear is clearly of renewed importance. The general trend towards the usage of high performance lubricants and environmentally friendly products also support the design of new lubricants. This thesis is aimed at investigating viscoelastic flows within eccentric rotating cylinders (practical application - journal bearings) using a commercial finite element software POLYFLOW. Numerous validations are performed and excellent agreements are achieved. Steady shear and small-amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) experiments are performed for specific lubricants including mineral-based and bio-based lubricants to characterize their rheological behavior. Experimental data are fitted by a viscoelastic constitutive model used for numerical simulations. The effects of fluid viscoelasticity between eccentric rotating cylinders on the flow field and on the lubrication performances are revealed in 2D and 3D respectively. From 2D investigation, an increased load capacity on the inner cylinder is found to be achieved by increasing the viscoelasticity of flow. For the first time, to our knowledge, 3D results for an UCM (Upper-Convected Maxwell) fluid at steady state are presented and the flow patterns along the axial direction within the eccentric rotating cylinders are investigated. The viscoelastic effects of those lubricants on the journal bearing performances are revealed and compared at various temperatures. The modeling and numerical simulations used to predict the flow of lubricant in a journal bearing can generate important economic benefits. This research will lead to advanced predictive tools that can be used to improve the design of journal bearing and to propose new economically viable and environmentally friendly lubricants.

This thesis presents a novel device for measuring the viscoelastic properties of biological tissue. The ability to measure the mechanical properties of tissue is of special interest for many medical applications; ranging from disease diagnostics to surgical operations and simulations. In practice, physicians use a technique called palpation to detect the presence of viscoelastic property changes which are associated with the healthiness of tissue. Palpation relies exclusively on the expertise and experience of the physician and is only effective if the difference in tissue stiffness is profound. Current technologies for the measurement of tissue healthiness, including ultrasound, have been shown to be incapable of detecting isoechoic lesions even though they were significantly stiffer than surrounding tissue. The new device presents a reliable, accurate and quantitative method for determining the mechanical properties of soft tissue. Consequently, the healthiness of the tissue or the presence of lesions can be found.

Viscoelastic surfactant (VES) fluids are preferred for many applications in the oil industry. Their viscoelastic behavior is due to the overlap and entanglement of very long wormlike micelles. The growth of these wormlike micelles depends on the charge of the head group, salt concentration, temperature, and the presence of other interacting components. The problem with these fluids is that they are expensive and used at temperatures less than 200°F. The viscoelasticity of nanoparticle-networked VES fluid systems were analyzed in an HP/HT viscometer. A series of rheology experiments have been performed by using 2-4 vol% amidoamine oxide surfactant in 13 to 14.2 ppg CaBr2 brines and 10.8 to 11.6 ppg CaCl2 brines at different temperatures up to 275°F and a shear rate of 10 s-1. The nanoparticles evaluated were MgO and ZnO at 6 pptg concentration. In addition, the effect of different nanoparticle concentrations (0.5 to 8 pptg) and micron size particles on the viscosity of VES fluid was investigated. The oscillatory shear rate sweep (100 to 1 s-1) was performed from 100 to 250°F. The effect of fish oil as an internal breaker on the viscosity of VES micelles was examined. This study showed that the addition of nanoparticles improved the thermal stability of VES micellar structures in CaBr2 and CaCl2 brines up to 275°F and showed an improved viscosity yield at different shear rates. Micro- and nanoparticles have potential to improve the viscosity of VES fluids. Lab tests show that for VES micellar systems without nanoparticles, the dominant factor is the storage modulus but when nanoparticles are added to the system at 275°F the loss modulus becomes the dominant factor. These positive effects of nanoparticles on VES fluid characteristics suggest that these particles can reduce treatment cost and will exceed temperature range to 275°F. With this work, we hope to have better understanding of nanoparticle/viscoelastic surfactant interaction.