<p>Soils, in general, undergo both elastic and plastic deformations upon loading. Strain dependant anisotropic elasto-plastic models are required for realistic modeling for soil-tool mechanics that will address issues like stress history and soil anisotropy. Although several such models have been proposed, the science of coupled poro-mechanical analysis of an unsaturated soil has not been fully addressed.</p><p>Tillage tool modeling is primarily concerned with the analysis of soil deformation patterns and development of force prediction models for design optimization. Most of the models are based on quasi-static soil failure patterns that cause difficulty in accurately predicting soil-tool behaviour and soil forces for high speed operation. In recent years efforts have been made to improve the conventional analytical and experimental models by numerical approaches. Numerical simulations of soil-tool interactions using finite element modeling (FEM) and discrete element method (DEM) were mostly based on a solid mechanics approach. Due to limitations of constitutive relations, predictions of these numerical models have not been able to address tillage dynamics with high shear rates. The contribution of this research was to study the dynamics of soil-tool interaction using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) from the perspective of soil visco-plastic behavior.</p><p>A motorised soil rheometer was developed for evaluating soil visco-plastic parameters for CFD simulations. The apparatus was used to determine soil yield stress and viscosity at different soil moisture and compaction levels.</p><p>Three-dimensional CFD analyses were carried out using a commercial software CFX 4.4 to observe soil failure patterns around a tool and the pressure distribution on and around the tool. Duct flow as well as free-surface flow simulations of visco-plastic soil as a non-Newtonian Bingham material indicated soil deformation comprising of plastic flow and plug flow patterns. The soil failure front advancement demonstrated a critical speed range of 4 to 6.5 m s-1 where advancement of the failure front did not increase with speed. Soil pressure on the tool surface increased with the tool operating speed. Pressure distribution on the tool surface and draft requirement agreed well with the published literature based on experimental results and FEM analysis. The CFD approach, in its first attempt to tillage process, demonstrated its greater potential for dynamic modeling of soil-tool interaction.</p>

<p>Soils, in general, undergo both elastic and plastic deformations upon loading. Strain dependant anisotropic elasto-plastic models are required for realistic modeling for soil-tool mechanics that will address issues like stress history and soil anisotropy. Although several such models have been proposed, the science of coupled poro-mechanical analysis of an unsaturated soil has not been fully addressed.</p><p>Tillage tool modeling is primarily concerned with the analysis of soil deformation patterns and development of force prediction models for design optimization. Most of the models are based on quasi-static soil failure patterns that cause difficulty in accurately predicting soil-tool behaviour and soil forces for high speed operation. In recent years efforts have been made to improve the conventional analytical and experimental models by numerical approaches. Numerical simulations of soil-tool interactions using finite element modeling (FEM) and discrete element method (DEM) were mostly based on a solid mechanics approach. Due to limitations of constitutive relations, predictions of these numerical models have not been able to address tillage dynamics with high shear rates. The contribution of this research was to study the dynamics of soil-tool interaction using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) from the perspective of soil visco-plastic behavior.</p><p>A motorised soil rheometer was developed for evaluating soil visco-plastic parameters for CFD simulations. The apparatus was used to determine soil yield stress and viscosity at different soil moisture and compaction levels.</p><p>Three-dimensional CFD analyses were carried out using a commercial software CFX 4.4 to observe soil failure patterns around a tool and the pressure distribution on and around the tool. Duct flow as well as free-surface flow simulations of visco-plastic soil as a non-Newtonian Bingham material indicated soil deformation comprising of plastic flow and plug flow patterns. The soil failure front advancement demonstrated a critical speed range of 4 to 6.5 m s-1 where advancement of the failure front did not increase with speed. Soil pressure on the tool surface increased with the tool operating speed. Pressure distribution on the tool surface and draft requirement agreed well with the published literature based on experimental results and FEM analysis. The CFD approach, in its first attempt to tillage process, demonstrated its greater potential for dynamic modeling of soil-tool interaction.</p>

Porous ceramic-metal composites, or cermets, such as nickel zirconia (Ni-YSZ), are widely used as the anode material in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). These materials need to enable electrochemical reactions and provide the mechanical support for the layered cell structure. Thus, for the anode supported planar cells, the thermomechanical behavior of the porous cermet directly affects the reliability of the cell. Porous cermets can be viewed as three-phase composites with a random heterogeneous microstructure. While random in nature, the effective properties and overall behavior of such composites can still be linked to specific stochastic functions that describe the microstructure. The main objective of this research was to develop the relationship between the thermomechanical behavior of porous cermets and their random microstructure. The research consists of three components. First, a stochastic reconstruction scheme was developed for the three-phase composite. From this multiple realizations with identical statistical descriptors were constructed for analysis. Secondly, a finite element model was implemented to obtain the effective properties of interest including thermal expansion coefficient, thermal conductivity, and elastic modulus. Lastly, nonlinear material behaviors were investigated, such as damage, plasticity, and creep behavior. It was shown that the computational model linked the statistical features of the microstructure to its overall properties and behavior. Such a predictive computational tool will enable the design of SOFCs with higher reliability and lower costs.

Foam reduces gas mobility in porous media by trapping substantial amount of gas and applying a viscous resistance of flowing lamellas to gas flow. In mechanistic foam modeling, gas relative permeability is significantly modified by gas trapping, while an effective gas viscosity, which is a function of flowing lamella density, is assigned to flowing gas. A complete understanding of foam mobility in porous media requires being able to predict the effects of pressure gradient, foam texture, rock and fluid properties on gas trapping, and therefore gas relative permeability, and effective gas viscosity. In the foam literature, separating the contributions of gas trapping and effective gas viscosity on foam mobility has not been achieved because the dynamics of gas trapping and its effects on the effective gas viscosity have been neglected. In this study, dynamics of foam mobility in porous media is investigated with a special focus on gas trapping and its effects on gas relative permeability and effective gas viscosity. Three-dimensional pore-network models representative of real porous media coupled with fluid models characterizing a lamella flow through a pore throat are used to predict flow paths, threshold pressure gradient and Darcy velocity of foam. It is found that the threshold path and the pore volume open above the threshold pressure are independent of the fluid model used in this study. Furthermore, analytical correlations of flowing gas fraction as functions of pressure gradient, lamella density, rock and fluid properties are obtained. At a constant pressure gradient, flowing gas fraction increases as overall lamella density decreases. In the discontinuous-gas foam flow regime, there exists a threshold pressure gradient, which increases with overall lamella density. One of the important findings of this study is that gas relative permeability is a strong non-linear function of flowing gas fraction, opposing most of the existing theoretical models. However, the shape of the relative gas permeability curve is poorly sensitive to overall lamella density. Flowing and trapped lamella densities change with pressure gradient. Moreover, analytical correlations of effective gas viscosity as functions of capillary number, lamella density and rock properties are obtained by up-scaling a commonly used pore-scale apparent gas (lamella) viscosity model. Effective gas viscosity increases nonlinearly with flowing lamella density, which opposes to the existing linear foam viscosity models. In addition, the individual contributions of gas trapping and effective gas viscosity on foam mobility are quantified for the first time. The functional relationship between effective gas viscosity and flowing lamella density in the presence of dynamic trapped gas is verified. A mechanistic foam model is developed by using the analytical correlations of flowing gas fraction and effective gas viscosity generated from the pore-network study and a modified population balance model. The developed model is successful in simulating unsteady-state and steady state flow of foam through porous media. Moreover, the flow behaviors in high- and low-quality flow regimes are verified by the experimental studies in the literature. Finally, the simulation results are successfully history matched with two different core-flood data. / text

Grouting is performed in order to decrease the permeability and increase the stiffness of the material, especially soil and rock. For tunnelling and underground constructions, permeation grouting is done where cement based materials are pumped inside drilled boreholes under a constant pressure, higher than the ground water pressure. The aim of permeation grouting is to reduce the water flow into tunnels and caverns and to limit the lowering of the surrounding groundwater table. Cement based materials are commonly used as grout due to their availability and lower costs. To obtain a proper water sealing and reduce the lowering of the ground water table, a desired spread of grout must be achieved and the rheology of the cement grout is the governing factor for estimating the required spread. Rheological properties of cement grout such as viscosity and yield stress are commonly measured off-line using laboratory instruments, and some simple tools are available to make field measurements. Although the rheological properties of the grout that is used play a fundamental role in design and execution, no method has yet been developed to measure these properties in-line in field work. In addition to the real time measurement, there is no standard method for determining the yield stress for grouting applications. Despite the common usage of Bingham model fitting to determine the yield stress, the range of shear rate is often not specified or is neglected.   In this work, an in-line rheometry method combining the Ultrasound Velocity Profiling (UVP) technique with Pressure Difference (PD) measurements, known as “UVP+PD”, was successfully tested for continuous in-line measurements of concentrated micro cement based grouts. A major obstacle of using the ultrasound based methodology was the transducers, which would be capable of emitting sufficient acoustic energy and can be used in field conditions. The transducer technology was developed in a parallel project and the Flow-Viz industrial rheometer was found to be capable of detail measurement of the velocity profiles of cement grout. The shape of the velocity profiles was visualized, and the change in the shape of the profiles with concentration and time was observed. The viscosity and yield stress of the grout were determined using rheological models, e.g. Bingham and Herschel-Bulkley. In addition, rheological properties were determined using the non-model approach (gradient method) and the tube viscometry concept and were compared with results obtained using the rheological models. The UVP+PD method was found to be capable of determining the rheological behavior of cement grout regardless of the rheological model. The yield stress of cement grout was investigated using off-line rheometry techniques and UVP+PD in-line measurements. Tests were performed applying different shear histories and it was found that two ranges of yield stress indeed exist. Therefore, the design value of yield stress should be chosen with respect to the prevailing shear rate at the grout front for the required spread of grout. In addition, an appropriate shear rate range should be used when a Bingham fitting is done to determine the yield stress. In order to estimate the shear rate, plug thickness and velocity for one dimensional and two dimensional geometry, a non- dimensional nomogram was developed. The advantage of using the nomogram is that it does not depend on the applied pressure and the rheological properties of the grout and can therefore, be used as a simple design tool. Analytical approaches were used for the estimation and good agreements were found with numerical calculations and experimental results. In conclusion, in this work, it was found that it is possible to continuously measure the velocity profiles and determine the change of the rheological properties of cement grout using the ultrasound based UVP+PD method under field conditions. The yield stress was also investigated and it was found that two range of yield stress exist depending on the prevailing shear rate of the grout, which should be used for designing the grouting time at different conditions. In order to decide the design value of yield stress for grouting applications, a non-dimensional nomogram was developed that can be used to estimate the plug thickness, shear rate and velocity of the grout. / <p>Funding for the project was provided by the Swedish Rock Engineering Research Foundation (BeFo), The Swedish Research Council (FORMAS) and The Development Fund of the Swedish Construction Industry (SBUF), who are gratefully acknowledged. QC 20151112</p>

During high flow rates, the acceleration of flow and turbulence around bridge foundations lead to scouring, defined as the removal of bed sediments. Due to the interparticle physico-chemical forces of clay particles, erodibility and transport mechanisms for fine sediments are different from those for coarse sediments, and the capability to predict the erosion resistance of fine sediments is still in question. In this study, silt-clay soil mixtures with different kaolin contents were prepared by mixing ground silica and Georgia kaolin with tap water. Geotechnical tests were carried out to obtain the physical properties of the specimens. The critical shear stress and yield stress of the soil mixtures were determined through hydraulic flume experiments and rheometer tests, respectively. Particle associations of the soil specimens were observed using the technique of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). From the laboratory work and data analysis, relationships among the critical shear stress, yield stress, and the soil physical properties were developed from multiple regression analysis. Specifically, values of the critical shear stress, yield stress, and their dimensionless form can be predicted by the soil properties including bulk density, clay content, and water content. Finally, a single relationship is obtained to predict the Shields parameter as a function of the corresponding dimensionless yield stress in this study. The results can be used to provide a methodology for engineering applications requiring the value of critical shear stress such as estimating fine sediment bed stability and assessing the erosion risk of river beds in proximity to bridge foundations and other flow obstructions.

The alumina industry produces a significant quantity of bauxite residue suspension (red mud) that must be washed and dewatered in trains of thickeners and residue disposal areas to recover valuable alumina and sodium hydroxide. The Australian Alumina Industry have come together to sponsor a project to address waste minimisation and environmental impact issues collectively through the optimisation of dewatering in their washer trains and residue disposal areas. The project aims to maximise thickener underflow and tailings dam solids concentrations. (For complete abstract open document)

Le transport des bruts paraffiniques, et tout particulièrement leur remise en écoulement après un arrêt, dans de longues conduites sous-marines soumises à de basses températures, peut être difficile du fait de l'augmentation de leur viscosité. Le comportement rhéologique d´une huile paraffinique modèle, possédant des propriétés macroscopiques d'écoulement analogues à celles des bruts paraffiniques, est d'abord analysé en utilisant la vélocimétrie par imagerie par résonance magnétique associée à des mesures de contrainte de cisaillement au sein d'une géométrie Couette. Nous montrons que lors d'un écoulement forcé à température constante le matériau subit une déstructuration irréversible qui dépend de l'intensité du cisaillement. Ainsi la contrainte apparente critique permettant l'écoulement du matériau dépend de l'histoire thermique et d'écoulement subie par le matériau. Nous étudions ensuite le comportement rhéologique complet de deux bruts réels à partir de différents types de tests rhéométriques (fluages, redémarrage, régime permanent, changement brusque de vitesse) pour différentes histoires d'écoulement, notamment pendant la période de refroidissement. Le comportement détaillé du matériau en régime transitoire ainsi observé peut alors être modélisé. De plus les variations du seuil de contrainte en fonction de l'histoire thermique et de l'écoulement sont aussi décrites, ce qui nous donne le champ de contrainte seuil dans la conduite à l'état initial. Le modèle dans son ensemble est finalement implémenté dans un code de calcul pour simuler le redémarrage de l´écoulement d'un brut paraffinique dans une conduite réelle / Transporting waxy crude oils through long pipelines at low temperatures may be challenging, particularly its flow restart after a pipeline shut-in, due to its viscosity increase. The rheological behavior of a model waxy oil with macroscopic flow properties analogous to waxy crude oils is first analyzed using Magnetic Resonance Imaging velocimetry associated to stress measurements in a Couette geometry. While flowing at constant temperature, major irreversible structure break depending on shear intensity are observed. Thus, the critical apparent shear stress beyond which the material flows depends on the thermal and flow histories of the oil. Next, the rheological behavior of two waxy crude oils is studied using rheometrical tests (creep tests, flow restarts, abrupt changes of shear rate and steady flow) after different flow histories, notably during the cooling process. Then, those experimentally observed trends are modeled. Additionally, a comprehensive study of the yield stress in function of flow and temperature histories is presented. It provides an approach for describing the yield stress field inside the pipeline at the flow restart moment. Finally, the entire rheological model is implemented in the computational code for simulating waxy crude oils flow restart of a real scale pipeline

Le phénomène de Rayleigh-Bénard correspond à l'état instable dans lequel se trouve une couche horizontale d'un fluide dilatable, soumise à un gradient de température DT. Si ce dernier dépasse une valeur critique DTc, des mouvements convectifs naissent à l'intérieur du fluide. Concernant les fluides à seuil, le phénomène devient plus complexe. Le seuil s'ajoute aux forces stabilisatrices au sein du fluide et modifie de manière fondamentale le transfert de matière et le transfert thermique. Au départ, le fluide est au repos ; le gradient de vitesse est alors nul et la viscosité efficace infinie partout. L'approche de stabilité linéaire est incapable de fournir une solution aux équations d'écoulement car on doit perturber, par les forces d'Archimède, un fluide d'une viscosité infinie. Dans ce travail de thèse, des expériences de Rayleigh-Bénard ont été effectuées sur des solutions à base de Carbopol 940 présentant un seuil de contrainte. Le dispositif expérimental nous a permis d'avoir des résultats quantitatifs et qualitatifs intéressants. Les mouvements thermoconvectifs ont ensuite été filmés par la technique d'ombroscopie. L'effet non-linéaire au début de la convection a été observé. / Rayleigh-Bénard convection phenomena correspond to the unstable state of an horizontal and dilatable fluid layer under a temperature gradient DT. If it exceeds a given critical value DTc, convective movements appear. The phenomena becomes more complex for yield stress fluids. This threshold is added to stabilizing forces exerced within the fluid and alters the fundamental heat and mass transfer. The fluid is initially at rest and therefore the velocity gradient is zero, and the effective viscosity is infinite everywhere. The linear stability approach is unable to respond because we have to disturb Archimedes forces in a fluid with infinite viscosity. In this thesis, Rayleigh-Bénard experiments were performed with Carbopol 940 solutions which expressing a yield stress. The experimental apparatus allowed us to obtain interesting quantitative and qualitative results. The non-linear effect at the beginning of convection was observed and thermoconvective movements were observed using shadowgraphy technique.

De nombreuses applications industrielles mettent en jeu des fluides complexes qui possèdent souvent un seuil d'écoulement leur permettant de résister à des efforts finis sans s'écouler. Par ailleurs, ces fluides peuvent glisser aux parois lorsque les conditions interfaciales sont favorables. Toutes ces propriétés influencent leurs écoulements autour d'obstacles. Cette thèse se propose de comprendre ces écoulements dans le domaine où les vitesses d'écoulement sont telles que les effets inertiels peuvent être négligés devant les effets visqueux eux-mêmes faibles par rapport aux effets plastiques. Elle analyse l'influence de la vitesse et du glissement sur la force de traînée et les champs cinématiques générés par l'écoulement très lent et en régime permanent d'un fluide à seuil autour d'obstacles aux surfaces adhérentes ou glissantes. Les géométries considérées sont le disque, la sphère, le cône et la plaque plane. Le fluide utilisé a un comportement élasto-viscoplastique pouvant être décrit par les modèles de Herschel-Bulkley et de Hooke. Ce comportement a été caractérisé en volume et en présence de glissement par des mesures rhéométriques. Le nombre adimensionnel clé de l'étude est le nombre d'Oldroyd, ratio entre les effets plastiques et les effets visqueux, compris ici entre 10 et 200. Les mesures de forces de traînée ont montré qu'indépendamment de l'obstacle et des conditions interfaciales, le coefficient de traînée diminue avec le nombre d'Oldroyd et tend vers une valeur asymptotique. Cette valeur montre qu'au-delà d'un certain nombre d'Oldroyd, ce coefficient n'est plus gouverné par la vitesse mais dépend uniquement du seuil et de la surface caractéristique de l'obstacle. Elle permet de calculer un critère de stabilité pour lequel l'objet est maintenu en suspension. Les champs cinématiques déterminés par PIV ont permis de caractériser la forme et l'étendue des zones rigides et cisaillées. Les mesures de forces de traînée et de champs cinématiques ont permis de quantifier la contribution des contraintes normales et tangentielles dans la force de traînée totale. La présence de glissement aux parois de l'obstacle diminue significativement le coefficient de traînée et modifie la morphologie de l'écoulement en réduisant l'étendue des zones cisaillées. Une simulation numérique a été menée dans le cas de la plaque plane avec un modèle élasto-viscoplastique et un code à éléments finis avec points d'intégration Lagrangiens. / Many industrial processes include numerous complex fluids often presenting a yield stress. Those fluids can also slip when interfacial conditions are favorable. All these properties affect their flows around obstacles. This thesis aims to understand such flows in a domain where the flow velocities are so low that inertia effects can be neglected compared to viscous effects which are substantially low compared to plastic effects. It analyzes the influence of the velocity and the slip on the drag force and the kinematic fields of the creeping flow of a yield stress fluid around obstacles either with adhesive or slippery wall. The flow is analyzed in steady regime. The considered geometries are the disc, the sphere, the cone and the flat plate. The fluid used has an elasto-viscoplastic behavior which is modelled by the Herschel-Bulkley and Hooke models. This behavior has been characterized by rheometrical tests performed with adherence and slip conditions. The main non-dimensional number is the Oldroyd number, i.e. the ratio between plastic and viscous effects, which ranges from 10 to 200. The drag forces measurements have shown that regardless of the obstacle and the interfacial conditions, the drag coefficient decreases with the Oldroyd number before tending towards to an asymptotical value. This asymptotical value highlights that for high Oldroyd numbers the drag coefficient is no longer governed by the velocity but depends only on the yield stress and the characteristic section of the obstacle. A stability criterion for which the obstacle is held in suspension has been calculated from it. The kinematic fields determined by PIV have enabled to characterize the shape and the extent of the sheared and static regions. The drag forces and the kinematic fields measurements have enabled to quantify the contribution of the normal and tangential stresses in the total drag force. The wall slip significantly reduces the drag coefficient and also reduces the extent of the sheared zones. A numerical simulation has been performed with an elasto-viscoplastic model by means of a code using finite elements method with Lagrangian integration points in the case of an adhesive flat plane.