Rubber friction is an important aspect to tire engineers, material developers and pavement engineers because of its importance in the estimation of forces generated at the contact, which further helps in optimizing tire and vehicle performances, and to estimate tire wear. It mainly depends on the material properties, contact mechanics and operating condition. There are two major contributions to rubber friction, due to repeated viscoelastic deformation from undulations of surface called hysteresis and due to Vander Waals interaction of the molecules called adhesion. The study focuses on analytical modeling of friction for stationary sliding of rubber block on rough surfaces. Two novel approaches are discussed and compared. Frictional shear stress is obtained from the energy dissipated at the contact interface due to the elastic deformations of rubber block at different length scales. Contact mechanics theories based on continuity approach combined with stochastic processes to estimate the real contact area, mean penetration depth and true stresses at contact depending on operating conditions. Rubber properties are highly temperature dependent. Temperature model developed based on heat diffusion relation is integrated to consider the effects of temperature rise due to frictional heating. Model results are validated with theoretical results of literature. Simulation results of friction model is obtained for Compound A sliding on rough surface. Material properties are obtained using Dynamic Mechanical Analysis and Time temperature superposition. Influence of the friction models under different conditions are discussed. Model results are validated with experimental data from Dynamic friction tester on a 120-grit surface followed by future works. / Master of Science

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<p><strong>Background:</strong> A better application of evidence-based available therapies and optimal patient care are suggested to have a positive association with patient outcomes for cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients. Electronic integration of care tested in the Computerization of Medical Practices for the Enhancement of Therapeutic Effectiveness (COMPETE) Π study showed that a shared electronic decision-support system to support the primary care of diabetes improved the process of care and some clinical markers of the quality of diabetes care. On the basis of COMPETE Π trial, COMPETE Ш study showed that older adults at increased risk of cardiovascular events, if connected with their family physicians and other providers via an electronic network sharing an intensive, individualized cardiovascular tracking, advice and support program, enhanced their process of care – using a process composite score to lower their cardiovascular risk more than those in conventional care. However, results of the effect of intervention on composite process and clinical outcomes were not similar – there was no significant effect on clinical outcomes.</p> <p><strong>Objectives:</strong> Our objectives were to investigate the robustness of the results based the commonly used statistical models using COMPETE III dataset and explore the validity of the surrogate process composite score using a correlation analysis between the clinical outcomes and process composite score.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used as a primary statistical model in this study. Three patient-level statistical methods (simple linear regression, fixed-effects regression, and mixed-effects regression) and two center-level statistical approaches (center-level fixed-effects model and center-level random-effects model) were compared to reference GEE model in terms of the robustness of the results – magnitude, direction and statistical significance of the estimated effects on the change of process composite score / on-target clinical composite score. GEE was also used to investigate thecorrelation between the clinical outcomes and surrogate process composite scores.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> All six statistical models used in this study produced robust estimates of intervention effect. No significant association between cardiovascular events and on-target clinical composite score and individual component of on-target clinical composite score were found between the intervention group and control group. However, blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and psychosocial index are significant predictors of cardiovascular events. Process composite score can both predict the cardiovascular events and clinical improvement, but the results were not statistically significant- possibly due to the small number of events. However, the process composite score was significantly associated with the on-target clinical composite score.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> We concluded that all five analytic models yielded similar robust estimation of intervention effect comparing to the reference GEE model. The relatively smaller estimate effects in the center-level fixed-effects model suggest that the within-center variation should be considered in the analysis of multicenter RCTs. Process composite score may serve as a good predictor for CVD outcomes.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

<p> Tool life during the precision stamping of stainless steel sheet (AISI 301) has been studied with particular emphasis on reduction in the punch diameter and part hole size due to tool wear. Two analytical models for predicting tool life in terms of number of quality parts that could be stamped between two re-grindings have been proposed using a combination of Archard's wear model and punching force. The proposed tool life models have been verified by experiment trials with a round M2 punch and die. The trials were carried out on a precision progressive die in an industrial environment.</p> <p> The first tool life model calculates the pierced hole diameter variation for a given tool from sheet material properties and gives an estimation of number of parts that could be stamped for a given tolerance on a hole size. The second tool life model calculates number of parts with respect to the allowed burr height. Both of the proposed models are derived using sheet material properties such as sheet thickness, strength coefficient (K), strain hardening index (n) and material elongation (A); process parameters such as die clearance and friction coefficient; punch characteristics such as normalized wear rate, punch diameter and punch edge radius. Finite element analysis was also employed to simulate the hole piercing process to predict burr height. The results from the proposed tool life models, FE modeling and the experiments are in good agreement.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Drilling is crucial to many industries, including hydrocarbon extraction, CO2 sequestration, geothermal energy, and others. During penetrating the subsurface rocks, drilling fluid (mud) is used for drilling bit cooling, lubrication, removing rock cuttings, and providing wellbore mechanical stability. Significant mud loss from the wellbore into the surrounding formation causes fluid lost-circulation incidents. This phenomenon leads to cost overrun, environmental pollution, delays project time and causes safety issues. Although lost-circulation exacerbates wellbore conditions, prediction of the characteristics of subsurface formations can be obtained. Generally, four formation types cause lost-circulation: natural fractures, and induced fractures, vugs and caves, and porous/permeable medium. The focus in this work is on naturally fractured formations, which is the most common cause of lost circulation. In this work, a novel prediction tool is developed based on analytical solutions and type-curves (TC). Type-curves are derived from the Cauchy equation of motion and mass conservation for non-Newtonian fluid model, corresponding to Herschel-Bulkley model (HB). Experimental setup from literature mimicking a deformed fracture supports the establishment of the tool. Upscaling the model of a natural fracture at subsurface conditions is implemented into the equations to achieve a group of mud type-curves (MTC) alongside another set of derivative-based mud type-curves (DMTC). The developed approach is verified with numerical simulations. Further, verification is performed with other analytical solutions. This proposed tool serves various functionalities; It predicts the volume loss as a function of time, based on wellbore operating conditions. The time-dependent fluid loss penetration from the wellbore into the surrounding formation can be computed. Additionally, the hydraulic aperture of the fracture in the surrounding formation can be estimated. Due to the non-Newtonian behavior of the drilling mud, the tool can be used to assess the fluid loss stopping time. Validation of the tool is performed by using actual field datasets and published experimental measurements. Machine-Learning is finally investigated as a complementary approach to determine the flow behavior of mud loss and the corresponding fracture properties.

Knowledge of the end winding inductance of electrical machines is decisive for calculating their operating performance. In this article, two different approaches to analytically calculate the stator end winding inductance of large induction machines are discussed. The first method is based on the exact replication of the 3D conductor geometry using serially connected straight filaments, where the inductances are calculated by solving Neumann’s integral. In the second method, the end winding flux is resolved into components excited by the axial and circumferential end winding magnetomotive force, resulting in a far simpler geometrical model. In both cases, end face effects are taken into account by adopting the method of images. The analytical approaches are compared to the known analytical calculation method proposed by Alger [1]. In addition, the stator end winding inductance is computed by means of 3D finite-element analysis. Using experimental validation, it is shown that both the analytical and numerical results reasonably correlate with removed rotor inductance measurements taken for several induction machines with different rated powers and frame sizes, if the permeability of the laminated core is taken into consideration.