The goal of this thesis is to improve the understanding of the stitch bonding process in microelectronic wire bonding. In particular, it focuses on investigating the effect of the process parameters bonding force, scrub amplitude, and skid on experimental bond quality responses, including qualitative (non-sticking, sticking, and tail-lifting) and quantitative (stitch pull force, tail pull force). In addition to the experimental work, a finite element (FE) model is developed for the stitch bonding process using ABAQUS software, and compared with the experimental observations. For the first set of experiments, the stitch bonding is performed with a 18 ??m diameter Pd coated Cu (PCC) wire on a ???low bondability??? Au/Ni/Pd plated quad-flat non-lead (QFN) substrate. Results showed that a high bonding force, a high scrub amplitude, and a positive skid provoke the sticking of the stitch bond and reducing the chance of non-sticking observation. However, such parameters also increase the chance of tail-lifting. As a trade-off for a low bondability substrate, a process parameter combination containing a high bonding force and a high scrub amplitude and a negative skid could ensure a strong enough stitch bonding process with low chance of tail-lifting. For the second set of experiments, the stitch bonding is performed with a 18 ??m diameter uncoated Cu wire on a ???high bondability??? Ag plated QFN substrate. Statistical analysis of stitch and tail pull force showed that the skid and scrub parameters have a more significant influence than bonding force. A positive skid can degrade the stitch pull force, while enhancing the tail pull force. A high scrub amplitude is found to degrade both the stitch and the tail pull forces. The bonding force is shown to improve the stitch and tail pull forces slightly. Performing an optimization, process parameters of 70 gf (687 mN) bonding force, 3 ??m scrub amplitude, and zero skid result in acceptable stitch and tail pull forces, along with a reliable stitch bond appearance (low peeling and shallow capillary tool impression). The influence of the process parameters is significantly different depending on if bonding on low or high bondability substrates. For example, a positive skid increases the chances of sticking and tail-lifting on low bondability substrate, but it decreases the tail pull force and increases the tail pull force for high bondability substrate. This indicates that finding a general experimental rule for understanding the effect of process parameters on the stitch bond quality is difficult if not impossible. In other words, instead of general rule, it is more likely to find individual rules for specific individual applications. To improve the understanding of stitch bonding a three dimensional (3D) dynamic explicit FE model is developed in ABAQUS. The model components and boundary conditions are constructed and applied to reflect the experimental conditions. The bonding force, scrub, and skid are successfully implemented into the model. Mass scaling is applied carefully to save calculation time while ensuring there are no artificial effects of inertia. The model is able to render the conventional responses reported in the past including stress and strain distributions. However, these conventional outputs were not sufficient to provide a correlation between model and experiment. Therefore, new candidate responses were developed and extracted from the numerical results. The new responses are based on accepted welding mechanisms. One of the mechanisms is interfacial cleaning by frictional energy which is beneficial for bonding. Thus the friction energy accumulated during the simulated bond duration is extracted as a candidate response. For classical cold welding processes, the interfacial surface expansion is a key mechanism, as it opens up cracks in the surface contamination and oxide layers and thereby generates paths to bring the fresh metals together under pressure. Therefore, candidate responses related to surface expansion at the contact interface are extracted from the model. The complete set of new responses extracted from the numerical model includes contact areas, surface expansion per areas, frictional energy, and combination of frictional energy combined with surface expansions per areas. In addition the bond interface is divided into ???wedge??? and ???tail??? regions. The model is run for the same DOE cells as used in the first set of experiments and candidate responses are extracted and compared with the experimental observations. By ranking the correlation coefficients of each individual candidate responses, for the first time correlations that are relatively strong are found between a numerical response and experimental observations of stitch bonding. Responses that have correlation coefficients of 0.79 and 0.85 were found for wedge sticking and tail-lifting, respectively. Such relatively strong correlation indicates that the friction enhanced cleaning and the surface expansion mechanisms are proper theories for the current stitch bonding system. These theories can be used for developing similar models for other types of the solid-state bonding processes. Based on the best candidate responses, a procedure to determine numerical process windows is demonstrated for a specific application. Such a window defines the parameter ranges which result in an acceptable stitch bonding process and is an excellent indication of how suitable a process is for mass production. Depending on the application, materials, geometries, and tools, the FE model and process window procedure allow a variety of numerical process windows to be produced and compared.

A background of concentrated solar power, and finite element analysis are provided, along with further technical details on the physics of parabolic light concentration and classical plate theory. The concept of optical efficiency is outlined, including the 5 contributing factors: the cosine effect, mirror reflectivity, blocking and shadowing, atmospheric attenuation, and surface irregularities. Surface irregularities are identified as the least predictable factor of optical efficiency, making them the subject of the experimental section. Physical and computational experimentation is conducted to determine a desirable selection for material of reflector substrate, thickness of reflector substrate, holding method of reflector, and aspect ratio of reflector. Physical and computational results are compared with one another to add validity to both sets of results. Recommendations are made for each design criteria selection, however it is found that in many cases the selection of reflector properties falls to an economic decision.

The objective of this research was to better understand how impact angle influences headform dynamic response and brain tissue deformation. A bare headform was impacted using a pneumatic linear impactor at 5.5 m/s. The impacts were directed on the front and side location at angles of 0, 5, 10 and 15° rightward rotations as well as -5, -10 and -15° (leftward) rotations at the side to examine the characteristics of the head and neckform on the results. Peak resultant linear and rotational accelerations from the headform as well as peak maximum principal strain (MPS) and von Mises stress (VMS) estimated from a brain finite element model were used to measure the effect of impact angle. Significant results were dependent upon the impact angle and location as well as the dependent variable used for comparison (p <0.05). Impact angle produced significant differences in rotational acceleration and MPS at both the front and side; however angle only had an effect on VMS and linear acceleration at the front and side locations, respectively. These findings show that the effect of impact angle is asymmetrical and is specific to the dependent variable. This study suggests that varying impact angle alone may not be as influential on headform dynamic response and brain tissue deformation and that the severity of an impact may be more of a function of how both location and angle create high risk conditions.

To evaluate the impact of reduced truck tire pressure on strain response of low volume spring-restricted roads, research was conducted on two instrumented pavement sections in Manitoba, Canada. Tire pressure control systems tests were carried out at the sections in spring and fall 2009. Measured maximum tensile strain at the bottom of asphalt layer decreased by 15-20% when tire pressure was reduced by 50%. Measured strain at the bottom of asphalt layer in fall is about 50% less than in spring. The effects of gauge orientation, truck speed, and tire offset from the strain gauge were also analyzed. A finite element model with static load was developed and verified. The bearing capacity is lower in spring than in normal condition for flexible pavements subject to deep frost action. Reduced tire pressure is effective to reduce bottom up failure of the pavement, and is less effective to prevent rutting.

In this thesis, a two-dimensional (2D) finite element (FE) model was developed from the patient’s hip DXA image to evaluate osteoporotic fracture risk. The loading configuration was designed to simulate a lateral fall onto the greater trochanter. Bone inhomogeneous mechanical properties (e.g. Young’s modulus) assigned to the FE model were correlated to bone mineral density captured in DXA image using empirical functions. In-house MATLAB codes were developed to investigate the effects of different factors such as bone mineral density, femoral neck length, neck diameter, neck angle and patient’s body weight on fracture risk. The 2D FE model constructed from DXA image was able to de-termine the factors which affect fracture risk to a greater extent based on the location of femur. The model developed here can be considered as a first attempt for investigating the effects of different parameters on fracture risk using patient specific 2D FE method.

Identification of material properties has been highly discussed in recent times thanks to better technology availability and its application to the field of experimental mechanics. Bayesian approaches as Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods demonstrated to be reliable and suitable tools to process data, describing probability distributions and uncertainty bounds for investigated parameters in absence of explicit inverse analytical expressions. Though it is necessary to repeat experiments multiple times for good estimations, this might be not always feasible due to possible incurring limitations: the thesis addresses the problem of material properties estimation in presence of correlated and insufficient data, resulting in multivariate error modeling and high sample covariance matrix instability. To recover from the lack of information about the true covariance we analyze two different methodologies: first the hierarchical covariance modeling is investigated, then a method based on covariance shrinkage is employed. A numerical study comparing both approaches and employing finite element analysis within MCMC iterations will be presented, showing how the method based on covariance shrinkage is more suitable to post-process data for the range of problems under investigation.

There are many causes of structural failure. One of the most important factors leading to material failure is residual stress. This stress represents effects left in structures after processing or removal of external loads including changes in shape and crystallite size. In aggregate, residual stress changes the mechanical behaviour of materials. Various measurement techniques encompassing destructive, semi destructive, and non-destructive testing can be used to measure residual stresses. Thin plates are common in engineering applications. This thesis analyzes residual stresses on circular AISI 1020 steel alloy plates after removal of external loads using two-dimensional X-ray diffraction. Two identical thin circular plates are used in this experiment; one of which is statically loaded. The other plate is used as a control specimen. Residual stresses in the plates are measured using two-dimensional X-ray diffraction and the measurements are compared to those obtained using finite element analysis. It was found that experimentally measured residual stress occurred due to manufacture processing. Also, modules A and B showed the external effect of applying not enough to reach the plastic region to deform specimen 2 and obtain residual stress results distribution.

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a successful surgical technique that can be used for the effective treatment of fractured neck of femur, osteoarthritis, tumours, avascular necrosis, failed internal fixation, developmental dysplasia and rheumatoid arthritis. Revision surgery is necessary if loosening allows relative motion between the femoral stem and femur, causing pain and mechanical instability of the THA. The large number of revision operations undertaken each year as a result of implant failure emphasises the need for better biomechanical understanding of the femoral implant system. During 2001-02 in Australia 26,689 hip replacement operations were performed, with 3,710 of these being revision operations. The Exeter stem is the most commonly used cemented stem for primary and revision hip replacement in Australia. It is therefore very important to understand the mechanics of this clinically successful implant. Few studies have presented a through investigation into the mechanics of the Exeter stem from a fundamental perspective. To address these issues, mechanical and finite element (FE) methods were used to conduct experiments and numerical investigations into the mechanics of the Exeter stem. The femur geometry, for both the experimental and FE studies, was based upon the Sawbones model 3303 medium left third generation femur. The stem orientation for all specimens of the study was replicated from the orientation achieved by the senior surgeon implanting into the Sawbones femur. Test rigs were designed specifically to constrain the femur for the purposes of loading and stability measurements. The experimental investigation was used to investigate the torsional mechanical stability of the stem and to monitor this stability following periods of cyclic loading, using a resultant hip contact force, while monitoring the distal migration of the stem. The experimental investigation was also able to provide data for the validation of the finite element model. The resultant hip contact force was represented experimentally by a cyclic load of 1Hz applied to the head of the implant. The specimen was tested for four days. The loading regime for the initially implanted specimen involved the application of load for 6 hours a day, allowing the specimen to relax under no load for 18 hours a day. The mechanical stability of the initially implanted specimen was tested prior to the application of the cyclic load and immediately after the loading periods, prior to relaxation. Further tests were undertaken to assess the mechanical stability of the stem following the removal and reimplantation of the same stem without the use of additional bone cement (a procedure used surgically when only the acetabular component requires replacement). The reimplanted specimens were tested for a further two days following reimplantation. The six hours of loading for the reimplanted specimen was achieved using three, two hour loading periods. The stability of the reimplaned stem was assessed following each loading period. Initial studies found that the material properties of the Sawbones femurs were highly temperature dependent. If the temperature of the short glass fibre reinforced (SGFR) epoxy used for the cortical bone analogue was increased from room temperature to body temperature there was a reduction in the Young's modulus of up to 37 percent. This finding led to further investigation into the strain state of the femur for varus and neutral stem orientations to reduce femur failure during cyclic loading. The strains of the varus stem orientation were found to be higher than the strains of the neutral stem. The experiments investigating the mechanical stability under cyclic loading continued using the neutral stem orientation. For the neutral stem orientation it was found that there was no perceivable variation in the torsional stiffness of the initially implanted system during the cyclic loading period even though distal migration was observed. Torsional stiffness was observed to be compromised immediately after reimplantation. However, the torsional stiffness of the reimplanted specimen was recovered within the first two hour loading period. No perceivable variation in the torsional stiffness was observed between the initially implanted specimens and the reimplanted specimens following the first two hours of loading. The finite element model (FEM) found good agreement with the experimental investigation in terms of measured strain at two of three rosette positions and failure of the cortical bone. Trends for the stress-strain state of the stem showed good agreement with the clinical findings of failure and wear of the stem. The stress-strain state of the cement predicted the expected compressive and hoop stresses once debonding of the stem-cement interface had progressed. Strain on the surface of the femur was well predicted for pure torsional loading. The FEM has provided a valuable tool for future investigation of the effect of factors such as implant positioning on femoral component mechanics. The experimental and finite element models developed within the scope of this project have provided a powerful analysis tool for the investigation of the femoral component mechanics in THA. Application of the model to clinically relevant problems has given valuable insight into the mechanisms behind the success of this particular implant type. Models such as this will provide information on implant failure modes that will further lead to an increased implant life expectancy and a reduction in the number of revision operations performed.

This thesis explores the design of flexible pipes, buried in shallow trenches with dry sand backfill. The thesis reports the comprehensive analysis of twenty-two full-scale load tests conducted between 1989 and 1991 on pipe installations, mainly within a laboratory facility, at the University of South Australia. The pipes were highly flexible, spirally-wound, uPVC pipes, ranging in diameter from 300 to 450 mm. Guidelines were required by industry for safe cover heights for these pipes when subjected to construction traffic. The tests were designed by, and conducted under the supervision of, the author, prior to the author undertaking this thesis. As current design approaches for pipes could not anticipate the large loading settlements and hence, soil plasticity, experienced in these tests, finite element analyses were attempted. Extensive investigations of the materials in the installations were undertaken to permit finite element modelling of the buried pipe installations. In particular, a series of large strain triaxial tests were conducted on the sand backfill in the buried pipe installations, to provide an understanding of the sand behaviour in terms of critical state theory. Subsequently a constitutive model for the soil was developed. The soil model was validated before implementation in an element of finite element program, AFENA (Carter and Balaam, 1995). Single element modelling of the triaxial tests proved invaluable in obtaining material constants for the soil model. The new element was applied successfully to the analysis of a side-constrained, plate loading test on the sand. The simulation of the buried pipe tests was shown to require three-dimensional finite element analysis to approach the observed pipe-soil behaviour. Non-compliant side boundary conditions were ultimately adjudged chiefly responsible for the difficulty in matching the experimental data. The value of numerical analyses performed in tandem with physical testing was apparent, albeit in hindsight. The research has identified the prediction of vertical soil pressure above the pipe due to external loading as being the major difficulty for designers. Based on the finite element analyses of the field tests, a preliminary simple expression was developed for estimation of these pressures, which could be used with currently available design approaches to reasonably predict pipe deflections.

These days, automotive industries are facing intensive competition. New products should be delivered into market as soon as possible. On the other hand, customers also require new products having good reliability. Laboratory life testing is the traditional way to examine the reliability of products. Sample products should be tested till failures, which usually involve tremendous cost and time. Obviously, the reliability testing process extends the duration of 'design-to-market'. Cutting down the testing process can reduce the producing cycle properly. Currently, the accelerated life test (ALT) has been widely used in many companies as an alternative method. Although ALT reduces the cost of reliability testing through applying more severe environmental conditions than the normal ones on products, it is no longer sufficient as it does not describe the process of products' failure explicitly and it is still highly dependent on physical testing. Consequently, prediction models need to be developed for better understanding of the products' reliability.