Poles are used as an important constituent of transmission, distribution and communication structures / highway and street lighting systems and other various structural applications. Concrete is the main production material of the pole industry. Concrete is preferred to steel and wood due not only to environmental and economic reasons but also because of its high durability to environmental effects and relatively less frequent maintenance requirements. Centrifugal casting is the most preferred way of manufacturing concrete poles. However, misapplication of the method may lead to a significant reduction in strength and durability of the poles. Segregation of concrete mixture is a frequent problem of centrifugal casting. The segregated concrete within the pole cross-section possesses different physical properties. In particular, the shrinkage tendency of the inner concrete, where the cement paste is accumulated, becomes significantly larger. Differential shrinkage of hardened concrete across the pole section gives rise to the development of internal tensile stresses, which, in turn, results in longitudinal cracking along the poles. There is a vast literature on experimental studies of parameters affecting differential shrinkage of centrifugally cast poles. This research aims to computationally investigate the differential shrinkage-induced internal stress development and cracking of concrete poles. To this end, two and three-dimensional mathematical models of the poles are constructed and finite element analyses of these models are carried out for different scenarios. The computationally obtained results that favorably agree with the existing experimental data open the possibility to improve the centrifugal manufacturing technique by using computational tools.

Aluminum Gallium Nitride (AlGaN) / Gallium Nitride (GaN) based deep ultraviolet (DUV) light emitting didoes (LEDs) with emission wavelengths between 200-280 nm enable key emerging technologies such as water/air purification and sterilization, covert communications and portable bio-agent detection/identification systems for homeland security, and surface and medical device sterilization. These devices produce a large amount of undesired heat due to low quantum efficiencies in converting electrical input to optical output. These low efficiencies are attributed to difficulties in the growth&doping of AlₓGa₁₋ₓN materials and UV absorbing substrates leading to excessive joule heating, which leads to device degradation and a spectral shift in the emission wavelength. With this regard, effective thermal management in these devices depends on the removal of this heat and reduction of the junction temperature. This is achieved by decreasing the package thermal resistance from junction-to-air with cost-effective solutions. The use of heat sinks, thermal interface materials, and high conductivity heat spreaders is instrumental in the reduction of the overall junction-to-air thermal resistance. This thesis work focuses on thermal modeling of flip-chip packaged deep UV LEDs to gain a better understanding of the heat propagation through these devices as well as the package parameters that have the biggest contributions to reducing the overall thermal resistance. A parametric study focusing on components of a lead frame package is presented to ascertain the thermal impacts of various package layers including contact metallizations, thermal spreading sub-mounts, and thermal interface materials. In addition the use of alternative thermal interface materials such as phase change materials and liquid metals is investigated experimentally.

The steel through-truss Traffic Bridge, located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is over one hundred years old. The bridge has been subject to ongoing maintenance throughout its service life. However, inspection reports from 2005 and 2006 highlighted the severe deterioration experienced primarily by the steel members immediately above and below the deck surface. These reports prompted the City of Saskatoon (COS) to implement a rehabilitation project that involved the installation of a post-tensioning system to relieve the badly corroded bottom chord members of the axial loads due to the self-weight of the structure, in 2006. Due to the severe deterioration and the structural modifications that the Traffic Bridge has endured, a limited scope structural health monitoring (SHM) system, based on strain measurements, was implemented to reduce some of the uncertainty regarding the active load paths occurring at the deck level.<p> The objectives of the SHM study were to obtain more information regarding the actual load paths and ascertain possible types of structural redundancy, to determine how to best model this type of structure, and to find ways to track ongoing deterioration using instrumentation. The SHM study involved controlled truck loading scenarios to permit measurement of the load paths and provide data to compare the measured results to a finite element (FE) model of the instrumented span. In addition, random loading scenarios were used to capture the vertical dynamic response of the structure in order to further refine the FE model.<p> This study focused on the response of one-half of one interior span. A total of 72 strain gauges were installed. The downstream truss was highly instrumented at ten locations, three members of the upstream truss were instrumented to measure the distribution, and the floor joists in the downstream lane were instrumented to establish possible redundancy paths.<p> Using an FE model in combination with the measured strain data, it was found that redundant load paths only existed at the level of the deck. The bottom chord members experienced non-zero strains once the control vehicle was past the span, possibly indicating some level of redundancy. The members believed to relieve a portion of the bottom chord tensile forces included the car joists, edge joists, and the timber deck. The amount of force transferred from the bottom chord to the deck members was found by FE analysis to be highly related to the lateral stiffness of the floor beams.<p> The FE model was adjusted to match the measured results by modifying various modelling parameters. The most important features of the model were that all deck elements were modelled to be located at the elevation of the bottom chord, that the lateral stiffness of the floor beams was reduced by 50% to best represent the transfer of forces to deck elements, and that the stiffness of bottom chord members was reduced to 80% of their pristine values. In combination with calibrated modification factors applied to the measured values, this FE model is believed to be a useful tool to represent the behaviour of the structure to assist in detecting further damage by modelling the strain differential between members, and components of members.

The steel through-truss Traffic Bridge, located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is over one hundred years old. The bridge has been subject to ongoing maintenance throughout its service life. However, inspection reports from 2005 and 2006 highlighted the severe deterioration experienced primarily by the steel members immediately above and below the deck surface. These reports prompted the City of Saskatoon (COS) to implement a rehabilitation project that involved the installation of a post-tensioning system to relieve the badly corroded bottom chord members of the axial loads due to the self-weight of the structure, in 2006. Due to the severe deterioration and the structural modifications that the Traffic Bridge has endured, a limited scope structural health monitoring (SHM) system, based on strain measurements, was implemented to reduce some of the uncertainty regarding the active load paths occurring at the deck level.<p> The objectives of the SHM study were to obtain more information regarding the actual load paths and ascertain possible types of structural redundancy, to determine how to best model this type of structure, and to find ways to track ongoing deterioration using instrumentation. The SHM study involved controlled truck loading scenarios to permit measurement of the load paths and provide data to compare the measured results to a finite element (FE) model of the instrumented span. In addition, random loading scenarios were used to capture the vertical dynamic response of the structure in order to further refine the FE model.<p> This study focused on the response of one-half of one interior span. A total of 72 strain gauges were installed. The downstream truss was highly instrumented at ten locations, three members of the upstream truss were instrumented to measure the distribution, and the floor joists in the downstream lane were instrumented to establish possible redundancy paths.<p> Using an FE model in combination with the measured strain data, it was found that redundant load paths only existed at the level of the deck. The bottom chord members experienced non-zero strains once the control vehicle was past the span, possibly indicating some level of redundancy. The members believed to relieve a portion of the bottom chord tensile forces included the car joists, edge joists, and the timber deck. The amount of force transferred from the bottom chord to the deck members was found by FE analysis to be highly related to the lateral stiffness of the floor beams.<p> The FE model was adjusted to match the measured results by modifying various modelling parameters. The most important features of the model were that all deck elements were modelled to be located at the elevation of the bottom chord, that the lateral stiffness of the floor beams was reduced by 50% to best represent the transfer of forces to deck elements, and that the stiffness of bottom chord members was reduced to 80% of their pristine values. In combination with calibrated modification factors applied to the measured values, this FE model is believed to be a useful tool to represent the behaviour of the structure to assist in detecting further damage by modelling the strain differential between members, and components of members.

In many seismic design codes and provisions, such as Uniform Building Code and Turkish Seismic Code, prediction of fundamental period of shear-wall dominant buildings, constructed by tunnel form technique, to compute the anticipated seismic forces is achieved by empirical equations considering the height of the building and ratio of effective shear-wall area to first floor area as the primary predictor parameters. However, experimental and analytical studies have collectively indicated that these empirical formulas are incapable of predicting fundamental period of shear-wall dominant buildings, and consequently result in erroneous computation of design forces. To compensate for this deficiency, an effective yet simple formula has recently been developed by Balkaya and Kalkan (2004), and tested against the data from ambient surveys on existing shear-wall dominant buildings. In this study, previously developed predictive equation is modified to include the effects of soil-structure interaction on the fundamental period. For that purpose, 140 shear-wall dominant buildings having a variety of plans, heights and wall-configurations were re-analyzed for four different soil conditions classified according to NEHRP. The soil effects on the foundation were represented by the translational and rotational springs, and their rigidities were evaluated from foundation size and elastic uniform compressibility of soil. Based on the comprehensive study conducted, improved prediction of fundamental period is achieved. The error in predictions on average is about 15 percent, and lending further credibility to modified formula considering soil-structure interaction to be used in engineering practice.

A finite-element model of a two-dimensional slice of human atrial tissue for the study of the electrograms and propagation of action potentials is presented. Action potential propagation is described by a reaction-diffusion model coupled with the complex Courtemanche et al. atrial cell model. The effects of recording electrode size and location on electrograms are presented. Action potential propagation as a result of atrial fibrillation ablation therapy is also modeled by defining a lesion area with decreased electrical conductivity. The effect of electrical conductivity and geometry of the lesion was also studied. It is shown that the success rate of atrial fibrillation ablation therapy is primarily correlated with the creation of continuous ablation lines and also the formation of fibrous tissue.

It has been conventional to simplify the thermo-mechanical modeling of solder joints by omitting the primary (transient) contributions to total creep deformation, assuming that secondary (steady-state) creep strain is dominant and primary creep is negligible. The error associated with this assumption has been difficult to assess because it depends on the properties of the solder joint and the temperature-time profile. This research examines the relative contributions of primary and secondary creep in Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu solder using the constant load creep and stress relaxation measurements for bulk tensile specimens and the finite element analysis of a chip resistor (trilayer) solder joint structure that was thermally cycled under multiple temperature ranges and ramp rates. It was found that neglect of primary creep can result in errors in the predicted stress and strain of the solder joint. In turn, these discrepancies can lead to errors in the estimation of the solder thermal fatigue life due to the changing proportion of primary creep strain to total inelastic strain under different thermal profiles. The constant-load creep and stress relaxation data for Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu span a range of strain rates 10(-8) 1/s < strain rate < 10(-4) 1/s, and temperatures 25°C, 75°C and 100°C. Creep and stress relaxation measurements show that transient creep caused faster strain rates during stress relaxation for a given stress compared to the corresponding minimum creep rate from constant-load creep tests. The extent of strain hardening during primary creep was a function of temperature and strain rate. A constitutive creep model was presented for Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu that incorporates both transient and steady-state creep to provide agreement for both creep and stress relaxation data with a single set of eight coefficients. The model utilizes both temperature compensated time and strain rate to normalize minimum strain rate and saturated transient creep strain, thereby establishing equivalence between decreased temperature and increased strain rate. The apparent activation energy of steady-state creep was indicative of both dislocation core and bulk lattice diffusion was the most sensitive model parameter. A saturation threshold was defined that distinguishes whether primary or secondary creep is dominant under either static or variable loading.

It has been conventional to simplify the thermo-mechanical modeling of solder joints by omitting the primary (transient) contributions to total creep deformation, assuming that secondary (steady-state) creep strain is dominant and primary creep is negligible. The error associated with this assumption has been difficult to assess because it depends on the properties of the solder joint and the temperature-time profile. This research examines the relative contributions of primary and secondary creep in Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu solder using the constant load creep and stress relaxation measurements for bulk tensile specimens and the finite element analysis of a chip resistor (trilayer) solder joint structure that was thermally cycled under multiple temperature ranges and ramp rates. It was found that neglect of primary creep can result in errors in the predicted stress and strain of the solder joint. In turn, these discrepancies can lead to errors in the estimation of the solder thermal fatigue life due to the changing proportion of primary creep strain to total inelastic strain under different thermal profiles. The constant-load creep and stress relaxation data for Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu span a range of strain rates 10(-8) 1/s < strain rate < 10(-4) 1/s, and temperatures 25°C, 75°C and 100°C. Creep and stress relaxation measurements show that transient creep caused faster strain rates during stress relaxation for a given stress compared to the corresponding minimum creep rate from constant-load creep tests. The extent of strain hardening during primary creep was a function of temperature and strain rate. A constitutive creep model was presented for Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu that incorporates both transient and steady-state creep to provide agreement for both creep and stress relaxation data with a single set of eight coefficients. The model utilizes both temperature compensated time and strain rate to normalize minimum strain rate and saturated transient creep strain, thereby establishing equivalence between decreased temperature and increased strain rate. The apparent activation energy of steady-state creep was indicative of both dislocation core and bulk lattice diffusion was the most sensitive model parameter. A saturation threshold was defined that distinguishes whether primary or secondary creep is dominant under either static or variable loading.

This research includes a preliminary study prior to the commencement of the Ph.D. work and three phases of design, construction and testing of three generations of moment-shaped beams. Each phase of the research brought a better understanding of curved beams which follow the shape of the moment diagram. The moment diagram in this study was for simply supported beams supporting a uniformly distributed load as would be the case in the majority of building designs. The original theory for this research can be described as follows: Moment-shaped beams are the natural outcome of a fundamental understanding of stress paths in a horizontal load bearing member. By following these stress paths we may provide materials where required to most efficiently carry the compression and tension stresses to the supports. Allowing stresses to follow their naturally desired paths reduces regions where stresses cross paths called disturbed regions. The outcome of the final phase of this research was the development of the third generation of curved beams with a camber. These beams, designated as Cambered Curve beams (CCBs), exhibited the same behaviour as the rectangular control beam design using CSA-A23.3 up to the serviceability failure of L/360 (12mm). The CCB moment-shaped beams require 20% less concrete and 40% less reinforcing steel (no shear stirrups) to carry the ultimate load which is only 12% less than that carried by the CSA-designed control beam. Due to a closed system of internal forces, the moment-shaped beams remain intact and are able to sustain self weight, even after total failure. A significant part of this research was to modify and verify a FORTRAN-based finite element analysis program: FINIT-Y. This program was reconstructed to analyse a full size beam, and enabled the researcher to model and correctly predict the maximum load, crack pattern and failure mode. This study found that moment-shaped beams with no shear reinforcement have the same stiffness and load carrying capacity as the CSA-designed rectangular control beam with shear reinforcement up to serviceability failure (L/360). The study also found that moment-shaped beams have significantly lower ductility at the ultimate load.

Pavement subsurface drainage systems (PSDS) are designed to drain the entrapped water out of pavement. To investigate the effects of various factors on the performance of PSDS, three dimensional models were developed using the finite element method to simulate the unsaturated drainage process in pavement. The finite element models were calibrated using the field information on outflow, peak flow, layer saturations, and time to drain. Through a series of parametric analyses, the factors that significantly influence the performance of PSDS were screened out, and a set of recommendations were made to improve our current drainage practices.The effects of pavement geometry on drainage were studied in this research. The analysis results indicate that edgedrain system can significantly improve the drainage efficiency of a pavement. The drainage performance of a pavement is mainly affected by the geometric factors that related to the edgedrain itself and the geometric factors related to the driving lanes have very limited effects.To investigate the influences of the properties of various pavement materials, some physical-empirical equations were developed in this research. These equations were used to predict the material hydraulic properties from their grain-size distributions and aggregate/asphalt contents. The analysis results of the models with various material properties indicate that the use of permeable base is effective in improving the drainage ability of a pavement. The performance of PSDS is not only affected by material permeability but also by their waterretention ability. The pavement works as an integrated hydraulic system and the hydraulic compatibility of materials must be considered in the PSDS design.The effects of climatic factors on pavement drainage were also studied in this research. A method was developed in this research to numerically describe the rainfall events. The analysis results of the models under various rainfall events indicate that rainfall duration is a more important parameter than the rainfall quantity in influencing the pavement drainage. Based on the analysis results, regression equations were developed for the estimation of pavement drainage. Finally, for design application purpose, a series of tables were included in this report to help with proper selected of pavement drainage options.