Various surgical options exist to correct pathologies of the aortic valve, including mechanical or biological valve implantation, reconstruction of the native vessels, and a combination of the two. Additionally, finite-element analysis and, to some extent, fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analyses have been used in the past to analyze how these procedures may affect various engineering metrics such as tissue stresses and opening and closing dynamics of the valves. In this work, a similar type of model and analysis is performed, however, in addition to modeling the actions of the aortic valve, coronary flows are also considered. By incorporating these vessels, it is possible to examine coronary flow perturbations to mechanical and geometric model variations and to assess certain surgical procedures in regards to a new clinically relevant metric.

Large structures exposed to the environment such as the collinear omni and large panel communication antennas in this research suffer damage from cyclic wind, rain, hail, ice load and impacts from birds and stones. Stresses from self-weight, ice loading and wind gusts will produce deformations of the structure that will lead to performance deterioration of the antenna. In order to avoid such a case, it is important to understand the static, dynamic and aerodynamic behavior of these structures and thus optimization can be achieved. In this research the current fluid-structure interaction methods are used to model, simulate and analyze these communication antennas in order to assess whether failure would occur under service loads. The FEA models developed are verified against analytical models and/or experiments. Different antenna configurations are compared based on their capacity to minimize vibration effects, stress-induced deformations and aerodynamic loading effects.

No description available.

The heart is a complex organ and much is still unknown about its mechanical function. In order to use simulations to study heart mechanics, fluid and solid components and their interaction should be incorporated into any numerical model. Many previous studies have focused on myocardium motion or blood flow separately, while neglecting their interaction. Previous fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations of heart mechanics have made simplifying assumptions about their solid models, which prevented them from accurately predicting the stress-stain behaviour of the myocardium. In this work, a numerical model of the canine left ventricle (LV) is presented, which serves to address the limitations of previous studies. A canine LV myocardium material model was developed for use in conjunction with a commercial finite element code. The material model was modified from its original form to make it suitable for use in simulations. Further, numerical constraints were imposed when calculating the material parameter values, to ensure that the model would be strictly convex. An initial geometry and non-zero stress state are required to start cardiac cycle simulations. These were generated by the static inflation of a passive LV model to an end-diastolic pressure. Comparisons with previous measurements verified that the calculated geometry was representative of end diastole. Stresses calculated at the specified end diastolic pressure showed complex spatial variations, illustrating the superiority of the present approach over a specification of an arbitrary stress distribution to an end-diastolic geometry. In the third part of this study, FSI simulations of the mechanics of the LV were performed over the cardiac cycle. Calculated LV cavity pressures agreed well with previous measurements during most of the cardiac cycle, but deviated from them during rapid filling, which resulted in non-physiological backflow. This study is the first one to present a detailed analysis of the temporal and spatial variations of the properties of both the solid and the fluid components of the canine LV. The observed development of non-uniform pressure distributions in the LV cavity confirms the advantage of performing FSI simulations rather than imposing a uniform fluid pressure on the inner surface of the myocardium during solid-only simulations.

The past twenty years have seen the successful characterization and computational modeling efforts by the smart materials community to better understand the Shape Memory Alloy (SMA). Commercially available numerical analysis tools, coupled with powerful constitutive models, have been shown to be highly accurate for predicting the response of these materials when subjected to predetermined loading conditions. This thesis acknowledges the development of such an established analysis framework and proposes an expanded design framework that is capable of accounting for the complex coupling behavior between SMA components and the surrounding assembly or system. In order to capture these effects, additional analysis tools are implemented in addition to the standard use of the non-linear finite element analysis (FEA) solver and a full, robust SMA constitutive model coded as a custom user-defined material subroutine (UMAT). These additional tools include a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver, a cosimulation module that allows separate FEA and CFD solvers to iteratively analyze fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and conjugate heat transfer (CHT) problems, and the addition of the latent heat term to the heat equations in the UMAT to fully account for transient thermomechanical coupling. Procedures for optimizing SMA component and assembly designs through iterative analysis are also introduced at the highest level. These techniques are implemented using commercially available simulation process management and scripting tools. The expanded framework is demonstrated on example engineering problems that are motivated by real morphing structure applications, namely the Boeing Variable Geometry Chevron (VGC) and the NASA Shape Memory Alloy Hybrid Composite (SMAHC) chevron. Three different studies are conducted on these applications, focusing on component-, assembly-, and system-level analysis, each of which may necessitate accounting for certain coupling interactions between thermal, mechanical, and fluid fields. Output analysis data from each of the three models are validated against experimental data, where available. It is shown that the expanded design framework can account for the additional coupling effects at each analysis level, while providing an efficient and accurate alternative to the cost- and time-expensive legacy design-build-test methods that are still used today to engineer SMA actuated morphing aerostructures.

Excitation of the low frequency vibrational modes of a submerged vessel can generate significant radiated noise levels. Vibrational modes of a submarine hull are excited from the transmission of fluctuating forces through the shaft and thrust bearings due to the propeller rotating in an unsteady fluid. The focus of this work is to investigate the structural and acoustic responses of a submarine hull under axial excitation. The submarine hull is modelled as a cylindrical shell with internal bulkheads and ring stiffeners. The cylindrical shell is closed by truncated conical shells, which in turn are closed at each end using circular plates. The entire structure is submerged in a heavy fluid medium. The structural responses of the submerged vessel are calculated by solving the cylindrical shell equations of motion using a wave approach and the conical shell equations with a power series solution. The displacement normal to the surface of the structure in contact with the fluid medium was calculated by assembling the boundary/continuity matrix. The far field radiated sound pressure was then calculated by means of the Helmholtz integral. Results from the analytical model are compared with computational results from a fully coupled finite element/boundary element model. The individual and combined effects of the various influencing factors, corresponding to the ring stiffeners, bulkheads, conical end closures and fluid loading, on the structural and acoustic responses are characterised by examining the contribution by the circumferential modes. It is shown that equally spaced internal bulkheads generate a periodic structure thus creating a grouping effect for the higher circumferential modes, but do not have strong influence on the sound radiation. Stiffeners are found to have an important effect on both the dynamic and acoustic responses of the hull. The contribution of the conical end closures on the radiated sound pressure for the lowest circumferential mode numbers is also clearly observed. This work shows the importance of the bending modes when evaluating the sound pressure radiated by a submarine under harmonic excitation from the propulsion system.

Excitation of the low frequency vibrational modes of a submerged vessel can generate significant radiated noise levels. Vibrational modes of a submarine hull are excited from the transmission of fluctuating forces through the shaft and thrust bearings due to the propeller rotating in an unsteady fluid. The focus of this work is to investigate the structural and acoustic responses of a submarine hull under axial excitation. The submarine hull is modelled as a cylindrical shell with internal bulkheads and ring stiffeners. The cylindrical shell is closed by truncated conical shells, which in turn are closed at each end using circular plates. The entire structure is submerged in a heavy fluid medium. The structural responses of the submerged vessel are calculated by solving the cylindrical shell equations of motion using a wave approach and the conical shell equations with a power series solution. The displacement normal to the surface of the structure in contact with the fluid medium was calculated by assembling the boundary/continuity matrix. The far field radiated sound pressure was then calculated by means of the Helmholtz integral. Results from the analytical model are compared with computational results from a fully coupled finite element/boundary element model. The individual and combined effects of the various influencing factors, corresponding to the ring stiffeners, bulkheads, conical end closures and fluid loading, on the structural and acoustic responses are characterised by examining the contribution by the circumferential modes. It is shown that equally spaced internal bulkheads generate a periodic structure thus creating a grouping effect for the higher circumferential modes, but do not have strong influence on the sound radiation. Stiffeners are found to have an important effect on both the dynamic and acoustic responses of the hull. The contribution of the conical end closures on the radiated sound pressure for the lowest circumferential mode numbers is also clearly observed. This work shows the importance of the bending modes when evaluating the sound pressure radiated by a submarine under harmonic excitation from the propulsion system.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-76).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-176).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Aug. 12, 2008). PDF text: ix, 150 p. : ill. (come col.) ; 913 K. UMI publication number: AAT 3297747. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.