Yes / Scouring around the bridge pier is a natural and complex phenomenon that results in bridge failure. Failure of bridges have potential devastation and public safety and economic loss, which lead to political consequences and environmental impacts. Therefore, it is essential to countermeasure the scour around the bridge pier. This paper studies the effects of four different airfoil-shaped collars (i.e., bc1 = 1.5b, bc2 = 2.0b, bc3 = 2.5b and bc4 = 3.0b, where bc and b are the diameter of the airfoil-shaped collar and pier, respectively) as a scour countermeasure. All the experiments are conducted under clear water conditions with uniform sediment and a constant water depth (y) of 10 cm. Airfoil-shaped collar is placed at four elevations, i.e., bed level, y/4, y/2 and 3y/4 above the sediment bed level. It is observed that the maximum percentages of scour reduction of 86, 100 and 100% occurred due to protection provided by the collar bc2, bc3 and bc4, respectively, at sediment bed level. So, collars bc2, bc3 and bc4 are efficient at the sediment bed level. The profiles of scour hole show that the length of the transverse scour hole is greater than that of the longitudinal one. Numerical investigation of the morphological changes in sediment bed and scour depth contours is developed using the FLOW-3D for the pier with and without the airfoil-shaped collar.

"Laser micromachining is essential in today’s advanced manufacturing, of e.g., printed circuit boards and electronic components, especially laser microdrilling. Continued demands for miniaturization, in particular of high-performance MEMS components, have generated a need for smaller holes and microvias as well as smaller and more controllable spot-welds than ever before. All these neeeds require smaller taper of the microholes and more stable and controlled laser micromachining process than currently available. Therefore considerable attention must be focused on the laser process parameters that control critical specifications such as accuracy of the hole size as well as its shape and taper angle, all of which highly influence quality of the laser micromachining processes. Determination of process parameters in laser micromachining, however, is expensive because it is done mostly by trial and error. This Dissertation attempts to reduce the experimental time and cost associated with establishing the process parameters in laser micromachining by employing analytical, computational, and experimental solutions (ACES) methodology."