A comprehensive investigation into the relationship between physical forcing and sus- pended particles in the shallow shelf region of the Western English Channel has been conducted, in order to evaluate the temporal dynamics of suspended particle populations. Measurements were taken across tidal cycles and seasons at station L4, part of the Western Channel Observatory (WCO), using the combination of a free-fall microstructure profiler and holographic imaging. Confirmation that L4 is weakly stratified is given, and that the formation of the seasonal thermocline is substantially altered by the spring-neap cy- cle. Stratification is variable and prone to periodic and partial erosion from atmospheric forcing during any point in any season. L4 undergoes moderate turbulent dissipation, principally as a result of tidal forcing. Typically, values of ε do not exceed 10−4 W kg−1 . L4 also exhibits tidal asymmetry, chiefly in response to stratification which, albeit weak, is frequently able to suppress turbulence when generated from the sea bed. The potential energy anomaly is small at L4, as expected for a weakly-stratified environment. Maxi- mum values in summer were shown to not exceed 50 J m−3 . Values of bed stress, τ0 , are rarely greater than around 0.18 N m−2 . Nonetheless, the critical erosion threshold falls below this, and is therefore smaller than that observed in similar locations around the UK. Seasonality in the amount of material resuspended from the seabed is important at L4. The presence of certain biological particles strongly influence particle size and may also determine if a given particle is lifted from the bed. Particles ≥ 200 μm are relatively rare, the site is dominated by particles smaller than this value in line with many other UK sites. Under certain conditions the theoretical maximum limit of particle size, the Kolmogorov length scale, does not hold and many examples of occasions when this threshold is exceeded are shown. This may generate important consequences in subsequent work undertaken at this site and other temperate shelf locations globally, particularly as these results indicate that maximum particle size appears to be governed less by the size of the local turbulent eddies and more by the presence of biological particles. This is another key seasonal component to particle dynamics in the Western English Channel. Phytoplankton populations are readily advected into and out of the L4 site, calling into question the current sampling strategy of the WCO to rely exclusively upon point measurements. Small increases in atmospheric forcing have the ability to rapidly disperse patches of phytoplankton, possibly to the point of cell mortality. Traditional sampling techniques for assessing zooplankton density have been shown to radically underestimate the number of animals present at L4, which will increase error estimates on current ecosystem models.

No / A novel process chain for serial production of polymer-based devices incorporating both micro- and nano-scale features is proposed. The process chain is enabled by the use of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMG) to achieve the necessary level of compatibility and complementarity between its component technologies. It integrates two different technologies, namely laser ablation and focused ion beam (FIB) milling for micro-structuring and sub-micron patterning, respectively, thus to fabricate inserts incorporating different length scale functional features. Two alternative laser sources, namely nano-second (NS) and pico-second (PS) lasers, were considered as potential candidates for the first step in this master-making process chain. The capabilities of the component technologies together with some issues associated with their integration were studied. To validate the replication performance of the produced masters, a Zr-based BMG insert was used to produce a small batch of micro-fluidic devices by micro-injection moulding. Furthermore, an experimental study was also carried out to determine whether it would be possible by NS laser ablation to structure the Zr-based BMG workpieces with a high surface integrity whilst retaining the BMG’s non-crystalline morphology. Collectively, it was demonstrated that the proposed process chain could be a viable fabrication route for mass production of polymer devices incorporating different length scale features.

In modern, low emission, gas turbine combustion systems the amount of air available for cooling of the flame tube liner is limited. This has led to the development of more complex cooling systems such as cooling tiles i.e. a double skin system, as opposed to the use of more conventional cooling slots i.e. a single skin system. An isothennal experimental facility has been constructed which can incorporate 10 times full size single and double skin (cooling tile) test specimens. The specimens can be tested with or without effusion cooling and measurements have been made to characterise the flow through each cooling system along with the velocity field and cooling effectiveness distributions that subsequently develop along the length of each test section. The velocity field of the coolant film has been defined using pneumatic probes, hot-wire anemometry and PIV instrumentation, whilst gas tracing technique is used to indicate (i) the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and (ii) mixing of the coolant film with the mainstream flow. Tests have been undertaken both with a datum low turbulence mainstream flow passing over the test section, along with various configurations in which large magnitudes and scales of turbulence were present in the mainstream flow. These high turbulence test cases simulate some of the flow conditions found within a gas turbine combustor. Results are presented relating to a variety of operating conditions for both types of cooling system. The nominal operating condition for the double skin system was at a coolant to mainstream blowing ratio of approximately 1.0. At this condition, mixing of the mainstream and coolant film was relatively small with low mainstream turbulence. However, at high mainstream turbulence levels there was rapid penetration of the mainstream flow into the coolant film. This break up of the coolant film leads to a significant reduction in the cooling effectiveness. In addition to the time-averaged characteristics, the time dependent behaviour of the .:coolantfilm was. also investigated. In particular, unsteadiness associated with large scale structures in the mainstream flow was observed within the coolant film and adjacent to the tile surface. Relative to a double skin system the single skin geometry requires a higher coolant flow rate that, along with other geometrical changes, results in typically higher coolant to mainstream velocity ratios. At low mainstream turbulence levels this difference in velocity between the coolant and mainstream promotes the generation of turbulence and mixing between the streams so leading to some reduction in cooling effectiveness. However, this higher momentum coolant fluid is more resistant to high mainstream turbulence levels and scales so that the coolant film break up is not as significant under these conditions as that observed for the double skin system. For all the configurations tested the use of effusion cooling helped restore the coolant film along the rear of the test section. For the same total coolant flow, the minimum value of cooling effectiveness observed along the test section was increased relative to the no effusion case. In addition the effectiveness of the effusion patch depends on the amount of coolant injected and the axial location of the patch. The overall experimental data suggested the importance of the initial cooling film conditions together with better understanding of the possible mechanisms that results in the rapid cooling film break-up, such as high turbulence mainstream flow and scales, and this will lead to a more effective cooling system design. This experimental data is also thought to be ideal for the validation of numerical predictions.

The peridynamic theory is a generalization of classical continuum mechanics and takes into account the interaction between material points separated by a finite distance within a peridynamic horizon δ. The parameter δ corresponds to a length scale and is treated as a material property related to the microstructure of the body. Since the balance of linear momentum is written in terms of an integral equation that remains valid in the presence of discontinuities, the peridynamic theory is suitable for studying the material behavior in regions with singularities. The first part of this work concerns the evaluation of the properties of a linear elastic peridynamic material in the context of a three-dimensional state-based peridynamic theory, which uses the difference displacement quotient field in the neighborhood of a material point and considers both length and relative angle changes. This material model is based upon a free energy function that contains four material constants, being, therefore, different from other peridynamic models found in the literature, which contain only two material constants. Using convergence results of the peridynamic theory to the classical linear elasticity theory in the limit of small horizons and a correspondence argument between the free energy function and the strain energy density function from the classical theory, expressions were obtained previously relating three peridynamic constants to the classical elastic constants of an isotropic linear elastic material. To calculate the fourth peridynamic material constant, which couples both bond length and relative angle changes, the correspondence argument is used once again together with the strain field of a linearly elastic beam subjected to pure bending. The expression for the fourth constant is obtained in terms of the Poisson\'s ratio and the shear elastic modulus of the classical theory. The validity of this expression is confirmed through the consideration of other experiments in mechanics, such as bending of a beam by terminal loads and anti-plane shear of a circular cylinder. In particular, numerical results indicate that the expressions for the constants are independent of the experiment chosen. The second part of this work concerns an investigation of the behavior of a one-dimensional linearly elastic bar of length L in the context of the peridynamic theory; especially, near the ends of the bar, where it is expected that the behavior of the peridynamic bar may be very different from the behavior of a classical linear elastic bar. The bar is in equilibrium without body force, is fixed at one end, and is subjected to an imposed displacement at the other end. The bar has micromodulus C, which is related to the Young\'s modulus E in the classical theory through different expressions found in the literature. Depending on the expression for C, the displacement field may be singular near the ends, which is in contrast to the linear behavior of the displacement field observed in classical linear elasticity. In spite of the above, it is also shown that the peridynamic displacement field converges to its classical counterpart as the peridynamic horizon tends to zero. / A teoria peridinâmica é uma generalização da teoria clássica da mecânica do contínuo e considera a interação de pontos materiais devido a forças que agem a uma distância finita entre si, além da qual considera-se nula a força de interação. Por ter o balanço de momento linear formulado como uma equação integral que permanece válida na presença de descontinuidades, a teoria peridinâmica é adequada para o estudo do comportamento de materiais em regiões com singularidades. A primeira parte deste trabalho consiste no cálculo das propriedades de um material peridinâmico elástico linear no contexto de uma teoria peridinâmica de estado, linearmente elástica e tridimensional, que utiliza o campo quociente de deslocamento relativo na vizinhança de um ponto material e leva em conta mudanças relativas angulares e de comprimento. Esse modelo utiliza uma função energia livre que apresenta quatro constantes materiais, sendo, portanto, diferente de outros modelos peridinâmicos investigados na literatura, os quais contêm somente duas constantes materiais. Utilizando resultados de convergência da teoria peridinâmica para a teoria de elasticidade linear clássica no limite de pequenos horizontes e um argumento de correspondência entre as funções energia livre proposta e densidade de energia de deformação da teoria clássica, expressões para três constantes peridinâmicas foram obtidas em função das constantes de um material elástico e isotrópico da teoria clássica. O argumento de correspondêmcia, em conjunto com o campo de deformações de uma viga submetida à flexão pura, é utilizado para calcular a quarta constante peridinâmica do material, que relaciona mudanças angulares relativas e de comprimentos das ligações entre as partículas. Obtem-se uma expressão para a quarta constante em termos do coeficiente de Poisson e do módulo de elasticidade ao cisalhamento da teoria clássica. A validade dessa expressão é confirmada por meio da consideração de outros experimentos da mecânica, tais como flexão de um viga por cargas terminais e cisalhamento anti-plano de um eixo cilíndrico. Em particular, os resultados numéricos indicam que as expressões para as constantes são independentes do experimento escolhido. A segunda parte deste trabalho consiste em uma investigação do comportamento de uma barra unidimensional linearmente elástica de comprimento L no contexto da teoria peridinâmica; especialmente, próximo às extremidades da barra, onde espera-se que o comportamento da barra peridinâmica possa ser muito diferente do comportamento de uma barra elástica linear clássica. A barra está em equilíbrio e sem força de corpo, fixa em uma extremidade, e sujeita a deslocamento imposto na outra extremidade. A barra possui micromódulo C, o qual está relacionado ao módulo de Young E da teoria clássica por meio de diferentes expressões encontradas na literatura. Dependendo da expressão para C, o campo de deslocamento pode ser singular próximo às extremidades, o que contrasta com o comportamento linear do campo de deslocamento observado na elasticidade linear clássica. Apesar disso, é mostrado também que o campo de deslocamento peridinâmico converge para o campo de deslocamento da teoria clássica quando o horizonte peridinâmico tende a zero.

Variable Valve Timing (VVT) presents a powerful tool in the relentless pursuit of efficiency improvements in the internal combustion engine. As the valves have such ultimate control over the gas exchange processes, extensive research effort in this area has shown how valve event timing can be manipulated to reduce engine pumping losses, fuel consumption and engine out emissions. Pumping losses may be significantly reduced by use of throttleless strategies, making use of intake valve duration for load control, while alternative cycles such as the Miller cycle allow modification of the effective compression ratio. More recently, the value of single valve operation in part load conditions is exploited, bringing with it the concept of asymmetric valve lifts. Work in this area found the side effect of asymmetric valve operation is a significant change in the behaviour of the in-cylinder flow structures, velocities and turbulence intensity. Work presented in this thesis exploits asymmetric valve strategies to modify the in-cylinder flow conditions. The Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) is a method employed in the fluids dynamics field to facilitate the separation of coherent motion structures from the turbulence. In the presented work, the application of POD to in-cylinder flow analysis is further developed by the introduction of a novel method for identifying the POD modes representative of coherent motion and those representative of the turbulence. A POD mode correlation based technique is introduced and developed, with the resulting fields showing evidence of coherence and turbulence respectively. Experimental tests are carried out using a full length optically accessible, single cylinder research engine equipped with a fully variable valve train (FVVT) to allow full control of both valve timing and lift. In-cylinder flow is measured through the use of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) at several crank angle timings during the intake stroke whilst the engine is operated under a range of asymmetric valve strategies. The exhaust valves and one intake valve have their respective schedules fixed, while the second intake valve schedule is adjusted to 80\%, 60\%, 40\%, 20\%, 0\% lift. The resulting PIV fields are separated into coherent motion and turbulence using the developed technique, allowing for analysis of each constituent independently. The coherent element gives insight to large scale flows, often of the order of magnitude of the cylinder. These structures not only give a clear indication of the overall motion and allow assessment of flow characteristics such as swirl and tumble ratio, but the variation in the spatial location of these structures provides additional insight to the cyclic to cycle variation (CCV) of the flow, which would not otherwise be possible due to the inclusion of the turbulent data. Similarly, with the cyclic variation removed from the turbulent velocity field, a true account of the fluctuating velocity, u' and derived values such as the Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) may be gained. Results show how manipulation of a one intake valve timing can influence both the large scale motions and the turbulence intensity. By the reduction of lift, the swirl ratio is increased almost linearly as the typical counter-rotating vortex pair becomes asymmetric, before a single vortex structure is observed in the lowest lift cases. A switching mechanism between the two is identified and found to be responsible for increased levels of CCV. With the reduction in lift, TKE is observed not only to increase, but change the spatial distribution of turbulence. Of course, the reduction in valve lift comes with the penalty of a reduced valve curtain area. However, it was identified both in literature and throughout this study that the reduction in lift did not negatively influence the engine breathing as the same trapped mass was achieved under all cases with no adjustment of manifold pressure. While literature shows both bulk motion and turbulence are key in liquid fuel break-up during the intake stroke, the mixing effects under port-injected natural gas were investigated experimentally using Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF). The valve strategy was found to have no significant effect on the mixture distribution at the time of spark.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:14:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parte1.pdf: 6372308 bytes, checksum: db3e915edd1663a97d16d8935fc5becf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-02 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In this work we study numerically the generation and dynamics of topological defects in nematic liquid crystals. Our study is based on a Ginzburg-Landau model describing the evolution of the orientational order of a liquid crystal in terms of a symmetric, traceless, second-rank tensor. This phenomenological model allows studies of nematic phases at scales ranging from few nanometers to few micrometers (mesoscopic scale). Within this framework we developed a software named LICRA (Liquid CRystal Algorithm) that combines standard finite difference algorithm for the spatial derivatives with a Runge-Kutta temporal integration to solve the relaxational equations of nematodynamics without thermal fluctuations and hydrodynamic flow. Using this software we investigate the coarsening dynamics of defects of two- and three-dimensional uniaxial nematic liquid crystals. The time dependences of the structure factor and characteristic length scale were computed. The characteristic length scale is expected to grow as a power law in time, L ∝ tα. From dimensional analysis α = 1/2 and we found α = 0, 45±0, 01 in two-dimensions and α = 0, 350±0, 003 in three-dimensions. Furthermore, in all cases Porod s law is satisfied for large values of wave number k. We also investigate, using LICRA, the coarsening dynamics of liquid crystal textures in a two-dimensional nematic under applied electric fields. We consider both positive and negative dielectric anisotropies and two different possibilities for the orientation of the electric field parallel and perpendicular to the two-dimensional lattice. We determine the effect of an applied electric field pulse on the evolution of the characteristic length scale and other properties of the liquid crystal texture network. In particular, we show that different types of defects are produced after the electric field is switched on, depending on the orientation of the electric field and the sign of the dielectric anisotropy. Finally, we present the effect of the rotation of an external electric field on the dynamics of half-integer disclination networks in two and three dimensional nematic liquid crystals with a negative dielectric anisotropy. We show that a rotation of π of the electric field around an axis of the liquid crystal plane continuously transforms all half-integer disclinations of the network into disclinations of opposite sign via twist disclinations. We also determine the evolution of the characteristic length scale, thus quantifying the impact of the external electric field on the coarsening of the defect network. / Neste trabalho estudamos numericamente a formação e dinâmica de defeitos topológicos em cristais líquidos nemáticos. Nosso estudo é baseado no modelo de Ginzburg- Landau, o qual descreve a evolução da ordem orientacional de um cristal líquido em termos de um tensor de segunda ordem simétrico e com traço nulo. Este modelo fenomenológico permite estudar a fase nemática em escalas que vão de poucos nanômetros até poucos micrômetros (escala mesoscópica). Para tal estudo numérico, desenvolvemos um programa de computador que denominamos de LICRA (Liquid CRystal Algotithm). Este programa combina o algoritmo de diferença finita para calcular derivadas espaciais com a integração temporal de Runge-Kutta para resolver a equação de relaxação da nematodinâmica, sem a presença de flutuações térmicas e fluxos hidrodinâmicos. Usando este programa de computador investigamos a dinâmica de coalescência em duas e três dimensões em um cristal líquido nemático uniaxial. Tanto o fator de estrutura quando a escala de comprimento característico foram calculadas no tempo. Espera-se que esta escala cresça como uma lei de potências do tempo, L ∝ tα, onde, a partir de uma análise dimensional, α = 1/2. Encontramos os valores de α = 0, 45 ± 0, 01 em duas dimensões e α = 0, 350 ± 0, 003 em três dimensões. Além disso, em todos os casos verificamos que a lei de Porod é satisfeita para número de ondas k de grandes valores. Utilizando LICRA, investigamos também a dinâmica de coalescência de cristais líquidos nemáticos em duas dimensões submetidos a um campo elétrico externo. Consideramos a anisotropia dielétrica positiva e negativa e duas diferentes possibilidades de orientação do campo elétrico: paralelo e perpendicular ao plano da rede bidimensional. Determinamos os efeitos de um pulso de campo elétrico na evolução da escala do comprimento característico e as alterações nas texturas dos cristais líquidos. Em particular, mostramos que os diferentes tipos de defeitos que são produzidos após o campo elétrico ser aplicado dependem da orientação do campo elétrico e do sinal da anisotropia dielétrica. Finalmente, apresentamos os efeitos da rotação de um campo elétrico externo na dinâmica de uma rede de defeitos semi-inteiros em cristais líquidos nemáticos em duas e três dimensões com anisotropia dielétrica negativa. Mostramos que, girando o campo elétrico por um ângulo π ao redor de um eixo pertencente a plano da rede, ocorre uma transformação contínua de todas as desclinações semi-inteiras da rede em desclinações com sinal oposto. Esta transformação é intermediada por desclinações do tipo torção. Além disso, determinamos a evolução da escala de comprimento característico quantificando o impacto do campo elétrico externo na dinâmica de coalescimento da rede.

The peridynamic theory is a generalization of classical continuum mechanics and takes into account the interaction between material points separated by a finite distance within a peridynamic horizon δ. The parameter δ corresponds to a length scale and is treated as a material property related to the microstructure of the body. Since the balance of linear momentum is written in terms of an integral equation that remains valid in the presence of discontinuities, the peridynamic theory is suitable for studying the material behavior in regions with singularities. The first part of this work concerns the evaluation of the properties of a linear elastic peridynamic material in the context of a three-dimensional state-based peridynamic theory, which uses the difference displacement quotient field in the neighborhood of a material point and considers both length and relative angle changes. This material model is based upon a free energy function that contains four material constants, being, therefore, different from other peridynamic models found in the literature, which contain only two material constants. Using convergence results of the peridynamic theory to the classical linear elasticity theory in the limit of small horizons and a correspondence argument between the free energy function and the strain energy density function from the classical theory, expressions were obtained previously relating three peridynamic constants to the classical elastic constants of an isotropic linear elastic material. To calculate the fourth peridynamic material constant, which couples both bond length and relative angle changes, the correspondence argument is used once again together with the strain field of a linearly elastic beam subjected to pure bending. The expression for the fourth constant is obtained in terms of the Poisson\'s ratio and the shear elastic modulus of the classical theory. The validity of this expression is confirmed through the consideration of other experiments in mechanics, such as bending of a beam by terminal loads and anti-plane shear of a circular cylinder. In particular, numerical results indicate that the expressions for the constants are independent of the experiment chosen. The second part of this work concerns an investigation of the behavior of a one-dimensional linearly elastic bar of length L in the context of the peridynamic theory; especially, near the ends of the bar, where it is expected that the behavior of the peridynamic bar may be very different from the behavior of a classical linear elastic bar. The bar is in equilibrium without body force, is fixed at one end, and is subjected to an imposed displacement at the other end. The bar has micromodulus C, which is related to the Young\'s modulus E in the classical theory through different expressions found in the literature. Depending on the expression for C, the displacement field may be singular near the ends, which is in contrast to the linear behavior of the displacement field observed in classical linear elasticity. In spite of the above, it is also shown that the peridynamic displacement field converges to its classical counterpart as the peridynamic horizon tends to zero. / A teoria peridinâmica é uma generalização da teoria clássica da mecânica do contínuo e considera a interação de pontos materiais devido a forças que agem a uma distância finita entre si, além da qual considera-se nula a força de interação. Por ter o balanço de momento linear formulado como uma equação integral que permanece válida na presença de descontinuidades, a teoria peridinâmica é adequada para o estudo do comportamento de materiais em regiões com singularidades. A primeira parte deste trabalho consiste no cálculo das propriedades de um material peridinâmico elástico linear no contexto de uma teoria peridinâmica de estado, linearmente elástica e tridimensional, que utiliza o campo quociente de deslocamento relativo na vizinhança de um ponto material e leva em conta mudanças relativas angulares e de comprimento. Esse modelo utiliza uma função energia livre que apresenta quatro constantes materiais, sendo, portanto, diferente de outros modelos peridinâmicos investigados na literatura, os quais contêm somente duas constantes materiais. Utilizando resultados de convergência da teoria peridinâmica para a teoria de elasticidade linear clássica no limite de pequenos horizontes e um argumento de correspondência entre as funções energia livre proposta e densidade de energia de deformação da teoria clássica, expressões para três constantes peridinâmicas foram obtidas em função das constantes de um material elástico e isotrópico da teoria clássica. O argumento de correspondêmcia, em conjunto com o campo de deformações de uma viga submetida à flexão pura, é utilizado para calcular a quarta constante peridinâmica do material, que relaciona mudanças angulares relativas e de comprimentos das ligações entre as partículas. Obtem-se uma expressão para a quarta constante em termos do coeficiente de Poisson e do módulo de elasticidade ao cisalhamento da teoria clássica. A validade dessa expressão é confirmada por meio da consideração de outros experimentos da mecânica, tais como flexão de um viga por cargas terminais e cisalhamento anti-plano de um eixo cilíndrico. Em particular, os resultados numéricos indicam que as expressões para as constantes são independentes do experimento escolhido. A segunda parte deste trabalho consiste em uma investigação do comportamento de uma barra unidimensional linearmente elástica de comprimento L no contexto da teoria peridinâmica; especialmente, próximo às extremidades da barra, onde espera-se que o comportamento da barra peridinâmica possa ser muito diferente do comportamento de uma barra elástica linear clássica. A barra está em equilíbrio e sem força de corpo, fixa em uma extremidade, e sujeita a deslocamento imposto na outra extremidade. A barra possui micromódulo C, o qual está relacionado ao módulo de Young E da teoria clássica por meio de diferentes expressões encontradas na literatura. Dependendo da expressão para C, o campo de deslocamento pode ser singular próximo às extremidades, o que contrasta com o comportamento linear do campo de deslocamento observado na elasticidade linear clássica. Apesar disso, é mostrado também que o campo de deslocamento peridinâmico converge para o campo de deslocamento da teoria clássica quando o horizonte peridinâmico tende a zero.

Yes / A novel process chain for serial production of polymer-based devices incorporating both micro- and nano-scale features is proposed. The process chain is enabled by the use of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMG) to achieve the necessary level of compatibility and complementarity between its component technologies. It integrates two different technologies, namely laser ablation and focused ion beam (FIB) milling for micro-structuring and sub-micron patterning, respectively, thus to fabricate inserts incorporating different length scale functional features. Two alternative laser sources, namely nano-second (NS) and pico-second (PS) lasers, were considered as potential candidates for the first step in this master-making process chain. The capabilities of the component technologies together with some issues associated with their integration were studied. To validate the replication performance of the produced masters, a Zr-based BMG insert was used to produce a small batch of micro-fluidic devices by micro-injection moulding. Furthermore, an experimental study was also carried out to determine whether it would be possible by NS laser ablation to structure the Zr-based BMG workpieces with a high surface integrity whilst retaining the BMG's non-crystalline morphology. Collectively, it was demonstrated that the proposed process chain could be a viable fabrication route for mass production of polymer devices incorporating different length scale features.

any experiments demonstrate that isotropic ductile materials used in engineering applications develop anisotropic damage and shows significant variation in elongation to failure. This anisotropic damage is manifest by material microstructural heterogeneities and morphological changes during deformation. The variation in elongation to the failure could be attributed to the uncertainties in the material microstructure and loading conditions. To study this deformation induced anisotropy arising from the initial material heterogeneities, we first performed uncertainty analysis using current form on an internal state variable plasticity and isotropic damage model (Bammann, 1984; Horstemeyer, 2001) to quantify the effect due to variations in material microstructure and loading conditions on elongation to failure. We extend the current isotropic damage form of theory into an anisotropic damage form for ductile material in which material heterogeneities are introduced based on damage distribution functions converted into a damage tensor of second rank. The outcome of this research is a physically motivated, uncertainty-based, anisotropic damage constitutive model that links microstructural features to mechanical properties. This was accomplished by pursuing three sub goals: (1) develop and quantify uncertainty related to material heterogeneities, (2) develop a methodology related to a higher order tensorial rank of damage for void nucleation and void growth, and (3) integrate thermodynamically constrained damage with a rate dependent plasticity constitutive material model. Later, we also proposed a new ISV theory that physically and strongly couples deformation due to damage-related internal defects to metal plasticity.

Ageing of low alloy steel in nuclear applications commonly takes the form as a hardening and an embrittlement of the material. This is due to the evolution of the microstructure during irradiation and at purely thermal conditions, as a combination or separate. Irradiation introduces evenly distributed solute clusters, while thermal ageing has been shown to yield a more inhomogeneous distribution. These clusters affect the dislocation motion within the material and results in a hardening and in more severe cases of ageing, also a decreased work hardening slope due to plastic strain localization into bands/channels. Embrittlement corresponds to decreased fracture toughness due to microstructural changes resulting from ageing. The thesis presents a possible framework for modeling of ageing effects in low alloy steels.In Paper I, a strain gradient plasticity framework is applied in order to capture length scale effects. The constitutive length scale is assumed to be related to the dislocation mean free path and the changes this undergoes during plastic deformation. Several evolution laws for the length scale were developed and implemented in a FEM-code considering 2D plane strain. This was used to solve a test problem of pure bending in order to investigate the effects of the length scale evolution. As all length scale evolution laws considered in this study results in a decreasing length scale; this leads to a loss of non-locality which causes an overall softening at cases where the strain gradient is dominating the solution. The results are in tentative agreement with phenomena of strain localization that is occurring in highly irradiated materials.In Paper II, the scalar stress measure for cleavage fracture is developed and generalized, here called the effective normal stress measure. This is used in a non-local weakest link model which is applied to two datasets from the literature in order to study the effects of the effective normal stress measure, as well as new experiments considering four-point bending of specimens containing a semi-elliptical surface crack. The model is shown to reproduce the failure probability of all considered datasets, i.e. well capable of transferring toughness information between different geometries. / Åldring av låglegerade stål i kärntekniska användningsområden framträder typiskt som ett hårdnande och en försprödning av materialet. Detta på grund av utvecklingen av mikrostrukturen under bestrålning och under rent termiska förhållanden. Bestrålning introducerar jämt fördelade kluster av legeringsämnen. Termisk åldring har däremot visats ge upphov till en mer ojämn fördelning. Klustren hämmar dislokationsrörelsen i materialet och ger därigenom upphov till en ökning av materialets sträckgräns, vid en mer påtaglig åldring det även leda till ett sänkt arbetshårdnande på grund av lokalisering av plastisk töjning i s.k. kanaler/band. Försprödning är en sänkning av materialets brottseghet som en följd av de mikrostrukturella förändringar som sker vid åldring. Arbetet som presenteras i den här avhandlingen har gjorts i syfte till att ta fram ett möjligt ramverk för modellering av låglegerade stål.I Artikel I, används en töjningsgradientbaserad plasticitetsteori för att kunna fånga längdskalebeteenden. Längdskalan i teorin antas vara relaterad till dislokationernas medelfria väg och den förändring den genomgår vid plastisk deformation. Flera utvecklingslagar för längdskalan har analyserats och implementerats i en finita element kod för 2D plan deformation. Denna implementering har använts för att lösa ett testproblem bestående av ren böjning med syfte att undersöka effekterna av utvecklingen hos längdskalan. Alla de utvecklingslagar som presenteras i artikeln ger en minskande längdskala, vilket leder till vad som valt att kallas förlust av icke-lokalitet. Fenomenet leder till ett övergripande mjuknande vid fall där den plastiska töjningsgradienten har stor inverkan på lösningen. Resultaten är i preliminär överenstämmelse med de typer av lokalisering av plastisk töjning som observerats i starkt bestrålade material.I Artikel II utvecklas ett generaliserat spänningsmått i syfte att beskriva klyvbrott, här benämnt effektivt normalspänningsmått. Detta har använts i samband med en icke-lokal svagaste länk modell, som har applicerats på två experimentella studier från den öppna litteraturen i syfte att studera effekterna av det effektiva normalspänningsmåttet. Utöver detta presenteras även nya experiment på ytspruckna provstavar under fyrpunktsböj. I artikeln visas att modellen återskapar sannolikheten för brott för alla undersökta experimentuppställningar, d.v.s. modellen visas vara väl duglig för att överföra brottseghet mellan geometrier. / <p>QC 20190312</p>