Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Mitchell L. Neilsen / Windows[superscript TM] Dam Analysis Modules (WinDAM) is a set of modular software components that can be used to analyze overtopped earthen embankments and internal erosion of embankment dams. Sandia National Laboratories’ DAKOTA (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) toolkit provides algorithms to perform iterative analysis with the help of built-in algorithms for uncertainty quantification with sampling and parameter study methods. This software integrates Sandia National Laboratories’ DAKOTA software suite with WinDAM. It provides a user-interface for input and manipulation of parameters and performs various (centered and multi-dimensional) parameter studies on a wide range of parameters. This software takes advantage of the various algorithms present in DAKOTA to perform parameter studies on the various properties of WinDAM and provides users with detailed output on the changes caused by these variations.

The thesis originates from a need to meet stricter environmental regulations for Scania, to reduce fuel consumption and emission from heavy-vehicles. Scania aims to fulfil these requirements by increasing combustion pressure and temperature. These conditions are tougher for the engine components and they shorten their lifetime. This thesis aims to improve Scania’s ability to increase the lifetime of a heavy-vehicle exhaust manifold, an engine component that collects exhaust from several engine cylinders into one pipe. This was done by conducting a material comparison and a parameter study, both used the FEM software Abaqus CAE. The material comparison consisted of three ferritic and austenitic ductile cast irons (SiMo51, SiMo1000 and Ni-resist) subjected to thermal stress. Their max stress was compared for two thermo-mechanical fatigue cases, out-of-phase and in-phase. A parameter study was also conducted to clarify the influence of thermal conductivity, thermalexpansion, Young’s modulus and yield strength on max stress for OP and IP in the exhaust manifold. The FEM simulation results from the parameter study were used to create functions that can be used to decide how to treat/process a material to minimise the stress in the exhaust manifold. They can also be used in material selection to choose a material that minimises stress. The research questions and their shortened answers can be seen below. 1. Which of SiMo51, SiMo1000 and Ni-resist produces the lowest tensile stresses? ForOP, SiMo1000 produced a slightly lower max principal stress than SiMo51. For IP, Ni-resistproduced the lowest max principal stress by a large margin. 2. How do different material properties affect the maximum stress during operation of thegiven component? Thermal conductivity has a decreasing relation to max stress. Thermalexpansion and Young’s modulus have a similar relation to max stress, stress increases forboth properties as they increase. A decreased yield strength decreases the max stress forstresses above the yield limit but has no effect on stress below it. 3. How should an objective function to minimise max stress in the component with regard to material properties be expressed? functions of OP and IP can be seen in the actual abstract.

Damper performance is most commonly characterized by the damper’s forcevelocity behaviour. Different damper layouts and valving methods for creating oil flow constrictions bring different physical properties, outside of this conventional measure. The objective of this report is to find which parameters outside of the conventional force/velocity measure can be used to add better comfort and/or control to road- or track-going vehicles. To fulfil the objectives, vehicle comfort and control needed to be defined. Following this, an extensive parameter study was performed, using a full vehicle model in the software CarSim in combination with an Öhlins-written damper model in MATLAB, which was run through a Simulink model connecting the two. The study was performed for two vehicles: a BMWM4 GT4 and a VW ID.3, with five parameters proposed by Öhlins, varied in compression and rebound (giving a total of 10 parameters). Further on, some results were evaluated based on recorded data from a track test with the BMW, where the conclusions from the parameter study were evaluated through physical changes to the dampers. The parameter study showed that parameters P1-2, P9-10, and P5-6 has significant effect, in that order of magnitude. P1-2 and P9-10 all affect comfort and control, whilst P5-6 has minimal effect on control but a larger effect on comfort. The others, P3-4 and P7-8 have minimal effect on almost all metrics used in this study, with merely a few exceptions. In future studies, an analysis of data in time series format could be done. Moreover, a well prepared verification of the parameter study results could also be done. / Dämparprestanda beskrivs oftast av kraft-hastighetsbeteende. Olika ventillayouter och ventilmetoder för att skapa oljeflödesförträngningar ger olika fysikaliska egenskaper, utanför detta konventionella mått. Syftet med denna rapport är att ta reda på vilka parametrar utanför det konventionella kraft/hastighets-måttet som kan användas för att uppnå bättre komfort och/eller kontroll för väg- eller tävlingsbilar. För att uppfylla målen behövde fordonskomfort och kontroll definieras. Efter detta genomfördes en omfattande parameterstudie med en helbils-modell i mjukvaran CarSim i kombination med en Öhlins-utvecklad dämpar-modell i MATLAB, som utvärderades med hjälp av en Simulink-modell vilken sammankopplar de två. Studien utfördes för två fordon: en BMW M4 GT4och en VW ID.3, med fem parametrar föreslagna av Öhlins varierande i kompression och retur (som ger totalt 10 parametrar). Fortsatt utvärderades några resultat baserat på inspelad data från ett bantest med BMW:n, där slutsatserna testades genom fysiska förändringar av dämparna. Simuleringsresulten visade att parameter P1-2, P9-10 och P5-6 har tydligeffekt, i den storleksordningen. P1-2 och P9-10 påverkar både komfort och kontroll, medan P5-6 har minimal effekt på kontroll, men större effekt påkomfort. De andra, P3-4 och P7-8 har minimal effekt på nästan alla mätvärden som används i denna studie, med bara några få undantag. I framtida studier kan en analys av data i tidsserie-format utföras, samt en väl förberedd verifiering av resultaten från parameterstudien.

Ett stort antal av miljonprogrammets byggnader är idag i behov av renovering. Då många av dessa byggnader har en hög energiförbrukning kan det vara lönsamt att samtidigt energieffektivisera byggnaderna, bland annat genom tilläggsisolering. Det är av stor vikt att noggrant undersöka hur byggnaderna påverkas ur fukthänsyn innan nya fasadsystem tas i bruk för att undvika framtida fuktrelaterade skador.Syftet är att undersöka tre fasadsystem utifrån hur olika fuktbelastningar, väderstreck, tilläggsisoleringar och stommaterial påverkar ytterväggars fukttillstånd och risken för mikrobiell tillväxt. Även hur väl de olika fasadsystemen lämpar sig för att uppföras på en befintlig stomme i trä-, lättbetong- och betongstomme har undersökts. För att undersöka detta har fuktsimuleringar gjorts i fuktberäkningsprogrammet Wufi och resultaten har analyserats genom jämförelse av RF-kurvor samt riskbedömning för mögeltillväxt i Wufi Bio.En övergripande slutsats är bland annat att inläckage av slagregn är en stor belastning för fasadsystemen. Systemens fuktsäkerhet beror till stor del på dess förmåga att hantera inläckaget.Studien visar även att en fungerande ventilerad luftspalt, en god dränerande funktion eller en konstruktion med genomgående relativt ångöppna material har förmågan att hantera inläckage av slagregn effektivt. / A large number of buildings built under “miljonprogrammet” is today in need of renovation. With their high energy consumption it is also considered profitable to improve the buildings energy efficiency e.g. by additional insulation. It is however important to thoroughly evaluate potential damp issues that might arise as a result of these improvements before starting to implement a new building exterior.The aim of this study was to investigate three different façade systems based on how their moisture content and risk for mould growth are affected by different moisture loads, orientation, and additional insulation. Included is also a performance evaluation for each building exterior solution mounted on existing structure of wood, lightweight concrete and concrete structure. Damp simulations were done with the program Wufi and the results were then analysed by comparison to RF-curves in combination with risk assessments of the growth of mould with “Wufi Bio”.The overall conclusion shows that leakage due to torrential rain poses a great strain on building exterior systems. A solutions damp proof quality is largely dependent on its ability to withstand leakage from outer sources.The study also shows that a well ventilated cavity wall, sufficient drainage or a construction of exclusively vapour open materials has a positive impact on the amount of leakage.

In the year 2006, only 10 years after the steel- concrete composite bridge, Vårby bridge was built, fatigue cracks were found during an inspection. To further investigate the reasons and the potential danger of the cracks, an investigation under the commission of the Swedish Transport Administration was issued in 2009. After the detection of fatigue cracks, several measurements were carried out in order to monitor the static behavior by the use of strain gauges at selected positions along the bridge. The measurements from the strain gauges monitoring the global behavior were then used to calibrate an finite element model.   The present report is part of the research of understanding the behavior of steel-concrete composite bridges. Numerical analysis and model updating have been used in order to understand and determine how different parameters affects the strain range and the global behavior. The numerical analysis and parameter study were performed in the Finite Element software Abaqus and programming language Python. The outcome of the parameter study was then used to perform the model updating by the method of falsification in MATLAB.   The results from the parameter study and the model updating showed that the measured strains could be reached with a wide range of parameter combinations. Even with unreasonable parameter values, the measured strains were obtained. To investigate the reason for this, a multiple linear regression analysis was performed which showed that the strain range is strongly correlated to the Young’s modulus of steel and concrete and also to the connector elasticity, which resembles the studs in the real bridge.   Two different finite element models, with two completely different input parameter values, obtain the same strain range for the global behavior. It is therefore not certain to assume that a model is accurate and valid based on the fact that the predicted strain range from the finite element model is close to the measured strain range since the global behavior of a steel- concrete composite bridge can be modeled by many different sets of parameters.

The muffle furnace main purpose is to anneal the rough sponge iron powder transported through it, which is done by burning natural gas. Heat is absorbed by the muffle and is transferred to the bed of sponge iron powder. In order to reduce the consumptions of fossil fuel, some companies of the industry aims to exchange the natural gas in their muffle furnace’s burners to syngas, produced from biomass. This will however affect the performance of the furnace in the heating aspect. For this work, it is assumed that the effect will be negative. Thus the aim of this study is to investigate how to compensate the loss of effect from the burners, by examining which other parameters have influence on the furnace heating performance of the sponge iron powder transported through the furnace. The investigation is executed by simulating a 1 meter of the furnace in COMSOL multiphysics for 10 min, not including the combustion chambers. The investigated parameters are the packing degree of the powder, surface emissivity of the muffle, process gas velocity, conveyor belt velocity and the heat transfer rate coefficient to muffle from the combustion chambers. Alas, the process gas velocity and conveyor belt velocity only have minor influence on the final result, according to this simulation. However, the simulation exhibited that the surface emissivity of the muffle and the packing degree of the powder has great impact on the heating of the powder and could compensate some of the lost effect from the burners. This could be obtained by using an unpolished and oxidized muffle surface, and use densely packed powder sample.

Plusieurs machines actuellement utilisées, moteurs à combustion interne en automobile ou centrales thermiques dans l’énergie, rejettent de grandes quantités de chaleur. Généralement cette chaleur est dissipée dans l’atmosphère et son énergie perdue. Nous nous sommes donc intéressés aux moteurs à apport de chaleur externe dont l’énergie primaire est de l’énergie thermique, et plus particulièrement aux moteurs Stirling. L’une de ses principales caractéristiques est d’utiliser de la chaleur produite extérieurement comme source d’énergie. Ceci lui permet d’être multi-carburant et même d’utiliser de l’énergie thermique naturelle.L’étude menée comporte deux parties. Tout d’abord un modèle numérique zéro dimension, trois zones en temps fini a été développé. Il prend en compte les échanges thermiques aux parois et les pertes de charge, mais ne préjuge ni des dimensions moteur, ni des conditions de fonctionnement. Ceci lui permet de rester flexible pour s’adapter à l’architecture spécifique du moteur à simuler. Ensuite nous avons réalisé des mesures expérimentales sur deux moteurs de taille et puissance différentes (quelques watts et 1 kW). Ces résultats ont permis de valider le modèle. Au final nous avons obtenu un modèle numérique traduisant l’influence de paramètres dimensionnels et fonctionnels sur la puissance du moteur Stirling.Un outil d’aide à la conception de moteur Stirling a été développé en ajoutant au modèle un algorithme d’optimisation. Il permet une ébauche des caractéristiques d’un moteur Stirling. En fonction de l’application souhaitée et des contraintes s’y appliquant, il agit sur les caractéristiques choisies par l’utilisateur pour maximiser les performances. / Several machines currently used, internal combustion engines for the car industry or thermal power plants in energy, exhaust a considerable amount of heat. Generally this heat is dispersed in the atmosphere and its energy lost. So we took a special interest in external heat engines which primary energy is heat energy, and more particularly in Stirling engines. One of its main characteristics is the used of energy from heat produced externally like energy source. This allows Stirling engines to be multi-fuel and even to use natural heat energy.The study carried out is made up of two parts. First, a three zones zero dimensional finite-time thermodynamic model has been developed. It takes into account the heat transfer from the walls and the pressure drop, but does not prejudge the dimensions of the engine nor the conditions of its functioning. It is thus able to remain flexible and to adjust to the specific architecture of the engine that should be simulated. Afterwards, we have realized a series of experimental measures thanks to two engines different in size and power (a few Watt and 1 kW). These results allowed us to validate the model. In the end, we got a numerical model representing the influence of dimensional and functional parameters on the power of a Stirling engine.Eventually, a tool to assist in designing Stirling engines was developed adding an optimization algorithm to the model. It allows to sketch out a preliminary draft of the characteristics of a Stirling engine. Depending on the desired application and on the constraints exerted on the engine, the tool created will act on the characteristics of the engine chosen by the user to maximize its performances.

Uranus is one of the least explored planets in our solar system. Event though the Uranian Ly-α emission has been a subject of study for decades, there is not a consensus on the sources contribution to the total signal. This thesis aims to analyse the contribution from scattering of the solar flux to the Uranian Ly-α dayglow by solving the radiative transfer equation in a parameter study for the atmosphere. The sources are solar Ly-α resonant scattering and Rayleigh scattering by atomic and molecular hydrogen respectively. The radiative transfer equation is solved using the Feautrier Method Program, a program written by Randall G. Gladstone. The program was adjusted to the Uranian atmosphere and modelled with different variations in parameters, including the atmospheric temperature and particle density of Ly-α scatterers and absorbers. A parameter study is performed to investigate the dependency on the Ly-α signal on these parameters. The results showed a significant Ly-α limb brightening with a maximum intensity located around 400 km outside one planetary radius as seen from the disk center. The contributions to the Ly-α dayglow from Rayleigh scattering by H2 was calculated to be 160 R whereas the contribution from resonant scattering by H was 550 R. One feature that prevents direct comparison to observed data with this thesis is that some sources that contributes to Uranus Ly-α signal are omitted in the simulations. / Uranus är en av solsystemets minst utforskade planeter. Även om dess Ly-α-strålning har undersökt, råder ännu inte konsensus kring de olika källornas bidrag till den totala Ly-α signalen. Genom att lösa ekvationen för strålningstransport i en parameterstudie ämnar examensarbetet att studera bidraget från solens två källor till Uranus Ly-α- signal. De två källorna är resonant- och Rayleigh strålningsspridning från atomärt och molekulärt väte. Ekvationen för strålningstransport beräknas av ett program som heter Feautrier Method Program, skapat av Randall G. Gladstone. Programmet har justeras till Uranus atmosfär för att kunna beräkna strålningstransport för olika atmosfärersmodeller i en parameterstudie. Parameterna som ändras är temperaturen, partikeldensiteten hos spridare och absorberare i atmosfären. Från resultaten kan parameterstudien svara på beroendet av de olika källorna till Ly-α-signalen från Uranus. Resultaten visar en tydlig ökning av ljusintensitet vid Uranus kanter med maximum runt 400 km utanför planetens radie, sett från planetens mitt. Bidraget till Ly-α-signalen från Rayleigh stålningsspridning beräknades till 160 R och från resonant strålningsspridning till 550 R. En egenskap som hindrar direkt jämförelse med resultaten från detta examensarbete och observerad data är att alla bidragande källor till Uranus Ly-α signal inte simulerats.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde das Verhalten dünner Flüssigkeitsfilme an gekrümmten Substratoberflächen durch experimentelle Beschichtungsversuche basierend auf der non-invasiven laserinduzierten Fluoreszenzmesstechnik und durch numerische Filmsimulationen mit Hilfe des Volume-of-Fluid Mehrphasenmodells untersucht. Besonderes Interesse galt dabei dem Finden optimaler Einflussgrößenkombinationen zur Reduzierung des Fettkanten-Effekts. In der hierfür durchgeführten Parameterstudie wurden sowohl Applikationsparameter wie der Kantenrundungsradius und die Applikationsschichtdicke als auch Stoffparameter der untersuchten Flüssigkeit wie die Viskosität und die Oberflächenspannung variiert. Neben qualitativen Beschreibungen der entstandenen Fettkantengestalten sind als Resultate auch Größen zur Quantifizierung der Fettkanten festgelegt worden und systematisch dargestellt. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass ungünstige und geeignete Parameterkonfigurationen existieren, welche prägnante bzw. kaum auffällige Fettkanten erzeugen, insbesondere im Experiment. Über die dabei eingreifenden Mechanismen der zugrundeliegenden Strömungen wurden konkrete Hypothesen aufgestellt, auch um die resultierenden Proportionalitäten der Fettkantengrößen bezüglich der Einflussgrößen zu plausibilisieren. Weiterhin konnte eine Aussage über die Signifikanz der untersuchten Einflussgrößen getroffen werden. Abschließend wurde eine geeignete dimensionslose Kenngröße generiert, um den Fettkanten-Effekt parameterübergreifend beschreiben zu können, wodurch mittels der Ähnlichkeitstheorie auch eine gewisse Abschätzung des Fettkanten-Effekts ermöglicht wird. / In this study the behaviour of a thin liquid layer at a curved solid edge was examined by experimental coating investigations based on the laser-induced fluorescence technique and by numerical film simulations based on the Volume-of-Fluid multiphase flow model, respectively. The main motivation was to find optimal combinations of influencing quantities to reduce the fat-edge effect. Therefore a study of these quantities was performed, in which application parameters like edge radii of curvature and application layer thicknesses as well as determining liquid properties like viscosity and surface tension have been varied. Results are described qualitatively at corresponding fat-edge shapes and quantified by suitable fat-edge parameters, which had to be identified and selected. It could be shown that adverse and appropriate influencing parameter combinations exist, which generate conspicuous and less distinctive fat-edges, respectively - especially in laboratory experiments. The experimental findings and proportionalities regarding fat-edge shapes and dimensions are found to be physically plausible. Furthermore an order of significance of the influencing quantities established. Eventually, a dimensionless quantity was derived by dimensional analysis, which describes the fat-edge effect. Thus, the fat-edge effect has also been described by the application of similarity theory and the corresponding dimenionless number, respectively.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde das Verhalten dünner Flüssigkeitsfilme an gekrümmten Substratoberflächen durch experimentelle Beschichtungsversuche basierend auf der non-invasiven laserinduzierten Fluoreszenzmesstechnik und durch numerische Filmsimulationen mit Hilfe des Volume-of-Fluid Mehrphasenmodells untersucht. Besonderes Interesse galt dabei dem Finden optimaler Einflussgrößenkombinationen zur Reduzierung des Fettkanten-Effekts. In der hierfür durchgeführten Parameterstudie wurden sowohl Applikationsparameter wie der Kantenrundungsradius und die Applikationsschichtdicke als auch Stoffparameter der untersuchten Flüssigkeit wie die Viskosität und die Oberflächenspannung variiert. Neben qualitativen Beschreibungen der entstandenen Fettkantengestalten sind als Resultate auch Größen zur Quantifizierung der Fettkanten festgelegt worden und systematisch dargestellt. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass ungünstige und geeignete Parameterkonfigurationen existieren, welche prägnante bzw. kaum auffällige Fettkanten erzeugen, insbesondere im Experiment. Über die dabei eingreifenden Mechanismen der zugrundeliegenden Strömungen wurden konkrete Hypothesen aufgestellt, auch um die resultierenden Proportionalitäten der Fettkantengrößen bezüglich der Einflussgrößen zu plausibilisieren. Weiterhin konnte eine Aussage über die Signifikanz der untersuchten Einflussgrößen getroffen werden. Abschließend wurde eine geeignete dimensionslose Kenngröße generiert, um den Fettkanten-Effekt parameterübergreifend beschreiben zu können, wodurch mittels der Ähnlichkeitstheorie auch eine gewisse Abschätzung des Fettkanten-Effekts ermöglicht wird. / In this study the behaviour of a thin liquid layer at a curved solid edge was examined by experimental coating investigations based on the laser-induced fluorescence technique and by numerical film simulations based on the Volume-of-Fluid multiphase flow model, respectively. The main motivation was to find optimal combinations of influencing quantities to reduce the fat-edge effect. Therefore a study of these quantities was performed, in which application parameters like edge radii of curvature and application layer thicknesses as well as determining liquid properties like viscosity and surface tension have been varied. Results are described qualitatively at corresponding fat-edge shapes and quantified by suitable fat-edge parameters, which had to be identified and selected. It could be shown that adverse and appropriate influencing parameter combinations exist, which generate conspicuous and less distinctive fat-edges, respectively - especially in laboratory experiments. The experimental findings and proportionalities regarding fat-edge shapes and dimensions are found to be physically plausible. Furthermore an order of significance of the influencing quantities established. Eventually, a dimensionless quantity was derived by dimensional analysis, which describes the fat-edge effect. Thus, the fat-edge effect has also been described by the application of similarity theory and the corresponding dimenionless number, respectively.