Organizational Unit:

Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering

Permanent Link

https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70742

Parent Organization

Organizational Unit

College of Engineering

Includes Organization(s)

Organizational Unit

Aerospace Design Group

Organizational Unit

Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL)

Organizational Unit

Air Transportation Laboratory

Organizational Unit

Cognitive Engineering Center

Organizational Unit

Space Systems Design Laboratory (SSDL)

Show 1 more

ArchiveSpace Name Record

https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/agents/corporate_entities/106

Full item page

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 32

Damage modeling and damage detection for structures using a perturbation method

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012-01-06) Dixit, Akash

This thesis is about using structural-dynamics based methods to address the existing challenges in the field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). Particularly, new structural-dynamics based methods are presented, to model areas of damage, to do damage diagnosis and to estimate and predict the sensitivity of structural vibration properties like natural frequencies to the presence of damage. Towards these objectives, a general analytical procedure, which yields nth-order expressions governing mode shapes and natural frequencies and for damaged elastic structures such as rods, beams, plates and shells of any shape is presented. Features of the procedure include the following: 1. Rather than modeling the damage as a fictitious elastic element or localized or global change in constitutive properties, it is modeled in a mathematically rigorous manner as a geometric discontinuity. 2. The inertia effect (kinetic energy), which, unlike the stiffness effect (strain energy), of the damage has been neglected by researchers, is included in it. 3. The framework is generic and is applicable to wide variety of engineering structures of different shapes with arbitrary boundary conditions which constitute self adjoint systems and also to a wide variety of damage profiles and even multiple areas of damage. To illustrate the ability of the procedure to effectively model the damage, it is applied to beams using Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko theories and to plates using Kirchhoff's theory, supported on different types of boundary conditions. Analytical results are compared with experiments using piezoelectric actuators and non-contact Laser-Doppler Vibrometer sensors. Next, the step of damage diagnosis is approached. Damage diagnosis is done using two methodologies. One, the modes and natural frequencies that are determined are used to formulate analytical expressions for a strain energy based damage index. Two, a new damage detection parameter are identified. Assuming the damaged structure to be a linear system, the response is expressed as the summation of the responses of the corresponding undamaged structure and the response (negative response) of the damage alone. If the second part of the response is isolated, it forms what can be regarded as the damage signature. The damage signature gives a clear indication of the damage. In this thesis, the existence of the damage signature is investigated when the damaged structure is excited at one of its natural frequencies and therefore it is called ``partial mode contribution". The second damage detection method is based on this new physical parameter as determined using the partial mode contribution. The physical reasoning is verified analytically, thereupon it is verified using finite element models and experiments. The limits of damage size that can be determined using the method are also investigated. There is no requirement of having a baseline data with this damage detection method. Since the partial mode contribution is a local parameter, it is thus very sensitive to the presence of damage. The parameter is also shown to be not affected by noise in the detection ambience.
Ab initio studies of equations of state and chemical reactions of reactive structural materials

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-12-07) Zaharieva, Roussislava

The motivations for the research issues addressed in this thesis are based on the needs of the aerospace structural analysis and the design community. The specific focus is related to the characterization and shock induced chemical reactions of multi-functional structural-energetic materials that are also know as the reactive structural materials and their reaction capabilities. Usually motivation for selection of aerospace structural materials is to realize required strength characteristics and favorable strength to weight ratios. The term strength implies resistance to loads experienced during the service life of the structure, including resistance to fatigue loads, corrosion and other extreme conditions. Thus, basically the structural materials are single function materials that resist loads experienced during the service life of the structure. However, it is desirable to select materials that are capable of offering more than one basic function of strength. Very often, the second function is the capability to provide functions of sensing and actuation. In this thesis, the second function is different. The second function is the energetic characteristics. Thus, the choice of dual functions of the material are the structural characteristics and energetic characteristics. These materials are also known by other names such as the reactive material structures or dual functional structural energetic materials. Specifically the selected reactive materials include mixtures of selected metals and metal oxides that are also known as thermite mixtures, reacting intermetallic combinations and oxidizing materials. There are several techniques that are available to synthesize these structural energetic materials or reactive material structures and new synthesis techniques constitute an open research area. The focus of this thesis, however, is the characterization of chemical reactions of reactive material structures that involve two or more solids (or condensed matter). The subject of studies of the shock or thermally induced chemical reactions of the two solids comprising these reactive materials, from first principles, is a relatively new field of study. The published literature on ab initio principles or quantum mechanics based approach contains the ab initio or ab initio-molecular dynamics studies in related fields of a solid and a gas. One such study in the literature involves a gas and a solid. This is an investigation of the adsorption of gasses such as carbon monoxide (CO) on Tungsten. The motivation for these studies is to synthesize alternate or synthetic fuel technology by Fischer-Tropsch process. In this thesis these studies are first to establish the procedure for solid-solid reaction and then to extend that to consider the effects of mechanical strain and temperature on the binding energy and chemisorptions of CO on tungsten. Then in this thesis, similar studies are also conducted on the effect of mechanical strain and temperature on the binding energies of Titanium and hydrogen. The motivations are again to understand the method and extend the method to such solid-solid reactions. A second motivation is to seek strained conditions that favor hydrogen storage and strain conditions that release hydrogen easily when needed. Following the establishment of ab initio and ab initio studies of chemical reactions between a solid and a gas, the next step of research is to study thermally induced chemical reaction between two solids (Ni+Al). Thus, specific new studies of the thesis are as follows: 1. Ab initio Studies of Binding energies associated with chemisorption of (a) CO on W surfaces (111, and 100) at elevated temperatures and strains and (b) adsorption of hydrogen in titanium base. 2. Equations of state of mixtures of reactive material structures from ab initio methods 3. Ab initio studies of the reaction initiation, transition states and reaction products of intermetallic mixtures of (Ni+Al) at elevated temperatures and strains. 4. Press-cure synthesis of Nano-nickel and nano-aluminum based reactive material structures and DTA tests to study experimentally initiation of chemical reactions, due to thermal energy input.
Autonomous structural health monitoring technique for interplanetary drilling applications using laser doppler velocimeters

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-01-18) Statham, Shannon M.

With the goal to continue interplanetary exploration and search for past or existent life on Mars, software and hardware for unmanned subsurface drills are being developed. Unlike drilling on Earth, interplanetary exploration drills operate with very low available power and require on-board integrated health monitoring systems, with quick-response recovery procedures, under complete autonomous operations. As many drilling faults are not known a priori, Earth-based direction and control of an unmanned interplanetary drilling operation is not practical. Such missions also require advanced robotic systems that are more susceptible to structural and mechanical failures, which motivates a need for structural health monitoring techniques relevant to interplanetary exploration systems. Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a process of detecting damage or other types of defects in structural and mechanical systems that have the potential to adversely affect the current or future performance of these systems. Strict requirements for interplanetary drilling missions create unique research problems and challenges compared with SHM procedures and techniques developed to date. These challenges include implementing sensors and devices that do not interfere with the drilling operation, producing "real-time" diagnostics of the drilling condition, and developing an automation procedure for complete autonomous operations. Thus, the completed thesis work presents basic research leading to the dynamic analysis of rotating structures with specific application to interplanetary subsurface drill systems, and the formulation of an autonomous, real-time, dynamics-based SHM technique for drilling applications. This includes modeling and validating the structural dynamic system, with and without damage or faults, for a prototype interplanetary subsurface drill, exploring the use of Laser Doppler Velocimeter sensors for use in real-time SHM, developing signal filters to remove inherent harmonic components from the dynamic signal of rotating structures, developing an automation procedure with the associated software, and validating the SHM system through laboratory experiments and field tests. The automated dynamics-based structural health monitoring technique developed in this thesis presents advanced research accomplishments leading to real-time, autonomous SHM, and it has been validated on an operating dynamic system in laboratory and field tests. The formulated SHM and drilling operation also met or exceeded all specified requirements. Other major contributions of this thesis work include the formulation and demonstration of real-time, autonomous SHM in rotating structures using Laser Doppler Velocimeter sensors.
Equation of state for polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and mixtures with PTFE

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-05-14) Wu, Zhibo

The objectives of this work are to discuss multiscale models that are used to characterize the constitutive relations of the granular composite materials with dual functions. This is accomplished by the use of ab initio methods to obtain the constitutive relations of the structural energetic materials without conducting tests. First, it is necessary to study the quantum many body problem to quantitatively determine the internal energy of the material when subjected to different strain conditions. It is impossible to obtain an exact solution to the quantum many body problem that is modeled by the Schrödinger's equations with the current technology. It is possible to solve these equations approximately by the density functional theory which yields only energies at absolute 0ºK. Thus it becomes necessary to add both the lattice thermal contributions and electron thermal contribution. Then, resulting energy is used to bridge to the continuum level and obtain the constitutive equations. This is the procedure that is used in this work. The issues of the constitutive equations form the focus of this thesis. More specifically, the scope of the thesis is further restricted to analyze the constitutive equations of specific mixtures of nickel, aluminum with PTFE or Teflon as the binder. It is to be noted that the equations of state forms only a part of the complete constitutive relationships. This thesis presents solutions to the following problems: (1) Determination of the thermodynamically complete equation of state of the binder and the energetic material PTFE or Teflon, from ab initio methods based on the density functional theory. (2) Determination of the equations of state of the granular composite or the mixture of nickel, aluminum and PTFE from ab initio methods. (3) Determination of the complete constitutive equation of aluminum, from ab initio methods, under conditions of finite deformations, with principle of objectivity, material symmetry conditions and polyconvexity of the strain energy. All results are compared to test results whenever they are available.
Shock induced chemical reactions in energetic structural materials

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-02-03) Reding, Derek James

Energetic structural materials (ESMs) constitute a new class of materials that provide dual functions of strength and energetic characteristics. ESMs are typically composed of micron-scale or nano-scale intermetallic mixtures or mixtures of metals and metal oxides, polymer binders, and structural reinforcements. Voids are included to produce a composite with favorable chemical reaction characteristics. In this thesis, a continuum approach is used to simulate gas-gun or explosive loading experiments where a strong shock is induced in the ESM by an impacting plate. Algorithms are developed to obtain equations of state of mixtures. It is usually assumed that the shock loading increases the energy of the ESM and causes the ESM to reach the transition state. It is also assumed that the activation energy needed to reach the transition state is a function of the temperature of the mixture. In this thesis, it is proposed that the activation energy is a function of temperature and the stress state of the mixture. The incorporation of such an activation energy is selected in this thesis. Then, a multi-scale chemical reaction model for a heterogeneous mixture is introduced. This model incorporates reaction initiation, propagation, and extent of completed reaction in spatially heterogeneous distributions of reactants. A new model is proposed for the pore collapse of mixtures. This model is formulated by modifying the Carol, Holt, and Nesterenko spherically symmetric model to include mixtures and compressibility effects. Uncertainties in the model result from assumptions in formulating the models for continuum relationships and chemical reactions in mixtures that are distributed heterogeneously in space and in numerical integration of the resulting equations. It is important to quantify these uncertainties. In this thesis, such an uncertainty quantification is investigated by systematically identifying the physical processes that occur during shock compression of ESMs which are then used to construct a hierarchical framework for uncertainty quantification.
Laser doppler vibrometer for efficient structural health monitoring

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-11-17) Sharma, Vinod K.

The research effort in this thesis is devoted to develop techniques to accurately and rapidly identify the location, orientation, and magnitude of the defects by using structural health monitoring concepts that use Laser Doppler Vibrometer as a non-contact sensor with multi-point sensing capability. The first research area addresses the formulation and validation of an innovative Damage Measure that is based on the ratios of the strain energy distributions of the damaged and undamaged structure. The innovations include use of a single set of actuator/sensor pair to excite and detect the responses of a structure for low frequency vibrations as well as guided wave propagation studies. A second new capability is the estimation of the Damage Measure without requiring any knowledge of the undamaged baseline structure. This method is made possible because of the development of these new technologies: Spatial Decimation and Wavenumber/Frequency filtering. The third contribution is to develop analytical models for the structural dynamics of damaged structure and seek solutions that use perturbation methods to detect damage in a plate structure. The fourth contribution is the development of a comprehensive damage detection technique over a wide frequency dynamic range. The fifth topic of research involves automation in Structural Health Monitoring based on the comprehensive Damage Measure formulation. Under the control of software the Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer is used to acquire the low frequency vibration mode data for a coarse identification of all the suspect regions of damage using a threshold criterion on the Damage Measure. Each suspect region of damage is further investigated using the high frequency elastic wave propagation to clearly identify the location, orientation, and extent of the damage. The computer control of the Laser Doppler Vibrometer and a quantitative assessment of the damage provide the enabling technologies for the automation proof of concept. Finally the developed techniques of damage detection are successfully demonstrated on practical structures such as a turbine blade in the laboratory and an F-15 vertical tail in field maintenance conditions
An Experimental Study of Concurrent Methods for Adaptively Controlling Vertical Tail Buffet in High Performance Aircraft

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007-09-10) Roberts, Patrick James

High performance twin-tail aircraft, like the F-15 and F/A-18, encounter a condition known as tail buffet. At high angles of attack, vortices are generated at the wing fuselage interface (shoulder) or other leading edge extensions. These vortices are directed toward the twin vertical tails. When the flow interacts with the vertical tail it creates pressure variations that can oscillate the vertical tail assembly. This results in fatigue cracks in the vertical tail assembly that can decrease the fatigue life and increase maintenance costs. For many years, research has been conducted to understand this phenomenon of buffet and to reduce its adverse effects on the fatigue life of aerospace structures. Many proposed solutions to this tail buffet problem have had limited success. These include strengthening the tail, modifying the vortex flow, using an active rudder control, and leading edge extensions. Some of the proposed active controls include piezoelectric actuators. Recently, an offset piezoceramic stack actuator was used on an F-15 wind tunnel model to control buffet induced vibrations at high angles of attack. The controller was based on acceleration feedback control methods. In this thesis a procedure for designing the offset piezoceramic stack actuators is developed. This design procedure includes determining the quantity and type of piezoceramic stacks used in these actuators. The changes of stresses, in the vertical tail caused by these actuators during an active control, are investigated. In many cases, linear controllers are very effective in reducing vibrations. However, during flight, the natural frequencies of the vertical tail structural system changes as the airspeed increases. This in turn, reduces the effectiveness of a linear controller. Other causes such as the unmodeled dynamics and nonlinear effects due to debonds also reduce the effectiveness of linear controllers. In this thesis, an adaptive neural network is used to augment the linear controller to correct these effects.
Impact and penetration studies: simplified models and materials design from ab initio methods

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-01-13) Jiang, Tianci

In recent impact and penetration mechanical tests, steel projectiles (AISI4340) were impacted into targets like concrete with striking velocities (1200 m/s to 1500 m/s). Results indicated a material removal from the nose of the projectile, phase changes of the projectile materials, a reduction in the length of the projectile, and a blunting of the nose shape. These observations cannot be explained by current theories and numerical integration code that are used to study impact and penetration mechanics. Thus, the objectives of the thesis research are to (a) formulate and characterize the mechanisms responsible for the material erosion of the impacting projectile and the mass loss from the nose region; and (b) to determine the physical properties of alloy steels that are important to penetration mechanics from ab initio methods. The results can be used to design new projectile materials that can provide the desired penetration characteristics. These objectives are accomplished by investigating two related problems. The first problem is to formulate simplified models that can explain the penetration mechanics. The new models include the varying cross-section nose, changes of yield stress behind the shock wave and high strain rate phase transitions. Nose erosion effects, and time-dependent penetration path can be determined by integrating ODEs. A cavity expansion theory model is used to obtain the target resistance that is responsible slowing and deforming the penetrating projectile. The second problem concerns the determination of the constitutive relations from ab initio methods. The equation of state (EOS) and magnetic moments for alloy steels are investigated by using a special quasirandom structure technique and ab initio methods. Specifically, EOS for an interstitial disordered alloy Fe1-x-yNixCy is developed. First, the EOS of iron and phase transition of iron are studied and validated. Second, Nickel is considered to investigate the substitutional disordered alloy Fe1-x-yNixCy. Third, Carbon is placed at an interstitial position in the substitutional disordered alloy. These investigations will form foundation for future work involving new projectile with steel nose and shank made of multifunctional structural energetic materials.
Non-equilibrium Thermomechanics of Multifunctional Energetic Structural Materials

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005-11-28) Narayanan, Vindhya

Shock waves create a unique environment of high pressure, high temperature and high strain-rates. It has been observed that chemical reactions that occur in this regime are exothermic and can lead to the synthesis of new materials that are not possible under other conditions. The exothermic reaction is used in the development of binary energetic materials. These materials are of significant interest to the energetic materials community because of its capability of releasing high heat content during a chemical reaction and the relative insensitivity of these types of energetic materials. Synthesis of these energetic materials, at nano grain sizes with structural reinforcements, provides an opportunity to develop a dual functional material with both strength and energetic characteristics. Shock-induced chemical reactions pose challenges in experiment and instrumentation. This thesis is addressed to the theoretical development of constitutive models of shock-induced chemical reactions in energetic composites, formulated in the framework of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and mixture theories, in a continuum scale. Transition state-based chemical reaction models are introduced and incorporated with the conservation equations that can be used to calculate and simulate the shock-induced reaction process. The energy that should be supplied to reach the transition state has been theoretically modeled by considering both the pore collapse mechanism and the plastic flow with increasing yield stress behind the shock wave. A non-equilibrium thermodynamics framework and the associated evolution equations are introduced to account for time delays that are observed in the experiments of shock-induced or assisted chemical reactions. An appropriate representation of the particle size effects is introduced by modifying the initial energy state of the reactants. Numerical results are presented for shock-induced reactions of mixtures of Al, Fe2O3 and Ni, Al with epoxy as the binder. The theoretical model, in the continuum scale, requires parameters that should be experimentally determined. The experimental characterization has many challenges in measurement and development of nano instrumentation. An alternate approach to determine these parameters is through ab-initio calculations. Thus, this thesis has initiated ab-initio molecular dynamics studies of shock-induced chemical reactions. Specifically, the case of thermal initiation of chemical reactions in aluminum and nickel is considered.
Nonequilibrium thermodynamic models for the dynamic behavior of polycrystalline solids

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002-12) Lu, Xia