Sharif Digital Repository

In the past two decades, microfluidic systems have become more appealing due to their wide applications in many areas, such as electronics, biotechnology, medicine, etc. Recently, the advantages of using the bubble growth phenomenon as a robust actuator in microfluidic devices have directed research interests towards the investigation of various applications. In this research, a new transient thermo-hydraulic model has been developed for bubble growth in confined volumes. The present model has been used to describe the pumping effect produced by the bubble growth and collapse phenomenon in microchannels. The results show relatively good agreement with experimental data. This study is useful... 

The objective of this work is making comparison between thermodynamic models and data-driven techniques accuracy in prediction of hydrate formation pressure as a function of temperature and composition of gas mixtures. The Peng-Robinson (PR) and Patel-Teja (PT) equations of state are used for thermodynamic modeling and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) are used as data-driven models. The capability of each method is evaluated by comparison with the experimental data collected from literature. It is shown that there is a good agreement between thermodynamic modeling and the experimental data in most of the cases; however, the prediction... 

Molecular diffusivity is an essential parameter for modeling of mass transfer in enhanced oil recovery processes. However, experimentally determined diffusivities for light gas-heavy oil systems in the presence of porous media are relatively rare. A few correlations are available in the literature that predict diffusivity of gases into heavy oil in presence of porous media. In this work the pressure-decay method was applied to obtain effective molecular diffusion of CO 2, CH 4 and N 2-heavy oil systems in both bulk and porous media systems at different temperatures. The diffusivity of gases in heavy oil was determined by matching the numerically calculated pressures to the measured data. A... 

The exact numerical solution of the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equation for Josephson junctions is obtained, from which the precise nontrivial current density and effective potential of the Josephson junctions are found. Based on the resulting potential well, the tunneling probabilities of the associated bound states are computed which are in complete agreement with the reported experimental data. The effects of junction and bias parameters such as thickness of the insulating barrier, cross sectional area, bias current, and magnetic field are fully investigated using a successive perturbation approach. We define and compute figures of merit for achieving optimal operation of phase qubits and... 

A discrete bubble model has been developed taking into account multiple bubble-bubble interactions and a delayed coalescence method. The obtained simulation results were compared with experimental data reported in literature. The simulation results predicted by the developed model indicate clearly that the multiple interactions of bubbles lead to more reasonable results than those predicted by a binary interaction model. In addition, two types of interaction models were applied and predicted results were compared. The frequency of gas bubbles passing through the bed cross section versus bed height follows the same trend as the experimental data. A new modified discrete bubble model has been... 

Residual stresses, created in a steel beam by elastic-plastic bending, are predicted using an approximate analysis and the finite element method. The predictions are compared to experimental measurements obtained from the application of incremental centre hole drilling, deep hole drilling and neutron diffraction methods. Finite element simulations of the incremental centre hole drilling and deep hole drilling methods applied to the predicted residual stresses permitted an assessment of their ability to reconstruct the stresses. An analytical reconstruction analysis using an Airy stress function together with boundary and equilibrium conditions is developed and applied to the predictions and... 

In this paper an analytical solution for size-dependent response of cantilever micro-beams is presented. Using the modified couple stress theory, the small scale effects are accounted for. Employing the Modified Variational Iteration Method, efficient and accurate analytical expressions for the deflection of the micro-beam are presented. Very good agreement is observed between the present work results and available experimental data. This study may be helpful to characterize the size-dependent mechanical properties of MEMS. Consequently, the proposed analytical solution can be used as an efficient tool for studying the effects of the material or geometrical parameters on small scale devices... 

Recently, Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) have been receiving more attention and further study, due to their ability to develop extremely large, recoverable strains and great forces. In this paper, three major models of SMA behavior, used in the literature, for studying the static performance of SMA components attributed to Tanaka, Liang and Rogers, and Brinson, have been analyzed and compared. The major differences and similarities between these models have also been emphasized and presented in this paper, based on the experimental data of the shape memory and superelastic behavior of an SMA wire. It is shown that these models all agree well in their prediction of the superelastic behavior of... 

The network structure of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) in the presence of carbon black (CB) with two different structures and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was investigated. Swelling behaviour, tensile properties at various strain rates and cure kinetics were characterized. Experimental data were analysed using the Flory-Rehner model as well as the tube model theory. It is found that the network structure of CB-filled SBR follows a three-phase composite model including rigid particles, semi-rigid bound rubber and matrix rubber. This bound rubber is postulated to be critical for the mechanical and deformational properties, development of crosslinking density in matrix rubber and... 

In this paper, the evolution of ductile damage and the failure is investigated in the cyclic loading of ductile metals based on the rate-dependent elasto-viscoplastic damage model with the linear and nonlinear isotropic-kinematic hardening rules. The constitutive model is derived by introducing the damage variable, based on the plastic strain behavior, in both the elasto-plasticity and visco-plasticity frameworks. The cyclic behavior is modeled by using the visco-plasticity model since the rate-dependent behavior is observed experimentally for various metal alloys. In order to obtain a more realistic response in the compression zone, the crack closure effect is employed in the stress-strain... 

Employing a proper pulse shaper in the conventional split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) test helps to achieve dynamic equilibrium condition and to fulfill a constant strain rate condition in the test specimen. To this end, the parameters affecting the incident pulse shape, i.e., pulse shaper thickness, pulse shaper diameter, striker bar length and striker bar velocity are experimentally studied. Moreover, simulation results, validated by experimental data together with wave propagation analysis, are exploited to provide general guidelines to properly design a pulse shaper. It is recommended to use a relatively large diameter pulse shaper for testing work-hardening materials. Also, for... 

In this paper, a thermo-mechanical model has been used to predict the temperature history and residual stress distribution in gas tungsten arc welding of AA5251 plates. This model has also been utilized to estimate the residual stresses under different welding sequences, while in the model the effect of temperature on material properties were taken into account. In order to verify the predictions, residual stresses within the welded samples and weld pool geometry were experimentally measured employing hole drilling and macro-examination of weld cross-section, respectively. The comparison between numerical and experimental data shows a reasonable agreement. The predictions show that the... 

In automobile painting industries, new automobile body products frequently should be tested in order to determine the actual thermal behavior of a paint curing process before starting mass production. During the hardening processes of dipped paint coating, applied in the electrophoretic enameling process, or top paint coating, applied in the final coating process, the automobile body must be warmed up according to the specific paint manufacturer curve. Consequently, prediction of car body temperature during the curing process may be vital in the design and performance analysis of the paint ovens. Numerical simulation of these processes may reduce expensive and time-consuming experimental... 

The use of more efficient energy consuming devices, which are closely associated with reduction of environmental pollution, has gained significant interest in the recent decades. The reduction of drag coefficient also improves safety and durability of environmental structures subjected to high-velocity fluid flow, and causes the noise and vibration to decrease as well. This paper describes the efficiency improvement in energy management by means of reducing drag coefficient in a practical divergent tubular- truncated cone. Extensive numerical simulations with emphasis on the shape optimization study were performed in order to find minimum drag coefficient for both laminar and turbulent flows... 

In this article, satisfying the second law of thermodynamics, we present a 3D constitutive model for shape memory polymers. The model is based on an additive decomposition of the strain into four parts. Also, evolution laws for internal variables during both cooling and heating processes are proposed. Since temperature has considerable effect on the shape memory polymer behavior, for simulation of a shape memory polymer-based structure, it is required to perform a heat-transfer analysis. Commonly, an experimentally observed temperature rate-dependent behavior of shape memory polymers is justified by a rate-dependent glassy temperature, but using the heat-transfer analysis, it is shown that... 

In this study, tensile strength of gypsum-based composite with aluminum fibers up to 15 vol.% was studied. To increase the interfacial bond strength between fibers and matrix, aluminum fibers were anodized under different conditions. Single fiber pull-out tests were carried out to investigate the bond strength. The interface was examined by scanning electron microscope. The ability of the composites to withstand longitudinal tensile load was also studied by tensile tests of dog bone-shaped, randomly oriented fiber-reinforced gypsum. By the introduction of aluminum fibers in gypsum as a randomly oriented composite, considerable increment in the strength is achieved and the toughness of the... 

carbonylation of methanol in homogenous phase is one of the major routesfor production of acetic acid. Amongst group VIII metal catalysts used in this process iridium has displayed the best capabilities. To investigate effect of operating parameters like: temperature, pressure, methyl iodide, methyl acetate, iridium, ruthenium, and water concentrations on the reaction rate, experimental design for this system based upon central composite design (CCD) was utilized. Statistical rate equation developed by this method contained individual, interactions and curvature effects of parameters on the reaction rate. The model with p-value less than 0.0001 and R 2 values greater than 0.9; confirmeda... 

Simplicity of manufacturing and high reliability of airlift pumps have promoted these pumps to be used in different industries, such as petrochemical and oil industries, especially in oil recovery from dead wells. One of the main parameters affecting the performance of these pumps is two-phase flow regime in the main pipe of the pump. In this research, experimental data are utilized to investigate the influence of the flow regimes on the performance of an airlift pump. The data are obtained for air-water two-phase flow in a vertical pipe with a diameter of d = 50. mm and an aspect ratio of L/d = 120. In this study, the gas liquid upward two-phase flow regime in the upriser pipe is... 

The aim of the present work is to evaluate the effect of fractures geometrical properties such as orientation, density, location, and networking on the conventional fire flooding (CFF) process performance through simulation analysis. Combustion parameters of a fractured low-permeable carbonate heavy oil reservoir in Iran called Kuh-E-Mond (KEM); applied for simulation study and simulator has been validated with KEM combustion tube experimental data. The validated model was modified to study CFF in 3D semi-scaled combustion cells. Simulation results confirmed that CFF is more feasible in the case of densely fractured reservoirs such as those in the Middle East  

In this study, neural network models have been used to predict the mechanical behaviors of mouse embryos. In addition, sensitivity analysis has been carried out to investigate the influence of the significance of input parameters on the mechanical behavior of mouse embryos. In order to reach these purposes two neural network models have been implemented. Experimental data earlier deduced-by [Flückiger, M. (2004). Cell Membrane Mechanical Modeling for Microrobotic Cell Manipulation. Diploma Thesis, ETHZ Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, WS03/04]-were collected to obtain training and test data for the neural network. The results of these investigations show that the correlation...