Numerical modelling of deformation behaviour of red blood cells in microvessels using the coupled SPH-DEM method

This thesis developed an advanced computational model to investigate the motion and deformation properties of red blood cells in capillaries. The novel model is based on the meshfree particle methods and is capable of modelling the large deformation of red blood cells moving through blood vessels. The developed model was employed to simulate the deformation behaviour of healthy and malaria infected red blood cells as well as the motion of red blood cells in stenosed capillaries.

The inhomogeneity of plastic-deformation in ductile single-crystals

A discrete slip model which characterizes the inhomogeneity of material properties in ductile single crystals is proposed in this paper. Based on this model rate-dependent finite element investigations are carried out which consider the finite deformation, finite rotation, latent hardening effect and elastic anisotropy. The calculation clearly exhibits the process from microscopic inhomogeneous and localized deformation to necking and the formation of LSBS and reveals several important features of shear localization. For example, the inhomogeneous deformation is influenced by the imperfections and initial non-uniformities of material properties. The inhomogeneous deformation may either induce necking which results in the lattice rotation and leads to geometrical softening, which in turn promotes the formation of CSBS, or induces heavily localized deformation. The microscopic localized deformation eventually develops into the LSBS and results in a failure. These results are in close agreement with experiment. Our calculations also find that the slip lines on the specimen's surface at necking become curved and also find that if the necking occurs before the formation of LSBS, this band must be misoriented from the operative slip systems. In this case, the formation of LSBS must involve non-crystallographic effects. These can also be indirectly confirmed by experiment. All these suggest that our present discrete slip model offers a correct description of the inhomogeneous deformation characterization in ductile crystals.

Effect of post-weld-annealing on the tensile deformation characteristics of laser-welded NiTi thin foil

Laser welding is an important process for fabricating complex components involving NiTi shape memory
alloy. As welding is a thermal process, the amount of heat input and the rate of cooling have significant
impact on the microstructure and hence the resultant characteristics of NiTi. In this study, the effect of
laser welding and post-weld-annealing from 573 K to 1173 K on the thermal phase transformation behaviors,
tensile deformation and micro-hardness characteristics of the laser-welded NiTi thin foils were investigated.
It was found that the as-welded sample exhibited inferior super-elasticity compared to the base
material, and the super-elasticity could be partially restored by annealing at 573 K. On the other hand,
annealing of the weldment above the recrystallization temperature would lower the super-elasticity.

Modelling oil absorption during post-frying cooling - I: model development

Several studies have highlighted the importance of the cooling period in oil absorption in deep-fat fried products. Specifically, it has been established that the largest proportion of oil which ends up into the food, is sucked into the porous crust region after the fried product is removed from the oil bath, stressing the importance of this time interval. The main objective of this paper was to develop a predictive mechanistic model that can be used to understand the principles behind post-frying cooling oil absorption kinetics, which can also help identifying the key parameters that affect the final oil intake by the fried product. The model was developed for two different geometries, an infinite slab and an infinite cylinder, and was divided into two main sub-models, one describing the immersion frying period itself and the other describing the post-frying cooling period. The immersion frying period was described by a transient moving-front model that considered the movement of the crust/core interface, whereas post-frying cooling oil absorption was considered to be a pressure driven flow mediated by capillary forces. A key element in the model was the hypothesis that oil suction would only begin once a positive pressure driving force had developed. The mechanistic model was based on measurable physical and thermal properties, and process parameters with no need of empirical data fitting, and can be used to study oil absorption in any deep-fat fried product that satisfies the assumptions made.

Modelling oil absorption during post-frying cooling - II: solution of the mathematical model, model testing and simulations

The mathematical models that describe the immersion-frying period and the post-frying cooling period of an infinite slab or an infinite cylinder were solved and tested. Results were successfully compared with those found in the literature or obtained experimentally, and were discussed in terms of the hypotheses and simplifications made. The models were used as the basis of a sensitivity analysis. Simulations showed that a decrease in slab thickness and core heat capacity resulted in faster crust development. On the other hand, an increase in oil temperature and boiling heat transfer coefficient between the oil and the surface of the food accelerated crust formation. The model for oil absorption during cooling was analysed using the tested post-frying cooling equation to determine the moment in which a positive pressure driving force, allowing oil suction within the pore, originated. It was found that as crust layer thickness, pore radius and ambient temperature decreased so did the time needed to start the absorption. On the other hand, as the effective convective heat transfer coefficient between the air and the surface of the slab increased the required cooling time decreased. In addition, it was found that the time needed to allow oil absorption during cooling was extremely sensitive to pore radius, indicating the importance of an accurate pore size determination in future studies.

Sediment deformation in Miocene and post-Miocene strata, Northeastern Brazil: Evidence for paleoseismicity in a passive margin

Stratigraphic intervals characterized by varied and complex styles of soft-sediment deformation structures are well preserved in Miocene and Late Pleistocene to Holocene deposits of a sedimentary basin located in Northeastern Brazil. The Miocene strata, represented by the Barreiras Formation, record only brittle structures, including numerous faults and fractures with straight and high angle-dipping planes that are often filled with sands derived from overlying beds. Folds consisting of broad anticlines and synclines are also present in this unit. The late Pleistocene to Holocene deposits, named Post-Barreiras Sediments, contain an indurated sandy package with a large variety of ductile and brittle deformation structures (i.e., massive sandstones with isolated sand fragments and breccias, undulatory strata, sand dykes and diapirs, sinks and bowls, pebbly pockets, plunged sediment mixtures, fitted sand masses, cone-shaped cracks, fault grading and sedimentary enclaves). These features, confined to sharp-based stratigraphic horizons that progressively grade downward into undisturbed deposits, are related to seismic shocks of high surface-wave magnitude (i.e., Ms>5 or 6). Amalgamated seismites suggest that previously formed seismites were affected by subsequent seismic-wave propagation. Seismic waves caused by activity along one, or most likely, several tectonic structures would have propagated throughout the depositional environment, producing laterally extensive seismites. The close proximity to earthquake epicenters would have promoted pervasive re-sedimentation due to pore overpressure, resulting high volumes of massive sandstones and breccia. The similarity between deposits with correlatable strata from many other areas along the Brazilian coast allows raise the hypothesis that the seismic episodes might have affected sedimentation patterns in a large (i.e., extension of several hundreds of kilometers) geographic area. Thus, the modern seismicity recorded along Northeastern Brazil was recurrent during the Quaternary and, perhaps, also in the Pliocene. The estimated high magnitude of the seismic events and the great regional extent of the affected area demonstrate that the Brazilian coast experienced tectonic stress through the last geological episodes of its evolution, which would have favored sediment accumulation and penecontemporaneous re-sedimentation. This geological context is unexpected in a passive margin, inducing to revisit the debate on how active is a passive margin. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dynamic softening of ferrite during large strain warm deformation of a plain-carbon steel

The evolution of dynamic ferrite softening in a plain-carbon steel was investigated by torsion tests during warm deformation at 810 °C, in the two-phase (ferrite + austenite) region, and strain rate of 0.1 s−1 with different strains up to 50. The warm flow behaviour and ferrite microstructural parameters, such as grain size, misorientation angle across ferrite/ferrite boundaries, and the fraction of high-angle and low-angle grain/subgrain boundaries were quantified using electron back scatter diffraction. The results show that with increasing strain up to not, vert, similar2, the ferrite grain size and fraction of high-angle boundaries rapidly decrease and the fraction of low-angle boundaries increases. However, these parameters remain approximately unchanged with increasing strain from not, vert, similar2 to 50. The dynamic softening mechanism observed during large strain ferritic deformation is explained by dynamic recovery and continuous dynamic recrystallization.

Constitutive modelling of drawing and extrusion with cyclic torsion

In the current work, constitutive models are developed to describe the cyclic hardening and softening led by the strain path chaneg.  The contribution of deformation conditions such as drawing and extrusion speed, cyclic rotating angle on the drawing and extrusion force will be investigated.  The development of such constitutive models will provide insight into the optimization of operation conditions to explore the potential of industrial applications.