The motion of bacteria in the environment is relevant to several fields. At very small scales and with simple helical shapes, we are able to describe experimentally and mathematically the motion of solid spirals falling freely within a liquid pool. Using these shapes we intend to mimic the motion of bacteria called Spirochetes. We seek to experimentally investigate the linear and the rotational motion of such shapes. A better understanding of the dynamics of this process will be practical not only on engineering and physics, but the bioscience and environmental as well. In the following pages, we explore the role of the shape on the motion of passive solid helixes in different liquids. We fabricate three solid helical shapes and drop them under gravity in water, glycerol and a mixture of 30% glycerol in water. That generated rotation due to helical angle in water. However, we observe the rotation disappear in glycerol. The movement of the solid helical shapes is imaged using a high-speed video camera. Then, the images are analyzed using the supplied software and a computer. Using these simultaneous measurements, we examine the terminal velocity of solid helical shapes. Using this information we computed the drag coefficient and the drag force. We obtain the helical angular velocity and the torque applied to the solid. The results of this study will allow us to more accurately predict the motion of solid helical shape. This analysis will also shed light onto biological questions of bacteria movement.

As a byproduct of incomplete combustion, soot attracts increasing attentions as extensive researches exploring serious health and environmental effects from soot particles. Soot emission reduction requires a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and of soot formation and aging processes. Therefore, advanced experimental techniques and numerical simulations have been conducted to investigate this procedure. In order to investigate the effects of dimethyl ether (DME) mixing on soot particle size distribution functions (PSDFs), DME was mixed in premixed ethylene/oxygen/argon at flames at the equivalence ratio of 2.0 with a range of mixing ratio from 0% to 30% of the total carbon fed. Two series of atmospheric pressure flames were tested in which cold gas velocity was varied to obtain different flame temperatures. The evolution of PSDFs along the centerline of the flame was determined by burner stabilized stagnation probe and scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) techniques, yielding the PSDFs for various separation distances above the burner surface. Meanwhile, the flame temperature profiles were carefully measured by a thermocouple and the comparison to that of simulated laminar premixed burner-stabilized stagnation flame was satisfactory. Additionally, to understand the chemical role of DME mixing in soot properties, characterization measurements were conducted on soot samples using thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and elemental analysis (EA). Results of the evolution of PSDFs and soot volume fraction showed that adding DME into ethylene flame could reduce soot yield significantly. The addition of DME led to the decrease of both the soot nucleation rate and the particle mass growth rate. To explain the possible mechanism for the observation, numerical simulations were performed. Although DME addition resulted in the slight increase of methyl radicals from pyrolysis, the decrease in acetylene and propargyl radicals inhibited the production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. At the same time, the addition of DME gave rise to the increase of the flame temperatures, which favored the production of OH radicals. The incremental concentration of OH radicals promoted the oxidation rate of soot particles. Additionally, soot samples from flames with higher DME mixing ratios showed higher O/C, H/C mass ratios and thus better oxidation characteristics. In summary, the addition of DME reduces soot emission in two ways: on the one hand, it inhibits soot nucleation and mass/size growth, then the production of soot particles decreases; on the other hand, it promotes soot oxidation process by increasing the concentration of OH radicals and improving the oxidation behavior of the soot particles, then more particles are oxidized. Both of them are responsible for the reduction of soot emissions at the presence of DME.

The air cavity formation resulting from the water-entry of solid objects has been the subject of extensive research due to its application in various fields such as biology, marine vehicles, sports and oil and gas industries. Recently we demonstrated that at certain conditions following the closing of the air cavity formed by the initial impact of a superhydrophobic sphere on a free water surface a stable streamlined shape air cavity can remain attached to the sphere. The formation of superhydrophobic sphere and attached air cavity reaches a steady state during the free fall. In this thesis we further explore this novel phenomenon to quantify the drag on streamlined shape cavities. The drag on the sphere-cavity formation is then compared with the drag on solid projectile which were designed to have self-similar shape to that of the cavity. The solid projectiles of adjustable weight were produced using 3D printing technique. In a set of experiments on the free fall of projectile we determined the variation of projectiles drag coefficient as a function of the projectiles length to diameter ratio and the projectiles specific weight, covering a range of intermediate Reynolds number, Re ~ 104 – 105 which are characteristic for our streamlined cavity experiments. Parallel free fall experiment with sphere attached streamlined air cavity and projectile of the same shape and effective weight clearly demonstrated the drag reduction effect due to the stress-free boundary condition at cavity liquid interface. The streamlined cavity experiments can be used as the upper bound estimate of the drag reduction by air layers naturally sustained on superhydrophobic surfaces in contact with water. In the final part of the thesis we design an experiment to test the drag reduction capacity of robust superhydrophobic coatings deposited on the surface of various model vessels.

Tomographic Particle Image Velocimetry Using Colored Shadow Imaging by Meshal K Alarfaj, Master of Science King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, 2015 Tomographic Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is a recent PIV method capable of reconstructing the full 3D velocity field of complex flows, within a 3-D volume. For nearly the last decade, it has become the most powerful tool for study of turbulent velocity fields and promises great advancements in the study of fluid mechanics. Among the early published studies, a good number of researches have suggested enhancements and optimizations of different aspects of this technique to improve the effectiveness. One major aspect, which is the core of the present work, is related to reducing the cost of the Tomographic PIV setup. In this thesis, we attempt to reduce this cost by using an experimental setup exploiting 4 commercial digital still cameras in combination with low-cost Light emitting diodes (LEDs). We use two different colors to distinguish the two light pulses. By using colored shadows with red and green LEDs, we can identify the particle locations within the measurement volume, at the two different times, thereby allowing calculation of the velocities. The present work tests this technique on the flows patterns of a jet ejected from a tube in a water tank. Results from the images processing are presented and challenges discussed.

Electrical resistance and acoustic emission (AE) measurement are jointly used to monitor the degradation in CFRP laminates subjected to tensile tests. The objective of this thesis is to perform a synergertic analysis between a passive and an active methods to better access how these perform when used for Structural Health Moni- toring (SHM). Laminates with three different stacking sequences: [0]4, [02/902]s and [+45/ − 45]2s are subjected to monotonic and cyclic tensile tests. In each laminate, we carefully investigate which mechanisms of degradation can or cannot be detect- ed by each technique. It is shown that most often, that acoustic emission signals start before any electrical detection is possible. This is is explained based on the redundance of the electrical network that makes it less sensitive to localized damages. Based on in depth study of AE signals clustering, a new classification is proposed to recognize the different damage mechanims based on only two parameters: the RA (rise time/amplitude) and the duration of the signal.

Understanding static and dynamic nonlinear behavior of pipes and risers is crucial for the design aspects in offshore engineering fields. In this work, we examine two nonlinear problems in offshore engineering field: vortex Induced vibration of straight horizontal pipes, and boundary layer static solution of inclined risers. In the first study, we analyze the effect of the internal velocity of straight horizontal pipe and obtain the vortex induced vibration forces via coupling the pipe equation of motion with the recently modified Van Der Pol oscillator governing the lift coefficient. Our numerical results are obtained for two different pipe configurations: hinged-hinged, and clamped- clamped. The results show that the internal velocity reduces the vibration and the oscillation amplitudes. Also, it is shown that the clamped-clamped pipe configuration offers a wider range of internal velocities before buckling instability occurs. The results also demonstrate the effect of the end condition on the amplitudes of vibration. In the second study, we develop a boundary layer perturbation static solution to govern and simulate the static behavior of inclined risers. In the boundary layer analysis, we take in consideration the effects of the axial stretch, applied tension, and internal velocity. Our numerical simulation results show good agreement with the exact solutions for special cases. In addition, our developed method overcomes the mathematical and numerical limitations of the previous methods used before.

Enhancing the effective peel resistance of plastically deforming adhesive joints through laser-based surface micro-machining Edwin Hernandez Diaz Inspired by adhesion examples commonly found in nature, we reached out to examine the effect of different kinds of heterogeneous surface properties that may replicate this behavior and the mechanisms at work. In order to do this, we used pulsed laser ablation on copper substrates (CuZn40) aiming to increase adhesion for bonding. A Yb-fiber laser was used for surface preparation of the substrates, which were probed with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Heterogeneous surface properties were devised through the use of simplified laser micromachined patterns which may induce sequential events of crack arrest propagation, thereby having a leveraging effect on dissipation. The me- chanical performance of copper/epoxy joints with homogeneous and heterogeneous laser micromachined interfaces was then analyzed using the T-peel test. Fractured surfaces were analyzed using SEM to resolve the mechanism of failure and adhesive penetration within induced surface asperities from the treatment. Results confirm positive modifications of the surface morphology and chemistry from laser ablation that enable mechanical interlocking and cohesive failure within the adhesive layer. Remarkable improvements of apparent peel energy, bond toughness, and effective peel force were appreciated with respect to sanded substrates as control samples.