Sharif Digital Repository

A detailed 3D anatomical model of the patellofemoral joint was developed to study the tracking, force, contact and stability characteristics of the joint. The quadriceps was considered to include six components represented by 15 force vectors. The patellar tendon was modeled using four bundles of viscoelastic tensile elements. Each of the lateral and medial retinaculum was modeled by a three-bundle nonlinear spring. The femur and patella were considered as rigid bodies with their articular cartilage layers represented by an isotropic viscoelastic material. The geometrical and tracking data needed for model simulation, as well as validation of its results, were obtained from an in vivo... 

In this work, the rheological changes of several crude oil samples exposed to ultrasonic waves for different time intervals in addition to the effect of temperature on viscosity behavior of heavy crude oils were investigated using a series of steady shear flow and oscillatory tests. The colloidal structural evolutions of flocs in oil samples were illustrated by analysis of the size distribution of flocculated asphaltene particles (confocal microscopy tests). The rheological investigations indicate that the ultrasonic irradiation dissolved heavy components in crude oil. After ultrasonic treatment, the Kouh-e-Mond crude oil was found to be pseudoplastic. In addition, confocal microscopy... 

Various composite friction materials containing 40. vol.% organic binder (phenolic resin plus styrene-butadiene-rubber (SBR)) with varying phenolic-resin/SBR ratio were prepared. The content of phenolic resin in each composite was indicated by the resin value (RV) index ranging between 0 and 100%. The composites with RVs greater than 50% form resin-based friction materials in which the primary binder is the phenolic resin. For RVs less than 50%, the composites become the rubber-based materials where the primary binder is the SBR. The analysis of mechanical properties exhibited that the conformability of the composites increases upon incorporation of SBR. The frictional analysis revealed that... 

An explicit weakly compressible SPH method is introduced to study movement of suspended solid bodies in Oldroyd-B fluid flows. The proposed formulation does not need further stabilizing treatments and can be efficiently employed to study particulate flows with Deborah to Reynolds number ratios up to around 10. A modified boundary treatment technique is also presented which helps to deal with the movement of solid particles in the flow. The technique is computationally efficient and gives an improved evaluation of fluid-solid interaction forces.A number of test cases are solved to show performance of the proposed method in simulating particulate viscoelastic flows containing circular and... 

The bio-microfluidic systems are usually encountered with non-Newtonian behaviors of working fluids. The rheological behavior of some bio-fluids can be described by differential viscoelastic constitutive equations that are related to PTT and FENE-P models. In the present work, thermal transport characteristics of the steady fully developed electroosmotic flow of these fluids in a slit microchannel with constant wall heat fluxes have been investigated. The Debye-Huckel linearization is adopted and the effects of viscous dissipation and Joule heating are taken into account. Analytical solutions are obtained for the transverse distributions of velocity and temperature and finally for Nusselt... 

Processing conditions and final mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites are affected by their interfacial layers behavior. However, it is impossible to determine directly the properties of these layers by dynamic rheometry tests. In this work, the interfacial layers properties are evaluated for polystyrene containing silica nanoparticles by the concept of glass-transition temperature shift. The samples were prepared via solution-mixing method and dynamic rheometry was used to determine the viscoelastic behavior of filled polymers in the melt state. This initial step showed that addition of silica particles increased the glass-transition temperature. By preference, decrease in the... 

This article deals with the rubber-based friction materials (RBFMs) which can be used in brake system. The physico-mechanical and tribological properties of a series of fiber filled RBFMs containing steel wool and aramid pulp at different concentrations along with a fiber-free reference material were characterized. Rubber-glass transition induced at higher sliding velocities was identified based on the friction fade behavior of the RBFMs. The rubber-glass transition which is inherently originated by viscoelastic response of polymeric binder was found to be influential on the tribological properties of the RBFMs. It was revealed that steel wool increased coefficient of friction (COF) and... 

Crumb rubber modification (CRM) is an effective means of improving neat asphalt performance. Numerous studies have investigated the effects of CRM using the current Superpave® laboratory tests. Recent studies have shown that the assumption of linear viscoelastic behavior or employing insufficient stress or strain levels makes current tests inadequate for properly assessing the performance of binders, especially when modified. This problem has resulted in the development of improved test methods such as the time sweep binder fatigue test and the multiple stress creep and recovery (MSCR) test for permanent deformation. The present study assesses the performance of binders modified with a wide... 

Conventional tooth implants lacks the damping prosperities of the periodontal ligaments (PDL) compound. It may therefore, disrupts the natural function of implant and leads to excessive stress and strain in jaw bone. Our new proposed implant has the viscoelastic properties needed to overcome such difficulties. A three dimensional finite element model of modified implant was developed and was subjected to dynamic loading condition. Our results so far indicate that the use of a class of material exhibiting viscoelastic behaviour as a damping layer can reduce the peak stress and displacement deduced from cyclic and impact loads. The stress distribution becomes more uniform in the alveolar crest... 

In this work, a novel method to synthesis of an acrylic superabsorbent hydrogel was reported. In the two stage hydrogel synthesis, first copolymerization reaction of acrylonitrile (AN) and acrylamide (AM) monomers using ammonium persulfate (APS) as a free radical initiator was performed. In the second stage, the resulted copolymer was hydrolyzed to produce carboxamide and carboxylate groups followed by in situ crosslinking of the polyacrylonitrile chains. The results from FTIR spectroscopy and the dark red-yellow color change show that the copolymerization, alkaline hydrolysis and crosslinking reactions have been do take place. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) verifies that the synthesized... 

In this paper, the nonlinear transversal vibration of an axially moving viscoelastic string on a viscoelastic guide subjected to a mono-frequency excitation is considered. The model of the viscoelastic guide is a parallel combination of springs and viscous dampers. The governing equation of motion is developed using Hamilton's principle. Applying the method of multiple scales to the governing partial differential equation, the solvability condition and approximate solutions are derived. Three cases, namely primary, subharmonic and superharmonic resonances are studied and appropriate analytical solutions are obtained. The effect of mean value velocity, force amplitude, guide stiffness and... 

Chemical and electron beam irradiation methods were used to introduce a branched structure into polypropylene and propylene-ethylene copolymer. The chemical method was carried out in an internal mixer using initiator and TMPTMA monomer. In irradiation method, the polymer was irradiated by electron beam under air and nitrogen atmosphere. The branched structure in the modified polymer was confirmed by rheological measurements. While degradation was significant in chemical method, branching occurred efficiently by irradiation under air. Small amount of ethylene in the propylene copolymer promoted branching over degradation  

This paper deals with the flexural instability of flexible spinning cylinders partially filled with viscous fluid. Using the linearized Navier-Stokes equations for the incompressible flow, a two-dimensional model is developed for fluid motion. The resultant force exerted on the flexible cylinder wall as the result of the fluid motion is calculated as a function of lateral acceleration of the cylinder axis in the Laplace domain. Applying the Hamilton principle, the governing equations of flexural motion of the rotary flexible cylinder mounted on general viscoelastic supports are derived. Then combining the equations describing the fluid force on the flexible cylinder with the structural... 

An attempt was made to examine thermal effects as well as fade and wear characteristics of rubber-based friction materials (RBFMs). A series of RBFMs with and without fiber reinforcements were prepared. The fiber reinforcements used were carbon fiber, cellulose fiber and aramid pulp. A semi-empirical model describing the correlation of coefficient of friction (COF) and temperature was presented. The effectiveness of the model was evaluated using the experimental data. The results revealed that the model parameters for a given composite show a significant change above a critical sliding velocity, i.e. 300 rpm. This behavior was speculated to be due to the transition of rubbery state of the... 

In this paper two methods are presented that can be used to determine the dynamic behavior of viscoelastic beams with different boundary conditions, carrying a moving mass. An analytical-numerical formulation that transforms the governing differential equation in viscoelastic media into a set of ordinary differential equations and thereafter a discrete element model based on assumption that continuous viscoelastic beam can be replaced by a system of rigid bars and joints which resist relative rotation of attached bars. The physical properties of the joints can be found through considering the viscoelastic model of beams material. Correctness of results has been ascertained by a comparison,... 

Dynamic response of infinite beams supported by random viscoelastic Pasternak foundation subjected to harmonic moving loads is studied. Vertical stiffness in the support is assumed to follow a stochastic homogeneous field consisting of a small random variation around a deterministic mean value. By employing the first order perturbation theory and calculating appropriate Green's functions, the variance of the deflection and bending moment are obtained analytically in integral forms. To simulate the induced uncertainty, two practical cases of cosine and exponential covariance are utilized. A frequency analysis is performed and influences of the correlation length of the stiffness variation on... 

Derailment of a passenger wagon on a rail with random irregularities is investigated in this paper. The wagon having 48 degrees of freedom is assumed to travel over a rail on a viscoelastic foundation. The wagon model is a 3-D, non-linear model of a passenger train car, considering non-linear elements for the primary and secondary suspension systems having friction and slack between their elements, the center pivot with kinematics constraints, forces between pads, and bolster. The motion of the wagon on rail with random vertical irregularities is simulated for different line grades and travel speeds. Derailment coefficient and a new derailment criterion are used to investigate probability of... 

This paper deals with the determination of free vibration characteristics and instability conditions of flexible spinning cylinders partially filled with fluid. Using the linearized Navier-Stokes equations for the incompressible, inviscid flow, a 2D model is developed for fluid motion at each section of the cylinder. The forces exerted on the cylinder wall as a result of the fluid motion are calculated as functions of lateral acceleration of the cylinder axis in the Laplace domain. Applying the Hamilton principle, the governing equations of flexural motion of the cylinder are derived and then combined with the equations describing the fluid forces to obtain the coupled field equations of the... 

In this article, a Molecular Structural Mechanics/Finite Element (MSM/FE) multiscale modeling of carbon nanotube/polymer composites with viscoelastic (VE) polymer matrix is introduced. The nanotube is modeled at the atomistic scale using structural molecular mechanics. The matrix deformation is analyzed by nonlinear finite element method considering VE behavior. The nanotube and matrix are assumed to be bonded by van der Waals interactions based on the Lennard-Jones potential at the interface. Using the MSM/FE multiscale model, we investigate the effect of carbon nanotube (CNT) on the improvement of mechanical stability of the nanocomposite. Also, the buckling behavior of these... 

This paper presents a numerical parametric study on design parameters of multispan viscoelastic shear deformable beams subjected to a moving mass via generalized moving least squares method (GMLSM). For utilizing Lagrange's equations, the unknown parameters of the problem are stated in terms of GMLSM shape functions and the generalized Newmark-β scheme is applied for solving the discrete equations of motion in time domain. The effects of moving mass weight and velocity, material relaxation rate, slenderness, and span number of the beam on the design parameters and possibility of mass separation from the base beam are scrutinized in some detail. The results reveal that for low values of beam...