Modeling and Characterization of Free-standing and Composite Structures

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This project seeks to leverage the characterization and modeling expertise of the Shankar Research Group in order to perform research and development on two specific problems for the industrial partner. ATS Ltd is a Calgary-based design and manufacturing firm that produces innovative structures for the construction and energy industries. ATS has made prototypes of extremely light-weight cement composites by blending animal protein and commercial fibers into a foam-like concrete matrix, and proposes to extend this to confining acid rock in the concrete matrix. However, the microstructure, phase and composition of these composites are unknown. Graduate students in the Shankar Group are well-trained in a variety of materials characterization techniques, and will apply the same toward understanding the morphology, structure and chemical composition of the cement composite. The data and insights thus obtained will allow ATS to perform further optimization of these composites, and also estimate the viability of confining acid rock in a foamy concrete matrix. A second research and development problem involves the performance evaluation and optimization of air-inflatable stacked toroidal PVC frack tanks manufactured by ATS Ltd. The large size of these tanks renders direct testing of static properties and dynamic load bearing behavior difficult. Therefore, a finite element method-based route toward performance evaluation and optimization of the frack tanks is proposed. Prof. Shankar has worked on various finite element packages applied in diverse fields. Dr. Piyush Kar, a post-doctoral trainee in the Shankar Group, has direct prior experience in modeling turbomachinery using finite element analysis for static and dynamic mechanical performance evaluation and optimization, which he will apply in this project to achieve project goals.