Modeling and Characterization of Free-standing and Composite Structures

该项目旨在利用Shankar研究小组的表征和建模专业知识， 为工业合作伙伴就两个具体问题进行研究和开发。ATS Ltd是一家 卡尔加里的设计和制造公司，生产创新的结构，为建设和 能源行业。ATS已经通过混合动物， 蛋白质和商业纤维到泡沫状混凝土基质，并建议将其扩展到限制酸 混凝土基质中的岩石。然而，这些复合材料的微观结构、物相和成分是不同的。 未知Shankar集团的研究生在各种材料表征方面训练有素 技术，并将同样适用于了解形态，结构和化学成分 水泥复合材料的。由此获得的数据和见解将允许ATS进行进一步优化 这些复合材料，也估计封闭的泡沫混凝土基质中的酸性岩石的可行性。 第二个研究和开发问题涉及性能评估和优化， ATS有限公司制造的充气式堆叠环形PVC压裂罐。这些罐的大尺寸使得 直接测试静态性能和动态承载性能困难。因此，有限元 提出了一种基于方法的压裂液罐性能评价与优化方法。教授 Shankar致力于各种应用于不同领域的有限元软件包。Piyush Kar博士a Shankar集团的博士后实习生，在使用有限差分法建模方面有直接的经验， 静态和动态机械性能评估和优化的元素分析，他将 应用于本项目，以实现项目目标。

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.