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We present a modeling approach to determine the permeability-selectivity tradeoff for microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes with a distribution of pore sizes and pore shapes. Using the formulated permeability-selectivity model, the effect of pore aspect ratio and pore size distribution on the permeability-selectivity tradeoff of the membrane is analyzed. A finite element model is developed to study the effect of membrane stretching on the distribution of pore sizes and shapes in the stretched membrane. The effect of membrane stretching on the permeability-selectivity tradeoff of membranes is also analyzed. The results show that increasing pore aspect ratio improves membrane performance while increasing the width of pore size distribution deteriorates the performance. It was also found that the effect of membrane stretching on the permeability-selectivity tradeoff is greatly affected by the uniformity of pore distribution in the membrane. Stretching showed a positive shift in the permeability-selectivity tradeoff curve of membranes with well-dispersed pores while in the case of pore clustering, a negative shift in the permeability-selectivity tradeoff curve was observed.

Drillstring vibration is one of the major causes for a deteriorated drilling performance, and if left untreated may result in a complete failure of the drilling process. Although the variations in the drilling load, stick-slip, and whirling are known to be the primary causes of severe vibrations, they often give rise to excessive flexural deformations and subsequent string—borehole interaction. Drillstring contact-impact interaction with borehole results in high-frequency excitations, which further deteriorate the drilling performance, and may cause damage to the bottomhole assembly. Modelling of impact is crucial to understanding the associated dynamic response, and to providing means for controlling the collision phenomenon. A continuous force—displacement law is introduced to model the impulsive force during the short-lived interval of impact, wherein the material compliance and damping coefficients are determined from energy balance relations. The impact model is integrated to the dynamic model of the whole drillstring; including drillpipes and drillcollars. The dynamic model of the rotating drillstring is formulated using a Lagrangean approach in conjunction with the finite-element method. The model accounts for the torsional-bending inertia coupling and the axial-bending geometric non-linear coupling. In addition, the model accounts for the gyroscopic effect and the effect of the gravitational force field. The generalized eigenvalue problem is solved to determine modal transformations, which are invoked to obtain the reduced-order modal form of the dynamic equations. The developed model is integrated into a computational scheme to calculate time-response of the drillstring system in the presence of string—borehole collisions.

This paper deals with the in-plane vibration of circular annular disks under combinations of different boundary conditions at the inner and outer edges. The in-plane free vibration of an elastic and isotropic disk is studied on the basis of the two-dimensional linear plane stress theory of elasticity. The exact solution of the in-plane equation of equilibrium of annular disk is attainable, in terms of Bessel functions, for uniform boundary conditions. The frequency equations for different modes can be obtained from the general solutions by applying the appropriate boundary conditions at the inner and outer edges. The presented frequency equations provide the frequency parameters for the required number of modes for a wide range of radius ratios and Poisson's ratios of annular disks under clamped, free, or flexible boundary conditions. Simplified forms of frequency equations are presented for solid disks and axisymmetric modes of annular disks. Frequency parameters are computed and compared with those available in literature. The frequency equations can be used as a reference to assess the accuracy of approximate methods.

Several approaches have been used in the past to predict fatigue crack growth rates in T-joints of the offshore structures, but there are relatively few cases of applying structural health monitoring during the non-destructive testing of jacket platforms. This paper presents an experimental method based on the sensing of the piezoelectric sensors and finite element analysis method for studying the fatigue cracks in the offshore steel jacket structure. Three types of joints are selected in the current research work: T-type plate, T-type tube-plate, and T-type tube joints. The finite element analysis model established in the current study computes and analyzes the high stress and high strain regions in the T-type joints. The fatigue damage in the T-type joints was successfully detected by utilizing both the finite element analysis and experimental methods. The results showed that fatigue cracks of the three types of joints are prone to appear at the weld toe and spread in the welding direction. The fatigue damage location of T-type plate and T-type tube-plate joints is more concentrated in the upper weld toe area, and the fatigue damage location of the T-type tube joint is closer to the lower weld toe area.

Carbon fiber-based materials possess excellent mechanical properties and show linear piezoresistive behavior, which make them good candidate materials for strain measurements. They have the potential to be used as sensors for various applications such as damage detection, stress analysis and monitoring of manufacturing processes and quality. In this paper, carbon fiber sensors are prepared to perform reliable strain measurements. Both experimental and computational studies were carried out on commercially available carbon fibers in order to understand the response of the carbon fiber sensors due to changes in the axial strain. Effects of parameters such as diameter, length, and epoxy-hardener ratio are discussed. The developed numerical model was calibrated using laboratory-based experimental data. The results of the current study show that sensors with shorter lengths have relatively better sensitivity. This is due to the fact short fibers have low initial resistance, which will increase the change of resistance over initial resistance. Carbon fibers with low number of filaments exhibit linear behavior while nonlinear behavior due to transverse resistance is significant in fibers with large number of filaments. This study will allow researchers to predict the behavior of the carbon fiber sensor in real life and it will serve as a basis for designing carbon fiber sensors to be used in different applications.

Abstract. In-plane free vibrations of an elastic and isotropic annular disk with elastic constraints at the inner and outer boundaries, which are applied either along the entire periphery of the disk or at a point are investigated. The boundary characteristic orthogonal polynomials are employed in the Rayleigh-Ritz method to obtain the frequency parameters and the associated mode shapes. Boundary characteristic orthogonal polynomials are generated for the free boundary conditions of the disk while artificial springs are used to account for different boundary conditions. The frequency parameters for different boundary conditions of the outer edge are evaluated and compared with those available in the published studies and computed from a finite element model. The computed mode shapes are presented for a disk clamped at the inner edge and point supported at the outer edge to illustrate the free in-plane vibration behavior of the disk. Results show that addition of point clamped support causes some of the higher modes to split into two different frequencies with different mode shapes.