Browsing by Author "Schneck, William Carl III"

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    Estimation of the Real Area of Contact in Sliding Systems Using Thermal Measurements
    Schneck, William Carl III (Virginia Tech, 2009-09-23)
    This thesis seeks two objectives. One objective is to develop a means to estimate time invariant real contact areas and surface temperatures through thermal measurements in 1D/2D systems. This allows computationally easier models, resulting in faster simulations within acceptable convergence. The second objective is to provide experimental design guidance. The methods used are a modified cellular automata technique for the direct model and a Levenberg-Marquardt parameter estimation technique to stabilize inverse solutions. The modified cellular automata technique enables each piece of physics to be solved independently over a short time step, thus frequently allowing analytical solutions to those pieces. Overall, the method was successful. The major results indicate that appropriately selected measurement locations can determine the contact distribution accurately, and that the preferred measurement location of the sensor is not very sensitive to the contact distribution specifics. This is useful because it allows selection of measurement locations regardless of the specifics of the generally unknown contact distribution. Further results show the combined effects of the normalized length and the Stanton number have a significant impact on the estimation quality, and can change the acceptable sensor domain, if the loss is high. The effect of placing the sensor in the static body can, for low loss, provide a coarse image of the contact distribution. This is useful because the static body is easier to instrument than a moving body. Finally, the estimation method worked well for the most complex model utilized, even in a sub-optimal measurement location.
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    Multi-Physics Model of a Dielectric Barrier Discharge Flow Control Actuator with Experimental Support
    Schneck, William Carl III (Virginia Tech, 2016-04-04)
    This dissertation presents an experimentally supported multi-physics model of a dielectric barrier discharge boundary layer flow control actuator. The model is independent of empirical data about the specific behavior of the system. This model contributes to the understanding of the specific mechanisms that enable the actuator to induce flow control. The multi-physics numerical model couples a fluid model, a chemistry model, and an electrostatics model. The chemistry model has been experimentally validated against known spectroscopic techniques, and the fluid model has been experimentally validated against the time-resolved shadowgraphy. The model demonstrates the capability to replicate emergent flow structures near a wall. These structures contribute to momentum transport that enhance the boundary layer’s wall attachment and provide for better flow control. An experiment was designed to validate the model predictions. The spectroscopic results confirmed the model predictions of an electron temperature of 0.282eV and an electron number density of 65.5 × 10⁻¹²kmol/m³ matching to within a relative error of 12.4% and 14.8%, respectively. The shadowgraphic results also confirmed the model predicted velocities of flow structures of 3.75m/s with a relative error of 10.9%. The distribution of results from both experimental and model velocity calculations strongly overlap each other. This validated model provides new and useful information on the effect of Dielectric Barrier Discharge actuators on flow control and performance. This work was supported in part by NSF grant CNS-0960081 and the HokieSpeed supercomputer at Virginia Tech.