The propagation of a pre-existing edge crack across a finite plate subjected to cold shock has been studied. The plate, initially at uniform temperature, is exposed to a cold shock on one surface whilst three dierent types of heat transfer boundary condition are separately considered for the opposing face: cold shock, thermal insulation and fixed temperature. For all three boundary conditions, the plate experiences tensile stress near the cold-shocked surface and compressive stressing near the mid-plane. Consequently, a Mode I edge crack extending into the compressive region may grow in one of three different modes: continued extension in plane strain, channelling and spalling. The thermal shock conditions governing each failure mode are quantified, with a focus on crack channelling and spalling. The dislocation method is employed to calculate the energy release rates for plane strain cracking and steady-state channelling. For steady-state spalling, the energy release rate is obtained by an energy analysis of elastic beams far ahead and far behind the crack tip. Analytical solutions are also obtained in the short crack limit in which the problem is reduced to an edge crack extending in a half space; and the parameter range over which the short crack solution is valid for a finite plate is determined. Failure maps for the various cracking patterns are constructed in terms of the critical temperature jump and Biot number, and merit indices are identified for materials selection against failure by thermal shock.

The deformation behaviour of two different types of aluminium alloy foam are studied under tension, compression, shear and hydrostatic pressure. Foams having closed cells are processed via batch casting, whereas foams with semi-open cells are processed by negative pressure infiltration. The influence of relative foam density, cell structure and cell orientation on the stiffness and strength of foams is studied; the deformation mechanisms are analysed by using video imaging and SEM (scanning electronic microscope). The measured dependence of stiffness and strength upon relative foam density are compared with analytical predictions. The measured stress versus strain curves along different loading paths are compared with predictions from a phenomenological constitutive model. It is found that the deformations of both types of foams are dominated by cell wall bending, attributed to various process induced imperfections in the cellualr structure. The closed cell foam is found to be isotropic, whereas the semi-open cell foam shows strong anisotropy.

This paper presents an analytical and numerical study on the heat transfer characteristics of forced convection across a microchannel heat sink. Two analytical approaches are used: the porous medium model and the fin approach. In the porous medium approach, the modified Darcy equation for the fluid and the two-equation model for heat transfer between the solid and fluid phases are employed. Firstly, the effects of channel aspect ratio (χs) and effective thermal conductivity ratio ( ) on the overall Nusselt number of the heat sink are studied in detail. The predictions from the two approaches both show that the overall Nusselt number (Nu) increases as χs is increased and decreases with increasing . However, the results also reveal that there exists significant difference between the two proaches for both the temperature distributions and overall Nusselt numbers, and the discrepancy becomes larger as either as or is increased. It is suggested that this discrepancy can be attributed to the indispensable assumption of uniform fluid temperature in the direction normal to the coolant flow invoked in the fin approach. The effect of porosity (e) on the thermal performance of the microchannel is subsequently examined. It is found that whereas the porous medium model predicts the existence of an optimal porosity for the microchannel heat sink, the fin approach predicts that the heat transfer capability of the heat sink increases monotonically with the porosity. The effect of turbulent heat transfer within the microchannel is next studied, and it is found that turbulent heat transfer results in a decreased optimal porosity in comparison with that for the laminar flow. A new concept of microchannel cooling in combination with microheat pipes is proposed, and the enhancement in heat transfer due to the heat pipes is estimated. Finally, two-dimensional numerical calculations are conducted for both constant heat flux and constant wall temperature conditions to check the accuracy of analytical solutions and to examine the effect of different boundary conditions on the overall heat transfer.

We review the thermal characteristics ofall-metallic sandwich structures with two dimensional prismatic and truss cores. Results are presented based on measurements in conjunction with analytical modeling and numerical simulation. The periodic nature ofthese core structures allows derivation ofthe macroscopic quantities ofinterest-namely, the overall Nusselt number and friction factor-by means of correlations derived at the unit cell level. A fin analogy model is used to bridge length scales. Various measurements and simulations are used to examine the robustness of this approach and the limitations discussed. Topological preferences are addressed in terms scaling relations obtained with three dimensionless parameters-friction factor, Nusselt number and Reynolds number-expressed both at the panel and the cell levels. Countervailing influences oftopology on the Nusselt number and friction factor are found. Case studies are presented to illustrate that the topology preference is highly application dependent.