Mechanical Engineering

Research Topics:

1- Analytical, experimental, and numerical investigation of the deformation and Fracture behavior of cylindrical tubes under internal dynamic pressures

Investigation of the structural behaviors of  cylindrical tubes under internal dynamic pressures has applications in the structural integrity assessment of gas transmission pipelines, pressurized aircraft fuselages,  pulse detonation engines, and arterial biomechanics. As a result of a comprehensive research program during the last ten years, we have made several contributions to this field including the derivation of a set of analytic solutions for the transient elasto-dynamic response of cylindrical tubes to internal moving pressures. The proposed formulation is inclusive, as it not only considers the effects of transverse shear and rotary inertia but also accounts for the effects of reflected waves. This is the most accurate solution set available for the study of the amplification of flexural stress waves, and the only available solution set for prediction of transverse shear resonance.

Recently, the solution set has been extended to a general form for the vibrational response of tubes to sequential moving pressures.

Moreover, we have carried out comprehensive studies on sub-critical and critical crack growth in such cylinders. These studies included the failure analysis and finite element modeling of an exploded gas cylinder.  We have also analyzed and simulated the deformation and fracture of an exploded CNG fuel tank and characterized several characteristics of deflagration-induced fracture of closed-end cylinders.

Recently, we reported the results of experimentation and finite element analysis of dynamic ductile rupture of steel pipes subjected to high-speed internal moving pressures.

The experimentation included the detonations of tiny explosive cords inside small segments of ordinary gas pipes. A number of specific features of the detonation-driven fracture of cylindrical tubes such as; formation of special fracture surface markings due to cyclic crack growth, flap bulging, and crack curving/branching adjacent to the bulged area were identified. In the analysis part, the overall transient dynamic response of the pipe to detonation loading, the detonation-driven crack growth, the cyclic bulging of the crack flaps, and the resultant crack branching were simulated. The blast simulation was performed using a multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (MMALE) formulation. The fluid–structure interaction (FSI) was simulated using a coupling algorithm that treated the air as a static media and the pipe as a deformable Lagrangian mesh.

2- Experimental and numerical analysis of deformation and fracture of Bone

My second active field of research is noninvasive assessment of structural integrity of bone using the quantitative computed tomography (QCT)-based finite element method.  Stress analysis of bone is a difficult task because of its complex geometry and anisotropic and heterogeneous material property.  We have been able to build 3D voxel-based solid models of human vertebra directly from QCT images (including a pointwise assignment of the bone mineral density (BMD)-based mechanical properties) and perform parametric finite element analyses. We have also performed experimental fracture tests on human vertebra.  Moreover, we have been able to devise a novel technique for mechanical testing of metastatic spine and carry out a comprehensive study of the effects of vertebroplasty parameters on the strength and failure pattern of human vertebrae.

Recently. we developed a novel method for prediction of the mechanical behavior of proximal femur using the general framework of the QCT-based FEA.  In this method a systematic imaging and modeling procedure is used for reliable correspondence between the two environments of QCT-based FEA and in-vitro mechanical testing.The analyses and tests were carried out at 8 different loading orientations. A new scheme was developed for assortment of the element risk factor (defined as the ratio of the strain energy density to the yield strain energy for each element) and implemented for the prediction of the failure strength. The predicted and observed failure patterns were in correspondence, and the FEA predictions of the failure loads were in very good agreement with the experimental results (R² = 0.86, slope = 0.96, p < 0.01). The average computational time was 5 min (on a regular desktop personal computer) for an average element number of 197,000. Noting that the run-time for a similar nonlinear model is about 8 h, it was concluded that the proposed linear scheme is overwhelmingly efficient in terms of computational costs. Thus, it can efficiently be used to predict the femoral failure strength with the same accuracy of similar nonlinear models. 

3-Application of the finite element methods in fracture mechanics analyses  

PUBLICATIONS:

Book Chapter:

Majid Mirzaei (2010). Finite Element Analysis of Deformation and Fracture of Cylindrical Tubes under Internal Moving Pressures , Finite Element Analysis, David Moratal (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-123-7, InTech,  Available from:

www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/finite-element-analysis-of-deformation-and-fracture-of-cylindrical-tubes-under-internal-moving-press

 Selected Publications (in English):

(2016) Allaveisi F., Mirzaei M. Effects of high-dose gamma irradiation on tensile properties of human cortical bone: Comparison of different radioprotective treatment methods. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. 61, pp 475-483. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2016.04.017 

(2015) Mirzaei M.,Torkaman Asadi M.J., Akbari R.  On vibrational behavior of pulse detonation engine tubes. Aerospace Science and Technology. 47, pp 177-190.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2015.09.036  

(2015) Mirzaei M., Najafi M., Niasari H.  Experimental and numerical analysis of dynamic rupture of steel pipes under internal high-speed moving pressures. International Journal Of Impact Engineering.  85, pp 27-36.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2015.06.014  

(2015) Mirzaei M., Keshavarzian M., Alavi F.,  Amiri P., Samiezadeh S.  QCT-based failure analysis of proximal femurs under various loading orientations.  Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing.  DOI 10.1007/s11517-015-1254-2

(2014) Mirzaei M., Keshavarzian M., Naeini V.  Analysis of strength and failure pattern of human proximal femur using quantitative computed tomography (QCT)-based finite element method, Bone. 64C, pp108-114.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2014.04.007

(2013) Mirzaei M., Malekan M., Sheibani E.  Failure analysis and finite element simulation of deformation and fracture of an exploded CNG fuel tank, Engineering Failure Analysis.  Volume 30, pp. 91-98.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2013.01.015

(2013) Alavi F., Behravesh A.H., Mirzaei M. In-situ observation of fracture mechanism of wood-plastic composites in tension.  Composite Interfaces,  20(3), pp. 211-220.

(2012) Mirzaei M. Vibrational response of thin tubes to sequential moving pressures.  International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 59, pp. 44-54.  http:/
/dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2012.03.002

(2012) Mirzaei M., Samiezadeh S., Khodadadi A., Ghazavi M. Finite element prediction and experimental verification of the failure pattern of proximal femur using Quantitative Computed Tomography Images.  Proceedings of the International Conference on Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Copenhagen June 2012,    http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v66/v66-22.pdf

(2009) Mirzaei M., Harandi A., Karimi R.  Finite element simulation of deformation and fracture of an exploded gas cylinder, Engineering Failure Analysis,  16, pp.1607-1615.

(2009) Mirzaei M., Zeinali A., Razmjoo A., Nazemi M.  On prediction of the strength levels and failure patterns of human vertebrae using quantitative computed tomography (QCT)-based finite element method,Journal of Biomechanics, 42, pp.1584-1591.

(2008) Mirzaei M. On amplification of stress waves in cylindrical tubes under internal dynamic pressures.  International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 50(8) pp.1292-1303.

(2008) Mirzaei M. Failure analysis of an exploded gas cylinder, Engineering Failure Analysis, 15(7), pp.820-834.

(2006) Mirzaei M., Biglari H., Salavatian M. Analytical and numerical modeling of the transient elasto-dynamic response of a cylindrical tube to internal gaseous detonation,   International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping.  83/7 pp. 531-539.

(2006) Mirzaei M., Karimi R., Crack growth analysis for a cylindrical shell under dynamic loading. In: Proceedings of the ASME PVP-2006 /11th International Conference on Pressure Vessel technology, ICPVT-11, 23-27 July 2006, Vancouver, Canada.

(2006) Mirzaei M., Salavatian M., Biglari H. Simulation of fatigue crack growth in a detonation tube.  In: Proceedings of the ASME PVP-2006 /11th International Conference on Pressure Vessel technology, ICPVT-11, 23-27 July 2006, Vancouver, Canada.

(2006) Mazaheri K., Mirzaei M., Biglari H. Transient dynamic response of tubes to internal detonation loading.  Journal of Sound and Vibration, 297, pp. 106-122.

(2005) Mirzaei M., Mazaheri K., Biglari H., Analytical modeling of the elastic response of tubes to internal detonation loading. International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, Vol. 82, No. 12, pp. 883-895.