Effect of a singular planar heterogeneity on tensile failure

Many rocks contain planar heterogeneities, in the form of open fractures, veins and/or stylolites, but scarce data exist on how strength and fracture pattern formation is affected by the presence of a singular planar heterogeneity in an otherwise uniform matrix. The mechanics of stylolite-bearing and/or fractured limestone is of interest to...

Multiscale Structure-Performance Relationships in Supported Palladium Catalysis for Multiphase Hydrogenations

The performance of heterogeneous catalysts in multiphase reactions in general is governed by different types of extrinsic and intrinsic structural effects on all length scales, i.e., on the macro- (m to cm), meso- (mm to µm), and microlevel (nm). This PhD research, with a catalysis-engineering approach, focused on several of these multiscale...

Analytical solutions for whirling groundwater flow in two-dimensional heterogeneous anisotropic aquifers

Analytical solutions are derived for steady state groundwater flow in a heterogeneous, anisotropic, semiconfined aquifer. The aquifer consists of a number of horizontal layers, while each layer consists of a number of homogeneous cells with different hydraulic conductivity tensors. An exact solution for an arbitrary number of layers and cells is...