Date of Award:
8-2026
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Committee Chair(s)
Dae Han Sung
Committee
Dae Han Sung
Committee
Srishti Banerji
Committee
Juhyeong Lee
Abstract
Modern aircraft, spacecraft, and high-performance vehicles are increasingly built from composite materials, engineered combinations of plastics and fibers that are lighter and stronger than traditional metals. Researchers are now pushing these materials further by mixing in microscopic particles thousands of times smaller than a human hair, called nanoparticles, to make them even tougher and more resistant to damage. The challenge is getting those nanoparticles distributed evenly. During manufacturing, liquid plastic resin is pumped through a network of tightly packed fibers, carrying the nanoparticles along with it. But nanoparticles tend to clump together and stick to surfaces as they travel, clogging the fiber network and ending up unevenly distributed in the final part. This undermines the improvements they were added to provide. This research develops a computer simulation that models how nanoparticles behave as they flow through these fiber networks, specifically capturing how they clump and accumulate. The simulation is tested against established physics equations to confirm its accuracy, then used to study how particle clumping and sticking affect flow through the material. The results show that this effect depends strongly on particle size. At the larger scale, clumping alone had little effect, but laboratory experiments with true nanoscale particles showed flow resistance rising noticeably as more particles were added. Together, the simulation and experiments give engineers a validated tool for predicting and controlling nanoparticle distribution during manufacturing, enabling stronger, more consistent advanced composite parts.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Stoker, Gavin, "A CFD-DEM Framework for Characterizing Nanoparticle Adhesion Effects on Creeping-Flow Permeability in Composite Manufacturing" (2026). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present. 920.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd2023/920
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