FGS - Electronic Theses and Practica
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This collection contains University of Manitoba electronic theses and practica.
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- ItemEmbargoExperimental and numerical analysis of steel I-multigirder bridges under traffic loads(2025-03-27) Manouchehri, Navid; Svecova, Dagmar (Civil Engineering); Cha, Young-Jin (Civil Engineering; Fiorillo, GrazianoThis thesis investigates two critical aspects of bridge engineering: the fatigue life of bridges under traffic loads and the impact of cold temperatures on their ultimate capacity for composite I-girder bridges. The first part of the study examines the fatigue resistance of continuous steel I-girder bridges, analyzing the influence of girder profiles and stress concentrations on fatigue damage. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that optimizing girder geometry can reduce the risk of fatigue damage by up to 35% over a 75-year service life. The second part of the study explores the structural behavior of steel I-girder and reinforced concrete deck bridges under cold temperature conditions. Experimental testing using a scaled bridge model subjected to four-point bending tests demonstrated a 10.3% increase in ultimate load resistance in cold conditions compared to tests conducted at normal temperatures. However, this improvement came at the cost of a 44.5% reduction in maximum deflection and a 55.4% decline in ductility for the most deformation-sensitive girder (G1). While cold temperature exposure resulted in a modest increase in strength, these findings provide valuable insights for designing bridges in cold climates.
- ItemOpen AccessRestorying of the Sandy Bay Indian Residential School(2025-03-27) Nienhuysen, Jamie; Carleton, Sean (Indigenous Studies); Woolford, Andrew (Sociology and Criminology); Miller, CaryThis thesis aims to uncover the untold history of the Sandy Bay Indian Residential School (SBIRS), located in the centre of Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation. Using community-based processes, I examine the intentions of government officials and missionaries in establishing and operating the school, the student experiences at the SBIRS, and the lasting impacts it has made. My research utilizes a collaborative approach that combines archival work, storytelling, and community-based historical documentary work. Throughout my research, I used Indigenous methodologies that prioritized Sandy Bay’s cultural protocols and values of reciprocity and respect. Throughout this process, community members were considered partners rather than subjects of research. This thesis reveals that the intentions of the government and missionaries were rooted in efforts to erase Indigenous culture, traditions, spirituality, and language. Survivors’ oral histories reveal that the students at the SBIRS were subjected to abuse, neglect, and isolation. These impacts continue to be felt, and Survivors’ offer suggestions for healing. This thesis contributes to the field of residential school literature by offering a localized history that is representative of Sandy Bay’s experiences and perspectives, challenging the colonial misrepresentations of residential school history. This narrative provides Canadians the opportunity to learn residential school history through a community perspective and offers Sandy Bay community members a deeper understanding of the historical transformations within the community and the lasting legacies of the residential school, which can adequately inform strategies for healing. Through this work, we commemorate Survivors, honour the lives of students who have passed, and begin a pathway toward healing.
- ItemOpen AccessHena kiksuya mayanipte ye! ‘Remembering’ for Indigenous data, research, and spectrum sovereignty(2025-03-17) Daniels, Ashley Justine Wacanta; Gamache, Mylène (Indigenous Studies); Ladner, Kiera (Political Studies, Women's and Gender Studies); Daborn, MerissaThis research calls for epistemic justice where Treaty One, Oceti Sakowin, and the Red River Métis Nation can exercise rights over data, and research that is free from the constraints of settler colonial oversights and manipulation. This research stands alongside Indigenous research sovereignty scholars’ who provide the rationale for critiquing settler colonial infrastructures by placing rights-based frameworks at the forefront to advance the broader movement of Indigenous data sovereignty. I do this research through evaluation and analysis of settler-imposed policies in place-based context, referring to the University of Manitoba and administrations’ external influences, including the provincial and federal government. My thesis is rooted in the core methodologies of truth-telling, remembering, telling it straight, and takes a language revitalization approach to invoke collective memory and to assert Indigenous data, research, and spectrum sovereignty. I argue that language reflects place-based and nation specificities as dialects differ from nation to nation, place to place but also re-make relationality to data, law making, science, and technologies. Through the synchronized kinetic energy produced within this thesis, I identified a limitation of place-based and nation-specific infrastructures or collective collaboration, consent, and consensus with treaty and inherent rights holders of Treaty One, Oceti Sakowin, and the Red River Métis Nation at the University of Manitoba. By transmitting kinetic energy, this thesis contributes to the larger field of Critical Indigenous Studies through centering Anishinaabeg and Dakota Oyate ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies to demonstrate nation-rebuilding practices of re-making relationality beyond and outside of colonial bounds that further Indigenous data, research, and spectrum sovereignty movements. My thesis is here to remind Indigenous Peoples to refuse the ongoing colonial harms, and colonial ideologies within data, and research ecosystems.
- ItemOpen AccessRevisionary superheroes and speculative romance: disidentificatory tactics of South Asian representation and fandom in Western popular culture(2025-03-27) Shaji Marar, Lakshmisree; Joo, Hee-Jung Serenity (English, Theatre, Film and Media); MacKendrick, Kenneth G. (Religion); Keating, ErinThis thesis analyzes how creators deploy nuanced and inherently political tactics to represent and maintain a presence for South Asian subjectivities in Western popular culture. I borrow the term “tactics” from Micheal de Certeau’s theorization of the idea as “styles of social exchange, technical invention, and moral resistance” (106) that are capable of insinuating into sociopolitical hegemonic systems that support and sustain imperialism and neoliberalism. In order to “trick the order” (de Certeau 106), the authors/creators (and, in some cases, the fictional characters and the fandoms) go through tactical disidentificatory processes which can be understood as “a partial disavowal of [a] cultural form that works to restructure [the power structure] from within” (28) as José Esteban Muñoz describes. The disidentificatory politics of popular culture, its subgenres (superhero comics and historical romance), and the tactical inclusion of South Asian representation by the creators of the works are the primary areas of analysis. Chapter One studies Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ms. Marvel, the story of a Pakistani-American teenage superhero. The second chapter continues the discussion by analyzing the Disney+ adaptation of the comic. The chapters on Ms. Marvel argue that the characterization of the superhero proposes a revisionary understanding of the term superhero, unlike the one currently deriving from white, patriarchal societal values. Chapter Three analyses Netflix’s show Bridgerton’s second season and its story of two British-Indian sisters living in a mixed-race upper class in Regency-era Britain. This chapter advocates for the speculative tendencies of the romance show and establishes the disidentification as practiced by Brown characters and the fandoms. Ultimately, this thesis contends that disidentificatory tactics used in Western popular culture lend theoretical scaffolding for praxis, which is vital for our analysis of art in a neoliberal society still dominated by structures of whiteness.
- ItemOpen AccessBiomimetic vibroprobes for lunar and terrestrial subsurface exploration(2025-03-26) Alaei Varnosfaderani, Mahdi; Telichev, Igor (Mechanical Engineering); Liu, Hongwei (Civil Engineering); Skonieczny, Krzysztof (Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University); Maghoul, Pooneh; Wu, NanSpace exploration presents challenges, particularly in adapting soil drilling tools for efficient subsurface investigation of the Moon and other extraterrestrial bodies. Traditional tools used on Earth are impractical due to payload restrictions in space missions. To address this issue, the development of light and compact probes is essential for overcoming payload barriers. This research focuses on the development of two concepts for subsurface investigation tools: 1) the utilization of subsonic projectile probes, which can be launched from a lunar orbiter or lander to the surface of the Moon, and 2) bio-inspired vibroprobes, which can be mounted on a lunar rover. As such, in the first part of this thesis, an analytical model is developed to predict the deceleration rate and final penetration depth of a rigid projectile probe under perpendicular subsonic impact. The analytical model, developed based on the spherical cavity expansion theory, considers plastic and elastic stress fields by incorporating the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion. The proposed solutions in the subsonic range have been validated using field ground-based experimental data found in the literature. This validation confirms the model’s reliability in estimating the dynamic motion of the penetrator and highlights its potential as a benchmark for more complex, sophisticated numerical calculations. The second part of this thesis involves the development of a biomimetic vibro-based probe, which deploys energy-efficient high-power vibrations to enhance penetration into granular materials. This is carried out by drawing inspiration from observed bending vibrations in biological mechanisms such as snakes, horned lizards, and sandfish. First, the influence of vibration frequency, amplitude, and probe head on penetration resistance is assessed computationally using the discrete element method. The simulation outcomes suggest that high-frequency lateral vibrations hold promise in decreasing the required overhead load for the penetration of probes into granular media. Then, the impact of lateral vibration is physically investigated by developing proof-of-concept bio-inspired vibroprobes in the laboratory. The probes are equipped with thin piezo patches to induce lateral vibration, manifesting as bending vibrations in the structure of the probes. Through experimental testing, the capability of the vibroprobes to reduce penetration force and enhance the penetration process into granular materials is assessed. The experimental results demonstrated a significant reduction in penetration force, reaching up to 42%, when employing bi-directional bending vibrations in the circular cross-section probe. This highlights the effectiveness of bending vibration in developing compact subsurface drilling tools. These two concepts provide a promising strategy for overcoming soil drilling challenges in remote subsurface investigations.