Numerical analysis

We explore a novel method of approximating contractible invariant circles in maps. The process begins by leveraging improvements on Birkhoff's Ergodic Theorem via Weighted Birkhoff Averages to compute high precision estimates on several Fourier modes. We then set up a Newton-like iteration scheme to further improve the estimation and extend the approximation out to a sufficient number of modes to yield a significant decay in the magnitude of the coefficients of high order. With this approximation in hand, we explore the phase space near the approximate invariant circle with a form numerical continuation where the rotation number is perturbed and the process is repeated. Then, we turn our attention to a completely different problem which can be approached in a similar way to the numerical continuation, finding a Siegel disk boundary in a holomorphic map. Given a holomorphic map which leads to a formally solvable cohomological equation near the origin, we use a numerical continuation style process to approximate an invariant circle in the Siegel disk near the origin. Using an iterative scheme, we then enlarge the invariant circle so that it approximates the boundary of the Siegel disk.

Studies of composite multihull structure under wave loads, extreme loads, and blast loads have been conducted using finite element and computational fluid dynamics (CPF) tools. A comprehensive finite element tool for structural analysis of composite multi-hull structures is developed. Two-way fluid structure interaction (FSI) is implemented by coupling finite element analysis (FEA) and CFD. FEA models have been developed using sandwich construction having composite face sheets and a foam core. Fluid domain was modeled using the CFD code, CFX and a wave motion was simulated based on Sea State 5... In addition to hydrodynamic loads, the simulation of composite ship under extreme loads is performed. Stress analysis was performed and dynamic response of the hull was determined in time domain. In the final analysis, an underwater explosion model was developed to study the composite hull resistance to blast load.

Deterministic and stochastic weighting methods are commonly used methods for estimating missing precipitation rain gauge data based on values recorded at neighboring gauges. However, these spatial interpolation methods seldom check for their ability to preserve site and regional statistics. Such statistics and primarily defined by spatial correlations and other site-to-site statistics in a region. Preservation of site and regional statistics represents a means of assessing the validity of missing precipitation estimates at a site. This study evaluates the efficacy of traditional interpolation methods for estimation of missing data in preserving site and regional statistics. New optimal spatial interpolation methods intended to preserve these statistics are also proposed and evaluated in this study. Rain gauge sites in the state of Kentucky are used as a case study, and several error and performance measures are used to evaluate the trade-offs in accuracy of estimation and preservation of site and regional statistics.

Implementing Shamir's secret sharing scheme using floating point arithmetic would provide a faster and more efficient secret sharing scheme due to the speed in which GPUs perform floating point arithmetic. However, with the loss of a finite field, properties of a perfect secret sharing scheme are not immediately attainable. The goal is to analyze the plausibility of Shamir's secret sharing scheme using floating point arithmetic achieving the properties of a perfect secret sharing scheme and propose improvements to attain these properties. Experiments indicate that property 2 of a perfect secret sharing scheme, "Any k-1 or fewer participants obtain no information regarding the shared secret", is compromised when Shamir's secret sharing scheme is implemented with floating point arithmetic. These experimental results also provide information regarding possible solutions and adjustments. One of which being, selecting randomly generated points from a smaller interval in one of the proposed schemes of this thesis. Further experimental results indicate improvement using the scheme outlined. Possible attacks are run to test the desirable properties of the different schemes and reinforce the improvements observed in prior experiments.