Search results for: Arterial blood pressure
1220 Increase of Sensitivity in 3D Suspended Polymeric Microfluidic Platform through Lateral Misalignment
Authors: Ehsan Yazdanpanah Moghadam, Muthukumaran Packirisamy
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In the present study, a design of the suspended polymeric microfluidic platform is introduced that is fabricated with three polymeric layers. Changing the microchannel plane to be perpendicular to microcantilever plane, drastically decreases moment of inertia in that direction. In addition, the platform is made of polymer (around five orders of magnitude less compared to silicon). It causes significant increase in the sensitivity of the cantilever deflection. Next, although the dimensions of this platform are constant, by misaligning the embedded microchannels laterally in the suspended microfluidic platform, the sensitivity can be highly increased. The investigation is studied on four fluids including water, seawater, milk, and blood for flow ranges from low rate of 5 to 70 µl/min to obtain the best design with the highest sensitivity. The best design in this study shows the sensitivity increases around 50% for water, seawater, milk, and blood at the flow rate of 70 µl/min by just misaligning the embedded microchannels in the suspended polymeric microfluidic platform.Keywords: Microfluidic, biosensor, MEMS.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8851219 Back Stepping Sliding Mode Control of Blood Glucose for Type I Diabetes
Authors: N. Tadrisi Parsa, A. R. Vali, R. Ghasemi
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Diabetes is a growing health problem in worldwide. Especially, the patients with Type 1 diabetes need strict glycemic control because they have deficiency of insulin production. This paper attempts to control blood glucose based on body mathematical body model. The Bergman minimal mathematical model is used to develop the nonlinear controller. A novel back-stepping based sliding mode control (B-SMC) strategy is proposed as a solution that guarantees practical tracking of a desired glucose concentration. In order to show the performance of the proposed design, it is compared with conventional linear and fuzzy controllers which have been done in previous researches. The numerical simulation result shows the advantages of sliding mode back stepping controller design to linear and fuzzy controllers.
Keywords: Back stepping, Bergman Model, Nonlinear control, Sliding mode control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35371218 The Effect of Cyclic Speed on the Wear Properties of Molybdenum Disulfide Greases under Extreme Pressure Loading Using 4 Balls Wear Tests
Authors: Gabi Nehme
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The relationship between different types of Molybdenum disulfide greases under extreme pressure loading and different speed situations have been studied using Design of Experiment (DOE) under 1200rpm steady state rotational speed and cyclic frequencies between 2400 and 1200rpm using a Plint machine software to set up the different rotational speed situations. Research described here is aimed at providing good friction and wear performance while optimizing cyclic frequencies and MoS2 concentration due to the recent concern about grease behavior in extreme pressure applications. Extreme load of 785 Newton was used in conjunction with different cyclic frequencies (2400rpm -3.75min, 1200rpm -7.5min, 2400rpm -3.75min, 1200rpm -7.5min), to examine lithium based grease with and without MoS2 for equal number of revolutions, and a total run of 36000 revolutions; then compared to 1200rpm steady speed for the same total number of revolutions. 4 Ball wear tester was utilized to run large number of experiments randomly selected by the DOE software. The grease was combined with fine grade MoS2 or technical grade then heated to 750C and the wear scar width was collected at the end of each test. DOE model validation results verify that the data were very significant and can be applied to a wide range of extreme pressure applications. Based on simulation results and Scanning Electron images (SEM), it has been found that wear was largely dependent on the cyclic frequency condition. It is believed that technical grade MoS2 greases under faster cyclic speeds perform better and provides antiwear film that can resist extreme pressure loadings. Figures showed reduced wear scars width and improved frictional values.
Keywords: MoS2 grease, wear, friction, extreme load, cyclic frequencies, aircraft grade bearing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18981217 Numerical Studies on the Performance of Finned-Tube Heat Exchanger
Authors: Praveen Kumar S P, Bong-Su Sin, Kwon-Hee Lee
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Finned-tube heat exchangers are predominantly used in space conditioning systems, as well as other applications requiring heat exchange between two fluids. The design of finned-tube heat exchangers requires the selection of over a dozen design parameters by the designer such as tube pitch, tube diameter, tube thickness, etc… Finned-tube heat exchangers are common devices; however, their performance characteristics are complicated. In this paper numerical studies have been carried out to analyze the performances of finned tube heat exchanger (without fins considered for experimental purpose) by predicting the characteristics of temperature difference and pressure drop. In this study, a design considering 5 design variables and also maximizing the temperature difference and pressure drop was suggested by applying DOE. During this process, L18 orthogonal array was adopted. Parametric analytical studies have been carried out using ANOVA to determine the relative importance of each variable with respect to the temperature difference and the pressure drop. Following the results, the final design was suggested by predicting the optimum design therefore confirming the optimized condition.
Keywords: Heat Exchanger, Fluid Analysis, Heat Transfer, Design of Experiment (DOE), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26431216 Inflammatory Markers in the Blood and Chronic Periodontitis
Authors: Saimir Heta, Ilma Robo, Nevila Alliu, Tea Meta
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Background: Plasma levels of inflammatory markers are the expression of the infectious wastes of existing periodontitis, as well as of existing inflammation everywhere in the body. Materials and Methods: The study consists of the clinical part of the measurement of inflammatory markers of 23 patients diagnosed with chronic periodontitis and the recording of parental periodontal parameters of patient periodontal status: hemorrhage index and probe values, before and 7-10 days after non-surgical periodontal treatment. Results: The level of fibrinogen drops according to the categorization of disease progression, active and passive, with the biggest % (18%-30%) at the fluctuation 10-20 mg/d. Fluctuations in fibrinogen level according to the age of patients in the range 0-10 mg/dL under 40 years and over 40 years was 13%-26%, in the range 10-20 mg/dL was 26%-22%, in the 20-40 mg/dL was 9%-4%. Conclusions: Non-surgical periodontal treatment significantly reduces the level of non-inflammatory markers in the blood. Oral health significantly reduces the potential source for periodontal bacteria, with the potential of promoting thromboembolism, through interaction between thrombocytes.
Keywords: Chronic periodontitis, atherosclerosis, risk factor, inflammatory markers.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5631215 Combustion and Emission of a Compression Ignition Engine Fueled with Diesel and Hydrogen-Methane Mixture
Authors: J. H. Zhou, C. S. Cheung, C. W. Leung
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The present study conducted experimental investigation on combustion and emission characteristics of compression ignition engine using diesel as pilot fuel and methane, hydrogen and methane/hydrogen mixture as gaseous fuels at 1800 rev min-1. The effect of gaseous fuel on peak cylinder pressure and heat release is modest at low to medium loads. At high load, the high combustion temperature and high quantity of pilot fuel contribute to better combustion efficiency for all kinds of gaseous fuels and increases the peak cylinder pressure. Enrichment of hydrogen in methane gradually increases the peak cylinder pressure. The brake thermal efficiency increases with higher hydrogen fraction at lower loads. Hydrogen addition in methane contributed to a proportional reduction of CO/CO2/HC emission without penalty of NOx. For particulate emission, methane and hydrogen, could both suppress the particle emission. 30% hydrogen fraction in methane is observed to be best in reducing the particulate emission.
Keywords: Combustion characteristics, diesel engine, emissions, methane/hydrogen mixture.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 36931214 An Optimization of the New Die Design of Sheet Hydroforming by Taguchi Method
Authors: M. Hosseinzadeh, S. A. Zamani, A. Taheri
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During the last few years, several sheet hydroforming processes have been introduced. Despite the advantages of these methods, they have some limitations. Of the processes, the two main ones are the standard hydroforming and hydromechanical deep drawing. A new sheet hydroforming die set was proposed that has the advantages of both processes and eliminates their limitations. In this method, a polyurethane plate was used as a part of the die-set to control the blank holder force. This paper outlines the Taguchi optimization methodology, which is applied to optimize the effective parameters in forming cylindrical cups by the new die set of sheet hydroforming process. The process parameters evaluated in this research are polyurethane hardness, polyurethane thickness, forming pressure path and polyurethane hole diameter. The design of experiments based upon L9 orthogonal arrays by Taguchi was used and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to analyze the effect of these parameters on the forming pressure. The analysis of the results showed that the optimal combination for low forming pressure is harder polyurethane, bigger diameter of polyurethane hole and thinner polyurethane. Finally, the confirmation test was derived based on the optimal combination of parameters and it was shown that the Taguchi method is suitable to examine the optimization process.Keywords: Sheet Hydroforming, Optimization, Taguchi Method
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25961213 Two-Dimensional Observation of Oil Displacement by Water in a Petroleum Reservoir through Numerical Simulation and Application to a Petroleum Reservoir
Authors: Ahmad Fahim Nasiry, Shigeo Honma
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We examine two-dimensional oil displacement by water in a petroleum reservoir. The pore fluid is immiscible, and the porous media is homogenous and isotropic in the horizontal direction. Buckley-Leverett theory and a combination of Laplacian and Darcy’s law are used to study the fluid flow through porous media, and the Laplacian that defines the dispersion and diffusion of fluid in the sand using heavy oil is discussed. The reservoir is homogenous in the horizontal direction, as expressed by the partial differential equation. Two main factors which are observed are the water saturation and pressure distribution in the reservoir, and they are evaluated for predicting oil recovery in two dimensions by a physical and mathematical simulation model. We review the numerical simulation that solves difficult partial differential reservoir equations. Based on the numerical simulations, the saturation and pressure equations are calculated by the iterative alternating direction implicit method and the iterative alternating direction explicit method, respectively, according to the finite difference assumption. However, to understand the displacement of oil by water and the amount of water dispersion in the reservoir better, an interpolated contour line of the water distribution of the five-spot pattern, that provides an approximate solution which agrees well with the experimental results, is also presented. Finally, a computer program is developed to calculate the equation for pressure and water saturation and to draw the pressure contour line and water distribution contour line for the reservoir.Keywords: Numerical simulation, immiscible, finite difference, IADI, IADE, waterflooding.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10891212 Supply Air Pressure Control of HVAC System Using MPC Controller
Authors: P. Javid, A. Aeenmehr, J. Taghavifar
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In this paper, supply air pressure of HVAC system has been modeled with second-order transfer function plus dead-time. In HVAC system, the desired input has step changes, and the output of proposed control system should be able to follow the input reference, so the idea of using model based predictive control is proceeded and designed in this paper. The closed loop control system is implemented in MATLAB software and the simulation results are provided. The simulation results show that the model based predictive control is able to control the plant properly.
Keywords: Air conditioning system, GPC, dead time, Air supply control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22761211 Image Clustering Framework for BAVM Segmentation in 3DRA Images: Performance Analysis
Authors: FH. Sarieddeen, R. El Berbari, S. Imad, J. Abdel Baki, M. Hamad, R. Blanc, A. Nakib, Y.Chenoune
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Brain ArterioVenous Malformation (BAVM) is an abnormal tangle of brain blood vessels where arteries shunt directly into veins with no intervening capillary bed which causes high pressure and hemorrhage risk. The success of treatment by embolization in interventional neuroradiology is highly dependent on the accuracy of the vessels visualization. In this paper the performance of clustering techniques on vessel segmentation from 3- D rotational angiography (3DRA) images is investigated and a new technique of segmentation is proposed. This method consists in: preprocessing step of image enhancement, then K-Means (KM), Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) and Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering are used to separate vessel pixels from background and artery pixels from vein pixels when possible. A post processing step of removing false-alarm components is applied before constructing a three-dimensional volume of the vessels. The proposed method was tested on six datasets along with a medical assessment of an expert. Obtained results showed encouraging segmentations.
Keywords: Brain arteriovenous malformation (BAVM), 3-D rotational angiography (3DRA), K-Means (KM) clustering, Fuzzy CMeans (FCM) clustering, Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering, volume rendering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19101210 Capacitive Air Bubble Detector Operated at Different Frequencies for Application in Hemodialysis
Authors: Mawahib Gafare Abdalrahman Ahmed, Abdallah Belal Adam, John Ojur Dennis
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Air bubbles have been detected in human circulation of end-stage renal disease patients who are treated by hemodialysis. The consequence of air embolism, air bubbles, is under recognized and usually overlooked in daily practice. This paper shows results of a capacitor based detection method that capable of detecting the presence of air bubbles in the blood stream in different frequencies. The method is based on a parallel plates capacitor made of platinum with an area of 1.5 cm2 and a distance between the two plates is 1cm. The dielectric material used in this capacitor is Dextran70 solution which mimics blood rheology. Simulations were carried out using RC circuit at two frequencies 30Hz and 3 kHz and results compared with experiments and theory. It is observed that by injecting air bubbles of different diameters into the device, there were significant changes in the capacitance of the capacitor. Furthermore, it is observed that the output voltage from the circuit increased with increasing air bubble diameter. These results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach in improving air bubble detection in Hemodialysis.Keywords: Air bubbles, Hemodialysis, Capacitor, Dextran70, Air bubbles diameters.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32461209 A Numerical Study of Single-phase Forced Convective Heat Transfer in Tube in Tube Heat Exchangers
Authors: P. Mohajeri Khameneh, I. Mirzaie, N. Pourmahmoud, M. Rahimi, S. Majidyfar
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Three dimensional simulations in tube in tube heat exchangers are investigated numerically in this study. In these simulations forced convective heat transfer and laminar flow of single-phase water are considered. In order to measure heat transfer parameters in these heat exchangers, FLUENT CFD Solver is used in this numerical method. For the purpose of creating geometry and exert boundary and initial conditions in the present model, finite volume method in Computational Fluid Dynamics is used in this study. In the present study, at each Z-location, variation of local temperatures, heat flux and Nusselt number at the whole tube is investigated in detail. Thereafter, averaged computational Nusselt number in this model is calculated. In addition, conceivable pressure drops have been obtained at each Z-location in this model. Then, pressure drop values in the present model are explored. Finally, all the numerical results for this kind of heat exchanger will be discussed precisely.Keywords: Heat exchanger, Laminar flow, CFD, Nusseltnumber, Tube in tube, pressure drop.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20341208 Numerical Study of Effects of Air Dam on the Flow Field and Pressure Distribution of a Passenger Car
Authors: Min Ye Koo, Ji Ho Ahn, Byung Il You, Gyo Woo Lee
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Everything that is attached to the outside of the vehicle to improve the driving performance of the vehicle by changing the flow characteristics of the surrounding air or to pursue the external personality is called a tuning part. Typical tuning components include front or rear air dam, also known as spoilers, splitter, and side air dam. Particularly, the front air dam prevents the airflow flowing into the lower portion of the vehicle and increases the amount of air flow to the side and front of the vehicle body, thereby reducing lift force generation that lifts the vehicle body, and thus, improving the steering and driving performance of the vehicle. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of anterior air dam in the flow around a sedan passenger car using computational fluid dynamics. The effects of flow velocity, trajectory of fluid particles on static pressure distribution and pressure distribution on body surface were investigated by varying flow velocity and size of air dam. As a result, it has been confirmed that the front air dam improves the flow characteristics, thereby reducing the generation of lift force of the vehicle, so it helps in steering and driving characteristics.
Keywords: Numerical study, computational fluid dynamics, air dam, tuning parts, drag, lift force.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16361207 Common Carotid Artery Intima Media Thickness Segmentation Survey
Authors: L. Ashok Kumar, C. Nagarajan
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The ultrasound imaging is very popular to diagnosis the disease because of its non-invasive nature. The ultrasound imaging slowly produces low quality images due to the presence of spackle noise and wave interferences. There are several algorithms to be proposed for the segmentation of ultrasound carotid artery images but it requires a certain limit of user interaction. The pixel in an image is highly correlated so the spatial information of surrounding pixels may be considered in the process of image segmentation which improves the results further. When data is highly correlated, one pixel may belong to more than one cluster with different degree of membership. There is an important step to computerize the evaluation of arterial disease severity using segmentation of carotid artery lumen in 2D and 3D ultrasonography and in finding vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques susceptible to rupture which can cause stroke.
Keywords: IMT measurement, Image Segmentation, common carotid artery, internal and external carotid arteries, ultrasound imaging.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19981206 Derivation of Empirical Formulae to Predict Pressure and Impulsive Asymptotes for P-I Diagrams of One-way RC Panels
Authors: Azrul A. Mutalib, Masoud Abedini, Shahrizan Baharom, Hong Hao
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There are only limited studies that directly correlate the increase in reinforced concrete (RC) panel structural capacities in resisting the blast loads with different RC panel structural properties in terms of blast loading characteristics, RC panel dimensions, steel reinforcement ratio and concrete material strength. In this paper, numerical analyses of dynamic response and damage of the one-way RC panel to blast loads are carried out using the commercial software LS-DYNA. A series of simulations are performed to predict the blast response and damage of columns with different level and magnitude of blast loads. The numerical results are used to develop pressureimpulse (P-I) diagrams of one-way RC panels. Based on the numerical results, the empirical formulae are derived to calculate the pressure and impulse asymptotes of the P-I diagrams of RC panels. The results presented in this paper can be used to construct P-I diagrams of RC panels with different concrete and reinforcement properties. The P-I diagrams are very useful to assess panel capacities in resisting different blast loads.
Keywords: One-way reinforced concrete (RC) panels, Explosive loads, LS-DYNA Software, Pressure-Impulse (P-I) diagram, Numerical.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27631205 Effect of Assumptions of Normal Shock Location on the Design of Supersonic Ejectors for Refrigeration
Authors: Payam Haghparast, Mikhail V. Sorin, Hakim Nesreddine
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The complex oblique shock phenomenon can be simply assumed as a normal shock at the constant area section to simulate a sharp pressure increase and velocity decrease in 1-D thermodynamic models. The assumed normal shock location is one of the greatest sources of error in ejector thermodynamic models. Most researchers consider an arbitrary location without justifying it. Our study compares the effect of normal shock place on ejector dimensions in 1-D models. To this aim, two different ejector experimental test benches, a constant area-mixing ejector (CAM) and a constant pressure-mixing (CPM) are considered, with different known geometries, operating conditions and working fluids (R245fa, R141b). In the first step, in order to evaluate the real value of the efficiencies in the different ejector parts and critical back pressure, a CFD model was built and validated by experimental data for two types of ejectors. These reference data are then used as input to the 1D model to calculate the lengths and the diameters of the ejectors. Afterwards, the design output geometry calculated by the 1D model is compared directly with the corresponding experimental geometry. It was found that there is a good agreement between the ejector dimensions obtained by the 1D model, for both CAM and CPM, with experimental ejector data. Furthermore, it is shown that normal shock place affects only the constant area length as it is proven that the inlet normal shock assumption results in more accurate length. Taking into account previous 1D models, the results suggest the use of the assumed normal shock location at the inlet of the constant area duct to design the supersonic ejectors.
Keywords: 1D model, constant area-mixing, constant pressure-mixing, normal shock location, ejector dimensions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9551204 A Computational Comparison between Revetec Engine and Conventional Internal Combustion Engines on the Indicated Torque
Authors: Maisara Mohyeldin Gasim, A. K. Amirruddin, A. Shahrani
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This paper investigates the effect of replacing crankshaft with cam on the indicated torque during compression and power strokes in internal combustion engines. A Cycloidal cam profile was used in Revetec engine to calculate and compare the torque to a conventional engine, using a computational method. Firstly, the cylinder pressure was calculated using Ferguson equation, and then the torque calculated depending on cylinder pressure values in every crank angle. the results showed that by using Cycloidal cam profile in Revetec engine the torque can increased by 14% compared with conventional engines, which means an increase in engine efficiency.Keywords: Revetec engine, indicated torque, cam profile.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20091203 A Combined Practical Approach to Condition Monitoring of Reciprocating Compressors using IAS and Dynamic Pressure
Authors: M. Elhaj, M. Almrabet, M. Rgeai, I. Ehtiwesh
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A Comparison and evaluation of the different condition monitoring (CM) techniques was applied experimentally on RC e.g. Dynamic cylinder pressure and crankshaft Instantaneous Angular Speed (IAS), for the detection and diagnosis of valve faults in a two - stage reciprocating compressor for a programme of condition monitoring which can successfully detect and diagnose a fault in machine. Leakage in the valve plate was introduced experimentally into a two-stage reciprocating compressor. The effect of the faults on compressor performance was monitored and the differences with the normal, healthy performance noted as a fault signature been used for the detection and diagnosis of faults. The paper concludes with what is considered to be a unique approach to condition monitoring. First, each of the two most useful techniques is used to produce a Truth Table which details the circumstances in which each method can be used to detect and diagnose a fault. The two Truth Tables are then combined into a single Decision Table to provide a unique and reliable method of detection and diagnosis of each of the individual faults introduced into the compressor. This gives accurate diagnosis of compressor faults.Keywords: Condition Monitoring, Dynamic Pressure, Instantaneous Angular Speed, Reciprocating Compressor.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33031202 Ductile Crack Growth in Surface Cracked Pressure Vessels
Authors: Osama A. Terfas, Abdusalam A. Alaktiwi
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Pressure vessels are usually operating at temperatures where the conditions of linear elastic fracture mechanics are no longer met because massive plasticity precedes crack propagation. In this work the development of a surface crack in a pressure vessel subject to bending and tension under elastic-plastic fracture mechanics conditions was investigated. Finite element analysis was used to evaluate the hydrostatic stress, the J-integral and crack growth for semi-elliptical surface-breaking cracks. The results showed non-uniform stress triaxiality and crack driving force around the crack front at large deformation levels. Different ductile crack extensions were observed which emphasis the dependent of ductile tearing on crack geometry and type of loading. In bending the crack grew only beneath the surface, and growth was suppressed at the deepest segment. This contrasts to tension where the crack breaks through the thickness with uniform growth along the entire crack front except at the free surface. Current investigations showed that the crack growth developed under linear elastic fracture mechanics conditions will no longer be applicable under ductile tearing scenarios.Keywords: Bending, ductile tearing, fracture toughness, stress triaxiality, tension.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26701201 Body Composition Response to Lower Body Positive Pressure Training in Obese Children
Authors: Basant H. El-Refay, Nabeel T. Faiad
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Background: The high prevalence of obesity in Egypt has a great impact on the health care system, economic and social situation. Evidence suggests that even a moderate amount of weight loss can be useful. Aim of the study: To analyze the effects of lower body positive pressure supported treadmill training, conducted with hypocaloric diet, on body composition of obese children. Methods: Thirty children aged between 8 and 14 years, were randomly assigned into two groups: intervention group (15 children) and control group (15 children). All of them were evaluated using body composition analysis through bioelectric impedance. The following parameters were measured before and after the intervention: body mass, body fat mass, muscle mass, body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat and basal metabolic rate (BMR). The study group exercised with antigravity treadmill three times a week during 2 months, and participated in a hypocaloric diet program. The control group participated in a hypocaloric diet program only. Results: Both groups showed significant reduction in body mass, body fat mass and BMI. Only study group showed significant reduction in percentage of body fat (p = 0.0.043). Changes in muscle mass and BMR didn't reach statistical significance in both groups. No significant differences were observed between groups except for muscle mass (p = 0.049) and BMR (p = 0.042) favoring study group. Conclusion: Both programs proved effective in the reduction of obesity indicators, but lower body positive pressure supported treadmill training was more effective in improving muscle mass and BMR.
Keywords: Children, Hypocaloric diet, Lower body positive pressure supported treadmill, obesity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 43241200 Agent-based Simulation for Blood Glucose Control in Diabetic Patients
Authors: Sh. Yasini, M. B. Naghibi-Sistani, A. Karimpour
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This paper employs a new approach to regulate the blood glucose level of type I diabetic patient under an intensive insulin treatment. The closed-loop control scheme incorporates expert knowledge about treatment by using reinforcement learning theory to maintain the normoglycemic average of 80 mg/dl and the normal condition for free plasma insulin concentration in severe initial state. The insulin delivery rate is obtained off-line by using Qlearning algorithm, without requiring an explicit model of the environment dynamics. The implementation of the insulin delivery rate, therefore, requires simple function evaluation and minimal online computations. Controller performance is assessed in terms of its ability to reject the effect of meal disturbance and to overcome the variability in the glucose-insulin dynamics from patient to patient. Computer simulations are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed technique and to show its superiority in controlling hyperglycemia over other existing algorithmsKeywords: Insulin Delivery rate, Q-learning algorithm, Reinforcement learning, Type I diabetes.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22001199 Numerical Analysis of a Centrifugal Fan for Improved Performance using Splitter Vanes
Authors: N. Yagnesh Sharma, K. Vasudeva Karanth
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The flow field in a centrifugal fan is highly complex with flow reversal taking place on the suction side of impeller and diffuser vanes. Generally performance of the centrifugal fan could be enhanced by judiciously introducing splitter vanes so as to improve the diffusion process. An extensive numerical whole field analysis on the effect of splitter vanes placed in discrete regions of suspected separation points is possible using CFD. This paper examines the effect of splitter vanes corresponding to various geometrical locations on the impeller and diffuser. The analysis shows that the splitter vanes located near the diffuser exit improves the static pressure recovery across the diffusing domain to a larger extent. Also it is found that splitter vanes located at the impeller trailing edge and diffuser leading edge at the mid-span of the circumferential distance between the blades show a marginal improvement in the static pressure recovery across the fan. However, splitters provided near to the suction side of the impeller trailing edge (25% of the circumferential gap between the impeller blades towards the suction side), adversely affect the static pressure recovery of the fan.Keywords: Splitter vanes, Flow separation, Sliding mesh, Unsteady analysis, Recirculation zone, Jets and wakes.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30811198 Graphical Approach for Targeting Work Exchange Networks
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Depressurization and pressurization streams in industrial systems constitute a work exchange network (WEN). In this paper, a novel graphical approach for targeting energy conservation potential of a WEN is proposed. Through constructing the composite work curves in the pressure-work diagram and assuming all of the mechanical energy of the depressurization streams is recovered by expanders, the maximum work target of a WEN can be determined via the proposed targeting steps. A WEN in an ammonia production process is used as a case study to illustrate the applicability of the proposed graphical approach.Keywords: Expanders, Graphical approach, Pressure-work diagram, Work exchange network, Work target
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15021197 Traffic Signal Coordinated Control Optimization: A Case Study
Authors: Pengdi Diao, Zhuo Wang, Zundong Zhang, Hua Cheng
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In the urban traffic network, the intersections are the “bottleneck point" of road network capacity. And the arterials are the main body in road network and the key factor which guarantees the normal operation of the city-s social and economic activities. The rapid increase in vehicles leads to seriously traffic jam and cause the increment of vehicles- delay. Most cities of our country are traditional single control system, which cannot meet the need for the city traffic any longer. In this paper, Synchro6.0 as a platform to minimize the intersection delay, optimizesingle signal cycle and split for Zhonghua Street in Handan City. Meanwhile, linear control system uses to optimize the phase for the t arterial road in this system. Comparing before and after use the control, capacities and service levels of this road and the adjacent road have improved significantly.Keywords: linear control system; delay mode; signal optimization; synchro6.0 simulation
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21251196 Passive Flow Control in Twin Air-Intakes
Authors: Akshoy R. Paul, Pritanshu Ranjan, Ravi R. Upadhyay, Anuj Jain
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Aircraft propulsion systems often use Y-shaped subsonic diffusing ducts as twin air-intakes to supply the ambient air into the engine compressor for thrust generation. Due to space constraint, the diffusers need to be curved, which causes severe flow non-uniformity at the engine face. The present study attempt to control flow in a mild-curved Y-duct diffuser using trapezoidalshaped vortex generators (VG) attached on either both the sidewalls or top and bottom walls of the diffuser at the inflexion plane. A commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is modified and is used to simulate the effects of SVG in flow of a Y-duct diffuser. A few experiments are conducted for CFD code validation, while the rest are done computationally. The best combination of Yduct diffuser is found with VG-2 arranged in co-rotating sequence and attached to both the sidewalls, which ensures highest static pressure recovery, lowest total pressure loss, minimum flow distortion and less flow separation in Y-duct diffuser. The decrease in VG height while attached to top and bottom walls further improves axial flow uniformity at the diffuser outlet by a great margin as compared to the bare duct.Keywords: Twin air-intake, Vortex generator (VG), Turbulence model, Pressure recovery, Distortion coefficient
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21311195 Construction and Validation of a Hybrid Lumbar Spine Model for the Fast Evaluation of Intradiscal Pressure and Mobility
Authors: Ali Hamadi Dicko, Nicolas Tong-Yette, Benjamin Gilles, François Faure, Olivier Palombi
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A novel hybrid model of the lumbar spine, allowing fast static and dynamic simulations of the disc pressure and the spine mobility, is introduced in this work. Our contribution is to combine rigid bodies, deformable finite elements, articular constraints, and springs into a unique model of the spine. Each vertebra is represented by a rigid body controlling a surface mesh to model contacts on the facet joints and the spinous process. The discs are modeled using a heterogeneous tetrahedral finite element model. The facet joints are represented as elastic joints with six degrees of freedom, while the ligaments are modeled using non-linear one-dimensional elastic elements. The challenge we tackle is to make these different models efficiently interact while respecting the principles of Anatomy and Mechanics. The mobility, the intradiscal pressure, the facet joint force and the instantaneous center of rotation of the lumbar spine are validated against the experimental and theoretical results of the literature on flexion, extension, lateral bending as well as axial rotation. Our hybrid model greatly simplifies the modeling task and dramatically accelerates the simulation of pressure within the discs, as well as the evaluation of the range of motion and the instantaneous centers of rotation, without penalizing precision. These results suggest that for some types of biomechanical simulations, simplified models allow far easier modeling and faster simulations compared to usual full-FEM approaches without any loss of accuracy.
Keywords: Hybrid, modeling, fast simulation, lumbar spine.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23821194 Solubility of Water in CO2 Mixtures at Pipeline Operation Conditions
Authors: Mohammad Ahmad, Sander Gersen, Erwin Wilbers
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Carbon capture, transport and underground storage have become a major solution to reduce CO2 emissions from power plants and other large CO2 sources. A big part of this captured CO2 stream is transported at high pressure dense phase conditions and stored in offshore underground depleted oil and gas fields. CO2 is also transported in offshore pipelines to be used for enhanced oil and gas recovery. The captured CO2 stream with impurities may contain water that causes severe corrosion problems, flow assurance failure and might damage valves and instrumentations. Thus, free water formation should be strictly prevented. The purpose of this work is to study the solubility of water in pure CO2 and in CO2 mixtures under real pipeline pressure (90-150 bar) and temperature operation conditions (5-35°C). A set up was constructed to generate experimental data. The results show the solubility of water in CO2 mixtures increasing with the increase of the temperature or/and with the increase in pressure. A drop in water solubility in CO2 is observed in the presence of impurities. The data generated were then used to assess the capabilities of two mixture models: the GERG-2008 model and the EOS-CG model. By generating the solubility data, this study contributes to determine the maximum allowable water content in CO2 pipelines.
Keywords: Carbon capture and storage, water solubility, equation of states.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29141193 Numerical Investigation of Unsteady MHD Flow of Second Order Fluid in a Tube of Elliptical Cross-Section on the Porous Boundary
Authors: S. B. Kulkarni, Hasim A. Chikte, V. Murali Mohan
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Exact solution of an unsteady MHD flow of elasticoviscous fluid through a porous media in a tube of elliptic cross section under the influence of magnetic field and constant pressure gradient has been obtained in this paper. Initially, the flow is generated by a constant pressure gradient. After attaining the steady state, the pressure gradient is suddenly withdrawn and the resulting fluid motion in a tube of elliptical cross section by taking into account of the porosity factor and magnetic parameter of the bounding surface is investigated. The problem is solved in two-stages the first stage is a steady motion in tube under the influence of a constant pressure gradient, the second stage concern with an unsteady motion. The problem is solved employing separation of variables technique. The results are expressed in terms of a non-dimensional porosity parameter, magnetic parameter and elastico-viscosity parameter, which depends on the Non-Newtonian coefficient. The flow parameters are found to be identical with that of Newtonian case as elastic-viscosity parameter, magnetic parameter tends to zero, and porosity tends to infinity. The numerical results were simulated in MATLAB software to analyze the effect of Elastico-viscous parameter, porosity parameter, and magnetic parameter on velocity profile. Boundary conditions were satisfied. It is seen that the effect of elastico-viscosity parameter, porosity parameter and magnetic parameter of the bounding surface has significant effect on the velocity parameter.Keywords: Elastico-viscous fluid, Porous media, Elliptic cross-section, Magnetic parameter, Numerical Simulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18161192 Can EEG Test Helps in Identifying Brain Tumor?
Authors: M. Sharanreddy, P. K. Kulkarni
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Brain tumor is inherently serious and life-threatening disease. Brain tumor builds the intracranial pressure in the brain, by shifting the brain or pushing against the skull, and also damaging nerves and healthy brain tissues. This intracranial pressure affects and interferes with normal brain functionality, which results in generation of abnormal electrical activities from brain. With recent development in the medical engineering and instruments, EEG instruments are able to record the brain electric activities with high accuracy, which establishes EEG as a primary tool for diagnosing the brain abnormalities. Research scholars and general physicians, often face difficulty in understanding EEG patterns. This paper presents the EEG patterns associated with brain tumor by combing medicine theory and neurologist experience. Paper also explains the pros-cons of the EEG based brain tumor identification.
Keywords: Brain tumor, Electroencephalogram (EEG).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 102951191 Operation Stability Enhancement in Once-Through Micro Evaporators
Authors: Cor M. Rops, Giaco C. Oosterbaan, Cees W.M. v/d Geld
Abstract:
Equipment miniaturisation offers several opportunities such as an increased surface-to-volume ratio and higher heat transfer coefficients. However, moving towards small-diameter channels demands extra attention to fouling, reliability and stable operation of the system. The present investigation explores possibilities to enhance the stability of the once-through micro evaporator by reducing its flow boiling induced pressure fluctuations. Experimental comparison shows that the measured reduction factor approaches a theoretically derived value. Pressure fluctuations are reduced by a factor of ten in the solid conical channel and a factor of 15 in the porous conical channel. This presumably leads to less backflow and therefore to a better flow control.
Keywords: Flow boiling, Operation stability, Microfluidics, Microchannels.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1643