Search results for: non-linear load.

Authors: R. S. A. Nesbitt, J. Macione, A. Debroy, S. P. Kotha

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Bones are dynamic and responsive organs, they regulate their strength and mass according to the loads which they are subjected. Because, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has profound effects on the regulation of bone mass, we hypothesized that mechanical loading of bone cells stimulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which results in the generation of new bone mass. Mechanical loading triggers the secretion of the Wnt molecule, which after binding to transmembrane proteins, causes GSK-3β (Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta) to cease the phosphorylation of β-catenin. β-catenin accumulation in the cytoplasm, followed by its transport into the nucleus, binding to transcription factors (TCF/LEF) that initiate transcription of genes related to bone formation. To test this hypothesis, we used TOPGAL (Tcf Optimal Promoter β-galactosidase) mice in an experiment in which cyclic loads were applied to the forearm. TOPGAL mice are reporters for cells effected by the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. TOPGAL mice are genetically engineered mice in which transcriptional activation of β- catenin, results in the production of an enzyme, β-galactosidase. The presence of this enzyme allows us to localize transcriptional activation of β-catenin to individual cells, thereby, allowing us to quantify the effects that mechanical loading has on the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and new bone formation. The ulnae of loaded TOPGAL mice were excised and transverse slices along different parts of the ulnar shaft were assayed for the presence of β-galactosidase. Our results indicate that loading increases β-catenin transcriptional activity in regions where this pathway is already primed (i.e. where basal activity is already higher) in a load magnitude dependent manner. Further experiments are needed to determine the temporal and spatial activation of this signaling in relation to bone formation.

Keywords: Bone Resorption and Formation, Mechanical Loading of Bone, Wnt Signaling Pathway & β-catenin.

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Authors: Almutasim Billa A. Alanazi, Hal S. Tharp

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Electrical energy demands have increased due to population growth and the variety of new electrical load technologies. This increase demand has nearly doubled during peak hours. Consequently, that necessitates the construction of new power plant infrastructures, which is a costly approach due to the expense of construction building, future preservation like maintenance, and environmental impact. As an alternative approach, most electrical utilities increase the price of electrical usage during peak hours, encouraging consumers to use less electricity during peak periods under Time-Of-Use programs, which may not be universally suitable for all consumers. Furthermore, in some areas, the excessive demand and the lack of supply cause an electrical outage, posing considerable stress and challenges to electrical utilities and consumers. However, control systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and renewable energy (RE), when effectively integrated, provide new solutions to mitigate excessive demand during peak hours. This paper presents a power model that reduces the reliance on the power grid during peak hours by utilizing a hybrid solar system connected to a residential house with a power management controller, that prioritizes the power drives between Photovoltaic (PV) production, battery backup, and the utility electrical grid. As a result, dependence on utility grid was from 3% to 18% during peak hours, improving energy stability safely and efficiently for electrical utilities, consumers, and communities, providing a viable alternative to conventional approaches such as Time-Of-Use programs.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, AI, control system, photovoltaic, PV, renewable energy.

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Authors: Seyyed Abbas Mojtabavi, Mojtaba Fatzaneh Moghadam, Masoud Mahdavi

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Steel Metal Shear Wall is one of the most common and widely used energy dissipation systems in structures, which is used today as a damping system due to the increase in the construction of metal structures. In the present study, the shear wall of the steel plate with dimensions of 5×3 m and thickness of 0.024 m was modeled with 2 floors of total height from the base level with finite element method in Abaqus software. The loading is done as a concentrated load at the upper point of the shear wall on the second floor based on step type buckle. The mesh in the model is applied in two directions of length and width of the shear wall, equal to 0.02 and 0.033, respectively, and the mesh in the models is of sweep type. Finally, it was found that the steel plate shear wall with cavity (CSPSW) compared to the SPSW model, S (Mises), Smax (In-Plane Principal), Smax (In-Plane Principal-ABS), Smax (Min Principal) increased by 53%, 70%, 68% and 43%, respectively. The presence of cavities has led to an increase in the estimated stresses, but their presence has caused critical stresses and critical deformations created to be removed from the inner surface of the shear wall and transferred to the desired sections (regular cavities) which can be suggested as a solution in seismic design and improvement of the structure to transfer possible damage during the earthquake and storm to the desired and pre-designed location in the structure.

Keywords: Steel plate shear wall, Abacus software, finite element method, boundary element, seismic structural improvement, Von misses Stress.

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Authors: H. Shayeghi, A. Jalili

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This paper presents a new Hybrid Fuzzy (HF) PID type controller based on Genetic Algorithms (GA-s) for solution of the Automatic generation Control (AGC) problem in a deregulated electricity environment. In order for a fuzzy rule based control system to perform well, the fuzzy sets must be carefully designed. A major problem plaguing the effective use of this method is the difficulty of accurately constructing the membership functions, because it is a computationally expensive combinatorial optimization problem. On the other hand, GAs is a technique that emulates biological evolutionary theories to solve complex optimization problems by using directed random searches to derive a set of optimal solutions. For this reason, the membership functions are tuned automatically using a modified GA-s based on the hill climbing method. The motivation for using the modified GA-s is to reduce fuzzy system effort and take large parametric uncertainties into account. The global optimum value is guaranteed using the proposed method and the speed of the algorithm-s convergence is extremely improved, too. This newly developed control strategy combines the advantage of GA-s and fuzzy system control techniques and leads to a flexible controller with simple stricture that is easy to implement. The proposed GA based HF (GAHF) controller is tested on a threearea deregulated power system under different operating conditions and contract variations. The results of the proposed GAHF controller are compared with those of Multi Stage Fuzzy (MSF) controller, robust mixed H2/H∞ and classical PID controllers through some performance indices to illustrate its robust performance for a wide range of system parameters and load changes.

Keywords: AGC, Hybrid Fuzzy Controller, Deregulated Power System, Power System Control, GAs.

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Authors: Oliver Marunțălu, Elena Elisabeta Manea, Lăcrămioara Diana Robescu, Mihai Necșoiu, Gheorghe Lăzăroiu, Dana Andreya Bondrea

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In order to obtain efficient pollutants removal in small-scale wastewater treatment plants, uniform water flow has to be achieved. The experimental setup, designed for treating high-load wastewater (leachate), consists of two aerobic biological reactors and a lamellar settler. Both biological tanks were aerated by using three different types of aeration systems - perforated pipes, membrane air diffusers and tube ceramic diffusers. The possibility of homogenizing the water mass with each of the air diffusion systems was evaluated comparatively. The oxygen concentration was determined by optical sensors with data logging. The experimental data was analyzed comparatively for all three different air dispersion systems aiming to identify the oxygen concentration variation during different operational conditions. The Oxygenation Capacity was calculated for each of the three systems and used as performance and selection parameter. The global mass transfer coefficients were also evaluated as important tools in designing the aeration system. Even though using the tubular porous diffusers leads to higher oxygen concentration compared to the perforated pipe system (which provides medium-sized bubbles in the aqueous solution), it doesn’t achieve the threshold limit of 80% oxygen saturation in less than 30 minutes. The study has shown that the optimal solution for the studied configuration was the radial air diffusers which ensure an oxygen saturation of 80% in 20 minutes. An increment of the values was identified when the air flow was increased.

Keywords: Flow, aeration, bioreactor, oxygen concentration.

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Authors: Sergey Kopysov, Nikita Nedozhogin, Leonid Tonkov

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The article presents a parallel iterative solver for large sparse linear systems which can be used on a heterogeneous platform. Traditionally, the problem of solving linear systems do not scale well on cluster containing multiple Central Processing Units (multi-CPUs cluster) or cluster containing multiple Graphics Processing Units (multi-GPUs cluster). For example, most of the attempts to implement the classical conjugate gradient method were at best counted in the same amount of time as the problem was enlarged. The paper proposes the pipelined variant of the conjugate gradient method (PCG), a formulation that is potentially better suited for hybrid CPU/GPU computing since it requires only one synchronization point per one iteration, instead of two for standard CG (Conjugate Gradient). The standard and pipelined CG methods need the vector entries generated by current GPU and other GPUs for matrix-vector product. So the communication between GPUs becomes a major performance bottleneck on miltiGPU cluster. The article presents an approach to minimize the communications between parallel parts of algorithms. Additionally, computation and communication can be overlapped to reduce the impact of data exchange. Using pipelined version of the CG method with one synchronization point, the possibility of asynchronous calculations and communications, load balancing between the CPU and GPU for solving the large linear systems allows for scalability. The algorithm is implemented with the combined use of technologies: MPI, OpenMP and CUDA. We show that almost optimum speed up on 8-CPU/2GPU may be reached (relatively to a one GPU execution). The parallelized solver achieves a speedup of up to 5.49 times on 16 NVIDIA Tesla GPUs, as compared to one GPU.

Keywords: Conjugate Gradient, GPU, parallel programming, pipelined algorithm.

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Authors: Yong-Sung Kim, Je-Seok Shin, Ho-Jun Jo Jin-O Kim

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Home Energy Management System (HEMS), which makes the residential consumers, contribute to the demand response is attracting attention in recent years. An aim of HEMS is to minimize their electricity cost by controlling the use of their appliances according to electricity price. The use of appliances in HEMS may be affected by some conditions such as external temperature and electricity price. Therefore, the user’s usage pattern of appliances should be modeled according to the external conditions, and the resultant usage pattern is related to the user’s comfortability on use of each appliances. This paper proposes a methodology to model the usage pattern based on the historical data with the copula function. Through copula function, the usage range of each appliance can be obtained and is able to satisfy the appropriate user’s comfort according to the external conditions for next day. Within the usage range, an optimal scheduling for appliances would be conducted so as to minimize an electricity cost with considering user’s comfort. Among the home appliance, electric heater (EH) is a representative appliance, which is affected by the external temperature. In this paper, an optimal scheduling algorithm for an electric heater (EH) is addressed based on the method of branch and bound. As a result, scenarios for the EH usage are obtained according to user’s comfort levels and then the residential consumer would select the best scenario. The case study shows the effects of the proposed algorithm compared with the traditional operation of the EH, and it represents impacts of the comfort level on the scheduling result.

Keywords: Load scheduling, usage pattern, user’s comfort, copula function, branch, bound, electric heater.

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Authors: Claude Takenga, Rolf-Dietrich Berndt, Erling Si, Markus Diem, Guohui Qiao, Melanie Gau, Michael Brandstoetter, Martin Kampel, Michael Dworzak

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In patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), treatment response is increasingly evaluated with minimal residual disease (MRD) analyses. Flow Cytometry (FCM) is a fast and sensitive method to detect MRD. However, the interpretation of these multi-parametric data requires intensive operator training and experience. This paper presents a pipeline-software, as a ready-to-use FCM-based MRD-assessment tool for the daily clinical practice for patients with ALL. The new tool increases accuracy in assessment of FCM-MRD in samples which are difficult to analyse by conventional operator-based gating since computer-aided analysis potentially has a superior resolution due to utilization of the whole multi-parametric FCM-data space at once instead of step-wise, two-dimensional plot-based visualization. The system developed as a telemedical network reduces the work-load and lab-costs, staff-time needed for training, continuous quality control, operator-based data interpretation. It allows dissemination of automated FCM-MRD analysis to medical centres which have no established expertise for the benefit of an even larger community of diseased children worldwide. We established a telemedical network system for analysis and clinical follow-up and treatment monitoring of Leukaemia. The system is scalable and adapted to link several centres and laboratories worldwide.

Keywords: Data security, flow cytometry, leukaemia, telematics platform, telemedicine.

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Authors: Mohamed Ghorab

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Local generated and distributed system for thermal and electrical energy is sighted in the near future to reduce transmission losses instead of the centralized system. Distributed Energy Resources (DER) is designed at different sizes (small and medium) and it is incorporated in energy distribution between the hubs. The energy generated from each technology at each hub should meet the local energy demands. Economic and environmental enhancement can be achieved when there are interaction and energy exchange between the hubs. Network energy system and CO₂ optimization between different six hubs presented Canadian community level are investigated in this study. Three different scenarios of technology systems are studied to meet both thermal and electrical demand loads for the six hubs. The conventional system is used as the first technology system and a reference case study. The conventional system includes boiler to provide the thermal energy, but the electrical energy is imported from the utility grid. The second technology system includes combined heat and power (CHP) system to meet the thermal demand loads and part of the electrical demand load. The third scenario has integration systems of CHP and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) where the thermal waste energy from the CHP system is used by ORC to generate electricity. General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) is used to model DER system optimization based on energy economics and CO₂ emission analyses. The results are compared with the conventional energy system. The results show that scenarios 2 and 3 provide an annual total cost saving of 21.3% and 32.3 %, respectively compared to the conventional system (scenario 1). Additionally, Scenario 3 (CHP & ORC systems) provides 32.5% saving in CO₂ emission compared to conventional system subsequent case 2 (CHP system) with a value of 9.3%.  

Keywords: Distributed energy resources, network energy system, optimization, microgeneration system.

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Authors: A. Udayakumar, M. Rizvan Basha, M. Stalin, V.V Bhanu Prasad

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Three dimensional non-Interlaced carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide (3-D-Cf/SiC) composites with pyrocarbon interphase were fabricated using isothermal chemical vapor infiltration (ICVI) combined with polymer impregnation pyrolysis (PIP) process. Polysilazane (PSZ) is used as a preceramic polymer to obtain silicon carbide matrix. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), Infrared spectroscopic analysis (IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were carried out on PSZ pyrolysed at different temperatures to understand the pyrolysis and obtaining the optimum pyrolysing condition to yield β-SiC phase. The density of the composites was 1.94 g cm-3 after the 3-D carbon preform was SiC infiltrated for 280 h with one intermediate polysilazane pre-ceramic PIP process. Mechanical properties of the composite materials were investigated under tensile, flexural, shear and impact loading. The values of tensile strength were 200 MPa at room temperature (RT) and 195 MPa at 500°C in air. The average RT flexural strength was 243 MPa. The lower flexural strength of these composites is because of the porosity. The fracture toughness obtained from single edge notched beam (SENB) technique was 39 MPa.m1/2. The work of fracture obtained from the load-displacement curve of SENB test was 22.8 kJ.m-2. The composites exhibited excellent impact resistance and the dynamic fracture toughness of 44.8 kJ.m-2 is achieved as determined from instrumented Charpy impact test. The shear strength of the composite was 93 MPa, which is significantly higher compared 2-D Cf/SiC composites. Microstructure evaluation of fracture surfaces revealed the signatures of fracture processes and showed good support for the higher toughness obtained.

Keywords: 3-D-Cf/SiC, charpy impact test, composites, dynamic fracture toughness, polysilazane, pyrocarbon, Interphase.

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Authors: T. Qasim, B. El Masoud, D. Ailabouni

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This in vitro study focused on investigating the fatigue resistance of veneered zirconia molar crowns with different veneering ceramic thicknesses, simulating the relative wear depths under simulated cyclic loading. A mandibular first molar was prepared and then scanned using computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology to fabricate 32 zirconia copings of uniform 0.5 mm thickness. The manufactured copings then veneered with 1.5 mm, 1.0 mm, 0.5 mm, and 0.0 mm representing 0%, 33%, 66%, and 100% relative wear of a normal ceramic thickness of 1.5 mm. All samples were thermally aged to 6000 thermo-cycles for 2 minutes with distilled water between 5 ˚C and 55 ˚C. The samples subjected to cyclic fatigue and fracture testing using SD Mechatronik chewing simulator. These samples are loaded up to 1.25x10⁶ cycles or until they fail. During fatigue, testing, extensive cracks were observed in samples with 0.5 mm veneering layer thickness. Veneering layer thickness 1.5-mm group and 1.0-mm group were not different in terms of resisting loads necessary to cause an initial crack or final failure. All ceramic zirconia-based crown restorations with varying occlusal veneering layer thicknesses appeared to be fatigue resistant. Fracture load measurement for all tested groups before and after fatigue loading exceeded the clinical chewing forces in the posterior region. In general, the fracture loads increased after fatigue loading and with the increase in the thickness of the occlusal layering ceramic.

Keywords: All ceramic, dental crowns, relative wear, chewing simulator, cyclic loading, thermally ageing.

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Authors: Tai Yuan Yu, Pei-Jen Wang

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A simulation scheme of rotational motions for predictions of bump-type gas foil bearings operating at steady-state is proposed. The scheme is based on multi-physics coupling computer aided engineering packages modularized with computational fluid dynamic model and structure elasticity model to numerically solve the dynamic equation of motions of a hydrodynamic loaded shaft supported by an elastic bump foil. The bump foil is assumed to be modelled as infinite number of Hookean springs mounted on stiff wall. Hence, the top foil stiffness is constant on the periphery of the bearing housing. The hydrodynamic pressure generated by the air film lubrication transfers to the top foil and induces elastic deformation needed to be solved by a finite element method program, whereas the pressure profile applied on the top foil must be solved by a finite element method program based on Reynolds Equation in lubrication theory. As a result, the equation of motions for the bearing shaft are iteratively solved via coupling of the two finite element method programs simultaneously. In conclusion, the two-dimensional center trajectory of the shaft plus the deformation map on top foil at constant rotational speed are calculated for comparisons with the experimental results.

Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics, fluid structure interaction multi-physics simulations, gas foil bearing, load capacity.

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Authors: D. R. Patil, U. Gudaru

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Most electrical distribution systems are incurring large losses as the loads are wide spread, inadequate reactive power compensation facilities and their improper control. A typical static VAR compensator consists of capacitor bank in binary sequential steps operated in conjunction with a thyristor controlled reactor of the smallest step size. This SVC facilitates stepless control of reactive power closely matching with load requirements so as to maintain power factor nearer to unity. This type of SVC-s requiring a appropriately controlled TCR. This paper deals with an air cored reactor suitable for distribution transformer of 3phase, 50Hz, Dy11, 11KV/433V, 125 KVA capacity. Air cored reactors are designed, built, tested and operated in conjunction with capacitor bank in five binary sequential steps. It is established how the delta connected TCR minimizes the harmonic components and the operating range for various electrical quantities as a function of firing angle is investigated. In particular firing angle v/s line & phase currents, D.C. components, THD-s, active and reactive powers, odd and even triplen harmonics, dominant characteristic harmonics are all investigated and range of firing angle is fixed for satisfactory operation. The harmonic spectra for phase and line quantities at specified firing angles are given. In case the TCR is operated within the bound specified in this paper established through simulation studies are yielding the best possible operating condition particularly free from all dominant harmonics.

Keywords: Binary Sequential switched capacitor bank, TCR, Nontriplen harmonics, step less Q control, Active and Reactivepower, Simulink

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Authors: Chih Chin Yang, Yen Chun Lin, Hsiao Hsuan Cheng

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Three similar negative differential resistance (NDR) profiles with both high peak to valley current density ratio (PVCDR) value and high peak current density (PCD) value in unity resonant tunneling electronic circuit (RTEC) element is developed in this paper. The PCD values and valley current density (VCD) values of the three NDR curves are all about 3.5 A and 0.8 A, respectively. All PV values of NDR curves are 0.40 V, 0.82 V, and 1.35 V, respectively. The VV values are 0.61 V, 1.07 V, and 1.69 V, respectively. All PVCDR values reach about 4.4 in three NDR curves. The PCD value of 3.5 A in triple PVCDR RTEC element is better than other resonant tunneling devices (RTD) elements. The high PVCDR value is concluded the lower VCD value about 0.8 A. The low VCD value is achieved by suitable selection of resistors in triple PVCDR RTEC element. The low PV value less than 1.35 V possesses low power dispersion in triple PVCDR RTEC element. The designed multiple value logical level (MVLL) system using triple PVCDR RTEC element provides equidistant logical level. The logical levels of MVLL system are about 0.2 V, 0.8 V, 1.5 V, and 2.2 V from low voltage to high voltage and then 2.2 V, 1.3 V, 0.8 V, and 0.2 V from high voltage back to low voltage in half cycle of sinusoid wave. The output level of four levels MVLL system is represented in 0.3 V, 1.1 V, 1.7 V, and 2.6 V, which satisfies the NMP condition of traditional two-bit system. The remarkable logical characteristic of improved MVLL system with paralleled capacitor are with four significant stable logical levels about 220 mV, 223 mV, 228 mV, and 230 mV. The stability and articulation of logical levels of improved MVLL system are outstanding. The average holding time of improved MVLL system is approximately 0.14 μs. The holding time of improved MVLL system is fourfold than of basic MVLL system. The function of additional capacitor in the improved MVLL system is successfully discovered.

Keywords: Capacitance, Logical level, Constant current source

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Authors: Sayed M. Soleimani, Nader H. Ghareeb, Nourhan H. Shaker, Muhammad B. Siddiqui

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Honeycomb sandwich panels have been widely used as protective structural elements against blast loading. The main advantages of these panels include their light weight due to the presence of voids, as well as their energy absorption capability. Terrorist activities have imposed new challenges to structural engineers to design protective measures for vital structures. Since blast loading is not usually considered in the load combinations during the design process of a structure, researchers around the world have been motivated to study the behavior of potential elements capable of resisting sudden loads imposed by the detonation of explosive materials. One of the best candidates for this objective is the honeycomb sandwich panel. Studying the effects of explosive materials on the panels requires costly and time-consuming experiments. Moreover, these type of experiments need permission from defense organizations which can become a hurdle. As a result, modeling and simulation using an appropriate tool can be considered as a good alternative. In this research work, the finite element package ABAQUS® is used to study the behavior of hexagonal and squared honeycomb steel sandwich panels under the explosive effects of different amounts of trinitrotoluene (TNT). The results of finite element modeling of a specific honeycomb configuration are initially validated by comparing them with the experimental results from literature. Afterwards, several configurations including different geometrical properties of the honeycomb wall are investigated and the results are compared with the original model. Finally, the effectiveness of the core shape and wall thickness are discussed, and conclusions are made.

Keywords: Blast loading, finite element modeling, steel honeycomb sandwich panel.

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Authors: Ahmad Aljaafreh

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This paper proposes a hierarchical hidden Markov model (HHMM) to model the detection of M vehicles in a wireless sensor network (WSN). The HHMM model contains an extra level of hidden Markov model to model the temporal transitions of each state of the first HMM. By modeling the temporal transitions, only those hypothesis with nonzero transition probabilities needs to be tested. Thus, this method efficiently reduces the computation load, which is preferable in WSN applications.This paper integrates several techniques to optimize the detection performance. The output of the states of the first HMM is modeled as Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), where the number of states and the number of Gaussians are experimentally determined, while the other parameters are estimated using Expectation Maximization (EM). HHMM is used to model the sequence of the local decisions which are based on multiple hypothesis testing with maximum likelihood approach. The states in the HHMM represent various combinations of vehicles of different types. Due to the statistical advantages of multisensor data fusion, we propose a heuristic based on fuzzy weighted majority voting to enhance cooperative classification of moving vehicles within a region that is monitored by a wireless sensor network. A fuzzy inference system weighs each local decision based on the signal to noise ratio of the acoustic signal for target detection and the signal to noise ratio of the radio signal for sensor communication. The spatial correlation among the observations of neighboring sensor nodes is efficiently utilized as well as the temporal correlation. Simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of this scheme.

Keywords: Classification, decision fusion, fuzzy logic, hidden Markov model

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Authors: P. Wongmatar, C. Hansapinyo, C. Buachart

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Failure of typical seismic frames has been found by plastic hinge occurring on beams section near column faces. On the other hand, the seismic capacity of the frames can be enhanced if the plastic hinges of the beams are shifted away from the column faces. This paper presents detailing of reinforcements in the interior beam– column connections aiming to relocate the plastic hinge of reinforced concrete and precast concrete frames. Four specimens were tested under quasi-static cyclic load including two monolithic specimens and two precast specimens. For one monolithic specimen, typical seismic reinforcement was provided and considered as a reference specimen named M1. The other reinforced concrete frame M2 contained additional intermediate steel in the connection area compared with the specimen M1. For the precast specimens, embedded T-section steels in joint were provided, with and without diagonal bars in the connection area for specimen P1 and P2, respectively. The test results indicated the ductile failure with beam flexural failure in monolithic specimen M1 and the intermediate steel increased strength and improved joint performance of specimen M2. For the precast specimens, cracks generated at the end of the steel inserts. However, slipping of reinforcing steel lapped in top of the beams was seen before yielding of the main bars leading to the brittle failure. The diagonal bars in precast specimens P2 improved the connection stiffness and the energy dissipation capacity.

Keywords: Relocation, Plastic hinge, Intermediate bar, Tsection steel, Precast concrete frame.

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Authors: Paula Pascoal-Faria, Rúben Pereira, Elodie Pinto, Miguel Belbut, Ana Rosa, Inês Sousa, Nuno Alves

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Apple bruise damage from harvesting, handling, transporting and sorting is considered to be the major source of reduced fruit quality, resulting in loss of profits for the entire fruit industry. The three factors which can physically cause fruit bruising are vibration, compression load and impact, the latter being the most common source of bruise damage. Therefore, prediction of the level of damage, stress distribution and deformation of the fruits under external force has become a very important challenge. In this study, experimental and numerical methods were used to better understand the impact caused when an apple is dropped from different heights onto a plastic surface and a conveyor belt. Results showed that the extent of fruit damage is significantly higher for plastic surface, being dependent on the height. In order to support the development of a biomimetic electronic device for the determination of fruit damage, the mechanical properties of the apple fruit were determined using mechanical tests. Preliminary results showed different values for the Young’s modulus according to the zone of the apple tested. Along with the mechanical characterization of the apple fruit, the development of the first two prototypes is discussed and the integration of the results obtained to construct the final element model of the apple is presented. This work will help to reduce significantly the bruise damage of fruits or vegetables during the entire processing which will allow the introduction of exportation destines and consequently an increase in the economic profits in this sector.

Keywords: Apple, fruit damage, impact during crop and post-crop, mechanical characterization of the apple, numerical evaluation of fruit bruise damage, electronic device.

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Authors: Mohammed A. Elhaj, Jamal S. Yassin

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Owing to the lack of synchronization between the solar energy availability and the heat demands in a specific application, the energy storing sub-system is necessary to maintain the continuity of thermal process. The present work is dealing with an active solar heating storing system in which an air solar collector is connected to storing unit where this energy is distributed and provided to the heated space in a controlled manner. The solar collector is a box type absorber where the air flows between a number of vanes attached between the collector absorber and the bottom plate. This design can improve the efficiency due to increasing the heat transfer area exposed to the flowing air, as well as the heat conduction through the metal vanes from the top absorbing surface. The storing unit is a packed bed type where the air is coming from the air collector and circulated through the bed in order to add/remove the energy through the charging / discharging processes, respectively. The major advantage of the packed bed storage is its high degree of thermal stratification. Numerical solution of the packed bed energy storage is considered through dividing the bed into a number of equal segments for the bed particles and solved the energy equation for each segment depending on the neighbor ones. The studied design and performance parameters in the developed simulation model including, particle size, void fraction, etc. The final results showed that the collector efficiency was fluctuated between 55%-61% in winter season (January) under the climatic conditions of Misurata in Libya. Maximum temperature of 52ºC is attained at the top of the bed while the lower one is 25ºC at the end of the charging process of hot air into the bed. This distribution can satisfy the required load for the most house heating in Libya.

Keywords: Solar energy, thermal process, performance, collector, packed bed, numerical analysis, simulation.

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Authors: Haithem Elderrat, Huw Davies, Emmanuel Brousseau

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Elastomeric polymer foam has been used widely in the automotive industry, especially for isolating unwanted vibrations. Such material is able to absorb unwanted vibration due to its combination of elastic and viscous properties. However, the ‘creep effect’, poor stress distribution and susceptibility to high temperatures are the main disadvantages of such a system. In this study, improvements in the performance of elastomeric foam as a vibration isolator were investigated using the concept of Foam Filled Fluid (FFFluid). In FFFluid devices, the foam takes the form of capsule shapes, and is mixed with viscous fluid, while the mixture is contained in a closed vessel. When the FFFluid isolator is affected by vibrations, energy is absorbed, due to the elastic strain of the foam. As the foam is compressed, there is also movement of the fluid, which contributes to further energy absorption as the fluid shears. Also, and dependent on the design adopted, the packaging could also attenuate vibration through energy absorption via friction and/or elastic strain. The present study focuses on the advantages of the FFFluid concept over the dry polymeric foam in the role of vibration isolation. This comparative study between the performance of dry foam and the FFFluid was made according to experimental procedures. The paper concludes by evaluating the performance of the FFFluid isolator in the suspension system of a light vehicle. One outcome of this research is that the FFFluid may preferable over elastomer isolators in certain applications, as it enables a reduction in the effects of high temperatures and of ‘creep effects’, thereby increasing the reliability and load distribution. The stiffness coefficient of the system has increased about 60% by using an FFFluid sample. The technology represented by the FFFluid is therefore considered by this research suitable for application in the suspension system of a light vehicle.

Keywords: Anti-vibration devices, dry foam, FFFluid.

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Authors: Adrian Lo

Abstract:

Since the advent of modern architecture, notions of free plan and transparency have proliferated well into current trends. The movement’s notion of a spatially homogeneous, open and limitless ‘free plan’ contrasts with the spatially heterogeneous ‘series of rooms’ defined by load bearing walls, which in turn triggered new notions of transparency created by vast expanses of glazed walls. Similarly, transparency was also dichotomized as something that was physical or optical, as well as something conceptual, akin to spatial organization. As opposed to merely accepting the duality and possible incompatibility of these dichotomies, this paper seeks to ask how can space be both literally and phenomenally transparent, as well as exhibit both homogeneous and heterogeneous qualities? This paper explores this potential destabilization or blurring of spatial phenomena by dissecting the transparent layers and volumes of a series of selected case studies to investigate how different architects have devised strategies of spatial ambiguity and interpenetration. Projects by Peter Eisenman, Sou Fujimoto, and SANAA will be discussed and analyzed to show how the superimposition of geometries and spaces achieve different conditions of layering, transparency, and interstitiality. Their particular buildings will be explored to reveal various innovative kinds of spatial interpenetration produced through the articulate relations of the elements of architecture, which challenge conventional perceptions of interior and exterior whereby visual homogeneity blurs with spatial heterogeneity. The results show how spatial conceptions such as interpenetration and transparency have the ability to subvert not only inside-outside dialectics, but could also produce multiple degrees of interiority within complex and indeterminate spatial dimensions in constant flux as well as present alternative forms of social interaction.

Keywords: interpenetration, literal and phenomenal transparency, spatial heterogeneity, visual homogeneity

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Authors: Yingjun Ruan, Qingrong Liu, Weiguo Zhou, Toshiyuki Watanabe

Abstract:

This paper has examined the energy consumption characteristics in six different buildings including apartments, offices, commercial buildings, hospitals, hotels and educational facilities. Then 5-hectare (50000m2) development site for respective building-s type has been assumed as case study to evaluate the introduction effect of Combined Heat and Power (CHP). All kinds of CHP systems with different distributed generation technologies including Gas Turbine (GT), Gas Engine (GE), Diesel Engine (DE), Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) and Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC), have been simulated by using HEATMAP, CHP system analysis software. And their primary energy utilization efficiency, energy saving ratio and CO2 reduction ratio have evaluated and compared respectively. The results can be summarized as follows: Various buildings have their special heat to power ratio characteristics. Matching the heat to power ratio demanded from an individual building with that supplied from a CHP system is very important. It is necessary to select a reasonable distributed generation technologies according to the load characteristics of various buildings. Distributed generation technologies with high energy generating efficiency and low heat to power ratio, like SOFC and PEFC is more reasonable selection for Building Combined Heat and Power (BCHP). CHP system is an attractive option for hotels, hospitals and apartments in Japan. The users can achieve high energy saving and environmental benefit by introducing a CHP systems. In others buildings, especially like commercial buildings and offices, the introduction of CHP system is unreasonable.

Keywords: Combined heat and power, distributed generation technologies, heat-tao-power ratio, energy saving ratio, CO2 reduction ratio

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Authors: K. Rajasekaran, Kannan Balasubramanian

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A sensory network consists of multiple detection locations called sensor nodes, each of which is tiny, featherweight and portable. A single path routing protocols in wireless sensor network can lead to holes in the network, since only the nodes present in the single path is used for the data transmission. Apart from the advantages like reduced computation, complexity and resource utilization, there are some drawbacks like throughput, increased traffic load and delay in data delivery. Therefore, multipath routing protocols are preferred for WSN. Distributing the traffic among multiple paths increases the network lifetime. We propose a scheme, for the data to be transmitted through a dominant path to save energy. In order to obtain a high delivery ratio, a basic route reconstruction protocol is utilized to reconstruct the path whenever a failure is detected. A basic reconstruction routing (BRR) algorithm is proposed, in which a node can leap over path failure by using the already existing routing information from its neighbourhood while the composed data is transmitted from the source to the sink. In order to save the energy and attain high data delivery ratio, data is transmitted along a multiple path, which is achieved by BRR algorithm whenever a failure is detected. Further, the analysis of how the proposed protocol overcomes the drawback of the existing protocols is presented. The performance of our protocol is compared to AOMDV and energy efficient node-disjoint multipath routing protocol (EENDMRP). The system is implemented using NS-2.34. The simulation results show that the proposed protocol has high delivery ratio with low energy consumption.

Keywords: Multipath routing, WSN, energy efficient routing, alternate route, assured data delivery.

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Authors: M. Almutairi, S. Hadjiloucas

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The harmonic distortion of voltage is important in relation to power quality due to the interaction between the large diffusion of non-linear and time-varying single-phase and three-phase loads with power supply systems. However, harmonic distortion levels can be reduced by improving the design of polluting loads or by applying arrangements and adding filters. The application of passive filters is an effective solution that can be used to achieve harmonic mitigation mainly because filters offer high efficiency, simplicity, and are economical. Additionally, possible different frequency response characteristics can work to achieve certain required harmonic filtering targets. With these ideas in mind, the objective of this paper is to determine what size single tuned passive filters work in distribution networks best, in order to economically limit violations caused at a given point of common coupling (PCC). This article suggests that a single tuned passive filter could be employed in typical industrial power systems. Furthermore, constrained optimization can be used to find the optimal sizing of the passive filter in order to reduce both harmonic voltage and harmonic currents in the power system to an acceptable level, and, thus, improve the load power factor. The optimization technique works to minimize voltage total harmonic distortions (VTHD) and current total harmonic distortions (ITHD), where maintaining a given power factor at a specified range is desired. According to the IEEE Standard 519, both indices are viewed as constraints for the optimal passive filter design problem. The performance of this technique will be discussed using numerical examples taken from previous publications.

Keywords: Harmonics, passive filter, power factor, power quality.

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Authors: Mohammad Ebrahim Kianifar, Ehsan Ahmadi

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Reinforced concrete structures experience local defects such as cracks over their lifetime under various environmental loadings. Consequently, they are repaired by mortars to avoid detrimental effects such as corrosion of reinforcement, which in long-term may lead to strength loss of a member or collapse of structures. However, repaired structures may need multiple repairs due to changes in load distribution, and thus, lack of compatibility between mortar and substrate concrete. On the other hand, waste tire rubber alkali-activated (WTRAA)-based materials have very high potential to be used as repair mortars because of their ductility and flexibility, which may delay failure of repair mortar, and thus, provide sufficient compatibility. Hence, this work presents a study on suitability of WTRAA-based materials as mortars for repair of concrete structures through an experimental program. To this end, WTRAA mortars with 15% aggregate replacement, alkali-activated (AA) mortars, and ordinary mortars are made to repair a number of concrete beams. The WTRAA mortars are composed of slag as base material, sodium hydroxide as alkaline activator, and different gradation of waste tire rubber (fine and coarse gradations). Flexural tests are conducted on the concrete beams repaired by the ordinary, AA, and WTRAA mortars. It is found that, despite having lower compressive strength and modulus of elasticity, the WTRAA and AA mortars increase flexural strength of the repaired beams, give compatible failures, and provide sufficient mortar-concrete interface bondings. The ordinary mortars, however, show incompatible failure modes. This study demonstrates promising application of WTRAA mortars in practical repairs of concrete structures.

Keywords: Alkali-activated mortars, concrete repair, mortar compatibility flexural strength, waste tire rubber.

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Authors: Zuhair Kadhim Jahanger, S. Joseph Antony

Abstract:

The available studies in the literature which dealt with the scale effects of strip footings on different sand packing systematically still remain scarce. In this research, the variation of ultimate bearing capacity and deformation pattern of soil beneath strip footings of different widths under plane-strain condition on the surface of loose, medium-dense and dense sand have been systematically studied using experimental and noninvasive methods for measuring microscopic deformations. The presented analyses are based on model scale compression test analysed using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique. Upper bound analysis of the current study shows that the maximum vertical displacement of the sand under the ultimate load increases for an increase in the width of footing, but at a decreasing rate with relative density of sand, whereas the relative vertical displacement in the sand decreases for an increase in the width of the footing. A well agreement is observed between experimental results for different footing widths and relative densities. The experimental analyses have shown that there exists pronounced scale effect for strip surface footing. The bearing capacity factors Nγ rapidly decrease up to footing widths B=0.25 m, 0.35 m, and 0.65 m for loose, medium-dense and dense sand respectively, after that there is no significant decrease in Nγ. The deformation modes of the soil as well as the ultimate bearing capacity values have been affected by the footing widths. The obtained results could be used to improve settlement calculation of the foundation interacting with granular soil.

Keywords: PIV, granular mechanics, scale effect, upper bound analysis.

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Authors: P. Valsalal, S. Thangalakshmi

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There is a widespread changeover in the electrical power industry universally from old-style monopolistic outline towards a horizontally distributed competitive structure to come across the demand of rising consumption. When the transmission lines of derestricted system are incapable to oblige the entire service needs, the lines are overloaded or congested. The governor between customer and power producer is nominated as Independent System Operator (ISO) to lessen the congestion without obstructing transmission line restrictions. Among the existing approaches for congestion management, the frequently used approaches are reorganizing the generation and load curbing. There is a boundary for reorganizing the generators, and further loads may not be supplemented with the prevailing resources unless more private power producers are added in the system by considerably raising the cost. Hence, congestion is relaxed by appropriate Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) devices which boost the existing transfer capacity of transmission lines. The FACTs device, namely, Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is preferred, and the correct placement of UPFC is more vital and should be positioned in the highly congested line. Hence, the weak line is identified by using power flow performance index with the new objective function with proposed hybrid Fish – Bee algorithm. Further, the location of UPFC at appropriate line reduces the branch loading and minimizes the voltage deviation. The power transfer capacity of lines is determined with and without UPFC in the identified congested line of IEEE 30 bus structure and the simulated results are compared with prevailing algorithms. It is observed that the transfer capacity of existing line is increased with the presented algorithm and thus alleviating the congestion.

Keywords: Available line transfer capability, congestion management, FACTS device, hybrid fish-bee algorithm, ISO, UPFC.

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Authors: Komeil Valipourian, Mohsen Ramezan Shirazi, Orod Zarrin Kafsh

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By enhancing the applicatıon of grounds for establishment and due to the lack of appropriate sites, engineers attempt to seek out a new method to reduce the weakness of soils. İn aspect of economic situation, various ways have been used to decrease the weak grounds. Because of the rapid development of infrastructural facilities, spreading the construction operation is an obligation. Furthermore, in various sites with the really bad soil situation, engineers have considered obvious problems. One of the most essential ways for developing the weak soils is stone column. Obviously, the method was introduced in France in 1830 to improve a native soil initially. Stone columns have an expanding range of usage in different rough foundation sites all over the world to increase the bearing capacity, to reduce the whole and differential settlements, to enhance the rate of consolidation, to stabilize slopes stability of embankments and to increase the liquefaction resistance as well. A recent procedure called installing vertical nails along the round stone columns in order to make better the performance of considered columns is offered. Moreover, thanks to the enhancing the nail diameter, number and embedment nail depth, the positive points of vertical circumferential nails increases. Based on the result of this study, load caring capacity will be develop with enhancing the length and the power of reinforcements in vertical encasement stone column (CESC). In this study, the main purpose is comparing two methods of stone columns (installed a nail surrounding the stone columns and using geogrid on clay) for enhancing the bearing capacity, decreasing the whole and various settlements.

Keywords: Bearing Capacity, Clay, Geogrid, Nailing, Settlements, Stone Column.

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Authors: Matthias Feiner, Francisco Javier Fernández García, Michael Arneman, Martin Kipfmüller

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To ensure reliability in miniaturized devices or processes with increased heat fluxes, very efficient cooling methods have to be employed in order to cope with small available cooling surfaces. To address this problem, a certain type of evaporator/heat exchanger was developed: It is called a swirl evaporator due to its flow characteristic. The swirl evaporator consists of a concentrically eroded screw geometry in which a capillary tube is guided, which is inserted into a pocket hole in components with high heat load. The liquid refrigerant R32 is sprayed through the capillary tube to the end face of the blind hole and is sucked off against the injection direction in the screw geometry. Its inner diameter is between one and three millimeters. The refrigerant is sprayed into the pocket hole via a small tube aligned in the center of the bore hole and is sucked off on the front side of the hole against the direction of injection. The refrigerant is sucked off in a helical geometry (twisted flow) so that it is accelerated against the hot wall (centrifugal acceleration). This results in an increase in the critical heat flux of up to 40%. In this way, more heat can be dissipated on the same surface/available installation space. This enables a wide range of technical applications. To optimize the design for the needs in various fields of industry, like the internal tool cooling when machining nickel base alloys like Inconel 718, a correlation-based model of the swirl-evaporator was developed. The model is separated into 3 subgroups with overall 5 regimes. The pressure drop and heat transfer are calculated separately. An approach to determine the locality of phase change in the capillary and the swirl was implemented. A test stand has been developed to verify the simulation.

Keywords: Helically-shaped, oil-free, R32, swirl-evaporator, twist flow.

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Authors: Jun Hee Lee, Young Kyu Kim, Seong Jae Hong, Chamroeun Chhorn, Seung Woo Lee

Abstract:

Roller-compacted concrete pavement (RCCP), an environmental friendly pavement of which load carry capacity benefitted from both hydration and aggregate interlock from roller compacting, demonstrated a superb structural performance for a relatively small amount of water and cement content. Even though an excellent structural performance can be secured, it is required to investigate roller-compacted concrete (RCC) under environmental loading and its long-term durability under critical conditions. In order to secure long-term durability, an appropriate internal air-void structure is required for this concrete. In this study, a method for improving the long-term durability of RCCP is suggested by analyzing the internal air-void structure and corresponding durability of RCC. The method of improving the long-term durability involves measurements of air content, air voids, and air-spacing factors in RCC that experiences changes in terms of type of air-entraining agent and its usage amount. This test is conducted according to the testing criteria in ASTM C 457, 672, and KS F 2456. It was found that the freezing-thawing and scaling resistances of RCC without any chemical admixture was quite low. Interestingly, an improvement of freezing-thawing and scaling resistances was observed for RCC with appropriate the air entraining (AE) agent content; Relative dynamic elastic modulus was found to be more than 80% for those mixtures. In RCC with AE agent mixtures, large amount of air was distributed within a range of 2% to 3%, and an air void spacing factor ranging between 200 and 300 μm (close to 250 μm, recommended by PCA) was secured. The long-term durability of RCC has a direct relationship with air-void spacing factor, and thus it can only be secured by ensuring the air void spacing factor through the inclusion of the AE in the mixture.

Keywords: RCCP, durability, air spacing factor, surface scaling resistance test, freezing and thawing resistance test.

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