Fatigue strength evaluation of self-piercing riveted Al-5052 joints under different specimen configurations

In this study, static and fatigue tests were conducted using coach-peel, cross-tension and tensile–shear specimens with Al-5052 plates for evaluation of the fatigue strength of the SPR joints. For the coach-peel, cross-tension and tensile–shear geometries, the ratios of the fatigue endurance limit to static strength were 11%, 14% and 34%, respectively, assuming fatigue cycles of 10⁶ for an infinite lifetime. The equivalent stress intensity factor range can properly predict the current experimental fatigue lifetime. Fatigue crack initiation occurred due to fretting damage between the upper and lower sheets and between the rivet and these sheets.     

Temperature distribution within a ceiling jet propagating in an inclined flat-ceilinged tunnel with natural ventilation

In this study, we conducted detailed measurements of the temperature distribution within a steady fire-driven ceiling jet, formed in a tunnel with a rectangular cross-section. We then compared the measured temperature distributions with those for an unconfined smooth-ceiling jet flow, and estimated the relative errors between them. The results showed that the temperature distribution in a horizontal tunnel exhibits a greater bulge than that of a ceiling jet under an unconfined ceiling and varied from a bulging shape to an exponential shape as the tunnel inclination increased. We propose a new correlation for representing the temperature distribution, which takes the tunnel inclination into account, and which consists of an exponential function and a cubic function with a coordinated transformation.     

刮膜式分子蒸馏器液体停留时间分布及壁面结构优化

在刮膜式分子蒸馏器中,可以通过液体的停留时间分布反映物料蒸发分离特性,研究其规律对改进蒸馏器内的流场结构、优化操作参数和装置的设计都具有重要意义。今采用计算流体力学的方法,建立三维CFD模型,研究了进料速率和转子转速对停留时间分布规律的影响,并且与实验值进行对比验证;对蒸馏器壁面进行了优化,包括水平圆环、倾斜圆环和网状圆环三种优化壁面,并且对其分别进行模拟计算和实验验证。模拟结果显示出与实验结果相同的规律。结果表明,在研究范围内,停留时间随着进料速率的增大而减小;随着转子转速的增大,停留时间先增大,达到一定转速后,停留时间反而减小。经过壁面优化以后,在相同的进料速率和转子转速下,水平圆环壁面和网状圆环壁面的停留时间得到延长,倾斜圆环壁面的停留时间适当缩短;壁面湍动程度增大,有利于传质传热,提高了分离效率。     

Monte Carlo simulation-based probabilistic assessment of DG penetration in medium voltage distribution networks

With the growing use of renewable energy sources, Distributed Generation (DG) systems are rapidly spreading. Embedding DG to the distribution network may be costly due to the grid reinforcements and control adjustments required in order to maintain the electrical network reliability. Deterministic load flow calculations are usually employed to assess the allowed DG penetration in a distribution network in order to ensure that current or voltage limits are not exceeded. However, these calculations may overlook the risk of limit violations due to uncertainties in the operating conditions of the networks. To overcome this limitation, related to both injection and demand profiles, the present paper addresses the problem of DG penetration with a Monte Carlo technique that accounts for the intrinsic variability of electric power consumption. The power absorbed by each load of a medium voltage network is characterized by a load variation curve; a probabilistic load flow is then used for computing the maximum DG power that can be connected to each bus without determining a violation of electric constraints. A distribution network is studied and a comparison is provided between the results of the deterministic load flow and probabilistic load flow analyses.     

Single server retrial queue with group admission of customers

We consider a retrial queueing system with a single server and novel customer׳s admission discipline. The input flow is described by a Markov Arrival Process. If an arriving customer meets the server providing the service, it goes to the orbit and repeats attempts to get service in random time intervals whose duration has exponential distribution with parameter dependent on the customers number in orbit. Server operates as follows. After a service completion epoch, customers admission interval starts. Duration of this interval has phase type distribution. During this interval, primary customers and customers from the orbit are accepted to the pool of customers which will get service after the admission interval. Capacity of this pool is limited and after the moment when the pool becomes full before completion of admission interval all arriving customers move to the orbit. After completion of an admission interval, all customers in the pool are served simultaneously by the server during the time having phase type distribution depending on the customers number in the pool. Using results known for Asymptotically Quasi-Toeplitz Markov Chains, we derive stability condition of the system, compute the stationary distribution of the system states, derive formulas for the main performance measures and numerically show advantages of the considered customer׳s admission discipline (higher throughput, smaller average number of customers in the system, higher probability to get a service without visiting the orbit) in case of proper choice of the capacity of the pool and the admission period duration.     

Investigation on slag fiber characteristics: Mechanical property and anti-corrosion performance

Inorganic fiber shows good insulation performance in civil construction and industry insulation. In the present paper, tensile strength of slag fiber produced with molten blast furnace slag was investigated systematically with the Weibull distribution theory in comparison with glass and basalt fibers. It was found that the mean tensile strength reached 2578.60 MPa and the shape parameter m in Weibull distribution is 2.4494, which indicates a lower uniformity. Anti-corrosion performances were also studied by means of the mass and strength loss after acid and alkaline solution treatment. Furthermore, SEM and FTIR were used to analyze the structural characteristics of original and treated fibers. This work has proved that the H⁺ and OH⁻ can both break the Si–O bond and then lead to the movement to high wavenumber for the bands of the symmetric stretching vibrations of [SiO₄]-tetrahedra. The anti-corrosion results indicated that slag fibers could not be used in acid environment, while its anti-alkali performance is relatively excellent compared with glass and basalt fibers.     

Disturbance in Thermo-Microstretch Elastic Medium With Internal Heat Source

The present investigation is aimed at studying the deformation in thermo-microstretch elastic medium occuping the region y ? 0 with a stable internal heat source. A nonviscous fluid layer of height h is overlying the thermoelastic medium and a mechanical source of constant magnitude is applied along the fluid/solid interface. The normal mode analysis is used to obtain the exact expressions for displacement components, force stress, and temperature distribution. The numerical results are given and presented graphically for the Green–Lindsay theory of thermoelasticity. The variations of the considered variables through the horizontal distance are illustrated graphically. Comparisons are made with the results in the presence and absence of microstretch and microrotation parameters.     

Current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics of Al Schottky contacts to strained Si-on-insulator in the wide temperature range

The electrical characteristics of Al/strained Si-on-insulator (sSOI) Schottky diode have been investigated using current–voltage (I–V) and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements in the wide temperature range of 200–400 K in steps of 25 K. It was found that the barrier height (0.57–0.80 eV) calculated from the I–V characteristics increased and the ideality factor (1.97–1.28) decreased with increasing temperature. The barrier heights determined from the C–V measurements were higher than those extracted from the I–V measurements, associated with the formation of an inhomogeneous Schottky barrier at the interface. The series resistance estimated from the forward I–V characteristics using Cheung and Norde methods decreased with increasing temperature, implying its strong temperature dependence. The observed variation in barrier height and ideality factor could be attributed to the inhomogeneities in Schottky barrier, explained by assuming Gaussian distribution of barrier heights. The temperature-dependent I–V characteristics showed a double Gaussian distribution with mean barrier heights of 0.83 and 1.19 eV and standard deviations of 0.10 and 0.16 eV at 200–275 and 300–400 K, respectively. From the modified Richardson plot, the modified Richardson constant were calculated to be 21.8 and 29.4 A cm⁻² K⁻² at 200–275 and 300–400 K, respectively, which were comparable to the theoretical value for p-type sSOI (31.6 A cm⁻² K⁻²).     

Environmental durability of adhesively bonded FRP/steel joints in civil engineering applications: State of the art

Over the past three decades, the strengthening and repair of existing civil engineering structures using FRP laminates has attracted a great deal of attention. With the advances in polymer science, adhesive bonding has become a common joining technology in these applications. Despite numerous studies that address the short-term behaviour of adhesively bonded FRP/steel joints, uncertainty with respect to long-term performance still remains. This knowledge gap is regarded as a critical barrier, hindering the widespread application of FRPs to strengthen and retrofit steel structures. This paper presents the state of the art in terms of the durability of FRP/steel joints used in civil engineering applications. Important influential factors relating to the durability of adhesively bonded joints are reviewed and different damage mechanisms are discussed. Moreover, related investigations of the combined environmental durability of these joints are critically reviewed and the findings are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion to motivate future research topics, while it is emphasised that the generalisation of the available results is questionable.