Failure of high power varistor ceramic components

Ceramic varistors are electronic components which have a sharp change (over several orders of magnitude) of their electrical resistance at a well-defined voltage (switching voltage). Starting at low voltages, the resistance is large. But by exceeding the switching voltage the resistance drops dramatically and the component acts as a good conductor. Mounted parallel to a consumer, they are used as protection devices against over voltage loading. In the technical routine yearly billions of varistors are used to protect power lines, transformation stations, electronic devices, microelectronic systems or even LEDs.In service large temperature differences may come into existence, which cause severe mechanical stresses that even may destroy the components. The basic principles of the varistor behaviour are explained and examples of mechanical failure are discussed.     

Case history on failure of a 67 M tall reinforced soil slope

Construction of this 67 m high RSS was completed in December 2006. After seven years in-service, a tension crack was observed at the top of the slope. In March 2015 this RSS structure catastrophically collapsed. This RSS structure collapsed in a compound failure mode; as the failure plane passed beneath, partially behind, and partially through the reinforced soil mass. The failure plane beneath the RSS was along a shale-claystone interface. The failure surface partially behind the RSS was along sandstone bedrock with water-seeping bedding planes dipping out of the rock mass. The failure surface through the upper portion of the RSS is where the geogrid reinforcement was overwhelmed by stresses originating from underlying deformation. The RSS collapse occurred after 8.3 years in-service as the shear strength along the shale-claystone interface decreased and approached the fully softened strength. The primary causative factors of this failure are: (i) an insufficient subsurface investigation program and interpretation of data for design and detailing; (ii) insufficient specifications and construction plan details for both foundation preparation and rock backcut benching; (iii) insufficient foundation preparation and rock backcut benching during construction; and (iv) adaptations to the design made during construction.     

高应力下花岗岩抗剪强度参数特征试验研究

为促进深部矿产资源的安全高效开采,基于取自程潮铁矿西区-395m水平的主要围岩花岗岩的试件,通过伺服试验系统开展高应力下的常规三轴压缩强度试验,研究花岗岩的破坏、强度和参数特征。研究结果表明:1)随着围压的增加,花岗岩的破坏形式由剪切破坏逐渐向剪切劈裂复合型破坏转变,破坏形态由单一破坏断面逐渐转变为多破坏断面,破坏断裂角逐渐减小。2)花岗岩的三轴强度和抗剪强度与围压的关系在低围压下基本均呈线性,在高围压下则均呈上凸的非线性。3)花岗岩抗剪强度参数具有明显的围压效应特征,具体表现为凝聚力和内摩擦角随着围压的增加分别呈逐渐增大和减小的趋势。结合Hoek-Brown准则对瞬态抗剪强度参数的确定进行了初探,结果表明参数推导值的变化趋势符合参数试验规律,但推导值与试验值存在一定的差异,说明Hoek-Brown准则在表征高应力下岩石三轴强度的非线性上仍存在局限,有待进一步研究。     

变厚度板中水平剪切波的传播特性分析

为研究超声导波在储罐壁板等变壁厚结构中的传播特性，建立了SH波在空间自由边界中的传播模型，基于各向同性弹性介质Navier-Stokes方程，推导了变厚度板中SH波的频散方程，分析了变厚度板中水平剪切波走时t与倾斜角θ间的相互作用关系；通过简谐点源的远场响应并引入板厚与传播位移的非线性关系，得出了变厚度板中SH波的远场响应方程。在此基础上，仿真分析和实验验证了水平剪切波在不同倾斜角变厚度板中的传播特性，结果表明：在变厚度板的薄端激励水平剪切波并沿结构表面传播时，无频散现象，且无波包分离现象；但随着变厚度板倾斜角θ增大，水平剪切波的走时和接收信号幅值均逐渐递减，且呈非线性关系。     

基于直剪试验的页岩水化作用的强度弱化规律

随着页岩气资源的不断开发,水平井段的硬脆性页岩井壁失稳问题也越来越突出。为此,通过对水基、油基钻井液浸泡后的页岩岩样直剪试验,并结合单组弱面强度理论,分析了内聚力和内摩擦角对页岩强度的影响规律以及不同钻井液浸泡后的页岩强度弱化规律。对试验数据的分析结果表明:①水基、油基钻井液浸泡后内聚力和内摩擦角均下降,其垂直层理面方向的内摩擦角和内聚力均高于平行层理面方向;②页岩强度随钻井液浸泡时长增加而降低,受水化作用影响层理面导致强度降低,微裂缝表现为更易扩展,页岩容易产生破坏;③内聚力控制页岩强度大小,内摩擦角控制页岩沿弱面破坏的范围;④水基钻井液对页岩影响较为明显,页岩受其浸泡后强度下降较快,并随浸泡时间增加页岩强度持续下降,同时沿弱面破坏的角度限明显增大,油基钻井液能较好地保持岩样强度水平。最后,以四川盆地志留系龙马溪组M气藏为例,通过水平井段坍塌压力的计算,认识到水基钻井液基本不能满足钻井要求,而应采用油基钻井液且优先考虑沿最小水平地应力方向钻进。     

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.     

Structural health monitoring system based on multi-agent coordination and fusion for large structure

In practical applications of structural health monitoring technology, a large number of distributed sensors are usually adopted to monitor the big dimension structures and different kinds of damage. The monitored structures are usually divided into different sub-structures and monitored by different sensor sets. Under this situation, how to manage the distributed sensor set and fuse different methods to obtain a fast and accurate evaluation result is an important problem to be addressed deeply. In the paper, a multi-agent fusion and coordination system is presented to deal with the damage identification for the strain distribution and joint failure in the large structure. Firstly, the monitoring system is adopted to distributedly monitor two kinds of damages, and it self-judges whether the static load happens in the monitored sub-region, and focuses on the static load on the sub-region boundary to obtain the sensor network information with blackboard model. Then, the improved contract net protocol is used to dynamically distribute the damage evaluation module for monitoring two kinds of damage uninterruptedly. Lastly, a reliable assessment for the whole structure is given by combing various heterogeneous classifiers strengths with voting-based fusion. The proposed multi-agent system is illustrated through a large aerospace aluminum plate structure experiment. The result shows that the method can significantly improve the monitoring performance for the large-scale structure.     

Assessment of local strain field in adhesive layer of an unsymmetrically repaired CFRP panel using digital image correlation

The present study focuses on experimental investigation of through the thickness displacement and strain field in thin adhesive layer in single sided (unsymmetrical) patch repaired CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) panel under tensile load. Digital image correlation (DIC) technique is employed to acquire the displacement and strain (longitudinal, peel and shear) field. Experimental determination of shear transfer length based on shear strain field obtained from DIC is introduced to estimate the optimum overlap length which is an essential parameter in patch design for the repair of CFRP structures. Further, DIC experiment with magnified optics is performed to get an insight into complex and localized strain field over thin adhesive layer especially at critical zones leading to damage initiation. The failure mechanism, load displacement behavior, damage initiation and propagation are closely monitored using DIC. The influence of patch edge tapering on strain distribution in adhesive layer is also investigated. The DIC successfully captures the global and localized strain field at critical zones over thin adhesive layer and further helps in monitoring the damage based on strain anomalies. Strains are found to have maximum magnitude at the patch overlap edge and the shear strain level in adhesive layer is higher than the peel strain. Normal tapering increases the peel strain and has negligible influence on shear strain level in adhesive layer. The recommended overlap length is found to be consistent with the recommendation in the literature. Whole field strain pattern and the overlap length obtained from experiment are further compared with the finite element analysis results and they appear to be in good coherence.     

Theoretical study of a thermoelectric-assisted vapor compression cycle for air-source heat pump applications

This paper proposes a thermoelectric-assisted vapor compression cycle (TVCC) for applications in air-source heat pump systems which could enhance the heating capacity of the system. Performances of TVCC are calculated and then compared with that of basic vapor compression cycle (BVCC). The simulation results show that when coefficients of performance (COPs) of the two cycles are almost equal, the TVCC under maximum COP condition of the thermoelectric modules still performs better than BVCC by 13.0% in heating capacity through selecting the appropriate intermediate temperature. In addition, the TVCC can also achieve an improvement of 16.4%–21.7% in both the heating COP and capacity when compared with the BVCC with an assistant electric heater that is provided with the equivalent power input of thermoelectric heat exchanger. Thus, the TVCC could be beneficial to the applications in small heat pumps if there is always need for auxiliary electric heat.     

反应釜夹套多介质智能切换控制系统设计

为了解决反应釜夹套内多种介质切换时易因操作失误引起介质混乱的问题,提出了反应釜夹套多介质智能切换控制方案。在生产过程中进行升/降温操作时,程序通过介质标识位自动识别夹套内的当前介质,并通过压空操作时间标准判断夹套压空终点,可以自动完成介质压空及切换等操作。实际应用表明:该方案提高了夹套介质切换的可靠性。