Investigation of the Ga-Sb-S chalcogenide glass with low thermo-optic coefficient as an acousto-optic material

In this study, two series of Ga_xSb_40-xS₆₀ (x = 4, 6, 8, 10 mol%) and Ga_ySb₃₆S_64-y (y = 3, 5, 6 mol%) glasses were prepared and the relationship between their compositional and acousto-optic (AO) properties was investigated systematically for the first time. In the Ga_ySb₃₆S_64-y system, the AO figure of merit (M₂) increased as the Ga increased, and the maximum M₂ of the Ga₆Sb₃₆S₅₈ glass was 455.78 × 10^?18 s³/g, which is ～301 times greater than that of fused silica and ～2.5 times greater than that of As₂S₃ chalcogenide (ChG) glass at 1550 nm. However, its thermo-optic coefficients (dn/dT) varied greatly (32.1 × 10^?6 °C^?1–57.2 × 10^?6 °C^?1), and acoustic attenuations (α) at 10 MHz were high, from 5.446 dB/cm to 7.274 dB/cm. In the Ga_xSb_40-xS₆₀ glass system, the M₂ value and α at different ultrasonic frequencies gradually decreased with the improvement of Ga. Compared with the Ga_ySb₃₆S_64-y system, the Ga_xSb_40-xS₆₀ glass system had lower α (at 10 MHz) and dn/dT, which are 5.001 dB/cm–5.563 dB/cm and 17.3 × 10^?6 °C^?1–55.6 × 10^?6 °C^?1, respectively. These results provide a significant reference for the further development of novel ChG glasses and help expand their application fields.     

Effect of induction on exhaust gas recirculation and hydrogen gas in compression ignition engine with simarouba oil in dual fuel mode

Biofuels extracted from non-edible oil is sustainable and can be used as an alternative fuel for internal combustion engines. This study presents the performance, emission and combustion characteristic analysis by using simarouba oil (obtained from Simarouba seed) as an alternative fuel along with hydrogen and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in a compression ignition (CI) engine operating on dual fuel mode. Simarouba biofuel blend (B20) was prepared on volumetric basis by mixing simarouba oil and diesel in the proportion of 20% and 80% (v/v), respectively. Hydrogen gas was introduced at the flow rate of 2.67 kg/min, and EGR concentration was maintained at 30% of total air introduction. Performance, combustion and emission characteristics analysis were examined with biodiesel (B20), biodiesel with hydrogen substitution and biodiesel, hydrogen with EGR and were compared with neat diesel operation. Results indicate that BTE of the engine operating with biodiesel B20 was decreased when compared to neat diesel operation. However, introducing hydrogen along with B20 blend into the combustion chamber shows a slight increase in the BTE by 1%. NO_x emission was increased to 18.13% with the introduction of hydrogen than that of base fuel (diesel) operation. With the introduction of EGR, there is a significant reduction in NO_x emission due to decrease in in-cylinder temperature by 19.07%. A significant reduction in CO, CO_2, and smoke emissions were also noted with the introduction of both hydrogen and EGR. The ignition delay and combustion duration were increased with the introduction of hydrogen, EGR with biodiesel than neat diesel operation. Hence, the proposed biodiesel B20 with H₂ and EGR combination can be applied as an alternative fuel in CI engines.     

Thermal shock response behaviour of carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide matrix composites prepared by chemical vapour infiltration at different heating rates

The present work investigated the effects of thermal cycles in air on the tensile properties of a two-dimensional carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide composite (2D C/SiC) prepared by chemical vapour infiltration at different heating rates. The composite was exposed to different cycles of thermal shock between 20 °C and 1300 °C in air. The damage mechanisms were investigated by AE online monitoring and fractured morphology offline analysis. The tensile strength of 2D-C/SiC decreases with increasing thermal cycles. However, the modulus only decrease within 40 cycles. Due to oxidation, with the decrease in heating rate, the residual properties of the material decrease more obviously. Meanwhile, the results of AE online monitoring and fracture analysis show that the matrix damage is more serious at higher heating rate and that more delamination occours in tensile fractures. The above results indicate that for the thermal shock of 2D C/SiC composites in air, oxidative damage plays a key role in the residual properties.     

一种新型井下声波发生装置及其声波传播特性

井下有限空间内声波的有效发生与声能量的高效传递是声波在钻柱中稳定、长距离传输的前提,高效可靠的发生装置是实现井下信息声波传输技术现场化应用的关键。为了实现速度快、准确性高、抗外界因素干扰能力强的井下信息传输,基于超磁致伸缩换能器设计加工了一种井下声波发生装置,并通过建立试验系统,对该装置的功能性及关键参数设计开展了研究。研究结果表明:①带内孔的单级圆锥变幅杆是辐射声波首选,换能器在圆锥变幅杆小端激励的声波辐射进入钻柱中能够获得平面波;②在变幅杆放大系数极小值点附近设计长径比能够有效提高低频段声波能量传递效率;③黄铜材料的声传递介质具有较高的滤波质量与声能量传递效率;④声波能量传递效率随换能器预紧力增加,先增加后保持不变,7.20 kN预紧力能够获得最佳传递效率。结论认为,在井下声波发生与中继装置的设计过程中,应充分考虑换能器声波辐射方式与结构参数对声波能量传递效率的影响;建议进一步研究声发射端机械结构、声载波参数等因素对钻柱中声传播特性的影响,以加快井下信息声传输技术现场应用的步伐。     

Energy,exergy and emission analysis on a DI single cylinder diesel engine using pyrolytic waste plastic oil diesel blend

Depletion of fossil fuels and stringent emission norms focus attention to discover an evitable source of alternative fuel in order to attribute a significant compensation on conventional fuels. Besides, waste management policies encourage the valorization of different wastes for the production of alternative fuels in order to reduce the challenges of waste management. In this context, pyrolysis has become an emerging trend to convert different wastes into alternate fuel and suitable to be used as a substitute fuel for CI engines. The current investigation provides a sustainable and feasible solution for waste plastic management by widening the gap between global plastic production and plastic waste generation. It investigates the performance and emission of a single cylinder DI four stroke diesel engine using waste plastic oil (WPO) derived from pyrolysis of waste plastics using Zeolite-A as catalyst. Engine load tests have been conducted taking waste plastic oil and subsequently a blend of waste plastic oil by 10%, 20%, and 30% in volume proportions with diesel as fuel. The performance of the test engine in terms of brake thermal efficiency is found marginally higher and brake specific fuel consumption comparatively lowest for 20% WPO-diesel blend than pure diesel. The NOx and HC emission is found lower under low load condition and became higher by increasing the load as compared to diesel. Fuel exergy was significantly increasing after blending of WPO with pure diesel, but exergetic efficiency of the blended fuels followed the reverse trend. However, increase in load of the engine improved the exergetic efficiency. The 20% WPO–diesel blended fuel is found suitable to be used as an alternative fuel for diesel engine.     

Characteristics analysis for total volatile organic compounds emissions of methanol-diesel fuel

To study the characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from an engine fueled with methanol diesel, an experiment compared with petroleum diesel (0# diesel) and biodiesel was carried out on a Xichai 4CK diesel engine test bench by the solid phase adsorption-thermal desorption-gas chromatography mass spectrometry method. In this experiment, methanol-diesel (20 vol.% methanol), petroleum diesel and biodiesel were analyzed through the sampling system, which consists of Tenax TA adsorption tubes, flow sampling pump, the capillary gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (CGC/MS), etc. The experimental results demonstrate that total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) emissions of methanol diesel are lower than petroleum diesel but higher than biodiesel at maximum power, and that TVOC emissions of methanol diesel reduce with the rise of load but increase when the rotation speed of engine gets faster. And benzene and toluene are two main components of TVOC emissions of methanol diesel, accounting for more than 70% at rated power. Therefore, this study can provide a theoretical basis for popularization and development of methanol-diesel fuel in the future, meanwhile, contributing to make relative regulations and standards to control its emissions.     

A Unified Analysis of Structured Sonar-Terrain Data Using Bayesian Functional Mixed Models

Sonar emits pulses of sound and uses the reflected echoes to gain information about target objects. It offers a low cost, complementary sensing modality for small robotic platforms. Although existing analytical approaches often assume independence across echoes, real sonar data can have more complicated structures due to device setup or experimental design. In this article, we consider sonar echo data collected from multiple terrain substrates with a dual-channel sonar head. Our goals are to identify the differential sonar responses to terrains and study the effectiveness of this dual-channel design in discriminating targets. We describe a unified analytical framework that achieves these goals rigorously, simultaneously, and automatically. The analysis was done by treating the echo envelope signals as functional responses and the terrain/channel information as covariates in a functional regression setting. We adopt functional mixed models that facilitate the estimation of terrain and channel effects while capturing the complex hierarchical structure in data. This unified analytical framework incorporates both Gaussian models and robust models. We fit the models using a full Bayesian approach, which enables us to perform multiple inferential tasks under the same modeling framework, including selecting models, estimating the effects of interest, identifying significant local regions, discriminating terrain types, and describing the discriminatory power of local regions. Our analysis of the sonar-terrain data identifies time regions that reflect differential sonar responses to terrains. The discriminant analysis suggests that a multi- or dual-channel design achieves target identification performance comparable with or better than a single-channel design. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

长三角城市群节能减排效率及影响因素分析

使用夜间灯光数据估算了长三角城市群地区能源消耗量,通过数据包络分析、Tobit模型计算了节能减排效率与影响因素。研究结论表明:我国长三角城市群地区节能效率改进较小而减排效率提升较大,在诸多影响因素中固定资本投资率、产业结构与人口密度对节能减排效率有较大的促进作用;而第二产业集聚度目前影响方向为负,未来对节能减排效率的改进有一定的正向影响。     

Analysis of acoustic Doppler current profiler mean velocity measurements in shallow flows

Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) are commonly used instruments for measurement of natural streamflow and flow in manmade channels. Velocities measured in a profile by the instrument are used to estimate the discharge in a channel. A Teledyne RD Instruments StreamPro ADCP was used to measure the mean velocity simultaneously with a laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) in a laboratory flume. An average of 3.9% under-prediction of the mean velocity measured by the ADCP occurred when compared to the measurements of the LDA. Moreover, this study shows that the sampling duration of the measurements significantly impacts the mean point velocities measured by up to 50%.