Heat transfer and friction characteristics for artificially roughened ducts with compound turbulators

An experimental investigation on heat and fluid flow characteristics of fully developed turbulent flow in a rectangular duct having repeated integral transverse chamfered rib-groove roughness on one broad wall has been carried out. Experiments encompassed the Reynolds number range of 3000–21,000; relative roughness pitch of 4.5–10, chamfer angle of 5°–30°, relative groove position of 0.3–0.6 and relative roughness height of 0.022–0.04. The effect of roughness parameters on Nusselt number and friction factor have been discussed and the results are compared with the results of square rib-grooved and smooth duct under similar flow conditions. The conditions for the best performance have been determined. Correlations for the Nusselt number and friction factor have been developed as a function of roughness parameters and flow Reynolds number.     

Strain analysis of moving objects using a Fourier transform grid method

There is no good method to measure the shape and the strain distributions of a structure changing with time. We have previously proposed the Fourier transform grid method (FTGM) to measure the three-dimensional shape and surface strain distributions of stationary objects by analysing the two-dimensional grating images recorded with two cameras. In the stereoscopic method, it is very important to determine the accurate geometric parameters of the camera system. In this paper, the positions and the directions of cameras are accurately determined using the FTGM applied to images of a reference object on which a two-dimensional grating is drawn. Applications for analysing shape and strain distributions of vibrating rubber plates and a moving human skin are shown.     

Morphology/behaviour relationship of nanocomposites based on natural rubber/epoxidized natural rubber blends

In order to analyze the effect of an epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and filler treatment on the morphology and behavior of natural rubber (NR) nanocomposites, blends of these polymers have been prepared. The nature and extent of the clay dispersions in the filled samples were evaluated by X-ray diffraction. In the presence of ENR, an exfoliated structure was obtained which suggests that enough rubbery polymer was incorporated into the interlayer spacing. The effect of clay in rubber compounds was analyzed through rheological, mechanical and swelling characterization. A sensible improvement in the nanocomposite properties was observed by the addition of organoclay. It has been deduced that the properties of the compounds strongly depend on the extent of the silicate nanolayers dispersion into the rubber matrices as well as on the organoclay type and elastomer compatibility.     

Forming consensus in the networks of knowledge

Information granules, such as e.g., fuzzy sets, capture essential knowledge about data and the key dependencies between them. Quite commonly, we may envision that information granules (fuzzy sets) have become a result of fuzzy clustering and therefore could be succinctly represented in the form of some fuzzy partition matrices. Interestingly, the same data set could be represented from various standpoints and this multifaceted view yields a collection of different partition matrices being reflective of the higher-order granular knowledge about the data. The levels of specificity of the clusters the data are organized into could be quite different—the larger the number of clusters, the more detailed insight into the structure of data becomes available. Given the granularity of the resulting constructs (rather than plain data themselves), one could view a collection of partition matrices as a certain type of a network of knowledge. Considering a variety of sources of knowledge encountered across the network, we are interested in forming consensus between them. In a nutshell, this leads to the construction of certain fuzzy partition matrices which “reconcile” the knowledge captured by the individual partition matrices. Given that the granularity of the sources of knowledge under consideration could vary quite substantially, we develop a unified optimization perspective by introducing fuzzy proximity matrices that are induced by the corresponding partition matrices. In the sequel, the optimization is realized on a basis of these proximity matrices. We offer a detailed algorithm and illustrate its performance using a series of numeric experiments.     

Effect of cerium on the growth and crystalline quality of KDP crystals

The effect of the addition of cerium in potassium dihydrogen phosphate, grown from aqueous solution by the temperature lowering method using bi-direction seed rotation technique has been studied. The optimal addition of trivalent cerium ions considerably prevents other bivalent transition metal ions (Co, Ni, Mn) from entering into the crystal lattice and results in reduced defects and dislocations. A simple microcontroller based bi-directional accelerated seed rotation control setup is designed and employed to avoid stagnant regions or re-circulating flows in the solution. High-resolution XRD analysis of the (002) plane reveals that the Ce³⁺ added KDP exhibited better crystalline perfection and contains less dislocation.     

A generalized self consistent model for effective elastic moduli of human dentine

Closed-form expressions are presented for effective material properties of human dentine in this paper. The derivation is based a Generalized Self Consistent Method and the strain energy principle. The Generalized Self Consistent Model for cell model of fiber-reinforced composites is extended to the case of hollow cylinder model and the corresponding cell model is chosen to consist of a circular hollow cylinder filled with liquid or gas phase, which surrounded by a circular cylindrical shell of matrix phase. Each layer of cylindrical shell is here considered as a kind of composite consisting of collagen fibrils, with mineralized hydroxyapatite, loosely connected to their neighbours, and water (or gas in the case of dry dentine composite). Using the cell model, the effect of Poisson’s ratio and volume fraction of intertubular dentine on effective mechanical constants is analyzed. Results obtained from the proposed model are compared with those from other models such as nano-indentation method.     

Application of boundary element method to 3-D problems of coupled thermoelasticity

This paper deals with a new boundary element method for analysis of the quasistatic problems in coupled thermoelasticity. Through some mathematical manipulation of the Navier equation in elasticity, the heat conduction equation is transformed into a simpler form, similar to the uncoupled-type equation with the modified thermal conductivity which shows the coupling effects. This procedure enables us to treat the coupled thermoelastic problems as an uncoupled one, A few examples are computed by the proposed BEM, and the results obtained are compared with the analytical ones available in the literature, whereby the accuracy and versatility of the proposed method are demonstrated.     

A new method of strength calculation and lifetime prediction of pipe bends operating in the creep range

An easy to use method for an approximate creep life prediction for pipe bends was developed within a recent R & D-project in Germany. The new algorithm is based on a Finite-Element parameter study comprising approximately 200 pipe bends. The creep behaviour of the materials primarily used for main steam and hot reheat piping is described using the Graham–Walles creep law. Since the new algorithm considers the time dependent out-of-roundness and stress redistribution of the pipe bend, it yields a more precise creep life prediction, compared to standard piping codes. It is possible to integrate this new calculation into existing online lifetime-monitoring-systems.