A comparative study between gravel and rubber drainage columns for mitigation of liquefaction hazards

Liquefaction is one of the most destructive natural hazards that cause damage to engineering structures during an earthquake. This study aims to examine the effect of rubber and gravel drainage columns on the reduction of liquefaction potential of saturated sandy soils using a shaking table. Experiments were carried out in various conditions such as construction materials, different arrangements and diameters of drainage columns. Effects of the relative density and the input motion on the base test were investigated as well. The results demonstrate that rubber drainage columns have slightly better performance compared to gravel drainage columns at high relative density and high input acceleration. Soil improvement using gravel drainage columns, which leads to reduction in liquefaction effects at moderate input acceleration and low relative density, is a more effective method than that using rubber drainage columns. By increasing the number and diameter of gravel and rubber drainage columns, deformations due to liquefaction are reduced. The drainage rate of gravel drains is higher than that of rubber drains after shaking. Totally, the outcomes indicate that densification is the most important factor controlling liquefaction.     

An efficient online mapping tool for finding the shortest feasible path for alternative-fuel vehicles

Infrastructure for fuel-cell and other alternative-fuel vehicles is lacking not only in the paucity of fuel stations, but also in inadequate web-based support to help drivers complete their trips via the few stations that do exist. In this paper, we present an online mapping tool for finding the shortest feasible path in a road network given the vehicle's driving range and station locations. Users input their origin, destination, type of fuel, and driving range, and the algorithm generates a new reduced feasible network in which the vertices are the origin and destination nodes and reachable fuel stations and the edges represent feasible paths between them. Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm is applied to this reduced network to find the shortest feasible path. Efficiency is substantially improved by preprocessing and storing the shortest-path distances between stations. We present a web-mapping prototype (www.afvrouting.com) for hydrogen and compressed natural gas stations in the United States. Sample results illustrate the need for this kind of globally optimal solution method by showing that the optimal feasible path and refueling stops can vary tremendously as a result of user inputs for driving range, initial tank level, and one-way or round-trip.     

A numerical study of fluid flow and heat transfer in eccentric curved annuli

In this article fluid flow and heat transfer in curved eccentric annuli are studied numerically. A second order finite difference method based on the Projection algorithm is implemented to solve the governing equations including the full Navier–Stokes, the continuity, and the energy equations in a toroidal coordinate system. For convenience a bipolar based toroidal coordinate system is employed to discretize the governing equations in the annulus domain using a uniform staggered grid which is required in finite difference methods. Considering hydrodynamically and thermally fully developed conditions, the effects of different physical parameters such as eccentricity, Dean number, curvature, Prandtl number on the flow field and thermal characteristics at different thermal boundary conditions are investigated in detail. It is also shown that in contrast to straight eccentric annuli, heat transfer rates can be augmented in the eccentric curved annuli comparing with the straight concentric annuli at the large dean numbers.     

Three‐dimensional multiphase flow model to study channel flow dynamics of PEM fuel cells

A three‐dimensional multiphase flow model has been developed to study dynamics of a water droplet on the surface of the channel of proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Results are presented based on solving full Navier–Stokes equations for Newtonian liquids. The volume‐of‐fluid method is used to numerically determine the deformation of free surfaces. Water droplet and channel fluid properties determine whether the droplet deforms and remain stationary or disintegrate. We have shown the dependency of the water flooding to the flow rate and pressure drop in the channel has been introduced as a tool to determine water flooding in the channel. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Representation of Dynamic Positioning on Hovering Type Autonomous Underwater Vehicle in Precise Welding Operations

This paper proposes dynamic positioning (DP) on a hovering autonomous underwater vehicle (HAUV) to perform accurate underwater processes such as welding operations. High maneuverability, high controllability, and hovering of the robot were the prerequisites of this operation, which increase its accuracy and velocity and reduce costs and human health risks. Other types of thrusters were used in this robot to reduce the number of thrusters and controller''s complexity. Controlling every 6 degrees of freedom to perform this type of operation was done. Furthermore, such a delicate operation required controlling the translational and rotational movements together. There was also a need to control the velocities to travel in a prescribed distance at a reasonable time. The possibility of dynamic positioning for welding and maintaining position at a point was defined for the robot. Then the robot''s performance under a defective state-servo motor failure, thruster malfunction-and the subsequent effects on the performance during the predetermined missions were investigated. Simulation results demonstrated that the HAUV has the capability to perform dynamic positioning operations. In this article, one of the prevalent classic control methods called PID controller was employed for controlling the movements of the robot.     

Provision of Balanced Voltages Under Severe Unbalanced Load Currents in a Microgrid Using a 3D-SVM Technique

Abstract

The current source inverter (CSI) is more suitable for use in photovoltaic applications than the voltage source inverter (VSI), but this structure has two main constrains: inability to feed unbalanced load and high common mode voltage (CMV). Despite the merits, use of CSI is limited due to these constrains. A three-phase CSI with a neutral-leg is presented in this paper, compared to the conventional three-phase CSI to overcome mentioned limitations, in which load unbalance under a PV system is dealt in a microgrid. An innovative three-dimensional space vector modulation (3D-SVM) is suggested for the four-leg CSI inverter. This novel 3D-SVM technique is very simple compared to the existing methods and computational complexity is too low. Operating principles, equivalent circuit and SVM is discussed for the four-leg inverter. Then, a balancing technique is applied to the four-leg inverter using the developed 3D-SVM, where simulations validate the capability of the inverter in supplying balanced load voltages; 4-leg inverter generates balanced sinusoidal voltages even under severe unbalanced load current.     

Using the when/where rules in dual resource constrained systems for a hybrid push-pull control

This paper proposes a production control system, DRC-HPP, which uses the when/where rules in dual resource constrained (DRC) systems for a hybrid push-pull (HPP) control, to overcome some difficulties in modelling/implementing DRC/Kanban systems. These rules and the novel ‘process-or-transport’ and ‘whereto’ rules are embedded in some policies workers use to decide when to process (transport) parts, and where (whereto). Unlike most control systems, in which a group of workers is always responsible for transporting and another group is always responsible for processing parts, workers in DRC-HPP are responsible for both transporting and processing parts, as in the Toyota Sewn Products Management System (TSS). Yet, unlike TSS, DRC-HPP can be applied in any layout type. Workers transport parts when they are idle in part processing to enhance their utilisations and synchronise transportation. Since the transportation does not require special worker skills, the cost of training workers is not incurred. DRC-HPP is compared with different benchmarks through simulation experiments to evaluate its performance. It performs well under relatively short transportation times with respect to processing times. If they are relatively longer, the issue becomes to determine the number of workers to achieve a performance level. DRC-HPP also facilitates bottleneck management.     

Assay of Total Mercury in Commercial Food Supplements of Marine Origin by Means of DLLME/ICP-AES

In this work, we have developed a sensitive and cost-effective preconcentration and quantification methodology for total mercury (Hg) at trace levels in food supplements of marine origin. Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction was successfully employed for the preconcentration of mercury at trace levels prior to inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The mercury was extracted as mercury-1, 5-diphenyl-3-formazathiol complex, at pH 1.0 mediated by multidroplet formation of microextraction solvent assisted by disperser solvent. The lower limit of detection obtained under the optimal conditions was 0.24 μg L⁻¹. The calibration graphs were linear up to 500 μg L⁻¹. The precision of the method in terms of relative standard deviation was 4.8% for the concentration of 100 μg L⁻¹. In order to validate the proposed method, a certified reference material RTC-QCI-049 was analyzed with the proposed procedure. Moreover, potential interference by 20 species was also evaluated.     

Determination of polymeric medium flow rate in extruders based on a new correlation

One of the most widespread practical methods of polymer processing is the extrusion method that is based on pressing a polymeric melt through channels of the molding tool which have different geometrical cross‐sections. The basic performance of extrusion is based on the pressure and flow performance which sets functional correlation between volumetric flow rate of a polymer medium, pressed through a molding tool, and created pressure drop. Arguments of this correlation are the rheological parameters of polymer and the geometrical characteristics of the channel in which the polymeric melt flows. In this article, a viscoelastic model with a corrected strain energy function is implemented. The comparison of revealed theoretical expression in this article with the experimental data for flow of polymeric melts in cylindrical channels with various cross‐sections demonstrates a good convergence over a wide range of pressure gradient. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers