Effect of alumina diluent on the fabrication of in-situ Al2O3-Ti/ZrB2 composite by self propagating high temperature synthesis dynamic compaction

A detailed investigation of the effect of alumina diluent on the Al₂O₃-TiB₂/ZrB₂ composite by self propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) dynamic compaction was carried out. A dense composite could be obtained and microstructure could be tailored and controlled by adding alumina as diluent during the SHS reaction. The microhardness values decreased for 5 and 10 wt pct additions of alumna but increased for 15 and 20 wt pct additions. Hardness is influenced by the different phases present and the grain size.     

Packet video transport in ATM networks with single-bit feedback

The promise of a broadband integrated service digital network has led to the design of mechanisms for efficient transport of real-time compressed video in packet switching networks. We examine feedback control for video transport in ATM networks where the available feedback is a single bit of information carried in the cell header. We investigate the performance of three single-bit schemes for source rate adaptation. Two were originally for congestion control of bursty data traffic and are modified to control video traffic. The third scheme conveys more information about the state of queue(s) at the bottleneck. The simulation results show that all three schemes for feedback control of VBR video streams work remarkably well. During severe network congestion, the signal quality degrades gracefully, but not uniformly across all connections. Based on insights from the initial simulations, we propose a scheme to improve the fairness of service and demonstrate its effectiveness.     

An experimental study of the circuit properties of coupled insulated antennas

Measurements are reported of the admittances and distributions of current for two parallel insulated monopoles in lake water. Graphs of the admittance and impedance in the complex plane are displayed with the electrical distance between the elements as the parameter. These show significant coupling over electrically large separations. All data were obtained with the antennas driven both in phase and in phase opposition. Three thicknesses of the insulation were used.     

Screening of Soil Amendments for Efficient Water-Holding Capacity Based on a Rainfall-Infiltration Model in a Vertisol

A simulation study was conducted with five soil amendments, viz., goat manure, coir pith, phosphogypsum, polyacrylamide, and a control at two rainfall intensities of 60 and 120?mm?h?1 under dry and wet soil conditions in a clay loam vertisol with the objective of identifying a superior soil amendment for maximum infiltration and suitable soil aggregate stability. The F-test based on analysis of variance of infiltration data indicated that soil amendments, rainfall intensities, and soil conditions were significantly different from each other. Based on least significant difference test, polyacrylamide was found to be superior with a significantly higher infiltration, compared to all other amendments. An exponential model of infiltration over a time interval was calibrated for each soil amendment under dry and wet soil conditions. Based on the model, polyacrylamide and phosphogypsum were found to have a better soil aggregate stability compared to other soil amendments. The exponential model gave a significant predictability of instantaneous infiltration ranging from 0.75 to 0.99 under different situations. A grouping of treatments based on mean and coefficient of variation of infiltration in comparison with soil aggregate stability values indicated that polyacrylamide was superior under different situations in the study. Phosphogypsum was found to be the second best soil amendment with a relatively lower infiltration compared to polyacrylamide, but with a better soil aggregate stability compared to other soil amendments. Coir pith, goat manure, and control gave a significantly lower infiltration with a relatively higher variation compared to polyacrylamide and phosphogypsum, and also had a relatively lower soil aggregate stability under different situations examined in the study.     

Fatigue-life estimation of functionally graded materials using XFEM

The present work deals with the fatigue crack growth simulation of alloy/ceramic functionally graded materials (FGMs) using extended finite element method (XFEM). Various cases of FGM containing multiple inhomogeneities/discontinuities along with either a major edge or a center crack are taken for the purpose of simulation. The fatigue life of the FGM plate is calculated using Paris law of fatigue crack growth under cyclic loading. The effect of multiple inhomogeneities/discontinuities (minor cracks, holes/voids, and inclusions) on the fatigue life of cracked FGM plate is studied in detail. These simulations show that the presence of inhomogeneities/discontinuities in the domain significantly influences the fatigue life of the components.     

On the existence and synthesis of multifinger positive grips

We study the criteria under which an object can be gripped by a multifingered dexterous hand, assuming no static friction between the object and the fingers; such grips are calledpositive grips. We study three cases in detail: (i) the body is at equilibrium, (ii) the body is under some constant external force/torque, and (iii) the body is under a varying external force/torque. In each case we obtain tight bounds on the number of fingers needed to obtain grip.We also present efficient algorithms to synthesize such positive grips for bounded polyhedral/polygonal objects; the number of fingers employed in the grips synthesized by our algorithms match the above bounds. The algorithms run in time linear in the number of faces/sides.The paper may be of independent interest for its presentation of algorithms arising in the study of positive linear spaces.Work on this paper has been supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-82-K.-0381, National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF-DCR-83-20085, and by grants from the Digital Equipment Corporation, and the IBM Corporation.