An order acceptance strategy under limited engineering man-hours for cost estimation in Engineering–Procurement–Construction projects

Accurate cost estimation is essential for any Engineering–Procurement–Construction (EPC) contractor accepting profitable projects because the project price is determined prior to receiving the contract. Therefore the contractor needs to ensure engineering man-hours (MH) in order to estimate project costs accurately as well as carry out the accepted orders. In this paper, we develop MH based order acceptance strategies and investigate their effects on the total expected profit through a long-term operation in EPC projects under a competitive bidding situation. To this end we build a simulation model describing relations among the volume of MH for cost estimation, accepted orders, revenues, and profits in EPC projects. Using our model, we show that the strategy, which maintains the appropriate balance of MH for cost estimation and project execution under the variability of accepted orders with competitive bidding situations, improves the total expected profit in EPC projects.     

New electrical shunt with two rectangular holes in a copper plate

A new concept of an electrical shunt with two rectangular holes in a copper plate (ESRP) has been developed to be used for measuring a large current with a short‐duration steep wave in a high‐voltage field. The ratio of the input current to the output current is 10⁶, as obtained from a DC voltage test circuit. The electrical shunt has a special configuration. To verify the shunt current ratio of ESRP in a real application, the shunt current was connected to a sphere‐to‐sphere electrode breakdown test circuit with a 10 mm gap to measure the large damping current (8.4 kA) of a DC breakdown voltage. The voltage signal from the shunt was transmitted to excite two light‐emitting diodes (max. 50 mA, 4 V), which were reverse‐connected in series. The light‐emitting diodes operated properly and were illuminated, which validated the capability of the newly designed electrical shunt. © 2015 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Excess Solute Carbon and Retained Tetragonality in Tempered Fe-0.6C-1Mn Martensite and the Effect of Silicon Addition

The tetragonality and carbon distribution in tempered Fe-0.6C-1Mn martensite were investigated by X-ray diffraction and atom probe tomography to elucidate strain relaxation in the tetragonal lattice during tempering and its relationship with the solubility of excess carbon in martensite. Even though tetragonality (c/a) decreased with an increase in the tempering temperature, it persisted at low levels up to 400 °C. Si addition suppressed the decrease in tetragonality at 400 °C by inhibiting recovery in the dislocated matrix. Such persistence implies that dislocation migration is crucial for the complete release of tetragonal lattice strain at such a temperature, in addition to the decrease in the amount of solute carbon in martensite. A low level of tetragonality was observed for martensite containing carbon in the solid solution below the critical value of ~ 0.2 mass pct, at which a bcc structure was predicted. The amount of solute carbon after tempering was linearly correlated with tetragonality in the solute carbon content range of 0.07 to 0.6 mass pct, and the correlation coefficient was similar to those for as-quenched auto-tempered martensite and bainitic ferrite; these results indicate that the amount of excess carbon is simply determined by the amount of tetragonal lattice distortions remaining after carbide precipitation and recovery.

     

Synthesis of polyamide-hydroxyapatite nanocomposites

Simultaneous one-pot syntheses of PA66 and HAp were carried out by extracting H₂O and CO₂ from PA66 monomers and HAp raw materials, respectively, resulting in the formation of a polyamide (PA) 66-hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanocomposite. During the process, a spherical nano-sized HAp particle was precipitated following dissolution of micro-sized CaHPO₄・2H₂O. The PA66 monomers were subsequently adsorbed onto the generated HAp product. Some of the adsorbed PA66 monomers formed a bound polymer on HAp, and an increase in the adhesiveness of the PA66-HAp interface was observed as the polymerization progressed. During this process, the synthesis of a nanocomposite from a micro-sized raw material and creation of an autonomous strong interface between the matrix and filler was achieved. In addition, the shape of the resultant HAp was controllable and could be modified to needle shape by the addition of F⁻ and Mg²⁺ ions to the raw material. HAp could also be changed to plate shape via octa-calcium phosphate (OCP). Notably, during the synthesis, the filler shape of the nanocomposite could be controlled to 0D (particle), 1D (needle), and 2D (plate).     

High Resistance of Cu–Ferrierite to Coke Formation During NH3-SCR in the Presence of n-Decane

Selective catalytic reduction of NO _x by NH₃ over Cu–FER and Cu–ZSM-5 in the presence of n-decane and SO₂ was investigated. NO _x conversion over Cu–ZSM-5 decreased in the presence of n-decane, owing to inhibition of the active sites by coke formation. In contrast, coke formation was negligible over Cu–FER, which maintained its NO _x conversion activity even in the presence of decane. Coke formation was negligible over H–ZSM-5 and H–FER supports, which suggests that Cu species were involved in coke formation. Temperature-programmed reduction by H₂ and electron spin resonance spectroscopy indicated that [Cu–O–Cu]²⁺ was probably the Cu species involved in coke formation over Cu–ZSM-5.     

Catalytic Performance of Aged Rh/CeO2–ZrO2 for NO–C3H6–O2 Reaction Under a Stoichiometric Condition

The activity of Rh/CeO₂ for NO reduction by C₃H₆ was gradually deceased by mixing with ZrO₂ until 68 mol%. Rh supported on CeO₂–ZrO₂ with higher OSC was found to show lower catalytic activity. High OSC of CeO₂–ZrO₂ would probably stabilize the surface of Rh in oxidized state, resulting in low activity and low efficiency of C₃H₆ utilization for NO reduction. In situ FT-IR spectroscopy suggested that mononitrosyl species such as Rh(NO)^δ? and Rh(NO)^δ+ are reaction intermediates in the NO–C₃H₆–O₂ reaction over Rh/CeO₂–ZrO₂ catalysts.     

Thermoelectric Properties of Multifilled Skutterudites with La as the Main Filler

Bulk multifilled n- and p-type skutterudites with La as the main filler were fabricated using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. The thermoelectric properties and thermal stability of these skutterudites were investigated. It was found that the interactions among the filling atoms also play a vital role in reducing the lattice thermal conductivity of the multifilled skutterudites. ZT = 0.76 for p-type La_0.8Ba_0.01Ga_0.1Ti_0.1Fe₃CoSb₁₂ and ZT = 1.0 for n-type La_0.3Ca_0.1Al_0.1Ga_0.1In_0.2Co_3.75Fe_0.25Sb₁₂ skutterudites have been achieved. Furthermore, the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show that there is no skutterudite phase decomposition till 750°C for the La_0.8Ba_0.01Ga_0.1Ti_0.1Fe₃CoSb₁₂ sample. The thermal stability of the La_0.8Ba_0.01Ga_0.1Ti_0.1Fe₃CoSb₁₂ skutterudite is greatly improved. Using the developed multifilled skutterudites, the fabricated module with size of 50 mm × 50 mm × 7.6 mm possesses maximum output power of 32 W under the condition of hot/cold sides = 600°C/50°C.     

The effect of chemical reaction on the mixing flow between aqueous solutions of acetic acid and ammonia

The basic characteristics of the reacting mixing flow of two streams were investigated. The reaction between aqueous solutions of ammonia and acetic acid, which produces ammonium acetate, was investigated in terms of the effect on the fluid–fluid interface of the mixing flow relative to fluids that did not react. The reaction between these solutions was negligibly exothermic, and there were minimal differences in density. The velocity field in the reacting mixing flow was quantitatively measured using high-speed time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) and the behavior of the mixing flow was qualitatively investigated using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). The jet width, the velocity field, the kinetic energy and the turbulent intensities are qualitatively estimated and discussed. It was found that the chemical reaction resulted in the suppression of the mixing flow.     

Mixing speed-controlled gold nanoparticle synthesis with pulsed mixing microfluidic system

Gold nanoparticles with diameters of a few tens of nanometer and a narrow size distribution were synthesized using a pulsed mixing method with a microfluidic system which consists of a Y-shaped mixing microchannel and two piezoelectric valveless micropumps. This mixing method enables control of the mixing speed of gold salts and reducing agent by changing the switching frequency of the micropumps, which was our focus to improve the particle size distribution, which is an essential parameter in gold nanoparticle synthesis. In the proposed method, the mixing time was inversely proportional to the switching frequency and the minimum mixing time was 95 ms at a switching frequency of 200 Hz. During synthesis experiments, the mean diameter of the synthesized gold nanoparticles was found to increase, and the coefficient of variation of particle size was found to decrease with decreasing mixing time. We successfully improved the coefficient of variation to less than 10% for a mean diameter of around 40 nm.