Sediment Pickup on Streamwise Sloping Beds

This paper presents an experimental investigation on noncohesive sediment pickup under a unidirectional steady-uniform stream flow on streamwise steeply sloping (down slope and adverse) sedimentary beds. The characteristic parameters affecting the sediment pickup, identified based on the physical reasoning and dimensional analysis of the sediment particle movement under stream flow, are the transport-stage parameter, particle parameter, and geometric standard deviation of sediment particles. A large number of experiments (426 runs) were carried out in two long rectangular ducts (closed-conduit flow) with nine types of sediments (six uniform and three nonuniform sediments), having a variation of bed slope from ?15° (adverse slope) to 25° (down slope). In an open channel flow (laboratory flume study), the uniform flow is a difficult, if not impossible, proposition for a steeply sloping channel and is impossible to obtain in an adversely sloping channel. To avoid this problem, the tests were conducted with a closed-conduit flow. Measurements included flow discharge and sediment pickup rate. The bed shear stress for a particular run was computed considering side wall correction. The experimental data were used to determine the equation of sediment pickup function through a regression analysis. The equation is adequate to estimate sediment pickup not only on horizontal and mild slopes but also on steep and adverse slopes.     

Localized Delaunay Refinement for Sampling and Meshing

The technique of Delaunay refinement has been recognized as a versatile tool to generate Delaunay meshes of a variety of geometries. Despite its usefulness, it suffers from one lacuna that limits its application. It does not scale well with the mesh size. As the sample point set grows, the Delaunay triangulation starts stressing the available memory space which ultimately stalls any effective progress. A natural solution to the problem is to maintain the point set in clusters and run the refinement on each individual cluster. However, this needs a careful point insertion strategy and a balanced coordination among the neighboring clusters to ensure consistency across individual meshes. We design an octtree based localized Delaunay refinement method for meshing surfaces in three dimensions which meets these goals. We prove that the algorithm terminates and provide guarantees about structural properties of the output mesh. Experimental results show that the method can avoid memory thrashing while computing large meshes and thus scales much better than the standard Delaunay refinement method.     

Properties of vinyl ester resins containing methacrylated fatty acid comonomer: the effect of fatty acid chain length

This paper reports the formulation of a low‐cost vinyl ester‐based composite resin suitable for liquid molding, which has significantly lower volatile organic compound emission associated with it. Methacrylated fatty acid comonomers were used to replace the conventional yet environmentally hazardous reactive diluent, styrene. The chain length of these fatty acids played a key role in obtaining better viscosity, as it was proved to affect two interplaying factors: intermolecular friction and hydrogen bonding. The thermomechanical performance was greatly affected by the chain length of the fatty acids as well as the crosslink density of the polymer networks. A carbon number of 6 to 8 was good enough in optimizing the viscosity parameter suitable for handling; the dynamic mechanical analysis values, namely glass transition temperature and storage modulus, were in the range 66–121 °C and 0.97–2.8 GPa, respectively, as the carbon number was varied from 4 to 16, making the material suitable for various applications. Microstructures obtained from scanning electron microscopy results were correlated with polymer properties to obtain a better insight into these polymer networks. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

A novel method for synthesis of α-Si3N4 nanowires by sol–gel route

Silicon nitride (Si₃ N₄) nanowires have been prepared by carbothermal reduction followed by the nitridation (CTRN) of silica gel containing ultrafine excess carbon obtained by the decomposition of dextrose over the temperature range of 1200–1350 °C. This innovative process involves repeated evacuation followed by purging of nitrogen gas so that the interconnected nanopores of the gel are filled with nitrogen gas prior to heat treatment. During heat treatment at higher temperatures, the presence of nitrogen gas in the nanopores of the gel starts the CTRN reaction simultaneously throughout the bulk of the gel, leading to the formation of Si₃ N₄ nanowires. The in situ generated ultrafine carbon obtained by the decomposition of dextrose decreases the partial pressure of oxygen in the system to stabilize the nanowires. The nanowires synthesized by this process are of ∼500 nm diameter and ∼0.2 mm length. The product was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared (IR) spectra.     

Melt viscoelasticity of polyethylene terephthalate resins for low density extrusion foaming

The rheological properties of conventional polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins are not particularly suitable for low density extrusion foaming with physical blowing agents; as a result, chemically modified resins through chain extension/branching reactions are often used. Such resins have overall higher melt viscosity and higher melt strength/melt “elasticity” than unmodified materials. In this work, following a review of the prior art on PET chemical modification, an unmodified and a chemically modified resin were selected and characterized for their melt viscoelastic properties including shear and dynamic complex viscosity over a broad shear rate/frequency range, storage and loss modulus, and die swell. Certain rheological models were found to provide better fits of the entire viscosity curve for the unmodified vs. the modified resin. Foamed extrudates having variable densities (from about 1.2 to 0.2 g/cc), were prepared by carbon dioxide injection in monolayer flat sheet extrusion equipment. Foams with increasingly lower density, below 0.5 g/cc, were obtained by increasing gas pressure only in the case of the chemically modified resin. The effects of variables such as concentration of the physical blowing agent, resin rheology, resin thermal properties and choice of process conditions are related to product characteristics including density, cell size and crystallinity.     

Laser flash photolysis and magnetic-field-effect studies on interaction of thymine and thymidine with menadione: role of sugar in controlling reaction pattern

The magnetic field effect (MFE) in conjunction with laser flash photolysis has been used for the study of the interaction of one of the small drug like quinone molecules, 2-methyl, 1,4-naphthoquinone, commonly known as menadione (MQ), with one of the DNA bases, thymine (THN), and its corresponding nucleoside, thymidine (THDN), in acetonitrile (ACN) and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) micelles. It has been observed that THN undergoes electron transfer (ET) and hydrogen (H) abstraction with MQ, while THDN undergoes only H abstraction in both the media. However, our earlier studies showed that a purine base, adenine (ADN), and its nucleoside, 2′-deoxyadenosine (ADS), undergo ET in ACN and H abstraction in SDS. Here we have attempted to explain the differences in the reactions of these DNA bases with MQ. We also reveal the crucial role of a sugar unit in altering the behavior of purine and pyrimidine bases with respect to ET and H abstraction.     

Shock deformation of coarse grain alumina above Hugoniot elastic limit

Symmetric shock experiments were conducted on a 10 μm grain size coarse alumina ceramic with a gas gun to identify its Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL). To understand the damage initiation and their subsequent growth mechanisms in coarse grain alumina subjected to shock impact at levels much above the HEL, additional asymmetric shock recovery experiments with the same gas gun were then deliberately conducted on the same alumina at shock pressure levels more than three times as high as the HEL and the fragments collected by a dedicated catcher system. Detailed characterization of the shock recovered alumina fragments by X-ray diffraction, nanoindentation, scanning electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were utilized to understand the nature and process of failure initiation, incubational growth, coalescence and propagation leading to fragmentation. Based on these data a new qualitative damage model was developed to explain the deformation mechanism.     

Crystallization kinetics of Zr-33 at % Ni amorphous alloy

The amorphous to crystalline transition in Zr-33 at% Ni amorphous alloy has been found to occur by polymorphic crystallization. The product of the cyrstallization process has been identified as the equilibrium Zr₂Ni intermetallic phase. The kinetics of crystallization have been studied independently using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy. The activation energy of crystallization has been evaluated by isothermal and continuous heating in DSC. The isothermal anneals have revealed that the crystallization follows the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami kinetics with an Avrami exponent close to 4. The microstructural changes accompanying crystallization have been studied for an interpretation of the Avrami exponent. The nucleation and growth rates of crystals have been estimated at different temperatures in order to determine the activation energies of the two processes. It has been found that nucleation is thermally activated and growth is interface controlled.     

Estimation of parameters of a model of a complex repairable system

This paper deals with estimation of parameters of a model of a complex repairable system with 3ne unit on operation and the remaining (N − 1) units as inactive standbys and having a repair facility. Various operating characteristics, namely, reliability, availability, mean time to failure of the system, s-expected numbers of repairs in (0, t], s-expected numbers of failures of the system in (0, t] are estimated under two censoring schemes namely, the type-I censoring and type-II censoring schemes.     

Is Modeling of Freshman Engineering Success Different from Modeling of Non‐Engineering Success?

The engineering community has recognized the need for a higher retention rate in freshman engineering. If we are to increase the freshman retention rate, we need to better understand the characteristics of academic success for engineering students. One approach is to compare academic performance of engineering students to that of non‐engineering students. This study explores the differences in predicting academic success (defined as the first year GPA) for freshman engineering students compared to three non‐engineering student sectors (Pre‐Med, STEM, and non‐STEM disciplines) within a university. Academic success is predicted with pre‐college variables from the UCLA/CIRP survey using factor analysis and regression analysis. Except for the factor related to the high school GPA and rank, the predictors for each student sector were discipline specific. Predictors unique to the engineering sector included the factors related to quantitative skills (ACT Math and Science test scores and placement test scores) and confidence in quantitative skills.