Thermoelastic solutions for orthotropic and anisotropic composite laminates

Solutions, within the framework of linear uncoupled thermoelasticity, are presented for certain problems of flexure of composite laminates. Benchmark numerical results, useful for the validation or otherwise of approximate laminate models, are tabulated. Finally, these results are used to examine the accuracy of the classical lamination theory based on Kirchhoff's hypothesis.     

Zooplankton population in the river tigris: Effects of samarra impoundment

The influences of the Samarra impoundment on the ecology of the downstream sector of the river Tigris are investigated. Zooplankton were collected monthly from July 1987 to July 1988. It was found that zooplankton were most abundant during high river discharges in March. During the month of low river discharge, September, the zooplankton population was greatly reduced immediately below the barrage and remained so to the last downstream station. Several factors seem to explain such differences. The high discharge from the impoundment was found to be the dominating factor and may flush the small backwaters in which zooplankton were abundant, thus increasing the population in the river. Zooplankton species vary in their ability to sustain populations in the river, variations which are due mainly to species-specific characteristics.     

Effects of molybdenum additions on the structure, depth, and austenite grain size of the case of carburized 0.13% carbon steels

Carbon (0.13%) steel samples containing about 0.48% molybdenum (Mo) singly and in combination with nickel (Ni) were carburized in a natural Titas gas atmosphere at a temperature of 1223 K (950 °C) and at a pressure of about 0.10 MPa (15 psia) for time periods ranging from 1–4 h followed by slow cooling in the furnace. Their microstructure was studied by optical microscopy. The austenite grain size of the case and the case depths were determined. It was found that Mo and Ni alone and in combination decrease the thickness of the cementite network near the surface of the carburized case of the steels. However, Ni is found to be more effective than Mo in decreasing the thickness of cementite network. Both Mo and Ni enhance the formation of Widmanstätten cementite plates at the grain boundary and within the grains near the surface of the carburized steels. However, Ni alone is more effective than Mo in the formation of Widmanstätten cementite plates. In the presence of Ni, Mo is much more effective in the formation of Widmanstätten cementite plates than Mo in absence of Ni. It was also revealed that both Mo and Ni increased the case depth. Ni is more effective than Mo in increasing the case depth. The combined effect of Mo and Ni is much greater than that of either Mo or Ni alone in increasing case depth. Mo as Mo carbide (Mo₂C) particles refined the austenite grain size of the carburized case. Ni in solution was not found to have any effect in restricting grain growth of austenite, but the presence of Ni enhances the austenite grain size refining effect of Mo in the carburized case.     

Capacity planning in job-shop environment

Presented here is a computerized capacity planning system for the IBM Microcomputer family. The system maintains the profile of the job shop in a data base along with data pertinent to various products that can be manufactured in the shop. Projected orders for the planning period are input to the system with their associated quantities and delivery dates. The system uses the forward and backward loading rules in generating capacity loading scenarios. User selects the best course of action which may satisfy delivery dates subject to the limitations of the work centers. Efficiency figures are provided to aid the user in his/her decision.     

The effect of OPWF filler on impact strength of glass-fiber reinforced epoxy composite

In the present study, oil palm wood flour (OPWF) particles with less than 250 μm sizes have been used as filler materials in the woven-glass-fiber reinforced epoxy composite. The hybrid composites were fabricated using a hand lay-up method and cured at room temperature under a compressive load of 196 N (20 kg). The OPWF of 2.5 to 10 parts per hundred (pph) by weight was used to evaluate its effect on impact strength of the hybrid composites at a range of temperature from −50 to 50 °C. The impact strength, evaluated using V-notch Charpy method, showed reduction with increasing filler content up to 5 pph and then the strength increment in those composites containing more than 5 pph OPWF. More severe damages were found in specimens with higher filler contents resulting higher energy absorption during impact. The composites with a large amount of OPWF particles deflected crack propagation paths or created obstacles at the crack tips and increased toughness of the composites. The impact strength was found to decrease when the samples fractured at subzero temperatures and this happened because of the reduction of the matrix ductility at lower temperatures.     

Multidimensional vector radix FHT algorithms

In this paper, efficient multidimensional (M-D) vector radix (VR) decimation-in-frequency and decimation-in-time fast Hartley transform (FHT) algorithms are derived for computing the discrete Hartley transform (DHT) of any dimension using an appropriate index mapping and the Kronecker product. The proposed algorithms are more effective and highly suitable for hardware and software implementations compared to all existing M-D FHT algorithms that are derived for the computation of the DHT of any dimension. The butterflies of the proposed algorithms are based on simple closed-form expressions that allow easy implementations of these algorithms for any dimension. In addition, the proposed algorithms possess properties such as high regularity, simplicity and in-place computation that are highly desirable for software and hardware implementations, especially for the M-D applications. A close relationship between the M-D VR complex-valued fast Fourier transform algorithms and the proposed M-D VR FHT algorithms is established. This type of relationship is of great significance for software and hardware implementations of the algorithms, since it is shown that because of this relationship and the fact that the DHT is an alternative to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) for real data, a single module with a little or no modification can be used to carry out the forward and inverse M-D DFTs for real- or complex-valued data and M-D DHTs. Thus, the same module (with a little or no modification) can be used to cover all domains of applications that involve the DFTs or DHTs.     

Effect of thermal treatment on ZnO substrate for epitaxial growth

ZnO is a highly efficient photon emitter, and has optical and piezoelectric properties that are attractive for a variety of applications in sensors and potentially optoelectronic devices such as emitters. Due to its identical stacking order and close lattice match to GaN, it is also being developed as a substrate material for GaN epitaxy. However, the surface finish of the ZnO is such that much of the damage induced by sawing and follow up mechanical polishing remains. We developed a thermal treatment method to eliminate surface damage on the 0 face of ZnO (0 0 0 1) to prepare it for epitaxial growth. Atomic force microscopy images of ZnO (0 0 0 1) annealed at 1050 °C for 3 h etc. show that residual scratches from mechanical polishing are removed and atomically flat, terrace-like surfaces are attained. In addition, low-temperature photoluminescence and high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements have been employed to investigate the effect of annealing on ZnO substrates.