Flexural design curves of steel plate I-girders at elevated temperatures: I-girders with yield or local buckling failure mode

The present study was undertaken to characterize the structural behavior and ultimate flexural strength of steel plate I-girders under pure flexural moment at elevated temperatures. A novel design procedure along with flexural design curves was proposed to predict the flexural behavior of the I-girders and estimate corresponding ultimate flexural strengths. The main strategy of the procedure is to find an ambient-temperature equivalent of the I-girder by quantifying and formulating the effects of elevated temperatures. The proposed procedure comprises overall and partial phases. The former phase deals with the determination of equivalent laterally unbraced length, and the latter phase addresses the equivalent web and compression flange slenderness parameters. The calibration factor was defined to adapt the design curves to the effects of high compression flange slenderness parameters and residual stress at elevated temperatures. To generate comparative results, a numerical study was conducted by analyzing 216 finite element (FE) models. Fifty-four out of 216 FE models with different cross-sectional elements were dedicated to the I-girders fail by yield or local buckling failure mode, the results of which are reported in the present paper. Data fitting analysis was carried out to capture the variation of calibration factor with respect to compression flange slenderness parameters. By calibrating the proposed design procedure, the results were converged and, therefore, good conformity was reached between the numerical and parametric results.     

Effect of hydrogen combustion reaction on the dehydrogenation of ethane in a fixed-bed catalytic membrane reactor

A two-dimensional non-isothermal mathematical model has been developed for the ethane dehydrogenation reaction in a fixed-bed catalytic membrane reactor. Since ethane dehydrogenation is an equilibrium reaction, removal of produced hydrogen by the membrane shifts the thermodynamic equilibrium to ethylene production. For further displacement of the dehydrogenation reaction, oxidative dehydrogenation method has been used. Since ethane dehydrogenation is an endothermic reaction, the energy produced by the oxidative dehydrogena-tion method is consumed by the dehydrogenation reaction. The results show that the oxidative dehydrogenation method generated a substantial improvement in the reactor performance in terms of high conversions and significant energy saving. It was also established that the sweep gas velocity in the shell side of the reactor is one of the most important factors in the effectiveness of the reactor.     

Spare part requirement prediction under different maintenance strategies

Maintenance cost is a significant part of production costs. Hence, logistics and spare part management should be considered early in the design and operational phase. The reliability characteristic of the item can be used effectively to spare part prediction (SPP). In mining industries, the reliability characteristic can be affected significantly by the operational conditions. In this study, to have an accurate SPP, covariate-based reliability models have been used to estimate the required number of tire spare parts for a dump truck fleet. The outputs represent a significant difference in the required spare parts’ management, when considering and ignoring covariates.     

A new theorem on higher order derivatives of Lyapunov functions

The Lyapunov stability analysis method for nonlinear dynamic systems requires a non positive first derivative of the Lyapunov functions along the system’s trajectories. In this paper, a new method is developed to relax this requirement. A new sufficient condition is developed for the stability analysis of nonlinear systems, introducing some inequalities for higher order derivatives of the Lyapunov function. The differential inequalities can be considered as a new controllable canonical form linear time invariant system with negative inputs. The stability analysis of a given nonlinear system is then reduced to check if the characteristic equation for the new linear time invariant system is Hurwitz. Some examples are presented to establish the approach.     

Carbon nanotube-DNA nanoarchitectures and electronic functionality

Biological molecules such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) possess inherent recognition and self-assembly capabilities, and are attractive templates for constructing functional hierarchical material structures as building blocks for nanoelectronics. Here we report the assembly and electronic functionality of nanoarchitectures based on conjugates of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) functionalized with carboxylic groups and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) sequences possessing terminal amino groups on both ends, hybridized together through amide linkages by adopting a straightforward synthetic route. Morphological and chemical-functional characterization of the nanoarchitectures are investigated using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Electrical measurements (I-V characterization) of the nanoarchitectures demonstrate negative differential resistance in the presence of SWNT/ssDNA interfaces, which indicates a biomimetic route to fabricating resonant tunneling diodes. I-V characterization on platinum-metallized SWNT-ssDNA nanoarchitectures via salt reduction indicates modulation of their electrical properties, with effects ranging from those of a resonant tunneling diode to a resistor, depending on the amount of metallization. Electron transport through the nanoarchitectures has been analyzed by density functional theory calculations. Our studies illustrate the great promise of biomimetic assembly of functional nanosystems based on biotemplated materials and present new avenues toward exciting future opportunities in nanoelectronics and nanobiotechnology.     

Dispersion stability in carbon nanotube modified polymers and its effect on the fracture toughness

In this paper, the dispersion stability of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) mixed with an epoxy resin is studied. An instrumented optical microscope with a hot stage was used to study the evolution of the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) dispersion during the cure of the resin. A new image processing approach is then introduced to quantify dispersion and identify the source of dispersion degradation during the cure. The results showed that the reduction of the resin viscosity at temperatures greater than 100?°C caused an irreversible re-agglomeration of the CNTs in the matrix. It was shown that the fine-tuning of the ratio and type of curing agent as well as the curing temperature directly affect the dispersion stability of MWNTs in the epoxy polymer. The dispersion quality was then directly correlated to the fracture toughness of the modified resin and a maximum of 20% improvement was achieved.     

Abnormal Deformation Behavior of Oxygen-Modified <Emphasis Type="Italic">β</Emphasis>-Type Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr Alloys for Biomedical Applications

Oxygen was added to the biomedical β-type Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr alloy (TNTZ, mass pct) in order to improve its strength, while keeping its Young’s modulus low. Conventionally, with an increase in the oxygen content, an alloy’s tensile strength increases, while its tensile elongation-to-failure decreases. However, an abnormal deformation behavior has been reported in the case of oxygen-modified TNTZ alloys in that their strength increases monotonically while their elongation-to-failure initially decreases and then increases with the increase in the oxygen content. In this study, this abnormal tensile deformation behavior of oxygen-modified TNTZ alloys was investigated systematically. A series of TNTZ-(0.1, 0.3, and 0.7 mass pct)O alloy samples was prepared, treated thermomechanically, and finally solution treated; these samples are denoted as 0.1ST, 0.3ST, and 0.7ST, respectively. The main tensile deformation mechanisms in 0.1ST are a deformation-induced α″-martensitic transformation and {332}〈113〉 mechanical twinning. The large elongation-to-failure of 0.1ST is attributable to multiple deformation mechanisms, including the deformation-induced martensitic transformation and mechanical twinning as well as dislocation glide. In both 0.3ST and 0.7ST, dislocation glide is the predominant deformation mode. 0.7ST shows more homogeneous and extensive dislocation glide along with multiple slip systems and a higher frequency of cross slip. As a result, it exhibits a higher work-hardening rate and greater resistance to local stress concentration, both of which contribute to its elongation-to-failure being greater than that of 0.3ST.     

Dynamic mechanical study of epoxy,epoxy/glass,and glass/epoxy/wood hybrid composites aged in various media

It was proposed and subsequently established that wrapping of red oak wood crossties with epoxy impregnated glass fiber composites will impart longer service life and better stiffness and strength characteristics to these hybrid ties than conventional ones and will help them better withstand environmental extremes. The objective was to understand the degrading effects of aqueous (distilled water), saline (NaCl), acidic (HCl), and alkaline (NaOH) solutions, as well as accelerated aging and freeze/thaw cycling environments on the dynamic and static mechanical properties of these hybrid materials (i.e., wood, wrapped with fiber reinforced resin) and their components. Also micrographs of composite samples, obtained through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were studied to determine the failure mechanism of composite specimens aged in different environments. Results showed that immersion in aging media lowered the glass transition temperature (T_g) and enhanced apparent phase separation in the samples because of polymer plasticization. In water immersion, the T_g and the stiffness increased with time owing to continued resin curing. At ambient temperature, sustained load had little effect on the mechanical behavior of the aged samples. The extent of degradation was the least for samples aged in salt solution. Soaking in room‐temperature acid solution was most damaging to pure red oak wood samples. Six‐cycle aging did not damage the neat resin or the hybrid samples, whereas it damaged pure wood specimens. Therefore, the composite wrapping around the wood core of the hybrid sample protected it sufficiently, thereby preventing damage to the hybrid specimen during the aging process. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers