Mechanisms in damping of mechanical vibration by piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composite materials

The piezoelectric ceramic (piezoceramic) component of a polymer-piezoelectric ceramic composite converts mechanical energy into electrical energy and this electrical energy is dissipated as heat in a load resistance, R _x, simulated by a shunted resistance, but provided in practice by a conductive polymer composite matrix. The composite therefore dissipates the input mechanical energy via the damping mechanism provided by piezoelectric ceramic-conductive matrix material, as well as the conventional viscoelastic damping provided by the polymer. Mathematical models have been developed to characterize the damping behaviour of the composites, and the maximum damping ratio of composites can be as high as 23%. A two degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) experimental setup was developed to test the validity of the models. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.     

Referenzprozesse für elektronische Ausschreibungen aus Sicht des industriellen Einkaufs

Many companies and purchasing departments only possess a limited knowledge about the modelling of inter-company business processes for electronic procurement. In the past the discussion about electronic procurement was mostly focused on technical aspects. This article introduces a reference process model for procurement auctions. The process model is made up of a basic process, which describes a minimal process for procurement auctions, and a number of process alternatives, which allow for the adoption of the basic process to changing parameters and individual company requirements.     

Simulationsmodell zur Bestimmung der magnetischen Eigenschaften von Transformatorkernen bei nichtharmonischer Erregung

Übersicht Ausgehend von der modellmäßigen Domänenstruktur ferromagnetischer Werkstoffe werden für den Bereich einer 180°-Blochwand die Kräfte zwischen magnetischen Elementardipolen untereinander und gegenüber einem äußeren Magnetfeld berechnet und so die Blochwanddynamik erfaßt. Da nicht alle benötigten Parameter aus der atomaren Struktur des Werkstoffs ableitbar sind, werden die freien Parameter durch Anpassung der Simulation an eine z.B. B-H-Messung 50 Hz festgelegt. Ziel dieses so kalibrierten Modells ist es, Aussagen zum Werkstoffverhalten in Betriebsbereichen zu liefern, die durch normgerechte Werkstoffbewertung nicht abgedeckt und für den praktischen Einsatz von Interesse sind. Als Anwendungsbeispiel wird die B-H-Charakteristik eines Transformatorkerns bei Impulserregung simuliert. Obwohl die Übereinstimmung mit Messungen gut ist, weisen detailliertere Betrachtungen auf eine verbesserungsfähige Verlustmodellierung hin.

---

Simulation model to determine the magnetic properties of transformer cores for non-harmonic excitation

Contents Employing the modelled domain structure in ferromagnetic material, for the area of a 180° blochline the forces between the atomic magnetic dipoles and by an outer magnetic field are calculated and so the dynamic properties of the blochline are considered. Because not all required parameters can be derived from the atomic structure of the material, the remaining parameters are set by adapting the simulation to measured values e.g. for 50 Hz. The aim of the so calibrated model is to determine the behaviour of the material for working conditions, which cannot be investigated by standardized measurings but are of special interest. As an example of application the hysteresis loop of a pulse stressed transformer core is simulated. Although the correspondence with the measured values is quite good, on closer inspection an improvable loss modelling is indicated.

     

Radiale Wärmeleitung in durchströmten Schüttungsrohren

Heat Transport to the Wall of Packed Tubes. Radial conduction of heat in packed tubes has a crucial influence on yield and selectivity of many heterogeneously catalyzed reactions. In spite of many years of intensive research in the field, there are still tremendous discrepancies between correlations of different origin. Even the standard model using two constant heat transport parameters, which was introduced in the fifties and has since become most widely accepted, has been controversially discussed and called into question. The unsatisfactory state of the art has been an incentive for several groups of researchers to take up this old topic once again. Three parallel experimental investigations on heat transport with air flowing in packed tubes of similar dimensions, electrically heated, steam-heated, or water-cooled, were completed in 1991. Comparative evaluation of the results of these three investigations, together with other data from the relevant literature, now provides the first clear answers to some of the questions so controversially discussed in the past.     

In-situ-Messung der Stickoxidkonzentration in turbulenten Diffusionsflammen

Zusammenfassung Die laserspektroskopischen Me?methoden laserinduzierte Fluoreszenz und spontane Ramanspektroskopie werden eingesetzt zur Messung der Konzentrationen von Stickoxid, Hydroxyl sowie der chemischen Hauptkomponenten und der Temperatur. Betrachtet wird die thermische Umsetzung von Wasserstoff mit Luftsauerstoff. Es wird die experimentelle Vorgehensweise und Problematik dargestellt. Ebenso wird der Weg der Modellierung und Berechnung turbulenter Verbrennungsvorg?nge am konkreten Beispiel skizziert. Die Annahme chemischen Gleichgewichts stellt sich als ungenügend in der Berechnung der Stickoxid- und Hydroxylkonzentrationen heraus. Eine deutlich bessere Vorhersage wird durch Einführen einer Reaktionsfortschrittsvariablen für das chemische Modell erreicht.     

An efficient implementation of certain iterative refinement preconditioners

Preconditioned iterative methods of conjugate gradient type for solving elliptic and parabolic problems discretized on grids wth local refinement are considered. The sparsity pattern of the residuals computed throughout the iterative process is investigated. It turns out that they are nonzero only near the interface nodes between the coarse-and fine-grids. This observation is used to formulate the preconditioned CG, and when the matrix is not symmetric as in the parabolic case—the generalized CG and GMRES methods, thus substantially saving storage and computation.     

A local solution method for shock boundary-layer interaction on a swept wing

Summary The paper describes a local solution method for the calculation of the interaction between a weak shock front and a turbulent boundary layer on a swept wing. A multiple-deck approach allows the simplification of the governing equations according to the physical character of each deck. The mathematical model is based upon small-perturbation theory. The final boundary-layer solution is given by an iterative coupling of the solutions for each domain. The results are compared with experiments and with other theoretical solutions.     

A new inrush detection method for transformer differential protection

Contents The long-used restraining principle, based on the detection of 2nd harmonics in the currents, can not always satisfactorily meet the demand of blocking the transformer differential protection for all three phases, because the line currents are not the direct image of the core saturation. The differential protection may become inadequate. A transformer can however be switched on for all cases, without the false or fail-safe tripping, when the harmonic restraint is derived from the magnetic field strength of the core.If a delta-connected winding is present, the magnetic field strengths can not be easily recognized in the line currents, because their zero-sequence component is distorted. A new method is presented, which can estimate the fundamental and the 2nd harmonic of this zero-sequence component. The components of the magnetic field strength can therefore be determined in currents only, whose ratio is known to be characteristic for the core saturation.The proposed method was implemented on an industrial protection system based on a microprocessor and was tested on data obtained from computer-simulation and a model transformer in a laboratory. It turned out that the proposed method performed well on all cases.

---

Eine neue Methode der Einschalterkennung für den Transformator-Differentialschutz

Übersicht Die üblicherweise benützte Blockierung beim Einschalten eines Transformators beruht auf der Bewertung der zweiten Harmonischen in den Strömen. Dieses Prinzip kann nicht immer den Transformatorvergleichsschutz in allen drei Phasen blockieren. Dagegen kann ein Transformator in allen Fällen ohne Fehlauslösung eingeschaltet werden, wenn die Blockierung aus der Harmonischen der magnetischen Feldstärke des Kerns abgeleitet wird.Eine neue Methode wird vorgestellt, wie die Homopolarkomponente der Grundschwingung und der zweiten Harmonischen näherungsweise berechnet werden kann. Die benötigten Anteile der Feldstärken können damit aus den Differenzströmen ermittelt werden.Das vorgeschlagene Verfahren wurde auf einer industriell gefertigten Schutzkarte implementiert. Die Überprüfung des Verfahrens erfolgte mit Berechnungsverfahren und durch Messungen im Labor.

     

Antimicrobial activity of dogwood fruits (Cornus drummondii) from winter food caches of eastern woodrats (Neotoma floridana)

Post-harvest loss of resources to microbial competitors affects a number of species of animals, and many of them have evolved behaviors that reduce the likelihood of such loss. We previously described the inhibition ofBacillus psychrophilus by dogwood fruits (Cornus drummondii), which can comprise a significant portion of the winter food cache of the eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana). The present study is a further investigation of the ability of dogwood fruits to inhibit growth ofB. psychrophilus. Additionally, we tested the antimicrobial activity of dogwood fruits onEscherichia coli andStaphlococcus aureus. Results of our study indicate that fresh fruits inhibit the growth ofB. psychrophilus andS. aureus but notE. coli. However, fruits taken from woodrat dens after four and six months storage inhibited growth of all three species of bacteria. Further, the strength of inhibition increased over the test period. We suggest the presence of an inhibitor allows woodrats to compete effectively for a valuable and limited food resource.