A new monitoring system for piping systems in fossil fired power plants

A CEC-funded project has been performed to tackle the problem of producing an advanced Life Monitoring System (LMS) which would calculate the creep and fatigue damage experienced by high temperature pipework components. Four areas were identified where existing Life Monitoring System technology could be improved:

1. 1. the inclusion of creep relaxation

2. 2. the inclusion of external loads on components

3. 3. a more accurate method of calculating thermal stresses due to temperature transients

4. 4. the inclusion of high cycle fatigue terms.

The creep relaxation problem was solved using stress reduction factors in an analytical in-elastic stress calculation. The stress reduction factors were produced for a number of common geometries and materials by means of non-linear finite element analysis. External loads were catered for by producing influence coefficients from in-elastic analysis of the particular piping system and using them to calculate bending moments at critical positions on the pipework from load and displacement measurements made at the convenient points at the pipework. The thermal stress problem was solved by producing a completely new solution based on Green's Function and Fast Fourier transforms. This allowed the thermal stress in a complex component to be calculated from simple non-intrusive thermocouple measurements made on the outside of the component. The high-cycle fatigue problem was dealt with precalculating the fatigue damage associated with standard transients and adding this damage to cumulative total when a transient occurred.

The site testing provided good practical experience and showed up problems which would not otherwise have been detected.     

Constructing Pseudo-Random Permutations with a Prescribed Structure

We show how to construct pseudo-random permutations that satisfy a certain cycle restriction, for example that the permutation be cyclic (consisting of one cycle containing all the elements) or an involution (a self-inverse permutation) with no fixed points. The construction can be based on any (unrestricted) pseudo-random permutation. The resulting permutations are defined succinctly and their evaluation at a given point is efficient. Furthermore, they enjoy a fast forward property, i.e. it is possible to iterate them at a very small cost. Received 10 August 2000 and revised 30 September 2000 Online publication 9 April 2001     

“Biaxiality Effect” on the Energy Dissipated by Elastoplastic Base-Isolators

A plane elastic-plastic solid body presenting kinematic hardening is used to simulate a pair of dampers at the base of a rigid structure and determine the energy dissipation under conditions of assigned, homogeneous cyclic loading. The well-known von Mises theory of plasticity is applied with the aim of obtaining analytical solutions to the problem. Such solutions are arrived at by first calculating the Odqvist parameter, which yields dimensionless relations that depend on the external loads and mechanical properties of the material. The results, in terms of dissipated energy, are given for the case of a sinusoidal process, represented with the help of dimensionless parameters useful for engineering applications.     

Electrochemical performance of nanocrystalline Li3V2(PO4)3/carbon composite material synthesized by a novel sol–gel method

A novel sol–gel method based on V₂O₅·nH₂O hydro-gel was developed to synthesize nanocrystalline Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/carbon composite material. In this route, V₂O₅·nH₂O hydro-gel, NH₄H₂PO₄, Li₂CO₃ and high-surface-area carbon were used as starting materials to prepare precursor, and the Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/carbon was obtained by sintering precursor at 750 °C for 4 h in flowing argon. The sol–gel synthesis ensures homogeneity of the precursors and improved reactivity. The sample was characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM. X-ray diffraction results show Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃ sample is monoclinic structure with the space group of P2₁/n. The TEM image indicates that the Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃ particles modified by conductive carbon are about 70 nm in diameter. The Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/carbon system showed that the discharge capacities in the first and 50th cycle are about 155.3 and 143.6 mAh/g, respectively, in the range of 3.0–4.8 V. The sol–gel method is fit for the preparation of Li₃V₂(PO₄)₃/carbon composite material which may offer some favorable properties for commercial application.     

Studies of structure and cycleability of LiMn2O4 and LiNd0.01Mn1.99O4 as cathode for Li-ion batteries

Lithium manganese oxides LiMn₂O₄ and rare earth elements doped LiNd_0.01Mn_1.99O₄ were synthesized by microwave method. The structure and the electrochemical performances of the samples were characterized. XRD data shows both samples exhibit the same pure spinel phase. But due to the introduction of Nd³⁺ ion into the unit cell, the lattice parameter of the Nd-doped spinel was larger than that of the undoped one. The two samples had a similar morphology including small particle size and homogeneous particle distribution as tested by SEM. The cyclic voltammmetry and constant-current charge-discharge tested that Nd-doped spinel displayed a better reversibility and cycleability.     

Characterization of self-assembled monolayers of iron and cobalt octaalkylthiosubstituted phthalocyanines and their use in nitrite electrocatalytic oxidation

Cobalt and iron phenylthiosubstituted phthalocyanines have been deposited on Au electrode surfaces through the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) technique. The so formed layers were studied using voltammetric and impedance techniques. These SAMs blocked a number of Faradic processes and electrocatalyzed the oxidation of nitrite. The electrocatalytic parameters of the cobalt and iron phenylthiosubstituted phthalocyanines deposited on Au electrodes in nitrite solution were studied. Nitrite overpotentials which are lower than ever reported were obtained in this work for the iron phenylthiosubstituted phthalocyanines with very high stability.     

Fabrication and characterization of a miniaturized planar voltammetric sensor array for use in an electronic tongue

A planar voltammetric sensor array for use in an electronic tongue was fabricated using a combination of microfabrication techniques. The techniques of e-beam evaporation and pulsed laser deposition were applied to prepare a device that contained all of the electrodes integrated on a silicon die (6 mm × 6 mm). The working electrodes were metals gold, platinum, iridium and rhodium. They were characterized by SEM and EDX, and by electrochemical investigation of the packaged dies with cyclic voltammetry in solutions of sulfuric acid and of ferrocene carboxylic acid in aqueous buffer solution. The robustness and reproducibility of the devices were assessed by potential cycling in acid solution.     

Movements with Lateral Constraint

Abstract

The literature on terminal control tasks and continuous tracking tasks suggests a possible model for tasks where the subject must guide a vehicle at his own speed along a course defined by a tolerance band. The model predicts a linear relationship between the average velocity and the width of the tolerance band. Throe experiments are described which simulate vehicle guidance by pencil-and-paper experiments for courses consisting of straight lines and circles. The predictions of the model were confirmed, suggesting that a general measure for the ease of control of a vehicle (or other controlled system) is possible using this technique.     

Comparison between cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry when coupled with EQCM for the study of the SEI on a carbon film electrode

Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry have been conducted with the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) to characterize electron-beam deposited carbon film electrodes in LiClO₄-containing mixed electrolytes of ethylene carbonate (EC) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC). For a system whose electrolyte viscosity changes in the course of experiments, such as the above combination of electrode and electrolyte, the mass change per mole of electrons transferred (MPE) of the species on quartz crystals depends on the potential scan rate of CV. Chronoamperometry with a short period is more desirable for the estimation of the MPE of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) because the viscosity-induced frequency change, which hinders the correct MPE estimation, constitutes a small portion of the measured frequency change under this experimental condition.     

Base Pressure Measurements under a Scale Model Stockpile

The ability of a granular bulk material to transmit internal shear stress is a fundamental property that is often overlooked or underestimated, yet it is this ability that allows many observed physical phenomena to occur. One such area that continues to be a focus for numerical, theoreticals and experimental researchers is the pressure that a stockpile of granular material places on the supporting surface. While appearing to be a simple problem, the ability of granular materials to transmit shear stress makes this an extremely complex problem. This article presents high-quality data collected under a 2 m high stockpile and full details of the experimental facilities used in the collection of the data.

The work presented is of significant value, having a much greater scale than previous studies (Jotaki & Moriyama, 1979; Lee & Herington, 1971; Smid & Novosad, 1981), and the deliberate inclusion of a central reclaim channel offers insight into stress changes during gravity reclaim and refilling. The results of this work have shown that the so-called 'M' pressure does exist under larger stockpiles both with and without reclaim hoppers; of more significance is the reemergence of the M pressure upon refilling of an emptied stockpile. This clearly illustrates that the M pressure is a robust and natural pressure distribution for a conical stockpile.