Thermal Evaluation of Scorched Graphite-Epoxy Panels by Infrared Scanning

A simple measurement system is described for evaluating damage to graphite-epoxy panels, such as those used in high-performance aircraft. The system uses a heating laser and infrared imaging system to measure thermal performance. Thermal conductivity or diffusivity is a sensitive indicator of damage in materials, allowing this thermal measurement to show various degrees of damage in graphite-epoxy composites. Our measurements track well with heat-flux damage to graphite epoxy panels. This measurement system, including analysis software, could easily be used in the field, such as on the deck of an aircraft carrier or at remote air strips.     

Analysis of polarization plane rotation characteristic in 2D photonic crystal waveguide with chiral medium by condensed node spatial network

Using the photonic band gap in photonic crystals, the fundamental waveguide structures for the light wavelength range have been developed. Based on the fine structure of these many functional devices have been proposed by analytical or numerical simulation methods and the experiments of trial manufacture. In this paper, the treatment of chiral dielectric in the Condensed Node Spatial Network for the vector potential is explained, and we show the polarization plane rotation property in air‐hole and pillar type photonic crystal waveguide structures with the chiral medium substrate. Then, we show the fundamental advantage of the air‐hole type photonic crystal waveguide structure in application to a mode converter. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 152(1): 7–14, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience. wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20098     

Discrete element approach for mine dump stability analysis

Mine overburden dumps have posed significant safety issues in the operations of various unit operations of open pit min-ing especially the external dumps. The external dumps are composed of a mixture of fragmented rocks and loose soil. Their charac-teristic is comparable to heavily discontinuous solid mass. The conventional approach of limit equilibrium methods provide safety factors for the slope but nothing about the stress-strain characteristics of the large dump mass. The designs of dump location and their respective geometry are integrated for the know-how of the stability characteristics of these dumps. The discrete element method uses a circular disk to represent the granular solid mass and their interactions are described by the Newton's third law of motion. The displacement is described by the sliding of the circular disk. This work is focused on the modeling efficiency of the discrete element methods to represent the behaviour of mine dump masses with the specified joint plane for the limit equilibrium method. The advantage of the work lies on the ease of information retrieval at any point at the dump mass concerning the stress and strain histories, displacement, failures etc. which when integrated produces a better understanding of the stability of the dump masses.     

Infrared heat treatment of Ti-6Al-4V with electroplated Cu

The objective of this study is to investigate an innovative infrared (IR) technique to enhance adhesion of electroplated copper (Cu) on Ti-6Al-4V without dichromate dipping. The ultimate goal is to develop a Cu coating process on Ti-6Al-4V without hazardous hexavalent chromium (Cr) solution treatments. Cu coatings of around 50 μm were electroplated on Ti-6Al-4V specimens at a current density of 0.03 A/cm² in an acidic Cu solution. To improve adhesion of coatings, IR heat treatments were performed on the Cu-coated samples at different temperatures and durations: 860 °C for 600 s and 875 °C for 20–120 s. This process was accomplished in an attempt to replace the use of dichromate dipping before electroplating. For samples heat treated at 860 °C, no bonding existed, even after 600 s. It is believed that solid-state diffusion prevailed at 860 °C and that 600 s was not enough for sufficient diffusion to occur. Adhesion was poor when samples were heat treated at 875 °C for 20 s. Excellent adhesion was observed when the heat treatment holding time was increased to 40 s. For 90 s, the surface appearance of coatings partially changed from Cu-colored to a grayish color. There was no Cu left on the surface after a 120 s heat treatment. From optical microscopic observations on sample cross sections, an interlayer between the Cu and Ti-6Al-4V formed when heat treated at 875 °C for 40 s and longer. The interlayer thickness increased as the holding time increased, until depletion of Cu. The sheet resistivity of coated specimens was on the order of pure Cu for samples heat treated at 875 °C and less than 90 s. During the 875 °C heat treatment, the following occurred: solid-state diffusion of Cu in Ti-6Al-4V, formation of eutectic solutions, dissolution of Cu and Ti-6Al-4V into the liquid phase, and the formation of intermetallic compounds. The lowest eutectic temperature of 875 °C played a key role in this innovative process of Cu coating on Ti-6Al-4V. This paper was presented at the 2nd International Surface Engineering Congress sponsored by ASM International, on September 15–17, 2003, in Indianapolis, Indiana and appears on pp. 403–10 of the Proceedings.     

Radiometric normalization and image mosaic generation of ASTER thermal infrared data: An application to extensive sand sheets and dune fields

Data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) have a significant advantage over previous datasets because of the combination of high spatial resolution (15-90 m) and enhanced multispectral capabilities, particularly in the thermal infrared (TIR) atmospheric window (8-12 μm) of the Earth where common silicate minerals are more easily identified. However, the 60 km swath width of ASTER can limit the effectiveness of accurately tracing large-scale features, such as eolian sediment transport pathways, over long distances. The primary goal of this paper is to describe a method for generating a seamless and radiometrically accurate ASTER TIR mosaic of atmospherically corrected radiance and from that, extract surface emissivity for arid lands, specifically, sand seas. The Gran Desierto in northern Sonora, Mexico was used as a test location for the radiometric normalization technique because of past remote sensing studies of the region, its compositional diversity, and its size. A linear approach was taken to transform adjacent image swaths into a direct linear relationship between image acquisition dates. Pseudo-invariant features (PIFs) were selected using a threshold of correlation between radiance values, and change-pixels were excluded from the linear regression used to determine correction factors. The degree of spectral correlation between overlapping pixels is directly related to the amount of surface change over time; therefore, the gain and offsets between scenes were based only on regions of high spectral correlation. The result was a series of radiometrically normalized radiance-at-surface images that were combined with a minimum of image edge seams present. These edges were subsequently blended to create the final mosaic. The advantages of this approach for TIR radiance (as opposed to emissivity) data include the ability to: (1) analyze data acquired on different dates (with potentially very different surface temperatures) as one seamless compositional dataset; (2) perform decorrelation stretches (DCS) on the entire dataset in order to identify and discriminate compositional units; and (3) separate brightness temperature from surface emissivity for quantitative compositional analysis of the surface, reducing seam-line error in the emissivity mosaic. The approach presented here is valid for any ASTER-related study of large geographic regions where numerous images spanning different temporal and atmospheric conditions are encountered.     

Monitoring land surface processes with thermal infrared data: Calibration of SVAT parameters based on the optimisation of diurnal surface temperature cycling features

Land Surface Models (LSM) have been designed to describe water and energy transfers at the soil-vegetation-atmosphere interface, and are therefore essential in many environmental disciplines. These numerical models, driven by the boundary conditions in the atmosphere and in the soil, require adequate knowledge of those vegetation and soil characteristics which are determinant in the characterisation of mass and energy transfers. In view of the fact that, firstly this information is often only partially known, and secondly the transfers are sometimes incorrectly represented, these models can rapidly drift and need to be regularly corrected. To this aim, remote sensing is a promising tool and many studies are currently devoted to the development of assimilation techniques to control their inputs or internal variables. The research presented in this paper contributes to this effort. Its ambition is to explore new methodologies, designed to make use of remote sensing thermal infrared data recorded from space. This study is based on the analysis of links between the characteristics of the diurnal cycle of the surface brightness temperature and the soil-atmosphere interface parameters and variables. The proposed methodology takes advantage of these temperatures cycling features, instead of absolute temperature values, to calibrate the LSM. The results show that the model parameters have a significant impact on the diurnal temperature dynamics, sometimes to a greater extent than on the temperature itself, and that these relationships have diurnal and seasonal variations. As a consequence, the use of TIR data for LSM calibration can be optimised by considering only those parts of the information which are really relevant to parameter calibration.     

Cubic polynomial patches through geodesics

We consider patches that contain any given 3D polynomial curve as a pregeodesic (i.e. geodesic up to reparametrization). A curve is a pregeodesic if and only if its rectifying plane coincides with the tangent plane to the surface, we use this fact to construct ruled cubic patches through pregeodesics and bicubic patches through pairs of pregeodesics. We also discuss the G¹ connection of (1,k) patches with abutting pregeodesics.     

On the possible patterns of inputs for block sorting in the Burrows-Wheeler transformation

Block sorting in the Burrows-Wheeler transformation is to sort all of the n circular shifts of a string of length n lexicographically. We introduce a notion called the width of a sequence of n strings of length n and show that the values of widths are very different between the two types of sequences of strings; (1) a sequence of n randomly generated strings of length n, and (2) the sequence of n circular shifts of a randomly generated string of length n.     

The use of genetic algorithms for assessment of high voltage fields

There are several numerical methods for calculation of electric fields but they need some sort of experience and trial and error to get the correct solution. A genetic algorithm (GA) based approach is used to eliminate the need for the experience and to save time and effort spent in the trial and error. Two enhancement techniques, namely, Refreshment Method and No-Twins Method, are used with the GA operators to improve the performance of the GA in assessment of high voltage fields. The performance of these two enhancement techniques has been studied for computing the electrostatic field in high voltage applications.     

点到平面距离公式的一种新证法

该文根据球面上一点切平面的方程和平移变换,对空间任一点P(x0,y0,z0),分P点为坐标原点和P点不是坐标原点两种情形,给出了到平面π:Ax By Cz D=0的距离公式d=|Ax0 By0 Cz0 D|/√A2 B2 C2 的一种新证法.