Numerical and Experimental Study of an Under-Ground Water Reservoir,Cistern

This article presents experimental and numerical study of an under-ground water reservoir (cistern) during six months operation in a semi-arid region. The cistern with one dome, four windcatchers and a water reservoir is located in Lar, a hot arid city at south of Iran. Outdoor and indoor air temperature and humidity, water temperature in three depths and dome surface temperature were measured using a data logging system. The results show that the average air humidity inside the cistern was almost constant during the experiments but its slight variation during a day follows inside air temperature changes. The inside air temperature was always lower than the ambient temperature and inside and outside average air temperature difference was about 6 °C. The difference was slightly higher in the hot seasons. The water reservoir was also modeled in 2D, axisymmetric and quasi steady numerical simulation for six months of operation. Highly stratified water temperature distribution was observed in the numerical results as well as the experimental measurements.     

HEAT TRANSFER IN A THIN LIQUID FILM IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ELECTRIC FIELD

Heat transfer enhancement in an evaporating thin liquid film utilizing a electric field under isothermal interfacial condition is presented. A new mathematical model subjected to van der Waals attractive forces, capillary pressure, and an electric field is developed to describe the heat transfer enhancement in the evaporating thin liquid film. The effect of the electrostatic field on the curvature of the thin film, evaporative flux, pressure gradient distribution, heat flux, and heat transfer coefficient in the thin film is presented. The results show that applying an electric field can enhance heat transfer in a thin liquid film significantly. In addition, utilizing electric fields on the evaporating film will be a way to expand the extended meniscus region to attain high heat transfer coefficients and high rates of heat flux.     

Mechanical properties of composites from sawdust and recycled plastics

Mechanical properties of wood plastic composites (WPCs) manufactured from sawdust and virgin and/or recycled plastics, namely high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP), were studied. Sawdust was prepared from beech industrial sawdust by screening to the desired particle size and was mixed with different virgin or recycled plastics at 50% by weight fiber loading. The mixed materials were then compression molded into panels. Flexural and tensile properties and impact strength of the manufactured WPCs were determined according to the relevant standard specifications. Although composites containing PP (virgin and recycled) exhibited higher stiffness and strength than those made from HDPE (virgin and recycled), they had lower unnotched impact strengths. Mechanical properties of specimens containing recycled plastics (HDPE and PP) were statistically similar and comparable to those of composites made from virgin plastics. This was considered as a possibility to expand the use of recycled plastics in the manufacture of WPCs. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 3641–3645, 2006     

Investigation of Ablation Efficiency of Stainless Steel Using Pulsed Lasers in Burst Mode

Due to its high corrosion resistance and mechanical properties, stainless steel is commonly used in various industrial applications. Although different types of stainless steel are similar in their chemical composition, they can differ significantly in their thermal diffusivity. This property is relevant in the ability of a material to conduct heat and thus, in laser processing. In this frame, this study compares the ablation efficiency and characteristics of polished stainless steel samples of the alloys AISI 304, AISI 420, and AISI 316Ti. They are irradiated with single ultrashort pulses having pulse durations between 250 fs and 10 ps as well as using GHz burst modii. The goal is to investigate the differences in both the ablation threshold and the ablation rate to improve the ablation efficiency. The results show that shorter pulse durations lead to a more efficient ablation process. On the other hand, GHz bursts are found to be, in general, less efficient. In addition, there is a significant difference in the surface morphology depending on the process parameters. The differences in the thermal diffusivity do not significantly influence the ablation threshold fluence but surface morphology and the ablation rate.     

A parameter-tuned genetic algorithm for the resource investment problem with discounted cash flows and generalized precedence relations

A resource investment problem with discounted cash flows (RIPDCF) is a project-scheduling problem in which (a) the availability levels of the resources are considered decision variables and (b) the goal is to find a schedule such that the net present value of the project cash flows optimizes. In this paper, the RIPDCF in which the activities are subject to generalized precedence relations is first modeled. Then, a genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to solve this model. In addition, design of experiments and response surface methodology are employed to both tune the GA parameters and to evaluate the performance of the proposed method in 240 test problems. The results of the performance analysis show that the efficiency of the proposed GA method is relatively well.     

A hermetic glass-silicon package formed using localizedaluminum/silicon-glass bonding

A hermetic package based on localized aluminum/silicon-to-glass bonding has been successfully demonstrated. Less than 0.2 MPa contact pressure with 46 mA current input for two parallel 3.5-μm-wide polysilicon on-chip microheaters can raise the temperature of the bonding region to 700°C bonding temperature and achieve a strong and reliable bond in 7.5 min. The formation of aluminum oxide with silicon precipitate composite layer is believed to be the source of the strong bond. Accelerated testing in an autoclave shows some packages survive more than 450 h under 3 atm, 100% RH and 128°C. Premature failure has been attributed to some unbonded regions on the failed samples. The bonding yield and reliability have been improved by increasing bonding time and applied pressure     

Noise analysis and characterization of a sigma-delta capacitive microaccelerometer

This paper reports a high-sensitivity low-noise capacitive accelerometer system with one micro-g//spl radic/Hz resolution. The accelerometer and interface electronics together operate as a second-order electromechanical sigma-delta modulator. A detailed noise analysis of electromechanical sigma-delta capacitive accelerometers with a final goal of achieving sub-/spl mu/g resolution is also presented. The analysis and test results have shown that amplifier thermal and sensor charging reference voltage noises are dominant in open-loop mode of operation. For closed-loop mode of operation, mass-residual motion is the dominant noise source at low sampling frequencies. By increasing the sampling frequency, both open-loop and closed-loop overall noise can be reduced significantly. The interface circuit has more than 120 dB dynamic range and can resolve better than 10 aF. The complete module operates from a single 5-V supply and has a measured sensitivity of 960 mV/g with a noise floor of 1.08 /spl mu/g//spl radic/Hz in open-loop. This system can resolve better than 10 /spl mu/g//spl radic/Hz in closed-loop.     

玻璃纤维/木塑混杂复合材料及其协同增强效应

将固体废弃物中的高密度聚乙烯(HDPE)回收后与废弃的木纤维以及短切玻璃纤维进行复合,成功地制备出混杂型木塑复合材料。研究结果表明,采用长径比较大的L型玻璃纤维增强时,木塑复合材料的弯曲强度、弯曲模量以及冲击强度同时得到提高,而采用长径比较小的玻璃纤维增强时,弯曲性能和冲击强度均呈现下降趋势。玻璃纤维增强木塑复合材料的主要破坏模式为玻璃纤维的拔出、玻璃纤维断裂、界面脱粘等。在玻璃纤维/木纤维/HDPE混杂体系中由于组元之间的协同增强作用,形成了特殊的三维网络结构,木塑复合材料的力学性能得到显著改善。     

Mechanical characterization and design of flexible silicon microstructures

A variety of different silicon structures has been fabricated and characterized mechanically to optimize the design of silicon ribbon cables used in neural probes and multichip packaging structures. Boron-doped 3-/spl mu/m-thick silicon beams were tested in three modes: bending in plane, twisting (along beam axis), and pushing. Various cable configurations were investigated (straight beams, curved beams, meandered beams, etc.) as well the effects of length, width, cable termination, and the presence of reinforcing spans between multistranded cables. The results along with finite element modeling indicated that many simple modifications could be made to increase the strength and flexibility of silicon ribbon cables. One structure, a meandered beam 200-/spl mu/m wide and 2-mm long could be twisted up to 712/spl deg/. It also was seen that structures having multiple 20-/spl mu/m-wide beams were generally more robust than those with a single 500-/spl mu/m-wide beam. Finally, a method for easy determination of the bending fracture strain is analyzed and verified. It was seen that the silicon structures tested broke after a strain slightly above 2%.