Elastic constants of particle and fiber reinforced metal matrix composites

A model has been developed to predict the elastic moduli in composites reinforced with both particles and fibers. In the model the matrix material and the particles, which are assumed to be homogeneously distributed, form an effective matrix. The characteristics of this effective matrix is calculated using a theory formulated by Ledbetter and Datta. The effective matrix is then considered to be reinforced with fibers lying in one plane but randomly oriented in that plane. The effect of the 2-dimensionally random orientation of the fibers on the elastic moduli of the composites is determined in two steps. First the composite cylinders model by Hashin and Rosen for an aligned fiber system is employed, and then a geometric averaging procedure suggested by Christensen and Waals is performed. Using this model, the Young's and shear moduli were calculated for three samples with different aluminum matrices and volume fractions of particles (9, 13, and 17%) but the same fiber content (6%). The same elastic moduli were also determined using ultrasonic velocity measurements. The agreement between calculated and measured elastic moduli is found to be very good. Also, the elastic anisotropies between directions of the fiber rich plane and that normal to the plane could be predicted by the model.This article is dedicated to Professor Dr. Paul Höller on the occasion of his 65th birthday.     

Radial stem growth of coniferous trees near Swedish reservoirs

Tree ring data are presented for two species of coniferous trees growing close to the margins of two contrasting types of reservoir, an annually regulated one (bordered by Picea abies) and a daily and weekly regulated one (Pinns sylvestris). The radial growth-ring data for the periods before and after damming and regulation were compared utilizing a mathematical growth model. The basic hypothesis was that changed water-level conditions due to hydroelectric development would change the groundwater levels and associated factors and thus affect tree growth. For spruce trees growing along the long-term (annually) regulated reservoir, no significant differences in growth between the pre-damming and post-damming periods were found; nor was any correlation found between tree growth and the duration of the period of high-water level in this reservoir. For pine trees growing along the short-term (daily and weekly) regulated reservoir a significant increase in the variation in growth was found following regulation, but only at the lowest levels. No other significant differences in tree growth between the periods before and after regulation were found.     

GPS‐level accurate camera localization with HorizonNet

This paper investigates the problem of position estimation of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) operating in coastal areas or in the archipelago. We propose a position estimation method where the horizon line is extracted in a 360° panoramic image around the USV. We design a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to determine an approximate horizon line in the image and implicitly determine the camera orientation (the pitch and roll angles). The panoramic image is warped to compensate for the camera orientation and to generate an image from an approximately level camera. A second CNN architecture is designed to extract the pixelwise horizon line in the warped image. The extracted horizon line is correlated with digital elevation model data in the Fourier domain using a minimum output sum of squared error correlation filter. Finally, we determine the location of the maximum correlation score over the search area to estimate the position of the USV. Comprehensive experiments are performed in field trials conducted over 3 days in the archipelago. Our approach provides excellent results by achieving robust position estimates with global positioning system (GPS)‐level accuracy in previously unvisited test areas.     

Highly Accurate Attitude Estimation via Horizon Detection

Attitude (pitch and roll angle) estimation from visual information is necessary for GPS‐free navigation of airborne vehicles. We propose a highly accurate method to estimate the attitude by horizon detection in fisheye images. A Canny edge detector and a probabilistic Hough voting scheme are used to compute an approximate attitude and the corresponding horizon line in the image. Horizon edge pixels are extracted in a band close to the approximate horizon line. The attitude estimates are refined through registration of the extracted edge pixels with the geometrical horizon from a digital elevation map (DEM), in our case the SRTM3 database, extracted at a given approximate position. The proposed method has been evaluated using 1629 images from a flight trial with flight altitudes up to 600 m in an area with ground elevations ranging from sea level up to 500 m. Compared with the ground truth from a filtered inertial measurement unit (IMU)/GPS solution, the standard deviation for the pitch and roll angle errors obtained with 30 Mpixel images are 0.04° and 0.05°, respectively, with mean errors smaller than 0.02°. To achieve the high‐accuracy attitude estimates, the ray refraction in the earth's atmosphere has been taken into account. The attitude errors obtained on real images are less or equal to those achieved on synthetic images for previous methods with DEM refinement, and the errors are about one order of magnitude smaller than for any previous vision‐based method without DEM refinement.     

Elastic Constants of Particle and Fiber Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract

A model has been developed to predict the elastic moduli in composites reinforced with both particles and fibers. In the model the matrix material and the particles, which are assumed to be homogeneously distributed, form an effective matrix. The characteristics of this effective matrix is calculated using a theory formulated by Ledbetter and Datta. The effective matrix is then considered to be reinforced with fibers lying in one plane but randomly oriented in that plane. The effect of the 2-dimensionally random orientation of the fibers on the elastic moduli of the composites is determined in two steps. First the composite cylinders model by Hashin and Rosen for an aligned fiber system is employed, and then a geometric averaging procedure suggested by Christensen and Waals is performed. Using this model, the Young's and shear moduli were calculated for three samples with different aluminum matrices and volume fractions of particles (9, 13, and 17%) but the same fiber content (6%). The same elastic moduli were also determined using ultrasonic velocity measurements. The agreement between calculated and measured elastic moduli is found to be very good. Also, the elastic anisotropics between directions of the fiber rich plane and that normal to the plane could be predicted by the model.     

Bulk silicon technology for complementary MESFETs

A technology for fabrication of complementary silicon MESFETs on bulk silicon substrates has been developed. The technology is similar to CMOS technology, and utilises n-silicon substrates. P-wells are used for the n-channel devices. Device isolation was achieved by trench etching. The silicides of Er and Pt were used as gate Schottky contacts. P- and n-channel characteristics are presented together with subthreshold behaviour and preliminary results regarding radiation hardness. Also, results from two-dimensional simulations of the devices are presented.<>