Reliability analysis of TLP tethers under impulsive loading

In the present study, reliability assessment of Tension Leg Platform (TLP) tethers against maximum tension (i.e. tension exceeding yield) has been carried out under combined action of extreme wave and impulsive forces. For this purpose, a nonlinear dynamic analysis of TLP has been carried out in time domain. A limit state function for maximum tension (i.e. tension exceeding yield) has been derived employing Von-Mises theory of failure. Using this derived limit state function and responses obtained after dynamic analysis under sinusoidal, half-triangular and triangular impulsive forces, reliability assessment of the TLP tethers has been carried out. Design point, important for probabilistic design of tethers, has been located on the failure surface after solving a constrained optimization problem. To study the influence of various random variables on tether reliability, sensitivity analysis has been carried out. Effects of angle of impact; effect of variable submergence; and effect of material yield strength on tether reliability have also been studied on parametric basis. Effect of uncertainty on overall tether reliability has also been discussed to show the importance of quality control in the various design parameters.     

Recent developments in catalyst synthesis using DBD plasma for reforming applications

The catalyst has a significant role in gas processing applications such as reforming technologies for H₂ and syngas production. The stable catalyst is requisite for any industrial catalysis application to make it commercially viable. Several methods are employed to synthesize the catalysts. However, there is still a challenge to achieve a controlled morphology and pure catalyst which majorly influences the catalytic activity in reforming applications. The conventional methods are expansive, and the removal of the impurities are major challenges. Nevertheless, it is not straightforward to achieve the desired structure and stability. Therefore, significant interest has been developed on the advanced techniques to take control of the physicochemical properties of the catalyst through non-thermal plasma (NTP) techniques. In this review, the systematic evolution of the catalyst synthesis using NTP technique is elucidated. The emerging DBD plasma to synthesized and effective surface treatment is reviewed. DBD plasma synthesized catalyst performance in reforming application for H₂ and syngas production is summarised. Furthermore, the status of DBD plasma for catalyst synthesis and proposed future avenues to design environmentally suitable and cost-effective synthesis techniques are discussed.     

Tuning of the Cloud Point of Promethazine Hydrochloride with Surfactants and Polymers

The effect of additives (surfactants and polymers) and pH on the clouding behavior of promethazine hydrochloride (PMT, a phenothiazine drug) was investigated. Cloud point (CP) decreases with increase in pH due to deprotonation of drug molecules. The same trend occurs in the presence of surfactants. However, at constant pH, and depending on their structure and nature, these additives behave differently. Anionic surfactants show peaked behavior, whereas cationic (conventional as well as geminis) and non-ionic surfactants increase the CP, although the mechanisms differ. Cationic surfactants hinder drug association (due to interaggregate repulsion) resulting in an increase in CP, while non-ionic surfactants form mixed micelles with the drug, increasing micelle hydration and CP. Polymers can cause both a decrease as well as an increase in CP, depending on their molecular weight. A large CP increase (with the increase in surfactant concentration) for gemini surfactants suggests they are excellent candidates for drug delivery.

---

A kinetic study of acetoxylation of benzyl chloride—a model of activated allylic chlorides in PVC—using a crown ether complex

Benzyl chloride has been used in a kinetic study of chlorine replacement by acetoxy groups to model the behaviour of allylic chlorine during the acetoxylation of poly(vinyl chloride). Chlorine substitution was carried out in tetrahydrofuran at 30°C using a potassium acetate-crown ether complex with methanol to ensure homogeneous solution. The process followed an S_N2 mechanism. The orders of reaction with respect to benzyl chloride and potassium acetate were close to one, and the second order velocity constant was 4.2 x 10^?5 litre mol^?1 s^?1 when the molar ratio of crown ether to potassium acetate was approximately unity. Higher ratios caused a slight increase in rate constant. Substitution was followed by NMR spectroscopy which also revealed a proton exchange between methanol and acetate anion with an equilibrium constant 9.4 x 10^?2. This observation has suggested an explanation for the effect of some free-radical inhibitors on the rate of acetoxylation of poly(vinyl chloride) by potassium acetate in the presence of crown ether.     

Pseudohalogenation of methyl 9-hydroxy-cis-12-and 12-hydroxy-cis-9-octadecenoate

Pseudohalogenation of methyl 9-hydroxy-cis-12-octadecenoate (I) and methyl 12-hydroxy-cis-9-octadecenoate (II) has been carried out with N,N-dibromobenzenesulfonamide (NNDBS). Compounds I and II, on reaction with NNDBS, formed four and three products, respectively. The interesting feature of these reactions was the formation of 1,4-epoxy compounds. The structures of individual compounds were established with the help of elemental and spectral analysis.     

A medium access protocol exploiting multiuser-detection in CDMA ad-hoc networks

A new medium access protocol which exploits the physical layer capability of multiuser detection is proposed to help in improving the throughput/delay performance of ad-hoc networks. When more than one node has packets buffered for a common node in the neighborhood, all such nodes can simultaneously transmit their packets to the common receiver after reserving their surrounding channel. This is achieved in our protocol by extending the (sender-initiated) CSMA/CA collision avoidance framework by the receiver-initiated medium access technique and incorporating the transmission power control. We analyze the improvement in the throughput that can be achieved over the basic sender-initiated collision avoidance protocol in the network. Since the throughput improvement via multi-packet reception is influenced by the network layer activity as well, the performance of our protocol rolls back to that of the basic sender-initiated protocol in case of no coordination from the network layer. For the evaluation of performance of our protocol we simulate ad-hoc networks for different network topologies and traffic configurations. We observe the scheme to be capable in significantly improving the throughput/delay performance of the network.     

Part-load analysis of a chemical looping combustion (CLC) combined cycle with CO2 capture

This paper presents part-load evaluation of a natural gas-fired chemical looping combustion (CLC) combined cycle with CO₂ capture. The novel combined cycle employs an air-based gas turbine, a CO₂-turbine and a steam turbine cycle. In this combined cycle, the CLC reactors replace combustion chamber of the gas turbine. The proposed combined cycle has a net plant efficiency of about 52.2% at full-load, including CO₂ compression to 200 bar. The part-load evaluation shows that reducing the load down to 60% results in an efficiency drop of 2.6%-points. However, the plant shows better relative part-load efficiency compared to conventional combined cycles. The pressure in CLC-reduction and -oxidation reactors is balanced by airflow control, using a compressor equipped with variable guide vanes. A combination of control strategies is discussed for plant start-up and shutdown and for part-load when airflow reduction is not practically possible with current generation of compressors. The results show that the combined cycle has a promising efficiency even at part-load; however, it requires an advanced control strategy.