An experimental study of forced convective heat transfer for fully developed Al 2 O 3 –water nanofluid in an annulus tube

Nanofluids have been known as practical materials to ameliorate heat transfer within diverse industrial systems. The current work presents an empirical study on forced convection effects of Al₂O₃–water nanofluid within an annulus tube. A laminar flow regime has been considered to perform the experiment in high Reynolds number range using several concentrations of nanofluid. Also, the boundary conditions include a constant uniform heat flux applied on the outer shell and an adiabatic condition to the inner tube. Nanofluid particle is visualized with transmission electron microscopy to figure out the nanofluid particles. Additionally, the pressure drop is obtained by measuring the inlet and outlet pressure with respect to the ambient condition. The experimental results showed that adding nanoparticles to the base fluid will increase the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and average Nusselt number. In addition, by increasing viscosity effects at maximum Reynolds number of 1140 and increasing nanofluid concentration from 1% to 4% (maximum performance at 4%), HTC increases by 18%.     

Evaluation of performance enhancing proxies in internet over satellite

Performance enhancing proxies (PEPs) are widely used to improve the performance of TCP over high delay‐bandwidth product links and links with high error probability. In this paper we analyse the performance of using TCP connection splitting in combination with web caching via traces obtained from a commercial satellite system. We examine the resulting performance gain under different scenarios, including the effect of caching, congestion, random loss and file sizes. We show, via analysing our measurements, that the performance gain from using splitting is highly sensitive to random losses and the number of simultaneous connections, and that such sensitivity is alleviated by caching. On the other hand, the use of a splitting proxy enhances the value of web caching in that cache hits result in much more significant performance improvement over cache misses when TCP splitting is used. We also compare the performance of using different versions of HTTP in such a system. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new adaptation of mapping method to study mixing of multiphase flows in mixers with complex geometries

The main objective of the present work is to modify the traditional mapping method for the simulation of distributive mixing of multiphase flows in geometries involving moving parts such as, internal mixers or twin-screw extruders without a limitation on their geometrical periodicity. The periodicity condition, limits the results of traditional mapping method to tracking mapping mesh between specific discrete time intervals or distances for that geometry is repeated, hence, result is only for fixed orientation of rotors. Imaginary domain method is introduced to track mapping mesh from one state to the next free of geometrical periodicity limitations. In this work the method is introduced and its applicability and accuracy is discussed in details. A two-dimensional (2D) simulation of mixing of two Newtonian fluids with different viscosities in an intermeshing internal mixer is used as a test case study. In this example the key issues of ability to predict mixing state in details for all orientations of rotors is presented. To reduce diffusion errors of mapping method in the boundaries of the rotors, mapping mesh refinement technique that relies upon one single reference mesh is also presented.     

A genetic algorithm for the optimisation of assembly sequences

This paper describes a Genetic Algorithm (GA) designed to optimise the Assembly Sequence Planning Problem (ASPP), an extremely diverse, large scale and highly constrained combinatorial problem. The modelling of the ASPP problem, which has to be able to encode any industrial-size product with realistic constraints, and the GA have been designed to accommodate any type of assembly plan and component. A number of specific modelling issues necessary for understanding the manner in which the algorithm works and how it relates to real-life problems, are succinctly presented, as they have to be taken into account/adapted/solved prior to Solving and Optimising (S/O) the problem. The GA has a classical structure but modified genetic operators, to avoid the combinatorial explosion. It works only with feasible assembly sequences and has the ability to search the entire solution space of full-scale, unabridged problems of industrial size. A case study illustrates the application of the proposed GA for a 25-components product.     

Decreasing the Sampling Time Interval in Radioactive Particle Tracking

The study of the movement of solids in multiphase reactors using radioactive particle tracking is currently limited to fairly modest particle velocities because of count‐rate limitations of the detection system. In this work, this restriction was overcome by increasing the activity of the radioactive tracer, by decreasing the sampling time interval and by modifying the particle tracking software to recognize which detectors were saturated and to use only the data from the remaining unsaturated detectors. Higher tracer activity resulted in lower standard deviation of the calculated tracer coordinates.     

Hematoxylin multi-wall carbon nanotubes modified glassy carbon electrode for electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrazine

A new hydrazine sensor has been fabricated by immobilizing hematoxylin at the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT). The adsorbed thin films of hematoxylin on the MWCNT modified GCE show one pair of peaks with surface confined characteristics. The hematoxylin MWCNT (HMWCNT) modified GCE shows highly catalytic activity toward hydrazine electro-oxidation. The results show that the peak potential of hydrazine at HMWCNT modified GCE surface shifted by about 167 and 255 mV toward negative values compared with that at an MWCNT and activated modified GCE surface, respectively. In addition, at HMWCNT modified electrode surface remarkably improvement the sensitivity of determination of hydrazine. The kinetic parameters, such as the electron transfer coefficient, α, and the standard heterogeneous rate constant, k⁰, for oxidation of hydrazine at the HMWCNT modified GCE were determined and also is shown that the heterogeneous rate constant, k′, is strongly potential dependent. The overall number of electron involved in the catalytic oxidation of hydrazine and the number of electrons involved in the rate-determining steps are 2 and 1, respectively. The amperometric detection of hydrazine is carried out at 220 mV in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (pH 7) with linear response range 2.0-122.8 μM hydrazine, detection limit of 0.68 μM and sensitivity of 0.0208 μA μM⁻¹. Finally the amperometric response for hydrazine determination is reproducible, fast and extremely stable, with no loss in sensitivity over a continual 400 s operation.     

Hybrid polymer matrix composite (UHMWPE-HPMC) as solid particle erosion resistant coating for sharp pipe elbows using numerical simulation and experimental analysis

A hybrid polymer matrix composite coating, resistant to solid particle erosion inside sharp elbows, consisting interlocking chains of molecules with the ability to deflect the surface impact stress and to uniformly distribute stresses along the hard-ceramic reinforcement mixture surface was developed. Formulated mixture of ceramic reinforcement particles mixtures (alumina, tungsten carbide, and silicon carbide) with polymer coupling agents; to increase adhesion to the metal surface, led to 600–700 HVN in ternary and 500–550 HVN in binary mixtures. This behavior coincides with high shear strength of 70–76 MPa, Young's and shear modulus of 8.86 and 13.4 GPa in ternary 15%Al₂O₃-5%WC-10%SiC, respectively. The low erosion weight loss of 0.1% and small coefficient of friction near 0.18 indicates the significant wear resistance of the ternary sample. The electron microscopic micrographs determined the dense smooth coating surfaces with adhesive interfaces with the substrate.