Topology optimization for crashworthiness of thin-walled structures under axial crash considering nonlinear plastic buckling and locations of plastic hinges

Although topology optimization is established for linear static problems, more effort is required for solving nonlinear plastic problems. A new topology optimization approach with equivalent static loads (ESLs) is suggested to find the optimum topologies and locations of plastic hinges of thin-walled crash boxes by considering crash-induced deformation, the main crash energy-absorbing mechanism. Together with finite element method crashworthiness analyses, considering all nonlinearities with rate-dependent plasticity, the method was developed using an appropriate time-incremental scheme of ESLs without removing any high values of loads. Analyses show that the crash boxes with optimum topologies have energy-absorbing capabilities equivalent to the original structure. The proposed method is evaluated for two crashes: a crash box at low speed and a double cell subjected to high-speed collision. The results indicate that this method captures nonlinear crushing behaviours and accurate locations of plastic hinges where, if proper reinforcements are made, energy absorption can be enhanced.     

A knowledge construction methodology to automate case-based learning using clinical documents

The case-based learning (CBL) approach has gained attention in medical education as an alternative to traditional learning methodology. However, current CBL systems do not facilitate and provide computer-based domain knowledge to medical students for solving real-world clinical cases during CBL practice. To automate CBL, clinical documents are beneficial for constructing domain knowledge. In the literature, most systems and methodologies require a knowledge engineer to construct machine-readable knowledge. Keeping in view these facts, we present a knowledge construction methodology (KCM-CD) to construct domain knowledge ontology (i.e., structured declarative knowledge) from unstructured text in a systematic way using artificial intelligence techniques, with minimum intervention from a knowledge engineer. To utilize the strength of humans and computers, and to realize the KCM-CD methodology, an interactive case-based learning system(iCBLS) was developed. Finally, the developed ontological model was evaluated to evaluate the quality of domain knowledge in terms of coherence measure. The results showed that the overall domain model has positive coherence values, indicating that all words in each branch of the domain ontology are correlated with each other and the quality of the developed model is acceptable.     

Design and performance study of phase‐locked loop using fractional‐order loop filter

The present work reports the realization of an analog fractional‐order phase‐locked loop (FPLL) using a fractional capacitor. The expressions for bandwidth, capture range, and lock range of the FPLL have been derived analytically and then compared with the experimental observations using LM565 IC. It has been observed that bandwidth and capture range can be extended by using FPLL. It has also been found that FPLL can provide faster response and lower phase error at the time of switching compared to its integer‐order counterpart. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chitosan Microspheres as Carriers for pH‐Indicating Species in Corrosion Sensing

Chitosan microspheres containing bromocresol green, cresol red, and phenolphthalein for corrosion detection, through pH change, are synthesized in order to be used in protective coatings for aluminium alloys. Microspheres containing corrosion detection species are characterized morphologically (SEM) and physico‐chemically (FTIR, TGA). Release studies (UV–vis) are performed in corrosion‐promoting conditions (pH, NaCl), and detection studies by immersion in media associated with corrosion activity while microspheres' sensing activity is evaluated visually. Electrochemical characterization of AA2024 substrates in the presence of chitosan spheres is performed to understand material performance, and a color change is observed as a result of local pH increase in cathodic areas when corrosion takes place. These findings can be correlated with the results from release studies and seem a promising approach for corrosion sensing purposes, not only because pH increase is possible to detect due to corrosion, but also because chitosan is considered an environmentally friendly material.     

The potential of energy flexibility of space heating and cooling in Portugal

This study assesses the potential of energy flexibility of space heating and cooling for a typical household under different geographical conditions in Portugal. The proposed approach modifies the demand through the optimization of the thermostat settings using a genetic algorithm to reduce either operational costs or interaction with the grid. The results show that the used energy flexibility indicator expresses the available potential and that flexibility depends on several factors, namely: i) thermal inertia of the archetypical household; ii) the time of use electricity tariffs; iii) users’ comfort boundaries; and iv) the geographical location of the houses.     

Elucidation of colour development and microstructural characteristics of Allium sativum fumigated with acetic acid

It has been well known that the greening of Allium sativum cloves could be formed after immersed in acetic acid solution. Nonetheless, no investigation was reported on colour development of A. sativum in response to acetic acid vapour until now. In this study, the brief exposure of A. sativum to acetic acid vapour (200–400 ppm) was combined with controlled atmosphere (5%, 20% and 80% CO₂) packaging storage to break cell membrane and green garlic. The garlic bulbs were fumigated with acetic acid before controlled CO₂ atmosphere packaging for 25 days at 4 °C. Fumigation with 200 ppm acetic acid followed by high CO₂ atmosphere packaging (80% CO₂) facilitated the garlic greening. It was also verified that γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase was involved in garlic greening in present study, and the compromise of glacial acetic acid vapour fumigation and CO₂ gas atmosphere in package stored at low temperature could result in garlic greening as well.     

Survey on Passivity Based Control of Induction Machine

Induction machines (IM) constitute a theoretically interesting and practically important class of nonlinear systems. They are frequently used as wind generators for their power/cost ratio. They are described by a fifth‐order nonlinear differential equation with two inputs and only three state variables available for measurement. The control task is further complicated by the fact that IM are subject to unknown (load) disturbances and the parameters can be of great uncertainty. One is then faced with the challenging problem of controlling a highly nonlinear system, with unknown time‐varying parameters, where the regulated output, besides being unmeasurable, is perturbed by an unknown additive signal. Passivity‐based control (PBC) is a well‐established structure‐preserving design methodology which has shown to be very powerful to design robust controllers for physical systems described by Euler‐Lagrange equations of motion. PBCs provide a natural procedure to "shape" the potential energy yielding controllers with a clear physical interpretation in terms of interconnection of the system with its environment and are robust vis á vis to unmodeled dissipative effects. One recent approach of PBC is the Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity‐Based Control (IDA‐PBC) which is a very useful technique to control nonlinear systems assigning a desired (Port‐Controlled Hamiltonian) structure to the closed‐loop. The aim of this paper is to give a survey on different PBC of IM. The originality of this work is that the author proves that the well known field oriented control of IM is a particular case of the IDA‐PBC with disturbance.     

Ballistic behavior of plain and reinforced concrete slabs under high velocity impact

This work presents a numerical simulation of ballistic penetration and high velocity impact behavior of plain and reinforced concrete slabs. In this paper, we focus on the comparison of the performance of the plain and reinforced concrete slabs of unconfined compressive strength 41 MPa under ballistic impact. The concrete slab has dimensions of 675 mm × 675 mm × 200 mm, and is meshed with 8-node hexahedron solid elements in the impact and outer zones. The ogive-nosed projectile is considered as rigid element that has a mass of 0.386 kg and a length of 152 mm. The applied velocities vary between 540 and 731 m/s. 6 mm of steel reinforcement bars were used in the reinforced concrete slabs. The constitutive material modeling of the concrete and steel reinforcement bars was performed using the Johnson-Holmquist-2 damage and the Johnson-Cook plasticity material models, respectively. The analysis was conducted using the commercial finite element package Abaqus/Explicit. Damage diameters and residual velocities obtained by the numerical model were compared with the experimental results and effect of steel reinforcement and projectile diameter were studies. The validation showed good agreement between the numerical and experimental results. The added steel reinforcements to the concrete samples were found efficient in terms of ballistic resistance comparing to the plain concrete sample.     

控制爆破在复杂基坑开挖中的应用

在紧邻厂房中控室的基坑开挖中，根据复杂环境条件与施工要求，采用浅孔微差爆破并通过选取合理开沟掏槽位置来控制最小抵抗线方向以及控制一次最大起爆药量等措施，达到了控制飞石、降低爆破地震的效果，保证了爆破质量与爆破安全，提高了施工效率。     

Wireless video streaming with TCP and simultaneous MAC packet transmission (SMPT)

Video streaming is expected to account for a large portion of the traffic in future networks, including wireless networks. It is widely accepted that the user datagram protocol (UDP) is the preferred transport protocol for video streaming and that the transmission control protocol (TCP) is unsuitable for streaming. The widespread use of UDP, however, has a number of drawbacks, such as unfairness and possible congestion collapse, which are avoided by TCP. In this paper we investigate the use of TCP as the transport layer protocol for streaming video in a multi‐code CDMA cellular wireless system. Our approach is to stabilize the TCP throughput over the wireless links by employing a recently developed simultaneous MAC packet transmission (SMPT) approach at the link layer. We study the capacity, i.e. the number of customers per cell, and the quality of service for streaming video in the uplink direction. Our extensive simulations indicate that streaming over TCP in conjunction with SMPT gives good performance for video encoded in a closed loop, i.e. with rate control. We have also found that TCP is unsuitable (even in conjunction with SMPT) for streaming the more variable open‐loop encoded video. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.