Numerical Study on Fragmentation Characteristics of Granite Under a Single Polycrystalline Diamond Compact Cutter in Rotary-Percussive Drilling

Fragmentation characteristics of granite in rotary-percussive drilling are studied using the distinct element method. We developed a model to investigate the interaction between the rock and a Polycrystalline Diamond Compact cutter. The micro contact parameters in the model are calibrated by conducting a series of simulated mechanical tests of the rock. Sensitivity analyses are then conducted according the drilling performances which are quantified as the penetration displacement, the fragmentation volume and the specific energy, as well as the lateral force and the particle size distribution. Results show that the model can well represent the typical fracture system under indentation of the cutter, the torque fluctuation phenomenon in drilling and the formation of lateral chips, which verify the reliability of the model. The cutter with a back rake angle of 55°and impact frequency of 30Hz has the best penetration performance in evaluated parameters. Increasing the frequency has a great effect on the rock breaking speed under the coupling effect of impact and cutting in the low frequency range. Considering crushing efficiency, 50 Hz is the recommended impact frequency. This paper provides a useful tool to represent the fragmentation performance of rotary-percussive drilling and sensitivity analyses shed light on the potential ways to improve the performance.

Study on the Optimal Design for Cavitation Reduction in the Vortex Suction Cup for Underwater Climbing Robot

In order to adhere to the wall stably in an underwater environment, a vortex suction cup that injects high-pressure water inside via two axisymmetrically side-distributed inlets to create a negative pressure area in the center is the necessary component for the underwater climbing robot (UCR). However, the suction force of this vortex suction cup is reduced and periodically unstable due to unstable cavitation. The aim of this paper is to propose a cavitation reduction optimization method for vortex suction cups and to verify the effectiveness of the optimization. Analyses of this vortex flow, including streamlines, pressure, and cavitation number fluctuations, were carried out by the introduced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulating methods based on the multiphase RNG k−ε model to study the periodic fluctuations of the suction force of the original suction cup and the optimized ones. Force measurement and vortex observation experiments were conducted to compare the suction force of the original vortex suction cup and the optimized suction cup, as well as the cavitation and pressure fluctuation phenomenon. Results of simulation and experiments prove the existence of the effect of vortex cavitation on the suction performance and verify the rationality of optimization as well.

Effects of Vibration Characteristics on the Atomization Performance in the Medical Piezoelectric Atomization Device Induced by Intra-Hole Fluctuation

Oral inhalation of aerosolized drugs has be widely applied in healing the affected body organs including lesions of the throat and lungs and it is more efficient than those conventional therapies, such as intravenous drip, intramuscular injection and external topical administration in the aspects of the dosage reduction and side effects of drugs. Nevertheless, the traditional atomization devices always exhibit many drawbacks. For example, non-uniformed atomization particle distribution, the instability of transient atomization quantity and difficulties in precise energy control would seriously restrict an extensive use of atomization inhalation therapy. In this study, the principle of intra-hole fluctuation phenomenon occurred in the hole is fully explained, and the produced volume change is also estimated. Additionally, the mathematical expression of the atomization rate of the atomizing device is well established. The mechanism of the micro-pump is further clarified, and the influence of the vibration characteristics of the atomizing film on the atomization behavior is analyzed theoretically. The curves of sweep frequency against the velocity and amplitude of the piezoelectric vibrator are obtained by the Doppler laser vibrometer, and the corresponding mode shapes of the resonance point are achieved. The influence of vibration characteristics on atomization rate, atomization height and atomization particle size are also verified by experiments, respectively. Both the experimental results and theoretical calculation are expected to provide a guidance for the design of this kind of atomization device in the future.

Investigation on failure mechanism of electrical connectors under repetitive mechanical insertion and withdrawal operations

Electrical connector is an essential accessory component for electrical and electronic interconnection circuit. In order to investigate the degradation behavior of electrical connector, a series of repetitive mechanical insertion and withdrawal operations of electrical connector have been carried out. The results indicate that there is an increasing trend in insertion/extraction force in the initial stage. Afterwards, it becomes a gradually decreasing trend attributed to the mechanical wear of the contact components. In addition, the oxidative wear of substrate copper alloy material causes the fluctuation phenomenon of contact resistance. The relevant mathematic models for insertion/extraction force and contact resistance calculation are presented to research the dynamic insertion/extraction process. Finally, the degradation behavior and associated physical mechanisms are proposed by analysing the laser confocal photographs and parameter waveforms comparison.

Investigation into the Independent Metering Control Performance of a Twin Spools Valve with Switching Technology-controlled Pilot Stage

In hydraulic area, independent metering control (IMC) technology is an effective approach to improve system efficiency and control flexibility. In addition, digital hydraulic technology (DHT) has been verified as a reasonable method to optimize system dynamic performance. Integrating these two technologies into one component can combine their advantages together. However, few works focused on it. In this paper, a twin spools valve with switching technology-controlled pilot stage (TSVSP) is presented, which applied DHT into its pilot stage while appending IMC into its main stage. Based on this prototype valve, a series of numerical and experiment analysis of its IMC performance with both simulated load and excavator boom cylinder are carried out. Results showed fast and robust performance of pressure and flow compound control with acceptable fluctuation phenomenon caused by switching technology. Rising time of flow response in excavator cylinder can be controlled within 200 ms, meanwhile, the recovery time of rod chamber pressure under suddenly changed condition is optimized within 250 ms. IMC system based on TSVSP can improve both dynamic performance and robust characteristics of the target actuator so it is practical in valve-cylinder system and can be applied in mobile machineries.

Fluctuation of magnitude of wave loads for a long array of bottom-mounted cylinders

For wave loads on cylinders constituting a long but finite array in the presence of incident waves, variations in the magnitude of the load with the non-dimensional wavenumber exhibit interesting features. Towering spikes and nearby secondary peaks (troughs) associated with trapped modes have been studied extensively. Larger non-trapped regions other than these two are termed Region III in this study. Studies of Region III are rare. We find that fluctuations in Region III are regular; the horizontal distance between two adjacent local maximum/minimum points, termed fluctuation spacing, is constant and does not change with non-dimensional wavenumbers. Fluctuation spacing is related only to the total number of cylinders in the array, identification serial number of the cylinder concerned and wave incidence angle. Based on the interaction theory and constructive/destructive interference, we demonstrate that the fluctuation characteristics can be predicted using simple analytical formulae. The formulae for predicting fluctuation spacing and the abscissae of every peak and trough in Region III are proposed. We reveal the intrinsic mechanism of the fluctuation phenomenon. When the diffraction waves emitted from the cylinders at the ends of the array and the cylinder concerned interfere constructively/destructively, peaks/troughs are formed. The fluctuation phenomenon in Region III is related to solutions of inhomogeneous equations. By contrast, spikes and secondary peaks are associated with solutions of the eigenvalue problem. This study of Region III complements existing understanding of the characteristics of the magnitude of wave load. The engineering significances of the results are discussed as well.

Mechanism Study on Elevation Effect of Blast Wave Propagation in High Side Wall of Deep Underground Powerhouse

In view of the influence of blasting excavation in the deep burial underground powerhouse on the dynamic disturbance and blasting vibration of side wall and surrounding rock, the blasting vibration test method is often used for on-site monitoring and control. Taking the blasting excavation of the high side wall of an underground powerhouse of a hydropower station as the engineering background, a long-term blasting vibration test is carried out on the site. The measuring points are arranged along the elevation direction and horizontal direction of the high side wall of the powerhouse. Through analyzing and comparing the blasting vibration velocity values extracted from a large number of on-site measured data in the elevation direction, an interesting phenomenon is found. The measured vibration velocity of the rock anchor beam in the area far away from the blasting is greater than that in the area near the blasting, and the vibration velocity after the casting of the rock anchor beam is greater than that before the casting. In order to avoid the randomness and contingency of the measured data, based on the blasting parameters, loading quantity, and rock mechanical characteristics used in the field, the elevation effect of the numerical model of the underground powerhouse is established by using the dynamic finite element software. By comparing the numerical simulation and the on-site monitoring of the elevation direction vibration velocity at the same location, it is found that the two have the same law, which verifies the reliability of the numerical calculation model. By changing the elevation and horizontal distances to select the measuring points in the numerical model, the propagation curve of the blasting vibration of the high side wall of the underground powerhouse in the elevation direction is obtained and the wave propagation phenomenon and the local elevation amplification effect of blasting vibration velocity in the side wall of the powerhouse are found. By means of changing the morphology characteristics of the rock anchor beam, a numerical calculation model of the rock anchor beam before casting is established, and the blasting vibration velocity in the elevation direction of the same measuring point as the original model is extracted. The analysis and comparison results show that the “whiplash effects” caused by the reflection superposition of the convex morphology characteristics of the rock anchor beam on the blast wave and the vibration response of the rock mass at the step part is the main factor for the elevation effect. The fluctuation phenomenon of the vibration velocity in the elevation direction is caused by the natural frequency and the main vibration mode of the high side walls, and the reflection superposition of the convex geomorphology characteristics of the rock anchor beam will aggravate this fluctuation phenomenon. Therefore, in the construction of deep underground powerhouses, attention should be paid to the blasting construction and support design of the rock anchor beam.

Research on pressure fluctuation phenomenon using the smart isolation tool in subsea pipeline maintenance operation

A new isolation technology in subsea pipeline maintenance has been gradually developed in recent years. During the operation, the smart isolation tool is desired to decelerate and stop in the accurate position, which will cause a pressure surge in pipe, it was named “pressure fluctuation phenomenon” in this article. For control precision and sealing reliability, avoiding or reducing the fluctuation phenomenon has been necessary. The characteristics of this phenomenon and the effects of parameters have been investigated using numerical methodologies. The results indicated that this phenomenon mainly affected by deceleration time, flow velocity and aspect ratio, and the optimal parameters are t = 1.5 s, v = 1 m/s and γ = 1.2, respectively. The identical results could be achieved from the sensitivity analysis. It can be concluded that the peak value is more sensitive to deceleration time, less sensitive to flow velocity and least sensitive to aspect ratio. All the studies in this article will provide a reference to improve the control precision and seal reliability using smart isolation tool in subsea pipeline maintenance.

Effects of Tunable Angle for Vortex Generators on Aerodynamic Performances of Airfoils

Vortex generators (VGs) are commonly adopted to control the flow separation, and many researches have investigated their effects on the aerodynamic performance of wind turbines. However, nearly no attentions are paid to the VGs’ installation angle. Thus, in this paper, to investigate the effects of the VGs’ installation angle on airfoils, numerical simulations are conducted by CFD on the finite wing of NACA0012. According to the finite airfoil with or without VGs, three-dimensional models are established and numerical simulations are carried out in detail. It could be seen clearly that the VGs’ installation angle produces a significant impact on the aerodynamic performances. For some installation angles, special ranging from 45° to 90°, VGs can improve the lift-drag ratio apparently, even by 34.5%. While angle ranges from 15° to 30°, VGs negatively influence the lift-drag ratio. Furthermore, the fluctuation phenomenon is discussed through analysis of the streamlines and vortices. Based on those results, optimal aerodynamic performances could be achieved by the active control of the VGs’ installation angle.