Numerical studies for effect of geometrical parameters on water jet pump performance via entropy generation analysis

This paper presented an implementation of entropy generation analysis in the main flow field of a water jet pump via the CFD method. This study aimed to identify the inefficient location of energy conversion and to analyse entropy generation sources in each region of the water jet pump. The 2D-axisymmetric model and realisable k-ε (RKE) turbulence model at steady-state conditions were performed to validate jet pump performance and to assess the entropy generation. Likewise, the effects of the projection ratio and throat-aspect ratio as independent parameters were investigated. As a result, the throat is the most inefficient part due to the high total entropy generation rate, following by diffuser part. Also, the entropy generation rate was assessed dominant than viscous dissipation due to the turbulent dissipation, which was caused by a turbulent shear stress layer of mixing the streams. In conclusion, the projection ratio influenced the growth of the shear stress layer as well as the entropy generation. Further, the throat-aspect ratio affected the distribution of entropy generation in the throat section. An appropriate combination of both parameters has an impact on the jet pump performance improvements reducing the entropy generation rate in the future.

Urban Boundary Layers Over Dense and Tall Canopies

Wind-tunnel experiments were carried out on four urban morphologies: two tall canopies with uniform height and two super-tall canopies with a large variation in element heights (where the maximum element height is more than double the average canopy height, $$h_{max}=2.5h_{avg}$$ h max = 2.5 h avg ). The average canopy height and packing density are fixed across the surfaces to $$h_{avg} = 80~\hbox {mm}$$ h avg = 80 mm , and $$\lambda _{p} = 0.44$$ λ p = 0.44 , respectively. A combination of laser Doppler anemometry and direct-drag measurements are used to calculate and scale the mean velocity profiles with the boundary-layer depth $$\delta $$ δ . In the uniform-height experiment, the high packing density results in a ‘skimming flow’ regime with very little flow penetration into the canopy. This leads to a surprisingly shallow roughness sublayer (depth $$\approx 1.15h_{avg}$$ ≈ 1.15 h avg ), and a well-defined inertial sublayer above it. In the heterogeneous-height canopies, despite the same packing density and average height, the flow features are significantly different. The height heterogeneity enhances mixing, thus encouraging deep flow penetration into the canopy. A deeper roughness sublayer is found to exist extending up to just above the tallest element height (corresponding to $$z/h_{avg} = 2.85$$ z / h avg = 2.85 ), which is found to be the dominant length scale controlling the flow behaviour. Results point toward the existence of a constant-stress layer for all surfaces considered herein despite the severity of the surface roughness ($$\delta /h_{avg} = 3 - 6.25$$ δ / h avg = 3 - 6.25 ). This contrasts with the previous literature.

Elasto-Plastic Fracture Mechanics Analysis of the Effect of Shot Peening on 300M Steel

A modified J-integral calculation method is adopted to fix the problem of the quantitative evaluation of the crack propagation of shot-peened structures. Considering the residual stress, residual strain, and residual strain energy, the effect of shot peening on the J-integral parameters of semi-elliptic surface crack fronts is quantitatively calculated and a method is provided for the performance evaluation of the shot peening layer. First, the shot peening process is simulated, then the fatigue crack is generated by changing the constraint condition and a far-field load is applied to calculate the J-integral parameters, crack propagation rate, and crack kinking angle. The effects of different crack depths and shot velocities on the fracture parameters are analyzed. The results show that the reduction in the J-integral value after shot peening decreases with the increase in the crack depth when the shot velocity is a certain value, which indicates that shot peening is more beneficial for suppressing the fatigue crack propagation. When the crack depth is greater than the depth of the compressive stress layer, shot peening accelerates the crack propagation. The reduction in the J-integral value decreases with the increase in shot velocity when the crack depth is a certain value; therefore, increasing shot velocity is more beneficial for retarding fatigue crack propagation.

Smartphone Screen Integrated Optical Breathalyzer

One third of fatal car accidents and so many tragedies are due to alcohol abuse. These sad numbers could be mitigated if everyone had access to a breathalyzer anytime and anywhere. Having a breathalyzer built into a phone or wearable technology could be the way to get around reluctance to carry a separate device. With this goal, we propose an inexpensive breathalyzer that could be integrated in the screens of mobile devices. Our technology is based on the evaporation rate of the fog produced by the breath on the phone screen, which increases with increasing breath alcohol content. The device simply uses a photodiode placed on the side of the screen to measure the signature of the scattered light intensity from the phone display that is guided through the stress layer of the Gorilla glass screen. A part of the display light is coupled to the stress layer via the evanescent field induced at the edge of the breath microdroplets. We demonstrate that the intensity signature measured at the detector can be linked to blood alcohol content. We fabricated a prototype in a smartphone case powered by the phone’s battery, controlled by an application installed on the smartphone, and tested it in real-world environments. Limitations and future work toward a fully operational device are discussed.

Insight into the Interaction between Water and Ion-Exchanged Aluminosilicate Glass by Nanoindentation

This work aims to explore the interaction between water and ion-exchanged aluminosilicate glass. The surface mechanical properties of ion-exchanged glasses after different hydration durations are investigated. The compressive stress and depth of stress layer are determined with a surface stress meter on the basis of photo-elasticity theory. The hardness and Young’s modulus are tested through nanoindentation. Infrared spectroscopy is used to determine the variation in surface structures of the glass samples. The results show that hydration has obvious effects on the hardness and Young’s modulus of the raw and ion-exchanged glasses. The hardness and Young’s modulus decrease to different extents after different hydration times, and the Young’s modulus shows some recovery with the prolonging of hydration time. The ion-exchanged glasses are more resistant to hydration. The tin side is more resistant to hydration than the air side. The results are expected to serve as reference for better understanding the hydration process of ion-exchanged glass.

Smartphone Screen Integrated Optical Breathalyzer

One third of fatal car accidents and so much tragedies are due to alcohol abuse. These sad numbers could be mitigated if everyone had access to a breathalyzer anytime and anywhere. Having a breathalyzer built into a phone or a wearable could be the way to get around the reluctance to carry a separate device. Towards this goal, we propose an inexpensive breathalyzer that could be integrated in the screen of mobile devices. Our technology is based on the evaporation rate of the fog produced by the breath on the phone screen, which increases as a function of the breath alcohol content. The device simply uses a photodiode placed on the side of the screen to measure the signature of the scattered light intensity from the phone display that is guided through the stress layer of the Gorilla glass screen. A part of the display light is coupled to the stress layer via the evanescent field induced at the edge of the breath microdroplets. We demonstrate that the intensity signature measured at the detector can be linked to the blood alcohol content. We fabricated a prototype in a smartphone case powered by the phone’s battery, controlled by an application software installed in the smartphone and tested it in real-world environments. Limitations and future work toward a fully operational device are discussed.

Influence of Ultrasonic Surface Rolling Process and Shot Peening on Fretting Fatigue Performance of Ti-6Al-4V

The shot-peening (SP) and ultrasonic surface rolling process (USRP) were performed on Ti–6Al-4V plate specimens. The surface hardness and residual stresses of the material were tested by vickers indenter and X-ray diffraction residual stress analyzer. The effects of different surface strengthening on its fretting fatigue properties were verified by fretting fatigue experiments. It is shown (i) that the fretting fatigue life of Ti–6Al-4V effectively improved after USRP and SP and（ii）that the surface integrity of specimens after USRP is the best, which has deeper residual compressive stress layer and more refined grain. The fretting fatigue fracture surface and wear morphology of the samples were studied and analyzed by means of microscopic observation, and the mechanism of improving fretting fatigue life by surface strengthening process was further explained

Effect of Surface Ultrasonic Rolling Treatment on Rolling Contact Fatigue Life of D2 Wheel Steel

A GPM-30 fatigue machine was used to investigate the influence of surface ultrasonic rolling (SURT) on the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) life of D2 wheel steel. The experimental results present that the RCF life of the grinding processing sample is 4.1 × 105 cycles. During the RCF process, the flaking of the fine grain layer and high surface roughness of the grinding processing sample cause the production of RCF cracks. When the samples are treated by SURT with 0.2 MPa and 0.4 MPa, the RCF life is 9.2 × 105 cycles and 9.6 × 105 cycles, respectively. After SURT, the surface roughness of the samples is reduced, and a certain thickness of gradient-plastic-deformation layer and a residual-compressive-stress layer are produced. These factors lead to the improvement of the RCF property. However, when the static pressure increases to 0.6 MPa during SURT, the RCF life of the sample is reduced during RCF testing. The micro-cracks, which are formed during SURT, become the crack source and cause the formation of RCF cracks, decreasing of the RCF life.

Research on Mechanical Properties of 210Cr12 Shaft Surface Processed with Rolling

The rolling process is one of the most effective ways for strengthening a part’s surface. As the press force exerted on specimen in rolling process, material in the surface layer will deform plastically if the press force is sufficient. That might result in grain refinement, dislocation configuration change, or phase change in specimen surface layer material. Consequently, the surface material mechanical properties can be changed. The effects of rolling parameters on surface residual stress, micro-hardness, and surface roughness for a 210Cr12 shaft have been investigated. After the rolling process, the surface residual stress of the specimen changes from tensile stress to compressive stress, and a stable residual compressive stress layer is formed. The maximum absolute value of compressive stress can be up to 216MPa. With the increase of the value of contact stress exerted on shaft surface and the number of rolling cycles, the absolute value of residual compressive stress increases firstly and then becomes stable. With the increase of depth from shaft surface to interior, the absolute value of residual compressive stress increases initially, then decreases and disappears finally. The maximum absolute value of residual compressive stress exists at the position beneath specimen surface about 0.025mm. The depth of residual stress layer is about 0.2 mm. Research results indicate that shaft surface microhardness can be improved within small range, surface roughness can be reduced up to 67%.

Effect of Centrifugal Shot Peening on the Surface Properties of Laser-Cut C45 Steel Parts

This article presents the results of experimental studies of the impact of centrifugal shot peening parameters on the roughness, microstructure, and microhardness of the surface layer of laser-cut C45 steel parts. Residual stress distributions and the presence of iron oxides on the surface of these elements were also examined. Centrifugal shot peening tests were performed on an FV-580a vertical machining center while using a specially designed peening head. The parameters that were varied during centrifugal shot peening included tangential speed of the tool vg and feed rate vf. The use of centrifugal shot peening for finish machining of laser-cut C45 steel parts allowed for obtaining a four-fold reduction in the surface roughness parameters Ra and Rz. As a result of shot peening, the geometrical structure of the surface of the steel parts was modified and it acquired new beneficial features, such as large values of the rounding radii of the micropeaks and high material ratios (Rmrmax = 92%). At the same time, the surface layer was hardened (microhardness increased by 16%) and a compressive residual stress layer was produced on the surface of the workpieces. Additionally, as the shot impacted the processed surface, combustion products were “blasted” or “sheared” off it. Shot peening using the proposed technique can be successfully performed while using CNC machines.