Some Properties of Stratified Composites

The multi-component composites could represent the cheapest solution when controllable properties are required. In order to establish the right amount of filler it is necessary to analyze not only the electro-magnetic and mechanical properties but also, the thermal ones. The filler presence in the matrix produces discontinuities at the fibre-matrix interface with consequences regarding mechanical properties. Using a single filler it is possible to improve one or two properties electrical and thermal conductivity for instance and mean time to induce a decrease of other properties as bending strength, shock resistance etc. Using polymer layers with relatively high electrical conductivity as external layers of laminate and magnetic particles filled polymer as core layers. An electric circuit might be, at the same time, the reinforcement of a composite leading to lighter structures and, based on carbon fiber’s properties might transmit information about the material’s loading, temperature or integrity. Fabric reinforced or textile composites are used in aerospace, automotive, naval and other applications. They are convenient material forms providing adequate stiffness and strength in many structures. The microstructure of composite reinforced with woven, braided, or stitched networks is significantly different from that of tape based laminates. The properties of the composite depend not only on the properties of the components but on quality and nature of the interface between the components and its properties. Reinforced composites with filled epoxy matrix were formed using a hybrid technique consisting in layer-by-layer adding of reinforcement sheets into a glass mould. Various distributions of reinforcement sheets and filled polymer layers were realized in order to point out the ways in which the final properties might be controlled. Mechanical properties were analyzed.

Experimental Study of Natural Gas Fuel Temperature Influence on Radiation Enhancement and Emission

The enhancement of the flame radiation in gas fueled burners not only improves the thermal efficiency, but also can suppress the rate of NO emission due to reducing the flame temperature. In this experimental investigation, the effect of inlet gas temperature on the flame radiation intensity and the rate of NO formation are studied. To serve this aim, with increasing the temperature of inlet methane to the burner up to 310°C, the variations of CO and NO level in exhaust gases and also the exhaust gas temperature are recorded by gas analyzer device. In each case, the flame radiation intensity was also measured by a photovoltaic module. The results revealed that by increasing the inlet gas temperature up to 250°C, the NO concentration and the exhaust gases temperature are raising. But when the inlet gas temperature exceeds from 250°C and reaches to 310°C, the flame luminosity gradually increases which results in 70 percent growth in flame radiation and 10 percent drop in exhaust gas temperature. The results of the preheating of inlet air also show the same behavior.

Thermodynamic Analysis of a Combined Power and Water Production System

Most of the potable water and electricity are produced by dual purpose plants. Dual-purpose plants are the one that supplies heat for a thermal desalination unit and produces electricity for distribution to the electrical grid. In this paper a power plant is combined with a multi-effect evaporation thermal vapor compression (METVC) system. Compared with the most widely used (Multi Stage Flash) MSF desalination, METVC has more advantages. Then, energy and exergy analysis equations for desalination plant, power generation cycle, heat recovery steam generator and combined power and water cycle are developed and the results are presented. Results show by rising number of effect from 2 to 14, performance ratio, exergy efficiency and specific heat transfer area rise steadily. For combined system, the maximum and minimum values of exergy destruction rate are related to combustion chamber and desalination effects, respectively. Also, with increasing TIT, exergy destruction rate of power generation cycle decreases while the exergy destruction rate of METVC, especially thermo compressor, goes up and fresh water production reduces dramatically.

Analytical and Numerical Investigation on Eccentric Journal Bearing

In this paper, analytical and numerical analyses of radial and tangential velocities and pressure of lubricant film have been considered in an eccentric journal bearing. A 2D flow of shear-thinning viscous fluid is followed by Carreau-Yasuda mathematical model between two eccentric cylinders. The model is mathematically conserved from eccentric coordinate to concentric coordinate due largely to easy solution. Therefore, the PDE equations were converted to the ODE equations with a set of nonlinear algebraic first order equations with their boundary conditions. These kinds of equations are called boundary value problems (BVP) that can be solved with shooting method. The results are compared with 2D numerical simulation in the Fluent software. Lubricant tangential velocity and pressure distributions are examined in the dynamic journal bearing. The comparison of the results revealed that numerical analysis as same as analytical approach is a reliable method for determining lubricant motion in the gap.

Exergy Analysis of Steel Electric Arc Furnace

In this paper, energy and exergy analysis of an existing steel electric arc furnace (EAF) was performed to estimate the furnace potential for increasing the efficiency and decreasing the electrical energy consumption. The results of analysis show that the energy and exergy efficiencies of the furnace are 56.9% and 40.5%, respectively. Field data show that mass flow rate of hot flue gas is around 10.4 kg/s in average which contains 18.3% and 12.2% of total input energy and exergy, respectively. By using energy of flue gas for preheating the sponge iron, electrical energy consumption of the furnace could be reduced up to 88 GJ which means 21.2% reduction in electrical energy consumption and 13.6% increase in steel production. Also, exergy efficiency improves about 10.8% by using preheating scheme.

Mechanical Characterization of Fiber Fabrics

Fabric reinforced or textile composites are increasingly used in aerospace, automotive, naval and other applications. They are convenient material forms providing adequate stiffness and strength in many structures. In such applications they are subjected to three-dimensional states of stress coupled with hydro-thermal effects. Assuming that a composite material is a complex structure it is obvious that is hard to describe all its properties in terms of its parts properties. The properties of the composite depend not only on the properties of the components but on quality and nature of the interface between the components and its properties. As reinforcement two types of fiber fabric were used; first one is a simple type fabric of untwisted tows of carbon filaments while the second one is also simple type but as yarn and fill are used alternately untwisted tows of carbon and aramide filaments. There were some problems to be solved before molding: fabric stability during handling, cutting, imbuing the carbon and aramide tows are slipping one on each other leading to fabric defects; generally the epoxy systems do not adhere to the carbon fiber; in order to obtain a valuable material the nature of interface must be the same for polymer-carbon fiber and polymer aramide fiber. In order to solve these problems the two fabrics were covered (by spraying) with a thin film of PNB rubber. Into the rubber solution were also dispersed small amounts of clay (to create a better interface) and carbon black (to improve the electrical conductivity). The rubber presence solves the fabric stability problem; ensures the same type of interface between fibers and polymer matrix; ensures a more elastic interface between fibers and polymer matrix. This treatment induces modification on tensile behavior of fabrics. This study is about mechanical evaluation of such fabrics.

Isoprenaline and Atropine Effect on Atrial Arrhythmias Study

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common disorder of the heart rhythms. There are about 2.3 million people in United States and 4.5 million people in the European Union with AF [Go et.al, 2001]. It is also one of the factors that may contribute to mortality and morbidity. Researchers who apply spectral techniques show that certain areas of the atria can have higher activation frequencies than other areas. Frequency analysis is used to measure changes in Dominant Frequency (DF). We access the electrical propagation inside the atria by spectrogram plotting and examining the effect of isoprenaline and atropine on frequency changes.

Towards “Green Tribology”: Self-Organization at the Sliding Interface for Biomimetic Surfaces

“Green tribology” is the concept that was introduced in 2009 by the founder of Tribology, Prof. P. Jost, who defined it as “the science and technology of the tribological aspects of ecological balance and of environmental and biological impacts.” This includes tribological technology that mimics living nature (biomimetic surfaces) and thus is expected to be environment-friendly, the control of friction and wear that is of importance for energy conservation and conversion, environmental aspects of lubrication and surface modification techniques, and tribological aspects of green applications such as the wind-power turbines, tidal turbines, or solar panels. It is clear that a number of tribological problems could be put under the umbrella of “green tribology” and is of mutual benefit to one another. Biomimetic applications are of particular interest for the Green Tribology, because of their environment-friendliness. Nosonovsky and Bhushan suggested the “12 principles of the Green Tribology.” The common feature in various biomimetic surfaces is their hierarchical structure and the ability for self-organization. I will discuss the principles of self-organization in hierarchical tribological systems on the basis of the concepts of the non-equilibrium thermodynamics (the Onsager formalism). In particular, I will show that the thermodynamic approach in tribology can yield new and practically important results.

Addressing Thermal Challenges in Design of Data Centres

Aggregation of small networking hardware has led to an ever increasing power density in data centres. The energy consumption of IT systems is continuing to rise substantially owing to the demands of electronic information and storage requirements. Energy consumption of data centres can be severely and unnecessarily high due to inadequate localised cooling and densely packed rack layouts. However, as heat dissipation in data centres rises by orders of magnitude, inefficiencies such as air recirculation causing hot spots, leading to flow short-circuiting will have a significant impact on the thermal manageability and energy efficiency of the cooling infrastructure. Therefore, the thermal management of high-powered electronic components is a significant challenge for cooling of data centres. In this project, an operational data centre has been studied. Field measurements of temperature have been performed. Numerical analysis of flow and temperature fields is conducted in order to evaluate the thermal behaviour of the data centre. A number of undesirable hot spots have been identified. To rectify the problem, a few practical design solutions to improve the cooling effectiveness have been proposed and examined to ensure a reduced air-conditioning power requirement. Therefore, a better understanding of the cooling issues and the respective proposed solutions can lead to an improved design for future data centres.

An Elastic-Plastic Solver of the Wheel-Rail Contact

Wheel and rail in service undergo continual wear and plastic deformation at the surface, so that in time all wheel profiles will be different. The optimization by grinding a worn rail profile to minimize contact stresses requires the development of a software to reconstruct a rail profile using circular arcs. A working algorithm, able to be incorporated into a computer code, has been developed to solve the stress state in the general case of non-Hertzian contacts. To limit the pressure, an elastic-perfect plastic material has been incorporated into the computer code. The pressure distribution and the corresponding stresses states have been investigated for pure normal loadings, as well as for the combined, normal and tangential loadings. The elastic-plastic analysis model allows fast investigations regarding the influence of different parameters such as load level, contact geometry including the geometry of the worn profiles.