Mechanical Engineering

To capture the dynamics of modern Cyber-Physical Systems, hybrid system models are introduced to combine their continuous dynamics with the discrete ones. Unfortunately, one important negative issue can affect hybrid system models: the so-called Zeno phenomenon, which results in an infinite number of discrete transitions in a finite amount of time occurring during the model’s simulation that leads to inconsistent results. In this context, the paper investigates the use of a recently proposed numerical algorithm, based on the Infinity Computer methodology, to handle the Zeno phenomenon and evaluate it with respect to standard numerical methods by considering the hybrid system models of two exemplary Cyber-Physical Systems: the Water tanks and the Thermostat.

The present article deals with the analysis of thermal-bending stresses in a heated thin annular sector plate with simply supported boundary condition under transient temperature distribution using Berger’s approximate methods. The sectional heat supply is on the top face of the plate whereas the bottom face is kept at zero temperature. In this study, the solution of heat conduction is obtained by the classical method. The thermal moment is derived on the basis of temperature distribution, and its stresses are obtained using thermally induce resultant moment and resultant forces. The numerical calculations are obtained for the aluminium plate in the form of an infinite series involving Bessel functions, and the results for temperature, deflection, resultant bending moments and thermal stresses have been illustrated graphically with the help of MATHEMATICA software.

Machining of difficult-to-cut materials with high surface quality is a challenging task that requires a precise machining approach with an efficient cutting tool. Among the tool performance evaluation parameters, rate of wear, chip morphology and surface quality are the vital aspects to establish a relationship between the input conditions and the machining quality. In this study, tool geometrical parameters i.e. rake, clearance and helix angles were selected to analyse the effect of geometry on wear behavior and the chip morphology during the ball end milling of tool steel. Increase in rate of wear with machining length was analysed based on the different tool geometry combinations. Tool geometry with rake angle 3°, clearance angle 10° and helix angle 32° was found to have least wear length at 56μm. The study provides basis for the selection of geometry parameters considering the wear mechanisms and the chip morphology. The influence of the change in tool geometry on surface qualit...

We discuss situations where thermogravimetric/Fourier transform infrared (TG/FT-IR) plots are obtained which differ substantially from the expected ones. The most common of these situations involves samples that release atmospheric components (H2O, CO2) at low temperatures. It is shown that the phenomena are mainly related to the purging action of the carrier gas, which strongly influences the spectroscopic portion of the TG/FT-IR plot. Such an influence, as well as the different situations originating from it, is discussed and explained on the basis of an analogy with the operational mode of a conventional dispersive spectrometer.

Application of pervaporation and osmotic membrane distillation to the regeneration of spent solutions from the osmotic food dehydration Results of pervaporation (PV) of sucrose and calcium chloride spent solutions were presented. Additionally, osmotic membrane distillation (OMD) of sucrose solutions was investigated. It was found that the regeneration of spent sucrose solution for the reuse is possible by using PV or OMD processes. However, OMD process produces another spent stream i.e. CaCl2. Pervaporation membranes showed fluxes in the range of 0.5 - 0.9 kg m-2 h-1 in contact with 40° Brix sucrose solution, whereas OMD water permeate fluxes were in the range of 4 - 5 kg m-2 h-1 for the same feed concentration. Two different hybrid processes were suggested: i) pretreatment followed by OMD reconcentration of spent sucrose solution and independently PV for CaCl2 regeneration; ii) membrane pretreatment (MP) followed by PV of sucrose solution. Based on the experimental results, the mem...

Most of the turbines used in Nepal are medium or high head turbines. These types of turbines are efficient but limited for rivers and streams in the mountain and hilly region which have considerably high head. Low head turbines should be used in the plain region if energy is to be extracted from the water sources there. This helps in the rural electrification and decentralized units in community, reducing the cost of construction of national grid and also to its dependency, in already aggravated crisis situation. There are good turbine designs for medium to high heads but traditional designs for heads under about 5m (i.e. cross flow turbine and waterwheel) are slow running, requiring substantial speed increase to drive an AC generator. Propeller turbines have a higher running speed but the airfoil blades are normally too complicated for micro hydro installations. Therefore, the open volute propeller turbine with constant thickness blades was ventured as possible solution. Such type ...

International audienceIn the double context of the cultural heritage and of the nuclear waste storage, the long-term corrosion of iron has to be studied. For this purpose, the properties (chemical, physical and electrochemical) of the iron corrosion product layers (CPL) must be determined at different scales from global to the nanometer scale in order to have a complete understanding of the corrosion mechanisms and to model the long-term corrosion. The iron corrosion rate is conditioned by the properties of the corrosion anodic and cathodic reactions. A better understanding of the corrosion mechanisms requires the identification of the limiting steps of these reactions. The major part of publications concerns the description of the anodic reaction. Studies involving the cathodic reaction are less common but its limiting steps are: transport inside the CPL of reducible chemical species in the electrolyte or electrons issued from the iron anodic dissolution. In our study, to a better ...

Functionally graded material that consists of gradually changed dual-phase compositions along the thickness direction of its structure has been introduced as an answer to sharp interfaces problems occur while the processing. In order to observe the morphological and shrinkage due to the sintering process, the Ni/Al2O3 FG samples were manufactured via powder metallurgy routes under argon atmosphere. This study reveals that the sintering temperature does affects the sintering behaviors including the microstructures and radial dimensions of the FG plates. The numerical simulation is found to be useful to predict the stress concentration area within the structures and consequently improve the design of the FG plates.