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Go to Editorial ManagerFracture mechanics approach is important for all mechanical and civil projects that might involve cracks in metallic materials the purpose of this paper is to determine a crack tip opening displacement fracture toughness experimentally, also study the effect of thickness on CTOD fracture toughness of low carbon steel and study the effect of Wire Electrical Discharge Machine (WEDM) to have a pre-crack, instead of fatigue pre-crack by using a CT specimen of low carbon steel with a thickness of (8,10, and15 mm), a width of 30mm, crack length of 15mm, and pre-crack of 1.3mm for all samples, this dimension according to ASTM-E399-13, by pulling the specimen in a 100 KN universal testing machine at a slow speed rate of 0.5 mm/min, the load applied on the specimen is generally a tension load. The crack tip plastically deforms until a critical point P C at this moment a crack is initiated. The computer-controlled universal testing machine gives the value of the load and the displacement transducer gives a crack mouth opening displacement. Critical crack tip opening displacement CTOD is found with the plastic hinge model (PHM) method. The result showed the stress intensity factor K I increases with increased loading in the elastic region and t he thickness effect refers to the effect of the plastic zone at the crack tip on the stress intensity factor, In a thin specimen, a plastic zone is large at the fracture tip leads to a high-stress intensity factor at the fracture tip but in the thick specimen, on the other hand, has a small a plastic zone and a low-stress intensity factor around the crack tip. The fracture toughness is found to increase with an increase in the thickness of specimens.
A proper ventilation offered warranty for a perfect indoor environment. Indoor air environment includes indoor thermal environment and indoor air quality (IAQ). In this paper a numerical investigation of the indoor environment in different ventilations was accomplished. The Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) in Al-Rifai hospital in Thi-Qar governorate was chosen to be investigated, and its thermal achievement and indoor air quality in the hot summer weather were simulated. For the numerical study, the fluent technique used to set up the physical and numerical model of CCU. An attention has been paid carefully to considerate the distributions of the temperature and the velocity fields, followed by an argument of two different ventilation patterns; up-in and up-out ventilation (UV) and displacement ventilation (DV). After making the comparison, it was noticed that the displacement ventilation (DV) is clearly super than that of the up-in and up-out ventilation (UV) due to improvement in the indoor air quality.
Modeling and simulation of non-linear quarter-car suspension system for two air spring models (traditional and dynamic new air spring) are contrasted in terms of (RMS) sprung mass acceleration, dynamic load coefficient, the vertical displacement, they are compared. Two and three (DOF) of the mathematical quarter models are implemented in MATLAB/Simulink platform. The Ride Comfort (RC), Dynamic Load Coefficient (DLC) and Road Handling (RH) responses are evaluated as objective functions respectively considering a vehicle speed at 72 km/h and road ISO Class B. The obtained results indicate that the vertical displacement, the (RMS) of the sprung mass acceleration, and dynamic load coefficient values with the new air model system decrease by 10.7 %, 30.6 %, and 13.49 % respectively, in comparison to a tradition suspension system, this one gives more comfort and effortless handling.
The purpose of this paper is to determine a stress intensity factor experimental and numerically in the linear region by using a CT specimen of ductile material with a thickness of 15 mm, a width of 30 mm, and pre-crack 1.3 mm this dimension according to ASTM-E399-12 [1], by pulling the specimen in a 600 kN universal testing machine at a very slow speed rate of 0.5 mm/min. The load is applied until the fracture is accrued, the computer-controlled universal testing machine gives the value of the load and the displacement transducer gives a crack mouth opening displacement. The result showed experimental K I is equal to 75.412 MPa √ m, and numerical K I is equal to74.576 MPa √ m, this test showed a very slight decrease in FEA stress intensity factor compared to that in an experimental result which means the stress intensity factor, K I remains very close between experimental and numerical with an error percentage of about (1.12 %). The finite element analysis provides the best approximation to true fracture toughness values, and it can be used to acquire close parameters if experimental testing is not possible.
The objective of the present paper is to evaluate the effects of the soil-structure interaction on the seismic evaluation in the building when a framed building is supported on raft foundation. Also the foundation-soil interaction effect has been considered by replacing it with equivalent springs. Nonlinear static pushover analyses of eight-storey reinforced concrete hospital building located at Delhi-India has been performed using the Capacity Spectrum Method of ATC-40. The deformations define the state of damage in the structure through three limit states of the NEHRP Guidelines and the FEMA-356 have been used to evaluate the performance level of the building for drift, the plastic hinge stage of the crack and shear under the condition of the fixed base and the effect of the soil-structure interaction. The performance of the building and individual components has been estimated for Design Basis Earthquake and Maximum Considered Earthquake. The weight of the slab was distributed as triangular and trapezoidal loads to the surrounding beams as per IS 456:2000. The weight of the brick masonry was distributed uniformly on the beams. The results show that the soil structure interaction has marked effect on the roof displacement, storey drift, design base shear, effective damping and crack pattern for beams and columns while there is a minor effect on the torsional behavior of the building. The building is more critical in the performance level when considering the soil flexibility.
Due to the wide use of rubber components in different engineering applications such as vibration isolators, engine mounts, car tires, and bridge bearing pads, etc. This rubber component mostly subjected to high levels of vibration and noise which are among the most reasons that lead to the failure of the structures. In the present paper has been performed experimentally to investigate the influences: different content ratios of natural rubber (NR) and polybutadiene (BR.cis) rubber blends [1: (50/50) %, 2: (60/40) %, 3: (70/30) %, 4: (80/20) %, 5: (90/10) %, 6: (100/0) % pphr], and two carbon blacks types (N375, and N220) on the dynamic properties (Rebound Resilience, Damping Time, and Decay Rate). The experimental results showed that the rubber compound that has the blending ratio [1: (50/50) %] has high resilience (low damping), high damping time and high displacement for two carbon black types used in this work. While these properties were improved whenever the rubber blend close to the percentage [5: (90/10) %]. The damping time, amplitude, and resilience of a rubber compound with a blending (90/10) % and carbon black (N220) are decreased by (24.53 %, 36.854 %, and 36.852 %), respectively, compared with a rubber blend that has the blending ratio of (50/50) %.
An experimental and theoretical study of light weight concrete filled aluminum tubes having circular hollow section is presented in this paper. The structural performance of columns was investigated using different light weight concrete fashions and compressive strengths. The column specimens were subjected to uniform axial compression with two different loading styles, in the first one (composite action); aluminum tube is utilized to be axially loaded as well as its confining function, and in the second loading style (confinement action), aluminum tube is utilized to confine concrete core only. The aluminum circular hollow sections have nominal proof stress, f 0.2 = 170 MPa. A grade of light weight expansion clay aggregate (LECA) is used to fabricate light weight concrete. The strengths, axial load- shortening displacement relationship, axial and lateral strains, and failure modes of columns are presented. The unfactored strengths predicted are found to be in a good agreement with the experimental values using the general design guidelines specified in the American specifications and Euro code.
New illustration for mixed mode fracture mechanics analysis of central cracked plates using crack extension technique and Matlab Environment is presented. The technique of crack extension is applied to the computation of mixed mode stress intensity factors in linear elastic fracture mechanics for these plates for different loads. The technique uses the Brown approximate solutions for stress intensity factors and the Westergaard analytical solutions for stress and displacement near a crack tip in finite plate to calculate crack extension during each load step using an proved to be a good tool for computation and results illustration for mixed mode stress intensity factors. The results were illustrated in a new form which is convenient for engineers and fracture mechanics analyst. The developed procedure reduced the need for sophisticated numerical analyses, which require more time and effort, to calculate the same parameters tackled in this research.
Over the past years, researchers have been focusing on development the robotics and actuation due to increase demand for these applications like industrial engineering, oil industry, healthcare, aerospace … etc. This work involves the design, construction and control of the Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuator. The industrial actuator has many characteristics able to be measured, which have an impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of the actuator while the execution of its tasks. The most important measurable characteristics are repeatability and accuracy. The current system typically is using Nitinol (Nickle Titanium Naval Ordinance Lab), which is one of the Shape Memory Alloy that contract when applying specific heat on it, and it can be used as an actuator. This work presents SMA in the shape of a spring to operate and control the accurate position of the 2-D system which containing four SMA springs, two SMA springs for the x -axis and two SMA springs for the y - axis. The theoretical design and calculations for SMA springs have been presented to collect information about the SMA springs. In a practical manner, the SMA spring characteristic like force and displacement were collected by a test bed that was designed and constructs before making the final rig. The setting shape of the SMA spring was presented and done as per the theoretical calculations. In the rig, each axis works as a two-direction actuator, the actuator is not prone to precise position points due to hysteresis and temperature variation. The SMA spring exhibited hysteresis and imprecise pointing, for that employing PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) with tracking mode controller to compensate the hysteresis. PID control system is played a decisive role with tracking mode model that achieves the aim behind the construction of the experimental rig. Good results have been obtained presented in three cases of drawing different shapes.
The principle aim of this research is concentrated to analyze the effect of cracks and their propagations on the mechanical behavior of a quasi-brittle material such as concrete. The singularity (stress concentration to infinity at the tip of crack) is avoided by using the principal of fracture energy with the fictitious crack approach. The concrete crack is divided into two major zones; the first one is the fracture zone (a combination of bridging effect and the cohesive microscopic cracking) which obeys a special law permitting the transmission of stress across the two faces of crack, this zone is considered as partially cracked concrete. When the opening of the crack exceeds a specific value, this zone is converted to a real crack (an open crack) and cannot transmit any stress across the two faces of a crack. The program of finite element used in this research is prepared by the researcher using discrete-crack approach with the experimental data obtained from the flexural test on notched beam loaded under three-point bending, where fracture mode I is dominated. The response of the applied load-crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) with appropriate fracture energy is selected. The results show that the cohesive microscopic cracking zone for the plain concrete is very wide. The cohesive stress distributions across the microcracks with the corresponding crack openings are drawn from the first crack appearance till the beam failure.
The purpose of this research is to control a quarter car suspension system and also to reduce the fluctuated movement caused by passing the vehicle over road bump using modified PID (Proportional Integral and Derivative) controller. The proposed controller deals with dual loop feedback signals instead of single feedback signal as in the conventional PID controller. The structure of the modified PID controller was created by moving the proportional and derivative actions in the feedback path while remaining the integral action in the forward path. Thus, high accuracy results were obtained. Firstly, modelling and simulation of linear passive suspension system for a quarter car system was performed using Matlab – Simulink software. Then the linear suspension system was activated and simulated by using an active hydraulic actuator to generate the necessary force which can be regulated and controlled by the proposed controller. The performance of whole system has been enhanced with a modified PID controller.
A two-dimensional finite element method for analysis and determination of second mode stress intensity factor (KII) of several crack configurations in plates under uniaxial compression is presented in this study. Various cases including diagonal crack (i.e. corner crack, central crack as well as at different locations on the diagonal) and central kinked crack are investigated with different crack's length, orientation and location. The influence of the contact between two crack surfaces is taken into account by applying contact element procedure with desired friction coefficient. The stress intensity factor is calculated by a crack surface displacement extrapolation technique. From the obtained results of the analysis it is found that, the corner cracked plates more dangerous than the other cracked plates, since it has the highest stress intensity factor. Also, the length and orientation of the kinked crack have significant effects on the stress intensity factor. The results of this investigation is illustrated graphically, exposing some novel knowledge about the stress intensity factor and its dependence on crack configuration.
This work presents a theoretical study on the application of low global warming refrigerants as alternative refrigerant to R 134a in a refrigeration system. The refrigerants investigated are R1234yf, R1234ze, R245fa and R227ea. The performance characteristics of the refrigeration system were predicted using mathematical models running by using EES program under different condenser and evaporator temperatures. The results show that at any working condition the R1234ze give identical performance to R134a and can be used as the best low global warming alternative refrigerant. So the compressor work with R1234ze should be designed with displacement volume more than that of R134a to overcame the reduction in mass flow rate.