This paper presents the results of an experimental research on reinforced concrete beams strengthened with an external carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) layer under long-term load action that lasted for 330 d. We describe the characteristics of deflection development of the beams strengthened with different additional anchorages of the external carbon fibre composite layer during the period of interest. The conducted experiments showed that the additional anchorage influences the slip of the external layer with respect to the strengthened element. Thus, concrete and carbon fibre composite interface stiffness decreases with a long-term load action. Therefore, the proposed method of analysis based on the built-up-bars theory can be used to estimate concrete and carbon fibre composite interface stiffness in the case of long-term load.

In this study we characterized and investigated the specific phenomenon of “companion drops” in the drop-on- demand (DOD) ink jetting process. A series of simulations based on a piezoelectric DOD printhead system is presented, adapting the volume-of-fluid (VOF) interface-capturing method to track the boundary evolution and model the interfacial physics. The results illustrate the causality between the generation of companion drops and droplet deviation behavior, as well as their close correlations with ink jetting straightness and printing accuracy. The characteristics of companion drops are summarized and compared with those of satellite drops. Also, a theoretical mechanism for the generation of companion drops is presented, and their effects and behaviors are analyzed and discussed. Finally, the effects of critical factors on the generation of companion drops are investigated and characterized based on variations in the printable pressure range. Recommendations are given for the suppression of companion drops and for the improvement of printing accuracy.

The bending behavior of double-row stabilizing plies is associated with the constructional time delay (CTD), which can be defined as the time interval between the installations of the front stabilizing pile and the rear stabilizing pile. This paper investigates the effect of CTD on the bending moments of double-row stabilizing piles and a method for determining the optimal CTD is proposed. The stabilizing pile is modeled as a cantilever pile embedded in the Winkler elastic foundation. A triangular distributed earth pressure is assumed on the pile segment in the sliding layer. The front stabilizing pile and the rear stabilizing pile are connected by a beam with pinned joints. The analytical solutions of bending moments on the front and the rear stabilizing piles are derived and the accuracy of bending moment solutions is validated by comparing the tensile strain measured from the Hongyan landslide project, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China. It is concluded that CTD has a significant influence on the bending moments of double-row stabilizing piles. An optimal CTD can be obtained when the maximum tensile stress in the front stabilizing pile is equal to that in the rear stabilizing pile, which is 1.4 months for the Hongyan landslide project.

The fuel dynamic transfer process, including fuel injection, fuel film deposition and evaporation in the intake port, was analyzed for spark ignition (SI) engines with port fuel injection (PFI). The influence of wall-wetting fuel film, especially its evaporation rate, upon the air-fuel ratio of in-cylinder mixtures was also discussed. According to the similarity principle, Fick’s law, the ideal gas equation and the Gilliland correlation, an evaporate prediction model of wall-wetting fuel film was set up and an evaporate prediction based dynamic fuel film compensator was designed. Through engine cold start tests, the wall-wetting temperature, which is the key input of the fuel film evaporate prediction model, was also modeled and predicted. Combined with the experimental data of the evaporation characteristics of ethanol-gasoline blends and engine calibration tests, all the parameters of the wall-wetting fuel film evaporate prediction model used in the fuel film compensator were identified. Square-wave disturbance tests of fuel injection showed that with the help of the fuel film compensator the response of the in-cylinder air-fuel ratio was significantly improved and the real air-fuel ratio always closely matched the expected ratio. The fuel film compensator was then integrated into the final air-fuel ratio controller, and the engine tests showed that the air-fuel ratio control error was less than 2% in steady-state conditions, and less than 4% in transient conditions. The fuel film compensator also showed good adaptability to different ethanol-gasoline blends.

This paper focuses mainly on the stability analysis of two-lane traffic flow with lateral friction, which may be caused by irregular driving behavior or poorly visible road markings, and also attempts to reveal the formation mechanism of traffic jams. Firstly, a two-lane optimal velocity (OV) model without control signals is proposed and its stability condition is obtained from the viewpoint of control theory. Then delayed-feedback control signals composed of distance headway information from both lanes are added to each vehicle and a vehicular control system is designed to suppress the traffic jams. Lane change behaviors are also incorporated into the two-lane OV model and the corresponding information about distance headway and feedback signals is revised. Finally, the results of numerical experiments are shown to verify that when the stability condition is not met, the position disturbances and resulting lane change behaviors do indeed deteriorate traffic performance and cause serious traffic jams. However, once the proper delayed-feedback control signals are implemented, the traffic jams can be suppressed efficiently.

The effects of the mechanical factors with applied loads on the tribological performance of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm stearin (PS) were studied using a four-ball tribotester. All the RBD PS results were simultaneously compared with the additive-free paraffinic mineral oil (PMO). The experiments were carried out using different loads with a constant speed in order to gain a better understanding of the mechanical processes that occurred during the experiment. For each experiment, the temperature was increased to 75 °C and was run for 1 h. In a mechanical system, lubricant plays an important role in reducing wear and friction. PS exists as a semi-solid at room temperature after the fractionation process from oil palm. Due to the increasing rate of pollution to the environment, vegetable oil was chosen as the test lubricant with regard to its biodegradability. Other advantages of vegetable oil are that it is more easily harvestable and non-toxic compared to petroleum-based oil, which made it a suitable candidate. From the experiment, RBD PS is found to have a better friction constraint reduction compared with additive-free PMO.

To transfer her knowledge base to the rest of the world, China, like many other non-English-speaking countries, has been publishing academic journals in English or printing abstracts in English for articles written in Chinese, hence people鈥?great concern about the editors鈥?English language proficiency. This paper reports on the findings of four projects commissioned by GAPP and offers reasons for the deficiency of English language capacity of Chinese editors of academic journals through a survey of the qualification of 518 English editors for 469 Chinese academic journals, and proposes suggestions to solve the problems identified.