This paper describes the effects of fire on durability of reinforced concrete structures, and points out that fire not only damages the chemical composition and physical structure of concrete by high temperature, but also leads to an additional risk due to the generation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) combustion gases. A mathematical model is proposed to calculate chloride ingress profiles in fire damaged concrete, so as to explore the service life prediction of the structure. Rapid Chloride Migration (RCM) test was carried out to determine the chloride diffusion coefficients for the application of the mathematical model. Finally, the detected results of a reported case testified to the validity of the mathematical model.

A convenient approach is proposed for analyzing the ultimate load carrying capacity of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) arch bridge with stiffening girders. A fiber model beam element is specially used to simulate the stiffening girder and CFST arch rib. The geometric nonlinearity, material nonlinearity, influence of the construction process and the contribution of prestressing reinforcement are all taken into consideration. The accuracy of this method is validated by comparing its results with experimental results. Finally, the ultimate strength of an abnormal CFST arch bridge with stiffening girders is investigated and the effect of construction method is discussed. It is concluded that the construction process has little effect on the ultimate strength of the bridge.

To gain understanding of the applicability of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) cable in cable-supported bridges, based on the Runyang Bridge and Jinsha Bridge, a suspension bridge using CFRP cables and a cable-stayed bridge using CFRP stay cables are designed, in which the cable’s cross-sectional area is determined by the principle of equivalent axial stiffness. Numerical investigations on the aerodynamic stability of the two bridges are conducted by 3D nonlinear aerodynamic stability analysis. The results showed that as CFRP cables are used in cable-supported bridges, for suspension bridge, its aerodynamic stability is superior to that of the case using steel cables due to the great increase of the torsional frequency; for cable-stayed bridge, its aerodynamic stability is basically the same as that of the case using steel stay cables. Therefore as far as the wind stability is considered, the use of CFRP cables in cable-supported bridges is feasible, and the cable’s cross-sectional area should be determined by the principle of equivalent axial stiffness.

A laboratory study was carried out on both natural and compacted specimens to investigate the complex soil-water interaction in an unsaturated expansive clay. The laboratory study includes the measurement of soil-water characteristic curves, 1D free swelling tests, measurement of swelling pressure and shrinkage tests. The test results revealed that the air-entry value of the natural specimen was quite low due to cracks and fissures present. The hydraulic hysteresis of the natural specimen was relatively insignificant as compared with the compacted specimen. Within a suction range 0 to 500 kPa, a bilinear relationship between free swelling strain (or swelling pressure) and initial soil suction was observed for both the natural and compacted specimens. As a result of over-consolidation and secondary structures such as cementation and cracks, the natural specimens exhibited significant lower swelling (or swelling pressure) than the compacted specimen. The change of matric suction exerts a more significant effect on the water phase than on the soil skeleton for this expansive clay.

Nitrogen doping of activated carbon loading Fe₂O₃ was performed by annealing in ammonia, and the activity of the modified carbon for NO reduction was studied in the presence of oxygen. Results show that Fe₂O₃ enhances the amount of surface oxygen complexes and facilitates nitrogen incorporation in the carbon, especially in the form of pyridinic nitrogen. The modified carbon shows excellent activity for NO reduction in the low temperature regime (<500 °C) because of the cooperative effect of Fe₂O₃ and the surface nitrogen species.

This study investigated the removal and transformation of organic matter through laboratory-scale soil-aquifer treatment (SAT) soil columns over a 110-day period. Reductions in total organic carbon (TOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC), nonbiodegradable dissolved organic carbon (NBDOC) and absorbance of ultraviolet light at 254 nm (UV-254) averaged 71.46%, 68.05%, 99.31%, 33.27% and 38.96% across the soil columns, respectively. DOC/TOC ratios increased slightly with depth while BDOC/DOC ratios showed a converse trend. DOC exiting the soil-column system contained only a very small biodegradable fraction. SAT decreased the concentration of DOC present in feed water but increased its aromaticity, as indicated by specific ultraviolet light absorbance (SUVA), which increased by 50%~115% across the soil columns, indicating preferential removal of non-aromatic DOC during SAT. Overall, laboratory-scale SAT reduced trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP), although specific THMFP increased. THMFP reduction was dominated by removal in chloroform. All samples exhibited a common general relationship with respect to weight: chloroform>dichlorobromomethane >dibromochloromethane>bromoform.

Jar tests were conducted to investigate the performance of enhanced primary treatment processes for low-concentration municipal wastewater from South China by using composite flocculant combined with bio-flocculants Pullulan and poly-aluminum-chloride (PAC). The optimum dosage for composite flocculant and conditions for flocculation were determined. The experimental results indicated that composite flocculant had high efficiency for removing over 95% of turbidity, over 58% of COD_Cr (chemical oxygen demand determined with potassium dichromate), over 91% of TP (total phosphate), and over 15% of NH₃-N. Moreover, it could improve sludge settling and dehydration properties, and decrease the treatment cost.

In 1987, the Montreal Protocol prohibited the worldwide use and production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) were proposed as alternative refrigerants. Unfortunately, HFCs have non negligible global warning potential and therefore new refrigerants must be proposed or old refrigerants must be used associated with HFC. Accurate experimental thermodynamic data and predictive techniques are required for better understanding of the performance of the newly proposed refrigerants. In this communication, experimental techniques based on either analytic or synthetic methods are first described. Data are reported. Then two newly developed predictive models based on thermodynamic approach with the isofugacity criterion and artificial neural network method are presented. The results can provide better evaluation of refrigerants, especially with the aim of studying global warning effects.

This paper describes a solar photovoltaic fuel cell (PVEC) hybrid generation system consisting of a photovoltaic (PV) generator, a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), an electrolyser, a supercapacitor, a storage gas tank and power conditioning unit (PCU). The load is supplied from the PV generator with a fuel cell working in parallel. Excess PV energy when available is converted to hydrogen using an electrolyser for later use in the fuel cell. The individual mathematical model for each component is presented. Control strategy for the system is described. MATLAB/Simulink is used for the simulation of this highly nonlinear hybrid energy system. The simulation results are shown in the paper.

Model and simulation are good tools for design optimization of fuel cell systems. This paper proposes a new hybrid model of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The hybrid model includes physical component and black-box component. The physical component represents the well-known part of PEMFC, while artificial neural network (ANN) component estimates the poorly known part of PEMFC. The ANN model can compensate the performance of the physical model. This hybrid model is implemented on Matlab/Simulink software. The hybrid model shows better accuracy than that of the physical model and ANN model. Simulation results suggest that the hybrid model can be used as a suitable and accurate model for PEMFC.

This paper describes a nonlinear model predictive controller for regulating a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). In order to improve MCFC’s generating performance, prolong its life and guarantee safety, it must be controlled efficiently. First, the output voltage of an MCFC stack is identified by a least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) method with radial basis function (RBF) kernel so as to implement nonlinear predictive control. And then, the optimal control sequences are obtained by applying genetic algorithm (GA). The model and controller have been realized in the MATLAB environment. Simulation results indicated that the proposed controller exhibits satisfying control effect.

This article describes numerical simulation of gas pipeline network operation using high-accuracy computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulators of the modes of gas mixture transmission through long, multi-line pipeline systems (CFD-simulator). The approach used in CFD-simulators for modeling gas mixture transmission through long, branched, multi-section pipelines is based on tailoring the full system of fluid dynamics equations to conditions of unsteady, non-isothermal processes of the gas mixture flow. Identification, in a CFD-simulator, of safe parameters for gas transmission through compressor stations amounts to finding the interior points of admissible sets described by systems of nonlinear algebraic equalities and inequalities. Such systems of equalities and inequalities comprise a formal statement of technological, design, operational and other constraints to which operation of the network equipment is subject. To illustrate the practicability of the method of numerical simulation of a gas transmission network, we compare computation results and gas flow parameters measured on-site at the gas transmission enterprise.

Analysis is carried out to study the existence, uniqueness and behavior of exact solutions of the fourth order nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations arising in the flow and heat transfer of a viscoelastic, electrically conducting fluid past a continuously stretching sheet. The ranges of the parametric values are obtained for which the system has a unique pair of solutions, a double pair of solutions and infinitely many solutions.

Independent component analysis was applied to analyze the acoustic signals from diesel engine. First the basic principle of independent component analysis (ICA) was reviewed. Diesel engine acoustic signal was decomposed into several independent components (ICs); Fourier transform and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) were applied to analyze the independent components. Different noise sources of the diesel engine were separated, based on the characteristics of different component in time-frequency domain.

Applying the results of stress and strain calculated by 3D finite element model of truck radial tire 11.00R20, a MATLAB program used to compute rolling resistance of the tire caused by hysteresis rolling resistance (HRR) is worked out. The HRR distribution on different part of tire section, and the effects of speed, load, internal pressure and the width of the rim on HRR are analyzed. The analysis results showed that energy loss produced by tread rubber contributes the most part to HRR of the whole tire, and that to decrease the HRR, the hysteresis factor of the tread rubber should be reduced, and the distribution of the stress and strain on the section be optimized.

Applications are limited at present because the currently available ultrasonic motors (USMs) do not provide sufficiently high torque and power. The conventional travelling-wave USM needs the bearing to support, which required lubricant. To solve the above problem, a bearingless travelling-wave USM is designed. First, a novel structure of the two-sided USM consisting of a two-sided teeth stator and two disk-type rotors is designed. And the excitation principle of the two-sided travelling-wave USM is analyzed. Then, using ANSYS software, we set up the model of the stator to predict the excitation frequency and modal response of the stator. The shape of the vibration mode was obtained. Last, the load characteristics of the USM are measured using experimental method. The maximum stall torque and the no-load speed were obtained. The results showed that the characteristics of the two-sided USM are better than those of the conventional one-sided USM.

A suitable simple optical cryostat for optical, magneto-optical, electrical and thermo-electrical measurements was designed. It is suitable for use in a magnetic pool gap as narrow as less than 1 cm. Throughout a long period of time, the heat diffusion process of the cryostat can be easily operated at slow increase in sample temperature in a range 1.25 K/min at 200 K that will be reduced gradually to 0.66 K at room temperature. Liquid nitrogen was used to cool down the temperature. During the operation, the change in the measured energy gap of a semiconductor sample and other physical parameters resulting from the change of temperature can be corrected through the temperature coefficient of that parameter at the corresponding temperature. The cryostat was successfully used for all experiments mentioned above to measure the properties of a single crystal of GaP (Gallium Phosphate) semiconductor.

Effects of finishing rolling temperatures and reduction on the mechanical properties of hot rolled multiphase steel were investigated. Thermo-mechanical control processing (TMCP) was conducted by using a laboratory hot rolling mill, in which three different kinds of finishing rolling temperatures and reduction and various austempering times were applied. The results showed that polygonal ferrite, granular bainite and larger amount of stabilized retained austenite can be obtained by controlled rolling processes, and that the strain-induced transformation to martensite from the retained austenite can occur gradually when the steel is deformed during tensile test. Mechanical properties increase with decreasing finishing rolling temperature and increasing amount of deformation. The most TRIP (transformation induced plasticity) effect, and ultimate tensile strength (UTS), total elongation (TEL) and the product of ultimate tensile strength and total elongation (UTS×TEL) are obtained at 20 min.

The theory of grey systems is a new technique for performing prediction, relational analysis and decision making in many areas. In this paper, the use of grey relational analysis for optimizing the square hole flanging process parameters with considerations of the multiple response (the average flanging height, regular flanging and maximum strain) is introduced. Various flanging parameters, such as the blank inner radius r_b, blank inner width B₀, are considered. An orthogonal array is used for the experimental design. Multiple response values are obtained using finite element analysis (FEA). Optimal process parameters are determined by the grey relational grade obtained from the grey relational analysis for multi-performance characteristics (flanging height, regular flanging and maximum strain). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the grey relational grade is implemented. The results showed good agreement with the experiment result. Grey relational analysis can be applied in multiple response optimization designs.

This paper presents a new theoretical model to determine the optimal axial preload of a spindle system, for challenging the traditional method which relies heavily on experience of engineers. The axial preloading stiffness was treated as the sum of the spindle modal stiffness and the framework elastic stiffness, based on a novel concept that magnitude of preloads can be controlled by measuring the resonant frequency of a spindle system. By employing an example of a certain type of aircraft simulating rotary table, the modal stiffness was measured on the Agilent 35670A Dynamic Signal Analyzer by experimental modal analysis. The equivalent elastic stiffness was simulated by both finite element analysis in ANSYS® and a curve fitting in MATLAB®. Results showed that the static preloading stiffness of the spindle was 7.2125×10⁷ N/m, and that the optimal preloading force was 120.0848 N. Practical application proved the feasibility of our method.

This paper reviews recent developments in nonlinear control technologies for shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators in robotics and their related applications. SMA possesses large hysteresis, low bandwidth, slow response, and non-linear behavior, which make them difficult to control. The fast response of the SMA actuator mostly depends upon, (1) type of controller, (2) rate of addition and removal of heat, and (3) shape or form of the actuator. Though linear controllers are more desirable than nonlinear ones, the review of literature shows that the results obtained using nonlinear controllers were far better than the former one. Therefore, more emphasis is made on the nonlinear control technologies taking into account the intelligent controllers. Various forms of SMA actuator along with different heating and cooling methods are presented in this review, followed by the nonlinear control methods and the control problems encountered by the researchers.

A preliminary investigation of shape memory (SM) effects of SMPU (shape memory polyurethane) knitting fabric is presented in this paper. Three SMPU knitted fabrics series with different content of SMPU fibers: 100% SMPU, 50% SMPU and 50% cotton, 16% SMPU and 84% cotton are designed and manufactured in our lab. Their shape memory behaviors at different temperatures are characterized in terms of bagging. Our experimental results showed that shape memory effect can be improved with increasing content of SMPU fibers. A comparison between Lycra and SMPU knitted fabrics was also made to validate the shape memory effects of SMPU knitted fabrics.