Search results for " Mechanical engineering"

A class of shear deformable isotropic elastic plates with parametrically variable warping shapes

2017

A homogeneous shear deformable isotropic elastic plate model is addressed in which the normal transverse fibers are allowed to rotate and to warp in a physically consistent manner specified by a fixed value of a real non-negative warping parameter ω. On letting ω vary continuously (at fixed load and boundary conditions), a continuous family of shear deformable plates Pω is generated, which spans from the Kirchhoff plate at the lower limit ω=0, to the Mindlin plate at the upper limit ω=∞; for ω=2, Pω identifies with the third-order Reddy plate. The boundary-value problem for the generic plate Pω is addressed in the case of quasi-static loads, for which a principle of minimum total potential …

Arbitrarily shaped plates analysis via Line Element-Less Method (LEM)

2018

Abstract An innovative procedure is introduced for the analysis of arbitrarily shaped thin plates with various boundary conditions and under generic transverse loading conditions. Framed into Line Element-less Method, a truly meshfree method, this novel approach yields the solution in terms of the deflection function in a straightforward manner, without resorting to any discretization, neither in the domain nor on the boundary. Specifically, expressing the deflection function through a series expansion in terms of harmonic polynomials, it is shown that the proposed method requires only the evaluation of line integrals along the boundary parametric equation. Further, minimization of appropri…

On the impact of safety requirements, energy prices and investment costs in street lighting refurbishment design

2018

Abstract Street lighting is an indispensable feature for the night landscape of cities. It is important for road safety, users visual comfort, crime prevention and to augment the perceived personal safety. Realize and maintain an adequate street lighting service is very expensive for municipalities with significant impact on their budgets. For this reason, special attention should be paid to the design of new street lighting systems and to the refurbishment of existing ones, since many of them are inadequate. In light of this it is very important to implement street lighting designs that fulfil lighting requirements avoiding energy waste and light pollution and, at the same time, result eco…

Modelling and Analysis of Nonstationary Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Channels with Time-Variant Angles of Arrival

2018

In mobile radio channel modelling, it is generally assumed that the angles of arrival (AOAs) are independent of time. This assumption does not in general agree with real-world channels in which the AOAs vary with the position of a moving receiver. In this paper, we first present a mathematical model for the time-variant AOAs. This model serves as the basis for the development of two nonstationary multipath fading channels models for vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. The statistical properties of both channel models are analysed with emphasis on the time-dependent autocorrelation function (ACF), time-dependent mean Doppler shift, time-dependent Doppler spread, and the Wigner-Ville sp…

Statistical modeling, simulation, and experimental verification of wideband indoor mobile radio channel

2018

This paper focuses on the modeling, simulation, and experimental verification of wideband single-input single-output (SISO) mobile fading channels for indoor propagation environments. The indoor reference channel model is derived from a geometrical rectangle scattering model, which consists of an infinite number of scatterers. It is assumed that the scatterers are exponentially distributed over the two-dimensional (2D) horizontal plane of a rectangular room. Analytical expressions are derived for the probability density function (PDF) of the angle of arrival (AOA), the PDF of the propagation path length, the power delay profile (PDP), and the frequency correlation function (FCF). An efficie…

Evolutionary Algorithms and Metaheuristics : Applications in Engineering Design and Optimization

2018

Design, construction and commissioning of the Braunschweig Icing Wind Tunnel

2018

Beyond its physical importance in both fundamental and climate research, atmospheric icing is considered as a severe operational condition in many engineering applications like aviation, electrical power transmission and wind-energy production. To reproduce such icing conditions in a laboratory environment, icing wind tunnels are frequently used. In this paper, a comprehensive overview on the design, construction and commissioning of the Braunschweig Icing Wind Tunnel is given. The tunnel features a test section of 0.5 m  ×  0.5 m with peak velocities of up to 40 m s−1. The static air temperature ranges from −25 to +30 °C. Supercooled droplet icing with liquid water contents up to 3 g m−3 c…

ZERODUR based optical systems for quantum gas experiments in space

2019

Abstract Numerous quantum technologies make use of a microgravity environment e.g. in space. Operating in this extreme environment makes high demands on the experiment and especially the laser system regarding miniaturization and power consumption as well as mechanical and thermal stability. In our systems, optical modules consisting of ZERODUR® based optical benches with free-space optics are combined with fiber components. Suitability of the technology has been demonstrated in the successful sounding rocket missions FOKUS, KALEXUS and MAIUS-1. Here, we report on our toolkit for stable optical benches including mounts, fixed and adjustable mirrors as well as polarization maintaining fiber …

High performance composites containing perfluoropolyethers-functionalized carbon-based nanoparticles: Rheological behavior and wettability

2016

Abstract Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) based composites filled with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon black (CB) modified by perfluoropolyethers (PFPE) have been formulated. All composites show a segregated morphology with nanofillers selectively localized at the polymer particle–particle interface. The composites rheological properties have been deeply investigated: the PFPE functionalities linked on CNTs facilitate the semi-3D nanofillers network formation in the composites that show a solid-like behaviour even at lower investigated filler contents, reaching the rheological percolation threshold at lower nanofiller content than bare CNTs filled composites. For composi…

Assessing, measuring and modelling erosion in calanchi areas: A review

2016

Calanchi are erosion landforms characterised by a heavily dissected terrain with steep, unvegetated slopes and channels with a dendritic pattern, which rapidly incise and extend headwards. Recent literature focusing on badland systems highlights their similarity with other larger fluvial landforms, stating that these behave as a full size laboratory, due to their rapid development in space and time and to the diversity of geomorphic processes involved. In this paper, a brief review of the most important results on badland research is firstly presented. Then, the morphometric similarity between calanchi and other erosion landforms is discussed. Finally, models quantitatively relating the vol…