Development and experimental validation of a mathematical model for friction between fabrics and a volar forearm phantom.

An analytical mathematical model for friction between a fabric strip and the volar forearm has been developed and validated experimentally. The model generalizes the common assumption of a cylindrical arm to any convex prism, and makes predictions for pressure and tension based on Amontons' law. This includes a relationship between the coefficient of static friction (mu) and forces on either end of a fabric strip in contact with part of the surface of the arm and perpendicular to its axis. Coefficients of friction were determined from experiments between arm phantoms of circular and elliptical cross-section (made from Plaster of Paris covered in Neoprene) and a nonwoven fabric. As predicted by the model, all values of mu calculated from experimental results agreed within +/- 8 per cent, and showed very little systematic variation with the deadweight, geometry, or arc of contact used. With an appropriate choice of coordinates the relationship predicted by this model for forces on either end of a fabric strip reduces to the prediction from the common model for circular arms. This helps to explain the surprisingly accurate values of mu obtained by applying the cylindrical model to experimental data on real arms.

Parameter extraction and calorimetric validation for a silicon carbide jfet pspice model

This paper focuses on the PSpice model of SiC-JFET element inside a SiCED cascode device. The device model parameters are extracted from the I-V and C-V characterization curves. In order to validate the model, an inductive test rig circuit is designed and tested. The switching loss is estimated both using oscilloscope and calorimeter. These results are found to be in good agreement with the simulated results.

Screening of healthcare workers for tuberculosis: development and validation of a new health economic model to inform practice

Methods for determining cost-effectiveness of different treatments are well established, unlike appraisal of non-drug interventions, including novel diagnostics and biomarkers.

Validation of a lattice Boltzmann model for gas-solid reactions with experiments

A lattice Boltzmann method is used to model gas-solid reactions where the composition of both the gas and solid phase changes with time, while the boundary between phases remains fixed. The flow of the bulk gas phase is treated using a multiple relaxation time MRT D3Q19 model; the dilute reactant is treated as a passive scalar using a single relaxation time BGK D3Q7 model with distinct inter- and intraparticle diffusivities. A first-order reaction is incorporated by modifying the method of Sullivan et al. [13] to include the conversion of a solid reactant. The detailed computational model is able to capture the multiscale physics encountered in reactor systems. Specifically, the model reproduced steady state analytical solutions for the reaction of a porous catalyst sphere (pore scale) and empirical solutions for mass transfer to the surface of a sphere at Re=10 (particle scale). Excellent quantitative agreement between the model and experiments for the transient reduction of a single, porous sphere of Fe 2O 3 to Fe 3O 4 in CO at 1023K and 10 5Pa is demonstrated. Model solutions for the reduction of a packed bed of Fe 2O 3 (reactor scale) at identical conditions approached those of experiments after 25 s, but required prohibitively long processor times. The presented lattice Boltzmann model resolved successfully mass transport at the pore, particle and reactor scales and highlights the relevance of LB methods for modelling convection, diffusion and reaction physics. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.

Numerical study of soil heterogeneity effects on contaminant transport in unsaturated soil (model development and validation)

The movement of chemicals through soil to groundwater is a major cause of degradation of water resources. In many cases, serious human and stock health implications are associated with this form of pollution. The study of the effects of different factors involved in transport phenomena can provide valuable information to find the best remediation approaches. Numerical models are increasingly being used for predicting or analyzing solute transport processes in soils and groundwater. This article presents the development of a stochastic finite element model for the simulation of contaminant transport through soils with the main focus being on the incorporation of the effects of soil heterogeneity in the model. The governing equations of contaminant transport are presented. The mathematical framework and the numerical implementation of the model are described. The comparison of the results obtained from the developed stochastic model with those obtained from a deterministic method and some experimental results shows that the stochastic model is capable of predicting the transport of solutes in unsaturated soil with higher accuracy than deterministic one. The importance of the consideration of the effects of soil heterogeneity on contaminant fate is highlighted through a sensitivity analysis regarding the variance of saturated hydraulic conductivity as an index of soil heterogeneity. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Analytical model and experimental validation of friction laws for composites under low loads

In order to account for interfacial friction of composite materials, an analytical model based on contact geometry and local friction is proposed. A contact area includes several types of microcontacts depending on reinforcement materials and their shape. A proportion between these areas is defined by in-plane contact geometry. The model applied to a fibre-reinforced composite results in the dependence of friction on surface fibre fraction and local friction coefficients. To validate this analytical model, an experimental study on carbon fibrereinforced epoxy composites under low normal pressure was performed. The effects of fibre volume fraction and fibre orientation were studied, discussed and compared with analytical model results. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012.

Decision tree-based context clustering based on cross validation and hierarchical priors

The standard, ad-hoc stopping criteria used in decision tree-based context clustering are known to be sub-optimal and require parameters to be tuned. This paper proposes a new approach for decision tree-based context clustering based on cross validation and hierarchical priors. Combination of cross validation and hierarchical priors within decision tree-based context clustering offers better model selection and more robust parameter estimation than conventional approaches, with no tuning parameters. Experimental results on HMM-based speech synthesis show that the proposed approach achieved significant improvements in naturalness of synthesized speech over the conventional approaches. © 2011 IEEE.

Flow of wet powder in a conical centrifugal filter-an analytical model

A one-dimensional analytical model is developed for the steady state, axisymmetric, slender flow of saturated powder in a rotating perforated cone. Both the powder and the fluid spin with the cone with negligible slip in the hoop direction. They migrate up the wall of the cone along a generator under centrifugal force, which also forces the fluid out of the cone through the powder layer and the porous wall. The flow thus evolves from an over-saturated paste at inlet into a nearly dry powder at outlet. The powder is treated as a Mohr-Coulomb granular solid of constant void fraction and permeability. The shear traction at the wall is assumed to be velocity and pressure dependent. The fluid is treated as Newtonian viscous. The model provides the position of the colour line (the transition from over- to under-saturation) and the flow velocity and thickness profiles over the cone. Surface tension effects are assumed negligible compared to the centrifugal acceleration. Two alternative conditions are considered for the flow structure at inlet: fully settled powder at inlet, and progressive settling of an initially homogeneous slurry. The position of the colour line is found to be similar for these two cases over a wide range of operating conditions. Dominant dimensionless groups are identified which control the position of the colour line in a continuous conical centrifuge. Experimental observations of centrifuges used in the sugar industry provide preliminary validation of the model. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.