New Method for the Estimation of Viscosity of Pure and Mixtures of Ionic Liquids Based on the UNIFAC–VISCO Model

A modified UNIFAC–VISCO group contribution method was developed for the correlation and prediction of viscosity of ionic liquids as a function of temperature at 0.1 MPa. In this original approach, cations and anions were regarded as peculiar molecular groups. The significance of this approach comes from the ability to calculate the viscosity of mixtures of ionic liquids as well as pure ionic liquids. Binary interaction parameters for selected cations and anions were determined by fitting the experimental viscosity data available in literature for selected ionic liquids. The temperature dependence on the viscosity of the cations and anions were fitted to a Vogel–Fulcher–Tamman behavior. Binary interaction parameters and VFT type fitting parameters were then used to determine the viscosity of pure and mixtures of ionic liquids with different combinations of cations and anions to ensure the validity of the prediction method. Consequently, the viscosities of binary ionic liquid mixtures were then calculated by using this prediction method. In this work, the viscosity data of pure ionic liquids and of binary mixtures of ionic liquids are successfully calculated from 293.15 K to 363.15 K at 0.1 MPa. All calculated viscosity data showed excellent agreement with experimental data with a relative absolute average deviation lower than 1.7%.

Monitoring and model updating of an FRP pedestrian truss bridge

This paper presents the results of a real bridge field experiment, carried out on a fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) pedestrian truss bridge of which nodes are reinforced with stainless steel plates. The aim of this paper is to identify the dynamic parameters of this bridge by using both conventional techniques and a model updating algorithm. In the field experiment, the bridge was instrumented with accelerometers at a number of locations on the bridge deck, recording both vertical and transverse vibrations. It was excited via jump tests at particular locations along its span and the resulting acceleration signals are used to identify dynamic parameters, such as the bridge mode shape, natural frequency and damping constant. Pedestrianinduced vibrations are also measured and utilized to identify dynamic parameters of the bridge. For a complete analysis of the bridge, a numerical model of the FRP bridge is created whose properties are calibrated utilizing a model updating algorithm. Comparable frequencies and mode shapes to those from the experiment were obtained by the FE models considering the reinforcement by increasing elastic modulus at every node of the bridge by stainless steel plate. Moreover, considering boundary conditions at both ends as fixed in the model resulted in modal properties comparable/similar to those from the experiment. This study also demonstrated that the effect of reinforcement and boundary conditions must be properly considered in an FE model to analyze real behavior of the FRP bridge.