Measuring, modelling and understanding the mechanical behavior of bagasse

In the Australian sugar industry, sugar cane is smashed into a straw like material by hammers before being squeezed between large rollers to extract the sugar juice. The straw like material is initially called prepared cane and then bagasse as it passes through successive roller milling units. The sugar cane materials are highly compressible, have high moisture content, are fibrous, and they resemble some peat soils in both appearance and mechanical behaviour. A promising avenue to improve the performance of milling units for increased throughput and juice extraction, and to reduce costs is by modelling of the crushing process. To achieve this, it is believed necessary that milling models should be able to reproduce measured bagasse behaviour. This investigation sought to measure the mechanical (compression, shear, and volume) behaviour of prepared cane and bagasse, to identify limitations in currently used material models, and to progress towards a material model that can predict bagasse behaviour adequately. Tests were carried out using a modified direct shear test equipment and procedure at most of the large range of pressures occurring in the crushing process. The investigation included an assessment of the performance of the direct shear test for measuring bagasse behaviour. The assessment was carried out using finite element modelling. It was shown that prepared cane and bagasse exhibited critical state behavior similar to that of soils and the magnitudes of material parameters were determined. The measurements were used to identify desirable features for a bagasse material model. It was shown that currently used material models had major limitations for reproducing bagasse behaviour. A model from the soil mechanics literature was modified and shown to achieve improved reproduction while using magnitudes of material parameters that better reflected the measured values. Finally, a typical three roller mill pressure feeder configuration was modelled. The predictions and limitations were assessed by comparison to measured data from a sugar factory.

Modelling of a magnetocaloric system for cooling in the kilowatt range

A numerical time-dependent model of an active magnetic regenerator (AMR) was developed for cooling in the kilowatt range. Earlier numerical models have been mostly developed for cooling power in the 0.4 kW range. In contrast, this paper reports the applicability of magnetic refrigeration to the 50 kW range. A packed bed active magnetic regenerator was modelled and the influence of parameters such as geometry and operating parameters were studied for different geometries. The pressure drop for AMR bed length and particle diameter was also studied. High cooling power and coefficient of performance (COP) were achieved by optimization of the diameter of the magnetocaloric powder particles and operating frequency. The optimum operating conditions of the AMR for a cooling capacity of 50 kW was determined for a temperature span of 15 K. The predicted coefficient of performance (COP) was found to be ∼6, making it an attractive alternative to vapour compression systems.

A non-linear interface element model for thin layer high adhesive mortared masonry

A nonlinear interface element modelling method is formulated for the prediction of deformation and failure of high adhesive thin layer polymer mortared masonry exhibiting failure of units and mortar. Plastic flow vectors are explicitly integrated within the implicit finite element framework instead of relying on predictor–corrector like approaches. The method is calibrated using experimental data from uniaxial compression, shear triplet and flexural beam tests. The model is validated using a thin layer mortared masonry shear wall, whose experimental datasets are reported in the literature and is used to examine the behaviour of thin layer mortared masonry under biaxial loading.

Experimental and numerical studies of fire exposed lipped channel columns subject to distortional buckling

Cold-formed steel sections are commonly used in low-rise commercial and residential buildings. During fire events, cold-formed steel structural elements in these buildings are exposed to elevated temperatures. Hence after such events there is a need to determine the residual strength of these structural elements. However, only limited information is available in relation to the residual strength of fire exposed cold-formed steel members. This research is aimed at investigating the residual distortional buckling capacities of fire exposed cold-formed steel lipped channel sections. A series of compression tests of fire exposed, short lipped channel columns made of varying steel grades and thicknesses was undertaken in this research. Test columns were exposed to different elevated temperatures up to 800 oC. They were then allowed to cool down at ambient temperature before they were tested to failure. Suitable finite element models of tested columns were also developed and validated using test results. The residual compression capacities of tested columns were predicted using the ambient temperature cold-formed steel design rules (AS/NZS 4600, AISI S100 and Direct Strength Method). Post-fire mechanical properties obtained from a previous study were used in this study. Comparison of results showed that ambient temperature design rules for compression members can be used to predict the residual compression capacities of fire exposed short or laterally restrained cold-formed steel columns provided the maximum temperature experienced by the columns can be estimated after a fire event. Such residual capacity assessments will allow structural and fire engineers to make an accurate prediction of the safety of buildings after fire events. This paper presents the details of these experimental and numerical studies and the results.

Fire performance and design of cold-formed steel wall systems

Traditionally, the fire resistance rating of Light gauge steel frame (LSF) wall systems is based on approximate prescriptive methods developed using limited fire tests. These fire tests are conducted using standard fire time-temperature curve given in ISO 834. However, in recent times fire has become a major disaster in buildings due to the increase in fire loads as a result of modern furniture and lightweight construction, which make use of thermoplastics materials, synthetic foams and fabrics. Therefore a detailed research study into the performance of load bearing LSF wall systems under both standard and realistic design fires on one side was undertaken to develop improved fire design rules. This study included both full scale fire tests and numerical studies of eight different LSF wall systems conducted for both the standard fire curve and the recently developed realistic design fire curves. The use of previous fire design rules developed for LSF walls subjected to non-uniform elevated temperature distributions based on AISI design manual and Eurocode 3 Parts 1.2 and 1.3 was investigated first. New simplified fire design rules based on AS/NZS 4600, North American Specification and Eurocode 3 Part 1.3 were then proposed with suitable allowances for the interaction effects of compression and bending actions. The importance of considering thermal bowing, magnified thermal bowing and neutral axis shift in the fire design was also investigated and their effects were included. A spread sheet based design tool was developed based on the new design rules to predict the failure load ratio versus time and temperature curves for varying LSF wall configurations. The accuracy of the proposed design rules was verified using the fire test and finite element analysis results for various wall configurations, steel grades, thicknesses and load ratios under both standard and realistic design fire conditions. A simplified method was also proposed to predict the fire resistance rating of LSF walls based on two sets of equations developed for the load ratio-hot flange temperature and the time-temperature relationships. This paper presents the details of this study on LSF wall systems under fire conditions and the results.

Fire design rules of light gauge steel frame walls – a review

Cold-formed steel members are widely used in load bearing Light gauge steel frame (LSF) wall systems with plasterboard linings on both sides. However, these thin-walled steel sections heat up quickly and lose their strength under fire conditions despite the protection provided by plasterboards. Hence there is a need for simple fire design rules to predict their load capacities and fire resistance ratings. During fire events, the LSF wall studs are subjected to non-uniform temperature distributions that cause thermal bowing, neutral axis shift and magnification effects and thus resulting in a combined axial compression and bending action on the LSF wall studs. In this research a series of full scale fire tests was conducted first to evaluate the performance of LSF wall systems with eight different wall configurations under standard fire conditions. Finite element models of LSF walls were then developed, analysed under transient and steady state conditions, and validated using full scale fire tests. Using the results from fire tests and finite element analyses, a detailed investigation was undertaken into the prediction of axial compression strength and failure times of LSF wall studs in standard fires using the available fire design rules based on Australian, American and European standards. The results from both fire tests and finite element analyses were used to investigate the ability of these fire design rules to include the complex effects of non-uniform temperature distributions and their accuracy in predicting the axial compression strengths of wall studs and the failure times. Suitable modifications were then proposed to the fire design rules. This paper presents the details of this investigation into the accuracy of using currently available fire design rules of LSF walls and the results.

Design of cold-formed steel columns at elevated temperatures subject to flexural-torsional buckling

Cold-formed steel members are often subject to axial compression loads in a range of applications. These thin-walled members can be subject to various types of buckling modes, including flexural-torsional buckling. Design standards provide guidelines for columns subject to flexural-torsional buckling modes at ambient temperature. However, there are no specific design guidelines for elevated temperature conditions. Hence extensive research efforts have gone into the many investigations addressing the flexural-torsional buckling behaviour of cold-formed steel columns at elevated temperatures.This research has reviewed the accuracy of the current design rules in AS/NZS 4600 and the North American Specification in determining the member capacities of cold-formed steel columns using the results from detailed finite element analyses and an experimental study of lipped channel columns. It was found that the current ambient temperature Australian and American design rules accurately predicted the member capacities of pin ended lipped channel columns undergoing flexural torsional buckling at elevated temperatures by simply using the appropriate elevated temperature mechanical properties. However, for fixed ended columns with warping fixity undergoing flexural-torsional buckling, it was found that the current design rules significantly underestimated the column capacities as they disregard the beneficial effect of warping fixity. This research has therefore proposed improved design rules and verified their accuracy using finite element analysis and test results of cold-formed lipped channel columns made of three cross-sections and five different steel grades and thicknesses. This paper presents the details of this research study and the results.

Buckling tests of fire exposed cold-formed steel columns

Cold-formed steel sections are commonly used in low-rise commercial and residential buildings. During fire events, cold-formed steel structural elements in these buildings will be exposed to elevated temperatures. Hence after such events there is a need to evaluate the residual strength of these structural elements. However, only limited information is available in relation to the residual strength of fire exposed cold-formed steel sections. This means conservative decisions are often made in relation to fire exposed building structures. This research is aimed at investigating the buckling capacities of fire exposed cold-formed lipped channel steel sections. A series of compression tests of fire exposed, short lipped channel columns made of varying steel grades and thicknesses was undertaken in this research. Test columns were first exposed to different elevated temperatures up to 800 oC. They were then allowed to cool down at ambient temperatures before they were tested to failure. Similarly tensile coupon tests were also undertaken after being exposed to various elevated temperatures, from which the residual mechanical properties (yield stress and Young’s modulus) of the steels used in this study were derived. Using these mechanical properties, the residual compression capacities of tested short columns were predicted using the currently used design rules in AS/NZS 4600 and AISI cold-formed steel standards. This comparison showed that ambient temperature design rules for compression members can be used to predict the residual compression capacities of fire exposed short or laterally restrained cold-formed steel columns provided the maximum temperature experienced by the columns can be estimated after a fire event. Such residual capacity assessments will allow structural and fire engineers to make an accurate prediction of the safety of fire exposed buildings. This paper presents the details of this experimental study and the results.

Distortional buckling behaviour of fire exposed cold-formed steel columns

Cold-formed steel sections are commonly used in low-rise commercial and residential buildings. During fire events, cold-formed steel structural elements in these buildings can be exposed to elevated temperatures. Hence after such events there is a need to evaluate their residual strengths. However, only limited information is available in relation to the residual strength of fire exposed cold-formed steel sections. This research is aimed at investigating the distortional buckling capacities of fire exposed cold-formed lipped channel sections. A series of compression tests of fire exposed, short lipped channel columns made of varying steel grades and thicknesses was undertaken in this research. Test columns were first exposed to different elevated temperatures up to 800 oC, and then tested to failure after cooling down. Suitable finite element models were developed with post-fire mechanical properties to simulate the behaviour of tested columns and were validated using test results. The residual compression capacities of short columns were also predicted using the current cold-formed steel standards and compared with test and finite element analysis results. This comparison showed that ambient temperature design rules for columns can be used to predict the residual compression capacities of fire exposed short or laterally restrained cold-formed steel columns provided the maximum temperature experienced by the column can be estimated after a fire event. Such residual capacity assessments will allow engineers to evaluate the safety of fire exposed buildings. This paper presents the details of this experimental study, finite element analyses and the results.

Unusual event detection in crowded scenes

Novel computer vision techniques have been developed to automatically detect unusual events in crowded scenes from video feeds of surveillance cameras. The research is useful in the design of the next generation intelligent video surveillance systems. Two major contributions are the construction of a novel machine learning model for multiple instance learning through compressive sensing, and the design of novel feature descriptors in the compressed video domain.

Addressing factory needs in cane variety selection

Cane fibre content has increased over the past ten years. Some of that increase can be attributed to new varieties selected for release. This paper reviews the existing methods for quantifying the fibre characteristics of a variety, including fibre content and fibre quality measurements – shear strength, impact resistance and short fibre content. The variety selection process is presented and it is reported that fibre content has zero weighting in the current selection index. An updated variety selection approach is proposed, potentially replacing the existing selection process relating to fibre. This alternative approach involves the use of a more complex mill area level model that accounts for harvesting, transport and processing equipment, taking into account capacity, efficiency and operational impacts, along with the end use for the bagasse. The approach will ultimately determine a net economic value for the variety. The methodology lends itself to a determination of the fibre properties that have a significant impact on the economic value so that variety tests can better target the critical properties. A low-pressure compression test is proposed as a good test to provide an assessment of the impact of a variety on milling capacity. NIR methodology is proposed as a technology to lead to a more rapid assessment of fibre properties, and hence the opportunity to more comprehensively test for fibre impacts at an earlier stage of variety development.

A constitutive model for mechanical response characterization of pumpkin peel and flesh tissues under tensile and compressive loadings

Enhancing quality of food products and reducing volume of waste during mechanical operations of food industry requires a comprehensive knowledge of material response under loadings. While research has focused on mechanical response of food material, the volume of waste after harvesting and during processing stages is still considerably high in both developing and developed countries. This research aims to develop and evaluate a constitutive model of mechanical response of tough skinned vegetables under postharvest and processing operations. The model focuses on both tensile and compressive properties of pumpkin flesh and peel tissues where the behaviours of these tissues vary depending on various factors such as rheological response and cellular structure. Both elastic and plastic response of tissue were considered in the modelling process and finite elasticity combined with pseudo elasticity theory was applied to generate the model. The outcomes were then validated using the published results of experimental work on pumpkin flesh and peel under uniaxial tensile and compression. The constitutive coefficients for peel under tensile test was α = 25.66 and β = −18.48 Mpa and for flesh α = −5.29 and β = 5.27 Mpa. under compression the constitutive coefficients were α = 4.74 and β = −1.71 Mpa for peel and α = 0.76 and β = −1.86 Mpa for flesh samples. Constitutive curves predicted the values of force precisely and close to the experimental values. The curves were fit for whole stress versus strain curve as well as a section of curve up to bio yield point. The modelling outputs had presented good agreement with the empirical values and the constructive curves exhibited a very similar pattern to the experimental curves. The presented constitutive model can be applied next to other agricultural materials under loading in future.

Natural convection heat transfer in a baffled triangular enclosure

To reduce the natural convection heat loss from enclosures many researchers used convection suppression devices in the past. In this study a single baffle is used under the top tip to investigate numerically the natural convection heat loss in an attic shaped enclosure which is a cost effective approach. The case considered here is one inclined wall of the enclosure is uniformly heated while the other inclined wall is uniformly cooled with adiabatic bottom wall. The finite volume method has been used to discretize the governing equations, with the QUICK scheme approximating the advection term. The diffusion terms are discretized using central-differencing with second order accuracy. A wide range of governing parameters are studied (Rayleigh number, aspect ratio, baffle length etc.). It is observed that the heat transfer due to natural convection in the enclosure reduces when the baffle length is increased. Effects of other parameters on heat transfer and flow field are described in this study.

Natural convection due to differential heating of inclined walls and heat source placed on bottom wall of an attic shaped space

Numerical investigation of free convection heat transfer in an attic shaped enclosure with differentially heated two inclined walls and filled with air is performed in this study. The left inclined surface is uniformly heated whereas the right inclined surface is uniformly cooled. There is a heat source placed on the right side of the bottom surface. Rest of the bottom surface is kept as adiabatic. Finite volume based commercial software ANSYS 15 (Fluent) is used to solve the governing equations. Dependency of various flow parameters of fluid flow and heat transfer is analyzed including Rayleigh number, Ra ranging from 103 to 106, heater size from 0.2 to 0.6, heater position from 0.3 to 0.7 and aspect ratio from 0.2 to 1.0 with a fixed Prandtl number of 0.72. Outcomes have been reported in terms of temperature and stream function contours and local Nusselt number for various Ra, heater size, heater position, and aspect ratio. Grid sensitivity analysis is performed and numerically obtained results have been compared with those results available in the literature and found good agreement.

The effects of flight speed on ranging performance of bats using frequency modulated echolocation pulses

Many species of bat use ultrasonic frequency modulated (FM) pulses to measure the distance to objects by timing the emission and reception of each pulse. Echolocation is mainly used in flight. Since the flight speed of bats often exceeds 1% of the speed of sound, Doppler effects will lead to compression of the time between emission and reception as well as an elevation of the echo frequencies, resulting in a distortion of the perceived range. This paper describes the consequences of these Doppler effects on the ranging performance of bats using different pulse designs. The consequences of Doppler effects on ranging performance described in this paper assume bats to have a very accurate ranging resolution, which is feasible with a filterbank receiver. By modeling two receiver types, it was first established that the effects of Doppler compression are virtually independent of the receiver type. Then, used a cross-correlation model was used to investigate the effect of flight speed on Doppler tolerance and range–Doppler coupling separately. This paper further shows how pulse duration, bandwidth, function type, and harmonics influence Doppler tolerance and range–Doppler coupling. The influence of each signal parameter is illustrated using calls of several bat species. It is argued that range–Doppler coupling is a significant source of error in bat echolocation, and various strategies bats could employ to deal with this problem, including the use of range rate information are discussed.