A note on the effect of wall compliance on lowest?order mode propagation in fluid?filled/submerged impedance tubes

Wave propagation in fluid?filled/submerged tubes is of interest in large HVAC ducts, and also in understanding and interpreting the experimental results obtained from fluid?filled impedance tubes. Based on the closed form analytical solution of the coupled wave equations, an eigenequation, which is the determinant of an 8×8 matrix, is derived and solved to obtain the axial wave number of the lowest?order longitudinal modes for cylindrical ducts of various diameter and wall thickness. The dispersion behavior of the wave motion is analyzed. It is observed that the larger the diameter of the duct and/or the smaller its wall thickness, the more flexible the impedance tube leading to more coupling between the waves in the elastic media. Also, it is shown that the wave motion in water?filled ducts submerged in water exhibits anomalous dispersion behavior. The axial attenuation characteristics of plane waves along water?filled tubes submerged in water or air are also investigated. Finally, investigations on the sound intensity level difference characteristics of the wall of the air?filled tubes are reported.

Reentrant insulator-metal transition in the half-filled Hubbard model

Using the d=infinity or local-approximation approach to the half-filled Hubbard model on a compressible lattice, we present a detailed study of the transport and structural properties near the paramagnetic metal-insulator transition. The results describe qualitatively most of the observed data in V2O3, including the metal-insulator-metal crossover [Kuwamoto et al., Phys. Rev. B 22, 2626 (1980)]. In addition, we discuss an interesting and intrinsic reentrance feature in the resistivity of the half-filled Hubbard model at high temperatures.

Water ingression and the role of interface on the compressive properties of epoxy filled with treated fly ash

Polymer composites are generally filled with either fibrous or particulate materials to improve the mechanical properties. In choosing the fillers one looks for materials that are inexpensive and available in abundance, in order to realize a cost reduction also. Also, often these fibres/fillers are treated to improve the matrix adhesion and thereby mechanical properties. The present study is focussed on the influence of water ingression in such filler-modified composites and the attendant changes in the compressive properties. The changes in property effected following exposure to aqueous media and the influence interface modification has on the scenario is emphasized in the work. It is seen that for plain epoxy and fly ash filled systems the strengths are increased following exposure to aqueous media. The composites with surface-treated ash particles, on the other hand, record a drop in the values. Modulus values show are increased to varying degree in unfilled and filled systems. The study also includes a fractographic analysis of the tested samples with and without exposure to water.

The effect of a starch envelope on fly ash particles on the impact properties of filled epoxy composites

The impact behaviour of epoxy specimens containing 20% by volume of fly ash particles without (coded, FA20) and with surface enveloped by starch in dry (FAS20) and water-ingresses (FASM20) conditions is studied. The resulting behavioural patterns are documented and compared to the composites containing as received fly ash particles. The data on unreinforced (i.e. neat) epoxy system (designated, NE) are also included. Samples with starch covering for the fillers whether tested in dry or wet conditions (i.e. FAS20 & FASM20) showed greater absorption of energy and maximum load compared to the ones derived on composites having as received fillers tested in unexposed (dry) condition (FA20). Ductility Index, D.I. on the other hand, showed a reversal in trends; the energy absorbed was highest for NE and lowest FA20 samples. Scanning microscopic examination of the fracture features was undertaken to correlate the microstructure to impact response.

Analytical Evaluation of Squeeze Film Forces in a CMUT With Sealed Air-Filled Cavity

The presence of vacuum inside the cavity of a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) causes the membrane of the device (which is the main vibrating structural component) to deflect towards the substrate, thereby causing a reduction in the effective gap height. This reduction causes a drastic decrease in the pull-in voltage of the device limiting the DC bias at which the device can be operated for maximum efficiency. In addition, this initial deflection of the membrane due to atmospheric pressure, causes significant stress stiffening of the the membrane, changing the natural frequency of the device significantly from the design value. To circumvent the deleterious effects of vacuum in the sealed cavity, we investigate the possibility of using sealed CMUT cavities with air inside at ambient pressure. In order to estimate the transducer loss due to the presence of air in the sealed cavity, we evaluate the resulting damping and determine the forces acting on the vibrating membrane resulting from the compression of the trapped air film. We take into account the flexure of the top vibrating membrane instead of assuming the motion to be parallel-plate like. Towards this end, we solve the linearized Reynolds equation using the appropriate boundary conditions and show that, for a sealed CMUT cavity, the presence of air does not cause any squeeze film damping.

An Approach for Distance Relay Co-ordination using Support Vector Machines

In this paper, an approach to enhance the Extra High Voltage (EHV) Transmission system distance protection is presented. The scheme depends on the apparent impedance seen by the distance relay during the disturbance. In a distance relay,the impedance seen at the relay location is calculated from the fundamental frequency component of the voltage and current signals. Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are a new learning-byexample are employed in discriminating zone settings (Zone-1,Zone-2 and Zone-3) using the signals to be used by the relay.Studies on 265-bus system, an equivalent of practical Indian Western grid are presented for illustrating the proposed scheme.

Threshold-like features in the magnetic response of iron-filled multi-walled carbon nanotube and polymer composite

The magnetic properties of iron-filled multi-walled carbon nanotubes dispersed in polystyrene (Fe-MWNT/PS) have been investigated as a function of Fe-MWNT concentration (0.1-15 wt%) from 300 to 10 K. Electron microscopy studies indicate that Fe nanorods (aspect ratio similar to 5) remain trapped at various lengths of MWNT and are thus, prevented from oxidation as well as aggregation. The magnetization versus applied field (M-H loop) data of 0.1 wt% of Fe-MWNTs in PS show an anomalous narrowing at low temperatures which is due to the significant contribution from shape anisotropy of Fe nanorods. The remanence shows a threshold feature at 1 wt%. The enhanced coercivity shows a maximum at 1 wt% due to the dominant dipolar interactions among Fe nanorods. Also the squareness ratio shows a maximum at 1 wt%.

Fault-Diagnostic System using Support Vector Machines for Power Transmission Systems

This paper presents an approach for identifying the faulted line section and fault location on transmission systems using support vector machines (SVMs) for diagnosis/post-fault analysis purpose. Power system disturbances are often caused by faults on transmission lines. When fault occurs on a transmission system, the protective relay detects the fault and initiates the tripping operation, which isolates the affected part from the rest of the power system. Based on the fault section identified, rapid and corrective restoration procedures can thus be taken to minimize the power interruption and limit the impact of outage on the system. The approach is particularly important for post-fault diagnosis of any mal-operation of relays following a disturbance in the neighboring line connected to the same substation. This may help in improving the fault monitoring/diagnosis process, thus assuring secure operation of the power systems. In this paper we compare SVMs with radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN) in data sets corresponding to different faults on a transmission system. Classification and regression accuracy is reported for both strategies. Studies on a practical 24-Bus equivalent EHV transmission system of the Indian Southern region is presented for indicating the improved generalization with the large margin classifiers in enhancing the efficacy of the chosen model.

Instabilities of soft elastic microtubes filled with viscous fluids: Pearls, wrinkles, and sausage strings

A linear stability analysis is presented to study the self-organized instabilities of a highly compliant elastic cylindrical shell filled with a viscous liquid and submerged in another viscous medium. The prototype closely mimics many components of micro-or nanofluidic devices and biological processes such as the budding of a string of pearls inside cells and sausage-string formation of blood vessels. The cylindrical shell is considered to be a soft linear elastic solid with small storage modulus. When the destabilizing capillary force derived from the cross-sectional curvature overcomes the stabilizing elastic and in-plane capillary forces, the microtube can spontaneously self-organize into one of several possible configurations; namely, pearling, in which the viscous fluid in the core of the elastic shell breaks up into droplets; sausage strings, in which the outer interface of the mircrotube deforms more than the inner interface; and wrinkles, in which both interfaces of the thin-walled mircrotube deform in phase with small amplitudes. This study identifies the conditions for the existence of these modes and demonstrates that the ratios of the interfacial tensions at the interfaces, the viscosities, and the thickness of the microtube play crucial roles in the mode selection and the relative amplitudes of deformations at the two interfaces. The analysis also shows asymptotically that an elastic fiber submerged in a viscous liquid is unstable for Y = gamma/(G(e)R) > 6 and an elastic microchannel filled with a viscous liquid should rupture to form spherical cavities (pearling) for Y > 2, where gamma, G(e), and R are the surface tension, elastic shear modulus, and radius, respectively, of the fiber or microchannel.