Contact Dimensions Research Articles

Cultural Inclusiveness Contributing to International Students' Intercultural Attitudes: Mediating Role of Intergroup Contact Variables

AbstractThis study sought to examine the relationships among Asian‐born international students' perceived cultural inclusiveness and intercultural contact, along with the contributions these variables made to the students' attitudes towards culturally different domestic students. Based on Pettigrew's (1998) intergroup contact theory and previous research on educational cultural climate, we hypothesised that more positive intercultural attitudes would be associated with perceptions of a culturally inclusive educational environment and higher levels of intergroup contact as indicated by quantity of contact, quality of contact, and extent of intercultural friendships. Anonymous survey participants were 190 (76 male and 113 female) Asian‐born international university students at an Australian university. Results showed small to moderate relationships among perceived cultural inclusiveness, all the dimensions of intercultural contact, and intercultural attitudes, except for an unexpected insignificant association between intercultural friendship and attitudes. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that cultural inclusiveness and quality of contact were the only significant predictors of intercultural attitudes. Mediation analysis indicated that quality of contact partially mediated the relationship between cultural inclusiveness and intercultural attitudes. The importance of an inclusive educational environment on intergroup contact and attitudes, from international students' viewpoint, is discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

On the Contact of Curved Rough Surfaces: Contact Behavior and Predictive Formulas

The statistical microcontact models of Greenwood–Williamson (GW), Kogut–Etsion (KE), and Jackson–Green (JG) are employed along with the elastic bulk deformation of the contacting solids to predict the characteristics of rough elliptical point contact such as the pressure profile, real area of contact, and contact dimensions. In addition, the contribution of the bulk deformation and the asperity deformation to the total displacement is evaluated for different surface properties and loads. The approach involves solving the microcontact and separation equations simultaneously. Also presented are formulas that can be readily used for the prediction of the maximum contact pressure, contact dimensions, contact compliance, real area of contact, and pressure distribution.

Explaining Natives' Interethnic Friendship and Contact with Colleagues in European Regions

In this study we focus on underlying determinants of interethnic contact of natives within a large number of European regions. We use the ‘opportunity-preference-third parties’ framework to explain differences between social groups and distinguish interethnic contact with colleagues from interethnic friendship. Using the first wave of the European Social Survey (2002/2003), we found clear differences between social groups in terms of how likely they are to have interethnic contact. Men have more interethnic contact in terms of both colleagues and friends. Older residents in Europe have fewer immigrant friends, but hardly differ in terms of immigrant colleagues. Opportunity plays a significant role in fostering interethnic contact in terms of both friends and colleagues. Preference and third parties predominantly affect the chances of having interethnic friendships. The three mechanisms partly explain differences between social groups. Although social groups tend to differ in their probability of having interethnic contact, they ‘profit’ more or less equally in terms of increased interethnic contact if objective opportunities rise. Our results stress the importance of distinguishing both dimensions of interethnic contact, i.e., with friends and colleagues, and shed more light on underlying determinants and mechanisms of interethnic contact.

Pressure solution creep of random packs of spheres

AbstractWe performed numerical calculations of compaction in aggregates of spherical grains, using Lehner and Leroy's (2004, hereinafter LL) constitutive model of pressure solution at grain contacts. That model is founded on a local definition of the thermodynamic driving force and leads to a fully coupled formulation of elastic deformation, dissolution, and diffusive transport along the grain boundaries. The initial geometry of the aggregate was generated by random packing of spheres with a small standard deviation of the diameters. During the simulations, isostatic loading was applied. The elastic displacements at the contacts were calculated according to Digby's (1981) nonlinear contact force model, and deformation by dissolution was evaluated using the LL formulation. The aggregate strain and porosity were tracked as a function of time for fixed temperature, applied effective pressure, and grain size. We also monitored values of the average and standard deviation of total load at each contact, the coordination number for packing, and the statistics of the contact dimensions. Because the simulations explicitly exclude processes such as fracturing, plastic flow, and transport owing to surface curvature, they can be used to test the influence of relative changes in the kinetics of dissolution and diffusion processes caused by contact growth and packing rearrangements. We found that the simulated strain data could be empirically fitted by two successive power laws of the form, εx ∝ tξ, where ξ was equal to 1 at very early times, but dropped to as low as 0.3 at longer times. The apparent sensitivity of strain rate to stress found in the simulations was much lower than predicted from constitutive laws that assume a single dominant process driven by average macroscopic loads. Likewise, the apparent activation enthalpy obtained from the simulated data was intermediate between that assumed for dissolution and diffusion, and, further, tended to decrease with time. These results are similar to the experimental observations of Visser et al.'s (2012), who used an aggregate geometry and physical conditions closely resembling the present numerical simulations.

Evaluating Cahokian Contact and Mississippian Identity Politics in the Late Prehistoric Central Illinois River Valley

AbstractThis paper employs a practice-based framework for investigating early Mississippian period culture contact and identity negotiation in the Central Illinois River Valley (CIRV) through the lens offoodways. The Evelandphase (A.D. 1100–1200) was a setting of significant cultural change as a result of the movement of Cahokian people, objects, and ideas into the region. Recent analysis of excavated materials from the Lamb site in the southern portion of the CIRV affords a closer look at this historical process. Using ceramic and pit feature data, I assess Cahokian influence on traditional Late Woodlandera culinary practices. I conclude that although local residents were actively adopting some aspects of Mississippian culture (including Cahokia potting traditions), they retained traditional Late Woodland organizational practices of cooking, serving, and storing food. By placing the organization offoodways at the center of this study, this paper illuminates another dimension of Cahokian contact in the region.

Which Dimensions Affect Private Shopping e-customer Loyalty?

The Internet currently plays an important role as a business medium. In recent years in Turkey, e-commerce uptake has accelerated rapidly. As the number of people who shop online continues to grow, so too does the need to understand why and how users choose to shop online rather than in traditional channels. This naturally leads to the increase in research being conducted around gaining a better understanding of how to facilitate the future of e- commerce. It can be said that two of the most important aspects of e-commerce are e-service quality and e-service recovery. The main purpose of this research was examining the effects of the dimensions of e-service quality and e-service recovery on customer e-loyalty. This study intends to understand the e-service quality and recovery of Internet companies from the consumer perspective, by identifying the main factors that are able to predict the e-loyalty of consumers. Furthermore, the study identifies the influence of the individual dimension of e- service quality and e-recovery on service loyalty. As a result of analysis, one of the sub dimensions of service quality efficiency and sub dimensions of e-service recovery contact are the most important factors affecting e-loyalty. Online retailers are provided with tactical strategies on how to immunize online shoppers’ loyalty against switching behavior.

A simple surrogate test method to rank the wear performance of prospective ceramic materials under hip prosthesis edge‐loading conditions

This research has developed a novel test method for evaluating the wear resistance of ceramic materials under severe contact stresses simulating edge loading in prosthetic hip bearings. Simply shaped test specimens - a cylinder and a spheroid - were designed as surrogates for an edge-loaded, head/liner implant pair. Equivalency of the simpler specimens was assured in the sense that their theoretical contact dimensions and pressures were identical, according to Hertzian contact theory, to those of the head/liner pair. The surrogates were fabricated in three ceramic materials: Al2 O3 , zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA), and ZrO2 . They were mated in three different material pairs and reciprocated under a 200 N normal contact force for 1000-2000 cycles, which created small (<1 mm(2) ) wear scars. The three material pairs were ranked by their wear resistance, quantified by the volume of abraded material measured using an interferometer. Similar tests were performed on edge-loaded hip implants in the same material pairs. The surrogates replicated the wear rankings of their full-scale implant counterparts and mimicked their friction force trends. The results show that a proxy test using simple test specimens can validly rank the wear performance of ceramic materials under severe, edge-loading contact stresses, while replicating the beginning stage of edge-loading wear. This simple wear test is therefore potentially useful for screening and ranking new, prospective materials early in their development, to produce optimized candidates for more complicated full-scale hip simulator wear tests.

Crosslinguistic influence in language and cognition. Scott Jarvis and Aneta Pavlenko (2008) New York and London: Routledge. Pp 287. ISBN 0805838856

Crosslinguistic influence in language and cognition. Scott Jarvis and Aneta Pavlenko (2008) New York and London: Routledge. Pp 287. ISBN 0805838856Reviewed by Anastassia ZabrodskajaToday monolingualism is often perceived as an unmarked phenomenon that does not require any explanations (see the famous example by Romaine [1995] 2000:1 that a book entitled Monolingualism would appear extremely strange). Continuing the analogy, one can say that approaches to language that ignore language contacts are also viewed as natural and do not require any theoreti- cal or methodological explanations (hence 'contactlessness' of a language is unmarked and contacts are not). Indeed, most linguistic theory presents languages as homogenous and clear-cut entities. However, there is no language that is not affected by contacts, be it to a smaller or greater extent.The expression 'language contact' is somewhat imprecise because it is speakers of different varieties who communicate and not merely language systems. In this respect, Weinreich ([1953] 1966:71) was right in his claim that the bilingual brain is the locus of language contact. By saying this he stressed the cognitive dimension of bilingualism and language contact. Still, despite this early remark, the monolingual native speaker is a default yardstick in many theories and contact-induced language change is considered to be less relevant. From the contact linguistics point of view, however, the sameness of linguistic systems in all speakers in a given speech community is an illusion. As soon as we deal with a multilingual speaker, it is not clear what is the mother tongue (see Skutnabb Kangas, 1988:18, 91; 2000:106, 573). Bilingual speakers' cognition and linguistic intuition (i.e., judgement on what is acceptable/unacceptable) are different from those of a monolingual speaker.The question of the relevance of contact-induced language change is not new. In the second half of the nineteenth century in the so-called Schuchardt-Muller controversy Hugo Schuchardt was ahead of his time, claiming 'Es gibt keine vollig ungemischte Sprache', 'There is no completely unmixed language' (1884, quoted from Thomason and Kaufman, [1988] 1991:1). Some scholars discarded this idea altogether, while some believed that no language has been influenced by another language to such an extent that this would make genetic classification difficult (or even impossible). Yet some went further and claimed that all languages are creoles. While this claim is not true in its absolute form, certain languages exist that cannot be traced back to a single proto-language because their grammatical systems and their lexicons originate from genetically different sources.To a great extent, Schuchardt was right. Contact-induced language change is as important as internal change. What is more, in some situations it is difficult to distinguish between the two (multiple causation). According to Croft (2000:8), there is no fundamental difference between internally and externally caused changes. We have no reasons to believe that this was different in the past.Another debate concerns the relevance of structural and typological factors on the one hand and of sociolinguistic factors on the other. Based on empirical data, various predictions about borrowability have been made and constraints on contact-induced language change formulated. However, in the light of abundant counterevidence the universality of constraints should be doubted (Clyne, 1987).A look at the history of studies on contact-induced language change so far makes clear that to date researchers use notions such as 'interference' (Weinreich, [1953] 1966), 'code-copying' (Johanson, 2002), 'cross-linguistic influence' (Jarvis, 2002), 'transfer' (Heine and Kuteva, 2005) and 'convergence' (Auer, Hinskens and Kerswill, 2005), but still talk about more or less the same topic - how morphosyntactic similarities between the two language systems increase. …

Esthetic Paradigms in the Interdisciplinary Management of Maxillary Anterior Dentition—A Review

This article reviews some commonly used esthetic proportions and paradigms in dentistry. Establishing optimal anterior esthetics frequently entails restorative, orthodontic, and periodontal treatment. Several guidelines have been purported to facilitate an esthetic outcome during the rehabilitation of the maxillary anterior teeth. The golden proportion, recurring esthetic dental proportion, tooth width : height ratios, vertical positioning of the maxillary lateral incisor, and the apparent contact dimension are examples of some such guidelines. Evaluation of these esthetic paradigms including their validity, esthetic significance, perception by laypeople, and the range of tolerance to alterations are very important considerations. This review presents a comprehensive analysis of some selected esthetic dental paradigms and recommendations for their application in the interdisciplinary management of anterior dental esthetics.

Digital Analysis of Anterior Dental Esthetic Parameters in Patients with Bilateral Maxillary Lateral Incisor Agenesis

To analyze anterior dental esthetic parameters-width/height ratio (WHR), gingival zenith (GZ), and apparent contact dimension (ACD)-in patients with maxillary lateral incisor agenesis (MLIA) bilaterally treated with space closure and recontouring of the canines, or with implant-supported prostheses. Fifty-two participants were allocated into three groups as follows: MLIA patients (N = 18) treated with teeth recontouring (RG); MLIA patients (N = 10) treated with implants (IG); and volunteers without agenesis (N = 24), who served as controls (CG). Dental casts of all patients were obtained and electronically scanned. Digital images were analyzed with 3Shape A/S OrthoAnalyser software (Copenhagen, Denmark). Shapiro-Wilk test, Spearman correlation, and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests (p < 0.05) were used for statistical analysis. Although IG presented smaller means when compared with RG and CG, no statistical differences were found for WHR among groups (p > 0.05). Concerning GZ, RG presented more discrepancies than IG and CG, with statistically significant differences (p = 0.0165). IG presented statistically significant differences for the ACD in comparison with RG and CG (p < 0.05). Based on the results of this study, patients treated with space closure and teeth recontouring (RG) were shown to be closest to patients without agenesis (CG) in relation to the anterior dental esthetic parameters evaluated. The digital analysis of esthetic principles, such as those investigated in this study involving maxillary incisor agenesis, is paramount to successful esthetic treatment planning. The results of the present study, as well as those found in the literature, indicate that clinicians should use esthetic parameters, such as those investigated herein, when treatment planning extensive oral rehabilitation cases.

Multimarket Contact and Patent Litigation in the Global Smartphone Industry

Multimarket contact, which can both heighten interfirm competition and facilitate mutual forbearance, has been an important concept in the competitive dynamics literature. This paper disentangles the two mechanisms by examining the link between multimarket contact and occurrence of patent litigations at the dyad level in the context of the global smartphone market. We decompose the construct of multimarket contact into a geographical dimension (when smartphone vendors meet in multiple countries) and an product-level dimension (when smartphone vendors meet in multiple product lines categorized by different operation systems). We find that the geographical dimension of multimarket contact increases the occurrence of patent litigations between smartphone vendors in a dyad, but the product-level dimension of multimarket contact decreases them. The two constructs’ impacts on patent litigation are different because the mechanism driving geographical dimension’s impact is competition for market share in the global smartphone market, while the mechanism driving operation-system dimension’s impact is indirect coordination of platform ecosystems. We also examine the interaction effect of the two dimensions of multimarket contact and the moderating effects of firm size asymmetry and asymmetry of intellectual property protection of vendors’ countries of origins. Utilizing a 3,003 dyad-level unbalanced panel data across 18 quarters from the first quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2012, most of our hypotheses receive support. The study contributes to the strategy literature by bridging competitive dynamics research and the emerging literature on patent litigation as a firm strategy.

Influence of metal contacts on the electrical properties of a UV-MSM photodetector

We have developed a two-dimensional theoretical model. This model allowed us to characterize the MSM photodetector based ZnO. It also allowed us to simulate the dark current and photocurrent of the device with different dimensions of the metal contact of structure. The simulation results were agreed with those of the experiment. We have identified the influence of geometry parameters of the metal contact on the dark current and also on the photocurrent. Calculating the ratio (photocurrent / dark current), allowed us to find the best values of finger width w and finger spacing s of the metal structure leading to a low dark current and at the same time a better absorption of the incident light. The best performance of MSM PD are obtained for the following values s = 14 µm, w = 12 microns. These values have enabled us to obtain a dark current of 25nA and a photocurrent equal to 0.78 µA at a 3V bias.

Staggered Transverse Tripoles With Quadripolar Lateral Anodes Using Percutaneous and Surgical Leads in Spinal Cord Stimulation

In spinal cord stimulation for low-back pain, the use of electrode arrays with both low-power requirements and selective activation of target dorsal column (DC) fibers is desired. The aligned transverse tripolar lead configuration offers the best DC selectivity. Electrode alignment of the same configuration using 3 parallel percutaneous leads is possible, but compromised by longitudinal migration, resulting in loss of DC selectivity. This loss might be repaired by using the adjacent anodal contacts on the lateral leads. To investigate if stimulation using adjacent anodal contacts on the lateral percutaneous leads of a staggered transverse tripole can restore DC selectivity. Staggered transverse tripoles with quadripolar lateral anodes were modeled on the low-thoracic vertebral region (T10-T12) of the spinal cord using (a) percutaneous lead with staggered quadripolar lateral anodal configuration (PERC QD) and (b) laminotomy lead with staggered quadripolar lateral anodal configuration (LAM QD), of the same contact dimensions. The commercially available LAM 565 surgical lead with 16 widely spaced contacts was also modeled. For comparison with PERC QD, staggered transverse tripoles with dual lateral anodes were modeled by using percutaneous lead with staggered dual lateral anodal configuration (PERC ST). The PERC QD improved the depth of DC penetration and enabled selective recruitment of DCs in comparison with PERC ST. Mediolateral selectivity of DCs could not be achieved with the LAM 565. Stimulation using PERC QD improves anodal shielding of dorsal roots and restores DC selectivity. Based on our modeling study, we hypothesize that, in clinical practice, LAM QD can provide an improved performance compared with the PERC QD. Our model also predicts that the same configuration realized on the commercial LAM 565 surgical lead with widely spaced contacts cannot selectively stimulate DCs essential in treating low-back pain.

E‐Government Service Quality: A Qualitative Evaluation in the Case of Saudi Arabia

AbstractGovernment website services comprise awareness programs for their citizens and others, information distribution, and perhaps data collection, online enquiries, and submissions for regulatory or funding purposes. Quality of service is fundamental to public acceptance and use of e‐government websites, although this aspect is frequently overlooked during the design and implementation stages of online public services. Besides transparency, ease of navigation and comprehensive information, these websites require adequate monitoring resources, including targets for responses and reports. The intention of this study is to contribute to the development of e‐government services, and to raise awareness of user attitudes to public websites among researchers, government administrators and service providers, especially in the context of Saudi Arabia. This study explores dimensions that contribute to e‐government service quality, or have the capacity to detract from website support. A qualitative approach through individual interviews was taken that explored four categories of service quality: the system function category included ease of use, and system availability; and the content category included three dimensions: format, information, and personalization. Further, the procedural category comprised privacy and security, credibility, interactivity, and processing time; the citizen support category included responsiveness and contact dimensions. Development of an appropriate quantitative model and instrument is planned to facilitate research into the relationships among the e‐government service quality dimensions and user satisfaction and user trust. Further, it is planned to research various environments and contexts to provide cross‐cultural comparisons to understand e‐government's user behaviors.

Direct-write non-linear photolithography for semiconductor nanowire characterization

A practical bottleneck prohibiting the rapid, confident and damage-free electrical contacting of vapour–liquid–solid grown nanowires arises from the random spatial distribution and variation in quality of the nanowires, and the contact dimensions required. Established techniques such as electron-beam lithography or focused ion-beam deposition have challenges in scaling, damage or complexity that can make a large statistical sample difficult. We present a direct laser-writing technique to allow rapid electrical contacting of nanowires on a large variety of substrates.

Size dependence of the plane-strain response of single-crystal Al to indentation by diamond wedges

A single-crystal Al specimen was indented at room temperature with a series of prismatic diamond indenters. The indenters had triangular or wedge-shaped cross-sections and were relatively long, thus inducing a two-dimensional (2-D) plane-strain response. Different included wedge angles were used. For each wedge indenter, instrumented indentations were carried out at varying loads. Analysis of the response from each wedge indentation experiment clearly revealed the presence of a size effect, manifested in an increasing projected contact pressure as the contact dimensions decreased from micron to submicron scales. When indentation responses from 2-D wedge indenters with different included angles were compared, the data showed evidence that this indentation size effect depended on the included wedge angle. This dependence was analyzed and compared to existing models of indentation based on the concept of geometrically necessary dislocations. While the model prediction of the dependence of the characteristic length on the included wedge angle appears to be consistent with current experiments, the model estimate of the magnitude of the characteristic length significantly exceeds the value deduced from experimentation. The present results offer new experimental evidence of size-dependent indentation response in plane-strain geometries.

Scanning Electrochemical Cell Microscopy: Theory and Experiment for Quantitative High Resolution Spatially-Resolved Voltammetry and Simultaneous Ion-Conductance Measurements

Scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM) is a high resolution electrochemical scanning probe technique that employs a dual-barrel theta pipet probe containing electrolyte solution and quasi-reference counter electrodes (QRCE) in each barrel. A thin layer of electrolyte protruding from the tip of the pipet ensures that a gentle meniscus contact is made with a substrate surface, which defines the active surface area of an electrochemical cell. The substrate can be an electrical conductor, semiconductor, or insulator. The main focus here is on the general case where the substrate is a working electrode, and both ion-conductance measurements between the QRCEs in the two barrels and voltammetric/amperometric measurements at the substrate can be made simultaneously. In usual practice, a small perpendicular oscillation of the probe with respect to the substrate is employed, so that an alternating conductance current (ac) develops, due to the change in the dimensions of the electrolyte contact (and hence resistance), as well as the direct conductance current (dc). It is shown that the dc current can be predicted for a fixed probe by solving the Nernst-Planck equation and that the ac response can also be derived from this response. Both responses are shown to agree well with experiment. It is found that the pipet geometry plays an important role in controlling the dc conductance current and that this is easily measured by microscopy. A key feature of SECCM is that mass transport to the substrate surface is by diffusion and, for charged analytes, ion migration which can be controlled and varied quantifiably via the bias between the two QRCEs. For a working electrode substrate this means that charged redox-active analytes can be transported to the electrode/solution interface in a well-defined and controllable manner and that relatively fast heterogeneous electron transfer kinetics can be studied. The factors controlling the voltammetric response are determined by both simulation and experiment. Experiments demonstrate the realization of simultaneous quantitative voltammetric and ion conductance measurements and also identify a general rule of thumb that the surface contacted by electrolyte is of the order of the pipet probe dimensions.

The Relationship Between External Contact and Unmarried Adolescents' and Young Adults' Traditional Beliefs in Three East Asian Cities: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

There is growing contact with the outside world among adolescents and young adults in the three Asian cities of Hanoi, Vietnam, Shanghai, mainland China, and Taipei, Taiwan because of the open policies implemented by the national governments of each of these cities. Because these policies were enacted at different points in time, their concomitant social impact has not been simultaneous, with the result that these societies are at different stages of change. The goal of this current analysis is to examine the dimensions of external contact and respondents' departures from Confucian values-for example, embracing individualism, a woman's taking the initiative in expressing affection to a man, and permissiveness toward premarital sex-among unmarried adolescents and young adults in these three cities and the potential relationship between them. This will contribute to our understanding of contemporary Asian adolescents' and young adults' attitudes during different social transition periods, attitudes that are frequently contrary to traditional Confucian principles. This is a cross-sectional study. The multicenter survey of 17,016 male and female adolescents and young adults aged 15-24 years from three cities with Confucian-influenced cultures-Shanghai, Hanoi, and Taipei-was conducted from May 2006 to January 2007 through face-to-face interviews coupled with computer-assisted self-interviews for sensitive questions; 16,554 unmarried respondents were included in this analysis. Binary logistic regression and general linear models were used to explore the associations between respondents' external contact and their nontraditional attitudes. All the analyses were done through SAS 9.1. There were significant differences in the positive association between respondents' external contact and non-Confucian values among adolescents in the three cities. More respondents in Taipei and Shanghai had external contact and identified with nontraditional values than those in Hanoi. The percentages of respondents reporting non-Confucian values were the highest in Taipei and the lowest in Hanoi. The analysis presented significant associations between respondents' exposure to Western culture and their adoption of nontraditional values across the three cities. Respondents who spoke Western languages and who preferred Western videos/actors/singers were more likely to exhibit Western individualism, concurrence with women taking the initiative in a romantic relationship with a man, and permissiveness toward premarital sexual behavior. Although these Asian cities are at different stages of social transition, exposure to Western culture is associated with unmarried adolescents' and young adults' departure from traditional Confucian social rules in all three.

Analytical Model for Plowing Friction at Nanoscale

Existing analytical models for elastic–plastic friction, which have been developed for microscale single-asperity contacts, do not apply when the contact dimensions are reduced to the nanometer regime. We demonstrate that although the microscale models correctly describe elastic recovery behind a sliding nanoscale tip, they fail to predict the corresponding coefficient of friction. We show that the breakdown of microscale models can be attributed to the large contribution to friction from pileup. We propose an analytical model for plowing friction for single-asperity contacts, which includes the effects of both elastic recovery and pileup. Functional dependence of the average pileup height on elastic properties of the worn material and on the depth of cut is also proposed. Applicability of the new model is demonstrated in the examples of SiC and Cu.

Finite Element Analysis and Optimization for the High Voltage Disconnector Self-Elastic Contact Base on ANSYS Workbench

Developing a reliable engineering product requires huge amount of resources and knowledge. Often a huge amount of resources were wasted in trying to test products and understanding its reliability performances. Consequently, it takes obvious advantages of resources to develop a reliable engineering product using convenient and fast process in the fierce industrial competition. This paper optimized the structure of high voltage disconnector self-elastic contacts based on ANSYS Workbench. The parts are made of Cu-Cr alloy, the physical property is decided by the content of alloys, and the mechanical property is mainly decided by physical dimensions of self-elastic contacts which include section thickness, corner radius and middle groove width. The traditional design method for self-elastic contacts is tryout design which wastes huge amount of resources and knowledge and it is comparatively uneconomical. Using ANSYS workbench, the finite element model of the self-elastic contact was established, and the finite element analysis was carried out. Design spaces and sensitivity of the response variables, which were related to strength, stiffness and mass, were synthetically analyzed based on design of experiment and physical dimensions of self-elastic contact were optimized by the Optimizer DesignXplorer. After optimization, the self-elastic contact meets service conditions accurately, and the service life is evidently prolonged. Optimization results show that this structure optimization method based on ANSYS workbench is effective in the contact structure design and the capabilities to optimize multi-objective conflicting goals are highlighted. Keywords: Self-elastic contact; FEA; Optimization; ANSYS Workbench