Horizontal And Vertical Research Articles

Turbulent flow over aligned cylindrical obstacles

Turbulent flow and boundary-layer (BL) characteristics over cylindrical obstacles have been understudied compared to the flow dynamics around cubic roughness in the urban BL literature. Using large-eddy simulation, we investigate a turbulent BL flow developed over two vertically oriented cylindrical obstacles aligned downstream. For widely separated cylinders, the wake flow undergoes periodic oscillations akin to vortex shedding behind an isolated cylinder. As the height-to-width aspect ratio (AR) of the canyon bounded by the cylinders increases, the streamline geometry exhibits a clear transition from isolated to wake interference and skimming regimes. Two-point autocorrelation functions of velocities confirm a strong coupling of canyon flow with the roughness sublayer for wider canyons, while with evident decoupling as the canyon narrows. The length scales, which measure the spatial correlation in the flow, decrease in both lateral and vertical directions with increasing AR. Turbulent kinetic energy and momentum fluxes below the roughness sublayer present pronounced monotonic scaling with AR (with R-squared values up to 0.84 and 0.98, respectively), resulting in a consistent variation in the surface roughness aerodynamic parameters, the roughness length (z0) and zero-plane displacement (d), with AR. Quantitative differences in the results with respect to those well-established for street canyons are analyzed, with the similarities highlighted. The results offer insights into boundary-layer flow parameterization concerning cylinder-occupied surface roughness.

Vertical coherence of coherent structures during sand and dust storms: A multi-height synchronous observation study

An experiment was conducted on the Qingtu Lake Observation Array (QLOA) to measure wind and dust information at various wall-normal heights during the sand and dust storm (SDS) process. According to the indicators of the non-stationary features in the flow field, the SDS process can be divided into three stages: ascending, stabilizing, and descending. Based on this division, the Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT) is employed to extract dominant flow structures, which carries a significant portion of the turbulent kinetic energy. Moreover, the HHT spectrum of stream-wise velocity component reveals that the scales of the dominant structures are approximately hundreds of meters in the horizontal direction, and hence suggests the presence of large and very large-scale coherence during the SDS. The hypotheses of Townsend [The Structure of Turbulent Shear Flow (Cambridge University Press, 1976)] and Davenport [“The spectrum of horizontal gustiness near the ground in high winds,” Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 87, 194–211 (1961)] are utilized to demonstrate the vertical coherence of turbulence, which suggests the wall-similarity and evolution of inner/outer interactions for coherent structures during the SDS. Finally, the coherence spectrum [γL2=exp(−2c1Δz/λx)] and the linear transfer kernel [|HL2|=exp(d1−d2Δz/λx)] are parameterized, where c1, d1, d2 are fitting parameters, Δz is wall-normal offset, and λx refers to streamwise wavelength, to illustrate the evolution of the interactions between near-wall and outer regions during the SDS, which highlights the strong connections during the stabilizing stage. In general, the present study analyzed horizontal and wall-normal structures for a comprehensive SDS process, and thus, these findings present abundant features of wall-attached eddies which further be used to improve/enrich existing near-wall models.

Physics-Informed Machine Learning Applied to Complex Compositional Model in a Giant Field

_ This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper IPTC 23730,“Physics-Informed Machine-Learning Application to Complex Compositional Model in a Giant Field,” by Guido Bascialla, SPE, ADNOC, and Coriolan Rat and Soham Sheth, SLB, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Copyright 2024 International Petroleum Technology Conference. _ Compositional reservoir simulation is a time-intensive activity demanding complex physics. In the complete paper, the authors review the advantages of machine learning (ML) in complex compositional reservoir simulations to determine fluid properties such as critical temperature and saturation pressure. An ML approach to predict critical temperatures during simulation based on the Heidemann-Khalil method is implemented, resulting in more-accurate results with lower computational cost, outperforming the standard method and improving performance on a giant field model with compositional gradient and miscible gas injection. Field Description The case study refers to a giant offshore carbonate field composed of multiple reservoirs. Production is currently in a rampup phase; crestal miscible hydrocarbon gas injection was implemented soon after startup. The availability of high-potential gas producers as a source of makeup gas and the placement of peripheral water injectors maintains the reservoir pressure above minimum miscibility pressure. All reservoirs show complex variable slope compositional gradients along thick oil columns of hundreds of feet (Fig. 1). To match the fluid behavior and the variation of fluid properties with depth, the equation of state needs at least nine components. The rock quality mainly is controlled by diagenesis. Thirteen rock types were modeled. The permeability can change up to four log cycles for the same porosity. Most of the reservoirs are highly heterogeneous, with features such as high-permeability streaks and baffle zones. A wide range of capillary pressure curves is present; these mainly depend on permeability and lithology. Most development wells were completed with inflow control devices (ICDs) to control gas and water breakthroughs and optimize oil production. The combination of numerous ICDs and long slanted production intervals (i.e., thousands of feet) make wellbore-reservoir coupling critical for proper history matching and forecasting. The model grid size in the horizontal direction is 328 ft, which is considered optimal according to simulated sensitivities. The vertical layering is very fine in order to capture the reservoir heterogeneity; the cell thickness ranges from 1 to 1.5 ft. This results in a model with 3.5 million active cells, which makes the simulation performance and run time very challenging when coupled with compositional gradient and ICDs. Phase Labeling In this section of the complete paper, the authors review why accurate phase labeling is important in compositional simulation and how it can lead to convergence problems, particularly for cases with gas injection. A traditional method is compared with an ML method on a simple model using a complex dummy fluid model to highlight issues that may arise in more-complex simulation models.

Nuclei and Tracts in the Telencephalon of Crocodiles: Identification and Characterization Using an Organizational Scheme Applicable to Other Reptiles.

The telencephalon of reptiles has been suggested to be the key to understanding the evolution of the forebrain. Nevertheless, a meaningful framework to organize the telencephalon in any reptile has, with rare exception, yet to be presented. To address this gap in knowledge, the telencephalon was investigated in two species of crocodiles. A variety of morphological stains were used to examine tissue in transverse, horizontal, and sagittal planes of sections. Besides providing a description of individual nuclei, brain parts were organized based on two features. One was related to two fixed, internal structures: the lateral ventricle and the dorsal medullary lamina. The other was the alignment of neurons into either layers, cortex, or not, nucleus. Viewed from this perspective, all structures, with limited exceptions, could be accurately placed within the telencephalon regardless of the plane of section. Furthermore, this framework can be applied to other reptiles. A further extension of this scheme suggests that all structures in the telencephalon could be grouped into one of two categories: pallial or basal.

The characteristics of the implicit body model of the trunk.

Knowing where the body is in space requires reference to a stored model of the size and shape of body parts, termed the body model. This study sought to investigate the characteristics of the implicit body model of the trunk by assessing the position sense of midline and lateral body landmarks. Sixty-nine healthy participants localised midline and lateral body landmarks on their thorax, waist and hips, with perceived positions of these landmarks compared to actual positions. This study demonstrates evidence of a significant distortion of the implicit body model of the trunk, presenting as a squatter trunk, wider at the waist and hips. A significant difference was found between perceived and actual location in the horizontal (x) and vertical (y) directions for the majority of trunk landmarks. Evidence of a rightward bias was noted in the perception of six of the nine body landmarks in the horizontal (x) direction, including all midline levels. In the vertical (y) direction, a substantial inferior bias was evident at the thorax and waist. The implicit body model of the trunk is shown to be distorted, with the lumbar spine (waist-to-hip region) held to be shorter and wider than reality.

Study on migration and diffusion law of MICP solution in fractured loess

In this paper, according to the migration and diffusion law of MICP solution in fracture-pore medium, the migration and diffusion equation of MICP solution in loess fracture-pore medium is derived at first. Then, the migration and diffusion test was carried out by using the self-made MICP solution migration and diffusion device. In the model, the aperture of the fracture of 0.5mm, 1.0mm and 1.5mm was selected, and the calcium ion concentration at different points was measured by atomic absorption method, so as to obtain the distribution map of calcium ion concentration. According to the test results, the migration speed of calcium ions in the direction along the fracture is less than the diffusion speed of the wet peak, and the vertical fracture direction is faster than the diffusion speed of the wet peak. The distribution range of calcium ion concentration increases first and then decreases with the increase of fracture opening. COMSOL software is used to compile the mathematical equation, and the whole process of MICP solution migration and diffusion is numerically simulated. The numerical calculation results are basically consistent with the experimental results, and the derived mathematical equation is reasonable.

Research on differential data fusion processing method for dual GNSS base stations

Abstract In the differential processing of global navigation and positioning system (GNSS) trajectory data from dual base stations, a hierarchical fusion processing method is proposed based on the trajectory parameter layer for two trajectory parameters generated by the different dual base stations according to the distribution pattern. Trajectory segment that satisfies the differential baseline of a priori data accuracy are given high weight to prioritize for fusion, and the portion exceeding the maximum differential baseline distance is weighted fusion according to the sliding window plus polynomial fitting to determine the weighted coefficients. By practical testing, the statistical residuals of the weighted fusion trajectory in the horizontal and vertical directions reduced by 32.83% and 30.19% respectively compared to the unfused trajectory.

An experimental study on determination of optimal tilt and orientation angles in photovoltaic systems

This paper determines the most suitable azimuth and tilt angles for photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity from solar energy. Literature reviews typically focus on maximizing radiation values on fixed panels. However, this study identifies the optimal position for maximizing the total radiation falling on PV panels with varying azimuth and tilt angles. An experimental setup is established to measure solar radiation, power, and temperature data. The electrical energy, open-circuit voltage, and short-circuit current produced by the PV panels are measured and recorded simultaneously. The performance of PV panels at different azimuths and tilts on power output is examined and compared. Experimental results have indicated that panel tilt and azimuth angles significantly impact power generation, currents, and fill factor. Based on the theoretical and experimental results obtained, the optimal tilt angle on the horizontal plane for Konya province, Türkiye, is determined to be 32.08°, with the most suitable azimuth angle being 0°. This article could serve as a suitable guide for finding the optimal tilt angle for similar locations in the future.

Effective Unidirectional Wetting of Liquids on Multi-Gradient, Bio-Inspired Surfaces Fabricated by 3D Printing and Surface Modification.

The movement of liquid droplets on the energy gradient surface has attracted extensive attention inspired by biological features in nature, such as the periodic spindle-shaped nodes in spider silks and conical-like barbs of cacti, and the structure-property-function relationship of multifunctional gradient surfaces. In this study, a series of specific patterns are fabricated with 3D printing technology, followed by modification via the atmospheric pressure plasma treatment and liquid phase chemical deposition, resulting in enhancing the ability of water droplets of 5 μL to travel 18.47 mm on a horizontal plane and 22.75 mm against gravity at up to a 20° tilting angle. Additionally, analysis techniques have been employed, including a contact angle analyzer, ESCA, and a laser confocal microscope to evaluate the sample performance. This work could further be applied to many applications related to microfluidic devices, drug delivery and water/fog collection.

Enhancement of Scan Strategy for Improving Surface Characteristics of the SLMed Inconel 718 Alloy Component

The technique of selective laser melting has garnered significant interest due to its capacity to fabricate metal parts of any shape using a single printing process. In this study, a scan strategy was proposed for printing the inner structure part based on the varying performance of the Inconel 718 alloy part produced using different scan techniques. The test findings indicated that the surface quality of the printed material along the scan line exhibited significantly superior performance in comparison to that produced in a vertical direction to the scan line. Regarding the scan strategy, it is evident that the zigzag shape scan strategy exhibited superior performance in terms of the microstructure of the printed part. This is attributed to the more consistent cooling rate on each scan track. On the other hand, the square-framed scan strategy demonstrated a relatively optimal condition for the bending deformation of the printed part compared to other scan strategies. This is due to the more appropriate behavior of the molten pool during the outer edge printing process. After considering all of these criteria, a novel scan approach was created that included various scan strategies. The test findings indicated that the component produced using this novel scanning technique exhibited the combined benefits of both the square-shaped and zigzag-shaped scanning strategies.

The Indirect Bang-Singular Algorithm (IBSA) for singular control problems with state-inequality constraints

In this study, we present the Indirect Bang-Singular Algorithm (IBSA), a straightforward computational framework developed to solve a wide range of Singular Optimal Control Problems (SOCP) with state-inequality constraints. The algorithm is a type of arc-classification technique which reformulates the SOCP as a nonlinear programming problem over the switching times, and possibly some other parameters such as the co-states’ initial values at the entry time to a singular interval. We derive the singular control feedback using the Pontryagin’s maximum principle and analyze the possibility of an interval where multiple controls are simultaneously singular. Furthermore, we incorporate the state-inequality constraints using the direct-adjoining method. Owing to the linear property of the co-state dynamics, the co-state variables and consequently, the singular controls are computed automatically using MATLAB’s symbolic platform. The nonlinear programming is constructed in a manner to circumvent the challenges posed by state-inequality constraints in more intricate scenarios involving singular controls expressed in terms of incomplete state-feedback functions. We also present several theorems that are integral to devising a straightforward computational approach for solving SOCPs. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, we solve the following novel problems: (1) time–fuel-optimal commercial aircraft cruise flight in a vertical plane (i.e., with state-inequality constraint, a scalar singular control, and wind shear effects), and (2) the free-routing time–fuel-optimal commercial aircraft flight in a vertical plane (i.e., with state-inequality constraint, a dual-entry singular control, and wind shear effects). Notably, the optimality of the graphed results has been carefully inspected through first and second-order optimality conditions.

Density spatial distribution and anisotropy of full-scale bentonite-sand blocks

Constructing buffer barriers using high-quality bentonite-based blocks is crucial for the secure disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). However, the density distribution and anisotropy of full-size bentonite-sand blocks are not yet fully understood, which may affect their quality and performance as buffer barriers. This study aimed to address this critical issue by conducting computed tomography (CT) scanning tests on full-size bentonite-sand blocks in the radial, angular, and vertical directions to obtain CT numbers and density. The analysis of the density distribution and anisotropy in these three directions followed. Subsequently, thermal conductivity and hydraulic conductivity tests were conducted in these directions to explore their relationship with density anisotropy. The findings revealed that the block density gradually decreased with increasing radius in the radial direction and first decreased slightly and then increased slightly in the angular and vertical directions. However, the density of the bentonite-sand mixture inside the blocks ranged from 1.96 g/cm³ to 2.09 g/cm³, with minimal differences. Additionally, there was no significant difference in density between the radial and angular directions, with an average density of 2.06 g/cm³. The density in the vertical direction was slightly lower, with an average density of 2.04 g/cm³. Scanning electron microscope images validated the presence of anisotropy in block density caused by horizontally oriented bentonite aggregates resulting from axial compression. However, the presence of quartz sand and incompressible impurities in the blocks created preferential flow paths, mitigating the impact of block density anisotropy on thermal and hydraulic conductivity. Consequently, thermal conductivity, averaging 1.60 W/m·K, and hydraulic conductivity, averaging 3.12 × 10−10 cm/s, demonstrated isotropy in all three directions. These block parameters meet the design requirements for an effective buffer barrier. This study systematically reveals the density distribution of full-size bentonite-sand blocks and its impact on the performance, providing important references for the safe design of HLW repositories.

Primary Posterior Uterine Rupture in Labor: Case Report and Literature Review

Purpose: To report a rare case of primary posterior uterine rupture in a healthy term multigravida. Methods: Case report. Results: We present the case of an otherwise healthy 35-year-old gravida 4 para 3 with no reported medical or surgical history and three prior uncomplicated term vaginal deliveries who presented in labor at 39 weeks gestation. After four hours of oxytocin augmentation, the fetus was noted to have recurrent late decelerations and then became bradycardic with a baseline of 60 bpm. The patient’s cervix was found to be 7 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and -1 station. Standard resuscitative measures were undertaken at which point the patient’s cervix was rechecked and found to be 9 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and -1 station. Attempts at manually reducing the cervix while the patient pushed were unsuccessful. With the fetus still bradycardic with a baseline of 60 bpm, the patient was taken for an emergency Cesarean delivery. Within seven minutes of calling the emergency Cesarean delivery, surgery had started. However, there was difficulty with delivering the fetus, who had flipped to transverse back down. The fetus was rotated to breech before being delivered through a “T” incision made on the uterus to facilitate delivery of the head. Three tight nuchal cords were reduced at time of delivery. Examination of the uterus after delivery of the fetus revealed a full thickness, cruciate-shaped laceration in the posterior lower uterine segment extending ~9 cm in the vertical plane, involving the vagina, and ~5 cm in the transverse plane. The rupture was repaired, and the remainder of the surgery proceeded without further complication. Blood loss was estimated at 2500 mL, and she required transfusion of 4 units of packed red cells, 2 units cryoprecipitate, 1 unit fresh frozen plasma, and 1 unit of platelets. The infant was atonic upon delivery with a weight of 3785g and APGARs of 1/5/7. Umbilical artery blood gas analysis was normal with a pH of 7.19 and a base deficit of 7.9 mmol/L. The infant initially required intubation, but quickly improved and was extubated to room air at 1 hour of life. Imaging and neurological exams indicated possible moderate encephalopathy, and the infant underwent therapeutic hypothermia for four days at which point cooling was discontinued after improvement was noted. The remainder of his NICU stay was unremarkable and he was discharged on day nine of life. The mother required 2 additional units of packed red cells during the remainder of her postpartum course, but otherwise did well and she was discharged on post-op day five. Conclusion(s): Uterine rupture is the complete separation of all three layers of the uterus. It is a life-threatening event for both the fetus and the mother. Most uterine ruptures occur in a previously scarred uterus. Uterine rupture in a previously unscarred uterus (primary uterine rupture) is rare and estimated to occur in ~1:20,000 pregnancies. Over 90% of primary uterine ruptures occur in the anterior lower uterine segment. Although this patient did not have any reported medical or surgical history, her status as a multipara and being of advanced maternal age did pose a higher risk of primary rupture. This patient also underwent 3 ½ hours of oxytocin infusion at the time the Cesarean was called. Although she was not on oxytocin for long, its use is associated with primary uterine rupture more so than secondary rupture. Normal indicators of uterine rupture include non-reassuring fetal heart rate tracing, sudden unexplained abdominal pain, unexplained vaginal bleeding, and loss of fetal station. In this patient, fetal bradycardia was the only sign that her uterus was compromised. Although the uterine arteries were not involved in this patient’s rupture, blood loss was still profound due to the extensive uterine defect. This case highlights that, while rare, uterine rupture can occur in any patient, regardless of uterine surgical history and physicians must be prepared to intervene quickly.

Optimization and working performance analysis of liquid cooling plates in refrigerant direct cooling power battery systems

Refrigerant direct cooling is currently being considered as an efficient thermal management technology in power battery systems. In this paper, four types of liquid cooling plates for power battery modules are designed and the computational model is constructed. With the model being validated, it is applied to analyze the effects of the cooling plate structure and cooling channel on the cooling and heat dissipation performances. The results reveal that for the conventional cooling method, i.e., when the cooling plate is placed on the bottom of the battery pack, a significant temperature gradient in the vertical direction is observed. On the contrary, adopting a serpentine cooling plate structure in the main wall or parallel cooling channels in the narrow side wall could significantly reduce the temperature difference of the battery pack, which can keep the temperature difference within 5 °C even under extreme conditions. Further, a detailed analysis of the heat dissipation performance based on the optimal cooling plate structure is performed to determine the safe operating range of the battery pack. It is shown that as the humidity is less than 0.73 and the evaporation temperature is below 15.43 °C, the battery pack can operate safely. However, beyond this condition range the heat dissipation characteristics of the battery pack cannot satisfy the operating requirements. This work sheds light upon the potential of refrigerant direct cooling strategy in power battery thermal management systems by properly arranging the cooling plate.

Artificial Neural Network for Glider Detection in a Marine Environment by Improving a CNN Vision Encoder

Despite major economic and technological advances, much of the ocean remains unexplored, which has led to the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and gliders for surveying. ROVs and underwater gliders are essential for ocean data collection. Gliders, which control their own buoyancy, are particularly effective unmanned platforms for long-term observations. The traditional method of recovering the glider on a small boat is a risky operation and depends on the skill of the workers. Therefore, a safer, more efficient, and automated system is needed to recover them. In this study, we propose a lightweight artificial neural network for underwater glider detection that is efficient for learning and inference. In order to have a smaller parameter size and faster inference, a convolutional neural network (CNN) vision encoder in an artificial neural network splits an image of a glider into a number of elongated patches that overlap to better preserve the spatial information of the pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions. Global max-pooling, which computes the maximum over all the spatial locations of an input feature, was used to activate the most salient feature vectors at the end of the encoder. As a result of the inference of the glider detection models on the test dataset, the average precision (AP), which indicates the probability that an object is located within the predicted bounding box, shows that the proposed model achieves AP = 99.7%, while the EfficientDet-D2 model for comparison of detection performance achieves AP = 69.2% at an intersection over union (IOU) threshold of 0.5. Similarly, the proposed model achieves an AP of 78.9% and the EfficientDet-D2 model achieves an AP of 50.5% for an IOU threshold of 0.75. These results show that accurate prediction is possible within a wide range of recall for glider position inference in a real ocean environment.

Accuracy and reliability for estimating jaw functional range of motion

BackgroundThree dimensional (3D) kinematic analysis based on motion capture can study synchronized data from the integrated jaw and neck motor system. Jaw function is commonly estimated on linear outcome variables of motion range. By combining jaw border movements in three planes the functional range of motion could be described by movement area and volume measures. Research questionCan we ensure the accuracy, test-retest reliability, and intra-individual variability with 3D kinematic analysis for estimating jaw functional range of motion (ROM), including jaw movement area and volume and jaw and head linear measures? MethodsAccuracy was estimated by applying the method to a set of beakers with known volume, based on the percentage deviation and Pearson correlation coefficient between target and estimated values. Test-retest reliability was then analysed on maximum jaw movements performed in a pre-determined movement sequence by 17 pain-free participants (25.4 years ± 2.4) to estimate jaw functional ROM. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated, and Bland-Altman plots were constructed. Coefficient of variation (CV) tested the within session reliability. ResultsThe accuracy in volume and area measurements were high with a percentage deviation (0.03±0.59) and (1.2±0.45), respectively, with a strong linear relationship (R2=0.99) between target and estimated values. The test-retest reliability showed moderate to excellent reliability, and Bland-Altman plots showed good agreement. Overall, CVs showed high repeatability, but jaw movements in horizontal directions were less reliable and presented higher variability. SignificanceThe study with 3D kinematic analysis of jaw functional ROM, provides a methodological basis for accurate and reliable measurements. The study presents a new way to estimate jaw functional ROM measures, useful for evaluation in clinical intervention, for instance in pain and jaw dysfunction. Moreover, the natural biological movement variability and the complexity of the interplay of jaw-head movement will be emphasised.

Contribution to micromechanical modeling of the shear wave propagation in a sand deposit

The object of study is the vertical wave propagation in a sand deposit. This paper is aimed at analyzing the vertical wave propagation in a sand deposit through micromechanical modeling that inherently takes account of intergranular slips during deformation. Such a problem, which is part of the general framework of wave propagation in the soil, has long been analyzed using continuum models based on approximate behavior laws. For this purpose, a 2D Discrete Element Method (DEM) model is developed. The DEM model is based on molecular dynamics with the use of circular shaped elements. The intergranular normal forces at contacts are calculated through a linear viscoelastic law while the tangential forces are calculated through a perfectly plastic viscoelastic model. A model of rolling friction is incorporated in order to account for the damping of the grains rolling motion. Different boundary conditions of the profile have been implemented; a bedrock at the base, a free surface at the top and periodic boundaries in the horizontal direction. The sand deposit is subjected to a harmonic excitation at the base. Using this model, the fundamental and resonance frequencies of the deposit are first determined. The former is determined from the low-amplitude free vibration and the latter by performing a variable-frequency excitation test. It is noted that there is a significant gap between the two frequencies, this gap could be attributed to the degradation of the soil shear modulus in the vicinity of the resonance. Such degradation is well proven in classical soil dynamics. The effects of deposit height and confinement on resonance frequency and free-surface dynamic amplification factor are then investigated. The obtained results highlighted that the resonance frequency is inversely proportional to the deposit’s thickness whereas the dynamic amplification factor Rd increases with the deposit’s thickness. In the other hand, when the confinement increases the deposit becomes stiffer, which results in reducing the amplification. Such result is in accordance with theoretical knowledge which states that the most rigid profiles such as rocks do not amplify seismic movement.

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF AN ADDITIONAL TANK ON THE DEFORMATION OF THE PNEUMATIC SPRING OF HIGH-SPEED RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK

The use of a pneumatic spring suspension system in the second stage of spring suspension of high-speed rolling stock is an integral component of ensuring its permissible dynamic indicators and traffic safety indicators. This work is aimed at researching the deformation characteristics of the rubber-cord shell of the pneumatic spring in the vertical and horizontal directions, taking into account manometric pressure, external load and an auxiliary reservoir. To achieve the goal, a methodology for experimental studies of pneumatic spring deformation was developed using a test rig with an assembled pneumatic spring suspension system, power and measuring equipment. Deformations of the rubber-cord sheath were measured by analog sensors of linear displacements using an analog-to-digital converter and special software. It was established that the effect of the auxiliary reservoir on the amount of vertical deformation of the lower part of the rubber-cord shell does not exceed 3.46 %, which allows us to conclude that the auxiliary reservoir of the pneumatic spring suspension system has a negligible effect on the vertical deformations of the lower part of the rubber-cord shell of the pneumatic spring. The dependences of the deformation of the rubber-cord shell of the pneumatic spring in the horizontal direction on the value of the manometric pressure when the auxiliary reservoir is connected and disconnected are obtained. It was established that in the range of manometric pressure changes of 1.0÷2.5 atm the presence or absence of an auxiliary reservoir has little effect on the amount of deformation of the rubber-cord sheath in the horizontal direction. However, at a pressure of more than 2.5 atm, closing the tap to the auxiliary reservoir leads to significantly greater deformation of the rubber cord shell compared to the deformation when the tap is open and the auxiliary reservoir is turned on. The obtained results regarding the deformation characteristics of the rubber-cord shell of the pneumatic spring will allow us to proceed to the study of the dynamic characteristics of the pneumatic spring, which are necessary when establishing safe conditions for the operation of modern high-speed rolling stock at the stage of its design.

Comparative Analysis of Impact Strength among Various Polymeric Materials for Orthotic Production.

Orthotic devices play an important role in medical treatment, addressing various pathologies and promoting patient recovery. Customization of orthoses to fit individual patient morphologies and needs is essential for optimal functionality and patient comfort. The advent of additive manufacturing has revolutionized the biomedical field, offering advantages such as cost reduction, increased personalization, and enhanced dimensional adaptability for orthotics manufacturing. This research focuses on the impact strength of nine polymeric materials printed by additive manufacturing, including an evaluation of the materials' performance under varying conditions comprising different printing directions (vertical and horizontal) and exposure to artificial sweat for different durations (0 days, 24 days, and 189 days). The results showed that Nylon 12 is good for short-term (24 days) immersion, with absorbed energies of 78 J and 64 J for the vertical and horizontal directions, whereas Polycarbonate (PC) is good for long-term immersion (189 days), with absorbed energies of 66 J and 78 J for the vertical and horizontal directions. Overall, the findings contribute to a better understanding of the suitability of these materials for biomedical applications, considering both short-term and long-term exposure to physiological and environmental conditions.

Nonlinear dynamics modeling and analysis of aviation drilling actuator feed system considering assembly error

The superior dynamic performance and machining accuracy of the aviation drilling actuator are crucial for high-quality drilling of aviation structural components. It is essential to construct a dynamic model that accurately predicts the dynamic characteristics of the actuator. However, the modeling rarely considers the influence of assembly errors, which makes it difficult to ensure the model precision. In this work, the nonlinear force of the joint surface between the ball screw (BS), rolling bearings and ball linear guide (LG) was derived, taking into account the moving and rotation errors of the guide rail (GR) and the misalignment errors of the bearings. A dynamic model with six degree-of-freedom (DOF) was established for the aviation drilling actuator. The Runge-Kutta method was selected to solve the model, and the model accuracy was verified by experiments. The influence of various assembly errors and worktable feed position on the vibration response of the aviation drilling actuator in three directions was analyzed by the time history, frequency spectrum, phase diagram, and amplitude-frequency curve. The research results indicate that variations in assembly errors and feed position affect the dynamic properties of the system. The moving errors along the horizontal and vertical directions and the rotation errors around the horizontal and vertical directions of the GR notably affect the amplitude-frequency characteristics and vibration displacement of the two directions. The bearing misalignment error in the horizontal plane significantly affects the axial vibration of the drilling actuator. The maximum vibration response in the three directions is achieved when the feed position is in the middle of the BS. Therefore, dynamic model analysis can provide theoretical guidance for adjusting assembly errors and selecting reasonable machining positions to improve the stability and machining accuracy of aviation drilling actuator.