The design of waiting and storage areas to improve the efficiency of the marine intermodal terminals

The correct sizing of storage areas in the port areas is aimed to optimizing the management of intermodal transport and to ensure efficiency and functionality to the entire port system. In this paper is proposed a simulation model for design the port storage areas taking into account many parameters like: the service time, the randomness of the arrivals process, the storage capacity in terms of TEU that can be stored (and handled) in the unit of time. The capacity of the terminal warehouse is determined by the interrelation between fixed and static parameters in the short period which are: i) the extension of the storage area; ii) the height of the overlapping batteries of container (defined also like number of “shooting”); iii) the means of movements; iv) a series of parameters that can vary the efficiency degree according to the operativity conditions of the terminal. The optimal level of use is achieved when it is employed approximately the 60-65% of the maximum storage capacity; it is kept in account, therefore, a tolerance necessary in order to make forehead to eventual peaks of traffic.

In this article, a circular-slot dual band antenna fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) for WiMAX/C band applications is presented. The antenna mainly encompasses a ground with a wide circular slot in the centre, a rectangular feeding strip and two pairs of asymmetric planar inverted L (APIL) strips connecting with the slotted ground. By introducing the two pairs of APIL's, two resonant frequencies, 3.70 for WiMAX, and 6.75 GHz for C band applications are agitated. The simulated results show that the proposed antenna has two good impedance bandwidths (VSWR less than 2) of and 1250MHz which make it easily cover the required bandwidths for WiMAX (3.4-3.6GHz) and 4-8 GHz C band applications. Moreover, the obtained radiation patterns demonstrate that the proposed antenna has significantly directional and Omni directional patterns in both E-plane and H-plane.

Investigating the effect of different three-phase transformer configurations in single power source

Ahmad Rizal Sultan, Mohd. Wazir Mustafa and Makmur Saini

This paper investigates the effect of different three-phase transformer configurations in single power source. New investigating simulation models for single power source are presented. The models of transformer configuration for each side (primary and secondary) used were Y (wye), Yn (wye-grounded) and D (delta). The effect of ground fault is determined by generating station arrangements and transformer configurations. The simulation of single power source showed the performance generator within the SLG fault at various three-phase transformer configurations. Simulation was conducted in PSCAD/EMTDC 4.2.0 and the results were analyzed, presenting comparison of the fault impact at different three-phase transformer configurations. It was clearly shown that the SLG fault current at the single power source was highly dependent upon the type of the three-phase transformer configurations used during the ground fault at the secondary side of the transformer.

Bandwidth enhancement of a microstrip antenna for x-band applications

Md. Moinul Islam, Mohammad Tariqul Islam and Mohammad Rashed Iqbal Faruque

An X-band microstrip antenna for bandwidth enhancement is presented in this paper. The proposed antenna is comprised of circular and rectangular slots fed by a 50 Ω microstrip line. It is designed on 40 mm×40 mm printed circuit board using FR4 substrate material. Commercially available high frequency electromagnetic solver HFSS based on the finite element method (FEM) is taken into account in this study. The impedance bandwidth (VSWR≤2) of the proposed antenna is 2.10 GHz (9.75 to 11.85 GHz). 1.85 GHz is the average gain where maximum gain is 2.3 GHz. The antenna exhibits stable Omni-directional and bidirectional radiation patterns.

Review on various studies of composite laminates with ply drop-off

Priyanka Dhurvey and N. D. Mittal

Abstract:

A review on various studies of composite laminates with ply drop-off is presented in this study. Tapered laminated structures, which are formed by dropping of some of the plies at discrete positions over the laminate, have received much attention from researchers because of their structural tailoring capabilities, damage tolerance, and their potential for creating significant weight savings in engineering applications. This study is a comprehensive review, devoted to static and dynamics analysis, buckling analysis, Vibration analysis, delamination and interlaminar stress analysis of laminated composite plates and beams, tapered laminated structure with ply drop-off. Overall remarks drawn from the reviewed works are given in the final section of the paper.

Characterization and evaluation of magnesite tailings for their potential utilization: A case study of Nyala magnesite mine, Limpopo Province of South Africa

Abstract:

Magnesite has many uses and these include the preparation of cement, decolouring agents, fertiser, animal feed, and its use in refractory and refractory products. Extraction of magnesite generates huge amount of waste such as tailings and spoil materials. These magnesite tailings are generally inert and therefore their possible uses can be identified and evaluated. The main objective of this study was to characterize and evaluate the tailings of the derelict Nyala Magnesite Mine for their potential uses. This involved physical and chemical characterization of the materials and determining general geometry, volume, and area coverage of the waste dumps. These tailings dumps were found to be highly eroded and the total volume and area coverage were 953862 m³ and 102713 m² respectively. Based on laboratory analyses the tailings were classified as well-graded sand with Cu ≥6 and 1≥ Cc ≤3. The physic al properties of the tailings were compared with those of the soils used as fill material in foundation and/or road construction and river-sand used for different engineering purposes. The filling material possessed the same properties as tailings and was also classified as well-graded sand whilst the river sand was classified as poorly-graded with Cu ≤ 6 and/or < 3. In addition, the tailings material has the plastic index of 19 and composed of high silica level (±43.32% SiO₂). Based on the determined engineering properties of tailings and the fact that they are characterized by high SiO₂ content, it was concluded that they are suitable for use in different engineering works requiring well-graded soils with medium plasticity, medium dry strength and medium swelling potential. It was recommended that the local community use this material for different engineering applications as it will contribute in cleaning up the environmental impacts of the historic Nyala Mine. This will also have socio-economic benefits as it will improve the aesthetic appearance of the landscape, convert mine tailings into useful resources and provide an alternative for river-sand used in various construction works. Moreover, it will eliminate or reduce the environmental and socio-economic impacts of excavating construction soils from borrowed pits.

Estimating the optimum operating parameters of olefin metathesis reactive distillation process

Abdulwahab GIWA and Saidat Olanipekun GIWA

This work has been carried out to apply Fletcher Reeves, Quasi-Newton, BOX, SQP, and Mixed algorithms to estimate the optimum operating parameters required for the achievement of high purities of trans-2-butene and trans-2-hexene as the top and the bottom products respectively using olefin metathesis process occurring in a reactive packed distillation column. The process was modeled and optimized with the aid of Aspen HYSYS. The model had a trans-2-pentene feed stream containing 1 ppm each of trans-2-butene and trans-2-hexene flowing at the rate of 35 mL/min into the column at a temperature of 298.15 K and a pressure of 1.125 bar. The results obtained from the optimizations of the process revealed that the constrained optimization was better than the unconstrained one for this process because, in the single objective function optimizations that was carried out, the top and the bottom products were desired. It was discovered from the constrained optimizations carried out that Mixed algorithm was the best among the algorithms considered because it was able to give optimum reflux ratio of 2.50, optimum feed flow rate of 43.75 mL/min and optimum reboiler duty of 0.28 kW that gave trans-2-butene of mole fraction value of 1.0000 and trans-2-hexene of mole fraction of 0.9422 as the top and the bottom products, respectively.

Effect of extending the radial superposition function to other flow regimes

Freddy Humberto Escobar, Hernan Dario Alzate and Leonardo Moreno

Abstract:

Nowadays, the oil industry is focusing its effort and interest on gas shale reservoirs. Gas shale wells are normally tested by recording the flow rate values under constant pressure conditions. Therefore, time superposition is required in order to conduct transient-rate analysis which normally uses the radial solution of the constant-rate diffusivity equation. This superposition function is also applied indiscriminately to other flow regimes without considering the possibility of an existing error. The literature only reports a case where this situation is dealt with. However, the analysis is performed using curve-decline matching. This study presents the analysis of the effects generated by extending the superposition time function generated with the constant-rate radial solution of the diffusivity equation to other well-known flow regimes. The work consists of performing simulations for the following scenarios: variable rate under constant well-flowing pressure, uncontrolled changes in flow rate, isochronal uncontrolled changes in flow rate, isochronal increasingly changes in flow rate and isochronal decreasingly changes in flow rate. Superposition time functions were generated for each scenario to compare each flow regime (linear, bilinear, elliptical, spherical and pseudo steady state) superposition function to the radial flow superposition function. In general terms, it was found that the generated effects of using the radial time superposition function are negligible. Even, good values of the average reservoir pressure with the radial flow superposition function were obtained. However, it was noted a notorious deviation of the linear and bilinear flow regime tendencies for hydraulically-fractured wells. This leads to erroneous estimation of the fracture parameters.

Braille glove vibration system for diabetic affected disabled persons

B.L. Shivakumar and M. Rajasenathipathi

Abstract:

All over the world, persons who are visually impaired have used Braille as the primary means of accessing information. Also, the concept of Braille has been accepted as a universal approach that works across the boundaries of the world. Different countries of the world have adapted the system of Braille to suit their languages. As people age, many of them are forced to stop reading Braille because of losing the sensation in their fingertips, a common effect of diabetes and other diseases. In this paper, Braille glove vibration method is a device for the benefit of deaf-blind people having losing sensation in their fingertips, it proposes a new approach to blind persons to know about computer oriented technologies.

Environmental pollution and mitigation- An overview

Eyu D.G. and Aliu A. O.

Abstract:

The environment is man’s immediate surrounding which he manipulates for his living. These include the air, water, land, natural resources, flora and fauna, and human beings. The wrong use of these elements introduces hazards that make the environment unsafe for living things especially man. The consciousness of the environmental challenges of our time is a vital tool for engineers and scientist to take the charge on how to manipulate the environment to protect, preserve and improve our natural resources by promoting green technologies for sustainability and innovations in materials. In recent years, much emphasis has been on environmental issues, especially in the developed countries. However, many developing countries seem to be unconcerned about the impact of environmental pollution and the importance of appropriate control measures. Therefore, this paper elaborates on environmental pollution; types, effect, design for the environment and waste management as pollution mitigation approaches for clean environment. The awareness of pollution hazard and adequate knowledge of mitigation strategies is a sure way to guarantee a tremendous improvement in our global environment.

Efficient cluster centers by using enhanced k-means with median unique vector optimization algorithm (MUVO)

R. Ranga Raj and M. Punithavalli

Clustering is the task of grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group or cluster  are more similar to each other than to those in other groups. Clustering can be formulated as the multi objective optimization problem. The k-means algorithm is used to give a formal solution for optimization problem by assigning objects to the nearest cluster centers. But the main drawback is that, it depends on the initial starting condition of the cluster centers. Thus the quality of clustering is mainly depends on the initialization of clusters. To solve this problem this paper proposed a system named Median Unique Vector Optimization Algorithm. By using this algorithm it is used to sort out the correct selection of initial cluster centers for K-Means which is possibly used to avoid the local optimum problem and may reduce the number of iterations throughout the clustering process.

Finite element analysis of forming limits for stretch forming of perforated aluminium sheet metals

Stretch forming is one of the sheet metal forming process in which sheets are stretched to get the required shape. Formability of sheet metal is its ability to form when it is subjected to cold working process. Formability of a sheet metal is measured by Forming Limit Diagram (FLD/FLC). The limiting or failure strains in sheet metal forming are best represented by a forming limit curve which indicates the onset of necking over all possible combinations of strains in the plane. An attempt is made here to simulate the stretch forming of perforated sheet metals thereby studying its limiting strain. The uniaxial stretching and biaxial stretching are performed to get forming limit diagram. The influence of open area, and hole shape on FLD are studied. Perforated sheet is modelled with finite element method by using commercial FEA software ANSYS to calculate the major strain, minor strain and failure load for both uniaxial stretching and biaxial stretching of perforated sheet metal. It has been found that increasing in open area reduces the limiting major and minor strain. It has also been studied the influence of hole shape and punch shape on limiting major and minor strain.

Modeling of the corrosion rate of stainless steel in marine oil environment

Akpa Jackson. G.

Experimental corrosion rate data of two stainless steel grades (430 and 316) when subjected to a typical oil bearing marine environment have been generated. Empirical model equations for predicting the corrosion rates of the two steel grades were developed using the dimensional analysis of Bukinham-Pi method. Regression analysis was used to curve fit the experimental data, thus obtain the correlation factor in the model equations developed. The model equations were used to predict the corrosion rates for the two steel grades and the predicted rates were found to match the experimental rates perfectly in the time interval investigated.

Congestion occurs on a link when the traffic is exceeding the maximum capacity of that link which is a major problem in today’s world of internet. If the incoming link is larger than that of the outgoing link, it leads to congestion. Active Queue Management (AQM) schemes allow router to proactively respond to congestion by increasing the average length of its queue. Random Early Detection (RED) AQM algorithm a solution for congestion has difficulties in setting the parameters for bursty traffic. Hence an intelligent AQM technique is needed to reduce the packet loss by stabilizing the queue. The proposed Adaptive Resonance Theory 2 (ART 2) RED based AQM an unsupervised intelligent neural network stabilizes the queue and reduces the queue oscillations. The results are tested using network simulator ns 2 and prove that the proposed ART 2 RED AQM best suits for maintaining the queue stability by reducing the packet loss.

This paper suggests a methodology based on the image processing technique able to automatically calculate the vehicle traffic and its components (light vehicles, heavy vehicles and motorcycles). The method also allows to evaluate instant vehicle speeds and, where necessary, to rebuild vehicle trajectories. Traffic data obtained through the procedure described below (capacities and speeds) can be also usefully applied to estimate pollutant emissions from vehicle traffic per year; therefore, the suggested method employs the algorithms defined with CORINAIR procedures, implemented in Copert 4 software. In order to evaluate how effective is the methodology, an experiment has been carried out in a suburban area, more precisely in a motorway section approaching the International airport “Falcone e Borsellino” of Palermo in Italy.

The project involves the design and implementation of an intensive care incubator prototype that has a control system embedded in a microcontroller based on the technique of fuzzy logic, capable of maintaining the temperature of the newborn through two operation ways: baby and air. Similarly, it controls the humidity of the chamber according to the gestational age of the patient. The prototype also come with a piece of software developed in Lab View 2010, with which vital variables of the patient are monitored in real-time, that is to say, skin temperature, ambient temperature, humidity, oxygen saturation in the blood and heart rate, using for this, the Zig Bee communication protocol, chosen for its easy implementation and connectivity, and communicates wirelessly with the incubator station. The system has a set of alarms displayed in the main panel of the computer and monitoring software, which works visually and will sound in the event of failures as disconnection of sensor, over temperature, controller failure or supply failure.