Volume 26 (2021): Issue 3 (September 2021)

This research investigates a thermo-mechanical strength of three geometrical shape designs of an internal combustion (IC) engine piston by a finite element analysis (FEA). FEA was performed using Solidworks software for modelling geometrical piston designs, and the models were imported into ANSYS software for thermo-mechanical fatigue simulation. The work focused on predicting high stress intensity and indicated the fatigue critical regions and life of the piston shape design. AL7075-T6 aluminium alloy was used as a piston material and thermo-mechanical fatigue simulation was conducted based on the experimental stress-number of cycles recorded data from literature. Analytical results showed the similarity of the critical failure positions to some real failures in the IC engine piston, and the shape design modification of the piston. Hence, this concept can be used to satisfy the IC engine design needs at low cost.

In this paper, the probabilistic behavior of plain concrete beams subjected to flexure is studied using a continuous mesoscale model. The model is two-dimensional where aggregate and mortar are treated as separate constituents having their own characteristic properties. The aggregate is represented as ellipses and generated under prescribed grading curves. Ellipses are randomly placed so it requires probabilistic analysis for model using the Monte Carlo simulation with 20 realizations to represent geometry uncertainty. The nonlinear behavior is simulated with an isotropic damage model for the mortar, while the aggregate is assumed to be elastic. The isotropic damage model softening behavior is defined in terms of fracture mechanics parameters. This damage model is compared with the fixed crack model in macroscale study before using it in the mesoscale model. Then, it is used in the mesoscale model to simulate flexure test and compared to experimental data and shows a good agreement. The probabilistic behavior of the model response is presented through the standard deviation, moment parameters and cumulative probability density functions in different loading stages. It shows variation of the probabilistic characteristics between pre-peak and post-peak behaviour of load-CMOD curves.

The purpose of this research is to specify the differences between the performance of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and reinforced concrete (RC) walls. The study is done by using the finite element structural analysis and design software, StruSoft FEM-Design, in order to model, analyse and design a reference building located in the city of Gävle in Sweden. The building is firstly modelled, analysed and designed using RC walls and then the RC walls are replaced with CLT walls. In both buildings, other load-bearing elements such as slabs, beams and columns are made of RC while the roof beams are made of glulam. It is found that employing RC has advantages, especially regarding thickness. The results show that the CLT walls require larger dimensions than their RC counterparts. Meanwhile, it is demonstrated that the slabs, beams and columns made of RC in the building having the CLT walls require more reinforcement or larger thickness than the case of walls made of RC. Moreover, the total weight of the building having the CLT walls is 74% of the building having the RC walls. The lower weight of the building having the CLT walls has great advantages such as having lighter foundation and being cost-effective and also beneficial for the environment.

Since the 1960s, all studies have assumed that a film thickness “h” provides a unique pressure field “p” by resolving the Reynolds equation. However, it is relevant to investigate the film thickness unicity under a given hydrodynamic pressure within the inverse theory. This paper presents a new approach to deduce from an initial film thickness a widespread number of thicknesses providing the same hydrodynamic pressure under a specific condition of gradient pressure. For this purpose, three steps were presented: 1) computing the hydrodynamic pressure from an initial film thickness by resolving the Reynolds equation with Gümbel’s cavitation model, 2) using a new algorithm to generate a second film thickness, 3) comparing and validating the hydrodynamic pressure produced by both thicknesses with the modified Reynolds equation. Throughout three surface finishes: the macro-shaped, micro-textured, and rough surfaces, it has been demonstrated that under a specific hydrodynamic pressure gradient, several film thicknesses could generate the same pressure field with a slight difference by considering cavitation. Besides, this paper confirms also that with different ratios of the averaged film thickness to the root mean square (RMS) similar hydrodynamic pressure could be generated, thereby the deficiency of this ratio to define the lubrication regime as commonly known from Patir and Cheng theory.

The present paper studies the periodic flow of a second grade fluid generated by non-torsional oscillations of the disks rotating in the eccentric form under the application of a magnetic field. Subsequent to the rotational motion of the disks at a common angular velocity about two vertical axes, they perform oscillations horizontally in a symmetrical manner. The exact analytical solutions are derived for both the velocity field and the tangential force per unit area exerted on one of the disks by the fluid. Special attention is paid to the influence of the applied magnetic field and it is investigated how the magnetic field controls the flow when the frequency of oscillation is less than or equal to or greater than the angular velocity of the disks. It is found that the application of the magnetic field leads to thinner boundary layers developed on the disks and the changes in the values of the shear stress components which represent the tangential force exerted on the disks occur at larger amplitude.

A boundary layer flow of an electrically conducting viscous fluid past a converging channel in the presence of thermophoresis, heat source, chemical reaction, viscous dissipation and simultaneous heat and mass transfer characteristics is studied in the paper. An external magnetic field of uniform strength is applied transversely to the channel. The similarity solution has been used to transform the partial differential equations that represent the problem into a boundary value problem of coupled ordinary differential equations, which in turn are solved numerically using MATLAB’s built in solver bvp4c. Numerical computations are carried out to solve the problem and graphical illustrations are made to get the physical insight of the same. The convergent channel flow problem of an incompressible electrically conducting viscous fluid in the presence of a magnetic field has a wide range of applicability in different areas of engineering, specially in industrial metal casting and control of molten metal flow.

In this paper, a two-dimensional steady flow of a viscous fluid due to a stretching sheet in the presence of a magnetic field is considered. We proposed two new numerical schemes based on the Haar wavelet coupled with a collocation approach and quasi-linearization process for solving the Falkner-Skan equation representing the governing problem. The important derived quantities representing the fluid velocity and wall shear stress for various values of flow parameters M and β are calculated. The proposed methods enable us to obtain the solutions even for negative β, nonlinear stretching parameter, and smaller values of the magnetic parameter (M < 1) which was missing in the earlier findings. Numerical and graphical results obtained show an excellent agreement with the available findings and demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the developed schemes. Another significant advantage of the present method is that it does not depends on small parameters and initial presumptions unlike in traditional semi-analytical and numerical methods.

The pressure gradient term plays a vital role in convective heat transfer in the boundary layer flow of a Maxwell fluid over a stretching sheet. The importance of the effects of the term can be monitored by developing Maxwell’s equation of momentum and energy with the pressure gradient term. To achieve this goal, an approximation technique, i.e. Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) is employed with an application of algorithms of Adams Method (AM) and Gear Method (GM). With this approximation method we can study the effects of the pressure gradient (m), Deborah number (β), the ratio of the free stream velocity parameter to the stretching sheet parameter (ɛ) and Prandtl number (Pr) on both the momentum and thermal boundary layer thicknesses. The results have been compared in the absence and presence of the pressure gradient term m . It has an impact of thinning of the momentum and boundary layer thickness for non-zero values of the pressure gradient. The convergence of the system has been taken into account for the stretching sheet parameter ɛ. The result of the system indicates the significant thinning of the momentum and thermal boundary layer thickness in velocity and temperature profiles. On the other hand, some results show negative values of f '(η) and θ (η) which indicates the case of fluid cooling.

Reducing energy consumption and providing high performance for a vapour compression refrigeration system are big challenges that need more attention and investigation. This paper provides an extensive review of experimental and theoretical studies to present the vapour compression refrigeration system and its modifications that can be used to improve system’s performance and reduce its energy consumption. This paper also presents the challenges that can be considered as a gab of research for the future works and investigations. Cooling capacity, refrigerant effect, energy consumption can be improved by using vapour injection technique, natural working fluid, and heat exchanger. Based on the outcome of this paper, vapour injection technique using natural refrigerant such as water can provide ultimate friendly refrigeration system. Future vision for the vapour compression refrigeration system and its new design technique using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) is also considered and presented.

MHD and radiated heat flow on a rotating system of an electrically conducting fluid in the presence of Hall current under the influence of variable temperature is studied analytically. An exact solution of a non-dimensional form of coupled partial differential equations is obtained by the technique of Laplace transform. The effect of temperature, velocity and concentration is analyzed for various parameters like the Hall parameter (m), thermal radiation (R), rotation parameter (Ω), Hartmann number (M) and results are discussed in detail with the help of graphs. A mixed analysis of a rotating fluid with Hall current and thermal radiation plays a very essential role in the research area such as plasma physics, MHD generator, fluid drift sensor, cosmological and geophysical level, etc.

In this paper, a displacement based shear deformation theory formulated on the cubic in-plane displacement field equation of Reddy and Liu is presented for the static bending analysis of isotropic circular cylindrical shells. The adopted displacement field accounts for a quadratic (parabolic) distribution of the transverse shear through the shell thickness as well as satisfies the need for a stress free upper and lower boundary surfaces of the shell. The equations of static equilibrium are obtained on application of the principle of virtual work. Numerical results of the bending analysis for the displacements and stresses are presented for the simply supported shell. A comparison made to those of the Kirchhoff-Love theory for varying shell length to mean – radius of curvature ratios, shows good agreement for thin shells irrespective of the shell length to radius of curvature ratio (l / a). The transverse sharing effect is found to be noticeable in the deformation of thick shells, however, this effect diminishes with a continuous increase in l / a ratios.

This paper presents the results of applying a new iterative method to linear and nonlinear fractional partial differential equations in fluid mechanics. A numerical analysis was performed to find an exact solution of the fractional wave equation and fractional Burgers’ equation, as well as an approximate solution of fractional KdV equation and fractional Boussinesq equation. Fractional derivatives of the order α are described using Caputo's definition with 0 < α ≤ 1 or 1 < α ≤ 2. A comparative analysis of the results obtained using a new iterative method with those obtained by the Adomian decomposition method showed the first method to be more efficient and simple, providing accurate results in fewer computational operations. Given its flexibility and ability to solve nonlinear equations, the iterative method can be used to solve more complex linear and nonlinear fractional partial differential equations.

A study of nonlinear waves in liquid-gas mixtures with the consideration of internal effects is an important problem of both the fundamental and the applied fluid mechanics. Investigation of nonlinear waves in the gas-liquid mixtures with allowance for internal effects is an important task of both fundamental and applied fluid mechanics. These problems often arise in industrial processes such as oil and gas production, hydrocarbons pipeline transportation, gas-saturated fluids flow in pipelines, etc. In this work, we investigate the effect of the internal electric field on the nonlinear wave propagation in a bubbly liquid. Numerical simulations have been conducted to study the nonlinear waves described by the nonlinear Burgers-Korteweg-de Vries equation. The numerical simulations showed that the electrokinetic processes significantly affect the wave propagation process. The amplitude of the waves gradually decreases when the size of the gas bubble is decreasing and the electrical potential increases. A good agreement of obtained results with our previous predictions is found.

The water level above a hydrokinetic turbine is likely to vary throughout the season and even along the day. In this work, the influence of the free surface on the performance of a three bladed horizontal-axis turbine is explored by means of a three-dimensional, transient, two-phase flow computational model implemented in the commercial CFD software ANSYS Fluent 19.0. The k – ω SST Transition turbulence model coupled with the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method is used to track the air-water interface. The rotor diameter is D = 0 8m. Two operating conditions are analyzed: deep tip immersion (0.55D) and shallow tip immersion (0.19D). Three tip speed ratios are evaluated for each immersion. Simulation results show a good agreement with experimental data reported in the literature, although the computed torque and thrust coefficients are slightly underestimated. Details of the free surface dynamics, the flow past the turbine and the wake near the rotor are also discussed.

The through-thickness crack or surface crack in PE100 pipes subjected to internal pressure represents a serious risk to the structural integrity of HDPE pipes, which has attracted wide attention in modern industry. Although experimental research offers reliable predictions of surface crack influence on pipes, the relatively high cost hinders its application. The numerical simulation, as a cost-effective alternative, has been widely applied to assess stress displacement and strain to the entire pipe structure. This is the initial approach adopted in recent decades. This article provides simulations tests of an uncracked pipe and cracked PE100 pipe under different internal pressure values, with varying each time the dimensions of the crack with 1 mm rate for minor and major radius and 0.5mm rates for the largest contour radius, using ANSYS MECHANICAL STRUCTURAL STATIC for simulation.