A Pre-Landing Assessment of Regolith Properties at the InSight Landing Site

This article discusses relevant physical properties of the regolith at the Mars InSight landing site as understood prior to landing of the spacecraft. InSight will land in the northern lowland plains of Mars, close to the equator, where the regolith is estimated to be ≥3--5 m thick. These investigations of physical properties have relied on data collected from Mars orbital measurements, previously collected lander and rover data, results of studies of data and samples from Apollo lunar missions, laboratory measurements on regolith simulants, and theoretical studies. The investigations include changes in properties with depth and temperature. Mechanical properties investigated include density, grain-size distribution, cohesion, and angle of internal friction. Thermophysical properties include thermal inertia, surface emissivity and albedo, thermal conductivity and diffusivity, and specific heat. Regolith elastic properties not only include parameters that control seismic wave velocities in the immediate vicinity of the Insight lander but also coupling of the lander and other potential noise sources to the InSight broadband seismometer. The related properties include Poisson’s ratio, P- and S-wave velocities, Young’s modulus, and seismic attenuation. Finally, mass diffusivity was investigated to estimate gas movements in the regolith driven by atmospheric pressure changes. Physical properties presented here are all to some degree speculative. However, they form a basis for interpretation of the early data to be returned from the InSight mission.Additional co-authors: Nick Teanby and Sharon Keda

Computer-assisted tomography for studies of an Albaqualf

Na busca de técnicas mais apuradas para a determinação e avaliação de parâmetros físicos do solo com aplicabilidade em várzeas, vem se destacando a tomografia computadorizada, por medir a densidade e a umidade com boa sensibilidade e alta resolução espacial. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo descrever aspectos e procedimentos da calibração de um minitomógrafo de raios-X e gama para estudo da densidade e umidade de um Planossolo no Rio Grande do Sul, bem como estabelecer parâmetros estatísticos para sua adequada utilização. A calibração do minitomógrafo foi obtida pela regressão linear entre as unidades tomográficas (UT), apresentadas pelo programa de reconstrução de imagem, e os coeficientes de atenuação linear (µl, cm-1), medidos por transmissão direta de raios gama, em amostras dos horizontes A e B do Planossolo, água destilada, benzina e alumínio. Para as medidas de transmissão direta de radiação utilizaram-se recipientes com água destilada, benzina, solo e Al, obtendo-se as seguintes fórmulas para o cálculo da densidade do solo no horizonte A: Ds = [(UT/986,16)-(0,200xq)]/0,267; e no horizonte B: Ds = [(UT/986,16)-(0,200xq)]/0,297, em que UT é o valor médio de UT em cada linha e q é a umidade volumétrica da amostra de solo, em m3 m-3. Com as configurações obtidas, verificou-se variabilidade média de 2,74% e 0,73%, respectivamente, em termos de homogeneidade e repetibilidade. Os erros atribuídos ao equipamento são de 0,051 e 0,046 Mg m-3, respectivamente, nos horizontes A e B, revelando precisão e adaptabilidade no emprego da técnica em estudos do Planossolo._________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: In order to find better techniques to evaluate the soil physical parameters applied to lowland soils, the computerized tomography has been used to measure soil density and water content with accuracy and high spatial resolution. This work was carried out in order to describe features and calibration procedures of a computerized minitomographer using X-ray and gama-rays as sources of radiation and to establish suitable statistical parameters on the study of soil bulk density and water content in a Planosol (Albaqualf) from Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The minitomographer calibration was obtained from the linear regression equation among the tomography's unities (TU) presented by the image reconstruction program and the linear attenuation coefficient (µl, cm-1), by the measurement of direct transmission of g-rays as source of radiation in soil samples from A and B horizons, distilled water, benzin and aluminum. In order to get measures of the direct radiation transmission, containers with distilled water, benzin, soil and aluminum were used to obtain the following equations to calculate soil bulk density in the A horizon: Ds = [(TU/986.16)-(0.200xq)]/0.267 and in the B horizon: Ds = [(TU/986.16)-(0.200xq)]/0.297, where TU is the mean value in the line and q is the soil volumetric water content (m3 m-3). The obtained configurations allowed to attain average variabilities of 2.74% and 0.73% for homogeneity and repeatability, respectively. The expected errors related to the equipment are 0.051 and 0.046 Mg m-3, to the A and B horizons, respectively. The results showed the technique accuracy and adaptability in the studies of the physical characteristics of a Planosol

Experimental Evaluation of Springback in Aluminium Alloys Using Optical Measurement and Numerical Analysis

The aim of this paper is to establish an efficient and effective means of understanding the springback behaviour of a 5xxx-O and a 6xxx-T61 series aluminium alloy. The tooling used for investigating the springback is a small U-channel stamping draw die using two die radii of 8 or 12 mm and a punch radius of 12 mm. The samples were drawn to depths of 50 or 75 mm with a minimum of 5 samples being drawn for each condition. The U-channel samples were then evaluated using an optical scanning technique and the springback values were calculated using a numerical analysis as developed by one of the authors. The comparison of the sidewall springback, sidewall curl and flange springback under different conditions is conducted and the effect of the draw depth and die radius on the final springback is shown. Statistical analyses of both the drawing condition and the scanning technique are conducted to understand the effect of process variation on the results obtained. The 6xxx series shows higher springback values when compared to 5xxx series alloy. An increase in drawing depth suggests higher springback for both the alloys

Hole Expansion of Aluminum Alloys for the Automotive Industry

The introduction of Aluminum alloys in the automotive industry due to their high strength-to-weight ratio has brought with it a number of technical hurdles which require overcoming in order that their full potential may be realized. One of the issues that require addressing is that of edge cracking, a phenomenon which is particularly difficult to predict. This is often observed during the initial drawing operation in a traditional automotive stamping plant. A useful measure of a materials susceptibility to edge cracking is the Hole Expansion Ratio. Currently there is a standard (ISO 16630) which provides for holes to be expanded by a conical punch, where the original hole is introduced via punching. This reflects the traditional processing route within the automotive industry. Investigations have been conducted using both conical and flat-topped punches, as well as using drilling and reaming, and CNC machining to introduce the initial hole for comparison with the standard punched route in order to understand the effect of different processes on the susceptibility to edge cracking. The hole expansion ratio for a number of aluminum alloys, both 5xxx and 6xxx series, has been determined. Regression analyses of hole expansion ratios against material thickness and UTS have been conducted, and a relationship has been established for the different punch and hole types. Consideration is also given to combining a materials hole expansion ratio with its Forming Limit Curve (FLC), with a focus on tool design and tool buy-off being presented

Effect of material and process variability on the formability of aluminium alloys

Automotive parts are increasingly being manufactured to be lighter and stronger to minimise the environmental impact and to improve the crash performance of automobiles. The materials that are being used to achieve these aims tend to have lower formabilities compared to the traditionally used mild steel. This is particularly true for cold forming operations. As a consequence of the smaller forming window that is available, there is a greater need to understand the safety margins that are applied when manufacturing parts made from these materials. These safety margins are determined by estimations of the impact of material and process variabilities on formability as well as the attitude that is adopted towards risk. This study looked at the impact of material and process variabilities on the cold formability of two aluminium grades: AA6111-T4 and AA5754-O. The forming factors studied included changes to overall material properties, tool surface roughness, quantity of lubricant, tooling temperature and gauge. Because of the complexity of the forming process, the problem was reduced to a study of formability under plane strain stretch conditions. Particular emphasis was placed in quantifying the temperature of tooling during cold forming and understanding its effect on formability. It was found that the safety factor applied to AA5754-O can be lower than that used for AA6111-T4

Detecting subtle cosmetic defects in automotive skin panels

Cosmetic defects, such as 'hollows', are deviations in topology of automotive skin panels that form as a result of springback at the end of the forming process. These deviations are usually too small and local to be detected by discrete measurements of the panel but become visually apparent after the application of paint. As a result, the perceived quality of a panel may become unacceptable and considerable time may be dedicated to minimizing their occurrence through tool modifications. This paper proposes that there are three aspects to the problem. The first is the springback of the panel, the second is the optics of the painted panel, and the third is the ability of human sight to perceive a defect. In particular, it is argued that hollows cause optical distortions that inform the human eye of the presence of a defect. The paper then suggests that signal processing techniques, in particular the wavelet transform, provide a way to relate the geometry of a hollow to the resulting optical distortion. The transform was applied to two physical parts and the paper will discuss the effectiveness of the transform in locating and quantifying the relative severities of the defects that were present

A novel inspection system for cosmetic defects

The appearance of automotive skin panels creates desirability for a product and differentiates it from the competition. Because of the importance of skin panels, considerable care is taken in minimizing defects such as the 'hollow' defect that occur around door-handle depressions. However, the inspection process is manual, subjective and time-consuming. This paper describes the development of an objective and inspection scheme for the 'hollow' defect. In this inspection process, the geometry of a panel is captured using a structured lighting system. The geometry data is subsequently analyzed by a purpose-built wavelet-based algorithm to identify the location of any defects that may be present and to estimate the perceived severity of the defects without user intervention. This paper describes and critically evaluates the behavior of this physically-based algorithm on an ideal and real geometry and compares its result to an actual audit. The results show that the algorithm is capable of objectively locating and classifying 'hollow' defects in actual panels