Numerical investigation of a galvanic structural joint subjected to a mechano- electrochemical loading

Here, we present for the first time, an experimentally validated numerical model for a galvanic couple subjected to a mechano-electrochemical process. The model is capable of tracking moving boundaries of the corroding constituent of the couple by employing Arbitrary Langrangian Eulerian (ALE) method. Results show that, when an anode is under a purely elastic deformation, there is no apparent effect of mechanical loading on the electrochemical galvanic process. However, when the applied tensile load is sufficient to cause a plastic deformation (local internal stress gradient), the local galvanic corrosion activity at the vicinity of the interface is increased remarkably. The effect of other factors, such as electrode area ratios, electrical conductivity of the electrolyte and depth of the electrolyte, are studied. It is observed that the conductivity of the electrolyte significantly influences the surface profile of the anode, especially near the junction

A review on cement degradation under CO2-rich environment of sequestration projects

Global warming arising from the release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere is one of the biggest issues attracting a lot of attention. One of the conventional problems in sequestration projects is the degradation of Portland cement due to its exposure to supercritical CO2. This paper gives a review on the laboratory work performed to understand changes in the mechanical and transport properties of cement when it is in a CO2 rich environment. The results obtained indicated that pozzolanic material could be useful in enhancing the cement resistance against CO2, although more studies are still required to confirm this conclusion

The impact of poor cementing casing damage: A numerical simulation study

A good knowledge of the parameters causing casing damage is critically important due to vital role of casing during the life of a well. Cement sheath, which fills in the gap between the casing and wellbore wall, has a profound effect on the resistance of the casing against applied loads. Most of the empirical equations proposed to estimate the collapse resistance of casing ignore the effects of the cement sheath on collapse resistance and rather assume uniform loading on the casing. This paper aims to use numerical modeling to show how a bad cementing job may lead to casing damage. Two separate cases were simulated where the differences between good and bad cementation on casing resistance were studied. In both cases, the same values of stresses were applied at the outer boundary of the models. The results revealed that a good cementing job can provide a perfect sheath against the tangential stress induced by far-field stresses and reduce the chance of casing to be damaged

Wide parameter search for isolated pulsars using the Hough transform

We use the Hough transform to analyze data from the second science run of the LIGO interferometers, to look for gravitational waves from isolated pulsars. We search over the whole sky and over a large range of frequencies and spin-down parameters. Our search method is based on the Hough transform, which is a semi-coherent, computationally efficient, and robust pattern recognition technique. We also present a validation of the search pipeline using hardware signal injections.Comment: Presented at GWDAW-9 in Annecy, France (Dec. 2004). 11 pages, 5 Figures. To appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

A Simple, Precise and Cost Effective PTFE Container Design Capable to Work in Domestic Microwave Oven

Starting from the first application of a microwave oven for sample preparation in 1975 for the purpose of wet ashing of biological samples using a domestic microwave oven, many microwave-assisted dissolution vessels have been developed. The advanced vessels are armed with special safety valve that release the excess of pressure while the vessels are in critical conditions due to applying high power of microwave. Nevertheless, this releasing of pressure may cause lose of volatile elements. In this study Teflon bottles are designed with relatively thicker wall compared to commercial ones and a silicone based polymer was used to prepare an O-ring which plays the role of safety valve. In this design, eight vessels are located in an ABS holder to keep them stable and safe. The advantage of these vessels is that they need only 2 mL of HNO3 and 1mL H2O2 to digest different environmental samples, namely, sludge, apple leave, peach leave, spinach leave and tomato leave. In order to investigate the performance of this design an ICP-MS instrument was applied for multi elemental analysis of 20 elements on the SRM of above environmental samples both using this design and a commercial microwave digestion design. Very comparable recoveries were obtained from this simple design with the commercial one. Considering the price of ultrapure chemicals and the amount of them which normally is about 8-10 mL, these simple vessels with the procedures that will be discussed in detail are very cost effective and very suitable for environmental studies

A Simple, Precise and Cost Effective PTFE Container Design Capable to Work in Domestic Microwave Oven

Starting from the first application of a microwave oven for sample preparation in 1975 for the purpose of wet ashing of biological samples using a domestic microwave oven, many microwave-assisted dissolution vessels have been developed. The advanced vessels are armed with special safety valve that release the excess of pressure while the vessels are in critical conditions due to applying high power of microwave. Nevertheless, this releasing of pressure may cause lose of volatile elements. In this study Teflon bottles are designed with relatively thicker wall compared to commercial ones and a silicone based polymer was used to prepare an O-ring which plays the role of safety valve. In this design, eight vessels are located in an ABS holder to keep them stable and safe. The advantage of these vessels is that they need only 2 mL of HNO3 and 1mL H2O2 to digest different environmental samples, namely, sludge, apple leave, peach leave, spinach leave and tomato leave. In order to investigate the performance of this design an ICP-MS instrument was applied for multi elemental analysis of 20 elements on the SRM of above environmental samples both using this design and a commercial microwave digestion design. Very comparable recoveries were obtained from this simple design with the commercial one. Considering the price of ultrapure chemicals and the amount of them which normally is about 8-10 mL, these simple vessels with the procedures that will be discussed in detail are very cost effective and very suitable for environmental studies

The architecture of the middle ear in the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes Javanicus)

The small Indian mongoose (Herpestes javanicus) is native to the Middle East, Iran and much of southern Asia. For this study the middle ears of a total of 6 adult small Indian mongooses, both fresh and museum samples were explored by using of dissection and plain radiography. On the one hand, at least in some species of the mongoose vocalisations and hearings play a critical role in coordinating behaviours. On the other hand, the ear region has provided useful character relevant for mammalian phylogeny. So, the aim of the present study is a brief discussion of the various anatomic particularities of the middle ear based on a combination of existing data and the results of the authors’ study in the small Indian mongoose

Application and optimization in chromium-contaminated wastewater treatment of the reverse osmosis technology

Background: Chromium (Cr) is the most important element used to plate other metals and electroplating factories are still considered to be the most important industries which pollute the environment to this metal. This paper describes a study conducted to determine the efficiency of reverse-osmosis (RO) as a membrane technique for removal of Cr from wastewater samples synthetically prepared to be similar to electroplating effluents. Methods: The RO unit used in this study was a spiral wound module of 2521 TE made by a Korean CSM company. Synthetic wastewater samples containing Cr ions at various concentrations of 1 to 20 mg/L were prepared and subjected to treatment by RO, and quantitative analysis had been accomplished by a colorimetric method. Evaluation of optimized conditions of treatment had also been carried out by determining the effects of changing operating pressure, temperature and pHs of samples. Results: Optimum conditions of Cr-treatment by RO in 10 g/L initial Cr concentration were determined to be in the pH range of 6 to 7 and in temperature of about 25°C at an applied pressure of 200 psi. Conclusion: Considering the efficiency of Cr removal which was as high as 99 at the optimized conditions it could be concluded that RO membrane process may be selected and developed as an effective alternative for treatment of metal-contaminated effluents of electroplating and similar industries

Parametric Study of Strain Rate Effects on Nanoparticle-Reinforced Polymer Composites

Crashworthiness, energy absorption capacity, and safety are important factors in the design of lightweight vehicles made of fiber-reinforced polymer composite (FRP) components. The relatively recent emergence of the nanotechnology industry has presented a novel means to augment the mechanical properties of various materials. As a result, recent attempts have contemplated the use of nanoparticles to further improve the resiliency of resins, especially when resins are used for mating FRP components. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the response of nanoreinforced polymer composites, subjected to various rates of loading, is of paramount importance for developing reliable structures. In this paper, the effects of nanoreinforcement on the mechanical response of a commonly used epoxy resin subjected to four different strain rates, are systematically investigated. The results are then compared to those of the neat resin. To characterize the mechanical properties of the nanocomposite, a combination of the strain rate-dependent mechanical (SRDM) model of Goldberg and his coworkers and Halpin-Tsai’s micromechanical approach is employed. Subsequently, a parametric study is conducted to ascertain the influences of particle type and their weight percentage. Finally, the numerical results are compared to the experimental data obtained from testing of the neat and the nanoreinforced epoxy resin

Bayesian Analysis of Doubly Inflated Poisson Regression for Correlated Count Data: Application to DMFT Data

Outcome variables in clinical studies sometimes include count data with inflation in two points (usually zero and k (k>0)). Doubly inflated models can be adopted for modeling these types of data. In statistical modeling, the association among subjects due to longitudinal or cluster study designs is considered by random effects models. In this article, we proposed a doubly inflated random effects model using the Bayesian approach for correlated count data with inflation in two values, and compared this model with Bayesian zero-inflated Poisson and Bayesian Poisson models. The parameters’ estimates by these models were obtained by Markov Chain Monte Carlo method using OpenBUGS software. Bayesian models were compared using the deviance information criterion. To this end, we utilized the total number of decayed, missed, and filled teeth of 12-year-old children and also conducted a simulation study.  Results of real data and the simulation study revealed that the proposed model is fitted better than previous models.&nbsp