543 research outputs found
Non-Destructive Testing Robots (NDTBOTS) for In-service Storage Tank Inspection
Petrochemical storage tanks are generally inspected when the tank is offline mostly to assess the extent of underside corrosion on the tank floor. Emptying, cleaning and opening a tank for inspection takes many months and is very expensive. Inspection costs can be reduced significantly by inserting robots through manholes on the tank roof to perform non-destructive testing. The challenge is to develop robots that can operate safely in explosive and hazardous environments and measure the thickness of floor plates using ultrasound sensors. This paper reports on the development of a small and inexpensive prototype robot (NDTBOT) which is designed to be intrinsically safe for zone zero operation. The robot “hops” across the floor to make measurements, without any external moving parts. The paper describes the design, experimental testing of the NDTBOT and presents results of steel plate thickness measurements made under water
Tracked-wheel crawler robot for vertically aligned mooring chain climbing design:simulation and validation of a climbing robot for mooring chain
Only a few attempts have been made to investigate the possibilities of developing chain climbing robot due to the complexity of the structure and physical nature of chain links. Mooring chains are subjected to large tidal waves, harsh environmental conditions and storms on a daily basis. Therefore, periodic inspection of the integrity of chain links is important. Work reported in this paper investigates the possibilities of mooring chain climbing by using tracked wheel locomotion. The permanent magnet adhesion, tracked wheel crawler robot developed for this purpose can climb on mooring chains both in air and underwater with a variable speed according to the inspection requirements (maximum speed of 42cm/minute). It is able to handle an external downward force of 50N during the climbing motion. Numerical modelling based analysis of a magnet adhesion module and the strength of the robot structure is validated with prototyping and testing of the concept
Adaptable legged-magnetic adhesion tracked wheel robotic platform for misaligned mooring chain climbing and inspection
London South Bank Innovation Centre (LSBIC); the National Structural Integrity Research Centre (NSIRC); TWI (NDT department), Cambridge
Are the Tails of Percolation Thresholds Gaussians ?
The probability distribution of percolation thresholds in finite lattices
were first believed to follow a normal Gaussian behaviour. With increasing
computer power and more efficient simulational techniques, this belief turned
to a stretched exponential behaviour, instead. Here, based on a further
improvement of Monte Carlo data, we show evidences that this question is not
yet answered at all.Comment: 7 pages including 3 figure
Efficient Monte Carlo algorithm and high-precision results for percolation
We present a new Monte Carlo algorithm for studying site or bond percolation
on any lattice. The algorithm allows us to calculate quantities such as the
cluster size distribution or spanning probability over the entire range of site
or bond occupation probabilities from zero to one in a single run which takes
an amount of time scaling linearly with the number of sites on the lattice. We
use our algorithm to determine that the percolation transition occurs at
occupation probability 0.59274621(13) for site percolation on the square
lattice and to provide clear numerical confirmation of the conjectured
4/3-power stretched-exponential tails in the spanning probability functions.Comment: 8 pages, including 3 postscript figures, minor corrections in this
version, plus updated figures for the position of the percolation transitio
Fair Quality of Experience (QoE) Measurements Related with Networking Technologies
[Invited Talk] Eighth International Conference on Wired/Wireless Internet Communications (June 1-3, Luleå, Sweden)Proceeding of: 8th International Conference, WWIC 2010, Lulea, Sweden, June 1-3, 2010This paper addresses the topic of Fair QoE measurements in networking. The research of new solutions in networking is oriented to improve the user experience. Any application or service can be im- proved and the deployment of new solutions is mandatory to get the user satisfaction. However, different solutions exist; thus, it is necessary to select the most suitable ones. Nevertheless, this selection is difficult to make since the QoE is subjective and the comparison among different technologies is not trivial. The aim of this paper is to give an overview on how to perform fair QoE measurements to facilitate the study and re- search of new networking solutions and paradigms. However, previously to address this problem, an overview about how networking affects to the QoE is provided.This work has been funded by the CONTENT NoE from the European Commission (FP6- 2005-IST-41) and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation under the CON- PARTE project (MEC, TEC2007-67966-C03-03/TCM) and T2C2 project grant (TIN2008-06739-C04-01).Publicad
A fast Monte Carlo algorithm for site or bond percolation
We describe in detail a new and highly efficient algorithm for studying site
or bond percolation on any lattice. The algorithm can measure an observable
quantity in a percolation system for all values of the site or bond occupation
probability from zero to one in an amount of time which scales linearly with
the size of the system. We demonstrate our algorithm by using it to investigate
a number of issues in percolation theory, including the position of the
percolation transition for site percolation on the square lattice, the
stretched exponential behavior of spanning probabilities away from the critical
point, and the size of the giant component for site percolation on random
graphs.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures. Corrections and some additional material in
this version. Accompanying material can be found on the web at
http://www.santafe.edu/~mark/percolation
Transverse energy production and charged-particle multiplicity at midrapidity in various systems from to 200 GeV
Measurements of midrapidity charged particle multiplicity distributions,
, and midrapidity transverse-energy distributions,
, are presented for a variety of collision systems and energies.
Included are distributions for AuAu collisions at ,
130, 62.4, 39, 27, 19.6, 14.5, and 7.7 GeV, CuCu collisions at
and 62.4 GeV, CuAu collisions at
GeV, UU collisions at GeV,
Au collisions at GeV, HeAu collisions at
GeV, and collisions at
GeV. Centrality-dependent distributions at midrapidity are presented in terms
of the number of nucleon participants, , and the number of
constituent quark participants, . For all collisions
down to GeV, it is observed that the midrapidity data
are better described by scaling with than scaling with . Also presented are estimates of the Bjorken energy density,
, and the ratio of to ,
the latter of which is seen to be constant as a function of centrality for all
systems.Comment: 706 authors, 32 pages, 20 figures, 34 tables, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010,
2011, and 2012 data. v2 is version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
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