Energy Harvesting & Wing Morphing Design Using Piezoelectric Macro Fiber Composites

Energy harvesting from vibration sources was a very promising field of research throughout the last few decades among the engineers and scientist as considering the necessity of renewable/green energy for the welfare of mankind. Unused vibration energy exists in the surrounding or machineries was always tried to be utilized. Since then, by using piezoelectric transduction, researchers started to harvest the vibration energy. However, after the invention of piezo ceramics Macro Fiber Composites (MFC) by NASA, the research in this field augmented a lot due to its high efficiency to convert mechanical strain or vibration to useful electrical power and vice versa. Apart from energy harvesting researcher concentrated to utilize this harvested energy for daily life and hence application of this harvested energy for structural health monitoring inaugurated. Recent study showed that, the vibration energy harvested from the vehicles or aerospace (UAV) structure is good enough to power its onboard structural health monitoring unit though for feeding this power to any other onboard electrical system is still challenging due to low power generation along with its random production. Moreover, Macro Fiber Composites (MFC) can be used as an actuator to change the shape of aircraft wing to enhance aerodynamic performance and hence, application of MFC for wing morphing design has become popular throughout these years. The purpose of this research work is to depict the recent progress & development that took place in the field of energy harvesting & wing morphing research using macro fiber composites and combining the existing knowledge continue the work further, the future of this harvested energy, new design concept & upcoming challenges along with its possible solution. This work investigates the different configuration of macro fiber composites (MFC) for piezoelectric energy harvesting and its contribution for wing morphing design with enhanced aerodynamics. For the first part of this work, uniform MFC configuration was modeled and built up based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. When the governing differential equations of the systems were derived, by applying the harmonic base excitation, coupled vibration response and the voltage response were obtained. The prediction of the mathematical model was at first verified by unimorph MFC with a brass substrate obtained from the state of art and then validation was justified by MFC unimorph along with three different substrate materials (copper, zinc alloy & galvanized steel) and thickness for the first time in this type of research. Computational & analytical solution revealed that, among these three substrates and for same thickness, maximum peak power at resonance excitation was obtained for the copper substrate. For the second part of the study (i) computational analysis was performed and the output was compared with the real time data obtained from the wind tunnel experiment and the conclusion stood that, with the increment of the incoming flow velocity, the power output from the MFC increases with a thin aerofoil made of copper substrates and two MFC on its upper surface (ii) wing morphing design was performed for a NACA 0012 aerofoil for the first time where macro fiber composite actuators were used to change the top and bottom surfaces of the aerofoil with a view to recording the enhanced aerodynamics performance the designed morphing wing. CFD simulation results were compared with the wind tunnel testing data from the state of art for NACA 0014 for all identical parameters. The enhanced aerodynamics performance observed for designed wing morphing can be used for future concepts like maneuvering of the aircraft without the help of ailerons or for the purpose of active flow control over the aircraft wing

Impact of Basel II on Bank Portfolios in Australia

This paper analyses the sensitivity of various risk-weighted assets and liabilities to regulatory capital ratios of domestic and foreign banks in Australia. In particular, this paper investigates whether the growth of various risk-weighted assets changes during the post-Basel II period and whether those changes are caused by the more rigorous capital regulation introduced by the Basel II. The empirical analysis shows that Australian local banks is found to experience a substantial increase of the high-risk weighted assets (namely, non-residential loans) and subordinated debt with respect to their tier 1 capital ratio. The same changes, however, are found to have insignificant influence on the growth of low-risk weighted assets and total asset. Keywords: Regulatory capital; Basel II; Bank; Australia DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-5-0

Digital exclusion in higher education contexts:A systematic literature review

AbstractThe integration and adoption of digital technologies have enabled improvements in the quality of and inclusion in higher education. However, a significant proportion of the population has either remained or become digitally excluded. This systematic literature review elucidates the factors underlying the concepts of “digital exclusion” and the “digital divide” in higher education. The identified factors are grouped into three categories: social exclusion (i.e., low income, ICT-avoidance as the norm, lack of motivation and commitment, and physical or mental disability), digital exclusion (i.e., lack of hardware devices and Internet services) and accessibility (which include the division between rural and urban areas, as well as disparities in ICT literacy and information literacy). These factors are multi-tiered and overlapping. Studies on the digital divide, digital exclusion, and barriers to ICT adoption in higher education deal with similar factors, but these are experienced differently in different contexts. While generalizing these factors into categories enables a better understanding of the nature of digital exclusion, solving and circumventing them remains complex due their dependency on the particular context of a higher education institution