Mechanical Properties of Fiberous High Performance Lightweight Aggregate Concrete

Structural lightweight aggregate concrete solves weight and durability problems in buildings and structures. Recent advanced in material technology have accelerated the development of high performance concrete using lightweight aggregate. The main objective of this research is to produce high performance lightweight aggregate concrete reinforced with polypropylene and to study the mechanical properties of this type. The effect of various factors such as type of fiber and volume fraction of fibers also has been investigated. The experimental work included the use of pumice as coarse and fine lightweight aggregate, superplasticizer and silica fume to produce high performance lightweight concrete. Several trial mixes were examined to determine the proper proportion of the concrete constituent. Three types of polypropylene with different volume fraction were used. The procedure also includes studying the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and static modulus of elasticity. The test results shows that the addition of all types of polypropylene fiber results in significant improvement in most mechanical properties compared with reference concrete specimens at different ages except compressive strength it was improved at Vf =0.25% and decrease at Vf =0.75%

Pricing Link by Time

The combination of loss-based TCP and drop-tail routers often results in full buffers, creating large queueing delays. The challenge with parameter tuning and the drastic consequence of improper tuning have discouraged network administrators from enabling AQM even when routers support it. To address this problem, we propose a novel design principle for AQM, called the pricing-link-by-time (PLT) principle. PLT increases the link price as the backlog stays above a threshold β, and resets the price once the backlog goes below β. We prove that such a system exhibits cyclic behavior that is robust against changes in network environment and protocol parameters. While β approximately controls the level of backlog, the backlog dynamics are invariant for β across a wide range of values. Therefore, β can be chosen to reduce delay without undermining system performance. We validate these analytical results using packet-level simulation

Robust nonlinear generalised predictive control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems via an integral sliding mode approach

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Control on 15/02/2016, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00207179.2016.1145356.In this paper, a robust nonlinear generalised predictive control (GPC) method is proposed by combining an integral sliding mode approach. The composite controller can guarantee zero steady-state error for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems in the presence of both matched and unmatched disturbances. Indeed, it is well known that the traditional GPC based on Taylor series expansion cannot completely reject unknown disturbance and achieve offset-free tracking performance. To deal with this problem, the existing approaches are enhanced by avoiding the use of the disturbance observer and modifying the gain function of the nonlinear integral sliding surface. This modified strategy appears to be more capable of achieving both the disturbance rejection and the nominal prescribed specifications for matched disturbance. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Feedback control of spin systems

The feedback stabilization problem for ensembles of coupled spin 1/2 systems is discussed from a control theoretic perspective. The noninvasive nature of the bulk measurement allows for a fully unitary and deterministic closed loop. The Lyapunov-based feedback design presented does not require spins that are selectively addressable. With this method, it is possible to obtain control inputs also for difficult tasks, like suppressing undesired couplings in identical spin systems.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figure

Ball on a beam: stabilization under saturated input control with large basin of attraction

This article is devoted to the stabilization of two underactuated planar systems, the well-known straight beam-and-ball system and an original circular beam-and-ball system. The feedback control for each system is designed, using the Jordan form of its model, linearized near the unstable equilibrium. The limits on the voltage, fed to the motor, are taken into account explicitly. The straight beam-and-ball system has one unstable mode in the motion near the equilibrium point. The proposed control law ensures that the basin of attraction coincides with the controllability domain. The circular beam-and-ball system has two unstable modes near the equilibrium point. Therefore, this device, never considered in the past, is much more difficult to control than the straight beam-and-ball system. The main contribution is to propose a simple new control law, which ensures by adjusting its gain parameters that the basin of attraction arbitrarily can approach the controllability domain for the linear case. For both nonlinear systems, simulation results are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the designed nonlinear control laws and to determine the basin of attraction

Offset-free feedback linearisation control of a three-phase grid-connected photovoltaic system

In this study, a state feedback control law is combined with a disturbance observer to enhance disturbance rejection capability of a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverter. The control law is based on input-output feedback linearisation technique, while the existing disturbance observer is simplified and adopted for the system under investigation. The resulting control law has a proportional-integral (PI)/almost PI-derivative-like structure, which is convenient for real-time implementation. The objective of the proposed approach is to improve the DC-bus voltage regulation, while at the same time control the power exchange between the PV system and the grid. The stability of the closed-loop system under the composite controller is guaranteed by simple design parameters. Both simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method has significant abilities to initiate fast current control and accurate adjustment of the DC-bus voltage under model uncertainty and external disturbance

Adaptive Robust Fault-Tolerant Control for Linear MIMO Systems with Unmatched Uncertainties

In this paper, two novel fault-tolerant control design approaches are proposed for linear MIMO systems with actuator additive faults, multiplicative faults and unmatched uncertainties. For time-varying multiplicative and additive faults, new adaptive laws and additive compensation functions are proposed. A set of conditions is developed such that the unmatched uncertainties are compensated by actuators in control. On the other hand, for unmatched uncertainties with their projection in unmatched space being not zero, based on a (vector) relative degree condition, additive functions are designed to compensate for the uncertainties from output channels in presence of actuator faults. The developed fault-tolerant control schemes are applied to two aircraft systems to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approaches