The current research work investigates the behaviour of steel and composite beams as well as beam-to-column connections at elevated temperatures. Significant attention is needed to identify the main issues, as the behaviour is profoundly different from that at ambient temperature. Local buckling of the beam flange outstands has been found to be highly significant in accelerating the development of catenary action in fire, since this action is reliant on hinges forming which may result from local buckling. Local buckling of the beam web, which experiences a non-uniform temperature variation, is also important because the mechanical properties of the steel are degraded non-uniformly from their ambient values. Current formulations for web buckling at ambient temperature therefore need substantial revision at elevated temperatures. Very large compressive forces are developed within the beams initially and these induce large stresses in the column web; hitherto this has not been considered. Developing a formulation representing the mechanics of this potential failure zone in the column web in the compression region of the connection is a useful and needed addition to research in the topic. Predicting the critical temperature in a connection that causes failure of the bolts, end plate and column flange in the tension zone of the connection is considered in this research work. An elastic analysis of a panel zone in a rigid or semi-rigid joint in a steel frame, which is based on simple equilibrium considerations that takes into account the shear and flexural deformations of the panel zone, is developed at elevated temperatures. In order to model the structural response of a composite beam restrained by cooler members in a steel compartment fire in a frame structure at elevated temperature, recourse is needed to a geometric nonlinear formulation, since the beam transverse deflections are not negligible and the axial compressive force in the member is also substantial at the early stages of the fire. This thesis presents such a formulation, which incorporates partial interaction between the concrete slab and steel component, as well as the degradation of the stiffnesses of the components of the composite beam prior to yield at elevated temperature.

New methods to fabricate nanometer sized structures will be a major driving force in transforming nanoscience to nanotechnology. There are numerous examples of the incorporation of nanoscale structures or materials enhancing the functionality of a device. Graphitic carbon is a widely used material in electroanalysis due to a number of advantageous properties such as wide potential window, low cost, mechanical stability, and applicability to many common redox systems. In this thesis, the fabrication of nanometer sized graphitic carbon structures is described. These structures were fabricated by using a combination of electron-beam lithography (EBL) and pyrolysis. EBL allows for the precise control of shape, size and location of these carbon nanostructures. The structure and electrochemical reactivity of thin films of the pyrolyzed material is initially examined. The methodology to fabricate nanosized carbon structures and the structural and electrical characterization of the nanostructure is presented. The nanometer sized carbon structures fabricated in this work are being applied as nanoelectrodes. For nanoband structures, we observe a limiting current plateau which is characteristic of radial diffusion to cylindrical ultramicroelectrodes. Their voltammetric behaviour shows good agreement with classical theoretical predictions. Both carbon film and nanoband electrodes have been used as substrates for metal electrodeposition. The size and morphology of the deposited Au particles depends greatly on the substrate. On the nanoband electrodes, the Au particles exhibit a multi-branched or dendridic morphology. Their size and surface area are much larger than those electrodeposited on the carbon film electrode under the same conditions. The surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) properties of the gold deposited on the nanobands was studied. A high enhancement in Raman intensity for a molecular layer on the nanoband supported gold is observed.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

In this study, particle impact damping is measured for a cantilever beam with a particle-filled enclosure attached to its free end. Many particle materials are tested: lead spheres, steel spheres, glass spheres, tungsten carbide pellets, lead dust, steel dust, and sand. The effects of particle size are also investigated. Particle diameters are varied from about 0.2 mm to 3 mm. The experimental data collected is offered as a resourceful database for future development of an analytical model of particle impact damping.

The effect of electron beam irradiation upon microbiological quality and safety of fresh-cut tomatoes was studied. Preliminary studies were conducted to ensure reliability of the rifampicin-resistant strain versus the parent strain of Salmonella serovar Montevideo for use in this study. Growth curve, heat tolerance and lactic acid resistance studies were performed, all of which showed no differences in behavior between the organisms. Fresh tomatoes were obtained from a local supplier and then cut into cubes with stem scars being separated. Both cubes and stem scars were inoculated with a rifampicin- resistant strain of either Salmonella Montevideo or Salmonella Agona, separated into treatment groups and treated by electron beam irradiation at 0.0 kGy (control), 0.7 kGy or 0.95 kGy. The effect of electron beam irradiation was determined for Salmonella, yeast, mold, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) populations as well as pH on tomato cubes and stem scars over a 15-day storage period at 4??C. Results indicated that while irradiation treatment significantly reduced most microbial populations on tomato samples, there were no differences in the microbial populations between treatments of 0.7 kGy or 0.95 kGy. Irradiation at either dose resulted in a significant reduction of Salmonella Montevideo when compared to the control, with an initial reduction of 1.8 and 2.2 log10 CFU/g on tomatoes for 0.7 kGy and 0.95 kGy, respectively. LAB, yeasts and molds were more resistant to the treatment than Salmonella. Populations present on stem scars and tomato cubes did experience some differences in log reductions, possibly due to the protective effect of the stem scar on microorganisms. However, no differences were detected between the two Salmonella serotypes in response to irradiation treatment. This study indicates that doses of irradiation greater than 1 kGy should be used in fresh-cut tomatoes to eliminate significant populations of pathogens, as well as to ensure the microbial quality of the product. Additional studies also need to be conducted to examine the effects of higher irradiation doses on the sensory qualities of fresh-cut tomatoes.

A polarization-independent electro-optically tunable add/drop filter utilizing non-polarizing novel relaxed beam splitters has been developed in LiNbO3 at the 1.55μm wavelength regime. The operation of this filter is based on passive directional coupler type beam splitters and strain-induced phase-matched TE↔TM polarization mode converters on an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer waveguide configuration. Fabrication parameters for channel waveguides, relaxed beam splitters and polarization mode converters were optimized individually then integrated to produce the final device. Single mode channel waveguides for both TE and TM polarizations were realized by the diffusion of 7μm wide Ti strips into LiNbO3 substrate. Relaxed beam splitters were produced using Ti diffused waveguides in a directional coupler configuration with 3.5mm long coupling region, 0.6º bending angle, and separation gap of 11μm and 13μm between waveguides. Tunable TE↔TM polarization mode converters with 99.8%

Typical power outputs of commercially available diode lasers are on the order of 5 milliwatts. This thesis discusses the growth, processing and fabrication of high power (lOO's of milliwatts) diode lasers. Devices were grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). The MOCVD diode lasers demonstrated room temperature laser operation with peak output powers of 450 mW/facet pulsed mode. The MBE diode lasers demonstrated room temperature pulsed laser operation of 110 mW/facet. The dynamics of the quantum well structure were studied. The carrier concentration, threshold current density and coatings were modeled. It was demonstrated through transmission line analogies that, depending on the thickness of the high reflective coating, the result would be a high output power diode laser or a superluminescent device. The MBE device was coated with a high power coating resulting in a peak power of 450 mW. The MOCVD device was used to study the superluminescence resulting from specific coatings. / Graduation date: 1992

This dissertation presents the findings of a study to quantify the effect of heat source configurations on the performance of passive chilled beams. Experiments in a thermally controlled test room were conducted using thermal manikins as heat sources cooled with a 0.6 m by 2.4 m beam. The thermal manikins were arranged in a symmetric and an asymmetric configuration and tested over a range of input power to simulate a low-to-high load heat distribution of an indoor space. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed in Star CCM+ v6.06 and used for further analysis of the flow field and to predict additional spatial arrangements of the beam, interior dimensions, and heat source configurations. The CFD model implemented a calculation for the beam cooling capacity to predict the beam performance based on the room thermal conditions. The experimental data revealed an average reduction of 15% in the passive beam cooling capacity for the asymmetrically configured thermal manikins compared to the symmetric arrangement. The CFD model was validated with the experimental data and predicted the asymmetric heat source beam performance reduction to be 17%. The reduction in performance based on the heat source arrangement was found with analysis of the CFD simulations to be a result of the above-beam air velocity field. The unbalanced thermal manikin configuration generated an unbalanced flow condition at the inlet of the beam that resulted in the room air circumventing the inlet of the passive beam, as compared to the inlet velocity field of the symmetric configuration. Additional configurations were investigated with the CFD model to include the beam position, floor area, ceiling height, and thermal manikin arrangements. The simulation results were analyzed by comparing the efficiency of beam performance using the beam cooling capacity calculation for each scenario. The predictions of additional configurations found that the efficiency increased when the beam was perpendicular to a group of heat sources and the changes in beam performance with heat source configurations was not affected by the interior dimensions of the space. However, the resulting thermal conditions in the occupied zone for the beam positions of highest efficiency may negatively impact the thermal comfort of occupants.

In April 2007 we contacted Lennart Augustsson at Designpartners AB in Västerås. He came up with the idea to investigate and evaluate their construction of a interaction beam, CSB-beam. CSB is short for Connector Interaction beam. The beam is based on a horizontal C-profile of high-tensile steel and in the bottom of the profile are vertical flat bar welded so called block connectors. These block anchorsare also made of hightensilesteel. Their task is to create collaboration between the steel and the concrete. The dimensioning of the block connectors is done according to the Swedish standard SSENV199411.The purpose of this study is to evaluate and control the formula used for the dimensioning which is found in SS-ENV 1994-1-1.There has been two main parts of this exam work. Part 1: Theoretical preliminary investigations,consisting of calculations and literature studies of block anchors. Part 2: Practical testloads of four prefabricatedCSB-beams.The results of the two parts were thencompared to see if theory corresponded to reality. The result shows that the comparison of the formula in Swedish standard, SS-ENV 1994-1-1 can be used for dimensioning of block connectors in interaction beams.

In recent years, Land vehicle navigation system (LVNS) technology is a subject of great interest due to its potential for both consumer and business vehicle markets. GPS/INS ( Global Positioning System/ Inertial Navigation System ) integrated system is an effective solution to realize the LVNS. And how to keep communication between the vehicle and satellite while the vehicle is running in a bad environment is the main task in this thesis. The thesis provides an introduction to beam tracking system and two algorithms of how to improve the performance, then compare these two algorithms and choose the suitable one and implement it on ArduPilotMega board using Arduino language, at last test the integrated GPS/INS system in practice in order to estimate the performance. The requirements of the project are the maximum angular speed and angular acceleration speed of the vehicle are  and , respectively. Two algorithms which are Direction Cosine Matrix (DCM) and Euler Angle are evaluated in the system. In this thesis, there are many rotations due to the hostile environment, and DCM algorithm is not suitable for the requirement according to the results of simulation. Therefore, an innovated method which is Euler Angle Algorithm can be one effective way to solve the probelm. The primary idea of Euler Angle algorithm is to calculate the difference between the reference direction vector and the measurement direction vector from GPS and accelerometers, once there is an error rotation, take the cross product and rotate the incorrect direction vector back to original direction. The simulation results show that by implementing EA algorithm, system requirements can be achievable with a 10kHz update rate antenna and a 4000Hz sampling rate gyroscope, also with EA implementation in ArduPilotMega board, the real system tracking ability can be enhanced effectively.