Debido al crecimiento continuo que se tiene cada año del consumo del concreto como primer material de construcción, resulta de gran ayuda contar con distintos métodos no destructivos que nos permitan conocer, de una manera rápida y sencilla, la resistencia del concreto. Uno de los métodos no destructivos es el índice esclerométrico, que consiste en determinar nivel de compacidad de las partículas del concreto. Durante años se han hecho distintos estudios para correlacionar el índice esclerométrico y la resistencia del concreto, hallando altos niveles de relación; sin embargo, dichos estudios no toman en cuenta la edad del concreto ni el tipo de piedra que se utiliza en la mezcla, siendo parámetros que no resultan ajenos al ensayo de esclerometría. Por ello, la siguiente investigación propone el ensayo de dureza superficial (esclerometría) como un método confiable para la determinación de la resistencia del concreto analizando distintas muestras de acuerdo a su edad y tamaño máximo nominal. Estos factores serán analizados y serán almacenados en una base de datos en la que serán separados según su característica, generando distintos gráficos de regresión lineal para así aumentar el índice de confianza de correlación de Pearson. / The use of concrete as a primary construction material has seen steady increase year after year, which is why it is imperative to have at our disposal different non-destructive methods for quick and easy determination of its resistance. Once non-destructive method is the sclerometric index, which determines the level of compactness of the concrete particles. Various studies over years have found the sclerometric index to be highly correlated to concrete resistance. Nevertheless, these studies didn’t correct for factors such as the age and composition of the concrete mixture, both of which greatly influence sclerometry. They aim of this study was to determine whether superficial hardness testing (sclerometry) is an appropriate method for measuring concrete resistance, by analyzing samples of distinct age and maximum nominal size. These factors were analyzed and stored in a database which generated linear regression graphs, thereby improving the confidence interval for the Pearson correlation coefficient. / Tesis

In order to incorporate fiber-reinforced composite materials in space structures, adhesive joining techniques are required. Because analytical models have a hard time capturing the complex stress state inherent to adhesively joining dissimilar materials, a different modeling technique was deemed necessary. A two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model capable of capturing the three-dimensional stress state of cylindrical adhesive joints was developed. In order to rigorously validate the model, testing was undergone to ensure the model accurately predicted joint displacements. Displacement data was acquired via an Epsilon axial extensometer. Load data was taken simultaneously via the load cell incorporated in the Tinius Olsen tensile test machine used. The measured force vs. displacement data was found to agree with the model’s predicted displacement for a given load. Displacement data was also taken, again with the extensometer, as the joints were rapidly cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature. It was found that the joints behave much like laminated plates in that after the first several cycles they “settle down”. The term “settle down”, in this context, means that after the first several cycles the displacements of the joints when placed from a room temperature environment to a cryogenic environment become consistent and smooth. This result allows for the joints to be modeled. The finite element model was shown to accurately predict the settled down displacement given the prescribed temperature change. The joints were also shown to maintain structural integrity post thermal cycling. Transient temperature tensile tests were performed until sample failure. One result with major design implication coming from this test was that the material properties do not change significantly enough over the temperature range tested to affect the joint’s behavior. The same properties used in the room temperature model were used to model the measured data of the transient temperature data and were found to match satisfactorily. Having validated that the developed axisymmetric finite element model accurately predicts cylindrical joint displacement fields, the model becomes an invaluable tool in design. The model can now be used in confidence, in conjunction with design requirements for a specific joint, to reduce the maximum displacements below any specified operating requirements.

Packing sheet materials into cylinders and prisms using Origami-based approaches (Soft Origami or traditional Origami) is of interest in fields where sheet materials need folded into cylinders or prisms. Fully-dense packing has application in fields where a sheet material is to be folded with minimal gaps into a cylinder or prism. Partially-dense packing is applicable to fields where gaps are required between packed surfaces or where hollow volumes are to be filled, such as in fluid filter design. Soft Origami is explored as a method for folding soft-sheet materials into fully-dense cylinders. Two fold patterns, the "flasher'' and the "inverted-cone fold,'' are explored for packing soft-sheet materials into cylindricals. An application to driver's side automobile airbags is successfully performed, and deployment tests are completed to compare the influence of packing method and origami pattern on deployment performance. In total, two origami patterns and six packing methods are examined for folding soft-sheet materials into fully-dense cylindrical prisms, and it is shown that modifying the packing method impacts deployment performance. A special case of the Miura-ori, the ninety-degree case, is briefly explored as a traditional Origami method for packing arbitrary-shaped sheet materials into fully-dense arbitrary prisms. Examples are shown and it is concluded that this pattern can be used to configure a large number of fully-dense packed prisms with configurable characteristics.Finally, patterns that fold into partially-dense cylindrical prisms are examined using traditional Origami approaches and their efficiency compared. Efficiency is defined as the ratio of the surface area of a pattern compared to an idealized high-surface-area model. Patterns include traditional (non-Origami-based) fluid filter patterns (the Basic Pleat and M-pleat) and cylindrical Origami patterns (the Accordion and Kresling). An offset crease method is used to modify the Accordion and Kresling Origami patterns so the comparison is objective. Results are presented that determine which individual pattern variations have the highest efficiency at different outside-to-inside diameter ratios. Ranges over which each pattern is most efficient are presented. It is concluded that based purely on geometry, the M-pleat provides the highest overall efficiency, but depending on other factors each pattern is viable for different purposes.

<p>VehProLib is one of many libraries being developed for the object oriented multi-domain language Modelica. The layout and the current status of the library are shown. The aims of the library are to provide the user with a number of different components with different levels of complexity. The components included range from mean value engine components to in-cylinder models. An efficient way to handle parameters using records is provided. Different bus systems are implemented and discussed. Furthermore are replaceable fluid models introduced in the library. It will be shown that Modelica is a very efficient way to create an advanced modelling library.</p>

In the thesis we consider two types of problems. In Paper 1, we study small solutions to a time-independent nonlinear elliptic partial differential equation of Emden-Fowler type in a semi-infnite cylinder. The asymptotic behaviour of these solutions at infnity is determined. First, the equation under the Neumann boundary condition is studied. We show that any solution small enough either vanishes at infnity or tends to a nonzero periodic solution to a nonlinear ordinary differential equation. Thereafter, the same equation under the Dirichlet boundary condition is studied, the non-linear term and right-hand side now being slightly more general than in the Neumann problem. Here, an estimate of the solution in terms of the right-hand side of the equation is given. If the equation is homogeneous, then every solution small enough tends to zero. Moreover, if the cross-section is star-shaped and the nonlinear term in the equation is subject to some additional constraints, then every bounded solution to the homogeneous Dirichlet problem vanishes at infnity. In Paper 2, we study asymptotics as t → ∞ of solutions to a linear, parabolic system of equations with time-dependent coefficients in Ωx(0,∞), where Ω is a bounded domain. On δΩ(0,∞) we prescribe the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition. For large values of t, the coefficients in the elliptic part are close to time-independent coefficients in an integral sense which is described by a certain function κ(t). This includes in particular situations when the coefficients may take different values on different parts of Ω and the boundaries between them can move with t but stabilize as t → ∞. The main result is an asymptotic representation of solutions for large t. As a corollary, it is proved that if κєL1(0,∞), then the solution behaves asymptotically as the solution to a parabolic system with time-independent coefficients.

Detta examensarbetet har utförts i samarbete med företaget BXB Industrial Fittings och med handledning från Jönköpings Tekniska Högskola. Uppdraget ändrades under projektets gång, därför beskrivs genomgörandet i rapporten i två delar då vissa moment gjordes två gånger. Från början bestod uppdraget i att utveckla ett lås för maskinskyddsgaller, men ändrades till att istället utveckla adaptrar för oval- och PZ-cylindrar så att de enkelt kan monteras i det tidigare nämnda låshuset. Ovalcylindern är den låscylinder som är vanligast i Skandinavien, medan PZ-cylindern är den cylinder som är vanligast i övriga Europa. Problemet med dessa två låscylindrar är att de har olika dimensioner vilket gör att de inte kan monteras i samma låshus. Eftersom BXB:s lås säljs över hela Europa och kunder efterfrågar lås med samma funktion, men med olika låscylindrar anses en adapter som en bra lösning på detta problem. Då författarna inte tidigare hade någon erfarenhet av konstruktion av lås gjordes en grundlig patent- och marknadsundersökning för att skapa en bra grund för fortsatt arbete. Efter undersökningen startade författarna idégenereringsprocessen som resulterade i ett stort antal skisser på olika lösningsförslag. Efter idégenereringen gjordes en sållning för att få fram det slutliga förslaget, detta förslag måttsattes och justerades sedan i CAD. Arbetet resulterade i två adaptrar med samma utvändigt mått som utvinner en identisk rörelse och kraft. Adaptrarna underlättar vid konstruktionen av lås eftersom de medgör att både PZ-cylindern och ovalcylindern kan monteras i samma låshus. Adaptrarna har konstruerats på ett användarvänligt sätt genom att hänsyn har tagits till de personer som kommer i kontakt med dem. Antalet komponenter har minimerats och enkla mekanismer har använts, vilket gör adaptrarna enklare att montera under tillverkningen. Detta leder i sin tur till att tillverkningskostnaderna minimeras och att adaptrarna både genom sitt pris och sin användarvänlighet anses vara konkurrenskraftiga på dagens marknad. Adaptrarnas konstruktion och inre mekanik beskrivs i rapporen utifrån CAD-bilder.

Sea water intake structures submerged in the surf zone are used to provide water for cooling processes in large facilities such as power plants and refineries. Structures submerged in the surf zone are subject to large forces from breaking waves. To study these forces induced from realistic sea state conditions, a physical model of an intake structure submerged in the wave breaking zone was constructed and subjected to a wide spectrum of regular and irregular waves. The model structure was designed in a manner so force measurement could be isolated to separate components of the structure. The data of peak forces on the structure was analyzed for correlations with varying irregular wave properties. Using the results of forcing on the structure from regular wave tests, drag and inertia coefficients for use in the Morison equation were determined for each separate component and configuration of the structure. These force coefficients were plotted against various wave properties to analyze correlations with wave conditions. Finally, the force coefficients for the structure were used with the Morison equation and current data from the experiments to successfully model forcing on the structure during irregular wave tests.

Relatively few studies have been carried out on the turbulent wake structure of a finite circular cylinder and a stack partially immersed in a flat-plate turbulent boundary layer. There is a need to develop a better understanding of the wakes of these structures, since they have many important engineering applications. This thesis investigates the influence of the aspect ratio on the wake of a finite circular cylinder and the effects of the ratio of jet flow velocity to crossflow velocity (velocity ratio, R) on the wake of a stack in a cross-flow. <p>The wake characteristics of flows over a finite circular cylinder at four different aspect ratios (AR = 3, 5, 7 and 9) were investigated experimentally at a Reynolds number of ReD = 6104 using two-component thermal anemometry. Each cylinder was mounted normal to a ground plane and was either completely or partially immersed in a flat-plate turbulent boundary layer. The ratio of boundary layer thickness to the cylinder diameter was 3. <p>A similar turbulent wake structure (time-averaged velocity, turbulence intensity, and Reynolds shear stress distributions) was found for the cylinders with AR = 5, 7, and 9, while a distinctly different turbulent wake structure was found for the cylinder with AR = 3. This was consistent with the results of a previous study that focused on the time-averaged streamwise vortex structures in the wake. In addition, irrespective of the value of AR, high values were observed for the skewness and flatness factors around the free end of the cylinders, which may be attributed to the interaction of the tip vortex structures and downwash flow that dominates this region of the cylinder.<p>The wake characteristics of a stack of aspect ratio AR = 9 were investigated using both the seven-hole pressure probe and thermal anemometry. The seven-hole probe was used to measure the three components of the time-averaged velocity field, while the thermal anemometry was used to measure two components of the turbulent velocity field at various downstream locations from the stack. The stack was mounted normal to the ground plane and was partially immersed in a flat-plate turbulent boundary layer, for which the ratio of boundary layer thickness to the stack diameter was 4.5. In addition, measurements of the vortex shedding frequency were made with a single-component hot-wire probe. The cross-flow Reynolds number was ReD = 2.3 x 104, the jet Reynolds number ranged from Red = 7.6 x 103 to 4.7 x 104, and R was varied from 0 to 3. <p>In the stack study, three flow regimes were identified depending on the value of R: the downwash (R < 0.7), cross-wind-dominated (0.7 < R < 1.5), and jet-dominated (R ≥ 1.5) flow regimes. Each flow regime had a distinct structure for the time-averaged velocity and streamwise vorticity fields, and turbulence characteristics, as well as the variation of the Strouhal number and the power spectrum of the streamwise velocity fluctuations along the stack height. The turbulence structure is complex and changes in the streamwise and wall-normal directions within the near and intermediate stack and jet wakes. In the downwash and crosswind-dominated flow regimes, two pairs of counter-rotating streamwise vortex structures were identified within the stack wake. The tip-vortex pair and base-vortex pair were similar to those found in the wake of a finite circular cylinder, located close to the free end and the base of the stack (ground plane), respectively. In the jet-dominated flow regime, a third pair of streamwise vortex structures was observed, referred to as the jet-wake vortex pair, which occurred within the jet-wake region above the free end of the stack. The jet-wake vortex pair has the same orientation as the base vortex pair and is associated with the jet rise.

In this master thesis a robot arm belonging to an automatic milking machine from DeLaval is investigated. The robot arm is controlled by a pneumatic cylinder and a valve. The goal of the master thesis is to investigate instability problems and to find out if it is possible to solve them by using gain scheduling. Gain scheduling is a type of controller where the parameters of the controller are changed during operation, for example depending on the working point. First a nonlinear mathematical model of the system was made. Then a test rig was built with a robot arm and sensors, identical to the ones mounted on the real machine from DeLaval. The different parameters of the nonlinear model were then tuned and validated against data from the test rig to make sure that the model is correct. After that the nonlinear model was linearized for a closer analysis of the parameters that seemed to have an apparent effect on the system behaviour. The result of the analysis showed that the probable cause of instability is a decrease of the viscous friction, which gives worse damping characteristics. It was more suitable to base the controller parameters on the valve opening instead of the working point for the robot arm, since the gain in the valve increases with increasing valve opening. To avoid deterioration in phase margin because of the increased gain, the controller is adjusted so that the total gain is the same regardless of valve opening. The result is a system with larger bandwidth, less sensitive to changes in the viscous friction.

The majority of commercially available ultrasonic transducers used to excite and measure wave propagation in structures can be coupled only to a free surface. While convenient, this method is likely to excite multiple structural modes, making data interpretation difficult. Furthermore, the many modes excited make predicting the structure’s response a computationally intensive task. Here the dynamic radial displacement induced by a transient radial point load is calculated at more than 230,000 points on the outer surface of a virgin steel pipe to simulate a typical experiment. The radial component of the displacement field is calculated by convolving the Green’s functions of the pipe with the transient load. These functions are calculated on personal computers (in a distributed arrangement) by employing modal summation. The mode shapes are obtained from a Semi-Analytical Finite Element formulation used in conjunction with a separation of variables. The results are presented in a four dimensional animation, providing easier interpretations and insight into how to best select observation points for the detection of defects. The accuracy of the calculated displacements is verified experimentally. Agreement is good when magnitude and phase corrections are incorporated from the frequency response curves of the transducers used. / February 2005