Analysis of Oxygenated Diesel for Better Performance in a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine

Vol. 4 No. 3

Year : 2009

Issue : Feb-Apr

Title  : Analysis of Oxygenated Diesel for Better Performance in a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine 

Author Name  : M. Subramanian, S. Chandrasekaran 

Synopsis  : 

This paper is focused to evaluate the effect of oxygenated diesel fuel on the engine performance and emissions, identify the oxygenates suitable for future diesel formulations, and to perform limited emissions and the performance testing of the oxygenated diesel blends and to select the suitable oxygenated compounds for future diesel formulations. From the literature survey and initial screening of 71 oxygenates, the following compounds are selected based on oxygen content, flashpoint etc. Diethyl carbonate, 2 Ethoxy ethanol and Diethyl ether - oxygenated compounds [1] These selected oxygenates are blended with diesel fuel in proportions of 2.5, 5 and 7.5 % by volume and experimental study is conducted in a single cylinder naturally aspirated Direct injection diesel engine. An eddy current dynamometer is coupled with the engine and the experimental study is carried out to evaluate the effect of the three oxygenated compounds on emissions and performance [2]. Comparison of performance of plain diesel and blended diesel with different oxygenated compounds having different mixing levels of oxygenates is carried out. The performance of oxygenates on power, brake thermal efficiency, cylinder peak pressure, HC, CO and NO , smoke level and particulate X matter are studied. All the three oxygenated compounds are found to be effective at reducing Smoke and Particulate levels by 30 to 40 % in 7.5 % blending, 2 Ethoxy ethanol is more effective than the other two compounds. Comparing the cost and performance Diethyl carbonate gives optimum value and Diethyl ether follows. There is a moderate increase in power output and also in thermal efficiency.

Response Surface Methodology as a Predictive Tool for C. I Engine Performance and Exhaust Emissions of Methyl Esters of Mahua Oil

Vol. 4 No. 3

Year : 2009

Issue : Feb-Apr

Title  : Response Surface Methodology as a Predictive Tool for C. I Engine Performance and Exhaust Emissions of Methyl Esters of Mahua Oil 

Author Name  : B. Sidda Reddy, J. Suresh Kumar , Vijaya Kumar Reddy 

Synopsis  : 

Biodiesel is one of the most promising alternative fuels for diesel engines because they are potential renewable, nontoxic, biodegradable, clean burning, high lubricity, low environmental impact, derived from vegetable oils and could be used directly in diesel engines without requiring extensive engine modifications. In the present work, the experiments have been conducted on a single cylinder, 4-stroke, Direct Injection constant speed diesel engine with different blends of Mahua Oil Methyl Ester (MOME) by varying the load to investigate the engine performance and exhaust emissions. From the investigation, it is concluded that the performance of Mahua oil methyl esters are good and results indicated that B20 has closer performance to diesel. The response surface models for rake ower (BP), carbon monoxide (co), ydro arbons (HC), and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions have been developed with the experimental data. The adequacy of the developed models is verified by using co-efficient of determination and analysis of variance (ANOVA) method. The results showed an average accuracy of 0.997 for brake power, 0.959 for NOx, 0.624 for CO, and 0.61 for HC emissions.

Curvelets for Fingerprint Image Compression

Vol. 4 No. 3

Year : 2009

Issue : Feb-Apr

Title  : Curvelets for Fingerprint Image Compression 

Author Name  : G. Jagadeeswar Reddy, T. Jaya Chandra Prasad , Giri Prasad M.N 

Synopsis  : 

This paper describes a novel approach to the compression of fingerprint images using new mathematical transform, namely, the curvelet transform that has proven to show promising results over ridgelet and wavelet transforms. Wavelets are well suited to point singularities, however they have a problem with orientation selectivity, and therefore, they do not represent two-dimensional singularities (e.g. smooth curves) effectively. Ridgelets provide sparse representation to smooth objects with straight edges. But in image processing, edges are typically curved rather than straight. However at sufficiently fine scales, a curved edge is almost straight. By deploying ridgelets in a localized manner, a new transform considered in this paper has been developed and it can capture the curved edges effectively. A comparision has been carried out among Wavelets, Ridgelets and Curvelets based compression techniques for fingerprint image. A high quality compression has been achieved using curvelets compared to the existing Techniques.

Segmentation of Medical Images Using Morphological Image Processing

Vol. 4 No. 3

Year : 2009

Issue : Feb-Apr

Title  : Segmentation of Medical Images Using Morphological Image Processing 

Author Name  : Saheb Basha, K. Satya Prasad 

Synopsis  : 

Morphological Image Processing has became a powerful tool in Digital Image Processing, It allows processing of images to enhance image areas, segment objects, detect edge and analyze structures. It quantifies many aspects of the geometrical structure of the way that agrees with the human intuition and perception. The technique developed for binary images are a major step forward in the application of this theory to gray level images & color images. The Morphological Image Processing is based on geometrically altering image structure. In the binary image setting, an image is probed by one or more structuring elements to either extract information or to filter the image, and a similar probing also occurs in the grey scale image. Based on basic operations of Dilation, Erosion, Opening Closing, Top-hat, Morph- Gradient & Median filter one can construct a class of Morphological Image Processing Tool, which can be used in the place of a Linear Image Processing. Whereas the Linear Image Processing sometimes distort the underlying geometric form of an image, but in Morphological image Processing, the information of the image is not lost. In the Morphological Image Processing the original image can be reconstructed by using Dilation, Erosion, Opening and Closing operations for a finite no of times.The major objective of this paper is to reconstruct the class of such finite length Morphological Image Processing tool in a suitable mathematical structure using Java jdk 1.05 and also Matlab7.04.The Morphological Image Processing is implemented and successfully tested in Medical Image Analysis in detection of Tuberculosis & Segmentation of tree structure images such as retinal angiographic images.

Spectral Estimation Techniques for Advanced Fetal Phono Cardiography

Vol. 4 No. 3

Year : 2009

Issue : Feb-Apr

Title  : Spectral Estimation Techniques for Advanced Fetal Phono Cardiography 

Author Name  : A.K. Mittra, N.K. Choudhari 

Synopsis  : 

The fetal heart sound serves as an effective diagnostic tool for a large class of fetal stress provocation. When the fetal heart sound is recorded and displayed graphically, the technique is known as fetal phonocardiography (fPCG). The fPCG signals, exhibit innate rhythms and periodicity that is more readily be appreciated in terms of frequency than time unit. This need arises to consider the fPCG signals, not only in terms of time but also in terms of frequency domain. The main advantage over the time domain representation is that, it allows a clear visualization of the signal frequency content and in many cases help to understand underplaying physiological phenomena. This work investigates methods to estimate frequency domain characteristics of fPCG signals. In this paper, various digital signal processing techniques are applied;compared and finally most appropriate technique is used for the spectrum inference of the fetal heart sound signal.

Most Suitable Mother Wavelet for Fetal Phonocardiographic Signal Analysis

Vol. 4 No. 3

Year : 2009

Issue : Feb-Apr

Title  : Most Suitable Mother Wavelet for Fetal Phonocardiographic Signal Analysis 

Author Name  : Vijay S. Chourasia, A.K. Mittra 

Synopsis  : 

This paper is aimed at the selection of suitable wavelet family and hence suitable mother wavelet for the analysis of Fetal Phonocardiographic (fPCG) signals. Fourier based analyzing tools have some limitations concerning frequency and time resolutions. Although Wavelet Transform (WT) overcomes these limitations, it requires proper selection of mother wavelet. In this study the suitable mother wavelet is selected on the basis of properties of different wavelet families and characteristics of the fPCG signals. The Mean Squared Error (MSE) is used to evaluate the performance of the presented approach. The results show that, the fourth order Coiflets wavelet has a better performance for the analysis of fPCG  signals when using the rigorous SURE threshold algorithm with soft thresholding rule. The proposed approach is simple and proves to be effective when applied for the selection of suitable mother wavelet for analysis of the fPCG signals. These de-noised signals can be used for the accurate determination of Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) and further diagnostic applications of the fetus.

An Efficient Matching Classifier for Hand Vein Pattern Recognition in User Authentication Systems

Vol. 4 No. 3

Year : 2009

Issue : Feb-Apr

Title  : An Efficient Matching Classifier for Hand Vein Pattern Recognition in User Authentication Systems 

Author Name  : S. Uma Maheswari, P. Anbalagan 

Synopsis  : 

Biometrics is the science of identifying a person using physiological or behavioral features. These features range from physical traits like fingerprints, faces, retina etc. to personal behaviors such as signatures. Compared to traditional methods, biometric features are much harder for intruders to copy or forge, and it is very rare for them to be lost. Hence, identification systems making use of biometric features that offer a much more secure and reliable performance. Many biometrics such as face, fingerprint and iris images, have been studied extensively for personal verification purposes in the past few decades. However, verification using vein patterns is less developed compared to other human traits.

This paper presents a hand vein authentication system using near infrared images of hand vein patterns. In order to evaluate the system performance, hand vein patterns from WASETdatabase were used. The database contains hand vein patterns of 100 different persons and of different gender, 5 images per person acquired at different intervals, for right hand. The images are of size 320x240 with a grey scale resolution of 8 bits per pixel. The data set is for normal persons who do not complain from any diseases such as arthritis. In verification testing analysis a single image is used to represent the template and 5 images for testing. Each of the 5 images is matched with a single template.

Unlike most biometric systems that carry out comparisons based on a pre-selected feature set, this proposed system directly recognizes the vein pattern by measuring their Hausdorff Distance. The modification suggested in the proposed matching classifier is found to improve the efficiency of the system. MATLAB tool has been used to realize the vein pattern recognition system.

Evaluation of the Severity of Mitral Valvular Regurgitation with Doppler Echo-Cardiography Using Proximal Flow Convergence Method

Vol. 4 No. 3

Year : 2009

Issue : Feb-Apr

Title  : Evaluation of the Severity of Mitral Valvular Regurgitation with Doppler Echo-Cardiography Using Proximal Flow Convergence Method 

Author Name  : Pinjari Abdul Khayum, Giri Prasad M.N, P.V. Sridevi 

Synopsis  : 

Valvular regurgitation has been widely recognized as the central cause of morbidity and mortality. Even though the clinician can detect the presence of regurgitation by mere physical examination; diagnostic methods become inevitable while estimating the severity of valvular regurgitation and in the transformation of cardiac chambers as in reaction to the volume overload condition. Lately, the non-invasive recognition and assessment of the severity and etiology of valvular regurgitation has been facilitated through a promising new technology, the Echocardiography with Doppler. Accurate measurements of regurgitant volume in patients is of utmost importance since it aids in the estimation of the progression of the disease which in turn is vital for determining the optimal time for surgical repair or replacement.Color space conversion and anisotropic diffusion segmentation techniques have been utilized in this paper for the preprocessing stage of the quantification of mitral regurgitation. Flow field measurements were carried out with the aid of proximal flow convergence method. A calculated value of flow rate, regurgitant orifice area, regurgitant fraction and the regurgitant volume for a regurgitant orifice in the cardiovascular system can be obtained from the potential Color Doppler visualization of the flow convergence region. The research proposed provides a significant assessment of the echocardiographic and Doppler techniques employed in the evaluation of mitral valvular regurgitation in the patients. Additionally it also proffers the estimation of mildness, severity and eccentricity of mitral valvular regurgitation on basis of the scientific literature and a consensus of a panel of experts.

Durability Studies on Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Durability Studies on Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete 

Author Name  : Seshadri Sekhar Tirumala, K.Chandra Mouli , P. Srinivasa Rao 

Synopsis  : 

The present day world is witnessing the construction of very challenging and difficult Civil Engineering structures. Quite often, concrete being the most important and widely used material is called upon to possess very high strength and sufficient workability properties. Efforts are being made in the field of Concrete Technology to develop such concretes with special characteristics. Researchers all over the world are attempting to develop high performance concretes by using fibres and other admixtures in concrete upto certain proportions. In the view of the global sustainable developments, it is imperative that fibres like Glass, carbon, Poly propylene and aramid fibers provide improvements in Tensile strength, Fatigue characteristics, durability, shrinkage characteristics, impact, cavitation, erosion resistance and serviceability of concrete. Fibres impart energy absorption, toughness and impact resistance properties to FRC material, and these characteristics in turn improve the fracture and fatigue properties of FRC. Research in GFRC (Glass fibre reinforced concrete) resulted in the development of an alkali resistance fibre (AR Glass fibres High Dispersion) that provided improved long term durability. This system was named alkali resistance glass fibre reinforced concrete. In the present experimental investigation the alkali resistance Glass fibres has been used to find out workability, resistance of concrete due to acids, sulphates and  Rapid chloride permeability tests  of M30 , M40 and M 50 grade of glass fiber  reinforced concrete and ordinary concrete at the 28 and 90 days  with varying percentages of glass fibres.

Prediction of Engineering Constants of GFRP Angle Lamina

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Prediction of Engineering Constants of GFRP Angle Lamina 

Author Name  : Syed Altaf Hussain, B. Sidda Reddy , A.V. Hari Babu 

Synopsis  : 

Composite materials are engineered materials, are made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical and chemical properties. FRP composites are slowly emerging from the realm of advanced materials and are replacing conventional materials in a variety of applications. In the present work the mechanical properties Ex, Ey, ?xy , ?yz , ?zx and Gxy of continuous fiber GFRP angle ply lamina (Specially orthotropic lamina) are determined for three different fiber volume fractions using finite element method. A finite element model incorporating the necessary boundary conditions is developed and is solved using commercially available FEA package. A neural network model was developed using Neuro Intelligence package. The data set obtained from the FEA package was employed for training, validating and testing the neural networking model. The results obtained from the ANN architecture have been compared with the FEM results and some conclusions have been made.

Fatigue Crack Growth Studies on ZE41A Cast Magnesium Alloy

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Fatigue Crack Growth Studies on ZE41A Cast Magnesium Alloy 

Author Name  : M. Sivapragash, P.R. Lakshminarayanan , K. Raghukandan , R. Karthikeyan , M. Hanumantha 

Synopsis  : 

In this research work, Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) characteristics are studied using axial fatigue test on Compact Tension (CT) specimen for as cast, heat treated and welded material. The relation ship between fatigue crack growth rate and stress intensity factor range for crack growth are analyzed. How ever, the results of da/dN-?K curves for CT specimens and Paris constants are determined. The heat treated specimen shows lower growth rate compared to as cast and welded materials. The fracture surfaces of the tested specimen are observed under a scanning electron microscope to understand the type of fracture. The fracture mode is observed as quasi cleavage.

Thin Walled Steel Stiffened Concrete Composite Beams – An Innovative Construction Technique

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Thin Walled Steel Stiffened Concrete Composite Beams – An Innovative Construction Technique 

Author Name  : R. Thenmozhi, R. Sundararajan 

Synopsis  : 

A series of experiments on Thin walled steel stiffened concrete composite (TWSSCC) beams is reported. The TWSSCC beams consist of cold-formed sheet as formwork during construction stage and as reinforcement during service stage and infill concrete. As the three sides of the beams were enclosed by cold formed sheet, it aided in confinement whereas at the top, the braces were provided at suitable spacing which provided partial confinement. Companion specimens of concrete cubes, cylinders and prisms were also tested for compressive strength and elastic modulus properties.  Specimens of cold formed sheet and reinforcing steel bars were tested in tension to ascertain their yield stress and modulus of elasticity. The beams were tested for pure bending and the results were used to to study the failure modes of the beams. Load, Moment, Flexural rigidity and Rotation at yield and ultimate stage were determined from experiments. Based on the observations during testing, the failure modes were classified into two different types which were the flexural compression failure mode and shear bond failure. The influence of spacing of braces and nature of bond on Ultimate Strength and Deflection were reported. It is confirmed that, closer spacing of braces in pure bending region did not show significant influence in the flexural strength. Hence, the braces at the spacing of least lateral dimension held good for confinement.

Thermodynamics of Reactive Extraction of Propionic Acid

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Thermodynamics of Reactive Extraction of Propionic Acid 

Author Name  : , Kailas L. Wasewar , Shri Chand , Hasan Uslu , Ismail Inci 

Synopsis  : 

Temperature effect is an important subject of study in the reactive extraction process in view of operating temperature and back extraction/regeneration step. Usually in industrial scale, for production of carboxylic acids, fermentor operates in the temperature range of 303 to 313 K. Thus, an extractant can be considered as good, only if it could operate efficiently in this operating range. The study, thus aims two objectives: first to find the effect of temperature on extraction of the propionic acid and second whether temperature swing extraction/regeneration can be employed for recovery of the acid. Three types of extractants: tri-n-butylphosphate, tri-n-octylamine and Aliquat 336 were used in different diluents and the thermodynamics of extraction process was discussed in terms of enthalpy and entropy of reaction. Extraction of propionic acid using TOA in different diluents resulted in negative values of enthalpy and entropy. Thus, the reactive extraction process is exothermic in nature and decrease in entropy is obtained. Aliquat 336 in 2-octanol shows the similar behavior as TOA in different diluents but the entropy and enthalpy values were lower, thus suggesting not so high exothermic nature of the extraction process and not so strong acid — Aliquat 336 complexation as acid — TOA complexation. Two departures in the normal trend were observed when Aliquat 336 was used in oleyl alcohol and TBP was used in MIBK. In both cases an increase in KE was observed upto a certain temperature and whereupon a decrease was observed. The effect of temperature was correlated in terms of the heat of transfer from organic to aqueous phase (?Htransfer). It was found that the higher the ?Htransfer for a particular diluent, higher is the temperature effect.

Energy and Exergy Analysis of Operating Thermal Power Plant at 50MWe Grid Load

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Energy and Exergy Analysis of Operating Thermal Power Plant at 50MWe Grid Load 

Author Name  : T. Ganapathy, R.P. Gakkhar , Krishnan Murugesan , N. Alagumurthi , M. Seran 

Synopsis  : 

This paper deals with an energy and exergy analysis performed on an operating 50MWe unit of lignite fired steam power plant at Thermal Power Station-I, Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited, Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, India. The energy and exergy losses occurred in the various components of the plant have been calculated using the mass, energy and exergy balance equations. The distribution of the energy and exergy losses in several plant components during the real time plant running conditions has been assessed to locate the process inefficiency and irreversibility. The present analysis also evaluates the energy efficiency and the exergy efficiency of the plant. The comparison between the energy losses and the exergy losses of the individual components of the plant helps to identify the location of the system where the real losses occur.

Relationship between Surface Water Qualities in Nambiyar River Basin, Tamil Nadu, India: A Statistical Approach

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Relationship between Surface Water Qualities in Nambiyar River Basin, Tamil Nadu, India: A Statistical Approach 

Author Name  : C. Gajendran, P. Thamarai 

Synopsis  : 

Water itself is an energy resource. Monitoring all sources of pollution to assess the loads contributed by these sources is rather difficult if not, impossible, expensive and subject to analytical errors. Indirect methods to study source contributions of pollutant loads are essential to control water quality degradation in rivers. The objective of the present investigation is an attempt to assess the surface water quality of Nambiyar River Basin using statistical methods. The Nambiyar basin falls in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu. The Bio-Physico and Chemical parameters of the Nambiyar Basin have been taken in to account to find the interrelationship among them. The SPSS and Windows Excel were used as the statistical analysis tool. Based on the study it is found that strong correlation exists between TDS and BOD, SO4, COD. The highest interrelationship was obtained between SO4 and COD (r = 0.9532). A suitable regression equation has been established for the water quality parameters which have correlation coefficient greater than 0.8.These equations can be used for the rapid monitoring.

Design and Analysis of Piezo- Driven Valve-Less Micropump

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Design and Analysis of Piezo- Driven Valve-Less Micropump 

Author Name  : Dr P Somasundaram -, S. Chandika , C. Jegadheesan 

Synopsis  : 

Nowadays researchers are focussing on compact system design for all engineering applications without sacrificing the system performance. This paper deals with the importance of micro electro mechanical systems and its usage in day-to-day life. One such mechanical component is mechanical pump, which is used in various sectors of industrial, household and medical systems.  This work is concentrated on Piezo-driven valve-less micro pump, which does not have check valves. The fluid flow direction is controlled by converging and diverging nozzles. Thermo Electro Mechanical Analysis is done to evaluate mechanical (stress, force, pressure, acceleration, piezoelectric), thermal (temperature, convection, heat flux, resistive heating—including variable resistors and Piezo resistors) and Electrical (capacitive forces defined by voltages) properties.

A Single Unit PLC System Operating under Extended Available and Inspection Periods

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : A Single Unit PLC System Operating under Extended Available and Inspection Periods 

Author Name  : Ramasamy Sivasamy, P.M. Kgosi 

Synopsis  : 

A Single unit Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) operating simultaneously till either the random inspection period or the random extended available period is over whichever occurs first after the failure of the online unit is considered in this paper. Postulating the operative phase, partial system failure phase, repair phase, and replacement phase of that online unit as states of a Markov Renewal process (MRP) in a time cycle reliability indices and availability characteristics were obtained and it has been shown that profit will be constant in the context of increase in cost per unit time of inspection, repair and replacement and numerically illustrated and presented in a table.

Emerging Technologies for Structural Damage Detection and Evaluation

Vol. 4 No. 2

Year : 2009

Issue : Nov-Jan

Title  : Emerging Technologies for Structural Damage Detection and Evaluation 

Author Name  : Andrei Zagrai 

Synopsis  : 

Structural fatigue life is a complex function of material composition, manufacturing process, operational loads and environmental conditions. Although deterioration of the structural material starts very early at the microscale, it is not until the damage develops into the macro-scale cracks, delaminations and disbonds that it becomes a subject of interest to the established nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies. There is an increasing interest in the early damage detection NDE/SHM techniques permitting assessment of structural condition before initiation of the macro-scale damage and the onset of the irreversible material fracture. This paper reviews recent activities in the field of embeddable structural diagnostics and presents examples of practical implementation of novel damage detection methods. Traditional and emerging NDE/SHM technologies for the assessment of the incipient structural damage are discussed and perspective new directions are highlighted. The particular emphasis is placed on the existing and potential SHM applications.

Axisymmetric Vibration of Pyrocomposite Solid Cylinder

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Axisymmetric Vibration of Pyrocomposite Solid Cylinder 

Author Name  : V.K. Nelson, S. Karthikeyan 

Synopsis  : 

Axisymmetric vibration of an infinite Pyrocomposite circular cylinder made of inner solid and outer hollow pyroelectric layer belonging to crystal class 6 bonded together by a Linear Elastic Material with Voids (LEMV) is studied. The exact frequency equation is obtained for the traction free outer surface with continuity conditions at the interfaces.  Numerical results in the form of data and dispersion curves for the first and second mode of the axisymmetric vibration of the cylinder ceramic - 1/ Adhesive / ceramic - 2 by taking the adherents as BaTio3 and the adhesive layer as an existing Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) or as a hypothetical LEMV layer with and without voids are compared with a pyroelectric solid cylinder. The damping is analyzed through the imaginary part of the complex frequency.

Image Denoising by Curvelets

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Image Denoising by Curvelets 

Author Name  : G. Jagadeeswar Reddy, T. Jaya Chandra Prasad 

Synopsis  : 

The problem of recovering an image from noisy data arises in many different areas of scientific investigation and medical imaging. The traditional methods behave poorly when the object to recover has edges.

A new system of representation, namely, the curvelets, was developed over several years in an attempt to break an inherent limit plaguing wavelet denoising of images. The author(1) and standard images were denoised using both wavelet and curvelet transforms and results are presented in this paper. It has been found that the  curvelet reconstructions exhibit higher perceptual quality than wavelet-based reconstructions, offering visually sharper images and, in particular, higher quality recovery of edges and of faint linear and curvilinear features. Existing theory for curvelet transform suggests that this new approach can outperform wavelet methods in certain image reconstruction problems, such as image denoising and compression.

Nonlinear Response Of Concrete Filled Steel Tubular Composite Columns Under Axial Loading

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Nonlinear Response Of Concrete Filled Steel Tubular Composite Columns Under Axial Loading 

  

Author Name  : P. Vinayagam, R. Sundararajan 

Synopsis  : 

Concrete Filled Steel Tubular (CFST) composite columns have been used as bridge piers and columns in multistory buildings etc. It is now widely accepted that concrete filled steel tubular composite columns are well suited as compression members in high-rise buildings, long span, heavy loading and seismic structures. However there are limitations to its applications mainly due to lack of design guidance.

This paper deals with the confinement effects of concrete filled steel tubular composite column subjected to different axial loading conditions and the effect of slenderness. The columns were circular in cross-section with constant D/t and slenderness ratio varies from 3 to 12. The experimental study includes for the confinement effect that the axial load applying on the steel only, on the concrete core only and both the concrete and steel. The bond between the steel and internal core concrete was critical in determining the formation of local buckling. In slenderness effect when the slenderness ratio is very low the column fails due to yielding of the steel and crushing. When the slenderness ratio is large, the column fails by elastic buckling.

Experimental Studies on Residual Strength of Glass Fibre Self Compacting Concrete After Exposure to Elevated Temperature

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Experimental Studies on Residual Strength of Glass Fibre Self Compacting Concrete After Exposure to Elevated Temperature 

Author Name  : Seshadri Sekhar Tirumala, P. Srinivasa Rao 

Synopsis  : 

Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) is a complex system that is usually proportioned with one or more mineral admixtures and more than one chemical admixture. Correct selection of aggregates, its size, gradation and content, along with adjustments in the rhelogy of the paste is essential for the SCC. To have successful design of SCC mix it is essential to have a higher level of quality control, a grater awareness of aggregate gradation, control over the mix water and use of highly advanced high range water reducing admixtures and the viscosity enhancers and have a clear understanding of the role of the various constituents in the mix and their effects on the fresh and hardened properties.

Damage in Concrete structures due to fire depends to a great extent on the intensity and duration of fire. The distress in the Concrete manifests in the form of cracking and spalling of the Concrete surface. The Thermal incompatibility between components of concrete causes cracking in Concrete at elevated temperatures that reduces its durability. This paper presents an experimental investigation on the Residual Compressive Strength of Glass fibre reinforced Self Compacting Concrete using Alkali-Resistant Glass Fibres subjected to temperatures 2000c, 4000c and 6000c for various grades of Concrete  M35, M40, M 50 and M 55.

Effect of External Roller-Burnishing On the Surface Roughness and Surface Hardness of En 8 Alloy Steel

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Effect of External Roller-Burnishing On the Surface Roughness and Surface Hardness of En 8 Alloy Steel 

Author Name  : P. Ravindra Babu, T. Siva Prasad , A.V.S. Raju 

Synopsis  : 

Surface finish and surface hardness of the components play vital role in quality of products. In most of the conventional finish machining process only surface finish will be improved, but improvement on surface hardness is less considerable. More over all finishing process are metal cutting in nature and introduces tensile stresses in the surface layer. But instead of tensile stress, if compressive stresses are introduced in surface layer, it will improve various properties of components like fatigue strength. Therefore the requirement in finishing an industrial component is that the process should improve surface finish, surface hardness and induce compressive stresses in the surface layer. A process of finishing by surface plastic deformation can meet this requirement.

One of such process, which was in use since long time is “Burnishing”. Even though the process is an old one its process parameters were not fully established, because of which it is not finding wide range of industrial application. In Burnishing, the surface layer will be plastically deformed with the help of a Ball or Roller which is harder than the work material. The process parameters include Burnishing Force, Burnishing Speed, Burnishing Feed, and Number of Tool Passes.

In the present study external burnishing tool is used to perform roller burnishing process on EN 8 alloy steel to study the surface properties variation by varying the burnishing parameters like force, speed, feed and number passes.

An Analysis of Machining Forces On Graphite/Epoxy, Glass/Epoxy & Kevlar/Epoxy Composites Using a Neural Network Approach

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : An Analysis of Machining Forces On Graphite/Epoxy, Glass/Epoxy & Kevlar/Epoxy Composites Using a Neural Network Approach 

Author Name  : D.A Budan, S. Vijarangan , S. Arunachalam , Tom Page 

Synopsis  : 

The determination of cutting forces through experimental methods is prevalent as there exist no general mathematical models for the prediction of cutting forces with respect to machining and material parameters. However, undertaking such experiments for measuring such forces consistently is expensive and time-consuming. In particular, when machining composite materials, obtaining specimens with the required specifications can be extremely difficult. In the work reported here, a multi-layered perception feed forward artificial neural network has been developed to evaluate and compare the cutting forces developed during the machining of glass/epoxy, graphite/epoxy and kevlar/epoxy composites (Ramkumar et al, 2004). The fibre orientation, composition and the depth of cut undertaken were chosen as input parameters for this purpose. The cutting force values evaluated using finite element methods were used for training the artificial neural network. The artificial neural network outputs are compared with the desired output values and provided maximum error reduction. Finally, the comparison of the neural network output results with the results obtained from experiments has shown an acceptable level of convergence.

Application of Artificial Neural Networks For the Prediction of Shrinkage and Warpage of Plastic Injection Molded Parts

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Application of Artificial Neural Networks For the Prediction of Shrinkage and Warpage of Plastic Injection Molded Parts 

Author Name  : B. Sidda Reddy, K. Thirupathi Reddy , Vijaya Kumar Reddy 

Synopsis  : 

This paper deals with the development of accurate shrinkage and warpage prediction model for plastic injection molded part using artificial neural networks. For training, testing of the shrinkage and warpage model, a number of MoldFlow (FE) analyses have been carried out using Box-Behnken Response Surface (BBRS) design technique by considering the process parameters such as mold temperature, melt temperature, packing pressure, packing time, cooling time and injection pressure. The shrinkage and warpage values were found by analyses which were done by MoldFlow plastic insight (MPI) 5.0 software. The artificial neural network model was developed using multilayer perceptron back propagation algorithm using train data and tested using test data. To judge the ability and efficiency of the model to predict the shrinkage and warpage values, percentage deviation and average percentage deviation has been used. The finite element results show that the adaption of back propagation algorithm in artificial neural networks achieved a very satisfactory prediction accuracy of 91.920498%, 90.857614% for warpage and shrinkage respectively.

Service Life Prediction of HTPB Based Solid Propellant

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Service Life Prediction of HTPB Based Solid Propellant 

Author Name  : P.N. Kadiresh, B.T.N Sridhar 

Synopsis  : 

The service life prediction of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene filled with crystalline material ammonium perchlorate (HTPB/AP), composite solid propellant, was carried out by observing the behaviour of the propellant under accelerated conditions at different elevated temperatures. The specimens were oven aged at 60 ºC and 55 ºC to study the effect of time on the ageing behaviour. The mechanical properties like initial modulus, percentage elongation at break were observed for HTPB/AP propellant from tension test, using computer controlled universal testing machine (UTM). The storage life of HTPB based composite solid propellant was obtained as 11.4 years using the Arrhenius equation. The activation energy value calculated was comparable to those obtained in other related works.

Smart Ceramic Materials for Homogeneous Combustion in Internal Combustion Engines - A Review

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Smart Ceramic Materials for Homogeneous Combustion in Internal Combustion Engines - A Review 

Author Name  : KANNAN CHIDAMBARAM, P. Tamilporai 

Synopsis  : 

The advantages of using ceramics in advanced heat engines can include increased fuel efficiency due to higher engine operating temperatures and more compact designs with lower capacity cooling system. Future internal combustion engines may be characterized by near zero emission levels along with low specific fuel consumption. Homogenous combustion that is formed inside the engine cylinder has the potential of providing near zero emission level with better fuel economy. However, the accomplishment of homogeneous combustion depends on the air flow structure inside the combustion chamber, fuel injection conditions and air turbulence as well as ignition conditions. Various methods and procedures are now being adopted to create homogeneous combustion inside the engine cylinder. In modern design, we see porous ceramic materials being introduced inside the combustion chamber to achieve homogeneous combustion. This paper investigates and reviews the desirable structures, types and properties of such porous ceramic materials and their positive influence on the combustion process.

Modeling of Coastal Erosion and Accretion

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year : 2008

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Modeling of Coastal Erosion and Accretion 

Author Name  : T. Hemamalini, S. Somasundaram , A.N. Senthivel , R. Prabhakar 

Synopsis  : 

Spatial data were collected from map 1973, IRS 1A, IRS 1B of 1989 and 2001. A spatial model was created based on these data. This GIS application, based on available and easily developed digital data, provides realistic and valuable information in a short time frame. This paper includes three major stages: (1) data preparation and pre-processing, (2) boundary detection and (3) modeling and results presentation. These results offered some insights for erosion control on the 11o 40’ Northing to 11o 30’ Northing of Tamilnadu state of Indian east coast area. This paper helps to identify the coastal erosion and accretion.

A Novel Image Encryption Algorithm Using Multi Chaotic Schemes as Elliptic Curve, Quasi Group and also with Genetic Algorithm

Vol. 3 No. 4

Year : 2008

Issue : May-Jul

Title  : A Novel Image Encryption Algorithm Using Multi Chaotic Schemes as Elliptic Curve, Quasi Group and also with Genetic Algorithm 

Author Name  : Monisha Sharma, M. Kowar , Manisha Sharma 

Synopsis  : 

In the present paper, a novel Elliptic curve and quasi pseudo random sequence based Genetic algorithm for data encryption has been proposed. By combining the spatial domain encryption of digital image by the proposed technique and a new pseudo random generator, the security of encryption scheme has been enhanced effectively. Instead of encrypting an image in a chaotic signal directly, the proposed scheme uses multi-chaotic systems based on the idea of higher level of secrecy. Two of the chaotic systems are used to generate a pseudo random sequence, which is better than the existing ones. The other chaotic system is used for encryption purpose. The encryption by this method is such that the real time signal can be transformed into completely disordered data. The security of encryption scheme is analyzed in detail. The proposed algorithm possesses interesting features like, High level of security, Less memory usage requirement, Low computational complexity, Larger key space, Sensitive to key and can resist brute force attacks, Small key size, Faster implementation and Less Bandwidth. Thus the proposed scheme is very much suitable for the digital image encryption.