Performance improvement in stepped solar still modified by sponge layer

In this paper,the experimental investigation on the performance improvement of conventional stepped solar still is conducted.The steps are covered by the porous material to improve the performance of the conventional device and increase the evaporation rate.All the parameters,including the temperature on the glass surface,the water temperature inside the evaporation zone,and the amount of water produced in both conventional and modified stepped solar stills are measured and compared.The efficiency of two devices and their exergy efficiency have been calculated.Finally,the economic analysis of both devices has been done to check the economic feasibility of the modified device.The amount of freshwater generated during one day was 2244.4 and 3076.2 mL/m^(2),respectively for the conventional and modified stepped solar stills.As a result,the amount of water produced in one day by modified stepped solar still is 35.5% more than the conventional one.Also,the costs for the conventional and modified stepped solar stills have been calculated as 0.0359 and 0.029$/(L·m^(-2)),respectively.

Transfer matrix method for free and forced vibrations of multi-level functionally graded material stepped beams with different boundary conditions

Functionally graded materials(FGMs)are a novel class of composite materials that have attracted significant attention in the field of engineering due to their unique mechanical properties.This study aims to explore the dynamic behaviors of an FGM stepped beam with different boundary conditions based on an efficient solving method.Under the assumptions of the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory,the governing differential equations of an individual FGM beam are derived with Hamilton’s principle and decoupled via the separation-of-variable approach.Then,the free and forced vibrations of the FGM stepped beam are solved with the transfer matrix method(TMM).Two models,i.e.,a three-level FGM stepped beam and a five-level FGM stepped beam,are considered,and their natural frequencies and mode shapes are presented.To demonstrate the validity of the method in this paper,the simulation results by ABAQUS are also given.On this basis,the detailed parametric analyses on the frequencies and dynamic responses of the three-level FGM stepped beam are carried out.The results show the accuracy and efficiency of the TMM.

Stability analysis of intermittently jointed rock slopes based on the stepped failure mode

In practical engineering,due to the noncontinuity characteristics of joints in rock slopes,in addition to plane failure,stepped sliding failure may occur for intermittently jointed rock slopes.Especially for intermittently bedding jointed rock slopes,the correlation and difference in strength parameters between joints and rock bridges,along with the various failure modes and intermittency of rock bridges,contribute to the complexity of stepped failure modes and the unpredictability of failure regions.Based on the upper-bound limit analysis method and multi-sliders step-path failure mode,considering the shear and tensile failure of rock bridges and the weakened relationship between the strength parameters of rock bridges and jointed surfaces,by introducing the modified M-C failure criterion and the formula for calculating the energy consumption of tensile failure of rock bridges,two failure mechanisms are constructed to obtain the safety factor(F_(s))of intermittently jointed rock slopes.The sequential quadratic programming method is used to obtain the optimal upper-bound solution for F_(s).The influence of multiple key parameters(slope height H,horizontal distance L,Slope angleβ,shear strength parameters of the rock bridgeφr and cr,Dimensionless parameter u,weakening coefficients of the internal friction angle and cohesion between the rock bridges and joint surfaces Kφand Kc)on the stability analysis of intermittently jointed rock slopes under the shear failure mode of rock bridges as well as under the tensile failure mode is also explored.The reliability of the failure mechanisms is verified by comparative analysis with theoretical results,numerical results,and landslide cases,and the variation rules of F_(s)with each key parameter are obtained.The results show that F_(s) varies linearly withφr and cr of the rock bridge and with K_(φ)and K_(c),whereas F_(s)changes nonlinearly with H and L.In particular,with the increase in Kφand Kc,Fs increases by approximately 52.78%and 171.02%on average,respectively.For rock bridge tensile failure,F_(s) shows a nonlinearly positive correlation withφr,cr,Kφand Kc.In particular,with the increase in Kφand Kc,Fs increases by approximately 13%and 61.69%on average,respectively.Fs decreases rapidly with increasing slope gradientβand decreasing dimensionless parameterμ.When Kφand Kc are both less than 1.0,the stepped sliding surface occurs more easily than the plane failure surface,especially in the case of tensile failure of the rock bridge.In addition,rock slopes with higher strength parameters,taller heights,and greater weakening coefficients are prone to rock bridge tension failure with lower Fs,and more attention should be given to the occurrence of such accidents in actual engineering.

AUTOFOCUSING OF SYNTHETIC HRR RADAR USING STEPPED FREQUENCY WAVEFORMS

Most operating radar systems don′t have sufficient frequency bandwidth to produce high range resolution(HRR) profile of a target. But we can use stepped frequency waveform in a narrow band coherent radar to obtain the HRR profile of a target. For moving targets which are of great importance in practical radar usage, autofocusing,i.e. phase correction, is a necessary and critical step of the synthetic HRR processing. The purpose of autofocusing is to remove the radial motion effect of the target from radar echoes, and only reserve the stepped frequency effect which is the basis of synthetic HRR capability. We investigate two autofocusing approaches for synthetic HRR radars using stepped frequency waveform in this paper. The first is motion fitting method. This method depends on a certain parametric model, and is computationally expensive. Then we propose the iterative dominant scatterer method. It is robust, non parametric and simple in computation in comparison with the motion fitting method. Experimental results based on data acquired by using a metallised scale model B 52 in a microwave anechoic chamber reveal the validity and effectiveness of the method.

Dynamic Response of Stepped Beams Under Impulsive Loading

Aim To analyze dynamic failure of aerospace strutures subjected lateral impulsive loading. Methods Structures were modeled as rigid-perfectly plastic free-free stepped beams. Basic equations of motion un set up for analysis. Results Final pat deformation and rigid motion solutions were determined for a uniform impulsive loading. The critical rupture conditions for a space shuttle and a missile were obtained. Conclusion Failure is possible for aerospace structures under a uniform impulsive loading, but it is mere difficult in space.

Physical modelling and scale effects of air-water flows on stepped spillways

During the last three decades, the introduction of new construction materials (e.g. RCC (Roller Compacted Concrete), strengthened gabions) has increased the interest for stepped channels and spillways. However stepped chute hydraulics is not simple, because of different flow regimes and importantly because of very-strong interactions between entrained air and turbu- lence. In this study, new air-water flow measurements were conducted in two large-size stepped chute facilities with two step heights in each facility to study experimental distortion caused by scale effects and the soundness of result extrapolation to pro- totypes. Experimental data included distributions of air concentration, air-water flow velocity, bubble frequency, bubble chord length and air-water flow turbulence intensity. For a Froude similitude, the results implied that scale effects were observed in both facilities, although the geometric scaling ratio was only Lr=2 in each case. The selection of the criterion for scale effects is a critical issue. For example, major differences (i.e. scale effects) were observed in terms of bubble chord sizes and turbulence levels al- though little scale effects were seen in terms of void fraction and velocity distributions. Overall the findings emphasize that physical modelling of stepped chutes based upon a Froude similitude is more sensitive to scale effects than classical smooth-invert chute studies, and this is consistent with basic dimensional analysis developed herein.

Hydrodynamic Performance Prediction of Stepped Planing Craft Using CFD and ANNs

In the present paper,the hydrodynamic performance of stepped planing craft is investigated by computational fluid dynamics(CFD)analysis.For this purpose,the hydrodynamic resistances of without step,one-step,and two-step hulls of Cougar planing craft are evaluated under different distances of the second step and LCG from aft,weight loadings,and Froude numbers(Fr).Our CFD results are appropriately validated against our conducted experimental test in National Iranians Marine Laboratory(NIMALA),Tehran,Iran.Then,the hydrodynamic resistance of intended planing crafts under various geometrical and physical conditions is predicted using artificial neural networks(ANNs).CFD analysis shows two different trends in the growth rate of resistance to weight ratio.So that,using steps for planing craft increases the resistance to weight ratio at lower Fr and decreases it at higher Fr.Additionally,by the increase of the distance between two steps,the resistance to weight ratio is decreased and the porpoising phenomenon is delayed.Furthermore,we obtained the maximum mean square error of ANNs output in the prediction of resistance to weight ratio equal to 0.0027.Finally,the predictive equation is suggested for the resistance to weight ratio of stepped planing craft according to weights and bias of designed ANNs.

Shaking table comparative test and associated study of a stepped wall-frame structure

A new structural system called a stepped wall-frame structure is proposed in this study to solve the bottom yielding problem of RC frames, which widely occurred during previous earthquakes such as thc Wcnchuan and Yushu earthquakes in China. A 1/5 scale ordinary RC frame model and a stepped wall-frame model were subjected to shake table motions together to study the seismic behavior of the new structural system. This paper presents the dynamic characteristics, the seismic responses and the failure and collapse mechanism of the two models under low, moderate and high intensity shaking. The test results and further analysis demonstrate that the seismic performance of stepped wall-frame structures is superior to ordinary RC frames in terms of the well-controlled deformation pattern and more uniformly distributed damage. The stepped wall can effectively suppress the bottom yielding mechanism, and is simple, economical and practical tbr engineering practice.

Novel imaging methods of stepped frequency radar based on compressed sensing

The theory of compressed sensing （CS） provides a new chance to reduce the data acquisition time and improve the data usage factor of the stepped frequency radar system. In light of the sparsity of radar target reflectivity, two imaging methods based on CS, termed the CS-based 2D joint imaging algorithm and the CS-based 2D decoupled imaging algorithm, are proposed. These methods incorporate the coherent mixing operation into the sparse dictionary, and take random measurements in both range and azimuth directions to get high resolution radar images, thus can remarkably reduce the data rate and simplify the hardware design of the radar system while maintaining imaging quality. Ex- periments from both simulated data and measured data in the anechoic chamber show that the proposed imaging methods can get more focused images than the traditional fast Fourier trans- form method. Wherein the joint algorithm has stronger robustness and can provide clearer inverse synthetic aperture radar images, while the decoupled algorithm is computationally more efficient but has slightly degraded imaging quality, which can be improved by increasing measurements or using a robuster recovery algorithm nevertheless.

3D stability assessment of stepped slopes in inhomogeneous soils

Stability assessment of slopes has historically been performed assuming soils to be homogeneous in two-dimensional(2D) cases. In real cases, soils are usually inhomogeneous, and each slope collapse indicates a three-dimensional(3D) nature. Based on a 3D rotational failure mechanism, this work develops an approach to account for the impact of the vertical strength inhomogeneity on the 3D stability of stepped slopes. Seismic actions are taken into account by introducing the concept of a horizontal seismic coefficient. An upper-bound expression for stability factors is derived in the light of the kinematic approach, and the most critical solution is obtained from an optimization programming. In comparison with the previously published solutions, the validity of the proposed method is shown. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to discuss parametric effects on the stability of 3D stepped inhomogeneous slopes.

Model Test and Numerical Analysis on Long-Term Mechanical Properties of Stepped Reinforced Retaining Wall

Model tests and numerical analyses of stepped reinforced retaining wall were performed to investigate the effects of rheology of backfill and creep of geogrids on the long-term performance of the structure.The geogrid tensions,soil pressures,wall deformations and foundation pressure were measured during model construction and loading.A visco-elasto-plastic model and an empirical nonlinear visco-elastic model were utilized to simulate the stresses and deformations of geogrid-reinforced earth-retaining wall under long-term loads.By comparing test data with numerical results,it is shown that the foundation pressure distribution is nonlinear,and the lateral constraint of geogrids for backfill can cause a redistribution of foundation pressure.The curve of soil pressure is outside convex at each step initially,and it is close to the distribution for the case of vertical wall subsequently.The variation trend of geogrid tensions at different heights is obtained.Moreover,the failure mechanism and development mode of potential slip surface in retaining wall are proposed.

Three-to-one internal resonance in multiple stepped beam systems

In this study, the vibrations of multiple stepped beams with cubic nonlinearities are considered. A three-to-one internal resonance case is investigated for the system. A general approximate solution to the problem is found using the method of multiple scales （a perturbation technique）. The modulation equations of the amplitudes and the phases are derived for two modes. These equations are utilized to determine steady state solutions and their stabilities. It is assumed that the external forcing frequency is close to the lower frequency. For the numeric part of the study, the three-to-one ratio in natural frequencies is investigated. These values are observed to be between the first and second natural frequencies in the cases of the clamped-clamped and clamped-pinned supports, and between the second and third natural frequencies in the case of the pinned-pinned support. Finally, a numeric algorithm is used to solve the three-to-one internal resonance. The first mode is externally excited for the clamped-clamped and clamped-pinned supports, and the second mode is externally excited for the pinned-pinned support. Then, the amplitudes of the first and second modes are investigated when the first mode is externally excited. The amplitudes of the second and third modes are investigated when the second mode is externally excited. The force-response, damping-response, and .frequency- response curves are plotted for the internal resonance modes of vibrations. The stability analysis is carried out for these plots.

3D Rigid-Plastic Finite Element Analysis for Skew Rolling Process of the Stepped Part

Based on rigid-plastic finite element method, a skew rolling process of stepped part is simulated. Considering nodesaving and effective remeshing, the tetrahedron solid elements are used to discrete workpiece. The workpiece material adopts rigid-plastic model, where the flow stress is function of effective strain, effective strain rate and temperature.The thermomechanical coupling is considered in the simulation. To model the spinning workpiece undergoing plastic deformation, a novel solution is presented and applied in this paper. The stress state in the workpiece and forming characteristic of skew rolling are analyzed. The forming load, including roller torque and forces in three directions are predicted. The above analyses are helpful to understanding of forming mechanisms and improving of process and die design.

Grating lobes suppression method for stepped frequency GB-SAR system

A grating lobes suppression method for chirp-subpulse stepped frequency（CSSF） signals is proposed, which is applied to deformation monitoring using the ground based synthetic aperture radar（GB-SAR） system. This method is based on accurate estimation and correction of the phase and amplitude error along two dimensions（range and azimuth）, i.e., the error estimation inside the subpulse（in-subpulse error） and across the stepped frequency subpulses（cross-subpulse error） of transmitted CSSF signals. Validated both with simulated data and experimental data recorded in the deformation monitoring campaign, it can be seen that the method as well as the relative conclusions can be fully and effectively applied to most of the stepped frequency systems.

Finite element analysis and experiment on multi-wedge cross wedge rolling for asymmetric stepped shaft of C45

A rigid-plastic finite element method(FEM) simulation model for a multi-wedge cross wedge rolling(MCWR) was developed to analyze an asymmetric stepped shaft. To evaluate the MCWR process and better understand its deformation characteristics, the material flowing mechanisms, temperature distributions, strain and rolling force were analyzed. The correctness of the finite element simulation is experimentally verified. Numerical simulations and experiments led to the following conclusions: when α=36° and β=7.5°, the quality of the work piece can be significantly improved. Finally, the development of the asymmetric stepped shaft is applied to industrial production.

Effect of Shape of the Absorber Surface on the Performance of Stepped Type Solar Still

In this work, we have selected three number of stepped type solar stills of the same overall dimensions 620 mm (W) × 808 mm (L) but with different absorber surface areas due to the variation in the shape of the basin surface. The other design parameters like depth of water, thickness of glass cover, insulation thickness, type of condensing cover, absorbing material provided over the basin, and angle of inclination of the still were kept constant to study the effect of shape of the absorber surface over the distillate yield obtained. The shape of the absorber surface provided in the basins of solar stills A, E and F was flat, convex and concave respectively. When the convex and concave type stepped solar stills are used, the average daily water production has been found to be 56.60% and 29.24% higher than that of flat type stepped solar still respectively. Also an economic analysis was made. The payback period of flat type, convex type and concave type stepped solar still is 823 days, 525 days and 637 days respectively. Thus, the convex type solar still gives the returns within the least possible time as compared to other two types of stepped solar stills. The laboratory tests were conducted to test the quality of water after distillation. The tests indicate that the quality of water in terms of pH, electrical conductivity, total hardness, TDS, Alkalinity, Nitrates etc. is well within the desirable limits as prescribed by WHO for Indian specific conditions.

Adsorption and Vibration of O on the Pt Stepped Surfaces

The 5-parameter Morse potential （5-MP） of interaction between an adatom and metal surface cluster is put forward and performed on O-Pt stepped surface systems. We have primarily studied O/Pt（331）, O/Pt（221） and O/Pt（553） systems and drawn some conclusions from the calculated results in good agreement with experimental and theoretical information. The O atom adsorbs stably near the step, so the step is the active place in the reaction. There are two types of atomic states, β1 and β2, in the adsorbed systems, corresponding to the three-fold states and four-fold long-bridged state behind the step respectively. Moreover, the length of （Ⅲ） terrace affects weakly the properties of all critical points in these systems.

Scattering of Oblique Water Waves by Two Unequal Surface-Piercing Vertical Thin Plates with Stepped Bottom Topography

Based on linear water-wave theory, this study investigated the scattering of oblique incident water waves by two unequal surface-piercing thin vertical rigid plates with stepped bottom topography. By using the matched eigenfunction expansion method and a least square approach, the analytical solutions are sought for the established boundary value problem. The effects of the incidence angle, location of step, depth ratio of deep to shallow waters,and column width between two plates, on the reflection coefficients, the horizontal wave forces acting on the two plates, and the mean surface elevation between the two plates, are numerically examined under a variety of wave conditions. The results show that the existence of the stepped bottom between two plates considerably impacts the hydrodynamic performances of the present system. It is found that the effect of stepped bottom on the reflection coefficient of the present two-plate structure is evident only with waves of the low dimensionless frequency.Moreover, the influence of the step location on the hydrodynamic performance of the present two-plate structure is slight if the step is placed in between the two plates.

Analysis and application of wavelet transform in target imaging and detection of stepped frequency MMW radar

The imaging and target detection methods for stepped frequency signal based on the wavelet transform and its power spectrum are investigated. Not only an imaging and target detection algorithm for stepped frequency signal based on the wavelet transform, but also its respective power spectrum are proposed. The multisampling property of stepped frequency signal is studied and wavelet transform is well suited for analyzing the signal. After multisampling property of stepped frequency signal being studied, it is shown that the wavelet transform is appropriate to analyze the signal. Based on the theory, the wavelet power spectrum analysis is applied to obtain the target range profile and the binary wavelet transform is used to perform target detection. To determine a suitable wavelet scaling for imaging of range profile's MMW radar, the distance resolution ΔR technique is proposed. The effectiveness of this new method is evaluated using simulated noisy radar signal. Results show that the proposed method can bring out the exactness and low computational complexity of this method.

RESEARCH ON MOTION COMPENSATION FOR HIGH RESOLUTION PROFILE OF EXTENDED TARGET FOR STEPPED CHIRP RADAR AND DSP IMPLEMENTATION

A discrete model is set up for High Resolution Range Profile (HRRP) of an extended target and the model of echo from an extended target for a Stepped Chirp Radar (SCR) is proposed. The effect of target motion on a range profile is thoroughly analyzed, and based on which precision re- quirement is developed for motion compensation. By studying the time domain correlation and the rule based on the least burst error, a motion compensation algorithm which satisfies the project requirement is presented, and the cyber-emulation confirms the conclusion. At last the processor is designed by using DSP devices to realize motion compensation and target recognition.