Multi-Objective Optimization of the Ultrasonic Scalpel Rod and Tip with Improved Performance:Vibration Frequency,Amplitude,and Service Life

Ultrasonic scalpel design for minimally invasive surgical procedures is mainly focused on optimizing cutting performance.However,an important issue is the low fatigue life of traditional ultrasonic scalpels,which affects their long-term reliability and effectiveness and creates hidden dangers for surgery.In this study,a multi-objective optimal design for the cutting performance and fatigue life of ultrasonic scalpels was proposed using finite element analysis and fatigue simulation.The optimal design parameters of resonance frequency and amplitude were determined.By setting the transition fillet and keeping the gain structure away from the node position to enable the scalpel to have a high service life with excellent cutting performance.The frequency modulation method of setting the vibration node bosses at the node position and setting the vibration antinode grooves at the antinode position was compared.Then,the mechanism of the influence of various design elements,such as tip,shank,node position,and antinode position,on the resonance frequency,amplitude,and fatigue life of the ultrasonic scalpel was analyzed,and the optimal design principles of the ultrasonic scalpel were obtained.The proposed ultrasonic scalpel design was confirmed by simulations,impedance measurements,and liver tissue cutting experiments,demonstrating its feasibility and enhanced performance.This research introduces innovative design strategies to improve the fatigue life and performance of ultrasonic scalpels to address an important issue in minimally invasive surgery.

Experimental study of water aging on asphalt during service life of pavements

In order to further simulate the real condition of pavements during the service life,moisture is considered in long-term aging tests based on the existing researches about thermal aging and oxidation aging of asphalt.Water is injected into the pressure aging vessel（PAV）to simulate the aging process during the service life.The performance-based strategic highway research program（SHRP）parameters G/sinδ and S（t）are adopted to evaluate the high-temperature properties and low-temperature properties of the aged asphalt,respectively.The Thailand 90# asphalt,the modified Thailand 90# asphalt and the Shell 70# asphalt are used in the test.It is found that the moisture has a significant influence on parameter G/sinδ when combined with heat and oxygen,so water aging makes high-temperature performance decay more seriously.But the low-temperature performance does not change remarkably after water aging.Since the influences of temperature,oxygen and water are taken into account in the PAV test,the accuracy of asphalt aging tests can be improved and the long-term aging process of asphalt pavement can be exactly simulated.

Service Life Prediction of Lining Concrete of Subsea Tunnel under Combined Compressive Load and Carbonation

Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay subsea tunnel is the second self-built tunnel in China with the designed service life over 100 years.The durability of lining concrete are one of an important factors to determinate the service life of tunnel.Considering the main environmental loads and mechanical loads of subsea tunnel,the durability properties of lining concrete under combined action of compressive load and carbonation has been studied through the critical compressive load test,accelerated carbonation test,natural carbonation test and capillary suction test.The tests results show that critical compressive load apparently accelerates the carbonation and deteriorates the anti-permeability of concrete.Under the combined action of critical compressive load and carbonation,the durability of lining concrete decreases.Based on the carbonization life criteria and research results,for the high-performance concrete with proposed mix ratio,the predicted service life of lining concrete for Jiaozhou bay subsea tunnel is about 80 years which fails to reach the required service life.It is necessary to adopt other measurements simultaneously to improve the durability of lining concrete.

Reliability-based service life prediction of existing concrete structures under marine environment

Chloride-induced corrosion of the reinforcement is considered as one of the major mechanisms resulting in the reduction of structural resistance of reinforced concrete structural elements located in marine and other aggressive environments. A study of reinforced concrete structures located at the Fangcheng dock in the Beibu Gulf port, China, was present. The result from field survey indicates that the concrete cover depth and chloride diffusion coefficient fit best normal distribution and lognormal distribution, respectively. The service life of structure is about 55 a, while initiation time is 45 a. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the most influential factor of the structure service life prediction is concrete cover, followed by diffusion coefficient, diffusion decay index, critical chloride concentration, surface chloride concentration, current density and localized pitting corrosion. Finally, the effects of diffusion decay index and critical chloride concentration on structure service life prediction are discussed.

Service Life Design for Concrete Engineering in Marine Environments of Northern China Based on a Modified Theoretical Model of Chloride Diffusion and Large Datasets of Ocean Parameters

In this study,through experimental research and an investigation on large datasets of the durability parameters in ocean engineering,the values,ranges,and types of distribution of the durability parameters employed for the durability design in ocean engineering in northern China were confirmed.Based on a modified theoretical model of chloride diffusion and the reliability theory,the service lives of concrete structures exposed to the splash,tidal,and underwater zones were calculated.Mixed concrete proportions meeting the requirement of a service life of 100 or 120 years were designed,and a cover thickness requirement was proposed.In addition,the effects of the different time-varying relationships of the boundary condition(Cs)and diffusion coefficient(Df)on the service life were compared;the results showed that the time-varying relationships used in this study(i.e.,Cscontinuously increased and then remained stable,and Dfcontinuously decreased and then remained stable)were beneficial for the durability design of concrete structures in marine environment.

Effects of Operation Conditions on Service Life of Ladle Lining

Effects of operation conditions such as ladle temperature, remining time of molten steel, slag basicity, slag oxidation, slag viscosity , vacuum treatment, ultra-high temperature, gas blowing and stirring, intermittent operation, and different refining equipment on service life of ladle lining refractories were researched. The following conclusions are drawn ： （1） molten steel temperature rising, remaiaing time prolonging, slag oxidation ability enhancing, slag viscosity and basicity decreasing can aecelerate the corrosion of ladle lining ; （2） ultra-high temperature and vacuum treatment of ladle not only acceler- ate the fusion corrasion of ladle lining, but also make the carbon containing refractories react forming gases leading to more corrosion, so carbon containing refractories are not stdtable.for the smelting conditions of long term vacuum treatment and ultra-high temperature, especially carbon containing refractories added with conventional additives such as A1 and Si powders ; （ 3 ） argon blowing does not accelerate the corrosion of ladle lining obvioasly, but oxygen blowing does; （4） the corrosion degree of refractories varies with the refining equipment, and the service life of ladle lining decreases according to a certain proportion with the refining ratio increasing.

Study on the mechanical properties and service life of H13 mandrels

The microstructures and mechanical properties of H13 mandrels made by Baosteel and foreign companies were investigated in this study. Based on the comparison research, the processes were optimized, such as steelmaking, heat treatment and multiple forging processes. The quality of Baosteel mandrels was greatly improved by increasing the homogenizing of an annealing temperature and refining processes. The results of the pilot trial showed that the average number of piercing steel tubes for Baosteel mandrels was over 3000 ,which reached the level of imported mandrels.

A Semi-Mechanistic Model for Predicting the Service Life of Composite Coatings on VW63Z Magnesium Alloy

The application of Mg alloys is always accompanied by various coating technology, but a reliable model predicting the service life of coatings on Mg alloys is lacking but urgent. In this work, a semi-mechanistic model was proposed to predict the service life of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) coating/electrophoretic coatings on a VW63Z Mg alloy;the model was decomposed into three parts: a first part depicting the degradation time of organic coating (L_(1)) and the diffusion time of electrolyte in the inorganic coating (L_(2)), respectively;a second part interpreting the breakdown of coatings due to the corrosion process (L_(3));a final part establishing an algorithm converting the accelerated tests into the real service environment (α);the effect of structural stress and dissimilar metal joints on the service life of coatings was also considered. Based on the ongoing accelerated experiments, the semi-mechanistic model could be able to predict the service life of both PEO coatings and composite coatings on VW63Z Mg alloy with a satisfiable precision.

Master Curve Method of Cumulative Damage for Prediction of Service Life

Aim To study the theory and method for the prediction of service life of solid rocket propellant grain. Methods With the aid of discontiguous diagnostic technology and method of accumulated damage using accelerated aging or heat air oven, the aging isotherms for void content versus aging time were determined. According to the principle of time temperature equivalence the viscoelastic master curve for the prediction of service life were obtained. Results and Conclusion The service life of HMX CMDB solid rocket propellant grain were obtained. Because the critical storage life is measured, the accuracy of predicting the service life of the grain has been increased greatly.

Research on Service Life Prediction Model of Concrete Structure of Sea-crossing Bridge

According to the chloride corrosion environment,service life prediction model of concrete structure of sea-crossing bridge was built using modified Fick's second law and the whole probability calculation method,which was suitable for China. Furthermore,a visual service life prediction program of concrete structure was developed by optimized Monte Carlo method. Meanwhile,Life 365 program was compared,indicating reliability of the prediction program. Finally,the validity of prediction model was verified in JinTang Bridge of Zhoushan Island Mainland Linkage Project.

Service life prediction of fly ash concrete using an artificial neural network

Carbonation is one of the most aggressive phenomena affecting reinforced concrete structures and causing their degradation over time.Once reinforcement is altered by carbonation,the structure will no longer fulfill service requirements.For this purpose,the present work estimates the lifetime of fly ash concrete by developing a carbonation depth prediction model that uses an artificial neural network technique.A collection of 300 data points was made from experimental results available in the published literature.Backpropagation training of a three-layer perceptron was selected for the calculation of weights and biases of the network to reach the desired performance.Six parameters affecting carbonation were used as input neurons:binder content,fly ash substitution rate,water/binder ratio,CO_(2)concentration,relative humidity,and concrete age.Moreover,experimental validation carried out for the developed model shows that the artificial neural network has strong potential as a feasible tool to accurately predict the carbonation depth of fly ash concrete.Finally,a mathematical formula is proposed that can be used to successfully estimate the service life of fly ash concrete.

Lubricant self-replenishing slippery surface with prolonged service life for fog harvesting

Slippery lubricant-infused surfaces exhibit excellent fog-harvesting capacities compared with superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces.However,lubricant depletion is typically unavoidable under dynamic conditions,and reinfused oil is generally needed to recover the fog-harvesting capacity.Herein,an effective strategy for delaying the depletion of lubricant to prolong the service life of fog harvesting is proposed.An ultrathin transparent lubricant self-replenishing slippery surface was fabricated via facile one-step solvent evaporation polymerization.The gel film of the lubricant self-replenishing slippery surface,which was embedded with oil microdroplets,was attached to glass slides via the phase separation and evaporation of tetrahydrofuran.The gel film GFs-150(with oil content 150 wt%of aminopropyl-terminated polydimethyl siloxane(PDMS–NH2))exhibited superior slippery and fog-harvesting performance to other gel films.Furthermore,the slippery surfaces with the trait of oil secretion triggered by mechanical stress exhibited better fog-harvesting capabilities and longer service life than surfaces without the function of lubricant self-replenishment.The lubricant self-replenishing,ultrathin,and transparent slippery surfaces reported herein have considerable potential for applications involving narrow spaces,visualization,long service life,etc.

Comprehensive rotor service life study for high&intermediate pressure cylinders of high power steam turbines

The paper provides a comprehensive scheme for assessment of the residual service life and extension of operating life of steam turbine rotors with expired fleet service life.The residual service life of high temperature rotors for high&intermediate pressure cylinders of K-200-130-3 steam turbine without heat grooves calculated and it was showed that the residual service life of high&intermediate pressure rotors without grooves has been extended as compared to the K-200-130-1 turbine rotors with grooves.Also residual life management by supplying hot steam to the HPC and 1PC seals was investigated and it was noted their significant impact on the residual service life.

Study on Strength and Life of Anisotropic Single Crystal Blade - Part I: Crystallographic Constitutive Models and Applications

The single crystal blade is one of the key technologies for improving the performance, durability and reliability of aero-engines and ground gas-turbine engines. However, the anisotropic mechanical properties of the single crystal material makes a great deal of difficulties on the development and the application of the single crystal blade, which is a challenge for the engineering application of the single crystal superalloy and the theoretic bases of the application. Some researches on the strength analysis and the life prediction of the anisotropic single crystal blade were carried out by the authors' research team. They are as follows. The crystallographic constitutive models for the plastic and the creep behaviors and the method of the rupture life prediction were established and verified. The tensile or the creep experiments for DD3 single crystal alloy with different orientations under different temperatures and different tensile rates or under different temperatures and different stress levels were carried out. The experimental data and the anisotropic properties at intermediate and high temperatures revealed by the experiments are significant for the application of the single crystal alloy. In addition, the experimental research for a kind of single crystal blade was also made. As the application of the researches the strength analysis and the life prediction were carried out for the single crystal blade of a certain aero-engine. In this part, the constitutive models and their applications are described, and the experimental research work will be described in part II.

Durability of Concrete with Different Improvement Measures and Its Ser-vice Life Prediction in Island and Reef Environment

To solve the durability of island and reef concrete engineering in the harsh environment of high temperature,high salt,high humidity and windy,the strength grade of concrete and the type of corrosion inhibitor were used as the influence factors,while the relative dynamic elastic modulus was used as the evaluation index.In addition,the law and time variability of the deterioration of concrete,the size effect,environmental similarity and the service life model were studied.The results showed that improving the strength grade of concrete could improve the durability of concrete,and corrosion inhibitor could slightly improve the durability of concrete.Time-varying law of the deterioration of concrete conformed to the univariate quadratic polynomial.Combined with the concrete damage equivalent theory,a size effect model based on the relative dynamic elastic modulus was proposed and verified,and the size effect coefficient was also given.An environmental similarity model between simulated and practical island and reef environment was proposed.Combined with the reliability theory and the first order second moment method,a new service life model of concrete structure was proposed.The authors were convinced that the research will be advantageous to researchers.

Practice of extending the shell life of Baosteel BOF vessels

With the wide application of the magnesia-graphite refractory having a high-thermal-conductivity in BOF vessels for extending the furnace campaign, furnace shell deformation has become increasingly serious. It shortened the furnace campaign and reduced the production. The paper presents the work on increasing the life-span of the furnace shell at Baosteel, which includes the shell renovation, the study on the creep deformation resisting shell plates and the application of the air cooling method to the BOF shell. The results and limitations of these technologies are discussed.

Estimating the Service Lives of Building Products in Use

Reliable service life data of building products are of great importance when completing environmental LCA （life cycle assessment） reviews, for LCC （life cycle costing） and for maintenance planning tasks. A research project was set up to answer the following research questions： （1） what are reliable service life data of current used building products; and （2） how can generic data about the service lives of building products be tailored to specific project circumstances using the ＂factor method＂ described in the ISO （International Standard Organization） 15686 Series： ＂Buildings and Constructed Assets-Service-Life Planning＂. Experts of industry organisations for building materials and products made a final judgement of the new established reference service lives. Reference service lives of building products may show a large unknown bandwidth around the average. That will make the bandwidth of estimated service lives, taking the project situation of building components into account, very big. Experts have raised objections to the use the factor method for deriving mathematically a bandwidth of estimated service lives of a building product from the reference service life of the product. A practical analytical application of the factor method has been made by describing all factors and underlying criteria and a reference situation.

Effect of Fatigue Loading on the Mechanical Properties and Resistance of High-strength Straight-hole Recycled Pervious Concrete to Rainstorm-based Waterlogging

A novel high-strength straight-hole recycled pervious concrete(HSRPC)for the secondary highway pavement was prepared in this paper.This study aimed to investigate the effect of porosity(0.126%,0.502%,and 1.13%),vehicle loading stress level(0.5 and 0.8)and service life on the resistance to rainstormbased waterlogging of HSRPC under fatigue loading.The mechanical properties of HSRPC in terms of flexural strength and dynamic elastic modulus were studied.The waterlogging resistance of HSRPC was described by surface water depth and drainage time.The microstructure of HSRPC were observed with scanning electron microscopy(SEM).Results showed that although the dynamic elastic modulus and flexural strength of HSRPC decreased with the increasing number of fatigue loading,the flexural strength of HSRPC was still greater than5 MPa after design service life of 20 years.After 2.5×10^(5)times of fatigue loading,the permeability coefficient of HSRPC with a porosity of 0.502%and 1.13%increased by 18.4%and 22.9%,respectively;while the permeability coefficient of HSRPC with 0.126%porosity dropped to 0.35 mm/s.The maximum surface water depth of HSRPC with a porosity of 0.126%,0.502%,and 1.13%were 8,5 and 4 mm,respectively.SEM results showed that fatigue loading expanded the number and width of cracks around the tiny pores in HSRPC.

Sustainability of lime stabilized road subgrade in mountainous regions of Türkiye

In this paper the use of lime stabilized subgrade for low volume roads in two regions with high mountains and different frost penetration conditions in Türkiye was investigated in terms of design,performance,and cost.Pavements on unstabilized and stabilized subgrade were designed for two regions(Izmir and Van),covering all climate variations.The resilient modulus of the lime stabilized subgrade with different soil pulverization levels for non-freezing and freezing conditions were taken from a previous laboratory study.Frost effects were considered in pavement design using two different approaches,including limited subgrade frost penetration method and reduced subgrade strength method.Detailed application and evaluation were performed for all steps.Lime stabilized subgrades significantly reduced the thickness of base courses,and the benefit of lime stabilization was highly dependent on soil pulverization level.A detailed cost analysis on the unstabilized and stabilized cases found that the use of lime stabilization in the subgrade provided significant initial cost savings.Comparative analysis by using the AASHTO(1993)method and KENPAVE software,and quantity effect of soil pulverization level on the performance of low volume roads from a service life perspective,show that subgrade resilient modulus can be estimated.It is also possible to make correct performance estimation in the field.The results of the study show that lime stabilization is a good solution for low volume roads in the mountainous regions of Türkiye.

Effect of SnO_2 intermediate layer on performance of Ti/SnO_2/MnO_2 electrode during electrolytic-manganese process

SnO2intermediate layers were coated on the titanium(Ti)substrate by thermal decomposition.Scanning electronmicroscope(SEM)and X-ray diffraction(XRD)results show that uniform SnO2intermediate layers with rutile crystal structure weresuccessfully achieved.According to the results of linear sweep voltammetry(LSV),oxygen evolution potential(OEP)of theTi/SnO2/MnO2electrodes decreases with increasing SnO2content,indicating that the electro-catalytic oxidation activity of theelectrode increases.Accelerated service life tests results demonstrate that SnO2intermediate layer can improve the service life of theTi/SnO2/MnO2electrode.As the content of SnO2intermediate layer increases,the cell voltage and the energy consumption decreaseapparently.