Factorial Experimental Design to Study the Effects of Layers and Fiber Content on Concrete Flexural Behavior

Experimentation has come a long in helping researchers achieve breakthroughs in their different scientific areas and engineering happens to be one of those areas with the most impact from experimental advancement. The need for valid experimental results free from biases and confounding conclusions has prompted the development of new experimental techniques that takes consideration of all applicable factor and combinations in providing answers on a research topic, and the Factorial Experimental design credited to Sir Ronald Fisher is one technique yielding highly valid results. This paper uses the factorial design of experiments to research the flexural impact of polyvinyl acetate fiber and layered concrete in construction. The experiment considered two levels of fiber contents and two levels of layers, and prepared samples with all combinations of the variable factors. The samples were tested after 7 days from casting for flexural strength and an advance statistical analysis was performed on the flexural responses of the samples using R-program. The results from the analyses revealed the significance of the variables to the flexural strength of the samples, as well as their interactions. The experiment concluded that based on the number of layers and fiber content used for the experiment, casting concrete in layers does have a significant negative effect on the flexural strength of concrete, and the failure pattern of concrete members under flexural load in evidently influenced by the material composition of the concrete, and that it can be evidently influenced by casting the concrete in layers.

Design and Robust Performance Evaluation of a Fractional Order PID Controller Applied to a DC Motor

This paper proposes a methodology for the quantitative robustness evaluation of PID controllers employed in a DC motor. The robustness analysis is performed employing a 2~3 factorial experimental design for a fractional order proportional integral and derivative controller(FOPID), integer order proportional integral and derivative controller(IOPID)and the Skogestad internal model control controller(SIMC). The factors assumed in experiment are the presence of random noise,external disturbances in the system input and variable load. As output variables, the experimental design employs the system step response and the controller action. Practical implementation of FOPID and IOPID controllers uses the MATLAB stateflow toolbox and a NI data acquisition system. Results of the robustness analysis show that the FOPID controller has a better performance and robust stability against the experiment factors.

Weldability of Ferritic Ductile Cast Iron Using Full Factorial Design of Experiment

The weldability of a ferritic ductile cast iron was investigated as a function of different consumables and welding conditions. A 23 full factorial experimental design was used to analyze the effect of factors and their interac- tions on ultimate tensile strength of weldments. The shielded metal arc welding （SMAW） process was used with two types of consumables （E7018 and ENi-CI） under eight different conditions using as-cast samples. The microstructur- al evolution and fracture mechanisms were investigated by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, respectively. The hardness, tensile and impact tests were also performed to determine the weld quality. Based on experiment design, preheat, consumable, cooling condition, preheat cooling and preheat-consumable inter- actions were significant factors. Preheat is the most effective factor and in the case of E7018, preheat and cooling conditions were the most sensible factors. It was found that buttering was the most appropriate welding method for ferritic ductile cast iron.

Kinetics of phenol and m-cresol biodegradation by an indigenous mixed microbial culture isolated from a sewage treatment plant

An acclimatized mixed microbial culture,predominantly Pseudomonas sp.,was enriched from a sewage treatment plant,and its potential to simultaneously degrade mixtures of phenol and m-cresol was investigated during its growth in batch shake flasks.A 22 full factorial design with the two substrates at two different levels and different initial concentration ranges(low and high),was employed to carry out the biodegradation experiments.The substrates phenol and m-cresol were completely utilized within 21 h when ...

Monitoring Flue-Cured Tobacco Leaf Chlorophyll Content under Different Light Qualities by Hyperspectral Reflectance

Rapid assessment of foliar chlorophyll content in tobacco is critical for assessment of growth and precise management to improve quality and yield while minimizing adverse environmental impact. Our objective is to develop a precise agricultural practice predicting tobacco-leaf chlorophyll-a content. Reflectance experiments have been conducted on flue-cured tobacco over 3 consecutive years under different light quality. Leaf hyperspectral reflectance and chlorophyll-a content data have been collected at 15-day intervals from 30 days after transplant until harvesting. We identified the central band that is sensitive to tobacco-leaf chlorophyll-a content and the optimum wavelength combinations for establishing new spectral indices (simple ratio index, RVI;normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI;and simple difference vegetation index, DVI). We then established linear and BackPropagation (BP) neural network models to estimate chlorophyll-a content. The central bands for leaf chlorophyll-a content are concentrated in the visible range (410 - 680 nm) in combination with the shortwave infrared range (1900 - 2400 nm). The optimum spectral range for the spectral band combinations RVI, NDVI, and DVI are 440 and 470 nm, 440 and 470 nm, and 440 and 460 nm, respectively. The linear RVI, NDVI, and DVI models, SMLR model and the BP neural network model have respective R2 values of 0.76, 0.77, 0.69, 0.78 and 0.86, and root mean square error values of 0.63, 1.60, 1.59, 2.04 and 0.05 mg chlorophyll-a/g (fresh weight), respectively. Our results identified chlorophyll-a sensitive spectral regions and new indices facilitate a rapid, non-destructive field estimation of leaf chlorophyll-a content for tobacco.

Experimental investigation and prediction of tribological behavior of unidirectional short castor oil fiber reinforced epoxy composites

The present study aims at introducing a newly developed natural fiber called castor oil fiber,termed ricinus communis,as a possible reinforcement in tribo-composites.Unidirectional short castor oil fiber reinforced epoxy resin composites of different fiber lengths with 40%volume fraction were fabricated using hand layup technique.Dry sliding wear tests were performed on a pin-on-disc tribometer based on full factorial design of experiments(DoE)at four fiber lengths(5,10,15,and 20 mm),three normal loads(15,30,and 45 N),and three sliding distances(1,000,2,000,and 3,000 m).The effect of individual parameters on the amount of wear,interfacial temperature,and coefficient of friction was studied using analysis of variance(ANOVA).The composite with 5 mm fiber length provided the best tribological properties than 10,15,and 20 mm fiber length composites.The worn surfaces were analyzed under scanning electron microscope.Also,the tribological behavior of the composites was predicted using regression,artificial neural network(ANN)-single hidden layer,and ANN-multi hidden layer models.The confirmatory test results show the reliability of predicted models.ANN with multi hidden layers are found to predict the tribological performance accurately and then followed by ANN with single hidden layer and regression model.