Development of a Test Apparatus for Measurement of Hydraulic Fluid Efficiency

With increasing demand for nonrenewable resources,energy conservation is critical.Efficiency gains allow more work to be performed while maintaining or even decreasing the energy expended in the process.Reducing the energy consumed by a system results in favorable economic and environmental impact.An apparatus has been developed to measure hydraulic fluid efficiency in a stationary application.The system can be used to develop more efficient fluids,leading to increased work output or decreased energy consumption.

Shear Failure Criterion and Constant Volume Ring Shear Testing Method for Clayey Soil

This paper discusses the shortcomings of the traditional Coulomb shear criterion and the direct shear-box testing method used for clayey soil and presents a modified shear criterion that considers the elasto-plastic behavior of cohesive soil. This modified approach involves direct shear testing under constant volume, a method that has been developed by the author. A modified ring shear apparatus and the theory behind the shear criterion and its implication for slope stability analysis are then discussed and the results of investigated tuffitic clayey sediments are presented. The results show that the presented new shear criterion does not consider the cohesion as material constant, but rather it depends on the void ratio. In this case, the stress state and the consolidation status and thus the elasto-plastic behavior of the clayey soil are considered.

An integrated laboratory experiment of realistic diagenesis,perforation and sand production using a large artificial sandstone specimen

Sand production is,a challenging issue in petroleum industry,mainly associated with weak unconsolidated formations.A novel testing procedure and a new apparatus were developed to conduct an integrated experiment of diagenesis,perforation and sand production on a single large cylindrical artificial sandstone specimen,where solid and fluid pressures can be independently controlled such that realistic reservoir historical conditions can be well simulated in the laboratory.Fluid injection can be performed in both radial and vertical directions,where both single-and two-phase flows can be implemented for study of sand production behaviors at different reservoir’s maturity stages.The equipment consists of an intensive instrumentation system to monitor pressures,displacements and material states continuously.The produced sand particles were filtered and monitored in real-time for the study of time-dependent phenomena.The experimental results showed similar patterns to that observed in the field and provided valuable insight for the development of prediction methods for sand production of similar materials.

Testing Procedure for Laboratory Scale Semi Cryogenic Combustion Chamber of LPRE with Problems Faced and Lessons Learned

Design, development, and testing of LPRE(Liquid Propellant Rocket Engine) are difficult and expensive tasks. Prior to full-scale design, it is indispensable to optimize important parameters at sub-scale. Propellants flow rates are low for a sub-scale or laboratory scale combustion chambers. It is hard to satisfy chamber cooling and chill feed lines quickly with low flow rates of propellants. This paper proposes a detailed procedure for testing of a laboratory scale semi-cryogenic combustion chamber. Many tests were conducted with a small scale adjustable length combustion chamber. The injection head of the chamber was interchangeable. Liquid-liquid pressure swirl injector and like impinging injectors were used with two different injection heads. Liquid oxygen and kerosene were used as oxidizer and fuel, respectively. Oxidizer to fuel mixing ratio was 0.29-0.45 and the total propellant mass flow rate was 0.06-0.1 kg/s. Problems were faced during testing, including, explosion in the combustion chamber, fuel injector blockage, unstable combustion, incomplete chilling and blockage of cooling water channel, etc. A detailed procedure is designed on the basis of the lessons learned which was experimentally proved.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL ISODYNE STRESS ANALYSIS——PRESENT STATE, TRENDS, THEORETICAL PROBLEMS

The paper presents and discusses theoretical bases and methodology of development of two- and three-dimensional analytical and optical isodynes. Atten- tion is given to the theoretical admissibility of the major components of the physical and mathematical models which are taken as the theoretical basis of the isodynes, and of the related analytical and experimental procedures of stress analysis. Efficiency and reliability of the nondestructive isodyne stress analysis are discussed.