Sharif Digital Repository

This paper is devoted to study the effects of pressure drop in heat exchangers on the dynamics of a free piston Stirling engine. First, the dynamic equations governing the pistons as well as the gas pressure equations for hot and cold spaces of the engine are extracted. Then, by substituting the obtained pressure equations into the dynamic relationships the final nonlinear dynamic equations governing the free piston Stirling engine are acquired. Next, effects of the gas pressure drop in heat exchangers on maximum strokes of the pistons and their velocities and accelerations are investigated. Furthermore, influences of pressure drop increase in the heat exchangers on maximum and minimum gas... 

In this study, a novel prototype high-efficiency miniature pump that uses magnetic properties of a ferrofluid in both pumping and valving mechanisms is presented. The minichannel consisting of a cylindrical pumping chamber, a check valve, an inlet and an outlet, comprises six bonded layers of PMMA. A cylindrical permanent magnet that is placed inside the chamber and is externally actuated by a motorized off-center permanent magnet, functions as a revolving piston which sweeps the perimeter of the cylinder. Ferrofluid is used to cover the gaps between the magnetic piston and the channel walls, also serves as a separating plug between the inlet and the outlet of the chamber preventing... 

This paper presents the prototype design and fabrication of a magnetically actuated miniature pump that utilizes self-sealing capability of ferrofluid-covered permanent magnets in both pumping and valving mechanisms. The valving action is performed by employing one active valve along with two nozzle/diffuser elements. Two cylindrical permanent magnets are placed inside the flat-wall channels: One magnet acts as the active valve and the other one serves as a reciprocating piston actuating the working fluid. In order to seal the gaps between the channel walls and the permanent magnet of the valve/piston, ferrofluid is used to cover the surfaces of both magnets. The valve and the piston are... 

Engines that extract energy from low-grade heat sources, e.g., from other processes, have received considerable attention recently. The use of Fluidyne, which is a liquid piston Stirling engine, is quite popular. Herein, we explore the use of liquid-to-vapor phase change in a Fluidyne. This provides two considerable differentiators; (1) exploitation of very low temperature difference ΔT≈30 K, and (2) relatively low temperature ΔT≈330 K heat sources, for producing mechanical work, and thus electrical energy. The influence of three operating parameters, i.e., input heat flux, working fluid, and filling ratio, on the performance of the engine was characterized. Their optimum values, which yield... 

The purpose of this study is to analyze the nonlinear dynamic responses of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) beams exposed to axial supersonic airflow in thermal environments. The dynamic model of the FG-CNTRC beam is developed with regard to the first-order shear deformation theory incorporating the von Kármán geometrical nonlinearity. The thermomechanical properties of the constituents are assumed to be temperature dependent. The third-order piston theory is adopted to estimate the nonlinear aerodynamic pressure induced by the supersonic airflow. Harmonic differential quadrature method is implemented to discretize the equations of motion in the spatial... 

LM13 alloy is widely used in piston industry, due to its low coefficient of thermal expansion, excellent castability and hot tear resistance. In this research effect of casting process on wear behavior of LM13 alloy was investigated. First, samples were produced using two casting processes and heat treated. Then wear behavior of these samples under dry sliding condition was examined. Results of hardness and strength tests indicated that squeeze cast specimens exhibited higher mechanical properties. Wear experiment results showed that in both squeeze and gravity cast specimens, amount of weight loss increases with increase in sliding distance which is accompanied by reduction in wear rate and... 

A molecular dynamics simulation of the shock-wave propagation in the face-centered cubic (FCC) structured C60 fullerene along the <100>, <110> and <111> crystallographic directions is performed. For this purpose, the response of the material under different shock-wave loadings is studied through Hugoniot curves. Three regimes of the material behavior have been observed from fully elastic to elastic-plastic to plastic. The Hugoniot elastic limit and the phase transition are also investigated along different crystallographic directions. It is shown that the shock wave travels faster along the <110> and <111> directions than in the <100> direction in the material. Comparing the results with the... 

The significant importance of micro-scaled devices in medicine, lab-on-a-chip, and etc resulted in a vast variety of researches. The idea behind the novel hydro magnetic micro-pump and flow controller is that ferromagnetic particles, mixed and dispersed in a carrier fluid, can be accumulated and retained at specific sites to form pistons in a micro-tube using some external magnetic field sources along the micro-tube. This external magnetic field is related to some solenoids, which are turned on and off alternatively. Depending upon dragging speed of these pistons, which itself is a function of switching time, this device can be used to either increase (pumping) or decrease (valving) the flow... 

In this paper, a metallic yielding damper, called piston metallic damper (PMD) is introduced for the first time. The PMD is comprised of a set of parallel hollow circular plates that interconnect inner shaft of the PMD to its outer pipe. Experiments and numerical models are used to examine its applicability as a seismic energy dissipating device. In this novel damper seismic input energy will be dissipated through flexural yielding of circular steel plates when system experiences small to medium displacements. At large displacements, tensile behavior will dominate and causes significant increase in stiffness of the system. In experimental program, different specimens were tested and the... 

In this paper, an analytical investigation intended to determine the aero-thermoelastic stability margins of functionally graded panels is carried out. For this purpose, piston theory aerodynamics has been employed to model quasi-steady aerodynamic loading. The material properties of the plate are assumed to be graded continuously across the panel thickness. A simple power-law and the Mori-Tanaka scheme are used for estimating the effective material properties such as temperature-dependent thermoelastic properties. The effects of compressive in-plane loads and both uniform and through the thickness non-linear temperature distributions are also considered. Hamilton's principle is used to... 

In this paper, the nonlinear aeroelastic behavior of functionally graded plates is studied in supersonic flow. For this purpose, the von Karman strains and piston theory have been employed to model structural nonlinearity and quasi-steady aerodynamic panel loading, respectively. The material properties of the plate are assumed to be graded continuously in the direction of thickness. The variation of the properties follows a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of constituents. The Hamilton's principle is used to construct the coupled nonlinear partial differential equations of motion. The derived equations are transformed into a set of coupled ordinary differential... 

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present an assessment of the ability of combined finite and slab element method (FSEM) for analyzing the wire flat rolling process. Design/methodology/approach - Using the FSEM, the effective strain field of flat rolled wire is predicted for different reductions in height and frictional conditions. The validity of the method is assessed by performing the Vickers microhardness measurements on the flattened wire cross section. Also, the creation of macroscopic shear bands in cross section of the flat rolled wire is investigated and confirmed by microhardness and metallographic examinations. Moreover, the lateral spread and width of contact area are...