Sharif Digital Repository

The high computational costs of atomistic simulations for the investigation of nanostructures, despite their accuracy, necessitate efforts to develop efficient continuum models. Since the classical continuum mechanics assume the matter as continuous and ignore the size dependency of material properties, these theories fail to capture the behavior of materials at the nanoscale. Size-dependencies of nanostructures could result in the emergence of surface effects. This paper, for the first time, aims to develop and tune surface-enhanced continuum models to predict the vibrational properties of nanoplates which are inherently discrete at the nanoscale. Regarding this aim, we use a composite... 

Three-dimensional biocompatible porous structures can be fabricated using different methods. However, the biological and mechanical behaviors of scaffolds are the center of focus in bone tissue engineering. In this study, tricalcium phosphate scaffolds with similar porosity contents but different pore morphologies were fabricated using two different techniques, namely, the replica method and the pore-forming agent method. The samples fabricated using the pore-forming agent showed more than two times higher compressive and bending strengths and more than three times higher compressive moduli. Furthermore, a thin layer of agarose coating improved the compressive and bending strength of both... 

In this paper, a reduced multiple-model predictive controller based on gap metric and stability margin is presented to control heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. To tackle the strong nonlinearity and large number of degrees of freedom in HVAC system, two approaches, called Reduced Order Model Bank-Multiple Model (ROMB-MM) and Multiple Model-Reduced Order Model (MM-ROM), are introduced. In the first approach, the order reduction is performed prior to multiple models selection and in the second one multiple models selection is implemented before the model order reduction. Furthermore, soft switching is employed to enhance the closed-loop performance as well as to gain... 

Reliability of routing mechanisms in wireless networks is typically measured with Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR). Basically, PDR is reported with an optimistic assumption that the topology is fully constructed, and the nodes have started their packet transmission. This is despite the fact that prior to being able to transmit packets, nodes must first join the network, and then try to keep connected as much as possible. This is a key factor in the overall reliability provided by the routing protocols, especially in mobile IoT applications, where disconnections occur frequently. Nevertheless, there is a lack of appropriate metrics, which could evaluate the routing mechanisms from this... 

Road roughness-induced vibrations are the main source of fatigue damage accumulation in vehicles. Hence, road surface profile modeling and simulation are of high importance when it comes to vehicle fatigue damage assessment. This research focuses on uncovering the statistical distributions that describe the characteristics of road loads that affect fatigue damage accumulation. Particle filtering is deployed to estimate the log-volatility of the road surface profile by assuming a random walk behavior for the hidden log-volatility. The skew-normal distribution with three parameters is fitted to the estimated log-volatility. The inferred parameters are used for synthesizing artificial road... 

Objective: Spine kinematics, kinetics, and trunk muscle activities were evaluated during different stages of a fatigue-induced symmetric lifting task over time. Background: Due to neuromuscular adaptations, postural behaviors of workers during lifting tasks are affected by fatigue. Comprehensive aspects of these adaptations remain to be investigated. Method: Eighteen volunteers repeatedly lifted a box until perceived exhaustion. Body center of mass (CoM), trunk and box kinematics, and feet center of pressure (CoP) were estimated by a motion capture system and force-plate. Electromyographic (EMG) signals of trunk/abdominal muscles were assessed using linear and nonlinear approaches. The L5-S1... 

Because of the complex nature of carbonate reservoirs, the required conditions for effective Low Salinity Water Flooding (LSWF) in these reservoirs need further and in depth investigation. In the present study, three calcite cores, i.e. Cal-1, Cal-2, and IL, with the same chemical composition are subjected to tertiary low salinity water flooding (LSWF), while the crude oil and composition of flooding brine kept the same. The experimental results show significant difference in the amount of enhanced oil recovery, as IL had the most additional oil recovery (20.8 % of IOIP), followed by Cal-2 (10.5 % of IOIP) and Cal-1 (3.9 % of IOIP). The results of contact angle, zeta potential, and effluent... 

In this paper, the vibration of a moderately thick plate to a moving mass is investigated. Pasternak foundation with a variable subgrade modulus is considered to tackle the shortcomings of Winkler model, and an analytical-numerical solution is proposed based on the eigenfunction expansion method. Parametric studies by using both CPT (Classical Plate Theory) and FSDT (First-Order Shear Deformation Plate Theory) are carried out, and, the differences between them are also highlighted. The obtained results reveal that utilizing FSDT without considering the rotary inertia leads to a smaller deflection in comparison with CPT pertaining to a thin plate, while it demonstrates a greater response for... 

Considering the microstructure-processing-properties relationship, the attempt was made to distinguish the main structural features of drip irrigation tape grades. In this regards, two different commercial polyethylene grades using for irrigation tape application (DB and MD samples) with various microstructural features were fully characterized by means of thermal, rheological and mechanical measurements and microscopic observations. A set of DSC techniques revealed that DB sample has faster crystallization kinetic probably due to its high crystallizable segments in chains and broad molecular weight distribution. It was found, the type of co-monomer used in DB sample is 1-hexene and in MD... 

Chitosan is a natural polymer with acceptable biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mechanical stability; hence, it has been widely appraised for drug and gene delivery applications. However, there has been no comprehensive assessment to tailor-make chitosan cross-linkers of various types and functionalities as well as complex chitosan-based semi- and full-interpenetrating networks for drug delivery systems (DDSs). Herein, various fabrication methods developed for chitosan hydrogels are deliberated, including chitosan crosslinking with and without diverse cross-linkers. Tripolyphosphate, genipin and multi-functional aldehydes, carboxylic acids, and epoxides are common cross-linkers used in... 

In this study, the effects of unmodified calcium zinc phosphate (UCZP) and modified calcium zinc phosphate (MCZP) nanopigments (NPs) on the rheological, mechanical, and corrosion protection performance (CPP) of the epoxy (EP) coatings were investigated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to study morphology and overall chemical structure of synthesized calcium zinc phosphate (CZP) NPs, respectively. The grafting of methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) molecules on the surface of CZP was assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and... 

Using multiple position sensors in the control system of Two-Degrees of Freedom (2-DOF) motors causes it more complicated than that of conventional 1-DOF ones. However, employing a 2-DOF position sensor in comparison with two independent sensors, reduces the complexity, mass and volume of the system. The common 2-DOF sensors are able to determine the position in linear, rotational, and helical motion. Yet, they suffer from accuracy reduction due to the longitudinal end effect. Therefore, analytical modelling and the relevant compensation methods are discussed. The accuracy of the model is approved by comparing its results with those of 3D time transient finite element method. Afterwards, the... 

This study investigated the mode I fracture behavior of double cantilever beam (DCB) epoxy adhesive joints with similar adherends on the both sides (i.e., aluminum-aluminum or copper-copper) at different strain rates; i.e., quasi-static (∼10−3 s−1), low (∼7 s−1) and intermediate (∼14 s−1) rates. The fracture energy of the DCB joint in Al-adhesive-Al specimens decreased (i.e., by ∼62%, p = 0.0013) with an increase in the applied strain rate from quasi-static to low values, while it remained almost unchanged with further increase of stain rate to intermediate range (p > 0.05). For Cu-adhesive-Cu cases, however, the fracture energy was found to be almost insensitive to the applied strain rate... 

Through advanced computational analysis, this work demonstrates that metamaterial structures when made by shape-memory polymers (SMPs) can provide unique intelligent mechanical behavior. For the first time, geometrical effects, pertaining to low and ultra-low densities, on the thermomechanical behavior of SMP-based octet-truss lattice meta-structures are studied in this work. A reliable constitutive thermo-visco-hyperelastic model is applied to analyze the shape-memory behavior of several designed octet-truss lattices with ultra-low and low relative densities, ranging from 0.04 to 0.23. Different compressive strain values are tested to determine the effect of pre-straining. It is concluded... 

Studying the mechanical performance of concrete after being exposed to high temperatures is an important step in the damage assessment of buildings and fire safety applications. However, predicting the compressive strength of GPC accurately after exposure to high temperatures is a challenging task. In this paper, artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector regression (SVR) models were developed to predict the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete (GPC) at high temperatures ranging from 100 °C to 1000 °C. A series of experiments consisting of different mix designs were conducted at elevated temperatures to prepare a dataset. Besides experiments' results, the data of previously... 

The effects of zinc content (2 and 4 wt%), heat treatment (solution-Treated and T6), as well as hot deformation (extrusion and multi-directional forging (MDF)) on the microstructure, mechanical and degradation behavior of Mg-Zn alloys were studied. As the result of microstructure refinement, solid solution and precipitate strengthening (formation of MgZn second phases), the strength of pure Mg was increased after Zn addition. Solution treatment of the Mg-4Zn alloy resulted in 16% softening due to the dissolution of the MgZn second phases and also grain growth, while aging treatment increased the strength value by 8% in comparison to the as-cast material because of the formation of the fine... 

In nature, most microorganisms have flexible micro/nanostructure tails, which help them create propulsion, reduce drag, or search for food. Previous studies investigated these flexible structures mostly from the propulsion creation perspective. However, the drag reduction and the underlying physical mechanisms of such tails are less known. This scientific gap is more significant when multi-polymeric/hierarchical structures are used. To fill the gap, we use the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) method as a powerful fluid-polymer interaction technique to study the flexible tails' influences on drag reduction. Note that the flow regime for these microorganisms is in the range of laminar low... 

This paper deals with the effects of three low-carbon steel filler metals consisting of ferritic and austenitic phases on the weld joints of the tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding of Hardox 500 steel. The correlation between the microstructure and mechanical properties of the weld joints was investigated. For this purpose, macro and microstructure were examined, and then microhardness, tensile, impact, and fracture toughness tests were carried out to analyze the mechanical properties of joints. The results of optical microscopy (OM) images showed that the weld zones (WZ) of all three welds were composed of different ferritic morphologies, including allotriomorphic ferrite, Widmanstätten... 

Evaluation of spinal loads in patients with low back pain (LBP) is essential to prevent further lumbar disorders. Many studies have investigated the relationship between lifting task variables and lumbar spine loads during manual lifting activities. The nature of the external load (stable versus unstable loads) is an important variable that has received less attention. Therefore, the present study aimed to measure trunk kinematics and estimate compressive-shear loads on the lumbar spine under lifting a 120 N stable load and 120 ± 13.63 N sensual unstable load in 16 healthy and 16 non-specific LBP individuals during lifting activities. The maximal lumbar loads were estimated using a... 

Curcumin incorporated polyurethanes (CPU) are gaining much attention as a biomaterial. However, challenges are still remained due to hydrophobicity and low mechanical strength of CPU. Herein, we synthesized the CPU/ZnO nanocomposites with good mechanical and improved hydrophilic properties via in-situ polymerization. A series of curcumin incorporated polyurethane with different concentrations of ZnO nanoparticles (ZnCPU) are synthesized by using the curcumin, polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the soft segment, hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) as the hard segment, and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) as the chain extender. The addition of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) facilitated the soft domain of PU which is...