Sharif Digital Repository

This paper presents sliding mode control and model reference adaptive control strategies for the tape transport mechanism. A nonlinear multivariable MIMO model of the process, consisting of take-up and supply reel servos for tape tension control and capstan servo for speed control is considered. The sliding mode control is applied for the nonlinear dynamic model of the process, while the model reference adaptive control deals with the linearized one. Moreover, in order to associate with the realistic model of system, design of controllers is accomplished with respect to parametric uncertainties. It is shown that both control strategies can guarantee asymptotic stability of the closed-loop... 

In the present study the behavior of Ti-Al-C ternary system is investigated during mechanical alloying. The mixture of Ti, Al and C powders was used with initial stoichiometric composition of Ti3AlC2. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize the milled powders and a thermodynamic analysis of the process was then carried out using Miedema model. This thermodynamic analysis showed that for all binary Ti-C, Al-C, Ti-Al systems and ternary Ti-Al-C systems, among all compositions, the thermodynamic driving force for intermetallic phase formation is much greater when compared with the formation of solid solutions or amorphous phases. Finally the reactions that are feasible to occur during... 

In this paper, Ti-6Al-4V/TiC composite was fabricated by VIM furnace and graphite crucible. X-ray diffraction analysis and EDS techniques were used to identify the phases in the material. Microstructure characteristics of the Ti-6Al-4V/TiC composite were evaluated by means of optical microscopy. The tensile test was performed at room temperature after hot-rolling of the samples in the beta phase field. The results revealed that at different melting times, three kinds of precipitates are formed in the microstructure including grain boundary, eutectic and transgranular precipitates. The size of transgranular precipitates was significantly larger than that of the other two types of carbides and... 

In this paper a reliability, emission, and network security constrained unit commitment (UC) with the focus on wind power integration is formulated. It is shown that clearing both energy and spinning reserve markets taking into account network constraints provides a reliable and economic solution for day-ahead operation planning of a power system with a significant amount of thermal and wind power in the generation portfolio. The developed UC is formulated and implemented in MATLAB. The IEEE 24-Bus Reliability Test System (RTS) is used to verify the UC method by simulation. © 2017 IEEE  

Implementation of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in the separation science is attractive for many researchers, nowadays. In this study, three MOFs were synthesized and employed as extractive coating fibers. The MIL-101-NH2-based coatings were implemented in immersed solid phase microextraction (ISPME) of organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) from real-life samples. The three different kinds of fiber coatings included MIL-101-NH2 and its acyl and ethyl modified structures as particles and 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES) sol-gel precursor as binder. Each single MOF was coated on a stainless steel substrate via sol-gel technique. The uniform and tunable pore structure, high surface area,... 

Numerous advantages of application of tailor welded blanks (TWBs) in automobile industry, namely reduction of weight, fuel consumption and air pollution, have made the manufacturers eager to investigate in this field. On the other hand, while experiments generally provide valuable information in regard with mechanical behaviors, but utilization of simulation methods has extended vastly due to time and cost saving issues. One challenging issue in numerically analyzing the forming behavior of transversely welded TWBs, welded by laser welding methods, has been the presence of weld zone. While some researchers believe that during simulation, the weld zone can be neglected due to its minority and... 

Forming limit diagrams (FLDs) are extensively used in industries, particularly the auto industry. The establishment of these diagrams using a predictive approach can lead to reduction in both cost and time. In the present work, Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN), a porosity-based model, was used to predict the FLD of an interstitial-free steel via finite element simulation. Optimum values of the GTN model were obtained by applying a response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design. Results show that RSM is a good method for an appropriate determination of the GTN model parameters, such as initial void volume fraction, effective void volume fraction, critical void volume... 

Sparse representation can be extended to high dimensions and can be used in many applications, including three-dimensional (3D) Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging. In this study, the high-dimensional sparse representation problem and a recovery method called high-dimensional smoothed least zero-norm (HDSL0) are formulated. In this method, the theory and computation of tensors and approximating L0 norm using Gaussian functions are used for sparse recovery of high-dimensional data. To enhance the performance of HDSL0, modified regularised high-dimensional SL0 (MRe-HDSL0) algorithm, which benefits from the regularised form of SL0 and an additional hard thresholding step, is... 

In this paper, an in-situ powder metallurgy technique of fabricating near net shape particulate Al3Ti-Al composite is developed. Titanium tri-aluminide particles were generated in aluminum matrix by solid state reactive diffusion of homogenous blended pure Ti and Al powders. Effects of titanium particle size, temperature and time of sintering on microstructure and mechanical properties of the composite were studied by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and tensile testing. After 5 h sintering at 600 °C, Al3Ti intermetallic particles were formed as the major second phase. By decreasing the titanium particle size or increasing the... 

The objective of the research is to determine the effect of friction stir processing (FSP) parameters and vibration on the machining behavior of AZ91 alloy. The article displays the state of the art of AZ91 alloy machinability including chip formation, chip morphology, and cutting forces. In this method, the vibration was applied to the process line through the fixture under the workpiece during the FSP. The three-dimensional finite element (FE) modeling was applied for simulating the small-hole drilling process of AZ91 alloy. The large deformation of work and the chip formation in drilling process is realized by incorporating Johnson-Cook material constitutive model and material failure... 

A numerical analysis is improved to study the effect of vibration on temperature history, heat generation, and mechanical properties during the friction stir welding process with different welding speeds. In this investigation, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) was applied to improve the 3D numerical analysis for simulation of the friction stir welding (FSW) process and friction stir vibration welding (FSVW) under different welding speeds. According to the experimental analysis, the grain size of the FSVW-ed sample is finer compared with that of the FSW-ed sample. The analysis was validated through a comparison of the simulated thermal cycles with the experimental results. There was a... 

In the present study, a ratiometric fluorescent sensor array as an artificial tongue has been developed on a nanopaper platform for chemical discrimination applications. The bacterial cellulose (BC) nanopaper was utilized for the first time as a novel, flexible, and transparent substrate in the optical sensor arrays for developing high-performance artificial tongues. To fabricate this platform, the hydrophobic walls on the BC nanopaper substrates were successfully created using a laser printing technology. In addition, we have used the interesting photoluminescence (PL) properties of an immobilized ratiometric probe (carbon dot-Rhodamine B (CD-RhB) nanohybrids) on the nanopaper platform to... 

The objective of the research is to determine the effect of friction stir processing (FSP) parameters and vibration on the machining behavior of AZ91 alloy. The article displays the state of the art of AZ91 alloy machinability including chip formation, chip morphology, and cutting forces. In this method, the vibration was applied to the process line through the fixture under the workpiece during the FSP. The three-dimensional finite element (FE) modeling was applied for simulating the small-hole drilling process of AZ91 alloy. The large deformation of work and the chip formation in drilling process is realized by incorporating Johnson-Cook material constitutive model and material failure... 

Response surface methodology (RSM) explores the relationships between several explanatory variables and one or more response variables. The main idea of RSM is to use a set of designed experiments to obtain an optimal response. RSM tries to simplify the original problem through some polynomial estimation over small sections of the feasible area, elaborating on optimum provision through a well known optimization technique, say Gradient Method. As the real world problems are usually very complicated, polynomial estimation may not perform well in providing a good representation of the objective function. Also, the main problem of the Gradient Method, getting trapped in local minimum (maximum),... 

By generalising dictionary learning (DL) algorithms to multidimensional (MD) mode and using them in applications where signals are inherently multidimensional, such as in three-dimensional (3D) inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging, it is possible to achieve much higher speed and less computational complexity. In this study, the formulation of the multidimensional dictionary learning (MDDL) problem is expressed and two algorithms are proposed to solve it. The first one is based on the method of optimum directions (MOD) algorithm for 1D dictionary learning (1DDL), which uses alternating minimisation and gradient projection approach. As the MDDL problem is non-convex, the second... 

In this study, titanium substrates which previously oxidized through Micro arc oxidation method, was coated by Hydroxyapatite (HAp) coating once more by means of the same method. Morphology, topography and chemical properties as well as phase composition and thickness of layers were studied to reveal the effect of the electrolyte concentration on coating features. According to results, the obtained coatings are consisted of HAp and titania as the major phases along with minor amounts of calcium titanate and α-tri calcium phosphate. Ca and P are present on surface of obtained layers as well as predictable Ti and O based on the XPS results. Thickness profile of coatings figured out that by... 

A method for joining metals in the semisolid state is presented. A model alloy Sn-15%Pb was used to demonstrate the concept. By presented process, dendritic microstructure of the weld zone can be avoided. Moreover, near-weld zone of the cold worked substrates which is affected by heat would have a globular structure due to a thermomechanical treatment. The two substrates were heated up locally in the joint line to the semisolid temperature range. At this point a stirrer was introduced into the weld seam in order to mix the two sides into a single uniform joint. Localized mechanical properties of different zones were examined using Shear Punch Test (SPT), showing a good strength in the weld... 

A high-quality butt joint of aluminum to copper (Al/Cu) can rarely be achieved by conventional fusion and solid-state welding processes. In this research, the appropriateness of friction stir welding (FSW) for making high-quality Al/Cu welds was studied. A sound Al/Cu butt joint was achieved with relatively high strength in uni-axial tensile tests. Mechanical properties and microstructure of the sound friction stir welds were examined. The ultimate tensile strength of the joints reached about 75 percent of the aluminum base metal, with the fracture occurring at aluminum side. The metallurgical study of the welds before and after their failure in tensile tests showed that the heat affected... 

The Poiseuille flow through slit-like nanochannels is investigated using the nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. To drive a dense flow through the channel, we use two self-adjusting vertical plates strategy. These plates force the liquid to flow through the nanochannel under adjustable inlet and outlet boundary conditions. Comparing with the dual-control-volume grand-canonical molecular dynamics method, the current strategy provides many advantages. The current strategy does not need particle insertion and deletion, therefore, the system dynamics would not be affected at all. Moreover, the number of particles in the simulation system is fixed due to inserting the two... 

Weibull distribution plays an important role in failure distribution modeling in reliability studies. It is a hard work to estimate the parameters of Weibull distribution. This distribution has three parameters, but for simplicity, a parameter is omitted and as a result, the estimation of the others will be easily done. When the three-parameter distribution is of interest, the estimation procedure will be quite boring. Maximum likelihood estimation is a good method, which is usually used to elaborate on the parameter estimation. The likelihood function formed for the parameter estimation of a three-parameter Weibull distribution is very hard to maximize. Many researchers have studied this...