Sharif Digital Repository

Hybrid nanoparticle comprising of nanosilica (NS) and nanodiamond (ND), denoted by ND@NS, was synthesized by a two-step chemistry route and then incorporated into styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) at low concentrations up to 5 phr by a two-roll mill. Physical hybrids of NS and ND, i.e., ND&NS, with a weight ratio similar to chemical hybrid (80:20 for NS:ND), were also incorporated into SBR. Field emission scanning electron microscopy observations revealed very fine dispersion of nanoparticles in the case of physical hybrids (ND&NS). In contrast, agglomerations and aggregation of nanoparticles were evidenced for ND@NS. Tensile and dynamic mechanical analyses exhibited a higher reinforcing effect... 

Very fine alumina nanoparticles were loaded in novolac type phenolic resin (PF) using solution mixing method. The concentration of nanoalumina in PF was varied between 2.5 to 20 wt%. All the compounds were compression molded and then subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tensile, flexural, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) tests. SEM analysis showed that the nanoalumina were dispersed uniformly at low concentrations, however, at high concentrations, dispersion was suppressed leading to agglomerates in the composites. Mechanical testing revealed that the nanoalumina had a great influence on the strength and stiffness of PF resin particularly at concentrations below 5 wt%.... 

In this study, the authors propose an analytical model to evaluate the maximum stable throughput for unicast services in vehicular ad hoc networks. In this respect, the authors employ two queueing networks (QNs) to model the mobility patterns of the vehicles as well as the multi-hop packet transmission scenario. In the proposed model, the authors map the features of IEEE 802.11, as well as the details of multi-hop packet transmission, regarding the dynamic status of vehicles, onto suitable parameters of the QNs. In the authors' modelling approach, they take the details of MAC and routing schemes into account by classifying the vehicles based on their mobility patterns and considering their... 

Few works has been focused on the problem of joint distributed data compression and network coding. In this paper we give some examples showing the advantage of broadcast nature of wireless environment as a basis for joint codes design. Also we show that joint coding is possible in the case of multiple unicasts. The idea of this paper can be exploited in an opportunistic manner. Actually, the foundation of our idea is nothing but combining opportunistic network coding (COPE) and distributed source coding using syndromes (DISCUS) for wireless applications. © 2009 IEEE  

This paper approaches the topic of protection system reliability from an economic point of view by 1) designing an optimal modern protective relay based on a prescribed level of reliability subject to economic constraints and 2) determining optimal routine test intervals by balancing the cost of routine tests and losses due to relay failure. This paper proposes a method that enables the designer to optimally select hardware and software components of a digital protective relay to gain the highest possible overall reliability with a restricted budget. This design can be viewed as a reliability and redundancy allocation problem for which a new easy-to-implement algorithm is proposed. In... 

Protective relay technologies have evolved from single-function electromechanical and static relays to modern multifunction digital relays over the past few years. Protection systems play a vital role in maintaining a desirable level of reliability in power systems. Thus, their own reliability should be evaluated and any cause of their malfunction should be fully comprehended. In this paper, a new reliability model is proposed that associates protection system failures to four main causes: 1) relay hardware, 2) relay software, 3) ancillary equipment, and 4) human error. In addition, this model can take other aspects of the protection system into consideration, such as human error during... 

Brake friction materials filled with nanoalumina were produced by both conventional and solvent-assisted mixing methods. It was shown that nanoalumina loading led to the reduction of friction coefficient and improvement in mechanical, wear and thermal behaviors. Such behavior was attributed to the role of nanoalumina in producing stable friction layer and easy conduction path in matrix. It was postulated that nanoalumina is able to attach on the surface of microalumina facilitating the rolling of microalumina at interface. Solution-processed samples exhibited lower improvement in tribological and mechanical properties compared to the conventional mixing due to the limited interaction between... 

Protective relay technologies have evolved from single-function electromechanical and static relays to modern multifunction digital relays over the past few years. Protection systems play a vital role in maintaining a desirable level of reliability in power systems. Thus, their own reliability should be evaluated and any cause of their malfunction should be fully comprehended. In this paper, a new reliability model is proposed that associates protection system failures to four main causes: 1) relay hardware, 2) relay software, 3) ancillary equipment, and 4) human error. In addition, this model can take other aspects of the protection system into consideration, such as human error during... 

We study drag reduction of a uniform flow over a flat surface due to a series of rectangular microgrooves created on the surface. The results reveal that making grooves on the surface usually leads to the generation of secondary vortices inside the grooves that, in turn, decreases the friction drag force and increases the pressure drag force. By increasing the thickness of the grooves to the thickness of the obstacle, the pressure drag increases due to the enhancement of the generated vortices and the occurrence of separation phenomenon and the friction drag reduces due to a decrease of the velocity gradient on the surface. In addition, by increasing the grooves depth ratio, the pressure... 

The protection system plays a vital role in maintaining a high degree of service reliability in present-day power systems. Considerable work has been done to examine different aspects of protection systems and their associated reliability. All of the reliability predictive methods are based solely on equipment failures, neglecting the human component of the protection system. In this paper, a modified Markov model is presented that incorporates human errors in reliability evaluation of protective devices. Two main types of relay failure (failure to operate and inadvertent operation) are taken into account in the proposed model. The model also considers routine test inspections, the... 

Failure statistics of most utilities indicate that distribution systems make the greatest individual contribution to the unavailability of supply to customers. Optimal capacitor placement in distribution systems has a number of advantages such as reducing losses, improving voltage profile, improving power factor and so on. The conventional objective function of the optimal capacitor placement consists of the total cost of losses and investments. Since capacitors supply reactive loads locally, they improve the load-carrying capability of the lines and therefore play the same role as redundant lines. Thus, optimal capacitor placement can also improve the reliability indices of a distribution... 

High-impedance faults (HIFs) on distribution systems create unique challenges to protection engineers. HIFs do not produce enough fault current to be detected by conventional overcurrent relays or fuses. A method for HIF detection based on the nonlinear behaviour of current waveforms is presented. Using this method, HIFs can be distinguished successfully from other similar waveforms such as nonlinear load currents, secondary current of saturated current transformers and inrush currents. A wavelet multi-resolution signal decomposition method is used for feature extraction. Extracted features are fed to an adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for identification and classification.... 

This paper presents an analytical study of swarm motion in static environments, in which, motion of the swarm is modeled as a quasi static model. Motion of each member is being affected by interactive forces and environmental effects. Interactive effects on each member could be attractive or repulsive due to being far from or close to other members respectively. Environmental effects also could be attractive or repulsive or a combination of both. The method is based on Lyapunov analysis. Two objectives are investigated through the analysis; one is to preserve the unity of swarm i.e. not losing any member through motion, and the other is to move toward attractant areas and away from repellant...