Sharif Digital Repository

It is well known that classical continuum theory has certain deficiencies in capturing the size effects and predicting the nanoscopic behavior of materials in the vicinity of nano-inhomogeneities and nano-defects with reasonable accuracy. Couple stress theory which is associated with an internal length scale for the medium is one of the higher order continuum theories capable of overcoming such difficulties. In this work, the problem of a nano-size fiber embedded in an unbounded isotropic elastic body for three different types of interface conditions: perfect, imperfect (partially damaged), and pure sliding (completely damaged) subjected to remote anti-plane loading is examined in this... 

For the present article, a pulsating heat pipe (PHP) is fabricated and tested experimentally by bending a copper tube. The effects of working fluid, heat input, charging ratio, inclination angle, magnets location, and ferrofluid (magnetic nanofluid) volumetric concentration have been investigated on the thermal performance of this PHP. Experimental results show that using ferrofluid as a working fluid improves the thermal performance of the PHP significantly. Moreover, applying a magnetic field on a ferrofluidic PHP reduces its thermal resistance. By changing the inclination angle of the PHP from vertical mode to angles close to the horizontal mode, the present PHP has a constant and... 

This paper adopts a holistic approach to stress detection issues in software and hardware phases and aims to develop and evaluate a specific low-power and low-cost sensor using physiological signals. First, a stress detection model is presented using a public data set, where four types of signals, temperature, respiration, electrocardiogram (ECG), and electrodermal activity (EDA), are processed to extract 65 features. Using Kruskal-Wallis analysis, it is shown that 43 out of 65 features demonstrate a significant difference between stress and relaxed states. K nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm is implemented to distinguish these states, which yields a classification accuracy of 96.0 ± 2.4%. It... 

The universal paradigm shift towards green energy has accelerated the development of modern algorithms and technologies, among them converters such as Z-Source Inverters (ZSI) are playing an important role. ZSIs are single-stage inverters which are capable of performing both buck and boost operations through an impedance network that enables the shoot-through state. Despite all advantages, these inverters are associated with the non-minimum phase feature imposing heavy restrictions on their closed-loop response. Moreover, uncertainties such as parameter perturbation, unmodeled dynamics, and load disturbances may degrade their performance or even lead to instability, especially when... 

Many studies in the field of sleep have focused on connectivity and coherence. Still, the nonstationary nature of electroencephalography (EEG) makes many of the previous methods unsuitable for automatic sleep detection. Time-frequency representations and high-order spectra are applied to nonstationary signal analysis and nonlinearity investigation, respectively. Therefore, combining wavelet and bispectrum, wavelet-based bi-phase (Wbiph) was proposed and used as a novel feature for sleep-wake classification. The results of the statistical analysis with emphasis on the importance of the gamma rhythm in sleep detection show that the Wbiph is more potent than coherence in the wake-sleep... 

In this work, a four-turn pulsating heat pipe (PHP) is fabricated and tested experimentally. The novelty of the present PHP is the capability to obtain various thermal performances at a specific heat input by changing the magnetic field. The effects of working fluid (water and ferrofluid), charging ratio (40% and 70%), heat input (35, 45, 55, 65, 75, and 85 W), orientation (horizontal and vertical heat mode), ferrofluid volumetric concentration (2.5% and 7%), and magnetic field on the thermal performance of PHPs are investigated. The results showed that applying the magnetic field on the water-based ferrofluid reduced the thermal resistance of PHP in all orientations. In the presence of a... 

Integrating independent dispatchable and non-dispatchable resources into a micro-grid platform enables the main power systems to benefit from the economic and environmental advantages of distributed generation while facilitating local, clean, and inexhaustible renewable energy production. Moreover, it makes the integrated components more visible and controllable for the whole power system. On the other hand, to properly handle multiple uncertainties inherent in the micro-grids, probabilistic energy management techniques are deployed. However, utilization of stochastic modeling and optimization tools for efficient, reliable, and cost-effective planning, operation, and control of micro-grids... 

A comprehensive optimal bidding strategy model has been developed for renewable micro-grids to take part in day-ahead (energy and reserve) and real-time markets considering uncertainties. A two-stage stochastic programming method has been employed to integrate the uncertainties into the problem. Moreover, the Latin hypercube sampling method has been proposed to generate the wind speed, solar irradiance, and load realizations via Weibull, Beta, and normal probability density functions, respectively. In addition, a hybrid fast forward/backward scenario reduction technique has been applied to reduce the large number of scenarios. Furthermore, the risk of participation in the markets has been... 

Purpose: Robot localization in dynamic, cluttered environments is a challenging problem because it is impractical to have enough knowledge to be able to accurately model the robot’s environment in such a manner. This study aims to develop a novel probabilistic method equipped with function approximation techniques which is able to appropriately model the data distribution in Markov localization by using the maximum statistical power, thereby making a sensibly accurate estimation of robot’s pose in extremely dynamic, cluttered indoors environments. Design/methodology/approach: The parameter vector of the statistical model is in the form of positions of easily detectable artificial landmarks... 

Epilepsy is a brain disorder that 1% of people population are suffering from. One of the proper non-invasive equipment for diagnosis and analysis of this disease is electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. However, EEG signals are often contaminated with noises and artifacts that hide epileptic signals of interest. Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is a common Blind Source Separation (BSS) method to denoise EEG signals. ICA has been proved as a worthwhile method to separate the signals of interest from noise and artifacts; nevertheless, it also has some weaknesses. In this work, to improve ICA performance in denoising context, we present an algorithm based on combination of ICA and Time... 

Transfer and scattering matrix methods are widely in use for description of the propagation of waves in multilayered media. When the profile of refractive index is continuous, however, a modified formulation of transfer matrices does exist, which provides a complete analytical solution of the wave phenomena in such structures. Previously reported variations of the so-called Differential Transfer Matrix Method (DTMM) had been limited to Cartesian geometry where layered media form one-dimensional structures and plane waves are used as basis functions. In this work, we extend the formalism to cylindrical geometry with radial symmetry, in which Bessel functions need to be employed as basis... 

Table forms are highly flexible and mobile form systems for beams and slabs. In this system, the components with standard dimensions are fabricated in production plants, transported to construction sites and assembled for final use. Then, based on the plan of the floor zone to be constructed and location of columns, beams, and openings, the assembled tables are placed next to each other and the gaps are covered to provide a perfect surface for concrete casting. However, since the tables are rectangular with standard dimensions, even the best layout does not guarantee the full coverage of the area with tables. The more the uncovered areas are, the more the extra formwork cost and required... 

Abstract: Using adhesively bonded composite patch repairs has been increased in various industries to improve the structural integrity of cracked metallic structures in recent decades. Monitoring of crack propagation and composite patch debonding, as two dominant failure mechanisms in this repair technique, plays a significant role in the integrity assessment of the component. This research conducts an experimental investigation on the simultaneous monitoring of these two failure mechanisms in a cracked metallic specimen repaired by a composite patch. For this purpose, the electromechanical impedance method was used to evaluate the feasibility of recognizing the type of damage at any phase... 

This paper proposes a new approach for corrective voltage control (CVC) of power systems in presence of uncertain wind power generation and demand values. The CVC framework deals with the condition that a power system encounters voltage instability as a result of severe contingencies. The uncertainty of wind power generation and demand values is handled using a scenario-based modeling approach. One of the features of the proposed methodology is to consider participation of demand-side resources as an effective control facility that reduces control costs. Active and reactive redispatch of generating units and involuntary load curtailment are employed along with the voluntary demand-side... 

Just a few investigations have been conducted to study the mixed nanofluids(MNs), which contain more than one type of nanoparticles, despite considerable advances in the field of nanofluids thermal conductivity. In present research, by combining different volume fractions of various nanoparticles, the variation of mixed nanofluids thermal conductivity was considered. The mentioned nanofluids have different fabrication cost. First, the effect of each specific nanoparticle presence in the base fluid on the thermal conductivity of nanofluid was surveyed both experimentally and theoretically. Then, the thermal conductivities of two MNs, one consisted of a metallic nanoparticle (high thermal... 

Osmotic power generation is one of the cleaner and sustainable methods for energy generation. This paper presents a study on the optimal size and design of pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) power plant as a viable source of renewable energy in the selected site in Bahmanshir river of Iran. The optimal sizing and design problem is formulated as a Non-Linear Programming (NLP) optimization problem and solved using the standard optimization software titled generalized algebraic modeling system (GAMS). The objective function is minimizing the total cost while considering the technical and economic constraints. Optimization results show that the optimal capacity of the PRO osmotic power plant is... 

Pulsating heat pipes (PHPs) are interesting heat transfer devices. Their simple, high maintaining, and cheap arrangement has made PHPs very efficient compared to conventional heat pipes. Rotating closed loop PHP (RCLPHP) is a novel kind of them, in which the thermodynamic principles of PHP are combined with rotation. In this paper, effect of rotational speed on thermal performance of a RCLPHP is investigated experimentally. The research was carried out by changing input power (from 25. W to 100. W, with 15. W steps) and filling ratio (25%, 50%, and 75%) for different rotational speeds (from 50. rpm to 800. rpm with an increment of 125. rpm). The results presented that at a fixed filling... 

Renewable energies could be a good solution to the problems associated with fossil fuels. The storage of wind energy by means of small-scale devices rather than large-scale turbines is a topic that has gained lots of interest. In this study, a compact device is proposed to harvest wind energy and transform it into electrical energy, by means of oscillations of a magnet into a coil, using the concept of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) behind a barrier. For a more comprehensive investigation, this system is studied from two viewpoints of fluid mechanics (without magnet) and power generation (with the magnet). For this purpose, an oscillating plate hinging on one side and three barriers with... 

Numerous applications in engineering and biotechnology have attracted the attention of many researchers to the analysis of underlying physical phenomena during the droplet pinch-off. In this study, the neck evolution during the formation of a ferrofluid droplet from a capillary is investigated under two types of magnetic field for a drop-on-demand system. The two types are steady and Pulse-Width Modulated (PWM) magnetic fields. First, under steady magnetic field, the necking process is studied for different values of magnetic Bond number and various angles between magnetic coil centerline and gravity. Subsequently, self-similar behavior in the vicinity of the detachment moment is observed.... 

Flow turbulators have promising heat transfer applications. Here, the novel design proposed in our previous study (vibrational ball turbulators, VBTs, mounted on an elastic wire inside a circular tube) is investigated experimentally from heat transfer and thermal performance standpoints. The effects of diameter (Y) and longitudinal distance (pitch, X) ratios of VBTs, the Reynolds number, and the axial tension of the wire (σ0) on the average Nusselt number (Nu), the average Nusselt number ratio (Nu divided by that of a plain tube, Nup), the friction factor ratio (f/fp), and a parameter called the thermal performance factor (η=(Nu/Nup)/(f/fp)1/3) are studied. Different ball diameter (Y=0.3,...