Sharif Digital Repository

This paper addresses the design of an observer-based adaptive fuzzy controller for a class of uncertain non-strict nonlinear systems subject to time-delays, unknown direction, input saturation, and output constraint. The Barrier Lyapunov Function (BLF) has been utilized to keep the system output inside the desired bounds. The state and input delays have been handled by using the Lyapunov–Krasovskii function and including an integral compensator term in the controller, respectively. A state observer has been designed to estimate the unmeasured states. The Lipschitz condition for proving boundedness of the estimated states has been relaxed. The Nussbaum gain function has been exploited to deal... 

This paper studies the output voltage from a novel inertial energy harvester using magnetic shape memory alloys (MSMAs). The MSMA elements are attached to the root of a cantilever beam by means of two steps. In order to get electrical voltage, two coils are wound around the MSMAs and a shock load is applied to a tip mass at the end of the beam to have vibration in it. The beam vibration causes strain in the MSMAs along their longitudinal directions and as a result the magnetic flux alters in the coils. The change of magnetic flux in the surrounding coil produces an AC voltage. In order to predict the output voltage, the nonlinear governing equations of beam motion based on Euler-Bernoulli... 

To investigate the factors affecting splashing in Peirce-Smith copper converters of Sarcheshmeh copper complex, South-East Iran, a laboratory scale model with dimensions one eighth of the actual converter was designed and assembled. The model was filled with water. Air was impinged onto the water. The sequence of events was subsequently recorded using high speed cameras. Factors affecting splashing such as blowing angle, volumetric flow rate of air, and the distance of the blowers from water surface were studied. Using a value of 2.65×10-11 for Morton dimensionless number, it was found that splashing may be reduced by 75% if the air speed in the tuyeres is reduced from 155 m/s to 30 m/s... 

The relation between porosity and permeability parameters in carbonated rocks is complicated and indistinct. Flow units are defined with aim of better understanding reservoir unit flow behavior and relation between porosity and permeability. Flow units reflect a group of rocks with same geological and physical properties which affect fluid flow, but they do not necessarily coincide with boundary of facies. In each flow unit homogeneity of data is preserved and this homogeneity fades in the boundaries. Here, in this study, three methods are used for identification of flow units and estimation of average porosity and permeability in three wells of Tabnaak gas field located in south of Iran.... 

The compressive strength of mass concrete in dams is obtained from laboratory experiments of various cylindrical specimens with diameters of 150, 250, and 300 mm, and heights of 300, 500, and 450 mm, respectively. These specimens with 37.5, 75, and 150 mm maximum size of aggregate were investigated. The 7- and 90-day compressive strength of concrete was found to be between 20 and 58 MPa depending on the size of the specimens. The results reveal the existence of a significant size effect. Based on test results, relationships between the strength of mass concrete specimens and their size and shape are developed. Finally, results and a discussion are presented regarding compressive strength... 

Introducing suitable electrode materials and electrolytes for supercapacitors and next-generation batteries should be considered for the industrial application of these devices. Among the proposed materials for them, transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs), are attractive and efficient options due to their unique properties such as appropriate layered structure, good oxidation state of transition metals, high thermal and mechanical stabilities, etc. However, applying other layered materials with high electrical conductivity e.g. carbon-based materials can lead to producing remarkable results for the mentioned applications. However, an interesting point is how making TMCs composite with... 

In this article an analytical solution is presented for power output from a piezoelectric shallow shell energy harvester using higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT). The energy harvester is made of an elastic substrate layer coupled with one or two surface bonded piezoelectric layers. Mechanical equations of motion with Gauss's equation are derived on the basis of HSDT and solved simultaneously for simply-supported mechanical boundary conditions. The electromechanical frequency response functions that relate the power output and circuit load resistance are identified from the exact solutions. Using Rayleigh damping the influence of structural damping is taken into account. Also... 

Mn1.5Co1.5O4 oxide spinels are widely used as protective coatings for stainless steel interconnects within planar solid oxide fuel cell stacks. Containing both cubic and tetragonal crystalline phases, these Mn/Co oxide spinels exhibit favorable thermal stability and electronic conductivity for the SOFC interconnect application. Slurry-based coating applications of Mn/Co oxides require precursor powders, which can benefit from being nano-structured. In this study, the sol-gel synthesis of nanocrystalline Mn1.5Co1.5O4 spinel is investigated. The decomposition of sol-gel precursors, as well as the crystalline phase structures and microstructures of the product Mn1.5Co1.5O4 are characterized by... 

Metal pH50 and ΔpH50 values were determined and compared for a number of organic systems to select a synergistic system for the separation of Cd from Zn. The largest ΔpH50(Zn-Cd) value was obtained with HRJ-4277 (nonylsalicylic acid)/Cyanex 471X (triisobutyl phosphine sulphide or TIBPS) system and reached 1.53 pH units, indicating excellent separation of Cd from Zn with this system. Shellsol 2046 was chosen as the diluent of the system due to its larger ΔpH50(Zn-Cd) and excellent phase separation compared with other diluents. Distribution isotherms and subsequent McCabe-Thiele diagrams indicate that 99% Cd could be extracted in two stages at pH 3.80 and A / O ratio of 1.5 : 1. The extraction... 

The aims of this study were to culturally adapt and validate the Persian version of Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS) and present data on its psychometric properties for patients with different foot and ankle problems. The Persian version of FAOS was developed after a standard forward-backward translation and cultural adaptation process. The sample included 93 patients with foot and ankle disorders who were asked to complete two questionnaires: FAOS and Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36). To determine test-retest reliability, 60 randomly chosen patients completed the FAOS again 2 to 6 days after the first administration. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were assessed using... 

In this work, we attempted to develop an Implicit Coupled Density-Based (ICDB) solver using LU-SGS algorithm based on the AUSM+ up scheme in OpenFOAM. Then sonicFoam solver was modified to include viscous dissipation in order to improve its capability to capture shock wave and aerothermal variables. The details of the ICDB solver as well as key implementation details of the viscous dissipation to energy equation were introduced. Finally, two benchmark tests of hypersonic airflow over a flat plate and a 2-D cylinder were simulated to show the accuracy of ICDB solver. To verify and validate the ICDB solver, the obtained results were compared with other published experimental data. It was... 

The aim of this paper is to use higher-order energy balance method as a novel solution procedure for investigation the nonlinear oscillation of various systems. The method is associated with collocation method and employed for a group of nonlinear problems including pure cubic nonlinearity, fractional elastic force and duffing harmonic terms. Obtained results are evaluated by comparing with the classical balance method and also the exact solutions computed numerically. It is shown our solution procedure achieves more accurate results versus the classical solution and higher agreement are observed between the newer solutions and the exact ones for the systems. Effect of initial conditions in... 

In this paper, a novel approach is proposed for solving the nonlinear problems based on the collocation and energy balance methods (EBMs). Rational approximation is employed as an initial guess and then it is combined with EBM and collocation method for solving nonlinear oscillators with cubic term. Obtained frequency amplitude relationship is compared with exact numerical solution and subsequently, a very excellent accuracy will be revealed. According to the numerical comparisons, this method provides high accuracy with 0.03% relative error for Duffing equation with strong nonlinearity in the second-order of approximation. Furthermore, achieved results are compared with other types of... 

Titanium dioxide nanopowders were synthesized by the diffusion controlled sol-gel process (LaMer model) and characterized by DTA-TG, XRD, and SEM. The prepared TiO 2 nanoparticles have uniform size and morphology, and the phase transformation kinetics of obtained material was studied by interpretation of the X-ray diffraction patterns peaks on the base of Avrami equation. The stating point of anatase-rutile phase transformation temperature in the prepared nanoparticles was found between 100 and 200 C. A decreasing trend on the intensity of X-ray peaks of anatase phase was observed up to 600 C when the presence of the rutile phase became predominant. Results indicated that the transition... 

This article presents a model to simulate the behavior of a magnetic shape memory alloy while harvesting vibratory energy. In this type of energy harvester, magnetic shape memory alloy element is placed in the air gap of a ferromagnetic core which conducts the magnetic flux. Two apparent coils are wound around a ferromagnetic core: one to produce bias magnetic field by passing a rectified electric current and the other to serve as an energy pickup coil. Applying compressive time-variant strain field to magnetic shape memory alloy element changes its dimensions and magnetic properties as well. Presence of the bias magnetic field returns magnetic shape memory alloy element to its initial state... 

The effects of geometrical scaling on a supersonic external compression axisymmetric inlet are investigated. Various lower and higher geometrical scales of supersonic inlet are considered as the case studies. The inlet flow is simulated numerically using RANS solver along with the SST k-w turbulence model. The numerical results are in an acceptable agreement with the NACA experimental data at free stream Mach number of 1.79 and at zero angle of attack. The results show that the static pressure distribution of the inlet flow experiences some differences for various scales especially at the regions of the flow entrance and throat area. The mean flow Mach number and the mass flow rate at the... 

The present study dealt with the mechanism of competitive adsorption of Sb(III) and Fe(II) ions from a copper-containing aqueous solution on Purolite S957, a commercially available cationic ion-exchange adsorbent. Experiments were conducted using aqueous copper sulfate solutions containing either single or conjoint ions, using both sedentary and batch adsorption techniques to ascertain the sensitivity of the adsorption process to variation in pH, mass of resin, contact time, and temperature as well as establishing the optimal range of variables for maximum ion removal. The data from single ion adsorption tests were fitted by non-linear regression techniques to Henry, Langmuir, Freundlich,... 

The potential of electrospun cellulose acetate/chitosan/single walled carbon nanotubes/ferrite/titanium dioxide (CA/chitosan/SWCNT/Fe3O4/TiO2) nanofibers was investigated for the removal of Cr(VI), As(V), Methylene blue and Congo red from aqueous solutions via the adsorption and photocatalytic reduction processes. The properties of synthesized SWCNT/Fe3O4/TiO2 and fibers were characterized using TEM, SEM, FTIR, XRD, TGA and BET analysis. In adsorption process, the influence of adsorbent type including SWCNT to Fe3O4 ratio, TiO2 to SWCNT/Fe3O4 ratio and SWCNT/Fe3O4/TiO2 concentration as well as the adsorption parameters including pH, contact time, and initial concentration of adsorbates on... 

The chitosan-grafted-poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (chitosan-g-PNVCL) nanofibers were synthesized via electrospinning method. ZIF-8 metal-organic frameworks nanoparticles were incorporated into the nanofibers for adsorption of Cr(VI), As(V) and phenol from water. The BET, FTIR, XRD and SEM analysis were carrfried out to obtain the characteristics of nanofibers. The optimum parameters of ZIF-8 content, pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and initial concentration of adsorbates on the Cr(VI), As(V) and phenol removal were studied. The reusability of synthesized nanofibers for five sorption-desorption cycles was also examined. The maximum experimental adsorption capacity of the... 

Three-dimensional porous nanocomposites consisting of gelatin-carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) cross-linked by carboxylic acids biopolymers and monophasic hydroxyapatite (HA) nanostructures were fabricated by lyophilization, for soft-bone-tissue engineering. The bioactive ceramic nanostructures were prepared by a novel wet-chemical and low-temperature procedure from marine wastes containing calcium carbonates. The effect of surface-active molecules, including sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), on the morphology of HA nanostructures is shown. It is demonstrated that highly bioactive and monophasic HA nanorods with an aspect ratio > 10 can be synthesized in...