• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.149-167
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• 2004

Offshore platforms have to serve in harsh environments and hence are likely to be damaged due to wave induced fatigue and environmental corrosion. Welded tubular joints in offshore platforms are most vulnerable to fatigue damage. Such damages endanger the integrity of the structure. Therefore it is all the more essential to assess the capacity of damaged structure from the point of view of its safety. Eight internally ring stiffened fatigue damaged tubular joints with nominal chord and brace diameter of 324 mm and 219 mm respectively and thickness 12 mm and 8 mm respectively were tested under axial brace compression loading to evaluate the reserve capacity of the joints. These joints had earlier been tested under fatigue loading under corrosive environments of synthetic sea water and hence they have been cracked. The extent of the damage varied from 35 to 50 per cent. One stiffened joint was also tested under axial brace tension loading. The residual strength of fatigue damaged stiffened joint tested under tension loading was observed to be less than one fourth of that tested under compression loading. It was observed in this experimental investigation that in the damaged condition, the joints possessed an in-built load-transfer mechanism. A bi-linear stress-strain model was developed in this investigation to predict the reserve capacity of the joint. This model considered the strain hardening effect. Close agreement was observed between the experimental and predicted results. The paper presents in detail the experimental investigation and the development of the analytical model to predict the reserve capacity of internally ring stiffened joints.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.329-343
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• 2015

This study aimed to observe the effect of a novel concept (referred to as the flap extension) implemented on the leading edge of the flap of a three element high lift device. The high lift device, consisting of a flap, main element and slat is designed around an Airbus research profile for sufficient take off and landing performance of a large commercial aircraft. The concept is realised on the profile and numerically optimised to achieve an optimum geometry. Two different optimisation approaches based on Genetic Algorithm optimisations are used: a zero order approach which makes simplifying assumptions to achieve an optimised solution: as well as a direct approach which employs an optimisation in ANSYS DesignXplorer using RANS calculations. Both methods converge to different optimised solutions due to simplifying assumptions. The solution to the zero order optimisation showed a decreased stall angle and decreased maximum lift coefficient against angle of attack due to early stall onset at the flap. The DesignXplorer optimised solution matched that of the baseline solution very closely. The concept was seen to increase lift locally at the flap for both optimisation methods.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.461-468
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• 2017

With the increasing demand in the production of concrete, there is a need for adopting a feasible, economical and sustainable technique to fulfill practical requirements. Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) is one such technique which addresses the concrete industry in providing eco-friendly and cost effective concrete. The objective of the present study is to develop a mix design for SCC with Crushed Rock Fines (CRF) as fine aggregate based on the plastic viscosity of the mix and validate the same for its fresh and hardened properties. Effect of plastic viscosity on the fresh and hardened properties of SCC is also addressed in the present study. SCC mixes are made with binary and ternary blends of Fly Ash (FA) and Ground Granulated Blast Slag (GGBS) with varying percentages as a partial replacement to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). The proposed mix design is validated successfully with the experimental investigations. The results obtained, indicated that the fresh properties are best achieved for SCC mix with ternary blend followed by binary blend with GGBS, Fly Ash and mix with pure OPC. It is also observed that the replacement of sand with 100% CRF resulted in a workable and cohesive mix.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.399-408
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• 2012

Hand gesture recognition is an important area of research in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). The geometric attributes of the hand play an important role in hand shape reconstruction and gesture recognition. That said, fingertips are one of the important attributes for the detection of hand gestures and can provide valuable information from hand images. Many methods are available in scientific literature for fingertips detection with an open hand but very poor results are available for fingertips detection when the hand is closed. This paper presents a new method for the detection of fingertips in a closed hand using the corner detection method and an advanced edge detection algorithm. It is important to note that the skin color segmentation methodology did not work for fingertips detection in a closed hand. Thus the proposed method applied Gabor filter techniques for the detection of edges and then applied the corner detection algorithm for the detection of fingertips through the edges. To check the accuracy of the method, this method was tested on a vast number of images taken with a webcam. The method resulted in a higher accuracy rate of detections from the images. The method was further implemented on video for testing its validity on real time image capturing. These closed hand fingertips detection would help in controlling an electro-mechanical robotic hand via hand gesture in a natural way.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2008

Fisheries constitute an important sector in national economic development, and estimate to contribute about 3% of the total GDP and 5% of the GDP in agriculture. Fish production from aquaculture has been estimated at 950 tonnes for 2004. In 2003, Ghana produced only 51.7% of its requirements from its domestic sources and in 2004, achieved 68.1% of its fish requirement through domestic production and imports. It has been estimated that the production from ponds and culture-based fisheries is worth about US$ 1.5 million a year. The aquaculture sub sector comprises largely small-scale subsistence farmers who practice extensive aquaculture in earthen ponds in contrast to the intensive practices of commercial farmers. There is one cage facility which produces 200 tonnes or 21.1% of the total output. There are several laws to regulate and govern the sector and the government has set up institutions that are responsible for developing fisheries and aquaculture policy and directing and establishing research priorities. The Directorate of Fisheries (DoF) is the lead government agency for aquaculture development and the Water Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is mandated to carry out aquaculture research. To promote fish farming, imports of farm fish are not allowed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2017

Nanocomposites reinforced with carbon nanotube fibers exhibit greater stiffness, strength and damping properties in comparison to conventional composites reinforced with carbon/glass fibers. Consequently, most of the nanocomposite research is focused in understanding the dynamic characteristics, which are highly useful in applications such as vibration control and energy harvesting. It has been observed that those nanocomposites show better stiffness when the geometry of nanotubes is straight as compared to curvilinear although nanotube agglomeration may exist. In this work the damping behavior of the nanocomposite is characterized in terms of loss factor under the presence of nanotube agglomerations. A micro stick-slip damping model is used to compute the damping properties of the nanocomposites with multiwall carbon nanotubes. The present formulation considers the slippage between the interface of the matrix and the nanotubes as well as the slippage between the interlayers in the nanotubes. The nanotube agglomerations model is also presented. Results are computed based on the loss factor expressed in terms of strain amplitude and nanotube agglomerations. The results show that although-among the various factors such as the material properties (moduli of nanotubes and polymer matrix) and the geometric properties (number of nanotubes, volume fraction of nanotubes, and critical interfacial shear stresses), the agglomeration of nanotubes significantly influences the damping properties of the nanocomposites. Therefore the full potential of nanocomposites to be used for damping applications needs to be analyzed under the influence of nanotube agglomerations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.75-98
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• 2013

This study focuses on shear strengthening performance of simply supported reinforced concrete (RC) T-beams bonded by glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) strips in different configuration, orientations and transverse steel reinforcement in different spacing. Eighteen RC T-beams of 2.5 m span are tested. Nine beams are used as control beam. The stirrups are provided in three different spacing such as without stirrups and with stirrups at a spacing of 200 mm and 300 mm. Another nine beams are used as strengthened beams. GFRP strips are bonded in shear zone in U-shape and side shape with two types of orientation of the strip at $45^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ to the longitudinal axis of the beam for each type of stirrup spacing. The experimental result indicates that the beam strengthened with GFRP strips at $45^{\circ}$ orientation to the longitudinal axis of the beam are much more effective than $90^{\circ}$ orientation. Also as transverse steel increases, the effectiveness of the GFRP strips decreases.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.6
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• pp.691-700
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• 2018

Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) is a by product obtained from iron and steel industries, useful in the design and development of high quality cement paste/mortar and concrete. This paper investigates the applicability of relevance vector machine (RVM) based regression model to predict the compressive strength of various GGBS based concrete mixes. Compressive strength data for various GGBS based concrete mixes has been obtained by considering the effect of water binder ratio and steel fibres. RVM is a machine learning technique which employs Bayesian inference to obtain parsimonious solutions for regression and classification. The RVM is an extension of support vector machine which couples probabilistic classification and regression. RVM is established based on a Bayesian formulation of a linear model with an appropriate prior that results in a sparse representation. Compressive strength model has been developed by using MATLAB software for training and prediction. About 70% of the data has been used for development of RVM model and 30% of the data is used for validation. The predicted compressive strength for GGBS based concrete mixes is found to be in very good agreement with those of the corresponding experimental observations.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.188-195
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• 2019

Background: Mine workers in South Africa face challenges relating to poor health and safety, including fatigue risks, and poor socioeconomic and living conditions. Fatigue results in impaired mental and physical performance. The aim of this study was to assess contributors to fatigue of mine workers in South Africa. Methods: Data collection took place at four gold mines and one platinum mine in South Africa. A total of 21 focus groups were held with individuals in management, union representatives, and mine workers, and 564 questionnaires were completed by mine workers to gather information about fatigue and potential contributors to fatigue at these mines. Results: Qualitatively (through focus groups), fatigue was attributed to extended working hours, harsh working conditions, high workloads, production pressure, and resource constraints, along with aspects relating to demographic and socioeconomic factors, living conditions, lifestyle, health, and wellness. Greater fatigue was significantly associated with younger age, indebtedness, a lack of exercise, poor nutrition, less sleep, increased alcohol use, poor self-reported health, more sick leave, higher stress, and lower job satisfaction. Conclusion: The aim of the study was achieved; numerous work-, sociodemographic-, lifestyle-, and wellness-related factors were linked to fatigue in the participating mine workers. Contributors to fatigue should be addressed to improve health, safety, and sustainability in the industry.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.201-213
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• 2021

Contrast to the conventional jointed bridge design, integral abutment bridges (IABs) offer some marked advantages like reduced maintenance and enhanced service life of the structure due to elimination of joints in the deck and monolithic construction practices. However, the force transfer mechanism during seismic and thermal movements is a topic of interest owing to rigid connection between superstructure and substructure (piers and abutments). This study attempts to model an existing IAB by including the abutment backfill interaction and soil-foundation interaction effects using Winkler foundation assumption to determine its seismic response. Keeping in view the significance of abutment behavior in an IAB, the probability of damage to the abutment is evaluated using fragility function. Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) approach is used in this regard, wherein, nonlinear time history analyses are conducted on the numerical model using a selected suite of ground motions with increasing intensities until damage to abutment. It is concluded from the fragility analysis results that for a MCE level earthquake in the location of integral bridge, the probability of complete damage to the abutment is minimal.