Engineering

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • (2011) Hanaor, Dorian; Michelazzi, Marco; Chenu, Jeremy; Leonelli, Cristina; Sorrell, Charles
    Journal Article
    Thick anatase films were fabricated on graphite substrates using a method of anodic aqueous electrophoretic-deposition using oxalic acid as a dispersant. Thick films were subsequently fired in air and in nitrogen at a range of temperatures. The morphology and phase composition were assessed and the photocatalytic performance was examined by the inactivation of Escherichia coli in water. It was found that the transformation of anatase to rutile is enhanced by the presence of a graphite substrate through reduction effects. The use of a nitrogen atmosphere allows higher firing temperatures, results in less cracking of the films and yields superior bactericidal performance in comparison with firing in air. The beneficial effects of a nitrogen firing atmosphere on the photocatalytic performance of the material are likely to be a result of the diffusion of nitrogen and carbon into the TiO2 lattice and the consequent creation of new valence band states.

  • (2012) Schulz, Matthias; Short, Michael; Peters, Gregory
    Journal Article
    Water supply is a key consideration in sustainable urban planning. Recycling may increase the expense and energy consumption of supply systems, raising optimisation questions. Ideally, detailed quantitative sustainability assessments are undertaken during the planning stage in order to inform the decision-making process. In reality, however, the significant time and cost associated with undertaking such detailed environmental and economic assessments is often cited as a barrier to wider implementation of these key decision-support tools, particularly for decisions made at the local or regional government level. In an attempt to counter this barrier of complexity, four water service providers in Melbourne (Australia) funded the development of a publicly available streamlined Environmental Sustainability Assessment Tool (ESAT). The tool is aimed at a wide range of decision-makers to assist them in broadening the type and number of water servicing options that can be considered for greenfield or backlog developments. ESAT consists of a simple user interface and draws upon life cycle inventory data to allow for rapid estimation of the environmental and economic performance of different water servicing scenarios. Scenario options can then be further prioritised by means of an interactive multicriteria analysis. The intent of this paper is to identify the key issues to be considered in a streamlined sustainability assessment tool for the urban water industry and to demonstrate the feasibility of generating accurate life cycle assessments (LCAs) and life cycle costings (LCCs) using such a tool. We use a real-life case study consisting of three separate scenarios for a planned urban development to show that this kind of tool can emulate LCA and LCC outcomes obtained by more detailed studies. We hope this kind of approach will support ‘sustainability thinking’ early on in the decision-making process, thereby encouraging more sustainable water and sewerage infrastructure solutions.

  • (2013) Zhang, Haoyang; Hawkes, Evatt; Chen, Jacqueline; Kook, Sanghoon
    Journal Article
    The autoignition of dimethyl ether (DME) with temperature inhomogeneities is investigated by one-dimensional numerical simulations with detailed chemistry at high pressure and a constant volume. The primary purpose of the study is to provide an understanding of the autoignition of DME in a simplified configuration that is relevant to homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines. The ignition structure and the negative temperature coefficient (NTC) behaviour are characterised in a homogeneous domain and one-dimensional domains with thermal stratification, at different initial mean temperatures and length scales. The thermal stratification is shown to strongly affect the spatial structure and temporal progress of ignition. The importance of diffusion and conduction on the ignition progress is assessed. It is shown that the effects of molecular diffusion decay relative to those of chemical reaction as the length-scale increases. This is to be expected, however the present study shows that these characteristics also depend on the mean temperature due to NTC behaviour. For the range of conditions studied here, which encompass a range of stratification length scales expected in HCCI engines, the effects of molecular transport are found to be small compared with chemical reaction effects for mean temperatures within the NTC regime. This is in contrast to previous work with fuels with single-stage ignition behaviour where practically realisable temperature gradients can lead to molecular transport effects becoming important. In addition, thermal stratification is demonstrated to result in significant reductions of the pressure-rise rate (PRR), even for the present fuel with two-stage ignition and NTC behaviour. The reduction of PRR is however strongly dependent on the mean initial temperature. The stratification length-scale is also shown to have an important influence on the pressure oscillations, with large-amplitude oscillations possible for larger length scales typical of integral scales in HCCI engines.

  • (2013) Hawkes, Evatt; Chatakonda, Obulesu; Aspden, Andrew; Kerstein, Alan; Kolla, Hemanth; Chen, Jacqueline
    Journal Article
    Knowledge of the fractal properties of premixed flame surfaces can potentially be used to help develop turbulent combustion models. Here, direct numerical simulations of low Damköhler number flames are used to analyse the fractal nature of the flames. Two sets of data are considered: (i) thermochemical hydrogen–air turbulent premixed plane-jet flames with detailed chemistry and (ii) thermonuclear flames in type Ia supernovae. A three-dimensional box counting method is used to investigate fractal dimension of the flame surface, characterising the self similarity of flame fronts. In the premixed flames, the fractal dimension is found to vary in time between 2.1 and 2.7. The supernovae flames in distributed combustion regimes yield fractal dimension about 2.7. The results for the maximum fractal dimensions are higher than previously reported. They are explained theoretically by a Reynolds number similarity argument which posits that the high Reynolds number, low Damköhler number limiting value of the fractal dimension is 8/3. Also tested is Mandelbrot’s fractal additive law which relates the fractal dimension determined in two dimensions, which is typical of experimental measurements, to that in three dimensions. The comparison of the fractal dimension in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces supports the additive law, even though the flames considered do not formally satisfy isotropy. Finally, the inner-cut off is extracted from the hydrogen flames and found to be consistent in order of magnitude with Kolmogorov scaling.

  • (2014) Pearce, Garth; Johnson, Alastair; Hellier, Alan; Thomson, Rodney
    Journal Article
    Pull-through failure of bolted joints in composites is due to the relatively low through-thickness properties of laminated materials. Recently it has been identified that pull-through failure also plays an important role in the ultimate bearing load and total energy absorption of bolted joints, especially under dynamic conditions. It has been previously found that bolted joints loaded in bearing exhibit rate sensitivity whereas bolts loaded in pull-through experience very little sensitivity, for nearly identical joint configurations. The primary focus of this paper was to use explicit finite element simulation of pull-through failure to shed light on discrepancies between experimentally observed rate sensitivity for seemingly similar tests. The paper uses the stacked-shell modelling approach to efficiently model the interaction of delamination and ply failure under the complex dynamic load state. The results of the simulation indicated that the properties of the interface susceptible to loading rate sensitivity, Mode I and II strain energy release rates (SERR), did not have a great effect on the overall joint response; despite the prevalence of delamination during the failure process. A weak relationship between Mode II SERR and joint response was discovered which was consistent with experimental observations.