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(2000)Conference Paper
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(2007)Conference PaperThis work presents the derivation of a comprehensive mathematical model for an off-road vehicle such as an agricultural tractor that drags behind it a heavy implement. The models are being developed with the aim of designing robust controllers that will enable the high precision control of the implement’s trajectory. The developed model is subjected to real conditions, such as ground undulation and uncertainty, sloping terrain, tyre slippage, and constrained steering of the tractor. The implement is assumed to possess independently steered wheels for aiding in implement alignment. A complete model is presented and simulated under varying conditions. Primarily this work demonstrates and validates the trailed vehicle system behavior when the trailing implement is subjected to large drag forces due to ground engagement and the significantly large lateral disturbances that occur in real life broad acre farming conditions.
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(2007)Journal ArticleDrying shrinkage and creep are two of the most important time-dependent properties of concrete, and the health monitoring of any large-scale concrete structure is practically the monitoring of the combined effects of these two physical properties. We present a fibre-optic sensing technique using fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for the experimental investigation of drying shrinkage and creep of structural grade (40 MPa) concrete. It offers many advantages over the conventional electrical and mechanical methods for both structural health monitoring and standard tests of the mechanical properties. The FBG sensors are directly embedded into concrete specimens and the data are obtained by an optical measurement system. Standard mechanical method, as specified by the Australian Standards, is also used for comparison. Good agreements between the two methods are achieved for both drying shrinkage and creep. The long-term behaviours are predicted from the experimental data, and the accuracies of prediction are discussed. This optical technique can yield a strain resolution of better than 3 ìå.
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(2001)Journal ArticleThe enhanced backscattering from organic laser gain media that are bounded with one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) rough metal films was investigated. We prepared several organic optical gain materials by doping laser-active dyes in matrices of acrylic polymers. These materials produced efficient and broadband fluorescence emission in the visible wavelengths during the pumping of a pulsed YAG or cw argon laser. These gain materials were sliced and coupled with 1-D or 2-D randomly rough gold films with large slopes. An experimental investigation was carried out with a He–Ne laser as the scattering source and the optical gain provided by a cw argon laser. The enhanced backscattering and the satellite peaks located about the enhanced-backscattering peak were obviously amplified, with their widths narrowed. These experimental results agree well with previous theoretical predictions.
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(2002)Conference Paper
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(2007)Journal ArticleThe physical properties of reactive powder concrete (RPC) at early-age, i.e., the first 24 h from casting, and up to an age of 7 days is investigated experimentally using fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs), a type of fibre-optic sensors. A number of FBG sensors are multiplexed together and embedded directly into the RPC specimens, and the shrinkage and temperature change are measured directly and simultaneously. The final setting time and specimen size effect were also investigated. Results showed that there is an interplay between the shrinkage and temperature. The overall shrinkage for 7 days is 488 ìå, with the early-age shrinkage contributing about 77% of this. The temperature curve exhibits a double peak behaviour, with the first peak appears at about 7 h, which is the final setting time. There is a size effect in that smaller prisms have a higher overall shrinkage and lower temperature change than larger prisms. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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(2007)Journal ArticleFibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors were embedded into cement mortar and ultra-high strength reactive powder concrete (RPC) prisms. Thermal tests are performed to accurately characterise the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of these prisms using the measured signals from the embedded sensors. With the use of the fibre optic sensors, the difficulties inherent in using conventional techniques, such as strain gauges or vibrating wire gauges, to measure the thermal properties of cementitious materials are overcome. The error values associated with the measurements, typically measured to be as low as ± 0.04 ìå/K, are a full order of magnitude less than what is expected for standard conventional testing using a length comparator. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.