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International Journal of Automotive &
Mechanical Engineering (IJAME)
© Universiti Malaysia Pahang
Vol 1 to Vol 10
Full Version
M.M.Noor
UMP
International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (IJAME)
ISSN: 1985-9325(Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 1, January-June 2010
©Universiti Malaysia Pahang
CONTENTS
Title and Authors Page
Experimental Study and Computational Modelling of Gas-Fired Pulse 1

Combustion
I. Smajevic
Modeling and Vibration Analysis of Road Profile Measuring System 13

C. B. Patel, P. P. Gohil and B. Borhade
Fatigue Life Prediction based on Macroscopic Plastic Zone on Fracture Surface 29

of AISI-SAE 1018 Steel
G. M. Domínguez Almaraz, M. Guzmán Tapia, E. E. Tapia Silva and E. Cadenas Calderón
Phase Analysis and Densification of Steatite-based Ceramics 38

H. Kelvin, S. Ramesh, C. Y. Tan and W. D. Teng
Experimental Investigations of Oxygen Stripping from Feed Water in A Spray 46

Cum Tray Type Deaerator
K.V. Sharma, K.V. Suryanarayana, P.K. Sarma, M. M. Rahman, M. M. Noor and K. Kadirgama
Comparison of Statistically Controlled Machining Solutions of Titanium Alloys 66

using USM
R. Singh
Flexural Properties of Alkaline Treated Sugar Palm Fibre Reinforced Epoxy 79

Composites
D. Bachtiar, S. M. Sapuan and M. M. Hamdan
Study of Flow in Air-Intake System for A Single-Cylinder Go-Kart Engine 91

S. A. Sulaiman, S. H. M. Murad, I. Ibrahim and Z. A. Abdul Karim
ii
©Universiti Malay sia Pahang
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Professor Dr. Hj. Rosli Abu Bakar, Malaysia. Email: rosli@ump.edu.my
ASSOCIATE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Dr. Md. Mustafizur Rahman, Malaysia. Email: mustafizur@ump.edu.my

Mr. Muhamad Mat Noor, Malaysia. Email: muhamad@ump.edu.my
Mr. Kumaran Kadirgama, Malaysia. Email: kumaran@ump.edu.my
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Professor Dr. Hanafi Ismail, Malaysia Professor Dr. Mohd Nasir Tamin, Malaysia
Professor Dr. Erich Hahne, Germany Professor Dr. Genki Yagawa, Japan
Professor Dr. Viktor P. Astakhov, USA Professor Dr. Ing. Livan Fratini, Italy
Professor Dr. Hojat Adeli, USA Professor Dr. Rene de Borst, Netherlands
Professor Dr. Ferri M. H. Aliabadi, UK Professor Dr. Pradeep K. Sen, India
Professor Kevin L. Edwards, UK Professor Dr. Viggo Tvergaard, Denmark
Professor Dr. M.L. Wyszynski, UK Professor Dr. Mousa S.Mohsen, Jordan
Professor Dr. Masjuki Hj. Hassan, Malaysia Professor Dr. T. S. Zhao, Hong Kong
Professor Dr. Goodarz Ahmadi, USA Professor Dr. A. K. M. Nurul Amin, Malaysia
Professor Dr. Dennis Assanis, USA Professor Dr. Ir. Joost Duflou, Belgium
Professor Dr. David Hui , USA Professor Dr. Antti Samuli Korhonen, Finland
Professor Dr. S. A. Sherif, USA Professor Dr. June-Yule Lee, Taiwan
Professor Dr. Xianguo Li , Canada Professor Dr. S. Srinivasa Murthy, India
Professor Dr. Jamil A. Khan, USA Professor Dr. Youssef A. Shatilla, UAE
Professor Dr. Ahmad Kamal Ariffin, Malaysia Professor Dr. Ir. Marc Geers, Netherlands
Professor Dr. Guoqiang Li, USA Professor Ir. Dr. Ramesh Singh, Malaysia
Professor Dr. Ibrahim Dincer, Canada Professor Dr. Ing Ľubomír Šooś , Slovak Republic
Professor Dr. Chang Sik Lee, South Korea Professor Dr. Luis Filipe Martins Menezes, Portugal
Professor Dr. Joong Hee Lee , South Korea Professor Dr. Khaled Abou-El-Hossein, South Africa
Professor Dr. Gui Rong Liu, Singapore Professor Dr. Mohd Zamri Yusoff, Malaysia
Professor Dr. Behrouz Gatmiri, France Dr. Zainal Alimuddin Zainal Alauddin, Malaysia
Professor Dr. A.K.M. Sadrul Islam, Bangladesh Dr. Talal Yusaf, Australia
Professor Dr. Bekir Sami Yilbas, Saudi Arabia Dr. Abdul Rashid Abdul Aziz, Malaysia
Professor Dr. Mohamad Kamal Bedewy, Egypt Dr. Kumar Vikram Singh, USA
Professor Dr. Kikou Kishimoto , Japan Dr. Aidy Ali, Malaysia
© All rights reserved.

International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (ISSN : 1985-9325(Print); 2180-1606 (Online)) is a peer reviewed
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i
ISSN: 1985-9325(Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 1, pp. 1-12, January-June 2010
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELLING OF

GAS FIRED PULSE COMBUSTION
I. Smajevic 1,2
1
Mechanical Engineering Faculty of University Sarajevo
Vilsonovo setaliste 9, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
JP Elektroprivreda BiH d.d.-Sarajevo (Power Utility)
Vilsonovo setaliste 15, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Email: i.smajevic@elektroprivreda.ba
ABSTRACT
The paper presents some results of computational modelling of a gas-fired pulse

combustor with aerodynamic valves. The development of the model followed
experimental investigations during which the combustor geometry and operating
conditions were defined. A simple 'tank and tube' approach was adopted by
decomposing the combustor into several elements which were modelled separately,
together with the interconnecting processes. The solution was obtained by marching
integration in time over several cycles. The model reproduced reasonably well the
recorded time history and averaged values of all basic parameters and is expected to
complement the experiments aiming to develop a pulse combustor as a device for to
cleaning the outer sides of power plants’ boiler heating surfaces during operation.
Keywords: Pulse combustion, gas-fired, aerodynamic valve, modelling.
INTRODUCTION
Pulse combustors offer a number of advantages as compared with conventional steady-

flow burners (Zinn at al., 1982). Putnam et al. (1986) demonstrated such major features
as their efficient combustion and enhanced heat transfer at contact surfaces as a
consequence of their higher turbulence level and mixing. Periodic interchange of rapid
combustion and quenching lowers the average combustion temperature. The reverse
flow of combustion products from the exhaust pipe into the combustion chamber during
the low-pressure period in the cycle enable the burning of unburned fuel residual. Both
of these effects contribute to the reduction of NOx emission and to favourable
conditions for the reduction of SOx from the exhaust gases. The self-pumping
mechanism employed here eliminates the need for an external energy supply to pump in
air for combustion, as well as the need for a chimney to generate draft for exhaust of
combustion products. Pressure pulsations together with the consequent vibrations of the
bounding solid surfaces reduce ash deposition and fouling.
Extensive research and development activities in the past have resulted (Putnam
et al., 1986) in a variety of proposed designs of pulse combustors, both with mechanical
and aerodynamical valves, but only a few types with mechanical valves reached the
stage of commercial application. Their main deficiency is a very high noise level, which
deters a wider use of pulse combustors in residential space heating and similar
applications. Of course this shortcoming may be converted into an advantage when the
strong acoustic waves are used for reducing the fouling of exposed surfaces, loosening
1
I. Smajevic / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 1 (2010) 1-15
and removing a deposit, or to enhance heat and material transport (drying and
conveying of loose material). A reduced control of the process, as well as a lack of
flexibility in operation, particularly in the case of aerovalved combustors have also been
listed in literature as shortcomings, though some designs have achieved wide ranges of
loading in which the combustors could operate in a stable self-pumping regime
(Smajevićand Hanjalić , 1990).
The lack of understanding of some of the important phenomena on which the
operation of the combustor strongly depends has led in the past to predominantly
experimental investigations in which the influence of various designs and operating
parameters was explored by a trial-and-error method. Mathematical modelling and
computer simulation, combined with specific task-tailored experiments, offer new
prospects for a revival of research in this highly potential technique and its use in a
variety of industrial applications. The present paper describes a simple 'tank and tube'
type model, which was developed complementary to the experimental investigation of
the performance of a simple aerovalved pulse combustor and the influence upon it of
various design parameters. It was envisaged that—once calibrated—the model could
serve the purpose of preliminary computer optimization of the combustor and a study of
the feasibility of their application to various industrial purposes.
COMBUSTOR DESIGN AND FUNDAMENTAL MEASURING DATA
This research has aimed at designing a simple and robust pulse combustor which could
be used in large size coal fired boilers as a pilot and ignition burner, but also to serve as
a turbulizer and generator of an acoustic environment in the boiler by which to promote
the reduction of fouling of the gas-side heating surfaces. Applications for other purposes
and its use as an autonomous burner has not been excluded, but these possibilities were
not primarily the focus of our investigations. Considered was a simple Helmholtz-type
combustor with multiple air entry oriented rearward, as suggested in Ponizy and
Wojcicki (1985). The present design differs only slightly in concept, but more in scale
and in design details which were chosen on the basis of an extensive testing and
optimization of the geometry and operating conditions, using propane gas as fuel
(Smajevićand Hanjalić , 1990; Smajević , 1991). A schematic of the laboratory pulse
combustor testing line and a view of the combustor are shown in Figures 1 and 2
respectively.
Figure 1: Schematic of the laboratory pulse combustor testing line, MEF of University
Sarajevo, 1–14: measuring points
2
Experimental study and computational modelling of gas-fired pulse combustion
The combustor, with no moving parts, consists of a cylindrical combustion

chamber with four bell-mouthed air suction inlets and a resonant tailpipe mounted to the
chamber on the same front wall as the air inlets. The air suction tubes served also as
aerodynamic valves. Their cross-section area was reduced toward the end with sharp
edges of the tubes protruding into the chamber so as to make a large resistance to the
reverse flow. Fuel was introduced continuously through the back chamber wall. The
combustor was equipped with fuel- and starting air supply systems. Measurements were
carried out at 14 stations indicated in Figure 1. Pulsating pressure was recorded by
piezoelectric high sensitivity transducers. The averaged- and instant temperatures were
measured by NiCr-Ni 0.1 mm and Cr-Al 0.0125 mm thermocouples, respectively, and
the composition of the combustion gases—the concentrations of O2, CO2 and CO were
measured by sampling and analysing the gas mixtures by electronic gas-analysers.
Figure 2: A view of the pulse combustor investigated at the MEF of University of

Sarajevo
Typical recordings of pressure pulsations in the combustion chamber (measuring

point 4—lower signal) and in the tail pipe (point 11—upper signal) are shown in Figure
3. The cycle period is about 9.8 ms, corresponding to a frequency of 102 Hz. As can be
seen, the pressure pulsations in the combustion chamber follow a close-to-sinusoidal
periodic pattern. However, the pattern is visibly asymmetric with respect to the
reference atmospheric pressure line, with higher positive amplitudes than negative ones.
The high pressure part of the cycle is also more peaked while the low pressure part is
flattened. The pressure recording shows also that the curve has a steeper gradient during
the compression and a milder one during the expansion. The steeper pressure increase is
a consequence of a rapid and intensive combustion. The flattening of the low pressure
part of the curve is caused by the resistance to the air inflow through the aerodynamic
valves and will be more pronounced if this resistance is higher.
Asymmetry of the pressure amplitudes is illustrated in Figure 4, which shows the
positive-, negative- and peak-to-peak (total) pressure amplitudes in the chamber as a
function of the combustor power expressed in terms of fuel consumption. As can be
3
seen, the difference between the positive and negative amplitudes increases with the
increase of the power. The frequency of the pulsations shows only a marginal increase
with power, reflecting in fact an increase in the temperature and a corresponding
decrease of the fluid density, which in turn reduces the fluid momentum.
Figure 3: Recordings of pressure pulsations in the combustion chamber—measuring

point 4, Figure 1 (lower signal) and in the tail pipe—measuring point 11, Figure 1
(upper signal)
Figure 4: Positive (p4+), negative (p4-) and peak-to-peak (total, p4uk) pressure
amplitudes in the chamber as functions of the combustor power expressed in terms of
fuel consumption
The presented variables in Figures 3 and 4 are only some of many which were
measured and which served as an experimental basis for the validation of the
mathematical models. Of course, small perturbations, visible on both pressure records in
4
Figure 3 originate from the pressure reflections and wave interactions and they could
not be reproduced by the considered model.
MATHEMATICAL MODEL
An idealized cycle of an aerovalved pulse combustor may be decomposed into four

phases: combustion (which starts with re-ignition), expansion, purge and recharge, and
recharge and compression. The beginning of each phase is indicated by the numbers 1,
2, 3 and 4 on the cycle in the p-v diagram in Figure 5 together with a schematic
representation of their occurrence in the considered type of the combustor.
1-2: Re-ignition and combustion 2-3: Expansion
3-4: Purge and recharge 4-1: Recharge and compression
2
Caption:
Pressure Pa
Fuel
1 Atmospheric Air
pressure
4 Flue gas
3
Specific volume m3/kg
Figure 5: An idealized cycle of the considered aerovalved Helmholtz-type pulse

combustor
A possible approach to modelling the whole process is to model separately each

phase in the cycle. Such a model would require a number of assumptions and empirical
inputs which would influence the final solution and seriously limit the applicability of
the model to predictions of the performance of a new combustor with design parameters
outside the range of validity of the those assumptions and empirical correlations. Here
instead has been chosen a 'tank and tube' approach by which the processes in various
segments of the combustor were modelled separately and these models then coupled by
relations which describe the mutual interactions—outflow and inflow of the variables
from one segment of the combustor to another. For that purpose, the combustor was
decomposed into several sections: the bell-mouthed air suction tubes which also act as
aerodynamic one-way valves, the combustion chamber and the resonant tail pipe. Each
segment has been modelled separately as an entirety represented by its own control
5
volume to which basic conservation laws were applied. Processes in some elements
were further decomposed if different relationships were to be applied. Interconnecting
relationships which represent the mutual interactions were established by approximation
of the flow processes between each combustor element.
Combustion Chamber
The equation of conservation of energy for the control volume (Vc ) identified with the
combustion chamber; the application of the ideal gas equation of state yields the
following expression for the rate of change of pressure in the chamber:
dp c  k g 1   u *2   u 32   
     
c pg T3  
4m1 c pgT*  m3 
 Qco Qlc  (1)
dt  Vc V c  
 2   2   

Where mdenotes the mass flow rate, while u and T stand for the fluid velocity and
temperature, respectively. Index * corresponds to the throat of the air inlet tube within
the combustion chamber, while index 3 denotes the throat of the tail pipe, and index 1
the measuring point 1, Figure 1. Of course, ml and m3 take appropriate signs
depending on the flow direction.
The supplied heat Qco to the combustion of the fuel-air mixture is defined by the
equation of Vibe (Smajević, 1991), as follows:
m 
n
  t n 1 
co 6.9
n 1
t
Q   exp 
6.9
t 
 
fc
Hd (2)
t co  
co   co  
t 
where mfc denotes the total mass supplied over a cycle and t co the time duration of
combustion in each cycle. Qlc represents the heat loss of the combustion gases over a
cycle due to the cooling of the combustion chamber, which has to be estimated or
supplied from experiments.
Mass conservation for the chamber yields
dmc 
  4m
1 m
3. (3)
dt Vc
Air Intake Tubes
The velocity u * is obtained from the energy equation written for the air intake tube,
which takes different forms depending on the flow direction. During the expansion
(phase 2-3, Figure 5), a reverse flow of the combusted gases will occur through the air
intake tubes, but due to the action of the aerodynamic valves this mass flow rate is
expected to be small. Therefore, a fairly crude approximation of this process will
suffice. It has been presumed that the gas exit velocity through the bell-mouth will be
equal to the velocity prevailing at the point '1' and this velocity is first computed from
the energy equation written for a cross-section in the chamber (uc 0) and for the
outside atmospheric condition, yielding the expression
6
2 pc po 
u1 , (4)
m 
l

 1 1 
1 
 d
where the prime indicates an assumed value which will be determined by iteration, 1
represents the pressure loss coefficient of the aerodynamic valve for the reverse flow,
and 1 is the friction factor for the suction tube. The local density was taken as the
arithmetic mean between the fluid density at the point 1 (unknown in advance and
obtained by iteration) and in the chamber. The temperature T* was evaluated from the
expression for the total temperature assumed to correspond to that prevailing in the
combustion chamber. The continuity equation, written for the cross-sections * and 1,
enabled the computation of the velocity u*’. Other variables have standard meanings.
In the case of the air inflow to the chamber, (phases 3-4 and 4-1, Figure 5) the
air inflow process was decomposed into three phases. For the intake through the bell-
mouth we have assumed that isentropic conditions prevail so that the air inflow velocity
at the point '1' can be evaluated from the equation
 a 1 
 
2a po  p1 a 
u1  1  . (5)
a 1 o  
o 
p

 
From the expression for the pressure drop between points 1 and 2, the isothermal
relation was used which gives the value of the pressure at point 2:
2
l u12  l u12 
p2 2 
2  p12 .
 (6)
d 2  d 2 
The air inflow through the aerodynamic valve has been assumed to be isentropic
so that its exit velocity at the valve throat can be written as
 a 1 
  
u*  u22  a 2  c a 
2 p p
1 
  . (7)
a 1 2  p2  

 

Resonant Pipe
Because of its specific role, in particular, during the chamber’s charging with fresh air-
fuel mixture, the tail pipe could not be considered as a simple orifice, since the pipe
dimensions and shape play an important role. Likewise, since the velocity in the pipe
could not be neglected, it could not be treated as a reservoir. Hence in the process of
modelling the tail pipe there was considered a separate control volume to which the
conservation laws were applied. The momentum equation yields directly the rate of
change of the mean velocity in the pipe:
7
du   u3
3
dmr 
  
1

m u
3 3 m u
e e p A
3 3 p A
o e p r 
Ae A3 f A f u , (8)
dt 
Vr mr 
 2 u dt 

where A3 and Ae denote the cross-sectional areas at position 3 (throat of the tailpipe) and
at the pipe exit e, respectively, Af is the internal surface area of the pipe, mr is the
instant fluid mass in the pipe, while f is the skin friction factor on the pipe interior
walls.
The equation of energy yields the rate of change of pressure at the throat of the tailpipe:
 m 
dp3  2 g 1
c
u32  
 
ue2  u 3
f .

    3 pg 3
T  m c T  A Q (9)
2   2 
e pg e f lr
dt Vr Vr 
     2 

The equation contains the heat loss in unit time to the surroundings through the walls of
the resonant pipe:
lr m3c pg 
Q T3 Te  (10)
which has to be evaluated on the basis of a specified heat transfer coefficient through
the tailpipe walls, or by using the obtained value of the exit temperature T e.
Eqs 1 to 10 with some auxiliary relationships constitute basically the

mathematical model of the process. It consists of a set of ordinary differential equations
complemented with several algebraic expressions. The differential equations were
solved by the 4th order Runge–Kutta method with Gill's modification and adjustable
time interval. The integration starts with an assumed distribution of basic parameters at
the key positions in the combustor and the solution was carried out by marching in time
over a number of cycles until the results become sufficiently repeatable. It was found
that a desirable reproducibility was achieved usually after three or four cycles. The
model requires several empirical inputs. These include the friction factors in the inlet-
and tail pipe, the pressure drop coefficient for the back flow through the aerodynamic
valve, and heat transfer coefficient for the combustor walls (in particular for the tail
pipe). These data were supplied from the appropriate literature.
A major problem is associated, however, with the specification of the ignition
(re-ignition) point 1 in the cycle, Figure 5. In fact, in the case of an aerovalved pulse
combustor, the positions of all points in the cycle, except for point 2, can not be located
in advance, but points 3 and 4 can be obtained from the model computation. However
that is not the case with point 1, which indicates the re-ignition of the combustible
mixture. Re-ignition depends on a number of factors, e.g., the amount and temperature
of the combusted gases which flow back into the chamber, the temperature distribution
inside the chamber and at its walls, and others, which all depend very much on the
design features of each combustor. This position influences the final solution
considerably and its determination has been the subject of research of several authors
(Putnam at al.,1986). A reliable modelling of the cycle without prior specification of
these characteristic positions would require the application of a field modelling
technique which would result in a detailed distribution of all the field variables—
velocity, temperature and concentrations—-at least in the combustion chamber. Since
8
here what has been opted for is a simple plug flow modelling, information about the
conditions (i.e., the position in the p-v diagram) of the ignition point has to be supplied
or the solution searched for by trial and error and the model verified on the basis of
experiments.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
As was pointed out, the position of the re-ignition point has a major influence upon the
prediction of the combustor performance and the conditions for the location of this point
in term of thermodynamic properties have to be specified. Several different conditions
for re-ignition were explored by comparing the modelling results with experiments, e.g.
the re-ignition was located at the instant when the pressure in the combustion chamber
starts to rise above the atmospheric level, or in the second attempt the re-ignition was
identified with the instant of change of flow direction of combustion products in the tail
pipe (onset of the reverse flow), etc. However, the best results were obtained when the
re-ignition was identified with the moment at which the temperature of the fresh air-fuel
mixture starts to rise, as shown in Figure 6. In its time coordinate, this position is
somewhere between the previous two.
m k, T k, pk—mass, temperature and pressure inside of the

combustion chamber, mc and U sr —mass and average velocity
inside of the tail pipe
Figure 6: Variation of masses, temperature and pressure inside the combustion chamber,
plotted against time.
As can be seen from the figure, the temperature of the mixture in the combustion
chamber starts to rise even before the ignition occurs while the pressure in the chamber
is still below the atmospheric level. This rise is a consequence of the reverse flow of the
combustion products, which mix with the cooler air-fuel mixture. The returned
combustion products increase the overall mass of the gases in the chamber, which
absorb the heat released by combustion so that an excessive rise of temperature is
absent. The obtained results agree well with the experimental data both in averaged
values and—-though less satisfactory—in details. The figure shows a satisfactory
degree of similarity in the shapes of the two pressure curves, though some discrepancies
are noticeable. So, for example, the computed positive peak values of the pressure are
higher, and the computed gradient of the pressure rise corresponding to the combustion
phase is higher than measured, which could be caused by an inadequacy in some of the
empirical inputs (e.g., the Vibe equation, heat loss through the walls), but also by a still
insufficient precision of the location of the re-ignition point. Averaged properties seem
to be in much better agreement. For instance, the computed frequency of 103 Hz
9
corresponds closely to the measured 102 Hz, the temperature variation between 500 and
1700 C yields an average value of about 1100 C, which is very close to the measured
one. As can be seen, the peak temperatures appear in very short intervals which last
between 2 to 5 ms. The probability for generation of NOx in such conditions is very
much reduced as compared with continuous combustion, which illustrates one of the
mentioned advantages of pulse combustors.
The model supplies a number of other relevant parameters not shown here, like
the air inflow rate, fuel consumption, total heat release, combustion power and others.
After the model is fully verified, these parameters can be used for optimization of
design and operating conditions, but also to supply the correlations which could serve as
guidance for the operation of the combustor in practice.
K1
225
K2
1500
K3
1750
2050
950
2600
K5
700
200
K4
3900
II
1100
I
200
K6
100
120
2393
Figure 7: Basic dimensions of the boiler model; I, II—burner connections,

K1-K6—measurement points
On the basis of highly satisfactory results achieved in twenty-five years of

experience in using of our own model of the detonation wave technique applied for on-
line cleaning of the outer sides of boiler heating surfaces in TPP Kakanj, Bosnia and
Herzegovina (Smajevićand Hanjalić, 2004), the research team of the Mechanical
Engineering Faculty of the University of Sarajevo has decided to investigate the
possibility of applying the already described model of pulse combustors also as a boiler
heating surfaces cleaning device.
Inside the boiler model, Figure 7, installed in the Combustion Laboratory of the
MEF of the University of Sarajevo, a bundle of tubes is mounted representing the
10
convective parts of the boiler. In the case when the tube bundle is in the upper position,
the bottom of the boiler model represents the boiler furnace. Application of the pulse
combustion burner on the boiler model refers basically to two zones: the boiler-furnace/
burner connection I—Figure 8, and to the convective part of the boiler/ burner
connection II—Figure 7. Some results of the laboratory experiments already carried out
are to be found for instance in Hodž ićet al. (2009).
Figure 8: A view of the burner placed on the boiler model at connection I
CONCLUSIONS
In spite of its simplicity, the mathematical model of the considered aerovalved pulse
combustor reproduced reasonably well the measured thermodynamic cycle, the
corresponding time history of all oscillating variables and their averaged values which
determine the combustor operation. Because of its simplicity, the model requires a
supply of several empirical parameters which can not be computed at the present level
of modelling. However, apart from the definition of conditions for the re-ignition, most
of the empirical inputs can be supplied on the basis of data or correlations available in
the literature. The present results are still preliminary and require further refinement and
testing. However it is believed that the adopted model could be expected to replace—at
least in part—tedious experimental investigations and to serve the purpose of further
optimization of the design and operating parameters in a broader range than was
possible to cover in a laboratory. The model can also supply some further insight into
the influence of various design and operating parameters on the physical process.
Experimental investigations aimed at discovering whether such a type of pulse
combustor could serve as an on-line cleaning device for the outer sides of heating
surfaces in large power boilers based on coal combustion are already going on, and will
be continued.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author sincerely thanks Prof. Dr. K. Hanjalic (Prof. Emeritus, Delft University of
Technology, Netherlands) and M.Sc. N. Hodzic (Mechanical Engineering aculty,
University of Sarajevo) for useful cooperation.
11
REFERENCES
Hodž ić, N., Metović , S. and Smajević , I. (2009) Pulse combustion burner as cleaning
device of boiler heating surfaces. 13th International Research/Expert Conference
Trends in the Development of Machinery and Associated Technology—TMT 2009,
pp. 1204–1208
Ponizy, B. and Wojcicki, S. (1985) On modelling of pulse combustors. 20th Symposium
(International) on Combustion, 20 (1), 2019–2024.
Putnam, A.A., Belles, F.E. and Kentfield, J.A.C. (1986) Pulse Combustion. Progress in
Energy and Combustion Science, 12 (1), 43–79.
Smajević , I. (1991) Investigation of pulsating combustion with analysis of possible
applications. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Smajević , I. and Hanjalić
, K. (1990) Pulsating combustion of liquid petroleum gas. Proc.
th
of 8 Yugoslav Symp. on Thermal Engineering -JUTERM-90, pp. 503–511
Smajević , I. and Hanjalić , K. (2004) Zwanzig Jahre erfolgreiche Anwendung der
Stosswelen-Reinigungstechnik in einem mit Kohle befeurtem Kraftwerk.
International Journal for Electricity and Heat Generation—VGB PowerTech
8/2004, pp. 71–75.
Zinn, B.T., Miller, N., Carvalho, J.A. and Daniel, B.R. (1982) Pulsating combustion of
coal in a Rijke type combustor. Nineteenth Symposium (International) on
Combustion, 19 (1), 1197–1203.
NOMENCLATURE
c p —specific heat for a constant pressure Indices:

d —diameter a—air
f —coefficient of friction c—combustion chamber
l — length co—combustion (process)
m —mass e—outlet of the resonant tube
m—mass flow rate f—inner surface of resonant tube
m fc —total quantity of fuel supplied in combustion g—flue gas
chamber during one cycle l—loss (of heat)
p —pressure r—resonant tube
t — time o—atmosphere
u —velocity 1;2—start (at bell-shaped inlet) and end
v —specific volume (at aerodynamical valve) of straight
A —surface area tube of air inducer
H d —lower heat value of fuel 3—throat of the resonant tube
Q—heat (released or transported) in unit of time *—throat of the aerodinamical valve
T —temperature
V —volume Superscripts:
—local pressure drop coefficient 
—assumed value (iterative calculation)
 —coefficient of friction —average value
—specific mass
—exponent of adiabatic curve
12
MODELLING AND VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF A ROAD PROFILE

MEASURING SYSTEM
C. B. Patel1, P. P. Gohil1 and B. Borhade2

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Charotar Institute of Technology (Faculty of Technology and Engineering)
Charotar University of Science and Technology, Changa, Anand-388 421, India
Phone: +91 9375435955
E-mail: cbchirag@gmail.com, piyushgohil.me@ecchanga.ac.in
2
Mahindra Navistar Automotive Limited, Pune, India.
ABSTRACT
During a vehicle development program, load data representing severe customer usage is
required. The dilemma faced by a design engineer during the design process is that
during the initial stage, only predicted loads estimated from historical targets are
available, whereas the actual loads are available only at the fag end of the process. At
the same time, changes required, if any, are easier and inexpensive during the initial
stages of the design process whereas they are extremely costly in the latter stages of the
process. The use of road profiles and vehicle models to predict the load acting on the
whole vehicle is currently being researched. This work hinges on the ability to
accurately measure road profiles. The objective of the work is to develop an algorithm,
using MATLAB Simulink software, to convert the input signals into measured road
profile. The algorithm is checked by the MATLAB Simulink 4 degrees of freedom half
car model. To make the whole Simulink model more realistic, accelerometer and laser
sensor properties are introduced. The present work contains the simulation of the
mentioned algorithm with a half car model and studies the results in distance, time, and
the frequency domain.
Keywords: road profile measurement, half car model, 4 degrees of freedom model,
vehicle vibration, vehicle dynamic modelling.
INTRODUCTION
The product development exercise in the automobile industry can be finished after
doing durability calculations. The durability test is known as the life cycle test and is
essentially for testing the reliability of vehicles. This test offers important data to
determine the life cycle of vehicles; through the analysis of cost vs. effect, this test data
is used for evaluating and predicting defects of the main parts of the vehicle during the
life cycle. One of the important test factors in the endurance test is the vibration
environments in which the vehicles are operated. The environment affects the reliability
of vehicles owing to fatigue. Therefore, the measurement of road profile and the
evaluation of profile characteristics are important points to get reliable endurance test
results (Connon, 2000; Dodds and Robson, 1973; Min and Jeong, 1994). At the
beginning of the vehicle development program it is a must to possess load data that
represents severe customer usage. These target loads are used in the design process to
ensure that the vehicle components are sufficiently strong. The actual load in
13
C.B. Patel et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 1 (2010) 13-28
components can only be measured once a prototype is available. However, this is at the
very end of the development program (Perera and Kohn, 2002). The dilemma faced by a
design engineer during the design process is that during the initial stages only predicted
loads estimated from historical targets are available, whereas the actual loads are
available only at the fag end of the process. At the same time, changes required, if any,
are easier and inexpensive during the initial stages of the design process, whereas they
are extremely costly in the latter stage of the process. It is advantageous, therefore, to
accurately predict the target vehicle loads at an early stage in the design program (Pawar
and Saraf, 2009).
Prediction of the target loads at the start of the vehicle development program can
only be achieved by doing virtual testing of the vehicle. Basic requirements for the
virtual testing of the vehicle are to have vehicle model and accurate road profile data in
multi body dynamic (MBD) software. But a CAD model can only be ready after doing
the design calculations, and further design can start after having the load data. So, a
basic requirement is to have road profile data first, before developing the road profile
measuring system (RPMS) needed to develop an algorithm and validate it with
mathematical multi degrees of freedom vehicle models. The emphasis of this paper is on
the development of an algorithm for a road profile measuring system and its validation
with a linear 4DOF vehicle dynamic model. It is recommended that the algorithm
should be validated with more and more degrees of freedom, like having an actual
vehicle. It can be said that a RPMS is accurate when it is free from different types of
error and errors introduced because of the road surface (water, creaks, etc.) and the
speed of the vehicle (tyre leaves of the ground); to remove all kinds of errors, the
amount of filtration needs to be increased.
Road surface events are the same for all kinds of vehicles and components, only
the vehicle responses vary. In this way, the road profiles are independent of the vehicle
and have widespread application. Figure 1 shows a small patch of road surface with
longitudinal and lateral profiles. The longitudinal profile provides the pitching effect to
the vehicle and the lateral profile is responsible for the rolling effect.
Figure 1: Longitudinal surface profiling (Michael and Steven, 1998)
Using road profiles in the design process can greatly improve the the component
development process. Target roads that represent the road input can be defined which a
14
Modeling and vibration analysis of road profile measuring system
real vehicle might experience, when driven by a customer (Min and Jeong, 1994). These
target roads can then be used with multi-body simulation software to predict wheel
loads early in the design process. Component loads then can be predicted, providing
reliable input for finite element analysis, design optimization and lab testing. The
pavement profile measurement exercise has continued for last 50 years, as per work
done by General Motors (Saeger and Ferris, 2003) to develop a high speed profiler
(inertial profiler) which is attached as a fifth wheel to the vehicle body. The objective is
to measure the road profile at highway speeds with the help of accelerometers coupled
with laser sensors. (ASTM, 1996). The road damage assessment methodology utilizes
an artificial neural network that reconstructs road surface profiles from measured
vehicle accelerations. The results show that the road profiles and associated defects can
be reconstructed to within a 20% error at a minimum correlation value of 94%.
(Ngwangwa et al., 2009). Vehicles out rigged with inertial profilers. This type of inertial
measurement provides a sort of filtered roadway profile. The currently available
systems in the market are not suitable (Pawar and Saraf, 2009) for measurement of
severely damaged pavement, test track profiles, or off-road surfaces. Researchers at
Mitsubishi (Patel, 2009) were able to use a series of four collinear lasers extending
along the length of the vehicle to determine the road profile.
There are many methods reported in the literature for obtaining road profiles by
direct measurement of the road itself (Ngwangwa et al., 2008). However, (Gonzalez et
al., 2007) despite major improvements in recent years in the quality of road-profiling
equipment, these devices remain generally expensive to purchase, their use with time is
inefficient and their operation specialized. They demonstrate numerically the
applicability of vehicle acceleration measurements on the body. Measured results are
influenced by the properties of the vehicle’s mechanical system and measuring speed in
response type road roughness measuring system (Michael and Steven, 1998). A high
speed profiler is used to measure the road profile at highway speed but data can be
collected at every 1.88 cm distance (AE, 2009). A profilograph is an accurate data
collection measuring system, but the speed must be slow (SSI, 2009). The individual
height measures must be accurate to 0.5 mm or less. But this process will take too much
time to measure the road profile. Also Dipstick (FCT, 2009) measures the data very
accurately, but at very slow speed because we have to walk with that. The object of this
invention is to provide a method and system of the described type which provides a road
profile output which is determined from information that is independent of the motion
of the sprung mass of the measurement vehicle. A more specific object is to provide a
road profile measurement system which does not rely on the independent measurement
of the surface of the roadway, but only on the interaction of the vehicle’s supporting tire
with the road surface, thereby allowing the system to obtain a measurement of any
surface over which the measurement vehicle can be driven. This allows the
determination of the profile of off-road terrain. A further object of this invention is to
provide a method and apparatus for the measurement of the road surface profile in
which the introduction of computational error is minimized by performing data
manipulation in the frequency domain and in the time domain.
CONCEPT
An algorithm is to be developed to measure the road profile, which contains different

types of filters to filter the unwanted frequencies and noise. Later validation of the
algorithm is obligatory with more degrees of freedom for the dynamic vehicle model.
15
Figure 2 shows the simple working concept of a road profile measuring system. A
mathematical model of the vehicle, with its various degrees of freedom and non-
linearity, can become extremely complex. A model for measuring an accurate road
profile can be achieved, however by using a half car model that contains three masses,
four springs and four dampers (Figure 3.). In this case, the half car model represents the
whole front and rear of the vehicle, but reduces it to two wheel masses and the body
mass. The objective of the half car model is to simulate the vehicle being excited by the
input road profile and comparing the input profile with the measured profile at different
speeds. If both input and measured profile have the same nature and amplitude at
different speeds, then we can say the measured profile can be used for MBD simulation.
However, in actual practice both input and measured profile cannot be the same
naturewise and amplitudewise also. Because each measuring device has its own error,
100% agreement between input and measured profile is not possible practically.
Figure 2: Working of road profile measuring system
Figure 3: Dynamic model (Half car) of vehicle
The measured profile needs to be compared with the input profile to validate the
road profile measuring system. A road profile measuring system having absolute error
(i.e. measured profile–input profile) up to 2 mm at different speeds in different
conditions is said to be acceptable, especially for HMV application (Mahindra Navistar
Automotive Limited, Pune), i.e. the measured road profile can be use for MBD
simulation of the vehicle.
16
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AND VALIDATION
A 4 degree of freedom (DOF) mathematical model of a complete vehicle was developed

and used to obtain the measured road profile. The coordinate system was defined as
follows:
 Positive x-axis pointing to the front of the vehicle.
 Positive y-axis pointing to the driver’s left.
 Positive z-axis pointing up.
 Positive angles are defined by the right-hand rule.
As discussed above, the original vehicle contains so many nonlinear systems.

Simulation of the full physical vehicle is difficult; hence, it is converted to a half car
dynamic model. Suspension and tyres are considered as a spring and damper system.
The front axle and rear axle are considered as single masses as shown in Figure 3, and
the chassis with body mass is considered as a single mass lying on both front and rear
suspension. As shown in Figure 3, the dynamic half car model represents the vehicle.
The dynamic model is considered to be a spring mass and damper system. The dynamic
model is considered to be a spring mass and damper system possessed of pitch and
bounce motion for the chassis mass, where, y1 and y2 are the road inputs for the front
and rear, respectively.
 Both front and rear axle have bouncing motion.

 Both tyres and suspensions are represented with spring and damping effect.
 Both front and rear axle are represented by single masses.
 Random road profile is considered as road input.
 Pitching and bouncing motion is considered at the C.G. of the chassis
mass.
The free body diagram shows the different kind of forces acting on the body
mass, front, and rear axle masses. The bouncing motion of the masses is considered in
the ‘z’ direction, and pitching motion is considered in the ‘zx’ plane about the ‘y’
direction. For this model, the upward and anticlockwise direction is considered as
positive. Figure 4 shows the free body diagrams for mass m3 (chassis mass), mass m1
(front axle mass) and mass m2 (rear axle mass) of the half car system. The dynamic
equations of motion are developed from the free body diagrams (Figure 4) as follows.

m11 c F2 ( x
x  3 x
 1 a) k F 2 ( x 3  x1 a ) k F1 ( x1  y1 ) c F1 ( x
 1 y
 1 ) (1)

m 2 x2 cR 2 ( x 3 x 2 b) kR 2 ( x 3 x 2 b) kR1 ( x 2 y 2 ) cR1 ( x 2 y 2 )
    
(2)
[kR2 (x3 x2 b) cR2 (x 
b) kF2 (x3 x1 a) cF2 ( x 
m3 3 
x 3  2
x 3 x1 a
 )] (3)

kR ( x x b) cR ( xxb
I ) kF2 ( x3 x1 a) cF2 ( x 
2 3 2 2 3 2 3 x
1 a)
(4)
17
Figure 4: Free body diagram of half car model
Eqs 1 to 4 can be represented in matrix form:
m1 0 0 0 
x kF1 kF2
1  0 kF2 akF2 x1 
0 
0    kR1 kR2 kR2 x 
 m2 0 2
x 0 bkR2  2
   
0 0 m3 0 3  
x kF2 kR2 kR2 kF2 akF2 bkR2 x3 
     
0 0 0 
I   kF2 kR2 kF2 kR2 akF2 bkR2 

cF1 cF2
 0 cF2 acF2 x
1  kF1 y1 cF1 y
1 
 0 cR1 cR2 cR2   
kR1Y2 cR1 y2 


bcR2 x2  
 


 cF2 cR2 cF2 cR2 acF2 bcR2 x
3  0 
   
 cF2 cR2 cF2 cR2 acF2 bcR2 
  0 
 (5)
Eq. 5 can be represented as Eq. 6 as follows:
U
m  c 
U
k 
U F (6)
In Eq. 6, the mass, stiffness, damping and force matrix are known and the
acceleration, velocity and displacement matrix are unknown. It is not possible to solve
all those equations by a simple analytical method. It is now possible to assemble the
equations of motion for the behavior of individual components of a vehicle into a
comprehensive model of the overall vehicle. This allows simulation using Runge–Kutta
or other solvers and evaluation of its behavior before such vehicles are actually
constructed. Such models can evaluate performance measures that could not be
addressed in simulation in the past and is used extensively in analysing the dynamics of
multi body systems. The first requirement is to validate those equations which are
derived from the half car model.
18
VALIDATION
In simulation, to measure the road profile, the first step is to develop the Simulink
model for 4 DOF and validate it with 5 DOF and 10 DOF models. Two research papers
(Gawade et al., 2004; Paulo et al., 2001) have been taken for validating the results
obtained from the model developed in the present work.
 Wheel Lift-off and Ride Comfort study of Three-wheeled Vehicle over

Bump: 5 DOF (Gawade et al., 2004)
 A Numerical Model for Passenger Car Ride Comfort Studies: 10 DOF
(Paulo et al., 2001)
Mass, stiffness and damping properties are taken to be the same as those used
for the research papers. The comparison in Figure 5 clearly shows that there is 100%
agreement for the vertical acceleration at the half sine wave bump profile. Simulation
has been done for the 4 DOF model with consideration of the tyre damping effect. The
same graph can be plotted for the 4 DOF model with consideration of the tyre damping
effect in Figure 6. The maximum negative acceleration pulse of duration 0.12 s starts at
0.49 s and has a minimum value of 9.495 m/s 2. Figure 6 shows a reduction in
acceleration because of the tyre damping effect. Hence, it is proved that the derived
equations for the 4 DOF model are more accurate. For validation of the 4 DOF model,
only a metallic obstacle path (Paulo et al., 2001) is considered as input and a step time
of 0.004 sec has been taken. As the half car model is considered, only one side (left or
right) front and rear wheel acceleration can get obtained. Figure 7(a–b) is considered for
the validation as front left and rear left wheel acceleration respectively for the 10 DOF
model. Figure 7(c–d) represents the wheel acceleration for front and rear wheel
respectively for the 4 DOF model.
(a) 5 DOF (b) 4 DOF
Figure 5: Vertical acceleration half sine wave bump profile
The reasons for the dissimilarity in paper results and the 4 DOF model are as
shown in Table 1. The paper model is a 10 DOF full car model and the present work
model is considered with 4 DOF as half car model. The paper model consists of a
suspension system in three different damping phases as the work is concerned with ride
comfort. The present work is concerned with the measurement of the road profile, so,
the suspension system is considered as one phase damping. The fixed length of contact
tyre model is considered for ride comfort analysis and the point contact tyre model is
considered for road profile measurement.
19
Figure 6: Vertical acceleration half sine wave bump profile (with tyre damping) [4DOF]
(a) Front left wheel (b) Rear left wheel
(c ) Front left wheel (4 DOF) (d) Real left wheel (4 DOF)
Figure 7: Vertical acceleration of wheel passing over the metallic obstacle at 30 km/h.
The results of both papers (Gawade et al., 2004; Paulo et al., 2001) match with
the new 4 DOF model results. Hence, the new MATLAB/Simulink 4 DOF model is
validated. So, the new 4 DOF model can be used for further simulation of road profile
measuring systems.
20
Table 1: Assumptions for 10 DOF and 4 DOF models
10 DOF (Paulo et al., 2001) 4DOF

Fixed length of contact tyre model Point contact tyre model
Suspension with three phase damping Suspension with one phase damping
Full car model Half car model
HALF CAR MODEL SIMULATION
A half car vehicle dynamic MATLAB-Simulink model (4DOF) is developed to validate

the developed algorithm. The 4 DOF model is developed under the considerations
mentioned in Table 2. In the model, accelerometer error (three types) and laser
sensitivity are introduced to make the model related to practical approaches. For the
simulation, a random road profile is selected as the input road profile. A MATLAB-
Simulink model is developed, using the derived, linear equations of motion of the half
car vehicle. Simulation is done for different speeds to check whether the developed
algorithm model is speed independent within tolerance, because in actual conditions, the
speed of the vehicle will continuously vary with time or distance. The system should
also vehicle independent. For the simulation a 25 meter road patch is selected, so the
simulation time is different for each speed because the MATLAB-Simulink model is
time dependent. The algorithm itself arranges for the sample time to collect the data
after every 1 cm, no matter which speed.
Output of the model is plotted in the time and frequency domains. Sometimes
using only one domain is not adequate to predict the measured road profile at different
speeds. It may happen that the measured road profile matches the input road profile in
distance and the time domain, but it may happen that the input and measured road
profile have different frequencies. So, such profiles work as different profiles at
different speeds, that’s why such profiles cannot used in the MBD software for the
further simulation like prediction of the vehicle endurance from the input road profile
etc.
Half car model properties
The half car model properties used for the simulation are shown in Table 3. The model
properties may differ if the vehicle is changed. However, the results should not change.
Figure 8 shows the half car Simulink model. Simulation is to be done for different
speeds, to check the independence of the model from vehicle speed at the specified
tolerance limit.
21
Table 2: 4 DOF Model considerations
Parameter Description
Type of Model Half car vehicle dynamic model
Degree of freedom 4 DOF
Front axle - 1 DOF (bouncing +/- Z direction)
Rear axle - 1 DOF (bouncing +/- Z direction)
Frame (body) - 2 DOF (bouncing +/- Z direction,
Pitching moment about y direction)
Tyre Point contact model with spring and damping effect
Input Road Profile Random road profile (Paulo et al., 2001)
Suspension Spring and damping effect
Accelerometer Model 2220 (SD, 2009)
Sensitivity : 2%
Bias error : 4%
Random error : 0.1%
Laser Sensitivity : 3% (Approx.)
Software used MATLAB 7.3 and SIMULINK
Solver ODE 4 (Runge—Kutta)
Sample Time Speed dependent (Keeping 1 cm distance constant)
Length of Road Patch 25 m
Speed for simulation 30 km/h (3 sec) Slow speed
60 km/h (1.5 sec) Moderate speed
100 km/h (0.9 sec) High speed
Output Time and frequency domain
Table 3: List of 4 DOF half car model properties (Paulo et al., 2001)
Parameter Value Unit

Tyre
kF 1 Front wheel stiffness 134000 N/m
cF 1 Front wheel damping 700 N-sec/m
kR 1 Rear wheel stiffness 134000 N/m
cR 1 Rear wheel damping 700 N-sec/m
Front axle
m1 Front unsprung mass (wheel, axle) 62.2 kg
x1 Front unsprung mass displacement Output m
Rear axle
m2 Rear unsprung mass (wheel, axle) 60 kg
x2 Rear unsprung mass displacement Output M
Body
m3 Sprung mass (chassis) 1200 kg
x3 Sprung mass displacement Output m
kF 2 Front suspension stiffness 28000 N/m
cF 2 Front suspension damping 2500 N-sec/m
kR 2 Rear suspension stiffness 21000 N/m
cR 2 Rear suspension damping 2000 N-sec/m
a Centre line distance between front wheel and C.G. 0.847 m
b Centre line distance between rear wheel and C.G. 1.513 m
2
I Moment of inertia of sprung mass 2100 Kg-m
 Pitch angle Output degree
22
Figure 8: Simulink block diagram of 4 DOF Half car model
23
Input road profile
The input road profile is selected from the MIRA (Paulo et al., 2001) model. The
selected profile is the random type; the same as the actual profile. The PSD of the
selected profile matches the measured road profile. The basic requirement for the input
road profile is that the profile has to be same at each speed. All the data are collected
considering different speeds of the vehicle. In simulation the speed of the vehicle is held
constant. Figure 9 shows the input road profile in the lateral direction at different
speeds. The road patch length is 25 m. As mentioned above, the input road profile has to
be the same at different speeds, but in this graph it is not seen to be the same.
Figure 9(a) is in the time domain so on the x axis it is compressed as the speed of the
vehicle increases (i.e., as the time for travelling the 25 m of road patch is decreasing
with increasing speed), and the amplitude of the graph is the same at any speed. This
also can be proved by plotting the input road profile in the distance domain as shown in
Figure 9(b). The pink line is at 30 km/h, light green is at 60 km/h, and blue is at 100
km/h. The input road profile overlaps at different speeds of the vehicle, so only the blue
line is visible. So, from that it is concluded that the input road profile is the same at the
different speeds.
(a) Time domain (b) Distance domain
Figure 9: Input road profile.
Measured road profile
The measured road profile is the processed output of the developed algorithm. Here a
comparison has been done of the measured road profile with the input road profile to
check the accuracy of the system. If any kind of discrepancy is found between the
deliberate and the input road profile, it is called an error. Error is measured in unit of the
meters or mm. The error is plotted in the distance domain and in the frequency domain.
The measured road profiles at the different speeds are elaborated as follows.
Distance domain (error at 30, 60 and 100 km/h)
Figure 10 shows the comparison of errors at 30, 60, and 100 km/h. Table 4 shows the
errors in displacement at different speeds of the vehicle. The discrepancies found at
different speeds are very small and within the limit (< 1 mm) in distance domain. It is
concluded that the error increases by increasing the speed of the vehicle.
24
Figure 10: Error comparison (distance domain)
Table 4: Error comparison at different speeds of vehicle (distance domain)
Speed of vehicle (km/h) Error (mm) Distance (m) Correlation (%)

30 0.9012 18.52 97.175%
60 0.9443 18.52 97.039%
100 0.9484 18.52 97.027%
Frequency domain (error at 30, 60 and 100 km/h)
Figure 11 shows the comparison of error in the frequency domain at different speeds
(30, 60 and 100 km/h) of the vehicle. Table 5 shows the errors in frequency at different
speeds of the vehicle. The discrepancies found at different speeds are very small and
within the limit (< 0.5mm) in the frequency domain. It is concluded that the error
increases by increasing the speed of the vehicle. The speed is considered from 10 km/h
to 100 km/h and the data is collected at each 10 km/h speed: all the results are as shown
in Figures 12 and 13. In Figure 12 it is clear that the error plot in mm is increasing with
the speed of the vehicle. The difference in error from 10 km/h to 20 km/h is more than
at 20 to 30 km/h and the same thing is repeated up to 100 km/h. but after 70 km/h the
error line becomes approximately horizontally linear. Figure 13 shows the speed of
vehicle vs agreement in percentage. The outcome of this graph is the agreement
between input road profile and measured road profile. Figure 13 shows that the
agreement between input and measured road profile is about 97.8% at the 10 km/h and
is reduced to 97.15% at 20km/h. the difference in agreement between 10 and 20 is more
than 30 and 40 km/h and proceeding further, it becomes somewhat linear after 60 km/h.
The agreement after 60 km/h is above 97 %. Hence, after analysis of the results in the
distance and frequency domains, it can be said that whatever discrepancies are found are
because of the acceleration of the vehicle, which increases with the speed. On the other
hand, it may be the solver error.
25
Figure 11: Error comparison (frequency domain)
Table 5: Error comparison at different speeds of vehicle (frequency domain)
Speed of vehicle (km/h) Error (mm) Correlation (%)

30 0.3684 97.18%
60 0.3891 97.05%
100 0.3923 97.03%
Figure 12: Speed of vehicle vs error
26
Figure 13: Speed of vehicle vs agreement
CONCLUSION
A complete half car model has been discussed for a road profile measuring system. The
output of the model was elaborated in the time, distance and frequency domains in the
preceding chapters. The maximum and minimum agreement of the measured road
profile with the input road profile is 98%, 97%, respectively. Hence the maximum
accuracy of the road profile-measuring algorithm with the half car model is within 1
mm, or, 96%. After the simulation of a complete half car road profile measuring system,
the outcome was a good agreement between input and output road profile. Here, the
simulation done for the road profile measuring system considered only pitching and
bouncing motion: rolling was not considered here. To validate the developed algorithm
with more degrees of freedom, a linear dynamic vehicle model was developed in a 7
DOF full car model, considering roll, pitch and bounce motion for the chassis.
Somehow, adequate results were not obtained at 60 and 70 km/h speed. So the projected
next step is to solve that dilemma with 7 DOF and validate the developed algorithm
even with more degrees of freedom in a full car model. It is proposed to use the
ADAMS full car model for supplementary validation because to create a full car model
above 10 DOF becomes very convoluted with MATLAB.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are thankful to the research paper review committee, Faculty of Technology and
Engineering, CHARUSAT, H.O.D (Department of Mechanical Engineering) and Dr. Y.
P. Kosta, Dean, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, Charotar University of Science
and Technology, Changa for their guidance, encouragement and support in undertaking
the present work. Special thanks to the management for their moral support and
continual encouragement.
27
REFERENCES
AE(Ames Engineering) (2009) http://www.amesengineering.com/amestxr.htm, accessed

on 22-01-2009.
ASTM (1996) Standard Test Method for Measuring Longitudinal Profile of Traveled
Surfaces with an Accelerometer Established Inertial Profiling Reference.
Annual Book of ASTM standards Vol. 04.03. E950-96.
Connon, W.H. (2000) Determining vehicle sensitivity to changes in test - course
roughness. IEST 46th Annual Technical Meeting and Exposition. pp 30–37.
Dodds, C.J. and Robson, J.D. (1973) The description of the road profile roughness.
Journal of Sound and Vibration, 31, 175–183.
FCT (Face Construction Technologies, Inc.) 2009. http://www.prestostore.com/cgi-
bin/pro16.pl?ref=dipstick&pg=11398, accessed on 22-01-2009
Gawade, T.R., Mukherjee, S. and Mohan, D. (2004) Wheel lift-off and ride comfort of
three-wheeled vehicle over bump. IE (I) Journal-MC, 85, 79–83.
Gonzalez, A., O’Brien, E.J., Li, Y.Y. and Cashell, K. (2007) The use of acceleration
measurements to estimate road roughness. Vehicle System Dynamics, 46 (6),
483–499.
Michael, W.S. and Steven, M.K. (1996) The little book of profiling. University of
Michigan, 2–5, 40, 41.
Min, B.H. and Jeong, W.U. (1994) Design method of test road profile for vehicle
accelerated durability test. Journal of KSAE, 2 (1), 128–141.
Ngwangwa, H.M., Heyns, P.S., Labuschagne, F.J.J., Kululanga, G.K. (2009)
Reconstruction of road defects and road roughness classification using vehicle
responses with Artificial Neural Networks simulation. Journal of
Terramechanics, 47 (2), 97–111.
Ngwangwa, H.M., Heyns, P.S., Labuschagne, K.F.J.J. and Kululanga, G.K. 2008. 27th
Southern African Transport Conference (SATC), pp. 312–319.
Patel, C.B. (2009) Modelling and vibration analysis of road profile measuring system.
Masters Thesis, Gujarat University, India.
Paulo, C.G., de Barcellos, C.S. and da Rosa Neto, A. (2001) A Numerical Model for
Passenger Car Ride Comfort Studies. SAE Technical Paper, No. 2001-01-0039.
Pawar, P.R. and Saraf, M.R. (2009) Measurement of road profile study its effect on
vehicle durability and ride, SAE Technical Paper, No 2009-26-070.
Perera, R.W. and Kohn, S.D. (2002) Issues in pavement smoothness: A summary report,
NCHRP Project, pp 20–51.
Saeger, K.M. and Ferris, J.B. (2003) Plausibility checking of road profile
measurements. SAE Technical Paper, No 2003-01-0669.
SD (Silicon Designs) (2009) http://www.silicondesigns.com/pdfs/2220.pdf, accessed on
15-03-2009.
SSI (Surface System and Instruments) (2009) http://www.smoothroad.com/products/
profilograph, accessed on 22-01-2009.
28
FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION BASED ON MACROSCOPIC PLASTIC ZONE

ON FRACTURE SURFACE OF AISI-SAE 1018 STEEL
G.M. Domínguez Almaraz1, M. Guzmán Tapia2, E.E. Tapia Silva 2

and E. Cadenas Calderón1
1
Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica
Santiago Tapia No. 403, Col. Centro, 58000, Morelia, Michoacán, México
Tel.: 00 52 443 3223500 ext. 3102, Fax: 00 52 443 3223500 ext. 3107
E-mail: dalmaraz@umich.mx
2
Universidad Tecnológica de Morelia, Ingeniería en Mantenimiento Industrial
Vicepresidente Pino Suárez No. 750 4ª. etapa, Ciudad Industrial, 58200, Morelia
Michoacán, México
ABSTRACT
This paper deals with rotating bending fatigue tests at high speed (150 Hz) carried out
on AISI-SAE 1018 steel with a high content of impurities (non metallic inclusions), for
which the high experimental stress inside the specimen is close to the elastic limit of the
material. Simulations of rotating loading are obtained by Visual NASTRAN software in
order to determine the numerical stresse and strain distributions inside a hypothetical
homogeneous specimen; later, this information is used for the experimental set up. A
general description of experimental test machine and experimental conditions are
developed and then, the experimental results are presented and discussed according the
observed failure origin related to the non metallic inclusions and the associated high
stress zones. Finally, a simple model is proposed to predict the fatigue life for this non
homogeneous steel under high speed rotating bending fatigue tests close to the elastic
limit, based on the rate between the visual macro-plastic deformation zone at fracture
surface and the total fracture surface, together with the crack initiation inclusion (or
inclusions) located at this zone.
Keywords: Rotating bending fatigue; Metallic alloy; Non metallic inclusions; Plastic
strain; Fatigue endurance model.
INTRODUCTION
In the last 40 years modern industries such as the automotive, aerospace, high speed
train, electricity production industry and others have become more efficient in energy
use, thanks to the development of new materials and the improvement of their physical
and mechanical properties (Sohar et al., 2008; Jung and Schnell, 2008; Dominguez
Almaraz, 2008; Nový et al., 2007). Very often in these industries, the mechanical
elements or systems undergo oscillating loads leading to mechanical fatigue. Under
these conditions, it is of great interest to carry out investigations on fatigue endurance to
prevent material and human catastrophes. Furthermore, in many cases the oscillating
mechanical loads which occur are of high frequencies and attain 150 Hz or more. A
simple and non expensive method to investigate the fatigue endurance of metallic alloys
in the high frequency fatigue regime is the rotating bending fatigue machine. In this
work is presented a new high speed (150 Hz) rotating bending fatigue machine (patent
29
G.M. Domínguez Almaraz et al./ International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 1 (2010) 29-37
No. MX/a/2007/005748 in process), to carry out fatigue tests at high speed under
loading conditions close to the elastic limit of the material. This fatigue loading
condition was chosen in this work because a principal matter is the relationship between
visual macro-plastic deformation zones and crack initiation inclusion (or inclusions),
and the fatigue endurance of this material when the fatigue life is comprised between: 4
x 10 4 and 3 x 10 5 cycles. This steel undergoes load and fatigue conditions as mentioned
above under industrial applications: AISI-SAE 1080 low carbon steel is a versatile
welding and well hardening material involved in many industrial applications, suitable
for parts requiring cold forming, such as crimping, bending, or swaging. Especially
suitable for carburized parts requiring soft core and high surface hardness, such as gears,
pinions, worms, king pins, ratchets, rods... This metallic alloy with impurities (non
metallic inclusions) was selected to carry out the tests. Reduction of impurities control
was not implemented, in order to investigate the effect on fatigue endurance.
EXPERIMENTAL PARAMETERS
Testing material
Tables 1 and 2 present the chemical composition and mechanical properties of industrial
steel.
Table 1: Chemical composition
Chemical composition Wt (%)

Fe 98.81—99.26
C 0.15—0.20
Mn 0.60—0.90
Si ≈0
P (Max.) 0.04
S (Max.) 0.05
Table 2: Mechanical properties
Parameter Value
Density (Kg/m 3) 7850
Hardness, Brinell 197
Tensile Yield Strength (MPa) 386
Ultimate Tensile Strength (MPa) 634
Modulus of Elasticity (GPa) 200
Poisson's Ratio 0.29
Elongation at Break (%) 27
Dimensions of specimen
Specimens with an hourglass shape were used to carry out the tests; no international
standardization is available for the rotating bending fatigue specimen. Figure 1 shows
the dimensions of specimen in mm. The narrow section diameter D0 is a principal
geometrical parameter for load application and stress concentration inside the specimen;
all tests were carried out with D0 = 4 mm.
30
Fatigue life prediction based on macroscopic plastic zone on fracture surface of AISI-SAE 1018 steel
Figure 1: Dimensions (mm) of specimen.
Testing machine
The testing machine was developed in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,

University of Michoacan (UMSNH), Mexico, the world’s first rotating bending fatigue
machine working at 150 Hz: most rotating bending fatigue machines work close to 50
Hz (Nakajima et al., 2010; Sakai et al., 2010). Figure 2 shows the principal components
of this machine: electrical motor 1 provides motion to rotating axis 2 which is connected
to specimen 3. The electronic system (not shown) located close to the back side of the
rotating axis counts the number of cycles; it is composed of an electronic sensor,
electronic card, personal computer and software. The applying load system 4 is
simplified in Figure 2; it consists of a bearing at the free side of the specimen allowing
of communicating the applied load P, and a spring frame supporting the bearing. When
the specimenstarts to fail during the test, the distance between this one and the
proximity sensor 5 increases; this leads to the automatic stop of the electric motor and
test by the electric relay 6. Special care was taken for the alignment between the
specimen and the rotating axis: any little misalignment (higher than 0.3 mm at the free
side of the specimen) induces significant torsion stress at the narrow section of the
specimen and a possible early fracture.
1 4
3
Figure 2: Testing machine.
31
Testing conditions and numerical simulations
Tests were carried out at room temperature (20—24º C), with a stress ratio of R = -1 and
environmental humidity comprised between 54—58%. The machining process for all
specimens was maintained as constant as possible in order to avoid significant variation
in the surface polish; no special control was implemented for this parameter. High
temperature is expected at the narrow section when the specimen is tested under loading
close to elastic limit. A cooling system with cool air was implemented to maintain the
temperature in this zone below 100º C in order to restrict the highest testing
temperature. Under this condition, it is assumed that there is no variation in the
specimen microstructure.
One side of the specimen was fixed and centreed on the rotating axis, the load P
was applied on the opposite side in order to obtain the rotating bending fatigue
conditions. Numerical simulations were carried out with aid of Visual NASTRAN
software (Dominguez Almaraz et al., 2006) to determine the expected load P attaining
stresses close the elastic limit of material; Figure 3 presents some results of theses
simulations under rotating loading. Using the value D0 = 4 mm, simulation results show
that an applied load P = -32.3 N induces a maximum von Mises stress of about 276
MPa, close to 72% of the elastic limit for this steel: 386 MPa.
Figure 3: Simulation results on rotating bending fatigue specimen.
Table 3 presents the results obtained for this low carbon steel using the high speed
rotating bending fatigue tests machine. The parameters listed are: narrow section
diameter D0, applying load P, maximum von Mises stress σmax, experimental fatigue life
N, specimen temperature Tmax at fracture surface when specimen fails, SD parameter,
inclusion factor IF, % of visual plastic zone PZ , and fatigue life NP calculated by Eq. 1.
Crack initiation on AISI-SAE 1018 steel is related to micro-voids coalescence
and plastic zones caused by the high stresses close to the elastic limit of the material.
Under rotating bending fatigue tests, the high stress zones are located at the fracture
32
surface perimeter and decrease to the fracture surface centre: the size of the grooves
decreases from the fracture surface perimeter to the centre, as shown in Figure 4a and
4b.
These grooves are related to stress concentrations leading to plastic zones and
micro-voids coalescence around inclusions, particles or discontinuities (ASM
Handbook, 1987). In this work, the micro-plastic zones are defined as progressive
plastic deformation observed by the dimples at a scale lower than 30 μm, Figure 4c. The
macro-plastic zones are defined as the observed deformation zones on the fracture
surface or the total fracture surface minus the observed granular surface (fast crack
growth surface).
Table 3: Experimental parameters and results.
Test D0 P max N Tmax SD Inclusion PZ % Fatigue

(mm) (N) (MPa) (cycles) (
C) factor Plastic life
IF zone NP
1 4.0 -32.3 276 87750 70 0.51 0.08 0.43 91417

2 4.0 -32.3 276 92850 68 0.61 0.10 0.51 119106
3 4.0 -32.3 276 50700 60 0.36 0.02 0.34 54000
4 4.0 -32.3 276 98550 70 0.57 0.08 0.49 107585
5 4.0 -32.3 276 59850 70 0.40 0.10 0.30 63245
6 4.0 -32.3 276 88500 75 0.49 0.04 0.45 85750
7 4.0 -32.3 276 46800 70 0.35 0.00 0.35 51766
8 4.0 -32.3 276 49500 75 0.38 0.08 0.30 58562
9 4.0 -32.3 276 241800 97 0.90 0.10 0.80 213454
10 4.0 -32.3 276 414000 80 - - - -
11 4.0 -32.3 276 115650 60 0.66 0.08 0.58 134047
12 4.0 -32.3 276 90750 80 0.54 0.06 0.48 99204
13 4.0 -32.3 276 214500 90 0.84 0.05 0.79 192468
14 4.0 -32.3 276 168900 82 0.74 0.06 0.68 159143
15 4.0 -32.3 276 118000 74 0.66 0.08 0.58 134047
16 4.0 -32.3 276 94500 71 0.56 0.06 0.50 104766
17 4.0 -32.3 276 75400 78 0.46 0.04 0.42 77996
18 4.0 -32.3 276 88000 68 0.49 0.07 0.42 85750
19 4.0 -32.3 276 135000 81 0.64 0.07 0.57 128000
20 4.0 -32.3 276 64700 73 0.42 0.09 0.34 68048
33
Grooves
(a) (b)
Non metallic
Dimples inclusion
(c)
Figure 4: Fracture surface for specimen No. 7 on Table 3: a) right side, b) left side,
c) micro-plastic deformation and inclusion on fracture surface
Rotating bending fatigue tests carried out under loading conditions close to the
elastic limit of this steel present a typical fracture surface showing zones of macro-
plastic deformation and non metallic inclusions. The fracture surface parameters
observed for this steel, inclusions and macro-plastic zones, should be related to the
fatigue life under rotating bending fatigue tests (Itoga et al., 2004; Mura, 1987; Krausz
et al., 1990). An attempt to correlate the fracture surface parameters and fatigue life is as
follows: an empirical parameter named ‘macro-plastic deformation rate on fracture
surface’ is proposed to formulate a fatigue life prediction equation for this steel
undergoing rotating bending fatigue tests close to the elastic limit:
NP = 2.5 x 105 (SD)1.5 (1)
where NP is the calculated number of cycles to failure and SD is a parameter taking into
account the rate of macro-plastic deformation on the total fracture surface and the
presence of non metallic inclusions in the macro plastic deformation zone. For the
fracture surface of specimen No. 6 on Table 3, SD = 0.49, that is: NP 85700 cycles,
34
whereas for specimen No. 13, SD = 0.84, then NP 192400 cycles. Table 3 shows the
calculated values SD for all tested specimens. These values are obtained taking into
account the estimated macro-plastic deformation ratio PZ and the presence of crack
initiation inclusion (or inclusions) in this zone denoted ‘inclusion factor IF’, by Eq. 2:
SD = PZ + IF (2)
Taking specimen 1 on Table 3, Figure 5 shows how the parameters P Z and IF were
estimated. Exterior area is related to macro-plastic deformation zone; thus, P Z is the
ratio between this area and the total area on fracture surface. Concerning parameter I F, it
is estimated by the ratio between the “inclusion associated area” and the macro-plastic
deformation area. The values for experimental fatigue life N and fatigue life calculated
by Eq. 1 NP, are listed on Table 3.
Granular Inclusion
surface associated
area
Figure 5: Evaluation of P Z and IF parameters of specimen No 1, Table 3.
Figure 6 presents the S-N curve on experimental results according to Table 3.

The large scattering of results (from 5 x 10 4 to 2.4 x 105 cycles) should be due to testing
a non homogenous material containing non metallic inclusions and presenting different
mechanisms of crack initiation: micro-voids coalescence close to inclusions,
crystallographic weak localizations, and plastic zones developed on the fracture surface.
Nevertheless, the short fatigue lives of tested specimens seem to be associated with the
small visual macro-plastic zones on the corresponding fracture surfaces, as is observed
in Table 3. This relationship should be explained as follows: a short fatigue life for these
specimens is associated with a decrease of the macro-plastic deformation zone at the
fracture surface and this implies a capacity reduction for accumulating plastic
deformation energy.
35
279
Stress (MPa)
278.5
278
277.5
277
40000 90000 140000 190000 240000
Number of cycles (N)
Figure 6: Experimental results in black (plotted at 278.2 MPa), and results obtained by
the predicted model, Eq. 1, in red (plotted at 277.8 MPa).
CONCLUSION
The fatigue life for AISI-SAE 1018 steel loading close to its elastic limit (72%), under
rotating bending fatigue tests is comprised between 4.7 x 104 and 2.5 x 10 5 cycles. A
model is proposed to predict the fatigue life of this steel under rotating bending fatigue
tests at high loading based on the ratio between the macro-plastic deformation zone and
the total fracture surface with the presence of crack initiation inclusion or inclusions.
Only one value of high stress was studied in this work: 276 MPa or 72% of the elastic
limit; others values for high stress should be tested in order to validate the model. The
experimental results for fatigue life agreed with the empirical formulation under the
described loading conditions. Nevertheless, further investigations are required for the
understanding of micro and macro plastic zones associated with crack initiation and
propagation, the role of fatigue dimples and grooves, the presence of discontinuities, or
hydrogen, and the different factors leading to stress concentration at different scales:
crystallographic, granular and macroscopic.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the University of Michoacan
(UMSNH), and the Technological University of Morelia (UTM), Mexico, for the
facilities to carry out this work. A special mention of gratitude to the National Council
for Science and Technology (CONACYT), in Mexico for the financial support of this
project.
REFERENCES
ASM Handbook (1987) Metals Handbook, Vol. 12, Fractography, ASM International,
The Metals Information Society.
Dominguez Almaraz, G.M. (2008) Prediction of very high cycle fatigue failure for high
strength steels, based on the inclusion geometrical properties. Mechanics of
Materials, 40, 636–640.
Domínguez Almaraz, G.M., Soriano Peña, J.F. and Gutiérrez Sánchez, H. (2006)
Rotating bending fatigue simulation of hourglass shape specimen of AISI-SAE
C1020 steel. Proc. 9 th International Fatigue Congress, Atlanta, GA, USA.
36
Itoga, H., Ko, H.-N., Tokaji, K. and Nakajima, M. (2004) Effect of inclusion size on
step-wise S-N characteristics in high strength steels. Proc. 3rd VHCF Int. Conf.
Eds., Tokyo, Japan, pp. 633–640.
Jung, A. and Schnell, A. (2008) Crack growth in a coated gas turbine superalloy under
thermo-mechanical fatigue. International Journal of Fatigue, 30 (2), 286–291.
Krausz, A.S., Dickson, J.I., Immarigeon, J.P.A. and Wallace, W. (1990) Constitutive
laws of plastic deformation and fracture. Springer,.
Mura, T. 1987. Micromechanics of Defects in Solids 2 ed. New York, Springer.
Nakajima, M., Tokaji, K., Itoga, H. and Shimizu, T. (2010) Effect of loading conditions
on very high cycle fatigue behavior in a high strength steel. International
Journal of Fatigue, 32, 475–480.
Nový, F., Činč ala, M., Kopas, P. and Bokůvka, O. (2007) Mechanisms of high-strength
structural materials fatigue failure in ultra-wide life region. Material Science and
Engineering—A, 462, 189–192.
Sakai, T., Lian, B., Takeda, M., Shiozawa, K., Oguma, N., Ochi, Y., Nakajima, M. and
Nakamura, T. (2010) Statistical duplex S–N characteristics of high carbon
chromium bearing steel in rotating bending in very high cycle regime.
International Journal of Fatigue, 32, 497–504.
Sohar, C.R., Betzwar-Kotas, A., Gierl, C., Weiss, B. and Danninger, G.H. (2008)
Fatigue behavior of a high chromium alloyed cold work tool steel. International
Journal of Fatigue, 30, 1137–1149.
37
PHASE ANALYSIS AND DENSIFICATION OF STEATITE-BASED

CERAMICS
H. Kelvin1, S. Ramesh1, C. Y. Tan1 and W. D. Teng2

1
Ceramics Technology Laboratory, University Tenaga Nasional
43009 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Email: ramesh@uniten.edu.my
2
Ceramics Technology Group, SIRIM Berhad,
40911 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The effect of manganese oxide on the sintering of steatite-based ceramic was studied.
Steatite powder used in this work was doped with varying amounts of manganese
oxide—5% to 30% (wt). The green samples were cold-isostatically pressed and
pressureless sintered at temperatures ranging from 950 C to 1150 C using varying
holding times. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed no secondary phases detected in any
samples regardless of dopant addition and sintering conditions. It was revealed that the
bulk density of steatite ceramic increased with manganese oxide when sintering at
1050 C. However, sintering at 1100 C using 1 minute holding time was found to be the
most effective in enhancing the bulk density as well as the Vickers hardness of
manganese oxide-doped steatite ceramic.
Keywords: Manganese oxide, steatite, bulk density, Young’s modulus, hardness.
INTRODUCTION
Almost every product is designed for a functionality towards some specific purposes.
However, the functionality of products always depends strongly on the material used to
fabricate them. In an effort to enhance the reliability of materials, a vast amount of
investment has been devoted to the development of advanced materials. In particular,
the processing of advanced ceramics is always more challenging than that of metals and
polymers due to their inherent brittleness. A high melting temperature is another
drawback in the processing of advanced ceramics. However, it is the high melting
temperature which makes ceramic one of the most attractive structural and insulating
materials used in the refractory industry. Historically, most of the oxides that were used
in refractory applications were traditional ceramics prepared from clays or other readily
available mineral-based raw materials (Smith and Fahrenholtz, 2008). The major
categories of traditional refractories are fire clay, high alumina and silica (Kingery et al.,
1976). They are widely used as refractory materials because of their capability for high
temperature operation without any hazardous degradation in chemical, mechanical or
electrical properties. However, a balance between properties and material cost has
always been a concern of most manufacturers. Therefore, steatite-based ceramics (SBC)
are being considered as a potential replacement for traditional fire clay and high
alumina as a cost-effective way to meet performance requirements.
SBC are not only desirable for use in thermal insulations, but also in electronics
and electrical applications owing to their low dielectric losses, high temperature
38
H. Kelvin et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 1 (2010) 38-45
resistance and high mechanical strength (Kharitonov and Shapiro, 1989). They are
easier to form and fire at lower temperatures when compared to alumina, making them
more economical to produce (Soykan, 2007). The phase structure of steatite is
predominantly composed of magnesium silicate (MgSiO3). It is one of the meta-silicates
that form the main components of the MgO–Al2O3–SiO2 system (Rohan et al., 2004).
The three commonly observed polymorphs at ambient pressure are low-clinoenstatite,
ortho-enstatite and protoenstatite (Sarver and Hummel, 1962; Bloor, 1964; Lee and
Heuer, 1987; Mielcarek et al., 2004). For industrial use, SBC usually is in the form of
the enstatite phase, whose density is 3.21 g/cc and melting point is 1557
C (Chao, 1994).
Some studies have shown that densification could be improved by doping steatite with
boron oxide, aluminum oxide, antimony oxide or by substituting magnesium ions
(Tripathi et al., 1978; Kulkarni et al., 1990; Soykan, 2007). In all these studies,
stabilization of the protoenstatite phase was achieved but frequently resulted in grain
coarsening and low mechanical strength. In addition, various mechanisms have been
proposed to explain the degradation in strength but a universal consensus on the actual
mechanism has yet to be achieved. The aim of the present work was to formulate a
steatite-based ceramic composition using local indigenous materials with manganese
oxide (MnO 2) as sintering additives.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The steatite and dopant used in this work were commercially available powders. A
series of powders were prepared and the amount of dopant used was 5, 10, 20 and 30
wt%. In a typical process, the powders were mixed and ball milled for 1 hour. After the
mixing, the slurry was dried, crushed and sieved into powder form. The obtained
powders were then uniaxially pressed at 2.5–3.0 MPa into circular discs (20 mm
diameter) and rectangular bars (4×13×32 mm) and subsequently cold isostatically
pressed at 200 MPa (Riken Seiki, Japan). The compacted green samples were
subsequently sintered at temperatures ranging from 950 C to 1100 C, with ramp rate of
10 C/min using three different soaking times i.e. 30 min., 60 min. and 120 min. Another
set of samples were sintered at 1100 C with a soaking time of 1 min. for comparison
study. The phase stability studies for two selected sets of sintered samples were carried
out by using an X-ray diffractometer (Geirger-Flex, Rigaku Japan). The bulk densities
of these compacts were measured by the water immersion technique (Mettler Toledo,
Switzerland) and Young’s Modulus was calculated using the resonant frequency method
via a commercial testing instrument (GrindoSonoc: MK5 ‘Industrial’, Belgium). The
hardness of the sintered samples was tested using a Vickers hardness tester.
The sinterability of the SBC samples was compared in terms of phase stability, bulk
density, Young’s modulus and hardness. The XRD phase analysis as shown in Figure 1
and Figure 2 indicate that all the SBC samples were composed predominantly of
MgSiO 3 with no decomposition into secondary phase such as Mg2SiO4 or forsterite.
Figure 1 indicates that magnesium silicate is the major phase detected for SBC samples
sintered at 950 C/120 min. with the addition of less than 10 wt% of MnO2. The
presence of clinoenstatite was observed in samples doped with 20 wt% of MnO 2 and
above. As pointed out by Soykan (2007), there are three well-defined phases that could
exist in MgSiO 3, i.e. orthoenstatite, prothoenstatite, and clinoenstatite. Complete
39
Phase analysis and densification of steatite-based ceramics
transformation from protoenstatite to clinoenstatite would require rapid cooling from

1200 C or above down to room temperature (Lee and Heuer, 1987; Siyu et al., 2007).
However, in the present work it was revealed that the increase of the amount of MnO 2
addition seems to have a positive effect in aiding the prothoenstatite phase
transformation as shown in Figure 2.
Intensity
(a) Undoped SBC
Intensity
(b) 5 wt%
Intensity
(c) 10 wt%
Intensity
(d) 20 wt%
Intensity
(e) 30 wt%
18–0778> Magnesium Silicate
19–0769> Clinoenstatite
10 20 30 40 50 34–0189>
60 Forsterite 70
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Figure 1. XRD patterns of SBC samples sintered at 950

C using 120 minutes soaking
time
The XRD patterns shown in Figure 2 revealed that all the doped samples were
composed of clinoenstatite phase at room temperature after sintering at 1100
C with 1
min. soaking time rather than rapid cooling of protoenstatite phase from 1200 C or
higher to room temperature. According to Smyth (1974) the proto- to clino- and clino-
to proto- inversions displayed the characteristics of martensitic transformations i.e.
diffusionless, athermal and display a well-defined orientation relationship. This
martensitic type of transformation is normally accompanied by volume change that
40
could lead to material cracking and this has been the main concern with the use of
steatite-based ceramics in industry (Peicang and Xiayoun, 1988; Vereshchagin and
Gurina, 1997; Vela et al., 2007; Reynard et al., 2008). Therefore, the result obtained in
this work is encouraging since there was no cracking found in the doped samples after
sintering.
Intensity
(a) Undoped SBC
Intensity
(b) 5 wt%
Intensity (c) 10 wt%
Intensity (d) 20 wt%
Intensity (e) 30 wt%
19–0769> Clinoenstatite
18–0778> Magnesium Silicate
10 20 30 40 50 6034–0189> Forsterite70
80
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Figure 2. XRD patterns of SBC samples sintered at 1100

C using 1 minute soaking time
The effect of holding time as a function of dopant content on the densification of

steatite sintered at 950C is shown in Figure 3. A similar density trend was observed for
samples sintered at 1000 C. The results indicated that regardless of holding time, the
dopant was not effective in aiding sintering of steatite when sintered below 1000 C.
However, as the sintering temperature was increased to 1050 C, this was accompanied
by an increased in the bulk density with dopant content as shown in Figure 4. The
beneficial effect of manganese oxide in aiding the densification of steatite has been
revealed. In general, regardless of holding time, it was found that SBC samples doped
41
with 20 wt% exhibited the highest density, greater than 2.35 Mgm -3 with maximum
value of 2.45 Mgm -3 being measured for the 120 minutes soaking time sample. These
results are considered excellent since a similar densification could only be achieved for
steatite ceramics when doped with boron oxide and sintered above 1100ºC (Soykan,
2007) or doped with barium carbonate and sintered above 1240ºC (Vela et al., 2007).
Figure 3. Bulk density as a function of dopant content for samples sintered at 950
C
using different holding times.
Figure 4. Bulk density as a function of dopant content for samples sintered at 1050
C
using different holding time.
The effect of manganese addition on the Young’s modulus of steatite sintered at

1050 C is shown in Figure 5. In general, regardless of dopant content and holding time,
the Young’s modulus trend is in agreement with the bulk density trend as shown in
Figure 4. The study found that the bulk density of ceramic governs the stiffness of the
sintered body. Attempts to sinter the ceramic above 1050 C using 30 min. soaking time
or above were detrimental since the samples showed signs of bloating and melting. An
attempt was made to sinter the ceramic at 1100 C using a very short holding time of 1
minute. The result was encouraging. There was no sign of melting and the samples were
found to be intact after sintering. The bulk density and Vickers hardness variation of the
42
sintered samples as a function of dopant content when sintered at 1100C using 1 min.
holding time are shown in Figure 6. The results show that the hardness increased
linearly with increasing dopant content and attained a maximum of 4 GPa at 20 wt%
MnO 2 addition. This value is an increased of threefold when compared to the undoped
steatite ceramic. This improvement in hardness was associated with an increased in
density resulting from the addition of manganese oxide. From the results obtained, it is
envisaged that liquid phase sintering is the probable mechanism governing the
densification of MnO2 -doped steatite ceramic and this is in agreement with the
observation made by Vela et al. (2007).
Figure 5. The effect of dopant on the Young’s modulus of steatite sintered at 1050
C
using various holding time.
Figure 6. Effect of dopant content on bulk density and Vickers hardness of stetatite
samples doped with varying amount of manganese oxide sintered
at 1100C/1 min holding time.
43
CONCLUSIONS
In the present work the effects of holding time and manganese oxide on the sintering of
steatite-based ceramics were studied. The beneficial effect of manganese oxide in aiding
the densification of steatite has been revealed, particularly when sintered at 1050
C and
1100 C using 1 minute holding time. It was found that steatite doped with 20 wt%
manganese oxide exhibited the highest density of > 2.35 Mgm-3, with maximum value
of 2.45 Mgm-3 measured for the samples with 120 minutes soaking time. A maximum
hardness of up to 4 GPa was measured for the 20 wt% MnO 2-doped steatite when
sintered at 1100 C using 1 minute of holding time. This improvement in hardness was
associated with an increase in density resulting from the addition of manganese oxide.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation of
Malaysia under NSF scheme (M/0035/01/2009/IND). The authors gratefully
acknowledge the support provided by UNITEN and SIRIM Berhad.
REFERENCES
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63: 309–316.
Chao, M.H. (1994) Phase stability of chemically derived enstatite (MgSiO3) powders.
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Kharitonov, F.Y. and Shapiro, L.E. (1989) A steatite material having a wide sintering range.
Glass and Ceramics, 46: 162–165.
Kingery, W.D., Bowen, H.K. and Uhlmann, D.R. (1976) Introduction to Ceramics.
New York: Wiley.
Kulkarni, A.K., Dalvi, P.Y. and Barde, M.L. (1990) Evaluation of steatite based machinable
ceramic insulator for UHV systems. Transactions of Powder Metallurgy Association
of India, 17: 101–109.
Lee, W.E. and Heuer, A.H. (1987) On the polymorphism of enstatite. Journal of the
American Ceramic Society, 70: 349–360.
Mielcarek, W., Dorota, N.W. and Krystyna, P. (2004) Correlation between MgSiO3 phases
and mechanical durability of steatite ceramics. Journal of the European Ceramic
Society, 24: 3817–3821.
Peicang, X. and Xiayoun, Z. (1988) Mineral physical characteristics of pyroxene phase
transformation and a probe into the mechanism of talc porcelain aging. Acta Mineral.
Sin., 8: 104–112.
Reynard, B., Bass, J.D. and Jackson, J.M. (2008) Rapid identification of steatite–enstatite
polymorphs at various temperatures. Journal of the European Ceramic
Society,28: 2459–2462.
Rohan, P., Neufuss, K., Matě jíč
ek, J., Dubskỳ, J., Prchlík, L. and Holzgartner, C. (2004)
Thermal and mechanical properties of cordierite, mullite and steatite produced by
plasma spraying. Ceramics International, 30: 597–603.
Sarver, J.F. and Hummel, F.A. (1962) Stability relations of magnesium metasilicate
polymorphs. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 55: 152–156.
Siyu, N., Lee, C. and Jiang, C. (2007) Preparation and characterization of forsterite
(Mg2SiO4) bioceramics. Ceramics International, 33: 83–88.
44
Smith, J.D. and Fahrenholtz, W.G. (2008) Refractory Oxides. Ceramics and glass materials:
Structure, Properties and Processing. Shackelford, J.F. and Doremus, R.H. (eds.).
New York: Springer, 87–110.
Soykan, H.Ş. (2007) Low-temperature fabrication of steatite ceramics with boron oxide
addition. Ceramics International, 33: 911–914.
Tripathi, U.C., Agrawal, G.N. and Joshi, V.C. (1978) Transactions of India Ceramic Society,
37(5): 179–182.
Vela, E., Peiteado, M., García, F., Caballero, A.C. and Fernández, J.F. (2007) Sintering
behavior of steatite materials with barium carbonate flux. Ceramics International, 33:
1325–1329.
Vereshchagin, V.I. and Gurina, V.N. (1997) Polymorphism of magnesium metasilicate and
its role in the production of no aging steatite ceramics. Glass and Ceramics, 54: 365–
367.
45
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS OF OXYGEN STRIPPING FROM FEED

WATER IN A SPRAY AND TRAY TYPE DE-AERATOR
K.V. Sharma 1,4, K.V. Suryanarayana2, P.K. Sarma 3, M.M.Rahman 1, M.M.Noor1,

and K. Kadirgama1
1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
26600 Pekan, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.
Email: kvsharma@ump.edu.my
2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara Engineering College,
Suryapet 508213, India.
3
International Director, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam 530045, India
4
Centre for Energy Studies, JNTUH College of Engineering, Hyderabad 500085, India
ABSTRACT
The influence of various parameters on oxygen stripping for a two stage spray and tray
type de-aerator is analyzed experimentally. It is observed that increasing the mass flow
rate of water leads to an increase in heat and mass transfer coefficients in both stages.
There is no significant influence of de-aerator pressure and length of the second stage
on the heat transfer coefficients in the range tested. The increase in de-aerator pressure
enhances the mass transfer coefficient by 14 percent, whereas the increase in length of
the second stage has no significant influence. The empirical correlations available in the
literature predict the mass transfer coefficients satisfactorily in the experimental range
tested. The total length of the de-aerator is a significant parameter influencing the
quantity of oxygen removed from the feed water.
Keywords: thermal de-aerator, spray and tray combination, condensation heat and mass
transfer coefficients, oxygen stripped
INTRODUCTION
Boiler feed water may contain significant amounts of dissolved oxygen in the make-up
water and/or due to seepage of air at the condenser. Corrosion due to pitting and iron
deposition will be formed if the gas/air is not removed. Removal of the air takes place
in a de-aerator, as even small quantities of dissolved gas can cause significant corrosion.
The high temperature of the boiler feed water will enhance corrosion due to dissolved
oxygen, if left untreated. In spray and and tray type de-aerators, the incoming water is
passed through a hollow cone spray nozzle which is located at the top of the de-aerator.
The liquid thus emerging from the nozzle forms a conical sheet at the nozzle outlet due
to its tangential, radial and axial momentum forces. After traversing a small distance
from the nozzle, the sheet breaks into ligaments and finally into droplets due to
destabilizing forces. The droplets accumulate on a tray and flow as a jet through holes
in it and finally collect at the bottom of the de-aerator. The water is then pumped to the
boiler.
Experimental investigation of condensation of steam on a spray of water
droplets was conducted by Brown (1951) in the diameter range of 0.125 to 0.520 mm
and obtained heat transfer coefficients of the order of 27,000 W/m2 K. Ford and Lekic
46
K.V. Sharma et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 1 (2010) 46-65
(1971) developed a correlation for the estimation of the growth of liquid droplets during
condensation of steam in direct contact for three different diameters using high-speed
photography. The experiment was conducted at various droplet temperatures below the
saturation temperature of take into consideration unsteady state heat transfer. They
modelled the droplet as a sphere with negligible heat transfer at the interface.
Sundararajan and Ayyaswamy (1987) have carried out experimental studies on the
effect of residence time on droplet size by introducing a non-dimensional condensation
parameter, which considers the steam properties at far-stream along with the
instantaneous surface temperature of the drop. They observed the value of the
condensation parameter to decrease with an increase in time and droplet size.
Experiments on direct contact condensation of steam with water sprays characterized by
droplet size varying between 0.30 and 2.8 mm, velocities between 0.85 to 9.0 m/s and
operating pressure up to 0.6 MPa were undertaken by Celata et al. (1991). The
experiments included the continuous measurement of the average droplet temperature
along the axis of the spray. They obtained a condensation efficiency higher than that
predicted by the pure conduction and internal circulation models. An empirical
approach for the evaluation of the liquid mixing in the droplet has been undertaken by
them and presented this efficiency as a function of the modified Peclet number. A
comparison of the that model with the experimental data is found to be quite
satisfactory.
Mayinger and Chavez (1992) conducted experiments on the growth of sub
cooled spray droplets in a pure saturated vapour using the pulsed laser holography
technique. The experimental values obtained by them predict high heat transfer
coefficients in both sheet and droplet regions. Takahashi et al. (2001) studied the
mechanism of condensation from a spray nozzle both theoretically and experimentally.
They concluded from their analysis that the turbulence model predicted heat transfer in
the first zone closer to the experimental data than did the pure conduction model.
Nosoko et al. (2002) conducted experiments on oxygen absorption using a single
column horizontal tube bank of 16 mm diameter and 284 mm wetted length. They found
that the Sherwood number increases with an increase in tube spacing from 2 to 5 mm
and then levels off at 10 mm or higher. They concluded that the volume of a horizontal
tube absorber could be 1/2.2 to 1/1.18 times lower compared to vertical orientation for
the same heat duty.
Experimental evaluations of condensation heat transfer coefficient from sprays
by inducting non-condensable gas into the vapour region have been undertaken by
many. However, in the literature, heat and mass transfer studies with a non-condensable
gas such as oxygen getting stripped from the boiler feed water are quite limited in
number. Hence, it is proposed here to study the influence of various operating
parameters such as the flow rate of water, de-aerator length, de-aerator pressure, water
temperature, oxygen concentration in the inlet water, etc., on the heat and mass transfer
coefficients by conducting experiments with a spray and tray type de-aerator.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experimental setup consists of a column of 0.15 m dia. and 1.2 m length with a
flexibility to enhance the total length to 2.1 m using spacers as shown in Figure 1. A
nozzle located at the top of the de-aerator sprays water over a distance of 0.55 m,
referred to as the first stage.
47
Experimental investigations of oxygen stripping from feed water in a spray and tray type de-aerator
VENT
WATER INLET
Slanting
Length, S Breakup
length, L B
Inner radius, RI
2
400
Outer
550 Radius, RO
200
ID 1.8
14
200
SPRAY
200
L2
Length of
154 JETS IN EACH Second Stage, L2 Config. No.
TRAY OF II STAGE
200
NO OF TRAYS=4
mm.
650 01
STEAM INLET 1250 02
WATER OUTLET 1550 03
No. of Rivets on each tray =154

150
1140
760
630
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of spray and tray type de-aerator
48
A provision to adjust the spacing between trays with spacers of 200 and 300 mm
length is available in the second stage of the de-aerator. The trays can be used either
individually or in combination to vary the total height of the de-aerator. The water
emanating from the nozzle gets accumulated on the first tray. The trays with holes as
shown in Figure 1 allow water to flow from one to another as jets. The experiments
were conducted at various flow rates, different de-aerator heights and pressures, inlet
water temperatures, inlet concentrations and vent locations to evaluate the heat and mass
transfer coefficients.
VENT TT3 P3
MV
SRV
P2
MV I STAGE
1
SRV F
VENT 2
DE-
AERATOR
MV 3 II STAGE
DLPR P1 TT1
FCV-2
FCV -1 4
MV
SURGE
TANK SRV
STEAM FROM
PRDS MV
MV DRAIN
STEAM TRAP MV
TT2
MV
CV
WATER WATER
OUTLET STORAG
MV E TANK
MV
DO MV
METER
MV PUMP
WATER DRAIN
WATER BATH INLET
DRAIN
CV : Check Valve DLPR : Dome Loaded Pressure Regulator

DO : Dissolved Oxygen Meter FCV : Flow Control Valve
F : Flow Meter MV : Manual Valve
P : Pressure Gauge TT : Temperature Transmitter
PRDS : Pressure Reducing & Distribution System
SRV : Safety Relief Valve
Figure 2: Process and instrumentation diagram of de-aerator experimental set-up
49
A 200 liter feed water storage tank, a steam jacket on the de-aerator water inlet
pipe for regulating its temperature, and a pump for circulating water are other
accessories. In the steam circuit a pressure regulator and a steam trap are connected to a
buffer tank for removal of water droplets after steam expansion in the pressure
regulator. A water bath of 25 liters capacity with a copper coil to decrease the
temperature of the sample water to vary between 30ºC and 40ºC is connected to a
dissolved oxygen (DO) meter, and flow components such as valves, flow meters,
pressure gauges and thermocouples are provided. The process and instrumentation
diagram of the experimental setup is shown in Figure 2.
ANALYSIS OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS
Estimation of Heat Transfer Coefficient at Stage 1
The determination of droplet size and hence the number of droplets can be predicted
when the sheet (s) or breakup length ( LB ) is known. The sheet length can be estimated
using the empirical relation given by Eq. 1 (Lee and Tankin, 1984)
L B 
A0 1 2 1 C1 Ja1 C e C We C 
2 3 1 4
2
C We
5 1
C6
(1)
where C1 6.5, C 2 0.7, C 3 310 6 , C 4 475

and We1 750, C5 2.5 and C6 0.30
We1 750 , C5 350 and C 6 0.45
The spray Weber number in this study varies between 790 We 11250 and
corresponding mass flow rate between 0.033 m 0.125 . From the geometry of
triangles, if the half cone angle ( ) of the nozzle and LB are known, the slanting length
(S) and outer radius ( RO ) of the sheet can be estimated. The sheet thickness ( s ) at the
location of breakup is estimated by Eq. 2 (Takahashi et al., 2001):
s  m 2RO LV N (2)
For the swirl cone angle of the nozzle (2 ), the slanting length is calculated by Eq. 3:
S LB / Cos 
 (3)
Using these values, the sheet volume can be estimated as in Eq. 4:
v s ( RO 2 R I 2 )s 3 (4)
The droplet diameter can be estimated according to the empirical relation of

Dombowski and Munday (1967) for known conditions of de-aerator pressure, flow rate
of water, which is expressed as Eq. 5:
d1 0.0134 FN  0 .209
L / L 0.215 P 
0. 348
(5)
50
where FN 2 .08 x10 6  m / L  

PD / 1000 12

and P is the pressure drop across
the nozzle. The number of droplets ( N ) formed can be estimated as Eq. 6:
N 6 v s d 13 (6)
The surface area of N droplets can be estimated with Eq. 7:
Ad N d 1 2 (7)
The heat transfer area is the sum of the areas of sheet and droplets:
A1 As Ad (8)
The variation of droplet radius with time due to condensation can be estimated with the
theoretical relation derived by Rao and Sarma (1985):
 
r rcon / E (9)

( Ja1 1)1 / 3 ; E [1 Ja1 exp( )] 1 3
where rcon
The value of  can be expressed as Eq. 10.
1 1 
 ln


q 
 
where q 
6 n  1
2  2
 n 1 n
exp n 22   (10)
Thus Eq. 9 with the aid of Eq. 10 provides an explicit relation for the estimation

of r . The condensate flow rate of the first stage is
mC1 CPL 
To Ti m H fg (11)
The heat transfer coefficient due to condensation in the first stage and the
temperature at the exit of first stage of de-aerator can be estimated with the help of
Eq. (12) to Eq. (14).
hcon H fg mC1 A1 
TS Ti1  (12)
Q1 hcon A1 TS Ti1  (13)
Ti2 Ti1 (Q1 / m C PL ) (14)
The energy transferred to water in the de-aerator is the sum of the energies
transferred in both stages:
QE Q1 Q 2 m C PL 
To Ti1  (15)
51
Estimation of Heat Transfer Coefficient at Stage 2
A mathematical treatment of condensation on laminar and turbulent liquid jets taking

into account the variation of flow rate over the jet cross section has been presented by
Mochalova et al. (1988). They compared their analysis with the experimental data of
Mills et al. (1982) and presented an explicit solution for the estimation of heat transfer
coefficient in terms of the Reynolds, Prandtl, and Weber numbers in addition to other
geometric parameters governing the flow.
For laminar flow, the explicit equation for the Stanton number is given by Mochalova et
al. (1988) as Eq. (16a):
St f 1 f 2 f 3 0.004 Ja 2 
L2 DJ 0 .8 for Re H 1500 (16a)
For turbulent flow,
St B 
0.047 0.035 Ja 2 
L2 DJ 0 .52
Re H 0 .033 Pr 0.1 Fr 0.064 ; 0.001 Ja2 1 ;
1500 Re H 20,000 ;1 Pr 50 ; 50 Fr 15,000 (16b)
where
B 1 if the initial velocity profile is plane
B 0.18 
L2 DJ  if the initial profile is parabolic
0. 26
f1 1.25 10 2 7.5 10 6 Re H ; 

f 2 1.05 Pr 8 10
3
3 10
4
L 2 
D J ;
f 3 1.05 C Re H We 2 
34 2
L2 DJ 0.03 0.6 C
34 2
Re We 2
H for We 2 2.5 ;
We 2 
0.4 0.01 
L2 DJ 
2
f 3 1.05 C for We 2 2.5 ;
34
Re H
C g DJ 8 ;
3 2
2 Re H V 2 DJ 2 2 ; Pr 2 2 ;
We 2 L V DJ 2 2 ;
2
2
Fr 2 V 2
2
g DJ ; h2 T St L V 2 C PL 2
The heat transfer coefficient h2T for liquid jets in the second stage can be
validated with the overall energy balance equation, if the surface area for heat transfer
can be determined. The surface area for heat transfer depends on the phenomenon of
liquid jet breakup. The hydraulic break up length of the jet emerging from 1.8 mm
diameter holes of the tray is estimated by Eq. 17 according to the empirical correlation
of Celata et al. (1989),
L hb D J 29 1.9 
We 2 
12
. (17)
The volume of water in the jet up to the break-up length can be estimated as:
v J DJ Lhb 4
2
(18)
Spherical droplet formation takes place on the breakup of the liquid jet. The
diameter and volume of the droplet formed on breakup can be estimated as (Hinze,
1955):
52
d 2 1.89DJ ; v d 2 d 2 3 6 (19)
The number of droplets N formed from each jet in the second stage can be
estimated as:
N v J vd 2 (20)
The surface area of 154 liquid jets emanating from each tray is the sum of the
areas up to the breakup length and that of the droplets formed thereafter

At 154 DJ Lhb Nd 2 2  (21)
As the height of the jet between the third and bottom tray is only 0.05 m and less
than the breakup length, the surface area exposed to steam is taken for consideration.
Hence, the total heat transfer area of the second stage considering all the trays is
A2 3 At 154 (0.05 DJ ) (22)
The heat transferred in the second stage of the de-aerator can be estimated from
the difference relation
Q2 QE Q1 (23)
The overall heat transfer coefficient of the second stage can be estimated
according to Newton’s law
h2 E Q2 A2 
TS Ti 2  (24)
The total heat transferred can be estimated as:
QT hcon A1 
TS Ti1 h2T A2 
TS Ti2  (25)
The values obtained from Eq. (25) are validated with the energy balance, Eq. (15).
A regression equation for the estimation of the overall heat transfer coefficient
has been developed with 85 experimental values and with an average deviation of 3%
and standard deviation of 4% as
U Re g 1.123 
m C PL A  
TS Ti1  L DN 0 .09354
0. 888 0. 1839
(26)
valid for the operating conditions 0.033 m 0. 125 kg/s, 350 L / DN 600 and
1.1 TS / Ti1 1.4 .
53
Estimation of the Mass Transfer Coefficient at Stage 1
The objective of the present analysis is to estimate the quantity of oxygen diffusing
from the solvent water. This is formulated as one related to the diffusion of oxygen
from the droplet centre to its surface. In this formulation, the assumptions are as
follows:
1. The configuration of the droplet is a perfect sphere.

2. Diffusion occurs under non-isothermal conditions, i.e., the major resistance for
diffusion is within the droplet and the resistance decreases as the temperature of
droplet increases.
3. The resistance for diffusion of gas from the interface to steam is negligible.
The component continuity equation can be written as follows:
 6d 3 L 
 dX (t ) dt k L, d C A d 2 (27)
The oxygen concentration ( C A ) in the inlet water can be expressed as Eq. (28) in
terms of the bulk density of water and the mass fraction of oxygen dissolved in it.
C A L X (28)
For flow past a single sphere, the mass transfer coefficient under forced and free
convective conditions, according the to well established dimensionless equation of
Steinberger and Treybal (1960), is
Shd Sh0 0.347 (Re d Scd 0.5 ) 0.62 (29)
valid in the range 0.6 Scd 4000 and 1.8 Re d 6 10 5
The initial Sherwood number Sh0 can be evaluated as follows:
Sh0 2 0.569 
Grd Sc d 0 .25 for Grd Sc d 10 8
Sh0 2 0.0254 
Grd Scd 0 .333 Sc 0d .244 for Grd Sc d 108 (30)
Eq. 27 can be rewritten with the aid of Eq. 28 and Eq. 29 as
dX 
t dt 6 ( Shd DL X (t )) d 2 (31)
where DL ( 7.4811016 (TAV )) /( L v A 0 .6 ) with the initial condition at t 0 , X X i .
Integration of Eq. 31 yields

 
X (t ) X i exp 6 
Shd DL t d 2  (32)
54
Estimation of the Mass Transfer Coefficient at Stage 2
The following assumptions are made in the analysis to evaluate the quantity of
dissolved oxygen removed when the liquid emanates as a jet:
1. The jet is cylindrical in configuration.

2. The diffusion process occurs under non-isothermal conditions of jet, i.e., the
major resistance for diffusion is within the liquid jet and the resistance decreases
as jet temperature increases.
3. The resistance for the diffusion of oxygen from the interface of the jet to the
steam environment is negligible.
From the component continuity equation we obtain

 4DJ Lhb L 
dX (t ) dt 
k L, J C A DJ Lhb
2
(33)
The empirical correlations for falling films in the laminar- wavy-, transition- and
turbulent flow regime are listed as follows (Mayinger, 1982):
2
ShJ 2.24 10 for 12 Re J 70 and Sc J 2.32 104 / Re 1J.6
0 .8 0 .5
Re J Sc J (34a)
2
ShJ 8.0 10 for 70 Re J 400 Sc J 1.82 10 / Re J
0 .5 0. 5 3
Re J Sc J and (34b)
4
ShJ 8.9 10 for Re J 400 Sc J 1.47 10 / Re J
1 .25 0 .5 7 2 .5
Re J Sc J and (34c)
Eq. 33 can be arranged and solved in conjunction with Eq. 34 for the initial
condition t 0 , X X i to give
X (t ) X i exp 
4 
ShJ DL t DJ 
 (35)
Eqs. 32 and 35 have been solved for different values of inlet mass flow rates, de-
aerator lengths and inlet oxygen concentration in the experimental range and the results
are presented here. A regression equation has been developed, Eq. 36, for the estimation
of the Sherwood number in the experimental range of 0. 033 m 0.125 kg/s,
350 L / DN 600 and 1.1 TS / Ti1 1.4 :
ShRe g 0.4044 
Re N i 0 .4859 
Sc N i  L DN 0.4895 
TS Ti1 
0 . 5674 0 . 0514
(36)
with an average deviation of 2.54% and standard deviation of 3.84%.
The temperature and concentration at the end of the first stage are evaluated using
Eqs. 14 and 32, respectively, and the salient results presented. Figure 3 shows the effect
of mass flow rate of de-aerator water on condensation heat transfer coefficient. It can be
observed that an increase in the mass flow rate of the de-aerator water increases the heat
transfer coefficients in the first and second stages. The rate of increases are more in the
first stage than in the second due to the higher temperature potential between the steam
55
and water. An increase in the de-aerator pressure and length of the second stage has a
negligible effect on the heat transfer coefficient. An increase in the non dimensional
droplet radius estimated with Eqs. 9 and 10 of Rao and Sarma (1985) at the exit of the
first stage, and that calculated with data from experiments using energy balance Eq. 11,
are shown plotted in Figure 4. The close agreement between the two estimates, varying
by less than 2%, ensures the reliability of the present data. Figure 5 shows a comparison
of the experimental heat transfer coefficients evaluated with the energy balance equation
with those estimated with the theoretical analysis of Mochalova et al. (1988) for the
second stage. A good agreement of estimated values with experimental study is
observed.
Figure 3: Effect of mass flow rate of de-aerator water on condensation heat transfer
coefficient estimated from theories of different authors
Figure 4: Comparison of first stage dimensionless droplet radius r+ estimated with

Eq. 10 at the exit with experimental data
56
Figure 5: Comparison of experimental values of condensation heat transfer coefficients

with values estimated using Eq. 12
A comparison of the heat transferred from both stages estimated from the energy
balance Eq. 15 with the values estimated using Eq. 25 shows good agreement as can be
seen from Figure 6. This validates the heat transfer coefficients estimated with Eqs. 12
and 16 for the first and second stages, respectively. The overall condensation heat
transfer coefficient of two stage spray and tray type de-aerator is found to vary between
400 and 1600 W/(m 2K). Values estimated from the regression Eq. 26 are shown in
Figure 7, which is in good agreement with the values evaluated with the energy balance
equation, U E QE / A(TS Ti1 ) .
Figure 6: Comparison of total heat transfer estimated from theory with values from
experiments
57
Figure 7: Comparison of the overall condensation heat transfer coefficients estimated

using the regression equation with the experimental data
The increasing trends of mass transfer coefficients shown in Figures 8 and 9 for
the first and second stages of the de-aerator with an increase in the mass flow rate of
water is similar to the increases in the heat transfer coefficient as can be seen from a
comparison with Figure 3. The rate of increase is more in the first stage than in the
second due to the higher concentration potential between steam and water. The increase
in de-aerator pressure from 0.12 to 0.2 MPa enhances the mass transfer coefficient in
the second stage. This may be attributed to the squeezing of oxygen from the water at
higher pressure. The increase in length of the second stage has a negligible effect on the
mass transfer coefficient.
Figure 8: Effect of mass flow rate of de-aerator water on mass transfer coefficient under
different operating conditions of the first stage
58

The variation of the Reynolds number with ShJ 2 Sc J02.5 for different 
operating conditions in the second stage of spray and tray type de-aerator is shown in
Figure 10. The experimental values are in good agreement with the values estimated
with the equation of Bakopoulos (1980) for the second stage. However the author has
not presented information as to the quantity of oxygen removed. The values of the
Sherwood number estimated with the regression equation is in good agreement with the
experimental values as shown in Figure 11 demonstrating the validity of the proposed
Eq. 36. The effect of de-aerator length on the variation of oxygen concentration in inlet
water is shown in Figure 12. The oxygen concentration decreases rapidly initially in a
length of 0.4 m and remains constant thereafter.
Figure 9: Effect of mass flow rate of de-aerator water on mass transfer coefficient under
different operating conditions of the second stage
Figure 10: Effect of Reynolds number on Sherwood–Schmidt product under different

operating conditions of the second stage
59
Figure 11: Comparison of Sherwood number from regression equation with

experimental values
Figure 12: Effect of de-aerator length on oxygen concentration in feed water from
theory and comparison with experiment data
Figure 13 shows a comparison of the values of oxygen removed due to stripping

with that calculated with theory using Eqs. 32 and 35 for the first and second stages,
respectively. It can be observed that the values obtained from experiments are higher
than the values predicted from theory. This may be due to re-absorption of oxygen at
the end of the second stage for the flow rates conducted. Hence, the possibility of re-
60
absorption of oxygen cannot be prevented, if the height of the second stage and liquid
flow rates are not maintained at the design conditions. The re-entry of oxygen can be
avoided if a separate second stage is provided.
Figure 13: Percentage of oxygen removed—comparison of experimental values with

theory
CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of spray and tray type de-
aerators:
a) The influence of the mass flow rate of water on the heat and mass transfer
coefficients of both stages of the de-aerator are significant.
b) There is no significant influence of de-aerator pressure on the heat transfer
coefficients in both stages of the de-aerator
c) An increase in length of the second stage has no significant effect on the heat
and mass transfer coefficients.
d) Increases in de-aerator pressure from 0.12 to 0.2MPa enhance the mass transfer
coefficient in the second stage by 12%.
e) The oxygen removal rate from the feed water is large initially due to large
concentration difference and decreases slowly thereafter.
f) Mayinger’s empirical correlations can be used to estimate the Sherwood
numbers of the first and second stages.
g) Regression Eqs. 26 and 36 can be used for the estimation of heat and mass
transfer coefficients useful in the design of the de-aerator.
h) The predicted values of oxygen concentration are higher than the experimental
values.
61
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial support by the Universiti Malaysia Pahang and Sri V. Satyender,
Secretary of Sri Venkateswara Engineering College, Suryapet, India are gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Bakopoulos, A. (1980) Liquid side controlled mass transfer in wetted-wall tube.

German Chemical Engineering, 3: 241–252.
Brown, G. (1951) Heat transmission by condensation of steam on a spray of water
drops. Proceedings of General Discussion on Heat Transfer, Institute of
Mechanical Engineering ,pp. 49–52.
Celata, G.P., Cumo, M., D’Annibale, F. and Farello, G.E. (1991) Direct contact
condensation of steam on droplets. International Journal of Multiphase Flow,
17(1): 191–211.
Celata, G.P., Cumo, M., Farello, G.E. and Focardi, G. (1989) A Comprehensive analysis
of direct contact condensation of saturated steam on sub cooled liquid jets.
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 32(4): 639–654.
Dombrowski, N. and Munday, G. (1967) Biochemical and Biological Engineering
Science, London: Academic Press.
Ford, J.D. and Lekic, A. (1971) Rate of growth of drops during condensation,
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 16: 61–64.
Hinze, J.O. (1955) Fundamentals of the hydrodynamic mechanism of splitting in
dispersion processes. American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal,
1(3): 289–295.
Lee, S.Y. and Tankin, R.S. (1984) Study of liquid spray (water) in a condensable
environment (steam). International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer,
27(3): 363–374.
Mayinger, F. (1982) Strömung und Wärmeübergang in Flüssigkeitsgemischen. Berlin:
Springer Verlag.
Mayinger, F. and Chavez, A. (1992) Measurement of direct-contact condensation of
pure saturated vapor on an injection spray by applying pulsed laser holography.
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 35(3): 691–702.
Mills, A.F., Kim, S., Leininger, T., Ofer, S. and Pessran A. (1982) Heat and Mass
Transport in Turbulent Liquid Jets. International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, 25(6): 889–897.
Mochalova, N.S., Kholpanov, L.P. and Malyusov, V.A. (1988) Heat transfer in vapor
condensation on laminar and turbulent liquid jets taking account of the inlet
section and variability of the flow rate over the jet cross section. Institute of New
Chemical Problems, Academy of Sciences of USSR, Moscow, 54(5): 732–735.
Nosoko, T., Miyara, A. and Nagata, T. (2002) Characteristics of falling film flow on
completely wetted horizontal tubes and the associated gas absorption.
Rao, V.D. and Sarma, P.K. (1985) Direct contact heat transfer in spherical geometry
associated with phase transformation—a closed-form solution. International
Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 28(10): 1956–1958.
62
Steinberger, R.L. and Treybal, R.E. (1960) Mass transfer from a solid soluble sphere to
a flowing liquid stream. American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal,
6: 227–232.
Sundararajan, T. and Ayyaswamy, P.S. (1987) Condensation on a moving drop: Effect
of time dependent drop velocity. Proceedings of the 8th National Conference on
Heat and Mass Transfer, Visakhapatnam, India, pp. 453–459.
Takahashi, M., Arun Kumar, N., Kitagawa, S.I. and Murakoso, H. (2001) Heat Transfer
in direct contact condensation of steam to subcooled water spray. International
Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 123: 703–710.
NOMENCLATURE
A total surface area for heat transfer, m2

A0 cross sectional area of nozzle orifice, m2
B parameter defined in Eq. 16b
C parameter defined in Eq. 16a
CA concentration of oxygen, (= L X ) kg/m 3
CP specific heat, J/kg K
d droplet diameter, m
D diameter of the spray nozzle or jet, m
DL diffusion coefficient or diffusivity of oxygen in water, m2/s
E parameter defined in Eq. 9
f1 f 2 f 3 parameters defined in Eq. 16a
3 2 1/2
FN flow number, m /[s (N/m ) ]
Fr Froude number
g local acceleration of gravity, m/s2
Grd 
Grashof number, g d 3 ( L V ) L  L L 
2
h heat transfer coefficient, W/ m2 K

H fg latent heat of condensation, J / kg
Ja Jacob number of liquid at inlet, C PL (TS Ti ) / H fg
kL mass transfer coefficient, m/s
L length, m
LB sheet break-up length, m
Lhb hydraulic break-up length of the jet, m
m mass flow rate of water, kg/s
mC mass flow rate of condensate, kg/s
PD de-aerator pressure, N /m 2
P pressure drop across the nozzle, N /m2
Pr Prandtl number of liquid jet in stage 2, L L
q parameter defined in Eq. 10
Q heat transfer, W
r time dependent radius of the droplet, m
r0 radius of the droplet at time zero, m
63
r dimensionless variable radius of the droplet, r r0

rcon dimensionless radius of the droplet during condensation
RI inner radius of sheet, RO s , m
RO outer radius of sheet, S sin 30 , m
Re d droplet Reynolds number, d V / V
Re J Reynolds number of liquid jet in stage 2 for mass transfer, / L
Re H Reynolds number of liquid jet in stage 2 for heat transfer, V2 DJ 2L
Sc Schmidt number, L / DL
S slant height, m
Sh0 initial Sherwood number
Shd droplet Sherwood number , k L ,d d DL
ShJ Sherwood number of the liquid jet, k L, J  DL
St Stanton number, h2 T L V2 C PL2
t residence time, s
T temperature, K
TAV average temperature, (TO Ti ) / 2 , K
U overall heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K
v volume of liquid, m3
vA molecular volume of oxygen, m3/ kg-mol
V Velocity of liquid, m/s
We Weber number of liquid, L V 2 D 2
X mass fraction of O2 in water, ppb
Greek symbols
 thermal diffusivity, m2/s

 coefficient defined in Eq. 10
 volumetric flow rate per jet perimeter, m 2/s
 dimensionless time, 4 t d 12
 Nusselt film thickness (= (3 L / g ) 3 ), m
1
s sheet thickness, m
 kinematic viscosity, m 2/s
 viscosity, kg /m s
 density, kg/m 3
surface tension, 60.3 0.166 Ti 273.15 
3
 10 , N / m
Subscripts
A oxygen or non-condensable gas

AV average
C condensate
64
con condensation
E energy balance
EXP experiment
d droplet
H heat transfer
i inlet
J jet
L liquid
N nozzle
o outlet
Reg regression equation
s sheet
S saturation
t tray
T theoretical
V water vapour
0 initial
1 first stage
2 second stage
65
COMPARISON OF STATISTICALLY CONTROLLED MACHINING

SOLUTIONS OF TITANIUM ALLOYS USING USM
R. Singh
Department of Production Engineering

Guru Nanak Dev Engg. College,
Ludhiana-141006 (Punjab), India;
Phone: +91 98722 57575, Fax: +91 161 2502700
Email:rupindersingh78@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the present investigation is to compare the statistically controlled

machining solution of titanium alloys using ultrasonic machining (USM). In this study,
the previously developed Taguchi model for USM of titanium and its alloys has been
investigated and compared. Relationships between the material removal rate, tool wear
rate, surface roughness and other controllable machining parameters (power rating, tool
type, slurry concentration, slurry type, slurry temperature and slurry size) have been
deduced. The results of this study suggest that at the best settings of controllable
machining parameters for titanium alloys (based upon the Taguchi design), the
machining solution with USM is statistically controlled, which is not observed for other
settings of input parameters on USM.
Keywords: ultrasonic machining; titanium alloys, Taguchi model, material removal rate,
tool wear rate, surface roughness.
INTRODUCTION
The history of ultrasonic machining (USM) began with a paper by R.W. Wood and A.L.
Loomis in 1927 (Singh and Khamba, 2006) and the first patent was granted to the
American engineer Lewis Balamuth in 1945 (Singh, 2006). USM has been variously
termed ultrasonic drilling, ultrasonic abrasive machining, ultrasonic cutting, ultrasonic
dimensional machining, and slurry drilling (Singh and Khamba, 2006). However, from
the early 1950s it was commonly known either as ultrasonic impact grinding or USM.
The application of USM to the machining of hard and brittle material is well known, but
hitherto less work has been reported for the machining of tough material. In the present
work, the application of USM to tough materials has been explored. In this study
titanium and its alloys has been selected based upon their industrial applications (Singh,
2006). These alloys are branded as difficult-to-machine materials but have high utility in
manufacturing sector (Verma et al., 2003). They are alternatives for many engineering
applications due to their superior properties (such as chemical inertness, high strength
and stiffness at elevated temperatures, high strength to weight ratio, corrosion
resistance, and oxidation resistance) (Singh and Khamba, 2003). The poor thermal
conductivity of titanium alloys retards the dissipation of generated heat, creating instead a very
high temperature at the tool work interface and adversely affecting the tool life and surface
finish (Dornfeld et al., 1999; Singh and Khamba, 2009a). Titanium is chemically reactive at
elevated temperatures and therefore the tool material either rapidly dissolves or chemically
66
R. Singh / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 1 (2010) 66-78
reacts during the traditional machining process, resulting in chipping, premature tool failure and
poor surface finish (Verma et al., 2003). These properties also make titanium and its alloys
difficult to machine into a precise size and shape (Singh and Khamba, 2004). As a
result, their widespread applications have been hindered by the high cost of machining
with current technology (Singh, 2006). So the conventional machining processes are unable
to provide good machining characteristics to titanium alloys (Dornfeld, 1999). Therefore, there
is a crucial need for reliable and cost-effective machining processes for titanium and its
alloys (Singh and Khamba, 2007a). One of the cost-effective machining methods for
titanium and its alloys is the electric discharge machining process (EDM) (Singh and
Khamba, 2006). The material removal rate (MRR) is quite high using this process,
however surface finish and dimensional accuracy are problematic (Benedict, 1987,
Singh and Khamba, 2009a).
Now days another non-conventional machining process, USM has been
successfully applied to the machining of titanium and its alloys (Thoe et al., 1998, Singh
and Khamba, 2007b). But the volume of material removal in this process is quite less
(Singh and Khamba, 2008). For stationary USM, an approach to model MRR, tool wear
rate (TWR) and surface roughness (SR) has been proposed and applied for titanium and
its alloys (Singh and Khamba, 2007b). In this Taguchi-based model for stationary USM,
the macro modelling concept has been used. In a macro-model, the need to write a
mathematical equation for developing relationships is bypassed (Singh and Khamba,
2009b, Taguchi and Konishi, 1987). The model developed is mechanistic in the sense
that these parameters can be observed experimentally from a few experiments for a
particular material and then used in the prediction of MRR, TWR and SR over a wide
range of process parameters (Singh and Khamba, 2009b). This has been demonstrated
for titanium and its alloys, where very good predictions have been obtained using an
estimate of multi parameters. On the basis of this model, the relationships between the
MRR, TWR, SR and the controlling machining parameters have been studied. These
relationships agree well with the trends observed in experimental observations made by
other investigators (Singh and Khamba, 2009a, Singh and Khamba, 2009b, Kumar et
al., 2008, Kumar and Khamba, 2008). This model has been applied to predicting the
MRR, TWR and SR for pure titanium, (ASTM Gr.2) and titanium alloy, (ASTM Gr.5).
In this study the effect of six controllable parameters (tool material, slurry type, slurry
concentration, grit size, slurry temperature, and power density) were examined, with
titanium work piece as noise factor. Tables 1 and 2 illustrate the chemical composition
of pure titanium, (ASTM Gr.2) and titanium alloy, (ASTM Gr.5) (Singh, 2006).
Table 1: Chemical analysis of pure Titanium (ASTM Gr.2)
C H N O Fe Ti
0.006 0.0007 0.014 0.140 0.05 Balance
Table 2: Chemical analysis of Titanium alloy (ASTM Gr.5)
C H N O Al V Fe Ti
0.019 0.0011 0.007 0.138 6.27 4.04 0.05 Balance
Figure 1 shows the mechanism of tool wear in USM. The USM machine tool
used for study was of 500 W capacity, which consists of an ultrasonic spindle kit, a
constant pressure feed system and a slurry flow system (Singh, 2006). The ultrasonic
67
Comparison of statistically controlled machining solutions of titanium alloys using USM
spindle kit comprises an ultrasonic spindle, mounted with cylindrical horn of 25.4 mm,
a power supply unit. The power supply converts 50 Hz electrical supply to high
frequency 20 kHz AC output (Singh and Khamba, 2006). This was fed to the piezo-
electric transducer located in the spindle. The transducer converts the electrical input
into mechanical vibrations. The amplitude of vibrations was fixed in range of 0.0253-
0.0258 mm with a frequency of 20 kHz +/- 200 Hz. The static load for the feed rate was
fixed at 1.636 kg and the slurry flow rate at 26.4 L/min. The replaceable tools used for
machining were solid tools made by silver brazing, having same area of cross-section,
that is, Ø5 mm. For this model, an L18 orthogonal array of Taguchi design (Phadke,
1989) was used to study the relationship between MRR, TWR, SR and the controllable
machining parameters.
Figure 1: USM tool wear mechanisms (Singh and Khamba, 2006)
There are four sections in this paper. Following this Introduction, the design of
experiment section describes the design of the experiments. In the third section,
observations have been made to investigate whether the USM process for machining of
titanium alloys is under statistical control as regards to MRR, TWR and SR is
concerned. Conclusions are drawn in the last section, followed by references.
DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS
The study presented in this paper is concerned primarily with obtaining the optimum system
configuration with minimum expenditure of experimental resources. Table 3 shows different
control variables and their levels. The best settings of the control factors were determined
through experiments. For the analysis rd Expert ™ software was used. The output parameter
68
studied as response variables for analysis is shown in Table 4. The control log for
experimentation is shown in Table 5.
Table 3: Control variables and their levels
No Control Levels of Control variables

variables L L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6
A Tool 6 SS HSS HCS WC Di Ti
B Slurry conc. 3 15% 20% 25% - - -
C Slurry type 3 B4C Si4C Al2O3 - - -
D Slurry temp. 3 10°C 27°C 60°C - - -
E Power rating 3 150 W 300 W 450 W - - -
F Slurry size 3 220 320 500 - - -
Table 4: Response variable (output parameter) (Singh and Khamba, 2007b)
Response No. Response 1 Response 2 Response 3

Response name MRR TWR S.R.
Response units gm/min gm/min µm
Response type Continuous Continuous Continuous
Table 5: Control log for experimentation
Exp. No. A B C D E F
1 SS 15% B4C 10ºC 150 W 220
2 SS 20% Si4C 27ºC 300 W 320
3 SS 25% Al2O3 60ºC 450 W 500
4 HSS 15% B4C 27ºC 300 W 500
5 HSS 20% Si4C 60ºC 450 W 220
6 HSS 25% Al2O3 10ºC 150 W 320
7 HCS 15% Si4C 10ºC 450 W 320
8 HCS 20% Al2O3 27ºC 150 W 500
9 HCS 25% B4C 60ºC 300 W 220
10 WC 15% Al2O3 60ºC 300 W 320
11 WC 20% B4C 10ºC 450 W 500
12 WC 25% Si4C 27ºC 150 W 220
13 Di 15% Si4C 60ºC 150 W 500
14 Di 20% Al2O3 10ºC 300 W 220
15 Di 25% B4C 27ºC 450 W 320
16 Ti 15% Al2O3 27ºC 450 W 220
17 Ti 20% B4C 60ºC 150 W 320
18 Ti 25% Si4C 10ºC 300 W 500
For analysis of MRR, TWR, and SR, the signal to noise ratio (S/N) at different
input parameters has been calculated (Figures 2–4). The ideal function selected here is
nominally the best type. The best settings of USM for MRR are obtained using the SS
tool, 450 Wpower rating with boron carbide slurry. This may be because the SS tool
yields a better tool–work combination as regards to work-hardening: its higher power
rating (450 W) imparts a higher momentum to the abrasive particles, and boron-carbide
69
slurry is the hardest among the three slurries (Singh and Khamba, 2007b). As regards to
TWR, the best settings of USM are obtained at 450 W power rating, with SS tool and
500 grit-size slurry. This may be explained on the basis that the ideal function selected
was nominally the best type, so the SS tool and 450 W power rating ought to come.
Also, the higher grit size (500 grit) must result in less TWR (Singh and Khamba, 2007b,
Singh and Khamba, 2009b). For SR, slurry temperature is the most important, followed
by slurry concentration and type of tool. Best settings are obtained at 25 oC at 25%
concentration with SS tool. The selection of temperature and concentration setting may
be explained on the basis that at this temperature and concentration neither sticking
(because of freezing of slurry) nor evaporation took place, resulting in the maximum
number of abrasive particles contributing in material removal mechanisms. The choice
of SS tool is because of the selection of the ideal function as nominally the best type.
Figures 5–7 show ‘pie-charts’ to understand the percentage contribution of each factor
effect for MRR, TWR and SR. Based upon the proposed model for machining
characteristics of titanium and its alloys using USM process, verification experiments
were conducted under the optimum conditions and starting conditions of input
parameters. The data agrees very well with the predictions about the improvement in the
S/N ratios and the deposition rate. Comparison of MRR, TWR and SR results obtained
shows improvement by 52%, 7%, and 32%, respectively, even without introducing any
other input. The present results are valid for the 90%–95% confidence interval.
A: Tool, B: Slurry conc., C: Slurry type, D: Slurry temp.,

E: Power rating, F: Slurry size
Figure 2: S/N responses of MRR vs input parameters (Singh and Khamba, 2007b)
Figure 3: S/N responses of TWR vs input parameters (Singh and Khamba, 2007b)
70
Figure 4: S/N responses of SR vs input parameters (Singh and Khamba, 2007b)
Err,
20.50% A, 24.60%
F, 7.80%
B, 0.90%
C, 13.90%
E, 28.00% D, 4.30%
Figure 5: Pie chart of MRR (S/N) (Singh and Khamba, 2007b)
Err, 7.30%
F, 27.60% A, 38.10%
B, 5.60%
E, 19.30%
C, 1.00%
D, 1.10%
Figure 6: Pie chart of tool wear rate (S/N) (Singh and Khamba, 2007b)
The optimal results for MRR are obtained with SS tool at 450 W power rating
with boron carbide slurry. The optimal results for TWR are obtained with SS tool at 450
W power rating and 500 grit size. The optimal results for SR are obtained at 25 oC
temperature, with 25% concentration using SS tool.
71
Err, 4.70%
F, 11.30% A, 17.50%
E, 4.00%
B, 22.80%
D, 33.90% C, 5.80%
Figure 7: Pie chart of SR (S/N) (Singh and Khamba, 2007b)
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
To understand whether the process (based on the Taguchi design model) is statistically
controlled, 18 samples {6 samples × 3 (for each case of MRR/TWR/SR) = 18} of
titanium alloy work pieces were machined at the best settings of the input parameters
for MRR (using SS tool at 450 W power rating with boron carbide slurry), TWR (using
SS tool at 450 W power rating and 500 grit size), and SR (at 25 oC slurry temperature,
25% concentration with SS tool) with USM. After calculation of MRR, TWR, and SR,
the values obtained are shown in Table 6. Based upon the observations in Table 6, the
run chart for calculated values of MRR, TWR and SR was developed (Figures 8–10).
Now if the mean and standard deviation of a population that has the normal distribution
is μand σrespectively then for variable data X the standard normal deviate Z is defined
as (Devor et al., 2005):
X i 
Z (1)

where: Xi is the variable data obtained, μis the mean of data and σis the standard
deviation.
Table 6: MRR, TWR and SR value at best settings of input parameters for USM
Observations Observations Observations Above or below Up or

S. No
MRR TWR (gm/min)) SR (µm) MEAN Down

(gm/min)
1 0.00500 0.00894 0.31 B
2 0.00498 0.00893 0.29 D B
3 0.00499 0.00895 0.30 U B
4 0.00502 0.00898 0.32 U A
5 0.00503 0.00899 0.33 U A
6 0.00509 0.00900 0.34 U A
Mean 0.00501 0.008965 0.315 U andRUN=1
D=1
A=above the mean, B=below the mean, U=up from previous reading, D=down from
previous reading
72
Figure 8: Run chart for calculated values of MRR
Figure 9: Run chart for calculated values of TWR
Figure 10: Run chart for calculated values of SR
73
Calculation for Z (standard normal deviate) above and below:
N 
E (run ) AB  1 (2)
2 
Where N is the number of observations and E (run)AB is the expected number of runs
above and below
6 
E (run ) AB  14 (3)
2 
1
AB  N  (4)
4
Where σAB is the standard deviation of above and below
1
AB  6  1.118 (5)
4
Z AB 
RUN AB E (run) AB 
/ AB (6)
Where RUN AB is the actual number of runs obtained above and below
1 4 
Z AB  2.6834 (7)
1.118
| ZAB | = 2.6834 (8)
1
E (run )UD 2 N  3.667 (9)
3
Where N is the number of observations and E (run)UD is the expected number of runs up
and down.
1
E (run )UD 2 6  3.667 (10)
3
UD  16 N 29 90 (11)
Where σUD is the standard deviation for up and down
UD  16 6 29 90 (12)

σUD = 0.8628 (13)
ZUD = {RUN UD - E(run)UD}/ σUD (14)
ZUD = (1-3.667)/0.8628 (15)
ZUD = -3.091 (16)
| ZUD | = 3.091 (17)
The critical value of Z is obtained by using Microsoft Excel software.
Zcrit = NORMSINV (1- α/2) (18)
74
Normally decision making is done with a certain margin of error ‘α’ and taken
as equal to 0.05, that is, that there can be 5% chances of arriving at a wrong conclusion.
Therefore, Zcrit =1.959963 (19)
Now for decision making:

If | ZAB | > Zcrit OR /and | ZUD | > Zcrit, then a non-random pattern exists.
In the present case, | ZAB | and | ZUD | are > Zcrit , which indicates the existence of
a non random pattern. Now the exercise of predicting various statistical properties or
drawing conclusions should not be undertaken unless the normality of distribution has
been verified. Even if one has a large data, superimposing of normal curve on the
histogram it is more difficult task than may be imagined. For a histogram, one requires a
minimum of 50 observations, however the more the better and for assessing whether the
underlying distribution is normal or not it becomes more difficult when the number of
observations is fewer. For cumulative probability plot (Pi):
S .N 0.5
Pi  (20)
N
where S.N is the serial number of the data observation arranged in ascending order, and
N is the total number of observations in the data set. If the standard normal deviate
follows the normal distribution that has mean μ= 0 and standard deviation σ=1, then
1
f (Z )  (21)
Z2
2e 2
Equation 21 follows the normal probability curve and any data close to it also
follows normal probability curve. The values of the standard normal deviates were
calculated using cumulative probability and the dimensional values were arranged in
ascending order as shown in Table 7. Based on Table 7, a normal probability curve was
drawn to predict the probability as shown in Figures 11–13. As observed in Figure 5,
the aforesaid data follows a non random pattern and is under the normal probability
curve. So, there are very strong chances that the process is under statistical control
however X-bar chart and R-bar chart cannot be drawn due to the small number of
observational data points.
Table 7: Standard normal deviates and response variable (MRR, TWR, SR) in
ascending order
S. Pi Z MRR value TWR value SR value

No (Cumulative (Standard normal in gm/min in gm/min in µm
Probability) deviate)
1 0.08333 -1.38299 0.00498 0.00893 0.29
2 0.25 -0.67449 0.00499 0.00894 0.30
3 0.416667 -0.21043 0.00500 0.00895 0.31
4 0.58333 0.21043 0.00502 0.00898 0.32
5 0.75 0.67449 0.00503 0.00899 0.33
6 0.91667 1.382994 0.00509 0.00900 0.34
75
Figure 11: Normal probability curve (at best settings of USM for MRR)
Figure 12: Normal probability curve (at best settings of USM for TWR)
Figure 13: Normal probability curve (at best settings of USM for SR)
Now, again, to understand whether the process is statistically controlled (at other
settings of control variables on USM for MRR, TWR and SR) eighteen more samples of
titanium alloy pieces were machined based on Table 5. Further run charts of the
76
measured values were developed for eighteen sets of experiments corresponding to

MRR, TWR and SR. Also the values of the standard normal deviates were calculated
using cumulative probability and were arranged in ascending order. For these eighteen
sets of observations, | Z AB | and | Z UD | are < Zcrit indicating the existence of a random
pattern. So, there are very strong chances that the process is not under statistical control
at these settings of the control parameters.
CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions may be drawn:
a) As regards to MRR, power rating and type of tool are important factors followed
by slurry type.
b) The type of tool and power rating are important factors followed by grit size of
the slurry for TWR.
c) The slurry temperature is the most important followed by slurry concentration
and type of tool for SR.
d) The model developed shows a close relationship between the experimental
observations made otherwise.
e) The adopted procedure is better as a proof of the proposed Taguchi based model
and for USM of other grades of titanium alloys, for which the cost of machining
is high.
f) Strong possibilities are observed for the process under statistical control as
regard to MRR, TWR and SR is concerned at best settings of input parameters
for USM of titanium and its alloys, which is not observed for all other settings of
input parameters.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Dr. J. S. Khamba, Prof. Mech. Eng. Punjabi Univ.
Patiala for technical advice.
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Devor, R.E., Chang, T. and Sutherland, J.W. (2005) Statistical Quality Design and
Control Contemporary Concepts and Methods. 2 ed. NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall.
Dornfeld, D.A., Kim, J.S., Dechow, H., Hewsow, J. and Chen, L.J. (1999) Drilling burr
formation in titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V. Annals of CIRP, 48(1): 73–76.
Kumar, J. and Khamba, J.S. (2008) An experimental study on ultrasonic machining of
pure titanium using designed experiments. Journal of Braz. Soc. of Mech. Sci. &
Eng. 30(3): 231–238.
Kumar, J., Khamba, J.S. and Mohapatra, S.K. (2008) Investigating and Modeling Tool
Wear Rate in the Ultrasonic Machining of Titanium. International Journal of
Advanced Manufacturing Technology. 41(11–12): 110–1117.
Phadke, M.S. (1989) Quality engineering using robust design. NJ: PTR Prentice-Hall.
Singh, R. (2006) Investigating the machining characteristics of titanium alloys using
ultrasonic machining. Ph.D. Thesis, T.I.E.T., Patiala, India.
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Singh, R. and Khamba, J.S. (2003) Silicon carbide slurry effect in ultrasonic assisted
drilling of titanium alloy (TITAN15). Journal of Manufacturing Technology
Today, 2(7): 08–11.
Singh, R. and Khamba, J.S. (2004) Tool manufacturing technique in ultrasonic drilling
machine. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Today, 3(1): 05–07.
Singh, R. and Khamba, J.S. (2006) Ultrasonic machining of titanium and its alloys: A
Review. Journal of Material Processing Technology, 173(2): 125–135.
Singh, R. and Khamba, J.S. (2007a) Investigations for ultrasonic machining of
titanium and its alloys. Journal of Material Processing Technology, 183 (2–3):
363–367.
Singh, R. and Khamba, J.S. (2007b) Macro-model for ultrasonic machining of
titanium and its alloys: designed experiments. Journal of Engineering
Manufacture, B2: 221–229.
Singh, R. and Khamba, J.S. (2008) Comparison of slurry effect on machining
characteristics of titanium in ultrasonic drilling. Journal of Material Processing
Technology, 197(1–3): 200–205.
Singh, R. and Khamba, J.S. (2009a) Mathematical modeling of surface roughness in
ultrasonic machining of titanium using Buckingham- approach: A Review.
International Journal of Abrasive Technology, 2(1): 03–24.
Singh, R. and Khamba, J.S. (2009b) Mathematical modeling of tool wear rate in
ultrasonic machining of titanium. International Journal of Advanced
Manufacturing Technology, 43(5–6): 573–580.
Taguchi, G. and Konishi, S. (1987) Orthogonal arrays and linear graphs. Dearborn,
MI: ASI Press.
Thoe, T.B., Aspinwall, D.K. and Wise, M.L.H. (1998) Review on ultrasonic
machining. International Journal of Machine Tools Manufacture, 38(4): 239–
255.
Verma, D.R.S.V., Nandagopal, B.G., Srinivasulu, K. and Reddy, S.S. (2003) Effect of pre-
drilled holes on tool life in turning of aerospace titanium alloys. National conference
on advances in manufacturing system (AMS-03), Jadavpur University, 42–47.
78
ISSN: 1985-9325(Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 1, pp.79-90, January-June 2010
FLEXURAL PROPERTIES OF ALKALINE TREATED SUGAR PALM FIBRE

REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITES
D. Bachtiar, S.M. Sapuan and M.M. Hamdan
Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel.: +603-89466437. Fax: +609-87654321
E-mail: sapuan@eng.upm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
A study of the effect of alkaline treatment on the flexural properties of sugar palm fibre
reinforced epoxy composites is presented in this paper. The composites were reinforced
with 10% weight fraction of the fibres. The fibres were treated using sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) with 0.25 M and 0.5 M concentration solution for 1 hour, 4 hours and 8 hours
soaking time. The purpose of treating fibres with alkali was to enhance the interfacial
bonding between matrix and fibre surfaces. The maximum flexural strength occurred at
0.25 M NaOH solution with 1 hour of soaking time, i.e 96.71 MPa, improving by
24.41% from untreated fibre composite. But, the maximum flexural modulus took place
at 0.5 M NaOH solution with 4 hours soaking time, i.e. 6948 MPa, improving by 148%
from untreated composite.
Key words: Arenga pinnata, flexural property, interfacial bonding, alkaline treatment.
INTRODUCTION
Natural fibre composites find their application in many industries like building
construction, furniture, automotive and packaging due to some advantages that they
offer: they are non-abrasive to machines, renewable, bio-degradable and an abundant
source of fibre, are of low cost, and have acceptable mechanical properties. Natural
fibres such as hemp, flax, abaca, sisal, jute, henequen (Herrera-Franco et al., 2004),
kenaf, ramie, sugar palm, oil palm, pineapple leaf, banana pseudo-stem, sugarcane
bagasse, coir, rice husk, wood, bamboo, chicken feather (Wool, 2005), silk and cotton
have been reported as being used as fibres in polymer composites. However, these
promising fibres possess some negative characteristics: they are highly hydrophilic and
they can vary a lot in properties because of the influence of their growing conditions,
fibre processing technique, the fineness of the fibre and sample test-length, which
makes accurate predictions of the respective composite properties difficult. Moreover,
natural fibres have a complex structure of elementary fibres, consisting of cellulose,
hemicelluloses, pectin, lignin, and others, and thus they are not to be considered in the
same, straightforward way as monofilament fibres (Saheb and Jog, 1999). The main
issue in the use of natural fibre composites is the fibre matrix adhesion. The function of
the matrix is to transfer the load to the stiff fibres through shear stresses at the interface.
This can be achieved if a sufficient bonding between the matrix and the fibres is
ensured. Insufficient interfacial bonding at the interface implies that their advantages
cannot be fully utilized and that they are exposed to environmental attacks. Poor
adhesion between hydrophobic polymers and hydrophilic fibres implies poor properties
79
D. Bachtiar et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 1 (2010) 79-90
for the composites. These properties can be improved by physical treatments (cold
plasma treatment and corona treatment) and chemical treatments (maleic anhydride,
organosilanes, isocyanates, sodium hydroxide, permanganate and peroxide) (Wambua et
al., 2003). Rowell (1998) gave considerations for the selection of a fibre chemical
treatment such as ability to react with hydroxyl groups, its toxicity, easy to removal
after treatment, low boiling point liquid, effective at low temperature, and cost. Alkali
treatment is also an alternative as many times these chemicals swell the cell wall matrix
structure and give better penetration (Rowell, 1998).
Sugar palm fibre is a potential source of natural fibre from Arenga pinnata, a
member of Palmae family. This plant commonly grows in tropical regions such as the
Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is naturally a forest species. The full length of
the trunk of an Arenga pinnata tree is completely covered by black fibre. This black
fibre can be used for brooms, paint brushes, septic tank base filters, clear water filters,
door mats, carpets, ropes, chair/sofa cushions, and for fish nests to hatch eggs
(Suwartapraja, 2003). In certain regions, traditional application of ijuk includes
handcraft for kupiah (Acehnese typical headgear used in prayer) and roofing for
traditional houses in Mandailing, North Sumatera. The significance of the study is to try
exploring the potential of the abundant natural resources from forests for use as a
reinforcing fibre in composites. The use of sugar palm fibre also has an economical
advantage if glass or carbon fibre can be replaced by this sugar palm fibre. Mechanical
properties such as tensile properties, flexural properties, and morphological aspects of
sugar palm fibre reinforced epoxy composites have been studied by Siregar (2005). The
study of the mechanical properties of sugar palm fibre reinforced epoxy composites
gave promising results. The results of flexural strength tests of sugar palm fibre
reinforced epoxy composites indicated that the 10 wt% woven roving fibre has the
highest value compared to other fibre contents and arrangements. The work of Siregar
(2005) has shown that using sugar palm fibres as a reinforcement agent for the epoxy
matrix has provided a new form of composite with good strength and rigidity.
Suriani et al. (2007) examined or studied the interfacial adhesion of tensile
specimens of sugar palm fibre reinforced epoxy composites. The composite specimens
were prepared at various fibre weights of 10%, 15% and 20% with different fibre
orientations such as woven roving, long random and chopped random. Interfacial
adhesion study of tensile strength specimens reveals that the woven roving fibre
composites gave good interface adhesion between the fibre and the matrix as compared
to long random and chopped random fibre reinforced epoxy composites. However, none
of the earlier studies looked into the effect of alkaline treatment of fibre on flexural
properties of the composites and therefore, such a study is presented in this paper.
The procedures of the present study include preparation of materials, i.e. fibre, matrix
resin, and NaOH as treatment solution, parameters of treatment, fabrication of
composites and determining the flexural properties. The matrix selected for the study
was epoxy resin and the ratio between resin and hardener was 4:1 by weight. The sugar
palm fibre was collected from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and a retting process was applied
in order to separate the stalk from the core of fibre. In this process, bundles of sugar
palm fibre were soaked in a water tank until the dirt vanished from the core section and
the stalk was separated from the core. The sugar palm fibre stalks were occasionally
stirred to facilitate the separation process. The water was changed several times in order
80
Flexural properties of alkaline treated sugar palm fibre reinforced epoxy composites
to reduce the dirt resulting from the retting process. Before using the sugar palm fibre,
it was dried for about two weeks at room temperature. Figure 1 shows the bundle of
sugar palm fibres. The chemical treatment solution was sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
commercially supplied by Fisher Chemicals Co. This solution was prepared in liquid
form in the bottle with a concentration of 1 M.
Figure 1: Bundle of sugar palm fibres
(a) before fibre loading (b) after fibre loading
Figure 2: The process of making a specimen
The alkaline treatment was conducted with concentrations of 0.25 M and 0.5 M
NaOH, at three different soaking times, namely, 60 minutes, 4 hours and 8 hours. These
variations were made to optimize the treatment parameter. The concentrations were
ensured by the addition of water at certain percentages of the original NaOH (1 M).
Sugar palm fibres were immersed in NaOH solution at various concentrations and
soaking times, and after that they were rinsed with distilled water until the rinsed
solution reached neutral (pH 7). Then, the fibres were dried at room temperature for 4
days. The mould for preparing the specimens with hand lay-up technique was made of
composite boards with the dimensions of 200 mm (L) x 150 mm (W) and a thickness of
3.2 mm. The required equipment for making the mould for the hand lay up process were
glass, transparent plastics for the bottom layer, and a spacer frame.
The mould was made from the glass and transparent plastic and the process of
making the mould used 3 layers of double-sided tape to form a square shape. The
treated and untreated fibres were cut based on the mould size. Then the fibre was placed
81
over the transparent plastic in the bottom of the mould prepared earlier. Figure 2 shows
the mould before and after fibre loading.
First, epoxy and hardener were mixed together based on the weight percentage
to form a matrix, and then the matrix was poured over the fibre and compressed and
distributed evenly until it achieved the thickness of between 3.0 mm and 3.2 mm. After
that, the remaining mixture of epoxy resin and hardener was poured over the unfinished
composite plate and then pressed and pushed down with a finger to remove the bubbles.
The optimum way to ensure good curing to produce a standard quality specimen was by
mixing the epoxy and hardener for approximately 10 minutes. The curing time was
around 20–24 hours applied at the room temperature condition of 25–30 °C until the
composite plate dried evenly. For the sugar palm epoxy composites, flexural properties
such as flexural strength and flexural modulus were determined. Each composite board
was cut into test samples (three or four specimens for each type of fibre model were
tested). The cutting process used a handsaw and other equipment (jigsaw). The
dimension of the specimen used to carry out test was adapted from ASTM D790-99
(2000) for flexural testing. All these tests were carried out for untreated and treated
sugar palm fibre reinforced epoxy composites.
Flexural tests were performed on a universal testing machine (Instron 5566)
using the 3-point bending method according ASTM D790-99 (2000). The specimen
dimensions were 127 mm (L) x 12.7 mm (W) and 3.2 mm thickness. The specimens
were tested at a crosshead speed of 5 mm/min. The bending stress is calculated from the
measured load, as follows:
3PL
max  (1)
2bd 2
where,
max = flexural strength, P = load at yield (max. load), L = support span (mm),
b = width (mm), d = thickness (mm).
Finally, an SEM micrograph PHILIPS was used to identify the fracture

morphology of the composite samples and verify what happened in the interface
between the fibre and matrix after stress loading.
Table 1 shows the results for the flexural properties of sugar palm composite
comprising the untreated specimens and the alkali treated specimens with different
concentrations and soaking times. Both the flexural strength and flexural modulus
values were extracted from each of the three specimen samples and represented by the
mean value and standard deviation. For a clear understanding about these results, for a
detailed discussion of the flexural strength and flexural modulus follows.
82
Table 1: The flexural properties of a sugar palm fibre reinforced epoxy composite
Strength Modulus
No. Type MPa MPa
1 no treatment 77.73 2805.23 mean
9.39 927.54 S.D.
2 0.25 M / 1 hr 96.69 3510.54 mean
22.14 566.25 S.D.
3 0.25 M / 4 hrs 64.42 2213.25 mean
6.47 381.66 S.D.
4 0.25 M / 8 hrs 72.63 2548.92 mean
16.27 242.52 S.D.
5 0.5 M / 1 hr. 85.30 5028.92 mean
30.17 1146.42 S.D.
6 0.5 M / 4 hrs. 58.17 6947.88 mean
8.97 1389.59 S.D.
7 0.5 M / 8 hrs. 90.68 4672.49 mean
5.00 1227.32 S.D.
S.D. is standard deviation
Flexural Strength
Figure 3 shows the flexural strength of sugar palm epoxy composites for untreated and
alkali treated. From this figure, it is seen that a variation in the flexural strength appears
upon a change in the type of treatment. From Figure 4, the flexural strength of the
composites with the 0.25 M NaOH treatment shows a dominant value over that of the
0.5 M NaOH for 1 hour and 4 hours soaking time, but is inferior for 8 hours. However,
the optimum value of the flexural strength (96.71 MPa) is for the case of 1 hr of soaking
time at 0.25 M alkali concentration, i.e. an increase of 24.41% from untreated
composite. Bledzki and Gassan (1999) reported on the alkali treatment of natural fibre
removal of lignin and hemicellulose. When hemicelluloses are removed, the
interfibrillar region is likely to be less dense and less rigid and thereby makes the fibrils
more capable of rearranging themselves along the direction of stress loading. When
fibres are stretched, such rearrangements amongst the fibrils would result in better load
sharing by them and hence result in higher stress development in the fibre. According to
Cao et al. (2005) the fibres in the untreated fibres were packed together but got split
after the treatments. This is called fibrillation, which breaks the untreated fibre bundle
down into smaller ones by dissolution of the hemicellulose. The fibrillation increases
the effective surface area available for contact with the matrix, and hence the interfacial
was improved.
83
120
Flexural Strength (MPa)

100
80
60
40
20
s.
s.
r.
s.
.
.
ed
rs
hr
1h
hr
hr
-1
8h
8h
at
-4
-4
-
tr e
-
5M
M
un
5M
5M
25
25
25
0.
0.
0.
0.
0.
0.
The Type of Treatment
Figure 3. The flexural strength of sugar palm epoxy composites for

untreated and alkaline treated.
120
100
Flexural Strength (MPa)
80
0.25 M NaOH
60
0.5 M NaOH
40
20
0
untreated 1 hr. 4 hrs. 8 hrs.
Soaking Time
Figure 4. Average flexural strength of sugar palm fibre reinforced

epoxy composite vs. soaking time
84
(a) untreated composites (b) 0.25 M alkaline treated for 1 hour
(c) 0.25 M alkaline treated for 4 hours (d) 0.25 M alkaline treated for 8 hours
(e) 0.5 M alkaline treated for 1 hour (f) 0.5 M alkaline treated for 8 hours
Figure 5: The SEM visualization of fracture characteristics of sugar palm fibre

reinforced epoxy composites.
85
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 6: The surface of fibre for 1, 4 and 8 hours soaking time
Alkaline treatment also significantly changes the strength properties of

individual natural fibre. Edeerozey et al. (2007) reported their study on the effect of a
high concentration of alkaline solution on kenaf fibre. From the fibre bundle test, fibre
treated with 6% NaOH show the maximum value of strength, and when the NaOH
concentration is increased to 9%, the average of strength has shown a significant
decrease. Hence, the combination between the strength characteristics of the fibre and
characteristics of interfacial bonding between fibres and matrix contribute to yield the
final flexural strength of the composites.
Figure 5 shows the morphology of the fracture surface of the sugar palm fibre
reinforced epoxy composites for untreated and all types of alkaline treatment. The weak
bonding between fibre and matrix is indicated by holes as a result of the pull-out of the
fibre from matrix locking. And the good interfacial bonding between the fibre and
matrix is indicated by the existence of the fibre on the matrix although the composites
break after stress loading. Figure 5 verifies the value of flexural strength from the
experiment. The sample with less flexural strength is indicated by the amount of holes
which is much more than that of the other sample with higher flexural strength. The
sample treated with 0.5 M alkaline and 8 hours soaking time shows good interfacial
bonding as indicated by the presence of fewer holes in the fracture surface. But, the final
flexural strength is still low compared with the other alkali treatment that gives the
maximum value. This is maybe due to the weakness of the individual fibre caused by
the high concentration of alkaline treatment. The maximum strength was reached at a
soaking time of 1 hour for 0.25 M NaOH, and the strength decreased for 4 and 8 hours
soaking time. Alkaline treatment affects the surface roughness and fibre strength. Figure
6 shows that there is not much difference on the surface of fibre for 1, 4 and 8 hours
soaking time. Hence, the decrease of strength may be caused by a decrease of the fibre
strength itself as the effect of the soaking time. Figures 7 and 8 also show the
comparison between the surface of the 0.5 M / 8 hrs. treated sugar palm fibre on epoxy
matrices and the surface of the 0.25 M / 8 hrs. treated sugar palm fibre on epoxy
matrices. The surface in Figure 7 is rougher than the surface in Figure 8, indicating that
a higher concentration alkali solution contributes to change the smoothness of that fibre
surface.
86
Figure 7: The surface of the 0.5 M / 8 hrs. treated sugar palm fibre on epoxy matrices
Figure 8: The surface of the 0.25 M / 8 hrs. treated sugar palm fibre on epoxy matrices
Flexural Modulus
Figure 9 shows the flexural modulus of sugar palm epoxy composites for untreated and
the alkali treated. It is seen that the improvement of the flexural modulus emerges when
the concentration of treatment solution increases to 0.5 M. Although the modulus
decrease at soaking time 8 hours, but still high compare to the modulus of composites
with 0.25 M NaOH treatment.
87
9000
8000
Flexural Modulus (MPa)

7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
.
ed
.
rs
rs
rs
rs
hr
hr
-1
4h
8h
4h
8h
at
1
re
-
-
-
M
-
M
5M
5M
5M
5M
nt
.5
u
.2
.2
.2
0.
0.
0
0
T he T ype of T reatment
Figure 9: The flexural modulus of sugar palm epoxy composites for untreated and the
alkali treated.
9000
8000
7000
Flexural Modulus (MPa)
6000
5000
0.25 M NaOH
0.5 M NaOH
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
untreated 1 hr. 4 hrs. 8 hrs.
Soaking Time
Figure 10: Average flexural modulus of sugar palm fibre reinforced

epoxy composite vs. soaking time
The flexural modulus is the stiffness parameter and Figure 10 shows the flexural
modulus versus the soaking time, it is seen the comparison of flexural modulus of 0.25
M alkaline treated composites with the 0.5 M alkaline treated. Alkaline treatment with
0.5 M NaOH increases the flexural modulus of sugar palm reinforced epoxy
composites. And the treatment with 0.25 M NaOH produces the same modulus as that
of the untreated composites. Rong et al. (2001) reported that the alkali treatment for
sisal fibres provides improved crystallinity of cellulose and removes the hemi-cellulose
and lignin content. This suggests that sisal fibre becomes relatively ductile after the
removal of some hemi-cellulose and lignin. This can result in higher fibre stiffness due
to the increased crystallinity of hard cellulose. For the case of sugar palm fibre, a similar
reason for the improvement in the flexural modulus is viewed.
88
CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that the maximum flexural strength (96.71 MPa) of the composite is
for the alkali treatment of 0.25 M alkali solution and 1 hr soaking time. Under that
condition, the increase of flexural strength from the untreated sample is about 24.41%.
But, the maximum flexural modulus took place as a result of the 0.5 M NaOH solution
with 4 hours soaking time, i.e. 6948 MPa, an improvement of 148% from the untreated
fibre composite. The high concentration of the alkali treatment provides for increasing
of the flexural modulus significantly. It may be caused by the alkaline effect on fibres
that increases their crystallinity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are indebted to staff at the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Forestry,
Universiti Putra Malaysia and Malaysian Nuclear Agency (MNA) for their support.
REFERENCES
ASTM D790-99. (2000) Standard test method for flexural properties of unreinforced
and reinforced plastics and electrical insulating materials. USA: American
Society for Testing Materials.
Bledzki, A.K. and Gassan, J. (1999) Composites Reinforced With Cellulose Based
Fibres. Progress in Polymer Science, 24: 221–274.
Cao, Y., Shibata, S. and Fukumoto, I. (2005) Press Forming Short Natural Fiber-
Reinforced Biodegradable Resin: Effect of Fiber Volume and Length on
Flexural Properties. Polymer Testing, 24: 1005–1011.
Edeerozey, A.M.M., Akil, H.M., Azhar, A.B. and Ariffin, M.I.Z. (2007) Chemical
Modification of Kenaf Fibres. Material Letters, 10: 2023–2025.
Herrera-Franco, P.J. and Valadez-Gonzalez, A. (2004) Mechanical Properties of
Continuous Natural Fibre–Reinforced Polymer Composites. Composites Part A:
Applied Science and Manufacturing, 35: 339–345.
Rong, M.Z., Zhang, M.Q., Liu, Y., Yang, G.C. and Zeng, H.M. (2001) The Effect of
Fiber Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of Unidirectional Sisal Reinforced
Epoxy Composites. Composites Science and Technology, 61: 1437–1447.
Rowell, R.M. (1998) Property Enhanced Natural Fibre Composite Material Based on
Chemical Modification. in: Science and Technology of Polymers and Advanced
Materials, Prasad, P.N. (Ed.). New York: Plenum Press, pp. 717–732.
Saheb, N.D. and Jog, J.P. (1999) Natural Fibre Polymer Composites: A Review.
Advanced Polymer Technology, 18: 351–363.
Siregar, J.P. 2005. Tensile and Flexural Strength of Arenga pinnata Filament (Ijuk
Filament) Reinforced Epoxy Composites. Master of Science thesis. Universiti
Putra Malaysia.
Suriani, M.J., Hamdan, M.M., Sastra, H.Y. and Sapuan, S.M. (2007) Study of nterfacial
Adhesion of Tensile Specimens of Arenga Pinnata Fiber Reinforced
Composites, Multidiscipline Modeling in Material and Structure, 3(2): 213–224.
Suwartapraja, O.S. (2003) Arenga pinnata: A Case Study of Indigenous Knowledge on
the Utilization of a Wild Food Plant in West Java.
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Wambua, P., Ivens, J. and Verpoest, I. (2003) Natural Fibres: Can They Replace Glass
in the Fibre-Reinforced Plastics? Composites Science and Technology, 63:
1259–1264.
Wool, R.P. (2005) Bio-based Composites From Soybean Oil and Chicken Feathers. In:
Bio-Based Polymers and Composites. Wool, R.P. and Sun, X.S. (Eds.).
Burlington: Elsevier Academic Press.
90
STUDY OF FLOW IN AIR-INTAKE SYSTEM FOR A SINGLE-CYLINDER

GO-KART ENGINE
S. A. Sulaiman, S. H. M. Murad, I. Ibrahim and Z. A. Abdul Karim
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS

31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
Phone: +605-3687013, Fax: +605-3656461
Email: shaharin@petronas.com.my
ABSTRACT
Intake-air manifolds have a major effect on a vehicle’s engine performance and

emission of noise and pollutants. Differences in engine outputs and applications require
different designs of intake-air manifolds in order to achieve the best volumetric
efficiency and thus the best engine performance. In the present work, the flow
characteristics of air flowing in various designs of air-intake manifold of a 200-cc four-
stroke Go-Kart engine are studied. The study is done by three dimensional simulations
of the flow of air within six designs of air-intake manifold into the combustion chamber
by using commercial CFD software, Fluent version 6.2. The simulation results are
validated by an experimental study performed using a flow bench. The study reveals
that the variations in the geometry of the air-intake system can result in a difference of
up to 20% in the mass flow rate of air entering the combustion chamber.
Keywords: Air Flow, Go-Kart, Air-Intake
INTRODUCTION
In Go-Kart racing, it is common that the race format is a sprint race, which takes place
on dedicated kart circuits resembling small road courses, with left and right turns. The
lengths of tracks for racing range from 400 to 1600 meters (James, 2004). During
sprinting, the engine is ramped quickly at various speeds due to the twisty course tracks.
It is very seldom that an engine could go at high speed for a long time. The Go-Kart
constantly needs to apply brakes and re-accelerate when taking corners. Thus, it is
important that the engine can deliver a high torque at even low speeds; this can be
achieved with modification of the air intake manifold. In a single cylinder engine, the
maximum output performance achievable is related to the amount of air that is trapped
in the combustion chamber. This is defined by the volumetric efficiency, ηv, which is
the ratio of the mass of air trapped in the cylinder to that contained in the swept volume
of the cylinder at inlet manifold density. If the volumetric efficiency could be increased
significantly even at low speeds, the engine output would be expected to be higher.
It has long been realized that the design of air intake manifolds has a large effect
on the performance of reciprocating engines. The unsteady nature of the induction
means that the effect of the manifold on charging and discharging is dependent on the
engine speed. The manifold must be designed to enable the engine to ingest air
(Pulkrabek, 2004), and thus the inside diameter of the manifold must be able to
accommodate the bulk air flow in order to avoid low volumetric efficiency. On the other
hand, if the manifold flow path is too restrictive, the desired high air velocity and
91
S. A. Sulaiman et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 1 (2010) 91-104
turbulence cannot be assured, and this will consequently affect its capability in carrying
fuel droplets as well as in enhancing evaporation and air–fuel mixing (Winterbone and
Pearson, 1999). In order to minimize flow resistance, the manifold should have no sharp
bends and the interior wall surface should be smooth. Furthermore, the impedance of
the manifold is a function of the frequency of the pulses entering it (Fontana et al.,
2003), and thus it is possible to tune engine manifolds to give a particular power output
characteristic as a function of speed.
Study of the effect of the geometry of the intake manifold was previously done
using various designs, without changing the engine specifications, in a wide open
throttle condition (Winterbone and Pearson, 1999). The intake manifold used was of a
modular construction so that the primary pipe length, plenum volume and secondary
pipe length could be varied. It was reported that the plenum volume could have a
profound effect on the control at idling speed, which could be beneficial, although it
reduced the engine’s performance. The motion of fluid into the combustion chamber is
important to speed up the evaporation of fuel, to enhance air-fuel mixing and to increase
combustion speed and efficiency (Srinivasan, 2001). Due to the high velocities
involved, the air flow within the engine system is turbulent, which causes the
thermodynamic heat transfer rates within the engine to increase by an order of
magnitude. As the engine speed increases, the flow rate increases, and consequently
increases the swirl, squish and turbulence intensity (McLandress et al., 1996). This
increases the real time rate of fuel evaporation, mixing of the fuel vapour and air and
combustion. The high turbulence near the top-dead-center when ignition occurs is very
desirable for combustion, as it breaks up and spreads the flame front many times faster.
The objective of the present work is to study the flow characteristics of air
flowing in various designs of air-intake manifold used for a single-cylinder Go-Kart
engine. The study is conducted by experiments and also by using computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) simulation software, Fluent. The effects of different air intake
geometry or configurations are studied. The experiments, which are conducted by using
a commercial flow bench, are also used to validate the CFD simulation results. The
parameters of interest are the flow rate and the flow coefficient of air entering the
combustion chamber.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The air-intake manifold was meant to serve a single cylinder 4-stroke spark ignition
engine of an undisclosed manufacturer. The engine’s displacement was 199 cm 3 with a
bore and stroke of 70 mm and 51.8 mm respectively. There were only two valves for the
cylinder; each for the air intake and the exhaust. The intake valve diameter was 32 mm.
A challenge for the manufacturer would be to get the highest air flow rate entering
through the single valve opening. In the present work, only the engine’s cylinder head
was used.
The flow bench equipment, SuperFlow SF-1020, was used to measure the
characteristics of air entering the intake manifold and combustion chamber. Some of the
experimental results using the flow bench would also be used to validate the results of
the CFD simulations. The flow bench consisted of an open circuit ducting system that
had an air pump at the downstream to induce air flow. The pressure within the ducting
system could be varied by changing the speed of the air pump. The flow bench
equipment setting is shown in Figure 1. The engine’s cylinder head with complete
valves assembly was attached to an acrylic chamber, which resembled the engine’s
92
Study of flow in air-intake system for a single-cylinder Go-Kart engine
cylinder, at the top of the bench. A dial gauge was mounted at the top of the intake
valve to enable precision variation of the valve lifts. The intake manifold was attached
to the cylinder head to seal the air from leakage. The measurement instrumentations for
the system were linked to a data acquisition system. The specifications of the flow
bench system are shown in Table 1. Detailed descriptions of the system were reported
elsewhere (Ismail et al., 2008).
Dial Gauge
Valve Knob
Intake Manifold
Cylinder
Head
Flange Adapter
Figure 1: Setting of the flow bench test
Table 1: Specifications of the flow bench system
Parameters Value
Make and Model SuperFlow, SF-1020
Flow Measurement Accuracy: 0.05%
Flow Repeatability: 0.25%
Flow Range: 12 - 470 l/s
Pressure Accuracy 0.13 cm of water
Pressure Range 0-165 cm of water
Temperature Accuracy 0.3° C
In the experiments, only the intake valve lift, L, was varied, while the exhaust
valve remained close at all time. The intake valve was lifted, from a fully closed
position, at an increment of one millimeter to a maximum lift of 8.2 mm. The
experiments were monitored in term of the ratio of valve lift (L) to valve diameter (D)
or L/D ratio. Such a universal ratio is used elsewhere (Ismail et al., 2008) to enable the
comparison of parameters such as flow efficiencies regardless of the size of the valve.
In each of the experiments, the air flow rate was recorded. In addition, the air
temperature was measured to determine the density of air flowing through the intake
93
manifold. The pressure difference was set to about 508 mm water column to ensure
negative pressure at the downstream of the flow bench.
204 mm 102 mm
Cylinder D = 23.4 mm Cylinder D = 23.4 mm

Head Head
(a) with intake manifold; l = 204 mm (b) with intake manifold; l = 102 mm
150 mm 150 mm
102 mm 102 mm
Cylinder D = 72 mm Cylinder D = 72 mm
Head Head
(c) with intake manifold and surge (d) with surge tank and intake
tank manifold
150 mm
Cylinder D = 72 mm Cylinder
Head Head
(e) with surge tank only (f) without intake manifold

* Not to scale
Figure 2: Variations of the intake manifold configurations for testing with the flow
bench
Figure 2 shows the variations of intake manifold configurations tested in the

experiments. In Figures 2 (a) and (b), the intake manifolds were straight stainless steel
pipes with lengths of 204 mm and 102 mm, respectively. The internal diameter of the
pipe was 23.4 mm and its thickness was 1.5 mm. The surface roughness was 0.5 m.
The purpose of having two different pipe lengths was to study the effect of intake
manifold length to the air flow. The effect of surge tank within the intake manifold, as
shown in Figures 2(c), (d) and (e), was also investigated. The difference between the
94
three configurations was only the position of the surge tank. The surge tank was a
cylindrical stainless steel chamber with an internal diameter of 72 mm and length of 150
mm. The reason for conducting the experiments with a surge tank was because it could
provide a better air flow rate at higher engine speeds, and thus an increased power at
high end RPM during racing. In Figure 2(e), the surge tank was arranged with no pipe.
For comparison purpose, a test was also conducted without the use of intake manifold.
From the experimental measurements, the flow coefficient of air passing through the
intake valve was determined in order to assess its efficiency. The flow coefficient, CD is
given by:
m
CD  a (1)
m
t
where ma and mt are the actual and theoretical mass flow rate of air entering the
combustion chamber, respectively. The actual mass flow rate is determined
experimentally and is given by:
P
ma Q (2)
RT
where Q is the volume flow rate, P is the local pressure at the downstream of the intake
valve, R is the gas constant of air and T is the local air temperature. The theoretical mass
flow rate is calculated by:
t 
m s Ak v s (3)
where s is the isentropic air density and A k is the valve seat area. The isentropic flow
velocity, vs , is given by:
 1

2  P  

vs  RT 1  
2
(4)
1    
 1  
P
 
where P1 and P2 are the air pressures at the upstream and downstream of the intake
valve and is the index of isentropic expansion.
SIMULATION SETUP
The intake air manifold system and the combustion chamber were modelled in three
dimensions using graphic software, CATIA V5. The model design would resemble the
path of air entering the combustion chamber. Shown in Figure 3 is the model of the
combustion chamber with the air intake path and valve. The model was meshed with
tetrahedral type by using meshing software, Gambit. The meshes were considerably
finer (1,437,285 mesh volumes) in the combustion chamber where the results of
analysis were critical. The flow simulation was performed by using the CFD software,
Fluent. The simulations were run based on the Navier–Stokes equations under the K–
95
two-equation turbulent model at steady state. The air density was assumed to be
constant in the simulation. The Reynolds number was calculated to be 23,765.
Figure 3: The engine’s combustion chamber and air intake valve
The overall view of the modelled system is shown in Figure 4, in which l is the
intake manifold length. Shown in Table 2 are the variations and boundary conditions in
each of the CFD simulations conducted in the present work. The simulation setting
using an intake manifold with a length of 204 mm is similar to that shown in Figure
2(a), and thus the CFD and experimental results can be compared. Similarly, the setting
without intake manifold is similar to that shown in Figure 2(f). The third simulation was
conducted using an intake manifold of a different design that resembled a surge tank but
with a smooth transition of edge between the tank and the pipe. A bell mouth inlet was
incorporated with the intake manifold to smooth the in-flowing air. The design and
dimensions of the intake manifold for the third simulation are shown in Figure 5.
Intake Valve
Intake Manifold
Air Flow Direction
Combustion Chamber
Figure 4: View of the simulated system with an intake manifold length, l, of 204 mm
96
Table 2: Intake manifold configurations and boundary conditions
Simulation Intake Manifold configuration

1 With intake manifold; l = 204 mm
2 Without intake manifold
3 Surge tank and bell mouth (Figure 5)
Boundary Conditions
Parameters Conditions
Inlet Pressure 101.32 kPa
Outlet Pressure 96.08 kPa
0.5 µm
Intake Manifold Wall No Slip Condition
Roughness
Stationary Wall
25 µm
Cylinder Head Wall No Slip Condition
Roughness
Stationary Wall
Figure 5: Design of the intake manifold with surge tank and bell-mouth inlet
Experimental Results
Shown in Figure 6 is the variation of air flow rate into the combustion chamber with the
valve lift, as measured in the experiment. In general, it is seen that the trend of
increment of flow rate with valve lift is similar for all test variations. Nevertheless, the
rate of change of the flow rate can be divided into three regimes: A, B and C.
97
45
40
Regime-B
35
30
Flow rate (l/s)
Regime-C
25
20 Regime-A
w/o Intake Manifold
15 204-mm Pipe
102-mm Pipe
10
Pipe + Surge Tank
Surge Tank + Pipe
5
Surge Tank only
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Valve lift (mm)
Figure 6: Variation of flow rate of air with the valve lift positions for various designs
In Regime-A, during which the valve lifts are between 0 and 3 mm, the flow
rates are seen to be nearly the same for all tests. The largest difference in flow rate
within Regime-A is only 1.4 l/s. The small variation within this regime is probably
caused by the limited amount of air flowing into the combustion chamber as a result of
the small opening of the valve. In other word, the design or configuration of the intake
air manifold is shown to have no significant effect on the air flow rate within this
regime. The average mass flow rate at 3 mm valve lift is 19.5 l/s, after which the results
are seen to be diverging from each other. The divergence is sustained until a valve lift of
6 mm, and this is identified as Regime-B. When no intake manifold is used it is seen
that the mass flow rate is the highest, probably due to reduced flow restriction.
Interestingly, the slope for the experiment without intake manifold is seen to be higher
in Regime-B than that in Regime-A. This is possibly due to a further reduction of
friction loss when the valve lift is higher than 3 mm. Conversely, for other tests in
Regime-B, the slopes are seen to be decreasing, probably due to an increase in friction
losses within the intake air manifold. With the incorporation of a surge tank, the friction
loss is even higher due to the sudden change in diameter, and this causes lower air flow
rates. Due to the variation in flow rates, it is suggested that the condition in Regime-B is
the most crucial in deciding the design of the intake manifold.
In Regime-C, it is seen that the slopes of the graphs reduce more but are all
maintained at nearly the same gradient. Further variation of the intake manifold does
not cause any significant change in the air flow rate. It must be noted that although the
highest amount of air flow rate into the combustion chamber is experienced when
operated without an intake manifold, such a configuration is not possible for the engine
due to the need to pre-mix the fuel and air. During the pre-mixing, the fuel is atomized
to enhance the power of the engine and to lower the emission rate.
98
CFD Simulation Results
Validations of the CFD simulation results were performed for two settings, which were
the engine without intake manifold and with a 204-mm intake manifold. The air intake
for these comparisons was set up to a maximum valve lift of 8.2 mm, or wide open
throttle. Shown in Figure 7 (a) is the variation of flow coefficient with the ratio of valve
lift/diameter (L/D) for the experimental results (from Figure 6) and the CFD results
without the intake manifold. It is seen that the trends of results are similar for both the
experiment and CFD simulation. The difference between the results is seen to be
reasonable. The graph shows a consistent increase in the flow coefficient for the CFD
simulation. However, in the experimental results the rate of increase in the flow
coefficient is seen to reduce slightly at L/D ratios of 0.2 or higher.
0.8 0.7
0.7 0.6
0.6
0.5
Flow Coefficient
Flow Coefficient
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2 Experi ment Experi ment
CFD CFD
0.1 0.1
0.0 0
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30
L/D L/D
(a) without intake manifold (b) with intake manifold
Figure 7: Variation of flow coefficients with L/D
Shown in Figure 7(b) is the variation of the flow coefficient with the ratio L/D
for the experimental and CFD results, using a 204-mm length pipe intake manifold. The
results in Figure 7(b) are seen to have similar trends to those in Figure 7(a). Likewise,
the differences between the experimental and CFD simulation results are reasonable.
Thus it is suggested that the CFD software and setting are accurate and thus the
simulation results can be used with confidence in decisions related to design of the
intake manifold. The consistently higher values of flow coefficient for the CFD
simulations than those for the experiments, as shown in Figure 7, are probably due to
the simplification of the geometry of the intake port and valve, which results in the
model being not exactly the same as the actual system. Furthermore, there could have
been various sources of friction losses within the flow bench system that could not be
accounted for in the CFD simulation. Sources of friction losses using similar flow bench
can be found in the reference (Ismail et al., 2008). Although the flow coefficient in the
combustion chamber is important due to its relations to volumetric efficiency, other
important aspects should not be neglected. Within the study, the effects of swirl and
99
tumble are evidenced in the flows. A comparison was made to qualitatively investigate
the effect of different lengths of intake manifold on the resulting swirl and tumble.
Shown in Figures 8 and 9 are velocity vector plots of the air flow within the combustion
chamber for visualization of tumble and swirl, respectively. The simulations were
carried out for straight pipe intake manifolds of different lengths. Comparison of
tumbles in Figures 8 (a) and (b) shows that there are more eddies in the combustion
chamber when a longer intake manifold is used. In Figure 8 (a), it is also seen that there
is a stagnant-like zone (bottom right of image), which is less desirable.
(a) Tumble: l = 200 mm (b) Tumble: l = 230 mm

Figure 8: Typical velocity vector plots for visualization of tumble in the combustion
chamber using different lengths of intake manifold
The swirl motions within the combustion chamber are shown in Figures 9 (a)
and (b). With the intake manifold length of 200 mm, the swirl motion is seen to be less
significant. However, with a longer intake manifold (l = 230 mm), the swirl effect is
obvious with the presence of a few large eddies, and hence would lead to enhanced fuel-
air mixing.
(a) Swirl: l = 200 mm (b) Swirl: l = 230 mm
Figure 9: Typical velocity vector plots for visualization of swirl in the combustion
chamber using different lengths of intake manifold
100
In general, it is seen from the results in Figures 8 and 9 that a longer intake
manifold can increase the effects of tumble and swirl, which are necessary for fuel-air
mixing. Nevertheless, it is also shown in the experiment that increasing the intake
manifold length will reduce the flow coefficient. Hence, a trade-off between the effects
of swirl/tumble and flow coefficient must be considered in the selection of air-intake
manifold design.
Investigation of the Boundary Layer Within the Intake Manifold
The presence of contact surface within the intake manifold is related to friction loss; this
also explains the high flow rate of air for the experiment without intake manifold. The
fluid particles in the layer in contact with the surface of the pipe come to a complete
stop due to the no-slip condition. This layer also causes the fluid particles in the
adjacent layers to slow down gradually as a result of friction. To make up for this
velocity reduction, the velocity of the fluid at the mid section of the pipe has to increase
to keep the mass flow rate through the pipe constant. The region of flow in which the
effects of the viscous shearing forces caused by the fluid viscosity are felt is the velocity
boundary layer. In the boundary layer, the viscous effects and velocity changes are
significant. For the fluid flow in the entrance region of a pipe, the wall shear stress is
usually the highest at the pipe inlet where the thickness of the boundary layer is
smallest. Therefore the pressure drop is expected to be higher at the entrance region of
a pipe.
The hydrodynamic entry length, which is the region from the pipe inlet to the
point at which the boundary layer merges at the centerline for the turbulent flow, can be
approximated as (Cravalho et al., 2005):
Lh.turb 1.359 D Re 0D.25 (5)
where D is the internal diameter of the pipe and ReD is the Reynolds number. The
calculated entry length is found to be 0.533 m and thus a fully developed air flow
cannot be achieved because the intake pipe has only a maximum total length of 0.3 m.
The air flow will not be able to develop fully due to insufficient length of pipe. This is
also illustrated in Figure 10 by the velocity profiles as determined from the CFD results.
It is seen in Figure 10 that the boundary layer of the air flow within is not fully
developed. This is due to insufficient length for the velocity profile to become fully
developed. The boundary layer may be differently developed for different air intake
manifold geometry. In addition, the surface roughness of the intake manifold may
determine the pattern of the boundary layer (Merkle et al., 1977).
101
Figure 10: Schematic of the computed velocity profiles in the intake manifold of 204-
mm length pipe
Simulation of the New Design of Intake Manifold
Figure 11 shows the variation of flow coefficient obtained from CFD simulation for the
new design of intake manifold as depicted in Figure 5. Also shown in the figure are the
results for the designs without intake manifold and with the 204-mm pipe for
comparison. The simulation conditions for each of the setting were the same.
Comparison of the results in Figure 11 shows a slight improvement in the flow
coefficient as compared to simulation with a 204-mm intake manifold particularly at
L/D ratios of greater than 0.10. Nevertheless, the flow coefficient for the system without
intake manifold is seen to be the highest, as earlier elaborated for Figure 6. Thus, it is
proposed that the new design has the potential of increasing the flow coefficient and
volumetric efficiency, particularly if the carbureted system were to be replaced by a fuel
injection system within the intake manifold.
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Flow Coefficient
0.5
0.4
w/o IM
0.3
IM 204-mm pi pe
0.2 New IM Des i gn
0.1
0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35
L/D
Figure 11: Variation of simulated flow coefficients with L/D for various intake manifold
designs
102
CONCLUSIONS
The present work shows that the flow of air through the intake valve, as a result
of various intake manifold configurations, can be divided in three regimes. At small
valve lifts (0 to 3 mm), the flow rates are indifferent to the intake manifold. Within the
second regime, when the valve lifts are between 3 and 6 mm, the flow rates of air within
the intake valve differ individually depending on the configuration or design of the
intake manifold. It is suggested that the behaviour of flow in this regime be used as one
of the main considerations in choosing a manifold design. Although it is seen that the
highest amount of air flow rate into the chamber is experienced when operated without
the intake manifold, it is not possible for the engine to have such a configuration due to
the need to pre-mix the fuel and air and to atomize the liquid fuel; unless a direct
injection system is adopted. Despite the good effects of swirl and tumble demonstrated
by the use of long intake air manifold in the CFD simulation, it is seen from the
experiment that long manifolds would result in a drop in the flow coefficient. Thus a
trade off between the effects of swirl and tumble and good flow coefficient must be
studied in choosing the best intake manifold configuration.
Comparisons between the experimental and simulation results with two intake
manifold configurations show reasonably good agreement, thus suggesting the
reliability of the simulation in demonstrating the effects of valve lifts and intake
manifold configurations. From the simulation work it is seen that the flow in the intake
manifold can never become fully developed due to the short pipe length, and this may
probably affect the flow coefficient. In the simulation using a new design of intake
manifold, which had a surge tank with tapered edges and bell mouth inlet, the flow
coefficient is shown to be improved by up to 6% and is found to be better than the
existing carbureted system (actual data belongs to the undisclosed manufacturer and is
therefore confidential). This implies that the new design is capable of increasing the
volumetric efficiency, and should be considered if the present carbureted system were to
be replaced by a fuel injection system.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Universiti Teknologi

PETRONAS in the present work.
REFERENCES
Cravalho, E.G., Smith, J.L., Brisson, J.G. and McKinley, G.H. (2005) An Integrated
Approach to Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer.
Cambridge, MA: Oxford University Press.
Fontana, G., Galloni, E., Jannelli, E. and Palmaccio, R. (2003) Influence of the
Intake System Design on a Small Spark-Ignition Engine Performance: A
Theoretical Analysis. SAE Paper No. 2003-1-3134.
Ismail, A.R., Bakar, R.A. and Semin (2008) An Investigation of Valve Lift Effect on
Air Flow and CD of Four Stroke Engines Based on Experiment. American
Journal of Applied Sciences, 5: 963–971.
James, O. D. 2004. Gokartracer. August 2008, www.gokartracer.com.
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McLandress, A., Emerson, R., McDowell, P. and Rutland, C.J. (1996) Intake and In-
Cylinder Flow Modeling: Characterization of Mixing and Comparison With
Flow Bench Results. SAE Transactions, 105: 868–881.
Merkle, C.L., Tzou, K.T.S. and Kubota, T. (1977) An Analytical Study of The Effect
of Surface Roughness on Boundary-Layer Stability. Technical Report, Defense
Technical Information Center.
Pulkrabek, W.W. (2004) Engineering Fundamentals of the Internal Combustion
Engine. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Srinivasan, S. (2001) Automotive Engines. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Winterbone, D.E. and Pearson, R.J. (1999) Design Techniques for Engine Manifolds:
Wave Action Methods for IC Engines. USA: Society of Automotive Engineers.
104
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Books
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v
ISSN: 1985-9325 (Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 2, July-December 2010
CONTENTS
Experimental Investigation On Cold Start Emissions Using Electrically Heated 105

Catalyst In A Spark Ignition Engine
K. Bhaskar, G. Nagarajan and S. Sampath
Strength Evaluation in Turbo Machinery Blade Disk Assembly at Constant 119

Speed
K. Kumar, S. L. Ajit Prasad and Shivarudraiah
Simulation of Mixed Convective Heat Transfer using Lattice Boltzmann Method 130
A. R. M. Rosdzimin, S. M. Zuhairi and C. S. N. Azwadi
Effect of Oxygenated Hydrocarbon Additives on Exhaust Emission of a Diesel 144

Engine
C. Sundar Raj and S. Sendilvelan
Combustion Analysis of a CNG Direct Injection Spark Ignition Engine 157

A. Rashid A. Aziz, Firmansyah and Raja Shahzad
Motion Modeling using Motion Concepts of Fuzzy Artificial Potential Fields 171
O. Motlagh, A.R. Ramli, F. Motlagh , S.H. Tang, N. Ismail
Investigation of Surface Properties in Manganese Powder Mixed Electrical 181

Discharge Machining of OHNS And D2 Die Steels
S. Kumar, R. Singh
Improvement of Performance of Dual Fuel Engine Operated at Part Load 200

N. Kapilan, T.P. Ashok Babu and R.P. Reddy
Application of Genetic Algorithms for Robust Parameter Optimization 211

N. Belavendram
A Method to Improve Reliability of Gearbox Fault Detection with Artificial 221

Neural Networks
P.V.Srihari, K.Govindarajulu and K.Ramachandra
Chemical Reaction Effects on Flow Past an Exponentially Accelerated Vertical 231

Plate with Variable Temperature
R. Muthucumaraswamy and V. Valliammal
ii
ISSN: 1985-9325(Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 2, July-December 2010
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Professor Dr. Hj. Rosli Abu Bakar, Malaysia. Email: rosli@ump.edu.my

Mr. Kumaran Kadirgama, Malaysia. Email: kumaran@ump.edu.my

International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (ISSN 1985-9325 (Print), 2180-1606 (Online)) is a peer reviewed
i
ISSN: 1985-9325(Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 2, pp. 105-118, July-December 2010
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF COLD START EMISSIONS USING

ELECTRICALLY HEATED CATALYSTS IN A SPARK IGNITION ENGINE
K. Bhaskar1, G. Nagarajan2 and S. Sampath3

1
Department of Automobile Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering,
Sriperumbudur 602 105, India. Phone : 91-44-27152000,
Email: bhaskar66@svce.ac.in
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai-600 025, India
3
Department of Automobile Engineering Rajalakshmi Engineering College,
Sriperumbudur 602 105, India
ABSTRACT
The population of spark-ignition vehicles in urban areas is very high and is increasing
rapidly due to their convenience for short distance transportation. These vehicles are
major sources of urban air pollution compared to vehicles with diesel engines. Catalytic
converters are used to control their emissions but they attain their maximum conversion
rates of about 80%–90% under optimum operating conditions and are not effective
during cold start conditions. The objective of the present work is to demonstrate that an
electrically heated catalyst (EHC) in combination with a traditional converter can
achieve the Low and Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (LEV, ULEV) standards.
Experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of various metal oxides in EHC
and design parameters to reduce cold-start emissions of a multi-cylinder SI engine. It is
observed that EHC reduces cold-start hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions
when used with an existing catalytic converter. The maximum CO and HC reductions
were achieved with copper oxide as the catalyst in EHC with air injection of 80 lpm for
40 sec after cold start of the engine.
Keywords: Cold Start Emission, Electrically Heated Catalyst, Metal Oxide Catalyst, HC
emission, CO emission
INTRODUCTION
Since the first federal legislation regarding emission limits in the United States in 1975,
the market for emission control devices has been expanding rapidly and attracting
interest for environmental, economical and scientific reasons. The moving force behind
it is the social pressure for environmentally friendly engineering and pollution reduction
and it is reflected in the gradually more stringent automotive emission legislation in
most countries. The automotive industry responded to the legislation by introducing
exhaust gas after-treatment systems whose heart is the catalytic converter. The catalytic
converter is a remarkable chemical reactor, in the sense that: it is designed under space,
pressure-drop and cost-of-production constraints, it is required to operate with
maximum conversion efficiency under fully transient conditions of temperature, input
gas flow rate and input gas composition, and it is subject to a chemically hostile
environment. The above requirements for the converter's operation posed significant
and fascinating challenges for the engineer and the scientist.
105
K. Bhaskar et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2(2010) 105-118
Catalytic converters attain maximum conversion rates of about 80%–90% under

optimum operating conditions but they are not effective during cold start conditions. A
cold start is defined as an engine start following a 12 to 36 hours continuous vehicle
soak in a constant temperature environment of 20 oC to 30 oC. Two factors contributing
to the high emission at cold start are that the catalyst does not begin to oxidize HC and
CO until it reaches light off temperature and engines run with a rich mixture during
warm-up. The light off temperature is generally defined as the temperature at which
catalyst becomes more than 50% effective. Approximately 60% of the overall HC and
CO emissions are emitted during the first 180 seconds from the cold-start period. To
control cold start emission, some of the techniques reported are: electrically heated
catalyst (EHC), hydrocarbon storage devices, exhaust gas ignition, close coupled
catalyst, fuel burner, pre-catalyst, use of fast response O2 (UEGO) sensor and vacuum
insulated catalytic converter. The present investigation is focussed on the study of cold
start emission control using an electrically heated catalyst (EHC).
Day and Socha (1988) have investigated the impact of physical (cell density,
frontal area, volume) and material (porosity, mass) design parameters on vehicle
emission and pressure drop. It is reported that larger volume and/or higher cell density
substrates reduce cold start CO and HC emissions and material changes have little or no
impact on catalyst performance. It is concluded that pressure drop could be increased by
using a longer substrate and dramatically reduced with a larger frontal area. Socha and
Thompson (1992) have reported that an extruded metal electrically heated catalyst
(EHC) in combination with a traditional main converter can achieve the low emission
standards. It is reported that non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) emissions range from
0.15 to 0.3. g/mile for such systems and that emissions and energy usage are minimized
when the EHC is placed adjacent to the main converter and when the EHC system is
located close to the engine. They have further concluded that the main converter does
the majority of the conversion during cold start rather than EHC. Horng et al. (2003)
reported that fast startup reactor with an electrically heated metallic catalyst can be
accomplished by preheating the reactant gas or by mixing an excess amount of oxygen
(air) for complete conversion. Horng and Wu (2005) investigated the effect of heat
storing material in combination with EHC on input energy while reducing the cold start
emissions. They reported that shorter heat storing material resulted in a more rapid rise
in catalyst temperature and a lower input energy than a longer one.
Significant improvements were made in the last two decades to reduce power
consumption to 2 to 3 kW level from the initial 5 kW level while providing faster heat
up characteristics to eliminate the need for pre-heating and reducing the severe battery
impact. However, even a 2 kW power requirement has a substantial impact on battery
life and requires large wire diameters and a sophisticated power switching mechanism
(Yaegashi et al., 1994). A more practical solution may be necessary to best utilize
sources of energy available to heat the catalyst such as electrical energy, sensible energy
and the chemical energy of the exhaust. The rate of temperature rise is proportional to
the mass of the converter. By optimizing the heated mass, the rate of temperature rise
can be increased to a great extent. Once the exothermic reaction begins, chemical
energy is released which acts to heat up the main converter which helps to reduce the
time required for activating the catalyst. The aim of this work is to reduce cold start
emissions by using metal oxide catalysts with EHC placed adjacent to the main
converter. The position of the EHC is also optimized to reduce the power consumption.
106
Experimental investigation on cold start emissions using electrically heated catalyst in a spark ignition engine
EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE
Catalysts used for investigation
Generally catalysts made from precious metals such as platinum, palladium and
rhodium are best suited for catalytic converters but they are very costly. These precious
metals are impregnated in a highly porous surface of the ceramic honeycomb structure.
Heating of ceramic honeycomb structures is difficult due to their low thermal
conductivity. Transient metal oxides are chosen for EHC as catalysts as they are easily
available and they are good conductors of heat. Some of the transition metal oxides are
the oxides of copper, nickel, chromium and silver. The base metal substrate is prepared
for electroplating by degreasing, de-rusting and the removal of surface scales. Then 2.2
g/cft of metal catalyst were loaded on the substrate by electroplating and oxidized. In
this paper the effect of copper oxide and silver oxide catalysts is discussed in detail.
EHC consists of a heater element and metal oxide catalyst. The EHC is placed
just before the main converter in the exhaust manifold as shown in Figure 1. The EHC
is electrically connected to the main electrical system of the vehicle through a power
switch. The EHC quickly reaches high temperature levels sufficient for CO and HC
conversion by electrical heating before starting the engine. Secondary air is supplied
during the cold start period to provide enough oxygen to initiate and sustain the
chemical reaction. The exhaust gas carries the heat generated by the exothermic
oxidation in EHC down to the main converter, which consequently attains faster light
off. The EHC volume is approximately 20% that of the commercially available main
converter (MC). The advantage of this configuration is that the main converter lights off
quickly.
Engine
Air Supply EHC

+
-
Exhaust Mainfold
Main Converter
Figure 1: EHC-MC Configuration
107
Experimental Setup
The schematic diagram of the complete experimental set-up is shown in Figure 2 and
the specifications are given in Table 1. Experiments were conducted on a multi-
cylinder, vertical, water-cooled, four stroke, spark ignition engine, coupled to a
hydraulic dynamometer. The engine was mounted on the bed with suitable connections
for the fuel and cooling water supply. Tests were conducted at 1500 50 rpm. The EHC
was placed before the main catalytic converter in the exhaust pipe. The EHC housing
was made of stainless steel and insulated to prevent heat loss from the piping to the
surroundings. The substrate was made of stainless steel mesh. The concentric surface of
the mesh was filled with metal oxide catalyst (145 cm 3 volume) and the mesh was
heated with a 1 kW band type electrical heater.
1. Engine 10. Pressure gauge

2. Loading device 11. Flow meter
3. Air tank 12. Thermocouple
4. Orifice 13. Exhaust pipe
5. Manometer 14. EHC
6. Burette 15. Main cc
7. Fuel tank 16. Analyser
8. Air compressor 17. Printer
9. Flow regulator 18. Data logger
Figure 2: Experimental set-up
The inner cylinder was also filled with metal oxide catalyst, which acts as a
light-off catalyst. The main converter used was a three way converter supplied by the
OEM that had been exposed to approximately 5000 kilometers of vehicle operation. The
108
inlet, bed, and outlet temperatures of the EHC and the bed temperatures of the main
converter were measured by four cromel–alumel thermocouples. All these
thermocouples were connected with a PC based 8-channel 12-bit data logging system to
register the temperature variation. The gas analyser (Crypton 285 OIML II- SPEC) was
used for the measurement of HC and CO in the exhaust. The response time of the gas
analyser is 10 seconds. Air was supplied from a compressor on the leading side of the
EHC in the exhaust pipe at 80 lpm for the first 40 seconds and the supply is then
stopped. Regulator and rotometer were used to regulate and measure the air supply.
Table 1: Specifications of the engine
Parameter Description
Make Ambassador
Mark IV - Water-cooled, four
Model cylinder, four stroke SI engine.
Bore 73.02 mm
Stroke 88.9 mm.
Displacement 1489 CC.
No. of Cylinders 4
Gross BHP 46.5 at 4200 rpm
Firing Order 1-3-4-2
Compression ratio 7.2:1
Experimental Procedure
The engine is soaked for 12 hours the previous night so that it is in cold start condition
at the beginning of the experiment. The electrical heating system is started so that the
catalyst surface temperature is about 300 0C. The engine is now started and the speed
adjusted to the value of 1500 50 rpm. The experiment is conducted for 180 seconds
from cold start. Cold start HC and CO emissions were measured using the exhaust gas
analyser. The inlet, bed, and outlet temperatures of the EHC and the bed temperatures
of the main converter were measured by four cromel–alumel thermocouples.
During the cold-start phase, the engine must be run with richer than
stoichiometric fuel mixtures in order to ensure smooth operation. The chemical
reactions that occur in the EHC are the oxidation of hydrocarbon and the oxidation of
carbon monoxide. As the air-fuel mixture is rich, lack of oxygen during this period in
the catalytic converter allows for only partial oxidation of CO and HC, thus resulting in
higher exhaust gas emissions. This necessitates the injection of secondary air which
was supplied from a compressor at constant pressure through a nozzle provided on the
leading side of the EHC in the exhaust pipe. The injected air reacts with the hot exhaust
gas, thus allowing for an initial oxidation of CO and HC to take place in the exhaust
pipe. The heat produced by the oxidation reactions increases the exhaust gas
temperature, resulting in a fast catalyst light off.
109
The results of experiments conducted with electrically heated metal catalytic converter
and main catalytic converter in the four-stroke SI engine with 1 kW electrical heating
are presented in the following section:
Effect of Copper Oxide as Catalyst in EHC
Figure 3 shows the variations of temperatures with time for: the exhaust gas without
after-treatment devices (ATD), the surface of the main converter (MC) alone (without
EHC), the surface of the EHC for the EHC-MC configuration without air supply, and
the surface of the MC for the EHC-MC configuration without air supply. The variation
of temperature of the exhaust gas without ATD and the surface temperature of the MC
without EHC are shown for the purpose of comparison. It is seen that the temperature
of the EHC reaches 312 C due to electrical heating before starting the engine. The
temperature in the EHC decreases gradually and reaches a minimum of 280 C after 36
seconds from cold start, due to the relatively cool exhaust gas entering the EHC. It is
further seen that the temperature of the EHC increases till 132 seconds due to the
exothermic energy created in the EHC and after that it remains almost steady. It is
noted that the surface temperature of the MC without EHC shows a steady increase in
time after a cold start and the same trend is observed for the MC in the EHC-MC
configuration with a marginal rise in temperature at all times after cold start. This
increase may be due to the energy transfer during the exothermic reaction in the EHC. It
can be seen from the figure that the MC reaches a light off temperature of 250  C after
132 seconds from cold start.
The variations of temperature with time for the above configurations with air
supply are shown in Figure 4. It is seen that the temperature of the EHC reaches 312 C
due to electrical heating before starting the engine as in the previous case. The
temperature of the EHC decreases gradually and reaches 246 C after 48 seconds from
cold start, due to the relatively low temperature exhaust gas and cool secondary air
entering the EHC. It is further seen that the temperature of the EHC increases up to 145
seconds due to the exothermic energy created in the EHC. The surface temperature of
the MC without EHC shows a steady increase with respect to time after the cold start
and the same trend is observed for the MC in the EHC-MC configuration at all times
after cold start. It is seen from the figure that the MC in this configuration reaches a
light off temperature around 250 C after 120 seconds from cold start due to a higher
energy transfer in the presence of secondary air.
110
400
350
300
C)
o
250
Temperature (
200
150
Exhaust w ithout any ATD
100 MC alone (w ithout EHC)
EHC for EHC-MC config. w ithout air
50
MC for EHC-MC config. w ithout air
0
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time (sec)
Figure 3. Temperature vs time for copper oxide as catalyst in EHC without air supply
400
350
300
T emperature ( o C)
250
200
150
100 Exhaust w ithout any ATD

MC alone (w ithout EHC)
50 EHC for EHC-MC config. w ith air
MC for EHC-MC config. w ith air
0
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time (sec)
Figure 4. Temperature vs time for copper oxide as catalyst in EHC with air supply
Figure 5 shows the variations of surface temperatures of the MC alone (without

EHC), MC for EHC-MC configuration without air supply and MC for EHC-MC
configuration with air supply. It is noted that the surface temperature of the MC in all
cases shows a steady increase with respect to time after a cold start. The surface
temperature of the MC for the EHC-MC configuration with air supply is higher than
that without air supply due to the higher exothermic heat release because of the
availability of more oxygen in secondary air.
111
The variations of CO in the exhaust with time from cold start of the engine for
the above configuration are shown in Figure 6. It is seen that CO percentage by volume
is higher in the engine exhaust without any ATD and gradually decreases with time and
a similar trend is seen in all other cases. CO emissions are lower in all other cases and it
is lowest with air supply due to the availability of more oxygen in the secondary air
supplied. It is observed that the EHC-MC configuration gives a maximum reduction of
about 50% after 144 seconds from the cold start while the maximum reduction of 65%
is obtained after 132 seconds for the EHC-MC configuration with air supply.
400
o
C)
350
Main Converter (MC) Temperature (
300
250
200
150

50
0
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time ( sec )
Figure 5. Main converter (MC) temperature vs time for copper oxide as catalyst in EHC
Figure 7 shows the variation of HC with time from cold start of the engine for
the various configurations. It is seen that HC emissions are higher in the engine exhaust
at the beginning and gradually decrease with time. A similar trend is observed in all
other cases. The HC content is higher in the engine exhaust without any ATD, and it is
the lowest for the EHC-MC configuration with air supply. For the other two
configurations it lies in between the above two cases. The EHC-MC configuration
without air supply gives the maximum reduction of about 28% after 60 seconds while
with air supply it gives a reduction of 38% after 60 seconds due to the availability of
more oxygen in the secondary air supply. In this work, the electrical power requirement
is restricted to I kW when compared to 1.5 kW by F. Terres et al. (1996), who used
platinum based oxides, but copper oxide catalyst is very much cheaper. The emissions
of CO and HC with copper oxide metal catalyst are found to be comparable with those
measured by Sendilvelan et al. (2001).
112
8
w ithout any ATD
EHC-MC config. w ithout air
6 EHC-MC config. w ith air
CO ( %Volume )
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time ( sec )
Figure 6. Carbon monoxide vs time for copper oxide as catalyst in EHC
1000
900 w ithout any ATD

800 EHC-MC config. w ithout air
EHC-MC config. w ith air
700
HC ( ppm )
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time ( sec )
Figure 7. Hydrocarbon vs time for copper oxide as catalyst in EHC
113
Effect of Silver Oxide as Catalyst in EHC
Figure 8 shows variations of exhaust gas temperatures for the various cases with silver
oxide as catalyst in EHC. It is seen that the EHC temperature reaches 312 C due to
electrical heating before starting the engine. The EHC temperature decreases gradually
and reaches 263 C after 48 seconds from cold start due to the relatively low temperature
exhaust gas entering the EHC. The temperature of the EHC increases until 144 seconds
due to the exothermic energy created in the EHC and after that it remains almost steady.
The surface temperature of the MC without EHC shows a steady increase with time
after cold start and the same trend is observed for the MC in EHC-MC configuration
with a lower temperature rise at all times after cold start. This may be due to the lower
exothermic heat release in EHC with silver oxide catalyst. It is observed that the MC
reaches a light off temperature after 156 seconds from cold start.
400
350
300
o
C)
250
Temperature (
200
150

50 EHC for EHC-MC config. w ithout air
0
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time (sec)
Figure 8. Temperature vs time for silver oxide in EHC without air supply
The variations of exhaust gas temperature for the various cases are shown in Figure 9. It
is seen that the EHC temperature reaches 312 C due to electrical heating before starting
the engine as in the previous case. The EHC temperature decreases gradually and
reaches 241 C after 48 seconds from cold start due to the relatively low temperature
exhaust gas and cool secondary air entering the EHC. The temperature of the EHC
increases upto 120 seconds due to the exothermic energy created in EHC. The surface
temperature of MC without EHC shows a steady increase with time after cold start and
the same trend is observed for the MC in EHC-MC configuration at all times after cold
start. This increase may be due to the energy transfer during the exothermic reaction in
EHC and the noteable heat of the exhaust gas. It is observed that the main converter
reaches light off temperature around 250 C after 144 seconds from cold start.
114
400
350
300
o
C)
250
Tem perature (
200
150

EHC for EHC-MC config. w ith air
50
0
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time (sec)
Figure 9. Temperature vs time for silver oxide as catalyst in EHC with air supply
Figure 10 shows variations of exhaust gas temperature with time for the various
cases. Note that the surface temperature of MC in all cases shows a steady increase with
time after cold start. The surface temperatures of the MC for EHC-MC configuration
with air supply and without air supply are almost the same due to the lower exothermic
heat release with silver oxide catalyst in EHC.
400
Main Converter (MC) Temperature ( o C)
350
300
250
200
150

50
0
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time ( sec )
Figure 10. Main converter (MC) temperature vs time for silver oxide as catalyst in EHC
115
Figure 11 shows the variations of CO emissions in the exhaust with time from
cold start of the engine for the various cases. It is seen that CO percentage by volume is
higher in the engine exhaust without any ATD and gradually decreases with time and a
similar trend is seen in all other cases. The CO percentage by volume is lower for the
EHC-MC configuration without air supply and still lower for the EHC-MC
configuration with air supply due to the availability of more oxygen. A maximum
reduction of 12.5% is obtained after 96 seconds from cold start for the EHC-MC
configuration without air supply and a 27.5% reduction is achieved for the EHC-MC
configuration with air supply after 132 seconds, compared to MC alone.
8
w ithout any ATD
CO ( %Volume )
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144
156
168
180
Time ( sec )
Figure 11. Carbon monoxide vs time for silver oxide as catalyst in EHC
Figure 12 shows the variations of HC emissions in the exhaust with time from
cold start of the engine for the various cases. It is seen that HC emissions are higher in
the engine exhaust without any ATD and gradually decrease with time and a similar
trend is seen in all other cases, with lower values. It is to be noted that there is no
variation observed in all the other cases, as the temperature of the MC remains same.
116
1000
900 w ithout any ATD

HC ( ppm )
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
10 8
12 0
13 2
14 4
15 6
16 8
18 0
Time ( sec )
Figure 12. Hydrocarbon emission vs time for silver oxide as catalyst in EHC
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the experimental investigations carried out, the following conclusions can be
drawn:
i. Light off temperature is found to occur earlier with an EHC-MC configuration

compared to a MC configuration for metal oxide catalyst and supply of air
quickens further.
ii. Copper oxide catalyst is found to be more effective in the reduction of both CO and
HC emissions while using EHC, compared to a silver oxide catalyst. A maximum
reduction in CO emission of 65% was achieved after 132 seconds in the case of
copper oxide compared to 27.5% in the case of silver oxide. A maximum reduction
of 28% in HC emission was observed with copper oxide catalyst while no
appreciable change was observed with silver oxide catalyst
iii. With air supply, reductions in the emissions of both CO and HC are found to be
higher. EHC-MC configuration with copper oxide gives a maximum reduction of
50% CO emission 144 seconds after cold start without air supply and a maximum
reduction of 65% CO emission 132 seconds after cold start with air supply.
iv. The EHC-MC configuration with copper oxide gives a maximum reduction of 28%
HC emission 80 seconds after cold start without air supply and a maximum
reduction of 38% CO emission 60 seconds after cold start with air supply.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to the management of the Sri Venkateswara College of
Engineering for providing support and encouragement..
117
REFERENCES
Day, J.P., and Socha, L.S. (1988) Impact of Catalyst Support Design Parameters On
Automotive Emissions. SAE Transactions, Paper No. 881590, pp. 3592–3602.
Hanel, F.J., Otto,E. and Bruck, R. (1996) Electrically Heated Catalytic Converter
(EHC) in the BMW ALPINA B12 5.7 Switch-Tronic. SAE Transactions, Paper
No. 960349, pp. 228–234.
Heimrich, M. J. (1990) Air Injection to an Electrically Heated Catalyst for Reducing
Cold Start Benzene Emissions From Gasoline Vehicles. SAE Transactions,
Paper No. 902115, pp. 714–725.
Horng, R.F. (2005) Effect of Input Energy on the Cold Start Characteristics of an Ehc
With Heat Storing Material on a Motorcycle Engine. International Journal of
Energy Conversion and Management, 46: 1043–1057.
Horng, R.F. and Wu, T.S. 2005. Energy Requirement Assessment on an Electrically
Heated Catalyst With Heat Storing Material of a Small Four Stroke Engine
During Cold Start. International Journal of Automobile Engineering, 219(12):
1469–1479.
Horng, R.F., Chou, H.M., Chou, T. and Hsu, T.C. 2003. Reaction of the Electrically
Heated Catalyst of a Four Stroke Motorcycle Engine Under Cold Start
Conditions With Additional Enrichment of the Intake Mixture. International
journal of Automobile Engineering, 217(12): 1117–1124.
Sendilvelan, S. , Jeyachandran, K. and Bhaskar, K. 2001. Pollution Studies on Gasoline
Engine With Electrically Heated Catalyst. Presented in IC engine division of
ASME, USA, pp. 95–99.
Socha, L.S. and Thompson, J.D.F. 1992. Electrically Heated Extruded Metal Converters
for Low Emission Vehicles. SAE Transactions, Paper No. 920093, pp. 19–30.
Terres, F., Weltens, H. and Froese, D. 1996. Electrically Heated Catalyst–Design and
Operation Requirements. SAE Transactions, Paper No. 961137, pp 293–301
Yaegashi, T., Yoshizaki,K., Nagami, T., Sugiura, S., Yoshinaga, T. and Ohsawa, K.
1994. New Technology for Reducing the Power Consumption of Electrically
Heated Catalysts. SAE Transactions, Paper No. 940464, pp. 95–102.
118
STRENGTH EVALUATION IN TURBO MACHINERY BLADE DISK

ASSEMBLY AT CONSTANT SPEED
K. Kumar 1, S. L. Ajit Prasad1 and Shivarudraiah2

1
Mechanical Engineering,
PES College of Engineering, Mandya, India
Email: kumar.triveni@gmail.com
2
Mechanical Engineering, UVCE Bangalore, India.
ABSTRACT
In the present work, 3D finite element analyses (FEA) of a low pressure (LP) steam
turbine bladed disk assembly are carried out at constant speed loading condition. The
prime objective of this work is to optimize the geometry of the bladed disk root with the
aid of the Peterson’s stress concentration factor (SCF) charts available in the literature.
Secondly, design rules are developed for the structural integrity of the blades and disk
considering a safety factor for material, manufacturing and temperature uncertainties.
These design rules are in turn used as design checks with the aid of finite element
analysis results. Special investigations were performed based on Neuber formulae for
reducing the local peak stresses at the blade and disk root fillet using linear analysis to
identify the equivalent non linear stress values by the strain energy distribution method
for estimating the minimum number of cycles required for the onset of crack initiation.
Keywords: Stress concentration factor, Neuber rule, steam turbine blades, peak stresses,
strain energy.
INTRODUCTION
The importance of power generation through thermal and nuclear plants is very much
felt due to uneven fluctuations in the monsoon, which has made power generation and
supply inconsistent. With the ever-increasing demand for power due to increased
industrial activities, it has become imperative to generate power economically and
consistently. One such attempt has resulted in the increased use of steam turbines for
power generation. In a steam turbine, a number of blades are used for energy transfer
(Kearton, 1988; Mazur et al., 2009). These blades are subjected to centrifugal force and
are critically important parts which affect the functioning of a turbine. Bladed disks are
flexible elements in high speed rotating machinery. Due to rotation, the blade root gets
tightened in the disk slot and transmits the centrifugal load. The mating contact may be
just two or may increase to six or more for low-pressure blades. While the average
stress in the mating surface is fully elastic and well below yield, the peak stress at
singularities in the groove shape can reach yield values and reach into the local plastic
region (Bloch, 1982). Last stage LP turbine blades are the most severely stressed blades
in the system. Usually these are the limiting cases of blade design allowing the peak
stress to reach yield or just below yield conditions. Failure can occur with crack
initiation at the stress raiser location and then propagation.
119
K. Kumar et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2 (2010) 119-129
Optimization methods have become available to optimize the shape and

minimize the peak stress values so as to improve the structural integrity of the bladed
disk. Because the problem is highly nonlinear due to centrifugal stiffening and spin
softening, considerable time is required to reach the optimized root using Peterson’s
stress concentration chart (Pilkey, 1997).There is a vast literature on linear-elastic stress
concentration factors Kt, which depend solely on the specimen/notch geometry and on
the type of loading. However, in the presence of plasticity at the notch root, the actual
stress concentration factor Kσis found to be smaller than the tabulated Kt, mainly due to
stress redistribution at the yielding zone. In turn, the strain concentration factor Kεat the
notch root, which strongly affects the fatigue life predicted by the strain based approach
(εN) method, can be much larger than Kt (Kim, 1998). In many cases, these models may
provide reasonable estimates of the maximum stresses and strains at the notch root;
however, the differences among the fatigue life predictions by each rule can be
unacceptably large. In addition, these methods do not account for the geometrical
changes at the notch root under large displacements, leading to further errors.
In light of the above, in the present paper knowledge based engineering is
applied to develop design rules for the structural integrity of blades at the design stage.
These rules are used as design checks in finite element analysis; Neuber’s technique of
using linear analysis to predict non-linear stress/strain values in the component is
effectively utilized to solve this highly non-linear problem based on the strain energy re-
distribution method. A sensitivity study on the shape variables of the root geometry is
done to finalize the root dimensions based on Peterson’s charts, to ensure manufacturing
feasibility and structural integrity. The main objective of the present study is to carry
out structural analyses of the LP stage blade disk sector for its strength evaluation. This
includes:
1) Development of a design rule for turbo machinery blades that ensure the
structural requirements;
2) Effective utilization of the design rule to meet the structural requirements on a
par with the finite element results as a design check;
3) Modification of the blade root to reduce the stress concentration at the root and
modify the disk corresponding to the modified blade root dimension as per
Peterson’s SCF charts.
Blade Type
Following the steam path through a turbine the environment for the energy converging
blades varies strongly and, as a consequence, so do the mechanical requirements. These
requirements have a strong influence on the choice of material and design with respect
to temperature, wetness and cleanliness of medium, acting forces and other factors as,
e.g., hardenability and oxidation. Different blade families exist which can be
categorized according to their use in the primary three turbine modules as high,
intermediate and low-pressure blades (HP, IP and LP). Generally the LP stage blades
are shrouded or laced, because they have to resist huge centrifugal forces and bending
produced by the steam loads. Figure 1 shows the geometry of the LP blade.
120
Strength evaluation of turbo machinery blade disk assembly at constant speed
Figure 1: Simple ‘T’ root LP Blade
Design Development
Design rule margins are necessary because of the uncertainties present in material,
manufacturing, assembly and on site operating conditions. As per API standards the
blades should prove its integrity at design speed and over-speed conditions. Based on
knowledge base engineering in the present work, a 121% margin is considered for 11%
over speed due to full fuel throw-off condition. An additional margin of 15% is
considered for manufacturing and thermal uncertainties. Therefore the allowable stress
in the component at design speed may be written as
min
available  (1)
over speed additional FOS
2
The speed load contribution is high in rotating machinery and the centrifugal force
varies as Fc m2 r . Care should be exercised for the speed load, which varies as a
square function. With this assumption at design speed, the factor of safety (FOS) =
(1.212× 1.15) = 1.68. The allowable FOS at different speeds is as shown in Table 1.
This argument shows that the material has a 15% additional margin at 121% over speed
condition. The allowable average stress limit at an average stage temperature of 750C
for the blade material with a minimum yield of 585 MPa is 349MPa.
Table 1: Factor of safety limits
Speed Allowable FOS

100% 1.68
110% 1.38
121% 1.15
121
Section Stress
It is seen that low-pressure blades are highly subject to centrifugal and thermo-
mechanical loads. Since the centrifugal load dominates the thermal loads for every
mission cycle, emphasis is paid on addressing mechanical loads. In a bladed disk
assembly the blade happens to be the weaker section compared to disk. Replacing
blades under failure is much cheaper than replacing disks. Average section stresses
attained at minimum cross sections at operating and at over-speed conditions should be
within the allowable design limits following the design rule both for blade and disk.
The design rule is that the average section stress in the disk groove should have a
greater margin compared to the blades, based on the ‘weak link’ analogy. The following
are the critical zones identified in a bladed disk assembly. The average section stress in
the airfoil should be less than the allowable stress limits at design speed.
a) The average section stress at blade root neck and at minimum cross-section of
disk should be within the allowable design limits (Kubiak Sz , 2009).
b) The average section stress at minimum cross section of disk should be 10% less
than the blade root neck average stress, based on the ‘weak link’ analogy.
c) The average section stress in the disk groove considering loading and unloading
characteristics at over-speed conditions should have a margin of 1.18 at 0.2%
proof stress of the material. The behaviour constraints to evaluate the over-speed
and burst margin may be as follows:
d) Behaviour Constraints
Allowable hoop and von Mises stress at the bore is 95% of 0.2% proof stress.
Allowable hoop stress at the web is 85% of 0.2% proof stress.
Allowable radial and von Mises stress at the web is 80% of 0.2% proof stress.
Allowable hoop and von Mises stress at the rim is 67% of 0.2% proof stress.
Allowable radial growth < specified tolerance of 3 mm.
Allowable axial growth < specified tolerance of 1mm.
Allowable AWMHS < 72% of 0.2% proof stress at peak temperature in the disk.
Allowable AWMHS < 64% of UTS at peak temperature in the disk.
Disk burst speed 125% of maximum allowable steady state speed of 6000 rpm.
Disk over-speed 118% of maximum allowable steady state speed.
In addition to the standard behaviour constraints on stresses, deflections,

eigenvalues and buckling load factors, there are constraints related to the area weighted
mean hoop stress (AWMHS) and the area weighted mean radial stress (AWMRS)
(Richter, 2003). These constraints are specific to rotor design in the aero-engine
industry and therefore not readily available from a general-purpose program like
ANSYS and hence many non-standard constraints have been incorporated into design
rules for the effective evaluation of rotor components.
122
Fatigue Life Approach
Steam turbine blades are constant speed machines which rarely undergo one-over-speed
for every start up and shut down cycle. The blade loading pattern is as shown in
Figure 2.
Figure 2: Blade Loading Pattern
In the present work it is desired to achieve a minimum of 2500 cycles in both

blade and disk. Often the blade root fillets and disk groove fillets undergo their highest
peak stress/strain for every cyclic loading (start up cycle). Therefore some amount of
plastic strain gets accumulated each cycle (Mazur, 2008). The total strain accumulated
is the sum of the elastic and plastic strain. A knock down factor of 2 is considered for
fatigue modifying factors like size factors, surface factors, reliability factor and
temperature factor. For better design with these uncertainties the actual life at the design
stage is 5000 cycles. Lifing is generally done with the classical approach, considering
all the fatigue strength modifying factors in the stress based and strain based approach
The N material curve data for a given material at operating temperature is utilized for
lifing the blade and disk based on the local strain approach. For the stress based
approach, the total stress/strain is estimated using Neuber’s rule. The nonlinear stress
and S–N material curve for notched specimens at operating temperature is used to
achieve the minimum start up shut down cycles. In the present work one such effort is
made to reduce the peak stresses at blade root fillet to improve the life of the blade disk
assembly.
The stress based theory has been recognized as much slower in modelling the
crack initiation phase; the most promising approach seems to be based on the strain
approach. Even if the crack is not initiated in the model, the life of the component
before the crack initiates is of concern. The basic premise is the local fatigue response
of the material at the critical point, i.e., at the site of crack initiation. It is analogous to
the fatigue response of a component subjected to cyclic stresses, to properly perform the
local cyclic stress strain history at the critical point. The structure must be determined
either by analytical or experimental means. In the light of the above cyclic symmetry,
pre-stress static analysis with different load step procedure as per the blade loading
123
pattern is conducted using finite element analysis. The available stress/strain in the
component from the analysis and material fatigue curve calculations is then conducted.
Finite Element Model and Analysis
In the present analysis a cyclic symmetry sector of a bladed disk assembly of the LP
stage is considered. The geometry of one blade with disk sector is modelled using the
commercially available modelling software, Pro-E. The finite element model of the LP
sector stage bladed disk is as shown in Figure 3. For the present analysis, SOLID45
element is considered to generate the finite element model. No degenerated tetrahedral
elements exist in the mesh, as the de-generated tetrahedral elements are not good for
accurate stress calculations. Surface to surface contact pairs were created between the
blade and disk mating surfaces. A friction co-efficient of 0.1 is assumed at the butting
faces of blade and disk. A matching node pattern is maintained at the blade root and
disk hook pressure faces (in order to avoid any ambiguities in stress values due to
contact elements), where the load transfer between blade and disk takes place. Cyclic
boundary conditions are applied on both the partition surfaces. The blade and disk both
are assumed to be made of the same material with a yield stress of 585 MPa, Young’s
modulus 210 GPa, density 7900 kg/m 3 and Poisson’s ratio 0.3.
Figure 3: FE Model of Blade Disk Sector
The peak von Mises stress computed in the blade root fillet and disk hook fillet
are shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5. The stresses are much higher than the yield stress
(585 MPa) of the material. Hence, the use of linear analysis was alarming. However,
traditional nonlinear FEA analyses simulating the local material plasticity are still very
resource intensive, yet fatigue and life endurance simulations commonly need stress and
strain results for various load levels, making such an analysis expensive. In order to
reduce the number of nonlinear simulation results, approximation techniques based on
Neuber's formula, which estimate the plastic stress-strain state from linear analysis runs,
were utilized. With the application of FEA, notch concentration factors are being
inherently considered. The general Neuber's procedure of extrapolating linear stresses
into the plastic material region can thus be applied to arbitrary geometries.
124
The discussions for comparison and design decisions are based on stresses after
Neuber's procedure. The baseline geometry shows a peak stress of 1904 MPa in the
blade root fillet, it lead to very poor LCF cycles of 2400 cycles, calculated based on the
strain approach from Neuber's formula. Also the knowledge based design criteria
(established based on experience and experimental tests) limits the peak stress to 1200
MPa from the linear finite element stress analysis, for a component life of 5000 start-
up/shut-down cycles. The average section stress at minimum disk area is 210 MPa,
which clearly satisfies the design rule as discussed earlier. Since the baseline model
shows a peak stress of 1904 MPa from the linear stress analysis, optimization of the
blade root is required to bring down the peak stress. Though the average section stress
in blade and disk critical locations experience a margin sufficient to satisfy the design
rule: the design rule for average section stresses as discussed earlier in airfoil, blade root
and disk groove minimum cross-section is well within the allowable design limits of
349 MPa at design speed. The necessary design margins at over speed conditions with
radial growth at an average stage temperature of 70oC as per the design rule is satisfied.
The local peak stress/strain at the blade root fillet was not sufficient to achieve the
minimum desired 5000 cycle. The radial growth of the blade at operating conditions is
well within the clearance of 3mm between blade tip and casing. This indicates that there
is no rubbing of the blade with the casing even at over speed conditions.
Peak stress and average stress are 1904 MPa at blade root
and 250 MPa at blade neck
Figure 4: Von Mises stress at 6000 rpm in elastic domain.
125
Peak stress of 1660 MPa at blade root
Figure 5: Von Mises stress at 6000 rpm in elastic domain of disk
Optimization
Experience shows that in order to improve the LCF life of a bladed disk assembly, a
corrective measure usually involves a design or geometry modification of the blade root
section where the peak stress occurs due to the change in geometry. By studying stress
concentration factors at the blade root, much can be learned about how to produce
designs that are superior from the stand-point of resistance to repeated loads, and how to
approximately evaluate the influence of various geometric features. The chart from
Peterson’s book (Pilkey, 1997) was used as an edge finder to reduce the SCF. The
blade root geometry dimension was modified to have a theoretical SCF of 6 whereas the
baseline geometry has a SCF of 10.4. The modified geometric model is analysed using
ANSYS to study the sensitivity of the modified geometry. The modification of the blade
root is shown in Table 2 and the different parameters in Table 2 are illustrated in Figure
6.
Table 2. Root Terminology
Dimensional details of blade root

d D m r r/d L W
Baseline root 22 40 13 1 0.04 6 65
Modified root 22 45 14 2.2 0.1 7 77
126
M - Land height
r - Blade root radius W - Disk width
L - Contact length d - Blade neck
D - Land width
Figure 6: Root Terminology
The peak stress of the modified blade root geometry is 1153 MPa, as shown in
Figure 7, which is smaller than the previous peak stress of 1904 MPa at the blade root
fillet. In a similar manner, the peak stress in the disk hook decreasedto 1102 MPa from
1660 MPa, which is shown in Figure 8. From the gross yielding point of view, the
average stress in the blade neck was 242 MPa with FOS of 1.68 at minimum yield at
room temperature. The same exercise was repeated for 121% over speed condition at
7200 rpm. At this over speed condition, the induced stresses were under the satisfactory
limit for the required LCF life. The modified blade root does not differ from average
stress point of view, over-speed margin or radial growth, since not much change in the
blade and disk is noticed, except for blade root and disk groove fillet radius which alters
the peak stresses necessary for LCF.
Figure 7: Von Mises stress in the elastic domain of the blade root at 6000 rpm
The following observations were made pertaining to the LP bladed disk

assembly of steam turbine at its design speed of 6000 rpm with appropriate boundary
conditions as explained earlier. For the baseline model, a linear stress analysis approach
has shown a peak stress of 1904 MPa in the blade root fillet and 1660 MPa at the disk
127
hook fillet, which when Neuberised lead to a very poor LCF life of 2400 cycles. From a
gross yielding point of view, the average stress in the blade neck is within the desired
allowable limit. The blade root fillet section was strengthened by providing a generous
fillet at the root. The modifications were made based on Peterson’s SCF chart for the
given (r/d) ratio subjected to tensile loading. This modification successfully brought
down the stress concentration to 1153 MPa in the blade root fillet and the peak stress of
1102 MPa is seen at the disk hook fillet. The corresponding values improved the LCF to
6200 cycles in the blade and 7100 cycles in the disk. The design rule developed is
successfully utilized to provide the structural integrity in turbo machinery the blades and
disk. These rules act as design checks for verifying the finite element analysis results at
various design points such as the average section stress, over speed margin, and radial
growth.
Figure 8: Von Mises stress in the elastic domain of the disk at 6000 rpm
CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present work.
a) Custom made methodological procedure is used for strength evaluation of a LP

steam turbine bladed disk assembly using FEA results and classical approach.
b) The developed design rule was successfully used in understanding and
evaluating the structural requirements and design considerations to be
incorporated during the design of turbo machinery components.
c) Based on Peterson’s chart, the stress concentration factor was minimized and the
local strain approach was used to achieve the required LCF cycle using Neuber’s
rule.
128
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are thankful to Dr. K Ramachandra, former director of the Gas Turbine
Research Establishment, Bangalore, India, for his support.
REFERENCES
Bloch, H.P. (1982) A Practical Guide To Steam Turbine Technology. New York:
McGraw Hill.
Kearton, W.J. (1988) Steam Turbine Theory And Practice. Seventh Edition. New Delhi:
CBS Publishers.
Kim, H.J. (1998) Fatigue Failure Analysis Of Last Stage Blade In A Low Pressure
Steam Turbine. Engineering Failure Analysis, 5: 93–100.
Kubiak Sz, J., Segura, J.A., Gonzalez R. G., García, J.C., Sierra E. F., Nebradt G.J., and
Rodriguez, J.A. (2009) Failure Analysis of the 350 MW Steam Turbine Blade
Root. Engineering Failure Analysis, 16(4): 1270–1281.
Mazur, Z., Illescas, R.G., Romano, J.A., and Rodriguez, N.P. (2008) Steam Turbine
Blade Failure Analysis. Engineering Failure Analysis, 15(1–2): 129–14.
Mazur, Z., Illescas, R.G., and Calderón, J.P. (2009) Last Stage Blades Failure Analysis
of a 28 MW Geothermal Turbine. Journal of Engineering Failure Analysis,
16(4): 1020–1032.
Pilkey, W.D. (1997) Peterson's Stress Concentration Factors. New York: Wiley.
Richter, C.H. (2003) Structural Design Of Modern Steam Turbine Blades Using
ADINA. Computers and Structures, 81: 919–927.
129
SIMULATION OF MIXED CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER USING

LATTICE BOLTZMANN METHOD
A. R. M. Rosdzimin 1, S. M. Zuhairi2 and C. S. N. Azwadi 3

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia
Kem Sg. Besi, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Phone:+603-90514500, Fax:+603-90514450
Email: rosdzimin@upnm.edu.my
2
Pekan Campus, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
3
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
81300, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
In this paper, mixed (forced–natural) convective heat transfer around a heated square
cylinder located inside a lid driven cavity has been studied numerically using the lattice
Boltzmann method in the range of 100≤Re ≤1000 with the corresponding Richardson
number 0.01≤Ri≤10. The double-population lattice Boltzmann formulation is used as
the governing equation. Two dimensional nine-velocity models areused for the
computation of the velocity field while a four-velocity model is used for the
computation of thetemperature field. We found that the combination of nine- and four-
velocity models can be applied tothe calculation without losing its accuracy. Theresults
are presented in the form of streamline and isotherm plots as well as the variation of
local Nusselt number at the top surface of theheated square. The computational results
demonstrate that the flow pattern, formation of vortex and also the Nusselt number are
influence by theReynolds number and Richardson number.
Keywords:Double-population, thermal lattice Boltzmann, mixed convection.
INTRODUCTION
Thestudy of flow pattern and heat transfer from a heated body, especially natural
convective heat transfer, inside an enclosure, have been carried out by a large number of
researchers for a long time. Most of these studies were concerned with the case of a
circular cylinder inside a square enclosure. Excellent reviews of this topic were written
by Kim et al. (2008) and Angeli et al. (2008). In contrast to the overwhelming number
of publications on natural convective heat transfer from a heated circular cylinder, the
mixed convective heat transfer problem from a heated body has not been investigated to
the same extent, although it plays a dominant role in many engineering applications
such as thecooling of electronic equipment, nuclear and chemical reactors, thermal
storage system, etc.(for details, Arnab et al., 2006and Sohel et al., 2002). Multiple
studies involving heat transfer mechanisms and lid-driven cavity at different cavity
configurations, with various fluids and imposed temperature gradients have been
continually published in the literature (Oztop and Dagtekin, 2004;Abdalla et al., 2007;
Abdelkhalek 2008 and Sharif 2007).
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A R. M. Rosdzimin et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2(2010) 130-143
Ouertatani et al. (2009) simulated three dimensional mixed convection in a double

lid driven cubic cavity at various Reynolds numbers and Richardson numbers. These
author found that heat transfer improved about 76% at theparticular combination of
Re=400 and Ri=1. The fluid flow and heat transfer induced by the combined effects of
the mechanically driven lid and the buoyancy force within rectangular enclosures were
investigated by Waheed (2009). An investigation at various Prandtl numbers,
Richardson numbers and aspect ratios at Reynolds number 100 was simulated by this
author. The results showed that fluid flow and energy distribution within the enclosures
and heat flux on the heated wall are enhanced by the increase in the Richardson number.
Numerical simulation of unsteady mixed convection in a driven cavity using an
externally excited sliding lid were studied by Khanaferet al. (2007). These authors
examined the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in the domain of the Reynolds
number, Grashof number and the dimensionless lid oscillation frequency such that: 102<
Re<103, 102<Gre<105 and 0.1<ω< 5. They found thatthe energy transport process and
drag force behaviour depending on the conduct of the velocity cycle were either
enhanced or retarded by the Reynolds number and Grashof number. Moreover,
relatively small lid oscillation values are found to constrain the lid associated motion to
a shallow depth from the sliding lid plane.
Oztop et al. (2009) showed that thermal conductivity becomes insignificant for
small values of thediameter of the circular body, by studying the fluid flow due to
combined convection in a lid-driven enclosure having a circular body at wide ranges of
Richardson numbers, diameters of inner cylinder and centere and location of the inner
cylinder. They also concluded that the most effective parameter on theflow field and
temperature distribution is the orientation of the moving lid. However, there is little
information about the flow pattern and heat transfer mechanism when a heated square
cylinder is placed within a cooled square lid driven enclosure. The present paperwill
investigate how the value of theRicharson number and Reynolds number relative to the
local Nusselt number. Simulation results in a range of Richardson number between
0.01≤Ri≤10 and Reynolds number 100≤Re ≤1000 will be presented.
This paper is organized as follow. In Section 2.0, the theory of the double-
population thermal lattice Boltzmann numerical method is presented. In the subsequent
section, a detailed description of the problem is discussed. The simulated results in
terms of streamlines, isotherms and local Nusselt number are shown and discussed.
MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION
For the computations, a two-dimensional (2D) double population function thermal

lattice Boltzmann model originally proposed by He et al. (1998) with single time
Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (BGK) relaxation collision operator (He et al., 1998) is used.
The governing equations for this model are
1
( + ∆ , + ∆) − ( , ) = ( , )− ( , ) + (1)
1
( + ∆ , + ∆) − ( , ) = ( , )− ( , ) (2)
131
Simulation of mixed convective heat transfer using lattice Boltzmann method
where subscript i indicates the velocity direction, and ∆x and ∆t are the lattice grid
∆
spacing and time step, respectively. The particle speed, c, is defined as = ∆ ∙ ( , )
and ( , ) are density and internal energy distribution function associated with the
particle at node x and time t with velocity c i. ( , ) and ( , ) are the
corresponding local equilibrium distribution functions. In this study, a 2D nine-velocity
model is assigned for density distribution function, i=1, 2, …, 9, whereas the 2D four-
velocity proposed by Azwadi and Tanahashi (2008), i=1, 2, 3, 4 or a nine-velocity
model is usedfor theinternal energy density distribution function, depending on the
simulation conditions. Thelattice structures for these models are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Lattice structure for 2D nine-velocity (left) and 2D four-velocity (right)
For the nine-velocity model, the lattice velocities are defined to be
0, =1
= ( ±1, 0), (0, ±1), = 2, 3, 4, 5 (3)
(±1, ±1), = 6, 7, 8, 9
The equilibrium distribution function for the density and internal energy density
distribution function are given by
9( ∙) 3
= 1+3 ∙+ − (4)
2 2
9( ∙) 3
= 1+3 ∙+ − (5)
2 2
where = 4/ 9 , = 1/ 9and = 1/ 36. For the four-velocity model, the

lattice velocities are defined by
= {(±1, ±1), = 1, 2, 3, 4 (6)
and theequilibrium distribution function for the internal energy distribution function is
given by
= [1 + 3 ∙] (7)
132
where = 1/ 4. The macroscopic variables, such as density , velocity , and

temperature T can be evaluated as the moment to the distribution function
= , = , = (8)
A Chapman–Enskog expansion procedure can be applied to Eq. 1 and Eq. 2 to derive
the macroscopic transport equations of the model (Azwadi, 2007). They are given by
the continuity equation
∇∙ = 0 (9)
the momentum equation
1
+ ∇∙ = − ∇ + ∇ (10)
and the energy equation
+ ∇∙( )= ∇ (11)
The pressure is given by = , where is the speed of sound with =

/
1 3. The relaxation time of internal energy carried by the particles to its equilibrium is
different fromthat of momentum (He et al., 1998). Therefore, we differentiated the two
relaxation times to characterize the momentum and energy as in Eqs. 1 and 2 by and
. can be related to the kinematic viscosity by
2 −1
= (12)
6
For the four-velocity model, can be related to the thermal diffusivity by
= (13)
NUMERICAL PROCEDURE
The system of interest is a lid driven cavity with a heat source in the form of a square
cylinder positioned at the vertical centreline with 0.5H. Figure 2 shows the geometry in
which mixed convective heat transfer is studied in the present work. The size of heated
square, D and the enclosure height, H define the aspect ratio of the geometry test case
(aspect ratio, B = D/H). In present study, the aspect ratio ratio was fixed at 0.2. The
boundary conditions in this investigation are as follow. The cavity walls were
maintained at a constant cold temperature Tc, whereas the inner square was maintained
at a constant hot temperature TH. The top lid cavity is moving with velocity Ulid . The
physical domain between the outer and inner square is filled with air (Pr = 0.71) as
working fluid. The temperature difference between the outer and inner squares
introduces a temperature gradient in a fluid, and the velocity of the top lid consequent
density difference induces a fluid motion, that is, convection. The gravitational
acceleration acts in the negative y-direction. The computational domain and specified
boundary conditions are shown in Figure 3.
133
H
D
Figure 2. Schematic geometry for heated square inside cavity
T=T COLD , u=0.1 ,v=0
T=T HOT ,
u=0,v=0
T=TCOLD , T=T COLD ,
u=0 ,v=0 u=0 ,v=0
T=T COLD , u=0 ,v=0
Figure 3. Computational model with boundary condition
A grid dependence test was carried out to see the effect of thesize of
thenumerical grid on the maximum value of thevertical velocity, V max and the maximum
horizontal velocity Umax. The simulation at Re=100 and Ri=10 was selected to conduct
the grid dependence test. Seven levels of grids, namely, 60, 80, 100, 120, 150, 180 and
200,were tested. As can be seen from Figure 4, as the grid is refined, thevariation in the
two successive grids decreases. A grid size of 150 was chosen for all subsequent
Reynolds numbers with corresponding Richardson numbers by considering the relative
time of computation with desirable accuracy.
The convergence criterion for all the tested cases is
| − | ≤10 (17)
| − | ≤10 (18)
where the calculation is carried out over the entire system.
134
1000
750
Velocity
Umax
Vmax
500
250
0
50 70 90 110 130 150 170 190
Grid
Figure 4. Grid dependency test at Ri=10 and Re=100.
Three non-dimensional parameters playedan important role for the mixed (force-
natural) convection problem: (1) the Reynolds number = where U lid is the
impressed top lid velocity; (2) the Richardson number = where Gr is the
Grashof number = Δ / in which is the coefficient of thermal expansion of
the fluid, g the acceleration due to gravity, andΔ = − the temperature
difference between the inner hot square cylinder and cold cavity walls; (3) the Prandtl
number = / , where is the kinematic viscosity and the thermal diffusivity of
the fluid.
In this section, numerical results for the problem obtained from thermal lattice
Boltzmann scheme are discussed forPr=0.71. The Reynolds number 100<Re<1000 and
the corresponding Richardson number 0.01<Ri<10 were investigated numerically. We
carefully chose the characteristic speed = Δ so that the low Mach number
approximation holds.
The predicted streamlines and isotherms in the cavity at steady state for every
case are shown in Figures 5– 8. In Figures 5 and 6, the Reynolds number was fixed at
Re=100 and corresponding Richardson numbers are Ri=0.01, Ri=0.1, Ri=1 and Ri=10.
At Ri=0.01, the heat transfer mechanism is dominated by force convection. The
isotherm is in smooth lines and recirculation flow appeared at the top of thesquare
cavity. The isotherms were distorted and the recirculation flow is moving to the
direction of moving lid by increasing Ri=0.1. Distortion is clearly seen at Ri=1, where
mixed convection takes place. At this stage, the isotherm is heading to the direction of
moving lid and athin thermal boundary layer is present along the moving lid. Secondary
recirculation flow exists at the bottom right corner of the cavity and the main
recirculation flow moves to the top right corner of theheated square.
135
For the natural convection dominated case with Ri=10, the isotherm is distorted
and the main recirculation flow is diminished. The presence of a very thin thermal
boundary layer along the moving lid and others walls is noticed. Three numbers of
secondary recirculation
ecirculation flow evolved at the three corner of the cavity.
Ri = 0.01 Ri = 0.1
Ri = 1 Ri = 10
Figure 5. Isotherm for different Richardson numbers at Re = 100.
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A R. M. Rosdzimin et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Eng ineering 2(2010) 130-143
Ri=0.01 Ri=0.1
Ri=1 Ri=10
Figure 6. Streamlines for different Richardson numbers at Re =100.
Figures 7 and 8 shows the results forvarious Reynolds numberss 100< Re<1000
at the fixed Richardson number Ri=0.01. The isotherm was distorted by increasing the
Reynolds number and distortion head sin the direction of themoving
moving lid. By increasing
the Reynolds number, a secondary recirculation flow is produced at the bottom right
corner of the cavity and the main recirculation flow moves to the top right corner of
theheated square.
137
Re=100 Re=400
Re=1000
Figure 7. Isotherms for different Reynolds numbers at Ri=0.01.
138
Re=100 Re=400
Re=1000
Figure 8. Streamlines for different Reynolds numbers at Ri=0.01.
The variation of the local Nusselt number along the top surface of the
theheated square is
plotted in Figures 9 and 10 for all cases studied. The effect of theRichardson
Richardson number
and Reynolds number is clearly
cle arly discernible in these plots. In general, the Nusselt
number starts with a high value at the left end and decreases to a small value and
increases towards the right end.At any location the Nusselt number decreases with
increasing Richardson number at Re =100 and also decreases with increasing Reynolds
number at Ri=0.01.
139
25
Ri=0.01
Ri=0.1
20
Local Nusselt Numbers Ri=1
Ri=10
15
10
0
0 2 4 6
Top Surface of Heated Square Cylinder
Figure 9: Local Nusselt number on top surface of heated square at different Richardson
numbers.
25 Re=100
Re=400
20
Local Nusselt Number
Re=1000
15
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Top Surface of Heated Square Cylinder
Figure 10: Local Nusselt number on top surface of heated square at different Reynolds
numbers.
In Figures 11and 12, as theRichardson number increases to Ri=10, the

dimensionless horizontal and vertical velocity profile given at the mid height and mid
width of the cavity gradually increases the velocity slightly from the centre to the four
side walls and narrow boundary layers develop along the walls. The peak values of both
horizontal velocity and vertical velocity aredue to the intensified convective activities
140
fromincreasing the Richardson number. Increasing the Richardson number is

proportional to the increase of thebuoyancy force effect. Both figures show the different
velocity directions for every wall, these directions correspond to the developmentof
recirculation flow.
Y
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4 Ri=0.01
0.3 Ri=0.1
Ri=1
0.2
Ri=10
0.1
0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
U velocity
Figure 11: Velocity profiles along the vertical mid-plane in the cavity.
1.2 Ri=0.01
Ri=0.1
0.7 Ri=1
Ri=10
0.2
X
V velocity
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

-0.3
-0.8
-1.3
-1.8
Figure 12: Velocity profiles along the horizontal mid-plane in the cavity.
141
CONCLUSION
A mathematical model was as developed to analyse

analy the two-dimensional
dimensional lid driven cavity
with a heated square of mixed (forced–natural)
(force convective heat transfer using the lattice
Boltzmann method. The result shows the capability of the lattice Boltzmann method to
analyse mixed convective heat transfer problems.
oblems. The main parameters of interest are
the Reynolds number, Richardson number and Prandtl number. The variation of the
Nusselt number along the top surface of the heated square was presented. The advantage
of thelattice
lattice Boltzmann method (microscopic level)
l over thedirectly
directly solved Navier
Navier-
Stokes equation (macroscopic level) is the Knudsen number. This research can be
extended to simulate heat transfer problem with low Knudsen number.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia and the
Malaysia Government for supporting this research activity.
REFERENCES
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Bottom Surface onn Mixed Convection Heat Transfer in a Lid-Driven
Lid Cavity.
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1780.
Abdelkhalek, M.M. (20082008) Mixed Convection in a Square Cavity avity by a Perturbation
Technique. Computational Materials Science 42: 212–219.
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Regimes Within a Square Cavity Containing a Heated Horizontal Cylinder .
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Models for the Simulation of Thermal Fluid Flow Problems . PhD Thesis, Keio
University, Japan.
Azwadi, C.S.N. , and Tanahashi, T. (2008) Simplified Finite Difference Thermal Lattice
Boltzmann Method.International
Method. Journal of Modern Physics B , 22: 3865-3876.
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He, X., Shan, S., and Doolen, G. D. (1998) A Novel Thermal Model for the Lattice
Boltzmann Method in Incompressible Limit.Journal
Limit. Journal of Computational Physics
146: 282-300.
Khanafer, K.M., Abdalla, M.A. , and Pop, I. (2007) Numerical Simulation of Unsteady
Mixed Convection in a Driven Cavity Using an Externally Excited Sliding Lid .
European Journal of Mechanics B/Fluids, 26: 669–687.
Kim, B.S., Lee, D.S., Haa, M.Y.,
M.Y. and Yoon, H.S. (2008) A Numerical Study of Natural
Convection in a Square Enclosure With a Circular Cylinder at Different Vertical
Locations. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 51: 1888-1906.
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Convection in a Double Lid-Driven
Lid Cubic Cavity. International Journal of
Thermal Sciences, 48: 1265–1272.
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Oztop, H.F., Zhao, Z., and Yu, B. (2009) Fluid Flow Due to Combined Convection in
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Driven Enclosure Having a Circular Body.
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Oztop, H.F., and Dagtekin, I. (2004) Mixed Convection in Two-Sided Sided Lid
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Nomenclature
B aspect ratio ( B = D/H)

c particle speed
D height of the heated square cylinder, m
density distribution function
external force
g gravit ms-2
accelerationdue to gravity,
Internal energy distribution function
Gr Grashof number based on H and T H – T C
H height of the cavity, m
k thermal conductivity of air, W m -1 K -1
L length of the cavity, m
P dimensionless local pressure
Pr Prandtl number
Ra Rayleigh number
Re Reynolds number based on H and Ulid
Ri Richardson number
TC temperature of the cold surface, K
TH temperature of the hot surface (lid), K
U dimensionless velocity component in x-direction
U lid lid velocity, ms -1
V dimensionless velocity component in y-direction
 thermal diffusivity, m 2 s -1
 thermal expansion coefficient, K -1
 dimensionless temperature
 density, kg m -3
, time relaxation
 kinematic viscosity, m 2 s-1
weighting function
thermal diffusivity, m 2 s -1
143
EFFECT OF OXYGENATED HYDROCARBON ADDITIVES ON EXHAUST

EMISSIONS OF A DIESEL ENGINE
C. Sundar Raj1 and S. Sendilvelan 2

1
Imayam College of Engineering,Kannanur, Thuraiyur, Trichy & Dr. MGR Educational
and Research Institute, Chennai, India. Phone: +91-9443651442
2
Aksheyaa college of engineering, Puludivakkam, madhurantagam taluk,
Kancheepuram district - 603 314. India.Tel. +91-9381010709. Fax: +91- 44 - 22293345
E-mail: csundarraj@yahoo.com,chockalingamsundarraj@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The use of oxygenated fuels seems to be a promising solution for reducing particulate
emissions in existing and future diesel motor vehicles. In this work, the influence of the
addition of oxygenated hydrocarbons to diesel fuels on performance and emission
parameters of a diesel engine is experimentally studied. 3-Pentanone (C5H10O) and
Methyl anon (C 7H12O) were used as oxygenated fuel additives. It was found that the
addition of oxygenated hydrocarbons reduced the production of soot precursors with
respect to the availability of oxygen content in the fuel. On the other hand, a serious
increase of NOx emissions is observed. For this reason the use of exhaust gas
recirculation (EGR) to control NOx emissions is examined. From the analysis of it is
examined experimental findings it is seen that the use of EGR causes a sharp reduction
in NOx and smoke simultaneously. On the other hand, EGR results in a slight reduction
of engine efficiency and maximum combustion pressure which in any case does not
alter the benefits obtained from the oxygenated fuel.
Key words: Oxygenated fuel, Exhaust gas recirculation, Performance and emission
parameters
INTRODUCTION
Diesel engines have the advantages of high thermal efficiency and lower emission of
CO and HC. However, they have the disadvantage of producing smoke, particulate
matter and oxides of nitrogen, and it is difficult to reduce both NOx, and smoke density
simultaneously in a diesel engine due to the trade off between NOx and smoke. A
substantial amount of effort has been directed at providing solutions to these problems.
The addition of oxygen containing compounds to diesel fuel has been proposed as a
method to complete the oxidation of the carbonaceous particulate matter and associated
hydrocarbons. In addition, many oxygenates have high cetane number and their
association with diesel results in a high cetane number and hence lower exhaust
emissions. Due to these advantages, there is a growing interest in the introduction of
oxygenates into diesel fuel. Low molecular weight alcohols such as ethanol and t-butyl
alcohol have been reported to reduce emissions (Ecklund et al., 1984). However, both
the low flash points and high water partitioning of these alcohols make them
unacceptable. Di methyl ether (DME) was considered as an ignition-improving additive
for methanol powered diesel engines (Brook et al., 1984; Sorenson and Mikkelsen,
1995). However, DME is a gaseous fuel and therefore requires that a vehicle be adapted
144
C. Sundar Raj et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2(2010) 144-156
for gaseous operation. In addition, the fuel delivery infrastructure is not currently
suitable to distribute large quantities of a gaseous fuel. For these reasons, there is
interest in new liquid compression ignition fuels or fuel additives, which have high
cetane rating and reduce particulate emissions and at the same time they are compatible
with current vehicle technology and fuel delivery infrastructure. Carbonates, including
dimethyl carbonate, diethyl carbonate, and dimethyl dicarbonate, have been successfully
demonstrated to reduce particulate (West et al., 1990). Dimethyl carbonate suffers from
having a low flash point. Diglyme is one oxygenate that has been included in several
studies. While diglyme has acceptable fuel blending properties, its high cost makes its
use prohibitive. Other oxygenates that have been investigated include various ethers,
glycol ether acetates, and ketones (Bennethum and Winsor, 1991).
Bailey et al. (1997) suggested di ethyl ether (DEE) as a potential replacement
fuel for CI Engines. The molecular weights of DEE are low; the molecules have high
hydrogen to carbon ratios and a low number of carbon-to-carbon bonds. All these
properties lower the tendency to form solid carbon particulates during combustion. The
molecules contain oxygen, which also suppress the formation of soot. The molecular
bonds break up to radicals at reasonable activation energy, which leads to high cetane
numbers. DEE has long been known as a cold start aid for engines, is an oxygenated
renewable fuel, which is completely miscible with diesel. Mohanan et al. (2003) studied
the effect of DEE on the performance and emissions of a four-stroke direct injection
diesel engine and found that 5% DEE can be blended with diesel fuel to improve the
performance and to reduce emissions of the diesel engine even though experiments were
carried out successfully up to 25% DEE blend. Yanfeng et al. (2007) proved 15% of 2-
methoxyethyl acetate (MEA) can be used to decrease exhaust smoke as a new
oxygenated additive of diesel with marginal increase in efficiency
Raj et al. (2009a) investigated the effect of ethanol diesel blends and reported
30% ethanol with 60% diesel along with a new oxygenate 1,4 dioxane increase the
efficiency by 6% and reduce smoke density with a penalty in NOx emissions. Raj et al.
(2009b) also found that 10% addition of dioxane alone as an oxygenated additive is
capable of increasing the efficiency by 2% and reduces smoke density with marginal
increase in NOx emissions. The literature review clearly indicates that the presence of
oxygen molecules in the fuel influences complete combustion and hence increases the
efficiency, but there is a trade off between NOx and smoke.
The effects of EGR on diesel combustion were visually examined in a single-
cylinder, heavy-duty research engine by Husberg et al. (2004) and NOx emissions were
reduced from over 500 ppm at 0% EGR to 5 ppm at 55% EGR, and higher levels of
EGR (approximately 35% or more) reduce efficiency. Kouremenos et al. (2001) showed
in an experimental and theoretical study that the use of EGR causes a sharp reduction of
NOx and an increase of soot emissions. Dederichs et al. (2002) outlined the main
technical issues of EGR technology for thermal barrier coated HD engines with EGR up
to 30% and more of the exhaust gases and found the same results. Dürnholz et al. (1992)
reported in particular that so called ‘hot EGR’, which keeps the temperature of the re
circulated exhaust gases at a very high level, not only helps reduce NOx but also
contributes distinctly to achieving lower hydrocarbon (HC) and PM emissions. In
addition, there is no adverse affect of EGR on the fuel economy. The findings from
smoke point measurements and high-pressure combustion tests that oxygenates are
effective soot suppressants in diesel combustion motivated studies on oxygenates and to
find the solution for simultaneous reduction in smoke and NOx emissions without
affecting the performance EGR.
145
Effect of oxygenated hydrocarbon additives on exhaust emission of a diesel engine
This paper aims to study the influence of two new oxygenates 3-Pentanone (PN)
and Methyl anon (MN) which were not addressed earlier, having favorable properties
such as low molecular weight and almost similar density to diesel, on exhaust
emissions, including: oxides of nitrogen (NOx), hydro carbon (HC) and smoke density
of a diesel engine with and without application of EGR.
.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Experiments were conducted on a four stroke, twin cylinder, water cooled diesel engine
(SIMPSONS, S 217) connected with a water cooled eddy current dynamometer
(DYNASPEDE). The rated power of the engine was 19 kW at 1500 rpm. The engine
was operated at a constant speed of 1500 rpm and standard injection pressure of 200
bar. The fuel flow rate was measured on a volume basis using a burette and a stop
watch. K-type thermocouple and a digital display were employed to note the exhaust
gas temperature. A smoke meter (AVL 437C) was used for measuring smoke density.
NOx emission was measured by a Di gas analyser (AVL 444). In cylinder pressure was
measured with the help of a combustion analyser (AVL, 619 indimeter hardware,
indwin software version 2.2). The schematic experimental setup is shown in Figure 1
and the experiments were conducted in two phases.
Base data was generated with standard diesel fuel. Subsequently three fuel blends,
namely 1%, 3% and 5% (by volume) of Pentanone (PN) and Methyl anon (MN) (each)
with diesel were prepared and tested. Readings were taken when the engine was
operated at a constant speed of 1500 rpm for all loads. Parameters such as engine
speed, fuel flow and the emission characteristics of NOx and smoke were recorded. The
performance of the engine was evaluated in terms of brake thermal efficiency, brake
power, and specific fuel consumption from the above parameters. Combustion
characteristics such as cylinder pressure and heat release rate were noted for different
loading conditions using the combustion analyser. In the second phase, experiments
were conducted on the engine with 25% EGR for the unaltered fuel and three different
blends ranges from 1 to 5% of diesel by volume of two different additives viz.3-
Pentanone (PN) and Methyl anon (MN) and experimental results were analysed and
compared. The volatility and flammability properties of the fuel components are listed
in Table 1.
Table 1 Test fuel properties

Density at 20 °C
Flash Point (0C)
% of oxygen by
(× 103 kg/m )
Boiling point
2
Molecular
Molecular
Formula
weight
weight
(°C)
Diesel CxHy 190–220 0.829 180–360 65–88 0

3-Pentanon C5H10O 86.13 0.81 101–103 7 18.57
Methyl anon C7H12O 112.2 0.858 120.1 63.6 14.26
146
Figure 1. Experimental Setup
The stoichiometric air requirement for the combustion of additives is lower, since they
already contain oxygen in their structure, hence a larger amount of fuel can be burnt in a
given amount of air and hence the BSFC decreases for the blends compared with
baseline fuel (Raj et al., 2009a) as shown in Figure 2. From the figure it is observed that
the addition of PN reduce the BSFC due to the availability of more oxygen. However,
MN, due to having less oxygen and a higher molecular weight compared with PN as
indicated in Table 1, lowers the heat value of the mixture. As a result, BSFC will
increase as the blended fuels with high MN concentration are used. Among the two
additives, 1% MN and 5% PN show lower BSFC and higher brake thermal efficiency
and hence they are treated as the optimum blends. The effect of 25% EGR on the
optimum blend is illustrated in Figure 3. A slight increase in BSFC is observed for EGR
as some of the intake air is replaced with hot exhaust gases as demonstated by Husberg
et al. (2004).
The presence of oxygen, due to the additives in the oxygenated fuel, improves
the combustion, especially diffusion combustion (Yanfeng et al., 2007) and hence
increases the brake thermal efficiency. Figure 4 compares the effect of oxygenated fuel
on the brake thermal efficiency for different blends of MN and PN. PN contain more
oxygen than MN and this extra oxygen helps in oxidation of carbonaceous particulate
matter and associated hydrocarbons, resulting in improved efficiency the for higher
blends. The addition of MN results in lower brake thermal efficiency due to the decrease
in the mixture’s heat value. The maximum brake thermal efficiency occurs for 1% MN
and 5% PN blends. 25% EGR slightly reduces the brake thermal efficiency as the
amount of fresh oxygen available for combustion gets decreased due to replacement by
exhaust gas (Husberg et al., 2004). The effect of EGR on optimum blends is illustrated
in Figure 5.
147
Figure 2. Variation in BSFC for oxygenated fuel at maximum load
Figure 3. Effect of EGR on BSFC for optimum blends at maximum load
Figure 4. Vaiation in brake thermal efficiency for oxygenated fuel at maximum load
148
Figure 5. Effect of EGR on brake thermal efficiency for optimum blends at maximum
load
The addition of oxygenates decreases the smoke density as shown in Figure 6 due
to the increased heat release rate and more complete combustion of the oxygenated fuel
by acting as an ignition improver (Mohanan et al., 2003). The variation in smoke
density for different MN and PN blends at peak load is shown in Figure 6. A maximum
of 15 HSU reductions in smoke density for 1% MN and 35 HSU for 5% PN blend ratios
were observed at peak load. It is also observed that the smoke density reduction rate is
high between part and maximum load. EGR increased the smoke density especially
above 50% of loading conditions due to deterioration in diffusion combustion.
(Kouremenos et al., 2001), and the anticipated increase in smoke density is apparent in
Figure 7. It is further noticed a decrease in smoke density for oxygenated fuels at low
loads as the effect of deterioration in diffusion combustion is low due to the presence of
oxygen molecules.
Figure 6. Variation in smoke density for oxygenated fuels at maximum load
149
Figure 7. Effect of EGR on smoke density with load for optimum blend fuels
Figure 8 shows the variation in HC emissions for the unaltered fuel and the
oxygenated fuels. Both the additives have the capacity to reduce HC emissions due to
the complete combustion. The variation in the amount of reduction depends on the
availability of the amount of oxygen irrespective of its chemical structure as illustrated
by Bailey et al. (1997). The reductions of HC emissions are higher at low loads than at
the maximum load. The influence of EGR on HC emission is shown in Figure 9. It is
clear from the figure that EGR decreases HC emissions as illustrated by Dürnholz et al.
(1992), but a slight increase was observed at maximum loading conditions due to the
reduction in the availability of oxygen.
Figure 8. Variation in HC emissions for oxygenated fuels at maximum load
150
Figure 9. Effect of EGR on HC emissions with load for optimum blend fuels
Nitrogen oxides emissions are predominately temperature phenomena, the

presence of oxygen increases the heat release rate for the oxygenated fuel and hence the
NOx emission will be high. The anticipated increase in NOx emissions as a function of
increasing additive concentration is apparent in Figure 10. It can be seen that NOx
emissions of lower blends increase more rapidly than those of higher additive
proportion at peak load. MN emits more NOx than PN. EGR is a useful technique for
reducing NOx formation in the combustion chamber. The exhaust consists of CO2 ,N2
and water vapours mainly. When a part of this exhaust gas is re-circulated to the
cylinder, it acts as diluents to the combusting mixture. This also reduces the O 2
concentration in the combustion chamber (Husberg et al., 2004). The specific heat of the
EGR is much higher than fresh air; hence EGR increases the heat capacity (specific
heat) of the intake charge, thus decreasing the temperature rise for the same heat release
in the combustion chamber (Dederichs et al., 2002).
Figure 11 shows the variations in NOx emissions under various loading
conditions for diesel and optimum blends with and without EGR and the anticipated
reduction in NOx emission for EGR is apparent from the figure. The presence of oxygen
molecules increases the spray optimization and evaporation. Hence it improves the
combustion process of the engine. The noticeable reductions in BSFC, HC, Smoke
emissions and increase in NOx emissions indicate that the addition of MN or PN
improves combustion efficiency.
151
Figure 10. Variation in NOx emissions for oxygenated fuels at maximum load
Figure 11. Effect of EGR on HC emissions with load for optimum blend fuels
Figure 12 illustrates the maximum inside cylinder pressure of diesel and

oxygenated additive blended diesel fuels. It is found that at the same engine speed and
maximum load, the cylinder pressure shows greater differences for unaltered fuel and
oxygenated fuel. The peak pressure of unaltered fuel is 92 bar and is reduced to 88 bar
by 1% MN blends and 91 bar by 1% PN blends, and the pressure increases with
addition of additives.
152
Figure 12. Variation in cylinder pressure for oxygenated fuels at maximum load
Figure 13 shows the cylinder pressure traces with respect to the crank position
for diesel and oxygenated fuel with and without EGR. From the figure it is observed
that EGR engines have a longer delay period compared to normal engines and hence the
maximum pressure is reduced. The reduction in maximum cylinder pressure due to
EGR for different fuels is indicated in Figure 14.
Figure 13. Variation in cylinder pressure with crank angle
153
Figure 14. Effect of EGR on maximum cylinder pressure at maximum load for optimum
blend fuels
Figure 15 illustrates the heat release rate for oxygenated fuel blends and
unaltered fuel at maximum loading conditions. It can be seen that the heat release rate of
the oxygenated fuel blends are higher than the unaltered fuel and its magnitude depends
on the availability of oxygen. The higher heat release rate in diffusion combustion of the
oxygenated fuel increase the net heat release rate, consequently oxygenated fuel has
controlled rate of pre-mixed combustion.
Figure 15. Variation in heat release rate for oxygenated fuels at maximum load
Figure 16 depicts the effect of EGR on the heat release rate at maximum loading
conditions. EGR reduces the heat release rate substantially. The effect of EGR on heat
release rate may be due to dilution caused by increasing amounts of inert gases in the
mixture, which reduces the adiabatic flame temperature.
154
Figure 16. Effect of EGR on maximum heat release rate at maximum load
CONCLUSION
The main conclusions of this study are,
 1% MN and 5% PN blends are the optimum in performance and emission

characteristics.
 Smoke and HC reduction rate is higher for PN than MN.
 Around 20% increase in NOx emissions were observed for the oxygenated fuel
blends at normal operating conditions of the engine at peak load.
 EGR reduces NOx emissions of the oxygenated fuels over 55% since it reduces
the maximum cylinder pressure and heat release rate.
 No adverse effect on efficiency and fuel economy due to EGR.
 Simultaneous reduction in NOx and smoke can be achieved by the oxygenated
fuel with EGR.
On the whole it is concluded that 1% MN and 5% PN proved to be suitable

oxygenated additives for diesel engines and 5% PN with 25% EGR can perform better
than an MN additive with less emissions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dr. C. G. Saravanan, Professor of

Mechanical Engineering, Annamalai University, for his valuable suggestions
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0760.
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Ethanol Diesel Blends on Diesel Engine. International Journal of Engineering
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Dieseloxygenates Additive and its Effects on Engine Combustion and
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NOMENCLATURE
BSFC Brake Specific Fuel Consumption

DEE Di Ethyl Ether
DME Di Methyl Ether
EGR Exhaust Gas Recirculation
HC Hydrocarbon
HSU Hatridge Smoke Unit
MEA Methoxyethyl Acetate
MN Methyl anon
NOx Oxides of Nitrogen
PN Pentanon
PPM Particles per Million
156
Inter national Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (IJAME)
ISSN: 1985-9325 (Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 2, pp. 157-170, July-December 2010
COMBUSTION ANALYSIS OF A CNG DIRECT INJECTION SPARK

IGNITION ENGINE
A. Rashid A. Aziz, Firmansyah and Raja Shahzad
Center for Automotive Research (CAR)

Mechanical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi Petronas
Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
Phone: +605-3654069, Fax: +605-3654086
E-mail: rashid@petronas.com.my
ABSTRACT
An experimental study was carried out on a dedicated compressed natural gas direct
injection (CNG-DI) engine with a compression ratio (CR) of 14 and a central injection
system. Several injection timing parameters from early injection timing (300BTDC) to
partial direct injection (180BTDC) to full direct injection (120BTDC) were
investigated. The 300BTDC injection timing experiment was carried out to simulate
the performance of a port injection engine and the result is used as a benchmark for
engine performance. The full DI resulted in a 20% higher performance than the early
injection timing for low engine speeds up to 2750 rpm. 180BTDC injection timing
shows the highest performance over an extensive range of engine speed because it has a
similar volumetric efficiency to full DI. However, the earlier injection timing allowed
for a better air–fuel mixing and gives superior performance for engine speeds above
4500 rpm. The engine performance could be explained by analysis of the heat release
rate that shows that at low and intermediate engine speeds of 2000 and 3000, the full DI
and partial DI resulted in the fastest heat release rate whereas at a high engine speed of
5000 rpm, the simulated port injection operation resulted in the fastest heat release rate.
Keywords: Compressed natural gas, direct injection, injection timing
INTRODUCTION
The use of natural gas in the transportation sector has been increasing over the years.
This is further supported by the increasing concern on environmental problems and
energy security. The development of natural gas as a fuel closely followed the growth of
vehicle conversion from both gasoline- and diesel-fuelled engines to natural gas fuelled
in many countries. Fueling systems are becoming critical parts in the vehicle conversion
process (Kato et al., 1999; Catania et al., 2000). In the spark ignition (SI) engine
category, fueling systems can be classified as carburetor, single/multi port injection, and
direct injection. For natural gas vehicles, the first generation fueling system is the mixer
system and this has progressed to the more sophisticated single- and multi-port injection
systems. However, with natural gas as the fuel, spark ignition engine performance drops
to 20% (Mello et al., 2006). It was also stated that the performance drop is due to lower
volumetric and thermal efficiencies.
Despite the performance drop, natural gas had better exhaust emissions. It has
less hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide compared to gasoline fuel. The lower CO
emission of natural gas fuel was also confirmed by Pourkhesalian et al. (2009). They
157
A. Rashid A. Aziz et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2 (2010) 157-170
also stated that the BSFC of methane as fuels is lower compared to gasoline fuel. These
potentials of natural gas as fuels need to be improved further. The highest obstacle of
natural gas to be implemented for a wide range of applications is the engine power
output. The gaseous phase of natural gas has the advantage of a faster mixing rate.
However, the gaseous phase is also the main cause of lower volumetric efficiency. In
order to reduce this effect, recent investigations in natural gas engines are looking at the
direct injection system as a possibility for the fourth generation fueling system to
increase the natural gas engines’ performance. A direct injection system is expected to
increase the volumetric efficiency of the natural gas engine and is able to operate in lean
conditions.
The feasibility of implementing direct injection systems in CNG engines has
been investigated by a few researchers. Huang et al. (2003a) discussed the possibility of
a direct injection system in a CNG engine using a rapid compression machine (RCM)
with a 10 CR and observed that the injection timing significantly affected the intensity
of fuel stratification before ignition which in turn affects the combustion behaviour of a
CNG-DI engine. Hayashida et al. (1999) proved that injection timing could increase
engine volumetric efficiency and brake power while the best fuel air mixing occur with
the injection events around inlet valve closing (IVC): later confirmed by Zeng et al.
(2006). Wang and Watson (2000) had shown that direct injection of CNG has lower
hydrocarbon emission compared to port injection. These previous investigations had led
to the notion that controlling the injection timing in a direct injection system could
further increase the CNG engine performance. However, these previous researchers
conducted their experiment on either a rapid compression machine or a converted
gasoline fuelled engine in which the compression ratio was maintained near the knock
limiting value of gasoline. In order to fully utilize the capability of CNG fuel, which has
a higher knock limit, the present research was conducted on a dedicated engine with a
compression ratio of 14. The objectives of this research are to investigate the effect of
injection timing on the performance, emissions and combustion behaviour of the CNG-
DI engine. The results of varying the injection timing on the performance of a CNG-DI
engine at wide-open throttle (WOT) and a wide range of engine speeds are presented.
This research was based on the experimental study conducted at the Centre for
Automotives Research (CAR) in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP). The test
conducted follows the SAE standard on engine performance and emission testing. The
experimental set up is shown in Figure 1. Wide-open throttle is specified in this
experiment as representative of full load condition. The equivalence ratio was kept
constant at 1.0, and the ignition timing was adjusted via the engine control unit (ECU)
to obtain the best torque reading (MBT). The engine speed range was 2000–5000 rpm.
The injection timing was varied from a very early injection timing at 300BTDC
(intake valve starting to open at 372BTDC) to a late injection timing at 120BTDC
(intake valve close at 132BTDC). In Figure 2, the early injection timing with the start
of injection (SOI) at 300BTDC is to simulate port injection fueling system. At an SOI
of 180BTDC, a partial direct injection was achieved where the injection starts while
the intake valve is open and ends after the intake valve is closed. The full DI is achieved
158
Combustion analysis of a CNG direct injection spark ignition engine
for injection events after the intake valve closed. It should be noted that full DI is
limited by the ignition timing for safety reasons. Hence, in our investigation, all
injection events were completed before ignition occurred. All the experiments were
conducted with a stable operation with a 5% COV of IMEP.
P-10
415 VAC
P- 15 DYNAMOMETER CONTROL PANEL HV POWER SUPPLY
P-22 (POWER HANDLING ) P- 9
P- 23 P- 21 P-11
P-17
Console
control P- 2
(LV) POWER P- 3
P- 4
SUPPLY
P-7 P- 8
E P-19
R E Oil Pump
P-1 Water Pump
I C
U
P-18 P-13
SCXI
P- 9
DYNAMOMETER
P- 5 P-6 P-5
Figure 1. Experimental set up
-450 -360 -270 -180 -90 0 90
Figure 2. Injection timing characterization
Equipment
The engine used in this experiment is a four-stroke spark ignition single cylinder
research engine. Table 1 elaborates the specification of the experimental engine. A fuel
pressure regulator was used to control the fuel rail pressure and stabilize the injector
pressure. Engine control parameters such as injection timing, ignition timing and air-
fuel ratio were controlled via the engine control unit (ECU). Figure 3(a) shows the
159
injector position relative to the intake and exhaust valve. The injector is positioned at
the centre of the combustion chamber between the intake and exhaust valve while
Figure 3(b) shows the injector position relative to the spark plug position, which is
slightly offset at an angle. A modified long tip spark plug was used in order to reach
deeper into the combustion zone to assure combustion of the CNG fuel. Table 3
highlights the fueling system designed for CNG operation for a fuel rail pressure of 18
bar. The fuel rail pressure is adjustable from 8 to 20 bar, with a supply from a CNG
tank pressurized at 200 bar. Commercially available CNG fuel was used in this
experiment. The CNG composition in Malaysia is given in Table 3, referring to the
datasheet given by PETRONAS.
Table 1. Engine Specifications
Engine Specification
Manufacturer G. Cussons Ltd
Type Ricardo Hydra MK IV
ECU software Orbital. Inc
No. of Cylinder, Strokes Single cylinder, Four stroke
Fuel Compressed Natural Gas
Bore and Stroke 88 mm and 132 mm
Compression ratio 14
Exhaust Valve open (EVO) 45BBDC
Exhaust Valve Closed (EVC) 10ATDC
Inlet Valve Open (IVO) 12BTDC
Inlet Valve Closed (IVC) 48ABDC
Dynamometer
Manufacturer McClure
Type Shunt wound de machine with separate excitation
Rating 30 kW continuous absorbing
Max. Speed 100 rev/sec
Pressure Measurement and Data acquisition
Pressure transducer
Manufacturer Kistler
Type Water cooled ThermoCOMP 6061B
Range 0–250 bar
Sensitivity 25 pC/bar
Data acquisition system
Program LabView
Frequency 10 kHz
Crank angle accuracy 1 deg
160
Intake port
Exhaust port Injector
(a) Intake and exhaust port position (b) Injector and Spark position
Figure 3. Engine cylinder head section
Table 2. Fuel system specification
Fuel System Specification

Type Spray guided system
Rail Pressure 18 bars
Injector Central Direct
Position Injection
Table 3. CNG composition in Malaysia
Component Leanest Unit Richest

Methane 96.42 % 89.04
Ethane 2.29 % 5.85
Propane 0.23 % 1.28
Iso-Butane 0.03 % 0.14
N-Butane 0.02 % 0.10
Iso-Pentane N/A % N/A
N-Pentane N/A % N/A
N-Hexane N/A % N/A
Condensate 0.00 % 0.02
Nitrogen 0.44 % 0.47
CO2 0.57 % 3.09
Gross Heating Value 38130 kJ/kg 38960
Data Analysis
The combustion analysis was done using the Rassweiler–Withrow method due to the
advantage of this method in high speed data acquisition.
In general, the equation governing this method is
dQn  1  dPc
 (1)
d 1
V
  d
161
where: Qn = Net heat release

P c = Pressure rise due to combustion (kPa)
V = Total cylinder volume (m3)
 = Polytropic index

dPc  1
V j
P j P   (2)
j1
d 
 j 
V

where: P j = Pressure at j crank angle

V j = Volume at j crank angle
From the results of heat released calculation, the total heat released by the
combustion process can be calculated as the sum of the instantaneous heat released
every crank angle. The combustion efficiency can be calculated by dividing the total
heat released by the total heat supplied by the fuel by the following equation:
Q Q
c  out  ch (3)
Qin m f q HV
where Q ch is the total heat released by the combustion process, m f is the fuel mass,
and q HV is the specific heating value of fuel. The combustion stage is defined according
to difference between the first derivation of pressure (dP) on combustion and motoring
pressure to determine the beginning and the end point of combustion process.
dP dP dPm
f
% c  (4)
dPm dPm
where dPf is the pressure during the power stroke, dPc is the pressure due to combustion
and dPm is the pressure during motoring. Combustion begins if the difference between
pressure due to combustion and motoring is 0%–5% and ends with the difference >
99%.
The effects of varying the injection timing on the CNG-DI engine are shown in Figure 4
and 5. The engine performance is presented in terms of torque, power, BMEP, and
BSFC to describe the engine output for various injection timing conditions. At lower
engine speed, the full DI resulted in 10%–20% higher torque compared to early
injection timing. The maximum torque was achieved by DI for engine speeds below
2750 rpm. However, early injection timing resulted in a better torque at engine speeds
above 4500 rpm. Partial DI and full DI resulted in 15% higher power compared to the
300BTDC for speeds of less than 2750 rpm. As the engine speed increases to 3500
rpm, the performance of the engine with 120BTDC injection timing drops below that
of 180  BTDC injection timing. Engine performance with 180  BTDC injection timing
dominates until the speed of 4500 rpm where the performance drops to 5% below early
162
injection timing (300BTDC). At 5000 rpm engine speed, the maximum torque was
achieved by early injection timing. Hence, the torque characteristics of this engine can
be controlled by using full DI operation for engine speed below 2750 rpm, using partial
DI injection at 180BTDC for engine speeds between 2750 and 4500 rpm and using
early injection timing (similar to port injection operation) for engine speeds above 4500
rpm.
Torque Power
40
15
30
Torque (Nm)
10
Power (kW)
20
5
10
0 0
1500 2500 3500 4500 1500 2500 3500 4500
Rpm Rpm
300 180 120 300 180 120
(a) (b)
Figure 4. Engine performance in terms of torque and power
The BMEP results in Figure 5(a) follow closely the torque curve profile. The
maximum value of 1040 kPa is achieved at 3000 rpm with 180BTDC injection timing,
and reduces to 750 kPa at 5000 rpm for injection timing of 300BTDC. Figure (b)
represents the specific fuel consumption (BSFC) for this engine. The lowest BSFC was
achieved by the injection timing of 120BTDC, up to the engine speed of 3000 rpm.
Beyond 3000 rpm, 180BTDC injection timing gives the lowest BSFC value. At engine
speeds above 4500 rpm, the BSFC value is about 2% lower than that given by the
operation with 300BTDC injection timing.
The different torque and power output of full DI, partial DI and port simulated
are mainly due to the effect of volumetric efficiency. This can be observed in Figure 6.
The volumetric efficiency shows an increasing trend as the injection timing is retarded.
Full DI of 120has a higher volumetric efficiency (0.83–0.94) compared to partial DI
180° BTDC and early injection timing at 300BTDC respectively. These results agree
with the results from Zeng et al. (2006) where the increasing volumetric efficiency may
be due toa lesser disturbance to the intake flow as the injection timing is retarded.
According to Zeng et al. (2006), the pressure will increase due to the injection process.
The increase of in-cylinder pressure will reduce the pressure difference between in-
cylinder and atmospheric and in the end it will reduce the intake velocity. Reduced
intake velocity will reduce the amount of air entering the cylinder for a given time space
during the intake strokes. The performance of the engine is significantly affected by the
volumetric efficiency at engine speeds below 4500 rpm. Within this range of engine
speed, full DI and partial DI givs higher power output. Furthermore, partial DI has the
combined effect of high volumetric efficiency with sufficient mixing time that gives a
maximum engine performance between 2750 and 4500 rpm. At engine speeds above
4500 rpm, injection timing has less effect on the volumetric efficiency as shown in
Figure 6 since less time is available for the intake stroke to gasp the air. Better mixing
163
of port simulated injection has giving a better torque and power output for this engine
speed.
BMEP BSFC
1250 300
280
1000
BSFC (g /k Wh)
BME P (k Pa)
260
750
240
500
220
250
200
0
1500 2500 3500 4500
1500 2500 3500 4500 Rp m
Rpm
300 180 120
300 180 120
(a) (b)
Figure 5. Engine performance in terms of BMEP and BSFC
Volumetric Efficiency
1
Volu met ric e fficien cy
0.8
0.6
1500 2500 3500 4500
Rpm
300 180 120
Figure 6. Volumetric efficiency for various injection timing
Figure 7 shows the emissions of NOx and CO for the CNG-DI engine as
functions of the injection timing. At engine speeds below 3000 rpm, the operation with
full DI resulted in the highest NOx and lowest CO levels. A higher level of NOx
emission indicates a higher combustion temperature as the nitrogen content in the air
will only experience break-up to create NOx if the temperature of the combustion is
above 2000 °C. A higher combustion temperature indicates that a better combustion
process occurs inside the cylinder. Another indicator of good combustion is lower CO
emissions, which occur due to the incompleteness of the combustion process.
Furthermore, these results were confirmed by the pressure reading of full DI which
shows the highest results compared to other injection timings as shown by Figure 7. It
can be concluded that full DI gives better combustion at a 2000 rpm engine speed. At
engine speeds above 3500 rpm, CO production is almost equal for partial and port
simulated DI. However, NOx production is higher for partial DI thanks to better
combustion as also shown in the combustion analysis.
164
brake specific NOx brake specific CO

300 0.7
120
0.6
250
180 0.5 120
200 300
%vol/kW
0.4
p p m /k W
180
150 0.3 300
0.2
100
0.1
50
0
0 -0.1
1500 2500 3500 4500 5500 1500 2500 3500 4500 5500
Rpm Rpm
(a) (b)
Figure 7. Engine emissions for various injection timing
Injection timing has a significant effect on the combustion process of CNG in a

DI system. From the experimental results, each type of injection timing was optimized
for a specific operating condition. Late injection timing (full DI) has better combustion
results at 2000 rpm as shown in Figure 8(a). The maximum pressure for full DI reaches
59 bars which is higher than other injection timings. The better combustion with a full
DI system might be due to a higher turbulence level in the combustion chamber that is
indicated by a faster heat release rate, especially for 10%–90% of the combustion
process (Figure 8b). A faster duration of the primary stage of the combustion process is
also shown in Figure 8(c) where full DI systems show faster burning periods compared
to other injection timings. The partial DI process has a similar burning rate to that of the
port simulated, but with higher combustion efficiency: close to full DI’s result. The
higher peak pressure and shorter combustion duration shown by full DI in Figure 8(f)
may due to the higher turbulence intensity at the main combustion stage. A similar
result was reported by Wang et al. (2008) in an experiment with a constant volume
chamber. Furthermore, the initial combustion stage (Figure 8f) and the ignition delay
period (Figure 8e) of full DI is faster than those of the other injection timings, which
strongly indicates the existence of high charge stratification using full DI system in the
combustion chamber (Huang et al., 2003b). Thus, high charge stratification and faster
combustion duration lead to better combustion efficiency for partial DI and full DI.
However, these lower engine speed results are somewhat different from the results
shown by Zeng et al. (2006). In their report, 180° BTDC injection timing has the highest
maximum pressure compared to other injection timings, earlier or later. These
differences may be due to a higher injection pressure at lower compression ratios for a
lean mixture of CNG.
Partial direct injection (180° BTDC) has better performance than other injection
timings at 3000 rpm where it shows the highest maximum pressure which is about 75
bars (Figure 9a). The maximum pressure occurs due to better combustions inside the
chamber. This argument is also supported by the highest heat released rate from partial
DI timing compared to full-DI and port simulated injection timing (Figure 9b) with 0.07
kJ/CA. Mass fraction burned results on Figure 9(c) shows that partial DI results in a
slightly higher burn rate than full DI and significantly higher than port simulated
injection. Injection timings have the least effect on the heat release rate at the start of
combustion (0%–10%). However, the trend changes as combustion progresses: partial
DI and full DI show faster heat release rate for 10%–90%, which indicates that a high
165
intensity of turbulence occurs inside the cylinder. Furthermore, partial DI obtained

better combustion efficiency (Figure 9d) compared to other injection timings due to a
lower ignition delay combined with a shorter combustion duration.
Pressure profile Heat release rate

70
0.06
60
300 BTDC
50
Pressur e ( bar)
0.04 180 BTDC
HRR (kJ/CA)
40 120 BTDC
30 300 BTDC
180 BTDC 0.02
20
120 BTDC
10 0
0 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
-200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 200
-0.02 Crank angle (BTDC)
Crank angle (BTDC)
(a) (b)
Mass Fraction burned Combustion efficiency
0.8 0.8
0.6 0.7
Ef ficien cy (%)
MFB (%)
0.4 0.6
300 BTDC
0.2 180 BTDC 0.5
120 BTDC
0
0.4
-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
-50 -100 -150 -200 -250 -300 -350
-0.2 Crank angle (BTDC)
Injection Timing (BTDC)
(c) (d)
Ignition Delay Combustion Duration
30 100
25 80
20
Degree CA
Degr ee CA
60
15 0-10%
40
10 10-90%
20 90-100%
5
0 0
-50 -100 -150 -200 -250 -300 -350 -50 -100 -150 -200 -250 -300 -350
Injection Timing (BTDC) Injection Timing (BTDC)
(e) (f)
Figure 8. Combustion analysis for various injection timings at 2000 rpm: (a) Pressure
profile (b) Heat release rate (c) Mass fraction burned (d) Combustion efficiency (e)
Ignition delay (f) Combustion duration
Ignition delay is shown in Figure 9(e): the ignition delay decreases steeply as the
injection timing is retarded from port simulated injection to partial DI. However, the
ignition delay has only a small increment if the injection timing continues to retard. This
decreasing delay may be due to increasing charge stratification levels around the spark
at the ignition. As stated by Huang et al. (2003b), ignition delay at the engine is highly
affected by the equivalence ratio around the spark during the ignition; a lower ignition
delay indicates that a rich mixture is created at the spark during ignition. Small
166
differences in ignition delay of partial and full DI may indicate that the mixture
stratification level of partial and full DI is similar. But the main combustion stage, from
10%–90%, is mostly affected by the intensity of turbulence inside the chamber.
Turbulence proved to affect the flame propagation in the SI engine. Higher turbulence
levels can increase the flame velocity in an SI engine and shorten the combustion
duration. Full DI shows the shortest duration among all the injection timings, while
partial DI and port simulated injection have longer durations, consecutively (Figure 9f).
It is shown that full DI creates a higher turbulence intensity compared to other injection
timings. A homogeneous mixture of port simulated DI at 3000 rpm causes the longer
ignition delay and it also has a low turbulence intensity which increases the combustion
duration. In the end, these results produce lower combustion efficiency.
Pressure profile Heat release rate
90 0.1
80
0.08
180
70
Pr essure (bar)
60
HRR (kJ/CA)
0.06
50
40 300 BTDC 120
0.04 300
30 180 BTDC
20 120 BTDC 0.02
10
0
0
-40 -20 0 20 40 60 80
-200 -100 0 100 200 -0.02
Crank angle (BTDC) Crank angle (BTDC)
(a) (b)
Mass Fraction Burned Comb Efficiency
0.8 1
0.8
0.6
0.6
MFB ( %)
0.4
0.4
300 BTDC
0.2 180 BTDC 0.2
120 BTDC
0 0
-40 -20 0 20 40 60 -350 -300 -250 -200 -150 -100
-0.2 Injection Timing (BTDC)
Crank angle (BTDC)
(c) (d)
Ignition Delay Combustion Duration
30 160
140
C ran k an gle (d egree )
25
120
20
Degr ee CA
100
15 80
10 60 0-10%
5 40 10-90%
20 90-100%
0
0
-350 -300 -250 -200 -150 -100
-50 -150 -250 -350
Injection Timing (BTDC) Injection Timing (BTDC)
(e) (f)
167
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Port simulated injection (injection at 300° BTDC) has better combustion at high
rpm (5000 rpm). The peak cylinder pressure is almost the same as that obtained from
partial DI timing, which is 57 bars as seen in Figure 10(a), while full DI gives a lower
pressure of 40 bars. At high engine speeds, the occurrence of a high degree of fuel
stratification, which also indicates incomplete mixing, as possessed by full DI, is not a
favourable condition for the combustion process as it causes incomplete mixing and
high cycle-to-cycle variation, as also shown by lower maximum pressure. Better
combustion with port simulated and partial DI timing can be seen in the heat release rate
graph (Figure 10b) where both injection timings have higher maximum heat released
(0.075 kJ/CA) compared to full DI (0.06 kJ/CA). Full DI shows a low maximum heat
168
released, indicating that the combustion process is inferior compared to other injection
timings. Figure10(b) also shows that full DI has drift in the maximum heat released
which is at 25° ATDC due to a slower duration of the end of the combustion stage
(90%–100%).
The delay is clearly seen in the mass fraction burned (Figure 10c), where full DI
starts to combust a few degrees before TDC, and has reduced combustion efficiency.
Further, combustion efficiency decreases as the injection timing is retarded, from 0.8%
to 0.68% (Figure 10d), while port simulated injection has a similar MFB as partial DI.
Figure 10(d) shows that combustion efficiency is decreasing as the injection timing is
retarded. A different trend has been shown by the effect of injection timing on
combustion efficiency compared to lower engine speeds. This shows that at high engine
speed, the mixing window is important. Bigger mixing window gives better combustion
at high speed. The combustion duration for all injection timings does not give much
difference for the 0%–90% combustion stage (Figure 10e). But it decreases as the
injection timing is advanced for the combustion stage 90%–100%. These ignition delay
results shows that the delay period is decreased as the injection timing is retarded from
port simulated to partial DI timing, but increases steeply when full DI is applied (Figure
10f). These results show that port simulated injection timing is the most suitable for
high engine rpm as compared to partial DI and full DI operations.
CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions can be drawn on the effect of injection timing on the
performance and combustion of a CNG-DI engine:
 Full DI (120BTDC) increases the volumetric efficiency of the engine and gives
better performance at engine speeds below 2750 rpm. Moreover, full DI has a
higher heat release rate, better combustion efficiency and faster combustion
duration at 2000 rpm due to higher charge stratification.
 Partial injection timing at 180BTDC resulted in a good performance for engine
speeds between 2750–4500 rpm because of the slight difference on volumetric
efficiency compared to 120BTDC injection timing. Higher homogeneity
compared to full DI with additional charge stratification due to injection after
IVC leads to the better combustion results of partial DI which is shown by its
higher heat release rate, faster combustion duration and higher combustion
efficiency at 3000 rpm.
 At engine speeds above 4500 rpm, early injection timing at 300BTDC resulted
in the highest engine performance due to complete mixing of the air and fuel, in
spite of the lower volumetric efficiency.
At engine speeds below 3000 rpm, NOx emission increased and CO emission
decreased with retarding of injection timing, indicating a higher combustion
temperature and a more complete combustion. This could be attributed to a
higher air volume per cycle and increased turbulence due to the DI operation.
 At engine speeds above 3500 rpm, the level of CO production is almost invariant
with injection timing. However, NOx production is higher for the partial
injection timing of 180BTDC compared to early injection at 300BTDC,
indicating a higher combustion temperature. This could be due to the higher
volumetric efficiency that resulted in more air volume per cycle and a higher
effective compression ratio.
169
 At the intermediate engine speeds of 2000 and 3000 rpm, full DI and partial DI
operations result in the fastest rate of heat release while at the high engine speed
of 5000 rpm, port-injected equivalent operation results in the fastest rate of heat
release.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to acknowledge the funding support for the experimental
facilities from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) of
Malaysia (03-02-02-0057-PR0030/10-04) and Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS.
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170
MOTION MODELLINGUSINGCONCEPTS OF FUZZY ARTIFICIAL

POTENTIAL FIELDS
O. Motlagh 1, A.R. Ramli1, S.H. Tang2, F. Motlagh 1 and N. Ismail2

1
Intelligent Systems and Robotic Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology
2
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia (UPM)
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Email: motlagh7@gmail.com, arr@eng.upm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Artificial potential fields(APF) are well established for reactive navigation of mobile
robots. This paper describes a fast and robust fuzzy-APF on an ActivMedia
AmigoBot.Obstacle-related information is fuzzified by using sensory fusion,which
results in a shorter runtime. In addition, the membership functions of obstacle direction
and range have been merged into one function,obtaining asmaller block of rules. The
system is tested in virtual environments with non-concave obstacles. Then, the paper
describes a new approach to motion modelling wherethe motion of intelligent travellers
is modelled by consecutive path segments. In previous work, the authors described a
reliable motion modellingtechnique using causal inference of fuzzy cognitive maps
(FCM) whichhas beenefficiently modified for the purpose of this contribution. Results
and analysis are given to demonstratethe efficiency and accuracy of the proposed
motion modelling algorithm.
Keywords:Motion Modelling; Artificial Intelligence; Potential Fields
INTRODUCTION
In localnavigation, the task is to locally explore the space, seeking a designated target
while avoiding obstacles or certain regions. The path planning strategy adopted by a
reactive mobile robot is therefore based on route-like spatial cognition through sensory
information and motion control.Quite a number of different algorithms have been
developed for reactive motion of mobile robots including: virtual wall (Ordonez et al.,
2007), graph-based method (Kelarev, 2003), landmark learning (Krishna and Kalra,
2001), fuzzy logic minimum risk (Wang and Liu, 2007), target switching strategy (Xu
and Tso, 1999; Motlagh et al., 2009a), 3-step potential field (Tu and Baltes, 2006), and
many others. A summary of the recent literature is given in (Motlagh et al., 2009a). One
of the establishedreactive techniques is based on using artificial potential fields (APF)
(Khatib, 1986). The APF strategy is to make a compromise between target seeking
behavior, with the target’s attracting the robot, and obstacle avoidance behaviour,with
the obstacle’s repelling the robot.In fuzzy-APF, the inputs of obstacle and target
orientations are fuzzified and given to usually a rule-basedinference enginefor
generating control outputs.Ideally, in spaces with non-concave obstaclesor culdesac, a
robot working under an APF algorithm can simply navigate towards the target.
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O. Motlagh et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2 (2010) 17 1-180
THE FUZZY-APF ALGORITHM
The ActivMedia AmigoBot was chosen forthe mobile robot of this projectas
project shown in
Figure 1. A fast fuzzy-APF
APF algorithm is developed for reactive navigation of the robot
in environments with only non-concave obstacles. The robot is equipped with sonar
range-finders and self-localization
localization sensors for online local navigation,
navigation i.e., APF with
one known target (attractor)
(attractor and unknown obstacles (repeller ).The
The robot working under
APF is regarded as an example of an intelligent traveller. The robot brain (a
microprocessor or PC) can be actually
ually connected to the platform via wired or wireless
connection.. However, in this project, a standard ActivMedia simulator
imulator has been used for
virtual experiments.
Figure1. ActivMedia AmigoBot used as an intelligent traveller

trave
A rule-based
based strategy is developed for APF navigationn of the AmigoBot. As
shown in Table 1,twelve rules are defined to coordinate obstacle avoidance and target
seeking behaviours. Figure 2 depicts the
t fuzzy states of the input membership functions
of obstacle and target, including: obstacle at left (OL), in front (OF), at rig ht (OR);
target at left (TL), in front (TF), at right (TR). These are all relative to the robot’s
heading direction. There is another state of having no-obstacle
cle shown by (NO) for the
short-sighted robot.The
The state of no-obstacle
no obstacle allows for merging all of the obstacle-
related information including distance and directional information , i.e., by satisfying
OL+OF+OR+NO=1. The obstacle-related
o information is therefore fuzzified only by
fusion of sensory information. This
Th results in a smaller size of the rule-set
set and therefore
a shorter runtime.
Figure 2. The membership functions of relative obstacle and target orientations
172
Motion modeling using motion concepts of fuzzy artificial potential fields
Table 1. Fuzzy rules R1 through R12
R1: If OL & TL Then, VL , SR

R2: If OL & TF Then, VU , SR
R3: If OL & TR Then, VH , SR
R4: If OF & TL Then, VL , SL
R5: If OF & TF Then, VL , -
R6: If OF & TR Then, VL , SR
R7: If OR & TL Then, VH , SL
R8: If OR & TF Then, VU , SL
R9: If OR & TR Then, VL , SL
R10: If NO & TL Then, VH , SL
R11: If NO & TF Then, VH , SU
R12: If NO & TR Then, VH , SR
The inference mechanism of Table 1 accounts for the brain of the robot. The
control outputs are the linear velocity (v) and the steering (s) to be applied to the robot’s
actuators. Velocity might get low (VL), high (VH), or (VU) for unchanged velocity.
Steering control is represented by (SL) for turning to left, (SR) for turning to right, or
(SU) for no-change. From calculation of the rules, aggregation, and defuzzification, the
outputs are derived (Eq. 1 and Eq. 2) to be applied to the actuators, i.e., the left and right
wheels’ motors. This is similar to intelligent and biological systems where the brain
makes muscles and bones move. The APF of this project is expert-defined. However, it
provides a fair level of intelligence for unguided wayfinding of the robot. It is stressed
that there must be only non-concave obstacles present in the environment. More
complex situations are described by the authors using an extended APF algorithm for
tackling concave and cul-de-sac obstacles (Motlagh et al., 2009a).
∑ + ∑ + ℎ∑
= (1)
∑ +∑ +∑
where vl,vn,vh are output constants
∑ + ∑ + ∑
= (2)
∑ +∑ +∑
where sl,sn,sr are output constants
As depicted in Figure 3, there are several trajectory examples available from

experimental results using the standard simulation software of ActivMedia. At each
time instance, the fuzzified values of obstacle and target orientations are given to the
rule-based inference mechanism. The outputs of velocity and steering are then derived,
defuzzified, and applied to the robot. Accordingly, the robot efficiently approaches the
target while avoiding the obstacle.
173
Figure 3. Sample trajectories obtained under the developed fuzzy-APF

APF control
APF
APF-BASED MOTION MODELLING
It was shown in the previous section that reactive motion of mobile robots can be
governed by artificial potential fields (APF). The robot’s trajectory is made up from
motion productions, i.e., path segments. Taking a robot working under an APF as an
intelligent traveller,
er, there are decisions made for generation of path segments at time
instances, i.e., decision
ion productions. Each path segment or production P i can be shown
by a displacement vector with length d i and a change in heading direction θi.
Alternatively, to reduce the effect of sampling frequency (timing), the length of a
production P i can be defined in terms of the robot’s linear velocity (v). The motion
production is therefore defined P i = (vi , θ
i ) as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Series of motion productions generated due to consecutive decisions for

motion: the
he robot enters a sub-space
sub (i) with self-kinematics
kinematics of production P i.
It then makes a decision causing motion production Pi+1.
In this article, it is proposed and shown that from observation of successive

motion productions, corresponding decision productions can be extracted. The goal is to
create a model to replicate the wayfinding behavio urs
rs of the robot. For the scenario of
Figure 4, it is supposed that the robot’s control algorithm is unknown. However, the
174
robot’s self-kinematical
kinematical and the environmental information such as exerted force s are
known. Therefore, at any time t i, the robot’s velocity and heading are available as v i
(linear velocity), and θi (heading angle in form of θLi= s i where 0 < si < +180, andθ
and Ri= -
s i where 0 > si > -180
180 which are the amounts of turn angle to left or rig ht) revealing the
self-kinematical
kinematical information. In addition, the fuzzy states of the obstacle and target at
time t i or (OL, OF, OR, NO, TL, TF, TR) i reveal the environmental information.
Therefore, there are ten motion concepts describing the robot’s status at any time. These
are the inputs to the robot for making a decision for the following motion production
(output of v i+1 and θi+1). The key point is to discover what decision ha ve been made by
the robot by looking at these inputs (at t i) and outputs (at ti+1).
PROPOSED DECISION MODELLING

MODEL ING ALGORITHM
The decision modelling ing strategy is based on the capabilities of the fuzzy cognitive map
(FCM) in a causal inference mechanism. FCM (Kosko, 1992; 1996; Stylios et al., 2008)
is a graph-like
like soft computing tool that is based on fuzzy logic (FL) and neural network
(NN) methodologies. FCM is widely used in all areas of AI using complementary
learning techniques. Figure 5 shows how the tenspecified
specified motion concepts are used to
define the FCM’s concepts (nodes), i.e., c 1 ... c10, while on the other hand, the graph of
causal interactions, i.e., matrix of FCM’s events or edges {e 1,1 ... e1,10 ; ... ; e 10,1 ... e10,10 },
is used to represent the decisional behavio urs.
Figure 5. The FCM’s 10×10 matrix of edges is used for decision model ling
FCM-based
based inference works in a cyclic fashion in such a way that during each
cycle the weights of the affecting concepts are multiplied by the weights of their causes
on the affected concepts . Summations of these amounts are then squashed into a certain
range using a logistic function and assigned to the affected concepts as their new
weights. The difference between the formula of definition (Eq. 3) and incremental is in
defining the initial weights
eights of the concepts (McNeill and Thro, 1994). In the definition
method, each concept weight c j is completely defined anew during each forward step
(cycle). Incremental method adds each concept value to its previous value during each
forward step of the dynamic map. FCM is run for an unlimited number of cycles until
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O. Motlagh et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2 (2010) 171-180
convergence, i.e., formation of a decision. The finalized concepts’ weights represent the
decision output of the FCM. FCM is therefore used to anticipate a future action, i.e., the
successive path segment or motion production P i+1.
= 1+ − ( × , )× , = 1 … 10 (3)
Now if the anticipated Pi+1 happens to be similar to the one actually made by the
robot in terms of steering (s) and velocity (v), then the FCM has just replicated the
robot’s decision making behavior. And the related decision matrix (the matrix of FCM
edges), accounts for that specific decision for making P i+1 after Pi . The problem to tackle
is to discover which set of event weights or matrix of interactions could make this come
about. In other words, which weights have to be assigned to {e1,1 … e10,10} in order for
the FCM to anticipate Pi+1 correctly.This problem is resolved using a supervised
learning strategy for determining the FCM event weights at the different times. There
are many approaches to training FCM models (Konar and Chakraborty, 2005; Stach et
al., 2005; Ghazanfari et al., 2007). Heuristic search and the genetic algorithm (GA) are
widely used as FCM training and tuning techniques (Stach et al., 2005; Motlagh et al.,
2009b) through supervised learning of the event matrix.
Each event weight implies two pieces of information in a single trait. One is called
causality, and the other, the intensity of the event. In thegraphical representation, an
FCM event is shown by a signed weighted edge starting from the affecting node and
pointing towards the affected one. For example, the causal effect of concept c 1 on c2 can
be shown by e 1,2= -0.45 in the range (-1, 1). This means c1 has a negative influence on
c 2, with 0.45 units of intensity. When necessary, weights can be magnified into other
ranges (-b, b) while the gain of the FCM formula must be set to (1/b). In this method,
the range of the weights was chosen to be (-100, 100) for efficient binary computation,
i.e., assigning only 1 byte per event instead of 4 bytes as in the floating-point format.
Accordingly, the event matrix is represented by 10×10=100 event weights within (-100,
100) where each weight is encoded as one signed byte (8 binary bits within range of -
127, +127). For example, e 1,2 can be represented by -101101 or 10101101.
Having FCM events ordered as {e1,1 … e1,10 , e2,1 … e2,10 ,…, e10,1 … e10,10}, a
single binary string with length 100 bytes is used to record their weights in the same
order. In fact, this binary string contains the entire event matrix. It is therefore an overall
representation of the decisional behaviours shown by the robot. Such information plays
the key role in the FCM-based decision making. Therefore, by loading different binary
values into this string, different motion productions can be generated by the FCM.The
goal is to find the fittest binary values, i.e., chromosomes containing 100 event weights,
by which the FCM can generate the same decision productions as actually generated by
the robot at each decision point. A genetic algorithm (GA) is used to obtain the fittest
decision productions. The binary string of encoded event weights is used as a
chromosome. For example {01000100, 10001011 … 00010101} represents {e 1,1= +68,
e 1,2= -11, … e10,10= +21}.
Production Pi+1 is used as the GA cost function for fitness scoring. The FCM
learns to generate decisions by which it can replicate the same motion productions made
by the robot. In order to train the FCM, the initial population (N chromosomes) is
generated. Then, the following steps are repeated until a solution is found which
accounts for the fittest decision trial, i.e., matrix of edges. At first, each chromosome is
176
fed to the FCM which means it is decoded and assigned to the matrix of FCM events.
The FCM is then run to generate a decision production. The decision production is used
to predict Pi+1. According to the amount of error between the actual and the predicted
Pi+1, a fitness score is assigned to each chromosome. Then, elites will be selected for
reproduction from the current population. The chance of being selected is proportional
to the chromosomes’ fitness (roulette wheel selection). And, finally, through crossover
and mutation, a new generation is created for the next GA run.
NAVIGATION RESULTS USING DECISION MATRX
The following pseudocode shows much of the learning algorithm. The first WHILE
loop evaluates the GA-trails of event matrices by feeding them into the FCM and
measuring the fitness of the resulted outputs. The second WHILE loop show how FCM
is run for generating decisions for motion.
concept = CALL motion concepts (i)

CALL reproduction
WHILE n < population
Decision_trial = chromosome (n)
event_matrix = CALL decode_decision_trial
CALL run_FCM for prediction of motion concepts (i+1)
CALL fitness
END WHILE
…
run_FCM
{
WHILE cycle <very large limit
convergence = concept
FOR c = 1 to 10
total_effect = COMPUTE total effect on concept (c)
concept (c) = CALL squash_total_effect
END FOR
IF concept = convergence
THEN BREAK WHILE
END IF
END WHILE
}
The performance of the developed decision modelling system has been

evaluated using ActivMedia and MATLAB simulation. The programming and
experimental work were carried out from June to September 2009. At first, the
AmigoBot was put to explore several virtual environments under thecontrol of the
developed fuzzy-APF algorithm as described in Section 2, (Figure 3). While the robot
was navigating in the environments, at time instances, the fuzzified states of obstacle
and target orientation, i.e., OL, OF, OR, NO, TL, TF, TR, the amounts of steering, i.e.,
θL and θR or changes in heading direction to left and right, and the velocity (V) were
extracted from theActivMedia simulator and recorded into a data-base. Therefore, each
record of the data-base represented the environmental and self-kinematical information
of a single motion production as shown in Table 2.
177
Table 2. Tracking
ng and recording the values of the robot motion concepts at time
instances
Motion concepts at subspace

Self- Obstacle
Obstacle- Target related Decision For moving to
kinematical relates production subspace
--- --- --- P i? i
(c1,c2,c 3 c 4,c5,c6, c 7 c8,c 9,c10)i P i+1? i+1
(c1,c2,c 3 c 4,c5,c6, c 7 (c8,c9,c 10)i+1 P i+2? i+2
--- --- --- --- ---
For learning each of the available paths of Figure 3, the corresponding data -base
(sequence of motion productions) is loaded into the decision mode lling software
developed in MATLAB. For learning each segment of the loaded path, two records of
the data-base
base have to be used: one for loading the initial weights of the FCM nodes, and
another for GA fitness test. Accordingly, a new data -base base of decision matrices was
obtained. Each decision matrix accounts for robot behaviour
behavio r in moving from one sub- sub
space to another. In order to test the sanity of the matrix -like
like decisions a new motion
planning software was created in theActivMedia
ActivMedia simulator. However, this time instead
of using APF-based
sed navigation algorithm, the data-base
data base of decision matrices was used
for motion planning and robot navigation.
Figure 6 shows a sample trajectory obtained from ActivMedia under control of the
data-base
base of decision matrices. At each sub-space,
sub e.g., robot at a point in thevicinity of
the obstacle, all of the ten motion concepts describing self-kinematical kinematical and
environmental factors are detected. These are then compared against the data -base from
which the corresponding decision matrix is selected and retriev ed. An FCM is then run
using theavailable
available motion concepts (loaded into its nodes) and the selected decision
matrix (loaded into its edges). Upon FCM convergen ce, a motion production (v, s:( θL,
θR)) is generated for navigating the robot towards the followi ng sub-space.
space.
Figure 6. A trajectory made under supply of decision matrices
178
Each sub-space or location along the generated trajectory is represented in x-y

coordinates, e.g., Li :(XDM,YDM)i . Therefore, L0, L1 … are the successive sub-spaces
while Ls1, Ls2 … are the points of major switchesin behaviors, e.g., from wall
following to target seeking, etc. With a high precision of up to 90% through more
experiments, the path generated by this method (data-base of decision matrices) is
identical with the one generated by the fuzzy-APF algorithm in the ActivMedia
simulator. There are two approaches for thegeneration of error graphs from comparison
of the path in Figure 6 with the path generated under APF control in the same
environment. In theone-to-one method, the robot’s 2D coordinates are compared at time
instances (Eq. 4) where the paths generated under decision matrices and the fuzzy-APF
control are called DM and APF, respectively. As the second approach, the amount of the
augmented error is obtained using the П function of Eq. 5 which gives the overall
amount of error (E t) between the two paths over elapsed time (t).
= ( − ) +( − ) (4)
where , arethedurationsofthe two trajectories
= , ∈{0 … } , = min( , ) (5)
CONCLUSION
A fast and robust motion control system was presented for mobile robots in
environments with non-concave obstacles. There are two types of motion concepts in
APF-based navigation. Self-kinematical concepts include linear velocity and steering to
left and right. Environmental concepts include target and obstacle information, i.e.,
fuzzy states of relative orientation at left, front, and right. A new decision modelling
technique was described based on the concepts of fuzzy-APF. The motion concepts are
used to set the weights of FCM nodes. The weights of theFCM edges are tuned using
GA-based supervised learning. The decisions for moving along sub-spaces one after
another are determined and recorded as matrices. Using such a data-base of decision
matrices, the robot motion can be controlled in any environment of the same type. The
decision model of this research is in progress to be applicable to all kinds of intelligent
travellers, including human subjects. Future applications are in path prediction, security,
and surveillance, where theprediction of intelligent motion is required.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research hasbeen partially supported by research university grant schemeNo.

5/1/7/0222RU at University Putra Malaysia. The authors therefore wish to convey their
thanks to the Ministry which providedthis financial support.
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180
ISSN: 1985-9325(Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 2, pp. 181-199, July–December 2010
INVESTIGATION OF SURFACE PROPERTIES IN MANGANESE POWDER

MIXED ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING OF OHNS AND D2 DIE
STEELS
S. Kumar1 and R. Singh2

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Punjab Engineering College
Chandigarh, 160012, India
2
Faculty of Production Engineering, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College
Ludhiana, 141006, India
Tel.: +919872257575, Fax: +911612502700
E-mail: rupindersingh78@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The electrical discharge machining (EDM) process is used for generating accurate
internal profiles in hardened materials. An powder additive in the hydrocarbon dielectric
affects the energy distribution and sparking efficiency, and consequently the surface
finish and micro-hardness. In this paper the Taguchi approach has been used to optimize
and compare the surface properties in manganese powder-mixed EDM of oil-hardening
non-shrinkable (OHNS) and high-carbon high-chromium (D2) die steels. The results of
the study show an improvement of 73% and 71.6% in the micro-hardness of OHNS and
D2 die steels, respectively. The machining parameters for the best value of micro-
hardness are found to be the same for both work materials. A scanning electron
microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis of the machined surfaces show a transfer of
manganese and carbon from the plasma channel in the form of manganese carbide. The
chemical composition of the machined surface has been further checked on an optical
emission spectrometer to verify and quantify the results.
Keywords: Electrical discharge machining, Manganese powder, OHNS die steel, D2 die
steel, Powder-mixed dielectric, Taguchi design
INTRODUCTION
In the electrical discharge machining (EDM) process, two metal electrodes, one being a
tool of a pre-determined shape, and the other being the workpiece, are immersed in a
dielectric liquid which is generally kerosene or any other hydrocarbon oil. A series of
voltage pulses, usually of rectangular form, with magnitude about 100 V and frequency
of the order of 200–5000 Hz, is applied between the two electrodes (Mishra, 2005). The
entire cycle time is usually a few micro-seconds (Fuller, 2000; Jain, 2004). However,
the temperature of the area under the spark is very high. The process can be controlled
in such a way that substantially more material is removed from the workpiece than the
tool-electrode (Shankar and Krishnan, 1979). The high frequencies at which the voltage
pulses are supplied, together with the forward movement of the tool-electrode towards
the workpiece by means of a servo-mechanism, enables the sparking action to be
eventually achieved over the entire area of the electrodes in contact (Ho and Newman,
2003). Since metal removal is realized by sparks and not mechanical action, the rate of
machining is not limited by the hardness of the workpiece. These attractive features of
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S. Kumar and R. Singh / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2 (2010) 181-199
EDM have led to its widespread industrial use, particularly in the manufacture of dies
and moulds (Altan et al., 1993) where the material can be machined in the hardened
state and distortions resulting from heat treatment processes are eliminated.
A number of phenomena observed during the EDM process make it a high
potential technology for application in the field of surface modification. Each spark
generates a temperature of the order of 8,000 to 12,000 0 C and creates a plasma channel,
causing fusion or partial vaporization of the workpiece, tool electrode and the dielectric
fluid at the point of discharge (Kuneida et al., 2005). When the plasma channel
collapses at the end of pulse on-time, the flowing dielectric cools the surfaces and
carries away most of the vaporized material (Zolotykh, 1995). However, some of the
constituents of the plasma channel are deposited back on the workpiece and the tool
electrode. Many research works have reported the presence of the constituents of tool
electrode in the machined workpiece surface and vice-versa (Aspinwall et al., 2003).
Pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon dielectric contributes carbon to the plasma channel and
aids the process of material deposition (Lahiri et al., 1981). As the dissolution of the
electrode takes place during the process, the constituents of the electrode material may
be deposited on the machined surface by varying the process parameters towards the
end of the machining cycle for specific surface modifications (Kumar et al., 2009).
Suitable alloying elements may be added to the electrode bodies or suspended in the
dielectric in the form of fine metal powders and they may get deposited on the machined
surface either in free form or as carbides by combining with carbon from the breakdown
of the dielectric (Tzeng and Lee, 2001). Suspended powders also influence the sparking
pattern and machining efficiency (Jeswani, 1981). Conductive powders enlarge the gap
distance and improve the surface finish by reducing spark energy and dispersing the
discharges more randomly throughout the surface (Rehbein et al., 2004): the thickness
of the recast layer is smaller and micro-cracks are reduced. Consequently, the corrosion
resistance of the machined surface is substantially improved.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In the case of dies, punches and other press tools, it is desirable to introduce suitable
alloying elements and their compounds in the machined surfaces only and not in the
base material due to the following very important reasons:
 The contribution of the alloying elements in improving mechanical and physical

properties is desired at the interacting surfaces only and material going into the
rest of the component body adds a substantial cost to it.
 The presence of these alloying elements significantly affects the heat treatment
behaviour of die steels. For example, most carbide forming elements (Mn, Cr,
W, Mo, V and Ti) impede carbon diffusion in austenite and make the process of
transformation of pearlite into austenite slower (Prabhudev, 2000). They also
increase the stability of supercooled austenite in the pearlitic region to a much
greater degree, which results in a large amount of retained austenite instead of
the desirable martensite (Lakhtin, 1983). Hence, it becomes imperative that
alloying elements are introduced after the heat treatment cycle.
 It may not be metallurgically feasible to add some of the elements (such as
refractory metals) in the molten state to the whole liquid material.
182
Investigation of surface properties in manganese powder mixed electrical discharge machining of OHNS and D2 die
steels
Two types of surface modification methods commonly employed for dies and
moulds are ion implantation and laser surface processing (Kalpakjian and Schmid,
2001). However, both these processes are characterized by poor surface finish and
require final machining on EDM. Another hindrance is the enormous cost of the
equipment (Galerie et al., 1989). Since EDM is already being used extensively for the
machining of press tools, dies and punches, if surface modification can be incorporated
into the EDM process itself, it will bring substantial economic benefits to the industry.
For example, oil-hardening non-shrinkable (OHNS) die steel has medium toughness and
moderate wear resistance (ASM, 1995). These characteristics can be improved by the
addition of carbon, manganese, chromium and vanadium to the machined surface.
Manganese improves strength and hardness, but to a lesser degree than carbon, and is
most effective in high carbon steels. It increases the hardenability of alloy steels and its
carbide forming ability is greater than that of ferrite but less than that of chromium
(Pollack, 1988). It also improves the hot working properties of tool and die steels.
Besides this, some elements have a strong influence on the properties of tool steels
when they are used in combination with some other specific elements. When manganese
is added to a tool steel containing chromium, silicon and molybdenum; it increases the
strength, toughness and hardness. The effect of manganese is then greater than that of
chromium (Avner, 1997).
Roethel and Garbajs (1976) observed that the properties of the surfaces depend
on the properties of the alloys which are formed in the surface layers due to the
diffusion of tool electrodes and breakdown of the dielectric. Many researchers have
carried out investigations into the phenomenon of material transfer from composite
electrodes but only a limited literature is available on the use of powder-mixed dielectric
for surface modification. Uno et al. (2001) conducted experiments on aluminum bronze
work material with nickel powder mixed in the dielectric and obtained a surface of high
wear resistance and good surface finish as compared to conventional EDM due to the
transfer of nickel. Furutani (2001) used titanium powder in kerosene dielectric and
obtained titanium carbide layer of hardness 1600 HV on carbon steel with a negatively
polarized copper electrode, 3 amp peak current and 2 µsec pulse duration. Both titanium
and titanium carbide were found in the X-ray diffraction analysis of the machined
surface and it was concluded that carbon came from the breakdown of the dielectric. A
deposition method for a solid lubricant layer of molybdenum disulphide by suspending
its powder in the dielectric to produce parts for ultra high vacuum applications (such as
space environment) has been proposed by Furutani and Shimizu (2003). The process is
not without its drawbacks, which include the difficulty in ensuring that the powder is
held in suspension. This is easier with more viscous dielectrics but at the cost of reduced
flushing efficiency (Aspinwall et al., 2003). To address the problem of powder settling,
Wu et al. (2005) added a surfactant with aluminum powder in the dielectric and
observed a more apparent discharge distribution effect which resulted in a surface
roughness (Ra value) of less than 0.2 µm. By adding urea to distilled water as the
dielectric medium for machining titanium, Yan et al. (2005) obtained TiN on the work
surface which exhibited improved friction and wear characteristics. It has been shown
that there is a great influence of the work material and powder properties on the
response parameters such as material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR) and
surface roughness; besides the appropriate settings of electrode polarity and pulse
parameters. The available literature establishes that low peak current, shorter pulse on-
time and negative polarity of the tool electrode favour the phenomenon of surface
183
modification by EDM process. However, the impact of variation in pulse off-time as an

independent parameter has not been investigated till date.
EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
This research work attempts to carry out surface modification of OHNS (type ‘O2’) and
‘D2’ die steels by material transfer from manganese powder suspended in the dielectric
medium using the EDM process. The chemical composition of the work materials was
measured on an optical emission spectrometer and is given in Table 1. OHNS and D2
die steels contain 0.82% and 1.57% carbon, respectively. The high carbon content
makes possible the formation of martensite of high hardness, and the alloying elements
provide sufficient hardenability to make possible hardening of sections of reasonable
size by oil quenching (ASM, 1995). Hardening is done by oil quenching from
austenitizing temperatures, followed by two cycles of tempering to remove internal
stresses and maximize the transformation of austenite to martensite. These die steels
have very low susceptibility to distortion and cracking (Roberts and Cary, 1980). The
microstructure of hardened and tempered OHNS and D2 die steels is shown in Figures 1
and 2, respectively. In the scanning electron micrograph of OHNS die steel, spheroidal
cementite phase appears in the matrix of tempered martensite. In the micrograph of D2
high-carbon high-chromium die steel (Figure 2), large un-dissolved carbides can be seen
in a tempered martensite matrix.
Table 1: Chemical composition of OHNS die steel
Element Composition (% of wt.)

OHNS die steel D2 die steel
Carbon 0.82 0.82
Silicon 0.18 0.18
Manganese 0.52 0.52
Chromium 0.49 0.49
Tungsten - -
Vanadium 0.19 0.19
Molybdenum 0.13 0.13
Nickel 0.05 0.05
Iron Balance Balance
The original micro-hardness of the work materials was measured at six different
places and the average value was found to be 607 HV and 652 HV (Vickers hardness
number) respectively. Machining of the workpieces was carried out using negative
polarity of the tool electrode and kerosene dielectric with side flushing for all the
experiments. The time for each machining cut was fixed at 10 minutes. The machining
parameters used for experimentation have been summarized in Table 2.
184
steels
(a) 400X (b) 1000X
Figure 1. SEM micrograph of the original microstructure of OHNS die steel
(a) 400X (b) 1000X
Figure 2. SEM micrograph of the original microstructure of D2 die steel
Table 2. Machining Parameters
Parameters Description and value

Sparking Voltage 135 ± 5% Volts
Discharge Current 2, 4, 6 Amps
Pulse on-time 5, 10, 20 µsec
Pulse off-time 38, 57, 85 µsec
Servo Control Electro-mechanical
Polarity Reverse (electrode negative)
Dielectric Commercial grade Kerosene
Flushing Side flushing with pressure
Machining Time 10 minutes for each cut
Workpiece material OHNS die steel (hardened and
tempered)
Tool Electrode Copper
Powder Concentration 15 g / liter
185
For the manganese powder-mixed dielectric, a small tank made of thin mild steel
sheet was placed in the main machining tank to isolate it from the filtering system of the
machine. This tank was provided with a stirrer to keep the powder suspended uniformly
in the dielectric throughout the machining cycle. For comparison purposes, the work
material was also machined with the same process parameters but without any powder
suspended in the dielectric medium. The best value of micro-hardness under these
normal conditions was found to be 683 HV and 748 HV respectively. The XRD pattern
of the surface of OHNS die steel machined without any powder shows the presence of
cementite (Fe 3C), ferrite (Fe-C) and some traces of copper (Figure 3).
Figure 3. XRD pattern of OHNS die steel after machining with copper electrode
(at Ip = 6 amp, Pon = 5 µsec and Poff = 85 µsec)
As the machining conditions used for the experiments favour high tool wear,
this copper has come from the dissolution of the electrode. Copper—like nickel, silicon
and aluminum—does not form carbides in steel and is found as a solid solution with
iron. The effect of copper in improving the mechanical properties of ferrite phase is only
marginal, but in any case, its presence is not detrimental to the properties. Hence, no
attempt has been made in this research work to eliminate copper from the workpiece
surface. The corresponding microstructure of this surface is shown in Figure 4 in which
the typical craters formed after normal EDM can be distinctly seen.
186
steels
Figure 4. SEM micrograph of OHNS die steel after machining with copper electrode
(at Ip = 6 amp, Pon = 5 µsec and Poff = 85 µsec)
Experimental Design
For this experimental work, three input process parameters (also called factors), namely,
peak current, pulse on-time and pulse off-time, were chosen based on extensive
literature survey and pilot experimentation. Three levels of each parameter were taken
because the non-linear behaviour of a process parameter can only be studied if more
than two levels are used (Montgomery, 2005). The degrees of freedom (DOF) of a three
level parameter is 2 (number of levels—1), hence the total DOF for the experiment is 6.
Out of the standard orthogonal arrays available in Taguchi design, the L9 orthogonal
array has 8 degrees of freedom and it can accommodate three levels of up to four
parameters, so it was selected for this work (Bagchi, 1993). The fourth column of the
array has been left blank. The orthogonality of an array is not lost if one or more
columns are not used (Phadke, 1989). Taguchi recommends that study of interaction
should be avoided, if possible, by proper assignment of the factors. Amongst the
parameters of this design, it is well known from previous research work that in EDM,
the effects of variation in peak current and pulse on-time on the output parameters are
independent of each other: there is no interaction between them. Hence, they have been
assigned to columns 1 and 2. The third factor, pulse off-time, has been assigned to
column 3. Each row of the orthogonal array represents the set of values of input process
parameters with which a particular experiment is to be conducted. Thus, a total of nine
experiments are required for one phase of a study (Ross, 1988). Accordingly, after
constructing the control log, each set of nine experiments was repeated three times at
random for both the work materials. The input process parameters and their levels used
for the experimentation have been listed in Table 3.
Table 3. Input process parameters and their levels
Parameter Levels
L1 L2 L3
Peak current (Amperes) 2 4 6
Pulse on-time (μsec) 5 10 20
Pulse off-time μsec) 38 57 85
187
The most important output process parameter for dies and press tools is micro-
hardness of the working surface as it directly influences the quality and life of the tools;
hence it was selected as the response characteristic for this experimental work. Micro-
hardness tests were carried out using a load of 9.807 N for a duration time of 20 seconds
on the bottom surface of the machined cavity. For each sample, measurement was done
at three places and average values were taken. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the
data was done to find out the significance and percentage contribution of each of the
three factors towards improving micro-hardness. Surface roughness (Ra value)
measurements were also done on all the samples. The machined surfaces showing the
maximum improvement in micro-hardness were further subjected to X-ray diffraction
(XRD) analysis to find out the presence of additional elements and the various phases;
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to analyse the microstructure; and composition
testing by an optical emission spectrometer for quantitative analysis of the changes in
constituents of the machined surface.
A total of 27 samples (for each work material) were obtained after repeating each set of
nine experiments three times. As the aim of the experimentation was to maximize the
value of micro-hardness, this is a higher-the-better type of response characteristic, for
which the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ratio, denoted by ‘η’) was calculated for higher the
better type (HB) as:
1 R 1  

S / N
HB 10 log    
2

 (1)
 
R j 1 y j 

where y j = observed value of the response characteristic

R = number of repetitions
The observed values of micro-hardness and the calculated values of their S/N
ratios for OHNS and D2 die steel are shown in Tables 4 and 5, respectively. The
average surface roughness values for each set of machining conditions are also given in
these tables. The average values of micro-hardness and the corresponding S/N ratios at
levels 1, 2 and 3 of the three input process parameters were then calculated to find out
the factor effects. These factor effects have been shown in Figures 4 and 5 for OHNS
and D2 die steels, respectively.
Taguchi suggests two different routes to carry out the complete analysis of the
experimental data. In the first approach, the results of a single run or the average of
repetitive runs are processed through main effect and ANOVA analysis of the raw data
is carried out. The second approach, which Taguchi strongly recommends, is to use
signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios for the same steps in the analysis (Phadke, 1989). It is
treated as a response parameter (a transform of the raw data) of the experiment. Based
on this recommendation, the second approach was chosen for the analysis of the data in
this work. The results of ANOVA of the S/N data are given in Tables 6 and 7 for OHNS
and D2. The F-ratio is a statistical parameter that determines whether a factor is
significant for the response characteristic or not. If the calculated value of the F-ratio
from the experimental data is more than the specified value of the F-ratio for a given
188
steels
level of confidence (available from statistical tables), the factor is significant, and
otherwise it is not.
Table 4. Observed values of micro-hardness for OHNS die steel and their S/N ratios
Expt. Factor Values Micro-hardness S/N Average

No. values ratio surface
Peak Pulse Pulse R1 R2 R3 (η) roughness,
current on-time off-time (HV) (HV) (HV) Ra (μm)
(amp) (μsec) (μsec)
1 2 5 38 843 851 865 58.618 3.31
2 2 10 57 820 783 794 58.046 3.72
3 2 20 85 837 861 848 58.573 4.60
4 4 5 57 1018 1029 1036 60.236 5.68
5 4 10 85 996 1007 983 59.958 6.60
6 4 20 38 978 962 971 59.738 6.52
7 6 5 85 988 1011 995 59.981 6.34
8 6 10 38 914 905 883 59.089 6.02
9 6 20 57 939 912 921 59.312 6.83
Overall Mean 924.07 59.283 5.51
Table 5. Observed values of micro-hardness for D2 die steel and their S/N ratios
Expt. Factor Values Micro-hardness S/N Average

No. values ratio surface
Peak Pulse Pulse R1 R2 R3 (η) roughness,
current on-time off-time (HV) (HV) (HV) Ra (μm)
(amp) (μsec) (μsec)
1 2 5 38 953 978 962 59.683 4.47
2 2 10 57 905 896 883 59.032 4.50
3 2 20 85 917 938 921 59.325 5.53
4 4 5 57 1064 1081 1109 60.702 6.09
5 4 10 85 1058 1019 1046 60.261 7.28
6 4 20 38 1027 1019 1046 60.261 7.57
7 6 5 85 1042 1051 1072 60.463 7.65
8 6 10 38 980 963 994 59.756 7.78
9 6 20 57 956 945 917 59.452 8.04
Overall Mean 992.41 59.914 6.66
R1, R2 and R3 represent the three repetitions.
189
60.2
S/N data 1010
Raw data
Micro-hardnes s (HV )
965
S /N Rat io (dB) 59.2 920
875
58.2 830
2 4 6
Peak Current (Amperes)
(a)
S/N data
59.8 970
Raw data
Micro-hardness (HV)
S/ N Rat io (dB)
59.4 930
59 890
5 10 20
Pulse on-time (µsec)
(b)
59.6 S/N data 950

Raw data
Micro-hardness (HV)
S/N Ratio (dB)
59.3 925
59 900
38 57 85
Pulse off-time (µsec)
(c)
Figure 5. Effect of (a) Peak current (b) Pulse on-time and (c) Pulse off-time against
micro-hardness and its S/N ratio, for OHNS die steel
190
steels
S/N data
61 1070
Raw data
Mic ro-hardness (HV)

60.5
S/N Ratio (dB)

1020
60
970
59.5
59 920
2 4 6
Peak Current (Amperes)
(a)
S/N data
60.5 1050
Raw data
Micro-hardness (HV)
S/N Rat io (dB)
60 1000
59.5 950
5 10 20
Pulse on-time (µsec)
(b)
60.2 S/N data 1020
Raw data
Micro-hardnes s (HV)
S/ N Rat io (dB)
59.9 985
59.6 950
38 57 85
Pulse off-time (µsec)
(c)
Figure 6. Effect of (a) Peak current (b) Pulse on-time and (c) Pulse off-time against
Micro-hardness and its S/N ratio, for D2 die steel
191
Table 6: ANOVA results of S/N data for OHNS die steel
Factor/Source Sum of squares DOF Variance F-ratio P% Remarks

Peak Current 3.8161 2 1.91081 1055.47 83.41 Significant
Pulse on time 0.5320 2 0.2660 147.15 11.63 Significant
Pulse off time 0.2231 2 0.1116 61.72 4.88 Significant
Error (pooled) 0.0036 2 0.0018 - 0.08 -
Total 4.5748 8 - - 100.00 -
DOF = degrees of freedom, P % = percentage contribution
Tabulated value of F-ratio at 95% confidence level = 19
Table 7. ANOVA results of S/N data for D2 die steel
Factor/Source Sum of squares DOF Variance F-ratio P% Remarks

Peak Current 2.0121 2 1.0061 1176.98 70.27 Significant
Pulse on time 0.6281 2 0.3141 367.40 21.93 Significant
Pulse off time 0.2215 2 0.1108 129.59 7.74 Significant
Error (pooled) 0.0017 2 0.0009 - 0.06 -
Total 2.8634 8 - - 100.00 -
DOF = Degrees of Freedom, P % = Percentage contribution
Tabulated value of F-ratio at 95% confidence level = 19
It is observed from the ANOVA table that all three factors have a significant
contribution towards the response characteristic of micro-hardness. Peak current
emerges as the most important factor. The percentage contribution of pulse off-time has
been found to be the smallest of the three and the best micro-hardness has been obtained
at the highest setting of this parameter. This means that sufficient idle time is essential
for the work surface to cool down and absorb the products of sparking. The percentage
error contribution comes out to be only 0.08% and 0.06% for OHNS and D2 die steels,
respectively, which establishes the adequacy of this orthogonal array in conducting the
experimentation and that all the factors have been correctly assigned to its various
columns. The factor effects in Figure 5 show that the second level of peak current (A2),
the first level of pulse on-time (B1), and the third level of pulse off-time (C3) give the
highest values of micro-hardness. Hence, the optimum condition of input process
parameters is A2B1C3. The theoretical value of ηunder the optimum conditions, denoted
by ηopt , is given by:
opt m (mA2 m) (mB1 m) (mC3 m) (2)
where m is the overall mean of the S/N data, mA2 is the mean of the S/N data for factor A
at level 2, mB1 is the mean of the S/N data for factor B at level 1, etc. This gives
opt 60.5266 (3)
and the corresponding value of micro-hardness under these optimum conditions, y opt, is
y opt 2 10 1 / 10 , (4)
opt
192
steels
or, yopt 1062.5 HV (5)
Since this combination of input process parameters does not exist in the
orthogonal array, a set of three confirmation experiments have been conducted with
these suggested optimum values. The average micro-hardness in the confirmation
experiments was 1049.33 HV, which is very close to the theoretical value predicted by
the Taguchi analysis. For D2 die steel material, the response of micro-hardness to
variation in pulse off-time has been found to be different from that of OHNS work
material. OHNS die steel shows an improvement in micro-hardness with an increase in
pulse off-time because sufficient de-ionization time results in better quenching effect.
However, this material shows a decrease in micro-hardness from level 1 to level 2 and a
significant improvement from level 2 to level 3. No apparent reason could be found for
this behaviour. For this work material, also, the optimum condition of input process
parameters is found to be A2B1C 3. The theoretical value of ηopt for this optimum
condition is given by
opt m ( mA2 m) (mB1 m) ( mC3 m) (6)

opt 61.0719
The corresponding value of micro-hardness is
y 10 1
opt
2
/ 10
, (7)
opt
or, yopt 1131.34 HV (8)
Since this combination of input process parameters did not exist in the
orthogonal array, a set of three confirmation experiments were conducted. The average
value of micro-hardness obtained at this setting of the experiment was 1119 HV which
is very close to the theoretical value predicted by the Taguchi analysis. XRD patterns
and SEM micrographs of these surfaces are shown in Figures 7–10. The XRD patterns
show the formation of manganese carbide (Mn4 C1.06 and Mn7C3) on the surface which is
responsible for the much improved hardness. Though manganese is classified as a weak
carbide former in steels, machining with manganese powder has resulted in the
formation of its carbide on the machined surface.the microstructure shows significant
surface changes and a uniform distribution of hard particles which is expected to be
very helpful in enhancing the service life of the die cavities. This feature is also
desirable from the point of view of retaining lubrication. These surfaces were further
subjected to spectrometric analysis for quantitative determination of the elements
(Tables 8 and 9) which shows an increase in percentages of manganese as well as
carbon. A small amount of copper is also seen in the spectrometric analysis (but not in
the XRD pattern due to its very low percentage). As the tool electrode is made up of
copper and the machining conditions used for experimentation (low pulse on-time and
negative polarity of the tool electrode) favor high tool wear, some of it has alloyed with
the workpiece surface.
193
Figure 7. XRD pattern of OHNS die steel after machining with manganese powder-
mixed dielectric (at Ip = 4 amp, Pon = 5 µsec and Poff = 85 µsec)
Figure 8. SEM micrograph of OHNS die steel after machining with manganese powder-
194
steels
Figure 9. XRD pattern of D2 die steel after machining with manganese powder-mixed
dielectric (at Ip = 4 amp, Pon = 5 µsec and Poff = 85 µsec)
Figure 10. SEM micrograph of D2 die steel after machining with manganese powder-
195
Table 8. OHNS chemical composition before and after machining with manganese
powder
Element Composition (wt. %)

Before machining After machining Significant changes
Carbon 0.82 1.03 +0.21
Silicon 0.18 +0.19 -
Manganese 0.52 0.95 +0.43
Chromium 0.49 0.46 -
Tungsten - - -
Vanadium 0.19 0.19 -
Molybdenum 0.13 0.12 -
Nickel 0.05 0.07 -
Copper - 0.12 +0.12
Iron Balance Balance -
Table 9. D2 chemical composition before and after machining with manganese powder
Element Composition (wt. %)

Before machining After machining Significant changes
Carbon 1.57 1.92 + 0.35
Silicon 0.19 0.21 -
Manganese 0.07 0.62 +0.55
Chromium 12.38 12.04 -0.34
Tungsten - - -
Vanadium 0.96 0.94 -
Molybdenum 0.76 0.79 -
Nickel 0.09 0.13 -
Copper - 0.15 +0.15
Iron Balance Balance
When machining was carried out without any powder mixed in the dielectric,
about 12% to 15 % increase in micro-hardness was observed. The increase in hardness
without powder occurs due to heating and quenching of the machined surface by the
flowing dielectric. This effect is more pronounced with an increase in current. The
generation of carbon in the dielectric will have more effect on the surface hardness only
if machining conditions favoring material transfer are used. The optimum combination
of process parameters in these conditions for both the work materials was found to be
A3B1C3. Compared to the optimum combination for powder-mixed dielectric, the
difference is only in the value of peak current (4 A for machining with powder and 6 A
for machining without powder). The requirement of less peak current in the former case
comes from the fact that manganese is already available in the dielectric in powder form
whereas in the latter case, more current results in more erosion of the copper tool
electrode. Also, a higher peak current means a greater heating and quenching effect on
the machined surface. It can also be inferred that for a particular method of machining,
the optimum combination of process parameters is independent of the work material and
the same set of values will hold good for any work material.
196
steels
It has been found that the surface finish deteriorates due to machining in
manganese powder-mixed dielectric. Without any powder, the roughness average (Ra)
value of 2.46 μm was achieved but it varied from 3.31 μm to 8.04 μm in the presence of
manganese powder. It is also observed from Tables 4 and 5 that there is a steady
increase in average surface roughness with increase in peak current. It may be inferred
that as with normal EDM, the surface roughness with powder-mixed dielectric also
depends largely on the peak current only. In confirmation experiments conducted for the
best value of micro-hardness, Ra , its value was found to lie between 5 to 6 μm. But it is
important to mention here that in the case of press dies, some deterioration in surface
finish may actually be desirable for good lubrication retention and smooth functioning
of the dies. A mirror-like surface finish promotes sticky situations between the work
piece and die.
CONCLUSIONS
Experiments were conducted on OHNS and D2 die steels by EDM using machining
conditions favouring material transfer from manganese powder suspended in the
dielectric medium. The following conclusions may be drawn from this experimental
work:
 A significant amount of material transfer can take place from the powder
suspended in the dielectric medium to the machined surface, under the
appropriate machining conditions, which changes the surface composition and
its properties. In this case, it was possible to increase the percentage of
manganese in the machined surfaces by about 0.5 %.
 At the high temperatures of the plasma channel, the suspended powder can react
with carbon from the breakdown of the hydrocarbon dielectric to form carbides,
as shown by the presence of manganese carbide (Mn 4C1.06 and Mn 7C3) and an
increase in the percentage of carbon in the machined surfaces. This resulted in
an improvement of more than 70% in micro-hardness.
 In this experiment, the favorable machining conditions for surface alloying from
suspended powders are found to be low peak current (4 amperes), shorter pulse
on-time (5 µsec), longer pulse off-time (85 µsec) and negative polarity of the
tool electrode. It appears that long idle times allow the work surface to cool
down and absorb the products of sparking.
 All three input process parameters are significant for the response characteristic
of micro-hardness, with peak current being the most significant factor: more
than 70% contribution for both work materials. More importantly, it was found
that pulse off-time is also significant for the phenomenon of material transfer.
 The best combination of machining parameters for the highest value of micro-
hardness is found to be the same for both the die steels. More experiments need
to be conducted with other grades of die steels to establish that the machining
parameters are independent of the type of work material.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are thankful to Dr. M. S. Saini (Director, GNDEC Ludhiana) for providing
the lab facilities.
197
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199
©Universiti Malaysi a Pahang
IMPROVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE OF DUAL FUEL ENGINE OPERATED

AT PART LOAD
N. Kapilan1, T.P. Ashok Babu 1 and R.P.Reddy2

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
NITK, Srinivasnagar, Mangalore, 575025, India
Phone: +91 - 9845418874, Fax: +91-080-27645990
E-mail: kapil_krecmech@yahoo.com, tpashok@gmail.com
2
Reva Institute of Technology & Management, Bangalore, 560 064, India
ABSTRACT
Rising petroleum prices, an increasing threat to the environment from exhaust

emissions, global warming and the threat of supply instabilities has led to the choice of
inedible Mahua oil (MO) as one of the main alternative fuels to diesel oil in India. In the
present work, MO was converted into biodiesel by transesterification using methanol
and sodium hydroxide. The cost of Mahua oil biodiesel (MOB) is higher than diesel.
Hence liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is one of the cheapest gaseous fuels
available in India, was fumigated along with the air to reduce the operating cost and to
reduce emissions. The dual fuel engine resulted in lower efficiency and higher
emissions at part load. Hence in the present work, the injection time was varied and the
performance of the dual fuel engine was studied. From the engine tests, it is observed
that an advanced injection time results in higher efficiency and lower emissions. Hence,
advancing the injection timing is one of the ways of increasing the efficiency of
LPG+MOB dual fuel engine operated at part load.
Keywords: Alternative fuel, Mahua oil, LPG, diesel engine, performance.
INTRODUCTION
During recent years, much activity can be observed in the field of alternative fuels due
to the depletion of fossil fuels and fluctuations in their price. In the year 2004–2005,
India imported 75% of her petroleum oil from other countries. The demand for diesel
and gasoline increased drastically in the 2008–2009. It has been estimated that the
demand for diesel will be 66.90 million metric tonnes (MMT) for the year 2011–2012.
Hence, the Government of India has taken the necessary steps to fulfill future diesel and
gasoline demand and to meet stringent emission norms. Biodiesel and alcohol are being
considered as supplementary fuels to petroleum fuels in India. These biofuels are being
looked at to provide employment generation for rural people through the plantation of
vegetable oils and can be beneficial to sugarcane farmers through the ethanol program
(Subramanian et al., 2005). A few researchers have examined the fatty acid profiles of
seed oils of 75 plant species having 30% or more fixed oil in their seed (Mohibbe et al.,
2005). They reported that the fatty acid methyl esters of oils of 26 species were found
most suitable for use as biodiesel and meet the major specification of biodiesel
standards of the USA, Germany and Europe.
In the transportation sector, a large number of investigations have been carried
out internationally in the area of vegetable oils as fuel. A researcher listed over 350 oil-
200
N. Kapilan et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2(2010) 200-210
bearing crops (Jamieson, 1974) while other researchers identified 70 species of oil seeds
with considerable potential (Duke and Bagby, 1982). The interest in using vegetable oils
as alternative fuels originated within the agricultural community as a fuel for
agricultural tractors and equipment (ASAE, 1982). Several studies (Deepak et al., 2008;
Mariusz and Geottle, 1992; Ramadhas et al., 2004, 2005) have shown that chemically
unaltered vegetable oils are not suitable as a fuel for diesel engines.
‘Mahua’ is the name for a medium to large tree belonging to the sapotaceae
family. The tree may attain a height of up to 20 meters. Mahua is a slow growing
species, attains a mean height of 0.9 to 1.2 m at the end of its fourth year. As a
plantation tree, Mahua is an important plant having vital socio-economic value. This
species can be planted on roadside, canal banks, etc., on a commercial scale and in
social forestry programmes, particularly in tribal areas. The seed and oil potential of the
mahua tree in India is 0.5 and 0.18 MMT respectively. The fresh oil from properly
stored seed is yellow in colour (Bringi, 1987). Mahua seeds are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Mahua seeds
Researchers (Raheman and Ghadge, 2007; Puhan et al., 2005) have reported that
the biodiesel derived from Mahua oil (MO) can be used as sole fuel or blends with
diesel in diesel engines, with considerable reduction in CO, UBHC and smoke
emissions and slightly higher NOx emission. From the literature (Monyem et al., 2001;
Nwafor, 2005; Manieniyan and Sivaprakasam, 2008; Banapurmath et al., 2009; Sahoo
et al., 2009), it is observed that injection timing is one of the variables which affect the
performance and emissions of diesel engines. Hence in the present work, the injection
timing was advanced and its effect on engine performance was studied.
In India biodiesel is costlier than diesel and hence fumigation of low emission
and cheaper gaseous fuels is one of the ways of reducing the operating cost. Hence the
main objective of this experimental study is to study the effect of fumigation of LPG on
the performance and emissions of Mahua oil biodiesel operated diesel engine at part
load and to study the effect of injection timing. The injection timing was varied by
introducing shims between the body and head of the fuel injection pump.
201
Improvement of performance of dual fuel engine operated at part load
The double filtered and refined MO was converted into biodiesel by transesterification
using methanol and sodium hydroxide. Table 1 shows the characteristics of MO.
Table 1. Characteristics of MO
Property Value
Refractive Index 1.456
Saponification Value 190
Iodine Value, (g of I2/g of oil) 59
Unsaponifiable matter, (%) 1.3
Colour Dark Yellow
Biodiesel production
In the present work, the transesterification reaction was performed in a round bottom
vessel of 500 mL in volume. First, the reactor vessel was filled with 210 mL of MO.
Then, a measured amount of the methanolic sodium hydroxide, which was prepared by
dissolving 2 g of sodium hydroxide in 85 mL of methanol, was added to the reactor. For
refluxing purpose, a vertical water cooled condenser was used. A hot plate cum
magnetic stirrer was used for heating and stirring the reactants. The reactor was
immersed in a constant temperature water bath which was maintained at 60 C . The
transesterification reaction was carried out for two hours. After transesterification, the
condenser was removed and the products were heated, to remove excess methanol.
After heating, the products were shifted to a 500 mL separator funnel, for phase
separation. The top layer containing methyl esters of Mahua oil (biodiesel) were washed
with warm water, to wash out impurities such as soap and other residues. Finally the
biodiesel was dried using 5 gm of anhydrous sodium sulphates. The transesterification
setup and products of transesterification in the separating funnel are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. (a) Transesterification setup (b) Separating funnel
202
Engine Test Instrumentation
The engine tests were conducted on a single cylinder, four stroke, direct injection,
compression ignition, diesel engine. An eddy current dynamometer was used for
loading the engine. The engine speed was sensed by an inductive pick up sensor and
indicated by a digital rpm indicator, which is a part of an eddy current dynamometer.
The liquid fuel flow rate was measured on the volumetric basis using a burette and a
stopwatch. An AVL make smoke meter was used to measure the smoke and an MRU
make exhaust gas analyser was used for the measurement of emissions. A chromel
alumel thermocouple in conjunction with a digital temperature indicator was used for
measuring the exhaust gas temperature. The entire instrumentation is interfaced with the
computer. The schematic of the test setup is shown in Figure 3. The total uncertainty for
the engine experiments is calculated (Holman, 2006) and is equal to 2.045%.
Figure 3. Engine experimental setup
The engine tests were initially carried out on the engine using diesel and MOB
as the fuel and at the standard injection time of 24° bTDC, to provide the base line data.
Then the engine was modified to work in dual fuel by incorporating an LPG fuel tank,
control valve, rotameter, flame trap and gas carburetor to the cylinder. In dual fuel
mode, the engine was started with MOB as sole fuel and the load was gradually
increased to 50% of the full load. Then the LPG was fumigated along with the air and
the LPG flowrate was maintained constant, using the control valve. The LPG flowrate
was varied up to the maximum value such that the engine does not knock. Each engine
test was repeated three times. The values given in this study are the average of these
three results. After the engine tests at the injection time of 24° bTDC, the injection time
was advanced to 27° and 30° bTDC using shims. The brake power of the engine was
calculated by measuring the engine speed and torque. The fuel consumption per hour
was calculated by measuring fuel consumed per unit time. From the brake power and
203
fuel consumption, the brake thermal efficiency of the engine was determined. The
details of the engine are given in Table 2.
Table 2. Engine specifications
Engine Single cylinder, four stroke, water

cooled, diesel engine
Make / model Kirloskar / AV1
Rated power 3.7 kW @ 1500 rpm
Bore X Stroke 87.5 X 110 mm
Compression ratio 16.5 : 1
Type of combustion chamber Hemispherical shape bowl in piston
Rated speed 1500 rpm
Governor Mechanical governing (centrifugal
type)
Aspiration Naturally aspirated
Fuel injection system Single barrel fuel injection pump
and inline fuel injector
The fuel properties of MO, MOB and diesel were determined according to ASTM
standard test procedure and are shown in Table 3. It is observed that the properties of
MOB are close to those of diesel and satisfy the biodiesel standards of many countries.
The flash point, pour point and viscosity of the MO were higher than those of MOB and
diesel. The viscosity of the MOB is 1.8 times higher than that of diesel. The calorific
value of the MOB is lower than that of diesel due the presence of oxygen in the
molecular structure of the MOB.
Table 3. Properties of MO, MOB and diesel
Property ASTM D6751-02 MO MOB Diesel

Flash point, (
C) D93 212 129 56
Cloud point, (C) D2500 9 2 -20
Calorific Value, (kJ/kg) - 35614 36914 42960
Kinematic Viscosity at 40C, D445 27.63 4.85 2.68
(mm2/sec)
Density at 15 C, (kg/m3) D1298-99R05 915 883 846
Carbon residue, (%) D4530 0.43 0.01 0.01
Copper corrosion D130 - 1 1
Cetane number D613 - 49 48
Acid number, (mg KOH/g) D664 1.64 0.5 0.1
Brake thermal efficiency (BTE) is defined as the ratio of brake power to the heat
supplied. Figure 4 shows the variation of the BTE at different LPG energy share. It is
observed that the BTE of the MOB is lower than diesel in sole fuel mode (zero LPG
energy share). This is due to the slightly higher viscosity and lower volatility of the
MOB, which results in a higher ignition delay and lower BTE. In dual fuel mode, BTE
decreases at the injection time of 24° bTDC and improves when the injection time is
204
advanced to 27° and 30° bTDC. But at the injection time of 27° bTDC, the BTE is
marginally higher than the diesel and other injection timings. This is due to the
improvement in the pre-flame reaction, which results in better combustion and higher
BTE. The BTE reaches its maximum value when the LPG energy share is between 30%
and 40%, in LPG+MOB dual fuel mode at the injection time of 27° bTDC.
25
23
BTE (%)
21
24 bTDC 27 bTDC 30 bTDC Diesel

19
17
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
LPG Energy Share (%)
Figure 4. Brake thermal efficiency vs LPG energy share
The variation of CO emission with LPG energy share is shown in Figure 5. It is

observed that the diesel results in more CO than the MOB in sole fuel mode. This is due
to the presence of oxygen in the structure of the MOB which results in lower incomplete
products of combustion (CO). From the figure, it is also observed that, as the LPG
energy increases, the CO emission decreases and after certain LPG energy share it starts
to increase. In dual fuel mode, a higher LPG energy share results in higher CO emission
due to the late burning of LPG. In dual fuel mode, liquid fuel (MOB) provides an
ignition source for the combustion of the LPG. At higher LPG energy share, the
quantity of liquid fuel supplied to the engine is reduced which results in weak
combustion of the MOB and late combustion of LPG. This results in higher CO
emission. The injection time of 27° bTDC results in lower CO emission than other
injection timings. At this injection timing, lower CO emission was observed at an LPG
energy share between 30% and 40%.
205
0.40
0.35
CO (% by Volume). 0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Figure 5. CO vs LPG energy share
Figure 6 shows the variation of unburnt hydrocarbon (UBHC) emission at

different LPG energy shares. At the low LPG energy share, the UBHC is low, but as the
LPG energy share increases, the UBHC emission also increases. This is due to the late
combustion of a large quantity of LPG at higher LPG energy share. Among the injection
timings, 27° bTDC results in lower UBHC emission. In sole fuel mode, MOB results in
lower UBHC emission as compared to diesel.
350
300
250
UBHC (ppm)
200
150
100
50
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Figure 6. UBHC vs LPG energy share
206
The variation of smoke emission with LPG energy share is shown in Figure 7.
MOB operation results in lower smoke emission. This is due to the presence of oxygen
in the molecular structure of the MOB, which results in better combustion of the fuel
and reduces the formation of smoke. From the figure, it is observed that as the LPG
energy share increases, the smoke emission decreases. This is due to the molecular
structure of LPG which reduces the formation of smoke emission. The injection time of
27° bTDC results in lower smoke emission. This is due to the better ignition source
provided by the MOB, for the combustion of LPG.
12

11
10
Smoke (%)
6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Figure 7. Smoke opacity vs LPG energy share
The variation of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission with LPG energy share is
shown in Figure 8. The NOx emission depends on the combustion temperature. If the
combustion temperature increases, the NOx emission also increases (John, 1988). In
sole fuel mode, MOB results in higher NOx emission. This is due to the slightly higher
viscosity of the MOB which results in slow combustion. This slow combustion
increases the combustion temperature and hence higher NOx emission. From the
literature, we observe that a biodiesel operated diesel engine results in higher NOx.
From the figure, it is observed that as the LPG energy share increases, the NOx
emission decreases. The fumigation of LPG is one of ways of reducing the NOx
emission of biodiesel operated diesel engines. The injection time of 24° bTDC results in
lower NOx emission and 27° bTDC results in higher NOx emission. The variation of
exhaust gas temperature (EGT) with load is shown in Figure 9. Generally, EGT depend
upon the combustion temperature. The EGT of the MOB is higher than the diesel. This
is due to the better combustion of the fuel. From the higher EGT and NOx of the MOB,
we observe that the MOB results in higher combustion temperature. The above results
are similar to the results reported in the literature (Sahoo et al., 2009).
207
600
NOx (ppm) 550
500
450
400
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Figure 8. NOx vs LPG energy share
300
280
EGT (°C)
260
240
220
200
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Figure 9. EGT vs LPG energy share
CONCLUSION
The fuel properties of MOB are closer to those of diesel fuel and satisfy the biodiesel
standards of many countries. When MOB was used as sole fuel in the diesel engine, it
resulted in lower thermal efficiency and lower exhaust emissions such as CO, UBHC
and smoke. In dual fuel mode, the injection timing of 27° bTDC results in higher
efficiency and lower CO, UBHC and smoke emissions as compared to other injection
208
timings at part load. But this injection timing results in higher NOx emission than other
injection timings. From the experimental results it is concluded that LPG can be
fumigated with the air in order to reduce the operating cost and to reduce the smoke and
NOx emissions of biodiesel operated diesel engines. Advancing the injection time
improves the performance of dual fuel engines operated at part load.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The financial support by TEQIP (NITK/TEQIP/26/2004), NITK, Surathkal is gratefully

acknowledged. The authors thank Mr. Michael and Mr. Bhoja for their help during the
engine tests.
REFERENCES
ASAE. (1982) Vegetable Oil Fuels. Proceedings of the International Conference on

Plant and Vegetable Oils as Fuels, August, 2–4, 1982, American Society of
Agricultural Engineers, St. Joseph, Mich., USA.
Banapurmath, N.R., Tewari, P.G., Yaliwal,V.S., Kambalimath, S. and Basavarajappa,
Y.H. (2009) Combustion Characteristics of a 4-Stroke CI Engine Operated on
Honge Oil, Neem and Rice Bran Oils When Directly Injected and Dual Fuelled
With Producer Gas Induction. Journal of Renewable Energy, 34(7): 1877–
1884.
Bringi, N.V. (1987) Non-Traditional Oil Seed and Oils of India. New Delhi: Oxford.
Deepak. A., Kumar, L. and Agarwal, A.K. (2008) Performance Evaluation of a
Vegetable Oil Fuelled Compression Ignition Engine. Journal of Renewable
Energy, 33(6): 1147–1156.
Duke, J.A. and Bagby, M.O. (1982) Comparison of Oilseed Yields: A Preliminary
Review in Vegetable Oil Fuels. ASAE.
Holman, J.P. (2006) Experimental Methods for Engineers. New York: McGraw Hill.
Jamieson, G.S. (1974) Vegetable Fats and Oils. New York: Reinhold.
Manieniyan, V. and Sivaprakasam, S. (2008) Investigation of Diesel Engine Using
Biodiesel (Methyl Ester of Jatropha Oil) for Various Injection Timing and
Injection Pressure. SAE Technical Paper, No. 2008-01-1577.
Mariusz, Z. and Geottle, H.J. (1992) Comparative Analysis of the Exhaust Emissions
for Vegetable Oil Based Alternative Fuels. SAE Technical Paper, No. 920195.
Mohibbe, A., Amtul, W. and Nahar, N.M. (2005) Prospects and Potential of Fatty
Acid Methyl Esters of Some Non-Traditional Seed Oils for Use as Biodiesel in
India. Journal of Biomass and Bioenergy, 29: 293–302.
Monyem. A., Van Gerpen, J.H. and Canakci, M. (2001) The Effect of Timing and
Oxidation on Emissions From Biodiesel Fueled Engines. Transactions of the
ASAE, 44(1): 35–42.
Nwafor, O.M.I. (2005) Effect of Advanced Injection Timing on the Performance of
Natural Gas in Diesel Engine. Journal of Sadhana, 25(1): 11–20.
Puhan, S., Vedaraman,N., Sankaranarayanan,G., Boppana, V. and Ram, B. (2005)
Performance and Emission Study of Mahua Oil Ethyl Ester in a 4-Stroke
209
Natural Aspirated Direct Injection Diesel Engine. Journal of Renewable

Energy, 30(8): 1269–1278.
Raheman, H. and Ghadge, S.V. (2007) Performance of Compression Ignition Engine
With Mahua (Madhuca Indica) Biodiesel. Journal of Fuel, 86(16): 2568–2573.
Ramadhas, A.S. Jayaraj, S. and Muraleedharan, C. (2004) Use of Vegetable Oils as IC
Engines Fuels – A Review. Journal of Renewable Energy, 29: 727–742.
Ramadhas, A.S., Muraleedharan. C. and Jayaraj, S. (2005) Characterization and Effect
of Using Rubber Seed Oil as Fuel in the Compression Ignition Engines.
Journal of Renewable Energy, 30: 795–803.
Sahoo, B.B., Sahoo, U.K. and Saha, U.K. (2009) Effect of Engine Parameters and
Type of Gaseous Fuel on the Performance of Dual-Fuel Gas Diesel Engines—
A Critical Review, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
13(6–7): 1151–1184.
Subramanian, K.A., Singal, S.K., Saxena, M. and Singhal, S. (2005) Utilization of
Liquid Biofuels in Automotive Diesel Engines: An Indian Perspective. Journal
of Biomass and Bioenergy, 29: 65–72.
NOMENCLATURE
MO Mahua oil
LPG liquefied petroleum gas
MMT million metric tonnes
CO carbon monoxide % by volume
UBHC unburnt hydrocarbon ppm
NOx oxides of nitrogen ppm
bTDC before top dead centre
BTE brake thermal efficiency %
EGT exhaust gas temperature °C
210
Int ernational Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (IJAME)
APPLICATION OF GENETIC ALGORITHMS FOR ROBUST PARAMETER

OPTIMIZATION
N. Belavendram
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
Jalan Genting Kelang, 53300 Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Email: nicolob@utar.edu.my
Phone: +603-4107 9802, Fax: +603 4107 9803
ABSTRACT
Parameter optimization can be achieved by many methods such as Monte-Carlo, full,

and fractional factorial designs. Genetic algorithms (GA) are fairly recent in this respect
but afford a novel method of parameter optimization. In GA, there is an initial pool of
individuals each with its own specific phenotypic trait expressed as a ‘genetic
chromosome’. Different genes enable individuals with different fitness levels to
reproduce according to natural reproductive gene theory. This reproduction is
established in terms of selection, crossover and mutation of reproducing genes. The
resulting child generation of individuals has a better fitness level akin to natural
selection, namely evolution. Populations evolve towards the fittest individuals. Such a
mechanism has a parallel application in parameter optimization. Factors in a parameter
design can be expressed as a genetic analogue in a pool of sub-optimal random
solutions. Allowing this pool of sub-optimal solutions to evolve over several
generations produces fitter generations converging to a pre-defined engineering
optimum. In this paper, a genetic algorithm is used to study a seven factor non-linear
equation for a Wheatstone bridge as the equation to be optimized. A comparison of the
full factorial design against a GA method shows that the GA method is about 1200
times faster in finding a comparable solution.
Keywords: parameter, optimization, genetic, algorithms, simulation
INTRODUCTION
Parameter optimization is an important field of engineering that seeks to find some

optimum (i.e., minimum or maximum) point in a design space (Phadke, 1989). Classical
methods for such optimization include the Monte Carlo and the full or fractional
factorial methods. More recently several new methods have emerged including the
genetic algorithms, the particle swarm optimization and ant colony optimization. In this
paper, the author compares the more ¬intensive full factorial method against the genetic
algorithm method using the Wheatstone bridge equation as a function to be optimized.
Consider the Wheatstone bridge circuit as shown in Figure 1. The bridge circuit is used
to identify the value of the unknown resistor y . Mathematically,
BD G 
AD AC BD 
BC BD BF CF 
y  (1)
C C2E
211
N. Belavendram / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2(2010) 211-220
where A, B, C, D and F are resistors, E is the applied voltage and G is the galvanometer
(Taguchi, 1987). Given nominal values of variables, A, … , G, there are infinitely many
combinations of values which will give a target value of y . The objective of
parameter design is to find not only the given target value of y , say 2 Ω, but to do
so in a region of space where small variations in the variables (e.g., resistors, voltage,
galvanometer readings) and other noise variations (e.g., humidity, temperature) do not
affect the measured value y .
y A B
D C
F E
Figure 1. Wheatstone bridge circuit.
Let i for i = 1, … , 7 represent, respectively, the variables A, …, G. Then it is

necessary to find values of i such that y . Hence, the measure of y is a target
performance measure, or TPM (Logothetis, 1989). Further, the variance associated with
y
y for  can be estimated by the change y  i . Since the variance
i
i
Var 1 2  k Var  1 
Var  2 
 Var  k , the variance 2 of all the
variables can be estimated by Eq. 2, (Logothetis, 1992).
y
2 i 1 i
7
(2)
i
However, choosing to evaluate the variance directly is not a good method since
variance is not a scale invariant quantity. Therefore, the quantity y / , i.e. the inverse
coefficient of variation can be used. This however, distinguishes y from y which is
not pertinent to the present case. Hence, one can use the function * 
y /  as a
2
noise performance measure or NPM. This measure can be further improved by using a
logarithmic function. Suppose,  is confounded with some unknown noise effect ,
212
Application of genetic algorithms for robust parameter optimization
and y , then taking logarithms, log y log log . The effect of  is then
reduced to a constant which can be ignored in differences of log y . Therefore, one can
use the noise performance measure or NPM as shown in Eq. 3 to improve additivity
(Logothetis, 1989).
10 log 
y / 
2
(3)
Referring to
Figure 2, the optimization problem is now Step 1, to use NPM to minimize the
variance of a factor; and Step 2, to use TPM to minimize the bias, i.e. 
y 0 and
achieve the target value as best as possible. Such a method of optimization was first
proposed by Taguchi as the two step optimization and referred to as robust design
(McEwan et. al., 1992).
Factor A
NPM
NPM
Changes Variability, σ2
A1 A2 y τ
Factor B
TPM
TPM
Changes Mean, μ
B1 B2 y τ
Figure 2. Effect of NPM and TPM on response.
OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES
Full Factorial Method
In a full factorial method, one can evaluate TPM y . Eq. 1 can be partial differentiated
with respect to each variable, e.g. for factor A,
y G
D C 
BC BD BF CF 
 (4)
A C2 E
213
If the tolerance about the nominal value of A is known or set as A then,

y
y  A . The variance of y for a given combination of variables  i can then be
A
2
7  y y 
found from  i1
2
 and NPM 10 log  .
i i 
Table 1. Parameter values for factors.
Factors A B C D E F G
Min value 20 1.99 2 2 1.2 2 -0.0002
Max value 500 2.01 50 50 30.0 50 +0.0002
Tolerance 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.050 0.003 0.0002
Unit ohm ohm ohm ohm volt ohm ampere
Optimum 1 3 2 2 7 1 1
Using j = 1, …, k levels for each factor, the factor values are set according to
i: max i:min 
i j i:min j 1
 
.

 k 
A full factorial is initiated with all factor levels at level 1 and then incrementing
factor G’s level by 1 until k. Then factor F’s level 1 is incremented by 1 for k levels of
G. The process is repeated for factors E, D, C, B and so on until all k levels of A are
completed. The TPM and NPM values were calculated for 87 2, 097,152
combinations of factor levels using a simple Excel program. Partial results are shown in
Figure 3.
A B C D E F G Tolerances Statistics
2
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DA DB DC DD DE DF DG y s h
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.06 2.05253 0.0035 30.75
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.06 2.03580 0.0035 30.68
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
2097152 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.01 0.02 0.00 0.39 1.61312 0.1559 12.23
Figure 3. Partial results of full factorial experiment.
Every time a TPM value is within 2 ± 0.00005 Ω, the TPM and NPM values are
noted and recorded by the program. The factor combination with the highest NPM (i.e.
1, 3, 2, 2, 7, 1, 1) is then taken as the optimum factor level combination. The
corresponding optimum values are y 1.999 961  and 45.447 dB . Noise factors
built around the nominal ± 1×tolerance gives a typical graph as shown in
Figure 4. The reduction in variation is dramatic (110 times) while also achieving
the target value of 2.0 Ω.
214
UnOptimized Optimized
2.20
2.15
2.10
Response (y)
2.05
2.00
1.95
1.90
1.85
1.80
0 5 10 15 20
Noise Condition
Figure 4. Comparison of unoptimized–optimized responses from full factorial.
Genetic Algorithms
The GA method of optimization begins with the expression of engineering factors in

binary code although other codes are also possible (Coley, 1999). Consistent with the
full factorial, the range of factor values j to be tried is set up with k = 8 values according
to the binary levels 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111. This corresponds to a gene
length of 3 and chromosome length of 21 binary digits as shown in
Figure 5.
For a combination, F  A000 ; B 010 ; , G111 corresponding to F 
A1 , B2 , , G8 
, the
gene representation is translated to the factor value and substituted into Eq. (1) to
calculate y . Using the same factor levels, the variance is calculated by substitution of
7  y
the factor values into 2 i 1  (Phadke, 1989).
i i
2
y 
The NPM is calculated as 10 log   and lastly, the fitness function F is

calculated as shown Figure 5.
Factor A Factor B Factor G Tolerances Statistics

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 19 20 21 DA DB DC DD DE DF DG
y s2 h F
1 0 1 1 0 1 0 … 0 1 0 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.03 2.00128 0.0008 36.82 0.010
2 0 1 1 0 0 0 … 0 1 0 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.03 1.99874 0.0012 35.20 0.012
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
10 0 1 1 0 1 0 … 0 1 0 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.16 2.02031 0.0258 22.00 0.467
Opt 0 1 1 0 1 1 … 0 1 0 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.03 1.99874 0.0012 35.20 0.012
Figure 5. Example of calculations with genetic algorithm.
215
Fitness function
For parameter optimization, the selection of the fitness function poses some difficulty
since we require to achieve a specified value of  and . Attaining a specified target
value with the smallest variability implies that both the mean and variance need to be
considered. Consistent with the full factorial, if we set a target of y =2.0 Ωand η= 45
dB, it is possible to optimize f  y 2 45but the resulting surface response is a
saddle as shown in
Figure 6A. Clearly, it is not possible to find a suitable minimum on a saddle.
However, the function F  y 2 45
2 2
produces a surface response as
shown in
Figure 6B. Although the region of interest is fairly flat (which is a good thing to
have) it is possible to determine the minima. In this paper, this fitness function F is
used.
f 
y 2 

45 F 
y 2
45 2 2
A B
20 400
15 350
10 300
5 250
Value
Value
0 200
-5 150
-10 55 100 55
-15 50 50 50
45 45
-20 NPM 0 NPM
40 40
0.0
0.0
0.6
0.6
1.2
1.2
1.8
1.8
35 35
2.4
2.4
3.0
3.0
3.6
3.6
TPM TPM
Figure 6. Response surfaces of fitness functions.
Reproduction
In the GA method, a random sample of 10 individuals was set up and the fitness
function was evaluated corresponding to Generation 0. Using this parent generation,
individuals for the next generation (Generation 1) were selected (by roulette wheel,
tournament, etc.), crossed over (with probability p and position x along the
chromosome) and mutated (with probability q and position z along the chromosome) to
form the next generation as shown in
Figure 7, (Haupt and Werner, 2007; Haupt and Haupt, 2004). The fitness function for
each chromosome is evaluated and used in subsequent selection processes. This
reproduction is continued until a specific criterion (e.g. number of generations, tolerance
of target value, etc.) is reached. At this point, the optimum gene pool is noted. Since a
GA can produce different solutions at different times it is suggested to run several
searches.
216
0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1
0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1
0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1
q, z
p, x
P1 P2 … Pn P1 P2 C1 C2 C1 C2
Parents Parents Children Children
Selection Crossover Mutation
Figure 7. Genetic algorithm method
Tracing the fitness function of a random population over 20 generations (

Figure 8) showed that the population converges rapidly to a solution in an amazing time
of less than 3.0 seconds.
2.10
2.08
2.06
2.04
Resonse (y)
2.02
2.00
1.98
1.96
1.94
1.92
1.90
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Generation
Figure 8. Twenty generations of GA reproduction.
217
Figure 9 compares the optimum solution to the unoptimized solution for the
genetic algorithm with a typical variance reduction in the breakthrough region of 150
times. As in the full factorial, the reduction in variation is dramatically obvious while
achieving the target value of 2.0 Ω.
UnOptimized Optimized
2.20
2.15
2.10
Resp onse (y)
2.05
2.00
1.95
1.90
1.85
1.80
0 5 10 15 20
Noise Condition
Figure 9. Comparison of unoptimized–optimized responses from genetic algorithms.
Comparison of Full Factorial and Genetic Algorithm
It now remains to compare the full factorial method with the GA method. To do this,
optimum conditions from each method were exposed to similar noise conditions (i.e.
nominal ± 1×tolerance). The result of such a comparison is shown in Figure 10. It is
clearly seen that the results are comparable both in terms of target value and variance.
Full Factorial Genetic Algorithm
2.20
2.15
2.10
Response (y)
2.05
2.00
1.95
1.90
1.85
1.80
0 5 10 15 20
Noise Condition
Figure 10. Comparison of full factorial and genetic algorithm.
218
Approaching the parameter optimization as a full factorial experiment for seven

variables, each at eight levels, results in 2,097,152 permutations. This took 3657
seconds (61 minutes or approximately 1 hour) on a Pentium IV, 2.20 GHz processor
with 1 GB of RAM. The genetic algorithm method took only 3 seconds to arrive at a
comparable solution on the same computer. That is, the time taken was reduced by a
factor of 1219. Although full factorial methods provide highly repeatable results they
are very time consuming. If an eighth factor was introduced into Eq. 1, the computation
time will increase linearly by eight times, i.e. to eight hours. However, genetic
algorithms provide a radically different approach to finding the solution. Even if a linear
increase was expected, this would only increase the time to 24 seconds. Another
drawback of the full factorial is the grid size of factor-level values. If a smaller grid size
is used the experimentation time would increase exponentially. Thus, large multi-level
factors would become impractical. If however, the grid size is decreased to fewer levels,
it is possible that a global optimum is missed. Such a problem is avoided in genetic
algorithms by the use of the selection, crossover and mutation processes that provides a
superior method of escaping local optima.
CONCLUSION
From the foregoing research, genetic algorithms provides a comparable solution to the
Full Factorial design. Genetic algorithms achieved the optimization in 3 seconds while
the full factorial took 3657 seconds. Genetic algorithms starts with a population of
guesses distributed randomly throughout the search space rather than a single point.
Genetic algorithms then uses selection, crossover and mutation to generate new
solutions that are closer to the fitness function. Newer solutions evolve within the
population towards a convergence to the global optimum.
FUTURE WORK
This paper studied the optimization of a function with a point target. For the Wheatstone
bridge circuit, the target was set to 2.0 Ω. But would this ‘optimum condition’ also hold
for a target value of 4.0 Ω? Consider another example in the optimization of a car
braking system for an average speed of say 80 km/hr. Such optimization is unlikely to
be ideal for all speeds. Thus, braking may be abrupt at low speeds and dragging at high
speeds. To optimize such a system, a range of speeds (signal levels) must be optimized.
The author is currently developing genetic algorithms for use in such applications where
the optimization is the gradient of a regression line.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is grateful to Dr. Ewan MacArthur from the University of Paisley, Scotland
for his invaluable ideas in the numerical approaches to the simulation methods used in
the Wheatstone bridge circuit.
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219
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220
©Universiti Malaysi a Pahang
A METHOD TO IMPROVE RELIABILITY OF GEARBOX FAULT

DETECTION WITH ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS
P.V. Srihari 1, K. Govindarajulu2 and K. Ramachandra1

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore-560 059, India,
Email: pvsrihari@rediffmail.com
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, J.N.T. University, Anantapur, A.P., India.
ABSTRACT
Fault diagnosis of gearboxes plays an important role in increasing the availability of

machinery in condition monitoring. An effort has been made in this work to develop an
artificial neural networks (ANN) based fault detection system to increase reliability.
Two prominent fault conditions in gears, worn-out and broken teeth, are simulated and
five feature parameters are extracted based on vibration signals which are used as input
features to the ANN based fault detection system developed in MATLAB, a three
layered feed forward network using a back propagation algorithm. This ANN system
has been trained with 30 sets of data and tested with 10 sets of data. The learning rate
and number of hidden layer neurons are varied individually and the optimal training
parameters are found based on the number of epochs. Among the five different learning
rates used the 0.15 is deduced to be optimal one and at that learning rate the number of
hidden layer neurons of 9 was the optimal one out of the three values considered. Then
keeping the training parameters fixed, the number of hidden layers is varied by
comparing the performance of the networks and results show the two and three hidden
layers have the best detection accuracy.
Keywords: Gearbox fault diagnosis, Vibration signal, artificial neural networks,

Reliability.
INTRODUCTION
Gear boxes are widely used in typical industries like steel, power, oil, airplane,
helicopter and automobile and they are complex machinery where many rotating
elements are in action with one another. Depending on the criticality of the machine,
condition monitoring and fault diagnosis becomes important which in other terms is also
related to the reliability of condition monitoring. Among the many condition monitoring
methods, vibration monitoring plays an important role in increasing maintainability.
Fault detection and diagnosis consists of feature extraction and decision making where
the first step is the mapping from the signal space to the feature space and the second
step is classifying the features into different categories, also called fault detection. The
reliability of the diagnosis depends on the expertise in relating the vibration features to
the faults, where sometimes signatures are contaminated by noise, contradicting
symptoms, and limitations on the ability of human beings when multiple features are
applied. An effort has been made to develop an ANN based system (Yegnanarayana,
1998) for gear fault diagnosis and detection that increases the reliability of diagnosis.
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P.V. Srihari et al./ International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2(2010) 221-230
An efficient maintenance schedule can be planned if accurate information about

the machine condition is known, and to improve the reliability of diagnostics either
combining two technologies or data fusion and intelligent systems (Farrar and Duffey,
1999) has been found useful. Vibration based diagnosis is mostly employed because of
its ease of measurement and the accuracy of detection of the original signal with phase
modulation and amplitude modulation (Wang et al., 2001). The detection and
classification accuracy of an ANN based bearing diagnosis system is 97.4–100 % (Jack
and Nandi, 2002). The key factor for a proper fault classifying system is to select the
best suitable input values, which would be the base classifying system (Bartelmus et al.,
2003). The detection accuracy of support vector machines is better than ANN without
genetic algorithm (GA). With GA both are comparable (Samantha et al., 2003). The
training parameters play a vital role in deciding the operational efficiency of the neural
network, such as the number of neurons in the hidden layer, the learning rate, and the
number of epochs (Amarnath et al., 2005).
PREPARATION OF INPUT VALUES TO ANN
A gearbox with 16/14 helical teeth as gear and pinion is to be studied here. The required
vibration signature is collected from the signal generator using an accelerometer of PCB
peizotronics make with a sensitivity of 100 mV/g. Different sets of data were collected
when the gearbox was operating in two fault conditions viz., worn out case and broken
tooth case. A total of 30 sets of data were collected for each operating condition. The
signals were sampled at 12 kHz. The accelerometer outputs are inherently amplified as
the accelerometer employed is of ICP type. These are fed directly into the USB powered
LDS Dactron, Photon II, 4 channel analyzer that acts as the data acquisition system. The
response of the system is averaged over 10 measurements with a Hanning window. The
vibration signature is preprocessed in order to obtain the required features of mean, root
mean square (rms), variance, skewness and kurtosis. These features act as the input
parameters to the artificial neural network which is developed using MATLAB neural
network toolbox. A three layer feed forward network is employed and trained using the
back propagation algorithm.
The training parameters play a vital role in deciding the operational efficiency of
the neural network. Training of a neural network involves the selection of some key
parameters such as the number of epochs, the number of neurons in the hidden layer,
and the learning rate. After training, the network is validated using test data. Among the
30 sets of data collected, 20 are used for training the network and 10 are used as the test
data. The learning rate is varied at 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2 and 0.25 while keeping the
number of hidden layer neurons constant at 9 and in turn based on the number of epochs
an optimal design is decided as shown in Figure 1. The detection performance obtained
for various cases is given in Table 1. From the results shown in Table 1, the learning
rate of 0.15 is deduced to be the optimal one considering the number of epochs and also
the accuracy of the outputs. In the next step, the learning rate is kept constant at 0.15
and the number of hidden neurons is varied from 5 to 15. Table 2 shows the outputs of
the network while varying the number of hidden layer neurons. It can be clearly seen
that 9 hidden layer neurons is the most optimal one. In this way, the optimum training
parameters have been deduced. Then the network was trained and tested for these
values. Figure 2 shows the variation in the mean square error with respect to the number
of epochs while reaching the target value of 0.0001 during training of the network.
Closeness of the target vectors and outputs obtained for our network are shown in Table
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A method to improve reliability of gearbox fault detection with artificial neural networks
3. A five dimensional vector consisting of mean, kurtosis, rms, skewness and variance
represents each data set. The detection accuracy of the trained neural network is 100%
as shown in Table 4.
Figure 1. Number of epochs vs learning rate
Table 1. Number of the epochs vs accuracy of the outputs
Learning Case 1 Case 2

S. No Epochs
rate [1, 0] [0, 1]
1 0.05 26914 [0.94, 0.03] [0.04, 0.93]
2 0.10 14263 [0.93, 0.02] [0.04, 0.94]
3 0.15 9500 [0.98, 0.01] [0, 0.99]
4 0.20 5938 [0.95, 0.05] [0.05, 0.96]
5 0.25 3126 [0.94, 0.03] [0.04, 0.95]
Table 2. Outputs with hidden layer neurons
S. Hidden layer Worn out case Cracked case

Epochs
No neurons output output
1 5 12,138 [0.9941, 0.0111] [0.0113, 0.9968]
2 9 9500 [0.9894, 0.0082] [0.0002, 0.9958]
3 15 6583 [0.9919, 0.0088] [0.0104, 0.9889]
223
Figure 2. Training the network
Table 3. Outputs for learning rate of 0.15
Case Output obtained Target

Worn out gear [0.998, 0.008] [1 0]
Cracked gear [0.0002, 0.998] [0 1]
Table 4. Detection accuracy
No. of inputs Detection

Case
identified accuracy
Worn out gear 10/10 100%
Cracked gear 10/10 100%
ANN BASED FAULT DETECTION
The vibration signature is collected from the signal generator using a B&K 4332
Accelerometer with a sensitivity of 104 mV/g mounted at the bearing housing of the 16
teeth pinion, meshing frequencies are calculated to be 320 Hz and multiples. Different
sets of data are collected when the gearbox is operating healthy at 20%, 40%, 80% tooth
worn out conditions and completely the broken tooth condition. A total of 30 sets of
data are collected for each operating condition. The signals are truncated to 3 kHz using
a low pass filter and sampled at 8 kHz. The accelerometer outputs are conditioned using
a B&K 2626 charge amplifier. The frequency response of the system averaged over 10
measurements with a Hanning window was obtained using an Agilent 3570A analyzer.
The vibration signature is preprocessed in order to obtain the required features of
mean, root mean square (rms), standard deviation, skew ness and kurtosis. These
features act as the input parameters to the artificial neural network. The neural network
is developed using the MATLAB neural network toolbox. A feed forward network is
224
employed and trained using the back propagation algorithm. Among the 30 sets of data
collected, 20 were used for training the network and 10 sets were used as the test data.
Keeping the training parameters constant and varying the number of hidden layers of the
artificial neural network, the performance of the networks was compared. The training
parameters considered for this investigation are as follows:
 Number of hidden layer neurons = 15

 Performance function for the first hidden layer = Tan – Sigmoidal
 Performance function for the second hidden layer = Log – Sigmoidal
 Performance function for the output layer = Log – Sigmoidal
 Learning rate = 0.15
 Training goal = 0.01
When the inputs are applied to the network, if the output pattern appears [1 0],
then the network indicates that the inputs belong to the worn-out case; and if the output
pattern appears as [0 1], then the network indicates that the inputs belong to the broken
tooth case as listed in Table 5. For the experimental investigation, the output pattern
pertaining to five different faults for each error case are listed in Table 6.
Table 5. Output pattern for fault classification
Case Pattern
Worn out [ 1 0]
Broken tooth [0 1]
Table 6. Output pattern for fault detection
Case of operation Output pattern

Healthy gear [1 0 0 0 0]
20% worn out gear [0 1 0 0 0]
40% worn out gear [0 0 1 0 0]
80% worn out gear [0 0 0 1 0]
1 Broken tooth [0 0 0 0 1]
Based on the output pattern, the network diagnoses the class to which the given
particular set of inputs belongs, and thus gives the output stating the corresponding
class. If the output pattern generated by the input is of the order [0 1 0 0 0] then the
network immediately displays that the given set of inputs belong to the case of 20%
wear thus indicating that there is 20% wear on one of the teeth. In this way ANN will be
effectively able to identify and at the same time easily communicate the error to the
user. Thus it can be deduced that with the selection of the optimum features and
parameters and proper training procedures, this neural network can classify gear faults
with the desired accuracy.
The training of the network with one hidden layer is shown in Figure 3 which needed
34,500 epochs in order to reach the required error goal. A neural network with two
225
hidden layers in training took 24,200 epochs to reach the error goal depicted in Figure 4.
The network with three hidden layers shown in Figure 5 needs 17,249 epochs to reach
the error goal. A network with four hidden layers is shown in Figure 6 which needed
22,333 epochs. The detection capability of all the networks is analysed. The networks
have been tested for all 50 test inputs. The performance of all networks is compared in
Table 7. The variation in the number of epochs with each case is depicted in Figure 7.
From the results obtained in Table 5, it is clearly seen that the networks with two or
three hidden layers have a better detection accuracy than the other cases. But the amount
of memory occupied by a three hidden layer network is much greater than the two
hidden layers network. As the accuracy capability of both layers is the same, the two
hidden layers network is the optimum, accounting for the amount of memory consumed.
Figure 3. One hidden layer network
226
Figure 4. Two hidden layer network
Figure 5. Three hidden layer network
227
Figure 6. Four hidden layer network
Figure 7. Number of hidden layers vs number of epochs
228
Table 7 Performance of the networks
Number of inputs Classification

S. No Network type
properly identified accuracy
1 One hidden layer 42/50 84 %
2 Two hidden layers 47/50 94%
3 Three hidden layers 47/50 94%
4 Four hidden layers 43/50 86%
CONCLUSIONS
An ANN based fault detection is developed using the time domain features extracted
from their vibration signal for two prominent operating conditions: worn-out gear case
and cracked tooth case. The design parameters of the neural network are carefully
selected as they play a vital role in the construction of the model. Among the five
different learning rates considered between 0.05 to 0.25, the 0.15 is deduced to be
optimal one and at that learning rate 9 hidden layer neurons is the optimal one out of
three values of consideration between 5 to 15. Detection accuracy of the investigations
shows that the number of hidden layers plays a vital role in determining the optimum
neural network. Considering the constraint of memory consumption, ANN consisting of
2 hidden layers is chosen to be the optimum one despite having the same detection
accuracy as that of the ANN having three hidden neurons based on the memory
consumed. Detection accuracy is 100% as demonstrated in this work using multi layer
feed forward network can be effectively used in improving the reliability of the fault
detection process through appropriate measurements.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank J.N.T.U.A. University, Anantapur, A.P. and
R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore for encouraging our research and Dr. Ing.
B.V.A. Rao, retired Professor, IITM, Chennai, for his guidance.
REFERENCES
Amarnath, M., Swarnamani, S., Sujatha, C. (2005) Classification of Gear Wear Using
Artificial Neural Networks. Twelfth International Congress on Sound and
Vibration (ICSV12), p. 477.
Bartelmus, W., Zimroz, R., Batra, H. (2003) Identification of Optimized Diagnostic
Features of Multi-Stage Gearbox Condition. 18th International Conference on
Systems Engineering, pp. 434–439.
Farrar, C.R. and Duffey, T.A. (1999) Vibration Based Damage Detection in Rotating
Machinery. Proc. of DAMAS, pp. 224–235.
Jack, L.B. and Nandi, A.K. (2002) Fault Diagnosis Using Support Vector Machines and
Artificial Neural Networks Augmented by Genetic Algorithm. Mechanical
Systems and Signal Processing, 16(2–3): 373–390.
Samantha, B., Al Balushi, K.R. and Al-Araimi, S.A. (2003) Artificial Neural Network
Based Fault Diagnosis of Rolling Element Bearings Using Time-Domain
Features. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 16(7–8): 657–665.
229
Samantha, B. (2003) Gear Fault Detection Using Artificial Neural Networks and
Support Vector Machines With Genetic Algorithms. Mechanical Systems and
Signal Processing, 18(3): 625–644.
Wang, W.Q., Ismail, F. and Golnaraghi, M.F. (2001) Assessment of Gear Damage
Monitoring Techniques Using Vibration Measurements. Mechanical Systems
and Signal Processing, 15(5): 905–922.
Yegnanarayana, B. (1998) Artificial Neural Networks. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall.
230
CHEMICAL REACTION EFFECTS ON FLOW PAST AN EXPONENTIALLY

ACCELERATED VERTICAL PLATE WITH VARIABLE TEMPERATURE
R. Muthucumaraswamy and V. Valliammal
Department of Applied Mathematics,

Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering
Sriperumbudur 602 105, India.
Email: msamy@svce.ac.in
ABSTRACT
An analysis is performed to study the unsteady flow past an exponentially accelerated

infinite vertical plate with variable temperature and uniform mass diffusion, in the
presence of a homogeneous chemical reaction of first-order. The plate temperature is
raised linearly with time and the concentration level near the plate is raised uniformly.
The dimensionless governing equations are solved using the Laplace transform. The
velocity profiles are studied for different physical parameters such as the chemical
reaction parameter, thermal Grashof number, mass Grashof number, a, and time. It is
observed that the velocity increases with increasing values of a or t. But the trend is just
the reverse in the chemical reaction parameter.
Keywords: chemical reaction, accelerated, vertical plate, exponential, heat transfer,

mass diffusion.
INTRODUCTION
Diffusion rates can be tremendously altered by chemical reactions. Chemical reactions

can be codified as either heterogeneous or homogeneous processes. This depends on
whether they occur at an interface or as a single phase volume reaction. In well-mixed
systems, the reaction is heterogeneous if it takes place at an interface, and homogeneous
if it takes place in solution. In most chemical reactions, the reaction rate depends on the
concentration of the species itself. A reaction is said to be of first order if the rate of
reaction is directly proportional to concentration. In many chemical engineering
processes, there is a chemical reaction between a foreign mass and a fluid. These
processes take place in numerous industrial applications such as manufacturing of
ceramics, food processing and polymer production.
Chambre and Young (1958) have analysed a first order chemical reaction in the
neighbourhood of a horizontal plate. Das et al. (1994) have studied the effect of a
homogeneous first order chemical reaction on the flow past an impulsively started
infinite vertical plate with uniform heat flux and mass transfer. The mass transfer effect
on moving isothermal vertical plate in the presence of chemical reaction was studied by
Das et al. (1999). The dimensionless governing equations were solved by the usual
Laplace transform technique and the solutions are valid only at lower time level. Gupta
et al. (1979) studied free convection in a flow past a linearly accelerated vertical plate in
the presence of viscous dissipative heat using a perturbation method. Free convection
effects on flow past an exponentially accelerated vertical plate was studied by Singh and
Kumar (1984). The skin friction for an accelerated vertical plate has been studied
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R. Muthucumaraswamy et al./ International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 2(2010) 231-238
analytically by Hossain and Shayo (1986). Jha et al. (1991) analysed mass transfer
effects on an exponentially accelerated infinite vertical plate with constant heat flux and
uniform mass diffusion. Muthucumaraswamy et al. (2009) studied an exact solution of
flow past an accelerated infinite vertical plate with prescribed heat and mass flux. It is
here proposed to study the unsteady flow past an exponentially accelerated infinite
vertical plate with variable temperature and uniform mass diffusion, in the presence of a
first order chemical reaction. The dimensionless governing equations are solved using
the Laplace transform. This study will be useful in chemical process industries such as
wire drawing, fibre drawing, food processing and polymer production. The solutions are
in terms of the exponential and the complementary error functions.
ANALYSIS
The effects of a first order chemical reaction on the unsteady flow of a viscous
incompressible fluid past an exponentially accelerated infinite vertical plate with
variable temperature and uniform mass diffusion is studied. It is assumed that the effect
of viscous dissipation is negligible in the energy equation. Here the x-axis is taken along
the plate in the vertically upward direction and the y-axis is taken normal to the plate. At
time t0, the plate and fluid are at the same temperature T. At time t> 0, the plate is
exponentially accelerated with a velocity u = u0 exp(a t) in its own plane and the
temperature of the plate is raised linearly with respect to time and the concentration
level near the plate is raised to C
w . It is also assumed that there is a first order chemical
reaction between the fluid and the species concentration. The reaction is assumed to
take place entirely in the stream. Then under the usual Boussinesq approximation the
unsteady flow is governed by the following equations:
u 2
u
gβ (T T) gβ *
(CC  ) ν (1)
t y2
T 2 T
ρCp k 2 (2)
 t  y
C  2 C
D 2 K l C (3)
t y
with the following initial and boundary conditions:

u 0, T T, CC 
 for all y, t 0
t 0 : u u 0 exp( a 
t
), T T (Tw T)A t 
, CC
w at y 0
(4)
u  0, T  T, C C
 at y 
u 02
where A  .
ν
On introducing the non-dimensional quantities
u t
u2 yu T T
U , t 0 , Y  0 , θ ,
u0 ν ν Tw T
232
Chemical reaction effects on flow past an exponentially accelerated vertical plate with variable temperature
gβν(Tw T) CC νgβ* (C

w C
)
Gr  , C  
, Gc  , (5)
C
w c
3 3
u0  u0
μC a
ν νK ν
Pr  p , a  2 , K  2 1 , Sc 
k u0 u0 D
in (1) to (4), we obtain
U 2 U
GrθGcC  2 (6)
t Y
θ 1 θ2
 (7)
t Pr Y 2
C 1 2 C
 KC (8)
t Sc Y2
The initial and boundary conditions in non-dimensional quantities are
U 0, θ0, C 0 for all Y, t 0
t 0 : U exp(at), θt, C 1 at Y 0
(9)
U  0, θ 0, C  0 at Y 
METHOD OF SOLUTION
Under the assumptions of this flow problem, it is observed that the energy equation (7)
and the concentration equation (8) are uncoupled from the equation of momentum (6). It
is clear that the temperature variable θ(Y,t) and concentration equation C(Y,t) whereas
U(Y,t) can be expressed in terms of θ(Y,t) and C(Y,t). The dimensionless governing
equations (6) to (8) with the initial and boundary conditions (9) are tackled using
Laplace transform technique. (Abramowitz and Stegun, 1972) and the results are as
follows:
e Y s Pr
L( ) = (10)
s2

Y Sc( s k )
e
L(C) = (11)
s2
 1 Y
L(U )  e
s a 
s  Gr 1 Y
 3 e
1 Pr s
 s Pr
e
Y s

(12)
 Gc  1
 
1 Sc s (S b)
e
Y
 Sc ( s k )
e 
Y s

233
The inverse Laplace transform solutions of equations (10) to (12) are as follows:
 Pr 
θt 
(1 2η2 Pr)erfc(n Pr ) 2η exp(η2 Pr) (13)
 π 
1

C  exp(2η KtSc )erfc(η Sc  Kt ) exp( 2η KtSc )erfc(η Sc  Kt )
2
 (14)
U
exp(at)
2

exp(2η at )erfc(η at ) exp(2η at )erfc(η at ) 2e erfc( η) 

dt 2
 η
(3 12η2 4η4 )erfc( η)  (10 4η2 )exp(η2 )
6 π
η Pr 
(3 12η2 Pr 4η4 Pr 2 )erfc(η Pr )  (10 4η2 Pr)exp(η2 Pr)
π 

e exp(ct) exp(2η ct )erfc(η ct ) exp(2η ct )erfc(η ct ) 

e exp(2η KtSc )erfc(η Sc  Kt ) exp(2η KtSc )erfc(η Sc  Kt ) 

e exp(ct) exp(2η Sc(K c)t )erfc(η Sc  (K c)t )
(15)
exp( 2η Sc(K c)t )erfc(η Sc  (K c)t ) 
KSc Gr Gc Y
where c  , d , e , and η .
1 Sc 1 Pr 2c(1 Sc) 2 t
In order to get some physical insight into the problem, numerical computations were
carried out for different physical parameters a, Gr, Gc, Sc and t upon the nature of the
flow and transport. The value of the Schmidt number Sc is taken to be 0.6 which
corresponds to water–vapour. Also, the value of Prandtl number (Pr) is chosen such that
it represents air (Pr = 0.71). The numerical values of the velocity are computed for
different physical parameters like a, Prandtl number, thermal Grashof number, mass
Grashof number, Schmidt number, and time. The effect of velocity for different times (t
= 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8), k = 2, a = 0.5, Gr = Gc = 5 are shown in Figure 1. In this case, the
velocity increases gradually with respect to time t. Figure 2 illustrates the effect of
velocity for different values of the chemical reaction parameter (k = 0.2, 2, 5), a = 0.5,
Gr = 5, Gc = 10 and t = 0.2. The trend shows that the velocity increases with decreasing
chemical reaction parameter. It is observed that the relative variation of the velocity
with the magnitude of the chemical reaction parameter. The velocity profiles for
different (a = 0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.8), k = 2, Gr = Gc = 5 at t = 0.2 are studied and presented in
Figure 3. It is observed that the velocity increases with increasing values of a.
234
1.8
1.6
t=0.8
1.4 t=0.6
1.2 t=0.4
U
1.0 t=0.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5


Figure1. Velocity profiles for different values of t
1.4
1.2
k=0.2
1.0 k=2
k=5
0.8
U
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5


Figure 2. Velocity profiles for different values of k
235
1.4
1.2
a=0.8
a=0.5
1.0
a=0.2
a=0
0.8
U
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5


Figure 3. Velocity profiles for different values of a
Figure 4 represents the effect of concentration profiles at time t = 0.2 for

different Schmidt number (Sc = 0.2, 0.3, 0.6, 0.8). The profiles have the common feature
that the concentration decreases in a monotone fashion from the surface to zero far away
in the free stream. It is observed that the wall concentration increases with decreasing
Schmidt number.
1.8
1.6 Sc = 0.2
1.4 Sc = 0.3
1.2
Sc = 0.6
1.0
U Sc = 0.8
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5


Figure 4. Velocity profiles for different values of S c
236
CONCLUSION
The theoretical solution of flow past an exponentially accelerated infinite vertical plate
in the presence of variable temperature and uniform mass diffusion has been studied.
The dimensionless governing equations were solved by the usual Laplace transform
technique. The effect of different parameters such as the thermal Grashof number, mass
Grashof number, a and t were studied graphically. It was observed that the velocity
increases with increasing values of Gr, Gc, a and t. But that trend is reversed with
respect to the Schmidt number.
REFERENCES
Jha, B.K., Prasad R. and Rai, S. (1991) Mass Transfer Effects on the Flow Past an
Exponentially Accelerated Vertical Plate With Constant Heat Flux. Astrophysics
and Space Science, 181:125134.
Chambre, P.L. and Young, J.D. (1958) On the Diffusion of a Chemically Reactive
Species in a Laminar Boundary Layer Flow. The Physics of Fluids, l: 4854.
Das, U.N. Deka, R.K. and Soundalgekar, V.M. (1994) Effects of Mass Transfer on Flow
Past an Impulsively Started Infinite Vertical Plate With Constant Heat Flux and
Chemical Reaction. Forschung im Ingenieurwesen, 60: 284287.
Das, U.N. Deka, R.K. and Soundalgekar V.M. (1999) Effects of Mass Transfer on Flow
Past an Impulsively Started Infinite Vertical Plate With Chemical Reaction. The
Bulletin of GUMA, 5: 1320.
Gupta, A.S., Pop, I. and Soundalgekar, V.M. (1979) Free Convection Effects on the
Flow Past an Accelerated Vertical Plate in an Incompressible Dissipative Fluid.
Rev. Roum. Sci. Techn.-Mec. Apl., 24: 561568.
Hossain, M.A. and Shayo, L.K. (1986) The Skin Friction in the Unsteady Free
Convection Flow Past an Accelerated Plate. Astrophysics and Space Science,
125: 315324.
Muthucumaraswamy R., Sundar Raj M. and Subramanian V.S.A. (2009) Exact Solution
of Flow Past an Accelerated Infinite Vertical Plate With Heat and Mass Flux,
International Journal of Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 14: 585–592
Singh, A.K. and Kumar, N. (1984) Free Convection Flow Past an Exponentially
Accelerated Vertical Plate, Astrophysics and Space Science, 98: 245258.
NOMENCLATURE
A, a constants
C species concentration in the fluid, molm3
C dimensionless concentration
Cp specific heat at constant pressure, Jkg1K1
D mass diffusion coefficient, m 2s1
Gc mass Grashof number
Gr thermal Grashof number
g acceleration due to gravity, ms2
k thermal conductivity, Jm1K1
Kl chemical reaction parameter, J
K dimensionless chemical reaction parameter
237
Pr Prandtl number
Sc Schmidt number
T temperature of the fluid near the plate K
t time, s
t dimensionless time
u velocity of the fluid in the x-direction, ms1
u0 velocity of the plate, ms1
U dimensionless velocity
x spatial coordinate along the plate
y coordinate axis normal to the plate, m
y dimensionless coordinate axis normal to the plate
Greek symbols
 volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion, K 1

* volumetric coefficient of expansion with concentration, K 1
 coefficient of viscosity, Pas
 kinematic viscosity, m 2s1
 density of the fluid, kgm3
 dimensionless skin-friction
 similarity parameter
erfc complementary error function
Subscripts
w conditions at the wall

 conditions in the free stream
238
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES


REVIEWING PROCESS
Structure
The Title

Abstract
iii
Key Words
Text Layout
written in italics.
Section headings
Subheadings
Sub-subheadings

E mc 2
(1)
Figures and Tables

Units
iv
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
Journal Papers
Science A. 7(3): 352-360. doi: 10.1631/jzus.2006.A0352
Books
Wiley and Sons.
Proceedings Papers
WebPages
PROOFS
COST OF PUBLICATION
FREE OFFPRINTS
v
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Professor Dr. Rosli Abu Bakar, Malaysia. Email: rosli@ump.edu.my

Dr. Kumaran Kadirgama, Malaysia. Email: kumaran@ump.edu.my

International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (ISSN 1985-9325 (Print), 2180-1606 (Online)) is a peer reviewed
i
ISSN: 1985-9325 (Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 3, January-June 2011
CONTENTS
Comparison of Cryo-treatment Effect on Machining Characteristics of Titanium 239

in Electric Discharge Machining
Rupinder Singh and Bhupinder Singh
Sintering Effects on the Densification of Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite 249

R. Tolouei, S. Ramesh, C.Y.Tan, M. Amiriyan and W.D.Teng
Probabilistic Finite Element Analysis on Vertebra Lumbar Spine under 256

Hyperextension Loading
A. Zulkifli, A.K. Ariffin and M.M. Rahman
Laminar Convective Heat Transfer and Friction Factor of Al 2O3 Nanofluid in 265
Circular Tube Fitted with Twisted Tape Inserts
L. Syam Sundar and K.V. Sharma
Emission and Combustion Characteristics of Different Fuel In A HCCI Engine 279

S. Mohanamurugan and S. Sendilvelan
Comparison of Statistically Controlled Rapid Casting Solutions of Zinc Alloys 293

using Three Dimensional Printing
R. Singh
The Taguchi Approach in Optimizing the Environmental Factors Towards 306

Productivity at Automotive Industry
M.H.M. Haniff, A.R. Ismail, B.M. Deros, M.N.A. Rahman and K. Kardigama
Mathematical Approach for Drilling 318

Hussien Mahmoud Al-Wedyan and Saad A Mutasher
Radiation Effects on Exponentially Accelerated Vertical Plate with Uniform 341

Mass Diffusion
K.E. Sathappan and R. Muthucumaraswamy
Hall Current Effects on Free-Convection MHD Flow Past A Porous Plate 350
P.V. Satya Narayana, G. Ramireddy and S. Venkataramana
Active Control of Quarter Car Suspension System using Linear Quadratic 364
Regulator
M.P. Nagarkar, G.J Vikhe, K.R. Borole and V.M. Nandedkar
ii
ISSN: 1985-9325 (Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 3, pp. 239-248, January-June 2011
COMPARISON OF CRYO TREATMENT EFFECT ON MACHINING

CHARACTERISTICS OF TITANIUM IN ELECTRIC DISCHARGE
MACHINING
Rupinder Singh and Bhupinder Singh

Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, 141 006, India
Phone: +91-9872257575, Fax: +91-1612502700
ABSTRACT
Earlier studies on cryogenic treatment highlighted that certain metals, after being
cryogenically treated, show a significant increase in tool life when used in
manufacturing, cutting and shaping processes. The present work deals with
experimental investigation of the role of cryogenic treatment on the machining
characteristics of titanium in electric discharge machining (EDM). EDM is a potential
process to commercially machine tough materials like titanium alloys, due to the
properties of non-mechanical contact between the tool and workpiece and the capability
to machine intricate shapes. In this research work an effort has been made to compare
the machining characteristics of titanium with EDM, before and after cryogenic
treatment of the tool and workpiece using a Taguchi design approach. The output
parameters for study are material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR), surface
roughness (SR) and dimensional accuracy (Δd). The results of the study suggest that
with cryogenic treatment MRR, TWR, SR and Δd show an improvement of 60.39%,
58.77%, 7.99% and 80.00% respectively.
Keywords: electric discharge machining; material removal rate; tool wear rate; surface
roughness; dimensional accuracy.
INTRODUCTION
There are a number of treatment processes used for different metals which cause them
to behave differently under different conditions (Dhar et al., 2002). Empirical studies
have demonstrated that the life of cutting tools can be increased by cryogenic treatment
(Gill et al., 2010). Cryogenic treatment may be oversimplified into a process of chilling
a part down to relatively near absolute zero and maintaining that condition until the
material has cold-soaked (Gill et al., 2008). The temperature is then allowed to rise until
ambient equilibrium is reached (Molinari et al., 2001). The part may then be subjected
to a normal tempering reheat, although this step is not always included in the process.
The complexity of the process involves determining and achieving the proper duration
for the cooling, soaking and warming cycles (Kamody, 1993). Figure 1 shows a
schematic of cryogenic equipment.
EDM is a controlled metal removal process that is used to remove metal by
means of electric spark erosion (Sarkar et al., 2006). In this process an electric spark is
used as the cutting tool to cut (erode) the workpiece to produce the finished part to the
desired shape (Liao et al., 1997). The metal removal process is performed by applying a
239
Singh and Singh / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 239-248
pulsating (ON/OFF) electrical charge of high-frequency current through the electrode to

the workpiece. This removes (erodes) very tiny pieces of metal from the workpiece at a
controlled rate (Ramakrishnan and Karunamoorthy, 2006). Figure 2 shows a schematic
of the EDM process.
Figure 1. Schematic of cryogenic equipment (Singh & Singh, 2010)
Figure 2. Schematic of EDM process (Singh, 2009)
Titanium (Ti) and its alloys exhibit excellent corrosion resistance and have high
strength to weight ratio, which makes them ideal for use primarily in two areas of
application: corrosion-resistant service and specific strength for efficient structures.
Normally, low strength, unalloyed, commercially pure (CP) Ti is used in the fabrication
of tanks, heat exchangers and reactor vessels for chemical processing and power
generation plants. High strength Ti alloys are used in high performance applications
such as aerospace (Sarkar et al., 2006). The conventional method in machining of Ti
alloys is not suitable (Singh, 2009). Research on machining of pure Ti using
conventional machines highlights chipping, stresses, cutting tool wear and thermal
problems during machining which are caused by mechanical energy. Instead of
conventional machining, the EDM process is a potential machining method to eliminate
such problems (Puri and Bhattacharya, 2003). This is because there is no mechanical
contact between the tool and workpiece in the EDM system (Saha, 2008). Furthermore,
machining with EDM is burr-less, highly accurate and has the capability to produce
intricate cavities in one operation. However, not much work has been reported hitherto
on EDM of pure Ti (Singh, 2009).
240
Comparison of Cryo-treatment effect on machining characteristics of titanium in electric discharge machining
The objective of the present work is to compare the machining characteristics of Ti

with EDM, before and after cryogenic treatment of the tool and workpiece using the
Taguchi design approach. In the present study cryo-treatment was done at -80°C (Reitz
and Pendray, 2001; Molinari et al., 2002). Figures 3 and 4 show cryogenic and
tempering cycles for the present study. The output parameters for study are material
removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR), surface roughness (SR) and dimensional
accuracy (Δd).
Figure 3. Cryogenic cycle
Figure 4. Tempering cycle
The material selected for the study was CP Ti (Titan 15) ASTM Gr.2 as the
workpiece and Ti, copper (Cu) and copper chromium (CuCr) as electrode/tool materials.
Table 1 shows the chemical composition of the workpiece. The workpiece samples were
cut into 20 mm × 12 mm × 12 mm and electrodes were of 6mm diameter and 100 mm
length for the experimentation. Table 2 shows a list of input parameters for the present
study. The experimentation was conducted on a CNC EDM machine. Table 3
summarizes the results of pilot experiments with different combinations of electrode,
workpiece and current.
Table 1. Chemical analysis (%) TITAN 15 (UTS 491 MPa)
C H N O Fe Ti
0.006 0.0007 0.014 0.140 0.05 Balance
241
Table 2. Input parameters
Work material Non-cryo treated/plain Cryogenically treated

CP Ti
Tool Materials CuCr (Non-cryo treated) CuCr (Cryogenically treated)
Copper (Non-cryo treated) Cu (Cryogenically treated)
Ti (Non-cryo treated) Ti (Cryogenically treated)
Current Ampere 2 4 6
Table 3. Experimental Observations
Input parameters Output Parameters

Initial weight Final weight
Tool/ Work Current (gm) (gm) Time TWR MRR SR ∆d
Taken
Electrode Piece (Amp) Work Work (min) (gm/min) (gm/min) (µm) (mm)
Tool piece Tool piece
A1 2 11.697 16.789 10.516 15.614 108 0.0109352 0.0108796 0.595 0.06

Ti
A2 4 10.516 15.614 9.387 14.476 99 0.011404 0.0114949 0.609 0.07

Cryogenically treated
A3 6 9.387 14.476 8.338 13.325 92 0.0114022 0.0125109 0.628 0.07
A1 2 23.69 14.578 22.173 13.416 82 0.0185 0.0141707 0.603 0.06

Cu
A2 4 22.173 13.416 20.603 12.296 73 0.0215068 0.0153425 0.613 0.06
A3 6 20.603 12.296 19.396 11.139 62 0.0194677 0.0186613 0.632 0.07
A1 2 22.896 16.409 21.316 15.287 86 0.0183721 0.0130465 0.599 0.06

Non-cryo treated Ti
CuCr
A2 4 21.316 15.287 19.667 14.109 76 0.0216974 0.0155 0.612 0.07
A3 6 19.667 14.109 18.464 12.921 65 0.0185077 0.0182769 0.631 0.07
A1 2 14.89 20.513 13.671 19.287 117 0.0104188 0.0104786 0.591 0.1

Ti
A2 4 13.671 19.287 12.443 17.896 109 0.0112661 0.0127615 0.606 0.1
A3 6 12.443 17.896 11.414 16.589 98 0.0105 0.0133367 0.622 0.09

Non-cryo treated
A1 2 28.143 17.918 26.491 16.176 83 0.0199036 0.020988 0.597 0.09

Cu
A2 4 26.491 16.176 24.729 14.319 77 0.0228831 0.0241169 0.612 0.1
A3 6 24.729 14.319 23.287 12.573 66 0.0218485 0.0264545 0.629 0.09
A1 2 27.674 19.981 26.149 18.546 88 0.0173295 0.0163068 0.594 0.1

CuCr
A2 4 26.149 18.546 24.604 16.906 79 0.019557 0.0207595 0.609 0.09
A3 6 24.604 16.906 23.317 15.409 68 0.0189265 0.0220147 0.627 0.09
A1 2 14.97 20.015 13.819 18.685 122 0.0094344 0.0109016 0.587 0.02

Ti
A2 4 13.819 18.685 12.695 17.165 109 0.0103119 0.013945 0.599 0.04

Cryogenically treated Ti
Cryogenically treated
A3 6 12.695 17.165 11.697 15.623 102 0.0097843 0.0151176 0.618 0.04
A1 2 28.14 17.876 26.473 16.413 89 0.0187303 0.0164382 0.593 0.03

Cu
A2 4 26.473 16.413 24.816 15.109 76 0.0218026 0.0171579 0.605 0.03
A3 6 24.816 15.109 23.69 13.853 67 0.016806 0.0187463 0.628 0.04
A1 2 26.945 17.503 25.597 16.024 93 0.0144946 0.0159032 0.591 0.03

CuCr
A2 4 25.597 16.024 24.076 14.637 81 0.0187778 0.0171235 0.603 0.04
A3 6 24.076 14.637 22.896 13.296 73 0.0161644 0.0183699 0.624 0.04
242
Table 3. (continued)
Input parameters Output Parameters
Initial weight (gm) Final weight

(gm) Time
Tool/ Work Current TWR MRR SR ∆d
Electrode Piece (Amp) Taken (gm/min) (gm/min) (µm) (mm)
Tool Work Tool Work (min)
piece piece
A1 2 11.414 16.923 10.293 15.784 104 0.0107788 0.0109519 0.601 0.05

Ti
A2 4 10.293 15.784 9.046 14.629 96 0.0129896 0.0120313 0.617 0.05
A3 6 9.046 14.629 8.103 13.486 77 0.0122468 0.0148442 0.633 0.05

Non-cryo treated
A1 2 22.719 14.453 21.343 13.311 77 0.0178701 0.0148312 0.607 0.04

Cu
A2 4 21.343 13.311 19.856 12.19 71 0.0209437 0.0157887 0.623 0.05
A3 6 19.856 12.19 18.493 11.035 66 0.0206515 0.0175 0.638 0.05
A1 2 23.317 13.96 21.783 12.809 81 0.0189383 0.0142099 0.605 0.05

CuCr
A2 4 21.783 12.809 20.109 11.651 72 0.02325 0.0160833 0.618 0.06
A3 6 20.109 11.651 18.676 10.463 64 0.0223906 0.0185625 0.635 0.06
MRR is defined as the difference between the initial weight of the workpiece
(before machining) and the final weight of the workpiece (after machining with EDM).
TWR is defined as the difference between the initial weight of the tool (before
machining) and the final weight of the tool (after machining with EDM).
Mathematically MRR = (W1-W2)/t
where W1 is the initial weight of work-piece in gm (before machining)

W2 is the final weight of work-piece in gm (after machining)
t is the machining time in minutes for ‘01mm’ fixed depth of cut in workpiece,
measured with a stopwatch.
Mathematically TWR = (V 1-V2 )/t
where V1 is the initial weight of the tool in gm (before machining)

V 2 is the final weight of the tool in gm (after machining)
t is machining time in minutes for ‘01mm’ fixed depth of cut in workpiece
measured with a stopwatch.
SR was measured as ‘R a value’ expressed in microns by using a surface
roughness measuring instrument (Talysurf).
Based upon pilot experimental data (Table 3), a Taguchi L9 orthogonal array was
used to optimize MRR, TWR, SR and Δd. Final experimentation was conducted in four
sets. In the first set, a cryogenically treated electrode and cryogenically treated
workpiece were machined using EDM. In the second setup, a non-cryo treated electrode
and non-cryo treated workpiece were selected. In third setup, a non-cryo treated
workpiece was machined with a cryogenically treated electrode. In the final setup, a
non-cryo treated electrode and cryogenically treated workpiece combination was
selected. Table 4 shows the factors description for the cryogenically treated/non-treated
electrode and workpiece.
243
With the help of MINITAB 15 software, the ANOVA was performed to attain the
plots and conditions where MRR, TWR SR and Δd have optimized value. The results
are valid for 95% accuracy. The ANOVA result shows the value of degree of freedom
(DOF), sum of squares (Seq. SS), adjustable mean squares (Adj. MS) and value of F
and P test. Figure 5 shows machining parameters versus current for the cryogenically
treated electrode and cryogenically treated workpiece and Figure 6 shows the main
effects plots by ANOVA analysis from the average value for (a) Δd (b) SR (c) MRR (d)
TWR. The following ANOVA results were obtained for the cryogenically treated
electrode and cryogenically treated workpiece:
Workpiece: Cryogenic Ti
General Linear Model: TWR, MRR, SR, Δd versus Current, Tool

Factor Type Levels Values
Current fixed 3 2, 4, 6
Tool fixed 3 Cryogenic Ti, Cryogenic Cu,
Cryogenic CuCr
Analysis of Variance for TWR, using Adjusted SS for Tests

Source DF Seq SS Adj MS F P
Current 2 0.0000149 0.0000074 3.96 0.113
Tool 2 0.0001369 0.0000684 36.39 0.003
Error 4 0.0000075 0.0000019
Total 8 0.0001593
S = 0.00137150
Analysis of Variance for MRR, using Adjusted SS for Tests

Current 2 0.0000135 0.0000068 15.22 0.013
Tool 2 0.0000316 0.0000158 35.61 0.003
Error 4 0.0000018 0.0000004
Total 8 0.0000469
S = 0.000666547
Analysis of Variance for SR, using Adjusted SS for Tests

Current 2 0.0016740 0.0008370 627.75 0.000
Tool 2 0.0000827 0.0000413 31.00 0.004
Error 4 0.0000053 0.0000013
Total 8 0.0017620
S = 0.00115470
Analysis of Variance for Δd, using Adjusted SS for Tests

Current 2 0.0002889 0.0001444 5.20 0.077
Tool 2 0.0000222 0.0000111 0.40 0.694
Error 4 0.0001111 0.0000278
Total 8 0.0004222
S = 0.00527046
244
From the above ANOVA analysis and main effects plots it can be summarised that:
1. For the cryogenic Ti workpiece a minimum value of TWR (i.e. 0.00943443
gm/min) was achieved with the cryogenic Ti tool and the current was 2 Amps.
2. For the cryogenic Ti workpiece a maximum value of MRR (i.e. 0.018746269
gm/min) was achieved with the cryogenic Cu tool and the value of the current
was 6 Amps.
3. For the cryogenic Ti workpiece a minimum value of SR (i.e. 0.587 μm) was
achieved with the cryogenic Ti tool and the value of the current was 2 Amps.
4. For the cryogenic Ti workpiece a minimum value of Δd (i.e. 0.02 mm) was
achieved with the cryogenic Ti tool and the value of the current was 2 Amps.
On the same lines, ANOVA analysis for set 2, 3 and 4 was conducted. Based upon
ANOVA analysis and main effects plots, the general conditions for optimization were
obtained. The overall optimized values of TWR, MRR, SR and Δd are summarized as:
1. The overall optimized value of TWR was achieved with a combination of a

cryogenic titanium workpiece, cryogenic titanium tool and 2 Amp current.
2. The overall optimized value of MRR was achieved with a combination of a non-
cryo treated titanium workpiece, non-cryo treated copper tool and 6 Amp
current.
3. The overall optimized value of SR was achieved with a combination of a
4. The overall optimized value of Δd was achieved with a combination of a
Table 4. Factors description for cryogenically treated/non-treated electrode and

workpiece
Level Level Level Level
Description Description Description Description
Factors Setup 1 Setup 2 Setup 3 Setup 4
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Current(A)
2 4 6 2 4 6 2 4 6 2 4 6
Non-Cryo treated CuCr
Non-Cryo treated CuCr

Non-Cryo treated Cu
Non-Cryo treated Cu
Non-Cryo treated Ti
Non-Cry o treated Ti
Cryogenic CuCr
Cryogenic CuCr
Cryogenic Cu
Cryogenic Cu
Cryogenic Ti
Cryogenic Ti
Too l
Non-Cryo treated Ti
Non-Cryo treated Ti
Non-Cryo treated Ti
Non-Cryo treated Ti
Non-Cryo treated Ti
Non-Cryo treated Ti
Cryogenic Ti
Cryogenic Ti
Cryogenic Ti
Cryogenic Ti
Cryogenic Ti
Cryogenic Ti
Work piece
245
0.025 0.02
Cryogenic Cryogenic
Titanium Titanium
0.02 0.015
MRR
Cryogenic
TWR
0.015 Cryogenic 0.01 Copper

Copper
0.01 0.005 Cryogenic
Copper
0.005 Chromium
0
0 2 4 6
Current
2 4 6
Current
(a) (b)
0.64 Cryogenic 0.045 Cryogenic

0.63 Titanium 0.04 Titanium
0.62
0.035
0.61
SR
Cryogenic 0.03 Cryogenic

0.6 Copper
Copper 0.025
0.59
d
0.58 0.02
0.57 0.015 Cryogenic
0.01 Copper
0.56 Chromium
0.005
2 4 6
0
Current
2 4 6
Current
(c) (d)
Figure 5. Machining parameters versus current for cryogenically treated electrode and
cryogenically treated workpiece
Current Tool Current T ool

0.625
0.0400
Diameter difference
surfac e roughness
0.620
0.0375
0.615
0.0350
0.610
0.0325
0.605
0.0300
0.600
0.0275 0.595
0.0250 0.590
2 4 6 r m m
pe iu iu
r
2
ium
p n
e
or m
niu
Co ita
pp
om
c Ch T
Co
ta
ni c
hr
r ni
Ti
e
nic
rC
e
og e
c
pp og
ni
ge
y
e
Cr Co
e
ry
pp
yo
og
ic C
Co
Cr
Cry
en
nic
og
y
ge
Cr
yo
Cr
(a) (b)
Current Tool
0.019
Current T ool
0.018 0.018
0.017
0.017 0.016
TWR
0.015
0.016
MRR
0.014
0.013
0.015
0.012
0.011
0.014
0.010
0.013 2 4 6 er iu m um
pp om t an
i
iu m
iu m
Co
r
2
pe
hr Ti
an
p
n ic rC
Co
ro
n ic
T it
ge
Ch
pe e
ic
yo og
n
ic
op
r
n
ge
Cr
pe
C ry
ge
ci C
yo
yo
Cr
Co
n
Cr
ge
ic
en
yo
Cr
g
yo
Cr
(c) (d)
Figure 6. Main effects Plot by ANOVA analysis from average value for
(a) Δd(b) SR(c) MRR (d) TWR
246
CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present study show that, with the help of cryogenic treatment,
machining parameters like MRR, TWR SR and Δd improve significantly when
machined on EDM with CP Ti as the workpiece. The results are in line with the
observations made by other investigators. For checking the adequacy of the model,
verification experiments were conducted and it was found that MRR showed an
improvement of 60.39%, TWR showed an improvement of 58.77%, SR showed an
improvement of 07.99% and Δd showed an improvement of 80.00%.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Dr. M.S.Saini (Director, GNDEC Ludhiana) for
providing laboratory facilities. The authors are also thankful to AICTE, New Delhi for
financial support under RPS.
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Singh, K. and Singh, R. 2010. Experimental investigations for tool life enhancement
using cryogenic treatment. National Conference on Advancements and
Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Punjabi
University Guru Kashi Campus, Talwandi Sabo, pp. 53-56.
Nomenclatures
Adj MS adjustable mean square

DF degree of freedom
MRR material removal rate
Seq SS sum of squares
SR surface roughness
t machining time in minutes for ‘01mm’ fixed depth of cut in work-
piece, measured with stopwatch.
TWR tool wear rate
V1 initial weight of tool in gm (before machining)
V2 final weight of tool in gm (after machining)
W1 initial weight of work-piece in gm (before machining)
W2 final weight of work-piece in gm (after machining)
Δd dimensional accuracy
Greek symbols
Δ Accuracy
µ Micron
248
SINTERING EFFECTS ON THE DENSIFICATION OF NANOCRYSTALLINE

HYDROXYAPATITE
R. Tolouei1, S. Ramesh2, C.Y.Tan1, M. Amiriyan1 and W.D.Teng3

1
Ceramics Technology Laboratory
University Tenaga Nasional,
2
Centre of Advanced Manufacturing & Material Processing (AMMP), Department of
Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering
University of Malaya
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Email: ramesh79@um.edu.my
3
Ceramics Technology Group
SIRIM Berhad, 40911 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
The effects of sintering profiles on the densification behaviour of synthesized

nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite (HA) powder were investigated in terms of phase
stability and mechanical properties. A wet chemical precipitation method was
successfully employed to synthesize a high purity and single phase HA powder. Green
HA compacts were prepared and subjected to sintering in air atmosphere over a
temperature range of 700° C to 1300° C. In this study two different holding times were
compared, i.e. 1 minute versus the standard 120 minutes. The results revealed that the 1
minute holding time sintering profile was indeed effective in producing a HA body with
high density of 98% theoretical when sintered at 1200° C. High mechanical properties
such as fracture toughness of 1.41 MPa.m1/2 and hardness of 9.5 GPa were also
measured for HA samples sintered under this profile. Additionally, XRD analysis
indicated that decomposition of the HA phase during sintering at high temperatures was
suppressed.
Keywords: mechanical properties, bioceramics, hydroxyapatite, sintering.
INTRODUCTION
The main inspiration behind the use of Calcium Phosphates (CaP) bioceramics as a
bone substitute material is the similarity of their composition to the mineral phase of
human bone and teeth (Hench, 1998; Legeros and Legeros, 1993). Hydroxyapatite Ca10
(PO4)6(OH)2 (HA), is one of the principal types of CaP ceramics found in the human
body. However, HA bioceramics have a limited application in load bearing applications
due to developed cracks (Gabriel Chu et al., 2002; Muralithran & Ramesh, 2000).
Thus, an optimization of the mechanical properties and microstructure of HA samples
through a suitable choice of sintering parameters is under investigation. The sinterability
and strength of dense HA is in association with the properties of the starting powder.
Various methods have been used for preparation of HA powders, including the wet
precipitation method, mechanochemical method, sol gel method and the hydrothermal
method (Suchanek & Yoshimura, 1997). Muralithran and Ramesh (2000) claimed that
249
Tolouei et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 249-255
HA is a powder whose synthesis by their novel method could attain high density when
sintered without pressure at 1200° C -1300° C.
A number of different studies were carried out with the aim of improving the
mechanical properties of HA by applying appropriate sintering additives or heat
treatment for sintering of dense samples (Ramesh et al., 2007; Zhou et al., 1993). One of
the critical controlling parameters that must be considered during the processing of
hydroxyapatite is the selection of a heat treatment method to obtain a high density HA
body (Ramesh, 2008). The conventional pressureless sintering method is the routine
technique, in which the powder compacts have been heated at a certain rate, holding at
the maximum temperature for several hours before cooling at the same rate as the
heating rate (Wei Chen & Wang, 2000). Simultaneous with high temperature sintering
and long holding time, the exaggerated grain coarsening or formation of other phases
may take place in HA samples. Zhou et al. (1993) reported that sintering of HA was
complicated by two processes, namely dehydroxylation and decomposition of the HA
phase at high temperatures. HA, after a dehydroxylation process, starts to decompose
into secondary phases such as tricalcium phosphate and tetracalcium phosphate. In that
case, the decomposition of HA in air at high temperature hinders sintering and causes a
decrease in density. The present work investigates the effect of sintering holding time
on the densification behaviour and mechanical properties of nanocrystalline HA.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
The HA nanopowder used in this work was prepared using a novel wet precipitation
method (Ramesh, 2004) by reacting calcium hydroxide and orthophosphoric acid at
room temperature with the pH maintained above 10 by the addition of ammonium
hydroxide solution. Once the titration process was completed, the suspension was aged
overnight. Then, the precipitate was filtered, washed, dried and ground to a powder of
high purity, which was composed of pure stoichiometric HA phase. The thus prepared
nano HA powder (< 80 nm) was uniaxially pressed at 20 MPa into pellets using a 20
mm diameter die for disc samples and a 32×13 mm rectangular die for bar samples. The
green compacted samples were subsequently cold isostatically pressed (CIP) at about
200 MPa (Reiken Seiki, Japan). The CIP samples were sintered by a conventional
sintering method in air atmosphere at temperatures ranging from 1000° C to 1350° C, in
50° C intervals. Sintering heating profiles were carried out with different holding times
of 120 minutes and 1 minute using a standard ramp rate of 2° C/min. All sintered HA
samples were polished to a 1 µm surface finish prior to testing. The densities of the
sintered samples were measured by the Archimedes methods, with distilled water as the
immersion medium. Relative density was calculated by taking the theoretical density of
HA as 3.156 g/cm-3. The phase analysis of all samples was characterized by using X-ray
diffraction (XRD-6000, Shimadzu, Japan). The Young’s modulus of the rectangular
samples was measured using a sonic resonance instrument (Grindosonic; MK5,
Belgium).
The Vickers hardness (Hv) and fracture toughness (KIc) of the sintered discs was
determined using a microhardness tester (Wilson Wolpert, 401 MVA). The indentation
load (less than 300 g) was applied for 10 seconds to the polished surface of the sample.
The average diagonal length of the indent was measured 3 times for each sample and
the average value was taken. The Vickers hardness was calculated from the method
described in the ASTM E1876-97. The Vickers indentation of HA samples causes the
creation of crack patterns that can be described mainly according to the median crack
250
Sintering effects on the densification of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite
system. Therefore fracture toughness was calculated using Eq. (1), which is related to
the radial crack (Niihara, 1985):
1 .5
c
K IC  0.203  HV a 0.5 (1)
a
where Hv is the Vickers hardness, a is the half diagonal of the indentation, c is the radial
crack measured from the centre of the indent impression, and L is the crack length.
The variation in the relative density curves of HA samples with sintering temperatures
is shown in Figure 1. The bulk density trend of the 120 minute holding time sintering
was in good agreement with that reported in the literature for conventional sintered HA
(Ruys et al., 1995; Ramesh et al., 2008). In general, the relative density of HA increased
when sintered at higher temperature for holding times of both 1 minute and 120
minutes. It can be noted that sintering with a 120 minute holding time produced HA
with higher density than the equivalent 1 minute holding time when sintered at 1000° C.
However, the bulk density of the 1 minute holding time samples attained almost
equivalent densities with the 120 minute holding time samples when sintered above
1000° C. These results shows that it is possible to use a very short holding time to
densify the HA body via the conventional pressureless sintering method.
Figure 1. Relative density variation as a function of sintering temperature for

HA sintered using two different holding times.
The HA phase sinterability was confimed by XRD phase analysis of the sintered
HA samples sintered under both conditions. The sintering of HA samples, regardless of
sintering holding time and temperature, revealed the presence of only the HA phase, as
shown in Figure 2. In general, high temperature sintering above 1250° C of HA can lead
to the partial thermal decomposition of HA into TCP and TTCP (Wang et al. 1993;
Newesely, 1977; Liao et al., 1999). However, in the present work, the formation of
secondary phases was not detected throughout the sintering regime employed. This
observation could be associated with the high local humid atmosphere that could have
hindered dehydroxylation in the HA matrix during high temperature sintering.
251
Attempts to correlate the Young’s modulus with bulk density revealed that a
linear relationship exists, as shown in Figure 3. It was found that Young’s modulus of
the sintered HA increased up to a maximum of 110 GPa with increasing bulk density up
to 96% of theoretical value. The results showed that the HA samples sintered with 1
minute holding time achieved higher Young’s modulus values of 119 GPa than samples
sintered at the same temperature under the standard 120 minute holding time.
Figure 2. XRD traces of HA samples sintered at (a) 1000°C (b) 1100°C (c)
1200°C (d) 1300°C using the one minute holding time.
Figure 3. A linear relationship exists between the sintered density and the
Young’s modulus of HA samples sintered for both sintering profiles.
The effect of sintering temperature on the Vickers hardness for HA sintered with
the two different holding times is shown in Figure 4. It can be seen that HA sintered at
1100° C using the one minute holding time displayed the highest hardness value of 9.5
GPa, compared to 7.8 GPa for the HA sample sintered using the 120 minute holding
time. The increased hardness value for samples sintered up to 1100° C, as depicted in
Figure 4, could be attributed to an increase in relative density from 88.2% to 96%, as
shown in Figure 1. However, beyond 1100° C the relative density continued to increase
slightly, while the hardness value gradually decreased with increasing temperature. This
result is in agreement with work of Lu et al. (1998); Metsger et al. (1982), He et al.
(2008) and Ramesh et al. (2008), who reported that hardness of HA is controlled by not
252
just the bulk density but also the grain size of the sintered body. These authors claimed
that below a certain critical grain size the hardness is governed by relative density and
above that size grain growth is the controlling parameter.
Figure 4. Variation in Vickers hardness with sintering temperature for HA

ceramics.
The effect of sintering temperature on the fracture toughness of HA samples

sintered using two different holding times is shown in Figure 5. The results show that
the fracture toughness of the HA sintered with 1 minute holding time is apparently
higher than the HA samples sintered at similar temperature with a 120 minute holding
time. The maximum fracture toughness of HA sintered samples with the 120 minute
holding time was about 1.05±0.1 MPa.m1/2 and this is in agreement with the work of
Suchanek and Yoshimura (1998) and Van Landuyt et al. (1995).
The fracture toughness of HA sintered samples with 1 minute holding time was
observed to decrease from 1.41±0.4 to 1.12±0.5 MPa.m1/2 with increasing temperature.
Gibson et al. (2001) reported a similar decreasing trend for fracture toughness in their
HA samples. These authors agreed that the decreasing trend experienced by the sintered
samples was associated with grain coarsening. Further work is in progress to elucidate
the effects of grain size on the toughness of HA.
Figure 5. Effect of sintering temperature on the fracture toughness of HA

samples.
253
CONCLUSIONS
The effects of a one minute holding time versus the standard 120 minute holding time
during sintering on the properties of synthesised nanocrystalline HA were investigated.
The results revealed that the one minute holding time sintering profile was indeed
beneficial in producing a dense HA body that exhibited enhanced toughness compared
to the standard 120 minute holding time. Decomposition of HA to secondary phases was
not observed in the present study for the two sintering profiles. Sintering at 1100º C and
using the one minute holding time resulted in a sintered HA body that exhibited the
overall best properties of 98% density, having high Young’s modulus above 110 GPa, a
high hardness of about 9.5 GPa and an exceptionally high toughness of 1.41 MPa.m1/2.
It was demonstrated in this work that HA could be densified using a very short holding
time via the conventional pressureless sintering method.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of
Malaysia (Science Fund Grant No. 03-02-03-SF0073).
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255
PROBABILISTIC FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF VERTEBRAE OF THE

LUMBAR SPINE UNDER HYPEREXTENSION LOADING
A. Zulkifli1,a, A.K. Ariffin 1,b and M.M. Rahman2,c

1
Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
46300 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Phone: +603-89250200, Fax: +603-89216106
E-mail: zulkola@eng.ukm.mya; kamal@eng.ukm.myb
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
26600 Pekan, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Phone: +609-4242346, Fax: +603-4242202
Email: mustafizur@ump.edu.myc
ABSTRACT
The major goal of this study is to determine the stress on vertebrae subjected to
hyperextension loading. In addition, probabilistic analysis was adopted in finite element
analysis (FEA) to verify the parameters that affected failure. Probabilistic finite element
(PFE) analysis plays an important role today in solving engineering problems in many
fields of science and industry and has recently been applied in orthopaedic applications.
A finite element model of the L2 vertebra was constructed in SolidWorks and imported
by ANSYS 11.0 software for the analysis. For simplicity, vertebra components were
modelled as isotropic and linear materials. A tetrahedral solid element was chosen as the
element type because it is better suited to and more accurate in modelling problems with
curved boundaries such as bone. A Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) technique was
performed to conduct the probabilistic analysis using a built-in probabilistic module in
ANSYS with 100 samples. It was found that the adjacent lower pedicle region depicted
the highest stress with 1.21 MPa, and the probability of failure was 3%. The force
applied to the facet (FORFCT) variable needs to be emphasized after sensitivity
assessment revealed that this variable is very sensitive to the stress and displacement
output parameters.
Keywords: Probabilistic, finite element analysis, lumbar spine, stress, hyperextension.
INTRODUCTION
In engineering, uncertainties are the most important thing to measure in order to make
the analysis as real as in nature. Neglecting the existence of uncertainties in the
biological system and environment can make the application fail even when the
calculation suggests it is safe enough. However, the values of the variables that are
working on the system cannot be predicted with certainty. Structural geometric
properties, mechanical properties and the external loads are all uncertain in nature. In
particular, the uncertainties in the external loads are very serious (Qiu and Wu, 2010).
However, Taddei et al. (2006) found that bone stresses and strains in the proximal femur
were more sensitive to uncertainties in the geometric representation than material
properties. In the probabilistic approach, all uncertain variables are considered to be
256
Probabilistic finite element analysis of vertebrae of the lumbar spine under hyperextension loading
random and the uncertain problems are analysed based on their statistical properties
(Qiu and Wu, 2010).
Hyperextension is a straightening movement that goes beyond the normal,
healthy boundaries of the joint and often results in orthopaedic injury. This movement
will produce an extreme condition and create a failure in the vertebra. It may occur
during training by athletes and or sometimes by accident. The pedicle is most
commonly the part where fractures are observed during trauma, experimentally and
clinically (Xia et al., 2006). Occasionally, a pedicular fracture may occur that suggests a
causative relationship with the patient’s hyperactivity (Sirvanci et al., 2002).
Finite element analysis is one of the most advanced simulation techniques and
has been used in orthopaedic biomechanics for many decades (Kayabasi and Ekici,
2008). Up to now, many finite element (FE) simulations as well as in vivo or in vitro
studies have been conducted for biomechanical analyses of the lumbar spine (Kuo et al.,
2010). They can also be successfully applied for the simulation of biomechanical
systems (Odin et al., 2010). FE methods have become an important tool to evaluate
mechanical stresses and strains in bone (Hernandez et al., 2001) and have been widely
used to investigate the mechanical behaviour of bone tissue (Herrera et al., 2007). The
purpose of this study is to determine the highest stress on the vertebra due to the
hyperextension condition and calculate the probability of failure for the current model.
The sensitivity analyses were incorporated with probabilistic analysis to support the
results and verify the input random variables that are sensitive to the output parameters.
The hypothesis for this study is that the pedicle is the most critical region that affects the
vertebrae when the facet joints are subjected to hyperextension loading.
METHODOLOGY
A three-dimensional finite element model of a lumbar vertebra was constructed using

SolidWorks software and analysed by ANSYS 11.0. The lumbar segment has five
vertebrae that stack each other vertically, but a single vertebra was focused on in this
study due to the similarity of analysis. So, the analysis target was the second lumbar
vertebra (L2), since it seems to be responsible for bone fractures (Sances et al., 1984)
and has also been reported on by Woodhouse (2003).
Spinous process
Facet joints
Body Lamina
Transverse
process
Pedicle
Figure 1. Anatomy of the vertebrae of the lumbar spine
The vertebrae are composed of six components. These are the vertebra body,
spinous process, transverse process, lamina, pedicle, and facet joints. Figure 1 shows the
anatomy of a lumbar spine vertebra from various different angles. The vertebra has two
257
layers, of cortical and cancellous bone, which are generally considered as one integrated
region of body material. In fact, the surface of the lumbar vertebra is not regular, and
the simplified model was developed by removing the unnecessary surface and
smoothing the irregular surface during the trimming process. Three-dimensional meshes
with tetrahedral 20 node quadratic elements (SOLID186) were constructed using an
automatic mesh function of ANSYS. The area of the critical region is refined using finer
meshes so that reliable results are necessarily produced especially in the vertebra body.
To evaluate the effects of the hyperextension condition, a simple compressive
loading was applied to the vertebral model shown in Figure 1. The lower vertebral body
is fully constrained in all degrees of freedom, whereas the upper body and upper facet
(indicated in red) represent the area subjected to a load based on the weight of an 80 kg
person. This weight converts to a force of 460 N or 59% of total weight, to represent the
upper body comprising the head, trunk and limbs, as reported by Langrana et al. (1996).
To quantitatively assess the changes of the hyperextension condition, the portion
of load applied to the facet joints was calculated. The value of pressure applied to the
vertebra was defined as Eq. (1):
Ft (1 (i 10)) Ab (body) 4

( i)  i (1)
Ft  i 102 Af (facet) i
1
where ρ(Pa) denotes the pressure applied to the vertebra, Ft is total force, Ab and A f are
the surface area of the body and facet respectively.
Material Properties
In nature, bone is a non-linear, inhomogeneous and anisotropic material and varies in

the boundary regions between cortical and cancellous bone (Xia et al., 2006; Yang et
al., 2010; Peng et al., 2006). However, most studies performed in this area have been
based on the assumption that bone material has an isotropic and inhomogeneous
distribution of material properties due to its simplicity (Yang et al., 2010; Peng et
al., 2006). Therefore, this study was conducted on linear isotropic and the whole
vertebra is considered as having cortical bone properties. In this study, random input
variables were arbitrarily assumed as defined in Table 1. Standard deviations were
computed by assuming a coefficient of variation (COV) of 0.1 and distribution types
were assumed based on experience.
Table 1. Type of model random variables
Variables Description Mean COVa Distribution type Ref.

YMODCOR Young Modulus 12 GPa 0.21 Lognormal (Thacker et al.,
2001)
PSSNRAT Poisson ratio 0.3 ±0.017 Uniform (Sarah et al.,
2007)
b
FORBDY Force to the body 414 N 0.1 Normal
b
FORFCT Force to the facet 46 N 0.1 Normal
AREBDY Body area 1298 mm2 0.1 Lognormal b
AREFCT Facet area 166 mm2 0.1 Lognormal b
a
COV= coefficient of variation bArbitrarily assumed
258
Reliability and Probabilistic Analysis
A probabilistic analysis was conducted of a structural failure under uncertain material

and geometric characteristics subject to random loads applied to the model. X, denotes a
vector of random variables, with components X1,X2 ,...Xn representing the uncertainties
in the load, material properties and geometry (Akramin et al., 2007). The probabilistic
design system was modelled as Eq. (2):
Z ( X ) Z ( X1 , X 2 , X 3 ,..., X n ) (2)
where Z(X) is a random variable describing the system (e.g. stress, displacement) at a
node or element. Each random variable is defined by a probability density function
(PDF), which is commonly defined by parameters such as a mean value, standard
deviation and distribution type. The structural uncertainties are generated by the Latin
Hypercube Sampling (LHS) technique that requires fewer simulation loops to get better
accuracy. The limit state function for lumbar g(X) can be expressed as Eq. (3):
g ( X ) Y ( X ) S ( X ) (3)
where Y(X) is the yield strength of bone, S(X) is the Von Mises stress computed from
FEA and X is a random variable as defined earlier. Suppose that the model failure
occurs if g < 0, whereas no failure occurs if g > 0. The probability of failure (P f) is the
likelihood when the stress exceeds the yield strength of bone or satisfies the function
g < 0 (Sarah et al., 2007). The probability of survival, Ps is one minus the probability of
failure and referred to as reliability, Ps = 1 −Pf .
A MCS was performed by a powerful computer to minimize cost and time
consumption. This method will converge with the approximately correct solution but
needs a lot of samples during analysis. The number of simulations necessary in a MCS
to provide that kind of information is usually between 50 and 200. Thus, this study used
100 samples after considering the complexity of the model and range of simulation.
However, the more simulation loops you perform, the more accurate the results will be.
Post -processing file Probability of failure

FEA
Obtaining node +
coordinates MCS
FE model created
Figure 2. Work sequence of a probabilistic finite element program
The uncertainty of the mechanical properties of bone, especially the Young

Modulus of vertebrae, depends on the person, since the physiological loading affects the
stress distribution of the vertebra. Therefore, the PFE program has been developed using
ANSYS software incorporating MCS. The work sequence of a patient-specific FEA
using the ANSYS software program is shown in Figure 2.
259
Figure 3 shows the stress distribution of the vertebra under compression loading where
the contours represent the level of stress. It was found that the highest stress
concentrations were at the adjacent lower posterior vertebral body, with Von Mises
stress value 1.2117 MPa. Stress concentration will reduce the mechanical integrity of
the bone, making it susceptible to fracture during trauma (Kasiri & Taylor, 2008). This
critical area of the vertebra body tends to act as a pivot when another load is applied to
the facet joints and creates a bending effect. A longer distance between the facet joints
and the vertebral body causes an increase in the bending moment, as well as a stress
concentration.
Figure 3. The highest stress distribution of the vertebra
The displacement of the model is very small, at about 0.24758e-08 mm. This
happens due to the assumption that all that components act as one body with the same
material, which is cortical. Cortical material is brittle compared with other materials,
with the highest strength in the vertebra component. Failure or fracture of the bone
starts at the highest stress concentration and it produces the weakest area of the bone.
This result agrees well with research by El-Rich et al. (2009), which concluded that in
extension loading, the maximum stress is located in the lower pedicle region of L2 and
fractures start in the left facet joint, then expand into the lower endplate.
In Figure 4, the stress distributions for different types of ratio represent the effect
of hyperextension. The comparisons between these ratios are the proportion load
applied to the vertebral body and facet joints. For the ratio i=1, there are some stresses
in the vertebral body, whilst for the ratio i=3, the vertebral body was not affected
wholly. Hence, load ratio i=3 means that hyperextension starts after the facet joint
sustains in excess of 30% of the total load, as reported by Nabhani et al. (2002) and Hall
(1995).
260
Stress distribution of the vertebra

Ratio i=1 i=2 i=3 i=4
Contour
2.16 MPa
Max 2.63 MPa
1.21 MPa 1.69 MPa
Figure 4. The stress distribution of the vertebra for different ratios

Probability (%)
Stress (MPa)
Figure 5. Probability of success for limit state function
The cumulative distribution function (CDF) offers a function to determine the

probabilistic design variable. This feature is very helpful to evaluate the probability of
failure or reliability of a component for a very specific and limited value given. For this
study, the limit state function in Eq. (3) used the yield strength of the material as a limit
value to determine the probability of failure if g ≤0. The curve in Figure 5 indicates that
the probability of success complies with the limit state function g > 0 and there is about
a 97% or 0.97 probability that the stress remains below 1.2117 MPa. Therefore, the
probability of failure can be calculated as 1-0.97=0.03 or 3% probability stress greater
than 1.2117 MPa. From the result observation, 3% of the probability of failure indicates
that the model is very reliable and safe to use. This means that the load applied to the
model needs only be very low to induce the model to fail.
The probabilistic sensitivity diagrams in Figure 6 illustrate those variables that
are sensitive to the maximum stress and maximum deflection respectively. The
sensitivities are given as absolute values in the bar chart and the relative variables are
represented in the pie chart. Four input variables are very sensitive to the stress and
deflection, as shown in Figure 6. The most significant variable that strongly affected the
261
maximum stress and maximum deflection is FORFCT, which is force applied to the
facet joints. This means that a small change in the maximum stress of the important
variables (AREBDY in this case) will result in a change in the computed probability.
The positive sensitivity values indicate that a positive change in the mean value will
result in an increase in the computed probability and negative sensitivities and vice
versa. The insignificant or unimportant random variables have been eliminated from the
sensitivity chart to improve the computational efficiency.
Figure 6. Sensitivity factors for (a) maximum stress and (b) maximum deflection
(a) (b)
Figure 7. Scatter plot for input variables (a) AREBDY and (b) FORFCT
The scatter plot in Figure 7(a) indicates the relationship between the AREBDY
variable and maximum stress, while Figure 7(b) is between the FORFCT variable and
maximum deflection. These two scatter plots represent the correlation between the input
variables and output parameters that are generated by the same set. There are 100 blue
dots to represent the 100 sampling points or samples that were used for this analysis.
Probabilistic sensitivities measure how much the range of scatter of an output parameter
is influenced by the scatter of the random input variables. The influences of
probabilistic sensitivities are the slope of the gradient and the width of the scatter range
262
of the random input variables. The slope of the gradient depends on the scatter range of
the random input variables and output parameters. To improve the reliability, there are
two options: 1) reduce the width of the scatter, and 2) shift the range of scatter.
However, we do not discuss these options here as they are beyond the scope of this
study. Since these variables contribute the most to the computed probability, improved
estimates for the mean, standard deviation, and distribution will have the most impact
on the computed probability (Thacker et al., 2001).
CONCLUSION
This study has achieved the objectives of determining the stress concentration
and the probability of failure of the lumbar vertebra using finite element analysis. The
probabilistic analysis method investigated here is useful to understand the inherent
uncertainties and variations in biological structures.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to thank Universiti Malaysia Pahang for supporting this research.
Also, thanks to all the members who were involved in this study.
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264
LAMINAR CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER AND FRICTION FACTOR OF

AL2O3 NANOFLUID IN CIRCULAR TUBE FITTED WITH TWISTED TAPE
INSERTS
L. Syam Sundar,2 and K.V. Sharma1,2

1
Universiti Malaysia Pahang
26600 Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia
Tel./Fax. +6-09-4242324/+6-09-4242202
E-mail: kvsharmajntu@gmail.com
2
Centre for Energy Studies
JNTUH College of Engineering
Kukatpally, Hyderabad 500085, India,
Tel./Fax. +91-40-32408715/+91-40-23058720
ABSTRACT
We experimentally investigated the fully developed laminar convective heat transfer

and friction factor characteristics of different volume concentrations of Al2O3 nanofluid
in a plain tube and fitted with different twist ratios of twisted tape inserts. Experiments
were conducted with water and nanofluid in the range of 700 Re 2200, particle
volume concentration of 0 0.5% , and twisted tape twist ratios of 0 H / D 15. The
nanofluid heat transfer coefficient is high compared to water and further heat transfer
enhancement is observed with twisted tape inserts. The pressure drop increases slightly
with the inserts, but is comparatively negligible. A generalized regression equation is
developed based on the experimental data for the estimation of the Nusselt number and
friction factor for water and nanofluid in a plain tube and with twisted tape inserts.
Keywords: Forced convection in a tube, aluminium oxide nanofluid, twisted tape

inserts, heat transfer enhancement, nanofluid friction factor.
INTRODUCTION
Low thermal conductivity of conventional heat transfer fluids such as water, oil and
ethylene glycol is a serious limitation for improving the performance and compactness
of many engineering equipments such as heat exchangers. Initial experiments with small
sized metallic particles possessing high thermal conductivity are used to enhance heat
transfer. The early research with the suspension of these micrometer sized particles
caused problems associated with dispersion and flow. To overcome this, nano-sized
particles are developed, dispersed in a base liquid, and thermal conductivity
enhancement is obtained (Choi, 1995). Thermo-physical properties of different volume
concentrations of nanofluid are explained (Masuda et al., 1993; Pak and Cho, 1998; Lee
et al., 1999; Wang et al., 1999; Eastman et al., 1999; Eastman et al., 2001: Das et al.,
2003).
The enhancement of thermal conductivity is confirmed by Pak and Cho (1998)
and Xuan and Li (2003) using Al2O3, TiO2 and Cu nanoparticles dispersed in water.
They also estimated heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop under turbulent flow in
265
Laminar convective heat transfer and friction factor of Al 2O 3 nanofluid in circular tube fitted with twisted tape inserts
tubes with nanofluids at different concentrations. The heat transfer coefficients are
observed to increase with concentration compared to base liquid water. The authors
presented regression equations for the estimation of Nusselt numbers. Numerical studies
are undertaken (Namburu et al., 2009) with CuO, Al2O3 and SiO2 nanofluids under
turbulent flow and higher heat transfer coefficients are obtained compared to water.
Experimentally, Wen and Ding (2004) observed that Al2 O3 nanoparticles
dispersed in water show enhancements in laminar convective heat transfer coefficients.
Experiments conducted by Heris et al. (2007) with Al2O3/water nanofluid in the laminar
flow range of the Reynolds number subject to an isothermal wall boundary condition
predict higher values of heat transfer. The enhancements are found to increase with the
Reynolds number, as well as particle concentration. Numerical studies were undertaken
by Maiga et al. (2005) in the laminar range with Al 2O3/water Al2O3/ethylene glycol
nanofluids and they obtained a heat transfer enhancement with nanofluid. Numerical
analysis of laminar flow heat transfer of Al2 O3 /ethylene glycol and Al2O3/ water
nanofluids in tube has been reported (Palm et al., 2004; Roy et al., 2004) and wall shear
stress is observed to increase with volume concentration and the Reynolds number. Heat
transfer enhancements with flow of nanofluids in a tube are summarized (Kakaç and
Pramuanjaroenkij, 2009; Wang and Majumdar, 2007). Passive enhancement of heat
transfer can also be achieved with the use of twisted tape inserts for flow in a tube or
duct. Heat transfer enhancements are obtained through experiments and numerical
analysis of the flow of single phase fluids in a tube, and are valid for a wide range of
Reynolds numbers (Smithberg and Landis, 1964; Lopina and Bergles, 1969; Lecjaks et
al., 1987; Sarma et al., 2003).
Experimental determination of heat transfer is achieved using twisted tape
inserts in a tube with Al2O3 nanofluid at different volume concentrations (Sharma et al.,
2009; Sundar and Sharma, 2010). These authors have presented empirical correlations
for the estimation of the Nusselt number and friction factor in the transition and
turbulent flow range. The equation they propose has the flexibility to estimate the
Nusselt number for the flow of water or nanofluid in a plain tube and with twisted tape.
Nanofluid heat transfer and pressure drop in the laminar Reynolds number range with
twisted tape insert have not been estimated. Experimental determination of these
parameters is undertaken in the present study.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND PROCEDURE
The schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown in Figure 1a. The fluid flows
through a copper tube of 0.012 m dia, a chiller or collecting tank, and a storage tank
with the aid of a pump. The copper tube is heated uniformly by wrapping it with two
nichrome heaters of 20 gauge, having a resistance of 53.5per meter length and 1000
W maximum rating, and the entire test section is subject to a constant heat flux
boundary condition. The space between the test section and the outer casing is stuffed
with rock wool insulation to minimize heat loss to the atmosphere. The test section of
1.5 m in length is provided with five K-type thermocouples, three brazed to the surface
at distances of 0.375, 0.75, 1.125 m from entry and two located to measure the working
fluid inlet and outlet temperatures All these thermocouples have 0.1° C resolution and
are calibrated before fixing them at the specified locations. The aspect ratio of the test
section is sufficiently large for the flow to be hydro-dynamically developed. The fluid is
forced through the test section with the aid of a pump, the suction side connected to a
storage tank. The storage tank, made of stainless steel, is of 30 litres capacity. The
266
Syam Sundar and Sharma /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 265-278
liquid which is heated in the test section is allowed to cool by passing it through a
chiller. The liquid then flows to the storage tank by gravity. The provision of the chiller
helps to achieve the steady state condition faster.
The twisted tapes are made in the laboratory from a 1mm thick and 0.01 m
radius of aluminium strip, as shown in Figure 1b, and the dimensions of the twisted tape
inserts are shown in Table 1. The two ends of a strip were held on a lathe, one at the
headstock end and the other at the tail stock end, by special devices made in the
laboratory. The strip was then subjected to twist by turning the chuck manually. Four
twist ratios of H/D = 5, 10 and 15 were made. Twisted tapes are tightly fitted into the
tube and the tape fin effect is neglected.
Figure 1a. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup
Figure 1b. Full-length twisted tape insert inside a tube
Table 1. Dimensions of twisted tape insert
S. Twist Ratio, H/D, m

Parameter
No. 5 10 15
1 H (Width) 0.05 0.1 0.15
2 D (Diameter) 0.01 0.01 0.01
267
After the experimental setup is assembled, the storage tank is filled with the
working fluid. Experiments are conducted with water and nanofluids to determine the
friction factor and heat transfer coefficients for flow in a tube. The procedure for
preparation of nanofluids follows Sundar et al. (2007). Nanofluid at different volume
concentrations of 0.02, 0.1 and 0.5% are used in conducting the experiments. The
working fluid flow rate in the test section is evaluated from the flow meter readings and
validated manually. The properties of the fluid are evaluated at the mean temperature, as
explained by Sundar and Sharma (2008). The required data for the estimation of heat
transfer coefficients and friction factor are recorded at different flow Reynolds number
range of 700-2200 with flow of water and nanofluid in a tube. A similar procedure is
adopted for flow with longitudinal strip inserts and relevant comparisons are made. The
heat transfer coefficient is estimated with Newton’s law of cooling.
Nusselt Number of Water and Nanofluid in Plain Tube
The balance between the energy supplied by heating and energy absorbed by the
flowing liquid is established using Eqns. (1) and (2) for every set of data and the
experimental heat transfer coefficient is estimated with Eq. (3).
Q V I (Energy supplied) (1)

Q m C 
T0 Ti (Energy absorbed) (2)
Q hD
hExp  , A Di L , Nu Exp  i (3)
A
Twall Tmean  k
The deviation between the values obtained with Eqns. (1) and (2) is less than ±
2.5% and the heat loss to atmosphere is neglected. The experimental Nusselt number of
fully developed laminar flow with different volume concentrations of nanofluid is
shown in Figure 2, along with the data of water. From the figure it is observed that the
Nusselt number increases with the increase of volume concentration under the same
Reynolds number nanofluid. The reason for the heat transfer enhancement for nanofluid
is the effect of thermo-physical properties. Comparatively, the thermo-physical
properties are greater for nanofluid.
The equation for the estimation of the Nusselt number for different volume
concentrations of Al2O3 nanofluid in a plain tube under fully developed laminar flow is
obtained with an average deviation (AD) of 2.46% and standard deviation (SD) of
3.23% given by
Nu Re g 0. 2624 Re 0 .5860 Pr 0 .3 

0.001 
0 . 07094
(4)
Valid in the range 700 Re 2200, 0 0 .5 %
The values estimated from Eq. (4) are shown in Figure 3, along with the
experimental Nusselt number of water and nanofluid.
268
Figure 2. Experimental Nusselt number water and different volume concentrations of

nanofluids
Figure 3. Experimental Nusselt number compared with Eq. (4).
269
Nusselt Number of Water and Nanofluid in Plain Tube with Twisted Tape Inserts
Experiments with twisted tape inserts are conducted with water and nanofluid following
the procedure explained earlier for flow in a tube. The procedure is repeated with tapes
of different twist ratios of 5, 10 and 15. The equation (Sarma et al., 2003) is based on
theoretical analysis and obtained with a standard deviation of 4%, and the average
deviation of 3% for the estimation of Nusselt number is given by
4 .12
 D
Nu Reg 0.2036 Re Pr  1.0   0.55 0.3
(5)
 H
valid in the range 100 Re 3000 , 5 Pr 400 , 2.5 H D 10 for pure liquids.
The experimental Nusselt number of water and nanofluid for flow in a tube and
with twisted tape inserts is presented in Figure 4. However, no literature is available for
comparison. From the Figure it can be observed that higher heat transfer rates are
obtained with twisted tape inserts than with nanofluid flow in a tube. The experimental
Nusselt number of water and nanofluid in a plain tube with different twist ratios of
twisted tape inserts is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 4. Comparison of present experimental data of water and nanofluid with twisted
tape inserts with the data available in the literature
270
Hence, the present data for flow of water and Al2O3 nanofluid in a tube and with
twisted tape insert is subjected to regression and the equation is obtained with an
average deviation (AD) of 4.14% and standard deviation (SD) of 5.23%, given by
0.02395
 D
NuReg 0.5652 Re 0 .5004
Pr 0.3
0.001 
0.07060
0.001  
 (6)
 H
valid in the range 700 Re 2200 0 0.5% , 4.4 Pr 6.5 , 0 H D 15 .
( 0 for water, H D 0 for plain tube). The values of Nusselt estimated with Eq. (6)
are in good agreement with the experimental values shown in Figure 6, thus validating
the regression equation developed.
Figure 5. Experimental Nusselt number of water and nanofluid in plain tube with
twisted tape inserts
271
Figure 6. Comparison of experimental Nusselt number with Eq. (6)
Friction Factor of Water and Nanofluid in a Plain Tube
The friction factor can be determined from the relation
P
f  (7)
L  V 2 
   
 
D  2 
 
The single-phase fluid friction factor (Moody, 1944) is
64
f  (8)
Re
The experimental friction factor of water and different volume concentrations of

nanofluid estimated from Eq. (7) are compared with the values estimated from Eq. (8)
and shown in Figure 7. It is evident that the friction factor values for nanofluid fall on
the same values as water, which means that with the addition of solid particles in the
base fluid there is not much enhancement of the friction factor.
272
Figure 7. Comparison of experimental friction factor in plain tube with Moody’s (1944)
equation.
A generalized regression equation is developed for the estimation of the friction

factor of water and different volume concentrations of nanofluid in a plain tube under a
fully developed laminar flow condition with an average deviation (AD) of 4.552% and
standard deviation (SD) of 5.799% given by
f Re g 39 .54 Re 0 .9316 (0 .001 ) 0 .01 (9)

valid for 700 Re 2200 , 4.4 Pr 6.5 , 0 0.5 .
The values of the friction factor estimated with Eq. (9) are in good agreement
with the experimental values, as shown in Figure 8, thus validating the equation
developed.
273
Figure 8. Comparison of experimental friction factor with Eq. (9).
Friction Factor of Water and Nanofluid with and without Twisted Tape Inserts
Eq. (7) is used to estimate the experimental friction factor of water and nanofluid in a
plain tube with twisted tape inserts and the data is represented in Figure 9. However, no
literature is available for comparison. It is evident that higher friction factors are
obtained with twisted tape inserts than with flow in a tube for either water or nanofluid.
The present data on the friction factor are subjected to regression and obtained
with an average deviation (AD) of 4.886% and standard deviation (SD) of 6.221%
given by
0 .006120
 D
f Re g 52.08 Re 
0 .001  
0 .9641
0.001  
0.01
(10)
 H
valid for the range 700 Re 2200 , 4.4 Pr 5.5 , 0 0 .5 , 0  H / D 15 ( 0
for water, H D 0 for plain tube). The values of the friction factor estimated with Eq.
(10) are in good agreement with the experimental values, as shown in Figure 10, thus
validating the equation developed.
274
Figure 9. Friction factor of water and nanofluid in a plain tube with twisted tape inserts.
Figure 10. Comparison of experimental friction factor with Eq. (10)
275
CONCLUSIONS
The enhancement in heat transfer in a plain tube with 0.5% volume concentration
Al2 O3 nanofluid when compared to water is 46.52% and 47.59% for Reynolds numbers
of 700 and 2200 respectively. The enhancement of the friction factor in a plain tube
with 0.5% volume concentration Al2O3 nanofluid compared to water is 1.042 times and
1.068 times for Reynolds numbers of 700 and 2200 respectively. The heat transfer
coefficient of 0.5% volume concentration Al2 O3 nanofluid with twisted tape insert
having  H / D5 is 14.60% and 29.50% greater at Reynolds numbers of 700 and 2200
respectively compared to the same fluid, and 69.14% and 89.76% greater than water
flowing in a plain tube. The friction factor of 0.5% volume concentration
Al 2O3 nanofluid with twisted tape insert having  H / D 5 is 1.0958 times greater at
a 700 Reynolds number and 1.0652 times at a 2200 Reynolds number compared to
water, and 1.512 times and 1.0412 times compared to the same fluid flowing in a tube.
The use of twisted tape inserts is advantageous at higher Reynolds numbers based on
the values of the friction factor and heat transfer compared to flow in a tube either for
water or nanofluid. The use of nanofluid enhances the heat transfer coefficient with no
significant enhancement in pressure drop compared to water in the range tested. The
experimental data of friction and the Nusselt number of water and Al2O3 nanofluid for
flow in a plain tube and with longitudinal strip insert can be presented respectively as
0 .006120
f Re g 52.08 Re 0. 9641

0.001  
0.001  
D
 
0 . 01
 H
0. 02395
 D
Nu Reg 0.5652 Re 0. 5004
Pr 0 .3
0.001  0 .07060
0.001  

 H
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Nomenclature
A area, m 2
C specific heat, J/kg K
D inner diameter of the tube, m
f friction factor
h convective heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K
I current, Amp
k thermal conductivity, W/m K
L length of the tube, m
m mass flow rate, kg/s
Nu Nusselt number, hD / k
Pr Prandtl Number, C / k
4m
Re Reynolds number,
D 
0
T temperature, C
V voltage, volts
v velocity, m/sec
Greek symbols
P pressure drop across the tube
 volume concentration of nanoparticles, %
 dynamic viscosity, kg/m 2 s
 density, kg/m 3
Subscripts
Exp experimental
h hydraulic diameter
i inner diameter
m mean
Reg regression
W wall
278
EMISSION AND COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT

FUELS IN A HCCI ENGINE
S.Mohanamurugan1,2 and S. Sendilvelan1

1
DR. MGR Educational and Research Institute
Maduravoyal, Chennai, India
2
Velammal Engineering College, Chennai, India
Phone: +91 09380590534
E-mail: sivallakshmi@yahoo.co.uk
ABSTRACT
Different intake valve timings and fuel injection amounts were tested in order to
identify their effects on exhaust emissions and combustion characteristics using variable
valve actuation (VVA) in a Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI)
engine. The HCCI engine is a promising concept for future automobile engines and
stationary power plants. The two-stage ignition process in a HCCI engine creates
advanced ignition and stratified combustion, which makes the ignition timing and
combustion rate controllable. Meanwhile, the periphery of the fuel-rich zone leads to
fierce burning, which results in slightly high NOx emissions. The experiments were
conducted in a modified single cylinder water-cooled diesel engine. In this experiment
we use diesel, bio-diesel (Jatropha) and gasoline as the fuel at different mixing ratios.
HCCI has advantages in high thermal efficiency and low emissions and could possibly
become a promising combustion method in internal combustion engines.
Keywords: HCCI, two stage ignition, NOx, bio-diesel, variable valve actuation
INTRODUCTION
In modern society the internal combustion engine is the key to the entire transportation
sector. Without the transportation performed by millions of vehicles on the roads and at
sea we would not have reached the living standard we enjoy today. Spark ignition, SI,
and compression ignition, CI, are the two types of internal combustion engines (Gray
and Ryan, 1997). Petrol and diesel are at present the principal fuels for SI and CI
engines. These fuels are on the verge of becoming extinct and during combustion they
release substantial amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, creating environmental-
related problems. The internal combustion engine is known as one of the major sources
of air pollutants in the environment. The fuel oxidation process in the engine generates
not only useful power, but also a considerable amount of pollutant emissions including
carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbon (HC), nitrogen
oxides (NOx), and particulate matter. Reducing exhaust emissions and increasing the
fuel economy of internal combustion engines are of global importance. CO2 is mainly
responsible for the global warming issue as it creates a reflective layer in the
atmosphere that reflects heat from the earth back to the earth’s surface, increasing the
earth’s average temperature over time. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a very dangerous
substance since it reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood stream. At low
279
Emission and combustion characteristics of different fuels in a HCCI engine
concentrations, CO inhalation can cause dizziness and nausea, while at higher

concentrations it can be deadly (Kim and Lee, 2006). Unburned hydrocarbon emission,
a result of an incomplete combustion process, is a common source of respiratory
problems. Particulate emissions or soot also cause some respiratory problems. Both
unburned hydrocarbon and soot emissions have been linked to some cancers in several
studies. The high flame temperature generated during the combustion process is
responsible for NOx formation, which causes various health problems as well as
contributing to acid rain and global warming issues (Zhao et al., 2003).
The development of efficient internal combustion engines with ultra low
emissions is necessitated by strict regulations on exhaust gas composition and fuel
economy. Increasing concern over the potential global warming effects of major
greenhouse gases from current fossil fuels, coupled with a rapidly growing vehicle fleet
around the world, has intensified the uptake of alternative fuels and become an
important area of research (Yap et al., 2005). Bio diesel is capable of solving the
problems of fuel supply in a decentralized fashion and can simultaneously help to
reduce environmental-related problems (Yeom et al., 2006). Jatroba oil has been
recognized as a major source to replace the declining fuel resources and could be used
in IC engines. Carbon dioxide is one of the major greenhouse gases. Although the
burning of biodiesel produces carbon dioxide emissions similar to those from ordinary
fossil fuels, the plant feedstock used in the production absorbs carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere when it grows. Plants absorb carbon dioxide through a process known as
photosynthesis which allows them to store energy from sunlight in the form of sugars
and starches (Shi et al., 2006). After the biomass is converted into bio diesel and burnt
as fuel the energy and carbon is released again. Some of that energy can be used to
power an engine, while the carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere.
In parallel to this interest in alternative fuels, there has also been increased
interest in Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion. HCCI
technology, incorporating the advantages of both spark ignition and compression
ignition, is a potential candidate for future ultralow-emission engine strategies (Jiang et
al., 2005). HCCI engines are being actively developed because they have the potential
to be highly efficient and to produce low emissions (Standing et al., 2005). HCCI
engines can have efficiencies close to those of diesel engines, with low levels of
emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). In addition, HCCI
engines have been shown to operate with a range of fuels, e.g. natural gas, gasoline and
bioethanol (Babajimopoulos et al., 2002).
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
In this study, an electrical dynamometer is assembled on a four-cylinder engine as

shown in Figure 1. A four-stroke indirect injection diesel engine was used. There are
different thermo junctions and electrical units on the dynamometer and the engine.
Circuits in all units were connected to each other, and they were controlled by a
computer. In addition, two exhaust emission measurement systems worked
independently to ascertain the levels of HC, CO, CO2, and NOx respectively. In
addition, an adjustment tool was used to adjust the injection pressure.
280
Mohanamurugan and Sendilvelan/International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 279-292
Engine Specifications:
Bore x Stroke = 80 x 110 mm

Cubic Capacity = 0.553 lit
Compression Ratio = 16.5 : 1
Engine Wt. (dry) w/o flywheel = 114 kg
Weight of flywheel = 33 kg
Exhaust gas can be very hot if retained or re-inducted from the previous
combustion cycle or cool if re-circulated through the intake as in conventional Exhaust
Gas Recirculation (EGR) systems. The exhaust has dual effects on HCCI combustion. It
dilutes the fresh charge, delaying ignition and reducing the chemical energy and engine
work. Hot combustion products conversely will increase the temperature of the gases in
the cylinder and advance ignition.
Figure 1. Picture of the experimental setup
WORKING PRINCIPLE
In this experiment we analyse the performance and emission characteristics using

premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) mode assisted with a secondary pilot
injector as combustion initiator in a HCCI engine. The fuel is heated by means of a
1000 W water bath provided with an electrical thermostat, which enabled us to maintain
the fuel at the desired temperature. The maximum fuel temperature that can be achieved
using our setup is 75º C. In the case of diesel we maintained the temperature at 55º C,
and in the case of bio-diesel we maintained the temperature at 75º C. The air is heated
by means of an 800 W air heater placed in the inlet manifold. The air temperature is
maintained by means of an electrical thermostat to a maximum of about 80º C. The
temperature history of the hottest (and close to adiabatic) portion of the core of the
281
experiment is reproduced by the hottest zone. This part of the charge should be the first
ignition site.
The fuel is injected into the manifold using an electronic fuel pump through a
secondary fuel injector mounted on the inlet manifold whose spray angle is 30 degrees
and the fuel line pressure is maintained at 6 bars. The current rating of the fuel injection
pump that we have used is 20 A and that of the fuel injector is 0.3 A. The injection is
controlled by an electronic circuit having a limit switch with a frequency of about 750
cycles per minute. The limit switch is actuated by means of a bolt attached to the inlet
valve rocker; we have effectively utilized the 8 mm travel of the rocker arm to generate
the electrical signal for initiating the injection during the suction stroke.
In its original form, the HCCI uses a premixed air fuel mixture. This may be
achieved through a port fuel injection. In place of this, very early direct injection has
also been used. Early direct injection in the combustion chamber, during the intake
stroke or early part of the compression stroke, allows better fuel air mixing than a
standard diesel combustion scenario. Direct injection also allows stratification of the in
cylinder charge, and this offers means to realize stable and efficient combustion during
transition from higher to lower engine load. It has been shown that for pure HCCI
conditions where a completely pre-mixed charge is used, fuel chemistry and gas mixture
temperature are the two major factors that determine the auto ignition process. Mixing
and turbulence have a much lesser impact on the auto ignition. However, for “HCCI-
like” conditions such as direct injection, where a non-homogeneous charge may be
formed, the amount and rate of fuel air mixing may have an impact on the ignition delay
and start of combustion. The impact of the initial (i.e. at the end of the fuel injection or
start of ignition dwell) temperature and fuel air distribution on ignition dwell was
investigated. Various methods to prolong the ignition dwell were used, including
variations in injection timing, EGR percentage, engine valve actuation and swirl ratio.
In relation to the HCCI engine is combustion phase control. Hot residual gas
supplies heat to the combustion chamber and promotes HCCI combustion. This hot
residual gas can be controlled by a variable valve timing (VVT) device. Moreover, the
VVT device can improve volumetric efficiency by varying the intake valve’s open and
close timing.
Injection Timing
Circumference of the flywheel : 126.5 cm

Radius of the flywheel : 20.13 cm
The experiment is conducted with different fuels at different mixing ratios at the
primary and secondary injectors; the order of fuel injection is as follows.
Mode 1: Diesel conventional

In this mode the experiments are conducted with only primary injection. The diesel is
only used as a fuel for combustion. The pilot injector is closed in this mode; there is no
fuel supply through the pilot injector. This experiment measures the emissions and fuel
consumption with a conventional mode, with preheating of the air before supplying the
air into the combustion chamber.
Mode 2: Bio-diesel conventional

In this mode bio-diesel (Jatroba oil) is used as a fuel instead of diesel.
282
Mode 3: Diesel PCCI-DI combustion

In this mode of experiments both primary injector and pilot injector are used to supply
the fuel into the combustion chamber. Diesel is used as a fuel in both the injectors. The
pilot injector supplies the diesel into the combustion chamber before the actual injection
of the diesel into the combustion chamber through the primary injection port. The
emissions and fuel consumptions are measured in this mode. The PCCI was created by
supplying the fuel through the pilot injector after the piston reached the bottom dead
centre.
The procedure followed in mode three was also followed for the other modes of
experiments given below.
Mode 4: Bio-diesel Bio-diesel PCCI-DI combustion

Mode 5: Diesel Bio-diesel PCCI-DI Combustion
Mode 6 : Bio-diesel Diesel PCCI-DI combustion
Mode 7: Diesel Petrol PCCI-DI combustion
Mode 8: Bio-diesel Petrol PCCI-DI combustion
The suction stroke duration is for 219º

The exhaust stroke duration is for 219º
The inlet valve opens 4.5º before TDC during the exhaust stroke
The inlet valve closes 34.5º after BDC during the compression stroke
The exhaust valve opens 34.5º after BDC during the expansion stroke
The exhaust valve closes 4.5º after TDC during the exhaust stroke
The manifold injection starts 61.239º after TDC during the suction stroke
The manifold injection closes 51.239º before BDC during the suction stroke
The injection duration is for 87.52º during the suction stroke, for about 2/5 of the
suction stroke.
The injection rate is maintained at 7.2 ml/min during the injection duration.
Effect of Load on Exhaust Gas Temperature
The effect of load on the exhaust gas temperature is measured by a thermocouple

attached to the outlet manifold. The variation of temperature with the increase of load
for all the cases is measured. Figure 2 shows the variation of temperature with increase
of load for the conventional mode with diesel, bio diesel, and for HCCI with the Diesel:
Diesel and Biodiesel: Biodiesel mode.
The exhaust gas temperature increases with the increase of load in all the cases.
This could be due to a greater amount of fuel combustion inside the combustion
chamber at higher load, compared to lower load and complete combustion of the fuel.
Within the four modes the exhaust gas temperature from conventional diesel mode is
higher than the other modes, and the Biodiesel: Biodiesel mode is lower than the other
283
modes for all the load conditions (Shi et al., 2006). Compared to conventional modes
with diesel and biodiesel modes, the diesel and biodiesel with HCCI modes produced a
lower temperature. For the maximum load conditions, the exhaust gas temperatures
from the diesel, bio diesel, Diesel: Diesel, Biodiesel: Biodiesel are 315, 306, 278 and
270o C respectively.
350
E xh aust Gas Tem perature (°C)
300
250
200 Diesel
Bio Diesel
150 Diesel:Diesel
Bio Diesel:Biodiesel
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 2. Comparison between conventional and HCCI methods
Figure 3 shows the variations of exhaust gas temperature with the increase of
load for the HCCI mode with different primary and secondary fuel supply. Among
these, the biodiesel and petrol used with primary and secondary fuels produced lower
exhaust gas temperature compared to the other three cases (Diesel: Biodiesel, Biodiesel:
Diesel, Diesel: Petrol). The HCCI with different primary and secondary fuels produced
lower exhaust gas temperature compared to both the conventional mode and the HCCI
mode with the same primary and secondary fuels.
350
E xhau st Gas T em peratu re (° C)
300
250
200 Diesel:Biodiesel
Biodiesel:Diesel
150 Diesel:Petrol
Biodiesel:Petrol
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 3. Comparison between different fuels in HCCI mode
284
Effect of Load on Hydrocarbon in Exhaust Gas
The hydrocarbon emission from all the modes is observed with different load
conditions. Figure 4 represents the variation of HC emission with the increase of load
from 0% to 100%. The study found that the HC emission from conventional diesel
mode is higher than the other modes and also that the HC emission from HCCI mode is
lower than the conventional mode. The HC emission increased with the increase of load
in the conventional mode and decreased with the increase of load in the HCCI mode.
Within the HCCI modes, the HC emission from the BD:BD mode is observed as lower
than the D:D mode for all the load conditions. In the conventional mode, the HC
emission increased from 55 ppm to 108 ppm when the load increased from 0% to 100%.
For the same load interval for BD:BD, the HS emission is observed to decrease from 24
ppm to 11 ppm. Figure 5 shows the variation of HC emission with the increase of load
in HCCI mode with different primary and secondary fuels. For all the cases of HCCI
mode, the HC emission decreased with the increase of load. Among all the HCCI
modes, D:BD produced lower HC emissions and BD:D mode produced higher HC
emissions (Kim & Lee, 2006).
120
Diesel
Bio Diesel
100 Diesel:Diesel
H yd r o C arb o n (PP M )
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 4. Comparison of hydrocarbon emission between conventional and HCCI

methods.
160
Biodiesel:Diesel
Hydro Carbon (P PM)
120
Diesel:Petrol
100
Biodiesel:Petrol
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 5. Comparison of hydrocarbon emission between different fuels in HCCI mode.
285
Effect of Load on NOx Emission in Exhaust Gas
The NOx emission is measured in all the modes of the operations in this study. Figure 6
shows the NOx emission from the conventional mode with diesel and bio diesel, and
from HCCI with the same fuel for both the primary and secondary injections. In
conventional mode, lower NOx emission is observed for the bio diesel-based
experiment for all the load conditions compared to diesel-based operations. The HCCI
mode operations produced lower NOx emissions than the conventional mode of
operations, which could be due to lower and uniform temperature inside the combustion
chamber during the combustion process due to uniform mixing of the fuel with air
inside the combustion chamber. The engine is also operated in HCCI mode with
different fuel as a primary and secondary fuel. The NOx emissions shows that the
Biodiesel:Petrol and Diesel:Petrol combinations generate very low NOx emission
compared to the other cases of the HCCI mode of operations. The NOx emissions are
observed as more or less the same value for these two cases for all the load conditions
(Yap et al., 2005). The NOx emission increased from 15 to 330 ppm and 19 to 342 ppm
for the Diesel:Petrol and Biodiesel:Petrol modes respectively when the load was
increased from 0 to 100% (Figure 7).
600
500
N O x E m iss io n (p p m )
400
300
200 Diesel
Bio Diesel
100 Diesel:Diesel
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 6. Comparison of NOx emission between conventional and HCCI methods

600
500
N O x E m issio n (p p m )
400
300
Biodiesel:Diesel
100 Diesel:Petrol
Biodiesel:Petrol
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%
Figure 7. Comparison of NOx emissions between different fuels in HCCI mode
286
Effect of Load on Specific Fuel Consumption
The specific fuel consumption decreased with the increase of load for all the modes of
operation (both conventional and HCCI mode).The SFC value is found to be lower in
conventional mode than in HCCI mode for all the load conditions. This could be due to
the secondary fuel supply in the case of HCCI mode operation compared to the
conventional mode in which only primary fuel is supplied. Figure 8 shows the specific
fuel consumption with the increase of load for conventional and HCCI modes with the
same type of fuel. The study also found that in higher load conditions the specific fuel
consumption was the same value for all the cases.
0.8
Speci fic Fuel Consum ption (SFC)
0.7 Diesel
0.6 Bio Diesel
0.5 Diesel:Diesel
(kg/kwh)
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 8. Comparison of specific fuel consumption between conventional and HCCI

methods
Effect of Load on Brake Thermal Efficiency
Variation in the brake thermal efficiency with the variation of fuel in the conventional
diesel engine is identified when using diesel and bio-diesel as a fuel in a conventional
mode, and using Diesel: Diesel or Bio-diesel: Bio-diesel as a fuel in the HCCI mode
with the same fuel for primary and secondary injection. The brake thermal efficiency is
measured with an increase from 20% to 100% of the load condition, at intervals of 20%
of load. Figures 9 and 10 indicate the variation in the brake thermal efficiency with the
increase of load (Yap et al., 2005).
287
0.8
Specific Fuel Consumption 0.7 Diesel:Biodiesel

0.6 Biodiesel:Diesel
Diesel:Petrol
0.5
(kg/kwh)
Biodiesel:Petrol
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 9. Comparison of specific fuel consumption between different fuels in HCCI

mode
35
Brake Therm al Efficiency (%)
30
25
20
15 Diesel
Bio Diesel
10
Diesel:Diesel
5 Bio Diesel:Biodiesel
0
20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 10. Comparison of brake thermal efficiency between conventional and HCCI
methods
The study found that for all the modes of operation the brake thermal efficiency
increases with the increase of load. In the case of diesel and bio diesel in the
conventional mode of operation, the brake thermal efficiency increased from 10.9 to
31.26% and 11.75 to 33.39% respectively when the load increased from 20% to 100%.
For the same fuels, the HCCI mode of operation produced higher thermal efficiency
than the conventional mode, which could be due to a lower combustion temperature and
complete conversion of the energy available in the fuel into useful form in the case of
the HCCI mode of operation compared to the conventional mode. The brake thermal
efficiency with different fuels as primary and secondary fuel in the HCCI mode is
represented in Figure 11.
288
40
Brake therm al E fficiency (%)

35
30
25
20 Diesel:Biodiesel
15 Biodiesel:Diesel
10 Diesel:Petrol
5 Biodiesel:Petrol
0
20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 11. Comparison of brake thermal efficiency between different fuels in HCCI
mode
In the case of HCCI with different fuels as primary and secondary fuel supply,
diesel and petrol used as primary and secondary fuel produced higher brake thermal
efficiency than other modes of operation. Diesel as a primary fuel and biodiesel as a
secondary fuel produced lower brake thermal efficiency. The magnitudes of brake
thermal efficiency with all the load conditions for different modes of operation are
presented in Figure 12. The study identified that, for all load conditions, the Diesel:
Diesel and Diesel: Petrol combinations in the HCCI mode of operation produced the
maximum thermal efficiency. Lower thermal efficiency is observed for the Diesel
conventional and Diesel: Biodiesel HCCI modes.
40
Brake Thermal Efficiency (%)
35
Diesel
30 Bio Diesel
25 Diesel:Diesel
20
Diesel:Biodiesel
15 Biodiesel:Diesel
10 Diesel:Petrol
Biodiesel:Petrol
5
0
20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 12. Brake thermal efficiency with different load conditions for all modes of
operation
Effect of Load on Carbon Dioxide
The effect of load on the CO2 emission with the conventional mode and HCCI with the
same type of fuel is shown in Figure 13 and 14. The study found that CO2 emission
289
from diesel in both conventional and HCCI modes is higher than from biodiesel in the
conventional and HCCI modes. This could be due to the variation of the chemical
characteristics of the diesel with bio diesel. The CO 2 increased from 3 to 6.3% and 2.5
to 4.9% for diesel and biodiesel respectively when the load increased from 0% to 100%.
For the same load conditions, the CO 2 emission is observed at 2.7 to 5.7% and 1.8 to
4.8% respectively for diesel and biodiesel in the HCCI mode. The CO 2 emission from
diesel in HCCI mode is higher than from biodiesel in conventional mode (Shi et al.,
2006).
7
6
CO2 emission (%)
3 Diesel
2 Bio Diesel
Diesel:Diesel
1
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 13. Comparison of CO2 between conventional and HCCI methods

6
Diesel:Biodiesel
5 Biodiesel:Diesel
CO2 Emission (%)
Diesel:Petrol
4
Biodiesel:Petrol
3
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 14. Comparison of CO2 emissions between different fuels in HCCI mode
Effect of Load on Carbon Monoxide Emission
The variation of CO emission with the variation of load for all the modes of operation in
this study is represented in Figures 15 and 16. The study found that there is no variation
of CO with the increase of load for all the HCCI modes of operation with different fuel
as a primary and secondary fuel, except in the Diesel: petrol mode. In the case of
conventional mode of operation, the CO emission initially increased with the increase of
load, then further increasing of the load decreased the CO emission. Among all the
HCCI modes, the Biodiesel: Biodiesel mode produced a very low level of CO emission
compared to other cases of the HCCI mode (Shi et al., 2006).
290
0.6
Diesel
0.5 Bio Diesel
CO Emission (%) 0.4
Diesel:Diesel
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%)
Figure 15. Comparison of CO emission between conventional and HCCI

methods
0.35
0.3 0%
CO E m i ss ion ( % )
0.25 20% Load

0.2 40% Load
0.15 60% Load
0.1 80% load
0.05 100% Load
0
ol
l
el
el
ro
e tr
ie s
ie s
et
l :P
l :P
d
l: D
io
se
se
se
B
e
el :
ie
ie
Di
od
es
od
Bi
Di
Bi
Fuel Combinations
Figure 16. Comparison of CO emission between different fuels in HCCI mode
CONCLUSIONS
The exhaust gas temperature from the HCCI mode is lower than the conventional mode
of operation. Within the HCCI mode with different fuel combinations, biodiesel and
petrol used as primary and secondary fuels respectively produced a lower temperature
than the HCCI mode with other combinations of fuels. The study found that the HC
emission decreased with the increase of load for the HCCI mode with all types of fuel.
But in the case of the conventional mode, the HC emission increased with the increase
of load. The lowest HC emission is observed for diesel and biodiesel as primary and
secondary fuel respectively. Lower NOx emissions are observed for all the HCCI modes
of operation compared to the conventional mode. Of all the HCCI modes of operation,
diesel and petrol as primary and secondary fuel produced the lowest NOx emission. The
study concludes that the emission from the HCCI mode is lower than the conventional
mode, but the specific fuel consumption varied with different combinations of fuel in
291
the HCCI mode. Diesel and petrol as primary and secondary fuel produce better results
than the other fuel combinations, in terms of both the environment and fuel
consumption.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is being supported by the Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute and
Velammal Engineering College of Chennai. The Dr. M.G.R. Educational and Research
Institute research project number is ME05 D001.
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Nomenclature
HC 1 Hydrocarbon emission from conventional mode combustion, ppm

HC 2 Hydrocarbon emission from PCCI-DI mode combustion, ppm
NO 1 Oxides of nitrogen emission from conventional mode combustion, ppm
NO 2 Oxides of nitrogen emission from PCCI-DI mode combustion, ppm
CO 1 Carbon monoxide emission from conventional mode combustion, %
CO 2 Carbon monoxide emission from PCCI-DI mode combustion, %
CO2 1 Carbon dioxide emission from conventional mode combustion, %
CO2 2 Carbon dioxide emission from PCCI-DI mode combustion, %
292
COMPARISON OF STATISTICALLY CONTROLLED RAPID CASTING

SOLUTIONS OF ZINC ALLOYS USING THREE DIMENSIONAL PRINTING
R. Singh
1
Faculty of Production Engineering, Guru Nanak Dev Engg. College
Ludhiana-141006, India
Phone: +91 98722 57575, Fax: +91 161 2502700
ABSTRACT
In the present work, the most cost effective/best shell wall thickness of mould cavities
has been compared with other available shell wall thicknesses for statistically controlled
rapid casting solutions of zinc alloy. Starting from the identification of component/
benchmark, technological prototypes were produced at different shell thicknesses with
three dimensional printing. The results of the study suggest that at the best shell wall
thickness (7 mm) for zinc alloys, the rapid casting solution is statistically controlled,
which is not observed for all shell wall thicknesses of mould cavities prepared with
three dimensional printing.
Keywords: Three dimensional printing, statistically controlled rapid casting, zinc alloys,
dimensional accuracy, rapid casting.
INTRODUCTION
Three dimensional printing (3DP) is a relatively new form of Rapid Prototyping (RP).
The 3DP process was patented by Sachs et al. (1994) under US Patent Number
005340656. It was developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and
licensed to Soligen Corporation, Extrude Hone and Z Corporation of Burlington (Singh
and Verma, 2008). Techniques based on layer-by-layer manufacturing are extending
their fields of application, from building of aesthetic and functional prototypes to the
production of tools and moulds for technological prototypes (Karapatis et al., 1998). In
particular, additive construction applied to the production of dies and electrodes,
directly from digital data, is defined as rapid tooling (RT). Patterns, cores and cavities
for metal castings can be obtained through rapid casting (RC) techniques (Singh and
Singh, 2009a). In both cases, since the tooling phase is highly time-consuming, great
competitive advantages can be achieved (Singh, 2008a). Moreover, RT and RC
processes allow the simultaneous development and validation of the product and of the
manufacturing process. Technological prototypes can constitute a strategic means, not
only for functional and assembly tests or to obtain the customer’s acceptance, but
mainly to outline eventual critical points in the production process (Singh and Singh,
2008). The relevance of RC techniques consists, above all, in a short time for parts
availability (Bassoli et al., 2006). Traditionally, in order to produce cast prototypes a
model and eventual cores have to be created, involving time and costs that hardly match
the rules of the competitive market. For this reason, functional tests are typically
performed on prototypes obtained by metal cutting, which are not effective in outlining
issues related to the manufacturing process. The possibility to verify the usefulness of a
293
Singh / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 293-305
technological solution, in the early stages of the product development, ensures a

‘concurrent engineering’ approach and minimizes the risk of late modifications of the
definitive production tools (Bernard et al., 2003). The initial cost increase can thus be
repaid through a reduction of costs and time for the following phases of development,
engineering and production, as well as through non-monetary advantages (Wang et al.,
1999). In particular, for relatively small and complex parts, the benefits of additive
construction can be significant (Dimitrov et al., 2006). In this field, innovative solutions
are now available based on the 3DP process, which can extend RC possibilities thanks
to the lower costs with respect to previous technologies such as laminated object
manufacturing of sand casting. One such technological solution in shell casting is
starting from starch patterns produced on 3DP conceptual modelers (Radstok, 1999). A
second solution is 3DP technology with the use of a ceramic material that allows the
production of complex cavities and cores, suitable for casting light alloys (Dimitrov et
al., 2007). A key issue regarding the shell casting process is the production of the
pattern in the case of a prototype casting, for which traditional die casting is
uneconomical. Rapid prototyping techniques can meet this requirement, producing
single/few parts in short times and without tooling costs (Verma, 2008; Singh and
Singh, 2009b). The present research regards shell patterns obtained by 3DP on which
the ceramic shell can be built and then joined (as in the conventional process) to obtain
the cavity for pouring metal. Experimental studies regarding this solution are lacking in
literature, and in particular the technological feasibility in the case of thin-walled parts
needs to be assessed (Singh, 2010).
In the current work, the 3DP technology has been used as rapid shell casting to
make the shell moulds for zinc alloy. An effort has been made through experiments to
study the feasibility of decreasing the shell wall thickness from the recommended one
(12mm), in order to reduce the cost and time of production as well as to evaluate the
dimensional accuracy and mechanical properties of the zinc alloy castings obtained, for
assembly purposes. The following objectives have been set for the present experimental
study:
a) To study the feasibility of decreasing the shell thickness from the recommended
12 mm for statistically controlled rapid casting solution of zinc alloy in order to
reduce the production cost and time.
b) Comparison of cost effective/best shell wall thickness of the mould cavity with other
available shell wall thicknesses for statistically controlled rapid casting solutions of
zinc alloy.
c) To evaluate the dimensional accuracy of the castings obtained and to check the
consistency of the tolerance grades of the castings (IT grades) as per the IS
standards for the casting process.
EXPERIMENTATION
In order to accomplish the above objectives, ‘zinc alloy casting’ has been chosen as the
benchmark. The component selected for the present study is shown in Figure 1 (Singh
and Singh, 2008).
294
Comparison of statistically controlled rapid casting solutions of zinc alloys using three dimensional printing
Figure 1. Benchmark dimensions (Singh and Singh, 2008)
The experimental procedure started with drafting/ model creation using AutoCAD
software (Figure 2).
Figure 2. CAD model of the casing chosen as a benchmark (Singh and Singh, 2008)
For the rapid casting process based on 3DP, the following phases have been
planned:
1. After the selection of the benchmark, the component to be built was modelled
using a CAD. The CAD software used for the modelling was UNIGRAPHICS
Ver. NX 5.
2. The upper and lower shells of the split pattern were made for different values of
the thickness. The thicknesses of the shells were 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
and 1 mm.
295
3. The CAD models of the upper and lower shells were converted into STL
(standard triangulation language) format, also known as stereo lithography
format (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Triangular facets of the shells
4. Moulds were manufactured in 3DP (Z Print machine, Model Z 510) with Z Cast
501 powder, and parts were heat-treated at a temperature of 110º C for 1 hour.
The upper and lower shells were placed in such a way that the central axes of the
two shells were co-linear. The co-linearity of the shells was checked with the
help of a surface profilometer, and zinc alloy was poured for obtaining the
technological prototype (Figures 4 and 5).
Figure 4. Technological prototype prepared by 3DP
296
Figure 5. Zinc alloy casting solutions at different shell thickness
The measurement paths for the internal and the external surfaces of the
benchmark were generated through the measurement software of the GEOPAK
v2.4.R10 CMM. These paths direct the movements of the CMM probe along trajectories
normal to the part’s surface. About 70 points were measured on the external surface. For
each point the machine software evaluates the deviations between the measured
positions and the theoretical ones for the X, Y, Z coordinates. Table 1 lists variations in
the measured dimension of the outer diameter and the hardness of the castings prepared
with respect to shell thickness (mm).
Table 1. Observations of final experimentation for zinc alloy casting
Sl. NO Shell mould Avg. diameter Hardness

thickness (mm) (mm) (VHN)
1 12 49.386 47
2 10 48.954 54
3 9 48.665 45
4 8 49.265 48
5 7 49.414 47
6 6 49.529 50
7 5 48.812 50
8 4 48.453 56
9 3 48.816 50
10 2 48.890 47
11 1 Broken under metal pressure
It should be noted that in casting neither higher nor lower hardness is desirable
(Kaplas and Singh, 2008). This is because if casting is too hard, it is usually brittle and
if not hard enough it will be of a ductile nature. In the present experimental study the
variation in hardness is not great. The only reason to measure and compare the hardness
297
value is to show that for the optimum size shell thickness prepared by 3DP, the castings
produced have little variation in hardness. So there will not be any problem in its
functional operations. The results of the dimensional measurements were used to
evaluate the tolerance unit (n) that derives from the standard tolerance factor i, as
defined in standard UNI EN 20286-1 (1995). The values of standard tolerances
corresponding to IT5-IT18 grades, for nominal sizes up to 500 mm, were evaluated
considering the standard tolerance factor i (µm) indicated by the following formula,
where D is the geometric mean of the range of nominal sizes in mm (Kaplas and Singh,
2008).
1
i  0.45 D 3  0.001D (1)
In fact, the standard tolerances are not evaluated separately for each nominal
size, but for a range of nominal sizes. For a generic nominal dimension DJN, the value of
the tolerance unit’s n is evaluated as follows:
n  1000DJN  DJM  / i (2)
where DJM is measured dimension.
The tolerance is expressed as a multiple of i: for example, IT14 corresponds to

400i with n= 400. Table 2 shows classification of different IT grades according to UNI
EN 20286-1. After this, for each value of the outer diameter, the corresponding value of
‘n’ was calculated, the latter taken as a reference index for evaluation of the tolerance
grade.
Table 2. Class of different IT grades according to UNI EN 20286-1(1995)
Shell Outer Diameter Standard

Exp. (mm) Tolerance IT
thickness Tolerance
No. unit (n) Grades
(mm) DJN DJM Factor (i)
1 12 50 49.386 1.58 389 IT13
2 10 50 48.954 1.58 662 IT15
3 9 50 48.665 1.58 845 IT15
4 8 50 49.265 1.58 465 IT14
5 7 50 49.414 1.58 371 IT13
6 6 50 49.529 1.58 298 IT13
7 5 50 48.812 1.58 752 IT15
8 4 50 48.453 1.58 979 IT15
9 3 50 48.816 1.58 749 IT15
10 2 50 48.89 1.58 703 IT15
Further (based upon observations of Table 1), to understand whether the process
is statistically controlled, six samples of zinc alloy pieces were cast for the best shell
thickness value of 7 mm. On measurement of the outer diameter with CMM, the
dimensions obtained are shown in Table 3. Based upon observations in Table 3, a run-
chart of the measured values of the outer diameter was developed (Figure 6).
298
Table 3. Benchmark dimensional value at 7 mm shell wall thickness
Sl NO Observation Mean Above or Below Mean Up or Down

1 49.403 49.41567 B
2 49.401 49.41567 B D
3 49.411 49.41567 B U
4 49.415 49.41567 B U
5 49.429 49.41567 A U
6 49.435 49.41567 A U
MEAN 49.41567 EAB=1 EUD=1
A=above the mean, B=below the mean, U=up from previous reading, D=down from previous reading
RUN CHART
49.44
OUTER DIA. IN MM
49.43
49.42
O.D IN MM
49.41
MEAN IN MM
49.4
49.39
49.38
1 2 3 4 5 6
NO. OF OBSERVATIONS
Figure 6. Run-chart of measured values of benchmark diameter (for 7mm shell wall
thickness)
Now if the mean and standard of a population that has a normal distribution are
μ and σ respectively, then for variable data X the standard normal deviate Z is defined as
Z
X i    (3)

where Xi is the variable data obtained, μ is the mean of data and σ is the standard
deviation (Devor et al., 2005).
Calculation for Z (standard normal deviate) above and below (for 7mm shell wall
thickness):
N 
E run AB    1 (4)
2 
where N is the number of observations and E (run)AB is the expected number of runs
above and below.
6 
E run AB    1  4 (5)
2 
299
 1
 AB   N   (6)
 4
where σAB is the standard deviation of above and below.
 1
 AB   6    1.118 (7)
 4
Z AB  RUN AB  E run AB  /  AB (8)
where RUNAB is the actual number of runs obtained above and below.
Z AB  1  4 / 1.118  2.6834 (9)
P=NORMSINV(Z) when the value of Z is negative (using Microsoft Excel software)
P  0.003645 (10)
For up and down calculations,
 1
E run UD   2N   (11)
 3
where N is the number of observations and E (run)UD is the expected number of runs up
and down.
 1
E run UD   2  6    3.667 (12)
 3
 29 
 UD  16N   (13)
 90 
where σUD is the standard deviation for up and down.
 29 
 UD  16  6   (14)
 90 
 UD  0.8628 (15)
ZUD  RUNUD  E run UD  /  UD (16)
ZUD  1  3.667  / 0.8628 (17)
ZUD  3.091 (18)
P=NORMSINV(Z) when the value of Z is negative (using Microsoft Formula)
P  0.000997 (19)
300
Normally decision making is done with a certain margin of error ‘α’ and taken as
equal to 0.005, indicating that there is a 5% chance of arriving at the wrong conclusion.
Decision Making
If PAB < α OR /& PUD < α then a non-random pattern exists.

In the present case PAB & PUD are < α , indicating the existence of a non-random pattern.
Now the exercise of predicting various statistical or drawing conclusions should

not be undertaken unless the normality of the distribution has been verified. Even if one
has a large quantity of data, superimposing a normal curve on the histogram is a more
difficult task than might be imagined. For a histogram, one requires a minimum of 50
observations, but more is better, and assessing whether the underlying distribution is
normal or not becomes more difficult when the number of observations is fewer. For the
cumulative probability plot (Pi)
Pi 
S .N  0.5 (20)
N
where S.N is the serial number of the data observation arranged in ascending order, and
N is the total number of observations in the data set. If the standard normal deviate
follows normal distribution that has mean μ =0 and standard deviation σ =1, then
z2
f Z   1 / 2e 2
(21)
The equation above follows a normal probability curve and any data close to it
also follow a normal probability curve. The values of standard normal deviate were
calculated using cumulative probability, and dimensional values were arranged in
ascending order, as shown in Table 4. Based on Table 4, a normal probability curve was
drawn to predict the probability, as shown in Figure 7.
Table 4. Standard normal deviate and outer diameter in ascending order
S.NO Pi (Cumulative Probability) Std. Nor. Deviate Z Dimensional value in mm

1 0.08333 -1.38299 49.401
2 0.25 -0.67449 49.403
3 0.416667 -0.21043 49.411
4 0.58333 0.21043 49.415
5 0.75 0.67449 49.429
6 0.91667 1.382994 49.435
301
O U T E R D IA M E T E R IN M M
N O R M A L P R O B A B IL IT Y C U R V E
y = 0 .0 1 3 3 x + 4 9 .4 1 6
4 9 .4 4 R 2 = 0 .8 9 4
4 9 .4 3
O UTER DIA . IN
4 9 .4 2 MM
4 9 .4 1 Y = Mx + c
4 9 .4
4 9 .3 9
-2 -1 0 1 2
S T D. NO RM A L DEV IA T E
Figure 7. Normal probability curve (for selected benchmark at 7mm shell thickness)
As observed in Figure 7, the aforesaid data follow a non-random pattern and are
under a normal probability curve. So, there are very strong chances that the process is
under statistical control. However, an X-bar chart and R-bar chart cannot be drawn due
to the low quantity of observational data. Now, again based upon observations of Table
1, to understand whether the process is statistically controlled, ten samples of zinc alloy
pieces were cast for all shell thickness values from 2 mm to 12 mm. Based upon the
observations in Table 5, a run-chart of the measured values of the outer diameter was
developed (Figure 8).
Table 5. Benchmark dimensional value at different shell wall thicknesses

from 2 mm to 12 mm
S.NO Shell wall Observation Mean Above or Up or

thickness (mm) Below Mean Down
1 2 48.89 49.0184 B
2 3 48.816 49.0184 B D
3 4 48.453 49.0184 B D
4 5 48.812 49.0184 B U
5 6 49.529 49.0184 B U
6 7 49.414 49.0184 A D
7 8 49.265 49.0184 A U
8 9 48.665 49.0184 B D
9 10 48.954 49.0184 B U
10 12 49.386 49.0184 A U
MEAN 49.0184 RUNAB=3 RUNUD=5
A=above the mean, B=below the mean, U=up from previous reading, D=down from previous reading
Figure 8. Run-chart of measured values of benchmark

(for shell thicknesses 2 mm to 12 mm)
302
Calculation for Z (standard normal deviate) above and below (for shell thickness
from 2 mm to 12 mm):
N 
E run AB    1 (22)
2 
where N is the number of observations and E (run)AB is the expected number of runs
above and below.
 10 
E run AB    1  6 (23)
 2 
 N 1
 AB    (24)
 4 
where σAB is the standard deviation of above and below.
 10  1 
 AB     1.5 (25)
 4 
Z AB  RUN AB  E run AB  /  AB (26)
where RUNAB is the actual number of runs obtained above and below.
Z AB  3  6 / 1.5  2 (27)
P=NORMSINV(Z), when the value of Z is negative using Microsoft Excel software
PAB  0.2275 (28)

 2N  1 
E run UD    (29)
 3 
where N is the number of observations and E(run)UD is the expected number of runs up
and down.
 2  10  1 
E run UD     6.33 (30)
 3 
 29 
 UD  16N   (31)
 90 
where σUD is the standard deviation for up and down.
 29 
 UD  16  10   (32)
 90 
303
 UD  1.20646 (33)
ZUD  RUNUD  E run UD  /  UD (34)
ZUD  5  6.33 / 1.20646 (35)
ZUD  1.102398 (36)
P=NORMSINV(Z), when the value of Z is negative in Microsoft Excel software
PUD  0.1351411 (37)
Normally decision making is done with a certain margin of error ‘α’ and taken as
equal to 0.005, indicating that there is a 5% chance of arriving at the wrong conclusion.
Now, for decision making,
if PAB < α OR /and PUD < α , then a non-random pattern exists.
In the present case PAB and PUD are > α , indicating the existence of a random
pattern. So, there are very strong chances that the process is not under statistical control
for all shell thicknesses from 2 mm to 12 mm.
CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of experimental observations made on the zinc alloy castings obtained from
different shell wall thicknesses, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. It is feasible to reduce the shell thickness from the recommended value of 12
mm to 2 mm. The tolerance grades of the castings produced from different
thicknesses were consistent with the permissible range of tolerance grades (IT
grades) as per standard UNI EN 20286-I (1995). The results are consistent with
the observations made elsewhere.
2. Instead of a 12 mm shell thickness of mould in the Z Cast process of casting for
zinc alloys, one can select a 7 mm shell thickness, as observed from the better
dimensional results and mechanical properties.
3. Strong possibilities are observed for the process under statistical control for the
best set shell thickness (7 mm) in the case of zinc alloy, which is not observed
for all shell wall thicknesses of mould cavities prepared with 3DP.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are thankful to AICTE, New Delhi for financial support under CAYT.
REFERENCES
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applied to rapid casting. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 13(3): 148-155.
Bernard, A., Delplace, C.J., Perry, N. and Gabriel, S. 2003. Integration of CAD and
rapid manufacturing for sand casting optimization. Rapid Prototyping Journal,
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contemporary concepts and methods. (Second edition). New Jersey: Pearson
Prentice Hall.
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evaluation and selection of rapid tooling process chains for sand casting of
functional prototypes. Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 221(B9): 1441-
1450.
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in zinc shell casting using three dimensional printing. Proc. of IMechE Part C,
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printing techniques. United States Patent No. US 005340656.
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rapid casting using three dimensional printing. International Conference on
Advances in Mechanical Engineering (AME 2008), Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India,
pp. 878-883.
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alloys using three dimensional printing. Journal of Mechanical Engineering
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solution of lead alloys using three dimensional printing. Journal of Mechanical
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and fits.
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305
THE TAGUCHI APPROACH IN OPTIMIZING ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

AFFECTING PRODUCTIVITY IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
M.H.M. Haniff 1, A.R. Ismail2, B.M. Deros1, M.N.A. Rahman1 and K. Kardigama2
1
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2
26600 UMP, Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia
E-mail: arasdan@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to determine the dominance effects of environmental

factors such as illuminance, humidity and WBGT on operators’ productivity in the
Malaysian automotive industry. A case study was carried out at an automotive
components assembly factory. The environmental factors examined were the
illuminance (lux), humidity and WBGT of the surrounding workstation area. Two sets
of representative data including the illuminance, humidity and WBGT level and
production rate were collected during the study. The production rate data were collected
through observations and survey questionnaires while the illuminance level was
measured using photometer model RS 180-7133, and the humidity and WBGT level
were measured by using Quest Temp apparatus and humidity. The Taguchi method was
utilized to find the sequence of dominant factors that contributed to the productivity of
the operator at that specified production workstation. The study reveals that the
dominant factor that contributed to the productivity was humidity, followed by
illuminance and WBGT.
Keywords: Productivity, illuminance, humidity, WBGT.
INTRODUCTION
The automotive industry plays an important economic role, and in Malaysia it is a

booming industry which encompasses number of related areas of activity (Yazdani et
al., 2009). Over the years, car production has also been increasing: in 1999 almost
254,000 cars were produced but this had doubled (442,000 cars) by 2007 and was
employing 47,000 workers in Malaysia (IOMVM, 2007). Robust design is an
engineering methodology for obtaining product and process conditions which are
minimally sensitive to the various causes of variation, to produce high-quality products
with low development and manufacturing costs (Park, 1996). Taguchi’s parameter
design is an important tool for robust design. It offers a simple and systematic approach
to optimize design for performance, quality and cost. Two major tools used in robust
design (Park, 1996; Unal & Dean, 1991; Phadke, 1989) are:
 Signal to noise ratio, which measures quality with emphasis on variation, and
 Orthogonal arrays, which accommodate many design factors simultaneously.
Taguchi’s approach is totally based on statistical design of experiments (Park,
1996), and this can economically satisfy the needs of problem solving and product or
306
Haniff et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 306-317
process design optimization. By applying this technique one can significantly reduce the
time required for experimental investigation, as it is effective in investigating the effects
of multiple factors on performance as well as studying the influence of individual
factors to determine which factor has more influence, and which less (Park, 1996).
Some of the previous works that used the Taguchi method as a tool for the design of
experiments in various areas including metal cutting are listed in the references (Yang
& Tarng, 1998; Lin, 2002; Tsui, 1999; Zhang & Wang, 1998; Si & Tong, 1997; Kopac
et al., 2002).
The most important stage in the design of an experiment lies in the selection of
control factors. As many factors as possible should be included, so that it is possible to
identify non-significant variables at the earliest opportunity. Taguchi creates a standard
orthogonal array to accommodate this requirement. Depending on the number of
factors, interactions and levels needed, the choice is left to the user to select either the
standard or column-merging method or idle-column method, etc. Two of the
applications in which the concept of S/N ratio is useful are the improvement of quality
through variability reduction and the improvement of measurement. The S/N ratio
characteristics can be divided into three categories when the characteristic is continuous
(Park, 1996):
Nominal is the best characteristic:
s y 
10 log  2  (1)
N LB s 
y 
The smaller the better characteristics:
s 1 n 
10 log  yi2  (2)
N LB n i1 
The larger the better characteristics:
s 1 n 1 
N LB n 
10 log 
y

2 
(3)
 i 1 i 
where y is the average of observed data, sy2 is variance of y, n is number of

observations, and y is the observed data. For each type of characteristic, with the above
S/N ratio transformation, the higher the S/N ratio, the better the result is.
A study of office workers at a call centre by Boyce (2004) indicated that
illuminance has a statistically significant effect on average handling time, that is, greater
than 1%. The biggest effect of these variables predicted by the regression is between
17% and 19% reduction in average handling time. Staffan and Knez (2001) investigated
how noise, air temperature, and illuminance combine or interact in their effects on
cognitive performance. The results of their study showed that the subjects worked
faster in noise but at the cost of lesser accuracy. Interactions were found between noise
and heat on the long-term recall of a text, and between noise and light on the free recall
of emotionally toned words. In the metal industry, Van Bommel et al. (2002) conducted
a study on the effect of increasing the illuminance based on increased task performance,
307
The Taguchi approach in optimizing environmental factors affecting productivity in the automotive industry
reduction of rejects and the decreased number of accidents. The result of the study
revealed that increasing the illuminance from the minimum 300 lux required to 500 lux
could lead to an increase in productivity of between 3% and 11%, based on which
realistic assumptions were made that an increase of illuminance from 300 lux to 2000
lux would increase productivity by between 15% and 20% (Bommel et al., 2002). Juslen
and Tenner (2005) described the mechanisms involved in enhancing human
performance by changing the lighting in the industrial workplace through visual
performance, visual comfort, visual ambience, interpersonal relationships, biological
clock, stimulation, job satisfaction, problem solving, the halo effect, and the change
process.
Improving workers’ productivity, occupational health and safety are major
concerns of industry, especially in developing countries. However, these industries
feature improper workplace design, ill-structured jobs, a mismatch between workers’
abilities and job demands, adverse environment, poor human-machine system design
and inappropriate management programs (Shikdar & Sawaqed, 2003). Light, noise, air
quality and the thermal environment were considered factors that would influence the
acceptability and performance of the occupants of premises (Olesen, 1995). Dua (1994)
stated that lower emotional health is manifested as psychological distress, depression
and anxiety, whereas lower physical health is manifested as heart disease, insomnia,
headaches, and infections. These health problems could lead to organizational
symptoms such as job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and poor work quality. Irritated, sore
eyes and throat, hoarseness, stuffy congested nose, excessive mental fatigue, headaches
and unusual tiredness were all signs of negative workplace environmental conditions
(Tarcan et al., 2004).
According to Fisk and Rosenfeld (1997), productivity is one of the most
important factors affecting the overall performance of any organization, from small
enterprises to entire nations. Increased attention has focused on the work environment
and productivity since the 1990s. Laboratory and field studies showed that the physical
and chemical factors in the work environment could have a notable impact on the health
and performance of the occupants, and consequently on productivity. Workplace
environmental conditions, such as humidity, indoor air quality, and acoustics have
significant relationships with workers’ satisfaction and performance (Tarcan et al.,
2004; Marshall et al., 2002; Fisk, 2000). Indoor air quality could have a direct impact on
health problems and leads to uncomfortable workplace environments (Juslen & Tenner,
2005; Fisk & Rosenfeld, 1997; Marshall et al., 2002).
Previous research by Ettner and Grzywacz (2001) showed that work
environments were associated with the perceived effects of work on health. This
research used a national sample of 2,048 workers who were asked to rate the impact of
their respective jobs on their physical and mental health. Regression analyses proved
that the workers’ responses were significantly correlated with health outcomes. In
addition to this, Shikdar and Sawaqed (2003) pointed out that there was high
correlation between performance indicators and health, facilities, and environmental
attributes. In other words, companies with greater health, facilities, and environmental
problems could face more performance-related problems such as low productivity, and
high absenteeism. Employees with complaints of discomfort and dissatisfaction at work
could have their productivity affected, as a result of their inability to perform their work
properly (Leaman, 1995).
308
METHODOLOGY
Selection of Location and Subjects
The study is conducted on a selected work station in the automotive industry and refers
mainly towards the assembly section or the manual production line, where human
energy is involved in the manufacturing activity. Figure 1 shows the production line
layout.
Figure 1. Door check production line
The work requires the repeated production of the same component throughout
the entire shift; this is to ensure the consistency of the data collected towards the data
analysis later. Priority in the study is given to the work station where the environmental
factors have the greatest effect on the productivity. One automotive vendor was selected
as a place of study. A line producing a product over a period of time and under the
effects of a certain relative humidity, illuminance and wet bulb globe temperature
(WBGT) was chosen. Figure 2 shows the flow chart of work sequences on the
production line. This criterion is essential in order to identify which factors contribute
the most to worker productivity, which is based on the output of assemblies among
operators. The production line consisted of 10 female operators. The task is to assemble
an automotive part which is known as the door check. The standard production rate, as
determined by the previous feasibility study, to assemble a complete door check was
240 units for every hour of production.
Experimental Method
The Taguchi design of experiment was employed in this experiment with two factors at
two levels each. The fractional factorial design used was a standard L8 orthogonal array
(Park, 1996). This orthogonal array was chosen because of its minimum number of
experimental trials. Each row of the matrix represented one trial. However, the sequence
in which these trials were carried out was random. The factors and levels identified in
this study are shown in Table 1.
309
Figure 2. The works sequence to assemble a complete door check
Table 1. Factors and levels used in the experiment
Symbol Factors Unit Level 1 Level 2

A Illuminance lux <500 >500
B Relative Humidity (%) <60 >60
C WBGT °C <23 >23
Orthogonal Array Experiments
To select an appropriate orthogonal array for experiments, the total degree of freedom
needs to be determined. The degree of freedom is defined as the number of comparisons
between factors that are needed to determine which level is better and specifically how
much better. In the present study, since each factor has two levels, there are therefore
three degrees of freedom. In this study an L8 orthogonal array is used, as shown in
Table 2.
Table 2. Experimental layout using an L8 orthogonal array
Factor levels
A B C
Experiment number Illuminance Relative Humidity WBGT
1 1 1 1
2 1 1 2
3 1 2 1
4 1 2 2
5 2 1 1
6 2 1 2
7 2 2 1
8 2 2 2
310
The results of this study are based on the case study conducted on the production line in
the automotive vendor factory. The hypothesis for this study was that the production
rate has a direct relationship with illuminance, humidity and WBGT level. The levels of
illuminance, humidity and WBGT were measured to identify their effect on the
workers’ performance. Table 3 shows the data on the production rate, illuminance,
WBGT and humidity level collected during the experimental period at 30 minute
intervals.
Table 3. Data on the illuminance level, humidity and WBGT, productivity and period
Time Production Production Illuminance Relative WBGT

Target (units) Rate (units) (lux) Humidity (°C)
(%)
09.05 – 120 119 497.65 60.76 22.98
09.35
09.35 – 120 123 505.20 59.85 23.19
10.05
10.05 – 120 121 504.65 59.21 23.13
10.35
10.35 – 120 115 503.95 59.55 23.25
11.05
11.05 – 120 121 503.83 59.29 23.15
11.35
12.05 – 120 124 501.16 59.61 22.86
12.35
12.35 – 120 108 492.45 55.98 23.25
01.05
02.10 – 120 112 489.89 55.84 23.82
02.40
02.40 – 120 106 479.50 55.45 24.06
03.10
The objective of the experiment is to optimize the environmental parameters

(WBGT, illuminance and humidity) in order to obtain a better production rate (high
value) and therefore the optimum characteristics of the environment should be
quantified.
Linear Relation Analysis
Based on the graph in Figure 3, the production rate was improved with the increase of
the illuminance (lux). The results obtained for the illuminance are in line with the
findings of Van Bommel et al. (2002) and Juslen and Tenner (2005) that increasing the
illuminance levels leads to an increase in productivity. A different trend is observed for
the relative humidity (%) and the productivity, as shown in Figure 4.
311
Figure 3. Production rate versus illuminance level
Figure 4. Production rate versus relative humidity
The finding on the effect of relative humidity on productivity is in line with the
findings of Tsutsumi et al. (2007), who found that the subjective performance was at the
same level at four different levels of relative humidity. However, Tsutsumi et al. (2007)
reported that their subjects were more tired at 70% RH after a relative humidity (%) step
change.
The trend obtained for the relation of illuminance and relative humidity and
productivity is different from the relation of Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and
productivity. Fig. 5 shows that increasing the WBGT will reduce the performance and
productivity of the operators. Our findings for WBGT were similar to those of Fisk and
Rosenfeld (1997) that increasing the air ventilation will significantly increase the
performance of the operators. The productivity increase caused by the WBGT could be
related to the attention and cognitive aspect of the operators, which has been studied by
Staffan and Knez (2001). They found that the combination of air temperature and
illuminance level had a significant effect on cognitive performance.
312
Figure 5. Production rate versus WBGT
Taguchi Approach
Taguchi recommends analysing the means and S/N ratio using a conceptual approach
that involves graphing the effects and visually identifying the factors that appear to be
significant, without using ANOVA, thus making the analysis simple (Park, 1996). The
S/N ratio graph for the production rate, indicating the bigger the ratio the better, is
shown in Figure 6. It shows that relative humidity is the most significant factor in
controlling the production rate, followed by illuminance and WBGT. Figure 6 also
shows that the optimum conditions for the production rate are at level 1 (less than 60%)
of humidity, level 1 (less than 500 Lux) of illuminance and level 2 of WBGT (more
than 23C). The L8 orthogonal array for the environment parameters and production
rate is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Experimental result for productivity and S/N ratio
Experiment A B C Production S/N

number Illuminance Relative WBGT Rate Ratio
Humidity
(lux) (%) (°C) (units) dB
1 <500 <60 <23 119 41.51
2 <500 <60 >23 123 41.80
3 <500 >60 <23 121 41.66
4 <500 >60 >23 115 41.21
5 >500 <60 <23 121 41.66
6 >500 <60 >23 124 41.87
7 >500 >60 <23 108 40.67
8 >500 >60 >23 112 40.98
Table 5 shows the mean S/N ratio for each factor at two levels. From this table,
the highest value for each mean S/N ratio for each factor can be identified clearly. For
illuminance, the level 1 of <500 lux gives the highest value; for relative humidity, the
313
level 1 of <60% gives the highest value and for WBGT, the level 2 of >23° C gives the
highest value. Figure 6 shows the S/N graph for the experimental results.
Table 5. Response table for signal to noise ratios (larger is better)
Symbol Factors Mean S/N ratio (dB)

Level 1 Level 2 Rank
A Illuminance 41.54 41.29 2
B Relative Humidity 41.71 41.13 1
C WBGT 0.58 41.47 3
Figure 6. S/N graph for production rate
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
The purpose of ANOVA is to investigate which of the factors significantly affect

the workers’ productivity. Table 6 shows the results of analysis of variance.
Statistically, the F-test can be used to determine which factors have a significant effect
on the workers’ productivity. The sequential sums of squares (Seq SS) measure the
reduction in the residual sums of squares provided by each additional term in the model.
The adjusted sums of squares (Adj SS) measure the reduction in the residual sums of
squares provided by each term relative to a model containing all the other terms. The F
value for each factor is then a ratio of the MS to the mean square of error. The larger the
F value, the greater the effect on the performance characteristics (productivity of
workers) due to the change of operating factors. Usually, when F>4 it means that the
change of operating factors has a significant effect on the quality characteristics.
From the results of the ANOVA presented in Table 6, it can be seen that only
relative humidity is statistically significant. However, each factor contributes to the
quality characteristics and the rank order is relative humidity (rank 1), illuminance (rank
2) and WBGT (rank 3) respectively. Therefore, based on the S/N ratio and ANOVA
analysis, the optimal parameters for achieving optimum productivity in terms of
environmental factors are relative humidity at level 1 (<60%), illuminance at level 1
(<500 lux) and WBGT at level 2 (>23° C).
314
Table 6. Analysis of variance for S/N ratios
Symbol Factors DF Seq SS Adj SS Adj MS F P
A Illuminance 1 0.125 0.125 0.125 1.11 0.351

B Relative Humidity 1 0.667 0.667 0.667 5.93 0.042
C WBGT 1 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.16 0.714
Error 4 0.450 0.450 0.113
Total 7 1.260
From the literature, only a few studies have been conducted in the area to
establish a dominant environmental parameter that contributes to worker productivity.
The authors believe this study has achieved the objective of establishing the dominant
environmental parameters that contribute to productivity. The findings of the current
investigation correspond with the result of the study by Tsutsumi et al. (2007), who
found that the subjective performance was at the same level under four different levels
of relative humidity. However, Tsutsumi et al. (2007) reported that their subjects were
more tired at 70% RH after a relative humidity (%) step change. This was also
supported by Ismail et al. (2008), who found that relative humidity has a linear
relationship with productivity. The two dominant factors identified in this study will
provide a guideline to assist engineers to determine the relative humidity and
illuminance level during feasibility studies to allow assembly production lines to
achieve the optimum output.
The findings will also be useful to engineers in the design of humidity systems
to improve the comfort of the work station area and control the productivity of workers.
The dominant environmental parameter identified in this study is only applicable to the
current condition of the selected assembly work station area in the Malaysian
automotive industries. From the results of the study it can also be concluded that there is
a relationship between illuminance, humidity and WBGT level with production rate.
Therefore the findings from this study are in line with the previous studies that indicated
that WBGT and illuminance play an important role in controlling the production rate
because both factors contribute to the comfort level of the worker (Shikdar & Sawaqed,
2003; Olesen, 1995; Dua, 1994).
CONCLUSIONS
Past research on modelling the relationship of workplace environmental factors with

productivity or performance is very limited. In addition, it is characterised by a short
time perspective, and not enough engineering data regarding the lead time, expected
output capacity or perception, with an emphasis on survey methods, statistical analysis,
satisfaction and preference measurement. This study was done to prove empirically the
previous perception studies, based on the role of environmental factors in productivity.
It is hoped that this study will be beneficial to the electronic manufacturing industries in
Malaysia. The research findings are restricted to the Malaysian workplace environment,
where awareness among workers on improving productivity is still low. The results
might vary for tests carried out for different sample sizes, types of industries and
countries. The study could be more extensive if the fraction of defects rate for the
product is included in the analysis. Nevertheless, the authors believe that the modelling
315
of the production rate as time series data is more than adequate to understand the effect
of environmental factors on productivity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank the National University of Malaysia and Ministry of
Higher Education, Malaysia, for their support in providing a research grant for the
project Modelling the Relationship of Thermal Comfort and Productivity in Malaysia’s
Energy Intensive Industries (UKM-GUP-TK-08-16-059).
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Nomenclatures
average of observed data

L8 orthogonal array with eight numbers of experiments
n number of observation
R2 the coefficient of determination
S/N signal to noise ratio
sy 2 variance of y
317
MATHEMATICAL APPROACH FOR DRILLING
Hussien Mahmoud Al-Wedyan1 and Saad A Mutasher2

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Al Huson University College
Al-Balqa’ Applied University
PO Box 50, Al Huson 21510, Jordan
2
School of Engineering, Computing and Sciences
Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak Campus)
Jalan Simpang Tiga, 93350, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Email: smutasher@swinburne.edu.my
ABSTRACT
The present paper is on the study of whirling dynamics of the tool workpiece system in
a deep hole machining process. An innovative analytical model is proposed in order to
carry out simulation studies on the whirling vibrations of the tool workpiece system in a
deep hole boring process. At the interaction point of the boring bar-workpiece system
there will be an additional displacement in addition to the torque transmitted. This
displacement is of a dynamic origin and could be simulated as a wedge introduced
between the cutting head-workpiece assemblies. An assumed mode method with the
Lagrangian equations was used to derive the mathematical model of the system.
Keywords: Whirling vibration, mode shape, drilling process, mathematical model.
INTRODUCTION
The deep hole boring process is used to bore holes with usually high length to diameter
ratios seeking better surface finish, good roundness and straightness. The process
usually depends upon the following hole requirements: diameter of the bored hole, the
depth of the bored hole, the characteristics of the hole surface, the dimensions,
correctness, parallelism and straightness. Due to the fact that the boring bar-cutting head
combination is slender, which is essential to produce holes with different diameter to
length ratios, this kind of drilling is subject to disturbances such as chattering vibrations.
Despite the abundance of studies done in this field, chatter vibrations are still not fully
understood. Whirling motion is vibration in three dimensions, which affects the
accuracy of the bored piece. It is well known now that the deep hole boring process is
used extensively to drill expensive workpieces and hence process precision is of prime
importance. To achieve the best process plan with the aim of minimizing the risk of the
workpiece damage, a comprehensive investigation of the dynamics involved in the
process, both analytically and experimentally, is highly important.
Over the last twenty years, there have been increased research efforts to
investigate the chatter vibration. The regenerative vibration effect was investigated
(Bayly et al., 2002). Their model was used to investigate cutting and rubbing forces in a
chisel drilling edge in addition to tool vibration, which causes error in the hole size, or
“roundness error”, of the drilled piece. Statistical process planning was used to describe
the relationship between the machining parameters and the quality of the bored surface
(Weinert et al., 2001). During the process of deep hole boring, linear and non-linear
318
Al-Wedyan and Mutasher / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 318-340
phenomena occur. Also, undesirable vibrations were expected due to the length of the
BTA drill with low torsional and bending stiffness. A mechanism of torsional chatter
was investigated experimentally (Bayly et al., 2001). The analysis was carried out in the
frequency domain to find the chatter frequencies and boundaries of stability. The
engagement and disengagement is highly non-linear during the drilling process and
highly dynamic. A mathematical model was presented for a chisel drill with a zero helix
angle to determine the displacement of the assumed rigid tool and rigid workpiece, but
considering only the axial vibrations and ignoring the transverse motion (Batzer et al.,
2001). They used a single degree of freedom model that was solved numerically to find
the chip thickness and the time lag for the chip formation. Cutting tests were done and
theoretically correlated the acoustic emission during cutting to the workpiece-tool
geometry and the cutting conditions to verify the results (Keraita et al., 2001). They
showed that the instability of cutting or chatter is due to a combination of structure,
cutting conditions and tool geometry. Litak et al. (1997) theoretically investigated the
chaotic harmful chatter vibrations which caused instabilities during the cutting process.
The quasi-static model was used to study the roundness error in reaming due to
regenerative vibration (Bayly et al., 2001). It was shown that a tool with N teeth caused
a hole with N+1 or N-1 “lobes” which are related directly to the forward and backward
whirl motion. Whirling vibrations were experimentally measured by Fujii et al. (1986a)
in order to investigate how the whirling vibrations developed in the chisel drill. They
used three different chisel drills with different web thickness. Fujii et al. (1986b) studied
the interactions between the effect of the drill geometry and the drill flank, in starting
whirling and developing it, and found also that the flank surface of the cutting edge is
responsible for damping the vibration. Fujii et al. (1988) investigated the whirling
vibrations in a workpiece having a pilot hole, and found that the whirling motion is a
regenerative vibration caused by cutting forces and friction while drilling. The dynamics
of the BTA deep hole boring process were statistically investigated experimentally by
Weinert et al. (1999), who showed that disturbances like chatter and spiralling caused
roundness and straightness error in the bored workpiece due to the high length to
diameter ratio of the boring bar. Ema et al. (1988) carried out an experimental
investigation on long drills with different lengths and special mass added to them. The
results show that chatter is a self-induced vibration and the frequency of chatter is equal
to the frequency of the natural bending frequency of the drill.
In spite of several studies done theoretically and experimentally to explore and
understand the chatter phenomenon, it is not fully understood. From the previous review
we can say that the regenerative effect of the chatter vibrations has not been taken into
consideration in the cutting process, although some include the regenerative effect in
their study. Some models assume a single degree of freedom or two degrees of freedom
in their models, which in some way simplifies the analysis. In general, no study has
been done on the whirling vibrations in the deep hole boring process.
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF THE BORING BAR DYNAMICS
A Boring Trepanning Association (BTA) deep hole drilling machine is shown in

Figure 1. The model of the boring bar system shown in Figure 2 will have two distinct
regions in view of three distinct support conditions.
319
Mathematical approach for drilling
Figure 1. Boring Trepanning Association deep hole drilling machine
During the machining process, depending upon the degree of stability, the
boring bar with the cutting tool attached to it can be considered to be subject to different
end conditions. A mathematical model of the boring bar system is suggested on the
basis of the following: first, the boring bar is considered as a continuous beam clamped
at the driver end, with the stiffness at the end infinite. Second, an intermediate support is
provided to the boring bar by the pressure head and proper type of stuffing box provided
at the contact point, so that a simple support condition is assumed at the contact point.
Figure 2. Model of the boring bar assembly
The boring bar system will be considered as a multi-span beam, as shown in

Figure 2, and the transverse vibrations of the multi-span beam are studied initially.
When the boring bar undergoes a transverse vibration, the governing partial differential
equation is given by:
4 wj 2 wj
ΕΙ  Χ,t   Μ  Χ,t   0, j  1,2 (1)
Χ4 t2
320
γ
where Μ  Α , and EI is the bending rigidity of the material.
g
The solution of Eq. (1) is obtained by the separation of variables technique where we
assume:
w j  Χ,t   ς j  Χ  Ρt  (2)
Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1) results in Eq. (3)
ς 'j'''  Χ   β 4 ς j  Χ   0 , j  1,2 (3)
and
t   ω 2 Ρt   0
P (4)
2 4
ω L γΑ
where β 4 
ΕΙ g
The solutions of Eq. (3) for the two regions are
ς 1  Χ   Α1 cosβ Χ  Β1 coshβ Χ  C1 sinβ Χ  D1 sinhβ Χ (5)

ς 2  Χ   Α2 cosβ Χ  Β2 coshβ Χ  C 2 sinβ Χ  D2 sinhβ Χ (6)
and the solution of Eq. (4) is of the form
Ρ t   F cos  t  Q sin ω t (7)
The functions ς1 Χ  and ς 2 Χ  have to satisfy the conditions that their respective
fourth derivatives are equal to a constant multiplied by the functions as stated in Eq. (3).
All the constants 1 ,1 ,C1 , D1 ,  2 , 2 ,C 2 and D2 are evaluated using the following
boundary conditions:
ς1 0   ς 2' ' 0   0, ς1 L1   ς 2 L2   0  1' ' L1    2' ' L2 
(8)
ς'1 0   ς 2' ' ' 0   0, ς'1 L1    ς 2' L2 
Substituting the boundary conditions into the equations will end up with 8
equations in terms of the 8 constants Ai , Bi ,Ci and Di ,i  1,2. The determinant of the
coefficient matrix will give us the frequency equation. So for different values of L1 / L2 ,
the frequency equation is expressed in Eq. (9):
 4 cos L2  sinh L2   4 cosh L1 cos L1 cosh L2  sin L2 

 4 cosh L1  sin L1 cosh L2 cos L2   4 cosh L1 cos L1 cos L2  sin L2 
(9)
 4 cos L1  sinh L1   4 cosh L1  sin L1   4 cosh L2  sin L2 
 4 cos L1  sinh L1 cosh L2 cos L2   0
321
The roots of the frequency equation provide the natural frequencies. A

comparison between the calculated natural frequency and the natural frequency
calculated by Chandrashekhar (1984) shows an exact match, as in Table 1.
Table 1. The first five natural frequencies of the cutting tool-boring bar system
 n (rad/s) n (rad/s)-Chandrashekhar
3.912 453.77 453.76
7.043 1470.80 1470.47
10.173 3068.57 3068.02
13.302 5247.30 5246.50
16.432 8006.08 8005.91
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF THE BORING BAR-WORKPIECE

DYNAMICS (MODEL–1)
The cutting tool-boring bar-workpiece system will be considered as a multi-span beam

as shown in Figure 3 and assuming it is without a simple support at the boring bar for
model-1.
Figure 3. Model of the cutting tool boring bar-workpiece system
The transverse vibration of the boring bar-workpiece in the Y-Z plane, which is
the plane of symmetry, is formulated. It is described by two partial differential
equations, the first one to represent the boring bar-cutting tool and the second to
represent the workpiece as follows:
4 wj 2 wj
ΕΙ1  Χ,t   Μ 1  Χ,t   0, j 1 (10)
Χ 4
t2
4 wj 2 wj
ΕΙ 2  Χ,t   Μ 2  Χ,t   0, j2 (11)
Χ4 t2
322
γ γ
where Μ1  Α1 ; Μ 2  Α 2 ;
g g
1 

64
d 
4
 di
4
 and A1 

4
d 
2
 di
2
 , 2 

64
dw
4
and A2 

4
dw
2
Solving these equations by the separation of variables technique, it is assumed that
w j  Χ,t   ς j  Χ  Ρt  (12)
Substituting Eq. (12) in Eq. (10) and Eq. (11) results in
ς 'j'''  Χ   β 4 ς j  Χ   0 , j  1,2 (13)
Pt   ω 2 Ρt   0 (14)
1
    2    (  )2 g 
2 2
ω 2 L 4 γΑ ( EI )1
where β 4  ; n   1  
  ; 
ΕΙ g  L1  L 2    1  ( EI ) 2
μ1  β L1 , μ 2  β L2
The solution for Eq. (13) is
ς1  Χ   Α1cosβ Χ  Β1coshβ Χ  C1 sinβ Χ  D1 sinhβ Χ (boring bar) (15)

ς 2  Χ   Α2 cosβ Χ  Β2 coshβ Χ  C2 sinβ Χ  D2 sinhβ Χ (workpiece) (16)
and the solution of Eq. (14) is of the form
Ρ t   F cos  t  Q sin ω t (17)
The functions ς 1  Χ  , ς 2  Χ  have to satisfy the conditions that their respective

fourth derivatives are equal to a constant multiplied by the functions. All the
constants 1 ,1 ,C1 , D1 ,  2 , 2 ,C 2 and D2 are evaluated using the following boundary
conditions:
W1 0,t   W2 0,t   0, W1' L1 ,t    W2 ' L2 ,t ,

W '1 0,t   W2 ' 0 ,t  0 , W1' ' L1 ,t   W2 ' ' L2 ,t , (18)
W1 L1 ,t   W2 L2 ,t , W1' ' ' L1 ,t   W2 ' ' ' L2 ,t ,
We apply these boundary conditions to the shape functions and equate the
determinant to zero to get the roots of the determinant. Table 2 shows the values of  for
model-1. Table 3 shows the results for L1 = 2.5 m and L2 = 1 m.
323
Table 2. The first five natural frequencies of the cutting tool-boring bar system
for model-1
 n (Hz)
1.56 11.49
2.81 37.282
4.09 78.984
5.37 136.15
6.6 205.675
Hence, the Mode shape functions are

 ax   ax    ax   ax  
 1  X   cos   cosh   1*  sin   sinh   (19)
 L1   L1    L1   L1  
  bx   bx     bx   bx  
 2  X    2*  cos   cosh     3*  sin   sinh  
   (20)
  L2   L2     L2   L2  
where a   L1 , b   L2
sinha  sin2b   cosb cosha  b   cosb cosha  b   2 cosa 

 2 cosha   cosa cosh2b   sinb  sinha  b   sinb  sinha  b 
 cosha  2b   cosha cos2b   sinb  sina  b   sinhb  sina  b 
 cosa  2b   coshb cosa  b   coshb cosa  b   sina  sinh2b 
1  (21)
 cosa  sinh2b   cosha  sin2b   cosb  sinha  b   cosb  sina  b 
 coshb  sina  b   coshb  sina  b   2 sina   2 sinha   sina  2b 
 sinha  2b   sinha cos2b   sina cosh2b   sinb cosha  b 
 sinb cosha  b   sinhb cosa  b   sinhb cosa  b 
 2 sinb   2 sinhb   2 cosa  sinha  b   2 cosha  sina  b 

 2 sinha cosa  b   2 sina cosha  b 
2  (22)
2 sina   2 sinha   sinha  2b   sina  2b   sinb cosha  b 
 sinb cosha  b   sinhb cosa  b   sinhb cosa  b 
 sinha cos2b   sina cosh2b   coshb  sina  b   coshb  sina  b 
 cosb  sinha  b   cosb  sinha  b   cosha  sin2b   cosa  sinh2b 
324
sinha  sin2b   cosb  cosha  b   cosb  cosha  b   2 cosa 

 2 cosha   cosa  cosh2b   sinb  sinha  b   sinb  sinha  b 
 cosha  2b   cosha  cos2b   sinb  sina  b   sinhb  sina  b 
 cosa  2b   coshb  cosa  b   coshb  cosa  b   sina  sinh2b 
3  (23)
 cosa  sinh2b   cosha  sin2b   cosb  sinha  b   cosb  sina  b 
 coshb  sina  b   coshb  sina  b   2 sina   2 sinha   sina  2b 
 sinha  2b   sinha  cos2b   sina  cosh2b   sinb  cosha  b 
 sinb  cosha  b   sinhb  cosa  b   sinhb  cosa  b 
Table 3. The first five natural frequencies of the cutting tool-boring bar-workpiece
system.
Mode No. r 1 2 3 n (rad/s)

1 2.025 -0.9677 -0.1466 0.8931 120.992
2 4.191 -0.9939 -0.0967 3.2701 520.573
3 6.282 -0.9998 0.0037 2.0247 1169.42
4 8.201 -1.0000 0.0005 -0.1207 1993.80
5 10.220 -1.0000 0.0001 -2.5607 3097.101
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF THE CUTTING TOOL-BORING BAR-

WORKPIECE DYNAMICS (MODEL-2)
Model-2 will be assumed to have a simple support at the boring bar. During the
machining process, the interaction point between the cutting tool head and the
workpiece is shown in Figure 4. The moment, force, slope and deflection are assumed
to be equal on the left and right hand side of the interaction point.
Figure 4. Model-2 of cutting tool-boring bar-workpiece system
The boring bar is considered as a continuous beam clamped at the bar driver as
well as the workpiece which is clamped at its end. So we can consider it as a multi-span
beam and the transverse vibration of this beam in the X-Y plane has the following
governing partial differential equation:
325
4 wj 2 wj
ΕΙ 1  Χ,t   Μ 1  Χ,t   0, j  1,2, (24)
Χ4 t2
4 wj 2 wj
 Χ,t   Μ 2 2
ΕΙ 2  Χ,t   0, j  3,4 (25)
Χ4 t
γ γ
where Μ 1  Α1 ; Μ 2  Α2 ;
g g
1 

64
d 
4 4

 di ; A1 

4
d 
2 2

 di ,  2 

64
d w ; A2 
4 
4
dw
2
Solving these equations by the separation of variables technique is assumed that
w j  Χ,t   ς j  Χ  Ρ t  (26)
Substituting Eq. (26) into Eq. (24) and Eq. (25) results in
ς 'j'''  Χ   β 4 ς j  Χ   0 , j  1,2,3 (27)

t   ω 2 Ρt   0 ,
Ρ (28)
2 1
ω 2 L 4 γΑ    1*   2    (  )2 g  2
( EI )1
β 
4
; n   1 
   and  
ΕΙ  L1  L 2  L3    1  ( EI ) 2

μ1  β L1 , μ1  β L2 , μ2  β L3
The solution for Eq. (27) is
ς1  Χ   Α1cosβ Χ  Β1coshβ Χ  C1 sinβ Χ  D1 sinhβ Χ (29)

ς 2  Χ   Α2cosβ Χ  Β2coshβ Χ  C2 sinβ Χ  D2 sinhβ Χ (30)
ς 3  Χ   Α3cosβ Χ  Β3coshβ Χ  C3 sinβ Χ  D3 sinhβ Χ (31)
and the solution for Eq. (28) is of the form
Ρ1 t   F1 cos  t  Q1 sin ω t (32)
ς 1  Χ  , ς 2  Χ  and ς 3  Χ  have to satisfy the conditions that their respective fourth

derivatives are equal to a constant multiplied by the functions. All the
constants 1 ,1 ,C1 , D1 ,  2 , 2 ,C 2 , D2 and  3 , 3 ,C3 , D3 are evaluated using the
following boundary conditions:
326
W3 0,t   W2 0,t   0,
W3 ' ' ' L3 ,t   W1' ' ' L1 ,t ,
W ' 3 0,t   W2 ' 0 ,t  0,
W1 L2 ,t   W2 L1 ,t ,
W3 L3 ,t   W1 L1 ,t  (33)
W1' L2 ,t   W2 ' L1 ,t ,
W3 ' L3 ,t   W1' L1 ,t ,
W1' ' L2 ,t   W2 ' ' L1 ,t ,
W3 ' ' L3 ,t   W1' ' L1 ,t ,
After obtaining the 12 equations we arrange them in a matrix form then we get the
determinant for the matrix, where L1= 0.5 m, L2 = 2 m and L3 = 1 m.
The frequency equation is expressed as
16 cosh L2  sin L2   8 cos L2   L3  sinh L2   L3   16 sinh L3 cos L3 

 16 sin L3 cosh L3   8 cos L2   L3  sinh L2   L3 
(34)
 8 sin L2   L3 cosh L2   L3   8 sin L2   L3 cosh L2   L3 
 16 cos L2  sinh L2   0
Plotting the determinant against  will give us the roots of the frequency
equation for the first five natural frequencies of the cutting tool-boring bar-workpiece
assembly. Figure 5 shows the first two roots.
Figure 5. The first and second roots and (a) β = 3.2 (b) β = 6.15.
The natural frequencies were calculated as shown in Table 4. The calculations

were carried out taking into consideration that there are two shafts with different
diameters but the same kind of material with the following properties:
Ε  2  1011 N / m 2 ,   76036 N / m3 , d i  0.0135 m , d   0.01905 m for the boring

bar, and dw = 0.1016 m for the workpiece, so we obtain the following natural
frequencies where n corresponds to the natural frequency for the model under
investigation.
327
Table 4. The first five natural frequencies of the cutting tool-boring bar-workpiece
system for model-2
  n (rad/s)
3.212 305.97
6.154 1312.14
9.401 2620.60
12.580 4692.61
15.70 7308.92
WHIRLING MOTION
Self-excited systems start to vibrate in the absence of explicit vibratory excitation force.
The vibrations are caused by a source of power that is constant; however, the
mechanical system converts this into an alternating source and makes the oscillations
grow larger, but with some damping effect this motion is limited to finite values. In this
study a displacement excitation was assumed, acting at the interaction point between the
boring bar and the workpiece system. This displacement excitation is acting on the
interaction point and rotating at the same time. This is illustrated in Figures 6-8. The
new approach for model-1 and model-2 will be applied and simulated for both models.
Figure 6. The displacement excitation γt  at the interaction point for model-1
Figure 7. The displacement excitation γt  at the interaction point for model-2.
328
Figure 8. Section (A-A), a representation of the displacement excitation γt 
At the contact point between the boring tool (the cutting head) and the
workpiece we can show that this displacement during drilling process, in addition to the
shear force, is of a fluctuating increment and of dynamic origin, and the excitation that
produces the latter comes from within the system, as shown in Figure 8. This
displacement excitation will be concentrated and acting at the points x = xj , and hence
we will use the spatial Dirac delta function:
 x  x j  where  x  x j   0 at x  x j and   x  x dx  1

L
j (35)
0
so that the work done at the interaction point will be equal to the shear force multiplied
by the displacement and multiplied by spatial Dirac delta and it will come into play in
the potential energy of the system. The dynamic loading during drilling is due to many
factors, including the inherent action of the drilling process, the variation of boring bar
stiffness and the wear changes of the pads. The mathematical modelling of this problem
will be done using the assumed mode method, which is a procedure for the
discretization of the distributed-parameter system. In the assumed mode method, the
solution is assumed in the form of a finite series of space-dependent admissible
functions, but the coefficients are time-dependent generalized coordinates instead of
being constant. For model-1 these are assumed in the form:
r n
W1  x ,t     i1  x  qi t ; W2  x ,t     x  q t 
i2 i (36)
i 1 i  r 1
where qi t   q1 ,q2 , ,qr ,qr 1 ,qr  2 , ,qi , and r is at the interaction point between the
cutting head and the workpiece. The functions  i1  x  , 2i  x  are admissible functions,
which satisfy at least the geometrical boundary conditions and qi t  are the generalized
coordinates. This series is substituted in the kinetic and potential energy expressions,
thus reducing them to discrete form, and the equations of motion are derived by means
of Lagrange’s equations; taking into consideration that there are two distinct regions of
the boring bar-workpiece assembly, and two mode shapes for them. We assume the
following for model-2:
r r n
W1  x ,t     i1  x  qi t  , W2  x ,t     i 2  x  qi t  and W3  x ,t     x  q t 
i3 i
i 1 i 1 i  r 1 (37)
329
The expressions for the kinetic and potential energies for model-1:
1 1   W1 
L L
1 2   W2 
2 L 2
1 1
Τ  x ,t    mb   dx   Ι x Ω dx    mw 
2
 dx
2 0  t  20 2 0  t  (38)
2 2
  2 W1    2 W2 
1 L L2
V  x ,t   ΕΙ 1  
1 1
2 0
 x
 dx  ΕΙ 2
2 
 2 0   x 2  dx (39)
 ΕΙ 2 W2' ' ' L2 ,t  γ y t 
1 
2
  W2 
L
 W 
1 2 L2
D x ,t   CeqBar   1  dx  Ceqwork 0   t  
  dx (40)
2 0
t 
 
The expressions for the kinetic and potential energies for model-2:
1 1  W 
L
1 2   W2 
2 L 2 L L
1 1 1 2
Τ  x ,t    mb  1  dx   mb   dx   Ι x Ω dx   Ι x Ω dx 
2 2
2 0  t  2 0  t  20 20
L
(41)
1 3   W3 
2
  mw   dx
2 0  t 
2 2 2
  2 W1    2 W2    2 W3 
1 L L2 L3
V  x ,t   ΕΙ 1  
1 1 1
2 0
x 
 dx  ΕΙ 1
2 
2 0   x 2  d  2 ΕΙ 2 0   x 2  dx (42)
 ΕΙ 3 W 3
'''
L ,t  γ t 
3 y
1  L1   W1  2  
2
  W3 
L2 L3
  W2 
2
D x ,t   CeqBar  
   dx     
dx  Ceqwork    dx  (43)
2   t  t   t  
0 0  0
 
where
mb : mass per unit length of the cutting tool-boring bar assembly [Kg/m].
mw = mass per unit length of workpiece [Kg/m].
 : the angular velocity of the boring bar assembly [rad/sec].
 x : mass moment of inertia of the cutting tool-boring system about the axis of
symmetry [Kg-m2].
We will proceed in the analysis for model-1 and the same is done for model-2. Applying
Lagrange’s equations on Eqns. (37-39):
d     V D
     QY (44)
dt  q1  qi qi q1
330
we obtain the following:
j ijΜ q   C q   K

jij ij  ΕΙ 2 ς r 2 L2  γ y t  q j   0
  (45)
   
where γ y t   Displacement excitation in the Y direction ,
knowing that
L1 L2  L1 L2 
 ς1 j ς1i  mij ,  ς 2 j ς 2 i  mij ,i, j  1,2,..., n,  ς1 j ς1i  kij ,  ς 2 j ς 2 i  k ij , i, j  1,2,..., n (46)

' ' ' ' '' '' '' ''
0 0 0 0
where the (*) is for the workpiece. Now, if we take the Z direction, the boundary
conditions are the same as in the Y direction. All the steps done before for the Y
direction are repeated for the Z direction. For model-1, the response in the Z direction is
assumed in the form of
r n
R1  x ,t     i1  x  Fi t ; R2  x ,t     x  F t 
i2 i (47)
i 1 i  r 1
For model-2, the response in the Z direction is assumed in the form of
r r n
R1  x ,t     i1  x  Fi t ; R2  x ,t     i 2  x  Fi t  ; R3  x ,t     x  F t 
i3 i (48)
i 1 i 1 i  r 1
The functions  i1  x ,  2i  x  are admissible functions and Fi t  are the

generalized coordinates. Assuming the displacement excitation in the Z direction as
γ Z t  , and using the same expressions for the kinetic, potential and dissipation energies
as in the Y direction and applying Lagrange’s equations in the Z direction, we obtain the
following expressions:
Μ F   C F   K
ij j ij j ij 
 ΕΙ 2 ς r2 L2  γ y t  F j   0 (49)
   
where γz t   Displacement excitation in the Z direction . Eq. (45 and Eq. (49) are
subject to the following constraint: W2 L2 ,t   W1 L1 ,t    t  and
R2 L2 ,t   R1 L1 ,t   γt  . For model-2 we have the following constraint:
W3 L3 ,t   W1 L1 ,t    t  and R3 L3 ,t   R1 L1 ,t   γt  . In proceeding with this analysis
we choose to drop one of the coordinates by expressing it in terms of  t  . We
investigated model-1, as shown in Figure 9, at the first mode at 1= 2.025 and model-2
at 1= 3.2123 in order to study the behaviour of the system while rotating during
drilling.
331
Figure 9. The boring bar–workpiece system; O and K are subsystems of G.
The equations were derived depending upon the constraint of the problem as follows:
n
qc   qi  q1 , q2 , , qr , qr 1 , , qn 
i 1
W2 L2 ,t   W1 L1 ,t   γt 
n r
 ς r  1 2 L2  qr 1 t    ς i 1 L2  qi t   γt 

r 1 i 1
n r
 ς r  1 2 L2  qr 1 t    ς i 1 L2  qi t   γt 

r 1 i 1
r n
 ς L  q t    ς 
i 1
i1 2 i
r 1
r  1 2 L2  qr 1 t   γt 
n
r  ς r  1 2 L2 
 qi t   qr 1 t   γt 
r 1 1
r r
i 1
 ς i 1 L1 
i 1
 ς i 1 L1 
i 1
r n
 q t   C  q  t   C γt 

i 1
i 1
r 1
r 1 2
q1 t   q2 t     qr t   C1 qr 1 t   qr  2 t     qn t   C2 γt 
Now if we choose to drop qr 1 t  and replace it by qr t  , we will have the following:
qr t   C1qr  1 t   C2 γt ; C1qr  1 t   qr t   C2 γt ; qr  1 t   qr t   2 γt 

1 C
C1 C1
332
From the main equation,
q1  q1  q1 

q  q  q 
 2   2   2 
     
     
    
Μ ij qr   Cij qr   K ij  ΕΙ 2ς r 2 L2  γ y t  qr   0
'''

q  q  q 
 r 1   r 1   r 1 
     
      
qn  qn  qn 
The generalized coordinates of the whole system
n
qc   qi  q1 ,q2 , ,qr ,qr 1 , ,qn 
i 1
and we choose the general coordinate q r 1 t  :
 
M ij at r  1qr  1 t   Cij at r  1q r  1 t   K ij at r  1  ΕΙ 2 ς r2 L2  γ y t  qr  1 t   0.0
Knowing that
qr  1 t   qr t   2 γt  , we substitute this in the above equation:
1 C
C1 C1
 1   1 
qr t   2 γt   Cij at r  1  qr t   2 γt  
C C
M ij at r  1 
 C1 C1   C1 C1 
 1 
K ij at r  1   ΕΙ 2 ς r2 L2  γ y t   qr t   2 γt   0.0
C
 C1 C1 
1
C1

M ij at r 1qr t   Cij at r 1qr t   Kij at r 1  ΕΙ 2ς r2 L2  γ y t  qr t   
C2
C1

M ij at r 1γt   Cij at r 1γt   Kij at r 1  ΕΙ 2ς r2 L2  γ y t  γt  
or
M   
q t   Cij at r  1qr t   K ij at r  1  ΕΙ 2 ς r2 L2  γ y t  qr t  
ij at r  1  r
C M 
2 ij at r  1 
γt   Cij at r  1 γt   K  ij at r  1   ΕΙ ς  L  γ t γt 
2 r2 2 y
The two equations of motion will be
 L2  γ y t  ] q1 
Μ 11 q1  C11 q1  [ K 11  ΕΙ 2 ς12
(50)
C2  (M 11γy t   C11γy t   K11  ΕΙ 2 ς r2 L2  γ y t γ y t  )
Μ 11 F1  C11 F1  [ K11  ΕΙ 2 ς12 L2  γZ t  ] F1  (51)

C2  (M 11γz t   C11γz t   K11  ΕΙ 2 ς r2 L2  γz t  γz t  )
333
where C2 = 1
 11 L1 
Since the excitation displacement is rotating, Eq. (50) and Eq. (51) will be as follows:
 L2  γ y t  cos Ωt ] q1 

Μ 11 q1  C11 q1  [ K 11  ΕΙ 2 ς12
(52)
C  (M 11γy t   C11γy t   K11  ΕΙ 2 ς r2 L2  γ y t γ y t  ) cos Ωt
Μ 11 F1  C11 F1  [ K11  ΕΙ 2 ς12  L2  γZ t  sin Ωt  ] F1  (53)
C  (M 11γz t   C11γz t   K11  ΕΙ 2 ς r2 L2  γz t  γz t  ) sin Ωt 
Now we will assume that the fundamental component of displacement excitation

function is in the form of γ y t     y sin  t  and γZ t     z sin  t  , where : is the
frequency of the wedge excitation as it is introduced back and forth at the interaction
point and rotating at the same time. We will use the following relations:
sin ν t cos Ω t   sin 2 Ωt  , at   
1
(54)
2
sin ν t  sin Ω t   1  cos 2 Ω t  , at   
1
(55)
2
sin ν t cos Ω t   sin ν  Ω t  sinν  Ω t  , at   
1
(56)
2
sin ν t  sin Ω t   cos ν  Ω t  cos ν  Ω t  ,   
1
(57)
2
If    , the rotation frequency is equal to the wedge excitation frequency, and

we use Eq. (49) and Eq. (50). When    we use Eq. (51).
We have two cases to simulate: the first when the rotation frequency is equal to the
wedge excitation frequency and the second when the rotation frequency is not equal to
the wedge excitation frequency. The following numerical values and relations were used
in the calculation:
  2  1011 N / m 2 ,   76036 N / m3 , d i  0.0135 m , d   0.01905 m , L1  2.5 m , L2  1 m
1 

64
d 
4
 di
4
 and A1 

4
d 
2
 di
2
 , 2 

64
dw
4
and A2 

4
dw
2
The simulation results for model-1 are shown in Figure 10. Figure 10 (a) is a
general scale figure, while Figures 10 (b, c, d, e) are at 0.25L1, 0.5L1, 0.75L1 and L1,
respectively. Figure 10 (f) is at    = first natural frequency of the boring bar.
Figure 11 shows the whirl orbit of the shaft when    . One can see from the
figures that the whirling ellipse is a tilting one and the ellipsoid shape is due to the
difference of rigidity in the Y and Z coordinates. This represents the actual and real case
of a rotating shaft and the rigidity difference is due to the non-homogeneity of the
boring bar workpiece system and the eccentricity due to non-accurate assembly and a
possible deviation for the geometric centre of the whole system.
334
Figure 10. Whirl orbit of the shaft at    =20(Hz), 0y = 3.18E-04 m and 0z =3.39E-
04 m at: (a) General scale figure, (b) 0.25 L1, (c) 0.5 L1, (d) 0.75 L1,(e) L1 and (f) 1st
natural frequency.
Figure 11. Whirl orbit of the shaft when    (  20 Hz ,  5 Hz ) , 0y = 3.18E-04

m and 0z =3.39E-04 m.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF WHIRLING MOTION
The experiments will include investigation of the whirl orbits of the boring bar–cutting
head assembly while rotating at a speed of 1280 rpm, as shown in Figure 12. It is
obvious from this Figure that the whirling motion is tilted and inclined and rotating
around the geometric axis as the mathematical mode predicted.
Another method for evaluating the data is the frequency domain method. The
measured time-domain data is transformed to frequency-domain via Fourier transform.
We will try to make a frequency analysis of the signals at low, medium and high speed
of rotation to estimate the natural frequency of the boring-bar cutting head assembly. A
Fourier series will be used because it will arise from the practical task of representing a
335
given periodic function in terms of cosine and sine functions. As seen in Figure 13, at
speeds of 1200, 1280, 1359 and 1440 rpm the power spectral density, PSD, is the
amount of power per unit (density) of frequency (spectral) and describes how the power
(or variance) of a process is distributed with frequency.
Figure 12. A sample of the whirling orbit resulting from an experiment at speed of 1280
rpm.
An equivalent definition of PSD is the squared modulus of the Fourier transform

of the time series. Recalling the Fourier transform for a continuous Fourier time series,
the power spectral density S(f) for a discrete Fourier transform is defined as
S  f   lim
1
FN  FN* (59)
N  T
where the star symbol denotes complex conjugate. In Figure 13, we have four main
spectral peaks in this figure which correspond to the fundamental frequency. The other
spectral peaks corresponds to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc., natural frequencies of the system.
-2
10
1200 rpm
-3 1280 rpm
10 1359 rpm
1440 rpm
-4
10
-5
10
PSD (mm 2)
-6
10
-7
10
-8
10
-9
10
0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 13. PSD for the signals at different rotational speed
336
INSTANTANEOUS LOCATION OF THE BORING BAR CENTRE WITH

RESPECT TO THE GEOMETRIC CENTRE WHILE ROTATING
Whirl is defined as the locus of the instantaneous centre of rotation of the rotating shaft.
Under different speeds of rotation the boring bar will have different positions with
respect to the geometric centre of the drilled holes. We investigated this location for
eight speeds. The geometric centres under zero rotation and different speeds of rotation
1200 and 1440 rpm are shown in Figure 14.
Figure 14. Two monitored tilted centres of the boring bar at speeds of 1200 and
1440 rpm.
The constant drive for higher accuracy, surface finish and at the same time
higher productivity to withstand the economic competition has led to many
improvements in cutting tools and cutting methods. Considering the amount of hole
production in a manufacturing activity, the quest for better drilling tools and procedures
is always at the forefront of such drives. The type of hole making operation selected
usually depends upon the following hole requirements: diameter of the hole; depth of
the hole; quality of the hole surface; size, accuracy, parallelism and straightness.
Machining holes of high length-to-diameter ratios to high standards of size, parallelism,
straightness and surface finish has always presented a problem, since hole straightness
deteriorates when the hole length to diameter ratio exceeds three. As seen in Figure 14,
the tool is oscillating due to a whirling motion around the bored surface, and these
oscillations contain many harmonies and cause surface irregularities.
CONCLUSIONS
The whirling motion in the deep hole boring process is a self-excited motion, which
comes from within the system itself as we assumed the wedge, which was introduced at
the interaction point between the cutting head and the workpiece. This mechanism
leading to a whirling motion was investigated analytically for different models of the
boring bar-workpiece assembly and the following points were concluded:
337
 Whirling motion is a self-excited vibration and can be reduced but not

eliminated and the high length of the boring bar relative to its diameter caused
the whirling motion.
 When the length of the boring bar increased, an initial deflection of the boring
bar could be a natural cause and an initiator of the whirling motion which is
sustained while drilling.
 The mathematical model mimics the actual behaviour of the real system in terms
of the whirling ellipse and the tilted motion.
 The fundamental frequency value of the analytical model is close to the value of
the real system.
 The whirling motion of the boring bar is a forward whirling motion, where the
direction of the whirling motion is in the same direction as the boring bar
rotation.
 The oscillation of the tool around the bored surface causes bad surface
properties, so future work will study the effect of the whirling motion at the
beginning of drilling under different speeds of rotation and the effect of
changing cutting parameters on the whirling motion which affects the surface
irregularities.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to thank the Al-Huson University College and Al-Balqa’Applied
University management for their continuous support and guidance in all our research
activities. Also, potential collaboration with Swinburne University of Technology
(Sarawak Campus) is highly appreciated.
REFERENCES
Batzer, S.A., Gouskov, A.M. and Vornov, S.A. 2001. Modeling vibratory drilling
dynamics. Transactions of ASME, Journal of Vibration and Acoustics,
123(4): 435-443.
Bayly, P.V., Lamar, M.T. and Calvert, S.G. 2002. Low-frequency regenerative vibration
and the formation of lobed holes in drilling. Transactions of ASME, Journal of
Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 124: 275-285.
Bayly, P.V., Metzler, S.A., Schaut A.J. and Young, K.A. 2001. Theory of tensional
chatter in twist drills: model, stability analysis and composition to test.
Transactions of ASME, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering,
123: 552-561.
Bayly, P.V., Young, K.A., Calvert, S.G. and Hally, J.E. 2001. Analysis of tool
oscillation and hole roundness error in a quasi-static model of reaming.
Transactions of ASME, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering,
123: 387-396.
Chandrashekhar, S. 1984. An analytical and experimental stochastic modeling of the
resultant force system in BTA deep-hole machining and its influence on the
dynamics of the machine tool workpiece system. PhD Thesis, Concordia
University, Canada.
Ema, S., Fujii, H. and Marui, E. 1988. Chatter vibration in drilling. Transactions of
ASME, Journal of Engineering for Industry, 110: 309-314.
338
Fujii, H., Marui, E. and Ema, S. 1986a. Whirling vibration in drilling. Part 1: cause of
vibration and role of chisel edge. Journal of Engineering for Industry, 108: 157-
162.
Fujii, H., Marui, E. and Ema, S. 1986b. Whirling vibration in drilling. Part 2: influence
of drill geometries, particularly of the drill flank, on the initiation of vibration.
Journal of Engineering for Industry, 108: 163-1168.
Fujii, H., Marui, E. and Ema, S. 1988. Whirling vibration in drilling. Part 3: vibration
analysis in drilling workpiece with a pilot hole. Journal of Engineering for
Industry, 110: 315-321.
Keraita, J.N., Oyango, H.J. and Misoi, G.K. 2001. Lathe stability charts via acoustic
emission monitoring. African Journal of Science and Technology, 2(2): 81-93.
Litak, G., Warminski, J. and Lipski, J. 1997. Self excited vibrations in cutting process.
Proceedings of 4th Conference on Dynamical Systems, Lublin, Poland.
Weinert, K., Webber, O., Husken, M. and Menen, J. 2001. Statistics and time series
analysis of BTA deep hole drilling. Proceedings of the International Conference
on Nonlinear Dynamics in Mechanical Processing, Germany.
Weinert, K., Webber, O., Busse, A., Husken, M., Menen, J. and Stagge, P. 1999.
Experimental investigations of the dynamics of the BTA deep hole drilling
process. Journal of Production Engineering-Research and Development in
Germany, 8(2): 925-935.
339
Nomenclatures
Symbol Description Units

A1 , A2 cross-section area of the boring bar
and workpiece [m2]
do , di outside and inside diameter of the boring bar [m]
dw diameter of the workpiece [m]
E Young’s modulus [N/m2]
I1 , I 2 area moment of cross-section of the boring bar and
workpiece [m4]
M1 mass per unit length of the boring bar assembly [Kg/m]
M2 mass per unit length of the workpiece assembly [Kg/m]
t time [sec]
W1 x, t  displacement of the boring bar [m]
W2  x, t  displacement of the workpiece [m]
 weight density of the boring bar [N/m3]
 t  generalized co-ordinate
n natural frequency of the system [Hz]
 angular velocity of the boring bar [Hz]
Ceqbar equivalent viscous damping of the boring
system [N-sec/m]
Ceqwork equivalent viscous damping of workpiece [N-sec/m]
Ix mass moment of inertia of the boring
bar system about the axis of symmetry [Kg/m2]
mb mass per unit length of the boring bar assembly [Kg/m]
mw mass per unit length of the workpiece assembly [Kg/m]
 weight density of the boring bar [N/m3]
q (t) generalized co-ordinate
(x) mode shapes of the boring bar assembly [m]
workpiece assembly
L1,L2 length of the boring bar and workpiece [m]
(t) displacement excitation [Hz]
 frequency of the wedge excitation [Hz]
α mode shape coefficients [m]
340
RADIATION EFFECTS ON EXPONENTIALLY ACCELERATED VERTICAL

PLATE WITH UNIFORM MASS DIFFUSION
K.E. Sathappan and R. Muthucumaraswamy
Department of Applied Mathematics

Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering
Sriperumbudur - 602 105, India.
Phone : +9144-271500, Fax : +9144- 27162462
Email: sathappan@svce.ac.in
ABSTRACT
Thermal radiation effects on unsteady free convective flow of a viscous incompressible

flow past an exponentially accelerated infinite isothermal vertical plate with uniform
mass diffusion have been studied. An exact solution to the dimensionless governing
equations has been obtained by the Laplace transform method. The effects of velocity,
temperature and concentration are studied for different parameters like the thermal
radiation parameter, Schmidt number, thermal Grashof number, mass Grashof number
and time. It is observed that the velocity increases with an increase in the
parameter ‘ a ’.
Keywords: Radiation, grey, isothermal, vertical plate, heat and mass transfer.
INTRODUCTION
Radiative heat and mass transfer play an important role in manufacturing industries for
the design of fins, steel rolling, nuclear power plants, gas turbines and various
propulsion devices for aircraft, combustion and furnace design. If the temperature of the
surrounding fluid is rather high, radiation effects play an important role and this
situation exists in space technology. In such cases, it is necessary to take into account
the combined effect of thermal radiation and mass diffusion. England and Emery (1969)
have studied the thermal radiation effects of an optically thin grey gas bounded by a
stationary vertical plate. Free convection effects on flow past an exponentially
accelerated vertical plate were studied by Singh and Kumar (1984). The skin friction for
accelerated vertical plate has been studied analytically by Hossain and Shayo (1986).
Jha et al. (1991) analysed mass transfer effects on an exponentially accelerated infinite
vertical plate with constant heat flux and uniform mass diffusion.
Das et al. (1996) have analysed radiation effects on flow past an impulsively
started infinite isothermal vertical plate. The radiation effect on mixed convection along
an isothermal vertical plate was studied by Hossain and Takhar (1996). Raptis and
Perdikis (1999) studied the effects of thermal radiation and free convection flow past a
moving vertical plate. Muthucumaraswamy et al. (2008) obtained the heat transfer
effects on flow past an exponentially accelerated vertical plate with variable
temperature.
The governing equations were solved analytically. However, the simultaneous
heat and mass transfer effects on exponentially accelerated infinite isothermal vertical
plate with uniform mass diffusion in the presence of thermal radiation have not been
341
Sathappan and Swamy / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 341-349
studied in the literature. Hence, it is proposed to study the effects on flow past an
exponentially accelerated infinite isothermal vertical plate in the presence of uniform
mass diffusion. The dimensionless governing equations are solved using the Laplace-
transform technique.
MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS
Thermal radiation effects on unsteady flow of a viscous incompressible fluid past an

exponentially accelerated infinite isothermal vertical plate with uniform mass diffusion
have been studied. Consider the unsteady flow of a viscous incompressible fluid which
is initially at rest and surrounds an infinite vertical plate with temperature T and
concentration C . Here, the x -axis is taken along the plate in the vertically upward
direction and the y -axis is taken normal to the plate. Initially, it is assumed that the
plate and the fluid are of the same temperature and concentration. At time t > 0 , the
plate is exponentially accelerated with a velocity u = u0 exp (a t
) in its own
plane and the temperature from the plate is raised to Tw and the concentration level
near the plate is also raised to C  w . The fluid considered here is a grey medium,
absorbing-emitting radiation but non-scattering.

Then by the usual Boussinesq approximation, the unsteady flow is governed by
the following equations:
u   2u 
= g(T T) g (C C)  2
*
(1)
t y
T 2T  q
C p
=k 2  r (2)
t  y 
y
C C  2
=D (3)
t  y2
with the following initial and boundary conditions:
t 0 : u = 0, T = T, C= C for all y

t > 0 : u = u0 exp (a
t
), T = Tw , C= Cwat y = 0 (4)
u = 0, T  T, C C  as y  
The local radiant for the case of an optically thin grey gas is expressed by Eq. (5).

qr
= 4a * (T4 T 4 ) (5)
y
It is assumed that the temperature differences within the flow are sufficiently
small such that T 4 may be expressed as a linear function of the temperature. This is
accomplished by expanding T 4 in a Taylor series about T and neglecting higher-order
terms, thus
T 4 4T3 T 3T4 (6)
By using Eq. (5) and Eq. (6), as Eq. (2) reduces to
342
Radiation effects on exponentially accelerated vertical plate with uniform mass diffusion

T 2T
C p = k 2 16a*T3 (T T ) (7)
t 
 y
On introducing the following dimensionless quantities:
u t
u2 yu T T
U= , t = 0 , Y = 0 , = ,
u0   Tw T
g(Tw T) C C

 g* (CwC
)
Gr = , C = , Gc = , (8)
3
u0 CwC u03
C p  16a *2T3 a

Pr = , Sc = ,R= 2
,a = 2
k D ku 0 u0
in Eq. (1) to Eq. (4), leads to

U 2U
= Gr Gc C  2 (9)
t Y
 1  R 2
=   (10)

t Pr Y 2 Pr
C 1 2C
= (11)
t Sc Y 2
The initial and boundary conditions in non-dimensional form are
U = 0, = 0, C = 0, for all Y , t 0
t > 0 : U = exp(at ), = 1, C = 1, at Y =0
(12)
U = 0,  0, C  0 as Y 
Equations (9) to (11), subject to the boundary conditions (12), are solved by the
usual Laplace-transform technique and the solutions are derived as follows:
1 exp (2 R t ) erfc ( Pr  at ) 

   (13)
2exp ( 2 R t ) erfc ( Pr  at )

C = erfc ( Sc ) (14)
343
U
2

exp( at )
exp ( 2 at ) erfc ( at ) exp ( 2  a t ) erfc ( at ) 

d exp( ct ) exp ( 2  c t ) erfc ( Pr  ct ) exp ( 2  c t ) erfc ( Pr  ct ) 
 2 
e (1 22 ) erfc ()  exp( 2 ) 2 d erfc ()
  

d exp ( 2 R t ) erfc ( Pr  bt ) exp ( 2  R t ) erfc ( Pr  bt ) 
exp ( 2  Pr( b c ) t ) erfc ( Pr  ( b c ) t ) 
d exp( ct )  

 exp ( 2  Pr( b c ) t ) erfc ( Pr  ( b c ) t )

 2 Sc  (15)
e (1 22 Sc ) erfc ( Sc )  exp( 2 Sc ) 
  
R R Gr Gc t Y
where b = ,c= ,d= ,e= and = .
Pr 1 Pr 2c(1 Pr ) (1 Sc ) 2 t
For physical understanding of the problem numerical computations have been

carried out for different physical parameters R, a, Gr , Gc, Sc and t upon the nature of
the flow and transport. The value of the Schmidt number Sc is taken to be 0.6 , which
corresponds to water-vapour. Also, the value of Prandtl number Pr is chosen such that
it represents air ( Pr = 0.71 ). The numerical values of the velocity are computed for
different physical parameters like a , the thermal radiation parameter, Prandtl number,
thermal Grashof number, mass Grashof number, Schmidt number and time.
The velocity profiles for different values of ( a = 0,0.5,1), Gr = Gc = 5 and
R = 2 at time t = 0.2 are presented in Figure 1. It is observed that the velocity increases
with increasing values of a . The effect of velocity profiles for different time
( t = 0.4,0.6,0.8), R = 2, a = 0.5, Gr = 5 and Gc = 5 are shown in Figure 2. In this case,
the velocity increases gradually with respect to time t . The effect of velocity for
different values of the Schmidt number ( Sc = 0.16,0.3,0.6,0.78 ) and time t = 0.2 are
shown in Figure 3. The trend shows that the velocity increases with decreasing Schmidt
number. The relative variation of the velocity with the magnitude of the time and the
Schmidt number is observed. The velocity profiles for different thermal Grashof
numbers ( Gr = 2,5 ), mass Grashof numbers ( Gc = 5,10), a = 0.5 and R = 2 and time
t = 0.2 are shown in Figure 4. It is clear that the velocity increases with an increasing
thermal Grashof number or mass Grashof number.
344
1.4
a
1.2
1.0
0.5
1
0.0
0.8
U
0.6
0.4
0.2
0









0.5











1



 1.5 2 2.5
Figure 1. Velocity profiles for different a
2.5
t
0.8
1.5 0.6
0.4
U
1
0.5
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5


Figure 2. Velocity profiles for different t
345
1.2
Sc
1
0.16
0.3
0.6
U 0.78
0.4
0.2

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Figure 3. Velocity profiles for different Sc

1.4
1.2
Gr Gc
5 10
1
5 5
2 5
0.8
U
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.5 1
 1.5 2 2.5
Figure 4. Velocity profiles for different Gr and Gc
The effect of velocity for different values of the radiation parameter

( R = 2,5,10), a = 0.5, Gr = Gc 5, R = 2 and t = 0.4 is shown in Figure 5. The trend
shows that the velocity increases with decreasing radiation parameter. It is observed that
the velocity decreases in the presence of high thermal radiation.The temperature profiles
calculated for different values of the thermal radiation parameter ( R = 0.2,2,5 ) and time
( t = 0.2,0.6 ) are shown in Figure 6 for air ( Pr = 0.71 ). The effect of the thermal
radiation parameter is important in temperature profiles. It is observed that the
346
temperature increases with decreasing radiation parameter. The trend is just reversed
with respect to time t . Figure 7 represents the effect of concentration profiles for
different Schmidt numbers ( Sc = 0.3,0.6,0.78,2.01 ). The effect of concentration is
important in the concentration field. The profiles have the common feature that the
concentration decreases in a monotone fashion from the surface to a zero value far away
in the free stream. It is observed that the wall concentration increases with decreasing
values of the Schmidt number.
1.4
1.2
1 R
2
0.8 5
10
U
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5


Figure 5. Velocity profiles for different R
0.9
0.8
0.7
R t
0.6
0.2 0.2
0.2 0.6
 0.5
2 0.2
0.4 5 0.2
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 0.5 1 1. 2 2.5






















 5
Figure 6. Temperature profiles for different R and t
347
0.9
0.8
Sc
0.7
0.3
0.6 0.6
0.78
0.5
C 2.01
0.4
0.3
0. .2
0.1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5


Figure 7. Concentration profiles for different Sc
CONCLUSIONS
Thermal radiation effects on unsteady flow past an exponentially accelerated infinite

isothermal vertical plate, in the presence of uniform wall concentration, are studied. The
dimensionless equations are solved using the Laplace transform technique. The effect of
velocity, temperature and concentration for the different parameters a, R , Gr , Gc, Sc and
t are studied. The conclusions of the study are as follows:
1. The velocity increases with an increase in parameter a and Gr or Gc and the
trend is reversed with respect to the radiation parameter R and Schmidt number
Sc .
2. The temperature decreases due to high thermal radiation.
3. It is observed that the concentration increases with decreasing Schmidt number.
REFERENCES
Jha, B.K., Prasad, R. and Rai, S. 1981. Mass transfer effects on the flow past an
exponentially accelerated vertical plate with constant heat flux. Astrophysics
and Space Science, 181, 125-134.
Das, U.N., Deka, R.K. and Soundalgekar, V.M. 1996. Radiation effects on flow past
an impulsively started vertical infinite plate. Journal of Theoretical Mechanics,
1: 111-115.
England, W.G. and Emery, A.F. 1969. Thermal radiation effects on the laminar free
convection boundary layer of an absorbing gas. Journal of Heat Transfer, 91,
37-44.
Hossain, M.A. and Shayo, L.K. 1986. The skin friction in the unsteady free
convection flow past an accelerated plate. Astrophysics and Space Science,
125, 315-324.
348
Hossain, M.A. & Takhar, H.S. (1996) Radiation effect on mixed convection along a
vertical plate with uniform surface temperature. Heat and Mass Transfer, 31:
243-248.
Muthucumaraswamy, R., Sathappan, K.E. and Natarajan, R. 2008. Heat transfer
effects on flow past an exponentially accelerated vertical plate with
variable temperature. Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 35: 323-331.
Raptis, A. and Perdikis, C. 1999. Radiation and free convection flow past a
moving plate. International Journal of Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 4:
817-821.
Singh, A.K. and Kumar, N. 1984. Free convection flow past an exponentially acce-
lerated vertical plate. Astrophysics and Space Science, 98: 245-258.
Nomenclature
A, a , a' constants
*
a absorption constants
C species concentration in the fluid kg m 3
Cp specific heat at constant pressure J .kg 1 .k
D mass diffusion coefficient m 2 .s 1
g acceleration due to gravity m .s 2
k thermal conductivity W .m 1 .K 1
R thermal radiation parameter
Pr Prandtl number
Sc Schmidt number
T temperature of the fluid near the plate K
t time s
u -direction m.s 1
velocity of the fluid in the x
u0 velocity of the plate m.s 1
u dimensionless velocity
y coordinate axis normal to the plate m
Y dimensionless coordinate axis normal to the plate
Greek symbols
 volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion K 1
 volumetric coefficient of expansion with concentration K 1
 coefficient of viscosity Ra.s
 kinematic viscosity m 2 .s 1
 density of the fluid kg .m3
 dimensionless skin-friction kg.m1. s 2
erfc complementary error function
349
HALL CURRENT EFFECTS ON FREE CONVECTION MHD FLOW PAST A

POROUS PLATE
P.V. Satya Narayana1, G. Ramireddy2 and S. Venkataramana2

1
Department of Mathematics, VIT University
Vellore-632 014, Tamilnadu, India
Phone: +91 9789574488, Fax: +0416-2243091
E-Mail: pvsatya8@yahoo.co.in , psatya@vit.ac.in
2
Department of Mathematics, S.V.University
Tirupati, A.P, India
ABSTRACT
Heat and mass transfer along a vertical porous plate under the combined buoyancy force
effects of thermal and species diffusion is investigated in the presence of a transversely
applied uniform magnetic field and the Hall currents are taken into account. The
governing fundamental equations on the assumption of a small magnetic Reynolds
number are approximated by a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations,
which are integrated by fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. Velocity, temperature and
concentration are shown on graphs. The numerical values of the local shear stress, the
local Nusselt number Nu and the local Sherwood number Sh are entered in tables. The
effects of the magnetic parameter, Hall parameter and the relative buoyancy force effect
between species and thermal diffusion on the velocity, temperature and concentration
are discussed. The results are compared with those known from the literature.
Keywords: Hall current, MHD, free convection, mass transfer, porous medium.
INTRODUCTION
Hydromagnetic transport in porous media has received considerable attention owing to

applications in materials processing, geophysics, astrophysical flows, etc. Magnetic
fields induce many complex phenomena in an electrically conducting flow regime,
including Hall currents, ion-slip effects (at higher strength magnetic fields), Joule
(Ohmic) heating, Alfven waves in plasma flows, etc. Such effects can have a
considerable influence on heat transfer and flow dynamics. For example, in ionized
gases with low density subjected to a strong magnetic field, the electrical conductivity
perpendicular to the magnetic field is lowered owing to free spiralling of electrons and
ions about the magnetic lines of force prior to collisions; a current is thereby induced
which is mutually perpendicular to both electrical and magnetic fields, constituting the
Hall current effect. Katagiri (1969) has studied the effects of Hall current on the
magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer flow past a semi-infinite plate. Pop and
Soundalgekar (1974) and Gupta (1975) have investigated the effects of Hall current on
the steady hydromagnetic flow in an incompressible viscous fluid. Hossain and Rashid
(1987) discussed the effects of Hall current on unsteady free convection flow along a
porous plate in the presence of foreign gases such as H2, CO2 and NH3 subjected to a
transpiration velocity inversely proportional to the square root of time. Pop and
Wattanabe (1994) considered the Hall effect on magnetohydrodynamic free convection
350
Satya Narayana et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011 ) 350-363
about a semi-infinite vertical plate and solved the problem numerically by employing a
difference-differential method in combination with Simpson’s rule. Aboeldahab and
Elbarbary (2001) discussed heat and mass transfer along a vertical plate under the
combined buoyancy force effects of thermal and species diffusion in the presence of
transversely applied magnetic field and taking Hall effect into account. The system of
non-linear equations is solved by using Runge-Kutta methods. Chaudhary and Kumar
Jha (2008) studied the MHD heat and mass transfer along a vertical plate immersed in a
porous medium. Hossain (1986), Hossain and Mohammad (1988), Attia and Syed-
Ahmed (2004), Attia (2008), Attia and Aboul-Hassan (2003) and Rana et al. (2007)
studied the Hall effects. However, Aboeldahab (2001) studied the Hall current effects
on MHD free convection flow past a semi-infinite vertical plate with radiation.
Therefore, the objective of the present investigation is to study the steady
magnetohydrodynamic free convection viscous incompressible fluid flow past a semi
infinite vertical porous plate with mass transfer under strong external magnetic field.
FORMULATION AND SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM
We study the steady magnetohydrodynamic free convection viscous incompressible

fluid flow past a semi-infinite vertical porous plate with mass transfer. Here the x-axis is
taken to be along the porous plate in the vertically upward direction. The y-axis is taken
as being normal to the plate and a strong magnetic field B0 is considered along the y-
axis (Figure 1). The temperature and the species concentration at the plate are Tw (T)
and Cw (C), T and C being the temperature and species concentration of the free
stream. The generalized Ohm's law including Hall current is given in the form given by
Marg (1964).
Figure 1. Sketch of the physical model
In the absence of an externally applied electric field and with negligible effects
of polarization of the ionized gas, we also assume that E = 0 (Meyer, 1958). The effect
of Hall currents gives rise to a force in the z-direction, which includes a cross flow in
that direction, and hence the flow becomes three dimensional. To simplify the problem,
we assume that there is no variation of flow, temperature and concentration quantities in
351
Hall current effects on free convection MHD flow past a porous plate
the z-direction. It is also assumed, a valid assumption on the laboratory scale, that the
induced magnetic field is negligible. Since the velocity of the fluid is low, the viscous
dissipative heat is assumed to be negligible. The equation of conservation of electric
charge J = Jy = constant. This constant is zero since Jy = 0 at the plate, which is
electrically non-conducting. Thus Jy = 0 everywhere in the flow. Under these
assumptions the boundary layer free convection flow with mass transfer and generalized
Ohm's law is governed by the following system of equations (1) - (5):
u v
 0 (1)
x y
u
u
v
u  2u
  2  g T  T   g *
C  C   B0 J z   u (2)
x y y  K
w w 2w B 
u v   2  0 Jx  w (3)
x y y  K
T T  2T
u v  2 (4)
x y y
C C  2C
u v D 2 (5)
x y y
B0 B0
mu  w and
where J x 
1  m  2
Jz 
1  m  u  mw
2
The appropriate boundary conditions of equations (1) – (5) are
u=0, v=0 w=0, T=Tw C=Cw at y=0

u=0, v=0 w=0, T=T C=C as y (6)
Proceeding with the analysis, we now define the similarity variables as follows:
1 1 1


 Gr  4  Gr  2
3
 x 2
  yx  3  ,   4  3  x 4 f  ,  ,     ,
4
 4L   4L  L
  gL 3
Pr    Prandtl number, Gr  2 Tw  T  Grashof number
  
g L
C w  C  Modified Grashof number, Sc   Schmidt number
* 3
Gc 
 2
D
 0 L
2 2
B
M  1
Magnetic parameter, m  0 Hall parameter
ene
 Gr 2
1
 Gr  2 T  T C  C
1
w  2  3  x 2 g  ,  ,   ,  
L  Tw  T C w  C
352
Gc 2 L2
e , p 1
Gr
KGr 2
The continuity equation is now satisfied by

u (7)
y

v (8)
x
Using equations (7) and (8), we may show that

1
 Gr  2
1
u  2  3  x 2 f   , 
L 
1
 Gr  2   f 
1
v    3  x 4  3 f  2  f   (9)
L    
The prime indicates the differentiation with respect to . In view of equations (7) – (9)
we can show that equations (2) – (5) reduce to
 f 2 f  2m
f   3 ff   2( f ) 2  2  f   f     e   f   mg   pf   0 (10)
  x  1 m2
 f g  2M
g   3 fg   2 gf   2  g     g  mf   pg  0 (11)
    1  m
2
1  f g 
   3 f   2    f   0 (12)
Pr    
1  f  
   3 f   2     f 0 (13)
Sc    
In view of equation (9) the boundary condition (6) reduces to
f  ,0 
f  ,0   0, f   ,    0, 3 f  ,0   2  0, g  ,0   0

g  ,    0,   , 0 1, θ  ,    ,0,   ,0  1   ,    0 (14)
In free convection problems the Grashof number may be interpreted physically

as a dimensionless group representing the ratio of the buoyancy forces due to
temperature differences to the viscous forces. Similarly, in free convection and mass
transfer flow systems, the modified Grashof number Gc can be interpreted as a
dimensionless group representing the ratio of the buoyancy forces due to concentration
differences to the viscous forces. So, the dimensionless parameter e is a measure of the
ratio of the buoyant forces due to concentration differences to the buoyant forces due to
temperature differences and plays an important role in the free convection and mass
transfer flow systems.
353
The governing boundary layer Eq. (10)- Eq. (14) is approximated by a system of
non-linear ordinary differential equations replacing the derivatives with respect to  by
two point backward finite differences with step size 0.01. These equations are integrated
by a fourth order Runge-Kutta method. The major physical quantities of interest are the
local Shear stress x and z , the local Nusselt number Nu and the local Sherwood
number Sh, which are defined, respectively by
u w
 x  , z   
y y 0 y y 0
  T  D C
Nu  , Sh 
Tw  T  y y 0
Cw  C  y y 0
Table 1. Comparison of present results with those of Ali (1995) with different values of
Pr for Nusselt number With M = m = K = e = Sc = 0.
Pr = 0.7 Pr = 1.0 Pr = 10.0

Ali -0.45255 -0.59988 -2.29589
Present work -0.45308 -0.59822 -2.30321
Table 2. Variation of f, g, ,  at the plate surface with m = l, e = 0.1, K = l for
different magnetic parameters.
M f g  
0 0.6002 0 0.4 0.3421
0.25 0.5621 0.0012 0.4052 0.3753
0.50 0.5379 0.0193 0.4276 0.4039
0.75 0.5101 0.0299 0.4297 0.4272
Table 3. Variation of f, g, ,  at the plate surface with M=0.5, e=0.1, K=1 for
different Hall parameters.
m f g  
0 0.4728 0 0.4172 0.4268
0.5 0.4927 0.0127 0.4149 0.4158
1 0.5277 0.0221 0.4104 0.4054
1.5 0.535 0.022 0.4088 0.3939
2 0.569 0.0013 0.4048 0.3857
3 0.5869 0.0012 0.4023 0.3547
 0.6000 0 0.4001 0.3421
354
Table 4. Variation of f, g, ,  at the plate surface with M = 0.5, m = 1 K = 1 for
different e values.
e f g  
0 0.4858 0.0222 0.3998 0.3565
0.1 0.5277 0.0232 0.4104 0.3782
0.2 0.5779 0.024 0.4194 0.4054
0.3 0.6032 0.0244 0.4284 0.4124
Table 1 shows a comparison of the present results for the Nusselt number with
Ali (1995) for various values of Prandtl number Pr with M=m=K=e=Sc=0 . The results
are found to be in good agreement. In Tables 2-4, we show the effect of the magnetic,
Hall, and e parameters on the functions f, g,  and  at the plate surfaces respectively.
From the tables we note that the wall shear stress along the plate f decreases, while the
shear stress across the plate g' increases with M increases. On the other hand, f
increases with m increase but g' increases monotonically when m increases to 1 and
decreases for values of m greater than 1. The local Nusselt number and local Sherwood
number decrease with increasing magnetic parameter M, and e increases. In the case
when m=0, i.e., in the absence of Hall currents, the flow becomes two-dimensional with
the velocity components in x and y directions only, i.e., g vanishes. Also, the z
component of the shear force g' at the plate vanishes identically (see Table 2).
The present work generalized the problem of free convection flow of an electrically
conducting, viscous, incompressible fluid near a semi-infinite vertical porous plate. The
fluid motion is subjected to an external strong magnetic field normal to the plate. Hall
current effects are included and mass transfer is taken into consideration. After a certain
transformation, numerical solution has been obtained by a fourth order Runge-Kutta
method. Results are obtained for various values of magnetic parameter M, Hall
parameter m, relative buoyancy force parameter e, and permeability parameter K.
The results of the numerical computations are displayed in the following section.
For the primary velocity f', secondary velocity g, temperature θ and concentration Φ
respectively for Sc = 0.6, Pr = 0.72, are drawn against  for different values of M ,m, e,
and K. Figures 2–5 show typical profiles for the fluid tangential velocity f', the lateral
velocity g, temperature θ and the concentration Φ for different values of the magnetic
parameter respectively. Application of a magnetic field to an electrically conducting
fluid produces a drag-like force called the Lorentz force. This force causes reduction in
the fluid velocity in the boundary layer which, in turn, reduces the rate of heat and mass
convection in the flow and this appears when increasing the fluid temperature and
concentration. These behaviours are clearly illustrated in Figures 2, 4 and 5. In the
absence of the magnetic field, there is no lateral velocity (g = 0) and as M increases
(consequently m increases), a cross flow in the lateral direction is greatly induced due to
the Hall effect. This is clearly depicted in Figure 3.
355
1.2
0.8
f' U
0.4
M=0.,0.25, 0.5, 0.75

0.2
00 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

η
Figure 2. Velocity profiles along the plate f for different M values

0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
g
0.2
0.15
0.1 M=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75
0.05
0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
η
Figure 3. Velocity profiles across the plate g for different M values

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
θ M=0.0.25.0.5,0.75
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
η
Figure 4. Temperature profiles  for different M values
356
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6 M=0,.25,.5,.7
Φ 0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
η
Figure 5. Concentration distribution against η for different M values
Figures 6–9 show the f ', g, θ and Φ profiles for M = 0.5, e=0.1, Pr=0.72. Sc=0.6,
and K=1 against  for different values of the Hall parameter m. Further, Figures 6-9
illustrate that the tangential velocity f' and lateral velocity increase while the
temperature θ and the concentration Φ decrease as the Hall parameter m increases, since
the magnetic damping on f' decreases as m increases, and the magnetic field has a
propelling effect on f'. Also, it is shown that the f ', θ and Φ profiles approach their
classical values when the Hall parameter m increases to 1, since the magnetic force
terms approach zero value for very large values of m.
0.8
0.7
m= 0,1 ,2, ,
0.6
0.5
0.4
f‘
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 0 0.5 1 2 2.5 3
1.5
η
Figure 6. Velocity profile for different values of m
Figures 10–13 show typical profiles for the fluid tangential velocity f ' the lateral
velocity g, temperature θ and the concentration Φ for different values of (e = 0, 0.1, 0.2)
respectively, taking Sc = 0.6, Pr = 0.72, m = 1, K = 1 and m = 0.5. From Figures 10 and
11, it is observed that f and g increase up to the crossover point after that the variation
is reversed. Figures 12 and 13 illustrate that the temperature and concentration are found
to decrease with the increase of  until it vanishes at  = 3. But both the values decrease
for any non-zero fixed value of  with the increase of e. In Figures 14, the velocity
profiles f and g are plotted against  for different values of K (=1, 2, 3) taking Sc = 0.6,
Pr = 0.72, m = 1, M = 0.5, and e = 0.1 respectively. For all the values of K considered, f
357
is found to decrease with the increase of K and g is found to increase with the increase
of K.
1.5
1 m = 0,1,2,3
g
0.5
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
η
Figure 7. Velocity profile for different values of m

1
0.8
m=0 ,1,2, 3
θ
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
η
Figure 8. Temperature distribution against η for different m values
1
0.8
m=1, 2, 3, 
0.6
Φ
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
η
Figure 9. Concentration distribution against η for different m values
358
0.3
0.25 e=0
e=0.1
0.2 e=0.2
f' 0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

Figure 10. Velocity profiles along the plate f for various e values.
0.025
e=0
0.02 e=0.1
e=0.2
e=0.3
0.015
g
0.01
0.005
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

Figure 11. Velocity profiles along the plate g for different e values
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6 e = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3
θ 0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
η
Figure 12. Temperature distribution against η for different e values
359
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Φ
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1 e =1, 2, 3
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
η
Figure 13. Concentration distribution against η for different e values
0.12
0.1
0.08
f' 0.06
0.04
K=1, 2, 3
0.02
0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

η
Figure 14. Velocity profiles across the plate g for different K values
Figures 15 and 16 illustrate the behaviour velocity and temperature for different
values of the Prandtl number. The numerical results show that the effect of increasing
the values of the Prandtl number results in a decreasing velocity. From Figure 16, it is
observed that an increase in the Prandtl number results in a decrease of the thermal
boundary layer thickness and in general lower average temperature within the boundary
layer. The reason is that smaller values of Pr are equivalent to an increase in the thermal
conductivity of the fluid and therefore heat is able to diffuse away from the heated
surface more rapidly for higher values of Pr.
360
0.03
Pr=0.6
0.025 Pr=0.65
Pr=0.7
0.02
g 0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Figure 15. Velocity profiles along the plate g for different Pr values
1
Pr=0.6
0.9 Pr=0.65
Pr=0.7
0.8
Pr=0.75
0.7
0.6
 0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Figure 16. Temperature profiles  for different Pr values
CONCLUSIONS
The above analysis brings out the following results of physical interest on the velocity,
temperature and concentration distribution of the flow field.
1. The magnetic parameter M retards the velocity of the flow field at all points due to the
magnetic pull of the Lorentz force acting on the flow field.
2. The effect of Hall parameter m is to increase the velocity of the flow field at all points.
3. The effect of porosity parameter K is to enhance the velocity of the flow field at all
points.
4. The Prandtl number Pr reduces the temperature of the flow field at all points. The higher
the Prandtl number, the sharper is the reduction in temperature of the flow field.
5. The concentration distribution of the flow field decreases at all points as the Hall
parameter m increases. This means the heavier diffusing species have a greater retarding
effect on the concentration distribution of the flow field.
361
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors sincerely thank Prof. S. Sreenadh (Dept. of Mathematics, S. V. University,

Tirupati- 517502) for useful discussions.
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NOMENCLATURE
u,v,w velocity components along the (x,y,z) axes respectively.

e charge of electron
B magnetic induction vector which has connection with the intensity of the
magnetic field vector
D mass diffusion coefficient m2.s1
E intensity vector of the electric field
J electric current density vector
g acceleration due to gravity m.s2
K porosity parameter
Pr Prandtl number
M magnetic parameter
Sc Schmidt number
T temperature of the fluid near the plate
u velocity of the fluid in the x-direction m.s1
U dimensionless velocity
Sh local Sherwood number
Nu local Nusselt number
ne the number density of electron
Greek symbols
 volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion K1

* volumetric coefficient of expansion with concentration K1
 coefficient of viscosity Pa.s
 kinematic viscosity m2.s1
 density of the fluid kg.m3
 dimensionless skin-friction
 thermal conductivity J.m1.K1
 the stream functions.
 electrical conductivity
e magnetic permeability
363
ACTIVE CONTROL OF QUARTER-CAR SUSPENSION SYSTEM USING LINEAR

QUADRATIC REGULATOR
M.P. Nagarkar1, G.J Vikhe2, K.R. Borole3 and V.M. Nandedkar4

1
Ahmednagar Jilha Maratha Vidya Prasarak Samaj, Ahmednagar – 414 001 (MS) INDIA.
Ph No.:+91-0241-2423887, +919860566496
Email: maheshnagarkar@rediffmail.com
2
Principal, AV College of Engineering, Sangamner (MS) INDIA.
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Smt. Kashibai Navale College of Engineering
Pune – 411 041(MS) INDIA
4
Department of Production Engineering, S.G.G.S. Institute of Engineering and Technology
Nanded. (MS) INDIA
ABSTRACT
The automobile is composed of many systems. One of these is the suspension system. The main
functions of the automotive suspension system are to provide vehicle support, stability and
directional control during handling manoeuvres and to provide effective isolation from road
disturbances. The suspension system has to balance the tradeoff between ride comfort and
handling performance. This paper analyses the passive suspension system and active suspension
system using a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controller. A linear quarter-car model is used
for the analysis and simulation. The performance of the LQR controller is compared with the
passive suspension system. The simulation results show that the LQR controller improves
vehicle ride comfort.
Keywords: active suspension system, LQR controller, quarter-car model.
INTRODUCTION
The automobile is a combination of a variety of complex systems. One such system is the
suspension system. The suspension system has been widely applied to vehicles, from horse-
drawn carriages with flexible leaf springs to modern automobiles with complex control
algorithms. Passive suspension systems are a trade-off between ride comfort and performance.
A car with a nice cushy ride usually wallows through the corners, whereas a car with high
performance suspension, like F1 cars, will hang on tight through the corners but will make the
passengers feel every little dip and bump in the road. The intent of the active suspension system
is to replace the classical passive elements by a controlled system, an active suspension system,
which can supply unlimited force to the system. The active suspension system dynamically
responds to the changing road surface due to its ability to supply energy which is used to
achieve the relative motion between the body and wheel. Toshimura et al. (2001) designed an
active suspension system for a quarter-car model using the concept of sliding mode control. The
active control is derived by the equivalent control and switching function while the sliding
surface is obtained by using Linear Quadratic control (LQ control) theory. The experimental
result indicates that the proposed active suspension system is more effective in the vibration
isolation of the car body than the passive suspension system.
Sam et al. (2003) designed the proportional integral sliding mode control scheme. A
quarter-car model is used in the study and the performance of the controller is compared to the
existing passive suspension system. A simulation study proves the effectiveness and robustness
of the control approach. Gürsel et al. (2006) utilized a PID controller for studying the
performance of the active suspension system. Son and Isik (1996) described a fuzzy logic
control method for an automotive active suspension system. The performance of the fuzzy logic
364
Nagarkar et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 3(2011) 364-372
controlled active suspension system is compared in several simulated scenarios. The

performance of fuzzy control is much better than that of the passive suspension system for
different road conditions and speeds. Neural Network Based Fuzzy Logic was developed by Wu
et al. (2005) as an advanced self-learning optimal intelligent active suspension system.
Artificial neural-based fuzzy modelling is applied to set up the neural-based fuzzy model based
on the training data from the non-linear half-car suspension system dynamics. The development
of self-learning optimal intelligent active suspension can not only absorb disturbance and shock,
to adapt the model, the sensor and the actuator error, but also cope with the parameter
uncertainty with minimum power consumption. The simulation results show that the designed
active suspension system can improve the ride quality. In their study on LQG, Tamai and Sotelo
(1995) presented preliminary results from a research about active suspension control regarding
vehicle body flexibility using a LQG-LTR approach. Hrovat (1990) explores the connections
between LQG-optimal one DOF and two DOF models. For the optimal two DOF systems, both
ride and handling can be improved by reducing the unsprung mass. Here the maximum possible
ride and handling improvements for two DOF systems are obtained in the limiting case of
singular control with zero penalty on unsprung actuator force.
This paper presents a relatively simple active suspension control strategy – a Linear
Quadratic Regulator (LQR). The LQR controller is used with a passive suspension system to
improve the vehicle ride comfort. The model is subjected to disturbances like step, sine, white
noise, bump, etc. The passive suspension system is used as a reference system. The performance
of the LQR active suspension system is compared with the passive suspension system. The
simulations were carried out in a MATLAB/Simulink environment.
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING
Quarter-Car Model
In order to analyse the behaviour of a dynamic system and to design a multivariable control for
the same we need a mathematical model of the system. The model is constructed according to
functional principles in view of the demand and is required to represent the kinematic and
dynamic behaviour of the system in an equation. Many suspension models have been used by
the researchers, namely the full car model, half-car model and quarter-car model. Kruczek and
Stribrsky (2004) used a full car model by connecting four conventional quarter car suspension
models. Tamai and Sotelo (1995) and Wu et al. (2005) used a four degrees of freedom half-car
model to include heave and pitch motions in the front and rear wheels. The suspension system is
modelled as linear viscous dampers and springs. McGee et al. (2005) used a non-linear quarter-
car model with non-linear forces like quadratic and cubic stiffness in the tyre and suspension
and coulomb friction damping in suspension. A frequency domain technique is used to analyse
the system. During the analysis, a linear quarter-car model is considered as it is simple to model,
yet we can observe the basic elements of the suspension system, such as sprung and unsprung
masses, sprung mass deflection, tyre deflection, and rattle/suspension space. Modelling of the
suspension system is done in the vertical plane. Longitudinal or transverse deflections of the
suspension components are considered negligible in comparison to vertical deflections. The
complete vehicle mass is divided into two, i.e., the sprung mass and the unsprung mass. Springs
and dampers are connected between the sprung and unsprung masses and unsprung mass and
ground respectively, as shown in Figure 1.
State Space Approach
The second-degree differential equations of motion for the system can be written as follows:
m1 x1  c1  c 2 x1  k1  k 2 x1  c 2 x 2  k 2 x 2  c1 x 3  k1 x3  0

(1)
m21 x2  c 2 x 2  k 2 x 2  c 2 x1  k 2 x1  0
365
Active control of quarter-car suspension system using linear quadratic regulator
For the given system, 4 state variables are defined: two give the displacement of the two
masses and the other two give the velocities of the respective masses.
Let
x1 t   x2 ; x2 t   x1 ; x3 t   x1 t ; x4 t   x 2 t 
(2)
x3 t   x1 t   x2 ; x 4 t   x2 t   x1
Figure 1. 2-DOF (Linear) system with base excitation – a quarter-car model.
Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1), and finally re-arranging in the form of Eq. (3),
x t   Axt   Bu t  
 (3)
y t   Cxt   Du t  
where x t  , xt  , y t  , A, B, C and D are the matrices of various orders.
Matrix A is called the state matrix, B is the input matrix, C is the output matrix and D is
the direct transmission matrix.
 0 0 1 0 
 0 0 0 1 
A 
 k 2 m2 k 2 m2  c 2 m2 c 2 m2 
 
 k 2 m1  k1  k 2  / m1 c 2 m1  c1  c 2  / m1 
 0  1 0 0 0 0 
 0  0 
1 0 0 0 
B   ; C ; D 
 0  0 0 1 0 0 
     
k1 m1  0 1 0 1 0 
366
LQR CONTROLLER
For the design of a stable control system based on quadratic performance indexes, let us
consider that the system is expressed as Eq. (4):
x  Ax  Bu (4)
where x = state vector (n-vector); u = control vector(r-vector); A = n × n constant matrix

B = n × r constant matrix.
In designing control systems, one is often interested in choosing the control vector u(t)
such that a given performance index is minimized. The quadratic performance index is
expressed as Eq. (5).
J LQR   L x, u dt (5)
where L(x,u) is a quadratic function or Hermitian function of x and u, leading to a linear control
law.
u t    LLQR x (6)
where KLQR is a LQR gain matrix.
In linear quadratic regulator control, the quadratic performance index is expressed as Eq. (7).

J LQR   x T Q x  u T R u dt (7)
where the matrix Q is a positive-definite (or positive-semi definite) Hermitian or real

symmetric matrix, R is a positive definite Hermitian or real symmetric matrix. The first term on
the right-hand side of the equation accounts for the error between the initial and final state, and
the second term accounts for the expenditure of the energy of the control signal. The matrices Q
and R determine the relative importance of the error and expenditure of the performance index.
The control vector u(t) is considered to be unconstrained.
The control law given by Eq. (6) is the optimal control law. Therefore, if the unknown
elements of the matrix K are determined so as to minimize the performance index, then
u t    K LQR x is optimal for any initial state x(0). The block diagram of the optimal
configuration is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Block diagram of LQR control scheme.
367
LQR CONTROLLER DESIGN
In linear quadratic control, the control input is
u t    LLQR x Ref. Eq. (6)
The system equation is

x  Ax  Bu Ref. Eq. (4)
Then, substituting Eq. (6) into Eq. (4),
x  Ax  BK LQR x  A  BK LQR x (8)
We assume that the matrix A  BK LQR   is stable or that the eigenvalues of A-BK have
negative real parts. Substituting Eq. (6) into Eq. (7) we have
 

J LQR   xT Qx  xT K LQR
T
RK LQR x dt   xT Q  K LQR
T

RK LQR x dt    (9)
0 0
To solve the above parameter optimizing problem, let us set

x T Q  K LQR
T
RK LQR x    dt

d T
x Px  (10)
where P is a positive definite matrix.
Now Eq. (10) can be rewritten as

xT Q  K LQR
T

RK LQR x   x T Px  xT Px
  xT A  BK LQR  Px  xT P A  BK LQR x
T
(11)
 x T
A  BK  P  x PA  BK x
LQR
T T
LQR
Comparing the RHS and LHS of the above equation and noting that the equation must
hold true for any x(t), we require that:
A  BK  P  x PA  BK   Q  K
LQR
T T
LQR
T
LQR RK LQR  (12)
The A-BKLQR is a stable matrix, and there exists a positive definite matrix P that satisfies
Eq. (12). The performance index JLQR can be evaluated as:
 
 
J LQR   xT Q  K LQR
T  d T
RK LQR x dt   

 
x Px dx   xT Px 0    
0  
0
dt (13)
  xT  Px   xT 0 Px0 
Since all eigenvalues of (A-BK) are assumed to have negative real parts, we have x(∞)→
0. So, we have obtained Eq. (14):
J LQR  xT 0 Px0  (14)
368
From Eq. (14), we can observe that the quadratic cost function JLQR depends only on the
values of P as x(0) is constant. Hence, to minimize the value of J, for given x(0) with respect to
K, we set
P
0 (15)
K
Therefore, differentiating Eq. (12) with respect to K and substituting ∂P / ∂K = 0, we

obtain the value of K, which minimizes JLQR as Eq. (16):
K LQR  R 1 B T P (16)
The simulation is carried out in a Matlab/SIMULINK® environment. For the simulation, it is

assumed that the vehicle hits a step, a white noise, a bump, a triangular bump, city road
conditions and highway road conditions. The input data to the Simulink model are as follows:
m1=40 kg, k1=124660 N/m, c1=414 Ns/m

m2=243 kg, k2=14671 N/m, c2=370 Ns/m.
The result shows the displacement, acceleration of sprung mass and the rattle space or the
suspension space deflections, i.e., x2(t)- x1(t).
(a) Step input (b) White noise
Figure 3. Responses of passive system and LQR controller for (a) step input, (b) white noise.
369
(a) Bump input (b) Triangular bump input
(c) City road data input (d) Highway road data input
Figure 4. Responses for various conditions.
370
Figures 3 and 4 show that the active suspension system utilizing the LQR controller
performed better than the conventional passive suspension system. These figures illustrate
clearly how the active suspension system using a LQR controller can absorb the vehicle
vibrations more effectively than the conventional passive suspension system. The body
acceleration in the LQR system is reduced significantly, which guarantees better ride comfort.
Moreover, the wheel suspension deflection is also smaller than with the passive system.
CONCLUSIONS
The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate the active control strategy – the LQR controller
against a passive suspension system. We have developed a LQR controller to enhance the ride
comfort of passengers. A passive suspension system without any controller and an active
suspension system with the LQR controller were modelled and simulated using a
Matlab/Simulink environment. The simulation result shows that the designed active suspension
system can improve the ride quality by minimizing the displacements and acceleration more
than the passive suspension system. This means that the active suspension system using the
LQR controller provides better ride comfort. In the active suspension systems using the LQR
controller the rattle space or suspension space requirements remain smaller than with the
conventional passive suspension system. Also, the LQR controller is tested against various test
signals like step, sinusoidal, white noise, bump, triangular bump city road data and highway
road data. Thus, the LQR controller demonstrates its flexibility by showing its ability to handle
various kinds of road conditions.
REFERENCES
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Hall.
Balachandran, B. and Magrab, E.B. 2006. Vibrations. First Reprint. Singapore: Thomson
Brooke/Cole.
Elmadany, M.M. 1989. Design of an active suspension for a heavy duty truck using optimal
control theory. Computers and Structures, 31(3): 385-393.
Filler, C.R., Elliott, S.J. and Nelson, P.A. 1996. Active control of vibrations. London: Academic
Press.
Gürsel, N. Altas, I.H. and Gümüsel, L. 2006. Fuzzy control of a bus suspension system.
Proceedings of 5th International Symposium on Intelligent Manufacturing Systems,
pp. 1170-1177.
Hrovat, D. 1990. Optimal active suspension structures for quarter-car vehicle models.
Automatica, 26(5): 845-860.
Hrovat, D. 1997. Survey of advanced suspension developments and related optimal control
applications. Automatica, 33(10): 1781-1787.
Kruczek, A. and Stribrsky, A. 2004. A full-car model for active suspension - some practical
aspects. ICM Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics,
pp. 41-45.
McGee, C.G., Haroon, M. and Adams, D.E. 2005. A frequency domain technique for
characterizing nonlinearities in a tire-vehicle suspension system. ASME Journal of
Vibration and Acoustics, 127: 61-76.
Ogata, K. 2002. Modern Control Engineering. Fourth Edition. India: Prentice Hall.
Sam, Y.M., Osman, J.H.S. and Ghani, M.R.A. .2003. Active Suspension Control: Performance
Comparison using Proportional Integral Sliding Mode and Linear Quadratic Regulator
Methods. Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Control Applications, Istanbul, Turkey,
pp. 274-278.
Son, S.I. and Isik, C. 1996. Application of Fuzzy Logic Control to an Automotive Active
Suspension System. Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy
Systems, pp. 548-553.
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Tamai, E.H. and Sotelo, J. 1995. LQG –control of active suspension considering vehicle body
flexibility. Proceedings of 4th IEEE Conference on Control Applications, pp. 143-147.
Tang, C. and Zhang, T. 2005. The research on control algorithms of vehicle active suspension
system. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Vehicular Electronics,
pp. 320-325.
Toshimura, T., Kume, A., Kuromoto, M. and Hino, J. 2001. Active suspension system of a
quarter car using the concept of sliding mode control. Journal of Sound and Vibration,
239: 187-199.
Wu, S.J., Wu, C.T. and Lee, T.T. 2005. Neural-network-based fuzzy control design for half-car
active suspension systems. Proceedings of IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium,
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.
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CONTENTS
Accurate Bending Strength Analysis of the Asymmetric Gear using the Novel 373
ES-PIM with Triangular Mesh
S. Wang, G.R. Liu, G.Y. Zhang and L.Chen
Process Capability Study of Rapid Casting Solution for Aluminium Alloys using 397
Three Dimensional Printing
R. Singh
Effect of Sintering Profiles on the Properties and Ageing Resistance of Y-TZP 405
Ceramic
S. Sivakumar, S. Ramesh, K.L. Chin, C.Y. Tan and W.D. Teng
Performance and Emission Characteristics of CI Engine Operated on Vegetable 414

Oils as Alternate Fuels
K. Kalyani Radha, S. Naga Sarada, K. Rajagopal and E.L. Nagesh
Enhancement of Natural Convection Heat Transfer from the Rectangular Fins by 428
Circular Perforations
Wadhah Hussein Abdul Razzaq Al- Doori
Evolving Trends of Supplier Selection Criteria and Methods 437

S. Thiruchelvam and J.E. Tookey
Turbulent Film Condensation of Pure Vapors Flowing Normal to A Horizontal 455

Condenser Tube - Constant Heat Flux at the Tube Wall
B. Vijaya Lakshmi, T. Subrahmanyam, V. Dharma Rao and K.V. Sharma
Metal Matrix Composite Brake Rotor: Historical Development and Product Life 471
Cycle Analysis
A.A. Adebisi, M.A. Maleque and M.M. Rahman
Effect of pH on Electroless Ni-P Coating of Conductive and Nonconductive 481

Materials
M. Moniruzzaman and Subrata Roy
Comparative Study of Whole-Body Vibration Exposure Between Train and Car 490
Passengers: A Case Study in Malaysia
M.Z. Nuawi, A.R. Ismail, M.J.M. Nor and M.M. Rahman
Residual Strength of Chop Strand Mats Glass Fiber/Epoxy Composite 504

Structures: Effect of Temperature and Water Absorption
K. J. T. Jeffrey, F. Tarlochan and M. M. Rahman
ii
ACCURATE BENDING STRENGTH ANALYSIS OF THE ASYMMETRIC

GEAR USING THE NOVEL ES-PIM WITH TRIANGULAR MESH
S. Wang1, G. R. Liu1, 2, G. Y. Zhang2 and L. Chen1
1
Centre for Advanced Computations in Engineering Science (ACES), Department of
Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS), 9 Engineering
Drive 1, 117576, Singapore. Tel: +0065-65164797
Email: g0800348@nus.edu.sg
2
Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA), E4-04-10, 4 Engineering Drive 3, 117576, Singapore
ABSTRACT
This paper extends the edge-based smoothed point interpolation method (ES-PIM) to
the bending strength analysis of asymmetric gear with complex outlines. Five sets of
asymmetric gears with the pressure angles of 20°/20°, 25°/20°, 30°/20°, 35°/20°,
40°/20° are generated by a special designed rack cutter, respectively. Four key factors,
e.g. accuracy, convergence, convergence rate and computational efficiency of the
present ES-PIM are checked in great detail on these five models, and distributions of
bending stresses at the fillet of drive side are carefully investigated. The finite element
method (FEM) is also used to calculate the above factors for stressing on the
advantages of ES-PIM. Numerical results indicate that ES-PIM could provide more
efficient and accurate solutions in stress field than the FEM, and is significantly
suitable for stress analysis of the complicated asymmetric gears.
Keywords: Asymmetric gear; Bending strength; Accurate stress; Numerical method;

Point interpolation method (PIM); Smoothing operation.
INTRODUCTION
Gear transmission is one of the most important mechanical transmissions in

engineering systems, so its reliability is essential. However, fracture always occurs in
the gear teeth due to their low bending strength, and leads to invalidation, thus the
entire transmission’s failure (Bible et al., 1994). To avoid this failure, several ways
have been taken to improve the gear teeth’s bending strength. Thereamong, modifying
the shape of the tooth is an effective and widely used way (Bible et al., 1994; Cavdar et
al., 2005). By now, several kinds of asymmetric gears have been developed. Deng et al.
(2003) have made changes to the pressure angle of the coast side to increase the
bending stiffness of the tooth. Kapelevich (2000) and Kapelevich and Kleiss (2002)
have suggested using a larger pressure angle on the drive side and a fixed pressure
angle on the coast side. With the larger pressure angle on the drive side, Litvin et
al.(2000) have proposed a modified geometry of an asymmetric spur gear drive
373
Wang et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 373-397
designed as a combination of an involute gear and a double crowned pinion. Muni et al.
(2007) and Kumar et al. (2008) have used a direct gear design method for the
optimization of bending strength of asymmetric spur gear drives. Xiao et al. (2006),
Xiao et al. (2008) and Xiao (2008) have used a non-stranded asymmetric rack cutter to
generate the gear pair via a series of analysis about the bending stresses, vibration,
thermal conduction, etc. All these researches have put forward a series of solutions to
improve the load carrying ability of the asymmetric gear.
During gear transmission, the teeth withstand tensile stresses at the loaded side
(drive side) and compressive stresses at the opposite side (coast side). Tooth fracture
always occurs at the fillet of the tensile-stress side (drive side), where there is also a
stress concentration. So it is essential to carry out the accurate bending stress analysis
at the fillet of tensile-stress side (drive side) in order to check the teeth strength ability
(Wang, 2003). Among these stresses at the fillet, the maximum bending stress of the
tooth is a significant impact on the fracture and should be carefully checked.
Examination of run-in teeth reveals that when a single tooth carries the full load and
the load is applied at the highest point of single tooth contact (HPSTC), the maximum
bending stress occurs (Wang, 2003). So when doing the bending stresses analysis, the
load is always applied at the HPSTC.
In the literature, the bending strength analysis of the gear is always dealt as a 2-D
problem, and the finite element method (FEM) is utilized to make the analysis (Bible
et al., 1994; Cavdar et al., 2005; Deng et al., 2003). Since the linear triangular element
can be generated efficiently without manual operation even for the complicated
domains, it is quit suitable for the gear problems with complex outlines. However,
because of the well known overly-stiff behavior of the fully compatible displacement
of the FEM model based on the Galerkin weakform, the FEM using linear triangular
elements usually gives poor solutions, especially for stress components. Recently, a
generalized gradient smoothing technique, definition of G space which includes both
continuous and discontinuous functions and the notion of weakened weak (W2)
formulation, which is also termed as the Generalized Smoothed Galerkin (GS-Galerkin)
weak form, have been developed by Liu (2008, 2010). The W2 formulation is the
foundation of a series of novel and effective numerical methods which can effectively
overcome the problems discussed previously (Liu and Zhang, 2008). Comparing to the
compatible FEM model, these methods behave more softly and possess a number of
attractive properties according to the formation of smoothing domains (Liu and Zhang,
2008; Liu, 2008, 2010).
The edge-based smoothed point interpolation method (ES-PIM) is one of these
novel methods, in which the strains are smoothed over the smoothing domains
associated to edges of background triangles (Liu and Zhang, 2008; Liu et al., 2008).
The polynomial and/or radial PIM shape functions, which possess the Kronecker delta
property and hence facilitate the treatment of essential boundary conditions (Liu, 2002),
are used to construct displacement fields in this method. Based on the triangular
elements, four schemes of selecting support nodes for creating PIM (polynomial or
374
Accurate bending strength analysis of the asymmetric gear using the novel ES-PIM with triangular mesh
radial) shape functions have been proposed and four models have been developed,
which are ES-PIM of T3-scheme (ES-PIM (T3)), ES-PIM of T6/3-scheme (ES-PIM
(T6/3)), ES-RPIM of T6-scheme (ES-RPIM (T6)) and ES-RPIM of T2L-scheme
(ES-RPIM (T2L)). The T-scheme can not only solve the singularity problem
encountered in constructing polynomial PIM shape functions but also improve the
efficiency of the numerical methods (Liu and Zhang, 2008). Numerical results
demonstrated that the ES-PIM models have a close-to-exact stiffness and produce
“super-convergence” and “ultra-accurate” solutions (Liu and Zhang, 2008; Liu et al.,
2008; Liu, 2002). Most importantly, the ES-PIM (T3) model is found to achieve the
highest computational efficiency compared to other ES-PIM models and linear FEM
model. However, the conclusions above are just drawn based on problems with simple
geometries, e.g. beam and plate. The efficiency of this method on problems with
complex geometries has not been carefully checked yet.
This work just extends the ES-PIM (T3) method to the bending strength analysis
of the asymmetric gear which possesses of very complex outlines. Firstly, the basic
principles of ES-PIM (T3) method are introduced briefly. Then based on a specially
designed rack cutter, five different asymmetric gear models, with a greater pressure
angle (20°, 25°, 30°, 35°, 40°) at the drive side and a normal pressure angle (20°) at the
coast, are generated. Thirdly, some important ES-PIM (T3) properties, e.g.
computation accuracy in stress field, convergence of strain energy, convergence rate of
strain energy norm and computational efficiency are checked in great detail comparing
with the FEM-T3 method. Finally, the bending stress distributions at the fillet of drive
side are studied. From this analysis, it can be seen that the ES-PIM (T3) method is of
‘super-convergence’, and provides more efficient and accurate solutions in stress field
than the FEM with the same coarse triangular mesh. The ES-PIM (T3) method is
significantly suitable for bending strength analysis of the complicated asymmetric gear
problems with complex outlines and dealing with stress concentration problems.
BRIEF ON THE ES-PIM (T3)
The main differences of numerical implementation between ES-PIM (T3) and FEM are
the calculation of strain filed and the procedure of numerical integration. A brief
illumination of the differences is mainly presented in this section.
Displacement Fields Approximation Using PIM
The point interpolation method (PIM) obtains the approximation by letting the
interpolation function pass through the function values at each scattered node within
the local supporting domain. Totally there are two types of PIM that have been
developed using different basis functions, i.e., polynomial PIM using polynomial basis
functions (Liu and Gu, 2001) and radial PIM (RPIM) using radial basis functions
(Wang and Liu, 2002).
375
For polynomial PIM, the formulations start with the following assumption:
n
u ( x ) = ∑ pi ( x )ai = p T ( x ) a (1)
i =1
where u(x) is a field variable function defined in the Cartesian coordinate space; pi(x)is
the basis function of monomials which is usually built utilizing the Pascal’s triangles;
ai is the corresponding coefficient; and n is the number of nodes in the local support
domain.
The complete polynomial basis of orders 1 and 2 can be written as:
p T ( x ) = {1 x y} Basis of complete 1st order (2)
p T ( x ) = {1 x y x2 xy y 2} Basis of complete 2ed order (3)
For radial PIM, using radial basis functions augmented with polynomials, the
field function can be approximated as follows:
n m
u ( x ) = ∑ ri ( x )ai + ∑ p j ( x )b j = r T ( x ) a + p T ( x ) b (4)
i =1 j =1
where ri(x) and pj(x) are the radial basis functions and polynomial basis functions,
respectively; ai and bj are the corresponding coefficients; n is the number of nodes in
the local support domain and m is the number of polynomial terms.
In the ES-PIM (T3) the linear polynomial PIM is used to approximate the
displacement field and form the global stiffness matrix. The coefficients in Eq. (4) can
be determined by enforcing the field function to be satisfied at the n nodes within the
local support domain.
a = P −1u s (5)
where P is the moment matrix, for 2-D linear integration problem the P can be
expressed as:
1 x1 y1 
P = 1 x2 y2  (6)
1 x3 y3  3×3
us is the displacement component vector at all the n nodes of the support domain:
u sT = u1x u1 y ⋅⋅⋅ unx uny  (7)
1× 2 n
Note that P −1 may not exist. Approaches dealing with this problem can be
referred from (Liu, 2002). There, we just consider that the moment matrix is invertible.
Substitute Eq. (6) into Eq. (5), we can obtain:
n
u ( x ) = ∑ ϕi ( x )ui = Φ T ( x ) u s (8)
i =1
376
where ϕi ( x ) is the shape function which processes Kronecker delta property (Wang
and Liu, 2002) and is defined by (Liu and Quek, 2003)

ϕi ( x ) = p T ( x )ij P ji−1 (9)
In the above formulation, it is noticed that we need to select properly n nodes for
interpolation ensuring nonsingular moment matrix (Liu, 2002). The next subsection
will then focus on the principles of selecting nodes.
Cell-based T-scheme for Nodes Selection
The problem domain is firstly discretized with 3-noded triangular cells (elements). In
the frame work of ES-PIM (T3), a linear displacement field is constructed within each
triangular cell, which is exactly the same as that in the standard FEM. As illustrated in
Figure 1a, no matter the point of interest x located in an interior element (element i) or
a boundary element (element j), only the three nodes of the corresponding cell (i1-i3 or
j1-j3) are selected.
(a) Nodes selection (b) Construction of smoothing domains
Figure 1. Illustration of T3-scheme
Edge-based Smoothed Strains
In the framework of W2 formulation, the gradient of the field function (strains) will be
obtained using the following generalized smoothing operation which considers both
continuous and discontinuous displacement functions (Liu and Zhang, 2008; Liu et al.,
2005).
1 1
when u ( x ) is continuous in Ω k
A ∫ ε% ( x )dΩ k =
Ak ∫ L u ( x ) dΓ
n k
 k Ωk Γk
εk =  (1)
1
 Ak ∫ L n u ( x ) dΓ k when u ( x ) is discontinuous in Ω k
 Γk
377
where ε% is the compatible strain obtained by

∂ 
 0
 ∂x 
 ∂ ∂   ∂
ε% = L d u ( x ) where L d  ,  =  0  (2)
 ∂x ∂y   ∂y 
∂ ∂
 
 ∂y ∂x  3×2
, Ln is the matrix of unit outward normal; εk is the smoothed strain over the smoothing
domain Ω k ; and Ak = ∫ dΩ k is the area of Ω k .

Ωk
To perform the generalized strain smoothing, the problem domain is first

discretized using 3-noded triangular elements and then the stationary and
non-overlapping smoothing domains are constructed based on these triangles such that
Ω = Ω1 ∪ Ω 2 ∪ ⋅⋅⋅ ∪ Ω N s and Ωi ∩ Ω j = ∅, i ≠ j in which Ns is the number of
smoothing domains. For the ES-PIM (T3), smoothing domains are constructed with
respect to the edges of the triangular elements by connecting two ends of an edge to the
centroids of two adjacent cells, as illustrated in
Figure 1b. Thus the number of the smoothing domains (Ns) equals the number of
edges of triangles (Nedge).
Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1), the edge-based smoothed strain, εk , can now be
written in the following matrix form of nodal displacements.
1
εk =
Ak ∫ L Φ ( x ) u dΓ
n
T
s k = ∑ B (x )u
i∈N infl
i k si (3)
Γk
where Φ is the matrix of PIM shape functions; Ninfl is the number of field nodes
involved in constructing the smoothed strain fields within Ω k ; Bi ( x k ) is termed as the
smoothed strain matrix that can be expressed as:

bix ( x k ) 0 
 
Bi ( x k ) =  0 biy ( x k )  (4)
biy ( x k ) bix ( x k ) 
  3×2
where
1
bil ( x k ) = ∫ ϕ ( x ) n ( x ) dΓ ( l = x , y )
i k l k k (5)
Ak Γk
378
Using Gauss integration scheme, the above integration can be further expressed
as follows:
1
N seg
 N gau 
bil ( x k ) =
Ak
∑  ∑ wnϕi ( x mn ) ni ( x m ) 
m =1  n =1
( l = x, y ) (6)

where Nseg is the number of segments of the boundary Γk; Ngau is the number of Gauss
points located in each segment on Γk; wn is the corresponding weight number of Gauss
integration scheme. As linear shape functions are used in this work, Ngau =1 is adopted
to perform the integration.
Discretized System Equations
For the ES-PIM models, the following generalized smoothed Galerkin (GS-Galerkin)
weak form is used to derive the discretized system equations (Liu, 2008, 2010):
∫ δ ( ε ( u ) ) D ( ε ( u ) ) dΩ − ∫ δ u b dΩ − ∫ δ u t
T T T
Γ dΓ = 0 (7)
Ω Ω Γ
which has exactly the same form as the standard Galerkin weak form. Thus, the
formulation procedure is exactly the same as that in the standard FEM and all we need
to do is to use the edge-based smoothed strain ε in place of the compatible strain ε% .
The overall procedure of the presented methods is as follows. First, the
displacement field will be constructed by using PIM. Following the smoothed strains
ε will be obtained using Eq. (3). Finally, by substituting the assumed displacements
and the smoothed strains into the generalized Galerkin weak form (Eq. (7)), and
invoking the arbitrary nature of the variation operations, a set of discretized algebraic
system equations can be obtained in the following matrix form.
Ku = f (8)
where f is the force vector that can be obtained as:
f = − ∫ ΦT bdΩ + ∫ ΦT t Γ dΓ (9)
Ω Γ
and the stiffness matrix K is assembled from the sub-stiffness matrix for all the
integration cells, which are exactly the edge-based smoothing domains for the present
method.
Ns Ns
K ij = ∑ K ij ( k ) = ∑ Ak BTi DB j (10)
k =1 k =1
where the smoothed strain matrixes are obtained using Eq. (4).
Substitute the stiffness matrix K into the static system of equations:
KU = F (11)
where F is the equivalent force vector.
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The vector U of the displacements at all the nodes thus can be gotten by Eq. (11)
based on any methods, e.g. Gauss elimination, LU decompositions and iterative
methods (Liu and Quek, 2003). Finally the interested variables, e.g. stresses and strains
in the filed can be calculated based on the vector U following the standard procedures
used as in the FEM.
ESTABLISHMENT OF ASYMMETRIC GEAR MODELS
Formulation of the Asymmetric Gear
In this section, five asymmetric gear models, each of which is with a greater pressure
angle at the drive side and a normal pressure angle at the coast side, are generated by a
specially designed rack cutter. Figure 2 presents the schematic of the specially
designed rack cutter which uses a larger pressure angle at one side and a normal
pressure angle at the opposite side. Only one round corner where there is only one
radiusρ is designed at the top of the rack cutter as the connection of two straight
outlines of the rack to ensure that the fillet of the generated asymmetric gears is
trochoidal. Design parameters of the rack cutter are listed in Table 1.
.
Figure 2. Profile of specially designed rack cutter with one fillet at the tip
380
Table 1. Parameters of the specially designed rack cutter
Parameter Symbol Quantitative value

Module m 5 mm
Pressure angle at the coast side αc 20°
Pressure angles at the drive side αd 20°/25°/30°/35°/40°
Addendum coefficient at the coast side hc* 1
e p − hc* × m × (tan α c + tan α d )

#1
Tip radius ρ ρ=
cos α c − sec α d − sin α c × tan α d
#2
Bottom clearance coefficient at the ρ × (1 − sin α c )
cc* cc* =
coast side m
#3
Bottom clearance coefficient at the ρ × (1 − sin α d )
cd* cd* =
drive side m
#4
Addendum coefficient at the drive side hd* hd* = hc* + cc* − cd*
#1,2,3,4
For different α d , the quantitative values of ρ , cc* , cd* , hd* are different, which are
listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Quantitative Values of ρ , cc* , cd* , hd* Associated with Special α d
Unit: mm
αd 20° 25° 30° 35° 40°

ρ 2.2424 1.9657 1.6592 1.3186 0.9390
cc* 0.2951 0.2587 0.2183 0.1735 0.1236
cd* 0.2951 0.2270 0.1659 0.1125 0.0671
hd* 1 1.0317 1.0524 1.0611 1.0565
Based on the envelope principles (Fetvaci and Imrak, 2008; Su and Houser,
2000), the outlines of five asymmetric gear models can be drawn as Figure 3.
.
381
a) Model 1 with pressure angles 20°/20° b) Model 2 with pressure angles 25°/20°
c) Model 3 with pressure angles 30°/20° d) Model 4 with pressure angles 35°/20°
e) Model 5 with pressure angles 40°/20°
Figure 3. Five asymmetric gear models with modified pressure angles 20°, 25°, 30°,
35°, 40° at the drive side and a normal pressure angle 20° at the coast side
The parameters of these five gear models are list in Table 3. Note that the maximum
bending stress occurs at the time when a single tooth carries the full load. Therefore,
the selection of one single tooth contact is enough for the maximum bending stress
investigation (Wang, 2003).
Table 3. Basic Parameters of the Five Asymmetric Gears
Number of Addendum Tooth

Module Pressure angle
teeth coefficient width
α c = 20o
m =5mm z = 20 *
hac =1 B = 20 mm
α d = 20o / 25o / 30o / 35o / 40o
382
Load Application
Error! Reference source not found. shows the load F applied at HPSTC M which
locates at the drive side of the asymmetric tooth. Here the load F is divided into
tangent load Ft and normal load Fn. As the transferred power is assumed to be P=50kW
and the rotation speed of the gear is assumed to be n=1000 r/min in this analysis, the
transferred tangent load Ft and normal load Fn can then be calculated based on the Eq.
(14) and thus the exact values are listed in Table 4.
The torque applied at the tooth is:
P
T = 9550 × (12)
n
The whole force applied at the tooth is:
T T
F= = (13)
B × rM × cos α dM B × rb
and the tangent force and normal force applied at the tooth are:
 Ft = F × cos α FM
 (14)
 Fn = F × sin α FM
where B is the width of the gear; z is the tooth number of the pinion; α dM is the
   rb   2π ( ε d − 1) 
pressure angle at point M, α dM = arctan  tan  arccos    −  ;

 r + hac × m  
*
  z 
π
α FM is the load angle at point M , α FM = invα dM + α dM − invα d − ; and ε d is the
z
contact ratio at the drive side.
Figure 4. Force Applied at HPSTC at the drive side of the asymmetric tooth
383
Table 4. Forces Applied at HPSTC with Different Asymmetric Gear Models

Unit: N/mm
Pressure angle Total force F Tangent force Ft Normal force Fn
20°/20° 508144.89 481551.68 162231.99
25°/20° 526862.96 476574.41 224636.17
30°/20° 551369.51 471014.73 286624.24
35°/20° 582919.87 465552.06 350794.59
40°/20° 623331.98 460744.50 419830.04
COMPUTATION INVESTITATION OF ES-PIM (T3) METHOD
In this section, the gear model with pressure angle of 20°/20°, as shown in Figure , is
investigated to test the key properties of the present ES-PIM (T3), e.g. the accuracy of
stresses, the convergence property of the strain energy, the convergence rate of the
strain energy norm and the computation efficiency.
Figure 5. Gear model subjected to Dirichlet, Neumann boundary conditions
An ES-PIM (T3) code developed in MATLAB is used to do the bending stress

analysis. For comparison, the FEM in-house code is also developed here. The materials
properties of the gear are of E=2.16×1011Pa and v=0.3. A set of mesh with 521
irregularly distributed nodes, as shown in Figure 6a, is generated for the analysis. As
the exact stress is not available for the gear problem, a refined mesh with 10233
irregular nodes (see Figure 6b) is also generated to calculate the reference stress. Note
that there is a higher node density at the fillet in order to pay special attention on the
stress distribution at that place. The plane strain triangular element is used in this
analysis.
384
a) Mesh with 521 nodes b) Mesh with 10233 nodes
Figure 4. Meshes generated for analysis
a) Particular mesh near the load point
b) Concentrated load applied c) Distributed load applied

at the HPSTC at the 9 points associated with HPSTC
Figure 5. Load distribution-from a concentrated load to a distributed load
The Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are applied at the gear, as
shown in Figure . For the Dirichlet boundary, the displacements of relevant nodes are
385
constrained in both X and Y direction. For Neumann boundary condition, the loads of
Ft =481551.67N and Fn =162231.99N are applied at the HPSTC. In order to avoid the
infinite value because of the concentrated load, the region near the HPSTC is
particularly meshed (
Figure 5a): the concentrated load is linearly discretized to 9 extremely adjacent
nodes on a line associated with the HPSTC using Gauss integration method, as shown
in
Figure 5b and
Figure 5c.
Accuracy of the Stress Field
It is noted that the gear teeth usually fail by a crack at the base of the tooth on the
tensile-stress side (Wang, 2003). Therefore, it is meaningful to focus on the stress
distribution at the fillet of the drive side.
Figure 6 presents the distribution of the Von Mises stress at the fillet of drive side
using both the present ES-PIM (T3) and FEM. From these three figures, it can be seen
that at the region near the load point the stress distribution of ES-PIM (T3) is much
closer to the reference one, which means that the ES-PIM (T3) can deal with a
concentrated load problem better than the FEM. The distributions of Von Mises
stresses from the solutions of the present ES-PIM (T3), FEM and reference mesh are
shown in Figure 7. Figure 8 presents the curves of stress distributions. From the
comparisons of the curves in these two figures, it can be seen that the present ES-PIM
(T3) solution is much closer to the reference one than that of FEM, which means that
the ES-PIM (T3) solution is more accurate than that obtained from the FEM
computation. Considering the maximum Von Mises stress, 23.67% errors are reduced
by the ES-PIM (T3) comparing with the FEM.
Convergence of Strain Energy
he strain energy indicator of a whole domain is defined as follows:

1 1
eexact =
2Ω∫ σ exact T ε exact dΩ = ∫ σ exact T D−1σ exact dΩ
2Ω
(15)
where σexact is the exact stress vector of an arbitrary point of the domain; εexact is the
exact strain vector corresponding to the arbitrary point; and D is the material
constant matrix.
Five sets of mesh (321 nodes, 521 nodes, 1102 nodes, 1984 nodes and 4225 nodes)
are generated in this subsection for analysis. As the exact strain energy cannot be
directly obtained for the gear problem with complex outlines, a reference strain energy
based on a refined mesh of 10233 nodes, which will replace eexact in Eq. (24), is also
calculated. Table 5 lists the strain energies of the present ES-PIM (T3), the FEM
386
method and the reference solution. Figure 9 shows the convergence process of the
solutions with the increase of the DOFs. From this figure, it can be seen that i) the
strain energies of both the ES-PIM (T3) and FEM converge to the reference solution
with the increase of the DOFs; ii) the strain energy of the ES-PIM (T3) is much closer
to the reference one than that of FEM. It is well known that the linear FEM model
behaves overly-stiff and hence give poor stress solutions. A softening effect has been
introduced into the ES-PIM (T3) owning to the implementation of strain smoothing
operation, which makes it behave more softly and hence obtain more accurate results
than the FEM model (Liu and Zhang, 2008).
a) ES-PIM (T3) solutions with 521irregular nodes
b) FEM solutions with 521irregular nodes
c) Reference solutions with 10233 irregular nodes
Figure 6. Rainbow figures of the Von Mises stress from ES-PIM (T3), FEM and reference
solutions
387
Figure 7. Sketch map of the Von Mises stress at the fillet based on the present ES-PIM (T3)
and FEM
Stress comparision at gear root: 1042 dofs

240
FEM
ES-PIM(T3)
220 Reference Solu.
200
Mises stress: Mpa
180
160
140
120
100
80
-7 -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -4
X coordinate: mm
Figure 8. Comparisons of the Von Mises stress at the fillet based on the present ES-PIM
(T3) and FEM
Convergence of Strain Energy
he strain energy indicator of a whole domain is defined as follows:

1 1
eexact =
2Ω∫ σ exact T ε exact dΩ = ∫ σ exact T D−1σ exact dΩ
2Ω
(16)
where σexact is the exact stress vector of an arbitrary point of the domain; εexact is the
exact strain vector corresponding to the arbitrary point; and D is the material
constant matrix.
388
Five sets of mesh (321 nodes, 521 nodes, 1102 nodes, 1984 nodes and 4225
nodes) are generated in this subsection for analysis. As the exact strain energy cannot
be directly obtained for the gear problem with complex outlines, a reference strain
energy based on a refined mesh of 10233 nodes, which will replace eexact in Eq. (24), is
also calculated. Table 5 lists the strain energies of the present ES-PIM (T3), the FEM
method and the reference solution. Figure 9 shows the convergence process of the
solutions with the increase of the DOFs. From this figure, it can be seen that i) the
strain energies of both the ES-PIM (T3) and FEM converge to the reference solution
with the increase of the DOFs; ii) the strain energy of the ES-PIM (T3) is much closer
to the reference one than that of FEM. It is well known that the linear FEM model
behaves overly-stiff and hence give poor stress solutions. A softening effect has been
introduced into the ES-PIM (T3) owning to the implementation of strain smoothing
operation, which makes it behave more softly and hence obtain more accurate results
than the FEM model (Liu and Zhang, 2008).
Table 5. Strain Energy with Different DOFs
Case DOF Strain energy of ES-PIM (T3) Strain energy of FEM

1 642 4.1680 3.9507
2 1042 4.2037 4.0429
3 2204 4.2945 4.1925
4 3968 4.3157 4.2385
5 8450 4.3459 4.2920
Reference 4.3591 (20466 DOFs)
4.4
4.35
4.3
Strain energy
4.25
4.2
4.15
4.1
4.05
4
FEM
3.95 ES-PIM(T3)
Reference solu.
3.9
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
DOF
Figure 9. Solutions (in strain energy) converging to the exact solution for the gear using
both ES-PIM (T3) and FEM
389
Convergence Rate of Strain Energy Norm
The strain energy error norm indicator is defined as follows:

12
e −e 
ee =  exact num  (17)
 eexact 
where eexact is the exact strain energy of the gear model obtained by Eq. (16); and enum
is the numerical strain energy of the gear model. Here, the eexact is also replaced by the
reference strain energy from a refined mesh as that in section 4.2. The convergence rate
in energy error norm, converging with the reducing average nodal spacing (h), is
plotted in Figure 10. From this figure, it can be found that the convergence rate of the
present ES-PIM (T3) of 0.99 is 1.46 times higher than that of the FEM of 0.68.
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7
-0.8
Log (e )
e
10
-0.9
-1
-1.1
-1.2
FEM(r=0.68)
ES-PIM(T3)(r=0.99)
-1.3
-1.8 -1.7 -1.6 -1.5 -1.4 -1.3 -1.2 -1.1
Log (h)
10
Figure 10. Convergence rate of the numerical results in the energy norm for the gear
using both ES-PIM (T3) and FEM
Computational Efficiency
A comparison of computational efficiency is investigated on the same computer Dell

PC of Inter® Pentium(R) CPU 2.80GHz, 1GB of RBM using models of the same
DOFs. In order to carry out this study with an efficient manner and test the
computation time with less measurement error, an model with four types of irregular
distributed nodes (3010 nodes, 10461 nodes, 30286 nodes and 44407 nodes) are
developed and the MFree2D© is used in the test where a well-coded ‘bandwidth’ solver
with on-column storage technique is available (Liu and Liu, 2003; Wu et al., 2008;
Chen et al., 2010). As is known, the computation costs mainly come from two parts:
the cost to solve the system equations and the cost of interpolation which mainly solve
the inverse of moment matrix to form the shape functions. Table 6 and Table 7 list the
CPU time of these two parts (Chen et al., 2009), respectively. From these two tables it
390
can be seen that i) the CPU time of ES-PIM (T3) and FEM of interpolation is shorter
than that of solving system equations (especially the number of nodes becomes larger)
and can be neglected for the whole computation, especially when the model is so huge
with more DOFs; ii) the CPU time of ES-PIM (T3) of solving system equations is
2-3.5 times longer than that of FEM. This mainly because more local nodes are
selected by ES-PIM (T3) to approximate the displacement field, which make the
bandwidth of the global stiffness matrix two times than that of FEM (Wu et al., 2008;
Chen et al., 2009). Actually the CPU time of ES-PIM (T3) for solving system
equations should be four times larger than that of FEM based on the bandwidth theory
(Chen et al., 2009). Therefore, the test results agree very well with the theoretic ones.
Though more CPU time (2-3.5 times) is used by ES-PIM (T3), the ES-PIM (T3)
method will stand out if we consider the computation efficiency (stain energy error
norm/CPU time). Tests (Liu and Zhang, 2008; Liu et al., 2008; Chen et al., 2009)
indicate that the solution accuracy of ES-PIM (T3) is much better (about 10 times) than
the linear FEM with the same triangular mesh. Thus, it is a much better choice for the
mechanical problems calculation.
Table 6. Comparison of the CPU time (s) to Solve the System Equations by ES-PIM
(T3) and FEM with Triangular Background Elements
Unit: Second
Case DOF ES-PIM (T3) FEM
1 7020 0.359 0.156
2 20922 3.807 1.331
3 60572 23.309 9.314
4 88814 63.391 19.22
Table 7. Comparison of the CPU time (s) of Interpolation by ES-PIM (T3) and FEM
with Triangular Background Elements
Unit: Second
Case DOF ES-PIM (T3) FEM
1 7020 0.281 0.267
2 20922 1.227 0.767
3 60572 4.228 2.353
4 88814 4.478 3.622
STRESS DISTRIBUTION INVESTIGATION
The fillet stress distribution at the drive side of asymmetric gear is investigated in this
section. Five asymmetric gear models established in section 3 are utilized. The
respective models with their design parameters can be found from
Figure 3 and Table 3. The materials assigned at the models are all linear elastic, with
391
Young’s modulus of E=2.16×1011Pa and Poisson’s ratio of v=0.3. During the analysis
the five gear models are discretized with approximate irregularly distributed nodes and
equal node space is set on the outline: the node density is higher at the fillet with the
node space 0.0003mm and is normal at other parts of the outlines with the node space
0.0007mm. Five sets of refined meshes are generated, respectively, for their reference
solutions. The node information is listed in Table 8. The element type, Dirichlet and
Neumann boundary conditions are the same as used in section 4.
Figure 11 shows the distribution of Von Mises stress and Figure 12 and Figure
13 present the comparisons of these stresses of the fillet. From these figures, it can be
seen that i) the solutions from both ES-PIM(T3) and FEM give the same trends of
stress distribution; ii) the maximum bending stress decreases with the increase of drive
side pressure angle; iii) the fillet moves to the negative direction of the X-axis and the
length of fillet decreases with the increase of the drive side pressure angle; iv) the
location of the maximum stress moves to the top of the fillet with the increase of the
pressure angle on the drive side. Figure 14 presents the comparison of the maximum
bending stress with different pressure angles on the drive side. It is again noticed that
the maximum bending stress decreases with the increase of the drive side pressure
angle. It can also be seen that the calculated stresses of ES-PIM (T3) are much closer
to the reference ones than those of FEM, which means that the ES-PIM (T3) should
give more accurate solutions than the FEM. The reduced errors are respectively
23.67%, 26.31%, 25.90%, 25.41% and 29.73% for the present ES-PIM (T3). This
conclusion can verify those conclusions gotten in section 4. Another conclusion drawn
from Figure 14 is that the maximum bending stresses approximately linearly decrease
with the increase of drive side pressure angles. This curve can be synthesized in a
straight line with the expression in Eq. (18).
σ Max = −0.877α d + 245.22 (18)
where αd is the pressure angle at the drive side; σMax is the maximum bending stress
corresponding to αd and its unit is MPa.
Table 8. Node information of the five asymmetric gear models
Gear model Nodes numbers for comparison Node number for reference
20°/20° 521 10233
25°/20° 524 11100
30°/20° 519 11061
35°/20° 510 10919
40°/20° 500 10928
392
a1) ES-PIM (T3) solutions for 20°/20° model a2) FEM solutions for 20°/20° model
b1) ES-PIM (T3) solutions for 25°/20° model b2) FEM solutions for 25°/20° model
c1) ES-PIM (T3) solutions for 30°/20° model c2) FEM solutions for 30°/20° model
d1) ES-PIM (T3) solutions for 35°/20° model d2) FEM solutions for 35°/20° model
e1) ES-PIM (T3) solutions for 40°/20° model e2) FEM solutions for 40°/20° model
Figure 11. von Mises stress rainbow of ES-PIM (T3), FEM and reference solutions based on the
five asymmetric gear models with pressure angles 20°/20°, 25°/20°, 30°/20°, 35°/20°, 40°/20°
393
Stress comparision with different pressure angles

---ES-PIM(T3)
220
20°/20°
25°/20°
200 30°/20°
35°/20°
40°/20°
180
Mises stress: Mpa

160
140
120
100
80
-8.5 -8 -7.5 -7 -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -4
X coordinate: mm
Figure 12. Stress distributions at the fillet of the five asymmetric gear models based on
ES-PIM (T3)
Stress comparision with different pressure angles
---FEM
220
20°/20°
25°/20°
200 30°/20°
35°/20°
40°/20°
180
Mises stress: Mpa
160
140
120
100
80
-8.5 -8 -7.5 -7 -6.5 -6 -5.5 -5 -4.5 -4
X coordinate: mm
Figure 13. Stress distributions at the fillet of the five asymmetric gear models based on
FEM
Max stress comparision with different pressure angles
235
FEM
230 ES-PIM(T3)
Reference Solu.
225
Max mises stress: Mpa
220
215
210
205
200
195
190
185
20 25 30 35 40
Pressure angle at driven side: °
Figure 14. Maximum bending stress comparison based on the present ES-PIM (T3)
and FEM using the same coarse triangular elements
394
CONCLUSIONS
In this work, newly designed asymmetric gears which use modified pressure angles at
the drive side and a standard pressure angle at the coast side is proposed, and the
ES-PIM (T3) method using the background mesh of triangular cells is used to conduct
the asymmetric gear bending stress analysis. Through the formulation and numerical
examples, it can be concluded that ES-PIM (T3) possesses of the significant
advantages than the FEM in the problem analysis with very complex geometries. More
accurate solutions in stress field are drawn by the ES-PIM (T3) than those by FEM.
Higher convergence, higher convergence rate of the strain energy error and higher
computational efficiency are also obtained by ES-PIM (T3) in the analysis. The
problem with stress concentration can be better solved by the present method. With the
attractive properties of good accuracy, ‘super-convergence’ and high computational
efficiency, the ES-PIM(T3) is significantly convenient for the bending strength
analysis of the complicated asymmetric gear problem which involves complex outlines,
stress concentration at the fillet and concentration load at the HPSTC.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is partially supported by A*Star, Singapore. It is also partially supported by

the Open Research Fund Program of the State Key Laboratory of Advanced
Technology of Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, Hunan University,
P.R.China under the grant number 40915001.
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397
PROCESS CAPABILITY STUDY OF RAPID CASTING SOLUTION FOR

ALUMINIUM ALLOYS USING THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTING
R. Singh
Faculty of Production Engineering

Guru Nanak Dev Engg. College
Ludhiana-141006, India
Phone: +91 98722 57575, Fax: +91 161 2502700,
ABSTRACT
In the present work best shell wall thickness of mould cavity has been investigated for
process capability study of rapid casting solution for aluminum alloys using three
dimensional printing (3DP). Starting from the identification of component/ benchmark,
aluminum-alloy casting prototype was produced at different shell wall thickness with
three dimensional printing. The results of the study suggests that at best shell wall
thickness (5mm) for aluminum alloys, rapid casting solution using 3DP process lies in
±3.999 sigma (σ) limit.
Keywords: Three dimensional printing, process capability, aluminum alloys,

dimensional accuracy, rapid casting
INTRODUCTION
The process of three dimensional printing (3DP) was patented by Sachs et al. (1994)
under U.S. patent number 005340656. It was developed at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and licensed to Soligen Corporation, Extrude Hone and Z
Corporation of Burlington (Singh and Verma, 2008). Hybrid 3DP is relatively cost
effective form of rapid prototyping (RP) (Singh, 2010a). The techniques based on layer-
by-layer manufacturing are extending their fields of application, from building of
aesthetic and functional prototypes to the production of tools and moulds for
technological prototypes (Karapatis et al., 1998, Singh, 2010b). Technological
prototypes can constitute a strategic means, not only for functional and assembly tests or
to obtain the customer’s acceptance, but mainly to outline eventual critical points in the
production process (Singh and Singh, 2008). The relevance of RP techniques consists,
above all, in a short time for parts availability (Bassoli et al., 2006, Singh and Singh,
2009a). Traditionally, in order to produce cast prototypes a model and eventual cores
have to be created, involving time and costs that hardly match the rules of the
competitive market (Singh, 2008a). For this reason, functional tests are typically
performed on prototypes obtained by metal cutting, which are not effective in outlining
issues related to the manufacturing process (Singh, 2010c). The possibility to verify the
usefulness of a technological solution, in the early stages of the product development,
ensures a ‘concurrent engineering’ approach and minimizes the risk of late
modifications of the definitive production tools (Bernard et al., 2003). The initial cost
increase can thus be repaid through a reduction of costs and time for the following
phases of development, engineering and production, as well as trough non-monetary
advantages (Wang et al., 1999). In particular, for relatively small and complex parts, the
398
Process capability study of rapid casting solution for aluminium alloys using three-dimensional printing
benefits of additive construction can be significant (Dimitrov et al., 2006). In this field,
innovative solutions are now available based on 3DP process, which can extend RP
possibilities thanks to the lower costs with respect to previous technologies (Singh,
2010d). One such technological solution in shell casting is starting from starch patterns
produced on 3DP conceptual modelers (Radstok, 1999). A second solution is the 3DP
technology with the use of a ceramic material allows the production of complex cavities
and cores, suitable for casting light alloys (Dimitrov et al., 2007). A key issue regarding
the shell casting process is the production of the pattern in the case of a prototype
casting, for which the traditional die casting is uneconomical. Rapid prototyping
techniques can meet this requirement, producing single/few parts in short times and
without tooling costs (Verma, 2008 and Singh and Singh, 2009b,c). The present
research regards shell patterns obtained by 3DP on which the ceramic shell can be built
and then joined (as in the conventional process) to obtain the cavity for pouring metal.
Experimental studies regarding this solution are lacking in literature, in particular the
technological feasibility in the case of thin-walled parts needs to be assessed (Singh,
2008b). In earlier studies, an effort has been made through experiments, to study the
feasibility of decreasing the shell wall thickness from the recommended one (12mm), in
order to reduce the time of production as well as to evaluate the dimensional accuracy,
mechanical properties of low melting alloy castings obtained, for assembly purpose
(Singh, 2010b) But hitherto very less work has been reported on process capability of
3DP process for rapid casting of aluminum alloys. In the current work, the 3DP
technology has been used as rapid shell casting to make the shell moulds for aluminum
alloys and study has been conducted to understand the process capability of 3DP.
Following objectives have been set for present experimental study:
a) To study the process capability of rapid casting solution of aluminum alloy using
hybrid 3DP.
b) To evaluate the dimensional accuracy of the castings obtained as per allowed IS
standards for casting process.
EXPERIMENTATION
In order to accomplish the above objectives, ‘aluminum alloy casting’ has been chosen
as a benchmark. The component selected for the present study is shown in Figure 1
(Singh and Singh, 2008). The experimental procedure started with drafting/ model
creation using AutoCAD software (Ref. Figure 2).
After the selection of the benchmark, the component to be built was modelled
using a CAD. The CAD software used for the modelling was UNIGRAPHICS Ver. NX
5. The upper and lower shells of the split pattern were made for different values of the
thickness. The thickness values for shells were 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1mm.
The CAD models of upper and lower shells were converted in to STL (standard
triangulation language) format also known as stereo lithography format. Moulds were
manufactured in 3DP (Z Print machine, Model Z 510) with Z Cast 501 powder, and
parts were heat treated at temperature of 1100C for 1 hour, The upper and lower shells
were placed in such a way that the central axis of both the shells was collinear. The co-
linearity of the shells was checked with the help of surface profilometer, and molten
metal was poured for obtaining the aluminum-alloy casting prototype (Figure 3).
399
Singh /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 398-405
Figure 1. Benchmark dimensions (Singh and Singh, 2008)
Figure 2. CAD model of the casing chosen as a benchmark (Singh and Singh, 2008)
Figure 3. Aluminum alloy casting at different shell wall thicknesses
400
The measurement paths for the internal and the external surfaces of the benchmark have
been generated through the measurement software of the GEOPAK v2.4.R10 CMM.
These paths direct the movements of the CMM probe along trajectories normal to the
parts surface. About 70 points have been measured on the external surface. For each
point the machine software evaluates the deviations between the measured positions and
the theoretical ones for the X, Y, Z coordinates. Table 1 shows variation in measured
dimension of outer diameter and hardness of castings prepared with respect to shell
thickness (mm).
Table 1. Observations of final experimentation for aluminium alloy casting
S. No Shell mould thickness Avg. diameter Hardness

(mm) (mm) (VHN)
1 12 49.151 94
2 11 49.148 92
3 10 49.152 93
4 9 49.022 89
5 8 49.153 91
6 7 49.154 94
7 6 49.169 93
8 5 49.189 98
9 4 49.112 94
10 3 49.016 93
11 2 48.986 92
12 1 Broken under metal pressure
It should be noted that in casting neither higher nor lower hardness is desirable
(Kaplas and Singh, 2008). This is because if casting is of high hardness, usually it is
brittle and with lower hardness it will be of ductile nature. In the present experimental
study the variation in hardness value is not too much. The only reason to measure and
compare hardness value is show that for optimum size shell thickness prepared by 3DP,
castings produced have little variation in hardness. So there will not be any problem in
its functional operations. The results of the dimensional measurements have been used
to evaluate the tolerance unit (n) that derives starting from the standard tolerance factor
i, defined in standard UNI EN 20286-1 (1995). The values of standard tolerances
corresponding to IT5-IT18 grades, for nominal sizes up to 500 mm, were evaluated
2008).
i = 0.45 × D1/3 + 0.001 × D (1)
size, but for a range of nominal sizes. For a generic nominal dimension DJN, the number
of the tolerance unit’s n is evaluated as follows:
n= 1000 × (DJN - DJM) i (2)

where DJM is measured dimension.
401

400i with n= 400. Table 2 shows classification of different IT grades according to UNI
EN 20286-1. After this for each value of outer diameter, corresponding value of ‘n’
were calculated, the latter taken as a reference index for evaluation of tolerance grade.
Table 2. IT grades as per UNI EN 20286-1(1995)
S. No Shell Mould Dimension IT

Thickness (mm) grade
(mm) DJN DJM
(Tolerance factor, i = 1.58)

1 12 50.00 49.151 IT 14
2 11 50.00 49.148 IT 14
3 10 50.00 49.152 IT 14
4 9 50.00 49.022 IT 14
5 8 50.00 49.153 IT14
6 7 50.00 49.154 IT 14
7 6 50.00 49.169 IT 14
8 5 50.00 49.189 IT 14
9 4 50.00 49.112 IT 14
10 3 50.00 49.016 IT 14
11 2 50.00 48.986 IT 15
12 1 Broken due to metal pressure
It should be noted that with shell wall thickness reduction there is no problem of
safety, because reduction in shell wall thickness has been compensated by supporting
loose sand. Further (based upon observations of Table 1), to understand whether the
process is statistically controlled eight sample of aluminum alloy pieces were casted for
best shell thickness value that is 5mm (As it shows best dimensional accuracy). On
measurement of outer diameter with CMM, the dimensions obtained are shown in Table
3. Based upon observations in Table 3, R chart and X chart of measured values of outer
diameter has been developed (Figure 4 and 5). Figure 6 shows Cp and Cpk values for
bench mark prepared at 5mm shell wall thickness.
Table 3. Bench mark dimensional value at 5mm shell wall thickness
S.NO OBSERVATIONS
1 49.1886
2 49.1884
3 49.1869
4 49.1811
5 49.1825
6 49.1861
7 49.1895
8 49.1902
402
Figure 4. R Chart Aluminum
Figure 5. X chart Aluminum
Figure 6. Cp and Cpk values for dimensional value
403
For nominal dimension (DJN = 50mm), corresponding to Cpk value of 1.37, area
under the normal curve is 0.999936360 and non-confirming parts per million (ppm) is
63.6403. It should be noted that Cpk values of 1.33 or greater are considered to be
industry benchmarks. This means that the process is contained within four standard
deviations of the process specifications (Devor et al., 2005). This process will produce
conforming products as long as it remains in statistical control. Based upon Cpk value,
‘σ’ value has been calculated using ‘QI Macros 2010’ soft ware. The process capability
at best shell wall thickness (5mm) for aluminum alloys lies in range of ±3.999σ, as rapid
casting solution using 3DP process
CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of experimental observations made on the aluminum alloy castings,

following conclusions can be drawn:
1. It is feasible to reduce the shell wall thickness from the recommended value of
12mm to 2mm. The tolerance grades of the castings produced from different
thickness are consistent with the permissible range of tolerance grades (IT
grades) as per standard UNI EN 20286-I (1995). The results are consistent with
the observations made otherwise. Further instead of 12mm shell wall thickness
of mould in aluminum-alloy casting prototype one can select 5mm shell
thickness, as observed from better dimensional results and mechanical
properties.
2. The Cpk value ˃1.33 at 5mm shell wall thickness highlights that rapid casting
solution for aluminium alloys using 3DP is highly capable process and process
capability lies in range of ±3.999σ limits.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author is thankful to AICTE, New Delhi for financial support under CAYT, grants-
in-aid sanctioned vide letter no. 1-51/FD/CA/17/2007-08.
REFERENCES
Bassoli, E., Gatto, A., Iuliano, L. and Violante, M.G. 2006. 3D printing technique
Bernard, A., Charles, J.D., Perry, N. and Gabriel, S. 2003. Integration of CAD and rapid
manufacturing for sand casting optimization. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 5: 327-
333.
Devor, R.E., Chang, T. and Sutherland, J.W. 2005. Statistical quality design and control
contemporary concepts and methods. Second edition. New Jersey: Pearson
Prentice Hall.
– State of the art and future perspectives. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 12(3): 136-
147.
Dimitrov, D., Wijck, W. van, de Beer, N. and Dietrich, J. 2007. Development,
evaluation and selection of rapid tooling process chains for sand casting of
functional prototypes. Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 221(B9): 1441-
1450.
404
in zinc shell casting using three dimensional printing. Proc. of IMechE Part C,
Karapatis, N.P., Griethuysen, J.P.S. and Glardon, R. 1998. Direct rapid tooling: a
review of current research. Prototyping Journal, 4(2): 77-89.
Radstok, E.1999. Rapid tooling. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 5(4): 164-168.
Sachs, E.M., Haggerty, J.S., Cima, M.J. and Wiliams, A.P. 1994. Three dimensional
printing techniques. United States Patent No. US 005340656.
Singh, J.P. and Singh, R. 2009a. Comparison of rapid casting solutions for lead and
alloys using three dimensional printing. Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Sciences (Proc. of IMechE Part C), 223(C9): 2117-2123.
Singh, J.P. and Singh, R. 2009b. Investigations for statistically controlled rapid casting
solution of lead alloys using three dimensional printing. Journal of Mechanical
Engineering Sciences (Proc. of IMechE Part C), 223(C9): 2125-2134.
Singh, J.P. and Singh, R. 2009c. Investigations for statistically controlled rapid casting
solution of low brass alloys using three dimensional printing. International
Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 1(2): 208-221.
Singh, J.P. and Singh, R. 2008. Investigations for reducing wall thickness in low brass
rapid casting using three dimensional printing. Proc. of International conference
on Advances in Mechanical Engineering (AME 2008), pp. 878-883
Singh, R. 2008a. Comparison of wall thickness in shell casting of light alloys for
generating cost effective prototype using 3DP. 2nd International and 23rd All
India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research conference, pp. 1089-
1093.
Singh, R. 2008b. Three dimensional printing for casting applications: A state of art
review and future perspectives. Proc. of International conference on Advances in
Materials and Processing Technologies, pp. 311.
Singh, R. 2010a. Three dimensional printing for casting applications: A state of art
review and future perspectives. Advanced Materials Research, 83-86: 342-349.
Singh, R. 2010b. Comparison of statistically controlled machining solutions of Titanium
alloys using USM. International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical
Singh, R. 2010c. Effect of moulding sand on statistically controlled hybrid rapid casting
solution for zinc alloys. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 24(8):
1689-1695.
Singh, R. 2010d. An overview of three dimensional printing for casting applications.
International Journal of Precision Technology, 2(1): 93-116.
UNI EN 20286-1, 1995. ISO system of limits and fits. Bases of tolerances, deviations
and fits.
Verma, M. 2008. Investigations for reducing wall thickness in aluminum shell casting
using 3DP. M. Tech. Thesis, P.T.U. Jalandhar, India.
140.
405
EFFECT OF SINTERING PROFILES ON THE PROPERTIES AND AGEING

RESISTANCE OF Y-TZP CERAMIC
S. Sivakumar1, S. Ramesh2, K.L. Chin1, C.Y. Tan1 and W.D. Teng3

1
Ceramics Technology Laboratory
University Tenaga Nasional,
2
Centre of Advanced Manufacturing & Material Processing (AMMP), Department of
Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering
University of Malaya
Email: ramesh79@um.edu.my
3
Ceramics Technology Group
SIRIM Berhad, 40911 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Commercially available Y-TZP ceramic powder were fabricated under four different
sintering profiles in order to investigate the effects of conventional Single-Stage
Sintering (SSS) with 1 min and 2 h dwell time, respectively when compared with Two-
Stage Sintering (TSS) on the physical and mechanical properties of Y-TZP. Sintering
was done up to 1400oC at a ramp rate of 10oC/min. It was revealed that samples sintered
via TSS yielded better properties than the SSS samples sintered at 1400oC using a dwell
time of 2 hours. In the hydrothermal ageing test, TSS samples did not undergo the low-
temperature degradation via the tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation.
Nevertheless, it was found by XRD analysis that Y-TZP ceramics sintered by the SSS
method using a short dwell time of 1 minute was effective in maintaining the tetragonal
phase stability after 50 hours of exposure in superheated steam conditions.
Keywords: Single-stage sintering, two-stage sintering, mechanical properties, Y-TZP
INTRODUCTION
Zirconia ceramics have gained much interest for industrial applications since the
discovery of transformation toughening phenomena (Garvie et al., 1975). For an
instance, yttria-stabilized zirconia exhibited high values of fracture toughness, above 5
MPam1/2 (Masaki, 1986; Tsukuma et al., 1984; Cottom and Mayo, 1996) thus making it
a suitable candidate for a host of wide range of structural applications including cutting
tools, valve guides, extrusion dies, abrasive tools, etc. (Ran et al., 2006). During the last
10 years, research has been performed on nanocrystalline materials in order to
investigate the enhancement of mechanical, optical, magnetic and electronic properties
(Bowen and Carry, 2002). Due to higher sintering stresses attributed by increased
surface area, sinterability of nano particles is more superior to fine particles; however,
the accompanying extensive grain growth occurring during densification under SSS
method has pose a serious disadvantage for the sintering of nanocrystalline particles.
The processing of nano-structured powders to produce dense pieces while retaining the
nanometric microstructure (< 100 nm) by traditional forming techniques followed by
presurreless sintering is difficult. Recently, nanocrystalline powders of high purity have
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Sivakumar et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011 ) 406-413
been made available from various processes such as precipitation, sol-gel and
hydrothermal methods (Bowen and Carry, 2002). In order to produce nanostructured
ceramics, two common techniques used are spark plasma sintering and hot pressing
(Wang and Gao, 2005; Weibel et al., 2007). These methods enable the use of rapid
sintering rates to produce powders with high density and ultrafine grain structure. These
processes however, are not favourable for most industrial applications simply because
of the high production cost, shape complexity and small product size (Basu et al., 2004;
Dobedoe et al. 2003). It is a general fact that increase in grain size during presureless
sintering depends on the forming method and the firing temperature (Mazaheri et al.,
2008). Nanocrystalline ceramics often have a high degree of agglomeration, which, in
turn cause the development of two types of pores, i.e. inter-agglomerate pores (microns)
and intra-agglomerate pores (nanometric) within the agglomerate itself (Bowen and
Carry, 2002). Inter agglomerate pores may be eliminated through the application of high
temperature, unfortunately such an application also encourages an increase in the grain
size.
Sintering is a process governed by capillary action which acts as a driving force
resulting in atomic diffusion to cause the elimination of interparticle pores within a
compact material (Coble and Cannon, 1978). The capillary forces for sintering, involves
surface area while for growth involves grain boundary and these two quantities do not
vary much in magnitude. The final stage growth can be reduced by studying the
variations involved in the factors contributing to grain boundary diffusion and grain
boundary migration, which in turn can be manipulated through various sintering profiles
(Chen and Chen, 1997; Chen and Wang, 2000). Traditionally, sintering of zirconia
ceramics was done through one cycle of heating, holding and cooling, thus it may be
referred to as single stage sintering (SSS). Heating is done to achieve temperatures in
the range of 1500oC to 1550oC until maximum density is reached, then holding for
approximately 2 hours and finally cooling down to room temperature. It is during the
heating stage that grain size increases continuously. Under this condition, even though
sub micron yttria stabilised powders was used, mechanical strength would be reduced.
A new technique developed by (Chen and Wang, 2000) known as two stage sintering
(TSS) might prove to be a promising approach in obtaining highly dense nano grained
ceramics. TSS has been successfully applied to ZnO (Mazaheri et al., 2008), Ni–Cu–Zn
ferrite (Wang et al., 2006), BaTiO3 (Wang et al., 2006) and Al2O3 (Bodisova and
Sajgalik, 2007). The TSS cycle comprises of two main stages (Chen and Wang, 2000),
which are, heating during first step sintering to a temperature (T1) to achieve critical
density and lowering the temperature to T2 in order to increase densification without
grain growth. As such, it is the objective of the present work to investigate the effects of
TSS on the properties of Y-TZP ceramics.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
Sample Preparation
The as-received sample of 3 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia powder supplied by

Kyoritsu, Japan had a total impurity concentration of about 0.1 wt% with SiO2, Fe2O3,
TiO2 and Al2O3 as the major impurities. The Y-TZP powder has a specific surface area
of 12 m2/g and a mean particle diameter of 300 nm. A total of 8 discs (20 mm diameter
and 2.5g) and 4 rectangular bars (4 mm x 13 mm x 32mm and 3 g) were compacted
uniaxially at 300 kPa and cold isostatically pressed at 200 MPa. Consolidation of the
407
Effect of sintering profiles on the properties and ageing resistance of Y-TZP ceramic
particles by pressureless sintering was performed in air using a rapid heating furnace
(Modutemp, Australia). The samples were then subjected to four different sintering
profiles as shown in Figure 1. All sintered samples were ground on one face using SiC
papers of 120, 240, 600, 800 and 1000 (fine) grades successively, followed by polishing
with 6 microns and 1 micron diamond paste to produce an optical reflective surface.
T (oC) T (oC)
1 min T1 (1 min)
1400 1400
T2 (2 h)
1150
Time Time
SSS profile 1 (Sample 1) TSS profile 2 (Sample 2)

T (oC)
T (oC)
T1 (1 min) 2h
1400 1400
T2 (2 h)
1250
Time Time
TSS profile 3 (Sample 3) SSS profile 4 (Sample 4)
Figure 1. The various sintering profile employed in this work.
Characterization
The bulk density of the sintered samples was measure based on Archimedes’ principle
using an electronic balance retrofitted with a density determination kit (Mettler Toledo,
Switzerland). The Young’s modulus by sonic resonance was determined for rectangular
samples using a commercial testing instrument (GrindoSonic: MK5 “Industrial”,
Belgium). The instrument permits determination of the resonant frequency of a sample
by monitoring and evaluating the vibration harmonics of the sample by a transducer; the
vibrations are physically induced in the sample by tapping. The modulus of elasticity or
Young’s modulus is calculated using the experimentally determined resonant frequency
(ASTM E1876-97, 1998) and the values were found to be consistent regardless of the
number of test performed for each samples. Fracture toughness (K1c) and Vickers
hardness measurement (Future Tech., Japan) were made on polished samples using the
Vickers indentation method. The indentation load was kept constant at 100N and a
loading time of 10s was employed. The values if K1c were computed using the equation
by Niihara et al. (1982). For each test, five measurements were made and the errors
were found to be less than 1%, as such, average values were used for the analysis.
Phase analysis by X-ray diffraction (XRD: Geiger-Flex, Rigaku, Japan) of the
powders and solid samples were carried out under ambient conditions using Cu Kα as
the radiation source operating at 35kV in step mode with a 0.02° 2θ step and a count
time of 0.5s per step over the 2θ range 27-36° with a scan speed of 1°/min which covers
408
the monoclinic (m) and tetragonal / cubic (t, c) related {1 1 1} peaks. The fraction of
monoclinic (m) phase present in the ceramic matrix was determined using the method of
Toraya et al. (1984). The hydrothermal ageing experiment was performed in an
autoclave containing superheated steam (180°C/10 bars) for selected intervals of time 1,
3, 6, 9, 12, 24 and 50 hours. The extent of surface monoclinic development was
evaluated by XRD analysis.
Bulk Density
The bulk density of the sintered Y-TZP is shown in Figure 2. The results showed that
sample 4 had the highest relative density of 99.9% while sample 1 had the lowest
relative density of 96.8%. The densities were found to increase as the samples were
exposed to longer holding time and at higher sintering temperatures (T2). This
correlates well with the observation by Chen and Lu (1989) who found that the sintering
temperature was a prime factor affecting the final density of the ceramic. The
densification rate was remarkably reduced at the final sintering stage due to coarsening
of the microstructure. This was supported by the findings of other workers (Mazaheri et
al., 2008; Bodisova and Sajgalik, 2007; Ghosh et al., 2007; Rahaman, 1991) who have
stated that above a certain critical density, the collapse of open dispersed pores to form
closed and small pores accelerated grain growth simply because open pores are not
available to pin grain boundary migration through a mechanism known as solid solution
drag mechanism. As such grain size would increase due to a higher degree of grain
boundary migration as compared to grain diffusion.
6.1
Density (Mg/m3)
6.05
6.046
6
5.95
5.9 5.945
5.923
5.904
5.85
5.8
1 2 3 4
Sintering Profile
Figure 2. Effects of different sintering profiles on the density of Y-TZP. The sintering
profiles are as shown in Figure 1.
Samples 2 and 3 also showed a higher relative density when compared to sample
1 for the same dwell time of 1 minute, thus, further reinforcing the advantage of TSS
towards densification as compared to SSS. This finding is in agreement with that
reported by Chen and Lu (1989). The reduced densification in the sintering of sample 2
(5.923 Mg/m3) as compared to sample 3 (5.945 Mg/m3) could be due to grain
coarsening. Insoluble gas entrapped in the closed pores also may have retarded the
densification as described by Rahaman (2003).
409
Young’s Modulus
Young’s modulus, E, was calculated by flexural resonance frequency technique using

rectangular bars and the results are as presented in Figure 3. It was found that the
Young’s modulus for samples 2, (194.6 GPa) and sample 3, (201 GPa) sintered using
TSS profiles were higher than sample 1 (189.2 GPa) following the single-stage sintering
profile. Sample 3 exhibited the highest E value which corresponds to the increased in
bulk density. This difference in Young’s modulus is attributed to the higher sintering
temperature of sample 3 which is at 1250oC as compared to 1150oC for sample 1.
Therefore, sintering at a higher temperature T2 seemed to have promoted gain boundary
diffusion and inhibited grain boundary migration, thus promoting densification. The
results obtained were in complete agreement with the findings of Li et al. (2003).
205
200
201
E (GPa)
195 196.8
194.6
190
189.2
185
180
1 2 3 4
Sintering Profile
Figure 3. Effect of different sintering profiles on the Young’s Modulus of Y-TZP. For
sintering profiles, refer to Figure 1.
Fracture Toughness and Vickers Hardness
The fracture toughness (KIc) and hardness were performed on polished samples using
Vickers indentation method. From Figure 4, it can be seen that all samples yielded
toughness in the range of 7 to 7.4 MPam1/2. These findings indicated that the fracture
toughness was not affected by the sintering profiles. In terms of hardness (Figure 5),
there seemed to have a significant improvement i.e. from 12 GPa to above 13 GPa.
Sample 4 exhibited the highest hardness value of 13.8 GPa which can be attributed
enhancement in densification as depicted in Figure 2.
Hydrothermal Degradation
To evaluate the resistance of phase transformation between tetragonal to monoclinic,

fifty hours ageing experiment was conducted with intervals of 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24 and 50
hours. All the samples exhibited fully tetragonal phase prior to exposure in superheated
steam. The XRD analysis performed on all samples except for sample 4 exhibited 100%
tetragonal phase after 50 hours of exposure (Table 1). Samples 2 and 3 which underwent
a two-stage sintering did not suffer from the ageing-induced tetragonal to monoclinic
phase transformation thus indicating that TSS was beneficial in terms of producing a
sintered body that is ageing resistant.
410
7.5
7.4
7.40
7.3
K1c (MPam1/2)
7.32
7.2
7.1
7.11
7 7.03
6.9
6.8
1 2 3 4
Sintering Profile
Figure 4. Effects of different sintering profiles on the fracture toughness of Y-TZP
ceramics. For sintering profiles, refer to Figure 1.
14
13.5 13.8
13
Hv (GPa)
12.5
12 12.4
12.2 12.1
11.5
11
1 2 3 4
Sintering Profile
Figure 5. Effect of different sintering profiles on the Vickers hardness of Y-TZP
ceramics. For sintering profiles, refer to Figure 1.
Table 1. Effect of hydrothermal ageing on the tetragonal phase content of Y-TZP

sintered at different profiles.
Tetragonal Content (%)

Sample / Profile
1h 3h 6h 12 h 24 h 50 h
1 100 100 100 100 100 100
2 100 100 100 100 100 100
3 100 100 100 100 100 100
4 55 15 10 9 9 8
For the single-stage sintering (SSS) profiles, both, samples 1 and sample 4 were
sintered with the same heating rate up to the same temperature of 1400°C but at
different holding time as shown in Figure 1. This is an interesting observation as the
result revealed that a 1 minute holding time (sample 1) was effective in preventing the
411
aging-induced phase transformation as compared to sample 4 which was sintered for 2

hours. The sample 1 retained a 100% tetragonal structure as compared to 8% tetragonal
phase (i.e. 92% monoclinic phase) for sample 4 after exposure for 50 hours in
superheated steam (Table 1). The development of monoclinic phase in sample 4
accelerated after 1 hour of ageing, from zero in the as-sintered condition to about 45%
after 1 hour of exposure. A saturation monoclinic level of about 90% was attained in
this sample after 3 hours of ageing. This is regardless that the sample 4 exhibited the
overall best densification and highest mechanical properties. It is envisaged that the 1
minute dwell time could have suppressed grain coarsening, resulting in a finer
microstructure. SEM investigation is in progress to elucidate this grain size effect on the
ageing properties of zirconia.
CONCLUSIONS
The present work shows that sintering profile plays an important role in controlling the
physical and mechanical properties of Y-TZP ceramics particularly when sintering is
performed in two stages (TSS) or using a short dwell time. More specifically, a high
relative density of ~ 98% of theoretical value and high hardness ~ 12 GPa and high
elastic modulus ~ 200 GPa were measured for Y-TZP which were heated to 1400oC
with a dwell time of 1 min and then subsequently cooled to 1150oC at the same ramp
rate with a dwell time of 2 hrs. The research also found that Y-TZPs that were heated to
1400oC with 1 minute holding time exhibited comparable properties as that sintered
using a 2 hours dwell time. The tetragonal phase stability of these samples was not
disrupted by the short dwell time throughout the sintering profile employed. In contrast,
the tetragonal stability of sample 4 heated up to 1400oC and hold for 2 hours showed
completely disrupted within 3 hours of exposure under superheated conditions. This was
not the case when a 1 minute holding time was employed. The beneficial effect of TSS
in promoting densification and suppressing hydrothermal degradation in Y-TZP has
been demonstrated.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank MOSTI for the financial support under the grant no. 03-
02-03-SF0175.
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413
PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF CI ENGINE

OPERATED ON VEGETABLE OILS AS ALTERNATE FUELS
K. Kalyani Radha1, S. Naga Sarada1, K. Rajagopal1 and E.L. Nagesh2

1
JNTUH College of Engineering, Kukatpally
Hyderabad-500085, Andhra Pradesh, India
Phone: +91 9440517729
E-mail: kalyaniradha@gmail.com
2
Netaji Institute of Technology, Toopranpet
Nalgonda Dist, Andhra Pradesh, India
ABSTRACT
An experimental analysis is done on four stroke single cylinder constant speed, water
cooled diesel engine which is interfaced with Engine soft software. Performance and
emission characteristics are evaluated for three non-edible vegetable oils viz. thumba,
jojoba, neem and jojoba methyl ester to study the effect of injection pressures viz. 205,
220, 240 and 260 bar with variation in injection timing at 23°bTDC and 28°bTDC. The
performance of jojoba methyl ester improved with increase in injection pressures,
maximum brake thermal efficiency of 29.72% is obtained with lower emissions
compared to other vegetable oils; the reason might be low viscosity and better
combustion. Further investigations were carried out with new lubricant SAE 5W-30;
which improved the performance of CI engine by 1.59%. All the above investigations
were fruitful and these results are expected to lead to a substantial contribution to the
development of a viable vegetable oil engine.
Keywords: alternate fuels; injection pressure; performance; lubricants; vegetable oils
INTRODUCTION
The world is presently confronted with the twin crises of fossil fuel depletion and
environmental degradation. Indiscriminate extraction and lavish consumption of fossil
fuels have led to reduction in underground-based carbon resources. The search for
alternative fuels, which promise a harmonious correlation with sustainable
development, energy conservation efficiency and environmental preservation, has
become highly pronounced in the present context. The fuels of bio-origin can provide a
feasible solution to this worldwide petroleum crisis. Gasoline and diesel-driven
automobiles are the major sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission. Scientists
around the world have explored several alternative energy resources, which have the
potential to quench the ever-increasing energy thirst of today’s population. Various
biofuel energy resources explored include biomass, biogas, primary alcohols, vegetable
oils, biodiesel, etc (Narayan, 2002 and Ramadhas et al., 2002). These alternative energy
resources are largely environment-friendly but they need to be evaluated on case-to-case
basis for their advantages, disadvantages and specific applications. Some of these fuels
can be used directly while others need to be formulated to bring the relevant properties
closer to conventional fuels. Due to the recent widespread use of petroleum fuels in
414
Kalyani Radha et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 414-427
various sectors, this study concentrates on assessing the viability of using alternative
fuels in the existing internal combustion engines. The present energy scenario has
stimulated active research interest in non-petroleum, renewable and non-polluting fuels.
The world reserves of primary energy and raw materials are obviously limited. The
enormous growth of world population, increased technical development and standard of
living in the industrial nations has led to this intricate situation in the field of energy
supply and demand. The prices of crude oil keep rising and fluctuating on a daily basis.
This necessitates developing and commercializing fossil fuel alternatives from bio-
origin. This may well be the main reason behind the growing awareness and interest for
unconventional bio energy sources and fuels in various developing countries which are
striving hard to offset the oil monopoly. There have been many attempts to use
vegetable oils in diesel engines. Many researchers have reported encouraging engine
performance under short-term usage, but have faced degraded engine performance for
prolonged operation with vegetable oils. The problems reported include fuel filter
clogging, deposit build-up in the combustion chamber, injector coking, piston ring
sticking and lubrication oil thickening which necessitate overhauling the engine with
change of some parts (Lin et al., 2006; Khan et al., 2006, Altan et al., 2001 and Kumar
Reddy, 2000). The cumulative operation hours before overhaul is needed are shorter for
vegetable oil than for diesel. One major obstacle in using vegetable oils is their high
viscosity, which causes clogging of fuel lines, filters and injectors. In order to reduce
the viscosity of the vegetable oils, three methods were found to be effective-
transesterification, mixing with lighter oil (blending) and preheating.
From the available literature, the use of vegetable oils in diesel engines showed
the engine seizure, stickiness and carbon deposit problems. Noise, cold start and odor
are the other problems associated with them. Due to higher molecular weights,
vegetable oils have low volatility and because of their unsaturation, these are inherently
more reactive than diesel fuels (Ghormade, 2002; Ravi Kumar, 2007 and Kumar Reddy,
2000). Though the efforts are being made for the use of vegetable oils in engines there
is a need to optimize many engine design parameters of the engine operating at different
conditions. For this purpose, number of experimental investigations on different engines
at different conditions is to be carried out to arrive at useful general conclusions in order
to develop a viable vegetable oil automotive engine. Keeping this in mind, the present
work is planned. Injection pressures and injection timing are the parameters focused,
where much attention is not laid by past researches. The scope of the present work is to
examine the suitability of these oils as alternate fuels in diesel engine, evaluating the
performance and emission characteristics with minor engine modifications using new
lubricants.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP LAYOUT
A four stroke single cylinder direct injection water cooled computerized Kirloskar TV1
diesel engine is used for testing the performance with minor modifications. This engine
can withstand the peak pressures encountered because of its original high compression
ratio. Hence this engine is selected for the present research work. Table 1 shows the
engines specifications.
415
Performance and emission characteristics of CI engine operated on vegetable oils as alternate fuels
Table 1. Engine specifications.
Four-stroke, single cylinder, constant

Engine
speed, water cooled Diesel engine
BHP 7BHP @ 1500 RPM
Bore x Stroke 87.5 x 110 mm
Compression Ratio 17.5:1
Stroke 110 mm
Bore 87.5 mm
Dynamometer Eddy current
Eddy Current Dynamometer: It consists of a stator on which are fitted a number of

electromagnets and a rotor disc and coupled to the output shaft of the engine. When
rotor rotates eddy currents are produced in the stator due to magnetic flux set up by the
passage of field current in the electromagnets. These eddy currents oppose the rotor
motion, thus loading the engine. These eddy currents are dissipated in producing heat so
that this type of dynamometer needs cooling arrangement. A moment arm measures the
torque. Regulating the current in electromagnets controls the load.
Fuel Injection Pump: The fuel injection pump element is MICO BOSCH make, it has
a plunger operated by the cam shaft.
Injection Pressure Measurement : Shims are used for changing the start of injection.
This device can change fuel injection timing from 230 to 280bTDC. This device is
employed with cam type mechanism in the injection pump rocker arm. The fuel
injection pump rocker arm, which oscillates between the fuel injection timing cam in the
cam shaft and fuel injection pump plunger, is hinged on a cylindrical shaft at its center.
The cylindrical shaft is replaced by an eccentric shaft which is connected to a worm
wheel gear assembly with a reduction ratio of 30:1. This advances the start of fuel
injection timing.
Data Acquisition System: For studying the processes inside the cylinder data
acquisition system is used. This is used for analyzing the measured cylinder pressure
data and to quantify the combustion parameters with variation in crank angle. The
components of the system are the pressure pick up, charge amplifier, TDC position
sensor, A/D card and a personal computer.
Smoke Meter: AVL 437 C SMOKEMETER measures the opacity of polluted air, in
particular diesel exhaust gases. The opacity is the extinction of light between light
source and receiver. The gas to be measured is fed into a chamber with non-reflective
inner surfaces. The effective length of the light absorption track is determined by taking
into account consideration possible influences of devices used to protect the light source
and the photocell. The effective length is 0.430 ± 0.0005m. Light scatter on the
photocell from reflections or diffused light inside the chamber is reduced to a minimum
by the use of matt black light traps. The light source is an incandescent bulb with a color
temperature between 2800°K to 3250°K. The response time of the electrical circuit,
specified as the time within which the indicator reaches 90% of the full scale when a
416
completely opaque plate is placed in front of the photocell, is between 0.9 and 1.1
seconds.
Exhaust Gas Analyzer: A 5G - 10 five gas analyzer (Planet Equipment, USA) is used
to measure HC, CO, CO2, O2 and NOX emissions. A non-dispersive infrared
measurement for HC, CO and CO2 emissions while for NOX and O2 electrochemical
measurement method is given in exhaust analyzer. Insert the probe into the tailpipe of
the engine which is a direct sensor measurement through filter arrangement and the
readings are displayed on the screen and saved. Cold traps are provided to prevent
moisture from entering the exhaust gas analyzer. The emission measurements are
carried out on dry basis.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
At a rated speed of 1500 rpm all the variable load tests (0, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and
100% load) are conducted but due space limitation the results are discussed at full load.
Injection timing, fuel injection pressures are the parameters which are varied during the
course of experimentation. The inlet temperature of the cooling water is maintained at
3000C and outlet temperature at 700C. For all the experiments, the lubrication oil
temperature is maintained at 600C. The load on the dynamometer, air flow rate, fuel
flow rate, exhaust temperature, manifold pressure, cooling water flow rate, cylinder
head and cylinder liner temperatures, pressure time signal, TDC marker signal, dynamic
injection timing, injection pressure, crank angle, HC, CO, CO2, NOX and smoke opacity
readings are noted and recorded after allowing sufficient time (minimum of 15 to 20
minutes) for the engine to stabilize. The cylinder head temperatures are measured at two
locations (i) near the exhaust valve and (ii) on the other side of injector. Figure 1 shows
the location of thermocouples. Before the commencement of the experiment, the
exhaust gas analyzer is switched on. The data length, frequency range to trigger the data
acquisition for computer are carefully selected, based on the approximate cycle time of
the engine operation, such that there appeared three TDC signals on the display, with
the combustion period occupying the center stage. Ambient condition of pressure and
temperature are noted. The pressure and TDC signals are recorded and averaged for
100 consecutive cycles.
Experimentation: In the present investigation, experiments are conducted in the test

engine with minor engine modifications such as variation of load, variation of injection
pressure and injection timing. Performance and emission characteristics are evaluated
for three non-edible vegetable oils viz. thumba oil, jojoba oil, neem oil and jojoba
methyl ester with variation in injection pressures viz. 205 bar, 220 bar, 240 bar and 260
bar at 23°bTDC and 28°bTDC fuel advancement respectively (Radha, 2008). A
comparison is made with the obtained results with base line diesel fuel.
Conventional lubricants are not feasible with vegetable oil engines because of
high temperatures, due to high frictional losses and lubricating oil dilution. Therefore,
lubrication is one of the problems associated with these engines. Hence in the last phase
of experimentation vegetable oil fuelled engine is tested with specially developed
lubricant SAE 5W-30 which reduces the clogging of nozzle tips which are discussed in
the results. Table 2 and Table 3 show the properties of vegetable oils and lubricants.
417
Figure 1. Experimental setup layout.
Table 2. Properties of vegetable oils.
Property/ Diesel oil Neem oil Thumba Jojoba Jojoba

Equipment oil oil methyl
ester
Colour Colourless Brownish Light Golden Light
yellow yellow golden
yellow
Density (Kg/m3)
840 919 919 866 846
(Hydrometer) @ 25°C
Kinematic
viscosity(cSt)
2.6 48 45 40 2.9
(Redwood Viscometer
No.1)@ 40°C
Calorific
value(KJ/Kg) 42000 36000 38000 37575 39550
(Bomb calorimeter)
418
Table 3: Properties of lubricants:
Property/Method SAE 40 SAE 5W-30

Specific Gravity 0.901 0.86
(ASTM D-1298)
Viscosity @ 40 °C, Cst 83.7 58-73
(ASTM D-445)
Viscosity Index 184 160
(ASTM D-2270)
Cold Cranking Viscosity 5691 6,000 @-30 °C, cP
(ASTM D-5293)
Flash Point °F/ °C 439/226 445/229.44
(ASTM D-92)
Stable Pour Point °F/ °C <-61/<-51 <-41/<-42
(FTM 7916 Method 203)
High Temperature/High Shear 4.81 3.2
Viscosity 302 °F/ °C, cP
(ASTM D-4683)
Specific Gravity 0.901 0.86
(ASTM D-1298)
Viscosity @ 40 °C, Cst 83.7 58-73
(ASTM D-445)
Viscosity Index 184 160
(ASTM D-2270)
Cold Cranking Viscosity 5691 6,000 @-30 °C, cP
(ASTM D-5293)
Flash Point °F/ °C 439/226 445/229.44
(ASTM D-92)
Stable Pour Point °F/ °C <-61/<-51 <-41/<-42
(FTM 7916 Method 203)
High Temperature/High Shear 4.81 3.2
Viscosity 302 °F/ °C, cP
(ASTM D-4683)
TRANSESTERIFICATION PROCESS
In view of improving the performance and reducing emissions an attempt is made using
methyl ester of jojoba oil as fuel. The performance and emission characteristics of
jojoba methyl ester are compared with straight jojoba oil. It involves the process of
conversion of vegetable oil into biodiesel. In this analysis, jojoba methyl ester is
obtained by treating jojoba oil with methanol (Huzayyin, et al., 2004; Naik et al., 2008;
Radwan, et al., 2007 and Srinivasa Murthy, 2005) in presence of a base catalyst (KOH).
This is done by adding 4.5gm of NaOH to 200ml of methanol. This was mixed with
1litre of jojoba oil in a glass container. The apparatus was placed on a magnetic stirrer
with hot plate to maintain constant temperature (65°C for 90 minutes) through out the
mixture. The reaction takes approximately one hour to complete and the mixture is kept
undisturbed for about 9hrs to settle. The products of the reaction, glycerin a cloudy
looking product settles at the bottom and methyl ester which is a translucent liquid
remains on top, showing two layer separation. The separation is caused by density
419
variation and ester is taken out by means of a separation funnel. Water is added to the
separated ester which mixes with traces of glycerin present to form soap and settles at
the bottom. This is then separated. Air is bubbled through the ester for about 10minutes.
The resultant product is fully devoid of glycerol. The yield was 950ml of methyl ester
which results in 95% conversion efficiency.
Performance and emission characteristics are evaluated for three non-edible vegetable
oils viz. thumba oil, jojoba oil and neem oil with variation of injection pressures viz.
205 bar, 220 bar, 240 bar and 260 bar at 23°bTDC and 28°bTDC fuel advancement.
Figure 2 shows the variation of brake thermal efficiency at different injection pressures
at 23°bTDC and 28°bTDC. It is observed that maximum brake thermal efficiencies of
25.35% and 29.72% (at full load condition) were obtained for JME at 220 bar IP at
23°bTDC and 28°bTDC respectively. For JME, BTE improved by 9.78% as the
injection pressure was increased from 205 bar to 220 bar at 23°bTDC and BTE
improved by 15.4% at 28°bTDC. The BTE of all vegetable oils at lower IP’s were low
due to coarse spray formation, poor atomization and mixture formation. Beyond 220
bar, the reduction in BTE may be because of ineffective combustion due to increased
depth of penetration. The BTE improved by 14.7% as the IT was increased from
23°bTDC and 28°bTDC. With increase in IP and IT to 220 bar and 28°bTDC the BTE
has increased, which may be due to the fine spray formed during injection and improved
atomization with fuel advancement and also higher than diesel. And as the fuel
advanced from 23°bTDC to 28°bTDC, the BTE was observed to improve due to better
combustion. Hence 220 bar and 28°bTDC may be considered as the optimum injection
pressure and injection timing for running the engine with JME because of higher BTE.
Figure 2. Variation of BTE with injection pressure at full load
420
Figure 3 shows the variation of BSFC at different injection pressures at

23°bTDC and 28°bTDC at full load. It is observed that the BSFC decreased with
increase in IP from 205 bar to 220 bar, and increased with higher IP’s. The lowest
BSFC were found to be at 220 bar were 0.371 Kg/KWhr and 0.3256 Kg/KWhr at
23°bTDC and 28°bTDC respectively but more than diesel. The BSFC reduced by
12.23% as the injection timing was increased from 23°bTDC and 28°bTDC. At higher
IP’s, the reduction in BSFC maybe because the plunger in the fuel injection pump
discharges more amount of amount fuel into the combustion chamber due to higher
densities of vegetable oils than diesel.
Figure 3. Variation of BSFC with injection pressure at full load
Figure 4 shows the variation of HC with injection pressures at 23°bTDC and

28°bTDC at full load. Unburnt hydrocarbons are the result of incomplete combustion of
fuel. As the IP’s increased the HC emissions has reduced for vegetable oils and is
minimum for JME at 220 bar than diesel. At still higher pressures there seems to
increase in HC emissions which may be because of finer fuel spray which reduces
momentum of the droplets resulting in less complete combustion. For jojoba methyl
ester, HC emissions are reduced by 14.8% as the fuel advanced from 23°bTDC to
28°bTDC and found to be lower than diesel. Maximum emissions were observed for
thumba oil.
421
Figure 4. Variation of HC with injection pressure at full load.
Figure 5 shows the variation of CO with injection pressures at 23°bTDC and

28°bTDC at full load. CO emissions increased with increase in IP’s for all the vegetable
oils but higher than diesel. This may be due to less effective combustion at these higher
pressures. CO emissions are minimum for JME as compared to other vegetable oils at
220 bar IP. It is 1.12% at 23°bTDC and 1.19% at 28°bTDC at full load for JME.
Figure 5. Variation of CO with injection pressure at full load.
422
Figure 6 shows the variation of CO2 with injection pressure at full load. CO2
emissions increased with increase in IP’s for all the vegetable oils but lower than diesel
by 15.4% at 220 bar and 23°bTDC IT. This may be due to less effective combustion at
these higher pressures. CO2 emissions are minimum for JME as compared to other
vegetable oils at all injection pressures. It is observed that as the fuel advanced from
23°bTDC to 28°bTDC IT, the CO2 emissions reduced by 4.6% at 220 bar IP, this
maybe due to the oxygen content in JME.
Figure 6. Variation of CO2 with injection pressure at full load
Figure 7 shows the variation of NOx emissions at different injection pressures at

23°bTDC and 28°bTDC at full load. NOx emissions increased with increase in IP and IT
at all loads for JME but lower for other vegetable oils. For JME, it is observed that at
220 bar injection pressure, the oxides of nitrogen emissions at full load are comparable
with that of diesel and only marginally higher at 28°bTDC. Higher emissions are due to
higher exhaust temperatures.
Figure 8 shows the variation of smoke opacity with injection pressure. The
highest smoke opacities are recorded for vegetable oils at all IP’s. The smoke opacity is
comparable with diesel for JME at 220bar and 23°bTDC and reduced by 10.22% as the
fuel advanced from 23°bTDC to 28°bTDC at 220 bar. The presence of oxygen in JME
in addition to good atomization at higher pressure may be the reason for lower opacity.
423
Figure 7: Variation of NOx with injection pressure at full load
Figure 8. Variation of smoke opacity with injection pressure at full load.
Figure 9 shows the comparison of brake thermal efficiency at full load for SAE
40 and SAE 5W-30 lubricants. It is observed that the BTE improved by using SAE 5W-
30 and also improved with increase in IP and IT from 23°bTDC to 28°bTDC. For jojoba
methyl ester, BTE improved by 4.2% as the IP increased from 205 bar to 220 bar at
424
23°bTDC and BTE improved by 8.6% at 28°bTDC than jojoba oil. This may be due to
reduction of frictional losses, no nozzle clogging was observed by improving the better
atomization of fuel. Maximum BTE of 30.2% was observed for jojoba methyl ester at
220 bar and 28°bTDC using SAE 5W-30 as lubricant and it is 10.8% more than that of
diesel.
Figure 9. Variation of BTE with injection pressure at full load for SAE40 and
SAE 5W-30.
CONCLUSION
Based on the experimental results of the present investigation, the following conclusions
are drawn. Among different injection pressures and injection timing, 220 bar at 28°
bTDC is found to be optimum for better performance and lower exhaust emissions
compared to diesel fuel and other vegetable oils. From the above results, JME can be
used as an alternative fuel with better performance and lower emissions at 28°bTDC
injection timing and 220 bar injection pressure in a direct injection diesel engine with
minor modifications. By the use of new lubricants the brake thermal efficiency
improved, this might be due to reduction in frictional losses. The results suggest that
these oils can be successfully used in the automotive engine with minor modifications.
It can be concluded from the experimental investigations that the development of
efficient vegetable oil fuelled engine is possible. Future work may be extended
• 1000 hrs durability tests may be conducted on Diesel engines and the wear
associated with the engine moving parts may be analyzed.
• Future works on engine may include endurance testing to evaluate component,
coating and tribological durability.
425
• The studies on future biodiesel and biodiesel–diesel blends fuels may be carried
out in order to reduce the viscosity of non-edible vegetable oils
• These investigations may be carried out in high speed automobile multi-cylinder
engines for better combustion characteristics.
• Future Low Heat Rejection, dual fuel, turbo-charging engine studies may be
conducted with ceramic alloys that are being currently used have the
disadvantage of brittleness.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to thank the Department of Mechanical Engineering, JNT University,
Hyderabad for providing facilities (under TEQIP) to carryout this work.
REFERENCES
Altan, R., Cetinkay, S. and Yucesu, H.S. 2001. The potential of using vegetable oil
fuels as fuel for diesel engines. Energy Conversion and Management, 42(5):
529-538.
Ghormade, T.K. andDeshpande, N.V. 2002. Soybean oil as an alternative fuels for I. C.
engines. Proceedings of Recent Trends in Automotive Fuels, Nagpur, India.
Huzayyin, A.S., Bawady, A.H., Rady, M.A. and Dawood, A. 2004. Experimental
evaluation of Diesel engine performance and emission using blends of jojoba oil
and Diesel fuel. Energy Conversion and Management, 45: 2093–2112.
Khan, M.Y., Khan, S.Y. and Ahmad, N. 2006. Performance characteristics of
compression ignition engine when operated on preheated Neem oil. Proceeding
of International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering, Punjab,
Dec 1-3.
Kumar Reddy, V.K. 2000. Experimental investigations on the use of vegetable oil fuels
in a 4-stroke single cylinder diesel engine. Ph.D Thesis, submitted at JNTU,
Anantapur.
Lin, C.Y. Chen, L.W. and Wang, L.W. 2006. Correlation of black smoke and nitrogen
oxides emissions through field testing of in-use diesel vehicles. Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment, 116(1-3): 291-305.
Naik, M., Meher, L.C., Naik, S.N. and Das, L.M. 2008. Production of biodiesel from
high free fatty acid Karanja (Pongamia pinnata) oil. Biomass and Bioenergy, 32:
354-357.
Narayan, C.M. 2002. Vegetable oil as engine fuels— prospect and retrospect.
Proceedings on Recent Trends in Automotive Fuels, Nagpur, India.
Radha, K.K. 2008. Experimental investigations on 4 stroke C.I. engine using non-edible
vegetable oils as alternate fuels”, Ph.D. Thesis, JNTU, Hyderabad.
Radwan M.S., Ismail, M.A., Elfeky, S.M.S. and Abu- Elyazeed, O.S.M. 2007. Jojoba
methyl ester as a diesel fuel substitute: Preparation and characterization. Applied
Thermal Engineering, 27: 314–322.
Ramadhas, A.S., Jayaraj, S. and Lakshmi Narayana Rao, K. 2002. Experimental
investigation on non-edible vegetable oil operation in diesel engine for improved
performance. National Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering,
J.N.T.U., Anantapur, India.
426
Ravi Kumar, P., Dutta, M., Puli, R.K. and Babu, V. 2007. Performance of I.C Engine
using vegetable oil. Proceeding of International Conference and XX National
Conference on IC Engines and Combustion, ICONICE-2007, JNTU, Hyderabad.
Srinivasa Murthy, V.S. 2005. Investigations on the use of vegetable oil in a low heat
rejection CI engine. Ph.D. Thesis, JNTU, Anantapur, India.
Nomenclature
bTDC before top dead centre
BTE brake thermal efficiency
BSFC brake specific fuel consumption (kg/kWhr)
CO carbon monoxide
CO2 carbon dioxide
DO diesel oil
HC hydrocarbon (PPM)
IP injection pressure (bar)
IT injection timing (°CA)
JO jojoba oil
JME jojoba methyl ester
NO neem oil
NOx oxides of nitrogen (PPM)
TDC top dead centre
TO thumba oil
427
ENHANCEMENT OF NATURAL CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER FROM

THE RECTANGULAR FINS BY CIRCULAR PERFORATIONS
Wadhah Hussein Abdul Razzaq Al- Doori
Technical Institute/Al-Door, Foundation of Technical Education,

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Iraq
Iraq/Salah Al-din/ Al-door/ Technical institute/Al-door/ House No. 06.
Phone: 009647703964452
E-mail: wadhahh@yahoo.com
ABATRACT
The significance of the heat transfer by natural convection in enclosures can be found in
many engineering applications such as energy transfer in buildings, solar collectors,
nuclear reactors, and electronic packaging. An experimental study was conducted to
investigate the heat transfer by natural convection in a rectangular fin plate by circular
perforations heat sinks. The patterns of perforations including 24 circular perforations
(holes) for the first fin and the number of perforations increased 8 for every fin until
reached to 56 in the fifth fins. These perforations were distribution on 6-14 columns and
4 rows. Experiments were carried through in an experimental facility that was
specifically design and constructed for this purpose. It was observed that the
temperatures along the non-perforated fin are drop from 30 to 250C but the temperature
drop for perforated was from 30 to 23.70C with low power (6W), also the temperature
drop between the fin base and tip increases as the perforation diameter increased. The
temperature drop with high power (220W) was from 250 to 490C for non-perforared fin,
but for perforated fins was from 250 to 360C. The heat transfer rate and the coefficient
of heat transfer increases with increased number of perforation.
Keywards: Natural convection, temperature distribution, circular perforated fins
INTRODUCTION
For a lot of industrial applications, heat generation can cause overheating problems and
occasionally goes to system failure. To overcome this problem, the efficient heat sinks
are of the essence. Free convection from these devices is one of the considered cooling
techniques and played an important function in conserving their certain operation.
Extended surfaces that are known as fins are typically used to enhance the heat transfer
in many industries. The performance of heat exchanging devices can be raised through
applying extended surfaces. The practical application is found in some industries for the
heat exchangers, cooling the combustion chambers, electronic devices (Kern and Kraus,
1972; Kraus and Bar-Cohen, 1983). Using the fin as extended surfaces increases the
weight and volume of the devices and raises the costs of production. While a result, in
recent years a lot care has been given to optimize the fin geometry.
Advanced technologies need superior heat transfer equipments. Processes for
improving heat transfer classified in two families: active and passive methods (Bergles,
2001). Active methods need an external power source to enhance heat transfer but
passive methods do not need the external power source. Fins are a good example of
passive methods that are typically applied in the assortment of industrial applications to
428
Wadhah Hussein /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011 ) 428-436
enhance the rate of heat transfer between primary surface and ambient fluid (Shaeri et
al., 2009).
Fins as heat transfer enhancement devices have been quite common. As the
extended surface technology continues to grow, new design ideas come forth, including
fins made of anisotropic composites, porous media, and perforated and interrupted
plates (Bayram and Alparslan, 2008). Ascribable the high requirement for lightweight,
compact, and economical fins, the optimization of fin size is important. Consequently,
the fins must be designed to achieve maximum heat removal with minimum material
expending, allowing, withal, the ease of manufacturing of the fin shape (Al-Essa and
Al-Hussien, 2004). Large number of studies has been taken on optimizing fin shapes.
Other studies have introduced shape adjustments by cutting some material from fins to
make cavities, holes, slots, grooves, or channels through the fin body to increase the
heat transfer area and/or the heat transfer coefficient (Elshafei, 2010).
One of the popular heat transfer augmentation technique involves the use of
interrupted surfaces of different configurations. The interruption aims at promoting
surface turbulence that is intended mainly to increase the heat transfer coefficient
besides the surface area (Kutscher, 1994). It was reported that the non-flat surfaces have
natural convection coefficients that are 50% to 100% more than those of flat surfaces
(Chung and Iyer, 1993). Many other researchers reported a similar trend for interrupted,
perforated and serrated surfaces, attributing the improvement to the restarting of the
thermal boundary layer after each interruption, indicating that the increase in the
convection coefficient is even more than enough to offset lost area, if any (Elshafei,
2010). Due to the straight fin’s concave parabolic profile provides the maximum heat
dissipation for a given profile area (Malekzadeh et al., 2006). For most applications, the
rectangular fins are used to reduce a cost of manufacturing. Based on the widespread
application of rectangular fins that are normally used for heat exchangers, the
understanding of convection mechanisms and prediction of heat transfer performance on
rectangular fins are commonly analyzed by the flow and heat transfer simultaneously
(Suksangpanomrung et al., 2007). Mousa (2000) analysed theoretically the thermal
performance for a horizontal rectangular fin with uniform cross-sectional area
embedded with four vertical body perforation patterns that extend through the fin
thickness. The patterns include triangular, square, circular, and rectangular perforations.
Natural convection with finite element technique was used to solve these patterns in his
study. The analyse showed that heat transfer of the perforated fin is larger than that of
the non- perforated fin.
Heat transfer from extended surfaces for a given fin material, base temperature,
and ambient temperature can be enhanced by increasing the heat transfer coefficient and
by increasing the effective heat transfer surface area (Shaeri and Yaghoubi, 2009). Heat
transfer coefficient of the fin surface can be increased by introducing surface roughness
and hence promoting turbulence. As for surface area, the literature introduces several
methods used to increase the effective heat transfer surface area of fins specified
(Abdullah and Mohammed, 2009). This paper focuses on investigating the effect of
increases the number of perforation holes on the distribution of temperature, heat
transfer rate and the coefficient of heat transfer.
MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF FIN PERFORATED
Perforated fins can be used to increase the heat transfer coefficient and effective heat
transfer area. The change in magnitude of the surface area depends on the geometry of
429
Enhancement of natural convection heat transfer from the rectangular fins by circular perforations
the perforations (Abdullah and Mohammed, 2009). In this paper, the number of
perforations Nx in the x- direction (L) and Ny in the y- direction (W) are assumed as
shown in (Figure 2). The perforation cross sectional area (Ac) is assumed and then the
dimension of any perforation is calculated. The surface area of the uniform longitudinal
rectangular perforated fin can be expressed as follows:
A fp = Aps + At + N c Apc (1)

A fp = (2W .L − 2 N c . Ac ) + (W .t ) + ( N c . Ac ) (2)
A fp = A f + N C (A pc − 2 Ac ) (3)
Equation (3) can be written as Eq. (4):

A fp = A f + N x × N y (Apc − 2 Ac ) (4)
In order to compare the heat transfer surface area of the perforated fin (Afp) to that
of the conventional one (Af), the fin surface area ratio (RAF) is introduced and is given
by Eq. (5).
A fp
RAF = (5)
Af
N x × N y (Apc − 2 Ac )
RAF = 1 + (6)
Af
The material volume of the perforated fin is compared with the volume of non-
perforated fin by volume reduction ratio (RVF) which is expressed as Eq. (7):
RVF =
V fp
=
(L × W × t − N x × N y × Ac × t )
(7)
Vf L ×W × t
N x × N y × Ac
RVF = 1 − (8)
L ×W
Similarly, the perforated fin has less weight than that of equivalent non- perforated
one. This aspect is expressed by the fin weight reduction ratio (RWF) defined as
Eq. (10):
RWF =
W fp
=
(W f − N x × N y × Ac × t × ρ )
(10)
Wf Wf
RWF = 1 −
(N x × N y × Ac × t × ρ )
=1−
N x × N y × Ac
(11)
L ×W × t × ρ L ×W
According to the perforation shape and dimension that is cut out from the fin
body, the fin with the circular perforation pattern is studied .The number of perforation
in longitudinal direction Nx, in the transverse direction Ny and the perforation diameter
is b. The directional perforations spacing Sx and Sy:
L = N x .b + ( N x + 1)S y (12)
430
L − N x .b
Sx = (13)
Nx +1
W = N y .b + (N y + 1)S y (14)
W − N y .b
Sy = (15)
N y +1
The heat transfer surface area of the fin can be expressed as Eq. (16):
A fp = A f − 2 N c . Ac + N c . Ap (16)
 b
A fp = A f + N c (Ap − 2 Ac ) = A f + πN C .b t −  (17)
 2
The RAF and RVF can be expressed as Eq. (18) and Eq. (19) respectively:
 b
π × b × Nx × N y t − 
RAF = 1 +  2 (18)
(2W × L + W × t )
π
Nx × Ny × b2
RVF = 1 − 4 (19)
L ×W
An experimental correlation to estimate the convection heat transfer coefficient

of array of vertical oriented parallel flat plate is given by Eq. (20) (Mousa, 2000).
−35 0.75
h × B Ra  Ra 

Nu = = 1 − e (20)
k 24  

where B is the average space between adjacent fins.
ρ 2 × g × β × C p × B 4 × ∆T
Ra = (21)
µ×k ×L
Several studies (Abdullah and Mohammed, 2009; Mousa, 2000) reported that the
surface heat transfer coefficient of perforated surfaces is a function of open area ratio
(ROA) of the perforated surface. The open area ratio is defined as Eq. (22):
OA
ROA = (22)
OAmax
where OA is the actual open area = Ac .N c
OA = Ac . N x .N y (23)
OAmax is the maximum possible perforations open area, which is defined as Eq. (24)
OAmax = Ac .N c , max = Ac .N x , max .N y , max (24)
431
where Nx,max and Ny,max are the maximum possible number of the perforations along the
fin. These numbers related with the perforation spacing equal zero. The perforated
surface heat transfer coefficient ratio (Rh) can be expressed as Eq. (25) (Shaeri and
Yaghoubi, 2009).
OA
Rh = 1 + 0.75 (25)
OAmax
The film heat transfer coefficient of the perforated surface (hps) is expressed as Eq. (26):
OA
h ps = (1 + 0.75 )h (26)
OAmax
The experiments were carried out in an experimental facility that was

specifically designed and constructed for this purpose. Figure 1 shows view of the
experimental apparatus. The experimental setup includes a heat sink supplied with
heating elements and data acquisition system. The heat is generated within the heat sink
by means of one heating element power of 670 W. All the experimental data are
recorded by the data acquisition system. The heat sink chosen for experiments are
aluminum cylinder of 50.8 mm diameter and 270 mm length (Figure 2). One hole was
drilled in the cylinder in which one heating element was pressed. The power supplied by
heating element was 670 W. Five aluminum straight fins were fitted radialy. The fins
are 100 mm long, 270 mm wide and 2 mm thick. These fins were divided into five
groups as Table 1.
Table 1: Five cases of perforated fins diameter with number of perforation per fin
Case Perforated fins diameter (mm) Number of perforation per fin

1 12 24
2 12 32
3 12 40
4 12 48
5 12 56
A variable transformer of type 50B with input 220 V and 50-60 Hz and output
0-240 V, 20 A and 7.5 kVA were used to regulate the voltage supplied to the heating
elements (Figure 2). The experimental data were measured by twenty seven calibrated
thermocouples of type-K to measure the temperature at different locations. The
measured parameters and their ranges during the experiments were listed as follows:
1. Heat supplied: 6-220 W.

2. Perforation-shape: Circular.
3. Number fo perforation from 24 to 56.
432
One thermocouple fixed on the outside diameter of the aluminum cylinder in order
to measure the base temperatur of the fin. One thermocouple is used to measure air
temperature. Twenty five of thermocouples were divided into five fins equally. Each
thermocouple was fixed to the surface of the test fin at equal space (20 mm) locations
along the fin length. The apparatus was allowed to run for about 70 minute, until the
steady state was achieved. The recording of temperature was began after steady state
had been reached.
Power supply regulator
Measurement Devices Thermocouples
Figure 1. Experimental apparatus
Fin with 32 holes

Heating element
Fin with 24 holes
Fin with 40 holes
W Fin with 56 holes
Fin with 48 holes
Heat Sink
Figure 2. View of the heat sink
RESULTS AND DISCUSION
In this study investigated perforation shape geometry indicate that the increases or
decreases in the surface area of the perforated fin with respect to that of the non-
perforated one depends on the following parameters: the fin thickness, the total number
of perforation, Nc and the perforation diameter, b. However, Afp is greater or smaller
433
than Af depends on the fin thickness and perforation diameter. The calculations show
that the heat transfer surface area of the perforated fin is a function of the fin dimensions
and the perforation shape geometry. The temperature distribution of the perforated fins
and that non-perforated along x-direction is plotted in Figure 3. As shown in figure, it is
obvious that the temperatures along the non-perforated fin are higher than those of the
perforated one in most cases. It is also indicated that the temperature drop between the
fin base and tip increases as the perforation diameter increased. This is because the
thermal resistance of the perforated fin decreases as the perforation diameter is
increased.
50
No. of perforation (6w)
30 No. of perforation (40w)
60 24
32 24
32
40 32
40
28 48 40
Temperature ( C)
Temperature ( C)
40 48
Temperature ( C)
56 48
56
56
26
40
30
24
22 20 20
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Length (mm) Length (mm) Length (mm)
(a) 6w (b) 22w (c) 40w

120 140
80 120
No. of perforation (50w) No. of perforation (90w)
24 24
24
32 100 32
32
Temperature ( C)
40
40
Temperature ( C)
Temperature ( C)
80 40
48
60 48
48 80 56
48
56
60
60
40
40 40
20
20 20 0 20 40 60 80 100
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 Length (mm)
Length (mm) Length (mm)
(d) 50w (e) 75w (f) 90w

200 250
150
No. of perforation (120w) No. of perforation (150w) No. of perforation (220w)

160 200
24 24 24
120
32 32 32
Temperature( C)
40 40
Temperature ( C)
Temperature ( C)
40
48 120 48 150 48
90 56 56 56
80 100
60
50
30 40
0 20 40 60 80 100
Length (mm) 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Length (mm) Length (mm)
(g) 120w (h) 150w (i) 220w

Figure 3. The temperature distribution of the perforated fins and that non-perforated
along x-direction
434
It indicates that RAF is a weak function of the fin length and width. This is
because the effect of the fin tip area which is smaller compared surface to that of the fin
surface area and can be neglected. The temperature distribution along the fin has
important effect on the fin performance. Higher fin temperatures exist as the fin thermal
resistance is decreased.
Figure 4(a) shows the relation between RAF and number of perforations. This
figure shows that RAF is smaller than unity. Heat dissipation rate of the perforated fin
depends on the heat transfer coefficient and fin area. In this study, all the film heat
transfer coefficients are assumed to be uniform and equal. It was mentioned before that
Rh is s always greater than unity and increasing up to the upper limit 1.25 as the number
of perforations increased, howeer, decreasing down to the lower limit of 1.1. The
calculation of Rh was plotted number of perforation in Figure 4(b). The ratio RWF is
plotted as a function of the number of perforations in Figure 4(c). The figure shows that
the weight reduction ratio of the perforated fin continues to decrease as number of
perforation is increased. Figure 5 shows the relation between film heat transfer
coefficient of the perforated surface (hps) and number of perforation for difference
power. The film heat transfer coefficient increases with increase of the number of
perforations and the power supply.
1.30
0.94
0.92 0.90
0.90 1.20
0.88 RWF
Rh
RAF
0.80
0.86
1.10
0.84
0.82
1.00 0.70
0.80 20 30 40 50 60 20 30 40 50 60
20 30 40 50 60 No. of perforations No.of perforations
No. of perforations
(a) RAF (b) Rh (c) RWF
Figure 4. The relation between RAF, Rh, RWF and number of perforations.
8
Power (w)
Film Heat Transfer Coefficient of the Perforated Surface
220
150
120
90
7
75
50
40
22
6
6
5
20 30 40 50 60 70
No. of Perforations
Figure 5. The relation between hps and number of perforation for various power.
435
CONCLUSION
The temperature drop along the perforated fin length is consistently higher than
that for the equivalent non-perforated fin. It contains a larger number of perforations
higher than the perforated fin that contained a small number of perforation. The gain in
heat dissipation rate for the perforated fin is a strong function of the perforation
dimension and lateral spacing. Decreasing the perforation dimension reduces the rate of
temperature drop along the perforated fin. Heat transfer coefficient for perforated fin
that contained a larger number of perforations higher than the perforated fin that
contained a small number of perforation.
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transfer from a fin by triangular perforations of bases parallel and toward Its base.
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perforations on the heat transfer enhancement from a fin subjected to natural
convection. Heat and Mass Transfer, 40: 509–515.
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EVOLVING TRENDS OF SUPPLIER SELECTION CRITERIA AND

METHODS
S. Thiruchelvam and J.E. Tookey
School of Engineering
Auckland University of Technology
Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1020, New Zealand
Tel-+64 9 921 9999 ext (6635), Fax-+64 9 921 9973
Email: sthiruch@aut.ac.nz
ABSTRACT
Increasing importance of Supply Chain Management (SCM) is forcing organizations to

reconsider and improvise their purchasing related matters. In lieu to that, the supplier
selection process plays an important role in the purchasing activity. The supplier
selection process has undergone significant changes during the past forty years. These
changes have been beneficial to both the purchasing clients and the suppliers. The
supplier selection decision making involves multi-criteria comprising both qualitative
and quantitative criteria. Sometimes, there might be some contradictions between
tangible and intangible criteria which may necessitate trade-off between the conflicting
criteria. This paper provides an overall picture of research on supplier selection
problems and supplier selection practices. Different selection criteria, emerging issues
of supplier selection and the solutions are summarized. This review showed that the
application of structured decision making technique is important especially under the
complex condition that involves both the qualitative and quantitative criteria.
Keywords: Supplier selection, decision making, criteria, method.
INTRODUCTION
Supplier selection is one of the most crucial components of the purchasing function for
a firm (Florez-Lopez, 2007). It becomes a strategic decision when the purchasing
organizations attempt to establish a long-term and win-win business relationship with its
suppliers. Companies have gradually more dependent on suppliers to supply goods and
deliver services formerly could be provided in-house in order to specialize and
concentrate in their core competencies. In the SCM concept, a strategic, long-term
cooperation in partnership between the buyer and supplier should be reached to avoid
waste of resources within the logistics chain (Lasch and Janker, 2005). Echoing such
need, a prerequisite for nourishing a strong buyer-supplier relationship is to have a small
number of suppliers (Sarkar and Mohapatra, 2006). Therefore, identification of decision
making criteria together with the right supplier selection methods are the driving factors
determining a firm’s growth and competitiveness.
In a survey conducted by Ying (2000), supplier selection process is the main
area requiring improvement to facilitate of having a better outsourcing process.
Developing a proper supplier evaluation system has become a must in building an
effective SCM. The success of outsourcing activity is highly dependent on successful
selection of suppliers. Therefore, the selection of right decision making criteria parallel
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Thiruchelvam and Tookey /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 437-454
with the right decision making technique is crucial for identifying the right supplier.
Both elements ensure that decision maker’s personal perceptions and objectives are
eluded in the pursuit of achieving organization’s procurement objectives. A well
structured and systematic decision making technique is critical to have the corporate and
business strategy of the purchasing organization to be aligned and achieved.
Since suppliers are one of the most essential components of the supply chain,
effective supplier selection and evaluation is considered to be one of the important
responsibilities of purchasing managers. Supplier evaluation process is purely meant to
minimize purchase risk and maximize the overall value to the purchaser (Monczka et
al., 1998). However, supplier selection is considered as a key strategic decision in
outsourcing which is prone to errors (Wadhwa and Ravindran, 2007). In order to select
the right supplier, a comprehensive and configurable metrics for supplier selection must
be outlined earlier. The supplier evaluation involves rating a supplier’s value by
measuring the selected supplier’s capability and performance. For supplier selection, the
decision makers have a set of criteria to determine the performance of the prospective
suppliers both in the previous and current contracts. This enables the decision makers to
rank the order of their preferred suppliers. In reality, it is always a difficult task for
purchasing managers to select the right supplier. This is due to stringent and careful
assessment of bidders’ strengths and pitfalls which must be performed prior to the
contract award. Supplier selection process would be an easier task if only one criterion
were to be considered in the decision making process. However, in the real practice, a
wide range of criteria is carefully assessed by the purchasing managers to select the best
supplier. Supplier selection is the outcome of a complex decision considering qualitative
and quantitative criteria. There are numerous decision making criteria that should be
considered in supplier selection, bearing in mind that each criterion might influences the
decision making process with equal or different weighing factor.
The main purpose of this paper is to address the supplier selection criteria being
considered by various industries. This preliminary literature review is part of full
research on improvement of supplier selection for Malaysian electricity supply industry.
Supplier selection of electricity generating, transmitting and distributing infrastructures
is an important factor to Malaysian electricity supply industry. This is due to the built
infrastructures are the long-term investment for any power generating company and the
success of its services is directly affected by the supplier selection decision.
TYPES OF PURCHASING SITUATIONS
The main aim of this classification is to categorize the decision making in different
industrial buying situations. Portfolio models have been used to understand and to assist
in managing different kind of supplier relationships (Olsen and Ellram, 1997). The
portfolio model concept was originally developed by Markowitz (Markowitz, 1952,
Dubois and Pedersen, 2001), who used it as an instrument for managing equity
investments. His point of departure was that rational investors will (or should) select
portfolios which maximize the individual investor's utilities by maximizing the expected
return for a given level of risk or minimizing the risk for a given level of expected
return. Faris et al. (1967) distinguished three typical situations of varying complexity as
shown in Table 1. The distinct difference between these three categories is the levels of
uncertainty about the purchase and familiarity of the prospective suppliers to the
purchasing organization.
438
Evolving trends of supplier selection criteria and methods
Table 1. Classification of purchasing situations (Faris et al., 1967)
Type of buying Product/Service Nature of decision making Supplier(s)

situation category category
New task New items No past experience, more Not known to
situation information required for decision makers
selection
Modified rebuy New and Considering past experience Known with
modified items with the necessity of additional inclusion of new
information ones
Straight rebuy Recurring items Past experience is considered Existing
sufficient for selection supplier(s)
In a later development which became the most famous model, Kraljic’s portfolio
approach took into account of complexity of supply market and levels indicating
importance of purchasing (Caniels and Gelderman, 2005). These two variables
influences the decision makers in determining the type of supply strategy the purchasing
company needs in determining the supply strategy of the purchasing company.
Kraljic (1983) classified purchasing into strategic, bottleneck, leverage and routine
purchases as summarized in Table 2. Purchasing company shall classify all its
purchased products in terms of profit impact and supply risk. This will allow the
company to weigh the suppliers bargaining power against its own power. Strategic
items are products having high value to the organization in terms of a large impact on
profit and a high supply risk. Examples are cables, capacitors, electric meters, poles
(steel, concrete and wood), transformers and transmission towers. Bottleneck items such
as breakers, condensers, bearings, seals, boiler (parts and services), turbine (parts and
services) and substation equipment and parts have a moderate impact on the financial
outcome of a firm, however, vulnerable with regard to their supply. Leverage products
can be obtained from various suppliers and routine items usually have small value per
unit. Typical leverage products are advertising, corporate travel, printing, freight and
environmental services. Examples of routine products are clothing, food services, office
supplies, furniture and vehicle (fuel, lubricants and parts).
De Boer et al. (2001) incorporated both classifications into a modified
framework to offer a purchaser a manageable number of typical, different supplier
selection situations with associated ways of carrying out and organizing the supplier
selection process as shown in Table 3. In new task situations, the final decisions are
depending on the offerings made by the bidders as there has not been any prior business
relationship between the purchasing company and the bidder. For the purchase of
leverage items, there are many suppliers to be considered for the contract award. De
Boer agrees that since there are many suppliers available for routine items, limitation to
a maximum of two suppliers should be imposed in order to achieve highly efficient
ordering and administration procedure. High value and the saving potential of the items
rationalize the frequency of suppliers’ selection. However, for strategic and bottleneck
items, there are limited choice of suppliers and it is much preferred to continuously
evaluate the existing supplier. This is attributable the unique specification and scarcity
of the required items. To ensure continuous business operation, firms usually have a
large number of products or services accompanied by a variety of suppliers, which
439
requires different treatment. Therefore, it is essential to have a deep understanding of

the purchasing situation for the sustainable purchasing management practice.
Table 2. Purchasing portfolio model (Kraljic, 1983)
Low supply risk High supply risk

Leverage items Strategic items
• Many local suppliers • Established global suppliers
High profit • Mix of commodities and specified • Scarce and high value materials
impact materials • Long term contract
• Short to medium term contract • Centralized decision making
• Mainly decentralized decision
making
Routine items Bottleneck items

• Established local suppliers • New suppliers with new technology
Low profit • Commodities and some specified • Mainly specified materials
impact materials • Medium term contracts
• Short-term contracts • Decentralized but centrally
• Decentralized decision making coordinated decision making
Table 3. Supplier selection framework (De Boer et al., 2001)
New task Modified rebuy Straight rebuy Straight rebuy

(leverage items) (routine items) (strategic/bottleneck)
• Use a supplier or •Use more, fewer • Replacing the • How to deal with
not? or other suppliers current supplier? the supplier?
• One-off decision •Repeating • Repeating • Repeating
decision decision evaluation
• No historical data •Historical data on • Historical data • Historical data on
on suppliers suppliers on suppliers suppliers available
available available available
• Small initial set of •Large set of • Large set of • Very small set of
suppliers initial suppliers initial suppliers suppliers
• Ranking rather •Ranking rather • Ranking rather • Evaluation rather
than sorting than sorting than sorting selection
SUPPLIER SELECTION PROBLEM
Although, historically, supplier selection was supposedly to be a straightforward matter,

the process was shadowed by some difficulties such as (1) growing number of potential
suppliers; (2) growing number of attributes; (3) increasing number of situational
contexts that affect appropriateness of specific supplier attributes; and (4) difficulty in
identifying and defining supplier selection parameters (Altinoz et al., 2010). Large
numbers of suppliers in the market has the positive impact on purchasing client as
dependency towards a particular supplier has been reduced. However, the drawback of
this situation is the likelihood of not selecting the best supplier becomes greater.
440
Dickson (1966) in his seminal work has found 23 important attributes used for
evaluation and selection of suppliers. Embarking from Dickson’s work, many articles
have been published in later years considering other different factors (Lambert et al.,
1997, Weber et al., 1991, Dickson, 1966). Due to many factors to be considered,
purchasing managers might choose an easier path of evaluating based on certain
important criteria and ignoring the rest. Larger number of attributes also contributes to
the complications of being assigned with consistent and meaningful weights. The
selection decision also becomes more difficult as the number of business rules that must
be considered increases. At times, different suppliers are selected although the
characteristics and ratings of the suppliers have not changed. This happens due to the
changes in the current marketing policy and the company’s strategic goals or
manufacturing limitations might override the choice of having the previous supplier.
Difficult situations are encountered when it comes to the quantification of certain
criteria such as flexibility, responsiveness and attitude. This is opposite to the easiness
of measuring pricing and delivery performance of a particular supplier. Sometimes,
decision-makers are also forced to decide using incomplete data. Another common
problem is on the issue of how many suppliers to be used for each purchased item
(Wisner et al., 2005). In single sourcing, suppliers are considered to be capable of
satisfying the buyer’s requirement (Xia and Wu, 2007). The purchaser only needs to
make one decision, which supplier is the best. However in multiple sourcing, purchasers
need to decide which are the best suppliers’ and how much order should be placed on
each selected supplier. Table 4 shows the summary made by Wisner et al. (2005), on the
reasons of favouring single and multiple sourcing.
Table 4. Reasons favouring the use of single versus multiple sourcing (Wisner et al.,
2005)
Single Sourcing Multiple Sourcing

• Easier to establish strategic alliance • Demand exceeds the capacity of a single
relationship supplier
• Less quality variability from other suppliers • Spread the risk of supply interruption
• Ability to lower the purchase cost per unit • Encourages competition among
• Transportation economies since volume is suppliers in terms of price and quality
involved • More information on market conditions,
• Proprietary product or process purchase new product and technologies
• Volume too small to split • Boost small, local, women or minority
owned business
REVIEW OF SUPPLIER SELECTION CRITERIA
The identification and analysis of criteria for selection and evaluation of suppliers has
been the central focus of many academicians and practitioners. Research on supplier
selection criteria began in early 1960s when it was known as vendor selection. Supplier
criteria are divided into quantitative and qualitative attributes. The selection of suitable
criteria also depends on the purchasing situations as discussed earlier. The basic criteria
such as cost, quality and delivery performance are still widely used. However, the range
of criteria considered has evolved into a wider matrix parallel with the development of
SCM philosophy. Sarkar and Mohapatra (2006) defined performance and capability as
the two key dimensions of a supplier’s abilities. Performance is defined as the
441
demonstrated ability of a supplier to meet a purchaser’s short-term requirements in

terms of cost, quality, service and other short-term criteria. Capability is defined as the
supplier’s potential that can be leveraged to the buyer’s advantages in the long term.
Most of the performance factors are quantitative and can be measured relatively easily
and most of the capability factors are qualitative and present measurement problems.
These criteria could be broken into different categories related to the supplier’s overall
performance. Some of the main categories, as reported by Ellram (1990) are financial,
organizational culture and strategy and technology issues.
In his study, Dickson (1966) validated 23 criteria for assessing supplier’s
performance as listed in Table 5 (indicated by *). He conducted a questionnaire survey
mailed to about 300 organizations. Respondents were asked to assess the importance of
each criterion on a five point scale; of extreme, considerable, average, slight and no
importance. In his study, it is observed that price was not the most important factor in
supplier selection. The ability of each supplier to meet required quality as being the
extremely important criterion and the reciprocal arrangements has slight importance on
the supplier evaluation. Thereafter, quite a number of researchers continued studying the
effects of various criteria in the supplier selection process. In the early days, price was
the sole factor determining the suitable supplier. However, the selection attributes have
been expanded and some new ones are introduced responding to the growth of new
business needs.
Weber et al. (1991) re-examined Dickson’s work by reviewing published articles
between 1966 and 1990. They reported that 47 of the 74 reviewed articles used multiple
criteria as listed by Dickson for the selection process. They stressed those important
Just-In-Time (JIT) components such as quality, delivery, net price, geographical
location and production facilities and capacity have been given utmost priority by many
purchasing firms. In a later work, Cheraghi et al. (2004) continued to extend these key
players initial work to obtain the current perspective of supplier selection by analyzing
articles published between 1990 and 2001. It is found that reliability, flexibility,
consistency and long-term relationship as significant new entrants of critical success
factors for supplier selection. They concluded that several criteria such as operating
controls, packaging ability, training aids, desire for business and warranties and claim
policies are no longer relevant to the current supplier selection context. In this current
study, articles published between 2001 and 2010 are reviewed to evaluate the relevancy
of previous findings with current market requirements. A broad search was carried out
by focusing on the refereed publications in the field of engineering, production,
marketing and finance as SCM is related to this major disciplines. Table 5 provides the
number of articles in which each criterion was addressed and provides a comparison of
the factors considered between Cheraghi et al. research findings and the current study.
Table 6 in the Appendix categorizes all articles (between 2001-2010) based on the 36
criteria identified numerically in Table 5. However, the interested reader is referred to
Cheraghi et al. (2004) and Weber et al. (1991) for the relevant details of criteria used
between 1966-2001. From this Table, it is recognized that price, quality and delivery are
still the dominant factors when considering any suppliers. Initially, Dickson only
considered net pricing, however, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is being used today to
quantify all the related cost of a purchased item throughout its life cycle. Suppliers are
expected to be able to meet quality specifications and specified delivery schedule at a
reasonable pricing for offered products or services. Having a notable fitness in
production facilities and capacity gives the purchaser the confidence in considering the
supplier’s offer. A prospective supplier should have an ideal ratio between average
442
manufacturing capacity and the average purchaser’s consumption per unit of time.
Besides the criteria aforementioned, technical capability has significant impact in the
evaluation process as the buying organization is concerned with supplier’s current and
future technological capability.
Table 5. Comparison of selection attributes (1966-2001 and 2001-2010)
Criterion Frequency (1966- Frequency Overall

2001) (2001-2010)
1 Quality* 71 37 108
2 Delivery* 75 36 111
3 Performance history* 11 10 21
4 Warranties and claim policies* 1 5 6
5 Production facilities and 35 20 55
capacity*
6 Price* 81 37 118
7 Technical capability* 30 24 54
8 Financial position* 15 17 32
9 Procedural compliance* 4 0 4
10 Communication system* 7 7 14
11 Reputation and position in 10 8 18
industry*
12 Desire for business* 2 2 4
13 Management and organization* 17 22 39
14 Operating controls* 5 0 5
15 Repair service* 18 11 29
16 Attitude* 14 6 20
17 Impression* 6 4 10
18 Packaging ability* 5 4 9
19 Labour relations record* 4 6 10
20 Geographical location* 17 12 29
21 Amount of past business* 1 2 3
22 Training aids* 3 0 3
23 Reciprocal arrangements* 5 0 5
24 Reliability NA 11 11
25 Flexibility NA 19 19
26 Process improvement NA 12 12
27 Product development NA 19 19
28 Environmental and social NA 9 9
responsibility
29 Occupational safety and health NA 4 4
30 Integrity NA 5 5
31 Professionalism NA 4 4
32 JIT NA 5 5
33 Commitment NA 9 9
34 Economy situation NA 1 1
35 Long-term relationship NA 4 4
36 Political situation NA 2 2
* Criteria outlined by Dickson (1966).
443
Management and organization of the supplier’s firm is also evaluated as

company strategy, organizational structure and management attitude gives the buyer an
assurance of its survivability and sustainability. In fostering a successful buyer-supplier
relationship, sound financial position of the supplier convinces the buyer the viability of
the supplier throughout the intended period of supply. Repair service attribute is given
an importance as it depicts the ability of a supplier in problem-solving and its customer
service level. Geographical location is also a preferred criterion as it will decide whether
to engage a local or distant supplier and it becomes more influential when dealing with
international suppliers as issues of trade barriers and imposed tariffs might arise.
Suppliers are also evaluated based on their past performance which could be used as a
baseline to avoid any non-performers being awarded any future contracts. Although
attitude is a subjective element, it is widely accepted as a criterion to eliminate any
suppliers with negative characteristics.
Evolving criteria have emerged due to competitive market as number of
suppliers has increased over the years. Therefore, inception of new criteria is essential to
narrow and qualify not only deserving but exceptional suppliers. Under the current rapid
SCM transformation edge, reliability and flexibility of each supplier are considered as
key contributing factors. Flexibility can be deemed as provision of value-added service
to boost the business ties with the customer. Purchaser expects the supplier to be
reliable in delivering required quantity of products to the right destination, agreed upon
time and in contractually acceptable conditions. Emphasis is also given on the supplier’s
commitment towards continuous product development and improvement. Suppliers
having continuous process improvement initiatives such as Total Quality Management
(TQM), Six Sigma and ISO 9000 are regarded as able to further enhance the standard of
business operations. In order to minimize negative environmental impact from delivered
products or rendered services, supplier’s ability to manage environmental factors is
considered in selection process. In addition to that, supplier’s commitment towards
social responsibility such as donations to the needy ones gives a good impression to the
decision maker.
Occupational safety and health practice by suppliers is essential in order to avoid
any industrial accidents incurred during the process of delivering and installing products
by the supplier’s personnel. Other convincing factors in awarding the contract are
integrity, professionalism, and commitment, economic and political situations.
SUPPLIER SELECTION METHODS
There are a large number of decision making methods which have been developed to
assist in supplier selection process. Catering to the changing needs of supplier selection
criteria, selection methods are improvised from time to time. Some methods have been
popular selection for years, while other methods have been introduced recently. Due to
the multi-criteria nature of supplier selection, a decision making tool accommodating
both quantitative and qualitative criteria is more preferred.
Traditionally used methods are considered as appraisal methods, thus, by
reviewing objective and subjective evaluation criteria (Humphreys et al., 1998).
Categorical and weighted point methods are popular due to its simplicity and quicker
evaluation process. However, cost-ratio method was seen as a complex model and
requires a comprehensive cost-accounting system to generate the precise cost data
(Willis and Huston, 1989). Vendor profile analysis is a modified version of weighted
point method employing Monte Carlo simulation to replace ratings based on intuitive
444
judgment (Thompson, 1990). Dimensional analysis was proposed by Willies et al.

(1993) which allow combining several criteria of different dimensions and varying
importance into a single dimensionless entity. Based on Saaty (1980), several
researchers (Nydick and Hill, 1992, Partovi et al., 1989, Narasimhan, 1983) suggested
the use of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) due to its inbuilt capability to handle both
qualitative and quantitative criteria. Departing from this method, multiple attribute
utility theory (MAUT) was introduced to handle multiple conflicting criteria existing in
international supplier selection (Stewart and Mohamed, 2002, Zionts, 1992). Another
modified approach is the implementation of total cost of ownership (TCO) which
quantifies all costs involved throughout the purchased item’s lifecycle (De Boer et al.,
2001).
Mathematical programming method is way of optimizing the selection of several
suppliers in order to maximize an objective function based on the constraints faced by
suppliers and buyers. Linear programming technique was used to decide the best
supplier according to the defined controlling criteria by the purchaser (Moore and
Fearson, 1973). Goal programming method was developed to perform the supplier
selection based on the goals required by the client such as cost, quality and delivery
(Karpak et al., 2001). Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to classify the suppliers
according to their efficiency levels (Braglia and Petroni, 2000). Artificial intelligence
(AI) is based on computer-aided systems which rely on historic data for decision
making. Popular AI systems in use for supplier selection purposes are neural networks
(NN) and case-based reasoning (CBR) (Humphreys et al., 2003a, Albino and Garavelli,
1998, Cook, 1997). More recently, swarm intelligence methods namely ant colony and
particle optimization have been introduced to cater multi-objective problems
(Gholamian and Ghomi, 2006). The application of ant colony in supplier selection
process enables to solve many combinatorial optimization problems within a reasonable
time (Tsai et al., 2010). Particle swarm optimization (PSO) based fuzzy neural network
has been used to derive rules for qualitative data in achieving more precise supplier
selection decision (Chakraborty et al., 2011). In the recent development, DNA based
hybrid genetic algorithm is favourable in solving nonlinear constrained optimization
problems (Chen and Wang, 2010). On the other hand, statistical method is also used in
selecting suppliers especially dealing with stochastic uncertainty (Ronen and Trietsch,
1988, Hinkle et al., 1969). Although both statistical and neural network methods have
the same aim of assisting decision-making, some distinct differences exist between them
such as: (1) terminology; (2) philosophy; (3) goals; (4) model development; and (5)
knowledge acquisition (Karlaftis and Vlahogianni, 2010). Most terms used in NN
modeling are different compared to the ones used in statistics which sometimes leads to
confusion among researchers. The underlying philosophy of NN emphasizes on
implementation while statistics are more towards inference and estimation. Opposite to
the aim of statistics of providing a predictive model, NN targets to provide efficient
representation of underlying data. The most significant difference between both
approaches in the model development stage is the learning process. This characteristic
constitutes of the flexibility, inference mechanism, and time acquired for model
development. Comparatively, the knowledge acquisition process for NN is more
simplified than the statistical model. From the literature, it is found that hardly any
evidence proves that electricity supply industry embraces systematic supplier selection
techniques. However, any suitable supplier selection method to be employed by the
purchaser depends on the required capability and their affordability in investing in such
facility.
445
CONCLUSIONS
In the current competitive business environment, the relationship between buyers and
suppliers is no longer as antagonistic as the traditional way, but emphasis is more
towards forging of partnerships which benefits both parties. Emergence of supply chain
concept made buyers and suppliers to realize long-term cooperation could be
jeopardized by lack of mutual trust. High priority is given towards suppliers who are
able to deliver promises and to commit and support the buyer’s vision. Supplier
selection issue has become an important focus for every purchasing organization as it
dictates the buyer’s operational and financial positions. This review of literature
provides the basis for identification and definition of supplier selection metrics in the
Malaysian electricity supply industry. There is a need to investigate the supplier
selection practices in this industry as it is a unique sector by itself. Not all criteria and
decision methods used by manufacturing industry might be applicable to electricity
supply industry. The traditional set of supplier selection criteria comprising of price,
delivery, quality, and service is considered universal for most of the industries.
However, it is imperative to understand that buyers, suppliers and end-users might have
different definitions for each metric when there is hardly a standard supplier selection
metrics and its definitions for a particular industry. Positive interactions between buyer
and supplier in creating long-term relationships are also subject to evolving supplier
selection criteria. As the pace of market globalization quickens, buyers expects suppliers
to excel in non-traditional attributes such as reliability, flexibility, environmental
responsibility, process improvement, and other current customer defined satisfying
criteria. Therefore, having a good set of supplier selection metrics and corresponding
definitions is of critical significance for the organizational success of SCM. From the
standpoint of decision support model, supplier selection problem is multi-attribute in
nature which requires suppliers to be given scoring based on weighting scheme for each
attribute. It is the intention of this research to provide at least one of the numerous tools
that will be required in order to deliver efficiency, reliability and cost effectiveness in
the pursuit of electricity supply industry infrastructure. A decision support model based
on the relationship of a set of input (supplier performance criteria) and output (score of
suppliers) will be developed to predict the score of suppliers for future input data
specifically for Malaysian electricity supply industry. From the review, it is suggested
that usage of artificial neural network will be an advantageous approach for supplier
selection in the electrical supply industry. This is attributable to its characteristics of
simulating the human brain by collecting and processing data for the purpose of
remembering or learning. However, an extended study will be conducted to ascertain
the applicability of this finding in the Malaysian context.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) Staff
Development Scheme and Auckland University of Technology (AUT) for their support.
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449
APPENDIX
Table 6. Breakdown of supplier selection attributes considered between 2001-2010
Criteria No. of Authors

articles
Quality 37 Krause et al. (2001); Lee et al. (2001); Narasimhan et al.
(2001); Bhutta and Huq (2002); Kannan and Tan (2002);
Simpson et al. (2002); Bharadwaj (2003); Chan (2003);
Choy and Lee (2003); Humphreys et al. (2003a);
Shahadat (2003); Chan and Chan (2004); Hong et al.
(2005); Kumar et al. (2005); Lasch and Janker (2005);
Ndubisi et al. (2005); Pi and Low (2005); Teng and
Jaramillo (2005); Hsu et al. (2006); Kannan and Tan
(2006); Sarkar and Mohapatra (2006); El-Sawalhi et al.
(2007); Florez-Lopez (2007); Ho et al. (2007); Wadhwa
and Ravindran (2007); Xia and Wu (2007); Tahriri et al.
(2008); Vahdani et al. (2008); Aretoulis et al. (2009);
Inemek and Tuna (2009); Kasirian and Yusuff (2009);
Kumar et al. (2009); Ordoobadi (2009); Thanaraksakul
and Phruksaphanrat (2009); Ho et al. (2010); Kang and
Lee (2010); Park et al. (2010)
Delivery 36 Krause et al. (2001); Lee et al. (2001); Narasimhan et al.
(2001); Kannan and Tan (2002); Simpson et al. (2002);
Barla (2003); Bharadwaj (2003); Choy and Lee (2003);
Humphreys et al. (2003a); Shahadat (2003); Chan and
Chan (2004); Hong et al. (2005); Kumar et al. (2005);
Lasch and Janker (2005); Ndubisi et al. (2005); Pi and
Low (2005); Teng and Jaramillo (2005); Hsu et al.
(2006); Kannan and Tan (2006); Sarkar and Mohapatra
(2006); Florez-Lopez (2007); Ho et al. (2007); Huang
and Keskar (2007); Wadhwa and Ravindran (2007); Xia
and Wu (2007); Tahriri et al. (2008); Aretoulis et al.
(2009); Inemek and Tuna (2009); Kasirian and Yusuff
(2009); Kumar et al. (2009); Ordoobadi (2009);
Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat (2009); Ho et al.
(2010); Kang and Lee (2010); Park et al. (2010); Wu
and Weng (2010)
Performance 10 Kannan and Tan (2002); Chan (2003); Shahadat (2003);
history Hsu et al. (2006); El-Sawalhi et al. (2007); Tahriri et al.
(2008); Kasirian and Yusuff (2009); Kumar et al.
(2009); Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat (2009); Watt
et al. (2010)
Warranties and 5 Simpson et al. (2002); Shahadat (2003); Xia and Wu
claim policies (2007); Tahriri et al. (2008); Thanaraksakul and
Phruksaphanrat (2009)
450

articles
Production 20 Humphreys et al. (2001); Lee et al. (2001); Bhutta and
facilities and Huq (2002); Simpson et al. (2002); Chan (2003); Choy
capacity and Lee (2003); Humphreys et al. (2003b); Hsu et al.
(2006); Kannan and Tan (2006); Sarkar and Mohapatra
(2006); El-Sawalhi et al. (2007); Ho et al. (2007); Huang
and Keskar (2007); Xia and Wu (2007); Tahriri et al.
(2009); Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat (2009); Ho
et al. (2010); Kang and Lee (2010)
Price 37 Humphreys et al. (2001); Krause et al. (2001);
Bevilacqua and Petroni (2002); Kannan and Tan (2002);
Simpson et al. (2002); Barla (2003); Bharadwaj (2003);
Chan (2003); Choy and Lee (2003); Humphreys et al.
(2003b); Shahadat (2003); Chan and Chan (2004); Hong
et al. (2005); Lasch and Janker (2005); Ndubisi et al.
(2005); Pi and Low (2005); Teng and Jaramillo (2005);
Hsu et al. (2006); Sarkar and Mohapatra (2006); Florez-
Lopez (2007); Ho et al. (2007); Huang and Keskar
(2007); Wadhwa and Ravindran (2007); Xia and Wu
(2007); Tahriri et al. (2008); Vahdani et al. (2008);
Aretoulis et al. (2009); Inemek and Tuna (2009);
Kasirian and Yusuff (2009); Kumar et al. (2009);
Ordoobadi (2009); Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat
(2009); Ho et al. (2010); Kang and Lee (2010); Park et
al. (2010); Watt et al. (2010); Wu and Weng (2010)
Technical 24 Lee et al. (2001); Narasimhan et al. (2001); Bevilacqua
capability and Petroni (2002); Kannan and Tan (2002); Simpson et
al. (2002); Barla (2003); Chan (2003); Humphreys et al.
(2003b); Shahadat (2003); Ndubisi et al. (2005); Kannan
and Tan (2006); El-Sawalhi et al. (2007); Ho et al.
(2007); Xia and Wu (2007); Tahriri et al. (2008);
Vahdani et al. (2008); Aretoulis et al. (2009); Inemek
and Tuna (2009); Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat
(2009); Ho et al. (2010); Kang and Lee (2010); Park et
al. (2010); Watt et al. (2010); Wu and Weng (2010)
Financial 17 Humphreys et al. (2001); Lee et al. (2001); Bevilacqua
position and Petroni (2002); Kannan and Tan (2002); Simpson et
al. (2002); Barla (2003); Chan (2003); Choy and Lee
(2003); Humphreys et al. (2003b); Hong et al. (2005);
Hsu et al. (2006); Sarkar and Mohapatra (2006); El-
Sawalhi et al. (2007); Inemek and Tuna (2009);
(2010); Wu and Weng (2010)
Procedural Nil -
compliance
451

articles
Communication 7 Humphreys et al. (2001); Kannan and Tan (2002);
system Humphreys et al. (2003b); Shahadat (2003); Sarkar and
Mohapatra (2006); Ho et al. (2007); Thanaraksakul and
Reputation and 8 Shahadat (2003); Hsu et al. (2006); Sarkar and
position in Mohapatra (2006); Ho et al. (2007); Kasirian and Yusuff
industry (2009); Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat (2009); Ho
et al. (2010); Watt et al. (2010)
Desire for 2 Shahadat (2003); Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat
business (2009)
Management 22 Humphreys et al. (2001); Narasimhan et al. (2001);
and Bevilacqua and Petroni (2002); Kannan and Tan (2002);
organization Simpson et al. (2002); Barla (2003); Chan (2003); Choy
and Lee (2003); Humphreys et al. (2003b); Shahadat
(2003); Hsu et al. (2006); Sarkar and Mohapatra (2006);
El-Sawalhi et al. (2007); Ho et al. (2007); Tahriri et al.
(2008); Aretoulis et al. (2009); Inemek and Tuna (2009);
(2010); Park et al. (2010); Watt et al. (2010); Wu and
Weng (2010)
Operating Nil -
controls
Repair service 11 Bevilacqua and Petroni (2002); Bhutta and Huq (2002);
Kannan and Tan (2002); Bharadwaj (2003); Choy and
Lee (2003); Florez-Lopez (2007); Xia and Wu (2007);
Ho et al. (2007); Kasirian and Yusuff (2009);
(2010)
Attitude 6 Shahadat (2003); Sarkar and Mohapatra (2006); Ho et
al. (2007); Vahdani et al. (2008); Kumar et al. (2009);
Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat (2009)
Impression 4 Hong et al. (2005); Ho et al. (2007); Thanaraksakul and
Phruksaphanrat (2009); Wu and Weng (2010)
Packaging 4 Humphreys et al. (2001); Simpson et al. (2002);
ability Humphreys et al. (2003b); Thanaraksakul and
Labour 6 Humphreys et al. (2001); Simpson et al. (2002); Choy
relations record and Lee (2003); Humphreys et al. (2003b); Sarkar and
Mohapatra (2006); Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat
(2009)
Geographical 12 Humphreys et al. (2001); Bevilacqua and Petroni (2002);
location Kannan and Tan (2002); Simpson et al. (2002); Barla
(2003); Humphreys et al. (2003b); Hsu et al. (2006);
Sarkar and Mohapatra (2006); Ho et al. (2007); Kasirian
and Yusuff (2009); Kumar et al. (2009); Thanaraksakul
and Phruksaphanrat (2009)
452

articles
Amount of past 2 El-Sawalhi et al. (2007); Thanaraksakul and
business Phruksaphanrat (2009)
Training aids Nil -
Reciprocal Nil -
arrangements
Reliability 11 Shahadat (2003); Teng and Jaramillo (2005); Florez-
Lopez (2007); Xia and Wu (2007); Aretoulis et al.
(2009); Kumar et al. (2009); Ordoobadi (2009);
Flexibility 19 Humphreys et al. (2001); Krause et al. (2001);
Narasimhan et al. (2001); Bevilacqua and Petroni
(2002); Kannan and Tan (2002); Humphreys et al.
(2003b); Shahadat (2003); Chan and Chan (2004); Teng
and Jaramillo (2005); Hsu et al. (2006); Ho et al. (2007);
Huang and Keskar (2007); Vahdani et al. (2008);
Kasirian and Yusuff (2009); Kumar et al. (2009);
(2010); Kang and Lee (2010); Wu and Weng (2010)
Process 12 Humphreys et al. (2001); Narasimhan et al. (2001);
improvement Bevilacqua and Petroni (2002); Kannan and Tan (2002);
Simpson et al. (2002); Kumar et al. (2005); Sarkar and
Mohapatra (2006); Ho et al. (2007); Inemek and Tuna
(2009); Kumar et al. (2009); Thanaraksakul and
Phruksaphanrat (2009); Wu and Weng (2010)
Product 19 Humphreys et al. (2001); Krause et al. (2001); Lee et al.
development (2001); Narasimhan et al. (2001); Bhutta and Huq
(2002); Simpson et al. (2002); Kannan and Tan (2002);
Bharadwaj (2003); Chan (2003); Choy and Lee (2003);
Shahadat (2003); Chan and Chan (2004); Hsu et al.
(2006); Kannan and Tan (2006); Florez-Lopez (2007);
Ho et al. (2007); Ordoobadi (2009); Thanaraksakul and
Phruksaphanrat (2009); Ho et al. (2010)
Environmental 9 Humphreys et al. (2001); Humphreys et al. (2003a);
and social Humphreys et al. (2003b); Ho et al. (2007); Huang and
responsibility Keskar (2007); Tahriri et al. (2008); Thanaraksakul and
Phruksaphanrat (2009); Bai and Sarkis (2010); Ho et al.
(2010)
Occupational 4 El-Sawalhi et al. (2007); Huang and Keskar (2007);
safety and Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat (2009); Ho et al.
health (2010)
Integrity 5 Kannan and Tan (2002); Hsu et al. (2006); Ho et al.
(2007); Tahriri et al. (2008); Inemek and Tuna (2009);
453

articles
Professionalism 4 Simpson et al. (2002); Pi and Low (2005); Kasirian and
Yusuff (2009); Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat
(2009)
JIT 4 Humphreys et al. (2001); Bevilacqua and Petroni (2002);
Kannan and Tan (2002); Ho et al. (2007)
Commitment 9 Lee et al. (2001); Kannan and Tan (2002); Chan (2003);
Chan and Chan (2004); Hsu et al. (2006); Ho et al.
(2007); Aretoulis et al. (2009); Inemek and Tuna (2009);
Park et al. (2010)
Economic 1 Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat (2009)
situation
Long-term 5 Simpson et al. (2002); Kasirian and Yusuff (2009);
relationship Thanaraksakul and Phruksaphanrat (2009); Ho et al.
(2010); Kang and Lee (2010)
Political 2 Inemek and Tuna (2009); Thanaraksakul and
situation Phruksaphanrat (2009)
454
TURBULENT FILM CONDENSATION OF PURE VAPORS FLOWING

NORMAL TO A HORIZONTAL CONDENSER TUBE - CONSTANT HEAT
FLUX AT THE TUBE WALL
B. Vijaya Lakshmi1*, T. Subrahmanyam2, V. Dharma Rao1 and K.V. Sharma3

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, GVP College of Engineering,
Visakhapatnam, India; Phone: 09493529796
Email: vijaya_bathula@hotmail.com
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India;
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaysia, Pahang,
ABSTRACT
A mathematical model is developed for the study of external turbulent film

condensation of pure vapors flowing downward and normal to the axis of the condenser
tube with constant heat flux condition maintained at the tube wall. The magnitude of
interfacial shear is estimated for a given external flow condition of the vapor with the
help of Colburn’s analogy. The average condensation heat transfer coefficients for
different system conditions are evaluated. The present theory is compared with the
available experimental and theoretical data in the literature and is found to be
satisfactory.
Keywords: Film condensation - Turbulent flow of vapor - Condenser tube – Interfacial

shear
INTRODUCTION
The phenomenon of condensation of vapors flowing around a condenser tube is of

practical significance in high pressure thermal power plants and chemical process
industries. Nusselt (1916) who is the pioneering researcher in film condensation,
assumed zero shear at the liquid-vapor interface. The external flow of vapor creates
interfacial shear which may enhance the condensation heat transfer coefficient
depending on the direction of flow of vapor. Some important investigations on external
flow of vapor over the condenser tube are by several researchers (Shekariladge and
Gomeluri, 1966; Fujji et al., 1979; Lee et al., 1984; Memory et al., 1993; and Michael et
al., 1989). These investigators are primarily concerned with the estimation of
condensation heat transfer coefficients for isothermal condition of the tube wall. Fujji et
al.(1972) investigated experimentally with the peripheral distribution of wall heat flux
and proposed an equation valid for the limiting cases of large and small on-coming
vapor velocity. In a later study, Rose (1984) considered the effect of the pressure
gradient on forced convection laminar film condensation on a horizontal tube and
proposed an equation for the mean heat transfer coefficient. However, in all these
investigations the condensate film is assumed to be in laminar regime. Honda et al.
(1986) studied experimentally downward film condensation of R113 vapor for wide
455
Vijaya Lakshmi et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 455-470
ranges of vapor velocity, condensate temperature difference and the design equations
were proposed. Experimental data of Michael et al. (1989) on condensation of steam
with high flow velocities could not be correlated satisfactorily by any of the
aforementioned theories. It is further suggested that one of the possible reasons for the
deviation might be due the fact that condensate film can be under turbulent regime for
certain ranges of the system parameters.
For turbulent film condensation on a horizontal cylinder, Sarma et al. (1998)
used the eddy diffusivity of Kato’s model in the condensate film with an assumption
that shear stress at the vapor liquid interface is of the same order as one would expect
for single phase flow. An empirical equation was proposed for an average heat transfer
coefficient which is in good agreement with experimental data of Honda et al. (1986)
and Lin and Yang (2004) treated the elliptical condenser tube with variable wall
temperature. The non-uniform temperature has appreciable effect on local film heat
transfer coefficient but its influence on mean heat transfer coefficient is minimal. Yang
and Lin (2005) considered the non-isothermal condition for the tuber wall and inter
facial eddy diffusivity. It is observed that inclusion of eddy diffusivity effect decreases
the mean heat transfer coefficient with increase in wall temperature variation amplitude.
Hu et al. (2006) studied turbulent film condensation on an isothermal inclined elliptical
tube in terms of the local condensate film thickness and the heat transfer characteristics.
Hu et al. (2007) also studied the influence of different eddy diffusivity models and
proposed a new model for local film shear which produces higher mean heat transfer
coefficients. However, the above-mentioned studies focus on the isothermal and non-
uniform wall temperature case. Hence, the present study is aimed at formulating the
turbulent film condensation process with diabatic condition of constant heat flux
attributed to the tube wall. In addition, the influence of the external flow of the vapor on
the condensate film is included in assessing the performance of the condenser tube.
Furthermore, the study included a comparison between the present results and the
results obtained from previously published theoretical and experimental data.
PHYSICAL MODEL
Pure vapors approach a horizontal tube along the direction of gravity vector. The wall of the
condenser tube is maintained at constant heat flux. It is assumed that the condensate film
flow is under turbulent regime in the region away from the upper stagnation point. Influence
of boundary layer separation is not considered.
Figure 1. Physical configuration-flow model
456
Turbulent film condensation of pure vapors flowing normal to a horizontal condenser tube - constant heat flux at the tube wall
Analysis
The shear stress in the condensate film can be expressed as

 ε  du
τ w = µ 1 + m  (1)
 v1  dy
For the physical configuration and coordinate system shown in Figure 1, the force
balance applied to an element of the condensate is as follows:
τ w = τ iv + gδµ (ρl − ρv )sin θ (2)
where τ w and τ iv are wall and interfacial shear stress.

The case of τ iv = 0 happens to be Nusselt’s analysis. In Eq. (2), the influence of
inertial force is neglected. In addition, considering that, the turbulent or eddy conduction
across the condensate layer is more significant than convective component, hence the
equation of conservation of energy in the film is expressed as follows.
d  ε m  dT 
1 + Pr   = 0 (3)
dy  v1  dt 
The boundary conditions employed for solving Eq. (3) are as follows:
y = 0; T = Tw (θ ) unknown
(4)
y = δ ; T = Ts
In addition, as per the assumption employed in the analysis:
dT
y = 0; kl = qw (a constant) (5)
dy y =0
The phase transformation occurring at the vapor liquid interface is given by the
following relationship:
δ
d q R
∫
dθ 0
ρl udy = w
hf g
(6)
Equation (6) implies that the total heat conducted across the condensate film is
equal to the value that would arise due to phase transformation occurring at the vapor liquid
interface as result of condensation of vapors around the tube. The expression for convective
heat transfer around the cylinder from Holman (1997) is as follows
1
Nu = C Re vn Pr 3 (7)
The values of C and n are chosen as C = 0.0266 and n = 0.805 from Holman (1997), which
457
is valid for range 40,000 < Re v < 400,000

Further, it is assumed that the principle of Colburns analogy, modification of
Reynold’s analogy holds good i.e.,
2
f
= St Pr 3 (8)
2
From Eqs. (7) and (8) the average wall friction coefficient f can be obtained as follows
f = 2C Revn −1 (9)
The local friction fθ is further defined by the expression
fθ = C [Re v ]sin θ (10)
The average friction coefficient can also be written as
π
1
f =
π ∫ fθ dθ
0
(11)
Equations (9), (10) and (11) yield the following relationship
fθ = πC Re vn −1 sin θ (12)
The local shear stress is defined by the relationship
1
τ iv = fθ ρ vuT2 (13)
2
where uT = 2u¥ sinθ
From Eqs. (12). and (13), the expression for local interfacial shear stress can be
obtained as
2 n-1 3
τiv = 2 πCr v u¥ Reν sin θ (14)
Thus, it is revealing that the τiv induced on the condensate film both at θ = 0
and π is negligible. It is maximum at θ = π / 2 .
The wall shear stress can be expressed as
2
τ w = ρl u * (15)
Further, the boundary layer separation is ignored in the present analysis. It is close to
the assumption employed by Shekriladze and Gomelauri, (1966).
With the aid of Eqs. (14) and (15), Equations (2), (3) and (6) are expressed in
458
dimensionless form as follows:
*3 * (n+1)/ 2 3 +
R = R φ Fr sin θ +δ sinθ (16)
 
+  
dT  1 
= − (17)
dy +  * 13  ε m  
 R Gr 1 + Pr  
  v1  
1
d δ + (θ )
∫
+ +
u dy = Q Re 2
(18)
dθ 0 l
1− n
  ρv  3n6−1  vv  
where ϕ = 2 πC  Gr
n
  
  ρl   vl  
From Eqs. (1) and (15), the expression for velocity profile can be obtained as follows
du + 1
= (19)
dy +
ε
1+ m
v1
The normalized boundary conditions for solving Eqs. (17) and (18) are
+ + +
y = 0; T = Tw
+ + +
y = δ ; T = 0 (20)
+ +
y = 0; u = 0
+ k l (T s - T w )
where Tw = (21)
qw R
According to Sarma et al. (1998), the assumption of universal velocity distribution

can be used in evaluation of mass flow rate of condensate at any angular location.
The magnitude of interfacial shear on the vapor-liquid interface is generally
assumed to be in terms of a proportionality constant, a factor of multiplication of τw . In
this particular case the constant of proportionality is tentatively chosen as unity. So, it is
assumed that τiv is of the same order as that of τ w and Eq. (19) can be considered as valid
approximation. In the present study, Kato’s expression for eddy diffusivity is used to solve
Eqs. (17) and (19). Kato’s expression is as follows.
εm
v1
[
= 0.4 y + 1 = exp − 0.0017 y + ( 2
)] (22)
459
The inadequacy in Eq. (19) is that the influence interfacial shear is not properly
accommodated. However the Eq. (18) requires integrated values of velocity function
and hence it is assumed that the error introduced would be marginal.
The local values of wall temperatures can be estimated with the aid of the
following expression:
 1

S = Q Re l2 Tw+  (23)
 
Certain observations can be made from Eq. (16). At θ → 0 and π , since

R → 0 it can be seen that local value of temperature tends to infinity as per the
*
formulation. However, to avoid such a situation and to obtain physically meaningful

results at the upper and lower stagnation points i.e., at θ → 0 and π condensation
phenomenon is considered taking into account the special conditions that would prevail
at these locations. At θ → 0 , the effect of external flow field of vapor on the
condensation process can be ignored and is identical to Nusselt’s pioneering analysis.
According to Nusselt’s analysis under constant heat flux conditions the sub-cooling
parameter is given by the relationship as follows:
4 1
c p ∆T 1  3q R  3  θ  3
=  w   (24)
h fg Pr 3  µl h fg   Gr sin θ 
c p ∆T
It can be seen from the Eq. (24) that θ → 0 , the sub-cooling parameter tends to a
h fg Pr
c p ∆T
finite value. In addition, θ → π , will attain infinity.
h fg Pr
However, from the physical consideration for cylindrical geometry, the
ds
condenser tube with finite wall thickness the boundary condition at θ = π holds
dθ
good. This boundary condition will lead the wall temperature to a finite value. In the
present problem, the sub-cooling parameter can be assessed with imposition of the
condition that laminar film condensation theory holds good at upper stagnation point
i.e., θ = 0 . However, at the lower stagnation point i.e., θ = π , the condition of
ds
symmetry viz., is assumed to hold good such that the sub-cooling parameter tends
dθ
to a finite value.
By definition the local condensation heat transfer coefficient can be written as
follows:
∂T
q w = kl = h (Ts -Tw ) (25)
∂y y=0
Equation (25) in dimensionless form can be expressed by the relationship:
460
Nu Q
1
= 26)
2
S
Re l
Further, the mean Nusselt number and wall temperature are obtained from the
following expression
Nu 1 π
π∫
1
= Nudθ
0
2
Re l (27)
1 π
S=
π ∫
0
Sdθ
In writing down Eq. (19), there is an implied assumption thatτ iv is of the same order
asτ w . It is presumed that such an assumption will not lead to substantial error in the
estimation of the integral appearing in Eq. (18). In other words universal velocity
distribution is being used in the estimation of discharge rate of the condensate at any
angular location. In fact, it can be seen that at very high velocities of the external flow of
vapor such an assumption, i.e. τ iv → τ w is valid and hence Eq. (19) can be considered as
a valid approximation.
Thus, it is evident that the local condensation heat transfer coefficients are
dependent on the following system parameters.
Nu
1
= F [θ ,ϕ , Fr , Gr , Q ] (28)
2
Re l
Solution Procedure
1. The system pressure, the approach velocity u∞, the diameter of the condenser
tube and the thermal load are considered as input parameters. Thus Fr, Q, Gr
can be computed.
2. To begin the calculation, the dimensionless film thickness δ + and the velocity u+
in the condensate film are assumed to be zero at θ = 0 i.e., node m = 1. The
temperature is evaluated from Eq. (17) iteratively with an initial guess for Tw+ so
that the boundary condition T + = Tw+ at y + = 0 and T + = 0 at y + = δ + are
satisfied for a prescribed accuracy of 10-5.
3. The velocity profile across the condensate film and angular positions θ and R* are
obtained by solving Eqs. (16), (17) and (18).
By proceeding to the next node m = m+1 i.e., at m = 2 the condensate film
thickness d + (m + 1) = d + (m ) + dd + , where dd + is assumed be 0.003. Equation (18)
is written in finite difference form to evaluate the angular position θ.
 + 
dθ =  ( ) ( )
I δ + dδ + − I δ + 
where ( )
I δ+ = ∫
δ + (θ )
u + dy +
 1
 0
 Q Re 2 
461
The value δ + is incremented by of dd + and the step 2 and step 3 are repeated to
determine the angular position, R* and Tw+ . Equation (26) is used to solve the local
Nusselt number. The procedure outlined in step 3 is repeated till θ advances to π.
Equation (27) is further utilized to determine average values of heat transfer coefficient
and wall temperatures.
A series of numerical calculations were performed on the model (Figure 1), to

investigate the behavior of turbulent film condensation of pure vapors over a horizontal
cylinder with constant heat flux at the tube wall.
Characteristics of Flow Hydrodynamics
The variation of the condensate film thickness δ + around the periphery is shown plotted in
Figure 2 for different values of Q. It is evident that condensate film thickness increases
monotonically with increase in Q.
Figure 2. Variation of condensae film thickness around the periphery
Figure 3 reveals the variation of shear along the tube wall for various values of
interfacial shear parameter φ. The parameter φ consists of density and viscosity ratios of
vapor-to- liquid. Thus parameter φ signifies the effect of system pressure. It can be observed
from Figure 3 that the wall shear increases with an increase in system pressure.
462
Figure 3. Variation of shear at the tube wall around the periphery- Effect of interfacial shear
Heat Transfer Characteristics
Effect of Sub-cooling Parameter (S)
The constant heat flux condition at the tube wall makes the surface highly non-isothermal.
Figure 4 demonstrates variation of sub-cooling parameter S for various values of thermal
load parameter Q. It can be inferred from Figure 4 that the wall temperature Tw increases up
to θ= π /2 and decreases subsequently. It can be noted that the wall temperature Tw decreases
as the surface heat flux or cooling rate is increased.
Figure 4. Wall temperature variation around the periphery
Influence of Thermal Load on Local Heat Transfer Coefficient
Equation (26) is shown plotted in Figure 5 for various values of Q. It is evident that the rise
and decay characteristics of local Nusselt number indicates that the condensate heat transfer
coefficients attain a maximum value approximately at θ=88°. Further, as θ → π the
463
condensate heat transfer coefficient decreases considerably.
Figure 5. Variation of local Nusselt around the periphery-effect of Q
Effect of External Vapor Velocity
The effect of vapor Froude number on condensation Nusselt number is shown in Figure 6. It
can be observed that the Nusselt number increases with an increase in vapor velocity u∞.
Further, there is a decrease in Nusselt number with an increase Q, which is due to an
increase in condensate film thickness.
Figure 6. Effect of external flow on the mean condensate heat transfer coefficients
464
Effect of Thermal Load, Q
An interesting phenomenon is observed in Figure 7, in which the average Nusselt number

(Nu Re1/2 )is shown plotted as a function of dimensionless heat flux Q for different Froude
numbers. At higher Froude numbers, as the heat flux increases, Nusselt number is found to
decrease initially and later assumes an asymptotic value. In other words the average
condensation heat transfer coefficient assumes an asymptotic value as the wall heat flux (qw)
is increased. However at lower Froude numbers, such as Fr = 10,000, the condensation heat
transfer coefficient is found to increase at higher wall heat fluxes which is due to increased
condensation Reynold’s numbers.
Figure 7. Effect of dimensionless heat flux on mean condensate Nusselt-Influence of Froude
The variation of the Nusselt number with Q is shown in Figure 8 for different values of shear
parameter φ. It is found that, the average Nusselt number increases with an increase in shear
parameter at any given value of Q.
Figure 8. Effect of dimensionless heat flux on mean condensate Nusselt-Influence of

interfacial shear
465
Effect of Shear Parameter, φ
The effect of Prandtl number on Nusselt number is shown in Figure 9 for different values of
Fr and φ. It is found that the Nusselt number increases with an increase in Prandtl number of
the condensate. The condensation heat transfer coefficient also increases with an increase in
either Froude number or interfacial shear.
Figure 9. Effect of shear parameter on mean condensate Nusselt
Effect of Inverse Vapor Velocity, F
The analysis is validated with the experimental data of Michael et al. (1989) and is shown
plotted in Figure 10. The shear parameter φ comprises of physical properties of the
condensate and condenser tube diameter. The ranges of φ corresponding to experimental
values will be in the range 0.003 ≤ φ ≤ 0.006 (i.e., system pressure between 0.006 and 0.04
bar) and these magnitudes are computed for the range of the experimental data
employed for comparison of present theory. The present theoretical analysis agrees
satisfactorily with data for steam. Further, the analytical results of Shekriladze and
Gomelauri (1966), Rose (1984), Honda et al. (1986), Sarma et al. (1998) are also shown
plotted for comparison in Figure 10.
Figure 10. Comparison of present theory with experimental data of Michael el al. (1989)
and Rose (1984)
466
GENERALIZED CORRELATION
The theoretical results of the present analysis for wide ranges of different system
parameters are subjected to non linear regression and the following equation for the
average Nusselt number is proposed.
N ut 0.3124
φ
1/2
= 0.8732 (29)
0.03376 0.1306
Re (F S ) Q
Equation (29) is valid for the following ranges of parameters:

0.001 < φ < 0.06; 0.001 < Q < 0.02. Further Eq. (29) fits the theoretical results with a
standard deviation of 5%.
The lowest possible limiting value of Nusselt number is obtained when the vapor is
stagnant and condensate film is in the laminar flow. The Nusselt’s equation for
condensation Nusselt number for the case of laminar film condensation over a
horizontal cylinder can be expressed in the following form conveniently.
1 3
N u la m (F S )
1/ 2
= 0 .4 1 0 3 1/ 3
(30)
Re Q
Thus from Eqs. (29) and (30) one can predict the mean condensate heat transfer
coefficients for different ranges of vapor velocity from the following relationship:
3
[
Nu = Nu lam + Nu t
3 3
] (31)
Figure 11. Comparison of present analysis with data of Honda et al. (1986)
Equation (31) of the present analysis is shown plotted together with the
experimental data for R-113 in Figure 11. It can be seen that the explicit form of Eq. (31)
satisfactorily correlates the experimental data with reasonable accuracy. Hence, Eq. (31)
can be used for the design purposes. The comparison of theoretical results for different
values of φ with the experimental data of Michael et al. (1989) and Honda et al. (1986)
467
shown in Figures 10 and 11 respectively indicate clearly the effect of interfacial shear on
condensation of flowing vapor over a horizontal cylinder. Hence, the interfacial shear has
been shown in this study to be a strong function of system pressure.
CONCLUSIONS
1. The comparison of present analytical results with the available experimental and
theoretical data in literature confirms that the present theory is satisfactory for
predicting the condensation characteristics.
2. The thermal loading of the condenser tube has an optimal value and increase in
flow rate beyond a certain value has no practical significance. It merely
increases the pumping power.
3. The increase in approach velocity enhances the mean hear transfer coefficients.
4. The system pressure has a profound influence on condensation heat transfer
coefficients, which is brought out in the present study through the interfacial shear
parameter φ.
5. A generalized correlation Eq. (29) for average condensate heat transfer coefficient is
obtained for high vapor velocities with a standard deviation of 5%.
6. Equation (31) is found to be in good agreement with condensation of vapors of R-
113 of Honda et al. [5]. Therefore, Eqs. (29), (30) in the form of Eq. (31) can be
used for design of condensers for wide range of system parameters.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first author thanks Prof. Soma Raju of GVP College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam for
providing facilities in preparation of this article and also Mr. Someswara Rao, IIT, Chennai.
REFERENCES
Fujii, T., Honda, H. and Oda, K. 1979. Condensation of steam on a horizontal tube the
influence of oncoming velocity and thermal condition at the tube wall.
Condensation Heat Transfer, 35-43.
Fujii, T., Uehare, H. and Kurata, C. 1972. Laminar filmwise condensation of flowing
vapor on a horizontal tube. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 15:
235–246.
Holman, J.P. 1997. Heat Transfer. Eighth ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Honda, H., Nozu, S., Uchima, B. and Fujii, T. 1986. Effect of vapor velocity on film
condensation of R-113 on horizontal tubes in a cross flow. International Journal
of Heat and Mass Transfer, 29: 429-438.
Hu, H.P. and Chen, C.K. 2006. Simplified approach of turbulent film condensation on
an inclined elliptical tube, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 49:
640–648
Hu, H.P. and Chen, C.K. 2007. Effects of eddy diffusivity in film condensation on a
horizontal tube. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 34:
52-61.
Lee, W.C., Rahbar, S. and Rose, J.W. 1984. Film condensation of refrigerant 113 and
ethanediol on a horizontal tube-effect of vapor velocity. ASME Journal of Heat
Transfer,106: 524-530.
Lin, Y.T. and Yang, S.A. 2004. Turbulent film condensation on a horizontal elliptical
468
tube with variable wall temperature. Journal of Marine Science and Technology,
12: 300-308.
Memory, S.B., Lee, W.C. and Rose, J.W. 1993. Forced convection film condensation
on a horizontal tube- effect of surface temperature variation. International
Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 36: 1671-1676.
Michael, A.G., Rose, J.W. and Daniels, L.C. 1989. Forced convection condensation on
a horizontal tube - experimental with vertical downflow of steam. ASME
Journal of Heat Transfer, 111: 792–797.
Nusselt. 1916. Die, Oberflachenkondensation des Wasserdampfes, Z. Ver. Dt. Ing. 60:
541-546.
Rose, J.W. 1984. Effect of pressure gradient in forced film condensation on a
horizontal - tube effect of surface temperature variation, International Journal of
Heat and Mass Transfer, 27: 39–47.
Sarma, P.K., Vijayalakshmi, B., Mayinger, F. and Kakac, S. 1998. Turbulent film
condensation on a horizontal tube with external flow of pure vapors.
Schlichting. 1979. Flow past a circular cylinder, in: Boundary layer theory. Seventh ed.,
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Shekriladze, I.G. and Gomelauri, V.I. 1966. Theoretical study of laminar film
condensation of flowing vapor. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer,
9: 581–591.
Yang, S.A. and Lin, Y.T. 2005. Applied Mathematical Modeling 29: 1149-1163
Nomenclature
Cp specific heat capacity of the condensate

D diameter of the horizontal tube
F dimensionless inverse vapor velocity, F =(2 Fr S)
f average friction coefficient
fθ local friction coefficient
Fr Froude number, u∞2 / gR
 gR 3  ρl − ρ v 
Gr Grashof number,  2  
 v1  ρl 
g acceleration due to gravity
h condensation heat transfer coefficient
hfg latent heat
k thermal conductivity
Nu Nusselt number, hR k l
Nu mean Nusselt number
Pr Prandtl number
qw wall heat flux
 q R − 
1
Q dimensionless heat flux,  w Re l 2 
µh 
 l hg 
R outer radius of the tube
R+ shear radius, (Ru* ν l )
469
R* wall shear parameter, (R + Gr

1 3
)
Rel liquid Reynolds number, (u∞ R ν l )
Rev vapor Reynolds number, (u∞ D ν l )
S [
sub-cooling parameter, c p (Ts − Tw ) / h fg Pr ]
S average dimensionless wall temperature
St Stanton number
T temperature
T+ dimensionless temperature, T + = kl (Ts -Tw ) qw R
u velocity along the wall
u∞ approach velocity of steam
uT tangential velocity of steam
*
u shear velocity
u+ dimensionless velocity, (u u* )
y distance normal to the wall
*
y+ dimensionless distance, yu νl ( )
Greek symbols
δ condensate film thickness

δ+ dimensionless film thickness, (δ u* ν l )
DT temperature difference, (Ts -Tw )
εm momentum eddy diffusivity
q angle measured from the upper stagnation point
µ absolute viscosity
ν kinematic viscosity
ρ density
τ shear stress
ϕ shear parameter
Subscripts
iv vapor-liquid interface
l liquid
lam laminar
s saturation
t turbulent
v vapor
w wall.
470
METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE BRAKE ROTOR: HISTORICAL

DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS
A.A. Adebisi*1, M.A. Maleque1, M.M. Rahman2

1
Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering
International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
2
E-mail: debisi1@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Metal matrix composites (MMCs) have become attractive for engineering structural
applications due to their excellent specific strength property and are increasingly seen as
alternative to the conventional materials particularly in the automotive industry. In this
study, a historical background on the development and application of metal matrix
composite for automotive brake rotor is presented. The discussion also includes analysis
of the product life cycle with stir casting as a case study. The historical review analysis
revealed that gradual development of material and processing technique have lead to a
lighter weight, lower cost, and higher performance brake rotor as a result of the better
understanding of the mechanics of metal matrix composite. It emerged from the study
that stir casting technique provides ease of operation, sustainability and most
significantly very competitive without sacrificing quality relative to other techniques;
and as such is the most attractive manufacturing process in the industry. These findings
can be used for future design and manufacture of an efficient and effective aluminium
matrix composite brake rotor for automotive and other applications.
Keywords: metal matrix composite; brake rotor; product life cycle; historical
development
INTRODUCTION
For the past 40 years, materials design has shifted emphasis on pursuing light weight,
environment friendly, low cost, quality, and better performance materials. Parallel to
this trend, metal-matrix composites (MMCs) have been attracting growing interest for
many applications (Kaczmar et al., 2000; Rohatgi et al., 1992; Chawla, 1992). MMCs
attributes include improved performance in the mechanical behaviour (e.g., tensile and
compressive properties, and tribology) and physical properties (e.g., density, thermal
expansion, and thermal diffusivity) by varying the weight fraction of the reinforcement
phase. However, the low ductility property and low-transverse creep resistance
developed due to the hard particulate reinforcement is the major drawback that limits
the usage in structural component applications. A substantial research effort has been
directed towards developing an improved understanding of their potential and
limitations invoking principles of physical metallurgy, stress analysis, processing
sciences and applications.
In recent years, the development of MMCs has been receiving worldwide
attention on account of their superior strength and stiffness in addition to high wear
471
Adebisi et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 471-480
resistance and creep resistance comparison to their corresponding wrought alloys.

Metal-matrix composites have been used commercially in the automotive market for
nearly 20 years. Properties of interest to the automotive industry include increased
specific strength and stiffness, wear resistance, thermal conductivity and improved high-
cycle fatigue resistance (Allison and Cole, 1993). Weight savings is also important in
automotive applications with the need for achieving performance improvements with
much lower-cost materials and processes. There has been successful application in
several automotive applications in which the combination of properties and cost
satisfied a particular need. As a result of these successful applications, business
communications company (BCC), Inc (www.bccresearch.com) estimates that the global
market for metal matrix composites consumed 4.1 million kilograms of materials in
2007 and 4.4 million kilograms in 2008. This is expected to increase to 5.9 million in
2013, for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.9%. The ground transportation
segment has the largest share of the market and used 2.4 million kilograms of materials
in 2008. This should reach 3.2 million kilograms in 2013, for a CAGR of 5.5% (Swift,
2009). Figure 1 shows the global metal matrix composite by application and segment.
Figure 1. Global MMC outlook by application/segment, 2004 – 2013

[http://www.bccresearch.com/report/AVM012D.html]
In automotive application, brake rotors have been held up as an example where

MMCs make a difference. In terms of weight, MMC rotor designs provide up to a 60%
reduction when compared to cast iron. In addition, aluminum MMC rotors outperform
their iron counterparts in terms of their mechanical properties and practical use. It has
been found that the value of weight reduction in the automotive industry is between
$0.35- $3.50/kg depending on vehicle platform. Therefore, a 7-kg-iron rotor produced
in aluminum MMC at 50% the weight could result in a savings of $ 1.23- $12.25. In a
comparison of an aluminum MMC brake rotor vs. an iron brake rotor, the iron
component will be the higher value in terms of purchase price, post-purchase processing
and maintainability, but the MMC component wins out in terms of performance,
marketability and maintainability (Bruski, 2000).
472
Metal matrix composite brake rotor: Historical development and product life cycle analysis
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF BRAKE ROTOR
Brake rotor development and its use began in England in the 1890s. The first caliper-
type automobile brake rotor was patented by Frederick William Lanchester at
Birmingham, UK in 1902 and used successfully on Lanchester cars. However, the
limited choice of metals in this period resulted to the use of copper as the braking
medium acting on the rotor. Major advancement in brake technology came in 1918 with
the invention of four wheel hydraulic brake systems by Malcolm Loughead. The
hydraulic brake system replaced the mechanical brake system that was in use at this
time. The mechanical system had numerous disadvantages which made it difficult to
brake all the wheels evenly, often causing a loss of control. Moreover, it required
drivers to exert tremendous amounts of force on the brake pedal to slow the car. The
hydraulic brake system multiplied the force that was applied to the brake, lessening the
amount of force needed to be applied to the brake pedal by the driver. This system was
first used in 1918 by Duesenberg, by 1929; four wheel hydraulic braking systems were
standard equipment on modern cars. Modern-style brake rotors first appeared on the
low-volume Crosley Hotshot in 1949, although they had to be discontinued in 1950 due
to design problems which significantly affect the life cycle of the brake rotor.
Aluminum matrix composites were first developed to meet very high
performance needs for structural applications. Continuous fiber reinforced aluminum
was used in the Space Shuttle and Hubble Space Telescope, material cost became a
more significant consideration and emphasis shifted toward particulate-reinforced
materials, with the goal of a lower cost, high volume product that could be used in
automotive and commercial aerospace applications. Major aluminum companies, had
metal matrix composites development programs in the 1980's and early 1990's. Alcan,
through its Duralcan subsidiary, established a 36 million USD per year production
capability for particulate-reinforced aluminum composites (Rittner, 2000). Automotive
applications include cast aluminum composite brake drums and rotors on the Prowler
and EV-1, driveshafts for the Corvette and GM S/T truck, and tire studs in Scandinavia.
In the aerospace field, aluminum composites are used in the fan exit guide vanes of the
Pratt and Whitney 4000 series engines, which power the Boeing 777. Another exciting
area of application for aluminum composites is in the fast-growing electronics
packaging market, primarily for thermal management (as shown in Figure 1)
applications in which the ability to match the coefficient of thermal expansion of the
electronic materials is a key attribute.
Metal-matrix composite brake rotors and drums are typically produced by
casting processes such as semi permanent gravity casting. Aluminum-magnesium and
aluminum-silicon matrix alloys and both SiC and Al2O3 particle reinforcements have
been used, typically of at least 20% by volume. A number of automobiles now use
MMC brake components. The Lotus Elise used four discontinuously reinforced
aluminum (DRA) brake rotors per vehicle from 1996 to 1998, and the specialty
Plymouth Prowler has used DRA in the rear wheels since production started in 1997.
Discontinuously reinforced aluminum rotors are particularly attractive in lightweight
automobiles and are featured in the Volkswagen Lupo 3L and the Audi A2. In addition,
a number of electric and hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota RAV4, Ford Prodigy, and
the General Motors Precept, are reported to use MMC brake components (Miracle and
Hunt, 2004). Figure 2 shows a selection of discontinuously reinforced aluminum (DRA)
brake rotors.
473
Figure 2. Discontinuously reinforced aluminum MMC brake rotors

[http://www.mmc-assess.tuwien.ac.at]
MMC BRAKE ROTOR APPLICATION
Aluminium-based MMCs offer a very useful combination of properties for brake system
applications in replacement of cast iron. Specifically, the wear resistance and high
thermal conductivity of aluminum MMCs enable substitution in disk brake rotors, with
an attendant weight savings on the order of 50 to 60%. Because the weight reduction is
unsprung, it also reduces inertial forces, providing an additional benefit in fuel
economy. In addition, lightweight MMC rotors provide increased acceleration and
reduced braking distance. It is reported that, based on brake dynamometer testing,
MMC rotors reduce brake noise and wear, and have more uniform friction over the
entire testing sequence compared to cast iron rotors (Miracle and Hunt, 2004). Table 1
shows the advantages of metal matrix composite over metals and other composites
(Chawla and Chawla, 2006)
Table 1. Advantages of metal matrix composites (MMC) over metals and other
composite (polymer matrix composites PMC)
Metals Other composites

Major weight savings due to higher Higher strength and stiffness
strength-to-weight ratio
Exceptional dimensional stability Higher thermal conductivity and service
(for example, SiC,/Al to Al) temperatures
Higher elevated temperature stability, Higher electrical conductivity (grounding,
i.e., creep resistance space charging)
Significantly improved cyclic fatigue Better transverse properties and radiation
characteristics survivability (laser, UV, nuclear, etc.)
Better wear resistance Improved joining characteristics
Aluminum is utilised as the most popular matrix for the metal matrix composites
(MMCs). The Al alloys are quite attractive due to their low density, their capability to
be strengthened by precipitation, their good corrosion resistance, high thermal and
474
electrical conductivity, and their high damping capacity. They are usually reinforced by
SiC, Al2O3, C but TiB2, BeO, BN, B4C, SiB6, Cr3C2, Gr, TiB, TiC, Si may also be
considered. From previous study (Andreas, 2007) it was found that the usage of matrix
and particle reinforcement materials by companies varies, Figures 3 and 4 indicate that
most company uses aluminium as matrix material and SiC as particle reinforcement
respectively.
Figure 3. Usage of matrix materials
Figure 4. Usage of particulate reinforced materials
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS
The life cycle of a product is the length of time between its introduction on the market
for the first time and the time when the production declines or decides to stop. The
475
interval between the introduction and decline stage witnesses the growth and maturity
stages of the product and it varies from few months to several years depending on its
nature, usefulness, competition, environmental impact as well as technological
development. The automotive industries have a relatively short life cycle as a result of
fast technological development, pressure due to competition are also high due to
advanced research and development. Automobile parts (piston, push rods, connecting
rods, drive shaft, and brake systems) have witnessed advancement in materials and
manufacturing processes which in turn has influenced the life cycle analysis.
Brake rotor life cycle
The life cycle of an automotive brake rotor begins when it is introduced into the market
after product development. This gives opportunity for new product as a result of material
development and better processing technique. Initially sales grow slowly at the
introduction stage when the MMC brake rotor is new on the market due to the limited
awareness of its performance and improved properties. Sales subsequently rise rapidly
during the period of growth with the acceptance of an increasing number of customers as
the market stabilises, then the product MMC brake rotor becomes mature. As the brake
rotor reaches maturity, it is overtaken by new developments with the introduction of
superior competitors. At this period it experiences a decline and may be eventually
withdrawn when new design modification with new materials and manufacturing
processes is not developed to prolong the life cycle. From Figure 5, it can be seen that
brake rotor life cycle consist of four different stages such as introduction, growth,
maturity and decline.
Revenue
Introduction Growth Maturity Decline

Time
Figure 5. Automotive brake rotor life cycle
Introduction Stage
At the introduction (or development) stage market size and growth is slow. Substantial
research and development costs have been incurred in getting the MMC brake rotor to
this stage. In addition, marketing costs may be high and it is unlikely that companies
will make profits on newly developed products at this stage. The newly developed brake
rotors are carefully monitored and advertised to ensure that they start to grow.
Otherwise, the best option may be to withdraw or end the product. The need for
476
immediate profit is not a pressure as the lack of it is expected at this time. The superior
mechanical and thermal performance is promoted to create awareness. If the MMC rotor
has no or few competitors, a skimming price strategy is employed to maximise profits.
Limited numbers of product will be available in few channels of distribution. Figure 6
shows the profit and loss for the product life cycle of brake rotor and it clearly illustrates
that heavy costs is incurred for research and development before the launch of the MMC
brake rotor. This is a negative cash flow and great effort is usually applied to minimise
this expenditure.
Growth Stage
The growth stage is characterised by rapid growth in sales and profits as the product is
becoming established. Profits arise due to an increase in output (economies of scale) and
possibly better prices for raw materials and manufactured components. Competitors are
fewer, sales are growing and profit margins are good. At this stage, it is cheaper for
company to invest in increasing their market share as well as enjoying the overall
growth of the market. Competitors are attracted into the market with very similar
offerings. Advertising cost becomes high and focuses upon developing product brand
such as ventilated and solid brake rotors with various design concepts.
Sales and
Profit
Product Introduction Growth Maturity Decline

development
Time
Figure 6. Profit and loss for the product life cycle of automotive brake rotor
Maturity Stage
It is in the stage where competition is most intense because the production rates are
most efficient, the investment used in the MMC brake rotor development is recovered,
and most profits are made. In order to prolong the maturity stage, efforts should be
made to develop new design modification with new materials and manufacturing
processes for the MMC brake rotor and also adopting new marketing strategies.
Introducing an improved version of the brake rotor can also prolong its life cycle. This
will improve efficiency or extend the use of the product to new applications and
environments. Improving fuel economy by reducing weight, reducing aerodynamic drag
forces, or improving the efficiency of the engine can extend the maturity stage.
477
Decline Stage
At this stage, as a result of the appearance of other competitive advanced material brake
rotor, processing technique, or technological advances the MMC brake rotor may
become less competitive causing the sales to decrease and the rotor to reach the decline
stage. From the above study it is not sufficient to design and manufacture a successful
brake rotor. Researchers and engineers should continue to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of the brake rotor by making use of new technologies in order to improve the
performance of the rotor.
STIR CASTING OF ALUMINIUM METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE
Stir casting is a unique and prominent technique for the development of reinforced
aluminium matrix composite materials. This technique is utilized as a result of its
simple process and ability to overcome the problem of expensive processing method
which has restricted the widespread application of metal matrix composite which are
considered potential material candidate for various structural and non structural
applications in the field of aerospace, automotive, biomedical, military defence and
sports industries. The development of this promising technique evolved as a result of
modern technological advancement in material application and the demand for light
weight materials with improved mechanical and thermal properties. This process
involves a liquid state fabrication technique which requires the incorporation of
reinforcing phase (discontinuous form) into a molten matrix metal (continuous form) to
obtain a uniform distribution through stirring as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. A schematic diagram showing (a) incorporation of reinforcing phase into

matrix metallic material (b) the stir casting setup (Gupta and Sharon, 2011).
Ibrahim et al. (1991) and Lloyd (1994) report that vortex-mixing technique for
the preparation of ceramic particle dispersed aluminium matrix composites (AMC) was
originally developed by (Surappa and Rohatgi, 1981) at the Indian Institute of Science.
Subsequently several aluminium companies further refined and modified the process
which are currently employed to manufacture a variety of AMCs on commercial scale
478
in various industries. The cost of production is about one-third (Skibo and Schuster,
1988) to half compared to other competitive methods such as centrifugal casting and
powder metallurgy for large volume production. It is also anticipated that the cost of
production will fall to one-tenth with further research and development. Figure 8 shows
the material flow process for MMC brake rotor production using stir casting process.
Figure 8. Material flow process for MMC brake rotor production
From Figure 8, the aluminum alloy was heated up to 953 K in a resistance-heated

furnace. The molten metal is transferred to a graphite crucible in a semi solid state and
the silicon carbide particles were added. The mixture was then stirred to optimize
uniform particle distribution into the melt. After stirring, the mixture was reheated and
the developed composite was poured into a mold for solidification. The final product
gives the fabricated desired product AMC brake rotor.
CONCLUSION
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study;

a. The historical development revealed that there was a gradual development of
material and processing technique for aluminium metal matrix composite.
b. The stir casting technique for aluminium matrix composite brake rotor is better
than other technique because it provides ease of operation, higher performance
and better quality.
c. Developing new design modification with advanced materials and
manufacturing processes prolong the life cycle of the MMC brake rotor.
d. Reviewing the present development gives opportunity for further improvement
of the aluminium matrix composite brake rotor.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge the support of the department of Manufacturing and Materials
Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia and also grateful to the Research
Management Centre, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), for financial
support to conduct this research work under project EDW B 0906-332.
479
REFERENCES
Allison, J.E. and Cole, G.S. 1993. Metal-matrix Composites in the Automotive Industry:
opportunities and challenges. Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials
Society, 45(1): 19-24.
Andreas, M. 2007. Metal matrix composite in industry: An overview laboratoire de
metallurgie mecanique, department des materiaux, Ecole polytechnique federale
de Lausanne, Switzerland.
Bruski, R. 2000. Justify aluminium metal matrix composite in an era of cost reduction.
Modern Casting.
Chawla, K.K. 1992. Composite materials science and engineering. New York: Springer-
Verlag.
Chawla, N. and Chawla, K.K. 2006. Metal matrix composites. New York: Springer.
Gupta, M., and Sharon, N.M.L. 2011. Magnesium, magnesium alloys, and magnesium
composites. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Ibrahim, I.A., Mohammed, F.A. and E.J. Lavernia, E.J. 1991. Particulate reinforced
metal matrix composites - a review. Journal of Materials Science, 26(5): 1137-
1156.
Kaczmar, J., Pietrzak, K. and Włosiński, W. 2000. The production and application of
metal matrix composite materials. Journal of Materials Processing Technology,
106(1): 58-67.
Lloyd, D.J. 1990. High performance composites for the 1990s. S.K. Das (Warrendale,
PA: TMS) USA. pp. 33–45.
Miracle, D.B. and Hunt, W.H. 2004. Automotive applications of metal matrix
composites. Aluminium Consultant Group Inc., 1029-1032.
Rittner, M.N. 2000. Metal matrix composites in the 21st century: markets and
opportunities, Report GB-108R, Business Communications Company (BCC),
Inc., Norwalk, CT.
Rohatgi, P.K., Ray, S. and Liu, Y. 1992. Tribological properties of metal matrix-
graphite particle composites. International Materials Review, 37(3): 129-149.
Surappa, A.K. and Rohatgi, P.K. 1981. Preparation and properties of cast aluminium-
ceramic particle composites. Journal of Materials Science, 16(4): 983-993.
Skibo, M.D. and Schuster, D.M. 1988. Process for preparation of composite materials
containing nonmetallic particles in a metallic matrix and composite materials
made thereby. United States Patents, Patent No. 4,786,467.
Swift, C. 2009. Business Communications Company (BCC), Inch
http://www.bccresearch.com/report/AVM012D.html, Report Code: AVM012D.
480
EFFECT OF pH ON ELECTROLESS Ni-P COATING OF CONDUCTIVE AND

NONCONDUCTIVE MATERIALS
M. Moniruzzaman and Subrata Roy
Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
E-mail: mmoniruzzaman@mme.buet.ac.bd
ABSTRACT
The electroless nickel-phosphorus (Ni-P) coating on carbon steel as well as the

polypropylene substrate was conducted using sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent
in the alkaline mediums. The influence of pH values on coating appearances and the
properties of the coatings for both steel and polypropylene substrate were studied.
Nickel-phosphorus coating of good appearances was obtained in the pH ranges between
5.5 and 12.5 on carbon steel substrate and between 8.5 and 12 on the polypropylene
substrate. The percentage of Ni content in the coating increased with increasing pH
value of bath solution. Smooth, uniform microstructure was found in coating deposited
from relatively lower pH solutions than from higher pH baths. Microhardness of Ni-P
coating decreased with increasing percentage Ni content of the deposit.
Key Words: Electroless coating, Nickel-phosphorus, Solution pH, Conditioning.
INTRODUCTION
Ni-P alloys have been extensively used in chemical, aerospace, automobile and textile
industries due to their excellent wear resistance, corrosion resistance, solderability,
polishability, magnetic properties, etc. (Matsubara et al., 2002). Today, the deposition
process of electroless coating and thin film plays an important role in microelectronics
(Shacham-Diamond et al., 2003). The outstanding characteristics of electroless nickel
(EN) coatings include the ability to be applied to a variety of substrate materials such as
metals (conductive) including non metallic materials (nonconductive) and the ability to
the plate uniformly on intricate part geometries since no external current is applied to
the component (Parker 1972; Khoperia et al., 1997; Gemmler et al., 1990), hence called
the electroless. Thus, it differs from the conventional electroplating processes that
depend on an external source of direct current in order to reduce nickel ions in the
electrolyte to nickel metal on the substrate. The electroless bath typically comprises an
aqueous solution of metal ions, complex agents, reducing agents and stabilizers,
operating in a specific metal ion concentration, temperature and pH ranges. The rate of
deposition and properties of coating depend on a number of factors such as the type and
concentrations of the reducing agent, stabilizer, pH, temperature of the bath solution,
etc. Considerable work has been carried out to characterize binary electroless Ni–P alloy
deposits on metals while the system on non-metals has been studied to a much lesser
extent (Khoperia et al., 1997). This paper makes an attempt to study electroless nickel-
phosphorus (Ni-P) coating on non metal and make a comparison with that on metal
using sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent in the alkaline mediums.
The study has been performed by electroless plating of Ni-P on the substrate of mild
steel and polypropylene sheet. The effects of various process parameters such as bath
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Moniruzzaman and Roy/International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 481-489
composition, pH and temperature on the coating appearance, composition,

microhardness and morphology are studied.
Mild steel sheet as well as the polypropylene sheet of 50×20×1 mm size was taken as
conducting and non conducting substrate respectively. All of the substrates were
cleaned first to remove the unwanted rust, impurities, lubricants etc. Mild steel substrate
was cleaned by pickling and acid dipping. Conditioning, sensitization and activation
treatment was applied to polypropylene sheet for its cleaning and pretreatment
operation. The surface cleaning solution, pretreatment solution and their operating
conditions for mild steel and polypropylene sheet are given in Table 1 and Table 2
respectively.
An electroless plating set up was developed. This comprises of a 50 ml beaker, a
thermometer holder, perspex holder, hot plate, a thermometer, a holder, etc. The beaker
contains the plating solution and is placed on the hot plate. The holder holds the
thermometer to measure solution temperatures. At first, two third of the beaker was
filled with the plating solution, and then heated to a specific temperature. The plating
test was done at 70 0C. The pretreated substrate was immersed into the plating solution
holding with the perspex holder. Then the deposition was continued for one hour for
mild steel substrates. These depositions were done at different pH of the plating bath
such as 5.5, 6.5, 7.5, 8.5, 9.5, and 10.5 consecutively up to 13. For polypropylene
substrate, the bath pH values were 5, 6, 8.5, 10, 11.7, 12 and 12.4 and the deposition
process continued for 10 to 20 minutes time. Two depositions on the polypropylene
substrate were also conducted at 500C. The plating bath composition for both mild steel
and polypropylene sheet is shown in Table 3.
Table 1. Solution and operating condition employed for cleaning of mild steel sheet
Treatment type HCl, % Temperature, 0C

Pickling 10 70
Dipping 30 Room
Table 2. Solution and operating condition employed for pretreatment of polypropylene

sheet
Treatment type Concentration Temperature Time (min)

H2SO4 : 100 mL/L
Conditioning K2Cr2O7 : 15 g/L 650C
10
H2 O : 30 g/L
SnCl2 : 10 g/L
Sensitizing Room 3
HCl : 40 g/L
PdCl2 : 0.1 g/L
Activating Room 3-5
HCl : 1 mL/L
482
Effect of pH on electroless Ni-P coating of conductive and nonconductive materials
Table 3. Plating bath solution for steel and polypropylene sheet
Compounds Concentration (g/L)

NiCl2, 6H2O 30
NaH2PO2 10
NaOH Few drops (to maintain desired pH)
The coating appearance was observed carefully just after the deposition by
naked eye. After the deposition, the sample was washed with distilled water and dried
with acetone. Conventional wet chemical analysis method was used to measure % of Ni
on the deposit surface. Hardness measurements were taken using a Shimadzu Vickers
Microhardness Tester (Micromet II) with a diamond indenter. The load chosen was 50 g
for 10 seconds. Special care was taken so that in all cases, the depth of indentation was
less than one-fifth of the coating thickness in order to eliminate the substrate effect. The
values reported to represent the average of at least five microhardness readings. A XL30
Philips scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to inspect the surface
morphology of the coatings.
Effect of pH on Appearances of Electroless Ni-P Coating
The electroless plating on the mild steel substrate was done in bath solutions having
different pH values at a fixed temperature of 70 0C for a time period of 1 hour. The
result of coating appearance at different pH values of bath solution is given in Table 4.
The surface showed scattered thin coating at pH values of 5.5 and 12.5. Coatings with
varying appearances (good, fair, very good.) was obtained from bath solutions having
pH values in between, and the best appearance was found in the coating deposited from
bath solution of 7.5 pH value. No significant coatings were obtained from bath solutions
of pH value 5.5 or lower and of pH value 12.5 or higher. Thus electroless Ni-P coating
can be obtained from the given bath composition having pH ranges between 5.5 and
12.5. Two distinct coating appearances are shown in Figure 1.
Table 4. Appearances of Ni-P coating on mild steel substrate at different pH
Bath pH Coating appearance

5.5 Scattered thin coating
6.5 Fair
7.5 Very good
8.5 Good
9.5 Good
10.5 Fair
11.5 Good
12.5 Scattered thin coating
13.0 Very scattered thin coating
483
At pH 13 At pH 7.5
Figure 1. Comparison of surface appearance of Ni-P deposit on mild steel substrate at

pH 7.5 and 13
Coating or plating on the polypropylene substrate was rather difficult. The

coating appearance as a function of bath pH, temperature and time are summarized in
Table 5. Variation only the bath pH could not produce good coatings. Temperature and
time were also varied in order to get coatings with pleasing appearance. Bright
deposition was obtained only under three conditions. No deposition was found at pH
value of 12 or higher. Even no deposition was found at bath pH = 12.4, if the
temperature and time were changed to 500C and 10 minutes respectively. Brighter
coatings were obtained from baths with relatively narrow pH ranges between 8.5 and
12. Comparison of bright and dark coating appearances on the polypropylene substrate
is shown in Figure 2.
Table 5. Appearance of Ni-P coating on polypropylene substrate at different bath pH,

time and temperature
Temperature Time
Bath pH Coating appearance
(0C) (min)
70 10 5 darker deposition
50 10 6 darker deposition
70 20 8.5 slightly bright deposition
70 20 10 brighter deposition
70 20 11.7 Brighter deposition
70 20 12 no deposition
50 10 12.4 no deposition
484
At pH 6 At pH 10
Figure 2. Comparison of surface appearance of Ni-P coating on polypropylene substrate

at pH 10 and 6.
From Figures 1 and 2 it can be seen that the criteria for electroless deposition of
Ni-P on steel and polypropylene materials are not exactly the same. Good deposition
can be obtained from the chloride bath with a pH range between 5.5 and 12.5. The pH
range is relatively narrow (12 > pH > 8.5) for good deposition of Ni-P on polypropylene
material from the chloride bath of same chemical composition. The reason of different
pH ranges for good deposition on steel and polypropylene substrate might be attributed
to the fact that higher pH values change the surface charge on the substrate which affect
the deposition phenomenon (Gou et al., 2010).
Chemical Analysis of Ni-P Coatings
The percentages of Ni in coating with respect to bath pH were determined and presented
in Figure 3. For bath pH 7.5 the % Ni of the deposits was found to be 62.86%. It can be
seen that the increase rate of % Ni content in the deposit with the increase of pH value
of the bath solution on mild steel substrates is linear. Doong and Duh (1995) also
reported that % Ni increases with the increase of bath pH value during electroless Ni
plating on mild steel. Similar trend of increasing Ni content in coating with the increase
in bath pH value was also observed for EN deposition on the polypropylene sheet.
Increasing nickel content in coating with increasing bath pH value means that
phosphorus content in coating decreases with increasing pH value of the bath solution.
NaH2PO2 is used in the bath as the reductant. Hypophosphite ion (H2PO2-) has a redoxic
potential of -0.5V. and nickel ions have -0.25V (Fontana, 2005). The reactions for
deposition of Ni and P can be presented as Eq. (1) to Eq. (3):
H2PO2- + H2O H+ + HPO3-2 + 2 H (1)

Ni2+ + 2H Ni + 2H+ (2)
H2PO2- + H P + OH- + H2O (3)
485
Figure 3. The percentage of Ni on the coated surface as a function of pH of bath solution
It can be seen from reaction (2) that the greater the H+ in the bath solution, the
less the deposition of Ni is favoured. At low pH values, the H+ concentration is high and
%Ni content in the coating is low. As the pH value of the bath is raised, the reaction is
shifted to the right of the reaction (2). The H+ decreases and %Ni content in the coating
increases. After the pH reaches a certain value, here 12.5 for mild steel and 12 for
polypropylene substrate, the bath solution becomes strongly alkaline and two factors
appear. One is that the concentration of free Ni2+ becomes low (Haowen and Bangwie,
2002), another is that the resulting precipitation of basic salts in the bath consumes
some Ni2+. Both of these actions finally stop deposition.
Morphology of Electroless Ni-P Coating
The morphology of different coatings deposited from bath solution of different pH was
investigated. This morphology was taken through scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
The SEM images of deposits obtained at different pH of bath solution are shown in
Figure 4 for mild steel substrate and in Figure 5 for polypropylene substrate. Most
uniformity in the microstructure was found in coating obtained from pH of 6.5
[Figure 4(a)]. The non-uniformity of the surface was due to the different % Ni in
coating. The uniformity decreased with increasing bath pH [as shown in Figures 4(b)
and (c)]. This means that uniformity in the microstructure decreased with increasing
nickel content in the coating, i.e. with decreasing phosphorus content in the coating. The
appearance of the surface layer of Ni–P coatings differ depending on the amount of
phosphorous in the coating and the deposition process conditions. At a low phosphorous
content, coating grains form separated by up to 20 nm deep gaps. Coatings with a high
phosphorous content show a more homogenous structure with only 3–8 nm deep gaps
(Martyak et al., 1993).
486
(a (b)
)
(c)
Figure 4. SEM image of EN coating deposited on mild steel substrate from bath
solutions having pH value of (a) 6.5, (b) 8.5 and (c) 10.5
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 5. SEM image of Ni-P coating deposited on polypropylene substrate from bath
solutions having pH value of (a) 8.5, (b) 10 and (c) 11.7
487
Thus relatively smooth microstructure is obtained in the coating containing

relatively higher phosphorus content (i.e. lower nickel content) that was deposited from
bath with lower pH value of 6.5. With the higher phosphorous content better
smoothness or uniformity of the coatings was observed in the coatings for
polypropylene material as can be seen in Figure 5. Here coating of Figure 5(a) deposited
from bath pH value of 8.5 contains higher phosphorus content and shows smoother
surface than the other coatings [Figure 5(b) and (c)].
Microhardness of Electroless Ni-P (EN) Deposits
All coatings on mild steel substrate obtained from different pH values were tested for
micro-hardness. From the test of microhardness measurement on steel it was found that
the highest microhardness found for 62.86% Ni in the coating surface and it is 196
VHN. However, 113 VHN and 104 VHN microhardness were found for 68.75% and
78.58% Ni in the coatings respectively. So from these investigations it can be said that
the microhardness is decreased as the % Ni is increased. Figure 6 shows the variation of
microhardness along with the % Ni of the deposits.
Figure 6. Variation of microhardness of EN coating with %Ni content in it on steel

substrate
CONCLUSION
Electroless nickel coating on steel and polypropylene materials has been conducted.
Effect of bath pH on the substrates, coating composition, microhardness and
morphology has been studied. Based on the experimental results and analysis, the
following conclusions have been drawn:
488
1. Criteria for electroless deposition of Ni-P on steel and polypropylene materials

are not identical. Electroless Ni-P coating can be deposited on carbon steel
substrate from chloride bath solution of pH ranges between 5.5 and 12.5 at 700C
whereas on polypropylne substrate from the same bath solution of pH ranges
between 8.5 and 12 at 70 0C.
2. Ni-P coating of the best appearance on steel substrate is obtained at a pH of 7.5
and that on polypropylene substrate is obtained at a pH of 1.7.
3. The percentage Ni on the coating surface for both steel and polypropylene
substrate increases with increase of pH value of bath solution.
4. Uniform and smooth microstructure are obtained at lower pH compared to
others.
REFERENCES
Doong, J.C. and Duh, J.G. 1995. Effects of pH values in electroless Ni plating on mild
steel with TiN coatings. 58(1): 19-28.
Fontana, M.G. 2005. Corrosion engineering. Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, p.42.
Gemmler, A., Zbolch, T., Gut, H. and Keller, W. 1990. Mechanism of electroless nickel
deposition and its utilization in expert systems. Proc. 77th AESF Annual Tech.
Conf., Boston, MA, pp.595-608.
Gou, Y.N., Huang, W.J., Zeng, R.C. and Zhu, Y. 2010. Influence of pH values on
electroless Ni-P-SiC plating on AZ91D magnesium alloy. Transactions of
Nonferrous Metals Society of China, 20(2): S674-S678.
Haowen, X. and Bangwie, Z. 2002. Effects of preparation technology on the structure
and amorphous forming region for electroless Ni-P alloys. Journal of Materials
Processing Technology, 124(1-2): 8-13.
Khoperia, T.N., Tabatadze, T.J. and Zedgenidze, T.I. 1997. Formation of microcircuits
in microelectronics by electroless deposition. Electrochemica ACTA, 42: 3049-
3055.
Martyak, N.M., Wetterer, S., Harrison, L., McNeil, M., Heu, R. and Neiderer, A.A.
1993. Stucture of electroless nickel coatings. Plating and surface finishing,
80(6): 60-64.
Matsubara, H., Yonekawa, T., Ishino, Y., Nishiyama, H., Saito, N. and Inoue, Y. 2002.
Observation of initial deposition process of electroless nickel plating by quartz
crystal microbalance method and microscopy. Electrochim ACTA, 47: 4011-
4018.
Parker, K. 1972. Recent advances in electroless nickel deposits. 8th Int. Conf., Forster-
Verlag, Zurich, Switz., pp. 202-207.
Shacham-Diamond, Y., Inberg, A., Sverdlov, Y., Bogush, V., Croitoru, N., Moscovich,
H. and Freeman, A. 2003. Electroless processes for micro- and nanoelectronics.
Electrochim ACTA, 48: 2987-2996.
489
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF WHOLE-BODY VIBRATION EXPOSURE

BETWEEN TRAIN AND CAR PASSENGERS: A CASE STUDY IN MALAYSIA
M.Z. Nuawi1, A.R. Ismail2 and N.F. Kamaruddin1

1
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Malaysia;
Phone: +603-89216775, Fax: +603-89259659
E-mail: fanakamaruddin@gmail.com
2
26300 UMP, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia;
Phone: +6012-3456789, Fax: +609-87654321
E-mail: arasdan@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Train and car are the important transportations in the whole world. In highly developed
countries, train becomes essential for human usage as the most well-known public
transportation, whereas car plays a significant role for the human to travel from one
place to the other place promptly. High magnitude of vibration formed by the train and
car may cause diseases and health problems to the human especially a low back pain.
The aim of this study was to evaluate and validate the values of daily exposure to
vibration A(8) and vibration dose value (VDV) exposed to the passengers travelling in
the train and car and the effects produced by the exposure towards human body,
moreover all at once to introduce a newly developed whole-body vibration
measurement instrumentation. One national train travelled from East Coast to the South
has been chosen to conduct the study. The whole-body vibration exposure was
measured in 8 hours, which is equal to the duration for normal occupation condition.
One national car has been picked randomly and the exposure was measured in 5 min
and 10 min respectively. All the data was computed by using IEPE(ICPTM)
accelerometer sensor connected to DT9837 device which is capable to measure and
analyze vibration effectively. The vibration results attained were displayed in personal
computer by using custom graphical user interface (GUI). Matlab software was used to
interpret the data obtained. From the results shown, the whole-body vibration exposure
level can be determined. It can be concluded that the whole-body vibration absorbed by
human body enhanced when the magnitude of vibration exposure experienced by the
passengers increased. This can be proved by the increasing of the value of daily
exposure to vibration A(8) and VDV calculated in the study.
Keywords: Whole-body vibration, Daily Exposure to Vibration A(8), Vibration dose

value, Low back pain, Vibration.
INTRODUCTION
Ergonomics is the application of scientific principles, methods and data drawn from a
variety of disciplines to the development of engineering systems in which people play a
significant role. Among the basic disciplines are psychology, cognitive sciences,
490
Nuawi et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 490-503
physiology, biomechanics, applied physical anthropometry, and industrial systems

engineering (Kroemer et al., 2003). Matilla (1996) mentioned that the importance of
safety and ergonomics had grown significantly. The latest technology had increased the
option to broaden the ergonomics and safety features of products and equipment.
However, it will also create new risks and the way to manage it would become more
complicated. Therefore, it is important for the designer to use ergonomic knowledge in
making decision during of machines, equipment, products and systems. There is
substantial epidemiologic evidence of associations between physical ergonomics
exposures at the workplace, such as lifting, constrained postures, repetitive movements,
fast work pace, heavy material manual handling, forceful exertions and vibration, and
the occurrence of upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (Bernard, 1997; Grieco et
al., 1998; Hagberg et al., 1995; NRCIM, 2001; van der Windt et al., 2000). To be more
specific, ergonomics (also called human factors or human engineering in the United
States) defined as the study of human characteristics for the appropriate design of the
living and work environment. Its fundamental aim is that all human-made tools,
devices, equipment, machines, and environments should advance, directly or indirectly,
the safety, well-being, and performance of human beings (Kroemer et al., 2003).
Several ergonomic interventions, such as employee training, redesign of process tools or
workstations, and improvement of work conditions, were suggested to tackle
musculoskeletal problems in industries (Wang et al., 2003; Weestgard and Winkel,
1997).
Various definitions have been given to whole-body vibration (WBV) by
dictionaries, companies, and authors themselves. From the Directive 2002/44/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council, the term ‘whole-body vibration’ means the
mechanical vibration that, when transmitted to the whole body, entails risks to the
health and safety of workers, in particular lower-back morbidity and trauma of the spine
(Directive 2002/44/EC). WBV is defined as vibration occurring when a greater part of
the body weight is supported on a vibrating surface. WBV principally occurs in vehicles
and wheeled working machines. In most cases exposure to WBV occurs in a sitting
position and the vibration is then primarily transmitted through the seat pan, but also
through the back rest. WBV may impair performance and comfort. It has also been
claimed to contribute to the development of various injuries and disorders. In many
work situations WBV is therefore an evident and annoying occupational health problem
(Griffin et al., 1990).
Low back pain (LBP) is among the most common and costly health problems
(Garg and Moore, 1992; Van Tulder et al., 1995). Occupational, non-occupational, and
individual risk factors play a role in the development, the duration, and the recurrence of
LBP. Several critical reviews have discussed the evidence on occupational risk factors
for back disorders (Burdorf and Sorock, 1997; Bovenzi and Hulshof, 1999; Lings and
Leboeuf-Yde, 2000; Waddell and Burton, 2000). All these reviews conclude that there
is strong epidemiological evidence for a relation between occupational exposure to
WBV and LBP. In five European countries (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, France,
Denmark), LBP and spinal disorders due to WBV are currently recognized as an
occupational disease (Hulshof et al., 2002). However, high exposures and adverse
effects still occur as WBV is a common occupational risk factor for LBP, affecting 4%
to 8% of the workforce in industrialized countries (Palmer et al., 2000). Important high
risk groups are drivers of off-road vehicles (for example, earth moving, forestry, and
agricultural machines), drivers of forklift trucks, lorries, or buses, crane operators, and
helicopter pilots.
491
Comparative study of whole-body vibration exposure between train and car passengers: a case study in Malaysia
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Whole-body vibration measurement was done according to ISO 2631-1:1997. The

triaxial accelerometer sensor was located between the train and car’s passenger contact
points with the vibration source. Then the passenger sat on the accelerometer, for
example as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Triaxial accelerometer sensor used for WBV measurement
There were two devices used in the study which were IEPE(ICPTM)
accelerometer sensor, and DT9837 instrument. Based on Figure 2, the IEPE(ICPTM)
accelerometer sensor (also known as triaxial seat accelerometer) been used in this study
was DYTRAN Model 5313A. The sensor was utilized to assess the vibration level. The
accelerometer consists of a piezoelectric element connected to a known mass. When the
accelerometer is vibrated, the mass applies force to the piezoelectric element, generating
an electrical charge that is proportional to the applied force. Then this charge was
deliberated to determine the vibration characteristics. Most accelerometers require a
current source of 4 mA and a compliance voltage of at least 18V to drive their internal
circuitry. Other accelerometers require a 2 mA current source, but have limitations in
cable length and bandwidth. The DT9837 instrument was a highly accurate five channel
data acquisition module that is ideal for portable noise and vibration measurements. It
has 4 simultaneous, 24-bit A/D channels for high resolution measurements. This
instrument supports for four IEPE inputs, including 4 mA current sources. Portable
operation can be done by the DT9837 because no external power supply needed and
runs on USB power. The DT9837 has tachometer input support in the A/D data stream
for synchronizing measurements. Sampling rate of over 52 KHz was produced by this
instrument. It has low frequency measurements supported with a wide pass band of 0.5
Hz to 25.8 KHz (0.49 x sampling frequency). The DT9837 was a programmable trigger
for analog input operations for maximum flexibility. Figure 3 and Figure 4 showed the
DT9837 model and the summary features of the instrument.
In this study, Matlab software was applied to analyze the vibration signal
gathered by DT9837 instrument from USB port. The Matlab GUI scripts have been
examined by using GUIDE function for ease measurement and assessment of WBV
exposure. From this Matlab script, three graphs of each axes been meditated for current
analysis. Besides, the data and vibration signal can be saved in the personal computer
for next analysis. Thus, the total of daily exposure to vibration towards human can be
evaluated through the accelerometer sensor, DT9837 instrument and this Matlab
software.
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Figure 2: Triaxial seat accelerometer (DYTRAN model 5313A)
Figure 3: DT9837 model
Figure 4: Summary features of DT9837
Matlab was a well known interactive software environment for data acquisition
and analysis, report generation, and test system development. It provides a complete set
of tools for acquiring and analyzing analog and digital input output signals from a
variety of PC-compatible data acquisition hardware. The Matlab Data Acquisition
493
Toolbox configured the external hardware devices, read data into Matlab and Simulink
for immediate analysis, and send out data for controlling the system. The diagram
shown in Figure 5 depicts an example using Matlab and the Matlab Data Acquisition
Toolbox with Data Translation’s DT9837 to acquire vibration data from USB modules.
Notice that the Data Translation provides an interface layer, called the DAQ adaptor for
Matlab, which allows the Matlab Data Acquisition Toolbox to communicate with Data
Translation’s hardware, while the Data Acquisition Toolbox is collecting data, Matlab
can analyze and visualize the data.
Figure 5: Flow chart of data acquisition process
Excessive exposure of whole-body vibration usually occurred at working area

which involved long duration of exposure and high-level of vibration magnitude. Train
is one of the most public transportations that produced high magnitude of vibration.
While the road surface circumstance is one of the environmental factors that may
contribute to high-level of vibration magnitude. In this study, the assessment of whole-
body vibration was completed by deciding number of sampling rate to 1000 samples per
second. Compution of the exposure time was set to 8 hours for each experiments, which
equal to the duration for normal occupation stipulation. After the accelerometer and
DT9837 instrument were connected, the process of collecting the data acquisition of the
train vibration was started. The total vibration of each axes which were x, y, and z-axis
felt by the passenger was displayed in a plotted graph by using Matlab software. One
national train travelled from East Coast to the South has been chosen to conduct the
study. The study has been conducted at different locations. The location of measurement
for each experiments was explained in Table 1. Whole-body vibration measurement
explored by the passenger was done three times at different train trip areas. Among the
areas passing by the train were namely from Kajang to Seremban, from Seremban to
Gemas, and from Segamat to Tampin.
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Table 1: Location of Measurement
Experiment Location
1 From Kajang to Seremban
2 From Seremban to Gemas
3 From Segamat to Tampin
Road surface circumstance is a big dominant parameter towards whole-body

vibration especially at low frequency. One national car has been chosen to conduct the
study. The car passenger was picked up randomly without consider the individual
characteristics of the passenger. In this study, whole-body vibration measurement was
done by changing the road condition passed by the car. Compution of the exposure time
were set to 5min and 10 min respectively. The study has been conducted at different
locations with different road conditions. The road circumstances for each experiments
was explained in Table 2. Whole-body vibration measurement explored by the car
passenger was done three times at three different road conditions. Among the road
passing by the car were uneven and zigzag road, even and zigzag road, and lastly even
and straight road.
Table 2: Road Circumstances
Experiment Measurement Time (min) Road Condition

1 5 Uneven and zigzag road
2 10 Even and zigzag road
3 10 Even and straight road
From the experiments done, daily exposure to vibration A(8) value, VDV and exposure
points value were evaluated by using formula (1), (2), and (3). But, by employed the
Matlab GUI, the calculation of those values was done by choosing the analysis method
from the organize Matlab menu. When the option been made followed the passenger’s
need, the calculated values completed by connect the update button. Hence, the results
were displayed in the custom made GUI.
Daily exposure to vibration A(8) is expressed as Eq. (1).
m Exposure time (min)

A(8) = Vibration value  2  × (1)
s  480 (min)
Vibration dose value (VDV) is expressed as Eq. (2).
0.25
T 4 
VDV =  ∫ a (t )dt  (2)
0 
where a(t) = frequency-weighted acceleration (m/s2)
T = the total period of the day during which vibration may occur (s)
495
Exposure points value can be expressed as Eq. (3).
Exposure points = 2 × (Vibration value)

2
(3)
All the data obtained in the train was organized in Table 3. Whole-body
vibration graphs were demonstrated in Figure 6. For Figure 6(a), the graph of whole-
body vibration was collected namely from Kajang to Seremban, while Figure 6(b) was
from Seremban to Gemas, and Figure 6(c) from Segamat to Tampin. Figure 7 shows the
calculation of exposure points system and the vibration dose value.
Table 3: Whole-body vibration measurement data collected in train
Analysis Method Experiment 1 Experiment 2 Experiment 3

From To From To From To
Kajang Seremban Seremban Gemas Segamat Tampin
Daily exposure to 0.3221 m/s2 0.2884 m/s2 0.3749 m/s2
vibration A(8)
Exposure points system 41.4867 point 33.2716 point 56.206 point
Vibration dose value 1.1014 m/s1.75 1.0973 m/s1.75 1.2513 m/s1.75
(VDV)
Daily exposure action 9 hours 50 min 12 hours 16 min 7 hours 16 min
value time (0.5 m/s2)
Daily exposure limit 52 hour 3 min 64 hour 54 min 38 hour 25 min
value time (1.15 m/s2)
Points per hour 5.1858 point 4.159 point 7.0258 point
Time achieving 1 hour 29 min 1 hour 30 min 53 min
1.75 m/s1.75
The results of this study indicated that in experiment 3, the values of daily
exposure to vibration A(8) and VDV were much higher than the other two experiments.
The values of daily exposure to vibration A(8) and VDV were 0.3749 m/s2 and 1.2513
m/s1.75 respectively. It seems possible that these results were due to indelicate track
passed by the train, the train operation style, and speed differences compared to
experiment 1 and 2. In addition, the daily exposure action value time only required 7
hours 16 min to meet the standardized value of 0.5 m/s2 to an eight hour reference
period. Surprisingly, this result was found to exceed the standard time of whole-body
vibration assessment which was 8 hours stated in ISO 2631-1:1997. The reason for this
is not clear but it may have something to do with the speed of the train that generated
high magnitude of vibration value to the train. The high magnitude of whole-body
vibration exposure produced by the train may contribute to musculoskeletal disorders to
the passengers. In reviewing the literature, there was found the relation between
occupational vehicles and whole-body vibration exposure that lead to musculoskeletal
disorders.
In the car study, three different road surface conditions have been passed
through for whole-body vibration assessment occurred in the car. The first road type
was uneven and zigzag road at Golf Kajang. The second condition was even and zigzag
road which at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) areas. While the third road was
at Bandar Baru Bangi areas which even and straight road. The speed of the car during
the study was set to 40km/h. All the data obtained in the experiment were organized in
Table 4. Whole-body vibration graphs were demonstrated in Figure 8. For Figure 8(a),
496
the graph of whole-body vibration was collected at uneven and zigzag road, while
Figure 8(b) was at even and zigzag road, and Figure 8(c) was even and straight road.
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 6: Whole-body vibration custom data acquisition system (a) from Kajang to
Seremban, (b) from Seremban to Gemas, and (c) from Segamat to Tampin
Whole-body vibration risks towards human’s health enhanced when the

amplitude of the vibration signal absorbed by the human body increased. This situation
has been proved by the comparison of the three experiments done in the study. In the
first experiment, the uneven and zigzag road surface had boost up the vibration
amplitude. Thus, the daily exposure to vibration A(8) and the VDV absorbed by the
passenger was higher compared to experiment 2 and experiment 3 eventhough the
measurement time only took 5 min. At the same time, exposure whole-body vibration
497
points system value in experiment 1 was high too. In other words, daily exposure action
value time (0.5 m/s2) and daily exposure limit value time (1.15 m/s2) were at low level
than in experiment 2 and 3. From the results attained, the frequency weighted
acceleration value indicated in the study was closely to the permissible value of
exposure limit stated according to ISO 2631-1:1997. Therefore, the high magnitude of
WBV may cause musculoskeletal disorders to the train and car passengers.
(a) (b)
Figure 7: (a) Exposure points system; (b) Vibration dose value calculation
Table 4: Whole-body vibration measurement data collected in car
Analysis Method Experiment 1 Experiment 2 Experiment 3

(5 min) (10 min) (10 min)
Uneven and Even and Zigzag Even and
Zigzag Road Road Straight Road
Daily exposure to 1.0782 m/s2 0.8097 m/s2 0.7928 m/s2
vibration A(8)
Exposure points 464.96 point 262.219 point 251.381 point
system
Vibration dose 6.3314 m/s1.75 4.3958 m/s1.75 3.7264 m/s1.75
value (VDV)
Daily exposure 53 min 1 hour 33 min 1 hour 37 min
action value time
(0.5 m/s2)
Daily exposure 4 hours 39 min 8 hours 14 min 8 hours 35 min
limit value time
(1.15 m/s2)
Points per hour 58.1201 32.7773 31.4226
Time achieving 13 hour 32 min 58 hour 14 min 112 hour 45 min
1.75 m/s1.75
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(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 8: Whole-body vibration custom data acquisition system (a) Uneven and zigzag
road, (b) Even and zigzag road, and (c) Even and straight road
The basic method (frequency weighted r.m.s. method) in ISO 2631-1 is

primarily applicable to assessment of health risks from stationary vibrations not
containing severe multiple or single event shocks. Single event shocks can be analyzed
with the additional method running r.m.s. in 2631-1, although there is no information on
health risk levels. The additional method VDV (frequency weighted fourth power
vibration dose value) is more sensitive to shocks than the basic method, but it will still
underestimate the health risk of vibration containing severe shocks in comparison to the
health risk of vibration not containing severe shocks. The EU Physical Agents Directive
499
uses the basic method for assessment of health risk with VDV as an alternative. The two
methods give different assessment results.
The root-mean-square (r.m.s) vibration magnitude is expressed in terms of the
frequency weighted acceleration at the seat of a seated person or the feet of a standing
person, it is expressed in units of meters per second squared (m/s²). The r.m.s vibration
magnitude represents the average acceleration over a measurement period. It is the
highest of three orthogonal axes values (1.4awx, 1.4awy or awz) that are used for the
exposure assessment. For knowledge, the frequency weighted acceleration value which
less than 0.45m/s2 showed that there was no negative health effect expected. Whilst the
frequency weighted value in between 0.45m/s2 and 0.90m/s2 explained that the negative
health effects still can be accepted. But, the frequency weighted acceleration value
greater than 0.90m/s2, high risks of bad health problems were anticipated. The data from
Table 5 indicated the r.m.s acceleration value for exposure limit in 8 hours. The
passengers exposed to the whole-body vibration exposure must not exceed this standard
value. Otherwise, the passengers may have an experience of bad health problems.
Table 5: Standard Value of RMS Acceleration
Exposure Limit 8 hrs 4 hrs 2.5 hrs 1 hr 30 min 5 min 1 min

RMS 2.8 4.0 5.6 11.2 16.8 27.4 61.3
acceleration m/s2 m/s2 m/s2 m/s2 m/s2 m/s2 m/s2
The high magnitude of whole-body vibration exposure produced by the train and
car may contribute to musculoskeletal disorders to the passengers. In reviewing the
literature, there was found the relation between occupational vehicles and whole-body
vibration exposure that lead to musculoskeletal disorders. The term musculoskeletal
disorder refers to conditions that involve the nerves, tendons, muscles, and supporting
structures of the body (Bernard, 1998). Exposure to WBV is another occupational risk
factor that may cause LBP in participants of occupational vehicles (Bovenzi and
Hulshof, 1999). In western countries an estimated 4–7 percent of all employees are
exposed to potentially harmful WBV. Experimental studies have found that resonance
frequencies of most of the organs or other parts of the body lie between 1 and 10 Hz,
which are in the range of frequencies found in occupational machines and vehicles. Six
million workers are exposed to WBV typically while in a seated position including
delivery vehicles drivers, forklift operators, helicopters pilots, and construction
equipment operators (Griffin, 2006). Tractor drivers have reported 61–94% prevalence
of LBP and pathological changes in the spine, and heavy-equipment drivers report 70%
prevalence of LBP. WBV is recognized as an important risk factor for occupational
LBP in a variety of occupational groups (Joubert and London, 2007). At least four
European countries have placed WBV injury on their scheduled lists of occupational
diseases (Hulshof et al., 2002). Among such physical exposures encountered in working
conditions, WBV has repeatedly been identified as a risk factor for LBP (Santos et
al., 2008). Several epidemiologic studies conducted in the past several years found
strong evidence for a correlation between exposure to WBV and the occurrence of LBP
(Noorloos et al., 2008). The NRCIM (2001) reported that there is evidence of a ‘‘clear
relationship between back disorders and whole-body vibration”. Joubert and
London (2007) had determined the association between back belt usage and back pain
amongst forklift drivers exposed to WBV. LBP has been identified as one of the most
costly disorders among the worldwide working population and sitting has been
500
associated with risk of developing LBP (Lis et al., 2007). It was showed that sustaining
trunk sitting postures corresponding to mining vehicle operators generates back muscle
fatigue and postural balance (Santos et al., 2008). On the other hand, Noorloos et
al. (2008) had been concluded that occupational participants exposed to WBV, with a
high BMI do not have an increased risk for the development of LBP, so the focus
should be on other factors.
CONCLUSION
WBV gained by human body increased when the magnitude of the vibration
experienced by the passengers enlarged. This phenomena can be proved by the
increasing of daily of exposure to vibration A(8) value and vibration dose value (VDV).
Hence, it was clearly explained that most of the train and car passengers were exposed
to worse WBV during their travelling time because the frequency-weighted acceleration
value indicated in the study was closely to the value of exposure limit value according
to ISO 2631-1:1997. Consequently, this condition may cause health problems to the
passengers. Empirical studies showed that there was a relation between an occupational
vehicles and whole-body vibration that lead to musculoskeletal disorders. But, from the
scenario of Malaysian population, there is insufficient research on this problem.
Because of insufficient knowledge of diseases affected by WBV, the passengers find
difficulty to know exactly the exposure of WBV to them and how much they have been
exposed. As a conclusion, more studies are needed to provide clear evidence of the
association between WBV and musculoskeletal disorders especially on Malaysian
occupational vehicles. A further study with more focus on the drivers of the train, car,
and heavy vehicle are therefore suggested.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to express their gratitude to University Kebangsaan Malaysia. The
financial support by Research University Grant UKM-GUP-BTT-07-25-169 is grateful
acknowledged.
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Nomenclature
Hz Hertz
KHz kilo Hertz (103)
Km/h kilometer per hour
m meter (102)
mA mili Ampere (10-3)
min minute
s second
V voltage
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RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CHOP STRAND MATS GLASS FIBER/EPOXY

COMPOSITE STRUCTURES: EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND WATER
ABSORPTION
K. J. T. Jeffrey, F. Tarlochan and M. M. Rahman

Universiti Tenaga Nasional
Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Tjeffrey@uniten.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Residual strength of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy composites due to different
hygrothermal conditions was investigated. All residual tests were carried out according
to ASTM D 3479 and D 3039 on tension-tension fatigue with frequency of 5 Hz, stress
ratio of R=0.5 and maximum stress, σmax = 60MPa. The obtained residual strength
curves were used to investigate the strength of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy under
the effect of temperature and interactive environment of water absorption and
temperature. The results showed that, the chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy has a high
resistance towards the tension-tension fatigue loading. However, the degradation of
tensile residual strength of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy is significant at high
water absorption at elevated temperatures.
Keywords: glass fiber; temperature; water absorption; residual strength
INTRODUCTION
The mechanical properties may be considered the most important of all the physical and
chemical properties of polymer matrix composites (PMC) for most applications, such as
transportation, sports equipment, off-shore, infrastructure and others. Potential
advantages expounded by proponents of PMC include lower weight to volume ratio,
high specific strength, high specific stiffness, good fatigue performance, versatile
fabrication and lower maintenance cost. PMC made from chop strand mat fiber have
found potential in low end application. Chop strand mat polymer composites are
materials in which the reinforcing (fibers) are uniformly distributed. Uniform density
ensures consistent fiber glass content and uniform properties at every direction. The
typical end-use applications include various panel, bath equipment, cooling towers, boat
and automotive parts.
Polymer matrix composites (PMC), as chemically fabricated materials, are
susceptible to damage modes such as resin cracking, fiber breakage, and delamination.
Kumar and Gupta (1998) reported that the failure modes, in turn, can be affected by
chemical or physical changes of the polymeric matrix resin, loss of adhesion or
debonding at the fiber/matrix interface, and reduction of the fiber strength and modulus
under the long-term use. Mechanical properties and durability of composite materials
are highly influenced by various environmental aging such as elevated temperatures,
humidity, oxidation and UV radiation (Springer 1984; Mohlin 1988; Griffis et. al. 1988;
D’Amore et. al. 1998; DeIasi and Whiteside 1978; Wang et. al. 2007; Bowles 1998;
Leterrier et al., 1998).
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Jeffrey et al./International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 4(2011) 504-519
Mechanical fatigue is the most common type of failure of structures in service.

While some PMC component maybe subjected only to static load in their lifetime, most
will be subjected to loads and stresses that vary with time. Materials behave very
differently in response to loads that come and go (fatigue loads) than they do to static
loads. These failures typically occur at stress level significantly lower than the yield
strength of the materials. Other researchers have also described failure under long-term
static load as static fatigue. Since the strength of the materials deteriorates after each
cycle, it is critical to know the residual strength after a life fraction of component, so
that its capacity of carrying cyclic and extreme static load can be ensured (Philippidis
and Passipoularidis, 2007). The relative importance of fatigue has yet to be studied
where statics conditions still prevail.
Sullivan (1990) stated that a polymer is generally not in the state of
thermodynamic equilibrium below its glass transition temperature (Tg). Aging at
elevated temperature for PMC degrade the tensile and fatigue strength of PMC.
Experimental evidences showed that high temperature (~200°C) caused a reduction of
between 80 and 90% in the bond strength reported by Katz et al. (1999). Besides, it is
possible that the effect of temperature is to reduce the bonding efficiency and impair
stress transfer within the composite such that the rebar progressively acts more like a
bundle of loose fibers than a solid composite as the temperature rises (Abbasi and Hogg,
2005). Blontrok et al. (1998) found a linear decrease in strength for glass fiber rebar as
temperature increases from 20 ˚C.
The temperature above 30°C will cause the increase in moisture uptake tendency
of PMC in a long run and thus reduction in tensile and flexural strength of the fibers
(Gopalan et al. 1989). Liquid uptake, which always involves water, is assumed to be
explained by Fick’s Law (Hancox, 1998). The diffusion process is said to be driven by a
concentration gradient. Moisture penetration into composite materials is partly
conducted by diffusion, which involves transport of water molecules into the matrix
and, in some cases, into the fibers (Bao and Yee, 2002; Srivastava, 1999 and Marom
1986). Water can diffuse rapidly into the micro gaps between polymer chains. The
second mechanism involves the capillary transport into the gaps and flaws at the
interfaces between fiber and the matrix. This capillary flow, also known as water
wicking, conveys water to the interior of composites. It tends to occur preferentially
along the interface, if wetting of the fibers by the matrix is incomplete (Varelidis et al.
2000). Percolating flow and storage of water in micro-cracks possibly present in the
matrix (particularly in the case of natural fiber composites) constitutes a third
mechanism of moisture penetration into composites. Finally, the corrosion of glass
fibers, the dissolution of soluble compounds in matrices, increased inters laminar
stresses, and the reduction in strength and modulus are moisture-related events that
affect composite materials durability and damage tolerance (Browning and Hartness,
1994). Exposure to humid environment caused permanent damage in the material
system. Hayes et al. (1998) concluded that the reduction in strength is not recovered
when the material is desorped, suggesting that the exposure to moisture caused
permanent damage in the material system. Water absorption can be detrimental to
fatigue strength of composites (Vauthier et al., 1998)
When designing PMC considerations should be taken about the environmental
conditions changes, the materials properties were changed due to changes of
temperature and water content and should be taken into consideration along with any of
external loads acting on the PMC. The combination of stress and corrosive environment
has a synergistic effect. Yet there is very little information available in the literature on
505
Residual strength of chop strand mats glass fib
fiber/epoxy composite structures: Effect
ffect of temperature and water absorption
the fatiguee and tensile strength of PMC with environmental concerns, especially chop
strand mats glass fiber material
material.
The present study attempts to relate any changes to environmentally induce in
residual strength of the chop strand mats glass fiber materials and provides a well-well
rounded set of experimental data on enviro-mechanical
enviro mechanical durability of chop strand mat
glass fibre/epoxy system that is not generally found in the literature. Results from this
work include the residual strength of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy at different
temperatures, the percentage (%) of water absorption for the chop strand mats glass
fiber/epoxy and residual strength of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy with different
water content and temperature exposure.
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
Preparation of Test Samples

amples
Chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy specimens were fabricated by hand lay--up process
according to suggestion by Dyer and Isaac (1998).
(1998) This method is perhaps the simplest,
oldest and least complicated. This is a manual approach in which layers of fabric and
resin are successively applied onto a mold. The mold surface wass treated with release
wax, and then with epoxy resin. Over the epoxy resin, chop strand mats glass fiber were
laid. Each layer wass saturated with epoxy resin that wass specifically formulated to cure
overnight at room temperature. After each layer of fabric is placed, a roller is used on
the composite so that a strong bond among
among the composites and excess resin is squeezed
out. The stacking of 4 layers chop strand mats glass fiber was repeated. This laminate
was allowed to cure at room temperature. Later, the glass fiber/epoxy composite
laminate was machined into desired dimen
dimension
sion as recommended in ASTM D 3039,3039 a
150 mm gage length and 25.0 mm width. width Figure 1 shows a chop strand mats glass
fiber/epoxy test sample before static tensile and residual strength tests.
Figure 1. Chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy specimens before conditioning
Hygrothermal Exposure and

nd Residual Strength Assessment
The specific hygrothermal exposures of the specimens were identified in Figure

igure 2. For
testing of exposure to temperature and water simultaneously, the
he specimens were pre-
pre
506
Jeffrey et al./International
nal Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 44(2011
2011) 504-519
dried in an oven at 80°C until no measurable weight change was observed.

observed The pre-
dried specimens were immersed in distilled water at room temperature and at 90˚C.
Specimens were removed from the solution and weighed to determine the amount of
water that was absorbed. The net weight gain ((Mg) was taken as the water content of the
specimen. The weight changes are evaluated by using the following expressions
(Hamada et al., 1995):
Net weight gain, Mg
Mg = (Ww – Wo) / Wo (1)
where, Wo : weight of the dried specimen before immersion

Ww : weight of the wet specimen after immersion
Figure 2. Flowchart on the overall experiment parameters
The experimental evaluation of residual strength of composite laminate was

performed by exposing them first to tension-tension fatigue (at an R-value value of 0.5,
0.5
maximum stress, σmax = 60 MPa and frequency of 5 Hz) up to a certain number of
cycles n, and then to tensile
le static test (crosshead speed was set to 0.4mm/min) until
failure. An Instron 8801 testing machine was employed for performing the tension- tension
tension fatigue and residual test, as shown in FFigure 3. The stress,
ess, at which the laminate
failed during thee tension experiment, was characterized as the residual strength of the
laminate at cycles, n. Three specimens were used for each test.
507
Residual strength of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy composite structures: Effect of temperature and water absorption
Figure 3. Tensile and residual testing on the test specimen
Failure definition for polymer composites under fatigue load is more complex than that
of the metallic materials as it involves many damage modes, such as matrix cracking,
debonding, delamination, fiber breakage, etc. In this study, failure is defined by inability
of the specimen to bear the applied load, which is separation of the coupon between the
machine grips.
Effect of Temperature
The residual strength of the chop strand mat glass fiber/epoxy at specified fatigue
loading cycles and temperature was measured and is shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5.
These results indicate that glass fiber/epoxy composite follows an almost linear
reduction in their residual strengths with the fatigue cycles. It can be seen that replicate
test on the specimens at the same environmental exposure produced similar results.
Since the test standard deviation is small, there is relatively little variability in the data.
These indicate high consistency of glass fiber/epoxy mechanical properties and a good
resistance to cycling loading.
The effect of temperature on the residual strength of glass fiber/epoxy is shown in
Figure 6. The diagram shows that the temperature does affect the residual strength, but
not its fatigue behavior, that is the decrease of residual strength as a function of number
of cycles is small. It is unlikely that the temperature effects are related to any significant
reduction in the glass fiber strength within the temperature range considered in the
experiments since the glass fiber will not soften to any significant degree over this range
(Abbasi and Hogg, 2005). The higher degradation of strength of the glass fiber/epoxy
arises from the decrease in the modulus of the resin binder in composites specimens
under increasing of the temperature. This behavior can partly be attributed to
decomposition of the resin.
508
140
120
Residual Strength (MPa)

100
80
60 room temperature exposure
40 Linear (room temperature exposure)
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
Figure 4. Residual strength curves of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy exposed to
room temperature
140
120
100
80
60
90°C exposure
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
90°C
140
120 room temperature 90°C
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycle (10^)
Figure 6. Comparison between residual strength curves for chop strand mats glass
fiber/epoxy tested under different temperature
509
Water Absorption
The results of the water ingress measurements are presented in Figure 7 and Table 1.
The plot show a steady increase in the amount of water absorbed. The water intake
process for all the specimens is linear in the beginning, then slows and approaches
saturation after prolonged time. This indicates the time dependency of the water
absorption in the samples. The saturation time for glass fiber/epoxy is estimated to be
30 days from the research of Khalid et al. (2004). The higher temperature exposure
along with water immersion (90˚C immersion temperature) made the specimens have a
higher absorption rate and percentage water weight gain, which is about 4.5 times
higher compared to specimens immersed in room temperature water solution. The
specimens show a 4.09% water weight gain for immersion in distilled water at constant
temperature of 90˚C. The effect of temperature on water absorption can be clearly seen.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that overall net weight gain of chop stand
specimens are less than woven fabrics specimens (Kueh et al., 2009). The data
compared indicate consistent less water uptake for chop strand specimens, due to the
fact that concentration is a function of the orientation of fibers (Boukhoulda et al.,
2006).
5
4.5
Moisture Content (%)
4
3.5
3
2.5 room temperature immersion
2
90°C immersion
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Days
Figure 7. Water uptake of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy immersed under different
temperature
Table 1. Water absorption of chop strand mat glass fiber/epoxy for different temperature
immersion
Conditions (immersion Net weight gain, Mg (%)
temperature/Days) Specimen 1 Specimen 2 Specimen 3
Room temperature/1 days 0.269 0.292 0.355
90˚C/1 day 1.078 1.283 1.219
90˚C/7 day 2.758 2.414 2.674
90˚C/14 day 3.693 3.148 3.917
90˚C/21 day 4.100 3.926 4.057
90˚C/28 day 4.121 4.139 4.021
510
Comparison between the results of the ambient temperature and 90˚C immersions
is helpful in determining the effect of elevated temperature in the water intake of
polymer composites. As diffusion is a thermally activated process, an increase in
temperature accelerates short-term diffusion and increases the diffusion coefficient. The
water absorption of polymer composites is a strong function of temperature at the same
exposure conditions. An increase in temperature accelerates short-term diffusion and
increases the diffusion coefficient. Water is absorbed mainly by resins. The
manufacturing quality of composites specimens has an important influence on
absorption. Defects which exist in a composite material will considerably favor the
absorption of water and accelerate material degradation. However, the monotonic graph
trend on the water absorption suggests the material degradation is not a major factor.
Temperature and Water Effect
The temperature and water effects on the residual strength are apparently demonstrated
in Figures 8-11. From the figures, as the cyclic loading progresses, the decay of tensile
residual strength is observed. Comparing the residual strength of chop strand mats glass
fiber/epoxy that is exposed to humid environment of room temperature and 90°C
(Figure 10), respectively, the residual strength decreased at a rate of approximately
2.5% and 3.5% per 1 power increase of number of cycles. The average residual for each
condition are summarized in Table 2. The higher strength degradation of specimens
(immersed in 90˚C solution) was due to the higher amount of water sorption and
temperature exposure. According to Liu et al. (2002), this could be due to the
weakening effects of higher thermal and moisture induced swelling stresses at the
interface and/or matrix plasticization. Plasticization is known to be induced by water
and high temperature (Schutte, 1994). It may also be hypothesized that this conditioning
environment could result in either breakdown of chemical bonds or secondary forces of
attraction at the interface.
Table 2: Average residual Strength of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy for different
temperature and duration immersion
Conditions (immersion Fatigue cycles

temperature/Days) 100 101 102 103 104 105
Room temperature/1 days 119.97 117.86 116.23 109.10 106.53 109.79
90˚C/1 day 108.22 108.08 114.86 109.31 109.31 105.29
90˚C/7 day 103.88 111.36 101.88 101.83 99.77 99.27
90˚C/14 day 99.01 97.99 96.81 94.38 86.49 85.42
90˚C/21 day 94.16 92.91 91.17 82.39 80.96 85.29
90˚C/28 day 78.84 85.09 84.96 82.54 76.74 75.34
Therefore, residual strength of the glass fiber/epoxy is more affected by

hygrothermal ageing at higher conditioning temperature and for more exposure time (i.e.
more absorbed water). Comparison of figures strongly indicates that water content is
511
one of the key factors in the degradation of polymer composites residual strength. Water
absorption can be detrimental to residual strength of chop strand mat glass fiber/epoxy.
140

120
100
80
60 1 day room temperature immersion
40 Linear (1 day room temperature immersion)
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(a)
140
120
100
80
7 days room temperature immersion
60
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(b)
140
120
100
80
60 Linear (14 days room temperature immersion)
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(c)
Figure 8. Residual strength curves of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy for room
temperature immersion for duration of 1, 7 and 14 days
512
140
120
100
80
60 21 days room temperature immersion
40
Linear (21 days room temperature immersion)
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(a)
140
120
100
80
40
Linear (28 days room temperature immersion)

20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(b)
Figure 9. Residual strength curves of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy for room
temperature immersion for duration of 21and 28 days
513
140
120

100
80
1 day 90°C immersion
60 Linear (1 day 90°C immersion)
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(a)
140
120
100
80
60 7 days 90°C immersion
Linear (7 days 90°C immersion)
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(b)
140
120
100
80

40 Linear (14 days 90°C immersion)
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
humid environment at 90°C for duration of 1, 7 and 14days
514
140
120
100
80
60
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
140
120
100
80
60
28 days 90°C immersion
40
Linear (28 days 90°C immersion)
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
humid environment at 90°C for duration of 1, 7 and 14days
515
140
Residual Sterngth (MPa)
110
100
90
80
70
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(a)
140
1 days 90°C immersion 7 days 90°C immersion
130 14 days 90°C immersion 21 days 90°C immersion
110
100
90
80
70
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cycles (10^)
(b)
Figure 12. Comparison between residual strength curves for chop strand mats glass
fiber/epoxy tested exposed to humid environment at different duration and temperature
516
CONCLUSIONS
The experiments were carefully conducted to determine the variations of residual

strength due to temperatures and interactive environment of the temperature and water
of chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy. The results obtained from this study clearly show
that the properties of the glass fiber/epoxy deteriorate with the temperature and water.
The main conclusions which can be deduced from the study are as follows:
i. Chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy have a high consistency of mechanical
properties with a standard deviation of 6Mpa for the residual strength under
fatigue loading
ii. Chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy composite follows an almost linear reduction
in their fatigue residual strengths with the fatigue cycles. The degradation of glass
fiber/epoxy in the temperature range of room temperature and 90°C is only about
10%.
iii. It appears that for chop strand mats glass fiber/epoxy, with increasing of the
immersion temperature and immersion time, the water content increases. The
water intake of polymer composites is a strong function of temperature at the
same relative humidity.
iv. The residual strength of the glass fiber/epoxy is more influenced by hygrothermal
ageing at elevated temperature and for more exposure time (i.e. more absorbed
water).
v. Chop strand mats glass fiber material has high resistance to tension-tension
fatigue loading, as the residual strength reduces slightly with the increase of
fatigue cycles.
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519
CONTENTS
Large Displacement of Crossbeam Structure through Energy Method 520

A. Mitra, P. Sahoo and K. Saha
Decomposition of Manufacturing Processes: A Review 545

N.M.Z.N. Mohamed and M. K. Khan
Built Environment: Relating the Benefits of Renewable Energy Technologies 561

Abdeen Mustafa Omer
A Comprehensive Study of DI Diesel Engine Performance With Vegetable Oil: 576

An Alternative Boi-fuel Source of Energy
A. K. Azad, S. M. Ameer Uddin, and M. M. Alam
The Effects of Area Contraction on Shock Wave Strength and Peak Pressure in 587
Shock Tube
A. M. Mohsen, M. Z. Yusoff, A. Al-Falahi and N. H. Shuaib
Development of a Chest Freezer – Optimum Design of an Evaporator Coil 597

K. Kalyani Radha, S. Naga Sarada, K. Rajagopal
Knowledge Management for Maintenance Activities in the Manufacturing 612

Sector
M. A. Mansor, A. Ohsato and S. Sulaiman
Fabrication of Al/Al2O3 FGM Rotating Disc 622

A. B. Sanuddin, Aidy Ali and M. A. Azmah Hanim
Motorcycle Crash Test Center: A Movable Barrier Approach 630

C.L.Tan and S.V.Wong
Investigation of Fossil Fuels and Liquid Biofuels Blend Properties using 639
Artificial Neural Network
P. Nematizade, B.Ghobadian and G.Najafi
Analysis of Excessive Heating on The Thermal and Electrical Resistance of a 648

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell
W. A. N. W. Mohamed and R. Atan
Comparison of Thermoelastic Results in Two Types of Functionally Graded 660

Brake Discs
B.B. Sahari, M.M. Shahzamanian, M. Bayat, Z.N. Ismarrubie and F. Mustapha
Design of A Superbike Paddock Stand using CAD and CAE Tools 670
H. Rashid, A.H. Abdullah, M.H. Mohd Noh, A.H. Abdul Hamid and N.M. Zainal Abidin
ii
LARGE DISPLACEMENT OF CROSSBEAM STRUCTURE

THROUGH ENERGY METHOD
A. Mitra, P. Sahoo and K. Saha
Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Phone: +91 33 2414 6890, Fax: +91 33 2414 6890
E-mail: samik893@gmail.com, psjume@gmail.com, kashinathsaha@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper undertakes a geometric nonlinear large displacement static analysis of

crossbeam structure. A crossbeam structure comprises two beams in contact with their
longitudinal axes perpendicular to each other, used effectively in civil and mechanical
engineering, marine and aerospace structures. The energy method forms the basis for
the mathematical formulation and the governing set of equations are obtained using the
principle of extremisation of the total energy of the system in its equilibrium state. To
obtain the solution, an iterative procedure is developed based on the reaction force
generated between the two beams of the system. The method is validated by experiment
and simulation through ANSYS v11. Results are presented in terms of plots of reaction
force and the displacement of the interaction point versus load in dimensional form and
additionally, the deflected shapes of the crossbeam structure at static equilibrium
condition, under a particular load, are provided. The static response of the system has
been studied for variation of beam thickness, loading pattern and position of the
supporting beam.
Keywords: Crossbeam, variational method, geometric nonlinearity.
INTRODUCTION
In structural mechanics applications, nonlinear system response can occur for two
reasons: material nonlinearity and geometric nonlinearity. In the first case, the
constituent material behaviour, i.e., stress-strain relationship is nonlinear, whereas in
geometric nonlinearity, the strain-displacement relationship is nonlinear. In cases of
nonlinear strain-displacement, the large transverse displacement in the system
incorporates a stretching effect, which provides additional stiffening to the structure.
This is of particular interest to designers because it helps them achieve designs that are
more compact with considerable material and cost savings. Therefore, large
displacement analysis of structural elements due to geometric nonlinearity has always
generated immense interest among researchers.
One of the basic structural elements is a beam, which can be used separately or
in association with other beams or plates, to satisfy different structural requirements,
such as stiffness enhancement, light weight, low cost, material saving etc. Research
studies carried out in the field of nonlinear beam analysis have been recorded in
different review papers. Reddy (1979) presented different finite element formulations
related to structural elements and their vibrations. Sathyamoorthy (1982a) reviewed the
520
Large displacement of crossbeam structure through energy method
works on classical methods of nonlinear (geometric, material and other type of

nonlinearities) beam analysis. The same author (Sathyamoorthy 1982b) also surveyed
the developments on nonlinear beam analysis under static and dynamic conditions using
the finite elements methods. Kapania and Raciti (1989) reviewed advances in the
analysis of laminated structures (beams and plates) using shear deformation theories and
finite elements methods and also on the buckling of such structures. More recently,
Marur (2001) put forward a review work, which reported on the nonlinear vibration
formulations of beams through different phases of development. Agarwal et al. (2006)
studied the geometric nonlinear effects of the static and dynamic behaviour of beams
made of isotropic, composite and functionally graded materials, using first order shear
deformation theory (FSDT). The free vibration problem of a beam under a large static
deflection was investigated by Cornil et al. (2007), using the nonlinear equations of
motion. To obtain a solution, these equations were decomposed into a set of nonlinear
differential equations for static deflection and a set of linear differential equations for
the dynamic problem. Kong et al. (2008) obtained analytical solutions for the static and
dynamic problems of Euler-Bernoulli beams at the micro level, based on strain gradient
elasticity theory. Marur (2007) developed analytical models for static and dynamic
analysis of thin-walled frames, representing automotive side structures, considering
joint flexibility.
In the case of stiffened plates, research work has gone through different phases
and the evolution process can be traced with the help of the review works of
Mukhopadhyay and Mukherjee (1989), and Bedair (1998). Different researchers have
carried out nonlinear analysis of stiffened plates using different techniques and
methodologies. Sapountzakis and Katsikadelis (2000) investigated elastic deformation
of ribbed plates subjected to static, transverse and in-plane loading, using the analog
equation method to solve nonlinearly coupled equations. Koko and Olson (1991)
developed a new numerical technique for large deflection elastoplastic analysis of
stiffened plates using super finite elements. Bedair (1997) presented a methodology for
the analysis of multi-stiffened plates under lateral loading, based on energy formulation
and to achieve the solution, employed a sequential quadratic programming (SQP)
technique. Sheikh and Mukhopadhyay (2000) performed geometric nonlinear analysis
of stiffened plates utilising the spline finite strip method and von Karman nonlinear
plate theory. Turvey and Salehi (2008) analysed the elastoplastic large deflection
response of pressure loaded and discretely stiffened circular plates. Bruback and
Hellesland (2008) studied the strength criterion, both in local and global bending, of
stiffened plates under in-plane loading, using semi-analytical large deflection analysis.
Wutzow and Paiva (2008) employed integral equations and the boundary element
method (BEM) to perform a linear analysis of stiffened plates. Sapountzakis and Mokos
(2008) presented a general solution for the analysis of plates stiffened by arbitrarily
placed parallel beams of arbitrary doubly symmetric cross section with deformable
connections subjected to an arbitrary loading. Fernandes (2009) also introduced a
boundary element method (BEM) formulation based on Kirchhoff’s hypothesis to
perform a linear bending analysis of plates reinforced by beams. Deb Nath et al. (2010)
obtained an analytical solution of elastic fields for a stiffened plate subjected to axial
tension and pure bending, using an alternative displacement potential approach.
A vast amount of research has established that stiffeners have enormous

influence on the strength and stability of plate structures. However, the effect of a
521
Mitra et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 520-544
stiffening beam element on another beam has received little attention. Therefore, the
present paper analyses the static responses of a crossbeam structure under transverse
loading through energy formulation. A crossbeam structure (Figure 1), which is
basically two beams in contact with their longitudinal axes perpendicular to each other
so as to form a ‘cross’, can effectively be used separately or with plate elements, to
construct civil and mechanical engineering, marine and aerospace structures. This paper
takes into account the geometric nonlinearity by considering the nonlinear strain-
displacement relations and uses a direct substitution method with a relaxation parameter
to solve the set of nonlinear equations. The displacement fields are solved through an
iterative procedure, which is based on the reaction force between the two beams of the
system and considers the difference between the displacements of the two beams at their
contact point as the termination criterion. For validation purposes, an experiment is
performed for a particular loading scenario. In addition, results from the present
analyses are compared with results generated by the finite element-based commercial
package ANSYS (ver. 11). The results are presented in terms of reaction force-load and
displacement-load plots along with the deflected shapes of the structure under loading.
The distribution of axial displacement and stretching force along the beams is also
provided.
Figure 1. Crossbeam structure.
ANALYSIS
The present paper analyses the large displacement static behaviour of a crossbeam
structure consisting of two beams perpendicular to each other and placed in contact
(Figure 1). At no loading condition, there is no interaction between the beams, although
the beams are in surface contact. However, when some transverse load is applied to the
upper beam (Beam-1), it pushes down on the lower beam (Beam-2), which in turn
provides a resistance to deformation of Beam-1. It is assumed that external transverse
loading acts on Beam-1 only and the purpose of Beam-2 is to give the structure a
stiffening effect. The free body diagrams of the two beams are shown in Figure 2, along
with the indications of nomenclatures of some system parameters. To maintain static
equilibrium conditions for a particular loading, it can be said that:
L1
P p x dx R1 R2 R3 R4 , for the total system
0
L1
P p x dx R R1 R2 , for Beam-1 (1)
0
R R3 R4 , for Beam-2
522
where, R is the unique reaction force generated at the contact between two beams. It is
also implied that the displacement at the point of interaction of the two beams is equal.
Figure 2. Free body diagrams of two individual beams: (a) Beam-1, (b) Beam-2.
Mathematical Formulation
The mathematical formulation of the individual beams is carried out through the energy
method, which states that, 0 , where U V (2)
U = Total strain energy stored in the system
V = Work function or potential of the external forces
= Variational operator
Furthermore, the formulation is based on the following assumptions:
i) Beam materials are isotropic, homogeneous and linearly elastic.
ii) Beams follow the Euler – Bernoulli hypothesis.
iii) Beams have uniform rectangular cross-section.
iv) The thicknesses of the beams are small compared to their respective lengths,
such that the effect of shear deformation and rotary inertia are negligible.
In the case of large displacement analysis of beams, both bending and stretching
effects are taken into consideration. Therefore, total strain energy stored in Beam-1 is
given by:
U 1 U b1 U m1 (3a)
where:
1 b
U b1 = Strain energy stored due to bending = x . x dv (3b)
2 vol
1 s
U m1 = Strain energy stored due to stretching = x. x dv (3c)
2 vol
523
b s
x and x are axial strains due to bending and stretching, respectively. The axial strain
b d 2 w1
due to bending at a distance z from the mid-plane is given by: x z and axial
dx 2
2
du1 1 dw1 s
strain due to stretching of mid-plane is given by: . Substitutingx
dx 2 dx
these strain expressions into Eq. (3), the total strain energy stored in Beam-1 is:
L1 2 L1 2 4 2
E1 I 1 d 2 w1 E1 A1 du1 1 dw1 du1 dw1
U1 dx . dx (4)
2 0 dx 2 2 0
dx 4 dx dx dx
Similarly, the total strain energy stored in Beam-2 is given by:
L2 2 L2 2 4 2
E2 I 2 d 2 w2 E 2 A2 du 2 1 dw2 du 2 dw2
U2 dy . dy (5)
2 0 dy 2 2 0
dy 4 dy dy dy
where: w1 , w2 are transverse displacements of mid-plane of Beam-1 and Beam-2,

respectively, u1 , u 2 are in-plane displacements of mid-plane of Beam-1 and Beam-2,
respectively, E1 , E 2 are elastic moduli of Beam-1 and Beam-2, respectively, L1 , L2 are
lengths of Beam-1 and Beam-2, respectively, x, y are axial coordinates in two
orthogonal directions. I 1 , I 2 and A1 , A2 are second moment of area and cross sectional
area of the two beams, respectively. The computations are carried out in normalised
coordinates and , respectively, where x L1 and y L2 . The work potential
of the external loads for Beam-1 and Beam-2 are given by:
L1
V1 P w1 | x p p w1 dx R w1 | xr (6)
0
V2 R w2 | y r (7)
where: P and p represent the external concentrated and pressure type loading acting on
Beam-1 and R is the reaction force generated between the two beams, as mentioned
earlier. In addition, xp represents the point of application of the external concentrated
load (P) on Beam1, xr and yr denote the location, where the reaction force (R) acts on
Beam-1 and Beam-2, respectively. These notations are indicated in Figure 2.
The displacement functions w1 , w2 and u1 , u 2 can be represented approximately

by sets of orthogonal coordinate functions 1i , 2i and 1i , 2i .
nw nw nu
w1 d1i 1i and u1 d1i 1i nw (8)
i 1 i nw 1
nw nw nu
w2 d 2i 2i and u 2 d 2i 2 i nw (9)
i 1 i nw 1
524
where: d1i and d 2i represent unknown coefficients and nw and nu are the number of
functions for w and u, respectively. Appropriate start functions for w1 , u1 and w2 , u 2 are
selected in such a way that they satisfy the necessary geometric boundary conditions of
the respective beams. The higher order functions are generated from the selected start
functions using the Gram-Schmidt orthogonalisation scheme.
Substituting Eq. (4), (6), (8) and (5), (7), (9) separately in Eq. (2) gives the
governing set of equations for Beam-1 and Beam-2, respectively. For Beam-1, the
governing set of equations in matrix form is given by: K 1 d 1 f1 (10)
where, K 1 and f 1 are the stiffness matrix and load vector, respectively and are of
1 1
K 11 K 12 f 111
the following form: K 1 1 1
and f1 1
. The elements of K 1 and
K 21 K 22 f 12
f 1 are:
2
1 E1 I1 nw nw 1
d2 1i
d2 1j E1 A1 nw nw 1 nw
d d 1i d 1 j
K 11 d d 1i 1i d
L13 j 1i 1 0 d 2
d 2
2 L13 j 1i 1 0 i 1 d d d
1 2
E1 A1 nw nw nw nu
d 1i nw d 1i d 1 j
d1i d
L12 j 1i 1 0 i nw 1 d d d
nw nu nw 1
E1 A1 nw
d 1i d 1i d 1 j nw
1
K 12 0, K 121 d1i d
2 L12 j nw 1 i 1 0 i 1 d d d
nw nu nw nu 1 d
1 E1 A1 d 1i nw 1 j nw
K 22 d
L1 j nw 1 i nw 1 0 d d
nw nw 1 nw
f 111 P 1j | p
L1 p 1jd R 1j | r , f 121 0
j 1 j 10 j 1
Similarly, for Beam-2, the governing set of equations in matrix form is:
K 2 d2 f2 (11)
where, K 2 and f 2 are the stiffness matrix and load vector, respectively and are of
2 2
K 11 K 12 f112
the following form: K 2 2 2
and f 2 2
. The elements of K 2 and
K 21 K 22 f12
f 2 are:
2
2 E2 I 2 nw nw 1
d2 2i
d2 2j E 2 A2 nw nw 1 nw
d 2i d 2i d 2 j
K 11 d d 2i d
L32 j 1i 1 0 d 2
d 2
2 L32 j 1i 1 0 i 1 d d d
1 2
E 2 A2 nw nw nw nu
d 2i nw d 2i d 2 j
d 2i d
L22 j 1i 1 0 i nw 1 d d d
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nw nu nw 1
2 2 E 2 A2 nw
d 2i d 2i d 2 j nw
K 12 0 , K 21 d 2i d
2 L22
j nw 1 i 1 0 i 1 d d d
nw nu nw nu 1
2 E 2 A2 d 2i nw d 2 j nw
K 22 d
L2 j nw 1 i nw 1 0 d d
nw
f112 R 2j | r , f 122 0
j 1
Solution Procedure
The set of governing equations (Eqs (10) and (11)) are clearly nonlinear in nature,
because the stiffness matrix itself is a function of unknown coefficients and solved by
direct substitution technique using a successive relaxation scheme. For each load-step,
the values of the unknown coefficients are assumed to evaluate the stiffness matrix.
Using this stiffness matrix, based on the assumed values, new values of unknown
coefficients are calculated by the matrix inversion technique from the expressions
1 1
d1 K1 f 1 and d 2 K2 f 2 . Calculated values are compared with their
values in the previous iteration and if the difference is above a predefined error limit,
the process is repeated with new values of unknown coefficients and modified with a
relaxation parameter, until the difference becomes less than the predefined error limit.
When convergence is achieved for both beams, d1 and d 2 are known and thus,
from Eqs (8) and (9), the displacement fields for the two beams become apparent. This
process can only be implemented if the load vectors ( f 1 and f 2 ) are known
parameters. However, for a particular load applied to the crossbeam structure, the
reaction force (R) generated at the contact between two beams is not known beforehand.
To overcome this hurdle an iterative process is devised, in which the reaction force is
assumed to be a fraction (q) of the total load applied to the structure, i.e.,
1
R q p( ) d P . Using this assumed value, the load vectors are calculated and
0
the set of unknown coefficients, as well as the displacement fields are solved.
Let the deflection of Beam-1 and Beam-2 at the point of contact be and b 2 , b1
respectively. If b1 b 2 t min [where, t min min( t1 ,t 2 )] is outside a permitted
tolerance limit, the assumed reaction force is changed by modifying the fraction (q) and
using this new assumed reaction force, the process is repeated. When b1 b 2 t min
falls within the permissible value, the process is said to have converged and the unique
reaction force and the displacement fields concerned with that particular load value is
established. The modification of the assumed reaction force is carried out as follows: At
the start, the correct value of q ( qexact ) is unknown but the minimum and maximum
values of q are known to lie between 0 and 1, i.e., q min 0 and q max 1 . At the end of
each iteration step, a part of the solution space can be eliminated depending on whether
b1 is greater or lower than b 2 , thus changing q min or q max .
526
If b1 b2 : q needs to be increased in order to lower and increase b 2 . This

b1
implies that qexact cannot be lower than the present q and q min can be upgraded to this
q value. After modification of the limit, the new value q is determined using the
following expression, q q min q1 q max q min , where q1 is another load distribution
parameter and q1 lies between 0 and 1 ( 0 q1 1 ) .
If b1 b2 : q needs to be decreased in order to increase and lower b 2 . This

b1
implies that qexact cannot be greater than the present q and q max can be upgraded to this
q value. After the modification of the limit, the new value q is determined using the
following expression, q q max q1 q max q min , where q1 is another load distribution
parameter and 0 q1 1 . The solution procedure is elaborated in the flow chart, shown
in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Flow chart of the solution algorithm.
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In the present paper, four different loading patterns are considered: concentrated
load, uniformly distributed load, triangular load and hat load, as shown in Figure 4.
However, for all these types of loading, boundary conditions of the beams have been
considered as all ends are clamped (CC-CC). For membrane boundary conditions, it is
assumed that in-plane displacements are zero at the boundaries, i.e., the boundaries are
sufficiently rigid to support the axial load generated in the beams. In all the cases, the
contact point is assumed to be at the mid-span of Beam-2, i.e., y r 0.5 L2 .
Consequently, the crossbeam structure can be equivalently represented by two
individual beams; one carrying the external transverse loading along with the reaction
force and the other only carrying the reaction force equal in magnitude and opposite in
direction compared with the reaction force in the first beam.
Figure 4. Different loading conditions applied on Beam-1: 1) Concentrated load, 2)

Uniformly distributed load (UDL), 3) Triangular load and 4) Hat load.
EXPERIMENT
To validate the present method an experiment is carried out wherein a crossbeam

structure is subjected to a concentrated load. The experimental setup comprises the
following main components: channel frame, crossbeam structure, loading device and
measurement instrument. Two slender beams are bolted firmly to the frame to make the
crossbeam structure and the loading device is bolted to the frame and positioned over
the crossbeam. This loading device consists of a loading platform fixed rigidly to a
vertical loading rod with a pointed tip and a travelling arrangement with provisions for
transverse and rotational adjustments for varying the point of application of the load.
The travelling arrangement is a guideway (lubricated with oil) through which the
loading rod can slide smoothly. The loading device is adjusted so that the tip of the
loading rod just touches the upper beam under no loading condition and a dial gauge
(Maker: Baker Mercer, Type: C02, Least Count: 0.01mm) is set under the structure at
the desired position. Figures 5 and 6 show a photograph and a schematic diagram of the
experimental setup. The load of dead weights placed on the loading platform, is
transferred through the pointed tip of the rod onto the crossbeam structure and the
resulting deflection is obtained from the reading of the dial gauge.
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Figure 5. Photograph of the experimental set up.
Figure 6. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.
529
The effects of variations in beam thicknesses, loading pattern and position of Beam-2 on
the static behaviour of the system have been studied. The results are presented through
plots of reaction force and displacement of the interaction point versus load. It is to be
noted that in case of concentrated and uniformly distributed loads, the total load is
considered, whereas for triangular and hat loads the maximum load is considered for the
plots. In addition, the deflected shapes of the crossbeam structure at static equilibrium
conditions, under a particular load, are provided.
The start functions for w1 ,u1 and w2 ,u 2 are selected to satisfy the flexural and in-
plane boundary conditions of the beams. The start functions for the definition of beam
deflection w1 , w2 come from the flexural boundary conditions, i.e., both ends
clamped. The start functions for the stretching of the beam u1 ,u 2 come from the
membrane boundary conditions and are assumed zero at the boundaries. Both sets of
start functions are shown in Table 1. These selected start functions are used to generate
the higher order functions with the help of the Gram-Schmidt orthogonalisation
principle.
Table 1. Start functions for w1 ,u1 and w2 ,u 2 .
2
11 1
Beam-1
11 1
2
21 1
Beam-2
21 1
The number of functions ( nw and nu ) to be used is determined from a

convergence study, where a crossbeam structure (Dimensions:
L1 1 m, b1 0.02 m, t1 0.005 m and L2 1 m, b2 0.02 m, t 2 0.005 m , Material
property: E1 E 2 210 GPa , 1 2 7850 kg / m 3 , Support Locations: x r 0.5 L1
and y r 0.5 L2 ) under uniformly distributed loading is analysed for variations in
number of functions. The results, provided in Figure 7, show plots of displacement vs.
load for variations in number of functions and thus, a value of nw nu 8 is chosen for
further studies. Also, the error limit ( 1 ) for convergence of individual beams is taken
as 0.01 and the error limit ( 2 ) for convergence of the outer loop, i.e., for
b1 b 2 t min is taken as 0.001.
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Figure 7. Plots for Displacement vs. Load for variation in number of functions -
Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions: L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 0.005 (in m), Beam-2
dimensions: L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.005 (in m), Support locations: x r 0.5 L1 and
y r 0.5 L2 .
Validation Study
The crossbeam structure subjected to concentrated loading in the performed experiment

comprises two slender beams with the following dimensions: Beam-1: L1 = 400 mm, b1
= 24.7 mm, t1 = 3 mm and Beam-2: L2 = 400 mm, b2 = 24.7 mm, t2 = 3 mm. The beam
material is mild steel and the material properties are assumed as E1 E 2 210 GPa ,
1 2 7850 kg / m 3 . Experiments are carried out for two positions of Beam-2,
which are x r 0.5 L1 and x r 0.335 L1 . The concentrated load is applied on Beam-1
over the contact point between the beams i.e,. x p 0.5 L1 and x p 0.335 L1 for the
respective cases and the dial gauge is placed directly below the point of application of
the load, touching the lower surface of Beam-2. Figure 8(a) and (b) compares the
experimental data with the results generated through the present method for the two
cases mentioned above. Figure 9 shows the displacement-load plots for experimental
data and the present method for a case where Beam-2 is positioned at x r 0.335 L1 but
the load is applied at a different location ( x p 0.5 L1 ). In this case, the dial gauge is set
below the point of load application but in contact with Beam-1. These figures show that
in all the experimental results, the nature of the displacement vs. load curves is similar
to those predicted by the present method but the actual displacement values are higher.
This variation may be because the stretching boundary conditions are not satisfied. By
bolting the ends of the beams, zero transverse displacement is ensured but the same
cannot be said about the axial displacement conditions. Additionally, the difference
between the results of the experimental and present method increases with an increase
in load, which also indicates that at higher loads, the stretching forces come into effect.
531
(a) (b)
Figure 8. Comparison of experimental results with the present method - Plots for
Displacement vs. Load for (a) x r 0.5 L1 , x p 0.5 L1 and (b) x r 0.335 L1 , x p 0.335 L1
with Loading type: Concentrated, Beam-1 dimensions: L1 b1 t1 400 24.7 3 (in
mm), Beam-2 dimensions: L2 b2 t 2 400 24.7 3 (in mm).
Figure 9. Comparison of experimental results with the present method - Plots for
Displacement vs. Load for x r 0.335 L1 , x p 0.5 L1 with Loading type: Concentrated,
Beam-1 dimensions: L1 b1 t1 400 24.7 3 (in mm), Beam-2 dimensions:
L2 b2 t 2 400 24.7 3 (in mm).
2-D Analysis: The beams are individually modelled as 2-D elements and
separately analysed with the reaction force (R) being used as an input. Comparing the
displacement fields produced with those generated by the present method shows
532
excellent agreement. Figure 10 shows the load-displacement plots corresponding to the

contact point of the beams.
(a) (b)
Figure 10. Validation plots with ANSYS 2-D analysis for Displacement vs. Load for (a)
Beam-1 and (b) Beam-2 - Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions:
L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 0.01 (in m), Beam-2 dimensions: L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.01 (in
m), Support locations: x r 0.5 L1 and y r 0.5 L2 .
Figure 11. Validation plot with ANSYS 3-D analysis for Displacement (at the contact
point between the beams) vs. Load with Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions:
m), Support locations: x r 0.5 L1 and y r 0.5 L2 .
3-D Analysis: A 3-D model of the crossbeam with the previously mentioned
geometry, generated in solid modelling software, is exported to the ANSYS Workbench
(Version 11.0) and the analysis performed under uniformly distributed loading and fixed
end conditions. The simulated displacement field has good agreement with the
displacement field obtained by the present method. Figure 11 shows the displacement-
533
load plot at the interaction point between the two beams for ANSYS and the present
method. The matching of the results in both the cases of the 2-D and 3-D analysis are
found to be excellent and establishes the present method within the limitations of the
mathematical boundary conditions. Effects of different system parameters are studied
and displacement-load plots are furnished in each case along with the visualisation of
the deflected shape.
Variation in Beam-1 Thickness
To investigate changes in the static response of the system due to variations in the
thickness of Beam-1, other dimensions, loading pattern and end conditions are kept
constant. The reaction-load and displacement-load plots of the system are shown in
dimensional form, in Figure 12(a) and (b), respectively. As mentioned earlier, the
displacement at the point of contact between the two beams is considered as the system
displacement. Figure 12(a) shows that for a thicker Beam-1, reaction force is low and it
increases with a decrease in the thickness of Beam-1. This is because the thicker upper
beam takes up a greater portion of the external load and thus, generates lower reaction
force. Figure 12(b) shows that the displacement-load curves become steeper for lower
Beam-1 thickness, i.e., the stiffness of the system reduces. Figure 13 shows the
deflected shapes for each of the cases considered in Figure 12(a) and (b), corresponding
to the maximum load (denoted by points A, B, C and D in the displacement-load plots
of Figure 12(b)).
(a) (b)
Figure 12. Plots for (a) Reaction force vs. Load and (b) Displacement vs. Load for
variation of thickness of Beam-1 t1 - Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions:
L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 t1 (in m), Beam-2 dimensions: L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.01 (in m),
Support locations: x r 0.5 L1 and y r 0.5 L2 .
534
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 13. Deflected shapes of the structure under loading for variation of Beam-1
thickness - (a) t1 0.020 , (b) t1 0.015 ,(c) t1 0.010 , (d) t1 0.005 , taken at points
A, B, C and D in the displacement-load plots of Figure 12(b).
Figure 14. Plots for normalised maximum displacement of the system vs. load for
variation of thickness of Beam-1 t1 - Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions:
L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 t1 (in m), Beam-2 dimensions: L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.01 (in m),
535
It may appear from Figure 12(b) that for t1 0.005 m, the deformation of the
system is low compared with the other cases. However, it is to be noted that this figure
depicts the displacement of the contact point of the beams in dimensional form, whereas
the maximum deflection of the system is at a different location along Beam-1 (clearly
shown in Figure 13(d)). If the maximum displacement of the system (may be on Beam-
1 or Beam-2) normalised by the corresponding beam thickness is considered, it is seen
that the degree of nonlinearity achieved is more or less same. This is elaborated in
Figure 14, where the plots for normalised maximum displacement of the system versus
load are shown for variations of thickness of Beam-1 t1 .
Variation in Beam-2 Thickness
Investigations of the effects of variation in the thickness of Beam-2 are carried out
following the same procedure and the reaction-load and displacement-load plots of the
system in dimensional form, are shown in Figure 15(a) and (b). Figure 15(a) clearly
shows that for a thicker Beam-2 a large reaction force is generated and lower reaction
forces occur as the thickness decreases. This behaviour may seem contrary to the
previous case but in actual effect, these two cases are identical. In relative terms, a
decrease in Beam-2 thickness amounts to an increase in Beam-1 thickness. Therefore, it
is observed that for a particular loading and boundary conditions, the reaction force
generated depends on the relative geometry of the two beams. Generally, a thicker
Beam-1 (compared with Beam-2) means a lower reaction force and a thinner Beam-1
generates a higher reaction force. Figure 15(b) shows that for a greater thickness of
Beam-2, the displacement of the contact point is lower for the same load, which means
that the stiffening effect of Beam-2 increases with an increase in its thickness. The
deflected shapes of the structure under loading, corresponding to the points A, B, C and
D (representing maximum loads) in Figure 15(b), are shown in Figure 16.
(a) (b)
variation of thickness of Beam-2 t 2 - Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions:
L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 0.01 (in m), Beam-2 dimensions: L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 t 2 (in m),
536
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
thickness - (a) t 2 0.020 , (b) t 2 0.015 ,(c) t 2 0.010 , (d) t 2 0.005 , taken at points
A, B, C and D in the displacement-load plots of Figure 15(b).
Variation in Beam-2 Position
The system behaviour for different positions of Beam-2 along the span of Beam-1 is
analysed. For this case, all the boundary conditions are taken as clamped and the
loading type is UDL. The dimensions of the two beams are kept constant at
L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 0.01 and L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.01 (all dimension are in m).
Positions of Beam-2 are varied along one side of the mid-span of Beam-1, as the
geometry is symmetric. Figure 17(a) and (b) shows the reaction-load and displacement-
load plots of the system in dimensional form, respectively. From Figure 17(a) it can be
said that higher reaction force is generated when Beam-2 is positioned at the mid-span
of Beam-1 and as it shifts towards one of the ends, the reaction force becomes lower.
Figure 17(b) shows that for a particular load, the displacement of the contact point is
higher near the mid-span position of Beam-2 than the positions towards the ends.
However, the contact point displacement might not be the maximum displacement along
Beam-1. This is shown through the deflected shapes illustrated in Figure 18, for
different positions of Beam-2. In addition, the plots of maximum displacement-load are
provided along with the displacement-load plot of the contact point. From these figures,
it is evident that as Beam-2 shifts towards the ends, the contact point displacement
decreases but maximum displacement of the system increases. Therefore, the optimum
stiffening effect may be obtained from a centrally placed supporting beam.
537
(a) (b)
Figure 17: Plots for (a) Reaction force vs. Load and (b) Displacement vs. Load for
variation of Beam-2 position ( xr ) - Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions:
m), Support locations: y r 0.5 L2 .
Variation in Loading Pattern
The effect of different loading patterns on the crossbeam structure is investigated for
two different geometries of Beam-1 and Beam-2. The position of Beam-2 is kept fixed
at the mid-span of Beam-1, i.e., x r 0.50 . For the two different beam geometries,
Figures 19(a) and 20(a) plot the reaction force vs. load for various types of loading. It is
evident from these figures that in both cases the concentrated load generates the highest
reaction force, whereas for triangular loading the reaction force is lowest. The plots of
displacement vs. load for the two geometries are presented in Figures 19(b) and 20(b).
The deflected shapes of the structure for different types of loading, corresponding to the
second geometry (Figure 20), are given in Figure 21. Additionally, in this case it is
observed that the point of interaction of the two beams may not be the point of
maximum displacement of the structure. This is in fact dependent both on the relative
geometry of the two beams and the nature of loading applied to Beam-1. For example, a
concentrated load applied over the point of interaction of the two beams, irrespective of
the geometry, produces the maximum deflection of the system at the point of
interaction. However, for symmetrically distributed loading (UDL and Hat load), the
relative geometry of the beams becomes important in determining the point of
maximum deflection. For asymmetrically distributed loading (Triangular load) or a
concentrated load, applied at locations other than the interaction point, the maximum
deflection is likely to occur away from the contact point of the beams.
538
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
position along with maximum displacement and contact point displacement
comparisons – (a) x r 0.50 L1 , (b) x r 0.40 L1 , (c) x r 0.33L1 , (d) x r 0.25 L1 .
539
(a) (b)
different loading pattern - Beam-1 dimensions: L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 0.01 (in m), Beam-
2 dimensions: L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.01 (in m), Support locations: x r 0.5 L1 and
y r 0.5 L2 .
(a) (b)
different loading pattern - Beam-1 dimensions: L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 0.005 (in m),
Beam-2 dimensions: L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.015 (in m), Support locations: x r 0.5 L1
and y r 0.5 L2 .
540
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 21. Deflected shapes of the structure under loading for various types of loading
pattern along with maximum displacement and contact point displacement comparisons
– (a) Concentrated load, (b) Uniformly distributed load (UDL), (c) Triangular load,
(d) Hat load.
541
Figure 22(a) shows the variation of maximum axial displacement of the two
beams for a uniformly distributed loading and a given geometry of the structure. It is
evident that the axial displacements for Beam-2 are considerably lower than that for
Beam-1. Figure 22(b), which represents the distribution of the axial displacements along
the beams for maximum load, highlights the low stretching of Beam-2 compared with
Beam-1. This directly relates to the geometry of the beams and a thinner beam would
have larger stretching in comparison with a thicker beam. The axial displacement fields
for the two beams are symmetrical about their mid-point.
(a) (b)
Figure 22. Plots for (a) Maximum axial displacement vs. Load and (b) Distribution of
axial displacement along the beams for - Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions:
L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 0.005 (in m), Beam-2 dimensions:
L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.015 (in m), Support locations: x r 0.5 L1 and y r 0.5 L2 .
(a) (b)
Figure 23. Plots for (a) Maximum stretching force vs. Load and (b) Distribution of
stretching force along the beams for - Loading type: UDL, Beam-1 dimensions:
L1 b1 t1 1 0.02 0.005 (in m), Beam-2 dimensions:
L2 b2 t 2 1 0.02 0.015 (in m), Support locations: x r 0.5 L1 and y r 0.5 L2 .
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Figure 23 shows the variation of maximum stretching or membrane force of the

two beams with load and the stretching force distribution along the two beams for the
maximum load, respectively, under the same loading pattern and geometry as that of
Figure 22. In accordance with the previous figures, the stretching forces in Beam-1
show higher values compared with those of Beam-2.
CONCLUSIONS
In the present paper, large displacement static analysis of a crossbeam structure is

presented using an energy method and variational formulation. An iterative method
based on the reaction force between the two beams of the system is developed to obtain
the solutions for static equilibrium case. An experimental setup is prepared and
experiments are performed for concentrated loading scenarios. Although the
experimental results have the same nature as those generated through the present
analyses, the actual displacement values are higher than the theoretical results. This may
be attributed to insufficiency in replicating stretching boundary conditions of the
system. 2-D and 3-D simulation studies are also carried out using ANSYS v11.0, in
order to validate the present method and both sets of results show good agreement with
the results from the present analyses. The system response is studied for variation of
thickness of the constituent beams and changes in position of one of the beams. The
results are presented in terms of reaction force-load and displacement-load plots in
dimensional form, followed by the deflected shapes of the system at static equilibrium
conditions, under a particular load. The results lead to conclusions that a relatively
thicker Beam-2 (in comparison with Beam-1) provides a greater stiffening effect and a
centrally located supporting beam (i.e., Beam-2) provides the optimum stiffening effect.
Also, the effect of various loading patterns on the structure is investigated and it is
found that the system response is dependent both on the relative geometry of the two
beams and the nature of loading.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first author acknowledges the research support received from AICTE, India, vide
File No.: 1-10/RID/NDF/PG/(17)2008-09 Dated : 13.03.2009.
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544
DECOMPOSITION OF MANUFACTURING PROCESSES: A REVIEW
N.M.Z.N. Mohamed1,2 and M. K. Khan1
School of Engineering, Design and Technology,

University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
E-mail: nikzuki@ump.edu.my; m.k.khan@bradford.ac.uk
2
Pahang Darul Makmur, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Manufacturing is a global activity that started during the industrial revolution in the late
19th century to cater for the large-scale production of products. Since then,
manufacturing has changed tremendously through the innovations of technology,
processes, materials, communication and transportation. The major challenge facing
manufacturing is to produce more products using less material, less energy and less
involvement of labour. To face these challenges, manufacturing companies must have a
strategy and competitive priority in order for them to compete in a dynamic market. A
review of the literature on the decomposition of manufacturing processes outlines three
main processes, namely: high volume, medium volume and low volume. The
decomposition shows that each sub process has its own characteristics and depends on
the nature of the firm’s business. Two extreme processes are continuous line production
(fast extreme) and project shop (slow extreme). Other processes are in between these
two extremes of the manufacturing spectrum. Process flow patterns become less
complex with cellular, line and continuous flow compared with jobbing and project. The
review also indicates that when the product is high variety and low volume, project or
functional production is applied.
Keywords: manufacturing processes, high volume, medium volume, low volume
INTRODUCTION
According to Miltenburg (2008), the competitive strength of a manufacturing company

is based on its structural and infrastructural readiness. Capacity, facilities, technology
and sourcing comprise four structural areas. The infrastructural areas are the workforce,
quality, production planning, and organisation. According to Swink et al. (2007), a
company must have a specific and strategic goal, based on individual competitive
strength, in order to compete in the marketplace. Furthermore, according to
Balakrishnan et al. (2007), the global competitiveness of economic manufacturing is
striving for high quality products and low prices. This is due to dynamic competition
among the manufacturers in securing their customers (Kost and Zdanowicz, 2005). The
demand for high quality, low cost and on-time delivery has resulted in market
fluctuations and greatly increased product choice.
Quality conformance processes help to reduce costs, raise productivity and

promote reputation in the global market place. According to Amoako-Gyampah and
Acquaah (2008), a quality strategy plays an important role in capturing customer
545
Decomposition of manufacturing processes: a review
satisfaction that can potentially lead to sales growth and increased market share. They
also added that a company that develops a strategy to achieve volume and mixed
flexibility, whilst maintaining low costs and high quality, will be able to react faster to
market demands and achieve higher performance. A recent study by Karim et al. (2008),
revealed that product quality and reliability (Q&R) has become the main global
competitive factor. According to Stewart (2010), sometimes too much growth in demand
can take focus away from quality, which results in defective products reaching the
market, such as in the case of the Toyota Motor Corporation, which resulted in
tremendous costs (financial and reputation) for the company.
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
The word manufacture is believed to be derived from two Latin words, manus (hand)
and factus (make) and thus means make by hand (Váncza and Egri, 2006). In the era of
global competition, the level of manufacturing capability will determine the economic
status of a particular country (Castaldi, 2009). According to Groover (2007),
manufacturing is the application of physical and chemical processes to a material by
altering the material’s geometry, properties and appearance, in order to make parts or
products. Manufacturing also involves the application of tools, machines, power and
manual labour to the transformation of raw materials into finished products (Wang et
al., 2009). Furthermore, in many manufacturing activities, multiple component parts are
assembled to make final products (Boysen et al., 2009). The manufacturing operation is
almost always carried out in sequential processes from one operation to another, with
each process bringing the material closer to the end product. There are two basic types
of manufacturing process: processing operations and assembly operations (Groover,
2007). Processing operations transform a material from one level of completion to a
more advanced level that is closer to the final designed product. The processes continue
until the final product is completed. For instance, when sand is processed into glass,
iron ore is transformed into steel, or when petroleum is refined into plastics. Through
the process the product becomes even more valuable, for example, when the plastic is
moulded into complex shapes. These processes add value to the starting material by
changing its geometry, properties, or appearance. On the other hand, an assembly
operation joins two or more parts or components to become a new entity, which is
known as an assembly or subassembly (Panchalavarapu et al., 2005). Some of the
joining methods are welding, brazing and fastening (Kalpakjian and Schmid, 2006). The
important point is that both processes and assembly operations add value to the original
material by altering its shape or properties. Every manufacturer is aiming to reduce the
processes to the minimum operation without affecting the desired product in order to
become competitive.
DECOMPOSITION OF MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
The decomposition of manufacturing processes is categorised as high volume,

medium volume and low volume, as shown in Figure 1. The decomposition shows that
each sub process has its own characteristics and depends on the nature of the company’s
business. Two extreme processes are continuous line production (fast extreme) and
project shop (slow extreme). Other processes lie in between these two extremes of the
manufacturing spectrum (Sipper and Bulfin, 1998). Process flow patterns become less
complex with cellular, line and continuous flow compared with jobbing and project. If
546
Mohamed and Khan /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 545-560
the product has a high variety and low volume, it suggests that project or functional
production is applied. The characteristics of manufacturing processes are illustrated in
Table 1.
Figure 1. Decomposition of manufacturing processes.
Table 1. Typical characteristics of process choices (adapted from (Hill. 1993))
Manufacturing Project Jobbing Batch Cellular Line Continuous

aspects
Nature of the Oriented Universal Dedicated Dedicated Dedicated Highly
process towards dedicated
technology general
purpose
Process High High Low Low Low Inflexible
flexibility
Production Low Low High High High Very high
volumes
Changes in Incremental Incremental Stepped Stepped Stepped New facility
capacity change change change
Key To meet To meet Low cost Low cost Low cost Low cost
manufacturing specs/ specs/ production production production production
task delivery delivery
schedules schedules
These characteristics lead to the choice of process related to volume, as

illustrated in Figure 2 (Hill. 1993). The figure clearly shows the relationship between
volume and process choice. Starting from project shop, as volume starts to increase the
product variety starts to decrease. It also shows that batch production is medium volume
production and has bigger scope for mixed-volume, mixed-variety production. Flow line
and continuous processing are undoubtedly the choices for high volume and low variety.
This figure also shows examples of the types of business related to the choice of
process, such as civil engineering, automotive and petrochemical.
547
Figure 2. Choice of process related to volume (Hill. 1993).
According to Askin and Standridge (1993), the combination of product demand

volume and product variety is dependent upon the appropriate layout, as shown in
Figure 3. It suggests that product layout is suitable for high volume, low variety
production; cellular layout for mixed-volume, mixed-variety production; and process
layout for low volume, high variety production. These layout scenarios give companies
a choice for adjusting their working environment to suit the product demand volume.
However, the adjustment is not necessarily easy, because the company has to restructure
a part, or the whole of the manufacturing environment for the adaption.
Parts per hour
Number of part types
Figure 3. Relationship of product demand and variety (Askin and Standridge, 1993).
According to Ah Kioon et al. (2009), global market competition has forced

manufacturers to have integrated manufacturing, in order to adapt to the changing
product variety demanded by the customers. Therefore, the best possible zone in which
to apply the strategy is in the medium-variety, medium-volume zone, as illustrated in
Figure 4. Moreover, Figures 2 and 3 also support the idea of concentrating the medium
548
region as the potential zone for global market competition. This is because the medium
region offers more flexibility in the manufacturing environment, in order to fulfil
different market segments and demands. According to Sipper and Bulfin (1998), the
integration should include: Cellular Manufacturing Systems (CMS), Flexible
Manufacturing Systems (FMS) and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). The
aim is to achieve economic production by having a wide variety of products. It also
suggested that the extreme zones of the high volume-low variety and low volume-high
variety are best served by fixed automation and job shop, respectively.
Volume
Variety
Figure 4. A variety-volume plot (adapted from Sipper and Bulfin (1998)).
High Volume Manufacturing
High volume manufacturing (also known as mass production) involves producing

products in large quantities (Váncza and Egri, 2006). According to Partanen and
Haapasalo (2004), the term mass production is used because of the high demand rate for
a particular product. Normally, high volume manufacturing means the company
produces large quantities of only a small number of different products. This type of
manufacturing is associated with long assembly lines where factory workers or
machines continuously turn out the same product month after month. According to
Özcan and Toklu (2009), the obvious characteristic of a high volume production is that
operations are linked together in an assembly line. After completion of one operation on
a product, it moves directly to the next operation in the assembly line. The process
continues until the final stage in the assembly line where the finished product is
completed. There are two categories of high volume production; quantity production
and flow line production as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Categories of high volume production.
549
Quantity Production
Quantity production is one category of high volume manufacturing, which concentrates

on the mass production of a single product by using single standard equipment
(Cárdenas-Barrón, 2009). For example, products that come out from a stamping press,
which is a straightforward process, especially for the blank shapes (Kamalapurkar and
Date, 2006). The process is a continuous operation with material fed to the machine
either manually or automatically. The machine turns the material into the final product
and the same process continues until the desired quantity is achieved.
Flow Line Production
Flow line production focuses on multiple pieces of equipment or workstations that are
arranged in the process sequence (Quadt and Kuhn, 2007). According to Drira et al.
(2007), flow line production is characterised by high volume, repetitive and short cycle
work. The work piece physically moves through this sequence in order to complete the
process and finally become the end product. The sequence is also known as product
layout because it is arranged in a long line of workstations and usually connected by
conveyors. Product layouts, as shown in Figure 6, are designed for a specific product,
such as Product X or Product Y (Kara et al., 2009). In flow line production, machines are
oriented and set-up to perform operations on the product as it flows in a logical
sequence down the line (Chen and Chen, 2009). This is why machines in flow line
production are often designed specifically for one product and is not necessarily easily
adapted to others (Quadt and Kuhn, 2007). There are also mixed model lines that can be
produced out of the base product (Boysen et al., 2009 and Jabbarizadeh et al., 2009).
However, the more diverse the products made, the less efficient the assembly line
becomes. In addition, there is little work-in-process inventory as the product moves
from one operation to another. Hence, line balancing is important so that the different
processes in the operation are accomplished in the period and have the same capacity
(Sabuncuoglu et al., 2009). There are several types of high volume manufacturing
methods implemented in various industries and those methods are described below.
Figure 6. Product Layouts (adapted from Kara et al., (2009)).
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Assembly Lines
An assembly line is a manufacturing process that has workstations linked by conveyors

or a similar material handling system, so that each product goes from one operation
directly to the next and so on (Özcan and Toklu, 2009). According to Boysen et al.
(2008), an assembly line consists of a number of workstations k = 1,....,m that
consistently perform certain operations on a workpiece in a cycle time (maximum or
average time available for each work cycle). In an assembly line operation, the total
amount of work is segregated into a set V = {1,..., n} of named task operations.
Therefore, to perform a task j, takes a task time tj and requires a certain amount of
machines and/or operators. Finally, the total workload necessary for producing the
product is measured by the sum of task times tsum. As a result, each product follows the
same routing of operations with identical final products expected at the end of the line.
The complexity in the process of producing a product is mainly dependent upon the
number of its components and the assembly levels. The component structure of a
product is defined as the Bill of Materials (BOM) (Chan et al., 2009). The assembly line
is classified as a single-model production line when every product produced at the end
is identical. Fundamentally, assembly lines were developed for a cost-efficient high
quantity production of a single standardised product (Boysen et al., 2009).
Single-model Lines
According to Özcan and Toklu (2009), single-model assembly lines are purposely
designed to produce a mass volume of standardised, homogeneous products and are not
appropriate for a high variety of products. This type of assembly line is commonly used
in a high volume manufacturing environment because it enables assembly of
workpieces by operators with limited training (Cevikcan et al,. 2009). With the advance
of manufacturing technologies and systems, automated set-up operations at negligible
set-up times and cost, can be considered for upgrading the existing single-model
assembly line (Boysen et al., 2008). This single-model assembly line can produce more
than one product, as long as neither set-ups nor significant variations in operating times
occur.
Multi/mixed Model Lines
According to Gamberi et al. (2008), there is an increasing global trend that companies
offer a wide selection of products to their customers. For example, product options for
cars, such as a manual or electric sunroof and air conditioning systems are available for
customers to select. The manufacturers of these products need to manage the product
variety by introducing a multi/mixed-model assembly line system that produces similar
items or options of the same product requiring analogous tasks (Boysen et al., 2009).
They are being used in a range of industries and it improves the flexibility to cope with
the changes in global demand (Özcan and Toklu, 2009). Multi-model assembly lines, as
illustrated in Figure 7, produce one set of products before continuing with another set of
products on the same assembly line. According to Boysen et al. (2008), in multi-model
production, the homogeneity of the BOM and the production processes are not sufficient
to allow for continuous production sequences. Therefore, the assembly process for these
kinds of products needs to be in batches, in order to avoid set-up times and high costs.
551
Figure 7. Multi-model assembly (adapted from Boysen et al. (2008)).
On the other hand, mixed-model assembly lines, as illustrated in Figure 8,

produce products in a mixed sequence. According to Cevikcan et al., (2009), this
kind of system has superior benefits compared with the traditional assembly line in
terms of system flexibility, lead time, cost and product quality. Boysen et al., (2008)
stated that the versatility of the system with the application of flexible workers and
machinery, means that the set-up times between models could be reduced sufficiently
enough to be ignored. Hence, an intermixed model of common base product
sequences can be produced on the same assembly line. It is assumed that the products
are different in specific customised product attributes or options (Boysen et al.,
2009).
Figure 8. Mixed model lines (adapted from Boysen et al., (2008)).
552
Transfer Lines
Transfer lines or fully automated lines are implemented in the manufacturing

environment, mainly to perform jobs more economically, precisely and safely (Boysen
et al., 2008). The advantage of transfer lines is the variation of products, produced by
using the same production line. It creates the opportunity to cater to the demand for
product varieties. Normally, machines capable of changing tools automatically, to
perform multiple jobs at varying speeds, service these lines. According to Dolgui and
Ihnatsenka (2009), transfer lines work by passing workpieces sequentially through all
workstations at a constant and controlled speed. These types of lines are designed for
mass production of a single product or a family of similar products. The high degree of
automation of the lines means that the programmed production period can be for an
extended length of time. Furthermore, the synchronisation of the product’s movements
in the line avoids buffers in between the workstations. Among the applications of
transfer lines are the weld shop, paint shop and body shop of the automotive industry
(Boysen et al., 2008).
Continuous Line Production
According to Sipper and Bulfin (1998), continuous line production is a radical extension
of flow line production. The process works by passing basic materials through different
stages during which they are refined or processed into one or more products, such as
chemicals (Tousain and Bosgra, 2006), food (Brierley et al., 2006) and steel mills
(Tang and Wang, 2008). According to Weinekötter (2009), the continuous line process is
based on high volume demand and the materials involved move easily and constantly
from one stage of the process to another. Discrete units are not produced but liquids or
gases, flowing through pipes are transformed into the final products. With a continuous
flow process, one can estimate realistically how long it takes to transform raw materials
into a specific product (Floudas and Lin, 2004). Production of this type involves very
high investment costs, which must be justified by high volume demand. According to
Brierley et al. (2006), capital investment and automation for this type of production are
often the most expensive compared with other processes. This is because the processes
are designed to run daily and continuously because of the high costs incurred in starting
up and closing down (Hill, 1993). In continuous processing, as materials flow from one
stage to another, it is important to monitor and adjust the flow to ensure the quality of
the product (Shaik et al., 2009). Normally, this is done automatically and the use of
labour in these situations is mainly to check the system functions correctly. On normal
sales levels, this type of process can be very productive and profitable (Tousain and
Bosgra, 2006).
Medium Volume Manufacturing
Medium volume manufacturing is between high volume and low volume

manufacturing. The volumes subjectively depend on the product types that a company
produces. Medium volume manufacturing has two types of facilities that depend on
product variety (Das et al., 2007). The first type is batch production and the second type
is cellular manufacturing. Batch production is used when product variety is substantially
different, whereas cellular manufacturing is used when variety between products is very
small (Groover, 2007).
553
Batch Production
Batch production is used when there are varieties of different products being
manufactured but in smaller quantities (Kalpakjian and Schmid, 2006). It is normal to
have the same machine handle operations on a number of different products. Once one
batch of products is finished, the manufacturing system is changed over to produce
another batch of different products (Floudas and Lin, 2004). However, by sharing the
machines, lost production time is higher due to the set-up time during the changeover
process. According to Gamberi et al. (2008), the process will need to be reset each time
the new batch is scheduled to start. Among the constraints on the process are cleaning,
cooling and maintenance. According to Drira et al. (2007), the batch production layout
groups equipment by function rather than by product, which is suitable for a wide
variety of product factories The product is moving from department to department
throughout the process within the factory. The batch flow depends on the job order, such
as routings, process steps and time spent on certain departments. The typical batch flow
process is the set menu of products to be produced, frequency and set quantity or lot
size (Schmenner, 1993). Due to the competitive market, normally batches are produced
in an established lot size that moves into stock for future customer orders (Das et al.,
2007). Examples of batch production are the chemical industry, metal forming and steel
pipe manufacturing (Gamberi et al., 2008).
Cellular Manufacturing
Another type of medium volume manufacturing is Cellular Manufacturing (CM), also

known as Group Technology. According to Li (2003), the main purpose of CM is to
group machines into machine cells and parts into part families. CM also arranges
operators according to the machines in order to design a high performance factory.
Angra et al. (2008), stated that the philosophy of CM is to capitalise on similar,
recurrent activities with broad applicability, potentially affecting entire areas of the
manufacturing organisation. The concept of CM is to segregate a manufacturing system
into sub-systems in order to improve the overall efficiency of the system (Drira et al.,
2007). CM has become a new method for manufacturing systems, which are
traditionally based on functional tasks (Agarwal, 2008). The increasing applicability of
this method is due to the shorter product life cycle, increasing demand for customisation
and customer expectations for cost and quality. The emphasis of CM is on group effort
and individuals that may move the workpiece from machine to machine through the cell
without waiting between operations (Panchalavarapu and Chankong, 2005).
Flexible Manufacturing System
According to Kumar and Sridharan (2009), a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) is a

system that integrates Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines and
automated Material Handling Systems (MHS) that work together under computer
control. Flexibility deals with high quality customised products and focuses on fast
delivery of products to market with reasonable price. Basic flexibilities in
manufacturing include machine flexibility, material handling flexibility and operational
flexibility. The aim of the system is to achieve both production flexibility and high
productivity in order to meet the current global demands. The key characteristics of the
system are the ability to efficiently produce a diverse range of parts and the capability to
554
respond quickly to part-mix changes Sujono and Lashkari (2007). According to Sujono
and Lashkari (2007), the most critical issue in dealing with FMS is managing the flow
of parts and tools. This is because the flexible of the machines in FMS can perform a
variety of tasks when provided with the required tools. The high variety of parts requires
a high number of cutting tool types. Hence, it requires systematic planning and
monitoring in order to control the tool mix as well as the cost, for the efficient operation
of FMS.
Low Volume Manufacturing
Low volume manufacturing normally makes a low quantity of specialised, complex and
customised products (Bellgran and Aresu, 2003). This type of manufacturing requires a
highly skilled labour force and maximum flexibility, in order to cater for product
variations. Examples of this type of manufacturing are the aircraft, ship and automotive
industries. According to Williamson (2006), low volume manufacturing is always found
with a high flexibility manufacturing program. To achieve this concept, the
manufacturer must consistently review the available technology for both product design
and facility design. This is to minimise the use of a product’s specific tooling and to
maximise asset utilisation and reuse of equipment. Miltenburg (2008) suggested that a
low volume manufacturing company should consider lean production and
innovativeness, in addition to flexible manufacturing, as the most important
manufacturing outputs. Engle (2008), suggested that a design team should consider a
component sharing concept in producing a high variety of products, so as to maximise
the use of commonly available components within the company. According to Wrobel
and Laudanski (2008), low volume manufacturing performs production based on “make
to order”. Niche vehicle manufacturing is an example of low volume automotive
production that requires high customisation (Meichsner, 2009). A modularisation
concept is one of the customisation methods that pre-combines a large number of
components into modules (Pandremenos et al., 2009). It works by assembling these
modules off-line and then combining these modules at the main assembly line to form a
complete assembled model. Due to the pre-assembled modules, the process at the main
assembly line should be small and simple tasks.
According to Zhang et al. (2009), manufacturers for low volume manufacturing

should consider the approach of product development flexibility and product concept
flexibility. Product development flexibility is the ability to design and introduce a
variety of new products quickly with minimal distractions. Product concept flexibility is
the ability to anticipate the market demand and customer needs. Koste and Malhotra
(2000) suggested that worker’s job rotation flexibility is also important, because
workers who are trained to perform job rotation will be multi-tasking experts and
become an asset in a low volume manufacturing environment. There are two types of
low volume manufacturing methods, jobbing or job shop and project shop.
Project Shop
Project shop deals with a particular product that is single, unique, and customised.
Project shop is used for large projects, such as civil engineering contracts, ships,
buildings and aeroplanes, because the size of the product makes it impossible to move
between processing operations. According to Drira et al. (2007), project shop uses a
555
fixed position layout to manufacture large size products, such as ships or aircraft, the
product is fixed at one place while the resources, materials and equipment are supplied
to it. The project shop normally makes full use of certain skills and capabilities when
needed, depending on the requirements and little or no use of those skills at other times.
Project job also involves external resources, such as skilled people and equipment
(Bellgran and Aresu, 2003). Therefore, coordination of full time, part time or
subcontracted skills and capabilities are very important to keep the project on schedule.
Resources can be many and varied; therefore, the total coordination of those skills and
capabilities requires a lot of attention for planning and scheduling. The quality of any
project depends greatly on the skills, teamwork and care of the members of the project
team.
Jobbing
Jobbing is used to fulfil a special and particular product ordered by customers, such as
fabricating and metalworking (Dixon, 2008). Hence, it is the most flexible process in
manufacturing a wide variety of products. Job shop typically uses a process layout in
arranging the equipment (Bertrand and Sridharan, 2001), also known as a functional
layout, because the equipment is arranged according to functions. For example, turning
machines may form one department, milling a second and grinding processes a third.
Normally a job shop has a diverse array of facilities and capabilities from which to
choose possibly with differing efficiencies (Gao et al., 2007). According to Kher
(2000), the responsibility for making the product is normally given to highly skilled
operators. The operators themselves decide the best way to make it, choose the
equipment and then complete all or most of the operations involved, including checking
the quality at each stage. Batches of products assigned to a work centre may require
very different tooling and setup. Furthermore, the material flow in a job shop can follow
a complex movement pattern (Fan et al., 2007). The materials can move in many
directions and can loop back to the same equipment later in the operation.
According to Chan et al. (2009), for a job shop environment, there are m
machines and n jobs in the operation. Each machine can only operate one job order at
one time. This means that each job can only use a particular machine once and in a strict
sequence, so that all the processes are completed according to the schedule. However,
due to the high demand from customers, a flexible job shop is considered necessary to
cope with tight schedules. According to Fattahi et al. (2009), flexible job shop
scheduling introduces an approach known as overlapping in operations. In this
approach, each operation may overlap with others because of its similarity in process
and limitations of structural constraints, such as the dimension of the parts. As soon as
the first piece is processed on a machine, it goes directly to the next machine without
waiting for all the operations to be completed on that particular machine.
CONCLUSIONS
This paper has provided a review of the manufacturing environment. It details

manufacturing processes and their decompositions, including the spectrum of
manufacturing processes involved with types of production that determine the volumes
and varieties of products. This paper reviews three types of manufacturing processes
that involve high, medium and low production volumes. These manufacturing segments
556
have different methods of production depending on the types of business, products,

facility and layout.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial support by the Malaysian Government, Universiti Malaysia Pahang and
Bradford University for this research is gratefully acknowledged.
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BUILT ENVIRONMENT: RELATING THE BENEFITS OF RENEWABLE

ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
Abdeen Mustafa Omer
17 Juniper Court, Forest Road West, Nottingham NG7 4EU, UK

Email: abdeenomer2@yahoo.co.uk
ABSTRACT
Recently, environmental issues have been the focus of much of the world’s attention.
This has stimulated a response in many countries, which has led to a closer examination
of energy conservation strategies for conventional fossil fuels. One way of reducing
building energy consumption is to design buildings, which are more economical in their
use of energy for: heating, lighting, cooling, ventilation and hot water supply. Passive
measures, particularly natural or hybrid ventilation rather than air-conditioning, can
dramatically reduce primary energy consumption. However, exploitation of renewable
energy in buildings and agricultural greenhouses, can significantly contribute in
reducing dependency on fossil fuels. Therefore, promoting innovative renewable
applications and reinforcing the renewable energy market will contribute to preserving
the ecosystem by reducing emissions at local and global levels. This will also contribute
to the amelioration of environmental conditions, through a reduction in air pollution and
greenhouse gases, by the replacement of conventional fuels with renewable energies.
Keywords: Built environment, energy efficiency, and environment impacts.
INTRODUCTION
Natural resources may be renewable, non-renewable or abstract. Non-renewable

resources include fossil fuels, minerals, clear-felled tropical hardwoods, which are not
replaced and rare animals or plants that are hunted or collected in an uncontrolled way.
Renewable resources include energy from the sun and the biological and
biogeochemical cycles (such as the water and energy hydrological and carbon cycle). At
a more immediate level, renewable resources include forests that have been selectively
felled and replanted, animal and plant populations that have been properly managed
through controlled hunting, fishing and collecting and waters with controlled inputs that
can be readily recycled and reused. Abstract resources include animals, plants and the
natural landscape as part of ‘the countryside’, used for recreation and tourism activities,
such as bird watching, fishing, hiking, sight-seeing, etc. Non-renewable resources are of
course finite, while the other two categories are effectively infinite. Our descendants
will not thank us for exhausting finite resources, nor for destroying the renewable ones.
In many countries, global warming considerations have led to efforts to reduce

fossil energy use and to promote renewable energies in the building sector. Reductions
in energy use can be achieved through minimising the energy demand, by rational
energy use, by recovering heat and cold and by using energy from the ambient air and
from the ground. To maintain the environmental impact of a building at sustainable
levels (e.g., greenhouse gas neutral emissions), the residual energy demand must be
covered by renewable energy. This thesis presents integral concepts for buildings with
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Built environment: Relating the benefits of renewable energy technologies
both excellent indoor environment control and sustainable environmental impact.

Special emphasis is given to ventilation concepts utilising ambient energy from the air,
ground and other renewable energy sources and on the interaction with heating and
cooling. It is essential to avoid the need for mechanical cooling, e.g., through peak load
cutting, load shifting and use of ambient heat or cold from the air or ground. Techniques
considered are hybrid (controlled natural and mechanical) ventilation, including night
ventilation, thermo-active building mass systems with free cooling in a cooling tower
and air intake via ground heat exchangers. For both residential and office buildings, the
electricity demand remains one of the crucial elements in meeting sustainability
requirements. The electricity demand of ventilation systems is related to the overall
demand of the building and the potential of photovoltaic systems and advanced co-
generation units.
The heating or cooling of a space to maintain thermal comfort is a highly energy

intensive process, which accounts for as much as 60–70% of the total energy use in non-
industrial buildings. Of this, approximately 30–50% is lost through ventilation and air
infiltration. However, the estimation of energy impact of ventilation relies on detailed
knowledge about air change rate and the difference in enthalpy between the incoming
and outgoing air streams. In practice, this is a difficult exercise to undertake, because
there is much uncertainty about the value of these parameters (Martin, 2006). As a
result, a suitable datum from which to develop strategic planning for improving the
energy efficiency of ventilation has proved difficult to establish (Martin, 2006). Efforts
to overcome these difficulties are progressing in the following two ways:
i) Identifying ventilation rates in a representative cross section of buildings.

ii) Establishing the energy impact of air change in both commercial and domestic
buildings.
In addition to conditioning energy, the fan energy needed to provide mechanical

ventilation, can make a significant additional contribution to the energy demand. Much
depends on the efficiency of the design, both in relation to the performance of the fans
themselves and to the resistance to flow arising from the associated ductwork.
The building sector is an important part of the energy picture. The major
function of buildings is to provide an acceptable indoor environment, within which
occupants are able to carry out various activities. Hence, the purpose behind this energy
consumption is to provide a variety of building services, which include weather
protection, storage, communications, thermal comfort, facilities of daily living,
aesthetics and work environment, etc. However, the three main energy-related building
services are space conditioning (for thermal comfort), lighting (for visual comfort) and
ventilation (for indoor air quality). Pollution-free environments are a practical
impossibility. Therefore, it is often useful to differentiate between unavoidable
pollutants, over which little source control is possible and avoidable pollutants, for
which control is possible. Unavoidable pollutants are primarily those emitted by
metabolism and those arising from the essential activities of occupants. ‘Whole
building’ ventilation usually provides an effective measure to deal with unavoidable
emissions, whereas ‘source control’ is the preferred and sometimes only practical
method to address avoidable pollutant sources (Limb, 2005). Hence, achieving optimum
indoor air quality relies on an integrated approach to the removal and control of
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Abdeen /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 561-575
pollutants, using engineering judgment based on source control, filtration and

ventilation. Regardless of the kind of building, good indoor air quality requires attention
to both source control and ventilation. While there are sources common to many kinds
of buildings, those focusing on renewable energy may have some unique sources and
therefore, may require special attention (Erlich, 2010). In smaller (i.e., house size)
buildings, renewable sources are already the primary mechanism for providing
ventilation. Infiltration and natural ventilation are the predominant mechanisms for
providing residential ventilation for these smaller buildings.
Ventilation is the building service most associated with controlling the indoor air
quality, to provide a healthy and comfortable environment. In large buildings,
mechanical systems normally supply the ventilation but in smaller ones, such as single-
family homes, leakage through the building envelope is the principal supply, i.e.,
infiltration, which is a renewable resource, albeit unintentionally so. Ventilation can be
defined as the process by which clean air is provided to a space, necessary to meet the
metabolic requirements of occupants and to dilute and remove pollutants emitted within
a space. Usually, ventilation air is conditioned by heating or cooling in order to maintain
thermal comfort and hence, becomes an energy liability. Indeed, ventilation energy
requirements can exceed 50% of the conditioning load in some spaces (Erlich, 2010).
Thus, excessive or uncontrolled ventilation can be a major contributor to energy costs
and global pollution. Therefore, in terms of cost, energy and pollution, efficient
ventilation is essential. Inadequate ventilation can cause comfort or health problems for
the occupants. Good indoor air quality may be defined as air that is free of pollutants
that cause irritation, discomfort or ill health to the occupants (Miller, 2000). Because a
long time is spent inside buildings, considerable effort has focused on developing
methods to achieve an optimum indoor environment. Achieving energy efficiency and
optimum Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) depends on minimising the emission of avoidable
pollutants. Pollutants inside buildings are derived from both indoor and outdoor
contaminant sources.
ENERGY-EFFICIENTCOMFORT
In warm humid conditions, airflow can be an energy-efficient means to achieve indoor

thermal comfort. Airflow does not create sensible cooling of air measurable by a
thermometer; it conducts heat from our skin, which results in a cooling sensation
(ASHRAE, 2005). This cooling sensation becomes noticeable with uniform airflow
above 0.2 m/s. Airflow greater than 1.0 m/s begins to disturb loose papers, which
discourages utilisation of airflow greater than 1.0 m/s in office-type spaces. Airflow up
to 2.0 m/s is frequently provided in industrial and storage buildings, as well as living
areas and bedrooms in houses in hot humid climates. Many studies (ASHRAE, 2005)
have modelled the cooling sensation of uniform airflow on human thermal response. In
steady airflow, the cooling sensation (CS) of airflow can be estimated in degrees Celsius
using the equation:
CS = 3.67(V-0.2)-(V-0.2)2 °C (1)
when average airflow, V, is in m/s.
563
Natural ventilation from breezes or difference in air temperature generated by

solar chimneys can induce passive indoor airflow. The problem with a passive approach
is that breezes are not always present when needed and solar chimneys rarely produce
enough airflow for comfort. Fans, particularly ceiling fans, can provide a reliable source
for airflow for indoor thermal comfort in warm humid environments. Unsteady airflow
with an appropriate gust frequency can enhance the cooling sensation. Airflow provides
a cooling sensation for occupants of buildings in warm humid climates. The enhanced
benefits of turbulent airflow with gust velocities within the range of 0.3 Hz to 0.5 Hz
(with a peak preference at 0.47 Hz), present further opportunities to utilise large, high-
volume, low-speed ceiling fans for energy efficient cooling (Molla, 1997). This effect
appears to be due to a peak response of human cold cutaneous thermoreceptors just
beneath the skin.
As an alternative and new design philosophy, hybrid ventilation and cooling

technologies (HVAC) combine the advantages of mechanical HVAC systems and
natural ventilation. This has the potential to reduce energy consumption in many
buildings, improve the occupants’ comfort satisfaction level and minimise sick building
syndrome (SBS). Hybrid ventilation and cooling provides opportunities for innovative
solutions to the problems of energy-consuming environment control in buildings.
Because hybrid systems combine natural and mechanical ventilation, they present
several complex challenges to design and analysis tools, requiring a global approach
that takes into account the outdoor environment, the indoor environment, control
strategy and the mechanical system (Bahadori, 2008).
BIOCLIMATIC DESIGN
Bioclimatic design cannot continue as a side issue of a technical nature in main

architectural design. In recent years, design has started to alter course and to become
much more holistic in its approach to:
i) The achievement of a sustainable development.

ii) The depletion of non-renewable sources and materials.
iii) The life cycle analysis of buildings.
iv) The total polluting effects of buildings on the environment.
v) The reduction of energy consumption and
vi) Human health and comfort.
Hidden dimensions of architectural creation are vital to the notion of bioclimatic

design. The most fundamental ones are:
TIME, which has been called the fourth dimension of architectural space, is of
importance because every object cannot exist but in time. The notion of time gives life
to an object and releases it to periodic (predictable) or spasmodic repetition. Time
relates to seasonal and diurnal patterns and thus, to climate and the way that a building
behaves or is designed in order to couple with and not antagonise nature. It further
releases to the dynamic nature of a building in contrast to the static image that we have
created for it.
564
AIR is a second invisible but important element. We create space and pretend
that it is empty, oblivious to the fact that it is both surrounded by and filled with air. Air
in its turn, due to air-movement generated by either temperature or pressure differences,
is very much there and alive. Building shapes, sections, heights, orientations and the
size and positioning of openings should be related to the movement of air.
LIGHT and in particular daylight, is a third important element. Architecture

cannot exist but with light and from the time we have been able to substitute natural
light with artificial lighting, many buildings and a lot of architecture has become the
poorer. It is not an exaggeration to say that the real form giver to architecture is not the
architect himself but light and that the architect is merely the form moulder. Vernacular
architecture is beautiful to look at as well as a significant on which to contemplate. It is
particularly interesting to realise the nature of traditional architecture where various
devices to attain thermal comfort without resorting to fossil fuels can be seen. Sun
shading and cross ventilation are two major concerns in house design and a south-facing
façade is mandatory to harness the maximum amount of sunshine in winter. Buildings
built fifty years ago required high ceilings in order for natural ventilation to bring a
cooling effect for the occupants. Modern high technology buildings have lower ceiling
heights making air conditioning mandatory. In recognising the human right to enjoy
modern life with a certain level of comfort and convenience, it is necessary to consider
how people can live and work in an ideal environment with the least amount of energy
consumption, in this age of global environment problems. People in the modern age
could not tolerate such a poor indoor environment as people in the olden times used to
endure. In those days people had to live with the least amount of fuel readily available
and therefore, had to devise various means of constructing their houses so that they
would be compatible with the local climate. Therefore, it is important in designing
passive and low energy architecture for the future, to learn from their spirit in
overcoming difficulties, by having their creative designs adapted to respective regional
climatic conditions and try to devise eco-techniques in combination with a high grade of
modern science.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLIMATE, BIULDING AND OCCUPANTS
In climate-sensitive architecture, strategies are adopted to meet occupants’ needs, taking

into account local solar radiation, temperature, wind and other climatic conditions.
Different strategies are required for the various seasons. These strategies can themselves
be subdivided into a certain number of concepts, which represent actions. The heating
strategy includes four concepts (Figure 1):
i) Solar collection: collection of the Sun’s heat through the building envelope.
ii) Heat storage: storage of heat in the mass of the walls and floors.
iii) Heat distribution: distribution of collected heat to the different spaces that
require heating.
iv) Heat conservation: retention of heat within the building.
565
Retain
Collect
Distribution
Store
Figure 1. Heating strategy.
The cooling strategy includes five concepts (Figure 2):
i) Solar control: protection of the building from direct solar radiation.

ii) Ventilation: expelling and replacing unwanted hot air.
iii) Internal gains minimisation: reducing heat from occupants, equipment and
artificial lighting.
iv) External gains avoidance: protection from unwanted heat by infiltration or
conduction through the envelope (hot climates).
v) Natural cooling: improving natural ventilation by acting on the external air (hot
climates).
Focus
Penetrate Protect
Control
Spread
Figure 2. Cooling strategies.
The daylighting strategy includes four concepts (Figure 3):
i) Penetration: collection of natural light inside the building

ii) Distribution: homogeneous spreading of light into the spaces or focusing
566
iii) Protect: reducing by external shading devices the penetration of Sun’s rays into
the building
iv) Control: control light penetration by movable screens to avoid discomfort
Protect
Minimise
Dissipate
Figure 3. Daylighting strategies.
Buildings are important consumers of energy and thus, important contributors to

emissions of greenhouse gases into the global atmosphere. The development and
adoption of suitable renewable energy technologies has an important role. Ventilation is
essential for securing a good indoor air quality but as explained earlier, can have a
dominating influence on energy consumption in buildings.
Air quality problems are more likely to occur if air supply is restricted. Probably
a ventilation rate averaging 7 l/s.p represents a minimum acceptable rate for normal
odour and comfort requirements in office type buildings (Jonas and Patrik, 2009).
Diminishing returns are likely to be experienced at rates significantly above 10 l/s.p
(Jonas and Patrik, 2009). If air quality problems persist, the cause is likely to be poor
outdoor air quality (e.g., the entrainment of outdoor traffic fumes), poor air distribution
or excessive release of avoidable pollutants into space. However, the energy efficiency
of ventilation can be improved by introducing exhaust air heat recovery, ground pre-
heating, demand controlled ventilation, displacement ventilation and passive cooling
(Crisp et al., 2008). In each case, a very careful analysis is necessary to ensure that the
anticipated savings are actually achievable. In addition, it is essential to differentiate
between avoidable and unavoidable pollutant emissions. Achieving energy efficiency
and optimum Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) depends on minimising the emission of
avoidable pollutants. Pollutants inside buildings are derived from both indoor and
outdoor contaminant sources. Each of these tends to impose different requirements on
the control strategies needed to secure good health and comfort conditions. Integrating
these strategies in climate-sensitive and energy-conscious architecture, is not only a way
of saving money, it primarily provides the occupants with a more humane, valuable
567
environment and ensures their well-being through the dynamic and harmonious
interaction between man, building and climate.
HEALTH AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Two opposing trends threaten the engineers. The first is concern for global pollution
where not only energy use but also energy sources are defined in terms of atmospheric
contamination. The second is the demand for a performance specification for a more
satisfying indoor climate. Thus, the engineers of today are facing two kinds of
environmental forces:
i) The first is respect for the global external environment, which knows no natural
boundaries and is now near saturation with pollution and may be affecting our
climate in a harmful way. The second is a rising expectation of better indoor
conditions, which in the past has meant a more energy intensive building
through air conditioning. Safety issues and avoidance of exposure to toxic
materials are increasingly becoming concerns for long-term health and welfare.
ii) The second trend is the continuing increase in energy use as the population rises
and our productivity increases. Rising livings standards require more fuel to
keep us cleaner and warmer and enable us to travel longer distances for
recreation. More effective use of energy is now essential.
The four most important types of harm from man’s activities are global warming
gases, ozone destroying gases, gaseous pollutants and microbiological hazards
(Table 1). The earth is some 30 °C warmer due to the presence of gases but the global
temperature is rising. This could lead to the sea level rising at the rate of 60 mm per
decade with the growing risk of flooding in low-lying areas. At the United Nations
Earth Summit in Rio in June 1992, some 153 countries agreed to pursue sustainable
development (Horning and Skeffington, 2003). A main aim was to reduce emissions of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Reduction of energy use in buildings is a
major role in achieving this. Carbon dioxide targets are proposed to encourage designers
to look at low energy designs and energy sources.
Table 1. The external environment.
Damage Manifestation Design

NOx, SOx Irritant Low NOx burners
Acid rain land damage Low sulphur fuel
Acid rain fish damage Sulphur removal
Global warming Thermal insulation
CO2 Rising sea level Heat recovery
Drought, storms Heat pumps
O3 destruction Increased ultra violet No CFC’s or HCFC’s
Skin cancer Minimum air conditioning
Crop damage Refrigerant collection
Legionnellosis Pontiac fever Careful maintenance
Legionnaires Dry cooling towers
568
As our knowledge of satisfactory conditions develops, so we can control the

physical environment to provide that satisfaction. Performance-based design will
specify how many shall be satisfied. Target figures suggest satisfaction for 90% of the
occupants is high quality, down to 70% for poor quality designs (Omer, 2009). Such
performance values are being applied to a whole range of indoor factors such as air
quality (Figure 4), thermal comfort, and noise levels.
40
Dissatisfied (%)
30
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5
Preceived air quality (decipol)
Figure 4. Designing to a satisfaction level.
ENERGY SAVINGS
The admission of daylight to buildings alone does not guarantee that the design will be
energy efficient in terms of lighting (Fanger, 2000; Fordham, 2000; Awbi, 2001). In
fact, the design for increased daylight can often raise concerns relating to visual comfort
(glare) and thermal comfort (increased solar gain in the summer and heat loss in the
winter from larger apertures). Such issues will clearly need to be addressed in the design
of the window openings, blinds, shading devices, heating systems, etc. Simple
techniques can be implemented to increase the probability that lights are switched off
(Givoni, 2006). These include: (i) making switches conspicuous, (ii) locating switches
appropriately in relation to the lights, (iii) switching banks of lights independently and
(iv) switching banks of lights parallel to the main window wall.
Large energy savings cover a wide range of issues including:
i) Guidelines on low energy design

ii) Natural and artificial lighting
iii) Solar gain and solar shading
iv) Fenestration design
v) Energy efficient plant and controls
vi) Examining the need for air conditioning
The strategy:
i) Integration of shading and daylighting: an integral strategy is essential and

feasible where daylighting and shading can be improved simultaneously
569
ii) Effect of shading on summer comfort conditions: solar shading plays a central
role in reducing overheating risks and gives the potential for individual control
but should be complimented with other passive design strategies
iii) Effect of devices on daylighting conditions: devices can be designed to provide
shading whist improving the daylight conditions, notably glare and the
distribution of light in a space, thus improving the visual quality
iv) Energy savings: energy savings from the avoidance of air conditioning can be
very substantial, whilst daylighting strategies need to be integrated with artificial
lighting systems to be beneficial in terms of energy use.
Thus, the energy potential of daylighting is inextricably linked with the energy use
of the associated artificial lighting systems and their controls. The economics of
daylighting are not only related to energy use but also to productivity. Good daylighting
of workspaces helps to promote efficient, productive work and simultaneously increases
the sense of well-being. However, energy and economics should not become the sole
concern for daylighting design to the exclusion of perceptual considerations. The
consultant in conservation and international recommendations (BSI 5454: 2007)
established the following initial requirements for air quality in the archives:
i) Air temperature between 17 °C and 19 °C

ii) Relative humidity between 50% and 60% with lower values in the photographic
archives
iii) Low levels of natural light and total exclusion of direct sunlight in archives,
reading-rooms and complementary spaces
iv) Exclusion of ultra-violet radiation from natural and artificial lighting
v) Air filters to exclude particles larger than 0.01 microns (this requirement was
relaxed, considering the high cost, additional energy requirements and problems
of maintenance)
vi) Filters of active carbon to reduce the content of ozone, sulphur dioxide and
oxides of nitrogen
The activities and operations of the occupants, their patterns of use and misuse, can
have a significant effect on the energy performance of the intermediate and internal
environments. The management and control of three interfaces: external to internal,
external to intermediate and internal to intermediate, can also have a significant effect,
particularly in response to seasonal, daily and hourly variations in solar energy
availability, its regulation and distribution. Other facilities management functions can
also have major energy implications, particularly maintenance, cleaning, replacement,
refurbishment and adaptation. The benefits of passive solar environments include:
i) Reductions in non-renewable energy consumption and CO2 emission

ii) Savings in the cost of purchased energy generally
iii) Savings in space and water heating costs
iv) Amenity and social benefits to occupants
v) Prestige benefits to organisations
vi) Natural environment benefits for individual users
vii) Improved human comfort, well-being and performance.
570
The potential risks that are commonly associated with passive solar environments
include:
i) Increased purchased energy consumption through inappropriate use

ii) Seasonal overheating
iii) Unacceptable temperature fluctuations
iv) Poor air quality and condensation
v) Unacceptable lighting variation and glare
vi) Temperature stratification
vii) Thermal fatigue and fracture of materials
viii) Winter survival of plants
In practice, low energy environments are achieved through a combination of

measures that include:
i) The application of environmental regulation and policy

ii) The application of environmental science and best practice
iii) Mathematical modelling and simulation
iv) Environmental design and engineering
v) Construction and commissioning
vi) Management and modifications of environments in use
The storage concept based on a modular design will facilitate active control and
optimisation of thermal input/output and can be adapted for simultaneous heating and
cooling, which is often needed in large service and institutional buildings. Such a
system is illustrated in Figure 5; a conceptual integration of various warm/cold energy
sources combined with thermal energy storage. Integrated energy systems need to be
implemented at two levels:
i) Integration of various thermal energy sources into concurrent systems for

heating, cooling and production of hot water.
ii) Physical integration of such systems into the building structure.
However, integrated energy systems for buildings face a number of barriers, of

which the most significant are:
i) Lack of expertise, information and demonstration systems

ii) Immature products and service delivery chains
iii) Utilities that still favour central generation and the market power created by such
infrastructure
iv) Electricity markets that do not yet account for environmental externalities
A building inevitably consumes materials and energy resources. The technology is

available to use methods and materials that reduce the environmental impact, increase
operating efficiency and increase the durability of buildings (Table 2). The objectives
of sustainable building practices aim to:
i) Develop a comprehensive definition of sustainability that includes socio-

cultural, bio-climatic and technological aspects
571
ii) Establish guidelines for future sustainable architecture

iii) Predict the CO2 emissions in buildings
iv) The proper architectural measure for sustainability is efficient energy use, waste
control, population growth, carrying capacity and resource efficiency
v) Establish methods of design that conserve energy and natural resources
External environment:
Temperature
Wind
Rain
Weather Forecast
Energy sources:
Integrated energy system System output:
Active solar
Heating
Passive solar
Ambient temperature
Biomass
Warm Cool
Thermal energy storage
Figure 5. Conceptual illustration of an integrated energy system with thermal storage.
RESULTS
The move towards a low-carbon world, driven partly by climate science and partly by
the business opportunities it offers, requires the promotion of environmentally friendly
energy sources and alternatives, in order to achieve an acceptable stabilisation level of
atmospheric carbon dioxide. This requires the harnessing and use of natural resources
that produce no air pollution or greenhouse gases and provide a comfortable
coexistence of humans, livestock and plants. Exploitation of renewable energy sources
and particularly ground heat in buildings, can significantly contribute towards reducing
dependency on fossil fuels and hence, achieving this goal. Due to the urgent need to
mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, new and more efficient ways of utilising energy in
space heating and cooling applications have been actively explored. Although fossil
fuel installations and central air-conditioning systems constitute a dominant technology
for the buildings sector, geothermal heat pumps establish an attractive alternative.
572
Table 2. Design, construction and environmental control description of traditional and

new houses.
Design characteristics Traditional houses New houses

Form Courtyard (height twice the Rectangle-closed
width)-open to sky
Construction Brick walls 50 cm thick, brick Brick walls 25 cm thick,
roof with no insulation in concrete roof-no insulation
either
Environmental control Evaporative air coolers Evaporative air coolers
Ease of climatic control Difficult-rooms open into the Moderate-rooms open into
climatically uncontrolled open the enclosed internal
courtyard corridor
Maintenance Well conserved and New construction
maintained
Windows Vertical and single glazing Horizontal-single glazing
Urban morphology Each house attached from 3 Row houses attached from
sides 2 sides
Orientation Varies-irregular shapes and North-south (row houses)
winding alleyways
Orientation and solar Solar gains less affected by Solar gain determined by
gain orientation due to shading orientation-no obstruction
provided by the deep (shading)
courtyard
Sharing solar gain Significant - due to long-wave Minimal- S-wall receives
exchange or convective much more solar radiation
exchange between the 4 than the N-wall due to the
vertical walls surrounding the absence of any inter-
courtyard reflection and long-wave
exchange
Occupant’s social status Low income families Low and middle income
families
Utilised renewable resources currently account for about 9–10% of the energy
consumed in the world; most of this is from hydropower and traditional biomass
sources (BS 5454. 2007). Wind, solar, biomass and geothermal technologies are already
cost-effective in an increasing number of markets and are making important steps to
broaden commercialisation. The present situation is best characterised as one of very
rapid growth for wind and solar technologies and of significant promise for biomass
and geothermal technologies. Each of the renewable energy technologies is in a
different stage of research, development and commercialisation and all have differences
in current and future expected costs, current industrial base, resource availability and
potential impact on the energy supply chain. Recently, emphasis has been placed on the
utilisation of ambient energy from ground source and other renewable energy sources,
in order to stimulate the use of alternative energy sources for heating and cooling of
buildings. Exploitation of renewable energy sources and particularly ground heat in
buildings can significantly contribute towards reducing dependency on fossil fuels.
573
CONCLUSIONS
There are clear benefits, which may accrue from the wider adoption of renewable
energy technologies in building design. There are two key-elements to fulfilling the
technological potential of renewable energy within the field of building design. Firstly,
the appropriate skills and attitudes must be instilled in building design professionals and
secondly, the provision of the opportunity for such people to demonstrate their skills.
The higher education of building designers must include sustained development of
attitudes and skills encompassing the use of renewable energy technologies. With
environmental protection posing as the number one global problem, man has no choice
but to reduce his energy consumption. One way to accomplish this is to resort to passive
and low-energy systems to maintain thermal comfort in buildings. The conventional and
modern designs of wind towers can successfully be used in hot, arid regions to maintain
thermal comfort (with or without the use of ceiling fans) during all hours of the cooling
season, or at least a fraction of it. Climatic design is one of the best approaches to
reduce the energy cost in buildings. Proper design is the first step in defence against
stress of the climate. Buildings should be designed according to the local climate in
order to reduce the need of mechanical heating or cooling; hence, maximum natural
energy can be used for creating a pleasant environment inside the built envelope.
Technological and industrial progress of the last decade has spread electronic and
informatics devices across many human activities and these now appear in building
construction. The utilisation and operating opportunities of these components, increase
the reduction of heat losses by varying the thermal insulation, optimising lighting
distribution with louver screens and operating mechanical ventilation for coolness in
indoor spaces. In addition to these parameters, the intelligent envelope can act for
security control and became an important part of the building domotic revolution.
Application of simple passive cooling measure is effective in reducing the cooling load
of buildings in hot and humid climates. A reduction of 43% can be achieved using a
combination of well-established technologies, such as glazing, shading, insulation and
natural ventilation. More advanced passive cooling techniques, such as roof pond,
dynamic insulation and evaporative water jacket need to be considered more closely.
The building sector is a major worldwide consumer of both energy and materials and
the consumption is increasing. Additionally, most industrialised countries are becoming
more and more dependent on external supplies of conventional energy carriers i.e.,
fossil fuels. Energy for heating and cooling can be replaced by new renewable energy
sources. However, new renewable energy sources are usually not economically feasible
compared with the traditional carriers. In order to achieve the major changes necessary
to alleviate the environmental impacts of the building sector, it is necessary to change
and develop both the processes in the industry itself and to build a favourable
framework to overcome the present economic, regulatory and institutional barriers.
REFERENCES
ASHRAE. 2005. Energy efficient design of new building except new low-rise
residential buildings. BSRIASHRAE proposed standards 90-2P-1993,
alternative GA. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air
Conditioning Engineers Inc., USA.
Awbi, H. 2001. Ventilation of buildings. London: Spon.
574
Bahadori, M.N. 2008. A passive cooling/heating system for hot arid regions. In:
Proceedings of the American Solar Energy Society Conference. Cambridge.
Massachusetts, pp. 364-367.
BS 5454. 2007. Storage and exhibition archive documents. London: British Standard
Institute.
Crisp, V.H.C., Littlefair, P.J., Cooper, I. and McKennan, G. 2008. Daylighting as a
passive solar energy option: an assessment of its potential in non-domestic
buildings. Report BR129-BRE. Building Research Establishment, Garston. UK.
Erlich, P. 2010. Forward facing up to climate change, in global climate change and life
on earth. R.C. Wyman (ed). London: Chapman and Hall.
Fanger, P.O. 2000. Thermal comfort: analysis and applications in environmental
engineering. Denmark: Danish Technical Press.
Fordham, M. 2000. Natural ventilation. Renewable Energy, 19(1-2): 17-37.
Givoni B. 2006. Man climate and architecture. London: Applied Science Publisher Ltd.
Horning, M. and Skeffington, R. 2003. Critical loads: concept and applications. Institute
of Terrestrial Ecology. London: HMSO.
Jonas, N. and Patrik, S.2009. Building and the environment. New York: NOVA
Publishers.
Limb, M.J. 2005. Air intake positioning to avoid contamination of ventilation air: An
annotated bibliography. UK: Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre, University
of Warwick Science park.
Martin, W. 2006. Air quality control in commercial buildings. WREC.
Miller, G. 2000. Resource conservation and management. California: Wadsworth.
Molla, M.S.A. 1997. Air pollutants and its probable transmutation in the ionosphere.
Renewable Energy 10 (2-3): 327-329.
Omer, A.M. 2009. Energy efficiency, climate change, buildings and the need for
development in renewable energy use, New York: NONA Publisher.
575
A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF DI DIESEL ENGINE PERFORMANCE

WITHVEGETABLE OIL: AN ALTERNATIVE BIO-FUEL SOURCE OF
ENERGY
A. K. Azad, S. M. Ameer Uddin and M. M. Alam

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
E-mail: azad_sgfl@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
This study offers comprehensive details on the use of bio-fuel as a viable and
alternative source of energy. The bio-fuel was prepared from vegetable oil, i.e.,
mustard oil and tested in a diesel engine in both pure form and as a diesel blend. The
mustard oil blend proportions were 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% and named as bio-diesel
blends B20, B30, B40 and B50. A fuel-testing laboratory determined the properties of
the pure mustard oil fuel and its blends, i.e., density, viscosity, dynamic viscosity,
carbon residue, flash point, fire point and calorific value. An assessment of engine
performance, i.e., brake horsepower (bhp), brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc),
brake thermal efficiency (bte) and brake mean effective pressure (bmep) etc., was
carried out for pure diesel, pure mustard and the blends, both in laboratory conditions
and under British Standard (BS) conditions. Finally, an analysis and comparison was
made of the effects of the various fuels on the different engine properties.
Keywords: Mustard oil, bio-diesel, brake thermal efficiency, BSFC, brake horsepower.
INTRODUCTION
Bio-diesel is the most valuable form of renewable energy for direct use in any existing,
unmodified diesel engine. Bio-fuels, generated from crops, create new markets for
agricultural products and stimulate rural development, which is especially important
for the two-thirds of the people in the developing world who derive their incomes from
agriculture. Due to the gradual depletion of world’s petroleum reserves and the impact
of environmental pollution, there is an urgent need for suitable alternative fuels for use
in diesel engines (Kumar et al., 2012; Nakpong and Wootthikanokkhan, 2010; Radha
et al., 2011). Thus, vegetable oil is a promising alternative because it is renewable,
environmentally friendly and produced easily in rural areas, where there is an acute
need for modern forms of energy (Srivasata and Prasad, 2000; Forhad et al., 2009). In
recent years, the systematic efforts have been made by several researchers to use as
fuel engines. They have also searched for an effective, alternative and renewable fuel
source. Mustard is part of the oilseed family, is regarded both as a spice and as an
oilseed and is used widely in Eastern parts of India and Bangladesh. The oil, for the
most part, contains fatty acids like oleic acids, linoleum acid and erucic acid. It has the
lowest amount of saturated fats in its composition and thus is good for the heart and
overall health. It can be used to make vegetable oil or be processed further into an
essential oil (Berchmans and Hirata, 2008; Altan et al., 2001).
576
A comprehensive study of di diesel engine performance with vegetable oil: an alternative bio-fuel source of energy
The oil is obtained by pressing the seeds or through the process of grinding,
whereby it is mixed with water and then distilled further. Mustard seeds are composed
of 30% oil. Many countries consider mustard oil as unsuitable for human consumption
as it has a high content of a substance known as erucic acid, which is harmful to the
body but now mustard oils with lower erucic acid are also available (Huzayyin et al.,
2004).
Vegetable oils are widely produced from a variety of products. Because these
oils are of plant origin, the plants themselves consume large quantities of CO2 derived
from the burning of these oils. Therefore, these oils do not contribute to the absolute
deposit of CO2. They are renewable in nature and environmentally sound due to their
minimum net effect on pollution (Khan et al., 2006; Lin et al., 2006). Vegetable oils
are suitable for cooking purposes or as a fuel. The main fact that determines the usage
of the oil is the quality. Generally, good quality oil is used for cooking purposes.
However, vegetable oil can be used in most old diesel engines but only in a warm
atmosphere. In most countries, production of vegetable oil is for biodiesel.
The concept of using vegetable oils as a substitute for diesel fuel is an old one,
which dates back around 70 years. Since then very little has been done regarding its
use as diesel engine fuel primarily due to abundant availability of diesel (Naik et al.,
2008). Moreover, there was no serious complaint against the use of diesel because its
adverse environmental effects were not apparent at that time. In recent years,
vegetable oils have received considerable attention for use in diesel engines, because
of their environmental friendliness and renewable nature. As a result, international
interest in the use of vegetable oils as diesel engine fuel has been renewed (Radwan et
al., 2007; Srivasata and Prasad, 2000).
Investigations established that vegetable oils could meet the entire diesel
demand of the agricultural sector in the northern region of Thailand, if 10% of
cultivatable land went into vegetable oil crop production (Srivasata and Prasad, 2000;
Forhad et al., 2009). Thus, the country could even be self-sufficient in fuel. Among the
oils studied, groundnut oil proved to be the most attractive due to its high energy yield,
favourable economic suitability and short growth period. Soybean was also established
as prospective engine fuel because of its general availability and high economic
suitability (Freedom et al., 1984).
The study of Yosimoto et al. (2001) reflects the Japanese experience using
different vegetable oil blends with kerosene to improve the performance of a small
high-speed diesel engine under high load conditions. They worked with a single
cylinder/direct injection, 4-stroke, air-cooled diesel engine, applying four blends (20,
40, 60 and 80 % by volume) of soybean oil with kerosene, as well as rapeseed oil with
kerosene and compared the results with that of pure diesel fuel. They also studied the
spray distribution of each blend in the atmosphere using 4-hole nozzle injector
engines. The results show that a blend of 20% vegetable oil with 80% kerosene by
volume, improves the thermal efficiency of the test engine under high load. Therefore,
vegetable oil blends of 20% to 40% are recommended as successful alternatives to
diesel.
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Azad et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 576-586
METHODS OF DETERMINING BIO-FUEL PROPERTIES
Figure 1 in the above section illustrates the method of preparing mustard oil from its
oil seed. This section discusses the properties of the fuel and blends. The fuel
properties measured are: density, viscosity (kinematic viscosity and dynamic
viscosity), volatility, carbon residue, ash content, heating value or calorific value, flash
point and fire point and these properties for mustard oil are presented in Table 1.
Mustard Seeds
Mustard Flower
Mustard Oil
Figure 1. Flow diagram of typical mustard oil processing
Figure 2 shows the colour of the different bio-diesel blends from left to right
B20, B30, B40, B50, B100/pure mustard oil and pure diesel, respectively. The
properties of these bio-fuel blends were tested in the fuel-testing laboratory and the
results are presented in Table 2. The heating value indicates the energy density of the
fuel. In our study, the ASTM 2382 method has been applied to measure the heating
value of bio-diesel and the blends. Table 2 shows the heating value of diesel, neat
biodiesel and their blends in MJ/Kg. Figure 3 shows that diesel fuel has a heating
value of about 44 MJ/Kg and that the heating value of the fuel decreases as we choose
higher blends of bio-diesel. The calorific value or heating value is a very important
property of the fuel.
578
Table 1. Properties of mustard oil
SL. No Property and Standards Unit Value

1. Density @ 31 °C (ASTM D4052-11) kg/m3 925.24
4. Specific Gravity (ASTM D5453-09) - 0.941
2
5. Kinematic Viscosity @ 31 °C mm /sec
63.40
(ASTM D2161-79) (Centistokes)
6. Kinematic Viscosity @ 70 °C
mm2/sec 21.85
(ASTM D2161-79)
7. Kinematic Viscosity @ 100 °C
mm2/sec 9.79
(ASTM D2161-79)
8. Dynamic Viscosity @ 31 °C
cP 58.66
(ASTM D7042-11a)
cP 19.67
(ASTM D7042-11a)
cP 8.67
(ASTM D7042-11a)
11. Calorific Value or Heating value
MJ/Kg 39.51
(ASTM 2382)
12. Carbon Residue (ASTM D189-81) gm 0.037
13. % of Carbon Residue
% 0.37
(ASTM D189-81)
14. Flash Point (ASTM D93-85) °C 310
15. Fire Point (ASTM D92-11) °C 350
B20 B30 B40 B50 B100 Pure

Diesel
Figure 2. Colour of different biodiesel blends, pure mustard oil and diesel.
579
Table 2. Properties of different biofuel blends, mustard oil and pure diesel.
Value for different biofuel blends

Properties and Standards B100 or Pure
Unit B20 B30 B40 B50
Mustard Diesel
Density 31 °C 825.9
(ASTM D4052-11) kg/m3 840.96 847.96 855.64 863.84 925.24
6
Specific Gravity
(ASTM D5453-09) - 0.904 0.910 0.915 0.920 0.941 0.899
Kinematic Viscosity 31 °C mm2/s
8.113 11.01 14.1 18.51 63.40 3.96
(ASTM D2161-79) ec
Dynamic Viscosity @ 31 °C
cP 6.822 9.33 12.064 15.989 58.66 3.27
(ASTM D7042-11a)
Calorific value MJ/K
42.65 42.21 42.18 41.97 39.51 44.00
(ASTM 2382) g
Flash Point
°C 85 85 100 130 310 72
(ASTM D93-85)
Fire Point
(ASTM D92-11) °C 100 110 120 110 350 210
Figure 3. Lower calorific value (LCV) for different bio-fuels.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Figure 4 shows schematic diagram of the experimental setup with hydraulic

dynamometer. In this experiment a single cylinder, water-cooled, 4-stroke, direct-
injection (DI) diesel engine (specification Table-3) was used for performance testing.
The RPM was measured directly from the tachometer attached by the dynamometer.
Figure 5 shows the test engine mounted on dynamometer bed. Figure 6 also shows the
dynamometer coupling with test engine. The fuel injection timing was set at 24
°BTDC. A water brake dynamometer from Tokyo Meter Co. Ltd., model no.TFJ-250L
simulated artificial loads and tested engine performance. The dynamometer varied the
load on the engine using variable water flow as well as variable impeller blade angles.
A non-contact magnetic induction tachometer and a Wheatstone bridge load cell
measured speed and torque.
580
Table 3. Test Engine specifications
SL. Items Engine Data

1. Model S195G
2. Method of starting Hand starting
3. Engine Type Single cylinder, 4-stroke, Horizontal, Direct
Injection
4. Cylinder Bore 95 mm
5. Piston stroke/ Stroke 115 mm
6. Swept Volume 85 cc
7. Nominal speed 2000 rpm, Anti-clockwise
8. Nominal power 9 KW
9. Compression ratio 1:20
10. Specific fuel Less or equal 258.4 gm/kw-hr or 192.76 gm/BHP-hr
consumption
11. Cooling system Water cooled condenser type, Thermosyphon with
suction fan
12. Fuel and Lube oil filter Present
Figure 4. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup with hydraulic dynamometer.
581
Figure 5. Test engine mounted on dynamometer bed.
Figure 6. Dynamometer coupling with test engine.
Figure 7 shows the variation of brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) with engine
load for different bio-fuel blends. The bsfc was calculated as fuel consumption divided
by the rated power output of the engine. The curve shows that bsfc is higher at low
loads and decreases with increased loads for the different bio-diesel blends. The bsfc
also increases with the increase in percentage of blend i.e., B20 to B100. This is
mainly due to the relationship between the volumetric fuel injection system, specific
gravity, viscosity and heating value. Therefore, in order to produce the same amount
of energy as conventional diesel fuel, a greater bio-diesel blend is required, due to its
higher density and lower heating value. Additionally, as the blends have different
582
viscosities to diesel fuel, bio-diesel causes poor atomisation and mixture formation and
thus, increases the fuel consumption rate in order to maintain the power. The lowest
bsfc is obtained for B30 (186.6 g/bhp-hr) at 10.5 kg load and this blend maintains the
lowest bsfc compared with any other bio-diesel blend. The second lowest bsfc
obtained is for B20 (200 g/bhp-hr) at the same load. Therefore, B30 is the best blend
sample for this test experiment.
Figure 7. Variation of brake specific fuel consumption with engine load.
The bsfc is a measure of the overall efficiency of an engine. It is also inversely

proportional to the thermal efficiency. Therefore, a lower value of bsfc indicates a
higher overall efficiency of an engine. Figure 8 presents the variation of brake thermal
efficiency (BTE) with engine load. The bte of the engine is observed to increase with
an increase in the load with a maximum for B30 (52.93%) at 12 kg of load. Higher
blends of B40 and above have lower thermal efficiency than B20 and B30 due to
lower calorific value, higher viscosity and poor atomization characteristics. The mean
effective pressure is the average pressure developed on the piston head over a cycle in
the combustion chamber of the engine, which measures the capacity of the engine to
do work. Figure 9 shows the variation of brake mean effective pressure for the
different bio-fuel blends. A small variation of brake mean effective pressure from pure
diesel fuel was observed during the experiment.
Figure 10 shows the relationship between lube oil temperature and engine load
for the different fuel and bio-fuel blends. The lube oil temperature increases with an
increase of engine load and the highest lube oil temperature was found for B40 (84 °C)
at full load conditions. This phenomenon can be attributed to the preheating of the B40
fuel at 70 °C. However, there is not a wide variance in the lube oil temperature for
diesel fuel and bio-diesel blends, which indicates that SAE-40 lube oil is suitable for
engines running on bio-diesel.
583
Figure 8. Variation of brake thermal efficiency with engine load
Figure 9. Variation of brake mean effective pressure with engine load.
Figure 10. Variation of engine lube oil temperature with load.
584
Figure 11 represents the variation of exhaust gas temperature with engine load
for the different fuels. From the curve, it can be observed that initially the exhaust gas
temperature is low with little variation among the fuels. B100 or pure mustard oil has a
higher exhaust gas temperature than all the other bio-diesel blends. At starting
conditions, high exhaust gas temperature but low power output for bio-diesel blends
indicates late burning of the high proportion bio-diesel. This would increase the heat
loss making the combustion a less efficient. At higher load conditions, B40 has the
lowest exhaust gas temperature compared with the other fuels.
Figure 11. Variation of exhaust gas temperature with engine load.
CONCLUSIONS
With regard to the experimental study for vegetable oil as a renewable alternative
source of fuel for diesel engines, the following conclusions are drawn:
i) Bio-diesel can be produced from mustard oil as an alternative fuel for DI diesel
engines.
ii) The calorific value of the bio-diesel blends decreases with the increase of
vegetable oil percentage and the lowest heating value was obtained for B100 or
pure mustard oil.
iii) At starting conditions or low load conditions, the bio-fuel blends have a higher
bsfc than diesel. However, for B30, after 10.0 kg load, the bsfc becomes lower
than for any other fuel in the experiment.
iv) The brake thermal efficiency for B20 and B30 becomes better than other fuel
blends at this engine operating condition.
v) The lube oil temperature decreases with the increase of bio-diesel blends except
B40 but exhaust gas temperature increases with the increase of bio-diesel blends.
vi) A small variation in the brake mean effective pressure was observed for the
different bio-diesel blends in relation to diesel fuel.
vii) Throughout the experiment, B20 and B30 give better performance than the other
bio-diesel blends. Finally, it is possible to run diesel engine with bio-diesel
blends.
585
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Altan, R., Cetinkaya, S. and Yucesu, H.S. 2001. The potential of using vegetable oil
fuels as fuel for diesel engines. Energy Conversion and Management, 42(5):
529-538.
Berchmans, H.J. and Hirata, S. 2008. Biodiesel production from crude Jatropha curcas
L. seed oil with a high content of free fatty acids. Bioresource Technology,
99(6): 1716–1721.
Forhad, A., Rowshan, A.R., Habib, M.A. and Islam, M.A. 2009. Production and
performance of biodiesel as an alternative to diesel. International Conference
on Mechanical Engineering, ICME09-TH-30, pp. 1-6.
Freedman, B., Pryde, E.H. and Mounts, T.L. 1984. Variables affecting the yields of
fatty esters from transesterified vegetable oils. Journal of the American oil
Chemists’ Society, 61(10): 1638-1643.
Huzayyin, A.S., Bawady, A.H., Rady, M.A. and Dawood, A. 2004. Experimental
evaluation of diesel engine performance and emission using blends of jojoba
oil and Diesel fuel. Energy Conversion and Management, 45(13-14): 2093–
2112.
Khan, M.Y., Khan, S.Y. and Ahmad, N. 2006. Performance characteristics of
compression ignition engine when operated on preheated Neem oil. Proceeding
of International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering,
Punjab,pp.
Kumar, S., Chaube, A. and Jain, S.K. 2012. Experimental investigation of C.I. Engine
Performance Using Diesel Blended with Jatropha Bio-diesel. International
Journal of Energy and Environment, 3(3): 471-484.
Lin, C.Y., Chen, L.W. and Wang, L.T. 2006. Correlation of black smoke and nitrogen
oxides emissions through field testing of in-use diesel vehicles. Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment, 116(1-3): 291-305.
Naik, M., Meher, L.C., Naik, S.N. and Das, L.M. 2008. Production of biodiesel from
high free fatty acid Karanja (Pongamia pinnata) oil. Biomass and Bioenergy,
32(4): 354-357.
Nakpong, P. and Wootthikanokkhan, S. 2010. Optimization of biodiesel production
from Jatropha curcas L. oil via alkali-catalyzed methanolysis. Journal of
Sustainable Energy & Environment, 1: 105-109.
Radha, K.K., Sarada1, S.N., Rajagopal, K. and Nagesh, E.L. 2011. Performance and
emission characteristics of CI engine operated on vegetable oils as alternate
fuels. International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, 4:
414-427.
Radwan, M.S., Ismail, M.A., Elfeky, S.M.S. and Abu- Elyazeed, O.S.M. 2007. Jojoba
methyl ester as a diesel fuel substitute: Preparation and characterization.
Applied Thermal Engineering, 27(: 314–322.
Srivasata, A. and Prasad, R. 2000. Triglyceride based diesel Fuels. Renewable and
sustainable Energy Reviews, 4(2): 111-133.
Yosimoto, Y., Onodera, A. and Tamaki, H. 2001. Production and emission
characteristics of diesel engine fuelled by vegetable oils. The Society of
Automotive Engineers, No. 2001-01-1807.
586
THE EFFECTS OF AREA CONTRACTION ON SHOCK WAVE STRENGTH

AND PEAK PRESSURE IN SHOCK TUBE
A. M. Mohsen, M. Z. Yusoff, A. Al-Falahi and N. H. Shuaib
Centre for Advanced Computational Engineering, College of Engineering

Universiti Tenaga Nasional, UNITEN
Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN
43009 Kajang, Selangor, Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
E-mail: zamri@uniten.edu.my
ABSTRACT
This paper presents an experimental investigation into the effects of area contraction on
shock wave strength and peak pressure in a shock tube. The shock tube is an important
component of the short duration, high speed fluid flow test facility, available at the
Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Malaysia. The area contraction was facilitated
by positioning a bush adjacent to the primary diaphragm section, which separates the
driver and driven sections. Experimental measurements were performed with and
without the presence of the bush, at various diaphragm pressure ratios, which is the ratio
of air pressure between the driver (high pressure) and driven (low pressure) sections.
The instantaneous static pressure variations were measured at two locations close to the
driven tube end wall, using high sensitivity pressure sensors, which allow the shock
wave strength, shock wave speed and peak pressure to be analysed. The results reveal
that the area contraction significantly reduces the shock wave strength, shock wave
speed and peak pressure. At a diaphragm pressure ratio of 10, the shock wave strength
decreases by 18%, the peak pressure decreases by 30% and the shock wave speed
decreases by 8%.
Keywords: Shock tube, shock wave, area contraction.
INTRODUCTION
Shock wave is the phenomenon of a sudden drop of pressure in a very narrow region
within a medium. The sudden pressure drop is accompanied by a sudden rise in
temperature and density of that medium. There has been much research done in order to
generate and investigate this phenomenon. One of the common methods of generating a
shock wave is by rushing a gas at high pressure into another gas at a lower pressure by
the sudden rupture of a thin aluminium diaphragm in transient high speed flow test
facilities (Wintenberger, 2002). The aluminium diaphragm separates the gas at high
pressure from the one at the lower pressure. The section that contains the high pressure
gas is called the driver section and the driven section contains the lower pressure gas.
Shock wave is widely used as a means to produce high-speed flows in short duration,
high speed fluid flow test facilities.
High speed fluid flow facilities, such as shock tunnels, shock tubes and gun
tunnels are widely used in many applications. For example, IISc hypersonic shock
tunnel HST2 was used to measure the aerodynamic forces on a triangular plate that flies
587
The effects of area contraction on shock wave strength and peak pressure in shock tube
at a Mach number of 5.75 (Sahoo et al., 2007). Another important application of shock
tunnels is to obtain the conditions of supersonic combustion. Aso et al. (2005) used a
shock tunnel to investigate the supersonic combustion phenomena and observed that the
reflected shock wave heated the air to a stagnation temperature of 2800 K and the static
temperature of the test section was 1550 K. This temperature is sufficient to generate
the supersonic combustion with self-ignition. In addition, there have been many
different methods used to develop and improve the performance of high speed fluid
flow test facilities and to obtain higher values of shock Mach number (Briassulis et al.,
1996; Amir et al., 2008). Lu et al. (2009) developed a new technique to improve the
performance of these facilities. This technique used a computer-based controller to
avoid any overshoot in the stagnation pressure when it is required to bring rapidly a
supersonic wind tunnel to its operating condition. Increasing the diaphragm pressure
ratio and raising the speed of sound in the driver gas are very effective methods in
obtaining higher Mach numbers (Amir et al., 2007). Furthermore, the use of different
gas combinations is another effective method of obtaining higher Mach numbers. For
example, light gases, such as Helium or Hydrogen are used in the driver section and
heavy gases, such as CO2 or air are used in the driven section (Amir et al., 2008, 2009).
Some studies have shown that an increase in the initial temperature ratio of the
driven/driver gases also leads to an increase in the Mach number (Amir et al., 2008).
However, Kaneko et al. (2005) showed that the scale of the facility also affects the
performance because larger facilities have higher nozzle supply pressures and therefore,
longer steady state times.
Although, many works have investigated high speed flows in shock tubes, to the
best of the author’s knowledge, there has been nothing published in the literature that
describes the effect of area contraction on shock wave strength, shock wave speed and
peak pressure, which partly describes the performance of the high speed flow facilities.
In many short duration, high speed flow facilities, a small area contraction in the form
of a bush at the diaphragm, is normally used to facilitate the diaphragm rupturing
process. The present work involved an experimental investigation on the effects of the
area contraction on shock wave strength and peak pressure in the shock tube, which is
an important component of the short duration, high speed fluid flow test facility,
available at the Universiti Tenaga Nasional. Experimental measurements were
performed with and without the presence of the bush at various diaphragm pressure
ratios. The instantaneous static pressure variations were measured at two locations close
to the driven tube end wall, using high sensitivity pressure sensors, which allow the
shock wave strength, shock wave speed and peak pressure to be analysed.
OVERVIEW OF THE FACILITY
The two main sections of the facility are the driver and the driven sections, separated by
a thin aluminium diaphragm. These sections have a cylindrical shape with a 50 mm
inner diameter and 90 mm outer diameter. Further details of the facility are described
below and shown in Figure 1.
588
Mohsen et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 587-596
Figure 1. Schematic of the short duration high speed flow test facility at Universiti
Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN).
1. Driver section (compression chamber) - The section is a 2.5 m long SAE-4135

alloy steel pipe. It contains the high pressure driver gas, which can be Air,
Helium, Hydrogen or other light gases.
2. Discharge valve – The valve is used to discharge the driver section after each
run.
3. Pressure gauge – The pressure gauge is used to measure the pressure inside the
driver section. This section is also provided with a static pressure transducer to
record the exact value of the driver pressure, P4 at which the diaphragm
ruptures.
4. Vacuum pump – The vacuum pump is used to evacuate air from the driver
section when another gas is used as the driver gas (e.g., Helium or Hydrogen).
5. The primary diaphragm – The primary diaphragm is a thin aluminium
membrane used to isolate the low-pressure driven gas from the high pressure
driver gas. When this membrane ruptured, the compression process is initiated.
6. Piston compression section - When the facility is used as a gun tunnel, a piston
is placed in the driven section adjacent to the primary diaphragm. When the
diaphragm ruptures, the piston is propelled through the driven tube, compressing
the gas ahead of it.
7. Discharge valve – The valve is used to discharge the driven section after each
run.
8. Vacuum gauge – The vacuum gauge is used to set the pressure inside the driven
section to the desired value (vacuum values) below atmospheric pressure.
9. Driven section (shock tube) – A 3.5 m long non-machined cold forged uniform
tube of alloy steel. It is filled with the driven gas, such as (air, nitrogen or carbon
dioxide).
10. Driven section extension – The shock tube extension is 0.5 m long and has the
same internal diameter as shock tube. It is to this section that the pressure
transducers and thermocouples are attached.
11. The secondary diaphragm and nozzle section – A light plastic diaphragm to
separate the low pressure test gas inside the driven section from the test section
and dump tank, which are initially set to a vacuum prior to the run. The main
purpose of the second bursting system is to relieve pressurised air rapidly
through the convergent-divergent nozzle once the desired pressure has been
reached. This will convert subsonic flow to supersonic flow.
12. Test section – This section expands the high temperature test gas through a
nozzle to the correct high enthalpy conditions needed to simulate hypersonic
589
flow. A range of Mach numbers is available by changing the diameter of the

throat insert.
13. Vacuum vessel (dump tank) – This section is to be evacuated to about 0.1
mmHg pressure before running. Prior to a run, the driven section, test section
and dump tank are all evacuated to a low-pressure value.
DIAPHRAGM SECTION
The diaphragm section consists of two flanges that are designed to hold the thin
aluminium diaphragm and connect the driver and driven sections. Four alloy steel bolts
of M20 and two O-ring seals are used to join the two flanges and prevent any leaks. The
inner diameters of both driver and driven sections are 50 mm. The diaphragm section is
shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. The diaphragm section.
Figure 3. The driven section flange.
590
To insert or replace the diaphragm in the diaphragm section, the two flanges
have to be separated by loosening the four bolts and the driver section has to be moved
away from the driven section. A one-inch turnbuckle is designed to roll the driver
section away from the driven section and to bring it back together after the diaphragm is
inserted. The internal edge of the driven section side flange has been rounded with a
radius of 8 mm to facilitate the diaphragm rupture process and avoid any shear. This
flange is shown in Figure 3. In order to obtain the area contraction in the facility a
removable bush has been designed and is placed adjacent to the diaphragm, as shown in
Figure 4.
Figure 4. The bush in the driven section adjacent to the diaphragm.
EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS
The short duration high speed flow test facility at UNITEN is designed such that it can
be operated in four different modes, namely: shock tube, shock tunnel, free piston
compressor and gun tunnel. The present work performed the experimental
measurements using the shock tube mode. These experimental tests used different
operating conditions to investigate the parameters of interest. The initial set of
experimental measurements had no area contraction in the facility. In these experiments,
a gas combination of air/air as driver/driven gases with three different pressure ratios,
P4/P1 = 10, 15, and 20 were used to obtain the sudden burst of the diaphragm and to
generate the shock wave. The driven section pressures were 100kPa for all cases. The
same set of experiments were then repeated with area contraction in the facility (i.e.,
with the presence of the bush) and the results were compared and analysed to address
the effects of the area contraction on the performance of the facility.
In order to measure the instantaneous pressure history in the driven section, two
piezo-electric pressure transducers (PCB Piezotronics Inc., model 111A24) with two
signal conditioners; one for each sensor (PCB Piezotronics Inc., model 482A21), are
mounted at the end of the driven section and separated by an axial distance of 342 mm.
The position of the first pressure transducer is station 1 and the second position is
station 2, which is located 40 mm from the end wall of the driven section, as shown in
Figure 5.
591
Figure 5. The pressure transducers mounted at the end of the driven section of
UNITEN’s high speed flow test facility.
Figure 6. Data acquisition system.
Another static pressure transducer is mounted on the driver section, near to the
primary diaphragm, to record the exact value of the driver pressure P4, at which the
diaphragm ruptures. These three pressure transducers connect to a data acquisition
system, which captures the shock wave and records the instantaneous pressure history.
Figure 6 shows a schematic of the data acquisition system. This system comprises a
GRAPHETIC DAQ (model midi LOGGER dual GL500) 24 channel, digital recorder
with a maximum sample rate of up to 500 Msampling/sec per channel, an amplifier and
a data logger. The amplifier is necessary to amplify the very small signal received from
the pressure transducers and the data logger connects to a computer equipped with
suitable software to record and plot the instantaneous pressure history.
592
The following sections present the results obtained from the experimental
measurements. These results are analysed to determine the effects of the area
contraction (the presence of the bush) on the peak pressure, the shock wave strength and
the shock wave speed.
Peak Pressure and Shock Wave Strength without Area Contraction
Figure 7 shows the instantaneous pressure history at station (1) for the case of no area
contraction, at three different diaphragm pressure ratios of 10, 15 and 20. This figure
clearly shows the physics of the flow inside the shock tube. Considering the pressure
history at diaphragm pressure ratio P4/P1 of 20, the first pressure jump represents the
shock wave passing station (1), which causes the static pressure to increase
instantaneously from 100 kPa to around 360 kPa. As the shock wave proceeds to the
end of the tube, it reflects and moves back in the opposite direction. The passage of the
reflected shockwave at station (1) further increases the static pressure to about 980 kPa.
The shock wave then interacts with the contact surface, which is following the shock
wave and due to this interaction between the shock wave and the contact surface, the
pressure increases further until it reaches its peak pressure value of 1450 kPa.
Comparing the results at different pressure ratios, the results also clearly indicate that
the peak pressure and shockwave strength increase as the diaphragm pressure ratio
increases.
Figure 7: Pressure history at station (1) with no area contraction (air-air)
Peak Pressure and Shock Strength with Area Contraction
The same instantaneous pressure history trends occur for cases with area contraction, as
shown in Figure 8. This figure shows the instantaneous pressure history at station (1)
593
with the bush placed in the diaphragm section. At diaphragm pressure ratios P4/P1 of 20,
the recorded values of shock strength, reflected shock strength and peak pressure are
300 kPa, 760 kPa, and 1000 kPa, respectively. These values are significantly below
those obtained with no area contraction.
Figure 8. Pressure history at station (1) with area contraction (air-air)
For clarification, Figure 9 presents in one graph the two cases, with and without
area contraction for a diaphragm pressure ratio of P4/P1 of 10. The differences in the
instantaneous pressure history of the two cases are obvious. The values of shock
strength and peak pressure with no area contraction are 290 kPa and 770 kPa, while
these values drop to 240 kPa and 540 kPa for the experiment performed with area
contraction. The same observations are made when diaphragm pressure ratios of 15 and
20 are used.
Figure 9. Pressure history at station (1) (air-air) (P4/P1 = 10).
594
Shock Wave Speed
The shock wave speed is determined from the experimental data. The distance between
the two stations is known (0.342 m) and the time taken for the shock to travel from
station 1 to station 2 can be obtained from the pressure history graph, as shown in
Figure 10. This figure is a close up view of the incident shock wave region with a
diaphragm pressure ratio of 10. Figure 10(a) shows that the incident shock wave with no
area contraction takes 0.000624 sec to travel from station (1) to station (2), which means
that the incident shock wave speed is 548 m/s. When the bush is present in the facility
(with area contraction) for the same pressure ratio, Figure 10(b) shows that the
generated incident shock wave takes 0.000678 sec to travel from station (1) to station
(2). Thus, the shock wave speed is 504 m/s, which is evidently lower than that
determined with no area contraction. The same observation is made when different
diaphragm pressure ratios of 15 and 20 were applied.
(a) Without area contraction (b) With area contraction
Figure 10. The incident shock wave for diaphragm pressure ratio of 10 (Air-Air).
CONCLUSION
In this paper, the effects of area contraction on the peak pressure, shock wave strength
and shock wave speed, which are important parameters determining the performance of
a high speed flow test facility, have been investigated experimentally. The results show
that area contraction, through placing a bush adjacent to the diaphragm in the driven
section, significantly reduces peak pressure, shock wave strength and speed. At a
diaphragm pressure ratio of 10, the results reveal that the shock strength decreases by
18%, the peak pressure decreases by 30% and the shock speed reduces by 8%, when the
shock tube is used with area contraction. Similar results were observed when using three
different diaphragm pressure ratios to repeat the experiments.
595
REFERENCES
Amir, A.F., Yusoff, M.Z. and Yusaf, T. 2008. Development of a short duration
hypersonic test facility at Universiti Tenaga Nasional. Journal of the Institution
of Engineers, Malaysia, 69(1): 19-25.
Amir, A.F., Yusoff, M.Z. and Yusaf, T. 2007. Numerical and experimental study to
evaluate the performance of Universiti Tenaga Nasional short duration
hypersonic test facility. In AFMC: 16th Australasian Fluid Mechanics
Conference, Crown Plaza, Gold Coast, Australia, pp. 104-111.
Amir, A.F., Yusoff, M.Z. and Yusaf, T. 2008. An experimental evaluation of shock
strength and peak pressure in a conventional shock tube and a free piston
compressor. In IMECE2008: ASME International Mechanical Engineering
Congress and Exposition, Boston, USA, pp. 1-8.
Amir, A.F., Yusoff, M.Z., Ahmed, D.I. and Shuaib, N.H. 2009. Experimental
performance evaluation of short duration high speed flow shock tunnel.
Proceedings of ICEE 2009 3rd International Conference on Energy and
Environment, Malacca, Malaysia, pp. 379 – 384.
Aso, S., Hakim, A.N., Miyamoto, S. Inoue, K. and Tani, Y. 2005. Fundamental study of
supersonic combustion in pure airflow with use of shock tunnel. Acta
Astronautica 57(2-8): 384–389.
Briassulis, G., Agui, J.H., Andreopoulos, J. and Watkins, C.B. 1996. A shock tube
research facility for high-resolution measurements of compressible turbulence.
Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 13(4): 430–446.
Kaneko, M., Men’shov, I. and Nakamura, Y. 2005. Numerical simulation of
nonequilibrium flow in high-enthalpy shock tunnel. Energy, 30(2-4): 165–179.
Lu, F.K., Wilson, D.R. and Matsumoto, J. 2009. Rapid valve opening technique for
supersonic blowdown tunnel. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 33(3):
551–554.
Sahoo, N., Mahapatra, D.R., Jagadeesh, G., Gopalakrishnan, S. and Reddy, K.P.J. 2007.
Design and analysis of an accelerometer-based force balance system for shock
tunnel testing. Measurement, 40(1): 93–106.
Wintenberger, E. 2002. 6 Inch shock tube experiments. 315 Guggenheim.
596
DEVELOPMENT OF A CHEST FREEZER – OPTIMUM DESIGN

OF AN EVAPORATOR COIL
K. Kalyani Radha1, S. Naga Sarada2 and K. Rajagopal2

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, JNTUA College of Engineering, JNTUA
Anantapur - 515002, Andhra Pradesh, India; Phone: +91 9440517729.
E-mail: kalyaniradha@gmail.com
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, JNTUH College of Engineering,
Kukatpally, Hyderabad-500085, Andhra Pradesh, India.
ABSTRACT
In a country such as India, food grains, fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry and fish, are very
susceptible to microbial contamination and spoilage and require stringent preservation
methods. One such method is by the use of a chest freezer for the storage of frozen
food. This investigation considers different loads and design parameters for the
development of a chest freezer using R134a as the working fluid. Experimental designs
of an evaporator coil, condenser coil and capillary tube are investigated through the
development of storage periods in terms of steady state and cyclic performance, by
optimising the quantity of refrigerant charge, with strict adherence to the standards and
requirement for maintaining an internal temperature of -23 °C at 43 °C ambient. Cyclic
load performance tests optimise the performance of individual components selected for
the design of a chest freezer. The system selection has a highly balanced performance
with R134a and showed 118 kJ/kg cooling capacity with 8.42 coefficient of
performance (COP). By the replacement of R134a, temperatures of -23 °C are
maintained inside the freezer cabinet with low power consumption and an increase in
the net refrigerating effect, which in turn increases the COP. The system design has
optimum efficiency with moderate costs by optimising the length and diameter of the
evaporator coil, i.e., 34.15 m and 7.94 mm, respectively.
Keywords: Optimisation, evaporator coil, performance, chest freezer, alternate

refrigerants, overall heat transfer coefficient.
INTRODUCTION
CFC12 is the most commonly used refrigerant in small hermetically sealed systems.
This is because of its high stability, excellent thermodynamic properties, low index of
compression, which makes it suitable for use at extreme pressure ratios and good motor
winding cooling characteristics (Lee and Su, 2002; Akash and Said, 2003). HFC134a
(tetraflouroethane) is considered to be the most preferred substitute for R12. HFC134a
has a 6% higher capacity at 50 °F evaporating temperature and 6% higher at 0 °F
evaporating temperature. Thus, for the same amount of subcooling R134a produces a
greater refrigerating effect. The use of oil in an R134a system requires a very stringent
quality control. It is not soluble in mineral oil and thus, for R134a POE (ester based)
oils are used. This refrigerant contains no chlorine atoms and therefore has negligible
ozone depletion potential (Avinash et al., 2005). Most commercial freezers, such as:
chest freezers, bottle coolers, visi coolers, display cabinets, water coolers and walk in
597
Development of a chest freezer – Optimum design of an evaporator coil
coolers use R134a and R12 as the refrigerant. Estimated annual production of
commercial refrigerated cabins (chest freezers, display cabinets, bottle coolers and visi
coolers), water coolers and walk in coolers in India is about 40,000, 27,000 and 500
units, respectively. Small and medium enterprises (Ministry of environment and forest,
2005) manufacture about 80% of these units. Theoretical and experimental studies
carried out with an HFC mixture composed of R152a and R125 at different weight
percentages (80:20, 85:15 and 90:10) as an alternative to R12 in a domestic refrigerator,
reported that the discharge temperature of the mixture was slightly higher than that of
R12 (He et al, 2005).
Xuan and Chen (2005) experimented with a ternary mixture R161/R125/ R143a
(10:45:45 percentage by weight) and reported that the physical properties of the R161
mixture are similar to those of R502 with environmental properties less than those of
R502 and R404A. The coefficient of performance (COP) of the R161 mixture is equal
to that of R404A at low evaporator temperatures and its discharge temperature is
slightly higher than R404A. The COP of the ternary mixture was greater than R404A at
higher evaporator temperatures, while its discharge temperature was lower. Baolian and
Zhang (2006) reported that a binary mixture composed of R744 and R290 at 71:29 mole
fractions, used as an alternative to R13 in a cascade refrigeration system, has a greater
COP and capacity. The performance of a 280l R134a-based domestic refrigerator with
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) composed of R290, R600a and R600 (60:20:20 by mass
fraction) as an alternative (Fatouh and El Kafafy, 2006). Experimental investigation
with R407C with 10% and 20% HC blend composed of 45% of R290 and 55% of
R600a (by weight) as an alternative in window air conditioners without changing the
mineral oil (Jabaraj et al., 2006). It has been reported that a 19% increase in the length
of the condenser tube is required to suit these mixtures compared with R22.
Experimental results reported that R407C with a 20% HC blend was found to be a
promising alternative to R22 in window air conditioners, without changing the mineral
oil. Calm (2006) has investigated 28 different pure refrigerants for chiller applications
and reported that R123 currently remains the best option for a reduction in the
substantial global warming contributions from chiller and air conditioning applications.
R123 has low ODP and very low GWP, very short atmospheric lifetime and the highest
energy efficiency of all the current options. Experiments were conducted with two pure
HC refrigerants (R1270 and R290) and three binary mixtures of R1270, R290 and
R152a as alternatives to R502 in low temperature refrigeration applications, having 9.6–
18.7% higher capacity with 17.1–27.3% higher COP. The compressor discharge
temperatures were similar, whilst those of all the other refrigerants were 23.7–27.9 ºC
lower than that of R502. The charge requirement was reduced by 60%. The above
alternatives offer better performance than R502 and due to their excellent environmental
properties, can be used as long-term substitutes for R502 (Park and Jung, 2007).
R12 is the refrigerant used in refrigerators manufactured before 2000. To fulfil

the objectives of the Montreal protocol, R12 has to be replaced by either hydrocarbon
mixtures or R134a/hydrocarbon mixtures without modification to the existing system
(Mohanraj et al., 2009). A review work done by Poggi et al. (2008) examined the
relationship between the system architecture, the cooling capacity and the refrigerant
charge of the system. It established that the ratio of the cooling capacity versus the
refrigerant charge depends on the size of the components; moreover, the amount of
refrigerant charge is influenced not only by the volumes of the heat exchangers but also
598
Kalyani Radha et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 597-611
by the volumes of the accessories (piping, accumulators, dryers, receivers, filters). For
small refrigeration systems, the accessories could greatly influence the system volume
and at the same time, the system architecture and the refrigerant charge can influence
the performance of the system. In the literature, it is possible to find several
experimental and modelling/simulation works regarding the relationship between the
refrigerant charge and the performance of the system. These works mainly relate to the
heat pump and air conditioning systems but little work is available for chest freezers.
The present work investigates freezers working under low temperatures for the storage
of frozen food, using a reduced refrigerant charge quantity in the evaporator coil, in
order to achieve better system performance.
Chest-type freezers: A chest freezer is nothing but a storage unit for frozen food, such
as: meat, poultry, fish, prawns, some vegetables and some fruits. The chest-type freezer
provides the most economical type of food freezing mechanism, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Line diagram of chest freezer.
The cooling load on refrigerating equipment seldom results from any one source
of heat but is the summation of the heat evolving from several different sources. The
total cooling load can be divided into four separate loads: the wall gain load, the
infiltration load, the product load and the miscellaneous load (Kalyani Radha, 2004).
Cooling Load Calculation: The cooling load on refrigerating equipment seldom results
from any one source of heat but is the summation of the heat evolving from several
different sources (Andrew et al, 2005). Some of the more common sources of heat that
is supply the load on refrigerating equipment.
599
The design procedure is considered as:
52% heat loss due to walls = 89.67 W

30% heat loss due to gaskets and air change load = 24.63 W and 35.64W
18% heat loss due to foodstuffs, heat loss due to defrosting radiant heaters, fans,
and thermostat, heat loss due to miscellaneous = 43.53 W
The total load is the sum of all the above loads.
Factor of Safety: Let us consider a factor of safety of 6% on the total load,

Total Load: = 186.77 W
Safety factor 6%: 0.06 × 186.77 = 11.20 W
The total load on the freezer: 186.77 + 11.20 = 197.97 W
Percentage Run Time:

Let percentage run time = 80%
Required cooling capacity = 197.97 / 0.8 = 247.46 W
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND METHODOLOGY
The design of the experimental setup is as per the load calculation, selection and
optimisation of equipment for a 400 L chest freezer (specifications in Appendix). The
methodology starts with selection of a compressor according to the load calculation,
optimum design for other equipment, such as evaporator coil, capillary tube and
condenser coil and optimisation of the refrigerant charge quantity in order to be able to
withstand break-down conditions.
SELECTION OF EQUIPMENT
Selection of a Compressor: The required compressor capacity must be determined

from the cooling load calculations. General practice is to select a compressor that has a
capacity equal to, or somewhat in excess of the required capacity at the design operating
conditions ASHRAE (1965, 1977). To have a cooling capacity of 247.46 W from the
percentage run time, in order to maintain a temperature of -23 ºC in a 400 L chest
freezer, we selected a compressor from the compressor cooling performance curves,
drawn between evaporating temperature and cooling capacity at 54 ºC condensing
temperature. From Figure 2, in order to maintain freezer compartment temperatures of -
23 ºC, we require 255.81 W cooling capacities with a rated input power of 250 W. This
capacity is more than the cooling load required. The compressor model is a Tecumseh,
MLB 2410 series with 2.53 A rated current and 250 W of rated input power.
600
Figure 2. Dimensions of the chest freezer.
OPTIMUM DESIGN OF EVAPORATOR COIL
The capacity of an evaporator is the rate at which heat will pass through the evaporator
tubes from the refrigerated space or product to the vaporising liquid inside ASHRAE
(1977, 1978 and 2001). An evaporator must always have sufficient capacity to produce
the required load when operating at the design conditions. The evaporating unit capacity
depends on air velocity and minimum dehydration of the product. This is mainly due to
natural convection, which is a function of the temperature differential between the
evaporator and the space; the greater the difference, the higher the air circulation. The
shape, size and location of the evaporator and the placement of the stored product,
greatly influences the circulation of air by natural convection within the refrigerated
space (Ravindra, 2001). The surface area, the value of U and the capacity of the
evaporator depend upon the mean effective temperature difference between the cooling
coil and the refrigerated space.
Determination of U factor (Dossat, 2006)
Let tf be the mean film temperature,
Maximum evaporator temperature minimum evaporator tempeature

tf (1)
2
tf = - 25 °C
The properties of R134a at -25 °C temperature are:
Viscosity of fluid, µf = 3.7 × 10-4 kg/ms

Viscosity of gas, µg = 3.9 × 10-4 kg/ms
601
Density of fluid, f = 1373.5 kg/m3

Density of gas, g = 46.7 kg/m3
Latent heat, hfg = 127.45 kJ/kg
Thermal conductivity of fluid, Kf = 0.1031 W/m°K
Thermal conductivity of gas, Kg = 0. 0093 W/m°K
Velocity, V = 3 m/s
Specific heat, Cp = 1.28 kJ/kg°K
Outer diameter of pipe, D = 7.94 × 10-3 m
Inner diameter, Di = 6.52 × 10-3 mm
Correction factor, Cf = 0.065
Let the Prandtl Number be, Pr = µf Cp / Kf = 4.5 x 10-3 (2)
We have, Reynolds Number, Re = [ g v D]/ µg (3)

Re = 88423.7 > 2300, i.e., it is a turbulent flow.
Let h1fg be the modified latent heat, which can be calculated as:
Let the subcooling temperature difference be Ti = 10 °C
h1fg = hfg + 3 /8 Cf Ti = 127.69 kJ/kg (4)
The equation for internal flow in the tubes is given by:
hf = 0.555 [g f ( f – g) Kf3 h1fg /µf Ti Di ]1/4 (5)

= 310.8 W/m°K
As the flow is turbulent, we have the equation for convection heat transfer coefficient
as:
hi = 1.24 ( T/ D) 1/3 = 13.07 W/m°K (6)
The overall heat transfer coefficient is given by the equation:
U= 1 / [1/ hf + xp / Kp + xa / Ka + 1/ hi] (7)
where, U = coefficient of heat transmission in the evaporating region, W/ m2 oK

xc = thickness of outer wall, cold rolled carbon steel, 0.4 mm
Kc = thermal conductivity of outer wall, 45.326 W/ m oK
xa = thickness of inner wall, aluminium, 0.45 mm
Ka = thermal conductivity of inner wall, 221.95 W/ m oK
Xpuf = thickness of insulation, 0.06 m
Kpuf = thermal conductivity of insulation material, 0.020 W/m oK per metre thickness
hi = inside wall surface coefficient, 13.7 W/m2 oK
Therefore, U1 =11.16 W/m2 °K
The mean effective temperature difference is calculated by:
T = TM –TE (8)
602
where, TM = mean temperature inside freezer, ºC

TE = Evaporator temperature, -30 °C from ASHRAE
It is assumed that the evaporator temperature is maintained at 7 ºC below the

temperature maintained inside the freezer cabinet.
From the equation, TM = TF x CF (9)
where
TF = the temperature of frozen food storage compartment, -23 ºC
CF = the air quantity ratio of frozen storage compartment in percentage from ASHRAE
From the above equation, TM = TF × CF = -23 × 0.4 = -9.2 °C
We have T = TM – TE = -9.2 – (-30) = 20.8 °C

Heat absorbed in evaporator is given by: Q = UA T (10)
A= dl (11)
For the design procedure of the evaporator coil, the total load to be removed from the
freezer compartment = 197.97 W
T = 20.8 °K, U = 11.16 W/m2 °K
Substituting these values in the equation, Q=UA T (12)
A = 0.852 Sq. m
Let the diameter of the coil, d = 7.94 mm, then L = 34.15 m ~ 34 m length.
OPTIMUM DESIGN OF A CAPILLARY TUBE
In order to select the proper size valve, the following data are necessary: the evaporator
temperature, the system capacity and the available pressure difference across the valve
ASHRAE (1977 and 1978). In general, the first two factors determine the required
liquid flow rate through the valve, whereas the third determines the size of orifice
required to deliver the desired flow rate; the flow rate through the orifice being
proportional to the pressure differential across the valve (Dossat, 2006; Stoecker, 2009).
When the available pressure difference across the expansion valve has been determined,
a value should be selected from the manufacturers rating table that has a capacity equal
to, or slightly in excess of the system capacity at the system design operating conditions.
This can be only achieved by testing.
The Darcy Friction Equation gives the pressure drop:
P = f Lc V2/ 2 g Dc (13)
where: P = drop in pressure in capillary
Lc = length of the capillary
Dc = diameter of the capillary
603
From the P-h chart, P1 = 0.668 bar and P2 = 12.38 bar, f = 0.004, g = 9.81
2
m/sec . From ASHRAE, the recommended velocity of flow for the discharge and
suction pressure, v = 3.67 m/sec, therefore P = 11.71 bar. From ASHREA standards,
for a pressure drop of 11.71 bar, the dimensions should be D = 0.79 mm, L = 3.963 m.
OPTIMUM DESIGN OF A CONDENSER COIL
While designing the actual refrigeration cycle (Ravindra, 2001), the condenser load is
expressed by following Eq. (14). However, the required capacity is 197.97 W, which is
more than the refrigeration load, so in designing the condenser coil we have to consider
this load to be the refrigeration load, as this increases the load on capacity of the
condenser coil.
Q condenser = Q refrigeration capacity + Compressor Input Power (14)

= 197.97 + 250 = 447.97 W
We have the equation, heat rejected in condenser, Q condenser = F U A T (15)
where F = correction factor depending on the R and P values.
Therefore, 447.97 W of heat should be removed from the condenser coil. As it is

difficult to remove the total amount of heat through natural convection, we employ a
condenser fan placed in front of an auxiliary condenser and the rest of the condenser
coil is attached to the outer shell of the cabinet.
Log mean temperature difference, T = 29.49ºK

From Eq. 15, the surface area of the condenser coil can be calculated.
Let the outer diameter of the coil, d = 6.52 mm
A = d L = 0.7843 m2
L = 38.29 m
Optimisation of Refrigerant Charge Quantity
The system is first charged with 400 g of charge as per the compressor specifications
and then the system is tested for stabilisation of temperatures (Kalyani Radha, 2004;
ASHRAE 2005). Every 4 h, 10 g of charge is purged from the system and each time it is
tested for stabilised conditions. Figure 3 shows that a 320 g of charge is sufficient to
maintain the required stabilised temperatures inside the freezer cabinet at 1.89 A and a
rated input power of 190 W.
604
Figure 3. Evaporator temperature vs. refrigerant charge quantity.
No Load Pull Down Test
The system is run for about 4 h without the thermostat in the refrigeration cycle. After
achieving a steady state, the performance is analysed between temperature and time
(Figure 4). It is achieving a steady state requires 1.772 A at a rated input power of
198W.
Figure 4. No load pull down - evaporator temperature vs. time.
605
No-load Cycling Test
The system is run keeping the thermostat in cycling mode in the refrigeration system.
As the temperature reaches -23.5 °C the compressor stops, which is called the cut-off
time and as the temperature inside the cabinet reaches -20 °C the compressor starts,
which is called the cut-in time; taking the power and maintaining the temperature inside
the cabinet at stabilised conditions. The system is run for 5 h and its performance is
analysed (Figure 5).
Cut-off time = 1 h and 16 min = 76 min

Cut-in time (run time) = 4 h and 16 min = 256 min
Total time = cut-off time + cut-in time = 76 + 256 = 332 min
Run percentage time = (run time/ Total time) × 100 = 77%
Figure 5. No load cycling – evaporator temperature vs. time.
Load Pull Down Test
The system operates for 24 h at full load conditions. From Figure 6, we can say that the
system achieves steady state conditions after 16 to 18 h. The suction pressure is 0.66 bar
and the discharge pressure is 12.38 bar, which takes almost 1.83 A of rated current and
215 W of rated power. This would be the maximum power required to pull down the
total load from the cabinet.
606
Figure 6. Load pull down – evaporator temperature vs. time.
Energy Consumption
At Full Load condition,

Initial reading = 4005.08 kWhr
Final reading = 4009.33 kWhr
Total Power = 4009.33 – 4005.08 = 4.25 kWhr/24hr
Load Pull Up Test
After the system runs continuously for about 24 h the supply is switched off. The
temperature of all the side packets are noted until one packet reaches -9 °C, which is the
temperature when the loaded product inside the freezer just starts crossing its freezing
point and if continued further, the product begins to be damaged. The total pull up time
= 8 h. This is the time required to store the product without any spoiling inside the
freezer at power off conditions (Figure 7).
If all other parameters are kept the same but we change the refrigerant from R12 to
R134a, temperatures of -23 °C can be maintained inside the freezer cabinet, at 43°C
ambient, with low power consumption and an increase in the net refrigerating effect,
which in turn increases the COP by 4.25% . The refrigerant charge quantity is reduced
by 29.4% with an increase in performance during breakdown conditions. The optimised
evaporator coil length and diameter are 34.15 m and 7.94 mm, respectively. The two
refrigerants are compared, as shown in Table 1.
607
Table 1. Comparison of R12 and R134a.
Properties R12 R134a

1 ODP 0.86 0
2 GWP 3.2 0.27
Mild steel inside, copper
3 Evaporator Coils Copper
coating outside zinc coated
4 Temperature -18 °C -23 °C
Energy
5 6 kWhr 4.25 kWhr
Consumption/day
During power-off /
6 4 to 6 h 8h
Breakdown condition
Net refrigerating
7 105 kJ/kg 118 kJ/kg
effect
Mass flow of
8 0.0017 kg/s 0.0012 kg/s
refrigerant
9 Work done 13 kJ/kg 14 kJ/kg
10 COP 8.076 8.42
Figure 7. Load pull up – evaporator temperature vs. Time.
608
CONCLUSION
In the design of the refrigeration system for a freezer, rigid standards are maintained so
as not to have any compromise with the quality and flexibility of the system. The
system is designed for optimum efficiency with moderate costs; efficient equipment
design will result in energy savings, which reduces the running costs. The performance
of the total system can be enhanced by removing dust particles or contaminants from the
system. Placement of the freezer also plays a major role in reducing the load on the
system. If exposed to the higher temperatures, the greater will be the capacity
requirement and power requirement. Future work would be the development of an even
more energy efficient freezer for working at different ambient conditions and with
alternative refrigerants, which is more economical and more feasible at breakdown
conditions. In addition, a new chest freezer model is to be designed, maintaining the
freezing temperatures below 0 °F, at 80–95% relative humidity for the storage of frozen
food.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are thankful to the Voltas, R and D Unit, Hyderabad for providing the
facilities in order to carry out this work.
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air-conditioning. Tinley Park: The Goodheart-Willcox. Co., Inc.
American National Standards Institute/ ASHRAE, 2005. Standard 722005: Method of
testing commercial refrigerators and freezers.
ASHRAE, Guide and Data Book, 1965. Fundamentals and equipment.
ASHRAE, Guide and Data Book, 1977. Fundamentals and equipment.
ASHRAE, Guide and Data Book, 1978. Product directory applications.
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H-IM-64L. 2007. Installation and operational manual. Heatcraft worldwide
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Nomenclature
A Surface Area, m2
COP Coefficient of Performance
d/D Diameter, mm
l Length, m
mr Mass of Refrigerant, kg
Q Total Heat Transfer, W
to Outside Temperature, °C
ti Inside Designed Temperature, °C
tf Mean Film Temperature, °C
T Difference in Temperature, °C
U Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient, W/m2 °K
610
APPENDIX
CHEST FREEZER SPECIFICATIONS
Capacity 400L
Overall dimensions 1450 × 895 × 620 mm
Outer body Cold rolled carbon steel (0.4 mm thickness)
Inner cabinet Aluminium (0.45 mm thickness)
Insulation polyol, cyclopentane and isocyanate PUF
(60 mm thickness).
611
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOR MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES IN THE

MANUFACTURING SECTOR
M.A. Mansor1, A. Ohsato2 and S. Sulaiman3

1
26300 UMP, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Phone: +6012-3456789, Fax: +609-87654321
E-mail: ariffin@ump.edu.my
2
Faculty of Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology
1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan
3
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
21300 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT
Maintenance is an indispensable part of the business process and plays an important role
in an organisation’s success and survival. The main purpose of maintenance is to ensure
equipment functions at its original optimal level. Thus, the knowledge and skills of
operators are crucial and in demand. This paper presents a knowledge management of
maintenance activities transfer method. Knowledge management is a process that a
company cannot avoid, because it is a step in providing the necessary information for
business performance measurements. Based on the example of a knowledge
management system for a consultant company, we propose a knowledge repository or
warehouse for maintenance activities that consists of four elements: best practice,
databases, discussion forums and assessment tools. Each element has its own role and
contribution towards better maintenance activities. Therefore, knowledge management
has a deep relationship with performance evaluation or measurement.
Keywords: Maintenance, knowledge management, performance measurement.
INTRODUCTION
In the early 1900s, maintenance was considered a necessary evil. When equipment
broke down it was fixed without consideration of the cost or time consumed etc. The
general attitude towards maintenance at that time was, “it costs what it costs”. However,
with the advent of technological change, maintenance can now be planned and
controlled and can optimise the production processes. Today, maintenance is considered
as an indispensable part of the business process. The efficiency and effectiveness of the
maintenance system plays an important role in an organisation’s success and survival
According to Nakajima and Shirase (1992), there are two types of production
maintenance: planned and unplanned. Planned maintenance is generally classified as
preventive and corrective maintenance, whilst breakdown maintenance is considered as
unplanned. Preventive maintenance can be further subdivided into fixed maintenance
and predictive maintenance. Figure 1 shows the different types of maintenance. If
planned maintenance works efficiently, it will lead to a reduction of unplanned
maintenance.
612
Knowledge management for maintenance activities in the manufacturing sector
Figure 1. Types of maintenance.
Preventive maintenance maintains the “healthy” condition of equipment by

performing daily routine actions (normally referred to as daily maintenance), such as:
cleaning, refuelling, checking to prevent deterioration, periodic inspection and
equipment diagnosis to measure deterioration and maintenance and repair to restore
deterioration at an early stage. Because fixed maintenance requires periodic
maintenance before a breakdown occurs, maintenance expense is costly. There are two
types of fixed maintenance: time-based maintenance (TBM) and the overhaul type
maintenance called inspection and repair (IR). Predictive maintenance foresees the life
of an important part by checking and diagnosis and therefore, maintenance costs and
trouble losses are less with this method when compared with others. One method of
predictive maintenance is condition-based maintenance (CBM). This type of
maintenance uses condition diagnosis technology (CDT) to observe the deterioration in
the condition of equipment and then foresee its life span. Therefore, a suitable period
and method for the maintenance can be decided upon. A system to monitor the
condition of equipment online, for example, makes maintenance technology and
manpower more necessary in CBM compared with TBM.
Breakdown maintenance can be considered as unplanned maintenance because it

results in the repair or exchange of parts after a sudden breakdown or malfunction of the
equipment. Breakdown maintenance has a significant influence on the production
process, because of the time during which the equipment is stopped and the time
consumed to restore the equipment back to normal. Corrective maintenance aims to
improve the reliability, maintainability and safety of equipment. Improving bad parts of
equipment to reduce deterioration and breakdown, increasing the meantime between
failure (MTBF) and reducing the meantime to repair (MTTR) of equipment, are all
613
Mansor et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 612-621
typical actions in corrective maintenance. These actions are performed on equipment

with a short fixed maintenance cycle, a high incidence of breakdown maintenance and
high breakdown expense. The main purpose of maintenance is to ensure equipment
functions to its original optimal level and this can be accomplished by eliminating
losses that affect the equipment. Simultaneously, this also leads to a reduction of
production costs. Specifically, seven major losses that can impede equipment efficiency
are:
1. Breakdown losses
2. Set-up and adjustment losses
3. Cutting tool losses
4. Start-up losses
5. Minor stoppage (“choko-tei”) and idling losses
6. Speed losses
7. Scrap and rework losses
Breakdown losses are time losses when the function of equipment suddenly
stops and these account for the majority of equipment loss (Nakajima and Shirase,
1992).
Total productive maintenance (TPM) is widely known worldwide as a

maintenance management technique. This technique taken from the U.S. style of
preventive maintenance (PM) was reconfigured by adding some elements of Japanese
management style. TPM activities are performed based on a structure called "TPM 8
pillars", which include:
1. Individual improvement
2. Autonomous maintenance
3. Planned maintenance
4. Development management
5. Education and training
6. Office TPM
7. Quality maintenance
8. Safety, health and environment
Among the TPM 8 pillars, companies, especially small and medium-sized

enterprises, put more effort into autonomous maintenance in addition to 5S.
Autonomous maintenance has seven phases or steps of activity, as listed below:
1. Performing an initial cleaning

2. Eliminating sources of contamination and inaccessible areas
3. Creation of cleaning and routine maintenance standards (checklist)
4. Conducting "standards and inspection" training
5. Carrying out an autonomous equipment inspection
6. Organisation and standardisation of the workplace
7. Continuous improvement of policies, standards and equipment
The higher steps demand more knowledge and skill on the part of the operator
and therefore, learning methods and knowledge transfer methods from an expert or a
specialist must be facilitated. This paper describes the knowledge management for
614
maintenance activities in the manufacturing sector, by benchmarking the knowledge

management of a consultant company and proposes a knowledge repository or
warehouse for maintenance activities leading to knowledge-based maintenance.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
According to Beesley and Cooper (2008), data and information are objects that can be
stored, traded and classified as tangible assets but knowledge is an intangible asset that
develops from certain mental activities undertaken by an individual. However,
knowledge is valuable only when used and therefore, knowledge must be transferred
and shared. Knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing are among the essential
components of knowledge management. It is context-dependent and must be targeted
towards the needs of a specific organisation. It is not just a process of managing
knowledge assets but of also making knowledge more available and applicable at all
levels of the organisation (Hasan and Al-hawari, 2003). Knowledge management makes
companies more competitive by improving decision-making processes and productivity
(Schreiber et al., 1998). The practice of knowledge management is not limited to large
organisations but is also applicable to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
However, SMEs often experience erosion of knowledge in many forms; the most
obvious is the departure of a key employee, whether it is via retirement or leaving to
work for a competitor’s firm. According to Wickert and Herschel (2001), smaller firms
can employ many techniques for retaining knowledge. These techniques include
training, maintaining a repository of “lessons learned", mentoring, knowledge databases
and best-practice sharing.
Knowledge Management in Maintenance
Knowledge management should have elements, such as several databases, including

information of best practices, on-line information exchange, an assessment tool and a
platform from which to learn and consult. (AAKMG, 2001) These elements are also
applicable to the knowledge management of maintenance. To facilitate its sharing
among employees, it is necessary to store knowledge, such as best-practice information,
maintenance methods, assessment methods, trouble symptoms and countermeasures in
some medium or a knowledge warehouse. Figure 2 shows the outline of a knowledge
warehouse, which consist of best practices, discussion forums, databases and
assessment tools. Knowledge can come from three sources: external sources, internal
sources (employees) and assessment exercises.
The best-practice element includes the company’s achievements, such as

maintenance performance evaluations, case studies, advice and the time spent on
maintenance (Takehashi and Fukushima, 2000). In addition, it is important to share
discussions among communities, maintenance activities and bulletin-board systems.
Discussion forums are a form of communication used to transfer, communicate and
exchange knowledge. Discussion forums can serve as a consulting platform that can be
used as a medium where beginners can learn technology and obtain advice from an
expert.
615
Figure 2. Outline of knowledge warehouse.
One of the assessment methods is performance evaluation. Many performance

evaluation techniques have been developed to meet the requirements of business
processes. Among them are key performance indicator (KPI), data envelopment analysis
(DEA) and game theory. KPI shows a performance of a specific practice, for example;
the maintenance costs per product are measured quantitatively with respect to the
specific situation within the process. Wireman (2005) suggested ways of developing
performance indicators for maintenance management that work at every level, from top
management to the bottom level of an organisation. Appendix 1 lists the performance
indicators for maintenance. The performance indicators are divided into ten categories,
namely: production, cost, quality, delivery, safety, health and environment, morale,
time, man, machine and training. These are the typically outputs of TPM and inputs for
a production system.
DEA is widely used as a performance evaluation technique in various fields,

such as banks, hospitals and universities. DEA is a technique of analysing the efficiency
of the business unit using linear programming. The units, called decision-making units
(DMUs), refer to the collection of private rms, non-pro t organisations, departments,
administrative units and groups with the same (or similar) goals, functions, standards
and market segments. Instead of using the conventional one input to one output, DEA
evaluates multiple inputs and multiple outputs of the system, based on what gives the
greatest efficiency value.
616
Shapley Value, a game theory, is an idea of fair distribution to each player of the
profit obtained by collaboration among players. This theory can determine how
important each player is for the whole strategy. DEA evaluates the efficiency of the
activity while Shapley Value evaluates the result of the activity. Mansor et al. (2008)
proposed a framework to benchmark maintenance performance using data envelopment
analysis, as shown in Figure 3. This framework requires data acquisition from a data
repository before the rest of the processes can be conducted. This framework describes
the importance of the space needed to store knowledge because every day new
knowledge is created. Knowledge warehouses can avoid important information from
becoming useless. The goals of an organisation can be clearly set using proper
performance evaluation or measurement standards; this will help an organisation to
clarify the problems, which can then be improved. A good balance of progress can be
maintained if we are able to set the performance evaluation standard while performing
knowledge management processes. Performance evaluation is performed using
knowledge stored through knowledge management. The result or new knowledge
obtained through this exercise, is then stored back into the repository. This process is
repeated to create a continuous knowledge cycle.
Figure 3. Framework of maintenance performance benchmarking using DEA

(Source: Mansor et al., 2008)
617
Managers use performance measurement to monitor key issues in business.

These measures provide the most relevant information of the company, showing
managers how the business is performing. Performance measurement not only monitors
the business performance according to the business objectives but also assesses the
performance in comparison with similar companies through the use benchmarking (Del-
Rey-Chamorro et al., 2003). Tsang et al. (2006) suggested that the following four
categories of maintenance data are needed in data management:
1. Failures/replacement data (failure mode/suspension, date and time of

failure)
2. Inspection data (covariates, data and time of inspection)
3. Maintenance action data (maintenance action, start and finish date and time
of maintenance action)
4. Installation data (date and time of installation)
Maintenance can be observed from various viewpoints. For example,

maintenance in terms of cost from accountants, budget performance from top
management, techniques from engineers and equipment availability and support
responsiveness from production. Maintenance managers often have access to many data
but seldom receive the information they need (Garg and Deshmukh, 2006). Therefore, a
knowledge warehouse will provide the maintenance manager with the opportunity to
share the knowledge from other departments. Nagarur and Kaewplang (1999) developed
a maintenance decision support system, which comprises several databases that store
detailed knowledge about equipment, inventory, line, workstation, machine, fault, tool,
manpower, work order, plan, performance indices and schedule databases. Such
databases are necessary not only for a decision support system but also for new
employees in order to gain new information about equipment, as well as the
maintenance system.
CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge management is a process that cannot be avoided for a company, because it

is a step in providing the necessary information for business performance measurement.
In order to acquire accurate results of performance measurement, accurate information
becomes an important factor. In our work, we have discussed the necessary elements
that should be included in a knowledge repository or warehouse for maintenance, where
one of the key elements is an assessment tool. This is an important factor because
knowledge management has a deep relationship with performance evaluation and
measurement. Therefore, knowledge management for maintenance activities strongly
indicates a paradigm shift from conventional maintenance to knowledge-based
maintenance or “K-Maintenance”. Maintenance is more than just the fixing of a broken-
down piece of equipment because this event also brings serious effects for production
efficiency. Maintenance based on knowledge contributes to time and cost savings.
Better efficiency of maintenance activities can be achieved by taking advantage of the
available maintenance knowledge. Thus, knowledge warehouses for maintenance
activities are an appropriate tool or medium for knowledge utilisation. Transferring
information or knowledge from employees to a knowledge warehouse is also a
preliminary process in the whole processes. However, in general, technicians or direct
maintenance personnel have no time to participate in documentation or computing. In
618
this sense, the transfer of their knowledge to the knowledge warehouse is often a
missing piece. In future work, we would like to further investigate this missing portion
of maintenance knowledge.
REFERENCES
AAKMG (Arthur Anderson Knowledge Management Group). 2001. Leveraging

Corporate Compentency with Knowledge Management(in Japanese),
Toyokeizei Shimbunsha, Tokyo, Japan.
Beesley, G.A.L. and Cooper, C. 2008. Defining knowledge management activities:
towards consensus. Journal of Knowledge Management, 12(3): 48-62.
Del-Rey-Chamorro, F.M., Roy, R., van Wegen, B. and Steele, A. 2003. A framework to
create key performance indicators for knowledge management solutions.
Journal of Knowledge Management, 7(22): 46-62.
Garg, A. and Deshmukh, S.G. 2006. Maintenance management: literature review and
directions. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, 12(3): 205-238.
Hasan, H. and Al-hawari, M. 2003. Management styles and performance: a knowledge
space framework. Journal of Knowledge Management, 7(4): 15-28.
Mansor, M.A., Ohsato A. and Muhamad, W.M.W. 2008. A framework for maintenance
performance benchmarking using data envelopment analysis. The Proceeding
Of The Second Engineering Conference Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia,
pp.712-717
Nagarur, N.N. and Kaewplang, J. 1999. An object-oriented decision support system for
maintenance management. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering,
5(3): 248-257.
Nakajima, S. and Shirase, K. 1992. New TPM development program for assemby
process (in Japanese). JIPM Solution, Tokyo, Japan
Schreiber, A.T., Akkermans, J.M., Anjewierden, A.A., de Hoog, R., Shadbolt, N.R.,
Van de velde and Wiellinga, B.J. 1998. Engineering and managing knowledge,
the commonkads methodology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Takehashi, T. and Fukushima, S. 2000. Knowledge management consortium
benchmarking study final report by american productivity and quality center.
JMAM, Tokyo, Japan.
Tsang, A.H.C., Yeung,W.K., Jardine, A.K.S. and Leung, B.P.K. 2006. Data
management for CBM optimization. Journal of Quality in Maintenance
Wickert, A. and Herschel, R. 2001. Knowledge-management issue for smaller business.
Journal of Knowledge Management, 5(4): 329-337.
Wireman, T. 2005. Developing performance indicators for managing maintenance. New
York: Industrial Press.
619
APPENDIX 1
Production Cost
1. Availability 1. Amount of Cost down/Cost
2. Breakdown Reduction Rate Reduction
3. Man-hours Spent On Emergency 2. Amount of Money for Inventory
Jobs 3. Amount of Money for Quality
4. Number of Downtime Losses
5. Number of Minor Stoppage 4. Kaizen Cost
(Choko-tei) 5. Cost of Idle Production/Operation
6. Total Man-hours Worked 6. Cost of Late Delivery
7. Overall Equipment Effectiveness 7. Overtime Cost
8. Performance Rate 8. Downtime Cost
9. Total Work Order 9. Downtime or Lost Production Costs
10. Total Amount of Produce Produced Per Hour
11. Total Number of Breakdowns 10. Initial Cost of The Equipment
12. Number of Equipment Failures 11. Lost Efficiency Cost
13. Number of Preventive Work Orders 12. Maintenance Labour Costs On
14. Mean Time Between Failure Work Order
(MTBF) 13. Maintenance Material Costs On
15. Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) Work Order
16. Number of Corrective Order 14. Replacement Cost For The
17. Number of Emergency Order Equipment
15. Direct Maintenance Cost
Machine 16. Total Maintenance Material Cost
1. Number of Machines/Equipment 17. Utility Cost
18. Unplanned Maintenance Cost
Training 19. Planned Maintenance Cost
1. Total Training hours 20. Total Maintenance Cost
2. Total Technical Training Hours 21. Breakdown Maintenance Cost
22. Preventive Maintenance Cost
23. Operational Expenditure
24. Capital Expenditure
25. Total Manufacturing Cost
26. Manufacturing Cost per Unit
Quality Delivery
1. Customer Return Rate 1. Inventory Days
2. Number of Customer 2. On Time Delivery To Customer
Claims/Complaints
3. Number of Rejected Products
4. Quality Rate
Safety, Health & Environment Morale

1. Number of Accidents 1. Number of Employee Suggestions
2. Amount of Waste Disposed 2. Operator Skill
3. Number of Environment Accidents 3. Number of Absences/Absence rate
4. Recycle Rate
620
Time Man
1. Downtime Losses (time) 1. Number of Direct Maintenance
2. Operating Time Employees
3. Planned Downtime 2. Number of Indirect Maintenance
4. Downtime Caused by Breakdowns Employees
5. Hours Worked As Overtime 3. Number of Employees
6. Total Downtime Hours
7. Total Hours Worked
8. Total Maintenance Hours
9. Total Breakdown Hours
10. Time Taken For All Repair Works
11. Time Spent on Maintenance
12. Number of working days (per
week/month/year)
13. Total Working Time
14. Planned Downtime
15. Loading Time
16. Operating Time
17. Design Cycle Time
621
FABRICATION OF Al/Al2O3 FGM ROTATING DISC
A. B. Sanuddin1, Aidy Ali and M. A. Azmah Hanim1

1
Fatigue and Fracture Research Group
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
University of Putra Malaysia 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Phone: +6019-2312424, Fax: +6 03-86567122
Email: as_mm842001@yahoo.com
2
National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM), Serdang, Selangor
ABSTRACT
This study presents a method of fabricating a disc made of Al/Al2O3 functionally graded
materials (FGM), using a powder metallurgy manufacturing process. The aim is to
develop a processing method for a rotating disc made of FGM, by stacking the slurry,
layer by layer in a radial direction. A three-layer functionally graded material of
Al/Al2O3 is fabricated with compositions of 10, 20, 30 vol.% Al2O3. The ceramic
composition increases from the discs inner (centre) to the outer. The combination of
these materials can offer the ability to withstand high temperature conditions whilst
maintaining strength in extreme environments.
Keywords: Functionally graded materials, aluminium, alumina, rotating disc
INTRODUCTION
Research on new material concepts to meet the requirements of extreme environments

has received worldwide attention in this challenging era. Conventional materials that
have been developed may face failure under severe paradigm (Zhu et al., 2001);
therefore, materials with unique characteristics need to be derived. Functionally graded
materials (FGMs) have been introduced and defined in various aspects (Koizumi, 1997;
Kawasaki and Watanabe, 1997; Song et al., 2007; Sun et al., 2008). Feng et al. (2005)
defined FGM as a composite material consisting of two or more phases in which the
volume fractions of the constituents change, so that the composition, microstructure and
properties vary gradually along one direction. The novel concept of FGM is essential in
many fields, including: aerospace, automotive, medical, electronic industry, energy
industry, etc.
A rotating disc is an essential component in many engineering applications, such

as: turbine rotors, gears, internal combustion engines, turbojet engines, ship propellers,
etc. In some applications, there is a possibility that external heat transmits to the shaft
and from it to the bearings, causing adverse effects on its function and efficiency (Bayat
et al., 2008). Normally, rotating discs are fabricated using a single metal or alloy.
However, some components cannot withstand extreme mechanical loadings.
Furthermore, for some specific applications, such as in high temperature environments,
the components have a tendency to fail and cause the discs to crack. Therefore, the
622
Fabrication of Al/Al2O3 FGM rotating disc
concept of an FGM rotating disc, along with a method of its production, was necessary
in order to meet this functional performance requirement.
A number of FGM production methods, such as combustion synthesis

(Cirakoglu et al., 2002), electrophoretic deposition (Put et al., 2001), centrifugal
methods (Watanabe et al., 2006), plasma spraying, laser cladding and powder
metallurgy (Zhu et al., 2001) have been successfully developed and reported in recent
publications. Among these, the method of powder metallurgy is one of the most viable
routes for FGM, in which the composition and microstructure variations, as well as
shape forming, can be easily controlled for a wide range of applications (Kawasaki and
Watanabe, 1997, Jin et al., 2005). Researchers have developed a variety of material
combinations by using powder metallurgy techniques to fabricate FGM products. Some
examples include: ZrO2-NiCr FGMs (Zhu et al., 2001), Al2O3-Al2TiO5 FGMs (Low et
al., 2006; Low and Oo, 2008), Al-Al2O3 FGMs (Tao et al., 2001), Al-SiC FGMs
(Bhattacharyya et al., 2008), p-Pb1-xSnxTe FGMs (Gelbstein et al., 2007). This study
presents an FGM rotating disc made by combining Al and Al2O3 powders.
PROCESSING METHOD
This section details the fabrication of the FGM rotating disc using the method of powder
metallurgy. The development of the manufacturing process begins with the stage of
designing the rotating disc and continues up to the characterisation of samples by
scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Figure 1 illustrates a flow chart of the proposed
fabrication process of the FGM rotating disc.
Design of Rotating Disc
Powder Weighing by Volume Percentage
Mixing
Stepwise Stacking
Uniaxial Compaction
Pressureless Sintering
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
Figure 1. Fabrication process step of FGM rotating disc.
Design Concept of Rotating Disc
The disc is designed in three circular layers each with a different compositional ratio
determined by volume percentage, as shown in Figure 2. The three layers form rings
with proportions consisting of 90, 80, 70 vol.% Al from the inner (centre) to the outer of
the disc. Al powder (99.7% purity, particle size: 63µm) and Al2O3 powder (99.7%
purity, particle size: 0.7µm) were used as the starting materials. The disc is designed to
623
Sanuddin et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 622-629
have a 42 mm diameter for the first layer, 83 mm for the second and 103 mm for the
third with all layers 10 mm in depth.
90% Al & 10% Al2O3
80% Al & 20% Al2O3

70% Al & 30% Al2O3
Figure 2. A schematic of layer arrangement and composition.
Mixing Process
The starting powders were mixed in different ratios by using a VT-V Powder Mixer. A
special bottle was filled and mixed mechanically in order to facilitate a uniform
distribution of the Al/Al2O3 powder particles. The mixing was performed with a speed
of rotation of 100 rpm for a minimum of 1 hr.
Stacking Process
The inner die, made of material 718, was sprayed with heavy-duty silicone lubricant to
ease the discharging process of green compact. A few marks were made on the surface
of the bottom base by following the diameter of the two aluminium thin-walled
cylinders. The diameters of the cylinder reflect the diameters of layers 1 and 2, which
are 42 and 83 mm, respectively. The two cylinders were positioned on the marked
points and four pins were used to ensure the cylinders did not move during the stacking
of the slurry. The mixtures were sequentially stacked in the die, layer by layer, in a
radial direction starting from layer 3 to layer 1. To maintain the correct compositional
distribution and to level the height of the mixture among the three layers in the die, a
cylindrical rod is used to tap mixtures with low pressure. After levelling the layers, the
stacking powders were closed with the top base and the punch. This process is presented
schematically in Figure 4.
Bottom base
Top base
Thin-walled cylinder
Punch
Figure 3. Stacking powders mixture into die.
Compaction
After the stacking process, the mixed powders were pressed into shapes in the die. The
compacted product is called the green component. The purpose of this step is to obtain
the required shape, density and particle-to-particle contact, as well as to make the part
sufficiently strong. The equipment used was a manual press gang Coleman machine and
the pressure exerted on the stacked powders was 44.8 MPa with a holding time of 1 hr.
625
Sintering Process
The green component was heated in a furnace at a temperature slightly below the lower
melting point of the two materials. For the present disc, the melting point of Aluminium
(660 °C) is lower than that of alumina (1600 °C). Therefore, the discs must not be
heated above 660 °C. The actual temperature used was 640 °C with a holding time of 2
hrs. The heating rate was 5deg/min, taking 2 hrs 8 mins to reach the highest
temperature. Then, the product is cooled to room temperature.
The successfully fabricated green component of FGM is shown in Figure 4. It can be

seen that the clear circular shape boundary exists on the surface of the rotating disc that
divides the region of the ring portion. The bonding of the materials appears to be sound
and it can hold its structure perfectly, even when lifted roughly in this state. This
confirms that the final product (after sintering) is able to withstand the high stress of
centrifugal forces during operation, without breaking at the interlayer of the materials.
Boundary of Boundary of
layers 2 & 3 layers 1 & 2
Figure 4. Green compact of rotating disc.
After sintering, the circular shaped boundary can still be clearly seen (Figure 5).
This shows that the sintered FGM disc has layers with different compositions arranged
in a radial direction. Due to the variation of the composition, the sintered FGM disc
experiences very different shrinkage between the adjacent layers during densification,
which will remarkably affect its green forming and sintering process (Zhu et al., 2001).
During cold compaction, defect formation, such as small cracks and large residual
porosity occurred. It is impossible to completely eliminated the porosities, because
voids remain after compaction (Kalpakjian and Schmid, 2001). In addition, sintering
imbalance occurs in powder compacts with different mixing ratios of metal and
ceramics. Consequently, this problem will cause various faults in the sintered disc, such
as warping, frustum formation, splitting and cracking (Kawasaki and Watanabe, 1997).
Thus, control of a few parameters or processing conditions is necessary in order to
produce perfect FGM products; these are optimising the sintering temperature,
compaction pressure and the particle size of the raw powders (Jingchuan et al., 2001).
Boundary of Boundary of
layers 2 & 3 layers 1 & 2
Figure 5. Final product after sintering.
The study of densification of the sintered FGM disc has been conducted using
the water-immersion technique. The density of the Al/Al2O3 FGM disc increases with an
increase of the Al2O3 content, which changes gradually from 2.437 × 103 kg/m3 to
2.6978 × 103 kg/m3 from the inner to the outer of the rotating disc, as shown in Figure 6.
However, the real density value of the Al/Al2 O3 FGM disc was 2.599 × 103 kg/m3. The
results show that the trend of density increase when the Al2O3 content increases, acts in
accordance with the findings of Deng et al. (1995) but the value obtained is lower (Tao
et al., 2001).
2.75
2.7
Density (x10 3 kg/m3)
2.65
2.6
2.55
2.5
2.45
2.4
2.35
2.3
1 2 3
Layer
Figure 6. Density of each layer in sintered FGM disc.
In order to obtain the highest density in each layer of the Al/Al2O3 FGM disc,
pressure sintering, such as hot-pressing or hot isostatic pressing, may be a more
627
effective method to use, as these processes can enhance the densification of the
metal/ceramic FGM, as well as reduce unavoidable porosity. Nevertheless, this work is
just the beginning in Malaysia and improvements will guarantee the ability to triumph
in the future.
CONCLUSIONS
The Al/Al2O3 system of functionally graded materials (FGMs) with various Al2O3
fractions has been successfully fabricated by using a powder metallurgy process. A
three-layer functionally graded material of Al/Al2 O3 was fabricated using Al and Al2O3
powders, in compositions of 10, 20, 30 vol. % Al2 O3. A method of fabrication of FGM
rotating discs with layers, arranged layer by layer along a radial direction from the inner
of the disc (centre) to the outer, was developed and can be applied in producing other
FGM-based products.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia for the
financial support.
REFERENCES
Bayat, M., Saleem, M., Sahari, B.B., Hamouda, A.M.S. and Mahdi, E. 2008. Analysis
of functionally graded rotating disks with variable thickness. Mechanics
Research Communications, 35(5): 283-309.
Bhattacharyya, M., Kumar, A.N. and Kapuria, S. 2008. Synthesis and characterization
of Al/SiC and Ni/Al2O3 functionally graded materials. Materials Science and
Engineering: A, 487(1-2): 524-535.
Cirakoglu, M., Bhaduri, S. and Bhaduri, S.B. 2002. Combustion synthesis processing of
functionally graded materials in the Ti-B binary system. Journal of Alloys and
Compounds, 347(1-2): 259-265.
Deng, J., Wang, D.L., Kong, Q.P. and Shui, J.P. 1995. Stress dependence of creep in
nanocrystalline Ni-P alloy. Scripta Metallurgica et Materialia, 32: 349–352.
Feng, H., Meng, Q., Zhou, Y. and Jia, D. 2005. Spark plasma sintering of functionally
graded material in the Ti-TiB2-B system. Materials Science and Engineering: A,
397(1-2): 92-97.
Gelbstein, Y., Dashevsky, Z. and Dariel, M.P. 2007. Powder metallurgy processing of
functionally graded p-Pb1-xSnxTe materials for thermoelectric applications.
Physica B: Condensed matter, 391(2): 256-265.
Jin, G., Takeuchi, M., Honda, S., Nishikawa, T. and Awaji, H. 2005. Properties of
multilayered mullite/Mo functionally graded materials fabricated by powder
metallurgy processing. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 89: 238-243.
Kalpakjian, S. and Schmid, S.R. 2001. Manufacturing engineering and technology.
Fourth Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Kawasaki, A. and Watanabe, R. 1997. Concept and P/M fabrication of functionally
gradient materials. Ceramics International, 23(1): 73-83.
Koizumi, M. 1997. FGM activities in Japan. Composites Part B: Engineering, 28(1-2):
1-4.
Low, I.M. and Oo, Z. 2008. Reformation of phase composition in decomposed

aluminium titanate. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 111(1): 9-12.
Low, I.M., Oo, Z. and O’Connor, B.H. 2006. Effect of atmospheres on the thermal
stability of aluminium titanate. Physica B, 385-386(1): 502-504.
Put, S., Vleugels, J. and Van der Biest, O. 2001. Functionally graded WC-Co materials
produced by electrophoretic deposition. Scripta Materialia, 45(10): 1139-1145.
Song, C.J., Xu, Z.M. and Li, J.G. 2007. Fabrication of in situ Al/Mg2Si functionally
graded materials. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing,
38(2): 427-433.
Sun, L., Sneller, A. and Kwon, P. 2008. Fabrication of alumina/zirconia functionally
graded material: From optimization of processing parameters to
phenomenolological constitutive models. Materials Science and Engineering: A,
488(1-2): 31-38.
Tao, H., Deng, C., Zhang, L. and Yuan, R. 2001. Fabrication of Al/Al2O3 composites
and FGM. Journal of Materials Sciences and Technology, 17(06): 646-648.
Watanabe, Y., Kurahashi, M., Kim, I.S., Miyazaki, S., Kumai, S., Sato, A. and Tanaka,
S.I. 2006. Fabrication of fiber-reinforced functionally graded materials by a
centrifugal in situ method from Al-Cu-Fe ternary alloy. Composites Part A:
Applied Science and Manufacturing, 37(12): 2186-2193.
Zhu, J., Lai, Z., Yin, Z., Jeon, J. and Lee, S. 2001. Fabrication of ZrO2-NiCr
functionally graded material by powder metallurgy. Materials Chemistry and
Physics, 68(1-3): 130-135.
629
MOTORCYCLE CRASH TEST CENTRE: A MOVEABLE BARRIER

APPROACH
C.L.Tan1 and S.V.Wong1,2
1
Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia
2
Malaysia Institute of Road Safety Research,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: lay200@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Over recent years, researchers have used full-scale motorcycle crash tests in the field of
road safety research to simulate different types of crash technique and scenario. This
study focuses on the development of laboratory-based motorcycle crash tests. A
moveable barrier, designated as a ‘trolley’ in this study, is designed, developed and
implemented in a laboratory-based motorcycle crash test. The design of the trolley
underwent several versions prior to the final selection. Various design considerations
and factors, such as the trolley’s flexibility in various impact conditions, were weighted.
Finite element analysis and experimental tests examine and explain the details of the
design. The purposeful selection of this trolley is discussed, such as how it might meet
wide industrial market applications. With a laboratory-based crash test facility, various
crash scenarios and motorcycle crashworthiness could be determined in-situ, coupled
with a reduction in expense and time. Therefore, this research would serve to enhance
yet another aspect of automotive engineering.
Keywords: motorcycle, crash test, movable barrier, W-Beam guardrail.
INTRODUCTION
Previously, full-scale motorcycle crash tests have investigated the post-crash injuries of
motorcycle accidents against various barriers, including roadside guardrails and four-
wheeled vehicles. However, full-scale motorcycle crash tests are inefficient in terms of
money and time and are subject to the weather’s grace. Thus, introducing a moveable
barrier, known as ‘trolley’ in this study, not only overcome deficiencies in a full-scale
crash setup but creates a new platform for laboratory-based motorcycle crash tests. The
630
Motorcycle crash test centre: A moveable barrier approach
purposeful multi-configuration of the trolley not only suits various crash objectives but
also offers repeatability; a feature necessary to ensure the results is sufficiently free
from bias prior to performing an analysis.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A considerable amount of literature has been published on full-scale motorcycle crash

tests. The trolley developed by TNO Crash Safety Research, is designed in such a way
that it provides forward momentum to the motorcycle through its rear axis with support
at the handlebar (Nieboer et al., 1993). The purpose is to guide the motorcycle and
provide support for the dummy prior to impact, which is similar to the method
developed and used by DEKRA. In this setup, an improvised trolley provided support to
the motorcycle as it slid along a rail at a predetermined speed. The motorcycle was
released prior to impact with the crash object, which in this case was a guardrail (Berg
et al., 2005). In another test by Chawla et al. (2005), the kinetics of crash simulations
are matched with full-scale crash tests that were conducted by the Japan Automobile
Research Institute. A trolley guides the motorcycle at a predetermined speed before it is
released for impact with a passenger car (Chawla et al., 2005). In a similar method,
Ibitoye et al. (2006) developed a jig for a full-scale crash test, in order to validate
simulations on motorcyclist’s kinematics during impact. The jig consisted of rectangular
welded metal frames to guide the motorcycle before it crashed into a W-Beam guardrail
(Ibitoye et al., 2006).
Research has tended to focus on full-scale crash tests rather than on a laboratory-
scale crash tests, especially for two-wheeled vehicles. In existing laboratory-based crash
tests, the sled test is widely used to evaluate four-wheeled vehicle safety systems and
dummy injuries. Fixed and moving barriers were also developed and used in side impact
crash tests on four-wheeled vehicles. Moveable deformable barriers with pole side
impact tests are being used as one of the standard certified tests on passenger cars for
side impact safety analysis (Mizuno et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2006). In addition, a
moving deformable barrier, in accordance with National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) specifications, was also developed and is widely adopted in
four-wheeled vehicle side impact tests in the United States. In Europe, standard
specifications are adopted in ECE R95 Dynamic Side Impact Regulations. The
wheelbase for the trolley is 3 metres with a total mass of 950 kg (UNECE TD, 1995). It
is important to note that all the moveable barriers that have been developed so far, are
only suitable for four-wheeled vehicles and not for motorcycle crash tests. However,
with the variety of moveable barriers being developed worldwide, specifically
631
Tan and Wong /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 630-638
commissioned for four-wheeled vehicle crash tests, some could be improvised for
laboratory-based motorcycle crash tests.
METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN CONSIDERATION
Prior to the actual design of the trolley, a few draft versions were drawn and these drafts
studied and improved. At this early stage, all design factors and test considerations have
to be incorporated. Finite element analysis (FEA) is then used to further determine the
actual representation of the trolley’s attachment, especially the W-beam guardrail. This
is important as it represents the actual soil-planted C-post at the roadside, which is
1.12 metres deep (MPW, 1993). Once the design of the trolley was finalised, it was
fabricated and underwent a few trial runs, validating its travelling velocity, before it was
implemented in actual motorcycle crash tests. Figure 1 below shows the design flow
chart.
Conceptual Design
Determinations of
Design Factors
Evaluation of Various Conceptual Designs Feedback
Responses
Finite Element Analysis
Detailed Design
Fabrication of Structure
Validation
Figure 1. Design flow chart.
A few design factors should be considered prior to setting up a laboratory-based

motorcycle crash test facility, which includes essential requirements and constraints. In
addition, it must be able to simulate a full crash scenario and perform dynamic testing,
something which is not possible with the conventional sled test. The motorcycle must be
free to steer after release from the guidance system with the front wheel aligned straight
in the direction of the crash. The facility should also able to accommodate dummy
632
testing for investigative purposes of post-crash dummy kinematics. The barrier, a front-
loaded detachable fixture, should offer flexibility in material fixture as well as crash
objects. It may also allow consideration of frontal or angled impacts. These options
facilitate the most important factor, which is repeatability.
Wong et al. (2006) developed a patented machine known as the MechTTM

Impactor, which is capable of undertaking various impact configurations. With the
MechTTM Impactor, kinetic energy is transferred to the crash object via the trolley.
Figure 2 shows the trolley placed in the MechTTM Impactor prior to impact.
Figure 2. Trolley and MechT impactor.
FABRICATION AND ANALYSIS
The dimension for a generic trolley is at 1325 mm long, 1000 mm wide and 600 mm in
height. An attachable barrier is also incorporated to enable flexibility in material fixture
for each selective crash test. The body structure is developed from 25.4 × 25.4 mm square
bars that are welded together to form rectangular frames, to which four wheels are then
fixed, as shown in Error! Reference source not found.3. The top of the trolley is equipped
with a removable steel fencing mesh for safety considerations. This barrier-exchangeable
feature enables either a solid metal plate, which acts as a ‘rigid wall’ or W-beam
guardrail, or deformable honeycomb structures, which act as ‘passenger car bumper
elements’, to be attached to suit specific test requirements. With the purpose built W-
633
beam guardrail attached at the front acting as the crash barrier, the trolley with barrier
would be 2085 mm long and 1960 mm wide.
Figure 3. Trolley with four wheels.
To determine the structural integrity on the trolley, a simple FEA was performed
with a front attachment of C-posts of a W-beam guardrail in place. In an actual scenario,
long C-posts are planted deep into the ground alongside highways. In this setup,
attaching the long C-post onto the trolley, results in reduced lateral strength due to the
free end fitting arrangement. During an impact, translational and rotational deformation
is observed along the C-post. Based on FEA, it was determined that a rigid block with
similar width but height of 162 mm needed to be added to the upper portion of the long
C-post, as shown in Error! Reference source not found.4.
Figure 4. Special designed rigid block.
634
The modified structure, re-analysed via FEA, revealed that the stress is still well
within the elastic region but with a maximum difference in deformation between the two
C-posts of less than 0.00017 mm. This provides a high correlation between the trolley’s
C-post versus the soil planted C-post. The results are shown in Error! Reference source
not found.5 and full views of the W-beam guardrails are shown in Error! Reference
source not found.6.
(a) (b)
Figure 5. (a) Deformation on soil planted C-Post (b) Deformation on trolley’s C-Post
fitted with rigid block
(a) (b)
Figure 6. (a): Actual Soil Planted W-beam Guardrail Deformation; (b): Trolley’s W-
beam Guardrail Deformation Fitted with Rigid Block
The trolley is also designed with a rear solid metal back plate, as shown in
Figure 7: Back plate 7. The purpose of the rear-affixed plate is to provide a
counter impact zone from the pendulum that in effect will project the whole trolley
forward; hence, providing a moveable barrier while the weight of the solid metal plate
acts to counter balance the weight of the W-beam guardrail at the front. With flexibility
635
in mind, this trolley is designed to accommodate various load configurations. There are
two adjustable height bars at the front and back of the movable barrier, as shown in
Figure 8. Loads or specially designed weights can be hooked horizontally either to the
front or back of the trolley depending on crash test requirements. Different weights
added along the structure may shift the centre gravity of the trolley and this feature
could be exploited further in future studies. The height of the bars can be adjusted
depending on impact configurations. This trolley with an attachable barrier is designed
not only for ease of operation and maintenance but also for the ability for customisable
impact conditions with flexibility in varying the impact loads.
Figure 7: Back plate.
636
Figure 8: Adjustable height bar for extra load requirement.

CONCLUSIONS
The moveable barrier provides adaptability for a wide range of use. It can act as a
replacement for laboratory-level full-scale motorcycle crash tests. It can also be
instituted as a test standard for motorcycle design approval. Through laboratory-based
motorcycle crash tests, various design factors and motorcycle crashworthiness could be
determined, with reduced costs and most importantly, independent of the weather.
Motorcycle manufacturers would be able to use the facility to improve in-house
motorcycle parts or complete structural designs. In accident reconstructions, the facility
would greatly contribute to assessing accident impact velocity via its flexible crash
configuration settings.
REFERENCES
Berg, F.A., Rucker, P., Gertner, M., Konig., J., Grzebieta, R. and Zou, R. 2005.
Motorcycle impact into roadside barriers – real-world accident studies, crash
tests and simulations carried out in Germany and Australia. Proceedings of
International Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles, Munich, Germany,
pp. 1-12.
Chawla, A., Mukherjee, S., Mohan, D., Bose, D., Rawat, P., Nakatani, T. and Sakurai,
M. 2005. FE simulations of motorcycle-car frontal crashes, validation and
observations. International Journal of Crashworthiness, 10(4): 319-326.
Ibitoye, A.B., Hamouda, A.M.S., Wong, S.V. and Radin, R.S. 2006. Simulation of
motorcyclist’s kinematics during Impact with W-beam guardrail. Advances in
Engineering Software, 37: 56-61.
Mizuno, K., Arai, Y. and Newland, C.A. 2004. Compartment Strength and its
evaluation in car crashes. International Journal of Crashworthiness, 9(5): 547-
557.
MPW (Malaysia Public Works) - Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) 1993. Manual on design
guidelines of longitudinal traffic barrier arahan teknik (Jalan) 1/85.
Nieboer, J.J., Wismans, J., Versmissen, A.C.M., van Slagmaat, M.T.P., Kurawaki, I.
and Ohara, N. 1993. Motorcycle crash test modelling. Proceedings of 37th Stapp
Car Crash Conference, San Antonio, CA, USA, pp. 273-288.
UNECE TD (United Nations Economic Commission of Europe, Transport Division).
1995. Vehicle regulations added to the 1958 agreement (Regs 81-100)
Concerning the adoption of uniform conditions of approval and reciprocal
recognition of approval for motor vehicle equipment and parts, ECE Regulations
637
95, Uniform provisions concerning the approval of vehicles with regard to the
protection of the occupants in the event of a lateral collision, p. 37.
Wang, D., Dong, G., Zhang, J. and Huang, S. 2006. Car side structure crashworthiness
in pole and moving deformable barrier aside impacts. TsingHua Science and
Technology, 11(6): 725-730.
Wong, S.V., Hamouda, A.M.S., Megat Ahmad, M.M., Radin Umar, R.S., Tan, K.S.
2006. MechT 524 CI-75 with capacity of 25J, 50J and 75J, United State Patent
2004103713.
638
INVESTIGATION OF FOSSIL FUEL AND LIQUID BIOFUEL BLEND

PROPERTIES USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK
P. Nematizade, B. Ghobadian and G. Najafi
Faculty of Agricultural Science, Tarbiat Modares University

Jalale_E-Aleahmad Highway, Tehran, Iran
Phone: +982144196522, Fax: +9844196524
E-mail: ghobadib@modares.ac.ir
ABSTRACT
Gasoline fuel is the baseline fuel in this research, to which bioethanol, biodiesel and
diesel are additives. The fuel blends were prepared based on different volumes and
following which, ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) test methods
analysed some of the important properties of the blends, such as: density, dynamic
viscosity, kinematic viscosity and water and sediment. Experimental data were
analysed by means of Matlab software. The results obtained from artificial neural
network analysis of the data showed that the network with feed forward back
propagation of the Levenberg-Marquardt train LM function with 10 neurons in the
hidden layer was the best for predicting the parameters, including: Water and
sediment (W), dynamic viscosity (DV), kinematic viscosity (KV) and density (De).
The experimental data had a good correlation with ANN-predicted values according
to 0.96448 for regression.
Keywords: Fossil fuels, biofuels, kinematic viscosity, density, artificial neural

network.
INTRODUCTION
The limited reserves and negative environmental consequences of fossil fuels have
spurred on the search for renewable transportation biofuels (Hill et al., 2006). The
potential role of alternative renewable fuels in alleviating these environmental
concerns is driving the first actions towards the production of a sustainable fuel
supply. Biofuels, such as alcohols and biodiesel, are alternatives for internal
combustion engines (Hill et al., 2006’ Agarwal, 2007). Alternative fuels are those
fuels obtained from sources other than oil. Renewability reduced air pollutants and
greater economic profits are the main advantages of alternative fuels compared with
fossil fuels (Hill et al., 2006). Hitherto, many methods have been used to reduce the
environmental pollution associated with fossil fuels, such as engine exhaust
emissions; adding oxygenated components to fossil fuels is one of the most
important. Among those elements that are used for this purpose, types of alcohol and
biodiesel have a high ability to reduce engine exhaust pollutants, due to their lack of
sulphur and the presence of oxygen. This is the major advantage of these types of
fuel compared with conventional fuels (Hill et al., 2006’ Agarwal, 2007). Biodiesel
produced from vegetable or animal substances and bioethanol produced from plant
materials, have low production costs and are environmentally friendly.
639
Investigation of fossil fuel and liquid biofuel blend properties using artificial neural network
In relation to spark ignition (SI) engines, this work is done through a

combination of alcohol with gasoline. Many investigators have studied the use of
ethanol and gasoline blended fuels in SI engines (Kiani Deh Kiani et al., 2010).
There are various methods to reduce the exhaust pollution from compression ignition
(CI) engines. These methods can be divided into four groups: (i) the diesel-biodiesel
fuel blend ((Hill et al., 2006; Agarwal, 2007; Demirbas, 2007; Pourkhesalian et al.,
2010), (ii) the diesel-alcohol fuel blend (ethanol or methanol) [1], (iii) the biodiesel-
alcohol fuel blend (ethanol or methanol) (Agarwal, 2007), (iv) diesel-biodiesel-
alcohol fuel blend (Agarwal, 2007; Demirbas, 2007; Pourkhesalian et al., 2010;
Tormos et al., 2010).
An experimental study was conducted to characterise some key fuel properties

of diesel-biodiesel-bioethanol blends and to evaluate their effects on diesel engine
performance. As a result, a new blend called “Diesterol” was developed and used as
an alternative fuel (Rahimi et al., 2009). The use of artificial neural networks for
modelling the operation of internal combustion engines is a more recent
development. This approach was used to predict the performance and exhaust
emissions of diesel engines (Agarwal, 2007; Demirbas, 2007; Pourkhesalian et al.,
2010) and the specific fuel consumption and fuel-air equivalence ratio of a diesel
engine (Agarwal, 2007; Demirbas, 2007). For example, in one study, the effect of
gasoline fuel and ethanol-gasoline blends (E5, E10, E15 and E20) on performance
and exhaust emissions of an SI engine were investigated using an artificial neural
network (ANN). The results showed that using ethanol-gasoline blends increased the
power, torque outputs, thermal efficiency and volumetric efficiency. In addition, they
also decreased the brake specific fuel consumption (Agarwal, 2007). In another study
using ANN to predict the engine brake power, output torque and exhaust emissions
(CO, CO2, NOx and HC), the engine was fuelled with ethanol-gasoline blended fuels
with various percentages of ethanol (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%) and operated at different
engine speeds and loads. The results showed that the ANN provided the greatest
accuracy in modelling the emission indices (Najafi et al., 2009). In this research,
gasoline fuel is the baseline fuel, to which bioethanol, biodiesel and diesel are
additives. The fuel blends were prepared based on different volume, following which
some of the important properties of the blends were evaluated by following the
ASTM test methods. The computer program MATLAB 7.6, neural network toolbox
was used for the ANN design.
Materials
The biodiesel fuel used in this study was produced from the transesterification of
waste cooking oil with methanol (CH3OH), catalysed by potassium hydroxide
(KOH). The important properties of biodiesel were established and compared with
the ASTM D6751 standard. The gasoline and diesel used were the conventional fuels
in Iran. An Iranian company provided bioethanol with a purity of 99.6%. According
to the results of research, mixing bioethanol with gasoline up to 20% volume, does
not create a problem in SI engines and does not require any modification to the
engine construction (Agarwal, 2007; Eyidogan et al., 2010). It is a similar situation
when using biodiesel-diesel blends in a CI engine (Saravanan et al., 2010; Agarwal,
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Nematizade et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 639-647
2007). Therefore, biodiesel and bioethanol were considered from 5–20% volume.
Similarly, the volume of the diesel fuel was chosen as 5–20%. Therefore, the
percentage volume of the gasoline fuel was determined accordingly. The fuel blends
were provided in the ratios as presented in Table 1.
Methods
This study measured four properties of fuels by following the ASTM test methods.
Each test was performed three times using a quite random model. The measured fuel
properties were water and sediment, dynamic viscosity, kinematic viscosity and
density. Density, dynamic viscosity and kinematic viscosity were measured at 40 °C.
The ambient temperature was 29–34 °C. The device used for measuring density,
dynamic viscosity and kinematic viscosity was the Anton Paar Stabinger viscometer,
model SVM-3000 under ASTM D445 and ASTM D7042-04 standards. This device
is able to simultaneously calculate and display density, dynamic viscosity and
kinematic viscosity. The device used for measuring water and sediment was a
Metrohm Karl Fischer model 794 Basic Titrino under ASTM D2709 standard.
Finally, the results were analysed by means of ANN and derived into three sections:
training, validation and test.
Table 1. Volume percentage of the test fuel blends
Fuel Fuel
Ethanol Biodiesel Diesel Gasoline Ethanol Biodiesel Diesel Gasoline
name name
1 A1 5 5 5 85 33 C1 15 5 5 75
2 A2 5 5 10 80 34 C2 15 5 10 70
3 A3 5 5 15 75 35 C3 15 5 15 65
4 A4 5 5 20 70 36 C4 15 5 20 60
5 A5 5 10 5 80 37 C5 15 10 5 70
6 A6 5 10 10 75 38 C6 15 10 10 65
7 A7 5 10 15 70 39 C7 15 10 15 60
8 A8 5 10 20 65 40 C8 15 10 20 55
9 A9 5 15 5 75 41 C9 15 15 5 65
10 A10 5 15 10 70 42 C10 15 15 10 60
11 A11 5 15 15 65 43 C11 15 15 15 55
12 A12 5 15 20 60 44 C12 15 15 20 50
13 A13 5 20 5 70 45 C13 15 20 5 60
14 A14 5 20 10 65 46 C14 15 20 10 55
15 A15 5 20 15 60 47 C15 15 20 15 50
16 A16 5 20 20 55 48 C16 15 20 20 45
17 B1 10 5 5 80 49 D1 20 5 5 70
18 B2 10 5 10 75 50 D2 20 5 10 65
19 B3 10 5 15 70 51 D3 20 5 15 60
20 B4 10 5 20 65 52 D4 20 5 20 55
21 B5 10 10 5 75 53 D5 20 10 5 65
22 B6 10 10 10 70 54 D6 20 10 10 60
23 B7 10 10 15 65 55 D7 20 10 15 55
24 B8 10 10 20 60 56 D8 20 10 20 50
25 B9 10 15 5 70 57 D9 20 15 5 60
26 B10 10 15 10 65 58 D10 20 15 10 55
27 B11 10 15 15 60 59 D11 20 15 15 50
28 B12 10 15 20 55 60 D12 20 15 20 45
29 B13 10 20 5 65 61 D13 20 20 5 55
30 B14 10 20 10 60 62 D14 20 20 10 50
31 B15 10 20 15 55 63 D15 20 20 15 45
32 B16 10 20 20 50 64 D16 20 20 20 40
641
MATLAB software was used to analyse the results with ANN. At first, different
networks with a variable number of layers that are explanatory of network volume
were used for modelling input data. The number of repeats at the training stage of
each network represents the convergence speed of that network and can be
considered as the model optimisation parameter. In addition, the training error was
considered as the third criterion of network performance. Accordingly, the networks
with two layers (a hidden layer and an output layer) were designed for predictions.
The feed forward back propagation method was used with different training
functions and data derived into three sections: training, validation and test. Mean
Square Error (MSE) is the network error criterion. Water and sediment (W), dynamic
viscosity (DV), kinematic viscosity (KV) and density (De) were selected as neurons
of the output layer. The input layer had three neurons including bioethanol (E),
biodiesel (B) and diesel (D). The neuron number of the hidden layer was varied
between 5 and 20. Thus, the best network for predicting W (Water and sediment),
DV(dynamic viscosity), KV (kinematic viscosity) and De (density) was selected by
means of changing the hidden layer neurons and training functions (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Selected ANN structure.
The results of using different training functions and changing the number of
hidden neurons are presented in Table 2. According to Table 2 and the comparison of
the regression and training error (RMSE) for functions with different neurons, the
network with feed forward back propagation of the Levenberg-Marquardt train LM
and 10 neurons in the hidden layer, is the best for predicting the parameters W, DV,
KV and De. This is because this function has the highest regression, 0.96448 and the
642
lowest RMSE, 0.002742 compared with the other functions. Targets are experimental
data and outputs are ANN-predicted values.
Network Performance
Figure 2 shows the performance of the designed network for W, DV, KV and De. As
can be seen, the RMSE has acceptably decreased per five repeats of network. The
value of the RMSE was 0.002742, which is close to zero. Hence, confirming the
ability of modeling the data. Figure 3 shows the regression analysis of network
training, validation and testing between targets and outputs. As can be seen, the
regression values for the quadruplet curves of target training, validation and testing
all had a good correlation with the outputs.
Table 2. Regression coefficient and train error results using artificial neural network.
Neuron number
Train function 5 10 15 20
R RMSE epochs R RMSE epochs R RMSE epochs R RMSE epochs
b 0.68772 0.025416 1000 0.67128 0.039016 1000 0.67463 0.052467 1000 0.58093 0.078199 1000
bfg 0.948 0.002842 67 0.94543 0.006966 55 0.94926 0.0015 50 0.94963 0.004161 52
br 0.95875 0.56664 8 0.96006 0.13066 14 0.95962 0.28122 7 0.95777 0.26813 8
c 0.88693 0.38698 0 0.91334 0.61121 0 0.92961 0.79613 0 0.92176 1.5753 0
cgb 0.95461 0.003057 32 0.92067 0.007193 15 0.94795 0.008231 28 0.95567 0.009037 39
cgf 0.94815 0.002877 32 0.94869 0.006924 36 0.94904 0.001524 31 0.94872 0.004204 35
cgp 0.95439 0.007207 37 0.94776 0.003726 28 0.95288 0.004185 41 0.95974 0.003773 45
gd 0.55333 0.0364 1000 0.4682 0.050468 1000 0.40908 0.10095 1000 0.51021 0.084198 1000
gda 0.92395 0.016214 159 0.92268 0.010753 150 0.88888 0.012284 144 0.91674 0.006875 181
gdm 0.40091 0.060291 1000 0.42258 0.086986 1000 0.47041 0.06545 1000 0.49775 0.12455 1000
gdx 0.95189 0.004608 193 0.95087 0.004634 204 0.95409 0.003389 182 0.94664 0.005799 177
lm 0.96135 0.002856 10 0.96448 0.002742 7 0.95416 0.002918 3 0.95085 0.002414 3
oss 0.85438 0.01099 13 0.94708 0.004284 66 0.91998 0.004179 44 0.90694 0.013494 29
r 0.86755 0.2377 0 0.93036 0.6687 0 0.9314 0.75671 0 0.9296 2.2849 0
rp 0.95506 0.003636 211 0.95043 0.008296 66 0.92142 0.012686 44 0.95174 0.006466 96
scg 0.95523 0.007009 40 0.94546 0.00426 31 0.95654 0.004078 89 0.93983 0.00814 22
Figure 2. Training network performance diagram for W, DV, KV and De.
643
Experimental Data and Predicted Values
To show the agreement between outputs and targets, this data was plotted on charts
(Figures 4–6). According to the regression of targets and outputs, it can be seen that
the selected network gives a good performance (Figure 4). It is able to predict the
amount of water and sediment, dynemic viscosity, kinematic viscosity and density
with low errors (R= 0.96448). For further consideration of this network performance,
the comparison of regression was done between targets and outputs of each
parameter (Figure 5). The regression values are listed in this figure. Figure 6
illustrates the results of the comparison of outputs and targets in red and blue colours.
As can be seen, the outputs for DV, KV and De have a very good agreement with
their targets. However, there is no such accord between the outputs and targets for W.
The best agreement compared with the other networks was that of the training
network with lm function and 10 neurons in the hidden layer.
Figure 3. Regression analysis of network training, validation and test between targets
and outputs.
644
Figure 4. Regression graphic between ANN-predicted values and experimental data.
(a) Water and sediment (b) Dynamic viscosity
(c) Kinematic viscosity (d) Density
Figure 5. Regression graphic between ANN-predicted values and experimental data.
645
Figure 6. Comparison of ANN-predicted values and experimental data.
CONCLUSION
This study can be summarised as follows:
1. The network with feed forward back propagation of Levenberg-Marquardt

train LM and 10 neurons in the hidden layer was the best for predicting the
parameters, including: W, DV, KV and De.
2. The experimental data had a good correlation with the ANN-predicted values
according to a regression of 0.96448. In addition, the regression for each of the
experimental parameters (W, DV, KV, and De) was very close to 1.
3. This network is able to predict reasonably accurately the W, DV, KV, and De.
REFERENCES
Agarwal, A.K. 2007. Biofuels (alcohols and biodiesel) applications as fuels for
internal combustion engines. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science,
33(3): 233–271.
Alptekin, E. and Canakci, M. 2008. Determination of the density and the viscosities
of biodiesel-diesel fuel blends. Renewable Energy, 33(12): 2623-2630.
Alptekin, E. and Canakci, M. 2009. Characterization of the key fuel properties of
methyl ester-diesel fuel blends. Fuel, 88(1): 75-80.
Demirbas, A. 2007. Progress and recent trends in biofuels. Prog Energy Combust
Sci, 33(1): 1–18.
Eyidogan, M., Ozsezen, A.N., Canakci, M. and Turkcan, A. 2010. Impact of alcohol-
gasoline fuel blends on the performance and combustion characteristics of an
SI engine. Fuel, 89(10): 2713-2720.
646
Hill, J., Nelson, E., Tilman, D., Polasky, S. and Tiffany, D. 2006. Environmental,
economic, and energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(30): 11206-11210.
Kiani Deh Kiani, M., Ghobadian, B., Tavakoli, T., Nikbakht, A.M. and Najafi, G.
2010. Application of artificial neural networks for the prediction of
performance and exhaust emissions in SI engine using ethanol- gasoline
blends. Energy, 35(1): 65-69.
Najafi, G., Ghobadian, B., Tavakoli, T., Buttsworth, D.R., Yusaf, T.F. and
Faizollahnejad, M. 2009. Performance and exhaust emissions of a gasoline
engine with ethanol blended gasoline fuels using artificial neural network.
Applied Energy, 86(5): 630-639.
Pourkhesalian, A.M., Shamekhi, A.H. and Salimi, F. 2010. Alternative fuel and
gasoline in an SI engine: A comparative study of performance and emissions
characteristics. Fuel, 89(5): 1056-1063.
Rahimi, H., Ghobadian, B., Yusaf, T., Najafi, G. and Khatamifar, M. 2009.
Diesterol: An environment-friendly IC engine fuel. Renewable Energy, 34(1):
335-342.
Saravanan, N., Nagarajan, G. and Puhan, S. 2010. Experimental investigation on a
DI diesel engine fuelled with Madhuca Indica ester and diesel blend. Biomass
and Bioenergy, 34(6): 838-843.
Tormos, B., Novella, R., Garcia, A. and Gargar, K. 2010. Comprehensive study of
biodiesel fuel for HSDI engines in conventional and low temperature
combustion conditions. Renewable Energy, 35(2): 368-378.
Turrio-Baldassarri, L., Battistelli, C.L., Conti, L., Crebelli, R., De Berardis, B.,
Iamiceli, A.L., Gambino, M. and Innaccone, S. 2004. Emission comparison
of urban bus engine fueled with diesel oil and ‘biodiesel’ blend. Science of
the Total Environment, 327(1-3): 147-162.
Zhu, L., Zhang, W., Liu, W. and Huang, Z. 2010. Experimental study on particulate
and NOx emissions of a diesel engine fueled with ultra-low sulfur diesel,
RME-diesel blends and PME-diesel blends. Science of the Total
Environment, 408(5): 1050-1058.
647
ANALYSIS OF EXCESSIVE HEATING ON THE THERMAL AND

ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE OF A POLYMER ELECTROLYTE
MEMBRANE FUEL CELL
W. A. N. W. Mohamed and R. Atan
Alternative Energy Research Centre (AERC)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA
40450 Shah Alam, MALAYSIA
E-mail: wanjerm3@yahoo.com.my
ABSTRACT
The performance on a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell is evaluated

based on the relationship of thermal and electrical resistances to its electrical and
thermal power output. An analytical method by which the electrical resistance is
evaluated based on the polarisation curve and the thermal resistance from the mass
balance, was applied to a 72-cell PEM fuel cell assembly. In order to evaluate the effect
of resistances at elevated stack temperatures, the cooling system was operated at half of
its maximum cooling effectiveness. The increase in current and resistance due to a unit
change in temperature at a particular density was evaluated and it was found that the
stack has a ratio of thermal resistance rise to current rise of 1.7, or equal to 0.00584
A/W of current increase per stack heat increase. These values suggest that the internal
resistance of the stack components, most probably the electrode assemblies, are very
high, which should be addressed in order to obtain lower resistances to current flow.
Keywords: PEM, fuel cell, thermal, electrical resistance.
INTRODUCTION
In a world where pollution is an immediate threat to the quality of life, fuel cell systems
are viewed with increasing seriousness as a leading solution in many alternative energy
considerations. A fuel cell turns the chemical energy within a hydrogen-based-fuel into
electricity using oxygen (air) and other catalysts, through a series of electrochemical
reactions. The fuel cell generates useful electrical energy without any polluting
emissions; the by-products are typically just heat and water. As a remarkably efficient,
incredibly clean source of energy, fuel cells can replace both batteries and engines to
power vehicles, power national supply grids and all sorts of other stationary and mobile
applications. Current research trends in fuel cell technology cover both fundamental, as
well as high-tech applications. General research areas include: the development of
constituent materials, cell design, processing and manufacturing, multi-scale modelling
and simulation, performance reliability, stack design and configurations, power
electronics, cost optimisation, practical applications, fuel sources and thermal
management or thermal engineering (Sopian and Daud, 2006).
Thermal management has been widely acknowledged as an important area in

ensuring high cell performance and efficiency (Faghri and Guo, 2005). It relates directly
to the power output performance of the cells within the system as well as cell life. The
648
Analysis of excessive heating on the thermal and electrical resistance of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell
generation of electrical power within the fuel cell system also generates a near-
equivalent amount of heat energy, which means the higher the power produced, the
greater the heat released. At elevated cell temperatures, the stability of power density is
affected, due to the higher membrane resistance to proton flow as the membrane
dehydrates, which reduces the overall efficiency of the system. Therefore, the cells
require continuous cooling, by either air or water cooling systems. For low temperature,
compact and mobile capability operations, the hydrogen proton exchange membrane
fuel cell (PEMFC), also known as polymer electrolyte membrane, is widely applied.
The main criterion of a PEMFC is that the electrolyte is an ion-conducting polymer
membrane and when combined with the anode and cathode on both sides of the
membrane, is known as the membrane electrode assembly (MEA).
PEMFCs operate at a lower temperature than other fuel cell types; typically in
the range of 50 to 80 °C. This gives the advantage of a faster startup time but the heat
produced would be of low grade (Dhathathreyan and Rajalakshmi, 2007). It can also
operate over a wide range of pressures. PEMFC stacks are also modular and simple to
construct. The normal load for a PEMFC application is in the range of 0.1 W to 100
kW, making it very attractive over a wide range of engineering applications. The
operation of a PEMFC involves electrochemical reactions at microscopic levels.
Hydrogen flows through one side of the membrane and is catalytically split by an
oxidation half-cell reaction to form protons and electrons (Figure 1). This reaction
occurs at a layer called the Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) by using platinum-based
electrodes as the anode. The protons are permitted to travel through the membrane to the
cathode side. The formation of H2O and the internal resistance of the electrical circuit
releases heat as the direct product of the reactions in the PEMFC. The heat
concentration is normally higher at the cathode side, increasing the cell temperature and
causing membrane dehydration if the heat is not effectively removed (Al-Baghdadi and
Al-Janabi, 2007).
Anode plate Membrane Cathode plate
Fuel Oxidant
Inlet Exit
Flow field Flow field
channels channels
Radiation heat
flux
Ambient
Forced convection
air-cooling Free Convection
heat flux
Cooling channels
Forced convection
air-cooling
y
Fuel Oxidant
Exit x Inlet
GDL GDL Water vapour
formation layer 1-D conductive
heat fluxes
Figure 1. Single cell PEMFC operation with relation to thermal characteristics.
649
Mohamed and Atan /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 648-659
The power generation of a PEMFC is a function of many process parameters and

stack temperature plays an important role in power generation stability. Researchers
have identified the effect of stack temperature on the electrical power, such as Graf et al.
(2006), who explains that even a slight increase in stack temperature would cause an
increase in generated current. However, the voltage across the stack would drop
significantly as stack temperature increases. The efficiency of a typical PEMFC is 40%
to 50%, meaning that about half of the energy produced dissipates as other forms of
energy, mainly heat. The loss in electrochemical performance is due to irreversibility of
the cathodic reaction, to ohmic resistance and mass transport over potentials. Heat
removal should be adequate to prevent the membrane drying and a rise in cell
temperature. Normally, in a heat transfer study, thermal resistance refers to the flow of
heat generated within a medium. Within this study, thermal resistance is the factor of
thermal heat generated at a fixed voltage and current value. High thermal resistance
indicates that more energy is lost as heat than converted to useful electrical power.
Internal electrical resistance, also known as ohmic losses, is due to the losses
during ionic and charge transport. The cell components that contribute to electrical
resistance are: the electrolyte, the catalyst layer, the gas diffusion layer, bipolar plates,
interface contacts and the terminal connections. The term ohmic loss in a fuel cell study
refers to the reduction of voltage by internal resistance to ionic and charge transport.
Because ionic transport through the membrane is more difficult than electronic charge
transport via the plated and cell terminals, the resistance posed by the electrode and
electrolyte is significantly higher. The key to reducing ionic resistance is to maintain the
humidity of the membrane at the required levels, which is directly related to thermal
management issues. Identifying the parameters affecting a stack operation is an
important aspect of continuous improvement in the design process. Works on the effects
of cell temperature (Jang et al., 2007), water content (Park and Caton, 2008), flow field
designs (Li et al., 2007 and Wang et al., 2008), are some of the attempts to relate fuel
cell performance to its design and operating conditions. An analytical approach
(Pandiyan et al., 2008) based on empirical data to determine the thermal and electrical
resistances of a stack, related directly to the stack heat generated during operation, is
referred to in this work. It is very useful to characterise the internal resistance changes
occurring within a fuel cell as a tool for performance evaluation. The works presented
here applied the analysis on a 72-cell stack arrangement with limited cooling, as a tool
to investigate the effects of internal resistances to the power output, as the stack is
heated in excess and operated beyond its designated operating temperature.
MODEL AND FORMULATION
The electrical power supplied to the load is evaluated using:
Pelectrical = V × I (1)
Heat generation occurs mainly at the cathode from the electrochemical

formation of water and from the electron and proton flows (ohmic resistance). The stack
thermal energy was evaluated from temperature changes of the stack, added together
with the heat removed from the stack via active and passive cooling calculations, to
cater for the ohmic resistance heat generation. Thus, the stack heat energy is slightly
higher than the theoretical electrochemical heat generation.
650
Pthermal = Qstack + Qactive cooling + Qpassive cooling (2)
The stack heat change over a unit time is given by:
Q stack
m stack .C stack Tstack (3)
t
where: m is the mass of the stack, C refers to the specific heat of the stack
(homogeneous assumption) and T is the experimental stack temperature change over a
period of time.
The quantifiable heat removed by the active cooling and passive cooling, respectively,
is given by:
Qactive Qcoolant mC p T (4)

Qpassive Qnat conv Qradiation (5)
where: m is the mass flow rate of the cooling water, Cp is the specific heat of water at
constant pressure and T is the coolant temperature difference between the inlet and
outlet of the stack.
The heat generated by the stack is related to the total thermal resistance of the
components within the stack assembly. Thermal resistances of a substance are normally
designated based on the temperature change over a unit of thermal power, or K/W.
Pandiyan et al. (2008) suggested that the total stack energy generated and the stack
thermal resistance, can be related to the current flow by expressing it as:
Pthermal = Qstack = I2/Rthermal (6)
Thus, the thermal and electrical resistances in units of ohms can be calculated
from the respective equations:
Rthermal = Pth /I2 (7)
Relectrical = V/I (8)
By combining Eqs (7) and (8), the following equations were developed to
evaluate the rise in current and the rise in resistance, due to each unit of cooling water
temperature change.
I21R1 = mcw Cp T1 (9)
I22R2 = mcw Cp T2 (10)
mcw Cp ( T2 T1) = (I22 – I21)(R1-R2) (11)
651
The experiment was conducted using a water-cooled 72-cell PEM fuel cell system. The
system configuration, schematic and general specifications of the hardware are
presented in Figure 2, Figure 3 and Table 1, respectively. The stack and system was
designed by a fuel cell design and manufacturing company based in Singapore, which is
known to be the only one in South-East Asia. The major working fluids involved in fuel
cell operation are the reactants of hydrogen and air, plus the cooling mediums of water
and air. Table 2 summarises the operating conditions of the experiment. The
measurements were taken at 3 minutes intervals using a thermal scanner and K-type
thermocouples with a data logger for local temperatures at 18 designated points of the
stack, an anemometer for air velocity and a multi-meter for electrical power
measurement at the resistant loader. In order to evaluate the effect of thermal and
electrical resistances at stack temperatures higher than the designated 50 °C operating
temperature, the cooling water circulation was limited to half, giving a calculated
cooling effectiveness of 40% to 50% during fuel cell operation. The experiment was
stopped when the average stack temperature reached 70 °C as a higher temperature
could cause permanent damage to other system components.
Figure 2. PEM fuel cell system with thermal measurement probe arrangement.
652
Table 1. PEM fuel cell system specifications.
Specification Information / Details

Max power output rating 3 kW at 48V
Number of cells 72
Operating temperature 50 °C
Cell size (bipolar plate) 150 mm length, 240 mm height,
5 mm thick
Cooling system Water-cooled with heat exchanger
PUMP BLOWER
AIR
STREAM
Twater,exit
Pair PH2
COOLING
WATER
STREAM
HYDROGEN
PEM FC
COOLING TANK
AIR
STREAM H2
RECYCLE
Tair,exit Tair,in STREAM
RADIATOR
PURGE
Twater,in
IONIZER POWER
CONTROL
UNIT
RESISTIVE
LOADER
Figure 3. The fuel cell system schematic.
The electrical resistive loader draws current from the fuel cell stack at a nearly
uniform value of 11 to 13.5 A (refer to Figure 4). The corresponding voltage was
between 33 to 27.7 V. A decrease in power output was observed as the stack operates,
with maximum power and minimum power outputs of 440 and 320 W, respectively.
The decline in power output and current density was related to the average stack
temperature (refer to Figures 5 and 6). The average power decline was 7.6 W/°C or 1%
from the maximum value and the cell conversion efficiency reduced at a near linear rate
of 0.11% per degree Celsius of stack temperature rise. The humidity levels of the
membrane allowed a peak power output when the stack temperature was 39 °C. The cell
current density reduced significantly when the stack temperature was between 39 to 57
°C as the membrane dehydrates and increased proton resistance occurs. The power and
current density stabilises at higher temperatures, showing that energy and charge
transport equilibrium was achieved within the cells.
653
Table 2. Operating conditions.
PEM Fuel Cell stack

Properties / parameters Values
1. Material Carbon graphite
2. Specific heat, C 710 J/kg.K
(Begot and Kaufmann, 2008)
3. Density 2240 kg/m3
4. Stack volume 0.010557 m3
5. Top surface area 0.05775 m2
6. Side surface areas 0.1848 m2
7. Thermal conductivity 20 W/m.K
(Dumercy et al., 2006)
8. Surface emissivity (Cengel, 2003) 0.85
9. Conversion efficiency 45%
Reactants
1. Hydrogen inlet pressure 1.5 bar
2. Air inlet pressure 1 bar
Cooling Water
1. Operating pressure 1 atm
2. Specific heat, Cp 4180 J/kg.K
3. Mass flow rate 0.0126 kg/s
Cooling Air
1. Inlet temperature 26 °C
2. Inlet pressure 1 atm
3. Specific heat, Cp 1007 J/kg.K
4. Mass flow rate 0.065274 kg/s
5. Density 1.174 kg/m3
35 500
450
Volta g e (V) and C urrent (A )
30
400
25 350
P ower (W)
20 300
250
15 200
10 150
100
5
50
0 0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31
Tim e (m ins )
Figure 4. The stack voltage, current and electrical power profile over operation time.
654
40% 50
C ell c urrent dens ity

35% 45
C ell E ffic ienc y
(mA /c m2)
30% 40
25% 35
20% 30
30 34.5 39 43.5 48 52.5 57 61.5 66 70.5 75
S ta c k tem perature ( o C )
Figure 5. Relation of cell efficiency and current density to average stack temperature.
80 500
70 450
400
E lec tric a l power (W)

Temperature (o C )
60
350
50 300
40 250
30 200
150
20
100
10 50
0 0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31
Time (m ins )
Figure 6. Time-based stack temperature and power output profile.
The rapid rise of stack heat was due to the low active cooling contribution set for
the study, which was calculated at 40% to 50% heat exchanger effectiveness. If a linear
relationship is assumed, then the stack heat increase rate is approximately 113 W/min.
The actual stack heat from Figure 7 is in the range of 750 to 2030 W and the maximum
value was registered as the stack temperature crossed 70 °C.
Experimental data shows that the stack thermal power at 1000 W corresponds to
a cooling water temperature change of 19 °C, a stack current of 12.41 A and a total
voltage of 30.8 V. These values form the basis of calculations from Eq. (9) and Eq. (10)
for two cases of theoretical and actual rise of current and resistances. Table 3 lists the
current and resistance value based on the theoretical linear stack thermal power rise of
50 W per degree change in cooling water temperature. The actual current and resistance
changes were evaluated by interpolating the experimental data of current, voltage and
thermal power generated for a similar trend in cooling water unit temperature change.
Figure 8 graphically presents the theoretical and experimental current and resistance
changes.
655
2500
Thermal Power (W)

2000
1500
1000
500
0
4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31
Time (mins)
Figure 7. Quantitative stack thermal energy.
Table 3. Theoretical case of stack current and resistance changes.
Theoretical CW Current Thermal Electrical

stack thermal temperature (Amps) resistance resistance
power (W) change ( T) (ohms) (ohms)
1000 0 12.41 6.50 2.48
1050 1 12.73 6.84 2.42
1100 2 13.05 7.18 2.36
1150 3 13.35 7.52 2.31
1200 4 13.65 7.87 2.26
1250 5 13.95 8.21 2.21
1300 6 14.24 8.55 2.16
1350 7 14.52 8.89 2.12
1400 8 14.79 9.23 2.08
1450 9 15.07 9.58 2.04
1500 10 15.33 9.92 2.01
18
16
14
Resistance (ohm)
12
Current (A)
10
8
Theoretical current
6
Theoretical Rth
4
Experimental current
2 Experimental Rth
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Delta T
Figure 8. Current and thermal resistance changes for a unit change of temperature.
656
The theoretical thermal resistance increases by 50% for a temperature difference

of 10 °C, whereas the current increases by only 30%. The current increase rate is 0.292
A/°C of cooling water temperature increase, or 0.00584 A/W of stack heat increase. The
current rise is due to the slightly lower electrical resistance as the stack temperature
increases. A large current rise is subdued due to increasing thermal resistance.
Theoretically, the ratio of thermal resistance rise to the current rise is 1.7. Referring to
the works of Pandiyan et al. (2008), the same ratio for their 4-cell assembly is 3 with a
current change rate of 1.76 A/°C of cooling water temperature increase, or 0.13 A/W of
stack heat increase. The stack in this study registers a 70% lower current change rate
compared to the 4-cell stack, pointing to higher internal resistance within the stack
assembly. Pandiyan et al. (2008) highlighted that the electrode fabrication procedure is a
major contributor to high internal resistance of fuel cell stacks. Another possible reason
is damaged cells within the stack that contribute to higher electrical resistance and
consequently, act as a thermal generator. Figure 9 compares the theoretical and
experimental electrical resistance of the stack. The theoretical resistance reduces as the
stack heats up, as the electron charge transport receives external energy and the bipolar
plate structure expands. The experimental electrical resistance declined at a lower rate
than the theoretical resistance until T = 3 °C. Then, a surge on a magnitude of 0.3
ohms was registered at T = 4 °C and the consequent electrical resistance hovered in
the range of 2.48 to 2.51 ohms, when theoretically it should be declining, suggesting
that one or more cells were already damaged.
Overall, the comparison of theoretical with experimental data for a 10 °C rise of

cooling water temperature indicates a contradictive trend. Theoretical analysis predicts a
30% increase in electrical current when the thermal resistance increases by 50% and the
electrical resistance decreases by 20%. However, actual data plots indicate a decline of
electrical current by 8% as the thermal resistance increases to 100% at a near constant
electrical resistance value. In this case, the experimental values demonstrate a behaviour
that is too sensitive to actual operating conditions, mainly to the cell conditions (reduced
humidity due to over-heating, mass flow and concentration etc.). The general correlation
between the experimental and theoretical resistance values, applicable to all PEM fuel
cell stacks, is an area that certainly requires further studies.
3.0
Electrical Resistance (ohm)
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0 Theoretical
Experimental
0.5
0.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Delta T
Figure 9. Comparison of theoretical with experimental electrical resistance change.
657
CONCLUSIONS
Fuel cell performance is affected by the state of each of its components as well as its
operating conditions. An analytical investigation based on the influence of internal
resistance was carried out on a PEM fuel cell stack constrained with limited cooling.
Thermal and electrical resistance of a PEM fuel cell stack was empirically measured
based on Ohms law. The total thermal power of the fuel cell was found to have
significant influence on the current output. The current rise to a unit of stack heat
increase was very low, suggesting the influence of internal resistance, which may arise
from electrode quality or cells damaged during operation. The analytical method
presented has successfully enabled a fuel cell performance analysis from the perspective
of power to resistance relations, which can be applied to compare the performance of
different stacks. However, a definite mathematical relationship between the resistances
based on actual performance data would require further work in this area.
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issues related to fuel cell technology and modelling. International Journal of
Heat and Mass Transfer, 48 (19-20): 3891-3920.
Begot, S. and Kauffmann J.M. 2008. Estimation of internal fuel cell temperatures from
surface temperature measurements. Journal of Power Sources, 178(1): 316-322.
Cengel, Y.A. 2003. Heat transfer: A practical approach Int. Edition. New York:
McGraw Hills.
Dhathathreyan, K.S. and Rajalakshmi, N. 2007. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell,
recent trends in fuel cell science and technology. Sudshawatsu B. (Eds.). India:
Anamaya Publications.
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management of a PEMFC stack by 3D nodal modelling. Journal of Power
Sources, 156(1): 78-84.
Graf, C., Vath, A. and Nicoloso, N. 2006. Modeling of the heat transfer in a portable
PEFC system within MATLAB-Simulink. Journal of Power Sources, 155(1):
52-59.
Jang, J.H., Chiu, H.C., Yan, W.M. and Sun,W.L. 2007. Effects of operating conditions
on the performances of individual cell and stack of PEM fuel cell. Journal of
Power Sources, 180(1): 476-483.
Al-Baghdadi, M.A.R.S. and Al-Janabi, H.A.K.S. 2007. Modeling optimizes PEM fuel
cell performance using three-dimensional multi-phase computational fluid
dynamics model. Energy Conversion and Management, 48(12): 3102-3119.
Pandiyan, S., Jayakumar, K., Rajalakshmi N. and Dhathathreyan, K.S. 2008. Thermal
and electrical energy management in a PEMFC stack-an analytical approach.
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 51(3-4): 469-473.
Park, Y.H. and Caton, J.A. 2008. Development of a PEM stack and performance
analysis including the effects of water content and cooling method. Journal of
Power Sources, 179: 584-591.
Sopian, K. and Daud, W.R.W. 2006. Challenges and future developments in Proton
exchange membrane fuel cells. Renewable Energy, 31(5): 719-727.
658
Wang, X.D., Duan, Y.Y., Yan, W.M. and Peng, X.F. 2008. Local transport phenomena
and cell performance of PEM fuel cells with various serpentine flow field
designs. J Power Sources, 175(1): 397-407.
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channel removal. Journal of Power Sources, 163(2): 933-942.
659
COMPARISON OF THERMOELASTIC RESULTS IN TWO TYPES OF

FUNCTIONALLY GRADED BRAKE DISCS
B.B. Sahari 1,2, M.M. Shahzamanian1,2, M. Bayat 3, Z.N. Ismarrubie1

and F. Mustapha4
1
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department, Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
2
Institute of Advance Technology (ITMA), Universiti Putra Malaysia
3
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Malaya
4
Aerospace Engineering Department, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Phone: 03-89467533, Fax: 03-89467536
E-mail: barkawi@eng.upm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
A thermoelastic simulation of functionally graded (FG) brake discs is performed using

finite element (FE) ANSYS. The material properties of two types of FG brake discs are
assumed to vary in both radial and thickness directions according to a power law
distribution. The brake discs are in contact with one hollow pure pad disc. Dry contact
friction is considered as the heat source. The proper thicknesses of pad discs are found
to have full-contact status. The behaviour of the thermoelastic results for thickness and
radial FG brake discs are compared. The results show that the behaviour of temperature
and vertical displacement in these two types of FG brake discs are the same. However,
the variations of radial displacement for different grading indices n are not the same.
The behaviour of other results are quite similar. Thus, it can be concluded that the
variation direction of material properties in FG brake discs can affect the results.
Keywords: Functionally graded material, finite element method, brake disc,

thermoelastic.
INTRODUCTION
Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are materials in which the volume fraction of two
or more constituent materials varies smoothly and continuously as a function of position
along certain dimension(s) of the structure from one point to another (Suresh and
Mortensen, 1998; Reddy, 2000). Some work has been done using the finite element
method to obtain the thermomechanical response of such materials. Shahzamanian et al.
(2010a,b) simulated a functionally graded (FG) brake disc in order to investigate the
contact status and perform a thermoelastic analysis. The steps of FG brake disc
simulation are described and results obtained for different values of contact stiffness
factors and gradation indices. Yong and Ahn (2007) analysed the instability in FG brake
discs with variations of material properties in the thickness direction and their results
are presented in different times. Gao and Lin (2002) obtained the temperature
660
Comparison of thermoelastic results in two types of functionally graded brake discs
distribution in a three-dimensional brake disc by using the finite element method

(FEM), where the pure pad disc is considered as a sector.
In the present study, an FG hollow rotating brake disc with inner radius ri , outer
radius ro , thickness, h and axisymmetric with respect to the z -axis, was subjected to
contact with one homogenous material hollow disc and the results analysed. The
variation of material properties in the radius and thickness directions of the constituent
components of two types of FG brake discs, are assumed to be represented by a power
law distribution. Friction is considered to be the heat source that causes the thermal
stresses. The thermoelastic results of FG brake discs with a variation of material
properties in both the radial and thickness directions are compared.
GRADATION RELATION
In the present study, the variation of property, P, of the material in the FG disc along the
radial, r, and thickness, z, directions is assumed to be of the following form in equations
1-2, respectively (Bayat et al., 2009a,b):
( )=( ) (1)
( ) 0; < (2)
where, , and are pure ceramic properties, pure metal properties and a grading
index, respectively.
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
Finite element ANSYS software was used to present the results. For thermomechanical
loads, the plane 13 element is applied for the brake disc and pad disc. Targe 169 and
Conta 171 elements are used for the brake and pad discs, respectively to define the
contact surfaces. The FG brake disc is divided into two hundred elements. The mesh
division for the radial and thickness FG brake disc is presented in Figures 1-2,
respectively. Generally, increasing the number of the elements will improve the
accuracy of the results. ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) is used.
Figure 1. Mesh division for radial FG brake discs.
661
Sahari et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 660-669
Figure 2. Mesh division for thickness FG brake discs.
In the thermal and structural cases, the rate of frictional dissipation is given by:
(In this case = 1) (3)
where: is the sliding rate, is the frictional dissipated energy converted into heat,
is the friction coefficient and is the contact pressure.
MECHANICAL BOUNDARY CONDITION
The FG brake disc is mounted onto a shaft at the inner surface. Hence, the boundary
conditions are as follows:
= 0 at , (4)
= 0 at , (5)
CONTACT STATUS CONSIDERATION
To achieve a full-contact problem between the FG brake disc and pure pad disc, the
contact status of both radial and thickness FG brake discs are investigated for different
gradation indices (Shahzamanian et al., 2010a,b). In this case, the pad thickness value of
0.65 makes full-contact in the radial and thickness FG brake system for all of the values
of gradation indices that are applied to obtain the thermomechanical results.
An FG brake disc with = 5 and = 10 mm subjected to centrifugal force

due to constant angular velocity = 1000.0( ) and vertical pressure due to pad
= 1000.0 , is considered. The friction coefficient between the pad and brake disc
for a radial FG brake is 0.75 1.4. For the FG brake disc, the ceramic surface is in
contact with the pad disc. Thus, the friction coefficient between the pad and disc is
equal to = 0.75. A pad disc with = 1.25 is considered when =
662
. The material properties applied are shown in Table 1 (Shahzamanian et al.,

2010a,b).
Table 1. Material properties.
Material µ between
property (MPa) Kg 1 W J pad and
m K mK kg. K pure
material
disc
Partially 151.0 0.3 5700 10 × 10 2.0 400 0.75
stabilised
zirconia (PSZ),
Ceramic
aluminium, 70.0 0.3 2700 23 × 10 209 900 1.4
metal
In the following sections, the results are presented in non-dimensional form by

temperature, displacement, stress and strain normalised by factors: ,
, and , respectively.
The non-dimensional temperature for the radial and thickness FG brake disc at
the first contact point ( = 0.8) are demonstrated in Figures 3-4, respectively.
0.9
Non-dimensional Temperature
0.8
0.7
n = 1.5
0.6
0.5
n = 1.0
0.4
0.3
n = 0.8
0.2
0.1
n = 0.5
0
0.8 0.9 1.0
Non-dimensional Radius (R=r/ro)
Figure 3. Non-dimensional temperature for radial FG brake discs.
It can be seen from Figures 3-4 that the behaviour of non-dimensional

temperature at the first contact point is the same. Non-dimensional vertical displacement
in the radial and thickness FG brake discs are shown in Figures 3-5. The results show
that the variations of these displacements are similar to each other. Non-dimensional
663
radial displacement for the radial and thickness FG brake disc is presented in Figures 7-
8, respectively.
1.0
Non-dimensional Temperature
0.8
0.6
n = 1.5
0.4 n = 1.0
n = 0.8
0.2
n = 0.5
0
0.79 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1.0
Non-dimensional Radius(R=r/ro)
Figure 4. Non-dimensional temperature for thickness FG brake discs.
0
Non-dimansional Vertical Displacement
-0.01
-0.02
-0.03
Full ceramic
n = 0.5
-0.04
n = 0.8
-0.05 n = 1.0
-0.06 n = 1.5
-0.07
-0.08
Full metal
-0.09
-0.1
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Figure 5. Non-dimensional vertical displacement in radial FG brake discs.
Figure 7 shows that by increasing the gradation indices, the non-dimensional

radial displacement for the radial FG brake disc increases. However, this observation on
the thickness FG brake disc is different. Figure 8 shows that the radial displacement for
the thickness FG brake disc decreases with an increase of the grading index up to
certain value and after that, increasing the grading index results in the radial
displacement increasing up to that of a full metal disc. Non-dimensional radial stress for
the radial and thickness FG brake discs are displayed in Figures 9-10, respectively.
664
0.0
Non-dimensional Vertical Displacement

-0.005
-0.01
-0.015
Full Ceramic
n = 1.5
-0.02 n = 1.0
n = 0.8
-0.025
n = 0.5
-0.03
-0.035 Full Metal
-0.038
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Non-dimensional Radius(R=r/ro )
Figure 6. Non-dimensional thickness displacement in radial FG brake discs.
7
Non-dimensional Mid-Plane Radial Displacement
Full metal
5
3 Full ceramic n = 0.5 n = 0.8 n = 1.0 n = 1.5
0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Figure 7. Non-dimensional radial displacement in radial FG brake discs.
It can be deduced from Figures 9-10 that the non-dimensional radial stress after
the first contact point > 0.8 , in both the radial and thickness FG brake discs for all
of the gradation indices, is equal to the value of that for full-metal and full-ceramic
brake discs. It should be mentioned that before the first contact point < 0.8 for the
radial FG brake disc, the non-dimensional radial stress for all of the gradation indices
are equal and less than that for full-metal and full-ceramic brake discs. The reverse is
the case the for thickness FG brake disc; the non-dimensional radial stress for all of the
gradation indices are not equal and their values are bigger than for full-metal and full-
ceramic brake discs. It is noted that by increasing the gradation indices, the non-
dimensional radial stress increases. The non-dimensional out-of-plane shear stresses are
shown in Figures 11-12 for radial and thickness FG brake discs in contact surfaces.
665
0.00265
0.0025
Non-dimensional Radial Displacement Full Metal n = 500

0.002
n = 0.001 Full Ceramic
0.0015
0.001 n = 1.5 n = 1.0 n = 0.8 n = 0.5
0.0005
0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Non-dimensional Radius( R=r/ro)
Figure 8. Non-dimensional radial displacement in thickness FG brake discs.
0.04
0.035
Non-dimansional Radial Stress
0.03
0.025
0.02 Full ceramic
0.015
0.01
n = 1.0 n = 1.5
Full metal
0.005
0
n = 0.5 n = 0.8
-0.005
-0.01
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Figure 9. Non-dimensional radial stress in radial FG brake discs.
For the radial and thickness FG brake discs, the values of shear stresses of all
gradation indices are equal. Prior to = 0.8, the non-dimensional shear stresses in the
gradation indices for radial FG discs are less than those for full-metal and full-ceramic
brake discs but for thickness FG discs the situation is reversed. At = 0.8, the shear
stresses for thickness FG discs are smaller than for full-metal discs and shear stresses in
radial FG discs are bigger than in full-ceramic discs. After = 0.8, the shear stresses of
the radial and thickness discs have one intersection with the shears of the full-metal and
full-ceramic discs. Initially, for radial FG discs, the shear stresses are greater than for
full-ceramic and full-metal discs but for thickness FG discs this issue is different. The
non-dimensional total radial stress for radial and thickness FG brake discs are presented
in Figures 13-14, respectively.
666
4.65
4.39
Non-dimensional Radial Stress
3.51
n = 1.5
n = 1.0
2.63
n = 0.8
n = 0.5
1.754
0.877 Full Metal
0 Full Ceramic
-0.75
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Figure 10. Non-dimensional radial stress in thickness FG brake discs.

Non-dimansional Shear Stress of out-plane
-0.2
-0.4 Full ceramic n = 0.5

n = 0.8
-0.6 n = 1.0
n =1.5
-0.8
-1
Full metal
-1.2
-1.4
-1.6
-1.8
0.75 0.8 0.9 1
Non-dimansional Radius (R=r/ro)
Figure 11. Non-dimensional shear stress of out-of-plane in radial FG brake discs.
Figures 13 and 14 show that the non-dimensional total radial strain for radial FG
brake discs is closer to the non-dimensional total strain of full-metal brake discs.
However, the non-dimensional total radial strain for thickness FG brake discs is closer
to that of full-ceramic brake discs.
667
Non-dimensional Shear Stress In-plane Circumferential

0.035
0 Full Ceramic
Full Metal
n = 0.5 , 0.8 , 1.0 , 1.5

-0.12
-0.24
0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1.0
Figure 12. Non-dimensional shear stress of out-of-plane in thickness FG brake discs

0.07
Non-dimansional Total Radial Strain
0.06
0.05 Full ceramic
0.04 Full metal
0.03
0.02 n = 1.5
n = 1.0
0.01
-0.01 n = 0.5
n = 0.8
-0.02
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Figure 13. Non-dimensional total radial strain in radial FG brake discs

0.66
Non-dimensional Total Radial Strain
0.53
0.398
n = 1.5
n = 1.0
0.265 n = 0.8
n =0.5
Full Metal
0.1325
0
Full Ceramic
-0.1325
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Figure 14. Non-dimensional total radial strain in thickness FG brake discs
668
CONCLUSIONS
The thermoelastic analysis of two types of FG brake discs is studied. The material
properties of radial FG brake discs vary in the radial direction and for thickness FG
brake discs the material properties vary in the thickness direction. An FG brake disc dis
in contact with a pure pad disc and dry friction is considered as the heat source. Initially,
the contact status of the FG brake disc is investigated having full-contact status between
the FG brake and pad disc. This analysis is done by ANSYS software. The results show
that the behaviour of non-dimensional temperature and vertical displacement are similar
for both radial and thickness FG brake discs. However, the non-dimensional radial
displacement for radial and thickness FG brake discs are different. It is seen that non-
dimensional radial stress, shear stress of out-plane and total radial strain are quite
similar. It can be concluded that the gradation of the constituent components is a
significant factor in the thermomechanical response of FG brake discs.
REFERENCES
Bayat, M., Sahari, B.B., Saleem, M., Ali, A. and Wong, S.V. 2009a. Bending analysis
of a functionally graded rotating disk based on the first order shear deformation
theory. Applied Mathematical Model Journal, 33(11): 4215–4230.
Bayat, M., Sahari, B.B., Saleem, M., Ali, A. and Wong, S.V. 2009b. A thermo-elastic
solution of a functionally graded variable thickness rotating disk with bending
based on the first order shear deformation theory. Thin-Walled Structure, 47(5):
568–582.
Gao, C.H. and Lin, X.Z. 2002. Transient temperature field analysis of a brake in a non-
axisymmetric three-dimensional model. Journal of Materials Processing
Technology, 129: 513–517.
Reddy, J.N. 2000. Analysis of functionally graded plates. International Journal of
Numerical Methods in Engineering. 47: 663–684.
Shahzamanian, M.M., Sahari, B.B., Bayat, M., Ismarrubie, Z.N. and Mustapha, F.
2010b. Transient and thermal contact analysis for the elastic behavior of
functionally graded brake disks due to mechanical and thermal loads. Materials
and Design, 31: 4655–4665.
Shahzamanian, M.M., Sahari, B.B., Bayat, M., Mustapha, F. and Ismarrubie, Z.N.
2010a. Finite element analysis of thermoelastic contact problem in functionally
graded axisymmetric brake disks. Composite Structures, 92: 1591–1602.
Suresh, S. and Mortensen, A. 1998. Fundamentals of functionally graded materials.
Institute of Materials (IOM) Communications Limited, London.
Yong, H.J. and Ahn, S.H. 2007. Frictionally-excited thermoelastic instability in
functionally graded material. Wear, 262: 1102–1112.
669
DESIGN OF A SUPERBIKE PADDOCK STAND USING CAD AND CAE

TOOLS
H. Rashid1, A.H. Abdullah1, M.H. Mohd Noh1, A.H. Abdul Hamid1

and N.M. Zainal Abidin1
1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Phone: +603 5543 6201, Fax: +603 5543 5160,
E-mail: helmi_rashid@salam.uitm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Two people are required to operate current superbike paddock stands in order to elevate
the superbike. Lifting the superbike alone using the current design of paddock stand
may be impractical and inconvenient for users. To overcome this limitation, a new
design of a superbike paddock stand was conceived that could be operated by a single
user. CAD and CAE tools using CATIA V5R18 software were utilised in designing this
new stand. A 3D CAD model was developed and analysed through finite element
analysis (FEA) and a prototype fabricated for verification testing of the design. The use
of CAD and CAE tools saved much time in the design work and gave the researchers
and designers freedom in producing their own design. However, the most important
aspect of this design study was to design a superbike paddock stand that is more
practical and convenient for operation by a single user.
Keywords: Superbike, paddock stand, computer aided design (CAD), finite element
analysis (FEA).
INTRODUCTION
Superbikes with a dry weight of more than 100 kg rarely come with a double-stand,
such as is commonly found on much lighter lower CC motorcycles. This double-stand
functions as a temporary stand that places the motorcycle in a vertical standing position,
which facilitates the ease of either periodic or ad-hoc maintenance work. The side-stand
provided on superbikes, places the bike in a slanting position, which gives limited
access for users to do maintenance work (Feyen et al., 2000). In addition, maintenance
work on superbikes usually requires the bike to be lifted off the ground, allowing the
superbike’s tyres (front or rear tyre) to turn freely in a vertical position
(Vanvalkenburgh, 2006; Siivonen, 2005). To facilitate this, a special type of jack is
needed to safely lift the bike. The shared concept of the working principle of current
designs of superbike paddock stands is to either lift the front or rear tyre depending on
the necessary maintenance work. Current designs act as detachable stands used
temporarily to stabilise the superbike and maintain its vertical aspect. Current designs of
superbike paddock stands require two people to lift the superbike; one person needs to
hold firmly the superbike in an upright standing position, whilst the other person lifts
the bike by supporting its weight on its swing arm for the rear tyre, or on the front fork’s
bolt and nut for the front tyre. This puts the superbike in a stable and straight standing
670
Design of a superbike paddock stand using CAD and CAE tools
position, which gives users a much better working and reach area for performing
maintenance work (Feyen et al., 2000).
DESIGN METHODOLGY
Figure 1 shows the design process involved in designing the superbike paddock stand
(Ulrich and Eppinger, 2008). It starts by identifying the requirements of a stand that can
be used by a single user. Ideas and concepts were generated before being selected using
the Pugh decision matrix selection method (Thakker et al., 2009; Kuppuraju et al., 1985;
Ulrich and Eppinger, 2008).
Start
Identification of Needs
Idea & Concept Generation
Preliminary Design & CAD

Modeling
Detail Design
N
Calculation & FEA
Simulation
Fabrication, Assembly
& Finishing
Testing & Verification
End
Figure 1. Design process involved in designing the superbike paddock stand

(Ulrich and Eppinger, 2008).
Detailed design of the superbike paddock stand was performed before it was
modelled in a 3D CAD model using CAD software; CATIA V5R18 (Ulrich and
Eppinger, 2008). Calculations and analysis through finite element analysis using CAE
671
Rashid et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 5 (2012) 670-679
software; also CATIA V5R18, was then done on the 3D CAD model to analyse the
maximum stresses acting on the new design (Karam and Kleismit, 2004; Mingzhou et
al., 2002). To verify that the new design will not fail with the load acting upon it, a
prototype was fabricated for testing with an actual superbike.
DETAILED DESIGN AND MODELLING
Three design concepts were generated combining many design factors including:
functionality, assembly, maintainability, design simplicity, safety, quality, ergonomics
and cost effectiveness. Using the Pugh decision matrix selection method (Thakker et al.,
2009, Kuppuraju et al., 1985) as shown in Table 1, scores were determined for each
design concept’s criteria and the concept with the highest total average score was
selected (Kuppuraju et al., 1985).
Table 1. Pugh decision matrix design selection.
Score
Criteria
Design Concept 1 Design Concept 2 Design Concept 3
Functionality 6 4 7
Assembly 5 5 8
Maintainability 7 5 8
Design simplicity 8 6 9
Safety 7 5 8
Quality 7 5 8
Ergonomics 7 6 8
Cost Effectiveness 8 6 7
Total Average 55 42 63
Scoring Scale; Bad (1) – Excellent (10)
Figure 2 shows the current design of a superbike paddock stand and the design
concept modelled using the CATIA V5R18 software for visualising the design concept
(Karam and Kleismit, 2004) and the principle of how this new superbike paddock stand
will function.
Figure 2. Current superbike paddock stand and the 3D conceptual design of CATIA
V5R18 CAD model.
From the 3D CAD model of the design concept, a detailed design of the
superbike paddock stand was developed. This detailed design includes all the elements
672
to which the superbike paddock stand will adhere when fabricated (Ulrich and Eppinger,
2008). Figure 3 shows the detailed design of the superbike paddock stand modelled into
a 3D CAD model using the CATIA V5R18 software.
Figure 3. 3D CAD model of the superbike paddock stand; detailed design.
FINITE ELEMENT MODEL AND ANALYSIS
To analyse the maximum stresses acting on the designed stand, FEA was performed on
the 3D CAD model. Using one of the CAE packages in CATIA V5R18 software, the
finite element model was assigned with mild steel as the material (Ref. Figure 4)
(Mingzhou et al., 2002; Riley et al., 1999). It was assigned as clamped at the lever
surface, where the stand will rest when the bike is lifted, with 250 kg weight or 2.5 kN
of force acting on both ends of the support (Figure 5) (Bedford and Fowler, 2008).
Figure 4. Material properties of finite element model.
673
Figure 5. Boundary condition and acting load of finite element model.
ANALYSIS RESULTS
The analysis results consist of the deformation, von Mises Stress and translational
displacement (Mingzhou et al., 2002) that occurs on the 3D CAD model of the designed
stand, obtained through an FEA simulation using the CATIA V5R18 software. Figure 6
shows the deformation that the stand may undergo when load acts on it. However, the
FEA revealed that hardly any deformation occurs. Figure 7 shows the von Mises stress
(Mingzhou et al., 2002; Budynas and Nisbett, 2008) acting on the stand. The red area
represents the maximum von Mises stress; 81.2 MPa, where the superbike paddock
stand will be highly affected due to the load acting upon it. Figure 8 shows the
translational displacement results when load is applied to the stand; the red area
represents the maximum translational displacement of a 1.38 mm.
Figure 6. Deformation of the superbike paddock stand.
674
Figure 7. von Mises stress acting on the superbike paddock stand.
Figure 8. Translational displacement on the superbike paddock stand.
PROTOTYPE FABRICATION
A prototype of the stand was fabricated for testing with an actual superbike. The
processes used in the fabrication were mainly welding and bending (Kalpakjian and
Schmid, 2006), apart from finishing processes for aesthetic value. Figures 9 and 10
show the superbike paddock stand after being bent and welded together, respectively.
Figure 11 shows the finished stand sprayed a metallic blue colour for aesthetics and to
prevent rusting (Kalpakjian and Schmid, 2006).
675
Figure 9. Handle of the superbike paddock stand after bending.
Figure 10. Frame of the superbike paddock stand after welding.
Figure 11. Frame of the superbike paddock stand after painting.
676
Table 2 shows the summary of the results obtained from the FEA done on the designed
stand using the CATIA V5R18 software. The deformation of nearly zero shows that the
paddock stand can sustain the load acting upon it. The maximum von Mises stress
obtained does not exceed the maximum yield strength of mild steel; 200 MPa (Riley et
al., 1999). This verifies that the paddock stand will not fail during operation (Mingzhou
et al., 2002). The small maximum translational displacement shown does not have a big
impact on the structural integrity of superbike stand.
Table 2. Summary results of the finite element analysis.
Static Case Solution Results

Deformation Nearly zero deformation
Maximum Von Mises Stress 81.2 MPa
Maximum Translational Displacement 1.38 mm
Figure 12 shows how the bike is lifted by the support on the superbike paddock
stand placed under the superbike’s swing arm. The support can be adjusted to various
widths depending on the model of superbike, by turning the support lever on both sides
of the stand. Figures 13 and 14 demonstrate how a single user operates the stand and
how the stand lifts the rear tyre of the bike, allowing it to turn freely without touching
the ground. For the user to lift up the superbike using this stand, the user’s left hand
needs to hold the superbike’s left handle bar pushing it into a straight position. Then
using the user’s right hand, the superbike paddock stand is pushed downwards firmly
until the handle of the stand touches the ground, lifting the rear tyre of the bike.
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 12. Position of the superbike paddock stand’s support under the superbike’s
swing arm.
In use, the handle of the superbike paddock stand lies on the ground giving a
firm and stable platform for maintenance work on the superbike (Feyen et al., 2000;
Siivonen, 2005). It will not topple over because the weight of the superbike acts
downwards in front of the pivot point, which is the paddock stand’s wheels (Bedford
and Fowler, 2008). This allows the stand to lock the superbike in a firm and stable
elevated condition. Figure 15 shows several views of the superbike paddock stand
elevating and holding the superbike in position. It is clear that the stand lifts the rear tyre
allowing it to turn freely.
677
Figure 13. Single user demonstration of superbike paddock stand use.
Figure 14. The superbike paddock stand with superbike’s rear tyre lifted.
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 15. Different angle views of the superbike paddock stand lifting the rear tyre of
the superbike.
678
CONCLUSIONS
This paper outlines the results of designing a superbike paddock stand using CAD and
CAE tools via CATIA V5R18 software. The designed superbike paddock stand was
fabricated and tested with an actual superbike. This prototype confirmed that the
designed stand is practical, convenient and easily operated by a single user.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank all colleagues that contributed either
directly or indirectly to this research work, especially the machine shop technicians,
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia.
REFERENCES
Bedford, A. and Fowler, W. 2008. Engineering mechanics: Static. 5th Edition. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Budynas, R.G. and Nisbett, J.K. 2008. Shigley’s mechanical engineering design. 8th
Edition. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
Feyen, R., Liu, Y., Chaffin, D., Jimmerson, G. and Josepg, B. 2000. Computer-aided
ergonomics: a case study of incorporating ergonomics analyses into workplace
design. Applied Ergonomics, 31(3): 291-300.
Kalpakjian, S. and Schmid, S.R. 2006. Manufacturing engineering and technology. 5th
Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Karam, F. and Kleismit, C. 2004. Using CATIA V5. Australia: Thomson.
Kuppuraju, N., Ittimakin, P. and Mistree, F. 1985. Design through selection: a method
that works. Design Studies, 6(2): 91-106.
Mingzhou, S., Qiang, G. and Bing, G. 2002. Finite element analysis of steel members
under cyclic loading. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 39 (1): 43-54.
Riley, W.F., Sturges, L.D. and Morris, D.H. 1999. Mechanics of materials. 5th Edition.
USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Siivonen, M. 2005. Motorcycle stand for maintenance, US 6840506 B2,
Riihenvainiontie 4, FIN-27320 Ihode, FI.
Thakker, A., Jarvis, J., Buggy, M. and Sahed, A. 2009. 3D-CAD conceptual design of
the next-generation impulse turbine using the Pugh decision-matrix. Materials &
Design, 30(7): 2676-2684.
Ulrich, K.T. and Eppinger, S.D. 2008. Product design and development. 4th Edition.
Vanvalkenburgh, C.N. 2006. Motorcycle stand, US 7000901 B1, 620 Pearl Ave.,
Huntsville, AL, US.
679
CONTENTS
Effect of Workpiece Volume on Shell Wall Thickness Reduction in Rapid 680

Casting of Aluminium using Three Dimensional Printing
Rupinder Singh and Rajinder Singh
Cr-Ni Alloy Electrodeposition and Comparison with Conventional Pure Cr 692

Coating Technique
M. Moniruzzaman, M.M. Rakib and F.T. Matin
An Experimental Evaluation of Transient Flows in Supersonic Gun Tunnel 701

Al Al-Falahi Amir, Yusoff, M. Z. and Diyar I. Ahmed
The Effects of Gamma-Ray on the Mechanical Properties of Zr-Based Bulk 713

Metallic Glass
L.H. Shah, T. Bun, S. Nagata and T. Shikama
Optimizing the Shape of Rotor Blades for Maximum Power Extraction in 722
Marine Current Turbines
J.A. Esfahani and H.R. Karbasian
A review of MILD combustion and open furnace design consideration 730

M.M.Noor, Andrew P.Wandel and T.Yusaf
Analysis of Laminar Forced Convection of Air for Crossflow over Two 755
Staggered Flat Tubes
Tahseen A. Tahseen, M. Ishak and M. M. Rahman
Investigation of Flow Behavior in Minimum Quantity Lubrication Nozzle for 768

End Milling Processes
M.S. Najiha, M.M.Rahman, A.R. Yusoff and K. Kadirgama
Comparison of Polyjet Printing and Silicon Moulding as Rapid Plastic Moulding 777
Solution
R. Singh
Computational Fluid Dynamics Investigation on the use of Heat Shields for 785
Thermal Management in a Car Underhood
S.Y. Lam, N.H. Shuaib, H. Hasini and N. A. Shuaib
Augmentation of Turbulent Flow Heat Transfer in A Horizontal Tube with 797

Varying Width Twisted Tape Inserts
S. Naga Sarada, A.V. Sita Rama Raju, K. Kalyani Radha and L. Syam Sunder
ii
EFFECT OF WORKPIECE VOLUME ON SHELL WALL THICKNESS

REDUCTION IN RAPID CASTING OF ALUMINUM USING
THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTING
Rupinder Singh and Rajinder Singh

Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana-141006, India
Phone: +91 98722 57575, Fax: +91 161 2502700
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the present work is to study the effect of workpiece volume on reducing
the shell wall thickness in rapid shell casting based upon three-dimensional printing
(3DP) technology, and to evaluate the dimensional accuracy and mechanical properties
of aluminum (Al) castings obtained as per the ISO standard UNIEN 20286-I (1995).
Starting from the identification of component/benchmark, castings of different volumes
(corresponding to workpieces of 60 mm, 50 mm and 40 mm) were produced with
different shell wall thicknesses. Measurements on a coordinate measuring machine
(CMM) allowed the calculation of the dimensional tolerances of the castings produced.
Some important mechanical properties were also compared to verify the suitability of
the castings. The research proved that having a shell wall thickness with a value less
than that recommended (12 mm) is more suitable from a dimensional accuracy and
economic point of view (irrespective of the workpiece volume within the given selected
range). All the castings produced with different shell thicknesses are acceptable as per
the ISO standard. The results of the study suggest that workpiece volume has an
unnoticeable effect on reducing the shell wall thickness for the selected range of
volumes of casting. Furthermore, the hardness of castings produced is almost same for
all shell wall thicknesses, from 12 mm to 1 mm. The results are supported by cooling
(time-temperature) curves, which show unnoticeable changes in the rate of heat transfer
at different shell wall thicknesses. Keeping in mind the cost effectiveness of the process,
one (1) mm shell wall thickness has been recommended for the production of castings.
For a 1 mm shell wall thickness, the production cost and time are reduced by 67.38%
and 44.87% (for 60 mm workpieces), 64.51% and 44.62% (for 50 mm workpieces),
and 69.50% and 59.64% (for 40 mm workpieces), respectively.
Keywords: Three-dimensional printing; workpiece volume; rapid casting; aluminum

alloys; dimensional accuracy.
INTRODUCTION
Rapid prototyping (RP) is a fabrication method whereby physical objects are

constructed by depositing material layer by layer under computer control (Singh, 2008a;
Verma, 2008). RP takes virtual designs (from computer aided design (CAD) or from
animation modeling software), transforms them into cross-sections, still virtual, and
then creates each cross-section in physical space, one after the next until the model is
finished (Singh, 2008b). The various commercially available RP processes can be
classified on the basis of the base material used to make the prototype (Stampfl and
680
Liska, 2005). Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is a relatively new form of RP (Singh
and Verma, 2008; Singh, 2011b). The process of 3DP was patented in 1994 by Sachs et
al. (1994) under U.S. patent number 005340656. It was developed at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) and licensed to Soligen Corporation, Extrude Hone and Z
Corporation of Burlington (Singh and Singh, 2009a). The techniques based on layer-by-
layer manufacturing have extended their field of application, from the building of
aesthetic and functional prototypes to the production of tools and molds for
technological prototypes (Karapatis et al., 1998). In particular, additive construction
applied to the production of dies and electrodes, directly from digital data, is defined as
rapid tooling (RT) (Chua and Ho, 1999a). Patterns, cores and cavities for metal castings
can be obtained through rapid casting (RC) techniques (Singh and Singh, 2009b). In
both cases, since the tooling phase is highly time-consuming, great competitive
advantages can be gained (Lee et al., 2004). Moreover, RT and RC processes allow the
simultaneous development and validation of the product and of the manufacturing
process (Chua and Ho, 1999b). Technological prototypes can constitute a strategic
means, not only for functional and assembly tests or to obtain the customer’s
acceptance, but mainly to outline eventual critical points in the production process
(Singh and Singh, 2009c). The relevance of RC techniques consists, above all, in a short
time for parts availability (Bassoli et al., 2007). Traditionally, in order to produce cast
prototypes a model and eventual cores have to be created, involving time and costs that
hardly match the rules of a competitive market (Chan et al., 2003). For this reason
functional tests are typically performed on prototypes obtained by metal cutting, which
are not effective in outlining the issues related to the manufacturing process (Chhabra
and Singh, 2011). The possibility of verifying the usefulness of a technological solution
in the early stages of a product’s development, ensures a ‘concurrent engineering’
approach and minimizes the risk of later modifications to the definitive production tools
(Chua et al., 2005). The initial cost increase can thus be repaid through a reduction in
costs and time for the following phases of development, engineering and production, as
well as through non-monetary advantages (Bernard et al., 2003). In particular, for
relatively small and complex parts the benefits of additive construction can be
significant (Wang et al., 1999). In this field, innovative solutions are now available
based on 3DP process, which can extend RC possibilities thanks to lower costs with
respect to previous technologies, such as the laminated object manufacturing of sand
casting (Singh and Singh, 2009c). One such technological solution in shell casting starts
from starch patterns produced on 3DP conceptual modelers (Dimitrov et al., 2006). A
second solution is 3DP technology with the use of a ceramic material which allows the
production of complex cavities and cores, suitable for casting light alloys (Radstok,
1999). A key issue regarding the shell casting process is the production of the pattern in
the case of prototype casting, for which traditional die casting is uneconomical (Cheah
et al., 2005; Singh, 2008b). RP techniques can meet this requirement, producing
single/few parts in a short time and without tooling costs (Dimitrov et al., 2007).
The present research regards shell patterns obtained by 3DP on which the
ceramic shell can be built and then joined (as in the conventional process) to obtain the
cavity for pouring metal. In 3DP, parts are built upon a platform situated in a bin full of
powder material. Powdered material is distributed in the form of one layer at a time and
selectively hardened and joined together by depositing drops of binder from a
mechanism similar to that used for ink-jet printing (Singh, 2008a). Then a piston lowers
the part so that the next layer of powder can be applied. For each layer, powder hopper
and roller systems distribute a thin layer of powder over the top of the work tray.
681
Adapted continuous-jet printing nozzles apply binder during a raster scan of the work
area, selectively hardening the part's cross-section. The loose powder that was not
hardened remains and acts as a support for the subsequent layers. The process is
repeated until the part is completed. When finished, the green part is then removed from
the unbound powder, and excess unbound powder is blown off. Finished parts can be
infiltrated with wax, glue, or other sealants to improve their durability and surface finish
(Singh, 2008c).
Experimental studies regarding this solution are lacking in the literature, in
particular the technological feasibility of thin-walled parts needs to be assessed (Kaplas
and Singh, 2008; Singh, 2011a). Furthermore, the literature review reveals that many
researchers have worked at reducing the shell wall thickness for cost effective RC
solutions (Verma, 2008). But hitherto no one has reported the effect of workpiece
volume on reducing the wall thickness from that recommended (12 mm) in aluminum
(Al) shell casting, in order to reduce the cost and time of shell production as well as to
evaluate dimensional accuracy and mechanical properties. The outcome of the
experimental study will be helpful in providing data for industrial applications of the
considered technology. Following are the main objectives of the research work.
1. To study the effect of workpiece volume for reducing the recommended shell
thickness in rapid shell casting, in order to reduce the shell production cost and
time.
2. To evaluate the dimensional accuracy of the castings obtained and to check the
consistency of the tolerance grades (IT Grades) of the castings as per the ISO
standard (UNI EN 20286-I, 1995) for industrial applications.
EXPERIMENTATION
In order to accomplish the above objectives, ‘Al alloy’ has been chosen as a benchmark.
The component selected for the present study is shown in Figure 1. For the process of
RC, based on 3DP, the following phases have been planned:
1. After the selection of the benchmark, the component to be built was modeled
using CAD (Figure 2). The CAD software used for the modeling was
UNIGRAPHICS Ver. NX 5.
2. The shells of the pattern were made at different thicknesses. The thickness
values for the shells were 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 mm. Figure 3
shows the CAD model of the shell for 6 mm thickness.
3. The CAD models of shells were converted in to STL (standard triangulation

language) format, also known as stereo lithography format (Figure 4).
4. Molds were manufactured in 3DP (Z Print machine, Model Z 510) with Z Cast
501 powder, and parts were heat treated at a temperature of 1100C for 1 hour.
Figure 5 shows the post curing of shells in the oven.
682
Figure 1. Orthographic view of benchmark
RP shell models have been used as the positive patterns around which the green
sand (AFS No. 56) was filled in a molding box. The sand had the following
composition: Silica up to 75%, Clay 12%, Bentonite 3%, Coal Dust 4% and Water 6%.
683
An Al alloy has been used for casting at different volumes (corresponding to workpieces
of 40 mm, 50 mm and 60 mm) and shell wall thicknesses (12 mm, 11 mm, 10 mm,
9 mm, 8 mm, 7 mm, 6 mm, 5 mm, 4 mm, 3 mm, 2 mm and 1 mm). The shells were
supported by green sand in the molding box, and molten metal was poured (Figure 6).
Figure 2. CAD model of the component
Figure 3. CAD model of Figure 4. Triangular Figure 5. Post curing of shells

shell facets of the shells in oven
Figure 6. Pouring of molten metal in green sand supported shells
684
The change in temperature of the castings during the solidification process has been
measured by an infrared pyrometer with respect to the time after the pouring of the
molten metal into the shells. The temperature of casting has been measured by focusing
the laser on the middle of the casting from the top, at regular intervals. Figures 7–9
show that for a fixed volume of the workpiece, the shell wall thicknesses (from 12 mm
to 1 mm) have an unnoticeable effect on the rate of heat transfer (for all three different
volumes of workpiece).
340
T_1_60
T_2_60
280 T_3_60
T_4_60
T_5_60
T_6_60
Temperature (°C)
220
T_7_60
T_8_60
T_9_60
160 T_10_60
T_11_60
T_12_60
100
40
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
TIME
Figure 7. Combined cooling curve of 60 mm workpiece
300
T_1_50
260
T_2_50
T_3_50
220 T_4_50
T_5_50
T_6_50
Temperature (°C)
180 T_7_50
T_8_50
140 T_9_50
T_10_50
T_11_50
100 T_12_50
60
20
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (minutes)
685
200
180 T_1_40
T_2_40
160 T_3_40
T_4_40
140 T_5_40
T_6_40
Temperature (°C)
120 T_7_40
T_8_40
100 T_9_40
T_10_40
80 T_11_40
T_12_40
60
40
20
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (minutes)
Figure 10 shows the cooling curves for a 1 mm shell wall thickness and three
different volumes of casting, which displays a noticeable effect on the rate of heat
transfer. This trend is obvious, because a higher volume will have longer solidification
time, as Solidification Time (Verma, 2008).
Table 1 shows the variation in the hardness of the castings prepared with respect
to shell thickness (mm). It should be noted that in casting neither a high nor low
hardness is desirable. This is because if casting is of high hardness, it is usually brittle,
and with a lower hardness it will be of ductile nature. In the present experimental study
the variation in hardness value is not too broad. The only reason to measure and
compare hardness values is to show that for an optimum sized shell thickness prepared
by 3DP, the castings produced show little variation in hardness. So there will not be any
problem in its functional operations. The measurement paths for the internal and the
external surfaces of the benchmark have been generated through the measurement
software of GEOPAK v2.4.R10 CMM. These paths direct the movements of the CMM
probe along trajectories normal to the surface of the parts. About 70 points have been
measured on the external surface. For each point the machine software evaluates the
deviations between the measured positions and the theoretical ones for the X, Y and Z
coordinates. The results of the dimensional measurements have been used to evaluate
the tolerance unit (n), that is derived starting from the standard tolerance factor i as
defined in standard UNI EN 20286-1 (1995). The values of standard tolerances
corresponding to IT5-IT18 grades, for nominal sizes up to 500 mm, were evaluated by
2008).
1
3
i 0.45 D 0.001D (1)
686
Table 1. Observations of hardness testing
Exp. Shell Thickness Rockwell Hardness No.(HRB)

Serial (mm) Workpiece Diameter
No. 60 mm 50 mm 40 mm
1 12 57 54 51
2 11 56 57 53
3 10 55 59 58
4 9 56 52 52
5 8 52 57 54
6 7 54 58 58
7 6 56 58 56
8 5 55 59 53
9 4 54 59 54
10 3 56 55 56
11 2 57 58 52
12 1 52 51 57
Table 2. IT grades for outer diameters of 60 mm, 50 mm and 40 mm
Shell DJM IT Grade DJM IT DJM IT Grade

Thickness for 60 for for 50 Grade for 40 for
mm) mm DJN = mm for mm D JN =
60 mm DJN = 40 mm
50
mm
12 59.855 IT10 49.815 IT11 39.900 IT10
11 59.605 IT12 49.825 IT11 39.940 IT8
10 59.820 IT10 49.875 IT10 39.905 IT9
9 59.810 IT11 49.780 IT11 39.790 IT11
8 59.585 IT12 49.825 IT11 39.815 IT11
7 59.865 IT10 49.715 IT12 39.890 IT10
6 59.810 IT10 49.375 IT14 39.720 IT12
5 59.555 IT12 49.700 IT12 39.740 IT12
4 59.445 IT12 49.845 IT10 39.695 IT12
3 59.455 IT12 49.760 IT11 39.445 IT13
2 59.890 IT9 49.415 IT13 39.510 IT13
1 59.540 IT12 49.590 IT13 39.705 IT12
size, but for a range of nominal sizes. For a generic nominal dimension DJN, the number
of tolerance units n is evaluated as follows:
n 1000 DJN DJM / i (2)
687
where DJM is the measured dimension. The tolerance is expressed as a multiple of i: for
example, IT14 corresponds to 400i with n = 400. Table 2 shows a classification of
different IT grades according to UNI EN 20286-1 (Singh and Singh, 2009c). As
observed from Table 2, all shell wall thicknesses are acceptable as per the ISO standard
UNIEN 20286-I (1995). Furthermore, it is observed that the shell production cost and
time is decreased, as the shell wall thickness decreases from 12 mm to 1 mm (Figures
11–12). This is due to the fact that the material used to produce the shell decreases as
the shell thickness decreases. These are in line with the observations made by other
investigators (Kaplas and Singh, 2008). So, keeping in mind the cost effectiveness of
the process, a 1 mm shell wall thickness is recommended.
320
Shell Thickness=1mm
T_1_60 mm
260
T_1_50 mm
T_1_40 mm
Temperature (°C)
200
140
80
20
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time (minutes)
Figure 10. Cooling curve at 1 mm shell thickness
Production Cost vs Shell Thickness

1400
COST_60
1200 1159.6
COST_50
1055.56 COST_40
990.48
1000 943.3
888.02 894.76
Production Cost (Rs.)
815.59997 836.06
802.56
800 754.86 749.12
724.78
696.8
674.64
640.06 632.98
595.78 612.64
560.74 565.5
600 528.44 522.38
497.38 489.38
434.94 454.58 450.28
407.58 423.06
400
371.46 359.42 378.26
326.84 334.74
274.66
248.7
200
0
13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Shell Thickness (mm)
Figure 11. Shell wall thickness vs. shell production cost
688
Production Time vs Shell Thickness
78
80 TIME_60
70 69 TIME_50
70 65 65 65 TIME_40
64
59 60 59
60 57 56
Production Time (minutes)
53 54
52 51 52
48 47 47 47 47
50 46
42 43 43
41 41
40 37 36 37 36
34
32
28
30
23
20
10
0
13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Shell Thickness (mm)
Figure 12. Shell wall thickness vs. shell production time
CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of the experimental observations made on Al alloy castings, obtained from
different shell wall thicknesses, the following conclusions can be drawn:
i) It is feasible to reduce the shell thickness from the recommended value of 12

mm to 1mm for Al castings. The tolerance grades of the castings produced from
different thicknesses are consistent with the permissible range of tolerance
grades (IT grades) as per UNI EN 20286-I (1995).
ii) The results indicate that the hardness is almost the same for all thicknesses from
12 mm to 1 mm. This is supported by the cooling curves, as there are negligible
changes in the heat transfer.
iii) The shell production cost and time is reduced by 67.38% and 44.87% (for a
workpiece diameter of 60 mm), 64.51% and 44.62% (for a workpiece diameter
of 50 mm), and 69.50% and 59.64% (for a workpiece diameter of 40 mm),
respectively when a 1 mm shell thickness is used for the production of
Aluminum castings.
iv) There is an unnoticeable effect on the volume of the workpiece from the
reduction in shell wall thickness.
Scope of Future Work
i) The experimental investigations may be extended to other geometries and

volume ranges of workpieces.
ii) Furthermore, different workpiece volume ranges may be optimized at 1 mm
shell wall thickness with regard to their mechanical properties and tolerance
grades (as in the present study), using the design of experiments technique (like
Taguchi Analysis) with a greater number of input parameters, such as weight
density, metal/alloy type, etc.
689
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author is thankful to DST, New Delhi for financial support, Grant No.
SR/FTP/ETA-81/2010.
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Bassoli E., Gatto A., Luliano, L. and Violentte, M.G. 2007. 3D printing technique
applied to rapid casting. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 13: 148-155.
Bernard, A., Delplace, Charles, J., Perry, N. and Gabriel, S. 2003. Integration of CAD
and rapid manufacturing for sand casting optimization. Rapid Prototyping
Journal, 5: 327-333.
Chan, W.K., Wong, Y.W., Chua, C.K., Lee, C.W. and Feng, C. 2003. Rapid
manufacturing techniques in the development of an axial blood pump impeller.
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469-475.
Cheah, C.M., Chua, C.K., Lee, C.W., Feng, C. and Totong, K. 2005. Rapid prototyping
and tooling techniques: a review of applications for rapid investment casting.
International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 25(3-4): 308-
320.
Chhabra, M. and Singh, R. 2011. Rapid casting solutions: a review. Rapid Prototyping
Journal, 17(5): 328-350.
Chua, C.K. and Ho, S.L. 1999a. Rapid tooling technology - Part 1: A comparative
study. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 15(8):
604-608.
Chua, C.K. and Ho, S.L. 1999b. Rapid tooling technology - Part 2: Case study using arc
spray metal tooling. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing
Technology, 15(8): 609-614.
Chua, C.K., Feng, C., Lee, C.W. and Ang, G.C. 2005. Rapid investment casting: direct
& indirect approaches via model maker II. International Journal of Advanced
Manufacturing Technology, 25: 26-32.
- state of the art and future perspectives. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 12(3): 136-
147.
Dimitrov, D., van Wijck, W, de Beer, N. and Dietrich, J. 2007. Development, evaluation
and selection of rapid tooling process chains for sand casting of functional
prototypes. Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 221(B9): 1441-1450.
in zinc shell casting using three dimensional printing. Proceedings of IMechE
Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, 222(C12): 2427-2431.
Karapatis, N.P., van Griethuysen, J.P.S. and Glardon, R. 1998. Direct rapid tooling: a
review of current research. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 4(2): 77-89.
Lee, C.W., Chua, C.K., Cheah, C.M., Tan, L.H. and Feng, C. 2004. Rapid investment
casting: direct and indirect approaches via fused deposition modelling.
International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 23(1-2): 93-101.
Radstok, E. 1999. Rapid tooling. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 5(4): 164-168.
printing techniques. US Patent No. US 005340656.
690
Singh, J.P. 2008b. Experimental investigations for generating cost effective rapid
castings of different alloys using three dimensional printing. Master Thesis,
P.T.U. Jalandhar, India.
Singh, J.P. and Singh, R. 2009a. Investigations for statistically controlled rapid casting
solution of low brass alloys using three dimensional printing. International
Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 1(2): 208-221.
solution of lead alloys using three dimensional printing. Proceedings of IMechE
Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, 223(C9): 2125-2134.
Singh, R. 2008a. Application of three dimensional printing (3DP) in generating cost-
effective rapid prototype for casting industry. Souvenir of 11th Punjab Science
Congress, Patiala, India.
Singh, R. 2008c. Three dimensional printing for casting applications: a state of the art
review and future perspectives. Souvenir of International Conference on
Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies, Manama, Kingdom of
Bahrain, pp. 311.
Singh, R. 2011a. Comparison of statistically controlled rapid casting solutions of zinc
alloys using three dimensional printing. International Journal of Automotive and
Mechanical Engineering, 3: 293-305.
Singh, R. 2011b. Process capability study of rapid casting solution for aluminium alloys
using three dimensional printing. International Journal of Automotive and
Singh, R. and Singh, J.P. 2009c. Comparison of rapid casting solutions for lead and
brass alloys using three dimensional printing. Proceedings of IMechE Part C:
Stampfl, J. and Liska, R. 2005. New materials for rapid prototyping applications.
Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 206: 1253-1256.
IOS (Italian Organization for Standardization). 1995. UNI EN 20286-1. ISO system of
limits and fits. Bases of tolerances, deviations and fits. Italy, UNI.
Verma, M. 2008. Investigations for reducing wall thickness in aluminium shell casting
using 3DP. Master Thesis, P.T.U. Jalandhar, India.
140.
691
Cr-Ni ALLOY ELECTRODEPOSITION AND COMPARISON WITH

CONVENTIONAL PURE Cr COATING TECHNIQUE
M. Moniruzzaman, M.M. Rakib and F.T. Matin

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
E-mail: mmoniruzzaman@mme.buet.ac.bd
ABSTRACT
Cr coating is widely used as the outer surface of precision parts due to its attractive
appearance and superior corrosion resistance properties. It is obtained by
electrodeposition via a conventional bath with hexavalent Cr ions. This manufacturing
technique has many drawbacks, such as very low efficiency and high operating
temperature and it is hazardous to health. In this work, we studied a Cr-Ni alloy
deposition technique and compared the alloy coating properties to those with
conventional Cr coating. Sequential two-step alloy electrodeposition was also compared.
We took varying concentrations of Cr, Ni and complexing agents for the
electrodeposition of Cr-Ni alloy and sequential Cr-Ni alloy coating on mild steel.
Operating parameters, i.e. current density and temperature, were varied to examine their
effects on the coating properties. The coatings thus obtained were characterized by
visual observation, corrosion test, microhardness measurement, morphology and
chemical analysis. The Cr-Ni alloy coating was found to be more corrosion resistant in
5% NaCl solution and harder than the pure Cr coating obtained by conventional
electrodeposition. Toxic gas was produced in a much lower extent in the alloy coating
than the conventional Cr coating technique. Again, the two-step Cr-Ni alloy coating was
found better in terms of corrosion resistance as well as hardness compared to the Cr-Ni
alloy coating. The process was also found to be much more environmentally friendly.
Keywords: Alloy electrodeposition; conventional Cr coating; sequential coating;

corrosion; hardness.
INTRODUCTION
The development of metal/alloy deposits is of great interest as it provides an economic

alternative to thermally produced alloys (Chisholm et al., 1988; Ueda et al, 2004). Thus
it would be highly desirable for deposit alloy coatings on a cheap substrate to impart
their favorable properties to the base metal. Steels are the dominant constructional
materials in coastal structures, and are subjected to corrosion in seawater containing a
reasonable % of NaCl. So far, the development of different coatings on steel through
electrodeposition has been investigated, such as Zn coating, Ni coating and Cr coating,
and they appeared to provide corrosion resistance to various degrees in air and a range
of gaseous environments (Moniruzzaman and Roy, 2011; Ou et al., 2008; Steffani et al.,
1997; Trethewey and Chamberlain, 1995). Electrodeposited Cr is widely used as the
outer surface of precision parts due to its attractive appearance and superior corrosion
resistance (Brooman, 1994; El-Sharif et al., 1999; Brooman et al., 1994). Until now, Cr
deposits were commonly obtained using an electroplating bath with hexavalent Cr ions.
692
Moniruzzaman et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 692-700
However, researchers are now looking for alternative coatings since using hexavalent Cr
ion baths has many disadvantages, such as a low cathode current efficiency, high
operating temperature and being harmful to human health and the environment. The
need for alternative surface coatings to replace conventional Cr coating from toxic
hexavalent Cr baths has attracted great attention in recent years (Harris et al., 1995;
McDougall et al., 1998; Song and Chin, 2002). Thus instead of using only Cr coating,
Cr-Ni alloy coating has been applied on steel by thermal spray techniques and studies
have been carried out on its hot corrosion behavior at 4000C in air and in air containing
SO3 (Ou et al., 2008). Corrosion resistance was found to increase on application of Cr-
Ni coating. However, studies on the corrosion behavior of Cr-Ni coated steel in aqueous
NaCl solution (coastal environments) are limited. Moreover, reports are not readily
available on the development of Cr-Ni coating on steel by electrodeposition and its
effect on corrosion behavior in coastal environments. Huang et al. (2009) studied Cr-Ni
alloy deposition in a trivalent Cr-based bath. In the present work, we study Cr-Ni alloy
electrodeposition from an environmentally non-toxic trivalent Cr bath that is different
from the baths previously used. The hardness, corrosion resistance, chemical
composition and morphology of the coating are tested and compared with those of a
conventional Cr coating. Two-step sequential electrodeposition techniques are
compared in this study.
EXPERIMENTAL
A mild steel sheet of 2 mm thickness was taken, and specimens were made as per the
desired dimensions by cutting in a machine cutter. The specimens’ surface was cleaned
with detergent, made rust free by pickling in 20% hot HCl solution and washed by
rinsing with deionized water. Three different baths with different compositions were
used for Cr-Ni alloy coatings. The bath contents and their concentrations are given in
Table 1. Only one bath produced good alloy coatings. Thus the other two alloy baths
were discarded.
Table 1. Bath compositions for Cr-Ni alloy coating
Bath identification Bath composition (g/l) Coating appearance

CrCl3.6H2O : 213
Bath X NiSO4.6H2O : 53 Bad
Urea :120
CrCl3.6H2O : 213
Bath Y NiSO4.6H2O : 106 Bad
Urea : 120
CrCl3.6H2O : 213
Bath Z NiCl2.6H2O : 95 Good
Urea :120
The bath producing the good alloy coating, baths for pure Cr and Ni coatings
and sequential Cr-Ni alloy coating as well as the operating parameters used are
summarized in Table 2. The coating appearance was first observed by naked eye.
Uniform coatings with good appearance were selected for further study. The corrosion
of the coatings was evaluated by the salt immersion test. The coated samples were
weighed and recorded before the test commenced and then immersed in freshly
693
Cr-Ni Alloy electrodeposition and comparison with conventional pure Cr coating technique
prepared 5% NaCl solution. The samples were kept immersed for 6 hours and then
taken out of the solution. After rinsing with water and drying with acetone, the weight
of the samples was taken again. The corrosion media and time (5% NaCl solution, 6
hours) was selected by previous experiments so that corrosion was limited to the coating
and did not attack the substrate. The coating was partially dissolved in 5% NaCl
solution and thus the final weight was less than the initial weight in every case. The
difference in weight of the sample before and after immersion (weight loss) was
considered as the index of corrosion and was expressed as mdd (mg/dm2/day). The
microstructure of the surface coating was observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy
(SEM), and the coating composition was analyzed by Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX).
The microhardness of the coating was measured using a Shimadzu Microhardness
Tester applying a load of 25 g for 10 seconds. Coating thickness was measured by
observing a cross-sectional view under SEM. Finally the measured properties of the Cr-
Ni alloy coating were compared with those of the pure Cr and pure Ni coatings.
Table 2. Bath compositions and operating parameters for pure Cr, pure Ni, Cr-Ni alloy
and two-step sequential alloy coatings
Coating Composition Current density Temperature Voltage Holding Time

(g/l) (A/ dm2) (°C) (V) (minute)
Pure Cr coating
5
CrO3 : 225
5.5
H2SO4 : 2.25 50 10 10
7
9
Pure Ni coating
2
NiSO4 : 270
4
NiCl2 : 40 55 20 10
5
H3BO3 : 24.33
5.5
Cr-Ni alloy coating
10
CrCl3.6H2O : 213
20
NiCl2.6H2O : 95 35 30 10
30
Urea : 120
40
Sequential Cr-Ni alloy coating
CrCl3.6H2O : 213
10 then 5
NiCl2.6H2O : 95 10 then 30 35 30
Urea : 120
694
Appearance of the Coatings
Pure Cr coating and Cr-Ni alloy coating with good appearances and one bad Cr-Ni alloy
coating are shown in Figure 1. Only the acceptable coatings were further studied for
their properties.
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 1. (a) Pure Cr coating (b) Cr-Ni alloy coating with good appearances and (c) bad
Cr-Ni alloy coating.
Chemical Composition of Cr-Ni Alloy Coatings
The Cr-Ni coating composition was analyzed by Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX).
Current density has a profound effect on the coating composition. %Cr or %Ni in the
deposit as a function of the applied current density is shown in Figure 2. Cr content in
the deposit increased with current density. A lower current density produced a Ni-rich
coating, whereas the Cr-rich coating was produced in the higher current density range.
The slope of the curve is not uniform over the experimental current density range of 10-
40 A/dm2. The slope is much steeper in the middle range of 20-30 A/dm2. Figure 3
shows the EDX spectrum of the Ni-rich coating under an applied current density of 10
A/dm2. The composition of the Ni-rich alloy coating and the Cr-rich alloy coating
produced by the two-step sequential coating technique is also shown in Figure 3. The
two-step sequential coating technique is performed under an applied current density of
10 A/dm2 for 10 minutes to obtain a Ni-rich alloy deposit, and then with a current
density of 30 A/dm2 for 5 minutes to obtain a Cr-rich alloy deposit. The appearance of a
small amount of C in the coating is assumed to come from the underlying steel substrate.
695
100
Cr
Ni
80 C
60
40
20
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
2
Current density, A/dm
Figure 2. Effect of current density on the chemical composition Cr- Ni alloy coating.
Current density,
Type of coating %Cr %Ni %C
A/dm2
Ni-rich alloy
10 6.18 84.23 9.59
coating
2-step sequential
coating 10 then 30 76.07 16.65 7.28
Figure 3. EDX spectrum of Ni-rich coating under applied current density of 10 A/dm2.
The inset table shows Ni-rich coating composition and Cr-rich coating composition
produced by two-step sequential technique.
Corrosion Properties of the Coating
The Salt Immersion Corrosion Test was adopted to measure the corrosion resistance of
the electroplated alloy coating. The corrosion of the coatings under various conditions is
shown in Figure 4. Pure Cr and pure Ni coatings were also tested for comparison.
696
Results show that the corrosion of alloy coatings in the immersion test is lower than that
of either Cr or Ni coatings alone. Corrosion is the lowest in the case of the Cr-rich
coating deposited by the two-step sequential process. The lowest corrosion of the
sequential Cr-Ni coating is assumed to be the additional attribution provided by the
improved corrosion resistance of the underlying Ni-rich alloy coating deposited at 10
A/dm2 for 10 minutes. Huang et al. (2009) have shown that the underlying Ni-rich alloy
coating helps reduce through-deposit cracking, possibly due to the Ni-rich alloy
deposit’s softness and lack of cracks (Figure 5).
135
130
125
120
115
110
105
100
Pure Pure Ni-rich alloy Cr-rich alloy Sequential
Cr-coating Ni-coating coating coating coating
Figure 4. Corrosion of metal and alloy coatings under various conditions.
Figure 5. Cross-sectional micrograph of sequential Cr-Ni alloy coating (Huang et al.,

2009).
697
Microhardness of Coatings
During the microhardness testing of the coating, special care was taken so that in all
cases the depth of indentation was less than one-fifth of the coating thickness, in order
to eliminate the effect of the substrate’s properties. Earlier, the coating thickness was
measured from the cross-section of the coated sample and the thickness for Cr-Ni alloy
coating was found to be about 15 m. A cross-sectional view of an etched coated
sample is shown in Figure 6. Figure 7 shows the microhardness of the various metal and
alloy coatings undertaken in this study. The microhardness of the Cr-Ni alloy coating is
seen to be higher than either the pure Cr or Ni coatings. Cr-rich sequential alloy coating
possesses the highest value of microhardness.
Mild steel substrate
Cr-Ni alloy coating
Bakelite
20 m
Figure 6. Cross-sectional view of an etched coated sample.
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Pure Pure Ni-rich alloy Cr-rich alloy Sequential
Cr-coating Ni-coating coating coating coating
Figure 7. Microhardness of metal and alloy coatings under various conditions.
698
Surface Morphology of the Coating
The surface morphology was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Figure
8 shows the morphology of various coatings. The surface of the alloy coatings (Figures
8(b)-(d)) seems to consist of fine globules. A non-uniform surface level is observed in
the pure Cr coating (Figure 8(a)). Thus the higher value of hardness data for the Cr-Ni
alloy coating than the pure Cr coating is consistent with their difference in surface
morphology.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 8. Surface morphology of (a) pure Cr coating, (b) Ni-rich alloy coating, (c) Cr-
rich alloy coating and (d) sequential Cr-rich alloy coating
CONCLUSION
Cr-Ni alloy electrodeposition was studied in order to overcome the demerits of the
conventional Cr electrodeposition process. An electrodeposited Cr-Ni alloy coating on a
mild steel substrate was tested for its compatibility with pure Cr coating. The following
conclusions were drawn.
i) Uniform and bright Cr-Ni alloy as well as the sequential Cr-Ni coating could be
electrodeposited from a bath containing 213 g/l CrCl3.6H2O, 95 g/l NiCl2.6H2O
and 120 g/l urea.
699
ii) The lower current density range of 10-20 A/dm2 produced a Ni-rich coating,
whereas a Cr-rich coating was produced in the higher current density range of
30-40 A/dm2.
iii) Cr-Ni alloy coating is more corrosion resistant in 5% NaCl solution, as well as
being harder than the conventional Cr coating.
iv) The sequential alloy coating (first Ni-rich and then Cr-rich) is harder and more
corrosion resistant than the Cr-Ni alloy coating. This coating has the optimum
properties among all those studied in the present work.
v) The sequential Cr-Ni alloy coating might be a replacement for the conventional
toxic and inefficient Cr coating process.
REFERENCES
Brooman, E.W. 1994. Chromium alloy plating. Metals Handbook. Ohai: ASM.
Chisholm, C.U., El-Sharif, M. and Watson, A. 1988. The sustained deposition of thick
coatings of Cr-Ni and Cr-Ni-Fe alloys and their properties. Transactions of the
Institute of Metal Finishing, 66: 34-40.
El-Sharif, M., McDougall, J. and Chisholm, C.U. 1999. Electrodeposition of thick
chromium coatings from a chromium (III) – glycine complex. Transactions of the
Institute of Metal Finishing, 77(4): 139-144.
Harris, T.M., Whitney, G.M. and Croll, I.M. 1995.The electrodeposition of Ni-Fe-Cr
alloys for magnetic thin film applications. Journal of the Electrochemical Society,
142(4): 1031-1035.
Huang, C.A., Lin, C.K. and Chen, C.Y. 2009. Hardness variation and corrosion
behavior of as-plated and annealed Cr–Ni alloy deposits electroplated in a trivalent
chromium-based bath. Journal of Surface Coating Technology, 203: 3686-3691.
McDougall, J., El-Sharif, M. and Ma, S. 1998. Chromium electrodeposition using a
chromium (III) glycine complex. Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, 28: 929-
934.
Moniruzzaman, M. and Roy, S. 2011. Effect of pH on electroless Ni-P coatings of
conductive and nonconductive materials. International Journal of Automotive and
Ou, X. M., Sun, Z., Sun, M. and Zou, D.L. 2008. Hot-corrosion mechanism of Ni-Cr
coatings at 650°C under different simulated corrosion. conditions. Journal of
China University of Mining and Technology, 18(3): 444-448.
Song, Y.B. and Chin, D.T. 2002. Current efficiency and polarization behavior of
trivalent chromium electrodeposition process. Electrochimica Acta, 48(4): 349-
356.
Steffani, C.P., Dini, J.W., Groza, J.R. andPalazoglu, A. 1997: Electrodeposition and
corrosion resistance of Ni-W-B coatings. Journal of Materials Engineering and
Performance, 6(4): 413-416.
Trethewey, K.R. and Chamberlain, J. 1995. Corrosion for science and engineering. 2nd
ed. USA: NACE International.
Ueda, M., Susukida, D., Konda, S. and Ohtsuka, T. 2004. Improvement of resistance of
TiAl alloy against high temperature oxidation by electroplating in AICI3-NaCI-
KCI-CrCl2 molten salt. Journal of Surface Coating Technology, 176(2): 202-208.
700
AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF TRANSIENT FLOWS IN A

SUPERSONIC GUN TUNNEL
Al Al-Falahi Amir, M. Z. Yusoff, and Diyar I. Ahmed
College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional UNITEN

Jalan Kajang-Puchong, 43009 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Email: diyar@uniten.edu.my
ABSTRACT
An experimental study has been performed to investigate transient flows in a supersonic

gun tunnel. The experimental work was performed using a short duration high speed
flow test facility at the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). A physical description
of the facility along with the principles of operation is provided. The pressure history of
the flow process was captured using a fast response pressure transducer at three stations
located at the end of the facility. Experimental measurements of shock strength, peak
pressure and shock wave speed change of Air-Air as a driver/driven gas are then
presented and compared with a further set of experimental measurements using the gas
combination of Helium-Air. The shock wave speed was measured experimentally with a
two pressure transducers technique. The results showed that the existence of the piston
has a very significant influence on both the moving shock wave and peak pressure value
achieved. The results provide a very good estimate for the above-mentioned parameters
obtained after diaphragm rupture, and also provide a better understanding of the
parameters that affect the performance of the facility.
Keywords: Gun tunnel; shock strength; peak pressure; shock wave speed.
INRODUCTION
Research in supersonics is conducted using ground-based experimental facilities,

computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and actual flight tests using rocket powered flight
vehicles. CFD is the least expensive; however it requires extensive code verification and
may encounter problems in correctly modeling complex flows. Flight test programs
offer very useful information, but can be relatively expensive and require a large
amount of initial development work. Ground-based experimentation offers verification
for the CFD portion of the development and also the preliminary design information for
flight test programs. Ground-based experimental work is therefore an important
research component for hypersonic vehicle development programs. Information made
available through experimental programs ranges from the quantitative measurements of
parameters, such as heat transfer, forces, momentums and pressures, to the visualization
of shock/shock-shock/boundary layer interactions, as well as illustrations of the effects
of the control surfaces.
The main objective of the experimental supersonic program at UNITEN is to
obtain data in a supersonic environment on partial body configurations. The
experiments aid in identifying local flow phenomenon, and can be applied to larger
more extensive studies. This paper discusses several investigations on shock waves that
were performed experimentally within the operating conditions of a supersonic gun
tunnel at the UNITEN, in order to extend its operating Reynolds and Mach number
701
range. From a practical point of view, the facility is much more useful and offers a
broader simulation range. The facility components, principles of operation and physical
description are described in the following sections.
OVERVIEW OF THE FACILITY
UNITEN’s test facility has been designed, built, and commissioned for different values
of diaphragm pressure ratios in order to obtain a wide range of Mach numbers. The
facility consists of two sections, a driver and driven section separated by a thin
aluminum diaphragm. The driver and driven section have a cylindrical shape of 50 mm
inner diameter and 90 mm outer diameter. The details of the components of the facility
are described briefly in the following section and shown in Figure 1 [for further details
and operating procedure see Al-Falahi (2008)].
Figure 1. Schematic of UNITEN’s facility
1. Driver section: - A high-pressure section (driver) which contains the high

pressure driver gas, the driver gas can either be air, helium, hydrogen or other
light gases.
2. Discharge valve: - To discharge the driver section after each run.
3. Pressure gauge: - To read the pressure inside the driver section, this section is
also provided with a static pressure transducer to record the exact value of the
driver pressure P4 at which the diaphragm ruptures.
4. Vacuum pump: - When the driver gas is not air (e.g. helium or hydrogen) then
the driver section should be evacuated and refilled with the required driver gas.
5. The primary diaphragm: - This is a thin aluminum membrane to isolate the low-
pressure test gas from the high-pressure driver gas until the compression process
is initiated.
6. Piston compression section: - A piston is placed (in the driven tube) adjacent to
the primary diaphragm, so that when the diaphragm ruptures the piston is
propelled through the driven tube, compressing the gas ahead of it. This piston is
used in the gun tunnel set up.
7. Discharge valve: - To discharge the driven section after each run.
8. Vacuum gauge: - To set the pressure inside the driven section to achieve values
(vacuum values) lower than the atmospheric value.
9. Driven section: - A shock tube section (smooth bore), to be filled with the
required test gas (air, nitrogen or carbon dioxide).
10. Driven section extension: - The last half meter of the driven section on which the
pressure transducers and thermocouples are attached.
702
11. The secondary diaphragm and nozzle section: - A light plastic diaphragm to
separate the low pressure test gas inside the driven section from the test section
and dump tank, which are initially in a vacuum state prior to the run. The main
purpose of the second bursting system is to rapidly relieve pressurized air and
expand through a convergent-divergent nozzle once the desired pressure has
been reached. The convergent-divergent nozzle converts subsonic flow to
supersonic flow.
12. Test section: - This section will expand the high temperature test gas through a
nozzle to the correct high enthalpy conditions needed to simulate hypersonic
flow. A range of Mach numbers is available by changing the diameter of the
nozzle throat insert.
13. Vacuum vessel (dump tank): - To be evacuated to about 0.1 mmHg pressure
before running. Prior to a run, the driven section, test section and dump tank are
to be evacuated to a low-pressure value.
Three significant items can be classified in UNITEN’s facility as follows:
• Shock tube
• Convergent-divergent nozzle
• Instrumentation/data acquisition system
The specifications of the shock tube are provided in Table 1. The operational
procedure of the shock tunnel system can be achieved with only one person. Before
operating the shock tunnel it is very important to make sure that there is no pressure in
either the driver or driven section. This can be achieved by opening discharge valve 1
and discharge valve 2, located on the barrel and the driver section [see Figure 1]. There
are two sheets of thin diaphragm along the facility, they need to be installed and the
driver section refilled with the desired pressure ratio until the primary diaphragm
ruptures. During this the data acquisition must be on to record the pressure at the four
stations. Data acquisition stops at the end of the process.
A conical convergent-divergent nozzle is attached to the end of the low pressure
section (driven section). This section will expand the high temperature test gas traverse
a nozzle to the correct high enthalpy conditions needed to simulate high speed flow. It
has a throat of 7 mm in diameter, exit diameter of 70 mm and total length of 389 mm.
To separate the driven tube and test section, a very thin sheet is used as a small
diaphragm at the end wall of the shock tube. Figure 2 shows UNITEN’s high speed flow
test facility.
Table 1. UNITEN’s shock tube specifications
Parameters Value
Driver section length 8.3 ft
Driven section length 13.24 ft
Max. driver pressure 1015 psig
Driver temperature Room T
Tube inner diameter 1.9685 in
Driven test gas Air, CO2
Main diaphragm ultimate bursting pressure 174 psi
703
Figure 2. UNITEN’s high speed flow test facility
PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
The shock tube has limitations in terms of flow Mach number capabilities (Lukasiewicz,
1973). Hertzberg et al. (1962) originally suggested a modification to the conventional
shock tube in order to generate hypersonic Mach numbers. A convergent-diverging
nozzle added to the end of the low pressure section (driven section) of a conventional
shock tube permits the establishment of steady flow Mach numbers, far exceeding those
that can be achieved using a conventional shock tube. This modification to the basic
shock tube, which is by far the most economic hypersonic research facility, is referred
to as the “Shock Tunnel”. A high-enthalpy shock tunnel is one of the most used
hypersonic flow simulation facilities. It produces a high speed flow by using a
converging–diverging nozzle, where the reservoir gas can be created by shock wave
reflection at the end of the shock tube (Boyce and Stumvoll, 2007). The shock tunnel
typically includes a shock tube, which is a convergent-divergent nozzle at the
downstream end of the driven section (low pressure section) of the shock tube (Olivier
et al, 2002). This nozzle expands the supersonic flow behind the reflected shock wave to
hypersonic speeds (Chue and Eitelberg, 1998), so that a higher Mach number flow with
full stagnation temperature simulation can be obtained, and a diaphragm between the
nozzle and the driven section. The driver is initially filled with high pressure gas, with a
high speed of sound (typically air, helium, nitrogen or argon), which may be heated to
further increase its sound speed and enthalpy (Stalker et al., 2005). The driven tube is
initially filled with the test gas, usually air, CO2 or nitrogen, at a much lower pressure.
When a predetermined pressure rise is achieved, the primary diaphragm (or burst
disk) between the drive and the driven section in the shock tube is ruptured and the high
pressure driver gas rushes into the driven section, introducing a shock wave which
compresses and heats the driven gas (Mundt et al., 2007). The flow in a real facility is
initiated by the rupture of an aluminum diaphragm. After diaphragm rupture, a strong
shock wave is driven through the test gas in the shock tube (low pressure section),
followed by the driver gas/driven gas interface – the so-called contact surface
(discontinuity surface). When the generated shock reaches the end of the driven tube,
the second diaphragm at the nozzle entrance is ruptured and the processed test gas
expands through the nozzle into the test section (Craddock, 1999). The shock is
reflected from the end of the driven tube, and a constant property region with the heated
and compressed gas behind the reflected shock is generated for a very short time, thus
creating the high enthalpy nozzle supply gas. (It should be noted that the high enthalpy
obtained in a reflected shock tunnel comes via compression by two shocks – the
704
reflected shock interacts with the contact surface and is then partly reflected back
toward the nozzle.) The gun tunnel shown in Figure 3 (Al-Falahi et al., 2004) is quite
similar in operation to the shock tunnel. It includes a high-pressure driver section and a
low pressure driven section, with a diaphragm separating the two. Gun tunnel facilities
use a free piston compression process to produce a high pressure gas reservoir at a
moderate temperature. This gas reservoir can then be expanded with an appropriate
nozzle contour to produce a short duration test flow for gas dynamic and aerodynamic
experiments (Mallinson et al., 2000).
Figure 3. Gun tunnel and wave diagram
A gun tunnel works in exactly the same manner as a shock tunnel, except that
instead of using a shock wave to compress the initially low pressure driven gas, a
lightweight piston is used. A piston is placed in the driven tube adjacent to the
diaphragm. The piston used is constructed of lightweight and high strength plastic so
that it can be accelerated to velocities considerably above the speed of sound in the
driven gas (Al-Falahi et al., 2004). When the diaphragm is ruptured, the driver gas
pushes a piston down the low pressure section. The piston is travelling at a supersonic
velocity and therefore a shock wave is also created in front of the piston causing further
heating and forces on the piston (Edney, 1967). The main purpose of the light piston is
to compress the gas in front of it, heat it, and then move towards the end of the shock
tube. The piston comes to rest with equal pressure on its two sides, and the heated and
compressed driven gas ruptures a diaphragm and flows through the nozzle. As the
piston travels through the driven section it overshoots its equilibrium position, causing a
pressure peak (Stalker, 1965). This transient rapidly disappears, and the pressure of the
driven gas essentially remains constant until the gas is exhausted or until an expansion
705
wave from the driver section reaches the piston. The flow ends in the dump tank, at
which the process is complete.
DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM
Data is collected digitally through a data acquisition system. A Graphtec DAQ (model
Midi Logger Dual GL500), with 24 channel, and a digital recorder with a maximum
sampling rate up to 500 M sampling/sec per channel was used to gather the pressure
information. Channels 1 and 2 were used to gather data from the PCB pressure
transducers, which have been used as shock tube instrumentation to analyze the
transient time of the incident and reflected shock waves. Channel 3 was used to reveal
the history of the pressure along convergent-divergent nozzle section, while Channel 4
monitored the diaphragm burst pressure, to provide a precise value for the pressure ratio
(P4/P1). A schematic diagram of the instrumentation and data acquisition system is
shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Data acquisition system
The electrical signals received from the sensors are very small (in mv), so they
pass through the data logger before they proceed to data acquisition and finally to the
computer, which is provided with appropriate software to draw the pressure history at
the three stations along the whole facility. Graphtec is used to capture the data (pressure
distributions at stations 1, 2, 3 and 4) from the data logger before being transferred to
the computer. The pressure history will be displayed and automatically drawn by the
software as shown in Figure 5.
A specified range of data in the pressure history will be selected using the
“Display Cursor”. The required (max and min values) range of time (x-axis) and
pressure (y-axis) are chosen before being transferred to Excel. Therefore, the data
displayed in Excel are within the range chosen by the user based on the desired
processing time along the facility. To investigate the effect of the piston on the facility,
a set of experiments have been conducted with the gun tunnel test facility (with piston).
706
The pressure histories at the nozzle-reservoir (end of the extension section) and along
the nozzle section are measured with a pressure transducer (PCB Piezotronics Inc.,
model 482A21), the two sensors capturing the nozzle reservoir pressure were located at
the end of the driven section, the first is instrumented at x = 3653 mm from the primary
diaphragm section, the second station is located 342 mm from the first station. On the
subject of the nozzle profile, however, a third station was positioned 195 mm
downstream of the nozzle, as shown in Figure 6. The average shock speed along the
shock tube is determined from the transit time between the primary timing station
(station 1) (PCB Piezotronics Inc., model 482A21) and the nozzle-reservoir pressure
transducer (station 2). The distance between the two stations is 342 mm.
Figure 5. Sample of pressure history using air-air at three stations in the driven end and
along the nozzle section using Graphtec software.
Figure 6. Schematic of three data stations
707
To provide a clear image of the piston along the driven section and the incident shock
wave reflections ahead of the piston and the end driven section, an experiment has been
performed for an Air-Air gas combination at a pressure ratio P4/P1 of 18, as shown in
Figure 7. This figure shows the pressure history at station (1), as can be seen the shock
wave is marked (1) as it moves from the piston to the end driven section. After the
shock wave hits the end wall some of it will eject downstream of the nozzle section and
some will be reflected back towards the piston, due to the reflection of the shock wave
the pressure will increase and as a result the shock wave causes a further increase in
pressure, this can be noted in point (2). Furthermore, due to the compression of the
piston the pressure increases gradually between points (1) and (2). There is another
reflection of the shock wave from the piston which moves towards the end wall of the
driven section, this will cause a third pressure jump as a result of the wave compression,
as noted in (3).
8.5E+05
5
6
6.8E+05
Pressure [Pa]
5.1E+05
3.4E+05
2 3
1.7E+05 1
0 0.0095 0.019 0.0285 0.038

Time [Sec]
Figure 7. Experimental pressure history and piston’s trajectory inside driven section
708
As a result of the wave reflection from the piston, it will then reflect from the
end wall and proceed back to the left, causing a further increase in pressure, as shown in
point (4). So far, the piston still proceeds downstream of the driven section, the reflected
wave will then hit the piston and is reflected in the opposite direction, which
compresses the gas further causing the pressure jump to reach the peak pressure value of
the whole process, denoted (5). After the piston has overshot its equilibrium position, it
will be pushed upstream (left direction) by the compressed gas and then come to rest,
although a pressure rise is still noticed due to the continuity of the shock reflection
process, as marked by point (6). Finally, the pressure decreases rapidly since
equilibrium of the pressure along the facility has been achieved.
Shock Strength and Peak Pressure
To investigate the effect of the piston on the facility, two sets have been performed for
two gas combinations, Air-Air and He-Air as driver/driven gas for a selected diaphragm
pressure ratio of 20. Figure 8 shows the pressure plot at the second station for Air-Air
and He-Air gas combinations of shots in the gun tunnel facility. As can be seen, the
shock strength is decreased when Air-Air combination is used. However, the pressure
peak of the He-Air combination is higher. The He-Air shot shows a remarkable
improvement in terms of both shock strength and pressure peak. It is significant to
mention here that the He-Air combination can produce a pressure peak of about 62 bar,
compared to the 40 bar of Air-Air, which denotes a percentage increase of more than
25%.
6.5E+06
5.7E+06
Station 2 - Air-Air
Station 2 -He-Air
4.9E+06
4.1E+06
Pressure [Pa]
3.3E+06
2.5E+06
1.7E+06
9.0E+05
1.0E+05
0 0.01 0.02 0.03
Tiime [Sec]
Figure 8. Experimental pressure history at station 2
Shock Wave Speed
The shock wave speed is measured experimentally using the two pressure transducer
technique. The distance between the two piezoelectric pressure transducers at station 1
and station 2 is 0.342 m, and the time the shock wave travels from station 1 to station 2
709
can be obtained from the pressure history graph, as shown in Figure 9. The shock wave
speed and Mach number can then be calculated. Figure 9 shows the experimental
pressure history with the Air-Air gas combination at a selected pressure ratio P4/P1 =
20. The shock wave speed and Mach number are 450 m/s and 1.3, respectively.
Similarly, Figure 10 shows the pressure history at stations 1 and 2 for the He-Air shot at
a pressure ratio of 20. The shock speed and shock Mach number are 684 m/s and 2,
respectively. It is worth mentioning that the shock speed with the He-Air shot is about
34% higher than the Air-Air shot. It can be concluded that the shock strength, shock
speed and peak pressure improve when He is used as the driver gas instead of Air, since
Helium gas is very efficient in producing strong shocks because it has a high speed of
sound as a result of its very low molecular weight (Anderson, 2003).
4.1E+06
3.6E+06
Station 1
Station 2
3.1E+06
2.6E+06
Pressure [Pa]
2.1E+06
1.6E+06
1.1E+06
6.0E+05
Detail "A"
1.0E+05
0 0.01 0.02 0.03
Time [Sec]
(a) Pressure history
(b) Detail “A”
Figure 9. Pressure history at stations 1 and 2 (Air-Air; P4/P1 =20)
710
6.4E+06
5.5E+06
Station 1
Station 2
4.6E+06
Pressure [Pa]
3.7E+06
2.8E+06
1.9E+06
1.0E+06
Detail "A"
1.0E+05
0 0.01 0.02 0.03
Time [Sec]
(a) Pressure history
(b) Detail “A”
Figure 10. Pressure history at stations 1 and 2 (He-Air; P4/P1 = 20)
CONCLUSIONS
The results show that for Air-Air driver/driven gases, the shock strength is decreased
when the piston is used. However, the peak pressure of the He-Air shot is higher than
that of the Air-Air shot. In spite of this, the He-Air shot shows a tremendous
improvement in terms of both shock strength and shock speed. The shock wave speed
now can be measured experimentally using a two pressure transducer technique. Shock
speed can be increased by raising the diaphragm pressure ratio, or more powerfully by
raising the speed of sound in the driver gas. To achieve high Mach numbers it is
essential to raise the ratio of the speed of sound (a4/a1) if excessive pressures are to be
avoided.
711
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Financial support provided by the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) is gratefully

acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Al-Falahi, A. 2008. Design construction and performance evaluation of short duration

high speed flow test facility. PhD Thesis, University Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia.
Al-Falahi A., Yusaf, T. and Zamri, M. 2004. Hypersonic free piston compression wind
tunnel design and construction. Proceedings of the Conference on Advances in
Malaysian Energy Research, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
Anderson, J.D. 2003. Modern compressible flow. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Boyce, R.R. and Stumvoll, A.K. 2007. Re-entry body drag: shock tunnel experiments
and computational fluid dynamics calculations compared. Shock Wave, 16, 431-
443.
Chue, R.S.M. and Eitelberg, G. 1998. Studies of the transient flows in high enthalpy
shock tunnels. Experiments in Fluids, 25: 474-486.
Craddock, C.S. 1999. Computational optimization of scramjets and shock tunnel
nozzles. PhD Thesis, University of Queensland Brisbane, Australia.
Edney, B.E. 1967. Temperature measurements in a hypersonic gun tunnel using heat
transfer methods. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 27 (3), 503-512.
Hertzberg, A., Wittliff, C.E. and Hall, J.G. 1962. Development of shock tunnel and its
application to hypersonic flight. Progress in Astronautics and Rocketry, 7, 701.
Lukasiewicz, J. 1973. Experimental methods of hypersonics. Gas Dynamics Series, Vol.
3. New York:Marcel Dekker Inc.
Mallinson, S.G., Hillier, R., Jackson, A.P., Kirk, D.C., Soltani, S. and Zanchetta, M.
2000. Gun tunnel flow calibration: defining input conditions for hypersonic flow
computations. Shock Waves, 10: 313-323.
Mundt, C., Boyce, R., Jacobs, P. and Hannemann, K. 2007. Validation study of
numerical simulation by comparison to measurements in piston-driven shock
tunnels. Aerospace Science and Technology, 11: 100-109.
Olivier, H., Jiang, Z., Yu, H. and Lu, F.K. 2002. Detonation-driven shock tubes and
tunnels. In: Lu, F. K. & Marren, D. E. (eds.) Advanced hypersonic test facilities.
Reston, VA, AIAA, pp. 135-203.
Stalker, R.J. 1965. An approximate theory of gun tunnel behaviour. Journal of Fluid
Mechanics, 22(4): 657- 670.
Stalker, R.J., Paull, A., Mee, D.J., Morgan, R.G. and Jacob, P.A. 2005. Scramjets and
shock tunnels - the Queensland experience. Progress in Aerospace Science, 41:
471-513.
712
THE EFFECTS OF GAMMA-RAY ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF

Zr-BASED BULK METALLIC GLASS
L. H. Shah1, T. Bun2, S. Nagata3, T. Shikama3

1
26300 UMP, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia; Phone: +6012-3456789, Fax: +609-87654321
E-mail: luqmanhakim@ump.edu.my
2
Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Culture Education, Meijo
University, Shiogamaguchi City, Nagoya Prefecture, Japan.
E-mail: tsuchiya@imr.tohoku.ac.jp
3
Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai City,
Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
E-mail: nagata@imr.tohoku.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
The effect of gamma-ray irradiation on the mechanical properties of Zr55Ni5 Al10Cu30

bulk metallic glass (BMG) was investigated. The samples were irradiated with a
gamma-ray dose up to 2090.24 kGy prior to mechanical property investigations.
Vickers hardness test, nano-indentation test as well as speed of sound measurements in
order to calculate the material’s elastic moduli were conducted. An x-ray diffractogram
device was also utilized to observe the BMG’s devitrification behavior. Results confirm
that no significant changes were observed for any of the samples. XRD spectra of
irradiated BMGs also show uniform broad peaks, indicating an amorphous structure
inside the sample. This result indicates that a gamma-ray irradiation dose of up to
2090.24 kGy does not change the mechanical properties and the microstructure of the
material, thus making it a good future structural candidate for gamma-ray rich
environments.
Keywords: Bulk metallic glass; gamma-ray irradiation; mechanical properties.
INTRODUCTION
From its introduction in the early nineties, Zr-based bulk metallic glass has attracted
much attention due to its unique properties, such as superior strength (up to 2 GPa),
high elastic strain limit (~2%), relatively low Young’s modulus (50–100 GPa), excellent
corrosion resistance and improved wear resistance (Bruck et al, 1994; Gilbert et al,
1997; Inoue, 1995; Johnson, 1999; Liu et al, 2005; Pang et al, 2000; Wang et al, 2000).
Due to its thermal stability and excellent mechanical properties, it is no wonder that
such material is gaining popularity in various engineering fields, such as in biomedical
applications (Liu et al, 2007) and in structural applications in irradiation rich
environments (Shah et al, 2011). However, previous investigations conducted by
Higashi (2005) reported that gamma-ray irradiation induced a suppression in Zr-Ni
phase precipitation with a very low dose of 10 kGy during the annealing process of a
Zr55Ni5Al10Cu30 BMG sample [10]. This led to the conclusion that the local atomic
structure of the sample was changed by gamma-ray irradiation. Furthermore, previous
research conducted by Shah et al (2008) also reported the same finding for higher
713
The effects of gamma-ray on the mechanical properties of Zr-based bulk metallic glass
gamma-ray doses, but noted that irradiation did not change the material’s electrical
properties or its super cooled liquid region, Tx (Shah et al, 2011). Coupled with scarce
information, it is therefore of great interest to examine the effect that gamma-ray
irradiation has on the mechanical properties of Zr-based BMGs. This study conducted
several tests to observe any changes in the material’s mechanical properties due to
various doses of gamma-ray irradiation.
EXPERIMENTS
A Zr-based BMG with a composition ratio of Zr 55Ni5 Al10Cu30 was used in this research
due to its popularity as a metallic glass system which possesses high thermal stability
and a large Tx (Iqbal et al, 2007). The bulk sample was prepared by casting the melt
into a copper mold in an argon atmosphere. The bulk sample is then cut into several
5 × 5 × 2 mm3 cuboids and 25 × 2 × 0.5 mm3 bars for experimentation, using an Isomet
Buehler low speed diamond saw. Finally, the cut samples are cleaned with ethanol.
Gamma-ray irradiation process
The cuboid and bar samples were taken to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)
Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute for the gamma irradiation process in a
Cobalt 60 irradiation facility, within the energy range of 1.17 MeV and 1.33 MeV. The
various gamma doses were calculated to be up to 2090.24 kGy. The gray dose rate is
related to the flux of the gamma ray photons
D=( a)/( ×E ) (1)
where D is the gray dose [Gy]

is the photon fluence [photons/cm2]
a is the mass absorption coefficient [cm2/g]
E is the energy of incident gamma radiation,
(1.17 + 1.33)/2 = 1.25 MeV = 1.25 × 106 × 1.602 × 10-19 J = 2.0025 × 10-13 J
With referrence to the mass absorption coefficient of Cu (Ishino, 1979) we obtain a =

0.0247 cm2/g. Calculating the highest gamma ray dose of 2090.24 kGy ( = 2090.24 Jg-
1
), from Eq. (1) we calculate the gamma irradiation fluence to be
= (2090.24 Jg-1) ÷ (0.0247 cm2g-1× 2.0025 × 10-13 J)

= (2090.24 Jg-1) ÷ (4.9462 × 10-15 Jcm2g-1)
= 4.23× 1017 photons/cm2
The cross-sectional displacement due to Compton scattering, p, for Cu (while assuming

the displacement energy, Ed, to be 25 eV (Dienes and Vineyard, 1957)) is roughly 0.1
× 10-24 cm2. Therefore the displacement per atom (dpa), N, for Cu with a gamma
incident energy of 1.25 MeV is
N= × p = 4.23× 1017 × 0.1× 10-24 = 4.23 × 10-8 dpa (2)
Thus we can assume that the highest dpa for the gamma-ray irradiated Zr55Ni5 Al10Cu30
BMG sample to be of the order of ~×10 -8 dpa.
714
Shah et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 713-721
Speed of Sound Measurements
The speed of sound measurements was conducted using a Karl Deutsch D-56
Wuppertal1 Echometer 1061 with a contact probe and probe gel, and a Tektronix TDS
2012 two-channel storage digital oscilloscope. Two distinctive probes were used for the
transverse and longitudinal waves. The spread time of the longitudinal waves, tl and the
transverse waves, tt were measured by fixing the speed of sound dial at 0.200 cm/ s.
Obtaining the value of tl and tt from the above experiment, we can calculate the
speed of sound for the longitudinal waves of the samples, vl, to be
1
vl = (2×l)/(1000×tl) ms (3)
and the speed of sound for the transverse waves, vt, is

1
vt = (2×l)/(1000×tt) ms (4)
where l is the sample’s thickness. From this result, the elastic moduli, namely shear (G),
bulk (K) and Young’s (E) modulus, as well as the Poisson’s ratio ( ) can be calculated
by inserting the speed of sound values into the following equations (Kai et al, 2002):
G =d×vt² [GPa] (5)
K =d×{ vl ²-(4/3) ×vt²} [GPa] (6)
E = 3d×vt²×{ vl²-(4/3) ×vt²}/( vl²- vt²) [GPa] (7)
= (vl²-2 vt²)/(2 vl²-2 vt²) [GPa] (8)
where d is the density of the sample.
Hardness Test
In order to investigate the plastic deformation of the surface of the material due to
gamma irradiation, a nanoindentation test and Vickers hardness test were conducted.
The device used in this test was the Elionix ENT-1100a UMIS (Ultra-Micro Indentation
System) and a Matsuzawa Vickers hardness device, located in Tohoku University’s
Institute for Materials Research Facility in Ooarai. The x-ray diffraction experiment was
conducted at the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) in Nagoya, using an x-ray
diffractogram device to observe any changes in the BMG’s amorphous structure after
the irradiation process.
The results of the speed of sound measurements are shown below. Figure 1 shows the
longitudinal and transverse waves values, whilst Figures 2 and 3 show the calculated
values of the elastic moduli, namely the bulk, Young’s and shear moduli, and Poisson’s
ratios for various doses of gamma ray up to 2090.24 kGy. All elastic modulus value
715
show relatively similar values, and did not present any changes due to gamma
irradiation doses up to 2090.24 kGy.
5000
Speed of sound [ms ]
-1
4000
Longitudinal waves
3000 Transverse waves
2000
1000
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Dose [kGy]
Figure 1. Speed of sound for various doses of gamma-ray up to 2090.24 kGy
120
Elastic Modulus [GPa]
100
80
Bulk modulus
60 Youngs modulus
Shear modulus
40
20
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Dose [kGy]
Figure 2. Elastic modulus for various doses of gamma-ray up to 2090.24 kGy
716
0.5
0.45
Poisson's ratio
0.4
0.35
0.3
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Dose [kGy]
Figure 3. Poisson’s ratio for various doses of gamma-ray up to 2090.24 kGy
1200
1000
Vickers Hardness [HV]
800
600
400
200
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Dose [kGy]
Figure 4. Vickers hardness for various gamma-ray doses up to 1127.5 kGy.
To investigate the change in the plastic deformation of the surface of samples

caused by irradiation, Figure 4 shows the Vickers hardness result for various gamma-
ray doses up to 1127.5 kGy. The graph shows a linear pattern of the Vickers hardness
717
value, suggesting that gamma irradiation produces no effect on the sample surface’s
plastic deformation behavior, similar to the results reported by Higashi (2005). As a
comparison, Figures 5 and 6 show the results of the indentation hardness, HIT, and
indentation modulus, EIT, for various gamma-ray doses up to 694.38 kGy, respectively.
The results show a slight increase in the values as the dose increases. Even so, huge
error bars were observed. Since indentation tests investigate the plastic deformation of
the near surface of the material, it is safe to conclude that the test only detected minor
surface deformation. The indentation hardness HIT may be correlated to other hardness
scales in certain circumstances. A common request is to express the indentation
hardness as an equivalent Vickers hardness value (Fischer-Cripps, 2004). The
indentation hardness uses the projected area of contact, while the Vickers hardness uses
the actual surface area of contact. Since for a Vickers indenter the projected and actual
surface areas of the contact differ by about 7%, it is to be expected that the Vickers
hardness value will be some 7% less than the equivalent indentation hardness, H IT.
Since the average Vickers hardness in this research has a slightly lesser value than its
indentation hardness counterpart, it is therefore concluded that the values are in
accordance with the statement above, and both results support each other. Minor
changes in the indentation test and the Vickers hardness test, as well as the consistency
in the elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratio values as stated above, indicate that gamma-ray
irradiation up to 2090.24 kGy only caused minor defects on the samples’ surface, and
no significant changes in the bulk of the sample. Further research is needed to analyze
the samples’ surface deformation and morphology.
1200
m)
2
1000
Indentation hardness, HIT (mgf/
800
600
400
200
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Dose (kGy)
Figure 5. Indentation hardness, HIT, for various gamma-ray doses up to 694.38 kGy.
718
4
1.6 10
Indentation modulus, EIT (mgf/ m )

2
4
1.4 10
4
1.2 10
4
1 10
8000
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Dose (kGy)
Figure 6. Indentation modulus, EIT, for various gamma-ray doses up to 694.38 kGy.
Figure 7 shows the XRD spectrum of the samples up to a 1127.50 kGy gamma-ray
dose. It is clearly noted that all the samples show a broad halo peak, indicating an
amorphous phase in the sample’s atomic structure. From the XRD spectrum of Figure 7,
it is evident that the background of the spectrum intensity tends to become slightly
larger at higher values of 2 . This is a common phenomenon, and is due to the thermal
vibration of the atom (Cullity, 1978). Not only does it reduce the intensity of the
diffraction lines, but it also causes some general coherent scattering in all directions.
This is called temperature diffuse scattering; it only contributes to the general
background of the pattern, and its intensity gradually increases with an increase in 2 . In
the energy range of 1.17 MeV and 1.33 MeV used in the sample preparation, the
dominant process of gamma radiation interaction is the Compton effect, in which a
phonon knocks an electron out of atomic orbit into a very much higher energy state.
Atomic displacements can occur through internal bombardment by the Compton
electrons, but very little damage is done. This is because electrons are relatively free to
move and any ionization produced by radiation is soon neutralized by these electrons.
The only net effect of gamma radiation on the metal is to generate a small amount of
heat (Gedeon, 1993 ). The mechanical property results in this research also suggest that,
similar to common metal behavior, nearly no change was observed in the BMG
samples. Due to its mechanical stability, it is thus plausible to suggest that such BMG
could be utilized as a structural material in gamma-ray rich environments, such as in
nuclear reactors. Even so, further investigations, such as adding more doses of gamma-
ray irradiation while investigating different aspects of the material, i.e. thermal and
magnetic property, is vital before the definitive conclusion that Zr-based BMGs can be
used in structural applications can be made.
719
1127.50 kGy
694.38 kGy
Intensity (a.u.)
237.19 kGy
113.44 kGy
40.22 kGy
Non-irr
20 30 40 50 60 70
2
Figure 7. The XRD spectrum for various doses of gamma-ray up to 1127.50 kGy
CONCLUSION
The effects of gamma-ray irradiation on the mechanical properties of Zr55Ni5Al10Cu30

BMG were investigated using echometer measurements, Vickers hardness indentation
tests and nanoindentation tests, as well as XRD analysis. The elastic modulus
measurements, the Vickers hardness indentation tests and the nanoindentation tests
indicate that the gamma ray irradiation (up to a dose of 2090.24 kGy) did not cause
significant mechanical property changes in the bulk of the metallic glass. XRD spectra
observed post irradiation confirms the amorphous behavior of the samples.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to thank the technical staff of the Institute of Materials Research,
Tohoku University for the provision of the bulk metallic glass, the Japan Atomic Energy
Agency (JAEA) Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute for conducting the
gamma-ray irradiation process, and the Nagoya Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS),
Nagoya, for the XRD experimentation. Financial support provided by the Malaysian
Government through Universiti Malaysia Pahang is also gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Bruck, H.A., Christman, T., Rosakis, A.J. and Johnson, W.L. 1994. Quasi-static
constitutive behavior of Zr 41.25Ti13.75Ni10Cu12.5Be22.5. Scripta Metallurgica et
Materialia, 30: 429-434.
Cullity, B.D. 1978. Elements of x-ray diffraction. 2nd ed. USA: Addison-Wesley
Longman.
Dienes, G.J. and Vineyard, G.H. 1957. Radiation effects in solids. Vol. 2. New York:
Interscience Publishers.
Fischer-Cripps, A.C. 2004. Nanoindentation. 2nd ed. New York: Springer.
720
Gedeon, G. 1993. Nuclear plant material selection and application. New York:CED
Engineering Handbook.
Gilbert, C.J., Ritchie, R.O. and Johnson, W.L. 1997. Fracture toughness and
fatigue-crack propagation in a Zr--Ti--Ni--Cu--Be bulk metallic glass. Applied
Physics Letter, 71: 476-478.
Higashi, S. 2005. Ion and electron irradiation effect on Zr-based metallic glasses.
Master Thesis, Tohoku University, Japan.
Inoue, A. 1995. High strength bulk amorphous alloys. Materials Transactions JIM, 36:
866-875.
Iqbal, M., Akhter, J.I., Hu, Z.Q., Zhang, H.F., Qayyum, A. and Sun, W.S. 2007.
Mechanical properties and ion irradiation on bulk amorphous Zr55Cu30Al10Ni5.
Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 353, 2452-2458.
Ishino, S. 1979. Irradiation damage. Japan:Tokyo University Press.
Johnson, W.L. 1999. Bulk glass-forming metallic alloys: science and technology. MRS
Bulletin, 24, 42-56.
Kai, W., Hsieh, H.H., Nieh, T.G. and Kawamura, Y. 2002. Oxidation behavior of a Zr-
Cu-Al-Ni amorphous alloy in air at 300-425°. Intermetallics, 10: 1265-1270.
Liu, L., Qiu, C.L., Sun, M., Chen, Q., Chan, K.C. and Pang, G.K.H. 2007.
Improvements in the plasticity and biocompatibility of Zr-Cu-Ni-Al bulk
metallic glass by the microalloying of Nb. Materials Science and Engineering A,
449-451: 193-197.
Liu, L., Qiu, C.L., Zou, H. and Chan, K.C. 2005. The effect of the microalloying of Hf
on the corrosion behavior of ZrCuNiAl bulk metallic glass. Journal of Alloys
and Compounds, 399: 144-148.
Pang, S., Zhang, T., Kimura, H., Asami, K. and Inoue, A. 2000. Corrosion behavior of
Zr-(Nb-)Al-Ni-Cu glassy alloys. Materials Transactions JIM, 41: 1490-1494.
Shah, L.H., Tsuchiya, B., Nagata, S. and Shikama, T. 2011. The effect of gamma-rays
on the electrical properties of Zr55Ni5Al10Cu50 bulk metallic glass. Journal of
Nuclear Materials, 417: 822-825.
Wang, J.G., Choi, B.W., Nieh, T.G. and Liu, C.T. 2000. Crystallization and
nanoindentation behavior of a bulk Zr-Al-Ti-Cu-Ni amorphous alloy. Journal of
Materials Research, 15: 913-922.
721
OPTIMIZING THE SHAPE OF ROTOR BLADES FOR MAXIMUM

POWER EXTRACTION IN MARINE CURRENT TURBINES
J.A. Esfahani and H.R. Karbasian
Center of Excellence on Modeling and Control Systems (CEMCS) and Mechanical

Engineering Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 91775-1111, Iran
Phone: (+98) 915-1344361, Fax: (+98) 511-77240488
Email: abolfazl@um.ac.ir, hamid.karbasian@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
In this paper the shape of rotor blades in Marine Current Turbines (MCTs) are
investigated. The evaluation of hydrodynamic loads on blades is performed based on the
Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory. The shape of blades is optimized according
to the main parameters in the configuration and operation of these devices. The
optimization is conducted based on the ability of the blades to harness the maximum
energy during operating. The main parameters investigated are the tip speed ratio and
angle of attack. Furthermore, the influence of these parameters on the maximum energy
extraction from fluid flow over a hydrofoil is evaluated. It is shown that the effect of the
angle of attack on power extraction is greater than that of the tip speed ratio, while both
are found to be significant. Additionally, the proper angle of attack is the angle at which
the lift to drag ratio is at its maximum value. However, if a proper angle of attack is
chosen, the variations in power coefficient would not be effectively changed with small
variations in the tip speed ratio.
Keywords: Marine current turbine (MCT), hydrodynamics, tidal current flows,

renewable energy, optimization.
INTRODUCTION
Marine currents are formed from tidal movements and ocean circulations, and
differences in temperature or salinity levels may affect the local currents (Chakrabarti
and Subrata, 2005). Kinetic energy contained within marine currents can be harnessed
using various technologies. The physics is similar to that of wind energy (Rourke, Boyle
and Reynolds, 2009), where the power available at any site is proportional to the fluid
density and the cube of its velocity (Twidell and Weir, 2006; Lee, Lu and Huang, 2009).
The biggest difference between wind and marine current resources is the density of the
working fluid (Bryden, Grinsted and Melville, 2004), and therefore the power output of
Marine Current Energy Devices (MCEDs) is more than that of wind turbines with
similar dimensions and operating conditions (Hwang, Lee and Kim, 2009). One of
devices that can be used to capture energy from tidal currents is a Marine Current
Turbine (MCT); which consists of a number of blades connected to a support hub which
rotates around its horizontal axis. For instance, Figure 1 shows the schematic of a full-
span pitch control SeaFlow turbine with a single 11 m diameter rotor mounted on a steel
tubular pile (Lundin and Leijon, 2010). This type of marine current device is designed
for slow velocity marine currents. Its pitch control system is designed to control its
angle of attack at different tip speed ratios. Furthermore, the stability of this device
722
Optimizing the shape of rotor blades for maximum power extraction in marine current turbines
against marine storms is appreciable, and it can even produce electricity in hard
atmospheric conditions.
Figure 1. Schematic of Marine Current Turbine (MCT) from Schematic of Marine

Current Turbines Ltd. SeaFlow project in Lynmouth, Devon, UK (Lundin and Leijon,
2010)
Many investigations have been conducted on the design horizontal MCTs that can
operate under good conditions. Configurations of these turbines depend on the
hydrodynamic forces generated by the fluid flow over the hydrofoil-shaped blades to
generate electricity (Bryden et al, 1998). However, there is no overall agreement on the
optimum shape or form of these devices (Bryden and Couch, 2006; Schonborn and
Chantzidakis, 2007). The main objective of this study is to investigate hydrofoil-shaped
blades optimization in order to harness the maximum energy from a fluid flow. The
parameters considered in this study are the tip speed ratio (TSR) and the hydrofoil’s
angle of attack (AOA). According to these key parameters the optimum blade shape
(chord profile along with the span of the blade) is developed. Furthermore, the
sensitivity of each given parameter on the maximum energy extracted is evaluated.
PHYSICAL MODEL
Figure 2 displays a schematic of a MCT used to extract energy from tidal current flows.
The root of blade (ROB) is where the blade is fixed to the hub, which is rotating the
shaft. The tip of blade (TOB) is the end part of the blade and the distance from the ROB
to TOB is called the turbine radius, R. The blade is divided into small elements, the
chord and span of each element are defined as c(r) and dr, respectively. The distance
from ROB to an element of dr is called the blade local radius and defined as r.
723
Esfahani and Karbasian /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 722-729
Figure 2. Schematic of MCT and preliminary concept of Blade Element Momentum
The performance of a MCT is evaluated based on Blade Element Momentum

(BEM) theory. BEM theory is based on the Glauert propeller theory (Glauert, 1926),
modified for application in wind turbines. In recent years, BEM theory has been
optimized and modified to provide increasingly accurate results. The force acting on a
blade parallel to the direction of rotation leads to the production of power, Py, which
rotates the shaft connected to the generator. Py is defined as follows:
1 (1)
= ( ) [ + (1 ) ]
2
where , a, U0, CL, CD are the water density, axial induction factor, free stream velocity,
lift and drag coefficients of the hydrofoil, respectively. is defined as:
= cos(tan ) sin(tan ) (2)
where is also local velocity ratio and is defined as follows:
= /[ (1 )] (3)
where is the angular velocity of the shaft. Additionally, the TSR is given by the
following relation:
= / (4)
The total power available in water flow through the extraction area is given by the
following relation:
1 (5)
= ( )
2
The power coefficient, Cp, is defined as the ratio of kinetic power (transferred to
the shaft) to the total power available:
1 (6)
= ( ) [ + (1 ) ]
724
The axial induction factor can be predicted by the procedure explained by

Lanzafame and Messina (2010). In Eq. (6), all parameters are given except the chord
profile of the blade (shape of the blade). To determine the maximum power extracted by
MCTs, the chord profile has a significant influence on the optimization. To determine
the proper chord profile it is assumed that the total power available in the water flow
can be captured by the hydrofoil. Thus it can be written as follows:
2 (7)
0 ( )
[ + (1 ) ]( + )
where:
= sin(tan )+ cos(tan ) (8)
According to the assumption in Eq. (7), the chord function is limited between
zero and other parameters. The maximum chord function can capture the total power
available in the water flow, however this assumption can only help determine the
appropriate shape of the blades, while the Betz limit is always appreciable in the power
extracted by MCTs.
In this study the shape of blades employed in MCTs are designed based on maximum
energy extraction from current flows. For the investigations, a NACA 63-215 hydrofoil
is specified and the length of each blade (radius of turbine) is chosen as 3.5 m. The free
stream velocity is also specified as 0.5 m/s. Figure 3 shows the lift and drag coefficients
of NACA 63-215 with AOA. These coefficients are experimentally determined and
reported by Bertagnolio et al (2001). The AOA is one of the key parameters
investigated in this study, and the importance of this parameter can be referred to as the
lift to drag ratio. The lift to drag ratio determines the quantity of power generated and
lost during operation, and has a great influence on the performance of MCTs.
Figure 3. Experimental lift and drag coefficients for NACA 63-215, reported by
Bertagnolio et al (2001)
Figure 4 displays the optimized shape of the blades for different AOA and
TSR=6. In Figure 4(a) the AOA is specified as 5°. At this angle the chord profile along
the length of the blade is thick and has a relatively sharp edge at ROB. In Figure 4(b)
725
the AOA is defined as 10° and the chord profile is thinner than that of Figure 4(a). In
Figure 4(c) the AOA is defined as 15°. At the end of the blade (TOB) the chord profile
is fairly thicker than that of Figure 4(b), however at the ROB the sharp edge vanishes
and variations in the chord section throughout the length of the blade become moderate.
Figure 4. Optimized shape of blade at different AOAs (AOA=5°, 10° and 15°) and
TSR=6
Figure 5 shows the optimized shape of blades for TSR=4 and three different
AOAs. In Figure 5(a) the AOA is kept at 5°. Thus, the variations in chord profile along
the length of the blade are more pronounced and at ROB the cross-section becomes
thicker. In Figure 5(b) the variations in the chord at an AOA of 10° are more moderate
than those of the blade with AOA of 5°. In Figure 5(c) the AOA is 15°, and all sharp
variations in ROB and throughout the length of the blade become more moderate. The
conclusions that can be drawn from Figures 4 and 5 are that the blade shape can be
influenced by the TSR and AOA (lift to drag ratio). It is shown that an increasing TSR
causes the optimized shape of the chord profile along the length of the blade to become
thinner. Furthermore, if the AOA is kept constant throughout the length of the blade the
chord becomes thicker at ROB and thinner at TOB. At ROB the sharp edge of the blade
originates from the effect of the foil’s drag coefficient. When the drag coefficient of the
hydrofoil is increased by some manipulations in the AOA, this sharp edge would vanish
and the changes in chord profile would be more moderate. Furthermore, the lift
coefficient of the hydrofoil caused the changes of the chord profile to become smaller,
while the overall chord profile is thinner throughout the length of the blade.
726
Figure 5. Optimized shape of blade at different AOA (5°, 10° and 15°) and TSR=4
Figure 6 shows the variations in the partial power coefficient throughout the
length of the blade. For simplicity, the length of the blade is presented as a non-
dimensional parameter, r/R, and is defined as a ratio of the blade’s local radius to the
radius of the turbine (R). In Figure 6, the maximum power that can be captured in each
section of the blade is presented at two different AOA and TSR. As seen in Figure 6, at
a constant AOA, increasing the TSR from 4 to 6 decreases the overall power coefficient.
At ROB the power coefficient for TSR=6 is more than that for TSR=4. But throughout
the length of the blade and reaching to TOB, the power coefficient for TSR=6 becomes
smaller than that for TSR=4. Furthermore, at a constant TSR, the power coefficient for
AOA=10° is more than that of AOA=15°. This originates from the effect of the lift to
drag ratio. For NACA 63-215 the lift to drag ratios are around 50 and 10, for AOA=10°
and AOA=15°, respectively. As seen from these ratios, a blade at AOA=10°, which has
a higher lift to drag ratio, extracts more energy from current flows compared to a blade
at AOA=15°. However, it is demonstrated that at AOA=10° (or AOA at which the lift to
drag ratio is at its maximum) the effect of the TSR on the power coefficient is
insignificant. In other words, increasing the TSR results in the reduction in power
coefficient being negligible.
Consequently, the effect of TSR and AOA on the performance of MCTs is briefly
investigated and based on the results obtained with the evaluation of hydrodynamic
loads acting on MCT, the best shape in the optimum range of operation is specified. As
for the results, Figure 7 displays a three-dimensional blade shape which can be used at
different TSRs and AOA=10°. This blade is designed based on a maximum lift to drag
ratio beyond the static stall region. As the hydrofoil is extruded from ROB to TOB, each
element of the hydrofoil is regularly twisted, so that the AOA remains constant
throughout the blade’s length.
727
Figure 6. Partial power coefficient for each blade section at two AOA (10° and 15°) and
TSR (4 and 6)
Figure 7. Three-dimensional optimized shape of blade for MCTs in optimum range of

operation
CONCLUSION
The hydrodynamics of blades in MCTs are investigated based on Blade Element

Momentum (BEM) theory. A NACA 63-215 hydrofoil is specified for the simulation of
performance. The AOA and TSR are evaluated as key parameters in MCTs. These
parameters are given values, although the shape of the blade (or chord profile) is an
unknown parameter and must be determined. To determine the appropriate shape of the
blade, the optimization of MCTs with a horizontal axis is considered. According to the
maximum energy extracted by each blade section a chord profile is obtained. It is shown
that the shape of the blades is strongly influenced by the AOA and TSR, while the
influence of TSR is insignificant at higher lift to drag ratios. Additionally, it is
demonstrated when the lift to drag ratio is at its maximum value, the effect of TSR on
728
the shape of the blade is insignificant. Thus, the chord profile extruded thoughtout the
span of the blades must be designed with a maximum lift to drag ratio at each section of
the blades.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research,
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, under Grant No. 22752.
REFERENCE
Bertagnolio, F., Sorensen, N., Johansen, J. and Fuglsang, P. 2001. Wind turbine airfoil
catalogue. Roskilde, RisØ National Laboratory.
Bryden, I. and Couch, S. 2006. Marine energy extraction: tidal resource analysis.
Renewable Energy, 31(2): 133-139.
Bryden, I., Grinsted, T. and Melville, G. 2004. Assessing the potential of a simple tidal
channel to deliver useful energy. Applied Ocean Research, 26(5): 198-204.
Bryden, I., Naik, S., Fraenkel, P. and Bullen, C. 1998. Matching tidal current plants to
local flow conditions. Energy, 23(9): 699-709.
Chakrabarti, S. and Subrata, K. 2005. Ocean environment, Handbook of offshore
engineering. London, Elsevier.
Glauert, H. 1926. The elements of airfoil and airscrew theory. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Hwang, I., Lee, Y. and Kim, S. 2009. Optimization of cycloidal water turbine and the
performance improvement by individual blade control. Applied Energy, 86(9):
1532-1540.
Lanzafame, R. and Messina, M. 2010. Horizontal axis wind turbine working at
maximum power coefficient continuously. Renewable Energy, 35(2): 301-306.
Lee, M., Lu, C. and Huang, H. 2009. Reliability and cost analyses of electricity
collection systems of a marine current farm - a Taiwanese case study. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13(8): 2012-2021.
Lundin, M. and Leijon, M. 2010. Ocean energy. [Online] Available from:
http://www.eusustel.be [Accessed 26 August 2010].
Rourke, F., Boyle, F. and Reynolds, A. (2009) Renewable energy resources and
technologies applicable to Ireland. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
13(8): 1975-1984.
Schonborn, A. and Chantzidakis, M. 2007.Development of a hydraulic control
mechanism for cyclic pitch marine current turbines. Renewable Energy, 32(4):
662-679.
Twidell, J. and Weir, T. 2006. Renewable energy resources. United Kingdom: Taylor
and Francis.
729
A REVIEW OF MILD COMBUSTION AND OPEN FURNACE DESIGN

CONSIDERATION
M.M. Noor1, Andrew P. Wandel1, and Talal Yusaf2

1
Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre,
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia
2
National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture, USQ, Australia
Email: Muhamad.MatNoor@usq.edu.au
ABSTRACT
Combustion is still very important to generate energy. Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen

Dilution (MILD) combustion is one of the best new technologies for clean and efficient
combustion. MILD combustion has been proven to be a promising combustion
technology in industrial applications with decreased energy consumption due to the
uniformity of its temperature distribution. It is clean compared to traditional combustion
due to producing low NOx and CO emissions. This article provides a review and
discussion of recent research and developments in MILD. The issue and applications are
summarized, with some suggestions presented on the upgrading and application of
MILD in the future. Currently MILD combustion has been successfully applied in
closed furnaces. The preheating of supply air is no longer required since the
recirculation inside the enclosed furnace already self-preheats the supply air and self-
dilutes the oxygen in the combustion chamber. The possibility of using open furnace
MILD combustion will be reviewed. The design consideration for open furnace with
exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR) was discussed.
Keywords: MILD combustion; turbulent combustion; open furnace.
INTRODUCTION
Energy security is becoming more important since the use of energy has been a key in
the development of the human society and concern over the depletion of the fossil fuel
reserves. With the current supply and demand, the fossil fuel will be depleted by 2042
(Shafiee and Topal, 2009). The demand of energy is dramatically increasing due to the
growth of the world's population and the substantial economic development in countries
such as South East Asia, China and India. Chemical reactions through combustion still
contribute to most energy needs. Some of the major challenges are in providing efficient
energy and limiting greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. The combustion of fossil fuel is
projected to fulfill about 80% of these energy requirements (IEA, 2009; Maczulak,
2010). Combustion pollution is linked to an increase in the earth’s temperature, unstable
weather, increase in the ocean levels and ice melting in the North and South Poles. The
more efficient use of fuel with low GHG emissions as well as carbon capture and
storage (CCS) might be effective ways to gradually reduce GHG emissions (IEA, 2006,
2009; Orr, 2005). IEA/OECD (2002) and Jonathan (2006) reported that CO2 contributed
77% of the GHG emissions, with combustion accounting for 27%, making it a major
contributor to global climate change. To counter this issue, the improvement in
combustion efficiency with lower emissions has led researchers to focus on new
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Noor et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 730-754
combustion technology and combustion modeling (Merci et al., 2007; Smith and Fox,
2007). One of the methods to improve combustion efficiency is to preheat the reactant
by a hot flue gas. However, preheating the combustion air generally increases the flame
temperature which results in greater formation of thermal NO x. A new combustion
technology has been invented that is able to solve this issue: Moderate or Intense Low-
oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion, which produces high combustion efficiencies
with very low emissions.
Combustion processes require three elements: fuel, oxidizer, and a heat or
ignition source. Before the ignition process, the fuel and oxidizer need to be mixed at a
molecular level via a turbulent mixing process. Wünning (1991) observed a surprising
phenomenon during experiments with a self-recuperative burner. At furnace
temperatures of 1000°C and about 650°C air preheat temperature no flame could be
seen and no UV-signal could be detected. The fuel was completely burnt and the
exhaust CO was below 1 ppm. The NOx emissions were almost zero, with smooth and
stable combustion. Wünning (1991) called that condition “flameless oxidation” or
FLOX (Milani and Wünning, 2007; Wünning, 1996; Wünning and Wünning, 1997).
This new combustion technology was also named MILD combustion (Cavaliere and de
Joannon, 2004; Dally et al., 2002). Katsuki and Hasegawa (1998) and Tsuji et al.,
(2003) found that high-temperature air combustion (HiTAC) is nearly the same as
MILD combustion, besides operating at higher temperatures. MILD combustion has
many beneficial features, especially in the production of a uniform temperature
distribution, excellent combustion stability, very high efficiency and extremely low
emissions of NOx. Some history, recent trends and research on MILD are reviewed in
this paper. The key topics discussed include the MILD combustion mode and regime,
MILD combustion flame characteristics and properties, NO x and soot emissions, and
MILD combustion burners. Discussion on the recommendations and future possible
direction of MILD combustion are put forward based on the demands of industry.
MILD COMBUSTION REGIME
The temperature of the reactant must be higher than the mixture’s self-ignition
temperature (Table 1), so the recirculation of hot flue gas to preheat the reactants and
simultaneously dilute oxygen is a key concept of MILD combustion (Tsuji et al., 2003).
The maximum temperature increase due to combustion is lower than the mixture’s self-
ignition temperature (Cavaliere and de Joannon, 2004).
Recent applications of MILD combustion have been in the research and
development of gas turbines (Arghode and Gupta, 2010a, 2010b, 2011a, 2011b; Duwig
et al., 2008) and gasification systems (Tang et al, 2010, 2011). This combustion mode
can be very interesting in gas turbine applications due to the low maximum
temperatures (very close to those at the inlet of a gas turbine), noiseless characteristics,
good flame stability and effectiveness in reducing pollution emissions. In contrast, the
problems related to the large scale application of MILD gas turbines are the
characteristic time related to the chemical process (the ignition delay time) and the
preheating of the fresh reactants (ultralean, superdiluted, highly preheated). Based on
the study and review by Li et al. (2011b), common MILD combustion appears to be
summarized as:
i) High temperature pre-heating of combustion air and the high-speed injection of

air and fuel are the main requirements of achieving MILD combustion;
731
A review of MILD combustion and open furnace design consideration
ii) Strong entrainments of high-temperature exhaust gases, which dilute the fuel
and air jets, are the key technology for maintaining MILD combustion;
iii) Important environmental conditions for the establishment of MILD combustion:
local oxygen concentration less than 5–10% while local temperature is greater
than that of fuel self-ignition in the reaction zone. These must be achieved by the
strong dilution of reactants with the flue gas (N2 and CO2-rich exhaust gases);
iv) When using the regenerator to recycle the waste heat of flue gases, the thermal
efficiency of MILD combustion can increase by 30%, while reducing NOx
emissions by 50% (Tsuji et al., 2003).
Table 1. Summary of different combustion modes (Cavaliere and de Joannon, 2004)

Working
Combustion mode Inlet conditions
conditions
Mild Combustion (MILD) Tin > Tsi T < Tsi
High Temperature Air Combustion
Tin > Tsi T > Tsi
(HiTAC)
Feedback Combustion Tin < Tsi T > Tsi
MILD combustion is substantially different from normal combustion, mainly

because of the low oxygen concentration (3–13%) and a mixture temperature that is
higher than the fuel’s autoignition point (Li et al., 2011b). The supply air needs to be
heated using a recuperator or regenerator to absorb the waste heat from the flue gas. A
recuperator can preheat the air to 1000 K, while a regenerator can heat the combustion
air to about 1600 K (Tsuji et al., 2003). There are four main regimes: a clean MILD
combustion region, where MILD is easily sustained without any significant emissions;
an unstable flame region, where low-emission MILD conditions can be achieved by
suitably selecting some key operating parameters, such as the combustion air
temperature; a conventional (normal) flame combustion region and a no-combustion or
extinction zone. The more usual representations (Cavigiolo et al., 2003; Wünning and
Wünning, 1997) identify different regimes of stable and unstable flame combustion and
a flameless oxidation region. Figure 1 shows the comparison of MILD flame and
conventional flame. Figure 2 indicates that the MILD combustion range for oxygen
dilution ratio is about 2.5 and above and the reactant temperature is above the self-
ignition temperature.
The oxygen concentration and temperature of the preheated air will affect the
MILD flame color, as shown in Figure 3. The flame becomes green and generally less
visible when the oxygen level decreases to 2% (Gupta et al., 1999). Parente et al. (2009,
2011) studied the MILD combustion regime using a novel methodology based on
Principal Component Analysis (PCA), investigating the main features for its
characterization. PCA can effectively identify low dimensional representations of the
CH4/H2 experimental dataset Figure 4 illustrates the flame region for MILD and
conventional combustion based on [OH] contours. Significantly, both the reacting and
non-reacting zones for the MILD case are bigger compared to the conventional case.
732
(a) (b)
Figure 1. Comparison of the temperature and mass fraction (a) MILD combustion (b)
conventional combustion (Tsuji et al., 2003)
Figure 2. The relationship between furnace temperature and dilution ratio (Wünning and
Wünning, 1997)
733
(a) 21% (b) 8% (c) 2%
Figure 3. Combustion air temperature of 1100 °C and percentage of O2

concentration (Gupta et al., 1999)
(a) (b)
Figure 4. Closed furnace reacting zone for (a) conventional and (b) MILD combustion
(Li and Mi, 2011)
COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY
Efficiency is very important for combustion process. Combustion efficiency is the ratio
of the heat received by the target material to be heated (useful output) to the supply heat
provided to the combustor (in the form of electricity or fuel supply). Industrial burners
need a stable and efficient flame for an economic and safe heating process. At an
industrial scale, diffusion or non-premixed combustion is commonly used due to its
controllability and safety (Peters, 2000; Tsuji et al., 2003). Bluff-body burners can offer
a stable burner as required. There are many different shapes and geometries, such as
cone, cylinder, vee gutter, disk and sphere. The geometry will affect the recirculation
zone (flame bluffing zone). Furnace efficiency is defined as the ratio of heat received by
the target material to the heat supplied by the furnace heater. A lean and clean operation
of the furnace is critical, since two-thirds of the plant’s energy budget is allocated to the
734
cost of fuel (Thomas, 2011). Combustion thermal efficiency in the furnace can be
improved by recycling the exhaust gases (Li et al., 2011a, 2011b). Further
understanding of the flame structure is necessary to widen the range of application of
MILD combustion (Medwell, 2007), especially research on open furnaces.
MILD combustion has been proven to produce clean and efficient combustion.
Recent studies by Colorado et al. (2009) and Danon, de Jong and Roekaerts (2010) on
low-calorific-value fuels used in MILD combustion show that low NOx emissions were
achieved. The fundamental parameters of MILD combustion are the average
combustion chamber temperature (Tc), dilution ratio (KV), and jet velocity (Derudi et
al., 2007a). KV is a key parameter for MILD combustion working conditions. Several
other researchers (Cavigiolo et al., 2003; Galletti et al., 2009; Katsuki and Hasegawa,
1998; Wünning and Wünning, 1997) defined KV as the ratio between the recycled
exhaust and the incoming air and fuel flow rates. MILD combustion has many
advantages, such as producing very high thermal efficiencies and low NOx emissions. It
produces a uniform temperature distribution, excellent combustion stability and has
been considered one of the new-generation of clean and efficient combustion
technologies. It has great potential to be implemented in many industrial applications.
The early research and development of MILD combustion came from Germany (Kim et
al., 2008; Mancini et al., 2002; Mancini et al., 2007; Plessing et al., 1998; Wünning and
Wünning, 1997; Zieba et al., 2010) and Japan (Katsuki and Hasegawa, 1998; Tsuji et
al., 2003; Yuan and Naruse, 1999).
When MILD combustion starts, the furnace is bright and transparent (Cavaliere
and de Joannon, 2004; Tsuji et al., 2003; Wünning and Wünning, 1997). The
advantages of MILD combustion are already reaching industry: Danon (2011) reported
an increase in demand for expertise on the implementation of MILD combustion,
especially for large-scale furnaces equipped with multiple burners. MILD combustion
has been achieved experimentally (Cabra et al., 2003, 2005; Derudi and Rota, 2011;
Derudi et al., 2007a, 2007b, 2007c; Ertesvag and Magnussen, 2000; Hasegawa et al.,
2002; Kraus and Barraclough, 2012; Kumar et al., 2007; Li and Mi, 2010; Li et al.,
2010a, 2010b; Mi et al., 2010; Mörtberg et al., 2007; Oldenhof et al., 2010, 2011;
Özdemir and Peters, 2001; Rafidi and Blasiak, 2006; Sabia et al, 2007; Weber et al.,
2000; Yuan and Naruse, 1999; Zhenjun, Tong and Chaohua, 2010) and numerically
(Awosope et al., 2006; Cabra et al., 2003, 2005; Coelho and Peters, 2001; De et al.,
2010; Ertesvag and Magnussen, 2000; Frassoldati et al., 2010; Galletti et al., 2009; Kim
et al., 2005; Kraus and Barraclough, 2012; Kumar et al., 2007; Oldenhof et al., 2010;
Parente et al., 2011; Parente et al., 2011; Park et al., 2003; Szegö, 2010; Zhenjun et al.,
2010) in premixed, partially-premixed and non-premixed combustion modes. For
furnace combustion, a simultaneous increase in the radiant heat transfer and reduced
NOx emissions is possible with careful control of the fuel and air mixing (Mulliger and
Jenkin, 2008). Nakamura et al. (1993) and Webber (2001) experimentally studied
several pilot-scale furnaces equipped with heat exchangers. They demonstrated that the
port angles and locations will affect heat transfer.
Combustion with and without exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) will be measured
and analyzed for comparison. This data will be used to determine the efficiency
improvement. Figure 5 shows the comparison of combustion with and without EGR.
The furnace in Figure 5(a) is running without a regenerator (EGR) and with 654 BTU of
heat lost through the flue gas. The difference in Figure 5(b) is that the furnace is running
with a regenerator (EGR), and from 654 BTU of heat in the flue gas only 133 BTU is
lost through the flue gas to the atmosphere. Some 521 BTU of heat is returned to the
735
system through the use of the regenerator. For the same amount of fuel input into the
system, 37.4% efficiency for the system without EGR and 72.4% for the system with
EGR are achieved. EGR will reduce NOx emissions of the oxygenated fuels by more
than 55% since it reduces both the pressure (Raj and Sendilvelan, 2010) and the
maximum temperature.
(a) (b)
Figure 5. Efficiency of the heating system (a) without EGR (b) with EGR (Kraus and
Barraclough, 2012).
RECENT TRENDS IN MILD
Recent experiments have successfully achieved MILD combustion using industrial

waste as a fuel. Dally et al. (2010) injected sawdust into a MILD closed burner and
achieved MILD state. Although the concept of MILD combustion has been extensively
studied experimentally and numerically, the challenge to accurately model the MILD
combustion regime is due to the homogeneous mixing field and slower reaction rates.
MILD combustion is characterized by a strong relation between turbulence and
chemistry, occurring in similar timescales (Galletti et al., 2007; Plessing et al, 1998).
The turbulence-chemistry interactions should be treated with finite rate approaches. The
non-premixed mode occurs when the fuel and preheated air are injected into the
enclosure furnace through different ports, and mixing and combustion proceed inside
the chamber. Parham et al. (2000) reported that by controlling the mixing through their
precessing gas jet, a simultaneous reduction in NOx emissions of 30–50% and an
increase in heat transfer of 2–10% were achieved. Szegö et al. (2008) used a furnace
with 20 kW supplied by the fuel and 3.3 kW from the pre-heated air. This closed
furnace used parallel air and fuel jets with one central air nozzle, four fuel jets and four
exhausts. All the nozzles and exhausts were at the bottom of the furnace. This MILD
combustion setup has produced data on various experiments, including fuel tests, flame
tests, NOx tests, and heat exchanger tests (Christo and Dally, 2005; Colorado et al.,
2009; Dally et al., 2002, 2004, 2010; de Joannon et al. 2009, 2010; Flamme, 2004; Li et
al., 2011b; Lou et al., 2007; Maruta et al., 2000; Medwell et al., 2007, 2008; Mi et al.,
2009; Mörtberg et al., 2006; Oryani et al., 2011; Park et al., 2004; Stankovic, 2006).
MILD combustion technology is still not fully commercialized and well adopted
in the furnace industry, thus it is very important to conduct substantial fundamental and
applied research (Cavaliere et al., 2008; Danon, 2011; Li et al., 2011b; Parente et al.,
2011a, 2011b). The fuel-air mixing in MILD combustion has become a topic of interest
736
(Tsuji et al., 2003). The precise prediction of turbulent mixing is important in the
modeling of turbulent combustion because it has a great effect on the flow field and
turbulence–chemistry interaction (Shabanian et al., 2011). Galletti et al., (2007) claimed
that the reactants’ jet velocity and angle are the main parameters affecting the quality of
the air-fuel mixture. The characteristic of MILD combustion is the strong coupling
between turbulence and chemistry (Parente et al., 2008) occurring at similar timescales
(Galletti et al., 2007; Plessing et al., 1998), thus the turbulence-chemistry interactions
should be treated with finite-rate approaches. The level of homogeneity of the mixing
field (de Joannon et al., 2010) and slower reaction rates make the accurate modeling of
this combustion regime challenging (Aminian et al., 2011), especially regarding the heat
release rate and NOx and soot formation, thus a fundamental study on the mixing quality
is required. To achieve MILD combustion the air supply has to be preheated (Wünning
and Wünning, 1997). Many researchers claim that regenerative heating or preheating is
an important element in MILD combustion applications, which may add some
complexity when retrofitting systems. However, a recent study by Li et al. (2011a,
2011b) showed that preheating is not required in the case of a closed furnace. The use of
an open furnace operating in MILD combustion mode will be discussed. Generally, the
setup for an open furnace is simpler and cheaper than a closed furnace, because the
latter needs a thick and solid wall. However, open furnaces have an additional
complexity because of their requirement for preheating (Li et al., 2011a, 2011b).
Oldenhof et al. (2011) claimed that studying flameless combustion in an open and
unconfined setup might provide valuable insights. The combination of open furnace and
preheating as well as the effect of air-fuel mixing (Oldenhof et al., 2011) need to be
fully addressed. It is believed that there is no reported data about MILD combustion in
open furnace applications.
Biogas is an attractive alternative to replace the dependency on fossil fuels.
Colorado et al. (2009) studied MILD combustion using biogas (methane diluted with
inert gases), and reported that NOx and soot emissions were reduced but CO emission
was increased. This was possibly due to the high fuel dilution and low coflow oxygen
level. NOx emissions could be reduced effectively by means of low-oxygen
concentration combustion (Fuse et al., 2002; Gupta, 2000; Suzukawa et al., 1997). NOx
strongly depends on the mixing processes between fuel and air. The recirculation flue
gases are entrained with combustion air and fuel before combustion occurs to depress
higher peak temperatures, suppressing thermal NOx. There are a few quantities that
must be measured and analyzed when MILD is achieved, such as the combustion
dilution ratio (KV) and temperature inside the combustion chamber. The dilution ratio
must be measured in order to achieve a MILD combustion regime. The minimum
dilution ratio to achieve MILD combustion is 2.5 (Wünning and Wünning, 1997). The
temperature of steady-state combustion must comply with the working-condition
temperature, as shown in Table 1. The key control strategy of MILD combustion is the
heating requirement of the furnace. Based on the heating requirement, the dilution ratio
and fresh air supply will be controlled. EGR, fresh air and fuel supplies are controlled
based on the dilution ratio required. Fuel consumption is the key to measuring the
efficiency of the system. Thermocouples will be used to measure the heat produced
from the flame. The comparison of combustion with and without EGR will be measured
and analyzed. This data will be used in efficiency improvement.
737
EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION
The thermal efficiency of the furnace and other heating equipment, such as kilns, ovens
and heaters, is the ratio of heat received by the target material and heat supplied to the
heating equipment. A large amount of heat is wasted in the form of flue gases and a
small amount in wall losses, opening losses, store heat and cooling water losses. The
design, operation and maintenance of the heating equipment are key factors in these
losses. EGR is one method to recover these losses. EGR behaves differently to heat
regenerators. EGR works by recirculating a portion of the exhaust gas back to the
combustion chamber. The main purpose of EGR is that the oxygen in the combustion
chamber will be diluted by the hot flue gas and the mixture will be directly heated. The
volume of hot flue gas to inject back into the system depends upon the level of oxygen
dilution needed. EGR with MILD combustion was used by Wünning and Wünning
(1997), Katsuki and Hasegawa (1998) and Cavaliere and de Joannon, (2004) as a
solution to avoid NOx and soot formation. Wünning and Wünning (1997) calculated the
dilution ratio KV with EGR as:
( – )
K = ( )
= (3)
( )
The total mass flow rate (MT) is calculated by adding the EGR mass flow rate
(ME), fuel mass flow rate (MF) and fresh air mass flow rate (MA). The dilution ratio (Kv)
and temperature inside the combustion chamber are measured when combustion
achieves steady state. The minimum dilution ratio is 2.5 (Wünning and Wünning,
1997). The control strategy is the heating required by the furnace, which will determine
the required dilution ratio. Thermocouples are used to measure the heat produced from
the flame. The damper blade will act as a control valve at the furnace stack. The damper
blade will be used to control the outflow from the furnace, and the percentage of the
opening size will determine the percentage of EGR. The EGR and the fresh air mixing
will determine the dilution ratio of the system. The total flue gas out of the system must
be equal to the quantity of fresh air and fuel supply.
BIOGAS
Biogas is a low heating value gas also known as low calorific value gas. Considering
biogas with a standard methane content of 50%, the heating value is 21 MJ/Nm³, the
density 1.22 kg/Nm³ and the mass is similar to air at 1.29 kg/Nm³ (Al-Seadi et al.,
2008). The use of gas is predicted to continue to replace coal for electricity generation
as it is a cleaner fuel producing lower GHGs. Coal usage is predicted to increase by
50%, whereas gas is expected to increase by 88% (Scragg, 2009). Biogas can be
produced from the biodegradation of organic materials of biological origin (biomass) in
anoxic environments, such as swamps, wetlands, sediments, and in the rumen of
ruminant animals. Methane production in engineered anaerobic digestion (AD) systems
has been employed for more than a century to treat municipal sludge generated by
municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Besides being a renewable resource
and reducing GHG emissions, biogas also benefits the farmers. It reduces biomass
waste, and furthermore digestate is an excellent fertilizer since it is rich in nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium. Besides the many advantages of biofuel and biogas, there
are currently certain debates on the sustainability of biofuel resources (RACQ, 2008),
738
including the risk to the food supply and the shortage of biomass due to flooding and
other circumstances. The energy balance for biogas and natural gas was compared
(Table 2) for operation in MILD combustion and conventional modes. The efficiency
for the conventional mode is only 41.4% whereas for biogas and natural gas in MILD
mode it is 68% and 70% respectively.
Table 2. Biogas and natural gas energy balance (Colorado et al., 2010).
MILD MILD Conventional

Combustion mode (fuel) mode mode (natural mode (natural
(biogas) gas) gas)
Energy input (including
fuel + combustion 21.13 21.31 21.02
air + cooling air) (kW)
Energy losses through the
3.00 3.07 3.20
wall (kW)
Energy removed by the
14.39 14.99 8.71
cooling tubes (kW)
Energy output through
2.72 1.39 8.25
the chimney (kW)
Energy of the combustion
products after the 1.01 1.36 0
regenerative system (kW)
Efficiency (%) 68.0 70.0 41.4
Table 3. The difference in natural gas composition between certain countries (Jonathan,
2006; Kong and Reitz, 2002; Olsson et al., 2002; Papagiannakis and Hountalas, 2004;
Hairuddin et al., 2011).
% Volume
Component
Australia Greece Sweden US
Methane (CH4) 90.0 98.0 87.58 91.1
Ethane (C2H6) 4.0 0.6 6.54 4.7
Propane (C3H8) 1.7 0.2 3.12 1.7
Butane (C4H10) 0.4 0.2 1.04 1.4
Pentane (C5H12) 0.11 0.1 0.17 -
Hexane (C6H14) 0.08 - 0.02 -
Heptane (C7H16) 0.01 - - -
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) 2.7 0.1 0.31 0.5
Nitrogen (N2) 1.0 0.8 1.22 0.6
Methane is the main component of natural gas and biogas, and is the most
abundant organic compound on earth. Natural gas is a promising alternative fuel to meet
strict engine emission regulations in many countries. Internal combustion engines that
run on natural gas can operate at lean burn and stoichiometric conditions with different
combustion and emission characteristics. Table 3 shows the differences in natural gas
composition between certain countries. Natural gas, methane or hydrogen are
commonly used in industrial burners. The combustion of hydrogen is the cleanest and
739
produces very low emissions. Hydrogen's low density makes it challenging to store
(requiring very high-pressure tanks). Table 4 shows the properties of natural gas,
hydrogen and diesel. By adding hydrogen to the fuel blend, the influence of molecular
diffusion will increase with increasing hydrogen (Mardani et al., 2010). Mardani and
Tabejamaat (2010), Mardani et al. (2010) and Wang et al. (2011) investigated the
effects of hydrogen addition and found that MILD combustion occurred more easily. Yu
et al. (2010) found that pure hydrogen could not reduce thermal NOx emissions in a
flameless combustion regime.
Table 4. Diesel properties compared to hydrogen and natural gas (Liu and Karim 2008;
Saravanan and Nagarajan 2010; Saravanan et al., 2008; Verhelst and Wallner 2009;
Hairuddin et al., 2011).
Properties Diesel Hydrogen Natural Gas

Methane
Main component - -
(CH4)
Auto-ignition Temperature (K) 553 858 923
Lower heating value (MJ/kg) 42.5 119.93 50
Density (kg/m3) 833-881 0.08 692
Molecular weight (g/mol) 170 2.016 16.043
Flammability limits in air (vol
0.7-5 4-75 5-15
%)
Flame velocity (m/s) 0.3 2.65-3.25 0.45
Specific gravity 0.83 0.091 0.55
Boiling point (K) 453-653 20.2 111.5
Cetane number 40-60 - -
Octane number 30 130 120
CO2 emissions (%) 13.4 0 9.5
Mass diffusivity in air (cm2/s) - 0.61 0.16
Min ignition energy (mJ) - 0.02 0.28
Hydrogen’s properties give it many advantages over fossil fuels. Hydrogen is

mainly produced from fossil fuel resources and only 4% is generated by electrolysis. In
the future, when fossil fuels are depleted, the raw material will become water and
biomass (Hollinger and Bose, 2008). One of the objectives of these studies is to
optimize the burner head design using CFD modeling, which should be validated
against experimental results. The purpose of the fuselage (enclosure) is to capture the
flue gas to be used as EGR. This configuration is not fully enclosed due to there being
an opening at the top of the furnace. Therefore this setup is considered an open furnace.
CFD MODELING
The earliest CFD modeling for MILD (HTAC) technology originated from the Japanese
heating industry where a few researchers (Ishii et al., 1997, Zhang et al., 1997 and Hino
740
et al., 1998) conducted simulations on the NOx formation for the experimental
continuous slab reheating furnace. The application of computer simulation techniques to
improve the combustion process has rapidly expanded over the last decade. These
techniques offer reliable predictions on the effect of various parameters on combustion
performance. Moreover, the computational simulation frequently presents information
on physical quantities that are difficult to measure. CFD is the tool for the numerical
model: it solves the fluid flow problem and reduces the cost of expensive experimental
work. Galletti et al., (2007) reported that besides the experimental characterization of
MILD combustion burners, industry has also shown interest in CFD modeling. CFD
may help optimize burner performance, by assisting in the design of injection nozzles
and flue gas recirculation. CFD alone is not fundamentally strong without validation of
its results with experimental work. Different scales of MILD combustion setups have
been simulated using CFD software over the last few decades (Danon, 2011).
The configuration of the reactants and exhaust ports was optimized using a CFD
modeling study (Szegö et al., 2003). Mollica et al., (2009) used CFD to study the effect
of preheating, further dilution provided by inner recirculation and a radiation model for
a hydrogen-air MILD burner. Noor et al., (2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2012d) used CFD to
optimize the furnace parameters setup and air fuel ratio before the development of the
furnace for experimental testing. Oryani et al. (2011) numerically analyzed and
compared flue gas recirculation (FGR) and fuel induced recirculation (FIR) conditions
in the case of N2, CO2 and H2O dilution, and found that with small amounts of dilution
FIR is more effective in NOx reduction. The established model in ANSYS Fluent® will
be utilized. The continuous fluid flow and chemical reactions are simulated by
discretizing the transport equations. A mesh or numerical grid of the physical geometry
of the burner head and boundary wall are generated. The numerical grid divides the
physical volume into cells with finite volumes. The fluid flow and heat transfer
transport equations, which are the conservation of mass, momentum, heat and species,
are solved. Recently Szegö et al. (2011) used CFD to model MILD combustion in a
furnace and found that there is a strong coupling between the furnace aerodynamics and
the reaction zone. CFD modeling is useful to pre-determine the control parameters.
Sensitivity to turbulence models (e.g. standard k- model; Launder and Sharma, 1974)
will normally be investigated. The control parameters for modeling are the temperature,
velocity and angle of the supply air, the temperature, velocity and angle of the fuel, the
percentage of EGR, the location of the EGR input to supply air, the burner head design
and fuel properties.
Turbulent flow occurs at high Reynolds numbers in a very complex process and
is even more complex when it involves a combustion reaction or other chemical
reaction. Tennekes and Lumley (1972) characterized the nature of the turbulence as
irregularity, large Reynolds numbers, diffusivity, three-dimensional vorticity
fluctuations and continuum phenomenon. In the combustion process, particle
interactions are very important in the fuel and air mixing process: the usage of mixing
models is required to close the molecular diffusion term in the probability density
function (PDF) transport (Pope, 1985):
+ + u" P + ,
P (8)
Particle mixing is becoming more important in the study of the mixing process.
Recently, Wandel (2011) proposed a new turbulent mixing model which randomizes the
interaction of the particles locally. The proposed model was called SPDL or the
741
Stochastic Particle Diffusion Length model (Wandel, 2011), which is based upon the
practical localness of the random inter-particle distance (Noor, Yusaf and Wandel,
2011). The configuration of reactants and exhaust ports was optimized using a CFD
modeling study (Khoshhal et al., 2011; Noor et al., 2012a, 2012b; Szegö et al., 2003).
Mollica et al. (2009) used CFD to study a hydrogen-air MILD burner. They reported on
the effect of preheating, with further dilution being provided by an inner recirculation
and radiation model. A numerical method was utilized for flue gas recirculation (FGR)
and fuel induced recirculation (FIR) analyses (Oryani et al., 2011). For small amounts
of N2, CO2 and H2O dilution, FIR is more effective in NOx reduction. Recently Szegö,
et al. (2011) used CFD to model MILD combustion in a furnace and found that there is
a strong coupling between furnace aerodynamics and the reaction zone.
OPEN FURNACE
MILD combustion in a closed furnace has been invented and established for many
years, however many fundamentals still need to be studied and resolved. Open furnace
combustion for MILD is still a very new approach. Generally, open furnaces are more
common in industry and the setup for an open furnace is cheaper than a closed furnace
because the latter needs a thick wall. However, open furnaces have additional
complexity due to the need for preheating of the reactant. Open furnace combustion
needs an enclosed chamber to collect the flue gas and use it as EGR. The oxygen in the
fresh air supply needs to be diluted, and EGR must be used for this purpose. The
concept of the open furnace is due to the opening at the top of the furnace, and the flue
gas that has not been used for EGR will be released from this top opening. Figure 6
shows an open furnace (Noor et al., 2012a, 2012b) used to numerically study MILD
combustion. The opening at the top of the furnace chamber can be controlled in order to
regulate the amount of EGR and dilution ratio. The dilution ratio will be controlled by
the opening of the damper. The damper on the furnace stack will be used to control the
outflow from the furnace, and the percentage of opening size will be determined by the
percentage of the exhaust gas recirculated (EGR). Table 5 shows the typical data for
CFD setup.
Table 5. Typical data for furnace and burner
Item Data
Fuel 60% CH4 + 40% CO2
Oxidiser Atmospheric air and syntactic air at room temperature
Fuel Inlet 1 x 78.5 mm2
Air Inlet 4 x 78.5 mm2
Chamber size Diameter 600mm, Height 860mm
EGR 4 EGR with 1962.5 mm2 each inlet
Tetrahedrons (Patch conforming method) with 111,975
Mesh method
nodes and 501,831elements
Discrete Ordinate (DO) model. Absorption coefficient:
Radiation model
Weighted Sum of Gray Gas (WSGGM) model.
742
Exhaust
4 EGR
Chamber
Fuel inlet
4 air inlets
Figure 6. Open furnace with top chamber opening and 4 EGR.
The main purpose of EGR is to dilute fresh air with exhaust gas and therefore
reduce the peak combustion temperature and pressure, which will reduce the amount of
NOx (Abd-All et al., 2001; Agarwal et al., 2006; Hountalas et al., 2008; Santoh et al.,
1997). The EGR and fresh air mixing will determine the dilution ratio of the system.
The total flue gas out from the system must be equal to the volume of the fresh air
supply. In order to capture the combustion image and flame propagation, a high speed
camera will be utilized in the early stage of the combustion and establishment phase.
When the flame reaches a steady state and is invisible to the naked eye, the high speed
camera will capture the flame’s luminescence (Oldenhof et al., 2010, 2011). This
process is important for the analysis of a MILD combustion non-premixed flame. In
normal jet flames, the lift-off height is the axial height of the sharp flame interface. For
the MILD flame, to determine the lift-off height a certain threshold level for an
averaged quantity is defined. The use of variables such as temperature (Kumar, Paul and
Mukunda, 2007), OH concentration (Cabra et al., 2003; Ertesvag and Magnussen, 2000)
and luminescence (Cabra et al., 2005) were proposed.
The open furnace is operated with the combination of a few parameters:
preheating the reactants using EGR to dilute the oxygen in the air supply, high reactant
jet velocity, hydrogen addition to the biogas to reduce the mixture’s self-ignition
temperature and turbulent mixing of the reactant. Through the optimization of the
study’s parameters, MILD combustion in an open furnace can be successfully achieved.
CFD was utilized to simulate MILD combustion with biogas. Biogas is a low calorific
value gas. In this simulation, 60% methane was mixed with 40% carbon dioxide to form
the low calorific value gas. This ratio of biogas also used by Noor et al. (2012c, 2012d)
and Keramiotis and Founti (2013). The initial results for the CFD simulation of
combustion temperature and EGR flow are shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9. The results of
the simulation show that MILD combustion can be achieved using open furnace
combustion, with an enclosed chamber to capture and utilize flue gas as EGR.
743
Figure 7. Combustion temperatures reach MILD combustion state for biogas. Syntactic
air (11% O2) inlet at 20 m/s and fuel inlet at 9.5 m/s.
Figure 8. Combustion temperatures not reach MILD combustion state for biogas. Air
(21% O2) inlet at 7.5 m/s, fuel inlet at 6.8 m/s.
744
Figure 9. EGR pipe flow downward to preheat the reactant
CONCLUSION
MILD or flameless combustion produces a greater efficiency with lower emissions, and
with the use of biogas it completes the CO2 cycle. This type of combustion offers many
benefits to the furnace and burner industries. Presently heating industries are in the early
stages of the adoption of MILD or flameless technologies for their burners. Most
burners still use conventional combustion technology, since conventional combustion is
fundamentally stable and there is extensive experience with it. Despite the benefits, the
fundamentals of MILD combustion are not properly established and need further
research, especially with regard to the control parameters, combustion behavior,
combustion characteristics, EGR and dilution required. Biogas and biofuels are the best
alternatives for the fuel depletion issue. Fuel from bio resources is very
environmentally-friendly since the CO 2 cycle is effectively closed. CFD is a good tool
to simulate, predict and pre-set the parameters for the pre-experimental work. The
results from CFD are promising enough for experiments to take place. A recent trend
shows that MILD can be achieved with a closed furnace with internal closed
combustion chamber air dilution. The preheating of air is not necessary since it already
occurs in the chamber. This will make the construction of the combustion chamber
simpler, without the necessity for external EGR. An open furnace with EGR to dilute
and pre-heat the oxidant was studied. Numerically MILD combustion was achieved for
open MILD combustion. These results need to be validated by experimental techniques
and be discussed further.
745
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), and the
Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (MOHE) for providing financial support and
laboratory facilities.
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Nomenclature
CCS Carbon capture and storage Pb Position of particle
CFD Computational fluid dynamics R Gas constant
CMC Conditional moment closure Rd Internal dilution ratio
CO Carbon monoxide T Temperature
CO2 Carbon dioxide Tc Chamber temperature
Cp Specific heat at constant pressure U Internal energy
FGR Flue gas recirculation V Volume
GHG Greenhouse-gas Kv Dilution ratio
H2O2 Hydrogen peroxide Y Mass fraction
HC Hydrocarbon Z Mixture fraction
HiTAC High temperature air combustion d Constant
HTOC High temperature combustion k Turbulence kinetic energy
IEA International Energy Agency min Mass flow rate
JHC Jet in hot coflow u Velocity
LES Large eddy simulation v Specific volume
MILD Moderate or intense low O2 w Importance weight
dilution
NOx Nitrogen oxides Greek Symbols
OH Hydroxyl u Favre mean fluid velocity vector
PDF Probability density function t Time interval
SOx Sulfur oxides S Reaction rate for species k
SPDL Stochastic particle diffusion length Dissipation rate
UHC Unburned hydrocarbons Composition space vector for
species k
u Fluid velocity fluctuation vector
Symbols J, Molecular diffusion flux vector
B Diffusion coefficient Kinematic viscosity
K Total number of particles Reference variable
W Mean molecular weight of mixture Density or mean fluid density
W Molecular weight of species I Composition of particle
q Heat release rate Chemical reaction rate
M Interaction matrix Index of composition variable
N Total number of species Model parameter
P Favre joint PDF of composition
754
ISSN: 2229-8649 (Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 6, pp. 755-767 July-December 2012
ANALYSIS OF LAMINAR FORCED CONVECTION OF AIR FOR

CROSSFLOW OVER TWO STAGGERED FLAT TUBES
Tahseen A. Tahseen1, M. Ishak1 and M. M. Rahman1,2

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang
Phone : +609-424-2246 ; Fax : +609-424-2202
Email: mahadzir@ump.edu.my
2
Automotive Engineering Centre, Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
Email: mustafizur@ump.edu.my
ABSTRACT
In this work, the numerical simulation of steady heat transfer and fluid flow over a bank
of flat tubes in staggered configurations for determining the constant surface
temperature is presented. The results are attained using the finite volume method (FVM)
and body fitted coordinates (BFC) technique. Transverse ratios (ST/Ds) of the pitch to
small diameter of 3.0, 4.0 and 6.0 are also considered. The Reynolds numbers used are
10, 20, 60, 80 and 100, and the Prandtl number is taken as 0.7. The isothermal line,
streamline and average Nusselt number were analyzed in this paper. It was found that
the strength of the heat transfer between the surface of the tubes and the air flow
increases with increasing Reynolds number and increasing pitch-to-diameter ratios.
Also, the effect of the Reynolds number clear for the isothermal line, streamline and the
average Nusselt number.
Keywords: Forced convection; flat tube; staggered arrangement; finite volume method;
body fitted coordinate.
INTRODUCTION
The flow of fluids and heat transfer in tube banks represents an idealization of many
industrially-important processes. Tube bundles are widely employed in cross- ow heat
exchangers, the design of which is still based on empirical correlations of heat transfer
and pressure drops. Heat exchangers with tube banks in the cross-flow are of great
practical interest in many thermal and chemical engineering processes (Buyruk, 2002;
Incropera and Dewitt, 1996; Kaptan, Buyruk and Ecder, 2008; Liang and Papadakis,
2007; Mandhani, Chhabra and Eswaran, 2002; Wang, Penner and Ormiston, 2000). Flat
tubes, however, have not been investigated to the same extent, notwithstanding the fact
that they play an important role in many technical applications, such as in modern heat
exchangers and automotive radiators. Flat tube designs have recently been introduced
for use in automotive air conditioning evaporators and condensers. Recent
developments in automotive brazed aluminum manufacturing technology have made the
cost of at tube heat exchangers construction more favorable (Webb, 1993). Flat tube
heat exchangers are expected to have better air-side heat transfer coef cients and a
lower air-side pressure drop compared to circular tube heat exchangers. The pressure
drop is expected to be lower than that of circular tubes due to the smaller wake area. For
755
Analysis of laminar forced convection of air for crossflow over two staggered flat tubes
the same reason, vibration and noise are expected to be less pronounced in at tube heat
exchangers compared to circular tube heat exchangers. Reports on air ow over a bank
of at tubes are limited, except for the recent study by Bahaidarah, Anand and Chen
(2005) in which two-dimensional numerical, steady, laminar, incompressible ow over
a bank of at tubes are researched for both in-line and staggered con gurations.
Two-dimensional numerical simulations of heat transfer and uid ow over a
bank of at tubes have been considered for both in-line and staggered con gurations. As
for the two types of boundary condition, isothermal and iso ux, the effects of the
Reynolds number, Prandtl number, height ratio and length ratio on the Nusselt number,
and explains the dimensionless pressure drop. Relationships with low pressure are
suggested on Nusselt number and optimum con gurations have been determined
(Benarji, Balaji and Venkateshan, 2008). Jue, Wu and Huang (2001) studied uid ow
and heat transfer across three heated cylinders arranged in the form of an isosceles
triangle between two parallel plates. The continuity, momentum and energy equations
were solved using the nite element method. The average change in the drag
coefficient, the time mean Nusselt number around the surface of the three cylinders and
the surface of the mean value of time, and the mean Nusselt number have been
investigated in each cylinder. The calculation was carried out for: 100 Re 300 and
0.5 gap/diameter 1.25. A two-dimensional, laminar and steady flow numerical study
comparing the performance of flat and oval tubes to that of the round tube heat
exchanger was carried out, in the case of the simulation of specific heat flow along the
tube walls. Was the use of volume control finite element method in conjunction with the
flow conditions imposed periodically fully developed to implement. The Reynolds
number range in the study was 50 to 350. Fluids of Prandtl number 0.7 and 7.0 were
considered. For the planned cases, the percentage increase in heat transfer is less than
one, indicating that the round tube excelled over both the flat tube and oval tube on the
basis of heat transfer considerations alone (Fullerton and Anand, 2010).
A numerical and experimental study of the optimal geometric arrangement of
staggered parallel plates in a fixed volume with forced convection heat transfer was
conducted. In the first part of the study it is established experimentally that an optimal
spacing exists between the two adjacent rows of plates. Experimental results are
reported for air in the range 1000 ReL 6000, where L is the swept length of the fixed
volume. In the second part of the study, numerical results support and extend these
findings to 100 ReL 10000. In addition, association with optimal spacing and
maximum heat transfer rate results set the basis for a theoretical method of intersecting
asymptotes and two (small and large) spacings of the geometrical arrangement (Fowler
et al., 1997). Study of heat transfer by convection in air-cooled condensers was carried
out and the system improved. In order to enhance the performance of air-cooled
condensers, it is important to take into account both the condensation inside the
condenser tubes and convection outside, where the improvement on the convection side
is dominant. Computational fluid dynamics software (CFD) is used to solve the
problem. Theoretical results show that the angle of the proposed optimum conditions for
the two cases is about 4 degrees, with the proportion of the opposite side being 0.58.
This leads to an improvement in the heat transfer coefficient by a factor (Kh) of 1.469
and 1.46 against an increase in pressure drop factor (KP) of 2.12 and 1.95 and one for
the case of case two, respectively (Awad et al, 2007). This study used the finite volume
method to solve the Navier-Stokes equations and energy conservation equation for the
laminar two-dimensional flow of an incompressible fluid in cross-flow, over a two
staggered flat tube arrangement with constant physical properties for different classes of
756
Tahseen et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 755-767
fluid flow boundary conditions. It is assumed along the lines of symmetry in the
longitudinal direction through the centers of the tubes in a transverse row and through
the centers of the tubes in a contiguous transverse row. New results are presented for
nominal pitch-to-diameter ratios of 3.0, 4.0 and 6.0. The detailed findings, which
include the isothermal line, streamline and average Nusselt number, are presented for a
Prandtl number of 0.7 at Reynolds numbers of 10, 20, 60, 80 and 100.
MATHEMATICAL MODEL
Equations are to be written for the conservation of mass, momentum and energy in two
dimensions. Velocity uses the Cartesian components U and V, and it is assumed that the
flow is two-dimensional steady and laminar, and the fluid is incompressible with
constant thermal and transport properties. The governing equations consist of the
following four equations for the dependent variables U, V, P, and T (Bejan, 2004):
U V
Continuity: 0 (1)
X Y
Momentum (Navier-Stokes):
2 2
V V P 1 U U
X-direction (u momentum) U V
X Y X ReST X2 Y2
2 2
V V P 1 V V (2)
Y-direction (v momentum) U V
X Y X ReST X2 Y2
2 2
1
Energy: U V (3)
X Y Pr Re ST X2 Y2
The governing equations were transformed into dimensionless forms by

incorporating the following non-dimensional variables.
x, y p u, v T T U ST 2 CP
X, Y , P , (U, V) , , ReST , Pr
ST U2 U Tw T k (4)
Table 1. Boundary conditions for U, V and
U V
(I) Inlet (x=0) 1 0 0
U
(E) Exit 0 0 0
X
(A) Tube surface 0 0 1
U
(B) Symmetry 0 0 0
Y Y
The physical system considered in the present study is displayed in Figure 1.

The boundary conditions used for the solution domain are a uniform inlet velocity, fully
developed outflow, and a combination of symmetry and no-slip tube surfaces on the
757
bottom and top boundaries. The boundary conditions prescribed for U, V and are
summarized in Table 1.
Figure 1. Staggered two flat tubes nomenclature: (a) tube arrangement; (b) solution
domain.
The heat transfer coefficient h can be expressed in dimensionless form by the

local and average Nusselt numbers Nu and Nu , which are defined in Eq. (6a) and Eq.
(7), respectively.
T ST
h x ST 2 y 2 T* (6a)
Nu x
k TW Ta y*
To calculate the local Nusselt number, which indicates the superiority of

convection heat transfer or conduction, we use the temperature gradient as follows:
T(i, j 1) T(i, j)
Nu(i, j) (6b)
y(i, j 1) y(i, j)
1
Nu Nu x dA (7)
dA
The set of conservation equations Eq. (3) and Eq. (4) can be written in general
form in Cartesian coordinates as Eq. (8):
(U ) (V )
S (8)
X Y X X Y Y
The continuity equation, Eq. (2), has no diffusion or source terms. It will be used
to derive an equation for the pressure correction. The grid generation scheme based on
elliptic partial differential equations is used in the present study to generate the
curvilinear coordinates. Eq. (8) can be transformed from the physical domain to the
computational domain according to the following transformation
758
(x , y ), (x , y ) (Thompson et al, 1985). The final form of the transformed

equation can be written as Eq. (9):
G1 G2 JS (9)
J J
They are expressed as:
Y X X Y
G1 U V , G2 V U
2 2
X Y Y X x y
J , (10)
2 2
x x y y x y
,
Eq. (9) was solved numerically using a control volume-based finite volume
method. The solution was obtained by the marching type procedure, involving a series
of two-dimensional elliptic problems in the cross-stream plane. The marching step size
is 1×10-4 along the axial distance. At each marching step, the strong coupling of
pressure and velocity in the cross-section was calculated by the SIMPLE-algorithm on a
collocated non-orthogonal grid. It is used to adjust the velocity field to satisfy the
conservation of mass (Patankar, 1980). For the computational calculations, a computer
code was prepared in FORTRAN-90. In the numerical calculation, the 662 × 22 grid
arrangement is found to be sufficient for grid independent solutions, following which
2D-algebraic vectors were used.
Figure 2. Schematic of grid systems generated from body fitted coordinates (BFC).
759
VALIDATION
Bahaidarah, Anand and Chen (2005) conducted numerical simulations under steady
state conditions for a bank of flat tubes. In order to validate with the same reference, a
staggered con guration was used. Figure 3 shows a comparison between the present
work and previous literature for the average Nusselt numbers against Reynolds numbers
at Pr = 0.7, ST=4.0 and SL=6.0. It can be seen that excellent agreement is achieved
between the obtained results and the numerical results of Bahaidarah, Anand and Chen
(2005).
Figure 3. Comparison between the present study and previous literature (Bahaidrah et
al, 2005) regarding average Nusselt numbers against Reynolds numbers at Pr = 0.7,
transverse pitch ST= 4.0 and longitudinal pitch SL=6.0.
This section presents the numerical solutions of laminar forced convection heat transfer
across two flat tubes with staggered arrays. The transverse pitch to small tube diameter
ratios (ST/Ds) of 3.0, 4.0 and 6.0 and the longitudinal SL/Ds=3.0 are constant. They are
considered in the flow fields of Re = 10, 20, 60, 80 and 100. Regarding the normalized
temperature (isotherms) all isotherms range from 0 to 1, representing a low air
temperature at the inlet increasing to a higher air temperature as it reaches the hot tube
surface.
Figure 4 shows the effects of Reynolds numbers on the isotherms for the five
modules for ST/Ds=3.0. A general view of the floods shows that as the value of the
Reynolds number increases the lower value isotherms penetrate deeper, which means
that cold air nears the hot surface. It is clear that the hot layer’s thickness decreases with
an increasing Reynolds number. All isothermal floods in Figures 5 and 6 show the
effect of varying the transverse ratio ST/Ds on the isotherms, at ST/Ds=4.0 and
ST/Ds=6.0 respectively, at same the Reynolds numbers.
760
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Figure 4. Effect of Reynolds number on isotherms for ST/Ds = 3.0 and SL/Ds =3.0:
(a) Re = 10, (b) Re = 20, (c) Re = 60, (d) Re = 80, and (e) Re = 100.
761
Figure 5. Effect of Reynolds number on isotherms for ST/Ds=4.0 and SL/Ds =3.0:
Figure 6. Effect of Reynolds number on isotherms for ST/Ds =L2=6.0 and SL/Ds=3.0:
762
Figures 7-9 presented streamlines at ST/Ds=3.0 for Re=10, 20, 60, 80 and 100. It
is interesting to note the difference between the flows over the front of the tube
compared with the first tube for the next second tube. This can also be repeated as a
symmetric flow pattern on the tubes to be considered in the following figure. In this
case, there are very small flow recirculation regions behind the first tube. The same flow
recirculation regions behind the second tube at a low velocity of air around Re=20 can
also be clearly seen. An increase in the flow recirculation region behind the second tube
with increasing Reynolds number is noted, as well as the small effect of the flow
recirculation region behind the first tube, and an increase with Reynolds number.
Figure 7. Effect of Reynolds number on the streamline for ST/Ds =3.0 and SL/Ds =3.0:
Figure 10 shows the relation between average Nusselt numbers and Reynolds
numbers of the first tube for three modules of the transverse pitch (ST/Ds=3.0, 4.0 and
6.0). It can be seen that the Nu numbers increased with increasing Re numbers as well
as the pitch-to-diameter ratio (ST/Ds). However, further increase in the pitch-to-diameter
ratio will also additionally improve the heat transfer. The average Nusselt numbers from
the second tube at various Reynolds numbers are presented in Figure 11. The same
profile can be seen as in the previous figure, and the average Nusselt numbers are lower
compared to the first tube.
763
764
Figure 10. Effect of Reynolds numbers on average Nusselt numbers with different
ST/Ds for the first tube.
Figure 11. Effect of Reynolds numbers on average Nusselt numbers with different
ST/Ds for the second tube.
765
CONCLUSION
A finite volume method with co-located variable storage on body fitted coordinates is
used to predict the heat transfer and fluid flow over two staggered flat tubes and the
temperature of the tube surface due to side heat transfer air ow. The numerical results
of the temperature distributions, the streamline of the air flow and the average Nusselt
number were studied. It is observed that:
i) Heat transfer in the first tube is always less than in the second tube.
ii) The isothermal floods decrease with increasing Reynolds number.
iii) The flow recirculation region increases with increasing Reynolds number.
iv) The average Nusselt number of the air flow increases with increasing Reynolds
number.
v) Finally, as the transverse pitch is increased, the average Nusselt number
increases for any Reynolds number.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Universiti
Malaysia Pahang (UMP) and Universiti Malaysia Pahang for financial support under
RDU110332. The first author is grateful to the assistance of Dr. Ahmed W. Mustafa
(Tikrit University, Iraq).
REFERENCES
Awad, M.M., Mostafa, H.M., Sultan, G.I. and Elbooz, A. 2007. Performance
enhancement of air-cooled condensers. Acta Polytechnica Hungarica, 4: 125-
142.
Bahaidarah, H.M.S., Anand, N.K. and Chen, H.C. 2005. A numerical study of fluid
flow and heat transfer over a bank of flat tubes. Numerical Heat Transfer, Part
A, 48: 359-385.
Bejan, A. 2004 Convection heat transfer. New York, John Wiley and Sons.
Benarji, N., Balaji, C. and Venkateshan, S.P. 2008. Unsteady fluid flow and heat
transfer over a bank of flat tubes. Heat and Mass Transfer, 44: 445-461.
Buyruk, E. 2002. Numerical study of heat transfer characteristics on tandem cylinders,
Inline and ataggered tube banks in cross-flow of air. International
Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 29: 355-366.
Fowler, A.J., Ledezma, G.A. and Bejan, A. 1997. Optimal geometric arrangement of
staggered plates in forced convection. International Journal of Heat Mass
Transfer, 40: 1795-1805.
Fullerton, T.L. and Anand, N.K. 2010. Periodically fully-developed flow and heat
transfer over flat and oval tubes using a control volume finite-element method.
Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A, 57: 642-665.
Jue, T.C., Wu, H.W. and Huang, S.Y. 2001. Heat transfer predictions around three
heated cylinders between two parallel plates. Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A,
40: 715-733.
Kaptan, Y., Buyruk, E. and Ecder, A. 2008. Numerical investigation of fouling on
cross-flow heat exchanger tubes with conjugated heat transfer approach.
International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 35: 1153-1158.
766
Liang, C. and Papadakis, G. 2007. Large eddy simulation of cross-flow through a

staggered tube bundle at subcritical Reynolds number. Journal of Fluids and
Structures, 23: 1215-1230.
Mandhani, V.K., Chhabra, R.P. and Eswaran, V. 2002. Forced convection heat transfer
in tube banks in cross flow. Chemical Engineering Science, 57: 379-391.
Patankar, S.V. 1980. Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow. Washington, DC:
Hemisphere.
Thompson, J.R., Warsi, Z.U.A. and Martin, C.W. 1985. Numerical grid generation,
foundations and applications. New York: North Holland.
Wang, Y.Q., Penner, L.A. and Ormiston, S.J. 2000. Analysis of laminar forced
convection of air for crossflow in banks of staggered tubes. Numerical Heat
Transfer, Part A, 38: 819-845.
Webb, R.L. 1993. Principles of enhanced heat transfer. New York: John Wiley.
NOMENCLATURES
A Surface area of tube [m2] P Dimensionless pressure

CP Specific heat [J.Kg-1 K-1] Pr Prandtl number
D Diameter of flat tube [m] Greek symbols
G1,
Contravariant velocity components Thermal diffusivity [m2.s-1]
G2
h Convection heat transfer
Diffusion coefficient
coefficient [W.m-2K-1]
k Thermal conductivity of the air
Dimensionless temperature
[W.m-1K-1]
ReST Reynolds number Dynamic viscosity [N.s.m-2]
T Temperature [oC] Kinematic viscosity [m2.s]
S Source term Density [kg.m-3]
SL Longitudinal distance between two ,
Curvilinear coordinates
consecutive tubes [m]
ST Transverse distance between two
General dependent variable
consecutive tubes [m]
u, v Velocity components [m.s-1] , , The coefficients of transformation
U, V Dimensionless velocity Subscripts
x, y Cartesian coordinates [m] a Air flow
X, Y Dimensionless Cartesian coord. L Large Diameter of flat tube [m]
J Jacobian of the transformation s Small Diameter of flat tube [m]
Nu
Local and average Nusselt number w Wall of tube
Nu
p Pressure [N.m-2] x Local
Free stream
767
INVESTIGATION OF FLOW BEHAVIOR IN MINIMUM QUANTITY

LUBRICATION NOZZLE FOR END MILLING PROCESSES
M.S. Najiha1, M.M.Rahman1, A.R. Yusoff2 and K. Kadirgama1

1
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26600 Pekan, Pahang Daraul Makmur, MALAYSIA
2
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26600 Pekan, Pahang Daraul Makmur, MALAYSIA
ABSTRACT
Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) is a sustainable manufacturing technique

that has replaced conventional flooded lubrication methods and dry machining. In
the MQL technique, the lubricant is sprayed onto the friction surfaces through
nozzles through small pneumatically-operated pumps. This paper presents an
investigation into the flow behavior of the lubricant and air mixture under certain
pressures at the tip of a nozzle specially designed for MQL. The nozzle used is an
MQL stainless steel nozzle, 6.35 mm in diameter. Computational fluid dynamics
is used to determine the flow pattern at the tip of the nozzle where the lubricant
and compressed air are mixed to form a mist. The lubricant volume flow is
approximately 0.08 ml/cycle of the pump. A transient, pressure-based, three-
dimensional analysis is performed with a viscous, realizable k- model. The
results are obtained in the form of vector plots and flow fields. The flow mixing at
the tip of the nozzle is wholly shown through the flow fields and vector plots. This
study provides an insight into the flow distribution at the tip of the nozzle for a
certain pressure to aid modifications in the design of the nozzle for future MQL
studies. It attainable aids to determine the correct pressure for the air jet at the
nozzle tip.
Keywords: MQL; computational fluid dynamics; transient; vector plots; contour plots.
INTRODUCTION
Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) is an innovative machining technique alternative

to conventional flooded cooling/lubrication as well as the ideal dry lubrication
technique (Sapian et al., 2010). Adapting MQL as a substitute to conventional metal
working fluids means addressing the concerns related to metal working fluid
applications (Thakur et al., 2009). These issues are related to the economic, ecological
and occupational costs of exposure to these metal working fluids. The costs associated
with the use of conventional metal working fluids amount to about 7 to 17% of the total
machining cost (Weinert et al, 2004) in comparison to the tool cost that ranges from 2 to
4% of the total machining cost (Rahman et al., 2012). The MQL method is part of the
global sustainable manufacturing concept (Nageswara et al., 2008). Due to the rapidly
increasing global interest in sustainable manufacturing, there is a surge in interest in dry
machining due to the growing concern regarding the cost of purchasing cutting fluids
along with its management (Skerlos et al., 2008). However, the most common
768
Investigation of flow behavior in minimum quantity lubrication nozzle for end milling processes
restrictions to the use of dry machining are the costly tools and non-retrofitting
equipment (Bounekri and Shaikh, 2012). Most of the studies and investigations so far
carried out on dry machining are mainly related to the special tools and coatings used to
assist in the dry conditions (Kobayashi et al., 2005; Klocke and Eisenblatter, 1997;
Machado and Wallbank, 1997; Nouri et al., 2003; Reddy and Rao, 2006; Shen, 1996; Su
et al, 2006). While dry machining can be an ideal substitute to conventional flooded
machining, manufacturers are still concerned about lubrication, tool life, product
deformation due to thermal effects, etc. (Davim et al., 2007; Itoigawa et al., 2006; Sun
et al., 2006). In these circumstances, MQL serves as a better alternate. The application
of the MQL technique in machining leads to a significant reduction in machining costs
(Weinert et al., 2004). MQL can be defined as one of the techniques of sustainable
manufacturing that has proven to be safe for the environment, results in less
occupational exposure to the economic (Park et al., 2009). The use of a minimized
quantity of metal working fluids is a direct indicator of sustainable
manufacturing (Rahman et al., 2012). In the present study, a three-dimensional transient
flow phenomenon is investigated through a commercial nozzle specially designed for
MQL flow. The analysis of the spray nozzle flow is studied at the tip of the nozzle,
where compressed air mixes with droplets of the commercial cutting lubricant designed
for MQL thus forming a mist.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
The pressurized air carries the mist to the desired location. The pressure of the air at the
tip of nozzle necessary to transport the mist, where air-lubricant mixing takes place,
needs to be investigated. The air-lubricant mixture is carried to the friction zones via
nozzles that are supplied with lubricant via small pneumatically-operated pumps. The
lubricant is pushed through a capillary tube within another tube, through which the
pressurized air is supplied, and mist is carried to the tool-workpiece interface where this
mixture is sprayed in the form of mist. The present study is conducted to investigate the
flow behavior of the lubricant and air mixture at the tip of a nozzle that is specially
designed for MQL. The nozzle used is an MQL stainless steel coaxial nozzle, 6.35 mm
in diameter, with a polyurethane tubing 3.175 mm outer diameter. Computational fluid
dynamics is used to determine the flow pattern. A standard MQL nozzle is modeled for
the study. The lubricating medium is taken as a mixture of compressed air and lubricant.
The properties of the mixture are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Mixture Properties
Description Value
Compressed air pressure (MPa) 0.1378
Air viscosity (kg/m-s) 1.7894 x 10-5
Air density (kg/m3) 1.225
Lubricant viscosity (kg/m-s) 0.01
Density of lubricant (kg/m3) 890
Lubricant volume flow rate (kg/s) 0.0004
The ANSYS-FLUENT solver is used for the computational study. The mixture
of compressed air and lubricant are modeled as a multiphase volume of fluid, in a
viscous, standard k- model. This model is the most suitable for fully turbulent flow,
769
Najiha et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 768-776
taking into account an enhanced wall treatment. Most nozzle flows are modeled with
this k- model (Reddy and Rao, 2006; Thakur, Ramamoorthy and Vijayaraghavan,
2009). Air is set as the primary phase and lubricant is defined as the secondary phase.
The mass fraction of the lubricant is assumed to be constant throughout the compressed
air.
NOZZLE DESIGN AND MODELING
Figure 1 shows the stainless steel nozzle with the conical spray tip used for the MQL
system. The nozzle consists of a polyurethane capillary coaxial tube and stainless steel
tube fitted with an external nozzle tip made of copper. The tube assembly is provided
with a flow director near the tip of the assembly. The lubricant is supplied to the nozzle
via small pneumatic pumps provided with a flow regulator, and is then carried to the
cutting zone. Compressed air is supplied trough the stainless steel tube. Lubricant is
usually mixed with a small amount of compressed air to create the air-lubricant spray at
the tip of the nozzle. This spray is then dispensed to the friction interface of the tool and
workpiece via the compressed air. The present study is conducted to investigate the flow
behavior of the lubricant and air mixture at the tip of a nozzle. Computational fluid
dynamics is used to determine the flow pattern. The nozzle tubing arrangement is shown
in Figure 2.
Figure 1. Stainless steel nozzle used for MQL
Figure 2. Schematic and sections of the nozzle
The stainless steel tube has a 6.35 mm outer diameter and is 305 mm long, while
the polyurethane tube has an outer diameter of 3.175 mm and a length of 317.5 mm. A
three-dimensional model of the nozzle is developed using computer aided design
software. The mixing of the two fluids takes place outside the nozzle. As the mixture is
formed just at the nozzle tip, therefore only the nozzle tip is modeled. An enlarged view
of the nozzle tip cross-section is shown in Figure 3. A three dimensional solid model of
the nozzle tip is shown in Figure 4.
770
Figure 3. Cross-section of the nozzle tip.
Figure 4. Three-dimensional structural model of the MQL nozzle tip.
An unstructured mesh with tetragonal elements is used with a minimum edge

length of 0.055 mm. The meshed domain is shown in Figure 5. The skewness of the
tetragonal elements and the respective number of cells are presented in Figure 6.
According to this graph, the maximum skewness is below 0.3, with 1.6% of the total
number of elements. Thus it shows that the mesh quality is appropriate for the
simulation. The nozzle is modeled for a balanced mass flow rate within the domain.
Smaller mesh sizes are selected to determine the convergence in the lubricant flow
section.
Figure 5. Mesh domain of the nozzle.
771
40,000
35,000
Number of Elements
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Skewness
Figure 6. Skewness of tetragonal elements versus the number of elements.
The flow behavior of the compressed air and lubricant is studied. The flow is modeled
using the ANSYS-FLUENT solver without air. Figure 7 shows the velocity vectors and
contours of the volume fraction for the lubricant without any compressed air supply. It
can be seen that the maximum velocity of the lubricant is 0.757 m/s, which is very small
for carrying the lubricant to the cutting zone. Oil condenses just after exiting the nozzle
tip in the form of droplets. Hence the compressed air is used as the spraying medium.
The position of the lubricant drops from the nozzle tip is plotted against volume fraction
in Figure 8. It can be observed that the lubricant only covers a small distance of 1.5 mm
from the tip of the nozzle. The small distance between the nozzle tip and the tool-
workpiece interface results in an interaction with chips. Therefore, in order to produce
an aerosol spray that carries the lubricant to the tool-work-piece interface, compressed
air is supplied to the nozzle.
(a) Velocity vector (b) Contours of volume fraction
Figure 7. Velocity vector and volume fraction contour for flow of lubricant drops.
772
The compressed air flow is simulated with the lubricant drops outside of nozzle.
The velocity vectors and contour plots for the mixture flow are shown in Figure 9. The
velocity vector creates eddies in the nozzle when compressed air exits. The lubricant is
dispersed with compressed air and becomes mist. After a certain distance, the lubricant
is completely mixed with the compressed air forming a spray, therefore only one phase
(air) exists. The required spray strength depends on the pressure of the air. Figure 9
shows that the average velocity of the air-lubricant mixture is 600 m/s, which is large
enough to carry the lubricant to the cutting zone. Oil drops mix with the compressed air
forming an aerosol spray.
Figure 8. Position of lubricant drops from the nozzle tip.
(a) Velocity vectors (b) Contours of volume fraction
Figure 9. Velocity vector and volume fraction contour for compressed air-lubricant
mixture.
Path lines for the flow of the lubricant drops are shown in Figure 10. These path
lines clearly show that the lubricant drops travel some distance before the mist is
formed. When air is supplied to the nozzle, the distance travelled by the lubricant is
increased to approximately 5–6 mm (Figure 11), after which the lubricant fraction in the
aerosol becomes negligible. This distance is important with respect to the effective
773
dispersion of the spray. The rise in volume fraction at 12.5 mm is mainly due to the
formation of eddies in the simulation, resulting in the oil volume fraction increasing at
that location. This is not a point of concern as the nozzle distance in the machining
setup is no more than 5–6 mm, and consequently this phenomenon will not cause any
problems.
Figure 10. Path lines of compressed air-lubricant mixture.
Figure 11. Position of the transported lubricant drops.
774
CONCLUSION
A 3-dimensional study with a commercially available MQL nozzle is carried out in

order to determine the flow pattern of an aerosol mixture formed with a combination of
lubricant droplets and compressed air. The pressure of the air plays a vital role in
forming a uniform mist with the lubricant. In this case, the air pressure is sufficient to
transport the lubricant droplets a certain distance in the form of a mist. The formation of
the mixture at the tip of the nozzle is shown through flow fields and vector plots. This
study provides an insight into the flow distribution at the tip of the nozzle for a certain
pressure to help carry out modifications on the design of the nozzle for future studies in
MQL, as well as determine a more efficient operating pressure for the air jet. Further
research with different operating pressures and mesh sizes may be conducted in order to
establish the range of required operating pressures.
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quantity of lubricant and flooded lubricant conditions. Materials and
Manufacturing Processes, 22: 45-50.
Itoigawa, F., Childs, T.H.C., Nakamura, T. and Belluco, W. 2006. Effects and
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Nageswara, R., Damera, I. and Vamsi, K.P. 2008. Performance profiling of boric acid as
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Nouari, M., List, G., Girot, F. and Coupard, D. 2003. Experimental analysis and
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fluid aerosols: a literature review and analysis of reported measurements. The
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Rahman, M.M., Najiha, M.S. and Yusoff, A.R. 2012. Minimum quantity lubricant flow
with single and three nozzles for four teeth milling cutter: a CFD approach.
Advanced Science Letters (in press).
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Sapian, N.F., Omar, B. and Shukor, M.H.A. 2010. Integrated mechanical pulse jet
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and Manufacturing Engineering), 2(1): 53-68.
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Shen, C.H. 1996. The importance of diamond coated tools for agile manufacturing and
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Sun, J., Wong, Y.S., Rahman, M., Wang, Z.G., Neo, K.S., Tan, C.H. and Onozuka, H.
2006. Effects of coolant supply methods and cutting conditions on tool life in
end milling titanium alloy. Machining Science and Technology, 10: 355-370.
Thakur, D.G., Ramamoorthy, B. and Vijayaraghavan, L. 2009. Optimization of
minimum quantity lubrication parameters in high speed turning of superalloy
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53(2): 511-537.
776
COMPARISON OF POLYJET PRINTING AND SILICON MOULDING AS

RAPID PLASTIC MOULDING SOLUTIONS
R. Singh
Faculty of Production Engineering, Guru Nanak Dev Engg. College, Ludhiana-141006,

India Phone: +91 98722 57575, Fax: +91 161 2502700.
ABSTRACT
The aim of the present investigation is to compare two rapid molding (RM) solutions,
namely polyjet printing (PP) and silicon molding (SM), for the manufacture of plastic
components. The comparison has been made on the basis of dimensional accuracy (as
per IT grades), mechanical properties (namely surface hardness, surface roughness) and
production cost. The comparison of the experimental results will serve as a yard stick
for the further selection of processes for industrial applications.
Keywords: Plastic components; rapid molding; dimensional accuracy; hardness.
INTRODUCTION
Rapid prototyping (RPT) has been in evidence for the past twenty years, and due to its
impressive growth various techniques (like stereo lithography, selective laser sintering
(SLS), polyjet printing (PP), silicon molding (SM), etc.) and machines have been
developed (Singh, 2010a). Wohlers (1995) highlighted the fact that with the use of this
technology, astounding reductions in design and prototyping cycles can be obtained, as
well as measurable improvements in the new product quality. PP, based on ink jet
technology under U.S. patent no. US005340656, and SM are considered to be two of the
most future-oriented rapid prototyping (RP) systems available for plastic components
(Ainsworth et al., 2000; Sachs et al., 1994; Singh and Singh, 2009a; Singh and Verma,
2008). Figures 1 and 2 show schematics of the PP and SM processes, respectively.
These RP techniques are extending their fields of application, far beyond the original
idea of generating design iterations (Singh and Singh, 2010). The applications have
been extended from the building of aesthetic and functional prototypes to the production
of tools and molds for technological prototypes (Singh and Verma, 2008). Layer by
layer construction applied to tool and die making, directly from virtual designs (from
computer aided design or from animation modeling software), is defined as rapid
tooling (RT) (Bernard et al., 2003; Chua and Leong, 2000). Manufacturers are
increasingly looking towards RT, especially for short production runs that do not justify
the investment required for conventional hard tooling (Ainsworth et al., 2000; Rooks,
2002; Singh, 2010b; Song et al., 2001). A variety of tools can currently be produced
using different RP technologies. For the purpose of classification, tooling is divided into
direct or indirect tooling (Chua and Leong, 2000). In direct tooling, the tool or die is
created directly by the RP process. In the indirect tooling, which is used in the present
research work, only the master is created using RP technology. From this master a mold
is made out of a material such as silicon rubber, epoxy resin, soft metal, or ceramic.
Most rapid tooling methods today are indirect. RP parts are used as patterns for making
molds and dies. Patterns, cores and cavities for metal castings can be obtained through
777
Comparison of polyjet printing and silicon moulding as rapid plastic moulding solutions
these rapid casting (RC) techniques (Bernard et al., 2003; Rooks, 2002; Song et al.,
2001).
Photopolymer
Figure 1. PP process (Singh and Verma, 2008)

Master Pattern
Silicon
Container
Silicon filled in casting
Liquid
silicon
Casting Box
Upper/ Lower
Portion SM
Figure 2. SM process (Singh, 2010b)
By using RPT techniques (PP and SM) to produce the ceramic shells with
integral cores directly from the CAD model, a number of the disadvantages of the
traditional molding process are avoided (Singh, 2010b). Most significant is that the
metal dies are typically expensive and time consuming to produce, with lead times
ranging from two to six months (Singh and Singh, 2009b). For relatively small and
complex parts, the benefits of additive manufacturing can be significant (Bak, 2003;
Ramos et al., 2003). In this field, innovative solutions are now available based on PP
and SM processes, which can extend RM possibilities thanks to the lower costs with
respect to previous technologies such as SLS. Components can be made by depositing a
preliminary layer of powder material in a confined region and then depositing a binder
material onto selected regions of the layers of the powder material to produce a layer of
bonded powder material in previously selected regions. Such steps are repeated a
determined number of times to produce successive layers of selected regions of bonded
powder material in order to form the desired component. The unbounded powder
material is then removed. Bassoli et al. (2006) conducted studies on technological
solutions based upon PP and investment casting. This study was aimed at evaluating the
dimensional accuracy of two RC solutions in the production of cavities for light-alloy
castings. Some researchers also proposed similar studies with regard to different
778
R. Singh /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 777-784
solutions for the production of technological prototypes (Ramos et al., 2003; Wang et
al., 1999). The present research aims at using the PP and SM technology as a RM
solution for plastic components. A ‘RP’ shell model was used as the positive pattern. An
effort has been made, through experimentation, to compare two RM solutions namely
PP and SM for plastic components. The comparison has been made on the basis of
dimensional accuracy (as per IT grades), mechanical properties (namely surface
hardness, surface roughness) and production cost. The comparison of experimental
results will serve as yard stick for the future selection of processes for industrial
applications. The consistency of the tolerance grades (IT grades) of the RM solutions
obtained are as per the permitted ISO standards. Experimental studies regarding this
solution are lacking in the literature, in particular the technological feasibility of thin-
walled parts needs to be assessed and the dimensional tolerances calculated.
EXPERIMENTATION
For the present study, a plastic component was chosen as a benchmark, representative of
the manufacturing field, where the applications of the RM technologies are particularly
relevant. The component selected for the present study is a pen drive cover. The
experimental procedure started with the 2-D modeling of the benchmark (see Figure 3).
To obtain the best settings of the PP machine in terms of layer thickness, part
orientation and post curing time, the upper and lower shell prototypes were produced
using a RM solution based on PP and SM (see Figure 4). Plastic components
manufactured with PP (poly jet, model EDN260 object) are of photopolymer material
(namely: full cure 720, vero white, vero blue) and for post curing UV rays were used
during the process. Further components manufactured with SM are resin (polyurethane)
based. A number of experiments were conducted for the possible outcomes of the PP
and SM processes, with the objective of minimizing the production costs and improving
the dimensional as well as mechanical properties. Figure 5 shows a rapid mold prepared
by the SM process. Starting from the CAD model, components were prepared with two
different grades of resin/polyurethane (namely: Alchemix VC3340 and Alchemix
VC3360). From an analysis of the geometry and volume of the benchmark, a single
feeder and riser system was designed for pouring the molten plastic. RP shell models
are used as positive patterns around which the resin was filled in a molding box. Based
upon pilot experimentation (see Table 1) vero white material in the horizontal position
has been selected for PP. The measurement paths for the internal and the external
surfaces of the benchmark have been generated through measurement software of the
DEA Iota 0101 CMM (Ainsworth et al., 2000). The dimension measured with CMM is
the outer component length. The outer diameter was measured from the mean diameter
of ten (10) circles at different points. The curve radius was measured by scanning the
inner and outer curve surfaces (Kaplas and Singh, 2008). The results of the dimensional
measurements have been used to evaluate the tolerance unit (n), starting from the
standard tolerance factor i, defined in ISO standard UNI EN 20286-1 (Italian National
Standards Body, 1995). The values of standard tolerances corresponding to IT5-IT18
grades, for nominal sizes up to 500 mm, are evaluated by considering the standard
tolerance factor i (in micrometers) indicated by the following formula, where D is the
geometric mean of the range of nominal sizes in millimeters.
Tolerance factor i = 0.45 (D) 1/3 + 0.001D
779
In fact, the standard tolerances are not evaluated separately for each nominal size, but
for a range of nominal sizes. For a generic nominal dimension DJN, the number of the
tolerance units ‘n’ is evaluated as follows:
n = 1000(DJN - DJM)/ i
where DJM is a measured dimension.
Figure 3. 2-D model of the benchmark
Figure 4. CAD model of the benchmark
780
Lower Half of Silicon Mould Upper half of Silicon mould
Female
Male
PART
PART
Gate Runner
Figure5. Rapid mold prepared by SM process
Table 1. Observations of pilot experiments on PP
Plastic material Orientation Nominal dimension Measured dimension

Full cure 720 Horizontal 60 59.8908
Full cure 720 Vertical 60 60.1294
Full cure 720 At 45 60 59.4320
Vero white Horizontal 60 59.8909
Vero white Vertical 60 59.8342
Vero white At 45 60 59.5342
Vero blue Horizontal 60 59.6866
Vero blue Vertical 60 59.8122
Vero blue At 45 60 59.4121

400i with n= 400. The results of the dimensional measurements are used to evaluate the
tolerance grades. The obtained tolerance grades are IT 14 and IT 15 (Lewis et al, 2001).
It is important to note that the tolerance grades calculated for the considered RC
techniques are consistent with the values allowed for casting operations, between IT11
and IT18 (Kaplas and Singh, 2008). The technological prototypes are thus completely
acceptable for all plastic materials, but better dimensional accuracy is obtained with the
vero white material (see Table 2). Similarly, IT grades for plastic components produced
by SM were evaluated, which are in the range IT11–IT12. Surface roughness (Ra)
values in the cases of PP and SM based plastic components are around 0.64 and 0.52
µm respectively. Furthermore, it has been observed that the hardness of the components
produced is almost same with both processes. Table 3 shows a comparison of the 3DP
and SM processes. On the basis of cost considerations, the cost per piece of components
produced by PP is around 6US$, however for the SM process the cost for a single
component is around 15US$.
781
Table 2. IT grades according to UNI EN 20286-I (Italian National Standards Body,

1995) for PP based plastic components (i = 1.8192) in horizontal orientation
Plastic material DJN DJM n IT Grade

Full cure 720 60 59.8908 198 IT12
Full cure 720 60 59.8828 213 IT12
Full cure 720 60 59.8762 225 IT12
Vero white 60 59.9209 143 IT11
Vero white 60 59.9122 159 IT11
Vero white 60 59.9342 119 IT10
Vero blue 60 59.8866 206 IT11
Vero blue 60 59.8952 190 IT11
Vero blue 60 59.8873 205 IT12
Table3. Comparison of 3DP and SM processes
3DP process SM process

Tolerance grade IT10–12 Tolerance grade IT11–12
Ra Value: 0.64 µm Ra value: 0.52 µm
Batch production cost: High Batch production cost: Low
Hardness: 68HRB Hardness: 62HRB
It should be noted that a PP based mold cannot be reused, whereas a SM based

mold can be used for around 100 pieces (Singh, 2010b). For batch production of 100
plastic components the cost will be:
Using PP the cost will be: 100 × 6 = 600US$

Using SM the cost will be: 100 × (2.4)* + 15 = 255US$
*(2.4US$ is additional cost of resin used per piece)
Hence for a batch production of 100 pieces with SM there is significant reduction in
production cost.
CONCLUSIONS
The PP and SM techniques provided satisfactory results for plastic components. With
respect to traditional molding, this process ensures the rapid production of pre-series
technological prototypes. On the basis of experimental observations made on the plastic
moldings, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. It is feasible to reproduce plastic components with PP and SM processes. The
tolerance grades of the components produced are consistent with the permissible
range of tolerance grades (IT grades) as per the ISO standard UNI EN 20286-I
(Italian National Standards Body, 1995).
2. The dimensional accuracy, surface finish and hardness obtained with PP and SM
processes are within a similar range. However for job shop production PP is a
better process over SM, whereas for batch production SM is better.
3. The adopted procedure is better for developing proof of concept and for new
products, for which the cost of production of the dies and other tooling is
greater. The results are in line with the experimental observations made by other
investigators.
782
REFERENCES
Ainsworth, I., Ristic, M. and Brujic, D. 2000. CAD-based measurement path planning
for free form shapes using contact probes. International Journal of Advanced
Manufacturing Technology, 16(1): 23-31.
Bak, D. 2003. Rapid prototyping or rapid production? 3D printing processes move
industry towards the latter. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 23(4): 340-345.
Bassoli, E., Gatto, A., Iuliano L. and Violante, M.G. 2006. 3D printing technique
Bernard, A., Delplace, C.J., Perry, N. and Gabriel, S. 2003. Integration of CAD and
rapid manufacturing for sand casting optimization. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 5:
327-333.
Chua, C.K. and Leong, K.F. 2000. Rapid prototyping: principles and applications in
manufacturing. 1st ed., Chapter 6. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Italian National Standards Body. 1995. UNI EN 20286-1: ISO system of limits and fits.
Bases of tolerances, deviations and fits. UNI.
in zinc shell casting using three dimensional printing. Proceedings of IMechE
Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, 222(C12): 2427-2431.
Lewis, R.W., Manzari, M.T. and Gethin, D.T. 2001. Thermal optimisation in the sand
casting process. Engineering Computations, 3(4): 392-416.
Ramos, A.M., Relvas, C. and Simoes, J.A. 2003. Vacuum casting with room
temperature vulcanising rubber and aluminium moulds for rapid manufacturing
of quality parts: a comparative study. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 9(2): 111-115.
Rooks, B. 2002 Rapid tooling for casting prototypes. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 22(1):
40-45.
printing techniques. US Patent No. US 005340656.
Singh, J.P. and Singh, R. 2009a. Comparison of rapid casting solutions for lead and
alloys using three dimensional printing. Proceedings of IMechE Part C, Journal
of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, 223(C9): 2117-2123.
solution of lead alloys using three dimensional printing. Proceedings of IMechE
Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Sciences, 223(C9): 2125-2134.
Singh, J.P. and Singh, R. 2010. Comparison of statistically controlled rapid casting
solutions of brass alloys using three dimensional printing. International Journal
of Manufacturing Technology and Industrial Engineering, 1(1): 67-77.
Singh, R. 2010a. Three dimensional printing for casting applications: a state of art
review and future perspectives. Advanced Material Research, 83-86: 342-349.
Singh, B. (2010b) Process capability of silicon moulding process for plastic
components. Master Thesis, P.T.U. Jalandhar, India.
Song, Y., Yan, Y., Zhang, R., Lu, Q. and Xu, D. 2001. Three dimensional non-linear
coupled thermo-mechanical FEM analysis of the dimensional accuracy for
casting dies in rapid tooling. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 38: 79-91.
783
140.
Wohlers, T. 1995. Future potential of rapid prototyping and manufacturing around the
world. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 1(1): 4-10.
784
COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS INVESTIGATION ON THE USE OF

HEAT SHIELDS FOR THERMAL MANAGEMENT IN A CAR UNDERHOOD
S.Y. Lam1, N.H. Shuaib2, H. Hasini1 and N. A. Shuaib3

1
Centre for Advanced Computational Engineering (CACE),
University Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), MALAYSIA.
2
TNB Research Sdn. Bhd., MALAYSIA.
3
School of Manufacturing Engineering, University Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP),
MALAYSIA
Email: norshahhafeez@tnbr.com.my
ABSTRACT
Temperature variations inside a car underhood are largely controlled by the heat
originating from the engine block and the exhaust manifold. Excessive temperatures in
the underhood can lead to the faster deterioration of engine components and may affect
the thermal comfort level inside the passenger cabin. This paper presents computational
fluid dynamics investigations to assess the performance of a heat shield in lowering the
peak temperature of the engine components and firewall in the underhood region of a
typical passenger car. The simulation used the finite volume method with the standard
k- turbulence model and an isothermal model for the heat transfer calculations. The
results show that the heat shield managed to reduce the peak temperature of the engine
components and firewall by insulating the intense heat from the engine block and
exhaust and regulating the airflow inside the underhood region.
Keywords : Heat shield; car underhood; CFD; numerical simulations.
INTRODUCTION
In current vehicle design and development, the best design is normally achieved through
design-evaluate-redesign cycle. In terms of passenger cars, the car underhood has
always been the focus of these cycles as car manufacturers search for an optimal
thermal condition to improve their vehicle’s engine management system. Thermal
management in a car underhood is particularly important for improving passenger
comfort and reducing the thermal wear of engine components, as well as helping the
design meet new energy efficiency and emission requirements under normal working
conditions. Besides, thermal management in a car underhood serves as fire prevention,
to ensure that the design of the passenger car complies with the fire safety standards.
The firewall of a car is located between the underhood and the passenger cabin.
It serves as a heat insulator for the passenger cabin from the intense heat of the
underhood and as protection during the incidence of fire or smoke. The time taken for
the heat to dissipate from the heat source, such as the engine block or the exhaust
manifold, towards the passenger cabin is a function of the geometrical parameters of the
underhood. Ideally, the location of the heat source should be blocked or positioned as
far away as possible from the firewall. However, the blockage of these heat sources may
result in the impediment of hot air circulation, which in turn increases the temperature
of other engine components, resulting in the overheating of the engine.
785
Computational fluid dynamics investigation on the use of heat shields for thermal management in a car underhood
Several approaches have been proposed to perform computational fluid

dynamics (CFD) simulations within the underhood environment. Davis et al. (1993)
describes the impact of conducting underhood airflow simulations on the cooling design
and development process. Fellague et al. (1994) provides a correlation for front end
cooling airflow studies. Hsu and Schwartz (1995) described an approach wherein local
studies of under-body components are coupled by transferring boundary conditions to
the local models. Srinivasan et al. (1999) has demonstrated the use of an adaptive
Cartesian based mesh for accurate front-cooling airflow predictions, and the feasibility
of building local models of the underhood to understand the thermal environments. Two
types of inlet boundary were modeled to represent the combination of ram air with a
cooling fan, and air flow beneath a vehicle’s front end. An outlet boundary was also
modeled to represent the flow exiting downstream into the under body of the car.
Coupled radiation/convection simulations were performed to obtain the complete
airflow and thermal map of the underhood. Yang et al. (2004) simulated an idle vehicle
with just the cooling fans operating. Cooling airflow rates at idling conditions and hot
air re-circulation were modeled in this work. Cheng et al. (2000) suggested conjugate
heat transfer through an interface with ambient air coupled with radiation, which was
modeled to predict the temperature distribution inside an engine component. A standard
k- model with a wall function was selected to model turbulence, and a discrete ordinate
(DO) radiation model was selected to simulate the heat transfer from the heat source to
other components. Gray radiation surface-to-surface in an optical thin medium was
assumed in this model.
Srivanesan et al. (2004) explained that when a vehicle is in motion the airflow
stream beneath the front end also becomes part of the underhood convection
mechanism. The outer surface of the exhaust system will become the primary heat
source to the engine compartment, and the temperature in the exhaust manifolds and
muffler can range from 785 K to 952 K when the engine is outputting close to
maximum capacity with stoichiometric air fuel ratio based combustion. The monitoring
of components at risk of thermal failure is essential, and appropriate thermal protection
could be achieved by the insertion of a heat shield between the exhaust and components
or an innovative airflow management technique that increases the convection around the
components. The physical domain used for the computation starts from the cooling
module and extends downstream to the under-dash panel/A-pillar of the vehicle. All
engine components are enclosed within the volume of the car underhood, which forms a
closed volume with multiple closed volumes contained inside it. Mesh generation uses
interior to boundary (I2B) and shrink wrap techniques that envelop the complex
geometry and eliminates the need of “water tight” geometry at the start of grid
generation. The standard k- turbulence model in conjunction with wall functions is
used for turbulence closure. Isothermal wall boundary conditions with wall functions
are specified at the heat source and a surface-to-surface based radiation model is used to
simulate the heat transfer across the car underhood.
Amodeo et al. (2006) performed thermal management on a car underhood using
the Lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM). The Lattice-Boltzmann equation (LBE) solvers
represent an alternative to the Navier-Stokes solvers, as it does not require a special
iterative procedure and achieves mass, momentum, and energy conservation by design.
LBE solvers are numerically very efficient and robust, and the increased numerical
efficiency allows the handling of lattices with very large numbers of elements (or
voxels). In addition, the properties of LBE allow for active elements that interact with
the neighboring lattice elements, hence improving treatment of the interaction of the
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Lam et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 785-796
fluid flow with the wall surface. The combination of both large lattices and dynamic
surface treatments allow the accurate representation of surfaces without the need for
geometry simplification. The heat transfer between airflow and heat exchangers is
modeled using a one-dimensional tool (1D-tool) and the flow of the fan is simulated
with a Multiple Reference Frame (MRF). The heat transfer with this method is predicted
with great accuracy. Campos et al. (2007) presented an optimization study and analysis
on a cooling duct located in a car underhood. The duct channels air from the side grill
and directs it over the transmission for the purpose of cooling the transmission surface
and oil. Minimizing the pressure drop across the cooling duct and maximizing the outlet
flow velocity magnitude are among the objectives for optimization of a cooling duct. A
standard high Reynolds k- with a non-equilibrium wall function was applied, and the
SIMPLE solution for pressure-velocity coupling was employed for the simulation. The
turbulence intensity is set at 10%, while the length scale is set at 0.025 m with reference
to the wind tunnel data for a full vehicle travelling at 250 kph. By coupling the CAD,
CFD and optimization software, both design objectives were achieved in addition to
good performance and stability.
Wang and Yang (2006) assessed the performance of different frontal grill
configurations with a model of airflow across the under-hoof of a minivan. Fascia
geometry is found to have a crucial effect on the cooling airflow to the heat exchanger.
The turbulent equation is solved using the standard k- model with wall function. The
radiator is treated as porous media which yields a drag force to the airflow passing
through them. Rather than making numerical predictions for the specific dissipation, the
flow is modeled isothermally and the heat exchanger air mass flow rate is recorded.
Analysis is conducted based on the mass flow flux, static pressure and streamline near
the grill. CFD analysis suggests that the cooling performance of the underhood is
sensitive to front end parts, particularly around the lower opening such as the shape and
position of the bumper beam and grills. Minimizing blockages to the flow-path and
redirecting the flow have distinct rewards on the front-end flow, with flow
reorganization providing a pronounced pressure increase and better uniformity for the
condenser, radiator and fan module (CRFM) package. Damodaran and Kaushik (2000)
split the issues encompassing a car underhood simulation. Front end, underhood and
passenger cabin are simulated separately in a conventional way, while the results of
each analysis are used to input into the other as boundary conditions, which in turn
reduces the accuracy due to the lack of interaction between the two separate models. In
most models, air density is assumed to be constant rather than varying with temperature.
It may take a relatively long time to build a CFD model if a structured mesh is used due
to the grid generation in complex underhood geometry. Therefore, unstructured
triangular mesh is adopted to resolve the issue. The inlet temperature at the exhaust is
based on the fuel flow rate, while the flow at the manifold inlet values and radiator and
condenser heat rejections are required for use as boundary conditions in the CFD model.
Vehicle speed and fan RPM were also used as input into the analysis. Combining
critical underhood design issues in a single analysis has resulted in a reduction in
analysis time and improved accuracy.
Koschan et al. (2006) incorporate thermal imaging in CFD simulation to perform
thermal analysis on engine components. Boundary conditions and thermal properties for
the simulation are adapted from the thermal image undertaken in real time. In the
simulation of vehicle components, the knowledge of certain parameters, e.g.
environmental conditions surrounding the vehicle, temperature curves of the
components with respect to time, and the materials of the component surfaces and their
787
emissivity are required. Environmental parameters like wind direction, humidity and
solar radiance, determine the starting ambience of the vehicle.
Based on previous studies, the aim of the underhood simulations or experiments is
to maximize both the blockage of the hot heat source and the amount of air recirculation
within the underhood. In this paper, the achievement of these two conflicting objectives
is proposed by introducing a heat shield at a suitable location inside the underhood of a
typical passenger car. The exhaust manifold and engine block are used as the heat
sources that interact with the airflow, and the heat is assumed to be dissipated by means
of convection and radiation to other engine components. The commercial CFD software
FLUENT is used to simulate the airflow and heat transfer inside the underhood.
Throughout the simulation, thermal analysis is conducted using the isothermal method
where the thermal calculations are performed using constant surface temperatures of the
heat sources as the boundary conditions. CFD simulation results are then used to
investigate the performance of the proposed heat shield in achieving the
abovementioned objectives. This is done by comparing the temperature distribution on
the engine components between the base design and the design with the heat shield
added.
METHODOLOGY
Simulation Domain And Mesh
The simulation was performed with the car model inside a virtual wind tunnel, as shown
in Figure 1. As mentioned in the introduction, the analysis presented in this paper will
concentrate on the flow behavior and temperature distribution within the underhood
region. The car underhood domain and the components inside the domain are shown in
Figure 2. The locations and sizes of each component are representative of real
components in a typical passenger car, with minor details omitted for the CFD analysis.
As shown in Figure 2, the airflow enters the underhood region through two vents at the
front of the car. This configuration is denoted as the base design (BD), which will later
be used for comparisons with the design with the heat shield added. The mesh inside the
underhood region was created using around 900,000 unstructured tetrahedral cells. The
mesh configuration is shown in Figure 3. The mesh in the horizontal and vertical planes
is taken from the center of the underhood. As depicted, the mesh was generated such
that a finer mesh distribution is clustered near the firewall, since those are the regions of
concern requiring a more accurate prediction of flow and temperature behavior. As part
of the meshing procedure, mesh dependency studies were performed on three different
mesh sizes, namely around meshes of 500,000, 900,000 and 1.3 million. The
temperature results from the latter two mesh sets are nearly identical, and thus the model
with 900,000 is used throughout this study.
To reduce the peak temperature inside the underhood, the inclusion of a heat
shield is deemed suitable as it is expected to insulate the engine components from the
intense heat around the exhaust manifolds. As shown in Figure 4, the proposed heat
shield has a channel that will direct heated air vertically upwards, and away from the
exhaust manifold. This will prevent the heat from being channeled directly towards the
firewall, thus reducing the peak temperature at the firewall. The proposed heat shields
are made of steel plate and have a thickness of 1.5 mm. From this point onwards, to aid
the comparison and discussion with the base design (BD), the underhood configuration
with heat shield added is referred to as the heat shield design (HSD)
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Figure 1. Domain of the car in a virtual wind-tunnel
Air
inflow
Figure 2. Layout of the car underhood and modeled components (BD)
Figure 3. Mesh distribution of the underhood region taken at (a) horizontal plane and (b)
vertical plane
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Heat shields
Figure 4. Proposed heat shield design located on exhaust manifolds (HSD)
Numerical Model and Boundary Conditions
The commercial CFD code FLUENT was used for the simulations. In brief, FLUENT
applies a standard Finite Volume Method to solve the governing continuity, momentum
and energy equations. For the current problem, pressure-velocity coupling was achieved
using the SIMPLE algorithm, available as standard in FLUENT (ANSYS Inc., 2010).
For turbulence modeling, the k- turbulent model with wall function is used, whereby
the turbulence kinetic energy, k, of the airflow is calculated with Eq. (1), and turbulence
dissipation, , calculated from Eq. (2) as:
+ ( )= + + (1)
( )+ ( )= + (2)
The inlet and outlet boundary conditions are applied, as shown in Figure 1, and
all other surfaces are designated as walls. The inlet air velocity is set from 5–25 m/s,
simulating a travelling car at 18–90 km/h, and the outlet boundary condition is set to an
atmospheric pressure value. For the thermal analysis investigation, various factors need
to be considered, such as the conditions of the underhood, as well as the heat transfer
and material properties. By assuming the cooling system will maintain both the heat
source at the optimum operating condition, the engine components and underhood
experience constant heat from the engine block and exhaust manifolds. Constant surface
temperatures of 365 K and 673 K are assigned to the engine block and exhaust
manifolds, respectively. Both these temperatures are referred to as the average operating
temperatures.
For the thermal calculations, a planar conduction model in FLUENT is used to
account for the conduction characteristics inside each underhood component, which
required the material and component thicknesses to be specified. Table 1 shows the
boundary conditions defined for each component inside the underhood. For the radiation
heat transfer calculations, the discrete ordinate method was selected due to its
790
robustness for all optical thicknesses and its enhanced accuracy. The DO radiative
transfer equation is given by Eq. (3) (Fellague et al., 1994):
+( ( , ) )+( + ) ( , )= + ( , ) ( , ) (3)
Internal emissivity at the boundary walls is set according to the material used
and the wall temperature. Table 2 shows the emissivity values used for the radiation
calculations.
Table 1. Boundary conditions for each underhood component
Components Material Thickness Temperature

Engine Steel 0.5 cm 365 K
Exhaust
Steel 0.4 cm 673 K
manifolds
Battery Aluminum 0.1 cm 0 W/m2
Oil filter Aluminum 0.1 cm 0 W/m2
Firewall Steel 0.3 cm Coupled
Car wall Steel 0.2 cm Coupled
Heat shield Steel 1.5 mm Coupled
Table 2. Internal emissivity at wall boundaries
Boundary Internal Emissivity

Engine block 0.22
Exhaust manifold 0.25
Firewall, Hood wall, Heat shield 0.22
Battery, Oil filter 0.04
Figure 5 shows the comparisons of the temperature contours on the hood surface and
the underhood region, between the BD and the cases with HSD. As expected, Figure
5(a) and (b) show that the addition of the heat shield has managed to lower the peak
temperatures at the hood. In addition, the firewall temperature reduction in the HSD
case is evident by comparing Figures 5(c) and 5(d). A more useful insight into the
underhood flow and thermal behavior can be gained by looking at the different engine
components within the underhood. In the following subsections, comparisons of the
peak temperature profiles for three components (firewall, hood and battery) between the
BD and HSD are used to compare the cooling efficiency between the two designs. As
shown in Figure 6, the HSD has achieved the objective of lowing the temperature at the
firewall. By introducing a heat shield, the temperature at the firewall is quite constant at
around 311 K, indicating the low dependency of the HSD on air velocity. The heat
shield serves as an insulator for the firewall from the intense heat at the exhaust
manifold. As expected, the heat shield blocks and channels the hot air away from the
region around the firewall, ensuring a more consistent thermal distribution at the
firewall.
791
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 5. Temperature contour plots at v = 15 m/s for (a) Hood (BD), (b) Hood (HSD),
(c) Underhood (BD), (d) Underhood (HSD)
Figure 6. Peak temperatures of the firewall at different velocities: Comparison between

BD and HSD
From the vector plot of the BD shown in Figure 7, it is seen that the flow moves
across the heat sources towards the firewall, and moves sideways upon hitting the
firewall, resulting in a backflow towards the front of the underhood. This backflow
792
meets with the incoming inlet flow, which then forms a vortex of hot air at the frontal
region of underhood. The heat shield inclusion ensures that the heated air is channeled
in a more organized fashion. As shown in Figure 8, the heated air is channeled upwards
and away from exhaust manifold, and this will prevent the heated air from being driven
towards the firewall.
Figure 7. Velocity vector plot for BD (top view)
Figure 8. Velocity vector plot across the heat shield
Figure 9 shows the peak temperature at the hood surface for BD and HSD at
different velocities. Again, the HSD results in a lower temperature profile compared to
the BD. In particular, insulation as a result of the heat shield at low velocity is shown to
significantly reduce the temperature of the underhood. At 5 m/s, the temperature drop
for HSD at the hood is 9 K, and as the velocity increases to 25 m/s the temperature drop
reduces to 2 K. This is due to an increment in air turbulence in the underhood as the
velocity increases, which in turn increases the heat dissipation and reduces the
insulation effect of the heat shield.
793
Figure 9. Peak temperatures of the hood surface at different velocities: Comparison

between BD and HSD
As shown in Figure 10, the heat shield has in general managed to reduce the
temperature of the battery, indicating an improvement in the heat distribution at the
frontal region of underhood. The temperature at the battery in the HSD is 5 K lower
than BD, and the temperature difference remains constant until around 15 m/s. From 20
m/s onwards, the drop in temperature for BD is higher, and at 25 m/s the peak
temperature at the battery equals the HSD case.
Figure 10. Peak temperatures of the battery at different velocities: Comparison between
BD and HSD.
Figure 11. Vector plot colored by temperature across battery at velocity of 15 m/s (BD).
794
As shown in Figure 11, investigation conducted for the BD at 15 m/s shows that the
heated air splits during the backflow and the battery experiences a direct hit of
turbulence from the incoming heated air. With the addition of a heat shield, the heated
air is prevented from flowing across the battery and is only channeled towards the
underhood opening, as shown in Figure 12. Besides which, the air temperature flowing
across the battery in the HSD is relatively lower. This has proven that the HSD can be a
good measure to prevent intense heat from flowing towards the frontal region of the
underhood, where most of the components made of materials with low melting points
are located.
Lower temperature
backflow air in the
HSD case
Figure 12. Vector plot colored by temperature across the battery at a velocity of 15 m/s
(HSD)
CONCLUSION
In this study it was found that the proposed heat shield design can act as a good measure
in improving the heat distribution and cooling performance on engine components,
regardless of its positioning. A heat shield not only serves as an insulator, but also helps
to regulate the air flow in the underhood. Simulation results show that the distribution of
heated air in the underhood is more regulated as the heat from the heat source is
channeled in a more appropriate manner, resulting in lower peak temperatures for
various underhood components. The study shows the potential of the CFD method in
optimizing the cooling processes in the underhood, as heat dissipation and air
circulation within the underhood can be designed out.
REFERENCES
Amodeo, J., Alajbegovic, A. and Jansen, W. 2006. Thermal management simulation for
passenger cars - towards total vehicle analysis. Exa Corporation and Jaguar Cars.
ANSYS Inc. 2010. FLUENT 12 User Manual. ANSYS Inc.
Campos, F., Geremia, P. and Weston, S. 2007. Fast robust design optimisation of an
underhood cooling duct. NAFEMS World Congress, Vancouver, Canada.
Damodaran, V. and Kaushik, S. 2000. Simulation to identify and resolve underhood/
underbody vehicle thermal issue. Fluent Inc., pp. 1-4.
795
Davis, F.V., Veling, T.R., Caltrider, J.L. and Madhavar, R. 1993. Impact of computer
aided engineering on Ford motor company light truck cooling design and
development processes. SAE Paper 93-2977.
Fellague, K.A., Hu, H. and Willoughby, D.A. 1994. Determination of the effects of inlet
air velocity and temperature on the performance of an automotive radiator. SAE
Paper 94-0771.
Hsu, I.F. and Schwartz, W.S. 1995. Simulation of the thermal environment surrounding
an under-body fuel tank in a passenger vehicle using orthogonally structured and
body fitted unstructured CFD codes in series. SAE Paper 95-0616.
Koschan, A., Govindasamy, P. Sukumar, S., Page, D. and Abidi, M. 2006. Thermal
modeling and imaging of as-built vehicle components. SAE Technical Paper
2006-01-1167.
Srinivasan, K., Jan, J.Y., Sun, R.L. and Gleason, M.E. 1999. Rapid simulation
methodology for under-hood aero/thermal management. International Journal of
Vehicle Design, 23 (1-2): 109-123.
Srivanesan, K., Wang, Z.J., Yuan, W. and Sun, R. 2004. Vehicle thermal management
simulation using a rapid omni-tree based adaptive cartesian mesh generation
methodology. ASME Heat Transfer/Fluids Engineering Summer Conference,
HT-FED2004-56748.
Wang, D. and Yang, Z. 2006. CFD predictions of minivan’s front end flow
performance. IEEE International Conference on Vehicular Electronics and
Safety, Tongji University, Shanghai, 13-15 Dec., 1-4244-0759-1/06
Yang, Z., Bozeman, J. and Shen, F.Z. 2004. CFD for flow rate and air recirculation at
vehicle idle condition. SAE Paper 2004-HX21.
796
AUGMENTATION OF TURBULENT FLOW HEAT TRANSFER IN A

HORIZONTAL TUBE WITH VARYING WIDTH TWISTED TAPE INSERTS
S. Naga Sarada, A.V. Sita Rama Raju, K. Kalyani Radha and L. Syam Sunder
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, JNTUH College of Engineering, Kukatpally,

Hyderabad-500085, Andhra Pradesh, India; Phone: +91 9440517729.
E-mail:kalyaniradha@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The present work shows the results obtained from experimental investigations of the
augmentation of turbulent flow heat transfer in a horizontal tube by means of varying
width twisted tape inserts, with air as the working fluid. In order to reduce excessive
pressure drops associated with full-width twisted tape inserts, with a lower
corresponding reduction in heat transfer coefficients, reduced-width twisted tapes of
widths ranging from 10 mm to 22 mm are used, which are lower than the internal
diameter of the tube of 27.5 mm. Experiments were carried out for plain tubes
with/without twisted tape inserts at a constant wall heat flux and different mass flow
rates. The twisted tapes are of three different twist ratios (3, 4 and 5), each with five
different widths (26 (full-width), 22, 18, 14 and 10 mm). The Reynolds number varied
from 6000 to 13500. Both the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are calculated,
and the results are compared with those of a plain tube. It is observed that with the
inclusion of twisted tape inserts there is a significant increase in the heat transfer
coefficients. Correlations are developed for friction factors and Nusselt numbers for a
fully-developed turbulent swirl flow, which are applicable to full-width as well as
reduced-width twisted tapes, using a modified twist ratio as the pitch to width ratio of
the tape.
Keywords: Enhancement; heat transfer; varying width; twisted tape inserts; turbulent;
swirling; pressure drop.
INTRODUCTION
Among many techniques (both passive and active) investigated for the augmentation of
heat transfer rates inside circular tubes, a wide range of inserts have been utilized,
particularly when turbulent flow is considered. The inserts studied included coil wire
inserts, brush inserts, mesh inserts, strip inserts, twisted tape inserts, etc. Augmentation
of convective heat transfer in the internal flows with tape inserts in tubes is a well-
known technique employed in industrial practice. Hsieh and Huang (2000) conducted
experimental studies on the heat transfer and pressure drop of laminar flow in horizontal
tubes with/without longitudinal inserts. They reported an enhancement in heat transfer
compared to a conventional bare tube at the same Reynolds number of a factor of 16 at
Re <= 4000, while the friction factor only rose by 4.5. A new method was proposed by
Sarma et al. (2003) for the prediction of heat transfer coefficients with twisted tape
inserts in a tube in which the wall shear and the temperature gradients were modified
through friction coefficient correlation, leading to heat transfer augmentation from the
tube wall. The laminar flow regime with tape could be successfully treated for a wide
range of parameters, with Prandtl numbers varying from 3 to 400 and pitch ratios
797
Augmentation of turbulent flow heat transfer in a horizontal tube with varying width twisted tape inserts
varying from 2.5 to 10. Correlations were developed, yielding close agreement with the
correlations of other investigators. Experimental studies were conducted on the heat
transfer and flow characteristics for a turbulent flow of air in a horizontal circular tube
with a strip type insert (longitudinal and crossed strip inserts). They reported that the
friction factor rise due to the inclusion of inserts was typically between 1.1 and 1.5,
from low Re (=6500) to high Re (=19500), with respect to the bare tube (Hsieh et al.,
2003). Naphon (2006) conducted experimental investigations on the heat transfer
characteristics and pressure drop in horizontal double pipes with twisted tape inserts,
and the results obtained from the tube with twisted inserts are compared with those
without twisted tape. Heat transfer, friction factor and enhancement efficiency
characteristics in a circular tube fitted with conical ring turbulators and a twisted-tape
swirl generator were investigated experimentally (Promvonge and Eiamsa-ard, 2007).
Air was used as the test fluid. The Reynolds number varied from 6000 to 26000, and the
average heat transfer rates from using both the conical-ring and twisted tape for twist
ratios of 3.75 and 7.5 respectively are found to be 367% and 350% over the plain tube.
Monheit (1987) conducted a comparative study of the thermal performance of
ordinary full-width full-length twisted tapes, using tapes with modified surface
configurations. The modified tape was either a tape with circular holes on its surface or
one with slits along its edges. For laminar flow heat transfer to the lubricating oil (Re:
560–3500, Pr: 5150–450) such modifications offered no advantage over ordinary
twisted tape. Dasmahapatra and Raja Rao (1991) studied the augmentation of heat
transfer to viscous non-Newtonian fluids in laminar flow using full-width interrupted
twisted tapes under a uniform wall temperature condition. They found that regularly-
spaced tapes give 15–35% lower friction factors and only a 10–20% reduction in
Nusselt numbers compared to full-width full-length twisted tapes, for a range of twist
ratios (y=2.4–5.04) and space ratios (S=2.2–4.0). Al-Fahed et al. (1998) and Bergles et
al. (1974) investigated the effect of tube-tape clearance on heat transfer under fully-
developed turbulent (Al-Fahed and Chakroun, 1996) and laminar conditions. They
demonstrated that as the tube-tape clearance decreases, the heat transfer enhancement
increases. However, they did not present correlations for predicting the heat transfer
coefficients and friction factors. They recommended the use of loose-fit (w = 10.8 mm)
tape in low twist ratios (y = 3.6, 5.4) and high pressure drop situations, since it is easier
to install and remove. However, the ease of installation should not be the criterion to
recommend a particular geometry, and the selection of the optimum geometry should be
based on the hydrothermal performance of the system. Performance evaluation criteria
for enhanced heat transfer surfaces are reviewed (Bergles et al., 1974). Experiments
were conducted on compound heat transfer enhancement in a tube fitted with serrated
twisted tape in the Reynolds number range of 5000 to 25000 (Chang et al., 2007). Heat
transfer augmentation due to the insertion of serrated twisted tape was observed to be in
the range of 250 to 480% of the plain tube. Experiments were carried out with smooth-
walled and serrated twisted tapes with twist ratios of 1.56, 1.88 and 2.81. The ratios of
Nusselt number with insert to that without an insert was found to be 3.5, 2.99 and 2.12
for the smooth-walled tube and 4.8, 4.21 and 3.06 for serration roughened tubes, for
twist ratios of 1.56, 1.88 and 2.81, respectively. The heat transfer and pressure drop
characteristics of laminar flow in rectangular and square plain ducts and ducts with
twisted-tape inserts were experimentally investigated by Saha and Mallick (2005). The
heat transfer test section was under uniform wall heat flux conditions. Local pressure
drop measurements as well as the axial variation in duct wall temperature indicated that
the flow was periodically fully-developed after some distance from the upstream end in
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Naga Sarada et al. / International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 797-810
the case of regularly-spaced twisted-tape elements. They reported that the development
length depends on the values of twist ratio (y), space ratio (s), Reynolds number (Re)
and Prandtl number (Pr). The higher the Re, y, s and Pr the higher the development
length. The distance after which the straight flow became established depended on the
twist ratio and the length of the twisted-tape. Friction factor and Nusselt number
correlations were developed for the cases mentioned above. They reported that
regularly-spaced twisted-tape elements performed significantly better than full-length
twisted tapes.
Experimental studies for tubes fitted with left-right twisted tape inserts of
various twist ratios were examined to enhance the convective heat transfer rates of a
thermosyphon solar water heater system (Jaisankar et al., 2008). The swirl flow was
induced by left-right twisted tape in clockwise and counterclockwise directions inside
the riser tube, which enhanced the heat transfer. The various parameters such as Nusselt
number, friction factor and thermal efficiency were studied. Empirical correlations
developed for the Nusselt number and friction factor for various left-right twist ratios (3,
4, 5 and 6) were found to fit the experimental data within ±6.36 % and ±5.69%
respectively. The results showed that the thermal performance of a tube fitted with a
left-right twisted tape collector was better than the plain tube collector. The increased
thermal performance of the twisted tape collector was due to the introduction of swirl
flow. Experimental investigations were carried out on the heat transfer enhancement and
pressure drop characteristics in the presence of twisted tape inserts, during flow boiling
of R-134a, inside a horizontal evaporator (Akhavan-Behabadi et al., 2009). The test-
evaporator with 7.5 mm internal diameter was an electrically-heated 1260 mm long
copper tube. The experiments were performed for plain flow, and on four tubes with
twisted tapes of 6, 9, 12 and 15 twist ratios and four refrigerant mass velocities of 54,
85, 114 and 136 kg/s m2 for each tape. They found that the twisted tape inserts enhanced
the heat transfer coefficient with a relatively higher-pressure drop penalty, in
comparison to that for plain flow.
Patil (2000) studied the frictional and heat transfer characteristics of the laminar
swirl flow of pseudo plastic type power law fluid in a circular tube using varying width
twisted tapes under uniform wall temperature conditions. The objective of using
reduced-width twisted tapes is to reduce the pressure drops associated with full-width
twisted tapes, without seriously impairing heat transfer augmentation rates and to
achieve material savings. Reduced-width twisted tape inserts gave 18–56% lower
isothermal friction factors than the full-width tapes. The present investigation is aimed
at studying the frictional and heat transfer characteristics in the turbulent region using
varying width twisted tape inserts under a constant wall heat flux. The objective of
using varying (reduced) width twisted tapes is to reduce the pressure drops associated
with full-width twisted tapes, without seriously impairing the heat transfer augmentation
rates and to achieve material savings.
EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
The apparatus consists of a blower unit fitted with a pipe, which is connected to the test
section located in a horizontal orientation. A nichrome bend heater encloses the test
section to a length of a 40 cm. Four thermocouples, T2, T3, T4 and T5, at a distance of 5
cm, 15 cm, 25 cm and 35 cm from the origin of the heating zone are embedded along
the walls of the tube, and two thermocouples are placed in the air stream, one at the
entrance (T1) and the other at the exit (T6) of the test section, to measure the temperature
799
of flowing air, as shown in Figure 1. The pipe system consists of a valve, which controls
the airflow rate and an orifice meter to determine the volume flow rate of the air through
the system. The diameter of the orifice is 14mm, with a coefficient of discharge of 0.64.
Figure 1. Experimental set up
Two calibrated pressure gauges (P1 and P2 range: 0–1000 mm of water column)
are provided to measure the pressure drops across the test section. Input to the heater is
given through a dimmer stat. The inner tube of the heating part, which is the test tube
with an inside diameter of 27.5 mm, is made of 3.2 mm thick copper plate. The display
unit consists of a voltmeter, ammeter and temperature indicator. The circuit was
designed for a load voltage of 0–220 V, with a maximum current of 10 A. The
difference in the levels of the manometer fluid represents the variations in the flow rate
of air. The velocity of airflow in the tube is measured with the help of an orifice plate
and the on-board water manometer.
Experimental Work
The layout of the tubes containing full-width and reduced-width twisted tapes is shown
in Figure 1. The tapes consist of uniformly long aluminum strips of desired width,
which have been twisted about the longitudinal axis. Twisted tapes of five different
widths (26, 22, 18, 14 and 10 mm) were fabricated for each of the three different
pitches, 82.5, 110 and 137.5 mm, as shown in Figure 2. For the case of reduced-width
tapes, the gap between the tube wall and the tape was maintained as constant throughout
the tube length. The tapes of full-width (26 mm) were inserted as is into a 27.5 mm
diameter tube, to give a sliding fit.
800
Figure 2. Photograph of twisted tape inserts
Procedural Details
Supply is provided to the blower motor and the valve is opened slightly. A heat input of
40 W is provided to the nichrome heating wire wound around the test section by
adjusting the dimmer stat. Thermocouples 2 to 5 are fixed onto the surface and
thermocouples 1 to 6 are fixed inside the pipe. Thermocouples used for experimentation
are J-type with an accuracy ± 0.2%. The readings of the thermocouples are observed
every 5 minutes until they show constant values. Under steady state conditions, the
readings of all six thermocouples are recorded. The experiment is repeated for different
openings of the valve, thus varying the airflow rate. The fluid properties were calculated
as the average between the inlet and the outlet bulk temperature. It took 110 minutes to
reach steady state conditions. The experiment was carried out at constant heat flux
conditions and a constant heat input of 40 W at different mass flow rates.
Initially the experiment is carried out without any insert (plain tube experiment).
The working fluid air flows through the pipe section with the least resistance. The
experiment is carried out in a similar fashion with straight tape inserts, and with twisted
tape inserts with twist ratios (pitch/diameter) of 3, 4 and 5 for widths of 26, 22, 18, 14
and 10 mm. The inserts are made of aluminum. The mass flow rates considered for a
constant heat input of 40 W in terms of water level difference in the U-Tube water
manometer are 2, 3, 4 and 5 inches (air mass flow rate varying from 0.0033 to 0.0055
kg/sec). The different types of insert used are shown in Table 1. Each insert in Table 1
is experimentally investigated for three different mass flow rates of air. Each insert is
taken and axially inserted into the test section. Care is taken that the strip does not
scratch the inner wall of the pipe and become deformed. The presence of the insert in
the pipe causes a resistance to the flow and increases the turbulence. In the case of
reduced-width tapes, the gap between the tube wall and the tape was constantly
maintained throughout the tube length by brazing metal pins to the edges of the tape.
801
Table 1. Different types of insert used
S. No. Twist ratio (T.R) Width of tape insert (mm)

1 3, 4 and 5 26, 22, 18, 14 and 10
2 Straight tape 26, 22, 18, 14 and 10
3 Plain tube -------------------
EXPERIMENTAL UNCERTAINTY
Experiments were initially conducted for a plain tube without inserts for different mass
flow rates of air. The Nusselt number obtained from the experimental work is compared
with the value obtained using the Dittus-Boelter equation (theoretical) (Figure 3). It is
seen that the experimental results are in good agreement with the aforementioned
studies, and Nu (experimental) is less than Nu (Dittus-Boelter). The actual heat carried
away by air passing through the test section is the combination of convective and
radiative heat transfers. As the heat transferred by convection alone is considered when
performing numerical calculations (Eq. 8), it can be expected that Nu (experimental) is
less than Nu (Dittus-Boelter).The experimental uncertainty is found to be 7.6% for the
Nusselt number. The friction factor was observed to decrease with an increase in
Reynolds number for the plain tube.
Figure 3. Comparison of Nusselt number for plain tube
802
Figure 4. Variation in friction factor with Reynolds number for plain tube
HEAT TRANSFER CALCULATIONS
Ts= (T2+T3+T4+T5)/4 (1)

Tb= (T1+T6)/2 (2)
Equivalent height of air column, hair= ( w* hw)/ a (3)
Discharge of air, d=Cd Ap Ao (2ghair)/ (Ap2- Ao2) (4)
Velocity of air flow, U = d/Ap (5)
Reynolds number, Re=U D/ (6)
(To calculate Re while using tape inserts, Dh is used instead of D)
Nuthe= 0.023 Re0.8 Pr 0.4 (7)
Q =m*Cp*(T1-T6) (8)
Qr= *A* C*(Ts4-Tb4) (9)
h = (Q- Qr )/(A (Ts - Tb)) (10)
Nu = h D /K (11)
(To calculate Nu while using tape inserts, Dh is used instead of D)
fthe = 0.25 (1.82*log10 ReD -1.64)-2 (12)
f = P / ((L/D) ( aU2/2)) (13)
= (Nui/Nu)/ (fi/f)0. 333 (14)
803
Heat Transfer and Overall Enhancement Characteristics
The variation in Nusselt number with Reynolds number for straight tape inserts is
shown in Figure 5. The highest Nusselt number was obtained for the full-width straight
tape. The mean heat transfer gain for the straight tape inserts varied from 4 to 24%
compared to the plain tube. This is due to the strong turbulence intensity generated by
the tape inserts, leading to the rapid mixing of the flow causing heat transfer
enhancement.
Figure 5. Variation in Nusselt number with Reynolds number for straight tape inserts
Figure 6. Variation in friction factor with Reynolds number for straight inserts
804
The variations in friction factor with Reynolds number for the straight tape
inserts are presented in Figure 6. It is observed that the friction factor gradually reduced
with an increase in Reynolds number. It is observed to be maximum for the full-width
straight tape insert. It is evident from Figure 7 that when a twisted tape is inserted into a
plain tube there is a significant improvement in the Nusselt number due to secondary
flow, with a greater enhancement being realized at higher Reynolds numbers and lower
twist ratios. This enhancement is mainly due to the centrifugal forces resulting from the
spiral motion of the fluid, and partly due to the tape acting as a fin. It is observed that a
reduction in tape width causes a reduction in Nusselt number, as well as a reduction in
the pressure drop. From Figure 7(a), the percentage increase in Nusselt numbers for the
reduced-width tapes compared to plain tube are about 11–22%, 16–31%, 24–34% and
39–44% for tape widths of 10, 14, 18 and 22 mm respectively and for a twist ratio = 3.
For full-width tapes, the percentage increase is observed to be 58 to 70% compared to
the plain tube.
(a) Twist ratio = 3 (b) Twist ratio = 4
(c) Twist ratio = 5
Figure 7. Variation in Nusselt number with Reynolds number
From Figure 7(b), the percentage increase in Nusselt numbers for reduced-width
tapes compared to plain tube are about 5–12%, 9–22%, 13–30% and 23–36% for tape
widths of 10, 14, 18 and 22 mm respectively and for a twist ratio = 4. For full-width
805
tapes, the percentage increase is observed to be 36 to 42% compared to the plain tube.
From Figure 7(c), the percentage increase in Nusselt numbers for reduced-width tapes
compared to plain tube are about 2–8%, 6–12%, 9–19% and 14–27% for tape widths of
10, 14, 18 and 22 mm respectively and for a twist ratio = 5. For full-width tapes, the
percentage increase is observed to be 22 to 37% compared to the plain tube.
The overall enhancement ratio is useful to evaluate the quality of heat transfer
enhancement obtained over the plain tube at a constant pumping power. It is found to be
more than unity for all the tape inserts used. Variations in the overall enhancement ratio
against Reynolds number for twist ratios 3, 4 and 5 are shown in Figure 8. It is
observed that overall enhancement ratio tended to decrease gradually with the rise in
Reynolds number for all twist ratios. The maximum value of the overall enhancement
ratio is 1.62 for a full-width twisted tape insert with a twist ratio equal to 3.
(a) Twist ratio = 3 (b) Twist ratio = 4
(c) Twist ratio = 5
Figure 8. Variation in overall enhancement with Reynolds number
As seen in Figure 8(a), for tapes of widths of 26, 22, 18, 14 and 10 mm the
curves are of decreasing order ( = 1.0–2.0) for pitches of 82.5, 110 and 137.5 mm in
the range of Reynolds numbers from 8000 to 14000. Each curve seems to have a
806
maximum at a particular Reynolds number, Re = 9727.13, and the Re at which the

maximum occurs decreases with the decrease in tape width. Tapes of 22 mm in width
perform more or less like full-width tapes, and appear to do so slightly better than those
for a twist ratio equal to 3 (82.5 mm pitch). Even the tapes of 10 mm width have a
value of about 1.08–1.18 times the plain tube. The gradual reduction in these curves
basically represents the same performance of reduced-width tapes as that of the full-
width tape. Thus the same performance can be achieved using reduced-width tapes with
15–61% material saving at a higher Reynolds number and/or lower twist ratios. For
61% material savings (tapes of 22 mm width), the performance is 1.32–1.39 times better
than for a plain tube.
Heat Transfer Correlations:
The present experimental results of the Nusselt number and friction factor are correlated
in terms of Reynolds number and modified twist ratio as follows:
Nu = 0.4141*10-4 * Re0.9591 [(0.001+ H/w)-0.04645] *(Dh/L) -1.411 (15)

Average deviation = 6.246% and standard deviation = 7.983%
f = 0.01391* Re-0.1374 [(0.001+H/w)-0.003] *(De/L)-0.2097 (16)
Average deviation = 2.216% and standard deviation = 2.692%
Eqs. 15 and 16 are applicable when 3.17 < H/w < 61, 0.02 < De/L< 0.03 and 6000 <Re<
13500
When Dh = D and H/w=0; Eqs. 15 and 16 are also applicable to plain tubes.
CONCLUSION
The study presents an experimental investigation of the potential of reduced-width

twisted tape inserts to enhance the rate of heat transfer in a horizontal circular tube with
an inside diameter of 27.5mm with air as the working fluid. The Reynolds number
varied from 6000 to 13500. The effects of parameters such as the modified twist ratio,
Reynolds number on the heat transfer and overall enhancement ratio are studied. The
following conclusions can be drawn:
i) The enhancement in heat transfer with twisted tape inserts compared to the plain
tube varied from 36 to 48% for full-width and 33 to 39% for reduced-width 22
mm inserts.
ii) The maximum friction factor rise was about 18% for 26mm and only 17.3% for
the reduced-width inserts compared to the plain tube.
iii) The overall enhancement ratio of the tubes with full-width twisted tape inserts is
1.62 for full-width 26mm tape, and 1.39 for reduced-width 22mm twisted tape
inserts. A 61% material saving could be obtained for the reduced-width 22 mm
inserts and the performance is 1.32–1.39 times that of the plain tube.
iv) Correlations for the heat transfer coefficient and friction factor are proposed
based on the present experimental data. The agreement between the results
807
obtained from the experiment and those obtained from the proposed correlations
is reasonable.
Thus the same performance can be achieved using reduced-width tape with 15%
material saving at higher Reynolds numbers and/or lower twist ratios. Even for the 61%
material saving twisted tape (of width 10.0 mm) the performance is 1.08–1.18 times
better than that for a smooth tube. Thus, from considerations of enhanced heat transfer
and savings in pumping power and in tape material cost, the reduced-width tape inserts
are seen to be attractive for enhancing the turbulent flow heat transfer in a horizontal
circular tube. Future work may be extended:
to change the tape material from aluminum to copper
to the application of compound enhancement techniques, i.e. the tape inserts can
be coupled with coil wire inserts for better enhancement.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to thank the Department of Mechanical Engineering, JNT University,
Hyderabad for providing the facilities (under College Funds) to carry out this work.
REFERENCES
Akhavan-Behabadi, M.A., Ravi Kumar, A., Mohammadpour and M. Jamali-Asthiani

2009. Effect of twisted tape insert on heat transfer and pressure drop in
horizontal evaporators for the flow of R-134a. International Journal of
Refrigeration, 32(5): 922-930.
Al-Fahed, S. and Chakroun, W. 1996. Effect of tube-tape clearance on heat transfer for
fully developed turbulent flow in a horizontal isothermal tube. International
Journal of Heat Fluid Flow, 17(2): 173-178.
Al-Fahed, S., Chamra, L.M. and Chakroun, W. 1998. Pressure drop and heat transfer
comparison for both microfin tube and twisted-tape inserts in laminar flow.
Experimental Thermal Fluid Science, 18(4): 323-333.
Bergles, A.E., Blumenkrantz, A.R. and Taborek, J. 1974. Performance evaluation
criteria for enhanced heat transfer surfaces. Proceedings of the 5th International
Heat Transfer Conference, Tokyo, 2: 239-243.
Chang, S.W., Jan, Y.J. and Liou, J.S. 2007. Turbulent heat transfer and pressure drop in
tube fitted with serrated twisted tape. International Journal of Thermal Sciences,
46: 506-518.
Dasmahapatra J.K. and Raja Rao, M. 1991. Laminar flow heat transfer to generalized
power law fluids inside circular tubes fitted with regularly spaced twisted tape
elements for uniform wall temperature condition. In: Fundamentals of heat
transfer in non-Newtonian fluids. New York, ASME, pp. 51-58.
Hsieh, S.S. and Huang, I.W. 2000. Heat transfer and pressure drop of laminar flow in
horizontal tubes with/without longitudinal inserts. Journal of Heat Transfer, 122:
465-475.
Hsieh, S.S., Liu, M.H. and Tsai, H.H. 2003. Turbulent heat transfer and flow
characteristic in a horizontal circular tube with strip-type inserts, Part-I: Fluid
mechanics. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 46: 823-835.
Jaisankar, S., Radhakrishnan, T.K., Sheeba, K.N. and Suresh, S. 2008. Experimental
studies on heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of Thermosyphon solar
808
water heater system fitted with left-right twisted tapes. International Journal of
Applied Engineering Research, 3(8): 1091-1103.
Monheit. M. 1987. Experimental evaluation of the convective characteristics of tubes
with twisted tape inserts. In: Advances in Enhanced Heat Transfer. New York,
AMSE, pp. 11-18.
Naphon, P. 2006. Heat transfer and pressure drop in the horizontal double pipes with
and without twisted tape insert. International Communications in Heat and Mass
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Patil, A.G. 2000. Laminar flow heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of power-
law inside tubes with varying width twisted tape inserts. ASME Transactions,
122: 143-149.
Promvonge, P. and Eiamsa-ard, S. 2007. Heat transfer behaviors in a tube with
combined conical-ring and twisted-tape insert. International Communications in
Heat and Mass Transfer, 34: 849-859.
Saha, S.K and Mallick D.N. 2005. Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of
laminar flow in rectangular and square plain ducts and ducts with twisted-tape
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Journal of Thermal Sciences, 42: 821-828.
Nomenclature
A convective heat transfer area ( DL) (m2)

A0 area of orifice (m2)
Ap test section inner tube area ( /4 D2) (m2)
Cp specific heat of air (J/kg K)
d air discharge through test section (m3/sec)
Dh hydraulic diameter (4A/P) (m)
D inner diameter of test section (m)
H pitch (mm)
w width of tape insert (mm)
H/D twist ratio
H/w modified twist ratio
f the friction factor(theoretical) for plain tube
f friction factor(experimental) for plain tube
fi friction factor obtained using tape inserts
h experimental convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
hw manometer level difference (m)
hair equivalent height of air column, (m)
k thermal conductivity (W/mK)
L length of test section, (m)
m. mass flow rate of air (kg/sec)
Nui Nusselt number(experimental) with tape insert (hDh/k)
Nu Nusselt number(experimental) for plain tube
Nuthe Nusselt number for plain tube (theoretical)
Pr Prandtl number
p pitch (m)
P wetted perimeter (m)
809
P pressure drop across the test section, (Pa)

Q total heat transferred to air (Qc + Qr) (W)
Qc heat transferred to air by convection (W)
Qr heat transferred to air by radiation, (W)
Re Reynolds number ( u D/ )
T1, T6 air temperature at inlet and outlet (°C)
T2, T3, T4, T5 tube wall temperature (°C)
Ts average surface temperature of the working fluid (°C)
Tb bulk temperature (°C)
U air velocity through test section (m/sec)
Greek symbols
kinematic viscosity of air (m2/sec)

C emissivity of copper
µ dynamic viscosity (kg/m s)
overall enhancement ratio
w density of water (kg/m3)
a density of air (kg/m3)
810
CONTENTS
Sound and Vibration Signal Analysis using Improved Short-Time Fourier 811
Representation
June-Yule Lee
Lean Manufacturing Perceptions and Actual Practice Among Malaysian SME’s 820
in Automotive Industry
M A.N. M. Rose, B. Md. Deros and M. N. Ab. Rahman
Tracking Control of an Underactuated Gantry Crane using an Optimal Feedback 830

Controller
Firooz Bakhtiari-Nejad, Mostafa Nazemizadeh and Hanieh Arjmand
Effect of Ta2O5 doping on the microstructure and dielectric properties of BaTiO3 840
based ceramics
Adnan Mousharraf and Md. Fakhrul Islam
Experimental Measurements of Nanofluids Thermal Properties 850

Adnan M. Hussein, R.A. Bakar, K. Kadirgama and K.V. Sharma
Optimal Automobile Muffler Vibration and Noise Analysis 864

Sujit Kumar Jha and Ajay Sharma
Microstructure and Fatigue Properties of Dissimilar Spot Welds Joints of AISI 882
304 and AISI 1008
Nachimani Charde
Experimental Investigation on Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristics 900

of Air Flow over A Staggered Flat Tube Bank in Crossflow
Ishak, Tahseen Ahmad Tahseen and Md.Mustafizur Rahman
Application of Multibody Simulation for Fatigue Life Estimation 912

M. Kamal, Md.Mustafizur Rahman and M.S.M. Sani
Compliance Analysis, Optimization and Comparison for A NEW 3PUS-PU 924

Mechanism
B. Wei
Effect of Penalty Function Parameter in Objective Function of System 940

Identification
M.F. Abd Samad, H. Jamaluddin, R. Ahmad, M.S. Yaacob and A.K.M. Azad
Modeling and Torque Tracking Control of Permanent Magnet Synchronous 955

Motor (PMSM) for Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Mohd Sabirin Rahmat, Fauzi Ahmad, Ahmad Kamal Mat Yamin, Vimal Rau Aparow and
Noreffendy Tamaldin
ii
Estimation of the Dynamic Properties of Epoxy Glass Fabric Composites with 968
Natural Rubber Particle Inclusions
H. Ravi Sankar, R.R Srikant, P Vamsi Krishna, V. Bhujanga Rao and P. Bangaru Babu
Pattern Development for Manufacturing Applications with Fused Deposition 981

Modelling – A Case Study
H. K. Garg and R. Singh
Validation of Crack Interaction Limit Model for Parallel Edge Cracks using 993
Two-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis
R. Daud, A.K. Ariffin and S. Abdullah
Fatigue Life Prediction of Commercially Pure Titanium after Nitrogen Ion 1005
Implantation
Nurdin Ali, M. S. Mustapa, M.I. Ghazali, T. Sujitno and M. Ridha
Atmospheric Corrosion of Structural Steels Exposed in the 2004 Tsunami- 1014

Affected Areas of Aceh
M. Ridha, S. Fonna, S. Huzni, J. Supardi and A.K. Ariffin
Finite Element Modeling of Delamination Process on Composite Laminate using 1023

Cohesive Elements
S. Huzni, Ilfan M., Sulaiman T., S. Fonna, M.Ridha and A.K. Arifin
Improved Vibration Characteristics of Flexible Polyurethane Foam via 1031

Composite Formation
Chan Wen Shan, Mohd Imran Ghazali and Maizlinda Izwana Idris
Normal Incidence Sound Absorption Coefficient of Direct Piercing Carved 1043

Wood Panel with Daun Sireh Motif using Boundary Element Method
Mohd Zamri Bin Jusoh, Mohamad Ngasri Dimon, You Kok Yeow, Nazli Bin Che Din and
Rafidah Rosman
Analysis of Accent-Sensitive Words in Multi-Resolution Mel-Frequency 1053

Cepstral Coefficients for Classification of Accents in Malaysian English
Yusnita M.A., Paulraj M.P., Sazali Yaacob, R. Yusuf and Shahriman A.B.
A Practical Application of Ensemble Averaged Surface Normal Impedance 1074

Measured In-Situ
Nazli Bin Che Din, Toru Otsuru, Reiji Tomiku, Mohd Zamri Bin Jusoh, Mohamad Ngasri Dimon
Sound Transmission Loss of A Double-Leaf Partition with Micro-Perforated 1086

Plate Insertion under Diffuse Field Incidence
A. Putra, A. Y. Ismail and Md. R. Ayob
SOUND AND VIBRATION SIGNAL ANALYSIS USING IMPROVED

SHORT-TIME FOURIER REPRESENTATION
June-Yule Lee
Department of Marine Engineering, National Kaohsiung Marine University

482, Jhongjhou 3rd Road, Cijin District, Kaohsiung 80543, Taiwan
E-mail: juneyule@ms10.hinet.net
ABSTRACT
Time-frequency imaging provides a straightforward means to understanding machinery

conditions. The methods of short-time Fourier transform (STFT), Wigner-Ville
distribution (WVD) and smooth-windowed Wigner-Ville distribution (SWWVD) are
applied to the condition monitoring of rotating machines. The sound and vibration signals
of a rotating fan are tested, and time-frequency images are illustrated in terms of STFT,
WVD and SWWVD. The results show that the resolution of STFT is low, and the
resolution of WVD is high but with interference. To overcome the interference in the
WVD image, a variable smooth-windowed weighting function is applied. The smoothing
window function resulted in interference attenuation but also in reducing the
concentration. The SWWVD is a compromise between STFT and WVD. The SWWVD
exhibits better resolution than STFT and has less interference than WVD.
Keywords: Time-frequency analysis; smooth window weighting; sound and vibration;

condition monitoring.
INTRODUCTION
The sound and vibration signals of rotating systems have become more and more
complex, as wind excitation, run up or shut down, rotor cracking and chattering can lead
to frequency modulation and amplitude modulation. For the condition monitoring of
these problems, the most important and fundamental variables in signal processing are
time and frequency. The fundamental ideal of time-frequency analysis is to understand
and describe those conditions where the frequency content of a signal changes in time.
The short-time Fourier transform (STFT) is the most widely used tool for the display of
stationary and non-stationary signals in time-frequency analysis. For better resolution, the
quadratic time-frequency signal representation of the Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) is
considered. Unfortunately the WVD presents cross-terms (interferences) in
multicomponent signals. Thus the WVD is a general tradeoff between good
time-frequency resolution and small interference terms. Signals analysis simultaneously
considered in time and frequency domain is well reviewed (Cohen, 1989; Hlawatsch and
Boudreaux-Bartels, 1992; Nuawi et al., 2011; Hammond and White, 1996; Sejdic et al.,
2009). In recent years, time-frequency methods have been widely used in gearbox fault
detection (Staszewski et al., 1997), the diagnosis and surveillance of diesel engines based
on vibration and acoustics signals (Delvecchio et al., 2010), and the vibration monitoring
of rotating machines (Lee et al., 2001; Al-Badour et al., 2011; Climente-Alarcon et al.,
2011; Peng et al., 2012). In this paper, a parameter-controlled smooth-windowed WVD
method (SWWVD) is presented. The SWWVD allows the smoothing of the time spread
and the smoothing of the frequency spread. In practical application, the sound and
811
Sound and vibration signal analysis using improved short-time Fourier representation
vibration signals of a rotating fan are considered, and time-frequency images are
illustrated in terms of STFT, WVD and SWWVD.
SHORT-TIME FOURIER TRANSFORM
The basic ideal of the short-time Fourier transform is that if one wants to know what
frequencies exist at a particular time, then take a small part of the signal around that time
and analyse it, neglecting the rest of signal. Since the time interval is short compared to
the whole signal, this process is called a short-time Fourier transform. For a given signal
x(t), the Fourier transform is

FT(x(t))   x(t)e - j2ft dt , (1)
-
where f is frequency in Hz. Now we multiply the signal x ( ) by a window function

w(   t ) to obtain a weighted signal. Considering this signal as a function of  and
taking the Fourier transform, the STFT is

STFTx (t , f )   x( )w* (  t )e  j 2f d , (2)

where * is a complex conjugate. In Eq. (2), the smoothing window is applied by a

parameter controlled function (Lee, 2010),
     x  
 exp      for x  0
 2(1 /  )     
w( x :  )     , (3)

   x 
 
 2(1 /  ) exp       for x  0
    
where   0 , Γ is a gamma function and   1 /  3 /  . The parameter 

1/ 2
controls the symmetric window shapes on the left side (x<0) and right side (x>0) in Eq.
(3). The window shape of   1 represents the Laplace distribution and   2
represents the Normal distribution. When  tends to zero the function tends to an
impulse distribution, and when  tends to infinity the function tends to a uniform
distribution. Figure 1(a) shows the window shapes of   0.5, 1, 2 and 10, and the
corresponding spectrum plots are presented in Figure 1(b). For example, considering a
multicomponent signal consisting of the sum of two chirp waveforms
s(t )  sin(2 [ f1t  4t 2 ])  sin(2 [ f 2t  4t 2 ]), (4)
where f1  5 Hz and f 2  45 Hz. Figure 2(a) shows the time series of Eq. (4) at a
sampling rate 1 kHz. The signals include two non-stationary chirp waveforms. As time
advances, the first chirp signals start at 5 Hz with increasing frequency, and the second
chirp signals start at 45 Hz with decreasing frequency. The spectrum is shown in Figure
2(b), where information on the signal’s frequency change over time is not provided.
Using the STFT method and Figure 2 data, the time-frequency contour plot is shown in
812
Lee /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 811-819
Figure 3. The STTF image shows the complete information in the time and frequency
domains. Two directions of moving frequency are illustrated, where the first and the
second chirp signals cross at 2.5 seconds. The colour bar indicates the amplitude of the
spectrum in intensity.
Figure 1. Smoothed window (N=128) for parameters  =1.0, 2.0 and 10; (a) time series,
(b) spectrum.
Figure 2. Simulation signals of the sum of two chirp waves: (a) time series, (b) spectrum.
WIGNER-VILLE DISTRIBUTION
The STFT suffers time-frequency resolution limitations: a good time resolution requires a
short window weighting function and a good frequency resolution requires a long
813
window weight function. Thus a fundamental resolution tradeoff exists: it is impossible to

simultaneously achieve both good time and frequency resolution. To improve the
time-frequency resolution, a quadratic time-frequency representation of the Winger-Ville
distribution is considered (Hlawatsch and Boudreaux-Bartels, 1992). For a signal x(t), the
WVD is defined as
  
WVD x (t , f )   x(t  ) x * (t  )e  j 2f d . (5)
 2 2
Figure 3. Time-frequency contour plot using STFT (   2 ) method and Figure 2 data.
The STFT in Eq. (2) is a linear time-frequency representation to satisfy the

superposition principle that if x(t) is a linear combination of some signal components,
then the STFT of x(t) is the same linear combination. However, the quadratic
representation of WVD in Eq. (5) is violated in terms of its linearity structure.
Considering multicomponent signals x(t )  x1 (t )  x2 (t ) , then WVD is given by
WVD x (t , f )  WVDx1x1 (t , f )  WVDx 2 x 2 (t , f )  WVDx1x 2 (t , f )  WVDx 2 x1 (t , f ), (6)
where
  
WVD x1x 2 (t , f )   x1 (t  ) x2* (t  )e  j 2f d , (7)
 2 2
  
WVD x 2 x1 (t , f )   x2 (t  ) x1* (t  )e  j 2f d . (8)
 2 2
814
The WVD x1x1 , WVDx 2x 2 are auto-terms, and WVD x1x 2 , WVDx 2x1 are cross-terms
which satisfy
WVDx1x 2 (t , f )  WVDx*2 x1 (t , f ). (9)
Thus cross-terms WVDx1x 2 (t , f )  WVDx 2 x1 (t , f ) is a real and Eq. (6) is written as
WVD x (t , f )  WVDx1x1 (t , f )  WVDx 2 x 2 (t , f )  2 Re[WVDx1x 2 (t , f )]. (10)
Equation (10) indicates that the WVD of the sum of the two signals is not only the sum of
two auto-terms, but also includes the cross-terms. These cross-terms cause interference in
the distribution over both time and frequency. For example, using the WVD method and
Figure 2 data, the time-frequency contour plot is shown in Figure 4. As expected, the
WVD image shows a high concentration when compared to the STFT in Figure 3. But the
cross-terms (interference) occurs midway between the two chirp signals.
Figure 4. Time-frequency contour plot using WVD method and Figure 2 data.
SMOOTH-WINDOWED WIGNER-VILLE DISTRIBUTION
In practical applications, the interference terms of WVD are often a problem for condition
monitoring. In order to suppress the cross-terms, a window weighted method is applied.
Two smoothed windows are processed for WVD in both the time and frequency direction.
815
This is a smooth-windowed Wigner-Ville distribution and is defined as
   
SWWVD x (t , f )   h( )  g ( s  t )x( s  ) x * ( s  )dse j 2f d (11)
  2 2
where h(t) and g(t) are smoothing windows for time and frequency, respectively. In the
following investigation, the window function in Eq. (3) is applied for h(t) and g(t).
The smoothing window process resulted in interference attenuation, but also in
reducing the time-frequency concentration. Thus the SWWVD is a compromise of STFT
and WVD. For example, using the SWWVD method and Figure 2 data, the
time-frequency contour plot is shown in Figure 5. As expected, the interference terms in
Figure 4 are suppressed in both the time and frequency directions. The colour bar of
Figure 5 show that the intensity is reduced when compared to Figure 4. However, the
resolution is far better than in Figure 3. Thus the SWWVD shows a compromise result
between STFT and WVD. The SWWVD has better resolution than STFT and has less
interference than WVD.
Figure 5. Time-frequency contour plot using SWWVD (   10 ) method and Figure 2

data.
SOUND AND VIBRATION SINGALS ANALYSIS
For application in condition monitoring, the above methods are applied to real rotating
fan signals. Figure 6 shows the measured vibration (acceleration) and sound pressure
signals at a sampling rate of 25 kHz, and the corresponding spectra are shown in Figure 7.
The vibration signal shows two resonance peaks located at 150 and 700 Hz; and the main
peak of the acoustic noise is located at 180 Hz. Using the vibration signals in Figure 6(a)
816
and the acoustic noise in Figure 6(b), the time-frequency contour plots of the STFT, WVD
and SWWVD methods are illustrated in Figures 8, 9 and 10, respectively. As expected,
the STFT image shows the frequency content in time, but the time-frequency resolution is
poor. The WVD image shows a high resolution but with interference in the time and
frequency domains. Thus for multicomponent signals analysis, the STFT and WVD
methods might mislead the system conditions due to the low resolution or interference.
However, the SWWVD image indicates that the interference is significantly reduced and
has better resolution than the STFT method.
Figure 6. Time series of rotating fan signals: (a) vibration, (b) sound pressure.
Figure 7. Spectrum of rotating fan signals: (a) vibration, (b) sound pressure.
817
Figure 8. Time-frequency contour plots using STFT (  =2) method and Figure 6 data: (a)
vibration, (b) sound pressure.
Figure 9. Time-frequency contour plots using WVD method and Figure 6 data: (a)
vibration, (b) sound pressure.
Figure 10. Time-frequency contour plots using SWWVD (  =10) method and Figure 6
data: (a) vibration, (b) sound pressure.
818
CONCLUSION
The time-frequency representations of the STFT, WVD and SWWVD methods are
presented and applied to the condition monitoring of a rotating system. The results
demonstrate that the time-frequency image is a straightforward means to understanding
machinery conditions. To improve the resolution of the SFFT and to overcome the
interference of the WVD, parameter control of the smooth-windowed SWWVD method
is demonstrated. The results show that SWWVD is a compromise version between STFT
and WVD. The SWWVD has better resolution than STFT and less interference than
WVD.
REFERENCES
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Roger-Folch, J., Jover-Rodriguez, J. and Arkkio, A. 2011. Transient tracking of
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ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, 132(021008): 1-10.
Hammond, J.K. and White, P.R. 1996. The analysis of non-stationary signals using
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Hlawatsch, F. and Boudreaux-Bartels, G.F. 1992. Linear and Quadratic Time-frequency
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Nuawi, M.Z., Ismail, A.R., Nor, M.J.M. and Rahman, M.M. 2011. Comparative study of
whole-body vibration exposure between train and car passengers: a case study in
Malaysia. International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, 4:
490-503.
Peng, Z.K., Zhang, W.M., Lang, Z.Q., Meng, G. and Chu, F.L. 2012. Time-frequency data
fusion technique with application to vibration signal analysis. Mechanical
Systems and Signal Processing, 29: 164-173.
Sejdic, E., Djurovic, I. and Jiang, J. 2009. Time-frequency feature representation using
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Staszewski, W., Worden, K. and Tomlinson, G.R. 1997. Time-frequency analysis in
gearbox fault detection using the wigner-ville distribution and pattern recognition.
Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 11(5): 673-692.
819
LEAN MANUFACTURING PERCEPTIONS AND ACTUAL PRACTICE

AMONG MALAYSIAN SME’S IN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
A.N.M. Rose1,2,a, B. Md. Deros2,b and M.N. Ab. Rahman2,c

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang,
Email: nasser@ump.edu.my
Phone: +6094246348; Fax: +609424622
2
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,
Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600, UKM, Bangi, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Stiff business challenges and product competition faced by automotive component

manufacturers has forced them to look into lean manufacturing (LM). Presently there
are more than 100 LM practices. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are
not able to implement all LM practices due to financial, expertise and skill constraints.
Therefore, in this study the authors investigated the level of perception and actual
practice within 24 LM practices, regarding actions believed feasible to be implemented
in SMEs. In addition, the authors gathered LM information sources, reasons for
implementing LM and its benefits to SMEs. A questionnaire survey was conducted in
35 SMEs involves in manufacturing automotive components. The majority of SMEs
have a high perception of the importance of LM practices but in reality are not
undertaking them. The SMEs mainly received their LM information from their
customers, and they strongly believe that LM practices could improve their long-term
business sustainability and competitiveness in the market place.
Keywords- Lean manufacturing; SME, automotive; lean perception; lean practices.
INTRODUCTION
SMEs have played a tremendous role in the manufacturing sector all over the world. In
the 2007, 96% of Malaysian organisations were SMEs, which contributed 30.7% of the
total manufacturing output and 26.3% of total value added products (SME Development
Council, 2007). In Malaysia, SMEs are defined as companies with between 5 and 150
full-time employees and annual sales turnover between RM251k to RM25 million
(SME Development Council, 2007). In order to be at par with large and well-established
foreign automotive manufacturers, Malaysian SMEs involved in manufacturing
automotive components have to implement and practice LM to achieve manufacturing
excellence (Womack et al., 1990). It is suggested that in the 21st century all SMEs
implement and practice LM to gain its benefits for their organisations (Dankbaar, 1997;
Rineheart et al., 1997). Among the benefits offered by LM are that it acts as a cost
reduction mechanism and can be used as a guide to SMEs to become world-class
organisations (Papadopoulu and Ozbayrak, 2005). The two main objectives of this paper
are: first, to investigate the level of Malaysian SMEs understanding of LM practices and
the extent of LM implementation in their organisations. Secondly, the respondents were
820
Lean manufacturing perceptions and actual practice among Malaysian SME’s in automotive industry
also asked about their sources of information on LM, the reasons for and benefits of LM
implementation and practice.
LITERATURE REVIEW
There are many LM practices and techniques available that can be practiced by
industries (Pavnaskar et al., 2003). The benefits that can be achieved by implementing
LM manufacturing practices and techniques are cost reductions, on-time delivery, and
reductions in inventory and cycle time (Bhasin and Burcher, 2006; Ferdousi and
Ahmed, 2009; Shah and Ward, 2003). In addition, LM is able to provide a more
superior method of waste elimination and products manufacture (Womack and Jones,
2003). The literature shows that numerous publications have strongly proposed that
organisation should implement comprehensive LM practices to gain the above-stated
benefits (Liker, 2004; Meier and Forrester, 2002).
However, the literature shows that SMEs are not capable of implementing all
LM practices at once (Gunasekaran et al., 2000). The alternative in SMEs is to run
feasible LM practices sequentially, starting from the easiest or cheapest (Lee, 2004).
This approach could minimise the financial burden on the SMEs and thus maximise
their employees’ commitment towards implementing LM practices. In addition, SMEs
could select and implement the most feasible practice to act as a stepping stonee to
becoming a LM enterprise (Herron and Braiden, 2007). To do this, the authors have
reviewed many highly-cited journals and discovered 16 highly-recommended LM
practices in their papers (Crawford and Cox, 1991; Fullerton and McWatters, 2001;
Gyampah and Gargeya, 2001; Lee, 1997; Lee and Ebrahimpour, 1984; Matsui, 2007;
Mehra and Inman, 1992; Ohno, 1998; Panizzolo, 1998; Sakakibara et al., 1997;
Schonberger, 1982; Shah and Ward, 2007; White et al., 1999; Womack et al., 1990; Zhu
and Meredith, 1995). The most highlighted LM practices are a reduction in set up time,
kanban, small lot size, supplier management, preventive maintenance, multifunction
employees, uniform workload, visual control, employee involvement (quality circles),
total quality management, training, teamwork, production smoothing, continuous
improvement, 5S and standardisation. According to Narang (2008), the literature
identifies the three most implemented LM practices as being a reduced set up time,
kanban and small lot size, which are critical in ensuring LM implementation success.
Failure to implement these practices efficiently may result in production delays and an
inability to maintain continuous flow. On the other hand, the least suggested LM
practices are 5S and standardisation. A high level of understanding of LM is very
important to successfully implement them in practice. Therefore, in this paper, the
authors would like to investigate the level of SMEs’ understanding of LM practices and
then translate their understanding into actual implementation.
METHODOLOGY
The research methodology used was survey questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of
five parts. The first part asked about the respondents’ background. The second part
queried the SME’s perception and level of practice of 24 LM practices. This paper
presents the results of the best 14 practices as chosen by the respondents. In this part,
the respondents were asked to rate two aspects (perception and practice) using a 5-point
Likert scale. The rating scales for the perceived importance range from: 1 - not
important to 5 - very important. Meanwhile, the rating scales for the level of practice
821
Rose et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 820-829
range from: 1 - no implementation to 5 - highly implemented. In the third section, the

respondents were asked how they implemented LM practices in their SMEs. In the
fourth section, the respondents were asked how they acquired LM information. In the
final section, respondents were asked, based on their real experience, the benefits of LM
implementation. All questions in the survey questionnaire were developed so that they
are in a close ended form. The survey questionnaire was developed based on an
extensive literature review (Shah and Ward, 2007). Later, it was checked and validated
by 10 experts, comprising of academics and industry practitioners.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
Initially 250 questionnaires were distributed by post and electronic mail to potential
respondents. Unfortunately, only 27 completed and useable questionnaires were
returned by the respondents, thus giving a poor response rate of 10.8%. Due to this poor
result, the authors decided to contact the Vendor Development Department of the
Malaysian car manufacturers to garner some support from them. In March 2011, the
authors’ application was approved, and a time slot offered during a vendor briefing
program and annual quality presentation. On that day, the authors personally distributed
the survey questionnaire to all participants and asked them to fill in the questionnaire
based on their actual experience of LM implementation. Returned questionnaire without
complete information will not be considered for statistical analysis. At the end of the
program the authors received 70 sets of completed survey questionnaires, raising the
total number of completed and returned survey questionnaires to 97.
Table 1. SME profiles
Descriptive Freq. %
Type of ownership Malaysian 28 80.0
Foreign 4 11.4
Joint venture 3 8.6
Type of products Metal 11 31.4

Plastics 12 34.3
Electronics 1 2.9
Rubber 4 11.4
Mechanical 2 5.7
Others 5 14.3
No. of years established <5 5 14.3

5 – 10 years 10 28.6
>10 and <15 8 22.9
> 15 12 34.3
No. of years implement <3 21 60.0

lean (years)
>3 and < 5 11 31.4
>5 3 8.6
822
As a result, the response rate increased from 10.8 to 38.8%, which is considered
adequate to perform SPSS analysis. The respondents’ profile indicates that 63.9% of
them were from large companies and 36.1% were from SMEs. The majority of
respondents were from large companies, and the results of this survey were similar to
the results of Shah and Ward (2007) and Wong et al. (2009). In this paper, the authors
wanted to highlight LM implementation in SMEs manufacturing automotive
components.
Table 1 shows the SME’s profiles. The survey results showed that a large
majority (i.e. 80%) of the SMEs are owned by Malaysians. The two main products
manufactured comprised of metal with 31.4% and plastics (34.3%). Almost 86% of the
respondent SMEs were established for more than 5 years. Sixty percent of them have
less than 3 years experience and are considered new in LM implementation. The
objective of this paper is to examine and compare SMEs’ perceptions and practices with
respect to LM implementation. In this paper, the authors shall discuss 14 highly
perceived and practiced LM practices chosen by the survey respondents, shown in Table
2. The three highest mean scores for perceived importance of LM practice are 5S,
continuous improvement and reduced machine set up time. The survey results show that
the understanding of the importance of LM practices were translated into real practice,
except for the reduced machine set up time, which is in 7th place instead of 3rd. The 3rd
ranking for practiced LM was the standardisation of operation. The outcome of this
survey may inform us that the top priority for LM practice implementation in SMEs is
related to cost reduction, which is in line with the conclusions of Lee (1997) and
Gunasekaran et al. (2000). As shown in Table 2, the majority of SMEs agreed that the
four highest practices implemented are 5S, continuous improvement (Kaizen), reducing
machine set-up time and the standardisation of operation. Apart from cost reductions,
these four practices were considered as fundamental to LM manufacturing and are easy
to implement in SMEs. In addition, 5S and continuous improvement implementation
results can be achieved almost immediately when compared to others that require a long
time to see the results.
Table 2. Rank of mean scores for perception and practice of LM practices
LM practice Perceived Practiced

Mean Rank Mean Rank
5S 4.800 1 3.943 1
Continuous improvement (Kaizen) 4.714 2 3.914 2
Reduce machine set up time 4.714 3 3.686 7
Standardisation of operation 4.600 4 3.886 3
Improvement team activities 4.543 5 3.657 8
Plan Do Check Action (PDCA) 4.543 6 3.857 4
Visual control – Display charts 4.514 7 3.686 5
Preventive maintenance program 4.486 8 3.486 10
Kanban 4.429 9 3.029 14
Multifunction/multiskilling 4.400 10 3.686 6
employees
Quality circle 4.400 11 3.400 12
Statistical process control (SPC) 4.371 12 3.457 11
Value stream mapping (VSM) 4.343 13 3.600 9
TAKT time 4.314 14 3.286 13
823
Referring to Table 2, multifunction/multiskilling employees is ranked in 6th place.

However it is quite surprising that the implementation of quality circles in SMEs is
ranked in 10th place. Possible reasons may be that the implementation of quality circles
not seriously considered in SMEs due to the low numbers of employees, and that they
already treated their employees well, are easy to manage and do not need a lot of
bureaucracy (Antony and Kumar, 2005). Under these circumstances, any changes that
the SMEs want to make can be done quickly and easily with the full support of their
employees. The subsequent analysis was done using SPSS Version 18 to determine
whether there is any significant difference between the SMEs’ perceptions and the
practice of LM procedures. The non-parametric test – the Wilcoxon test – was applied
to analyse the statistical outcome. Table 3 shows that the Wilcoxon test results for the
14 LM perceptions and practices have a p value of less than 0.05 (p <0.05), which
means there are significant differences between the SMEs’ perceptions and practices.
Thus it can be concluded that SMEs have a high perception of importance towards the
14 LM practices, however they fail to translate this high perception of importance into
actual practice. The findings of this survey on LM perceptions and actual practice are in
line with findings on total quality management and benchmarking studies carried out on
SMEs (Deros et al., 2004; Zadry and Yusof, 2006).
Table 3. Comparison between perception and actual practice using Wilcoxon test
(n = 35)
Lean practices p Z
Reduced machine/tooling set up time 0.000 -4.485
Standardisation of operation 0.000 -3.987
Kanban 0.000 -4.622
Continuous improvement (Kaizen) 0.000 -4.007
5S 0.000 -4.144
Quality circle 0.000 -4.419
Multifunction/multiskilling employees 0.000 -3.801
Improvement team activities 0.000 -4.274
Preventive maintenance program 0.000 -4.618
Visual control – Display charts 0.000 -4.007
Value stream mapping (VSM) 0.003 -4.289
TAKT time 0.000 -4.448
Plan Do Check Action (PDCA) 0.000 -3.738
Statistical process control (SPC) 0.000 -4.413
The respondents were also asked about the origin of the sources of LM
information in their SMEs. Figure 1 shows the various information sources available to
the respondents. The four highest frequencies of sources of LM information are the
organisation’s customers, followed by top management, government agencies and
seminars. In order to ensure successful LM implementation in Malaysian automotive
component manufacturers, all parties must be involved; which includes all 1st tier, 2nd
tier, and 3rd tier vendors, and they should play a role in supporting LM practice
implementation (Real et al., 2007). Commitment from the SMEs’ top management and
government agencies, especially in terms of financial support, could also influence LM
implementation success (Achanga et al., 2006). Meanwhile, the involvement of a
government agency could enhance the SMEs’ participation in LM implementation by
824
providing them with financial assistance. The Malaysian Automotive Institute (MAI) is
a government agency that coordinates LM implementation among automotive
component manufacturers. This agency employs senior technical experts in LM from
Japan to train Malaysian SMEs in LM. This seven years program started in 2006 and
lasts until 2013, up till now 87 SMEs have participated in this training program (MAI,
2012).
articles
consultant
in house
sources
internet
seminars
government agency
top management
customer
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
frequency
Figure 1. Lean manufacturing information sources.
In the fifth section of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked the reasons
why they are implementing LM in their SMEs. Figure 2 shows the reasons given by
respondents in choosing LM. The three most common reasons are:
i) to improve long-term cost competitiveness

ii) to meet customer demand
iii) to improve long-term quality competitiveness
To fulfil customer directives
To reduce inventory
To reduce delivery time

Purpose
To improve overall profit margin
To compete with competitor
To improve long term quality competitiveness
To meet customer demand
To improve long term cost competition
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
frequency
Figure 2. Reasons for chosing LM.
825
Most of these reasons are related to the customers’ requirements, who always
demand that their vendors improve quality and reduce costs. According to Katayama
and Bennete, (1996), improvements in customer satisfaction would increase the chance
of becoming a long-term supplier. In addition, these efforts could raise the status of
SMEs to become at par with larger companies. Failure to meet customer requirements
may result in a loss of both current and future business opportunities to competitors. In
the final part, the respondents were asked to identify the benefits gained from LM
implementation in their SMEs. In this part the respondents were asked to rate the level
of benefits based on a 5-point Likert scale. The score will be 5 if the respondents
strongly agree on the highlighted benefits, whereas if they strongly disagree the score is
1. Figure 3 shows the 10 benefits considered in the questionnaire. The three highest
mean values of benefits are floor space utilisation, production lead time and finished
goods inventory. The highest score is 3.9 for floor space utilisation. The floor space was
minimised through a reduction in travel distance between one workstation and another.
Travel distance is considered one of 7 wastes of time in LM (Melton, 2005). A shorter
travel distance will lead to a reduction in lead time. In addition, the respondents also
claimed that LM implementation results in a better finished goods inventory. This result
is in line with that of Matson and Matson (2007), who discovered that more than half of
their respondents claimed that the level of the inventory was enhanced after LM
implementation.
Employees behavior
Manufacturing cost
Customer complaints
On time delivery
Mean score
Labour producitvity
Raw material inventory
improve product quality
Finished goods inventory
Production lead time
Floor space utilization
2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4

Benefits
Figure 3. Mean score for lean benefits
CONCLUSION
This paper has provided useful information related to the current status of LM
implementation in Malaysian SMEs involved in the automotive component
manufacturing industry. In addition, it also highlighted some critical issues with respect
to LM implementation in SMEs. This study shows that SMEs’ top management is
aware on the importance of LM implementation in their companies. The movement of
826
Malaysian SMEs towards LM is in line with the Asian Free Trade Agreement (AFTA),
which will be fully enforced in 2015 (MAI). The majority of the survey respondents
have high perceptions on the importance of LM practices; however it was determined
from the survey that the level of actual LM implementation and practice is still low. The
significant difference between the perceptions of importance and actual practice may be
due to the respondents’ lack of authority or due to their failure to translate what they
perceived as being important to actual practice. Therefore, SME top management needs
to seriously look into this matter in order to ensure that the high perceptions of
importance of LM practices are being translated into actual practice on the shop floor.
Apart from that, the survey also discovered that the majority of SMEs mainly received
LM information from their customers, top management and government agencies.
Moreover, the majority of SMEs that participated in this survey were struggling to
improve their long-term cost competition, which can be achieved through LM
implementation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Proton Berhad for supporting this research.
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829
TRACKING CONTROL OF AN UNDERACTUATED GANTRY CRANE USING

AN OPTIMAL FEEDBACK CONTROLLER
Firooz Bakhtiari-Nejad1, Mostafa Nazemizadeh2 and Hanieh Arjmand1

1
Department of Mechanics, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran
2
Department of Mechanics, Damavand Branch
Islamic Azad University, Damavand, Iran
Tell: ++98-912-7376322
Email: mn.nazemizadeh@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Gantry cranes have attracted a great deal of interest in transportation and industrial
applications. To increase the effectiveness of gantry cranes, the control of such systems
is considered vital. This paper is concerned with tracking the control of an
underactuated gantry crane using an optimal feedback controller. The optimal control
strategy takes into account a performance index, including integrated time and absolute
error criterion. To do this, nonlinear dynamic equations of the system are derived using
Lagrange’s Principle. The minimum tracking error of the trolley and the minimum
oscillation of the hoisting line are assumed as design parameters, and the best gains of
the feedback controller are achieved. Finally, some tracking simulations are performed
which demonstrate the capability of the simple proposed method in the optimal tracking
control of a gantry crane.
Key words: Tracking control; gantry crane; optimal feedback; ITAE.
INTRODUCTION
Cranes are exceedingly applied in the transportation and construction fields. A crane
consists of a hoisting mechanism which is suspended from a point on the support
mechanism. The support mechanism moves the suspension point around the crane
workspace, while the hoisting mechanism lifts and lowers the payload to deposit the
payload at a target point. Based on the support mechanism, cranes can be classified as:
gantry (overhead) cranes, tower (rotary) cranes, and boom crane. Gantry cranes are
commonly composed of a trolley moving along a fixed support, while a hoisting
mechanism (traditionally a cable and a hook) is suspended from a point on the trolley to
transport the payload. Gantry cranes have attracted a great deal of interest in
transportation and industrial applications, due to their low cost, ease of assembly, and
low maintenance (Abdel-Rahman et al., 2003; Ahmad and Mohamed, 2009, 2010;
Stahlbock and Vob, 2010). For the sake of minimum transportation time, high tracking
accuracy, and minimum swing angle, the dynamic modelling and motion control of
gantry crane systems have become appealing tasks in the field of control science. For
the modelling of a crane two approaches are introduced in the literature survey: lumped-
mass and distributed-mass models. In the distributed-mass procedure, the hoisting line
is modelled as a string, and the payload is assumed as a lumped mass as a boundary
condition of the system (Manning et al., 2010; Masoud, 2009; Rahn et al., 1999). On the
830
Tracking control of an underactuated gantry crane using an optimal feedback controller
other hand, the lumped-mass modelling of the crane considers a massless cable as the
hoisting line, and a lumped mass as the payload. This approach has been widely
employed in the modelling of gantry cranes (Ahmad, 2009; Dey et al., 2010; Kolonic et
al., 2006; Zrnic et al., 1998). Furthermore, the dynamic motion of a crane can be
exposed to some unwanted phenomena, such as inaccurate path travel, relatively large
sway angles, and residual pendulations at the target point. These constraints degrade the
efficiency of the crane’s operation, and lead to time delays and higher operation costs.
Thus the control of the dynamic motion of a gantry crane has recently received a great
deal of interest. Hubbel et al. (1992) used an open-loop control method (named input-
shaping method) to control the motion of a gantry crane. In this method, the input
control profile was determined in such way that unwanted oscillations and residual
pendulations were avoided during travel (Masoud and Daqaq, 2006). Solihin and
Legowo (2010) proposed a Fuzzy-tuned PID controller for the anti-swing control of a
crane. Moreover, a hybrid input-shaping strategy was implemented by Ahmad et al.
(2009) to control a gantry crane system. However, although this method was effective,
the input-shaping method changed from an open-loop control scheme, and was not
robust to disturbances and parameter uncertainties (Dey et al., 2010). On the other hand,
feedback control, which is well known to be more robust, is also adopted for the control
of gantry crane systems. The first feedback control strategy for such a system was
suggested by Hazlerigg (1972). A second order lead compensator was employed to
dampen the payload pendulations. Moustafa and Ebied (1988) used a nonlinear
modelling and anti-swing control method for an overhead crane. Yu et al. (1995) used a
perturbation technique to separate the slow and fast dynamic behaviours of a gantry
crane. Then they used a feedback controller (including two independent PD controllers)
to track a pre-defined motion profile and suppress payload pendulations. Furthermore, a
fuzzy logic feedback controller was proposed to control an intelligent crane system
(Wahyudi and Jalani; 2005). Wang and Surgenor (2004) presented an optimal control
method to control the dynamic motion of the system. They considered the minimum
energy of system and integrated an absolute error of payload angle as their optimisation
criterion.
This paper deals with the tracking control of an underactuated gantry crane
employing an optimal feedback controller. At first, the nonlinear dynamic equations of
the gantry crane are derived by the implementation of Lagrange’s principle. Then, the
linearised state-space equations of the system are presented, considering the motor
voltage of a wheel of the trolley as the input, and the displacement of the trolley as the
output of the crane. Considering the tracking response of the trolley and the minimum
oscillation of the hoisting line as the optimisation criterions, an optimal feedback
controller is designed based on the ITAE criterion. Finally, some simulation results are
determined, which show the capability of the method for the optimal tracking control of
a gantry crane.
DYNAMIC MODEL OF SYSTEM
In this section, the dynamic model of a gantry crane is presented. The dynamic
equations of the system are derived using Lagrange’s principle. Figure 1 shows a gantry
crane moving in two-dimensional space. The crane consists of a cart (trolley)
transversing in the horizontal direction, while a massless pendulum is connected to the
cart and hoists the payload. The parameters of the overhead system are presented in
Table 1.
831
Nejad et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 830-839
x
r
Beq x
f M
 l
m
B p
Figure 1. Gantry crane
Table 1. Parameters of the gantry crane
Parameters Nomenclature
Cart position x
Cart velocity x
Pendulum angular displacement 
Pendulum angular velocity 
Pendulum length l
Mass of the cart system M
Payload mass m
Gravitational constant of earth g
Radius of wheels of cart r
DC motor voltage of cart e
Force exerted to cart f
Motor armature resistance R
Motor torque constant k
Viscous damping coefficient of pendulum Bp
axis
Equivalent viscous damping coefficient Beq
Hence equivalent viscous damping is presumed for cart displacement, and

equivalent viscous damping is considered in the pendulum axis, thus the nonlinear
dynamics of the gantry crane (shown in Fig. 1) can be summarised as (Dey et al., 2010):
( M  m) x  ml(cos    2 sin  )  2ml cos   mlsin   f  Beq x

(1)
l  2l  x cos   g sin    B 
p
Moreover, the following simplifications can be applied to the system: (i) the
model does not include a hoisting drive, thus the rod length is fixed; (ii) the trolley or
payload is assumed to be point mass; (iii) the trolley and payload are assumed to move
in the X-Y plane; and (iv) viscous damping effects are neglected.
832
Applying the foregoing assumptions, the nonlinear dynamic equations of the

system are presented in Eq. (2) (Ghosh et al., 2010):
( M  m) x  mlcos   ml 2 sin   f

(2)
xcos   l  g sin   0
In addition, the linear force f originating from the torque of the motor of trolley
T (Friedland, 1986):
T  rf
k k2
T e  (3)
R R
x  r
where  is the angular velocity of the DC motor and is related to the velocity of the
cart by Eq. (3).
Furthermore, by combining Eq. (2) and Eq. (3), the nonlinear equation of the
gantry cane considering an electrical motor can be summarised as follows:
  1 k k2 
( M  m) x  ml cos   ml sin    e 
 2
 x 
rR Rr  (4)
xcos   l  g sin   0
 

Furthermore, the state vector is defined as X  x x    x1 x2 x3 x4  , and
T T
the nonlinear equations of the system in state-space form are presented as Eq. (5):
 d
 
x  ( x)
dt

  ke k 2 x 
ml 2 2 sin   ( M  m) gl tan   l   
  Rr Rr 2 
 x   g tan 
 M  m(1  cos 2  )
 d
(5)
   ( )
 dt
   ke k 2 x 
  ml  2
sin  cos   ( M  m ) g sin   cos    2 
   Rr Rr 
 Ml  ml(1  cos 2  )
For safe operation, the swing angle should be kept small (   0,   0 ). Thus,
the linearised state-space equations of the system can be presented as Eq. (6):
 
X  A X  Bu
 (6)
y  CX  Du
833
where the matrices are:
0 1 0 0  0 
 k2 mg   k 
0  Rr 2 M M
0  
A B   RrM 
0 0 0 1 0 (7)
   k 
0 k 2
( M  m) g
 0  
 2
Rr Ml Ml   RrMl 
C  1 0 0 0 D0
Optimal Feedback Control Law
In this section, the optimal feedback controller formulation is presented. Assuming that
the system is described by Eq. (7), and the output y  x1 must track the desired value r .
Then the following state feedback control is defined (Ogata, 2002):
 
u  k1 x1  r   0 k 2 k3 ... k n  X  k1 r   X (8)
where the feedback controller is   k1 k2 k3 ... kn .

For optimal control of the system, the performance index is presumed as a
function of integrated time and in absolute error terms:
tf
J ITAE   t e(t ) dt (9)

t0
Hence the cost function is defined as Eq. (9), the characteristic equation of the
closed-loop system can be obtained as an ITAE polynomial (Preitl et al., 2008):
 ITAE (s)  s 4  2.1n s3  3.4n2 s 2  2.7n3 s  n4 (10)
where n is a dimensionless parameter and can be changed by the designer to achieve

the best response from the closed-loop system.
yx
u Nonlinear x
r +
- k1 + model of

- system


Figure 2. Scheme of feedback controller
834
In this section the tracking control of the gantry crane is simulated. For the gantry crane
presented (Figure 1), it is desired that the cart tracks a step value in minimum time,
while the oscillation of the pendulum is quickly settled. The parameter values of the
system are presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Parameter values of the gantry crane (Iles et al., 2011)
Parameter Value Unit

Pendulum length (l) 0.3302 m
Mass of the cart system (M) 1.073 gk
Payload mass (m) 0.23 gk
Gravitational constant of earth (g) 9.81 m/s2
Radius of wheels of cart (r) 0.006 m
Motor armature resistance (R) 2.6 
Motor maximum voltage ( emax ) 12 V
Motor torque constant (k) 0.00767 Vs/rad
As mentioned, the desired criterion of the control design are: the trolley can
track the reference input while the sway of the pendulum is quickly dampened, and the
input voltage of the motor does not exceed its maximum value. It must be noted that the
simulations are performed in Simulink of MATLAB. Hence, the control law is
developed for the linear form of the system, but the nonlinear model is simulated in the
studies. To achieve the best parameters of design, the value of  n in Eq. (10) is
changed, and the corresponding responses are evaluated. Then, the best value of  n is
chosen, and the response of the system and input voltage are determined. Assuming
different values of  n , the desired poles of the closed-loop system, and the gain matrix
K are presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Closed-loop poles of the system
wn Desired closed-loop poles Gain matrix K

1 P1, 2  0.626  0.414i K  0.073458  1.08 23.572  1.447
P3, 4  0.424  1.263i
2 P1, 2  0.6848  2.526i K  1.1753 0.30835 16.586  2.5027
P3, 4  1.252  0.828i
3 P1, 2  1.2719  3.789i , K  5.9501 4.0767 5.9119  2.7717
P3, 4  1.8781  1.2424i
4 P1, 2  1.6959  5.052i K  18.805 11.415  6.9941  1.8618
P3, 4  2.5041  01.6566i
As the input reference is assumed to be a unit step, the trolley displacement of

the gantry crane is shown in Figure 3. The angular displacement of the pendulum is
shown in Figure 4. Moreover, the input voltage of the cart of the gantry crane during
835
motion is shown in Figure 5. As is seen in Figures 3–5, the cart and pendulum
displacements, and the input voltage are depicted against the time of motion.
Figure 3. Displacement of the cart
Figure 4. Angular displacement of the pendulum
836
Figure 5. Motor voltage of the cart
As seen in Figure 3, by increasing the value of  n the tracking error of the cart
displacement decreases, and the response to the reference input becomes more rapid.
But according to Figures 4 and 5, increasing the value of  n results in an increase in the
maximum values of the angular displacement of the pendulum and the motor voltage of
the cart. This matter stems from the fact that increasing the gains of the optimal
feedback controller results in exceeding of the input efforts of the system. Thus the
designer must perform a trade-off between the criterion, according to the characteristics
of the response, such as the settling time and maximum overshoot of the cart
displacement, the maximum value of the angular displacement of the pendulum, and the
maximum value of the motor voltage. Table 4 shows the characteristics of the system’s
response when considering different values of  n .
Table 4. Characteristics of response of the system
wn Maximum Settling time Maximum Settling Maximum

percent of x value of  time of  voltage of
overshoot of x motor
1 0.6711 4.155 0.0251 6.1550 0.90895
2 0.97146 1.9383 0.1002 4.7701 2.6317
3 0.7819 1.4622 0.2273 4.5551 5.9501
4 1.0937 1.1934 0.3930 3.6678 18.805
According to Table 4, as the value of  n increases the settling time of x, is

decreases, which is a criterion of the design. But the maximum values of the angular
837
displacement of the pendulum and the input voltage of the motor are increased, which
are not appropriate tasks for the design of the controller. Thus, based on the ITAE
criterion, the best closed-loop poles are obtained when n  3 , and is equal to
P1, 2  1.2719  3.789i , P3, 4  1.8781  1.2424i and the corresponding gain matrix is
K  5.9501 4.0767 5.9119  2.7717. Thus the gain matrix of the feedback
controller is able to trade between all the criterion of the design, such as a fast response
of the cart, minimum swing angle, and reasonable values for input effort of the system
without any saturation.
CONCLUSION
In the presented paper, an optimal feedback controller has been designed for a gantry
crane, which can track a desired reference input, taking into account ITAE criterion.
The nonlinear dynamic equations of the system have been derived, and the nonlinear
and linearised state-space dynamic models of the gantry crane have been presented.
Moreover, a scheme of the feedback control law to track a reference value has been
developed, and the desired closed-loop characteristic equation of the system has been
obtained by employing the ITAE polynomial. Then, some simulations of the system
have been presented using different values of the closed-loop system. The desired
criterion of the control design have been defined in that the trolley must track the
reference input while the swing angle of the pendulum is dampened quickly, and the
input voltage of the motor does not exceed its maximum value. Therefore, the best gain
matrix of the feedback controller has been obtained. It has been shown that the proposed
method is simple and effective for the optimal tracking of a desired input.
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839
EFFECT OF Ta2O5 DOPING ON THE MICROSTRUCTURE AND

DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF BaTiO3 BASED CERAMICS
Adnan Mousharraf and Md. Fakhrul Islam

Email: addumos@yahoo.com
Phone: +8801714939276.
ABSTRACT
The main focus of the research was to correlate composition and sintering parameters
with the microstructure and dielectric properties of Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 ceramics. The
samples were sintered using both single and two-stage sintering techniques. Thereafter
SEM and XRD techniques were used to examine the structure of the samples with a
particular focus on the incorporation of Ta5+ ions into the BaTiO3 crystal lattice. The
SEM analysis focused on measuring the grain size and investigating the grain size
distribution of the sintered samples. Finally, the dielectric properties were analysed and
the relationship between the properties and structure of the doped BaTiO3 was
established. From the research it can be stated that two-stage sintering yielded the best
dielectric properties. The best stable value of the room temperature dielectric constant
(k) of 19000 was obtained for the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sample sintered at
13200C for 0hrs and 12800C for 6hrs, due to the combination of a high percent
theoretical density (%TD) and optimum grain size. At a temperature range of 300 to
600C, this combination of composition and sintering parameters yielded a dielectric
constant in the range of 18000–19000.
Keywords: Barium titanate; tantalaum oxide; doping; ceramic; double-stage sintering.
INTRODUCTION
BaTiO3, a ferroelectric ceramic material, has attracted considerable interest for

application in a variety of fields, such as capacitors, transducers, actuators, electro-optic
devices. There are several reasons for its extensive practical application. Firstly because
it is chemically and mechanically very stable; secondly it exhibits ferroelectric
properties at and above room temperature, and finally because it can be easily prepared
and used in the form of ceramic polycrystalline samples. However, pure BaTiO3 with an
average grain size of around 1µm exhibits a dielectric constant of 3000–5000 at room
temperature (Amarande et al., 2007; Arlt et al., 1985; Sivakumar et al., 2011; Jingkun
et al., 1999). Dielectric constants as high as 5800 have also been reported (Amarande et
al., 2007). For pure BaTiO3, the dielectric constant value increases with a decrease in
grain size and a general broadening of the transition peak results (Kinoshinta and
Yamaji, 1976). Moreover, the suppression of the transition peak significantly increases
the room temperature dielectric constant of pure BaTiO3 (Burfoot and Martirena, 1974).
Despite all these findings, the industrial application of pure BaTiO3 is still somewhat
limited due to its low dielectric properties.
In order to use BaTiO3 on an industrial scale, BaTiO3 has been doped with several
dopants like MgO, ZrO2, Nd2O3, Ta2O5, Nb2O5, and many more to control its grain size
840
Effect of Ta2O5 doping on the microstructure and dielectric properties of BaTiO3 based ceramics
and to improve its dielectric properties (Armstrong et al., 1989; Kelvin et al., 2010;
Chan et al., 1986; Chao et al., 2008; Hwang et al., 2000; Kelvin et al., 2010; Mastelaro
et al., 2004). Among these dopants, pentavalent oxides such as Ta2O5, Nb2O5 have a
strong influence on the dielectric properties of BaTiO3. They influence the dielectric
properties of pure BaTiO3 by controlling the grain size, improving the density and
shifting the Curie temperature. Under optimum sintering conditions and doping levels,
the dielectric properties of pure BaTiO3 can be significantly enhanced with Ta2O5,
Nb2O5 (Ahn et al., 2009). Judging the potential of pentavalent oxides used as dopants,
the current study extensively examined the effects of Ta2O5 doping on the
microstructure and dielectric properties of BaTiO3 ceramics. The ultimate aim of the
study was to develop an environmentally-friendly ceramic capacitor for electronic
industries.
EXPERIMENTAL
Reagent-grade nano-sized oxide powder of BaTiO3 with a purity better than 99% was
used as the starting raw materials. The powder was doped with Ta2O5 at concentrations
ranging from 0.5–1.5 mole %. Both powders were mixed and milled for 18–20 hrs.
Following that, the powders were dried and a binder PVA was added. Then the powders
were pressed into pellets, approximately 5 mm thick and 12 mm in diameter, at a
pressure of around 150MPa using a hydraulic press (Figure 1(a)). Subsequently, the
pressed samples were sintered in a high temperature furnace (Figure 1(b)). For a
particular sintering cycle, the samples were at first heated to 5500C for one hour to
remove the binder and were then heated to the desired sintering temperature. Single
stage sintering was carried out in the range of 1250–13000C for two hours. Whereas,
two-stage sintering was carried out by keeping the 1st stage sintering condition fixed at
13200C for zero hours and only varying the holding time during 2nd stage sintering
from 4–6 hrs at a constant temperature of 12800C. After sintering, X-ray diffraction
(XRD) was performed in order to determine the percent theoretical density (%TD),
phase and structural analysis. Moreover, micro-structural analysis was performed using
a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) (Figure 2(a)), and the
temperature dependence of the dielectric constant (k) was measured at various
frequencies (10 to 500 kHz) at a heating rate of 4oC/min using an Impedance analyser
(Figure 2(b)).
(a) (b)
Figure 1. Experimental setup for sample preparation: (a) Hydraulic press for pelletizing;
(b) High temperature furnace for sintering.
841
Mousharraf and Islam /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 840-849
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Experimental setup for characterisation and dielectric property measurement:

(a) FE-SEM for microstructural analysis; (b) Impedance analyser for dielectric property
measurement.
Numerical data on the effect of single stage sintering on the percent theoretical density
(%TD), grain size and dielectric constant (k) of Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples are
tabulated in Table 1. Table 1 shows that for a particular mole % of Ta2O5 doping, the
percent theoretical density of the Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples increased with
increasing temperature. However, at a certain temperature, an increase in the Ta2O5
mole % resulted in a lowering of percent theoretical density of the samples.
Table 1. Percent theoretical density (%TD), grain size and dielectric constant (k) of
single stage sintered Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples
SI Sinterin Sintering Holdin Cooling Dopin %T Grai Dielectric

No g rate temperatur g time rate g D n constant
0 0
: ( C/min) e (Hours) ( C/min mole size (k)
(0C) ) % (µm) at room
temperatur
e
1 5 1250 2hrs 3 0.5 91.7 0.30 1700–2000
2 5 1250 2hrs 3 1.0 90.5 0.28 1700–2000
3 5 1250 2hrs 3 1.5 88.0 0.25 1700–2000
4 5 1275 2hrs 3 0.5 92.0 0.35 1700–2000
5 5 1275 2hrs 3 1.0 91.6 0.30 1700–2000
6 5 1275 2hrs 3 1.5 90.0 0.26 1700–2000
7 5 1300 2hrs 3 0.5 93.0 1.10 13000
8 5 1300 2hrs 3 1.0 92.0 0.40 1700–2000
9 5 1300 2hrs 3 1.5 91.5 0.38 1700–2000
842
It is also observed from Table 1 that for all Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples sintered
within the temperature range of 1250–12750C, 2hrs of holding time proved to be
insufficient, resulting in samples with a fine grain size. Due to their fine grain size, all
these samples exhibited a poor dielectric constant in spite of having a high percent
theoretical density. However, at 13000C the 2hrs of the holding time proved to be
sufficient for the 0.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sample. As a result, the sample
exhibited a high percent theoretical density, satisfactory grain size, and moderate
dielectric constant. For 1.0–1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples, the holding time
again proved to be inadequate and resulted in samples of fine grain size. As a
consequence, these samples again presented a poor dielectric constant. All these results
are consistent with the findings of Manalert and Rahaman (1998), who concluded that
the amount of pentavalent oxide dopants controls the microstructure of Ta2O5 doped
BaTiO3 samples. For the penta-valance donor cations, the grain boundary mobility
initially increases with cation concentration but then decreases significantly above a
doping threshold of 0·3–0·5 mole %. Generally dopants need very low to almost no
energy to concentrate at the grain boundaries. However, energy is required to
incorporate a dopant ion into an individual lattice site in complex oxides. The amount of
energy required is related to the distortions, i.e. difference in ionic radii, and the
formation of compensating defects during the incorporation of aliovalent ions that have
different valence states (Ahn et al., 2009). Thus, more energy was required in our
research for the diffusion of the dopants to move inwards from the grain boundary into
the lattice and to reduce the pinning effect. The required energy could have been
supplied by increasing the holding time of the single stage sintering. But this route was
associated with a high cost and would make the project less viable for industrial
application. As a result, further research was focused on two-stage sintering. Numerical
data of the effect of two-stage sintering on percent theoretical density (%TD), grain size
and dielectric constant (k) of Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples are tabulated in Table 2.
Table 2. Percent theoretical density (%TD), grain size and dielectric constant (k) of two-
stage sintered Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples.
SI Sintering Sintering Sintering Cooling Doping %TD Grain Dielectric

No: rate temperature temperature rate mole % size constant (k)
(0C/min) and holding and holding (0C/min) (µm) at room
time time temperature
(1st stage) (2nd stage)
1 5 13200C for 12800C for 3 0.5 95.0 1.80 9500
0 hrs 4hrs
2 5 13200C for 12800C for 3 1.0 93.0 1.30 16500
0 hrs 4hrs
3 5 13200C for 12800C for 3 1.5 91.0 1.10 17900
0 hrs 4hrs
4 5 13200C for 12800C for 3 0.5 93.5 1.90 8900
0 hrs 6hrs
5 5 13200C for 12800C for 3 1.0 92.1 1.40 13700
0 hrs 6hrs
6 5 13200C for 12800C for 3 1.5 92.9 1.20 19000
0 hrs 6hrs
843
Table 2 shows that for a 0.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sample, 4hrs of holding
time during 2nd stage sintering decreased the dielectric constant value due to an
excessive increase in grain size. The high grain growth of the sample may have resulted
from the complete diffusion of Ta2O5 into the bulk material. This phenomenon is clearly
evident from the SEM micrograph of Figure 3(a), which shows no evidence of bimodal
grain size distribution or the pinning effect. However, for a 1.0 mole % Ta2O5 doped
BaTiO3 sample, 4hrs of holding time produced controlled grain growth and increased
the dielectric constant value to a moderate level, which is shown in the SEM micrograph
of Figure 3(b). For the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sample, 4hrs of holding time
might not have been sufficient for complete diffusion of the dopants into the lattice, and
as a result there was evidence of the pinning effect. The SEM micrograph of Figure 3(c)
clearly shows the presence of bimodal grain size distribution. However, the combination
of a moderate percent theoretical density and suitable grain size of 1.5 mole % Ta2O5
doped BaTiO3 sample resulted in the best dielectric properties for 4hrs of holding time.
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 3. SEM micrographs (X 50,000) of: (a) 0.5 mole %; (b) 1.0 mole %; and (c) 1.5
mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples sintered at 13200C (0 hrs ) and 12800C (4 hrs).
844
Table 2 also shows that for 6 hrs of holding time, the 0.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped
BaTiO3 sample showed even more exaggerated grain growth in comparison to the
sample sintered at 4hrs of holding time (Figure 4(a)). This excessive grain growth
resulted in a decrease in percent theoretical density of the sample and also lowered its
dielectric constant. However, under the same sintering conditions, the 1.0 mole % Ta2O5
doped BaTiO3 sample showed controlled grain growth but larger than the sample
sintered under previous sintering conditions (Figure 4(b)). For the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5
doped BaTiO3 sample, even 6 hrs of holding time showed signs of the pinning effect.
But the grain size of the sample was slightly higher than the sample sintered at 4hrs of
holding time (Figure 4(c)). Due to the combination of high percent theoretical density
and optimum grain size, the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sample exhibited the best
dielectric properties for 6hrs of holding time.
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 4. SEM micrographs (X 50,000) of: (a) 0.5 mole %; (b) 1.0 mole %; and (c) 1.5
mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples sintered at 13200C (0hrs ) and 12800C (6hrs).
The XRD patterns of Figure 5 indicate the formation of both tetragonal and cubic
phases of BaTiO3. The XRD pattern for the 0.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sample
sintered at 13200C for 0hrs and 12800C for 4hrs shows the presence of twin peaks
845
similar to pure BaTiO3 powder (Figures 5(a) and 5(b)). So it can be concluded that for
0.5 mole % Ta2O5 doping, the BaTiO3 retained the tetragonal perovskite structure.
However, the XRD pattern for the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 samples sintered at
13200C for 0hrs and 12800C for 4hrs shows no evidence of twin peaks, which indicates
that 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 reduced the tetragonality and stabilised the cubic phase of
BaTiO3 (Figure 5(c)). This phenomenon is also consistent in the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5
doped BaTiO3 samples sintered at 13200C for 0hrs and 12800C for 6hrs (Figure 5(d)).
So it can be stated that 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 stabilised the cubic phase of BaTiO3.
Figure 5. XRD plots for: (a) Pure Barium Titanate powder; (b) 0.5 mole %; and (c) 1.5
mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sintered at 13200C (0hrs ) and 12800C (4hrs); and (d) 1.5
mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sintered at 13200C (0hrs) and 12800C (6hrs).
846
The findings from the XRD patterns are also consistent with the results of the
temperature dependence of the dielectric constant (k). Although the Curie temperature
(Tc) for pure BaTiO3 is 1200C, the Curie point of the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3
sintered at 13200C for 0hrs and 12800C for 4hrs shifted to 840C (Figure 6), and the
Curie point of the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped BaTiO3 sintered at 13200C for 0hrs and
12800C for 6hrs shifted to 800C (Figure 7). According to theory, at a fixed temperature
an increase in frequency results in a decrease in dielectric constant (Bowen et al., 1976;
Carter and Norton, 2007; Richerson, 1992). This effect of tfrequency on the dielectric
constant is clearly evident in Figure 8. The best stable value of dielectric constant as a
function of temperature was obtained around 18000 for the 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped
BaTiO3 sample sintered at 13200C for 0hrs and 12800C for 6hrs (Figure 7).
Figure 6. Variation in dielectric constant with temperature 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped
BaTiO3 sintered at 13200C (0 hrs) and 12800C (4 hrs).
Figure 7. Variation in dielectric constant with temperature of 1.5 mole % Ta2O5 doped
BaTiO3 sintered at 13200C (0 hrs) and 12800C (6 hrs).
847
Figure 8. Room temperature dielectric constant of samples sintered at optimum sintering

cycles.
CONCLUSION
An average grain size of around 1 µm normally provides a good condition for the
dielectric properties of doped BaTiO3. In this research, grain sizes in the range of 0.8–
1.2 µm showed high values of dielectric constant, while a further increase in grain size
deteriorated this property. It can also be concluded that up to 0.5 mole % Ta2O5 doping,
BaTiO3 retained its tetragonal perovskite structure. However, 1.5 mole % Ta2O5
stabilised the cubic phase of BaTiO3 and shifted the Curie temperature towards room
temperature.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge Mr. Tan Teck Siong, JEOL Asia Pte Ltd for his assistance in
the SEM analysis and BCSIR for their support in the XRD analysis.
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Manalert, R. and Rahaman, M.N. 1998. Grain Boundary Mobility of BaTiO3 Doped
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849
EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENT OF NANOFLUIDS THERMAL

PROPERTIES
Adnan M. Hussein1,4, R.A. Bakar1,2, K. Kadirgama1,2 and K.V. Sharma3

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, 26600 Pekan, Pahang,
Phone: +60179809114
E-mail: adnanphd2012@gmail.com
2
3
Centre for Energy, JNTU College of Engineering,
Kukatpally, Hyderabad, India
4
Al-Haweeja Institute, Foundation of Technical Education, Iraq
ABSTRACT
Solid particles dispersed in a liquid with sizes no larger than 100nm, known as
nanofluids, are used to enhance Thermophysical properties compared to the base fluid.
Preparations of alumina (Al2O3), titania (TiO2) and silica (SiO2) in water have been
experimentally conducted in volume concentrations ranging between 1 and 2.5%.
Thermal conductivity is measured by the hot wire method and viscosity with viscometer
equipment. The results of thermal conductivity and viscosity showed an enhancement
(0.5–20% and 0.5–60% respectively) compared with the base fluid. The data measured
agreed with experimental data of other researchers with deviation of less than 5%. The
study showed that alumina has the highest thermal conductivity, followed silica and
titania, on the other hand silica has the highest viscosity followed alumina and titania.
Keywords: Nanofluid; thermal conductivity; viscosity.
INTRODUCTION
The increasing need in many applications for fluids with more efficient heat transfer has
been led to enhance heat transfer to meet the cooling challenge necessary, such as in the
electronics, photonics, transportation and energy supply industries (Das et al., 2008).
The experimental study of copper suspended in water to enhance the heat transfer and
reduce pumping power in a heat exchanger was carried out by Choi and Eastman
(1995). The thermal conductivity of nanofluids has been calculated theoretically, and
the results showed a high thermal conductivity compared with the base fluid. Metals
have higher thermal conductivities than fluids at room temperature, as shown in Table 1
(Touloukian and DeWitt, 1970). The thermal conductivity of metallic liquids is much
greater than that of non-metallic liquids. Therefore the thermal conductivities of fluids
that contain suspended solid metallic particles could be expected to be significantly
higher than those of conventional heat transfer fluids. Sen Gupta et al. (2011) carried out
an experimental study to measure the thermal conductivity in graphene nanofluids using
the transient hot wire method. They also studied carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene
oxide nanofluids. The magnitude of enhancement was between CNT and metallic/metal
oxide nanofluids. The multicurrent hot-wire technique was used by Peñas et al. (2008)
to measure the thermal conductivity of SiO2 and CuO in water and ethylene glycol
850
Hussein et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 850-863
nanofluids with concentrations of up to 5% in mass fraction. They found good

agreement, within 2%, with the published thermal conductivities of the pure fluids. The
optimisation of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids has been proposed by Xie et al.
(2011), various nanoparticles involving Al2O3 of different sizes, SiC with different
shapes, MgO , ZnO , SiO2 , Fe3O4 , TiO2, diamond and carbon nanotubes. The base
fluids used have been deionised water (DW), ethylene glycol (EG), glycerol, silicone
oil, and a binary mixture of DW and EG. Results showed that the thermal conductivity
enhancements of nanofluids could be influenced by multi-faceted factors, including the
volume fraction of the nanoparticles, the tested temperature, thermal conductivity of the
base fluid, size of the nanoparticles, the pre-treatment process, and the additives of the
fluids. The viscosity and specific heat of silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanoparticles with
various diameters (20, 50 and 100 nm) suspended in a 60:40 (by weight) ethylene glycol
and water mixture were investigated experimentally by Namburu et al. (2007). The
results showed a new correlation of the experimental data, which related viscosity with
particle volume percent and nanofluid temperature. Also the specific heats of the SiO2
nanofluids for various particle volume concentrations were reviewed. Murshed et al.
(2006) examined the effect of temperature and volume fraction on viscosity for a TiO2-
water nanofluid. Results were recorded and analysed within a temperature range of 25
to 70oC and volume fractions of 0.1, 0.4, 0.7 and 1%. The viscosity measured using a
rheometer has been studied by Bobbo et al. (2012). It was obtained as a function of the
nanoparticle’s mass fraction and shear rate. Water was used as the base fluid with two
different materials: single wall carbon nanohorn (SWCNH) and titanium dioxide (TiO2).
The results proposed an empirical correlation to the equations of viscosity. In this study
three types of nanoparticle (Al2O3, TiO2 and SiO2) are suspended in water prepared in a
laboratory. The thermal conductivity and viscosity of these nanofluids are measured
experimentally. The results for the thermal conductivity and viscosity are compared
with standard values and other available studies.
Table 1. Thermophysical properties of various materials at 25oC (Han and Rhi, 2011).
Density Thermal Conductivity Specific heat

Material
(kg / m3) (W/m.k) (J / kg.k)
Silver 10490 429 710
Copper 8954 380 390
Aluminium 2700 237 910
Diamond 3510 3300 425
Carbon nanotubes 2250 3000 410
Silicon 2330 148 710
Alumina(Al2O3) 3880 36 773
Silica (SiO2) 2220 1.4 745
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) 4175 8.4 692
Water 998.9 0.613 4181
Ethylene glycol 1110 0.253 2200
Engine oil 890 0.145 1800
851
Experimental measurement of nanofluids thermal properties
PREPARATION OF NANOFLUIDS
Nanofluids have been prepared in the thermal laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering
Faculty of the University Malaysia Pahang. Nanopowders were purchased from US
Research Nanomaterials, Inc. (NovaScientific Resources (M) Sdn. Bhd. They represent
three types of commercial nanoparticle (Al2O3, TiO2 and SiO2), as shown in Figure 1,
and are dispersed in water as the base fluid.
Figure 1. Commercial nanoparticles.
Water was prepared in a laboratory by double distillation as shown in Figure 2,

before use in the experiments.
Figure 2. Water distillation equipment.
The diameters of the nanoparticles are 13, 30 and 30 nm. Measured quantities of
nanoparticles are dispersed in distilled water to obtain mass concentration  nanofluids.
A mechanical stirrer is used to achieve a homogenously dispersed solution, as shown in
852
Figure 3(a). This method was based on Das et al. (2008), Mahendran et al., 2012, Han
and Rhi (2011) and Lee et al. (1999). After that it has been subjected to ultrasonics as
shown in Figure 3(b) for at least 3 hrs to break up any residual agglomerations.
(a) mechanical stirrer (b) ultrasonic device
Figure 3. Nanofluid stirrer equipment.
The mass of nanoparticles (mp) and water (mf) are measured with an accuracy of
0.001 g, to estimate the weight percentage () using Eq. (1) (Das et al., 2007; Namburu
et al., 2007).
 mp 
     100

 pm  m 
f 
 (1)
Equation (2) is used to estimate the volume concentration of the nanofluid

depending on the nanoparticle density (p) and base fluid density (f) at 25oC.
mp
p
 (2)
mp mf

p f
The sedimentation of nanoparticles at the bottom of the samples led to changes in

the physical properties of the bulk nanofluids with time (Duangthongsuk and
Wongwises, 2009). In the examined case, the measurement of the thermal properties of
the nanofluids requires many individual measurements over at least one month, so need
to be taken to check the sample’s stability. Samples have been checked after the
completion of each test, but no visible sedimentation was found.
853
THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES
There are many studies that use the regression equations of density (nf) and the specific
heat capacity (Cnf) (Choi and Eastman, 1995; Das et al., 2008; Fedele et al., 2012; Putra
et al., 2003; Trisaksri and Wongwises, 2007; Wang et al., 1999; Wen and Ding, 2004;
Williams et al., 2008; Zeinali Heris et al., 2007; Zhou and Ni, 2008):
     
nf     p  1   f (3)
 100   100 
  
C p  1  C  f
Cnf 
100  100 
(4)
 nf
The base fluid (water) properties are estimated depending on the base
temperature as regression equations (Sharma et al., 2012):

 f  1000  1 
T f  4
2

(5a)
2
 119000  1365  T f  4T f  
C f  4217.629  3.20888  T f  0.09503  T f2  0.00132  T f3
(5b)
6T f4 8T f5
 9.415e  2.5479e
6T f2 8T f3
k f  0.56112  0.00193T f  2.60152749e  6.08803e (5c)
5T f 7T f2 9T f3
 f  0.00169  4.25263e  4.9255e  2.0993504e (5d)
The transient hot-wire method, shown in Figure 4(a), is used to experimentally

measure the thermal conductivity of the nanofluids. The wire is placed along the axis of
the container, which will be surrounded by the fluid whose thermal conductivity is to be
measured. Platinum has a high electrical resistivity, i.e. 1.06 × 10−7Ω m (at 20◦C), an
order of magnitude higher than that of other metals. Also it has a temperature coefficient
of resistance of 0.0003925 ◦C−1 (for pure platinum), which is much higher than that of
the other metals chosen as the wire material. The wire is to be used as a line heat source,
so the wire diameter is usually kept within 100 µm. The length of the wire is kept to just
a few centimetres, which compared to the wire’s diameter represents an infinitely long
line heat source, assuring unidirectional (radial) heat transfer. The calibration method
has been used with a standard fluid (glycerin) which was already brought with the
device, the error between the read data and the standard is 0.0023. After that,
verification has been performed using the pure liquid (water) and compared with the
standard, and the error between them is 0.0014. Experimental data are reported in Table
3, and the thermal conductivity values were estimated with Eq. (6) (Fedele et al., 2012;
Gosselin and da Silva, 2004; Ho et al., 2010; Krishna and Sivashanmugam, 2010; Lee
and Mudawar, 2007; Li et al., 2003; Murshed et al., 2006; Srinivasa Rao et ao., 2011;
Pak and Cho, 1998; Pantzali et al., 2009; Peñas et al., 2008; Pastoriza-Gallego et al.,
2011; Syam Sunda rand Sharma, 2011a,b; Sen Gupta et al., 2011; Trisaksri and
Wongwises, 2007; Wang et al., 1999; Wen and Ding, 2004; Williams et al., 2008; Xie
et al., 2011; Zeinali Heris et al., 2007; Zhou and Ni, 2008).
854
k nf  ( 1 3 )k w (6)
The standard deviation corresponding to the series of individual data measured for
each nanofluid and each temperature was in all cases less than 0.15%. To evaluate the
thermal properties of the nanofluids, the viscosity is an important indication. A
commercial Brookfield DV-I prime viscometer is used to measure the viscosity at
different temperatures and rotor RPMs, which is shown in Figure 4(b). The base fluid
(water) has been used to measure the viscosity for calibration, after which nanofluids
are used to measure the viscosity. The viscosity of the nanofluid (nf) is determined
from the well-known Einstein equation for estimating viscosity, which is validated for
spherical particles and volume concentrations less than 5.0 vol. % and was defined by
(Bahiraei et al., 2012; Duangthongsuk and Wongwises, 2009; Fedele et al., 2012;
Gosselin and da Silva, 2004; Han and Rhi, 2011; Namburu et al., 2007).
 nf  ( 1 2.5 ) w (7)
(a) Thermal conductivity device (b) Viscometer device
Figure 4. Measurements devices.
The density and specific heat of the nanofluids and base fluid are presented in Figure 5.
There was no much change in the temperature and volume concentrations. The TiO2
nanofluid has the highest values of density and the lowest value of specific heat,
followed by Al2O3, SiO2 and finally pure water has the lowest density and the highest
specific heat. In fact, the thermal conductivity always increased when nanopowder was
added to the base fluid to prepare the nanofluids, as well as the temperature increasing
due to the increase in thermal conductivity (Pak and Cho, 1998). The thermal
conductivity of the (Alumina, Titania and Silica) nanofluids at various volume
concentrations and base fluids have been measured for range of temperatures from 25oC
to 50oC, and the experimental data are presented in Figure 6. This figure showed
significant enhancement in the thermal conductivity of the nanofluids with temperature
and volume concentration. The theoretical data of the thermal conductivity from Eq. (6)
has been drawn as a solid black line to validate the measured data. On the other side, the
experimental data of other researchers have been displayed with different volume
855
concentrations, and there was good agreement, with deviations of no more than 4% (Das
et al., 2007).
1150 4500
Pure water Al2O3-W Pure water Al2O3-W
TiO2-W SiO2-W 4400 TiO2-W SiO2-W
1100
 (Kg/m3)
Cp (J/kg.K)
4300
1050
4200
1000
4100
950 4000
20 30 40 50 20 30 40 50
Temperature (oC) Temperature (oC)
(a) Density (b) Specific heat
Figure 5. Density and specific heat at different temperatures
1.0 0.9
0.9
0.8
k (W/m.k)
k (W/m.k)
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.5 0.5
20 30 40 50 20 30 40 50
Temperature (oC) Temperature (oC)
(a) Al2O3-Water (b) TiO2-Water
0.9
0.8
k (W/m.k)
0.7
0.6
0.5
20 30 40 50
Temperature (oC)
(c) SiO2-Water
Figure 6. Thermal conductivity of nanofluids at different temperatures and volume

concentrations.
856
The enhancement () in thermal conductivity is represented as a percentage

deviation in thermal conductivity of the nanofluids against the base fluid
 %  (knf  kw  / knf )  100 and the values tabulated with the range 0.5–20%, as shown
in Figure 7(a).
20
Thermal Conductivity Enhancement % Al2O3-Water TiO2-Water SiO2-Water
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
25
1 30
2 35
3 40
4 45
5
Temperature (oC)
(a) Percentage of thermal conductivity enhancement
0.95
water Al2O3 TiO2 SiO2
0.85
k (W/m.k)
0.75
0.65
0.55
0.45
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
o
Temperature ( C)
(b) Comparison between nanofluid thermal conductivity
Figure 7. Thermal conductivity at different temperature: (a) percentage enhancement

and (b) comparison between nanofluid.
857
Figure 7(b) presents the comparison between nanofluids thermal conductivity at

2.5% volume concentration which showed that the Al2O3 nanofluid has the highest
values of thermal conductivity, followed by SiO2, TiO2 and finally pure water has the
lowest thermal conductivity. Although TiO2 nanoparticles have a higher thermal
conductivity than SiO2 but the last one appeared higher values of thermal conductivity
at 2.5% volume concentration when added to water as a nanofluid due to the
enhancement of thermal conductivity with volume concentration for TiO2 nanofluid is
slightly than SiO2 nanofluid. Similarly nanofluids increase as water with the increase in
temperature.
Experimental data on the viscosity of the nanofluids and base fluid (water) were
measured from 25oC to 50oC in increments of 5oC per step. The expected values of the
shear rate ranged from 200 to 1300 s, and all measured data were closed to this range
with a percentage average deviation of about 4%. The experimental data on the
viscosity are presented in Figure 8 with the temperatures and volume concentrations.
The theoretical data on viscosity as given in Eq. (7) was drawn as solid black lines and
the experimental data of other investigators presented to validate the measured data.
0.003 0.003
0.002 0.002
(Pa.s)
 (Pa.s)
0.001 0.001
0 0
20 30 40 50 20 30 40 50
Temerature (oC) Temperature (oC)
(a) Al2O3-Water (b) TiO2-Water
0.003
0.002
 (Pa.s)
0.001
0
20 30 40 50
Temperature (oC)
(c) SiO2-Water
Figure 8. Viscosity of nanofluids with different temperatures and volume

concentrations.
858
The viscosity enhancement () represented percentage deviations among

experimental data of nanofluids and water which is  %  ((nf   w ) / nf )  100 , with
values within the range 0.4 to 60%, as shown in Figure 9(a). The increase in viscosity
with an increase in volume concentration, identified due to the increase in percentage
deviation, may be related to the fact that no surfactant or chemical additives were used
during nanofluid preparation. It seems that the enhancement in viscosity does not only
depend on the temperature, but also primarily on the volume concentration (Pastoriza-
Gallego et al., 2011).
60
Al2O3-Water TiO2-Water SiO2-Water
Viscosity Percentage %
50
40
30
20
10
0
25
1 30
2 35
3 40
4 45
5
Temperature (oC)
(a) Percentage of viscosity decrease.
0.003
water Al2O3 TiO2 SiO2
0.0025
0.002
 (Pa.s)
0.0015
0.001
0.0005
20 30 40 50
Temperature (oC)
(b) Comparison of nanofluid viscosity
Figure 9. Viscosity at different temperature: (a) percentage decrease and (b) comparison
between nanofluid.
Figure 9(b) shows a comparison between the nanofluids viscosity at 2.5% volume
concentration. It seems that the SiO2 nanofluid presents the highest values of viscosity,
859
followed by Al2O3, TiO2 and finally pure water has the lowest viscosity. Also, the
nanofluids showed similar behaviour to water with a decrease in temperature. Compared
to other investigation of both thermal conductivity and viscosity, the results indicated
that there were differences between the measured data and correlations, the reasons for
which may be various parameters such as particle preparation, particle size,
measurement technique and even different the particle’s sources (Xie et al, 2011,
Zeinali Heris et al, 2007, Zhou and Ni, 2008).
CONCLUSIONS
In the present study, the Thermophysical properties of three types of nanoparticle

suspended in distilled water have been measured experimentally in a thermal laboratory.
The nanofluids were prepared in volume concentrations of 1, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 vol. %.
The density and specific heat capacity were calculated with Eqs. (3)–(4), which showed
that the Titania nanofluid has a higher density and lower specific heat than the other
nanofluids, and that water has a lower density and higher specific heat. The thermal
conductivity and viscosity was measured experimentally between 25oC and 55oC, in
increments of 5oC per step. The results of the thermal conductivity showed an increase
in volume concentration and temperature due to an increase in the thermal conductivity
of the nanofluids, with deviations of 0.5–20% compared with the base fluid. The study
showed that the Al2O3 nanofluid has the highest value of thermal conductivity, followed
by SiO2, TiO2 and finally pure water has the lowest thermal conductivity. The viscosity
data measured showed that the viscosity of nanofluids significantly decreases with
increasing temperature, and increases with increasing particle volume concentration,
with a deviation of 0.5–60% compared with the base fluid. The measured data on
viscosity concluded that the SiO2 nanofluid has the highest value of viscosity, followed
by Al2O3, TiO2 and finally pure water has the lowest viscosity. Regarding both the
thermal conductivity and viscosity data, the results indicated that the measured data are
quite different from those obtained by other investigators, which may a result of various
parameters such as the particle preparation, particle size, measurement technique or
even the different particle sources. Finally, the proposed correlations for predicting the
thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids showed good agreement with the
experimental results of Beck et al. (2009), Fedele et al. (2012) and Taveman et al.
(2008).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The financial support to the authors by the University Malaysia Pahang is gratefully
acknowledged.
NOMENCLATURE
A - area [m2]
C - specific heat capacity [W/ kg.oC ]  - density [kg/m3]
D - diameter [m]  - shear stress [N/m2]
E - energy [W]  - mass concentration
f - friction factor  - volume concentration
htc - convection heat transfer coefficient
860
[W/m2.oC] Subscripts
k - thermal conductivity [W/m.oC]
Nu - Nusselt Number [htc .D/Keff] f - liquid phases
P - Pressure [N/m2] p - solid particle
Pr - Prandtl Number [C./Keff] eff - effective
Re - Reynolds Number [eff Deff u / Keff] nf - nanofluid
u - velocity [m/s]
 -viscosity [N.s /m2]
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863
OPTIMAL AUTOMOBILE MUFFLER VIBRATION AND NOISE ANALYSIS
Sujit Kumar Jha1 and Ajay Sharma2

1
Engineering Department, Ibra College of Technology, Ibra, Sultanate of Oman
E-mail: skj828@gmail.com
Tel: +968 25587924, Fax: +968 25549020
2
Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, ASET, Amity University,
Noida, India
ABSTRACT
The muffler is the main part of the Automobile Exhaust System, consisting of fibrous
and porous materials to absorb noise and vibrations. The exhaust gas mass coming from
the engine can produce resonance, which may be the source of fatigue failure in the
exhaust pipe due to the presence of continuous resonance. The modes on the muffler
should be located away from the engine’s operating frequencies in order to minimise the
resonance. The objective of this paper is to determine the frequencies that appear at the
modes, which have the more adverse effect during the operation of the automobile. An
impact test has been conducted by applying the force using a hard head hammer, and
data generated have been used for plotting a graph of the transfer functions using
MATLAB. Six points have been selected, namely 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 11 on the muffler for
the impact test. The collected data from theses six points have been analysed for the
addition of damping. Results suggests that increasing the mass increases the damping
and lowers the modes of the transfer function. Further research will identify higher
strength materials that can withstand the higher gas temperatures as well as the
corrosion and erosion by the gas emitted from the engine.
Keywords: Automobile exhaust system; muffler; noise; vibration and modal analysis.
INTRODUCTION
An automobile exhaust system is used for silencing the levels of noise due to the high
pressure hot and toxic gases leaving the engine. The exhaust pipe is subjected to stresses
due to variations in noise level and hot gases coming out from the engine. The exhaust
gas mass is forced through the pipe and introduces momentum forces by changes in the
direction of motion, or in the expansion or contraction of the end pipe. The emitted gas
coming out from the engine can produce resonance, which further causes fatigue failure
in the exhaust pipe. Noise or sounds can be generated in the exhaust pipe due to the
pulses of alternating high and low pressure of the gases leaving the engine. A pressure
wave is generated when the exhaust valve repeatedly opens and allows the high pressure
gas into the exhaust system. The generated pressure wave can produce sound, which can
cause an increase in the engine rpm. The increase in engine rpm further causes pressure
fluctuations and consequently the sound wave produced is of a high frequency. Apart
from the exhaust system, noise can also be generated from other sources in an
automobile, such as vibrations from the engine’s body and transmission system.
Flexible joints have been used to decrease the transmission of engine movements to the
exhaust system. The muffler is located between the manifold and the catalytic converter,
which can withstand high temperatures and should combine high flexibility with high
864
Optimal automobile muffler vibration and noise analysis
strength and durability. Muffler design can be optimised by considering the pipe
diameters, internal baffle locations, fracture characteristics, and by the presence of
absorption material, etc. An optimised muffler design can be achieved by considering
the reactive and absorptive properties of the muffler. Reactive or reflective mufflers
apply destructive interference to reduce the noise level emitted by the engine.
Reflections occur whenever there is a change in geometry or discontinuity in the area of
the exhaust pipe. Muffler inlet and outlet tubes have perforations that allow sound
pulses to scatter in numerous directions inside the chamber, resulting in destructive
interference. An absorptive or dissipative muffler uses absorptive material to reduce the
noise levels by converting sound energy into heat. A typical exhaust system is shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 1. Typical exhaust system model.
The review of various articles on the impact testing of mufflers has been
conducted and it is observed that vibration testing is very extensive. Ayadi et al. (2001)
revealed the characterisation of a grating noise in an engine exhaust system by focusing
on the problem with an experimental set up used for collecting data and investigation of
the generated data. The objective behind this experiment is to determine the cause
behind the rasping noise heard in exhaust systems during the abrupt acceleration of an
automobile. The above analysis has been carried out to verify the occurrence of the
rasping noise due to a balance between dissipative effects and nonlinear coupling
between the exhaust system’s resonance modes, which causes them to sustain each
other. Wang et al. (2011) described the noise reduction of automobile gears using the
fine-pitch profile optimisation method. Siano and Corcione (2005) implemented the
Finite Element Method (FEM) to simulate and predict exhaust transmission noise. Lim
(2000) used a spectral formulation on the theoretical interior acoustic sensitivity terms
resulting from FEM, and measured the sound intensity. Citarella et al. (2007) presented
an automobile vibro-acoustic analysis to assess, visualise and compare the vibro-
acoustic performance to predetermined design targets based on the experimental and
numerical procedures used to identify the cause of this behaviour. Kim and Lee (1998)
applied a noise reduction method based on the structural-acoustic response model, in
which the automobile interior pressure was described in terms of modal parameters and
structural-acoustic modal coupling coefficients. Shimura (1989) identified the various
sources of noise in automobiles and stated how to reduce them. Lee and Lee (1993)
determined the minimum energy transfer into a body by normal mode analysis using a
theoretical approach. The objective of this research is to perform an impact test on the
exhaust system to analyse the muffler system. According to the test results, the muffler
865
Jha and Sharma /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 864-881
design can be changed based on the resonant frequencies of the system. Impact force
has been applied by a hammer, and an accelerometer has been used to measure the
output response of the impact force. This research has used MATLAB to determine the
resonance frequency and to plot a graph of the transfer functions by generating data
from each point labelled on the muffler. Generally the plotted graph presents the
transfer function and transfer function equivalent. This paper has considered a 2001
model Honda Civic car for the analysis of muffler design, to improve the comfort,
efficiency and stylishness of the car.
Dynamic Analysis of Muffler
Mechanical structures subjected to dynamic loading cause undesirable vibration levels

that can result in mild discomfort to structural breakdown. Resonance is an important
phenomenon in structural dynamics, and can take place when a structure is excited at a
frequency equal to its natural frequency. Each natural frequency is related to a specific
deflection form, or a so-called mode shape. The response amplitude increases radically
at resonance and is only restricted by the damping present in the structure, otherwise it
lead to a failure of the structure. The dynamic analysis of the exhaust system can be
done by exciting the structure in a proper way and concurrently measuring the excitation
force and the resulting response in suitable degrees of freedom. The measured response
is normally acceleration, since it is easy to measure. The next step is to determine the
frequency content of the time signals measured and further frequency response
functions calculated. Much research has been done on the dynamic analysis of exhaust
systems. Verboven et al. (1998) presented experimental investigations on exhaust
system dynamics, by comparing an ordinary experimental modal analysis with a
running mode analysis. Deweer et al. (2001) performed an experimental modal analysis
and highlighted the efficacy of theoretical models during the pre-test phase to conduct
better experiments. Belingardi and Leonti (1987) studied the dynamic behaviour of the
exhaust system by dealing with problems related to building finite elements. Piombo et
al. (1986) investigated the coupling between the dynamic behaviour of the exhaust
system and its fatigue resistance. An additional inclusive description of experimental
modal analysis has been explained in detail (Ewins, 2000; Maia and Silva, 1997).
The modes of a muffler have been analysed in terms of a comfortable ride as
well as to minimise the noise level. The modes occurring near an operating engine
frequency should be avoided, as they can cause harmonic oscillations. Generally, the
frequency at which a car engine operates is at 315 Hz, corresponding to 3000
revolutions per minute (rpm). Similarly, the maximum frequency of a car engine is 838
Hz and the average idling frequency of a car engine is 73 Hz. The paper has considered
the above particulars and collected experimental data in the range of 60 Hz to 810 Hz
using impact testing. Impact testing is a simple and fast method for obtaining high-
quality estimation of a system’s modal properties and frequency response information.
Data can be collected from labelled points in an exhaust system either by striking with
an impact hammer or utilising an accelerometer on it.
Research Approach
In this paper, a hierarchical approach has been taken to conduct an experiment to collect
data using an impact test on the muffler. For this, the first step is to determine any high
transfer function values that take place during the operating frequencies of a car. After
866
obtaining the transfer function values, the study of the design has been performed to
shift the modes to higher frequencies ranges so that they are out of the car’s operating
range of frequencies. The range of frequencies determination should be between 73 Hz
to 838 Hz. After collecting data on the frequencies ranges, impact testing has been
selected using a metal head hammer for findings the truth that mufflers are much
damped to instigate with, so a stronger force is needed to achieve good vibration results.
To study the acceleration data, Microsoft Excel has been used in combination with a
piezoelectric accelerometer. A piezoelectric crystal accelerometer was selected based on
its availability. For obtaining accurate data the accelerometer should be kept in a fixed
position using a wax-based material.
This paper is organised as follows: in Section 2, details of the Design Principles of a
Exhaust Muffler have been briefly discussed. Section 3 describes the Experimental
Details. Section 4, provides a description of the Data Requirements for Muffler Design
in the proposed method, and Data Analysis and Observations have been presented in
Section 5. Followed by conclusions in Section 6.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF AN EXHAUST MUFFLER
A car engine generates high intensity pressure waves transmitted through the exhaust
pipe and radiated to the environment. The frequency of the generated pulse recurs at the
firing frequency of the engine, given as f = (engine rpm x number of cylinders) /120 for
a four-stroke engine. The exhaust noise frequency is subjugated by a pulse at the firing
frequency as well having a broadband module in its spectrum which widens to higher
frequencies. Exhaust pipe pressure pulse measurements on a car engine show that the
majority of the pulse energy lies in the frequency range of 0–600 Hz. Exhaust mufflers
are designed to reduce the sound levels at these frequencies. The sound waves
propagating through a pipe can be soothed using either a dissipative or reactive muffler.
Sound absorbing materials have been used in dissipative mufflers for taking energy
from the acoustic motion of the wave during its propagation through the muffler.
Generally, reactive silencers used in automobiles replicate the sound waves back
towards the source and prevent sound from being sent out of the pipe. The design of
reactive silencers is either based on the principle of a Helmholtz resonator or an
expansion chamber, which further requires the use of acoustic transmission line theory.
A cavity is added to the exhaust pipe during the design of a Helmholtz resonator.
The cavity will resonate at a particular frequency, and the waves in the exhaust pipe are
returned back towards the source. According to some designers, the muffler has a
number of resonators of different sizes to target a range of frequencies. Due to sudden
changes in the cross-sectional area in the pipe, the expansion chamber mufflers reflect
the waves, which have a broadband frequency characteristic but do not have the high
attenuation of the Helmholtz resonator. The tailpipe length has significant role in
muffler design, which acts as a resonant cavity that links with the muffler cavity. The
effect of exhaust gas flow speed has a detrimental effect on muffler performance.
According to Beranek and Istvan (1992), the muffler attenuation can be decreased from
35 dB to 6–10 dB as the flow speed increases from 0 to 230 ft/sec.
Typical Muffler Design
The paper has considered the design of two distinctive reactive mufflers, which are
shown in Figures 2 and 3. The first design is shown in Figure 2, to illustrate a design
867
which offers a lower back pressure and low cost of manufacture. According to an
acoustic stand point, multiple cavities of the muffler shown in Figure 2 are connected to
the exhaust pipe by holes drilled in the central tube. Whenever hot gases pass through
the exhaust pipe, a vertical flow can also be formed through each hole connecting the
pipe to reduce the insertion loss of the muffler.
Figure 2. A reactive muffler connecting two cavities.
The second kind of reactive muffler is shown in Figure 3, which gives extra attenuation
and is generally recommended by muffler manufacturers. Due to the no direction
connection between the inlet and the outlet, the generated back pressure can affect
engine performance.
Figure 3. A reactive muffler with no direction connection between the inlet and outlet.
The muffler shown in Figure 2 generates a minimal back pressure, while the other type
shown in Figure 3 creates 1.4±0.3 psi of back pressure.
Functional Requirements of an Engine Exhaust Muffler
Many functional requirements have been considered during the design of a muffler, like
adequate insertion loss, back pressure, size, durability, desired sound, cost, shape and
style. The main objective of a muffler is to attenuate sound, i.e. minimise the intensity
of the sound pressure of the noise source to a desired level. The attenuating capability of
a muffler is identified in terms of an insertion or transmission loss. Insertion loss is the
difference between the acoustic powers emitted with and without a muffler attachment.
Similarly, the difference between the intensity of sound incidents at the entrance to the
muffler to that transmitted by the muffler is the transmission loss. Due to the restriction
868
in the flow of exhaust gases, the additional static pressure exerted by the muffler to the
engine is defined as the back pressure. To avoid more power losses in the exhaust
system, the back pressure should be as low as possible. The size of a muffler plays a
great influence on the utilisation of the available space, it should meet the space
constraints otherwise it is useless. Mufflers deal with hot toxic gases so its durability is
also important, and applications of absorptive silencers are significantly found in
performance vehicles. The materials used for mufflers must be corrosion resistant, like
stainless steel or aluminium alloys, and must also sustain higher temperatures, like mild
steel and aluminium up to 5000C and improved material compositions can resist
temperatures up to 7500C.
The first step is to generate the coordinates for the geometry of the system. All the
marked points are important during carrying out the impact test in order to obtain
adequate values for displaying all the significant modes and resonant frequencies of the
system. At the same time further data points should be avoided, otherwise the
acquisition of data becomes meaningless or redundant in its analysis. Labelling on the
muffler geometry should be as accurate as possible, so that data can be taken from the
exact location of the marked points. In this research there are 12 data points that
represent the experimental geometry, as determined by Fredrick and Brady (2003).
Figure 4 illustrates the points labelled on the muffler for the collection of data using the
impact test.
Figure 4. Labelled points on the muffler for testing.
For conducting the experiment it is important to select the testing parameters

like sampling rate, which should be high to increase the resolution and get better
precision of the data as smaller step size in-between the data points taken. During the
experimental process a sampling rate of 2000 Hz has been used. During the
performance of the impact test, the system must be isolated correctly so that
accelerometer can only experience acceleration due to the vibrations from the impact
test and not from other sources. For this purpose, foam has been used to dampen
vibrations from the neighbouring environment. Noise interference is inherent in heavily
dampened systems, which cannot be completely eliminated, but by implementing an
analysis tool such as the equivalent transfer function graph it is possible to eliminate
some of the effects from the analysis.
869
The components of vehicles and structures subjected to cyclic loads lead to

mechanical vibrations. Lateral vibrations can be transmitted to body panels through
mounts and torsional vibrations to the body by the vehicle’s structure. Linear vibration
can be measured using accelerometers, which are contact type transducers made from
quartz crystals to give a high frequency response. Accelerometers are widely used as an
acceleration output, which is directly proportional to the applied force’s frequency on its
output. For modal testing, light-weight accelerometers must be used to avoid the mass
loading effect. The paper has considered a single accelerometer in impact testing, if
placing the accelerometer on the muffler at the point labelled 1 it is very difficult to
ensure that the accelerometer is facing towards the z-axis as the point is at an angle. To
avoid this, the accelerometer has been placed at the point labelled 6, since it is parallel
to the ground so the accelerometer can face directly vertical. As data collection
commences, a problem may occur due to a loose connection between the accelerometer
and the computer. When performing the impact test, it is important to handle the impact
hammer in proper way for collecting accurate data. During the test, care should take to
avoid the repeated striking of the hammer, which can cause the vibration of the system.
The single impact of the hammer is always preferable to avoid the data being a
summation of multiple impacts on the system. One further problem can occur if the
hammer is not able to hit the system in the direction of the Z-axis, i.e. vertically, which
will alter the vibration properties in each direction and accurate results cannot be
obtained. The accelerometer is able to measure the vibrations along one axis at a time.
For maximum vibration, the hammer should impact properly in one direction alone, and
then accurate resonant frequencies of the impacts along this axis can be obtained
(Fredrick and Brady, 2003).
DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR MUFFLER DESIGN
Performance characteristics
Insertion loss (IL) is defined as a reduction in noise level that occurs by inserting a
silencing element into the system. Insertion loss varires from engine to engine, normally
it changes according to a change in the engine load or from different piping
configurations of the muffler. By changing the engine load, the engine exhaust noise
also changes and the noise level at full load is about 10 dB higher than in the no-load
condition. The unsilenced engine exhaust system creates a noise level around 110 dB
when measured at 1 m from the pipe outlet. The insertion loss in an exhaust system
depends on the design, size and frequency generation of the muffler, and the pressure
drop at the two ends of the muffler depends on the velocity of the emitted gas and
design features of the muffler. Figure 5 shows the sound levels of the engine exhaust
system at different loads for a 16-cylinder engine (1800 RPM diesel).
870
Figure 5. Unsilenced exhaust noise: “noise level vs. load”.
Unsilenced exhaust noise
According to the engine firing order, the exhaust noise level can contain strong tones.
Each cylinder in a 4-cycle engine fires once at every other revolution of the crank shaft,
whereas in a 2-cycle engine the cylinder fires once every revolution of the crank shaft.
Unsilenced engine exhaust noise is broadband, with the highest levels at low
frequencies. The lowest tone is always the cylinder firing rate (CFR), which is the firing
rate for any individual cylinder. The strongest tone in the exhaust system is the engine
firing rate (EFR). Figure 6 shows the unsilenced exhaust noise and illustrates that the
noise level never lines up with the power rating of the generator. It is always advisable
to obtain exhaust noise data from the engine’s manufacturer. The Figure 6 also
illustrates data comparing a 6-cylinder 150 KW engine with a 16-cylinder 2000KW
engine.
Figure 6. Unsilenced exhaust noise.
871
Engine Exhaust Tone
Figure 7 shows a graph of the narrow band spectrum of the exhaust noise level of a 6-
cylinder diesel engine running at 1800 RPM in a 500 KW generator. When the engine is
running at full load, a microphone is placed at 1 metre from the exhaust outlet and data
is collected. The strong tone can be achieved at 90 Hz, which is the engine firing rate
(EFR) and can be defined as: EFR = N × cylinder firing rate (CFR). The cylinder firing
rate can be given as: CFR = RPM/60 for a 2-cycle engine and RPM/120 for a 4-cycle
engine.
Figure 7. Band spectrum of the exhaust noise.
Reactive mufflers are an important element used to silence generator exhausts.

The varieties of reactive mufflers available are based on the cost and performance of the
exhaust system. The noise can be reduced by forcing the exhaust air to pass through a
series of tubes and chambers. Generally absorptive silencers employ fibreglass or other
acoustic fill material to absorb all generated noise without any reactive elements. Due to
the low capability of absorptive noise reduction at low frequencies it has limited use.
Tail Pipe Design
Normally the acoustical design of an engine exhaust system often ignores the tail pipe.
The section of pipe downstream of the final silencer will have acoustic resonances that
can amplify the engine tones if they match. The resonances can be avoided by
maintaining the length of the tail pipe to less than ½ wavelengths of the tone frequency.
1. Engine tone can be increased if the exhaust tail pipe has a resonance
2. Amplification of tones can be avoided by using a short tail pipe or L to
1/4wavelength (λ/4).
The following equation gives the various resonance frequencies of an exhaust tail pipe.
nc
fn  , where fn is the resonance frequency of the pipe, c is the speed of sound, L is
2L
the length of the pipe in feet and n = 1, 2, 3 … , Generally, resonance occurs if L = nλ/2
872
Figure 8. Length of tail pipe.
Many steps are required in the design of a tail pipe for a 4-cycle engine using the
above principles. For the optimal design of a muffler, the following frequencies should
be avoided 15Hz, 30Hz, 45Hz, 60Hz, 75Hz, 90Hz, 105Hz, etc. in order to avoid the
resonance. From all the frequencies, the most important frequency is 90 Hz EFR. The
wavelength at 90 Hz is 20 feet, so the length of the tail pipe must be exactly 5 feet to
avoid resonance.
Helmhotz Equation for Acoustic Analysis
The basic equation used for acoustic wave propagation through an elastic medium is
given as:
1  2u
2u  2 2  b .................... 1
c t
Where u(x, t) is the velocity potential, c is the speed of sound, b(x, t) is the sound
source, and x and t are the position and time variables. Assuming that the problem is
time harmonic, Eq. (1) can be transferred to the frequency domain in order to obtain the
Helmholtz equation: 2u  k 2u  b ..........................(2)
Where k = ω/c is the wave number and ω = 2πf the angular frequency. The boundary
conditions of the problem have been discussed in detail by Hamdi (1981).
OBSERVATIONS BASED ON DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from impact test first interpret to set up transfer functions for each
data point on the muffler then taken distinguish of the resonant frequencies occurred at
each spot. The transfer function plot is a graph of the force exerted on the system by the
impact hammer over the acceleration of the muffler system with respect to the
frequency, and has been plotted using MATLAB. The transfer function graph and the
equivalent transfer function graph are shown in Figures 9 and 10 for the first point on
the muffler, and similarly all other points based on the data collected for these points
have been plotted and are shown in Appendix A.
873
Figure 9. Transfer function graph.
Figure 10. Equivalent transfer function graph.
Based on Fredrick and Brady (2003), the experimental steps and plotting of the
graph have also been taken as the basis for this research. During the plotting of the
graph the accelerometer data has been divided by the calibration constant (110.3 mV/g)
of the accelerometer used in the experimental process. The graph shows the peaks at all
multiple values of frequency of 60 Hz. The graph shows the peaks due to an electrical
frequency in the neighbouring environment, building these individual graphs very hard
to interpret. The transfer function can be plotted by converting the readings from the
time domain to the frequency domain, which can be done by dividing the Fourier
transfer of the input by the Fourier transfer of the output. The MATLAB function has
been used to achieve the desired result and build plots of the accelerometer/hammer
with respect to frequency, by giving a desired graph of the output/input with respect to
frequency. The equivalent transfer function graph has been used as a second source for
interpreting the data. Table 1 presents the peaks in the transfer function in order to
determine those frequencies most frequently exciting the peaks in the transfer function.
874
Table 1. Collection of the data sets to determine the peaks in the transfer function.
Data Data Data Data Data Data Data Data Data Data Data
Mode Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Set 7 Set 8 Set 9 Set 10 Set 11 Set 12
M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2 M1 M2
1 520 70 240 240 5 8 8 8 250 245 15 10 10 50 255 60 420 420 520 30 325 125
2 700 120 290 440 80 120 110 70 395 340 40 60 440 70 275 115 585 585 580 120 360 410
3 820 275 300 515 97 180 120 120 520 400 90 80 640 100 400 185 995 885 640 165 420 580
4 880 340 310 590 102 240 130 180 750 450 120 90 920 180 700 235 910 700 240 850 635
5 940 375 350 650 120 270 160 230 930 510 140 120 930 220 760 295 975 760 33 860 670
6 990 470 550 680 270 325 200 290 1000 555 150 180 940 290 880 405 820 560 990 800
7 495 730 760 535 460 220 310 630 170 230 950 310 940 445 880 595 995 865
8 575 790 880 650 610 300 320 820 220 275 960 370 600 940 725 890
9 675 990 980 710 680 310 350 870 440 295 970 410 710 1000 930 990
10 730 1000 730 320 375 930 490 320 990 560 745 1000
11 840 760 360 420 505 360 750 880
12 940 800 390 445 560 420 830 930
13 990 840 420 480 575 480 900
14 890 455 500 590 510 960
15 920 460 540 599 540 1000
16 960 600 560 600 550
17 620 600 610 560
18 680 620 620 600
19 780 680 670 620
20 880 720 690 655
970 780 700 690
810 715 715
870 720 730
900 730 780
920 750 820
960 770 850
980 790 860
800 920
825 960
840 980
870
The problems encountered during impact testing are generally the aliasing error
and leakage error. According to Shannon’s sampling theorem or Nyquist’s criterion, the
sampling frequency for a system requirement should be twice the maximum frequency
to be measured, otherwise an aliasing error will occur. Leakage errors occur whenever
the collection of data is stopped before the energy of the system has diminished. This
causes inaccuracies in the transfer function. During the performance of the vibrations
test, the objective is to minimise the amount of leakage error for all systems. This is an
added reason for isolating the muffler system with enveloping foam. Before starting the
experiment, the range of frequency from 0 to 1000 Hz has been selected for the analysis
of frequencies that are usually encountered by a vehicle.
Table 2 shows the most frequently occurring peaks and the number of data
points at which that peak occurred. First select the peaks that occur frequently by
selecting the most significant resonance frequencies. Then select the peaks over a wide
range of frequencies in order to eliminate a good range of problem spots. Finally, it is
desirable to eliminate those peaks that are frequently the highest in the graphs, which
may cause problems in the system. The frequency range for this experiment was from 0
to 1000 Hz, but the paper is mostly concerned with points below about 800 Hz since
these are the ones most likely to be achieved by the system. By considering these
875
criteria five resonance frequency peaks were selected: as 120 Hz, 420 Hz, 560 Hz, 730
Hz, and 880 Hz, which can be removed from the system. Although the peak at 880 Hz is
somewhat outside the research range of interest, there are a large number of peaks at
this point, was and it is fairly close to the range of interest, and thus it remained a one of
the peaks targeted (Fredrick and Brady, 2003).
Table 2. Most frequently occurring peaks and data points where peaks occurred.
Number Number of occurrences at

Frequency Points on muffler of times resonance frequencies
70 1,4,8 3 2
120 2,3*,4*,7*,11 5 3
240 2*,3,11 3 2
420 10*,12,4*,7 4 4
560 11,8,7*,4 4 0
600 9,4*,7* 3 0
730 1,2,3,7* 4 4
760 9,11,2,3 4 1
820 1,11,5,7 4 1
880 1,9*,11,2,4 5 1
920 8,3,4,7 4 3
930 5*,8,11,9 4 1
940 1*,8,9,11,7 5
960 8*,4,7,3 4
990 1*,12*,2,8,7 5
1000 5,11*,3,8 4
CONCLUSIONS
An effort has made to review the various techniques used for the measurements of noise
and vibrations of an automobile. This research conducted experiments to analyse a
muffler system with impact testing. The impact force has been applied by a hammer and
an accelerometer has been used to determine the output response. According to the test
results, the muffler design can be changed based on the resonant frequencies of the
system. MATLAB has used to determine the resonance frequency and to plot a graph of
the transfer functions for each data point labelled on the muffler. From the collected
data sets in Table 2, five peaks have occurred at 120, 240, 560, 730, and 880 Hz, which
were identified as prospective resonance frequencies to be eliminated from the muffler
system. Furthermore, the resonance frequencies can be minimised by adding damping to
the system. The location of the points on muffler surface for estimating the damping
have been determined as points 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 11, as shown in Figure 4.
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Shimura, A., 1989, Radiation noise due to longitudinal vibration of the exhaust pipe,
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Siano, D. and Corcione, E.F. 2005, FE fluid-structure interaction/experimental
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877
Appendix A
Transfer Function and Equivalent Transfer Function Graph
Point 1
Point 2
878
Point 3
Point 4
Point 5
879
Point 6
Where the accelerometer was placed
Point 7
Point 8
Point 9
880
Point 10
Point 11
Point 12
881
MICROSTRUCTURE AND FATIGUE PROPERTIES OF DISSIMILAR SPOT

WELDED JOINTS OF AISI 304 AND AISI 1008
Nachimani Charde
Department of Mechanical, Material and Manufacturing Engineering

University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus,
Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Tel:+60389248622 Fax: +60389248001
Email: nachi.charde@nottingham.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Carbon steel and stainless steel composites are being more frequently used for
applications requiring a corrosion resistant and attractive exterior surface and a high
strength structural substrate. Spot welding is a potentially useful and efficient jointing
process for the production of components consisting of these two materials. The spot
welding characteristics of weld joints between these two materials are discussed in this
paper. The experiment was conducted on dissimilar weld joints using carbon steel and
304L (2B) austenitic stainless steel by varying the welding currents and electrode
pressing forces. Throughout the welding process; the electrical signals from the strain
sensor, current transducer and terminal voltage clippers are measured in order to
understand each and every millisecond of the welding process. In doing so, the dynamic
resistances, heat distributions and forging forces are computed for various currents and
force levels within the good welds’ regions. The other process controlling parameters,
particularly the electrode tip and weld time, remained constant throughout the
experiment. The weld growth was noted for the welding current increment, but in the
electrode force increment it causes an adverse reaction to weld growth. Moreover, the
effect of heat imbalance was clearly noted during the welding process due to the
different electrical and chemical properties. The welded specimens finally underwent
tensile, hardness and metallurgical testing to characterise the weld growth.
Keywords: Carbon steel welding; stainless steel welding; dissimilar weld joints; mixed
steel joints.
INTRODUCTION
Spot welding mechanisms join two or more metal sheets together at discrete spots
through fusion. It is accomplished by pressing two copper electrodes on both sides of
the base metals and suppling a huge amount of current (typically kA) through the
contact areas of the upper electrode to lower electrode and vice versa (Aravinthan and
Nachimani, 2011a). The flow of the current against the sum of the resistive path
(electrode-to-sheet resistances, bulk resistance and sheet–to-sheet resistance) causes
heat development and the melt starts between the base metals due to the high resistances
in the resistive path, and gradually fuses the asperity areas (Chang et al., 2006). As the
heat is continuously present due to current flow, the molten areas grow proportionally
(Heat, Q = I2Rt) in all directions. When the current flow is stopped, then the molten area
will be dried off (Mehdi at al., 2008). The molten and solidified areas of the base metals
are thereafter called weld nuggets, and consist of three major zones (Aravinthan and
882
Microstructure and fatigue properties of dissimilar spot welded joints of AISI 304 and AISI 1008
Nachimani, 2011a). These are named the fusion zone (FZ), heat affected zone (HAZ)
and base metal (BM). The proper joints or bonds between the sheets are usually created
in the FZ, and its growth is related to the thermal expansion of the materials
(Nachimani, 2012a). Since carbon steel and stainless steel have different thermal
expansion rates according to the American Welding Society (AWS) and Welding
Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA), the critical diameters are calculated as 4t0.5
for carbon steel and 5t0.5 for stainless steel (t represents the thickness in mm). The
surrounding areas of the FZs are termed HAZs, and appear due to the thermal
conductivity rate of the BMs and the other parts of the BMs remained unchanged. These
phenomenon are measured for various current levels and electrode pressing forces with
the aid of sensors in an attempt to understand the weld formation.
EXPERIMENTATION
Welding samples (carbon and stainless steel sheets) were prepared as 200 mm long by
25 mm wide from 1 mm thick sheets. The chemical elements found on stainless steel
sheets are: C = 0.048, Cr = 18.12, Ni = 8.11, Mn = 1.166, Si = 0.501, S = 0.006, N =
0.053 and P = 0.030; whereas the carbon steel has the chemical elements C = 0.023, Mn
= 0.90, Si = 0.006, S = 0.050 and P = 0.040. The hardness of the stainless steel was 81.7
HRB and the hardness of the carbon steel was 65 HRB. The sample sheets were welded
at their centres with a 60 mm lap-joint as shown in Figure 1. The electrode tip diameter
is given by DE(mm)=2.54 mm + 2t; where t is the thickness of one side of metal sheet in
millimetres. Hence the diameter of the tip is calculated as DE(mm)=2.54 mm + 2 (1 mm)
= 4.54 mm; for a 1 mm thick sheet. A pair of water-cooled copper electrodes with
truncated tip-diameters of 5 mm were used to join these metal sheets, selected from the
RWMA’s class two (copper and chromium) category. A pair of test samples were
initially placed on the top of lower electrode (tip) of the welder, overlaying 60 mm over
each other and then the initiating pedal was pressed. The heating process was started
immediately after the squeezing force was achieved, and the welding current was
immediately released in accordance with given preset values of welding current, weld
time and pressing force. Thereafter the electrode pressing mechanism (pneumatic-
based) consumed some time on cold work, and eventually returned to the home position
of the upper electrode. These process-controlling parameters (welding current, weld
time and electrode pressing force) were established before the welding process started;
based on the welding lobe curve. The welding lobe for a welding current versus the
electrode pressing force was computed prior to the welding process, and is graphically
shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1. Test sample
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Nachimani /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 882-899
Figure 2. Welding lobe for the welding current versus electrode force
Figure 2 shows the welding lobe curve of the welding current against the
welding time for 1 mm metal sheets after undergoing several welding processes on
sample sheets. The lobe boundary is indicated by continuous black lines, which
delineates all acceptable welding regions. The coloured symbols represent the quality of
the welds produced, and those conditions that did not produce any weld are indicated by
white boxes. The green coloured boxes with black borders represent moderate to good
welds; the fully green boxes represent very good welds; the red coloured boxes
bordered in green represent welds for which light expulsion occurred; the red boxes
represent heavy expulsion and the black boxes represent poor welded joints. A weld
schedule was finally developed based on the welding lobe curve-bordered regions, in
order to avoid expulsion and poor welding conditions, because the scope of this paper is
solely to investigate weld growth in good working regions! So the entire welding
process is accomplished with three levels of welding current (6, 7, 8 kA), and for three
levels of electrode pressing force (3, 4.5, 6 kN). Based on these simple computations,
nine weld schedules were finalised (Table 1). During the welding process, seven pairs
of specimens were welded for each weld schedule. Five out of seven were used for
tensile shear testing and the corresponding average value was considered for that
particular weld schedule. One pair of specimens was used for hardness testing and the
final pair of specimens was used for metallurgical testing.
Table 1. Weld schedule.
Sample Weld Electrode Time Current Force

No Schedule Tip (cycle) (kA) (kN)
1–7 1 5 10 6 3
8–14 2 5 10 7 3
15–21 3 5 10 8 3
22–28 4 5 10 6 4.5
29–35 5 5 10 7 4.5
36–42 6 5 10 8 4.5
43–49 7 5 10 6 6
50–56 8 5 10 7 6
57–63 9 5 10 8 6
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While performing the welding process, the process parameters (current, voltage
and force) were captured using sensors, transducers, and crocodile clips (Shih et al.,
2010). The captured signals were then sent through conditioning and amplifying circuits
to data analysing software; in this case Signal Express 2010. Figure 3 shows the
instrumentation set up for the process parameter reading. This simple set up collected
the voltage, current and force waveforms throughout the welding process (Guocheng et
al., 2009; Li and Lei, 2011).
Figure 3. Instrumentation set up for capturing process parameters.
Figure 4 shows a typical force profile of the pneumatic-based electrode actuation

for the carbon and stainless steel spot welding process. The squeezing profiles (1) are
transient states in which the electrodes are pressing on the metals sheets according to the
preset force values. When the pressing force reaches the present value of force, it
thereafter holds the electrode with that particular force for the subsequent welding
process. If the electrode pressing force is 3kN, then the pneumatically-driven system
will press the electrode lever to reach 3 kN during squeezing, and consecutively the
welding current will be released. The flow of ahuge amount of welding current causes
total atomic imbalances due to high rate of current flow in the welding materials, and
triggers some forging effects on the force profiles. The forging forces taking place in the
carbon and stainless steels during the welding process are shown in stage 2 of Figure 4.
When the welding process is over; the pneumatic-based electrode actuation system
holds the upper electrode for a while and finally returns to its home position. The
solidification time can also be calculated from this forges in the last stage of the force
profiles.
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Figure 4. Typical force profile of pneumatic-based spot welder for carbon steel.
Figures 5 and 6 show the current and voltage waveforms captured during the
welding process, respectively. These signals are used to compute the dynamic
resistances from which the real breakdowns of metals are seen as stages. The dynamic
resistance-magnitudes are calculated by R=V/I regardless of the phase shift between
signals for a period of 10 weld cycles. Each weld cycle consumes 0.2 mS in real.
Figure 5. Current waveform after conditioning circuit.
Figure 6. Voltage waveform from conditioning circuit.
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Figure 7. Dynamic resistance patterns.
Figure 7 shows the dynamic resistive pattern proposed by Dickinson (1980) to

predict the process resistance during the welding process for good and poor weld joints.
Thus the overall dynamic resistive patterns are computed based on this reference model
using the current and voltage waveforms of a 75 kVA spot welder. When considering
the regions (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) in Figure 7, region 1 reveals that the impurities on the
surface of the BMs cause a high resistance between the electrode tips and metal sheets
during the initial current flow, and also act as an insulator. Such sharp drops in
resistance are found when a proper contact is established between the electrode tip and
metal sheet. Region 2 shows that the contact resistance of the BM s is minimised in this
region due to the presence of the current flow. In another words, the contact areas to be
welded are well balanced here, and it acts as a reference point to predict the expulsion
states from hereon. Likewise, region 3 shows the thermal increment in bulk resistive
components (metal resistance) to start the melt process, which will initialise the nugget
formation between the faying surfaces of the BM. The following region was numbered
4, and it finalises the critical weld diameters. In this region the contact resistance is
almost minimised, and the temperature appeared to be nearlt constant. Hence the growth
of the FZ (diameter) was clearly noted during this stage. Furthermore the following
region (region 5) does not fall within the welding process, but in the solidification
process. In this stage the liquid metal becomes solid, resulting in micro structural
changes due to cold work. A sharp fall in this region or in the middle of an earlier
region reveals that an expulsion has occurred. A poor weld joint occurs due to an
expulsion as it splashes out the molten metal from the weld nuggets.
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Force Profiles, Dynamic Resistance and Heat Distribution
The force profiles of carbon and stainless steels for various current increments (6, 7 and
8 kA) during the welding process are shown in Figure 8(a), and the equivalent dynamic
resistive changes are shown in Figure 8(b). The circled A, B and C symbols represent
the maximum and minimum values of forging forces that exist during the variation in
welding current levels, as shown in Figure 8(a). The dynamic resistances are therefore
calculated within the welding current flow (10 cycles), and can be seen from an
ascending-type sinusoidal waveform in the force profiles. The breakdowns (melt)
between both metals are shown with triggers as an inter-melting situation (IMS).
(a) Force profiles
(b) Dynamic resistance
(c) Heat generations
Figure 8. Force profile, dynamic resistance and heat generation of various current
levels.
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These resistive patterns have directly influenced the initial heat development,
and also the heat distribution during fusion at the welded areas, as shown in Figure 8(c).
This heat distributive pattern enables nugget growth, as it continues melting the outer
region (solid or HAZ) of the molten areas; and this action continues proportionally in an
omni-direction until the expulsion limit is reached (Tang et al., 2002). It was computed
from the equation (Q = I2Rt) that the weld time was 20 mS for a 10 weld cycle; with
currents of 6, 7 and 8 kA and the resistance (R) was set according to the dynamic
resistive changes. It is clearly seen that the dynamic resistive pattern more or less
replicates the heat distributive patterns, as shown in Figure 8(c). For instance, when the
current was increased from 6 to 7 and 7 to 8 kA, the dynamic resistances were slightly
reduced but the initial heat developments were increased due to the multiplying factors
of heat generation being formed from the time, resistance and current. Noticeably the
drop in resistance (mΩ) in this case was minimal but the current increment was
sufficiently rapid, as it is multiplied by itself (I2) and therefore the heat developed
rapidly. In other words, the current and heat increments were proportionally interrelated
to each other (Figure 8(c)). When the starting heat was very high due to the joining
surface resistance of the BMs (the faying surface between sheets), the melting initially
started at the middle of the BMs and grew outwards in all directions for 20 mS. As a
result, initial drops in resistances were seen at the beginning of the dynamic resistive
curves for all (6, 7 and 8 kA) welding processes due to the removal of surface
contamination and/or the establishment of proper contacts with the surfaces of the BMs.
Once the electrode-to-sheet contact resistances are well balanced, the bulk resistances of
the BMs start to accumulate the thermal increments on both metals sheets, and
consequently the initial melt starts at the contact areas of both metal sheets (asperities).
When the melting point of the materials is reached at the asperities, the melting process
immediately starts and consequently the heat travels outwards in all directions with an
almost constant pattern of heat distribution, which kept melting the contact areas from
the internal surfaces of BMs toward the electrode contact areas until the welding
process is finished (Rinsei et al., 2006). Obviously, the electrical resistivity and thermal
conductivity is purely dependant on the materials’ properties, whereby the diameters of
the molten areas are directly proportional to such heating effects. However the electrode
forces holding the BMs together are not factor-free. They are directly exposed to
forging forces due to the huge amount for electrons flowing, and produce vibrations
because of the sinusoidal waveform of the current flow. This waveform is clearly seen
in the force profiles (Figure 8(a) and Figure 9(a)) and the resulting porous induction
during solidification.
On the other hand the resistive pattern slightly differed from Dickinson’s model.
By referring to Dickinson’s dynamic resistive model, regions 3, 4 and 5 are flattened in
this experiment rather than produce bell-like-curve growth. This occurred because of the
forging forces that increased beyond the weld lobe regions. The pneumatic-based
electrode actuation system does not produce constant forces, as the forging forces
increase due to the huge amount of current flow (Table 2). Another situation was
observed for the electrode pressing forces with a constant current (6 kA). The force was
increased in a few attempts, and consequently the resistances were changed. When the
electrode pressing forces are raised from 3 to 4.5 and 4.5 to 6 kN, the resistances were
slightly decreased due to the proper contact between electrodes and sheets. These
changes have resulted in decrements in the heat and the margin reduction among
various forces were too narrow in the heat distributions compared to the current
increments (Chang, at al., 2006). Figure 9 shows the various forces applied during the
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welding process for a constant current (6 kA), the equivalent resistive changes and also
the resulting heat distributions on the dissimilar steels.
(a) Force profiles
(b) Dynamic resistances
(c) Heat generation
Figure 9. Force profile, dynamic resistance and heat generation of various force profiles.
Table 2 summarises the overall variations in forging forces, dynamic resistances

and also heat distributions according to the two basic parameter changes. It is clearly
seen from the table that the current increments caused proportionally large heat
increments, whereas the force increments caused a drop in heat during the welding
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process. The minimal and maximum values are listed to show the ranges of values
determined for these changes.
Table 2. Forging force, dynamic resistance and heat distribution ranges.
Various currents 8 kA 7 kA 6 kA
Range (kN) 4 2.8 2.4
Forging forces Various forces 6 kN 4.5 kN 3 kN
Range (kJ) 2.5 2.4 2.4
Range (mΩ) 0.24–0.12 0.26–0.21 0.30–0.40
Dynamic Resistance Various forces 6 kN 4.5 kN 3 kN
Range (mΩ) 0.22–0.10 0.23–0.12 0.24–0.13
Range (kJ) 3.00–1.30 2.40–1.00 2.20–0.90
Heat Distribution
Various forces 6 kN 4.5 kN 3 kN
Range (kJ) 1.50–0.70 1.55–0.80 1.70–0.85
Tensile Test Results
In assessing the tensile-shear strength (Figure 10), a one hundred kiloNewton (100 kN)
capacity machine was used to determine the loading force with respect to the welding
process parameter variations. The crosshead speed was maintained at 70 mm per
minute, and 30 mm of mechanical grip was applied at both ends. The pull to break test
was conducted and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) was taken as the maximum weld
strength at which the weld joint crack initiation occurs. In some cases, post-cracking
initiating propagation was analysed as separating both parent materials from each other.
The average strength values from the five samples were taken as the equivalent strength
of that particular weld schedule. Regarding the analysis of the weld schedules from 1 to
2 and 2 to 3; a strength increment was noted due to the increment in welding current
from 6 to 7 and 7 to 8 kA respectively. Obviously, this shows that an increase in current
has occasioned in an increase in strength due to the resulting increment in diameter.
Moreover the welded nuggets had an asymmetrical shape at the welded zone, and also a
two-in-one diameter to represent the mixed steel joints.
Figure 11 shows the changes in diameter with respect to the welding current and
electrode force changes on both sides. The stainless steel side nuggets were slightly
wider and higher compared to thse on the carbon steel sides. However both sides have
shown proportional changes. This fulfils the Joule’s law of heating (Q = I2Rt); where Q
represents the heat developed; I represents the current; R represent the resistance and t
represent time. By increasing the current, the heat supplied at the electrode tip is also
proportionally increased and therefore the corresponding diameters increments were
obtained. However when the electrode force incremental set is considered, the force
increment has caused a drop in strength because of the drop in the total resistances.
Regarding the increment in force from 3 to 4.5 and 4.5 to 6 kN; the tensile strength is
reduced because the resistive components are reduced in the heating process, which is
another proportional coefficient of the heat formula (Darwish and Al-Samhan, 2004).
Thus the resistance is reduced by producing a high electrode pressing force as it creates
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a change in length (ℓ) which is a proportional coefficient of the resistance equation. The
bulk resistance is computed as R = ρℓ/A; where ρ is the resistivity (CS=1.611 x 10-7
Ω.m; SS=6.89 x 10-7 Ω.m); ℓ is the length (1 mm + 1 mm) and A is the contact area
(19.63 μm2) of the electrode. The electrode tips were not changed at all so that the
resistance is mainly affected due to changes in the bulk resistance. Similar types of
effect have also seen during the tensile tests, as reductions in weld diameters require
lower loading effects (Kent et al., 2000).
Figure 10. Tensile shear test results.
Figure 11. Diameter of weld nuggets and failure modes.
Failure Modes
Having considered the failure modes of the tensile tests of dissimilar joints, it has been
noted that crack initiations occurred in accordance with weld type. A poor weld joint
has an interfacial fracture (IF) (Figure 12(a)) and the loading force falls below 5.5 kN.
The interfacial cracks occur in the middle welded regions due to poor bonds. A
moderate-good weld has a complete crack in the BM (tear from one side) at the HAZ
(PF) (Figure 12(b)), and the loading force falls between 5.5 to 6.3 kN. In dissimilar
joints, crack initiation starts on the carbon steel side rather than the stainless steel side
892
due to the difference in hardness. This occurred due to the metal strength as the strength
of carbon steel is lower compared to stainless steel. Furthermore a good weld (Figure
12(c)) has better bonds between sheets and therefore requires a higher loading force to
break the joint. In this case it was just above 6.3 kN, and the tear was a button pullout
(TF) (Lee et al., 2004). Nevertheless, post-crack initiation propagation was carried out
so that the difference between PF and TF can be observed; otherwise both failure modes
will be treated in the same category which is what other fellow researchers have done
before.
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 12. Crack initiation of failure modes.
Indentation of Welded Areas
The electrode pressing force is the root cause for the indentation of the welded areas.
This force may create a situation of a splash out from the areas concerned when the
nuggets’ diameter grows beyond that of the electrode tip (encapsulation), which is
always referred to as expulsion. However, the worst case (expulsion) scenarios were not
conducted in these experiments. Figure 13(a) shows the upper and lower indentations
created by the electrode pressing force during the welding process. Figure 13(b) shows
micro indentations that occurred for both categories of parameter (welding current and
electrode force) changes. It is obviously noted that the indentation is proportional to the
welding current, as well as the electrode pressing force. As the parameters are increased,
the indentation consequently becomes deeper on both sides of the BMs. In most cases
the indentation was slightly higher on the upper electrode side because it creates a
hitting impact due to the pneumatic cylinder during the squeeze cycles, while the lower
electrode remains static. This pneumatic driven-electrode pressing force is not a
constant force during or after the welding process takes place. It creates forging forces
due to the huge current flow from upper electrode through the BMs to the lower
electrode and vice versa. When the input welding current is sinusoidal, the direction of
current flow follows in accordance to the different polarities of the waveforms. This
action occurs 20 times for 10 cycles at the welded areas. Figures 8(a) and 9(a) show the
typical force profiles for stainless and medium carbon steels when forging forces
occurred, regardless of parameter changes. One of the demerits of the huge forging
force is that it may lead to the existence of pores in the solidified zones. Figure 14
shows pores that exist for both categories of welding conditions.
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(a) Indentation of weld area (b) Lower and upper micro

indentations
Figure 13. Indentation of welded areas for both categories of welding conditions
(a) Welding current (b) Electrode force
Figure 14. Pore induced at welded zone .
Hardness Test Results
Regarding for the hardness test, the FZs seemed to comprise of asymmetrical joints. It
has been slightly hardened on the stainless steel side (from 86 HRB to 115 HRB); and
almost doubled (from 65 HRB to 115 HRB) on the carbon steel side due to the
solidification process (Nachimani, 2012b, c). However once the contact areas of both
metals are molten, it becomes a dissimilar region and no longer a separate metal sheet.
The HAZs’ hardness was slightly lower (95 HRB for CS; 105 HRB for SS) than the FZ
but higher than the BMs. However, the half-oval shape of the HAZs was easily
noticeable on the carbon steel sides due to thermal conductivity. A similar region (HAZ)
was not clearly seen on any stainless side, but the chances are high if the welding
process is prolonged or nano-scaled (Huang et al., 2008). Figure 15 shows the zones
that associated in the dissimilar weld joint. The hardness has been measured for all nine
weld schedules, and is presented in Figure 16.
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Figure 15. Dissimilar joint macro view.
Figure 16. Hardness of dissimilar joint (weld schedule 1–9).
Metallurgical Study
Macro and micro structural observations are the heart of weld nugget analysis. It offers
crystal clear information about the structural orientation of the weld nuggets and its
surrounding area. A typical outlook of dissimilar FZs appears to be coarse grains, while
the heat affected areas appear to be finer grains. The macrographs of these types of
pattern have been noted throughout the experiment, and one of them is presented as
Figure 16 as an example. Noticeably the parameter changes have directly influenced the
grains in both zones: the FZs and the HAZs. However, the heat affected areas are not
clearly visible on the stainless steel sides, and also vary from one weld schedule to
another. Thus the thermal conductivity coefficients are higher in the carbon steels
compared to the stainless steels, so wider ranges of HAZs were noted but the thermal
expansion coefficient rate is lower in the carbon steel so that the width and height of the
FZ was shorter (4t0.5) compared to the stainless steel. Head extended zones (HEZ) are
also seen in some macro graphs, but they are still treated under HAZ. On the other side,
the stainless steel seems to have a higher thermal expansion coefficient but lower
thermal conductivity. So the HAZ was smaller but the FZ was wider (5t0.5) compared to
the mild steels. Technically this phenomenon is called a heat imbalance during the
895
welding process, and results in asymmetrical nugget formation. Table 3 lists the
electrical, mechanical and thermal properties of the carbon and stainless steels.
Furthermore, the original micro structural view of austenitic stainless steel (Figure
17(a)), which is made of Ferrite-Austenite-Martensite phases, becomes a martensitic
structure when welded and solidified with a carbon steel sheet, as shown in Figure 17(b)
(Khodabakhshi et al., 2011). On the other hand, the moderate pearlite of the carbon steel
sheet (Figure 18) becomes a mainly martensite structure when mixed with austenitic
stainless steel (Aravinthan and Nachimani, 2011b). The full martensite formation
depends on the dilution ratio of the BMs. This dilution ratio can be observed in the
hardness increment between the welded and unwelded regions of the BMs, or from the
interfacial to pullout failures.
(a) (b)
Figure 17. (a) Micro structural view of austenitic stainless steel (Ferrite-Austenite-
Martensite phases); (b) Micro structural view of dissimilar steels (Martensite phase).
Figure 18. Micro structural view of carbon steel (Pearlite phase).
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Table 3. Electrical, mechanical and thermal properties of carbon and stainless steel.
Properties Stainless steel Carbon steel

Density 8.00 g/cm3 7.85 g/cm3
Melting Point 1400–1450°C 1426–1538°C
Electrical Resistivity 6.89 x 10-7 Ω.m 1.611 x 10-7 Ω.m
Thermal Conductivity 16.2 W/m.K (min) 54 W/m.K (min)
Thermal Expansion 17.2 x 10-6 /K 12 x10-6 /K
CONCLUSION
This experimental study examined the spot weld growth of welded joints containing
carbon and stainless steel. The outcome of the research concludes that:
1. An increase in welding current to 8 kA reduces the dynamic resistance, compared to
7 and 6 kA. However the heat generation proportionally increases with respect to
current increments.
2. An increase in electrode pressing forces resulted in a decrement in dynamic
resistance (3, 4.5 and 6 kN); therefore resulting in a decrement in heat.
3. The poor dynamic resistive pattern of Dickinson was noted in this experiment due to
high forging force fluctuations.
4. Micro indentations in the welded areas were proportional to the welding parameters
of welding current and electrode pressing force.
5. The upper indentation appeared deeper due to pneumatic striking and the squeezing
force on the surface of the upper BMs.
6. Pores not only existed due to high currents and long welding times, but also as a
result of high forging forces.
7. An increase in welding current within the welding lobe resulted in an increment in
the diameter of the weld nuggets. Therefore the increment in loading force during
the tensile test was observed.
8. An increase in electrode pressing force resulted in a decrement in the diameter of the
weld nuggets, and therefore a decrement in loading force during the tensile test was
observed.
9. The three common post-crack failure modes were seen: since poor welds produce
IFs; medium welds produce a tear from one side; and a good weld produces button
pullout or tearing from both sides.
10. The micro structure clearly exhibits coarser grains in the FZ, refined grains in the
HAZ and unchanged grains in the BM.
11. The hardness values of the welded areas increased from 65 to 115 HRB on average
on the carbon steel side, while stainless steel presented values of 86 to 115 HRB.
This occurred due to phase changes from moderate pearlite to mainly martensite.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Malaysia
(MOSTI) for its financial support throughout the experiments.
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899
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON HEAT TRANSFER AND PRESSURE

DROP CHARACTERISTICS OF AIR FLOW OVER A STAGGERED FLAT
TUBE BANK IN CROSSFLOW
M. Ishak1,2, Tahseen Ahmad Tahseen1,3 and Md. Mustafizur Rahman1,2

1
Phone : +609-424-2246 ; Fax : +609-424-2202
2
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering,
University of Tikrit, Tikrit, Iraq
Email: tahseen444@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper presents an experimental investigation into the heat transfer and pressure
drop characteristics of air flow in a staggered flat tube bank in crossflow with laminar-
forced convection. Measurements were conducted for sixteen tubes in the direction of
flow and four tubes in rows. The air velocity varies between 0.6–1.0 m/s and the
Reynolds number varied from 373 to 623. The total heat flux supplied in all tubes are
changed from 967.92 to 3629.70 W/m2. The results indicate that the average Nusselt
number for all the flat tubes increased by 11.46–46.42%, with the Reynolds numbers
varying from 373 to 623 at the fixed heat flux. The average Nusselt number increased
by 21.39–84%, and the total heat flux varyied between 967.92–3629.70 W/m2 with a
constant Reynolds number Re = 498. In addition, the pressure drop decreased with an
increase in the Reynolds number. A new mean Nusselt number-Reynolds number
correlation was found, and the correlation yielded good predictions for the measured
data with a confidence interval of 98.9%.
Keywords: Experimental study; forced convection; staggered flat tube; measurement.
INTRODUCTION
Heat transfer and fluid flow in tube bundles represents an idealisation of many
industrially-important processes. Tube banks are openly employed in crossflow heat
exchangers, the design still relies on empirical correlations of pressure drop and heat
transfer. Heat exchangers with tube bundles in crossflow are of a major operating
interest in many chemical and thermal engineering processes (Buyruk et al., 1998;
Incropera et al., 2007; Kaptan et al., 2008; Srinivasa Rao et at., 2011; Liang and
Papadakis, 2007; Mandhani et al., 2002; Wang et al., 2000). Flat tubes, despite not
having been assessed to the same extent, play a significant role in many technical
applications, such as automotive radiators and modern heat exchangers. Designs have
recently been provided for use in air conditioning systems for automotive evaporators
and condensers. Recent developments in automotive aluminium manufacturing
technology have made the cost of the construction of flat tube heat exchangers more
propitious (Webb and Kim, 1994; Suryanarayana et al., 2011; Muthucumaraswamy et
al., 2012). In addition, flat tube heat exchangers are expected to offer the best air-side
900
heat transfer coefficients and minimum air-side pressure drops compared with circular
tube heat exchangers. The pressure drop in flat tubes is expected to be less than circular
tubes due to a smaller wake area. For the same reason, noise and vibration are expected
to be less in flat tube heat exchangers compared to circular tube heat exchangers.
Tahseen et al. (2012a,b, 2013) have conducted numerical studies on incompressible,
steady state flows using the body fitted coordinate (BFC). The first study concerns heat
transfer over a series of flat tubes between two parallel plates. In the second study
examines heat transfer over two staggered flat tubes, and the third study looks at heat
transfer over the in-line banks of a circular tube. The studies show that the Nusselt
number increases with an increase in Reynolds number. In this paper, the cooling
process was experimentally examined with a staggered flat tube configuration with a
diameter ratio of the tube D/d = 1.85. The Reynolds number for external air flow was
based on the mean free stream air velocity and the outer hydraulic diameter the tube,
which varied from 373 to 623, and the heat flux supply to all tubes ranged between
967.92–3629.70 W/m2. Experiments were conducted Tt detect the effects of the
Reynolds number on the air pressure drop across the flat tube banks and the heat
transfer rate.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND DETAILS
The flat tube arrangement was made from aluminum, with a small diameter of 10 mm
and larger diameter or 18.5 mm, with a tube thickness of 1 mm. The outer hydraulic
diameter Dh = 13.5 mm, and all tubes had a length of 200 mm. Double electric heaters
were inserted inside the tubes to simulate the heat flux originating from a hot fluid. For
all the arrangements, four rows were placed in the direction of external flow over all
tubes, as shown in Figure 1(a). Sixteen flat tubes were then assembled according to the
design presented in a drawer from Teflon type Polytetraflu-oroethylene (PTFE), which
is the test module. Losses were minimised by holding the end of the flat tube between
two Teflon walls separated by a distance L = 200 mm, as shown in Figure 1(b-c).
Thirty-two heating elements were used, consisting of cylindrical electric heaters,
each rated at 50 W up to 850 W with 220 V AC. The outside diameter of the electric
heaters is 8 mm and their length is 200 mm, the diameter being small enough to insert
into the aluminium tubes. The heaters were connected in parallel, and two variable AC
voltage sources used that produced voltages ranging from 0 to 125 V. The maximum
power supply was 220 V and a maximum current of 2.5 A was supplied from the
variable AC voltage sources – LOADSTAR 850 models. The current and voltage
measurements were performed with a current clam meter and volt measurement meter,
respectively. Fifteen thermistors of type EPCOS B57164K0102J NTC (resistance 1000
Ω at 25 oC) were placed in the test module. All thermistors were placed in the centre
between the side walls of the wind tunnel, and along the midline of the channels. Four
thermistors were placed at the arrangement inlet (Tin,1 -Tin,4), four at the surfaces of the
tubes (Ts,1 –Ts,4) and five at the outlet (Tout,1 -Tout,5) in one channel. An additional
thermistor (Tbef ) was placed in the extended region at 400 mm before the test module, in
order to measure the temperature of the free stream.
Thermistors at the surface of the tubes showed that the difference between the
tubes in one channel is negligible, and are within a ±0.57 °C margin with respect to the
average of the four thermistors. Finally, the thermistor placed in the extended region for
measuring the free stream temperatures measured a ±0.22 °C margin with respect to the
average temperature measured in the inlet arrangement, for all the tests carried out in
901
Experimental investigation on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of air flow over a staggered flat tube
bank in crossflow
this work. The velocity measurements were taken with a vane-type hot wire
anemometer; model YK-2004AH, which was placed in the extended flow region as
shown in Figure 2, for the range of 0.2–20 m/s. The resolution of reading and
uncertainty in the free steam velocity U∞ was ±(1–5%, +0.1 m/s). The velocity of the
free stream U∞ varied between 0.6–1.0 m/s in this study. The pressure drop
measurements were taken using a differential pressure meter, model TESTO 510, with
an operating range of 0–100 kPa, a resolution of 1 Pa of reading and an accuracy of
±0.3 Pa. The differential pressure measurements had the finality of measuring the
pressure drop across each of change in the free stream velocity for all experiments, as
shown in Figure 2. The experimental work includes the obtainment of temperature data
using a highly-accurate TESTO thermometer, model TESTO 110, with a nominal range
of -50 °C to +150 °C, temperature thermometer resolution of 0.1°C and an accuracy
around ±0.2 °C. The thermistor was calibrated in the laboratory to determine the limits
of deviation.
(a)
(c)
(b)
Figure 1. Experimental test models; (a) tube configuration; (b) Teflon module; and (c)
schematic of Teflon module with dimensions (all dimensions in mm).
902
The thermistor was immersed in four types of fluid: distilled water, n-Hexane,
Metghylated Spirit and Toluene. After that, each fluid is separately heated to reach its
boiling point and then the values are recorded as shown in Figure 3 (Collett and Hope,
1983). Each run was started by selecting the voltage and current supply to the cartridge
heaters and air velocity of the free stream, then we waited 2.5–3.0 hours while
monitoring the changes in voltage, current, Tbef, Tin,1-Tin,4, Ts,1-Ts,4 and Tout,1-Tout,5. The
relative changes in the voltage, current and temperature were less than 0.5–0.8%, 2–
2.2% and 0.044–0.075%, respectively. These changes were estimated relatively by
repeating the same value ReDh value within 7.5–9 hours. It should be noted that these
relative changes are small when compared with the uncertainties in the relevant
measurements.
In this experiment a steady state flow is assumed. To investigate in the following
relations for the relevant air properties and used in the following calculations. It is based
on data and valid for the range of temperatures 250K  ( T in T out ) 2  400K
(Collett and Hope, 1983);
 T in T out 
  1.05269  4.895 104   (1)
 2 
  T in T out  
k  3.71452  7.495 102    10
3
(2)
  2  
  T in T out  
   4.99343  4.483 102    10
6
(3)
  2  
  T in T out  
Cp  9.8185  7.7 104    10
2
(4)
  2  
where
1 n
T in   T in i , n  4
n i 1
1 n
T out   T out i , n  5
n i 1
The electrical heat gain rate was calculated with Eq. (5).
Qelect  V  I (5)
The steady state heat balance of the electrically heated test surface can be written as
Eq. (6).
Qelect  Qconduction  Q radiation  Qconvection (6)
903
bank in crossflow
1 Location of the anemometer 2 Location thermistor before test rig 3 location of the differential pressure
4 Flat tube with heater 5 Inlet thermistor 6 Thermistor at the surface of tube
7 Outlet thermistor 8 Switch board 9 Digital thermometer
10 Power supply 11 Hot wire anemometer 12 Digital manometer
Figure 2. Schematic display of the experimental approach (all dimensions in mm).
The heat transfer from the system is as follows:
i) Conduction between the laboratory and the wall of the tubes was neglected due
to the extremely low thermal conductivity of the air (0.23 W/m oC), of Teflon
and the negligible temperature difference between the laboratory and the outer
walls of the Teflon.
ii) Radiation heat transfer between the surfaces of the tubes and the surroundings
were also neglected. Based on the measurement of ( T in T out ) 2 and the mean
T s the radiation transfer coefficients were estimated as (Khan et al., 2004):
  2
2  
 
T in T out  
h rad          Ts     T in T out   T s  (7)
     
   
2 2
    
1 n
where T s   T s i , n  4
n i 1
For a commercial aluminium tube with an emissivity (Collett and

2 o
Hope, 1983), h rad was found to range between 0.174–0.205 W/m C, in approximately
0.0102–0.15% of the air side convection heat transfer coefficient, h . Thus the heat
transfer between the air and the surface of the tubes was in fact due to convection, and
the mechanism of Eq. (6) was rewritten (Naik et al., 1987):
  T out T in  

Qtotal  h  As  T s    (8)
  2 
  
where As  nt    d  2  D  d   L  
904
where nt is the number of tubes, the inlet air temperature T in was the variable
(22.86–26.01 oC), and T s was the average temperature of the surface of the tubes. For
the steady state condition, the overall heat transfer rate, Qelect, was equal to the electrical
heat supply, Qelect. From Eq. (6), the average heat transfer coefficient was determined as
Eq. (9):
Qelect
h  (9)
  T out T in 
As  T s   
  2 
  
The dimensionless average heat transfer coefficient of the air, namely the Nusselt
number, was calculated from Eq. (10):
h  Dh
Nu  (10)
k
where the hydraulic diameter:
  
4   d 2   D  d  d 
4  (cross  sec tional area )  4 
Dh   (11)
wetted perimeter   d  2 D  d 
The Reynolds number is defined as Eq. (12):
 U   D h
Re Dh  (12)

The dimensionless pressure drop is defined as Eq. (13):
2  P
Cp  (13)
  U    nt
2
where nt is the number of tubes
Experimental uncertainty issues were dealt with in Journal of Heat Transfer

(1993), Dieck (1997) and in Holman (2012). There is more than one way to estimate the
uncertainty in the experimental results and has presented by Kline and McClintock. The
few sample calculations here. The independent parameters are the tube dimensions,
temperature, velocity, etc., and the dependent parameters (like Dh, Re, Qelect, Nu, etc.)
are independent functions of other measured parameters, an uncertainty for the
independent variable separates them, according to their functional relationship. The
example chosen is the case of the electric power (Qelect).
Qelect  V  I (14)
905
bank in crossflow
Figure 3. Calibration of the thermistor.
The uncertainties in the current and voltage propagate in Qelect, and can be
estimated in terms of relative or absolute values (%), as follows:
Relative
 U Qelect 
2 2
Uv  U I 
     I  (15)
 Q elect   V   
Or absolute
 Q   Q
2 2

U Qelect   elect U v    elect U I  (16)
 V   I 
The uncertainties in determining Dh, Qelect, Re, Nu, CP, were estimated and found
to be approximately 5.68%, 2.26%, 4.2%, 3.91%, and 2.79% respectively.
This section presents the experimental results for laminar-forced convection heat
transfer across tube bundles with a staggered configuration. The main objective of this
study is to determine the Reynolds number-Nusselt number relationship and the heat
flux input-Nusselt number relationship. Figure 4 shows the variations in mean Nusselt
number (Nu) with Reynolds number (Re) for different heat flux supplies. From Figure 4
it can be seen that Nu increases with increases in Re for all heat flux supplies. The
reason being the temperature difference between the hot surface of the tube and air flow
increasing as the Re increases. Also, the time of contact between the air flow and hot
surface of the tube is not enough and decreases with an increasing Re. In addition, the
Nu number increases almost linearly with an increase in Re. The variation in Nu with
906
the total heat flux supply at different free stream velocities is plotted in Figure 5. The
figure shows the Nu increasing nearly linearly with the increasing total heat flux supply.
Nu increases with an increase in the free stream velocity of the air flow.
Figure 4. Effect Re on Nu at different heat flux supplies.
Figure 5. Effect of total heat flux on Nu with different free stream air velocities.
The effect of the Reynolds number on the pressure drop (∆P) and the
dimensionless pressure drop (CP) are shown in Figure 6. Figure 6(a) illustrates ∆P
increasing linearly with an increase in Re. This increase may be due to variations in the
air properties, as the air density decreases with an increasing temperature. The heating
907
bank in crossflow
of the air means heating cold air, which initially has a slightly higher density. In this
circumstance the density estimated at average air temperature between inlet and outlet
( T in T out ) 2 , was relatively highest in this work. The CP decreased progressively and
approaches the value of 0.14 Re increase and awarding an increase in the decreasing
rate of CP as shown in Figure 6(b).
(a) (b)
Figure 6. Effect of Reynolds number on (a) pressure drop and (b) dimensionless
pressure drop, across the test section.
The relationship between the mean Nusselt number and the Reynolds number is
plotted in Figure 7. The Nu increases with the increases Re in the power law formalises.
The relationship between them was determined as
Nu  C 1  Re C 2 (17)
where C1 and C2 are the coefficients of the fitting curve as listed in Table 2. Figure 6
presents a comparison between the present experimental work and the results two
previous works. It is shows that the experimental results agree well with Hausen (1983)
and Khan et al. (2006). It is evident that the Reynolds number is major factor affecting
the heat transfer rate.
Table 1. The coefficients of curve fitting for calculating equation (17).
Total heat flux

C1 C2 R2
(W/m2)
967.921 0.061 0.900 0.989
2258.48 0.440 0.610 0.988
3629.70 1.584 0.422 0.985
908
Figure 7. Comparison between the current study and different empirical correlations for
Nusselt number.
CONCLUSIONS
The forced convection crossflow heat transfer of cold air over an array of hot air-
carrying flat tubes has been study experimentally. The Reynolds number changes in
response to changes in the average free stream velocity, and the heat flux for the system
changes in response to the changes in the voltage supply. The results can be summarised
as:
i) The average heat transfer coefficients for the flat tube bundles depend on the
mean free stream velocity of the air and the heat flux supply.
ii) The heat transfer rate increases with the increase in mean air velocity.
iii) The mean Nusselt number for all the flat tubes is increased by 11.46–46.42% in
the Reynolds numbers range of 373 to 880 for the fixed heat flux. Also, they
increase between 21.39–84% for a Re = 623, and the heat flux supply ranges
between 967.9 to 3629.7 W/m2.
iv) The pressure drop increases with an increase in the mean velocity of the air flow
and the dimensionless pressure drop decreases with an increase in mean air flow.
v) Finally, the Nusselt number-Reynolds number correlation was found to be
Nu  C 1  Re C 2 with a mean error range (R2) of 0.985 to 0.989.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP)

for providing laboratory facilities and financial support under project no. RDU120103.
909
bank in crossflow
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flow and heat transfer around a tube in crossflow at low Reynolds number.
International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, 19: 223-232.
Collett, C. V. and Hope, A. D. 1983. Engineering measurements. 2nd ed. Singapore:
ELBS.
Dieck, R. H. 1997. Measurement uncertainty models. ISA Transactions, 36: 29-35.
Hausen, H. 1983. Heat transfer from tubes in counter flow, parallel flow and crossflow.
USA: McGraw-Hill.
Holman, J. P. 2012. Experimental methods for engineers. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-
Hill.
Incropera, F. P., Dewitt, D. P., Bergman, T. L. and Lavine, A. S. 2007. Fundamentals of
heat and mass transfer. 6th ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Journal of Heat Transfer Policy on Reporting Uncertainties in Experimental
Measurements and Results. 1993. Editorial. Journal of Heat Transfer, 115: 5-6.
Kaptan, Y., Buyruk, E. and Ecder, A. 2008. Numerical investigation of fouling on
crossflow heat exchanger tubes with conjugated heat transfer approach.
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Khan, M. G., Fartaj, A. and Ting, D. S.-K. 2004. An experimental characterization of
crossflow cooling of air via an in-line elliptical tube array. International Journal
of Heat and Fluid Flow, 25: 636-648.
Khan, W. A., Culham, J. R. and Yovanovich, M. M. 2006. Convection heat transfer
from tube banks in crossflow: analytical approach. International Journal of
Heat and Mass Transfer, 49: 4831-4838.
Liang, C. and Papadakis, G. 2007. Large eddy simulation of crossflow through a
staggered tube bundle at subcritical Reynolds number. Journal of Fluids and
Structures, 23: 1215-1230.
Mandhani, V. K., Chhabra, R. P. and Eswaran, V. 2002. Forced convection heat transfer
in tube banks in crossflow. Chemical Engineering Science, 57: 379-391.
Muthucumaraswamy, R., Dhanasekar, N. and Easwara Prasad, G. 2012. Mass transfer
effects on accelerated vertical plate in a rotating fluid with chemical reaction of
first order. Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences, 3: 346-355.
Naik, S., Probert, S. D. and Shilston, M. J. 1987. Forced-convective steady-state heat
transfers from shrouded vertical fin arrays, aligned parallel to an undisturbed
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K. and Noor, M.M. 2011. Experimental study on heat transfer coefficient and
friction factor of Al2O3 nanofluid in a packed bed column. Journal of
Suryanarayana, K.V., Srinivasa Rao, G., Reddy Prasad, D.M., Sharma, K.V. and Sarma,
P.K. 2011. Experimental analysis of heat and mass transfer in a packed bed.
Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences, 1: 124-132.
Tahseen, A. T., Ishak, M. and Rahman, M.M. 2012a. A numerical study of forced
convection heat transfer over a series of flat tubes between parallel plates.
Tahseen, A.T., Ishak, M. and Rahman, M.M. 2012b. Analysis of laminar forced
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Tahseen, A. T., Ishak, M. and Rahman, M. M. 2013. A numerical study laminar forced
convection of air for in-line bundle of cylinders crossflow. Asian Journal of
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John Wiley and Sons.
NOMENCLATURE
As tube surface area, m2 Q heat transfer rate, W

correlation/curve fit
C1-C2 Re Reynolds number
coefficients
CP pressure coefficient T temperature, oC
specific heat capacity at
Cp constant pressure, U velocity, m/ s
kJ/kg oC
small diameter of the flat tube,
d V voltage, V
m
large diameter of the flat tube, Greek symbols
D
m
hydraulic diameter of the flat pressure drop across the tube
Dh ∆P
tube, m array, Pa
average heat transfer
h coefficient, ε emissivity
W/m oC
k thermal conductivity, W/m oC μ dynamic viscosity, kg/m s
Stefan-Boltzmann constant,
I current, A σ
5.670373×10−8 W/m2 K4
L total length of tubes, m ρ density, kg/m3
nt number of tubes Subscripts
Nu average Nusselt number in inlet
P perimeter of the flat tube, m out outlet
Pr Prandtl number s surface
∞ free stream
911
APPLICATION OF MULTIBODY SIMULATION FOR FATIGUE LIFE

ESTIMATION
M. Kamal1, Md. Mustafizur Rahman1,2 and M.S.M. Sani1

1
26600 Pekan, Pahang Malaysia
2
26600 Pekan, Pahang Malaysia
ABSTRACT
In automobile design, the safety of passengers is of prime concern to the manufacturers.

Suspension is one of the safety-related automotive systems which is responsible for
maintaining traction between the road and tires, and offers a comfortable ride
experience to the passengers by absorbing disturbances. One of the critical components
of the suspension system is the knuckle, which constantly faces cyclic loads subjecting
it to fatigue failure. This paper presents an evaluation of the fatigue characteristics of a
knuckle using a gravel road profile acquired using a data acquisition system and
standard SAE profiles for the suspension (SAESUS), bracket (SAEBRAKT) and
transmission (SAETRN). The gravel road profile was applied as the input to a multi
body simulation (MBS), and the load history for various mounting points of the knuckle
is extracted. Fatigue life is predicted using the strain-life method. The instantaneous
stress distributions and maximum principal stress are used for fatigue life predictions.
From the results, the strut connection is found to be the critical region for fatigue
failure. The fatigue life from loading extracted from gravel road MBS agreed well with
the life prediction when standard SAE profiles were used. This close agreement shows
the effectiveness of the load extraction technique from MBS. This method can also be
effectively used for more complex loading conditions that occur during real driving
environments.
Keywords: Fatigue; multibody simulation; suspension system; knuckle; strain-life

method; maximum principal stress.
INTRODUCTION
One of the prime concerns in modern vehicle design is passenger safety. One technique
of providing this is to install systems like air bags, seat belts, etc. Another technique is
to design vehicle handling in such a way to ensure maximum control, even during
extreme driving conditions/manoeuvers. The suspension system is one of the major
aspects responsible for maintaining adequate vehicle traction at all times, to keep the
vehicle under the driver’s control (Rahman et al., 2006, 2009a; Yusof et al., 2012). Thus
ensuring the safety by not allowing the vehicle to lose its grip on the road and skid off.
This makes it extremely important and critical in the design of suspension so that it will
perform according to the safety requirements and also so that no component will
experience a structural failure during the design life, as this can cause fatal accidents
(Liu, 2008; Domínguez Almaraz et al., 2010). In the current study the fatigue failure
aspects of suspension system components are discussed. A suspension system
912
Kamal et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 912-923
comprises of a shock absorber and spring assembly, control arms and a knuckle. The
knuckle is a critical component of the suspension system, and it is important to
accurately predict its safe design life. The service loading of the suspension knuckle is
time-varying in nature, structural loads are applied at more than one location and in
more than one direction at the same time, resulting in complex stress and strain fields in
the part (Azrulhisham et al., 2010). Due to these variable loads it is vital to estimate the
fatigue life of the part to successfully determine the safe design life of the component
under real world loading conditions (Rahman et al., 2009b; Zoroufi and Fatemi, 2006).
Fatigue life prediction relies on the stress/strain distribution in the component
under study (Fatemi and Shamsaei, 2011; Zulkifli et al., 2011). For accurate fatigue life
estimation, loads should be applied in three dimensions, making it close to the loads that
the part encounters in the real world situation. Multi Body Simulation (MBS) is a good
technique to calculate the load time history on the connection points of the knuckle on
the suspension system (Kamal et al., 2012; Kang et al., 2010). In this paper, fatigue life
estimation has been performed using the load time history calculated from MBS using a
MBS software package, in which an actual gravel road profile at 60 km/hr, with
standard SAE load distributions (SAEBRAKT, SAESUS and SAETRN) are considered
as the input loading (Socie and Artwohl, 1978). FE linear stress simulations are
performed using ANSYS software, where the loads are the forces calculated with MBS.
For fatigue life estimation, ncode Designlife software is used. Proton SAGA front
suspension is used in this study with the material of the knuckle is considered as
FCD500-7 (Azrulhisham et al., 2010). Fatigue properties for fatigue life simulations are
taken from ASTM A-536, which is equivalent to FCD500-7.
METHODOLOGY
Multibody Simulation
Multibody simulation (MBS) is a technique to study the kinetic/kinematic behaviour of

mechanisms. Forces, moments, accelerations and the position of each components of the
assembly can be monitored with respect to time in the form of time histories. These
simulations are also termed rigid body simulations, which means that their shape does
not change with the applied loads. FE stress analysis simulations are conducted
separately to calculate the deformation in components due to dynamic loads. For which
instantaneous loads can be extracted from the MBS results (Miao et al., 2009).
Figure 1. MBS model for MacPhearson strut type suspension.
913
Application of multi body simulation for fatigue life estimation
In the present study, the front suspension of a Proton Saga which is of a

Macphearson strut type is under consideration. MBS modelling is conducted using the
quarter car modelling approach (Figure 1). Real parts are used to develop the models for
the knuckle and lower suspension arm, and the weight and diameter of the tire was
determined from a Proton Saga tire. The tire is modelled as a rigid tire on the road
profile of a gravel road at 60Km/hr (Figure 2), the values for which are acquired using a
test car, and the effect of tire flexibility is thus inherent in the profile data.
Figure 2. Gravel road profile at 60 km/hr [tire deflection (mm) vs. time (sec)].
Finite Element Analysis
A linear approach is used for FE stress analysis modelling of the knuckle. Figure 3
shows the load application points on the component. Instantaneous loads are extracted
from the MBS results, where gravel road profile was used as the input (Figure 4), and
separate load steps are used to apply each instantaneous load. The instant at which the
maximum value of stress occurs is identified by running a stress analysis over all the
load steps extracted from the MBS results, and then this maximum stress distribution
was used to predict the fatigue life. An unstructured meshing scheme was used for mesh
generation using Tet-10 elements, as they can accurately capture the typical geometric
topology in a FEM model (Figure 5).
Figure 3. Location of applied loads and constraints.
914
Figure 4. Forces due to gravel road at loading points on knuckle from MBS results.
Figure 5. Unstructured mesh of knuckle using Tet-10 elements.
Mesh Sensitivity Analysis
A mesh size of reasonable accuracy and optimum solution time is determined by

performing a mesh sensitivity analysis on the FE model (Rahman et al., 2008a, 2009c).
A criterion for mesh convergence is based on the model, geometry, topology and
analysis objectives. To capture the typical geometry and curved surfaces of the knuckle
an unstructured tetrahedral meshing scheme was used with Tet10. The loading
915
conditions and FEM model are shown in Figures 3 and 4. The convergence of stress is
chosen as the main criteria for mesh size selection. The location with the maximum
value of maximum principal stress is monitored for mesh convergence. Table 1 shows
the stress variation with the change in global mesh size. The stress results show
convergence at a mesh size of 1.15 mm [Figure 6(a)]. However, Figure 6(b) shows that
after a mesh size of 1.25 mm there is a sharp increase in the number of nodes, which
will place an excess load on the CPU and storage capacity. It is concluded that a mesh
size of 1.15mm is not acceptable on the basis of the simulation load, and hence a mesh
size of 1.25 mm is selected as it has an acceptable FEM model size and solution time
with reasonable accuracy.
Table 1. Variation in stress with change in global mesh size.
Stress
Global
Total nodes Total Von Tresca Max.
mesh size
elements Mises (MPa) principal
(mm)
(MPa) (MPa)
2.25 112579 65378 315.5 323.6 324
2 134040 77939 317 325.6 326.5
1.75 170374 99446 319 327.5 329
1.5 221905 130323 322 330.5 331.5
1.25 303842 179316 324 332 333
1.15 362442 215675 324.6 332.5 333.5
336
334
332
Stress (MPa)
330
328
326
324
322 Max Principal Stress
320 Von mises
318
316 Tresca
314
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Global mesh size (mm)

(a) Mesh size
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
No. of nodes
150000
100000 No. of elements
50000
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Global mesh size (mm)

(b)
Figure 6. Global mesh size versus stress, numbers of nodes and elements.
916
Fatigue Analysis
There are three methodologies used for fatigue analysis, i.e. the stress life approach,
strain life approach and crack growth approach. The stress-life (S-N) method uses a
relation between the nominal elastic stress and life to estimate the fatigue life. This
method works accurately where only elastic stresses and strains are present (Rahman et
al., 2008b). However, in many real world cases the parts under nominally cyclic elastic
stresses may include stress concentration points, which can result in local cyclic plastic
deformation (Bannantine et al.,, 1989). In accommodating plastic deformation effects,
the strain-life (E-N) method uses local strains as the governing fatigue parameter. The
local strain-life approach is referred to if the loading history is random and where the
mean stress and the load sequence effects are thought to be of importance (Rahman et
al., 2006, 2007). The strain-life approach involves techniques for converting the loading
history, geometry and materials properties (monotonic and cyclic) input into a fatigue
life prediction (Stephens et al., 2001). The prediction process involves sequential
operations (Figure 7).
Strain history Equivalent

based on FE strain history Rainflow
Load Time Damage
stress results by strain cycle
History evaluation
and load time combination counting
history method
Figure 7. Strain life analysis steps.
Initially the stress and strain distribution are estimated, and then the load-time
history is reduced using the rainflow cycle counting method (Matsuishi and Endo,
1968). The next step is to convert the reduced load time history into a strain time history
using the finite element method, and also to calculate the stress and strain in the highly-
stressed area. Then the fatigue life is predicted using crack initiation methods. Fatigue
damage is accumulated using the simple linear hypothesis proposed (Miner, 1945;
Palmgren, 1924). Finally, the damage values for all cycles are summed until a critical
damage sum (failure criteria) is reached. In the present study, the strain life analysis
method is used to estimate fatigue damage. A strain-life curve is used to characterise the
fatigue resistance of metals. These curves are derived from polished laboratory
specimens tested under completely reversed strain controlled experiments. The
relationship between the total strain amplitude (εa) and reversals to failure (2Nf) can be
mathematically expressed as the Coffin Mason Basquin equation (Eq. (1); Lee et al.,
2005).
( ) ( ) (1)
where, Nf is the fatigue life; σ’f is the fatigue strength coefficient; E is the modulus of
elasticity; b is the fatigue strength exponent; ε’f is the fatigue ductility coefficient; and c
is the fatigue ductility exponent.
The absolute maximum principal strain method is used to combine the
component strains [Eq. (2)].
917
| | | | (2)
where, εAMP is the absolute maximum principal strain, and ε1 and ε3 are the first and
third principal strains.
The Morrow model is used for mean stress (σm) corrections (Eq. (3); Lee et al.,
2005).
( )
( ) ( ) (3)
The Hoffman Seeger model (Hoffman and Seegar, 1989) is used for elastic plastic
corrections. The cyclic material properties are used to calculate the elastic-plastic stress-
strain response, and the rate at which fatigue damage accumulates due to each fatigue
cycle.
Materials Information
The materials parameters required depend on the methodology being used. The
mechanical properties of FCD500-7 and fatigue strain life properties of ASTM A-536
are listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Mechanical and cyclic properties of FCD500-7 and ASTM A536 (Azrulhisham
et al., 2010)
Properties, Unit Value

Mechanical
Modulus, GPa, E 170
Yield strength, MPa,  y 360
Ultimate strength, MPa,  u 520
Density (Kg/m3) 7140
Cyclic
Work hardening exponent , n 0.18
Work hardening coefficient, 659
MPa, K
Fatigue strength coefficient, 585
MPa, S 'f
Fatigue strength exponent, b -0.075
Fatigue ductility exponent, c -0.751
Fatigue ductility coefficient, E 'f 0.666
Cyclic strain hardening 0.14
exponent, n
Cyclic strength coefficient, 877
MPa, K 
918
Multi body simulation was performed using the MBS software package in order to
extract the time history of forces acting on the mounting points of a knuckle in a
suspension system when subjected to a gravel road profile. Linear stress analysis was
then performed utilising ANSYS software, to determine the stress and strain results
from the finite element model, with the force-time history from the MBS results applied
as separate load cases. The material is considered elastic and isotropic. The maximum
stress load case in the knuckle is selected for fatigue life estimation. The maximum
principal stress distribution is shown in Figure 8, and from the results a maximum
principal stress of 333 MPa is occurring in the location marked in the figure. Also, the
von Mises and Tresca stresses at this location were found to be 324 and 332 MPa
respectively.
Figure 8. Maximum principal stress distribution
The knuckle is tested for fatigue life using finite element based fatigue analysis.
It is made of FCD5007 (equivalent alloy ASTM A-536). A gravel road profile for a car
travelling at 60 km/hr, and SAE standard profiles SAEBRAKT, SAESUS and SAETRN
are considered as the loading time histories (Figure 2). The load case result with the
maximum stress (Figure 8) is used as the stress distribution input in the fatigue life
simulation for all loading time histories. The strain life method is used for fatigue life
prediction, and the strain history is combined using the absolute maximum principal
strain method. For elastic plastic correction the Hoffman Seegar method is used. The
certainty of survival is set to be 50%, which is a safe approximation for most cases.
Figure 9 shows the fatigue life contours with the SWT method, and Table 3 shows the
fatigue life with the application of various load profiles. From Table 3 it can be seen
that SWT is the most conservative method with respect to Morrow and the no mean
stress method for gravel roads and SAETRN.
919
(a) Gravel road (b) SAEBRAKT
(c) SAESUS (d) SAETRN
Figure 9. Fatigue life in seconds of load time history with SWT method.
920
Mean stress correction methods have very less effect in the case of SAESUS
with comparison to the no mean stress correction result. Coffin Mason Basquin is the
most conservative for SAEBRAKT and SAESUS. Also the results show the importance
of using the mean stress correction methods, especially in case of tensile mean stress
such as in the case of SAETRN. Here the resulting difference between the Morrow and
SWT methods and the no mean stress method is appreciable, as the life increases by
more than 100 percent from 268.4×105 and 153.9×105 to 755×105 sec respectively. The
other loading profiles used in the study have negative or near zero mean stresses, which
renders the effect of the mean stress correction negligible. This is in agreement with the
published literature (Dowling et al., 2009, Rahman et al., 2009c, Stephens et al., 2001).
Moreover it is important to note that the SAE standard loading histories are essential for
use in fatigue life prediction in the early design phase of components as they reduce
time and resources; but in the final testing and determination of the service life of
components the actual loading conditions, i.e. real road profiles where the vehicle is
intented to be used, should be acquired. As seen in the results, the fatigue life for a
gravel road is close to the SAESUS loading profile but not same, even less when the
SWT method is used, this difference can increase under other actual loading conditions.
Table 3. Fatigue life at critical locations of node (56451) for various loading histories.
Load Profiles Fatigue life (sec) x 105

Morrow SWT Coffin Mason
Gravel Road 2.807 2.204 Basquin
3.193
SAEBRAKT 25.95 23 21.79
SAESUS 2.581 2.583 2.254
SAETRN 268.4 153.9 755
CONCLUSION
In this study an automotive suspension system knuckle is analysed for fatigue life
estimation using ncode Designlife software and stress analysis using ANSYS software.
Multi Body Simulation (MBS) is performed with a MBS software package to generate
load time histories from an actual gravel road profile. The material of the knuckle
considered is FCD500-7 (equivalent to ASTM A536). Loads applied to the FEA model
are extracted from MBS results in the form of a time history. The linear stress analysis
for every instance of the extracted force is performed, and then the stress distribution
where the maximum stress occurs is selected and used for fatigue life prediction.
Fatigue life is predicted using four load distributions, including an actual gravel road
profile, SAEBRAKT, SAESUS and SAETRN. The results show that fatigue life is
highly dependent on the variable amplitude loading, and also the tensile mean stress has
a detrimental effect on the predicted fatigue life. The study also shows that the use of
MBS to extract the component loads for fatigue analysis is an accurate technique to
obtain very close to actual stress distributions, which is simple and results in an increase
in confidence when selecting the damaging stress cases for fatigue life estimation. The
predicted fatigue life for an actual gravel road which is used as the input to MBS results
in a fatigue life which is in close agreement with the SAESUS loading distribution.
921
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923
COMPLIANCE ANALYSIS, OPTIMISATION AND COMPARISON OF A NEW

3PUS-PU MECHANISM
B. Wei
Department of Equipment Manufacturing, Hebei University of Engineering,

056038, Handan, China
E-mail: brave.1987@163.com
Phone: +86-15833094017
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the compliance of a new 3PUS-PU hybrid mechanism with three
degrees of freedom, including translation along the Z axis and rotations about the X and
Y axes. Firstly, the kinematic analysis of the mechanism is analysed and the compliance
model of the mechanism derived. Secondly, the effects the geometric parameters and
position and orientation parameters on the compliance of the mechanism in each
direction are investigated, and the genetic algorithm is used to optimise the global
compliance by simultaneously adjusting design variables. Finally, the compliance of
two similar kinds of 3PUS-PU mechanism in each direction is reviewed.
Keywords: Parallel mechanism; compliance; global compliance optimisation;

compliance comparison.
INTRODUCTION
Over the past decade, parallel mechanisms have been widely used in various
applications (Patel and George, 2012), such as in machine tools (Hu et al., 2006; Tsai
and Joshi, 2002; Xi et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2005), sensor devices (Zhang et al., 2009),
automotive industries (Yu, 2010), medical devices (Li and Xu, 2008; Pan, 2011), mining
industries (Wu et al., 2011), etc. This is largely due to the fact that parallel mechanisms
possess several advantages compared to their serial counterparts, such as a high stiffness,
high precision, high payload capacity, good acceleration, etc. These attributes all
contribute to the structure of parallel mechanisms, in which the moving platform is
connected to the base by several parallel limbs. Stiffness or compliance is a vital factor
in evaluating the performance of parallel manipulators, since a high stiffness can lead to
high precision (Zhang, 2009). Here a new 3-DOF hybrid mechanism is proposed, where
the moving platform is connected to the base by three active legs and a central passive
leg. The compliance matrix of the new mechanism is derived based on the kinetostatic
model and principle of virtual work. The effects the geometric parameters and position
and orientation parameters on the compliance of the mechanism in each direction are
analysed. The leading diagonal element of the compliance matrix is the manipulator’s
pure compliance in each direction, and the sum of the leading diagonal elements of the
compliance matrix is defined as the global compliance. Global compliance is related to
system rigidity; subsequently we optimise the global compliance by adjusting the design
variables. Finally we compared the new mechanism with a mechanism in which the
guide-ways are intersecting each other, and we found that under very small structural
parameters the compliance of the mechanism with intersecting guide-ways in each
924
Compliance analysis, optimisation and comparison of a new 3PUS-PU mechanism
direction are greater than those of the new mechanism with parallel guide-ways, while
under larger structural parameters the compliance of the mechanism with intersecting
guide-ways in each direction are smaller than those of the new mechanism with parallel
guide-ways.
KINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE 3PUS-PU MECHANISM
This new 3PUS-PU has three degrees of freedom, which are a translation along the Z
axis and rotations around the X and Y axes. There are three identical active legs and one
central passive leg. The active leg connects the moving platform by a spherical joint,
and the other end connects to the universal joint that is actuated in the guide-way. The
guide-ways are parallel to each other. The central passive leg is fixed on the base, and
consists of a prismatic joint, another moving link and a universal joint attached to the
centre of the moving platform. Fig. 1 provides a schematic representation of the new
3PUS-PU mechanism. For the purpose of analysis, the fixed coordinate frame
Ob (X,Y,Z) is attached to the centre of the base, and the moving coordinate frame
Oe (x,y,z) is attached to the centre of the moving platform. The radius of the base is R ,
the radius of the moving platform is r , and l is the length of the active legs.
The position vector of Bi with respect to the fixed frame can be expressed as
Pbi b ; the position vector of Ei with respect to the moving frame can be expressed as
Pei e ; the position vector of Oe with respect to the fixed frame can be expressed as Pe b .
 i is the angle between the X axis and the attachment point Bi on the base, and  i
is the angle between the Z axis and the attachment point Ei on the moving platform.
Then one can obtain the following:
 R  cos  i  0  0   1  60
 1  60 
    
Pbi b   R  sin  i  , Pei e   r  sin i  , Pe b  0  ,    180
   
 ,   2   180
 2  
0   r cos i  
 ze   3  300
 3  300 
 
 
The position vector of Ei with respect to the fixed frame can be expressed as:
 r cos  2 sin 3 sin i  r sin  2 cos i   xei 
b
Pei b  Q  Pei e  Peb   r cos 3 sin i    yb 

  ei  (1)
 r sin i sin  2 sin 3  r cos i cos  2  ze   zeib 
 
where Q is the rotation matrix of the moving frame with respect to the fixed frame.
Equation (1) can be differentiated as follows:
 2 
 
 xei   r sin  2 sin 3 sin  i  r cos  2 cos  i r cos  2 cos 3 sin  i 0 0 0 0   3 
b
 b   z 
 yei    0 r sin 3 sin  i 0 0 0 0   
 z b   r sin  cos  sin   r cos  sin    xe 
r sin i sin  2 cos 3 0 0 0 1  
 ei   i 2 3 i 2
z 
 y
 ze 
925
Wei /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 924-939
x E2
y Oe
z
E3 E1
Z
B2 D1
D3
Y u1
Ob
X
B3 B1
B2
E2
y Oe
1 r Ob Y
E3 E1 1 R
z
B3 B1
X
Figure 1. Schematic representation of the new 3PUS-PU mechanism.
Since the active legs have a fixed length, it can be shown that
Ob Ei  Ob Bi  Bi Di  Di Ei (i=1,2,3) (2)
The above equation yields:
ki12  ki 2 2  ki 32  li 2 (3)
where ki1  xeib  R cos i , ki 2  yeib  R sin i , ki 3  zei b  ui

ui (i  1, 2,3) is the joint motion, which can be expressed as follows:
ui  Pei b (3,1)  (li 2  ( Pbi b (1,1)  Pei b (1,1))2  ( Pbi b (2,1)  Pei b (2,1)) 2 )1/2 (4)
926
Equation (3) can be differentiated as:
 ki1 ki 2 ki 3   b 
 xei
  
 ui   ki 4 ki 4 ki 4   b 
   yei 
 l    k ki 3   b 
(5)
 i  ki 2
z
i1
 l li   ei 
 i li
where ki 4  ki 3
The twist in the moving platform is expressed as
t  2 3  z  xe  ye  ze 
T
and
  k11 k12 k13    2 

   J1   
  l1 l1 l1   3 
 l1     

  k k22 k23 
   l2   J p  t    21   J 2    x 
z
(6)
  l2 l2 l2    e
 l3     
  k31 k32 k33    ye 
 l 
 3   z 
J
 3 l3 l3    e
KINETOSTATIC MODEL
The kinematic chain of the passive leg can be considered as a serial manipulator. The
kinematic structure of the passive leg is illustrated in Figure 2. From Figure 2 one can
obtain the D-H parameters of the passive leg, as shown in Table 1.
Z
x3
z2
x
z3 2
z1
Y
O
x1
Figure 2. Kinematic structure of the passive le
927
Table 1. D-H parameters for the central passive leg.
i
ai di i i
0 0 0 0 0
1 0 ze 90 0
2 0 0 90 2
3 0 0 0 3
The Cartesian coordinate frame is used as frame 0, so that  0  0 , 0  0 , then

one obtains:
1 0 0 
Q40  0 1 0  (7)
0 0 1 
where Q0 is the rotation matrix from the fixed reference frame to the first frame of the
passive leg, and
1 0 0  cos  2 0 sin  2  cos 3  sin 3 0

Q41  0 0 1 , Q42   sin  2 0  cos  2  , Q43   sin 3 cos 3 0
   
0 1 0   0 1 0   0 0 1 
The rotation matrix can be written as: Q  Q40Q41Q42Q43
Q41 is the rotation matrix from the first frame to the second frame of the passive leg;
Q42 is the rotation matrix from the second frame to the third frame of the passive leg;
and Q43 is the rotation matrix from the third frame to the final frame of the passive leg;
By multiplying equation (7) in each equation by e4i and r4i , one obtains the
following:
e41  Q40e40 ; e42  Q40Q41e40 ; e43  Q40Q41Q42e40
where e40  0 0 1
T
The position vectors are expressed as:
r41  Q40 a41  Q40Q41a42  Q40Q41Q42a43

r42  Q40Q41a42  Q40Q41Q42 a43 ; r43  Q40Q41Q42 a43 (8)
where a4i   ai cos i ai sin i di 
928
For the central passive leg, one has the following equation:

J 4 4  t (9)
T
  
 
where  4     2 3 
 
The Jacobian matrix of the central passive leg can be expressed as follows:
0 e42 e43 
J4  
e43  r43 
(10)
e41 e42  r42
According to the principle of virtual work, the Cartesian compliance matrix of the
3PUS-PU mechanism can be derived as follows (Zhang, 2000):
Cc  J 4 ( J p J 4 )1 C ( J p J 4 )T J 4T (11)
where C  diag[c1 , c2 , c3 ] , ci is the compliance of the ith actuator, here we set

ci =0.001.
EFFECTS OF POSITION AND ORIENTATION PARAMETERS ON

COMPLIANCE
We fixed 2  90 , and used the design kinematic parameters which are as follows:
R =0.4m; r =0.25m; l =0.5m; 3 [50 ,50 ] ， ze [0.3,0.7]m
Then, compliance mapping is obtained in each direction as shown in Figure 3. From

Figure 3 one can see that when  3 =0, i.e. the moving platform is parallel to the base, a
minimum compliance exists in the  x direction, which means a maximum stiffness
exists in the  x direction. The value of ze , which is the height of the moving platform,
does not impose a fundamental influence on the compliance in the  x direction. As  3
increases, the compliance in the  x direction increases.
0.028
0.026
0.03
0.024
0.025 0.022
Compliance in x
Compliance in x
0.02 0.02
0.018
0.015
0.016
0.01
1 0.014
0.8 1
0.5 0.012
0.6
0
0.4 -0.5 0.01
0.2 -1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
ze (m) 3 3
Figure 3. Compliance in the  x direction along with  3 and ze .
929
0.11
0.1
0.12 0.09
0.1
0.08
Compliance in y
Compliance in y
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.06
0.04
0.05
0.02
0.04
0
1 0.03
0.8 1
0.5 0.02
0.6
0
0.4 -0.5 0.01
0.2 -1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
ze (m) 3 3
Figure 4. Compliance in the  y direction along with  3 and ze
From Figure 4 one can see that when 3  17 , a minimum compliance exists
in the  y direction, which means a maximum stiffness exists in the  y direction. The
value of ze , which is the height of the moving platform, does not impose a fundamental
influence on the compliance in the  y direction. As  3 increases, the compliance in
the  y direction increases.
-4
x 10
13
-4
x 10 12
12
11
10 10
Compliance in Z
Compliance in Z
8 9
8
6
7
4
6
2
1 5
0.8 1
0.5 4
0.6
0
0.4 -0.5 3
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0.2 -1
ze (m) 3 3
Figure 5. Compliance in Z direction along with  3 and ze
From Figure 5 one can see that when 3  0 , i.e. the moving platform is
parallel to the base, a minimum compliance exists in the Z direction, which means a
maximum stiffness exists in the Z direction. The value of ze does not impose a
fundamental influence on the compliance in the Z direction. As  3 increases, the
compliance in the Z direction increases.
930
EFFECTS OF GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS ON COMPLIANCE
The effects of R and r on compliance
In addition we fixed  2  90 , and use the following design kinematic parameters:

l =0.5m; 3  0 ， ze  0.5m , R [0.3,0.6]m , r [0.15,0.25]m
The compliance mapping along with the change in R and r can be obtained in
Figure 5. It can be seen that when R =0.3 m, r =0.25 m, a minimum compliance exists
in the  x direction, which means a maximum stiffness exists in that direction. From
Figure 7 one can see that the effects of R and r on the compliance in the  y
direction is the same as in the  x direction. From Figure 8 one can see that when
R =0.3 m, r =0.25 m, the compliance in the Z direction achieves the minimum value.
0.16
0.14
0.2
0.12
0.15
Compliance in x
Compliance in x
0.1
0.1
0.08
0.05
0.06
0 0.04
0.25
0.7
0.6 0.02
0.2 0.5
0.4
0.3 0
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
r (m) R (m) R (m)
0.16
0.14
0.12
Compliance in x
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0.15 0.16 0.17 0.18 0.19 0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25
r (m)
Figure 6. Compliance in the  x direction along with R and r .
931
0.16
0.14
0.2
0.12
0.15
Compliance in y
Compliance in y
0.1
0.1
0.08
0.05
0.06
0 0.04
0.25
0.7
0.6 0.02
0.2 0.5
0.4
0.3 0
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
r (m) R (m) R (m)
0.16
0.14
0.12
Compliance in y
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0.15 0.16 0.17 0.18 0.19 0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25
r (m)
Figure 7. Compliance in the  y direction along with R and r .

-3
x 10
1.8
-3
x 10
1.6
2
1.4
1.5
Compliance in Z
1.2
Compliance in Z
1
1
0.5 0.8
0.6
0
0.25
0.7 0.4
0.6
0.2 0.5
0.4 0.2
r (m) 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
0.3
0.15 0.2 R (m) R (m)
-3
x 10
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
Compliance in Z
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.15 0.16 0.17 0.18 0.19 0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25
r (m)
Figure 8. Compliance in the Z direction along with R and r .
932
The effects of l on compliance
We fixed 2  90 , and used the design kinematic parameters which are as follows:
3  0 ， ze  0.5m , r  0.25m ， R  0.4m , l [0.45,0.65]m , then we can obtain the
trends in the compliance in each direction, along with the change in the length of the
active legs as follows.
0.0121 0.0121
0.012 0.012
0.0119 0.0119
0.0118 0.0118
Compliance in y
Compliance in x
0.0117 0.0117
0.0116 0.0116
0.0115 0.0115
0.0114 0.0114
0.0113 0.0113
0.0112 0.0112
0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
l (m) l (m)
-4
x 10
3.8
3.75
3.7
Compliance in Z
3.65
3.6
3.55
3.5
0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
l (m)
Figure 9. Compliance in the  x ,  y , Z directions along with l .
From Figure 9 one can see that the compliance in the  x ,  y and Z directions reduces
as l becomes longer. When setting 3  17 ， ze  0.5m , r  0.25m ， R  0.4m ,
l [0.45,0.65]m one has the following trends. From Figure 10 one can see that the
compliance in the  x and Z directions reduces as l becomes longer, and the
compliance in the  y direction increases as l becomes longer. After many
experiments, we conclude that these geometric parameters and the position and
orientation parameters all affect the compliance of the mechanism in each direction. The
leading diagonal element of the compliance matrix is the manipulator’s pure compliance
in each direction. The sum of the leading diagonal elements of the compliance matrix is
defined as the global compliance. The global compliance is related to system rigidity,
933
and we want the global compliance to be as small as possible. Next, we need to

determine these geometric parameters and the position and orientation parameters
simultaneously to obtain the minimum summation of the leading diagonal elements of
the compliance matrix of the mechanism.
0.0103
0.0126
0.0103
0.0124
0.0103
0.0122
Compliance in y
Compliance in x
0.0103
0.012
0.0103
0.0118
0.0102
0.0116
0.0102
0.0114 0.0102
0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
l l
-4
x 10
3.95
3.9
3.85
3.8
Compliance in Z
3.75
3.7
3.65
3.6
3.55
0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
l
Figure 10. Compliance in the  x ,  y , Z directions along with l
OPTIMISATION
Traditional optimisation methods use a local search by a convergent stepwise procedure,

which compares the values of the following points and then moves to the optimal points.
Global optima can only be found if the problem has certain convexity properties which
guarantee any local optima is a global optimum It faces the danger of falling in local
optima. However, genetic algorithms are based on the population-to-population rule;
which can escape from local optima Genetic algorithms have the advantages of good
convergence and robustness properties: such as the following,
(i) They require no knowledge or gradient information about the optimisation

problems; they can solve any kind of objective functions and any kind of
constraints defined on discrete, continuous or mixed search spaces;
(ii) Discontinuities present on optimisation problems have little effect on the
overall optimisation performance;
(iii) It is effective at performing global search instead of local optima;
(iv) It performs very well on large-scale optimisation problems;
(v) They can be employed on a wide variety of optimisation problems.
934
Since global compliance is related to system rigidity, and the geometric

parameters and position and orientation parameters all affect the compliance of the
mechanism in each direction as stated in sections 4 and 5, we will use the genetic
algorithm (GA) to optimise the global compliance by adjusting the geometric
parameters and position and orientation parameters simultaneously. The objective
function for optimisation is as follows:
y  Cc (1,1)  Cc (2, 2)  Cc (3,3)  Cc (4, 4)  Cc (5,5)  Cc (6,6) (12)
Design variables are R , r , l ,  2 ,  3 and ze

Constraints are set as follows:
R [0.3,0.6]m , r [0.15,0.25]m , l [0.45,0.65]m , 2 [40 ,140 ] , 3 [50 ,50 ] ,
ze [0.3,0.7]m
Run the GA solver, and the following result is obtained:
Best: 0.0208705 Mean: 0.0208748
30
Best fitness
Fitness value
Mean fitness
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Generation
Current Best Individual
2
Current best individual
-1
1 2 3 4 5 6
Number of variables (6)
Figure 11. Optimisation results.
935
After optimisation, when R  0.303m , r  0.25m , l  0.594m ,  2  89 ,

3  8.7 , ze  0.527m , the compliance sum which is the global compliance reaches
the minimum value of 0.02087.
COMPLIANCE COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO 3PUS-PU MECHANISMS
The guide-ways of the new 3PUS-PU mechanism are parallel to each other. However, if
the guide-ways are not parallel to each other, but rather intersecting each other as shown
in Figure 12(b), here we compare these two mechanisms’ compliance in each direction.
The angle between the guide-ways and the base is  .
x E2
x
E2
y y Oe
Oe
z E3 E1
E3 E1
z
l1
l3
l3 l1
Z B2
B2 D1 D3 D1
D3
Z
u1
u4 Y u1 u4 Y
 R
Ob Ob
X B3 X
B3 B1 B1
(a) Parallel guide-ways (b) Intersecting guide-ways
Figure 12. Two kinds of 3PUS-PU mechanism
When   50 , R  0.05m , r  0.025m , l  0.12m ,  2  90 , 3 [50 ,50 ] ,

ze [0.03,0.06]m , the compliances in each direction for the two mechanisms are shown
in Figure 13, the upper plot figure presents the compliance for the mechanism with
intersecting guide-ways, and the lower figure presents the compliance for the new
mechanism with parallel guide-ways. One can clearly see that when the structural
parameters are very small, the compliance of the mechanism with intersecting
guide-ways is larger than that of the new mechanism with parallel guide-ways, which
means that the stiffness of the new mechanism is better than that of one with
intersecting guide-ways.
936
-4
x 10
-3 16
x 10
2 14
1.5 12
Compliance in Z
Compliance in Z
1 10
0.5 8
0 6
0.06
1 4
0.05
0.5
0.04 0
-0.5 2
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0.03 -1
ze (m) 3 3
4.5
5 4
4 3.5
Compliance in x
Compliance in x
3 3
2 2.5
1 2
0.06
1 1.5
0.05
0.5
0.04 0
-0.5 1
0.03 -1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
ze (m) 3 3
12
10
12
10
8
Compliance in y
Compliance in y
6
6
4
2 4
0
0.06
2
1
0.05
0.5
0.04 0
-0.5 0
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0.03 -1
ze (m) 3 3
Figure 13. Compliance comparison between two mechanisms when the structural
parameters are small.
When   50 , R  0.37m , r  0.075m , l  0.353m , 2  90 ,

3 [50 ,50 ] , ze [0.45,0.6]m , the compliance in each direction of those two
mechanisms are presented in Figure 14. One can also see that the compliance in each
direction for the mechanism with intersecting guide-ways is smaller than those of the
new mechanism with parallel guide-ways, which means the stiffness for the system with
intersecting guide-ways is better than that of the new mechanism with parallel
guide-ways when the structural parameters are large.
937
4.5
4
5
3.5
4
3
Compliance in Z
Compliance in Z
3
2.5
2
2
1
1.5
0
0.65 1
0.6 1
0.5 0.5
0.55
0
0.5 -0.5 0
0.45 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
ze (m) -1
3 3
800
700
800
600
600
Compliance in x
Compliance in x
500
400
400
200
300
0 200
0.65
0.6 1
100
0.55 0.5
0
0.5 -0.5 0
0.45 -1 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
ze (m) 3 3
1400
1200
1500
1000
Compliance in y
1000
Compliance in y
800
500 600
400
0
0.65
0.6 1 200
0.55 0.5
0
0.5 -0.5 0
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0.45 -1
ze (m) 3 3
Figure 14. Compliance comparison between two mechanisms when the structural
parameters are large.
CONCLUSION
The article investigates the compliance of a new 3PUS-PU mechanism, and compares
the compliance of two similar 3PUS-PU mechanisms. The effects the geometric
parameters and position and orientation parameters on the compliance of the new
3PUS-PU mechanism in each direction is analysed, and the genetic algorithm is used to
optimise the global compliance by adjusting the design variables. It is found that the
938
global compliance reaches the minimum value when R=0.303 m, r = 0.25 m, l = 0.594
m, 2 = 89o, 2 = -8.7o, ze = 0.527 m. Secondly, the compliance of two similar kinds of
3PUS-PU mechanism in each direction are compared, and it is shown that the stiffness
of the mechanism with intersecting guide-ways in each direction is smaller than that of
the new mechanism with parallel guide-ways when the structural parameters are very
small. However the stiffness of the mechanism with intersecting guide-ways in each
direction is larger than that of the new mechanism with parallel guide-ways when the
structural parameters are relatively large, which provides engineers with a guide to
selecting the correct mechanism type according to their different practical requirements
and scenarios, such as whether it is to be used in machine tools or micromanipulation.
For future work, a prototype should be fabricated based on the proposed model to test
the theoretical results.
REFERENCES
Hu, Y., Li, B., Hu, H. and Ying, W. 2006. Kinematics, workspace and dexterity analysis
for a 4PUS-1RPU parallel kinematic platform. Proceedings of the 7th
International Conference on Frontiers of Design and Manufacturing Sciences
(ICFDM), pp. 455-458.
Li, Y.M. and Xu, Q.S. 2008. Design, analysis and applications of a class of new 3-DOF
translational parallel manipulators. In: Ryu, J.-H. (ed.) Parallel Manipulators,
New Development, pp. 457-482.
Pan, M. 2011. Improved design of a three-degree of freedom hip exoskeleton based on
biomimetic parallel structure. Master thesis, University of Ontario Institute of
Technology, Canada.
Patel, Y.D. and George, P.M. 2012. Parallel manipulators applications - a survey.
Modern Mechanical Engineering, 2: 57-64.
Tsai, L.W. and Joshi, S. 2002. Kinematic analysis of 3-DOF position mechanisms for
use in hybrid kinematic machines. Journal of Mechanical Design, 124: 245-253.
Wu, C., Liu, X.J., Wang, L.P. and Wang, J.S. 2011. Dimension optimization of an
orientation fine-tuning manipulator for segment assembly robots in shield
tunneling machines. Automation in Construction, 20(4): 353-359.
Xi, F.F., Zhang, D., Mechefske, C.M. and Lang, S.Y.T. 2004. Global kinetostatic
modeling of tripod-based parallel kinematic machine. Mechanism and Machine
Theory, 39: 357-377.
Yu, H.J. 2010. Research on parallel robot based flexible fixtures for automotive sheet
metal assembly. PhD thesis, Harbin Institute of Technology, China.
Zhang, D. 2000. Kinetostatic analysis and optimization of parallel and hybrid
architecture for machine tools. PhD thesis, Laval University, Canada.
Zhang, D. 2009. Parallel robotic machine tools. Springer.
Zhang, D., Gao, Z., Song, B. and Ge, Y.J. 2009. Configuration design and performance
analysis of a multidimensional acceleration sensor based on 3RRPRR
decoupling parallel mechanism. Joint 48th IEEE Conference on Decision and
Control and 28th Chinese Control Conference, pp. 8304-8309.
Zhang, D., Wang, L.H. and Lang, S.Y.T. 2005. Parallel kinematic machines: design,
analysis and simulation in an integrated virtual environment. Journal of
Mechanical Design, 127: 580-588.
939
EFFECT OF PENALTY FUNCTION PARAMETER IN OBJECTIVE

FUNCTION OF SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION
M.F. Abd Samad1, H. Jamaluddin2, R. Ahmad2, M.S. Yaacob2 and A.K.M. Azad3
1
Department of Structure and Materials, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya
76100 Durian Tunggal, Malacca, Malaysia
Phone: +(60)6 2346708, Fax: +(60)6 2346884
E-mail: mdfahmi@utem.edu.my
2
81310 UTM Skudai, Johore, Malaysia
Phone: +(60)7 5537782, Fax: +(60)7 5537800
3
College of Engineering and Engineering Technology
Northern Illinois University, Illinois 60115, USA
ABSTRACT
The evaluation of an objective function for a particular model allows one to determine
the optimality of a model structure with the aim of selecting an adequate model in
system identification. Recently, an objective function was introduced that, besides
evaluating predictive accuracy, includes a logarithmic penalty function to achieve a
suitable balance between the former model’s characteristics and model parsimony.
However, the parameter value in the penalty function was made arbitrarily. This paper
presents a study on the effect of the penalty function parameter in model structure
selection in system identification on a number of simulated models. The search was
done using genetic algorithms. A representation of the sensitivity of the penalty function
parameter value in model structure selection is given, along with a proposed
mathematical function that defines it. A recommendation is made regarding how a
suitable penalty function parameter value can be determined.
Keywords: Genetic algorithm; objective function; penalty function; model structure

selection; system identification.
INTRODUCTION
System identification is a method of recognising the characteristics of a system, thus

producing a quantitative input-output relationship that explains or resembles the
system’s dynamics. The procedure involves the interpretation of observed or measured
data into a physical relationship, often and easily interpreted in the form of
mathematical models (Johansson, 1993). Besides other stages in system identification
(i.e. data acquisition, parameter estimation and model validation), model structure
selection requires a loss function, also called an objective function (OF), that evaluates
the optimality of the model. Hereinafter, only the term objective function will be used
such that a lower OF indicates better optimality. Besides model predictive accuracy,
another important factor when judging the optimality of a model structure is the model
parsimony, which refers to a lesser number of control variables and/or terms
(hereinafter variables and/or terms might only be referred to as terms) in the model
structure. Hong et al. (2008) and Spanos (2010) provide very good discussions on the
940
Abd Samad et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 940-954
issue of goodness-of-fit versus model parsimony. This is also referred to as bias

(systematic component) versus variance (random component) in an objective function.
Many information criterions that are used to evaluate the optimality of a model
incorporate such a consideration by including a penalty function, such as the Akaike
Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion and Hannan-Quinn Information
Criterion (Kapetanios, 2007). As observed in the Bayesian Information Criterion and
Hannan-Quinn Information Criterion, an objective function that incorporates a
logarithmic penalty function was used in Ahmad et al. (2004b) and Jamaluddin et al.
(2007) to cater for the balance between predictive accuracy and model parsimony.
However, the parameter values in the penalty function were set arbitrarily. The outcome
was a promising balance between the two mentioned characteristics. This outcome is
seen to have a potential for further improvement. Different penalty values impose
different selective pressures in the population of solutions in constraint-abidance (Li and
Gen, 1996). A suitable value of penalty function parameter is thus needed. In this paper,
the effectiveness of the objective function is investigated by testing various penalty
function parameter values on five simulated dynamic models in the form of a difference
equations model. These models are linear and nonlinear autoregressive models with
exogenous input (ARX and NARX) (Ljung, 1999). The benefit of using simulated
models is the presence of an opportunity to compare the final model directly with the
true model. The model structure selection stage requires a robust method that is able to
search, within its search space, the model structure that exhibits both predictive
accuracy and parsimony with a lower computation burden. This is found in evolutionary
computation, which is comprised of genetic algorithm, evolution strategies,
evolutionary programming and genetic programming (Sarker et al., 2002). The
parameters are estimated using the least squares method.
This paper presents a method that identifies a suitable objective function,
specifically the penalty function parameter value. The rest of the paper is organised as
follows: Section 2 explains the objective function for model structure selection; Section
3 explains the difference equation model, which is the mathematical model considered
here; Section 4 presents the genetic algorithm, which is the search method used in
selecting the models based on the specified objective function; Section 5 explains the
simulation of system identification; Section 6 provides the results and analysis; and
lastly, Section 7 concludes the paper along with a proposed strategy for how to
implement the findings in a practical situation and plans or recommendations for future
work.
OBJECTIVE FUNCTION
A simple OF in model structure selection is a function that emphasises the

accuracy of the prediction of the model. Using the least squares estimation method, the
OF is as follows:
N N
OF   ε 2 (t )   ( y(t )  yˆ (t )) 2 (1)
t k t k
where ε(t) is the residual; ŷ  t  and y(t) are the k-step-ahead predicted output and actual
output value at time t, respectively; and N is the number of data. The k-step-ahead
prediction is used when the value of k depends on the output’s smallest lag order in the
941
Effect of penalty function parameter in objective function of system identification
selected model structure, which in turn depends on the variables selected by the search
method.
To cater for the balance between predictive accuracy and model parsimony,
common objective functions are defined based on bias and variance contributions such
as (Ljung, 1999):
J ( D)  J P ( D)  J B ( D) (2)
where D is the design variable of a certain structure, JP is the variance contribution, and
increases as the number of estimated terms (L), hence the parameters, increases. JB is the
bias contribution and the value decreases as L increases.
In accordance with Equation (1), Jamaluddin et al. (2007) and Ahmad et al.
(2004b) define an objective function that evaluates the bias contribution by the sum of
squared residuals while the variance contribution is calculated by a penalty function.
This is written as follows:
 N 2
OF     yi  t   yî  t     PF (3a)
 i 
where PF is the penalty function defined as follows:
PF  ln(n) (3b)
and
n = number of terms satisfying (| aj | < penalty) + 1 (3c)
where | aj | represents the absolute value of the parameter for term j and penalty is a
fixed value termed penalty function parameter. The penalty function penalises terms
with the absolute values of the estimated parameter less than the penalty. This is applied
so that models that are more parsimonious may be selected over the those that are more
accurate but contain many terms.
In Jamaluddin et al. (2007), a trial-and-error approach was adopted in the
selection of the penalty function parameter value based on the knowledge that as the
value increases, model structures with fewer terms have lower OF. This is true as model
structures with more terms, given that ill-conditioning does not occur, have lower
residual values but many parameters that are small and considered insignificant to the
model’s predictive accuracy, as based on the parameter in Equation (3c).
NARX MODEL
There are many choices of linear and nonlinear models to represent input-output
relationships (Ljung, 1999). A common model structure representation for linear
discrete-time system is the ARX (AutoRegressive with eXogenous input) model written
as:
942
y (t )  a1 y (t  1)  ...  any y (t  ny )  b0u (t )  b1u (t  1)  ...

(4)
+bnu u (t  nu )  e(t )
where y(t), u(t) and e(t) are the output, input and noise, respectively, at time t; ny and nu
are the maximum orders of lag for the output and input, respectively, and
a1 ,..., any , b0 , b1 ,..., bnu are coefficients, also known as the parameters of the model.
Nonlinear models give much richer possibilities in describing systems and have better
flexibility when inferring from a finite data set. The nonlinear version of the ARX
model is the NARX (Nonlinear ARX) model. When a time delay exists, it is written as:
y(t )  F*l [ y(t  1), y(t  2),... y(t  ny ), u(t  d ),..., u(t  d  nu  1), e(t )] (5)
This is also a generalisation of the linear difference equation. In the above equation,
F*l [] is a nonlinear polynomial function of u and y, d is the time delay, and l is the
degree of non-linearity, while the other notations are the same as in Equation (4). By
allowing d = 1, the nonlinear function for a single-input-single-output NARX model can
be expanded into its deterministic form as follows:
l m n y , nu p m
y(t )    c p ,m p (n1 ,..., nm ) y (t  ni )  u (t  ni ) (6a)
m 1 p  0 n1 , nm i 1 i  p 1
where
n y , nu ny nu

n1 , nm

n1 1

nm 1
(6b)
and cp, m-p(n1,…,nm) are the parameters of the model.
For a discrete time model, model structure selection refers to the process of
determining the lags of input, nu, output, ny and time delay, d, from the information of
input, u, and output, y, sequences (Veres, 1991). The aim in model structure selection is
mainly to determine the significant terms to be included in a system’s model.
Before the parameters of the model can be estimated using the least-squares
method, the model has to be transformed into a linear regression model as follows:
y(t )   T (t )  e(t ), ny  t  N (7)
where  is the parameter vector,   [1 2 ... L ]T is the regressor vector, e is the value
of noise or disturbance, L is the number of terms, which also determines the size of the
parameter vector, and N is the number of data. From here onward, the terms of a model
structure may be referred to as regressors.
Given that the model structure, and consequently the vector of regressors, has
already been defined, the estimation of the parameters  can be made using least-
squares estimation methods (Johansson, 1993, Ljung, 1999).
943
The number of regressors in a NARX model (L) is calculated as follows:
L=M+1 (8a)
where
l
M   ni where l = degree of non-linearity (8b)
i 1
and
ni 1 (ny  nu  i  1)
ni  where no = 1 (8c)
i
with ny and nu as in Equation (4).
Suppose a NARX system is known to have a non-linearity of 2, maximum order

of lag for input, nu = 2, maximum order of lag for output, ny = 2 and time delay, d = 0,
the number of regressors in the model is found to be 15, along with the inclusion of a
constant term. Since decisions on the terms are either inclusion or omission, simple
binomial theorems apply. Therefore, in a model consisting of L possible terms, the
search space is 2L –1, which means there are 32 767 models to choose from.
GENETIC ALGORITHM AND ITS REPRESENTATION OF MODEL

STRUCTURE
A genetic algorithm (GA) is a class of artificial intelligence methods that is grouped

under a cluster named evolutionary computation. It has the potential to search for the
solution to a problem within a small number of trials instead of an enumerative
approach. The main characteristics of GA are that it uses binary bit string problem
representation, fitness proportional selection in which solutions are assigned a fitness
value before further trials are made, and manipulating these selected solutions using a
genetic operator called a crossover (Eshelman, 2000; Holland, 1992). In GA, crossover
is a process of bits exchange between two strings, and the most common type is one-
point crossover where only one and same side of the strings are exchanged. Another
important, but considered less provocative, genetic operator is mutation. Mutation refers
to the change of bits in a string to another value. GA begins its search of the optimum
solution by initialising a set of coded strings where the number of strings is known as
the population size, typically denoted popsize. Each string, also called chromosomes,
consists of genes that carry an allele or partial information of a potential solution. These
chromosomes are evaluated, selected and manipulated until a prespecified number of
cycles or generations, typically denoted maxgen. Details of the procedure can be
referred to in Goldberg (1989) and Michalewicz (1996).
Following the example at the end of Section 3, the variables are y(t-1), y(t-2),
u(t-1) and u(t-2) while the terms are the multiplications of variables e.g. y(t-1)y(t-2).
The output y(t) of the system is represented by:
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y (t )  a1  a2 y (t  1)  a3 y (t  2)  a4u (t  1)  a5u (t  2)  a6 y 2 (t  1)
 a7 y(t  1) y(t  2)  a8 y(t  1)u (t  1)  a9 y (t  1)u (t  2)

(9)
 a10 y 2 (t  2)  a11 y (t  2)u (t  1)  a12 y (t  2)u (t  2)  a13u 2 (t  1)
 a14u (t  1)u (t  2)  a15u 2 (t  2)  e(t )
In a binary-represented GA, the variables and terms are represented by the genes
of the chromosome as bit 1 for existence and bit 0 for omission (Ahmad et al., 2004a,
2004b, Jamaluddin et al., 2007). Based on the number of variables and terms in
Equation (9), a binary chromosome representation of length lchrom = 15 is generated.
The first bit represents the first variable or term and so on, such that chromosome [110
100 001 000 100] represents the following model:
y(t )  a1  a2 y(t  1)  a4u(t  1)  a9 y(t  1)u(t  2)  a13u 2 (t 1) (10)
The model is completed by the estimation of the parameters a1, a2, a4, a9 and a13.
SIMULATION SETUP
A simple GA (SGA) is used in the simulation. The notion ‘simple’ emphasises that only
common characteristics such as those described in Holland (1992) and Eshelman (2000)
are applied. To be precise, the operators are roulette-wheel selection, one-point
crossover and bit-flipping mutation. The mating preference is based on first-come-first-
serve rule (i.e. pairs of chromosomes that are selected first are mated with each other).
This mating preference is the mating type of a panmictic population (Bäck and Fogel,
2000). No elitism is used in the algorithm. The fitness of an individual i, denoted fi, is
calculated by subtracting the OF value of the individual from the maximum OF in the
population. In mathematical form this is written as follows:
fi  max  OFi  OFi (11)

i1.. popsize
With this setting, individuals with a low OF value have a high fitness.
The probabilities for crossover and mutation used are pc = 0.6 and pm = 0.01. The
value for crossover probability is taken from De Jong’s genetic algorithm (De Jong,
1975), claimed as the optimum for both online and offline applications and also
recognised as the benchmark for parameter control study using meta-level GA
(Grefenstette, 1986). The value for mutation probability is also claimed to be suitable
for both online and offline applications in the meta-level GA study. Based on the
number of maximum permissible regressors, a population size of 200 and maximum
generation of 100 are considered adequate for each penalty.
Four NARX models and an ARX model are simulated to be identified by SGA.
Only simulated models are used, so direct comparison to the correct number of
regressors could be made. The following are the models written as linear regression
models, its specifications, number of correct regressors, maximum number of possible
regressors and size of search space:
945
Model 1:
y(t )  0.5 y(t  1)  0.3u(t  2)  0.3 y(t  1)u(t 1)  0.5u 3 (t 1)  e(t )
Specification: l = 3, ny = 1, nu = 2
Number of correct regressors: 4 out of a maximum 20
Search space: 1 048 575
Model 2:
y(t )  0.5 y(t 1)  0.35u(t  2)  0.03 y(t 1)u(t 1)  0.005u 3 (t 1)  e(t )
Model 3:
y(t )  0.002 y (t  2)  0.07u (t  1)  0.03 y 2 (t  1)  0.008 y 2 (t  3) 
0.05u (t  1)u (t  2)  e(t )
Model 4:
y (t )  0.2 y (t  1)  0.7 y (t  2)  0.3 y 2 (t  3)  0.8 y (t  1)u (t  2) 
0.5 y (t  1)u (t  3)  0.25 y (t  3)u (t  2)  0.45 y (t  3)u (t  3) 
0.8u 2 (t  3)  e(t )
Search space: more than 2×108
Model 5:
y(t )  0.5 y(t  1)  0.005 y(t  4)  0.05 y(t  8)  5u(t  2) 
0.0005u (t  8)  e(t )
Search space: 131 071
The simulation is performed to identify the effect of different values of penalty

on the outcome of model structure selection. The identification is made by setting the
values of penalty to 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 1, consecutively.
The input u(t) is generated from a random uniform distribution in the interval
[1,1] to represent white signal, while noise e(t) is generated from a random uniform
distribution [-0.01,0.01] to represent white noise. Five hundred data points are generated
from all models. As the number of data points increases, all models are found to be
ergodic (i.e. any sample can be assumed to have a fixed mean and standard deviation).
946
The following performance indicators are recorded:
(1) Objective function (OF) value of the best selected solution, i.e. the
chromosome with the lowest OF value in the final generation;
(2) Error index (EI) of the best selected solution
The error index refers to the square root of the sum of the squared error
divided by the sum of the actual output squared. The calculation of EI is
as follows:
EI 
 ( y(t )  yˆ (t )) 2
(12)
 y (t )
2
where y(t) is the actual output value at time t and ŷ is the k-step-ahead
predicted output at time t obtained from the least-squares estimation. The
value k depends on the specification of a minimum lag of output
identified from the model structure selection. This indicator determines
the level of accuracy of the final solution. This is also related to a
widely-used statistical parameter called the multiple correlation
coefficient squared, Ry2 according to the following function (Ljung,
1999):
R y2  1 EI 2 (13)
As such, its relation to OF is:
OF  EI 2   y 2 (t )  ln(n) (14)
(3) Numbers of selected regressors in the best chromosome in each

generation.
Figure 1 shows the average numbers of selected regressors of the best chromosome in
the last 50 generations for different values of log10 penalty. As seen, the numbers of
selected regressors reflect the numbers of correct regressors in the models, respectively.
An attempt is hereby made to quantify the relationship between the number of selected
regressors and penalty in a mathematical function. In order to do this, several conditions
must be fulfilled:
(1) As the value of penalty increases, the function cannot rise upward as this
is against the trend in Figure 1.
(2) At any value of penalty, the function cannot intersect the x-axis (axis
representing penalty). Its intersection indicates that a negative number of
selected regressors can be chosen with a certain value of penalty, which
is unacceptable. It can, however, asymptotically converge to any value
higher than 0.
(3) At any value of penalty, the function cannot intersect the y-axis value
that is equal to the maximum number of possible regressors. Just like the
947
maximum value of penalty, there is no boundary for the minimum value

of penalty. This indicates that it also converges to a value equal to or
lower than the maximum number of possible regressors.
Figure 1. Average numbers of selected regressors versus log10 penalty.
Given these conditions, an arctangent function is proposed, as follows:
Number of selected regressor  p  ( tan1 (log10 penalty  q))  r (15)
while q is the value at which the change of slope is maximum, p and r are determined
and constrained by the conditions explained earlier, written as:
maximum number of regressor  r  0 (16a)
maximum number of regressor - r

p (16b)
π
d (no. of selected regressor)

 p (16c)
d (log10 penalty )
Figure 2 shows samples of the fitting of the arctangent function versus log10 penalty for
all simulated models.
For the purpose of further analysis, some inferences are listed here:
(1) With an increase in penalty parameter value, the number of selected regressors
in the final model decreases, while the values of OF and EI increase.
948
Model 1 Model 2
Model 3 Model 4
Model 5
Figure 2. Estimated arctangent function fitting of number of selected regressor versus

log10 penalty.
(2) With an increase in penalty parameter value, the number of regressors identified
as insignificant increases. The number of insignificant regressors in the final
model is calculated based on Equation (3). Referring back to Equation (14)
which is derived by combining Equations (3a) and (12), rearranging it gives:
ln(n)  OF  EI 2   y 2 (t ) (17a)
949
Replacing n with number of insignificant regressors + 1 (from Equation 3c) and

converting to the antilog gives the number of insignificant regressors as follows:
Number of insignific ant regressors  e  y 2 (t )  1

OF EI 2 
(17b)
(4) A switchover point regarding the number of insignificant regressors and

significant regressors exists such that, at this point, the following function is
obtained:
Number of insignific ant regressors 

(18)
number of significan t regressors
where
Number of significant regressors =

(19)
number of regressors - number of insignificant regressors
With small penalty parameter values, the number of significant regressors is

always higher until a certain penalty parameter value, hereby denoted switchover
penalty, is reached. Beyond this point, the number of insignificant regressors rises.
Within a certain range of this point, the number of true regressors, i.e. correct regressors
in the simulated model, with parameters bigger than or equal to the penalty parameter
value reaches an agreement with the identified number of significant regressors.
OF 2
PF 2
Value of OF,
PF and EI 2 ×
sum of output
squared OF 1
PF 1
EI 2×sum
of squared
output
1 a b c
Number of regressors
Figure 3. Graph of a general case of the effect of penalty parameter on objective

function versus number of regressors.
950
Based on the first two inferences, a graph of a general case of the effect of
penalty parameter on model structure selection can be visualised as Figure 3. Both PF1
and PF2 (Equation 3b) refer to the penalty function for given penalty parameter values,
penalty1 and penalty2, respectively, such that penalty2 > penalty1. Since penalty2 is
bigger, PF2 is expected to penalise more regressors, and as other models of more
regressors are evaluated, the penalty grows at a greater pace than PF1. Both OF1 and
OF2 are the objective function values given the penalty parameter values, penalty1 and
penalty2, respectively. For EI 2   y 2 (t ) the curve generally converges slowly to 0 as
the number of regressors increases [19]. It shows that the minimum of the curve OF1 is
at c, while OF2 is at b when the number of regressors > a and 1 when the number of
regressors < a. Considering the number of regressors > a, to obtain a parsimonious
model (model with b number of regressors), a larger penalty parameter value is
required. Note also that the error of prediction represented by EI 2   y 2 (t ) in the
graph is higher for a parsimonious model. It shows that a compromise in accuracy
occurs as parsimony is undertaken.
However, at a certain value of penalty parameter, the curve gives two minimum
points such as shown with the curve OF2. This is the situation where chromosomes have
the same OF but different EI. Higher than this penalty parameter value, the minimum is
when the number of regressors = 1. It is a scenario when chromosomes with only 1 bit
will be selected. It is very likely that this was encountered with Model 3 at penalty = 1.
Unlike other models, the number of regressors is too small and too far when compared
to penalty = 0.1 and even far less than the correct number of regressors. The value of the
penalty parameter at which the phenomenon mentioned occurs is hereby called
parsimony penalty. The value is crucial since, with respect to the definition of the
objective function, it determines the most parsimonious model with adequate accuracy.
A higher penalty will give a model structure with only 1 variable.
Based on the third inference, a superimposition of the number of insignificant
regressors and significant regressors is carried out and fitted to suitable function lines.
Due to the boundary of the minimum and maximum number of regressors for each
model, an arctangent function is also more appropriate. However, a power function
gives an acceptable fit. It is used instead since the purpose is only to find the value of
intersection and it gives a better fit to most of these and other preliminary data than any
other functions, including linear, exponential and logarithmic. A common form of the
power function is used, written as follows:
Number of regressors  d  ( penalty) f  g (20)
where d, f and g are model-dependent variables while f is negative for significant

regressors and positive for insignificant regressors. The variables are searched by trial-
and-error until the best fit is found.
A sample plot of the superimposition using the data from Model 1 is shown in
Figure 4. Table 1 gives the values of the switchover penalty where the intersection
occurs for each model. A note is made here that caution s required when searching for
switchover penalty for systems that have a low signal-to-noise ratio. Some earlier tests
and literature show that further refinement is needed when encountering such cases
(Junquera et al., 2001).
951
Figure 4. Number of regressors (insignificant and significant) fitted using power

functions versus penalty value for Model 1.
Table 1. Switchover penalty for each model.
Maximum absolute Minimum absolute

Models Switchover penalty
parameter value parameter value
Model 1 0.5 0.3 0.07
Model 2 0.5 0.005 0.09
Model 3 0.07 0.002 0.3
Model 4 0.8 0.2 0.1
Model 5 5 0.0005 0.07
Using this information together with Figure 2, it can be seen that the switchover
penalty can be related to the value q as follows:
switchover penalty > 10q (21)
where q is the value of log10 penalty at which the slope reaches its maximum. It is likely
that since the curve in Figure 4 becomes flatter towards a higher log10 penalty, and by
considering that at a certain penalty value the phenomenon of an OF curve with two
minimum points occur, the following becomes true:
Parsimony penalty = Switchover penalty (22)
Based on this finding, an objective function is recommended by setting penalty

equal to or slightly lower than the smallest allowable parameter value. When this value
is unknown, it is recommended to test SGA on a few estimates of penalty value and
rerun it by setting the penalty value to the estimated switchover penalty values until the
penalty value become promisingly constant.
952
CONCLUSIONS
This paper focuses on an investigation into the effect of the penalty parameter in
objective functions towards establishing a suitable objective function in model structure
selection. The genetic algorithm has been explained, as the search and optimisation
method used in the investigation. The setting of the study has been laid out followed by
a discussion of the results. Based on the results, a general case for the effect of the
penalty parameter value on the objective function and number of selected regressors has
been presented. It shows that when a higher penalty value is applied, a more
parsimonious model is selected until a value that gives the most parsimonious and
adequate model structure, denoted parsimony penalty. The penalty function parameter is
shown to be related to the number of selected regressors by an arctangent function. The
study also identifies a penalty value where the number of insignificant regressors is
equal to the number of significant regressors, denoted switchover penalty. It was found
that the switchover penalty is equivalent to the parsimony penalty, and it can hereby be
concluded that by testing SGA on a few initial estimates of penalty value and rerunning
it using estimated switchover penalty values, a constant switchover penalty value can be
reached. This value represents the suitable penalty value in finding the most
parsimonious and adequate model structure. In cases where the smallest tolerable
absolute parameter value is known or can be roughly estimated, the penalty parameter
value should be set equal to or slightly lower than the parameter value. Future work is
aimed at validating the findings on real case studies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia throughout this research, and especially for
the UTeM-SLAB sponsorship.
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954
MODELLING AND TORQUE TRACKING CONTROL OF PERMANENT

MAGNET SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR FOR HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Mohd Sabirin Rahmat1, Fauzi Ahmad1*, Ahmad Kamal Mat Yamin1, Vimal Rau
Aparow1 and Noreffendy Tamaldin1
Smart Material and Automotive Control (SMAC) Group

Autotronic Laboratory, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
UniversitiTeknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM)
Hang TuahJaya, Ayer Keroh 76100Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia
Phone: +6062346891; Fax: +6062346884
E-mail: fauzi.ahmad@utem.edu.my
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a detailed derivation of a permanent magnet synchronous motor,

which may be used as the electric power train for the simulation of a hybrid electric
vehicle. A torque tracking control of the permanent magnet synchronous motor is
developed by using an adaptive proportional-integral-derivative controller. Several tests
such as step function, saw tooth function, sine wave function and square wave function
were used in order to examine the performance of the proposed control structure. The
effectiveness of the proposed controller was verified and compared with the same
system under a PID controller and the desired control. The result of the observations
shows that the proposed control structure proves to be effective in tracking the desired
torque with a good response. The findings of this study will be considered in the design,
optimisation and experimentation of series hybrid electric vehicle.
Keyword: Modelling; permanent magnet synchronous motor; torque tracking control;

Adaptive PID; PID controller.
INTRODUCTION
Vehicle purchases are important economic decisions for individual consumers and have
important consequences for nations as a whole. Consumers can be expected to take both
capital and operating costs into account when making their purchase decisions. Vehicles
are typically the second most expensive purchase made by households, and the
technology embodied in each vehicle determines its operating costs over its life. The
major operating cost for vehicles is tied to consumer expenditure on gasoline, which is
determined by the vehicle’s fuel efficiency, daily miles driven and the price of gasoline.
Petroleum prices were extremely volatile during the second half of 2008, with a per
barrel price of West Texas Intermediate peaking at $133.37 in July followed by a
decline to $41.12 by December; these prices translated to a national average per gallon
price of regular gasoline of $4.06 in July and $1.69 by December (Yuan et al., 2004;
Zhu et al., 2002). The extraordinary volatility in the cost of gasoline over the past few
years has raised the level of uncertainty among consumers about future prices, and
caused them to place greater weight on the expected variability and mean level of
gasoline prices in their vehicle purchase decisions.
Concerns over the future prices of petroleum products have been accompanied
by rising worries over both the impact of global warming due to carbon dioxide
955
Modelling and torque tracking control of permanent magnet synchronous motor for hybrid electric vehicles
emissions and the nation’s energy independence. The transportation sector accounted
for one‐third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US in 2006. There are several
federal programs designed to lower these emissions by requiring more fuel-efficient
vehicles, including the recently enacted increase in the required corporate average fuel
economy (CAFE) standards (Trigui et al., 2004). Concerns about potential disruptions
to the oil supply and the resultant spike in gas prices, hybrid vehicles are chosen as a
problem solver. This is because hybrid electric vehicles are a one of the most promising
technologies for significantly reducing fuel consumption, and toxic and greenhouse gas
emissions (Grammatico et al., 2010; Yimin et al., 2006). Generally, hybrid electric
vehicles (HEV) can be defined as integrating an internal combustion engine (ICE) with
an electric motor that is used as the prime mover of a vehicle. It can be classified into
three commonly used categories: series HEV (Ehsani et al., 2010), parallel HEV
(Momoh and Omoigui, 2009) and series-parallel HEV (Arroyo, 2006). In a series HEV
system, the ICE is coupled with an electric generator that acts as the electric power
supply to an electric motor instead of driving the wheels. While, the electric motor is
employed as the prime mover in driving the vehicle wheels (Choi et al., 2006).
Otherwise, a parallel HEV system is a combination of an ICE and electric motor where
both power generators are used to drive the vehicle transmission and wheels. However,
in a series-parallel HEV system, the mechanical and electrical systems are connected in
double connection between the engine and drive axle. In this system, the split power
path is able to interconnect the mechanical and electrical power structures. Planetary
gear is applied in this system to make a connection between the mechanical and
electrical devices (Bayindir et al., 2011; Pennestrì et al., 2012).
Since the electric motor is one of the important components in the HEV, the
selection of electric motor type is seen to be compulsory. From past research, there are
generally three types of electric motor commonly used in electric vehicles (EV) and
HEVs, the induction motor, permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) and switch
reluctance motor (SRM). The three types of electric motor drive used depends on the
type or specification desired to drive the vehicle. The PM synchronous servo motor
drive plays a vitally important role in motion-control applications in the low-to-medium
power range. The desirable features of the PM synchronous motor are its compact
structure, high air gap flux density, high power density, high torque-to-inertia ratio, and
high torque capability. Moreover, compared with an induction servo motor, a PMSM
has advantages such as a higher efficiency, due to the absence of rotor losses and lower
no-load current below the rated speed, and its decoupling control performance is much
less sensitive to parametric variations in the motor (Desai and Williamson, 2009; Lin et
al., 1998)
However the control performance of the PMSM drive is still influenced by the
uncertainties of the controlled plant, which usually comprise of unpredictable plant
parametric variationd, external load disturbances, and un-modelled and nonlinear
dynamics. During the past few decades, the control of PMSM has resulted in various
control strategies being developed. Numerous control methods such as adaptive control;
neural control; and Fuzzy logic control, a nonlinear control strategy, has been applied to
the control of PMSM by Bathaee et al. (2005), Guo et al. (2011) and Salmasi (2007),
sliding mode control (SMC) by Guo et al. (2011) and Montazeri-Gh et al. (2006),
terminal sliding mode control (TSM) by Qi and Shi (in press), and adaptive back
stepping control by Li et al. (2009), Qi and Shi (in press) and Trabelsi et al. (2012). The
Genetic Algorithm (GA) is proposed by Belda and Vosmik (2012) and Garg and Kumar
(2002), and other intelligent control strategies have been proposed such as genetic fuzzy
956
Rahmat et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 955-967
system (GFS) control (Karabacak and Eskikurt, 2011) and neuro fuzzy logic control
(Elmas et al., 2008; Melin and Castillo, 2005; Moustakidis et al., 2008; Qi and Shi, in
press). Among these, the best known is the proportional integral derivative (PID)
controller, which has been widely used in the industry because of its simple structure
and robust performance within a wide range of operating conditions (Ahmad et al.,
2010; Astolfi et al., 2008; Cominos and Null, 2002; Huang et al., 2002; Kristiansson
and Lennartson, 2002).
In this study, PMSM is chosen as the electric power train because of the superior
performance of the motor, which can give a higher torque to inertia ratio compared to
the others. The formulation and dynamic behaviour of a PM synchronous motor coupled
with a complex mechanical system is introduced. MATLAB-Simulink software is
chosen as the computer simulation tool used to simulate the system’s behaviour and
evaluate the performance of the control structure. Adaptive PID control is then proposed
in controlling the output torque. The reason why adaptive PID control used in this study
is because of the various throttle input values that will be applied to the vehicle, and
because of the linearity in the limitation of the conventional PID controller where
conventional PID control only can outperform in a predetermined range input reference
only. The other reason for using this proposed control structure is because it is easy to
maintain and easy to implement in the DAQ software during the experiment. The
proposed controller structure will is then be used in the real experimentation of the
HEV, where the controller parameters that have been fine tunes will be burnt into the
microcontroller. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller, the
performance behaviour of the PMSM under adaptive PID control is compared with the
behaviour of the system under conventional PID control and a passive system.
This paper is structured as follows: the first section contains the introduction and
a review of some related works, followed by the mathematical modelling of a PMSM
model in the second section. The third section then presents the proposed control
structure for the torque tracking control of the PMSM system. The next section provides
a performance evaluation of the proposed controller strategy by comparing it with a
conventional PID control structure. The final section is the conclusion of this paper.
PERMANENT MAGNET SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR MODELLING
The PMSM consists of one stator and one rotor, where the structure of the stator
winding is constructed in such a way as to produce a sinusoidal flux density in the air
gap of the machine. However, the structure of the rotor is similar to a BLDC motor,
which contains a permanent magnet motor. Hence the PMSM is modelled on the D-Q
frame, such as shown in the equations below:
⁄ ( )
957
where
= D-axis voltage
= Q-axis voltage
= D-axis current
= Q-axis current
= Stator phase resistance
= D-axis inductance
= Q-axis inductance
= Permanent magnet flux linkage
= Angular frequency of stator
= Electric input electric
The mechanical part of the PMSM can be modelled as follows:
where
= Shaft moment inertia
= Electromagnetic torque
= Coulomb torque
= Viscous friction coefficient
The coupling between the electric and mechanical parts can be defined by the following
equations:
⁄ ⁄ ( ( ) )
where P = Number of poles
The d-q Transformation Modelling
The d-q modelling is related to the transformation of the three phase variables in an abc
coordinate system into an equivalent two-phase system that has an arbitrary speed in the
reference frame. This model is used to model and analyse the PMSM. Hence, in the d-q
coordinate system the d-axis is defined as the direct magnetic axis of the resultant
mutual interaction of two orthogonal magnetomotive forces (mmf), while the q-axis is
the quadrature to the direct axis. In this model the Park transformation is used. The three
phase windings abc are placed in the stator with two windings d and q being placed in
the rotor. The calculation of the current and flux are given by Park as
 fa   fa 
 fd     f     fd   f 
 f   I abcdq  f b ,  f   abc  f b ;  f   dq  f  (8)
 q  f c   
 f c   q  
958
where
⁄
[ ⁄ ]
[ √ ⁄ √ ⁄ ]
[ ]
The abc variables are obtained from the d-q variable through the inverse of the Park
transform.
[ ⁄ ⁄ ]
⁄ ⁄
Where fdref and fqref are the current in the d-q frame model, which may be obtained from
the 3-phase voltages through the previous equation as:
Vector Control Model of PMSM
Vector control of the PMSM is required to undertake the current control loop of a field-
oriented drive of a PMSM. The advantage of the vector control in this system is that
vector control can deliver a high performance to the PMSM based on the desired input.
Equation (16) shows that when the direct axis (d-axis) is maintained as constant, the
generated torque is proportional to the quadrature axis (q-axis) current. For the special
case when id is forced to zero, . Then equation (1) becomes:
The expression of torque then will be:
⁄ ⁄
where ⁄ ⁄
959
The magnetic flux linkage of the PMSM is a constant and the torque is directly
related to the quadrature axis (q-axis) current.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SIMULATION MODEL
The model of an electric motor for a series HEV is developed based on the
mathematical equations in the previous section using Matlab Simulink Software. In this
simulation, the PMSM was controlled using an Adaptive PID controller. The PMSM
modelled in the Matlab Simulink Software is illustrated in Figure 1. Thus the subsystem
of the electric motor includes a speed controller, DC to DC converter, battery, vector
control and inverter. Additionally, the electric motor was run through a battery source.
Furthermore, the electric motor has three inputs that can be used in the simulation of the
electric motor, namely torque input, speed input and motor enable. The simulation
model of the PMSM is shown in Figure 1.
No of Motor
-C-
Torque Control
Vector Control
-C-
Speed
Scope
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor

Three Phase Inverter 500V/50kW
Battery Model DC to DC Converter
Figure 1. PMSM model in Matlab Simulink Software.
TORQUE TRACKING CONTROL OF PMSM
The control structure of an active control system for PMSM was classified by an outer
loop to control the torque of the motor and speed. The outer loop controller provides the
PMSM control, that isolates the PMSM model, speed control, battery, vector control
and three phase inverter. The proposed control structure for the permanent magnet
motor (PMSM) is illustrated in Figure 2.
960
W.Ref PID Speed Speed Motor
Speed Reference PID Controller
Torq.Ref Error
APID Torque Control Torque Motor

Torque Reference
Torque Ref
Adaptive PID Motor Model

Torqout
Adaptive Law
Torqin
Figure 2. Adaptive PID control structure.
Torque Tracking Control of PMSM
The controller is used to evaluate the deviation from the required torque with robust and
accurate torque performance. From many previous investigations, the PID controller is
already proven to be effective in many applications, but is unable to continuously vary
with varying conditions. Hence an adaptive PID controller is proposed in this
investigation to achieve a better result in terms of the continuity and adaptability of the
controller in performing with varying inputs. The control structure of the adaptive PID
controller is illustrated in Figure 2. The mathematical equation of the adaptive PID
controller can be described by following equations:
Where, and the proportional gain of , integral gain,

and derivative gain, are functions of the PMSM torque performance .
The proportional gain of can be expressed mathematically as follows:
The integral gain of can be expressed mathematically, equation (22), as a

function of the PMSM torque performance as follows:
The derivative of can be described mathematically, equation (23), as a function of

the PMSM torque performance as follows:
961
In this study, the linearisation of the controller gain against motor torque has
been made in order to obtain the constant value in equations (20) to (23). The
linearisation is done via linearising the plotting data in Microsoft Excel, as discussed in
the Appendix. In order to create the linearisation equation, it is necessary to identify the
conventional PID controller parameters for all the input conditions via the simulation of
a step response, square function response, saw tooth response and sine wave function.
The controller parameters obtained from the tests are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. PID controller parameters.
Torque Controller Parameter

References Step Response Sine Wave Response
(Nm) Kp Ki Kd Te (Nm) Kp Ki Kd Te (Nm)
150 160 5 2 149 10000 10000 9000 142
140 150 10 3 139 10000 10000 9000 135
130 135 7 3 129 10000 8000 6000 124
120 100 10 2 119 7800 6500 4000 110
110 170 5 1 109 12000 11000 4500 102
100 150 3 1 99 6500 6000 3500 91
Torque Saw Tooth Response Square Response
References
(Nm) Kp Ki Kd Te (Nm) Kp Ki Kd Te (Nm)
150 250 10 1 136 50 5 1 148
140 230 15 5 127 70 5 3 138
130 190 13 3 119 45 10 5 128
120 185 13 2 110 60 8 2 118
110 200 15 3 101 63 7 2 108
100 190 12 2 92.5 60 10 1 98
POSITION TRACKING CONTROL OF PMSM USING PID CONTROLLER
Figure 3 shows the response for a system with the PID controller. The parameters of the
PID controller are optimised using the trial and error method, and verified using
sensitivity analysis for optimal performance under various conditions. Several test
procedures such as the step function, sine wave function, square function and saw tooth
function are applied to verify the effectiveness of the control structure. All the input
signals are generated from the step function, square function and sine wave function.
With appropriate tuning of the PID gains, excellent results are achieved as illustrated in
Figure 3. In the graphs, the green/dashed line corresponds to the desired motion of the
slider position and the blue/solid line indicates the actual motion achieved by
controlling the position torque of the motor. It can be seen that the proposed control
structure with the PID controller for producing the desired torque is very encouraging,
as shown in the step function response in Figure 3(a). However, the response of the
controller in this function is over damped, and it can be said that the system is slow. In
terms of the sine wave function [Figure 3(b)], saw tooth function [Figure 3(c)], and
962
square function [Figure 3(d)] the controller structure shows its capability in achieving
the control design criteria, and presents a good response in tracking the desired torque.
PID Controller with Step Function Input

100
PID Controller with Sine Wave Input
100
80
PID 80
DESIRED
60
60
40
Torque (Nm)
Torque (Nm)
40
20
0
20
-20
0 -40
-60
-20
-80
DESIRED
PID
-40 -100
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time (s) Time (s)
(a). Step Function (b). Sine Wave Function
PID Controller with Square Input PID Controller with Input Saw Tooth Input
100 100
80 80 PID
DESIRED
60 60
40 40
Torque (Nm)
Torque (Nm)
20 20
0 0
-20 -20
-40 -40
-60 -60
-80 PID -80

DESIRED
-100 -100
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time (s) Time (s)
(c). Square Function (d). Saw Tooth Function

Figure 3. Response of torque tracking control of PMSM using PID controller.
POSITION TRACKING CONTROL OF PMSM USING ADAPTIVE PID

CONTROL
Since there are limitations to the PID controller in controlling the system, as discussed
in section 3.1 and proven in section 4.0, an adaptive PID has been proposed. Figures
4(a) and 4(b) show the performance evaluation of the torque tracking control of the
PMSM under the adaptive PID controller. The performance of the controller is
examined via comparing the response of the proposed controller with the response of
the system under a conventional PID controller and a controller reference. In the
figures, the blue/solid lines denote the response of the adaptive PID controller, the
red/dashed lines indicate the response of the PID controller, while the green/dotted lines
refer to the desired input for the controller. The results show that the APID controller
with a moment rejection loop offers a good performance in tracking the system, and
also the system is stable and has a good transient response.
Considering Figure 4(a), the step function behaviour of the APID controller indicates a
better performance in terms of the rate of the response, transient phase and settling time
compared to the conventional PID controller. The results show that the proposed control
structure is a reasonably efficient method to achieve identical torque to that desired,
since the response of the conventional PID controller is over damped which means that
the response of the controller is sluggish. The results of torque tracking control for the
sine wave function, saw tooth function and square wave function of the APID controller
scheme can be examined in Figures 4(b), (c) and (d). From the observations it can be
said that the APID control scheme is able to make the system produce the target torque
963
desired, while the conventional PID controller could not achieve that. It can be seen
from the response of the PID controller that it cannot achieve the target magnitude
desired. In terms of stability, the APID indicates that the controller structure is more
stable compared to the PID controller. This can be clearly seen in Figures 4 (a) and (d),
where steady state error occurs in the steady state phase.
Adaptive PID Controller Step Input Adaptive PID Controller Sine Wave Input
120 150
APID
DESIRED
100 PID
100
80
APID 50
Torque (Nm)
Torque (Nm)
60
DESIRED
PID
40 0
20
-50
0
-100
-20
-40 -150
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Time (s) Time (s)
(a). Step Function (b). Sine Wave Function

Adaptive PID Controller Square Input Adaptive PID Controller Sawtooth Input
150 100
APID
80 DESIRED
100 PID
60
40
50
Torque (Nm)
Torque (Nm)
20
0 0
-20
-50
-40
-100 -60
APID
DESIRED -80
PID
-150 -100
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Time (s) Time (s)
(c). Square Function (d). Saw Tooth Function

Figure 4. Response of torque tracking control of PMSM using Adaptive PID controller.
CONCLUSION
In this study, a PMSM model has been developed in Matlab Simulink Software. The
developed model is then used as the electric power train in a HEV simulation. Since the
input of the vehicle’s dynamics is the drive torque, torque tracking control of the PMSM
should first be achieved. In this study, a torque tracking control for the PMSM has been
developed using an adaptive proportional-integral-derivative (APID) control scheme.
Simulation studies of the torque tracking are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness
of using the proposed controller by comparing the responses with the same system using
a PID controller and the desired control. Several tests have been performed in order to
verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller, namely a sine wave function test,
square function test, step function test and saw tooth function test. The simulation
results show that the use of the proposed APID control technique proved to be effective
in controlling the torque of the PMSM with good accuracy.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is supported by the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka through a

scholarship and financial support under project no. PJP/2012/ACARE/Y00004 entitled
964
“Design and Development of Hybrid Electric Vehicle based Series Drive Train Layout”,
led by Dr. Noreffendy Tamaldin. This financial support is gratefully acknowledged.
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APPENDIXES
Controller Parameter of Kp Value

10000
9000
8000 torque vs P
Kp Linear Equation
7000
6000
Kp Value
5000
Kp = - 2.8e+002*x + 4.3e+004
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
136 138 140 142 144 146 148 150
T orque (Nm)
(a) Kp Value
Controller Parameter of Ki Value

7000
6000
5000
torque vs I
Ki Linear Equation
4000
Ki Value
Ki = - 1.9e+002*x + 2.9e+004
3000
2000
1000
0
136 138 140 142 144 146 148 150
T orque (Nm)
(b) Ki Value
Controller Parameter of Ki Value

4500
4000
torque vs D
Kd Linear Equation
3500
3000
Kd Value
2500
Ki = - 1.2e+002*x + 1.9e+004
2000
1500
1000
500
0
136 138 140 142 144 146 148 150
T orque (Nm)
(c) Kd Value
967
ESTIMATION OF THE DYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF EPOXY GLASS FABRIC

COMPOSITES WITH NATURAL RUBBER PARTICLE INCLUSIONS
H. Ravi Sankar1, R.R. Srikant1, P. Vamsi Krishna1, V. Bhujanga Rao2 and

P. Bangaru Babu3
1
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, India.
2
Defence Research and Development Organisation, New Delhi, India.
3
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Warangal, India.
Email: ravigitam.hota@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Conventional materials are being replaced in the field of engineering by composite

materials, due to their tailorable properties and high specific properties. These materials
are extensively used in structural applications. Damping is one of the important
properties of the materials used in structures, and needs to be enhanced in order to
reduce structural vibrations. In the present work, the improvement of the material
damping of glass fabric epoxy composites with particle rubber inclusions is studied. The
effect of particle size on the damping and stiffness parameters at different frequencies
and temperatures is studied experimentally. Considerable enhancement in damping
without significant reduction in stiffness is observed at lower particle sizes. The
damping property in both bending and shear modes is more with 0.254 mm rubber
particle inclusions among the selected sizes. A lower reduction in stiffness is observed
with the inclusion of lower particle sizes (0.254 mm and 0.09 mm) when compared with
higher particle sizes. An ANN-based prediction model is developed to predict these
properties for a given frequency/temperature and particle size. The predicted values are
very close to the experimental values with an maximum error of 5%.
Keywords: Composites; damping enhancement; artificial neural networks.
INTRODUCTION
In the contemporary world, several conventional materials are being replaced by

composites due to their several properties. Composites are finding application in many
fields, from household articles to aircraft components (Ibrahim et al., 2012; Bachtiar et
al., 2010; Adebisi et al., 2011; Saadatmanesh et al., 1994). In aircraft and other such
applications, energy dissipation by mechanical damping is of considerable importance
for reducing vibrations (Crandall, 1970). Damping in the structures is attained by either
active methods or passive methods (Trindade et al., 2002). The use of sensors and
actuators in active damping increases the system complexity and reduces the reliability.
Passive damping is an inherent property of the system with less complexity and higher
reliability (Trindade et al., 2002). The improvement in passive damping of structures
has been achieved by various researchers through surface attachments (Hardinnawirda
and Aisha, I. 2012; Mantena et al., 1991), co-cured viscoelastic layers (Rotz and Barrett,
1991) and fibre-coating techniques (Finegan and Gibson, 1997). Viscoelastic tapes were
sandwiched between the base structure and a constrained layer for damping
enhancement (Mantena et al., 1991). Though an improvement in damping is observed,
the weight of the structure is increased due to the constrained layer. Rotz and Barrett
968
Estimation of the dynamic properties of epoxy glass fabric composites with natural rubber particle inclusions
(1991) designed composites with required damping using co-cured viscoelastic layers.
Delamination at the interface is a major drawback with co-cured layers (Finegan and
Gibson, 1997). Though the toughness and damping are two distinct properties, both
involve the energy release phenomenon. Rubber particles were included in polymers
(Collyer, 1994) to improve fracture toughness, but studies on damping with particle
rubber inclusions are limited. A composite sound absorber is fabricated using recycled
rubber particles with good attenuation properties to dampen the sound (Hong et al.,
2004). Enhancement of structural damping with natural rubber particle inclusions and
the effect of their size on modal damping ratios were studied using vibration tests (Ravi
Sankar et al., 2010; Jeffrey et al., 2011). Composites with polypropylene and silicon
rubber with Wollastonite as the fibrous filler in different proportions was fabricated to
study its effect on mechanical properties following to the addition of silicon rubber
(Bhaskar and Sharief, 2012; Umar et al., 2012; Upinder et al., 2009). Also short glass
fibre (SGF) reinforced poly propylene composite was toughened with styrene-ethylene
butylene styrene (SEBS) elastomers (Tjong et al., 2002).
Though damping is enhanced through CLD, co-cured layers and fibre coating
methods a considerable increase in weight, delaminations at interleaved co-cured layers,
and significant reduction in stiffness are the drawbacks of each of the cases respectively.
Work reporting an improvement in the toughness of polymers using particle elastomers
and resin modifications is limited to studies on toughness alone, but very few on
damping even though both involve the process of energy dissipation. Damping
enhancement through the addition of rubber particles though effective, the studies are
confined to structural damping, depends on the shape and size of the structures and
boundary conditions (Ravi Sankar et al., 2010). It requires a huge quantum of
experimentation to decide upon the optimal choice of particle size. Hence there is a need
to characterise the material damping (loss factor, Tan δ) and dynamic stiffness (storage
modulus, E’) which is an inherent property of the material. DMA is a tool to
characterise these properties. Tan δ and E’ are complimentary to each other, and an
optimal decision to strike a break-even is crucial. In this context, the aid of Artificial
Neural Networks (ANN) may be sought.
The application of ANN for the mapping of the system and obtaining various
outputs in the field of composites has gained momentum (Bose and Liang, 1998;
Sapuan and Mujtaba, 2010; Zhang and Friedrich, 2003). The use of ANN in predicting
different parameters in composites is well demonstrated by various researchers.
Pidaparti and Palakal (1993) were among the first to use ANN as a constitutive model
for composites. ANN was used to predict the fatigue strength of composites (Aymerich
and Serra, 1998; Lee et al., 1998). A Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) was
used to predict the fatigue failure of a glass fibre/epoxy laminate with a range of fibre
orientation angles under various loading conditions (Al-Assaf and EI Kadi, 2001;
Mathur et al., 2007). The results obtained were comparable with other prediction
methods. The error between the experimental and predicted results was found to be less
than 5% in most cases. However, in some cases the error was up to 28%. ANN was
applied to predict the mechanical and wear properties of short-fibre reinforced
polyamide (PA) composites (Jiang et al., 2008). The predictions reported remarkable
accuracy with the experimental results. Though BPNN is widely used, it suffers from
major set-backs like local minima, poor convergence, etc. As an alternative, a Radial
Basis Function (RBF) is used. A study of free vibration in symmetric composite plates
based on a collocation by radial basis functions and pseudo spectral methods was
presented and produced highly accurate results (Ferreira and Fasshauer, 2007). Both
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Ravi Sankar et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 968-980
BPNN and RBF techniques were used to study the impact from components and process
conditions on the properties of Pb-Al composite materials (Zhu et al., 2010). The
predicted values were compared with experimental data and the RBF results were
claimed to be the best. From the above literature, it can be concluded that ANN can be
effectively used in composite materials research. Though BPNN is widely used, it
suffers from major limitations and RBF is proven to be a better choice.
In the present work, the damping related parameters Tan δ and E’ of particle
rubber included in an epoxy glass fabric composite are evaluated in flexure and shear
modes at different frequencies and in flexure at different temperatures using DMA. The
RBF network is used for the prediction of the dynamic characteristics (Tan δ and E’) of
the composites. The estimated dynamic properties are used for building two RBF
models to predict Tan δ and E’ under two different scenarios, viz. in three-point bending
and in shear, at various frequencies and in three-point bending with a temperature
sweep.
EXPERIMENTATION
Sample Fabrication
Glass fabric epoxy composites with and without rubber particle inclusions are fabricated
as per the required standards for DMA testing. Glass fabric epoxy composites of size
300 mm × 180 mm × 4 mm (die dimensions) are fabricated with and without natural
particle rubber inclusions using a hand layup technique, from which the samples for
DMA testing are cut. Natural rubber particles are segregated into four different particle
sizes: 0.9 mm, 0.45 mm, 0.254 mm and 0.09 mm. The segregated rubber particles of
specific size are mechanically mixed in Lapox®12 epoxy resin followed by sonication
for an hour in a sonicator for dispersing the particles uniformly in the resin. The weight
of the particle rubber inclusions is 10% of the total weight of the composite (inclusions
+ resin + fibre). Before applying the rubber particle filled epoxy resin to the glass fibres,
a hardener (Lapox® K6) is mixed in the proportion 1:0.1 by weight. The mixture is
added to glass fabric mats. A PVA mould releasing agent is applied to the mould before
the laying up process for the easy removal of the fabricated composite plates. Serrated
rollers are used to compact the material against the mould and to remove entrapped air,
if any. The plates in the die are processed in press at room temperature under a pressure
of 200 Kpa for 24 hr and then removed. The edges of the produced composite plates are
finished with emery paper. In all the specimens the nominal content of glass fibre in the
composite is set at 40% by weight, and the remaining 60% is resin, which is evaluated
by burn out tests as per the ASTM standard (ASTM D2584-08, 2008). From the
fabricated plates, rectangular samples of size 60 mm × 10 mm × 4 mm for three-point
bending and 10 mm × 10 mm × 4 mm for shear are cut for testing in DMA Q800.
970
Figure 1. DMA samples for three-point bending
Figure 2. (a) DMA (b) specimen in DMA
Scanning Electron Microscopy
The properties of natural rubber particles included in composites strongly depend on the
dispersion of the rubber particles in the matrix. To observe the dispersiblity of natural
971
rubber particles in epoxy resin, cross-sections were examined by a Zeisis EVO MA15
scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an acceleration voltage of 10 KV. Samples
are sputter coated with gold to make them conductive prior to SEM observations.
DMA Studies
The dynamic properties E’ and Tan δ in three-point bending and in shear are evaluated
with frequency sweep at room temperature and in three-point bending at 10 Hz with a
temperature sweep. For temperature dependent properties, the samples are heated to
1800 C in the case of the neat composite and up to 1200 C in the case of rubber-
containing composite at a heating rate of 10C/min.
SEM Studies
The morphology of the cross-section of natural rubber-filled epoxy glass fibre

composites is examined using SEM in order to examine the distribution of rubber
particles in the composite. Figure 3 shows SEM images of the cross-section of glass
epoxy composite specimen with rubber particle inclusions. It is observed that the rubber
particles are well distributed in the matrix. The uniform dispersion of the rubber
particles lead to ascertaining the dynamic properties Tan δ and E’.
Figure 3. SEM micrograph of rubber-containing glass fabric epoxy composite.
DMA Studies
i) Frequency Sweep
Flexural loss factors (measure of damping) in the three-point bending of the glass epoxy
composite with a frequency sweep in the range of 0–200 Hz at room temperature are
972
reported in Figure 4. Tan δ in bending is increased with a frequency up to 110 Hz and

then decreased for all the particle sizes considered. A similar trend is observed in the
case of the loss factor in shear. DMA results reported in Figure 5 represent the
variations in Tan δ in shear with frequency for all particle sizes. Tan δ increases with
frequency up to 100 Hz and then decreases for all particle sizes considered. At lower
frequencies, the energy dissipation is less and hence a lower Tan δ is reported. The
damping is directly proportional to the square of the amplitude, and at higher
frequencies the amplitudes are lower (Rao, 2004). Hence Tan δ in both bending and
shear modes increase up to a certain frequency and then decrease. An increment in Tan
δ is observed in both bending and shear with the addition of natural rubber particles in
the epoxy glass fabric composite. The viscoelastic natural rubber particles present at the
interphase (a third phase at the interface of the fibre and matrix due to chemical
reactions), producing a micro slip and generate damping leading to an increase in Tan δ.
Experimental results revealed that the loss factor decreased with the size of the natural
rubber particle inclusions in bending and shear except for the sizes 0.254 mm and
0.0975 mm. A specific observation is that in both modes Tan δ is maximum for a
particle size 0.254 mm among the selected particle sizes. For a fibre composite system,
the total damping present in the system depends on the damping capacity of the fibres,
matrix and interphase formed between matrix and fibre. The probability of the existence
of smaller particles such as 0.0975 mm in the fibre matrix interphase is very low, and
hence a lower damping is reported with 0.0975 mm compared with 0.254 mm. Similarly
at higher rubber particle sizes the energy dissipation due to micro-shear yield mode of
deformation is suppressed and decreases the damping (Charles, 1996). Hence, 0.254
mm rubber particle inclusions improved the damping of the composite among the
selected particle sizes.
Figure 4. Variation in flexural loss factor in 3-point bending.
973
Figure 5. Variation in shear loss factor with frequency
Figure 6 shows the variation in E’ in the flexural mode with frequency for all
composite specimens. It is observed that the flexural storage modulus at all particle
sizes is almost constant with frequency up to a range of 100 Hz to 110 Hz, and then
increases slightly. The rubber particle inclusions in the glass epoxy composite reduce
the flexural E’. The micro-slip between the rubber particles at the interphase layers is
attributed to be the reason for this reduction in stiffness (Cho et al., 2006; Ravi Sankar
et al., 2010). The reduction in flexural E’ increased with the size of the rubber particle
inclusions. For smaller particle inclusions, i.e. 0.0975 mm and 0.254 mm, the reduction
is at about 10% to 15%, whereas at particle sizes of 0.45 mm and 0.9 mm it is about
30% to 40%. This is due to stress concentrations in larger particles due to abrupt
changes in the material properties.
Figure 6.Variation in E’ (bending) with frequency.
974
The experimental values presented in Figure 7 explain the effect of particle size
on E’ in shear with frequency. The E’ in shear mode is almost constant with the
frequency considered. As in the case of three-point bending, the rubber particle
inclusions reduce the shear E’ at all frequencies. The shear E’ is reduced by 10% to 20%
to that of the pure composite, for all the sizes of rubber particle inclusions. Among the
selected particle sizes, E’ in shear is reduced with an increase in the size of the
inclusions. This may be due to the stress-raising tendency of larger particle sizes (Cho et
al., 2006; Ravi Sankar et al., 2010).
Figure 7. Variation in shear storage modulus with frequency
ii) Temperature Sweep
The effect of rubber particle size inclusions in the glass epoxy composite on loss factors in
three-point bending with temperature at 10 Hz is reported in Figure 8. It is observed that
the glass transition temperature Tg, is shifted to the lower side due to the addition of rubber
inclusions because of the increased mobility of the rubber molecules at higher
temperatures. Tg for the neat composite is around 1400C, whereas for the rubber-filled
composites it is around 850 to 900C. The size of particle inclusions on Tg is insignificant.
The peak magnitude of the loss factor is highest with a particle size of 0.254 mm, as in the
case of the frequency sweep. The magnitude of the peak is decreased with increase in
particle size. At temperatures over 900C, the micro-slip at the interphase of the fibre,
matrix and particle inclusions increased significantly and the mobility of polymer chains
also increases at higher temperatures, thereby considerably increasing damping. The DMA
results revealed (Figure 9) that E’ in three-point bending at a constant frequency of 10 Hz.
E’ slightly decreased with temperature for all composite specimens. The reduction in E’ in
three-point bending is drastic on passing through the Tg . On passing through Tg the
molecular relaxations of viscoelastic rubber particles and polymer chains take place and
causes a reduction in the storage modulus.
975
Figure 8. Variation in Tan δ (bending) with temperature
Figure 9. Variation in E’ in bending with temperature.
IMPLEMENTATION OF ANN
The dynamic properties estimated are used for building two RBF models to predict the
storage modulus and loss factor in two different scenarios: viz. in three-point bending
976
and shear the in case of a frequency sweep, and in three-point bending at 10 Hz in the
case of a temperature sweep. RBF networks have a static Gaussian function as the
nonlinearity for the hidden layer processing elements (Bose and Liang, 1998).
Table1. Input and output parameters of ANN model.
Input
Model I Model II
Frequencies (Hz) 1–200 Temperature (oC) Up to 200
Particle sizes (mm) 0.09, 0.254, Particle sizes 0.09, 0.254,
0.45, 0.9 (mm) 0.45, 0.9
Output (Model I and II)
Storage modulus In bending
Loss factor In bending
Table. 2 Predicted and experimental values of dynamic properties at various frequencies
Freq Size Experimental Predicted Percentage Error

Hz mm Bending Shear Bending Shear Bending Shear
’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’
E tan δ E tan δ E tan δ E tan δ E tan δ E tan δ
MPa MPa MPa MPa
13.2 0.098 9009 0.0331 478.6 0.0181 8893 0.03425 476.32 0.019 1.2909 -3.415 0.4764 -3.34
17.2 0.098 9038 0.034 479.1 0.0186 8921 0.03515 476.83 0.019 1.2956 -3.431 0.4738 -3.13
21.2 0.098 9060 0.0349 479.5 0.0191 8942 0.0361 477.27 0.02 1.2991 -3.394 0.4651 -2.93
25.4 0.098 9078 0.0358 479.9 0.0196 8960 0.03697 477.68 0.02 1.302 -3.418 0.4626 -2.76
45.6 0.098 9128 0.0397 481.1 0.0209 9008 0.04095 478.96 0.021 1.3179 -3.115 0.4448 -2.83
29.4 0.254 8329 0.0446 466 0.0235 8392 0.04284 466.58 0.023 -0.75 3.9632 -0.1245 3.399
33.5 0.254 8340 0.0455 466.4 0.0238 8402 0.04369 466.94 0.023 -0.741 3.9692 -0.1158 3.221
37.6 0.254 8346 0.0463 466.7 0.0242 8409 0.04445 467.23 0.023 -0.756 3.9957 -0.1136 3.125
41.6 0.254 8349 0.0469 467 0.0244 8410 0.04515 467.51 0.024 -0.732 3.635 -0.1092 2.734
21.2 0.45 7410 0.0331 438.4 0.017 7468 0.03371 440.15 0.017 -0.788 -1.868 -0.3992 -2.21
25.4 0.45 7428 0.0338 438.8 0.0174 7486 0.0344 440.55 0.018 -0.784 -1.914 -0.3988 -2.16
29.4 0.45 7444 0.0335 439.1 0.0179 7502 0.03419 440.86 0.018 -0.779 -2.173 -0.4008 -2.05
33.5 0.45 7447 0.0339 439.3 0.0184 7506 0.03467 441.07 0.019 -0.786 -2.229 -0.4029 -1.92
102 0.45 7290 0.051 441.5 0.0219 7348 0.05155 443.37 0.022 -0.789 -1.174 -0.4236 -1.19
98.5 0.9 5908 0.0441 409.3 0.0243 5908 0.04407 409.3 0.024 0 0 0 0
An exact fit model of RBF is chosen with a spread constant of 0.5. Among
the available experimental data of around 400 data points in the case of the frequency
model and 2000 data points in the case of temperature model (more data points are
taken for the temperature model as the observations are highly non-linear), 50 data
points are kept aside for testing purposes, while the rest of the data points are used for
training the network. The network was implemented using MATLAB 7®. For the
present study, frequencies and particle sizes are selected as input variables and E’, Tan δ
in bending and shear are chosen as the output parameters. The same network is also
used separately to predict the loss factors and storage modulus in bending at a given
temperature and particle size within the range considered at 10Hz. The input and output
977
parameters are presented in Table 1. ANN simulation (testing) results for different
frequencies and different temperatures are shown in Tables 2 and 3 respectively. It can
be seen that the predicted values are very close to the experimental values, in fact in
some cases they are the same. Percentage errors obtained are less than 5% in all cases,
thus validating the models.
Table. 3. Predicted and experimental values of dynamic properties in bending at various

temperatures.
Experimental Predicted Percentage Error

Temp. Size Modulus tan Modulus tan Modulus tan
(oC) (mm) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
29.65 0.0975 8969 0.0321 8917 0.03295 0.5798 -2.783
59.1 0.0975 9018 0.0353 8896.7 0.03664 1.3451 -3.875
37.97 0.254 8436 0.0408 8467.9 0.0389 -0.378 4.76
114.4 0.254 6537 0.1854 6444.3 0.18256 1.4181 1.5318
39.7 0.45 7398 0.0292 7458.6 0.02989 -0.819 -2.314
76.33 0.45 7497 0.0435 7480.3 0.04511 0.2228 -3.68
96.73 0.45 5475.3 0.5667 5508.7 0.5727 -0.61 -1.061
40.42 0.9 6226 0.0167 6226 0.01676 0 -0.119
96.01 0.9 3932 0.4984 3929.1 0.4914 0.0738 1.4045
122 0.9 3857.62 0.115 3857.5 0.11362 0.0031 1.2
CONCLUSIONS
The dynamic properties of particle rubber-containing composites are estimated using

DMA. ANN-based prediction models to predict the dynamic properties of these
composites are developed using RBF. Based on the results obtained the following
conclusions may be drawn.
i) Inclusion of rubber particles is found to increase the loss factors in both bending
and shear, whereas the storage modulus decreases. The loss factors in bending
and shear decreased with the size of the natural rubber particle inclusions except
for sizes of 0.254 mm and 0.0975 mm. A specific observation is that both loss
factors are maximum with a particle size of 0.254 mm among the selected
particle sizes.
ii) At smaller particle inclusions, i.e. 0.0975 mm and 0.254 mm, there is a
reduction in E’ of about 10% to 15%, whereas at particle sizes of 0.45 mm and
0.9 mm it is about 30% to 40%. At smaller particle sizes a considerable
improvement in Tan δ a with lower reduction in stiffness is observed in both
bending and shear modes at all frequencies considered.
iii) A shift in Tg is observed with the inclusion of rubber particles. The size of the
particles has no significant effect on the glass transition temperature.
iv) ANN models are found to be accurate and able to predict Tan δ and E’ for both
frequencies and temperatures.
978
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author thanks GITAM University, India for providing research funding to carry out
the work.
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980
PATTERN DEVELOPMENT FOR MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS

WITH FUSED DEPOSITION MODELLING – A CASE STUDY
H. K. Garg1 and R. Singh2*

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, GZS College of Engineering and Technology,
Bathinda, 151001, India, Phone: +919217689991, Fax: +911612502700
2
Faculty of Production Engineering, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College,
Ludhiana, 141006, India, Tel.: +919872257575, Fax: +911612502700
*
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to examine the suitability of fused deposition modelling
(FDM), for the production of a pattern that can be used in direct manufacturing
applications. In this work, the benchmark was identified and its best part orientation in a
FDM machine was located through experimentation. Control charts and process
capability histogram were drawn to assess the process capability of the FDM process.
The micro hardness of the prepared sample was measured to check the suitability of the
process for investment casting applications. Further dimensional accuracy of patterns
was established by IT grades as per the ISO standard UNI EN 20286-I (1995). It was
observed that the performance indices for all the dimensions in the present study are
greater than 1. The study of photo micrographs using SEM gave an insight into the
properties of the component (produced by FDM). This study highlights that the
tolerance grades for ABS plastics are consistent with the permissible range of tolerance
grades as per the ISO standard UNI EN 20286-I (1995) and DIN16901 standard.
Keywords: Fused deposition modelling; photo micrographs; micro hardness; pattern;

die; process capability.
INTRODUCTION
Rapid manufacturing (RM) is heralded as the next industrial revolution, as its impact is
far reaching and the opportunities and advantages it offers are extensive (Singh and
Garg, 2011; Kumar et al., 2012; Singh, 2013). RM parts are made using additive
manufacturing technologies, and practically no waste material is generated (Kumar et
al., 2013). Moreover RM can even be used in cases of complex geometries and has
given freedom to new designs (Garg and Singh, 2012). For the production of moderate
to high volumes of metal or plastic parts, moulding and casting are the prevalent
processes (Garg and Singh, 2011). However, the tooling that is required demands a
sizeable investment, and a significant amount of time is spent on the design of the
product (Chabbra and Singh, 2011). RM is an enabling technology since it eliminates
the upfront expense and expedites manufacturing (Jacobs and Hilton, 2000; Lee et al.,
2004). A reduction in the product development cycle time is a major concern in
industries who wish to remain competitive in the market place. Hence the focus has
shifted from traditional product development methodology to rapid fabrication
techniques like rapid prototyping (RP) (Tromans, 2003). With the concept of an
improvement in accuracy and materials being considered, it can be envisioned to
upgrade conventional techniques to the so-called RM techniques in which single parts
981
Pattern development for manufacturing applications with fused deposition modelling – A case study
are made which will be the end product rather than a prototype (Wohler, 2007). Product
features, quality, cost and time to market are important factors for a manufacturer to
remain competitive, and for this RP systems offer an opportunity to make products
faster and usually at a lower price than convention methods (Agarwala et al., 1996).
RM is one of the many numbers of applications for component parts made using
‘Additive Layer Manufacturing’ (ALM) processes (Masood and Song, 2004). Other
commercial applications for ALM within industry include the manufacture of
prototypes, known as rapid prototyping, tool cores and cavities, known as rapid tooling
(Gray et al., 1998), and in the manufacture of patterns for a range of casting processes,
known as rapid casting (Kumar and Kruth, 2010). There has been an increase in the
number of additive layer manufactured parts in recent years. RM is used for the
manufacture of aerospace components, automotive applications, medical applications,
motor sport parts (Pham and Gault, 1998) and consumer products, such as lightshades,
furniture and football boots (Lam et al., 1998). RM has been identified as a possible
catalyst for a ‘new industrial revolution for the digital age’. The impact of RM on future
engineering and manufacturing will undoubtedly be widespread. The various RP
processes are fused deposition modelling (FDM), selective laser sintering (SLS),
stereolithography (SL), laminated object manufacturing (LOM), etc. (Kumar et al.,
2013). After 20 years of research, additive manufacturing (AM) continues to grow with
the addition of new technologies, methods and applications (Lee et al., 2004). The FDM
system has been commercially developed by Stratasys Inc. USA. In this process, FDM
materials like ABS, elastomers, polycarbonates, polyphenol sulphones and investment
casting wax feeds into the temperature-controlled FDM extrusion head, where it is
heated to a semi-liquid state (Lee et al., 2007). The head extrudes and deposits the
material in thin layers onto a fixtureless base. The head directs the material into place
with precision, as each layer is extruded it bonds to the previous layer and solidifies.
The designed object emerges as a solid three-dimensional part without the need for
tooling. The FDM process is shown in Figure 1.
EXPERIMENTATION
In the present work, the benchmark was identified as a spanner which is representative
of the hand tool industry and manufactured using FDM. The hand tool industry is a
vibrant and developing industry, which can derive benefit from RP techniques. For
conducting the experimentation, a CAD model of the benchmark (Figure 2) was made
on UNIGRAPHICS software. The 3D CAD model was converted into the STL format,
which was fed into the computer attached to the FDM machine for preparation of the
component. The 3D model was converted into different 2D views, which are shown in
Figure 3. The experimentation started with the identification of the best orientation. The
machine was cleaned and the benchmark was set in default orientation as specified by
the software. Thereafter the orientation was changed by varying the angles along the X ,
Y and Z axes of the FDM machine. The X and Y axes specify the movement of the ram,
whereas the Z axis is the movement of the table in an up or down direction. After the
setting of the orientations the component was sliced, layer by layer construction was
carried out, and thereafter the components were cleaned. The best settings were
identified based on the least consumption of support material, model material and the
lowest production time. The consumption of the material and production time in
different orientations is shown in Table 1.
982
Garg and Singh /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 981-992
Figure 1. Schematic of FDM (Garg and Singh, 2011).
Figure 2. CAD model of benchmark.
983
Figure 3. 2D views of benchmark.
Table 1. Different orientations of benchmark.
X=00 X=300 X=00 X=00 X=600 X=00

Y=00 Y=00 Y=300 Y=0 Z= Y=00
0
Y=600
Parameter Z= 00 Z= 00 Z= 00 300 Z= 00 Z= 00
Model material(mm3) 8849 9012.9 9012.9 8849 8849.0 9012.9
Support material(mm3) 2294.2 8685.1 11634.8 6227.1 6227.1 5899.3
Time (hours) 0.28 1.29 2.49 1.31 1.34 2.28
X=00 X=00 X=300 X=300 X=300 X=600
Y=00 Z= Y=300 Y=00 Y=300 Y=300 Y=600
Parameter 600 Z= 300 Z= 300 Z= 00 Z= 300 Z= 600
Model material(mm3) 8849.0 8849 9012.9 8849 9012.9 9012.9
Support material(mm3) 6063.2 11470.9 9176.8 13601.3 13929 5571.6

Time (hours) 2.71 2.21 1.26 2.38 2.39 2.29
It was observed that the consumption of the model material in various orientations was
more or less same, and is found to be 8849 mm3 or 9012.9 mm3. Consumption of the support
material varied considerably between 2294.1 mm3 to 13601.3 mm3 for various orientations. A
large variation in the production time was observed, ranging between 0.28 hours to 2.51 hours
in various positions. The best orientation of the component leads to a reduced cost and
reduced production time (Table 1). Photo micrographs of the manufactured component under
different orientations were taken with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) using gold
plating. The photo micrographs was checked at the best settings (based on consumption of
model material, support material and production time), at a rotation of 15° to the best settings
to the X axis and at a rotation of 30° to the best settings to the X axis. The photo micrographs
at the best settings, rotation at 15° and 30° degrees along the X axis, are shown in Figure 4.
The study of the photo micrographs revealed that the at the best settings of orientation,
uniformly distributed grains are observed, which were closely packed compared to the
984
position of X= 15° and X =30°, and on this basis it was concluded that the components
produced in the horizontal position would be the best for the present case study.
Photo micrographs at the best Photo micrographs at a Photo micrographs at a

settings rotation of (along X axis) 150 rotation of (along X axis) 300
Figure 4. Photo micrographs at different orientations.
Table 2. Measured dimensions on coordinate measuring machine (Figure 3).
Sample Measured Dimension

D1 D2 D3 D4
(R17.7040MM ) (36.7924MM) (19.3137MM) (5.00MM)
1st 2nd 1 st
2 nd
1 st
2nd 1 st
2nd
piece piece piece piece piece piece piece piece
1 17.6452 17.6643 36.7571 36.7211 19.2898 19.2641 5.1235 5.1111
2 17.6693 17.6426 36.7508 36.7032 19.2814 19.2955 5.1147 5.1237
3 17.6462 17.6567 36.7539 36.7163 19.3345 19.3273 5.1227 5.1097
4 17.6547 17.669 36.7449 36.7641 19.3382 19.2843 5.0993 5.1101
5 17.6558 17.6349 36.7245 36.7463 19.2873 19.3224 5.1079 5.1217
6 17.6618 17.6299 36.7497 36.768 19.2739 19.2856 5.1178 5.1232
7 17.6482 17.6353 36.7593 36.7239 19.3213 19.3336 5.1154 5.1044
8 17.6571 17.6769 36.7475 36.7668 19.3253 19.2804 5.1073 5.1174
9 17.6438 17.6633 36.7711 36.7148 19.3373 19.2931 5.1101 5.1198
10 17.6768 17.6838 36.7514 36.7115 19.2805 19.3243 5.1127 5.0927
11 17.6673 17.6866 36.7556 36.7224 19.3317 19.2847 5.0911 5.1125
12 17.6419 17.6735 36.7117 36.7596 19.3345 19.2859 5.1018 5.1179
13 17.6892 17.6559 36.7549 36.7331 19.3473 19.2843 5.1017 5.0987
14 17.6794 17.6573 36.7624 36.7449 19.2843 19.3317 5.1049 5.1148
15 17.6621 17.6726 36.7611 36.7278 19.3488 19.3243 5.1232 5.1118
16 17.6598 17.6754 36.7742 36.7449 19.2843 19.3427 5.1082 5.1214
Photo micrographs revealed the closeness and uniformity of bonding between adjacent
beads under different orientations. At the best settings of orientation, uniformly distributed
grains were obtained. It is observed that model material has not been deposited in certain
places, and the number of places where material is left to be deposited is different under
different orientations. This is because the deposition of material is dependent on the
orientation of the benchmark. It is also observed that the size of the un-deposited model
material also varies with the component orientations, as it is indicated that the space between
985
beads is different in different orientations (Figure 4). It can be concluded that orientations of
the benchmark are important to obtain the desired properties. Based on the best settings and
photo micrographs, thirty-two pieces were manufactured on the FDM machine. Two pieces of
the component were produced at a time, one after the other, and thereafter components were
produced after 2 hours, resulting in a total of sixteen samples. The measurements of eight
critical dimensions were made on the coordinate measuring machine and the results of the
same are tabulated in Table 2 and 3.
Table 3. Measured dimensions on coordinate measuring machine (Figure 3).
Sample Measured dimension

D5 D6 D7 D8
(R 1.9423 mm ) (10.00 mm) (64.6152 mm) (20.00 mm)
1st piece 2nd 1st piece 2nd 1st piece 2nd 1st piece 2nd piece
piece piece piece
1 1.9201 1.9315 9.9416 9.9841 64.5644 64.6314 19.9532 19.9682
2 1.9267 1.9206 9.9506 9.9887 64.5532 64.5251 19.9552 19.9774
3 1.9322 1.9344 10.0391 10.0276 64.5651 64.5928 20.0482 20.0152
4 1.9349 1.9383 10.0435 9.9898 64.5869 64.6466 20.0181 19.9856
5 1.9307 1.9212 9.9603 10.0199 64.5756 64.5511 19.9506 20.0248
6 1.9346 1.9209 9.9689 9.9884 64.5816 64.6375 19.9838 19.9668
7 1.9384 1.9322 10.0276 10.0671 64.5808 64.5602 20.0222 20.0342
8 1.9235 1.9334 10.0338 9.9878 64.5709 64.5537 20.0376 19.9836
9 1.9368 1.9312 10.0224 10.0513 64.5572 64.5915 20.0248 20.03526
10 1.9289 1.9205 9.9671 10.0105 64.6309 64.5803 19.9842 20.0214
11 1.925 1.9326 10.0299 9.99 64.5757 64.5579 20.0398 19.9812
12 1.9211 1.9288 10.0101 9.9699 64.5678 64.5818 20.0202 19.9798
13 1.9249 1.9332 10.0328 9.9898 64.5844 64.6366 20.0416 19.9796
14 1.9326 1.9249 9.9898 10.0299 64.5466 64.5857 19.9796 20.0318
15 1.9289 1.9314 10.0232 10.0105 64.5624 64.5803 20.0364 20.021
16 1.9327 1.9249 9.9898 10.0304 64.5866 64.5689 19.9796 20.0208
IT grades are an index to check the dimensional accuracy of components manufactured

by any process. Tolerance factor ‘i’ is calculated for eight critical dimensions measured
on CMM, and thereafter the tolerance unit ‘n’ is evaluated. This procedure is defined as
per the ISO standard UNI EN 20286-I (1995).
i =0.45×D/3 ± 0.001×D
D is the geometric mean of range of the nominal size in mm.

n = 1000 (DJN -DJM) / i,
DJM is the measured dimension and DJN is the nominal dimension.
986
Table 4- IT grades for nominal dimension D1.
Sample Dimension n IT Dimension n IT

No. Grade Grade
1 17.6452 49.3895 IT10 17.7040 33.3463 IT9
2 17.6693 29.1465 IT9 17.6643 51.5733 IT10
3 17.6462 48.5495 IT10 17.6426 39.7300 IT9
4 17.6547 41.4099 IT10 17.6567 29.3985 IT9
5 17.6558 40.4859 IT10 17.669 58.0410 IT10
6 17.6618 35.4462 IT9 17.6349 62.2408 IT10
7 17.6482 46.8696 IT10 17.6299 57.7050 IT10
8 17.6571 39.3940 IT9 17.6353 22.7628 IT8
9 17.6438 50.5654 IT10 17.6769 34.1862 IT9
10 17.6768 22.8468 IT8 17.6633 16.9671 IT8
11 17.6673 30.8264 IT9 17.6838 14.6152 IT7
12 17.6419 52.1613 IT10 17.6866 25.6187 IT9
13 17.6892 12.4314 IT7 17.6735 40.4019 IT10
14 17.6794 20.6629 IT8 17.6559 39.2260 IT9
15 17.6621 35.1942 IT9 17.6573 26.3746 IT9
16 17.6598 37.1261 IT9 17.6726 24.0228 IT8
0.07
UCL 0.0643
0.06
0.05
Ra
0.04
0.03
0.02 CL 0.0197
0.01
LCL
0 0.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Sample
Figure 5. R chart for nominal dimension D1.
The results indicate that the majority of dimensions lay in the range of IT6 to
IT10, which are consistent according to the ISO standard UNI EN 20286-I (1995) for a
production process. Control charts are tools used to determine whether or not a
manufacturing process is in a state of statistical controlprocess is said to be under
statistical control if the measured values lie between + 2 sigma and –2 sigma. Analysis
of the control chart indicates that the process is currently under control, and that data
from the process can be used to predict the future performance of the process. If the
987
chart indicates that the process being monitored is not in control, analysis of the chart
can help determine the sources of variation, which can then be eliminated to bring the
process back into control. Figures 5 and 6 show the X bar and R chart for the nominal
dimension D1.
17.711
17.701 UCL 17.698

17.691
+2 sigma
17.681
+1 sigma
17.671
17.661 CL 17.6605
-1 sigma
17.651
17.641 -2 sigma
17.631
LCL 17.623
17.621
17.611
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Sample
Figure 6. X chart for nominal dimension D1.
A study of the X bar and the R chart reveals that the measured dimensions in all
cases were found to be within the ‘Upper Control Limit (UCL) and Lower Control
Limit (LCL)’ from which it can be concluded that the process is in statistical control.
The measured dimensions were found to lie between (+2sigma and –2sigma) in most of
the cases. There was no chance variation, as not even a single observation went beyond
the control limits. No unusual pattern, like too many points on one side of the mean or a
gradual shift of the points towards LCL or UCL, was observed which indicated that
there was no change in the production process as the measured values lay between the
LCL and the UCL. It can be concluded that process is in a 'state of statistical control',
with no special causes of variation. Capability analysis is a set of calculations used to
assess whether a system is statistically able to meet a set of specifications or
requirements. Process capability indices (Cp and Cpk) are parameters that indicate the
statistical capability of the process. Figure 7 shows the histogram for the process
capability study for nominal dimension D1 with tolerances as per the DIN standards,
while Figure 8 shows the histogram at reduced tolerances. The X axis of the histogram
gives the classes and the Y-axis the frequency. ..
988
LSL 17.454 USL 17.954

16
Mean 17.6605
Median 17.6608
Mode 17.6605
14 Cp 4.77
n 32
Cpk 3.9
12 4
10
Num
ber
6 Min 17.62
Max 17.68
Sigma 6.00
2
0
17.433 17.475 17.517 17.559 17.601 17.643 17.685 17.727 17.769 17.811 17.853 17.895 17.937 17.979
Values
Figure 7. Histogram as per DIN standards.
LSL17.59 USL 17.73

12 Mean 17.6605
Median 17.6608
Mode 17.6605
n 32 Cp 1.33
10 Cpk 1.32
N 8
6
Min 17.62
4 Max 17.68
0
17.57517.59 17.60517. 17.63517.65 17.66517.68 17.69517.71 17.72517.74 17.755
62 Dimension
Figure 8. Histogram at reduced tolerances.
The value of the process capability indices (Cp and Cpk) has a value greater than
1 for all the dimensions, which is again an indication of good process capability. It can
be established that the process distribution is centred within its limits. Furthermore,
Table 5 shows the micro hardness of the benchmark. The uniform micro hardness of the
manufactured part (pattern) is an indication of the process pattern and is helpful in
producing sound castings.
989
Table 5. Micro hardness of the benchmark.
Sample Observations Sample Observations

No. R1 R2 R3 No. R1 R2 R3
1 325 335 332 17 348 355 342
2 341 335 338 18 335 345 350
3 352 348 346 19 348 347 336
4 338 344 346 20 319 335 339
5 341 343 340 21 337 353 342
6 339 345 348 22 349 347 335
7 344 347 350 23 328 348 337
8 329 349 338 24 336 351 342
9 345 351 342 25 351 346 345
10 351 348 339 26 348 341 338
11 331 338 348 27 327 342 348
12 342 352 347 28 335 339 347
13 334 344 349 29 344 340 348
14 328 335 341 30 349 354 337
15 342 328 335 31 345 340 334
16 337 352 350 32 341 352 344
The results obtained show that the micro hardness at different locations on the
same sample was similar, which shows the uniformity with which the component is
produced. It was also found to be uniform between the sample indicating there was no
shift in the process and the process produced components of uniform properties. This
was found in the range of 319 to 355 on the Vickers scale with an average value of 342.
This property of the process to produce parts of uniform hardness is helpful in
producing sound castings. Table 6 shows the deviation of the measured maximum and
minimum values from the actual dimensions of eight different dimensions. This
deviation is an indication of how closely the FDM process is manufacturing the
benchmark within the desired standards as prescribed by DIN 16901. This process
produced a benchmark within close tolerances, as specified by the DIN 16901
standards. The average variation in dimensions is as low as 0.5 percent.
Table 6. Measured values vs. tolerance as per DIN standards.
S. Actual As per DIN Measured value (mm) Deviation from

No. dimension 16901Tolerance
mm Maximum Minimum Maximum Minimum
1 1.9423 +/- 0.19 1.9384 1.9201 0.004 0.022
2 10.0000 +/- 0.21 10.0671 9.9416 0.067 0.058
3 17.7040 +/- 0.25 17.6892 17.6299 0.015 0.074
4 19.3137 +/- 0.25 19.3488 19.2641 0.035 0.050
5 36.7924 +/- 0.30 36.7742 36.7032 0.018 0.089
6 64.6152 +/- 0.38 64.6466 64.5251 0.031 0.090
7 20.0000 +/- 0.25 20.0482 19.9506 0.048 0.049
8 5.0000 +/- 0.20 5.1237 5.0801 0.124 0.080
990
CONCLUSIONS
In this research work, the best orientation was chosen (that led to a considerable saving
in support material and production time) for the development of a pattern for casting
applications, and it was concluded from the study of photo micrographs at various
orientations that the pattern of deposition of the model material depends on the
orientation of the component. The tolerance grades for ABS plastics are consistent with
the permissible range of tolerance grades (IT grades) as per the ISO standard UNI EN
20286-I (1995), and are also acceptable as per the DIN16901 standard. It is observed
that the performance indices for all the dimensions in the present study are greater than
1. As the performance indices are greater than 1, which is considered the industry
benchmark, so this process will produce conforming products as long as it remains in
statistical control. The control charts reveal that the measured values lie between the
limits, which shows that the process is in statistical control. The micro hardness showed
that there is little variation in the hardness if taken at the same sample or on different
samples, which indicated no shift in the process and that the process produces
components of uniform strength. Finally, based upon better mechanical and
metallurgical properties, it can be concluded that FDM can be suitably used for casting
applications and can be gainfully used for job/batch production.
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Business Management, 6(2): 162-184.
Lam T.W., Yu K.M., Chueng K.M. and Li C.L. 1998. Reinforced thin shell objects
rapid prototyping by fused deposition modeling. International Journal of
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992
VALIDATION OF CRACK INTERACTION LIMIT MODEL FOR PARALLEL

EDGE CRACKS USING TWO-DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
R. Daud, A.K. Ariffin and S. Abdullah
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built

Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Email: ruslizam@unimap.edu.my
Phone: +6049885323; Fax: +6049885167
ABSTRACT
Shielding interaction effects of two parallel edge cracks in finite thickness plates
subjected to remote tension load is analyzed using a developed finite element analysis
program. In the present study, the crack interaction limit is evaluated based on the
fitness of service (FFS) code, and focus is given to the weak crack interaction region as
the crack interval exceeds the length of cracks (b > a). Crack interaction factors are
evaluated based on stress intensity factors (SIFs) for Mode I SIFs using a displacement
extrapolation technique. Parametric studies involved a wide range of crack-to-width
(0.05 ≤ a/W ≤ 0.5) and crack interval ratios (b/a > 1). For validation, crack interaction
factors are compared with single edge crack SIFs as a state of zero interaction. Within
the considered range of parameters, the proposed numerical evaluation used to predict
the crack interaction factor reduces the error of existing analytical solution from 1.92%
to 0.97% at higher a/W. In reference to FFS codes, the small discrepancy in the
prediction of the crack interaction factor validates the reliability of the numerical model
to predict crack interaction limits under shielding interaction effects. In conclusion, the
numerical model gave a successful prediction in estimating the crack interaction limit,
which can be used as a reference for the shielding orientation of other cracks.
Keywords: Crack interaction limit; interacting cracks; shielding effects; fitness for
service.
INTRODUCTION
The presence of an edge cracking strip in aging critical engineering structures, e.g.,
aerospace structures and pressure vessel components, always places the structural
integrity at risk of failure. In structural safety assessments, the presence of isolated
single edge cracks may be easier to conduct. For multiple surface cracks, the damage
tolerance of a single crack is no longer applicable owing to the existence of crack
interaction behavior between the cracks (i.e., shielding and amplification). The pattern
of evolution of multiple crack interaction is different and becomes increasingly complex
when two or more cracks are present in close proximity. Table 1 shows the past and
most recent solution models for evaluating stress-shielding parameters in parallel
cracks. The list of analytical models and approaches in Table 1 that are used to develop
the model, can be categorized into energy release rate criterion, stress intensity criterion,
stress field traction, and the combination of many approaches. These models have
contributed to the advancement of stress shielding assessment.
993
Validation of crack interaction limit model for parallel edge cracks using two-dimensional finite element analysis
Table 1. Analytical elastic shielding interaction models.
Parallel multiple Models and approaches used References

cracks
Parallel and collinear Simultaneous Singular (Ratwani and Gupta, 1974)
cracks Integral based on
Disturbance Stress
Parallel-Collinear Coefficient of Interaction (Yokobori et al., 1979)
cracks
Parallel cracks Asymptotic Approximation (Chang, 1982)
Row of periodic Fredholm Integral Equations (Chen, 1987)
cracks
Parallel and collinear Kachanov Method by (Kachanov, 1987, 1993, 2003;
cracks Superposition-Average Kachanov and Laures, 1988;
Traction Kachanov and Montagut,
1986; Kachanov et al., 1990)
Offset parallel cracks Edge function methods (Dwyer, 1997)
Periodic array cracks Hypersingular Integral (Choi, 1997)
Equation
Shedding arrays of Energy release rate (Parker, 1999)
edge cracks
Micro-cracks Actual Displacement (Gorbatikh and Kachanov,
Discontinuity 2000)
Collinear and parallel Mushkelishvili and Burger’s (Han et al., 2002)
interface cracks vector
Distributed parallel Rotated Staggered Grid (Orlowsky et al., 2003)
cracks
Parallel cracks and Modified Kachanov Method (Gorbatikh et al., 2007; Li et
collinear cracks al., 2008)
Inclined and offset Integral Equation Method (Chen, 2007; Saha and
parallel and collinear Ganguly, 2005)
cracks
Offset parallel cracks Complex Stress Function (Sankar and Lesser, 2006)
Method
Parallel cracks Muskhelishvili and (Li et al., 2008)
Laurent’s series
Parallel symmetric Schmidt Method (Yang, 2009)
cracks
Parallel surface cracks Singular Integral Method (Feng and Jin, 2009)
Periodic edge cracks Fourier Integral (Yildirim et al., 2011)
Parallel edge cracks Fourier and Cauchy Integral (Chen and Wang, 2012)
Safety assessment of the presence of multiple cracks is commonly referred to

recommended FFS codes. However, the theoretical and practical examination of the
recommended FFS codes, such as ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section XI
(ASME, 1998, 2004), API 579 (ASME, 2007), British Standard PD6495 (BSI, 1991)
and BS7910 (BSI, 1997, 2005), Nuclear Electric CEGB R6 (R6, 2006), and JSME
Fitness-for-Service Code (JSME, 2000), have found that the exception of crack
interaction in FFS combination rules has resulted in over-estimated and unrealistic
994
Daud et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 993-1004
fracture and failure predictions, particularly for closely spaced cracks. Burdekin (1982)
presented elastic and plastic crack interaction solutions based on crack open
displacement and the J-integral.
The formulation by Iida (1983) established a new single coalesced crack, but
crack interaction is excluded. Moreover, based on the Iida solution, Leek and Howard
(1994a) proposed an estimation of a single coalesced crack and a function of crack
interaction factor (Leek and Howard, 1994b, 1996) corresponding to stress intensity
factors (SIFs) at crack tips obtained by finite element (FE) analysis. An FE alternating
method has been developed by O’donoghue et al. (1984) to solve the problem of
interacting multiple cracks in a finite solid. Moussa et al. (1999) used the finite element
method (FEM) to calculate the J-integral and used it to analyze the interaction of two
identical parallel non-coplanar surface cracks subjected to remote tension and pure
bending loads in a 3D finite body. The application of the body force method (BFM) by
Kamaya (2003) justified the direction of coalesced cracks with a proposed new
formulation. Owing to the limitations of BFM, FEM and the virtual crack extension
method is employed by Kamaya (2008a, 2008b) to investigate the formation of a single
coalesced crack as a result of crack growth under fatigue loading. In creep loading
conditions, Xuan et al. (2009) introduced a creep interaction factor to address the
interaction between cracks as a reaction to the stress field under loading. Kamaya et al.
(2010) used an S-version FEM to analyze the crack growth of surface cracks. In relation
to the FFS code limitations, crack interaction problems are more concentrated on elastic
crack interaction with crack propagation, rather than on elastic crack interaction without
crack propagation. In the past, many techniques have focused on the strong interaction
region, particularly on the combination rule of parallel to coplanar (shielding effect),
and the assumption of two cracks as a single crack for coplanar cracks (amplification
effect). Most proposed solutions have considered mainly the strong interaction region
and none of them question how crack interaction will behave within the weak
interaction region, especially when the interaction approaches the crack interaction limit
(CIL) (Zulkifli et al., 2011). To date, there are few investigations with emphasis on
investigating the shielding effects in the weak interaction region as the interaction
approaches CIL.
This paper presents a numerical approach for modeling multiple edge strip
cracks that experience weak elastic crack interaction in a finite plate (Kamal et al.,
2012; Domínguez Almaraz et al., 2010). The crack interaction is limited to crack
interaction without crack propagation, where the shielding effect is dominated in
promoting fracture and failure. The aim of this paper is to study the effect of the relative
position of two parallel edge cracks, subjected to a variation of crack interval b / a and
crack-to-width ratio a / W . The numerical analysis was performed using 2D linear FE
analysis using developed APDL codes in ANSYS. The obtained value of the SIFs and
elastic crack interaction factor are compared with corresponding FFS rules and
numerical data from literature.
For the present investigation of elastic CIL, the BSI codes (1991, 1997, 2005)
statements and the works of Jiang et al. (1990, 1991, 1992), and Leek and Howard
(1994a, 1994b, 1996) are taken as the interaction limit reference. It is used for
determining the onset of weak interaction and where the weak interaction is diminished,
focusing specifically on the effect of shielding for parallel edge cracks in a finite body.
For reference, the elastic crack interaction (ECI) of all parallel cracks may be redefined
to diminish approximately at b  3a with the assumption that the crack lengths
995
ai (i  1, 2....n) are equal length. The new analytical ECI factor  ECI to address the CIL
problem is proposed and it written as Eq. (1)
 ECI   ECI CIL (ai / W , b / ai ) ,(i  0,1, 2,...n) (1)
and needs to comply with FFS codes in the condition of
 ECI (ai / W , b / ai )  FFS (ASME,BSI,JSME)

(2)
 ECI (ai / W , b / ai )  FFS (b  12.7mm, b  (a1  a2 ) / 2, b  10mm)
CRACK INTERACTION LIMIT DETERMINATION
The new model of CIL is based on the formulation of the state of no interaction or a
single cracked body to the state of having weak interaction, until the interaction
becomes stronger as the crack interval decreases. The elastic CIL is based on the
analytical works of Jiang et al. (1990, 1991, 1992), and Leek and Howard (1994a,
1994b, 1996) as reference. The SIF calculation is limited to a linear elastic problem with
a homogeneous, isotropic material near the crack region. The SIF determination is based
on the creation of a singular element at the crack tip based on a quadratic isoparametric
finite element. A quarter-point singular element or 8-node collapsed quadrilateral
element developed by Henshell and Shaw (1975) is used; this has distinct advantages in
terms of time, meshing, and re-meshing over the other quarter-point element (Banks
Sills, 2010). The singularity is obtained by shifting the mid-side node ¼ points close to
the crack tip. To calculate the SIF, we assumed the elements to be in rigid body motion
and constant strain modes. The accuracy of this special element has been addressed by
Murakami (1976), where the crack tip nodal point is enclosed by a number of special
elements and in analysis, the size, number, and compatibility of special elements really
affect the accuracy.
By assuming the crack interaction will be diminished at b  3ai and therefore,
it is about equivalent to the SIF of a single crack in the state of zero crack interaction
factor, the analytical single crack Mode I SIF proposed by Brown and Strawley (1966)
is used as the SIF reference K I ref , expressed as Eq. (3).
  a   a 
2
 a 
3
 a 
4
K I ref    a 1.12  0.23    10.6    21.7    30.4    (3)

 W  W  W   W  

Theoretically, to validate the model, the Mode I SIF of the CIL model K I CIL
must be close to the value of K I ref or K I CIL  K I ref , but it cannot be equal, i.e.,
K I CIL  K I ref . Therefore, based on Tada et al. (2001), the new K I CIL function is
written as:
  a   a 
2
 a   a 
3
 a 
4 n 1

K I CIL     ai  C1  C2    C3    C4    C5    Cn    (4)
 W  W  W  W  W 
 
where the constants C1 ,.....Cn are assumed to be constant over the crack surface. Shown
in Figure 1(a) are two straight parallel edge cracks in a finite plate and the two cracks
996
are under uniform far-field tension P (  ) normal to crack faces, and where the cracks
are of equal lengths: a1 and a2 . In this analysis, the ratios of (a / W ) and (b / a) are
used to evaluate the  I in the weak interaction region, which is assumed to be in the
range of 1  b / a  3 . Therefore, the following cases are considered, where (b / a) = 1.5,
2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and (a / W ) = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, 0.50.
Figure 1(a)–(c) also shows the two-dimensional configuration of the singular element.
Based on Arakere et al. (2008), the meshing scheme is generated using ANSYS, as
shown in Figure 1(d). The mesh encompassing the interacting cracks is divided into two
zones: a global mesh, and the local mesh zone. Both zones are meshed with the 8-node
isoparametric quadrilateral element that is used to build up the entire element for the
two-dimensional plate, as illustrated in Figure 1(b). The SIF calculation is limited to the
linear elastic problem with a homogeneous, isotropic material near the crack region. The
studies are conducted in a pure Mode I loading condition with the specified material,
Aluminium Alloy 7475 T7351 solid plate with constant thickness, homogenous
isotropic continuum material, linear elastic behavior, small strain and displacements,
and crack surfaces are smooth with the crack surfaces are almost contacting each other
(c1  c2  0) .
P (σ∞)
1
(a) (b) η (d)
ELEMENTS
6 5 JUN 21 2012
7 21:06:34
Global ξ
mesh 4
8
h 3
1 2
a1 Sub-model
c1 mesh Ct1
11
Ct1
(c)
y
Front Local H Back
b
free free
mesh
surface surface
Sub-model
Ct2 mesh Ct2 ly /2
c2
a1
3 2 θ = const
4 x
Crack 5 1
tip 12
h ly /2
Global
mesh
v
(u,v)
u lx /4 3lx /4
P (σ∞) SC PSTRAIN 1L Z1F X
Figure 1. (a) Two parallel edge cracks in finite body, (b) 8-node quadrilateral element,
(c) Barsoum singular element, and (d) complete meshing.
997
The SIF for CIL K I CIL , is evaluated at the both crack tips of the edge strip
cracks, as shown in Figure 1(a). The reduction of K I CIL comparative to K I ref is
denoted as K I CIL and is expressed as K I CIL  K I ref  K I CIL . The SIF for
Mode I K I , is determined using the displacement extrapolation method using written
APDL macro code in ANSYS, and is expressed as Eq. (5).

K I CIL   E / 3(1  )(1   )    2 / l y   4  v2  v4     v3  v5  / 2  
1/2
(5)
where E=Young’s Modulus,   3  4 for plane stress,   3  4 /1  for plane

strain, ly is the length of element, v and u are displacements in a local Cartesian
coordinate system, and υ is Poisson’s ratio.
The elastic crack interaction factor for Mode I SIF is expressed as Eq. (6).
I  K I CIL / K0 (6)
where  I denotes the elastic interaction factor for Mode I and Ko is the SIF for the plain
specimen.
Figure 2 shows the relationship between elastic crack interaction factor  I and the
crack-to-width ratio a / W for the crack interval ratios (b / a  3) and (b / a  2.5) . The
elastic crack interaction factor  I is based on the SIF at the crack tips K I CIL and is
normalized by K 0 , which is the SIF for the plain specimen. In the weak interaction
range, (1  b / a  3) for (b / a  3) , strong interaction  I appears at a / W  0.5 and it
rapidly decreases when a / W approaches a / W  0.05 . Therefore, the intensity of  I
depends on the variation of a / W ; it becomes larger as a / W increases. Figure 2 also
shows a very small discrepancy (0.035%) between the intensity of  I for crack tips Ct1
and Ct2 . This indicates that under the assumption of a homogenous material with equal
length cracks, the intensity of  I can be assumed equal.
According to FFS codes by ASME (2004, 2007), BSI (1997, 2005), and JSME
(2000, 2008), parallel cracks can be assumed a single coplanar crack under certain
conditions of crack interval. In reduction of the a / W ratio from 0.5 to 0.05, the present
numerical model supports the FFS code by the indication of the intersection point at 0.1
and 0.07 (see Figure 2) and 0.05 (see Figure 3) as the crack interval decreases from
b / a  3 to b / a  1.5 . The prediction by Jiang et al. (1990) of Fn ( K I ) shows no
intersection point for a single crack of fI ( K I ref ) (Brown and Strawley, 1966), and
shows no possible sign for single coplanar crack agreement, as outlined by the FFS
codes. Again, the present  I CIL (C1 ) and  I CIL (C2 ) show a good trend line
prediction of elastic crack interaction intensity and comply with the recommended FFS
codes.
998
3
b/a = 3.0
2.8 Brown & Strawley -single edge crack (1966)
Present (Ct1)
2.6 Present (Ct2)
Jiang et al. (1990)
2.4
Crack interaction factor, γI
2.2
1.8
Intersection
1.6
point
1.4
1.2
1
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
Crack to width ratio , a/W
(a)
3
b/a = 2.5
2.8 Brown & Strawley-single edge crack (1966)
Present (Ct1)
2.6
Present (Ct2)
Jiang et al. (1990)
2.4
2.2
1.8
1.6 Intersection
point
1.4
1.2
1
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
(b)
Figure 2. Elastic crack interaction factor: (a) b / a  3 , and (b) b / a  2.5 .
999
3
b/a = 2.0
2.8
Brown & Strawley-single edge crack(1966)
2.6 Present (Ct1)
Present (Ct2)
2.4 Jiang et al. (1990)
2.2
1.8
1.6 IIntersection point
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
(a)
3
b/a = 1.5
2.8
Brown & Strawley-single edge crack(1966)
2.6 Present (Ct1)
Present (Ct2)
2.4 Jiang et al. (1990)
2.2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
(b)
Figure 3. Elastic crack interaction factor: (a) b / a  2.0 , and (b) b / a  1.5 .
1000
In order to validate the numerical model, the comparison is made with single
crack SIF reference K I ref (Brown and Strawley, 1966) Eq. (3) expressed as fI ( K I ref ) .
Good agreement was obtained, which provides confidence on the FE modeling and CIL
interaction analysis of shielding effects. When compared with the condition of CIL
claimed by Jiang et al. (1990), denoted as Fn ( K I ) , the present numerical model shows
a significant improvement in the reduction of errors as a / W increases, as shown in
Table 2.
Table 2. Crack interaction factor at (b / a  3.0) .
Analytical Analytical Present

a/W fI ( K I ref ) Fn ( K I )  I CIL (Ct1 )  I CIL (Ct2 )
0.05 1.133 1.085 1.178 1.178
0.1 1.184 1.158 1.174 1.173
0.15 1.266 1.251 1.214 1.205
0.2 1.373 1.358 1.311 1.305
0.25 1.505 1.486 1.457 1.449
0.3 1.665 1.645 1.638 1.628
0.35 1.864 1.842 1.851 1.838
0.4 2.113 2.086 2.111 2.096
0.45 2.432 2.392 2.424 2.408
0.5 2.843 2.799 2.817 2.816
CONCLUSION
An alternative solution for the elastic CIL for multiple parallel and equal edge strip
cracks in a finite continuum body has been presented based on FE analysis. The close
agreement with well-known analytical solutions for single edge cracks in a finite body
validates the proposed solution for further applications for CIL analysis for closer crack
distance, which involves higher crack interaction. Meanwhile, the compliance with
recommended ASME codes, BSI codes, and JSME FFS codes provides additional
evidence corroborating the present CIL prediction. Finally, it can be concluded that the
CIL for equal and parallel edge cracks is depicted best at b / a  3 because the crack
interaction factor is approximately the normalized SIF value of a single edge crack with
zero crack interaction.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank Dr. Mostafa Jamshidian and Prof. Dr. Masanori Kikuchi for
crack interaction mechanic consultation. This research is supported by Fundamental
Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia. All authors
declare that there are no conflicts of interest that may arise as a result of this research.
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1004
FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION OF COMMERCIALLY PURE TITANIUM

AFTER NITROGEN ION IMPLANTATION
Nurdin Ali1, 2, M.S. Mustapa1, M.I. Ghazali1, T. Sujitno3 and M. Ridha2

1
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja - Batu Pahat, Malaysia
Email: nurdinali_usk@yahoo.com
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia
3
National Nuclear Energy Agency, Yogyakata 55281, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Prediction of fatigue life has become an interesting issue in biomaterial engineering and
design for reliability and quality purposes, particularly for biometallic material with
modified surfaces. Commercially pure titanium (Cp-Ti) implanted with nitrogen ions is
a potential metallic biomaterial of the future. The effect of nitrogen ion implantation on
fatigue behavior of Cp-Ti was investigated by means of axial loading conditions. The
as-received and nitrogen-ion implanted specimens with the energy of 100 keV and dose
of 2 × 1017 ions cm-2, were used to determine the fatigue properties and to predict the
life cycle of the specimens. The effect of nitrogen ion implantation indicated revealed
improved the tensile strength due to the formation of nitride phases, TiN and Ti2N. The
fatigue strength of Cp-Ti and Nii-Ti was 250 and 260 MPa, respectively. The analytical
results show good agreement with experimental results.
Keywords: Cp-Ti; fatigue; fatigue life; biomaterial; ion implantation.
INTRODUCTION
In addition to the design of joint replacements, the material selected plays a very
important role. Materials for human body implants must be biocompatible, corrosion
resistant, strong, and display adequate elasticity (Pompe et al., 2004). Titanium meets
these requirements to a very high degree; it has excellent temperature stability, wear and
abrasion resistance, and is lightweight (Qu et al., 2005, Kustas and Misra, 1992). The
use of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V in preference to pure titanium in biomedical
applications is because of its superior mechanical properties and moderate modulus, i.e.,
100–110 GPa (Elias et al., 2008). However, the drawback of this alloy is that corrodes
to some extent in body fluids, thereby releasing ions that might possibly be harmful
over a prolonged period. It is now believed that aluminium ions have been associated
with Alzheimer’s disease and V, Co, Mo, Ni, and Cr ions are suspected of being toxic or
carcinogenic (Rogers et al., 1997). Therefore, pure titanium is considered a better
solution because it will not produce toxic ions and its mechanical properties satisfy
biomedical application requirements (Silvaa et al., 2004). Titanium has excellent
corrosion resistance, good biocompatibility, and a good specific strength-to-weight
ratio, but poor wear resistance. If it were utilized as a metal-to-metal artificial hip
replacement, in which wear resistance is property of interest, surface modification of
Cp-Ti would be necessary in order in to improve its surface wear properties.
1005
Fatigue life prediction of commercially pure titanium after nitrogen ion implantation
Surface modification methods, such as anodic oxidation treatment, sandblasting,

carbide coating, plasma nitriding, electrochemical treatment, and nitrogen ion
implantation (Velten et al., 2002; Kapczinski et al., 2003; Guilherme et al., 2005;
Jagielski et al., 2006; Jiang et al., 2006; Song et al., 2007; Ali et al., 2011), have been
proposed to increase the corrosion resistance and wear resistance of the material. The
technique of nitrogen ion implantation has been explained well and shown to be a good
method by which to enhance passivity and to reduce corrosion rate. This is due to the
formation of TiN and Ti2N phases, which avoids the migration of ions and stabilizes the
TiO2 film growth on the surface of Cp-Ti (Arenas et al., 2000). Nitrogen ion
implantation modifies the Cp-Ti surface to produce wear resistant species like nitrides
(TiN; Ti2N) other than TiO2 on the surface. The ion implantation technique is now
available as an industrial-scale process that allows medical engineering to improve
hardness, corrosion resistance, and achieve an accuracy of form necessary for
biomedical devices. Additionally, the ion implantation technique is also employed to
enhance fatigue properties for some critical components. A detailed explanation of the
ion implantation process is given by Nastasi and Mayer (2006).
Almost all of the surface treatment processes, including ion implantation, are
prone to roughness and contamination because surface voids can cause an increasing
risk of the modified surface being susceptible to corrosion. Electrochemical
investigations of the corrosion behavior of Cp-Ti and titanium alloys have almost
always demonstrated a very good passivity condition of the surface. However, studies
focusing on ensuring the reliability of medical implants are still insufficient. Therefore,
the fatigue life prediction of pure titanium as an implant material, following nitrogen ion
implantation, will be a valuable contribution to ensuring the sustainability of the
implanted devices. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the fatigue properties of
the Cp-Ti implanted with nitrogen ions and to predict the fatigue life time of the Cp-Ti
implanted with nitrogen ions (Nii-Ti), based on experimental data.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The material used in this study was Cp-Ti in the form of a round 30-mm-diameter bar,
originally supplied by Fiko Ltd., Ukraine with the code of VT1-0 grade. The chemical
composition and mechanical properties of the investigated material are listed in Tables 1
and 2. The microstructure of the Cp-Ti in original condition (as-received Cp-Ti) is
shown in Figure 1.
Table 1. Chemical composition of original Cp-Ti.
N C H Fe O Al Si Ti Res
0.04 0.05 0.003 0.13 0.11 0.49 0.03 base 0.30
Table 2. Mechanical properties of original Cp-Ti.
Ultimate Tensile Elongation Reduction Area Impact

Strength (MPa) (%) (%) Strength
430 29 56 16
1006
Ali et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 1005-1013
10 μm
Figure 1. Microstructure of original Cp-Ti, etching of 10% HF and 5% HNO3; 200×

(Falazzaky et al., 2012).
Fatigue specimens are prepared based on ASTM E466 and E 468. Firstly, Cp-Ti
was prepared in lengths of 90 mm, and then cut in to four parts by using a wire-cutting
machine. Secondly, the machining processes were carried out to form the standard
specimens by using an automatic lathe. Finally, the specimens were ground with
abrasive paper and then polished by using 1 μm diamond paste to achieve surface
roughness values of 0.06–0.1 μm. Fatigue tests were performed on specimens with the
shape and dimensions shown in Figure 2. Polished specimens were rinsed with water,
and then ultrasonically cleaned with ethanol over 30 minutes and dried at room
temperature prior to the nitrogen ion implantation process. They are subjected to
implantation of nitrogen ions with the energy of 100 keV and dose of 2 × 1017 ions cm-2,
which were reported as the optimum parameters by Fulazzaky et al. (2012).
90
R= 36
Figure 2. Shape and dimensions of the fatigue specimen (mm).
Nitride Phases and Tensile Properties
Preliminary studies on the mechanical properties show that nitrogen ion

implantation improves the tensile properties, wear resistance, and corrosion behavior
(Fulazzaky et al., 2012). Results of the tensile test exhibit an improvement of tensile
properties of Cp-Ti following nitrogen ion implantation, as shown in Table 3. The
improvement of those properties was due to the formation of a new phase in the Cp-Ti
system called titanium nitride, e.g., TiN and Ti2N. X-ray diffraction (XRD) observations
exhibited that these phases have the unit cell of fcc (TiN) and tetragonal (Ti2N), whereas
1007
the Cp-Ti itself has a hexagonally spaced lattice. Figure 3 shows the XRD pattern of
Nii-Ti. The combination of phases of Ti, TiN and Ti2N in the subsurface of Cp-Ti,
following implantation with nitrogen ions, enhances the surface strength, wear and
pretting resistance, and introduces positive changes to the ductility.
Table 3. Tensile properties of original Cp-Ti and Nii-Ti.
Measurement Unit Cp-Ti Nii-Ti

Ultimate tensile strength MPa 497 539
0.2% offset yield strength MPa 385 440
Elongation in 25 mm % 33.3 36.6
Ti2N (111) Ti (101)
TiN (200)
30 40 50 60
2-ϴ
Figure 3. XRD pattern of Nii-Ti implanted with energy of 100 keV and dose of
2 × 1017 ions cm-2.
As reported by Yu et al. (1993), the corrosion fatigue (C-F) endurance of Ti-

6Al-4V was also increased effectively by nitrogen ion implantation. Because this
material is prepared for hip joint replacement applications, the fatigue behavior as well
as CF of Nii-Ti is also expected to be better than Cp-Ti.
Stress-life (S-N) Curves
Fatigue can be defined as the sequential stages of metal damage that evolve with
accumulated load cycling in a laboratory environment. Material loaded cyclically below
its yield stress will also fail following a specific number of cycles. An aggressive
environment can lower the fatigue life of a material significantly, which is known as
corrosion-fatigue. Figure 4 shows S-N curves for Cp-Ti and Nii-Ti determined in this
work and compared with the work of Fleck and Eifler (2010). The graph shows that the
endurance of Cp-Ti and Nii-Ti in the current study is at the stress of 250 and 260 MPa,
respectively, with 1 × 107 cycles. It is verified that the fatigue test program in the
present work could be fatigued by a stress of 250–320 MPa.
1008
360
Nii-Ti
Cp Ti
Cp Ti Grade 2
320
Stress (MPa)
280
240
200
1.0E+3 1.0E+4 1.0E+5 1.0E+6 1.0E+7 1.0E+8
Number of cycles (N)
Figure 4. S-N curves of Cp-Ti and Nii-Ti compared with Cp-Ti Grade 2 (Fleck and
Eifler, 2010).
Prediction of Fatigue Life
Fatigue failure occurs when the material experiences cyclic stresses and strains that
produce permanent damage. Two major components of the crack phase will occur
during the fatigue failure process: the initiation, and the propagation of fatigue cracks
under cycling load (Xiang et al., 2010; Domínguez Almaraz et al., 2010; Kamal et al.,
2012; Zulkifli et al, 2011). The summation of these components in number of cycles is
called the fatigue life, and the stress or strain under which the fatigue life occurs is
defined as the fatigue strength. Fatigue life prediction for Cp-Ti following ion
implantation is needed for the design and reliability of surgical implants. Two
methodologies are available for the prediction of fatigue life: one based on the material
stress-life curve (Figure 4) or strain-life, and a damage accumulation model, based on
the fracture mechanics and crack growth analysis approach. The second method of
fatigue life prediction is used to calculate the number of cycles for failure of a
component by taking into account the equivalent initial flaw size (EIFS). The basic
equation for calculating the EIFS using a short crack has been proposed by several
researchers (El Haddad et al., 1979; Xiang et al., 2010). The equation expresses the
fatigue endurance by using the fatigue threshold stress intensity factor ΔΚth, crack
length a, and a geometry correction factor Y=0.73, which is crack configuration
dependent (Nan et al., 2008):
√ (1)
where Kt is the stress concentration factor specimen Kt = 1.04 (Nan et al., 2010). The
crack length can be estimated from Eq. (1) as follows:
1009
( ) (2)
An empirically assumed crack length, such 0.25–1 mm for metal (Liu and
Mahadevan, 2009) can also be considered in solving the problem of life prediction
based on fracture mechanics. Substituting those values obtained from Eqs. (1) and (2)
into Paris’s equation, the fatigue crack growth of a material can be expressed as follows:
( ) (3)
By integration of the fatigue crack growth (Eq. 3) for the entire cycle of the
performed fatigue life, Eq. (3) can be rewritten as:
∫ ∫ ( )
(4)
where C, m, and are material constants of fitting parameters. The constants C and
m for pure titanium with a yield tensile strength of 380 MPa are 1.95 × 10-11 and 3.41
(Carpinteri and Paggi, 2007), respectively. Fatigue life of each stress level could be
predicted using Eq. 5. Figure 5 shows the S-N curves of the experimental and analytical
results for Nii-Ti.
The experimental data used to construct the graph was the averaged value of
experimental results under the assumption that both the analytical and the experimental
results have the fatigue endurance of 260 MPa with the number of cycles of 107. The
graph (Figure 5) shows the goodness-of-fit result of the analytical prediction and
experimental observation, particularly at high stress levels. For lower stress levels,
slightly over the fatigue limit, the fatigue life of the analytical result is lower than the
experimental results. This is because of the use of Paris’s constant for pure titanium.
Further study is required to determine the Paris’s constant for nitrogen-ion implanted
Cp-Ti.
1010
360
Experimental data
Analytical data
320
Stress (MPa)
280
240
200
1.0E+4 1.0E+5 1.0E+6 1.0E+7
Number of cycles (log N)

Figure 5. S-N curves of experimental and analytical results for Nii-Ti.
CONCLUSIONS
The effect of nitrogen ion implantation indicates an improvement in the tensile strength
due to the formation of nitride phases, TiN and Ti2N. The fatigue strength of Cp-Ti and
Nii-Ti was 250 and 260 MPa, respectively. The analytical results were validated by
using the average value of the experimental results of Nii-Ti. The analytical results
show good agreement with the experimental results. However, the new model of fatigue
life prediction needs further study.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Ministry of Science,
Technology and Innovation, Malaysia (MOSTI) under fund Science Fund Project Vote
No. S015
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1013
ATMOSPHERIC CORROSION OF STRUCTURAL STEELS EXPOSED IN

THE 2004 TSUNAMI-AFFECTED AREAS OF ACEH
M. Ridha1*, S. Fonna1, S. Huzni1, J. Supardi2 and A.K. Ariffin3

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Syiah Kuala University
Jl. Tgk. Syech Abdul Rauf 7 Banda Aceh, Indonesia
*
Email: ridha@tdmrc.org
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Teuku Umar University
Jl. Alue Penyareng, Meurebo Sub District, Meulaboh, West Aceh, Indonesia
3
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor DE, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Aceh province located at the northwestern tip of Sumatra Island in Indonesia has a
coastal environment and a coastline of around 1660 km. Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, and
Aceh Barat are among the districts of Aceh Province located on those coastlines. The
earthquake and tsunami that struck Aceh in December 2004 caused much of these
districts to be submerged by seawater. Thus, the environment of these areas might
become more corrosive. This study investigates atmospheric corrosion of structural
steels exposed to the environment by the 2004 tsunami. Some typical structural steels,
which have five different shapes, were selected for the test. Atmospheric corrosion tests
were employed by referring to ASTM G50 standards. Eight locations were selected as
the test sites: Peukan Bada, Ulee Lheu, Lingke, Lampulo, Suak Ribee, Suak Pandan,
Suak Seuke, and Suak Geudebang. Following a six-month exposure, experimental
results show that the atmospheric corrosion rate for Peukan Bada, Ulee Lheu, Lingke,
Lampulo, Suak Ribee, Suak Pandan, Suak Seuke, and Suak Geudebang was 0.043–
5.451 mpy, 0.035–3.804 mpy, 0.058–5.332 mpy, 0.045–9.727 mpy, 0.265–3.957 mpy,
0.073–2.970 mpy, 0.090–4.101 mpy, and 0.380–6.379 mpy, respectively. The results
show that the relative corrosion resistances for all structural steels exposed in these
areas can be categorized as good to outstanding. Hence, it is safe to utilize the selected
structural steels regarding their atmospheric corrosion resistance.
Keywords: Atmospheric corrosion; structural steel; corrosion rate; tsunami-affected

area.
INTRODUCTION
Atmospheric corrosion is the degradation of material as the result of its reaction with the
terrestrial atmosphere. Atmospheric substances that induce corrosion mainly include
pollutants that are the result of fossil fuel combustion, such as sulfur oxides, chloride
ions in coastal areas, and water (ASM International, 2003). The effects of atmospheric
corrosion are easy to observe in daily life, such as the rusting of structural steels that are
exposed to air. Corrosion can lead to costly consequences if left unattended (NACE,
2002), such as the early failure of equipment and infrastructure (Roberge, 2008).
Many parameters influence atmospheric corrosion: relative humidity,
temperature, sulfur dioxide content, hydrogen sulfide content, chloride content, amount
of rainfall, dust, and even the position of the exposed metal will affect the its
1014
Ridha et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 1014-1022
characteristics of atmospheric corrosion. Geographical location is also a factor

(Schweitzer, 2007); hence, the characteristics of atmospheric corrosion will different for
each place. The study of atmospheric corrosion for certain locations and metals has been
extensively conducted by many researchers. Ma et al. (2010) performed research on
atmospheric corrosion of low carbon steel in Wanning city and Shenyang city, China.
Fuente et al. (2011) analyzed the long-term atmospheric corrosion of mild steel in the
Spanish atmosphere, and Li et al. (2012) studied the atmospheric corrosion of Mg alloy
in Taiyuan, which is an industrial city in China.
Until mid-2012, however, atmospheric corrosion data were not available for
Aceh province, Indonesia. The tsunami in 2004 submerged more than half of the coastal
areas of the province, including the districts of Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, and Aceh
Barat. In addition, more than 30% of the forest along the coastline of the province was
destroyed (Kuru, 2005). Because of this, the environment of the tsunami-affected area
becomes more corrosive (Ridha et al., 2013); the chloride content and temperature of
the local atmosphere become higher, which could bring higher risk of corrosion for
exposed structural steel.
In order to understand the impact on the region of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami, it
is important to conduct atmospheric corrosion measurements for those metals that are in
wide use in the region. During the rehabilitation and reconstruction, some structural
steels have been used extensively as materials for infrastructure projects, such as
bridges, pipelines, and towers. The purpose of this research is to assess atmospheric
corrosion of some structural steels exposed in the 2004 tsunami-affected areas of Aceh
province.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The exposure test was carried out according to ASTM G50 standards. Eight locations
were selected: Peukan Bada in Aceh Besar; Ulee Lheu, Lingke, and Lampulo in Banda
Aceh; and Suak Ribee, Suak Pandan, Suak Seuke, and Suak Geudebang in Aceh Barat,
as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Map of the exposure locations (Google EarthTM).
Five different shapes of structural carbon steel were chosen as the specimens for
this research: reinforcing steel, bar, L-shaped, plate, and sheet, as shown in Figure 2.
1015
Atmospheric corrosion of structural steels exposed in the 2004 Tsunami-affected areas of Aceh
The dimensions of the specimens are shown in Table 1. As corrosion is a process that
occurs on the surface, the different shapes might reveal differing corrosion rates.
1 2 3 4 5
Figure 2. Five forms of the specimens, from left to right: (1) reinforcing steel, (2) bar,
(3) L-shaped, (4) plate, (5) sheet.
Table 1. Dimensions of the specimens.
Length Wide Thickness Diameter Specimen

Specimens
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) quantity
Reinforcing 150 - - 12 24
steel
Bar 150 36 3 - 24
L-shaped 150 32 2 - 24
Plate 150 11 11 - 24
Sheet 150 100 1 - 24
To perform the exposure, steel racks were used, as shown in Figure 3. The
specification of the racks is in accordance with ASTM G50 standards. Plastic holders
are used to prevent contact between the specimens and the steel rack.
Figure 3. Specimens under exposure mounted on the rack.
1016
The experiment was conducted for a period of six months from March to August
2012. Each month, the specimens were taken from the exposure site, subjected to
cleaning in order to remove corrosion products and then measured to determine the
weight loss by using high precision 0.001 gram digital scales, as illustrated in Figure 4.
(a) (b)
Figure 4. (a) Cleaning of specimens after exposure, (b) High precision digital scales.
The rate of corrosion of the metals is calculated by using Eq. (1):
K W
CR  (1)
D  AT
where CR is the corrosion rate (mpy), K is a constant (3.45 106), W is weight loss
(gram), A is the surface area of the specimen (cm3), T is exposure time (hours), and D is
the density of the metal (gram/cm3).
The relative corrosion resistances of the structural steels are determined by using
the criteria presented in Table 2, which are applicable for typical ferrous-based alloys.
Table 2. Relative corrosion resistance criteria for ferrous-based alloys (Fontana,

1987).
Relative corrosion Approximate metric equivalent

mpy
resistance mm/yr µm/yr nm/hr pm/sec
Outstanding mpy <1 < 0.02 < 25 <2 <1
Excellence 1-5 0.02 - 0.1 25 - 100 2 - 10 1-5
Good 5 - 20 0.1 - 0.5 100 - 500 10 - 50 5 - 20
Fair 20 - 50 0.5 - 1 500 - 1000 50 - 150 20 - 50
Poor 50 - 200 1-5 1000 - 5000 150 - 50 -
500 200
Unacceptable 200+ 5+ 5000+ 500+ 200+
1017
Figure 5 shows the atmospheric corrosion rate of structural steels exposed in Peukan
Bada and Ulee Lheu. The figure shows that the corrosion rate ranged from 0.043 to
5.451 mpy and from 0.035 to 3.804 mpy for Peukan Bada and Ulee Lheu, respectively.
It can be seen that the corrosion rate of each shape of structural steel varies every
month. The maximum corrosion rate occurs during March to May. This might occur
because of the high relative humidity and rainfall during those months (BMKG, 2013).
Meanwhile, in June to August, the corrosion rate for all specimens is very low; less than
1 mpy. Figure 6 shows the corrosion rate of structural steels in Lingke and Lampulo.
The corrosion rate for Lingke ranges from 0.058 to 5.332 mpy and for Lampulo the
range is 0.045 to 9.727 mpy. The figure shows the variation of corrosion rate from
March to August for all structural steels. The highest corrosion rate also occurs during
March to May, which can be related to the high relative humidity and rainfall in these
months (BMKG, 2013). Additionally, from Figures 5 and 6, it can be seen that the form
of the structural steels affects the corrosion rate. The structural steel in the form of a bar
and reinforcing steel generally have the highest corrosion rate. This is possible linked to
different manufacturing and treatment processes experienced by each of the structural
steels.
10
Sheet
Plat
Plate
Corrosion Rate (mpy)
8
L-shaped
6 Bar
Reinforcement
4
0
March April May June July August
Agust
Exposure time, 2012
(a)
10
Sheet
8 Plat
Plate
L-shaped
6 Bar
Reinforcement
4
0
Agust
Exposure time, 2012
(b)
Figure 5. Corrosion rate from March to August 2012 at: (a) Peukan Bada; (b) Ulee
Lheu (TDMRC Ground Zero Building).
1018
10
Sheet

8 Plate
Plat
L-shaped
6 Bar
Reinforcement
4
0
Agust
Exposure time, 2012
(a)
10
Sheet
8 Plate
Plat
L-shaped
6 Bar
Reinforcement
4
0
Agust
Exposure time, 2012
(b)
Figure 6. Corrosion rate from March to August 2012 at: (a) Lingke; (b) Lampulo.
The atmospheric corrosion rate of structural steels for Suak Ribee and Suak
Pandan are given in Figure 7. The figure shows that the corrosion rate of Suak Ribee
ranges from 0.265 to 3.957 mpy and that the corrosion rate of Suak Pandan ranges from
0.073 to 2.970 mpy. The results reveal that the corrosion rate profiles for each structural
steel are similar for every month. This might be because of the relatively constant
humidity and rainfall during March to August (Wahyunto et al., 2008).
Figure 8 shows the corrosion rate of structural steels that were exposed in Suak
Seuke and Suak Geudebang. The corrosion rate for Suak Seuke is 0.090 to 4.101 mpy
and the corrosion rate for Suak Geudebang is 0.380 to 6.379 mpy. Here too, the
corrosion rate for each form of structural steel has a similar profile for every month of
exposure; again, possibly because the relative humidity and rainfall were constant
during the exposure period (Wahyunto et al., 2008). Furthermore, Figures 7 and 8 also
show that the highest corrosion rates among the structural steels are for the bar and
reinforcing steel shapes. However, it is different for the samples from Banda Aceh and
Aceh Besar; the corrosion rate profile for Aceh Barat is almost the same for each month
from March to August, as previously indicated.
1019
10
Sheet

8 Plate
Plat
L-shaped
6 Bar
Reinforcement
4
0
March April May June July Agust
August
Exposure time, 2012
(a)
10
Sheet
8 Plate
Plat
L-shaped
6 Bar
Reinforcement
4
0
Agust
Exposure time, 2012
(b)
Figure 7. Corrosion rate from March to August 2012 at: (a) Suak Ribee; (b) Suak
Pandan.
All these data indicate that the minimum level of relative corrosion resistance of
exposed structural steels is good corrosion resistance and that the maximum is
outstanding, according to the criteria in Table 2. Hence, these structural steels are safe
for applications in the regions of exposure, i.e., the 2004 tsunami-affected area.
Furthermore, the results reveal that the shape of structural steel affects its corrosion rate,
i.e., the bar and reinforcing steel have the highest corrosion rate for all locations. The
shape of structural steel might affect the atmospheric corrosion rate because each has
experienced different manufacturing and treatment processes, which could change the
corrosion-related properties of the material, such as polarization.
In addition, the results indicate that geographical factors might also influence the
corrosion rate profile during the exposure time. The corrosion rate profiles for Aceh
Barat from March to August are quite different to those for Banda Aceh and Aceh
Besar. As previously mentioned, the corrosion rate profile of structural steel in Aceh
Barat is relatively similar for every month, whereas during March to May, the corrosion
rate in Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar is relatively higher than for the other months.
Moreover, the corrosion rate profile for Banda Aceh and Aceh Besar are very similar
because of their geographical proximity.
1020
10
Sheet

8 Plate
Plat
L-shaped
6 Bar
Reinforcement
4
0
Agust
Exposure time, 2012
(a)
10
Sheet
8 Plate
Plat
L-shaped
6 Bar
Reinforcement
4
0
Agust
Exposure time, 2012
(b)
Figure 8. Corrosion rate from March to August 2012 at: (a) Suak Seuke; (b) Suak
Geudebang.
CONCLUSION
Exposure tests to assess the rate of atmospheric corrosion on structural steels have been
conducted in eight locations in the Aceh region, covering Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, and
the Aceh Barat Districts. The exposure tests were carried out according to the ASTM
G50 standards. The specimens are carbon steel of five different shapes. The tests were
carried over six months at all locations. The results show that the minimum and
maximum relative corrosion resistance of the structural steels is good and outstanding,
respectively. Hence, the structural steel can be utilized in the region with minimum risk
from atmospheric corrosion. Furthermore, it appears that the shape of the structural steel
might influence the atmospheric corrosion rate. This is possibly because each structural
steel has undergone different manufacturing and treatment processes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of
Indonesia through the “Hibah Bersaing” Project Research grant no.:
033/UN11.2/LT/SP3/2012.
1021
REFERENCES
ASM International. 2003. ASM Handbook. Volume 13A. Corrosion: fundatmentals,

testing, and protection. USA: ASM international.
BMKG. 2013. http://aceh.bps.go.id/index.php?r=artikel/view&id=130 (Accessed 21
May 2013).
Fontana, M.G. 1987. Corrosion Engineering. 3rd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Fuente, D. de la, Díaz, I., Simancas, J., Chico, B. and Morcillo, M. 2011. Long-term
atmospheric corrosion of mild steel. Corrosion Science 53: 604–617.
Kuru, G. 2005. Penelitian FAO Mengenai Permintaan dan Penyediaan Kayu untuk
Rekonstruksi pasca Tsunami di Indonesia. Consultant (in Indonesian).
Li, Y., Wei, Y., Hou, L. and Han, P. 2012. Atmospheric corrosion of AM60 Mg alloys
in an industrial city environment. Corrosion Science 69: 67-76.
Ma, Y., Li, Y. and Wang, F. 2010. The atmospheric corrosion kinetics of low carbon
steel in a tropical marine environment. Corrosion Science 52: 1796–1800
NACE. 2002. Cost of corrosion study unveiled, a supplement to material performance.
NACE International, p. 2.
Ridha, M., Fonna, S., Huzni, S. and Ariffin, A. K. 2013. Corrosion risk assessment of
public buildings affected by the 2004 Tsunami in Banda Aceh. Journal of
Earthquake and Tsunami, 7(1): 1–22.
Roberge, P.R. 2008. Corrosion engineering: principles and practices. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Schweitzer, P.A. 2007. Fundamentals of metallic corrosion: atmospheric and media
corrosion of metals. 2nd Edition. New York: CRC Press.
Wahyunto Agus, F., Ritung, S. and Wahdini, W. 2008. http://balittanah.
litbang.deptan.go.id/dokumentasi/buku/booklet%20aceh%20barat.pdf (Accessed
21 May 2013).
1022
FINITE ELEMENT MODELING OF DELAMINATION PROCESS ON

COMPOSITE LAMINATE USING COHESIVE ELEMENTS
S. Huzni1*, Ilfan M.1, Sulaiman T.1, S. Fonna1,2, M.Ridha1 and A.K. Arifin2
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Syiah Kuala University
Jl. Tgk. Syech Abdurrauf No. 7 Darusalam – Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia
Phone/Fax.: +62-651-7428069
*E-mail: syifaul@unsyiah.ac.id
2
Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment
National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT
The implementation of cohesive elements for studying the delamination process in

composite laminates is presented in this paper. The commercially available finite
element software ABAQUS provides the cohesive element model used in this study.
Cohesive elements with traction-separation laws consist of an initial linear elastic phase,
followed by a linear softening that simulates the debonding of the interface after
damage initiation is inserted at the interfaces between the laminas. Simulation results
from two types of composite laminate specimen, i.e., a double cantilever beam and an
L-shape, show that the delamination process on laminated composites begin with
debonding phenomena. These results indicate that the implementation of cohesive
elements in modeling the process of delamination in laminated composite materials,
using the finite element method, has been successful. Cohesive elements are able to
model the phenomenon of delamination in the specimens used in this study.
Keywords: Cohesive element; composite laminate; delamination; finite element method.
INTRODUCTION
Laminated composites are one of the materials widely used for replacing metals in
many engineering structures, such as spacecraft, aircraft, ship hulls, and sports
equipment owing to their high specific stiffness, high strength, and low weight (Gürdal
et al., 1999). Even though widely utilized, the potential and behavior of laminated
composites are not fully exploited (Ibrahim et al., 2012; Dechaene et al., 2002; Jeffrey
et al., 2011; Adebisi et al., 2011). Thus, further investigation is required, especially
related to failure mechanisms of composite laminates. Delamination is one of the most
common failure modes that may occur between laminas subjected to transverse loading.
Delamination occurs when the bonds between layers of the laminate fail due to
debonding in the plane of the interface adhesion (Remmers and de Borst, 2001). The
existence of delaminations can reduce the strength, stiffness, and load-bearing capacity
of the laminate under compressive loads (Shan, 2007). Extensive research has been
carried out on the delamination mechanism of composite laminates (Umar et al., 2012;
Saponara et al., 2002; Zou et al., 2002; Bachtiar et al., 2010; Bhaskar and Sharief,
2012; Elmarakbi et al., 2009; Wimmer et al., 2009; Hardinnawirda and SitiRabiatull
1023
Finite element modeling of delamination process on composite laminate using cohesive elements
Aisha, 2012; Gözlüklü and Coker, 2012; Pajand et al., 2012). Detecting this type of
damage is still a serious problem in composite structures.
Numerical tools such as ABAQUS, which is based on the finite element method,
have been widely used to study the delamination mechanism of composite laminates
(Liu, 2012). ABAQUS provides a special element called the cohesive element that can
be used to model crack initiation and propagation in laminated composite structures. A
main advantage of the use of cohesive elements is the capability to predict both the
onset and propagation of delamination without previous knowledge of the initial crack
location (Temesgen and Anastasios, 2010). In this paper, the implementation of
cohesive elements for studying the delamination process in laminated composites is
presented. The delamination mechanism of two types of specimen, i.e., a double
cantilever beam and an L-shape are discussed. The ability of cohesive elements,
provided by the ABAQUS software, will be useful for further investigation on the
delamination mechanisms of composite laminates.
Model geometry
Two types of specimen geometry are used is this study: a double cantilever beam
(DCB), and an L-shape. Both specimen geometries were created using pre-processing
facilities provided by the ABAQUS 6.10-1 software.
Double Cantilever Beam
The DCB is one of the most common specimens used to evaluate mode I interlaminar
fracture in a composite laminate. The specimen is created by inserting an adhesive layer
between two laminas. The size and geometry of each layer can be seen from Figure 1.
The properties of the material used for the DCB specimen, adopted from Morais et al.
(2000), can be seen in Table 1. The material properties were chosen in order to facilitate
the implementation of a cohesive element for studying the mechanisms of delamination
in composite laminates, not to examine the properties of certain materials under certain
loading conditions. The binder layer, which is represented by the cohesive element in
the finite element analysis, has the properties shown in Table 2. A traction-separation
law, which consists of an initial linear elastic phase, followed by a linear softening that
simulates the debonding of the interface after damage initiation, is utilized in the finite
element cohesive model. Continuum shell elements with a size of 2.5 × 10-3 m were
employed for the top layer and bottom layer, which is the representation of the laminas.
The cohesive element with a size of 1.25 × 10-3 m is employed in the cohesive layer.
Table 1. Properties of lamina (Morais et al., 2000).
E11 E22=E33 ν12= ν13 ν23 G12=G13 G23

150 GPa 11 GPa 0.25 0.45 6 GPa 3.7 GPa
1024
Huzni et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 1023-1030
Table 2. Properties of the cohesive element (Dávila et al., 2001).
Double Cantilever Beam L-shape

15 3 14 3
Kn = 1.1 × 10 N/m Kn = 2.2 × 10 N/m Nmax = 30 MPa Nmax = 30 Mpa
Ks = 1.2 × 1015 N/m3 Ks = 2.4 × 1014 N/m3 Smax = 40 MPa Smax = 40 Mpa
Kt = 0.74 × 1015 N/m3 Kt = 1.48 × 1014 N/m3 Tmax = 40 MPa Tmax = 40 MPa
GIc = 268 J/m2
95
20
3.96
0.01
150
Figure 1. Geometry and size of DCB specimen.
L-shape
This type of specimen is widely used to model complex shapes of a composite laminate
structure. The sharp curved geometry of an L-shaped beam produces interlaminar
opening stresses, which in turn lead to delamination under mixed loading conditions. In
this study, nine layers were arranged to form an L-shaped composite laminate in the
formation of lamina+binder+lamina+binder and so on, as shown in Figure 2. The
material properties of the L-shaped laminas and cohesive elements used in this work can
be seen in Tables 1 and 2.
Double Cantilever Beam
The openings phenomenon that occurs in the DCB specimen due to mode I loading can
be seen in Figure 3. Both layers (top and bottom) part from each other and produce the
crack mouth. A more detailed observation of the displacement contours of a cohesive
layer indicates that the cracks initiated at the end of the cohesive layer, which is the
crack tip.
1025
2.25
8.95
R2.25
0.41
0.05
Figure 2. L-shape size, geometry and boundary condition.
Cohesive Layer
Figure 3. Displacement of double cantilever beam.
The evolution of the composite laminate delamination process of the DCB

specimen can be seen through the load-displacement curve shown in Figure 4. The
delamination process initiates at the crack tip of the DCB specimen. If the crack
initiation continues as the load increases, the bond between the laminas with a cohesive
layer will break. One of the criteria that could be used to predict the initiation of
delamination in composite laminates is the quadratic failure criterion. This criterion
states that delamination will occur if the quadratic failure criterion value is equal to 1.
1026
Figure 4. Load-displacement curve of DCB specimen.
The cohesive element model used in this simulation is shown to function

properly. When the delamination process occurs continuously, the crack continues to
propagate, as can be seen in Figure 5. The displacement contour in Figure 5 shows that
the crack initiation occurs in some parts in the middle of the specimen. When the load is
increased, then it is likely that the crack propagates at different speeds from one location
to another in the field of the crack propagation.
Figure 5. Crack propagation process on cohesive layer.
1027
L-shape
The stress distribution contour of the L-shaped specimen can be seen in Figure 6. This
specimen comprises five layers of lamina and four layers of cohesive element arranged
alternately to form the composite laminate structure. By applying the load in the
direction perpendicular to the arm, as shown in Figure 2, mixed mode loading
conditions occurs in the corner area of the L-shape. The combination of mode I and
mode II leads to the initiation of delamination around the corner of the specimen, which
will eventually cause cracking.
Figure 6. Stress distribution contour on L-shaped specimen.
Figure 7. Load-displacement curve.
1028
The evolution of the composite laminate delamination process of the L-shaped

specimen can be seen through the load-displacement curve shown in Figure 7. The
delamination process initiates in the curvature area of the L-shaped specimen. If the
crack initiation continues as the load increases, the bond between the laminas with a
cohesive layer will break. These results are consistent with the results of research
conducted by Wimmer et al. (2006), who used the Puck delamination criteria, which
also showed that the delamination process initiates in the curvature area of the L-shaped
specimen.
CONCLUSIONS
Modeling of delamination mechanisms in laminated composite materials using cohesive

elements in the commercially available ABAQUS software has been successfully
implemented. Cohesive elements with a traction-separation law have been used
successfully to simulate the process of delamination initiation and crack propagation in
double cantilever beam and L-shaped specimens. Simulation results on both specimens
show that the delamination process begins with the debonding phenomenon.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Laboratorium Rekayasa Material-
Jurusan Teknik Mesin UNSYIAH and CCRG (Corrosion and Computational Research
Group) for providing laboratory facilities and financial assistance.
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Aure, T.W. and Ioannides, A.M. 2010. Simulation of crack propagation in concrete
beams with cohesive elements in ABAQUS. Transportation Research Record:
Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 21540: 12–21.
Bhaskar, H.B. and Sharief,A. 2012. Effect of solutionizing on dry sliding wear of
Sciences, 3: 281-290.
Dávila, C.G., Camanho, P.P. and de Moura, M.F. 2001. Mixed-mode decohesion
elements for analyses of progressive delamination. 42nd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/
AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference.
Dechaene, R., Degrieck, J., Lannucci, L. and Willows, M. 2002. A constitutive model
for glass fibre fabric composites under impact. Journal of Composite Materials,
36: 983–1004.
Elmarakbi, A.M., Hub, N. and Fukunaga, H. 2009. Finite element simulation of
delamination growth in composite materials using LS-DYNA. Composites
Science and Technology, 69: 2383–2391.
Gözlüklü, B. and Coker, D. 2012. Modeling of the dynamic delamination of L-shaped
unidirectional laminated composites. Composite Structures, 94: 1430–1442.
1029
Gürdal, Z., Haftka, R.T. and Hajela, P. 1999. Design and optimization of laminated
composite materials. Canada: John Wiley & Sons.
Hardinnawirda, K. and SitiRabiatull Aisha, I. 2012. Effect of rice husks as filler in
polymer matrix composites. Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences, 2:
181-186.
504-519.
Liu, H.Q. 2012. Ply Clustering Effect On Composite Laminates Under Low-Velocity
Impact Using Fea. Master Thesis. School of Engineering, MSc Aircrft Design
Programme, Cranfield University, UK.
Morais, A.B., Marques, A.T. and de Castro, P.T. 2000. Estudo da aplicação de ensaios
de fractura interlaminar de modo i a laminados compósitos multidireccionais.
Proceedings of the 7 as Jornadas De Fractura, Sociedade Portuguesa de
Materiais Portugal, pp. 90–95.
Remmers, J.J.C. and de Borst, R. 2001. Delamination buckling of fibre–metal
laminates. Composites Science and Technology, 61: 2207–2213.
Rezaiee-Pajand, M., Shahabian, F. and Tavakoli, F.H. 2012. Delamination detection in
laminated composite beams using hybrid elements. Composite Structures, 94:
2777–2792.
Saponara, V.L., Muliana, H., Haj-Ali, R. and Kardomateas, G.A. 2002. Experimental
and numerical analysis of delamination growth in double cantilever laminated
beams. Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 69: 687–699.
Shan, L.Y. 2007. Explicit buckling analysis of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composite
structures. Phd Thesis. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering-
Washington State University, USA.
Wimmer, G., Schuecker, C. and Pettermann, H.E. 2006. Numerical simulation of
delamination onset and growth in laminated composites. The E-Journal of
Nondestructive Testing, 11: 12
Wimmer, G., Schuecker, C. and Pettermann, H.E. 2009. Numerical simulation of
delamination in laminated composite components – A combination of a strength
criterion and fracture mechanics. Composites: Part B, 40: 158–165.
Zou, Z., Reid, S.R., Li, S. and Soden, P.D. 2002. Application of a delamination model
to laminated composite structures. Composite Structures, 56: 375–389.
1030
IMPROVED VIBRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF FLEXIBLE

POLYURETHANE FOAM VIA COMPOSITE FORMATION
Chan Wen Shan1, Mohd Imran Ghazali1 and Maizlinda Izwana Idris2
1
Department of Engineering Mechanics
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)
86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
Email: shan57p@yahoo.com
2
Department of Materials and Design Engineering
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)
ABSTRACT
Flexible polyurethane (PU) foam is used as cushioning material in automotive seating

for load bearing. Owing to the demand for more comfortable compartments, seat
cushions are now designed for better ride comfort, which is linked to the damping of
seating foam. In this paper, PU polymer was mixed with short treated coir fibers (F) and
recycled tires (P) to enhance damping and improve the vibrational characteristics of
seating foam. Five samples with 2.5wt% filler loading were developed. The vibration
characteristics of foam composites were examined by transmissibility tests generated at
1 and 1.5 mm peak amplitude in the frequency range of 2–20 Hz, using a shaker,
shaking table, and a foam-block system. The foam-block system was fabricated by
simulating the seat/occupant system in an automobile. The damping properties of foam
composites were calculated from the transmissibility data obtained. The results showed
that more vibration was dissipated by the developed foam composites after the fillers
were added. System inserts with PU+2.5wt%P gave the lowest resonance peak: 2.460
and 2.695 at 1 and 1.5 mm base excitation, respectively, compared with 2.788 and 2.878
obtained from system inserts of pure PU foam. This is because a higher damping ratio (ξ
foam) was found in PU+2.5wt%P, which is 36.47% and 19.23% higher than pure PU
foam. In addition, other composites, such as PU+2.5wt%F, PU+2.5wt% (50F50P),
PU+2.5wt% (80P20F), and 2.5wt% (80F20P) also showed favorable vibration and
damping characteristics in the experiments. When compared with the conventional seat
cushions used in the Proton car, foam composites could offer better vibration
dampening at resonance.
Keywords: Vibration characteristic; flexible polyurethane foam; composite; coir fibers;

recycled tires; damping; cushioning material.
INTRODUCTION
Flexible polyurethane (PU) foam is used widely as cushioning material in applications

of furnishing, transportation, and in packaging systems. It shows excellence in
lightweight, strength to weight ratio performance, and most importantly, it offers a
degree of comfort, protection, and utility unmatched by any other single material
(Jeffrey et al., 2011; Klempner and Sendijarevic, 2004; Umar et al., 2012; Adebisi et al.,
1031
Improved vibration characteristics of flexible polyurethane foam via composite formation
2011). Through proper choice of raw materials, additives and manufacturing

technology, the properties of flexible PU foam can be changed to satisfy the desired
application. Flexible PU foam is used commonly in automotive seating for load bearing.
However, in recent years, users demand a more comfortable compartment experience;
thus, seat cushions are now designed for better ride comfort, sound absorption, and
longer service life (Broos et al., 2000). With respect to the improvement of ride comfort,
the focus is on improving the vibration characteristics of PU foam in the application
(Broos et al., 2000; Bachtiar et al., 2010; Bhaskar and Sharief, 2012; Koshute et al.,
2001; Murakami et al., 2001).
Damping plays an important role for kinetic energy absorption. It helps convert
vibration energy to other forms, such as heat, via the dissipative mechanism of the
composite (Chandra et al., 1999; Balachandran and Magrab, 2004; Ibrahim et al., 2012).
For seat cushions, superior damping is required to (i) isolate the vibration from the
seating base (floorboard) to passenger at low frequency, and (ii) attenuate high-
frequency vibration to the passenger from the running engine, irregular road surface,
and other sources (Broos et al., 2000). Human sensitivity to vibration is greatest in the
frequency range of 2–20 Hz (Broos et al., 2000; Koshute et al., 2001; Murakami et al.,
2001). Adding coconut coir fibers or rubber particles to pure polymer have been proven
to enhance the damping performance of the polymer (Geethamma et al., 2005; Sankar et
al., 2010). The presence of waste rubber particles in the foam could develop a cellular-
structure, which is beneficial to damping performance (Xin et al., 2010). Hence, it is
desirable to incorporate coir fibers and rubber particles into flexible PU foam for seating
foam production, because higher damping capability is offered when the composite is
formed.
The idea of mixing natural fibers or waste rubber with flexible PU foam has
been presented previously by McClellan & Viejo (1995) and Clausi & Diloreto (2005)
in US patents, but no related research has been performed on the combination of natural
fibers and waste rubber added to flexible PU foam for improvement of its intrinsic
properties. The previous inventions do not investigate the vibration properties of foam
materials (Sankar et al., 2010; Xin et al., 2010). Therefore, the purpose of this work is to
determine the vibration characteristics of developed foam composites, when is
simulating an automotive seat/occupant system by the foam-block system. The effects
of foam composites on the vibrational characteristics of the system will be discussed
and analyzed. The vibration damping offered by foam composites was determined to
identify the effects of fillers on damping and vibration absorption in foams. The
potential of these foam composites as cushioning materials were analyzed by comparing
them with seat cushions currently available in the automotive market.
Materials and Samples Preparation: The raw materials used to produce the foam
composites were liquid (density: 1.02 g/cm3 and viscosity: 650–750 cps at 25 °C) mixed
with polyether polyols, amine catalyst, water and surfactant; a polymethane polyphenyl
isocyanate (NCO content = 26.3–27.3wt%); coconut coir fibers; recycled tires with 80
mesh particle size; and distilled water. As the filler, coconut coir fibers went through a
surface modification before composite production. Initially, the long fibers were
chopped into short lengths and were treated with 5% NaOH solution at room
temperature for 24 hours. Subsequently, the fibers were rinsed with water and distilled
water in order to remove unwanted layers and neutralization. The treated fibers were
1032
Shan et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 1030-1042
then dried in an oven at 70 °C for 24 hours. Finally, the treated fibers were chopped into
lengths of 0.1–5 mm. There was no surface modification performed on the recycled
tires. The foam composites were produced by using a closed mold with core-size
100 × 100 × 60 mm at room temperature. Table 1 shows the formulation of the pure and
filler-filled flexible PU foams (percentage by weight, wt %) of the samples.
Table 1. Formulation of pure and filler-filled flexible PU foams

(percentage by weight, wt %).
Sample Composites Formation PU Content Fillers [wt %]

[wt %]
A Pure PU (as reference) 100 -
B With treated coir fibers (F)
C With tire particles (P)
D With 50%F50%P (50F50P) 97.5 2.5
E With 80%F20%P (80F20P)
F With 80%P20%F (80P20F)
Note: The blend ratio of PU formation was 100:60:3 (polyol:isocyanate:distilled water).
Testing Method. The vibration characteristics of the developed samples were assessed
by a transmissibility test (Figure 1(a)). The foam-block system used in this test was
designed and developed according to White et al. (2000) for the identification of PU
foam properties. As shown in Figure 1(a), the foam cube was placed between the base
plate and a moveable block, where the block is guided by four verticle shafts that
vibrate in the vertical direction. The foam cube was bolted to the base plate and top
block during testing. Low-friction linear bearings were used to guide the block and to
minimize the friction between the top plate and guide shaft. The testing rig, which was
screwed to the shaking table, was connected to a vibration shaker. Two accelerometers
were used to measure the vibration amplitude of the base plate and the response of the
blocks to a single frequency excitation. The transmissibility curve between two
amplitude signals at the driving frequency was obtained from the data acquisition
system and analysis package (VSC software).
(a) (b)
Figure 1. (a) Setup of vibration transmissibility test and (b) schematic diagram of foam-
block system used.
1033
The schematic diagram of the foam-block system is shown in Figure 1(b). Based
on this figure, the equation of motion and the transmissibility of the system from the
base to the moveable top plate can be defined as Eqs. (1) and (2), where M is the total
mass of blocks, x is the amplitude from the top plate, y is the amplitude from the base, z
is equal to (x-y), ξ is the total damping in the system, and r is the frequency ratio. It has
been reported that flexible foam could be represented by a model with unit nonlinear
stiffness (K) and damping (C) owing to its nonlinear and viscoelastic behavior (Wang
and Low, 2005). In this work, Eq. (2) was used to calculate the total damping (ξ total)
that occurred in system at resonance.
̈ ̇ (1)
( )
Transmissibility = = (2)
√( ) ( )
The transmissibility test was generated at 1 and 1.5 mm base excitation in the
frequency range 2–20 Hz. This is because the stiffness nonlinearities of foams were
assumed having minimal effect on the dynamic response of the system with these low
base excitation levels (White et al., 2000). Thus, the system can be assumed working as
a linear system. In this work, only two blocks weighing 483.12 g were loaded to the
moveable top plate in addition to the foam cube (50 × 50 × 40 mm). The compression
levels of samples with two blocks loaded are shown in Table 2. The samples were
extracted from the inner layer of the developed molded foams. Three specimens were
prepared for each sample and the mean value from the measured data was used to
analyze the vibration characteristic of the samples.
Table 2. Compression levels of foams when loaded with two blocks.
Sample Foam Compression level

A Pure PU 0.374
B 2.5wt%F 0.319
C 2.5wt%P 0.428
D 2.5wt% (50F50P) 0.373
E 2.5wt% (80F20P) 0.379
F 2.5wt% (80P20F) 0.419
Friction losses (linear bearing) would influence the actual damping of the
developed samples were they not taken into account. Hence, a free-vibration test was
conducted, as according to Liang and Feeny (1998), in order to determine the frictional
losses occurring in the foam-block system. In this test, the foam cube was replaced by a
metal spring mechanism (Figure 2(a)). The system was then loaded with two blocks on
the moveable top plate, to which a small impulse was given. The resulting decaying
oscillation from moveable top plate was measured and analyzed by the DEWESOFT
package (Figure 2(b)). The frictional damping (ξfrictional losses) was calculated using Eq. 3,
where Y = y(t) = displacement, i = 1, 2, …, n-1, and β = logarithmic decrement = ξ
1034
/√ (Liang and Feeny, 1998). The result shows that 0.107 frictional damping
occurred in this developed foam-block system. It was observed that a similar value
(0.12) of frictional damping was measured by Zhang & Dupuis (2010) using the same
system and experiment method.
Log( )= (3)
(a) (b)
Figure 2. (a) Mass-spring dashpot system and (b) oscillation captured from free
vibration test.
Vibration Transmissibility: Figure 3 shows the transmissibility curves of the foam-

block system when base excitations of 1 and 1.5 mm were applied. There was only one
resonance peak that occurred over the testing frequency of 2–20 Hz, for all systems.
Vibration Characteristics. The vibration characteristics of the developed foam

composites were analyzed from their resonance frequency, resonance peak, and
attenuation frequency, presented in Figure 2. Table 3 shows the mean results of the
tested samples. The fillers added to the flexible PU foam reduce the resonance peak of
the system, but on the other hand, increase the resonance and attenuation frequency.
According to Inman (2001), the reduction of resonance peak is due to increases of
damping in the system. With a constant frictional loss, which is ξ = 0.107 in the foam-
block system, the extra damping is caused by the inserted foam composite. This agrees
with previous studies where the vibrational damping increases in the composite with the
inclusion of coir fibers and rubber particles, compared with neat polymer (Geethamma
et al., 2005; Sankar et al., 2010). The increase of resonance frequency in foam-block
systems with inserted composites may be due to changes in stiffness during testing, as
well as the Poisson ratio of the foams (White et al., 2000; Sankar et al., 2010). The
dynamic creep found in foams during testing changes the compression level as well as
the Poisson ratio of the foams; thus, possibly affecting the resonance frequency of the
foam-block system (White et al., 2000). Changes in compression level may lead to
changes of stiffness of the foam owing to its nonlinear characteristic.
1035
3.0
Pure
Transmissibility [ mmout /
2.5 2.5wt%F
2.5wt%P
2.0 2.5wt% (50F50P)
mmin ] 1.5 2.5wt% (80F20P)
1.0
0.5
0.0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Frequency [Hz]
(a)
3.0
Pure
2.5wt%F
Transmissibility [ mmout /
2.5
2.5wt%P
2.0 2.5wt%(50F50P)
2.5wt%(80F20P)
mmin ]
1.5 2.5wt%(80P20F)
1.0
0.5
0.0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Frequency [Hz]
(b)
Figure 3. Displacement transmissibility from base to moveable top plate for: (a) 1 mm
and (b) 1.5 mm base excitation.
Table 3. Vibrational characteristics of samples for 1 and 1.5 mm base excitation.
Sample Resonance Frequency Resonance Peak Attenuation Frequency

[Hz] [Hz]
Base Excitation 1 mm 1.5 mm 1 mm 1.5 mm 1 mm 1.5 mm
Pure PU 9.100 8.900 2.788 2.878 13.200 12.900
2.5wt%F 9.067 8.800 2.628 2.836 13.067 13.000
2.5wt%P 9.067 9.267 2.460 2.695 13.167 13.500
2.5wt% (50F50P) 9.600 9.333 2.600 2.699 13.833 13.600
2.5wt% (80F20P) 9.467 9.367 2.661 2.747 13.633 13.700
2.5wt% (80P20F) 9.867 9.767 2.693 2.732 14.367 14.233
An increase in the damping of the foam in the seat/occupant system would

reduce the transmissibility at resonance, but, it would also broaden the resonance peak;
thus, delaying the vibration isolation of the system when compared with those having
low damping foam (Broos et al., 2000). The attenuation frequencies obtained in the
systems agree with this explanation, where increased damping in the system because of
the foam composite inserts, meant that the attenuation frequency was delayed compared
with the system with pure PU foam inserts. However, the delay is considered minimal
because the maximum variation is less than 2 Hz (Table 3) compared with the systems
with pure PU foam inserts. When the base excitation increases from 1 to 1.5 mm, the
resonance and attenuation frequency shift to lower values, but the resonance peak
1036
increases, although some fluctuation in the data is observed. This is due to decreases of
the damping in the foams when the base excitation increases. A similar observation was
reported by White et al. (2000) and Joshi et al. (2010), following examinations of the
transmissibility of foam-block systems at 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, and 0.25 g base excitation.
Damping of Foams. During the resonance, the frequency ratio (r) is equal to 1. From
Eq. 2, the total damping ratio (ξtotal) of the foam-block system can be determined using
the resonance peak shown in Table 3. Table 4 presents the average damping ratio of the
foam-block system (ξtotal) and foam composites (ξfoam). It is assumed that the damping
generated in the system is caused by: (i) frictional losses from bearings during the
vertical movement of the top plate, and (ii) the foam cube insert. Hence, the deduction
of ξ frictional losses from ξ total gives the total damping found in the foams. From Table 4,
ξtotal is increased in those systems with foam composite inserts. Of them all,
PU+2.5wt%P gave excellent ξfoam to absorb vibration at resonance at low frequency for
1 and 1.5 mm base excitation. Damping in PU+2.5wt%P is 36.47% and 19.23% higher
than damping in pure PU foam at 1 and 1.5 mm base excitation, respectively. The
results show that all the composites have higher ξfoam when compared with pure PU
foam. In this study, PU+2.5wt%F gave the lowest damping among all the composites
developed.
Table 4. Damping of developed foam composites.
Index Damping in foam-block Frictional Damping in foam

system losses (ξ foam)
(ξ total) (ξ frictional losses)
Base Excitation 1 mm 1.5 mm 1 mm 1.5 mm
Pure PU 0.192 0.185 0.085 0.078
2.5wt%F 0.206 0.189 0.099 0.082
2.5wt%P 0.223 0.200 0.107 0.116 0.093
2.5wt% (50F50P) 0.208 0.200 0.101 0.093
2.5wt% (80F20P) 0.203 0.195 0.096 0.088
2.5wt% (80P20F) 0.200 0.197 0.093 0.090
The foams reinforced with more tire particles showed that they could provide
higher damping than pure PU foam. This is due to the viscoelastic nature of tire
particles and the interaction occurring between the tire particles and the PU polymer
interface. The vibration was dissipated as friction developed by interfacial sliding and
stick-slip behavior at the tire particle-PU polymer interface (Verdejo et al., 2009; Ting
et al., 2011). This finding agrees with Sankar et al. (2010), where the damping ratio
increased owing to the inclusion of rubber particles to an epoxy-filled glass fiber
composite. The calculated damping ratio also showed that foam reinforced with
2.5wt%F, 2.5wt% (50F50P), and 2.5wt% (80F20P) have good vibration damping,
although it contained a large concentration of fibers but not of tires. The PU+2.5wt%
(50F50P) gave excellent vibration damping effect owing to direct dissipation from
vibration to thermal energy through the cell walls (reflection) of the foam. When fibers
are dispersed in the cell walls, the energy dissipated as heat through hysteresis increases,
because the walls of the foam move together with the fibers (owing to their greater
bonding) when it recovers from the deformation caused by vibration (Sung et al., 2007).
The vibrational damping effect by reflection can be further increased when the stiffness
1037
of the the walls increases (Sung et al., 2007). For PU+2.5wt% (80F20P), the vibrational
damping effect is caused by its cellular-structure, which comprises smaller cell size and
higher cell density (Dai et al., 2005). With this morphology, foam can dissipate the
vibration through expelled air (fluid) inside the smaller cells when the moveable top
plate vibrates (Gibson and Ashby, 1997). Higher dissipation is generated owing to the
resistance of fluid flow by the morphology of the foam. For PU+2.5wt%F, the damping
effect is caused by the reinforcing effect of the fibers and the cellular structure formed.
Comparison with Seat Cushions on the Market. Table 5 presents the vibrational
characteristics of seat cushions when there are two blocks loaded, and with
displacement (1 mm, 1.5 mm) caused by base excitation in the foam-block system. The
results show that the seat cushion from Nissan gave the lowest resonance peak
compared with foam composites in the testing condition of 1.5 mm base excitation. It is
the second lowest in the testing condition of 1 mm base excitation when compared with
2.5wt%P reinforced foams. This indicates that seat cushions from Nissan can provide
more damping in absorbing vibration during resonance, because the lower the resonance
peak, the lower the vibration transmitted from the base seating to the passenger.
However, it was noted that the seat cushion from Nissan has different density compared
with the foam composites, which have an average density within 52–54 kg/m3. In this
work, the seat cushion from Nissan has average density of 45.5 kg/m3. It is common that
the lower the density of foam, the lower the elastic strength, i.e., softer (lower K) foam
would be obtained (Broos et al., 2000). In the theoretical case, a lower resonance peak
would be observed due to the higher damping that would occur for lower K, as given in
the equation: ξ = C/2√ . It was noted that similar observations were obtained in the
study of Koshute et al. (2001). In addition, the unknown polymer technologies of seat
cushions also affect its damping property (ξfoam) (Broos et al., 2000; Koshute et al.,
2001; Murakami et al., 2001).
Table 5. Vibrational characteristics of seat cushions for 1 and 1.5 mm

base excitation.
Samples Resonance Resonance Peak Attenuation

Frequency Frequency
[Hz] [Hz]
Base Excitation 1 mm 1.5 mm 1 mm 1.5 mm 1 mm 1.5 mm
Nissan Van 7.267 6.933 2.476 2.620 10.167 9.933
Proton Car 7.867 7.600 2.866 3.053 11.333 11.000
Seat cushions from the Proton showed the highest peak value compared with
foam composites under the same testing conditions. With similar density (seat cushion
from the Proton has density of 54.703 kg/m3), the higher resonance peak may be due to
its higher resilience property; thus, a lower damping ratio (ξfoam) is obtained compared
with the seat cushion from Nissan and the developed foam composites (Broos et al.,
2000). High resilience (with lower damping) foam would yield a higher transmissibility
at resonance, but become isolating earlier, according to Broos et al. (2000). This agrees
with the vibrational characteristics obtained by the seat cushions from the Proton
compared with those from the foam composites. It was found that the developed foam
composites are softer and less resilient than the seat cushions from the Proton if
compressed manually.
1038
The system with seat cushions with inserts showed lower values at resonance
and attenuation frequency. This means that the resonance of the system will be reached
earlier, but will not coincide with the sensitive range of humans, which is at 6 Hz when
compared with the system with foam composite inserts. It is better to achieve vibration
isolation (occurring after resonance at Tr = 1) earlier (< 5 Hz), such that the vibrations
transmitted to the passenger are lower than the input from the seating base in actual
practical cases (Broos et al., 2000). However, in laboratory tests, the vibrational
characteristics of foams are influenced by the type of test plate, type of excitation, and
sample thickness used in the testing (Koshute et al., 2001). Hence, the results may vary
when testing the fabricated foam composites, based on the standard procedure,
developed to evaluate automotive seat cushioning. In this study, the vibrational isolation
of the tested foams (including the seat cushions from Nissan and the Proton) are within
the frequency range 10–14 Hz, according to the attenuation frequency measured.
Table 6. Damping of seat cushions
Index Damping in foam-block Frictional Damping in foam

system losses (ξ foam)
(ξ total) (ξ frictional losses)
Base Excitation 1 mm 1.5 mm 1 mm 1.5 mm
Nissan Van 0.221 0.207 0.114 0.100
Proton Car 0.186 0.173 0.107 0.079 0.066
Table 6 shows the average damping obtained in the foam-block system and the
seat cushion when there was a 1 or 1.5 mm base excitation. As expected, the seat
cushion from Nissan showed a higher ξfoam at resonance, compared with the seat
cushion from the Proton as well as the foam composites, except for PU+2.5wt%P. Foam
reinforced with 2.5wt%P gave the highest ξfoam among all the systems for 1 mm base
excitation, whereas the seat cushion from Nissan gave the highest at 1.5 mm base
excitation. Figure 4 illustrates the comparison of the damping (ξfoam) of foam
composites and automotive seat cushions.
Damping Ratio (ξ foam)
0.140 1 mm base excitation 1.5 mm base excitation

0.120
0.100
0.080
0.060
0.040
0.020
0.000
Pure 2.5wt% F 2.5wt% P 2.5wt% 2.5wt% 2.5wt% Nissan Proton
(50F50P) (80F20P) (80P20F) Van Car
Testing Samples
Figure 4. Comparison of damping ratios of foam composites with seat cushions.
As discussed, with similar thickness, the enhancement of the damping ratio in

the foam composites is due to the effect of the fillers, the filler-matrix interaction, and
1039
the morphology (cellular-structure) generated. On the other hand, the damping ratios
obtained in pure PU foam, as well as the seat cushions, are because of the viscoelastic
nature of the PU polymer, the resilience properties, and the lower density found in the
seat cushion from Nissan. Within a similar density range, the developed foam composite
could be used to replace the conventional seat cushion from the Proton because it
achieved the highest damping compared with this cushioning material. This means that
these foams could provide better vibration absorption at resonance and at low
frequency. The highest value was obtained for PU+2.5wt%P, which is 46.84% and
40.91% higher than the damping obtained in the seat cushions from the Proton, at 1 and
1.5 mm base excitation, respectively. Although the seat cushion from Nissan can
achieve higher damping than PU+2.5wt%P because of its low density, the mechanical
performance of this cushioning material should be considered in accordance with the
static and dynamic comfort of automotive seating. This depends on the requirements of
the seating application, such as seating designed for a sports car or a luxury car (Patten
et al., 1998).
CONCLUSIONS
The addition of treated coir fibers and recycled tires to flexible PU foam makes these
cushioning materials absorb more vibrations at low frequency and in particular, at
resonance frequency. This is actually caused by the enhanced vibration damping in the
flexible PU foam because of the added fillers, which improves the transmissibility of the
base excitation to the top moveable plate. The foams reinforced with 2.5wt%P gave the
best vibration absorption (damping) at resonance compared with the other foam
composites, pure PU foam, and the seat cushion from the Proton. However, the
resonance and attenuation frequency of the system with foam composite inserts would
shift to higher values compared with pure PU foam and seat cushions available from the
market.
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1042
NORMAL INCIDENCE SOUND ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT OF DIRECT

PIERCING CARVED WOOD PANEL WITH DAUN SIREH MOTIF USING
BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD
Mohd Zamri Jusoh1, a, Mohamad Ngasri Dimon2,b, You Kok Yeow2,c,

Nazli Che Din3 and Rafidah Rosman4
1
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA(Terengganu),
Sura Hujung, 23000 Dungun,Terengganu, Malaysia.
a
mohdz530@tganu.uitm.edu.my
Phone:+6098403967;Fax:+6098403777
2
Communication Engineering Department, Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
b
ngasri@fke.utm.my, ckyyou@fke.utm.my
3
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Built Engineering, University of Malaya,
50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA(UiTM),
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT
The Direct Piercing Carved Wood Panel (DPCWP) installed in Masjid Abidin, Kuala
Terengganu, is one example that carries much aesthetic and artistic value. The use of
DPCWP in earlier mosques was envisaged to improve the intelligibility of indoor
speech because the perforated panels allow some of the sound energy to pass through.
In this paper, the normal incidence sound absorption coefficient of DPCWP with Daun
Sireh motif, which is a form of floral pattern, is discussed. The Daun Sireh motif was
chosen and investigated for 30%, 35%, 40%, and 45% perforation ratios. The
simulations were conducted using BEASY Acoustic Software based on the boundary
element method. The simulation results were compared with measurements obtained by
using the sound intensity technique. An accompanying discussion on both the numerical
and the measurement tendencies of the sound absorption characteristics of the DPCWP
is provided. The results show that the DPCWP with Daun Sireh motif can act as a good
sound absorber.
Keywords: Normal incidence; sound absorption coefficient; DPCWP; BEM.
INTRODUCTION
A direct piercing carved wood panel (DPCWP) with floral pattern is one of the famous
shapes and styles of wood carving in Malaysia (Nordin, 2009). This pattern was
embedded in Malay wood carving several hundred years ago. Nowadays, this pattern is
still popular as a style selected for wood carved panels used as parts of mosques and
wall panels in traditional Malay houses (Ismail, 1986; Azmi Ngah, 1991; Said, 2001;
Said and Kamarudin, 2009; Sahrif, 2010). The DPCWP with floral pattern is very
beautiful and meaningful because it comes from the expression of Malay wood carvers,
based on the surrounding floral elements in their lives. However, the wood carvers may
use their own creativity to generate intricate floral elements in their product. While
numerous studies have been proposed to measure the sound absorption coefficient
1043
Normal incidence sound absorption coefficient of direct piercing carved wood panel with daun Sireh motif using
boundary element method
(SAC) of DPCWP (Ula, 2006; Dimon, 2009a), the databases for DPCWP with floral
pattern are still inadequate. The investigation and estimation of the SAC of perforated
panels has become an important topic in acoustic research (Lin et al., 2008); hence, it is
important to investigate the SAC of the DPCWP with floral pattern. One of the
difficulties in measuring the SAC of DPCWPs using experimental methods is that the
properties of the DPCWPs change with the environment (Dimon et al., 1997).
Accordingly, owing to the complexity of the floral pattern, the boundary element
method (BEM) is the main tool used for studying the SAC of DPCWPs in this study,
because it is efficient both in terms of both computer time and of storage (Fenner,
1983). Thus, a sample from one of the oldest mosques in Malaysia was taken for the
SAC performance study. In the first section of this paper, we review briefly the DPCWP
sample used for our simulation and measurement work. In the next section, the
simulation and measurement processes are discussed and finally, the simulation results
obtained from the numerical method are compared with the measurement results.
DPCWP with Daun Sireh Motif
The selected DPCWP in our work was installed at the right wall partition of Masjid
Abidin (MA) located in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu. This DPCWP is based on the
Daun Sireh motif (DSM), which can be found in each of the door leaves. It is believed
that the DPCWP were designed and installed during the governance of Sultan Zainal
Abidin III in 1901, and carved by two popular Malay wood carvers, Tengku Abdul
Kadir Salim and Haji Abdul Rahman Instanbul (Haji Awang, 1983). There are four door
leaves for each door panel and there are seven door panels installed along the wall. Each
of the door leaves comprises two DPCWPs with DSM at the upper partition of the door
leave. Each DPCWP with DSM consists of six complete Daun Sireh patterns, which are
arranged inversely to each other, as shown in Figure 1. The DPCWP with DSM was
chosen because it is the most common pattern in the mosque. The dimensions of each
DPCWP with DSM are 0.367 × 0.629 m. It was also observed that for each DPCWP
with DSM, a single pattern is repeated and combined together to complete a full
DPCWP. The measured DPCWP with DSM at MA has a perforation ratio of 28%.
However, owing to periodic conservation processes, the DPCWP is covered with duck
egg’s shell flour, which causes a decrement in the perforation ratio of the entire panel.
The design was transferred to CAD software for the processes of redrawing and
calculating the perforation ratio, as shown in Figure 2. Then, the data retrieved from the
CAD software were transferred to BEASY acoustic software for the modeling and
simulation process. The perforation ratio was set to 30%, 35%, 40%, and 45%. These
ratios were selected based on the effectiveness of the DPCWP with DSM and represent
a typical range of perforation ratios normally adopted by the wood carvers. Might it be
that perforation ratios below 30% would not offer the desired acoustic effect and that
perforation ratios above 45% affect the stability or integrity of the wall panel?
1044
Jusoh et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 1043-1052
Figure 1. DPCWP with floral motives: (a) door panel in MA, (b) Daun Sireh pattern,
(c) Daun Sireh, and (d) single pattern.
Figure 2. DPCWP design using CAD.
SIMULATION METHOD
The modeling process was done by using one-quarter size of the actual size of the
pattern, which is practical because it reduces the simulation time. The sound absorption
coefficient ( ) was calculated by dividing the net sound intensity value in front of the
circular panel with the incident sound intensity obtained in an empty room. The
modeling process started with the creation of the anechoic room with the panel, and
continued with the creation of the anechoic room without the panel. All measurements
and coordinates used in the BEASY Acoustic software were in meters (m). The
dimensions of a single pattern of the DPCWP with DSM are 0.0917-m high and 0.3145-
m wide. The ideal DPCWP dimensions for simulation purposes are projected to a height
of 1.152 m, a width of 1.256 m and a thickness of 0.02 m, which contains 4 rows and 12
columns in the y-z dimension. However, actual modeling for the simulation work
required the one-quarter modeling approach; therefore, the DPCWP dimensions were
reduced to a height of 0.576 m and a width of 0.629 m, which translated to two rows
1045
and six columns of a single pattern. The framework of this model was begun by
identifying the coordinates of the first lower aperture using CAD software. The design
was completed by creating its points, lines and patches. After the first lower aperture
was created, the formation of the basic design of the floral pattern was performed by
copying the lower aperture to the upper side, as a fundamental of the entire panel
arrangement. The rest of the floral panel was created by copying and transforming the
basic floral design to the right and upper side. The completed panel for simulation was
simulated using BEASY, and consisted of a combination of 12 single patterns, as shown
in Figure 3. For a single pattern of the DPCWP with DSM, 100 points were created. The
number of patches created for a single pattern was 48 for a three dimensional DPCWP
with DSM. Then, the single pattern was repeated inversely giving 12 single patterns
with 576 patches. The thickness of the patch is 20 mm. One quarter of the anechoic
room was formed at the front side, rear side, top side and right side of the patches. The
anechoic room was modeled as a free field condition by defining that the acoustic
impedance of the patches is equal to the acoustic impedance of air with the volume of 1
m3. The modeling process began with the 2.1 m line creation at the front side of the
floral panel. The distance for the back panel room from the DPCWP is 0.77 m. Based
on our parametric study (Dimon et al., 2009c), one-quarter size of the DPCWP with
DSM is sufficient to investigate the SAC performance. Figure 4 shows the complete
quarter size anechoic room with DPCWP with DSM.
Figure 3. Completed panel for simulation by using BEASY.
During the simulation, the following material properties were used: air density,
1.21 Kgm-3; speed of sound, 340 ms-1; and reference pressure, 2.0 × 10-5 Pa. The
impedances for the patches of DPCWP and the anechoic room were 3.366 × 106 kgm-2s-
1
and 415 kgm-2s-1, respectively. Up to 155 internal points were used with each internal
point located at the middle and in front of each aperture. The distances of the internal
points from the surface were 0.34, 0.17, 0.085, 0.0425, and 0.10625 m for 250 Hz, 500
Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, and 4 kHz, respectively. All distances refer to the 0.25 sound
wavelength (λ) of each frequency, except for 4 kHz, because the distance was too close
to the surface and thus, the distance was adjusted to 1.25 λ. The distances were chosen
to correspond with former measurement techniques conducted in anechoic chambers
1046
(Dimon, 2002; Dimon, 2006; Dimon, 2009b). The sound pressure level was set to 0.25λ
to minimize the error in obtaining sound intensity values. The sound source was
represented by a point source of strength 0.0005 Pa/m positioned at diagonal center, 2 m
in front of the DPCWP patches.
(a) (b)
Figure 4. DPCWP with DSM by using BEASY: (a) Quarter size room with panel, and
(b) sound pressure level in the room during simulation process.
SOUND INTENSITY METHOD
The sound intensity technique has been developed and used widely to investigate the
sound power and SAC for such materials, and is based on the sound energy density and
active intensity. There are numerous methods for implementing the sound intensity
technique, but the most popular method is to measure the sound power and SAC of
materials by using a p-p probe to measure the flow of the active intensity on the
material’s surface. The intensity reference level, the selection of the microphone spacer
between the p-p probe, the sampling type, and the measurement distance are the
parameters that need to be taken into consideration for the sound intensity measurement.
For sound intensity, the reference level is:
W/m² (1)
The most suitable microphone spacer to measure the sound intensity for the
DPCWP is 12 mm (Gade, 1985; Lai and Burgess, 1991; Farina and Torelli, 1997;
Jacobsen, 1997). The selection of microphone spacer is based on measurement
frequencies and the distance for reproducing the settings of the 30% and 40%
perforation ratios in the simulation method. 16 points were selected by using the point
sampling method and these are focused at the middle of the DPCWP. The size of the
DPCWP for the sound intensity measurement is 1.2 × 1.2 m with 20-mm thickness.
Each point took 20 seconds to complete the individual measurement using the 3595
B&K Sound Intensity p-p probe. The probe was connected to a B&K Type 2260-E
Investigator and the B&K Type 4224 sound source was employed to radiate the noise.
A customized frame with a grid of ropes was located in front of the DPCWP to guide
the probe to the exact location during the measurements, as shown in Figure 5.
1047
Figure 5. P-P probe during sound intensity measurement.
The simulated values of are tabulated in Table 1 and the decay trend from 250 Hz to
4 kHz for 30%, 35%, 40%, and 45% perforation ratios are illustrated in Figures 6 and 7.
From the figures, has a smooth decrement from 250 Hz to 1 kHz. The paper reveals
that at low frequencies, the thickness of the carved wood panel plays an important role
in determining the value of . Furthermore, low frequencies (or large wavelengths)
will penetrate the carved wood panel that has a certain thickness and cause the value of
for the carved wood to change with frequency. At frequencies exceeding 1 kHz, the
value of remains constant with frequency. Clearly, the determination of for
carved wood that has a thickness of 0.02 m requires more than 1 kHz operating
frequency when using the measurement system of this study. Overall, the carved wood
panel with a 45% perforation ratio has a higher absorption coefficient than the panel
with a 30% perforation ratio, which suggests that the DPCWP with a greater perforated
area has better SAC performance. However, at 2 kHz, there are small increments of
for 35% and 40% perforation ratios. For 35%, 40%, and 45% perforation ratios, from 1
kHz to 2 kHz, differs within and this suggests that the SAC has not changed
significantly for better or for worse. The results show that at higher frequency is
similar for 40% and 45% perforation ratios. The comparison suggests that all
perforation ratios have better at lower frequency. At 250 Hz and 500 Hz, the
results are the highest, which is similar compared with our previous work (Dimon et al.,
2010). Further statistical analysis was performed to determine the rate of relative error
of the approximation of the SAC performance based on the BEM results. All results
show low relative error (<2.5%) that explains the consistencies of the modeling and
simulation work during the merging and meshing processes.
The normal incidence SACs for 30% and 40% perforation ratios obtained
from the measurement work are presented in Table 2 and Figure 8. The values of for
both 30% and 40% perforation ratios demonstrate a basic tendency from 250 to 500 Hz
and almost a flat trend from 1 to 4 kHz. A comparison between the simulation and
experimental results, tabulated in Table 3, shows that is correlated closely and
proves the reliability of the BEM approach for investigating the SAC of DPCWPs with
floral patterns. A further observation can be stated as the discrepancies can be
1048
considered as having the dissimilarity of setting between the numerical and

experimental work. In this research, using the numerical method, the value was
investigated based on the surface of the DPCWP panel. The value was gained using
an internal point located at the middle of each aperture. However, the sound intensity
technique allows that a certain area on the surface of the DPCWP can be investigated to
gain the value during the near-field measurement process. The internal points were
used based on the number of apertures available for measurement, whereas there were
16 points investigated when using the sound intensity technique. However, instead of all
the discrepancies, both simulations and sound intensity results show an agreement in
terms of the tendency of the value for most frequencies. This suggests that both
results are correlated closely.
Table 1. simulation results for all perforation ratios.
Frequency [Hz]
ratio [%] 250 500 1000 2000 4000
30 0.96 0.82 0.64 0.64 0.62
35 0.96 0.83 0.66 0.67 0.65
40 0.97 0.86 0.68 0.69 0.69
45 0.97 0.89 0.72 0.70 0.70
0.8
Sound Absorption
0.6
30%
0.4
35%
40%
0.2
45%
0
250 500 1000 2000 4000
Frequency [Hz]
Figure 6. Simulated performance for 30%, 35%, 40%, and 45% perforation ratios.
1049
4000 0.95
5
0.6
3500 0.9
3000
0.85
Frequency [Hz]
2500
5
0.6
0.8
2000
7
0.
0.75
1500
0.7
1000 0.65
0.7
0.7
0.7 0.75
0.75
0.75 0.8
0.8
500
0.8
0.85
0.85 0.65
0.85 0.9
0.9 0.9
30 35 40 45
DPCWP with DSM [%]
(a)
2.5
30% perforation ratio
2
1.5
1
Relative error [%]
0.5
-0.5
-1
-1.5
-2
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Frequency [Hz]
(b)
Figure 7. Simulation results for 30%, 35%, 40%, and 45% per. ratios:
(a) SAC performance, and (b) relative error.
0.8
Sound Absorption
0.6
30% 40%
0.4
0.2
0
250 500 1000 2000 4000
Frequency [Hz]
Figure 8. Measured performance for 30% and 40% perforation ratios.
1050
Table 2. measurement results for 30% and 40% perforation ratios.
Frequency (Hz)
ratio[%] 250 500 1000 2000 4000
30 0.91 0.9 0.77 0.74 0.76
40 0.95 0.96 0.86 0.85 0.87
Table 3. comparison of simulation and measurement results.
Frequency (Hz)
NRC
Sample 250 500 1000 2000 4000
Simulation results 0.96 0.82 0.64 0.64 0.62 0.77
Sound Intensity results 0.91 0.90 0.77 0.74 0.76 0.83
Difference 0.05 0.08 0.13 0.10 0.14 0.07
Simulation results 0.97 0.86 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.80
Sound Intensity results 0.95 0.96 0.86 0.85 0.87 0.91
Difference 0.02 0.10 0.18 0.16 0.18 0.11
CONCLUSIONS
The DPCWP with DSM at 30%, 35%, 40%, and 45% perforation ratios show the ability
to absorb sound waves particularly from 250 Hz to 4 kHz. This is shown through the
simulation results discussed earlier. The value of is the highest at the lowest
frequency for all perforation ratios, but decreases as the frequency increases. However,
the trend of is almost similar for all perforation ratios, in which the value of has a
smooth decrement, and at higher frequencies, from 1 to 4 kHz, the value of has small
deviation. Furthermore, the simulation and sound intensity results exhibit a similar trend
for from 250 Hz to 4 kHz. The trend begins with a small decrement from the lower
frequency to 500Hz; it then shows a drastic decrement at 1 kHz, followed by a flat
tendency from 1 to 4 kHz. Finally, the simulation and measurement results are
correlated closely.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for providing
laboratory facilities and equipment, and the Universiti Teknologi MARA for financial
assistance under project 600-RMI/ST/FRGS 5/3/Fst (30/2008).
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Aug. p. 2.
Dimon, M.N. 2002. Normal Incidence sound transmission coefficient prediction using
sound intensity technique. PhD Thesis, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
Malaysia.
1051
Dimon, M.N. 2006. The study of normal incidence sound absorption coefficient of
wood circular perforated panel (CPP) using numerical modeling technique.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Research report. Vot 75117.
Dimon, M.N. 2009a. Normal incidence sound absorption coefficient of direct piercing
carved wood panel (DPCWP) with geometric pattern. Project Report. Faculty of
Electrical Engineering, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
Dimon, M.N. 2009b. Normal Incidence Sound Absorption Coefficients of Direct
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Dimon, M.N., Adzim, S.D., Kit, M.H. and Hashim, A.W.I. 2010. Normal incidence
sound absorption coefficient of direct piercing carved wood panel with star
dominated geometric pattern. Proceedings of NVC. pp.62-72.
Dimon, M.N., Hashim, A.W.I., Hamid,S.Z.A. and Harun, M. 2009c. Normal incidence
sound absorption coefficient of direct piercing carved wood panel with star and
diamond dominated geometric pattern. Proceedings of ACOUSTICS. Adelaide.
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measurements using a sound intensity technique: A preliminary work. Audio
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Farina, A. and Torelli, A. 1997. Measurement of sound absorption coefficient of
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Fenner, R.T. 1983. The boundary equation (boundary element) method in engineering
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Kuala Lumpur. pp. 292-293.
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Jacobsen, F. 1997. An overview of the source of error in sound power determine using
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Lai, J.C.S. and Burgess, M. 1991. Application of sound intensity technique to measure
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Lin, M.D., Tsai, K.T. and Su, B.S. 2008. Estimating the sound absorption coefficients of
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Nordin, N. 2009. Ukiran Kayu Warisan Melayu. First ed., Perbadanan Kraf Malaysia.
Said, I. 2001. Art of woodcarving in timber mosques of Peninsular Malaysia and
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Said, I. and Kamarudin, Z. 2009. Carving motives in timber houses of Kelantan and
Terengganu. Proceedings of SEATUC, pp. 45-49.
Shariff, N.A. 2010. Terengganu selected handicrafts. Yayasan di Raja Sultan Mizan.
Ula, M. 2006. The study of normal incidence sound absorption coefficient of wood
circular perforated panel using numerical modeling technique. Research Report,
Project No. 75117, UTM, Malaysia.
1052
ANALYSIS OF ACCENT-SENSITIVE WORDS IN MULTI-RESOLUTION

MEL-FREQUENCY CEPSTRAL COEFFICIENTS FOR CLASSIFICATION OF
ACCENTS IN MALAYSIAN ENGLISH
Yusnita M.A.1,2,*, Paulraj M.P.2, Sazali Yaacob2, R. Yusuf1 and Shahriman A.B.2
1
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA,
13500 Permatang Pauh, Penang, Malaysia
*
Email: yusnita082@ppinang.uitm.edu.my
Phone: +60135049526; Fax: +6043822776
2
School of Mechatronic Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis,
02600 Ulu Pauh, Perlis, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the most accent-sensitive words for Malaysian English (MalE)
speakers in multi-resolution 13 Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients. A text-independent
accent system was implemented using different numbers of Mel-filters to determine the
optimal settings for this database. Then, text-dependent accent systems were developed
to rank the most accent-sensitive words for MalE speakers according to the
classification rates. Prior work has also been conducted to test the significance of the
wordlist for both gender and accent factors, and to investigate any interaction between
these two factors. Experimental results show that male speakers have a higher intensity
of accent effects compared with female speakers by 3.91% on text-independent and
3.47% on text-dependent tasks. Another finding has proven that by selecting appropriate
words that carry severe accent markers could improve the task of speaker accent
classification. An improvement of at most 8.45% and 8.91% was achieved on the male
and female datasets, respectively, following vocabulary selection.
Keywords: Malaysian English; accent classification; mel-frequency cepstral

coefficients; K-nearest neighbors; factorial design; analysis of variance.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, speech mining has become an interesting subject in human-machine

interaction and communication systems. It carries abundant information that can be used
to analyze human characteristics, such as gender, age, emotion, health state, and so
forth. Accent, without exception, is one of the important traits in human biometrics,
which is termed as voiceprint in speaker recognition systems. Accent is defined as a
systematic variation in pronunciation patterns due to the ethno-linguistic and cultural
background of a speaker. Malaysian English (MalE) is colored by different
pronunciations because it is influenced by various ethnic groups (Nair Venugopal,
2000) within the country, which complicates the structure in comparison with native
English pronunciations such as British English.
Through our recording observations, some voiced sounds like /z/ sometimes was
sounded unvoiced or was substituted with the voiced /ʤ/ by the Malaysian Chinese
such as in the word zero spelt as /zɪə.rəʊ/ using the International Phonetic Alphabet
symbols. In the word bottom spelt as /ˈbɒt.əm/, the Malays tend to unaspirate the
voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ and substitute it with the glotal stop /ʔ/, whereas the
1053
Analysis of accent-sensitive words in multi-resolution mel-frequency cepstral coefficients for classification of accents
in Malaysian English
Chinese sound more aspirated. On the other hand, Indians substitute that with the
voiceless retroflex plosive /ʈ/. In short, these people naturally sound more towards their
own mother tongues rather than trying to articulate like a native. This unique attribute is
what makes accent a potential means for identifying a speakers’ characteristics, such as
their ethnicity, and cultural and social-linguistic background. Above all, accent is the
most influential factor next to gender that causes speaker/speech variability (Arslan and
Hansen, 1996) and requires serious treatment in speech and speaker recognition
systems. Prior works investigating language accent problems in English (Arslan and
Hansen, 1996; Deshpande et al., 2005; Tanabian and Goubran, 2005; Pedersen and
Diederich, 2007; Ullah and Karray, 2008), Persian (Rabiee and Setayeshi, 2010),
Chinese (Huang et al., 2001; Too et al., 2001; Hou et al., 2010), and Flemish
(Ghesquiere and Compernolle, 2002) have been reported. As English is recognized and
practiced widely as the world’s international language, investigations of accent
problems in Malaysian’s speech are is intriguing, but still in their infancy.
An engineering approach has been sought through various digital signal
processing methods to extract the salient features of accent, such as Mel-frequency
cepstral coefficients, abbreviated to MFCC (Arslan and Hansen, 1996; Humphries et al.,
1996; Teixeira et al., 1996; Nguyen et al., 2010; Vergyri et al., 2010), linear prediction
coefficients, abbreviated to LPC (Teixeira et al., 1996; Tanabian and Goubran, 2005),
formant frequencies and trajectories (Liu and Fung, 1999; Deshpande et al., 2005;
Tanabian and Goubran, 2005), and pitch contours (Hou et al., 2010; Vergyri et al.,
2010). MFCC uses a perceptually motivated scale known as the Mel scale, which arises
from the psychophysical study of the human auditory system. It is a scale used to
measure subjective pitch for each tone as perceived by human ears. Meanwhile,
methods to classify accent fall into two types: statistical approaches, such as the hidden
Markov model (Arslan and Hansen, 1996; Humphries et al., 1996; Teixeira et al., 1996;
Liu and Fung, 1999), support vector machine (Pedersen and Diederich, 2007), and K-
nearest neighbor (KNN); and the other approach is a model evolved from human brain
intelligence, namely artificial neural networks (Tanabian et al., 2005; Rabiee and
Setayeshi, 2010).
The aims of this paper are threefold. Firstly, to split the spectrum of speech
frames into several bands and to obtain Mel-frequency cepstral parameters as
summations of all bands. Different Mel incremental steps are investigated to determine
the best resolution in the Mel scale for extracting basic sounds of speech (phonemes).
Past researchers have used arbitrary Mel-frequency resolutions, such as using 20 filters
in the work by Do and Wagner (1998), and 40 filters in work by Slaney (1998). This
paper attempts to experiment with multi-resolution Mel-frequencies to determine the
optimum settings that match the characteristics of the MalE database. The second aim is
to establish an appropriate wordlist selection for accent-sensitive words and to
investigation the interaction between accent and gender factors using factorial design
and ANOVA to test the hypotheses. Finally, to identify those words that carry better
accent markers to be used in future accent classification tasks, which are not found in
any past research for MalE to the best of the authors’ knowledge.
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Yusnita et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 1053-1073
METHODOLOGY
Speech Database
Several recording sessions were conducted to elicit speech from MalE speakers of three
main ethnic group: Malays, Chinese, and Indians. The tasks consisted of three sections.
Section A comprised 52 isolated words that were properly selected from currently
popular accent databases, such as the CU-Accent Corpus (Arslan and Hansen, 1996;
Hansen et. al., 2010) from the University of Texas in Dallas, the Speech Accent Archive
(Weinberger, 2011) from George Mason University, and Speech Under Simulated and
Actual Stress from Duke University. Section B comprised 17 sentences, formulated by
our research group, which consisted of the aforementioned accent-sensitive wordlist in
Section A. Finally, Section C utilized the Stella paragraph available at the Speech
Accent Archive website. However, for the analysis purposes of this paper, only 18
isolated words selected perceptually from Section A were taken for this study. Table 1
presents the wordlist that was utilized. Table 2 describes the details of the portion of the
MalE database (developed by Intelligent Signal Processing group at the University
Malaysia Perlis) used in this work.
Table 1. Wordlist in Malaysian accent database.
No Isolated Word (IW) No Isolated Word (IW)

1 Aluminum 10 Pleasure
2 Better 11 Station
3 Bottom 12 Stella
4 Boy 13 Student
5 Bringing 14 Target
6 Brother 15 Thirty
7 Communication 16 Time
8 Destination 17 Would
9 Girl 18 Zero
Table 2. Malaysian accent distribution of speakers and speech utterances.
Accent Gender No. of Speakers No. of utterances

(N)
Malay Male 16 1440
Female 22 1980
Total 36 3420
Chinese Male 19 1705
Female 15 1350
Total 34 3055
Indian Male 13 1170
Female 12 1080
Total 25 2250
Total Male 48 4315
Female 49 4410
Total 97 8725
1055
Each word was repeated five times by each speaker to increase the number of
samples per speaker, to increase precision, and to provide an estimate of the
experimental error per word and per speaker. This collection of utterances amounted to
8725 speech samples recorded from 97 volunteers. The speakers originated from
various regions of the country and as such, they were influenced by the regional accents.
Subjects were postgraduate students of the Universiti Malaysia Perlis aged between 18
and 30 years old. The recording was carried out in a semi-anechoic acoustic chamber
using a handheld condenser, supercardioid and unidirectional microphone using a laptop
computer sound card and the MATLAB program. The recorded background noise level
in the room was 22 dB. The sampling rate and bit resolution were set to 16 kHz and 16
bps for normal high quality, as used in automatic speech recognition applications.
Extraction of Mel-frequency Cepstral Coefficients
A block diagram showing the steps involved in extracting the MFCC is depicted in
Figure 1. The working principle of the MFCC processor is based on a set of filter banks
constructed from several bandpass filters, in the form of triangular-shaped window
functions (Davis and Mermelstein, 1980). Filters are spaced uniformly on a perceptually
motivated scale. The bandwidths are set so that 50% overlap with each other or a drop
of half the power is laid on the middle point between the centers of adjacent filters. The
center frequencies in Hz are mapped from the Mel scale; the known variation of the
human ear’s critical bandwidths with frequency. The mapping formulas are shown in
Eq. (1) (Picone, 1993).
 f 
f mel  2595 log10 1   (1)
 700 
where fmel and f are the Mel and linear frequencies, respectively.
Speech
Fast Fourier
Pre-emphasis Frame-blocking Windowing
Transform
Discrete Cosine Mel-scale

MFCC Log|.|
Transform warping
Figure 1. Block diagram of the MFCC feature extraction.
In this experiment, Mel-filters were designed based on the frequency range

spanned by the filter banks, i.e., start and stop frequencies, FFT window length, the
number of filters, NFB, and the lower, center and upper frequencies. The latter three
parameters were determined from the chosen sampling frequency and the number of
filters. The increment step in the Mel scale can be calculated using Eq. (2), as in
Plannerer (2004).
f mel (max)
 mel  (2)
N FB  1
1056
where mel, fmel(max), and NFB are the Mel step size, maximum Mel-frequency, and the
number of Mel-filters in the filter bank, respectively.
The linearly spaced Mel-frequencies are converted to linear frequencies using

Eq. (1), such that both scales are related almost linearly below 1 kHz, otherwise related
logarithmically above 1 kHz. Figure 2 illustrates this mapping function. Figure 3 shows
the resulting triangular filter banks residing on the linear frequency scale using an NFB
of 20. They are densely located for low frequencies, but sparsely located for higher
frequencies. This infers that filtering using the Mel scale has emphasized the lower
frequency components that are more important in speech analysis. The cepstral
coefficients of the Mel-scale filter banks (Chew et al., 2011) can be computed, as by Eq.
(3), by summing all the products of the fourier-transform-derived log-energy output of
individual bandpass filters and discrete cosine transforms (DCT).
N
Cm   Ek cosmk  0.5 / N  (3)
k 1
where variables C(.) and E(.) represent the mth cepstral coefficient (cepstrum) and the kth
log-energy, respectively. N is the number of filters in the filter banks and the number of
the cepstrum is taken in the following order: i.e., m=1, 2, 3, …, M.
Mapping between linear and perceptual scales

8000
linear-to-mel
7000 mel-to-linear
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 2. Mapping relationship of linear and Mel-frequency scales.
As the DCT performs the second frequency transform, the resulting new domain
is a time-like domain called the frequency domain and the spectrum has become the
cepstrum. The lower order cepstrum represents the slowly varying part of the spectrum,
and spikes in the series correspond to the harmonic series of the vocal folds (Rosell,
2006). Normally, a few lower order coefficients are taken to represent the vocal tract
shape, leaving out the pitch property of the speech signal.
1057
Mel-scaled Filterbank
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
Filter Coefficients
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 3. Mel filter banks basis functions using 20 Mel-filters in the filter bank.
Algorithm for MFCC Feature Extraction
Below is the formulated algorithm to explain the procedure of the MFCC extraction
from the short-time windowed frames of the recorded acoustic signals.
Step 1: The sampled speech data are initially zero-adjusted to remove a DC bias
during recording and to pre-emphasize using first-order FIR with a pre-
emphasis parameter of 15/16 to compensate the attenuation in the spectral
energy by approximately 6dB/octave.
Step 2: Frame-block the word samples into short time frames of 512 data points
with 256 overlapping points and apply Hamming windows to the frames.
Step 3: Compute the spectrum from the pre-processed frames using FFT
algorithm.
Step 4: In the frequency domain, sample each region of spectrum of interest by
triangular-shaped windows, which are centered linearly in the Mel-scale,
as in Eq. (1), using Mel-scale warped filters, as shown in Figure 3.
Step 5: Calculate the log of the spectral energy from the outputs of the Mel-filter
banks resulted from Step 4.
Step 6: For each frame, compute the cepstral coefficients by applying DCT to all
log-spectrum energies using Eq. (3). Take average values of the frames to
form the feature vector.
Step 7: Repeat Steps 1 to 6 for the other samples in the data collection and form a
matrix of feature vectors (database) and assign class attributes to each
pattern.
Factorial Design for Accent- and Gender-sensitive Words
This design of experiment (DOE) includes the simultaneous effects of multiple

independent variables (factors) on a single dependent variable (response). Through this
DOE, not only can the main effect of a single factor be studied, but also their
interaction, if any. If significant interaction effects exist, the main effects have little
practical meaning and therefore, they cannot be dropped as influential factors regardless
1058
of their significance. It is required that at least each factor must have two levels and the
treatments consist of the combinations of these levels. The number of runs required for
each replicate is the product of the number of levels of all factors. In this paper, the
effects of gender and accent on the extracted MFCC of acoustic signals (speech
recordings) at different orders were investigated. The design of the study is specified in
Table 3.
Figure 4 shows the arrangement of completely randomized design (CRD) for a
2-factor factorial design. Factor A (Gender) has a = 2 levels, factor B (Accent) has b = 3
levels, and n = 5 replicates. Each replication set contains all possible factor level
combinations or treatments. The observations (values of the response variable) are
k
defined as Sijm where k is the MFCC-order of k = 1, 2, 3, …, 13. The standard order will
be randomized using CRD before taking any reading of the response variable. Figure 5
k
shows the sequence of standard order in each cell combination associated with Sijm , as
in Figure 4.
Table 3. The components of specification of the factorial design.
Component Specification
Factor Gender and accent
Type of factor Both are classification factors
Treatment Combinations of 2-level gender (male and female) and 3-level
accent (Malay, Chinese, and Indian). Total number of
combinations = 2 × 3 = 6 treatments in each replicate (base run)
Experimental unit Speech (word utterance)
Replicate 5 speakers
Response variable 13-MFCC (each dependent variable of 1st order-MFCC, 2nd
order-MFCC, 3rd order-MFCC, …, 13th order-MFCC)
Observation Total run = N = 6 × 5 = 30 experiments to obtain the MFCC of
each order
Factor B (Accent)
1 2 3
Factor A (Gender)
S111, S112, S113, S121, S122, S123, S131, S132, S133,

1 S114, S115 S124, S125 S134, S135
S211, S212, S213 S221, S222, S223, S231, S232, S233,
2 S214, S215 S224, S225 S234, S235
Figure 4. Completely randomized design for 2-factor factorial design for any kth-order
of MFCC.
1059
Factor B (Accent)
1 2 3
Factor A (Gender) 1, 7, 13, 2, 8, 14, 3, 9, 15,
1 19, 25 20, 26 21, 27
4, 10, 16, 5, 11, 17, 6, 12, 18,
2 22, 28 23, 29 24, 30
Figure 5. The sequence of original standard order of observations in completely

randomized design treatment cells.
The hypotheses were made in testing the equality of means for different levels of
factors on the MFCC scores using ANOVA, based on the following statistical (effects)
model in Eq. (4). The hypotheses are given in Eq. (5).
 i  1, 2, , a

Sijm    i   j  ()ij  ijm  j  1, 2, , b (4)
m  1, 2, , n

where S(.) is the statistical model for each MFCC-order,  is an overall mean, i is the
effect of the ith level of the row factor A, j is the effect of the jth column of column
factor B, ()ij is the interaction between i and j, a random error term is defined as ijm,
and the subscript m indicates the replication index.
H 0 : τ1    τ a  0 v.s. H1 : at least one τi  0 (5a)

H 0 : 1    b  0 v.s. H1 : at least one  j  0 (5b)
H 0 : ()ij  0 i, j v.s. H1 : at least one ()i j  0 (5c)
K-nearest Neighbors Algorithm
The K-nearest neighbors (KNN) prediction of an unknown pattern, i.e., query instance,
is based on a very simple majority vote of the categories or classes of the nearest
neighbors in the training space. The underlying principle is based on minimum
distances from the unlabeled sample to the training samples to determine the nearest K-
neighbors. Euclidean distance is one of the popular methods used. This distance
calculation from one sample or pattern in the testing dataset, which contains the
unknown patterns, to one of the samples in the training dataset with known class labels,
is expressed in Eq. (6).
 
M
d 2 ij   xi (m)  x j (m)
2
(6)
m1
where xi(.) and xj(.) are exemplars of the training and the testing datasets in the mth
feature dimension, i.e., m=1, 2, …, M.
1060
The next step is to locate the class number to the unlabeled pattern based on the
majority vote (Tsang-Long et al., 2007) by simply summing up the class labels,
assigned as c(xi)where xi is the class label of the selected NK(xj). The cardinality of
NK(xj) is equal to K. Then, the subset of NN within the class set of l{1,2,…L} is
expressed mathematically as in Eq. (7).
N Kl x j   xi  NK x j  : c xi   l (7)
Thus, the classification result l using majority vote is expressed mathematically

as in Eq. (8).
l   arg lmax N Kl x j  (8)
The algorithm on how KNN works (Teknomo, 2011) is summarized as a

flowchart in Figure 6. Normally, the K-parameter is determined by regression analysis.
In general, it is chosen not to be a multiple integer of the number of classes, L.
Test sample
Determine the K-parameter

Assign as neighbors NK(xj)
and determine their labels
Calculate the distance dij
c(xi)
Repeat for all samples in the Vote for the max label in
training dataset NK(xj)
Sort the dij’s in the Decide the class label l*

ascending order denoted as
dij(k) = {dij(1), dij(2),…no of
train samples}
Yes No
Discard the Is k > K?
samples xi’s
Figure 6. Flowchart of K-nearest neighbors algorithm.
This section starts with the various designs of Mel-filter banks for the optimum setting
of feature extraction. Next, prior works on establishing the appropriate wordlist
selection for accent-sensitive words and investigations of the interaction between accent
and gender factors, which are important for reducing the within group variability
(inhomogeneous data), using factorial design and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test
the hypotheses are discussed. Rigorous analysis using several attempts of text-
1061
independent and text-dependent MFCC-based accent classifier using the KNN model
are reported here.
Mel-filter Banks Design
In order to investigate the effect of Mel-frequency scale resolution, the number of filters
was varied from 40 to 10, in steps of 5, in order to obtain an optimum setting for this
task. Table 4 tabulates the specifications of varying the number of filters NFB in
experimenting with different Mel resolutions. As there is little information below 150
Hz and above 6800 Hz for clean speech, for each design, some of the low- and high-
ends of the filter banks were discarded in order to gain a twofold advantage, namely by
getting rid of the 50-Hz hum from the AC power supply and by reducing the
computational time.
Table 4. Various designs of Mel-filter banks.
No. of Max Mel Mel Start Stop freq. Omitted filters

filters (NFB) freq resolution freq. (Hz) (NFBth)
(mel) (mel) (Hz)
40 2840 69.3 141.7 6993.7 1, 2, 3, 39, & 40
35 2840 76.8 163.6 6863.4 1, 2, 3, 34, & 35
30 2840 91.6 193.3 7320.8 1, 2, 3, & 30
25 2840 109.2 149.7 7196.3 1, 2, & 25
20 2840 135.2 189.9 7016.2 1 & 20
15 2840 177.5 119.4 8000.0 1
10 2840 258.2 180.2 8000.0 1
Analysis of Factorial Design on Accent-sensitive Words
The analysis was partitioned into 18 different types of words uttered by 5 speakers
(replicates), in order to identify words that are sensitive to accent and gender, and to
establish the existence of interaction between these two factors. This prior work would
establish a method to select the appropriate wordlist for accent classification and act as a
basis to partition or not the overall experiments into different genders. Appendix A
(A1–A4) shows the results of the ANOVA based on the statistical effects model and
hypotheses given in Eqs. (4) and (5) for MFCC order k = 1 to 13. This number of
coefficients has been used commonly in the past literature. For the purpose of factorial
design, the number of filters NFB was fixed at 30 as a control parameter. A summary of
significant results of individual isolated words across each MFCC-order for accent
factor is given in Table 5. The results of the interaction effect between gender and
accent, as can be seen from Appendix A (A1–A4) are discussed. Out of the 18 words,
only Target did not show any significant interaction effect at p < 0.1 for all MFCC
orders. The others showed significant interaction effect at p < 0.1, for instance:
Destination, Girl, Pleasure, Time, and Zero at k = 1, respectively; Aluminum, Bottom,
Boy, Brother, Communication, Stella, and Student at k = 4, respectively; and Better,
Thirty, Would, Station, and Bringing at k = 2, 3, 6, 9, and 10. These results suggest that
1062
because the interaction effects for these wordlists were significant, the classification
problem of accent should be partitioned into male and female.
Table 5 tabulates all the significant results for the main effects of accent factor at
p < 0.1. The word Better has the greatest number of MFCC orders, which were found
significant at p < 0.1. The lowest gains were recorded for the words Brother and
Destination. On the other hand, across the wordlist, the 12th-order MFCC has shown the
highest number of words that were significant, whereas the10th-order MFCC showed the
least significant result, and the 8th-order MFCC has none that are significant across the
wordlist. It was found that all words should be used in the next experiment, because the
result has determined significance on the accent effect at the single order of MFCC.
Table 5. Summary of significant results of individual isolated words across MFCC-

order for accent factor.
Isolated Word Significance of mean difference (p < 0.1) of the accent factor for each
(IW) MFCC order
1-MFCC
2-MFCC
3-MFCC
4-MFCC
5-MFCC
6-MFCC
10-MFCC
11-MFCC
12-MFCC
13-MFCC
7-MFCC
8-MFCC
9-MFCC
TOTAL
Aluminum     4
Better        7
Bottom     4
Boy   2
Bringing   2
Brother  1
Communication    3
Destination  1
Girl     4
Pleasure     4
Station   2
Stella    3
Student    3
Target      5
Thirty    3
Time    3
Would     4
Zero   2
TOTAL 2 5 9 5 8 6 2 0 3 1 2 10 4
Figure 7 shows the factorial plots of the main effects and interaction effects of
the word Bottom on the 5th-order MFCC and the word Aluminum on the 12th-order
MFCC. It can be seen that both normality plots of residuals were normal in Figure 7(a)
and (b); hence, the assumption of normality was not violated for ANOVA. For Bottom
with the 5th-order MFCC, the interaction effect of gender and accent was significant,
shown by the non-parallel plots in Figure 7(d) between the Chinese and Indian accents
for different levels of gender. However, only the main effect of accent was significant as
in Figure 7(c). For Aluminum with the 12th-order MFCC, the interaction effect between
the factors was not significant, as is shown by Figure 7(f), because the difference in the
response between the levels of accent was the same at all levels of gender. Here also,
the main effect of gender was insignificant at p < 0.1, unlike the main effect of accent.
1063
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Figure 7. Normal plots of residual and factorial plots of main effects and interaction
effects for the word Aluminum on 12th-order MFCC and the word Bottom on 5th-order
MFCC.
Malaysian English Accent Classification
The KNN, as explained in the Methodology section, was used to model this system
using varying numbers of K-parameter from 1 to 10. An independent test sample
technique was implemented to evaluate the performance of this accent system using the
parameterized 13-MFCC input features. The total database was reshuffled, randomized
and partitioned into 70% as the training dataset and the remaining 30% of unseen data
as the test dataset, separately for male and female datasets, owing to the existence of
significant interaction between gender and accent, as found in the previous sub-section.
1064
The performance was measured using classification rates (CRs) of correctly classified
samples. All results reported in this paper were iterated and averaged over 10 trials.
Performance of Text-independent with Different Mel-filter Banks
For selecting optimal filters, 13-MFCC were derived from different number of Mel-
filter banks, NFB as in Table 4. The overall CRs resulting from using different NFB are
tabulated in Table 6. Only the results at K = 2 are recorded here. In general, both male
and female datasets show an increase in CRs at higher numbers of NFB with the highest
CRs of the male and female speakers with an NFB of 40 and 30 filters, respectively. It
can be concluded that the choice of NFB influenced the system performance. Using a
smaller number of filters, such as NFB < 20, would give too coarse resolution. For text-
independent accent classification, the vocabulary set consisted of 18 words, as shown in
Table 1. Next, the performance for the entire tests for different values of K-parameter,
which were run over 10 trials each, is plotted in Figure 8(a) and (b) for the male and
female speakers, respectively. Overall, the performance degraded at increasing K-value
with K = 1 or 2 observed to be the best settings for this database. It seemed that much
accent information has been lost when using the lower resolution of Mel-filter banks of
NFB = 10 and 15. The performance of text-independent accent classification for the male
speakers was better than that of the female speakers by 3.91% at the highest recorded
CRs of both.
Table 6. Accuracy rates for text-independent accent classification across different filter
numbers.
No. of filters Individual class classification rate (%) Overall classification

(NFB) Malay Chinese Indian rate (%)
Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
40 88.08 86.90 88.69 83.78 86.78 79.51 87.97 84.13
35 87.55 87.35 87.36 84.05 85.38 78.02 86.89 84.05
30 87.48 88.57 86.59 83.48 85.07 78.98 86.48 84.66
25 86.46 86.57 87.67 81.83 84.76 78.15 86.48 83.05
20 85.44 87.30 85.87 82.49 83.42 77.25 85.06 83.37
15 84.14 85.34 85.46 79.70 82.34 76.76 84.17 81.51
10 80.23 80.02 80.61 74.67 76.70 68.18 79.42 75.48
Performance of Text-dependent with Fixed Mel-filter Banks
For testing the intensity of accent-sensitive words, NFB was fixed at 40 and 30 filters for
the male and female datasets, respectively, as obtained from the previous experiments.
For text-dependent accent classification, the vocabulary set consisted of single word,
speaker independent, trained and tested separately using KNN by varying K = 1 to 10.
The best results were taken for plotting, which occurred only at K = 1 or 2. Figure 9(a)
and (b) shows the bar chart rankings of the highest to lowest accent-sensitive words. It
was found that different genders experienced different intensity of accent detection and
different ranking of most accent-sensitive words. For example, the first five most
accent-sensitive words for the male speakers were aluminum, bringing, better, zero, and
bottom; whereas for the female speakers they were target, destination, would, bottom,
and girl. Figure 9(a) shows a larger difference in the CRs of 13.1% between the two
1065
extreme values, whereas Figure 9(b) shows a smaller difference in the CRs of 8.5%
between the two extreme values. Most of the words in the middle ranking shared similar
results for the female dataset. However, the male dataset exhibited noticeable
differences. On the highest word rate, the male speakers outperformed the female
speakers by the CR of 3.47%.
MFCC with different Mel-filter Banks (NFB) for Male Speakers using KNN MFCC with different Mel-filter Banks (NFB) for Female Speakers using KNN
90 85
NFB-10 NFB-10
NFB-15 NFB-15
NFB-20 NFB-20
85 80
NFB-25 NFB-25
NFB-30 NFB-30
Classification Rate (%)
Classification Rate (%)

NFB-35 NFB-35
80 NFB-40 75 NFB-40
75 70
70 65
65 60
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
K-parameter K-parameter
(a) (b)
Figure 8. Plots of the performance of accent classifiers using different Mel-filter banks
(NFB) in MFCC features for: (a) male speakers, and (b) female speakers across different
K-parameters.
(a)
(b)
Figure 9. Vocabulary ranking in terms of accent accuracy rates for: (a) male speakers,
and (b) female speakers using the KNN classifier and independent test samples with a
partition of 70% training and 30% test.
1066
CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a study of accent-sensitive words in the MFCC-based feature
vector space and Mel-frequency resolution analysis using different numbers of filters.
Prior work to establish the appropriate wordlist selection for accent-sensitive words and
the investigation of the interaction between accent and gender factors was conducted
using factorial design and ANOVA to test the hypotheses. Both text-independent and
text-dependent accent classification were implemented using the KNN classification
algorithm and the performances of the system were evaluated using the independent test
samples technique. The best overall accuracy rates of 87.97% and 84.66% were
obtained using 40 and 30 filters, respectively, for the male and female datasets for text-
independent accent system, which included all the words that were determined
significant to accent from the earlier ANOVA tests. Following this, text-dependent
systems on individual isolated words were conducted to rank accent-sensitive words
according to gender. It was found that the male speakers demonstrated higher intensity
of accent effects compared with the female speakers, by 3.91% on text-independent
tasks and by 3.47% on text-dependent tasks on the selected best results. From the
experiments conducted, it was proven that selecting appropriate words that carry severe
accent markers works satisfactorily in the task of speaker accent classification. The
improvement was made by at most 8.45% and 8.91%, respectively for the male and
female datasets, following vocabulary selection.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the encouragement given by the Vice
Chancellor of the University Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Brig. Jeneral Dato’ Prof. Dr.
Kamaruddin Hussin, and the financial assistance under fundamental research grant
scheme numbered 9003- 00278 and also the sponsorship of the PhD candidature from
the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia.
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APPENDIX
A1. Results of ANOVA on different orders of MFCC scores (1st- to 4th-order)
Isolated Word p-value for the 1st order MFCC p-value for the 2nd order MFCC
(IW) Gen Acc Gen R-Sq R-Sq Gen Acc Gen R-Sq R-Sq
Acc (%) Adjusted Acc (%) Adjusted
(%) (%)
Aluminum 0.804 0.215 0.557 15.91 0.00 0.035 0.189 0.850 27.10 11.91
Better 0.440 0.010 0.634 34.56 20.93 0.984 0.173 0.043 31.42 17.13
Bottom 0.287 0.914 0.611 9.00 0.00 0.416 0.023 0.428 32.14 18.00
Boy 0.698 0.862 0.115 17.78 0.660 0.574 0.039 0.407 28.60 13.73
Bringing 0.109 0.635 0.176 23.63 7.72 0.097 0.178 0.626 24.20 8.41
Brother 0.001 0.549 0.178 44.25 32.63 0.001 0.719 0.923 39.52 26.92
Communication 0.590 0.621 0.294 13.82 0.00 0.104 0.717 0.634 15.65 0.00
Destination 0.922 0.588 0.035 26.84 11.60 0.378 0.114 0.261 25.95 10.52
Girl 0.199 0.299 0.074 29.62 14.95 0.959 0.017 0.290 33.79 20.00
Pleasure 0.474 0.913 0.088 20.24 3.62 0.008
0.706 0.783 28.80 13.96
Station 0.433 0.946 0.161 16.35 0.00 0.956 0.218 0.116 24.95 9.32
Stella 0.022 0.716 0.238 28.84 14.01 0.089 0.436 0.602 19.70 2.97
Student 0.388 0.215 0.755 16.15 0.00 0.628 0.202 0.775 14.83 0.00
Target 0.910 0.081 0.922 19.36 2.56 0.421 0.327 0.243 20.03 3.36
Thirty 0.272 0.903 0.546 10.15 0.00 0.742 0.210 0.956 12.84 0.00
Time 0.806 0.798 0.0001 48.18 37.38 0.190 0.174 0.377 24.08 8.27
Would 0.238 0.195 0.747 18.79 1.88 0.432 0.096 0.656 21.75 5.45
Zero 0.466 0.516 0.059 25.64 10.15 0.590 0.149 0.289 22.67 6.56
Isolated Word p-value for the 3rd order MFCC p-value for the 4th order MFCC
(%) (%)
Aluminum 0.065 0.034 0.235 37.91 24.98 0.097 0.044 0.015 45.54 34.20
Better 0.868 0.006 0.934 35.04 21.51 0.034 0.124 0.001 53.13 43.36
Bottom 0.486 0.031 0.836 27.03 11.83 0.0001 
0.122 0.003 63.23 55.57
Boy 0.724 0.249 0.928 11.85 0.00 0.0001 0.129 0.029 61.55 53.54
Bringing 0.012 0.075 0.731 36.54 23.32 0.427 0.428 0.403 15.19 0.00
Brother 0.274 0.268 0.982 14.51 0.00 0.007 0.148 0.005 52.33 42.40
Communication 0.029 0.044 0.224 39.60 27.02 0.008 0.210 0.068 42.39 30.39
Destination 0.004 0.250 0.030 46.91 35.85 0.358 0.220 0.087 28.38 13.46

Girl 0.366 0.050 0.543 27.02 11.82 0.002 0.221 0.467 41.30 29.07
Pleasure 0.074 0.003 0.919 43.91 32.23 0.126 0.346 0.458 20.90 4.42
Station 0.007 0.908 0.137 35.68 22.28 0.964 0.444 0.664 9.49 0.00
Stella 0.241 0.301 0.857 15.14 0.00 0.101 0.362 0.011 39.86 27.36
Student 0.037 0.134 0.483 30.89 16.49 0.371 0.717 0.009 35.13 21.61
Target 0.939 0.034 0.781 25.70 10.22 0.348 0.085 0.212 28.82 13.99
Thirty 0.860 0.638 0.051 24.26 8.48 0.446 0.043 0.009 44.67 33.08
Time 0.783 0.045 0.545 25.97 10.55 0.722 0.025 0.083 37.25 24.18
Would 0.323 0.061 0.632 25.60 10.10 0.180 0.703 0.581 13.45 0.00
Zero 0.225 0.216 0.968 16.91 0.00 0.002 0.104 0.052 49.09 38.48
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A2. Results of ANOVA on different orders of MFCC scores (5th- to 8th-order)
Isolated Word p-value for the 5th order MFCC p-value for the 6th order MFCC
(%) (%)
Aluminum 0.076 0.006 0.045 49.49 38.96 0.508 0.941 0.561 6.83 0.00
Better 0.101 0.001 0.040 53.90 44.29 0.048 0.026 0.710 36.18 22.88
Bottom 0.984 0.010 0.049 42.88 30.98 0.114 0.247 0.288 25.64 10.15
Boy 0.009 0.766 0.254 32.37 18.28 0.011 0.260 0.096 39.57 26.98
Bringing 0.0001 0.201 0.755 58.85 50.28 0.001 0.464 0.272 43.28 31.46
Brother 0.704 0.121 0.236 24.64 8.94 0.130 0.191 0.863 20.81 4.31
Communication 0.0001 0.265 0.540 54.48 45.00 0.093 0.046 0.485 32.54 18.49
Destination 0.0001 0.171 0.278 65.99 58.51 0.642 0.564 0.636 8.80 0.00
Girl 0.001 0.066 0.987 44.79 33.29 0.974 0.861 0.903 2.07 0.00
Pleasure 0.0001 0.012 0.036 60.16 51.86 0.150 0.474 0.481 17.98 0.89
Station 0.0001 0.115 0.670 59.04 50.51 0.186 0.021 0.565 33.54 19.70
Stella 0.836 0.162 0.943 14.58 0.00 0.612 0.055 0.598 24.69 9.00
Student 0.034 0.012 0.055 48.14 37.34 0.652 0.103 0.932 18.27 1.24
Target 0.008 0.760 0.197 33.94 20.17 0.115 0.154 0.887 22.49 6.34
Thirty 0.0001 0.035 0.290 57.31 48.42 0.581 0.148 0.160 25.96 10.53
Time 0.056 0.682 0.082 30.22 15.69 0.004 0.596 0.453 34.77 21.18
Would 0.003 0.534 0.859 33.65 19.83 0.001 0.010 0.103 55.20 45.86
Zero 0.0001 0.004 0.603 56.58 47.53 0.075 0.041 0.141 38.48 25.67
(%) (%)
Aluminum 0.207 0.706 0.484 13.92 0.00 0.011 0.862 0.234 31.38 17.08
Better 0.261 0.766 0.777 9.00 0.00 0.0001 0.173 0.725 65.00 57.71
Bottom 0.126 0.755 0.392 17.33 0.11 0.177 0.145 0.883 20.98 4.52
Boy 0.074 0.216 0.688 23.83 7.96 0.001 0.293 0.864 44.00 32.33
Bringing 0.480 0.372 0.267 18.29 1.26 0.905 0.821 0.840 3.08 0.00
Brother 0.013 0.319 0.783 29.42 14.72 0.0001 0.800 0.064 70.34 64.16
Communication 0.953 0.201 0.686 14.89 0.00 0.005 0.798 0.608 31.36 17.06
Destination 0.153 0.448 0.309 20.82 4.32 0.0001 0.575 0.364 60.78 52.61
Girl 0.003 0.292 0.061 45.21 33.80 0.003 0.401 0.160 41.15 28.88
Pleasure 0.136 0.938 0.663 12.24 0.00 0.0001 0.574 0.063 70.24 64.04
Station 0.850 0.724 0.471 8.55 0.00 0.0001 0.578 0.773 60.67 52.48
Stella 0.665 0.060 0.529 24.59 8.88 0.0001 0.905 0.602 45.47 34.11
Student 0.008 0.740 0.549 29.91 15.31 0.0001 0.315 0.430 50.06 39.65
Target 0.170 0.702 0.488 14.90 0.00 0.0001 0.811 0.143 52.85 43.02
Thirty 0.076 0.740 0.235 22.90 6.84 0.003 0.208 0.257 41.54 29.36
Time 0.122 0.026 0.928 31.99 17.82 0.001 0.417 0.383 44.00 32.33
Would 0.0001 0.582 0.882 48.85 38.19 0.175 0.586 0.953 11.58 0.00
Zero 0.071 0.128 0.572 27.68 12.61 0.061 0.396 0.831 20.47 3.90
1071
A3. Results of ANOVA on different orders of MFCC scores (9th- to 12th-order)
(%) (%)
Aluminum 0.005 0.593 0.784 32.07 17.92 0.0001 0.947 0.151 55.60 46.35
Better 0.0001 0.357 0.436 50.78 40.52 0.0001 0.081 0.314 70.61 64.48
Bottom 0.921 0.893 0.561 5.59 0.00 0.0001 0.547 0.955 53.04 43.26
Boy 0.344 0.686 0.539 11.00 0.00 0.0001 0.294 0.956 46.27 35.08
Bringing 0.001 0.435 0.814 38.78 26.02 0.0001 0.208 0.049 63.81 56.28
Brother 0.0001 0.404 0.484 54.40 44.90 0.0001 0.345 0.225 59.31 50.83
Communication 0.0001 0.931 0.912 57.98 49.22 0.0001 0.943 0.597 43.27 31.45
Destination 0.016 0.545 0.089 35.66 22.25 0.028 0.170 0.040 40.99 28.70
Girl 0.350 0.468 0.612 12.66 0.00 0.0001 0.177 0.178 62.68 54.90
Pleasure 0.269 0.365 0.108 25.64 10.15 0.0001 0.266 0.496 60.88 52.73
Station 0.180 0.461 0.076 27.82 12.79 0.543 0.208 0.625 16.36 0.00

Stella 0.0001 0.022 0.176 57.10 48.17 0.005 0.777 0.667 30.72 16.29
Student 0.077 0.977 0.535 16.51 0.00 0.005 0.230 0.017 48.49 37.76
Target 0.602 0.053 0.207 30.06 15.49 0.0001
0.377 0.337 59.96 51.62
Thirty 0.010 0.098 0.170 41.09 28.81 0.0001 0.407 0.262 50.51 40.19
Time 0.582 0.134 0.041 33.32 19.43 0.040 0.940 0.670 19.04 2.17
Would 0.025 0.757 0.580 23.45 7.50 0.120 0.187 0.433 24.85 9.20
Zero 0.233 0.578 0.369 16.38 0.00 0.004 0.768 0.209 37.35 24.29
(%) (%)
Aluminum 0.231 0.374 0.401 18.54 1.57 0.395 0.003 0.66 40.86 28.54
Better 0.495 0.027 0.123 36.00 22.67 0.220 0.015 0.605 34.46 20.80
Bottom 0.861 0.777 0.700 5.01 0.00 0.684 0.138 0.735 17.52 0.34
Boy 0.0001 0.877 0.198 46.13 34.90 0.625 0.548 0.882 6.73 0.00
Bringing 0.020 0.398 0.357 29.90 15.29 0.498 0.118 0.719 19.54 2.78
Brother 0.006 0.558 0.829 31.05 16.69 0.103 0.006 0.403 42.11 30.05
Communication 0.001 0.899 0.118 42.74 30.81 0.009 0.107 0.882 35.69 22.29
Destination 0.061 0.484 0.165 27.79 12.75 0.004 0.004 0.617 51.40 41.28
Girl 0.493 0.660 0.164 17.90 0.79 0.619 0.455 0.981 7.40 0.00
Pleasure 0.898 0.059 0.228 28.50 13.60 0.005 0.422 0.992 32.26 18.15
Station 0.665 0.804 0.079 20.73 4.21 0.004 0.011 0.618 48.22 37.43

Stella 0.003 0.338 0.779 36.25 22.97 0.131 0.438 0.983 14.84 0.00
Student 0.225 0.154 0.014 39.69 27.13 0.275 0.058 0.842 25.00 9.38
Target 0.583 0.930 0.723 4.43 0.00 0.542 0.016 0.547 32.50 18.43
Thirty 0.255 0.528 0.678 12.61 0.00 0.667 0.419 0.854 8.80 0.00
Time 0.362 0.953 0.866 4.96 0.00 0.165 0.122 0.444 29.76 10.29
Would 0.001 0.493 0.313 44.59 33.05 0.983 0.070 0.139 29.91 15.31
Zero 0.0001 0.274 0.501 61.82 53.86 0.179 0.201 0.275 25.20 9.61
1072
A4. Results of ANOVA on different orders of MFCC scores (13th-order)
Isolated Word (IW) p-value for the 13th order MFCC

Gen Acc Gen R-Sq (%) R-Sq Adjusted
Acc (%)
Aluminum 0.0001 0.657 0.040 
62.75 54.98
Better 0.0001 0.271 0.365 59.69 51.30
Bottom 0.0001 0.041 
0.237 67.45 60.67
Boy 0.0001 0.028 
0.514 54.00 44.42
Bringing 0.0001 0.573 0.234 73.40 67.86
Brother 0.0001 0.247 0.056 80.16 76.03
Communication 0.0001 0.695 0.359 72.89 67.24
Destination 0.0001 0.157 0.821 65.49 58.30
Girl 0.0001 
0.032 0.0001 
84.41 81.16
Pleasure 0.0001 0.087 
0.208 80.40 76.31
Station 0.001 0.773 0.739 37.47 24.44
Stella 0.0001 0.215 0.451 72.57 66.85
Student 0.0001 0.783 0.221 76.85 72.02
Target 0.0001 0.659 0.311 78.32 73.81
Thirty 0.0001 0.706 0.227 49.61 39.11
Time 0.001 0.294 0.676 43.85 32.15
Would 0.0001 0.503 0.021 
77.72 73.08
Zero 0.0001 0.524 0.017 79.22 74.89

The mean difference is significant at the 0.10 level (p < 0.1)
Interaction
1073
A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF ENSEMBLE AVERAGED SURFACE

NORMAL IMPEDANCE MEASURED IN SITU
Nazli Che Din1, *, Toru Otsuru2, Reiji Tomiku2, Mohd Zamri Jusoh3 and Mohamad
Ngasri Dimon4
1
Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, 50602, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Email: nazlichedin@um.edu.my
2
Department of Architecture and Mechatronics, Faculty of Engineering, Oita University,
700 Dannoharu, Oita 870-1192, Japan
3
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (Terengganu), Sura
Hujung, 23000 Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia
4
Radio Communication Engineering Department, Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the application of an in situ measurement technique of sound

absorption characteristics, namely the “Ensemble Averaged Method”. Previously, a
measurement technique of material surface normal impedance by using a two-
microphone (p-p) technique and ambient noise was proposed by some of the authors.
This includes the concept of “ensemble averaged” surface normal impedance to extend
the usage of the obtained values to various applications, such as architectural acoustics
and computational simulations. With the development of a particle velocity (p-u)
sensor, the practicality of techniques for the direct measurement of impedance becomes
feasible. A concept of the ensemble averaged surface normal impedance is addressed,
including a basic technique to measure it by using p-p and p-u sensors. Then, the
agreements between p-p and p-u sensors are discussed and the discrepancies of
absorption coefficients are shown to be small. The paper reveals the reliability,
applicability and feasibility of the method throughout the investigation as an in situ
measurement technique.
Keywords: In situ technique; ensemble average; normal impedance; absorption

coefficient.
INTRODUCTION
Numerous in situ measurement techniques have been proposed to measure sound

absorption characteristics. There are two well-known methods of laboratory
measurement of absorption, which have been described as international standards (ISO
105034, 1996; ISO 10534, 1998; ISO 354, 2003) in providing important databases
regarding test materials, i.e., the reverberation room, and the tube method. A number of
studies (Kosten, 1960; Makita et al., 1968a; Makita et al., 1968b; Cummings, 1991;
Iwase and Izumi, 1995; Horoshenkov et al., 2007) have been conducted in order to
check the effectiveness of the standard. Nevertheless, there are still issues that remain
unresolved, e.g., the difficulty of measurements in situ because similar mounting
conditions are difficult to reproduce.
1074
A practical application of ensemble averaged surface normal impedance measured in situ
(a) (b)
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the measurement setup by using: (a) p-p sensor, and
(b) p-u sensor.
On the other hand, numerous methods have been proposed to measure the
absorption characteristics of material in situ. One of most popular methods it the
“reflection method”, which has been used to derive the sound absorption coefficient in
situ. Among the works in the literature on the reflection method, Garai (1993) applied
the maximum length sequential (MLS) technique as a test signal to improve the
immunity to background noise and to measure the absorption coefficient in situ.
However, there are restrictions of the method at low frequencies because the assumption
of the plane wave is unachievable. Thus, the method proposed by Allard and Champoux
(1989) is popular and efficient among the reflection methods. Their method focuses on a
transfer function method using two microphones (p-p) located near the surface and this
enables in situ measurements of a sample area. Nevertheless, the required sample size
increases as the frequency decreases. To overcome this situation, some authors have
proposed a method using a two microphones technique with Environmental Anonymous
Noise as the sound source; known as “the EA method” (Takahashi et al., 2005).
Initially, the sound source was intended for use only with diffuse ambient noise that
exists around the specimen to be measured. However, in cases where this is insufficient,
a supplemental noise source(s) can be added to improve the result.
Meanwhile, with the development of a particle velocity sensor, i.e.,
MicroflownTM, alternative measurement techniques have become possible for direct
related particle velocities quantities (de Bree et al., 2006). Aiming towards a simple and
efficient in situ measurement technique, the authors make use of the combination of a
microphone and a particle velocity (p-u), instead of a two microphones technique, in
order to determine the acoustic behavior of absorption material in the EA method. This
paper is structured as follows: Section 2 presents the description of the EA method for
each type of sensor. Section 3 discusses the results obtained by practical measurement
with different types of sensor. Section 4 presents the preliminary results for the
absorption coefficient of in situ measurements, i.e., in architectural spaces and in car
cabins. Section 5 shows that the method is applicable for absorption characteristics of
perforated-type panels, and Section 6 concludes the paper.
1075
Che Din et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 1074-1085
ENSEMBLE AVERAGE METHOD

Outline of the Method using p-p Sensor
The technique described below is based on the measurement of the pressure transfer
function between two microphones. As shown in Figure 1(a), two ½ inch microphones
are located at Ma and Mb. The distance d from the material surface is about 10 mm; the
space l between the two microphones is 13 mm. The transfer function Hab (ω) between
pa(ω) and pb(ω) at Ma and Mb is measured by means of a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)
analyzer. When ambient noise is utilized as the sound source with the sound pressure
paEA(ω) and pbEA(ω) under the plane wave assumption, the normal impedance ratio of
material to air ZEA(ω) is given as (here, time dependence ejωt is omitted):
H abEA ( )(1  e 2 jk (l  d ) )  e jkl (1  e 2 jkd )

Z EA ( )  c , (1)
H abEA ( )(1  e 2 jk (l  d ) )  e jkl (1  e 2 jkd )
where k is the wavelength constant, and j is an imaginary unit. If the ambient noise is
insufficient, a supplemental sound source can be added to improve the signal-to-noise
ratio.
Outline of the Method using p-u Sensor
If a p-u sensor is applied to the EA method (Figure 1(b)) instead of a p-p sensor, it can
be located at the same position of Mb in Figure 1(a). Surface normal impedance of a
material is simply defined as:
p surf
Zn  (2)
u n ,surf
where u and p are normal particle velocity and sound pressure at the material surface,
respectively.
Our previous paper (Otsuru et al., 2009) introduced impedance <Zn> that is an
ensemble averaged impedance over a sufficient number of incoherent sound sources
such as to expect random incidence. Consequently, the following equations are expected
to yield a statistically good approximation of the surface normal impedance and
corresponding absorption coefficient of a specimen.
 p surf 
Z n   (3)
u n ,surf 
2
 Z   c
   1  n (4)
 Z n   c
In a practical measurement, to achieve sufficient averaging, the authors propose the following:
~p
1
Zn   ~
N N un
(5)
COMPARISON OF TWO DIFFERENT MEASUREMENT PRINCIPLES

Measurement Framework
A series of absorption characteristic measurements was conducted by use of the EA

method with both p-p and p-u sensors, as shown in the schematic diagram of the
measurement setup (Figure 1). The measurement of the p-p sensor, the transfer function
Hab(ω) between the sound pressures at the two microphones pa and pb, was measured.
Then, if a p-u sensor is applied to the measurement instead of the p-p sensor, it can be
located 10 mm above the surface to measure p and un. Prior to detailed investigations, a
refinement of the calibration system by use of an impedance tube of 10-cm diameter
was conducted and the basic characteristics of the p-u sensor were measured. The
resolution of two channels FFT (RION SA-78) is set to 1.25 Hz and a Hanning window
with a 0.8 s time length is employed to measure the transfer function. Linear averaging
in the frequency domain is performed N = 150 times. The measurements were
conducted in a reverberation room (Room I) at the Information Center of Oita
University. For the random incidence condition, six loudspeakers (Fostex FE-103)
mounted in small boxes were used to radiate incoherent pink noise. The pink noise is
filtered to eliminate unnecessary frequency components and to focus on 100 to 1000 Hz.
A sub-woofer (JVC SX-DW77) is also added to increase the low frequency energy
roughly below 200 Hz.
Results of Absorption Coefficients
In Room I, the absorption characteristics of two specimens of glass wool: GW50, 50-
mm thick, and GW25, 25-mm thick, were measured with different types of sensors. The
sensor position was fixed at the center of 0.9 × 1.8 m specimen. The corresponding
absorption coefficients of GW50 obtained using measurements are compared in
Figure 2(a). The agreements of absorption coefficients are good. Similarly, those for
GW25 are compared in Figure 2(b). Slight discrepancies of about 0.05 are observed in
the absorption coefficients. The discrepancies between the two methods can be regarded
as resulting mainly from differences in the measuring mechanism of the particle
velocity between the sensor types. The method using the p-u sensor is expected to give
better results because the configuration is simpler. At this point, the authors conclude
that, our method offers satisfactorily equivalent absorption coefficient for the specimens
tested with either type of sensor.
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Comparison of absorption coefficients obtained by p-p and p-u sensor:
(a) GW50, and (b) GW25.
1077
a (i) a (ii)
b (i) b (ii)
c (i) c (ii)
Figure 3. Plan views and photos of field measurement in architectural spaces: (a) a
corridor, (b) an entrance hall, and (c) a seminar room
APPLICATION ON IN SITU MEASUREMENT
Architectural Spaces
To investigate the general applicability of the proposed method, a series of preliminary

measurements of the two different measurement principles was carried out in three
architectural space environments (a corridor, an entrance hall, and a seminar room).
Photos and plan views of the furniture layouts with material locations in the field
measurements are shown in Figure 3. The specimen investigated is GW50. The
specimen is laid on a 0.02-m acrylic plate and has the same square area of 0.6 m2. The
specimen’s sizes are not exactly identical to that of the investigation in the previous
section, but we expected to have sufficient validity for the discussion, as described by
Nazli et al. (2012). Six portable sound speakers with incoherent pink noise are
employed and manually moved randomly by three people to realize the random noise
conditions because of insufficient noise within all three environmental conditions. For
comprehensible comparisons, the measurements of similar specimens are conducted in
Room I using six fixed loudspeakers to radiate incoherent pink noise.
Figures 4 and 5 present the combined results of the corresponding absorption
coefficients and normalized impedances obtained by both the p-p and p-u methods in
three other environments for GW50, respectively. All the measured absorption
characteristics in the three other environments are compared with the measured
absorption coefficients obtained in Room I. The maximum differences and mean
deviation of the measured absorption coefficients are provided in Figure 6(a) and 6(b),
respectively. The similar basic tendencies of absorption characteristics can be observed
for GW50 in Figures 4 and 5, but there are noticeable differences in the dispersion that
can be observed below 250 Hz in the impedance results. There can be complementary
aspects, which can explain this phenomenon: (i) influences of room modes, and (ii) the
dissimilarity of the measurement setting of sound sources where the fixed loudspeakers
are employed in Room I. Moreover, both methods can be considered as having fair
agreement based on the maximum dispersion being below 0.17 and the maximum mean
deviation being lower than 0.06. The authors consider the dispersion of measured
absorption coefficients yield plausible agreements that support the applicability of the
proposed method in various sound fields.
(a) (b)
Figure 4. Comparison of measured absorption characteristics of GW50 obtained by p-p

sensor in the reverberation room (Room I), the corridor, the entrance hall, and the
seminar room.
1079
(a) (b)
Figure 5. Comparison of measured absorption characteristics of GW50 obtained by p-u

sensor in the reverberation room (Room I), the corridor, the entrance hall, and the
seminar room.
(a) (b)
Figure 6. Comparison of: (a) maximum differences value of absorption coefficients,

(b) mean deviation of absorption coefficients of GW50, obtained by proposed method in
the corridor, the entrance hall, and the seminar room.
Car Cabin
In this study, a preliminary measurement using the p-p sensor is conducted in a car
cabin to measure the normal surface impedance of carry test sample. Two types of cars
are used for the experiment: Car-A; 5-door, 7-passenger minivan with dimensions of
2825 × 1470 × 1355 mm3, and Car-B; 5-door, 4-passenger tail wagon with dimensions
of 1795 × 1255 × 1255 mm3, as shown in Figure 7. The specimen to be investigated is
GW50. The specimen is laid on an acrylic plate and it has dimensions of 0.6 × 0.3 m.
Five conditions were set for the sound source as follows:
a. all doors are closed with ambient noise surrounding the car
b. all doors are open with ambient noise surrounding the car
c. one portable sound source added onto condition a
d. one portable sound source added onto condition b
e. three portable sound sources added onto condition b.
For comparison purpose, the measurement of a similar sample of GW50 is

conducted in Room I using six fixed loudspeakers to radiate incoherent pink noise. The
sound absorption coefficients of GW50 measured in Car-A are compared in Figure 8.
The corresponding absorption coefficients agree well with the results measured in
Room I within the frequencies of 400 to 1200 Hz, except for sound source condition of
a and b. Moreover, the measurement in Car-B reveals the same basic tendencies of the
measured corresponding absorption coefficients as for GW50 (Figure 8(b)), but there
are non-negligible differences below 500 Hz. Clearly, the GW50 measured results show
distinct fluctuations for sound source conditions a and b, which suggests that there is
insufficient noise when all doors of Car-A and Car-B are closed. The authors consider
that the good agreement shows the plausibility of the method for measuring absorption,
because the absorbent tendencies were captured in accordance with the results of Room
I when sufficient noise was achieved in the measurement. However, different types of
material need to be investigated to support the general applicability and repeatability of
our method.
(a) (b)
Figure 7. Two types of car used for experimental purposes: (a) Car-A, and (b) Car-B.
Room I Room I
a (Car-A) a (Car-B)
b (Car-A) b (Car-B)
c (Car-A) c (Car-B)
d (Car-A) d (Car-B)
(a) (b)
Figure 8. Comparisons of absorption coefficients of GW50: (a) in Car-A, and (b) in

Car-B.
1081
TRIAL APPLICATION ON DIFFERENT TYPE OF MATERIAL
Perforated-type Panel
Direct piercing carved wood panels (DPCWPs) with floral patterns have been used as
exterior walls in Masjid Abidin located in Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, from as early
as 1900. The DPCWP with floral pattern is among the most complex forms of DPCWP
(Nordin, 2009). Most common DPCWPs with floral patterns are installed with the Daun
Sireh motif (DSM). The same procedure of measurement using the p-u sensor, as
mentioned above, was applied, but the measurements were conducted in an anechoic
room with a volume of 58 m3 at Oita University. There are nine types of aperture
available for measurement. Figure 9(a) shows the measurement condition for the front
view of the DPCWP with DSM. An aluminum frame was used in the measurement to
hold the sample in the middle of the room. The dimensions of the sample are
0.37 × 0.63 m. The foliage of this sample is repeated eight times from a single unit,
which comprises nine different types and shapes of aperture, as shown in Figure 9(b).
(a) (b)
Figure 9. Measurement condition: (a) DPCWP with DSM inside the anechoic room,
and (b) nine types of aperture of the DPCWP.
The measurement of sound absorption characteristics was applied to the

DPCWP with 30% and 40% perforation ratios. The measurement results for both
perforation ratios for the individual apertures are presented in Figure 10. For 30%
perforation ratio, three larger apertures with area of 455 mm2 (H9), 1808 mm2 (H4), and
3278 mm2 (H8) have higher absorption coefficients within 750 Hz and above. The other
six smaller apertures with areas in the region of 139 mm2 to 386 mm2 show similar
basic tendencies for absorption coefficient values. However, for 40% perforation ratio,
the measured absorption coefficients for all apertures are almost similar from 100 to 800
Hz. The measured absorption coefficients of both perforation ratios are higher when the
apertures become larger. For simplicity, all individual aperture results are averaged and
presented for both 30% and 40% perforation ratios from 100 to 1500 Hz in Figure 11.
The averaged absorption coefficients for both 30% and 40% perforation ratios show a
significant decrement from 100 to 1500 Hz. It might be readily apparent in the results
that the absorption coefficients become higher when the perforation ratio becomes
larger. The authors consider that the measured absorption coefficients of the DPCWP
yield a plausible tendency that supports the feasibility of the proposed method for
measuring different types of material.
(a) (b)
Figure 10. Sound absorption coefficients of each aperture: (a) 30% perforation ratio, and
(b) 40% perforation ratio.
Figure 11. Averaged absorption coefficients obtained using p-u sensor for 30% and 40%
perforation ratios.
CONCLUSIONS
Several measurements obtained using methods with p-p and p-u sensors revealed that
discrepancies of absorption coefficients attributable to the sensors are small. In this
study, the measurements of “ensemble averaged” surface normal impedance at random
incidences in different sound fields have been performed. In situ measurements using p-
p and p-u sensors suggest good applicability of both methods for various practical
measurements. Then, we found good agreement between the results obtained by using
the p-p method and the values measured in a reverberation room to represent the
specimen’s sound absorption characteristics in a car cabin. The investigation of DPCWP
with DSM showed that larger apertures yielded higher absorption coefficients when a
larger perforation ratio was applied. However, both perforation ratios demonstrate an
identical decrement of absorption coefficients from lower frequency to higher
frequency. Further experimental investigations are now being pursued actively.
1083
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is partially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
(JSPS), Grant-in-Aid for Exploratory Research, 19656143, and was conducted as one
Research Project (A) of the Venture Business Laboratory in Oita University.
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precision of measurement of sound absorption coefficients in a reverberation
room (I) – The 3rd Round Robin Test and the Investigations on Diffusivity of
Sound Field, J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn. 24, 381–392.
Makita, Y., Koyasu, M., Nagata, M. and Kimura, S. 1968b. Investigations into the
precision of measurement of sound absorption coefficients in a reverberation
room (II) – Experimental Studies on the Method of Measurement of the
Reverberation and the 4th Round Robin Test, J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn. 24, 393–402.
Nazli bin Che Din, Otsuru, T., Tomiku, R., Okamoto, N. and Asniawaty, K. 2012.
Measurement method with a pressure-velocity sensor for measuring surface
normal impedance of materials using ensemble averaging: Comparison with
other methods and its geometrical configuration, Acoust. Sci Tech. 33, 86-95.
Nordin, N. 2009, Ukiran Kayu Warisan Melayu, first ed., Perbadanan Kraf Malaysia.
Takahashi, Y., Otsuru, T. and Tomiku, R. 2005. In situ measurements of surface
impedance and absorption coefficients of porous materials using two

microphones and ambient noise, Appl. Acoust. 66, 845–865.
Otsuru, T., Tomiku, R., Nazli bin Che Din, Okamoto, N. and Murakami, M. 2009.
Ensemble averaged impedance of material using an in situ technique:
Preliminary study using boundary element method. Journal of the Acoustical
Society of America, 125: 3784-3791.
1085
SOUND TRANSMISSION LOSS OF A DOUBLE-LEAF PARTITION WITH

MICRO-PERFORATED PLATE INSERTION UNDER DIFFUSE FIELD
INCIDENCE
A. Putra*, A. Y. Ismail and Md. R. Ayob

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM)
Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100, Melaka, Malaysia
Email: azma.putra@utem.edu.my
ABSTRACT
In noise control applications, a double-leaf partition has been applied widely as a

lightweight structure for noise insulation, such as in car doors, train bodies, and aircraft
fuselages. Unfortunately, the insulation performance deteriorates significantly at mass-
air-mass resonance due to coupling between the panels and the air in the gap. This paper
investigates the effect of a micro-perforated panel (MPP), inserted in the conventional
double-panel partition, on sound transmission loss at troublesome resonant frequencies.
It is found that the transmission loss improves at this resonance if the MPP is located at
a distance of less than half that of the air gap. A mathematical model is derived for the
diffuse field incidence of acoustic loading.
Keywords: Transmission loss; double-panel; noise; MPP; acoustics.
INTRODUCTION
A double-leaf structure is a common structural design in many engineering applications.

Body structures of cars, trains, and airplanes, as well as the walls of buildings are some
examples of double-leaf partitions in practice. The double-leaf has been found to be a
better noise barrier compared with the single-leaf. However, there remains a problem
with the double-panel, which is the weak sound transmission loss (STL) performance at
low frequencies due to the “mass-air-mass” resonance. At this frequency range, this
causes the double-leaf to lose its superiority over the single-leaf structure (Fahy and
Gardonio, 2006). Several works have been published on attempts to overcome this
problem. This includes the application of absorptive materials inside the gap of a
double-leaf to increase damping (Tang et al., 1998, Bravo et al., 2002). This treatment
was found to be effective in increase STL at low frequency, including that of the mass-
air-mass resonance. Another work suggested installing Hemholtz resonators in the air
gap (Mao and Piertzko, 2005). This resonator acts like a single-degree of freedom
system, the natural frequency of which depends on its geometry. It is found that by
optimally tuning the resonator, the STL at resonance is improved significantly.
Some active noise control systems have also been proposed to solve the mass-
air-mass resonance problem. Two different pieces of equipment, i.e., a loudspeaker and
an actuator were placed inside the gap to control actively the sound transmission (Li and
Cheng, 2008). The loudspeaker reduces the transmission energy that propagates through
the acoustic path, and the actuator reduces energy from the structural path by creating a
counter force on the two panels to suppress the vibration; this in turn reduces the
radiated sound into the air. By varying the distance between both the loudspeaker and
1086
Sound transmission loss of a double-leaf partition with micro-perforated plate insertion under diffuse field incidence
the actuator to the panels, both strategies gave effective reduction of sound
transmission. Similarly, a long T-shaped resonator was embedded along the edge of the
double panel to control actively the acoustic path inside the gap (Li et al., 2010). This
was also been found effective in increasing STL at an even broader frequency range.
In 1975, Dah You Maa in China found that when a thin panel with sub-
millimeter-sized holes was introduced and located in front of a rigid panel with an air
gap, the micro-perforated panel (MPP) acts as a sound absorber following a Helmholtz
resonator mechanism. The diameter of the holes must be within the range 0.05−1 mm
and the perforation ratio must be between 0.5% and 1.5% for optimum absorption (Maa,
1975). As the MPP is made from a panel, it provides several advantages, such as being
non-fibrous, non-abrasive, and non-polluting. Several works have been conducted
concerning the improvement of sound absorption performance of the MPP, e.g., by
arranging it to be a double-leaf (Sakagami et al., 2006), by increasing its thickness
(Pfretzner and Cobo, 2006), and by modifying its hole geometry (Sakagami et al.,
2008). This paper proposes the insertion of an MPP within a double-panel partition. The
proposed system might be important for a condition where any abrasive and toxic
material, such as commercial glass wool and glass fiber cannot be presented for health
reasons. The next section describes the derivation of the mathematical model and the
simulation results that show the effect of the MPP insertion, in terms of the location of
the MPP in the gap, as well as its hole size and perforation ratio on the performance of
the sound transmission loss, particularly at the mass-air-mass resonance.
GOVERNING EQUATIONS
Propagating Acoustic Pressure
Figure 1 shows a mechanical system consisting of double solid panels with an MPP
inserted in between (abbreviated here as DL-MPP), which is excited by an oblique
incidence of sound with an arbitrary angle φ. The solid panels are separated by distance
D and the MPP is located at distance l from the back solid plate. Each of the unbounded
solid and MPP panels has mass per unit area M and m, respectively. The component of
the incident wavenumber vector directed parallel to the panel is kz = ksinφ. As the panel
is uniform and infinite, the flexural or bending wave induced in the panel must also
have the same wavenumber kz. The incidence and reflected pressures upon the panel are
given by:
pi x  0, z   A1e jkx cos  jkz sin  (1)
pr x  0, z   B1e jkx cos  jkz sin (2)
where k = ω/c and k represents the acoustic wavenumber, ω is the angular velocity, and
c is the sound speed. Here and for the rest of the equations, time dependence ejωt is
assumed implicitly. At x = 0, the acoustic pressure acting on the incident side of the
front panel can be written as:
p1 = pi(x = 0) + pr(x = 0) = A1 + B1 (3)
Similarly to Eqs. (1) and (2), the total pressure on the other side of the front
panel surface p2 can be obtained. Note that for the analysis of propagating pressure in
the x-direction, the term e−jkzsinφ is a constant and this is implicit in Eq. (3) as well as for
the remaining equations in this paper. The relation between the average surface particle
1087
Putra et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 7(2013) 1086-1095
velocity v and the sound pressure exciting the panel can be obtained by using the Euler
equation v = −1/jρω(dp/dx). For both surfaces of each panel, at x = 0 for the front panel,
at x = D − l for the MPP, and at x = D for the back panel, this gives, respectively:
pt
B3
B2 f
f
A3
f
B1
f
A2
f
f p3 p4 p5 x
p1 p2
A1
vp1 vh vp3
vp2
x=0 l
D
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of a DL-MPP system.
zf vp1 = (A1,2 − B1,2) cos φ (4)
zf vm = (A2,3e−jk(D−l) cos φ − B2,3ejk(D−l) cos φ) cos φ (5)
zfvp3 = (A3e−jkDcos φ − B2ejkDcos φ)cos φ (6)
and
pt = zf vp3cos φ (7)
where vp is the velocity of the panel, vm is the mean particle velocity over the MPP
surface, and zf = ρc is the acoustic impedance of air, where ρ is the air density. Note that
for the solid plate, the mean particle velocity on its surface is equal to the velocity of the
panel v = vp. This is valid for light fluid such as air, but not for heavy media such as
water. For convenience, the distance between the panel is assumed much smaller
compared with the acoustic wavelength (kd << 1). The cavity pressures can therefore be
assumed uniform between each gap:
p2 ≈ p3 = A2 + B2 = pb (8)
p4 ≈ p5 = A3 + B3 = pc (9)
1088
Eq. (5) can be expanded to:
zf vm = (A2,3[cos k(D −l) – jsin k(D −l)] − B2,3[cos k(D −l) + jsin k(D −l)]) cos φ
(10)
By using Eq. (8), Eq. (10) can be rewritten as:
zf vm = A2 − B2 − jk(D − l) cos φ pb (11)
zf vm = A3 − B3 − jk(D − l) cos φ pc (12)
As the cavity pressure is uniform, the pressure between each gap can thus be
expressed in terms of the front panel velocity:
pb = zf (vp1 − vm)/jk(D − l) cos φ (13)
pc = zf (vm − vp1)/ jkl cos φ (14)
Hole Impedance and Mean Particle Velocity
As the acoustic pressure impinges on the MPP, the air particles penetrate the holes and
excite the remaining solid surface of the panel. The combination between the panel
velocity and particle velocity inside the holes creates the mean particle velocity given
by Takahashi and Tanaka (2002):
vm = vp (1 − σ) + σvh (15)
where vh is the particle velocity inside the hole and σ is the perforation ratio. The air
inside the holes moves like a moving piston owing to its inertial property. At the same
time, the air also interacts with the inner surface of the holes creating a friction force.
These mechanisms are represented by the hole impedance. According to Maa (1975),
this is given by:
Zo = Zo,R + Zo,I (16)
with
Zo,R = 32υat[(1+Xo2/32)1/2 + (1.71Xo/8)do/t] /do2 (17)
Zo,I = jωρt [1+(9 + Xo2/2)-1/2 +0.85do/t] (18)
where Xo = (do/2) (ωρ/υa)1/2, do is the hole diameter, t is the MPP thickness, and υa is the
viscosity of air, i.e., 1.8 × 10−5 Ns/m2. The resistive or real part of the impedance Zo,R
represents the viscous effects, i.e., the interaction of the fluid particle with the wall
inside the holes, while the reactive or imaginary part Zo,I represents the acoustic
reactance from the inertia of the air. The net pressure on the surface of the panel is
therefore expressed as:
1089
Zo,R(vh − vp) + Zo,I vh = Δp (19)
Substituting Eq. (15) into Eq. (19) gives:
vm = γvp + σΔp/Zo (20)
where γ = 1− (σZo,I/Zo) is the complex non-dimensional term.
Sound Transmission Loss
The equation of motion for the solid back panel is given by:
zp3vp3 = pc – pt (21)
where zp3 = −j(Gk4sin4φ−Mω2)/ω is the bending mechanical impedance with G =

Et3/12(1−ν), which is the bending stiffness of the panel, E is the Young’s modulus, and
ν is the Poisson’s ratio. Substituting both pt in Eq. (7) and pc in Eq. (14) into Eq. (21)
and then dividing both sides by vp3 yields the panel velocity ratio:
vp2/vp3 = [1 + jkl cos φ(1 +zp3 cos φ/zf)]/(γ +zp2/Z) (22)
The equation of motion for the MPP is expressed as:
zp2vp2 = Δp (23)
where zp2 = −j(Gk4sin4φ−mω2)/ω. Substituting Eqs. (13), (14) and (20) into Eq. (23)
and again dividing both sides by vp3 yields:
vp1/vp3 = (vp2/vp3) (jk(D − l)zp2zf) + [1 + jkD(1 +zp3zf )] (24)
It can be seen that the velocity ratio of the solid panels vp1/vp3 depends on the
location of the MPP within the air gap.
The equation of motion for the front solid panel (similar to Eqs. (21) and (23)) is
expressed as:
zp1vp1 = p1 – pb (25)
By substituting Eqs. (3), (13) and (14) into Eq. (25), the ratio of incident to
transmitted pressure is given as:
pi/pt = ((vp1/vp3)[1 + jk(D − l) cos φ(1 +zp1/zf )]

− (vp2/vp3) (γ +zp2/Z)) cos φ /j2k(D − l) (26)
The case for normal incidence of acoustic loading can be obtained by setting
φ = 0 and the mechanical impedance of the panels can be assumed to be dominated by
the mass, i.e., zp1 = zp3 = jMω and zp2 = jmω.
1090
As for plane waves, the sound power W is proportional to the sound intensity I,
which is simply a ratio of the squared magnitude sound pressure to the air impedance,
i.e., I = |p2| /zf. The transmission coefficient is therefore given by τ =|pt/pi|2. For diffuse
fields, this can be governed by integrating over angles of incidence, which is given by
(Fahy and Gardonio, 2007):
p /2
td = ò t (j )sin 2j dj (27)
0
The transmission loss in dB unit is:
STL = 10log10(1/τ) (28)
ANALYTICAL RESULTS
Figure 2 shows the sound transmission loss for the case of normal incidence for
partitions consisting of DL [1], triple-leaf (TL), and DLMPP for an MPP located exactly
in the middle of the two panels (l = 0.5D) for an air gap D = 100 mm. The mass-air-
mass resonance of the DL can be seen to occur around 170 Hz, where the STL is nearly
0 dB. The presence of the MPP in this case does not affect this resonance because this
corresponds to the gap of the double solid plates. By inserting another solid panel
between the double-panel (TL), the second resonance appears at 280 Hz, which is due to
the gap between the middle and the back panel. This worsens the problem, although the
STL at mid-high frequency increases significantly owing to the increase of mass within
the system.
Figure 2. Sound transmission loss of DL (—), TL (−・−) and DLMPP

(−−do = 0.1 mm, σ = 1.5%) subjected to normal incidence of acoustic loading.
1091
As the objective is to improve the STL of the conventional double-leaf partition

(DL) at the mass-air-mass resonance, Figure 3 shows the STL for the DL and DLMPP
for different locations of the MPP relative to the solid plate. This is plotted for the case
of diffuse field incidence, which can be seen to yield a broader frequency range of
resonance effects due to the summation of resonance dips at various angles of
incidences. This shows that for other locations of the MPP, as the MPP shifts closer to
the panel either at the front or to the back solid panel, the STL can be observed to
increase at the resonance. The additional damping, due to the viscous force in the MPP
holes, influences the air layer in front of the solid plate, which breaks the coupling
between the solid panels and the air.
Figure 3. Sound transmission loss of DL (—) and DLMPP for different locations of
MPP in the gap subjected to diffuse field incidence of acoustic loading (do = 0.1 mm, σ
= 1.5%).
Figure 4 shows the effect of hole diameter of the MPP on the STL for a fixed
MPP location at l = 0.1D. Around the resonance region, decreasing the hole diameter
improves the STL, as this increases the domination of the real part of the hole
impedance, which thus, provides more viscous force or damping to the MPP. In Figure
5, the effect of the perforation ratio is investigated. It shows that increasing the
perforation ratio does not give significant differences to the STL around the resonance.
Therefore, to benefit from STL improvement at high frequency due to added mass
within the system, the lowest perforation for the MPP, i.e., σ = 0.5% is preferred. This
could also save costs for the perforated panel if the smallest hole diameter is used
(do = 0.1 mm).
1092
Figure 4. Sound transmission loss of DLMPP for different hole diameters (σ = 0.5%)
subjected to diffuse field incidence (l = 0.1D).
Figure 5. Sound transmission loss of DLMPP for different perforation ratios (do = 0.1
mm) subjected to diffuse field incidence (l = 0.1D).
1093
For clarity of the analysis, the level of improvement of the TL (around the
resonance) can be represented by the insertion loss, i.e., the ratio of the transmitted
sound power before and after the MPP insertion, which is given by:
æ t ö
F =10 log ç DL ÷ = STL DLMPP - STL DL (29)
è t DLMPP ø
where STLDLMPP is the transmission loss of the DL-MPP and STLDL is for the double-
leaf.
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 6. Insertion loss of DLMPP system with different MPP parameters: (a) locations
in the gap (do = 0.1 mm, σ = 1.5%, −−l = 0.1D, -×-l = 0.25D, l = 0.5D), (b) hole
diameters (l = 0.1D, σ = 1.5%, −−do = 0.1 mm, -×-do = 0.2 mm, do = 0.4 mm), and
(c) perforation ratio (l = 0.1D, do = 0.1 mm, −−σ = 0.5%, -×-σ = 1%, σ = 1.5%).
The insertion loss of the DLMPP system is presented in Figure 6. These are the
results from Figures 3, 4 and 5. The improvement for DLMPP with different locations
of the MPP (Figure 6(a)) can be seen to have a wider band of frequency from 200 Hz to
1 kHz, reaching almost 5 dB for l = 0.1D. The insertion loss for hole diameter variation
is presented in Figure 6(b). It can be seen that a smaller diameter is still best for good
insertion loss. Correspondingly, Figure 6(c) shows that a small perforation ratio is
preferred, because varying the perforation ratio (with fixed hole diameter) gives almost
no effect to the insertion loss.
1094
CONCLUSIONS
Models of sound transmission loss of a DLMPP system under diffuse field incidences of
acoustic loading have been developed. It is found that the MPP insertion reduces the
effect of resonance found in the conventional double-leaf partition. However, this is
only effective when the MPP distance is less than half of the air gap and it improves as
it approaches the solid plate. Reducing the size of the hole improves the STL at
resonance, while changing the perforation ratio gives almost no effect on the STL
performance at resonance. The model can be used for designing a multi-layer partition
where problems of mass-air-mass resonance might be experienced due to a
predominantly low frequency noise source.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this project by The
Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MoHE) under Fundamental Research Grant
Scheme, FRGS/2010/FKM/TK02/3-F0078.
REFERENCES
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Li, D., Zhang, X., Cheng, L. and Yu, G. 2002. Effectiveness of T-shaped acoustic
resonators in low-frequency sound transmission control of a finite double-panel
partition. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 329: 4740-4755.
Li, Y.Y. and Cheng, L. 2008. Mechanism of active control of sound transmission
through a linked double wall system into an acoustic cavity. Applied Acoustics, 69:
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Maa, D.Y. 1975. Theory and design of microperforated panel sound absorbing
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Pfretzner, J. and Cobo, P. 2006. Microperforated insertion units: An alternative strategy
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1095
CONTENTS
CFD Investigation of In-Cylinder Air Flow to Optimize Number of Guide Vanes 1096
to Improve CI Engine Performance using Higher Viscous Fuel
Idris Saad and S. Bari
Energetic and Exergetic Comparison of Air to Air and Air to Water Heat Pumps 1108
According to Evaporator Conditions
Kemal Çomaklı, UğurÇakır, Erol Şahin and Ayşegül Çokgez Kuş
Investigation of Aluminum-Stainless Steel Dissimilar Weld Quality using 1121

Different Filler Metals
L. H. Shah, Z. Akhtar and M. Ishak
On the Effect of Feedstock Preparation on the Characteristics of Warm Formed Powder 1132
Compacts
M.M. Rahman, M.A.S. Wardi and S.S.M. Nor
Modeling of the End Milling Process for Aluminum Alloy AA6061t6 using HSS Tool 1140
Najiha M.S., M.M. Rahman and A.R. Yusoff
Effects of Copper and Magnesium on Phase Formation Modeling and 1151

Mechanical Behavior in AL-CU-MG Alloys
N. Nafsin and H. M. M. A. Rashed
Diurnal Pattern and Estimation of Global Solar Radiation in East Coast Malaysia 1162
M. Mahendran, Lee. G.C., A. Shahrani, Bakar. R.A., K. Kadirgama,
Amir. A.R. and K.V. Sharma
Analysis of Recirculation Zone and Ignition Position of Non-Premixed Bluff-Body for Biogas 1176
MILD Combustion
M.M.Noor, Andrew P.Wandel and Talal Yusaf
Evaluation on an Assistive Device in Suppressing Hand Tremor during Writing 1187

Z. M. Yusop, M.Z. Md. Zain, M. Hussein, A. R Musa, A. As’arry
Analysis of Woven Natural Fiber Fabrics Prepared using Self-Designed 1197

Handloom
A.R. Azrin Hani, M.F. Shaari, N.S. Mohd Radzuan, M.S. Hashim, R. Ahmad and M. Mariatti
Optimum Thickness of Wall Insulations and Their Thermal Performance for 1207
Buildings in Malaysian Climate
F. Basrawi, H. Ibrahim, M.Y. Taib and G.C. Lee
Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose as a Primary Viscosifying Agent in Cement 1218

Slurry at High Temperature
Ghulam Abbas, Sonny Irawan, Khalil .R. Memon, Sandeep Kumar and Ahmed A.I. Elrayah
Optimization of the Material Removal Rate in Turning of UD-GFRP using the 1226
Particle Swarm Optimization Technique
Meenu and Surinder Kumar
ii
Integrated Simulation Model for Composition and Properties of Gases in 1242

Hydrogen Fueled Engine
Mohammed Kamil, M.M. Rahman and Rosli A. Bakar
A Practical System to Predict the Absorption Coefficient, Dimension and 1256

Reverberation Time of Room using GLCM, DVP and Neural Network
M.N. Yahya, T. Otsuru, R. Tomiku and T. Okuzono
Evaluation of Annoyance and Suitability of a Back-Up Warning Sound for 1267

Electric Vehicles
I. Salleh, M.Z. Md. Zain and R.I. Raja Hamzah
Overall Heat Transfer Enhancement of Triangular Obstacles 1278

B. Sahin, E. Manay and V. Ozceyhan
Effect of Different Heat Transfer Models on a Diesel Homogeneous Charge 1292

Compression Ignition Engine
A. Aziz Hairuddin, Andrew P. Wandel and Talal Yusaf
Morphological and Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene/Epoxidized Natural 1305

Rubber Thermoplastic Vulcanizates Treated with Maleic Anhydride-Grafted
Polypropylene
N. Mohamad, Z. Nur Sharafina, H.E. Ab Maulod, M. Y. Yuhazri and A.R. Jeefferie
Influence of Nanoparticle Volume Fraction, Particle Size and Temperature on 1316

Thermal Conductivity and Viscosity of Nanofluids- A Review
B. Ravisankar and V. Tara Chand
Memristive Behavior of Plasma Treated TiO2 Thin Films 1339

Z. Aznilinda, S.H.Herman, M. M. Ramly, A.B. Raudah and M.Rusop
Intermetallic Evolution for Isothermal Aging up to 2000 Hours on Sn-4Ag- 1348

0.5Cu and Sn-37Pb Solders with Ni/Au Layers
M.A. Azmah Hanim, A. Ourdjini , O. Saliza Azlina and I. Siti Rabiatul Aisha
Effect of Chitosan Gelatinization Temperature on Water Absorption and Water 1357

Retention of Chitosan-Based Urea Fertilizer
N. Mohamad, A. H. Nor Nadiah, A. R. Jeefferie and D. Mohd Fairuz
Design Improvements of A Gripper-Type Transplanter for Pineapple Suckers 1367

Mohd Taufik Ahmad, Rohazrin Abdul Rani and Abd Rahim Hassan
Stability and Thermal Conductivity Characteristics of Carbon Nanotube based 1376

Nanofluids
N.M. Fadhillahanafi, K.Y. Leong and M.S. Risby
The Effect of Methanol-Diesel Blended Ratio on CI Engine Performance 1385

T. Yusaf, I. Hamawand, P. Baker and G. Najafi
Continuous Biodiesel Production using Ultrasound Clamp on Tubular Reactor 1396

Leong Boon Soon, Anika Zafiah M. Rus and Sulaiman Hasan
Flow Separation Phenomena for Steady Flow over a Circular Cylinder at Low 1406
Reynolds Number
Toukir Islam, S.M. Rakibul Hassan and Mohammad Ali
Effect of Compressed Natural Gas Mixing on the Engine Performance and 1416
Emissions
T. Yusaf, P. Baker, I. Hamawand and M.M. Noor
Effect of Aging Treatment on the Microstructures and Hardness of Fe-Ni-Cr 1430

Superalloy
J. Ridhwan, E. Hamzah, M.Z. Selamat, Z. Zulfattah, M.H.M. Hafidzal
An Investigation of Acoustic Emission Signal Attenuation for Monitoring of 1442

Progressive Failure in Fiberglass Reinforced Composite Laminates
Z.M. Hafizi, J. Epaarachchi and K.T. Lau
Gasification of Coal-Petcoke Blends in a Pilot Scale Gasification Plant 1457

N. Muda and M. H. Boosroh
A Study on Lean Manufacturing Implementation in Malaysian Automotive 1467

Component Industry
A.N. M. Rose, B. Md. Deros and M. N. Ab. Rahman
Vortex Tube Air Cooling: The Effect on Surface Roughness and Power 1477
Consumption in Dry Turning
Zahari Taha, H.A. Salaam, T.M.Y.S. Tuan Ya, S.Y. Phoon, C.F. Tan and M.A. Akiah
CFD INVESTIGATION OF IN-CYLINDER AIR FLOW TO OPTIMIZE

NUMBER OF GUIDE VANES TO IMPROVE CI ENGINE PERFORMANCE
USING HIGHER VISCOUS FUEL
Idris Saad1, 2* and S. Bari2

1
Automotive Research and Testing Centre (ARTeC),
Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
Email: edris_sd@yahoo.com / idris.saad@mymail.unisa.edu.au
Phone: +603-5543-5190; Fax: +609-5543-5160
2
School of Advanced Manufacturing, University of South Australia,
Mawson Lakes, South Australia, 5095
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the in-cylinder air flow of a compression ignition (CI) engine
modified by a guide vane swirl and tumble device (GVSTD) where the number of
GVSTD vanes was varied to optimize its dimension to improve the CI engine
performance using higher viscous fuel (HVF). Hence, eleven 3D CI engine models were
developed; a base model and 10 GVSTD models, via SolidWorks. Computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) were performed by utilizing ANSYS-CFX and simulated under
motored conditions for two continuous complete cycles. The results are presented of the
simulation of in-cylinder pressure, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) and velocity during
the fuel injection period until expansion. The recorded increments from six vanes of
GVSTD were about 1.3%, 0.2% and 22% of the above results. Hence, this paper
concludes that GVSTD has the potential to improve CI engine performance using HVF.
Keywords: Engine simulation; CFD; guide vane; higher viscous fuel (HVF); in-cylinder
air flow.
INTRODUCTION
In 1900, ‘the father of the CI engine’, Dr Rudolf Diesel, demonstrated his engine using
peanut oil as a fuel at the World Exposition in Paris, France (Murugesan et al., 2009).
This proved that the CI engine could run using various vegetable oil-based and animal
fat-based fuels which were renewable and could solve the problem of the receding
world supply of crude oil (Greenberger, 2013; Kamil, Rahman, & Bakar, 2011). For
these reasons, many researchers have studied the performance of a CI engine fueled by
this type of fuel. Pramanik investigated a single cylinder, water-cooled open combustion
CI engine, comparing its performance when fueled by jatropha curcas oil and petro-
diesel (Pramanik, 2003; Rahim, Mamat, Taib, & Abdullah, 2012). In his experiment, at
maximum load, the engine consumed about 0.52 kg/kWh of jatropha curcas and
produced about 17.5% of brake thermal efficiency, but it only consumed about 0.302
kg/kWh of petro-diesel fuel while producing 27% of brake thermal efficiency. A study
by Yahya and Norhisyam (2012) compared waste cooking oil (WCO) as a CI engine
fuel with petro-diesel. In their experiment on a 600 cc CI engine, model Lister ST1, the
engine consumed about 0.38 L/kWh of WCO at 70% engine load while it only
consumed about 0.21 L/kWh of petro-diesel in similar conditions. Ramadhas, Jayaraj,
and Muraleedharan (2004) reviewed 42 studies about the use of vegetable oils as CI
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CFD Investigation of In-Cylinder Air Flow to Optimize Number of Guide Vanes to Improve CI Engine Performance
using Higher Viscous Fuel
engine fuel. Based on their conclusion, the performance of a CI engine fueled by

vegetable oil was lower than when fueled by petro-diesel. The main problem was that
the properties of the alternative fuels for the CI engine were relatively low-grade
compared to petro-diesel. This research has reviewed several articles about the
properties of vegetable oil as CI engine fuel from 2001 until 2012, comparing them with
those of petro-diesel, and the results are tabulated in Table 1.
Table 1. Properties of vegetable oil compared to petro-diesel

(Altın et al., 2001; Pugazhvadivu & Jeyachandran, 2005; Senthil Kumar et al., 2005;
Agarwal & Agarwal, 2007; Murugesan et al., 2009; Misra & Murthy, 2011; Chauhan et
al., 2012; Bousbaa et al., 2012; Yahya & Norhisyam, 2012).
Kinematic Higher
Fuel Viscosity at Cetane Heating Density Flash Point
Properties 25-40°C Number Value [kg/L] [°C]
[mm2/s] [MJ/kg]
41.87 – 0.815 –
Petro-diesel 2.10 – 5.7 45 – 50.2 70 – 86
45.343 0.867
Alternative
11.3 – 79.21 37.1 – 48.1 34 – 40.5 0.9 – 0.946 99 – 290
fuel
As shown in Table 1, the kinematic viscosity, cetane number, higher heating

value, density and flash point of the alternative fuel for the CI engine are all substandard
to petro-diesel. Based on this concern, this research has grouped the alternative fuels for
the CI engine ranging from vegetable oil to higher viscous fuels (HVFs). Many
techniques have been used by researchers worldwide to improve the CI engine fueled by
HVF. Among these are the use of HVF as an additive to petro-diesel fuel (Chauhan et
al., 2012; Agarwal & Agarwal, 2007) to reduce the consumption of petro-diesel;
preheating the HVF (Pugazhvadivu & Jeyachandran, 2005; Senthil Kumar et al., 2005)
to level its viscosity; and adjusting the injection timing (Ye & Boehman, 2012) to inject
the fuel at the highest possible pressure and temperature to increase the combustion
efficiency. These techniques produce better results than a CI engine fueled with HVF;
however, performance was still lower than when fueled by petro-diesel. Referring to CI
engine combustion theory (Heywood, 1988; Pulkrabek, 2004), higher combustion
efficiency will be achieved when a high quality of petro-diesel (lower viscosity) is
injected into higher pressure, temperature and turbulence of air, resulting in higher fuel
evaporation, mixing and combustion. When comparing the preceding techniques by
researchers worldwide with this theory, it was found that none of them was trying to
improve the in-cylinder air characteristics. Because of that, this research has
investigated the potential of in-cylinder air flow to improve a CI engine fueled with
HVF. It is important to study the effect of improving in-cylinder air flow on the
performance of CI engines run with HVF since none of research so far has been found
investigate this, although it is suggested by the theory mentioned above. This can be a
new contribution to the body of knowledge.
Improving in-cylinder air flow is not a new technique for improving engine
performance. Techniques used have included a butterfly valve to close part of the intake
manifold ( Mamat, Abdullah, Xu, Wyszynski, & Tsolakis, 2009; Mat Yasin, Mamat,
Sharma, & Yusop, 2012); a shroud around the inlet valve (Mahmud, Cho, & Kwak,
2009); and modification of the inlet manifold (Xin et al., 2011) to generate higher swirl
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Saad and Bari /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1096-1107
to allow an organized air flow, thus resulting in higher volumetric efficiency which then
increases the pressure, temperature and turbulence of the in-cylinder air. However, none
of them were applied on a CI engine run with HVF and this research can be considered
as a novelty of the present work. Considering this previous research as a base from
which to develop a technique for this purpose, the simplest technique was selected,
which was to use a static vane installed in front of the intake manifold to guide the air
intake, which was a popular technique for the spark ignition (SI) engine. This research
names that static vane the GVSTD (guide vane swirl and tumble device). As a base
study, this research explores the in-cylinder air characteristics generated by the GVSTD
using a simulation method which utilizes SolidWorks as a computer aided drawing
(CAD) tool and ANSYS-CFX as a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool before
conducting experiments on the engine itself. To study the in-cylinder air flow, a 3D CI
engine model in accordance with the CI generator engine make and model of a HINO
W04D was prepared and simulated under motored conditions as a base model before the
GVSTD models were imposed on it. Table 2(a) tabulates the technical specifications of
the HINO W04D. The detail of the methodology is presented in the next section.
Table 2. (a) Technical specification of HINO W04D; (b) Specification of GVSTD
(a) (b)
Stroke × bore 108 × 104 mm Intake runner radius (R) 10 mm
Naturally
Intake system Vane height (H) 0.2 × R = 2 mm
aspirated
Intake diameter 80 mm Vane twist angle (θ) 35° clockwise
Compression ratio 17.9:1 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
Piston crown Concave convex Vane number 9, 10, 11 and
Injection timing 14° BTDC 12 vanes
According to the published pattern (Currie & Lazich, 2011; Sun et al., 2011;
Kim, 2003; Lin & Yang, 2000), the design of the GVSTD depends on four main
geometries; the vane number (N), vane height (H), vane angle (θ) and vane length (L),
as presented in Figure 1, and their dimensions play an important role in generating
optimized in-cylinder air characteristics. In other words, in order to design the GVSTD,
the dimensions of the geometry need to be optimized as well. This research used the
parametric optimization technique to optimize all four geometries mentioned above.
The parametric optimization technique was the simplest optimization technique at the
time when the GVSTD was developed, as it varies the dimension of the geometries and
tests them one by one. The highest possible improvement made by a particular
dimension is considered as the optimized dimension for a particular geometry.
In accordance with the previous studies, the vane height was optimized at
0.2 times the radius of the intake runner (R) (Bari & Saad, 2013; Saad et al., 2013; Saad
& Bari, 2012, 2013). For the purpose of this paper, the scope has been limited to the
optimization of the vane number: the other dimensions can be referred to in Table 2(b).
Hence, the number of vanes was varied from 3 to 12 for a total of 10 GVSTD models.
The in-cylinder pressure, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) and velocity results were
presented and compared between the base model and the GVSTD model. Finally, this
research found that six is the optimum number of GVSTD vanes to be used with the
other dimensions of the GVSTD geometries provided in Table 2(b).
1098
Figure 1. The geometry of the GVSTD
CONSTRUCTION OF A COMPUTER SIMULATION
The CFD simulation used in this research included the preparation of the drawing
model, meshing it and setting up the analysis flow before it could be run. The steps
taken to prepare the simulation model are explained as follows. As introduced earlier,
the base model was replicated from a HINO W04D CI engine, with its basic technical
specifications given in Table 2(a). The drawing of the base model consisted of five
domains: an intake runner, intake valve, cylinder, exhaust valve and exhaust runner
were prepared by using SolidWorks 2011 and are illustrated in Figure 2. Figure 2(c)
shows a sample GVSTD on the base model.
Figure 2. (a) and (b) Front and isometric views of the base model, respectively; (c)
position of the GVSTD on the base model
The drawing was then exported into DesignModeler (a CAD program used in
ANSYS-Workbench) because later this model would be simulated by using ANSYS-
CFX. The domain materials were created at this stage. The intake runner, cylinder and
exhaust runner were fluid domains, while both valves were assigned as a solid domain
to fulfil their function to close and open their ports. After that, the drawing model was
then transferred into ANSYS-Mesh. Here, the models were meshed according to the
assembly level meshing. All five domains were meshed using single mesh processes to
level their quality (ANSYS Inc., 2009) in order to use the “interfaces” option to later
join between the active domains in ANSYS-CFX. Note that this simulation was to be
run using the moving mesh technique, which required the finest element possible to
allow the element to be exponentially calculated (ANSYS Inc., 2009) as the movement
of the piston during simulation. A refinement option (ANSYS Inc., 2009) was selected
1099
to improve the control of local mesh sizing and to allow stability for moving the mesh
of approximately 495,500 combined tetrahedron, hexahedron and wedge elements.
Refinement of the mesh used in the computation showed some usefulness until grid
independence was reached. Increase in the number of cells in the computational domain
showed a significant effect up to about the 490,000 cell range. After this point,
increasing the number of cells to around 495,500 showed only a minor effect and then
to over 498,000 showed no changes in the predicted in-cylinder pressure. Based on the
statistics evaluation of the meshing results, about 495,500 elements were generated with
roughly 107,400 nodes for each of the 11 models. The average aspect ratio and
skewness were about 1.95 and 0.283, which can be considered as high quality mesh
since they are close to zero from a maximum 9.82 and 0.99 respectively.
In order to calculate the fluid flow, ANSYS-CFX used standard governing
equations as given in Equations (1) − (3) for the continuity, momentum and energy
equations respectively in the compressible flow condition. Based on those equations, 
is the fluid density and t is the time taken to complete the simulation, since this
simulation was to be run in transient mode for 10 time steps per crank angle, while  is
the vector operator. The symbol p is the fluid pressure, S M is the momentum source
and  is the stress tensor. As in Equation (3),  and hto t are the thermal conductivity and
the total enthalpy respectively.

   U   0 (1)
Continuity: t
U 
   U  U   p      S M
Momentum (Navier-Stokes): t (2)
htot  p
    Uhtot  
Energy: t t (3)
  T     U    U .S M  S E
For the turbulence model, SST (shear stress transport) was used. This model was
to combine the k   model which gave the best result for calculating the flow in the
outer region of the boundary layer and the k   model, which did better in the inner
boundary layer (Anderson, 1995; White, 2011). As for the boundary condition, the end
of the intake and the exhaust runner were assigned as an ‘opening’ as in the actual
conditions. The other surfaces were set as a ‘wall’ boundary condition, but for the
cylinder wall, the option of ‘specifying the translation’ was added to allow it to move
during simulation later. The other challenge, in addition to setting up the simulation to
be run in the moving mesh condition, was setting the initial conditions, since the engine
was continuously running. To solve this problem, the simulations were set to be run for
two continuously complete cycles, as shown in Figure 3.
1100
Figure 3. Simulation sequences for two continuously complete cycles
This condition allowed the initial conditions of the pressure, velocity and
temperature to be set at 1 atm, 0 m/s and 300 K respectively. The red and blue lines in
Figure 3 indicate that the simulation used a similar model and mesh, and the initial
condition for the next process was using the results from previous calculations. To
complete the setting up, the convergence criteria were set at 1E-4 with a maximum 500
coefficients loop, but based on the observation during simulation, the iteration
converged around a 20 coefficients loop.
This section presents the simulation results of the in-cylinder pressure, turbulence
kinetic energy (TKE) and velocity around the injection period until part of the
expansion. Referring to Table 2(a), the start of the injection was at 14°CA BTDC, i.e. at
346°CA. Hence, this paper presents those results from 341°CA until 365°CA to predict
the fuel injection, evaporation, diffusion, mixing and auto-ignition processes based on
those results. In addition, simulation results within this region will provide a better
perspective for estimating the effect on real cases (Basha et al., 2009; Prasad et al.,
2011). The details of the simulation results are discussed in the following subsection.
In-Cylinder Pressure
Figure 4 represents the variation of in-cylinder pressure to investigate the effect of the
GVSTD on the base model. It was found that the vane number and the in-cylinder air
pressure developed did not have a direct linear relationship. This condition was also
presented by Miles (2000) in his study about using helical intake ports to generate swirl,
where the maximum pressure belonged to the low throttle, followed by the high throttle,
and the lowest was with the medium throttle.
1101
53
3 Vanes
4 Vanes
48
5 Vanes
43 6 Vanes
7 Vanes
Pressure [bar]
38 8 Vanes
9 Vanes
33
10 Vanes
11 Vanes
28
12 Vanes
23 Base
340 345 350 355 360 365
Crank Angle [°]
Figure 4. Maximum in-cylinder air pressure
Based on Figure 4, four, five and six vanes produced higher pressure than the
base model while the maximum pressure was seen at six vanes. According to the
literature (Lin & Yang, 2000; Kim, 2003; Mamat et al., 2009; Currie & Lazich, 2011;
Sun, Li, & Du, 2011), inserting a vane inside the intake manifold would be an obstacle
to the air flow. This was expected to happen to the other vanes. The main concept of
inserting the guide vane was to guide the intake air so that the air would travel in an
organized flow which would reduce the collision among air molecules, so allowing
more air to enter. Three vanes each of 2 mm height were expected to give a low effect
to guide the air flow and seven to 12 vanes with a larger surface area would hence
increase the flow resistance. Referring to the results of in-cylinder pressure, six vanes
were recognized as the best number of vanes since it increased by 1.3% of pressure
from the maximum at about 50.3 bar of the base model. The main advantage of a higher
in-cylinder pressure is that it reduces the penetration length of the injected fuel and it
was also expected to expand the spray angle to make the spray cone shorter and wider.
Note that the main objective of this research was that it would be used for the CI engine
running on HVF, which has viscosity and density which are higher than petro-diesel, as
presented in Table 1. With the increment of 1.3% of the pressure, the evaporation,
diffusion and mixing processes of the HVF were also expected to increase, eventually
stimulating the combustion efficiency as stated in the theory (Heywood, 1988;
Pulkrabek, 2004).
In-Cylinder TKE
TKE is defined as the kinetic energy of the turbulence of the air flow (White, 2011).
Higher TKE was expected to improve the process of the breaking up of the molecules of
the HVF. The viscosity of the fluid, which was defined as the thickness of the fluid
(White, 2011), represented the bonding of its molecules. Higher viscosity of the fluid
meant stronger bonding of its molecular structure. Since the viscosity of the HVF was
1102
about two to 12 times that of petro-diesel, as presented in Table 1, then higher TKE
would be helpful. Referring to Figure 5, TKE was approximately linearly declined
towards the top dead center (TDC) which is similar to what was presented in the
experiments by Payri et al. (2004) and Prasad et al. (2011). Hence, this model can be
said to be a good correlation with the experimental result.
16.5 3 Vanes
15.5 4 Vanes
14.5 5 Vanes
13.5 6 Vanes
TKE [J/kg]
12.5 7 Vanes
11.5 8 Vanes
9 Vanes
10.5
10 Vanes
9.5
11 Vanes
8.5
12 Vanes
7.5
340 345 350 355 360 365 Base
Crank Angle [°]
Figure 5. Maximum in-cylinder TKE
In terms of the value itself, three vanes produced higher TKE than the base
model for the entire range and the other models were improving TKE more than the
base model as part of the range. The six vanes which previously provided the highest
improvement in the in-cylinder air pressure, improved TKE from about 350°CA
onwards. According to different sources (Heywood, 1988; Pulkrabek, 2004; Bari et al.,
2004), the normal ignition delay for a CI engine is about 6°CA; hence 352° CA can be
assumed to be the start of ignition (SOC) point. Therefore, six vanes improved TKE
from SOI until the point of expansion. The improvement recorded by the six vanes was
2% at SOI and increased to 6.5% at TDC and 8.3% at the end of the observed data.
In-Cylinder Velocity
Figure 6 illustrates the maximum velocity of all GVSTD models compared to the base
model. The main benefit of having higher velocity was that it was expected to accelerate
the mixing processes after the injected fuel was expanded by the higher pressure and the
molecules were being broken up by TKE. Therefore, it is presented after the other
results. Since the previous results were narrowed down to the six vanes, the discussion
in this result will focus on that vane number unless it produces no improvement on the
base model. Based on Figure 6, the improvement made by the six vanes (shown in
purple) was higher than the other models before about 363°CA. The recorded
improvements were 22.01, 21.5, 17.9, 18.13 and 0.1% at 341, 346, 352, 360 and
365°CA compared with the base model respectively. It is estimated that this result
1103
would help the mixing process and improve the combustion efficiency of the CI engine
fueled by HVF.
19
3 Vanes
18 4 Vanes
17 5 Vanes
6 Vanes
16
7 Vanes
Velocity [m/s]
15 8 Vanes
14 9 Vanes
10 Vanes
13
11 Vanes
12
12 Vanes
11 Base
340 345 350 355 360 365
Crank Angle [°]
Figure 6. Maximum in-cylinder velocity
Optimized Vane Number of GVSTD Geometry
Based on the results of the in-cylinder air pressure, TKE and velocity as presented
above, it was found that six vanes is clearly the best number of vanes to couple to the
other GVSTD geometry as given in Table 2(b). Generally, it improves all the presented
results, which were expected to improve the CI engine performance when running with
HVF.
CONCLUSION
The main aim of this project was to investigate the effect of the GVSTD in improving
the air flow of the CI engine in order to improve engine performance when running with
HVF. It was hoped that this would offer an alternative solution to reduce the
dependency on using petro-fuel, which is being reported as having the problem of
receding supply. A 3D-based model CI engine which replicated the form of a naturally
aspirated CI generator engine was developed by utilizing SolidWorks and undertaking a
simulation using ANSYS-CFX. Ten GVSTD models with between three and 12 vanes
were formed and tested one by one on the base model. The results of the in-cylinder air
pressure, TKE and velocity were presented and discussed. It was found that six vanes
improved about 1.3% of in-cylinder air pressure, 2% to 8.3% of TKE and a maximum
of about 22% of velocity. Six vanes were chosen as the best number of vanes to be
coupled with 0.2 times radius of the vane height, 35° twist angle of the vane and an
intake runner three times the radius of the vane length.
1104
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The first author would like to acknowledge the support of the Universiti Teknologi
MARA and the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia for the scholarship granted to
carry out this research.
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1107
ENERGETIC AND EXERGETIC COMPARISON OF AIR TO AIR AND AIR

TO WATER HEAT PUMPS ACCORDING TO EVAPORATOR CONDITIONS
Kemal Çomaklı1, UğurÇakır2, Erol Şahin3 and Ayşegül Çokgez Kuş1

1
Engineering Faculty, Mechanical Engineering
Department, Atatürk University, Erzurum / TÜRKİYE
Phone: +904422314849; Fax: +904422360957
Email: kcomakli@atauni.edu.tr
2*
Engineering Faculty, Mechanical Engineering
Department, Bayburt University, Bayburt / TÜRKİYE
Email: *ucakir@bayburt.edu.tr
3
Vocational School of Technical Sciences, Ordu University
Ordu / TÜRKİYE
Email: esahin1972@gmail.com.tr
ABSTRACT
This paper presents an experimental energetic and exergetic comparison for a heat pump
system that can be run in different modes as air to air and air to water. Components of
the heat pump do not change when the running mode changes, except for the condenser.
This means that some external and internal effects (like compressor type, pipe lines) that
can affect the system performance will be the same for each running mode. The
comparison which was made in this study demonstrates which system leads to an
efficient conversion and supply of energy and exergy. In the analysis, four balance
(mass, energy, entropy and exergy) equations are applied to the system for the two
modes. Exergy and energy efficiency values for both systems are given, while exergy
destructions in each of the systems are determined and presented. It is seen that the heat
pump unit which has the highest COP value is the air to air type (3.45-3.8); second is
the air to water type (3.35-3.41). The exergy efficiency of the air to air heat pump (29-
32%) is higher than the exergy efficiency of the air to water type heat pump (24.1-25).
Ranking of the exergy destruction rates of the two heat pump types from high to low is
as follows: air to air and air to water.
Keywords: Heat pump; heat pump comparison; exergy; energy saving.
INTRODUCTION
Heat pumps are systems which have been widely used for years around the world,
especially in developed countries, because of their higher energy utilization and high
efficiency. The use of energy in buildings for heating and cooling is nearly one third of
the total energy consumed in the world. Due to growing concern about this, the use of
fossil fuels which will be depleted soon, and because of sustainability issues, an
alternative energy source must be found to meet the heating/cooling energy needs of
buildings. This situation has led researchers to study systems that use energy more
efficiently, more economically and decrease the cost of energy, such as heat pump
systems (Kavanaugh, 1989; Kavanaugh, Woodhouse, & Carter, 1991). Heat pump
systems are used for heating or cooling applications in buildings due to their high
energy effectiveness and reliability. The technical and thermophysical characteristics of
1108
Energetic and Exergetic Comparison of Air to Air and Air to Water Heat Pumps According to Evaporator Conditions
heat sources or heat sinks used directly have an important role in the technical and
economic performance of heat pumps. The heat sources and heat sinks which are
commonly used or preferred in practical applications are ambient air, lake water, river
water, soil, rock, waste-water and effluent, and exhaust air. The heat pumps which use
air or water as the heat source/sink have attractive performance and usability
characteristics when designed and installed properly. Additionally, these systems are
considered a viable alternative to conventional cooling and heating systems. They offer
many performance advantages over many other heat pumps due to the outstanding heat
transfer properties of water and the much more favorable temperatures of river or lake
water or exhaust air. The advantages and disadvantages of water-source heat pump
systems have been discussed previously by several researchers (Büyükalaca, Ekinci, &
Yilmaz, 2003; Kavanaugh & Pezent, 1990; ASHRAE, 1992). The most commonly used
heat source for heat pumps is ambient air. Ambient air is free, widely available and it
can be found everywhere. However, the capacity and performance of air-source heat
pumps decreases rapidly with decreasing ambient temperature during the heating
season, and with increasing ambient temperature during the cooling season (Çakır &
Çomaklı, 2011; Çomaklı & Çakır, 2011).
Many studies and investigations have reported in the open literature on different
types of heat pumps and on comparison of them. These comparisons were made
experimentally or by simulations, according to their heat sources, heat sinks, and the
place where they were being used, the refrigerant used as working fluid, and the
structures and capacities of components in general. For instance, Bakırcı et al.
conducted a study to investigate the performance of a solar-ground source heat pump
system in the province of Erzurum. The COP of the heat pump and the system were
found to be in the range of 3.0-3.4 and 2.7 to 3.0, respectively. It was also claimed that
the system investigated could be used for residential heating in the province of Erzurum,
which is a cold climate region of Turkey (Bakırcı et al., 2011). Urchueguia made an
experimental comparison between a ground-coupled heat pump system and a
conventional air to water heat pump system, focusing on the heating and cooling energy
performance. For the whole climatic season, the results obtained demonstrated that a
ground source heat pump system is a viable and energy-efficient alternative to
conventional systems for heating and cooling applications in the South European
regions. In most comparative studies, heat pump systems are compared according to
their thermodynamic performance depending on the refrigerant type used (Urchueguia
et al., 2008). Another paper presents an untreated sewage source heat pump (USSHP)
system in which auto-avoiding-clogging equipment is used to continuously capture
suspended solids in the sewage. Thus, the blockage problems caused by filtration and
fouling in the heat exchanger tubes can be efficiently resolved in this system. In an
actual engineering application, the characteristic parameters of a USSHP system are
tested under typical operating conditions for heating status. Based on the test results, the
performance of the USSHP system is examined. The results indicate that the thermal
resistance of the convective heat transfer and fouling on the sewage side in the sewage
exchanger is 80% of its total thermal resistance (Rana, & Thakur, 2012; Banyal, &
Sharma, 2013; Muthucumaraswamy, & Velmurugan, 2013; Liu, Ma, & Zhang, 2014).
One study aims to evaluate the most suitable GSHP system configurations in the case of
high humidity soils and yearly balanced heat transfer at the ground side. This analysis
takes advantage of a case study sited in Venice and consisting of the restoration of an
historical building. In this analysis the GSHP system performance is calculated both in
heating and in cooling conditions using detailed simulation software developed by the
1109
Çomaklı et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1108-1120
authors and aimed at modeling the heat pump and the borehole heat exchanger
(Schibuola et al., 2013). Venkataramanamurthy and Kumar conducted a study which
presents an experimental comparison of energy, exergy flow, and second law efficiency
of R22 and its substitute R436b (hydrocarbon mixture of 52% propane (R290) 48%
isobutene (R600a)) vapor compression refrigeration cycles. The energy flow of various
points in the refrigeration cycle, and the efficiency and second law efficiency for both
R22 and R436b refrigeration cycles were compared. The results were presented
graphically and showed the location of inefficiencies (Venkataramanamurthy & Kumar,
2010).
In another study, the performance of a cascade heat pump water heating system
was investigated with a quasi-steady state analysis to find out the transient behavior of
the system. The water-heating system consists of the cascade heat pump water heater,
which uses R134a and R410A as refrigerants, and a water storage tank. The steady-state
cascade heat pump model was developed based on experimental results and the dynamic
storage tank model was created using thermodynamic equations. The model computes
the several major parameters related with the system performance, such as the heating
capacity, the power consumption, the COP (coefficient of performance), and the
temperature distribution in a storage tank. Moreover, the performance of the system is
calculated for various conditions to research the influence of ambient temperature and
hot water demand (Park, Kim, & Kim, 2013). In Waheed et al.’s (2014) study, enhanced
VRHP models were developed to reduce the heat loss and heat pump size. The
strategies adopted rely on reducing the heat differential across the heat pump by
utilizing external and utility streams, and a process stream within the system. The
thermo-economic and environmental performances of the developed models were
compared with the base case VRHP and the conventional distillation process. The
results showed that the developed models yielded considerable energy savings.
Considering the present trend of short process modification payback time, the use of an
external process stream is recommended as the best option to boost the plant
performance. In this paper, an experimental performance study was conducted on a
traditional vapor compressed refrigeration system that can be run in either air to air
mode or air to water mode with the help of a valve. The experiments were run under
different thermal conditions. The thermodynamic performance of the systems is
presented and compared for the different working conditions. The research evaluated
and compared the energetic and exergetic performance of the heat pump systems in the
two different modes, air to air or air to water, when using only one compressor.
CALCULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK
Since this study focuses on comparing the exergy treatments of two different heat pump
systems, air to air and air to water, an exact and detailed exergy analysis is required. In
addition, this analysis focuses on evaluating some representative figures which in
general can be extrapolated for all heat pump modes with reasonable accuracy and
simplicity.
Evaluation of Heat Pump Characteristics
All of the measured values were used to determine the energetic and exergetic
performance. In order to make a healthy exergy analysis, it is first necessary to make an
energy analysis. Mass, energy and exergy balances are employed to determine the heat
1110
input, the rate of exergy destruction, and energy and exergy efficiencies. From the
measured parameters, general energy and exergy calculations of the systems are made
as follows (Rosen & Dinçer, 2004; Dinçer & Rosen, 2007). The heat delivered by the
condenser to the air or water is calculated by
Qcon-air =maCp a (Tca out -Tca in ) (1)
Qcon-water =mwCpw (Tcwout -Tcwin ) (2)
The heat extracted by the evaporator from the air or water is calculated by
Qevap-air =maCp a (Teain -Teaout ) (3)
The power input to the compressor is calculated by
WComp elec = 3.Cos(φ).U.I (4)
where U, I and Cos (φ) are voltage (V), current (A) and power factor, respectively. The
coefficient of performance (COP) for any heat pump
QCond
COPHP = (5)
Wcomp elec  W fan elec
System Exergy Analysis
Energy and exergy balances can be written as
Ein  Eout (6)
Ex  m. ex (7)
Exin  Exout  Exdest (8)
The specific flow exergy of the refrigerant and water is evaluated as
exr ,w  (h  h0 )  T0 (s  s0 ) (10)
where h is enthalpy, s is entropy and the subscript zero indicates properties at the
reference (dead) state. The total flow exergy of air is determined as (Dinçer & Rosen,
2007)
 T  T 
 
exair = Cpa +ωCpvapor T0   - 1- ln    + 1+1.6078 ω  RairT0ln  P  π
 P0 
 T0   T0   (11)
+ Rair T0  1+1.6078ω  ln  1+1.6078ω0  / 1+1.6078ω   +1.6078 ωln  ω 
 ω0  
1111
Exergy efficiency and exergy destruction of the heat pumps are as follows:
Exheat Exin cond  Exout cond

ex , HP   (12)
Win,elec I .U .Cos( ). 3
Win elec  Wcomp elec  Wfans elec (13)
Exdest HP   Exin HP   Exout HP (14)
Experimental System and Uncertainties
Figures 1a and 1b show the schematic diagram and real view of the experimental
apparatus. The system was originally designed to operate with R22. The main
components of the system are a scroll compressor, an air cooled evaporator, an air
cooled condenser, a water cooled condenser, thermostatic expansion valve, and other
elements like measurement and control equipment. In addition, electrical air and water
heaters are used in order to keep the temperature of air and water passing into the
evaporator and condensers at the desired levels. Two electrical fans are used to circulate
the air on the evaporator and condenser, which is air cooled. By using the estimation
method of Kline and McClintock (1953) and Çakır (2011), maximum uncertainties of
the COP and exergy efficiency are found as follows: COP, 3.53%; exergy efficiency,
3.53%. The individual contributions to the uncertainties of the COP and exergy
efficiency for each of the measured physical properties are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1.Uncertainties in the values of the relevant variables.
Variables Uncertainty (%)

Temperature (T) 2.5
Pressure (P) 1.6
Voltage (U) 1.7
Current (I) 1.7
Power factor (Cosφ) 1.7
Mass flow rate (mr) 1,3
The temperature and pressure of the working fluid were measured at several
points of interest, as shown in Figure 1a. K-type nickel thermocouples were used to
measure the temperatures of the working fluid and the thermocouples were calibrated
with a digital temperature controller. The working fluid temperatures are measured at
the inlets and outlets of the evaporators, condensers and compressor. Four
thermocouples were used at different points of every entrance and exit of the air
channels to determine air temperatures correctly at the inlet and outlet of the air cooled
evaporator and air cooled condenser. Measurement of the temperature and humidity of
outdoor air was recorded for every test. Only one data logger was used to determine and
record all the temperature measurements which were obtained from the system.
1112
Elec. Heaters Air cooled Condenser

TT T T
AIR
Fan (4750 m3/h)

(Speed Adjustable)
P T
Oil Separator Hot Gas
BY-PAS VALFİ
Compressor
P
T
T Dryer
Water cooled
Condenser
T Sol. Valve
P T
Reservoir Dryer
Sight Glass Exp.

Flow meter
Valve
Water storage
Tank P Pressure Measuring
T Temperature Measuring
Valve
Elec. Air cooled

Heater Evaporator
T T
T
AIR
Fan(4750 m3/h)
Condensed Water (Speed adjustable)
from cooled air
Figure 1a. Schematic view of the experimental setup
Figure 1b. View of the experimental setup
1113
Six bourdon type manometers were installed at the inlets and outlets of the
condensers, evaporators, and compressor to measure the pressures of the working fluid.
Measurement of flow rate of the water was done by using two rotameters, the flow rate
of the working fluid used in the cycle was determined with a flow meter, and the air
flow was measured using an anemometer. Compressor input current and voltage was
obtained using a multifunctional amperemeter and wattmeter which can in addition
show the Cos (φ) value. The system was charged only once for all tests with 15 Bar R22
while all the valves were in the opened position at the temperature of the external air.
When the system is to be run in the other heat pump mode, it is necessary to close the
required valves. When the tests were completed for one mode and it was required to
convert the system to the other mode, we opened all of the valves on the system and
waited for one day. Then we closed the required valves for the new mode and ran the
new tests. The tests were performed under laboratory conditions, during which the air
temperature was about 20–22oC, and the relative humidity was about 30–40%. Each
experiment was repeated at least three times under the same conditions at different
times.
Two different heat pump systems were designed to run on the same experimental setup
and have the same heating capacity, using just one compressor and being controlled by
the same control equipment. The same measurement system was used. They were
compared experimentally and exergetically with each other by using the second law of
thermodynamics. Within the scope of the study presented here, the COP, exergy
efficiency and rate of exergy destruction of the heat pump types were evaluated,
discussed and compared as the results of this paper. Energetic and exergetic
performance differences between the two different heat pump types, according to the
increasing rate of temperature and according to the flow rate of the fluid used as heat
source, are expressed and compared.
Figures 2 and 3 show the change in the COP values of the two heat pump units
depending on the increasing rate of temperature and mass flow rate levels of the air
which is used as the heat source. As seen in the figures, the heat pump unit which has
the highest COP value is the air to air type; second is the air to water type. As it is
known, heat pumps are systems which transfer the heat from a low-temperature medium
to a high-temperature medium.
It is well known that the COP of heat pumps increases depending on the increase
in the heat source temperature. When two heat pump types are compared, there is a
greater increase in the COP value of the heat pumps which use air as the condenser fluid
(air to air type) than in the COP of the other type which uses air to water. The mass flow
rate of the fluid used as the heat source has a major importance for the performance of
the heat pumps. It is known that heat transfer is improved with increasing flow rate. It is
understood from Figure 3 that the COP of the heat pumps decreases with the increasing
of the mass flow rates of the fluid used as the heat source. This situation may be due to
the high air velocity in the evaporator. The time required for heat transfer decreases
with increase in air velocity. At the same time, this is mainly due to the absence of the
energy consumption of fans.
1114
3.8
3.6
COP
3.4
3.2
Hava - Su Hava - Hava
3.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Increasing rate of temperature (oC)
Figure 2. COP change of heat pumps versus increasing temperature of the evaporator
fluid
3.8
3.6
3.4
COP
3.2
3.0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Mass flow rate level of evaporator air kg/s
Figure 3. COP change of heat pumps versus increasing of mass flow rate of the
evaporator fluid
The exergy efficiency of the air to air heat pump is higher than the exergy
efficiency of the air to water type heat pump, as presented in Figure 4. The heating
capacities of the two heat pump types can be synchronized easily by adjusting the mass
flow rate and temperature of the condenser fluid, even if the temperature of the
refrigerant entering the condenser is at different levels. The amount of the heat energy
given to the condenser fluid from the heat pump is controlled by this adjustment, but the
amount of the exergy given to the condenser fluid from the heat pump cannot be
controlled, since the exergy is not the only property of the systems. It is a property of
the combined system and surroundings. The exergy of a fluid is related to the properties
of the surroundings as dead state temperature. The difference between the temperature
of the surroundings and the temperature of the fluid determines the exergy of the fluid.
The mass flow rate and temperature of the air and water which are used as condenser
cooler must not be equal if it is desired to synchronize the heating capacity of the heat
1115
pump systems. For that reason, the amount of exergy given to the air from the
condenser is higher than the exergy given to the water. That is why the exergy
efficiency of the heat pumps using air as external fluid in the condenser is higher than
the other.
The variations of the heat pump exergy efficiencies depending on the increases
in mass flow rates of the heat source fluid can be seen in Figure 5. The exergy input of
the compressor depends on the temperature of the refrigerant which comes from the
evaporator. When the refrigerant enters the compressor at a higher temperature, it
becomes much more difficult to transfer exergy and energy to the refrigerant from the
compressor and thus the compressor causes an increase in the temperature of the
refrigerant to the higher levels. Increasing the mass flow rate of the evaporator fluid
makes the compressor use more energy and that situation causes more exergy input to
the system. After the mass flow rate of the evaporator fluid increases to the second level
or more, the compressor consumes much more energy, but simultaneously it causes a
much greater rise in the refrigerant temperature at its exit. For that reason, more exergy
is given to the condenser fluid and the exergy efficiency increases.
32
30
28
26
ηex (%)
24
22
20
18
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Increasing rate of temperature (oC)
Figure 4. Exergy efficiency change of heat pumps versus increasing of heat source
temperature
Figure 6 shows the exergy destruction rate changes of the two systems according
to the conditions of the evaporator fluid. As seen in the figure, ranking of the exergy
destruction rates of the two heat pump types from high to low is as follows; air to air
and air to water. As seen in the figure, the rate of exergy destruction of the air to water
heat pump is being affected more than the other, depending on the increase in the heat
source temperature. It is understood from Figure 7 that the mass flow rate of the fluid
used as the heat source is more effective on the exergy destruction rates of the heat
pumps.
The exergy destruction in any component of the heat pump is not caused only by
its inefficiencies, but also depending on the inefficiencies of other system components.
In the figures, we can clearly see the change of exergy destruction rates of the systems
based on the results of the tests, but the contributions of the various components to the
1116
total exergy destruction of the system must be taken into account in order to comment
on these figures. The largest exergy destruction of the heat pump systems occurred in
the condenser, followed by the compressor, evaporator and expansion valve. When air
is used as the evaporator fluid, the exergy destruction of the systems becomes higher
than other types due to the increase of exergy destruction in the compressor and
condenser. As mentioned before, using air at the evaporator causes an increase in the
refrigerant temperature in the compressor and in the condenser. In addition, the effect of
the exergy destruction rate of air fans must be taken into account. As seen in Figure 7,
the exergy destruction of heat pump systems which use air at the evaporator increases
with the increase in the mass flow rate of air due to the increase in the exergy
destruction rate of the evaporator and fans.
32
30
28
ηex (%)
26
24
22
20
0 1 2 3 4 5
Figure 5. Exergy efficiency change of heat pumps versus increasing of mass flow rate of
the evaporator fluid
3.0
2.8
Exdest (kW)
2.6
2.4
2.2 Hava - Su Hava - Hava
2.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Increasing temperature (oC)
Figure 6. Exergy destruction rate change of heat pumps versus increase of the
evaporator fluid temperature
1117
3.4 Hava - Su Hava - Hava

3.2
3.0
Exdest (kW)
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Figure 7. Exergy destruction rate change of heat pumps versus increase of the mass flow
rates of evaporator fluid
CONCLUSION
In this paper, energy and exergy analysis of two different heat pump types (air to air, air
water) was investigated, regarding the temperature and mass flow rate changes of the
evaporator fluid which is used as the heat source. The coefficient of performance of the
heat pumps primarily depends on the temperature of the heat source. In addition, it
depends on the mass flow rate of the heat source fluid. The COP of the air to air type
heat pump is higher than the air to water type. The mass flow rate of the heat sink has a
greater effect on the COP change of the heat pump than temperature.
It is understood from the study that the exergy efficiency of the air to air heat
pump system is higher than that of the air to water type heat pump. This ranking is
similar to the result for the COP ranking. For that reason, it can be said that air to air
heat pumps perform better than air to water pumps, because the two different
performance criteria show us the same result. Variations of the exergy efficiency and
exergy destruction of the systems according to the evaporator fluid temperature and
according to the mass flow rate differ from each other. But the result of the exergy
destruction analysis supports the opinion mentioned before. When air is used at the
evaporator, the change in the mass flow rate causes a serious increase in the exergy
destruction of the system.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council
of Turkey (TUBITAK Project No. 105M030) and Ataturk University, Research Project
Foundation (Project No. BAP-2005/16). The authors wish to thank TUBITAK and
Ataturk University
1118
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Schibuola, L., Tambani, C., Zarrella, A., & Scarpa, M. (2013). Ground source heat
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1120
INVESTIGATION OF ALUMINUM-STAINLESS STEEL DISSIMILAR WELD

QUALITY USING DIFFERENT FILLER METALS
L. H. Shah, Z. Akhtar, and M. Ishak

Phone: +609-4246234
E-mail: luqmanhakim@ump.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Aluminum-stainless steel dissimilar welding processes yield unwanted disadvantages in

the weld joint due to the large difference between the aluminum-stainless steel sheets’
melting points and the nearly zero solid solubility between these two metals. Aluminum
AA6061 and stainless steel SUS304 were lap-welded by using Metal Inert Gas (MIG)
welding with aluminum filler ER5356 (Group 1) and stainless steel filler ER308LSi
(Group 2). The effects of the welding voltage and type of filler metals used on the weld
joints were studied. The welding voltage had a significant effect on the welding process,
as higher voltage resulted in poorer appearance of the weld joint and led to defects for
both groups, such as porosity and incomplete fusion. The microstructure for Group 1
joints shows enrichment of Si particles, which benefited the joint properties as it
increased the strength of the metal. The stainless steel substrates that spread into the
aluminum side are much greater in volume for Group 1 than for Group 2 joints.
Meanwhile, the microstructure of Group 2 joints (using ER308LSi filler) consists of
chromium carbide precipitation which yields a high hardness value, but a brittle
structure. The hardness values of the welded seams in Group 1 and Group 2 range from
60 to 100 HV and 160 to 230 HV, respectively. The fracture in the tensile test yielded
the highest tensile strength of 104.4 MPa with aluminum fillers. The tensile strength of
Group 1 joints ranging from 47.8 to 104.4 MPa was collectively higher than Group 2
joints, between 20.24 to 61.76 MPa. Based on the investigation throughout this study, it
can be concluded that the welding voltage of 18 V and aluminum filler ER5356 is the
optimum filler in joining the dissimilar metals aluminum AA6061 and stainless steel
SUS 304.
Keywords: MIG; dissimilar welding; aluminum; stainless steel; mechanical property.
INTRODUCTION
Welding is the method of joining two or more pieces of metal to make them act as a
single piece. Welding has become one of the most important metalworking processes as
almost everything made of metal is welded (Wang et al., 2006). Products of the welding
industry include automobiles, airplanes, jet engines, etc. (Zhang & Liu, 2011; Charde,
2012; Charde, 2013). Some of the advantages of welding are the low cost of this
permanent joining method and the design flexibility it provides. Dissimilar welding is
where weldments are made from metals of different compositions or thicknesses, or
both. It is attracting attention nowadays, due to its many advantages, such as low
manufacturing cost and the ability to reduce working operations (Saunders & Wagoner,
1995; Kinsey, Viswanathan, & Cao, 2001; Tusek, Kamous, & Suban, 2001; Chan,
1121
Investigation of Aluminum-Stainless Steel Dissimilar Weld Quality using Different Filler Metals
Chan, & Lee, 2003). Besides that, this type of joining offers the potential to utilize the
advantages of different materials, which often produces a whole structure with unique
mechanical properties. For example, hybrid structures of aluminum alloy and stainless
steel are suggested for spacecraft, automotives and steamships to improve their fuel
efficiency, increase their range and control air pollution by reducing weight (Zhang &
Liu, 2011; Fukumoto et al., 2000; Chan et al., 2003).
Even so, the dissimilar welding process yields unwanted disadvantages in the
weld joint, such as brittle intermetallic reaction phase formation at elevated
temperatures (Bang et al., 2012; Lin et al., 2010; Song et al., 2009; Dong et al., 2012).
The defects that may occur in the specimens of this project are due to the large
difference between the melting points of the steel-aluminum sheets, thermophysical
properties, and the nearly zero solid solubility of iron in aluminum. Furthermore,
differences in thermophysical properties, such as expansion coefficient, conductivity
and specific heat, can lead to residual stresses after fusion welding (Dharmendra et al.,
2011; Qiu, Iwamoto, & Satonaka, 2009; Song et al., 2009; Lohwasser & Chen, 2010).
The weld joint is the most important area and is heavily affected by the selection of
filler metals. Several researches have shown that the selection of the filler metal to use
in the welding process is crucial to the weld joint, as some fillers add to the base metal
elements to improve the properties of the weld metals (Dong et al. 2012; Shiri et al.
2012; Saeed et al. 2010). Dong et al. (2012) have proven that different types of
aluminum and zinc fillers have a significant effect on the IMC formation and weld joint
strength of aluminum-stainless steel weldments. However, no empirical study has been
conducted to compare the effect of aluminum fillers and stainless steel fillers on
aluminum-stainless steel metal inert gas (MIG) welding. This project looks into the
effect of welding fillers on the quality of the weld joint and microstructure of MIG-
welded aluminum-stainless steel sheets. The mechanical properties of the weld joints
are also investigated.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Materials used are AA6061 aluminum alloy and SUS304 stainless steel plates in 2.0
mm thickness. Both materials are commonly used in industry due to their high corrosion
resistance and versatility (Lippold & Kotecki, 2005; Mandal, 2005; Callister, 2000).
The filler metals used are stainless steel based ER 308LSi and aluminum based ER
5356, with a diameter of 2.5 mm for both fillers. Table 1 represents the chemical
composition of AA6061 and aluminum filler ER 5356 (Gomez de Salazar et al., 2003).
The chemical composition for SUS 304 and stainless steel filler ER 308LSi is shown in
Table 2 (Taban et al., 2012). All plates were cut to sizes of 110 mm × 25 mm using an
MVS/C 6/31 shearing machine with a maximum capacity of 209 kN.
Table 1. Chemical composition of AA6061 and ER 5356 (wt%)
Mg Al Si Mn Fe Cu Cr Zn Ti
AA 6061 0.84 97.7 0.54 0.01 0.40 0.24 0.18 0.006 0.031
ER 5356 4.5 Bal. 0.25 0.20 0.40 0.05 0.05 0.15 0.15
1122
Shah et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1121-1131
Table 2. Chemical composition of SUS 304 and ER 308LSi (wt%)
Cr Ni Mo Cu C Si Mn P Fe
SUS 304 18.36 9.23 0.07 0.08 0.051 0.76 0.97 0.027 Bal
ER 308LSi 20.0 9.79 0.10 0.10 0.02 0.76 1.51 0.03 Bal
Aluminum and stainless steel were lap-welded using an MIG welding

Migatronic 3000 Duo, where the aluminum sheets were placed above the stainless steel
counterpart. Two different sets of specimens were fabricated during the welding process
for the tensile test and for the microstructure as well as a hardness analysis. Figures 1
and 2 show schematic diagrams of the aluminum-stainless steel lap joints for the tensile
test specimen and for the microstructure and hardness analysis, respectively. Figure 3
shows the schematic diagram of the experimental setup.
25 mm
Welded zone
Aluminum
Stainless steel
2 mm
70 mm 40 mm 70 mm
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of aluminum-stainless steel lap joint for tensile test
specimen.
110 mm
Stainless steel Aluminum
15 mm 10 mm 15 mm
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of aluminum-stainless steel lap joint for microstructure
and hardness analysis.
1123
The specimens were divided into two groups. Group 1 represents aluminum-
stainless steel joints using aluminum filler, while Group 2 represent aluminum-stainless
steel joints using stainless steel filler. As well as the filler metal, the welding voltage
was also varied. The varied welding parameters of the two groups are shown in Table 3.
Through trial and error, it was found that the weldable voltage range to cater for both
fillers in this particular setting was very limited, between 17 and 19 V.
Aluminum/stainless steel filler
Aluminum
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.
The specimens were mounted using a cold mounting machine and were
manually ground in the longitudinal and latitudinal directions with a sequence of 240,
320, 400 and 600 grit papers. To get a mirror-like surface finish, Forcipol 2V Grinder-
Polisher was used to polish the ground specimen. Etching of specimens at ambient
temperature was performed to draw out the material microstructure for observation
under the optical microscope as well as for scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Since
dissimilar specimens require different etching solutions for the etching process, Keller’s
etchant and electrolyte etchant were separately dabbed using cotton buds and washed
using distilled water on the aluminum and stainless steel surfaces respectively.
Table 3. Welding parameters for Group 1 and Group 2.
Joint Voltage (V) Filler metals

Group 1
1 17 ER 5356
2 18 ER 5356
3 19 ER 5356
Group 2
4 17 ER 308LSi
5 18 ER 308LSi
6 19 ER 308LSi
The Vickers hardness test and tensile test were conducted to analyze the
mechanical properties of the samples. The Vickers hardness profile across the base
metals and fusion zone was observed using the Miyazu MMT-X7 hardness tester with
500 gf for 10 seconds dwell time. On the other hand, the fracture behavior was analyzed
1124
using a Shimadzu Universal Testing machine with 100 kN capacity. The tensile
specimens were prepared with reference to ASTM D1002, namely for the lap shear test
specimens. The gauge length and grip length for all specimens were 130 mm and 25
mm respectively. The tensile test was carried out at a temperature of , t
crosshead speed of 1.3 mm/min.
Macrostructure and Microstructure Analysis
Figure 4 shows the weld bead appearance of Group 1 samples (Figure 4(a)-(c)) and
Group 2 samples (Figure 4(d)-(f)) made with different weld voltages. Some common
welding defects can be seen, such as porosity and incomplete fusion. For Group 1, the
spreading degree of the molten aluminum on the steel surface was limited (Zhang et al.,
2011). This is due to the wide difference between the melting temperatures of aluminum
( ppro i tel ) and stainless steel ( ppro i tel ). The aluminum melts
and flows away well before the stainless steel has melted. This situation explains why
the aluminum is just barely intact with the stainless steel surface and they are not
soluble with each other. Based on observation of the macrostructure of all joints, the
joints with welding voltage 18 V have the best appearance.
(a) (b) (c)
Aluminum Aluminum Aluminum
Stainless steel Stainless steel Stainless steel
(d) (e) (f)
Aluminum Aluminum Aluminum
Stainless steel Stainless steel Stainless steel
Figure 4. Appearance of weld joints for Group 1: (a) 17 V (b) 18 V (c) 19 V and Group
2: (d) 17 V (e) 18 V and (f) 19 V, respectively.
On the other hand, the weld appearance in Group 2 is relatively poor compared
to the Group 1 joints, as hot cracking occurs on the aluminum side. Since aluminum
melts long before stainless steel does, this leads to the hot cracking and shrinkage of the
aluminum through the cooling process. Figure 5 shows the cross-sections of Group 1
and Group 2. It is evident that the aluminum filler in Group 1 mixed very well with the
aluminum sheet but not with the stainless steel one, whereas the stainless steel filler in
Group 2 mixed very well with the stainless steel sheet but not with its aluminum
counterpart.
1125
(a)
(b)
Figure 5. Cross-section of (a) Group 1 and (b) Group 2
(b) HAZ
(a)
Intermetallic
compound (IMC)
Eutectic Si
Fusion zone
(d)
(c)
Cr-rich δ-ferrite
Austenite
Figure 6. Metallographic photos of fusion zone with different scales for Group 1: (a) 50
μ (b) μ nd Group : (c) μ (d) μ
Figure 6 shows the metallographic photo of the fusion zone with varying scales
for both groups. In Figure 6(a), enrichment of eutectic Si can be seen, since both the
filler metal and the base metal aluminum contained a certain percentage of silicon. Like
the grain size, smaller eutectic Si particles mean that the hardening agents are better
dissolved, thus increasing the hardness of the joint. In addition, the existence of Si
elements in the aluminum matrix helps the solubility and dissolution rate of Fe in the Al
molten pool to increase significantly and prevent thick IMC formation (Song et al.,
1126
2010) (Figure 6(b)). IMC is known to affect the crack sensitivity, ductility and strength
of the joint. A thicker layer of this will result in more brittle joints and reduce the
strength and hardness. Preheating or the existence of a secondary heat source other than
the MIG torch such as a laser or TIG torch can be a means to suppress this IMC
formation (Budkin, 2011; Bang et al., 2013; Powell et al., 2011; Thomy & Vollertsen,
2012). On the other hand, Figure 6 (c)-(d) for Group 2 shows a different microstructure.
Cr-rich δ-ferrite (bcc) skeletal regions can be observed throughout the fusion zone,
indicating a Type F (primary ferrite) stainless steel solidification. The outer portions of
the dendrites having less Cr transform into an austenite (fcc) matrix. The calculated
ferrite number for this composition is 18 FN. This type of solidification is also not
sensitive to solidification cracking (Kou, 2003; Lippold & Kotecki, 2005; Kotecki &
Siewert, 1992).
The stainless steel filler contains alloying addition chromium and traces of
carbon. Chromium is a strong carbide former and a ferrite promoter. It is also the main
component in the formation of the brittle IMC layers, which will have a detrimental
effect on the aluminum-stainless steel joint strength, as is evident in the fracture test
conducted below (Lippold & Kotecki, 2005). During welding, carbon will combine with
chromium to form chromium carbides at grain boundaries through the sensitization
process (Kou, 2003). Though materials with such microstructures possess high strength,
they also have brittle properties, which will be discussed in further detail in the
mechanical property analysis.
Mechanical Property Analysis
The Vickers hardness pattern across the base materials and the welded seam is measured
using a macrohardness tester. A total of 11 points were indented across the specimen in
order to measure the hardness value of the joint. The hardness distribution profiles of
aluminum-stainless steel joints for Group 1 and 2 are shown in Figure 7. For both
groups, the base metal stainless steel and base metal aluminum area has an average
hardness value range of 160–200 HV and 60–85 HV, respectively. For the aluminum
filler welded seam, the average hardness value ranges between 60 and 100 HV, which is
similar to base metal aluminum. As for the stainless steel filler, the average hardness
value ranges between 180 and 230 HV. These values are higher than for the base metal
stainless steel. The hardness value in the stainless steel filler welded seam (180–230
HV) is acceptable, since it is in the range of the theoretical value of similar welding
stainless steel joints (220–240 HV). From Figure 7(b) it can be seen that the hardness
values in the welded seam are higher than the hardness of the base metal due to the
addition of manganese, chromium and molybdenum in the fusion zone from the
ER308LSi filler and due to refinement of the grain size.
It is also interesting to note that for both filler cases, almost all samples show a
slight hardness decrease compared to the base metal counterparts in the heat affected
zone (HAZ), i.e., the area between the welded seam and base metal. This indicates that
there is not enough heat generated in the region during welding to impose
microstructural change and grain refinement (Uzun et al., 2005; Borrisutthekul et al.,
2010).
1127
(a) 17 V (b)
17 V
18 V 18 V
19 V 19 V
Aluminium
Distance
Stainless from
Stainless Steel
seam center
Steel Aluminium Distance
from line /mm
-20center
seam -10 0 10 20
-20 -10 0 10 20 line /mm
Welded seam Welded seam
Figure 7. Hardness distribution of aluminum-steel joint for (a) Group 1 and

(b) Group 2.
The tensile strength of joints obtained with different weld voltages is listed in
Figure 8. For Group 1, the tensile strength of Joint No. 2 (18 V) reaches 104.4 MPa,
which is higher than Joints No. 1 and No. 3, which have tensile strength values of 47.8
MPa and 88.6 MPa, respectively. As for Group 2, the tensile strength of Joint No. 5 (18
V) reaches 61.76 MPa, which is the highest value in the group. Joints No. 1 and No. 3
yielded tensile strength values of 20.24 MPa and 53.6 MPa, respectively. Since there
has been no research that specifies the joining of stainless steel 304 and aluminum
AA6061, the experimental value cannot be compared to the actual value of tensile
strength for this joint. Thus, a comparison was made with a similar butt-welded welding
aluminum joint (AA6061) for Group 1 (163 MPa) and with a similar butt-welded
welding stainless steel joint (SUS304) for Group 2 (550 MPa). The tensile strength
values in the experiment are much lower due to insufficient solubility between the
aluminum-stainless steel, which resulted in the decrease of tensile strength.
(a) (b)
180
163 MPa 550 550 MPa
Tensile Strength (MPa)
500
130 104.4 450
400
350
80 47.8 300 for welded SUS304
88.6 250
for welded AA6061 200
30 150 61.76
100 20.24 53.6
50
-20 17 18 19 0
Weld Voltage (V) 17 18 19
Weld Voltage (V)
Figure 8. Tensile strength of the weld under different voltages for (a) Group 1 and
(b) Group 2.
1128
Comparing the results for Group 1 and Group 2, aluminum filler welded seams
show a much better tensile strength, despite their relatively low weld seam hardness.
Upon inspection, it can be seen that for both cases, the fracture occurs in the region
where the filler did not mix well, i.e., for Group 1 the fracture is between the aluminum
filler and stainless steel, and for Group 2, the fracture is between the stainless steel filler
and aluminum. This region is the weakest point in the joint in both cases. Since Group 1
yielded a much higher tensile strength than stainless steel, this shows that despite the
high hardness value of the weld seam for Group 2, the weld seam region possesses
brittle characteristics.
CONCLUSION
Dissimilar welding between aluminum AA 6061 alloy and stainless steel SUS 304 was
lap-joined successfully by MIG welding with aluminum and stainless steel filler. The
conclusions from this study can be summarized as follows:
i) The welding voltage had a significant effect on the welding process, as
higher voltage resulted in poorer appearance of the weld joint and led to
defects for both groups, such as porosity and incomplete fusion.
ii) The microstructure for Group 1 joints (using ER5356 filler) shows
enrichment of Si particles, which benefited the joint properties by increasing
the strength of the metal. The stainless steel substrates that spread into the
aluminum side are much greater in volume for Group 1 than for Group 2
joints. Meanwhile, the microstructure of Group 2 joints (using ER308LSi
filler) consists of chromium carbide precipitation which yields a high
hardness value, but has a brittle structure.
iii) The hardness value of the welded seam in these joints ranges from 60 to 230
HV, with Group 2 joints having higher values than Group 1 up to 230 HV.
The Vickers hardness values of Group 1 joints indicate that the welded seam
has a similar value to the base metal aluminum and Group 2 joints show
similar values to base metal stainless steel. The fractures in the tensile tests
yielded the highest tensile strength of 104.4 MPa with aluminum fillers
(Group 1). The tensile strength of Group 1 joints ranging from 47.8 to 104.4
MPa were collectively higher than for the Group 2 joints, which was
between 20.24 and 61.76 MPa.
iv) Based on the investigation throughout this study, it can be concluded that the
welding voltage of 18 V and aluminum filler ER5356 is the optimum filler in
joining dissimilar metal aluminum AA6061 and stainless steel SUS 304.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank Universiti Malaysia Pahang for the research funding.
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1131
ON THE EFFECT OF FEEDSTOCK PREPARATION ON THE

CHARACTERISTICS OF WARM FORMED POWDER COMPACTS
M.M. Rahman, M.A.S. Wardi, and S.S.M. Nor
Centre for Advanced Materials (CAM), College of Engineering

Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Putrajaya Campus
Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, 43000 Kajang
Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: mujibur@uniten.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Powder compaction technology has advanced significantly over the past decades and is
considered as an alternative lower-cost process to machining, casting, stamping, forging
and other similar metal-working technologies. Feedstock preparation is considered a
vital step in producing parts through the powder route because any inhomogeneity
within the powder mass would cause inhomogeneous density distribution inside the
green compacts, which in turn would cause fracture in the final products after sintering
in the controlled environment. This paper presents the outcomes of an experimental
investigation on the effects of feedstock preparation on the mechanical properties and
microstructures of final products formed at above ambient temperature. A lab-scale
uni-axial die compaction rig was designed and fabricated which enabled powder
forming at elevated temperatures. Iron powder ASC 100.29 was mechanically mixed
with different quantities of zinc stearate for 10, 30, and 60 minutes, respectively. Green
compacts were generated by forming the prepared feedstock at 180ºC through
simultaneous upward and downward axial loading. The defect-free green compacts
were subsequently sintered in an argon gas fired furnace and characterized for their
physical and mechanical properties, and their microstructures were evaluated. The
results revealed that the characteristics of the final products were affected by the
feedstock preparation. The most suitable lubricant content and mixing time are found to
be 0.4 wt% and 60 minutes, respectively. From this study, the proper zinc stearate
content and mixing time were identified for the production of high quality products
through the warm forming route. This study could be extended by using different types
of base powder as well as lubricant.
Keywords: Feedstock preparation; warm powder compaction; sintering; product

characterization.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, many engineering parts are produced by powder metallurgy (P/M), such as
transmission and gearbox steel parts for automotive, cemented carbides and high speed
steel parts, magnets and soft magnetic materials, fine ceramics, etc. (Baccino & Moret,
2000). P/M has advantages over other manufacturing processes mainly due to the
elimination of secondary operations such as machining compared to wrought products
(Chawla et al., 2011), and it promotes the combination of weight saving because of the
low density of aluminum and material saving through near net-shape processing
attributes (Mann et al., 2011; Kumar, & Singh, 2010). It is important to highlight that
1132
On the Effect of Feedstock Preparation on the Characteristics of Warm Formed Powder Compacts
dimensional stability as well as reliable mechanical properties make this process

preferable to other manufacturing techniques. During powder forming, all the particles
increasingly collide with each other. The powder particles also have to move along the
die wall under the increasing applied pressure. Both phenomena during forming
generate friction, and further generate heat and inhomogeneous particle distribution.
This results in inhomogeneous density distribution inside the green compact that leads
to internal crack generation during the ejection process. Therefore, to reduce this
problem, an additive or lubricant has been an option to add inside the powder mass
or/and adhere on the die wall. Furthermore, in preference to higher physical and thermal
loading during the powder compaction process, lubrication is another option for
increasing the density (Nor et al., 2008) and density uniformity of green compacts
(Jiang et al., 2001). Two types of lubrication are usually practiced, i.e., admixed
lubrication and die wall lubrication. The addition of lubricant admixed with powder
mainly reduces inter-particle friction while lubrication in the interface of the powder
with the die wall minimizes the die wall friction. The admixed lubrication method has
been largely preferred by P/M industries due to its characteristic high production rate,
cost effectiveness and applicability to all types of die. Admixed lubrication is effective
in densification at relatively low compaction pressure (Simchi, 2003). The lubricant
particles inside the powder mass are displaced together with the other metal particles
when subjected to compaction pressure. The location and distribution of the lubricant
play an important role in reducing the inter-particle friction. While a denser region is
usually found at the powder–die wall interface, the capability of the lubricant to disperse
out from the powder mass and reduce die wall friction is indispensible. Furthermore,
the trapped lubricant during compaction has been known to vaporize during sintering,
thus generating pores (Saha & Apelian, 2002), which greatly reduces the load-bearing
area of a component. It is important for this admixed lubricant to be removed
completely from the parts at the early stage of sintering (Babakhani, Haerian, &
Ghambari, 2006) or during the compaction process if possible (Babakhani & Haerian,
2008).
The final stage of the powder metallurgy process is sintering. Conventional
sintering or solid state sintering is the bonding of powder particles by molecular or
atomic attraction in the solid state, by application of heat, causing strengthening of the
powder mass and possibly resulting in densification and recrystallization by transport of
materials (Hausner, 1979). This technique applies high heat treatment at a temperature
below the melting point of the main powder constituent in the range of 60–80%, for a
certain duration of time, in achieving the desired interaction among metal particles
(German, 1996). During sintering of the powder compact, bonding among metal
particles takes place as the main interaction among them. This process enhances the
bond strength and provides a good arrangement of powder particles inside the compact.
The metal powder compact undergoes three phases during the sintering process as
follows: (i) neck growth proceeds rapidly but powder particles remain discrete, (ii)
densification starts where the structure recrystallizes and powder particles diffuse into
each other, and (iii) pores inside the powder compact become spheroid and densification
happens at a much slower pace (Srinivasan, 2002; Vagnon et al., 2006).
The characteristics of the sintered product are affected by the different
formulation of the lubricant added during feedstock preparation. A high weight percent
of lubricant weakens the characteristics of the sintered product because it vaporizes and
leaves pores during sintering, while a low weight percent of lubricant results in
reduction of the flowability of the powder mass during compaction (Rahman & Nor,
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Rahman et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1132-1139
2006; Rahman, Nor, & Rahman, 2011). Mixing time is also another parameter in
feedstock preparation which plays an important role. A longer mixing time leads to the
agglomeration of powder mass, whereas a shorter mixing time is not enough for the
lubricant to fully assimilate with the metal powder to make a coherent powder mass that
is ready to be shaped. Both situations cause the inhomogeneous density distribution
inside the green compacts, which further causes the shape distortion of the final
products. Thus, proper feedstock preparation is required for the production of high
quality sintered components formed through the warm powder compaction route. So far,
no study has been found in the literature on the proper feedstock preparation using iron
as base powder for the production of near-net shape yet high quality mechanical
components through the warm compaction route. Therefore, the objective of this paper
is to investigate the effect of feedstock preparation in terms of lubricant content and
mixing time on the characteristics of the sintered product formed through the warm
compaction route.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
The main powder constituent used in the powder compaction experiment is iron powder
ASC 100.29 which has a particle size range of 20–180 µm. Zinc stearate (C36H70O4Zn)
was used as lubricant due to its suitability (Ward & Billington, 1979). The compaction
experiment was conducted using a custom-made T-15 compacting machine which uses
the principle of hydraulic motion in order to transfer the load from the top and bottom
punches. Four point heaters (50 Watt each) were attached to the cylindrical shape die.
Zinc stearate was added to the iron powder in amounts of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 wt%.
The powder mass was then mixed mechanically for three different durations of time i.e.,
10, 30, and 60 minutes, respectively. The feedstock was then filled inside the cylindrical
shape die and heated to 180°C for 30 minutes. The filled powder mass was then formed
by applying a pressure of 380 MPa simultaneously with the top and bottom punches.
The green products were then sintered in an argon gas fired furnace at 1000°C for 60
minutes at a rate of 10°C/minute. The sintered products were characterized in terms of
dimensional stability, relative density, bending strength, and Rockwell hardness. The
microstructures of the products were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy
(SEM).
Figure 1 shows the relative density of the as-compacted samples at different lubricant
contents and mixing times. It is evident that increasing the amount of lubricant
increased the relative density, while the mixing time had a different impact on density at
different lubricant contents. Increase in zinc stearate provides less inter-particle contact
among the iron powder particles in the powder mass, so more relocation and
displacement of particles occurs, which leads to an increase in density. However, it has
been observed that there is no increase in density when there is a further addition of 0.8
wt% zinc stearate, which is believed to be due to the particle inter-locking inside the
powder mass. The mixing time proved to vary the consolidation process by means of
providing the optimum positioning of zinc stearate inside the powder mass. The initial
location of the zinc stearate determines the overall displacement and rearrangement of
the iron particles.
1134
Figure 1. Effect of lubricant content and mixing time on the density of green compacts.
Figure 2 shows the sintered density at different lubricant contents and mixing
times, while Figure 3 shows the green to sintered density changes. It can be observed
that 0.2 and 0.4 wt% zinc stearate increased the density of the powder compacts during
sintering, while at a lubricant content above 0.4 wt%, the sintered density reduced.
More zinc stearate inside the powder compact leads to the vaporization and burning off
of the zinc stearate during sintering, which leads to pore evolution by means of trapped
gas, thus expanding the sample’s dimensions, which is known as sample swelling. The
effect of mixing time can reasonably be evaluated in the samples having 0.2 and 0.4
wt% lubricant, as the densification occurs at this range, where it is evident that 30
minutes mixing time increased the densification process. This is believed to be due to
the flowing out process of zinc stearate from the powder mass during compaction.
Figure 2. Effect of lubricant content and mixing time on the density of sintered
products.
1135
Figure 3. Changes of relative density from green to sintered products.
The bending strength of the sintered product is presented in Figure 4, where

0.4 wt% of zinc stearate is found to produce products having the highest strength
compared to other products. Therefore, 0.4 wt% lubricant content can be considered as
the optimum amount of lubricant for maximizing the displacement out of the lubricant
during compaction. As bending strength implies the bonding among iron particles
inside the product, it was proved that less zinc stearate was left inside the 0.4 wt%
sample during sintering. Figure 5 shows the microstructures of the sintered products,
where the feedstock was prepared by mixing 0.4% zinc stearate for 10, 30 and 60
minutes. For the 10 and 60 minutes samples, larger inter-connected pore are visible,
which is proof of the existence of zinc stearate after the compaction process.
Figure 4. Bending strength of sintered products.
1136
10 minutes 30 minutes
60 minutes
Figure 5. Microstructures of sintered products.
Figure 6 shows the hardness of the sintered product for all mixing times and
lubricant contents. The highest value obtained is at 0.4% zinc stearate for 30 minutes
mixing time, which is 108.9 HRF. The hardness of the sintered products only indicates
the bonding of particles at the surface. Lower hardness means more pores are at the
surface as a result of zinc stearate burning off during sintering, which leads to reducing
the bonding among iron particles at the surface. Therefore, 30 minutes mixing time is
shown to increase significantly the hardness of the products, which indirectly implies
that this mixing time provides a good arrangement of lubricant particles during
compaction.
Figure 6. Hardness of sintered products.
1137
The above results are further supported by the dimensional changes shown in
Figure 7. In the case of 0.2–0.6 wt% zinc stearate content, sintered samples were found
to shrink after sintering, while swelling occurred for the zinc stearate content of 0.8 and
1.0 wt%. The swelling is caused by the vaporization of zinc stearate during sintering
because the gases produced from the zinc stearate are trapped inside the sample. As
sintering proceeded, the pressure increased in the pore which led to pore expansion, and
thus the samples swelled.
Figure 7. Dimensional changes of the sintered products.
CONCLUSIONS
This study found that the characteristics of sintered products are significantly affected
by the feedstock preparation. The consolidated powder mass was markedly improved by
increasing the amount of lubricant, while the mixing time decreased the lubricant
burning off inside the powder compact. The strengthening of the bonding among
particles inside the powder compact was also enhanced by mixing time. It was found
that 0.4 wt% of zinc stearate mixed for 30 minutes with iron powder produced samples
with improved mechanical properties.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia for
funding this research study under 08012011 ERGS.
REFERENCES
Babakhani, A., Haerian, A., & Ghambari, M. (2006). On the combined effect of
lubrication and compaction temperature on properties of iron-based P/M parts.
Materials Science and Engineering A, 437, 360-365.
Babakhani, A. & Haerian, A. (2008). Effect of carbon content and sintering temperature
on mechanical properties of iron based PM parts produced by warm compaction.
Powder Metallurgy Progress, 8(2), 156-163.
Baccino, R. & Moret, F. (2000). Numerical modelling of powder metallurgy process.
Materials and Design, 21, 359-364.
1138
Chawla, N., Murphy, T. F., Narasimhan, K. S., Coopman, M., & Chawla, K. K. (2001).
Axial fatigue behavior of binder-treated versus diffusion alloyed powder
metallurgy steels. Materials Science and Engineering A, 308(1-2), 180-188.
German, R. M. (1996). Sintering theory and practice. New York: John Wiley.
Hausner, H. H. (1979). Discussion on the definition of the term ‘sintering’. In M. M.
Ristic (Ed.), Sintering - New developments. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Jiang, G., Daehn, G. S., Lannutti, J. J., Fu, Y., & Wagoner, R. H. (2001). Effects of
lubrication and aspect ratio on the consolidation of metal matrix composites
under cyclic pressure. Acta Materiala, 49(8), 1471-1477.
Kumar, S., & Singh, R. (2010). Investigation of surface properties in manganese powder
mixed electrical discharge machining of OHNS and D2 die steels. International
Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, 2, 181-199.
Mann, R. E. D., Hexemer Jr., R. L., Donaldson, I. W., & Bishop, D. P. (2011). Hot
deformation of an Al-Cu-Mg powder metallurgy alloy. Materials Science and
Engineering A, 528(16-17), 5476-5483.
Nor, S. S. M., Rahman, M. M., Tarlochan, F., Shahida, B., & Ariffin, A. K. (2008). The
effect of lubrication in reducing net friction in warm powder compaction
process. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 207(1-3), 118-124.
Rahman, M. M. & Nor, S. S. M. (2009). An experimental investigation of metal powder
compaction at elevated temperature. Mechanics of Materials, 41, 553-560.
Rahman, M. M., Nor, S. S. M., & Rahman, H. Y. (2011). Investigation on the effect of
lubrication and forming parameters to the green compact generated from iron
powder through warm forming route. Materials and Design, 32, 447-452.
Saha, D. & Apelian, D. (2002). Control strategy for de-lubrication of P/M compacts.
International Journal of Powder Metallurgy, 38(3), 71-79.
Simchi, A. (2003). Effects of lubrication procedure on the consolidation, sintering and
microstructural features of powder compacts. Materials and Design, 24, 585-
594.
Srinivasan, N. S. (2002). Dynamic study of changes in structure and morphology during
the heating and sintering of iron powder. Powder Technology, 124, 40-44.
Vagnon, A., Lame, O., Bouvard, D., Michiel, M. D., Bellet, D., & Kapelski, G. (2006).
Deformation of steel powder compacts during sintering: Correlation between
macroscopic measurement and in situ microtomography analysis. Acta
Materiala, 54, 513-522.
Ward, M. & Billington, J. C. (1979). Effect of zinc stearate on apparent density, mixing
and compaction/ejection of iron powder compacts. International Journal of
Powder Metallurgy, 4, 201-208.
1139
MODELING OF THE END MILLING PROCESS FOR ALUMINUM ALLOY

AA6061T6 USING HSS TOOL
Najiha M.S.1, M.M. Rahman1,2* and A.R. Yusoff3

1
*Email: mustafizur@ump.edu.my
Phone: +6094262239; Fax: +6094246222
2
Automotive Engineering Centre, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
3
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
ABSTRACT
This study is focused to determine the optimum operating parameters for the end
milling process of AA6061T6 under wet cooling conditions. A central composite design
of response surface methodology is used to develop an effective analytical model for
surface roughness. The primary cutting parameters, namely, speed, feed rate and depth
of cut, are considered in this study. Surface roughness is measured using a perthometer.
The adequacy of the model is tested using ANOVA at 95% confidence level. Significant
parameters are identified in terms of the cutting parameters. The obtained results show
that the most significant parameters for the machining of the mentioned alloy are feed
rate and depth of cut. The resultant model is then tested for optimization using a genetic
algorithm.
Keywords: End mill; aluminum alloy; response surface methodology; central composite
design; surface roughness; genetic algorithm.
INTRODUCTION
Milling is the most extensively used metal machining operation. Most of the finished
products undergo milling processes at some stage of fabrication (King & MacDonald,
1975). The widespread use of end milling for machining parts is attributed to its ability
to give a faster rate of metal removal as well as a reasonably good surface texture. End
milling operations are highly adaptable for both the roughing and finishing operations
for different products that can be produced with a high level of accuracy and surface
finish (Sutherland, 1988). Machining productivity with good design and specifications,
as well as the process economics and product quality, make the study of the milled
surface vital (Hossain & Ahmad, 2012; Razak, Rahman, & Kadirgama, 2012a,b; Najiha,
Rahman, Kamal, Yusoff, & Kadirgama, 2012). The machining process for producing a
milled surface is affected by a number of machining parameters such as the cutting
conditions and tool geometry (Razak et al., 2012a; Najiha, Rahman, Yusoff, &
Kadirgama, 2012). These parameters play a key role in the final quality and finish of a
milled surface. Surface texture or surface quality play a vital role in improving the
fatigue strength, corrosion resistance and creep life of the machined part (Mohammed,
Montasser, & Joachim, 2007).
1140
Modeling of the End Milling Process for Aluminum Alloy AA6061t6 using HSS Tool
The surface roughness parameter is an indicator of surface finish quality which

in turn finally controls the process performance and the operating costs (Boothroyd &
Knight, 1989). Surface roughness is affected by a number of factors including cutting
parameters, tool geometry, workpiece material, chatter and cutting fluids (Lakshmi &
Subbaiah, 2012). Many researches have been conducted in order to study the effects of
machining parameters on the surface quality of the product in end milling operations.
The axial depth of cut, radial depth of cut and feed rate are the most significant
parameters in machining, affecting tool deflection and the surface (Saffar et al., 2009).
Elmagrabi et al. (2008) stated that the feed rate and the depth of cut are the most
significant factors affecting surface roughness. In order to investigate surface roughness
under controllable and uncontrollable factors in end milling operations, an empirical
approach was used (Huang & Chen, 2008). An integrated study of surface roughness
was done by Oktem (2009). This study was used to model and optimize the cutting
parameters when end milling AISI1040 steel material. Oktem (2009) used the PCA
based Taguchi method to optimize the differing objectives of maximizing the metal
removal rate and minimizing the surface roughness. In another study, research was done
to investigate the effects of tool geometry on the quality of the surface (Reddy, 2005).
Surface roughness affects the quality of the machined surface and plays an important
role in the functional characteristics of the final product as it also affects several
functional aspects of the machined part, such as light reflection, heat transmission,
coating characteristics, surface friction, fatigue resistance (Moshat et al., 2010).
However, the mechanism behind the formation of surface roughness is very dynamic,
complicated and process-dependent; therefore it is very difficult to calculate its value
through analytical formulae (Moshat et al., 2010). Surface finish can be characterized by
various parameters such as average roughness (Ra), smoothening depth (Rp), root mean
square (Rq), and maximum peak-to-valley height (Rt) (Hasegawa, Seireg, & Lindberg,
1976).
In addition to surface roughness, the material removal rate (MRR) is a factor that
affects the machining productivity and cost. The MRR signifies the total machining
time for the workpiece. It is also necessary to study the material removal rate along with
surface roughness in the CNC end milling process. The surface finish of the machined
surface has been identified as a quality attribute, whereas MRR has been treated as a
performance index directly related to productivity (Moshat et al., 2010). Both the
surface roughness and the material removal rate vary greatly with the change of cutting
process parameters. That is why proper selection of cutting process parameters is also
essential, along with its prediction to obtain a good surface finish (lower Ra value) and
higher material removal rate in the CNC end milling process (Moshat et al., 2010). So in
order to contribute towards the production cost and quality, it is essential to have a
model that is able to evaluate both indices, i.e., surface roughness and material removal
rate, before the machining of the part, thus helping to reduce the machining cost and
time, and increasing the surface quality, hence helping to optimize the machining
process.
The purpose of this study is to optimize the end milling process of aluminum
alloy AA6061T6 under flooded lubrication conditions. Experiments have been designed
using the central composite design approach. The results obtained have been used to
investigate the most significant and influential parameters in end milling under flooded
machining conditions. A genetic algorithm is implemented to optimize the end milling
parameters. The literature survey indicates that genetic algorithms are thriving in the
optimization of machining parameters (Ahmad, Tanaka, & Saito, 2004). A multi-
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Najiha et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1140-1150
objective genetic algorithm based approach is used in this work for an end milling
operation that is assumed as a controlled optimization problem. Multi-objective
optimization problems usually have many optimal solutions, known as Pareto optimal
solutions (Miettinen, 1999; Goel et al., 2007). Specimen surface roughness and material
removal rate are used as the objective functions in this single pass end milling
constrained parameter optimization problem. Significant parameters affecting the
surface roughness and material removal rate are indicated by ANOVA. The perthometer
is used to obtain the average surface roughness Ra. Statistical quadratic models of
surface roughness are used to fit the experimental data of the surface roughness.
METHODOLOGY
Machining Parameters and Design of Experiments
In this research, the feed rate, speed and depth of cut are set as machining variables. In
order to find the effects of parameters and the combination of the parameters, design of
experiments is done. Experiments are designed according to a central composite design
of response surface methodology. Machining parameters are taken as factors in the
design of experiments and there are five levels for every factor, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Assignment of levels to factors
Factors Levels
1 2 3 4 5
Cutting speed (rpm) 866 932 1037 1142 1209
Axial depth of cut (mm) 0.367 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.63
Feed rate fz (mm/min) 79 95 120 145 161
(a) (b)
Figure 1. (a) Machining pattern on the workpiece; (b) workpiece.
Workpiece and Cutting Tool Material
AA6061T6 aluminum alloy is used as a workpiece material. This is a general purpose

alloy which offers adequate machinability and gives continuous chips. The main
constituents of the alloy are Si, Cu and Mg. The dimensions of the workpiece are 100
mm × 100 mm × 30 mm. Workpieces from the same batch were used in the
experiments. A high speed steel end mill with two flutes is selected for the machining.
1142
The two-flute tool is selected in order to avoid chip clogging in the tool flutes. A central
composite design with a quadratic model is applied. Finally, optimization is carried out
to find the best design. The significance of the input machining parameters on the
response variable, i.e., surface roughness, is determined by ANOVA. Experiments are
performed using a vertical CNC milling center, HAAS TM-2 machining pattern on the
specimen, as shown in Figure 1.
Measurement of Parameters
Surface roughness is the response of the experiments. A perthometer is used to measure

the surface profile. The average surface roughness is determined from the profile data.
Surface roughness is measured in µm.
Statistical Modeling
In order to optimize the surface roughness, a statistical model of surface roughness is

needed that constructs a relationship between the cutting parameters and the response
variable, i.e., surface roughness. The measured values of average surface roughness (Ra)
and material removal rate obtained for the design of experiments are listed in Table 2.
The statistical modeling of the data obtained is done with the help of MATLAB.
Table 2. Measured values of average surface roughness
Speed Feed rate Depth of cut Surface roughness MRR

(RPM) (mm/min) (mm) (µm) (mm3/min)
932 95 1.00 1.52 1140
932 145 3.00 1.47 5220
1037 120 2.00 0.94 2880
1142 145 1.00 0.97 1740
1037 120 2.00 1.21 2880
1142 95 3.00 0.87 3420
1037 120 2.00 1.10 2880
1037 120 2.00 0.97 2880
932 145 1.00 1.68 1740
1142 95 1.00 1.30 1140
1142 145 3.00 1.70 5220
932 95 3.00 0.96 3420
1037 79 2.00 0.95 1900
1037 120 3.63 0.96 5232
1209 120 2.00 1.26 2880
1037 120 0.37 1.44 528.0
1037 120 2.00 0.82 2880
866 120 2.00 0.75 2880
1037 120 2.00 0.94 2880
1037 161 2.00 1.98 3860
932 95 1.00 1.52 1140
932 145 3.00 1.47 5220
1037 120 2.00 0.94 2880
1142 145 1.00 0.97 1740
1037 120 2.00 1.21 2880
1142 95 3.00 0.87 3420
1143
The estimated regression coefficients, the analysis of variance for the surface
roughness and the effects or significance of the regression terms are summarized in
Table 3. The Analysis of Variance table summarizes the linear terms, the squared terms,
and the interactions. The statistical significance of variables is indicated by the p-value
of the variables. This is the probability of obtaining a test statistic that is at least as
extreme as the actual calculated value (Jiang et al., 2010). It is the level of trivial
significance within a statistical hypothesis test, representing the probability of the
occurrence of a given variable. In this research, the level of significance is set at a
standard cut-off value of  = 0.05 The small p-values for the main (p = 0.026), linear
(p = 0.048) and squared terms (p = 0.054) imply that there is curvature in the response
surface. According to the regression analysis, the statistical model contains three two-
way interactions (speed x feed rate, speed x depth of cut, feed rate x depth of cut). The
p-value of 0.039 for the feed rate by depth of cut interaction is less than 0.05, which is a
significant interaction effect. That is, the effect of the depth of cut on the surface
roughness depends on the feed rate. The model contains three squared effects (depth of
cut × depth of cut, feed × feed and speed × speed). Squared terms are used to assess
whether there is curvature (quadratic effect) in the response surface.
Table 3. Estimated regression coefficients for surface roughness
Source Significant*
(at  = 0.05)
Regression - 0.026 yes
Linear - 0.048 yes
Square - 0.054 yes
Interaction - 0.091 no
Constant 9.99288 0.217 no
Speed 0.00472 0.710 no
Feed rate 0.07163 0.104 no
Depth of cut 2.69197 0.015 yes
Speed x speed 0.00000 0.798 no
Feed rate x feed rate 0.00030 0.012 yes
Depth of cut x depth of cut 0.09002 0.178 no
Speed x feed rate 0.00001 0.815 no
Speed x depth of cut 0.00128 0.123 no
Feed rate x depth of cut 0.00759 0.039 yes
The squared terms are identified as significant in the analysis of variance table (p
= 0.048). The p-values for squared effects (feed rate × feed rate = 0.012) are less than
0.05. Therefore, there are significant quadratic effects from the feed rate. The
relationship between feed and surface roughness follows a curved line, rather than a
straight line. The p-value for the linear terms is also less than the standard α = 0.05
value, as shown in the analysis of variance table (p-value = 0.048). This depicts that the
linear effects of some of the variables are also significant. The p-value for the depth of
cut is 0.015, i.e., it also has a significant linear effect on the model. The quadratic model
for surface roughness can be expressed as follows:
1144
Ra  9.99288  0.00472  Speed  0.07163  Feed rate  2.69197  doc

 0.00001  Speed  Feed rate  (0.00128  Speed  doc  0.00759  Feed rate  doc (1)
 0.00000  Speed  Speed  0.00030  Feed rate  Feed rate  0.0002  doc  doc
where
Ra = Average surface roughness measured, m
Speed = Spindle speed measured, RPM
Feed rate = Feed rate measured, mm/min
doc = Depth of cut measured, mm.
Response Surface Charts and Function plots
A 3-dimensional response surface perspective plot and a 2-dimensional contour plot

give a pictorial representation of the response surfaces, showing the combined effects of
the input variables. Response surface plots showing the mutual effect of feed rate and
depth of cut on the surface roughness and material removal rate are shown in Figure 2.
Function plots for the surface roughness against the feed rate and depth of cut are shown
in Figure 3. Function plots for the surface roughness against the feed rate and depth of
cut are shown in Figure 4.
(a)
(b)
Figure 2. Surface contour plots against (a) surface roughness; (b) material removal rate.
1145
(a) (b)
Figure 3. Function plots for surface roughness (m) versus (a) feed rate (mm/min);
(b) depth of cut (mm).
(a) (b)
Figure 4. Function plots for material removal rate (mm3/min) vs (a) feed rate (mm/min),
(b) depth of cut (mm).
OPTIMIZATION MODELING
Objective Functions
In order to optimize an operation, the objective functions have to be defined. In this

research, average surface roughness, Ra and material removal rate are set as objective
functions. While the MRR is a quantitative measure of productivity, surface roughness
defines the quality of the machining. These two objectives are conflicting, i.e., one has
to be compromised in order to achieve a gain in the other. The two objective functions,
namely, the surface roughness and the material removal rate, along with the input
variables, are listed in Table 3 in the earlier section.
Machining Constraints
Machining constraints are defined by the process capabilities and the final product
requirements. The constraints are defined by the experimental range. The boundary
conditions are defined by Eq. (3) through Eq. (8).
1146
Minimize surface roughness, Ra  fn (Speed , Feed rate, doc, MQL flow rate) ;
Maximize material removal rate, MRR  fn (diameter of tool, Feed rate, doc) ;
subject to:
1. Speed min  Speed  Speed max (3)

2. Feed ratemin  Feed rate  Feed ratemax (4)
3. docmin  doc  docmac (5)
4. MQL Flow ratemin  MQL Flow rate  MQL Flow ratemax (6)
while
5. Ra min  Ra  Ra max (7)
6. MRRmin  MRR  MRRmax (8)
A two-step optimization was performed based on the genetic algorithm strategy.

Genetic algorithms have been used in function optimization since their inception,
optimizing large poorly understood problems that arise in many areas of science and
engineering (Adeli & Cheng, 1994). Optimization was carried out using two-step
process optimization. The first optimization step was performed to identify the feasible
designs and the second optimization was done to find the optimal design. In the first
optimization step, three machining parameters (speed, feed rate, depth of cut) were
defined as input variables while the measured surface roughness and material removal
rate were selected as the response variables. The objectives were to minimize the
surface roughness and maximize the material removal rate. The two objectives were
bound by the constraints defined from the experimental scope. The multi-objective
optimization managed by the multi-objective optimization genetic algorithm (MOGA),
was stopped after 100 generations, and 239 Pareto designs were selected to find the
optimum design. In the current study, 239 Pareto designs were obtained. The set of all
Pareto optimal points is known as the Pareto frontier. The Pareto frontier for the current
designs is presented in Figure 5. Starting from the design considerations obtained from
the primary optimization, a second optimization was performed in order to find the most
optimal design point.
From the statistical model of surface roughness, the most significant factors are
identified. According to the statistical model obtained for the surface roughness and
material removal rate, feed rate and the depth of cut appear to be the most significant
factors, which is in complete agreement with the earlier research (Jiang et al., 2010). A
two-step optimization was performed. The first step was performed in order to
determine the range of parameters for feasible designs. The second optimization was
done to focus on finding the final optimal design. In the first step of optimization, the
selected cutting parameters were used as input variables while the response variables,
i.e., surface roughness and the material removal rate, were taken as output. The main
objectives selected were in conflict with each other, i.e., to minimize the surface
roughness and to maximize the material removal rate. Constraints were applied to the
problem within the experimental scope. In order to initialize the algorithm, a set of 20
designs obtained from the central composite designs was used. In the first step of
optimization, 100 generations were run which resulted in 2625 feasible designs. From
1147
these feasible designs, 239 Pareto designs were selected for the second optimization.
The reason for doing a second optimization was to help the algorithm converge and find
the optimum design point. The constraints were selected from the range of variables
from the Pareto designs.
The reason for selecting these constraints was to ensure that the algorithm, while
trying to optimize the two conflicting objectives, leads to a design not too far from the
original one, so as to not break the constraint. In doing two optimizations, the advantage
can be observed as in the first optimization phase; at the beginning the algorithm
reaches the best region as a compromise between the objectives, while in the second one
there is a refinement or convergence in order to identify the best designs. As initial
designs, 239 Pareto designs were chosen to start the optimization. After 100
generations, the algorithm stopped and a convergence was obtained for the best optimal
design within the Pareto designs range. After the second optimization, the optimization
algorithm converged to a design with a spindle speed of 866 rpm, feed rate of 119.5
mm/min, depth of cut value 3.64 mmm and the compromise values of the surface
roughness and material removal rate were 0.752 µm and 5231 mm3/min respectively.
6000
5000
Material Removal Rate
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Surface Roughness
Figure 5. Pareto frontier for the output variables.
CONCLUSION
The foregoing study deals with the multi-objective optimization of a CNC end milling
operation by applying a genetic algorithm. For carrying out the optimization,
mathematical modeling of the surface roughness was performed using RSM. Design of
experiment was made using a central composite design approach resulting in 20
designs. From the modeling of the response, it is clear that surface roughness is more
sensitive to feed rate and depth of cut. The quadratic model was used for fitting
experimental data. Multi-objective optimization based on the Pareto optimal designs
approach was used for the selection of optimal designs within the experimental scope.
This approach has many advantages. Since the Pareto designs are selected from the
feasible designs, the feasibility of the optimal design is ensured. All the constraints
considered were selected from the real experimental conditions. The optimization was
performed in two steps. Firstly, the algorithm converged to a set of feasible designs after
1148
100 generations. In the second step of optimization, the algorithm converged to the best
optimal Pareto design. The best design obtained was the design at 866 rpm, feed rate of
119.5 mm/min and a depth of cut of 3.64 mm. The optimum values for the two
objectives, i.e., surface finish and material removal rate, were found to be 0.752 µm and
5231 mm3/min respectively.
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1150
EFFECTS OF COPPER AND MAGNESIUM ON PHASE FORMATION

MODELING AND MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR IN AL-CU-MG ALLOYS
N. Nafsin and H. M. M. A. Rashed
Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering,

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology,
Dhaka – 1000, Bangladesh
Email: hrashed@mme.buet.ac.bd
Tel/Fax: +88029665618
ABSTRACT
The current work emphasizes the establishment of a relationship between

microstructure, and copper and magnesium addition in aluminum based alloys.
Aluminum alloys containing 4 and 6% copper and 0.50 and 1% magnesium were cast
from commercially pure aluminum ingots and homogenized at 400oC. Images of the
microstructures of the as-cast and homogenized alloys were acquired, and image
analysis of the phases was performed on the acquired images to obtain area fractions of
the phases present in the microstructure. Using the CALPHAD modeling method,
thermodynamic modeling of the alloys was carried out in the equilibrium cooling
condition since after homogenization for a prolonged time the alloys should reach a
close to equilibrium cooling condition. Phase fractions predicted in modeling were
matched closely with image analysis data, given that phases present in the homogenized
alloys can be interpreted through modeling in the equilibrium cooling condition. EDX
analysis of the samples identified the phases present in the alloys as Al2Cu, Mg2Si and
Al7Cu2Mg. With increasing copper content, it was found both in modeling and
experimentally that the amount of Al2Cu phase increased, which improved the hardness
values of the alloys. However, in the homogenized condition, the hardness values
slightly decreased compared to those of the as-cast condition due to retention of a lower
fraction of Al2Cu phase in the homogenized condition. This was ascertained in the
modeling of the alloys. In contrast, Mg2Si and Al7Cu2Mg phases were formed when
magnesium was added in the predefined amount; however, these phases were not found
to be effective at improving the hardness of the alloys, and the hardness values were
barely modified. Apparently, the hardness enhancement after magnesium addition
occurred due to a solute effect. To observe the phase effect of magnesium in aluminum
alloys, binary alloys of aluminum-magnesium should be cast.
Keywords: CALPHAD; aluminum-copper-magnesium alloy; image analysis; ImageJ;

JMatPro.
INTRODUCTION
Environmental legislation to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases has triggered an

interest in weight reduction in vehicles to improve fuel economy (Miller et al., 2000).
As a consequence, aluminum, being lightweight, offers itself as an alternative to steel
for several body components and engine parts in automobiles. For this development and
replacement of existing materials used in automobiles, examination of the effects of
different alloying elements on the microstructure and mechanical properties of
1151
Effects of Copper and Magnesium on Phase Formation Modeling and Mechanical Behavior in AL-CU-MG Alloys
aluminum alloys is essential. For this purpose, a phase diagram is a starting point to
understand the possible changes in the stability of different phases. Phase diagrams help
to understand the compositional changes of a material from phase to phase and to
predict the microstructure. They are the initial map for the design of a material to obtain
the desired properties. They are constructed under equilibrium conditions through Gibbs
free energy minimization. To investigate the changes in microstructure and properties
under different conditions, modeling is useful as it reduces the need for expensive,
complex and time-consuming experiments (Glicksman & Hills, 2001). For simple
systems like binary alloys, experiments can be performed easily. However, for multi-
component systems, dealing with the information obtained from complex experiments is
quite cumbersome. Modeling enables calculation of multi-component phase diagrams,
calculation of equilibria under a particular set of conditions of composition, pressure
and temperature, and calculation of properties (Hillert, 1981). The CALPHAD
(Calculation of Phase Diagram) method is currently the dominant approach used to
model phase equilibria of a system (Saunders & Miodownik, 1998). It deals with the
mathematical expressions for thermodynamic properties of the phases. This method has
enabled the determination of phases in complex systems under varying conditions. It is
based on the Gibbs free energy concept. Through minimization of Gibbs free energy for
a particular condition, calculation of phases can be done. Results obtained from the
CALPHAD method have been shown to be close to the empirical values (Saunders,
2001).
To improve properties, alloying elements are added to the pure aluminum. These
elements modify the phase diagram by changing the eutectic composition and
temperature. The addition of copper in aluminum alloys results in the formation of Al-
2Cu phase and allows precipitate hardening of the alloy (Xiao et al., 2002). Tensile
strength and hardness values generally increase; however, ductility is reduced with
copper addition. A low copper level is good for castability as too much copper leads to
increased volumetric shrinkage and micro-porosity (Caceres et al., 1999). High copper
content reduces the corrosion resistance of aluminum alloys (Hussey & Wilson, 1998).
In a similar fashion, minor addition of magnesium can provide a strengthening effect in
aluminum alloys by precipitation hardening (Samuel & Samuel, 1995). However, to
have a bright surface finish or to enhance the anodizing characteristics, high magnesium
content can be used (Brown, 1999; Davis, 1993). Addition of both magnesium and
copper to aluminum alloys can improve strength and hardness (Girisha & Sharma,
2012). However, it was not clear whether the solute strengthening effect was
responsible for this increment of strength and hardness, or whether the formed stable
phases took part in the strengthening. The current study concentrates on the
microstructural effects of aluminum alloys by both copper and magnesium addition.
Aluminum alloys of predefined compositions were cast and homogenized at 400oC for
four hours. Afterwards, microstructures of as-cast and homogenized alloys were
observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Thermodynamic
modeling of the alloys was carried out, and the phases predicted were compared with
results obtained from energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) in SEM and image
analysis of the microstructures.
Alloys having different copper and magnesium content were cast in a permanent metal
mold using commercially pure ingots of aluminum (99.80%), electrolytic copper
1152
Nafsin and Rashed /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1151-1161
(99.90%) and magnesium ribbons. The metals were melted in a pit furnace at
predetermined weight percentages. The molten metal was poured into the metal mold
(made of cast iron) and cast samples of dimensions of 200x50x80 mm were made
(Figure 1). Prior to the pouring of the hot metal, the mould was preheated to 200oC. The
composition of the alloys was determined using an optical emission spectrometer
(Shimadzu PDA 700). The samples were cut to 50x30x20 mm using a vertical saw for
homogenization treatment at 400oC for four hours in a BlueM Electric furnace. After
heating, the samples were immediately put into water kept at room temperature.
Figure 1. Casting of the alloys in a metal mold.
For microstructural observation, specimens were cut into 25x25 mm size and
ground and polished using the conventional metallographic sample preparation route.
The microstructure of the specimens was observed in the un-etched condition using an
Optica B-600 MET metallurgical microscope and images were acquired using the
OpticaTM Vision Pro software package at the same resolution and the same RGB
values. SEM was carried out on a Philips 525 FEGSEM with an energy dispersive X-
ray analysis (EDX) system in un-etched condition. The CALPHAD method was used to
predict the phases developed in these alloys using the JMatPro software package
(Saunders, 2001) for both equilibrium (Guo et al., 2005; Zhang, Han, & Liu, 2006;
Lacaze & Valdes, 2005) and the non-equilibrium Scheil-Gulliver cooling condition
(Ohno, Mirkovic, & Schmid-Fetzer, 2006; Quested, Dinsdale, & Greer, 2005). The
hardness of the specimens was measured using a standard Rockwell Hardness testing
machine in HRF scale with a 60 kg load and using a 1/16” diamond indenter. At least
five readings were taken for each specimen at different locations to circumvent the
possible effect of segregation of any alloying element.
Finally, microstructure obtained was analyzed using the ImageJ software
package (Rasband, 1997) to determine area fractions of the phases present in the alloys.
Prior to processing, images were converted to 8-bit gray scale. Shading correction was
necessary for the images acquired from the optical microscope; otherwise, image
analysis would not give accurate results. This was done for every single image using a
graticule. After placing the graticule in the microscope, it was focused in a scratch-free
zone and proper brightness was adjusted and an image was acquired. Then shading
correction was done in ImageJ by using this image. The size of each pixel is necessary
information before analyzing the images. This was done using ImageJ software. An
image of the graticule at 200x magnification was taken in the same microscope. Then in
ImageJ, a straight line of 100 µm was drawn on the scale in the image. Then using the
1153
‘Set Scale’ command, it was found that 1 µm contained 2.24 pixels. This scale was used
for all the analyses which were done at 200x magnification. For different
magnifications, a different scale was used. However, shading correction alone could not
solve the problem of shadow in the images. Some shadows were found in the left top
corner of the images. Therefore, the images were cropped to 1200x950 pixel dimensions
to get rid of any shading problem. In ImageJ, a pre-written macro file was used to
analyze the images. Two types of measurements were made: field measurements for the
whole image and region measurements for the individual phases/particles. The whole
area of the image (1200x950 pixels) was considered. So, a frame was not used to
exclude the edges where some incomplete phases may exist. The reason is that
excluding the edges may prevent some large particles from being considered. Before
starting the measurements, an upper threshold was set for the first image of the
specimen. Since the images were converted to gray values, the different regions can be
distinguished using different gray value ranges. For example, a range of 0 to 20 of gray
values should be enough to identify regions of black color. Therefore the phases having
black color were identified using this range of gray values. The selected regions were
eroded and dilated using open and closed binary operations. Using similar principles,
different phases were identified and analyzed. If there was any relief surrounding the
selected phases, it would result in shadows which would have a similar gray level; this
would lead to incorrect measurements. So, a matrix was discriminated from all phases.
Then slightly dilated (to include some shading) total black phases were subtracted from
the segmented phases. Phase fractions of black phases and white/gray phases were thus
calculated.
Chemical Composition of the Alloys
The chemical composition of the as-cast alloys was determined by OES. Table 1 shows
the chemical composition of alloys used in the current work. Though magnesium was
added in higher amounts, most of it was not retained in the molten metal.
Table 1. Chemical composition of the as-cast aluminum alloys.
Alloy Fe Si Cu Mg Al
Al-4Cu 0.07 0.08 3.69 0.06 Balance
Al-4Cu-0.5Mg 0.10 0.05 3.51 0.30 Balance
Al-4Cu-1Mg 0.08 0.13 4.03 0.59 Balance
Al-6Cu 0.06 0.12 6.16 0.06 Balance
Al-6Cu-0.5Mg 0.02 0.09 5.45 0.55 Balance
Al-6Cu-1Mg 0.09 0.12 6.45 0.76 Balance
Phases Predicted in Modeling
Figure 2 shows the predicted phase fractions for Al-4Cu alloy in the equilibrium
condition, modeled by the CALPHAD method. Only Al2Cu was found to be stable in a
higher amount. Since the alloys were homogenized, it was considered that there would
be sufficient time for diffusion and the condition would approach the equilibrium
cooling condition, instead of the solid state diffusion-less non-equilibrium Scheil-
1154
Gulliver condition. Such modeling was performed for each alloy and the phases
predicted are given in Table 2. Only Al7Cu2M (M=metal), Al2Cu and Mg2Si phases are
presented in the table since other phase fractions were very negligible. Since the
homogenization temperature was 400oC (and the samples were quenched in water
immediately), the phases present at that temperature should be retained at room
temperature.
Figure 2. Predicted phase fractions for Al-4Cu alloy in the equilibrium condition in
JMatPro software package
From Table 2, the effect of copper on second phases is evident. The phase
fraction of Al2Cu phase was doubled by the addition of copper in the alloys. On the
other hand, the effect of magnesium was not very significant. Mg2Si phase was formed
due to the presence of magnesium in the alloys. In addition, Al7Cu2M (M=metal) phase
did not show any relationship with the amount of copper or magnesium present in the
alloys.
Table 2. Predicted phase fractions of the alloys modeled by the CALPHAD method in
the equilibrium condition
Alloy Al7Cu2M Al2Cu Mg2Si

Al-4Cu 0.46 3.95 -
Al-4Cu-0.5Mg 0.66 3.34 -
Al-4Cu-1Mg 0.53 4.36 0.26
Al-6Cu 0.40 8.78 -
Al-6Cu-0.5Mg 0.13 7.33 0.16
Al-6Cu-1Mg 0.60 8.88 0.28
1155
Phases Obtained Experimentally
From CALPHAD modeling, it was predicted that the addition of copper and magnesium
would result in the formation of certain phases in the aluminum matrix. The presence of
these phases (Table 2) was confirmed by EDX analysis. The major phases predicted in
the modeling are shown in Figure 3 and identified in the microstructure of Al-6Cu-1Mg
alloy by SEM and EDX. Using spot EDX analysis, it was possible to determine the
atomic fractions of those phases. Several spots were analyzed and their average atomic
fractions were measured. The white phase in Figure 3 contains 68% Al and 32% Cu
(at.%), which comprises actual Al2Cu phase. Moreover, the black phase in Figure 3
apparently gives the composition of Mg2Si. Therefore, it is ascertained that CALPHAD
modeling can predict the phases present in the alloys considered with a close
approximation. Figure 4 reveals some black phases present in Al-6Cu alloys with
increasing magnesium content. These black phases are mainly magnesium-containing
phases, as predicted from CALPHAD analysis and confirmed by EDX analysis.
Al2Cu
Mg2Si
Figure 3. SEM micrograph of Al-6Cu-1Mg alloy. Identified phases are shown by

arrows.
Image Analysis of the Phases
The image analysis technique was applied on the images from optical microscopy of the
alloys to compare the phase fractions obtained. For convenience in image analysis, the
phases are denoted as ‘white phases’ and ‘black phases’. It was shown earlier that white
phases were actually the phases containing aluminum and copper, and black phases
were magnesium-containing Mg2Si phase. The phase fractions of these phases are
shown in Table 3. If the data of Table 3 is compared with that of Table 2, it is clear that
the prediction matches closely the actual phase fractions present in the alloys. It is
noteworthy that few porosities were present in the cast alloys and that these were
included in the black phase calculation. In summary, addition of copper increases the
copper-containing phase Al2Cu irrespective of alloy composition. Similar to copper
addition, the addition of magnesium increases the magnesium-containing phase Mg2Si.
1156
50 μm 50 μm
(a) (b)
50 μm
(c)
Figure 4: Optical micrographs showing microstructure of Al-6Cu alloys: (a) without any
magnesium addition, (b) with 0.50 wt% magnesium addition, and (c) with 1 wt%
magnesium addition
Table 3. Image analysis data of microstructures of the alloys; “white phases” resemble
Al2Cu and Al7Cu2M phases and “black phase” resembles Mg2Si phases according to
EDX analysis and some existing porosities
Alloys White phases Black phase

Al-4Cu 5.10 ± 1.40 0.16 ± 0.05
Al-4Cu-0.5Mg 5.34 ± 2.12 0.41 ± 0.20
Al-4Cu-1Mg 6.01 ± 0.98 0.64 ± 0.25
Al-6Cu 9.07 ± 0.98 0.12 ± 0.08
Al-6Cu-0.5Mg 5.53 ± 1.50 0.35 ± 0.17
Al-6Cu-1Mg 7.29 ± 1.33 0.45 ± 0.19
Effect of Composition on Hardness
Homogenization treatment appears to affect the hardness of the aluminum alloys

investigated. The hardness values of the alloys were, as expected, slightly reduced after
homogenization treatment (Figure 5). Homogenization treatment was performed at
400oC. Therefore, according to Figure 2, only Al2Cu and Al2CuMg phase were present
1157
in the homogenized and quenched samples. Moreover, the amount of Al 2Cu was also
reduced after homogenization treatment (e.g., 3.95% at 400oC for Al-4Cu alloy), as is
evident from Figure 2. As a result, the hardness values were slightly lower than the as-
cast values. This also implies that larger phase Al2Cu may also be responsible for
hardness in these alloys. This is also true for Al-6Cu alloy, as seen from Figure 6. Al2Cu
phase was 8.78% in that alloy at 400oC and the fraction was increased at lower
temperature. It is noteworthy that the lower temperature resembles the as-cast condition
of the alloys. The actual phase fraction of Al2Cu obtained from image analysis data
(Table 3) also confirms that this particular phase contributes towards hardness
modification. Al-4Cu alloy contains 5.10 ± 1.40% white phases (eventually Al2Cu
phase) and Al-6Cu alloy contains 9.07 ± 0.98% white phases.
Figure 5. Hardness in HRF scale for both Al-4Cu and Al-6Cu alloys in the as-cast and
homogenized condition
Figure 6. Fraction of Al2Cu in Al-4Cu and Al-6Cu at different temperatures
1158
Magnesium content was added to the alloys in different proportions, and

thermodynamic modeling and hardness tests were performed to observe the effects of
magnesium on properties, similar to the aluminum approach mentioned above.
Surprisingly, the effect of magnesium, in the added portions, on the hardness values
varied. Generally, magnesium contributes as a strengthening element in aluminum
alloys. From Table 2, it is clear that magnesium forms a separate phase, Mg2Si, only in
the higher magnesium-containing alloys. On the other hand, the image analysis data
reveals that some magnesium-containing phases existed in all alloys and their area
fractions did not vary much, given the spread of error. However, Figure 7 shows that
magnesium contributes to strengthening of the alloys, especially up to 0.50 magnesium
wt% addition. This is in agreement with previous works (Girisha & Sharma, 2012; Rana
& Purohit, 2012). Above this content, magnesium was found to be not very effective in
improving the hardness of the alloys investigated. Apparently, if the amount of
magnesium is more than 0.50 wt%, it is clear that excess magnesium precipitates out of
the solution as magnesium-containing phases. This is also observed experimentally, as
seen in the image analysis data in Table 3. Therefore, the increment of hardness values
was obtained from the solute effect of magnesium in the matrix aluminum.
Obviously, as discussed above, Mg2Si was not very effective in strengthening
considering the decreasing trend of hardness values, after 0.50 wt% magnesium, in
Figure 7. Mg2Si phase stability is shown in Figure 8. It is obvious from this figure that
in Al-4Cu-1Mg and Al-6Cu-1Mg alloys, magnesium is more likely to form a separate
phase-Mg2Si, and therefore, magnesium would not be very effective for hardness in
these alloy conditions. In Al-4Cu-0.5Mg and Al-6Cu-0.5Mg alloys, the phase fraction of
this phase is insignificant, meaning that magnesium remained in the solution and
contributed to strengthening. Consequently, increasing magnesium content above this
value did not promote a strengthening effect to any great extent.
Figure 7. Hardness in HRF scale for both Al-4Cu and Al-6Cu alloys in the homogenized
condition having different magnesium content.
1159
Figure 8. Fraction of Mg2Si in Al-4Cu and Al-6Cu alloys at different temperatures
CONCLUSIONS
(i) The CALPHAD method can closely predict the phases present in aluminum
alloys. This was confirmed by image analysis of the phases present in the
microstructure after homogenization. Since the alloys were homogenized, the
equilibrium condition route was followed during modeling. Al2Cu, Mg2Si and
Al7Cu2M phases were predicted in thermodynamic modeling of the alloys and
these three phases were also identified in EDX analysis.
(ii) With the addition of copper, the Al2Cu phase fraction was increased both in
modeling and experimentally. With magnesium addition up to 0.50 wt%, not
much Mg2Si phase was present in the microstructure. With more magnesium
addition, the Mg2Si phase fraction was increased. Al7Cu2M phase was found not
to be affected by the composition of the alloys.
(iii) The addition of copper and magnesium results in an increase in the hardness of
homogenized aluminum-copper-magnesium alloy, but with different trends.
More Al2Cu phase is formed with more copper and, as a consequence, the
hardness is improved. In contrast, with addition of magnesium up to 0.50 wt%,
most of the magnesium was retained in the matrix and a strengthening effect was
observed from the increased hardness values. With further addition of
magnesium, apparently, the hardness values were not increased as expected due
to the formation of Mg2Si phases.
(iv) To understand the effect of magnesium, binary Al-Mg alloys should be cast and
the aging responses of the alloys need to be understood.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology for
providing funding for this work.
1160
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1161
DIURNAL PATTERN AND ESTIMATION OF GLOBAL SOLAR RADIATION

IN EAST COAST MALAYSIA
M. Mahendran1*, G.C. Lee1, A. Shahrani1, R. A. Bakar1, K. Kadirgama1,

A. R. Amir1 and K.V. Sharma2
1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
*Email: mahen_mu@yahoo.com
Phone: +60176673607; Fax: +609424622
2
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad, Kukatpally,
Hyderabad - 500085, Andhra Pradesh, India
ABSTRACT
This solar radiation study was undertaken at Pekan campus (3.5ºN, 103.4ºE), Faculty of
Mechanical Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang. The study focused on the
variation of daily global radiation in east coast Malaysia and the development of an
empirical model to estimate the monthly average daily global solar radiation on a
horizontal surface with Pekan meteorological station data. Solar radiation data were
obtained using the weather station which was installed at the site from 2011 to 2013.
The patterns were divided into five conditions: clear sky, partially cloudy, fully cloudy,
afternoon rain, and northeast monsoon season. It was observed that on a clear sky day in
Pekan, the maximum solar insolation was 939 W/m2 and total solar energy received was
6.51 kWhr/m2. In contrast, on a fully cloudy day the maximum solar insolation was only
30 W/m2 and total solar energy received was 0.35 kWhr/m2. Subsequently, the
developed models were evaluated using statistical analysis. This paper describes an
advanced understanding of the daily variation of global solar radiation in east coast
Malaysia which may be significant for the design of a solar system. Lastly, use of the
Angstrom modified linear models developed is highly recommended to estimate the
monthly average daily global solar radiation in Pekan, Pahang and locations with
similar solar radiation patterns in east coast Malaysia.
Keywords: Solar energy; linear regression; diurnal pattern of global solar radiation.
INTRODUCTION
The Malaysian government has created an awareness about the depletion of fossil fuels
and is diversifying its energy sectors since including renewable energy in the 8th
Malaysia Plan (Malaysia, 2001). Solar energy is the renewable energy application with
the greatest potential in Malaysia, as most of its terrain receives abundant solar
radiation. Knowledge of the daily variation of global solar radiation is a necessity at any
particular locality to consider the feasibility of solar energy utilization (Othman et al.,
1993; Sathappan, & Muthucumaraswamy, 2011). In Malaysia, the global solar radiation
is mainly influenced by climate conditions such as Asian monsoons, high relative
humidity and heavy rainfall. In addition, a preliminary study on solar energy potential
on the east coast by Noor et al. (2011) stated that the solar radiation during June 2011
reached around 982 W/m2. However, the data was insufficient and more data is required
to confirm the practicability of solar energy. Recent research by Mahendran et al.
1162
Mahendran et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1162-1175
(2012) on solar energy at Pekan found that the maximum global solar radiation on a
clear sky day was 958 W/m² and on a partly cloudy day it was 630 W/m². Nevertheless,
solar radiation measurements are not easily available in all areas and the diurnal pattern
of global solar radiation differs from one place to another. Hence, a modeling approach
is necessary to estimate global solar radiation from regions with similar climate
conditions and solar radiation patterns. A number of researchers in Malaysia have
developed regression models to estimate the global solar radiation across the country
using different methods (Sopian & Othman, 1992; Azhari et al., 2008; Muzathik et al.,
2011; Nik et al., 2012; Khatib et al., 2012). However, all the authors concluded that the
regression coefficients vary for different parts of the country although they have
comparable geographical and climatic conditions. Azhari et al. (2008) used satellite
images as an alternative method to predict the solar energy in Malaysia and concluded
that the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia has high potential for the use of solar
energy due to the abundant solar energy received throughout the year, including the
month of December. Moreover, Zaharim et al. (2009) used the Box-Jenkins method to
predict the global solar radiation at Bangi, Selangor. In contrast, Khatib et al., (2012)
used an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method to predict a clearness index which is
used to calculate the global and diffuse solar irradiation in the locality. Furthermore, a
comparative study between various Angstrom modified linear empirical models was
conducted to establish a suitable model for the state of Terengganu (Muzathik et al.,
2011).
Angstrom modified linear regression models based on sunshine hours are widely
used to estimate global solar radiation in many parts of the world and these models can
also be equipped with some meteorological parameters such as based on the sunshine
duration, precipitation, elevation, and latitude (Bakirci, 2009; Duzen & Aydin, 2012; Li
et al., 2010). Some researchers have suggested other empirical relationships in terms of
relative humidity and ambient air temperature to estimate the global solar radiation
(Togrul & Onat, 1999; Ertekin & Yaldiz, 1999). The objective of this paper is to
describe the diurnal pattern of global solar radiation in the east coast of Malaysia and to
develop suitable models to estimate monthly average daily global solar radiation in
Pekan by using meteorological parameters such as the bright sunshine duration, relative
humidity and high-low ambient air temperatures.
METHODOLOGY
Experimental Method
The global solar radiation, outdoor relative humidity, and rain rate data were measured
using the Vantage Pro-2 wireless weather station for a three-year period from 2011-
2013. The wireless sensor transmits the readings to a weather-link data logger which is
kept inside a workstation, as shown in Figure 1. Temperature and humidity sensors are
located inside the radiation shield. The shield protects the sensors from solar radiation
and other sources of radiated and reflected heat. It also includes a rain collector which
meets the guidelines of the World Meteorological Organization and reads the amount of
rainfall in 0.01 to 0.2 mm increments (Noor et al., 2011). The data are collected at
intervals of five minutes and then averaged and integrated for one day.
1163
Diurnal Pattern and Estimation of Global Solar Radiation in East Coast Malaysia
Figure 1. Weather-link data logger workstation.
Empirical Modeling
In the present work, Angstrom’s modified linear model (Sukhatme & Nayak, 2008) was
used to estimate the monthly average of the daily global solar radiation on a horizontal
surface H , where a1 and b1 are regression coefficients with the actual sunshine hours
per day N , as shown in Eq. (1).
H  N 
 a1  b1   (1)
Ho  N max 
Values of the monthly average of the maximum possible sunshine hours per day
N max are calculated from Eq. (2) at the location latitude  (Duffie & Beckman, 2006).
2
N max  Cos 1   tan  tan   (2)
15
The extraterrestrial radiation Ho is obtained from the simplified relationship

shown in Eq. (3) and I sc is a solar radiation constant (Sukhatme & Nayak, 2008).
24  360n 
Ho  I sc 1  0.033 cos cos cos sins  s sin sin  (3)
  365 
The sunset or sunrise hour angle s and the solar declination angle  are defined
by the relations in Eq. (4) and Eq. (5) (Gordon, 2001).
s  cos 1   tan  tan   (4)
  23.45 Sin 360  284  n  / 365 (5)
1164
The value is determined on a particular day n of a month. Usually, the 15th of

each month is the day n of the month used to determine the solar declination
(Sukhatme et al., 2008).
The linear Angstrom’s modified model presented by Muzathik et al. (2011) for
Terengganu and by Sopian and Othman (1992) for Kota Bharu which was evaluated in
this present study is shown in Eq. (6) and Eq. (7) respectively.
H  N 
 0.2207  0.5249  
Ho  N max  (6)
H  N  (7)
 0.20  0.47  
Ho  N max 
The multiple linear regressions based on latitude, relative humidity, Rh and

high-low mean temperatures were developed in the present study as shown in Eq. (8)
and Eq. (9). The regression coefficients a1, b1,..., d 3 were obtained from SPSS software
using a stepping method for the purpose of estimation.
H  N 
 a 2 cos   b 2   (8)
Ho  N max 
H  N   T 
 a 3  b3    c3  Rh   d 3   (9)
Ho  N max   Tmax 
Statistical Analysis
All models were analyzed with three statistical analyses: the Root Mean Square Error
(RMSE), Mean Bias Error (MBE) and percentage error, to evaluate the accuracy of the
estimated global solar radiation. The MBE and RMSE provide, respectively, the long-
term and short-term performance of an equation. The equation’s performance is
excellent when the value is small. The percentage error provides the variation in
predicted and measured values for each month.
The RMSE is determined using Eq. (10).
1
1 n 2
RMSE    ( H i , predict  H i ,measured )2  (10)
 n i 1 
The MBE is determined using Eq. (11).
1 n
MBE   ( Hi, predict  Hi,measured )
n i 1 (11)
1165
The percentage error is determined using Eq. (12).
 H i , predict  H i ,measured 
Percentage error    100%
 H i ,measured (12)
 
It was observed that the trends of the diurnal pattern of global solar radiation repeatedly
maintain a similar pattern for a minimum three days. Therefore, the diurnal pattern was
plotted for three days consecutively for global solar radiation, outdoor relative humidity
and rain rate. The diurnal patterns of global solar radiation were classified into five
patterns as follows:
Global Solar Radiation Pattern for Clear Sky Days
The global solar radiation pattern on the clear sky days recorded from 18 to 20 August
2012 is shown in Figure 2. It was observed that on 19 August 2012, the maximum
instantaneous solar insolation for a clear sky day reached about 939 W/m2 at 1.25 p.m.
and total solar energy received was 6.51 kWhr/m2. The solar energy received was
slightly lower, by about 6.4%, than in west Malaysia (Othman et al., 1993).
Consequently, relative outdoor humidity was high at approximately 75–80% during the
daylight, which might obstruct the incoming solar radiation, and at night the outdoor
humidity reached 96%. Likewise, the clear sky day radiation pattern was occasional
throughout the year in east coast Malaysia. This was due to the strong winds from the
sea, cloud cover and high outdoor relative humidity. This pattern is common in the
months of March to May and August to October, whereby the high solar energy
received on the east coast of Malaysia and similar variation is observed in Figure 7.
1200 100
Outdoor Relative Humidity (%)
1100 90
Solar Radiation (W/m2)
1000 80
& RainRate (mm/hr)
900
800 70
700 60
600 50
500 40
400 30
300
200 20
100 10
0 0
3:10 AM
3:10 PM
6:10 PM
9:10 PM
3:10 PM
6:10 PM
9:10 PM
3:10 PM
6:10 PM
9:10 PM
3:10 AM
6:10 AM
9:10 AM
3:10 AM
6:10 AM
9:10 AM
6:10 AM
9:10 AM
12:10 AM
12:10 PM
12:10 AM
12:10 PM
12:10 AM
12:10 PM
18 -20 Aug 2012
Solar Radiation Outdoor Relative Humidity Rain Rate
Figure 2. Global solar radiation pattern for clear sky days.
1166
Global Solar Radiation Pattern for Partially Cloudy Days
Figure 3 shows the global solar radiation pattern for the partially cloudy days as
recorded from 1 to 3 December 2012. On 1 December 2012, the average solar insolation
was less than 425 W/m2 and total solar energy received was 2.21 kWhr/m2. The
contrary relationship of relative outdoor humidity and global solar radiation can be
observed clearly at a number of points on partially cloudy days. This pattern is
unpredictable, and the solar energy received may differ with the degree of cloudiness at
the location.
1200 100
1100 90

1000
80
900
& Rain Rate (mm/hr)

70
800
700 60
600 50
500 40
400
30
300
20
200
100 10
0 0
3:05 PM
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
3:05 PM
6:05 PM
9:05 PM
12:05 PM
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
6:05 PM
9:05 PM
3:05 PM
6:05 PM
9:05 PM
12:05 PM
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
12:05 PM
12:05 AM
12:05 AM
12:05 AM
1 - 3 Dec 2012
Figure 3. Global solar radiation pattern for partially cloudy days.
Global Solar Radiation Pattern for Fully Cloudy Days
The global solar radiation pattern for the fully cloudy days recorded from 23 to 25
December 2012 is shown in Figure 4. This pattern only occurs when there is cloud
cover for the entire day, from early morning until late afternoon, sometimes with
occasional rain. It was noticed that the relative outdoor humidity was very high, ranging
from 90 – 98%, and it also reached 99%, which was near to the saturation point of the
measuring sensor although there was no rain during this pattern. On 24 December 2012,
the maximum solar insolation received was 30 W/m2 and total solar energy received
was 0.35 kWhr/m2. The solar energy value was only 5.38% of that of a clear sky day.
The average insolation for the entire day was less than 200W/m2 for 23 and 25
December 2012 and total solar energy received was 1.74 and 0.46 kWhr/m2
respectively. This pattern of solar radiation is unusual but it can be observed during the
winter solstice when the sun is at its most southerly position.
1167
1200 100

1100 90
1000

80
& Rain Rate (mm/hr)

900
800 70
700 60
600 50
500 40
400 30
300
200 20
100 10
0 0
9:05 PM
3:05 PM
6:05 PM
9:05 PM
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
12:05 AM
3:05 PM
6:05 PM
9:05 PM
3:05 PM
6:05 PM
12:05 PM
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
12:05 PM
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
12:05 PM
12:05 AM
12:05 AM
23 - 25 Dec 2012
Figure 4. Global solar radiation pattern for fully cloudy days.
Global Solar Radiation Pattern for Afternoons on Rainy Days
Figure 5 shows the global solar radiation pattern for the afternoons on rainy days
recorded from 6 to 8 October 2012. From the figure, the maximum solar insolation
during midday on 7 October 2012 was 1048 W/m2. Then, heavy rain started to fall in
the late afternoon with a peak rain rate of about 500 mm/hr, which was the highest
recorded in 2012, and it lasted for 2 hours. Total solar energy received for the day was
4.07 kWhr/m2. Similar patterns can be observed on 6 and 8 October 2012 with peak rain
rates of 150mm/hr and 50mm/hr respectively. In general, the probability of rain falling
in the afternoon or at dusk is due to convection currents in the morning.
1200 100
Outdoor Relation Humidity (%)
1100 90
1000
& Rain Rate (mm/hr)
80
900
800 70
700 60
600 50
500 40
400 30
300
200 20
100 10
0 0
3:10 PM
6:10 PM
9:10 PM
6:10 PM
9:10 PM
3:10 PM
9:10 PM
3:10 PM
6:10 PM
3:10 AM
6:10 AM
9:10 AM
12:10 PM
3:10 AM
6:10 AM
9:10 AM
12:10 PM
3:10 AM
6:10 AM
9:10 AM
12:10 PM
12:10 AM
12:10 AM
12:10 AM
6 - 8 Oct 2012
Solar Radiation Rain Rate Outdoor Relative Humidity
Figure 5. Global solar radiation pattern for afternoons on rainy days.
1168
Global Solar Radiation Pattern for the Northeast Monsoons Rain Season Days
The global solar radiation pattern for the northeast monsoons rain season days recorded
from 19 to 21 January 2013 is shown in Figure 6. The northeast monsoon brings rain
and cloud to the east coast from November to March. On 20 January 2013, the
maximum solar insolation was 1051 W/m2 and total solar energy received was 1.22
kWhr/m2. However, a sudden peak in solar insolation may have been caused by the
refraction and reflection of solar radiation by the cloud and particles in the air (Othman
et al., 1993) or the clear sky that occurred immediately after the rain stopped for a
moment. Total solar energy received on 19 and 21 January 2012 was 1.63 and 2.44
kWhr/m2 respectively. The average rain rate for those entire days was less than 3.8
mm/hr and the relative outdoor humidity was approximately 90–95%.
1200 100

1100 90
1000
80
& Rain Rate (mm/hr)

900
800 70
700 60
600 50
500 40
400 30
300
200 20
100 10
0 0
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
3:05 PM
6:05 PM
9:05 PM
12:05 PM
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
3:05 PM
6:05 PM
9:05 PM
12:05 PM
3:05 AM
6:05 AM
9:05 AM
12:05 PM
3:05 PM
6:05 PM
9:05 PM
12:05 AM
12:05 AM
12:05 AM
19 -21 Jan 2013
Figure 6. Global solar radiation pattern for the northeast monsoons rain season days.
Regression Modeling
The regression parameters for the estimation of monthly average daily global solar
radiation are listed in Table 1. The parameters were obtained from observations at
Pekan meteorology station from 2006 to 2012.
The Angstrom’s modified linear regressions developed for Pekan are shown in
Eqs. (13)–(15).
H N
 0.22  0.47 (13)
Ho N max
H  N 
 0.22cos   0.47   (14)
Ho  N max 
1169
H  N   T 
 0.35  0.41   0.065  Rh   0.206   (15)
Ho  N max   Tmax 
Table 1. Regression parameters for the estimation of monthly average daily global solar
radiation.
H Ho N H TL
Month Rh
(kWhr/m²) (kWhr/m²) N max Ho TH
January 3.829 9.691 0.379 0.395 0.809 0.783
February 4.536 10.165 0.492 0.446 0.783 0.759
March 4.840 10.467 0.534 0.462 0.806 0.747
April 5.160 10.365 0.595 0.498 0.800 0.726
May 4.879 9.953 0.554 0.490 0.803 0.713
June 4.458 9.658 0.486 0.462 0.798 0.712
July 4.457 9.749 0.482 0.457 0.802 0.711
August 4.928 10.125 0.559 0.487 0.795 0.708
September 4.903 10.362 0.549 0.473 0.795 0.702
October 4.597 10.194 0.502 0.451 0.808 0.722
November 4.061 9.766 0.420 0.416 0.833 0.749
December 4.034 9.503 0.426 0.424 0.838 0.783
Figure 7 shows the variation of actual to maximum sunshine hour, N / N max and
the clearness index, H / H o for Pekan. The months of November to March show fewer
hours of sunshine and heavy cloudy cover similar to the pattern in Figure 4, which was
discussed earlier. The N / N max goes as low as 0.379 in January, which was due to the
northeast monsoon season on the east coast of Malaysia during this period.
The monthly average daily global solar radiation estimated values using Eqs.
(13)–(15) for Pekan are given in Table 2, along with the measured values and the
estimated values from the models of Sopian et al. (1992) and Muzathik et al. (2011),
Eqs. (6) and (7) respectively. The percentage errors, RMSE, and MBE of the models are
shown in Table 3. The RSME and MBE of Eq. (6) were 0.285 and 0.272, while for Eq.
(7) they were 0.219 and -0.209. The lower values of RSME and MBE noticed in the
present developed models were nearly zero. The minimum and maximum percentage
errors in the Muzathik et al. (2011) model were 3.10% and 8.32%, whereas in the
Sopian et al. (1992) model they were -2.5% and 7.2%. The present developed models,
Eq. (13) and Eq. (14), have the maximum percentage errors of about 2.83% and 2.92%
respectively, for the month of June. However, the model developed in terms of relative
humidity and high-low air ambient temperature, Eq. (15), shows a lower percentage
error of about -1.53% for the same month. Therefore, there is a significant influence
from meteorology parameters such as relative humidity and air temperature on the
estimation of global solar radiation. The predicted values from the present developed
models using Eqs. (13)–(15) were compared with the measured value of monthly
average daily global solar radiation as shown in Figure 8. All the developed models’
estimated values are in excellent agreement with the measured values in Pekan. This
finding is also supported by the RSME and MBE values, which are nearly zero. In
1170
addition, Figure 9 shows that the present developed and established models have good
agreement with the measured and estimated values in Pekan, as the models are in the
range of ±10.0%. Hence, this range is acceptable for the different types of weather
conditions at the particular locality.
Table 2. Estimation of monthly average daily global solar radiation from various models
for Pekan.
Muzathik Sopian
Month H
et al. 2011 et al. Eq.(13) Eq.(14) Eq.(15)
Measured
Eq. (6) 1992
January 3.829 4.064 3.662Eq. (7)3.856 3.852 3.842
February 4.536 4.870 4.384 4.588 4.584 4.537
March 4.84 5.243 4.719 4.929 4.924 4.892
April 5.160 5.523 4.970 5.178 5.173 5.144
May 4.879 5.090 4.581 4.780 4.776 4.801
June 4.458 4.596 4.138 4.332 4.328 4.390
July 4.457 4.619 4.159 4.354 4.350 4.420
August 4.928 5.207 4.687 4.889 4.885 4.912
September 4.903 5.271 4.744 4.951 4.947 4.994
October 4.597 4.936 4.444 4.648 4.644 4.685
November 4.061 4.308 3.881 4.076 4.072 4.122
December 4.034 4.220 3.801 3.992 3.988 3.969
All numerical values are in units of kWhr/m²
0.65
N/Nmax (Sunshine Hours fraction)
0.60 H/Ho (Clearness Index)
0.55
0.50
N/Nmax and H/Ho
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month
Figure 7. Variation of actual to maximum sunshine hour, N / N max and the clearness
index, H / H o for Pekan.
1171
Table 3. Percentage error, RMSE, and MBE of the models.
Muzathik Sopian et
Month et al. 2011 al. 1992 Eq.(13) Eq.(14) Eq.(15)
Eq. (6) Eq. (7)
January 6.15% -4.3% 0.71% 0.61% 0.35%
February 7.35% -3.3% 1.14% 1.05% 0.02%
March 8.32% -2.5% 1.83% 1.74% 1.07%
April 7.04% -3.7% 0.34% 0.26% -0.31%
May 4.32% -6.1% -2.03% -2.11% -1.60%
June 3.10% -7.2% -2.83% -2.92% -1.53%
July 3.63% -6.7% -2.31% -2.40% -0.84%
August 5.67% -4.9% -0.78% -0.87% -0.32%
September 7.50% -3.2% 0.98% 0.90% 1.86%
October 7.37% -3.3% 1.10% 1.01% 1.92%
November 6.09% -4.4% 0.37% 0.27% 1.49%
December 4.62% -5.8% -1.05% -1.15% -1.61%
RSME 0.285 0.219 0.069 0.069 0.057
MBE 0.272 -0.209 -0.009 -0.013 0.002
6.00
H Measured
5.75 Eq. (13)
5.50 Eq. (14)
Eq. (15)
5.25
5.00
H, (kWhr/m²)
4.75
4.50
4.25
4.00
3.75
3.50
3.25
3.00
Month
Figure 8. Comparison between estimated values of present developed models Eq. (13) –
(15) and measured value of global solar radiation in Pekan.
1172
7.5
H Measured
7.0 Muzathik et al. 2011
Sopian et al. 1992
6.5 Eq.(13)
Eq.(14)
6.0 Eq.(15)
5.5
H, (kWhr/m²)
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
Month
Figure 9. Comparison between estimated values of present developed and established

models with measured value of global solar radiation in East Coast Malaysia.
CONCLUSIONS
The knowledge of global solar radiation patterns is extremely important in designing a

solar system to utilize the available solar energy efficiently. The five described patterns
were generally observed in the east coast region. Information on these patterns is very
useful especially to the local community and solar system manufacturers to enable them
to employ solar energy in east coast Malaysia and locations with similar weather
conditions. The orientation of solar panels and collectors should also be considered for
the northeast monsoon period from November to March in order to optimize the solar
energy throughout the year. Use of the developed regression models in Eq. (13) and Eq.
(15) is highly recommended to estimate the monthly average daily global solar radiation
in Pekan, Pahang and locations with similar solar radiation patterns in east coast
Malaysia.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Universiti
Malaysia Pahang (UMP) and Universiti Malaysia Pahang for financial support under
RDU110327. The authors are also grateful to the Malaysia Meteorological Department
for the data.
1173
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1175
ANALYSIS OF RECIRCULATION ZONE AND IGNITION POSITION OF

NON-PREMIXED BLUFF-BODY FOR BIOGAS MILD COMBUSTION
M.M. Noor1,2,*, Andrew P. Wandel1 and Talal Yusaf2,3

1
Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre, Department of Mechanical
and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Malaysia
3
*
Corresponding author: Muhamad.MatNoor@usq.edu.au / muhamad@ump.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Combustion ignition study is important due to the combustion process becoming more
lean and efficient. This paper studied the recirculation zone and ignition location for the
bluff-body non-premixed MILD burner with biogas used as fuel. The location of the
ignition was critical to ensure that the spark energy supply during the ignition process
can successfully ignite the mixture of air and fuel. The numerical calculations were
done using the commercial code ANSYS-Fluent to simulate the furnace with a bluff-
body burner to determine the recirculation zone. The turbulence model used was the
realizable k-ε model. The inner recirculation zone between the air and fuel nozzle is the
best location for the ignition point, since the low velocity of air and fuel mixing will
assist the ignition process. This is because the ignition energy will have time to ignite
the mixture in the low speed turbulent swirl flow. The most suitable location with the
highest possibility of ignition is the center of the recirculation zone.
Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics; bluff-body MILD burner; recirculation zone;

biogas; spark ignition.
INTRODUCTION
Economic development and the increase of the population are leading to increased
energy demand. Currently, the overall energy demand is highly dependent on the
combustion of fossil fuel, which is projected to fulfill about 80% of these energy
requirements (IEA, 2009; Maczulak, 2010). With the current consumption rate, the
fossil fuel will be depleted by 2042 (Shafiee & Topal, 2009). Improvement of the
combustion process is crucial and will significantly impact the efficiency of energy
generation (Aziz, Firmansyah, & Shahzad, 2010). One technique to improve thermal
efficiency and reduce NOx is Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD)
combustion (Dally, Karpetis, & Barlow, 2002: Dally, Riesmeier, & Peters, 2004;
Cavaliere & de Joannon, 2004; Cavaliere, de Joannon, & Ragucci, 2008; Wandel, Noor,
& Yusaf, 2012). This technique is also known as Flameless Oxidation (FLOX) by
Wünning (1991, 1996), High-Temperature Air Combustion (HiTAC) by Katsuki and
Hasegawa (1998) and Tsuji et al. (2003) and Colourless Distributed Combustion (CDC)
by Arghode and Gupta (2010, 2011). The main characteristics of MILD combustion are
an elevated temperature of reactants and low temperature increase in the combustion
process. To increase the reactant temperature, the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR)
concept and input air preheat is normally implemented. The hot exhaust gases are
utilized to heat and dilute the oxygen in the injected fresh air.
1176
Noor et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1176-1186
In normal combustion systems, greater attention is given to the fully burning

state, like combustion efficiency, heat release rates, flame stability, pollutant emission
or flame extinction. Combustion research has also focused on these aspects
(Mastorakos, 2009; Mohanamurugan, & Sendilvelan, 2011; Ghobadian, Najafi, &
Nayebi, 2013). Ignition process research receives less attention, especially spark
ignition of non-premixed flames. In the experimental work by Birch, Brown, and
Dodson (1981), the probability of successful ignition was correlated with the probability
of finding a mixture within the flammability limits. Mastorakos (2009) studied the
ignition of non-premixed flames and the effect of turbulence models on the fuel and
oxidizer mixing process. This turbulent mixing process later affects the probability of
ignition. The spark ignition has been studied experimentally and numerically by a few
researchers (Birch et al., 1981; Ahmed et al., 2007; Marchione, Ahmed, & Mastorakos,
2009; Mastorakos, 2009; Oldenhof et al., 2010, 2011) and still needs more attention. A
tungsten electrode was used by Ahmed et al. (2006, 2007) as an ignition rod for the
spark ignition because it can withstand up to 3200 K. They studied electrode diameters
of 1.0 mm, 0.7 mm, and 0.5 mm for ignition probability and found that the ignition
probability was increased with the decrease of the electrode diameter and increase in
spark energy. Ahmed (2006) also concluded that the ignition probability is nearly
always decreased with increasing flow velocity. This is in line with the result of later
studies (Ahmed et al., 2007) that the ignition probability consistently decreased with
increasing bulk velocity. The ignition location should be in the recirculation zone where
the velocity is very low so that the energy supply by the spark ignition rod will be
utilized to ignite the mixture and not flushed away by the high velocity of air or fuel or
both reactants.
This paper examines the location and shape of the recirculation zone for a MILD
combustion bluff-body burner. The purpose of the recirculation zone study in this paper
is to determine the best location for the spark ignition rod installation for the
experimental MILD burner. The experimental test rig for the MILD burner is developed
to carry out the experimental study on MILD combustion for open furnace. The ignition
used in the experimental study is a spark ignition type, which needs accurate location to
ensure that the mixture will properly ignite to start the flame.
BIOGAS AND ENERGY BALANCE

Biogas is a low heating value gas also known as low calorific value (LCV) gas. Biogas
consists of a mixture of 50–75% methane and 25–50% carbon dioxide. The lower the
methane content, the lower the heating value for the biogas. Table 1 shows a
comparison of the energy balance for biogas with 60% methane and 40% carbon
dioxide and natural gas with 97% methane. The summary was made for a furnace that
operates in flameless mode with biogas and natural gas, and the conventional mode with
natural gas. The supply of thermal energy was constant at about 21 kW for all
combustion modes. The energy calculated includes all the input to the combustion
chambers, which are fuel, air through the cooling tubes and air that will be preheated by
the regenerative honeycombs. The efficiency of combustion with the conventional mode
is only 41.4%, whereas for biogas and natural gas in MILD mode it is 68% and 70%
respectively. Comparison of the efficiency of the flameless mode for biogas and natural
gas shows that biogas is only 2% lower than natural gas. This is not a big issue
compared to the benefit of biogas to global warming and the greenhouse gas effect.
1177
Analysis of Recirculation Zone and Ignition Position of Non-Premixed Bluff-Body for Biogas MILD Combustion
Table 1. Biogas and natural gas energy balance (Colorado et al., 2010).
Flameless Flameless Conventional

Combustion mode (fuel) mode mode mode
(biogas) (natural gas) (natural gas)
Energy input (including fuel 21.13 21.31 21.02
+ combustion air +
cooling air) (kW)
Energy losses through the 3.00 3.07 3.20
wall (kW)
Energy removed by the 14.39 14.99 8.71
cooling tubes (kW)
Energy output through the 2.72 1.39 8.25
chimney (kW)
Energy of the combustion 1.01 1.36 0
products after the
regenerative system (kW)
Efficiency (%) 68.0 70.0 41.4
In order to recover the energy losses through the exhaust gas, the EGR concept
was applied to the combustion system. EGR behaves differently to heat regenerators
and it works by recirculating a portion of the flue gas back to the combustion chamber
through the EGR pipe. Lloyd and Weinberg (1974), Weinberg (1996) and Choi and
Katsuki (2001, 2002) used the concept of heat recirculation combustion. Weinberg
(1996) demonstrated it in his famous Swiss-roll burner by transferring the heat from
burned products to the unburned fresh mixture. He used double walls that separated the
products and the mixture and acted as a heat regenerator. EGR was also used as a
solution to avoid NOx and soot formation. EGR with MILD combustion was used by
Wünning and Wünning (1997), Katsuki and Hasegawa (1998), and many other
researchers have utilised EGR in their experiments and numerical studies (Tsuji et al.,
2003; Cavaliere et al., 2004, 2008; Colorado, Herrera, & Amell, 2010; Noor, Wandel, &
Yusaf, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c and Abtahizadeh, Oijen, & Goey, 2012). The EGR volume
ratio is:
(1)
EGR will dilute the oxygen and increase the intake air temperature to the
combustion chamber. The volume of hot exhaust gas to flow back into the combustion
chamber depends on the level of oxygen dilution and air pre-heating needed. EGR will
reduce NOx emissions of the oxygenated fuels by more than 55% since it reduces both
the pressure (Raj & Sendilvelan, 2010) and the maximum combustion temperature.
CFD MODELING
Prior to this century, experimental work has been an effective method for testing and
optimization due to the limited capacity to do huge data calculation. Modern technology
means computational modeling of complex problems is now feasible and preferable to
1178
expensive, comprehensive experimental studies (Chandrasekharan, 2013). Building

computational models gives researchers deeper insights into problems than building an
experimental setup. Despite the benefits of computational methods, however, the
experiment method is still an important step to compare and validate the computational
result. This feedback can be used to improve the computational method. Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) offers a cost-effective method especially at the beginning of the
combustor design and parameter setting stage. It was therefore used here to study the
recirculation zone and optimize the ignition location. The first CFD modeling work for
MILD combustion was started by the Japanese heating industry where a few researchers
(Ishii, Zhang, & Sugiyama, 1997; Zhang, Ishii, & Sugiyama, 1997; Hino, Zhang, &
Ishii, 1998) carried out simulations of a continuous slab reheating furnace with
emphasis on NOx formation. The simulation work was successful and continued with an
experimental technique. In the current work, the biogas configuration of 60% methane
and 40% carbon dioxide (molar base) was used. This ratio of biogas was also used by a
few other researchers (Pomeroy, 2008; Colorado et al., 2010; Scholz & Ellner, 2011;
Salunkhe, Rai, & Borker, 2012; Noor et al., 2012a, 2012b, 2012c; Keramiotis & Founti,
2013). Table 2 shows the CFD setup and typical data for the combustion chamber.
Table 2. Typical data for furnace and combustion chamber.
Item Data
Fuel 60% methane mixed with 40% carbon dioxide
Oxidizer Atmospheric air and syntactic air at room temperature
Fuel inlet 1 x 78.5 mm2
Air inlet 4 x 78.5 mm2
Chamber size Diameter 600mm, height 860mm
EGR 4 EGR with 1962.5 mm2 each inlet
Tetrahedrons (patch conforming method) with 111,975
Mesh method
nodes and 501,831elements
Discrete ordinate (DO) model. Absorption coefficient:
Radiation model
Weighted sum of gray gas (WSGGM) model.
The combustion chamber consists of four EGR pipes each with an inner
diameter of 1962.5 mm2. The MILD combustion simulation involved the solution of the
chemical reactions, turbulent flows, heat transfer and species transport. In this work, the
Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations together with a realizable k-ε
turbulence model (Shih et al., 1995) [developed based on the standard k-ε turbulence
model (Launder & Spalding, 1974)] are solved using commercial CFD software
ANSYS Fluent 14.0 (Fluent, 2011). The discrete ordinate (DO) radiation model (Chui
& Raithby, 1993) and absorption coefficient of weighted sum of gray gas (WSGGM)
model is used in this work. Figure 1 shows the early stage of the combustion process
about 15 seconds after the ignition started. Figure 2 indicates that when MILD is
achieved, the temperature inside the combustion chambers will be homogeneous.
RECIRCULATION ZONE
Figure 3 shows the flame re-circulation zone on the schematic bluff-body burner
diagram for a 3.0 mm fuel nozzle and 10.0 mm annulus air nozzle as co-flow; this
nozzle angle is 22o. The fuel velocity at exit is 75 m/s and air is at 5 m/s. The
recirculation zone was formed and the center of the recirculation zone was detected at
1179
x/D = 0.25 and r/D = 0.25. Figure 5(a) shows that there are other two zones in the flame
schematic diagram, the flame neck zone and flame jet zone.
(a) (b)
Figure 1. Early stage of the combustion process in open furnace, prior to MILD
combustion state: (a) 3D image; (b) 2D image.
(a) (b)
Figure 2. MILD combustion state achieved: (a) furnace wall temperature at 1273 K; (b)
inside chamber temperature 1040 K.
1180
Figure 3. Contour of total velocity magnitude (0 to 5.0 m/s)
(a) (b)
Figure 4. Contour of Y velocity, (a) 0 to 3.0 m/s, (b) -3.0 to 0 m/s.
The inner recirculation zone was formed as two circles, a big and small circle of
the recirculation zone. Analysis of Figures 3, 4(a) and 4(b) shows that the recirculation
zone can be divided into an inner and outer recirculation zone, as shown in Figure 5(b).
Figure 5 shows that two types of recirculation zone are visualized in the swirl flow: the
inner recirculation zone (IRZ) formed in between the air and fuel jet flow of the bluff-
body, and the outer recirculation zone (ORZ) formed outside the annulus air flow. The
recirculation zones were formed due to the bluff-body of the burner creating a swirl
flow around the air and fuel nozzle. The air velocity flow is 5 m/s and fuel is 70m/s,
while the width and the height of the recirculation zone were about 1 and 1.5 bluff-body
diameters respectively. The recirculation of the mixture of fuel and air was important
because that process will create the turbulent flow of the mixture which will enhance the
mixing process. The intensity of the IRZ is higher than the ORZ because the IRZ is the
1181
recirculation formed in between the fuel and air jet flow. One cause of the higher
intensity is the fuel jet velocity being much higher than the air jet velocity (Figure 3). In
addition, the IRZ is contained in a small volume within the air jet and has two vortices
due to jets on both sides (Figure 5(b)), while the ORZ occupies a bigger volume with a
single vortex due to only one side being a jet.
(a) (b)
Figure 5. Schematic diagrams for bluff-body burner: (a) flame flow field with central
fuel jet and annulus air co-flow; (b) flame re-circulation zone.
SPARK IGNITION LOCATION
Triantafyllidis, Mastorakos, and Eggels (2009) and Neophytou, Richardson, and

Mastorakos (2012) concluded that the best location for ignition was in the center of the
inner recirculation zone where the recirculation velocity is almost zero. This is
important to ensure that the spark energy supplied by the tungsten rod was not flushed
away, thereby giving sufficient time for the spark energy to ignite the mixture of fuel
and oxidant. Figure 6 shows the design of the ignition rod installation, using the values
from the CFD study: x/D = 0.25 and r/D = 0.25 (vertically 10 mm from the nozzle base
and horizontally 10 mm from center of the nozzle).
1182
Figure 6. Schematic diagrams of combustion chamber: (a) ignition rod location;

(b) location plan view; and (c) location side view of ignition location and installation.
CONCLUSION
A study on the recirculation zone and the ignition location for the non-premixed MILD
combustion bluff-body burner was done using CFD. The recirculation zone was formed
due to the bluff-body, increasing the turbulence of the flow of the fuel and air to make
the mixture more homogeneous and mix better than the flow without turbulent flow.
The center of the recirculation zone was the best location to install the spark ignition
rod. From the analysis, the most suitable location with the highest possibility of ignition
is the center of the recirculation zone. The center of the inner recirculation zone for the
current design is x/D = 0.25 and r/D = 0.25.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the University of Southern Queensland (USQ),
Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia (MOHE) and Universiti Malaysia Pahang
(UMP) for providing financial support and laboratory facilities. The first author also
thanks Associate Professor R. Mamat (UMP) and Abdul Aziz Hairuddin (UPM) for
comments and discussions.
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formation. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 23 (1), 81-94.
Zhang, C., Ishii, T., & Sugiyama, S. (1997). Numerical modelling of the thermal
performance of regenerative slab reheating furnaces. Numerical Heat Transfer,
32, 613-631.
1186
EVALUATION ON AN ASSISTIVE DEVICE IN SUPPRESSING HAND

TREMOR DURING WRITING
Z. M. Yusop1, M.Z. Md. Zain1, M. Hussein1, A. R Musa1, A. As’arry1

1
Department of Dynamics System and Control,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
81310, Skudai, Malaysia
Email: zul_12521@yahoo.com; zarhamdy@fkm.utm.my
ABSTRACT
This paper presents an evaluation of experimental results of a prototype assistive device

in suppressing hand tremor during sitting and standing conditions. The handheld
instrument is capable of sensing and suppressing hand tremor or other unpredicted
movement during writing. The assistive device incorporates an accelerometer, allowing
the movement of the hand to be captured and computed. The tremor suppressing
instrument design is carried out by placing two springs between a handheld casing and
pen-point at one end of the device. Decomposition of acceleration was analyzed using
power spectral analysis to compare the data captured by attaching an accelerometer to a
regular pen. The findings show that the proposed assistive device is able to improve the
legibility of the handwriting of all the tested subjects by more than 16%.
Keywords: Assistive device; handheld instrument; power spectral analysis.
INTRODUCTION
The neurological disorder known as tremor is an involuntary or rhythmic uncontrollable

oscillation of body parts that may be visible in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Tremor may happen to anyone (Pellegrini et al., 2004) and most PD patients do not care
at the early stage of their tremor until the tremor becomes worse. From the literature, it
was found that the tremor frequency range for Essential Tremor (ET) occurred between
4Hz and 12Hz (Charles et al., 1999) and ET is one of the classifications of tremor. The
involuntary movement of a healthy person (physiological tremor) should be small and is
clearly visible when a person encounters anxiety, anger, excessive cold and fear.
However, for a person with a neurological disease such as Parkinson’s disease there is a
significant uncontrollable hand tremor movement (Hussein et al., 2009). Tremor may be
caused by smoking habits, taking caffeine, alcohol, using certain drugs and in people
with a family history of movement disorder (Ellingsen et al., 2006; Bain, 2007).
Furthermore, most patient statistics show that tremor tends to occur in the hands more
predominantly than in other body parts. People with this disease experience difficulties
which interfere when performing personal activities, especially in writing. Even a
simple handwriting task such as signing a document, or marking an exam paper for
lecturers or teachers, can become a very difficult task for a tremor patient suffering from
this disease. In addition, the persons may not only feel embarrassed to face other people
but also, worse, may prefer to stay at home rather than go out. Consequently, it may
have a negative impact on their quality of life, mood and independence (As’arry et al.,
2006).
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Yusop et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1187-1196
To prevent this movement disorder, some patients use modern treatments such
as drug therapy, surgical treatment including thalamotomy and deep brain stimulation.
These types of treatment may have their own weaknesses, especially for the long term
effect on a patient’s life, because the treatment involves using drugs and also the
surgery is directly to the patient’s brain. To reduce this kind of high-risk treatment,
some other kinds of approach can be used to treat this disease. There are many studies
and ideas from related fields, especially medicine and engineering, to help these kind of
diseases. A micron-like intelligent active hand-held microsurgical instrument has
become of great interest in the field of microsurgery, helping a surgeon perform better
ophthalmological microsurgery procedures by counteracting the physiological tremor
that may occur during operations (Ang, Riviere, & Khosla., 2001). The device senses
the undesired motion and counters it with an equal but opposite deflection of the
instrument’s tip. MARo2 is a meal-assist robot developed by Ohara et al. (2009), where
the human–machine interface makes it possible for the person with a tremor to
manipulate the supporting robot without causing operability to deteriorate and without
hazards arising from improper operation. This study introduces a non-invasive treatment
by developing a passive instrument acting as a pen that can absorb hand vibration and
improve the legibility of writing for patients with tremor (acting as anti-tremor), and
also introduces a low cost method to collect the data from tremor patients to measure
and investigate tremor handwriting behavior. The objective is to evaluate the
performance of the proposed device to be used by volunteer subjects based on reduction
of the coherence signal of power spectral density (PSD). The reduction of the coherence
signal is very important to guarantee that the system applied is viable to improve the
legibility of handwriting.
MATHEMATICAL MODELING
The mathematical modeling is based on a one-degree-of-freedom system that can be

moved in a one direction axis. Since there is no external force to drive the system, the
motion is designated as a free vibration. It is also un-damped, as there is no condition
present which would inhibit the motion. Consider a free-body diagram of the mass in
Figure 1, with the mass-less spring elongated from its rest, or equilibrium, position. The
mass of the object is m and the stiffness of the spring is k1 and k 2 . Assuming that the
mass moves on a frictionless surface along the x-axis direction, the only force acting on
the mass in the x-axis direction is the spring force. As long as the motion of the spring
does not exceed its linear range, the force, F in the X direction equals the product of
mass and acceleration, with  as a differentiation of direction, x(t) with respect of time,
t. The equation of motion becomes (Tracy, 2009),
Figure 1. The mechanical system of an assistive writing device.
1188
Evaluation on an Assistive Device in Suppressing Hand Tremor during Writing
 2 x(t )
m  (k1  k2 ) x(t ) (1)
t 2
 2 x(t )  (k1  k 2 )
 x(t ) (2)
t 2 m
One of the goals of vibration analysis is to be able to predict the response, or

motion, of a vibration system. Thus it is desirable to calculate the solution to Eq. 1,
which can be written as:
 2 x(t ) (k1  k 2 )
 x(t )  0 (3)
t 2 m
 2 x(t )
  2 x(t )  0 (4)
t 2
So natural frequency is defined as:
( k1  k 2 )
 (5)
m
Assume that the outer shell on both sides of the central mass is free moving and
labeled as the Y direction and the center mass is moving in the X direction. Thus, the
transmissibility ratio, TR, is gained by the following equation:
X 1  (2r ) 2
TR   (6)
Y (1  r 2 ) 2  (2r ) 2
where the damping ratio,   c / km , since it is assumed that the damping effect of the
double spring is extremely small, thus the damping constant c = 0, which results
in   0 . Simplifying Eq. 6 gives
X 1
TR   (7)
Y (1  r 2 ) 2
Rearranging Eq. 7, we determine frequency ratio, r:
1 
r2    1 and r  (8)
TR n
Note that  n is the natural frequency and  is the excitation frequency. In this
case study the transmissibility ratio (TR) is also known as the ratio of the vibration
magnitude of the central mass X to the moving outer shell Y.
1189
SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The assistive device which is able to suppress unwanted motion is shown in Figure 2,
and is designed to help people with hand tremor to perform writing tasks. Since hand
tremor vibration tends to occur in the dominant direction (vibrating perpendicular to the
forearm) during writing, the device is mainly focused to nullify vibration in that
direction. It is obvious that the vibration occurs in the dominant direction rather than
another direction from studying the quality of handwriting among Essential Tremor
patients. This is done by having them draw Archimedes spirals. The design of the
proposed writing device majors with two crucial parts by presenting two springs
functioned to absorb the vibration and a center core acting as the mass of the system.
The specification of the springs’ stiffness should be correctly measured in order to
eliminate the unwanted handwriting movement by absorbing it. In this study, the spring
stiffness tested was 0.068 N/cm. Incorrect selection of the springs’ stiffness may affect
the performance of the writing instruments, by either not damping the unwanted motion
if the stiffness is too high, or damping the unwanted motion if the stiffness is too low.
The center core, made of aluminum material with a weight of 0.02 kg, is placed
inside the outer shell and functioned to hold the pen point. The pen point is filled inside
a 4 mm diameter hole at the front end of the center core, with a 6 mm diameter hole at
the back of center core. Two flange bearings are inserted into the hole to hold the center
core with an outer shell. Besides that, these two bearings enhance the performance of
the movement of the center core by providing less friction. The center core is divided
into two sections with different diameters and a total of length of 102 mm. The diameter
with a length of 42.25 mm from the front end of the center core needs to be reduced to 7
mm from its original diameter of 10 mm. The reduction is to provide adequate space
and maximum clearance for the pen point to move inside the outer shell. The outer
shell, which measures 134 mm long and 25 mm in diameter, is functioned to hold the
two springs connected to a center core and acts as a holder for a hand grip while writing.
Figure 2. Assistive writing device mounted with an accelerometer.
SYSTEM VALIDATION
To validate the performance, the device was tested by an Essential Tremor patient
diagnosed according to the clinical criteria, and two random healthy individual subjects
(age 23–28). The experimental research focused on two conditions, the sitting condition
1190
where the subject is seated in a chair with his forearm resting on the table while
performing a handwriting task (Figure 3 (a)), and the standing condition where the
subject’s forearm is prevented from resting on the table during writing (Figure 3 (b)).
Each subject was required to perform both positions and to use two different types of
handwriting instruments. The first instrument was an ordinary pen and the latter was the
proposed assistive device. Both of these instruments were attached to an accelerometer
ADXL330 to measure the acceleration of hand tremor during handwriting. The results
from both instruments were compared to validate their performance, based on frequency
spectral analysis and acceleration in time analysis. For each position, the subjects were
required to perform two tasks: the first task, which is the most common way to diagnose
Essential Tremor (ET), was to have the subject trace the Archimedes Spiral (Aguilar et
al.) and the other task was to trace a few words.
(a) Subject during sitting condition (b) Subject during standing condition
Figure 3. The two conditions of the subject when performing handwriting tasks.
Figures 4 and 5 show the frequency response and acceleration in time response for the
standing and sitting conditions when the subjects were using a regular pen. Each graph
represents the results for all subjects and different colors represent the different subjects.
From Figure 4 (a), subject 1 has the most dominant amplitude, 69.53 (4.7 Hz) followed
by subject 2, 32.33 (1.404 Hz) and subject 3, 17.66 (0.8545 Hz). Figure 4 (b) shows the
acceleration from all subjects with an average amplitude ±0. 2 m/s². From Figure 5 (a),
subject 1 has the most dominant amplitude, 39.36 (4.639 Hz) followed by subject 3,
37.30 (0.8545 Hz) and subject 2, 19.52 (0.6104 Hz). Figure 5 (b) shows the acceleration
from all subjects with an average amplitude of ±0.18m/s². Comparing both graphs,
subject 2 has a random dominant amplitude in the range 0 Hz to 2.3 Hz in the standing
condition and the result is more stable during the sitting condition, with a dominant
amplitude of 19.52 (0.6104 Hz) . Meanwhile, for subject 3 the opposite condition was
observed, with a random dominant amplitude in the range 0 Hz to 7.5 Hz during the
sitting condition, while the subject performed better in the standing condition, judging
from his frequency amplitudes. For subject 1, the dominant amplitude occurred at
almost the same frequency for both graphs (Figure 4 (a) ) and Figure 5 (b)), at 4.63 Hz,
and the amplitude decreased by about 43.3% when the subject changed his writing
position from standing to sitting.
1191
70 Subject 1
X: 4.7
Y: 69.63 Subject 2
60
Subject 3
|Y(f)| 50
40 X: 1.404
Y: 32.33
30
X: 0.8545
20 Y: 17.66
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (Hz)
(a) Frequency analysis
0.8
Subject 1
0.1 Subject 2
0.6
Subject 3
0
A c c. ( m s-2 )
0.4 -0.1
3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2
0.2
-0.2
-0.4
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (seconds)
(b) Acceleration in time domain analysis
Figure 4. Standing condition using a common pen.

40
X: 4.639 Subject 1
X: 0.8545 Y: 39.36 Subject 2
Y: 37.3 Subject 3
30
X: 0.6104
|Y(f)|
Y: 19.52
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (Hz)
0.8
Subject 1
0.1 Subject 2
0.6 Subject 3
0
A c c. ( m s-2 )
0.4
-0.1
11 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4
0.2
-0.2
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (seconds)
Figure 5. Sitting condition using a common pen.
1192
Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the frequency response and acceleration response
during the standing and sitting conditions when using the proposed assistive device.
From Figure 6 (a), subject 1 has the most dominant amplitude with 43.87 (4.76 Hz)
during the standing condition and the decrease was about 42.5% of amplitude with the
same dominant frequency when the subject was in the seated position (Figure 7 (a)).
From this point, subject 1 can be classified as having lessened hand tremor when seated
compared to the standing condition, because the forearm was supported on the table
while completing the writing task. For subject 3, when in the standing position the
dominant amplitude occurred at a frequency of 0.8545 Hz with an amplitude of 13.08,
but the results started to change when the subject was completing the task in sitting
mode, for which the result shows that the dominant amplitude occurred at several points
of frequency in the range of 0 Hz to 3.5 Hz. Subject 2 clearly had difficulty performing
handwriting tasks in the standing condition compared with the sitting condition since
the amplitude of the frequency response shows random amplitude peaks in the range of
0 Hz to 4 Hz, with an average amplitude of 23.0. Figure 6 (b) and Figure 7 (b) show the
acceleration with average amplitude of ± 0.2 m/s² and ± 0.15 m/s² respectively.
X: 4.761 Subject 1
40 Subject 2
Y: 43.87
Subject 3
X: 1.587
30 Y: 26.54
|Y(f)|
20 X: 0.8545
Y: 13.08
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (Hz)
0.8
Subject 1
0.1 Subject 2
0.6
0 Subject 3
A c c. ( m s-2 )
0.4 -0.1
7 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4
0.2
-0.2
-0.4
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (seconds)
Figure 6. Standing condition using an assistive device.
1193
25 Subject 1
X: 4.639
Y: 25.22 Subject 2
20 Subject 3
X: 0.6104
Y: 16.38
X: 0.9155
|Y(f)|
15
Y: 12.13
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (Hz)
Subject 1
0.4 0.05 Subject 2
0 Subject 3
0.3
-0.05
A c c. ( m s-2 )
0.2
-0.1
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
0.1
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (seconds)
Figure 7. Sitting condition using an assistive device.
Table 1 shows a side-by-side comparison between using a regular pen and the
proposed assistive device for both standing and sitting conditions. The results clearly
show that the dominant amplitude for all subjects is significantly reduced when the
subjects change the writing instrument from a regular pen to the proposed assistive
device. From the table, the error reduction (%) for subjects 1 and 2 differs slightly
between both conditions, with percentage reductions of 1.1% and 1.9% respectively.
Subject 3 presents a 67% error of reduction during the sitting condition, which means
that the assistive device has a great impact on improving the legibility of his
handwriting. The types of tremor suffered by each subject can be identified according to
the dominant frequency.
Figure 8 shows generally the samples of handwriting done by one of the
interview subjects who was clinically proven to suffer from Essential Tremor. Figure 8
(b) and Figure 8 (d) clearly show that the subject improved his handwriting quality
when using the proposed assistive device. The evaluation is based on visual observation
of the smoothness of the words “HELLO WORLD” written in blue while using the
proposed assistive device as compared with the quality of the red words when the
subject was using a regular pen to trace the words. The current practice of neurologists
in monitoring tremor patients’ handwriting capability is to observe the effect when the
subjects draw the Archimedes spiral. The same approach was conducted in this
research. As the result, Figure 8 (a) and Figure 8 (b) compare side-by-side the drawings
done by the subject. The subject has difficulty using a regular pen to draw the spiral due
1194
to the trembling of his hand and he slightly missed tracing the correct line. Meanwhile,
a significant improvement was observed when the subject used the proposed assistive
device to trace the spiral.
Table 1. The results for all subjects in sitting and standing conditions using both types
of writing instrument.
Position Standing Sitting

Regular Assistive Error Common Assistive Error
pen device reducti pen device reduct
Subjec Freq. Amp Freq. Amp on (%) Freq. Amp Freq. Amp ion
ts (Hz) litud (Hz) litud (Hz) litud (Hz) litud (%)
e e e e
1 4.70 69.6 4.76 43.8 37.0 4.63 39.3 4.639 25.2 35.9
3 0 7 9 6 2
2 1.40 32.3 1.58 26.5 18.0 0.61 19.5 0.610 16.3 16.1
4 3 7 4 0 2 4 8
3 0.85 17.6 0.85 13.0 25.9 0.85 37.3 0.915 12.1 67.0
5 6 4 8 4 0 5 3
(a) Archimedes spiral drawn by subject (b) Archimedes spiral drawn by subject
using a regular pen. using an assistive device.
(c) Words written by subject (d) Words written by subject using an

using a common pen. assistive device.
Figure 8: Tracing of Archimedes spiral and words accomplished by the first subject
during sitting condition.
CONCLUSIONS
This study provides the investigation of the performance feed forward method (passive)
of suppressing human hand tremor while writing. The research was conducted with two
different types of handwriting instrument to differentiate and validate the experimental
1195
results. The experimental results show that implementation of the proposed mechanical
system in an assistive device creates a great potential for all subjects to improving the
quality of their handwriting.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), especially
the Department of System Dynamics and Control, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
for their continuous support in the research work.
REFERENCES
Aguilar, L. G., Davidson, A., Jankovic, J., & Ondo, W. G. (2008). Characteristics of
Archimedean spiral drawings in patients with psychogenic tremor. Retrived
From https://www.bcm.edu/departments/neurology/pdf/poster_pdcmdc_ Archim
edeanSpiralPsychogenicTremor.pdf
As’arry, A., Zain, M. Z. M., Male, M., Hussein, M., & Yusop, Z. M. (2011). Active
tremor control in 4-DOFs biodynamic hand model. International Journal of
Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences, 5(6), 1068-1076.
Ang, W. T., Riviere, C. N., & Khosla, P. K. (2001). Design and implementation of
active error cancelling in hand-held microsurgical instrument. Proceedings of
the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE, Maui,
Hawaii, USA, 1106-1111.
Ohara, E. (Ed.) (2009). Tremor suppression control of meal-assist robot with adaptive
filter. 11th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics, IEEE, Kyoto
Japan, 498-503.
Bain, P. G. (2007). Tremor. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, 13, S369-374.
Charles, D. P., Esper, G. J., Davis, T. L., Maciunas, R. J., & Robertson, D. (1999).
Classification of tremor and update on treatment. American Family Physician,
59(6), 1562-1572.
Ellingsen, D. G., Bast-Pettersen, R., Efskind, J., Gjolstad, M., Olsen, R., Thomassen,
Y., & Molander, P. (2006). Hand tremor related to smoking habits and the
consumption of caffeine in male industrial workers. NeuroToxicology, 27, 525-
533.
Hussein, M., As’arry, A., Zain, M. Z. M., Mailah, M., & Abdullah, M. Y. (2009).
Experimental study of human hand-arm model response. 6th International
Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications,1-6
Pellegrini, B., Faes, L., Nollo, G., & Schena, F. (2004). Quantifying the contribution of
arm postural tremor to the outcome of goal-directed pointing task by
displacement measures. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 139, 185-193.
Tracy, T. (2009). Vibration reducing pen for people with tremors. Sacramento:
California State University.
1196
ANALYSIS OF WOVEN NATURAL FIBER FABRICS PREPARED USING

SELF-DESIGNED HANDLOOM
A.R. Azrin Hani1,2, M.F. Shaari2, N.S. Mohd Radzuan2, M.S. Hashim2,
R. Ahmad2 and M. Mariatti3
1
Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia,
Beg Berkunci 101, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
Email: azrin@uthm.edu.my
2
School of Mechanical Engineering, University Sains Malaysia
Seri Ampangan, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
3
School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, University Sains Malaysia
Seri Ampangan, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Interlacing of fiber bundles offers advantages in terms of good dimensional stability and
high packing density. Woven fabric interlacing structure sourced from natural fiber
(NF) has gained greater attention due to increasing environmental awareness. This study
emphasizes the development of a weaving device suitable for yarns that are thick and
coarse in structure. Furthermore, output analysis was performed on the fabrics and a
static puncture test was conducted. Fabric analysis involved assessment of the fabric’s
characterization, such as fabric thickness, weight, density, wavelength and inter-yarn
porosity. The fabric puncture test was conducted to determine the puncture resistance of
the output produced. A tabletop weaving device was successfully developed in this
research and is capable of weaving NF yarns with different degrees of fabric tightness.
The results demonstrated that fabrics with lower porosity values have greater puncture
resistance and a higher deflection rate of failure. It is apparent that the developed
weaving device can produce tight woven structure fabrics from NF yarns with excellent
puncture resistance.
Keywords: Woven; natural fiber; weaving device; fabric puncture.
INTRODUCTION
Woven is a continuous structure type of textile engineering reinforcement which leads

to excellent characteristics such as higher intra- and interlaminar strength and damage
resistance. Various researches have been conducted to identify its engineering
performance and properties (Kim & Sham, 2000; King, Jearanaisilawong, & Socrate,
2005; Naik, Shrirao, & Reddy, 2005, 2006; Tabiei & Nilakantan, 2008; Cao et al., 2008;
Rao et al., 2009; Nilakantan et al., 2010; Parsons et al., 2010). Commercial applications
of woven textile include products for the automotive, aerospace, defense and biomedical
industries, as explained by Mohanty, Misra, and Hinrichsen (2000), Cao et al. (2008)
and Mcdaniels et al. (2009). Since the mid-1800s, research on natural fiber (NF) has
evolved actively due to a greater consciousness of environmental issues including
sustainability issues and insufficient petroleum reserves. However, when first produced,
NF was used as discontinuous structure reinforcement. Until the 1900s, when the
advantages offered by continuous woven structure were first realized, efforts had been
made to explore its potential (Kamiya et al., 2000). The results indicated that continuous
1197
Azrin Hani et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1197-1206
NF structure reinforcement improved the mechanical properties by a factor of three to

four (Goutianos et al., 2006). Complementary works also showed that properties like the
fracture toughness, ductility index and damage area were significantly improved (Kim
& Sham, 2000; Liu & Hughes, 2008; Kushwaha & Kumar, 2010). The available
researches on woven NF fabrics were found to be very limited. Most of the reported
research is focused on the woven structure from the fiber strand, which was prepared
without any specific device. The existing weaving devices in the laboratory were found
to be not ideally fit for the respective NF yarns used in this research. Figure 1 points up
the problems that occur during the preparation of the woven. High friction rate rises
during installation of the yarns on the floor loom led to very bad yarn hairiness. The
condition became worse when the beating process was done, as the hairiness formed
fiber hanks and restricted the movement of the reed. More force being exerted during
beating causes the yarns to loosen in tension. Therefore, the weft yarns were unable to
stay close to each other so as to form a denser fabric structure. As a result, the yarn
interlacing was less tight and the structure was porous. This in turn increased the inter-
yarn flow channel and the permeability of the fabric geometry, which led to a
deterioration of its mechanical properties.
Warp yarns Bad yarns

loose tension hairiness produced
hanks
Porous
structure
θw
Disorientation
Figure 1. Failure of woven fabric.
The challenge addressed in the previous works triggered research in developing

a weaving device suitable for yarns that are thick and coarse in structure. The output,
which is the woven fabrics, was then analyzed. Two different fabric densities were
produced from the device (Type 1 and Type 2) with the same yarn count (fineness). The
properties and characterization of the as-received yarns and the fabrics produced were
assessed and the puncture penetration resistance of the woven NF fabrics was studied.
Assessment of the fabric characteristics involves analysis of the fabric thickness,
weight, density, wavelength and inter-yarn porosity. The device designed for this
research does not aim for fabric production efficiency. Nevertheless, the purpose of the
design was to enable easy weaving of a complex structure of yarns from coarse NFs
such as kenaf fiber and coconut coir fiber.
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Analysis of Woven Natural Fiber Fabrics Prepared using Self-Designed Handloom
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES AND MATERIALS
Development of Handloom
Most of the woven NF geometry used in previous research was strictly dependent on the
woven mat provided by the supplier. Modification to the weaving device (loom) is
necessary to facilitate changes in the woven mat design. The need for device
improvement is urgent and it presents device manufacturers with a challenge due to the
demand for complex shapes of natural fibres. Besides, new complex woven designs
have also become part of the challenge. The basic operational concept in interlacing
yarns to produce fabrics on any type of loom is ‘shedding’, ‘picking’ and ‘beating’
(Collier et al., 2009). These three operations are often called the primary motions of
weaving. Shedding involves opening up the vertical (warp) yarns direction in order to
enable horizontal (weft) yarns to get in. The ‘harness’ was designed for this specific
function. On the other hand, weft insertion of yarns or carrying yarns across the loom is
called the ‘picking’ mechanism. Picking is usually assisted by a ‘shuttle’ device for a
simple handloom. Beating is the final stage of the weaving process. Beating allows the
incoming weft yarns to stay close to the other weft yarns to form the fabric. A ‘reed’ or
‘comb’ is designed for this purpose.
Figure 2. Essential parts of a loom: a-weaver’s beam, b-back rest, c-healds (heddle), d-
heald frames, e-shuttle weft yarn, f-cloth beam, g-reed and h-woven cloth.
(http://textilelibrary.wordpress.com/)
Generally there are numerous complex weaving loom mechanisms and machines
that have been developed for mass production since the era of the industrial revolution.
Figure 2 illustrates the schematic of a weaving device. Though numerous machines
have been developed, the fundamentals of the weaving concept are still within the
boundary of the three steps mentioned earlier. The shedding process is vital to defer the
pattern of the produced fabric. This can be divided into two categories which are fixed
shedding and programmable shedding. For fixed shedding, the heald frames move in
opposite directions, bringing together all the yarn to the respective frame. This action
creates a pathway for the shuttle to interlace the yarns. Unlike fixed shedding,
programmable shedding has loose heddles that can only be moved depending on a
written program.
The easiest picking or wefting process is done by moving the shuttle manually
across the warping yarns. In advanced designs, the motion of the shuttle is driven by
1199
another mechanism such as a pneumatic or hydraulic driver. Seyam and El-Shiekh

(1990) reported that a shuttleless loom is not efficient at weaving yarns having
variations of thickness. Hence, this research employed a shuttle handloom for weft
insertion due to the thickness discrepancies in natural fibers. Next, the beating process
allows the formation of the fabric. The size of the reed or comb that is used to pull the
yarns close together must consider the yarn fineness and fabric size. A bigger reed size
results in fabrics with a porous structure. On the other hand, a smaller reed size can
induce higher friction between the reed wire and yarns, ending in hairiness problems
and loose tensioning of the warp yarns. Another issue that must be taken into
consideration is the balanced pulling force of the reed. Any imbalanced force during the
beating process could produce fabric with high porosity as well as fabric disorientation.
Rigid heald frame
Rigid aligner
Shuttle
Figure 3. 3D model of the self-designed handloom.
Aligner teeth
a - Aligner
b – Heald frame Hole on heald
c – Shuttle
Figure 4. Representation of the main parts of the self-designed handloom.
1200
Figure 3 shows a 3D model of the self-designed handloom. The proposed design

utilizes manual actuation for all three basic weaving operations. This prototype manages
to produce fabric with dimensions of 230 mm x 230 mm. The overall size of the weaver
is 465 mm x 400 mm x 145 mm (L x W x H). It consists of five major components: the
base with pin holder, the front reed aligner, the rear reed aligner and the two heald
frames. Figure 4 illustrates the main parts of the handloom. The base was made from
mild steel to retain the components’ positions during weaving. The pin holders were
attached at both ends of the base to tie the yarn in the Y-axis position. In order to ensure
the aligned yarn is in the right position, an aligner was fixed near the finishing end pin
holder. As this prototype was designed for a laboratory woven sample, no rolling
mechanism was attached at the end pin holder. Heald frames were located 265 mm from
the front aligner so that the produced sample would have a length of around 230 mm in
the Y-axis. Both frames were actuated using a lever-pivot mechanism. The maximum
lift elevation recorded between the two frames was a 10 mm gap.
Materials and Woven Fabrication
Coir and kenaf natural yarns were supplied from BTex Engineering Ltd., India and
Juteko Co. Ltd., Bangladesh respectively. The photograph of the NF yarn structure is
shown in Figure 5. It was seen that the as-received yarns exhibited a relatively high rate
of hairiness, and were thick and coarse in structure. As mentioned earlier, fabrics were
produced in two different types: Type 1 and Type 2. Selection of the woven type was
based on the highest degree of woven tightness that the device can produce. The
extensive report from a previous work had shown that fabric tightness is highly
correlated to fabric properties. It also revealed that fabric tightness significantly affects
weaving resistance (Seyam & El-Shiekh, 1994). Fabric Type 1 had a warp distance of
10 mm, produced using an aligner size of 10 cm gaps between each tooth and a heald
size of 10 mm gaps between each hole. On the other hand, fabric Type 2 (a warp
distance of 5 mm) was produced using a 5 mm gap size between teeth on the aligner and
5 mm gaps between the holes on the heald frame.
(a) (b)
Figure 5. Yarns: (a) kenaf and (b) coir.
Testing and Characterization of As-Received Yarns
Characterization of as received yarns was carried out in this research. Yarn fineness (in
Tex) was conducted according to ASTM D 2260. This was determined by weighing
specified lengths of yarns and converting the data to the appropriate unit. On the other
1201
hand, the yarn types and yarn twist directions were also been observed. Coir and kenaf
yarns were randomly selected for a tension test using a Universal Testing Machine
Lloyd 30K. A load cell of 500N was used. A uniform pre-tension of 2N was applied and
the gauge length was 100 mm. The selected crosshead speed was 2 mm/min. The
specified gauge length was chosen with reference to the study by Subaida et al. (2008),
in which they found that most of the strongest fibers are of lengths between 100 and 150
mm. Breaking strength (MPa), breaking strain (%) and Young’s modulus data was
recorded.
Testing and Characterization of Fabric Produced
Figure 6 illustrates a model of plain weave fabric. P1 and P2 represent the distance
between warp yarns and weft yarns. Meanwhile, d1 and d2 denote the warp and weft
yarn circular diameter. t refers to the fabric thickness while λ indicates the fabric
wavelength. The wavelength of the weft is defined by the distance over which the warp
pitch wave repeats. The fabric characterization analysis involved fabric thickness
testing, fabric weight, fabric density, fabric wavelength and inter-yarn fabric porosity.
Fabric thickness (t) was measured using a digital caliper. Fabric weight, on the other
hand, was determined by weighing fabric specimens of a predetermined size on a scale.
Fabric weight in grams/meter2 was calculated from the weight of the area measured.
The density of a fabric is weighed relative to thickness, expressed in grams/centimeter3.
In contrast, the warp and weft density were reported separately and expressed in
warp/weft per inch. The weft wavelength was also measured in order to see the crimp
effects of the structure. Finally, inter-yarn fabric porosity, ɛ was calculated using Eq.
(1). Porosity is defined as the ratio of the projected geometrical area of the opening
across the material to the total area of the material (Çay, Atav, & Duran, 2007).
P1  P2
 open pore area = (1)
total area ( P1  d1 )( P2  d 2 )
P1
weft warp
d1
P2 d2
t
(a) (b)
Figure 6. Model of plain weave fabric: (a) top view and (b) cross-section view.
The fabric puncture test was performed on an Instron Tensile Machine (Model
5582) according to the procedures and dimensions described by Briscoe and Motamedi
as mentioned in Hassim et al. (2011). This was a modified puncture resistance test
according to ASTM F1342. The test was conducted to measure the force required to
penetrate or puncture the dry woven fabric and the amount of deflection that the fabric
gains upon penetration. Details of the methods are well explained in Hassim et al.
1202
(2011). A 5 kN load cell was used at a constant speed of 50 mm/min. The probe used
was conical in shape and made of stainless steel with a diameter of 25.4 mm. It was
positioned with its tip just touching the fabric’s surface as shown in Figure 7.
Fabric
sample Impactor
probe
Circular
clamp
Figure 7. Puncture test on fabric.
Characterization and Properties of As-Received Yarns
The characterization and properties of the as-received yarns are given in Table 1. The
overall differences in properties between the two yarns were found to be not too
significant. Coir was found to exhibit a slightly higher Young’s modulus than kenaf
yarns. Coir yarns were also found to be a little bit finer than kenaf yarns.
Table 1. Properties of as-received yarns.
Properties Kenaf Coir

Yarn fineness (Tex) 946 923
Yarn type 1 ply spun 2 ply spun
Twist direction Z-twist S-twist
Average breaking strength (MPa) 139 129
Average breaking strain (%) 4.2 3.0
Young’s modulus (GPa) 5.6 6.6
Characterization and Properties of Produced Fabric
Table 2 illustrates the physical characterization of the woven fabric produced using the
self-designed handloom. T1 refers to woven Type 1 and T2 refers to woven Type 2. The
results show that the Type 1 fabric exhibited greater thickness and weight. This was due
to the greater number of yarns in the weft direction but a slightly lower amount of warp
per inch. As reported by Kotb (2012), the density of the warp ends has negative effects
on fabric thickness and this research confirmed that finding. However, the effects of the
weft density on fabric thickness found in this research displayed a contradictory result
due to the irregular warp density employed. Fabric Type 1 also presents higher inter-
yarn fabric porosity than Type 2 fabrics. On the other hand, Type 2 structures presented
higher crimp effects as a result of lower wavelength. Typical curves of puncture load
(N) versus extension (mm) for the puncture resistance test of all the woven fabric
1203
samples are shown in Figure 8. It can be seen that fabrics with lower inter-yarn fabric
porosity demonstrate higher penetration resistance. In this case, coir Type 2 exhibited
the highest impact load followed by kenaf Type 2. The reason was most likely because
higher forces are required to penetrate fabrics with a tight structure. This result is in
accordance with the study by Fatahi and Yazdi (2010), which explained that the fabric
strength decreased with an increment of fabric inter-yarn channel (pore value). In
comparing kenaf and coir fabric, coir was found to resist a higher penetration load.
Previous research, particularly on kenaf and coir composite, also proved that coir
demonstrated better impact strength resistance than kenaf (Azrin Hani et al., 2013).
Extension at maximum load for Type 2 fabrics showed a considerable increment
compared with Type 1 fabrics. Coir Type 2 presented the highest extension value at
peak load. Research done by Abou Nassif (2012) reported that when the fabric weft
density reached 71 weft/inch, the fabric breaking elongation decreased. This research
revealed that the higher weft density contributed to lower elongation at maximum load.
From the result, coir displayed better elongation at failure compared to kenaf and this is
in accordance with the previous work done by Akil et al. (2011).
Figure 8. Puncture load versus extension of woven Type 1 and Type 2.
Table 2. Characterization of woven fabric produced.
Kenaf Coir
Characterization
Type 1 Type 2 Type 1 Type 2
Thickness, t (mm) 2.7 2.1 2.4 2.2
Weight (g/m2) 5800 4400 5600 4600
Density (g/cm3) 2.1 2.1 2.3 2.1
Warp density (warp/inch) 3 5 3 5
Weft density (weft/inch) 31 21 31 21
Wavelength, λ (mm) 20 10 20 10
Inter-yarn fabric porosity (ɛ) 0.346 0.198 0.346 0.198
CONCLUSION
A weaving device for the NF coarse yarn structure was successfully developed in this
research, eliminating the disorientation of yarns and producing a woven structure that
1204
was less porous. Fabrication of close tightly woven structure was achieved using the
designed handloom with a fabric thickness of as low as 2.1 mm and a density of 2.1
g/cm3 for approximately 1.0 to 1.3 mm yarn diameter. The woven tightness can be
varied by adjusting the healds frame and aligner. The device output (woven Type 2) was
found to achieve lower fabric inter-yarn porosity with a lower wavelength. Type 2
woven structures also demonstrated the highest puncture resistance with superior
extension at maximum load.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special appreciation goes to the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi

MARA (UiTM), Malaysia for permission and assistance using the facilities. The authors
would also like to thank Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), for awarding the research
grant (USM-RU-PGRS; grant no. 8045019) that made this study possible. Besides, this
research is also being supported by the Advanced Textile Training Centre (ADTEC),
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM).
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1206
OPTIMUM THICKNESS OF WALL INSULATIONS AND THEIR THERMAL

PERFORMANCE FOR BUILDINGS IN MALAYSIAN CLIMATE
F. Basrawi1, H. Ibrahim1, M.Y. Taib1 and G.C. Lee1

1
Phone: +609-424-6350; Fax: +609-424-2202
Email: mfirdausb@ump.edu.my
ABSTRACT
This study clarifies the optimum thickness of insulation materials for buildings by using
the life cycle cost analysis. Common external walls including clay brick, sand cement
brick and concrete in the Malaysian climate were studied. Various types of buildings
including office, residential and hotel were considered. Optimum thicknesses of
insulation materials including rockwool, fiberglass and extruded polystyrene were
clarified. It was found that the appropriate insulation thickness in Malaysia is in the
range of 18–126 mm. Different operating hours and inside-outside temperatures have a
significant effect on the life cycle net saving. However, different external wall types
have a slight effect on the life cycle net saving. A general index, cost/k for selecting the
most cost-effective insulation material was also introduced. The material that has a
higher cost/k value but a lower cost compared to other materials has the highest net
saving. From all the insulation materials studied, fiberglass urethane was the most cost-
effective.
Keywords: Insulation material; energy and building; optimum thickness; life cycle cost.
INTRODUCTION
The world is continuously facing energy depletion and environmental threats and
therefore the development of new energy sources and energy-saving techniques is
becoming more important. It was reported that 15% of all electricity produced in the
world is used for refrigeration and air-conditioning, and energy consumption for air-
conditioning has been estimated to be 45% of the whole household and commercial
sector (Choudhury et al., 2010). It was also reported that 21% of electricity consumption
in the residential sector is used for air-conditioning in Malaysia (Mahlia & Chan, 2011).
The increased demand for air-conditioning is due to the increasing population and
increasing living standards, especially in developing countries (Zhai & Wang, 2010;
Henning, 2007; Pons et al., 1999). Furthermore, the trend in building design to use
opaque surfaces for the building walls also contributes to the increased demand for air-
conditioning (Zhai & Wang, 2010; Henning, 2007). Air-conditioning demand can be
reduced by the installation of proper insulation. Insufficiently thick insulation will be
less effective, and excessively thick insulation will be uneconomic. Thus, many studies
have been carried out on the optimum thickness of insulation materials in different
regions (Mahlia & Iqbal, 2010; Yildiz et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2009; Al-Khawaja, 2004;
Ozel, 2012, 2013; Axaopoulos, Axaopoulos, & Gelegenis, 2014). The optimum
thickness of insulation material is also affected by the external wall and type of
buildings. There are studies on the optimum insulation thickness for a tropical region by
1207
Basrawi et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1207-1217
Mahlia et al. (2007) and Chirarattananon, Hien, and Tummu (2012), but only one type
of building or one type of wall was considered in these studies. Thus, the objective of
this study is to clarify the optimum thickness of insulation materials in various buildings
and various external walls. Moreover, the most cost-effective insulation material was
also clarified by a general index that consists of two important characteristics of
insulation materials, the ratio of cost to the thermal conductivity of the insulation
material. The effects of the building type and external wall type on insulation materials
and thicknesses were also clarified. Six types of insulation material were studied in four
types of buildings including residential, office and hotels, and three types of external
walls including clay brick, sand cement brick and concrete. Optimum thickness was
studied using life cycle cost analysis, and the payback period and net saving were also
clarified.
Structure of External Walls
Clay brick, sand cement brick and concrete, which are commonly used for external
walls in Malaysia, were studied. Details of the walls are shown in Figure 1 and Table 1.
In general, clay brick has better thermal resistance because it has lower thermal
conductivity, but it costs more. The thickness of the external walls was set on the basis
of standard and common practice (Public Works Department, 2005).
A B CA
A: Plaster
Outside Inside B: External Wall
C: Insulation material
Figure 1. Layers of the wall
Table 1. Thermal conductivity and thickness of every layer
Thermal conductivity Thickness

Layer
[10-3 kW/mK] [m]
External Wall
Clay brick 0.711 0.104
Sand cement brick 1.000 0.114
Concrete 0.546 0.100
Plaster 1.500 0.019
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Optimum Thickness of Wall Insulations and Their Thermal Performance for Buildings in Malaysian Climate
Life Cycle Cost and Optimum Insulation Thickness
Heat Transfer Through the Wall
Heat losses to the environment through the wall per unit area q/A can be calculated by
Eq. (1):
q/ A  U  tout ,ave  tin  (1)
where tin is assumed to be 21 [oC], tout,ave depends on the operation time of the building,
and the overall thermal coefficient U [kW/m2K] can be calculated by Eq. (2):
1 1
U 
 1 x1 x2 xins x4 1   xins  (2)
        total
R  
 h1 k1 k2 kins k4 h2   kins 
where both h1 and h2 are assumed to be 0.0047 [kW/m2K], x, k and R represent

thickness, thermal conductivity and thermal resistance, respectively. Subscripts 1, 2 or 4,
ins and total represent the plaster layer, external wall layer, insulation and total value,
respectively. Details of the average temperature difference, operating time and annual
demand hours are shown in Table 2. Six insulation materials that are available in
Malaysia are studied and details of their thermal conductivity and cost are shown in
Table 3.
Table 2. Details of the average temperature difference, operating time and annual
demand hours.
Average Annual
Daily operating hour
temperature demand hours
Building type (Total operating hours)
difference [h]
[h]
[oC]
Office 8.0 8am-5pm (10h) 2086
Residential 4.6 1am-7am, 7pm-12pm(13h) 4745
Shop/ restaurant 7.2 7am-10pm (18h) 5840
Hotel/ convenience store 6.2 1am-12pm (24h) 8760
Table 3. Details of the six insulation materials available in Malaysia

Thermal conductivity Price
Insulation materials
[10-3 kW/mK] [$/m3]
Rock wool 0.034 175
Fiberglass 0.033 304
Urethane 0.024 262
Fiberglass urethane 0.021 214
Perlite 0.054 98
Extruded polystyrene 0.029 182
(Mahlia & Iqbal, 2010)
1209
Finally, the annual energy required for space cooling per unit area E/A can be
calculated by Eq. (3):
q/ A
E/ A  ADH (3)
COP
where COP is assumed to be 2.93. Eq. (3) can also be expressed as the following
equation:
E/ A 
t out ,ave  tin  ADH
 xins  (4)
 Rtotal   COP
 kins 
Cost Analysis and Optimum Thickness
The sum of the cost of the fuel consumed and the initial cost of insulation material can
be used as a measurement to calculate the optimum thickness. In general, if the
insulation thickness increases, the cost of the insulation material will increase and the
cost of electricity will decrease. The cost of the insulation per unit area Cins/A can be
calculated by the following equation:
Cins / A  Cins  xins (5)
where values of Cins are already shown in Table 3. The cost of electricity per unit area,
Cele/A can be calculated by the following equation:
Cele / A  PWF  E/ A  Cele (6)
where Cele is assumed to be 0.078$/kWh and PWF is the factor of the present worth of
the fuel consumed for the entire life cycle and can be calculated as Eq. (7):
PWF 
 1 i   1 i  
LT
1  
 d  i    1  d  
(7)
where d is the interest rate [-], i is the inflation rate [-] and LT is the life time [year]. d
and i are assumed to be 0.064 and 0.023, respectively, and LT is assumed to be 20 years.
The total cost per unit area, TC/A can be obtained by summing Cins/A and Cele/A as
expressed by Eq. (8). It can also be expressed as Eq. (9) by substituting E/A with Eq. (4):
TC/ A  Cele / A  Cins / A (8)
1210
TC/ A  PWF 
t out ,ave  tin   ADH
 Cele  Cins  xins
 xins  (9)
 Rtotal    COP
 kins 
As shown in Figure 2, if thickness is the only variable, when insulation thickness

increases the total cost decreases until it reaches the lowest value, and then the total cost
increases again. The optimum thickness is obtained at the lowest value of total cost. By
differentiating Eq. (9) with respect to xins, and by assuming the equation is equal to 0,
which indicates the lowest value of the curve, xopt can be obtained by the following
equation:
 tout ,ave  tin   ADH  C  PWF 

1/ 2

xopt   kins    Rtotal  kins
 COP  Cins
ele
 (10)
 
Figure 2. Relationship of total cost, insulation cost and fuel cost.
Net saving per unit area NS/A can be calculated by Eq. (11). The amount of
electricity saved can be calculated by the difference between the case with insulation
and the case without insulation (Cele/A,unins-Cele/A,ins). Over time, the saved amount will
increase until it can cancel out the insulation cost (Cins/A) and the net saving will be
equal to 0. This means that the investment is paid back in that particular year. Thus, by
assuming the net saving is equal to zero, and by substituting PWF with Eq. (7), the
payback period PBP can be derived as Eq. (12):
NS / A  Cins / A   Cele / A,unins  Cele / A,ins 

 
 
t  ADH  Cele  1 1 
(11)
 Cins  xopt  PWF  
COP  Rtotal xopt 
 Rtotal  
 kins 
1211
  xopt  
 Cins  COP  Rtotal  k  Rtotal    d  i 
log10  1   kins  


 tout ,ave  tin   ADH  Cele  1  i   (12)

PBP   
 1 i 
log10  
 1 d 
Optimum Insulation, Payback Period and Net Saving
Table 4 shows the optimum thickness xopt, payback period (PBP) and net saving (NS)
for a 20 year life cycle for all insulation materials for all types of building when clay
brick was used as the external wall. It was found that the office building that had the
least operation time had the thinnest xopt for all insulation materials, whereas the hotel
and convenience store that had longer operation times had the thickest xopt. It was also
found that the thinnest insulation material was fiberglass in the office, 0.019m, whereas
the thickest insulation material was perlite in the hotel or convenience store, 0.124m.
Different types of building basically result in different annual demand hours (ADH) and
average outside temperature. The effects of ADH and the average temperature
difference on PBP and NS are shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, respectively. It was
found that the average temperature difference and ADH significantly affect the
performance of the wall. If the temperature difference and operating times are too low,
the insulation has a negative value of NS. When ADH is 8760, which means that a
building operates 24 hours a day throughout the year, rock wool can save up to 48$/m2.
Table 5 shows the optimum thickness xopt, payback period (PBP) and net saving (NS)
for a 20 year life cycle for all types of external wall when the office building was used
as the type of building. It was found that there were no big differences of xopt, PBP and
NS when different external walls were used. Concrete had the thinnest xopt, whereas
sand cement brick had the thickest xopt. This is because sand cement brick has higher
thermal conductivity, which results in lower thermal resistance and therefore a need for
thicker insulation.
Figure 3. Effect of annual demand hours on the payback period and net saving.
1212
Figure 4. Effect of average temperature difference on the payback period and net
saving.
Table 4. Results for optimum thickness, payback period and net saving when clay brick
was used as the external wall.
Material Optimum Payback Net saving,

thickness, xop period, PBP NS
[m] [years] [$/m2]
Rockwool 0.031 9.78 8.5
Fiberglass 0.019 12.09 5.6
Office
Urethane 0.021 10.01 8.2

Fiberglass urethane 0.024 8.69 10.0
Perlite 0.055 9.31 9.2
Extruded polystyrene 0.030 9.30 9.2
Rockwool 0.039 8.57 13.0
Residential
Fiberglass 0.024 10.87 9.2

External Wall (Clay Brick)
Urethane 0.026 8.96 12.6

Perlite 0.067 8.32 13.8
Rockwool 0.062 6.57 33.2
Restaurant
Fiberglass 0.042 8.24 27.0

Shop/
Urethane 0.042 6.73 32.6

Perlite 0.106 6.24 34.4
Rockwool 0.073 5.90 45.6
Convenience
Fiberglass 0.050 7.42 38.3

Hotel/
Store
Urethane 0.050 6.04 44.9

Perlite 0.124 5.60 47.0
1213
Different types of external wall basically result in different thermal conductivity

and wall thickness. Since the wall thickness is usually fixed according to the standard,
only thermal conductivity will affect the thermal performance of the wall. The effects of
thermal conductivity on the PBP and NS are shown in Figure 5, where, for a range of
thermal conductivity for common walls, only a slight change was found. Rock wool
used with an external wall that has lower thermal conductivity, such as clay brick
(0.00071kW/mK), resulted in less NS than when it was used with an external wall with
higher thermal conductivity, such as sand cement brick (0.0010kW/mK).
Figure 5. Effect of thermal conductivity on the payback period and net saving.
Table 5. Results for optimum thickness, payback period and net saving when office
building was used as the building type.
Material Optimum Payback Net saving,

thickness, xop Period, PBP NS
[m] [years] [$/m2]
Rockwool 0.031 9.78 8.5
Clay brick
Fiberglass 0.019 12.09 5.6

Urethane 0.021 10.01 8.2
Perlite 0.055 9.31 9.2
Building type (Office)

Rockwool 0.033 9.34 9.7
Sand cement
Fiberglass 0.020 11.57 6.6

brick
Urethane 0.022 9.55 9.3

Perlite 0.057 8.89 10.3
Rockwool 0.030 10.28 7.4
Fiberglass 0.018 12.66 4.6
Concrete
Urethane 0.020 10.50 7.1

Perlite 0.053 9.78 8.1
1214
As shown in Table 4 and Table 5, it was also found that fiberglass had the
thinnest xopt, whereas perlite had the thickest xopt for any condition. From the result
obtained, the range of xopt for all conditions studied was 0.018–0.126 m. The same
tendency was found for NS, as fiberglass had the lowest NS, whereas perlite had higher
NS. However, NS for fiberglass urethane was found to be the highest in any conditions.
This phenomenon will be explained in the following section.
Relation Between Cost/K and Net Saving
Two important characteristics of insulation materials that are usually considered for
their selection are cost and thermal conductivity. Therefore, it is important to know how
they affect the net saving for the entire life cycle. This will help in selecting the most
cost-effective insulation material. Figure 6 shows the cost and Cost/k value for every
insulation material. Cost/k will be a beneficial index because it only consists of the two
important characteristics of insulation material. As shown in Figure 6, perlite had the
lowest cost and fiberglass had the highest cost. Figure 6 also shows that perlite has the
lowest Cost/k value, and fiberglass, urethane and fiberglass urethane are among
materials that have high Cost/k value.
Figure 6. Cost and Cost/k value for all insulation materials.
Figure 7 shows the relation between Cost/k and net saving NS. It was found that
the NS increased when the Cost/k value increased. However, when the value of Cost/k
was almost the same as the case of fiberglass, urethane and fiberglass urethane, the
value of the cost itself affected the NS. For instance, although the Cost/k value was the
same at approximately 1.5×107 as shown in Figure 7, the NS for material that had lower
cost (175 $/m3) had 3.8 times higher NS than the more expensive material (375 $/m3).
This explains why fiberglass urethane had higher NS than fiberglass and urethane,
which had slightly higher Cost/k values than the fiberglass urethane. It can be concluded
that a material that has higher Cost/k but lower cost than other materials has the highest
NS and is the most cost-effective.
1215
Figure 7. Relation between Cost/k and net saving.
CONCLUSIONS
The optimum thickness of insulation materials and their performance were studied. It is
observed that:
i) Fiberglass has the thinnest optimum thickness, whereas perlite has the thickest
optimum thickness for any condition. The range of insulation material
thicknesses under the Malaysian climate for all conditions studied was 18–126
mm;
ii) The result for net saving has the same tendency as the result for optimum
thickness, in which fiberglass has the lowest net saving while perlite has the
second highest net saving;
iii) Different types of building significantly affect the performance of insulation.
Building types that have a higher average temperature difference and higher
annual demand hours result in thicker insulation and higher net saving.
iv) Different types of external wall that can be represented by their thermal
conductivity values only slightly affect the net saving of insulation.
v) Material that has a higher Cost/k value but lower cost than other materials has
the highest net saving. Of all the insulation materials studied, fiberglass urethane
was the most cost-effective.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Universiti Malaysia Pahang for the financial support
under RDU1203101. The first author is grateful for the advice of Mr. Mohd Syawal
Jamaludin (Project Manager of TSR Capital Berhad) on wall structures in Malaysia.
REFERENCES
Al-Khawaja, M. J. (2004). Determination and selecting the optimum thickness of

insulation for buildings in hot countries by accounting for solar radiation.
Applied Thermal Engineering, 24, 2601-2610.
1216
Axaopoulos, I., Axaopoulos, P., & Gelegenis, J. (2014). Optimum insulation thickness
for external walls on different orientations considering the speed and direction of
the wind. Applied Energy, 117, 167-175.
Chirarattananon, S., Hien, V. D., & Tummu, P. (2012). Thermal performance and cost
effectiveness of wall insulation under Thai climate. Energy and Buildings, 45,
82-90.
Choudhury, B., Chatterjee, P. K., & Sarkar, J. P. (2010). Review paper on solar-
powered air-conditioning through adsorption route. Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Reviews, 14, 2189-2195.
Henning, H. M. (2007). Solar assisted air conditioning of buildings – an overview.
Mahlia, T. M. I. & Chan, P. L. (2011). Life cycle cost analysis of fuel cell based
cogeneration system for residential application in Malaysia. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15, 416-426.
Mahlia, T. M. I. & Iqbal, A. (2010). Cost benefits analysis and emission reductions of
optimum thickness and air gaps for selected insulation materials for building
walls in Maldives. Energy, 35, 2242-2250.
Mahlia, T. M. I., Taufiq, B. N., Ismail, & Masjuki, H. H. (2007). Correlation between
thermal conductivity and the thickness of selected insulation materials for
building wall. Energy and Buildings, 39, 182-187.
Ozel, M. (2012). Cost analysis for optimum thicknesses and environmental impacts of
different insulation materials. Energy and Buildings, 49, 552-559.
Ozel, M. (2013). Thermal, economical and environmental analysis of insulated building
walls in a cold climate. Energy Conversion and Management, 76, 674-684.
Pons, M., Meunier, F., Cacciola, G., Critoph, R. E., Groll, M., Puigjaner, L., Spinner, B.,
& Zeigler, F. (1999). Thermodynamic based comparison of sorption systems for
cooling and heat pumping. International Journal of Refrigeration, 22, 5-17.
Public Works Department Malaysia (2005). Standard Specifications For Building
Works (JKR20800-132-23). D/1-E/6.
Yildiz, A., Gurlek, G., Erkek, M., & Ozbalta, N. (2008). Economical and environmental
analyses of thermal insulation thickness in buildings. Journal of Thermal
Science and Technology, 28, 25-34.
Yu, J., Yang, C., Tian, L. and Liao, D. (2009). A study on optimum insulation
thicknesses of external walls in hot summer and cold winter zone of China.
Applied Energy, 86, 2520-2529.
Zhai, X. Q. & Wang, R. Z. (2010). Experimental investigation and performance analysis
on a solar adsorption cooling system with/without heat storage. Applied Energy,
87, 824-835.
1217
HYDROXYPROPYLMETHYLCELLULOSE AS A PRIMARY VISCOSIFYING

AGENT IN CEMENT SLURRY AT HIGH TEMPERATURE
Ghulam Abbas1*, Sonny Irawan1, Khalil .R. Memon1, Sandeep Kumar1 and
Ahmed A.I. Elrayah1
1
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
31750, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia
*
Email: engr_abbas27@live.com
Phone: +605-368-7085
ABSTRACT
The use of polymer in cement slurry is necessary to retain viscosity at ambient

temperature and thermal thickening properties with increasing temperature. Current
polymers, polysaccharides and their derivatives are extensively studied. At high
temperature these polymers do not yield thickening of viscosity, but exhibit loss of
slurry and gas migration. Therefore, this study presents hydroxypropylmethylcellulose
(HPMC) polymer as a viscosifying agent in cement slurry. The HPMC possesses a
strong thermal thickening and solid suspension ability which means low viscosity at
ambient temperature and viscosity increase with respect to temperature. Thus, a series
of experiments was conducted on HPMC polymer as a viscosifying agent in cement
slurry. Different concentrated solutions were prepared (i.e. 1.5 to 2.5 wt%), in order to
characterize their viscosity with respect to shear rate and increasing temperature up to
100°C. Then, cement slurries were prepared with HPMC as the primary viscosifier, to
determine the rheological properties at high temperatures. It was observed that HPMC
polymer has increased viscosity from 90°C to 100°C. The improved rheology of cement
slurry, in terms of plastic viscosity and yield point at different concentrations, revealed
HPMC as a capable viscosifying agent at high temperature. Moreover, increased gel
strength with increasing concentration was also observed, which may cause a higher
pumping rate on the surface. It was concluded that HPMC polymer acts as a
viscosifying agent at high temperature. HPMC-based slurries showed high rheology
(plastic viscosity and yield point) with HPMC polymer. Thus, the use of this additional
additive should be considered in the design of appropriate cement slurry.
Keywords: Cement slurry; gel strength; hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC);

temperature; viscosity.
INTRODUCTION
Cement has been used in drilling operations to restrict fluid movement between zones,
protect casing from corrosion and closing abandoned portions of wells (Roshan & Asef,
2010). Additives and polymers have been used in oil well cementing to improve the
properties of cement slurry. Polysaccharides and their derivatives, including
hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC), carboxymethyl hydroxyethylcellulose (CMHEC), guar,
hydroxypropylguar, stach, xanthan, welan gum, scleroglucan, diutan and carrageenan
polymers, are being used as viscosifying agents and multifunctional additives in cement
slurry (Navarrete, Seheult, & Coffey, 2001, Navarrete & Shah, 2001). Cementing mid to
high temperature wells poses a challenge for these types of polymer. Temperature
1218
Abbas et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1218-1225
increase at the bottom hole condition is usually observed with increasing well depth.
Polysaccharides and their derivatives are unstable at high temperature. Polysaccharides-
based cement slurries steadily lose their viscosity and strength with increasing
temperature, which creates the problems of fluid loss through the slurry, decrease in
compressive strength, gas migration and ultimately causes the well to be abandoned. A
high concentration of polymer is being used to maintain the viscosity of the cement
slurry at elevated temperature. Increasing the concentration of polymers in cement
slurry causes viscosification of the slurry at the surface condition, which then requires
high pumping pressure (Reddy, Patil, & Patil, 2011). Additional pumping pressure may
cause serious problems of formation damage and loss of circulation. These types of
polymer-based cement slurry create problems due to the high concentration of polymer.
Therefore, it is necessary to use a type of polymer that can retain the viscosity of the
cement slurry at ambient temperature and have thermal thickening properties with
increasing temperature.
Polysaccharides polymers such as HEC have been synthesized and modified
with organic carbonate to retain the viscosity of the polymer solution at ambient
temperature and increase the viscosity at high temperature (Reddy, 2011). The usage of
chemicals in cement slurry affects the properties of other additives and increases the
cost of the cementing operation. On other hand, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC)
is a cellulose-type polymer that acts as a self-active viscosifier at gelation temperature
and is sustainable at high temperature. HPMC polymer, as a self-active viscosifier, has
no need of any other chemical to increase the viscosity, which is the advantage of this
polymer over other cellulose-type polymers. Previously, HPMC polymer was used in
cement for construction to increase the strength and mechanical properties of the cement
(Fu, 1996). Recently, HPMC polymer used in EOR applications for profile modification
was stable at 110°C and was used as a permeability reducing agent (He et al., 2012).
The present study demonstrates the ability of HPMC polymer as a viscosifying agent in
cement slurry at high temperature. The properties of HPMC polymer in terms of
viscosity and gel strength at different concentrations and temperatures have been
determined. Further rheology of polymer-based cement slurry is also discussed in this
paper.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF HPMC POLYMER
HPMC is a water-soluble polymer derived from cellulose ether and behaves as a

thickener, film former, water retention agent, suspension aid, surfactant and good
(reasonable) gel strength agent at high temperature (Abbas et al., 2013). These
characteristics make it suitable for use in a wide range of applications and diverse
industries, including food and pharmaceuticals, and in many types based on ether
substitution, particle size, viscosity and other parameters. The formulated structure of
HPMC with a degree of substitution of 1.5 is illustrated in Figure 1. In civil engineering,
HPMC has been used in cement for its multifunctional properties. As a result, articles
about the effect of HPMC on cement have been published. Various properties such as
compressive strength, heat of hydration, improved rheology of cement, and the
thixotropic behavior of the HPMC were examined.
1219
Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose as a Primary Viscosifying Agent in Cement Slurry at High Temperature
Figure 1. HPMC structure with degree of substitution of 1.5 (Ou, Ma, & Jian, 2012).
METHODOLOGY
Preparation of HPMC Polymer Solution
HPMC polymer is in the form of white fine powder. Commercial HPMC polymer was
used for the experiments. Three different concentrations, 1.5, 2 and 2.5 wt% of HPMC
polymer solution were prepared with distilled water to determine the properties of
HPMC at different temperatures.
Gelation Temperature and Gel Strength Measurement
The gelation temperature and gel strength of polymer solutions were determined by
using tube inversion (Takeuchi et al., 2003) and the breakthrough vacuum method. 15
ml of measured solution was injected into a tube and kept in a constant temperature bath
for 15 to 20 minutes and then inverted to determine the gelation temperature. For gel
strength, the tube of the breakthrough vacuum was inserted into the gel to obtain the gel
strength value.
Viscosity of HPMC polymer
A high pressure high temperature viscometer (OFIT 1100 model) was used to determine
the viscosity of the HPMC polymer at different temperatures. Using 42 ml (1.5 wt%,
2 wt%, 2.5 wt%) of each solution, the viscosity was determined by changing the shear
rate between 1 and 1000 s-1. To examine the viscosity of the HPMC solution at ambient
temperature and high temperature, the viscosity of each sample was determined at
various temperatures ranging from 30 to 100°C.
Preparation of Cement Slurry
The density of 16.5 pounds per gallon (ppg) was designed to evaluate the effect of the
HPMC polymer on cement slurry at high temperature. Various cement slurries were
prepared by changing the concentration of the HPMC polymer from 0.20 to 0.50 gallons
per sack (gps) of each solution. The composition of the cement slurries contained Class
G cement, HPMC polymer and water. The cement, water and solution of HPMC
polymer were mixed at constant high speeds of 4000 rpm and 12,000 rpm according to
API RP10-2B procedure (API Edition, 2009).
1220
Rheology of Cement Slurry
The rheological properties of the cement slurries were determined by using the HPHT
viscometer. The rheology of the cement slurries was performed in terms of plastic
viscosity, yield point, gel strength at 10 second and gel strength at 10 minutes according
to API RP10-2B procedure. The rheology of all the slurries was determined at 90°C.
In this paper, the impact of HPMC polymer on oil well cement as a viscosifying agent
was examined based on the viscosity of the polymer and the rheology of the HPMC-
based cement slurry. The gelation temperature and gel strengths of 1.5, 2 and 2.5 wt%
polymer solution were determined by using a breakthrough vacuum and tube inversion
method. The gelation temperature and gel strength of all the solutions were greater than
80°C, as shown in Table 1. It was observed that the gelation temperature of HPMC
solution decreases with increasing concentration of polymer from 1.5 to 2.5 wt%, but at
the same time the gel strength of the solution increased with increasing concentration.
The gelation temperature of the solutions was greater than 80°C. The gelation
temperature results show that above 80°C the solution of HPMC polymer will increase
the viscosity. On the basis of the gelation temperature, the viscosity of the solutions was
determined at various temperatures ranging from 30 to 100°C. The viscosity of 1.5 wt%
solution at 30°C shows the maximum viscosity of the HPMC polymer. The viscosity
profile at various temperatures (30 to 100°C) is shown in Figure 2.
Table 1. Gelation temperature and gel strength of HPMC polymer.
Concentration of Gelation temperature / °C Gel strength

HPMC / wt % M Pa
1.5 84 0.014
2 83 0.017
2.5 81 0.020
Figure 2. Shear rate vs viscosity of 1.5 wt% HPMC at different temperatures.
1221
The viscosity of the HPMC polymer was determined in terms of shear rate.
Figure 2 shows the trend of viscosity at different shear rates and temperatures of 30°C,
70°C, 80°C, 90°C and 100°C. At 30°C the solution of polymer that contained 1.5 wt%
of HPMC showed the maximum viscosity at 1 s-1 shear rate, and with increasing the
shear rate from 1 to 1000 s-1, the viscosity decreased from 1100 to 80.4 centipoise (cP).
The HPMC polymer showed shear thinning behavior with increasing shear rate. The
high shear rate disturbs the chemical bond structure of the HPMC polymer. The
molecules of the HPMC polymer separate and decrease the viscosity of the solution.
The HPMC polymer shows thinning behavior with increasing temperature. The
viscosity of the HPMC polymer decreased with increasing temperature. The HPMC
polymer showed reduced viscosity when increasing the temperature from 30 to 80°C, as
shown in Figure 2. The reduction in viscosity was due to the reduction in molecular
weight and structure of the HPMC polymer. On the other hand, the viscosity of the
solution increases at 90°C, as shown in Figure 2. The viscosity of the HPMC polymer at
90°C is greater than the viscosity of the solution at 70 and 80°C. It is a property of
HPMC polymer that above the gelation temperature it will increase viscosity. The
viscosity of the solution increases from 465 to 537 cP at a low shear rate and 4.9 to 9.8
cP at a high shear rate. Further, at 100°C the viscosity of the solution is enhanced to
869.4 cP at 1 s-1 shear rate and 32.4 cP at 1000 s-1 shear rate. Increasing viscosity proves
that at high temperatures greater than the gelation temperature the HPMC polymer acts
as a viscosifying agent. This unique property of increasing the viscosity is only
observed in HPMC polymer and not in other types of cellulose. Similarly, the same
effect of increasing the viscosity was also observed in the 2 wt% concentration of
HPMC polymer solution, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Shear rate vs viscosity of 2 wt% solution at different temperatures.
Figure 3 shows the same trend of viscosity increasing at temperatures from 30 to

100°C. But the viscosity of 2 wt% HPMC solutions is greater than 1.5 wt% polymer
solutions at all shear rates. Here the increase in viscosity of the HPMC polymer was due
to the increase in the molecular weight of the solution. Further, the effect of 2.5 wt%
HPMC polymer is shown in Figure 4. It was observed that the viscosity was increasing
1222
with increasing concentration. The high concentration of polymer increases the

molecular weight of the solution and this increases the viscosity. Similar to the other
solutions, the 2.5 wt% HPMC solution enhanced viscosity above a gelation temperature
of 80°C.
Figure 4. Shear rate vs viscosity of 2.5 wt% solution at different temperatures.
The concentration of HPMC polymer also affects the viscosity of the solutions.
Comparison of all the HPMC solutions (Figures 2 to 4) shows that as the concentration
of the polymer increases from 1.5 to 2 and 2.5 wt%, the viscosity of the polymer also
increases at all temperatures. The increase in the viscosity of HPMC solution at gelation
temperature is due to the hydrophobic interaction between the molecules of the
methoxyl group. With increasing temperature, the HPMC solution loses the water of
hydration, which becomes the cause of the reduction of viscosity. But at the gelation
temperature, sufficient dehydration of polymer occurs to cause the polymer-to-polymer
association and the solution begins to increase in viscosity (He et al., 2012). The
rheology of the HPMC-based cement slurry was determined for each solution at 90°C
using the HPHT viscometer. The rheology of all the HPMC solutions in terms of plastic
viscosity, yield point and gel strength is given in Table 2.
The rheology of the cement slurries increases with increasing concentrations, 1.5
to 2 and 2.5 wt%, of HPMC solution. Slurries 1 to 8, which contain 1.5 and 2 wt% of
solution and have different HPMC concentrations of 0.20 to 0.50 gps, show lower
rheology than slurries 9 to 12, which contain 2.5 wt% of HPMC. All the cement slurries
having 1.5 and 2 wt% show improved rheology compared with the 2.5 wt% because
these slurries have lower plastic viscosity and yield points than the other slurries, as
shown in Table 2. On the other hand, the gel strength of the cement slurries is high,
which could be a problem at the time of pumping at the surface condition. The gel
strength and viscosity of the slurries increases with increased concentration, which was
due to the water absorption on its methoxyl group (Roshan & Asef, 2010). But the
absorption of water and increase of viscosity keep the slurry stable at high temperature.
To a limited extent, the 1.5 wt% HPMC solution improves the rheology at high
temperature. But the gel strength of the cement slurry was high especially in the case of
the 2.5 wt% solution of HPMC. The high gel strength of the cement slurry will become
1223
a serious problem at the time of pumping, requiring high pump pressure and becoming
the cause of fracture and slurry loss when pumping (Sabins, Tinsley, & Sutton, 1982).
Table 2. Rheology of HPMC-based cement slurry at 90°C.
Slurry Conc. HPMC Plastic Yield 10 Sec 10 minute

no of gps viscosity point gel gel
polymer (cP) (1b/ft2) strength strength
1 1.5 0.20 70 40 48 90
2 1.5 0.30 76 50 53 94
3 1.5 0.40 79 63 56 102
4 1.5 0.50 83 73 55 108
5 02 0.20 91 49 31 51
6 02 0.30 93 51.67 22 53
7 02 0.40 95 55 23 55
8 02 0.50 99 56 25 69
9 2.5 0.20 135 65 73 102
10 2.5 0.30 140.64 72 77 110
11 2.5 0.40 148.04 82 80 116
12 2.5 0.50 150 86 83 119
CONCLUSIONS
i) At increasing temperature from 30 to 80°C, HPMC polymer shows thermal

thinning behavior but above a gelation temperature of 90°C the HPMC polymer
increases the viscosity and so acts as a viscosifying agent and is then stable at
high temperature.
ii) At 1.5 and 2 wt% concentrations of HPMC, the cement slurries have improved
rheology in terms of plastic viscosity and yield point.
iii) A high gel strength of 2.5 wt% concentration of HPMC polymer in cement
slurry requires high pumping pressure at the surface condition. Friction
reduction additives should be used in 2.5 wt% based cement slurries to reduce
the gel strength.
iv) At high temperature, HPMC polymer shows thixotropic behavior that should be
beneficial for controlling gas migration through the cement slurry.
v) HPMC polymer can be used as a multifunctional additive in cement slurry to
increase compressive strength and thickening time. In further study, fluid loss,
compressive strength, thickening time and static gel strength of HPMC-based
cement slurries will be examined at high temperature.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research work was supported by Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia. The
authors wish to express their sincere thanks to Yil-Long Chemical Group Limited
(China) for the supply of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose polymer.
1224
REFERENCES
Abbas, G., Irawan, S., Kumar, S., & Elrayah, A. A. I. (2013). Improving oil well cement
slurry performance using hydroxypropylmethylcellulose polymer. Advanced
Material Research, 787, 222-227.
API-RP 10B-2. 2009. Recommended practice for testing well cements. Washington,
DC, 22-02.
Fu, X. (1996). Effect of methylcellulose admixture on the mechanical properties of
cement. Cement and Concrete Research, 26(4), 535-538.
He, H., Wang, Y., Zhao, M., Cheng, L., & Liu, P. (2012). Laboratory evaluation of
thermoreversible gel for in-depth conformance control in steam-stimulated
wells. Presented at the SPE Heavy Oil Conference.
Navarrete, R., Seheult, J., & Coffey, M. (2001). New biopolymers for drilling, drill-in,
completions, spacer, and coil-tubing fluids, part II. Presented at the SPE
International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry.
Navarrete, R. & Shah, S. (2001). New biopolymer for coiled tubing applications.
Presented at the SPE/ICOTA Coiled Tubing Roundtable.
Ou, Z., Ma, B., & Jian, S. (2012). Influence of cellulose ethers molecular parameters on
hydration kinetics of Portland cement at early ages. Construction and Building
Reddy, B., Patil, R., & Patil, S. (2012). Chemical modification of biopolymers to design
cement slurries with temperature-activated viscosification. SPE Drilling and
Completion, 27 (2), 94-102.
Reddy, B. (2011).Viscosification-on-demand: chemical modification of biopolymers to
control their activation by triggers in aqueous solutions. Presented at SPE
International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry.
Roshan, H. & Asef, M. (2010). Characteristics of oil well cement slurry using CMC.
SPE Drilling & Completion Journal, 25(3), 328-335.
Sabins, F., Tinsley, J., & Sutton, D. (1982). Transition time of cement slurries between
the fluid and set states. Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal, 22(6), 875-882.
Takeuchi, M., Kageyama, S., Suzuki, H., Wada, T., Notsu, Y., & Ishii, F. (2003).
Rheological properties of reversible thermo-setting in situ gelling solutions with
the methylcellulose–polyethylene glycol–citric acid ternary system. Colloid &
Polymer Science, 281(12),1178-1183.
1225
OPTIMIZATION OF THE MATERIAL REMOVAL RATE IN TURNING OF

UD-GFRP USING THE PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUE
Meenu and Surinder Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology

Kurukshetra-136119, India
E-mail: surinder.asd@gmail.com,
Phone Number: 09466267889
ABSTRACT
In this paper the particle swarm optimization technique is applied to experimental results in
order to optimize the turning of unidirectional glass fiber reinforced plastics composite
with consideration to the material removal rate. Taguchi’s L18 orthogonal array is used to
conduct experimentation. The parameters considered are tool nose radius, tool rake angle,
feed rate, cutting speed, cutting environment (dry, wet, cooled) and depth of cut. ANOVA
is used to find out significant parameters (feed rate, cutting speed and depth of cut). The
most significant parameters are feed rate and cutting speed. The maximum value of
material removal rate is found to be 394.33mm3/sec., which is at feed rate (0.200 mm/rev),
cutting speed (159.58 m/min) and depth of cut (1.3996 mm). PSO is an efficient and
effective optimization tool for finding the optimum machining parameters for maximizing
MRR. The results give a positive indication of the potential offered by PSO.
Keywords: UD-GFRP; particle swarm optimization; Taguchi method; turning; material

removal rate; polycrystalline diamond cutting tool.
INTRODUCTION
Composite structure materials have successfully replaced traditional materials in respect of

their high strength, high stiffness, good dimensional stability, higher fracture toughness,
higher oxidation and corrosion resistance, directional properties, good resistance to heat,
cold moisture and ease of fabrication applications (Bachtiar, Sapuan, & Hamdan, 2010;
Umar, Zainudin, & Sapuan, 2012). As a result, the use of composites has grown
considerably, particularly in the aerospace, aircraft, automobile, sporting goods,
transportation, power generation and marine industries. Machining of these materials poses
particular problems that are seldom seen with metals, due to the inhomogeneity, anisotropy
and abrasive characteristics of the composites (Abrate & Walton, 1992). Composite
materials are two different materials that, when combined together, produce a material with
properties that exceed the constituent materials. There are two categories of constituent
materials (Gordon & Hillery, 2002).
1. Reinforcement phase (e.g., fibers): The reinforcements impart their special
mechanical and physical properties to enhance the matrix properties.
2. Binder phase (e.g., compliant matrix): The matrix material surrounds and supports
the reinforcement materials by maintaining their relative position.
Composite materials may have ceramic, metallic or polymeric matrix. Most
engineering materials can be classified into one of four basic categories as metals,
ceramics, polymer or composites (Janardhan, 2005; Jeffrey, Tarlochan, & Rahman, (2011);
Adebisi, Maleque, & Rahman, 2011; Bhaskar, & Sharief, 2012). Fiber-reinforced plastics
1226
Meenu and Kumar /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1226-1241
(FRP) have been widely used in industry due to their excellent properties such as high
specific modulus, specific strength and damping capacity. They are being commonly used
in the aerospace and automotive industries, marine applications, sporting goods and
biomedical components. Most of the FRP components are manufactured by molding
operations almost to the final size of the desired product. However, postproduction
machining is sometimes needed to remove excess material at the edge of the component by
trimming and to drill holes for dimensional tolerance and assembly requirements.
However, it has been reported that the strong anisotropy and inhomogeneity of FRP
introduces many specific problems in machining, such as fiber pullout, delamination,
surface damage, burrs and burning (Hu & Zhang, 2004).The machining of fiber-reinforced
materials requires special considerations about the wear resistance of the tool. High speed
steel (HSS) is not suitable for cutting owing to the high tool wear and poor surface finish.
Hence, carbide and diamond tools are used as suitable cutting tool materials (Paulo Davim
& Reis, 2004; Hariprasad, Dharmalingam, & Praveen Raj, 2013). Konig et al. (1985)
found that measurement of surface roughness in FRP is less dependable than in metal,
because protruding fiber tips may lead to incorrect results or at least large variations of the
reading. The machined surface of Kevlar fibers reinforced plastics (KFRP) exhibits poor
surface finish due to the fussiness caused by delaminated, dislocated and strain ruptured
tough Kevlar fibers.
Lee (2001) investigated the machinability of glass fiber reinforced plastics by
means of tools made of various materials and geometries. Three parameters, namely
cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, were selected. Single crystal diamond, poly
crystal diamond and cubic boron nitride were used for the turning process. It was
concluded that the single crystal diamond tool is excellent for GFRP cutting. Dhavamani
and Alwarsamy (2011) presented a new methodology for the optimization of the
machining parameters for drilling aluminum silicon carbide (AlSiC). Taguchi’s method
was used for the experimental design. Three parameters, cutting speed, feed and diameter
of cut, were selected to minimize the surface roughness, volume fraction, machining time,
metal removal rate, specific energy and flank wear. It was found that the machining
performance can be improved effectively through this approach. Murthy, Rodrigues, and
Anjaiah (2012) developed a thrust force and torque prediction model for the machining of
GFRP composites using response surface methodology by using a solid carbide drill bit.
Four parameters, spindle speed, feed, drill diameter and point angle, were selected to
minimize the thrust force and torque. It was found that the spindle speed is the main
contributing parameter for the variation in the thrust force and that the drill diameter is the
main contributing factor for variation in torque. Suresh Kumar Reddy and Venkateswara
Rao (2005) developed a surface roughness prediction model for the machining of AISI
1045 steel using a genetic algorithm by using a coated (TiAIN) carbide four fluted end mill
cutter. Four parameters, tool geometry (nose radius and radial rake angle) and cutting
conditions (cutting speed and feed rate), were selected to minimize the surface roughness.
The predictive capability of the surface roughness model was improved by incorporating
the tool geometry in the modeling.
Surinder Kumar et al. (2012) developed a cutting force prediction model for the
machining of UD-GFRP using regression modeling by using a polycrystalline diamond
cutting tool. Three parameters, cutting speed, depth of cut and feed rate, were selected to
minimize the cutting force. It was found that the depth of cut is the factor which has the
greatest influence on the radial force, followed by the feed rate factor then other
parameters, whilst the feed rate is the least significant parameter. Also, the authors
concluded that the experimental values agreed with the predicted results, indicating the
1227
Optimization of the Material Removal Rate in Turning of UD-GFRP using the Particle Swarm Optimization Technique
suitability of the multiple regression models. Kumar et al. (2012) investigated the turning
process of the unidirectional glass fiber reinforced plastic (UD-GFRP) composites. A
polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool on the turning machine was used and the influence of
six parameters, tool nose radius, tool rake angle, feed rate, cutting speed, depth of cut and
the cutting environment (dry, wet and cooled (5-7° temperature)), on the surface roughness
was measured. It was found that the feed rate is the factor which has the greatest influence
on surface roughness, followed by cutting speed. Palanikumar (2008) evaluated the effect
of cutting parameters on the surface roughness of the GFRP composites using a PCD tool.
Three parameters, cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, were selected to minimize the
surface roughness. It was found that depth of cut has the least effect on the surface
roughness compared to the other parameters. Hussain et al. (2010) developed a surface
roughness prediction model for the machining of GFRP pipes using a response surface
methodology by using a carbide tool (K20). Four parameters, cutting speed, feed rate,
depth of cut and workpiece (fiber orientation), were selected to minimize the surface
roughness. It was found that the depth of cut has the least effect on the surface roughness
compared to the other parameters. Palanikumar, Latha, Senthilkumar and Karthikeyan
(2009) investigation focused on the multiple performance optimizations of machining
characteristics of glass fiber reinforced plastics composites by using a non-dominated
sorting genetic algorithm. Three parameters, cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, were
selected to minimize the surface roughness and tool flank wear and to maximize the
material removal rate. A polycrystalline diamond tool was used for the turning operation.
Khan, Rahman, Kadirgama, Maleque, & Ishak (2011) proposed an approach for turning of
a glass fiber reinforced plastic composites using two different alumina cutting tools:
namely, a Ti[C, N] mixed alumina cutting tool (CC650) and a SiC whisker reinforced
alumina cutting tool (CC670). Three parameters, cutting speed, depth of cut and feed rate,
were selected to minimize the surface roughness. It was found that the performance of the
SiC whisker reinforced alumina cutting tool is better than that of the Ti[C, N] mixed
alumina cutting tool for machining GFRP composite. Kennedy and Eberhart (1995)
suggested a particle swarm optimization (PSO) based technique for optimization on the
analogy of a swarm of birds and a school of fish. The algorithm, which is based on a
metaphor of social interaction, searches a space by adjusting the trajectories of moving
points in a multidimensional space. The individual particles are drawn stochastically
toward the position of present velocity of each individual and the best previous
performance of their neighbors (Abido, 2001). The main advantages of the PSO algorithm
are summarized as: simple concept, easy implementation, robustness to control parameters
and computational efficiency when compared with mathematical algorithms and other
heuristic optimization techniques (Dautenhahn, 2002). Zhang and Ishikawa (2008)
proposed a new method to prevent premature convergence and for managing the
exploration-exploitation trade-off in PSO search, Particle Swarm Optimization with
Diversive Curiosity. It was observed that the ratio of success in finding the optimal
solution to the given optimization problem was significantly improved and reached 100%
with the estimated appropriate values of parameters in the internal indicator. Zhou et al.
(2006) presented a particle swarm optimization technique in training a multi-layer feed-
forward neural network which was used for a prediction model of diameter error in boring
machining. It was observed that the networks for diameter error prediction trained by the
PSO algorithm or by the back propagation algorithm both improved the precision of the
boring machining, but the neural networks trained by the PSO algorithm performed better
than those trained by the back propagation algorithm.
1228
Verma (2012) used a fuzzy inference system and multi performance characteristic
index (MPCI) for modeling and prediction of an FRP-polyester/epoxy composites
workpiece. Three parameters, cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, were selected to
minimize the surface roughness and maximize the material removal rate. It was found that
the FIS and MPCI modeling technique can be effectively used for the prediction of the
surface roughness and material removal rate in machining of FRP composites. Ravi
Sankar, Srikant, Vamsi Krishna, Bhujanga Rao, & Bangaru Babu, (2013) discussed the
comparison between the computational effectiveness and efficiency of the GA and PSO
using a formal hypothesis testing approach. The results of this test could prove to be
significant for the future development of PSO. It appeared that PSO outperformed the GA
with a larger differential in computational efficiency when used to solve unconstrained
nonlinear problems with continuous design variables. This paper investigates the
optimization problem of the cutting parameters in the turning of unidirectional glass fiber
reinforced plastic (UD-GFRP) composite rods. The material removal rate is the response
variable. The experiments are performed using a Taguchi L18 orthogonal array. The
particle swarm optimization technique is used to find the optimum process parameters.
MATERIAL AND EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE
Pultrusion processed unidirectional glass fiber reinforced composite rods are used. The
fiber used in the rod is E-glass and the resin used is epoxy, while the properties of the
material used are shown in Table 1. Workpiece material specimens having a size of 840
mm in length and 42 mm in diameter are used. The experiments are carried out on an
NH22 lathe machine with 11 kW spindle power and a maximum speed of 3000 rpm using
a PCD tool. A cutting tool insert with various rake angles (-6°, 0°, +6°) and tool nose radii
(0.4 mm & 0.8 mm) are used. A tool holder SVJCR steel EN47 is used during the turning
operation. The experimental results of turning of unidirectional glass fiber reinforced
plastics composite are evaluated to ascertain the material removal rate (MRR). The
experimental design based on the Taguchi L18 orthogonal method is used.
Table 1. Mechanical and thermal properties of the UD-GFRP material
Sr. Particular Value Unit

No.
1 Glass content (by weight) 75±5 %
2 Epoxy resin content (by weight) 25±5 %
3 Reinforcement, unidirectional ‘E’ Glass Roving ---
4 Water absorption 0.07 %
5 Density 1.95-2.1 gm/cc
6 Tensile strength 650 (N/mm2)
7 Compression strength 600 (N/mm2)
8 Shear strength 255 (N/mm2)
9 Modulus of elasticity 3200 or (320) (N/mm2)
10 Thermal conductivity 0.30 Kcal /Mhc°
11 Weight of rod 840 mm in length 2.300 Kgs
12 Electrical strength (radial) 3.5 KV / mm
13 Working temperature class Class ‘F’ (155 ) Centigrade
14 Martens heat distortion temperature 210 Centigrade
15 Test in oil : (1) At 20° C: 20 KV/cm
(2) At 100° C: 20 KV/cm KV/cm
1229
Table 2. Control parameters and their levels.
Parameters Process parameters Levels

design 1 2 3
A Tool nose radius / mm 0.4 0.8 NIL
B Tool rake angle / degree (-6) (0) (+6)
C Feed rate / (mm/rev.) 0.05 0.1 0.2
D Cutting speed / (m/min.) & rpm (55.42) 420 (110.84) 840 (159.66) 1210
E Cutting environment Dry (1) Wet (2) Cooled (3)
F Depth of cut / mm 0.2 0.8 1.4
Table 3. Experimental layout using L18 orthogonal array.
Expt. No. A B C D E F --- ---

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2
3 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3
4 1 2 1 1 2 2 3 3
5 1 2 2 2 3 3 1 1
6 1 2 3 3 1 1 2 2
7 1 3 1 2 1 3 2 3
8 1 3 2 3 2 1 3 1
9 1 3 3 1 3 2 1 2
10 2 1 1 3 3 2 2 1
11 2 1 2 1 1 3 3 2
12 2 1 3 2 2 1 1 3
13 2 2 1 2 3 1 3 2
14 2 2 2 3 1 2 1 3
15 2 2 3 1 2 3 2 1
16 2 3 1 3 2 3 1 2
17 2 3 2 1 3 1 2 3
18 2 3 3 2 1 2 3 1
The Taguchi mixed level design is selected as it is decided to keep two levels of
tool nose radius. The remaining five parameters are studied at three levels. The two level
parameter has 1 DOF and the remaining five three level parameters have 10 DOF i.e., the
total DOF required is 11 [= (1*1+ (5*2)]. The most appropriate orthogonal array in this
case is L18 (21 * 37) OA with 17 [= 18-1] DOF. The standard L18 OA with the parameters
assigned by using linear graphs is used. The unassigned columns are treated as error.
The process parameters, their designated symbol and ranges are also given in
Table 2. The plan is made of 18 tests (array rows) in which the tool nose radius, tool rake
angle, feed rate, cutting speed, cutting environment (dry, wet and cooled) and depth of cut
are assigned to columns 1 to 6 respectively, as shown in Table 3. The cutting environment
(dry, wet and cooled) is set during the machining of the rod, so as to get a comparative
assessment of the performance of the cutting environment, which has not been studied
before. The material removal rate (MRR) in mm3/sec. is calculated using Equation 1.This
is the volume of material being removed per unit time from the workpiece:
–
(1)
1230
where TC = L/CN; N = spindle speed in rpm; D = initial Dia in mm; d = final dia in mm, L
= length in mm, C = feed rate in mm/rev. Table 4 shows the experimental results of the
material removal rate.
Table 4. Test data summary for material removal rate.
Expt. Raw data Average MRR

No. Material removal rate (mm3/sec) (mm3/sec)
R1 R2 R3
1 8.60 8.50 8.70 8.60
2 145.00 145.02 144.95 144.99
3 327.58 347.03 347.23 340.61
4 36.24 36.24 36.24 36.24
5 249.90 249.96 249.88 249.91
6 106.02 105.86 105.90 105.93
7 125.00 124.98 124.98 124.99
8 52.96 52.99 52.97 52.97
9 144.97 144.97 145.02 144.99
10 104.42 104.38 104.40 104.40
11 125.00 125.00 125.00 125.00
12 73.57 73.58 73.55 73.57
13 18.39 18.39 18.39 18.39
14 208.72 208.92 208.92 208.85
15 250.09 250.09 250.05 250.08
16 180.00 180.04 180.00 180.01
17 18.38 18.38 18.38 18.38
18 275.93 275.87 275.75 275.85
Table 5. Pooled ANOVA (Raw data: material removal rate).
Source SS DOF V F ratio Prob. SS/ P (%)

Tool nose radius(A) 342 1 Pooled 0.595 --- ---
342
Tool rake angle(B) 1739 2 Pooled 0.487 --- ---
869
Feed rate(C) 129356 2 54.41* 0.000 126978 26.179
64678
Cutting speed(D) 45233 2 19.03* 0.000 42855 8.835
22616
Cutting 5404 2 Pooled 0.116 --- ---
2702
Environment(E) 253033 2 106.43* 0.000 253032 52.168
126516
Depth of cut(F)
485034 53 485034 100.00
T 49927 42 63006 12.99
1189
e (pooled)
SS = sum of squares, DOF = degrees of freedom, variance (V) = (SS/DOF),
T = total, SS/ = pure sum of squares, P = percent contribution, e = error,
Fratio = (V/error), Tabulated F-ratio at 95% confidence level,
* Significant at 95% confidence level.
1231
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
A multiple linear regression equation is modeled for the relationship between processes
parameters in a bid to evaluate the material removal rate for any combination of factor
levels in a specified range. The functional relationship between the dependent output
parameter and the independent variables under investigation is postulated by Eq. (2):
Y = K (x1)a (x2)b (x3)c (2)
where Y is a dependent output variable such as the material removal rate. x1, x2 and x3 are
independent variables such as the feed rate, cutting speed and depth of cut. The constants a,
b and c are the exponents of the independent variables. To convert the above nonlinear
equation into linear form, a logarithmic transformation is applied to the equation and
written as Eq. (3):
Log Y = log K + a. log(x1) + b. log(x2) + c.log (x3) (3)
This is one of the most popularly used data transformation methods for empirical model
building. Now the above equation is written as Eq. (4):
η = β₀ + β1 x1+ β2 x2 + β3 x3 (4)
where η is the true value of the dependent material removal rate on a logarithmic scale, x1,
x2 and x3 are respectively, the logarithmic transformation of the different parameters, while
β₀, β1, β2 and β3 are the corresponding parameters to be estimated. Due to the experimental
error, the true response η = y-ε, where y is the logarithmic transformation of the measured
material removal rate parameter and ε is the experimental error. For simplicity, the
equation is rewritten as
Ŷ = b₀ + b1x1+ b2x2+ b3x3 (5)
where Ŷ is the predicted material removal rate value after logarithmic transformation and
b0, b1, b2 and b3 are the estimates of the parameters, β1, β2, and β3 respectively.
The values of b₀, b1, b2 and b3 are found by linear regression analysis (second order
model), which is conducted with MINITAB standard version software (MINITAB 15.0 for
Windows) using the experimental data. The first order model for the material removal rate
revealed a lack of fitness due to high prediction errors for the material removal rate. As a
result, the below mentioned second order models were developed and their form is given
below.
Ŷ = b0 + b1x1 + b2x2 + b3x3 + b12x1x2 + b13x1x3 + b23x2x3 + b11x12 + b22x22 + b33x32 (6)
Here x1, x2, x3 are log of feed rate, cutting speed and depth of cut.
The empirical model developed by regression analysis for the material removal rate
(MRR) is given below:
1232
MRR= 0.005 + 1.52 x1 + 2.65 x2+ 1.08 x3 + (- 0.684) x1x2 + (- 0.347) x1x3 + (- 0.334) x2x3
+ (- 0.325) x12 + (- 0.651) x22 + (- 0.250) x3
The predicted output values for the material removal rate are calculated with the
help of the above equation and the given coefficients areas shown in Table 6. The multiple
regression coefficient R2 of the second-order model is found to be 99.5%. On the basis of
the multiple-regression coefficient (R2), it can be concluded that the second order model is
adequate in representing this process, as shown in Table 6. Table 7 shows the analysis of
variance in which the P value of (0.000) for regression <0.05 indicates that at least one of
the terms in the model has a significant effect on the mean response of the material
removal rate (Montgomery, Peck, & Vining, 2001).
Table 6. Empirical expressions developed by second order model.
Predictor Coefficient of material

removal rate
bo 0.005
x1 1.52
x2 2.65
x3 1.08
x1x2 - 0.684
x1x3 - 0.347
x2x3 - 0.334
2
x1 - 0.325
x22 - 0.651
2
x3 - 0.250
S = 0.0490168 R-Sq = 99.5% , R-Sq(adj) = 98.8%
Table 7. ANOVA for second-order model (MRR).
Source DF SS MS F P
Regression 9 3.50924 0.38992 162.29 0.000
Residual error 8 0.01922 0.00240
Total 17 3.52846
Thus, it can be stated that the empirical equation built by using the second order
model can be used. The relative error between the predicted and measured observed values
for the material removal rate is calculated and presented in Table 7. The significance of the
predictors, shown in Table 6, is also analyzed further, as shown in Table 8.
Goodness of Fit for Surface Roughness and Material Removal Rate
To test whether the discrepancies between the observed and expected frequencies can be
attributed to chance, we use the statistics for test of goodness of fit for the material removal
rate as given by Eq. 7.
k
(Oi  Ei ) 2
2   (7)
i 1 Ei
1233
The criterion chosen for either accepting or rejecting the null hypothesis is:
If χ2 > 8.672 (tabulated value). Reject the null hypothesis
Table 8. Comparison between experimental and predicted values of material removal rate.
Material removal rate

Expt. No. Prediction value Experimental value % Error
1 7.674 8.60 -12.067
2 151.705 144.99 4.426
3 394.457 340.61 13.651
4 37.670 36.24 3.796
5 228.560 249.91 -9.341
6 96.161 105.93 -10.159
7 129.419 124.99 3.422
8 54.954 52.97 3.610
9 153.109 144.99 5.303
10 108.893 104.40 4.126
11 129.419 125.00 3.414
12 77.446 73.57 5.003
13 19.011 18.39 3.266
14 188.799 208.85 -10.620
15 229.615 250.08 -8.913
16 168.655 180.01 -6.733
17 19.142 18.38 3.981
18 247.742 275.85 -11.346
Table 9 shows that χ2 = 1.1078 for the material removal rate for 17 degrees of
freedom, where the degree(s) of freedom is given by: (rows-1) x (col-1) = (18-1) x (2-1) =
17. Therefore, analysis of the data does suggest that the perception is correct with a 95%
confidence level. Otherwise, there is reason to believe that the program gives correct
output, as shown in Table 9.
PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION
PSO is a global optimization technique that has been developed by Kennedy and Eberhardt
(1995). The particle swarm intelligence technique combines social psychology principles
in socio-cognition human agents with evolutionary computations. PSO was motivated by
the behavior of organisms such as fish schooling and bird flocking, in order to guide
swarms of particles towards the most promising regions of the search space. Generally,
PSO is characterized as a simple concept, that is easy to implement and computationally
efficient. Unlike the other heuristic techniques, PSO has a flexible and well-balanced
mechanism to enhance the global and local exploration abilities. Thus, a PSO algorithm
can be employed to solve an optimization problem. Each particle in the swarm represents a
candidate solution to the optimization problem. In a PSO, each particle moves to the new
position and makes use of the best position encountered by itself and the best position of its
neighbors to position itself towards the global minimum.
1234
Table 9. Statistics for test of goodness of fit of material removal rate
Material removal rate

Expt. No. Observed value Expected value (Oi – Ei) 2 / Ei
1 8.60 7.674 0.1117
2 144.99 151.705 0.2972
3 340.61 394.457 7.3506
4 36.24 37.670 0.0542
5 249.91 228.560 1.9943
6 105.93 96.161 0.9924
7 124.99 129.419 0.1515
8 52.97 54.954 0.0716
9 144.99 153.109 0.4305
10 104.40 108.893 0.1853
11 125.00 129.419 0.1508
12 73.57 77.446 0.1939
13 18.39 19.011 0.0202
14 208.85 188.799 2.1294
15 250.08 229.615 1.8239
16 180.01 168.655 0.7644
17 18.38 19.142 0.0303
18 275.85 247.742 3.189
Average χ2 =1.1078
*Test level of significance: = 95%
The principle of the PSO algorithm is as follows (Esmin, Lambert-Torres, & de

Souza, 2005). The PSO considers a swarm S containing n particles (S = 1, 2…...N) in a d-
dimensional continuous solution space. The position and velocity of individual si are
represented as the vectors xi = (xi1………xid) and vi = (vil………..vid), respectively. A bird
adjusts its position in order to find a better position, according to its own experience and
the experience of its companions. Using the information, the updated velocity of individual
i is modified using Eq. 8.
vidt+1= w vtid+ c1 r1*(Pid t– Xtid) + c2 r2*(pgdt– xtid) (8)
where
vtid:: a component in dimension d of the ith particle velocity in iteration t
xtid: a component in dimension d of the ith particle position in iteration t
c1, c2: weight factors
pi: best position achieved so far by particle i
pg: best position achieved so far by neighbors of particle i
ri,r2: random factors in range [0,1]
w: inertia weight
1235
Control Parameters of PSO
Number of generations = 50
Number of particles (N) = 5
c1 = 0.8
c2 = 2
w = 0.9
Coding of particle = binary
Number of bits per parameter is taken as 4.
Number of significant parameters = 3(feed rate (C) in mm/rev., cutting speed (D) in
m/min. and depth of cut (F) in mm)
Total length of particle = 12
Fitness parameter: minimization of surface roughness
Coding of Particles
Generate each particle using binary coding. Here the binary format particle is decoded by
using Eq. 9.
(9)
where Xi is the decoded feed, cutting speed or depth of cut, is the lower limit of feed,
cutting speed or depth of cut, is the upper limit of feed cutting speed or depth of cut,
and n is the substring length (= 4) and Si is the decoded value of the ith chromosome.
Accuracy is given by Eq. 10:
(10)
Figure 1 and Table 10 show the flow diagram and algorithm of PSO.
Table 10. Algorithm of PSO .
Algorithm
Step 1: Generate the initial swarm involving N particles at random.
Step 2: Generate the initial velocity randomly.
Step 3: Find the best solution that has been achieved so far by that particle and
the best value obtained so far by any particle in the neighborhood of that particle.
Step 4: Update the velocity and position
Step 5: If the termination condition is satisfied, stop.
Otherwise, go to Step 3.
Experiments are performed on a turning machine according to the L18 orthogonal array
shown in Table 3. Table 4 shows the experimental results of the material removal rate. The
1236
pooled version of ANOVA of the raw data for the material removal rate is given in Table 5.
From Table 5, it is clear that parameters C, D and F significantly affect both the mean and
variation in the material removal rate value. The percent contributions of parameters, as
quantified under column P of Table 5, reveal that the influence of the depth of cut on the
material removal rate is significantly larger than the feed rate and cutting speed. The percent
contributions of depth of cut (52.168%), feed rate (26.179%) and cutting speed (8.838%) in
affecting the variation of the material removal rate are significantly larger (95% confidence
level) than the contribution of the other parameters, as shown in Table 6(A).
Start
Initialization of particles with random

position and velocity
Fitness Evaluation
Update Velocity and Position
Find PI (individual best position)

Find Pg (Best of PIi e Global best position)
Termination Criteria Satisfied No
Yes
Optimum Solution
Figure 1. Flow chart of PSO
1237
The PSO code is developed using MATLAB. The input machining parameter levels
are fed to the PSO program. It is possible to determine the conditions at which the turning
operation has to be carried out in order to get the optimum material removal rate. Figure 2
shows the MRR versus no. of iterations. Table 11 shows the performance of the material
removal rate with respect to input machining parameters for PSO. It has been found that
the maximum value of the material removal rate is 394.33mm3/sec., which is at feed rate
(0.200 mm/rev), cutting speed (159.58 m/min) and depth of cut (1.3996mm). Hence, it can
be concluded from the optimization results of the PSO program that it is possible to select
a combination of feed rate, cutting speed and depth of cut to achieve the required material
removal rate. The application of a PSO approach to obtain the optimal machining
conditions will be very useful at the computer-aided process planning (CAPP) stage in the
production of high-quality goods with tight tolerances by a variety of automated machining
operations and in adaptive control machine tools. With the known boundaries of the
material removal rate and machining conditions, machining can be performed with a
relatively high rate of success with the selected machining conditions.
Table 11. Output values of the PSO with respect to input machining parameters.
Machining Feed Speed Depth of cut Material removal rate

parameters mm/rev mm/min mm mm3/min
0.200 159.58 1.3996 394.33
400
350
Material Removal Rate
300
250
200
150
100
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Iterations
Figure 2. Performance of PSO.
CONCLUSIONS
The turning test is performed on GFRP using a PCD tool. The Taguchi L18 orthogonal
array is used to perform experiments to analyze the MRR. In this paper, an approach based
on particle swarms is used to solve the optimization problem for maximizing MRR. The
simulation results show that the approach quickly converges. PSO is an efficient and
effective optimization tool for finding the optimum machining parameters for maximizing
MRR. The results give a positive indication of the potential offered by PSO. It can be
concluded that better optimization of cutting parameters is necessary to obtain a high
1238
MRR. The maximum value of the material removal rate is found to be 394.33mm3/sec.,
which is at feed rate (0.200 mm/rev), cutting speed (159.58 m/min) and depth of cut
(1.3996mm).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is supported by the National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra through a

scholarship and financial support. This financial support is gratefully acknowledged.
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1241
INTEGRATED SIMULATION MODEL FOR COMPOSITION AND

PROPERTIES OF GASES IN HYDROGEN FUELED ENGINE
Mohammed Kamil1,2, M.M. Rahman1,3* and Rosli A. Bakar1,3

1
*E-mail: mustafizur@ump.edu.my
Phone: +6094246239; Fax: +6094246222;
2
Faculty of Engineering, University of Tikrit, Tikrit, Iraq
3
26600 Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT
The composition and thermodynamic properties of combustion products are essential

for evaluating the performance of internal combustion engines. This paper presents a
simulation model named ‘HydEnPro’, to predict the composition and thermodynamic
properties of the multi-component gases in hydrogen fueled engines. HydEnPro was
developed as a set of codes for predicting the chemical equilibrium composition with
two databases (NASA and Chemkin) that contain the thermodynamic information about
the molecules. The developed codes accessed the thermodynamic databases and
equilibrium codes predicted the properties of the multi-component gases. The
predictions of HydEnPro were validated against the well-recognized Chemkin tables,
the standard literature and other general simulation models. It is shown that HydEnPro
translation for the databases and its interfaces are correctly implemented. In addition,
the accuracy of HydEnPro was emphasized. Hence, HydEnPro can be used in a
predictive manner.
Keywords: Hydrogen fuel; hydrogen engine; chemical equilibrium; hydrogen

combustion products.
INTRODUCTION
Non-OPEC oil-producing countries are already approaching their peak production,

leaving most of the remaining reserves in the politically unstable Middle East
(Campbell, 2000; Pfeiffer, 2006), and the new energy regime has the potential to
remake civilization along radical new lines. Hydrogen is the most basic and ubiquitous
element in the universe. It never runs out and produces no harmful CO2 emissions when
burned; the only by-products are heat and pure water. A new economy powered by
hydrogen will fundamentally change the nature of our market, political, and social
institutions, just as coal and steam power did at the beginning of the industrial age
(Verhelst & Wallner, 2009; Sopena et al., 2010; Kelly et al., 2010; Lee et al., 2010;
Hamada, Rahman, and Aziz, 2012a,b). It is well recognized by governments, academic
institutions, associations, and industry that our window of opportunity for a managed
transition to alternative energy resources has been shortened. Hence, there is huge
momentum in hydrogen fuel research (Rahman et al., 2009a,b, 2010, 2011a,b, 2013;
Hamada et al., 2012, 2013; Kamil et al., 2012). Hydrogen fuel utilization in internal
combustion engines (ICE) has attracted a considerable portion of this research. The
1242
Integrated Simulation Model for Composition and Properties of Gases in Hydrogen Fueled Engine
majority of the research in hydrogen fueled engines (H2ICE) has been in experimental
studies (Kamil et al., 2011; Rahman et al., 2013; Hamada et al., 2012, 2013). However,
simulation models for ICEs play a vital role in allowing the automotive engineer to
evaluate complex operation strategies that cannot be analyzed directly with other means.
Besides, the simulation models allow the engineer to analyze many alternative strategies
quickly and avoid the risk, expense and disruption associated with extensive laboratory
experimentation.
To develop an integrated model for the engine, it is essential to specify the
composition and properties of the multi-component gas mixture at every stage of the
simulation. Hence, a gas mixture model is a crucial part that must be incorporated
within the main model. Several equilibrium codes for specifying the species of
equilibrium combustion products and calculating their thermodynamic properties have
been developed and used among researchers in the combustion community, and some
are available for open use. The most well-known codes are Villars–Cruise–Smith
(VCS), an algorithm developed and modified by Villars (1959), Cruise (1964), and
Smith and Missen (1968); STANJAN, a code developed by Olikara and Borman (1975);
and the NASA–Lewis code developed by Gordon and McBride (1976). Even though the
VCS code was developed for analyzing military gun propellants, it can be applied to a
wide variety of problems. This code is dimensioned to include as many as 700 species
in a calculation. Furthermore, different models for the gaseous mixture can be used in
the code. The gaseous products can be assumed as a mixture of perfect gases, an ideal
mixture of imperfect gases or a non-ideal mixture of imperfect gases, which is the most
general mode1 for a gas mixture. However, ICE application does not require such
computationally intensive and time-consuming code. The NASA–Lewis code is also an
extensive code; it is capable of solving equilibrium problems for several phases and for
over 100 species. This code is also more comprehensive and too computationally
intensive. It is anticipated that it would be more complex to learn and incorporate. On
the other hand, the STANJAN program is faster than the NASA–Lewis code because it
was written specifically for engine combustion with a reduced set of species, and is
shorter and easier to understand. STANJAN code was written in FORTRAN at Stanford
University. It is distributed freely for research purposes as a compiled code. But the
compiled version requires a user interface, which cannot be called a subroutine by
another program. There is no model easily available written in MATLAB which
simulates the equilibrium composition and properties for ICE, in particular for H2ICE
applications. Therefore, a gas mixture composition and property model for H2ICE
applications is developed. A simulation program model, named HydEnPro is developed
in MATLAB as an implementation to the developed model. HydEnPro calculates the
chemical equilibrium and thermodynamic properties of reactants and products of a
combustion reaction between hydrogen fuel and air.
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
For H2ICE, as well as other fueled engines, the gas properties of interest are: specific
heats, Cp and Cv; specific heat ratio, ; gas constant, R; molecular weight M; specific
enthalpy, h; specific entropy, s; specific volume, Vspc and specific internal energy, u. In
the context of the current simulation, these properties are modeled on both mass and
mole bases. This multifarious representation of properties gives extra flexibility when
dealing with the different databases. Some databases report their data on a mass basis,
others on a molar basis. In addition, the properties can be calculated in the different
1243
Kamil et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1242-1255
parts of the engine (intake and exhaust manifolds, cylinders, etc.), as well as during the
individual processes (intake, expansion, compression and exhaust) at any instant (in
crank angle domain or time domain). The bridgehead was identifying the nature of the
mixture in the different processes, since the composition of the mixture changes during
the engine operating cycle. Table 1 summarizes the considered mixture constituents for
H2ICE. A light was sought from the analysis presented by Heywood (1988) for
conventional fuels. Thermodynamic properties for the combustion reactants and
products are available as tabulated data. JANAF Thermochemical Tables are the main
source of these data (NBS, 1971). However, for computer codes, it is awkward to deal
with tabular data. Gordon and McBride (1976) fitted the tabulated JANAF data to
polynomials by minimizing the least squares error, and calculated the properties as
functions of temperature. These polynomials were known as NASA Polynomials.
Similar procedures were followed by Kee, Ripley, and Miller (1991) to produce
Chemkin Polynomials. Therefore, four sets of coefficients are considered here for each
constituent. Those sets are given over two adjacent temperature intervals: 300 to 1000 K
and 1000 to 5000 K; and for either the NASA or the Chemkin Polynomials.
Table 1. Gas constituents in H2ICE.
Process Constituents
Intake Hydrogen, air,
residual gas (within the cylinder)
Compression Hydrogen, air, residual gas
Expansion H2O, N2, O2, H2, H, O, OH and NO.
Exhaust H2O, N2 and either: O2 when  < 1 or H2 when  > 1
VALIDATION OF HydEnPro MODEL
The most important validation of HydEnPro is compared with the well-recognized

Chemkin Tables (Kee et al., 1991). The results of HydEnPro are evaluated with respect
to how well it can reproduce figures that appear in the standard literature. Some
validations are made with the available models, such as chemical equilibrium in perfect
gases code (Gaseq, 2011) and the adiabatic flame temperature program (AFTP, 2012).
Figure 1 shows Cp of six individual species (H2O, N2, O2, H2, OH, and NO) produced
from high temperature combustion reaction in the temperature interval of 1000–3000 K.
The results of HydEnPro (solid lines) are drawn together with Chemkin data (Kee et al.,
1991) (symbols). The differences are minor and the agreement is perfect. Furthermore,
Turns (2006) reported that the specific heat of the H-atom is constant (= 20.786
kJ/kmole K) in the temperature range of 200–5000 K, which agrees with the current
results. This adds additional confirmation for the validity of HydEnPro. Figure 2
presents a comparison of the enthalpy results obtained by HydEnPro and by Chemkin
data for a high temperature combustion reaction. It shows perfect agreement with
Chemkin data for all the considered species. Chemkin data tables (Kee et al., 1991) give
enthalpy values as a difference between the required values and enthalpy of formation at
298 K. Therefore, the corresponding enthalpy of formation at 298 was added to the
given value.
Figure 3 illustrates the entropy values of the individual species produced from
high temperature combustion. The results calculated by HydEnPro are displayed
together with the values from Chemkin data. The variations within the temperature
1244
interval of 1000–3000 K were also demonstrated. The deviation is negligible and

HydEnPro shows its validity. Figure 4 evaluates the validity of HydEnPro for low
temperature mixtures. This figure collects the results of enthalpy from HydEnPro and
Chemkin data together at a temperature range of 300–1000 K. The results for H2O are
presented due to its different values. It is concluded that the HydEnPro results at a low
temperature range agree perfectly with the well-reviewed literature. Specific heat,
enthalpy and entropy are selected for validation purposes, since their rule is central in all
chains of the modeled thermodynamic relationships. Any one of the considered
properties is related to them in some way. This can be clarified further by reviewing the
relationships developed in the previous section.
Figure 1. Specific heat (Cp) for the combustion products. Symbols denote Chemkin data
(Kee et al., 1991). Values of H are constant (= 20.785 kJ/kmol K from HydEnPro; and
= 20.786 kJ/kmol K in Chemkin). Values of O are almost constant (= 20.859  0.084
kJ/kmol K from HydEnPro; and = 20.859  0.084 kJ/kmol K in Chemkin).
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Variation of species enthalpy. Symbols denote Chemkin data.
1245
Figure 3. Variation of entropy for the combustion products.
(a) (b)
Figure 4. Variation of enthalpy for low temperature combustion products. Symbols
denote Chemkin data (Kee et al., 1991).
Adiabatic flame temperature estimation was validated with results produced by

the codes: Gaseq (2011) and AFTP (2012). Figure 5 depicts the variation of Tad with 
for three different mixture temperatures: 500, 700 and 900 K. The results of HydEnPro,
Gaseq and AFTP are plotted together. Some points can be concluded readily; there is
apparent coincidence among the three curves in the lean zone ( < 1) until the
stoichiometric condition ( = 1). Besides, the results of HydEnPro and Gaseq seem to
be more nearly identical compared with the AFTP results. The third point is that more
correspondence between the three curves is seen as the initial temperature increases.
This difference occurs because AFTP considers 30 constituents, while HydEnPro
considers only eight. The calculations of Gaseq were limited to the same eight species,
but this cannot be done with AFTP. As illustrated, the species considered by HydEnPro
are the most common for hydrogen fuel burning in internal combustion engine
1246
applications. Fortunately, the deviation occurs in the rich region ( ≥ 1.2), where it is
not possible to get stable operation for a hydrogen engine, because of the hydrogen
combustion anomalies (knocking, pre-ignition and backfire). The authors could not find
any experimental work in the literature which considers this region because pre-ignition,
backfire and knocking problems become more serious in the vicinity of stoichiometric
conditions.
(a) (b)
Equivalence ratio ()
(c)
Figure 5. Adiabatic flame temperature as a function of fuel/air equivalence ratio.
Assessment of HydEnPro Multi-choices
Figure 6 shows the comparison between the composition results calculated by using the
two considered data bases: NASA and Chemkin. This figure indicates that the
difference between them is insignificant. Therefore, the equilibrium compositions, and
consequently the properties, calculated by the two different databases will be practically
the same. Figure 7 presents the difference between the results of the two equilibruim
codes: eqp_9 and eqp_4. The performance of the two codes from the accuracy point of
veiw is the same because their results are exactly the same and the differences are
negligible. However, the time consumed by eqp_9 and eqp_4 for doing the same
1247
calculations is different, as shown in Figure 8. The central processing unit time for
calculations at different equivalence ratios is given there. In the majority of the cases,
the time consumed by eqp_4 is less than or equal to that of eqp_9. In fact, for
applications like the control application, this time is something that must not belittled.
(a)
(b)
Figure 6. Comparison between NASA fit and Chemkin fit: mole fraction as a function
of  at 2500 K.
1248
(a)
(b)
Figure 7. Comparison between eqp_9 and eqp_4: mole fraction as a function of at

2000 K.
1249
Figure 8. Comparison between the times consumed by eqp_9 and eqp_4 in mole
fraction calculations.
HydEnPro Mole Fraction Results
Results illustrating composition shifts with  are given in Figure 9 for hydrogen
combustion at p = 30 atm and at two different temperatures, 1750 and 2250 K. The mole
fraction axis is drawn in logarithmic scale, as this scale gives a more meaningful
picture. However, the results are for isooctane fuel (C8H18) combustion. In our case, the
components that contain carbon are absent from the product mixture. For the remaining
constituents, the current results emphasize again the validity of HydEnPro. The mole
fraction variations with  are complicated phenomena.
The largest mole fractions are for N2 and H2O. Comparison between the three
parts of Figure 9 reveals that when the reaction temperature is increased, there is an
exponential rise in product species such as O2, H2, H, O, OH and NO. In addition, the
O2 fraction seems insensitive to temperature in the lean zone ( < 1), whereas the
increase in  leads to an increase in the H2 fraction and decreased O2, O, OH and NO
mole fractions. At the higher temperature of 2750 K, there is a significant amount of
nitric oxide (NO). If any gas in an engine cylinder is raised to this high temperature, that
gas will tend toward equilibrium (Heywood, 1988). Since the chemistry for most
species that contribute to the thermodynamic properties is fast enough for engine time
scales, in many cases local equilibrium may be assumed. Nitric oxide, however, is
significant even though its concentrations are relatively low because it is an air pollutant
(Ferguson & Kirkpatrick, 2001).
1250
(a)
(b)
Figure 9. Mole fractions of equilibrium products as a function of fuel/air equivalence
HydEnPro Properties Results
Figure 10 presents the trends of the ratio Cp/R, h and s with temperature variation. The
validity of HydEnPro is also checked herein by comparing the results of Cp/R presented
in this figure with those in the standard literature. The good concurrence emphasizes
that HydEnPro translation for the data bases and its interfaces is correctly implemented.
A closer look at Figure 10(a) reveals that its curves are ordered in three categories
depending upon the number of atoms in each constituent: monatomic (O and H),
diatomic (N2, O2, H2, OH and NO) and triatomic (H2O). The triatomics have the greatest
1251
specific heat, followed by the diatomics, and, lastly the monatomics. Further, the
triatomic components have a greater temperature dependence than the diatomic
constituents. In comparison, the monatomic species have nearly constant specific heats
over a wide range of temperatures. These facts were also indicated by Turns (2000). The
enthalpy and entropy variations are swept with temperature for three different fuel/air
equivalence ratios. A higher equivalence ratio leads to higher entropy product mixtures
but with lower enthalpy. This is because richer mixtures increase some fractions and
decrease others. The result is the trends shown. Figure 11 shows how the
thermodynamic properties (M,  and Cp) at chemical equlibrium vary with the
equivalence ratio and temperature for hydrogen fuel combustion. Apart from the
difference produced from the absence of carbon components, the standard figures are
accurately reproduced, which shows that HydEnPro also correctly calculates the
thermodynamic properties M, Cp, and .
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 10. Variation of Cp, h, and s of the burned gas with temperature at different
fuel/air equivalence ratios.
1252
(a) (b)
Equivalence ratio ()
(c)
Figure 11. Variation of M, , and Cp of the burned gas with  at different temperatures.
CONCLUSIONS
The simulation model “HydEnPro” predicted the chemical equilibrium composition and
thermodynamic properties for combustion reactants and combustion products. This
model implemented in MATLAB is developed for predicting equilibrium compositions
that occur in H2ICEs. Evaluation with Chemkin tables showed excellent agreement.
Using different thermodynamic tables yields insignificant differences. Additional
validations showed that HydEnPro agrees well with what is shown in the standard
literature.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP)
for providing laboratory facilities and financial support (RDU110332).
1253
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Hydrogen Energy, 35, 1420-1429.
Turns, S. R. (2000). An introduction to combustion: concepts and applications (2nd
ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Turns, S. R. (2006). Thermal sciences: an integrated approach. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Verhelst, S. & Wallner, T. (2009). Hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines.
Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 35, 490-527.
Villars, D. S. (1959). A method of successive approximations for computing
combustion equilibria on high speed digital computers. Journal of Physical
Chemistry, 63, 521-525.
1255
A PRACTICAL SYSTEM TO PREDICT THE ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT,

DIMENSION AND REVERBERATION TIME OF ROOM USING GLCM, DVP
AND NEURAL NETWORK
M.N. Yahya1,2, T. Otsuru2, R. Tomiku2, T. Okuzono2

1
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UTHM
86400, Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor Malaysia
Phone: +607-453-7742; Fax: +607-453-6080
Email: musli@uthm.edu.my
2
Dept. of Architecture and Mechatronics, Faculty of Engineering, Oita University,
700 Dannoharu, Oita 870-1192, Japan
Email: otsuru@oita-u.ac,jp, tomiku-reji@oita-u.ac.jp, okuzono@cc.oita-u.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
Various prediction techniques of reverberation time such as the Sabine and Eyring
equations, ray-method, and numerical method require main parameters such as the
absorption coefficient and dimensions. Normally, these parameters are obtained from
references or/and measurements that necessitate special equipment and skills. On that
matter, the authors have proposed a new practical technique to identify the absorption
coefficient and dimensions of rooms. The technique comprises Subsystem_1 and
Subsystem_2, each of which uses photographic images. Subsystem_1 uses a Gray Level
Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and is integrated with a Neural Network (NN) to
identify the absorption coefficient of the material. Subsystem_2 uses a Dimension
Vision Predictor (DVP) with the author’s “ruler method” to identify the dimensions.
Examinations conducted in practical rooms revealed a good correlation coefficient of r
≥ 0.90 for Subsystem_1 and r ≥ 0.99 for Subsystem_2. Finally, the System using NN
gave inconsistent results, while FEA revealed consistent results with r 0.8
Keywords: Neural network; gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM); photographic

image; absorption coefficient; dimension; dimension vision predictor (DVP).
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, various systems have been proposed to predict a room’s acoustic properties,
e.g. reverberation time (RT), and computational systems are quite popular in this field
(e.g. ray tracing and numerical method) (Hodgson, 2009; Okuzono, 2010; Okuzono et
al., 2012). There are two essential factors that make the RT values within appropriate
ranges: i. the dimensions of the classroom, and ii. the absorption coefficients of
materials. These kinds of factor are usually obtained from measurements, literature,
references and so on, which requires extra time and expertise. An innovative system has
been proposed by Hodgson (2005) to identify the absorption coefficients of materials in
the classrooms using a statistical method (multivariable linear-regression techniques).
Although it is a simple and fast system, it is still inadequate because it can only be used
to determine the materials’ absorption coefficients in classrooms at the University of
British Columbia. Aiming for practical application, this study is to propose efficient
systems using a photo imaging technique to predict the factors (as mentioned above)
and to show their reliability when they are applied. In the subsystems, three techniques
1256
A Practical System to Predict the Absorption Coefficient, Dimension and Reverberation Time of Room using GLCM,
DVP and Neural Network
are used: i. image processing (gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM)), ii. the
Dimension Vision Predictor (DVP), and iii. a Neural Network (NN). Using
combinations of the techniques, two systems are built: Subsystem_1 using GCLM and
NN to determine the absorption coefficients of material surfaces in classrooms; and
Subsystem_2 using DVP to determine the particular dimensions of rooms. The accuracy
of the two systems is examined using actual rooms to investigate the identification
capability of the two systems. The absorption coefficients and dimension identification
from the two subsystems are used to compute RTs of actual rooms in System using a
NN. The computed RTs are then compared with RTs by FEA using actual absorption
coefficients and dimensions. Using these subsystems, we can ascertain room parameters
easily, rapidly, and at a low cost compared to using physical measurement. The systems
are useful for researchers, practical engineers, and designers to estimate the sound fields
of existing rooms.
THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION
Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM)
The GLCM technique has been implemented successfully in texture feature analysis to
analyze texture features of an image (Honeycutt & Plotnick, 2008). To date, no reported
study has applied GLCM to acoustic fields. A GLCM is generated from a square matrix
(Ng) with size determined according to the gray levels of pixels of an image that can be
captured using a digital camera. An image includes numerous pixels, each of which
presents a level of gray. A square matrix Ng is formed at these pixels. A GLCM
comprises numerous elements, each designated as probability Pd,θ(i,j). The Pd,θ(i,j)
represents pixels with gray levels i and j, which are counted at a certain distance d (e.g.
d = 1 or 2) and direction angle θ (θ= 0°, 45°, 90° and 135°) between the two image
pixels. Haralick (Haralick et al., 1973) provides an additional explanation of GLCM.
Figure 1 presents an example of computation of the GLCM with size i = 3 and j = 3.
Here, i and j are taken from the gray level of an image. To count probability P1,0°(3,0),
by reference to Figure 1(a), it is three intensities of pair pixels (i = 3, j = 0) at a distance
of two pixels d = 1; the direction angle θ is counted as 0°. A similar process can be
conducted at P1,90° (2,2). The intensity at that probability is 2. Generally, it is difficult to
implement GLCM directly. Therefore, Haralick proposed 14 coefficients of texture
features. The four commonly used Haralick coefficients are listed below.
(1)
{å å }
Ng-1 Ng-1
Pd,q (i, j ) × (i, j ) - m x m y
i=0 j=0 (2)
corr =
s xs y
ASM = å å {P q (i, j )}
Ng-1 Ng-1 2
i=0 j=0 d,
(3)
hom = å å {P q (i, j )}
Ng-1 Ng-1 2 (4)
i=0 j=0 d,
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Yahya et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1256-1266
Figure 1. Computed GLCM: (a) gray level of an image, (b) GLCM for element P1,0°
(3,0) and at P1,90° (2,2).
In those equations, cont is the contrast used to measure the image contrast, corr
is the correlation used to measure image linearity, and ASM is the angular second
moment used to measure image smoothness. Also, hom represents the homogeneity
used to indicate homogeneity in uniform images. In addition, μx, μy, σx, and σy are the
respective means and standard deviations of the probability matrix of GLCM obtained
by summing the row.
Dimension Vision Predictor (DVP)
Several techniques are used to measure dimensions using a camera. Some techniques
demand special equipment and camera lens calibration. Therefore, aiming at practical
use, this study chooses survey-from-photo because it can be implemented directly from
any ordinary camera without calibrating the camera lens. Generally, survey-from-photo
identifies the dimension based on two images. The images are marked with two
corresponding points. Then both are connected to make a line at an object to measure. A
reference dimension is necessary to achieve an accurate measurement. The reference
dimension is a dimension obtained from an object that is known exactly. Here, survey-
from-photo uses that object dimension as a reference to standardize the scale range to
the images. The basic concept of survey-from-photo is that of the "stereo vision"
principle, which uses two cameras to measure the dimensions of an object, as presented
in Figure 2. One camera is located at Cr and another at Cl with intervening distance (d).
The cameras are focused at points P1(x1,y1,z1) and P2(x2,y2,z2) with a certain focus length
(f), which are all obtainable at the camera lens. At f, two image points are apparent at
the image P1r, P1l, P2r, and P2l with respective coordinates (x1r,y1r), (x1l,y1l), (x2r,y2r), and
(x2l,y2l). The coordinates (x1r,y1r), (x1l,y1l), (x2r,y2r), and (x2l,y2l) are calculable by
considering the center of the image as the origin. To obtain the coordinates of
P1(x1,y1,z1) and P2(x2,y2,z2), the equation is definable simply as shown:
(1)
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(2)
æ x x2l ö (3)
Lx = d ç 1l - ÷
è x1l - x1r x2l - x2r ø
æ y y2l ö (4)
Ly = d ç 1l - ÷
è x1l - x1r x2l - x2 r ø
æ 1 1 ö (5)
Lz = df ç - ÷
è x2l - x2r x2l - x2r ø
The distance (L) between P1 and P2 can be simplified as:
L = Lx2 + Ly2 + Lz2

(6)
Figure 2. Principle of stereo vision.
Neural Network (NN)
Basically, NN architecture involves three layers: input layer, hidden layer and output
layer. Each layer consists of a number of nodes to construct a network connection, as
shown in Figure 3. Detailed explanation of NN can be found in a previous paper (Yahya
et al., 2010). Before implementing the NN, a database to be analyzed is transformed
1259
(0.1–0.9) to standardize the range. Overlearning occurs during the NN learning process.
To surmount the problem, a database is divided into three subsets: a training subset, a
validation subset, and a test subset. The training subset is used to train the NN. The
validation subset is used to validate the learning process, and the test subset is used to
investigate the prediction performance. The proportion of each subset is chosen
randomly. To obtain the optimum network, 2–15 hidden nodes are used. The mean
square error (MSE) and correlation coefficients (r) are used for assessment.
Figure 3. Architecture of NN
METHODOLOGY OF SUBSYSTEM_1
Material Surface Capturing
For this study, six material surfaces were taken of Oita University rooms, as portrayed
in Figure 4. Surfaces (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) are, respectively, surfaces of walls,
doors, floors, windows, ceilings, and carpets. To perform material surfaces capture, an
ordinary camera is used. Regarding the standardization of images, a digital single-lens
reflex (DSLR) camera with Sigma 50 mm f2.8 lens was used. The distance from the
camera to the surface material was set to 40 mm with autofocus mode, while the
respective lens settings for aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed were f2.8, 1/80, and
100. To analyze the accuracy of Subsystem_1, 368 images of surfaces were captured at
different locations in three rooms. The proportions of images of material surfaces are:
surface (a) = 69 images, surface (b) = 71 images, surface (c) = 66 images, surface (d) =
56 images, surface (e) = 67 images, and surface (f) = 40 images. All images were
analyzed using GLCM.
1260
(a) (b) (c)
(d) (e) (f)
Figure 4. Sample images of material surfaces for (a) wall, (b) door, (c) floor,
(d) window, (e) ceiling, and (f) carpet
GLCM Implementation
The GLCM was computed for the 368 images of surface materials using the following
settings: i. d =1,θ = 0°; ii. d = 1, θ = 45°; iii. d = 1, θ = 90°; and iv. d = 1, θ = 135°. Each
Haralick’s coefficient provides four values based on settings, but only an average value
of the four values is considered hereinafter. The average value is designated as the
coefficient value for this study. Because of variations of brightness and texture features
in our experiment, the ranges of the coefficient values become too wide to be processed.
To overcome this problem, a limitation for each coefficient value was made using the
means ( x ) and standard deviation (σ). The limitations are ( x ˗σ) and ( x +σ),
respectively, for low limitation and high limitation. The coefficient values beyond the
limitations were removed from further investigation.
FFNN Implementation
Coefficient values in the limitation were fed into the NN. Four coefficients (cont, corr,
ASM, and hom) and the material surface were used respectively as input nodes and
output nodes. Then the numbers of hidden nodes were set up as described previously.
The learning algorithm chosen was Levenberg–Marquardt (trainlm) because it is faster
and more efficient. To obtain the optimum network, a trial and error scheme was
conducted by combining all those nodes (e.g. [i; h; o] for [input node; hidden node;
output node]; example combination [4, 6, 1], [4,10,1], … or [4, 9, 1]) but only one
combination that provided good performance was selected.
METHODOLOGY OF SUBSYSTEM_2
DVP Implementation
The same camera as for Subsystem_1 was used with focus lenses of 18–70 mm to
capture two images at one view. The camera was set in autofocus mode. Figure 5
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presents an example of predicting dimensions of objects in one image at one view.

Lines connect corresponding points at objects. For example, to measure the dimensions
of a blackboard, four corresponding points of A, B, C, and D must be obtained. Each
corresponding point is connected to form lines: line 9, 10, 11, and 12. As described
above, the survey-from-photo requires a standard scale. Therefore, the authors propose
to use a ruler that is attached at an appropriate view as a reference dimension in this
"ruler method". A ruler is preferred because it is practical and simple to attach to the
view region to be measured. To investigate the repeatability of dimension prediction,
100 dimensions of several objects were examined. The predicted dimensions using DVP
as Subsystem_2 were compared with measured dimensions obtained from laser
measurements using a laser indicator (LS-501A; MAX Co., Ltd.). The MSE and
correlation coefficient (r) are applied for assessments.
Figure 5. Dimension identification.
METHODOLOGY OF SYSTEM
FEA Implementation
To obtain the RTs database of rooms which are used for construction of the NN, 20
rooms with different volumes were simulated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). In
the simulation, six absorption coefficients of surface materials of the wall, door,
window, floor, ceiling and furniture were considered in this study. Basically, the
absorption coefficient values (ranging from 0 to 1) depend on the type of material,
either reflective or absorptive. Considering all of the absorption coefficient values will
increase the computing time and cost of FEA. To overcome the problem, two kinds of
condition were considered; i. dead: (α_w = 0.08; α_dr = 0.1; α_wdw = 0.4; α_flr = 0.06;
α_clg = 0.4; α_f = 0.4); ii. live: (α_w = 0.02; α_dr = 0.02; α_wdw = 0.04; α_flr = 0.02;
α_clg = 0.2; α_f = 0.4), where α_w, α_dr, α_wdw, α_flr, α_clg, and α_f represent the
absorption coefficients for the wall, door, window, floor, ceiling and furniture,
respectively. Dead is the maximum value of the absorption coefficient, while live is the
minimum value of the absorption coefficient. These conditions were obtained from
several surface materials in the Oita University room. Furthermore, another 6 rooms
were simulated using FEA. These rooms were used to test the performance of the NN.
1262
NN Implementation
The database of 1220 RTs obtained from 20 simulated rooms by FEA were fed into the
NN. The database was divided into two subsets, the training subset (70% of database)
and validation subset (30% of database). To confirm the reliability of the prediction, the
testing database of 360 RTs obtained from the six simulated rooms was involved.
Subsystem_1
Figure 6 shows the range of four coefficient values for six materials. Each coefficient
value portrays a limitation. The limitations indicated that only 53.8% of 360 images of
surfaces (surface (a) = 39 images, surface (b) = 50 images, surface (c) = 27 images,
surface (d) = 26 images, surface (e) = 30 images, and surface (f) = 20 images) were used
for the NN as input nodes because of limitations. Before feeding into the NN, a database
of images of surface materials was divided into three subsets: 60% of the database for
training; 20% of the database for validation, and 20% of the database for testing. No
specific proportions for the NN subsets were set. At this point, the proportions of
subsets are chosen arbitrarily. Generally, the training subset should be larger than the
validation subset and the testing subset.
Figure 6. Limitation of coefficient values for six materials.
In this study, the absorption coefficients (α) of six material surfaces are derived
from reports in the relevant literature (Maekawa & Lord, 1993). By identifying the
material surfaces, we are able to ascertain the absorption coefficients of surfaces
simultaneously. To identify the material surfaces, we used a classification number (1–5)
to represent the output parameter: 1. Surface (a) (α = 0.07), 2. Surface (b) and (c) (α =
0.02), 3. Surface (d) (α = 0.04), 4. Surface (e) (α = 0.4) and 5. Surface (f) (α = 0.06).
Results of analyses show that the optimum network [4, 6, 1] with MSE ≤ 0.0018 and r ≥
0.9 was obtained for both the training and validation subsets. To confirm their
performance, the testing subset (39 surface images) showed MSE ≤ 0.07 with r≥ 0.9.
Subsystem_1 performance is inferred to be good at this stage. The restrictions of
Subsystem_1 are the following: 1. It can only identify the material surfaces depending
1263
on the database of material surfaces used. If more databases of material surfaces are
used, then more material surfaces can be identified. 2. Generally, the real absorption
coefficients of material surfaces in rooms depend on the material thickness, the presence
or absence of an air layer and absorptive layer, and so on. Then, it is difficult to obtain a
real absorption coefficient from only a surface form image. For practical usage, the
author referred to related reports of the absorption coefficient.
Subsystem_2
The results of analyses of Subsystem_2 are given in Figure 7, which reveals a high
correlation coefficient (r ≥ 0.99) between the predicted values using Subsystem_2 and
the measured values, with MSE ≤ 0.009. The results show that Subsystem_2 provided
high reliability using no physical measurements.
System
From the analysis, the optimum network is [4,11,1], for which the training and
validation database indicate MSE ≤ 0.0012 with r ≥ 0.9 for both of them. Furthermore,
for confirmation the testing database indicated MSE ≤ 0.007 and r ≥ 0.80. At this point,
the NN used for the System is developed. It gives good reliability of prediction RTs on
the six simulated rooms.
Implementation in Actual Room
Four types of actual rooms were utilized to investigate the prediction reliability of the
subsystems and System. At Subsystem_1, the 294 surface images (surface (a) = 60
surface images, surface (b) = 53 surface images, surface (c) = 48 surface images,
surface (d) = 63 surface images, surface (e) = 41 surface images and surface (f) = 25
surface images) were captured. However, only 180 surface images were selected after
normalization ( x ). These surface images were fed into the NN. At Subsystem_2, the
target objects were the room, door, window and furniture (desk and chair). These
objects were captured and fed into the DVP to predict the dimensions. Later on,
predictions from both Subsystems were moved to the System using the NN. Besides
that, the predictions from Subsystem_1 and Subsystem_2 were also moved to FEA. The
prediction reliability of RT using System and FEA were examined. Figure 8 reveals the
prediction by Subsystem_1, which gives high r ≥ 0.9. Unfortunately, predictions on
three (Surface (d): window (α = 0.04)) showed inconsistent results. This is because 29%
of the 31 surface images were indicated as below the limit at ASM. The window is a
transparent and light-reflecting material. In the case of this transparent window, it was
difficult to capture consistent surface images due to the nature of the material surface.
Figure 9 shows the prediction results of the dimensions of the room. Following
the capturing procedure, the DVP produces high r ≥ 0.9 in predicting the dimensions.
To predict RTs, the System (using NN) and FEA used the same input parameters
obtained from Subsystem_1 and Subsystem_2. The System provided predictions that
were inconsistent with the FEA. On the other hand, by using the actual input parameter
obtained from the four rooms, the FEA gave a consistent prediction. Figure 10 shows
that the correlation between FEA actual and FEA predicted is more than 0.80. From the
observation, at the moment, the techniques in Subsystem_1 and Subsystem_2 provide
good prediction reliability when they are utilized with FEA.
1264
Figure 7. Correlation for Subsystem_2 Figure 8. Correlation for Subsystem_1

(actual room)
Figure 9. Correlation for Subsystem_2 Figure 10. Correlation between FEA actual
(actual room) and FEA predicted
CONCLUSION
Aiming for practical application, a technique for predicting the absorption coefficient
and dimensions using photographic images and an NN was developed. In Subsystem_1,
a GLCM and NN are used to predict the absorption coefficient, while in Subsystem_2
DVP is used to predict the dimensions. The results from Subsystem_1 and Subsystem_2
show good reliability, with r> 0.9. The System and FEA are used to predict RTs.
Comparison between them shows that FEA offers more consistent results, with r 0.8.
From the overall results, we can conclude that by applying Subsystem_1 and
Subsystem_2, the practical value of the absorption coefficient and dimensions can be
predicted. At this stage, the predicted values from Subsystem_1 and Subsystem_2 are
useful to predict the RTs of room by using consistent methods such as FEA, BEM, and
empirical methods.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study is supported by RAGS (KPT) grant – R014, managed by the Research,
Innovation, Commercialization and Consultancy Office (ORICC), UTHM.
1265
REFERENCES
Haralick, R. M, Shanmugam, K., & Dinstein, I. (1973). Textural features for image
classification. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 6, 610-621.
Hodgson, M. (2009). Ray-tracing prediction of optimal conditions for speech in realistic
classrooms. Applied Acoustics, 70, 915-920.
Hodgson, M. (2005). Estimate of the absorption coefficients of the surfaces of
classrooms. Applied Acoustics, 67, 936-944.
Honeycutt, C. E. & Plotnick, R. (2008). Image analysis techniques and gray-level co-
occurrence matrices (GLCM) for calculating bioturbation indices and
characteristic biogenic sedimentary structure. Computer & Geoscience, 34,
1461-1472.
Maekawa, Z. & Lord, P. (1993). Environmental and architectural acoustics. London:
Spon Press.
Okuzono, T. (2010). Fundamental accuracy of time domain finite element method for
sound-field analysis of rooms. Applied Acoustics, 71(10), 1027-1067.
Okuzono, T., Otsuru, T., Tomiku, R., & Okamoto, N. (2012). Application of modified
integration rule to time-domain finite element acoustics simulation of rooms.
Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 132(2), 804-813.
Yahya, M. N., Otsuru, T., Tomiku, R., & Okuzono, T. (2010). Investigation the
capability of neural network in predicting reverberation time on classroom.
International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering & Technology,
19-31.
1266
EVALUATION OF ANNOYANCE AND SUITABILITY OF A BACK-UP

WARNING SOUND FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES
I. Salleh1,*, M.Z. Md. Zain1and R.I. Raja Hamzah1

1
Department of Applied Mechanics and Design,
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
*
Email: ismasyariff@gmail.com
Phone: +60-7-5534617; Fax: +60-7-5576820
ABSTRACT
This paper describes the evaluation of the annoyance and suitability of a back-up
warning sound for electric vehicles (EV). Three back-up signals used for the evaluation
were categorized into three types: broadband, tonal and multi-tone. The reversing sound
for a Nissan Leaf (EV-first mass production) will also be included as a benchmark for
the other three sound signals. The sample sound was generated based on the human
hearing threshold in several individual related areas; age-related, normal and working
noise exposure frequency range. Each sound was evaluated in turn by the respondents in
a nearby neighborhood, college, town area and rural area in terms of level of annoyance
and its suitability as an EV back-up sound to alert pedestrians as they run quietly on the
road, which can cause a hazard. Every tested sound perception result is based on the
place where the respondents live. An appropriate sound for a quiet vehicle can help
pedestrians to detect it and at the same time maintain acceptable environmental sound
levels.
Keywords: Electric vehicle warning sound; back-up sound; annoyance and suitability.
INTRODUCTION
Since EVs run on an electric motor, less noise is produced and emitted to the
environment compared to vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE). The critical
condition occurs especially when EVs are traveling at low speed or backing up, when
they become very quiet, although at speeds higher than 30–40km/h, the tire and wind
friction of the EV can produce enough noise to alert people in the vicinity (Zeitler,
2012). Therefore, pedestrians (especially visually impaired people and cyclists) have
difficulty recognizing a vehicle that is approaching them at a low speed or backing up
(Tabata et al., 2011). For pedestrians, who have counted for generations on hearing the
typical rumble of an ICE approaching, without turning to look, their ability to hear and
judge the direction of approaching vehicles has been critical in avoiding collisions. For
a visually impaired person, audible information coming from the vehicle is the only
source of information that they can use to detect its presence and location. The objective
of the research is to evaluate three tones on their annoyance and suitability for quiet
EVs according to several respondents in different areas.
In a Japanese measurement report (JASIC, 2009), they tested noise levels
emitted by EVs at low speed conditions that possess inaudible noise compared with two
ICE vehicles at 0 to 35 km/h, as shown in Figure 1. From the figure, when the vehicle
was in the idle condition, the difference in noise level between the EV and the two ICE
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Evaluation of Annoyance and Suitability of a Back-Up Warning Sound for Electric Vehicles
vehicles was 20dB. When the vehicle started to move, the differences in noise level
decreased and at 15 km/h only about 3–4 dB separated the EV and ICE vehicles. When
the EV started to speed up to 30–40km/h, tire and wind friction produced noise that
made the car more obvious to road users and the noise level started to level up with the
ICE vehicles (Zeitler, 2012).
Figure 1. Noise level comparison between EV and ICE vehicles at various speeds
(Sandberg et al., 2011).
The background sound pressure level will also affect the noise level coming
from the electric vehicle. Figure 2 shows that the distance perceived by pedestrians was
not much different from a vehicle approaching at a speed of 20km/h for all types at
various background noise levels. The same occurred when the vehicle approached at a
speed of 15km/h, where there was no significant difference, but at low ambient noise
pedestrians started to find it hard to detect the EV. For vehicle speeds of 10 and
6.5km/h, the perceptual distance between the EV and ICE vehicles kept decreasing,
with a huge difference (Sandberg et al., 2011).
Figure 2. Results of a study on perception of sound from an approaching HEV car,

compared to two ICE cars in Japan for three sites with different background noise 45–
62 dB (Sandberg et al., 2011).
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Salleh et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1267-1277
Hearing Threshold
To develop a compatible backing up sound for the EV, the signal should be within the
human hearing threshold in order for them to react to the approaching vehicle. The
hearing threshold and the equal loudness contours of young persons with normal
hearing are shown in Figure 3. Each equal loudness contour indicates combinations of
level and frequencies that are perceived as equally loud for pure tones. Almost similar
curves exist for narrow band noise (ECTunes, 2011). Normal people usually have
sensitive hearing between 1.6 kHz and 5 kHz because of the resonance of the ear canal
and the transfer function of the ossicles of the middle ear (Tabata et al., 2011).
Figure 3. Normal hearing threshold and equal loudness curves from ISO 226 (OpenStax
College, 2014).
Age also plays an important part in the human hearing threshold. As they grow
older, people’s hearing capability becomes less sensitive especially to high frequency
signals and they also tend to develop presbycusis disease (age-related hearing loss).
Figure 4 describes the age-related hearing loss for age-group ranges 30, 50 and 70 years
old. Normally at this age range, hearing capabilities start to decrease from the normal
threshold. From Figure 4, the compatible frequency signal for older people is below 2
kHz. For people in their 70’s, their hearing capability drops drastically when the signal
reaches 1 kHz and above. The same is true of people at 50 years old, whose hearing
sensitivity drops severely after the signal passes 2 kHz (ECTunes, 2011).
1269
Figure 4. Average hearing threshold for different age groups according to ISO 7029
(ECTunes, 2011).
Sound Annoyance
When an individual or a group of people become irritated or uncomfortable (such that

they believe it can affect their daily lives) by any state that is related to sound, that is
called sound annoyance (Lindvall & Radford, 1973). From a health perspective, some
sound can be treated as toxic, as it affects the pleasure, wellbeing and health of a
percentage of the exposed population. This toxicity suggests that these sounds can
interfere with the most basic processes of life. This type of sound is called noise and it
can cause stress, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011. To
understand the annoyance of the sound, people must know how sound can have both
positive and negative influences on them. In other words, people should know the
pleasurability of sounds that can bring ‘peace’ to their lives and also that sounds can
bring frustration and affect our daily routine. In terms of physiological reactions, people
exposed to sound annoyance can find that it increases their heart rate and blood
pressure, which may lead to hypertension (Lindvall & Radford, 1973). These
characteristics play an important role in back-up sound in the real environment.
Reducing the annoyance of the sound can give benefits to the locality and especially
residential neighborhoods, and can at the same time reduce noise pollution.
Back-up Alarm Sound
Back-up or reversing alarms are installed in vehicles to alert people in the vicinity for
safety purposes. The alarm warns people to be aware and take action (if necessary) to
move out of the danger area. The back-up signal must be heard by people on all sides of
the danger spot. The danger area is the spot where, if a person crosses it, harm may be
caused if the vehicle is moving, for example, at the rear of the vehicle (Teamsters,
2013). Nowadays, most car manufacturers use a back-up beeper or single frequency
signal alert sound in their models. Unfortunately, our brain cannot deal with the
repetitive and persistent sound of back-up beepers, but favors natural sounds that
dissipate (Wolchover, 2012). Now an authority has urged researchers to develop a new
set of motion alarms to alert pedestrians to the quietness of EVs when traveling at low
speed (Holzman, 2011). The reverse alarm is meant to produce sound characteristics or
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separate sounds indicating that the vehicle is reversing that are added to the drive sound.
The sound can be similar to the hauling of the reverse gear, ‘pings’ or a similar sound or
short tone sequence (ECTunes, 2011). In the last few years, many newly designated
acoustic signals have been introduced for vehicle back-up alarms and one of these was a
broadband signal which is deemed to reduce the annoyance (Nélisse et al., 2011). Three
types of back-up alarm, which are standard tonal signal, broadband signal and multi-
tone signal, will be evaluated on their annoyance and suitability.
Tonal noise is a noise that is emitted to the environment which contains a high
amount of energy in a single frequency, also known as ‘pure tone’. Noise such as hums,
hisses, screeches and drones are examples of tonal noise that contains a clear and
continuous note (NÆRUM, 2007). A broadband frequency signal or white sound is a
noise whose acoustic energy is distributed over a wide frequency range (Nélisse et al.,
2011). The spectrum is largely smooth and continuous except at the extremes. The
multi-tone signal was introduced by Laroche in 1995 and it was an improvement on the
conventional tonal alarm. The multi-tone signal consists of several major tones between
1000 and 1300 Hz, in contrast to a tonal alarm which is concentrated around 1250 Hz,
while for a broadband signal the energy is distributed over a large frequency and most
of it is found in the range of 700 to 4000 Hz, as illustrated in Figure 5 (Nélisse et al.,
2011).
Figure 5. Frequency range for tonal, broadband and multi-tone signals (Nélisse et al.,
2011).
METHODOLOGY
Three tested signals (broadband, tonal and multi-tone frequency signals) were used as a
potential back-up warning alarm. These sounds were generated and analyzed using
Audacity software and MATLAB software. One back-up sound signal from the Nissan
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Leaf (the first mass production Electric Vehicle) was used as benchmark for these three
signals. The signals were evaluated by selecting respondents and obtaining their
perceptions of the annoyance and suitability of the sound to be implemented on EVs in
the real environment. The respondents evaluated the signal on annoyance by rating it on
an evaluation form after they had listened to the sound through a Sony Lightweight
Funky Metallic Headphone MDR-570LP. Five verbal categories of annoyance scale:
Extremely – Very – Moderately – Slightly - Not at all, were used to rate the signals,
this scale being in accordance with ISO 15666. The same approach was used for
suitability evaluation, with five categories of verbal suitability scales: Excellent – Good
– Fair – Poor – Bad, used as an indicator. Before starting the evaluation, the
respondents were required to listen to instructions from the tester: “Your task is to
assess the annoyance and suitability of the sounds. Imagine that you hear these sounds
at home as part of the traffic noise. The sounds are neither more nor less prominent than
the motor sound of the ‘normal’ cars. The sounds you will be listening to are constant
since it was a back-up alarm”. Fifty (50) respondents were selected to evaluate these
signals from various types of residential area (10 - university student & staff, 10 –
neighborhood, 10 – rural/village area, 10 – town area, 10 – apartment/flat
complex).
Three generated and one existing signal were evaluated for this research. The
first was a broadband frequency signal. This signal was generated at the sampling rate
of 44100 Hz for 0.6 seconds. Figure 6 plots the graph of the sample broadband signal
(single tone) in the time and frequency domain (amplitude and decibel range). The
signal was repeated continuously to act as an alarm sound for an EV back-up maneuver.
Figure 6 (b) shows that the frequency energy of the sound is concentrated in the range
of 0–5000 Hz.
Figure 6. Time and frequency domain for broadband tested signal
The tonal signal that was used for the annoyance and suitability evaluation for
this research was also generated at the sampling rate of 44100 Hz for 1 second. The
sound was played repeatedly when the EV was reversing. Figure 7 (a) shows the signal
in the time domain, 7 (b) shows the frequency domain-amplitude, and 7 (c) shows the
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frequency domain (decibels). The frequency energy signal for the sample sound was
concentrated at 758 Hz, as shown in Figure 7 (b).
Figure 7. (a) Time and frequency domain for tonal tested signal; (b) Time and frequency
domain (close-up) for repeated tonal signal
The multi-tone signal consisted of several major tones in a high frequency

signal. For this research the tone’s energy frequency was concentrated between 3000 Hz
and 4000 Hz and was repeatedly played 3 times consecutively, as shown in Figure 8 (a)
and Figure 8 (b).
Figure 8. (a) Time and frequency domain for multi-tone (horn type) tested signal; (b)
time and frequency domain (close-up) for 3 consecutive notes
Based on the questionnaire results, Figure 9 (a) shows that for the annoyance evaluation
the sound from the Nissan Leaf back-up alarm had the highest vote, with 9 respondents
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choosing the ‘Extremely’ category, followed by the multi-tone signal - 5 votes,

broadband signal - 4 votes, and the tonal signal with only 2 votes. In the ‘Very’
annoyance category, the multi-tone signal received almost half of the vote from the
respondents with 22 votes, followed by the Nissan Leaf back-up sound - 19 votes,
broadband signal - 8 votes, and tonal signal - 7 votes. For the ‘Moderately’ annoyance
section, 17 respondents voted for the broadband signal, followed by the tonal signal
with 16 votes. The multi-tone and Nissan Leaf signals shared third place with 10 votes
each. For the last category, which was ‘Not At All’ annoyed, 15 respondents chose the
tonal signal and 12 chose the broadband signal. The multi-tone and Nissan Leaf signals
received the least votes, with only 2 respondents declaring that the signal was not
annoying at all. For the suitability evaluation, Figure 9 (b) shows the ‘Excellent’
categories received the votes of a total of 35 respondents, and the broadband signal had
the highest vote with 12, followed by the tonal signal - 11 votes, Nissan Leaf back-up
signal - 7 votes and lastly the multi-tone signal with 5 votes. In the ‘Good’ section, the
tonal and Nissan Leaf sounds led with 18 respondents voting for them. A total of 56
votes in the ‘Fair’ category, which turned out to be the highest vote of all the categories.
For the last category, which was ‘Bad’, 14 respondents cast their votes in this section
and the broadband signal got 5 votes, followed by the Nissan Leaf, multi- tone signal
and tonal signal.
Figure 9. (a) Sound annoyance evaluation; (b) Sound suitability for EV back-up alarm
evaluation (numbers indicate the total vote among the respondents)
An evaluation form was distributed to respondents in five different locations

(rural/village area, town, neighborhood, university and apartment/flat complex) to see
the correlation between background noise and sample sound. For the annoyance
evaluation, two categories were selected for discussion (Extremely and Very Annoyed
section), as shown in Figure 10. Only four respondents in the rural/village area voted in
the Extremely section. These votes were for the Nissan Leaf back-up sound (2), while
the tonal and multi-tone signals had one vote each. In the ‘Very Annoyed’ section, the
multi-tone signal had the highest vote from these respondents, with 8 votes, while 1 vote
each went to the tonal and Nissan Leaf sounds. Respondents in the town cast 1 vote
each for the tonal, multi-tone and Nissan Leaf sounds in the ‘Extremely Annoyed’
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section, but in the ‘Very Annoyed’ category the broadband signal got the highest vote,
with 5 selecting this. The Nissan Leaf back-up sound also had the most votes in the
neighborhood and university areas for the ‘Very Annoying’ section, with 7 and 6 votes.
Figure 10. Sound annoyance evaluation according to place of living for ‘Extremely
Annoy and ‘Very Annoy’ categories (numbers indicate the total vote among
respondents)
For Figure 11, 5 respondents in the neighborhood chose the broadband signal as
‘Excellent’, while people in rural and town areas rated the Nissan Leaf and tonal sounds
as a ‘Good’ back-up sound for EV, with the highest votes. Most of the results from
respondents regarding annoyance and suitability levels were influenced by the place of
living. As we can see, respondents who live in the town area prefer a sound that can be
heard clearly, such as the multi-tone signal and Nissan Leaf sound. This is because the
background/ambient noise in urban areas was masking the sound coming from the
vehicle, making it hard to hear and also possibly affecting their hearing capabilities.
Respondents who live in rural areas choose instead a more comfortable sound to be
heard as the EV back-up alarm, which is the broadband or tonal signal. The ambient
level in this type of area is lower and for that reason most of the respondents do not
favor high frequency sounds (multi-tone and Nissan Leaf) because these may annoy
them. In the ‘Extremely’ and ‘Very’ annoyed categories, the multi-tone and Nissan Leaf
signals obtained the majority vote compared to the broadband and tonal signals. This
indicates that high frequency signals without filtration can create ‘annoying’
characteristics in the signal. As for the tonal signal used in this research, in the
beginning it caused some annoyance, but after being filtered the frequency of the signal
was reduced to the hearing threshold level.
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Figure 11. Sound suitability evaluation according to place of living for ‘Excellent’ and
‘Good’ choice categories (numbers indicate the total vote among respondents)
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we can see that broadband and tonal signals are most acceptable as a
back-up sound for EVs to alert pedestrians. In the annoyance evaluation, most of the
respondents put these two signals not in the ‘Extremely’ or ‘Very’ annoying categories,
but more in the ‘Moderate’ section, in contrast with the multi-tone and Nissan Leaf
sounds. The suitability evaluation shows that respondents are also most likely to choose
these two signals as preferable for EV back-up alarms, even though some respondents
were in favor of the multi-tone and Nissan Leaf sounds because of their clearer and
sharper characteristics helping to alert pedestrians. However, although in this research
the broadband and tonal signals were preferred, the detectability and localization
characteristics of these signals to pedestrians remain uncertain. A detectability and
localization evaluation test should therefore be conducted on these signals to obtain a
reliable result for implementation as EV back-up alarms.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for providing the
funding and facilities to conduct this research.
REFERENCES
ECTunes (2011). White paper on external warning sounds for electric cars -
Recommendations and guidelines. Denmark: ECTunes.
Holzman, D. C. (2011). Vehicle motion alarms: Necessity, noise pollution, or both?
Environmental Health Perspective, 119(1), A30-A33.
JASIC (2009). A study on approach warning systems for hybrid vehicle in motor mode.
Informal document No. GRB-49-10 (49th GRB, 16-18 February 2009), GRB,
WP29, ECE, Geneva, Switzerland.
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Lindvall, T. & Radford, E. P. (1973). Measurement of annoyance due to exposure to

environmental factors. Environmental Research, 6, 1-36.
Nélisse, H., Laroche, C., Boutin, J., Giguère, C., & Vaillancourt, V. (2011). Propagation
of sound behind vehicle equipped with different backup alarm. Journal of
University of Ottawa, 39(3).
NÆRUM (2007). Investigation of tonal noise. Press Release,
http://www.bksv.com/NewsEvents/News/InvestigationOfTonalNoise.aspx,
Denmark, (Accessed on 27 January 2012).
OpenStax College-Physics of Hearing, http://cnx.org/content/m42297/
latest/?collection=col11406/latest (Accessed on 9 January 2014).
Otto, N. C., Simpson, R., & Wiederhold, J. (1999). Electric vehicle sound quality. Noise
and Vibration Conference & Exposition, Traverse City, Michigan, May 17–
20 1999.
Sandberg, U., Goubert, L., & Mioduszewski, P. (2010) Are vehicles driven in electric
mode so quiet that they need acoustic warning signals? 20th International
Congress on Acoustics, ICA, PACS: 43.50Lj, 43.66.Qp
Tabata, T., Konet, H., & Kanuma, T. (2011). Development of Nissan approaching
vehicle sound for pedestrians. Copyright © 2011 SAE International and
Copyright © Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc, 2011-39-7231
Teamsters Local Union (2009). No. 555. Retrieved from http://www.
teamsters155.org/web2009/index.php.
Wolchover, N. (2012). Everyday things that make you dumb: Why mundane
experiences can throw your mental muscles for a loop. Reader's Digest,
September 2012, p. 37. (Retrieved on 28 October 2012).
Zeitler, A., BMW Group (2012). Psychoacoustic requirements for warning sound of
quiet cars. SAE International, doi:10.4271/2012-01-1522.
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OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT OF TRIANGULAR

OBSTACLES
B. Sahin1*, E. Manay1 and V. Ozceyhan2

1
Faculty of Engineering & Architecture, Erzurum Technical University
Erzurum, Turkey
Phone: +90-442-6662528 ; Fax : +90-442-6662535
*Email: bayram.sahin@erzurum.edu.tr
2
Faculty of Engineering, Erciyes University,
38039 Kayseri, Turkey
ABSTRACT
In this study, the effects of equilateral triangular bodies placed in the channel on heat
transfer and pressure drop characteristics were examined numerically. Reynolds number
varied from 5000 to 10,000. The effects of the blockage ratio at constant edge length
(B=20 mm) and Reynolds number of triangular bodies were investigated. An RNG
based k-ε method was used and a constant surface temperature was applied to the
bottom wall. The numerical results were presented with respect to temperature contours,
local and mean Nusselt number, local and mean surface friction factor changes and heat
transfer enhancement ratios. The results showed that the presence of the equilateral
obstacles in the flow field enhanced the heat transfer. Temperature distributions behind
the bodies were affected by the position of the triangles and the Reynolds number and
changed greatly in the vertical direction along the x distance beyond the bluff bodies.
The intensity of the oscillations decreased with the increase of the Reynolds number. It
was observed that for all cases overall heat transfer enhancement was provided. It was
found that the highest values of OHTE were reached at W/B=0 and Re=5.0 and lowest
were at W/B=1 and Re=10.0.
Keywords: Triangular body; bluff body; heat transfer enhancement; numerical.
INTRODUCTION
By the use of bluff bodies, not only variation of the flow field, but also heat transfer
enhancement is provided. In general, heat transfer enhancement techniques are either
passive or active methods. In the basic method, no extra energy is applied from outside
to the system upon increasing the heat transfer by the aid of the passive methods. But,
the geometrical parameters of the current system are modified in order to increase the
heat transfer. The ones frequently used in these processes are extending surfaces,
operating the surfaces, replacing the inner elements into the system etc. In active
methods, the aim is to enhance heat transfer by giving extra energy like surface
vibration, suction or pressing. Due to problems like vibration and acoustic noise as well
as the investment and the operating costs, heat transfer enhancement via active methods
has not been attracting attention. Research on heat transfer augmentation has been
increasing especially in the cooling of electronics and heat recovery systems (Tahseen,
Ishak, & Rahman, 2012). In turbulent flows, the aim of the heat transfer enhancement
by passive methods is to destroy the viscous sublayer. Inserting inner elements into the
channel or pipe flows causes the viscous sublayer to be destroyed (Manay, 2010). The
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Sahin et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1278-1291
studies done in this field have shown that several parameters like geometry and
geometrical arrangements are also affected on the heat transfer and flow structure. This
paper presents a detailed numerical study of the flow around a pair of triangles in a side-
by-side arrangement. There are many studies about bluff bodies. Sumner (2010)
investigated the flow structures around two identical cylinders in cylinders and
presented an overview of the studies including bluff bodies. It was emphasized that flow
around would attract attention because of its complexity. Also, much more analysis is
required for the transition and evolution between near-wall flow patterns and vortex
street modes. Just as the bodies, known as bluff bodies, that are placed into the flow
field change the structure of the flow field, they affect the heat transfer in the increasing
direction. Srikanth et al. (2010) studied forced convection heat transfer and flow
characteristics on a confined triangular prism. An increase in heat transfer from 12.5%
to 25% was provided due to the presence of the prism in the flow field. Near a moving
wall, heat transfer from a square cylinder was investigated by Dhinakaran (2011). It was
found that an existing obstacle in the flow field always increased the heat transfer
relative to an isolated one. Heat transfer caused by a bluff body such as a horseshoe
vortex generator was examined experimentally by Wang et al. (2012). Heat transfer was
enhanced by the use of the horseshoe vortex generator in both single and tandem
arrangements.
Dhiman and Hasan (2013) investigated both heat transfer and flow structure
around a different flow blockage. A trapezoidal cylinder was used as the bluff body. It
was observed that flow separation occurred at values of Reynolds number higher than 5.
Steady and unsteady regimes were also analyzed. The limitation was found to be 46–47
for transition from steady to unsteady flow regime. Rosales, Ortega and Humphrey
(2001) investigated the flow and heat transfer characteristics around square bluff bodies
placed in the channel. The Nusselt number increased and the drag coefficient decreased
in the event that the cylinders became closer to the walls. The biggest value of the
Strouhal number was obtained when the bodies were at the center of the channel.
Abbasi, Turki, and Nasrallah (2001) proposed a model which gave the variation of the
Strouhal number with Reynolds number for periodic flow, by examining numerically
the heat transfer and the flow characteristics of a heated triangular body. At values of
Reynolds number about 45, they observed some passages from symmetrical to periodic
form. The highest heat transfer rates were achieved in the case of Re>45 relative to that
of Re<45. Sripattanapipat and Promvonge (2009) placed diamond-shaped obstacles in
the channel. At different Reynolds numbers and attack angles of the obstacles, the heat
transfer characteristics were investigated under a constant surface temperature
condition. It was seen that just as the diamond-shaped elements enhanced heat transfer
by about 200–600, the friction losses also increased by 20 to 220 times relative to the
smooth channel.
A column consisting of five square elements was left in the flow field at
different gap ratios by Chatterjee, Biswas and Amiroudine (2009) and the flow
structures and heat transfer were examined. Heat transfer increased in the presence of
the square elements. The flow structure and the heat transfer characteristics around plate
type bodies at different positions, edge angles, gap ratios and Reynolds numbers were
studied by Hanafi, El-Sayed, and Mostafa (2002). Except for the gap ratio of 7 and 10, it
was concluded that the flow and heat transfer characteristics were dependent on the
plate geometry for all the tested gap ratios. Velayati and Yaghoubi (2005) numerically
investigated the efficiency of bluff bodies placed in a uniform flow field as a tandem
arrangement. The heat transfer increased with the increase of the Reynolds number and
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Overall Heat Transfer Enhancement of Triangular Obstacles
blockage ratio. Hemida, Spehr, and Krajnovic (2008) numerically studied the flow and
local heat transfer around a bundle of cubic elements under constant heat flux and
Reynolds number. The heat transfer and the vortex sheddings caused by a cylinder
whose surface was heated were investigated by Bhattacharyya and Singh (2010). The
variations of Nusselt number and the Richardson number were linear at constant
Reynolds number. Another study on heated cylinders was conducted by Bharti, Chabra,
and Eswaran. It was concluded that in front of the cylinder the Nusselt number
decreased due to the fact that the behavior of the fluid changed from shear weakening
towards shear intensifying and took its minimum value at the stagnation point.
Igarashi and Mayumi (2001) studied experimentally the flow and heat transfer
phenomena around a rectangle placed as inclined and straight. They determined that the
flow is laminar when the inclination is less than 15° or else turbulent. Maximum heat
transfer was provided at 0–5°. Juncu (2007) examined the effects of the model
parameters on heat transfer in a flow field around two cylinders placed in tandem for
different Prandtl numbers at low Reynolds numbers. For different distance ratios of the
cylinders in tandem arrangements with equal surface temperatures, Mahir and Altaç
(2008) conducted an experimental study in order to investigate the transient forced
convection heat transfer. Meinders and Hanjalic (2002) investigated the convection heat
transfer of two squares fixed onto the bottom in tandem and in staggered arrangements.
In the tandem array, the flow structures are periodic. Nakamura, Igurushi, and Tsutsui
(2003) studied the flow and heat transfer parameters around a cube placed at an angle of
45° depending on the cube height at different Reynolds numbers. At the end of the
analyses, it was seen that the heat transfer characteristics were different in the case of
the tandem arrangement. Based on the results summarized above, one finds that the
relationship between Reynolds number and the biasing characteristics of the gap flow
depends strongly on the geometry of the bluff body. Because many practical
engineering problems are related to the flow field downstream of bluff bodies with
different cross-sectional geometries, the present study focused on flow interaction near
two triangular bluff bodies in a side-by-side arrangement and was performed for a
Reynolds number range varying from 5000 to 10,000 under steady state conditions.
CFD ANALYSIS
Problem Description
In Figure 1, the main features of the test section are shown schematically. The
computational domain mainly consists of a two-dimensional channel and dual triangular
bodies placed in a side-by-side arrangement. As seen in Figure 1, the channel height (H)
of 4B, and the placement of the bluff bodies (S) was maintained at x = 8B, while the
channel length was 36B. To prevent negative pressure effects at the outlet sections, the
outlet section was selected to be long enough, and likewise the inlet section was long
enough to get a fully developed flow.
1280
Figure 1. Computational domain and the triangular bodies in side-by-side

arrangement.
Numerical Procedure
To determine the velocity and temperature distributions, CFD calculations made with
the aid of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) commercial code of FLUENT
version 6.1.22 (2001) are performed, depending on the numerical model, boundary
conditions, assumptions, and numerical values. In all the numerical calculations, the
segregated manner was selected as the solver type, to take advantage of its ability to
prevent convergence problems and oscillations in pressure and velocity fields of strong
coupling between the velocity and pressure. The RNG k-ε turbulence model is used for
simulations and the second order upwind numerical scheme and SIMPLE algorithm,
being more stable and economical than other algorithms, are utilized to discretize the
governing equations. The converging criteria are taken as 10–6 for the energy and 10−4
for other parameters. In momentum and continuity equations, the thermophysical
properties are thought of as constant, and the flow is assumed to be two-dimensional,
steady state.
Governing Equations
Continuity conservation:
 
     v   0
t (1)
Momentum conservation:

   v    
     v  v   g  P      (2)
t
Energy conservation:
E 
   v  E  p     keff T   eff  v 
  
(3)
t
In Eqs. (2), (3) and (4), ν is the velocity, P is the pressure, T is the temperature, ρ
is the density of air. u, v and w are the velocity components in the x, y and z directions
1281
in the Cartesian coordinate system, respectively. The above thermo-physical properties

of water are taken as temperature-independent (constant) properties. Because of the fact
that the flow is fully turbulent, the turbulent kinetic energy and the dissipation rate of
turbulent kinetic energy equations derived from the transport equations are given as
below:
    k 
( k )  ( kui )     Gk  Gb    YM  S k (4)
t xi x j  x j 
k eff
       2
(  )  ( ui )     C (G  C G )  C   R  S (5)
x j  x j 
 eff 1 3 b 2
t xi
k
k k
In these equations, Gk represents the generation of turbulence kinetic energy due

to the mean velocity gradients, and Gb is the generation of turbulence kinetic energy due
to buoyancy. YM represents the contribution of the actuating dilatation in compressible
turbulence to the overall dissipation rate. The quantities αk and αε are the inverse
effective Prandtl numbers for k and ε, respectively. Sk and Sε are user-defined source
In the RNG k-ε turbulence model, the turbulent viscosity is calculated by Eq. (6),
terms.
^
  2k  v ^
d    1.72
 dv (6)
   ^3
v  1  Cv
where
^
v  eff /  (7)
Cv ≈ 100 (8)
In high Reynolds numbers, the effective viscosity is calculated via Eq. 9:

k2
t  C (9)

with Cμ = 0.0845, derived using RNG theory. It is interesting to note that this value of
Cμ is very close to the empirically-determined value of 0.09 used in the standard k-ε
model (2001). Eq. (10) presented below is used for the calculation of the inverse
effective Prandtl numbers, αk ve αε :
0.6321 0.3679
  1.3929   2.3929 mol
 (10)
 0  1.3929  0  2.3929 eff
where αk =1.0. In high Reynolds numbers (μmol /μeff <<1), αk= αε ≈1.393. The main
difference between the RNG and standard k-ε models lies in the additional term in the ε
equation given by FLUENT 6.1.22 (2001).
1282
C  3 (1   /0 )  2
R (11)
1   3 k
η = Sk / ε, η0 = 4.38 ve β = 0.012 (12)
C1ε, C2ε model constants are obtained analytically by the RNG theory, C1ε=1.42,
C2ε=1.68 (FLUENT 6.1.22).
Heat Transfer and Friction Factor
Two parameters of interest for this study are the skin friction coefficient and the Nusselt
number. The skin friction coefficient Cf is defined by
s
Cf 
1
U m2
2 (13)
The heat transfer performance is evaluated by the Nusselt number, which can be
obtained by the local temperature gradient as:
T
Nu  
Z (14)
The average Nusselt number can be calculated as follows:
x
Nu av   Nu x
L (15)
where L is the length of the computational domain. The friction factor is determined
from
P
f  (16)
1 L
 .U m 2
2 H
in which pressure ΔP is the pressure difference between the channel inlet and exit.
Boundary Conditions
The solution domain of the considered 2D channel flow is geometrically quite simple,
which is a rectangle on the x–z plane, enclosed by the inlet, outlet and wall boundaries.
The working fluid in all cases is water. The inlet temperature of the water is considered
to be uniform at 300 K. On walls, no-slip conditions are used for the momentum
equations. A constant surface temperature of 360 K is applied to the bottom wall of the
channel. The upper wall is assumed to be adiabatic. Uniform velocity is imposed on the
inlet plane and the Reynolds number varies from 5000 to 10,000. The outlet boundary
condition is a natural condition which implies zero-gradient conditions at the outlet.
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Figures 2, 3 and 4 present the temperature contours for Re=5000 (on the top), Re=7500
(in the middle), Re=10,000 (below) and the legends at the left side. At the bottom side
of the channel, the constant surface temperature boundary condition has been applied;
as for the top side, it has been adiabatic. At the end of the results obtained, it is seen that
the temperature distributions behind the bodies are affected by the position of the
triangles and the Reynolds number. Along the x distance beyond the bluff bodies, the
temperature variations change greatly in the vertical direction. At low Reynolds
numbers, the oscillation in the temperature values is higher than at higher Reynolds
numbers. The intensity of the oscillations decreases with the increase of the Reynolds
number. At W/B=0, the intensity of the oscillations increases due to the fact that the
back track region of the obstacles is high. With the decrease of the back track region
height, in other words when the gap ratio between the bodies increases, the oscillations
decrease. The bodies act as separate bodies as long as the distance between them
increases. Likewise, the interaction between the bodies gets lower and lower with the
increasing gap ratio. Especially at W/B=1 and Re=10,000, there is almost no interaction
between the bodies and the downstream body behaves as a single body.
Figure 2. Temperature contours at W/B=0, Re=5000 (on the top), Re=7500 (in the
middle), Re=10,000 (below).
1284
Figure 3. Temperature contours at W/B=0.5, Re=5000 (on the top), Re=7500 (in the
Figure 4. Temperature contours at W/B=1, Re=5000 (on the top), Re=7500 (in the
1285
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 5. Local Nusselt number variations for (a) W/B=0, (b) W/B=0.5 and (c) W/B=1.
The Nusselt number variations along the bottom wall of the channel are
presented in Figure 5. As the Nusselt number is a dimensionless number representing
directly the heat transfer, the positions of the triangular obstacles in the channel and the
Reynolds number are the important parameters in terms of the heat transfer. In all the
arrangements, the Nusselt number increases after the first meeting with the bodies. At
the tip of the triangles, the Nusselt number reaches a peak. Then from the tips of the
triangles, the Nusselt number does not decrease, but goes on oscillating due to the flow
structure and the disturbance of the viscous sublayer. The interaction and thus the
blockage ratio between the bodies is an important parameter in terms of the heat
transfer. At zero gap ratio (W/B=0), the highest heat transfer is provided due to the
strong flow interaction. This is because the back track region of the triangles is high
(2B=40 mm) and this causes the flow to oscillate. The strong fluctuations in the flow
field disturb the viscous sublayer, and this causes the heat transfer to increase. With the
increase of the gap ratio, the rate of increase of the Nusselt number decreases. The
lowest Nusselt number value is obtained at W/B=1. As for the Reynolds number, the
increase in the flow velocity enhances the heat transfer.
1286
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 6. Local surface friction coefficient variations for (a) W/B=0, (b) W/B=0.5 and
(c) W/B=1.
In the basic mean, the fact that the heat transfer provided by the insertion of the
triangular elements into the channel is investigated is a heat transfer enhancement
process by passive methods. An undesirable situation is the increase of the friction and
thus the pumping power. The extra pumping power means extra energy consumption. In
Fig. 6, the surface friction coefficient variations versus x-distance are given. Beyond the
triangle tips, the friction coefficient oscillates and decreases by being damped. Towards
the end of the channel, the friction coefficient goes on decreasing. The average Nusselt
number variations versus Reynolds number are shown in Figure 7. It is known that the
Nusselt number increases with increasing Reynolds number. Likewise, the Nusselt
number increases as long as the gap ratio increases. The highest value of the Nusselt
number is obtained at W/B=0 and Re=10,000, while the lowest value is obtained at
W/B=1 and Re=5000. The average surface friction coefficient variations are given in
Figure 8. With the increase of the Reynolds number, the surface friction factor
decreases. The increase in the gap ratio causes the surface friction coefficient to
decrease.
1287
Figure 7. Average Nusselt number variations versus Reynolds number.
Figure 8. Average surface friction coefficient versus Reynolds number.
The overall heat transfer enhancement is presented in Figure 9 for all

investigated cases. The graphs consist of two parts. Values above 1 mean there is a net
energy gain and overall heat transfer enhancement. Values lower than 1 mean that no
heat transfer enhancement is provided. In order to calculate the overall heat transfer
enhancement, the Nusselt number and the surface friction factor values of the smooth
channel must be known. In this study, the smooth channel values of both the Nusselt
number and the surface friction factor have been calculated at the same flow conditions
and with no triangles. For all the studied cases the overall heat transfer enhancement is
provided. The overall heat transfer enhancement (OHTE) decreases with the increase of
the Reynolds number. The increasing gap ratio causes the OHTE to decrease. The
highest value of the OHTE is obtained with W/B=0 and Re=5000. The lowest OHTE is
obtained at W/B=1 and Re=10,000.
1288
Figure 9. Overall heat transfer enhancement ratios.
CONCLUSIONS
In this numerical work, the investigation of the effects of equilateral triangular bodies
on heat transfer and flow characteristics was made based on the Nusselt number and
skin friction factor calculated numerically. Some significant results of this research
concluded from the whole study can be summarized as follows:
Along the x distance beyond the bluff bodies, the temperature variations
changed greatly in the vertical direction. The intensity of the oscillations decreased with
the increase of the Reynolds number. With the decrease of the back track region height,
in other words, as the gap ratio between the bodies increased, the oscillations decreased.
The bodies acted as separate bodies as long as the distance between them increased. In
all the arrangements, the Nusselt number increased after the first meeting with the
bodies. At the tip of the triangles, the Nusselt number reached a peak. Then from the
tips of the triangles, the Nusselt number did not decrease but went on oscillating due to
the flow structure and the disturbance of the viscous sublayer.
The strong fluctuations in the flow field disturbed the viscous sublayer, and this
caused the heat transfer to increase. With the increase of the gap ratio, the rate of
increase of the Nusselt number decreased. For all the studied cases an overall heat
transfer enhancement was provided. The increasing gap ratio caused the overall heat
transfer enhancement (OHTE) to decrease. The highest value of the OHTE was
obtained in the case of W/B=0 and Re=5000. The lowest OHTE was obtained at W/B=1
and Re=10,000.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey) for financial support under contract: 107M508.
1289
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1291
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT HEAT TRANSFER MODELS ON A DIESEL

HOMOGENEOUS CHARGE COMPRESSION IGNITION ENGINE
A. Aziz Hairuddin1,2*, Andrew P. Wandel1 and Talal Yusaf1

1
Faculty of Engineering and Surveying
University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, 4350 QLD, Australia
*
Email: AbdulAziz.Hairuddin@usq.edu.au
2
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT
Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine technology is relatively new

and has not matured sufficiently to be commercialized compared with conventional
engines. It can use spark and compression ignition engine configurations, capitalizing
on the advantages of both: high engine efficiency with low emissions levels. However,
the combustion behavior in an HCCI engine is difficult to predict because it has no
spark plug or injector. The chemical kinetics mechanism influences the combustion with
some heat losses to the cylinder wall. The effect of different heat loss models in a diesel
HCCI engine has to be investigated further. A single-zone thermodynamics model was
used in this study along with three different heat loss models: Woschni, modified
Woschni, and Hohenberg correlations. It was found that the difference in heat loss
models leads to a big difference in the heat flux, and the modified Woschni model has
the highest heat flux among these models. The effects of the different scaling factor and
characteristic velocity were also investigated. The study concluded that the modified
Woschni model produced more accurate results, while the Woschni and Hohenberg
models require more tuning of constants before they can be used in a diesel HCCI
engine.
Keywords: Diesel; HCCI; single-zone; thermodynamics model; heat transfer.
INTRODUCTION
Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines have been an active

research area recently (Zhong et al., 2005; Naiki, Iida, & Lhomme, 2010; Yu et al.,
2007; Janhunen, 2012; Yun, Wermuth, & Najt, 2011) due to their advantages in
reducing emissions levels. Regulatory bodies, such as those in Europe, the United States
and Japan, are imposing stringent vehicle emissions quality standards (Wesselink,
Buijsman, & Annema, 2006; EPA, 2000; Popp, 2004). Thus, most automotive
manufacturers need to develop hybrid or electric vehicles that can reduce emissions
levels. Hybrid vehicles are receiving increasing attention from most manufacturers
because they offer advantages including reduced emissions and providing good mileage
per fuel tank (Chan, 2002). The HCCI engine has the potential to replace the current
conventional engine used in hybrid vehicles. HCCI engines can be considered new
technology even though the first research associated with it dates back to Onishi et al.
(1979). The combustion is fully controlled by the chemical kinetics instead of by the
spark or injection timing as in the spark ignition (SI) or compression ignition (CI)
engines respectively. It takes place when the homogeneous mixture has reached the
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Aziz Hairuddin et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1292-1304
chemical activation energy and the mixture auto-ignites in multiple spots (Bhaskar,
Nagarajan, & Sampath, 2010). The advantages of HCCI engines are: 1) high-efficiency
engines due to a high compression ratio (CR), 2) similar or even better power band
compared with SI or CI engines, and 3) the ability to operate in any configuration and
with any fuels: stationary engines, automobile engines, or small- and large-sized
engines. On the other hand, the disadvantages are: 1) difficult to control the ignition
timing and achieving cold start (Kong & Reitz, 2003; Ishak, Tahseen, & Rahman, 2013;
Soylu, 2005), 2) high levels of unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) and carbon monoxide
(CO) (Kong et al., 2003; Nathan, Mallikarjuna, & Ramesh, 2010), and 3) knocking
issues if the mixture is relatively inaccurate (Jun et al., 2003; Kong & Reitz, 2003;
Nathan et al., 2010).
The use of numerical studies in HCCI engines is becoming a necessity because it
can reduce costs related to experimental work. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
approaches are used to obtain more accurate results at the expense of computational
costs, while thermodynamics approaches are suitable for fast results that are comparable
to experimental results (Babajimopoulos, Lavoie, & Assanis, 2003; Canova et al.,
2005). This paper uses the thermodynamics approach to investigate the effect of
different heat transfer models on an HCCI engine. The use of an accurate heat transfer
model is an essential element for acquiring accurate yet fast results for thermodynamics
simulations. Soyhan et al. (2009) studied the effect of similar heat transfer models on a
gasoline HCCI engine. However, their HCCI engine model was based on a predicted
auto-ignition time, and the auto-ignition time was modeled with no chemical kinetics
mechanism employed. Kong and Reitz (2002) reported that the HCCI engine is fully
controlled by chemical kinetics. Thus, the use of a chemical kinetics mechanism, which
is employed in this study, is important in an HCCI engine model. The auto-ignition time
is no longer modeled and is solely dependent on the chemical reaction mechanism to
achieve combustion. Another advantage of employing a chemical kinetics mechanism in
an HCCI engine model is that any fuel can be represented in the model and is not just
limited to gasoline or any specific fuel. This paper consists of four sections, and the
thermodynamics model is explained in the next section. Then, the following section
discusses the findings of the simulation, and the paper closes with the conclusions in the
last section.
THERMODYNAMICS MODEL
A zero-dimensional single-zone model was used to simulate the combustion behavior of

a diesel HCCI engine. The zero-dimensional model was initially developed by Assanis
and Heywood (1986), but some changes have been made: chemical reaction
mechanisms have been added, and a different heat release rate model was used. The
thermodynamics properties were assumed to be uniform throughout the combustion
chamber. The simulation began from the inlet valve open (IVO) up to the exhaust valve
open (EVO). It was coded using MATLAB software combined with a chemical kinetics
package.
Engine Geometry
The instantaneous volume at any crank angle position can be obtained from
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Effect of Different Heat Transfer Models on a Diesel Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition Engine
[ ( √ )] (1)
where is the clearance volume, is the compression ratio, and is the connecting
rod length. Differentiating Eq. (1) with respect to the crank angle, the rate of change of
volume is
[ ( )( )] (2)
√
The change in volume is an important parameter; this equation will be used to

determine the piston work.
Conservation Equations
Three conservation equations are used in this study: mass, energy, and chemical species.
Because the thermodynamics system is an open system, the mass flows in and out of the
system, affecting the total mass of the chamber
∑ ̇ (3)
where represents each flow in or out of the system. Then the energy equation, which
was derived from the first law of thermodynamics equation, is used. After
manipulations, the change in temperature is given by
∑ ̇
[( ∑ ) ( )
( ̅ )
(4)
( ∑ ̇ )]
In Eq. (4), ̅ is the specific heat at constant pressure, is the in-cylinder

pressure, is the instantaneous in-cylinder temperature, is the specific volume, is
the universal gas constant, is the mass fraction of species , ̇ is the mass flow rate
into the cylinder, is the enthalpy, is the heat loss to the cylinder wall, and is the
instantaneous cylinder volume. Then, the in-cylinder pressure is obtained using the ideal
gas equation
̅̅̅̅̅̅ (5)
̅̅̅̅̅̅ ∑ ⁄
where ̅̅̅̅̅̅ is the mean molecular weight of the mixture, is the molecular weight of
the th species and is the total number of species.
The chemical reactions are the source term in the energy equation, where they
affect the temperature based on the energy being transferred from one form to another.
1294
Because chemical kinetics fully control HCCI engines, it is critical to model the
combustion with a chemical reaction mechanism, rather than a pre-defined ignition
point. In this study, a reduced n-heptane mechanism (Seiser et al., 2000) was used to
simulate diesel combustion. This was chosen because n-heptane’s chemical properties
are similar to those of conventional diesel in terms of the cetane number. The
mechanism consists of 160 species and 770 elementary reactions. Thus, the change of
mass fraction of each species due to chemical reactions is given by
̇ (6)
where ̇ is the molar production rate of the th species.
Gas Exchange Process
The gas exchange process when the gas exits the inlet valve into the combustion
chamber must be accounted for because the simulation begins from the IVO. This
process is used to determine the mass flow rate of the mixture to the combustion
chamber. A steady-state, one-dimensional isentropic flow is used to model the gas
exchange process (Heywood, 1988).
Heat Transfer Model
Heat is transferred between the cylinder walls and in-cylinder gases through convection
and radiation, and for HCCI engines, the radiation effect is neglected (Soyhan et al.,
2009). The convective heat transfer rate can be described by Newton’s law of cooling
(Stiesch, 2003):
( ) (7)
where is the heat transfer coefficient, is the cylinder wall area and is the wall
temperature. The wall area is the sum of the cylinder wall, piston crown, and cylinder
head areas. The heat transfer coefficient has to be modeled, with the model attempting
to reproduce the heat release rate obtained from experiments. The effects of different
heat transfer coefficient models are studied in this paper, where the models used are the
Woschni correlation (Bengtsson, Gafvert, & Strandh, 2004; Woschni, 1967), modified
Woschni correlation for HCCI engines (Chang et al., 2004), and Hohenberg correlation
(Hohenberg, 1979; Sanli et al., 2008; Zeng & Assanis, 1989).
The Woschni heat transfer coefficient uses bore, , as the characteristic length
and mean piston speed, ̅̅̅, as the characteristic velocity:
( ̅̅̅) (8)
In Eq. (8), is the instantaneous in-cylinder pressure in bars.

A modified Woschni correlation has been developed for HCCI engines with the
measurements taken in the piston crown and cylinder head areas (Chang et al., 2004).
The equation then becomes
1295
( ) (9)
where the characteristic velocity is
̅̅̅ ( ) (10)
The modified Woschni equation uses the instantaneous chamber height, , as the
characteristic length scale; the temperature exponent is changed to 0.73, and is
the scaling factor to fit the experimental data. In Eq. (10), and
are constants, is the displacement volume, subscript is the reference condition, and
is the motoring pressure: the cylinder pressure without combustion.
The Hohenberg correlation, on the other hand, includes some modifications to
the Woschni equation, as it uses instantaneous cylinder volume instead of bore. Apart
from that, the characteristic velocity is replaced with the effective gas velocity, and the
temperature exponent has also changed. The Hohenberg heat transfer equation is given
by (Sanli et al., 2008).
(̅̅̅ ) (11)
The difference in heat transfer correlations leads to varying predictions

regarding heat loss. Therefore, the combustion behavior is also changed with different
heat coefficients. The changes become significant in HCCI engines, where chemical
kinetics plays a major role in combustion.
Validation of the thermodynamics model is required before proceeding with further

analysis. The model was validated against experimental data from Guo et al. (2010),
with the experiment using HCCI engines fueled with n-heptane. The port-injection
approach was used, with the n-heptane injected at the inlet port. Guo et al. (2010) also
used a zero-dimensional model to simulate their experiment. Thus, the validation will be
compared against their experiment and model. The engine parameters used in this study
are shown in Table 1. Because the fuel is port-injected, the mixing effect must be taken
into consideration, with the effective intake mixture temperature set 20°C higher than
the desired intake temperature (Guo et al., 2010). Therefore, the intake temperature in
this study was increased to 333K for the intake temperature of 313K. The validation
result is shown in Figure 1, where it is compared with the experiment and another
single-zone model from Guo et al. (2010). The validated result was completed using a
modified Woschni heat transfer coefficient with an air-to-fuel ratio (AFR) of 50. The
predicted maximum in-cylinder pressure is evidently slightly higher than that of the
experiment due to the limitation of the thermodynamics model: the entire combustion
chamber is assumed to be homogeneous. Overall, the predicted in-cylinder pressure is in
good agreement with the experimental data.
The in-cylinder pressure is predicted differently when using different heat
transfer coefficient models, as shown in Figure 2(A). Both the Woschni and Hohenberg
models over-predicted the combustion phasing by having an advanced ignition about
1296
5°CA earlier than the experiment did. The modified Woschni equation, on the other
hand, agreed well with the experiment despite having a slightly higher maximum in-
cylinder pressure compared with the experiment. In a diesel HCCI engine with a
reduced compression ratio, a cool flame phenomenon, which is called the low
temperature reaction (LTR), occurred at a temperature below the auto-ignition
temperature and created a two-stage ignition, with the LTR and HTR (high temperature
reaction) (Kim & Lee, 2007; Neely, Sasaki, & Leet, 2004). The LTR region was found
to be advanced for all heat transfer coefficient models at about 340°CA. The LTR
region was found to be about 800 K, which is the same as reported by Kim and Lee
(2007). The HTR region, on the other hand, begins at about 900 K, as shown in Figure
2(B). This is in agreement with other studies, where the HTR region began at about
900–1050 K (Epping et al., 2002; Zheng et al., 2001).
Table 1. Engine parameters used in the current study; ATDC is after top dead center,
ABDC is after bottom dead center, BBDC is before bottom dead center (Guo et al.,
2010).
Engine Parameters Value and unit

Cylinder bore 82.55 mm
Stroke 114.3 mm
Connecting rod length 254 mm
Compression ratio (CR) 10
Engine speed 900 rpm
Inlet valve open (IVO) 10° CA ATDC
Inlet valve closed (IVC) 36° CA ABDC
Exhaust valve open (EVO) 40° CA BBDC
Exhaust valve closed 5° CA ATDC
Figure 1. Comparison between single-zone thermodynamics model (with modified

Woschni heat transfer model) with experimental data and another single-zone model
(Guo et al., 2010). CR=10.0, N=900 rpm, Tin=40°C, Pin=95 kPa, AFR=50.
1297
HTR
HTR
LTR
LTR
Figure 2. Combustion phasing for different heat transfer coefficient models showing
high temperature region (HTR) and low temperature region (LTR). In-cylinder pressure
on the left and temperature on the right for different heat transfer coefficient models.
Heat Fluxes
The history of the heat transfer coefficient and the heat release rate among all models
are shown in Figure 3, with the maximum values varying from 9 to 278 W/m2K. The
difference in this value is due to a difference in the scaling factor, velocity
characteristic, and temperature exponent. The modified Woschni equation has the
highest heat transfer coefficient value (with the highest scaling factor, which is 194.7),
which causes it to have the highest heat release rate, as in Figure 3. The heat transfer
coefficient traces were changed when the same scaling factor was used for all models,
as shown in
Figure 4. The Hohenberg correlation has the highest heat transfer coefficient, compared
with the other two models, as a result of the difference in the temperature exponent used
in the model. The heat flux decreases when the piston is in a downward motion, and
during the intake process, the heat flux is minimal. This shows that heat is being added
to the chamber during the intake process, when the wall temperature is slightly higher
than the in-cylinder temperature. However, the heat flux increases when the piston is in
the compression process. A high heat transfer coefficient causes too much heat loss to
the cylinder wall, and this shows that the Hohenberg model causes too much energy to
be wasted when the piston is at TDC. Therefore, a high scaling factor is not suitable for
the Hohenberg model.
Improper characteristic velocity causes incorrect heat loss to the cylinder wall.
The piston is in a downward and upward motion, so the piston’s instantaneous velocity
1298
is not the same across the crank angle ranges. The instantaneous piston speed is at
minimum when the piston is at TDC and BDC, and it is at maximum when the piston is
in the middle of the stroke. Therefore, in this case, the characteristic velocity could be
different across the stroke range. However, the Woschni and Hohenberg models
assumed that the characteristic velocity is constant for all of the crank angle ranges, as
shown in Figure 5. The modified Woschni equation, on the other hand, uses a different
approach, where the characteristic velocity varies across the engine cycle.
Figure 3. Heat release rate (left) and heat transfer coefficient (right) comparison among
Woschni, modified Woschni and Hohenberg models.
Figure 4. Comparison of heat transfer coefficients with same scaling factor.
1299
Figure 5. Comparison of characteristic velocity between the Woschni, modified

Woschni, and Hohenberg models.
Heat Transfer Behavior of Different AFR
A diesel HCCI engine operates in a lean condition, where the actual AFR is greater than
the stoichiometric AFR of 14.5. In a high-load operation, the AFR is reduced toward the
rich zone, while the AFR is higher when the engine is in a low load. Heat loss effects
for all models were tested with varying AFRs. Both the Woschni and Hohenberg
models yielded higher peak in-cylinder pressure compared with the modified Woschni
equation for both different AFRs, as shown in
Figure 6.
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Figure 6. In-cylinder pressure comparison with different AFRs and different heat
transfer coefficient models, CR=10.0, N=900 rpm, Tin=40°C, Pin=95 kPa.
The LTR region is advanced for both the Woschni and Hohenberg models and
subsequently for the main combustion (HTR) region. A low heat transfer coefficient for
the Woschni and Hohenberg models, as shown in Figure 7, leads to more energy being
trapped in the combustion chamber. Therefore, the combustion is advanced because the
chemical kinetics acquires more energy to react. A constant gas velocity term for the
Woschni and Hohenberg models causes improper heat loss prediction and requires more
tuning to achieve a desirable result. The modified Woschni equation agreed well with
the experiment and can be used for further analysis of diesel HCCI engines.
Figure 7. Heat release rate comparison with varying AFRs and different heat transfer
coefficient models, CR=10.0, N=900 rpm, Tin=40°C, Pin=95 kPa.
CONCLUSIONS
1301
A study of the heat flux analysis of a diesel HCCI engine is the objective of this paper.
A single-zone thermodynamics model is used and validated against the experiment. The
thermodynamics model is in agreement with the experiment. Three different heat
transfer coefficient models were investigated: the Woschni, modified Woschni, and
Hohenberg models. The models used different characteristic length and velocity scales
as well as different temperature exponents. These differences lead to a big difference in
the heat flux, with the modified Woschni model having the highest heat flux among
these models. This could be due to the use of a scaling factor in all models. When the
scaling factor was the same for all models, the Hohenberg model had the highest heat
flux. This is because the model is very sensitive to the temperature exponent under
normal operating conditions. Therefore, correct tuning of constants is necessary before
using the Woschni and Hohenberg models in a diesel HCCI engine simulation. The
characteristic velocity scale is also important for predicting the heat loss because it has a
direct impact on the heat flux. The study found that a modified Woschni correlation
produced a more accurate result than the other two models and can be used for further
analysis of a diesel HCCI engine.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for providing support and laboratory facilities. The
author also thanks M.M. Noor for comments and discussions.
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1304
MORPHOLOGICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF

POLYPROPYLENE/EPOXIDIZED NATURAL RUBBER THERMOPLASTIC
VULCANIZATES TREATED WITH MALEIC ANHYDRIDE-GRAFTED
POLYPROPYLENE
N. Mohamad*, Z. Nur Sharafina, H.E. Ab Maulod, M. Y. Yuhazri and

A.R. Jeefferie
1
Department of Engineering Materials, Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering,
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia
*
Email: noraiham@utem.edu.my
Phone: +606-555-2000; Fax: +606-331-6247
ABSTRACT
This research is to investigate the morphological and mechanical properties of

thermoplastic vulcanizates, polypropylene/epoxidized natural rubber (PP/ENR) when
treated with maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (Mah-PP). The PP/ENR
thermoplastic vulcanizate was prepared using a two-stage melt compounding method
using an internal mixer at specified temperature and time. Then it was mixed and
dynamically vulcanized using a semi-EV sulfur curing system in an internal mixer at
170oC for 10 minutes. Mah-PP was varied from 5, 10 to 15% in the samples. Tensile
and hardness testing were performed on the sample to characterize the mechanical
properties of the PP/ENR vulcanizates. The morphology was observed under a scanning
electron microscope (SEM) at magnifications of 500x and 2000x. 50/50 PP/ENR
vulcanizates showed improvement of up to 400% elongation at break compared to pure
PP. In contrast, the tensile strength and hardness decreased as the amount of PP
decreased. However, the tensile properties of the vulcanizates improved with the
addition of Mah-PP compatibilizer into the blend during the compounding process. This
was contributed by enhancement in miscibility between thermoplastic and rubber
molecules with the presence of the compatibilizer. Morphological observation of the
vulcanizates showed that two-phase system ENR phase were dispersed as domains in a
continuous thermoplastic matrix. The domain size of dispersed ENR particles decreased
with the addition of compatibilizer. In conclusion, the addition of Mah-PP improved the
tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the thermoplastics matrix. The morphologies
of tensile fractured surfaces of treated PP/ENR blends revealed better interaction
between PP and ENR with the presence of Mah-PP.
Keywords: Polypropylene; epoxidized natural rubber; Mah-PP compatibilizer;

morphological; mechanical properties.
INTRODUCTION
The blending of two or more types of polymers is a useful technique for the preparation
and development of materials with properties superior to those of the individual
constituents (Findik, Yilmaz, & Koksal, 2004; Jeffrey, Tarlochan, & Rahman, 2011;
Bhaskar, & Sharief, 2012). The purpose of blending the rubber is to improve the
physical and mechanical properties as well as to modify processing characteristics and
reduce the cost of the final product. However, most polymer blends are immiscible and
1305
Mohamad et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1305-1315
usually exhibit phase-separated morphology and poor interfacial adhesion between the
phases (Bluma, Mauricio, & Pedro, 2004). The interfacial adhesion can be improved by
introducing a third component into an immiscible binary system that will either interact
chemically with both the phases or will have a specific interaction with one phase and a
physical interaction with the other (Tedesco et al., 2002). This phenomenon can be
explained as an improvement in the compatibilization of the blend. Commonly,
compatibilization can lead to a finer phase structure and enhanced interfacial adhesion
(Mangaraj, 2002). The compatibilizer may form an interface between the immiscible
blend components, so that imposed stresses can be transferred between the phases via
the covalent bonds along the copolymer backbone. However, an understanding of the
blend morphology is important because the properties of the polymer blends are
strongly dependent on it (Favis, 1990; Umar, Zainudin, & Sapuan, 2012). Addition of a
suitable compatibilizer was found to result in the development of a finer scale of
dimensions of the dispersed phase in the matrix, as well as enhancement of physico-
mechanical properties of the vulcanizates (Setua & Gupta, 2007; Ibrahim, Sapuan, &
Faieza, 2012; Hariprasad, Dharmalingam, & Praveen Raj, 2013).
Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) exhibit functional properties of conventional
vulcanized rubber, yet can be processed on thermoplastic fabrication equipment. Such
materials can be produced either as block copolymers or as blends. The great majority
of TPEs have hetero-phase morphology. The TPEs based on polyolefin rubber-
thermoplastic compositions have developed along two distinctly different lines. One
consists of a simple blend and classically meets the definition of a thermoplastic
elastomeric olefin (TPO). In the other class, the rubber phase is dynamically vulca-
nized, giving rise to thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) or dynamic vulcanizates (DVs).
The TPVs are characterized by finely dispersed micron-sized cross-linked rubber
particles distributed in a thermoplastic matrix (Nakason, Worlee, & Salaeh, 2005; Ravi
Sankar, Srikant, Vamsi Krishna, Bhujanga Rao, & Bangaru Babu, 2013). There are
many articles reporting on TPEs prepared from polymer blends. The most widely used
plastic is polypropylene (PP). PP is an additional polymer with a large molecular weight
distribution (Meyer & Keurentjes, 2005). It has a wide range of applications due to its
unique properties such as high melting temperature, low density, high chemical
resistance, and resistance to heat. On the other hand, PP exhibits poor impact strength,
which raises limitations in several other applications (da Costa et al., 2010). Various
rubbers were blended with PP to prepared TPEs such as ethylene-propylene-diene
rubber (EPDM), styrenic block copolymer, ethylene propylene rubber (EPR), and
rubber waste from ground tread layers of truck tires blended with polyethylene to
prepared TPEs (Tanrattanakul et al., 2009).
Epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) is a material of great interest, exhibiting a
double functionality for cross-linking (double bonds and epoxy site) while retaining
most of the properties of natural rubber (Pire et al., 2010). The epoxidation of natural
rubber can be performed using peracid generated from the reaction of formic acid and
hydrogen peroxide (Liau, 1998). The properties of ENR are gradually changed with
increasing degree of epoxidation (Liau, 1998). The presence of epoxy groups in the
rubber chain has imparted great properties to natural rubber, such as oil resistance, low
gas permeability, good wet grip and high damping characteristics (Mohamad et al.,
2008; 2009; 2010; Thitithammawong et al., 2007). Studies conducted on PP/ENR or
ENR/PP blend were focused more on studying the effect of dynamic vulcanization
(Nakason et al., 2006; 2008; Thitithammawong et al., 2007) or irradiation (Senna et al.,
2008) on the properties of the blend. There is limited effort on studying the effect of the
1306
Morphological and Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene/Epoxidized Natural Rubber Thermoplastic Vulcanizates
Treated with Maleic Anhydride-Grafted Polypropylene
PP: ENR ratio and chemical treatment on its physical or mechanical properties. In this
paper, we have investigated the effect of various levels of ENR and compatibilizer
addition on the mechanical properties of polypropylene/epoxidized natural rubber
blends. The properties were supported by morphology analysis on the tensile fracture
surfaces.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Materials
The PP used in this research is polypropylene homo-polymer TITANPRO
6531(isotactic type) with a specified melt flow index of 3.5 g/10 minutes. It was
supplied by Titan PP Polymers (M) Sdn. Bhd. ENR was supplied by the Malaysian
Rubber Board under the trade name of ENR 50 with 53% epoxidation. The average
Mooney viscosity [measured at ML (1+4) 100C] was 85.5 and the average specific
gravity at approximately 25C was 0.9366. Maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene
(Mah-PP) supplied by Sigma Aldrich was used as the compatibilizer. Sulfur was used as
te vulcanizing agent while zinc oxide and stearic acid were used as activators in the
sulfur curing system. The sulfur, zinc oxide, and stearic acid were purchased from Sin
Rubtech®.
Table 1. Formulation of PP/ENR blend.
Materials/Chemicals Untreated PP/ENR Treated with Mah-PP

a
(phr)
PP/ENR
 90/10 PP/ENR
100 100
 70/30 PP/ENR
 50/50 PP/ENR
b
Mah-PP (%) 0 5, 10, 15
Zinc oxide 5 5
Stearic acid 2.5 2.5
Sulfur 2 2
a
Parts per hundred rubber
b
Maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene
Mixing and Preparation of Sample

Table 1 shows the formulation of the PP/ENR blends. The blending was carried out
using a HAAKE Rheomix OS internal mixer in two stages: 1) masterbatch
compounding, and 2) mixing and dynamic vulcanization of the PP and ENR
masterbatch. In Stage 1, mixing was carried out at a constant rotor speed of 60 rpm at a
temperature of 60C for 6 minutes. During this first stage, the masterbatch of ENR, zinc
oxide and stearic acid, after mixing for 6 minutes, was discharged to cool down to room
temperature. In Stage 2, mixing was conducted using an internal mixer at a rotor speed
of 60 rpm, 170C for 10 minutes. For the untreated blend, the PP was first melted for 2
min in the mixing chamber followed by addition of the ENR masterbatch prepared in
Stage 1. Then, mixing was continued for another 7 minutes before sulfur was added and
mixed for another 1 minute to complete the dynamic vulcanization. For treated samples,
1307
compatibilizer was added at the second minute and mixed for three minutes before the
ENR masterbatch was added at the fifth minute. After Stage 2, the blend was postulated
to exhibit partial vulcanization. Then, it was immediately discharged and left to cool
down at room temperature for 24 hours. The produced TPV sheets were pressed using a
GT7014-A hot press from Gotech for about 5 minutes at a temperature of 185oC and
pressure of 1800kg/cm2. Subsequently, the samples were cooled down under pressure to
room temperature for 5 minutes. Samples were cut into the desired sizes according to
specific standards for various testing. Cut samples were left to condition at room
temperature for 24 hours before further testing.
Mechanical Properties
A tensile test was carried out according to BS 6747. In this test, standard "dumbbell" or
"dogbone" shaped specimens at 1 mm thickness were used. Dumbbell specimens of
PP/ENR blends were cut using a die cutter JISK 6251. The tensile test was performed
using INSTRON (Model 4301) Universal Testing at a crosshead speed of 100 mm/min,
in accordance with BS 6747 at room temperature, 25±5oC. The hardness of the samples
was tested using a Shore Type D CV durometer according to ASTM D2240. The
standard test specimen for ASTM D2240 is 64 x 12.7 x 3.2 mm (2½ x ½ x 1/8 inch).
The most common specimen thickness is 3.2 mm (0.125 inch), but the preferred
thickness is 6.4 mm (0.25 inch) because it is less likely to bend or crush.
Morphological Examination using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)

An examination of the blend surfaces was carried out using a scanning electron
microscope (SEM) ZEISS (EVO 50) at magnifications of 500 x and 2000x. For every
sample, when taking micrographs a minimum of three frames at each magnification was
taken to ensure a high confidence level in the analysis.
Mechanical Properties
A stress–strain curve is important in determining the differences in deformation that are
characteristic of blends under an applied load. The stress–strain curves of untreated
90/10 PP/ENR, 70/30 PP/ENR, and 50/50 PP/ENR samples are shown in Figure 1. As
can be observed, the sample with low ENR loading (90/10 PP/ENR) exhibits stress–
strain properties close to those of a brittle material. It shows very high initial modulus
with a definite yield point. The addition of ENR changed the nature of the stress–strain
curve considerably. The PP/ENR blends containing a higher proportion of ENR have
distinct elastic and inelastic regions. This is observed since the properties of rubber–
plastic blends are determined by (1) the material properties of the rubber and plastic
phases, (2) rubber/plastic proportions, (3) the phase morphology, and (4) the interaction
at the interface (Bhowmick and Stephens, 2001). The elastic modulus of the blends is
found to be considerably reduced with the increase in rubber concentration. On the other
hand, the inelastic region of the blend was expanded prior to yielding and exhibits an
excellent improvement in toughness, which is very similar to an elastomer. The
improved rubbery behavior of 50/50 PP/ENR compared to 90/10 PP/ENR and 70/30
PP/ENR can be explained in terms of the phase inversion of ENR from dispersed to
1308
partially continuous phase (Danesi et al., 1978) on passing from 90/10 PP/ENR to 50/50
PP/ENR.
Table 2 tabulates the values of tensile strength (TS), Young’s modulus (E),
elongation at break (EB) and hardness of the untreated PP/ENR blends as a function of
weight percentage of ENR. It is clear that 90/10 PP/ENR exhibits the highest tensile
strength and Young’s modulus. Since the tensile strength of PP/ENR blends is highly
dependent on the relatively high strength of PP phase, the observed decrease in both
values with the increase in ENR content is to be expected. The outstanding tensile
strength of pure PP is due to the ability of its structure to be strain-crystallized during
stress loading. As a result, the presence of soft rubber phase with branches of epoxide
groups distorts the linearity of PP chains to be realigned and crystallized, which in turn
decreases the maximum stress that can be withstood by the PP/ENR blends before
plastic deformation takes place. Moreover, the observed declining trend of TS in Figure
2 with increasing ENR content may be due to a substantially poor interfacial adhesion
between the non-polar PP and polar ENR phases, which causes poor stress transfer
between the continuous PP matrixes with dispersed phase. The poor interfacial adhesion
causes premature failure as a result of the usual crack opening mechanism.
35
30 Pure PP
90/10
25
Stress (MPa)
20 70/30
15
10 50/50
5
0
0 5 10 15 20
Strain (%)
Figure 1. Stress–strain curve of the PP/ENR blend samples.
Table 2. Mechanical properties of ENR filled various loadings of untreated PP/ENR

blend.
Properties Type of sample
100 90/10 70/30 50/50
PP PP/ENR PP/ENR PP/ENR
Tensile strength (MPa) 28.31 25.75 18.32 11.85
Young’s modulus (MPa) 388.13 378.15 293.16 151.62
Elongation at break, (%) 11.03 11.65 20.90 58.39
Hardness (Shore D) 74.14 69.87 62.55 52.56
The elongation at break (EB) of PP/ENR blends was found to increase with the
addition of ENR content. This increment was contributed by the soft rubber phase of
ENR. Addition of ENR reduces the stiffness of the blends, which resulted in lower
resistance to plastic deformation. As stated in Table 2, the pure 90/10 PP/ENR shows
the highest hardness in the range of 70 to 72 Shore D, compared to 70/30 PP/ENR and
1309
50/50 PP/ENR. Hardness indirectly represents the stiffness or rigidity of the material,
which measures the ability of the material to be scratched or indented by other material
(Grellman & Seidler, 2007). The stiffness decreases as the rubber content increases in
the sample. It was clearly observed that 50/50 PP/ENR samples show the lowest
hardness in the range of 52 to 54 Shore D, which indicates reduction of about 30%
compared to pure PP. This is due to the elastic properties of rubber phase in the blend.
In addition, it shows good agreement with the obtained Young’s modulus (Table 2).
Figures 2 and 3 show tensile fracture surfaces of pure PP, untreated 90/10
PP/ENR, 70/30 PP/ENR and 50/50 PP/ENR blends at magnifications of 500x and
2000x. Most of the fracture surfaces show characteristics of ductile fracture under
uniaxial tensile loads, with the obvious pattern of shear yielding on the surface. The
mechanism is more severe in high ENR content samples due to the plastic deformation
that took place in the materials before fracture. Furthermore, there are spherical shaped
dimples pulled out of either PP domains or ENR domains from continuous matrix,
especially on the fracture surfaces of the 70/30 PP/ENR and 50/50 PP/ENR blends. In
the fracture surfaces of the 90/10 PP/ENR and 70/30 PP/ENR blends, ENR were
dispersed as domains in the continuous PP phase. This is the stage where ENR is
present in the intra-spherulitic structure of PP (George, Varughese, & Thomas, 2000). In
Figure 2(c), the ENR phase started to enlarge its size and formed bigger ENR domains
in the PP matrix. In addition, there are smaller PP domains (PP particles) situated in
ENR phases, as depicted in Figure 3(c). This clearly exhibits the condition where
occlusions of ENR phase started to form as the concentration of rubber matrix was
higher than 45 wt% in the blend, with the presence of PP particulates trapped in the
ENR regions.
20µm
Figure 2. Scanning electron micrograph of untreated (a) pure PP, (b) 90/10 PP/ENR,
(c) 70/30 PP/ENR and (d) 50/50 PP/ENR at magnification of 500x.
1310
4µm
Figure 3. Scanning electron micrograph of untreated (a) pure PP, (a) 90/10 PP/ENR,
(b) 70/30 PP/ENR and (c) 50/50 PP/ENR at magnification of 2000x.
Mechanical Properties and Morphology of Compatibilized Blends

The mechanical properties of polymer blends were improved with the addition of maleic
anhydride-grafted polypropylene as compatibilizer. Figure 4 shows the effect of
different compatibilizer content on tensile strength (TS) and Young’s modulus (E) of
treated 90/10 PP/ENR blends. The increase of Mah-PP loading from 5%, 10%, to 15%
in PP/ENR blends increases the tensile strength up to 11% compared to untreated
samples. This increase in tensile strength was due to the increase in interfacial adhesion
between PP and ENR phases, which is evident in the SEM micrographs in Figure 5. The
variation of E values at different Mah-PP concentrations is shown in Figure 4 (b). It was
found to increase with the increase in concentration of Mah-PP in the blends. This was
in line with the increase in TS, which is directly proportionate to the interaction between
PP and ENR with the presence of Mah-PP.
Figure 5 shows the effect of Mah-PP on tensile fracture surfaces of 90/10
PP/ENR blends. Every fracture surface shows fibrous structure from shear yielding
during plastic deformation. This is most severe in samples with incorporation of more
than 10% Mah-PP. Figure 5(b) for the incorporation of 10% Mah-PP displays broader
tearing lines compared to Figure 5(a) and (c). The increase in fibrous structure could be
explained by the good interaction between PP and ENR matrix with the presence of
Mah-PP. The uniform dispersion of ENR in PP matrix altered the crack path, which
leads to more resistance for crack propagation and results in higher tensile strength. The
1311
presence of more tear lines on the fracture surface of PP/ENR blends with Mah-PP
designates the effects of increased interaction between phases, thus improving the
compatibility and enhancing the tensile strength (Noriman, Izmail, & Rashid, 2010).
However, the effect of Mah-PP to improve the tensile properties of PP/ENR blends
almost achieves its saturation point at 15%, as clearly depicted in Figure 5(c). The
fracture surface consists of the highest degree of fibrous structure but with shorter tear
lines, which indicates the better interaction between PP and ENR compared to the
sample at 5% Mah-PP, but experienced stiffening in polymeric chains deformation at
the 15% Mah-PP level. This was in good agreement with the E values in Figure 4(b).
35
a
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 2 3 4
0% 5% 10% 15%
500 b
Young's Modulus (MPa)
400
300
200
100
0
1
0% 2
5% 3
10% 4
15%
Figure 4. (a) Tensile strength of treated 90/10 PP/ENR at different levels of Mah-PP,
(b) Young’s modulus of treated 90/10 PP/ENR at different levels of Mah-PP.
a b c
20µm
Figure 5. SEM micrographs of 90/10 PP/ENR blend compatibilized with Mah-PP:

(a) 5 % Mah-PP, (b) 10% Mah-PP, (c) 15% Mah-PP.
1312
CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, it was found that the thermoplastic vulcanizates of PP/ENR at high

rubber content show improved toughness and flexibility. The elongation at break values
increases as the rubber content increases in the blend. However, the addition of rubber
content lowers the tensile strength, Young’s modulus and hardness of the blend due to
the reduction in PP phases. These properties are substantially due to the rigidity of PP
chains and its ability to be strain-crystallized. In contrast, the presence of cross-linking
in rubber matrix of PP/ENR imparted elastic behavior and decreased the Young’s
modulus of PP due to rubber-like properties introduced by the ENR. On the other hand,
the addition of Mah-PP improves the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the
thermoplastics matrix. This was clearly proven when the 90/10 PP/ENR blend showed
an increment of tensile strength to ~27 MPa with the presence of 15% Mah-PP
compared to ~25 MPa in untreated PP/ENR blend. The morphologies of tensile
fractured surfaces of treated PP/ENR blends reveal better interaction between PP and
ENR with the presence of Mah-PP. This was depicted by the degree of severity of its
fibrous structure due to shear yielding during plastic deformation of the samples.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka for financial
support through a short-term grant research with project no. PJP/2011/FKP (33A) S999.
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1315
INFLUENCE OF NANOPARTICLE VOLUME FRACTION, PARTICLE SIZE

AND TEMPERATURE ON THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY AND VISCOSITY OF
NANOFLUIDS- A REVIEW
B. Ravisankar1 and V. Tara Chand2

1,2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, R. V. R & J. C. College of Engineering,
Guntur -522019, Andhra Pradesh, India; Phone: +91 9581062919.
E-mail: ravinano@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
In the present paper a critical literature review of nanofluid thermal conductivity and
viscosity is performed. Experimental studies are discussed in terms of the effects of
some parameters such as particle volume fraction, particle size, and temperature on
thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids. Theoretical models are explained,
model predictions are compared with experimental data and discrepancies are indicated.
Keywords: Nanofluid; particle size; temperature; thermal conductivity; viscosity;

volume fraction.
INTRODUCTION
The fluids dispersed with nanoparticles known as nanofluids are promising for heat
transfer enhancement due to their high thermal conductivity. Presently, there are
discrepancies in the nanofluid thermal conductivity data in the literature and
enhancement mechanisms have not been fully understood yet (Srinivasa Rao, Sharma,
Chary, Bakar, Rahman, Kadirgama, & Noor, 2011). However, the viscosity of nanofluid
is critical because the pumping power requirements and convective heat transfer
coefficients of fluids depend strongly on the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers, which, in
turn, are highly influenced by viscosity. Thus, accurate determination of the thermal
conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids is very important in thermal applications.
Therefore, to enable the usage of nanofluids in practical applications, the extent of the
thermal conductivity and viscosity increase of nanofluids with respect to pure fluids
should be thoroughly investigated. At present, research on viscosity is limited in the
literature compared with the research related to the thermal conductivity of nanofluids.
Considering the application of heat transfer fluids, heat transfer coefficients of
nanofluids in flow conditions are also very important. The important properties other
than thermal conductivity and viscosity that affect the heat transfer coefficients are
density and heat capacity of nanofluids. Choi et al. (1995) reported that the nanofluids
(the fluids engineered by suspending metallic nanoparticles in conventional heat transfer
fluids) were proved to have high thermal conductivities compared to those of currently
used heat transfer fluids, leading to enhancement of heat transfer. Choi et al. (2001)
produced nanofluids by suspending nanotubes in oil and experimentation was carried
out to measure the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids. They reported a 150%
thermal conductivity enhancement of poly (α-olefin) oil with the addition of
multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) at 1% volume fraction. The results showed
that the measured thermal conductivity was anomalously greater than theoretical
predictions and was nonlinear with nanotube concentration. Compared to other
1316
Ravisankar and Tara Chand /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1316-1338
nanofluids, the nanofluids with nanotubes provide the highest thermal conductivity
enhancement. Yang et al. (2006) addressed the effects of dispersant concentration,
dispersing energy, and nanoparticle loading on the thermal conductivity and steady
shear viscosity of nanotube-in-oil dispersions. A thermal conductivity enhancement of
200% was observed for poly (α-olefin) oil containing 0.35% (v/v) MWCNT. It was
found that fluids with large-scale agglomerates have high thermal conductivities.
Dispersion energy, applied by sonication, can decrease the agglomerate size, but also
breaks the nanotubes, reducing both the thermal conductivity and the viscosity of
nanotube dispersions.
NANOFLUID THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Studies regarding the thermal conductivity of nanofluids showed high enhancements of

thermal conductivity compared with base fluids. It is possible to obtain larger thermal
conductivity enhancements with low particle volume fraction (Eastman et al., 2001;
Jana, Salehi-Khojin, & Zhong, 2007; Liu et al., 2006; Murshed, Leong, & Yang, 2005;
Zhu et al., 2006). Such enhancement values exceed the predictions of theoretical models
developed for suspensions with larger particles. This is considered as an indication of
the presence of additional thermal transport enhancement mechanisms of nanofluids.
The possible mechanisms that explain the high thermal conductivity of nanofluids are
presented.
Effect of Particle Volume Fraction
There are many studies in the literature about the effect of the particle volume fraction
of nanofluid, which is the volumetric concentration of the nanoparticles in the fluid, on
the thermal conductivity. Eastman et al. (2001) prepared Cu-ethylene glycol nanofluids
and found that these fluids have much higher effective thermal conductivity than either
pure ethylene glycol. The effective thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol was shown
to be increased by up to 40% with an addition of approximately 0.3 vol.% Cu
nanoparticles of mean diameter ≪10 nm. Jana et al. (2007) used conductive
nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), copper nanoparticles (Cu) and gold
nanoparticles (Au), as well as their hybrids such as CNT-Cu or CNT-Au to enhance the
thermal conductivity of fluids. They observed a 70% thermal conductivity enhancement
for 0.3% (v/v) Cu nanoparticles in water. The results demonstrated that mono-type
nanoparticle suspensions have the greatest enhancement in thermal conductivity, among
which the enhancement with Cu nanoparticles was the highest. Liu et al. (2006)
dispersed Cu nanoparticles in ethylene glycol, water, and synthetic engine oil using a
chemical reduction method (one-step method). Experimental results illustrated that
nanofluids with a low concentration of Cu have considerably higher thermal
conductivity than those of base liquids. For Cu-water at 0.1 vol.%, thermal conductivity
is increased by 23.8%. Murshed et al. (2005) prepared nanofluids by dispersing TiO2
nanoparticles (in rod-shapes and in spherical shapes) in deionized water. The
experimental results demonstrated that the thermal conductivity increases with increase
of the particle volume fraction. The particle size and shape also have effects on this
enhancement of thermal conductivity. Zhu et al. (2006) studied thermal conductivities
of Fe3O4 aqueous nanofluids. The results illustrated that Fe3O4 nanofluids have higher
thermal conductivities than other oxide nanofluids for the same volume fraction. The
experimental thermal conductivity values are observed to be higher than those predicted
1317
Influence of Nanoparticle Volume Fraction, Particle Size and Temperature on Thermal Conductivity and Viscosity of
Nanofluids- A Review
by the existing models. The abnormal variation in thermal conductivities of Fe3O4

nanofluids is attributed to the observed nanoparticle clustering and alignment. Ceylan.
Jastrzembski, and Shah (2006) prepared Ag-Cu alloy nanoparticles by the inert gas
condensation (IGC) process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns demonstrated that
particles were phase separated as pure Cu and Ag with some Cu integrated in the Ag
matrix. Thermal transport measurements have shown that there is a limit to the
nanoparticle loading for the enhancement of the thermal conductivity. This maximum
value was determined to be 0.006 vol.% of Ag-Cu nanoparticles, which led to the
enhancement of the thermal conductivity of the pump oil by 33%. Zhang, Gu and Fujii
(2006) measured the effective thermal conductivities and thermal diffusivities of
Au/toluene, Al2O3/water, and carbon nanofiber (CNF)/water nanofluids and the
influence of the volume fraction on the thermal conductivity of the nanofluids was
discussed. The measured results demonstrated that the effective thermal conductivities
of the nanofluids show no anomalous enhancements. Putnam et al. (2006) described an
optical beam deflection technique for measurements of the thermal diffusivity of fluid
mixtures and suspensions of nanoparticles with a precision of better than 1%. Solutions
of C60–C70 fullerenes in toluene and suspensions of alkanethiolate-protected Au
nanoparticles were measured to maximum volume fractions of 0.6% and 0.35 vol.%,
respectively. The largest increase in thermal conductivity they observed was
1.3%±0.8% for 4 nm diameter Au particles suspended in ethanol.
Figure 1. Comparison of the experimental results of the thermal conductivity ratio for
Al2O3 nanofluid with theoretical model as a function of particle volume fraction
(Özerinç et al., 2010).
Figure 1 shows a comparison of the thermal conductivity of Al2O3 nanofluids.

Significant discrepancies between the experimental and theoretical thermal conductivity
values of the Al2O3 nanofluids can be observed. This is due to the variation in pH of the
nanofluid, dispersant, and the severity of clustering, and the methods of preparing the
nanofluids usually differ in each experiment. The experimental results of Wen and Ding
(2004) are higher than the results of other research groups and they are predicted best by
the model of Koo and Kleinstreuer (2004). However, since the size distribution of
particles is not known in detail, it is difficult to reach a conclusion about the validity of
the models. The dependency of the data of Lee et al. (1999) on the particle volume
fraction is somewhat low and none of the models have as small a slope as in the figure.
Hamilton and Crosser’s (1962) model is closer to the experimental data of Lee et al.
1318
(1999) and Das et al. (2003). It was noted that clusters as large as 100 nm were
observed in the study of Lee et al. (1999). Therefore, it may be suggested that those
samples are closer to the validity range of the Hamilton and Crosser (1962) model.
However, Das et al. (2003) also considered the effect of temperature in their study and
indicated that this agreement is just a coincidence.
Effect of Particle Size
Particle size is another important parameter of thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Many

researchers have studied the influence of nanoparticle size on the thermal conductivity
of nanofluids (Syam Sundar, & Sharma, 2011a,b; Mahendran, Lee, Sharma, &
Shahrani, 2012; Azmi, Sharma, Mamat, & Anuar, 2013; Hussein, Sharma, Bakar, &
Kadirgama, 2013; Hussein, Bakar, Kadirgama, & Sharma, 2013). Xie et al. (2002)
prepared nanofluids containing Al2O3 nanoparticles with diameters in a range of 12 nm
and 304 nm. Nanoparticle suspensions containing a small amount of Al2O3 have
significantly higher thermal conductivity than the base fluid. The enhanced thermal
conductivity increases with an increase in the difference between the pH value of
aqueous suspension and the isoelectric point of the Al2O3 particles. They concluded that
there is an optimal particle size which yields the greatest thermal conductivity
enhancement. Kim, Choi, and Kim (2007) measured thermal conductivity of water- and
ethylene glycol-based nanofluids containing alumina, zinc-oxide, and titanium-dioxide
nanoparticles using the transient hot-wire method. Measurements were conducted by
varying the particle size and volume fraction. For nanofluids containing 3 vol.% TiO2 in
ethylene glycol, the thermal conductivity enhancement for the 10 nm sample (16%) was
approximately double the enhancement for the 70 nm sample. The results illustrated that
the thermal-conductivity enhancement ratio relative to the base fluid increases linearly
with decreasing particle size, but no existing empirical or theoretical correlation can
explain this behavior. Li and Peterson (2007) used a steady state technique to evaluate
the effective thermal conductivity of Al2O3∕distilled water nanofluids with nanoparticle
diameters of 36 and 47 nm. Tests were conducted over a temperature range of 27–37 °C
for volume fractions ranging from 0.5% to 6.0%. Up to 8% greater thermal conductivity
enhancement for aqueous nanofluids containing 36 nm Al2O3 particles was observed
compared to nanofluids containing 47 nm Al2O3 particles. The thermal conductivity
enhancement of the two nanofluids demonstrated a nonlinear relationship with respect
to temperature, volume fraction, and nanoparticle size. The most significant finding was
the effect that variations in particle size had on the effective thermal conductivity of the
Al2O3∕distilled water nanofluids. The largest enhancement difference observed occurred
at a temperature of approximately 32 °C and at a volume fraction of between 2% and
4%. From the experimental results it can be observed that an optimal size exists for
different nanoparticle and base fluid combinations.
From Figure 2, it is seen that Hamilton and Crosser’s (1962) model predicts
increasing thermal conductivity with increasing particle size. The Hamilton and Crosser
model does not take the effect of particle size on thermal conductivity into account, but
it becomes slightly dependent on particle size due to the fact that particle thermal
conductivity increases with increasing particle size. However, the model still fails to
predict experimental data for particle sizes larger than 40 nm, since particle size
dependence diminishes with increasing particle size. This trend of increasing thermal
conductivity with decreasing particle size is due to the fact that the particulate with
minute size possesses much more random movement (Brownian motion) in the fluid.
1319
The mathematical models are developed either based on Brownian motion (Koo &
Kleinstreuer, 2004; Jang & Choi, 2004) or based on liquid layering around nanoparticles
(Yu & Choi, 2003; Xie, Fujii, & Zhang, 2005; Xue & Xu, 2005: Sitprasert et al. 2009).
Fig. 2 demonstrates the thermal conductivity ratio for Al2O3/water nanofluid with the
Xue and Xu (2005) model as a function of the particle size at various values of the
particle volume fraction. The colors indicate different values of particle volume
fraction; red 1%, brown 2%, blue 3%, and black 4%. Whereas the Xue and Xu (2005)
model illustrates the trend of increasing thermal conductivity with decreasing particle
size is due to the fact that these models are either based on Brownian motion (Koo &
Kleinstreuer, 2004; Jang and Choi, 2004) or based on liquid layering around
nanoparticles (Yu and Choi, 2003; Xie et al., 2005, Xue and Xu, 2005, and Sitprasert et
al., 2009 models). Although the general trend for Al2O3/water nanofluids was as
presented, there is also experimental data for Al2O3/water nanofluids which shows
increasing thermal conductivity with decreasing particle size (Eastman et al., 1997;
Wang, Xu, & Choi, 1999; Xie et al., 2002; Chon et al., 2005; Patel, Sundararajan, &
Das, 2008; Oh et al., 2008). It should be noted that clustering may increase or decrease
the thermal conductivity enhancement. If a network of nanoparticles is formed as a
result of clustering, this may enable fast heat transport along nanoparticles. On the other
hand, excessive clustering may result in sedimentation, which decreases the effective
particle volume fraction of the nanofluid.
Al2O3/water nanofluid with the models of Hamilton and Crosser (1962) and Xue and Xu
(2005) as a function of the particle size at various values of the particle volume fraction.
Colors indicate different values of particle volume fraction; red 1%, brown 2%, blue
3%, and black 4% (Özerinç et al., 2010).
Effect of Temperature
The thermal conductivity of the nanofluid depends on temperature, as the base liquid
and the dispersed solid nanoparticulate’s thermophysical properties are sensitive to it.
Das et al. (2003) investigated the increase of thermal conductivity with temperature for
nanofluids with water as base fluid and particles of Al2O3 or CuO as suspension
material. A temperature oscillation technique was used for the measurement of thermal
diffusivity and thermal conductivity. The results indicated an increase of enhancement
1320
characteristics with temperature, and within the limited temperature range considered
the gradual curve appeared as linear. Yang et al. (2006) studied the temperature
dependence of thermal conductivity enhancement in nanofluids containing Bi2Te3
nanorods of 20 nm in diameter and 170 mm in length. The 3ω-wire method had been
developed for measurement of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. The thermal
conductivity enhancement of nanofluids has been experimentally found to decrease with
increasing temperature, in contrast to the trend observed in nanofluids containing
spherical nanoparticles. They observed a decrease in the effective thermal conductivity
as the temperature increased from 5 to 50 ºC. The contrary trend was attributed mainly
to the particle aspect ratio. Angue Mintsa et al. (2009) reported effective thermal
conductivity measurements of alumina/water and copper oxide/water nanofluids. The
effects of particle volume fraction, temperature and particle size were investigated.
Readings at ambient temperature as well as over a relatively large temperature range
were made for various particle volume fractions up to 9%. The results clearly illustrated
the predicted overall effect of an increase in the effective thermal conductivity with an
increase in particle volume fraction and with a decrease in particle size. Furthermore,
the relative increase in thermal conductivity was found to be more important at higher
temperatures.
In Figure 3, it should be noted that the data presented by Li and Peterson (2006)
was obtained by using the line fit provided by the authors, since data points create
ambiguity due to fluctuations. In the models, the particle size is selected as 40 nm since
most of the experimental data is close to that value, as explained in the previous
sections. The experimental results suggest that the thermal conductivity ratio increases
with temperature. It is seen that the temperature dependence of the data of Li and
Peterson (2006) is much higher than the results of the other two research groups. On the
other hand, the results of Chon et al. (2005) show somewhat weaker temperature
dependence. This might be explained by the fact that the average size of nanoparticles
in that study is larger than in others, since increasing particle size decreases the effect of
both Brownian motion and nanolayer formation. It should also be noted that the
dependence on trhe particle volume fraction becomes more pronounced with increasing
temperature in all of the experimental studies. When it comes to theoretical models, the
predictions of the various models of Hamilton and Crosser (1962), Yu and Choi (2003),
Xue and Xu (2005), and Xie et al. (2005) do not depend on temperature, except for a
very slight decrease in the thermal conductivity ratio with temperature due to the
increase in the thermal conductivity of water with temperature. Therefore, these models
fail to predict the mentioned trends of experimental data. Since the predictions of these
four models with respect to temperature do not provide any additional information,
associated plots are not shown here.
The model proposed by Koo and Kleinstreuer (2004) considered the effect of
Brownian motion on the thermal conductivity, and the predictions of this model are
presented in Figure 3. The Koo and Kleinstreuer (2004) model predicts the trend in the
experimental data correctly. The model proposed by Jang and Choi (2004) is also
presented in Figure 3. It is noted that this model predicts the nonlinear temperature
dependence of thermal conductivity, whereas the other two models predict linear
behavior. The experimental results of Das et al. (2003) and Li and Peterson (2007) show
nearly linear variation of the thermal conductivity ratio with temperature, which is
contradictory with the model. On the other hand, the result of Chon et al. (2005)
suggests nonlinear variation and the associated trend is somewhat in agreement with the
model of Jang and Choi (2004).
1321
Theoretical Studies on Thermal Conductivity
The thermal conductivity enhancement of nanofluids was found to fluctuate from the
theoretical studies. There are discrepancies between the experimental and theoretical
predictions of thermal conductivity for nanofluids. Therefore, different researchers
(Keblinski et al., 2002; Xuan, Li, & Hu, 2003; Xie et al., 2005) explored the
mechanisms of heat transfer in nanofluids, and proposed four possible reasons for the
contribution of the system:
Al2O3/water nanofluid with the models of Koo and Kleinstreuer (2004) and Jang and
Choi (2004) as a function of temperature at various values of particle volume fraction.
Colors indicate different values of particle volume fraction; red 1%, brown 2%, blue
3%, and black 4% (Özerinç et al., 2010).
1. Brownian motion of the particle

2. Molecular-level layering of the liquid at the liquid/solid interface
3. The nature of the heat transport in nanoparticles
4. The effects of nanoparticle clustering
Keblinski et al. (2002) investigated the effect of nanoparticle size on the thermal
conductivity of nanofluids. Thermal conductivity was found to increase with the
reduction in grain size of the nanoparticles within the nanofluid. They concluded that
the key factors for thermal properties of nanofluids are the ballistic, rather than
diffusive, nature of heat transport in the nanoparticles, combined with direct or fluid-
mediated clustering effects that provide paths for rapid heat transport. Krischer and Die
(1963) developed an empirical model to describe the irregular arrangement of
suspended particles. The greater surface area associated with smaller particles promotes
heat conduction. The higher specific surface area of nanoparticles improves a greater
degree of aggregation than with a suspension of larger particles. Most nanofluid thermal
conductivity models were developed based on one or more of these mechanisms.
Jang et al. (2004) found that the Brownian motion of nanoparticles at the
molecular and nanoscale level is a key mechanism governing the thermal behavior of
nanofluids. They used a theoretical model that accounts for the fundamental role of
dynamic nanoparticles in nanofluids. The model is based on a linear combination of
contributions from the liquid, the suspended particles, and the Brownian motion of the
particles to give:
1322
keff,m df
 1       C1 Re2 Pr  (1)
k1 d
where ε is a constant related to the Kapitza resistance, C1 is a proportionality constant,

df is the diameter of a fluid molecule, and Re and Pr are the Reynolds and Prandtl
numbers of the fluid, respectively. The Reynolds number, Re, is defined by
 kBT
Re  (2)
3 2l f
where kB is the Boltzmann constant, lf is the mean free path of a fluid molecule, and ρ
and μ are the density and viscosity of the fluid, respectively. Their model reflects strong
temperature dependence due to Brownian motion and a simple inverse relationship with
the particle diameter.
Based on the Jang and Choi (2004) model, Chon et al. (2005) employed the
Buckingham-Pi theorem to develop the following empirical correlation:
0.3690
keff,m  df 
 1  64.7 0.7460
   0.7476 Pr 0.9955 Re1.2321 (3)
k1  d 
where the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers are the same as in the Jang and Choi (2004)
model. The equation was fitted to their measurements of aqueous nanofluids containing
three sizes of alumina particles. However, the proposed correlation was based on
measurements done within a limited temperature range (20–70 ºC) and for the specified
Al2O3 nanofluids. Hence, the correlation is well suited for those conditions only. Chon
et al. (2005) did not demonstrate any ability of their model to predict the thermal
conductivity of other nanofluids. Other models are available that are fitted to similarly
limited nanofluid data and include no consideration of the more conventional thermal
conductivity models (Yang & Han, 2006; Angue Mintsa et al., 2009; Li & Peterson,
2006). However, some researchers have used conventional heterogeneous thermal
conductivity models as a starting point and extended these to include a particle size
dependence based on Brownian motion.
Xuan et al. (2006) adopted the concepts of both the Langevin equation of the
Brownian motion and the concept of the stochastic thermal process to describe the
temperature fluctuation of the nanoparticles suspended in base fluids. They developed
an extension of the Maxwell equation to include the micro convective effect of the
dynamic particles and the heat transfer between the particles and fluid to give
keff,m   2  2   1 18 HAT

   (4)
k1   2     1  2  d 6 k1
where H is the overall heat transfer coefficient between the particle and the fluid, A is
the corresponding heat transfer area, and τ is the comprehensive relaxation time
constant. The heat transfer area should be proportional to the square of the diameter,
thus the effective thermal conductivity is proportional to the inverse of the particle
1323
diameter to the fourth power. Such strong particle size dependence has yet to be
demonstrated experimentally. Additionally, the equation reduces to the Maxwell
equation with increasing particle size. As discussed previously, thermal conductivity
enhancements greater than those predicted by the Maxwell equation have been reported
for nanofluids containing relatively large nanoparticles (d > 30 nm) (Maxwell, 1892). It
is therefore obvious that models that reduce to the Maxwell equation at large
nanoparticle sizes will not be able to represent published data.
Numerous thermal conductivity models have been developed for heterogeneous
systems and specifically for nanofluids. Theoretical models such as those by Maxwell
(1892) and Bruggeman (1935) were derived by assuming a homogeneous or random
arrangement of particles. However, these assumptions are not valid for dispersions
containing aggregates. Empirical models (Wang et al., 1999; Hwang et al., 2006) have
been successfully employed to account for the spatial arrangement of particles. More
recently, particle size has been incorporated into many models in an attempt to describe
the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Several mechanisms have been described that
may affect the thermal conductivity of nanofluids, including Brownian motion of the
particles, ordered liquid molecules at the solid / liquid interface, nanoparticle clustering,
and interfacial thermal resistance. However, there is no consensus as to which
mechanism has the dominant effect on the thermal conductivity.
Nan et al. (2004, 1997) addressed the effect of interfacial resistance (Kapitza
resistance) on the thermal conductivity of particulate composites due to weak interfacial
contact. They set up a theoretical model to predict the thermal conductivity of
composites by including interfacial resistance. According to this model, the effective
thermal conductivity should decrease with decrease of the nanoparticle size, which is
contrary to most of the experiment results for nanofluids. Yu et al. (2000) reported that
molecules of normal liquids close to a solid surface can organize into a layered solid-
like structure. This kind of structure at interface is a governing factor in heat conduction
from solid surface to liquid. Choi et al. (1999) pointed out that this mechanism
contributed to anomalous thermal conductivity enhancement in nanotube dispersions.
However, Keblinski et al. (2002) indicated that the thickness of the interfacial solid-like
layer is too small to dramatically increase the thermal conductivity of nanofluids,
because a typical interfacial width is only on the order of an atomic distance (1nm). So
this mechanism can only be applied to very small nanoparticles (<10nm).
Xue (2005, 2005) developed a novel model which was based on Maxwell theory
and average polarization theory for effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids by
including an interface effect between the solid particle and base liquid. In this work the
solid nanoparticle and interfacial shell (nanolayer of liquid molecules) was considered
as a “complex nanoparticle” and the model was set up based on this concept. The
theoretical results obtained from this model were in good agreement with the
experimental data for alumina nanoparticle dispersions (Xue &d Xu, 2005) and showed
a nonlinear volume fraction dependence for thermal conductivity enhancement in
nanotube dispersions.
Ren, Xie, and Cai (2005) and Xie, Fujii, and Zhang (2005) investigated the
effect of the interfacial layer on the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids. A
model was derived from a general solution of the heat conduction equation and the
equivalent hard sphere fluid model representing microstructure of particle suspensions.
Their simulation work showed that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids increased
with decrease of the particle size and increase of the nanolayer thickness. The calculated
values were in agreement with some experimental data (Choi et al., 1999; Eastman et
1324
al., 1997). Recently, a new thermal conductivity model for nanofluids was developed by
Yu and Choi (2007). This model was based on the assumption that monosized spherical
nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed in the liquid and are located at the vertices of a
simple cubic lattice, with each particle surrounded by an organized liquid layer. A
nonlinear dependence of thermal conductivity on particle concentration was shown by
this model and the relationship changed from convex upward to concave upward.
In order to find the connection between the nanolayer at the interface and the
thermal conductivity of nanofluids, Yu et al. (2000) modified the Maxwell equation for
spherical particles and the Hamilton-Crosser equation for non-spherical particles to
predict the thermal conductivity of nanofluid by including the effect of this ordered
nanolayer. The result was substituted into the Maxwell model and the following
expression was obtained:
k pe  2k f  2  k pe  k f  1     k
3
knf
 (5)
k pe  2k f   k pe  k f  1    
3 f
kf
where kpe is the thermal conductivity of the equivalent nanoparticle:
 2 1     1   3 1  2   
k pe    k (6)
  1     1   3 1  2  
p
 
where
kl
 (7)
kp
and kl is the thermal conductivity of the nanolayer. β is defined as:
t
 (8)
rp
where t is the nanolayer thickness and rp the nanoparticle radius.
Yu and Choi (2007) later applied the same idea to the Hamilton and Crosser
(1962) model and proposed a model for non-spherical particles (Prasher et al., 2006).
Another model that considers non-spherical particles was developed by Xue (2003).
Xie et al. (2005) also studied the effect of the interfacial nanolayer on the
enhancement of thermal conductivity with nanofluids. A nanolayer was modeled as a
spherical shell with thickness t around the nanoparticle, similar to Yu et al. (2000).
However, the thermal conductivity was assumed to change linearly across the radial
direction, so that it is equal to the thermal conductivity of the base liquid at the
nanolayer–liquid interface and equal to the thermal conductivity of the nanoparticle at
the nanolayer–nanoparticle interface. The associated expression for the determination of
the thermal conductivity of nanofluid was given as:
knf  k f 32T 2
 3T  (9)
kf 1  T
1325
where
  pl 
lf 1    
3

  fl 
 (10)
1     2 pl  fl
3
kl  k f
and lf 
kl  2k f
k p  kl
 pl 
k p  2kl
k f  kl
 fl 
k f  2kl
where  T is the total volume fraction of nanoparticles and nanolayers. kl is the thermal
conductivity of the nanolayer.  T can be determined using
T   1   
3
where
  tr
p
kl was defined as:

kf M 2
kl 
 M    ln 1  M    M
where
M   p 1     1  p  kp k f
and
When the thermal conductivity of the nanolayer is taken as a constant, this

model gives the same results as the Yu and Choi (2007) model. It was shown that for a
chosen nanolayer thickness, the model is in agreement only with some of the
experimental data. As a result, it was concluded that liquid layering around
nanoparticles is not the only mechanism that affects the thermal conductivity of
nanofluids. Xue and Xu (2005) presented another theoretical study for the effective
thermal conductivity of nanofluids. In their derivation, nanoparticles were assumed to
have a liquid layer around them with a specific thermal conductivity. First, an
expression for the effective thermal conductivity of the “complex particle”, which was
defined as the combination of the nanoparticle and nanolayer, was determined. Then, by
using Bruggeman’s effective media theory (1935), the effective thermal conductivity of
the nanofluid was determined. The resulting implicit expression for thermal
conductivity of nanofluids is
   knf  k f   knf  kl  2kl  k p     k p  kl  2kl  knf 

1    0
   2knf  k f   2knf  kl  2kl  k p   2  k p  kl  kl  knf  (11)
1326
where subscript l refers to the nanolayer. α is defined as
3
 r 
  p 
 r t  (12)
 p 
where t is the thickness of the nanolayer.
Li, Qu, and Feng (2008) considered the effect of Brownian motion, liquid
layering around nanoparticles, and clustering together. The effect of temperature on
average cluster size, Brownian motion, and nanoparticle thermal conductivity was taken
into account. Nanoparticle thermal conductivity is calculated by using the following
expression:
3r * 4
kp  k
 3r* 4  1 b (13)
Here, kb is the thermal conductivity of the bulk material and λ is the mean-free
path of phonons. The mean-free path of phonons can be calculated according to the
following expression:
10aTm

T (14)
Here, a is the crystal lattice constant of the solid, γ the Gruneisen constant, T
temperature, and Tm the melting point (in K). It is assumed that the thermal conductivity
of the nanolayer is equal to the thermal conductivity of the nanoparticles. As a result,
the particle volume fraction is modified according to the expression:
eff  1  t rp  
3
(15)
rp is the particle radius in this equation. The expressions presented above are substituted
into the Xuan et al. (2003) model (Eq. 26) to obtain:
knf k p  2k f  2  k f  k p   p c p , p kBT
 
kf k p  2k f    k f  k p  2k f 3 rcl  f (16)
Another study regarding the effect of nanolayers was conducted by Sitprasert et

al. (2009). They modified the model proposed by Leong, Yang, and Murshed (2006) by
taking the effect of temperature on the thermal conductivity and the thickness of the
nanolayer into account. Leong et al.’s static model is as follows:
k p  kl   kl  213   3  1   k p  2kl  13  3  kl  k f   k f 

knf 
13  k p  2kl    k p  kl    13   3  1 (17)
1327
Here, subscript l refers to the nanolayer. β and β1 are defined as:

t t
  1 1  1 
rp 2rp
;
t is the thickness of the nanolayer and rp is the radius of the nanoparticles. This model
was modified by providing the following relation for the determination of the nanolayer
thickness:
t  0.01T  273 rp 0.35
where T is temperature in K and rp the particle radius in nanometers. After the

determination of the nanolayer thickness, the thermal conductivity of the nanolayer
should be found according to the expression:
t
kl  C kf
rp
where C is 30 and 110 for the Al2O3 and CuO nanoparticles, respectively. It should be
noted that the above expressions provided for the determination of the thickness and
thermal conductivity of the nanolayer were determined by using experimental data
(which is known to have great discrepancies and uncertainties) and no explanation was
made regarding the physics of the problem.
When the theoretical models based on nanolayer formation around nanoparticles
are considered, it is seen that the main challenge is finding the thermal conductivity and
thickness of the nanolayer.
Xuan et al. (2006) studied the thermal conductivity of nanofluids by considering
Brownian motion and clustering of nanoparticles. An equation was proposed to predict
the thermal conductivity of the nanofluids:
knf k p  2k f  2  k f  k p   p c p , p kBT
 
kf k p  2k f    k f  k p  2k f 3 rcl  f (18)
Here, rcl is the apparent radius of the nanoparticle clusters, which should be
determined by experiment. T is temperature in K. μf is the dynamic viscosity of the base
fluid and it can be calculated from the study of Xuan and Li (2006). The first term on
the right-hand side of Eq. (18) is the Maxwell (1892) model for thermal conductivity of
suspensions of solid particles in fluids. The second term on the right-hand side of
Eq. (18) adds the effect of the random motion of the nanoparticles. For the contribution
of this term, the following values were presented for Cu (50 nm)/water nanofluid: for Ф
= 0.03%, the contribution of the second term is 11% when clustering occurs and 17%
when clustering does not occur. For Ф = 0.04%, the contribution of the second term is
14% when clustering occurs and 24% when clustering does not occur. It was indicated
that the Brownian motion of the nanoparticles becomes more effective with increasing
temperature. On the other hand, as nanoparticles (or clusters) become larger, their
random motion becomes slower and this decreases the enhancement in thermal
1328
conductivity. It should be noted that the second term on the right-hand side of the
equation is not nondimensional, which is an indication of a mistake in the analysis.
Chen et al. (2009) measured the viscosity of TiO2/water and TiO2/ethylene
glycol nanofluids and proposed a way of calculating the thermal conductivity of
nanofluids by using the data. Two types of nanoparticles were used; spherical particles
(25 nm) and cylindrical particles (10 nm in diameter and 100 nm in length). The model
was found to be a function of cluster radius, and cluster radius values of the sample
nanofluids were determined by matching the predictions of the modified model with
experimental data. Then, the determined cluster radius values were used in the thermal
conductivity model proposed, which is a modification of the Hamilton and Crosser
(1962) model.
knf kcl   n  1 k f   n  1 cl  k f  kcl 

kf k   n  1 k    k  k 
cl f cl f cl
(19)
where kcl and cl are the thermal conductivity and volume fraction of the clusters,
respectively and n was taken as 3 for the spheres and 5 for the cylinders in this work.
cl    rcl rp 
3-D
where rcl and rp are the radii of the clusters and nanoparticles, respectively. D is the
fractal index, which was taken as 1.8 in the viscosity model and the same value might
be used here. The rcl / rp values are equal to 2.75 and 3.34, for TiO2/water (spherical) and
TiO2/ethylene glycol (spherical) nanofluids, respectively. For the estimation of kcl, the
following expression was proposed for spherical particles (Bruggeman, 1935):
 kp 
 3in  1   3 1  in   1 
 kf 
kcl 1 
  1
2 (20)
k f 4   kp  
2
kp 
   3in  1 k   3 1  in   1   8 k  
  f  f
 
where in is the solid volume fraction of the clusters and it is defined as
D 3
 
in    rcl r 
 p
For the estimation of kcl, the following expression was proposed for nanotubes (Chen et
al., 2009):
kcl 3  in  2 x 1  Lx    z 1  Lz  
 (21)
kf 3  in  2 x Lx   z Lz 
where
 x   kx  k f  k f  Lx  kt  k f  (22)
1329
where
 z   kz  k f  k f  Lz  kt  k f  (23)
kx and kz are the thermal conductivity of nanotubes in the transverse and longitudinal
directions, respectively. kt is the isotropic thermal conductivity of the nanotube. kx, kz
and kt can be taken to be equal to kp as an approximation. Lx and Lz are defined as
p2 p2
Lx   cosh 1  p  (24)
2  p  1 2  p 2  1 2
2 3
where
Lz  1  2Lx
The rcl / rp values are equal to 5.40 and 12.98 for TiO2/ethylene glycol (nanotube) and
TiO2/water (nanotube) nanofluids, respectively. p is the aspect ratio of the nanotubes,
defined as the length of the nanotube divided by its diameter.
Nanofluid Viscosity
Similar to the case of thermal conductivity, there is significant discrepancy in the

experimental results regarding the viscosity of nanofluids. Nevertheless, the general
trend is that the increase in the viscosity by the addition of nanoparticles to the base
fluid is significant. For example, Wang et al. (1999) considered the viscosity of
Al2O3/ethylene glycol nanofluid at room temperature. For the particle volume fraction
of 3.5%, a 40% increase in viscosity was observed. Nguyen et al. (2007) measured the
viscosity of 4.0 vol.% Al2O3/water nanofluid and reported 60% and 50% increase at
room temperature and at 60°C, respectively. For the nanofluids prepared by using
carbon nanotubes, the associated increase in viscosity is even higher. Chen et al. (2008)
considered the viscosity of 1.0 vol.% CNT/water nanofluid at room temperature and
indicated an increase of 34%. It is known that nanofluid viscosity depends on many
parameters such as: particle volume fraction, particle size, temperature, and extent of
clustering. Increasing the particle volume fraction increases the viscosity and this was
validated by many studies (Nguyen et al., 2007; Murshed, Leong, & Yang, 2008;
Kulkarni, Das, & Chukwu, 2006; Chen, Ding, & Lapkin, 2009). When it comes to the
effect of particle size, there are different results in the literature.
Prasher et al. (2003) indicated that nanofluid viscosity does not change
significantly with particle size. On the other hand, Nguyen et al. (2007) observed
increasing viscosity with increasing particle size, whereas Pastoriza-Gallego et al.
(2009) reported decreasing viscosity with increasing particle size. Nguyen et al. (2007)
also analyzed the effect of temperature on viscosity and observed a decrease in viscosity
with increasing temperature. In addition, they noted that the temperature dependence of
viscosity significantly increases with particle volume fraction. Tseng and Lin (2003)
investigated the rheological behavior and supersonic structure of titanium dioxide
(TiO2) nanoparticles dispersed in pure water over a range of volumetric solids
concentrations (=0.05–0.12) and shear rates (γ=101–103 s−1). The suspensions became
apparently thixotropic as  was increased above 0.1. The relative viscosity (ηr) of
the suspensions followed an exponential form with , i.e., ηr=13.47e35.98, revealing a
1330
pronounced increase in the degree of particle interactions as  increased. The maximum

concentration of the suspensions was found to be m=0.146.
Theoretical Studies on Nanofluid Viscosity
Einstein (1906) proposed an expression for determining the dynamic viscosity of

dilute suspensions that contain spherical particles. In the model, the interactions
between the particles are neglected. The associated expression is as follows:
nf  1  2.5   f (25)
Brinkman (1952) derived an expression for the viscosity of solutions and

suspensions of finite concentration by considering the effect of the addition of one
solute‐molecule to an existing solution, which is considered as a continuous medium.
Based on the fact that viscosity should increase unboundedly as the particle volume
fraction reaches its maximum, he suggested the following equation:
1
nf  f (26)
1   
2.5
In some studies, the interactions between particles were taken into account.
These attempts elaborated the applicability range of the models in terms of particle
volume fraction. An example of such an improvement is the study by Batchelor (1977):
nf  1  2.5  6.2 2   f (27)
Das et al. (2003) conducted experiments on 1-4 vol.% Al2O3 nanoparticles (38
nm) in water dispersions. They reported that the nanofluids showed Newtonian behavior
and viscosities were higher than water. They also suggested that, for many of the
spherical nanoparticles dispersions, the volume fractions of the nanoparticles seems low
enough to apply the Einstein or Batchelor equations to predict the increase of the
viscosity in dispersions. The data reported by Chang et al. (2005) on CuO nanofluids
also indicated that the viscosity of nanofluids increased with decrease of the particle
size due to the large specific area and electrostatic forces. Wang et al. (1999) measured
the viscosities of Al2O3 in water nanoparticle dispersions which were created by
different dispersing methods. An increase of between 20% and 30% was reported at
3vol.%. They indicated that the particle concentration, size and particle shape, and the
aggregation structure of the nanoparticles will also affect the rheological behaviors of
particle dispersions. They also gave correlations as follows for Al2O3 + water & EG,
which were found to be nearer to the experimental data as shown in Figure 4.
For Al2O3 + water
nf  123 2  7.3  1 (28)
For Al2O3 + ethylene glycol
nf  306 2  0.19  1 (29)

1331
However, Pak and Cho (1998) reported a three times higher viscosity for Al2O3
(13 nm) + water nanofluids than that of water. The authors suggested that different
dispersing techniques which can lead to different particle or agglomerate sizes may be
the reasons for this large discrepancy. They also gave correlations as follows:
For Al2O3 + water
nf   f  533.9 2  39.11  1 (30)
Figure 4. Effect of nanofluids viscosity with volume fraction (Wang et al., 1999).
For TiO2 + water
nf   f 108.2 2  5.45  1 (31)
Chen et al. (2007) also gave correlations for the viscosity of TiO2 + ethylene glycol as
follows:
For TiO2 + ethylene glycol

nf   f 10.6   10.6  1
2
 (32)
For Cu + water
nf   f  468.72 2  3.645  0.995 (33)
Tseng and Lin’s (2003) correlation for viscosity of TiO2 + water is as follows:
nf   f 13.47e35.98 (34)
Kulkarni et al. (2006) presented the correlation for the viscosity of CuO + water as
follows:
1332
1
ln nf  A    B (35)
T 
where
A= 20587 2  15857  1078.3
B= 107.12 2  53.548  2.8715
Maïga et al. (2004) conducted an experiment on the forced convection flow of

water– γAl2O3 and ethylene glycol– γAl2O3 nanofluids inside a uniformly heated tube
that was submitted to a constant and uniform heat flux at the wall. It was observed that
the inclusion of nanoparticles increased considerably the heat transfer at the tube wall
for both the laminar and turbulent regimes. On the other hand, the presence of particles
produced adverse effects on the wall friction that also increased with the particle
volume concentration. A correlation was reported for Al2O3/ethelyne glycol nanofluids
as given below:
nf  1  0.19  306 2   f (36)
CONCLUSION
The available literature on nanofluids was thoroughly reviewed in this article. Some of
the most relevant experimental results were reported for the thermal conductivity and
viscosity of several nanofluids. Anomalous enhancement of the thermal conductivity
compared to the viscosity of nanofluids over the base fluids was observed in most cases.
Bare metal nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes appeared to give the most
enhancements. However, the extensive discrepancies among the experiments limit the
ability of nanofluid researchers to come up with a theory for the prediction and control
of such a thermal conductivity enhancement. Most of the discrepancy comes from poor
characterization of the nanofluid in the test cell: nanoparticle clustering, settling, hard-
to-control size distributions, the presence of surfactants, ions and other products of the
synthesis of nanoparticles are just some of the potential threats to a reproducible
experiment. However, from the literature it is evident that there is no generalized
correlation which can be applied to all kinds of nanofluids. Hence one can focus on
developing accurate theories for the enhancement in properties of nanofluids.
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1338
MEMRISTIVE BEHAVIOR OF PLASMA TREATED TIO2 THIN FILMS
Z. Aznilinda1*, S.H. Herman1, M. M. Ramly1, A.B. Raudah1 and M. Rusop1,2

1
NANO-Electronic Centre (NET), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti
Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
*Email: aznilinda.zainuddin@yahoo.com
Phone: +60102258480; Fax: +60355435077
2
NANO-SciTech Centre (NST), Institute of Science (IOS), Universiti Teknologi
MARA (UiTM),40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
This paper reports the fabrication method and the essential electrical and physical
characteristics of a memristive device using titania as an active layer. Two layers of
titania thin film were grown by the RF-magnetron sputtering technique onto silicon
substrates. The surface of the first titania layer was treated by argon plasma to produce
oxygen vacancies which are important for the memristive behavior. The plasma-treated
sample was compared with an as-deposited (without plasma treatment) sample to
investigate the effect of the plasma treatment. Current–voltage (I-V) curves of the
samples were measured by sweeping the voltage from 0V to -5V, -5V to 5V then back
to 0V. It was proven that the sample with plasma treatment exhibits better memristive
behavior than the sample without plasma treatment. This is due to the reduction of
oxygen vacancies during the plasma treatment, whereby the as-deposited sample and the
treated sample have 60.59 wt% and 60.03 wt% respectively and the thickness of the
sample reduces from 95.8 nm to 85.3 nm.
Keywords: Memristive behavior; memristor; titania; RF magnetron sputtering;

switching mechanism.
INTRODUCTION
The memristor is known as the missing fourth fundamental passive circuit element
which was first hypothesized in 1971 (Chua, 1971). A memristor is an element that has
a relation between the charge and flux (dφ=Mdq) (Chua, 1971; Williams, 2008) and this
relation is evidently missing from the basic fundamental circuit element which contains
the resistor (relating voltage and current), capacitor (relating charge and voltage), and
inductor (relating flux and current). Hence the memristor completes the four
fundamental passive circuit elements, as shown in Figure 1. The first memristor
physical device was experimentally demonstrated by Stanley Williams and his team at
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories (HP Lab) in 2008 (Strukov et al., 2008), and they
successfully constructed their nano-scale cross bar array that relates to Leon Chua’s
theory (Williams, 2008). The name “memristor” was coined by Leon Chua as a short
form of “memory resistor”, because it has the capability to remember its previous
resistance state. It is a two-terminal device in which the resistance depends on the
magnitude and polarity of the voltage applied to it and the length of time that the volt-
age is applied (Chua, 1971; Strukov et al., 2008).
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Aznilinda et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1339-1347
Figure 1. Leon Chua’s symmetrical argument showing that a memristor completes the
four fundamental passive circuit elements (Chua, 1971).
When the voltage is turned off, the memristor remembers its most recent
resistance until the next time it is turned on (Williams, 2008). The memristive behavior
in the device occurs due to the charge displacement in the active layer (Prodromakis et
al., 2010a, 2010b; Chua, 1971) where the charge that originates from the oxygen
vacancies in the active layer controls the conductivity and switching behavior of the
device (Chua & Kang, 1976; Gergel-Hackett et al., 2011). The active layer of the
memristor generally consists of one or two layers of thin films using numerous
materials such as organic monolayer (Blackstock et al., 2006; Stewart et al., 2004),
amorphous silicon (Sacchetto et al., 2010; Haykel Ben Jamaa et al., 2009), ferroelectric
material (Kaneko et al., 2010), and titania (Duraisamy et al., 2012; Aznilinda et al.,
2012). Out of all these materials, titania has the potential to produce good memristive
behavior (Strukov et al., 2008; Williams, 2008; Miller et al., 2010; Yang et al., 2008)
and is widely used as the active layer in the memristive device. Memristive devices have
been successfully fabricated using a number of techniques such as sol gel (Gergel-
Hackett et al., 2011) thermal oxidation (Li et al., 2010), electron beam evaporation
(Miller et al., 2010), and sputter deposition (Prodromakis et al., 2010a). The memristive
behavior can be identified at a nanometer scale of the active layer (Strukov et al., 2008;
Won et al., 2009) and also at a micrometer scale of the active layer (Muhammad et al.,
2013). To control the thickness of the thin film to be at either nano scale or micro scale,
the radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique offers a controllable system
where the deposited thin films can be optimized by the setting in the system’s
parameters (Nair et al., 2011; Singh & Kaur, 2010). In this work, the RF (radio
frequency) magnetron sputtering method is used to deposit the titania active layer. The
plasma treatment process that can be carried out (Aznilinda et al., 2012; Su et al., 2010,
Berman & Krim, 2012; Kim et al., 2011; Oya & Kusano, 2009) in the sputtering
chamber is used to create oxygen vacancies which are known to be the main carrier in
1340
Memristive Behavior of Plasma Treated TiO2 Thin Films
memristive devices (Strukov et al., 2008) at the active layer. The effect of plasma
treatment on the memristive behavior of the devices fabricated on silicon substrates is
being studied.
METHODOLOGY
The silicon substrates used in this work are 1 x 1 cm silicon substrates. The substrates
were cleaned by the standard cleaning method by dipping the substrates into 1% HF
with 10% deionized (DI) water for 5 minutes and then rinsed with DI water to remove
organic and inorganic contamination. The substrates were then blown dry under
nitrogen gas. Clean substrates were coated with 60 nm thick platinum as its bottom
electrode. The deposition of the titania was executed using RF magnetron sputtering in
an environment condition at an ambient argon and oxygen ratio of 50:1 at a working
pressure of 5 x 10-3 Torr using a 99.99% titania target. The RF magnetron sputtering
system equipped with a load-lock chamber was vacuumed to a background pressure less
than 5.0 x 10-6 Torr in order to minimize the residual gas components before the
deposition was started. To ensure that the target surface is free from contamination, a
pre-sputter cycle was first performed upfront. The first layer of titania thin film was
grown by the RF magnetron sputtering at a sputtering power of 300W for 5 minutes,
with a substrate temperature of 200C, and the substrate was biased at 20V. A surface
treatment was then performed on the first layer before the deposition of the second layer
of titania. The surface treatment was executed by exposing the first titania layer to
plasma for 10 minutes. The second layer of titania was then deposited for 2 minutes.
An as-deposited sample was also fabricated with 2 layers of titania without the plasma
treatment. This whole process was carried out in the sputtering chamber in a one-flow
process without exposing the sample to the room ambient. The memristive behavior was
measured using a Keithly current–voltage (I-V) measurement system with the voltage
loop from 0V to -5V, -5V to 5V then back to 0V. The cross-section image, thicknesses
and the composition of the thin film were measured using a field emission scanning
electron microscope (FESEM, JEOL JSM 7600F) with EDS (energy dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy). The surface roughness of the samples was characterized using atomic
force microscopy (AFM, XE-100 Park System) in the non-contact mode.
Figure 2 shows the memristive behavior which was characterized from 0V to -5V, -5V
to 5V then back to 0V of the (a) as-deposited and (b) 10 min plasma-treated samples.
Figure 2(a) illustrates that the sample exhibits conductivity only at the negative voltage.
This may indicate that a small amount of oxygen vacancies exist in between the two
layers of titania that are deposited together, so that when a negative bias is applied, the
small amount of oxygen vacancies are attracted to the top layer and cause them to
spread, creating a conductive layer at the titania region. When positive bias is applied, it
repels the oxygen vacancies, creating an insulative layer at the top, hence giving a
nonconductive region. These are illustrated in Figure 3(a), which explains the behavior
of the sample in Figure 2(a) that shows conductivity only in the negative voltage region.
The I–V measurement of the sample with 10 minutes plasma treatment shown in
Figure 2(b) exhibits a switching loop at positive and negative voltage regions although
the loops are quite noisy. The switching behavior shown at both positive and negative
voltage regions might be due to the plasma-treated sample having more oxygen
1341
vacancies at the interface, resulting from the longer exposure to plasma. Longer plasma
treatment contributes to a higher concentration of mobile positive ions in the layer
(Williams, 2008). However, the interface between the plasma-treated layer and the
upper layer might be poor because the plasma-treated thin film surface can be expected
to be rough due to the bombardment of highly energetic particles during the plasma
treatment (Berman & Krim, 2012; Cvelbar et al., 2003; Aznilinda et al., 2012; Kim et
al., 2011).
(b)
(a)
Current (A)
Current (A)
500.0µ 1.5m
Voltage (V) 1.0m

0.0
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
500.0µ
-500.0µ
Voltage (V)
0.0
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
-1.0m
-500.0µ
-1.5m
0v to -5v -1.0m 0v to -5v
-5v to 5v -5v to 5v
-2.0m -1.5m
5v to 0v 5v to 0v
-2.5m
Figure 2. Memristive switching curves experiential from the current-voltage (I-V)

measurement system which was measured from the voltage loop 0V-5V5V 0V
5V5V -5V: (a) as deposited sample (b) 10 min plasma treatment.
Referring to Figure 3(b) on the sample with 10 min plasma treatment, when a
negative bias is applied, similar behavior transpires as in the as-deposited sample. But in
this sample, due to a higher concentration of oxygen vacancies, the conductive region is
wider, enabling more current to flow (10-3 Ampere, compared to the as-deposited
sample’s 10-4 Ampere). When the applied bias is 0V, the positive ions repel and go to
the initial state. When positive bias is applied, with a higher concentration of mobile
positive ions, the charges repel and spread out towards the bottom of the device,
creating a conductive layer that allows a current flow in the region. This results in
having switching loops in both voltage regions.
The particles and cross-section of the sample were also analyzed to observe any
significant difference between them. Figure 4 a(i) and b(ii) show the FESEM images of
the cross-section and surface morphology for the as-deposited sample and the sample
with 10 minutes plasma treatment. We observed a columnar structure in the sample with
10 min plasma treatment. The columnar structure gives a smoother path for electrons to
move along due to the lower resistance existing in this structure compared to the
agglomerated nanostructure. This could be one of the reasons that contribute to a better
flow of current, thus giving a better memristive behavior. However there are no
significant differences in the surface morphology, as seen in Figure 4 a(ii) and b(ii).
1342
(a)
(b)
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of possible ionic (oxygen vacancies) movement for (a) as-
deposited sample, and (b) sample with 10 min plasma treatment. The thickness of the
titania active layer is drawn excessively thickly for a clearer view and is thus not to
scale.
Table 1. TiO2 thin film thickness after being exposed to plasma treatment.
Thickness of Thickness Oxygen concentration

Sample layer 1 (nm) of layer 2 (nm) in layer 1 (weight %)
As-deposited sample 95.8 34.2 60.59
10 min plasma treatment 85.3 54.4 60.03
Table 1 shows the thickness of each layer by observing the FESEM cross-
section images. It can be observed that the thickness of the first titania layer exposed to
plasma treatment is less than the as-deposited sample. Thinner film is reported to be
able to exhibit better memristive behavior (Strukov et al., 2008). An analysis of the
oxygen vacancies was done using the EDS system to observe the oxygen concentration.
From the EDS data summarized in Table 1, it is observed that the oxygen concentration
1343
in the sample with 10 minutes plasma treatment is less than the as-deposited sample,
with 60.03 wt% and 60.59 wt% respectively. This shows the removal of oxygen atoms
on the first layer during the plasma treatment. With the removal of oxygen atoms, it
provides more oxygen vacancies and creates a TiO2-x layer which results in more mobile
positive ions.
a (i) Cross-section image of the as-deposited sample. a (ii) FESEM surface image of the as-deposited
sample.
b (i) Cross-section image of the sample with 10 b (ii) FESEM surface image of the sample with 10
min plasma treatment. min plasma treatment.
Figure 4. (a) As-deposited sample, (b) Sample with 10 min plasma treatment.
The evolution of the 3D-surface topography images of the titania thin film was
observed by AFM and illustrated in Figure 5 as a function of plasma treatment time
together with its surface roughness. The titania thin film surfaces that were exposed to
plasma have higher surface roughness, which may be due to the removal of particles
during the plasma treatment. This proves that particles are being removed from the
titania surface during the plasma treatment, and the particles being removed are the
oxygen particles, as confirmed by the EDS data shown in Table 1.
1344
(b)
(a)
Rq (nm): 0.646 Rq (nm): 0.700

Ra (nm): 0.540 Ra (nm): 0.565
Figure 5. The 3-dimensional AFM image and surface roughness of the titania thin film
exposed to plasma treatment: (a) as-deposited sample; (b) sample with 10 min plasma
treatment.
CONCLUSION
In this study, the fabrication of a memristive device with two layers of titania on a
silicon substrate has been successfully illustrated. The active layer was created by
considering a surface treatment method which is the plasma treatment used to remove
an amount of oxygen in order to increase the carrier. As a result, more oxygen vacancies
appear at the interface, creating a TiO2-x layer, so resulting in more mobile positive ions.
From the experiment and data presented, it can be concluded that plasma treatment does
contribute in the exhibition of memristive hysteresis behavior.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is partially supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education

(MOHE) under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS/1/ 2012/ TK02/ UITM
/03/8).
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1347
INTERMETALLIC EVOLUTION FOR ISOTHERMAL AGING UP TO 2000

HOURS ON Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu AND Sn-37Pb SOLDERS WITH Ni/Au LAYERS
M.A. Azmah Hanim1,5*, A. Ourdjini2 , O. Saliza Azlina3and I. Siti Rabiatul Aisha4

1
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor
*Email: azmah@eng.upm.edu.my
Phone: +60389464387; Faks: +60386567122
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University Technology Malaysia,
81310 Skudai, Johor.
3
Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering,
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Batu Pahat, Johor.
4
25000 Kuantan, Pahang.
5
Laboratory of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest
Products (INTROP), University Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor.
ABSTRACT
The reliability of a solder joint is closely related to the intermetallic compound

formation during the joining process and its evolution after exposure to heat.
Throughout this paper, interfacial reactions between Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solders and Sn-
37Pb solders with electroless nickel immersion gold (Ni/Au) surface finish were
studied. The parameters include the solder type, thickness of the nickel layer and aging
time. The results are focused on the type of intermetallic compound formed and the
intermetallic thickness. Overall, aging changed the intermetallic morphology to become
rounder, bigger and more compact with time. Aged Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solders on Ni/Au
exhibit the tendency for the intermetallic to change from (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 to (Ni,Cu)3Sn4 and
finally Ni3Sn4. The results also showed that, with the parameters used in this
experiment, a nickel thickness of 3µm is adequate to be a good diffusion barrier up to
2000 hours aging time. In Sn-37Pb, redeposition of (Au,Ni)Sn4 intermetallic starts after
500 hours until 2000 hours.
Keywords: Ni/Au, lead free solders; isothermal aging; interfacial reaction; Sn-4Ag-
0.5Cu; Sn-37Pb.
INTRODUCTION
In the industry, the term ‘flip chip’ refers to an electronic component or semiconductor
device that can be mounted directly onto a substrate, board, or carrier in a face-down
manner. The complexity of wiring closely spaced contact pads is eliminated in flip chip
technology (Gilleo & Vardaman, 2002). Electroless nickel immersion gold (Ni/Au) is a
well established surface finish that has been used for many years in flip chip technology.
In this system, the nickel layer acts as a diffusion barrier to copper and is the surface to
which the soldering or reflow occurs. The function of the immersion gold is to protect
nickel from oxidation or passivation during storage (Coombs, 2001; Yoon et al., 2011).
The reaction products from the reflow process between the surface finish and the solders
are called intermetallic compounds. This intermetallic layer or diffusion zone has a
1348
Azmah Hanim et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1348-1356
profound effect on the mechanical properties of the soldered joint and on its behavior
during service (Coombs, 2001; Strauss, 1994). Previous studies have shown that the
intermetallic compounds formed are mainly influenced by the type of solders used, the
surface finishes involved, and the heat cycle that the interconnection is exposed to
(Azmah Hanim et al., 2013; Chen et al., 2006; Huang et al., 2006; Laurila et al., 2005;
Yoon et al., 2011). The common industrial solder used in flip chip is Sn-37Pb solder.
However, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electronic and Electrical
Equipment Directive as agreed by the European Parliament and Council, required lead
(Pb) to be phased out starting in July 2006 (Yamada et al., 2006). This sparked the need
for a database of lead-free solder’s interfacial reaction with the different type of surface
finishes available in the market. In this research, the impact of isothermal aging was
studied to further understand the growth behavior of intermetallics in terms of their
element composition, morphology and thickness when exposed to up to 2000 hours of
isothermal aging, with a comparison of the intermetallics formed between Sn-4Ag-
0.5Cu solders and Sn-37Pb solders on Ni/Au surface finish with the parameters given.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
High phosphorus electroless nickel with 9 %wt phosphorus content and more is used in
this research. The electroless nickel solutions undergo optimization of the plating
process to obtain the desired deposit thickness by varying the plating time. Table 1
shows the combination of chemicals used for the high phosphorus electroless nickel
bath.
Table 1. Combination for high phosphorus electroless nickel plating bath solutions
(Henry, 1984).
Item Quantity
Nickel sulfate 28g/L
Sodium acetate 17g/L
Sodium hypophosphite 24g/L
Thiourea 1.5mg/L
PH 4.4
Temperature 88°C
P% >10%wt
10min ~3.1µm
Plating time vs thickness
20min ~6.5µm
After the electroless nickel and the immersion gold plating process was
completed on the bare copper board, a thin layer of flux was applied to remove the
oxides directly before the pads were populated with solder spheres. The reflow process
was carried out in a furnace with peak temperature set at 250oC for Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu
solders and 216oC for Sn-37Pb solders. After reflow, both the cross-section and top
surface from the samples were then prepared and examined by means of optical and
scanning electron microscopy. Energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) was used to identify the
type and composition of the intermetallics formed. Both an image analyzer and scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) were used to measure the average thickness and examine
the morphology of the intermetallics formed.
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Intermetallic Evolution for Isothermal Aging up to 2000 Hours on Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-37Pb Solders with Ni/Au
Layers
The nickel layer was deposited with two different thicknesses: around 6 µm and 3 µm.
This was to compare the effect of different nickel thicknesses on intermetallic formation
and to determine whether 3µm nickel is thick enough to act as a diffusion barrier even
after extended exposure to high temperature. Two types of solder were used; Sn-4Ag-
0.5Cu and Sn-37Pb eutectic solder. First, the top surfaces of the intermetallic were
compared using SEM. Figures 1 and 2 shows the intermetallic evolution between Sn-
4Ag-0.5Cu solder and Ni/Au surface finish with 3 µm nickel thickness. From these two
figures, it can be seen that the aging treatment transforms the intermetallic layer into
rounder, bigger and more compact grains over the entire area of the solder bump. The
effect is more obvious as the aging time increases. Aside from these effects on the
morphology of the intermetallic, the type of intermetallic formed also changed.
Basically, the evolution of the intermetallic types are: (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 → (Ni, Cu)3Sn4 →
Ni3Sn4. The change in intermetallic type depends on the availability of copper and
nickel atoms.
(Cu,Ni)6Sn5 (a) (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 (b)
Ag3Sn
(Ni,Cu)3Sn4 (c) (Ni,Cu)3Sn4 (d)
Ag3Sn
Figure 1. SEM top surface morphology of intermetallic between Ni/Au (3 µm nickel)

/Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solder. Intermetallic is taken in a region near the center of the solder
joint: a) after reflow, b) 500 hours aging, c) 1000 hours aging, and d) 2000 hours aging.
At first, during reflow, (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 formed because the copper content in the
solder is 0.5% which is enough to form this type of intermetallic, as in agreement with
other research findings (Yoon & Jung, 2005; Yoon et al., 2005; Azmah Hanim et al.,
1350
2013). After aging for 1000 hours the intermetallic changes to (Ni, Cu)3Sn4 because the
copper content in the solder has decreased to a certain level. From the EDX analysis the
ratio of nickel to copper is higher. However, since the copper percentage is still not too
low, the copper element still plays a part in the intermetallic formation. After 2000
hours, the intermetallic changes to Ni3Sn4. During this time, the copper percentage has
decreased to a very low value that is not enough to take part in the interfacial reaction.
(Ni,Cu)3Sn4 (a) (Ni,Cu)3Sn4 (b)
(Ni,Cu)3Sn4 (c) Ni3Sn4 (d)
Ag3Sn
Figure 2. SEM top surface morphology of intermetallic between Ni/Au (3 µm nickel)

/Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solder. Intermetallic is observed in regions near the edge of the solder
joint: a) after reflow, b) 500 hours aging, c) 1000 hours aging and d) 2000 hours aging.
Analysis of the samples with 6 µm of electroless nickel yield the same results as
the 3 µm thickness nickel in terms of the type and morphology of the intermetallic
observed. It can then be concluded that 3µm of electroless nickel is adequate to act as a
diffusion barrier between copper substrate and solder alloy. During reflow between the
Sn-37Pb solder and Ni/Au surface finish, Ni3Sn4 intermetallic is formed at the interface.
Figure 3 shows the SEM top surface morphology of intermetallic formed in Sn-37Pb
solder. Aging also induced changes in the intermetallic morphology to become more
rounded and compact with bigger grains. As shown in Figure 4, aging of the solder
joints using both Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu lead-free and Sn-37Pb solder results in the re-
deposition of Au-Sn intermetallic at the interface. These results are in agreement with
previous studies (Laurila et al., 2005; Labie et al., 2006).
1351
Layers
Ni3Sn4 (a) Ni3Sn4 (b)
Ni3Sn4 (c) Ni3Sn4 (d)
Figure 3. SEM top surface of Ni/Au with 3 µm nickel thickness, reflowed with Sn-37Pb
eutectic solder, mag 4000x: (a) as reflow, (b) 500 hours aging, (c) 1000 hours aging, and
(d) 2000 hours aging.
(Au,Ni)Sn4 (a) (b)
(Au,Ni)Sn4
Ni3Sn4
Figure 4. Formation of Au-Sn intermetallic at interface after aging for Ni/Au with Sn-
37Pb eutectic solder and Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solder: (a) Sn-37Pb eutectic solder after aging
1500 hours at 150°C, (b) Sn-37Pb eutectic solder after aging 1500 hours at 150°C, and
(c) Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solder after aging 2000 hours at 150°C.
1352
(c)
(Cu,Au,Ni)6Sn5
(Ni,Cu)3Sn4
Ni
Figure 4 (Cont.). Formation of Au-Sn intermetallic at interface after aging for Ni/Au
with Sn-37Pb eutectic solder and Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solder: (a) Sn-37Pb eutectic solder
after aging 1500 hours at 150°C, (b) Sn-37Pb eutectic solder after aging 1500 hours at
150°C, and (c) Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solder after aging 2000 hours at 150°C.
Figure 5 shows that for all samples, the intermetallic thickness increases as the
aging time increases. As we go into detail for each type of solder, it can also be seen
that for the lead-free solder, the 6 µm electroless nickel gives thicker intermetallic
compared to the 3 µm electroless nickel up until 500 hours. After 1000 hours, the
growth rate of the 3 µm electroless nickel increases rapidly until 2000 hours of aging.
IMC Thickness (micrometer)
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0h 500h 1000h 2000h
Aging Time (hours)
Thin Ni lead free Thick Ni lead free Thin Ni leaded Thick Ni leaded
Figure 5. Intermetallic thickness for Ni/Au with and without aging at 150°C, reflowed
with Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-37Pb eutectic solder.
Comparison of the intermetallic thickness of reflowed and aged solder joints

made with the Sn-37Pb and Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu lead-free solders shows that after reflow the
1353
Layers
intermetallic growth is faster in the lead-free solder than in the leaded solder. But, with
extended aging at 150°C for up to 2000 hours the intermetallic growth on the lead-free
solder is slowed down to be surpassed by the leaded solder. According to Huang in
2006, during aging, in order for the (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 intermetallic layer to grow, the copper
atoms must diffuse over a long distance from the bulk solder to the interface, which
slows down the growth rate of this (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 layer (Huang et al., 2006). As shown in
the top surface views, more (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 was detected at the interface of the solder
joints aged for 2000 hours at 150°C. Figures 6 and 7 show the cross-section pictures on
the aging effect from a side view.
(Cu,Ni)6Sn5 (a) Ag3Sn (b)
(Ni,Cu)3Sn4
(Cu,Au,Ni)6Sn5
Ni3Sn4
Ni3Sn4
Ni
Figure 6. Cross-section micrographs of intermetallic at interface between Ni/Au/ Sn-

4Ag-0.5Cu solder: a) after reflow, and b) aged for 2000 hours.
(a) (b)
Ni3Sn4 Ni3Sn4
Ni
Ni
Figure 7. Cross-section pictures for Ni/Au/ Sn-37Pb eutectic solder: a) after reflow, and
b) aged for 2000 hours.
The intermetallic layer has a planarization tendency during isothermal aging

(Azmah Hanim et al., 2013; Xia et al., 2006; Chen et al., 2006). Morphology transition
is due to the reduction in surface-free energy. Scallop-like morphology (lots of peaks
and valleys) intermetallics have a larger surface area than a planar layer of similar
thickness, resulting in a large driving force for surface energy change. Because of the
shorter diffusion distance between valleys and copper substrate, compared to the
distance between the peak and copper substrate, copper diffuses faster to the valley than
1354
to the peak, leading to a faster growth rate at the valley and subsequent planarization of
the whole intermetallics layer. This theory is proven when we compare the cross-
sectional views of the joints after reflow with those after aging for both leaded and lead
free solders.
CONCLUSION
This research investigated the effect of aging time at 150°C from 500 hours to 2000
hours on a high phosphorus nickel layer with 3 µm and 6 µm nickel thickness for Ni/Au
surface finish on the formation of intermetallics compound when reflowed with Sn-
4Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-37Pb solders. It was found that aging changes the intermetallic to
become more rounded, bigger and compact. This effect is more pronounced as we
increase the aging time. In the cross-sections, aging changes the morphology of IMC
from scallop-like to a planar layer of intermetallic. For lead-free solder, the intermetallic
type changes from (Cu,Ni)6Sn5→(Ni,Cu)3Sn4→ Ni3Sn4 as the aging time increases.
This is because the formation of intermetallic for lead-free solder depends on the
availability of copper and nickel. As the aging time increases, the amount of copper
from the solder reduces because most of it was consumed during the formation of the
intermetallic. Different nickel thicknesses in electroless nickel immersion gold do not
influence the intermetallic top surface formation. A nickel thickness of 3 µm is adequate
to be a good diffusion barrier up until 2000 hours of aging at 150°C. Redeposition of
Au-Sn intermetallic occurs in leaded samples. The Au-Sn intermetallic was known as
(Au,Ni)Sn4. The redeposition started after aging for 500 hours and increases as we
increase the aging time.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research and publication was supported by Intel Technology Malaysia, University
Technology Malaysia and University Putra Malaysia.
REFERENCES
Azmah Hanim, M. A., Ourdjini, A., Siti Rabiatul Aisha, I., & Saliza Azlina, O. (2013).
Effect of isothermal aging 2000 hours on intermetallics formed between Ni-Pd-
Au with Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu solders. Journal of Advanced Materials Research. 650,
194-199.
Chen, H. T., Wang, C. Q., Yan, C., Li, M. Y., & Huang, Y. (2006). Cross-interaction of
interfacial reactions in Ni (Au/Ni/Cu)-SnAg-Cu solder joints during reflow
soldering and thermal aging. Journal of Electronic Materials, 36(10), 1405.
Coombs, C. F. (2001). Coombs’ printed circuits handbook (5th ed.). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Gilleo, K. & Vardaman, J. (2002). Area array packaging handbook: manufacturing and
assembly. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Henry, J. (1984). Electroless plating. Part IV- Other metals & composites. Rock Island:
Wear-Cote International.
Huang, Z., Conway, P. P., Jung, E., Thomson, R. C., Liu, C., Loeher, T., & Minkus, M.
(2006). Reliability issues in Pb-free solder joint miniaturization. Journal of
Electronic Materials, 35(9), 1761-1772.
1355
Layers
Labie, R., Ruythooren, W., & Van Humbeeck, J. (2006). Solid state diffusion in Cu-Sn
and Ni-Sn diffusion couples with flip-chip scale dimensions. Journal of
Intermetallics, 15(3), 396-403.
Laurila, T., Vuorinen, V., & Kivilahti, J. K. (2005). Interfacial reactions between lead-
free solders and common base materials. Materials Science and Engineering R.
Report, 49(1-2), 1-60.
Strauss, R. (1994). Surface mount technology. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Xia, Y., Xie, X., & Lu, C. (2006). Intermetallic compounds evolution between lead-free
solder and cu-based lead frame alloys during isothermal aging. Journal of
Material Science, 41, 2359-2364.
Yamada, Y., Takaku, Y., Yagi, Y., Nishibe, Y., Ohnuma, I., Sutou, Y., & Ishida, K.
(2006). Pb-free high temperature solders for power device packaging.
Microelectronics Reliability, 46 (9-11), 1932-1937.
Yoon, J. W. & Jung, S. B. (2005). Interfacial reactions between Sn–0.4Cu solder and Cu
substrate with or without ENIG plating layer during reflow reaction. Journal of
Alloys and Compounds, 396(1-2), 122-127.
Yoon, J. W., Noh, B. I., Yoon, J. H., Kang, H. B., & Jung, S. B. (2011). Sequential
interfacial intermetallic compound formation of Cu6Sn5 and Ni3Sn4 between Sn-
Ag-Cu solder and ENEPIG substrate during a reflow process. Journal of Alloys
and Compounds, 509, L153-L156.
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substrate. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 392(1-2), 247-252.
1356
EFFECT OF CHITOSAN GELATINIZATION TEMPERATURE ON WATER

ABSORPTION AND WATER RETENTION OF CHITOSAN-BASED UREA
FERTILIZER
N. Mohamad*, A. H. Nor Nadiah, A. R. Jeefferie and D. Mohd Fairuz
Department of Engineering Materials, Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering,

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia
*
Email: noraiham@utem.edu.my
Phone: +606-555-2000; Fax: +606-331-6247
ABSTRACT
Chitosan has a high potential to be blended together in urea fertilizer for slow release
properties due to its unique polymeric cationic character and gel-forming properties. In
agriculture, the slow release properties are normally indicated by the ability of urea
fertilizer to absorb and retain water, since nitrogen is released to the environment once
urea is in contact with water or enzyme. This paper investigates the effect of the
chitosan content and gelatinization temperature on the physical properties of chitosan-
based urea fertilizer. The chitosan content was varied from 0, 3, 5, 7 and 10 pph.
Chitosan-based urea fertilizer was prepared through a direct wet mixing using a
laboratory setup consisting of a beaker, magnetic stirrer and hotplate. The properties of
chitosan-based urea fertilizer were compared at two different mixing temperatures
which are 60oC and room temperature of 25 ± 3oC. The mixture was then dried in an
oven at 60oC for 8 hours before being fabricated into pellets using a hydraulic hand
presser. Water absorption and water retention analysis were carried out to measure the
amount of water intake and the amount of water retained in the fertilizer. It was
observed that mixing temperature has a negligible effect on the water retention of the
fertilizers. However, gelatinization at room temperature resulted in fertilizers with better
water absorption and water retention properties than the one gelatinized at 60C. These
results were supported by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis conducted on the fertilizers.
As a conclusion, the gelatinization temperature plays an important role in improving the
water retention and water absorption capability of chitosan-based urea fertilizers.
Furthermore, the presence of chitosan improved the crystallinity of the urea fertilizers,
as indicated by XRD analysis.
Keywords: Chitosan; urea fertilizer; water retention; water absorption; X-ray diffraction.
INTRODUCTION
Fertilizer is a chemical compound containing three elements which are nitrogen,

phosphorus and potassium. It is added to soil to release nutrients which are essential for
the growth and development of crops (Yip et al., 2013). There are various types of
fertilizer, either organic or synthetic. An important synthetic fertilizer is urea fertilizer, a
major source of nitrogen nutrient for plants (Papangkorn et al., 2008). Unfortunately,
the practical use of this fertilizer is not efficient due to the loss during application.
Potential hazards of fertilizers to the environment have resulted in limitation of their
use. The use of conventional fertilizers may lead to concentration levels that are too
1357
high for effective action. According to Chandra and Rustgi (1998), high concentration
may produce undesirable side-effects either in the target area, which could lead to crop
damage, or in the surrounding environment. Therefore, it is important to improve its
performance during utilization. To address these problems, slow- and controlled-release
technology in fertilizers is considered as a suitable method to efficiently supply
nutrients to plants and decrease the loss and contamination. These technologies are
designed for the fertilizer to release their nutrient contents gradually and to coincide
with the nutrient requirement of a plant. These properties can be physically imparted in
fertilizers by coating techniques on the granules of conventional fertilizers with various
materials that reduce their dissolution rate (Wu, Liu, & Liang, 2008; Hanafi, Eltaib, &
Ahmad, 2000). Slow-release fertilizers are made to release their nutrient contents
gradually and to coincide with the nutrient requirement of a plant (Wu et al., 2008). The
release and dissolution rates of water-soluble fertilizers depend on the coating materials.
Recently, the use of slow-release fertilizer is a new trend to save fertilizer consumption
and to minimize environmental pollution (Wu et al., 2008). According to Hart (1998),
slow-release fertilizer reduces the toxicity of plants due to the slow release of nutrients
into the soil solution. These materials are usually relatively expensive. Slow-release N
fertilizers offer the potential for reduced N leaching if the N fertilizer release can be
matched to crop demand. These fertilizers can be physically prepared by coating the
granules of conventional fertilizers with various materials that reduce their dissolution
rate. The release and dissolution rates of water-soluble fertilizers depend on the coating
materials.
Nowadays, chitosan has attracted tremendous attention among researchers and
its value has been proved by a number of studies conducted in this area quite recently.
There are various studies regarding chitosan nanoparticles (Shi & Tang, 2009),
PVOH/chitosan-blended films (Park, Jun, & Marsh, 2001), the mechanism of chitosan
degradation by gamma and e-beam irradiation (Gryczka et al., 2009), FTIR studies of
chitosan (Osman & Arof, 2002; Pawlak & Mucha, 2002; Kadir et al., 2010) as well as
chitosan as a biosensor (Ibrahim et al., 2010). Chitosan-based urea fertilizer (CBUF) is s
biodegradable urea fertilizer developed to replace formaldehyde, which is now known
to be a carcinogen for humans and animals. It is prone to cause watery eyes, burning
sensations in the eyes, nose and throat, nausea, coughing, chest tightness, wheezing,
skin rashes and allergic reactions in humans once exposed at certain level.
Formaldehyde can affect people differently, so some people might be very sensitive
while others may not have any noticeable reaction at the same level (United States of
America Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2003; Committee on Toxicology,
1980; Ҫelik et. al., 2001; Bedino, 2004). In the worst case, it can cause nasal cancer
when humans are exposed to a high amount of formaldehyde. Recently, formaldehyde
has been widely used in agriculture technology as an anti-caking agent and slow release
contributor as well as a non-biodegradable binder (Moore, Sansing, & Williamson,
1976; Aarnio & Martikainen, 1995; Shukla et al., 1991; Hojjatie, Abrams, & Parham,
2004). It can dissolve in water and leach through the soil. Retention of this highly toxic
substance has high potential to kill most of the soil organisms.
Our research team investigated the potential of chitosan as a biodegradable
binder which is able to hold urea powder in a granular form, and as a slow release
contributor. Urea fertilizer was chosen since it is a main source of nitrogen (N) as a
plant nutrient. In this paper, a process parameter which is gelatinization temperature is
investigated. Two different temperatures were selected in order to study their effect on
the properties of urea fertilizer pellets, and the findings were finally used to select the
1358
Effect of Chitosan Gelatinization Temperature on Water Absorption and Water Retention of Chitosan-Based Urea
Fertilizer
most effective temperature for cost and performance. This study involved a new
approach, introducing chitosan into the fertilizer, where it was blended together with
urea powder to impart slow release properties instead of coating an outer layer of the
fertilizer, which is the approach most often used by other researchers (Riyajan et al.,
2012; Han et al., 2009). The performance of chitosan-based urea fertilizer was measured
from the amount of water absorption, water retention and structure crystallinity via
XRD analysis.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Raw Materials
Chitosan powders (419419 Aldrich) with particle sizes between 1.320µm and
590.102µm were purchased from Sigma Aldrich. Industrial grade bentonite with
particle sizes of 1.320µm to 83.707µm and urea powder (QReC) with particle sizes of
5µm – 590.102µm) and molecular weight of 60.06g/mol were supplied by a local
company.
Preparation of Chitosan-Based Urea Fertilizer
Samples were prepared through the direct wet mixing method using an experimental
setup which consisted of a beaker, hotplate and magnetic stirrer. Two different
temperatures were investigated for binder synthesis; 60oC and room temperature of 25 ±
3oC. Firstly, chitosan and bentonite were weighed and placed in a beaker. Then, this was
stirred in 20 ml distilled water at either 60oC or room temperature (~ 25 ± 3C) using a
magnetic stirrer at 300 rpm until gelatinization state (this state is achieved when the thin
watery liquid changes to a viscous liquid). Then, urea was added to the mixture and
stirred until it was well blended for 20 minutes. Next, the mixture was dried in a
conventional oven at 60oC for 8 hours. Further testing was performed on the samples
after one day conditioned at room temperature. Five formulations of different chitosan
content were prepared with constant amounts of water, urea and bentonite, as shown in
Table 1. WT is the sample mixed at 60oC and XT represents binder mixing at room
temperature, and the number denotes the amount of chitosan in pph.
Table 1. Formulation of chitosan-based urea fertilizers.
Sample
WT0 WT3 WT5 WT7 WT10 XT0 XT3 XT5 XT7 XT10
Code
Urea (pph) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Chitosan
0 3 5 7 10 0 3 5 7 10
(pph)
Bentonite
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
(pph)
Water (ml) 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
Measuring Water Absorbency of CBUF
Water absorption was used to determine the amount of water absorbed by the samples
after a certain amount of time (Kakade et al., 2010). One (1) gram of CBUF was
1359
immersed in 20 ml distilled water. The wetted sample was taken out after 30 seconds,
placed on tissue paper to drain the excess water and weighed. Readings were taken
every 30 seconds for 300 seconds.
Measuring Water Retention of CBUF in Soil
Two (2) grams of CBUF were mixed with 200 g of dry sandy soil and kept in a beaker.
Then, 200 g of tap water were slowly added into the beaker and weighed (W1). The
beakers were left at room temperature and weighed every 4 days (W2) until the 30th day.
The water retention ratio of soil (WR%) was calculated using Eq. (1).
(1)
X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) Measurement
The structural characteristics of the films were studied with an X-ray diffractometer
(XRD) Xpert Pro MPD from PANalytical us g d f CuKα. Specimens were
ground to powder form and placed tightly in a sample holder before testing. Analysis
was carried out at 25oC with a d g f 2Ɵ.
Water Absorbency of CBUF
It is well known that urea will easily dissolve in water (Zangi, Zhou, & Berne, 2009)
and it normally takes around 270 seconds for urea to completely dissolve in water.
Figure 1 shows the water absorption of all the samples. It is clearly observed that
samples with high chitosan content (around 5 to 10 pph) show the highest water
absorption rate during the first 30 seconds for both gelatinization temperatures. This
phenomenon is a direct correlation with the increased hydrophilicity properties of the
fertilizers with increasing chitosan content. The amount of absorbed water increases as
the amount of the hydrophilic component increases in the compound (Nor Nadiah et al.,
2013). Chitosan is a hydrophilic material whose hydrophilic polymers can absorb and
retain liquids thousands of times their own weight (Wu, Liu, & Liang, 2008). The more
the chitosan loading (7 and 10 pph), the more water can be absorbed, and the higher the
possibilities of samples to dissolve in water, faster than samples with low chitosan
loading (0 and 3 pph). The weight gain of highly loaded CBUF with chitosan was
because hydroxyl groups in the chitosan had attracted water molecules, increased the
water uptake by the fertilizer and converted it into a swollen substance (Zhao et al.,
2006) before diffusion took place. After 50 seconds, all the fertilizers started to show a
reduction in their original weight with time, although the samples with 0, 3 and 5 pph
displayed this condition at the very beginning of this analysis. The reduction in weight
represents dissolution and diffusion from the fertilizers of components such as urea,
bentonite and chitosan into the water. The largest contribution was from the urea
content since urea makes up most of the fertilizers’ weight: ~98% of the total weight.
During the first 150 seconds, there was still no clear specific pattern enabling us
to draw a concrete conclusion regarding the influence of gelatinization temperatures on
the absorption rate at this point. This was due to other variables that might be present
during this study, including environment factors and surface reactivity. However, when
1360
Fertilizer
the whole pattern was closely examined it was evident in most of the samples that
gelatinization at 60C yields the highest water absorption rate at the beginning and the
fastest weight loss compared to gelatinization at room temperature.
Figure 1. Water absorption for all samples (WT0, WT3, WT5, WT7, WT10, XT0, XT3,
XT5, XT7, and XT10) in water for 360 seconds.
Figure 2 shows the physical appearance of the CBUF samples prepared by

gelatinization at room temperature for 0, 3, 5, 7 and 10 pph chitosan after absorbing
water for 180 seconds. These figures depict the effect of chitosan in accelerating the
dissolution rate of CBUF.
Figure 2. Physical diagram for samples of 0, 3, 5, 7, and 10 pph chitosan after 180
seconds absorbing water.
Water Retention of CBUF in Soil
Water absorbency is an important criterion for slow release fertilizers (Wu et al., 2008)
since the presence of water will cause a gradual release of urea to the environment.
However, water absorption should be assisted with water retention since the probability
1361
of fertilizers decomposing is very high without significant water retention ability. This
is because the increase in permeability in swollen matrix apparently facilitates the urea
to diffuse out very fast from the fertilizer. Furthermore, this is an important
characteristic for agricultural activities in dry and desert regions for saving water,
especially to sustain plant growth (Wu et al., 2008; Liang et al. 2007). In this study,
water retention analysis was conducted for a period of 30 days. The water retention
percentage of fertilizers for both gelatinization temperatures at different chitosan
content is presented in Figure 3 and Table 2. In general, the water retention slowly
decreased with time, except for the controlled samples which exhibited 0% at the 28th
day because no water was left after this point. The control was the soil without any
samples. From Figure 3, it can be seen that there is no obvious difference in the pattern
of water retention percentages for the different gelatinization temperatures.
Water Retention
100%
Controlled
95%
WT0
Water Retention (%)
90% WT3
85% WT5
80% WT7
75% WT10
XT0
70%
XT3
65% XT5
60% XT7
0 10 20 30 40 XT10
Days
Figure 3. Water retention percentage for all samples (Controlled, WT0, WT3, WT5,
WT7, WT10, XT0, XT3, XT5, XT7, and XT10)
Table 2. Detailed percentages of water retention

Days/ Sample
(day) 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 30
Controlled 100 97 86 84 83 77 74 65 0
WT0 100 98 93 85 83 78 77 74 73
WT3 100 99 93 86 84 78 77 75 73
WT5 100 99 94 86 84 79 78 75 73
Water WT7 100 99 94 87 85 80 79 76 74
retention WT10 100 99 93 86 84 79 78 75 73
(%) XT0 100 99 91 85 83 77 76 73 72
XT3 100 93 90 87 85 80 79 76 74
XT5 100 99 94 87 85 80 79 76 74
XT7 100 99 94 87 85 80 79 77 75
XT10 100 99 93 86 84 78 78 74 73
However, when the exact value in Table 2 was taken into account, the CBUF
with chitosan at around 3 to 7 pph show the best water-retention capability. These
1362
Fertilizer
samples exhibit a slightly higher ratio of water retention percentages during the 30th day
compared to other chitosan loadings and control samples. Besides, it is clear from this
table that fertilizers prepared at room temperature have higher water retention than those
prepared at 60C. This finding is in good agreement with another water absorption study
(Wu et al., 2008) except that this study was apparently conducted with lower water
contact, which is closer to actual application. Chitosan has a strong capability of
absorbing water and retaining the water in its structure for a longer time before releasing
its dissolved component into the surroundings, compared to fertilizers without chitosan.
The water was stored in the fertilizer and slowly released with the decrease of soil
moisture (Wu et al., 2008).
X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) Analysis
X-ray diffraction analysis was performed to show the crystalline and amorphous
structure present in the CBUF samples compared with raw urea, chitosan and bentonite.
Figure 4 shows the X-ray diffractogram of raw urea, chitosan, bentonite and CBUF
gelatinized at 60C (WT) and at room temperature (XT). In the diffractogram, urea
shows a distinct peak which represents a crystalline powder, while a broader peak for
chitosan shows its amorphous structure. Moreover, bentonite powder shows a
broadening peak with a certain level of crystallinity. Both the CBUF samples, WT and
XT, exhibit crystallinity close to that of urea powder, with strong identical peaks at 22o,
which point back to urea, except for a few shifted peaks which indicate the presence of
bentonite in the samples.
Figure 4. XRD patterns of (a) urea, (b) chitosan, (c) bentonite, (d) CBUF WT (chitosan
5pph), and (e) CBUF XT (chitosan 5pph).
When the peaks for WT and XT are closely examined, the XT samples show a
slightly different pattern. This was postulated to be the effect of interaction between
urea and chitosan, which is an amorphous organic polymeric material. This interaction
is present to a greater extent in XT than in WT. This observation was in line with the
better physical properties shown by XT compared with WT reported in other analyses.
Incorporation of urea, bentonite and chitosan may result in physical or chemical
interaction due to the existence of active hydroxyl groups in the chitosan structure that
can act with urea or bentonite in an aqueous medium. This situation is similar to the
1363
research conducted by Han et al. (2009), when urea and chitosan were mixed together.
According to Ionita and Iovu (2012), the formation of chitosan crystal units is
dependent upon the dissolved solvents. In this case, the usage of distilled water as
solvent normally results in a very weak crystallization or amorphous structure of
chitosan. For slow release fertilizers, crystalline polymer is preferred because it tends to
be stiffer, harder, and denser than amorphous polymers.
CONCLUSIONS
A chitosan-based urea fertilizer was successfully prepared using a wet mixing and
compression technique. From the study it can be concluded that gelatinization at room
temperature produced samples which exhibit a better water absorption and water
retention capability than those gelatinized at 60oC. The formulations which show a good
balance between water absorption and water retention are CBUF filled with 3 to 7 pph
chitosan content. Both gelatinization temperatures produced CBUF with high
crystallinity in its structure. Overall, the gelatinization process at room temperature
indicates better performance as well as being cost effective. Furthermore, incorporation
of chitosan in urea fertilizers has great potential that needs to be further investigated to
produce a slow release fertilizer.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and Universiti
Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) for granting the Long Term Research Grant Scheme
(LRGS/2011/FKP/TK02/1 R00001) of Onebaja-Next Generation Green and
Economical Urea (Green Processing : Biodegradable Urea Granules) and facilities to
carry out this project. We wish to sincerely thank the Faculty of Manufacturing
Engineering UTeM which provided expertise, equipment and technical assistance while
we conducted our experiments.
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1366
DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS OF A GRIPPER-TYPE TRANSPLANTER FOR

PINEAPPLE SUCKERS
Mohd Taufik Ahmad1*, Rohazrin Abdul Rani1 and Abd Rahim Hassan1
1
Mechanization and Automation Research Center, MARDI HQ,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
*Email: taufik@mardi.gov.my
Phone: +603 8943 1468; Fax: +603 8948 2961
ABSTRACT
Pineapple transplanting is very laborious work. This process requires 15 workers to

plant one hectare of pineapple, which requires 43,500 suckers. The objective of this
study was to develop an improved mechanical transplanter for transplanting pineapple
suckers. Physical parameters of pineapple suckers, such as weight (g), length (cm),
diameter (cm) and canopy (cm) were measured for two varieties, MD2 and N36. A
preliminary experiment based on the gripper-type mechanical transplanter was also
done. The experiment proved that this transplanter had potential for transplanting
pineapple suckers, as it was able to transplant the suckers with the targeted planting
distance of 30 cm. However, components such as the roller chain system, the grippers
and furrow opener required design improvements. The roller chain system should use
12.5 mm (0.5 in) chain for the whole chain-sprocket system. The gripper should be
lengthened to 30 cm to accommodate the uniform pineapple sucker length. The gripper
slot should also be widened to about 6 cm. The furrow opener needs to be widened from
8.9 cm to 10.2 cm to accommodate the biggest diameter of pineapple suckers. It is
hoped that these design improvements can improve the workability of the mechanical
transplanter for transplantation of pineapple suckers
Keywords: Pineapple suckers; mechanized transplanting; gripper-type planting

mechanism.
INTRODUCTION
Pineapple is one of the tropical fruits that has a bright future in supporting the
Malaysian economy. Currently, 95% of the domestic canned pinepapple production is
used for the export market, while the rest is for the domestic market. Fresh pineapple
contributes only 30% of the export market and 70% for the domestic market (MPIB,
2012). It is listed under NKEA for agriculture to increase production, targeting the
export market especially in the Middle East and Europe. It is forecast that farmers
would be enable to earn a monthly income of RM4500 per hectare and at the same time
contribute RM1.6 billion to Gross National Income (GNI) (PEMANDU, 2011). A
number of pineapple varieties are available in Malaysia. However, the MD2 and N36
varieties are both popular for export. MD2 is a variety developed by the Pineapple
Research Institute, Hawaii that is yellow-gold in color, very sweet, fibrous and rich in
vitamin C. N36 is a variety developed by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and
Development Institute (MARDI). This variety has a pale yellow color and is resistant to
black heart disease. MD2 has a more uniform shape than N36, but N36 is larger than
MD2 (MPIB, 2013; JTP, 2013). To support the increase in production rate would
require the planting density to be increased. A hectare of pineapple would require
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Taufik Ahmad et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1367-1375
43,500 plants. A standard worker is only able to plant 3000 suckers/day. This means
that 15 workers are required to plant one hectare of pineapple in one day. In addition,
domestic labor is difficult to obtain. As a result, domestic agriculture is highly
dependent on foreign labor. It is expected that mechanization would be the main
enabling factor to support the increase in pineapple cultivation. MARDI has taken
measures to handle this issue by developing a complete mechanized pineapple
production package, which includes a mechanical transplanter. This machine is able to
plant pineapple in 13 hours/ha. However, it would still require two operators at the rear
to release the suckers from the transplanter bin and place them in the soil (Rahim et
al.,2007; Rahim et al., 2013).
The existing transplanter has raised issues such as planting losses in the field and
safety concerns. The current transplanter has a huge loading bin, and two operators sit at
a low position near to the ground to grab pineapple suckers from the loading bin and
position them in front of a mechanical soil puncher. This has created some safety
concerns because the tractor driver has difficulty in seeing the transplanting operators
from the tractor cabin because they are sitting at such a low position. The puncher
creates a soil opening and a set of soil compacter wheels compact the soil after
transplanting. During the transplanting process, unsuccessful planting occurs due to
mis-planting or suckers not being planted in a vertical position. A gripper-type
mechanical transplanter has been proposed to be used as a reference to improve the
design of the pineapple transplanter. This machine was originally used to transplant
sweet potato (Hamid et al., 2010). It is smaller than the pineapple transplanter, which
means that the loading bin is smaller. This machine requires one operator to transfer the
seedlings or cuttings from the loading tray to the grippers. The specific objective of this
study was to develop an improved mechanical transplanter for pineapple suckers.
Physical parameters of pineapple suckers from two varieties, MD2 and N36, were used.
A preliminary experiment based on the gripper-type mechanical transplanter was done.
Improvements were suggested based on these two activities.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Pineapple Suckers Physical Parameters
Two varieties of pineapple suckers, MD2 and N36 were taken from the Malaysian
Pineapple Industrial Board (MPIB) demonstration plot at the Malaysian Agro-
Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS), Selangor. Three grades were available for each
variety, large (A), medium (B) and small (C), with 50 samples each. Sorting and
marking with a permanent marker were done to differentiate the varieties and grades.
Physical parameters of all the pineapple suckers, such as weight (g), length (cm),
diameter (cm) and canopy (cm) were measured (Figure 2). The parameters were
important to observe whether there were significant differences between grades from
each variety and how these parameters affected the design of the transplanting machine.
1368
Design Improvements of A Gripper-Type Transplanter for Pineapple Suckers
Figure 1. MD2 suckers; C grade (left); B grade (center); A grade (right).
Figure 2. N36 suckers; A grade (left); B grade (center); C grade (right).
The SAS computer program statistical analysis system (SAS Inst., 2002) univariate
procedure was used to analyze the mean and standard deviation of the mentioned
parameters for each grade and variety. Significant differences between grades from each
variety for each parameter were also tested.
Mechanical Transplanter
The design improvements were based on a gripper-type mechanical transplanter (Figure

3). This machine was ground wheel driven, which meant that the mechanisms of the
machine were generated by the rotation of the ground press wheel. This ground wheel
moves the three roller chain systems that move the grippers. These grippers hold the
seeds, or in this case, the pineapple suckers, before transferring them to the soil. A
1369
furrow opener is located at the front of the machine to open up the soil to ease
transplanting. An operator seat and a seed tray are available for the operator to sit on
and to load seeds to transfer to the grippers. The planting distance can be pre-
determined by changing the sprocket near the loading tray.
Gripper
Three
Loading point link
tray
Ground
press Furrow
wheel opener
Figure 3. Major components of the mechanical transplanter
Experiment Details
A preliminary field test was done at the Mechanization and Automation Research
Center (MA) research plot, MARDI, using the existing transplanter but with
modification to the furrow opener. This machine or implement was attached to a 32.8
kW (44 hp) tractor (Kubota model L4400, Japan). All varieties and grades were tested
during this test to observe the suitability of this transplanter for pineapple suckers. The
quality of the transplanting was observed in terms of actual planting distance and the
condition of the pineapple suckers after transplanting. The planting distance was set at
22 cm according to the sprocket teeth-planting distance table given by the manufacturer.
The actual planting distance on the ground was measured. A transplanted pineapple
sucker is considered to be in an acceptable condition when it is in an upright vertical
position, and not slanted too much.
Pineapple Suckers Physical Parameters
In this experiment, physical parameters of three grades from the MD2 and N36
varieties were measured and tabulated (Table 1). Statistical analysis showed that there
were significant differences in diameter between each grade for the N36 variety
(p<0.0001) and also for the MD2 variety (p<0.0001). There were also significant
differences in length for the N36 variety (p<0.0001) and MD2 variety (p<0.0001). For
the pineapple suckers’ weight, there were significant differences between each grade for
the N36 variety (p<0.0001) and also for the MD2 variety (p<0.0001). There were no
significant differences in canopy for the two varieties. The average diameter for the A
1370
grade of the N36 variety was 3.9 cm with standard deviation of 0.5 cm. For the B grade,
the average diameter was 3.8 cm with standard deviation of 0.6 cm while the C grade
had an average diameter of 3.2 cm with standard deviation of 0.3 cm. For the MD2
variety, the average diameter for the A grade was larger than that of the N36 variety,
which was 5.1 cm with standard deviation of 0.6 cm. The B grade average diameter was
4.3 cm with standard deviation of 0.6 cm, while the C grade was 3.9 cm with standard
deviation of 0.6 cm. The C grade diameter of the MD2 variety had the same average
diameter as the A grade of the N36 variety.
Table 1. Statistical summary for all pineapple varieties and grades.
Variety and Grade

N36 MD2
A B C A B C
Diameter (cm) 3.9 (0.5) 3.8(0.6) 3.2(0.3) 5.1(0.6) 4.3(0.6) 3.9(0.6)
Length (cm) 60.6(6.7) 50.1(4.3) 40(6.1) 67.8(8.4) 48.7(6.6) 36(6.5)
Weight (g) 339.4 146.8 149.4 664.2 349.2 226.2
(110.5) (32.3) (40.6) (208.8) (88.9) (75.1)
Canopy (cm) 34.1(9.4) 27.8(7.1) 32.8(34.6) 37.6(8.7) 27(7.5) 22.1(7.2)
The average length of the A grade of the N36 variety is 60.6 cm with standard
deviation of 6.7 cm. For the B grade, the average length was 50.1 cm with standard
deviation of 4.3 cm while the C grade had an average length of 40 cm with standard
deviation of 6.1 cm. For the MD2 variety, the average length for the A grade was longer
than that of the N36 variety, which was 67.8 cm with standard deviation of 8.4 cm. The
B grade average length was 48.7 cm with standard deviation of 6.6 cm while the C
grade was 36 cm with standard deviation of 6.5 cm. The C grade length of the MD2
variety had a shorter average length than the A grade of the N36 variety. The average
weight for the A grade of the N36 variety is 339.4 g with standard deviation of 110.5 g.
For the B grade, the average weight was 146.8 g with standard deviation of 32.3 g while
the C grade had an average weight of 149.4 g with standard deviation of 40.6 g. For the
MD2 variety, the average weight for the A grade was heavier than that of the N36
variety, which was 664.2 g with standard deviation of 208.8 g. The B grade average
weight was 349.2 g with standard deviation of 88.9 g while the C grade was 226.2 g
with standard deviation of 75.1 g. As expected, the C grade of the MD2 variety was
heavier than the C grade of the N36 variety.
The physical parameters of the pineapple suckers were important because they
affect the gripper design. It was necessary to obtain the smallest and largest diameter of
the suckers, to ensure that the gripper can hold and grip the various sizes before they are
transplanted. Suckers should be prevented from falling off the grippers. The length of
each sucker was fixed to 30 cm, because this is the common length of suckers used in
pineapple plantations in Johor, so field workers were instructed to cut the suckers to this
length. The suckers’ weights were observed because the transplanter was previously
used to transplant sweet potato cuttings, which are much lighter than pineapple suckers.
Experiment Study
A field trial was done using the current transplanter with modifications made only to the
furrow opener and the planting distance. The furrow opener was widened from 8.9 cm
1371
to 10.2 cm. The planting distance was set at 22 cm according to the sprocket teeth-
planting distance table given by the manufacturer. Although the suckers’ length was cut
to 30 cm, the grippers only had space 25 cm in length. With allowable slippage of the
ground press wheel, the targeted planting distance of 30 cm was achieved. The
transplanted pineapple suckers were in an upright position, almost vertical and not
slanting too much. The transplanter was mounted at the rear of the tractor. The forward
travel speed was initially set at 0.8 km/h, which was the slowest travel speed that can be
adjusted for the tractor. It was observed that, at this speed, the operator had difficulty in
placing the pineapple suckers from the loading tray onto the grippers, because the
gripper mechanism was too fast. The transplanter could easily transplant all grades of
the N36 variety without any complications. The grippers had enough holding force to
hold the pineapple suckers. The furrow opener was wide enough for the suckers to go
through. However, for the MD2 variety, the A grade was unsuccessful at transplanting.
The diameter of the suckers was too big for the machine. Their average diameter was
5.1 cm while the slot width was only 5 cm. This meant that the slot had to be widened to
cater for the A grade for the MD2 variety. The modified furrow opener succeeded in
creating a furrow about 5 to 8 cm deep, to allow the pineapple suckers to be positioned
vertically. The furrow depth could be adjusted by controlling the three-point hitch of the
tractor. Previous tests showed that when using a minimum forward travel speed of 0.8
km/h, the operator had difficulty in loading the suckers onto the grippers. Different
chain pitches were used for the three roller chain system used for the planting
mechanism. The clippers also needed improvement to properly hold the pineapple
suckers. The furrow opener was too small, and thus required widening. Design
improvements proposed were: 1) changing the roller chain system configuration to
reduce the sucker loading speed while maintaining planting distance, 2) changing the
design of the grippers to suit pineapple suckers, and 3) widening the furrow opener.
Design Improvements
1. Roller Chain System Change
The roller chain systems that were currently being used by the transplanter were of
different pitches (Figure 4). The first roller chain system, which was attached to the
ground press wheel, used a 31.8 mm (1.25 in) pitch. The second roller chain system,
which controls the planting distance of the machine, used a 12.5 mm (0.5 in) pitch
roller chain. The third roller chain system controlled 10 grippers, using a 19.1 mm
(0.75 in) pitch roller chain.
To use a uniform chain pitch for all three chain systems, the relationship
between each sprocket in the system, targeted planting distance, distance between each
gripper and ground press wheel diameter were investigated. The linear velocity of the
chain system is calculated by measuring the sprocket pitch radius and the angular
velocity of the chain system, as in Eq. (1):
(1)
where is linear velocity in m/s,

r is sprocket pitch radius in m,
ω is angular velocity in rad/s.
1372
planting distance
Gripper
distance
Ground press
wheel
Figure 4. Gear arrangements to determine planting distance for the mechanical

transplanter.
The targeted planting distance obtained by using the chain system is calculated
by measuring each sprocket pitch radius and the distance between each gripper:
(2)
where is targeted planting distance in cm,

is distance between each gripper in cm,
is the sprocket pitch radius for sprocket numbered n, except for , which
refers to the ground press wheel radius.
Referring to the Standard Book of Chains (2006), it was decided that the best
chain pitch to use was 12.5 mm (0.5 in) chain. Therefore, the planting distance
(before slippage) using the new pitch size was 23.8 cm.
2. Gripper design
The current gripper was designed to accommodate cutting-based seedlings or

plantlets such as sweet potato cuttings. The sweet potato cuttings used were 25 to 30
cm long. For transplanting pineapple suckers, the most suitable and most commonly
used length was 30 cm. The current gripper length is only 25 cm. Furthermore, the
gripper design is not suited for pineapple suckers. At one end of the gripper, where a
piece of rubber and metal wire clamp at each side are located, is where the load of a
pineapple sucker is greatest. A design change was needed in this location not only to
properly hold the pineapple suckers in place on the gripper, but also to prevent the
suckers from damage and falling out during transplanting.
3. Gripper slot
This gripper slot is a metal slot that helps the metal wires of the gripper to grip the
suckers. Since the biggest diameter of the A grade of the MD2 variety is 5.7 cm, and
the gripper slot is only 5 cm wide, this gripper slot required widening. The proposed
1373
width of the slot was an increase to about 6 cm. When widening the gripper slot, the
mainframe bar also needed to be widened from 6.5 cm to about 7.5 cm.
4. Furrow opener
The current furrow opener was not suitable for the grade A suckers from the MD2
variety. This was because the diameter of the suckers was too large to go through the
furrow opener. Therefore, the width of the furrow opener was widened from 8.9 cm
to 10.2 cm.
CONCLUSION
Design improvements were made to the gripper-type transplanter to suit the

transplanting of pineapple suckers. Physical parameters for pineapple suckers such as
diameter, length, weight and canopy were measured. A preliminary test was conducted
to observe the suitability of the gripper-type transplanter. It was observed that:
i The diameter of the pineapple suckers ranged from 3.4 to 5.7 cm, which was
important to determine whether the gripper-type transplanter could be used or
not.
ii The length of the pineapple suckers of whatever variety will be cut to 30 cm, as
this is common practice by field workers.
iii The roller chain system will use 12.5 mm (0.5 in) chain for the whole chain-
sprocket system.
iv The gripper will be lengthened to 30 cm to accommodate the uniform pineapple
sucker length. The gripper slot will also be widened to about 6 cm.
v The furrow opener is widened from 8.9 cm to 10.2 cm to accommodate the
biggest diameter of pineapple suckers.
These design improvements are intended to improve the workability of the

mechanical transplanter for pineapple sucker transplantation.
.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank those who were directly or indirectly involved in this research
at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), This
research was supported by assistance from the Mechanization & Automation Research
Center, MARDI support staff; Mr. Aris Abdullah, Mrs Norahshekin Abd Rahman, Mr
Mohd Adli Ahmad Sayuti, Mr. Saleh Bardos, Mr Kasron Ahmad, Mr Ramlan Ismail,
Mr Noor al Anuar Maskor and Mr Khairul Izwan Ayub. The authors would also like to
thank MARDI for providing the funding for this project no JP-RM0351.
REFERENCES
ACA (2006). Standard Handbook of Chains: for power transmission and material
handling. American Chain Association. L. L. Faulkner, ed. (2nd ed.). CRC Press.
Hamid, M. A., Ahmad, D., & Rukunuddin, I. H. (2010). Performance of sweet potato
transplanting machine on mineral and Bris Soils. Agricultural Mechanization in
Asia, Africa and Latin America, 41, 55-59.
1374
JTP (2013). Fresh N36 Pineapple. Available at

http://jtptrading.blogspot.com/2010/12/fresh-n36-pineapple.html. (Accessed 14
January 2013).
MPIB (Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board) (2012) .http://www.mpib.gov.my.
(Accessed 7 June 2012).
MPIB (Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board) (2013). Nanas Manis MD2. Malaysian
Pineapple Industry Board.
PEMANDU (Performance Management Delivery Unit) (2011). Chapter 15:
Transitioning from Agriculture to Agribusiness. Economic Transformation
Programme: A Roadmap for Malaysia. Pp. 513-550.
Rahim, H. A., Rohazrin, A. R., & Al-Anuar, M. N. (2007). Development and
performance of pineapple transplanter for commercial scale production on
mineral soil. Proceedings of World Engineering Conference 2007, Penang.
Rahim H. A., Rohazrin, A. R., Khairul Fithri, A. R., & Miswan, J. (2013). Manual
Teknologi Penanaman Nanas Berjentera. MARDI.
SAS Inst. (2002). Statistical analysis system, version 9.3. Cary, N.C., USA.
1375
STABILITY AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY CHARACTERISTICS OF

CARBON NANOTUBE BASED NANOFLUIDS
N.M. Fadhillahanafi, K.Y. Leong* and M.S. Risby
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Pertahanan National Malaysia,

Kem Sungai Besi, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*
Email: leongkinyuen@gmail.com
Phone: +603-90513400; Fax: +603-90513472
ABSTRACT
Water, ethylene glycol and engine oil are commonly used in heat exchanger
applications. However, these fluids possess low thermal conductivity. The technology
advancement in nanotechnology has enabled nano size particles to be included in a base
fluid. This new generation of fluids is known as nanofluids. Producing a stable
nanofluid with improved thermal conductivity is a challenging process. In the present
study, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) based nanofluids with or without
surfactant were investigated for their stability and thermal conductivity. The study
indicates that nanofluids with added polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) surfactant exhibit
better stability than nanofluids without surfactant. About 22.2% thermal conductivity
improvement was observed for water containing 0.5wt% of MWCNT and 0.01wt% of
PVP surfactant. The thermal conductivity also increases with increase of the MWCNT’s
weight fraction. It can be concluded that the addition of PVP and MWCNT into base
fluid (water) is vital to produce a stable nanofluid with improved thermal conductivity.
Keywords: Carbon nanotube (CNT); stability; thermal conductivity.
INTRODUCTION
A nanofluid is defined as a suspension of nano-sized particles in a base fluid. This new

generation of heat transfer fluids can be used in various heat transfer applications such
as in heat exchangers for cooling or heating processes. The inclusion of nanoparticles in
the base fluid is capable of enhancing the base fluid’s thermal conductivity (Masuda et
al., 1993; Pak & Cho, 1998; Syam Sundar, & Sharma, 2011a,b; Srinivasa Rao et al.,
2011). Typical types of base fluids are water, ethylene glycol and oil, while aluminum
oxide and titanium dioxide are often used in nanofluid-related researches. The
technology development in nanomaterial science has led to the discovery of carbon
nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes possess higher thermal conductivity than other types of
metallic or oxides nanoparticles (Nasiri et al., 2012; Azmi, Sharma, Mamat, & Anuar,
2013). Marquis and Chibante (2005) revealed that the thermal conductivity of carbon
nanotubes can reach 1800 to 2000 W/mK. This provides an alternative option to
produce nanofluids with higher thermal conductivity by using carbon nanotubes.
However, the stability of carbon nanotube based nanofluids remains a major concern
among the thermal researchers. Several researchers have clearly indicated that the
production of stable carbon nanotube based nanofluids is a challenging task due to the
strong tendency of these nanoparticles to agglomerate, the high aspect ratio and the
hydrophobic nature of the nanoparticles themselves (Garg et al., 2009; Lamas et al.,
2012; Hussein, Bakar, Kadirgama, & Sharma, 2013; Hussein, Sharma, Bakar, &
1376
Fadhillahanafi et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1376-1384
Kadirgama, 2013). In addition, Hwang et al. (2007) found that the stability of the
nanofluids is strongly affected by the particles morphology, and the chemical structure
of the particles and base fluids. Other researchers, Ghadimi et al. (2012), stated that a
stable and durable nanofluid is a key factor to achieve optimized thermal property
performance. The stability of the carbon nanotube based nanofluids is co-related to their
thermal conductivity characteristics (Mahendran, Lee, Sharma, & Shahrani, 2012). For
instance, Talaei et al. (2011) investigated the effect of COOH concentration on the
stability and thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube nanofluids. Their study implied
that more highly functionalized groups of nanoparticles produce nanofluids with stable
and higher thermal conductivity. Nasiri et al. (2012) investigated different types of
carbon nanotube structures, namely single-walled, double-walled, few-walled and
multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Their study implied that there is substantial thermal
conductivity enhancement for these nanofluids. It was also found that nanofluids with a
functionalized carbon nanotube structure are stable with respect to time duration.
Among the nanofluids, single-walled carbon nanotubes based nanofluids exhibited the
highest thermal conductivity enhancement.
Apart from functionalized carbon nanotubes, researchers have also used
surfactant to produce stable carbon nanotubes based nanofluids. Surfactants such as
gum arabic, gemini and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) are often used in
nanofluid research. Gum arabic was used by Ding et al. (2006) in preparing distilled
water based multiwalled carbon nanotube nanofluids. The samples produced by the
researchers were found to be stable for months without any significant sedimentation.
Chen et al. (2008) used gemini cationic surfactant trimethylene-1,3-bis
(dodecyldimethyl ammonium bromide) to produce stable water based multiwalled
carbon nanotube nanofluids. Phuoc, Massoudi, and Chen (2011) studied the effect of
chitosan loading on the multiwalled carbon nanotube in water base fluid. The selected
weight fractions for chitosan were 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 wt%. The authors concluded that
chitosan dispersed the carbon nanotubes effectively in the water. Thermal conductivity
enhancement was found, ranging from 2.3 to 13% for nanofluids containing 0.5 to 3
wt% of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. In another study, Kumaresan and Velraj (2012)
used sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) as a surfactant. About 19.73% of
thermal conductivity enhancement was observed for 0.45% volume fraction of
MWCNT in water/ethylene glycol base fluids at 40oC. The authors explained that this is
attributed to the nature of the heat transfer capacity of the carbon nanotube itself.
Furthermore, the authors added that the heat transfer is more effective via carbon
nanotubes due to the increased straightness ratio. Harish et al. (2012) studied the
thermal conductivity of ethylene glycol containing single-walled carbon nanotubes. Bile
salt was used as surfactant in the study. The authors found that a nonlinear enhancement
trend is observed when the carbon nanotube loading increases.
In the present study, the focus is on the stability and thermal conductivity aspects
of water base fluid containing multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The stability of nanofluids
is evaluated through an observation method for a duration of 1 month.
Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was used as a surfactant to produce stable nanofluid
samples. The thermal conductivity of nanofluids with and without surfactant was
investigated in this study. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is only limited
study which focuses on the application of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) surfactant in
nanofluids containing carbon nanotubes. Hopefully, this will fill the gap of research
available in this area. Comparison of thermal conductivity data was also made between
the experimental and existing Maxwell theoretical model.
1377
Stability and Thermal Conductivity Characteristics of Carbon Nanotube based Nanofluids
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) used in the present study were bought
from Chengdu Organic Chemical Co. Ltd., Chinese Academy of Science. The
specifications of the MWCNT are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Specifications of MWCNT
Technical Characteristic Specification

Outer diameter (OD) 10-30nm
Inner diameter (ID) 5-10nm
Length 10-30um
Specific surface area (SSA) 110m2/g
Colour Black
Tap density 0.14 g/cm3
Purity >90%
True density ~2.1 g/cm3
Electric conductivity (EC) >100s/cm
Making method CVD (chemical vapor deposition)
Figure 1 shows the FESEM image of dry MWCNT obtained from Nova
NanoSEM 240 (FEI). The outer diameter of the MWCNT was found to be within the
range declared by the vendor.
Figure 1. FESEM images of dry MWCNT
Distilled water (DW) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used as base fluid
and surfactant, respectively. The nanofluids were prepared using a two-step method.
Each of the samples underwent 15 minutes of intensive sonication to disperse the
nanoparticles. This process was conducted by using the Qsonica Sonicator (Q700).
1378
During the sonication process, a half inch (1/2) diameter probe was immersed in the
sample. The sample was sonicated for 2 seconds and then paused for 5 seconds. This
cycle was repeated for 15 minutes of active sonication time. This duration was chosen
in order to minimize the effect of temperature elevation during the sonication process.
The composition of the samples is depicted in Table 2.
Table 2. List of test samples
Samples Without surfactant With surfactant (0.01 wt% PVP)

1 0.01 wt% MWCNT + DW 0.01 wt% MWCNT + DW + PVP
The weight percentage of MWCNT is calculated based on Eq. (1).
A lower weight percentage of PVP (0.01 wt%) was selected in the present study.
A higher percentage is not desirable since the thermal conductivity of water decreases
with the addition of PVP surfactant (Zhou et al., 2012). As for the investigation of the
stability characteristics, the sedimentation of the nanofluid samples was observed for the
duration of one month. A KD2-Pro thermal analyzer (Decagon, USA) was used to
measure the samples’ thermal conductivity at room temperature (25oC). In order to
stabilize the sample’s temperature, an experimental setup shown in Figure 2 was used.
This is to minimize the effect of temperature variation on the sample’s thermal
conductivity. Apart from that, 10 readings were recorded for each sample and the
average result was taken. This is to minimize the possible errors that might exist during
the data collection. The KD2-Pro thermal analyzer was set on automatic mode and left
on the bench to avoid any movement or bench vibration during the measurement
process. Any movement of the sample would create convection.
Figure 2. Experimental setup for thermal conductivity measurement
1379
The stability characteristics of the carbon nanotube based nanofluids without surfactant
are shown in Figures 3(a-f).
Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample Sample
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
(a) 1st observation (right after sonication) (b) 2nd observation (after 24 hours)
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
(c) 3rd observation (after 1 week) (d) 4th observation (after 2 weeks)
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
(e) 5th observation (after 3 weeks) (f) 6th observation (after 1 month)
Figure 3. Stability observations for carbon nanotube nanofluids without surfactant.
Observation from Figures 3(a-f) found that the sonication process alone is not
enough to produce a stable nanofluid sample. For instance, sedimentation of
nanoparticles was observed for water base fluid containing 0.01 and 0.05 wt% of
MWCNT with respect to time. The sample with 0.05 wt% of MWCNT exhibited the
worst stability in terms of particle sedimentation. The sample showed sedimentation of
1380
particles even right after the sonication process. This might be due to the hydrophobic
nature of the carbon nanotubes. The particles tend to attract each other and thus they are
heavier and tend to move downward due to the gravitational force. The study implied
that the inclusion of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) surfactant stabilizes the carbon
nanotube based nanofluids effectively. This is proven through the stability observation
depicted in Figure 4 (a-b). From these figures, there is no observable particle
sedimentation in any of the samples. The addition of surfactant is capable of increasing
the repulsive force of the nanoparticles. As a result, the agglomeration of carbon
nanotubes can be minimized and subsequently reduce the tendency of the nanoparticles
to move downward (sedimentation).
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
(a) 1st observation (right after sonication) (b) 2nd observation (after 1 month)
Figure 4. Stability observation for carbon nanotube nanofluids with PVP surfactant
The accuracy of the KD2-Pro thermal analyzer was tested by comparing the
reference values of water (Incropera et al., 2007) with the experimental result. There is a
good agreement between the experiment and reference values, with only 6.1% deviation
recorded. This verifies the accuracy of the KD2-Pro thermal analyzer. Figure 5 depicts
the thermal conductivity of water-based carbon nanotube nanofluids with and without
surfactant and calculated values from the Maxwell model at 25oC.
This study indicated that there is only a 2% thermal conductivity enhancement
observed for water containing 0.5 wt% of MWCNT compared to that of base fluid. The
improvement is much lower than distilled water with added PVP surfactant only.
However, a substantial thermal conductivity enhancement can be seen when the PVP
surfactant is added to the water containing 0.5 wt% MWCNT. This proved that the
combination of surfactant and MWCNT is required to produce nanofluids with superior
thermal conductivity. About 22.2% thermal conductivity increment is achieved for this
water-based 0.5 wt% of MWCNT nanofluids with PVP surfactant compared to that of
the base fluid. As mentioned previously, surfactant is capable of dispersing the carbon
nanotubes effectively, and consequently it increases the thermal conductivity property.
In this investigation, the thermal conductivity of water-based 0.05 wt% MWCNT
nanofluids (without surfactant) was not measured because this sample exhibited particle
sedimentation right after the sonication process.
Figure 5 also shows the calculated values based on the Maxwell (1881) model.
The model is shown in Eq. (2).
1381
( )
( )
where is the effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluids, is the thermal

conductivity of the base fluid , is the thermal conductivity of the particle (assuming
the thermal conductivity of the carbon nanotubes equals 2000W/mK) and is the
particle volume fraction. This shows that not much thermal conductivity increment is
observed from the values calculated from the Maxwell model compared to the
experimental data of nanofluids with surfactant. This is because the Maxwell model
does not consider factors such as the surfactant and the shape of the carbon nanotube
nanoparticles. However, the thermal conductivity of nanofluids without surfactant is
well predicted by the Maxwell model. Generally, it can be seen that the thermal
conductivity of the base fluid increases with increase of the MWCNT’s particle loading.
Maxwell theory With surfactant (0.01wt.% PVP) Without surfactant

0.72
0.70
Thermal conductivity (w/mK)
0.68
0.66
0.64
0.62
0.60
0.58
0.56
0.54
0.52
0.50
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Weight percentage of MWCNT
Figure 5. Thermal conductivity of water-based carbon nanotube nanofluids with and

without surfactant at 25oC
CONCLUSIONS
From the present study, it can be concluded that water-based multiwalled carbon
nanotube-based nanofluids with PVP surfactant are more stable than samples without
surfactant. No obvious particle sedimentation is observed when the samples have added
PVP surfactant. The thermal conductivity enhancement of the water-based carbon
nanotube nanofluids with surfactant is higher than without surfactant. About 22.2%
enhancement is observed for water-based fluid containing 0.5 wt% of MWCNT and
0.01 wt% of PVP surfactant. However, the thermal conductivity of nanofluids with
surfactant is not well predicted by the Maxwell model. For future study, it is
1382
recommended that the stability of carbon nanotube-based nanofluid is measured through

the zeta potential analyzer in order to investigate the particles agglomeration. The effect
of other factors such as pH, size of carbon nanotubes, and temperature on thermal
conductivity should be investigated.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia
and Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for their
financial support under FRGS/1/2012/TK01/UPNM/03/2.
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Srinivasa Rao, G., Sharma, K. V., Chary, S. P., Bakar, R. A., Rahman, M. M.,
Kadirgama, K., & Noor, M. M. (2011). Experimental study on heat transfer
coefficient and friction factor of Al2O3 nanofluid in a packed bed column.
Syam Sundar, L., & Sharma, K. V. (2011a). An experimental study heat transfer and
friction factor of Al2O3 nanofluid. Journal of Mechanical Engineering and
Sciences, 1, 99-112.
Syam Sundar, L., & Sharma, K. V. (2011b). Laminar convective heat transfer and
friction factor of Al2O3 nanofluid in circular tube fitted with twisted tape inserts.
Talaei, Z., Mahjoub, A. R., Rashidi, A. M., Amrollahi, A., & Emami Meibodi, M.
(2012). The effect of functionalized group concentration on the stability and
thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube fluid as heat transfer media.
International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 38, 513-517.
Zhou, M. Z., Xia, G. D., Li, J, Chai, L., & Zhou, L. J. (2012). Analysis of factors
influencing thermal conductivity and viscosity in different kinds of surfactant
solutions. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 36, 22-29.
1384
THE EFFECT OF METHANOL-DIESEL BLENDED RATIO ON CI ENGINE

PERFORMANCE
T. Yusaf*1, I. Hamawand1, P. Baker1 and G. Najafi2
1- National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA), Faculty of Engineering and

Surveying, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350 QLD, Australia
2- Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
*Email: yusaft@usq.edu.au
ABSTRACT
In the current work, a comprehensive study on the possibility of using methanol as an

alternative fuel for diesel engines was carried out. Methanol was mixed at different
ratios with diesel fuel. The mixing ratios of methanol to diesel were 0:100, 10:90, 20:80
and 30:70. The effects of methanol fraction on engine power, torque, brake specific fuel
consumption (BSFC), brake thermal efficiency and exhaust temperature were
experimentally investigated at variant engine speeds. The engine used to carry out these
experiments is a four-stroke four-cylinder diesel engine. The results showed that mixing
methanol at different fractions with diesel fuel has a significant effect on the engine
performance. The methanol to diesel ratio of 10:90 exhibited the lowest exhaust
temperature and achieved an improvement in the output power of approximately 70%
compared to the other ratios. Also, the brake thermal efficiency improved at all the
mixing ratios used. Furthermore, the BSFC of pure diesel fuel registered a lower value
than any other mixing ratio. It has been shown in this research that the addition of 10%
methanol to the diesel fuel may have a great impact on the engine performance and the
environment
Keywords: Methanol; diesel engine; engine performance; methanol–diesel blends.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, many researchers are promoting the use of methanol as an alternative fuel
for internal combustion engines due to its ability to produce power with less emission.
Methanol (CH3OH) is an alcohol that was originally produced by the destructive
distillation of wood. In recent decades, methanol has been produced in large quantities
from natural gas using reformation gas process. This process involves passing carbon
monoxide and hydrogen gases over a suitable catalyst under appropriate conditions of
pressure and temperature (Warring, 1993). Methanol is usually introduced into the
engine through the engine air intake (fumigation) (Adelman et al., 1972; Havemann et
al., 1954; Klaus & Pederson, 1977). The addition of a high oxygen content and high
volatility component such as methanol to diesel or biodiesel can be a promising
technique in diesel engines (Sundar Raj, & Sendilvelan, 2010; Azad, Ameer Uddin, &
Alam, 2012). It can be used efficiently without any modifications in the engine (Qi et
al., 2010; Rahim, Mamat, Taib, & Abdullah, 2012). Klaus and Pederson (1977) claimed
that the brake thermal efficiency can be improved by about 30% when methanol is used.
However, it has also been observed when the engines were operated using methanol
alone, that they were prone to pre-ignition (Yuksel & Yuksel, 2004). In a study by
Sayin, Ozsezen, and Canakci (2010), the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) was
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Yusaf et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1385-1395
found to be improved under high-load operating conditions. However, total unburned

hydrocarbon THC and CO emissions for dual-fuel operation increased when methanol
was added. In another study by Sayin et al. (2009), it was found that increasing the
methanol ratio in the fuel blend caused an increase in the BSFC and decrease in BTE by
about 38% and 42%, respectively. This was related to the lower heating value (LHV) of
the methanol fuel, which is lower than that of the diesel fuel. It has been reported
worldwide that alcohols such as methanol and ethanol have the potential to become an
alternative fuel for IC engines (Yuksel & Yuksel, 2004; (Mat Yasin, Mamat, Sharma, &
Yusop, 2012). Pure methanol cannot be used directly in unmodified diesel engines
because it will require spark or ignition assistance or a fuel additive. However, use of
diesel blended with up to 20% of methanol by volume requires only minor engine
modifications (Lin & Chao, 2002). It has been reported that using blended fuel will
always result in better performance than conventional fuel (Liu et al., 2007). Table 1
summarizes some of the chemical and physical properties of engine fuels that are
commonly in use (Lu & Liu, 2006; Liu & Li, 2006; Liao et al., 2005). From Table 1, the
exhaust gas components produced from methanol engines are found to be generally low
and less toxic than other fuels. Methanol-fueled trucks and buses emit almost no
particulate matter (which causes smoke, and can also be carcinogenic), and much less
nitrogen oxide (NOx) than using diesel-fueled alone. Methanol extracts much more heat
as it vaporizes because it has a higher latent heat of vaporization than diesel. This can
lead to a cooling effect on the cylinder charge and lower NOx emissions (Bayraktar,
2008). Also, methanol is less flammable than gasoline. Methanol has a higher laminar
flame propagation speed, which may contribute to the combustion process being
completed earlier, which in turn leads to improved combustion efficiency. Also, the fuel
blends have a longer ignition delay time than diesel fuel. The ignition delay period
increases with increasing methanol (Özaktas et al., 2000). Furthermore, methanol is a
high-octane fuel that offers excellent acceleration and vehicle power. Though the latent
heat of methanol is high, this may increase the engine volumetric efficiency and thus
increase engine power. Economically, methanol can be produced, distributed, and sold
to consumers at prices that are competitive with gasoline and diesel (Warring, 1993;
Yusaf, 2009; Ghobadian et al., 2009; Ghobadian, Najafi, & Nayebi, 2013; Yao et al.,
2008).
Table 1. Comparison of fuel properties
Property Methanol Ethanol Gasoline Diesel

Chemical formula CH3OH C2H5OH C-C mix C-C mix
Molecular weight 32 46 - -
Boiling point (oC) 64.5 78 40-190 170-340
Density at 20oC (kg/l) 0.792 0.789 0.74 0.84
Stoic. air/fuel ratio 6.4:1 9:1 14.7:1 -
Cetane no 3 8 10 50-55
Octane no 92 90 80-90 -
Calorific value (kJ/kg) 23800 - 43600 44500
Flash point (oC) 11 - -43 52
Auto ignition temp (oC) 464 360 220-260 180-240
From the above, it can be seen that there is a need and motivation to study the
potential of using methanol diesel blend in compression ignition (CI) engines. The
1386
The Effect of Methanol-Diesel Blended Ratio on CI Engine Performance
current work aims to investigate the possibilities of improving diesel engine

performance by introducing methanol–diesel blend fuel to the engine. The effective
parameters of a commercial CI engine at different blend ratios of methanol and diesel
fuel were studied.
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
Engine Used
In this study, a four-stroke four-cylinder diesel engine was selected for carrying out the
experiments. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the engine which is coupled to a 130
kW eddy current dynamometer. Methanol is introduced through fuel injectors into the
intake of each cylinder to form a homogeneous methanol/air mixture (Yao et al., 2008).
The full details of the engine specifications are illustrated in Table2.
Exhaust
temperature
Calorimeter
Exhaust
Oil temperature temperature
Torque meter
Dynamometer Engine
Figure 1. A sketch of the experimental rig
Table 2. Engine specifications
Model Klockner- Humboldt- Deutz AG

F4L 913, four-stroke diesel Klockner-
Type
Humboldt- Deutz AG l
No. of cylinders 4
Bore x stroke (mm) 102 X 125
Displacement (l) 4.086
Rated speed , rpm (max) 2800
Firing order 1-3-4-2
Operating fuel injection pressure (bar) 175
Compression Pressure (bar) 24 – 28
1387
Fuel Preparations
Several ratios of methanol (99.8% purity) to diesel were introduced to the engine
through the engine air intake, i.e. containing 10 vol.%, 20 vol.% and 30 vol.% of
methanol as a ratio of the diesel inlet to the engine. The properties of methanol and
diesel compared to other fuels were presented in Table 1 above. For the testing, the
calorific value of diesel is assumed to be 45.0 MJ/kg and the calorific value for
methanol is taken to be 23.8 MJ/kg. The specific gravity for diesel and methanol is 0.84
and 0.79 respectively. Calculated values for the lower calorific value (LCV) are
presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Calculated lower calorific values (LCV).
Methanol CO2 H2O O2 Hf Molecular LCV

b d e c (kJ/kMol) Weight (MJ/kg)
0 16 17 16 -9957260 226 -44.06
0.1 14.5 15.5 14.45 -9073131 206.6 -43.92
0.2 13 14 12.9 -8189002 187.2 -43.74
0.3 11.5 12.5 11.35 -7304873 167.8 -43.53
0.4 10 11 9.8 -6420744 148.4 -43.27
0.5 8.5 9.5 8.25 -5536615 129 -42.92
0.6 7 8 6.7 -4652486 109.6 -42.45
0.7 5.5 6.5 5.15 -3768357 90.2 -41.78
0.8 4 5 3.6 -2884228 70.8 -40.74
0.9 2.5 3.5 2.05 -2000099 51.4 -38.91
First of all, the fuel track of the engine was set to operate on maximum operating
conditions, with the maximum fuel injection position set for full load conditions. Next,
the engine was operated on maximum speed, then the speed was gradually reduced by
increasing its load. The effects of the blending ratio of the methanol–diesel mixture on
torque, input power, output power, brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal
efficiency, and exhaust gas temperature were measured and the results are presented in
the following sections.
Torque
Figure 2 shows the torque behavior against engine speed at different blended ratios of
methanol–diesel fuels. In general, the torque decreases when the engine speed increases.
However, there are remarkable differences in the trends. For diesel, the curve is quite
constant with a small gap between the maximum and minimum values. The starting
torque is high at low engine speed and decreases at high engine speed. Meanwhile,
mixing the diesel with methanol shows a slight increase in the torque at higher speeds.
However, at all engine speeds, methanol–diesel blended fuels in all ratios exhibit higher
torque than diesel fuel alone. This is more obvious when 10 vol.% methanol is used.
1388
100
M10
M20
M30
80 Pure diesel
60
40
20
0
800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Engine speed (rpm)
Figure 2. Engine torque vs. engine speed for different methanol–diesel

blended fuels at full load.
Input and Output Powers
Input power to the engine can be estimated through the amount of fuel injected into it.
Theoretically, it is determined based on the flow-rate and the lower calorific value of the
blended/pure fuels. The lower calorific value of methanol is approximately half that of
diesel, with values of 23.8 MJ/kg and 44.5 MJ/kg for methanol and diesel respectively.
For the current experimental work, Figure 3 shows the effect of the various blended
fuels on engine power. In general, it can be seen that the input power of the blended fuel
gives higher power than the pure diesel. It is well known that engine power is highly
controlled by the combustion efficiency. However, it has been reported by Ghobadian et
al. (2009) that misfire may occur, and a small amount of unburned methanol and air will
be trapped in the clearance volume at the end of the exhaust stroke. This will lead to a
lean methanol-air mixture during the following compression stroke. Moreover, at the
end of the compression stroke, prior to the next fuel injection, a small amount of
vaporized methanol left at elevated temperatures may in turn enhance the combustion
efficiency. The above could explain the better input performance of the blended fuel
compared to the pure diesel. Regarding the output power, similar trends and findings to
those for the input power can be observed in Figure 4. The improvement in the output
power is about 70% when 10% methanol is blended with 90% diesel.
1389
120
M10
M20
100 M30
Pure diesel
80
60
40
20
0
800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Engine speed (rpm)
Figure 3. Input power vs. engine speed for different methanol–diesel

12
M10
M20
10 M30
Pure diesel
0
800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Engine speed (rpm)
Figure 4. Output power vs. engine speed for different methanol–diesel

1390
Brake Specific Fuel Consumption
The brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), which is defined as the fuel flow-rate per
hour (kg/h) divided by the engine’s brake power (kW), is a measure of the engine
efficiency. The BSFC versus engine speed is presented in Figure 5, which represents the
BSFC at maximum operating conditions. A significant difference between blended fuel
and diesel fuel can be observed in the figure. The lowest BSFC is achieved with 30%
methanol and 70% diesel blended fuel. This finding contradicts the finding of Sayin et
al. (2010). Also, the specific consumption of diesel fuel is very low compared to any
mixed ratio. This is due to the difference in the lower calorific values of both types of
fuels. The lower calorific value for blended fuel is less than for diesel alone. In order to
get the same amount of input power, the amount of blended fuel must be increased. It is
possible to increase the performance of the blended fuel by adding some additives to it.
1.6
M10
M20
1.4 M30
Pure diesel
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Engine speed (rpm)
Figure 5. BSFC vs. engine speed for different methanol–diesel blended

fuels at full load condition.
Brake Thermal Efficiency
Brake thermal efficiency is the percentage ratio of the brake output power and the input
power. From the result presented in Figure 6, it is clear that using methanol in this test
has led to a better brake thermal efficiency. This is due to the lean completed
combustion when methanol is used. Fig. 6 shows the relationship between the brake
thermal efficiency and engine speeds. It was found that using excessive methanol in the
diesel engine is less beneficial at medium speeds around 1500 rpm. As shown in Fig. 6,
the addition of 20% methanol produces higher efficiency than the 30% at 1500 rpm.
1391
However, at higher speeds M30 seems to produce higher efficiency than the pure diesel,
M10 or M20.
Figure 6. Brake thermal efficiency vs. engine speed.
Exhaust Gas Temperature
Figure 7 shows the exhaust temperature history against the engine speed at full load
conditions. At all ranges of engine speed, the best blended ratio that produces the lowest
exhaust temperature is 10% methanol and 90% diesel. The exhaust temperature of the
engine using conventional fuel was found to be higher than any blended fuel ratio. High
exhaust temperature coupled with lean combustion will lead to the formation of nitrogen
oxide (NOx), which is poisonous and harmful to the environment. Consequently, using
blended fuel is recommended to reduce the emission percentage of NOx. However, the
combustion quality for both types of fuels is lean, the combustion of diesel alone is
leaner than blended fuel, and therefore lean combustion produces more heat and thus
increases the exhaust temperature. The lower exhaust temperature for blended fuel
implies lower production of NOx. The oxygen content of the methanol helps to make
the combustion leaner. The greater the amount of methanol fuel injected into the
combustion chamber, the more oxygen will be available, and this will lead to complete
combustion. The production of NOx is proportional to combustion efficiency. The
better the combustion efficiency, the higher the value of the exhaust temperature, which
increases the level of NOx production. Methanol-fueled vehicles normally show a lower
content of CO and CO2 in their exhaust. However, attention needs to be paid to NOx
content especially in vehicles that have high thermal efficiency (Yusaf, 2009).
1392
200
M10
M20
180 M30
Pure diesel
160
140
120
100
80
800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Engine speed (rpm)
Figure 7. Exhaust gas temperature vs. engine speed for different methanol–
diesel blended fuels at full load
CONCLUSION
Methanol–diesel blended fuel was successfully tested in a diesel engine. Experimental

results showed that the output power and torque for the methanol–diesel blend fuel were
higher than for the conventional diesel fuel alone. The exhaust gas temperature was
found to be higher when the diesel fuel was used alone compared to the blended fuel.
Also, the brake specific fuel consumption for the mixed fuel was lower than for the pure
diesel fuel. It has been shown in this research that the addition of 10% methanol to the
diesel fuel may have a great impact on the engine performance and the environment.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are obliged to the University of Southern Queensland for providing
laboratory facilities and financial assistance.
REFERENCES
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methanol-fuelled automobile. SAE Transactions, 81, 720693.
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Bayraktar, H. (2008). An experimental study on the performance parameters of an

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Havemann, H. A., Rao, M. R. K., Nataryan, A., & Narasimhan T. L. (1954). Alcohols in
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Klaus. B., & Pederson, P. S. (1977). Alternative diesel engine fuels: an experimental
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Liao, S. Y., Jiang, D. M., Cheng, Q., Huang, Z. H., & Wei, Q. (2005). Investigation of
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constant-volume chamber. Energy and Fuels, 19, 813-819.
Lin, T. C. & Chao, M. R. (2002). Assessing the influence of methanol-containing
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Liu, S. H., Clemente, E. R., Hu, T. G., & Wei, Y. (2007). Study of spark ignition engine
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Liu, S. H. & Li, H. (2006). Effects of methanol–gasoline blend on SI engine
performance and emissions. Journal of Xi’an Jiaotong University, 40(1), 1-4.
Lu, S. H. & Liu, S. H. (2006). Measurement of non-regulated pollutants from SI engine
fuelled with methanol/gasoline blends. Transactions of CSICE, 24(1), 57-61.
Özaktas, T., Ergeneman, M., Karaosmanoglu, F., & Arslan, H. A. (2000). Ignition delay
and soot emission characteristics of methanol-diesel fuel blends. Petroleum
Science and Technology, 18(1-2), 15-32.
Qi, D. H., Chen, H., Geng, L. M., Bian, Y. Z. H., & Ren, X. C. H. (2010). Performance
and combustion characteristics of biodiesel–diesel–methanol blend fuelled
engine. Applied Energy, 87, 1679-1686.
Sayin, C., Ilhan, M., Canakci, M., & Gumus, M. (2009). Effect of injection timing on
the exhaust emissions of a diesel engine using diesel–methanol blends.
Sayin, C., Ozsezen, A. N., & Canakci, M. (2010). The influence of operating parameters
on the performance and emissions of a DI diesel engine using methanol-blended-
diesel fuel. Fuel, 89, 1407-1414.
Sundar Raj, C., & Sendilvelan, S. (2010). Effect of oxygenated hydrocarbon additives
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Warring, P. (1993). Alternative vehicle fuels: combustion equipment for methanol in

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Warring, P. (1993). Fuel the future. National Seminar on Hydrogen and Methanol:
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Resources Technology, 131, 12203-12207.
1395
CONTINUOUS BIODIESEL PRODUCTION USING ULTRASOUND CLAMP

ON TUBULAR REACTOR
Leong Boon Soon1, Anika Zafiah M. Rus*2 and Sulaiman Hasan3

1, 2, 3
Department of Materials and Design Engineering
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
86400, Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, MALAYSIA
Email: 1bsoon86@yahoo.com, 2zafiah@uthm.edu.my, 3sulaiman@uthm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Biodiesel is an alternative fuel to replace diesel fuel for diesel engines. It consists of
alkyl monoesters of fatty acid from vegetable oil or animal fats and it is an alternative
feedstock that can be converted into biodiesel at lower cost. The approach of this
production is to use the ultrasound clamp to better enable the immiscible liquids
between the vegetable oil and alcohol to emulsify together, hence producing esters in a
short period of time. The ultrasound causes the rapid movement of fluid, creating
cavitation where the liquids break down and so forming cavitation bubbles. The
optimum result for biodiesel production using an ultrasound clamp on the tubular
reactor is 3 minutes with 90% conversion of esters, compared to the previous pilot plant
unit which achieves 98% ester conversion within 5 minutes. The newly fabricated small
pilot plant has proved able to achieve conversion of esters in the presence of a methanol
to oil molar ratio of 12:1, catalyst concentration of 1.25 wt% and reaction temperature
of 64°C. This pilot plant has been developed in this research to facilitate the
transesterification process in producing biodiesel from vegetable oil and has the ability
to achieve 90% ester conversion with an ultrasound clamp.
Keywords: Alternative feedstock; fatty acid methyl ester; ultrasonic; transesterification;

FTIR spectra.
INTRODUCTION
Biodiesel is an alternative diesel fuel that is derived from vegetable oils or animal fats
through a process called transesterification. Biodiesel is mono-alkyl esters and plays an
important role in the fuel landscape (Erhan et al., 2009). Biodiesel is competitive with
petroleum products and has the advantages of reduced carbon emission, safer handling
given its higher flash point compared to petrol-based products, and it is biodegradable
(Rahim, Mamat, Taib& Abdullah, 2012; Mat Yasin, Mamat, Sharma, & Yusop, 2012).
The biodiesel reaction requires a catalyst, either sodium hydroxide or potassium
hydroxide, to split the oil molecules and alcohols such as methanol and ethanol to
combine the separated esters (Leong, Rus, & Hasan, 2013). From the reaction, glycerol
is produced as the main by-product. Transesterification is widely used in industry to
produce biodiesel as this process reduces the viscosity of the vegetable oil (Pinto et al.,
2005; Ghobadian, Najafi, & Nayebi, 2013). The stoichiometric ratio for the
transesterification reaction requires three moles of alcohol and one mole of triglyceride
to yield three moles of fatty acid ester and one mole of glycerol. A higher molar ratio
will eventually lead to greater esters production in a shorter time. Transesterification is a
1396
Continuous Biodiesel Production using Ultrasound Clamp on Tubular Reactor
general term where the ester is transformed into another through the interchange of the
alkoxy moiety as the ester reacts with the alcohol, and transesterification, also called
alcoholysis, takes place (Schuchardt et al., 2008). However, the most important
variables which affect the production of biodiesel are the methanol to oil molar ratio and
the reaction temperature.
Figure 1. Transesterification of triglycerides in the presence of methanol where three

moles of alcohol and one mole of triglyceride yield three moles of fatty acid esters and
one mole of glycerol (Demirbas, 2008).
The transesterification reaction will proceed well in the presence of

homogeneous catalysts such as potassium hydroxide (KOH), sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
and sulfuric acid (H2SO4) or with heterogeneous catalysts such as metal oxides or
carbonates. In the industry, the most commonly used catalyst in the production of
biodiesel is sodium hydroxide, commonly called lye. This is because sodium hydroxide
is low in cost and the reaction it causes as catalyst produces a higher yield (Demirbas,
2003). In addition, the viscosity of vegetable oil can be reduced by using other methods,
namely blending pyrolysis, microemulsification and transesterification (Ma, Clements,
& Hanna, 1998). Highly viscous vegetable oil will eventually cause severe operational
problems such as engine deposits (Knothe & Dunn, 2001). In the transesterification
process, the acid value of the vegetable oil should be less than 1% and all materials
should be substantially anhydrous. The esterification process may be required if there is
more than 1%, so more sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide is needed to
neutralize the free fatty acids. It can also be observed that water causes the formation of
soap and frothing increases the viscosity of the biodiesel (Demirbas, 2003). Water
which is present during the transesterification reaction will lead to soap formation,
which consumes the catalyst and eventually reduces the effectiveness of the catalyst and
reduces the yield of methyl ester. Besides that, the catalyst concentration has a
significant effect during the transesterification reaction (Leong et al., 2013).
The conventional stirring method in biodiesel production has low rates of
chemical reaction, leading to longer production time (Leong et al., 2013). The use of
ultrasonics in the transesterification reaction helps to increase the yield of biodiesel
production. Oil and methanol are not completely miscible in biodiesel processing and
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Soon et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1396-1405
the assistance of ultrasonics is an effective method that helps to achieve a better mixing
and enhancement of the liquid–liquid mass transfer (Ji et al., 2006). From the research,
the results show that the ultrasonics produces smaller droplets than with standard
mixing.
Figure 2. Biofuel production and process monitoring of ultrasound-assisted process and

non-ultrasound-assisted process in determining the yield of FAME (Rokhina et al.,
2009).
Ultrasonic irradiation of liquids causes two immiscible liquids to emulsify as a

result of the generated shockwaves which disrupt and interfere with the phase boundary,
causing emulsification to take place. The cavitation bubbles have a variety of effects
within the liquid medium depending upon the type of system in which it is generated
(Leong et al., 2013). These systems can be broadly divided into homogeneous liquid,
heterogeneous solid/liquid and heterogeneous liquid/liquid. Within chemical systems,
these three groupings represent most processing situations. When sound waves
propagate through a liquid medium, they generate compression and rarefaction regions
in the liquid. The intermolecular distances between the liquid molecules also expand
and contract along these waves. At very low pressure in the rarefaction region, the
intermolecular spaces exceed the critical molecular distance and the liquid tears apart to
form void spaces or micro bubbles. These micro bubbles oscillate with the wave motion
and grow in size by taking in vapour from the surrounding liquid medium and by
aggregating with other micro bubbles (Mason, 1999). By using ultrasonics, the reaction
time was found to be much shorter (10 to 40 min) than with the mechanical stirring
method, hence improving the conversion rate of esters (Hanh et al., 2009).
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Edible vegetable oil was purchased at a grocery stall near Parit Raja. Methanol
(CH3OH), sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and HmbG potassium hydroxide (KOH) with
99% purity were purchased from the chemical supplier. Other chemicals such as
anhydrous sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), magnesium sulfate (MgSO4), and sulfuric acid
(H2SO4) 99% purity were also obtained from another chemical supplier. The optimum
1398
parameters from the transesterification process were used to produce a small biodiesel
ultrasonic process plant (BUPP) with the assistance of an ultrasound clamp on a tubular
reactor. For preliminary lab scale production of biodiesel, the ultrasound clamp with
tubular reactor was used to enhance the emulsification process of the edible vegetable
oil and methanol. The acid value was determined by the AOCS Ca5a-40 method to
estimate the free fatty acid content in the edible vegetable oil. The ultrasonic frequency
was applied at 20 kHz with methanol to oil molar ratios of 6:1, 9:1 and 12:1
respectively. For a homogeneous transesterification reaction, 250 mL of vegetable oil
was heated at 64°C and fed into the tubular reactor with the presence of different
catalyst concentration amounts of 0.75%, 1.00% and 1.25%. The tubular reactor was
then clamped with the ultrasonic clamp and emulsification through the ultrasound clamp
on the tubular reactor for 1 minute began. The ultrasonic tubular reactor model
MSG.1200.IX-LF was used to perform the transesterification reaction in which
vegetable oil, methanol and catalyst were emulsified in the tubular reactor with the
assistance of the ultrasound clamp on the tubular reactor. The ultrasonic tubular reactor
has a diameter of 21 mm diameter × 600 mm in length with quick flanges and covers
made of stainless steel (SS316L). The equipment comes with an ultrasonic clamp on the
tubular reactor, generator, ultrasonic converter/ transducer and computer control. The
ultrasonic system uses a unique multi-frequency multimode (MMM) and modulated
technology which delivers high power ultrasonic energy to the mixture to form acoustic
cavitations and to achieve a higher yield of biodiesel production.
Table 1. Specification of ultrasonic clamp on tubular reactor.
Technical Characteristic MSG.1200.IX-LF

Main supply voltage 220/230 V; 50/60 Hz
Max. input power 1300 W
Non-modulated, carrier frequency 17.5 kHz – 28.5 kHz
range
Modulated acoustic frequency range Wideband from Hz to MHz
Average continuous output power 1200 W
Peak output (max. pulse power) 6000 W
Output HF voltage 500 V
Weight 10 kg
Figure 3. Schematic of ultrasonic clamp on tubular reactor during the biodiesel

production using an ultrasonic converter, wave guide, generator and computer controller
system to monitor the frequency (Leong et al., 2013).
1399
After the reaction, glycerol was separated using a separating funnel, and the
methyl ester was cleaned to remove excess alkali, methanol and water. The purified
methyl ester or biodiesel was measured for viscosity using a Viscolite 700, density and
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).
Based on the result obtained, according to Figure 5, the highest FAME yield using the
ultrasound clamp on the tubular reactor was 96% with a methanol to oil molar ratio of
9:1 and catalyst concentration of 0.75 wt%, followed by the 1.00 wt% catalyst
concentration with the same molar ratio. From the research undertaken, it can be
observed that the yield of esters is affected by the ratio of methanol used, as reported by
other researchers (Meher, Dharmagadda, & Naik, 2006). To achieve a high yield of
ester, alcohol has to be used in excess, such that the transesterification reaction is a
process of changing the alkoxy group of an ester compound by another alcohol. The
time for ultrasonication which takes place in the tubular reactor was 1 minute. A longer
ultrasonication time will cause a decrease of the esters, as the emulsion that forms will
trap some esters. According to other researchers, a higher frequency will cause the
cavitation bubbles to become too weak to impinge one liquid to the other (Stavarache et
al., 2005). A low FAME yield was recorded at 85% with a methanol to oil molar ratio of
6:1 and catalyst concentration of 1.25 wt%.
100
90
80
70
FAME Yield,%
60 6:1
50 9:1
40 12:1
30
20
10
0
0.75 1.00 1.25
Catalyst concentration, wt%
Figure 4. Results of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yield with the comparison towards
the catalyst concentration and molar ratio.
The low FAME yield may be caused by the low volume of biodiesel retrieved at
the end of the transesterification process. As an example, separating and washing of the
biodiesel reduces the amount of biodiesel due to human error. To eliminate these
problems, better equipment such as the use of vacuum filtration can help to reduce
losses which might be caused by overexposure to the atmosphere which also contains
moisture. High moisture content will eventually become a tremendous drawback when
1400
converting the vegetable oil into biodiesel. According to Jo Han Ng, esters reduction is
caused by the increase of free fatty acid (FFA) content or moisture content during the
washing process, leading to soap formation (Ng et al., 2009). Besides that, the low
biodiesel yield from the ratio 6:1 with catalyst concentrations of 0.75 wt% and 1.25
wt% may be caused by incomplete reaction during the transesterification process, in
which the triglyceride, diaglyceride and monoglyceride were not fully converted into
esters.
Table 2. Kinematic viscosity values at 40°C, (mm2/s)
Catalyst concentration Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3 Average
M: O
(wt%) (mm2/s) (mm2/s) (mm2/s) (mm2/s)
0.75 3.7 3.8 3.4 3.6
6:1 1.00 3.7 3.8 3.6 3.7
1.25 3.7 3.5 3.6 3.6
0.75 3.5 3.8 3.7 3.6
9:1 1.00 3.5 3.5 3.9 3.6
1.25 3.5 3.8 3.5 3.6
0.75 3.5 3.9 3.8 3.7
12:1 1.00 3.9 3.3 3.8 3.7
1.25 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.8
Based on Table 2, the kinematic viscosity is tested at a temperature of 40°C.

According to Knothe, high kinematic viscosities of vegetable oil will cause engine
deposits if it is used directly as fuel (Knothe et al., 2005). The table shows that the
kinematic viscosity for the samples ranges from 2.6 mm2/s to 3.8 mm2/s. According to
the EN14214 standard, biodiesel’s kinematic viscosity ranges from 3.5 mm2/s to 5.0
mm2/s and, according to ASTM D6751, it is 1.9 mm2/s to 4.1 mm2/s. Theoretically, the
kinematic viscosity will decrease when the temperature increases, meaning that heat is
present or being supplied. High viscosity would cause poor combustion and increased
exhaust smoke if the biodiesel were to be run in a diesel engine. In addition, high
kinematic viscosity of biodiesel makes the biodiesel unable to flow freely and steadily
in the engine system, leading to engine failure due to its low fluidity. However, low
kinematic viscosity causes the lubricant layer on the inner wall of the engine to wear.
This is because biodiesel is unable to compensate the loss of lubricant due to its high
fluidity, hence making it difficult to adhere to and cover the wall of the engine system.
According to the ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards, the biodiesel produced from
this research meets but does not exceed the kinematic viscosity values, meaning that the
sample values are in the acceptable range.
The density of biodiesel is determined from the contents of the ester, where the
ester’s density is determined from the oil from which it originates as taken during the
transesterification process. For a methanol to oil molar ratio of 9:1 with catalyst
concentration of 1 wt%, the density obtained was 914 kg/m3, which is higher than the
EN 14214 standard, which limits the biodiesel density to a range from 860 kg/m3 to 900
kg/m3. The high value of the biodiesel density may be caused by the presence of water
content and FFA composition. The density of biodiesel is caused by a conversion factor
which will eventually affect the density value (Knothe et al., 2005). The low conversion
of the biodiesel leads to the presence of methanol and water content within the biodiesel
(Knothe et al., 2005). However, the density of the biodiesel decreases proportionally
depending on the molar ratio and catalyst concentration being used.
1401
Table 3. Density of FAME at 15°C with different molar ratio and catalyst
concentrations
M:O Catalyst concentration (w/w %) Density (kg/m3)

0.75 905
6:1 1.00 899
1.25 884
0.75 893
9:1 1.00 914
1.25 902
0.75 889
12:1 1.00 896
1.25 899
The FTIR analysis was conducted to observe the formation of the functional
group that exists from the FAME. Figure 6 below shows the results of the functional
group where ester was formed during the transesterification reaction. The intensity was
strong, as the characteristic absorptions were at 1743.96 cm-1, showing that the ester
C=O is in the range of 1735 to 1750. The FTIR models are based on the concentration
of the chemical groups in the FAME. The FTIR spectra of biodiesel are expected to be
very similar to oil, since the compound has almost the same chemical groups. However,
some slight differences can be detected, such as the fact that the carbonyl band position
in FTIR is sensitive to the substituent effects and to the structure of the molecule itself
(Pasto, Johnson, & Miller, 1992).
Absorbance,A
Wavenumber, cm-1
Figure 5. Comparison of FTIR spectra of soybean oil and biodiesel, showing that the
formation of esters is quite similar in biodiesel production (Pedroso et al., 2005)
1402
1.190 1743.96
1743.96
1.15
2854.20
1.10 2854.20
1.05
1.00
0.95 1171.06
1171.06
0.90
1436.43 1196.35
0.85 1436.43
1458.29
0.80 1458.29 1245
1245.07
0.75
3004.76
3004.76
0.70 1362.05
Absorbance,A
1362.05
1118.54
0.65
722.23
722.23
0.60
A SAMPLE 1
0.55 1016.50
0.50
0.45
0.40 880.53
0.35 1506.78
2679.74 1653.47
3466.97 2359.21
0.30
585.28 397.95
2041.22 418.72
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.000
4000.0 3600 3200 2800 2400 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 370.0
cm-1
Wavenumber, cm-1
Figure 6. FTIR spectra analysis of fatty acid methyl ester with a methanol to oil molar
ratio of 9:1 and catalyst concentration of 0.75 wt%.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, biodiesel can be produced by using an ultrasonic clamp on a tubular

reactor, an equipment setup that enhances the production of biodiesel. The resulting
product is within the limits of the ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards. This method
using an ultrasound clamp can reduce the transesterification reaction time such that it
has the ability to produce a FAME yield of 90% in 1 minute. The use of ultrasonic
energy is indeed a valuable tool for the transesterification of vegetable oil to biodiesel,
and this method is far better than the conventional stirring method.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the Malaysian Government, University Tun Hussein
Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Johor and all who have contributed to making this research a
success under the Prototype Research Grant Scheme (PRGS) Vot 0903, Malaysian
Technical University Centre of Excellence (MTUN CoE) research grant Vot C014 and
Vot C015 for their contribution in various ways.
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Demirbas, A. (2008). Biodiesel: a realistic fuel alternative for diesel engines. London:
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Demirbas, A. (2003). Biodiesel fuels from vegetable oils via catalytic and non-catalytic
super critical alcohol transesterifications and other methods: a survey. Energy
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Erhan, S. Z., Dunn, R. O., Knothe, G., & Moser, B. R. (2009). Fuel properties and
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Knothe, G., Van Gerpen, J. H., & Krahl, J. (2005). The biodiesel handbook. AOCS
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using ultrasonic clamp on tubular reactor. Applied Mechanics and Materials,
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(2005). Biodiesel – “alternative fuel”. In Proceedings of the 9th International
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Rokhina, E. V., Lens, P., & Virkutyte, J. (2009). Low frequency ultrasound in
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Sonochemistry, 12, 367-372.
1405
FLOW SEPARATION PHENOMENA FOR STEADY FLOW OVER

A CIRCULAR CYLINDER AT LOW REYNOLDS NUMBER
Toukir Islam1, S.M. Rakibul Hassan 2 and Mohammad Ali 3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

1
Email: toukir.buet07@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Flow separation is one of the major distinguishing phenomena between the theoretical
or potential flow and actual fluid flow that introduces several aerodynamic forces and
other renowned phenomena. Here in this article, different flow separation phenomena
such as onset of separation, angular position of the separation point, size of the
separation bubble, drag due to the separation and effect of the blockage ratio on the
position of the separation point for steady flow over a smooth circular cylinder are
studied numerically using the finite volume method at very low Reynolds number up to
50, and the trends of change of these phenomena with increasing Reynolds number are
expressed in the form of some empirical equations and compared with results of
previously published literature. The separation starts at Reynolds numbers as low as 2.0
and the starting-separation angle is 146.557° from the upstream stagnation point, while
with increasing Reynolds number, the point of separation travels upstream and the
separation bubble length increases. The profound effect of the blockage ratio on the
location of the separation point is evident in this numerical analysis. Favre-averaged
Navier-Stokes equations, a k-ɛ turbulence model and the finite volume method are used
for numerical analysis, in which heat transfer or generation, and buoyancy effects are
not taken in account.
Keywords: flow separation; separation angle; separation bubble; empirical equations.
INTRODUCTION
Flow over circular cylinders has been one of the canonical research topics over the years
for fluid dynamists and engineers, not only because of its geometrical simplicity but
also for its practical importance. The problem of viscous steady flow past a circular
cylinder has for a long time received considerable attention among fluid dynamists such
as Fornberg (1980), Sen, Mittal, and Biswas (2010), Wu et al. (2004), Park, Kwon, and
Choi (1998), Taneda (1956) etc. Different researchers have shaped the existing
knowledge regarding the steady flow at low Reynolds number (Re). Fornberg (1980)
studied the steady viscous flow past a circular cylinder for Reynolds numbers up to 300.
Sen et al. (2010) studied the steady flow at the range of Re≤40 using the finite element
method and described the effect of blockage ratio, position of separation on surface,
separation bubble size etc. and expressed these phenomena in terms of empirical
equations which are a function of Re. Wu et al. (2004) introduced soap-film flow
visualization instead of the commonly used streakline image from finite time exposure
to obtain the time averaged separation angle. They also described different separation
phenomena as functions of Re. Park et al. (1998) used high resolution calculation for the
flow over a cylinder up to Re 160 and provided detailed information on the flow
quantities on the cylinder surface at low Re. But according to many researchers like Sen
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Islam et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1406-1415
et al. (2010), the flow over a circular cylinder becomes unsteady around Reynolds
number 50. The first wake instability, manifestation of a Hopf bifurcation, occurs at Re
around 47, according to Williamson (1996). So, steady flow approximation after Re 50
would lead to inaccurate results.
The Reynolds number can be considered as the measure-stick for different flow
phenomena changes in the study of flow over a cylinder. At low Reynolds number, the
flow can be considered steady, while with increasing Re the symmetry between the
upstream and downstream disappears as the flow becomes unsteady. Flow separation
occurs at very low Re - well below 10. Flow separation is characterized by detachment of
streamlines from the cylinder surface usually at the downstream of the cylinder (Fornberg,
1980). This occurs when the boundary layer travels far enough against an adverse pressure
gradient that the speed of the boundary layer relative to the object falls to almost zero.
Physically a separated flow develops when the fluid element comes to a stop somewhere
downstream and reverses its direction. The point from which the flow is separated from the
surface of the cylinder is the separation point and will be denoted as S for the rest of the
article. The angular position of S, i.e. separation angle (θS), changes with Re. The flow
separated from the shoulder of the cylinder, both on the upper and lower surface, is
reattached at the downstream of the cylinder. Thus a bubble of separated flow is created
due to symmetric eddies just behind the cylinder, and this is called the separation bubble.
The separation bubble’s length and width bears significant information about the flow
characteristics, aerodynamic forces on the cylinder, intensity and position of separation,
etc. Sen et al. (2010) described these phenomena with respect to different blockage ratios
(BR), which is actually the ratio of the cylinder diameter to the height of the computational
domain, whereas some authors like Wu et al. (2004) suggested that the blockage ratio is not
a major reason for discrepancy among various experiments at higher Re, but is significant
for variation in the separation angle at low Re. The present study is concentrated on the
separation phenomena and phenomena that are directly affected by the modes and
positions of separation. The angular position of separation (θS), variation of the separation
angle with Re and blockage ratio (BR), separation bubble length and symmetric eddies
enclosed by the bubble, drag on the cylinder, etc. are emphasised. These phenomena are
expressed in the form of empirical equations and as functions of Re. As steady flow is
limited by Re around 50, our study is limited to this range.
NUMERICAL PROCEDURE
Governing Equations
Favre-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are used, where time-averaged effects of the flow
turbulence on the flow parameters are considered, whereas the other, i.e. large-scale, time-
dependent phenomena are taken into account directly. Through this procedure, extra terms
known as the Reynolds stresses appear in the equations, for which additional information
must be provided. To close this system of equations, the flow simulation procedure
employs transport equations for the turbulent kinetic energy and its dissipation rate, the so-
called k-ε model. One system of equations is employed to describe both laminar and
turbulent flows, and transition from a laminar to turbulent state or vice versa is possible.
The conservation laws for mass, angular momentum and energy in the Cartesian
coordinate system rotating with angular velocity Ω about an axis passing through the
coordinate system’s origin can be written in the conservation form as follows:
1407
Flow Separation Phenomena for Steady Flow over a Circular Cylinder at Low Reynolds Number
(1)
( ) (2)
[ ( ) ] (3)
Here u is fluid velocity, is fluid density, is a mass-distributed external force per unit
mass due to porous media resistance, a buoyancy (- ρ ), and the coordinate system’s
rotation, h is the thermal enthalpy, is a heat source or sink per unit volume, is the
viscous shear stress tensor, is the diffusive heat flux. The subscripts are used to denote
summation over the three coordinate directions.
Now for Newtonian fluids, the viscous shear stress tensor is defined as
(4)
According to the Boussinesq assumption, the Reynolds-stress tensor has the following
form:
(5)
Here is the Kronecker delta function, which is equal to unity when i=j and zero
otherwise. is the dynamic viscosity coefficient, is the turbulent eddy viscosity
coefficient and k is the turbulent kinetic energy. A point to be noted is that both k and
are zero for laminar flow. In the frame of the k- turbulence model, ;
here is the turbulent viscosity factor, defined as , [ ]
; where ,
Here y is the distance from the wall. This function of allows us to take into
account laminar–turbulent transition. Two additional transport equations are used to
describe the turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation at steady state:
( ) + (6)
( ) + [ ] (7)
Here , ,
Now for these equations is unity when and zero otherwise. ,
, , =1.92, , . These values are found empirically.
These equations describe both laminar and turbulent flow.
1408
Figure 1. Computational mesh.
Computational Mesh
The rectangular computational domain is constructed such that it encloses the solid body
and has the boundary planes orthogonal to the specified axes of the Cartesian coordinate
system (Figure 1). Then, the computational mesh is constructed in the following several
stages. First of all, a basic mesh is constructed. For that, the computational domain is
divided into slices by the basic mesh planes, which are evidently orthogonal to the axes of
the Cartesian coordinate system. The basic mesh is determined solely by the computational
domain and does not depend on the solid/fluid interfaces. Then, the basic mesh cells
intersecting with the solid/fluid interface are split uniformly into smaller cells in order to
capture the solid/fluid interface with mesh cells of the specified size (with respect to the
basic mesh cells). The following procedure is employed: each of the basic mesh cells
intersecting with the solid/fluid interface is split uniformly into 8 child cells; each of the
child cells intersecting with the interface is in turn split into 8 cells of the next level, and so
on, until the specified cell size is attained. At the next stage of meshing, the mesh obtained
at the solid/fluid interface with the previous procedure is refined (i.e. the cells are split
further or probably merged) in accordance with the solid/fluid interface curvature. The
criterion to be satisfied is established as follows: the maximum angle between the normals
to the surface inside one cell should not exceed a certain threshold; otherwise, the cell is
split into 8 cells. Finally, the narrow channel refinements are done if necessary. As a result
of all these meshing procedures, a locally refined rectangular computational mesh is
obtained and then used for solving the governing equations on it.
Spatial Approximations
The cell-centered finite volume (FV) method is used to obtain conservative approximations
of the governing equations on the locally refined rectangular mesh. The governing
equations are integrated over a control volume which is a grid cell, and then approximated
with the cell-centered values of the basic variables. The integral conservation laws may be
represented in the form of the cell volume and surface integral equation:
∫ ∮ ∫ (8)
1409
This is replaced by the discrete form ∑

The second-order upwind approximations of fluxes F are based on the implicitly
treated modified Leonard’s QUICK approximations (Roache, 1998) and the total variation
diminishing (TVD) method (Hirsch, 1988).

Onset of Separation
Flow separation occurs when the streamlines no longer remain stuck to the body and cause
wakes near the surface. At a definite value of blockage ratio BR=0.2377, the wake near the
downstream of the flow is visible (Figure 2(a)) at Re=2.0 in our study. This indicates that
for numerical calculation of 2D steady flow over the smooth cylinder at blockage ratio
BR=0.23077, the Reynolds number at which the separation starts (Res) is 2.0 and the
separation angle θS is 146.557°. A point to be noted here is that the separation angle is
measured in the clockwise direction from the upstream stagnation point. Nisi and Porter
(1923) found Res=3.2. Experimental results of Taneda (1956) conjectured that Res is 5 in
the case of steady flow. Different surface roughness, blockage ratios (BR) or
methodologies of experiments are the probable causes of deviation of Res from the findings
of other researchers. Subsequent wakes are visible at Reynolds numbers 4 and 6 from
Figure 2(b) and Figure 2(c) respectively, which shows that with increasing Re, the wake
created at the separation point further develops in its form.
Figure 2. (a) Onset of separation at Re=2; development of wake at (b) Re=4, (c) Re=6;
close-up view of sections (d) A, (e) B and (f) C.
Effect of Blockage Ratio (BR) on Separation Angle
The blockage ratio (BR), which is defined as the ratio of the cylinder diameter to the height
of the computational domain, is significant in analyzing the separation phenomena,
especially at lower Reynolds numbers. The higher the BR (lower 1/BR), the lower the value
of the separation angle becomes at a definite Re, which is evident in Figure 3. Here
1410
streamlines are the thicker lines and vorticity isolines are the thin lines shown on the
upper-right quarter of the cylinder at different Re. The point S denotes the separation point,
and the respective separation angle and BR are presented at the lower left corner of Figure
3. Physical interpretation of the phenomena shown in Figure 3 can be presented as that the
acceleration effect of the flow over the cylinder becomes more significant in magnitude
when both the upper and lower walls of the computational domain approach the cylinder
surface, resulting in a subsequent increase in local Re which leads to earlier separation than
is the case with lower BR values (Sen et al., 2010). With increasing 1/BR (or increasing
height of the computational domain as the diameter of the cylinder is constant), the
difference in the separation angle between two consecutive 1/BR decreases. That means the
effect of the upper and lower wall of the computational domain on the flow over the
cylinder surface decreases with increasing the height of the computational domain (Sen et
al., 2010).
Figure 3. Effect of blockage ratio (BR) on separation angle at (a) Re=10, (b) Re=30 and (c)
Re=50. (Here streamlines are thicker lines and vorticity isolines are thin lines on the upper-
right quarter of the cylinder).
Empirical Relation between Separation Angle and Reynolds Number
The angular position of separation is a function of the Reynolds number. Figure 4 shows
the relationship of θS with Re and comparisons of the results with works of other
researchers. It is evident that the point of separation travels upstream with increasing Re,
1411
i.e. the θS decreases with increasing Re. The relationship between the wake characteristics
(or separation) and the Reynolds number has been frequently expressed in terms of
empirical equations of either 1/Re terms or Re-0.5 terms, and the latter one is preferred by
recent researchers like Wu et al. (2004), Park et al. (1998) etc. Wu et al. (2004) expressed
the θS -Re relations in the first four terms for the range of 7≤ Re ≤200 as
θS = 95.7+267.1Re-0.5- 625.9Re-1+1046.6Re-3/2 (9)
This expression yields a root-mean-square error of 0.0004. They also provided a

simpler linear empirical equation for the range of 10≤ Re≤ 200 as θS = 101.5+155.2Re-0.5
which yields a root-mean-square error of 0.0005. Sen et al. (2010) provided another
empirical equation over the range of 10≤Re≤40 and 0.04≤ BR≤0.20 as θS = 77.66-152.65
Re-0.5 where θS is measured from the rear stagnation point. If the θS were measured from the
upstream stagnation point, that equation would be θS = 102.34+152.65 Re-0.5. From the
present analysis, we found the first four terms of the relation valid for the range of
5≤Re≤50 and BR=0.23077 to be
θS = 85.406+317.46Re-0.5-445.85Re-1+86.264Re-3/2 (10)
with root-mean-square error of 0.0306 and a simple empirical equation θS = 113.21+84.165

Re-0.5 in the range of 10<Re≤50 with root-mean-square error of 0.1658. Though the
constants of the empirical equations differ from the contributions of other researchers, the
modes of the equations are the same. So the behavior of the θS -Re relation is expected to
be similar.
Figure 4. Variation of separation angle with Re for BR= 0.23077.
Separation Bubble
Irrespective of blockage and boundary conditions, the wake of a cylinder for steady flow is
closed and symmetric about the free stream flow direction, as is evident in Figure 5. As the
1412
eddies are symmetric about the horizontal axis, the lift force of the cylinder is expected to
be zero. The separation bubble length increases with increasing Re (shown in Figure 6) as
the separation point travels upstream with increasing Re, which delays the reattachment of
the separated flow at the downstream of the cylinder (Sen et al., 2010; Fornberg, 1980).
But this rise is up to a certain Re (around 280 from the results of Fornberg (1980)), then it
reduces with increasing Re. Our present analysis does not cover that region as it is limited
up to Re 50. The length L is taken from the center of the cylinder and let d be the radius of
the cylinder. The proposed linear relationship between the separation bubble length and Re
is
⁄ (11)
which is in the range of 5≤Re≤40 and for BR=0.23077 with root-mean-square error of
0.0085. Fornberg (1980), Park et al. (1998) and Sen et al. (2010) found similar results for
steady flow over a cylinder.
Figure 5. Symmetric separation bubble at (a) BR=0.23077, (b) BR=1/30 and (c) BR=1/50.
1413
Figure 6. Variation in size of separation bubble at different Re for BR=0.23077
Coefficient of Drag at Different Reynolds Number
The streamlines at different Re and blockage ratios are asymmetric about the vertical axis
(or the axis perpendicular to the flow direction), resulting in an unbalanced force
distribution between upstream and downstream of the cylinder, which leads to a certain
pressure drag towards the flow direction. For a BR, the coefficient of drag CD decreases
with increasing Re because, with increasing Re, the center of the low pressure zone moves
downstream, decreasing the suction effect of the low pressure zone on the cylinder towards
the flow direction. The low pressure zone is visible as eddies at the downstream. The
variation of CD at different Re, presented as an empirical relation of CD-Re, can be obtained
with a root-mean-square error of 0.0066 in the range of 5≤ Re≤50 and for BR=0.23077 as
CD = 0.2604+5.3232Re-0.5 (12)
This expression adheres well to the expression provided by Sen et al. (2010) for
numerical calculation of steady flow over the cylinder, which is CD = 0.26+7.89Re-0.5 in
the range of 15≤Re≤40 and for BR=0.01.
CONCLUSIONS
The separation phenomena for flow over a circular cylinder are studied numerically for
steady flow for Reynolds number up to 50. The onset of separation and subsequent
development of the initial wake, the effect of the blockage ratio on the separation angle,
the separation bubble length and variation of the separation bubble length with respect to
Re and the blockage ratio, variation of the coefficient of drag with Re etc. are extensively
studied. These phenomena are expressed numerically by empirical equations as functions
of the Reynolds number. It is evident that the point at which the separation occurs moves
upstream with increasing Re. The blockage ratio has an effect on the flow parameters and
the position of the separation point at lower Re. With decreasing blockage ratio, the
deviation of the separation angle at a definite Re decreases, i.e. the effect of the upper and
1414
lower wall on the flow over the cylinder decreases. The separation bubble formed at the
downstream of the cylinder is symmetric about the horizontal axis irrespective of Re and
the blockage ratio. The length of the separation bubble increases with increasing Re and as
the center of low pressure zone which is responsible for the separation drag moves further
downstream, which results in decrease in the drag coefficient.
REFERENCES
Fey, U., König, M., & Eckelmann, H. (1998). A new Strouhal-Reynolds-number

relationship for the circular cylinder in the range 47>Re>2x105. Physics of Fluids,
10, 1547-1549.
Fornberg, B. (1980). A numerical study of steady viscous flow past a circular cylinder.
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 98, 819-855.
Hirsch, C. (1988). Numerical computation of internal and external flows. Chichester,
England: John Wiley and Sons.
Nieuwstadt, F. & Keller, H. B. (1973). Viscous flow past circular cylinders. Journal of
Fluid Mechanics, 1, 59-71.
Nisi, H. & Porter, A. W. (1923). On eddies in air. Philosophical Magazine, 46, 754-768.
Park, J., Kwon, K., & Choi, H. (1998). Numerical solutions of flow past a circular cylinder
at Reynolds numbers up to 160. KSME International Journal, 12, 1200-1205.
Roache, P. J. (1998). Technical Reference of Computational Fluid Dynamics. Albuquerque,
New Mexico, USA: Hermosa.
Sen, S., Mittal, S., & Biswas, G. (2010). Numerical simulation of steady flow past circular
cylinder. Proceedings of the 37th National & 4th International Conference on
Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Power, IIT Madras, Chennai, India, December 16-18.
Takami, H. & Keller, H. B. (1969). Steady two-dimensional viscous flow of an
incompressible fluid past a circular cylinder. Physics of Fluids, 12(2), 51-56.
Taneda, S. (1956). Experimental investigation of the wakes behind cylinders and plates at
low Reynolds numbers. Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 11, 302-307.
Williamson, C. H. K. & Brown, G. L. (1998). A series in (1/Re) to represent the Strouhal-
Reynolds number relationship of the cylinder wake. Journal of Fluids and
Structures, 12, 1073-1085.
Williamson, C. H. K. (1996). Vortex dynamics in the cylinder wake. Annual Review of
Wu, M. H., Wen, C. Y., Ten, R. H., Weng, M. C., & Wang, A. B. (2004). Experimental
and numerical study of the separation angle for flow around a circular cylinder at
low Reynolds number. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 515, 233-260.
1415
EFFECT OF COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS MIXING ON THE ENGINE

PERFORMANCE AND EMISSIONS
T. Yusaf1,2, P. Baker1, I. Hamawand2 and M.M. Noor1

1
Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre, School of Mechanical and
Electrical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia
2
Email: Talal.Yusaf@usq.edu.au, Muhamad.MatNoor@usq.edu.au
ABSTRACT
Cleaner air quality is becoming a global concern, thus to improve the fuel and
combustion process is vital. In this paper, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis
software CFD-ACE is used to investigate the flow behavior of methane and air in a
compressed natural gas (CNG)–air mixer to be implemented in a CNG–diesel dual-fuel
stationary engine. The effect of the number of mixer holes on the mixture quality was
evaluated. The results of the 3D CFD simulation showed that the 8-hole Venturi mixer
gave superior performance compared to the 4-hole mixer. Further analysis was carried
out on the 8-hole Venturi mixer to investigate the effect of engine speed on the mass
flow rate of CNG and the equivalence air to fuel ratio (1/). The second half of the
paper presents comparative performance results between a single cylinder research
compression ignition (CI) engine fueled with a CNG–diesel system and a conventional
CI engine fueled by conventional diesel. The engine was equipped with the simulated 8-
hole Venturi mixer. The result showed a significant reduction in exhaust gas emission
components (NOx, CO and CO2) from the CNG–diesel engine compared to the
conventional diesel engine, i.e. the reduction rates were on average of 54%, 59% and
31% respectively. The average power output developed by the dual-fuel engine was
10% higher than the diesel over the power curve.
Keywords: Compressed natural gas; gas-mixer; computational fluid dynamics; dual-fuel

engine; gas emission.
INTRODUCTION
Public health related to environmental air pollution is of major concern globally.

Recently one of the major challenges relating to diesel emissions is the link between
very fine particulate exhaust emissions, PM2.5, and respiratory diseases. Studies have
found that long-term exposure to fine particulate exhaust emissions leads to a higher
risk of lung and cardiopulmonary mortality (Brook et al., 2002; Azad, Ameer Uddin, &
Alam, 2012; Kalyani Radha, Naga Sarada, Rajagopal, & Nagesh, 2011; Yanagisawa et
al., 2003; Mohanamurugan, & Sendilvelan, 2011). One of the fields of research
currently undertaken to address this problem is the use of alternative “clean” fuels. One
such fuel which has shown great promise in reducing emissions in general and fine
particulates specifically is compressed natural gas (CNG) (Das, 1995; Holmen & Ayala,
2002; Sukh, Graham, & Striebich, 2001; Mat Yasin, Mamat, Sharma, & Yusop, 2012).
The properties of CNG as an alternative fuel for internal combustion engines have been
well documented (Heywood, 1988; Bhaskar, Nagarajan, & Sampath, 2010; Sundar Raj,
& Sendilvelan, 2010; Yusaf et al., 2010; Ghobadian, Najafi, & Nayebi, 2013).
1416
Effect of Compressed Natural Gas Mixing on the Engine Performance and Emissions
Properties such as very high hydrogen to carbon atom ratio, 4:1 compared to 1.63:1 for
diesel (Ingersoll, 1996), a very high octane rating (OR) with a research octane number
(RON) in the vicinity of 130 depending on composition (Das, 1995; Ingersoll, 1996;
Kamil, Rahman, & Bakar, 2011) and wider ignition limits allowing a leaner burn (Tao
& Mei, 2004), are some of the properties that make it an attractive clean substitute for
diesel fuel. It has been demonstrated that CNG can significantly reduce combustion
emissions (Heywood, 1988; Das, 1995; Ingersoll, 1996; Xu & Furuyama, 1997; Akansu
et al., 2004; Mello et al., 2006; Li & Yau, 2008; Yusaf et al., 2009, 2010; Aziz,
Farmansyah, & Shahzad, 2010; Suthawaree et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2013, which
include particulates, but ultrafine particulates and NOx have proven to be more elusive
and have been the subject of a great deal of research effort in recent times (Sukh et al.,
2001; Holmen & Ayala, 2002; Carlucci et al., 2008; Yusaf et al., 2010).
A number of methods have been developed to reduce particulate and NOx
emissions in diesel engines. The dual-fuel with mixing process is one of these methods
(Yusaf et al., 1996; Lin & Su, 2003; Selim, 2004; Kapilan, Ashok Babu, & Reddy,
2010). Some earlier researchers designed and studied the gas mixer to mix the fuel
(Gourara et al., 2006; Noor, Wandel, & Yusaf, 2008; Ramasamy et al., 2008). One very
practical method of converting a diesel engine to accept CNG without major
modifications is to fit a CNG–diesel dual-fuel system to the engine intake and, if
necessary, reduce the compression ratio to suit the octane rating of the CNG (Yusaf et
al., 1996, 2010; Rahim, Mamat, Taib, & Abdullah, 2012). With this arrangement, the
air/fuel mixer can be used to admit a mixture of air and CNG into the combustion
chamber prior to compression (Noor et al., 2008), while a small amount of diesel fuel is
injected to ignite the air/CNG homogeneous charge and maintain combustion within the
chamber. The purpose of the Venturi mixer is to admit the CNG into the air stream in a
manner that achieves efficient mixing (Noor et al., 2008), and to regulate the air/fuel
ratio with the assistance of a butterfly valve in the CNG supply line or a pressure
regulator upstream of the mixer (Yusaf et al., 1996). With this dual-fuel system, the
proportions of CNG and diesel can be varied between the limits of straight diesel at one
extreme and a high proportion of CNG and minimal diesel at the other (Yusaf et al.,
1996, 2000, 2010). With a CNG–diesel dual-fuel system, good air/CNG mixing is
critical for efficient combustion and low emissions. The objective of the current
research is to optimize a mixer design and test it to achieve minimal emissions at a
variety of mapping points. The current work is divided into two parts:
i. In the first part, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis software (CFD-
ACE) was used to investigate the mixing performance of CNG and air in a
Venturi-type mixer. The objective is to optimize the mixer design to produce a
homogeneous air/fuel mixture. Two different designs were investigated, (a) a
Venturi with four holes at the throat and (b) one with eight holes at the throat.
The effect of engine speed on the equivalence ratio (1/) was also investigated.
ii. The second part of this paper includes experimental work using a single cylinder
research compression ignition (CI) engine. The work aimed to compare the
engine performance and emission using a CNG–diesel system of an 8-hole
Venturi mixer with the conventional CI engine with 100% diesel fuel.
1417
DESIGN OF CNG–AIR MIXER
The purpose of a CNG–air mixer is to mix a predetermined amount of CNG fuel with
air before admission into the combustion chamber. Mishra (2007) studied the flame
stability limit for CNG–air premixed combustion. Research has shown that the mixing
of co-flowing gases can be problematic (Das, 1995; Baker, 2009). Co-flowing gases can
flow side-by-side for quite some distance with very little sign of bulk mixing. The two
dominant mechanisms of gas mixing are:
i. Diffusion. Gases above absolute zero with active motion of their molecules will
obey Fick’s laws of diffusion. Due to the random motion of the molecules of
both gas species, they will gradually diffuse into each other. This process is
dependent on partial gas pressures of each species and diffusivity of the gasses,
where diffusivity is a function of gas temperature and viscosity. The higher the
temperature and the greater the concentration gradient, the greater the diffusion
flux.
ii. Bulk mixing due to turbulence within the gas flow. The greater the level of
turbulence, the greater the bulk mixing effect. Turbulence can be created in a
number of ways: the higher the flow velocity, the greater the turbulence as
indicated by the Reynolds number. Turbulence can also be achieved by flow
path geometry. Sharp bends, sharp changes in cross-sectional area and obstacles
can create shear within the flow, creating fine and large scale turbulence. The
other factor which assists mixing is residence time in the induction system. The
longer the induction runner system, the greater the opportunity for mixing. Due
to the very short residence time, air/fuel mixing relies heavily on turbulence
within the induction system and good initial air/fuel distribution within the
mixer. Typically, a diesel under most conditions will be operating on the lean
side of stoichiometric. This excess of air will favor high combustion efficiencies,
but for very lean mixtures efficient mixing is critical for complete combustion.
Figure 1. Details of the 8-hole Venturi mixer used in the CFD modeling.
1418
The mixer that was designed and constructed in the present work is a Venturi
type (Figure 1). Air enters the mixer through the main inlet and CNG enters through
small holes located at the throat at a 90 degree angle to the air flow through the Venturi.
The 4 mm diameter holes are distributed evenly circumferentially at the throat.
CFD SIMULATION
The CFD technique is based on the numerical solutions of the fundamental governing
equations of fluid dynamics, namely the continuity, momentum and energy equations.
CFD has previously been successful in solving many complex engineering problems
that are difficult to analyze experimentally (Dally, Fletcher, & Masri, 1998; Fletcher et
al., 2000; Baukal et al., 2001; Davidson, 2002; Wandel, Smith, & Klimenko, 2003;
Najiha et al., 2012a, 2012b; Noor et al, 2012a, 2012b). The CFD-ACE+ software
package was used for the current work to accomplish the job. The CFD-ACE flow
solver is a finite volume, pressure based, fully implicit code solving the 3D Navier-
Stokes equations governing fluid flow and associated physics. The code is used for the
modeling of a wide range of industrial problems involving fluid flow, heat transfer
(including radiation), turbulence, mixing of chemical species, multi-step chemistry,
two-phase flows, moving/rotating bodies and other complex physics. In the present
study, multi-block structured mesh is used in all the simulations. The assumptions made
in the simulations are as follows:
i. Turbulent flow - This involves the use of a turbulence model, which generally
requires the solution of additional transport equations. The k- transport equation
(Jones & Launder, 1972; Launder & Sharma, 1974) was used in the study. This
model was practical for many flows and relatively simple to implement and easy to
converge. Three quantities, turbulent kinetic energy (K), dissipation rate (D) and
length scale (L), are very important in specifying the turbulence characteristics at
the inlet. If K and D values are specified, the value for L is ignored. It is sometimes
more convenient to provide a length scale instead of a value for the dissipation rate.
The length scale that would be used for an internal flow is usually the inlet diameter
or height.
ii. Mixing flow without reaction - This requires the solution of additional equations for
mixture fractions or species mass fraction. In this simulation, it is assumed that
there is no reaction between air and natural gas.
iii. Incompressible - As the speed involved is reasonably low, it is adequate to assume
that the fluids are incompressible. With incompressible flow, the density of fluids is
constant and it activates a pressure correction equation.
iv. Air inlet boundary - It is assumed that the conditions at the inlet boundary are fixed.
For the fixed velocity condition, the flow solver determines the mass flow rate
applied to each face of the boundary using the velocity specification, along with the
pressure, temperature and density.
v. CNG inlet boundary - Fixed static pressure inlet boundary conditions are used at
the fuel inlets. By using this boundary condition type, the mass of the fuel inducted
into the Venturi will form part of the solution. Fuel will be inducted into the
Venturi because of the low pressure created at the throat.
vi. Outlet boundaries - The fixed pressure outlet boundary conditions serve to anchor
the system pressure and allow both inflow and outflow to satisfy continuity in the
domain. Since fixed pressure outlet boundaries can also allow inflow, it is
1419
important to provide realistic values of turbulence quantities, temperature and

mixture at these boundaries even though they are not required. These values are
only used to evaluate diffusion at the boundary.
In order to check the accuracy and consistency of the simulation, a simple case
of air-flow in the Venturi was simulated. Figure 2 shows the contours of pressure
distribution at the mid plane and the pressure variation on the axis of symmetry. In this
simulation, the inlet velocity was set at 1.5 m/s, whereas the exit pressure was set at –10
Pa. The predicted pressure at the throat is –11.8 Pa which agrees very well with the
value given by application of the Bernoulli equation.
The Effect of Number of Holes on Mixing Efficiency
It has already been stated that mixing efficiency has a big influence on combustion
efficiency. High combustion efficiency produces low exhaust gas emission components.
In a dual-fuel engine, the mixer should be designed to be able to produce a lean air-fuel
mixture, as the diesel engine is of the compression ignition type running on the lean
side. It is highly likely that a rich mixture of CNG will produce incomplete combustion
when it mixes with diesel. Incomplete combustion will produce high amounts of CO,
which is hazardous to the environment. Moreover, the excess air may lead to high NOx
emission.
Figure 2. Pressure profile along the Venturi for the simple air flow case.
The corresponding diagram for the 8-hole Venturi is shown in Figure 4. When
comparing the two Venturis, it can be seen that the mixing is more homogeneous for the
8-hole mixer. The mixing for the 4-hole Venturi is sluggish and is still mixing at exit
from the Venturi. However, for the 8-hole mixer, the concentration ratio reached
equilibrium a short distance downstream from the throat. The amount of CNG injected
in the two mixers is also not the same. For the 4-hole Venturi mixer, the total amount of
CNG injected is 0.197 g/s compared to 0.079 g/s for the 8-hole mixer, assuming they
both have the same cross-sectional area. The mixing quality for the 4- and 8- hole
Venturi has been investigated using CFD. The simulation was done for the same air
1420
inlet velocity and same outlet pressure of the real engine geometry. The inlet velocity of
the air was determined theoretically.
Figure 3. Concentration distribution of CNG for the 4-hole Venturi, inlet air velocity 1.5
m/s and outlet pressure -10 Pa. Flow is turbulent.
Figure 4. Concentration distribution of CNG for the 8-hole Venturi, inlet air velocity is
set at 1.5 m/s and outlet pressure at -10Pa. Flow is turbulent.
The inlet velocity is dependent on the engine speed. The air inlet cross-sectional
area and the total CNG cross-sectional area are constant, and the ratio was around 17:1.
In order to investigate the effect of engine speed on the air/fuel ratio and mixing
efficiency, further simulations were carried out using the 8-hole Venturi mixer. As the
1421
engine speed increases, velocity increases at the throat, increasing the depression. This
increased depression will “suck” more fuel through the Venturi, automatically
compensating for increased air flow rate through the Venturi. The distribution of CNG
concentration through the mixer for engine speeds of 250 rpm, 500 rpm, 750 rpm and
1000 rpm was simulated. The simulated results showed that as the engine speed
increases, the amount of CNG inducted into the mixer increases. Further analysis of
CNG concentration at the exit of the mixer revealed that the air-fuel ratio decreases and
hence the equivalence ratio increases with engine speed. The model showed that the
mixing efficiency improved with engine speed due to an increase in flow turbulence.
Engine Modification and Experimental Procedure
The second part of this project included modifying an existing four-stroke single-
cylinder diesel engine to be operated using a dual-fuel system. The most practical way
of converting a diesel engine to accept CNG is by installing a CNG–air mixer at the air
inlet before the combustion chamber. The engine specification is presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Engine Specification
Parameters Description
Model Y 170 vertical 4 st diesel engine
Bore and length 70 mm * 55 mm
Compression ratio 16:1
Displacement 211 cc
Maximum power 3.5 kW
Injection timing 14o btdc
Figure 5. Design of the Venturi mixer used for engine tests.
In this arrangement, the CNG will be admitted into the combustion chamber
along with the air intake charge, while the diesel is used as a pilot in maintaining the
1422
flame inside the combustion chamber. Some minor modifications were made to the
engine while the compression ratio remained unchanged. The design of the Venturi
mixer (Figure 5) used in this study was based on the CFD study as mentioned above. An
eddy-current dynamometer was used to apply variable torque to test the ability of the
engine to produce power. An exhaust gas analyzer was employed to study the
concentration of exhaust gases components. The engine test bed is shown schematically
in Figure 6.
CNG Conversion Kit
Fuel Selector
Switch To the engine
NGV Storage
Cylinder
Exhaust temperature
Solenoid Pressure
gauge
Valve
C
A
NGV Pressure L
Regulator O
Pressure sensor R
I
M
Exhaust temperature E
T
Oil Temperature E
Torque meter
R
Engine
Dynamometer
Figure 6. Schematic of experimental test bed
Power Characteristics
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
Power (kW)
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5 Diesel Dual Fuel
0.0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Speed (rpm)
Figure 7. Power characteristics of the engine at maximum load operating conditions
1423
From the results of the study it was found that the dual-fuel system produced
higher power than the diesel system, at engine speeds up to 3000 rpm. Maximum power
of 4.0 kW was achieved at 2700 rpm and dropped off as expected due to the increase in
engine friction power. This trend was observed for both dual-fuel and diesel, as shown
in Figure 7. At engine speeds beyond 3000 rpm, the power output from the diesel
proved superior to the dual-fuel engine due to increased resistance to intake flow
through the Venturi restriction and to the onset of knock, resulting from the rapid in-
cylinder pressure rise due to combustion.
Oxides of Nitrogen
Figure 8 compares the relationship between NOx emission and engine speed for diesel
and dual-fuel during maximum operating conditions. It is clear that the dual-fuel
establishes an overall superiority over the diesel, and the NOx concentration in the
exhaust gases for dual-fuel, on average, is 54% lower than diesel. However, during the
no-load operating condition this trend is generally inverted. For the no-load operating
conditions, the NOx emission was higher with the dual-fuel operation during high-speed
than with diesel operation. This is due to the higher air-fuel ratio and higher combustion
temperatures (Yusaf et al., 2000). As the speed increases, the diesel fuel engine is
running at a lower air to fuel ratio compared to dual-fuel, which means the reduction of
oxygen intake. Therefore, to reduce the NOx emissions for dual-fuel the CNG injection
should be increased. Another method is to reduce the airflow, making the mixture richer
than that under normal dual-fuel operation. This can be done by throttling the intake air
at light loads using the more sophisticated control of an electric control unit (ECU).
Another solution is to mix CNG with only part of the incoming airflow (Dong et al.,
1993). Nevertheless, in the application of power generation the no-load condition is
only a very small proportion of its operation. At maximum engine torque, @ 2000 rpm,
dual-fuel has a clear-cut superiority (less NOx), at all applied torques, over the diesel.
120
100 Dual-fuel Diesel
80
NOx (ppm)
60
40
20
0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Engine Speed (rpm)
Figure 8. Variations of NOx with engine speed when set at maximum load operating
conditions
1424
Carbon Monoxide
For the maximum operating condition, the CO for dual-fuel is 59% lower than for
diesel, as shown in Figure 9. Generally, the dual-fuel runs better than diesel at
maximum-load operating conditions. This shows that the dual-fuel can achieve better
combustion at higher loads compared to diesel. The CO emission from dual-fuel under
light operating conditions tended to be higher than that of diesel. At a constant engine
speed of 2000 rpm, the dual-fuel starts to represent an improvement only at torques
higher than 16 Nm. CO is usually attributed to a high equivalence ratio and/or poor
mixing. With the straight diesel, this would indicate that as the load increases, the
combustion approaches the smoke line as additional fuel is injected. With the dual-fuel
engine, this rapid rise in CO does not occur, indicating a more efficient combustion with
the addition of the premixed CNG/air charge, and lowering the requirement for
additional diesel fuel (Akihiro et al., 2000).
120
100
Dual-fuel Diesel
80
CO (ppm)
60
40
20
0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Speed (rpm)
Figure 9. Variations of CO with engine under maximum load operating conditions
Carbon Dioxide
CO2 concentration in the exhaust gases is mainly a function of the chemical

composition of the fuel and its hydrogen to carbon ratio, and the efficient conversion of
CO to CO2 via the chemical kinetic reaction path. The hydrogen to carbon ratio for
diesel fuel is 1.8:1 compared to 4:1 for methane (the main component of CNG). When
the theoretical chemical combustion equations at stoichiometric are calculated for the
combustion of CH4 and CnH1.8n, then it works out that for every kilogram of diesel
burned, 3.18 kg of CO2 is produced and for every kilogram of CH4 burned, 2.74 kg of
CO2 is produced. This represents a theoretical reduction of 13.84% (mass basis) for a
100% combustion efficiency at stoichiometric. Test results for maximum operating
conditions (Figure 10) show that the dual-fuel system gave consistently lower CO2
emission at maximum operating conditions throughout the entire speed range, with
greater divergence at higher speeds. At the maximum operating condition, the dual-fuel
gave an average of 31% less CO2 emission than diesel, as shown in Figure 10. On the
other hand, the no-load operating conditions resulted in 5% reduction in CO2 emission
when using the dual-fuel compared to the diesel. At the constant engine speed of 2000
1425
rpm, dual-fuel gave lower CO2 emission at all the tested torques with an average
reduction of 18% compared to diesel. The results obtained in most cases returned better
than theoretical reductions. This could be due to low conversion from CO to CO2, but
the above results of CO would negate this. Another reason for the extra low reduction in
CO2 emissions could be inefficient combustion due to a high equivalence ratio of the
straight diesel system, resulting in higher CO and CO2 emissions. The foregoing results
would tend to support this position.
8
CO2%
7
2
Dual-fuel Diesel
1
0
1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Speed (rpm)
Figure 10. CO2 emissions as a function of engine speed for dual-fuel and diesel at
maximum-load operating conditions operating conditions
CONCLUSIONS
A CNG–air Venturi mixer for a CNG–diesel dual-fuel stationary engine has been
designed using 3D CFD analysis. Venturi mixers with four and eight holes have been
simulated. It was found that the 8-hole Venturi mixer gives better mixing performance
than the 4-hole mixer. This study shows that the conversion of an existing small single-
cylinder stationary diesel engine to a dual-fuel system can be done with minimum
modification. Tests showed that the emission of CO2 consistent with theory was less for
dual-fuel than for diesel at all operating conditions. Maximum-load operating conditions
yielded the best results, with 31%, compared to only 5% at no-load. At maximum load,
both NOx and CO emissions were less for dual-fuel compared to diesel by 54% and
59% respectively. However, at no-load operating conditions tests showed that diesel has
an advantage over the dual-fuel. It has been convincingly demonstrated that a power
generator CI engine fitted with a CNG dual-fuel system will have a positive impact on
its environment due to a sizeable reduction in exhaust emissions with little or no loss of
performance. The Venturi mixer system was proven to be a simple but effective method
of converting a diesel engine generation set to dual- fuel.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) for
providing financial support and laboratory facilities.
1426
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1429
EFFECT OF AGING TREATMENT ON THE MICROSTRUCTURES AND

HARDNESS OF Fe-Ni-Cr SUPERALLOY
J. Ridhwan1*, E. Hamzah2, M.Z. Selamat1, Z. Zulfattah1, M.H.M. Hafidzal1

1
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka
*E-mail: ridhwan@utem.edu.my
2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
81310 UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru
ABSTRACT
Aging treatment was conducted on Fe-Ni-Cr superalloy to observe its effect on the
microstructures and hardness of the material. Solution treatments were carried out at
900oC, 975oC, 1050oC, and 1125oC followed by water quenching. The samples were
further treated with a double aging treatment at 720oC and 650oC for 4 hours and 12
hours respectively. Materials characterization techniques such as SEM, XRD, and
optical microscopy were used to analyze the heat-treated samples. The Fe-Ni-Cr
superalloy formed mainly a dendritic austenitic structure with Cr23C6 precipitated along
the grain boundaries. Increase in solution treatment temperature results in dissolution of
chromium carbide, coarser grain, and lower hardness for non-aged samples. Double
aging treatment produced more chromium carbide, higher hardness, but no apparent
change in grain size. Neither quenching nor aging treatments caused any phase
transformation. The highest hardness value of 220.4 Hv was recorded for the sample
solution treated at 1125oC for 2 hours and water quenched, followed by 2-step aging at
temperature 720oC and 650oC for 4 hours and 12 hours respectively, and air cooled.
Keywords: Fe-Ni-Cr superalloy; solution treatment; aging; precipitation.
INTRODUCTION
Heat resistant material is one type of superalloy that is extensively used in engineering
design especially in high temperature applications. The high temperature strength of all
superalloys is based on the principle of a stable face-centered cubic (FCC) matrix
combined with either precipitation or strengthening and solid-solution strengthening
(ASM Handbook, 1991). Iron-nickel-chromium (Fe-Ni-Cr) alloy is one type of
superalloy which is being used as heat resistant material. The combination of iron,
nickel, and chromium provides the characteristics needed for this material to operate in
a high temperature environment. Aging treatment prior to solution treating is one of the
most common treatments used for superalloys (Moniruzzaman, Rakib, & Matin, 2012).
Usually solution treating will be the first step in the heat treatment process. The
temperature for solution treating depends on the desired properties. Higher solution-
treating temperatures will result in some grain growth and more extensive dissolving of
carbides. Lower solution-treating temperatures dissolve only a small amount of carbide
and without grain growth (ASM Handbook, 1991). After solution treating, the material
will usually undergo quenching. The purpose of this quenching is to maintain, at room
temperature, the supersaturated solid solution obtained during solution treating.
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Effect of Aging Treatment on the Microstructures and Hardness of Fe-Ni-Cr Superalloy
Quenching permits a finer age-hardening precipitate size. Cooling methods commonly

used include oil and water quenching as well as various forms of air or inert gas cooling
(ASM Handbook, 1991). The temperature for solution treating and the type of
quenching medium depends on the property desired on the metal via the treatment
process. Rapid cooling will decrease the diffusion rate while slow cooling will increase
the diffusion rate of the material, which will result in different types of microstructure
according to the present phase in the structure. Prior to quenching, the dissolve carbides
will be in a metastable state where aging treatment is conducted to promote
homogeneous carbide precipitation in matrix as the hardening phase. After aging, the
resulting microstructure consists of large grains that contain the aging phases and a
heavy concentration of carbides in the grain boundaries.
HEAT TREATMENT
In order to study the effects of aging treatment on the microstructure and hardness of
Fe-Ni-Cr superalloy, the types of heat treatments selected were solution treating
followed by aging. Table 1 shows the temperature and time for the respective heat
treatment. Four samples underwent solution treating followed by double aging while
another four underwent solution treatment (water quenched) only in order to serve as
controlled samples.
Table 1. Double aging treatment.
Solution treating Reheating Aging

temperature (oC) temperature(oC) temperature
for 2 h for 4 hour for 12 h
(water quench) (air cool) (air cool)
900 720 650
975 720 650
1050 720 650
1125 720 650
All samples prepared for heat treatment were cut into 10 x 10 x 10 mm

dimensions. The cutting process was conducted using an abrasive cutter with a
continuous supply of coolant in order to avoid microstructure change from excessive
heat. The heat-treated samples were analyzed by several materials characterization
techniques: optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive
x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), x-ray diffraction (XRD), volume fraction analysis and a
hardness test. As for metallurgical investigation, the specimen was mounted using a hot
mounting process. The mounted specimen then underwent a surface finishing process
before being inspected under an image analyzer and SEM. The surface finishing process
included grinding by using abrasive silicon carbide paper with an increasing number
sequence, started from 240, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1200, and 2400. Once grinding was
completed, where only a soft scratch was detected on the surface, the specimen
underwent a polishing process with alumina solution in order to produce a deformation-
free surface which was flat, scratch-free, and had a mirror appearance. Finally, etchant
was applied to the specimen surface to reveal the microstructure of the specimen. The
etchant used was a combination of 45 ml glycerol, 30 ml hydrochloric acid, and 15 ml
nitric acid.
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Ridhwan et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1430-1441
A hardness test was conducted using a Vickers Hardness machine on the

specimen before and after the heat treatment process. The load used was 30 kgf and
indentation duration was 15 seconds. In order to obtain an accurate and reliable result,
five indentations were made in each specimen and the average reading was taken. Grain
size is the diameter of individual grains on the microstructure of the material. However,
Fe-Ni-Cr superalloy has a dendritic structure, so the grain size was measured according
to dendritic arm spacing (DAS). Technically, the measurement is conducted
perpendicularly along the dendrite and DAS is calculated by dividing the total length by
the number of dendrites intercepted. The average value was calculated from 15
measurements on different dendrites. The volume fraction of the carbide was measured
using image analyzer software, Omnimet. SEM micrographs were analyzed by
measuring the area fraction of carbide on the microstructure. The area fraction is the
fraction of the carbide area with respect to the matrix area. According to ASTM E1245-
03, the relationship between the volume fraction and area fraction is as follows:
(1)
where
VV = the volume fraction

AA = the area fraction of the inclusion or constituent
Ai = the area of the detected feature
AT = the measurement area (field area)
Microstructure Investigation
Optical micrographs of water quenched and aged samples show that the microstructure
retains an austenitic dendritic structure prior to heat treatment. However, grain
coarsening was observed as the solution treatment temperature increased. Figures 1 and
2 show the optical micrographs of water quenched and aged samples. As shown in
Figure 1, the austenitic dendritic structure was observed on water quenched samples as
the solution temperature increased from 900oC to 1125oC. In terms of dendritic size, a
slight increase of dendritic arm spacing was observed as the temperature increased from
900oC to 1125oC. Meanwhile, the aged samples shown in Figure 2 also show similar
phenomena in terms of microstructural changes and dendritic coarsening. This finding is
similar to that of Wang (2009). The grain size measurement of Fe-Ni-Cr superalloy was
conducted by measuring the dendritic arm spacing (DAS). Figure 3 shows the DAS of
the heat-treated samples. Both water quenched and aged samples show an increasing
trend of DAS as the temperature increases. This is because the grain size is controlled
by a thermally activated process through the migration of the grain boundary, where the
free energy of the boundaries acts as the major driving force for grain growth (Koul &
Pickering, 1982). Thus, an increase in solution temperature provides more free energy
to the boundary, which promotes grain growth and results in grain coarsening. SEM
micrographs for both heat treatments show the presence of chromium carbide, Cr23C6
which is determined by EDX analysis. Figure 4 shows the EDX analysis of Cr23C6.
SEM micrographs of the heat treated samples are shown in Figures 5 and 6.
Figure 1. Optical micrographs of water quenched samples.
Figure 2. Optical micrographs of aged samples.
1433
(a) (b)
Figure 3. Effect of temperature on DAS of (a) water quenched and (b) aged samples.
Figure 4. EDX analysis of Cr23C6.
Cr23C6 Matrix
Figure 5. SEM micrographs of water quenched samples.

As shown in Figures 5 and 6, Cr23C6 compound was observed on the

microstructure for both water quenched and aged samples. This compound was
identified as the dark phase on the micrograph, which is mainly concentrated in the
grain boundary area. Furthermore, area fraction analysis was conducted using an image
analyzer to obtain an accurate volume fraction of the carbide phase by using Eq. (1).
The amount of carbide phase observed for the water quenched samples was decreased
(dissolved from the grain boundary) as the solution temperature increased. This finding
is similar to that observed by Jacuinde et al. (2003). The reason for this behavior is that
at higher temperatures (above 1000oC), austenite can dissolve higher carbon contents,
so that the amount of secondary carbides is also minor (Jacuinde et al., 2003). However,
the amount of carbide observed for aged samples differed slightly, and at a temperature
of 1125oC, the quantity of carbide phase observed is higher than at 1050oC. This might
be due to precipitation of carbide during aging after being dissolved extensively at high
temperature (1125oC). According to Davis (1997), after the carbide is dissolved, the
matrix becomes a supersaturated solid solution, thus, during aging the precipitation of
this phase will occur.
Figure 6. SEM micrographs of aged samples.
Hardness
The hardness results of the water quenched samples are shown in Figure 7. Generally,
the hardness value decreased as the solution temperature increased. This finding is
similar to that observed by Wang (2009). Figure 7(a) shows the effects of grain size on
the hardness, where grain coarsening due to increases in temperature lowers the
hardness of the material. This is because grain coarsening reduces the grain boundary
strengthening effect. This finding is similar to that of Zhang et al. (2008). Meanwhile, as
the grain size decreases, there is more build-up of dislocation at the grain edge. Since it
requires a lot of energy to move dislocation to other grains, this dislocation will build up
1435
along the boundary, which increases the strength of the alloy (Zhang et al., 2008). This
strengthening theory is also known as Hall-Petch strengthening. Thus, Hall-Petch
strengthening is reduced as the grain size increases. On the other hand, carbide content
also affects the hardness of the material. Figure 7(b) shows the effect of carbide on the
hardness. The curves show that decrease in carbide content causes a decrease in the
hardness of the material. This finding is similar to that observed by Jacuinde et al.
(2003). The reason for this behavior is the presence of carbide precipitates, which
increase the yield strength of the material by blocking the dislocation motion (Jacuinde
et al., 2003), since dislocation can only move through this particle by either shearing or
climbing. Thus, this interruption in dislocation motion increases the strength of the
material.
(a) (b)
Figure 7. Effect of temperature on (a) hardness and DAS of water quenched samples;
(b) hardness and volume fraction of chromium carbide (Cr23C6) of water quenched
samples.
Hardness curves of the aged samples are shown in Figure 8. The curve shows a
different trend from the water quenched samples. As the temperature increases from
900oC to 975oC, the hardness value slightly decreases. However, as the temperature
increases to 1050oC, the hardness value increases. Then, as the temperature reaches
1125oC, the hardness value increases markedly, reaching 220.4 Hv. The mechanical
strength achieved at this temperature is the highest value obtained as compared with the
other heat treatment. Figure 8(a) shows the effect of grain size on the hardness of the
material. It can be seen that the grain coarsening characteristic did not reflect the unique
increases in the hardness behavior, so the effect of carbide content on the hardness of
aged samples was analyzed. Figure 8(b) shows the effect of carbide content on the
hardness of the material. It shows that decrease in carbide content from 900oC to 975oC
produces a slight decrease in hardness. However, a slight increase in hardness was
observed as the carbide content continued to decrease. As the temperature increased
from 1050oC to 1125oC, an increase in carbide content, followed by a remarkable
increase in hardness, was observed. The increase in hardness at a temperature of 1125oC
can be related to the increase in carbide volume fraction prior to the precipitation
hardening process. Even though the carbide content was slightly lower compared to the
sample heated at 900oC, the carbide precipitates at this temperature were finer. The
reason for this behavior is that a large amount of carbide had been dissolved as the
heating temperature reached 1125oC, then the aging process promoted the carbide to
precipitate but in a controlled atmosphere, which results in finely dispersed particles of
carbide precipitates in the matrix. Stallybrass et al. (2004) explained that this form of
carbide can give a better strengthening effect than coarser carbide. In addition, the
increment in grain size from 1050oC to 1125oC was only around 4μm, which did not
have a significant effect in reducing its strength. However, at a temperature of 1050oC, a
decrease in carbide content still caused an increase in the hardness value. It should be
noted that the sample heated at 1050oC also shows a certain amount of carbide
dissolution. Thus, prior to aging, this sample also experienced fine carbide precipitation,
which increased the strength regardless of the lower amount of carbide. This is because
the carbide morphology plays an important role in terms of the strengthening effect, as
stated previously by Stallybrass et al. (2004). Meanwhile, at temperatures of 900oC and
975oC, carbide dissolution was hardly observed in the microstructure. Thus, the
precipitation strengthening effect did not have a significant effect at these two
temperatures. The hardness value tends to decrease prior to the decrease in carbide
content and increase in grain size.
(a) (b)
Figure 8. Effect of temperature on (a) hardness and DAS of aged samples, and (b)
hardness and volume fraction of chromium carbide (Cr23C6) of aged samples
Effect of Aging on Quenched Samples
Discussing the effects of aging on quenched samples after solution treatment, a critical
comparison is made between water quenched and aged samples. Figure 9 shows the
effect of aging on the grain size, carbide content, and hardness. As shown in
Figure 9(a), there is no apparent difference in grain size after the aging process. This is
because during aging, the energy supplied might not be sufficient to promote migration
of the grain boundary to cause grain growth (Civjan et al., 1972). On the other hand,
grain growth is also promoted by dissolution of pinning particles from the grain
boundary, which is unlikely to occur during aging; instead, carbide precipitation will
take place (Civjan et al., 1972). Thus, even if grain growth takes place during aging,
which might be due to extremely long heating time, the amount will be so little that it
will be hardly noticeable in the microstructure analysis. Figure 9(b) shows that aged
samples showed a consistently higher amount of chromium carbide than water
quenched samples. This shows that the aging process can markedly increase the amount
of chromium carbide. However, as discussed previously, at a temperature of 1125oC the
aged sample showed a unique increase in carbide content compared to the 1050oC
sample. Here, the reason can be analyzed in further detail as a reflection of the amount
of carbide dissolved right after the solution treatment process and before aging is
conducted. As shown in the water quenched samples, at a temperature of 1125oC, the
amount of carbide was very low at about 5.7% compared to the as-received alloy which
1437
had about 12.6% carbide content. This means that about 6.9% of the carbide dissolved
during the solution treatment at this temperature. Thus, the percentage of carbide
dissolution at this temperature was higher than at other temperatures. Meanwhile, the
high amount of metastable dissolved carbide in the water quenched condition had
precipitated well after aging. This might be the possible cause of the increased carbide
content in the aged sample at 1125oC solution temperature. However, it can also be seen
that at temperatures of 900oC and 975oC, the increase in carbide content was quite high
compared to 1050oC, even though the carbide dissolution was lower due to insufficient
heat. The reason for this behavior was that the increase in carbide content was actually
due to the growth of pre-existing carbide after aging, which was undesirable in terms of
mechanical properties (Stallybrass et al., 2004). However, as the temperature increased
to 1050oC, more carbide started to dissolve, as shown in the SEM micrograph of the
water quenched sample. According to Ridhwan et al. (2013), increase in solution
temperature could lead to higher carbide dissolution from the matrix. Thus, the increase
in carbide content at a temperature of 1050oC was mostly due to carbide precipitation
rather than carbide growth, which explained the small increase in carbide content.
Nevertheless, the presence of this newly precipitated carbide is in the form of fine and
dispersed carbide, which is desirable in terms of mechanical properties.
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 9. Effect of aging on (a) grain size, (b) carbide content, and (c) hardness of Fe-
Ni-Cr superalloy
In terms of hardness, Figure 9(c) shows that, as the temperature increases from
900 C to 975oC, the hardness value of water quenched samples is higher than the aged
o
samples. However, as the temperature increases to 1050oC and 1125oC, the aged
samples showed higher hardness than the water quenched samples which are in the
solution heat-treated state. At temperatures below 1050oC, the higher hardness of the
water quenched samples can be attributed to the finer precipitate of pre-existing carbide
compared to the aged samples, which have a coarser carbide morphology. Meanwhile,
at temperatures of 1050oC and 1125oC, the lower hardness value of the water quenched
samples is due to high carbide dissolution which causes extremely low content of
carbide precipitate. At the same time, the increase in hardness in the aged samples is
due to the presence of finely dispersed particles of carbide precipitate which further
increase the hardness of the samples.
XRD Analysis
On the other hand, XRD analyses were also conducted to identify the phase
transformation after aging. Figure 10 shows the XRD patterns of aged samples and
water quenched samples. No new peak is observed due to the aging treatment. At the
same time, the pre-existing peak can still be observed after the aging process. This
shows that no new phase was being formed and no pre-existing phase was transformed
prior to the aging treatment. This is because the as-received material had shown
austenitic structure before the aging process, which has high stability and is not likely to
transform into another phase under the aging treatment. This behavior is similar to that
found by Gheno et al. (2011).
Figure 10. XRD pattern of water quenched and aged samples.
CONCLUSIONS
The effects of aging treatment on the microstructure and hardness of Fe-Ni-Cr

superalloy have been investigated. Microstructure investigation and hardness tests have
been conducted as well. Analysis of the results leads to a few major conclusions. In
terms of solution treatment, increase in temperature leads to increase in grain size but
reduces the chromium carbide, Cr23C6 content and the hardness value. In addition, for
1439
non-aged samples, grain coarsening behavior reduces the hardness value due to its low
grain boundary strengthening effect. Higher amounts of fine chromium carbide in
microstructure increase the hardness value due to the precipitation strengthening effect,
while lower amounts of fine chromium carbide reduce the hardness value. Aging
treatment increases the amount of chromium carbide, which further increases the
hardness value of the alloy by precipitation strengthening. The highest average hardness
value of 220.4 Hv and tensile strength 743.1 MPa was recorded on the sample solution
treated at 1125oC for 2 hours (water quenched) and aged at 720oC (air cooled) then
650oC (air cooled) for 4 hours and 12 hours respectively. The XRD pattern shows that
neither phase formation nor phase transformation was observed during all the series of
heat treatments conducted.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author wishes to thank Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) for providing
the opportunity and financial support to conduct this research activity. The author would
also like to acknowledge the support from Nuclear Malaysia for providing research
material, as well as the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for providing the financial support and facilities under
the Research University Grant Vote No. 04J95.
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1441
AN INVESTIGATION OF ACOUSTIC EMISSION SIGNAL ATTENUATION

FOR MONITORING OF PROGRESSIVE FAILURE IN FIBERGLASS
REINFORCED COMPOSITE LAMINATES
Z.M. Hafizi1,2, J. Epaarachchi1and K.T. Lau1

1
Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites
Faculty of Engineering and Surveying
The University of Southern Queensland
Toowoomba, 4350, Australia
2
Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Malaysia
Corresponding e-mail: mohdhafizibin.zohari@usq.edu.au
ABSTRACT
Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) laminates have a high damping characteristic
which can retard ultra-high frequency guided wave signals from propagating along the
plate. Owing to this, the identification of an effective area for sensor location is
essential. Appropriate signal processing, including wavelet analysis was done, in order
to observe the details of an acoustic emission (AE) signal which was emitted at a
distance from it source. This study reveals that it is necessary to consider the near field
and far field effects of AE signal attenuation, in particular, to determine a composite's
micro failure characterization. Consequently, this attenuation behavior was used to
develop the non-velocity based source mapping to monitor the progressive failure in
composite laminates. This paper details the outcomes of the signal energy attenuation
method with an improved algorithm for progressive failure monitoring in fiberglass
reinforced composite laminates and the 'effective length' for better AE detection.
Keywords: SHM; GFRP composite; acoustic emission; signal attenuation; wavelet

analysis.
INTRODUCTION
Acoustic emission (AE) is a popular non-destructive technique (NDT) and its

applications have increased substantially in structural health monitoring (SHM). During
the past few decades, many successful research works have shown the remarkable
capability of AE for early damage detection of composite materials (Mizutani et al.,
2000; Eaton, Pullin, & Holford, 2012; Trojanov et al., 2011). Due to the more
complicated design and usage of composite materials in engineering structures
nowadays, the evaluation method of AE for health monitoring also needs to be
improved. Moreover, there is a significant challenge for a reliable AE based SHM
system for composite structures due to the anisotropic nature of the materials. Much
research has been undertaken to create more reliable quantitative AE for the SHM of
composite structures (Scholey et al., 2010; Scholey et al., 2009). A recent study proved
modal acoustic emission (MAE) to be the preferred method for source location
detection and failure characterization. MAE has become the preferred method as it gives
more accurate results than traditional AE has been shown to give. This concept fully
utilizes the theory of wave propagation in solid media (e.g. beam, thin plates etc.) and
1442
An Investigation of Acoustic Emission Signal Attenuation for Monitoring of Progressive Failure in Fiberglass
Reinforced Composite Laminates
signal processing such as spectral analysis and time-frequency analysis. MAE offers a
better theoretical background for acoustic emission analysis, as it treats AE signals as
mechanical waves which propagate through thin structures in a variety of modes. Plate
wave theory and Lamb wave analysis for thin plates can clarify the existence of these
wave modes in AE signals, as has been well explained in many previous works (Jeong,
2001; Jeong & Jang, 2000; Prosser et al., 1995). According to Lamb’s wave theory for
thin plates, two major wave modes exist; extensional and flexural wave mode. The
propagating waves have a dispersive characteristic, where different frequency
components travel with different velocities (Lam et al., 2009), which can be presented
through their dispersion curves. In a typical burst type AE waveform, the extensional
wave mode usually propagates with higher velocity than the flexural mode (Prosser,
1991). Furthermore, the extensional wave mode can also be easily recognized by
observation as its spectrum has a higher frequency component than the flexural mode.
However, in high damping composites materials such as glass fiber resin polymer,
higher frequency components may experience greater attenuation rates than the lower
frequency components, which may lead to inaccurate information especially in the study
of failure characterization. For instance, consider the case of matrix cracking in
composite plates which was found to be dominated by the extensional mode (Scholey et
al., 2010). If AE transducers are not placed at the appropriate distance from the source,
the strength of the extensional waves might be attenuated and lost along their way to the
sensors, thus losing the information. As far as the author is concerned, this is a gray area
yet to be investigated. Research work on the optimal distance of the transducer from the
crack is an essential requirement for the development of an AE based damage detection
system.
Consequently the attenuation characteristics of AE signals can also be used as a
location mapping tool. The accurate detection of a crack’s location from a transducer
significantly improves the ability to estimate crack propagation velocity and crack
orientation. As such, location detection or damage localization in composite materials is
a significant and developing research area. These research developments are motivated
by the major drawbacks in the application of commercial AE systems for composite
materials. There are many AE source location methods available for isotropic materials.
The zonal method is one common AE source location finding method, but it uses a
comparatively large number of sensors (Miller & Hill, 2005; Prosser, 2002). Time of
arrival (TOA) is another method which is frequently used for AE source location. It
uses two AE sensors to locate an AE source in a linear direction and three sensors for a
2D plate. Most recently, an MAE-based source mapping method was developed [Jiao et
al., 2006; Jiao et al., 2008] and the founders claimed that it produces improved
accuracy. Furthermore, this technique makes single sensor linear source location
detection possible (Jiao et al., 2004; Oskouei & Ahmadi, 2008).
Most current source mapping techniques are dependent on the accurate
measurement of wave velocity. Due to the varying wave velocity in composite
materials, this phenomenon has not been properly investigated and remains an unsolved
problem in the AE field. As a consequence, the next logical step is to investigate the use
of non-velocity based approaches for AE source location detection. This paper details
significant research work that has been conducted on AE source mapping techniques
using the non-velocity based method. Fundamentally, the proposed method is based on
an energy attenuation strategy in composite materials that is explained further in the
next section. The modal study (MAE) of AE signals is also presented for a better
understanding of effective area detection in high damping composite plates.
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Hafizi et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1442-1456
ANALYSIS
Modal Acoustic Emission
In MAE, the knowledge of Lamb’s wave theory for thin plates is necessary. In recent
decades, many studies have utilized the Lamb wave theory for non-destructive testing
(NDT) purposes, especially for ultrasonic inspection of thin plates (Lam et al., 2009;
Tsuda, 2006; Diamanti & Soutis, 2010). The Lamb wave can be used for NDT in two
fields: first, in wave phase velocity, thickness calculation and elastic properties
determination; and second in fault or damage detection (Diamanti & Soutis, 2010)]. The
dispersion curves of symmetric, S and asymmetric, A modes can be derived from
Lamb’s characteristic equation (Lam et al., 2009)
(1)
for symmetric modes, and
(2)
for asymmetric modes, where √ ⁄ , √ ⁄ and

⁄ . The parameters , and , are the plate thickness, angular
frequency, wave number, phase velocity, longitudinal wave velocity and transverse
wave velocity respectively. Meanwhile, the relation between the group velocity, and
phase velocity, can be expressed as (Lam et al., 2009)
(3)
Group velocity
(km/s)
Frequency
Figure 1. Group velocity dispersion curves for the specimen.
An example of dispersion curves for glass fiber composite plates, which is

calculated using the Lamb wave equation, is shown in Figure 1 (density 1600 kg/m3 and
1444
thickness 2.9 mm). Note that, for easier analysis, AE researchers were interested in a
frequency range which contains only fundamental wave modes S0 and A0, which usually
appear in a lower frequency range (Hafizi et al., 2012). For this purpose, an additional
signal filtering process is required to ensure that only fundamental wave modes are
captured by sensors. Besides the Lamb’s wave analysis, MAE also requires the signal’s
time frequency information. For this particular purpose, continuous wavelet transform
(CWT) provides better accuracy for both time and frequency information compared
with the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) method (Daubechies, 1990). Several
researchers interested in MAE have successfully used wavelet analysis, either for source
location (Jiao et al., 2004; Jiao et al., 2006; Jiao et al., 2008; Oskouei et al., 2009;
Hamstad et al., 2002) or for failure characterization (Ni & Iwamoto, 2002; Marec et al.,
2008). However, Hafizi et al. (2012) have shown the suitability of source mapping using
STFT in their work.
The CWT of a function, as defined by Chui (1992), can be expressed as
∫ ( ) (4)
√
where and the superscript * indicates the complex conjugate. The term is the
basic wavelet. The parameter in Eq. (4) stands for the scale of the basic wavelet and is
related to signal frequency. Meanwhile, the parameter stands for the shift or position
of the basic wavelet and it can be related to the time of the signal. Plotting the wavelet
transform magnitude on the axis gives the time-frequency view of a signal with
improved time and frequency resolution compared to STFT.
Figure 2. The shape of the Morlet wavelet.
There are many basic wavelets available and the appropriate wavelet choice will
give better results. In this study, the wavelet used was the Morlet wavelet (as shown in
Figure 2) which is identical to the Gabor wavelet (Simonovski & Boltezar, 2003) and
has a similar shape to an impulse (Lin, 2001). It can be defined as (Lin, 2001;
Simonovski & Boltezar, 2003)
⁄ ⁄
(5)
The scale, s can be related to the frequency by this relation:
1445
⁄ (6)
where the coefficient can also be written as the wavelet center frequency,
depending on the sampling frequency and the selected minimum scale, as explained
by Simonovski and Boltezar (2003).
Signal Energy Equation
Generally, AE waves propagate in the ultrasonic range; and in an ultrasonic wave study,
it is necessary to include the effect of wave signal attenuation. In general, the sound
wave attenuates with this relation (Shull & Tittmann, 2002),
(7)
where is the amplitude of the propagating wave at the initial point or defect source.
The amplitude is the decreased amplitude as the wave travels in the distance from
the source or initial location. The value refers to the attenuation coefficient of the
wave traveling in the -direction, and the dimension can be written as nepers/length.
The same model can be applied for the signal energy attenuation of AE signals
propagation on thin composite plates, which can be expressed as a universal model:
| |
(8)
where refers to the location of the source, is the location of sensor , is the
energy at the source, is energy at sensor and is the decay constant. Equation (8)
can be used for linear source location detection using a set of two sensors. In the case of
value being unknown, three sensors are needed and it can be expressed as
| | | |
( ⁄ ) | | | |
(9)
EXPERIMENTATION
Three test setups were designed and prepared for signal energy attenuation, non-velocity
source mapping and effective detection length study. For this purpose, 400 mm × 400
mm × 2.9 mm GI/epoxy resin laminates with a stacking sequence [ ] were fabricated
using the hand lay-up method. The plates’ signal energy attenuation rates were plotted
for several different angles; , , and , by breaking the pencil lead at several
points along the given angles in a straight line, starting from one edge of the composite
specimen towards the other edge. As an example, Figure 3 shows the setup for the
test. Note that the angle refers to a line along the glass fiber. For data acquisition,
two single-channel Physical Acoustic Corporation (PAC) AE Node Systems were used.
Each of them was connected with two different types of AE sensors (from PAC) which
were NANO-30 with working frequency 100 kHz to 700 kHz (channel 1) and with
resonance frequency 60 kHz (channel 2).
In the meantime, AE Win software was used to control the acquisition process.
For instance, all the acquired signals were filtered in the range of 20 kHz to 1000 kHz
1446
because the fundamental wave propagation mode was targeted in this study. The
sampling rate for acquisition was set up to 5 Mega samples per second and the threshold
was set to 45 dB.
Figure 3. Arrangement for attenuation rate study.
As a validation of the non-velocity source mapping approach, a simple test was

done by applying a pencil lead break as an artificial AE source at several locations on
the specimen. For each location, AE signals were acquired at three places (A, B and C)
as indicated in Figure 4. Note that only one NANO-30 sensor and a single-channel AE
node for data acquisition was used. This procedure was repeated for angles , ,
and . All signals were recorded and the linear source mapping was determined using
Equation 9, as explained in the next section.
Figure 4. Diagram for non-velocity source mapping study.
To study the effective length of AE detection, the same specimen was cut into a
smaller size: 250 mm × 25 mm (250 mm length is in the fiber direction). Four single-
channel AE Node systems were combined to create a four-channel AE system for data
acquisition, and the full setup was as shown in Figure 5. All AE Nodes were set to
sample AE data at 1 Mega sample per second. One end of the specimen was clamped to
a support, while the other end was screwed to a shaker to form a simply supported beam
condition. Four AE sensors were attached to the sample (numbered as in Figure
5) and the pencil lead break test was done to the right of the sensor labeled "1". Note
that sensor 4 was located 205 mm from the shaker. Later, a 100 kHz vibration was
applied to the specimen through the shaker.
1447
Figure 5. Setup for effective length study.
Two types of AE sensor were used in this work: broadband, NANO-30 and resonance
frequency sensor, . Figure 6 shows the resulting comparison of AE signal capture
for each sensor with the same AE source (pencil lead break). With respect to the MAE
study, a broadband sensor is better due to its ability to receive more frequency content
from the AE source, as seen in Figure 6(c) and (d), therefore giving accurate
information for composites’ early failure characterization. However, the total signal
energy that was acquired from the broadband sensor was far less than the total energy of
AE signals obtained through the resonance frequency sensor. Although the total energy
was different, it didn’t affect the attenuation pattern of the AE signals’ energy, as
indicated in Figure 7.
Figure 6. Comparison of AE signals captured by broadband and resonance frequency

sensor.
1448
Figure 7. Energy attenuation of AE signals using (a) broadband sensor and (b)
resonance frequency sensor for test angle .
Non-Velocity Based Source Mapping
Figure 8 illustrates the decay rate of the AE signals’ energy in the composite specimen
for four different test angles. It can be observed that the AE signals’ energy attenuation
for the specimen follows the general model of ultrasonic wave attenuation; the
exponential pattern is as Eq. (7), regardless of the test angles used. The R-square
showed quite high values and the average decay constant for all test angles was 0.006.
However, a new attenuation pattern can be proposed from the result in Figure 8: a
logarithmic pattern. The dotted line in Figure 8 shows the logarithmic trend line, and the
R-square values were increased for all angles. Based on this, a new universal model for
signal energy attenuation for the source location detection algorithm is proposed:
(10)
where is the logarithmic decay constant. For three sets of linearly arranged
transducers, the equation can be expressed as
| |⁄| |
(11)
| |⁄| |
or can be written as
| | | | | | (12)
where ⁄ . Equation (12) was used as an improved non-velocity

based linear source localization. Note that, since the limitation of this proposed
algorithm is , the sensor location must not be located very close to the expected
defect area.
1449
Figure 8. (a) Attenuation rate for (b) attenuation rate for , (c) attenuation rate for,
and (d) attenuation rate for . The solid lines are the exponential trend line while
the dotted lines are the logarithmic trend line.
(a) (b)
Figure 9. (a) Results comparison between exponential [Exp] and logarithmic attenuation
model [Log]; (b) Comparison between logarithmic model [Ln], exponential model [e],
actual location and commercial AE tool [velocity].
The results for the source mapping validation are shown in Figure 9 (a). All the
plots are randomly scattered very close to the actual source for both models: exponential
and logarithmic. Although they do not look much different, it appears that the
1450
logarithmic model is more stable and spotted very closely at the same average value
compared to the exponential model. Furthermore, when the source was near to points A
and C, the exponential model calculated the source location with a huge error and a
correction was required in order to find the accurate location. On the other hand, this
problem didn’t occur when calculating using the logarithmic model. The errors for both
models compared with the actual location are summarized in Table 1. In the meantime,
Figure 9 (b) reveals the average value for the logarithmic and exponential models,
compared with the actual source location and source location using commercial AE
tools for test angle .
Table 1. Error comparison between logarithmic and exponential source location model.
Log error Exp error

Log (mm) Exp (mm) Actual (mm)
(mm) (mm)
45.65 34.97 50.00 4.35 15.03
104.10 110.37 100.00 4.10 10.37
0°
189.67 188.91 170.00 19.67 18.91
270.44 271.72 270.00 0.44 1.72
44.42 36.96 50.00 5.58 13.04
120.23 125.27 100.00 20.23 25.27
45°
165.73 163.78 170.00 4.27 6.22
284.42 283.58 270.00 14.42 13.58
63.53 59.98 50.00 13.53 9.98
123.38 128.66 100.00 23.38 28.66
90°
179.68 178.28 170.00 9.68 8.28
263.96 269.90 270.00 6.04 0.1
Effective Detection Area
Although there are big differences between the AE and acoustics studies,
especially in term of their applications (Loman, 2013), they actually share a few
characteristics. In acoustics, the area surrounding a sound source can be divided into
different fields; e.g. near field and far field (Hansen, 2013). Due to the attenuation
behavior of sound pressure, the near field region can be limited from the source to the
distance equal to one third of the largest energy or amplitude of the sound source. This
term can be useful when relating the results presented in the previous section with the
effective detection area. Figure 10 reveals the detailed analysis of an AE signal which
was obtained at 5 different distances from the AE source. A single AE signal may
contain a reasonably large amount of information from the source, particularly due to
micro-failure formation and its propagation. The frequency spectrum of the signal was
proved to be one of the important parameters that indicate the type of micro-failure
characteristic (Gutkin et al., 2011). As explained earlier, the extensional wave mode
conventionally has faster velocity, higher frequency and lower amplitude (due to in-
plane motion) than the flexural mode. Referring to the wavelet analysis as shown in
Figure 10 (k, l, m, n, o), the extensional mode ‘signature’ was consistent with the 300
kHz component which can be seen fading as the distance from the AE source increases.
In other words, the extensional mode almost disappears at the far field, approximately
140 mm from the source (see Figure 7a). In practice, this will affect the accuracy of
1451
information for micro-failure characterization since, in the MAE study, different failure
mechanisms or source orientations can generate different frequency or wave
propagation modes. Meanwhile, the flexural wave mode ranges from 20 kHz to 250
kHz. They were seen arriving at the sensor later than the extensional mode and became
slower as the distance from the AE source increased; this is consistent with
antisymmetric mode behavior. Note that, at 260 mm distance from the AE source, only
the lowest frequency component of the flexural wave was left.
Figure 10. Detailed analysis of AE signals obtained from 5 different distances from AE
source at test angles .
The pencil lead break test results shown in Figure 11 (a to h) also reveal the same
pattern and can be used to explain the effective area for better AE signal detection. The
results corresponded with the setup as in Figure 5. Two main frequency components
exist: high frequency (approx. 100 kHz) and low frequency (approx. 30 kHz). The
signal from sensor 4 (Figure 11d) had the lowest energy/RMS value and the distance
from the AE source was 205 mm. By comparing the frequency spectrum obtained from
signal 1 (Figure 11e) and signal 4 (Figure 11h), it appeared that the amplitude of the
higher frequency component dropped faster, especially after 205 mm distance from the
AE source.
1452
Figure 11. (a) AE signal from sensor 1; (b) AE signal from sensor 2; (c) AE signal from
sensor 3; (d) AE signal from sensor 4; (e - h) Fast Fourier Transform [FFT] for AE
signals in (a - d) respectively.
Figure 12. Result with 100 kHz vibration applied to the specimen.
Obviously, within a short distance, the propagating AE signal was dominated by a

low frequency signal, even though it was earlier dominated by a high frequency signal.
This ‘turning-over’ starts approximately in between sensors 2 and 3, or 120 mm from
the AE source, which is at the limit of the near field region (see Figure 7b). It is clear
that a frequency of more than 100 kHz was difficult to detect within a 205 mm radius
1453
(at sensor number 4), as indicated in Figure 12. At the same time, failures such as
delamination and fiber breakage are reported to create AE signals at more than 100 kHz
(Gutkin et al., 2011)]. This explains how significant the effective detection area is as an
important criterion for creating improved SHM for composite materials.
CONCLUSIONS
The study successfully presented the effective length detection for AE signals in a
fiberglass reinforced epoxy resin composite. It is recommended that any AE transducers
must be attached or embedded approximately 200 mm from the expected damage area,
or the near field region, to avoid any important AE signal information being diminished
due to attenuation and dispersion. The study also concluded that the non-velocity
dependent source location algorithm utilizing both the exponential model and the
logarithmic model shows a promising approach to damage localization for composite
materials. Note that a linear mapping technique was presented. However, for 2D planar
source location, the concept of energy attenuation source location can also be applied
with an appropriate number of sensors.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Faculty of Engineering and Surveying and the
Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites, University of Southern
Queensland for providing laboratory facilities and financial support. They would also
like to thank the Universiti Malaysia Pahang together with the Ministry of Higher
Education, Malaysia for scholarship support.
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Shull, P. J. & Tittmann, B. R. (2002). Nondestructive evaluation: Theory, techniques
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Simonovski, I. & Boltezar, M. (2003). The norms and variances of the Gabor, Morlet
and general harmonic wavelet functions. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 264,
545-557.
Trojanov, Z., Szraz, Z., Chmelk, F., & Lukc, P. (2011) Acoustic emission from
deformed magnesium alloy based composites. Materials Science and Engineering
A, 528(6), 2479-2483.
Tsuda, H. (2006). Ultrasound and damage detection in CFRP using fiber Bragg grating
sensors. Composites Science and Technology, 66, 676-683.
1456
GASIFICATION OF COAL-PETCOKE BLENDS IN A PILOT SCALE

GASIFICATION PLANT
N. Muda1* and M. H. Boosroh1
Low Carbon Power Generation Technology Research Group

TNB research Sdn. Bhd.
No 1, Lorong Ayer Itam, Kawasan Institusi Penyelidikan,
43000, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Email: noraziah@tnbr.com.my
Phone: +603-89225036; Fax: +609-89268828
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the synergistic interaction in a gasification of coal and petcoke
blends in a 150 kWth pilot scale gasification plant. Petcoke was used either in
combination with coal or separately to produce syngas in an atmospheric fluidized bed
gasifier using air as gasifying agent. Syngas composition and carbon conversion
efficiency were recorded and calculated. The results show that the increase in petcoke
content in the fuel blend tends to lower the syngas composition. In addition, the carbon
conversion efficiency also decreased with the increase in petcoke percentage in the
blend. However, the conversion efficiency and syngas composition started to increase
again when the petcoke percentage in the blend was more than 50%. As far as the
mixture of coal and petcoke is concerned, optimum gasification efficiency was obtained
at a 90:10 coal:petcoke blend. The lowest heating value was observed when the mixture
was at 50:50. Therefore this mixture needs to be avoided when gasifying the coal:
petcoke blend because it has the minimum gasification efficiency.
Keywords: Gasification; carbon conversion efficiency; coal, petcoke; syngas.
INTRODUCTION
Coal is one of the biggest sources of power generation in Malaysia. However, it is also
known that coal-fired power plants generate a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2), which
contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Considering the increasing demand for
power, it is necessary to look for cleaner alternatives in coal-based power generation.
The Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) is one of the potential
technologies for clean coal power generation with high efficiency. IGCC has gained
increasing attention in recent years as an alternative source of energy, largely because of
rising oil and gas prices. IGCC is a process that turns carbon-containing material into
synthesis gas (syngas). Syngas can be utilized for power generation as well as chemical
feedstock. The systems combine a coal gasification unit with a gas-fired combined cycle
power generation unit. The gasification process transforms coal into gases (mainly CO2,
CO and H2), typically utilizing fluidized or moving bed reactors. Fluidized beds are
known for their ability to handle a variety of feedstock such as coal, petcoke, biomass,
plastic waste and others (Basu, 2006: Pinto et al., 2003; Mastellone, Zaccariello, and
Arena, 2010; Taba et al., 2012; Daniele et al., 2013). Acceptance of the gasification of
coal-based power generation technology is also increasing primarily due to its high
efficiency and significantly reduced emissions of NOx, SOx and particulates when
1457
Gasification of Coal-Petcoke Blends in a Pilot Scale Gasification Plant
compared with conventional coal-fired power station. IGCC systems offer emission
levels approaching those of natural gas combined-cycle plants, with the low fuel cost of
coal.
One of the advantages of gasification technology is that energy sources other
than coal can be used as feedstock. This suggests investigating the possibility of feeding
into the gasifier a combination of different fuels, since the possible synergy between
their products and intermediates could help to maximize the process performance, thus
reducing carbon losses and increasing the energy content of syngas (Mastellone et al.,
2010). For example, petroleum coke or petcoke, which is an important by-product of
petroleum refineries, was employed as feedstock in gasification systems, in combination
with coal or separately, to produce a syngas (Nagpal, Sarakar, and Sen, 2005). Several
experimental studies have been carried out using a mixture of feedstock, with coal,
petcoke, biomass, plastic waste, and others (Pinto et al., 2005; Harris, Robert, &
Henderson, 2006; Fermonso et al., 2009; Li, Zhang, and Bi, 2010). Fermoso et al.
(2009) studied the possible synergistic effect of coal-petcoke-biomass gasification using
a steam/oxygen mixture as gasifying agent, at atmospheric and elevated pressure
in a fixed bed reactor fitted with a solids feeding system in continuous mode.
Interactions between the blend components were found to modify the gas
production. An improvement in hydrogen production and cold gas efficiency was
achieved when the coal was gasified with biomass. Lee et al. (2010) studied the
gasification characteristics of petcoke and coal blends in an entrained flow gasifier and
found that the syngas composition and calorific value were higher in the coal-petcoke
mixture than in 100% petcoke. They suggested that co-gasification of petcoke and coal
might be an excellent method to use lignite with high moisture content and petcoke with
low reactivity because of its synergistic effect.
Previous studies in the literature concentrate on the separate gasification of both
coal and petcoke, while systematic investigations on co-gasification of coal and petcoke
in a fluidized bed are relatively few. Systematic study of the quality and quantity of
syngas from coal-petcoke blends in a fluidized bed gasifier is scarce in the literature.
Even though there are some studies on the gasification process of coal and petcoke,
currently none of the study is carried out using fluidization by a gasifier. In this
proposed study, gasification tests will be conducted using fuel blends of coal and
petcoke to find their effect on the syngas composition and carbon conversion efficiency
using a 30kWth lab scale atmospheric bubbling fluidized bed gasifier with air as the
gasifying agent. Emphasis was put on the investigation of the producer gas composition
and carbon conversion efficiency.
METHODOLOGY
Feedstock
In this work, sub bituminous coal (Adaro) was obtained from Manjung Power Station,
Perak, while petcoke of the green type was obtained from PETRONAS Penapisan,
Sungai Udang, Melaka. Four sample blends were prepared, namely at 90, 60, 50 and
70% coal. 100% each of coal and petcoke was also gasified as reference. The samples
were ground and sieved to obtain a fraction with a particle size of around 500–600 µm.
Characterizations of feedstock were carried out systematically based on ASTM standard
methods. The proximate analysis was used to measure inherent moisture content (MC),
volatile matter (VM), fixed carbon (FC) and ash content (AC) in the fuels. The tests
1458
Muda and Boosroh /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1457-1466
were carried out according to ASTM D5142-90 standard test methods using a
thermogravimetric analyzer, model TGA/DTA 220U, SEIKO. The heating values of all
fuel blends were determined according to the ASTM D 3286-96: Standard test method
using an isoperibol bomb calorimeter, LECO AC-350. The elemental analysis of the
organic fractions or ultimate analysis was carried out to determine the composition of
carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S) and oxygen (O) according to two
standard references which are i) ASTM D 5373-93: Standard test methods for
instrumental determination of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen in laboratory samples of
coal and coke, and ii) ASTM D 4239-97: Standard test methods for sulfur in the
analysis sample of coal and coke using high temperature tube furnace of combustion
methods (method C – high temperature combustion method with infrared absorption
procedure). Ultimate analysis was conducted using the LECO 3839 and Eltra CS500
instruments for determination of CHN and sulfur respectively. For the determination of
proximate, ultimate and heating values, tests were carried out on the fuel blends and the
100% coal and 100% petcoke samples. The proximate and ultimate analyses and the
high heating values of the samples are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Proximate and ultimate analysis of coal and petcoke
Coal:petcoke 100:0 90:10 60:40 50:50 30:70 0:100

Moisture
(%) 9.64 8.97 6.51 5.75 3.91 0.72
Volatile
matter (%) 45.79 41.80 31.40 28.30 21.25 1.06
Fixed
Proximate carbon 42.83 47.27 60.66 64.62 73.76 87.96
analysis (%) ash 1.67 1.91 1.36 1.23 0.99 0.20
C 71.00 73.30 76.55 84.60 90.50 99.60
H 5.49 5.37 4.29 5.65 6.06 6.14
N 0.93 0.29 0.99 0.54 0.75 0.57
S 0.11 0.66 2.51 3.12 4.15 5.68
Ultimate
analysis (%) O* 20.80 18.48 13.79 4.80 -2.44 -12.18
HV (MJ/Kg)
24.75 25.83 29.10 30.24 32.38 36.01
From the result of the proximate analysis, it was found that the highest moisture
content was observed in coal, and this gradually decreased with the introduction of
petcoke in the fuel blends. Low moisture content of fuel is favorable in producing a
better gaseous product (Basu, 2006). The fixed carbon content was found to be higher in
petcoke than in coal, while the ash content was found to be lower in petcoke. The fixed
carbon content is the carbon found in the material that is left after volatile materials are
driven off. High fixed carbon and low ash content are important parameters in
determining syngas composition and calorific value (Basu, 2006; Fermonso et al.,
2009). Ultimate analyses for all fuels were analyzed by measuring the carbon,
hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur content. Table 1 shows that the carbon content in petcoke
is the higher than in coal. This is in agreement with the result of fixed carbon content in
the proximate analysis. However, carbon content differs from the fixed carbon content
1459
because some carbon is lost in hydrocarbons with the volatiles. The heating value of
100% petcoke was found to be the highest compared to the other feedstock (36.03
MJ/kg). The data of proximate, ultimate analysis and heating values indicate that
approximately 36,030 MJ of petcoke energy can potentially be produced from 1 metric
ton of petcoke with only 20 kg ash generated.
Facility
A simplified schematic of the 150 kWth pilot scale gasification pilot plant is given in
Figure 1. It is composed of 5 main sub systems; screw feeder for coal and petroleum
samples, the reactor itself, blower, air heater, electric steam boiler, LPG burner, thermal
camera, 2 pieces of cyclone, water scrubber, gas filter, induced fan and chimney. The
reactor was constructed from stainless steel with a wall thickness of 10 mm. It has the
internal diameter of 350 mm and overall gasifier height of 3100 mm. The experimental
rig was set up to be operated at a fluidizing bed height of 700 mm and freeboard height
of 2400 mm. The bed operating temperature is 750–1000°C and bed pressure of 1 bar.
The reactor was insulated with Kaowool to prevent heat loss through the wall. At the
bottom of the reactor, an air distributor plate was installed for better air distribution. The
distributor plate consisted of a plate with vertical nozzles and lateral perforation through
which passes the air that is distributed uniformly into the main reactor. The vertical
nozzles were used due to their convenience for high temperatures and their advantages
of reducing the back flow of bed material towards the plenum. The plate diameter is 350
mm and plate thickness of 15 mm. The orifice diameter is 3 mm at the top and 5 mm at
the bottom part of the orifice. The air flows upward through the bed, causing the solid
particles to be suspended. If the inlet air is disabled, the bed may settle onto the plate.
The air was supplied by the compressor and was preheated before entering the gasifier.
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of 150 kWth pilot scale fluidized bed gasifier.
1460
Before the start-up, about 15 kg (equivalent to static bed height of 150 mm) of silica
sand was placed on top of the gasifier bed. The air flow was preheated before entering
the distributor plate. Air was continuously supplied, in order to create fluidizing of a
bubbling condition inside the gasifier. Before entering the air distributor plate, the flow
rate of the air was controlled using an air flow meter and heated to 100ºC using an
electric heater. Liquefied pressurised gas (LPG) with a gas burner was used to increase
the bed temperature to 400ºC. Then, it was turned off once the fuel was continuously
fed into the gasifier bed. The bed temperature increased to the desired temperature with
the continuous supply of fuels. The feed rate of the coal and petcoke was measured
using a screw-feeder controller. The bed temperature was controlled to be isothermal at
700–800ºC. The equivalence ratio (ER), which is the ratio of air and fuel flow rate for
all experiments, was maintained at 0.31. This was to ascertain that the fluidizing and
gasification process was stable inside the reactor bed. The producer gas leaving the
freeboard section was passed through two cyclones to trap entrained particles. The raw
gas was cleaned by a gas cleaning system and finally filtered by an activated carbon
filter before the gas was released through the chimney.
Product gases were sampled in 3 location of the gasifier’s freeboard, first before
the cyclones, secondly after the cleaning system and finally after the activated carbon
filter. The produced gas started to be released after about 25–30 minutes from the
starting of coal feeding at the steady state of the bed temperature within 700-800 ºC, and
it was sampled using online gas chromatography (GC). The GC was fitted with a
Molecular Sieve 5A column and Porapak Q column, with helium gas as the carrier gas,
to detect the produced gases. Two detectors were used: a flame ionization detector
(FID) for the analysis of the hydrocarbons and a thermal conductivity detector (TCD)
for permanent gas analysis. All the results in these experiments are from the producer
gas at the gasifier freeboard.
To access the process technology, the following variables were defined and determined:
 Producer gas composition, which is H2, O2, N2, CH4, CO, CO2, C2H2, C2H4 and
C2H6;
 Low heating values of the producer gas were calculated using Equation (3.3)
from Skoulou et al. [10] as Eq. (1):
LHVgas      
30CO   25.7 H 2  85.4CH 4  151.3C y H x  4.2kJ / Nm3 (1)
where CO, H2, CH4 and CyHx are the mol% of those components in the
gasification gas.
 Carbon conversion efficiency is calculated from equation below:
Carbon content in producer gas

Carbon conversion  (2)
Carbon content in feedstock
1461
Carbon monoxide, CO; carbon dioxide, CO2; hydrogen, H2; oxygen, O2; nitrogen, N2;
methane, CH4; ethylene, C2H4; ethane, C2H6; and acetylene, C2H2 were released during
the gasification process. The producer gas composition of different fuel blends is listed
in Table 2. H2, CO, CH4 and CO2 showed a higher content than the other gaseous
components. N2 contents were the highest due to the use of air in the feeding system.
Table 2 shows that the overall process performance of coal–petcoke gasification
depends on the percentage of petcoke in the feed, which varied between 0–100%.
Table 2 indicates that hydrogen gas produced for Adaro coal (38.35 mol %) is higher
than that produced by petcoke (4.26 mol%). The fuel blend results show that there is
only a slight decrease in the gas composition and the low heating value of the producer
gas when 10% of petcoke is present in the blend ( H2 at 37.7 mol%). However, as the
amount of petcoke in the fuel blend increased, the low heating value decreased
tremendously. The lowest heating value was observed when the weight fraction of the
coal and petcoke was the same (50:50). However, the low heating value started to
increase when 70% petcoke was used in the study and it continued to increase when
100% petcoke was used. The increase in the petcoke ratio in fuel blends gave a reverse
trend for methane content, whereby the amount of methane released increases at 20%
and 40% petcoke in the fuel blends as compared to the 100% Adaro. The amount of
heavier hydrocarbon contents in this study were found to be quite low and do not
represent any trend.
Table 2. Producer gas composition of different fuel blends

Producer Coal : petcoke
gas comp.
(mol%) (100:0) (90:10) (60:40) (50:50) (30:70) (0:100)
H2 38.35 37.7 21.89 5.74 2.28 4.26

CO 4.92 4.28 2.2 0.22 1.27 0.61
O2 0.29 0.44 7.88 15.78 8.64 6.57
CO2 6.92 6.53 4.57 2.82 7.09 8.43
CH4 0.84 1.14 1.16 0.1 0.41 0.67
C2H4 0.14 0.17 0.13 0 0.11 0.02
C2H6 0.01 0.01 0.02 0 0.01 0
C2H2 0.01 0 0.01 0 0.01 0
Figure 2 shows the effect of the petcoke composition in the blend on the
composition of syngas (CO, CO2 ,H2, and O2). It can be seen that concentrations of both
H2 and CO decrease with an increase in the petcoke composition in the fuel blend. This
result contradicts the observation by Fermoso et al. (2009), where a positive synergy
was discovered between the component blends. They found a slight increase in the
amount of syngas production as the amount of petcoke increased. This may be attributed
1462
to the type of gasifier used by Fermoso et al. (2009), which is an entrained flow gasifier
at 1.5 MPa pressure, 1000C temperature, with the gasifying agent being a combination
of oxygen and steam. The composition of O2 is highest when the weight fraction of
coal and petcoke is equal (50:50). In the gasification process, O2 is needed to convert
carbon in the feedstock to gas. Therefore, this result shows that at 50:50 coal:petcoke
blend, the minimum gasification process took place as indicated by the maximum
amount of O2 in the syngas. Unconsumed O2 in the system will be released in the
syngas.
Figure 2. Effect of petcoke % on the composition of syngas
Figure 3 shows the effect of the petcoke percentage in the blend on the carbon
conversion efficiency. As can be seen from Figure 3, the carbon conversion efficiency
decreased as the petcoke percentage increased up to a petcoke percentage of around 50
% in the blend, then again started to increase. This is similar to the study by Fermoso et
al., (2009), who found that the carbon conversion decreases with the increase in petcoke
content due to its lower reactivity compared to coal. However, from Figure 3, it is also
observed that the conversion efficiency of 100% petcoke is very much lower than that
of 20% petcoke. This indicates that there is a synergistic interaction between coal and
petcoke during the gasification process. Lee et al, (2010) encountered a similar result in
their study of a petcoke and coal slurries mixture in an entrained flow gasifier.
Figure 4 shows the effect of petcoke addition on the low heating value of the
producer gas in co-gasification of coal–petcoke. Similar to Figure 2 and Figure 3, the
low heating value decreases with the increase in petcoke ratio in the fuel blends, up to
about 50–60% coal. However, the value starts to increase when more than 60% of
petcoke is incorporated in the blend. Again, similar to Figure 2, this may be attributed
to the low reactivity of petcoke. The increase in the low heating value after 60%
petcoke addition may be due to the fact that all the coal was already gasified and
petcoke gasification was starting to take place.
1463
Figure 3. Effect of petcoke percentage in the blend on the carbon conversion efficiency.
Figure 4. Effect of fuel blends on the low heating value of producer gas.
Volatile matter content contributes to the reactivity of a solid fuel and its
conversion to char inside the gasifier. Fuels with higher volatile matter content are more
reactive and can therefore be converted more easily into gas. From the proximate and
ultimate analysis result in Table 1, the volatile matter of petcoke (10.4%) is lower than
the Adaro coal (46.5%). Oxygen (O2) is needed in the gasification process to convert
carbon in the feedstock to hydrocarbons (CnHm) and hydrogen (H2). Initially, all O2 is
consumed mainly by coal due to its low reactivity, resulting in a very low conversion of
petcoke. Thus, as the amount of petcoke in the blend is increased, overall gasification
1464
efficiency is reduced. As the percentage of petcoke in the feed was more than 50%, all
the coal in the blend started to be almost wholly converted without using all the O2 in
the system. More O2 was then available for petcoke gasification. Thus carbon
conversion, LHV and gas composition started to increase again. These phenomena
explain the results obtained in Table 2 and Figure 2-4. This finding is supported by
previous researchers (Goyal, Pushpavanam, and Voolapalli, 2010), who found that
combining different fuels (bituminous coal and petcoke) as gasifier feed can influence
the efficiency of the gasification process.
CONCLUSION
Gasification experiments on coal, petcoke and coal–petcoke blends in the atmospheric

fluidized bed gasifier were performed. The characteristics of the producer gas, carbon
conversion efficiency, syngas composition and low heating value were determined and
compared. The lower heating values are 5.16 MJ/Nm3 for 100% coal and 0.79 MJ/Nm3
for 100% petcoke. In the case of fuel blends, the low heating values are 5.15, 3.16, 0.11
and 0.64 MJ/Nm3 for 20, 40, 50 and 70% petcoke respectively. It has also been
observed that, at the low heating value, the carbon conversion efficiency and syngas
content show a minimum value at 50-60% petcoke in the fuel blend. On the other hand,
the conversion efficiency and syngas composition start increasing after the petcoke
percentage increases beyond 60%. In conclusion, as far as the mixture of coal and
petcoke is concerned, the optimum gasification efficiency was obtained at a 90:10 coal:
petcoke blend. The lowest heating value was observed when the mixture was at 50:50.
Therefore this mixture needs to be avoided when gasifying coal–petcoke blend. These
results indicate that, due to the synergistic interactions between coal and petcoke blends,
it is possible to gasify coal–petcoke blends in an atmospheric fluidized bed gasifier.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was carried out with financial support from the TNBR Seeding Fund project
R-C-SF-0049-12-004-1. The contribution from the TNBR gasification team is
acknowledged. Appreciation is extended to TNBR management and Tenaga Nasional
Berhad for good support and assistance.
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(2005). Fluidized bed co-gasification of coal and olive oil industry wastes.
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Basu, P. (2006). Combustion and gasification in fluidized beds. CRC Press.
Fermoso, J., Arias, B., Plaza, M., Pevida, C., Rubiera, F., Pis, J., García-Peña, F., &
Casero, P. (2009). High-pressure co-gasification of coal with biomass and
petroleum coke. Fuel Processing Technology, 90, 926-932.
Goyal, A., Pushpavanam, S., & Voolapalli, R. K. (2010). Modeling and simulation of
co-gasification of coal and petcoke in a bubbling fluidized bed coal gasifier.
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Harris, D. J., Roberts, D. G., & Henderson, D. G. (2006). Gasification behavior of
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Lee, S. H., Yoon, S. J., Ra, H. W., Son, Y. I., Hong, J. C., & Lee, J. G. (2010).
Gasification characteristics of coke and mixture with coal in an entrained-flow
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Mastellone, M. L., Zaccariello, L., & Arena, U. (2010). Co-gasification of coal, plastic
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(2003). Effect of experimental conditions on co-gasification of coal, biomass
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Skoulou, V., Koufodimos, G., Samaras, Z., & Zabanitou, A. (2008). Low temperature
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1466
A STUDY ON LEAN MANUFACTURING IMPLEMENTATION IN

MALAYSIAN AUTOMOTIVE COMPONENT INDUSTRY
A. N. M. Rose1,2,a, B. Md. Deros2,b and M. N. Ab. Rahman2,c

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang,
*Email: nasser@ump.edu.my
Phone: +6094246348; Fax: +609424622
2
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,
Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, UKM, Bangi, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Lean manufacturing is an extended version of the Toyota Production System (TPS). It

was highlighted as the best practice in the 21st century. Therefore, top and senior
management in manufacturing firms are encouraged to adopt and adapt lean principles
and practices in running their respective firms. The main objective of this paper is to
investigate the extent of lean manufacturing perception and implementation in the
Malaysian automotive component industry. A survey questionnaire was developed to
collect top and senior management views with respect to their perception, judgement
and opinion on twenty four lean manufacturing (LM) practices. This preliminary survey
was conducted at 30 Malaysian automotive component manufacturing firms. The survey
results show that a large majority of respondents have a high perception of the
importance of lean manufacturing practices. However, it was found that their actual LM
implementation is still on the low side. In this study, the non-parametric test was used to
analyze the level of perception and implementation of the twenty four LM practices.
The analysis of the survey results revealed that there are significant differences between
the level of perception of the importance of LM practices and their actual
implementation.
Keywords: Lean manufacturing; practices and perception; automotive component

industry; non-parametric.
INTRODUCTION
In the era of globalization, Malaysian manufacturers have been facing challenges to

fulfil customer expectations, overcome the uncertainty of demand fluctuations and
supplier capability (Wong et al., 2009). In a developing country, Malaysian automotive
component firms have to strive for manufacturing excellence in order to be on a par
with established foreign automotive players (Haniff, Ismail, Deros, Rahman, &
Kadirgama, 2011; Rose, Deros, & Rahman, 2013). One of the strategies to be excellent
and efficient in a manufacturing firm is by reducing the seven wastes: overproduction,
waiting time, defects, non value added processing activities, excess of motion, high
inventory and transportation (Melton, 2005). The elimination of these wastes is one of
the principles of lean manufacturing (Ohno,1988). Lean manufacturing (LM) has been
receiving a lot of attention in the automotive industry for achieving excellent
manufacturing and it is now also considered to be the standard manufacturing mode for
1467
A Study on Lean Manufacturing Implementation in Malaysian Automotive Component Industry
the 21st century (Rineheart, Huxley, and Robertson, 1997). Apart from that, lean
manufacturing (LM) is said to be the best approach for all industries (Papadopoulu &
Ozbayrak, 2005). In the competitive environment, with the penetration of Chinese and
Indian products into the Malaysian market, it is in the best interest of stakeholders,
whether employees, customers or suppliers, to adopt the best management practice in
order to compete in today’s global marketplace. In addition, China has been predicted to
be the biggest rival to any firm from the year 2008 onwards (Zen & Williamson, 2003).
Lean manufacturing is a generic process management philosophy derived mainly from
the Toyota Production System (TPS) (Womack, Jones, & Roos, 1990). The main
objective of this paper is to investigate the extent of lean manufacturing perception and
implementation in the Malaysian automotive component industry. The study
investigates the level of perception and practice of 24 LM practices. In addition, the
paper also reveals the mean scores for each of the LM practices based on firm size and
the number of years that LM has been implemented. An important contribution of this
paper is that it includes the statistical analysis of LM practices, and their perception and
implementation in Malaysian automotive component firms, allowing one to know how
far Malaysian firms are aware of this management philosophy and its potential benefits.
LITERATURE REVIEW
There are 101 lean practices being practiced in industry (Pavnaskar et al., 2003). Large
organizations do not have any difficulties in adopting LM practices and are likely to
implement all of the LM practices, unlike small organizations (Shah & Ward, 2003).
The advantage of comprehensively implementing LM practices is the huge benefits
gained in operational performance compared to the implementation of limited lean
practices (Bhasin & Burcher, 2006). SMEs will face difficulties in implementing all of
the LM practices due to four possible constraints: leadership, financial, lean expertise
and organization culture (Achanga et al., 2006). Therefore, one of the efforts which
could be made by SMEs is to implement selected lean practices which are feasible for
their firm’s capability. Generally, researchers (Gunasekaran, Forker, & Kobu, 2000;
Kumar & Antony, 2008) suggest that SMEs should concentrate on and implement lean
practices which carry minimum costs and are feasible to implement, such as 5S,
multifunction, continuous improvement and reduction in setup time. These practices
are considered simple, easy and suitable to be managed internally. Explanation and
guidance on lean practices implementation are very important to new firms including
SMEs. This can provide them with basic knowledge on LM implementation. Therefore,
to ensure new firms or SMEs in the automotive component industry benefit from LM
implementation, there is a need to identify fundamental practices which are applicable
to them. Comprehensive reading of the LM literature enables the authors to classify LM
practices into three groups based on firm size, number of years with established LM,
and piecemeal implementation such as 5S, preventive maintenance and multifunction
employees (Shah & Ward, 2003; Lee, 1997; Gunasekaran et al., 2000). Thus, firms
should take into consideration their capability and capacity before embarking on LM.
Rose, Deros, and Rahman (2010) proposed three categories of LM practices; basic,
intermediate and advanced. This could perhaps assist new or SME firms to use it as a
guide for LM implementation and will also overcome difficulty factors in LM
implementation, such as lack of understanding and wrong methodology on LM practices
(Pavnaskar, Gershenson, & Jambekar, 2003).
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Rose et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1467-1476
Various studies have been done on LM practices, such as based on lean bundles,
firm sizes, operation performance, infrastructure and location (Ferdousi & Ahmed,
2009; Matson & Matson, 2007; Shah & Ward, 2007; White et al., 1999; Lee, 1997;
Sakakibara et al., 1997). None of those studies focused on the feasible lean practices
which can be applied as a guide to the new company or SMEs. The study of lean
manufacturing in Malaysia is still limited (Wong, Wong, & Ali, 2009) and there is a
good opportunity for researchers to explore how LM can be implemented here.
Therefore in this study the authors attempt to explore the extent of LM implementation
in the Malaysian automotive component industry. This study is quite similar to other
studies (Shah & Ward, 2007), except that the number of LM practices is different and
most of the studied LM practices are relevant to SMEs. A comprehensive review of LM
practices implementation based on past literature has provided twenty four (24) LM
practices which are considered very relevant to the scope of study. Due to limited
space, the authors only highlight ten critical practices based on the highest mean score.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology used was a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire consists
of two parts. The first part asked about the company’s background. The second part
asked about the company’s perception and implementation on 24 lean manufacturing
practices. All questions were structured as closed. The questionnaire was validated by
10 experts, comprising academicians and practitioners. There was face to face
discussion with the experts to ensure that all comments were clearly understood before
being distributed to respondents. All experts were selected based on their vast
experience in this area and all had working experience of more than 20 years. Based on
the experts’ comment, alterations were made to an earlier questionnaire on a few items
such as questionable layout, ambiguous words and finally on lean manufacturing
practices.
The list of respondents was obtained from the FMM-MATRADE Industry Directory
(Automotives 2009/2010), SME Corp. and the Proton database. Two hundred and
ninety five (295) manufacturers were identified, excluding the car assembly industry
such as Proton, Perodua, Naza etc. As a preliminary study, 100 firms were selected
which comprised large, medium and small firms. The questionnaires were distributed by
post and addressed to the head of the manufacturing and quality department. These
individuals were considered as best positioned, being directly involved with lean
manufacturing implementation in this industry. Each of the distributed questionnaires
included a stamped and self-addressed envelope. The respondents were given three
weeks to respond. If there was no response, a follow-up letter was sent as a reminder.
Apart from that, email and phone calls were used to increase the participation from
them. Initially, the response rate was very poor, with about 5 responses (5%). This
reflected the fact that the response rate for a questionnaire survey is quite low, which is
considered not unusual in Malaysia (Jusoh, Ibrahim, & Zainuddin, 2008). Due to this
poor response to the mail survey, the second alternative was carried out by distributing
the questionnaire to respondents during an LM forum which was conducted at a
Malaysian government body. Finally, a total of 30 responses were received, which is
valid for statistical analysis. Phone calls and email were used to reach those who failed
to answer any questions. This paper is based on the pilot study results and is considered
as a preliminary study before embarking on a larger number of respondents.
1469
Table 1 shows the profile for the respondent companies in terms of their size, type of
certification, type of ownership, type of product, company age and the number of years
that they have implemented lean manufacturing. It can be seen that only 9 firms (30%)
were SMEs, while the remainder were large organizations. The classification of the
companies’ size was based on the definition provided by SMECorp. In this research,
large companies are those that have more than 150 employees in total, whereas an SME
is categorized as having less than 150 employees. Most of the respondents were
Malaysian firms, that is, 20 firms (66.7%), whereas 7 firms (23.3%) were foreign-
owned and the remaining 3 firms (10%) were joint ventures. All firms had TS 19649
certification and 15 firms (50%) had another certification on ISO 9001. The majority of
these firms produced metal products, that is 9 firms (30%), followed by firms producing
plastic products - 7 firms (23.3%), electronic parts - 4 firms (13.3%), rubber parts - 4
firms (13.3%), mechanical parts - 1 firm (3.3%), and the remaining 5 firms (16.7%)
were producing other items. Twenty firms (66.7%) had been established for more than
15 years, 8 firms (26.7%) between 10 and 15 years, and the remaining 2 firms were
between 5 to 10 years. Most of the respondents had implemented lean manufacturing
for less than 3 years - 14 firms (46.7%), and the remaining 16 firms had implemented
LM for more than 3 years.
Table 1. Profiles of respondent companies.
Description Category Freq (%) Description Category Freq (%)

Company size SME 9(30%) Type of TS16949 30(100%)
certification
Large 21(70%) ISO9001 15(50%)
Type of Malaysian 20(66.7) Type of products Metal 9(30%)
ownership
Foreign 7(23.3%) Plastics 7(23.3%)
Joint 3(10%) Electronics 4(13.3%)
Venture
Rubber 4(13.3%)
Mechanical 1(3.3%)
Others 5(16.7%)
No. of years 5-10 2(6.7%) No. of years LM <3 years 14(46.7%)
established implementation
>10 and < 8(26.7) >3 and < 5 8(26.7%)
15
>15 20(66.7) >5 years 8(26.7%)
Out of the 24 LM practices, only 10 were presented in this paper, namely those
for which there was a high mean score for the level of perception and practices, as
highlighted in Table 2. In this part, the respondents were asked about their perception
and the extent of lean manufacturing practices being implemented in their firms. The
level of perception was measured with a scale of 1=not important to 5=very important,
whereas the level of implementation was measured with a scale 1=no implementation to
5=high implementation. A higher mean score on the level of perception and
implementation implies that LM practices are very important and extensively practiced
by the respondent. The range of mean scores for level of perception on LM practices
1470
was 3.667 to 4.867. The highest score for LM practices was 5S, followed by Kaizen
and standardization of works, whereas the lowest score was focused factory (3.667).
This indicates that these LM practices were very important in LM implementation, thus
indicating that 5S, Kaizen and standardization need to be implemented in all firms, no
matter what their size is. Meanwhile, the range of mean scores for the level of
implementation was 2.833 to 4.233. The highest score was display charts, followed by
Kaizen. This is similar to ceramics firms in Spain, which used the display chart
extensively for internal communication (Bonavia & Marin, 2006). The advantage of the
display chart is that it is easy to manage, requires less investment and can perhaps be
implemented by any firm. The Kaizen mean score revealed that continuous
improvement activities were highly practiced by all firms, indicating that they’re
striving for excellence to eliminate all manufacturing waste. However, the two lowest
scores were focused factory and MRP/ERP adaptation to JIT.
Table 2. Mean perception and extent of practice of the lean manufacturing practices
Perception Mean Std. Rank Practice Mean Std. Rank

Deviation Deviation
5S 4.867 0.346 1 5S 3.933 0.980 4
Kaizen 4.867 0.434 2 Kaizen 4.133 0.730 2
Standardization 4.667 0.547 3 Standardization 4.133 0.819 3
Preventive 4.600 0.498 4 Preventive 3.767 0.817 7
maintenance maintenance
Reduce setup time 4.600 0.675 5 Reduce setup 3.733 0.868 9
time
Display charts 4.567 0.504 6 Display charts 4.233 0.626 1
Improvement team 4.567 0.817 7 Improvement 3.867 1.042 6
team
DSA 4.433 0.728 8 DSA 3.733 0.944 10
Takt Time 4.433 0.728 9 Takt Time 3.767 0.935 8
PDCA 4.433 0.858 10 PDCA 3.933 1.014 5
Poka-yoke 4.367 0.765 11 Poka-yoke 3.433 1.006 19
Quality circle 4.300 0.877 12 Quality circle 3.433 1.104 18
Kanban 4.300 1.055 13 Kanban 3.200 1.400 22
Multifunction 4.300 1.055 14 Multifunction 3.400 1.003 20
employee employee
SPC 4.233 0.679 15 SPC 3.633 0.809 12
Andon 4.233 0.971 16 Andon 3.633 1.217 13
Small lot 4.167 1.053 17 Small lot 3.567 0.935 15
One piece flow 4.100 0.960 18 One piece flow 3.467 1.074 16
Production 4.067 0.740 19 Production 3.433 0.935 17
leveling leveling
Project room 4.067 0.785 20 Project room 3.733 1.112 11
VSM 4.067 0.944 21 VSM 3.600 0.855 14
Cell layout 3.867 0.900 22 Cell layout 3.400 1.132 21
MRP adaptation to 3.733 1.081 23 MRP adaptation 2.833 1.117 24
JIT to JIT
Focused factory 3.667 0.758 24 Focused factory 3.167 0.986 23
The next analysis was to identify whether company size could influence the
level of perception and practice on LM practices by using the Wilcoxon test. This is a
non-parametric test which is designed to test repeated measures on two occasions or
1471
under two different conditions like perception and practice. Table 3 shows the Wilcoxon
test analysis result of LM practices. All of them were statistically significant at α <
0.01, in terms of the practiced and perceived importance, except for project room
(obeya). This practice is not highlighted in Table 3 because the mean score for
perception and practice was less than the others shown in Table 2. The difference
between the perceived and practiced levels on LM practices shows that the level of
understanding of LM implementation is still at the initial stage, and perhaps those firms
lacked confidence in this system (Bhasin & Burcher, 2006). Then, the second statistical
analysis used was a Mann–Whitney test to identify any statistically significant
relationship between the mean value of perception and practice and firm size, i.e., SMEs
and large firms. Table 4 shows the details of the comparison between SMEs and large
firms against the level of perception and practice.
Table 3. Differences between perception and practices on LM using Wilcoxon Test.
Lean manufacturing practices Z Sig.

Reduce machine/tooling setup time -3.963 **
Standardization of operation -3.087 **
Kaizen -3.787 **
5S -3.696 **
Improvement team activities -3.460 **
Preventive maintenance program -4.134 **
Visual control – display charts -2.500 **
Daily schedule adherence -3.535 **
TAKT time -3.377 **
Plan Do Check Action (PDCA) -2.976 **
Notes: Sig., significance level on Wilcoxon test: * * α < 1 %; * α < 5%; ns: not significant.
Table 4. Differences in level of perception and practices against company size using
Mann–Whitney
Lean manufacturing practices SMEs Large

Z P Sig. Z P Sig.
Reduce machine/tooling setup time -2.271 0.023 * -3.286 0.001 **
Standardization of operation -1.890 0.059 ns -2.495 0.013 *
Kaizen -2.070 0.038 * -3.217 0.001 **
5S -2.081 0.037 * -3.140 0.002 **
Improvement team activities -1.897 0.058 ns -2.877 0.004 **
Preventive maintenance program -2.333 0.020 * -3.448 0.001 **
Visual control – display charts -1.667 0.096 ns -1.890 0.059 ns
Daily schedule adherence -2.060 0.039 * -2.919 0.004 **
TAKT time -1.857 0.063 ns -2.801 0.005 **
Plan Do Check Action (PDCA) 0.000 1.000 ns -3.274 0.001 **
Notes: Sig., significance level on Mann–Whitney test: * * α < 1 %; * α < 5%; ns: not
significant.
Ten practices were identified as statistically significant between perception and
practice: reduce machine setup time, Kanban, Kaizen, 5S, quality circle, preventive
maintenance, daily schedule adherence, poka-yoke, MRP/ERP adaptation to JIT and
statistical process control for SMEs, as shown in Table 3. The level of firms’ perception
shows that SMEs are aware of the importance of LM practices, yet the actual
1472
implementation of these practices was at moderate levels, in the range of a mean value
of 2.556 to 3.889. Perhaps SMEs faced constraints in providing the resources to manage
LM implementation. In addition, SMEs may have financial, manpower, and skills
constraints which limit their ability to implement extensively (Achanga et al., 2006).
Similarly, the levels of perception and practice for large firms were statistically
significant on all of the LM practices except for display charts and project room.
Surprisingly, the levels of perception and practice for large companies were statistically
insignificant on those two practices. Ideally, large firms should have at least similar
judgments on the level of perception and practice. The authors’ point of view was that
large firms were very strong on organizational resources such as financial, number of
employees, and skills, which could allow them to easily enforce the implementation of
LM practices. The last statistical analysis was to identify any significance in the level
of perception and extent of practice with LM practices based on the number of years of
LM implementation. The number of years was categorized into three categories; less
than 3 years, between 3 and 5 years and more than 5 years. The result in Table 5 shows
that the level of perception and practice for those companies which had implemented
LM for less than 3 years and between 3 and 5 years was significant in all LM practices
except visual control, PDCA, and standardization of operation. However, the
companies which had implemented LM for more than 5 years showed only Kaizen as
statistically significant. This result could suggest that the longer establishment of LM in
these companies might help employees to understand each of the LM practices in depth.
The perceived importance and practices of these companies had the same score.
Table 5. Differences between perception and practice of LM practices based on number

of years of LM implementation using Wilcoxon Test.
Lean manufacturing < 3 years 3-5 years > 5 years

practices Z P Sig. Z P Sig. Z P Sig.
Reduce -2.714 0.007 ** -2.460 0.014 * -1.890 0.059 ns
machine/tooling
setup time
Standardization of -2.646 0.008 ** -1.732 0.083 ns -1.134 0.257 ns
operation
Kaizen -2.887 0.004 ** -.2.000 0.046 * -2.000 0.046 *
5S -2.683 0.007 ** -2.121 0.034 * -1.732 0.083 ns
Improvement team -2.310 0.021 * -2.060 0.039 * -1.633 0.102 ns
activities
Preventive -2.714 0.007 ** -2.640 0.008 ** -1.857 0.063 ns
Maintenance
program
Visual control – -1.508 0.132 ns -2.000 0.046 * -1.000 0.317 ns
display charts
Daily schedule -2.598 0.009 ** -2.060 0.039 * -1.414 0.157 ns
adherence
TAKT time -2.588 0.010 * -2.070 0.038 * -0.577 0.564 ns
Plan Do Check -1.732 0.083 ns -1.890 0.059 ns -1.732 0.083 ns
Action (PDCA)
Notes: Sig., significance level on Wilcoxon test: * * α < 1 %; * α < 5%; ns: not
significant.
1473
This study has provided important findings on the extent of LM implementation

in Malaysian automotive component firms. The level of perception and implementation
of LM practices was found to be significant especially in those companies which had
implemented LM for less than 5 years. This result suggests that the respondents were
aware of LM practices and some of them were practiced accordingly. The respondents
in this study had implemented a varying degree of LM practices based on the firm size
and the number of years of implementation. The mean scores for level of LM
implementation were found to be high in the companies which had implemented LM for
more than 5 years. This shows that the firms involved for longer with LM will have a
strong tendency to implement comprehensive LM practices. However, new firms which
are interested in implementing LM could start with fundamental practices such as
Kaizen, 5S, VSM, quality circle, reduce setup time, multifunction skill and preventive
maintenance. The adoption of these practices will strengthen the LM foundation and
can be considered as preliminary practices before launching advanced practices such as
small lot sizes and one piece flow. Therefore, it is suggested that automotive component
firms should implement all of the LM practices in order to gain the full benefits. This
can be implemented through a systematic approach by implementing basic, intermediate
and advanced practices within a planned time frame. The preliminary survey result also
shows that the perceived importance and extent of practice of LM practices were
statistically significant, no matter what the size of the company. This suggests that the
respondent companies were implementing LM practices gradually and at the same time
continuing to learning the methodology of LM practices, especially in firms that had
implemented LM for less than 5 years. Most of the companies which had implemented
LM for more than 5 years showed the same levels of perception and extent of practice
of LM practices. As an example, in Table 5 the practice of reduce machine setup time
was not significant in companies which had implemented LM for more than 5 years,
compared to those with less than 5 years. This shows that the established lean company
knows the importance of the LM practices and practices them accordingly. However,
rating a practice as ‘low’ in importance or ‘not practiced’ does not suggest that the
practice is not important, but perhaps that the practice could not be implemented
extensively due to organizational constraints, especially in SMEs. Therefore,
government bodies such as SMECorp or the Malaysian Automotive Institute (MAI)
should support LM implementation in the Malaysian automotive component industry by
providing training and incentives. In order to validate this research, a future study will
be carried out on a larger number of respondents.
CONCLUSION
This paper has provided a view related to a pilot study on the current status of the
Malaysian automotive component industry on the level of perception and
implementation of LM. Most of the surveyed companies agreed on the importance of
lean practices in the their companies, but the level of implementation was not perceived
by them in the same ways. This can be seen in Tables 3, 4 and 5, which show that most
of the practices were statistically different between their perceived and practiced scores.
These companies were perhaps unable to implement LM due to resources constraints
such as financial, manpower or time. In order to understand in depth the difference
between LM as perceived and practiced, a large-scale analysis and case study need to
be arranged in the next study. Hopefully, the next study will be able to enhance the
findings and provide new information towards developing a feasible and systematic LM
1474
practices framework which can be applied in the Malaysian automotive component

industry.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Proton Berhad, SMECorp Malaysia and Malaysia
Automotive Institute for supporting this research.
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1476
VORTEX TUBE AIR COOLING: THE EFFECT ON SURFACE ROUGHNESS

AND POWER CONSUMPTION IN DRY TURNING
Zahari Taha1, H.A. Salaam2,*, T.M.Y.S. Tuan Ya2, S.Y. Phoon1, C.F. Tan3 and
M.A. Akiah4
1
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
2
3
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100, Durian Tunggal, Melaka
4
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100, Durian Tunggal, Melaka
*
Email: hadisalaam@ump.edu.my
ABSTRACT
There has been increased awareness of the need to reduce environmental impacts in the
last 10 years. The manufacturing industry is striving to reduce environmental impacts
by introducing new materials with better characteristics, that consume less processing
power and use smaller amounts of processing coolant. The main objective of this paper
is to study the effect of the Ranque–Hilsch vortex cooling tube on power consumption
and surface roughness quality in the turning process when machining mild steel material
with a coated carbide cutting tool. The machining parameters involved in the
experiment are cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut. The cutting speed is fixed at
160 m/min while the feed rate and the depth of cut are varied. The feed rates used are
0.10, 0.18 and 0.28 mm/rev, while the depth of cut is varied from 1.0 to 4.0 mm. During
the machining process, the cutting temperatures are measured using an infrared
thermometer and the power consumption is measured using a Prova 6830 power and
harmonics analyzer. The surface roughnesses of the machined parts are measured using
a surface roughness tester. The results show that cooling using Ranque–Hilsch vortex
tube air cooling reduces the cutting temperature, but the power consumption and surface
roughness are better under ambient conditions except at 0.28 mm/rev feed rate.
Keywords: Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT); turning process; power consumption;

surface roughness.
INTRODUCTION
The extensive use of cutting fluids in machining has significantly improved the
productivity and quality of parts produced by many machining industries. However, the
negative effects of cutting fluids on manufacturing cost, human health and the
environment have become a serious problem. Thus there is a strong need to reduce the
use of coolants. The application of Ranque–Hilsch vortex tubes (RHVT) in dry turning
can be an alternative solution to the above problems. Turning is a process to produce
straight, conical, curved or grooved workpieces by using a single point cutting process
where the cylindrical workpiece material is rotated at the chuck and a cutting tool
1477
Vortex Tube Air Cooling: The Effect on Surface Roughness and Power Consumption in Dry Turning
removes layer(s) of materials as it moves to the left (Kalpakjian & Schmid, 2006). In
this cutting operation, the surface finish quality is important since it reflects the quality
of a product (Thomas & Beauchamp, 2003). Research on the turning process has been
conducted by many researchers with different materials and methods (Yusuf et al.,
2011). There are many types of cutting fluids in the market which cool down the cutting
zone, reduce friction and wear, and remove chips from the workpiece (Aznijar et al.,
2010; El Baradie, 1996). Thus, the application of cutting fluids can significantly
improve the quality of the surface finish and extend the life of the cutting tool.
However, the economic cost assessment and justification and the proper selection of the
cutting fluids are not always as rational as they could be (El Baradie, 1996). There are
specific coolants developed for specific workpiece materials to increase the cutting tool
performance, but some of them are harmful to humans and the environment because of
their toxicity (Kalpakjian & Schmid, 2006). Additionally, an effort towards reducing
power consumption in cutting will lead to a more sustainable approach to machining. In
this study, the use of the Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT) is explored as an
alternative to cooling in the turning process. The Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT) is
a simple, low cost, small and lightweight device which uses high velocity compressed
air as a power source. It has no moving parts and produces hot air at one end and cold
air at the other end. It is commonly made from a durable material such as stainless steel
and does not require any electricity or chemicals to function (Exair Corporation, 2013).
Due to these advantages, vortex tubes have been used in many applications such as
cooling and heating of various operations, thermal tests, dehumidification, gas
liquefaction, ice production and mixture separation (Xue, Arjomandi, & Kelso, 2011).
The vortex tube was invented accidentally by George Ranque, a French physics
student in 1928. At that time, Ranque was conducting an experiment with the vortex-
type pump that he had developed, when he noticed warm air exhausting from one end
and cold air from the other end. After observing this phenomenon, Ranque soon forgot
about his pump and started a small firm to exploit the commercial potential of this
strange device that produced both cold and hot air without involving any moving parts.
However, it soon failed after he presented a paper on his vortex tube to a scientific
society in France in 1933, where it was met with disbelief and disinterest (Yilmaz et al.,
2009), and the vortex tube slipped into obscurity until 1945, when Rudolph Hilsch, a
German physicist, published a widely read scientific paper on the device (Exair
Corporation, 2013). The basic construction of the RHVT consists of an input air inlet,
cold air exit, hot air, exit vortex spin chamber, hollow cylinder and control valve, as
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Vortex tube diagram (Source: Exair Corporation, 2013).
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Taha et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 8 (2013) 1477-1586
Generally, a supply of compressed air is injected tangentially through the air

inlet. The air travels into the vortex spin chamber where it is changed into a turbulence
flow and then travels into the hollow cylinder and goes out at the hot air exit located at
the periphery as hot dry air. Some of the air is forced back into the hollow cylinder and
a second turbulence flow occurs inside the first turbulence flow and goes out at the cold
air exit as a cold air. The control valve at the hot air exit controls the amount of air out
at both ends. RHVTs can be classified into two categories (Yilmaz et al., 2009):
counter-flow and uni-flow. The difference between these two is the location of the hot
and cold air exits. For counter-flow RHVT, the hot and cold air exits are located at
opposite ends, while in the uni-flow version the hot and cold air exits are located at the
same end, as shown in Figure 2.
(a)
(b)
Figure 2. (a) Counter flow and (b) uni-flow vortex tube (Yilmaz et al., 2009).
Much research has been done using different types of RHVT. Based on a review
of these studies, counterflow RHVT is the most popular variant. Balmer (1988),
Crocker, White, and Bremer (2003), Gao et al. (2005), Aljuwayhel, Nellis, and Klein
(2005), Behera et al. (2005), Aydin and Baki (2006), Dincer, Baskaya, and Uysal
(2008), Behera et al. (2008), Yalcin, Ozgur, and Koru (2009), Dincer et al. (2009),
Kirmaci (2009), Secchiaroli et al. (2009), Markal, Aydin, and Acvi (2010), Xue et al.
(2010, 2011), Michalek et al. (2011) and Liew, Michalek, and Kuerten (2011) all used
counterflow RHVT in conducting their research experiments. RHVTs have been used
widely in many applications such as in refrigeration systems (Dincer et al., 2009;
Kirmaci, 2009), in chemical, gas and oil and gas research (Khodorkov et al., 2003) and
in advanced space transportation systems (Crocker et al., 2003). Besides that, Aydin and
Baki (2006) applied RHVT in energy separation research, and Yalcin et al. (2009)
1479
applied RHVT in milling machining. Gao et al. (2005) used RHVT in the cryogenics
area while Balmer (1988), Markal et al. (2010), and Xue et al. (2010, 2011) applied
RHVT in experimentation in thermal and fluid sciences. Eiamsa-ard and Promvonge
(2008) applied RHVT research in the renewable energy area. The main objective of this
paper is to illustrate the machining performance of the dry cooling method using the
Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT) and ambient air. The structure, working principles
and types of RHVT are presented in this paper. The experimental setup and machining
performance are discussed in brief.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
In this experiment, a conventional turning machine was used to machine mild steel
material 38 mm in diameter and 100 mm in length. The length of the workpiece being
machined was 20 mm. The cutting tool insert used was a Tungaloy tnmg 160408 tmt
9125 coated carbide together with a Mitsubishi mtjnr tool holder. Before the machining
took place, the percentages of mild steel chemical composition were checked using a
spectrometer. Results of the chemical composition of mild steel used in the experiment
are shown in Table 1. The main chemical composition of mild steel is iron (Fe) which
contains about 98.5% of the total chemical compositions; followed by manganese (Mn)
0.546%, carbon 0.271%, Si 0.023% etc; this is also known as A36 steel.
Table 1. Results of chemical composition of mild steel used in the experiment.
Chemical Chemical
% %
Composition Composition
Fe 98.5 Al 0.0082
C 0.217 Co <0.01
Si 0.223 Cu 0.211
Mn 0.546 Nb <0.005
P <0.01 Ti 0.005
S <0.01 V <0.005
Cr 0.0406 W <0.0250
Mo <0.01 Pb <0.005
Ni 0.0853
The machining process was conducted under two different dry cooling methods:
ambient air and compressed air through the RHVT. For this experiment, the cutting
parameter used was a spindle speed of 100 and 160 m/min, feed rate of 0.10, 0.18 and
0.28 mm/rev and a variation of depth of cut from 1.0 mm up to 4.0 mm. The surface
finished quality was measured using a Mahr surface Perthometer. A Prova 6830 Power
and Harmonic Analyzer was used to monitor power consumption during the machining
operation and the specific energy consumption was calculated using Eq. 1 as proposed
by Zahari et al. (2010).
Power consumption (kWh)

Specific energy consumption (SEC)  (1)
Volume of material removed (mm 3 )
1480
Figure 3 shows the connection of the power analyzer used in the experiment.
Design of experiment was used to determine the effects of cutting parameters on the
surface roughness, based on the recommendations by Kalpakjian and Schmid (2006).
Figure 3. Connection of Prova 6830 Power and Harmonic Analyzer setup used in the
experiment during machining.
The results using RHVT as a cooling medium when the cutting speed was fixed at 160
m/ min, with feed rates of 0.10, 0.18 and 0.28 mm/rev and the depth of cut varied from
1.0 mm to 4.0 mm are shown in Table 2. When the cutting speed was fixed and the feed
rate and depth of cut were increased, the average cutting temperature and power
consumption increased gradually. The surface quality performance was better at the
lower feed rate than at the higher feed rate.
Table 2. Machining performance results using RHVT as a cooling method.
Average Average
Depth Power Material SEC
Cutting cutting surface
of cut consumption removed (kWh/mm3)
parameter temperature roughness
(mm) (kWh) (mm3) (x106)
(°C) (μm)
Cutting
speed: 1.0 32.50 0.0111 3.602 9299.11 1.194
160 m/min 2.0 38.50 0.0119 3.601 18095.57 0.6576
Feed rate: 3.0 45.30 0.0135 3.004 26389.37 0.5116
0.10 mm/rev 4.0 53.80 0.0140 2.354 34280.52 0.4084
Cutting
speed: 1.0 35.50 0.0145 5.564 9299.11 1.559
160 m/min 2.0 42.50 0.0170 3.572 18095.57 0.9394
Feed rate: 3.0 54.50 0.0175 2.694 26389.37 0.6631
0.18 mm/rev 4.0 58.90 0.0217 2.324 34280.52 0.6331
Cutting
speed: 1.0 34.20 0.0223 6.495 9299.11 2.3981
160 m/min 2.0 52.80 0.0220 4.178 18095.57 1.2158
Feed rate: 3.0 55.70 0.0254 4.292 26389.37 0.9625
0.28 mm/rev 4.0 77.00 0.0267 3.018 34280.52 0.7789
1481
Table 3. Machining performance results using ambient air as a cooling method.
Average Average
Depth Power Material SEC
Cutting cutting surface
of cut consumption removed (kWh/mm3)
parameter temperature roughness
(mm) (kWh) (mm3) (x106)
(°C) (μm)
Cutting
speed: 1.0 31.30 0.0091 3.916 9299.11 0.9786
160 m/min 2.0 51.50 0.0101 3.717 18095.57 0.5581
Feed rate: 3.0 57.00 0.0125 2.993 26389.37 0.4737
0.10 mm/rev 4.0 97.50 0.0137 2.402 34280.52 0.3996
Cutting
speed: 1.0 38.90 0.0140 4.700 9299.11 1.5055
160 m/min 2.0 50.80 0.0164 3.651 18095.57 0.9063
Feed rate: 3.0 59.00 0.0196 2.529 26389.37 0.7427
0.18 mm/rev 4.0 101.80 0.0215 1.967 34280.52 0.6272
Cutting
speed: 1.0 39.90 0.0239 7.105 9299.11 2.5701
160 m/min 2.0 54.50 0.0238 5.589 18095.57 1.3152
Feed rate: 3.0 58.10 0.0248 3.439 26389.37 0.9298
0.28 mm/rev 4.0 137.60 0.0281 2.155 34280.52 0.8197
The specific energy consumption decreased as the depth of cut increased at a

fixed cutting speed and feed rate. The same trend was observed for machining in
ambient temperature, as shown in Table 3. The specific energy consumption reduced as
the depth of cut and feed rate increased. It can be seen that machining in ambient
temperature is generally better than with vortex air cooling.
Figure 4 shows the graph of cutting temperature at the different depths of cut,
feed rates and cooling methods. The cutting temperature in ambient air was higher than
when using RHVT. When using the RHVT, the cutting temperature dropped almost
50%. This was because the RHVT supplies a high velocity low temperature air which
cools down the heat generated at the cutting areas.
Fr = 0.28
Figure 4. Cutting temperature performance when cutting workpiece with respect to

different depths of cut, feed rates (Fr) and cooling methods.
1482
Figure 5 shows the graph of surface roughness with respect to different depths of
cut, feed rates and cooling methods. In general, the surface roughness quality is lower
for RHVT cooling compared to the ambient air cooling. This is because the introduction
of low temperature air at the cutting area makes the workpiece surface solidify quickly
in a short time. Besides that, the introduction of low temperature air during cutting will
cause quenching of the surface being heat treated (Kalpakjian & Schmid, 2006). The
introduction of air alone in cooling the cutting area does not give satisfactory results in
machining (Sharma, Dogra, & Suri, 2009).
Figure 5. Surface roughness quality performance with respect to different depths of cut,
feed rates and cooling methods.
Figure 6. Power consumption performance with respect to different depths of cut, feed
rates and cooling methods.
1483
Figure 6 shows the graph of power consumption with respect to different depths
of cut, feed rates and cooling methods. In general, higher power consumption was
observed when using RHVT as a cooling medium compared to ambient air, except at a
feed rate of 0.28 mm/rev. When compressed air moves inside the vortex tube, it travels
to the hot air exit first, and then to the cold air exit. When entering the hot air exit, dry
high pressure air will be produced and then exit as cold and totally dry air. When this air
hits the cutting area, more power is needed since the friction force is higher due to the
lack of lubrication effect (Sharma et al., 2009). With proper adjustment of the nozzle,
the outcome of using vortex tube air cooling can be better (Sharma et al., 2009).
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the experiment conducted, dry machining in ambient air temperature performs
better than using RHVT. Overall, the surface roughness, power consumption and
specific energy consumption performance are better, except at a feed rate of 0.28
mm/rev. Lubrication is more important at low cutting speed, whereas the cooling effect
is more important at higher cutting speed due to the large increase in heat generated by
the chip removal process.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the MTUN Secretariat for financial support
(RDU121223) and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
(UMP).
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1486
CONTENTS
An Experimental Study of Air Flow and Heat Transfer over in–Line Flat Tube Bank 1487
Tahseen Ahmad Tahseen, M. M. Rahman and M. Ishak
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15282/ijame.9.2014.1.0123
Four-Sided Lid-Driven Cavity Flow using Time Splitting Method of Adams- 1501
Bashforth Scheme
C. S. N. Azwadi, A. Rajab and A. Sofianuddin
Determining the Working Conditions of Heat Pump Components According to 1511

Running Modes
Uğur Çakır and Kemal Çomaklı
An Experimental Investigation of the Effective Parameters on Wet Washing of 1525

Biodiesel Purification
A. Abbaszadeh, B. Ghobadian, G. Najafi and T. Yusaf
Experimental Investigation of Minimum Quantity Lubrication on Tool Wear in 1538

Aluminum Alloy 6061-T6 using Different Cutting Tools
M. Puvanesan, M.M. Rahman, M.S. Najiha and K. Kadirgama
Ground Viscous Effect on 3D Flow Structure of a Compound Wing-in-Ground Effect 1550

S. Jamei, A. Maimun, N. Azwadi, M. M. Tofa, S. Mansor and A. Priyanto
A New Method in the Identification of Noise and Vibration Characteristics of 1564

Automotive Disk Brakes in the Low Frequency Domain
K. Magaswaran, A. S. Phuman Singh and M. Z. Hassan
Experimental Study on Surface Integrity in End Milling of Hastelloy C-2000 1578

Superalloy
N. H. Razak, M. M. Rahman and K. Kadirgama
UTILIZATION OF PULVERISED COAL MONITORING SYSTEM FOR 1588

CLEANER ELECTRICITY GENERATION
M. F. Muhamad Said and A. Aroussi
Fatigue Life Estimation Models: A State of the Art 1599

M. Kamal and M.M. Rahman
ii
Determination of Customer Requirement for Welding Fumes Index Development in 1609

Automotive Industries by using Quality Function Deployment Approach
Azian Hariri, N. Azreen P., Norhidayah Abdull, A. M Leman and M. Z. M Yusof
Design and Simulation of a Cylinder Head Structure for A Compressed Natural Gas 1620
Direct Injection Engine
A. Shamsudeen, S. Abdullah, A.K. Ariffin, M.R.M. Rasani and Y. Ali
Investigating the Physical and Mechanical Properties of TiO 2 Varistor Materials 1630
Prepared with Various Dopants
I. R. Daud, S. Begum, M. M. Rahman, S. Gholizadeh and Z. Kothandapani
Acoustic Performance of Green Polymer Foam from Renewable Resources after UV 1639
Exposure
Nik Normunira Mat Hassan and Anika Zafiah M. Rus
Artificial Neural Network Modeling of Grinding of Ductile Cast Iron using Water 1649
Based SiO 2 Nanocoolant
M.M. Rahman, K. Kadirgama and Azma Salwani Ab Aziz
Effect of Mechanical and Biophysical Properties of Fibrin Gel on Microvascual 1662

Development in a Three-Dimensonal Angiogenesis Assay
G. N. Vadival and I. Sukmana
Modeling Studies of Bi- and Quad-Wing Flapping Ornithopter Kinematics and 1669
Aerodynamics
H. Djojodihardjo and A. S. S. Ramli
Effects of Cooling Rates on Thermal Profiles and Microstructure of Aluminium 7075 1685
A.H. Ahmad, S. Naher and D. Brabazon
An Integrated Model for Predicting Engine Friction Losses in Internal Combustion 1695
Engines
Mohammed Kamil, M.M. Rahman and Rosli A. Bakar
Effect of Preheated Jatropha Oil and Jatropha Oil Methyl Ester with Producer Gas on 1709
Diesel Engine Performance
C. Nayak, B. P. Pattanaik and S. K. Nayak
Modal Analysis of Dissimilar Plate Metal Joining with Different Thicknesses using 1723
MIG Welding
M. M. Hatifi, M. H. Firdaus and A. Y. Razlan
Free Vibration Analysis of a Laminated Composite Beam with Various Boundary 1734
Conditions
Murat Balcı, Mustafa Oğuz Nalbant, Ercan Kara and Ömer Gündoğdu
Effect of Compression Ratio on the Performance of Different Strategies for the Gas 1747
Turbine
Thamir K. Ibrahim and M.M. Rahman
Corrosion Comparison of Galvanized Steel and Aluminum in Aqueous Environments 1758

M. Merajul Haque, S. Alam Limon, Md. Moniruzzaman and Md. Mohar Ali Bepari
Plate Fin and Tube Heat Exchanger Modeling: Effects of Performance Parameters for 1768
Turbulent Flow Regime
Arafat A. Bhuiyan, M. Ruhul Amin, Rezwanul Karim and A.K.M. Sadrul Islam
Electrode Wear Rate of Graphite Electrodes during Electrical Discharge Machining 1782
Processes on Titanium Alloy Ti-5Al-2.5Sn
Md. Ashikur Rahman Khan, M. M. Rahman and K. Kadirgama
Edge Length Effect of Bluff Bodies on Flow Structure 1793

E Manay, V Ozceyhan, B Sahin and S Gunes
Influence of the Earth’s Dominant Oblateness Parameter on the Low Formation 1802
Orbits of Micro-Satellites
H. Djojodihardjo
Validation of Road Load Characteristic of a Sub-Compact Vehicle by Engine 1820

Operation
Devarajan Ramasamy, Goh Chin Yuan, Rosli Abu Bakar and Z.A. Zainal
AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF AIR FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER OVER

IN–LINE FLAT TUBE BANK
Tahseen Ahmad Tahseen1,3, M. M. Rahman1,2 and M. Ishak1,2

1
Phone: +609–424–2246; Fax: +609–424–2202
2
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering,
Tikrit University, Tikrit, Iraq
*
E–mail: tahseen444@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
An experimental study was made to investigate heat transfer and air flow around the flat
tubes of in-line flat tube banks with laminar forced convection. Measurements were
conducted for sixteen tubes in the flow direction; four rows of four tubes, three air
velocities (0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 m/s) and Reynolds numbers ReDh = 527, 703 and 880, where
Dh is the hydraulic diameter of the tube. The total heat flux supplied in all the tubes was
968, 2259 and 3630 W/m2, respectively. The study results indicate that the average
Nusselt number of all the flat tubes increased by 23.7%–36.7% with Reynolds numbers
varying from 527 to 880 with fixed heat flux; also the average Nusselt number increased
by 11.78%–23.75% at varying heat fluxes of 968, 2259 and 3630 W/m2, respectively at
Reynolds number Re = 703. In addition, the pressure drop decreased with the increase
of Reynolds number. The Nusselt number–Reynolds number correlation was found to
be Nu  C 1  Re C 2 and the correlation yielded good predictions of the measured data
with the mean error R2 = 99.2%.
Keywords: Heat transfer; forced convection; in-line flat tube; laminar flow; Reynolds
number.
INTRODUCTION
The heat transfer and fluid flow in tube bundles represent an idealization of many
industrially important processes. Tube banks are openly employed in cross-flow heat
exchangers, whose design still relies on empirical correlations of pressure drop and heat
transfer. Heat exchangers with tube bundles in cross-flow are of a major operations
interest in many chemical and thermal engineering processes (Al- Doori, 2011; Aziz
Hairuddin, Wandel, & Yusaf, 2013; Buyruk, Johnson, & Owen, 1998; Incropera,
Lavine, & DeWitt, 2011; Kaptan, Buyruk, & Ecder, 2008; Liang & Papadakis, 2007;
Mandhani, Chhabra, & Eswaran, 2002; Naga Sarada, Sita Rama Raju, Kalyani Radha,
& Syam Sunder, 2012; Syam Sundar & Sharma, 2011; Wang, Penner, & Ormiston,
2000; Zukausras, 1973). Flat tubes, however, have not been developed to the same
extent, although they play a significant role in many technical applications, such as
1487
An experimental study of air flow and heat transfer over in–line flat tube bank
automotive radiators and modern heat exchangers (Vijaya Lakshmi, Subrahmanyam,

Dharma Rao, & Sharma, 2011). Designs have recently been provided that use air
conditioning for automotive evaporators and condensers. Recent developments in
automotive aluminum manufacturing technology have made the cost of building flat
tube heat exchangers more propitious (Muthucumaraswamy & Velmurugan, 2013;
Naga Sarada et al., 2012; Rao et al., 2011; Sahin, Manay, & Ozceyhan, 2013;
Suryanarayana, Srinivasa Rao, Reddy Prasad, Sharma, & Sarma, 2011; Webb & Kim,
2005). In addition, flat tube heat exchangers are expected to provide the best air-side
heat transfer coefficients and minimum air-side pressure drop compared with circular
tube heat exchangers; the pressure drop in flat tubes is expected to be less than in
circular tubes due to a smaller wake area. For the same reason, noise and vibration are
expected to be less in flat tube heat exchangers than in circular tube heat exchangers.
Ay, Jang, and Yeh (2002) presented an experimental study of plate finned-tube
heat exchangers. Tests were conducted on the strategic zone of both staggered and in-
line configurations. The results show that the average heat transfer coefficient of the
staggered arrangement is 14%–32% greater than that of the in-line arrangement. In the
experimental and numerical study of the laminar heat transfer and fluid flow over the
cylinder in cross-flow presented by Buyruk et al. (1998), variations of local pressure
drop, Nusselt number, streamline contour and isotherm line contour were expected with
the two Reynolds numbers of 120 and 390. In addition, the results show that increasing
Reynolds number causes a state of separation to move upstream and overall heat
transfer to increase. Heat transfer and fluid flow over a four-row elliptic finned-tube
heat exchanger was studied numerically and experimentally by Jang and Yang (1998).
The change values of inlet velocity ranged from 2 m/s–7 m/s. The arrangements tested
were in-line and staggered elliptic finned tubes and one circular finned tube with a
staggered configuration. The experimental results show that the average heat transfer
coefficient increased by 35%–50% for the elliptical finned tube compared with an
identical circular finned tube. The pressure drop in the elliptic finned-tube bundle was
only 25%–30% of the circular finned-tube bundle array. An experimental study was
carried out to investigate heat transfer and flow characteristics of one tube within a
staggered tube bundle and a row of similar tubes. Variations of the local Nusselt number
and local pressure coefficients were shown with different blockages and Reynolds
numbers (Hussein, Sharma, Bakar, & Kadirgama, 2013; Matos, Vargas, Laursen, &
Bejan, 2004; Muthucumaraswamy & Velmurugan, 2013; Rao et al., 2011; Tahseen,
Ishak, & Rahman, 2012). This is an experimental, numerical and analytical study of
the optimal spacing between cylinders in cross-flow forced convection. In the first
part, with an experimental ReD range of 50–4000 and the second part, similar results
were developed based on numerical simulations for Pr = 0.72 and 40 ≤ ReD ≤ 200. The
experimental and numerical results for optimal spacing and maximum thermal
conductance were explained and correlated analytically by intersecting the small-
spacing and large-spacing asymptotes of the thermal conductance function (Stanescu,
Fowler, & Bejan, 1996). Tahseen et al. (2012); Tahseen, Ishak, & Rahman (2013a,
2013b) conducted numerical studies of incompressible, steady state flow and using the
body fitted coordinate (BFC). The first was a study of heat transfer over a series of flat
tubes between two parallel plates, while the second and third studies examined the heat
transfer over the in-line and staggered configurations of a circular tube, respectively. All
their studies show the effect of the Reynolds number on the Nusselt number; also, the
Nusselt number consistently increases with an increase of Reynolds number. The third
study shows the maximum Nusselt number at the first tube in comparison with other
1488
Tahseen et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1487-1500
tubes. The flow over banks of elliptic cylinders was presented by Yianneskis,
Papadakis, Balabani, and Castiglia (2001) both numerically and experimentally. The
average velocities for the array were found experimentally by flow visualization and
using a laser Doppler anemometer (Akcil & Koldas, 2006). The results show that the
arrangement generates much lower turbulence levels than an equivalent array with
circular cylinders. The turbulence levels remain nearly constant along the flow sections
across successive rows, reflecting the absence of confusion between adjacent columns.
The experiment studied the heat transfer and pressure drop of staggered flat tube banks.
The Reynolds number varied from 373 to 623 and the heat flux supplied ranged
between 967.92 and 3629.7. The pressure drop increased and the dimensionless pressure
drop decreased with increased Reynolds number. The study result shows that the
average Nusselt number increased by 11.46%–46.42% (Ishak, Tahseen, & Rahman,
2013). In a recent study, numerical research was conducted by Tahseen, Ishak, and
Rahman (2014) for the heat transfer and pressure drop of air flow over the in-line
arrangement of the flat tube bank. They used a neuro–fuzzy inference system (ANFAS)
model to predict the values of the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. They
examined four transverse pitches: 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5, and three longitudinal pitches: 3,
4 and 6, for Reynolds numbers ranging from 10 to 320. Their results were offered in the
form of temperature contours, streamlines, average Nusselt number and dimensionless
pressure drop. The key results from this study indicated that the average deviation
between the numerical and ANFIS model values for average Nusselt number is 1.9%,
and the dimensionless pressure drop is 2.97%. In the present study, the cooling process
was experimentally examined using an array of in-line flat tube banks of diameter ratio
1.85. The external flow of air with the Reynolds number, based on the mean free stream
air velocity and outer hydraulic of the tube, varied from 527 to 880. The heat flux
supply to all tubes was in the range 968–3630 W/m2. The aim was to detect the effects
of Reynolds number on the air pressure drop across the flat tube banks and heat transfer
rate.
The flat tube arrangement was made from aluminum with the smaller diameter 10mm
and bigger diameter 18.5 mm, with a tube thickness of 1 mm and hydraulic diameter Dh
= 13.5 mm; all tubes were 200 mm long. Double electric heaters were inserted inside
the tubes to simulate the heat flux originating from a hot fluid. The arrangement was
four rows of four tubes aligned in the direction of the external flow. The sixteen flat
tubes were then assembled according to the design presented in Figure 1, in a drawer
made of Teflon type polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), as the test module. Losses were
minimized by holding the end of the flat tube between two Teflon walls at a separation
of L = 200 mm. Thirty-two heating elements consisting of cylindrical electric heaters
were used, each rated at 50 W up to 850 W with 220 V AC, and with an outside
diameter 8 mm and a length of 200mm. The diameter was small enough to be inserted
in the aluminum tubes. The heaters were connected in parallel and the two AC variable
voltage sources produced voltages in the range 0–125 V, with maximum power supply
220 V and a maximum current of 2.5 A (model Loadstar 850). The current and voltage
measurements were performed with a current clamp meter model U1191A and volt
measurement meter model Tenma 9272, respectively. Fifteen thermistors of type
EPCOS B57164K0102J NTC (resistance 1000Ω at 25oC) were placed in the test
module. All the thermistors were placed in the middle between the side walls of the
1489
wind tunnel and on the midline of the channels. Four thermistors were placed at the
arrangement inlet (Tin,1–Tin,4), four on the surfaces of the tubes (Ts,1–Ts,4), and five at the
outlet (Tout,1–Tout,5) in one elemental channel. An additional thermistor (Tbef ) was placed
on the extended region 400 mm ahead of the test module to measure the temperature of
the free stream.
Figure 1. Schematic display of the experimental approach.
Figure 2. A typical thermistor calibration.
The thermistors on the surfaces of the tubes showed that the difference between
the tubes in one elemental channel is negligible, and within a ±0.57 °C margin with
respect to the averaged four thermistors. Finally, the thermistor located in the extended
region for the purpose of measuring the free stream temperatures recorded temperatures
within a ±0.22 °C margin with respect to the average temperature measured at the inlet
arrangement, in all the tests carried out in this work. The velocity measurements were
taken with a vane type hot wire anemometer, model YK–2004AH, that was placed in
the extended flow region, as can be seen in Figure 1. The air velocities measured
1490
ranged from 0.2–20 m/s. The resolution 0.1 m/s of reading and uncertainty in free
stream velocity U∞ was ±(1%–5% +0.1 m/s). The velocity of free stream U∞ varied
within 0.6–1.0 m/s in this study. The pressure drop measurements were taken with a
differential pressure meter, model Testo 510 (Testo, Inc.). With the nominal range from
0 to 1000 Pa, the differential pressure resolution was 1 Pa of reading with an accuracy
of ±0.3 Pa.
The differential pressure measurements had the objective of measuring the
pressure drop across each change of the free stream velocity in all experiments, as
shown in Figure 1. The experimental work includes acquiring the temperature data
using a highly accurate thermometer, model Testo 110 (Testo, Inc.). The range of
temperatures measured was between –50 °C and +150 °C with a resolution of 0.1°C of
reading and accuracy ±0.2 °C. In addition, the thermistor was calibrated to find the
deviation limits. The thermistor was immersed in four liquids: distilled water, n–
Hexane, methylated spirit and toluene. After that, each liquid was heated separately to
boiling point and then the values were recorded as shown in Figure 2 (Collett & Hope,
1983). Each run was started by selecting the voltage and current for the cartridge heaters
and air velocity of the free stream. Then we waited for 2.5–3.0 hours for the purpose of
monitoring the changes in voltage, current, Tbef, Tin,1–Tin,4, Ts,1–Ts,4 and
Tout,1–Tout,5. We took final readings when the relative changes in the voltage, current and
temperature were less than 0.5–0.8%, 2.0–2.2% and 0.044–0.075%, respectively. These
relative changes were estimated by repeating the same ReDh value, for 7.5–9 hours. It
should be noted that these relative changes are small compared with the uncertainties in
the relevant measurements.
GOVERNING EQUATIONS
In this experiment we assumed steady state flow. For the investigation we used the
following relations of the relevant properties of air for the calculations, based on data
from Rogers and Mayhew (2004) and valid for the temperature range of
(̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅) :
̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅
( )
̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅̅
[ ( )] ( )
( )
̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅
[ ( )] ( )
̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅
[ ( )] ( )
}
where
̅̅̅̅ ∑( ) ̅̅̅̅ ∑( )
1491
The electrical heat gain rate was calculated by:
( )
The steady state heat balance of the electrically heated test surface can be
written as:
( )
For heat transfer from the system: (i) conduction between the lab and wall of the
tubes was neglected because of the extremely low thermal conductivity of air
(0.23 W/(m oC)) of Teflon and the negligible temperature difference between the lab
and outer walls of the Teflon; (ii) radiation heat transfer between the surfaces of the
tubes and the surroundings was also neglected. Based on the measurement of (̅̅̅̅
̅̅̅̅̅) and mean ̅̅̅̅ the radiation transfer coefficients were estimated as (Khan, Fartaj, &
Ting, 2004):
̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅̅̅

̅̅̅̅̅̅ [{( ) (̅̅̅) } {( ) ̅̅̅}] ( )
where
̅̅̅̅̅̅ ∑( )
For a commercial aluminum tube with emissivity (Collett & Hope,

1983), ̅̅̅̅̅̅ 2 o
was found to range between (0.174–0.205) W/(m C), in approximately
0.0102–0.15% from convection heat transfer coefficient h . Thus, the heat transfer
between the air and the surface of the tubes was actually due to convection and the
mechanism of Eq. (3) was rewritten (Naik, Probert, & Shilston, 1987):
̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅̅̅
̅̅̅ [̅̅̅ ( )] ( )
can be employed with
[ ( )]
where nt is the number of tubes.

The mean inlet air temperature ̅̅̅̅ varied in the range 22.86–26.01 oC and the
average temperature of the surfaces of tubes ̅̅̅ . For the steady state condition, the
overall heat transfer rate was equal to the electrical heat supply, . From Eq. (5),
the average heat transfer coefficient was determined as:
̅̅̅ ( )
̅̅̅̅ ̅̅̅̅̅
[̅̅̅ ( )]
1492
The dimensionless average heat transfer coefficient of air, namely, the Nusselt
number, was calculated via Eq. (7):
̅̅̅
̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ ( )
where
[ ( ) ]
( )
( )
The Reynolds number ( ), defined in terms of the hydraulic diameter ( ), is

obtained as
( )
The estimation of the Colburn j-factor is presented by the following non-

dimensional parameter:
̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
⁄
( )
The dimensionless pressure drop is as follows:
( )
where n is the number of tube rows.

The experimental uncertainty issues have been dealt with elsewhere (Dieck,
1997; Holman, 2012; Kim, Simon, & Viskanta, 1993). There is more than one way to
estimate the uncertainty in the experimental results, as has been presented by Kline and
McClintock (1953) , who give a few sample calculations, using independent parameters
(such as dimensions, temperature, velocity, etc.). They found different prejudices (P)
and accuracy errors (A) using the root sum square (Persson, Hogmark, & Bergström,
2005) method:
⁄
[ ] ( )
and
⁄
[ ] ( )
For the sum of component errors to get their 95% certitude uncertainty (U), the
following equation was used:
⁄
[ ] ( )
The dependent parameters (like ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅, etc.) are independent

functions of other measured parameters, and the uncertainty of the independent variable
1493
spreads in them according to their functional relationship. For example, in the case of
electric power ( ):
( )
The uncertainties of current and voltage propagate into , and can be

estimated in terms of relative or absolute values (%) as follows:
relative
( ) √( ) ( ) ( )
or absolute
( ) √( ) ( ) ( )
The uncertainties in finding the ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ , and CP were

estimated and found to remain approximately within ±1.6%, ±1.14%, ±8.42%, ±8.41%,
±7.74% and ±3.5%, respectively.
This section presents the experimental result of laminar forced convection heat transfer
across tube bundles with in-line arrays. It also discusses the effects of total heat flux and
Reynolds number on the Nusselt number, pressure drop and the dimensionless pressure
drop. The main objective of this study is to determine the relationship between the
Reynolds number and Nusselt number. The effect of the total heat flux supply on the
Nusselt number, ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ at different Reynolds numbers, is shown in Figure 3. It can
be observed that the ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ number increases nearly linearly with increasing total heat
flux supply. In addition, the biggest value of the ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ number is observed at the
maximum value of the number. Figure 4 shows the variations of the mean Nusselt
number with Reynolds number for different heat flux supply. It is clear that the ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
number increases almost linearly with increase of the number.
Figure 5 shows the variation of the Colburn j-factor with Reynolds number for
all cases of heat flux supplied. From the figure, the Colburn j-factor decreases with
increasing Reynolds number for all heat flux levels supplied. It can be seen from this
figure that the Colburn j-factor increases with increase of the heat flux supply. This is
due to the heat transfer coefficient increasing with increase of the heat flux supplied.
The Nusselt number depends on the heat transfer coefficient.
1494
Figure 3. Effect of total heat flux on ̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ numbers with various numbers.
Figure 4. Mean Nusselt number variation versus Reynolds numbers for different heat
flux supply.
1495
Colbum j-factor
Figure 5. Influence of Reynolds number on the Colburn j-factor for several heat flux
values supplied.
(a) (b)
Figure 6. Variations of pressure drop and dimensionless pressure drop across test
section corresponding to Reynolds number.
The variation of pressure drop ∆P and the dimensionless pressure drop CP with
the Reynolds number is shown in Figure 6. It is clear from Figure 6a that the ∆P
increases linearly with increase of the number. The results show that the CP
decreases with increase of the number. Figure 7 shows the relationship of the
average Nusselt number with the Reynolds number. In addition, the figure shows a
comparison of the experimental result with two previous works by Hausen (1983) and
Wilson and Bassiouny (2000). The increase of the mean Nusselt number with the
increase of Reynolds number in the power law can be formalized as
1496
̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ ( ) ( )
Figure 7. Variations of Nusselt number with Reynolds number and comparison with
previous studies and correlation.
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, an experimental study of heat transfer and air flow over an in-line flat tube
bundle is reported. The study results can be summarized as follows:
i. The average Nusselt number of the air flow increases with the increase of the
Reynolds number.
ii. The average Nusselt number of all the flat tubes is increased by 23.7% – 36.7%
with Reynolds numbers varying from 527 to 880 at fixed heat flux.
iii. The pressure drop increases with increase of the Reynolds number, while the
dimensionless pressure drop decreases with increase of the Reynolds number.
iv. Finally, the Nusselt number–Reynolds number correlation was found to be
̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ ( ) with a mean error R2 = 99.2%.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is part of a Ph.D. project in Mechanical Engineering. The researcher

would like to thank the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
for providing laboratory facilities and financial support under project no. RDU120103.
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NOMENCLATURE
As tube surface area, m2 Re Reynolds number

C1,C2 correlation/curve fit coefficients T temperature, oC
CP pressure coefficient V velocity, m/s
specific heat capacity at constant
cP U voltage, Volt
pressure, kJ/(kg oC)
d transverse diameter of tube, m Greeks
D longitudinal diameter of tube, m ε emissivity
Dh hydraulic diameter of the flat ∆P pressure drop across the tube
tube, m array, Pa
σ Stefan–Boltzmann constant,
f friction factor
5.670373×10−8 W/(m2 K4)
I current, A μ dynamic viscosity, kg/(m s)
j the Colburn factor ρ density, kg/m3
̅̅̅ average heat transfer coefficient,
Subscripts
W/(m2 oC)
k thermal conductivity, W/(m oC) f air
L total length of the tubes, m in inlet
nt number of tubes f air
̅̅̅̅̅ average Nusselt number out out
Pr Prandtl number s surface
Q heat transfer rate, W ∞ the free stream
1500
FOUR-SIDED LID-DRIVEN CAVITY FLOW USING TIME SPLITTING

METHOD OF ADAMS-BASHFORTH SCHEME
C. S. N. Azwadi*, A. Rajab and A. Sofianuddin

81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
*Email: azwadi@fkm.utm.my
Phone: +607-5534718; Fax: +607-5566159
ABSTRACT
In this paper, a second order Adams–Bashforth method is proposed to simulate four-

sided square lid-driven cavity flow. The convective term and diffusive term in Navier–
Stokes equations are solved using a finite central difference scheme and the unsteady
term is solved using the Adams–Bashforth method. All of the flow is simulated at below
critical Reynolds numbers in a square cavity with an isothermal condition and the same
speed for all walls. In this study, the flow structure for a four-sided lid-driven cavity
with its four vortices and a graph of the velocity profile along the center of the cavity
are presented. In addition, we also study the effect of the Reynolds number on the
development of vortices in the cavity. We find that the Reynolds number has a
dominant effect on the flow structure in the cavity. The computed results also show
good agreement with the published data.
Keywords: Four-sided lid-driven cavity; Adams–Bashforth Method; Reynolds numbers,

time splitting method.
INTRODUCTION
The flow inside a square cavity has been widely used to demonstrate fluid flow using
simple geometry. The flow structure in a one-sided lid-driven cavity problem has been
reported by many researchers (Ghia, Ghia, & Shin, 1982; Idris, Ammar, Tuan Ya, &
Amin, 2013; Idris, Irwan, & Ammar, 2012; Musa, Abdullah, Azwadi, & Zulkifli,
2011; Rosdzimin, Zuhairi, & Azwadi, 2010; Sidik & Attarzadeh, 2011). Later,
research on different cavity geometries has been reported, such as a deep cavity (Patil,
Lakshmisha, & Rogg, 2006), semi-circular cavity (Yang, Shi, Guo, & Sai, 2012),
trapezoidal cavity (Zhang, Shi, & Chai, 2010) and triangular cavity (González, Ahmed,
Kühnen, Kuhlmann, & Theofilis, 2011). Recently, two-sided lid-driven cavity flow
(Mendu & Das, 2012; Oueslati, Ben Beya, & Lili, 2011) has been analyzed in order to
study possible applications in industry, such as in the paper coating industry (Cao &
Esmail, 1995), polymer processing (Gaskell, Summers, Thompson, & Savage, 1996)
and drying technologies (Alleborn, Raszillier, & Durst, 1999). For the case of a four-
sided lid-driven cavity flow, Wahba (2009) studied the bifurcation of the flow and
found that four-sided lid-driven cavity flow generates bifurcation at Re = 219. Recently,
Perumal and Dass (2011) and Cadou, Guevel, and Girault (2012) tested the stability of
the Lattice Boltzmann method by simulating the flow structure in a four-sided lid-driven
cavity. In order to solve the Navier–Stokes equation without having a checkerboard
problem, a staggered grid arrangement should be used, where pressure will be located at
1501
Four-sided lid-driven cavity flow using time splitting method of Adams-Bashforth scheme
the center of the staggered grid and velocity will be placed at the cell face. The Adams–
Bashforth method is a famous method that implements a staggered grid for time
advancement calculation. A higher order of accuracy analysis for the Adams–Bashforth
method has been applied by many researchers, such as Man and Tsai (2008) in their
work on the vorticity-stream function equation, as well as work by Lo, Murugesan, and
Young (2005). A similar formulation has been used, combining the Adams–Bashforth
scheme with the Crank–Nicolson scheme to create a semi-implicit scheme in three-
dimensional analysis (Hansen, Sørensen, & Shen, 2003). To solve the Adams–
Bashforth scheme, a method called the time-splitting method needs to be used to reduce
the number of variables in the momentum equation. Such work has already been done
by many researchers (Boersma, 2011; Choi & Balaras, 2009; Perot, 1993).
It appears from the aforementioned investigations that numerous investigations
have been conducted on the lid-driven cavity flow. However, no attempt has been made
to investigate four-sided lid-driven cavity flow with a high order and stable numerical
scheme such as the Adams–Bashforth Crank–Nicolson scheme. Different values of
Reynolds number such as at 10, 100 and 127 will be reported. This study is focused on a
low Reynolds number as the critical Reynolds number for the four-sided cavity problem
is 129 (Wahba, 2009). In the present study, the top wall is moving to the right, the
bottom wall is moving to the left, the right wall is moving upwards and the left wall is
moving downwards with equal speed. Before presenting the results, the validation of
codes will be presented at Re = 1000, with the streamline patterns on a four-sided lid-
driven cavity, together with the location of the vortices, and a comparison with the work
of Perumal and Dass (2011). Later, their normalized velocity along the center of the
cavity will be presented.
MATHEMATICAL MODEL
The incompressible Navier–Stokes equations and continuity equation are written in non-
dimensional form. The flow is considered as incompressible and in an isothermal
condition.
Continuity equation:
(1)
Momentum equation:
( ) (2)
( ) (3)
where is the Reynolds number and

U = speed of the wall
L = length of the wall
v = dynamic viscosity of the fluid inside the cavity
1502
Azwadi et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1501-1510
These equations are solved by using the central difference on the convective and
diffusive term to get better accuracy. To avoid a checkerboard problem from using the
central difference, a staggered grid arrangement is used in this study. For time
advancement using the Adams–Bashforth method, the popular method used to remove
the pressure term is the time-splitting method. This method is also called the pressure
correction method, projection approach, fractional step method or time stepping
method. The principle of this method is to remove the pressure term from the equation
and to introduce an intermediate velocity. A second order Adams–Bashforth method is
used and the equation can be written as
̂ (4)
In this equation, H represents the convective term with a viscous term in the
momentum equation and intermediate velocity will be solved first. In this calculation,
the viscous and convective term are discretized by using the central difference. All of
the velocity component that is not located exactly on the grid will be calculated by using
averaging, as will be discussed later in the boundary condition section. During the
intermediate step, the pressure term will be decoupled in the equation. Pressure
correction will then be calculated by using the pressure Poisson equation in Eq. (5),
using the intermediate velocity earlier. The pressure should then be used to get the
corrected velocity at time step n+1 by including the intermediate velocity using Eq. (6).
̂
(5)
̂ (6)
Figure 1. Staggered boundary condition for U-velocity at horizontal wall.
For the horizontal wall, the boundary condition for v-velocity (vertical velocity)
can be used directly because the point of vertical velocity is located at the staggered
grid, as in Figure 1. But for u-velocity (horizontal velocity), the velocity is not located
exactly on the wall and averaging is therefore used at that position. The procedure is the
same at the top wall, but the velocity at the top wall is not zero.
1503
(7)
Figure 2. Staggered boundary condition for v-velocity at vertical wall.

U=U; V=0
U=0; v= -U U=0; v=U
U= -U; v=0
Figure 3. Boundary condition and names of vortices in a four-sided lid-driven cavity

flow.
Figure 2 shows the boundary condition for v-velocity at the vertical wall. The
boundary condition for u-velocity (horizontal velocity) is now different at the vertical
wall, where its node is located on the vertical wall, so it can be used directly. The
1504
procedure for averaging the v-velocity is the same as in Eq. (7). The walls of the square
cavity are moved at the same speed. The top wall moves to the right but the bottom wall
moves to the left. On the other hand, the right wall is moving upwards but the left wall
is moving downwards, as in Figure 3. Four vortices will developed, where the top
vortex is called the Top Primary Vortex (TPV), the vortex at the bottom of the cavity is
the Bottom Primary Vortex (BPV), and the right and the left vortices are called the
Right Primary Vortex (RPV) and Left Primary Vortex (LPV) respectively. The
simulation was done using MATLAB and the grid size is 161×161 in a staggered grid
arrangement.
VALIDATION
Ghia et al. (1982) used a vorticity-stream function formulation to simulate the flow of a
one-sided lid-driven cavity from low to high Reynolds number. Figure 4(a) shows a
comparison of the v-velocity profile along the center of the cavity and Figure 4(b)
shows the u-velocity. It shows good agreement with the reference.
(a) (b)
Figure 4. Validation of current study against Ghia et al. (1982): (a) graph of v-velocity
profile along y = 0.5 and (b) graph of u-velocity profile along x = 0.5 inside cavity.
This section presents the numerical results of a four-sided lid-driven cavity at Re = 10,
100 and 127. The streamlines inside the cavity, the locations of the vortices, and the
graph of the velocity profile along the x-axis and y-axis will be discussed. Figure 5
shows the streamline patterns of the four-sided lid-driven cavity: (a) for Re = 10, (b) Re
= 100 and (c) Re = 127. Four vortices are generated at the end of the simulation,
namely, one vortex each at the top of the cavity, bottom of the cavity, left side of the
cavity and right side of the cavity. Generally, the centers of the vortices are seen coming
closer to the diagonal joining edges of the moving wall as the Reynolds number
increases. Table 1 shows the location of the centers of the vortices for the four-sided lid-
driven cavity flow at various Reynolds numbers. In general, the vortices move nearer to
the diagonal joining edge of the cavity as the Reynolds numbers increase. For
comparison of the locations of the vortices from Re = 10 to Re = 100, the TPV is
moving to the right and slightly downwards which is at (0.559,0.845) and the RPV is
1505
moving upwards and slightly to the left at (0.845,0.559). On the other hand, the BPV
and LPV are moving in opposite directions to the TPV and RPV respectively.
Table 1. Locations of vortices centers for four-sided lid-driven cavity flow at various
Reynolds numbers.
Reynolds Left Primary Right Primary Top Primary Bottom Primary

number Vortex (LPV) Vortex (RPV) Vortex (TPV) Vortex (BPV)
10 0.155,0.497 0.851,0.509 0.509,0.851 0.497,0.155
100 0.161,0.442 0.845,0.559 0.559,0.845 0.442,0.161
127 0.168,0.442 0.839,0.559 0.559,0.839 0.442,0.168
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 5. Streamline patterns for four-sided lid-driven cavity: (a) Re=10, (b) Re=100
and (c) Re=127.
Table 2 shows the values of the dimensionless streamfunction at the centers of

the vortices at various Reynolds numbers. The table shows that at certain Reynolds
1506
numbers, the streamfunction values are the same in magnitude but may have positive or
negative values. A negative value indicates that the vortex is moving in a clockwise
direction, while a positive value indicates the anti-clockwise direction. The
streamfunction values at the TPV are -0.06553,-0.07046 and -0.07273 for Re = 10, Re =
100 and Re = 127 respectively. This shows that the magnitude increases as the Reynolds
numbers increase.
Table 2. Dimensionless streamfunction values at centers of vortices at various Reynolds

numbers.
Reynolds Left Primary Right Primary Top Primary Bottom Primary

number Vortex (LPV) Vortex (RPV) Vortex (TPV) Vortex (BPV)
10 0.06553 0.06553 -0.06553 -0.06553
100 0.07046 0.07046 -0.07046 -0.07046
127 0.07273 0.07273 -0.07273 -0.07273
Figure 6 shows the velocity profile along the centerline of the cavity for Re=10,
100 and 127. Generally, it can be said that as the Reynolds number increases, the pattern
of the profile is the almost the same, with only a slight quantitative difference. The
maximum velocity magnitude is at the wall of the cavity due to the movement. As we
move to the center, the magnitude and direction of the velocity change as the flow
circulation happens. The present work is then compared to Perumal and Dass (2011) with
respect to the centers of the vortices, and shows good agreement. Table 3 shows a
comparison of the centers of the vortices at TPV, BPV, LPV and RPV from the present
work with Perumal and Dass (2011) at various Reynolds numbers. For the whole range of
Reynolds numbers, the locations of the vortices show good comparison results.
Table 3.Comparison of centers of vortices at LPV and RPV of present work with Perumal
and Dass (2011) at various Reynolds numbers.
Reynolds
Reference TPV BPV LPV RPV
number
0.509, 0.497, 0.851,
Present work 0.155, 0.497
0.851 0.155 0.509
Re = 10
Perumal and Dass 0.510, 0.490, 0.849,
0.150, 0.490
(2011) 0.850 0.149 0.510
0.559, 0.442, 0.845,
Re = 0.845 0.161 0.559
100 Perumal and Dass 0.550, 0.450, 0.840,
0.160, 0.450
(2011) 0.840 0.160 0.550
0.559, 0.442, 0.839,
Re = 0.839 0.168 0.559
127 (Perumal & Dass, 0.548, 0.449, 0.830,
0.170, 0.450
2011) 0.830 0.168 0.550
1507
(a)
(b)
Figure 6. (a) Graph of v-velocity profile along y = 0.5 and (b) graph of u-velocity
profile along x = 0.5 inside cavity for different Reynolds numbers.
CONCLUSIONS
A four-sided lid-driven cavity was studied numerically by using the Adams–Bashforth

scheme with a time splitting method. It shows that the vortices move nearer to the
diagonal joining edge of the cavity as the Reynolds numbers increase. A comparison of
the location of the centers of the vortices showed similar results.
1508
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Ministry of
Higher Education, Malaysia for sponsoring this research. This research is supported by
research grant Vot. 4F114 and 4L074.
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Mendu, S. S., & Das, P. (2012). Flow of power-law fluids in a cavity driven by the
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1509
Musa, M. A., Abdullah, S., Azwadi, N., & Zulkifli, R. (2011). Lattice boltzmann
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1510
DETERMINING THE WORKING CONDITIONS OF HEAT PUMP

COMPONENTS ACCORDING TO RUNNING MODES
Uğur Çakır1 and Kemal Çomaklı2

1*
Engineering Faculty, Mechanical Engineering Department, Bayburt University
Bayburt / TÜRKİYE
Phone: +904582111153; Fax +904582111172
Email: ucakir@bayburt.edu.tr
2
Engineering Faculty, Mechanical Engineering Department, Atatürk University
Erzurum / TÜRKİYE
Email: kcomakli@atauni.edu.tr
ABSTRACT
In this study a detailed exergetic analysis is made of the components of heat pumps by
changing the heat source and heat sink fluid as either water or air. To realize this aim a
multifunctional heat pump test system was used, which can be run in four modes, air to
air, air to water, water to air and water to water, using one compressor. When the system
is run in water to air mode compressor exergy efficiency reaches its highest value.
When the system is run in air to water mode the exergy efficiency of the compressor
falls to its lowest value. In the heat pump’s water to air mode the exergy destruction rate
of the compressor becomes minimal. Exergetic performance of the condenser is best
when the system is run in water to air mode. When the system runs in air to air mode,
the exergy destruction rate of the condenser is at maximum, and falls to minimum when
the system runs in air to water mode. Water to water is the running mode in which
evaporator exergy efficiency is the best. Exergy efficiency of the evaporator decreases
when the temperature of the evaporator fluid increases. Maximum compressor exergy
efficiency increases according to an increase of mass flow rate is seemed in the air to air
mode. The heat pump mode in which the exergy destruction rate of the compressor is
minimal, is water to air mode. The running modes in which the condenser and
compressor work with maximum and minimum efficiency are the same: water to air,
and air to water modes. The compressor is the component which has maximum exergy
efficiency with an average of 61.04% for all tests. Exergy efficiency of the condenser is
lowest for all tests with an average of 14.25%
Keywords: Heat pump; heat pump components; energy; exergy.
INTRODUCTION
Heat pump systems have rapidly become common all over the world due to their high
efficiency and environmental friendliness. Heat pumps generally consist of four main
components; compressor, expanding valve and two heat exchangers - condenser and
evaporator. The components that determine the type of heat pump are the condenser
and evaporator due to the type of heat source and heat sink used; the properties and
thermal specifications of every component are very important for the thermal behavior
of the system. The physical and thermal properties of the fluid used as heat source or
sink influence the performance of components and simultaneously affect the
performance of the heat pump. Commonly used heat sources and heat sinks include
1511
Determining the working conditions of heat pump components according to running modes
ambient air, exhaust air, lake water, river water, ground water, earth, rock, wastewater
and effluent. The most common heat sources and heat sinks in heat pump systems
around the world are ambient air and water (Çomaklı, UğurÇakır, Şahin, & Kuş, 2013).
Ambient air is a widely available and a free heat source for heat pumps, however, the
thermodynamic performance of air source heat pump systems decreases depending on
the decreasing temperature of air in the hot season and increasing temperature of air in
the cool season. The heat transfer properties of water mean that water source heat pump
systems offer some performance advantages over heat pump systems which use air as
the heat source.
Heat pump systems are available in an array of types and combinations that can
suit almost any application. For heating purposes, they can be divided into basic types,
determined by the source and the destination of the heat, and the medium that the heat
pump uses to either absorb or reject the heat in each of these locations. The heat transfer
media at either of the heat exchangers can be either liquid (water, or often a glycol
mixture) or air; sometimes it is a combination of the two. In describing the type of heat
pump, the heat source is generally provided first, followed by the destination or heat
sink. The main variants in common use are; air to air, water to water, water to air, air to
water, ground to water, ground to air types.
Many studies and investigations have reported in the open literature on different
types of heat pumps and on comparisons performed experimentally or by simulations,
according to their heat sources, heat sinks, and the place they are being used, the
refrigerant used as working fluid, structures and capacities of components. De Swardt
and Meyer (2002), for example, reported that the performance of a reversible ground-
source heat pump coupled to a municipality water reticulation system was compared
experimentally and with simulations to a conventional air-source heat pump for space
cooling and heating. The experimental and simulated comparisons of the ground source
system to the air source system were conducted in both the cooling and heating cycles.
The results showed that the utilization of a municipality water reticulation system as
heat source/sink is a viable method of optimizing energy use in the air conditioning
industry, especially when used in heating mode. Particularly at low ambient air
temperatures, ground-source heat pumps have significant capacity (24%) and efficiency
improvement (20%) over air-source heat pumps. Petit and Meyer (1997) made a
comparison of the economic viability in South Africa of horizontal-ground source
systems and air-source systems. In order to realize this aim, monthly heating and
cooling capacities and coefficients of performance for both systems were determined.
The payback period, net present value, and internal rate of return of the systems were
calculated. It was concluded that ground source systems are more viable than air source
systems.
Urchueguía et al. (2008) made an experimental comparison between a ground
coupled heat pump system and a conventional air to water heat pump system, focusing
on heating and cooling energy performance. The results obtained for a whole climatic
season showed that the geothermal system saves, in terms of primary energy
consumption, 43 ±17% of the energy consumed by the conventional system when the
system is working in heating mode, and 37 ±18% when the system is working in
cooling mode. The results also demonstrated that a ground source heat pump system is a
viable and energy efficient alternative to conventional systems for heating and cooling
applications in South European regions. Akpinar and Hepbasli (2007) reported on a
comparative study of the exergetic assessment of two ground-source (geothermal) heat
pump systems for residential applications. The study dealt with an exergetic
1512
Çakır1 and Çomaklı /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1510-1524
performance evaluation of two types of ground source heat pump systems installed in
Turkey, based on the actual operational data. The first one was a ground source heat
pump system designed and constructed for investigating geothermal resources with low
temperatures, and the second was a ground source heat pump with a vertical ground
heat exchanger. Esen, Inalli, and Esen (2007) made a techno-economic comparison
between a ground-couple heat pump system (GCHP) and air coupled heat pump
(ACHP) system. The experimental results were obtained from June to September, the
cool season, in 2004. The test results indicated that system parameters can have an
important effect on performance and that GCHP systems are economically preferable to
ACHP systems for the purpose of space cooling. Another paper presented an untreated
sewage source heat pump (USSHP) system in which equipment for automatically
avoiding clogging was used to continuously capture suspended solids in the sewage.
The blockage problems caused by filtration and fouling in the heat exchanger tubes
could be efficiently resolved in this system.
In an actual engineering application, the characteristic parameters of a USSHP
system were tested under typical operating conditions for heating status. Based on the
test results, the performances of the USSHP system were examined. The results
indicated that the thermal resistance of the convective heat transfer and fouling on the
sewage side in the sewage exchanger was 80% of its total thermal resistance (Liu, Ma,
& Zhang, 2014). It aimed to evaluate the most suitable GSHP system configurations in
case of high humidity soils and yearly balanced heat transfer on the ground side in a
study. This analysis took advantage of a case study sited in Venice and consisting of the
restoration of a historical building. In this analysis the GSHP system performance was
calculated both in heating and in cooling conditions via detailed simulation software
developed by the authors and aimed at modeling the heat pump and the borehole heat
exchanger (Schibuola, Tambani, Zarrella, & Scarpa, 2013). The performance of a
cascade heat pump water heating system was investigated with a quasi-steady state
analysis to discover the transient behavior of the system. The water-heating system
consisted of the cascade heat pump water heater, which used R134a and R410A as
refrigerants, and a water storage tank. The steady-state cascade heat pump model was
developed based on experimental results and the dynamic storage tank model was
created using thermodynamic equations. The model computes the several major
parameters related to system performance, such as heating capacity, power
consumption, coefficient of performance (Fontanesi, 2013), and the temperature
distribution in a storage tank. The performance of the system was calculated for various
conditions to determine the influence of ambient temperature and hot water demand
(Park, Ho, & Kim, 2013). Waheed, Oni, Adejuyigbe, Adewumi, and Fadare (2014)
made a study in which enhanced VRHP models were developed to reduce heat loss and
heat pump size. The strategies adopted relied on reducing the heat differential across the
heat pump by utilizing external and utility streams, and processing the streams within
the system. The thermo-economic and environmental performances of the developed
models were compared with the base case VRHP and the conventional distillation
process. The results showed that the developed models yielded considerable energy
savings. Considering the present trend for short process modification payback time, the
use of an external process stream is recommended to boost plant performance (Waheed
et al., 2014).
In this study, an experimental multifunctional heat pump setup was designed to
make a comprehensive exergetic investigation of the components (condenser,
evaporator, and compressor) of four different heat pump types. The heat pumps had
1513
same heating capacity and same specifications. In order to achieve this aim, a
multifunctional heat pump experimental setup, which could be operated in four different
modes, including air to air, air to water, water to air and water to water modes, was
installed in the laboratories of Mechanical Engineering Department of Atatürk
University in Erzurum, Turkey. The experimental system consisted of two condensers
and two evaporators, including one water-cooled and one air-cooled, two expansion
valves and one compressor. The direction of refrigerant fluid used in the system could
be easily changed between the condensers and evaporators with the help of valves. In
this way the designed heat pump experimental setup could be operated in different
modes. The study described in this paper focuses on the thermodynamic behavior of
heat pump components according to the running modes. The work is carried out for four
heat pump types: air to air, air to water, water to water and water to air. The individual
performance of every part of the system is important for the whole system’s
performance. For that reason it is important to make a detailed analysis of every
component of the system.
EXPERIMENTAL SET UP
Figure 1a and Figure 1b shows the schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus.
The system was originally designed to operate with R22. The main components of the
system are a scroll compressor, an air cooled evaporator, an air cooled condenser, a
water cooled condenser, thermostatic expansion valve, and other elements such as
measurement and control equipment. Electrical air and water heaters are also used in
order to keep the temperature of air and water passing into the evaporator and
condensers at the desired levels. Two electrical fans are used to circulate the air on the
evaporator and condenser which is air cooled.
First, the system was charged with 15 Bar R22 while all the valves were in
opened position at the temperature of the outdoor air, and then the system was run in in
the required heat pump mode by closing the relevant valves. When the running mode
had to be changed, all of the valves were opened for a day to obtain equal spreading of
refrigerant in the system for every mode. Temperature and pressure values in the key-
point of the plant, as shown in Figure 1a, were continuously monitored in order to check
the achievement of steady state conditions. An hour was usually required to initiate
start-up. After each experimental run, the raw data, which consisted of temperatures
from the thermocouples, pressures from the manometers, air flow rates from the
anemometer, refrigerant flow rate from the flow meters, water flow rates from the
rotameters, compressor input current and voltage from the ampermeter, were recorded.
The tests were performed under laboratory conditions, with air temperature at
approximately 20-22oC, and relative humidity of approximately 40%-60%. The tests
were conducted in the following order for four running mode: (i) air to air mode, (ii) air
to water mode. Each experiment was repeated at least three times under the same
conditions at different times. When all tests had been conducted and completed for each
running mode, the experimental setup was closed and left for two days with all valves
open before starting the tests for another running mode. The temperature degree and
flow rate of the condenser fluid were first fixed to the constant values; 20oC- 1.2 kg/s
for air, 20oC-0.15kg/s for water. The experiments were then performed at five different
temperature levels for five different flow rate values of evaporator fluid. In the first
example, the flow rate of the evaporator air adjusted to a constant value, the tests were
performed for five different evaporator fluid temperatures and then the same procedure
1514
was applied for other experiments. The numerical values of the evaporator air
temperatures and flow rates for two heat pump tests are presented in Table 1. All the
measured values, which consisted of temperatures from the thermocouples, pressures
from the manometers, compressor input power from the wattmeter, and flow rates of the
fluids used in the system from the flow meters, rotameters and anemometers, were used
to determine the thermodynamic performances of two heat pump modes.
Table 1. Levels of parameters.
Parameter Fluid Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6

Mass flow rate Air 0.41 0.71 0.83 1.1 1.2 --
(kg/s) Water 0.100 0.110 0.125 0.139 0.150 --
Temperature Evap.
20 22 26 28 30 32
(0C) Air
ENERGY AND EXERGYCALCULATIONS
An energy analysis is needed to make a comprehensive exergy analysis. Mass and

energy balances are employed to determine the heat input, and energy efficiencies.
From the measured parameters the heat delivered by the condenser to the air or water is
calculated by;
Qcond-air=m Ca (Ta-out –Ta-in ) (1)
Qcond-w= m Cw(Tw-out –Tw-in ) (2)
The heat extracted by the evaporator from the air is calculated by;
Qevap-a= m Ca(Ta-in –Ta-out ) (3)
Qevap-w= m Cw(Tw-in –Ta-out ) (4)
The power input to the compressor is calculated by;
√ ( ) (5)
where U, I and Cos (θ) are voltage (V), current (A) and power factor, respectively. The
total exergy of a fluid, and specific exergy of water, refrigerant and air are calculated as
seen below (Dinçer & Rosen, 2007);
̇ ̇ (6)
     
ex
air  
= Ca + ω C vapor T  T  -1- ln  T   + 1+1.6078ω  R T ln  P  π
0

T
0 
T
0
air 0

P
0 (7)
  

air 0 

 0 
+ R T 1+1.6078ω  ln  1+1.6078ω / 1+1.6078ω   +1.6078 ω ln  ω
  
ω 

0 

( ) ( ) (8)
( ) ( ) (.9)
1515
Elec. Heaters Air cooled CONDENSER
TT T T
AIR
Fan
(4750 m3/h)
(Speed Adjustable)
P T
Oil Seperator HOT GAS
COMPRESSOR
T
Water cooled EVAPORATOR
Drayer
T
Water cooled
CONDENSER
T
T SOL. T
P T
RESIVER Drayer
Sight Glass Exp.

Flowmeter Flowmeter
Valf
Water
Water
storage
storage
Tank
Tank
Water in
Elec. Air cooled EVAPORATOR
Heater
T T
T
AIR
Fan
Condense (4750 m3/h)
(Speed adjustable)
P Pressure Measuring Valf for water or refrigerant
T Temperature Measuring
Figure 1a. Experimental system
Figure 1b. View of the experimental setup
1516
The exergy efficiency of the components can be calculated as follows:
̇ ̇
̇
(10)
̇ ( )
For water cooled condenser: ̇ ( )
(.11)
̇ ( )
For air cooled condenser: ̇ ( )
(.12)
̇ ( )
For water cooled evaporator: ̇ ( )
(13)
̇ ( )
For air cooled evaporator: ̇ ( )
(14)
The exergy destruction rate of the compressor, condenser and evaporator can be
calculated as seen below:
̇ ̇ ( ) (15)
Water condenser: ̇ ̇ ( ) ̇ ( ) (16)
Air condenser: ̇ ̇ ( ) ̇ ( ) (17)
Water evaporator: ̇ ̇ ( ) ̇ ( ) (18)
Air evaporator: ̇ ( ) ̇ ( ) (20)
Figures 2 and 3 show the change in the exergy efficiency of the compressor depending
on the increase in temperature and mass flow rates of evaporator fluid for four modes.
As seen in Figure 2, exergy efficiency of the compressor becomes highest when the
system is run in water to air mode. When the system is run in air to water mode exergy
efficiency of the compressor decreases to the lowest value. The curves which were
obtained to visualize the change of compressor exergy efficiency resemble each other
schematically. As presented in Figure 3, the exergy efficiency of the compressor
increases slightly when the mass flow rate of the evaporator air increases for three heat
pump modes, but not in air to water mode. Maximum compressor exergy efficiency
increases according to increase of mass flow rate in the air to air mode.
Figures 4 and 5 present the change of the exergy destruction rate in the
compressor versus increasing the evaporator fluid temperature and increasing the mass
flow rate of the evaporator fluid. The curves which symbolize the change of exergy
destruction rates versus change of temperature and mass flow rate are not as stable as
the curves shown in Figure 2 and 3. These figures (Figure 4 and 5) support the results
and comments obtained from the previous figures (2 and 3). The heat pump mode in
which the exergy destruction rate of the compressor is minimal is water to air mode.
The condenser is the component of the system which takes the heat energy from the
1517
refrigerant which comes from the compressor and feeds it to the environment to be
heated. According to Figures 6 and 7, the condenser reaches its best running condition
exergetically when the system is run in water to air mode, as a compressor. The running
modes in which the condenser and compressor have the same maximum and minimum
efficiency are water to air and air to water modes.
64
62
ηex (%)
60
58
Water to Water to
56 Hava-Su
Air to Hava
Air to- air
Hava Su - Hava Su - Su
air water
54
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Temperature increase (oC)
Figure 2. Change of compressor exergy efficiency versus increase of the evaporator

fluid temperature
64
62
60
ηex (%)
58
56 Hava - Su Hava - Hava Su - Hava Su - Su
54
1 2 3 4 5
Level of mass flow rate (kg/s)
Figure 3. Change of compressor exergy efficiency versus increase of the mass flow rate
of the evaporator fluid
1.2
0.9
Exdest (kW)
0.6
Hava-Su Hava - Hava Su - Hava Su - Su
0.3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Temperature Increase (oC)
Figure 4. Change of the rate of exergy destruction in the compressor versus increase of
the evaporator fluid temperature
1518
1.5
1.2
Exdest (kW)
0.9
0.6
Hava - Su Hava - Hava Su - Hava Su - Su
0.3
0 1 2 3 4 5
Figure 5. Change of the rate of exergy destruction in the compressor versus increase of
the mass flow rate of the evaporator fluid
Figures 8 and 9 show the treatment of the condenser depending on the exergy
destruction rate according to the change of temperature and mass flow rate of
evaporator fluid. When the system runs in air to air mode the exergy destruction rate of
the condenser reaches maximum and it falls to minimum when the system runs in air to
water mode. Exergy destruction in the condenser increases with the increase in mass
flow rate and the temperature of the evaporator external fluid. The results obtained from
Figures 6 and 7 and Figures 8 and 9 do not support each other but that is not an
abnormal situation. This situation may be explained by clarifying the meanings of
exergy efficiency and exergy destruction. Exergy efficiency is explained as the ratio
between the total exergy that is given to the output from the system and the total exergy
that is taken from any other system or fluid. Exergy destruction can be explained as the
function of the initial and final thermodynamic states of a system for all participating
media.
25
20
15
ηex (%)
10
5
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Figure 6. Change of condenser exergy efficiency versus increase of evaporator fluid

temperature
1519
20
16
ηex (%)
12
4
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Figure 7. Change of condenser exergy efficiency versus increase of mass flow rate of
1.0
0.8
Exdest (kW)
0.6
0.4
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Figure 8. Change of the rate of exergy destruction in the condenser versus increase of
1.2
0.9
Exdest (kW)
0.6

0.3
0 1 2 3 4 5
Figure 9. Change of the rate of exergy destruction in the condenser versus increase of
mass flow rate of the evaporator fluid
The last component to be exergetically analyzed as in this study is the

evaporator. An evaporator takes heat energy from a low temperature medium and gives
1520
it to the refrigerant which comes from expansion valve and moves to the compressor.
Figure 10 and 11 present the change in exergy efficiency of the evaporator depending
on the increase of the mass flow rate and temperature of the evaporator fluid. Maximum
evaporator exergy efficiency is reached in water to water mode and the minimum is
reached in air to water mode. Exergy efficiency of the evaporator decreases when the
temperature of the evaporator fluid increases. An increase in the mass flow rate has a
decreasing effect on the exergy efficiency of evaporator. When the system is run in air
to air and air to water mode, the exergy efficiency of the evaporator decreases more than
any other. This means the mass flow rate of evaporator fluid is more effective in the
exergy efficiency of evaporator.
55
50
45
40
ηex (%)
35
30
25
20 Hava-Su Hava - Hava
15
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Figure 10. Change of evaporator exergy efficiency versus increaseof the evaporator
fluid temperature
Figures 12 and 13 show the change of exergy destruction rate that exists in the
evaporator according to temperature and the mass flow rate change of evaporator fluid.
As seen in the figures, there is minimum exergy destruction in the evaporator in water to
water mode and maximum exergy destruction is realized when the system is run in air
to air mode. As in previous case; increasing the mass flow rate of the evaporator fluid
has more effect on the exergy destruction of the evaporator than temperature increase.
As a result, when mass flow rate of the evaporator fluid rises over the third level, exergy
destruction of the evaporator increases more rapidly. The minimum and maximum
exergy efficiency values of the components are presented in Table 2.
60
55
50
45
ηex (%)
40
35
30
25
20
0 1 2 3 4 5
Figure 11. Change of evaporator exergy efficiency versus increase of mass flow rate of
1521
1.2
Exdest (kW) 1.0
0.8
0.6 Hava-Su Hava - Hava

Su - Hava Su - Su
0.4
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Figure 12. Change of the rate of exergy destruction in the evaporator versus increase of
1.5
1.2
Exdest (kW)
0.9
0.6
0.3 Hava - Su Hava - Hava Su - Hava Su - Su
0.0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Figure 13. Change of the rate of exergy destruction in the evaporator versus increase of
mass flow rate of the evaporator fluid.
Table 2. Highest and lowest values of exergy efficiency and exergy destruction rates of
components.
Compressor Condenser Evaporator

Running Mode
Min. Max. Min. Max. Min. Max.
Ex. Eff. (%) 59.5 61 15 18 27 53
Air to air
Ex. Dest. (kW) 0.85 1.1 0.8 1.1 0.7 1.25
Ex. Eff. (%) 58.5 60 10 13 28 45
Air to water
Ex. Dest. (kW) 1.00 1.21 0.70 0.75 0.50 0.85
Ex. Eff. (%) 61.5 64.3 13 20 44 53
Water to air
Ex. Dest. (kW) 0.8 0.97 0.70 0.85 0.80 0.87
Ex. Eff. (%) 60.5 63 11 14 48 56
Water to water
Ex. Dest. (kW) 1.00 1.20 0.7 0.8 0.56 0.72
1522
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, an exergy analysis of the three main components of heat pumps
(compressor, condenser and evaporator) has been conducted, investigating the
evaporator fluid type which is used as heat source. Exergetic treatment of components
primarily depends on the temperature and mass flow rates of the heat source. As in a
football team, the performance of every player is very important for the total
performance of the team. In heat pumps or any other thermal system, the performance
of any single component of the system has a big effect on the overall system. For that
reason every component of a system must be analyzed separately.
i The compressor is the component which has maximum exergy efficiency, with
an average of 61.04% for all tests. This efficiency rate is not bad but ıt can be
improved. The cooling process of a compressor can be improved, or the friction
rate of the compressor subcomponents can be decreased. The use of a more
beneficial oil may decrease friction.
ii An evaporator’s exergy efficiency value is between that of the others but is
closer to the exergy efficiency of the compressor with an average of 44.25%.
Some changes and improvements may be made to increase the qualification of
heat transfer from external fluid to the internal fluid. This can be achieved by
making adjustments to the temperature rate or velocity of the external fluid.
iii The exergy efficiency of the condenser is lowest for all tests with an average of
14.25%. As a result of this very low value, the condenser is the component
which needs the most attention and care to be improved.
iv Ranking of the three components according to their average exergy destruction
rates from high to low is as follows: compressor at 1.2 kW, condenser at 0.80
kW and evaporator at 0.78 kW. This tells us that the condenser is the first
component to improve for exergy efficiency so as to overcome the
irreversibility.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of
Turkey (TUBITAK Project No. 105M030) and the Ataturk University Research Project
Foundation (Project No. BAP-2005/16). The authors wish to thank TUBITAK and
Ataturk University.
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1524
AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVE

PARAMETERS ON WET WASHING OF BIODIESEL PURIFICATION
A. Abbaszadeh1, B. Ghobadian1*, G. Najafi1 and T. Yusaf2

1
Department of Mechanics of Agricultural Machinery,
Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
*
Email: ghobadib@modares.ac.ir
Phone: +982148292308; Fax: + 982148292200
2
Faculty of Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
ABSTRACT
The purity level of biodiesel has a strong effect on fuel properties and on engine life.
Therefore, a purification step is necessary. Generally, there are two accepted methods
for purifying biodiesel: wet washing and dry washing. In this research, the effective
parameters on wet purification of biodiesel were investigated. Three types of biodiesel
wash water (tap water, distilled water and water with 3% phosphoric acid), three wet
washing temperatures (30, 45 and 60ºC), and three levels of water to biodiesel ratios
(0.5, 1 and 1.5 v/v) were used. In order to perform the wet washing of biodiesel, a
bubble washing technique was used. The catalyst, soap and water residue were
considered as the criteria to choose the optimum water washing condition and were
measured after the wet washing of crude biodiesel. The results showed that the best
condition for catalyst and soap removal from biodiesel are acidified water, a
temperature of 60ºC and a water to biodiesel ratio of 1.5 (v/v). Also, the least amount of
water residue in the final purified biodiesel was observed when using tap water at a
temperature of 60ºC and a water to biodiesel ratio of 0.5 (v/v).
Keywords: Biodiesel purification; wet washing; catalyst residue; soap residue;

water residue.
INTRODUCTION
The global energy demand, sudden fluctuations of oil prices and environmental
concerns due to vehicle exhaust gases are increasing. The most feasible way to solve
these problems is to use alternative fuels. Among alternative fuels, biofuels are defined
as liquid or gaseous fuels for the transportation sector that are predominantly produced
from biomass (Sundar Raj & Sendilvelan, 2010; Zuhal & Kemal, 2004). Increasing
use of biofuels for energy generation purposes is of particular interest nowadays
because they allow reduction of greenhouse gases, provide means of energy security,
and may even offer new employment possibilities (Balat, 2008; Kamil, Rahman, &
Bakar, 2011, 2013; Rahim, Mamat, Taib, & Abdullah, 2012; Soon, Rus, Anika, &
Hasan, 2013). One of these biofuels is biodiesel, which is renewable clean bioenergy as
it can be produced from vegetable oils, animal fats and micro-algal oil (Azad, Ameer
Uddin, & Alam, 2012). The properties of biodiesel are quite similar to diesel fuel; thus
it is becoming a promising alternative to diesel fuel (Abbaszaadeh, Ghobadian, Najafi,
& Omidkhah, 2012; Nematizade, Ghobadian, & Najafi, 2012; Rahim et al., 2012).
Transesterification is the most common method for biodiesel production, in which
triglycerides, as the main component of vegetable oils, react with an alcohol to produce
1525
Abbaszadeh et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9(2014) 1525-1537
fatty acid mono-alkyl esters and glycerol (Dermibas, 2007). One of the advantages of
biodiesel is that the feedstocks used to produce it are natural and renewable. All these
types of oils come from vegetables or animal fat, making it biodegradable and nontoxic
(Marchetti, Miguel, & Errazu, 2007). In the biodiesel production process, different
types of catalysts, such as alkali catalysts, acidic catalysts and enzymatic catalysts, are
used (Burton, Fan, & Austic, 2010; Mumtaz et al., 2012; Parida, Sahu, & Misra, 2012;
Satyanarayana & Muraleedharan, 2010). However, the alkali catalysts are used mainly
in industry, because they improve the transesterification rate especially under moderate
reaction conditions (Freedman, Pryde, & Mounts, 1984). Considering these processes,
most biodiesel production processes are not able to produce biodiesel according to
related standards (EN14214, ASTM D6751). The purity level of the biodiesel has a
strong effect on fuel properties and on engine life. Therefore, a purification step is
necessary. Generally, there are two accepted methods for the purification of biodiesel:
wet washing and dry washing. Dry washing methods for removing impurities involve
the use of adsorbent compounds such as magnesium silicate, ion exchange resin and
silica gel (Berrios & Skelton, 2008; Kucek, César-Oliveira, Wilhelm, & Ramos, 2007).
Wet washing of crude biodiesel with water is used more widely to remove contaminants
and chemical residues caused by the transesterification reaction. In this method, a
certain percentage of water is added to crude biodiesel and when the water passes
through the crude biodiesel it dissolves the impurities. In the next step, contaminated
water is removed. This cycle is repeated till the washing water is totally clarified.
Several research works have been carried out on the effective parameters in
biodiesel purification. The comparison of different purification methods showed that
wet washing is the only way to reduce the residual amount of methanol and glycerin in
the biodiesel to the levels specified by EN 14214 standards (Berrios & Skelton, 2008).
Predojević (2008) compared wet washing with hot distilled water to a 5% phosphoric
acid solution. In this study, the effect of the wash method on the biodiesel density,
kinematic viscosity, acid value, iodine number, water content, saponification number,
cetane index and yield loss were evaluated. It was found that there was no significant
change in density, kinematic viscosity, iodine number, water content, saponification
number, and cetane index between a distilled water wash and a phosphoric acid wash. It
was found that the phosphoric acid wash decreased the acid value to a greater degree,
and the phosphoric acid wash produced higher yields than the distilled water wash. He,
Gue, and Zhu (2006) conducted experiments using several methods of wet washing.
These wash methods included distilled water, HCl acid wash, solvent extraction, and
hollow fiber membrane extraction. This study compared yield loss for each method but
did not give information about impurity removal. The three methods of passing water
through the crude biodiesel are: mixing, mist washing and bubble washing. Mist
washing is the most gentle one, but since it consumes more water, it may not be
economical. Therefore, the bubble washing is a better recommendation, although it may
increase fuel oxidation at high engine temperature and pressure conditions
(Feizollahnejad & Ghobadian, 2008). Generally, the investigation of effective
parameters on the biodiesel purification is strongly required to yield maximum wet
washing performance.
In this study, the influence of wet washing parameters on the water, catalyst and
soap residues in the final biodiesel are investigated according to requirements given in
EN 14214 and ASTM D6751 standards. The investigated parameters in this research
work include: type of wash water, water to biodiesel ratio, temperature of wash water
and washing time.
1526
An experimental investigation of the effective parameters on wet washing of biodiesel purification
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Materials
Waste cooking oils were collected from the Tarbiat Modares University (Hetzler &
Seemann, 2006) restaurant, Tehran, Iran and were used as feedstock. A gas
chromatograph set (GC, Unicam, UK, 4600), was used for determination of fatty acid
components of the waste cooking oil (Table 1). A lower amount of free fatty acid
causes lower oxidation and hydrolysis in the transesterification reaction (Çetinkaya &
Karaosmanolu, 2004). When an alkali catalyst was added to these feedstocks, the free
fatty acids reacted with the catalyst to form soap and water. The saponification reaction
is represented by the general equation given in Figure 1.
Table 1. Fatty acid composition of waste cooking oil used.
Composition (%wt) Fatty acid Designation

n.d. Myristic )C14:0(
20.18 Palmitic )C16:0(
3.76 Stearic )C18:0(
2.22 Oleic (c) )C18:1c(
41.75 Oleic (t) )C18:1t(
31.24 Linoleic )C18:2(
0.48 Linolenic )C18:3(
0.25 Arachidic )C20:0(
Figure 1. Reaction between free fatty acid and the alkali catalyst.
Before the transesterification reaction, water and impurities were removed from
the waste cooking oil to prevent soap formation, oxidation and competing reactions.
The sedimentation method was applied for the separation process based on oil heating
to 60ºC and gravitation. In this study, methanol (99.5% purity), potassium hydroxide
(99%) and phosphoric acid (99.5%) were used.
Transesterification reaction
A BioPro 190 processor (USA made) was used to produce crude biodiesel. As the first
step, the processed waste cooking oil (refined and free from water) was fed into the
system. The existing water in the reaction at higher temperature levels resulted in
triglyceride hydrolysis and free fatty acid formation (Cayh & Kusefoglu, 2008). Free
fatty acids neutralized the catalyst and led to soap formation. Therefore, it can be
implied that the existence of water and free fatty acids caused soap production. For
1527
performing the tests, a catalyst of potassium hydroxide (1% oil weight) and an alcohol
to oil volumetric ratio of 1:4 was applied. Since waste oil was being used for biodiesel
production, as mentioned, the color of the resulting mixture was dark brown during the
early stages of reaction, turning to a lighter color in the later phases of the reaction. The
reaction was conducted for 2 hours at a temperature of 60ºC, a mixing speed of 300 rpm
and at the pressure environment. The reason for selecting a temperature of 60ºC was
that the temperature of the reaction has to be below the boiling temperature of the
methanol (64ºC) (Ghobadian, Rahimi, & Khatamifar, 2006).
Wet washing of crude biodiesel
A multi-purpose biodiesel laboratory processor called ILBP3-MF was used for

biodiesel purification with the wet washing method (Zenouzi & Ghobadian, 2007).
Figure 2 shows the setup for wet washing using the bubble washing technique. The
bubble washing technique is gentler than the mixing method and water drops are
utilized efficiently, resulting in a low level of water consumption (Feizollahnejad &
Ghobadian, 2008; Ghobadian, Najafi, & Nayebi, 2013). The effects of three different
types of wash water (tap water, distilled water and water with 3% phosphoric acid),
three levels of water to biodiesel ratios (0.5, 1 and 1.5 v/v) and three temperatures of 30,
45 and 60ºC were examined to determine the effective parameters in crude biodiesel
purification. The amount of water, soap and catalyst residue in the final biodiesel
product are the major criteria to be analyzed. Additionally, the effect of washing time
on the soap and catalyst residue was also investigated for 15 minute intervals and 90
minutes duration.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the setup used for the wet washing
process.
Biodiesel soap and catalyst residue
1528
There is always some quantity of soap and catalyst left within the crude biodiesel after
each transesterification reaction. In this study, the feedstock was restaurant waste
cooking oils. Thus, the soap remaining in the produced biodiesel might be considerable.
Therefore, it is useful to measure the residues in biodiesel to detect and optimize the
effective washing conditions. Hence, the measurement of these residues in biodiesel
was carried out by an analytical method based on biodiesel titration in the present
research work (Van Gerpen, Shank, Pruszko, Clements, & Knothe, 2004).
Biodiesel water residue
Biodiesel water residue leads to hydrolysis (FFA formation) and bacterial growth that
may cause engine corrosion (Berrios & Skelton, 2008). Therefore, there is a limitation
in biodiesel standards such as ASTM D–2709 (0.05 %vol) and EN12938 (500 mg/kg)
regarding biodiesel water residue. After washing the crude biodiesel for 90 minutes,
samples were placed in an oven for 5 hours at a temperature of 75ºC. As the
temperature increased, the molecules of water combined more easily and quickly,
forming larger water droplets. Subsequently, due to the different densities of water and
biodiesel, water was deposited below and biodiesel remained at the top, forming two
separate phases. Dewatering is faster when biodiesel contains less water. Therefore, the
washing method is suitable whenever the least amount of water is left in biodiesel.
Moreover, such a method seems to form less emulsion in the produced biodiesel fuel.
To measure the biodiesel water residue in the present research work, the Karl-Fischer
method was used. In this method, the amount of water for each sample was determined
by using the water and sediment apparatus (Karl Fischer-Ti Stand 703) after oven
heating of the purified biodiesel.
The data were analyzed by analysis of the least significance difference (LSD) test at the
95% level of probability. All trials were carried out in triplicate and the data were
analyzed by SAS 9.1 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA).
Investigations of Wet Washing Parameters on Catalyst Residue
The effect of three types of wash water (tap water, distilled water and water with 3%
phosphoric acid) on the catalyst residue (ppm) in biodiesel at various temperatures is
shown in Figure 3. The trend and position of curves in Figure 3 shows that wash water
with 3% phosphoric acid had the major effect on the catalyst removal in the final
biodiesel product (Knothe, Van Gerpen, & Krahl, 2005). The results obtained from
mean comparison analysis showed that the level of catalyst residue in crude biodiesel
was significantly decreased in response to the used wash waters (Table 2). This better
removal is because the acid added to the wash water neutralizes the residual catalyst
from the transesterification reaction. The catalyst residue in final biodiesel after wet
washing ranged between 0.08 and 269.01 ppm. Among the conditions tested,
application of the water with 3% phosphoric acid and tap water at all temperature levels
had the maximum and minimum effect on catalyst removal, respectively.
1529
Catalyst residue (ppm)
Figure 3. Effect of wash water type on the biodiesel catalyst residue (ppm).
Using multiple regression analysis, a relationship was established between

catalyst residue, washing temperature and water to biodiesel ratio in the wet washing
process using water with 3% phosphoric acid (Figure 4). The equation and the
associated coefficient of determination (R2) are given below.
Catalyst residue = 154.64 - 3.73(T) + 0.026 (T)2 - 22.77 (WB) + 2.75 (WB)2
(1)
R2=0.92
In Eq. (1), T is the washing temperature (ºC) and WB is the water to biodiesel ratio
(v/v).
Figure 4. Evaluation of catalyst residue (ppm) against temperature and water/biodiesel

ratio in the biodiesel wet washing process when using water with 3% phosphoric acid.
The obtained results show that increasing the temperature of wash water from
30ºC to 60ºC had a significant effect on the catalyst removal from crude biodiesel
(Figure 4). Catalyst residue in biodiesel is affected by temperature due to the increased
solubility of water in biodiesel, especially when using acidified and distilled water.
Regarding the observed results, the least amount of catalyst in the biodiesel was
1530
observed at a temperature of 60ºC. In the case of water to biodiesel ratio tests, the
results show that the catalyst removal was influenced by the amount of wash water used
in the wet washing process, and as the water to biodiesel ratio increased, the amount of
the catalyst residue in the final product decreased. It is obvious that as the amount of
wash water decreases, the wet washing and production costs will be minimized. The
objectives of wet washing purification will not be fulfilled if the water to biodiesel ratio
is less than the optimized level. This is because using a lower ratio of water to biodiesel
increases the number of times the wet washing process must be repeated. Also, the
results of statistical analysis proved these findings and showed that water temperature
and the water to biodiesel ratio have a significant effect on the levels of catalyst residue
in the final purified biodiesel (Table 2).
Table 2. Catalyst, soap and water residue means comparison for water washing
parameters using LSD test.
Water
Catalyst residue Soap residue
residue
Wash water
Tap water 346.6813a 2029.076a 0.0540a
b b
Distilled water 146.1615 831.440 0.0768b
3% phosphoric acid 94.7428c 548.378c 0.0647c
Temperature (ºC)
30 256.7946a 1475.350a 0.0805a
b b
45 183.9017 1091.395 0.0654b
60 146.8893c 842.150c 0.0496c
Water to biodiesel ratio (v/v)
0.5 229.9833a 1324.872a 0.0551a
b b
1 194.0600 1098.225 0.0658b
1.5 163.5422c 1046.797b 0.0746c
Means within each column followed by the same letter are not statistically different at
α = 0.05 by LSD test.
Investigations of Wet Washing Parameters on Soap Residue
The comparison of means showed that the level of soap residue in purified biodiesel
was significantly decreased when using all the three types of wash water (Table 2). The
experiments showed that the wash water with 3% phosphoric acid and tap water have
the greatest and the least effects on soap removal from biodiesel, respectively.
Similarly, Berrios and Skelton (2008), through the comparison of different purification
methods (wet washing, ion exchange resins and magnesium silicate), found that soap
residue was completely removed by the wet washing method (5% phosphoric acid). The
reason for this significant difference is that the acid in the water splits the chemical
bonds of soap formed in the transesterification reaction. In practice, soap in biodiesel
reacted with the 3% phosphoric acid and transformed to soluble salt and free fatty acids.
The produced salt was removed in the washing phase, while FFA remained in the
biodiesel. The reaction of soap in biodiesel with acid in water is shown in Figure 5.
1531
Figure 5. The reaction of soap in biodiesel with acid in the water.
Figure 6 shows the results of multiple regression analysis, through which a

relationship has been established between the soap residue, washing temperature and
water to biodiesel ratio. The relevant equations (Eq. 2) and coefficient of determination
are given. Using this equation, the soap residue can be predicted at any given
temperature and water to biodiesel ratio.
Soap residue (ppm)
Soap residue (ppm)
Figure 6. Evaluation of soap residue (ppm) against temperature and water/biodiesel

ratio in the biodiesel wet washing process with 3% phosphoric acid.
Soap residue = 641.30 - 3.35(T) - 493.35 (WB) + 130.47 (WB)2

(2)
R2=0.92
In the above equation, T is the washing temperature (ºC) and WB is the water to
biodiesel ratio (v/v). Regarding the statistical analysis, the washing temperature and the
amount of wash water have a significant effect on the level of soap residue in the final
product (Table 2). According to Figure 6, the comparison of the three investigated
washing temperatures indicated that a washing temperature of 60ºC has the best effect
on reduction of soap residue. It seems that this is due to the increased solubility of water
in the biodiesel phase. The minimum soap residue in biodiesel regarding the wet
washing temperature was 175.81 ppm for 30ºC, 121.09 ppm for 45ºC and 1.05 ppm for
60ºC. The soap residue is not a characteristic of biodiesel that is restricted according to
the EU and the ASTM standards, which is why it has not been regularly determined in
the relevant literature studies. The comparison of means showed no significant
difference between the water to biodiesel ratios of 1 and 1.5 (v/v). However, the soap
residue was significantly reduced when using the water to biodiesel ratios of both 1 and
1.5 (v/v) compared to 0.5 (v/v) (Table 2).
1532
Investigations of Wet Washing Parameters on Water Residual
Biodiesel contaminated with water causes engine corrosion or reacts with glycerides to
produce soaps and glycerol (Predojević, 2008). Therefore, the EN and ASTM standards
for biodiesel fuel restricted the water content in biodiesel, setting the maximum
allowable content of 0.05% (i.e. 500 mg/kg). In this research work, after the wet
washing process the amount of water residue in each test was measured. As can be
observed from Figure 7, regardless of the washing temperature when using tap water,
the water residue levels in the final biodiesel product are the lowest and range between
0.03 and 0.076 (%V). Additionally, the highest percentages of water residue, 0.05-0.103
(%V) were obtained using distilled water. There seemed to be no advantage in using
distilled or acidified water in the case of water residue in biodiesel. These observations
were the same for all the temperature levels and water to biodiesel ratios. Also, the
results obtained from comparison of means proved the experimental findings (Table 2).
Water residue (%V)
3% phosphoric acid
Figure 7. Effect of wash water on biodiesel water residue (ppm).

Water residue (%V)
Water residue (%V)
Figure 8. Evaluation of water residue (ppm) against temperature and water/biodiesel

ratio in the biodiesel wet washing process with tap water.
According to Eq. (3), multiple regression analysis of the water residue, as a

function of washing temperature and water to biodiesel ratio was performed and a
relationship was obtained for tap water (Figure 8). Using Eq. (3), the water residue can
1533
be calculated in terms of two independent variables (temperature and water to biodiesel

ratio). Thereafter, the water residue can be predicted using Eq. (3) at any given washing
temperature and water to biodiesel ratio.
Water residue = 0.059 – 0.00088(T) + 7.407E-07 (T)2 – 0.0486 (WB) –

0.0133 (WB)2 (3)
R2=0.98
In the above equation, T is the washing temperature (ºC) and WB is the water to
biodiesel ratio (v/v). The mean comparison analysis showed a significant effect of both
the water to biodiesel ratio and the washing temperature on the water residue in purified
biodiesel (Table 2). During the wet washing process, it was found that as the
temperature increased, due to more cohesion of water molecules, the molecules of water
combined more quickly together and formed larger water droplets. Therefore, as is
obvious from Figure 8, increasing the washing temperature from 30 to 60ºC leads to a
reduction in the amount of water residue in the purified biodiesel. Also, at a washing
temperature of 60ºC, regardless of the other test conditions, the biodiesel water residues
were found to meet the standard levels at the end of the washing process. Also, Figure 8
depicts the effect of the water to biodiesel ratios on the biodiesel water residue for
various washing temperatures. The curves in Figure 8 indicate that when increasing the
water to biodiesel ratio at all temperature levels, the water residue in the biodiesel
increases. The minimum amount of water residue occurred at a ratio of 0.5 (v/v), while
the maximum corresponded to the ratio of 1.5 (v/v).
Effect of Washing Time on the Catalyst and Soap Residues
It was found that, at the same washing time, the catalyst and soap residues are the
minimums due to using acidified water compared with other water types. The obtained
results showed that with longer washing times, the amount of catalyst remaining in the
biodiesel decreases. As can be seen from the curves in Figure 9, most of the catalyst
(almost 80-90%) was removed from the crude biodiesel in 45 minutes. Similar results
were observed for the soap residues test when using different wash waters.
distilled water
3% phosphoric acid
Figure 9. Effect of washing time on the catalyst residue with different wash water types.
1534
CONCLUSIONS
In this research work, the effective parameters on biodiesel purification through the wet
washing process were investigated. From the results, it was found that acidified water
had the best effect on catalyst and soap removal, while in the case of water residue, tap
water showed better results. The amounts of catalyst, soap and water residue in the final
purified biodiesel were found to be lower when applying a higher washing temperature.
It was found that using higher water to biodiesel ratios led to lower levels of catalyst
and soap residue in the final purified biodiesel. However, a negative effect was
observed on the water residue when using more wash water. The condition of water
with 3% phosphoric acid at a temperature of 60ºC and a water to biodiesel ratio of 1.5
(v/v) was found to lead to a lower amount of catalyst and soap residue compared to
other wet washing conditions. By using all the wash water types at a temperature of
60ºC and a consumed water ratio of 0.5 (v/v), the residual water level in the final
biodiesel product reduced to the required level stated in the ASTM and EN standards.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Iranian Fuel
Conservation Organization (IFCO) company in carrying out this research work.
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1537
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF MINIMUM QUANTITY

LUBRICATION ON TOOL WEAR IN ALUMINUM ALLOY 6061-T6
USING DIFFERENT CUTTING TOOLS
M. Puvanesan1, M.M. Rahman1*, M.S. Najiha1 and K. Kadirgama1

1
Phone: +6094246239; Fax: +6094246222
ABSTRACT
In manufacturing, a great challenge is currently being faced in the competitive marketing

place due to the manufacturing environment, low costs, the aim to achieve high rates of
productivity and also the demand for high quality from customers. Aluminum alloys are
being competitively used in current industries, especially in the automotive and aeronautics
sector. This study is for experimental investigation of minimum quantity lubricant (MQL) for
the end milling machining characteristics regarding tool wear during the machining of
aluminum alloy 6061-T6. Process parameters including the cutting speed, depth of cut and
feed rate are selected for study to develop a model of process optimization based on the
response surface method. This experiment was conducted based on the central composite
design method. Three types of tools are used in this experiment, namely, high speed steel,
coated and uncoated carbide tools. The encouraging results include a significant reduction in
the tool wear rate with MQL mainly through the reduction in the cutting zone temperature
and a favorable change in the chip–tool and work–tool interaction. It is concluded that the
MQL technique leads to economic benefits in terms of reduced lubricant costs and better
machinability.
Keywords: Minimum quantity lubrication; aluminum alloy; machining; tool wear.
INTRODUCTION
Aluminum alloys are trending materials for machining in the current world (Fuh & Chang,
1997; Najiha, Rahman, Kamal, Yusoff, & Kadirgama, 2012; Najiha, Rahman, & Yusoff,
2013; Razak, Rahman, & Kadirgama, 2012) and are well known for application in the
aerospace industries, especially the 2000 series aluminum alloys with high copper content
(Fontalvo, Humer, Mitterer, Sammt, & Schemmel, 2006). The aluminum alloy 6061-T6 is
one of the popular materials used in fabricating thermally stable, high strength and
lightweight nanostructure material through large strain deformation (Rao & Shin, 2001). The
demand for environmentally sustainable manufacturing is the primary driver for technology
that can reduce the use of liquid coolant. However, the effectiveness of the cooling
parameters cannot be determined simply by considering one function only. Metal cutting is a
very complex system, and a small change in cutting conditions can have major consequences
(Fuh & Chang, 1997). The minimum quantity of lubrication (MQL) technique is becoming
increasingly popular due to consideration of the safety of the environment. Moreover, the
MQL technique not only leads to economic benefits by way of saving lubricant costs but also
presents better machinability. The challenge of MQL usage is to dissipate the heat from the
tool and workpiece in order to ensure dimensional integrity (Boswell & Islam, 2012; Khan,
1538
Puvanesan et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1538-1549
Rahman, Kadirgama, Maleque, & Ishak, 2011; Su, He, Li, & Li, 2006; Yusoff, Mohamed
Suffian, & Taib, 2011). The economy of machining operations plays a key role in
competitiveness in the market (Yazdi & Khorram, 2010). The disadvantages of conventional
metalworking fluids, such as disposal problems, health problems and economic factors, have
led to the development of strategies to reduce the amount used in metalworking. The
encouraging results include a significant reduction in the tool wear rate and surface
roughness by MQL, mainly through reduction of the cutting zone temperature and favorable
changes in the chip–tool and work–tool interaction. Identifying tool wear is important to
prevent the surface of the material becoming damaged (Arokiadass, Palaniradja, &
Alagumoorthi, 2012; Razak et al., 2012). Tools are expected to reach their limit based on
observation of the part surface quality and burr formation. (Boswell & Islam, 2012) created
certain criteria for tool failure, which were part surface, burr formation, flank wear greater
than 0.3 mm, or maximum notch wear of 1.0 mm, and dramatic change in tool forces and
cutting power. They examined the tool wear after machining each test sample by using a
toolmaker microscope. The higher the material removal rate, the better it is, due to faster
processing and to the repeated saving of the power consumed for cutting. But even though a
higher material removal rate is good, the maximum removal rate could cause the tool to wear
easily and also causes higher surface roughness. Therefore, an optimum result must be
chosen which combines a lower surface roughness and higher material removal rate. The
experimental study of different compositions of MQL lubricants will be reported in this
paper. The effectiveness of the lubricants is determined in terms of their ability to protect the
cutting tool during high speed machining of aluminum alloys, which are widely used in
automotive industry. The main objective of this research is to quantitatively evaluate the
ability of the lubricant's additive composition to reduce the tool wear. This is achieved by
comparing the tool wear rate measured during the machining of aluminum alloy with the
application of MQL.
METHODOLOGY
This research is performed to determine the machinability of aluminum alloy 6061-T6 under
minimum quantity lubrication. The study of the aluminum alloy workpiece was conducted
with different types of cutting tools. To achieve a good surface roughness, material removal
rate and acceptable tool wear, the speed of machining was set to the optimum. Tables 1 and 2
show the chemical, mechanical and thermal properties of AA6061-T6. It is visible that the
thermal conductivity is high, which reduces the chance of adhesion during machining. The
dimension of the workpiece used in this study is 100 × 100 × 30 mm. The four main
parameters selected in this machining were the spindle speed, feed rate, depth of cut and
MQL flow rate. With the use of three different tools made of TiN coated carbide, TiAlN
coated carbide and uncoated carbide, the parameters were varied. Flooded machining was
also done to compare the outcome with MQL machining. The design of the experiment was
prepared using central composite design (CCD). Tables 3 and 4 show the design of
experimental data used for the HSS tool, coated and uncoated tool by using flooded and
MQL conditions.
Table 1. Physical properties of AA6061-T6.
Component Si Mn Mg Ti Zn
Weight (%) 0.4-0.8 Max 0.15 0.8-1.2 Max 0.15 Max 0.25
1539
Experimental investigation of minimum quantity lubrication on tool wear in aluminum alloy 6061-T6 using different
cutting tools
Before machining, the workpiece was clamped tightly onto the vice. It was then
cleaned on the surface with a soft cloth to prevent damage during cutting. It was tightly
clamped at least 10mm on top of a parallel bar and its initial position was marked with a
marker on the vice so that the next workpieces did not need to be set its origin. Figure 1
shows the CNC end milling machine HAAS VF-6 used to complete the cuts with coated and
uncoated carbide inserts. The experiment was conducted based on the design of experiments
that was selected by using CCD. The minimum quantity lubrication used in this experiment
was UNIST 2210, which is a commercial non-toxic type, vegetable oil-based cutting fluid.
Three nozzles were fixed on the machine spindle and were set 30 degrees approximately
from horizontal. The nozzles were set 120 degrees apart so that they could cover the whole
machining area. Figure 2 shows the MQL system with the coolant used and the nozzle
configuration. After machining, every tool was then examined under a scanning electron
microscope to check the tool wear.
Table 2. Mechanical and thermal properties of AA6061-T6.
Properties Value Unit

Hardness, Brinell 95 -
Hardness, Knoop 120 -
Hardness, Rockwell A 40 -
Hardness, Rockwell B 60 -
Hardness, Vickers 107 -
Ultimate tensile strength 310 MPa
Tensile yield strength 276 MPa
Elongation at break 12 %
Elongation at break 17 %
Modulus of elasticity 68.9 GPa
Density 2.7 g/cc
Specific heat capacity 0.896 J/g-°C
Thermal conductivity 167 W/m-K
Melting point 652 °C
Table 3. DOE matrix for flooded cooling with uncoated and coated carbide inserts
Levels Speed (rpm) Feed rate (mm/min) Depth of cut (mm)

-2 5237 279 0.367
-1 5300 318 1.0
0 5400 379 2.0
1 5500 440 3.0
2 5563 479 3.633
Table 4. Design of experiment matrix for MQL with uncoated and coated carbide inserts
Speed Feed rate Depth of cut Flow rate

Levels
(rpm) (mm/min) (mm) (ml/min/nozzle)
-2 5252 288 0.52 0.0130
-1 5300 318 1.0 0.0160
0 5400 379 2.0 0.0220
1 5500 440 3.0 0.0275
2 5548 469 3.5 0.0300
1540
Figure 1. CNC end milling machine HAAS VF-6
Cutting
MQL Tool
System
MQL MQL
Coolant Nozzle
(a) (b)
Figure 2. (a) MQL system and UNIST 2210 coolant; (b) configuration of nozzles
Figure 3 shows the variation of tool wear on spindle speed for the MQL and flooded
condition. It can be seen that the tool wear increases as the spindle speed increases. This
is due to the increase in heat between the tool and the workpiece (Fontalvo et al., 2006).
Moreover, the frictional force between the tool and workpiece causes it to create
rubbing marks, which are also the beginning stage of flank wear. For coated carbide
2235, the values of maximum tool wear are similar to each other and both show a
generally increasing result. At the same time, coated carbide 1235 for MQL shows an
obvious increase in tool wear as the spindle speed increases, but increase in the tool
wear can hardly be seen in the flooded test. This could be because the feed rate was set
to the minimum. Almost the same patterns are seen for uncoated carbide 4615, for both
the MQL and flooded tests. Although there is a difference in tool wear values, all of
these for both the flooded and MQL tests are considered to be in the safe range
according to ISO 8688, that is, below 0.3 mm (Habeeb et al., 2010; Kadirgama &
Abou-El-Hossein, 2006; Kalidass, Palanisamy, & Muthukumaran, 2012). Based on the
1541
cutting tools
graphs, it can be seen that coated carbide 2235 would be suitable for use under a high
spindle speed as the increase in tool wear is very low and the maximum tool wear is
below 0.055 mm compared to other tools.
0.10
0.05
Maximum Tool Wear
0.09 0.04
0.03
0.08
0.02
0.07
0.01
0.06 0.00
5300 5350 5400 5450 5500 5550 5400 5420 5440 5460 5480 5500 5520 5540 5560 5580
(i) Coated carbide 2235
0.080
0.08
0.075
0.07
Maximum Tool Wear
Maximum Tool Wear
0.06
0.070
0.05
0.065
0.04
0.03 0.060
5300 5350 5400 5450 5500 5550 5400 5420 5440 5460 5480 5500 5520 5540 5560 5580
Spindle Speed (rpm) Spindle Speed (rpm)Spindle Speed
(rpm)
(ii) Coated carbide 1235

0.18
0.25
0.16
0.20
Maximum Tool Wear
Maximum Tool Wear
0.14
0.15
0.12
0.10
0.10
0.05
5300 5350 5400 5450 5500 5550 5400 5420 5440 5460 5480 5500 5520 5540 5560 5580
Spindle Speed (rpm) Spindle Speed (rpm)
(iii) Uncoated carbide 4615

(a) MQL (b) Flooded
Figure 3. Effects of tool wear on spindle speed for MQL and flooded conditions
Figure 4 shows the effect of tool wear on feed rate for the MQL and flooded
cutting conditions. It can be seen that the tool wear decreases as the feed rate increases.
The effect of the feed rate depends also on other factors, mainly spindle speed. This is
because the feed rate and spindle speed involve movement which then decides the
thermal barrier and also frictional forces between the tool and workpiece. For coated
carbide 2235, the MQL and flooded conditions show a decrease in the tool wear.
Meanwhile, coated carbide 1235 with MQL also shows a decrease in tool wear, but with
1542
the flooded condition shows an increase in tool wear as the feed rate increases. Flooded
coated carbide 1235 shows an increase only until reaching 440 mm/min, after which the
tool wear tends to reduce. At 440mm/min, tool wear seems high due to the high spindle
speed which was set at 5500 rpm. On the other hand, uncoated carbide 4615 shows a
very similar result. For MQL, the graph increases and then reduces at a feed rate of 380
mm/min. This is due to the maximum spindle speed at that feed rate (Kadirgama, Noor,
& Rahman, 2012; Noor, Kadirgama, Habeeb, Rahman, & Mohammad, 2010; Razak et
al., 2012).
0.10
0.05
0.09 0.04
Maximum Tool Wear

Maximum Tool Wear
0.03
0.08
0.02
0.07
0.01
0.06 0.00
300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440 460 480 380 390 400 410 420 430 440
Feed rate (mm/min) Feed rate (mm/min)
0.080
0.08
0.075
0.07
Maximum Tool Wear
Maximum Tool Wear
0.06 0.070
0.05
0.065
0.04
0.03 0.060
300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440 460 480 380 400 420 440 460 480
Feed Feed

0.18
0.25
0.16
0.20
Maximum Tool Wear
0.14
Maximum Tool Wear
0.15
0.12
0.10
0.10
0.05
300 320 340 360 380 400 420 440 460 480 380 390 400 410 420 430 440
Feed rate (mm/min) Feed rate (mm/min)
(a) MQL (b) Flooded
Figure 4. Variation of tool wear against feed rate for MQL and flooded conditions
1543
cutting tools
Meanwhile, reducing trends were seen for flooded uncoated carbide 4615
because of the contact time between the tool and workpiece. When the feed rate was too
low, the time taken for a cut was longer and thus increased the heat. This leads to
damage to the tool. Therefore, using a high and optimum feed rate is recommended as it
can reduce the tool wear and at the same time increase the material removal rate. In
terms of MQL, coated carbide 2235 shows a good trend. Even though the maximum
tool wear is higher than that of MQL of coated carbide 1235, the values are still below
the acceptable value for tool wear.
0.10
0.08
0.09 0.07
Maximum Tool Wear
Maximum Tool Wear

0.06
0.08
0.05
0.07
0.04
0.06 0.03
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
DOC (mm) DOC (mm)
(i)Coated carbide 2235

0.080
0.08
Maximum Tool Wear
0.07
0.075
Maximum Tool Wear
0.06
0.070
0.05
0.065
0.04
0.03 0.060
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
DOC (mm) DOC (mm)

0.18
0.25
0.16
0.20
Maximum Tool Wear
0.14
Maximum Tool Wear
0.15
0.12
0.10
0.10
0.05
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
DOC (mm) DOC (mm)

(a) MQL (b) Flooded
Figure 5. Variation of tool wear on depth of cut for MQL and flooded condition
Figure 5 shows the effect of the depth of cut on tool wear for the MQL and
flooded conditions. With increasing depth of cut, the tool wear decreases. This is
because, with a deeper cut, the tool tends to have less chatter vibration, thus causing the
propagation of tool wear to be in the steady region. Tool wear is usually related to
1544
vibration on tools during machining. For coated carbide 2235, the tool wear seems to be
increasing at a much lower rate for MQL and it directly reduces in the flooded
condition. Basically, all the results for MQL show a slight increase in tool wear. This
could be due to the usage of minimum lubricant which occupies less of the space
between the tool and workpiece during machining. This contrasts with the flooded
condition which could cover the whole area between the tool and workpiece, thus
reducing the frictional force and heat that can damage the tool. Coated carbide 4615
shows increasing tool wear against depth of cut due to the minimum feed rate and high
spindle speed at 3.63 mm depth of cut. Coated carbide 2235 and 1235 when flooded
show a similar trend of decreasing tool wear with increasing depth of cut (Kadirgama,
Abou-El-Hossein, Noor, Sharma, & Mohammad, 2011a, 2011b). Thus both of these
tools could be selected for machining AA6061-T6. Meanwhile, coated carbide 2235
shows a lower tool wear value and a lower increase in the rate of tool wear compared to
the other two tools.
Figure 6 shows the variation of tool wear on the MQL flow rate for different
coated and uncoated carbide inserts. With more lubrication, the tool wear could be
decreased. This is because the lubricant acts as a cooling agent and reduces the
temperature and frictional forces between the inserts and tool (Su et al., 2006). Coated
carbide 1235 shows a good result when using MQL. The tool wear decreases as the
MQL flow rate increases and the tool wear shows the lowest value compared to the
other two tools. The graph for coated carbide shows a slight increase in tool wear as the
MQL flow rate increases. This could be affected by the low feed rate, high spindle
speed and low depth of cut, which was selected at 0.0275 ml/min. This causes high tool
wear and thus causes the graph trend to be slightly increasing. Most of the tool wear
values are in the acceptable region, which is below 0.3 mm (Noor, Kadirgama, Rahman,
& Maleque, 2011).
Figure 7 presents the characteristics of tool wear on different inserts for the
MQL and flooded cutting conditions. It can be seen that the most common types of tool
wear in this study are flank wear and the adhesive layer. Flank wear usually happens on
the relief part of the insert and mainly occurs due to rubbing of the inserts and
workpiece. Lubricants play an important role in ensuring that the friction force and
resulting heat transfer are less, thus causing less flank wear to appear. However, the
appearance of flank wear is similar in both cases. It could lead to reduction in the nose
radius of the inserts when the amount of flank wear increases. This affects the surface
roughness of the workpiece. An increase in the depth of cut affects the appearance of
the adhesive layer due to increased workpiece surface contact with the inserts. High
temperature and high force are the main reasons for adhesion (Kadirgama, Noor,
Rahman, Sani, & Abou-El-Hossein, 2010; Kalidass et al., 2012; Rahman Khan,
Rahman, Kadirgama, & Ismail, 2012)The adhesive layer on machined inserts can be
reduced by using carbide coated inserts (Fontalvo et al., 2006). This study also shows
that the adhesive layer on uncoated carbide can be seen frequently compared to coated
carbides. In this study, two different types of coated carbide were used, namely titanium
nitride (TiN) for coated carbide 1235 and titanium aluminum nitride (TiAlN) for coated
carbide 2235. Damage such as edge fracture and notch wear could also be identified on
the inserts. The damage can be more frequently seen in the microstructure when using
flooded lubricants than with MQL. However, the amount of adhesive layer on flooded
inserts is less compared to MQL. The MQL lubricants are formulated with two major
groups of additives; anti-wear additives and extreme pressure additives. When such
lubricants are applied to the cutting zone, protective layers are formed on the interacting
1545
cutting tools
surfaces of the workpiece and the cutting tool. These layers prevent direct contact
between the tool and chip surfaces, and therefore reduce the friction forces and tool
wear. In order to utilize MQL to its full potential, it is essential to select the appropriate
lubricant composition for the particular work material and machining parameters.
0.10
MQL flow rate (ml/min)

0.09
(ml/min)
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.0150 0.0175 0.0200 0.0225 0.0250 0.0275 0.0300
Maximum Tool Wear
(mm)
0.08
Maximum Tool Wear (mm)
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.0150 0.0175 0.0200 0.0225 0.0250 0.0275 0.0300
(ml/min)
0.25
Maximum Tool Wear (mm)
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.021 0.022 0.023 0.024 0.025 0.026 0.027 0.028 0.029 0.030
(ml/min)
Figure 6. Variations of tool wear on MQL flow rate for different inserts
1546
Flank Edge
Wear Fracture Flank
Wear
Adhesive
layer
Flank Wear
Flank
Edge Wear
Fracture
Notch
Adhesive Wear
Layer Adhesive
Layer
Adhesive
Edge
Layer
Fracture
Edge
Fracture
Flank Adhesive Flank

Wear Layer Wear
(a) MQL (b) Flooded
Figure 7. Tool wear on different inserts for MQL and flooded conditions: (i) coated
carbide 2235; (ii) coated carbide 1235; (iii) uncoated carbide 4615.
1547
cutting tools
CONCLUSIONS
Minimum quantity lubrication technology seems to be a suitable alternative for

economically and environmentally compatible production. It combines the functionality
of lubrication with an extremely low consumption of lubricant and has the potential to
replace the metalworking fluids currently applied in machining operations. It is
concluded that the cutting parameters and MQL flow rate play an important role in
determining tool wear. Flooded and minimum quantity lubrication show similar results
in terms of tool wear. The high value of spindle speed, and lower feed rate, depth of cut
and lubrication caused severe tool wear. A higher spindle speed caused more severe
flank wear propagation. In this study, cutting tool inserts were identified to have an
adhesive layer that became easily attached to the inserts as the cutting temperature
increased. MQL can be beneficial for machining of aluminum alloy as it can give a
similar result in terms of tool wear to flooded lubricant. Even though the tool wear with
MQL was slightly higher than that in the flooded condition, all the results were in an
acceptable range. Coated carbide 2235 shows a good overall performance under
different parameters. The results imply that the study can be used easily to forecast tool
wear in response to cutting parameters.
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1549
GROUND VISCOUS EFFECT ON 3D FLOW STRUCTURE OF A COMPOUND

WING-IN-GROUND EFFECT
S. Jamei, A. Maimun, N. Azwadi, M. M. Tofa, S. Mansor and A. Priyanto

1
81310, UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
*
Email: jsaeed2@live.utm.my
Phone: +607-553-5957; Fax: +607-553-5708
ABSTRACT
The wing-in-ground-effect craft is a new means for traveling on rivers, lakes, and at sea
between islands. In this study, the effect of boundary layers due to the ground viscous
effect on the aerodynamic coefficients of the compound wing of a WIG craft was
numerically investigated. The compound wing is divided into three parts, with one
rectangular wing in the middle and two reverse taper wings with an anhedral angle at
the sides. A realizable k-ε turbulent model was used for modeling the flow around the
wing area. The computational results of the compound wing for fixed ground were
compared with the experimental data. The aerodynamic characteristics of the compound
wing were examined via both fixed and moving ground for removing the boundary
layers effect of the ground. Accordingly, the numerical result indicated that the lift and
drag coefficients and lift to drag ratio are affected by the ground boundary layers while
the moment coefficient and center of pressure of the compound wing showed little
variation with respect to ground boundary conditions.
Keywords: Aerodynamics; boundary layer; compound wing; CFD simulation; WIG

craft.
INTRODUCTION
Fast-marine transportation around and among islands and coastal areas has developed
for many services such as passenger travel, military use and rescue. Wing-in-ground-
effect (Ludwig, McGregor, Blowes, Benner, & Mountjoy, 2002) vehicles are high-
speed craft which are a promising option for both work and travel because of their
economic benefits (Yun, Bliault, & Doo, 2009). A WIG craft has two advantages
compared with aircraft. First is the higher ram pressure because of trapping of the air
flow around the stagnation point on the lower surface of the wing in proximity to the
ground. Next, the induced drag is weaker because the wing is near the ground, so the tip
vortex is trapped by the ground and reduces the strength of vortices (Abramowski,
2007). The effect of ground boundary layers on the performance of the wing-in-ground
effect is a challenge for researchers (Marqués-Bruna, 2011; Saad & Bari, 2013;
Tahseen, Ishak, & Rahman, 2013; Yang, Yang, & Jia, 2010; Ying, Yang, & Yang,
2010a, 2010b). Yang, Z. G. et al. (2010) showed an effective height decrease because of
the rise of ground by using a displacement thickness which caused an over-estimation of
the ground effect. A separation bubble was created on the ground when the ground was
considered as a fixed boundary. The separation bubble could rise with reduced ground
clearance and a higher angle of attack. As a result, the passageway of the air flow was
reduced and then the ram effect decreased and lift would be underestimated. In addition,
1550
Jamei et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1550-1563
the separation bubble caused the stagnation point to move towards the leading edge and
then the air flow on the upper surface of the wing had higher energy with lower adverse
pressure gradients, where there was a delay on the separation at the trailing edge and
stall angle as well (Yang, Lin, & Yang, 2010). Yang, W. et al. (2010) illustrated that
the separation bubble is developed more by the ground level than by the angle of attack.
Ying et al. (2010a) demonstrated that the separation bubble was removed at a ground
clearance greater than 0.2, and that therefore the aerodynamic behavior of the air flow
on fixed ground was similar to moving ground.
Yang and Yang (2009) tried to identify numerically the ground viscous effect on
the wing-in-ground effect. They showed a negative lift coefficient and a rapid increase
of drag coefficient with a small angle of attack (AOA≤ 4°) in low ground clearance
(h/c≤0.1). At an angle of attack of 4° and with different ground clearances, they
reported a higher lift and lower drag for fixed ground compared to moving ground; but
this difference reduced at higher ground clearance. The interaction of the boundary
layer of fixed ground and the model when tested in a wind tunnel has a greater influence
on the aerodynamic forces than in real flight (Borello et al., 1999). Therefore, the effect
of the ground boundary layer in some testing should be removed, for example, in
vehicle testing. The moving belt is one method to reduce this effect (Barber, Leonardi,
& Archer, 2002), although this method is not always feasible. Knowles, Donoghue, and
Finnis (1994) believed that the boundary layer reduces the effective ground clearance of
the wing, which improves the venture effect between the wing and ground. Therefore,
flow velocities are accelerated, which results in lower pressure and higher downforce.
Marshall, Newman, and Williams (2010) demonstrated the influence of the boundary
layer on an inverted wing ground effect when there is no moving ground. They
observed that a larger boundary layer induced stronger pressure and consequently
smaller flow velocities. A larger downforce was recorded for a smaller boundary layer
height because of the lower pressure suction surface. Jamei, Maimun, Mansor, Azwadi,
and Priyanto (2012) numerically investigated the aerodynamic characteristics of a
compound wing-in-ground effect. The compound wing is divided into two parts: the
middle part as the rectangular wing and the side parts that are reverse taper wings with
an anhedral angle. They showed that compound wings can create a greater reduction of
downwash velocity and modify the pressure distribution on the lower side, which leads
to a higher augmentation in the lift force. Also, the smaller distance between the wing
tip of compound wings and the ground causes a reduction of drag because of the weaker
tip vortex. In addition, the performance, fuel consumption and environmental impact of
compound wings have been investigated by Jamei, Maimun, Mansor, Azwadi, and
Priyanto (2011). The lower drag of compound wings allows a considerable reduction in
fuel consumption, which could be an economic advantage. Accordingly, the CO2
emission related to compound wings is much less than that of a rectangular wing.
According to the previous research, the effect of ground boundary layers on the
aerodynamics of the wing is still a major objective for researchers. In this paper, the
effect of ground viscous boundary layers on the aerodynamics coefficient of a
compound wing-in-ground effect (Jamei et al., 2012) was numerically investigated.
Two ground boundaries were used in the simulations, fixed ground and moving ground.
In this research, the lift and drag coefficient, lift to drag ratio, moment coefficient and
center of pressure of the present compound wing were measured, as these could be
affected by the ground viscous effect. The pressure and velocity distributions as well as
the aerodynamic coefficients of the compound wing were analyzed for each ground
boundary.
1551
Ground viscous effect on 3D flow structure of a compound wing-in-ground effect
CFD NUMERICAL STUDY
The numerical study was performed on a compound wing with NACA6409 airfoil
section. The principal dimensions of the compound wing (Figure 1) are shown in Table
1 (Jamei et al., 2012). These simulations were prepared with respect to different angles
of attack and ground clearances (h/c), aspect ratio 1.25, and velocity of airflow 25.5
m/s, in addition to which two ground boundary conditions were considered, fixed and
moving. Ground level (h) is defined by the distance between the center of the trailing
edge of the wing and the ground surface. CFD methods are based on the solution of
Navier–Stokes equations by using the finite volume method (FVM). Many flows of
engineering significance are turbulent, especially in aerospace applications. The flow
field around the compound wing was assumed to be steady-state and incompressible by
means of a realizable k-ε turbulent model. Fluent software was employed for the CFD
simulations. Shih, Liou, Shabbir, Yang, and Zhu (1995) recommended a realizable k-ε
turbulent model which used a new turbulent viscosity formula and a new dissipation
rate equation (ε) according to the dynamic equation of the mean-square vortices
fluctuation. The transport equations for the turbulent kinetic energy (k) and turbulent
dissipation energy (ε) are expressed as follows:
    t  k 
( k )  ( ku j )        Gk  Gb    YM  Sk
t x j x j  k  x j 
(1)
and
    t    2
(  )  ( u j )        C S  C
t x j x j    x j  k  
1 2
(2)

 C1 C3 Gb  S 
k
   k
C1  max 0.43,  ,  , S  2S ij S ij (3)
   5 
where Sk and Sε are user-defined source terms, C1ε, C2, C3ε, σk and σε are the adaptable
constants.
The aerodynamic coefficients and center of pressure in this numerical study
were determined as follows:
L D M CM
CL  CD  CM  X CP  0.25 
0.5U A ,
2
0.5U A ,
2
0.5U Ac and
2
C L cos   CD sin  .
In this study, the standard wall functions (Launder & Spalding, 1974) were
employed in the numerical simulation. The wall functions have certain advantages, such
as being less time-consuming, reducing the number of meshes near the walls such as the
wing, being cost-effective and having acceptable accuracy. Based on the current
simulation, the mesh number was around 4,500,000, which yielded acceptable
convergence.
1552
(a)
(b)
Figure 1. (a) Compound wing; (b) geometry of the compound wing.
Table 1. Principal dimensions of the compound wing.
Dimensions of compound wing

Total wing span (b) 250 mm
Root chord length (c) 200 mm

Middle wing span (bm) 125
Taper ratio (c/ ct) 1.25
Anhedral angle (a) 13°
VALIDATION OF NUMERICAL STUDY
In this study, the CFD simulation was validated with experimental data by using the low
speed wind tunnel at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Figure 2a-b illustrates the
aerodynamic coefficients of the compound wing for fixed ground at a ground clearance
of 0.15, and shows that the numerical and experimental simulations have a similar
trend; however, the numerical plot indicates some deviations from the experimental plot
(Jamei et al., 2014).
1553
(a) Drag coefficient (b) Lift to drag ratio
Figure 2. Comparison of experimental and numerical simulation of the compound wing

at ground clearance of 0.15: (a) drag coefficient; (b) lift to drag ratio.
Pressure and Velocity Contour of the Compound Wing
Figures 3–6 show the pressure and velocity distribution of the compound wing for fixed
and moving ground at ground clearances of 0.1 and 0.4 with an angle of attack of 4°.
For both ground conditions, Figure 3 demonstrates that the ram effect on the lower
surface of the compound wing at a ground clearance of 0.1 was stronger than with a
ground clearance of 0.4; on the other hand, the suction effect on the upper surface at a
ground clearance of 0.1 was slightly stronger.
The suction effect at the leading edge of the compound wing for moving ground
is greater than for fixed ground at a ground clearance of 0.1, while there is no difference
at a ground clearance of 0.4 (Figure 3). There was a wider high pressure area especially
near the trailing edge of the lower surface for moving ground at a ground clearance of
0.1 (Figure 3a), which means that the recovery of pressure was slightly higher for
moving ground. However, the pressure distribution shows a small increment at the end
of the compound wing for fixed ground at a ground clearance of 0.4 (Figure 3b). This
figure shows the ground boundary layer’s effect on the pressure distributions because of
the fixed ground condition.
At a low ground clearance of 0.1, the effective height for fixed ground is smaller
because of its displacement thickness and this causes a vent effect; hence, there was
lower pressure in the flow passage between the lower side of the compound wing and
ground at the middle span for fixed ground, as shown in Figure 4a. Also, the stagnation
point moved to the lower side of the compound wing as the wing approached the
ground. Conversely, the vent effect does not exist at a ground clearance of 0.4, and the
displacement thickness related to fixed ground caused slightly higher pressure at the
trailing and leading edges compared to moving ground (Figure 4b).
1554
Lower surface- Moving ground Lower surface- Fixed ground
Upper surface- Moving ground Upper surface- Fixed ground
(a) h/c=0.1
Lower surface- Moving ground Lower surface- Fixed ground
Upper surface- Moving ground Upper surface- Fixed ground
(b) h/c=0.4
Figure 3. Pressure coefficient contours on upper and lower surfaces of the compound
wing for moving and fixed ground with angle of attack of 4° at (a) h/c= 0.1; (b) h/c=0.4.
1555
Moving ground Fixed ground
(a) h/c=0.1
(b) h/c=0.4
Figure 4. Pressure coefficient contour on middle span of the compound wing for moving
and fixed ground with angle of attack of 4° at (a) h/c= 0.1; (b) h/c=0.4.
Figure 5 shows the effect of the boundary layer on the velocity distribution in
the flow passage between the compound wing and ground. This figure depicts the
boundary layers at fixed ground, while they disappeared for moving ground because the
speed of the air flow and ground was the same. The velocity distribution at the middle
span of the compound wing is in contrast to the pressure distribution (Figure 4a)
according to the Bernoulli equation, where there was a higher velocity in the flow
passage between the lower surface of the compound wing and fixed ground near the
1556
leading edge than with moving ground. Figure 6 illustrates the pressure distribution near
the wingtips for both conditions. In general, pressure leakages from the lower surface to
the upper surface of a wing will generate a tip vortex and spread to the downstream flow
field. This vortex is revealed as induced drag. The total drag is a summation of friction
drag and induced drag. According to the pressure distribution at the wingtip of the
compound wing related to moving ground, the tip vortex was stronger than with fixed
ground and therefore the induced drag was greater.
Figure 5. Velocity contour (m/s) on middle span of the compound wing for moving and
fixed ground with angle of attack of 4° at h/c= 0.1.
Figure 6. Pressure coefficient contours near wingtip of the compound wing for moving
and fixed ground with angle of attack of 4° at h/c= 0.1.
Aerodynamic Coefficients of the Compound Wing
Lift Coefficient
The effects of different ground clearance on the aerodynamic coefficients of the

compound wing for moving and fixed ground at an angle of attack of 4° are shown in
1557
Tables 2–6 and Figures 7–9. Figure 7 illustrates a rapid increase in the lift coefficients
of the compound wing for both ground conditions as the ground clearance was
decreased. According to the present results, at low ground clearance (h/c<0.15) the lift
coefficient shows a greater improvement related to moving ground, while at a ground
clearance greater than 0.15 the lift coefficient of the compound wing is higher when the
ground is assumed to be fixed. This figure reveals the effect of ground viscous varied
versus ground clearance. The increment of the lift coefficient of the compound wing
with moving ground compared with fixed ground was calculated by using Eq. (4) and is
summarized in Table 2. The increment was valuable at a small ground clearance, where
at the ground clearance of 0.1, it was 3.5 %.
C L ( Moving)
Increment (%)  1 (4)
C L ( Fixed )
Figure 7. Lift coefficient (CL) versus ground clearance at angle of attack of 4°.
Table 2. Lift coefficient and its increment of the compound wing versus ground
clearance at angle of attack of 4º for moving and fixed ground.
Ground clearance Lift coefficient
Increment of CL (%)
0.1 0.519 0.502 3.5
0.15 0.418 0.416 0.5
0.2 0.381 0.385 -1.1
0.3 0.345 0.353 -2.4
0.4 0.330 0.337 -2.3
Drag Coefficient
The drag coefficients of the compound wing versus ground clearance for moving and
fixed ground are depicted in Figure 8. In addition, the differences of drag coefficient of
the compound wing related to different ground boundaries were calculated by using Eq.
(5) in Table 3. Figure 8 shows a small variation in the drag coefficient of both ground
1558
conditions versus ground clearance, while the plot of moving ground was lower than
fixed ground. The gap between the plots reduced when the ground clearance increased.
The reduction of the drag coefficient related to moving ground as compared with fixed
ground was in the range 4.6–2.1 %, as shown in Table 3. This reduction could be related
to viscous drag.
C D ( Moving)
Reduction (%) = 1  (5)
C D ( Fixed )
Figure 8. Drag coefficient (Kaptan, Buyruk, & Ecder) versus ground clearance at angle
of attack of 4°.
Table 3. Drag coefficient and its reduction of the compound wing versus ground
Ground Drag coefficient

Reduction of
clearance Moving
Fixed ground CD (%)
ground
0.1 0.039 0.0405 4.6
0.15 0.038 0.0397 3.5
0.2 0.039 0.0400 3.1
0.3 0.039 0.0395 2.1
0.4 0.040 0.0407 1.8
Lift to Drag Ratio
The lift to drag ratio of the compound wing versus ground clearance is summarized in
Table 4. In addition, the increment of the lift to drag ratio of the compound wing for
moving ground compared with fixed ground was determined by using Eq. (6). The
1559
increment was noticeable at low ground clearances. For example, at a ground clearance
of 0.1, the increment was 8.4 %. The trend of the lift to drag ratio of the compound wing
for both ground boundaries versus ground clearance is shown in Figure 9. This figure
illustrates that the efficiency (lift to drag ratio) of the compound wing was affected by
the ground viscous effect at ground clearances lower than 0.2.
L / D( Moving)
Increment (%)  1
L / D( Fixed ))
(6)
Figure 9. Lift to drag ratio (L/D) versus ground clearance at angle of attack of 4°.
Table 4. Lift to drag ratio and its increment of the compound wing versus ground
Ground Lift to drag ratio

Increment of
clearance Moving
Fixed ground L/D (%)
ground
0.1 13.436 12.39 8.4
0.15 10.917 10.48 4.2
0.2 9.823 9.63 2.0
0.3 8.920 8.94 -0.3
0.4 8.249 8.29 -0.5
Moment Coefficient and Center of Pressure
The variation of moment coefficients of the compound wing versus ground clearance is
shown in Table 5. A moment coefficient that caused a decrease in the angle of attack
was defined as a positive moment. The increment of moment coefficient related to
1560
ground boundaries was calculated by using Eq. (7) in Table 5. There is a slight variation
in increment, and the maximum increment was 2.5 % at a ground clearance of 0.1. In
Table 6, the increment of the distance of the center of pressure from the leading edge of
the compound wing related to moving ground was calculated by using Eq. (8). This
increment was small. Based on the present results, the stability of the compound wing
is not affected by the type of ground boundary.
C M ( Moving)
Increment (%)  1
C M ( Fixed )
(7)
X CP / c( Moving)
Increment (%)  1 (8)
X CP / c( Fixed )
Table 5. Moment coefficient and its increment of the compound wing versus ground
Ground Moment coefficient

Increment of
clearance Moving
Fixed ground CM (%)
ground
0.1 0.074 0.073 2.5
0.15 0.061 0.061 1.1
0.2 0.057 0.057 0.0
0.3 0.051 0.052 -1.0
0.4 0.047 0.047 -1.0
Table 6. Center of pressure and its increment of the compound wing versus ground
Ground Center of pressure

clearance Increment of
Moving XCP/c (%)
Fixed ground
ground
0.1 0.393 0.394 -0.3
0.15 0.396 0.395 0.2
0.2 0.399 0.397 0.4
0.3 0.397 0.395 0.5
0.4 0.392 0.390 0.5
CONCLUSIONS
The flow structure and the aerodynamic coefficients of a compound wing in the ground
effect were numerically investigated with respect to fixed and moving ground. Excellent
performance of the compound wing with a small ground clearance was demonstrated for
both ground conditions (h/c< 0.2). The lift and drag coefficients of the compound wing
showed some differences because of the ground viscous effect related to fixed ground as
compared with moving ground. As a result, the lift to drag ratio of the compound wing
had considerable variation at low ground clearances. Therefore, the ground viscous
effect could be more significant for the compound wing than for conventional wings.
1561
However, the moment coefficient and center of pressure of the compound wing are not
affected by the type of ground boundary, so it can be concluded that the stability of the
compound wing has no more variations. Based on the pressure and velocity contours for
both ground boundaries, the flow structure around the compound wing varied due to the
ground viscous effect. The moving ground does not exist in some wind tunnels.
Therefore, this research confidently helps give a better understanding of the ground
viscous effect on the wing-in-ground effect and can modify the results of wind tunnels
because, in reality, for zero air velocity there is no ground viscous effect.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation
(MOSTI) Malaysia for funding this research.
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of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 45, 425-436.
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role of the moving ground for automotive wind tunnel testing on race cars.
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Jamei, S., Maimun, A., Mansor, S., Azwadi, N., & Priyanto, A. (2012). Numerical
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Jamei, S., Maimun, A., Mansor, S., Priyanto, A., Azwadi, N., & Mobassher Tofa, M.
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NOMENCLATURES h/c Ground clearance

k Turbulent kinetic energy
a Anhedral angle L Lift force
b Wing span L/D Lift to drag ratio
bm Middle wing span S Wing planform area
c Chord length Sij Mean rate of deformation tensor
CD Drag coefficient U Free stream mean velocity
CL Lift coefficient uj Velocity in j-th direction
ct Tip chord length YM Effects of compressibility on
D Drag force turbulence
Gb Generation of turbulence kinetic ε Turbulent energy dissipation
energy due to buoyancy rate
Gk Generation of turbulence kinetic λ Taper ratio (c/ct)
energy due to the mean velocity μ Air viscosity
gradients μt Turbulent viscosity
h Height of trailing edge above the ρ Air density
ground
1563
A NEW METHOD IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF NOISE AND VIBRATION

CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTOMOTIVE DISK BRAKES IN THE LOW
FREQUENCY DOMAIN
K. Magaswaran, A. S. Phuman Singh and M. Z. Hassan
Department of Automotive Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,
Durian Tunggal, 76100 Melaka, Malaysia,
Email: kumaresanmagaswaran@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Noise and vibration characterization is an important benchmark to reduce brake noise.

Brake noise and vibration measurement is commonly done on an actual vehicle or on a
brake dynamometer. A full scale brake dynamometer takes into account the attached
mass which resembles the mass of a quarter scale vehicle. This paper proposes a testing
method which eliminates the need for attached masses. This is achieved through the
scaling of the brake system parameters to accommodate the loss of mass and produce
similar conditions to those in actual braking. The measurement of noise and vibration is
measured simultaneously and an FFT is performed to identify the frequencies of noise
and vibration. An experimental modal analysis (EMA) is done to obtain the frequencies
which the brake system tends to produce as a validation to the proposed method. It is
shown that through this method the noise and vibration characteristics of the brake
system and the unstable frequencies can be identified.
Keywords: Brake noise; brake vibration; brake dynamometer; frequency domain;.
INTRODUCTION
The brake is an important safety feature in a vehicle. The introduction of hydraulically

operated disk brakes on a vehicle reduces the amount of stopping power required, thus
enhancing safety, but there is an issue of noise and vibration. This issue is considered
serious by carmakers around the world. In Northern America alone, up to 1 billion
dollars has been spent on warranty claims regarding brake noise (Akay, 2002). Brake
noises are commonly classified into two categories based on their frequencies. The first
is the low frequency domain which is the noise below 1 kHz, and second is the high
frequency domain which is noise above 1 kHz. The low frequency domain contains
types of noise such as groans, moans, hums and judders, whereas the high frequency
domain contains squeal type noises (Dunlap, Riehle, & Longhouse, 1999; Jha &
Sharma, 2013). The low frequency noise types are generally caused by the brake pad
being excited by the brake rotor at the contact and it is coupled with other vehicle
components (Qatu, Abdelhamid, Pang, & Sheng, 2009), whereas the squeal noise is
said to be a friction induced vibration combined with thermal and structural effects.
Understanding of the brake noise and vibration phenomena and efforts to control brake
noise are a continuous challenge in the automotive braking industry. Generally, brake
noise is perceived as a friction-induced forced vibration (Nuawi, Ismail, Nor, &
Rahman, 2011; Patel, Gohil, & Borhade, 2010; Rhee, Tsang, & Wang, 1989). The
1564
A new method in the identification of noise and vibration characteristics of automotive disk brakes in the low
frequency domain
characteristics of a braking event are complicated, as the input to the brake system
varies with an unlimited number of combinations and the brake assembly itself is a set
of multiple components connected with complex interfaces. Low frequency brake noise
below 1 kHz has been of particular importance recently due to advances in automotive
technology in making vehicles quieter. Thus testing of the brake system is crucial at the
prototype stage itself. At that stage, a real vehicle for on road testing might not be
available. Therefore, brake dynamometer testing is the only option available. Tests on a
brake dynamometer have been done by Bryant, Fieldhouse, Crampton, Talbot, and
Layfield (2007), Hetzler and Seemann (2006) and Little, Kao, Ferdani, and Hodges
(1998), but those tests were full scale and either included the vehicle mass or suspension
components.
The approach used in these tests is a causal approach which tries to identify the
mechanism of the produced sound. This approach is suitable to understand the
mechanisms which lead to the noise. The drawback is that this method is unable to
identify the noise and vibration characteristics of the brake system in a broad frequency
domain. The characteristics of the noise and vibration are important to identify the
unstable frequencies within the system because it is the unstable frequencies that tend to
produce noise. Furthermore, the experiment conducted should yield a result as a
function of brake pressure and wheel rotational speed, because these are the local
parameters in the brake system, by which the dynamics of the brake system is highly
influenced. Such an experiment was done by Lindberg, Hörlin, and Göransson (2013),
but it was carried out under laboratory conditions using a full scale vehicle. A full scale
vehicle is only available after the vehicle enters production and the test results of a full
scale vehicle would contain noise from the engine, transmission, tires and various other
disturbances. The sound generated during braking is basically a friction induced sound.
Friction plays a role in dissipating energy in the brake system but it can also produce
energy. When friction produces more energy than it dissipates, sound is generated1. In a
disk brake system, the disk and pad friction pair produces sound from such instability.
The disk and pad contact are what produces the friction force, which in turn causes in-
plane vibration of the disk (Matsuzaki & Izumihara, 1993; Tzou, Wickert, & Akay,
1998). This vibration exerts a periodic force with respect to disk motion on the edge of
the pads as it vibrates. This excites bending mode vibration within the pads.
Consequently, it causes the contact of the pad in the disk to fluctuate and excite the
bending waves on the disk (Ichiba & Nagasawa, 1993). This phenomenon is referred to
as geometric coupling, which is also called geometric instability. As the pad exerts force
on the disk, the disk will tilt slightly (Kubota & Suenaga, 1998). This tilt has the
potential to produce a groan noise through a stick and slip mechanism (Gouya &
Nishiwaki, 1990). All these factors combine to form a wide range of noise and
vibration in a single braking event, which is expected in the experiment to identify the
brake system noise and vibration characteristics.
The aim of the developed reduced scale brake dynamometer is to produce the
noise and vibration characteristics of the disk brake system so as to identify the
vibration frequencies which are audibly significant, in other words, to identify unstable
frequencies which produce noise, without the need to consider the vehicle mass. The
elimination of hardware such as vehicle suspension and attached masses is done through
calculative scaling. This reduces the testing cost and eliminates the attached mass,
which enables the testing of various vehicle disk brakes without extra cost or effort. The
objective of this paper is to investigate the low frequency brake noise and vibration
characteristics using a reduced scale brake dynamometer.
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Magaswaran et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1554-1577
THE SCALING OF THE PARAMETERS
The goal of the testing is to identify the characteristics of the brake noise produced. The
disk and pad vibratory system is a complex interrelated forced vibration system. In a
forced vibratory system, there should be a periodic excitation force. In the brake system,
the force is produced by the brake pads but the periodic quality is produced by the
rotation of the disk. Thus it is important to implement the same rotational speed to
reflect the real vehicle. The variable that causes the excitation force is the brake
pressure, thus it is to be scaled. Scaling of the pressure is necessary to produce the
desired deceleration. Implementation by applying brake pressure equal to that of a real
vehicle will stop the brake rotor abruptly; this makes observation and data collection
more challenging. Scaling of the excitation force will decrease the amplitude of the
produced noise and vibration but not the frequencies. Therefore, it is predicted that the
results will show sound levels which are low in amplitude throughout the sound
spectrum but with distinguishable peaks. In order to maintain a constant relationship
between the scaled and full scale brake dynamometer, the energy method is used. The
change of kinetic energy when the brakes are applied is calculated using Eq. (1) for the
actual vehicle and Eq. (2) for the reduced scale brake dynamometer. The change in
kinetic energy is taken into account because the brakes are applied to decelerate both the
vehicle and the disk brake on the brake dynamometer but not to stop the vehicle and
disk brake entirely. The kinetic energy is denoted by the symbol K whereas its subscript
indicates the conditions in which the equation is used; m is the mass of the object in
motion, which in this case is the quarter scale vehicle, and vn, is the velocity. For the
rotational kinetic energy, the moment of inertia of the disk is represented by I and
rotational velocity is denoted by ωn. The variables for the scaling calculations are
obtained from the actual vehicle and the braking system of the vehicle that is going to
be tested. Table 1 lists the parameters used for calculations of translational and
rotational kinetic energy.
mvn  vn 1 2
1
K translatio nal 
2 , n>0 (1)
I n  n 1 2
1
K rotational 
2 , n>0 (2)
.
Table 1. List of parameters for translational and rotational kinetic energy calculations
Translational Rotational
Variable Value Unit Variable Value Unit
M 246.25 kg I 0.049 kgm2
v0 24.42 m/s ω0 83.77 rad/s
v1 30.53 m/s ω1 104.72 rad/s
v2 33.58 m/s ω2 115.19 rad/s
v3 36.64 m/s ω3 125.66 rad/s
From the calculations, the ratio between the translational kinetic energy and the
rotational kinetic energy is 0.02. This value will be used as the scaling factor to scale
down the pressure applied on the brake dynamometer. To determine the pressure to be
applied on the brake dynamometer, the pressure applied on a real vehicle must be
1566
frequency domain
known. This is also achieved through calculations. To calculate the pressure applied on
a real vehicle, deceleration, a is fixed at 0.8. The force needed to retard the motion of
the vehicle is calculated from Eq. (3), where FB is the braking force, m is the mass of the
vehicle, a is the determined deceleration, and g is the gravitational acceleration.
FB  mag (3)
Then the force is used to equate the torque needed by the wheels to decelerate
the vehicle by using Eq. (4), where T is the torque and R is the tire radius.
T  FB R (4)
Eq. (5) shows the relation between the torque, friction force Ff and effective radius, reff.
The effective radius is the distance between the center of the disk brake rotor and the
center of the mass of the brake pad. The friction force is dependent on the friction
coefficient, µ and normal force, Fn which is shown in Eq. (4). The integer 2 in Eq. (6)
indicates the pair of brake pads within the brake system. The normal force is determined
by the applied brake line pressure, p on the piston area, Ap. Eq. (8) is obtained from Eq.
(5) to (7). Table 2 shows the parameters used to calculate the brake pressure. The
calculated pressure will be scaled accordingly and applied during the experiment.
T  F f reff
(5)
F f  2Fn
(6)
Fn  pAp
(7)
magR
p
2 Ap reff
(8)
Table 1. List of parameters for brake pressure calculation
Variable Value Unit

M 246.25 kg
A 0.8 g
G 9.81 m/s2
R 0.292 m
reff 0.025 m
µ 0.35 -
Ap 0.157 m2
BRAKE DYNAMOMETER EXPERIMENTATION
The brake dynamometer has four parts: the first is the drivetrain of the disk brake;
second is the electrical controls; third is the braking module and last is the DAQ system.
The disk brakes used are from a locally made vehicle, while the rotor, caliper, pads and
mountings are original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts. The whole assembly is
1567
attached to the brake dynamometer frame at the points designed to hold the brake
assembly. A shaft is assembled to the brake assembly which acts as a drive shaft. The
shaft is supported by pillow bearings which are attached to the dynamometer frame. At
the other end of the shaft, a V-type pulley is attached. This is the driven pulley which is
linked with a V-belt to a drive pulley which is attached to an electric motor. The
dynamometer is driven by a Siemens 4kW 3-phase electric motor. The drivetrain setup
is shown in Figure 1. This motor has an ABB adjustable speed drive to start the motor
and control its rotational speed. From this controller the initial speed, ω0 can be set and,
as the brakes are applied, the corresponding speed can be read.
Disk
Disc brake
brakes Belt and pulley
Drive shaft
Pillow bearing
Figure 1. Drivetrain of the disk brakes
The dynamometer is powered up by a start button which starts the drive, and
then when the drive is ready the motor can be run on the set desired speed. There is an
emergency stop button to shut down the dynamometer immediately in case of an
emergency. This is a safety feature. There are also red and green indicator lights to
indicate that the motor is running or has stopped. These electrical controls are shown in
Figure 2. The braking module is an OEM part of the same locally made vehicle; it has
the brake pedal, the master cylinder and a brake fluid reservoir. Along the pressure line
of the brake system is attached a pressure gage which is used to monitor the brake
pressure applied during braking. A microphone is used to capture the noise level
produced during braking and two single axis accelerometers are used to measure the
vibration level. The accelerometers used are the Dytran 3225F1 and 3214A3. These
accelerometers, which weigh 11 grams, are placed at the surface of the brake pad
coinciding with its geometric center, whereas the microphone is placed 100 mm away
from the brake disk coinciding with its geometric center. The microphone and the
accelerometers are connected to a portable analyzer, model LDS Dactron dynamic
signal analyzer PhotonII. The portable analyzer receives the electrical signal from the
microphone and accelerometers and relays it to the RT Pro Photon software installed in
the laptop. This software displays the sound and vibration spectrums.
1568
frequency domain
Emergency stop button Red indicator light ABB adjustable

speed drive
Dyno on/off
switch box
Green indicator light
Figure 2. Electrical controls of the brake dynamometer
The measurements of the sound level and vibrations are done with reference to
0dB for sound and 1mm/s2 for acceleration. The reference is chosen because if the
scaled pressure that is applied in the experiment is quite low then the amplitude of the
sound and vibration produced will also be low. Nonetheless, the frequency will not be
affected because the periodic characteristic of the excitation force is produced by the
disk rotational speed. Figure 4 shows the brake dynamometer used.
Figure 3. From left, the brake module, Dytran accelerometer and LDS Dactron
portable analyzer
DAQ
Brake module
Drivetrain Electrical controls
Figure 4. Full view of the UTeM small scale brake dynamometer
1569
The experiment is started when the main 3-phase power is turned on, followed
by the green push button on the switch box. Then, 5 seconds are needed for the drive to
power up. Next, the DAQ system is started. The motor is powered up and the speed is
adjusted until the disk rotates at1300 rpm. When the motor speed is set, then data
recording begins. After 10 seconds have elapsed, the brake pedal is pushed immediately
to reach a brake pressure of 90 kPa. The brake pedal is held at a position so that the
brake pressure can be maintained until the disk brake decelerates and comes to a halt, at
which point it is released immediately to avoid damage to the electric motor. The
recorded data represents the whole history of events, that is, from the moment the data
recording is started until the recording is stopped. Thus, the time keeping of the events
is important. The times at which the data recording is started, the brake is applied, the
speed of the disk brake reaches ω3, ω2, ω1 or ω0 and the brake is released are monitored.
These recorded times are used to identify the windows where the FFT (Fast Fourier
Transformation) is performed. The braking process is repeated extensively to scrutinize
the relationship between the variables, which are the brake line pressure, disk rotational
speed, sound frequencies, and sound decibels.
EXPERIMENTAL MODAL ANALYSIS (EMA)
The experimental modal analysis is conducted on the brake pad and the brake disk
because these are the primary source of noise and vibration. During braking, the
dynamic interaction between the brake pad and disk is what causes the noise and
vibration phenomena. The EMA is carried out using the impact hammer method. The
frequency spectrum obtained from the EMA of the brake and disk is shown in Figures 5
and 6, where the highest peaks in the spectra indicate the frequencies at which the pad
and disk are most likely to vibrate if excited. The eight highest peaks are selected and
their frequencies and amplitudes are tabulated in Table 3 for the brake pad and Table 4
for the brake disk. The frequencies and amplitudes are numerically labeled with prefix
np for brake pad and nd for brake disk. This is done for ease of reference. The frequency
spectrum of the brake pad shows peaks at the higher end of the domain whereas the
brake disk frequency spectrum shows peaks at the lower end of the domain. This
suggests that the brake system has a tendency to vibrate in a broad frequency during
braking.
-5
x 10
8
7
Displacement (m)
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 5. EMA of brake pad
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frequency domain
-5
x 10
6
Displacement (m)
3
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 6. EMA of brake disc.
Table 3. Peak frequency and amplitude of brake pad EMA
np Frequency (Hz) Amplitude (m)

1 490 2.145E-05
2 567.5 3.52E-05
3 595 7.57E-05
4 662.5 4.282E-05
5 727.5 4.764E-05
6 805 3.568E-05
7 865 3.125E-05
8 975 2.713E-05
Table 4. Peak frequency and amplitude of brake disk EMA
nd Frequency (Hz) Amplitude (m)

1 157.5 5.85E-05
2 295.5 2.89E-05
3 390 1.59E-05
4 437 1.16E-05
5 492.5 4.22E-05
6 625 1.57E-05
7 790 1.49E-05
8 880 1.57E-05
The results are presented starting with the sound spectrum obtained during braking,
followed by the vibration spectrum which was simultaneously obtained. All the peak
frequencies are tabulated in Table 5; from here the two s spectra are cross-analyzed to
identify unstable frequencies which could result in severe noise. The last part of the
results is the validation of the scaling method. This is done by comparing the EMA
frequency spectrum with the brake dynamometer experiment frequencies. Since the
EMA spectrum is the frequencies at which the brake and pad system is most likely to
1571
vibrate, a high correlation between the EMA and brake dynamometer would validate the
scaling method.
The sound spectrums at different speeds are shown in Figure 6(a) to (d) which
correspond to disk rotational speeds ω3 to ω0. Figure 6(a) shows peaks at 18 Hz, 45 Hz,
104 Hz, 142 Hz and 347 Hz which are significantly dominant. There are also peaks at
185 Hz, 489 Hz, 855 Hz, 920 Hz and 963 Hz which are less distinguishable. As the disk
decelerates as shown in Figure 6(b), the spectrum changes and the dominant peaks are
at 34 Hz, 99 Hz, 142 Hz, 685 Hz and 837 Hz. The peak at 920 Hz is still visible but has
been suppressed compared to the dominant peaks. Further deceleration produced
dominant peaks at 99 Hz, 142 Hz, 199 Hz, 239 Hz, 479 Hz, 683 Hz and 917 Hz and can
be seen in Figure 6c. Some peaks which are dominant in Figure 6(b), such as 99 Hz, 142
Hz, and 683 Hz, have maintained their dominance. Lastly, when the disk rotation speed
is at ω0, only the peaks at 37 Hz, 75 Hz and 829 Hz can be seen, with less dominant
peaks at 279 Hz, 471 Hz and 697 Hz. As the deceleration progressed, the sound
spectrum changed significantly. The deceleration indicates that the magnitude of the
periodic quality is reducing. Due to the natural properties of the pad and disk, the
amplitudes of the produced sound are also subject to change. This evidence is shown in
Figure 6(a) to (d). The distinctive peaks in the spectrum show the frequency at which
the sound is more dominant than the other sound frequencies. Studies such as done by
Akay (2002); (Dunlap et al., 1999; Tzou et al., 1998) have listed the frequency ranges
at which the sound occurs and named those specific sounds which commonly occur in
the brake system. The results are in good agreement with sounds such as roughness
which is 5–60Hz, groan which is 50–300 Hz, judder vibration which produces an
audible tone around 150Hz and moan which is 100–400 Hz. Another sound which has a
frequency around 800–900Hz can be classified as a low frequency squeal. The
amplitudes of the sound are generally quite low, as predicted, but it is still possible to
distinguish the dominant and predominant. Thus, observations are possible with the
reduced scale brake dynamometer. The speed of the disk is the parameter that gives the
periodic quality to this system. Thus, one frequency is dominant at one speed and
another frequency is dominant at another speed, even though the pressure which is the
excitation force is the same. The observation made here is that a linearly decreasing
speed did not yield a linear trend in the frequencies. This represents the nonlinearity of
the system’s behavior.
By analyzing the spectrums of the vibration and sound together, unstable
frequencies within the system can be identified. By looking at the figures for the sound
spectrum and its corresponding vibration spectrum alone, the relations of the
frequencies are not obvious. After extraction and tabulation of the frequencies, a clearer
relation can be seen between the sound and vibration frequencies. In a braking event,
the system vibrates across a broad frequency range, but only unstable frequencies are
audibly significant. This is why the sound spectrum and the vibration spectrum don’t
relate directly. The spectrums only relate through the unstable frequencies which
produce noise. Table 6 shows the sound frequencies which relate to the vibration
frequencies at a difference of less than 6%. These are the frequencies which have a
tendency to become unstable and lead to severe noise. The unstable frequencies are
unique to specific brake systems. The number of these instabilities is also dependent on
the speed of the brake disk: the speed of ω3 and ω0 only showed a pair of frequencies
each, whereas the speed of ω2 and ω1 showed five pairs of frequencies. This shows that
there is a threshold where the conditions are right for the brake system to exhibit
instability.
1572
frequency domain
(a) Sound at ω3 (b) Sound at ω2
(c) Sound at ω1 (d) Sound at ω0
(e) Vibration at ω3 (f) Vibration at ω2
(f) Vibration at ω1 (g) Vibration at ω0
Figure 6. Sound and vibration spectrum for various frequencies
1573
Table 5. Peak values for sound spectrum and vibration spectrum
Peak values for sound spectrum Peak values for vibration spectrum
(Hz) (Hz)
ω3 ω2 ω1 ω0 ω3 ω2 ω1 ω0
18 34 99 37 144 50 48 40
45 99 142 75 440 100 96 500
104 142 685 829 496 124 144
185 685 837 150 200
347 837 920 200 232
489 920 224 296
855 252 336
920 300 400
963 324 432
350 496
370 696
400 800
424 896
448
470
500
524
600
652
700
746
800
900
Table 6. Unstable frequencies within the tested brake system
Disk rotational Sound Vibration Difference

speed frequencies (Hz) frequencies (Hz) (%)
ω3 489 496 1.41
ω2 99 100 1
142 150 5.33
685 700 2.14
837 800 4.62
920 900 2.22
ω1 99 96 3.12
142 144 1.38
685 696 1.58
837 800 4.62
920 896 2.67
ω0 37 40 7.5
As a validation of the scaling method, the frequencies recorded in the brake

dynamometer experiment are compared to the EMA frequencies. The rationale behind
this is that the EMA showed the frequencies at which the brake disk and pad are most
1574
frequency domain
likely to vibrate, thus during braking these frequencies have a strong tendency to be
distinct in the frequency spectrums. Table 7 shows a comparison between the EMA
frequencies and brake dynamometer experiment frequencies with difference
percentages. From the table it can be seen that the brake dynamometer could recreate
the EMA frequencies with an average difference of 0.2%. This shows a strong
validation of the scaling method. Figure 8 shows the comparison graphically.
Table 7. Comparison between EMA frequencies and dynamometer experiment

frequencies.
n EMA Dynamometer Difference

(Hz) experiment(Hz) (%)
1 157.5 144 0.135
2 295.5 296 0.005
3 390 400 0.1
4 437 432 0.05
5 492.5 496 0.035
6 490 496 0.06
7 567.5 524 0.435
8 595 600 0.05
9 662.5 652 0.105
10 625 652 0.27
11 727.5 700 0.275
12 805 800 0.05
13 790 800 0.1
14 865 800 0.65
15 880 896 0.16
16 975 900 0.75
Average error 0.2
1000
Dyno
EMA
800
Frequency (Hz)
600
400
200
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Number (n)
Figure 8. Comparison between EMA frequencies and dynamometer experiment
frequencies.
1575
CONCLUSIONS
The scaling method used to eliminate a quarter scale vehicle’s car mass and other
components is validated using the EMA. The brake dynamometer experiment carried
out showed that the scaling method yielded the EMA frequencies with high accuracy,
thus validating the method. This validation of the method makes the noise and vibration
characteristics obtained from the experiment practicable. From these noise and vibration
characteristics, unstable frequencies can be identified. These unstable frequencies are
the ones that need attention in the effort to eliminate noise from the brake system
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is supported by the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) of Malaysia

through an FRGS research grant which was provided to the Universiti Teknikal
Malaysia Melaka which provided the facilities for the research. This funding and
facilities support is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Akay, A. (2002). Acoustics of friction. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of

America, 111(4), 1525-1548.
Bryant, D., Fieldhouse, J., Crampton, A., Talbot, C., & Layfield, J. (2007). Thermal
brake judder investigations using a high speed dynamometer. SAE Technical
Paper.
Dunlap, K. B., Riehle, M. A., & Longhouse, R. E. (1999). An investigative overview of
automotive disc brake noise. SAE TRANSACTIONS, 108(6; PART 1), 515-522.
Gouya, M., & Nishiwaki, M. (1990). Study on disc brake groan SAE Technical Paper
900007.
Hetzler, H., & Seemann, W. (2006). Friction modes in low frequency disc‐brake
noise‐experimental results and implications on modelling. Proceedings in
Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 6(1), 307-308.
Ichiba, Y., & Nagasawa, Y. (1993). An experimental study on disc brake squeal modes
and squeal exciting energy. Paper presented at the Proceedings of Asia-Pacific
Vibration Conference, Kitakyushu, Japan, pp. 1-9.
Jha, S. K., & Sharma, A. (2013). Optimal automobile muffler vibration and noise
analysis. International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, 7,
864-881.
Kubota, M., & Suenaga, T. (1998). A study of the mechanism causing high-speed brake
judder. SAE Technical Paper No. 980594.
Lindberg, E., Hörlin, N.-E., & Göransson, P. (2013). An experimental study of interior
vehicle roughness noise from disc brake systems. Applied Acoustics, 74(3), 396-
406.
Little, E., Kao, T.-K., Ferdani, P., & Hodges, T. (1998). A dynamometer investigation
of thermal judder. SAE Technical Paper No. 982252.
Matsuzaki, M., & Izumihara, T. (1993). Brake noise caused by longitudinal vibration of
the disc rotor. Diesel Engine, 2015, 06-22.
Nuawi, M. Z., Ismail, A. R., Nor, M. J. M., & Rahman, M. M. (2011). Comparative
study of whole-body vibration exposure between train and car passengers: A
1576
frequency domain
case study in malaysia. International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical

Patel, C. B., Gohil, P. P., & Borhade, B. (2010). Modeling and vibration analysis of
road profile measuring system. International Journal of Automotive and
Qatu, M. S., Abdelhamid, M. K., Pang, J., & Sheng, G. (2009). An overview of brake
noise and vibration problems. International Journal of Vehicle Noise and
Vibration, 5((1/2)), 1-35.
Rhee, S. K., Tsang, P. H. S., & Wang, Y. S. (1989). Friction-induced noise and
vibration of disc brakes. Wear, 133(1), 39-45.
Tzou, K., Wickert, J., & Akay, A. (1998). In-plane vibration modes of arbitrarily thick
disks. Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, 120(2), 384-391.
1577
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON SURFACE INTEGRITY IN END MILLING OF

HASTELLOY C-2000 SUPERALLOY
N. H. Razak1, M. M. Rahman1* and K. Kadirgama1

1
26600, Pekan, Malaysia
Phone: +6094246239; Fax: +609424622
ABSTRACT
This paper presents an experimental study of surface integrity in end milling of

Hastelloy C-2000. The experiment was carried out using two different cutting inserts
under wet conditions – namely physical vapor deposition coated carbide with TiAlN and
uncoated carbide. Design of experiment was implemented with a Box-Behnken design.
The surface integrity of the workpiece was analyzed through scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) and chemical element changes were inspected by an energy
dispersive X-ray (EDX) test. The surface integrity of Hastelloy C-2000 was better when
machining with coated carbide compared to uncoated carbide cutting inserts, mainly
because the coating layer of coated carbide acted as a protecting layer to the cutting tool
insert. Surface defects such as feed marks, surface tearing, plucking, cracking and
adhered chips were found during the machining process. The chemical element changes
happened due to the adhesion and diffusion mechanisms which were identified using
SEM and EDX.
Keywords: Nickel based superalloy; coated carbide; end mill; uncoated carbide;
adhesion wear; diffusion wear.
INTRODUCTION
Hastelloy C-2000 is a nickel-chromium-molybdenum (Ni-Cr-Mo) C-type alloy which is

used in the aerospace, marine, food processing, and chemical process industries (Khan,
Rahman, Kadirgama, Maleque, & Ishak, 2011; Razak, Rahman, & Kadirgama, 2012a;
Yusoff, Mohamed Suffian, & Taib, 2011). The alloy can contain carbides and abrasive
particles that can create high tool wear. According to Shokrani, Dhokia, and Newman
(2012) difficulties as well as high costs can be expected in machining of these alloys
because it was designed to retain its strength at elevated temperatures. Thus, great
efforts have been made to find an economical method of machining these alloys to
enhance their performance. The condition of a machined surface may be innate or else it
requires surface integrity analysis of the mechanical, metallurgical, chemical and
topological state of the surface. Changes in corrosion resistance, hardness variation,
surface roughness, residual stress, etc. are then used to measure these states. The surface
integrity is thus given great attention during machining. It is reported that thermal and
mechanical cycling, microstructural transformations, and mechanical and thermal
deformations during machining processes are caused by these impacts (Axinte &
Dewes, 2002; Kumar & Singh, 2010; Singh & Singh, 2011). In any case where the
fatigue life of a machined part is deemed central, the smoothest possible surface is
1578
Razak et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1578-1587
important (Novovic, Dewes, Aspinwall, Voice, & Bowen, 2004). The greater strength
of nickel-based alloys is due to elevated temperature, high ductility and a high tendency
to work hardening. Thus, heat treatment strengthens the superalloys because of their
sensitivity to microstructure change (Dudzinski et al., 2004). Another factor that can be
essentially critical to the machined surfaces is the shape of the cutting tool. By feeding
in a machine with a round-shaped cutting insert, the surface finish can be rectified with
minimum surface damage. The hardness of the surface layer and the machined surfaces
is inversely proportional when exposed to extended machining. The reason for this is
the high flank wear. As a result, the component forces and cutting temperature increase
because of the higher contact area and relative motion between the flank area of the tool
nose region and the freshly machined surface of the workpiece (Habeeb, Abou-El-
Hossein, Mohammad, & Kadirgama, 2008; Habeeb et al., 2010). The residual stresses,
chemical change between the workpiece and tool materials, micro cracking, tears,
plastic deformation, metallurgical transformations and changes in hardness of the
surface layer are declared as the foremost changes in the machined surface layer. This
paper presents the surface integrity of end milled characterization of Hastelloy C-2000.
Design of Experiments
Design of experiments (DOE) is used to reduce the number of experiments and time
consumption. The study uses the Box-Behnken design because it has fewer design points
and is less expensive to run than central composite designs with the same number of
factors. The Box-Behnken design was used to optimize the experiment to judge the
effects of important parameters by using the response surface method (Abou-El-Hossein,
Kadirgama, Hamdi, & Benyounis, 2007; Boersma, 2011; Rahman, Khan, Kadirgama,
Noor, & Bakar, 2010a, 2010b; Zhao, Wu, & Wang, 2006). Three levels of cutting
parameters were selected to investigate the machinability of this alloy, as shown in Table
1. The parameter inputs were recommended by Kadirgama et al. (2009) Table 2 shows
parameter settings in the DOE.
Table 1. Machining parameters and their levels
Process Level
parameters -1 0 1
Feed rate (mm/tooth) 0.1 0.15 0.2
Axial depth (mm) 0.4 0.7 1
Cutting speed (mm/min) 15 23 31
Experimental Details
The surfaces of Hastelloy C-2000 blocks of dimensions 46 mm × 120 mm × 20 mm

were prepared using a moist cloth and sandpaper. As adhering dust makes the block
very rough, it is very beneficial to clean it before further processing. The top surface
was machined from the block. A dynamometer was attached to the slot and clamped to
the block. A wet cutting condition was conducted to test the effectiveness of the HAAS
TM-2 CNC milling machine. The machine was equipped with a 5.6 KW motor drive,
400 rpm spindle speed and 5.1 m/min feed rate. Coated carbide (CTW 4615) and
1579
Experimental study on surface integrity in end milling of Hastelloy C-2000 superalloy
uncoated carbide (CTP 1235) were used in the cutting tool. For the 15 different
experiments, a new set of cutting tools was used each time to get authentic data. Along
with the dynamometer, a workpiece block was fastened onto the CNC milling table. On
the other side, a CNC program was applied to cut the block into 120 mm lengths.
Table 2. DOE of Hastelloy C-2000
Expt. no. Feed rate (mm/tooth) Axial depth (mm) Cutting speed (m/min)
1 0. 15 0.4 31
2 0.15 1 15
3 0.1 0.7 15
4 0.2 1 23
5 0.2 0.7 31
6 0.15 0.7 23
7 0.15 0.7 23
8 0.2 0.7 15
9 0.1 0.4 23
10 0.15 1 31
11 0.15 0.4 15
12 0.1 0.7 31
13 0.1 1 23
14 0.15 0.7 23
15 0.2 0.4 23
A portable roughness tester (MarSurf PS) was used to measure the surface
roughness of the block. A scanning electron microscope was used to analyze the
integrity of the block surface. An advanced optical video computing system was used to
evaluate the effectiveness of the cutting tool. The tool holder was removed from the
panel of the testing machine during measurement operation. Flank wear was tested by
using the tool to cut a 120 mm long block. After the first half, the tool wear at the face
of the flank was measured to get an accurate result. The frequency of the tool wear
depended upon the rate of growth when the wear. The actual life of the tool was
calculated by the cutting-part’s total cutting time to get a specific tool life. During the
milling operation, a Kistler charge amplifier model 5070 and Kistler dynamometer
model 1679A5 were used to measure the cutting force. These tools save the data of the
critical forces into the computer for future analysis. At the end of this experiment, the
chips were examined to determine the mechanism of their formation. The workpiece
was removed from the clamp and then underwent a grinding and polishing process
before examining the surface integrity of the workpiece using a scanning electron
microscope. A mixture of epoxy and hardener was poured into a small container 30 mm
in diameter. Before the next stage, the specimens were left to dry out and harden. Then a
Cameo Platinum disk with a wheeler speed of 150 rpm was used to grind the fixed
workpiece. The polishing process starts with a Cameo Silver disk of 6 micron having a
speed of 150 rpm, followed by a Cameo White FAS disk of 3 micron with a diamond
mixture, along with a diamond mixture of 1 micron and red cloth plus a micro extender
of speed 200 rpm. Before the last process of giving the workpiece an ultrasonic bath to
get rid of the coolant and residue, polishing was done with colloidal silica of 0.05
micron along with an imperial cloth and water, having a wheeler speed of 150 rpm. The
1580
ultrasonic bath used was aqua regia-glycerol, an etching compound, and before this the
specimen was cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner. The chemical and physical properties
of the Hastelloy C-2000 workpiece material are given in Table 3 and Table 4
respectively. The composition of the cutting insert is shown in Table 5.
Figure 1 shows the shape of the cutting insert. CTW 4615 is a coated carbide
grade with TiAlN coating PVD with grade designation P35 M50. Titanium-aluminum
nitride (TiA1N) is very effective in cutting stainless steels and aerospace alloys. The
advantages of hard material layers consist in reduction of friction, heat, oxidation and
diffusion. CTP 1235 is an uncoated carbide with grade designation K15. The following
are the details of the tool geometry of the inserts when mounted on the tool holder: (a)
special shape; (b) axial rake angle: 19.5°; (c) radial angle: 5°; and (d) sharp cutting
edge. Fig. 1 shows the experimental setup and shape of the uncoated carbide inserts: (a)
the workpiece at the CNC milling machine; (b) the shape of the cutting insert; and
(c) SEM view of uncoated carbide before machining. Table 5 shows the composition of
the cutting inserts.
Tool holder
Nozzles
Clamp
Cutting insert
Dynamometer
Workpiece
Net
(a) Workpiece at CNC milling machine
(b) Shape of cutting insert (c) SEM view
Figure 1. Experimental setup
1581
Table 3. Chemical composition (%) of material (Hastelloy C-2000)
Ni Cr Mo Fe Cu Al Mn Si C
BAL 23 16 3 1.60 0.50 0.50 0.08 0.01
Table 4. Physical properties of workpiece material (Hastelloy C-2000 at room

temperature)
Parameters and unit Value

3
Density (g/cm ) 8.5
Thermal conductivity (W/m°C) 9.1
Mean coefficient of thermal expansion (μm/m°C) 12.4
Thermal diffusivity (cm²/s) 0.025
Specific heat (J/kg°C) 428
Modulus of elasticity 223
Table 5. Composition of the cutting inserts
Code name Composition Coating Grain size

CTW 4615 6% Co,4% carbide,90% WC PVD-TiA1N,TiN 1µm
CTP 1235 6% Co, 94 % WC - 4µm
Micrographs of coated and uncoated carbide inserts can be observed in Figure 2, which
shows the images from the scanning electron microscope (SEM). A feed rate of 0.2
mm/tooth, axial depth 0.7 mm and cutting speed 15 m/min was used for the images
taken and a surface defect was found due to the low cutting speed. During the
machining of the workpiece of the coated carbide cutting insert, several kinds of surface
defects occurred. Of these, surface flaws, feed marks and chip redeposition were the
most common kinds of defects, as shown in Figure 2(a). The severity of a feed mark can
be changed by optimizing the feed rate or varying it in order to carry out an effective
machining process (Dubey, Shan, & Jain, 2009). Furthermore, plucking of particles
from the surface and their redeposition to the surface create two different defects. The
particles have the ability to cause a tearing and dragging effect on the surface of the next
pass. In the case of uncoated carbide, the same kind of surface plucking and tearing
would take place. Uncoated carbide has a very different surface texture from coated
carbide, mainly because the coating layer helps to make the tool harder and tougher with
a good surface finish. The residual stress which is present on the machine surface is
improved, along with reducing the cutting temperature and enhancing the machine
surface with the help of the coating layer (Outeiro, Pina, M'Saoubi, Pusavec, & Jawahir,
2008). It was observed that the compressive stresses increase with increase of the
thermal softening of the material and such surface flaws clear out of the machined
surface, enabling the near-surface area of the workpiece to reconstruct itself easily
(Kadirgama, Abou-El-Hossein, Mohammad, Noor, & Sapuan, 2008).
Prolonged machining tends to increase the hardness of the surface layer and also
causes the surface finish of the machined workpiece to deteriorate because the contact
area and motion that exists between the tool, flank area and workpiece machine surface
is increased, hence causing surface defects, increased component cutting forces and
1582
temperature and flank wear. With the presence of nickel-based alloys, many issues arise
since the cutting parameters affect the defects to some extent. To avoid these problems,
optimization of the cutting condition is essential. The machining processes have been
observed to have many defects in the surface, specifically in the micron precisions. It is
not feasible to entirely remove the cutting parameters or even adjust them to any extent.
There are carbide particles in the structure of nickel-based work piece materials along
with coating inserts material with carbide particles. Detachment of the carbide particles
from the machine surface or tool inserts occurs when the workpiece is machined or
when they are stuck on the workpiece surface. This process is referred to as carbide
cracking and may cause an increase in the level of stress when the cutting takes place
due to plucking in the surface cavities (Kadirgama, Abou-El-Hossein, Noor, Sharma, &
Mohammad, 2011).
Adhered chips
Smeared
Surface flaw material
Surface tearing
Surface plucking
Feed mark
(a) Coated carbide (b) Uncoated carbide
Figure 2. SEM view of Hastelloy C-2000 texture at 500x
Adhered chip Surface cracking
Carbide dragging
(a) Magnification, 500x (b) Magnification, 800x
Figure 3. SEM view of experiment no. 3 with two different magnifications for uncoated
carbide insert.
Figure 3 shows the carbide cracking formation. Residual cavities and cracks
occur in the machine surface, which may cause several issues in terms of the micro-
1583
scale surface integrity. The chemical composition of the material when machining of the
coated and uncoated carbide tool inserts takes place is shown in Table 4. Cobalt has
been formed in the EDX test when checking the texture of the machined surface, hence
proving that an adhesion mechanism does take place, as shown in Figure 4(Kadirgama
et al., 2011). This cobalt (Co) is a new element of the Hastelloy C-2000 which is
present due to the high temperature of machining and the chemical change that takes
place between the cutting tool insert and the workpiece.
Adhered chip
Co New element
Feed mark
Figure 4. Adhesion and diffusion based on EDX result at magnification 100x for coated
carbide inserts
Feed mark
Adhered chip
Figure 5. Diffusion based on EDX result at magnification 100x for uncoated carbide
insert
The formation of cobalt occurred due to an adhesive mechanism during

machining, where the coated carbide itself contains the component of cobalt. The rake
face was protected with the help of the adhering element (Co) as it became a stable
built-up edge (Itakura et al., 1999). Diffusion took place where there was a vast
increase or decrease in the elements of carbon (C), aluminum (Al) and molybdenum
(Mo). Due to this mechanism, the atoms present in the metallic crystal lattice change
1584
from a higher atomic concentration to a lower concentration level. The case of diffusion
also occurs when applying uncoated carbide, although without the adhesion formation
found with the coated carbide, as shown in Figure 5. Diffusion takes place during the
cutting condition of a feed rate of 0.2 mm/tooth, axial depth 1.0 mm and cutting speed
23 m/min. Here, there is a decrease in the composition of chromium (Cr), manganese
(Mn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni) and an increase is observed in molybdenum
(Mo), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), and carbon. The changes of chemical composition
when machining Hastelloy C-2000 with coated and uncoated carbide inserts can be seen
in Table 6.
Table 6. Chemical composition (%) of material (Hastelloy C-2000) before and after
machining for coated and uncoated carbide inserts
Components Before machining After machining

Coated carbide Uncoated carbide
Ni 55.310 54.00 54.22
Cr 23.000 12.83 15.28
Mo 16.000 24.53 24.84
Fe 3.000 1.05 0.45
Cu 1.600 2.16 1.25
Al 0.500 1.20 0.58
Mn 0.500 0.57 0.29
Si 0.008 0.76 0.71
C 0.010 1.89 2.38
Co - 1.01 -
CONCLUSIONS
Uncoated carbide has a very different surface texture from coated carbide, mainly
because the coating layer helps make the tool harder and tougher with a better surface
finish. The residual stress on the machine surface is improved, along with reducing the
cutting temperature and enhancing the machine surface with the help of the coating layer.
Prolonged machining tends to increase the hardness of the surface layer and also causes
the surface finish of the machined workpiece to deteriorate. The contact area and motion
that exists between the tool, flank area and workpiece machine surface is increased,
hence causing surface defects, and increased component cutting forces and temperature
and flank wear. There are carbide particles in the structure of nickel-based workpiece
materials along with coating inserts material with carbide particles.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Universiti Malaysia Pahang for
funding under Graduate Research Scheme (Project No. RDU110110).
REFERENCES
Abou-El-Hossein, K. A., Kadirgama, K., Hamdi, M., & Benyounis, K. Y. (2007).

Prediction of cutting force in end-milling operation of modified aisi p20 tool
steel. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 182(1-3), 241-247.
1585
Axinte, D. A., & Dewes, R. C. (2002). Surface integrity of hot work tool steel after high
speed milling - experimental data and empirical models. Journal of Materials
Dubey, A. K., Shan, H. S., & Jain, N. K. (2009). Precision microfinishing by electro-
chemical honing. International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and
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Dudzinski, D., Devillez, A., Moufki, A., Larrouquere, D., Zerrouki, V., & Vigneau, J.
(2004). A review of developments towards dry and high speed machining of
inconel 718 alloy. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, 44,
439–456.
Habeeb, H. H., Abou-El-Hossein, K. A., Mohammad, B., & Kadirgama, K. (2008).
Effect of tool holder geometry and cutting condition when milling nickel-based
alloy 242. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 201(1-3), 483-485.
Habeeb, H. H., Kadirgama, K., Noor, M. M., Rahman, M. M., Mohammad, B., Bakar,
R. A., & Abouel Hossein, K. A. (2010). Machining of nickel alloy 242 with
cubic boron nitride tools. Journal of Applied Sciences, 10, 2322-2327.
Itakura, K., Kuroda, M., Omokawa, H., Itani, H., Yamamoto, K., & Ariura, Y. (1999).
Wear mechanism of coated cemented carbide tool in cutting of inconel 718
super-heat-resisting alloy. International Journal of the Japan Society for
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Kadirgama, K., Abou-El-Hossein, K. A., Mohammad, B., Noor, M. M., & Sapuan, S. M.
(2008). Prediction of tool life by statistic method in end-milling operation.
Scientific Research and Essays, 3(5), 180-186.
Kadirgama, K., Abou-El-Hossein, K. A., Noor, M. M., Sharma, K. V., & Mohammad, B.
(2011). Tool life and wear mechanism when machining hastelloy C-22HS. Wear,
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1587
UTILIZATION OF PULVERISED COAL MONITORING SYSTEM FOR

CLEANER ELECTRICITY GENERATION
M. F. Muhamad Said1 and A. Aroussi2

1
Automotive Development Center, Transportation Research Alliance, Faculty of
Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Phone : +607-5534658 ; Fax : +607-5535811
Email: mfarid@fkm.utm.my
2
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar
University, Qatar
ABSTRACT
This paper describes a utilization of the coal monitoring system, which is a clamp-on
particle sizer (CPS) device for monitoring particle size at the outlet of a classifier
model. The device is examined in terms of its capability to characterize moving
particles in the classifier outlet pipe. The architecture and working principle of the
device are explained. The device employs a high intensity continuous laser as a light
source and a digital camera to capture the particle images. The image analysis technique
has been implemented in extracting valuable information about the particles from the
images. Image processing algorithms were applied in the development of the software
and are described in this paper. In order to evaluate the repeatability of the CPS device
technique, the measurement was repeated three times. The deviation result confirmed
that the technique has a good repeatability in sizing the moving particles. Validation
was performed by comparing the CPS with shadow device. Mean sizes obtained by the
CPS device had differences of between 3.5 to 5% compared with the shadow device.
The capacity of the CPS device was successfully examined by by measuring the small
size and speed of the moving particles.
Keywords: Particle characterization; particle size; coal monitoring; image processing.
INTRODUCTION
In the last half-century, global energy consumption has increased rapidly and is
expected to grow over the next 25 years. From 1980 to 2006, primary energy demand in
the world has shown an average annual increase of 1.9% (IEA, 2008). Fossil fuels
accounted for about 80.9% of total primary energy demand in 2006. This includes
consumption of oil, coal and natural gas at 34.3%, 26% and 20.5%, respectively.
Electrical power, transportation, heating and industry are the major sectors using
primary energy sources. Statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) World
Energy Outlook 2008 shows that the global demand for electricity increased by nearly a
quarter between 2000 and 2006 (IEA, 2008). This was due to electricity becoming the
preferred form of energy for various consumer products and industry applications.
Pulverized coal power stations dominate the electric power industry by providing the
thermal energy which produces about 41% of the world's electric supply. It is designed
and constructed to convert energy from fuel, coal, into electric power. It produces
1588
Said and Aroussi /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1588-1598
electricity by burning pulverized coal to generate the thermal energy for a boiler. This
coal-fired boiler provides steam to drive large turbines. Coal is the world’s second most
important fuel after oil, accounting for 26% of global energy demand. It remains the
main fuel for power generation. In 2005, global electricity generation from coal-fired
power stations reached over 40% of the total (IEA, 2007). This is illustrated in Figure 1
where coal is the main contributor as the source of electricity production.
Figure 1. Fuel shares in world electricity production in 2005 (IEA, 2007).
Globally, coal remained the dominant source of electricity generation in 2035,

although its share declined to 41% by 2008, and is predicted to decline to 32% by 2035.
On the other hand, power generation based on fossil-fuels emitted about 41% of the
world’s CO2 emissions. Emissions from coal alone reached 73.5% of total power
emission, while gas and oil produced CO2 at 19.5% and 7%, respectively. Pulverized
coal units cause significant environmental concerns (Belošević, Tomanović, Beljanski,
Tucaković, & Živanović, 2013; Czarnowska & Frangopoulos, 2012; Shen, Liu, Zhang,
& Jiang, 2013). Emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain and
ozone formation and are dangerous to human and ecosystem health. Other emissions
include particulate matter, heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic, and carbon
dioxide. Because coal is largely composed of carbon, with relatively little hydrogen, its
combustion leads to a higher level of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy
released than do petroleum-based fuels or natural gas (Goswami & Kreith, 2007; Muda
& Boosroh, 2013). In protecting our environment, cleaner electricity generation is very
important for coal-fired power stations, and so emissions have to be controlled and well
managed. One method involves improving the first stage of coal as supplied to the
burner which is in a pulverizer. This paper describes the use of a fuel management
system, the clamp-on particle sizer device, in monitoring the size of particles from a
classifier outlet model.
PULVERISED COAL MONITORING SYSTEM
Description of Pulverizer
The pulverizer is equipment that consists of a grinder and a classifier. It is usually used
in coal-fired power stations to crush the coal and to ensure that the optimum size of coal
1589
Utilization of pulverised coal monitoring system for cleaner electricity generation
particles for burning is below 75 microns. This finer size of coal is very important in the
combustion process so that higher efficiency and lower emissions from power
generation can be achieved. In coal-fired power stations, pulverized coals from the
grinder are delivered to a device that sorts wide particle size distribution by size. These
are called classifiers. They allow a certain cut size to proceed to the burner, while
rejecting the particles that are above this pre-determined cut size. The larger particles
are then re-directed back to the grinder, where they are crushed further. For
experimental purposes, a laboratory scale model is about a third the size of a typical
classifier, and designed to mimic an industrial air classifier (Afolabi, Aroussi, Mat Isa,
& Al-Atabi, 2009). Its design is based on the vertical spindle mill static classifier with
four outlets (Figure 2).
Figure 2. The laboratory scale classifier model (Afolabi et al., 2009).
Clamp-on Particle Sizer
This is device developed in-house and used specifically to monitor online particle size
at the outlet of the classifier. It is installed in one of the classifier outlets to monitor the
coal or particle size distribution. It is based on optical and digital image analysis
techniques and was developed for the automated determination of the properties of
particles, such as their size. The principles of optical based particle characterization
have been discussed by many researchers (Tinke et al., 2008; Tropea, 2011). In this
1590
study, the device required 8-bit digital images of the solid-gas flow under investigation.
Analysis of the images was performed through an automated processing algorithm. In
this study, the CPS is applied to obtain the size distribution of particles at the outlet of
the classifier pipe.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The CPS device is based on the extraction of information from digital images. In order
to acquire these images, several pieces of equipment were used. The following sections
describe the function of each component and also explain the CPS system setup.
Components of the CPS Device
Four major components were used in the development of CPS, which include a laser, a
digital camera, a compact vision system (CVS) and a monitor. All these components
were integrated, to make the whole system work (Figure 3(a)). A software program was
developed using LabView codes in order to perform automated image processing and
analysis tasks.
(a) (b)
Figure 3. (a) Clamp-on particle sizer and (b) Components inside the device.
Figure 3(b) shows the setup of the components inside the clamp-on housing. A
continuous wave (Nakatsu & Hughes, 2008) laser was used as a light source for the
digital camera. A proper amount of light is necessary so that good quality particle
images can be achieved. The maximum output of the laser is 2 watts and it produced a
1.8mm continuous beam size, with a 532nm wavelength. The laser beam is converted to
a laser sheet using a cylindrical rod.
A digital camera is used to capture illuminated particles in the classifier outlet
pipe. It is equipped with IEEE1394-b connectors to allow a fast image transfer speed.
This monochrome camera has a resolution of up to 1280 x 960 pixels. The position of
the camera and the laser is set to be perpendicular, similar to that of the particle image
1591
velocimetry setup (PIV). A compact vision system (CVS) is used as a platform to

control the image acquisition of the camera. The developed software is installed in the
CVS in order to run a stand-alone application that performs an online measurement of
particle size. The CVS is equipped with an embedded processor to process and analyze
images acquired by the camera. A monitor is used to display online results. These
results are obtained from the developed software where the software automatically
processes and analyzes the acquired images and plots them into graphs. The purpose of
the CPS device is to characterize small micron-sized particles, thus, it is important to
have a higher magnification of image. A 60mm micro-lens equipped with a spacer is
therefore used in this study. As a result, the field of view (FOV) of the image, with a
resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels, is 5.24mm x 3.93mm. The optical configuration of this
current setup has produced an image magnification factor of 0.92 and has a 150mm
working distance.
Measurement of Particle Size
In this experiment, fillite (grade 160) particles were used to mimic the pulverized coal
in the classifier. The CPS was installed on one of the outlets of the classifier. A
centrifugal blower was switched on to run the classifier (Figure 2). The speed of the
blower was controlled to ensure a certain cut size proceeded to the outlet, and the
particles above this pre-determined cut size were dropped to base of classifier. The CPS
device was based on the direct illumination technique. A continuous laser sheet was
produced to illuminate the particles in the outlet pipe. A sequence of images was
acquired by the camera at high shutter speed. This high speed is required to freeze the
movement of the particles. Once an image was acquired by the camera, it was then
directly transferred to the memory of the CVS via an IEEE-1394b FireWire cable for
processing. The image was processed and analyzed using the developed software in
order to obtain the droplet size distribution and mean size. Online results were then seen
things on a monitor.
Digital Image Processing and Analysis
The image analysis technique was applied to extract valuable information from the
images (Hess & L’Esperance, 2009). Once the raw image was received by the software,
it was processed to enhance its appearance and then analyzed to extract the desired
information, such as number of pixels occupied by a single particle. The developed
software was produced using a LabView code. This similar program has been used to
characterize spray particles as discussed by previous researchers (Aroussi, Lad,
Muhamad Said, Adebayo, & Al-Atabi, 2010; Muhamad Said & Aroussi, 2010). The
flowchart of the algorithms is outlined in Figure 4. After image acquisition, the first
processing stage was image enhancement, a process to improve an image so that it looks
subjectively better (Petrou & Bosdogianni, 1999). In this study, the approach was to
enhance the image by changing the brightness, contrast and gamma values. The filter
function was also applied to compute backgrounds in order to correct the light drifts.
The second stage of image processing was image segmentation. This extracted
the outlines of different regions in the image so as to divide the image into regions
which are made up of pixels. In this case, thresholding was used to separate the particles
from the background. In order to obtain the area of a single particle, the number of
pixels that represented a single dark object was calculated.
1592
Figure 4. Algorithms of the developed software
This algorithm also determined the number of particles per image. An

algorithm of result presentation was created to calculate the particle diameter based on
the area of the particles, and to display a real-time plot of their size distribution. In this
case, the calculation of particle size was based on equivalent diameter as shown in
Equation (1).
𝐴𝑝
𝐷𝑝 = 2 (1)
𝜋
where Dp was the equivalent diameter of the particle and Ap was the area of the particle
(Kashdan, Shrimpton, & Whybrew, 2003). This developed software identified every
particle in the image and maintained a list of data that contained information regarding
each of the particles.
In this study, the fillite particles size that flow inside a classifier outlet pipe were
measured using a CPS device. A direct illumination technique was applied to obtain
particles images. In this method, the particles were directly illuminated with a light
sheet, and a camera acquired the scattered image of the particles. A fast shutter speed in
the camera was used to freeze the particles in motion so that the camera could capture
clear particle images. The images were then processed and analyzed using the
developed software to obtain the drop size distribution and mean size. Particle size
measurement through a shadow sizing device was also performed to validate the CPS
results.
Image Calibration
In principle, the image analysis system used images to determine particle size, therefore,
calibration against known size or dimension was critical to the validity of the results. A
calibration image was used to assess the absolute accuracy of the system, where a
known dimension image was used to transform a pixel coordinate to a real-world
coordinate through scaling in the x and y (horizontal and vertical) directions. In this
experiment, a static image were used for the calibration. The camera was positioned
over a known dimension of graph paper which was placed on a flat surface. The image
was translated from pixels to micron units. Figure 5 depicts the calibration plot of the
1593
image. It shows that 1mm of distance was equal to 240 pixels, so it could be concluded
that one pixel of image was equal to 0.0041mm or 4.1 µm.
1000
800
Number of Pixel
600
400
200
0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Milimeter (mm)
Figure 5. Image calibration plot.
Particle Size Analysis
Figure 6(a) shows an acquired image of fillite particles at the classifier outlet pipe. It
shows that the particles did not overlap due to a lower concentration of the particles.
There were also some blurred particle images depicted, which was due to the camera
being out of focus. In order to determine an accurate particle size distribution, only in-
focus images of particles were selected during the image segmentation process. Figure
6(b) therefore shows that the number of particles on a processed image is less than on
the captured image. The acquired raw image was enhanced and segmented to produce
the processed image as described in previous section.
(a) (b)
Figure 6. (a) Captured image, and (b) Processed image by CPS device.
1594
Figure 7 shows the actual raw image recorded by shadow device. The shadow
device captured shadow images of particles and used a pulsed laser light to freeze the
particle movement. Figure 8(a) illustrates a comparison of the volume size distribution
between CPS and the shadow sizing device. Both devices are similar in terms of the
shape of the plot. The measured particle size distributions for both show that the size
ranges were from 20 to 220µm. A total of approximately 4000 particles were detected
for each device in producing the distribution. Figure 8(b) shows the cumulative volume
distribution that was calculated based on the volume distribution (Allen, 1997). It
clearly shows that the CPS result agreed closely with the shadow. Both methods
detected 100% of the particles were below 220 µm.
Figure 7. Actual raw image acquired by shadow device
Figure 9(a) shows that the CPS measured approximately 73, 114 and 152µm of
the particles that were below 10%, 50% and 90%, respectively. The shadow device
detected lower sizes, with percentage differences at 12%, 6% and 2%. The CPS also
measured a 5% higher Arithmetic Mean and 3.5% increase in Sauter Mean Diameter
(SMD) compared to the shadow device (Figure 9(b)). The higher values detected by the
CPS device are probably due to the high intensity of light scattered by the particles. As
mentioned earlier, the device is based on a direct illumination technique where the
particles are in direct contact with the light sheet, so the sizes obtained by CPS may
appear bigger than those obtained by shadow.In this study, fillite particle sizing by CPS
device was repeated three times to investigate the repeatability of the technique. For
each test, at least 100 images were acquired and analyzed. On average, 35 particles were
detected on each image.
Figure 10 shows the deviation data in three different tests. Deviation is the
difference between average particle sizes in each test with the mean particle size. The
result is that all the tests produced less difference compared to each other. The deviation
for all tests were recorded as below 10%. This means that the CPS has a good
repeatability in sizing the particles.
1595
30 120
25 100
Cum. Vol. Distribution (%)

CPS
Vol. Distribution (%)
20 80
Shadow
15 60
CPS
Shadow
10 40
5 20
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240
Particle Size (µm) Particle Size (µm)
(a) (b)
Figure 8. (a) Volume size distribution and (b) Cumulative volume size distribution
160 140
140 120
120
100
Particle Size (µm)
Particle Size (µm)
100
80
80 CPS CPS
Shadow 60 Shadow
60
40
40
20 20
0 0
D10 D50 D90 Arithm SMD
(a) (b)
Figure 9. (a) Particle Size at 10%, 50% and 90% of Cumulative Distribution, and (b)
Mean Diameters
1596
15
10
Deviation (%) 5
Test 1
0
Test 2
-5 Test 3
-10
-15
D10 D50 D90
Figure 10. Deviation results for three different tests.
CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented the utilization, operational principles and evaluation of a
pulverized coal monitoring system, the CPS device. The device was tested for its
measurement of solid fillite particle size distribution and mean size at the classifier
outlet pipe model. Image enhancement and image segmentation were applied to
eliminate the particles which were not in focus. This was important to obtain accurate
particle size. The CPS device has good repeatability in sizing moving particles. This
was confirmed through the deviation results of this study. Mean sizes obtained by the
CPS device showed increments between 3.5 to 5% compared with the shadow device.
This was believed to be due to the high intensity of light scattered by the particles,
where the particles were in direct contact with the light sheet. The ability of the CPS
device was examined by successfully measuring small sized and fast moving particles.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author acknowledges financial support from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and
Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE) under the research university grant
Q.J130000.2624.07J26. The author is also grateful for the assistance of Dr. Abdelwahab
Aroussi (Qatar University).
REFERENCES
Afolabi, L., Aroussi, A., Mat Isa, N., & Al-Atabi, M. (2009). The prevailing fluid
motion in a model coal classifier. Paper presented at the 4th Algerian Congress
of Process Engineering 2009, Algiers, Algeria.
Allen, T. (1997). Particle size measurement (Vol. 1). London: Chapman & Hall.
1597
Aroussi, A., Lad, N., Muhamad Said, M. F., Adebayo, D., & Al-Atabi, M. (2010). The
interaction of a cold atomised spray with a circular cylinder. Journal of
Engineering Science and Technology, 5(3), 361-372.
Belošević, S., Tomanović, I., Beljanski, V., Tucaković, D., & Živanović, T. (2013).
Numerical prediction of processes for clean and efficient combustion of
pulverized coal in power plants. Applied Thermal Engineering, In press Online
Available in 18 November 2013.
Czarnowska, L., & Frangopoulos, C. A. (2012). Dispersion of pollutants, environmental
externalities due to a pulverized coal power plant and their effect on the cost of
electricity. Energy, 41(1), 212-219.
Goswami, D., & Kreith, F. (2007). Energy conversion. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Hess, C. F., & L’Esperance, D. (2009). Droplet imaging velocimeter and sizer: A two-
dimensional technique to measure droplet size. Experiments in Fluids, 47(1),
171-182.
IEA. (2007). Renewable information 2007. France: International Energy Agency.
IEA. (2008). World energy outlook 2008. France: International Energy Agency.
Kashdan, J. T., Shrimpton, J. S., & Whybrew, A. (2003). Two-phase flow
characterization by automated digital image analysis. Part 1: Fundamental
principles and calibration of the technique. Particle & Particle Systems
Characterization, 20, 387-397.
Muda, N., & Boosroh, M. H. (2013). Gasification of coal-petcoke blends in a pilot scale
gasification plant. International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical
Muhamad Said, M. F., & Aroussi, A. (2010). On-line measurement of droplet size using
digital imaging analysis techniques. Paper presented at the The 14th International
Symposium on Flow Visualization (ISFV14), Daegu, South Korea.
Nakatsu, M. N., & Hughes, C. C. (2008). An optimized three‐dimensional in vitro
model for the analysis of angiogenesis. Methods in Enzymology, 443, 65-82.
Petrou, M., & Bosdogianni, P. (1999). Image processing: The fundamentals. Singapore:
John Wiley.
Shen, J., Liu, J., Zhang, H., & Jiang, X. (2013). Nox emission characteristics of
superfine pulverized anthracite coal in air-staged combustion. Energy
Tinke, A., Carnicer, A., Govoreanu, R., Scheltjens, G., Lauwerysen, L., Mertens, N.et
al.Brewster, M. (2008). Particle shape and orientation in laser diffraction and
static image analysis size distribution analysis of micrometer sized rectangular
particles. Powder Technology, 186(2), 154-167.
Tropea, C. (2011). Optical particle characterization in flows. Annual Review of Fluid
Mechanics, 43, 399-426.
1598
FATIGUE LIFE ESTIMATION MODELS: A STATE OF THE ART
M. Kamal1 and M.M. Rahman1,2*

1
Phone: +6094262239; Fax: +6094246222
2
3
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
ABSTRACT
In this paper, a state of the art of recently proposed fatigue prediction models has been
conducted. The modified Wöhler curve method (MWCM) with a critical plane model
utilizing the maximum variance method (MVM), and an endurance function model
utilizing a stress invariant are studied for fatigue life evaluation. The results are
compared with experimental results as well as results from already established fatigue
models using a fatigue life estimation tool. The study shows that new models have good
accuracy that is approximately the same as for the established models, and are easy to
apply in various conditions like multiaxial and variable amplitude loading conditions,
which is a limitation of the older models. It is concluded that the newly formulated
models are a promising development and should be studied in detail to make their
application simpler with complex real-world problems.
Keywords: Maximum variance method; modified Wöhler curve method; endurance

function; stress invariants; fatigue life.
INTRODUCTION
Many automotive industrial components including suspension arms, connecting rods,

and train suspension springs contain defects of different sizes and geometries (Al-
Asady, Abdullah, Ariffin, Bedan, & Rahman, 2009; Kamal, Rahman, & Rahman,
2012; Rahman, Ariffin, Jamaludin, & Haron, 2007; Rahman, Ariffin, Rejab,
Kadirgama, & Noor, 2009b; Rahman, Noor, Kadirgama, Maleque, & Bakar, 2011).
Some of these components are classified as safety components and thus they have to be
subjected to particular attention during fatigue design in order to guarantee an
appropriate in-service durability with light-weight design (Abdullah, Beden, Ariffin, &
Rahman, 2008; Kamal, Rahman, & Sani, 2013; Rahman et al., 2008; Rahman, Ariffin,
Jamaludin, & Haron, 2006). Hence, the problem of high-cycle fatigue life estimation of
components containing defects is of great importance from a social, scientific and
industrial point of view (Rahman, Ariffin, Jamaludin, & Haron, 2005; Rahman et al.,
2007; Rahman, Ariffin, Rejab, Kadirgama, & Noor, 2009c). The fatigue process of
mechanical components under service loading is variable amplitude in nature (Bedan,
Abdullah, Ariffin, Al-Asady, & Rahman, 2008; Rahman et al., 2006, 2007). Life
1599
Fatigue life estimation models: A state of the art
prediction and durability assessment is still a challenging problem that has been
extensively studied in the past decades (Abdullah, Al-Asady, Ariffin, & Rahman, 2008;
Rahman, Ariffin, Abdullah, Noor, & Bakar, 2009a; Rahman et al., 2006, 2007). Many
critical mechanical components experience cyclic loadings during their service life. By
contrast with the uniaxial fatigue problem, the multiaxial fatigue problem is more
involved due to the complex stress states, loading histories and different orientations of
the fatigue crack in the components.
The first proposed models for fatigue life calculations under a triaxial random
stress state were formulated in the 1970s (Macha & Niesłony, 2007). They were based
on generalization of known models applied for cyclic loadings. These models included:
(i) an assumption of the shear and normal stresses on the critical planes of fatigue
fracture as quantities strongly influencing the failure; (ii) changes of the principal
stresses and strains; and (iii) their conformity (in special cases) with the known and
verified models applied under cyclic loadings (Ali, Mustapa, Ghazali, Sujitno, & Ridha,
2013; Macha & Niesłony, 2007; Stephens, Fatemi, Stephens, & Fuchs, 2000). There
are also strain and energy models in which, as in the stress models, the equivalent
histories of strains and the energy parameter are calculated according to the assumed
criterion of multiaxial fatigue failure (Hariharan, Prakash, & Prasad, 2011; Lagoda,
Macha, & Bedkowski, 1999; Rahman et al., 2009c). These models for calculation of
the fatigue life of materials and structures belong to the group of algorithmic methods,
where loading histories are analyzed in the time domain with the numerical algorithms
of cycle counting (Domínguez Almaraz, Guzmán Tapia, Tapia Silva, & Cadenas
Calderón, 2010; Meggiolaro & de Castro, 2012). Another group of models, using the
so-called spectral method, applied spectral analysis of stochastic processes during
fatigue life assessment (Macha & Niesłony, 2007).
Multiaxial loads, which can be in-phase (proportional) or out-of-phase (non-
proportional), are common for many components and structures (Rahman et al.,
2009b). Even under uniaxial loads, multiaxial stresses often exist, although typically in-
phase, due to geometric constraints at notches. Such multiaxial loads and stress states
are frequently encountered in many industries, including automotive, aerospace, and
power generation (Rahman et al., 2005, 2007; Rahman et al., 2009c). Many scientific
centers and researchers are dealing with this issue, conducting new tests and developing
models for the description of fatigue phenomena; however, no universal solution has yet
been found (Papuga, 2011). In this paper, two recently proposed models have been
studied, the first being the modified Wöhler curve method (MWCM) (Susmel & Taylor,
2008) in conjunction with the theory of critical distances (TCD) used in the form of the
point method (Laurens, Koolwijk, & De Maat, 2006; Susmel, 2010). To apply
MWCM, the critical plane is determined by the maximum variance method (MVM)
(Susmel, 2010; Susmel & Taylor, 2008). The second is the endurance function model
based on stress invariants and continuum damage mechanics formulation (Borlea, Rusu,
Ionescu, Cretu, & Ionescu, 2011; Ottosen, Stenstrom, & Ristinmaa, 2008). The model
does not require any evaluation of a critical plane as the model considers the damage
accumulated at a point using stress tensor invariants and deviatoric stress invariants
(Brighenti, Carpinteri, & Vantadori, 2006). A genetic algorithm (GA) approach is
employed to evaluate numerically the several parameters used for characterization of the
damage mechanics approach, once the effects of some experimental complex histories
are known (Brighenti et al., 2006).
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Kamal and Rahman /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1599-1608
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
Finite element analysis (FEA) is performed on specimen geometry which is used in

determining experimentally the fatigue life of steel alloy C40 published in literature
(Bedan et al., 2008) shown in Figure 1(a). The three-dimensional model is design using
computer aided software and the finite element model is developed utilizing the ANSYS
software with 10-node tetrahedral elements, to better capture the curved surfaces of the
specimen geometry. Dense mesh at the notch root is maintained by the sphere of
influence technique. Loads are applied in the form of normal and shear stress at the net
area, in-phase and out-of-phase loading conditions are considered, and corresponding
force and moment and fixed support constraints are applied on the specimen model, as
shown in Figure 1 (c). The detail of the applied loads and respective fatigue life, taken
from the literature (Atzori, Berto, Lazzarin, & Quaresimin, 2006), is reported in Table
1. The notch root is considered to be the critical point for crack initiation and to predict
the fatigue life as close to the experimental values as possible, and the state of stress at
the notch root is used in estimation of the fatigue life.
(a) Dimensions of specimen (Atzori et al., 2006)
(b) FEA model
(c) Applied loads on specimen
Figure 1. C40 test specimen and FEA model.
1601
Table 1. Experimental loads and fatigue life of C40 specimen having notch radius
0.5mm (Atzori et al., 2006).
Normal stress Shear stress Load ratio Phase Cycles to

at net area σa at net area τa (R) difference (°) failure (Nf)
(MPa) (MPa) x106
200.00 200.00 -1 0 0.027
179.00 179.00 -1 0 0.220
160.00 160.00 -1 0 0.072
129.75 129.75 -1 0 0.180
118.80 118.80 -1 0 0.440
101.00 101.00 -1 0 2.000
199.70 199.70 -1 90 0.011
180.00 180.00 -1 90 0.018
160.25 160.25 -1 90 0.047
140.00 140.00 -1 90 0.280
129.65 129.65 -1 90 0.690
99.60 99.60 -1 90 2.000
Mesh Convergence Study
A study for mesh convergence of the finite element analysis (FEA) model was
performed to get the optimum mesh size which gives a good balance between accuracy
and processor time and storage load (Rahman et al., 2009a; Rahman, Kadirgama, Noor,
Rejab, & Kesulai, 2009d). Maximum principal, von Mises and Tresca stresses are
monitored for mesh convergence with acceptable processing load. Figure 2 shows the
result of the mesh sensitivity analysis. It can be seen that after a mesh size of 0.175 mm,
the values of the stresses do not change by any appreciable amount, but there is an
exponential rise in the number of nodes and elements, which will result in an increase of
processor time and storage requirement without much increase in the accuracy of the
stress results. Hence, to get the optimum performance, a mesh size of 0.175 mm is
selected for meshing both specimen models.
MWCM with MVM and TCD
MWCM postulates that fatigue damage depends on the maximum shear stress amplitude
(τa) as well as on the mean value (σn,m) and the amplitude (σn,a) of the normal stress
relative to that plane experiencing the maximum shear stress amplitude (i.e., the so-
called critical plane) (Susmel & Taylor, 2008). In particular, the MWCM assumes that
fatigue strength can be directly estimated through the amplitude of the shear stress
relative to the critical plane (τa) provided that the adopted reference fatigue curve is
defined by fully taking into account, by means of ratio (ρeff), the actual degree of
multiaxiality of the stress field damaging the fatigue process zone (Susmel, 2010;
Susmel & Taylor, 2008). The degree of multiaxiality is taken into account by means of
ratio ρeff , i.e., the effective value of the critical plane stress ratio in Eq. (1):
1602
m n,m   n,a
eff  (1)
a
where m is the mean stress sensitivity index, i.e., a material constant ranging between 0
and 1 and giving a measure of the material sensitivity to nonzero mean stresses
perpendicular to the critical planes. Calibration functions are defined as (Susmel, 2010;
Susmel & Taylor, 2008):
k (eff )  aeff  b
(2)
 A, Re ff (eff )  eff  
where a, b, α and β are fatigue constants to be determined experimentally.
580 Von Mises

Tresca
575
Max Principal
570
Stress (MPa)
565
560
555
550
0.075 0.125 0.175 0.225
Mesh size (mm)
(a)
700000
No. of nodes
600000
No. of elements
500000
400000
300000
200000
100000
0
0.075 0.125 0.175 0.225
Mesh size (mm)
(b)
Figure 2. (a) Mesh size versus calculated FEA stresses, (b) Mesh size versus no. of
nodes and elements of FEA model.
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The linear–elastic TCD takes the assumption that the critical distance value to be
used to calculate an effective equivalent stress is a material property whose value
increases with decreasing of the number of cycles to failure (Susmel, 2010; Susmel &
Taylor, 2008).
LM ( N f )  A.N Bf (3)
The MVM assumes that fatigue damage is proportional to the variance of the
stress signal that is damaging, at the assumed critical point, the component being
assessed. A critical plane is identified from planes with maximum variance in shear
stress, from which selected planes the critical plane is identified as the one with
maximum ρeff. To estimate fatigue life, the following methodology is highlighted in
Figure 3, where the values of τa(r), σn,a(r), σn,m(r), are calculated at the critical plane
identified by MVM at distance ‘r’.
Figure 3. Flow-chart summarizing the in-field use of the MWCM method.
Endurance Function Model
(Brighenti et al., 2006) proposed an endurance function model on the basis of a

continuum damage mechanics approach, with the assumption that the whole fatigue life
is crack nucleation dominated and the fatigue life for crack propagation is negligible
with respect to total life (Ottosen et al., 2008). For isotropic materials, the endurance
function can be expressed as Eq. (4):
E ( , S e )  a1  I1    a2  I 2 2   a 3 I 3 3    a4  J 2 2 S e   a5  J 3 3 S e    0  0 (4)
1 1 1 1
 
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where, a1 to a5 and 0 are the material constants, I1, I2, I3 are stress tensor invariants and
J2, J3 deviatoric stress invariants are functions of stress tensor  and effective deviatoric
stress tensor Se respectively. Here Se = S – Sb , i.e., S is the current applied deviatoric
stress tensor and Sb is the back stress tensor which measures the endurance function
evolution in the stress space. A genetic algorithm (GA) is used to find the optimum
values of these parameters. In order to apply the endurance function model, values of
model parameters need to be evaluated, as defined in the equation.
The steel alloy C40 specimen (Figure 1) is tested against in-phase and out-of-
phase loading conditions published in the literature (Table 1), first by using MWCM
with the TCD and MVM techniques, and secondly with the endurance function model.
For implementing the MCWM method shown in Figure 3 in ANSYS, an algorithm is
developed using Ansys Parametric Design Language (APDL). The algorithm identifies
the critical plane using the MVM method by first identifying planes with maximum
variance in shear stress, and then selecting from these the plane with maximum ρeff .
Normal stress σn,a(r) with respect to the critical plane and shear stress in the maximum
variance direction τa(r) on the critical plane are calculated. The fatigue life value is
calculated using the normal and shear stress (Eq. 2) and the calculated fatigue life Nf is
used to calculate critical length LM (Eq. 3). The critical length value is compared with
the distance “r” of the assumed critical point from the component surface (according to
the TCD hypothesis) and iterations continue until critical length LM becomes equal to
the distance of the critical point. And the fatigue life at this point is reported as the
fatigue life of the component where the crack is initiated.
Table 2. Predicted fatigue life of C40 steel.
Load (MPa)
Experimental cycles Predicted cycles to failure
Normal stress Shear stress to failure (Nf) x106 (Np)x106
σ (MPa) τ (MPa)
MCWM- Endurance
MVM function
For R=-1 and phase = 0
200.00 200.00 0.027 0.021 0.027
179.00 179.00 0.22 0.038 0.032
160.00 160.00 0.072 0.079 0.045
129.75 129.75 0.18 0.22 0.110
118.80 118.80 0.44 0.44 0.180
101.00 101.00 2.0 0.86 1.750
For R=-1 and phase = 90
199.70 199.70 0.011 0.105 0.0092
180.00 180.00 0.018 0.187 0.0140
160.25 160.25 0.047 0.520 0.0230
140.00 140.00 0.280 0.850 0.0510
129.65 129.65 0.690 1.500 0.0690
99.60 99.60 2.000 3.698 1.2000
The endurance function is implemented using FEA to calculate the principal

stresses at the critical point on the notch root surface of the specimen. Then stress
invariants are calculated and used with the endurance function Eq. (4) and the GA tool
1605
to estimate the coefficients of the endurance function to estimate the fatigue life. Results
from experimental fatigue life values from the literature (Table 1 (Atzori et al., 2006))
and the predictions made by the two fatigue models under consideration are reported
side by side in Table 2. The results show that the MWCM method is overestimating
fatigue life at higher loads but with a small margin, while the endurance function model
predicted conservative values at the same loads with the same accuracy. In out-of-phase
conditions, the MWCM overestimated the life with a considerable margin, resulting in
highly non-conservative fatigue life estimates, except for one or two instances where the
values are close to the experimental fatigue life value; but the endurance function model
estimated the life with greater accuracy and on the conservative side at every applied
out-of-phase loading condition. From the results and the above arguments, it can be
deduced that both models can predict fatigue life in the case of in-phase loads with good
accuracy, but the MWCM method shows non-conservative fatigue life estimates in out-
of-phase regions. This may be because the MWCM method requires careful calibration
of model equations, which is a difficult task (Susmel & Taylor, 2008). But in the case
of the endurance function model, application of the GA makes it very flexible for
adaptation to different conditions.
CONCLUSIONS
The MWCM method in conjunction with the TCD and MVM techniques and endurance
function model were studied with steel alloy C40 for in-phase and out-of-phase loading
conditions. The results show that the endurance function model predicted the fatigue life
with good accuracy with respect to the experimental fatigue life in both types of load
cases. The MWCM method estimated life with good agreement in the in-phase loading
case, but gave higher fatigue lives in the out-of-phase loading case than the
experimental values. Overall, both models performed well in estimating fatigue lives
and a more careful study is needed of the MWCM method to better understand its
behavior in multiaxial loading conditions. And more detailed study is needed of the
endurance function model to monitor its performance in complex loading conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Universiti Malaysia Pahang for financial support under
project no. RDU110332 and providing laboratory facilities.
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DETERMINATION OF CUSTOMER REQUIREMENT FOR WELDING

FUMES INDEX DEVELOPMENT IN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES BY USING
QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT APPROACH
Azian Hariri1*, N. Azreen P.1 , Norhidayah Abdull3, A. M Leman2 and

M. Z. M Yusof1
1
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia,
*Email: azian@uthm.edu.my
Phone : +6074537880; Fax : +6074536080
2
Faculty of Engineering Technology,
3
Faculty of Technology Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
Lebuhraya Tun Razak, 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the determination of customer requirements for the development of
a welding fumes index by using a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) approach. A
welding fumes index is developed with the objective of enhancing welding workplace
safety and health. The index simplifies complex health-hazard issues of welding fumes
so that they can be comprehended easily by employees and administrators. Likert scale
questionnaires on welders’ desire to know about the health effects of the various
welding fumes that exist in their workplace were distributed among welders in the
automotive assembly industry in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. A pilot test of the QFD
questionnaire was done (n=11) and Cronbach Alpha’s analysis is 0.967, which indicates
a high level of internal consistency of the questionnaire scale. In the actual sampling
(n=32), the results of the questionnaires show that all the customer requirements (irritant
effect, sensitizer effects, respiratory system effect, systemic toxin effect, reproductive
toxins effect, carcinogen effect, mixture effect) were equally important to the welders.
The relationship between the customer (welder) requirement and technical
characteristics was established, whereby important technical characteristics were
shortlisted (personal sampling 23.0%, multi chemical analysis 20.8%, exposure limit
19.7%, health questionnaire 17.6% and lung function test 14.7%). Development of
welding fumes indices according to employee demand will increase knowledge and
awareness of occupational safety and health among employees (welders).
Keywords: Welding fumes; welding health effect; quality function deployment.
INTRODUCTION
Hundreds of millions of people throughout the world work in circumstances that foster
ill health or are unsafe. It is estimated that over two million people worldwide die
annually of occupational injuries and work-related diseases. In fact, more people die
from diseases caused by work than are killed in industrial accidents (Hassim & Hurme,
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Determination of customer requirement for welding fumes index development in automotive industries by using
quality function deployment approach
2010). There are two main acts in Malaysia covering occupational and safety; the
Factories and Machinery Act (Act 139) (Malaysia, 2010a) and the Malaysian
Occupational Safety and Health Act (Act 514) (Malaysia, 2010b). The Department of
Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) is the only government agency responsible for
administering, managing and enforcing legislation pertaining to occupational safety and
health in Malaysia. An effective approach to health and safety at work needs a suitable
risk assessment phase. However, little attention has been paid to this phase of the
practice, and inappropriate tools and methodologies have been used which are either too
complex to manage or too simple and subjective, and are thus unsuitable for recognizing
hazards and reducing the corresponding risks (Fera & Macchiaroli, 2010). Difficulty
exists in measuring the two quantities with which risk assessment is concerned, which
are the potential loss and the probability of occurrence. The chance of error in
measuring these two quantities is large. A risk involving a large potential loss and a low
probability of occurrence is often treated differently from a risk with a low potential loss
and a high likelihood of occurrence. In theory, both are of nearly equal priority, but in
practice it can be very difficult to manage. A risk assessment would be simpler if
transformed into a single metric which could embody all of the important information
(Kirch, 2008). Thus, transforming the risk assessment into an environmental index
form would be the best solution.
Although there is a broad range of hazards that exist in welding operations, only
2% of Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) general industry citations
address this matter (Asfahl, 2004). Welding is a common industrial process. A hazard
that has both acute and long-term chronic effects is welding fume/ particulate matters.
Fumes are solid particles that originate from the welding consumables, the base metal
and any coatings present on the base metal. In welding, the intense heat of the arc or
flame vaporizes the base metal and/or electrode coating. This vaporized metal
condenses into tiny particles called fumes that can be inhaled. The thermal effects can
cause agglomeration of the particles into particle chains and clusters that can be
deposited in the human respiratory tract (Ashby, 2002; Fiore, 2006; Ravert, 2006).
Most of the particles in welding fumes are less than 1µm in diameter when produced,
but they appear to grow in size with time due to agglomeration (Isaxon et al., 2009).
This study was conducted in order to determine the customer requirement for the
development of a Welding Fumes Index as an assessment tool for exposure to welding
fumes in automotive related industries in Malaysia.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Occupational Safety and Health in Malaysia
Malaysia is a developing nation and the manufacturing sector is the major contributor to
the Malaysian economy, with a total of 1,023,072 people engaged in the sector in
November 2012 (Department of Statistic, 2013). Welding is a common industrial
process in the manufacturing sector that has both acute and long-term chronic hazards,
mainly from the inhalable welding fumes. Currently in Malaysia, according to the
Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994), under the Use and Standards of Exposure to
Chemicals Hazardous to Health (USECHH), chemical health risk assessment (CHRA)
needs to be carried out by an assessor appointed by the employer (Malaysia, 2000). A
chemical health risk assessment report is produced by the assessor which includes
potential risks, nature of hazards to health, methods and procedures in the use of
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Hariri et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1609-1619
chemicals, degree of exposure and control measures. Chemical health risk assessment in
the welding workplace is essential in order to ensure that the minimum level of
exposure is maintained, as required by the prevailing standards. However, important
information provided by the assessor, especially the degree of exposure, has usually
been held by the safety and health officer and company management. In terms of health
effects, the employees should also be notified of the degree of exposure in their
workplace. Good safety and health practises can be improved further if the chemical
exposure is well understood by the employees. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop
an index as a ranking tool to simplify complex health-hazard issues of welding fumes so
that they can be comprehended easily by the employees.
Occupational Safety and Health Assessment
Occupational safety and health assessment of the exposure to chemicals hazardous to

health has attracted the attention of researchers all over the world. However, assessment
related to human health aspects is very limited. Employees are the personnel most
affected by exposure to chemicals hazardous to health. However, in general, risk is
evaluated in terms of its consequences with respect to project performance and rarely in
terms of human suffering (Badri, Nadeau, & Gbodossou, 2011). (Smallwood, 2004)
confirmed that quality, planning and costs are the parameters given the greatest
consideration. Instead of developing a risk assessment method focused on project
performance, planning and cost, this study will try using a new and different approach
by focusing on the human health aspect. This study highlights that employees should
know what type of health risk they face. By using the QFD approach, this study will ask
employees what health risks the index should portray, based on the NIOSH Pocket
Guide to Chemical Hazards (NIOSH, 2007). Development of welding fumes indices
according to employee demand will hopefully increase the knowledge and awareness of
occupational safety and health among employees. In welding processes, only a very
limited risk assessment model has been developed. (Karkoszka & Sokovic, 2012)
developed an integrated risk estimation in the welding process using qualitative
methods of assigning the probability of occurrence, significance and risk involved in
aspects of occupational health and safety. However, this model did not consider the
quantitative data on chemical exposure. Thus, there is still gap in developing a suitable
risk assessment method relating welding fume exposure to health risks for welders in a
quantitative manner.
(NIOSH, 1998a) highlighted that research is needed to pursue a means of
indexing exposure by job type or process, taking into account the intensity of the
welding job and work practices. However, welders are not a homogeneous group, and
the potential adverse effects of welding fume exposure are often difficult to evaluate.
Differences exist in welder populations, such as industrial setting, types of ventilation,
type of welding processes and materials used (Antonini et al., 2006). Indexing exposure
by job type or process is almost impossible to implement. However, indexing exposure
according to the location would be of benefit as a ranking tool between different
locations and to assist comparison with the same scale before and after implementation
of any exposure control. The index value should relate proportionally to the health
symptoms of the welders. (Kirch, 2008) also agreed that risk assessment would be
simpler if a single metric could embody all of the information in the measurement. The
main idea of the development of the welding fumes index by the authors can be referred
to (Hariri, Leman, & Yusof, 2012; Hariri, Yusof, & Leman, 2012). (Hewitt, 2001)
1611
highlighted the challenges for developing countries in strategies for risk assessment and
control in welding. Developing countries are being increasingly drawn into the global
economy, where the transfer of technologies such as welding from developing
economies into those which do not have similar infrastructures in terms of health and
safety may be disastrous. Uncritical adoption of new welding technologies by
developing countries opens the door to future health problems. This view was also
supported by (Baram, 2009). Hence, there is an urgent need to develop an index that
can interpret the chemical exposure in welding processes into a simpler form to be
comprehended easily by employees. In such conditions, a welding fumes index for
welders is seen as a positive move in developing ranking tools to highlight risks and
give awareness to the welder when dealing with their daily work.
Environmental Index
The purpose of an environmental index is to summarize a large volume of information

and represent it as a single ordinal number that is easy to understand. The environmental
index is used to describe the quality or health of a specific environmental system such
as air, water, soil and sediments (Sadiq, Haji, Cool, & Rodriguez, 2010). The index is a
single number aggregated mathematically from two or more environmental indicators,
where an indicator is a single quantity derived from one pollutant variable (Ott, 1978).
An index is constructed from several indicators weighted together to describe the total
impact on a certain aspect of the broader state of the environment. The aggregation
process simplifies the complexity of the issues at hand and forms a link between the
scientific community, the public and decision makers because the index communicates
the state of the environment in terms that the public can easily comprehend (Sofuoglu &
Moschandreas, 2003). From a regulatory compliance perspective, threshold levels of
parameters are established in the context of possible adverse human health impacts.
These threshold values can be standardized, guidelines, self-imposed limits or best
practice. As a result, it is useful to relate the index to some sort of acceptability
measure. The development of an environmental index involves the following four basic
steps: 1. selection of relevant factors and parameters, 2. transformation of selected
parameters into a sub index; 3. derivation of weights, and 4. aggregation of the sub
index to determine the value model using a specific model (Sadiq et al., 2010).
In selecting appropriate and relevant parameters, the overall index must first have a
specific goal or objective. Practically, it is impossible to include every single parameter
related to the index. Therefore, a few representative measurable parameters are selected
for practical and cost-effective purposes. After the selection of relevant factors and
parameters, they are converted into a sub index on a dimensionless scale using a
transformation function such as a linear, segmented linear, or non-linear system in
varying degrees. Therefore, the weights are assigned based on their importance and their
possible impact on the environmental system to be investigated. The last step in
developing the index is to combine all the sub indexes using an aggregation model that
describes the overall condition of the environmental system. Some of the information is
lost during this process, but that loss should not lead to the results being misinterpreted,
otherwise the usefulness of the index will decline (Ott, 1978; Sadiq et al., 2010).
1612
Quality Function Deployment
Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a well-known customer-oriented methodology

for planning quality and controlling product development processes, from the
conceptual design to manufacturing operations, in response to the voice of the customer
(Akao, 1990). QFD involves two main aspects: customer requirements and design
specifications. Customer requirements are usually expressed in qualitative characteristic
terms collected through questionnaires (e.g. desire to be notified of respiratory effect,
neurotoxins effect and carcinogenicity effect). Design specifications are the conversion
of customer needs into measurable characteristics (welding fumes concentration,
analysis of metal elements existing in welding fumes and metal element threshold
limit). House of Quality (HoQ) is the main construct of QFD. HoQ is a matrix that
provides an efficient means of relating customer requirements and design specifications.
The matrix consists of several sections or sub matrices joined together in various ways,
each containing information related to the others, as shown in Figure 1 (Cohen, 1995).
Figure 1. House of Quality (HoQ).
QFD is mainly applied for manufacturing purposes and there is very limited
work on the application of QFD for health and safety purposes. (Francisque, Rodriguez,
Sadiq, Miranda, & Proulx, 2011) used the QFD approach to identify and prioritize the
factors to reconcile the actual and perceived risk of drinking water by considering
1613
customer complaints about water safety. The author concludes that the customer
requirement for water safety can be satisfied by improving the highest impact
characteristics to the level expected by the customer. (Leman, Yusof, Omar, & W.Jung,
2010) used the QFD approach in designing an industrial air pollution monitoring system
for safety and health enhancement of toxic gases produced by welding processes. The
system was developed according to employee requirements collected through a
questionnaire and successfully fulfils the criteria required by the customer. Both of
these studies successfully integrated QFD in the safety and health area and proved the
flexibility and reliability of QFD approach.
METHODOLOGY
A pilot case study (n=11) was conducted in the automotive industry in Pahang. Welders
were asked to answer a self-administered questionnaire on their desire to know about
the health effects that arise in their workplace. A 5-point Likert scale was used in the
questionnaires (1: really do not want to know, 2: do not want to know, 3: not sure, 4:
want to know, 5: really want to know). These questionnaires were then collected and
analyzed using the QFD method. The internal consistencies of the scale used in the pilot
case study were analyzed by Cronbach’s Alpha for reliability. Based on the pilot case
study, improvements were made to the questionnaire and an actual case study (n=32)
was carried out on all welders in the same companies.
Customer Requirement
Customer requirements are the list of basic demands that play a major role in the QFD
approach. In this case, the customers are the welders in the automotive industry. To
shortlist the customer requirements on health effects during welding processes, data on
the health effects of metal fumes were collected from the Pocket Guide to Chemical
Hazards (NIOSH, 2007) and OSHA Welding Health Hazard Report (OSHA, 1996).
There are seven categories of health effect associated with welding fumes: irritants,
sensitizers, respiratory effect, systemic toxins, neurotoxins, reproductive toxins and
carcinogens. One more element to consider in this study is the combined effect of
exposure to the metal fumes. Apart from the health impacts of the individual metal
elements, the hazards from mixtures of these metal elements also need to be considered.
The mixture hazard can be initially quantified using the Hazard Index (HI) approach by
summing the concentration of the individual mixture components after they have been
scaled for toxic potency relative to each other (Mumtaz, 2010; Nims, 1999; Nordberg,
Fowler, Nordberg, & Friberg, 2007). If the HI value exceeds 1, further analysis is
needed. From these eight major health effects of welding fumes, welders were asked
through the questionnaire about what type of health effects they wanted to know about
in their welding workplace.
Technical Requirement
On the technical characteristics to meet these customer requirements, a total of nine

technical requirements were considered, as follows: personal sampling, area sampling,
direct reading sampling, multi chemical analysis, blood/tissue test, chest x-ray, exposure
limit, health questionnaire and lung function test. The technical requirements were
shortlisted according to the Guidelines on Monitoring of Airborne Contaminants for
1614
Chemicals Hazardous to Health (DOSH, 2005) and NIOSH USAPublication No. 2005-
110: Specific Medical Tests or Examinations Published in the Literature for OSHA-
regulated Substances (NIOSH, 2004). However, blood/tissue tests and chest x-rays
were omitted due to limitations in cost and practicality.
QFD involves two main aspects: customer requirements and technical characteristics.
Customer requirements are usually expressed in qualitative characteristic terms
collected through questionnaires (desire to know the health effects that exist in the
workplace; irritants, sensitizers, respiratory system, systemic toxins, neurotoxins,
reproductive toxins, carcinogens and mixture hazard). Technical characteristics are the
conversion of customer needs into measure characteristics. The technical characteristics
considered in this study were personal sampling, area sampling, direct reading
sampling, multi chemical analysis, exposure limits, health questionnaire and lung
function test. House of Quality (HoQ), which is the main construct of a QFD, is a
matrix that provides an efficient means of relating customer requirements to technical
characteristics. The relationships between customer requirements and technical
characteristics were weighted with numerical values (0,1,3,9) in ascending order from
none to a strong intensity of relationships. The roof of the house is used to identify the
correlation and the relationship between technical characteristics. The importance of
each of the customer requirements was obtained using a questionnaire distributed to the
welders.
In the pilot case study done in January 2012, from the 20 persons involved in the
welding assembly line, only 11 questionnaires were returned. It was found that all the
customer requirements score a mean criteria value between 3.64 and 4.09 (3.41 to 4.20:
want to know) which indicates that all the customer requirements were equally
important to the welders. The Cronbach’s alpha analysis resulted in 0.967, which
indicates a high level of internal consistency for our scale with this specific sample.
However, the percentage of welders answering ‘not sure’ in the questionnaire was high.
30–40% of the welders answered ‘not sure’ for systemic toxins, neurotoxins,
reproductive toxins, carcinogens and the mixture effect. This is mainly because the
technical terms were difficult to understand for the welders. Thus, improvements were
made to make the questions more easily understood. To avoid the social desirability
bias, only 4 scales were used in the actual study: 1. really do not want to know, 2. do not
want to know, 3. want to know, 4. really want to know (Garland, 1991; Matell &
Jacoby, 1972; Worcester & Burns, 1975). The actual case study was carried out in
January 2013. The number of welders had increased to 32 and all the welders answered
the self-administered questionnaire. It was found that all the customer requirements
scored a mean criteria value between 3.31 and 3.41 (3.25 to 4.00: really want to know),
which indicates that all the customer requirements were equally important to the
welders. Table 1 shows the HoQ for the actual case study. It is apparent that the highest
degree of technical importance is the personal sampling (23.0%), multi chemical
analysis (20.8%), exposure limits (19.7%), health questionnaire (17.6%) and lung
function test (14.7%).
1615
Table 1. House of Quality (HoQ) for actual case study.
#
# #
# #
Relationship #
# + # #
# : strong positive
+ # + # #
+ : strong + # + # # #
TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTIC
Importance
Questionnai
DEMANDED TOTA
Sampling
Sampling
Chemical
Exposure
Function
Analysis
Personal
Reading
Health
Direct
Multi
Limit
Lung
Area
QUALITY L
Test
re
Irritants effect 3.4 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 9
1 0 0 0 0 0 30.6 0
9
Sensitizer effect 3.4 9 0 0 3 0 9 9 30
1 30.6 0 0 10.23 0 30.6 30.6
9 9 9
CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS
Respiratory system 3.3 9 1 1 9 9 9 9 47

effect 8 30.4 3.3 3.3 30.42 30.4 30.4 30.4
2 8 8 2 2 2
Systemic toxin effect 3.3 9 1 1 9 9 9 9 47
4 30.0 3.3 3.3 30.06 30.0 30.0 30.0
6 4 4 6 6 6
Neurotoxins effect 3.3 9 1 1 9 9 3 1 33
4 30.0 3.3 3.3 30.06 30.0 10.0 3.34
6 4 4 6 2
Reproductive toxins 3.3 9 1 1 9 9 3 0 32
effect 1 29.7 3.3 3.3 29.79 29.7 9.93 0
9 1 1 9
Carcinogen effect 3.3 9 1 1 9 9 3 3 35
8 30.4 3.3 3.3 30.42 30.4 10.1 10.1
2 8 8 2 4 4
Mixture effect 3.4 9 1 1 9 9 3 9 41
1 30.6 3.4 3.4 30.69 30.6 10.2 30.6
9 1 1 9 3 9
Technical Importance 212. 20. 20. 191.7 181. 162. 135. 923.1
1 2 2 4 2 3
Percent Importance (%) 23.0 2.2 2.2 20.8 19.7 17.6 14.7 100
1616
CONCLUSIONS
The development of a welding fumes index by taking into consideration the voice of the
welders will benefit the developer and is at the same time capable of fulfilling the
requirements of the customer. The pilot and actual case study carried out in one of the
automotive industries has shown the realibility of the QFD approach in relating the
customer requirements to the technical characteristics, thus giving a clearer picture of
how to further develop the welding fumes index based on the shortlisted technical
characteristics. Future works will consider several case studies and larger groups of
respondents to determine the most important parameters and technical characteristics for
the development of a welding fumes index.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Exploratory Research Grant Scheme (Persson,
Hogmark, & Bergström), Vote E003 under the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education
(MOHE). The first author is grateful to Mrs. Noraishah Mohamad Noor (International
College of Automotive, Pahang) for her assistance in this project.
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1619
DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF A CYLINDER HEAD STRUCTURE FOR

A COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS DIRECT INJECTION ENGINE
A. Shamsudeen1*, S. Abdullah1,2, A.K. Ariffin1,2 M.R.M. Rasani1,2 and Y. Ali3

1
Centre for Automotive Research, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment
University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
Phone: +60389216454; Fax: +60389118314
*Email: azhari@eng.ukm.my
2
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
and Built Environment, University Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
3
ABSTRACT
In this work, the design and simulation of a cylinder head with compressed natural gas
direct injection (CNGDI) is studied based on finite element analysis. The analysis was
carried out to simulate the stress and displacement for the cylinder head at various
engine speeds in the range of between 1000 and 5400 rpm. The design is developed
using CATIA V5, and simulated using MSC Nastran, then pre- and post-processed by
MSC Patran. Based on the simulation results, an improved design for the CNGDI
cylinder head was achieved. The stress and displacement analysis highlighted several
areas of interest, and the maximum stress for the modified model of 56.16 MPa was
found not to exceed the allowable compressive yield strength of the material used
(aluminum alloy A356-T6), of 172 MPa. The maximum displacement for the modified
model, which was 0.00972 mm, was below the lowest displacement limit of 0.032 mm.
For the modified model, the strength was improved by about 1.72%, and the
displacement decreased by about 3.55% compared to the original model. Thus, the
result can be used to assess the quality of the design, where no yielding and structural
failure occurred in the firing load case, as having satisfied the requirement.
Keywords: Cylinder head; finite element; direct injection; compressed natural gas.
INTRODUCTION
Both the design and development of an automotive engine are complicated processes.
To acquire the best performance and optimize the engine design in any operating
condition, many analytical tools and experimental works are needed to find the
optimum structure for the engine design (Kamal, Rahman, & Sani, 2013a; Lee, Chiang,
Chen, & Chen, 2005; Rahman, Ariffin, Rejab, Kadirgama, & Noor, 2009). In the
automotive engine, the cylinder head structure is the most important component
affecting the performance of a car and one of the heavily loaded combustion chamber
components (Zhao, Lai, & Harrington, 1999). All these components require careful
attention especially during the assembly design in order to avoid any failed structure at
engine operations (Ali, Mustapa, Ghazali, Sujitno, & Ridha, 2013; Kamal, Rahman, &
Rahman, 2012; Lee et al., 2005). The cylinder head of a direct injection engine is
1620
Shamsudeen et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1620-1629
highly influenced by the geometry of the combustion chamber injector location. In fact,
a small change in geometry can lead to considerable changes in the mixture distribution
and performance of the engine (Yadollahi & Boroomand, 2013). With the increasing
emphasis on the need to improve automotive fuel economy, automotive engineers are
motivated to develop new engines to enhance fuel consumption and power and to
reduce emissions (Yadollahi & Boroomand, 2013; Yusof, Jamaludin, Abdullah, Hanafi,
& Zain, 2012; Zhao et al., 1999). In addition, due to the increasingly strict legal limits
on emissions levels, the use of alternative fuels, including compressed natural gas
(CNG), has increased along with the importance of developing alternative fuel
technology. In the SI engine, direct injection (DI) technology significantly increases the
engine volumetric efficiency and decreases the need to use the throttle valve for control
purposes (Aziz, Rashid, Firmansyah, & Shahzad, 2010; Yadollahi & Boroomand,
2013; Zhao et al., 1999). All these technologies were developed to overcome the
problems of using CNG especially in relation to the broad storage problem and reduced
performance compared to gasoline (Durell, Allen, D., & Heath, 2000; Gharehghani,
Hosseini, & Yusaf, 2013; Kamil, Rahman, & Bakar, 2013; Noor, Wandel, & Yusaf,
2013; Yusaf, Baker, Hamawand, & Noor, 2013). However, with the design and
development of the compressed natural gas direct injection (CNGDI) engine, both
engine performance and reduced exhaust emissions may be further improved.
In engineering analysis, a theoretical and numerical model is the starting point
for researchers to develop and design an engine component (Fadaei, Vafadar, &
Noorpoor, 2011). In addition, the application of finite element analysis (FEA) tools in
engine development can reduce the risk and the testing effort in producing a prototype
(Durell et al., 2000; Kamal, Rahman, & Sani, 2013b; Rahman, Rosli, Noor, Sani, &
Julie, 2009). Other than that, the combination of computational fluid dynamics and
FEA analysis can also be performed to predict accurate stress/temperature distribution
and thermo-mechanical cycles that can affect internal combustion engines under actual
operating conditions (Fontanesi & Giacopini, 2013). Zhang, Zuo, and Liu (2013)
investigated the failure of a diesel engine cylinder head based on the finite element
method. The ability to predict the design performance before it goes into production has
become more important and relies on accurate computer models of all aspects of engine
operation (Fadaei et al., 2011). Therefore, the commercial software, MSC
Nastran/Patran, is employed to perform the stress and displacement analysis of the
cylinder head structure for various engine speeds in the range 1000–5400 rpm. The gas
pressure from the combustion chamber is used as a load into the cylinder head model,
which is subjected to direct injected natural gas combustion pressure under various
loading conditions. The results of this research can be used to develop a design
procedure for a new CNGDI cylinder head engine.
CYLINDER HEAD MODELING
The original and modified CNGDI cylinder head materials used in this simulation are
shown in Table 1. In this work, the material used for the original cylinder is aluminum
alloy type AC4B, while the new cylinder head is aluminum alloy type A356-T6.
However, for the simulation, both designs will use only the A356-T6 material.
1621
Design and simulation of a cylinder head structure for a compressed natural gas direct injection engine
Table 1. Specification for the cylinder head material
Value
Material Properties AC4B (old A356-T6 (new
material) material)
3
Modulus of elasticity (MPa) 71 x 10 72 x 103
Compressive yield strength (MPa) 166 172
Tensile yield strength (MPa) 159 164
Poisson’s ratio 0.33 0.33
Density (kg/m3) 2740 2713
The original and modified cylinder head models, as well as a cross-section area
of the spark plug and injector are shown in Figure 1. The design specifications of the
cylinder head are detailed in Table 2. This original model was modified to make
retrofitting of gas injectors alongside the spark plug possible in the center of the
combustion chamber, and was used for the 3D solid geometry modeling. Because of the
complexity of the geometrical design, only a quarter or one-cylinder model was
considered for analysis. With this new design configuration, the combustion process
inside the cylinder will be more efficient and completely burned in order to achieve the
best performance and reduce the exhaust emissions. Nowadays, most of the automotive
cylinder head of the engine is made of aluminum alloy which, because of its higher
thermal conductivity, generally operates about 30–80% cooler than the equivalent cast-
iron, and is lighter than other materials.
Modified area
Spark plug
Valve
angle Injector
Wall thickness
(water jacket)
Spark plug area
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 1. CAD model for cylinder head: (a) original model; (b) modified model
(CNGDI); (c) cross-section area of spark plug and injector (modified model).
Table 2. Specification for the cylinder head model
Specification Cylinder Head Design

Original Modified (CNGDI)
Cylinder height (mm) 134.7 136.7
Intake valve angle (°) 21.5 20.95
Exhaust valve angle (°) 20.5 20.05
Spark plug angle (°) 90 21
Injector angle (°) 34 (at intake manifold) 5 (at center cylinder)
Wall thickness area water
4 4
jacket, minimum (mm)
1622
FINITE ELEMENT MODELS AND ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
Finite Element Model
Finite element models of both cylinder heads used in the numerical analysis were
generated in order to estimate the stress distribution and structural displacement. FEA
will provide results that may be used to evaluate the strength of design based on the von
Mises criterion and to identify areas that require improvement. The von Mises stress for
a 3-dimensional case can be summarized as the following equation:
 1   2 2   2   3 2   3   1 2
v  (1)
2
where  v is von Mises stress, and  1 ,  2 and  3 are the principal stress in the loaded
bodies. The design can be satisfied if the maximum von Mises stress obtained is below
the yield strength of the material (Juvinall & Marshek, 1991; Schaeffer, 2001).
For a good quality of mesh and results, some of the critical areas in the cylinder
head were defined with higher order curves and surfaces. The shape around the deck of
the combustion chamber that provides the location of the intake and exhaust valves, the
spark plug and the injector were the areas of main concern and a finer mesh was used in
these areas in order to get accurate stress distribution. Hence, a model of the modified
cylinder head with 243,096 solid elements and 402,704 nodes was produced, as shown
in Figure 2(b). The FEA was executed on HP Workstation xw6200 and interfaced with
a high performance computer, the SGI Origin 300 (4 CPU). The CPU time required for
a static run under single load was about 2 hours, while for an assembly load it was about
2.5 hours.
(a) (b)
Figure 2. 3D solid element meshes in (a) original model; (b) modified model.
Before the simulation began, several assumptions were made with regard to
modeling the cylinder head structure (Chyuan, 2000): (1) the four cylinder heads
possess a structural symmetry in their entity, hence the second cylinder head was
removed from the complete model in order to reduce the calculation time and allow
simpler boundary conditions to be enforced; (2) the maximum gas pressure of the
combustion process was used for the firing loading in the steady state condition. Besides
that, the assembly model (see Figure 3) was also simulated in order to get a better result
1623
in terms of stress and displacement in the valve area, and to ensure that their values did
not exceed the strength and displacement limit of the material used.
Intake and exhaust valves
Valve guide
Valve seat
(a) (b)
Figure 3. Assembly modeling: (a) assembly of sub components in cylinder head;
(b) solid element mesh for valve guide, valve seat and valves.
Analysis Procedure
For structural analysis, pressure from the combustion process was used as a load for the
analysis. The gas pressure that was produced from the ignition of spark plugs and fuel
was imposed on the surface of the combustion chamber. However, the magnitude of the
gas pressure varied with engine speeds. For steady-state analysis, the average gas
pressure was inserted into the loading conditions for the numerical simulation. The
maximum pressure load was 5.8 MPa at 2000 rpm which was close to the experimental
results based on the single cylinder research engine (SCRE), as shown in Figure 4. The
gas pressure varied according to the engine speed, and based on the experimental
results, the pressure would increase with increasing engine speed, but for very high
engine speeds around 6000–7000 rpm, the pressure was decreasing because of
insufficient fresh air entering the engine for the combustion process. In order to
decrease the complexity of the boundary conditions, the interactions between the
cylinder head gasket, cylinder head bolts and cylinder block were not modeled.
Constraints were set on the bolt of the cylinder head used to fix the cylinder head to the
cylinder block, while the cutting section in the cylinder head was defined as a symmetry
condition, as shown in Figure 5.
7
CFD (2000rpm)
6 SCRE (2000rpm)
Cylinder Pressure (MPa)
CFD (3000rpm)
SCRE (3000rpm)
5
0
580 600 620 640 660 680 700 720 740 760 780
Crank Angle (deg)
Figure 4. Gas pressure of CNGDI and SCRE engines at 2000 rpm and 3000 rpm.
1624
Symmetry plane
Bolt (fixed)
Gas pressure
Figure 5. Boundary conditions for the cylinder head model
Stress and Displacement Analysis for Single Load Case
FEA steady state predictions of stresses and displacement distributions in the cylinder
head are shown in Figure 6 for an engine speed of 1000 rpm. The maximum stress for
the modified cylinder head varies from 26.01 MPa at 1000 rpm to 39.84 MPa at 5400
rpm, while for the original cylinder head it varies from 26.47 MPa at 1000 rpm to 40.54
MPa at 5400 rpm, as the maximum gas pressure increases with increasing engine speed.
The minimum von Mises stress is located at the areas between the cylinder head bolts
and the top of cylinder head, which is due to local compressive loads.
(a) (b)
Figure 6. Stress distribution at 1000 rpm: (a) original design; (b) modified design.
The combustion chamber deck shows the largest displacement under gas
pressure load, varying from 0.008465 mm at 1000 rpm to 0.01296 mm at 5400 rpm, as
shown in Figure 7. Due to the difference in size between the intake and exhaust valves,
the distribution of these compressing stresses is slightly different between the inlet and
exhaust sides of the cylinder head. From the results, the middle deck around the valve
guides had been pushed up during the firing gas loads. Engineering experience suggests
that this region is prone to structural failure due to the firing load if the detailed design
or material properties are not correctly specified (Chyuan, 2000). The narrow bridge of
the deck between the valve guide and the oil passage should be free of stress raisers on
both sides, which can be achieved by using generous fillets. Besides, the surface finish
1625
in this area should be carefully investigated during the quality assurance procedure to
ensure that porosity or sand insertions are avoided.
(a) (b)
Figure 7. Displacement contours at 1000 rpm: (a) original design; (b) modified design.
In total, the design of the CNGDI cylinder head was improved by about 1.72%
in terms of its stresses and by 3.56% in terms of the displacement, compared to the
original design (see Figure 8). However, both designs are still below the compressive
yield strength limit of 172 MPa. Hence, for the purpose of the base design, where the
maximum von Mises stress for both designs does not exceed the material strength limit,
the requirement for cylinder head design can be satisfied, with no yielding and structural
failure under the firing load case. In terms of the safety factor, both of the cylinder head
designs are safe and fulfilled the nominal safety factor for the base design, especially for
the engine component. For the CNGDI cylinder head, the safety factor was about 4.32
compared to the original design of about 4.09. These safety factors were determined
based on the maximum von Mises stress at 5400 rpm and compressive yield strength, by
using Eq. (2):
Sy
N= (2)
σv
where N is the safety factor, Sy is the yield strength and v is the von Mises stress.
45 0.040
Modified design
40 Original design 0.035
Maximum Displacement (mm)
__
___
Maximum Stress (MPa)
0.030
35 Stress
0.025
30
Displacement 0.020
25
0.015
20
0.010
15 0.005
10 0.000
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 5400
Engine Speed (rpm)
Figure 8. Maximum stress and displacement at several engine speeds.
1626
Stress and displacement analysis for assembly load case
Under assembly loads on the cylinder head, valve seats and valve guides, the maximum
von Mises stress value is 56.16 MPa at 5400 rpm, located at the interface area between
the valve seat and cylinder head deck because of local bending moment, as shown in
Figure 9. Meanwhile, the maximum displacement distribution of the cylinder head is
0.00631 mm at 1000 rpm and increases to 0.00972 mm at 5400 rpm. The pressure load
in the cylinder head is equal but, in the area with maximum thickness, the pressure rise
is larger and so is the stress. This is why high stress occurs in the valve bridge and near
the valve seat. The result of the simulation shows higher stresses but lower displacement
distribution in the cylinder head design with the assembling of valve guides and valve
seats. For the engine speed of 5400 rpm, the difference in maximum stress can reach
about 29.1%, but the maximum displacement can fall by about 33.4% compared to the
single load case. However, both of the designs are still below the material yield strength
and displacement limits (0.032 mm for valve guide, 0.045 mm for intake valve seat and
0.049 mm for exhaust valve seat), as shown in Figure 10.
180
(a) 0.055 (b)
0.050
160 0.045
Figure 9. (a)
140 Stress and (b) displacement contours at 5400 rpm for modified design.
Maximum Dispalcement (mm)
0.040
120 0.035
100 0.030
80 0.025
0.020 0.055
60 180 0.015 0.050
40 0.010
20
160 0.045
0.005
0 0.000
Maximum Dispalcement
140 0.040
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 5400
120 Engine Speed (rpm) 0.035
100 Maximum stress 0.030

(mm)
Compressive yield strength

Maximum Displacement 0.025
80 Limitation displacement for valve guide
Limitation displacement for intake valve seat 0.020
60 Limitation displacement for exhaust valve seat
0.015
40
0.010
20 0.005
0 0.000
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 5400
Engine Speed (rpm)
Stress
Compressive Yield Strength
Displacement
Figure 10. Maximum stress and displacement limits for cylinder head design. Deformation Limit for Valve Guide
Deformation Limit for Intake Valve Guide
Deformation Limit for Exhaust Valve Guide
1627
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the structural analysis of a cylinder head model under gas firing loading
for various engine speeds in the range 1000–5400 rpm were carried out by using FEA.
For the CNGDI cylinder head, the structural analysis highlighted several areas of
interest and the maximum stress in the new cylinder head was found not to exceed the
allowable compressive yield strength of cylinder head design material, which is 172
MPa, and was below the displacement limit of 0.035 mm. Thus, the basic design
criteria, which are to have no yielding or structural failure under the firing load case, are
satisfied. In addition, the strength of the CNGDI cylinder head design was improved by
about 1.72%, and displacement was decreased by about 3.55% compared to the existing
design. All these analyses can be used to help automotive engineers to design a more
reliable cylinder head for a new engine.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology &
Innovation for sponsoring this work under project IRPA 03-02-02-0057-PR0030/10-04
and TF0608C073.
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prediction of commercially pure titanium after nitrogen ion implantation.
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Chyuan, S. W. (2000). Finite element simulation of a twin-cam 16-valve cylinder
structure. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 35, 199–212.
Durell, E., Allen, J., D., L., & Heath, J. (2000). Installation and development injection
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Gas Vehicles.
Fadaei, M., Vafadar, H., & Noorpoor, A. (2011). New thermo-mechanical analysis of
cylinder heads using a multi-field approach. Scientia Iranica B, 18(1), 66-74,.
Fontanesi, S., & Giacopini, M. (2013). Multiphase cfd-cht optimization of the cooling
jacket and fem analysis of the engine head of a v6 diesel engine. Applied
Gharehghani, A., Hosseini, R., & Yusaf, T. (2013). Investigation of the effect of
additives to natural gas on heavy-duty si engine combustion characteristics.
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(2 ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Kamal, M., Rahman, M. M., & Rahman, A. G. A. (2012). Fatigue life evaluation of
suspension knuckle using multibody simulation technique. Journal of
1628
Kamal, M., Rahman, M. M., & Sani, M. S. M. (2013a). Application of multibody

simulation for fatigue life estimation. International Journal of Automotive and
Mechanical Engineering, 7(1), 912-923.
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1629
INVESTIGATING THE PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF

TIO2 VARISTOR MATERIALS PREPARED WITH VARIOUS DOPANTS
I. R. Daud1,*, S. Begum1, 2, M. M. Rahman1,2, S. Gholizadeh1,2 and

Z. Kothandapani1,2
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional
Phone: +603-89212020; Fax: +603-89212065
Email: *ida.rasyada@gmail.com
2
Centre for Advanced Materials
Universiti Tenaga Nasional
ABSTRACT
Varistors are the most efficient devices for the protection of power transmission lines
and electronic devices against excessive transient surges. The current trends that require
varistors with more functions have led to research to develop new ceramic varistor
material and titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the emerging new material. In this research
nanosized TiO2 was taken as the base materials to which a small amount of impurities
was added as dopants for enhancing the properties. Ta2O5, WO3, Bi2O3 and Co3O4 were
used as dopants where the percentage of Bi2O3 and Co3O4 was fixed; 0.5% and 0.2%
respectively. Samples were prepared with different weight percentages of dopants and
sintered at a constant temperature of 1300˚C with 2 hour’s holding time to observe the
effect of these dopants on physical and mechanical properties of nanosized TiO2.
Analysis was undertaken to evaluate the properties of the nanosized TiO2, such as green
density, fired density, fired strength, axial and radial shrinkage. It was found that with
the composition of 98.1% TiO2+0.7% Ta2O5+0.5% WO3+0.2%Co3O4+0.5%Bi2O3 have
a significant influence on the physical and mechanical properties, which is anticipated
to improve the performance of varistor. With the improvement in the physical and
mechanical properties of TiO2, the composite material has potential application in low
voltage application devices.
Keywords: TiO2 varistor; dopants; fired density; fired strength; hardness.
INTRODUCTION
Varistor is a ceramic material which has unique nonlinear current-voltage

characteristics, and is used in circuit to protect the system against transient surge
voltage. The most important characteristic of varistor is its nonlinear current voltage
behavior that can be expressed by the equation I=KVα, where α is the nonlinear
coefficient (Santana, Dos Santos, Sousa, & Chui, 2008). A higher value of this
coefficient signifies a better device. Ceramics such as silicon carbide, zinc oxide (ZnO),
and tin dioxide (SnO2) are some of the varistors studied before (Keating & Nesic,
1999). Up to now, ZnO has been the most extensively studied due to its excellent
properties, so as to be employed in both the power industry and the semiconductor
industry, and shown high nonlinear coefficient than SiC (Choon, 2012). However, the
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Daud et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1630-1638
use of TiO2 as a semiconductor is relatively new and research is ongoing to improve its
functional properties. Investigation shows that current trends require varistor to have a
low capacitance and low breakdown voltage, thus the use of ZnO varistor is restricted in
low voltage circuits due to its low permittivity, which weakens its ability to absorb
sparks (Luo, Tang, Li, & Zhang, 2008). Titanium dioxide (TiO2), also known as titania,
is a versatile material with a high density (4.0 g/cm3) and very low percentage of
porosity that has attracted many due to properties that can satisfy the new functional
demand.
In study to develop a useful TiO2 based ceramic, it is important to investigate the
effect of dopants on varistor performance. Up until now, study of TiO2 was based on
either one or two dopants to increase its properties and performance. Addition of
dopants should promote properties of nanosized TiO2 to increase electrical conductivity
through a process of crystallization. Titanium dioxide has been investigated since 1982,
by (Yan & Rhodes, 1982) who first reported the nonlinear coefficient for (Nb, Ba)
doped TiO2 ceramic varistor around α=3-4 and that an oxidizing atmosphere during
cooling would be necessary. According to previous researchers, tantalum pentaoxide
(Ta2O5) and tungsten trioxide (WO3) act as substantial donors and increase the electrical
conductivity of TiO2. It was observed that a high nonlinear coefficient and low
breakdown voltage could be obtained by addition of Ta2O5 into the system (Luo et al.,
2008). Furthermore, the addition of WO3 would cause the formation of a solid solution
with TiO2 lattice due to ionic similarity, thus influencing the grain growth of TiO2 (Su et
al., 2003; Wang et al., 2012). On the other hand, cobalt (II,III) oxide (Co3O4) was
reported as one of the effective dopants that promotes densification of TiO2, as it creates
oxygen vacancies, increases oxygen diffusion at grain boundaries, and promotes
densification (Metz et al., 2007). Meanwhile, the addition of bismuth(III) oxide
(Bi2O3), should promote the growth of TiO2 grains and the stability of the nonlinear
current-voltage by providing the medium for liquid-phase sintering (Wang et al., 2012;
Xu, Cheng, Yuan, Yang, & Lin, 2011 ). There is still a lack of research and study on
the effect of the addition of Bi2O3 to a TiO2 powder based varistor. Although there are
previous researchers who have studied the effect of various dopants towards the
electrical properties of the TiO2 powder-based varistor, there is still a lack of research
done on the physical, mechanical, and microstructural properties of nanosize TiO2 based
varistor. In this study the effect of dopants on the properties of TiO2 ceramic was
therefore examined.
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
Nano size of titanium dioxide (TiO2) based varistor with the appropriate percentage of
weights dopants was prepared as shown in Table 1. The percentage of Co3O4
(ALDRICH), and Bi2O3 (ALDRICH) remained constant, and the percentage of Ta2O5
(ALDRICH) and WO3 (ALDRICH) varied throughout the experiment. The mixing
composition was ball milled with zirconia balls and ethanol as solvent inside a jar for
one hour. The slurry produced was dried in an oven at 60°C for 24 hours. The resulting
powder was sieved and pelletized into disks 20mm in diameter and 4mm thick at
uniaxial pressure, 2.76MPa. The green pellet was sintered at a constant temperature of
1300°C for two hours and cooled at constant rate of 10°C/min. Samples were polished
using different sizes of abrasives, followed by diamond paste, and carefully washed in
water. The properties of TiO2 were investigated by calculating the density and the
shrinkage rate of the sample. The fired densities were determined after sintering with
1631
Investigating the physical and mechanical properties of TiO2 varistor materials prepared with various dopants
the Archimedes Method. Axial and radial shrinkage were also calculated based on the
dimension of the pellet. For mechanical properties, the sintered strength was calculated
using a Vickers hardness test machine; the Wolpert Wilson Instrument model. Samples
was coated with gold to identify microstructural characterization using Scanning
Electron Microscope (SEM) model Hitachi S-3400N to determine the porosity and grain
size using the intercept method. The average grain size, G, was calculated with Eq.(1):
G  Number of intercepts/ Line length (1)
The ceramic phases were identified by X-Ray Diffraction model Shimadzu XRD-6000
using Cu Kα radiation. The samples were scanned in 2θ ranges of 20-60˚ for the period
of a 0.02 step scan mode.
Table 1. Composition of Samples.
Samples Composites (wt%)

A TiO2
B TiO2+0.2wt% Ta2O5+0.25wt% WO3+0.2wt % Co3O4+0.5wt % Bi2O3
C TiO2+0.2wt % Ta2O5+0.5wt% WO3+0.2wt% Co3O4+0.5wt % Bi2O3
D TiO2+0.4wt % Ta2O5+0.1wt % WO3+0.2wt % Co3O4+0.5wt % Bi2O3
E TiO2+0.7wt % Ta2O5+0.5wt % WO3+0.2wt % Co3O4+0.5wt % Bi2O3
Green Density and Fired Density
The variation of density with the different composition of nanosized TiO2 based
varistor disc is presented in Figure 1. It can be seen that the results of densification after
the sintering process was highly dependent on the concentrations of dopants. According
to Figure 1, the increment in fired density shows the trend in general, becoming more
densified with the increments in the concentration of dopants. These are due to the
behavior of Ta2O5 and WO3, which formed a solid solution with the TiO2 lattice at high
temperature, thus increasing the density of nanosized TiO2.
Figure. 1. Green and fired density of TiO2 disc with different concentration of dopants.
Moreover, the addition of WO3 influences grain growth, and thus influences the
density of the samples. The addition of Co3O4 should promote densification of
nanosized TiO2, with an influence similar to that of CoO over SnO2 (Metz et al., 2007).
1632
Only with the addition of Ta2O5 and WO3 content around 0.7% and 0.5%, did the
samples exhibit high fired density (4.0294 g/cm3), which is 0.7% higher compared to a
theoretical density of TiO2 (4.000 g/cm3).
Axial and Radial Shrinkage
To determine the shrinkage rate of nanosized TiO2, the thickness and diameter of pellets
were measured before and after the sintering process. The percentage of thickness and
diameter reduction was calculated with the following Eq. 2 and Eq. 3:
 t  
%t     100% (2)
 
 t g  
 d  
%d     100% (3)
 
 d g  
where t is the thickness of the pellet, d is diameter of the pellet.

Figure 2 and Figure 3 present the axial and radial shrinkage rate at different
dopant concentrations. Sample E shows the average highest reduction of other samples.
It is well documented that the maximum shrinkage rate is highly dependent on the
concentration of dopants (Wang, Tang, Yua, & Cao, 2011). The increase in Ta2O5 and
WO3 has a great influence on the sintering process of the system. At maximum
shrinkage temperature (1300 °C), highly doped samples cause segregation at grain
boundaries which results in a decrease in grain size, and thus will increase the strength
of the samples (Navale, Vadivel Murugan, & Ravi, 2007)
Figure. 2. Axial shrinkage (%) TiO2 disc with different concentration of dopants.
Figure. 3. Radial shrinkage (%) TiO2 disc with different concentration of dopants.
1633
Sintered Strength
The hardness values of ceramic material are frequently analyzed to characterize

resistance to deformation as well as densification, despite poor performance on ceramic
material due to experimental issues such as cracking or chipping. However, it is
important to observe whether a small impurity added to TiO2 can increase the
mechanical properties to relate it with electrical behavior of the material. The sintered
strength was determined by using a Vickers hardness test by allowing the diamond-
tipped fall into the sample to observe the maximum load that samples can withstand
without causing damage. As shown in Figure 4, Sample E, which previously showed the
highest density apparently shows highest hardness values as well. Sample E, TiO2 doped
with 0.7% Ta2O5, 0.5% WO3, 0.2% Co3O4 and 0.5% Bi2O3, has comparatively higher
hardness values compared to other samples (805.05 HV1). Furthermore, compressive
strength also been conducted to calculate the compressive strength of the nanosized
TiO2. As shown in Figure 5, once again Sample E shows the highest values of
compressive strength.
Figure 4. Hardness Values of TiO2 with different concentration of dopants.
Figure 5. Compressive Strength of TiO2 with different concentration of dopants.
Scanning Electron Microscope
Figure 6 shows the SEM micrograph of the compact TiO2 with different concentrations
at 1300°C. The strength of samples was further confirmed by SEM micrograph. Grain
size gradually decreases as the concentration of dopants increases, thus increasing the
1634
strength of the sample. The average grain size obtained through the linear intercept
method was in the range of 2-10 µm. The mean grain size decreased as concentrations
of Ta2O5 and WO3 increased, which shows that the increment in dopants prevented the
grain from growing. This is in agreement with other findings for high performance
varistors (Filho et al., 2007; Silva et al., 2007; Xu et al., 2011 ). From Figure 6 it can
also be seen that porosity reduced with the addition of dopants, thus increasing the
physical and mechanical properties of TiO2.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e)
Figure 6. Microstucture of nanosized TiO2 (a) 100% TiO2(b) 0.2%Ta2O5+0.25%WO3,
(c) 0.2%Ta2O5+0.5%WO3, (d) 0.4%Ta2O5+0.1%WO3, (e) 0.7%Ta2O5+0.5%WO3.
1635
Figure 6. Average grain size (µm) of TiO2 discs with different concentrations of
dopants.
X-Ray Diffraction
In order to investigate the phase structure of the TiO2, an XRD test was carried out. The
pattern showed perfectly that all diffraction peaks indexed to a rutile TiO2 when
scanned at 2θ ranges of 20° – 60° for the period of the 0.0200 step scan mode. No
phases other than TiO2 were observed. This could be because the amount of dopants
added was very low and other possible phases may not been detected due to equipment
limitations. This is in agreement with other studies. Major intensity peaks for the rutile
phase of nanosized TiO2 with 2θ = 27.54°, 36.17°and 54.42° are clearly seen.
Figure 7 : XRD of TiO2 disc (a) 100% TiO2

(b) 0.7%Ta2O5+0.5%WO3+0.2wt%Co3O4+0.5wt %Bi2O3
1636
CONCLUSIONS
The physical, mechanical and microstructure of nanosized TiO2 doped with various
dopants were evaluated. The addition of dopants significantly influenced the properties
of TiO2 varistor discs. The varistor discs prepared with 0.7% Ta2O5, 0.5% WO3, 0.2%
Co3O4 and 0.5% Bi2O3 exhibited improved properties compared to other compositions.
The enhancement in strength of the nanosized TiO2 signifies the reduction of porosity
and enhancement of density of TiO2 based ceramic varistor. Physical, mechanical and
microstructure results evidence the influence of the dopants on the processing of TiO2
powder at high temperature. Furthermore, influences on grain size and porosity will
facilitate the performance of varistor.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The investigation was conducted under the eScience fund of project code 03-02-03-
SF0234. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).
REFERENCES
Choon, W. N. (2012). Nb2o5 doping effect on electrical properties of zno-v2o5-

mn3o4 varistor ceramics. . Ceramic International, 38, 5281-5285.
Filho, F. M., Simoes, A. Z., Ries, A., Perazolli, L., Longo, E., & Varela, J. A. (2007).
Dependence of the nonlinear electrical behavior of sno2-based varistor on cr2o3
addition. Ceramic International, 33, 187-192.
Keating, A., & Nesic, S. (1999). Prediction of two-phase erosion-corrosion in bends.
Paper presented at the Second International Conference on CFD in the Minerals
and Process Industries, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia.
Luo, H., Mittal, R., Zheng, X., Bielamowicz, S. A., Walsh, R. J., & Hahn, J. K. (2008).
An immersed-boundary method for flow–structure interaction in biological
systems with application to phonation. Journal of Computational Physics,
227(22), 9303-9332.
Luo, S., Tang, Z., Li, J., & Zhang, Z. (2008). Effect of ta2o5 in (ca,si,ta) doped tio2
ceramic varistor. Ceramic International, 34, 1345-1347.
Metz, R., Koumeir, D., Morel, J., Pansiot, J., Houbes, M., & Hassanzadeh, M. (2007).
Electrical barrier formation at grain boundaries of co-doped sno2 varistor
ceramic. Journal of European Ceramic Society, 28, 829-835.
Navale, S. C., Vadivel Murugan, A., & Ravi, V. (2007). Varistor based on ta-doped
tio2. Ceramic International, 33, 301-303.
Santana, M. M. A., Dos Santos, F. S. N., Sousa, V. C., & Chui, Q. S. H. (2008).
Variability sources of dc voltage-current measurements in the study of tio2-
based varistor. Journal of Measurements, 41, 1105-1112.
Silva, I. P., Simoes, A. Z., Filho, F. M., Longo, E., Varela, J. A., & Perazolli, L. (2007).
Dependence of la2o3 content on the nonlinear electrical behavior zno,coo and
ta2o5 doped sno2 varistor. Material Letters, 2121-2125.
Su, W. B., Wang, J. F., Chen, H. C., Wang, W. X., Zang, G. Z., & Li, C. P. (2003).
Novel tio2.Wo3 varistor system Materials Science and Engineering(B99), 461-
464.
1637
Wang, H., Gan, Y., Dong, X., Peng, S., Dong, L., & Wang, Y. (2012). Thermoelectric
properties of ti-doped WO3 ceramics. Journal of Material Sciences(23), 2229-
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Wang, M., Tang, Q., Yua, C., & Cao, M. (2011). Effect of zro2 dopants on the sintering
behavior and performance of mcmb-derived carbon laminations. Journal of
Wuhan University of Technology-Mater. Sci. Ed, 1, 15-18.
Xu, D., Cheng, H., Yuan, H., Yang, J., & Lin, Y. (2011 ). Microstructure and electrical
properties of Y(No3)3•6H2O-doped ZnO-Bi2O3-based varistor ceramics. Journal
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Yan, M. F., & Rhodes, W. W. (1982). Varistor properties of (nb,ba)-doped TiO2. Paper
presented at the MRS Proceedings, 5, 357 doi:10.1557/PROC-5.
1638
ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE OF GREEN POLYMER FOAM FROM

RENEWABLE RESOURCES AFTER UV EXPOSURE
Nik Normunira Mat Hassan1 and Anika Zafiah M. Rus1*

1
Sustainable Polymer Engineering, Advance Manufacturing and Material Center
(AMMC), Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
*
Email: zafiah@uthm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Flexible and rigid green polymers foam were prepared by the reaction of polyol based
on waste vegetable oil with commercial Polymethane Polyphenyl Isocyanate (Modified
Polymeric-MDI) and Diisocyanate-diphenylmethane (Abou-El-Hossein, Kadirgama,
Hamdi, & Benyounis). The effect of the Ultraviolet (Annie Paul et al.) on flexible and
rigid green polymer foam was examined by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and
acoustic study of sound absorption coefficient (Baldoukas, Soukatzidis, &
Demosthenous). The morphology structure of rigid green polymer foam gives a close
cell structure and smallest cell size with UV exposure compared with flexible green
polymer foam, which gives open cell structure and largest cell size after UV
exposure.The α of flexible green polymer foam gives better compared with the α of
rigid green foam at low frequency level before UV exposure. The noise reduction
coefficient (NRC) of flexible green polymer foam is higher, 0.2339, compared with
rigid green foam which is 0.1407. The NRC of flexible green polymer foam drops to
24.41 % with exposure up to 240 hours on UV light. The UV light was influenced by
the sound absorption level with lower frequency, hence less ductile characteristic of the
flexible and rigid green polymer foam.
Keywords: Green polymer foam; UV light; Sound absorption coefficient.
INTRODUCTION
Polyurethane (PU) foam is a versatile engineering material, which finds a wide range of
applications because of its properties, and can be readily tailored by the type and
composition of its component. However, the main market for PU foam is in polymeric
foam, which is flexible and rigid (Rejab et al., 2010; Shan, Ghazali, & Idris, 2013;
Verjedo et al., 2009). Flexible and rigid PU foams are two predominant application
forms of PU with coatings, sealants, elastomers, and adhesives being other common
forms of applications. PU foam can be produced with open-cell structure to be more
flexible or a close cell structure to be more rigid. Generally, PU foam is one of the
major products of urethane material. The characteristic of PU foam can be changed by
adjusting the chemical composition of the raw materials, in particular polyol and
isocyanate in which the PU properties mainly depend on the types of polyol such as
functionality and hydroxyl value (Lim, Kim, & Kim, 2008). The formation of PU foam
follows the same general reaction of isocyanate with polyol shown in Figure 1, and both
are derived when polymerization reactions occur similar to nearly all polymeric
1639
Acoustic performance of green polymer foam from renewable resources after UV exposure
materials (Aeyzarq Muhammad Hadzreel & Siti Rabiatull Aisha, 2013; Hardinnawirda
& SitiRabiatull Aisha, 2012; Lim et al., 2008; M. Khairul Zaimy, Zafiah, Rus, Ab
Latif, & Nurulsaidatulsyida, 2013). The preparation of PU foam is by two methods:
one-shot method and two-shot method. In the one shot method of fabrication, all
materials are put in a mixing cup and mixed homogeneously before they are poured into
the mold. In the two-shot method, the isocyanate is added to the mixture at the second
stage. According to (Abdel Hakim, Nassar, Emam, & Sultan, 2011), the prepared
formation of rigid PU foams were synthesized in the one-shot method using polyol
based on sugar-cane bagasse.
Figure 1. The general reaction of diisocyanate with polyol to form polyurethane

linkages (Lim et al., 2008)
The forming process of PU foam consists of three basic stages, namely, bubble
initiation, bubble growth and cell opening (Klempner & Sendijarevic, 2004). The
bubble initiation was initially introduced by physically bending air into the mixture. The
bubble growth occurs when the gas diffuses and expands the gas phase due to increasing
the forming temperature. The gas may originate from sources such as a gas involved in
water reaction, blowing agents, carbon dioxide and surfactant. The heat generated
during the reactions due to exothermic process plays an important role in expansion to
form a cellular structure. The bubble continues to grow, and begins the cell opening to
produce polyurethane foam. Natural vegetable oil, which was recently considered to be
one of the most important classes of renewable sources, has high potential for synthesis
and of becoming a new polyol source for PU. It can also be replaced for commercial
polyol in manufacturing PU. Developing renewable resources such as soybean oil,
canola oil, rapeseed oil, corn oil, palm oil, sunflower and linseed oil for the polymer
industry has become highly desirable for both economic and environmental reasons
(Rus, 2009). Successful PU elastomers synthesis using vegetable oil derived polyol
revealed the improvement of thermal stability and oxidation resistance (Mohamed &
Atan, 2012; Zhang, Jeon, Malsam, Herrington, & Christopher, 2007).
Polyol is traditionally produced from petroleum. The production of polyols from
petrochemicals is costly, requires a great deal of energy, and has adverse effects on the
environment. Hence, the bio-polyol from vegetable oil that is non-petroleum based,
renewable, less costly, and more eco-friendly, can be applied as an alternative to reduce
consuming petroleum based. The bio-polyols synthesized from vegetable oils are
attractive alternatives for producing green polymer foam. Among the different natural
oils, the vegetable oils from palm oil are widely explored for bio-polyol synthesis due to
the main components existing in vegetable oil, triglycerides, which are available as
platform chemicals for polymer synthesis. The several reactive positions of triglyceride
vegetable oil are saturated and unsaturated fatty acids which are useful in many
synthesis transformations and have become new polyol sources. In the polymer
industry, vegetable oils, which represent a major potential source of chemicals, have
been utilized as an alternative feedstock for bio-monomers (Rus, 2009; Suresh, Kong,
Bouzidi, & Sporns, 2007). PU foam is defined as acoustic material. The sound
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Mat Hassan and Rus /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1639-1648
absorption measurement is related to the capacity of material to absorb, reflect, and

dissipate acoustic energy. Sound absorption constitutes one of the major requirements
for human comfort today in automobiles, manufacturing environments, and equipment
generating higher sound pressure. This drives the need to develop more efficient and
economical ways of producing sound absorption materials. Industrial applications of
sound absorption generally include the use of materials such as glass wool, foam,
mineral fibres, and their composites. For automotive industries, sound absorption is an
important issue; the developed sound insulation should be efficient by means of getting
the sound reduced and, economically, it is necessary to produce sound absorbing
material which is cheap, user friendly, and moderate sound absorbent coefficient. The
absorption is desired at lower frequencies, thickness, and weight. A sound absorber with
different specific airflow resistance can be used to achieve desirable results. One
method of increasing flow resistivity is the addition of a flow resistant scrim or film
layer. A scrim is a fibrous cover layer with finite flow resistance, and a film is a plastic
cover layer with infinite flow resistance (Zhang, Junqing, Zhen, Fenglei, & Yudong,
2012). This paper emphasizes the effect of the Ultraviolet (Annie Paul et al.) on flexible
and rigid green polymer foam using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and sound
absorption coefficient (Baldoukas et al.) by impedance tube test. Furthermore, it
determines the morphology structure of flexible and rigid green polymer foam after UV
exposure up to 240 hours. The sound absorption performance of the flexible and rigid
green polymer foam was measured at low and high frequency level.
METHODOLOGY
Materials
Green bio-monomer from waste vegetable oil, Polymethane Polyphenyl Isocyanate

(Modified Polymeric-MDI) (viscosity at 25oC = 120 – 160cps, specific gravity at 25oC
= 1.18 – 1.20g/ml, NCO Content, % wt = 26.3 – 27.3) and Polymethane Polyphenyl
Isocyanate (diisocyanate-diphenylmethane (MDI) (Viscosity at 25oC = 150 – 250 cps,
Specific Gravity at 25oC = 1.22 – 1.25 g/ml, NCO Content = 30.5 – 32.0% wt.).
Sample Preparations
Green bio-monomer based on waste cooking oil from Small Medium Entrepreneur
(SMEs) was prepared by using in-house catalyst preparation to generate the epoxides
from unsaturated fatty compound, which comprises the acid-catalyst ring opening of the
epoxides to form polyols (Rus, 2008, 2009, 2010). The green monomer was mixed with
Modified Polymeric-MDI and diisocyanate-diphenylmethane (Abou-El-Hossein et al.)
was prepared by simple open casting method to produce the green bio-polymer foam.
The mixture was poured into an open mold and allowed to rise freely and the green
polymer foam was removed from the mold after 12 hours. The samples were exposed to
the UV light in UV Lamp Test Chamber Model HD-703 (Haida International
Equipment Co., LTD) at different exposure times at 40°C. The UV exposure of the
samples was carried out using an array of UV fluorescent lamps emitting light in the
region of 280 to 320 nm with a tail extending to 400 nm.
1641
Scanning Electron Microscope
The top surface of each green polymer foam samples was sputter coated with gold at
25mA plasma current and 2Pa of camber pressure to make them conducting. Cellular
structure images were examined by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) of
JEOL-JSM6380LA operates at 15kV at 30X magnification.
Acoustic Property
The green bio-polymer foam samples were tested by impedance tube test according to
ASTM E1050 and ISO 10534-2 for horizontally mounted orientation sensitive materials
for the frequency range of 100-6300 Hz. Impedance tube was used to test the sound
absorption of the samples at low frequency level by using 100 mm sample diameter,
while sound absorption at high frequency was determined by using 28 mm sample
diameter.
Characteristic of green polymer foam after UV exposure
The degradation of foam usually starts on the outer surface of the green polymer foam
where it is exposed to UV light. UV degradation leads to discoloration which usually
shows the reduction of property (Rus, 2009). In Figure 2, green polymer foams show
yellowing on the exposed surface of UV light for sound absorption test. The green
polymer foams have more yellowing after increasing the time of exposure to UV light.
According to Xu et al. (Papuga), the UV irradiated samples of green polymer foams
give less ductile due to polymer molecules in the foam break (chain-scission), crosslink
or suffer substitution reaction in an aggressive environment.
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Yellowing of green polymer foam: (a) before UV exposure and (b) after UV
exposure of acoustic sound absorption measurement sample.
Morphology of green polymer foam
The cross section surfaces of rigid green polymer foam exposed and unexposed to UV
light were observed with SEM as shown in Figure 3 (a) and Figure 3 (b). The shapes of
the cells are spherical and close cell structure of rigid green polymer. The cell structure
is homogenous, with small struts and lamellae before exposure to UV light as shown in
Figure 3 (a). However, the morphology structure after UV exposure is non-homogenous
1642
with small struts, as shown in Figure 3 (b). The average cell size indicates that the
highest cellular cell size is 432.1µm of UV exposure; in comparison, unexposed sample
to UV light is 501.5µm. Additionally, Figure 3 (a) reveals that no cracks were observed
on the surface of the original rigid green polymer foam before exposure to UV. Also, in
Figure 3 (b), some inclined cracks occur on the rigid green polymer foam surface
samples after exposure to UV for 240 hours.
(a) (b)
Figure 3. SEM micrograph of rigid green polymer foam: (a) before UV exposure and
(b) after UV exposure with the red circle indicating crack area.
(a) (b)
Figure 4. SEM micrograph of flexible green polymer foam: (a) before UV exposure and
(b) after UV exposure.
Figure 4 shows flexible green polymer foam morphological structure with and
without UV exposure of sound absorption test specimens. The flexible green polymer
foam represents open-cell cellular structure and anisotropic. (Goren, Chen, Schadler, &
Ozisik, 2010)reported that almost all man-made foams are anisotropic. The open-cell
structure comprises many small open windows located on the cell wall and these cause
the struts formed in between the open window (Klempner & Sendijarevic, 2004). The
SEM results present the cell distribution of green polymer flexible foam without UV
exposure, showing uniform pore distribution, smaller cell size, and homogeneity. The
morphology of cell structure of flexible green polymer foam is identical before and after
1643
UV exposure. The larger cells were found with UV exposure is 604.2 µm compared
with the cellular structure of the flexible green polymer foam without UV exposure is
411.4 µm. The difference of cellular structure of both flexible green polymer foam due
to the thicker struts gives the cell wall with large surface areas of the cell wall. In
addition, the effect of UV exposure of green polymer foam was examined in terms of
the little changes of the pore density distribution. The pore density of green polymer
foam was obtained by (Kumar & Suh, 1990) method. In this method, the number of
pores was examined by counting the pore in the SEM micrographs (Kumar & Suh,
1990). The magnification is M, area of SEM image is A, and (n.M2/A) would give pore
density per unit area and can be converted to pore density per volume, Nv (Eq. 1).
Nv = (n.M2/A)3/2 (1)
Table 1 shows the pore density per volume of green polymer foam in which the
highest gives 68.975 x 106 cm-1 for rigid green polymer foam before UV exposure. The
Nv was decreased during UV exposure down to 59.787 x 106 cm-1 of rigid green
polymer foam. (Goren et al., 2010) investigated the pore density of foam provided by
Eq. 1 based on the final foamed volume and not on the initial volume of the sample,
influenced by filler sizes and filler surface.
Table 1. Number, diameter, and pore density per volume of green polymer foam.
Sample Rigid green Rigid green Flexible green Flexible green
polymer polymer foam of polymer foam polymer foam of
foam UV exposure UV exposure
Number of 22 20 15 12
pore
Diameter 501.5 432.1 411.4 604.2
pore (µm)
Nv (106) 68.975 59.787 38.833 27.786
-1
cm
Sound Absorption Coefficient
The normal incident sound absorption coefficient (Baldoukas et al.) of rigid green
polymer foam was determined as a function of the sound frequency as shown in Figure
5. The plotted curves combine the measured data in the low frequency range of 100-
1600 Hz, where human sensitivity to noise is high and the measured data at high
frequency range is up to 6300 Hz to indicate a whole bandwidth of the 1/3 octave band
frequency (Jiang et al., 2009). The α is defined as the ratio of the acoustic energy
absorbed by the green polymer foam (I incident –I reflection) to the acoustic incident (I incident)
on the surface foam and is dependent on frequency range (Verjedo et al., 2009). The
absorption coefficient was calculated based on the average value of foam at 28 mm
diameter and 100 mm diameter of samples, 10 mm thick at frequency range from 100-
6300 Hz. Figure 5 shows the acoustic absorption coefficient of the rigid green polymer
foam with and without UV exposure. Rigid green polymer foam with UV exposure
gives maximum α of 1 at medium frequency compared with rigid green polymer foam
without UV exposure. The ability of rigid green polymer foam of UV exposure to
absorb noise is the highest at 3600 Hz in which α is approximately equal to 1. This
indicates that sound waves were absorbed when the coefficient reached a value of 1
1644
(Parikh, Chen, & Sun, 2006). However, the peak of rigid green polymer foam without
UV exposure gives the highest α at 2800 Hz, which is 0.91. Hence, at low frequency
range, the rigid green polymer foam without UV exposure is better compared with UV
exposure. This behaviour occured due to the effect of UV exposure on the morphology
cell structure characteristic in which the cell size was decreased as tabulated in Table 1.
0.8
Sound Absorption
Coefficient
0.6
0.4
Rigid green polymer foam
0.2
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Frequency, Hz
Figure 5. Absorption coefficient (Baldoukas et al.) of rigid green polymer foams with
and without UV exposure.
1
0.8
Sound Absorption
Coefficient
0.6
0.4
Flexible green polymer
foam
0.2
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Frequency, Hz
Figure 6. Absorption coefficient (Baldoukas et al.) of flexible green polymer foams with
and without UV exposure.
The sound absorption property of flexible green polymer foam with and without
UV exposure was analyzed based on Figure 6. At low frequency range, it is observed
that the flexible green polymer foam without UV exposure gives the highest α compared
with the UV exposure sample. The maximum α, 0.54, at the lower level frequency at
1280 Hz, indicated that only 54% of the incident sound waves were absorbed by the
noise absorbing material. However, the α decreases by 18.5% at the low frequency level
of UV exposure sample due to the larger size of porous cell, thus reducing the
absorption coefficient at low frequency level (Crocker & Jorge, 2010). At higher
frequency level, α is approximately equal to 1 at 4500 Hz without UV exposure, while
the α drops to 0.84 at the same frequency level after UV exposure. The α of flexible
1645
green polymer foam before UV exposure is better compared with after UV exposure at
the whole frequency level. The decreasing of α was related to the increasing size of cell
structure based on SEM morphology, thus influencing the sound absorption
performance. According to (Verjedo et al., 2009), the sound absorption characteristic
was improved by decreasing the cell size and increasing the tortuosity of the foam.
Noise Reduction Coefficient
In order to analyse the effect of UV exposure to acoustic property of rigid and flexible
green polymer foam, the noise reduction coefficient (NRC) was calculated according to
eq. (2) using the average value of α obtained in sound absorption test (Borlea, Rusu,
Ionescu, & Ionescu, 2011). This equation is used to determine the noise reduction
coefficient at lower frequency, which is 250-2000 Hz, but not at high frequency.
NRC = [(α100 + α200 +α1000 + α2000) /4] (2)
0.25
Without UV exposure
With UV exposure
0.2
Noice Reduction Coefficient
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Rigid green foam Flexible green foam
Figure 7. Noise reduction coefficient (NRC) of rigid and flexible green polymer foams
with and without UV exposure.
The NRC represents the amount of sound energy absorbed upon striking a particular
surface of green polymer foam. Figure 7 shows the variation which occurs in NRC of
exposed and unexposed green polymer foam. The NRC of rigid green polymer foam
gives the lowest value of 0.1407, but this increased after UV exposure to 0.1974.
However, the NRC of flexible green polymer foam, which increased with UV exposure,
is 0.2339; this is compared with 0.1786 before UV exposure. The NRC value is often
useful in the determination of the applicability of a material to a particular situation.
However, where low or very high frequencies are involved, it is usually better to
consider sound absorption coefficient instead of NRC data.
1646
CONCLUSIONS
The polyol based on waste vegetable oil could be used as one of the raw materials for
preparation of green polymer foam. The morphology structure of rigid green polymer
foam exhibited reduction in close cell structure size with UV exposure compared with
flexible green polymer foam of open cell structure and increased cell size after UV
exposure. In addition, the cell size diameter of green polymer foam influences by
increasing the exposure time of UV light, while it decreased the sound absorption at low
frequency level, hence less ductility of green polymer foam property.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank the Malaysian Government and University Tun Hussein
Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Johor and Malaysian Technical University Center of
Excellence (MTUN CoE) for supporting this research study under research grant Vot
C014 and C015.
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1648
ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK MODELING OF GRINDING OF

DUCTILE CAST IRON USING WATER BASED SiO2 NANOCOOLANT
M.M. Rahman, K. Kadirgama and Azma Salwani Ab Aziz

26600 Pekan Pahang, Malaysia
Email: mustafizur @ump.edu.my
Phone: +6094246239; Fax: +6094246222
ABSTRACT
This paper presents optimization of the grinding progress of ductile cast iron using
water-based SiO2 nanocoolant. Conventional and water-based nanocoolant grinding was
performed using a precision surface grinding machine. The study is aimed to investigate
the effect of table speed and depth of cut on the surface roughness and material removal
rate (MRR). Mathematical modeling is developed using the response surface method.
An artificial neural network model is developed for predicting the surface roughness
and MRR. Multi-layer perception and a batch back propagation algorithm are used.
MLP is a gradient descent technique to minimize the error through a particular training
pattern in which it adjusts the weight by a small amount at a time. From the experiment,
the depth of cut is directly proportional to the surface roughness, but the table speed is
inversely proportional to the surface roughness. The higher the value of the depth of cut,
the lower the value of MRR, and vice versa for the table speed. It is concluded that the
surface quality together with the material removal rate are the most affected by the
depth of cut(s) and table speed.
Keywords: Grinding, water based nanocoolant; SiO2, surface roughness; material

removal rate; multi-layer perception; back propagation.
INTRODUCTION
Grinding is a manufacturing process with unsteady process behavior, whose complex

characteristics determine the technological output and quality (Krajnik, Kopac, & Sluga,
2005; Malkin & Guo, 2007). Grinding is actually a finishing process used to improve
surface finish, abrade hard materials, and tighten the tolerance on flat and cylindrical
surfaces by removing a small amount of material. A cylindrical grinding machine
rotates the workpiece as the cutting tool feeds into it. The material removal rate (MRR)
depends largely on the machine current and the spark on time in the cutting process
(Hussein, Sharma, Bakar, & Kadirgama, 2013; Khan, Rahman, Kadirgama, & Bakar,
2012b; Krajnik et al., 2005; Najiha, Rahman, Kamal, Yusoff, & Kadirgama, 2012).
The speed of the material removal rate is specified on the rate of material that is being
removed. The MRR is influenced by the melting temperature of the workpiece, where a
lower melting temperature will gave faster MRR (Kadirgama, Abou-El-Hossein, Noor,
Sharma, & Mohammad, 2011; Khan, Rahman, Kadirgama, Maleque, & Ishak, 2011;
Noor, Kadirgama, Habeeb, Rahman, & Mohammad, 2010; Yusoff, Mohamed Suffian,
& Taib, 2011). The quality of a machined surface is characterized by the accuracy of its
1649
Artificial neural network modeling of grinding of ductile cast iron using water based SiO2 nanocoolant
manufacture with respect to the dimensions specified by the designer. Every machining
operation leaves characteristic evidence on the machined surface. This evidence is in the
form of finely spaced micro irregularities left by the cutting tool. Each type of cutting
tool leaves its own individual pattern which can therefore be identified. This pattern is
known as surface roughness. Surface roughness is one of the most important factors for
evaluating workpiece quality during the finishing process because the quality of surface
affects the functional characteristics of the workpiece, such as fatigue and fracture
resistance and surface friction (Samhouri & Surgenor, 2005).
Nanofluids have the potential to be the next generation of coolants due to their
significantly higher thermal conductivities (Najiha, Rahman, & Yusoff, 2013; Najiha,
Rahman, Yusoff, & Kadirgama, 2012; Rahman & Kadirgama, 2014; Rahman, Yusoff,
& Kadirgama, 2012). Nanofluids are formed by dispersing nanoparticles in base fluids
such as water. It has been reported that the thermal conductivities of nanofluids increase
dramatically due to the high thermal conductivity of solid particles suspended in the
heat transfer fluid (Ding et al., 2007; Hussein, Bakar, Kadirgama, & Sharma, 2013b;
Hussein, Bakar, Kadirgama, & Sharma, 2014). Nanofluids/nanoparticles are particles
that have one dimension that is 100 nanometers or less in size. The properties of many
conventional materials change when formed from nanoparticles. This is typically
because nanoparticles have a greater surface area per weight than larger particles; this
causes them to be more reactive to certain other molecules. Nanoparticles are used, or
being evaluated for use, in many fields, especially in medication and engineering fields.
The machining process is very complex, thus experimental and analytical
models that are developed by using conventional approaches such as the statistical
regression technique combined with the response surface methodology (Boersma) have
remained as an alternative in the modeling of the machining process. RSM is practical,
economical and relatively easy to use. The experimental data was utilized to build the
mathematical model for a first-and-second order model using the regression method.
(Kalidass, Palanisamy, & Muthukumaran, 2012; Khan, Rahman, & Kadirgama,
2012a)stated that when the response can be defined by a linear function of independent
variables, then the approximating function is a first-order model. An artificial neural
network is a system based on the operation of biological neural networks; in other
words, it emulates a biological neural system. Implementation of an artificial neural
network would be necessary because, although computing nowadays is truly advanced,
there are certain tasks that a program made for a common microprocessor is unable to
perform. Artificial neural networks (ANN) have been developed as generalizations of
mathematical models of biological nervous systems (Abraham, 2005; Khan, Rahman,
Kadirgama, Maleque, & Bakar, 2011)The objectives of this project are to investigate
the experimental performance of grinding of ductile cast iron based on the response
surface method, to develop an optimization model for grinding parameters using a
neural network technique, and to investigate the effect of water-based SiO2
nanoparticles on precision surface grinding.
SiO2 Nanofluid Preparation
Silicon-dioxide nanoparticle materials were selected because silicon is commonly added

to the primary coolant to prevent corrosion. A two-step method was used to prepare the
nanofluid; basically, nanoparticles are first produced as a dry powder, typically by inert
1650
gas condensation, which involves the vaporization of a source material in a vacuum

chamber and subsequent condensation of the vapor into nanoparticles through collisions
with a controlled pressure of an inert gas. The resulting nanoparticles are then dispersed
into a fluid in a second processing step. An advantage of this technique in terms of
eventual commercialization of nanofluids is that the inert gas condensation technique
has already been scaled up to economically produce tonnage quantities of nanopowders.
Thus, the dispersed nanoparticles come in liquid form with a volume of one liter having
25 % weight concentration, with 30-40 nm particle size, pH 9, and density equal to 2660
kg/m³. This is diluted to 0.15 % volume concentration. The conversion of weight
percent concentration to volume concentration can be expressed as in Eq. (1). The
equation shows the dilution formula to determine how much distilled water is required
to dilute the initial nanofluid.
SiO2 Particles
30-40 nm
particle size 8.9
pH level
(a) SiO2 nanoparticles (b) Distilled water
(c) Ultrasonic homogenizer (d) Prepared SiO2 nanofluid
Figure 1. Preparation of water-based SiO2 nanocoolants
1651
 w
1  (1)
   
 w  1    ZnO
100  100 
where
1 is the initial volume concentration
 is the weight percent of nanoparticles
 w is the density of water
 ZnO is the density of nanoparticles
For a two-phase system, some important issues have to be faced. One of the
most important issues is the stability of nanofluids, and it remains a big challenge to
achieve the desired stability. To achieve stability in dilution, it is necessary to stir the
solution continuously for one hour with the mixer set to 1000 rpm. Figure 1 shows the
preparation of water-based SiO2 nanocoolants. Nanoparticles have a tendency to
aggregate. The important technique to enhance the stability of nanoparticles in fluids is
the use of surfactants (Hussein, Bakar, Kadirgama, & Sharma, 2013a). However, the
functionality of the surfactants under high temperature is also a big concern, especially
for high-temperature applications. Therefore, no surfactant is applied in this study.
Design of Experiments
Design of experiments (DOE) techniques enable designers to determine simultaneously

the individual and interactive effects of many factors that could affect the output results.
Statistical experimental designs (response surface designs (RSM)) are most widely used
in optimization experiments (Box & Draper, 1987; Khan et al., 2012a; Rahman, Khan,
Kadirgama, Noor, & Bakar, 2010). The central composite design (CCD) is the most
popular of the many classes of RSM designs due to the following three properties
(Rahman, Khan, Kadirgama, Noor, & Bakar, 2011b).
Table 1. Design of experiment table
Variable symbol and Independent Levels

unit variable -1 0 +1
Table speed (mm/s) X1 333.33 500.00 666.67
Depth of cut (μm) X2 0.02 0.04 0.06
The most basic and commonly used artificial neural network (ANN) is multi-layer
perception (MLP) (Rahman, Khan, Kadirgama, Noor, & Bakar, 2011a).For this project,
the gradient is determined using a technique called batch back propagation, one of the
famous training algorithms for MLP, which involves performing computations
backwards through the network. Once the network weights and biases are initialized, the
network is ready for training. The network can be trained for function approximation,
which is nonlinear regression, pattern association, and pattern classification. The
training process requires a set of examples of proper network behavior network inputs
and target outputs. During training, the weights and biases of the network are iteratively
adjusted to minimize the network performance function. The performance function for a
1652
feed forward network is mean square error, which means the average squared error
between the network outputs and the target outputs. All these algorithms use the
gradient of the performance function to determine how to adjust the weights to
minimize performance. The objective of the developed ANN is to predict the surface
roughness and MRR for conventional and nanocoolant grinding. The available data set
from the experimental study was divided into two sets: training and testing sets. The
experimental data set consists of 9 values representing grinding passes and types of
coolant. The ANN model was trained using 5 randomly selected data (accounting for
50% of the total data) while the remaining four data (accounting for 25% each) were
utilized for testing and validation of the network performance. There are many
variations of the batch back propagation algorithm. The simplest implementation of
batch back propagation learning updates the network weights and biases in the direction
in which the function decreases most rapidly, the negative of the gradient (Khan et al.,
2012b). There are two different ways in which this gradient descent algorithm can be
implemented: incremental mode and batch mode. In incremental mode, the gradient is
computed and the weights are updated after each input is applied to the network and
before the weights are updated. In batch mode, the weights and biases of the network
are updated only after the entire training set has been applied to the network. The
gradients calculated for each training example are added together to determine the
change in the weights and biases. The primary objective in batch back propagation is to
explain how to use the batch back propagation training functions in the toolbox to train
the feed forward neural networks to solve specific problems. The architecture of the
developed ANN model is shown in Figure 2.
Input nodes Hidden layers Output layers
Table
Speed
Surface
Roughness
Depth
of Cut
MRR
Grinding
Pattern
Figure 2. Architecture of the developed ANN model
Mathematical Modeling
After conducting the conventional coolant and SiO2 nanocoolant grinding with single
and multiple grinding patterns, the experimental data were used to find parameters
appearing in the postulated second order model. RSM comprises a body of methods for
exploring for the optimum operating conditions through experimental methods. Table 2
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and Table 3 present the ANOVA results for second-order modeling of MRR for
conventional coolant and SiO2 nanocoolant grinding respectively. The R2 is 0.98 and the
RMSE is just 0.0075. The P-values for the lack of fit for both cases are more than 0.005.
Therefore, both models are adequate and fit for analysis. The regression equation’s low
P-value (<0.05) indicates that the model is considered to be statistically significant
(Fristak, Remenarova, & Lesny, 2012). A value of P < 0.0001 indicates the statistical
significance of a quadratic model. On the basis of this investigation, the relationship
between the independent variables (table speed, depth of cut) and the response (surface
roughness, MRR) can be explained according to the regression model. The goodness of
the model can be confirmed by the coefficients of determination R2 which are close to 1,
which are very high and indicate a high correlation between the experimental and
predicted values. Figure 3(b) shows the result of single pass and multi pass conventional
and water based silicon oxide nanocoolant grinding (Khan et al., 2012a). The predicted
values are found to be in good agreement with the experimental readings.
Table 2. ANOVA results of second-order model for conventional grinding.
Source Degree of freedom Sum of sq. F-static P-value

Single pass grinding
Model 5 0.01334571 47.3250 0.0012
Error 4 0.00022560
C total 9 0.01357131
Lack of fit 3 0.00013807 0.5258 0.7383
Pure error 1 0.00008753
Total error 4 0.00022560
Multiple pass grinding
Model 5 0.01279319 52.9849 0.0010
Error 4 0.00019316
C total 9 0.01298635
Lack of fit 3 0.00006303 0.1615 0.9114
Pure error 1 0.00013013
Table 3. ANOVA results of second-order model for SiO2 nanocoolant.
Source Degree of freedom Sum of sq. F-static P-value

Model 5 0.00342293 4.1484 0.0964
Error 4 0.00066010
C total 9 0.00408303
Lack of fit 3 0.00027741 0.2416 0.8625
Pure error 1 0.00038269
Model 5 0.00761519 11.7096 0.0168
Error 4 0.00052027
C total 9 0.00813546
Lack of fit 3 0.00043078 1.6046 0.5125
Pure error 1 0.00008949
1654
The mathematical model of the material removal rate for conventional coolant
and SiO2 nanocoolant with single pass and multiple pass grinding is as follows:
MRRConv- singlepass =0.06944 + 0.02507  TS + 0.03762  DOC

(1)
+ TS  (DOC*0.01556 ) + TS  (TS  0.00687 )+ DOC  (DOC  -0.00228 )
MRRConv- multiplepass =0.01893 +-0.00163  TS + 0.02089  DOC + TS 

(2)
(DOC  0.00067 ) + TS  (TS  -0.00447 ) + DOC  (DOC  0.01831 )
MRRSiO2- sin gle pass = 0.07993 + 0.02780  TS + 0.03521  DOC

(3)
+ TS  (DOC  0.01210 ) + TS  (TS  0.007148 ) + DOC  (DOC  -0.00351 )
MRRSiO2- multiplepass = 0.40203 + 0.02172  TS + 0.00027  DOC

(4)
+ TS  (DOC  -0.02792 ) + TS  (TS  0.02671 ) + DOC  (DOC  -0.00397 )
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 3. (a) Conventional-single pass; (b) SiO2-single pass; (c) conventional-multiple

pass; (d) SiO2-multiple pass
1655
Artificial Neural Network Modeling
The ANN model is developed for predicting the surface roughness and MRR. The
predictions of the trained ANN for depth of cut and table speed are selected. To develop
the ANN model, the network is processed through two stages, which are the training
stage and testing/validation stage. In the training stage, the network is tested to stop or
continue training it, and it is used to predict an output. It is also used to calculate
different measures of error. The network training process is stopped when the testing
error is within the tolerance limits. Figure 4 shows the actual versus predicted values for
conventional-single pass by ANN analysis. The blue line indicates the experimental
output and the red line indicates the prediction output (target). The ANN prediction
yields the statistical coefficients, giving the correlation coefficient (R2) value 0.99 for
both cases. The regression coefficients obtained from testing of the ANN were perfect
and within the acceptable limits in both cases. As the correlation coefficient approaches
1, the accuracy of the prediction advances. Thus, the correlation coefficient range is
very close to 1. Consequently, it indicates excellent agreement between the
experimental and the ANN predicted results. Tables 4 and 5 present the architecture
search for conventional coolant and SiO2 nanocoolant with multiple pass grinding
respectively. ID 2 is selected for surface roughness and MRR prediction due to the
highest R2 values.
Table 4. Architecture search for conventional coolant with multiple pass grinding
ID N F TrE VE TE C R-S SR
Surface roughness
1 1 0.883953 0.022513 0.004986 0.013174 0.986941 0.883953 AID
2 18 0.998321 0.002172 0.012646 0.028586 0.999780 0.998321 AID
3 11 0.988417 0.007610 0.016988 0.029194 0.998375 0.988417 AID
4 7 0.979744 0.010036 0.013179 0.029276 0.997141 0.979744 AID
5 15 0.989209 0.007556 0.020554 0.030841 0.998260 0.989209 AID
6 13 0.987268 0.008047 0.005581 0.028366 0.997699 0.987268 AID
7 16 0.993438 0.004869 0.009234 0.029381 0.999467 0.993438 AID
8 17 0.989079 0.006394 0.005369 0.035876 0.998707 0.989079 AID
MRR
1 1 0.991968 0.001431 0.006565 0.023644 0.998313 0.991968 AID
2 18 0.997905 0.000689 0.005742 0.019354 0.999538 0.997905 AID
3 11 0.997393 0.000797 0.005898 0.020232 0.999374 0.997393 AID
4 7 0.995553 0.001062 0.005858 0.021403 0.998847 0.995553 AID
5 15 0.997747 0.000720 0.002203 0.016833 0.999494 0.997747 AID
6 13 0.996744 0.000884 0.001452 0.016369 0.999219 0.996744 AID
7 16 0.996340 0.000959 0.000725 0.010336 0.999101 0.996340 AID
8 14 0.997379 0.000795 0.002581 0.015343 0.999381 0.997379 AID
Note: N= Neurons, F= Fitness, TEr= Training error, VE= Validation error, TE= Testing
error, C= Correlation, R-S= R-square, SR= Stop reason, AID = All iterations done
Optimization
From the experimental and analysis results for single and multi pass conventional
grinding, the minimum surface roughness and maximum MRR were chosen from all of
1656
the data. From the data, two values of the lowest surface roughness were carried out
from each analysis since surface roughness is most prior than MRR which is 0.204 and
0.250 for 1st order of RSM, 0.186 and 0.247 for 2nd order of RSM, and also 0.237 and
0.317 for RBF. Of the two values of the surface roughness, the one with the higher
MRR value was chosen. So, we can conclude that the table speed 666.67mm/s with 0.02
µm depth of cut is the best optimized value that can be used for single pass conventional
grinding. Comparisons between the RSM model and ANN for conventional coolant and
SiO2 nanocoolant are presented in Tables 6 and 7 respectively.
(a) Surface roughness
(b) MRR
Figure 4. Actual versus predicted values for SiO2-single pass
1657
Table 5. Architecture search for SiO2 nanocoolant with multiple pass grinding
ID N F TrE VE TE C R-S SR
Surface roughness
1 1 0.952358 0.008931 0.018053 0.037088 0.984222 0.952358 AID
2 18 0.995183 0.002422 0.024921 0.031183 0.999099 0.995183 AID
3 11 0.984284 0.005360 0.016197 0.013763 0.996549 0.984284 AID
4 7 0.982542 0.005600 0.020976 0.022371 0.996423 0.982542 AID
5 15 0.990264 0.003976 0.020695 0.024468 0.998350 0.990264 AID
6 13 0.990996 0.003833 0.022881 0.017140 0.998422 0.990996 AID
7 14 0.989989 0.004026 0.009807 0.025953 0.998105 0.989989 AID
8 12 0.988438 0.004399 0.007814 0.011753 0.998019 0.988438 AID
MRR
1 1 -0.315868 0.028451 0.006431 0.028397 0.160204 0.315868 AID
2 18 0.628088 0.014661 0.005098 0.042006 0.913600 0.628088 AID
3 11 0.790516 0.011528 0.003650 0.055038 0.971231 0.790516 AID
4 7 0.966930 0.004116 0.010974 0.073012 0.992002 0.966930 AID
5 4 0.434784 0.019056 0.011107 0.048682 0.849345 0.434784 AID
6 9 0.897173 0.008106 0.008975 0.066582 0.983870 0.897173 AID
7 5 0.307026 0.020752 0.005979 0.043788 0.739724 0.307026 AID
8 8 0.460940 0.019919 0.008800 0.042534 0.828332 0.460940 AID
9 6 -0.51821 0.032062 0.009124 0.023176 0.551642 -0.51821 AID
Note: N= Neurons, F= Fitness, TrE= Training error, VE= Validation error, TE= Testing error, C=
Correlation, R-S= R-square, SR= Stop reason, AID = All iterations done
Table 6. Comparison between RSM model and ANN for conventional coolant
Surface roughness MRR

Table Depth
speed of cut RSM RSM
(mm/s) (μm) Exp. 1st 2nd RBF Exp. 1st 2nd RBF
order order order order
666.67 0.02 0.151 0.186 0.170 0.164 0.046 0.074 0.049 0.041
666.67 0.04 0.181 0.214 0.174 0.172 0.097 0.115 0.101 0.099
666.67 0.02 0.186 0.218 0.197 0.191 0.063 0.079 0.071 0.065
666.67 0.04 0.189 0.219 0.199 0.193 0.113 0.130 0.121 0.115
Table 7. Comparison between RSM model and ANN for silicon oxide nanocoolant
Surface roughness MRR

Table Depth
RSM RSM
speed of cut
(mm/s) (μm) Exp. st 2nd RBF Exp. 1st 2nd RBF
1 order
order order order
666.67 0.02 0.189 0.244 0.226 0.217 0.015 0.040 0.020 0.017
666.67 0.04 0.245 0.350 0.317 0.307 0.03 0.026 0.008 0.006
666.67 0.02 0.238 0.281 0.240 0.246 0.107 0.153 0.112 0.109
666.67 0.04 0.283 0.320 0.278 0.283 0.090 0.108 0.099 0.091
1658
CONCLUSIONS
It has become increasingly important for manufacturers to implement sustainability in

tool and process design. In order to optimize the two parameters to yield the minimum
surface roughness and the maximum material removal rate value in the process, a
combination of knowledge of variable table speed and depth of cut parameters is
crucial. The model was of an adequate fit and acceptable for sustainable grinding using
0.25% volume concentration of silicon dioxide nanocoolant. The results clearly show
that the parameters used were positively correlated with the surface roughness and
MRR. The SiO2 multiple pass grinding gives the best value of percentage error between
the RSM and the experimental value is 0.4%. The grinding process with SiO2
nanocoolant gives the best result for surface roughness and surface finish compared to
conventional grinding. This paper quantifies the impact of water based SiO2
nanoparticle coolant on the achieved surface quality. It is concluded that the surface
quality has the greatest impact on the depth of cut(s) and table speed.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Universiti Malaysia Pahang for financial support under
university research project no. RDU120310.
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1661
EFFECT OF MECHANICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FIBRIN

GEL ON MICROVASCUAL DEVELOPMENT IN A THREE-DIMENSONAL
ANGIOGENESIS ASSAY
G. N. Vadival1 and I. Sukmana1,2 *

1
IJN-UTM Cardiovascular Engineering Center (Rao, Peterson, Ceccarelli, Putnam, &
Stegemann) and Medical Devices Technology Research Group (Mediteg), Faculty of
Biosciences and Medical Engineering,
Block V01, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Johor Bahru, 81310 Malaysia.
*Email: irza.sukmana@gmail.com
Phone: +6075558502; Fax: +6075559515
2
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lampung,
Jl. Prof. Dr. Soemantri Brojonegoro 1, Bandar Lampung, 35143 Indonesia.
ABSTRACT
This work aims to determine the mechanical and biophysical properties of fibrin gel for
the purpose of angiogenesis study and microvascular development in a three-
dimensional (3D) environment. In the human body system, fibrin gel is known to be an
extracellular matrix (ECM) that actively promotes homeostasis during blood vessel
formation, wound healing and other inflammation processes. In this study, we first test
the effect of fibrin and thrombin composition on mechanical and biophysical properties
of the gel. Further in vitro experiments using human umbilical vein endothelial cells
(HUVECs) were also conducted to find the optimum fibrinogen/thrombin concentration
for the angiogenesis assay using a sandwich fibrin gel system. A fibrinogen/thrombin
concentration of 2.0/1.0 results in optimum gel properties for three dimensional
angiogenesis assay, which does not appear in other fibrinogen/thrombin concentrations.
This sandwiched polymer fiber system has a potential future application for
angiogenesis assay in tissue engineering and cardiovascular research.
Keywords: Mechanical properties; angiogenesis; three-dimensional assay; HUVECs.
INTRODUCTION
Fibrin gel is a biomaterial which is widely used in many various biomedical areas,
including as bone tissue, cardiac tissue, nervous tissue and vascular graft and other
tissues (Rao et al., 2012). This biodegradable material functions as matrices for the
delivery and proliferation of living cells. Along with the development of tissue
engineering and regenerative medicine, fibrin glue has been studied to find new
applications (Clark, 2003; Jockenhoevel et al., 2001; Nakatsu & Hughes, 2008).
Among many biopolymers, fibrin appears to be one of the most commonly used
hydrogel as it has the advantage that it can be obtained from and received by the same
person and can thus avoid the risks of foreign body reaction and virus infection
(Sukmana, 2012a). Although fibrin gel has been extensively applied in vitro and
clinical, only in recent years has its significant value been recognized as a cell’s
extracellular matrices for angiogenesis studies. The structural and biochemical
properties of the fibrin polymer also make it a promising candidate as scaffolding in
1662
Vadival and Sukmana /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1662-1668
tissue engineering and regenerative medicines (Laurens, Koolwijk, & De Maat, 2006;
Sukmana, 2012b). The modification and fictionalization of fibrin matrices has been
used to provide control release growth factor to repair damaged tissues (Janmey, Winer,
& Weisel, 2009). Fibrin gel can be produced in vitro by mixing fibrinogen and
thrombin solutions. Studies have shown that different concentrations of fibrinogen and
thrombin affect the polymerization time of fibrin gel, therefore affecting its mechanical
and physical properties. Due to this variation in mechanical and physical properties,
fibrin gel can be manipulated to be used in various applications in the medical field.
Some fibrin gel formulations lack specific mechanical properties compared to the native
extracellular matrix (ECM), therefore strategies have been investigated for the
improvement of their properties for broader application in tissue engineering and
angiogenesis research (Blombäck & Bark, 2004; Sukmana, 2012a). In this study we
tested four different fibrinogen/thrombin concentrations then compared their mechanical
and biophysical properties to find the optimum concentration for angiogenesis study.
Hank’s balanced salt solution (HBSS, H1387), fibrinogen (F4753) and thrombin
(T4546) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Inc. (St Louis, USA). The fibrin gel was
prepared by mixing 1mL of fibrinogen solution (4.0 mg mL-1in HBSS) with 1mL of a
thrombin solution (2U mL-1 in HBSS) to obtain a final concentration of fibrin to
thrombin of 2.0/1.0. The solution was then placed on the bench for the final
polymerization process, about 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature. Human umbilical
vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were purchased from Cambrex (cc-2519,
Walkersville, MD USA). HUVECs were cultured at 37°C and 5% CO2 in M199 culture
medium (M5017, Sigma-Aldrich) supplemented with 100 U/100 μg mL-1
penicillin/streptomycin (15140-122, Invitrogen Corporation, NY, Grand Island, USA),
10% fetal bovine serum (FBS, F1051, Sigma-Aldrich), 2 mM L-glutamine (25030149,
Invitrogen Corporation), and 15 mg mL-1 endothelial growth factor supplement (ECGS,
356006, BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA, USA). HUVECs between passages 2 and 6
were used in all experiments. Fibrin gels were prepared based on four different
concentrations of fibrinogen (mg/mL) to thrombin (Units/mL), (i.e., 2.0/1.0, 2.0/4.0,
0.5/4.0, and 4.0/0.5). For example, the concentration of 2.0/1.0 was prepared with
1mL/well of fibrinogen solution (4.0 mg mL-1) in HBSS mixed with 1mL of a thrombin
solution (2UmL-1) in HBSS. The polymerization process of fibrinogen into fibrin is 5
min at room temperature followed by 20 min inside the incubator at 37°C and 5% CO2.
To test the water uptake, fibrin gel was soaked in saline solution at room temperature
for the relevant time. For example, 1000uL of saline solution was soaked in fibrin gel,
and the volume of PBS which does not diffuse to the gel was measured after 30
minutes. The same procedure was repeated for intervals of one hour, two hours and four
hours and the values recorded. Turbidity is recorded for different time intervals using a
UV-VIS Spectrophotometer (Shimadzu UV 1201) with wavelength 550nm. For SEM
(Scanning Electron Microscopy) imaging, fibrin gel was first fixed with 4%
formaldehyde and rinsed three times with PBS. The fibrin gel was then freeze dried for
12hrs before being coated and observed under FESEM (Zeiss Supra 35Vp Gemini).
For the angiogenesis assay and imaging, HUVECs were first cultured for two
days to cover the polymer monofilament fibers (i.e., poly-(ethylene terephthalate) -
PET). After the covering process, fiber-covered cells were then transferred to the new
well plate and sandwiched between two fibrin gels. The step-by-step process of
1663
Effect of mechanical and biophysical properties of fibrin gel on microvascual development in a three-dimensonal
angiogenesis assay
angiogenesis assay is presented in Figure 1. To observe endothelial cell morphology,

samples were inspected daily under phase contrast microscopy. To prepare the
fluorescence image, cell-seeded fibers were gently washed with PBS (3 times) and fixed
in a formaldehyde solution (3.75%, wt/v) in PBS for 20 min then 3 times in PBS wash.
Cells adhered to fibers were permeabilized with a Triton X-100 solution for 5 min, and
after rinsing, samples were incubated for 1 h in a PBS solution containing 20% (wt/v)
BSA. Samples were then incubated in a solution containing a mixture of TRITC-
phalloidin (1:300 dilution) and Hoechst 33258 (1:10,000 dilution) made in a blocking
buffer solution containing 20% BSA for 1h at room temperature in the dark and rinsed
three times with PBS. Images of microvessels were taken using epi-fluorescence as well
as biological Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope – LSCM (Olympus Fluoview
FV300; Olympus Optical, Tokyo, Japan) equipped with an Olympus IX70 camera and
recorded as high-resolution and as layer-by-layer files. A complete image reconstruction
was made to illustrate microvessels in a 3D fashion. Images were edited with Image-Pro
Plus Software to identify microvessels and lumen formation along the fiber axis.
HUVECs
PET Fibre 1st stage: cell

attachment
Fibrin gel
Inside 6-well process
plate
Fibre-frame
Fiber-frame
Gel containing cells

HUVECs
Cell covered PET covered
PET fibres
Sandwich fibrin gel
Inside 6-well plate
2nd stage: 3D angiogenesis assay HUVEC covered PET fibre
Figure 1. Schematic of a three-dimensional angiogenesis assay.
Fibrin gel was easily formed by mixing solutions of fibrinogen and thrombin. Once
completely clotted, the gel solution loses its fluidity and transforms into hydrogel.
Clotting time highly affects the microstructure and handling properties of fibrin gel
which is mostly controlled through the concentration of fibrinogen and thrombin
(Blombäck & Bark, 2004; Sukmana, 2011). The higher the thrombin composition, the
faster the fibrin glue polymerizes. The concentration of 0.5/4.0 had the lowest clotting
time of 45 seconds and the longest clotting time was for the concentration of 4.0/0.5,
540 seconds. Figure 2 shows the effect of fibrinogen/thrombin concentration on the
1664
mechanical and physical properties of fibrin gel. It shows that with an increase of
thrombin concentration, clotting time decreases. Clotting time seems to be independent
of the fibrinogen concentration (see Figure 2a). With an increase in thrombin
concentration, more fibrinopeptides per unit time will be produced by the cleavage of
fibrinogen, leading to a shorter clotting time. Other studies concluded that the addition
of thrombin concentration increases hydrogen ion concentration, thus promoting faster
shifting of ionic bonding during the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin (Blombäck &
Bark, 2004).
1600
Water uptake (mL)
0.14
1400
0.12
1200
Absorbance
1000 0.1
800 0.08
600 0.06
400 0.04
200 0.02
0
0
0.5 1 2 4
0 200 400 600 800 1000
b Time (hour) c Reaction time (s)
Figure 2. The effect of fibrinogen/thrombin concentration on the properties of fibrin gel:

(a) Clotting time, (b) Water uptake (c) Absorbance.
Higher thrombin concentration results in better water uptake properties in the

fibrin gel, shown in Figure 2b. A fibrinogen/thrombin concentration of 0.5/4.0 had the
highest water uptake and 4.0/0.5 had the lowest. Higher thrombin concentration
produces better cross-linking and a stronger ability to resist shrinkage, therefore more
water can be absorbed compared to a lower thrombin concentration (Sukmana, 2011).
Turbidity can be defined as the decrease in the transparency of a solution due to the
presence of suspended and some dissolved substances, which causes incidental light to
be scattered, reflected, and attenuated rather than transmitted in straight lines (Weisel,
2005). The concentration of 0.5/4.0 has the highest turbidity, while 4.0/0.5 has the
lowest. With an increase in thrombin concentration, more fibrinopeptides per unit time
will be produced by the cleavage of fibrinogen which prevents the light from moving in
a straight line (Figure 2c). Turbidity is one of the most important parameters in
1665
angiogenesis assay
designing scaffolds for in vitro tests in tissue engineering research. Higher turbidity will
decrease the intensity of the fluorescence markers (Sukmana, 2012b).
Changing fibrin/thrombin concentration also changed the microstructure of the
fibrin micro-fibers property (Figure 3), as also presented by other studies (Litvinov,
Gorkun, Owen, Shuman, & Weisel, 2005). A concentration of 0.5/4.0 produced fibrin
gel with a more dense structure and thick fibers. As the fibrinogen concentration
increased (2mg/mL), a slightly loose and porous structure was obtained. At 4mg/ml, the
fibrinopeptides fibers become thinner and correspondingly looser. Along with the
increase of thrombin concentration, the fibers become thinner but the change is not
significant because little difference can be seen in Figure 3b, with a thrombin
concentration of 1U/mL, and Figure 3d, with thrombin concentration of 4U/mL.
3mm 1mm
10mm 2mm
Figure 3. SEM images of the fibrin gel microstructures in four different

fibrinogen/thrombin concentrations: (a) 2.0/4.0, (b) 4.0/0.5, (c) 2.0/1.0, and (d) 0.5/4.0.
Further test using HUVEC embedded in the gel shows that the concentration of
2.0/1.0 was the optimum composition for angiogenesis assays (see Figure 4). After a
day of culture, some cells were able to build cell-to-cell connections along the fiber axis
and even able to bridge between fibers, as shown on the phase contrast microscopy
images (Figure 4a). After a further four days of culture, the cell-to-cell connection
appears homogenously between two fibers (Figure 4b), and shows a tube-like structure
of HUVEC and anastomosis development. The immunofluorescence images in Figure
4a and 4b also confirmed the formation of cell-to-cell connections and tube-like
structure development between two fibers. The maturation process of the patterned
microvessel is also revealed when comparing the microvessel image of two days (Figure
1666
4a) and four days of culture (Figure 4b). This 3D system, in which HUVEC-covered
fibers embedded in the three-dimensional system containing HUVECs, allows a precise
direction of microvessel and angiogenesis formation. A laser scanning confocal
microscopy image of the sample after four days of experiment (Figure 4e) also
confirmed the existence of tube-like structures between the PET fibers.
a b
c d
Polymer fibre
Polymer fiber
Figure 4. Angiogenesis test of the fibrin gel with concentration of 2.0/1.0. Images of
HUVECs after 4 hours and 2 days of culture using: (a-b) phase contrast, and (c-d) epi-
fluorescence, and (e) laser scanning confocal microscopy image. Bars are 100 mm.
CONCLUSIONS
Fibrinogen/thrombin concentration has a significant effect on fibrin gel properties.

Thrombin concentration has more effect on the clotting time and turbidity of the gel,
1667
angiogenesis assay
than fibrinogen. Microstructure observation demonstrated that fibrin hydrogels have a

fibrous structure which is less sensitive to thrombin concentration. A
fibrinogen/thrombin concentration of 2.0/1.0 resulted in optimum gel properties and
angiogenesis development. After four days of culture, the cell-to-cell connection and
tube-like structure appeared homogenously between two. This in vitro angiogenesis
assay allows for broader applications in cardiovascular and tissue engineering research.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author (IS) is supported by UTM RU Tier-1 (vote# 03H12) and MOHE-FRGS
(vote# 4F128) research grants. The authors are grateful to Professor Patrick Vermette,
University of Sherbrooke, QC, Canada for his scientific comments.
REFERENCES
Blombäck, B., & Bark, N. (2004). Fibrinopeptides and fibrin gel structure. Biophysical
Chemistry, 112(2), 147-151.
Clark, R. A. (2003). Fibrin glue for wound repair: Facts and fancy. Thrombosis and
Haemostasis, 90(6), 1003-1006.
Janmey, P. A., Winer, J. P., & Weisel, J. W. (2009). Fibrin gels and their clinical and
bioengineering applications. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 6(30), 1-10.
Jockenhoevel, S., Zund, G., Hoerstrup, S. P., Chalabi, K., Sachweh, J. S., Demircan,
L.et al.Turina, M. (2001). Fibrin gel–advantages of a new scaffold in
cardiovascular tissue engineering. European Journal of Cardio-thoracic
Surgery, 19(4), 424-430.
Laurens, N., Koolwijk, P., & De Maat, M. (2006). Fibrin structure and wound healing.
Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 4(5), 932-939.
Litvinov, R. I., Gorkun, O. V., Owen, S. F., Shuman, H., & Weisel, J. W. (2005).
Polymerization of fibrin: Specificity, strength, and stability of knob-hole
interactions studied at the single-molecule level. Blood, 106(9), 2944-2951.
Nakatsu, M. N., & Hughes, C. C. (2008). An optimized three-dimensional in vitro
model for the analysis of angiogenesis. Methods Enzymol, 443, 65-82.
Rao, R. R., Peterson, A. W., Ceccarelli, J., Putnam, A. J., & Stegemann, J. P. (2012).
Matrix composition regulates three-dimensional network formation by
endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells in collagen/fibrin materials.
Angiogenesis, 15(2), 253-264.
Sukmana, I. (2011). Imaging tools for the analysis of microvessel and angiogenesis
development in a tridimensional cell culture system. 2nd International
Conference on Instrumentation Control and Automation, pp. 181 - 183.
Sukmana, I. (2012a). Bioactive polymer scaffold for fabrication of vascularized
engineering tissue. Journal of Artificial Organs, 15(3), 215-224.
Sukmana, I. (2012b). Microvascular guidance: A challenge to support the development
of vascularised tissue engineering construct. The Scientific World Journal, 2012.
Weisel, J. W. (2005). Fibrinogen and fibrin. Advances in Protein Chemistry, 70, 247-
299.
1668
MODELING STUDIES OF BI- AND QUAD-WING FLAPPING ORNITHOPTER

KINEMATICS AND AERODYNAMICS
H. Djojodihardjo and A. S. S. Ramli
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Email: harijono@djojodihardjo.com
Phone: +6017 416 9045; +628159301745
Email: alifsyamimsyazwan@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Following an earlier attempt to develop a generic approach to model the kinematics and
aerodynamics of a bi-wing flapping wing ornithopter, modeled following a simplified
version of DeLaurier’s approach with appropriate modifications, a flapping quad-wing
ornithopter kinematic and aerodynamic model is also developed. Consideration is given
to the motion of a rigid and thin bi-wing and quad-wing ornithopter in flapping and
pitching motion with phase lag. A basic unsteady aerodynamic approach incorporating
salient features of viscous effect and leading-edge suction is utilized. A parametric
study is carried out to reveal their aerodynamic characteristics and for comparative
analysis with various selected simple models in the literature. In spite of their
simplicity, the results obtained for both models are able to reveal the mechanism of lift
and thrust, and compare well with other works.
Keywords: flapping wing aerodynamics; flapping wing ornithopter; micro air vehicle;
quad-wing ornithopter; bi-wing ornithopter.
INTRODUCTION
Human efforts to mimic flying biosystems such as insects and birds through engineering
feats to meet human needs have progressed for hundreds of years as well as motivated
mankind’s creativity, from Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings to Otto Lilienthal’s gliders,
to modern aircraft technologies and present flapping flight research. Recent interest in
the latter has grown significantly particularly for small flight vehicles (or micro-air-
vehicles) with very small payload-carrying capabilities to allow remote sensing
missions where access is restricted due to various hazards. Some of these vehicles may
have a typical wingspan of 15 cm, with a weight restriction of less than 100 g (Ho,
Nassef, Pornsinsirirak, Tai, & Ho, 2003). The generic train of thought in modeling and
developing an up and down flapping motion configuration with flexible membrane wing
skins can be summarized in Figure 1. Perhaps the most comprehensive account of insect
flight or the entomopter to date is given by (Ellington, 1984, 1999), Dickinson,
Lehmann, and Sane (1999) and Ansari, Żbikowski, and Knowles (2006), while one of
the first successful attempts to develop bird-like flapping flight was made by DeLaurier
(1993). The flapping wing designs have been created with varied success, for either
forward or hover mode, but not both, based on observations of hummingbirds and bats.
According to entomologists, the dragonfly has the capability to shift flight modes
simply by varying the phase lag between its fore and hind wings (Maybury & Lehmann,
1669
Djojodihardjo and Ramli /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1669-1684
2004). With that observation, a quad-winged flapping system could be conceived as the
simplest mechanism that has the capabilities to shift between flights modes. In one of
the recent works in developing a quad flapping wing micro air vehicle, Ratti (2011) has
theoretically shown that a flight vehicle with four flapping wings has 50% higher
efficiency than one with two flapping wings. Inspired by the flight of a dragonfly,
(Prosser, 2011) analyzed, developed and demonstrated a quad-winged air vehicle
(QWAV) which can produce higher aerodynamic performance and energy efficiency,
and has increased payload capacity compared to a conventional (flapping wing) MAV.
(a)(b) (c) (d)
(e) (f) (g) (h)
Figure 1. Comparison of flying biosystems and their modeling as a flapping wing

ornithopter and quad-wing air vehicle (QWAV); (a) soaring eagle exhibiting its wing
geometry and structural detail, (b) pterosaur (Strang, 2009) exhibiting its generic
structure, (c) a dragonfly. and (d) its wings (Nicholson, Page, Dong, & Slater, 2007),
(e) Jackowski (2009) Ornithopter as a functioning model, (f) DeLaurier (1993)
Ornithopter as a large scale mechanized ornithopter, (g) ((Nicholson et al., 2007), and
(h) models of quad-wing air vehicle (Prosser et al., 2011).
Against this backdrop, in the present work, a generic approach is followed to

understand and mimic the unsteady aerodynamics of bio-inspired QWAV, preceded by
an attempt to develop a pterosaur-like ornithopter to produce lift and thrust for forward
flight and hence develop a simple and workable micro-air-vehicle (MAV) ornithopter
flight model. At this stage, such a model does not need to incorporate the more involved
leading edge vortex and wake penetration exhibited by insect flight (Ellington, 1984,
1999). As elaborated successively, the novel approach adopted in this work is in
developing the first and second generic and simplified approach for the analysis of bi-
and quad-wing, the separation of the flapping and pitching contributions to the
aerodynamic forces, and the presentation of the results, among others. A parametric
study assists analysis, and provides insight and optimization by inspection.
1670
Modeling Studies of Bi- and Quad-Wing Flapping Ornithopter Kinematics and Aerodynamics
Table 1. Overview of some relevant characteristics of flapping biosystems.
Small low
Hummi Small Large Flappin
Items Insects Bat speed
ng bird birds birds g MAV
airplanes
Eagle,
Beetles,
Sparrows hawk,
bumblebees, Amazil PlecotusAuritu DARP Cessna
1. Types , swifts, vulture,
butterflies, ia s A DRO 210
robins falcon,
dragonflies,
skua gull
2. Weight 25 × 10-5 -
1 5.1 9.0 35 – 82 952 – 4300 ≤ 50 1045000
typical (gf) 12.8
3. Wing semi-
0.062 – 7.7 5.9 11.5 20 – 48 58 – 102 < 7.5 5600
span (cm) 1
Wing-loading 0.029–
10-3 – 10-1 0.4 0.072 0.35 – 0.67 10-2 – 1 11.18
(g/cm2) 0.152
4. Typical
power (gf cm 5.3 – 238 130 83 93 – 110 42 – 57 39 1.3×104
sec-1 per gf)
5. Dominant
Hover Hover
wing Hover Fly Fly Fly Fly
and fly and fly
movement
99m/s
6. Flight (cruise at
1.05 – 9 15 10 – 14 6 – 10 10 – 20 3–10
speed (m/s) 6100 m
altitude)
7. Reynolds 104 – 10,000,00
10–1000 7500 14000 103 – 104 104 – 105
No. 105 0
LEV by
8. Leading
swept wing
edge yes yes yes yes yes no
at Re = 5 ×
vortex/LEV
103
10. Entering
its own TEV/ yes yes no no no no no
Wake capture
9. Laminar
separation yes yes yes yes yes yes no
bubble/LSB
e.g.
Mallard,
Has been at Re = 6 ×
10. Leading
- - observed on - 104 - -
edge flap
bats
e.g. skua
11. Self- gull
activated flaps
at TE
1
Power functions of wing dimensions and flight parameters against body mass m,
following Shyy, Berg, and Ljungqvist (1999) and Norberg (1970). The exponent of
correlation is for (Mass)exponent
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LEARNING FROM NATURE – OBSERVATION AND CHARACTERIZATION
In view of these findings, the classification tabulated in Table 1 summarizes some of the
relevant features of flapping biosystems that may give us an overview in developing a
flapping ornithopter MAV. A biosystem’s flapping flights are characterized by
relatively low Reynolds number, flexible wing, highly unsteady flow, laminar
separation bubble, non-symmetrical upstroke and downstroke and, for entomopters, the
presence and significant role of the leading edge vortex, and wake vortices capture,
among others. Birds habitually perform aerial maneuvers that exceed the capabilities of
the best anthropogenic / man-made aircraft control systems (Tedrake et al., 2009). The
complexity and variability of the aerodynamics during these maneuvers are difficult,
with dominant flow structures (e.g., vortices) that are difficult to predict robustly from
first-principles (or Navier–Stokes) models. In this conjunction, machine learning will
play an important role in the control design process for responsive flight by building
data-driven approximate models of the aerodynamics and by synthesizing high-
performance nonlinear feedback laws based on these approximate models and trial-and-
error experience.
KINEMATICS OF FLAPPING WING MOTION
The flapping wing motion of ornithopters and entomopters can be generally grouped in
three classes, based on the kinematics of the wing motion and mechanism of forces
generation; the horizontal stroke plane, inclined stroke plane and vertical stroke plane
(Ellington, 1984).
(a)(b) (c)
(d) (e) (f)
Figure 2. A generic semi-elliptical ornithopter’s wing planform with the backdrop of

various wing-planform geometries: from upper left, (a) Harmon (2008) wing model, (b)
Byl (2010) blade-element model, (c) Altshuler, Dudley, and Ellington (2004) wing
model, (d) pterosaur wing structure (Strang, 2009), (e) DeLaurier pterosaur-like
ornithopter wing (2006), (f) a generic semi-elliptical wing planform (Djojodihardjo,
Ramli, & Wiriadidjaja, 2012b).
Based on Ellington’s study (1984, 1999), the kinematics of flight produced by

the generic wing (semi-elliptical wing) can be classified into the inclined stroke plane,
1672
where the resultant force produced by the wing can be separated into vertical and
horizontal components, which are lift, thrust and drag, respectively throughout the up-
stroke and down-stroke cycle; the inclined stroke plane, where a large horizontal thrust
component will be produced; and the vertical stroke plane.
THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE AERODYNAMICS OF BI-WING

FLAPPING ORNITHOPTER
Following the frame of thought elaborated in the previous section, several generic wing
planforms are chosen in the present work as baseline geometries for the ornithopter
wing biomimicry flapping mechanism, including the semi-elliptical wing (shown in
Figure 2) with the backdrop of various wing-planform geometries utilized by various
researchers.
* Parametric Study to assist analysis, provide insight and optimization by

inspection.
Figure 3. Ornithopter flapping wing aerodynamics computational scheme.
The present work resorts to an analytical approach to the flapping wing

aerodynamic problem, which can be separated into quasi-steady and unsteady models.
The quasi-steady model assumes that flapping frequencies are slow enough that shed
wake effects are negligible, as in the pterosaur and medium- to large-sized birds, while
the unsteady approach attempts to model the wake as with hummingbirds and insects.
The quasi-steady approaches are classified into six techniques, which include
momentum theory, blade element theory, hybrid momentum theory, lifting-line theory,
thin-airfoil theory and lifting-surface theory (Smith, Wilkin, & Williams, 1996). Two
generic approaches are followed in the modeling of the aerodynamic calculation of the
lift, drag and thrust generated by flapping wing motion. These are the computation of
1673
lift, drag and thrust generated by the pitching and flapping motion of a three-
dimensional rigid wing using strip theory and Jones’ modified Theodorsen approach
(1935) which incorporate Garrick’s leading edge suction without spanwise twist and
post-stall behavior as a simplified adaptation of DeLaurier’s approach, and the
computation of lift, drag and thrust generated by the pitching and flapping motion of a
three-dimensional rigid wing in a structured method using strip theory and Jones’
modified Theodorsen approach without camber, leading edge suction and post-stall
behavior. The present study also addresses the contribution of wing pitching motion,
flapping motion and coupled motion, as well as investigating the influence of pitch–flap
phase lag, as a novel initiative, and parametric study for insight and optimization
purposes by looking into the influence of the variation of the forward speed, flapping
frequency and pitch–flap phase lag. The results of DeLaurier (1993), Byl (2010), Malik
and Ahmad (2010) and Zakaria, Elshabka, Bayoumy, and AbdElhamid (2009) are used
for validation. The computational logic in the present work is summarized in the flow-
chart exhibited in Figure 3.
Computational Procedure
The procedure basically follows the pitching–flapping motion of rigid wing that is a
structured adaptation and simplification of the method adopted by DeLaurier (1993) and
Harmon (2008).The flapping wing can have three distinct motions with respect to three
axes as: a) Flapping, which is the up and down stroke motion of the wing, which
produces the majority of the bird’s power and has the largest degree of freedom; b)
Feathering, which is the pitching motion of the wing and can vary along the span; c)
Lead-lag, which is in-plane lateral movement of the wing.
(a)
(b)
Figure 4. Angular movement of wing, adapted from Harmon (2008); the stroke plane is
indicated in (a), an adaptation of Ellington’s (1984) configuration (where βp is the stroke
plane angle).
The flapping angle β varies as a sinusoidal function. β and its rate and pitching
angle θ are given by the following equations. The degree of freedom of the motion is
depicted in Figure 4.
1674
y
 (t )  max cos 2 ft ;  (t )  2 f max sin 2 ft ;  (t )  0 cos(2 ft   ) (1)
B
where θ0 is the maximum pitch angle,  is the lag between the pitching and flapping
angle and r is the distance along the span of the wing under consideration.
The vertical and horizontal components of relative wind velocity, as depicted in
Figure 5, can be expressed as
Vx  U cos   (0.75c sin  ) (2)

VZ  U sin   ( y cos  )  (0.75c cos  ) (3)
For horizontal flight, the flight path angle γ is zero. Also, 0.75 c  is the
relative air effect of pitching rate  which is manifested at 75% of the chord length
(DeLaurier, 1993). The relative velocity, relative angle between two velocity
components ψ and the relative angle of attack can be expressed as
 Vz 
V  Vx 2  Vz 2 ;  tan   ; and     
1
(4)
 Vx 
Figure 5. Forces on section of the wing.
The section lift coefficient due to circulation (Kutta-Joukowski condition, flat

plate) is given by (DeLaurier, 1993)
Clc  2C (k )sin  (5)
The sectional lift dLc can then be calculated by
1
dLc  V 2Clc cdy (6)
2
which should be integrated along the span to obtain the flapping-wing lift. Here c and dr
are the chord length and width of the element of the wing under consideration,
respectively. The apparent mass effect (momentum transferred by accelerating air to the
1675
wing) for the section is perpendicular to the wing, and acts at mid chord, and can be
calculated as (Scherer, 1968; Harmon, 2008)
c 2
dN nc   (U  y cos   0.5)dy (7)
4
The drag force has two components, profile drag dDp and induced drag dDi.
These are calculated as
1
dDp  V 2Cdp cdy (8)
2
1
dDi  V 2Cdi cdy (9)
2
where the values for the drag coefficients Cdp , Cdf , Cdi are assumed to be similar to
those associated with basic geometrical cases (such as flat plate, airfoil with tabulated
data and the like). Cf is the skin friction coefficient for flat plate and to account for
profile drag, a factor K is introduced (Harmon, 2008). A maximum value of K of 4.4
will be used (Scherer, 1968). Cdi is the induced drag coefficient, and e is the efficiency
factor of the wing and is 0.8 for an elliptical wing. Total section drag is thus given by
dDd  dDp  dDi (10)
The circulatory lift dLc, non-circulatory force dNnc and drag dDd for each section
of the wing change direction at every instant during flapping. These forces in the
vertical and horizontal directions will be resolved into those perpendicular and parallel
to the forward velocity, respectively. The resulting vertical and horizontal components
of the forces are given by
dL  dLc cos  cos   dNnc cos() cos  cos   dDd sin  cos  (11)
dT  dLc sin  cos   dNnc sin() cos  cos   dDd cos  cos  (12)
and are calculated within one complete cycle, and averaged to get the total average lift
and thrust of the ornithopter.
C’(k), F’(k) and G’(k) relate to the well known Theodorsen function
(Theodorsen, 1935; (Mueller, 2001) which are functions of reduced frequency k. A
more sophisticated procedure (which will be added later on and introduced as a second
method in the results and analysis subchapter) can be done by adding an expression for
the leading edge suction of a two-dimensional airfoil to be applied on the present strip
theory model (Garrick, 1936), introducing additional thrust:
2
 1 c  UV
dTs  s 2   '    cdy (13)
 4 U  2
where α’ is a derivative of α and also the effect of downwash, w0/U which causes a local
induced angle of attack, where it reduces lift (Kuethe, Schetzer, & Chow, 1976).
1676
The results below are obtained using the following wing geometry and parameters:
wingspan 40 cm, aspect ratio 6.2, flapping frequency 7 Hz, total flapping angle 60º,
forward speed 6 m/s, maximum pitching angle 20º, and incidence angle 6º. The
computational scheme developed has been validated satisfactorily. Two methods
(procedures), the first method and second method, are shown for observance purposes
on force production tolerance.
Figure 6. Lift and thrust forces (and drag force for the first computational procedure)
with semi-elliptical planform wing; (a) first computational procedure; (b) second
computational procedure.
Wingbeat of 7 Hz corresponding to the particular worked out example
Wingbeat of 3.14 Hz corresponding to Pennycuick formula
Figure 7. The influence of individual contributions of the pitching–flapping motion and

their phase lag on the flight performance. The influence of the flapping frequency is
consistent, as illustrated in Figure 8.
A sample of such validation is shown in Figure 6, which was obtained using

aerodynamic strip theory and Theodorsen-Jones modified formulations (Theodorsen,
1935; (Jones, 1940), where the geometry is similar to Harmon’s (2008) and the
parameters are relatively close to Harmon’s (2008). The following assumptions were
made: the pitching and flapping motions are in sinusoidal motion, and the upstroke and
downstroke phases have equal time duration. There is an incidence angle, which is 6º
and there is no flight path angle. The phase lag was assumed to be fixed at 90º.
Harmon’s (2008) example did not incorporate the leading edge suction, wake capture
1677
and dynamic stall. As Figure 6 indicates, the computational results using the present
second generic computational procedure have comparable agreement to the measured
results by Harmon (2008) and first generic method (Djojodihardjo et al., 2012b). The
average values for lift per flapping cycle calculated using the first and second
computational procedure are comparable, both for rectangular and semi-elliptical
planforms. Agreement with Byl’s (2010) value of lift per flapping cycle for the
modified elliptical planform is only qualitative, which is understandable given the
simplicity of our models. The average lift per flapping cycle computed using the second
computational procedure for DeLaurier’s pterosaur wing is in excellent agreement with
those obtained by both DeLaurier and Zakaria et al., while for the thrust, the present
second computational procedure result agrees with (Djojodihardjo, Ramli, &
Wiriadidjaja, 2012a; Zakaria et al., 2009). As elaborated there, the average thrust per
flapping cycle calculated using the first computational procedure is close to that
obtained by Malik and Ahmad (2010). Another study is carried out to investigate the
influence of individual contributions of the pitching–flapping motion and their phase lag
on the flight performance. The calculation is performed on a rectangular wing. Results
obtained as exhibited in Figure 7 show that for the lift, the pitching angle dominates the
force, while for the thrust, it is the flapping angle. The drag is also dominated by the
flapping effect.
PARAMETRIC STUDY OF BI-WING FLAPPING ORNITHOPTER
A parametric study is carried out to assess the influence of some flapping wing motion
parameters on the flight performance desired. The study considers the following
parameters: the effect of forward speed, the effect of flapping frequency, the effect of
lag angle, the effect of angle of incidence and the effect of total flapping angle. The
results are exhibited in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Parametric study on the influence of forward speed (a), flapping frequency (b,
c), flapping-pitching phase lag (d), angle of incidence (e) and total flapping angle (f) on
cyclic lift, drag and thrust (for a wing of rectangular planform).
An interesting result is shown in Figures 8 (b) and (c), where the wingbeat
frequency has been varied and the thrust is consistently increased with the increase of
the wingbeat frequency, while the lift increases only slightly. If reference is made to
Pennycuick’s formula (1) and Tucker’s formula (Tucker, 1987) to correlate the wing-
1678
span and wing area of birds, the present ornithopter model operating frequencies as
anticipated in Figure 8 are close to the operating flapping frequency values of the
selected birds shown in Table 3.
QUAD FLAPPING WING MICRO AIR VEHICLE
Following a similar kinematic and aerodynamic model and aerodynamic computational

scheme to that elaborated in the previous sections, a computational study is carried out
for a quad-wing flapping ornithopter, using similar dimensions to those of the bi-wing
flapping ornithopter.
Figure 9. Lift, thrust and drag forces comparison with each specification.
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The wing dimensions are such that performance comparison between the bi-
wing and quad-wing ornithopter can be made, as the total wing area should be similar
for both. The influence of individual contributions of the pitching-flapping motion and
their phase lag on the flight performance is carefully modeled and investigated. Without
loss of generality, for simplicity the calculation is also performed on the rectangular
wing. The results obtained as shown in Figure 9 exhibit the lift for various scenarios
involving phase combinations between flapping and pitching motions of the individual
contribution of the fore- and hind-wings. Table 2 summarizes the average forces of the
selected scenarios.
Table 2. Average forces for all specifications.
Average Bi-wing Quad-wing Quad- Quad-wing, Quad-

force wing, pitching 90° wing,
flapping different flapping
90° phase and
different pitching
phase 90°
different
phase
Lift (N) 0.2108 0.3503 0.4391 0.4378 0.4096
Drag (N) 0.0961 0.1629 0.4270 0.2817 0.1928
Thrust 0.2768 0.7902 0.8770 0.4793 0.5580
(N)
GENERAL OBSERVATION
The computational results for simplified modeling of both bi-wing and quad-wing
ornithopters are meant for better understanding of the key elements that produce lift and
thrust forces for these ornithopters, as well as a guideline for developing a simple
experimental model that can be easily built. A more sophisticated computational and
experimental model can be built in a progressive fashion, by superposing other key
features. To gain better insight into the kinematic and aerodynamic modeling of bi-wing
and quad-wing ornithopters, comparison will be made between the basic characteristics
and performance of selected ornithopter models and those of selected real birds and
insects. For this purpose, Table 3 compares the basic performance of ornithopter and
entomopter models, and birds and insects. Table 3 exhibits the ratio of the lift per cycle
calculated using the present simplified computational model and those obtained by other
investigators; for comparison, the weight per wing-span of a selected sample of birds is
also exhibited. Although the comparison is by no means rigorous, it may shed some
light on how the geometrical modeling and the flapping motion considered in the
computational model may contribute to the total lift produced and how further
refinement could be synthesized.
1680
Table 3.Comparison of basic performance of ornithopter and entomopter models, and

birds and insects.
For birds: applicable Tucker’s formula: *(S=0.260b-0.020), **(S=0.335b-0.041), ***(S=0.112b+0.019). Also, the
birds are assumed in to be in hovering motion, where lift is equal to the weight of the bird.
CONCLUSIO
CONCLUSIONS
The present work has been performed to assess the effect of flapping–pitching motion
with pitch–flap phase lag in the flight of an ornithopter. In this conjunction, a
computational model has been developed following the generic two-dimensional
unsteady theory of Theodorsen with modifications to account for three-dimensional and
viscous effects, leading edge suction and post-stall behavior. The study is carried out on
rectangular and semi-elliptical wing planforms. The results have been compared and
validated with results from other researchers with a similar unsteady aerodynamic
approach and general physical data. Within the limitations of the physical assumptions,
these results indicate encouraging qualitative agreement or better. For the bi-wing
flapping ornithopter, judging from the lift per unit span, the present flapping-wing
model performance is comparable to those studied by Byl (2010), while DeLaurier
(1993) pterosaur model is of a larger order of magnitude and comparable to a bald
eagle. The analysis and simulation by splitting the flapping and pitching motion shows
that: (a) the lift is dominantly produced by the pitching motion, since the relative
airflow effect prevailed along 75% of the chord length; (b) the thrust is dominated by
flapping motion. The vertical component of relative velocity increases significantly
compared to the horizontal components, which causes the force vector produced by the
flapping–pitching motion to be directed towards the horizontal axis (thrust axis); (c) the
drag is dominated by the flapping motion, due to higher relative velocity as well as
higher induced drag due to circulation.
1681
For the quad-wing ornithopter, at the present stage, the simplified computational
model adopted verified the gain in lift obtained as compared to the bi-wing flapping
ornithopter, in particular with the possibility of designing the appropriate phase lag
between the flapping and pitching motion of the fore- and hind-wings. A structured
approach has been followed to assess the effect of different design parameters on lift,
thrust, and drag of an ornithopter, as well as the individual contribution of each of the
components of the flapping motion. These results lend support to the utilization of the
generic modeling adopted in the synthesis of a flight model, although a more refined
approach should be further developed. Various approaches for ornithopter aerodynamic
modeling could be followed, such as the incorporation of other parameters, the use of a
more refined blade element, CFD or lifting surface methods. In retrospect, a generic
physical and computational model based on simple kinematics and basic aerodynamics
of a flapping-wing ornithopter has been demonstrated to be capable of revealing the
basic characteristics of a flapping-wing MAV and can be utilized for its further
development.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for granting Research
University Grant Scheme (RUGS) Project Code: 9378200, under which the present
research is carried out.
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Byl, K. (2010). A passive dynamic approach for flapping-wing micro-aerial vehicle
control. Paper presented at the ASME 2010 Dynamic Systems and Control
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Djojodihardjo, H., Ramli, A. S. S., & Wiriadidjaja, S. (2012a). Generic modeling and
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Ellington, C. P. (1984). The aerodynamics of hovering insect flight. I. The quasi-steady
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Ellington, C. P. (1999). The novel aerodynamics of insect flight: Applications to micro-
air vehicles. Journal of Experimental Biology, 202(23), 3439-3448.
Garrick, I. E. (1936). Propulsion of a flapping and oscillating aerofoil (Vol. 567): NACA Report
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Harmon, R. L. (2008). Aerodynamic modelling of a flapping membrane wing using

motion tracking experiments. (MSc Thesis), University of Maryland.
Ho, S., Nassef, H., Pornsinsirirak, N., Tai, Y.-C., & Ho, C.-M. (2003). Unsteady
aerodynamics and flow control for flapping wing flyers. Progress in Aerospace
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Jackowski, Z. J. (2009). Design and construction of an autonomous ornithopter.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jones, R. T. (1940). The unsteady lift of a wing of finite aspect ratio (Vol. 681): NACA Report
Kuethe, A. M., Schetzer, J. D., & Chow, C. Y. (1976). Foundations of aerodynamics:
John Wiley.
Malik, M. A., & Ahmad, F. (2010). Effect of different design parameters on lift, thrust,
and drag of an ornithopter. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the World
Congress on Engineering, London, U.K.
Maybury, W. J., & Lehmann, F.-O. (2004). The fluid dynamics of flight control by
kinematic phase lag variation between two robotic insect wings. Journal of
Experimental Biology, 207(26), 4707-4726.
Mueller, T. J. (2001). Fixed and flapping wing aerodynamics for micro air vehicle
applications. Reston, VA: AIAA Publications.
Nicholson, B., Page, S., Dong, H., & Slater, J. (2007). Design of a flapping quad-
winged micro air vehicle. Paper presented at the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics USA.
Prosser, D., Basrai, T., Dickert, J., Ratti, J., Crassidis, A., & Vachtsevanos, G. (2011).
Wing kinematics and aerodynamics of a hovering flapping micro aerial vehicle.
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Rochester Institute of Technology.
Ratti, J. (2011). Qv-the quad winged, energy efficient, six degree of freedom capable
micro air vehicle. (PhD thesis), Georgia Institute of Technology.
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and micro air vehicles. Progress in Aerospace Sciences, 35(5), 455-505.
Smith, M., Wilkin, P., & Williams, M. (1996). The advantages of an unsteady panel
method in modelling the aerodynamic forces on rigid flapping wings. The
journal of experimental biology, 199(5), 1073-1083.
Strang, K. A. (2009). Efficient flapping flight of pterosaurs. (PhD Thesis), Stanford
University.
Tucker, V. A. (1987). Gliding birds: The effect of variable wing span. Journal of
Experimental Biology, 133, 35-58.
Zakaria, M. Y., Elshabka, A. M., Bayoumy, A. M., & AbdElhamid, O. E. (2009).
Numerical aerodynamic characteristics of flapping wings. Paper presented at the
13th International Conference on Aerospace Sciences and Aviation Technology.
1683
Nomenclature
Vx velocity component along x-axis
c chord Vz velocity component along z-axis
C(k) Theodorsen function V relative velocity
Cdf drag coefficient due to skin friction w0 downwash velocity at ¾-chord location
Cdp profile drag coefficient ρ air density
Cdi induced drag coefficient β flapping angle
Clc circulatory lift coefficient βmax maximum flapping angle
dDd sectional total drag βp stroke plane angle
dDf sectional friction drag  flapping rate
dDp sectional profile drag
θ pitching angle
dDi sectional induced drag
dL sectional instantaneous lift  pitching rate
dLc sectional circulatory lift θ0 maximum pitch angle
dNnc sectional apparent mass effect  lag between pitching and flapping
dTs sectional additional thrust due to angle
leading edge suction δ incidence angle
dy width of sectional strip under γ flight path angle
consideration ψ relative angle between two velocity
f wingbeat frequency components
y distance along the span of ith strip α relative angle of attack
t time ηs efficiency coefficient
U flight velocity
1684
EFFECTS OF COOLING RATES ON THERMAL PROFILES AND

MICROSTRUCTURE OF ALUMINIUM 7075
A.H. Ahmad1, 2, 3*, S. Naher1, 2 and D. Brabazon1, 2

1
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland
*
Email: asnul@ump.edu.my
Phone : +609-424-2213 ; Fax : +609-424-2202
2
Advanced Processing Technology Research Centre,
Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland
3
Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the effects of different cooling rates on thermal profiles and
microstructures of aluminum 7075. The 7075 alloy was heated in a graphite crucible to
750°C. In the experimental work two thermocouples were used to record the
temperatures at the center and 30mm from the center of the graphite crucible. A slow
cooling rate condition was achieved by placing the crucible into a chamber with
Kaowool insulation. A higher cooling rate was achieved by placing the crucible in open
atmosphere with controlled air flow over the crucible. The slow and high cooling rates
were 0.03°C/s and 0.4°C/s respectively. The Data Acquisition (DAQ) system
implemented using LabVIEW software was used to record the temperature-time
profiles. The enthalpy of phase change at each temperature was estimated from the
cooling curves. The changes of cooling rate were directly related to phase
transformation including at liquidus, eutectic and solidus temperatures. The dendritic
coherency point (DCP) was determined from analysis of the temperature difference
between two thermocouples. The formation of DCP was found to be delayed with use of
the slow cooling rate. DCP occurred at 615.2°C (0.75 fraction solid) for the slow
cooling rate and at 633.1°C (0.3 fraction solid) for the higher cooling rate. The
microstructure features were also found to alter significantly with the different cooling
rates used. The microstructure was more spheroidal for the slow cooling rate compared
with the higher cooling rate.
Keywords: Semi-solid metal; thermal profile; aluminum 7075; dendritic coherency

point; spheroidal microstructure.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in producing near-net-shape

products with semi-solid metal (SSM) forming routes. This offers production with
fewer porosity defects, lower filling time and no hot tearing problems. In addition, it
allows for increased productivity that contributes to savings of production cost per unit.
Since the discovery of SSM behavior in 1971, with the understanding of viscosity
reduction within the semi-solid state upon shearing, the technology has advanced
significantly(Spencer, Mehrabian, & Flemings, 1972; Yang, Moa, & Song, 2014).
1685
Effects of cooling rates on thermal profiles and microstructure of Aluminium 7075
Mechanical stirring using rotating impellers was used to produce laboratory scale
feedstock production (Brabazon, Browne, & Carr, 2003; Hongwei Zhang & Lina Guan,
2010). Later, electromagnetic stirring was introduced to overcome the contact between
agitator and metal, which required high energy consumption (Zoqui, Paes, & Es-Sadiqi,
2002). It uses an electromagnetic field for melting material and moving the metal fluid
from one location to another. It was found that a fine structure of 30µm was produced
with this technique (Kirkwood, 1994). The enhancement of the technology continued
with the introduction of new thermal methods that produced fine microstructure
features. The melt was rapidly solidified and held for a short period of time in the semi-
solid temperature range to retard the formation of microstructure. The special
characteristic of SSM is the occurrence of globular or spherical microstructure
compared with the dendritic microstructure of the conventional process. The rounded
microstructure helps material forming by giving more flexibility for microstructure
movement. Solid grains rotate, slip and move as force is applied during processing
(Kiuchi, 2002). This special characteristic allows SSM processing to be used in order to
produce complex component geometries. An important metallurgical characteristic that
has a significant effect during SSM processing is fraction solidity. Research shows that
it is important to obtain a low viscosity and high fraction solids in SSM processing
(Kiuchi, 2002). The low viscosity component helps material to flow inside the cavity
and high fraction solids helps to prevent various defects, and provide a finer internal
structure and high quality products. Previous studies have reported fraction solidity for
SSM processing in the range of 30 to 70% (Vaneetveld, Rassili, Pierret, & Lecomte-
Beckers, 2010).
Differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
are among the list of thermal analysis methods. Both of these techniques use a reference
sample and a tested sample. The changes in energy and temperature between samples
during testing were measured. DTA measures the temperature difference, and DCS
gauges the energy difference between both samples. Another thermal analysis
techniques uses two thermocouples to measure heat change in a single sample
(Bӓckerud, Chai, & Tamminen, 1991). This technique gives in-situ measurement and
reflects the actual heat change in a test sample. It also provides useful information about
the dendritic coherency point (DCP) that is important for SSM processing. DCP is the
point where the strength of the material begins to develop (Farahany et al., 2012). At
this point the dendrites start to impinge on one another across the solidification systems
where the solidifying metal has negligible shear strength before DCP, compared to after
this point of coherency when a dendritic network has formed. This point is consequently
supplemented with increased system viscosity and strength. The use of aluminum 7075
in SSM processing has recently been investigated. Tensile properties of thixoformed
7075 processed with recrystallization and partial melting (Box) were better than those
processed via the cooling slope route (Vaneetveld et al., 2010). Research also indicated
that by selecting the proper processing parameters, yield strength was increased and part
defect was reduced. The mechanical properties of 7075 feedstock were improved when
prepared with combinations of low superheat pouring with a shear field (LSPSF),
rheoforming process and T6 heat treatment (Guo, Yang, Wang, Hu, & Zhu, 2010).
Among the advantages of this combined technique were that hot tearing defect and
grain size decreased and density increased. The mechanical properties were also
improved by using another technique called the thixoextrusion process, in comparison
with as-received material (Guan et al., 2012). Recently, researchers have shown an
increasing interest in processing 7075 within a semi-solid state because the properties of
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Ahmad et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1685-1694
this alloy are superior to conventional cast alloy. However, this alloy is difficult to
process within the semi-solid state because it has narrow solidification ranges and a
higher propensity for hot tearing. Although extensive research has been carried out on
7075, less attention has been given to detailed experimental investigation of the thermal
profiles and microstructure at various solidification rates. The objective of the
experimental work presented in this paper is to understand the relationship between the
solidification rate, metallurgical behavior, and fraction phase evolution. The liquidus,
eutectic, solidus temperatures, fraction solid, dendritic coherency point, and
microstructure for different cooling rates were determined.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The chemical composition of the starting material used in this work, as determined by
an Oxford Instrument Arc Spectrometer, is presented in Table 1. A schematic of the
experimental set-up for a slow cooling rate is shown in Figure 1. A graphite crucible
with 100mm diameter and 100mm height was used in this experiment. A 1kg 7075
billet was placed in the crucible and heated to a temperature of 750°C + 5 °C using a
Carbolite 1600 box furnace. The crucible was then transferred into the Kaowool
chamber in order to achieve a slow cooling rate, or was placed in a forced air flow for a
higher cooling rate. The specially designed chamber with Kaowool insulation contained
100mm of Kaowool beneath the crucible, 50mm side walls, and a 40mm thick top layer
of Kaowool in order to ensure very slow cooling. Chromel-alumel K-type
thermocouples were located at two different locations, one at the center of the crucible
and one 35mm from the center closer to the crucible wall. Both thermocouples were
immersed within the metal to a depth of 45mm from the top of the melt.
Table 1. The chemical composition of the aluminum 7075 (in wt %).
Aluminum 7075 Cr Cu Fe Mg Mn Si Ti Zn Al
0.20 2.02 0.24 2.38 0.12 0.14 0.09 6.04 Bal
The temperature versus time cooling curve data was recorded using an NI PCI-
6036E data acquisition (DAQ) card with cold junction compensation. After the cooling
curves were captured, the cooling rates were calculated from the portion of the cooling
curve below the solidus temperature (between 50 C and 150 C below the solidus
temperature). A series of programs developed in LabVIEW allowed control of data
acquisition rate, as well as calculation of the cooling curve differential (dT/dt curves)
and fraction solid with respect to time. The DAQ rate was set to 500 Hz in order to
allow sufficient data capture. For the slow cooling rate conditions this equated to
4,500,000 data points captured during the experiment period of two and a half hours.
For the higher cooling rate conditions, there were approximately 583,000 data points
captured (19 minutes). A base line was constructed on the dT/dt curves to represent the
cooling rate which would have occurred in the absence latent heat evolution. The area
between this curve and the actual cooling curve differential was calculated at each time
point and divided by the total area between these curves in order to determine the
fraction solid versus time curves, as per Eq. (1):
1687
∫ ∫ [ | | ]
(1)
∫ ∫ [ | | ]
where is the fraction solid present at a given time , H is the latent heat, is the
temperature, | is the rate of change of the cooling curve and | is the rate of
change of the base line curve volume.
Chamber with
Kaowool blanket
Figure 1. Schematic view of thermal analysis experimental set-up for slow cooling.
Separately, the temperature recorded from the thermocouple at the crucible wall was
subtracted from the temperature reading from the center thermocouple at each given
time. This temperature difference was plotted against time. The DCP was then
determined by identifying the maximum absolute difference between these two
readings.
Samples from the starting material and solidified alloy were cut at three different
locations. The samples were mounted in Bakelite and were ground using 240, 600, and
1200 grit paper, polished using 9m and given a final polish to 0.5m using diamond
paste. The samples were then etched using Keller’s etch. A Reichert MeF2 universal
camera optical microscope was used to view the microstructures. Buhler OmniMet
Enterprise software was then used to capture the microstructure images.
Thermal Analysis
The cooling curve and first derivate with baseline results for a cooling rate of 0.03°C/s
(slow cooling) and 0.4°C/s (higher cooling) are presented in Figure 2 (a) and Figure 2
(b) respectively. The vertical lines in both figures indicate the liquidus and solidus
temperature representing the starts and ends of solidification. The area within these
vertical lines (liquidus and solidus) towards the first derivative line was calculated using
1688
Eq. (1) for fraction solid estimation. The liquidus, eutectic and solidus temperature for
the slow cooling rate were at 639.9°C, 470.2°C and 467.6°C meanwhile for the higher
cooling rate were at 643°C, 482.7°C and 479.2°C respectively.
(a)
First derivative
(b)
Figure 2. Thermal analysis results for (a) cooling rate 0.03°C/s (slow cooling rate) and
for (b) cooling rate 0.4°C/s (higher cooling rate).
The calculated fraction solid versus temperature graph for both cooling rates are
presented in Figure 3. The information in Figure 3 is particularly useful for determining
the processing temperature settings for semi-solid metal processing. The results show
that a suitable fraction solid (in the range of 30 to 70%) for SSM processing was in the
temperature range of 610°C to 635°C. The results for the temperature difference
1689
between the wall and center of the molten 7075 during solidification are shown in
Figure 4 (a) for the slow cooling rate and Figure 4 (b) for the higher cooling rate.
Vertical lines in these graphs represent the formation of DCP temperature and time. The
DCP was determined by measuring the apparent temperature change between
temperature at the center and wall. The DCP for the slow and the higher cooling rates
occurred at time 2815.6s and 285.3s corresponding to temperatures of 615.2°C and
633.1°C respectively.
Figure 3. Calculated temperature-fraction solid relationships for both cooling rates.
Figure 4 (a). Temperature difference between center and wall of the graphite crucible
with slow cooling rate. The vertical line indicates formation temperature and time of
DCP.
1690
680 1
Tcenter Twall Twall-Tcenter
660 0.5
640
0
Temperature ((°C))
Twall-Tcenter (°C)
620
-0.5
600
-1
580
-1.5
560
-2
540
520 -2.5
500 -3
100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Time (s)
Figure 4 (b). Temperature difference between center and wall of the graphite crucible
with higher cooling rate. The vertical line indicates formation temperature and time of
DCP.
Microstructure Analysis
The microstructures for the starting material are shown in Figure 5. The grain structures
were elongated and were un-recrystallized as shown by the contrast variations with the
elongated grains. A higher magnification image is shown in Figure 5 (b) with a clearer
microstructure feature.
(a) (b)
200µm 40µm
Figure 5. Microstructure for as-received aluminum 7075 with elongated and

un-recrystallized structure for (a) low magnification (8x magnification) and (b) higher
magnification (40x magnification).
The crossed section areas for microstructure samples and microstructure images
for different cooling rate conditions are presented in Figure 6. The samples were crossed
1691
crossed sectioned from three different locations as shown in Figure 6(a), Figure 6(b)
and Figure 6(c). In order to assess the effects of cooling rate on the microstructure,
qualitative comparison was used. The microstructures for the slow cooling rate
condition are presented in Figure 6(d), Figure 6(e) and Figure 6(f), and the
microstructures for the higher cooling rates are presented in Figure 6 (g - i).
(a) (b) (c)
(d) (e) (f)
200µm 200µm 200µm
(g) (h) (i)
200µm 200µm 200µm
Figure 6. Crossed section area for solidified 7075 showing different locations used for
microstructure analysis at (a) crucible wall (left), (b) center, and (c) crucible wall
(right). The microstructural images for slow cooling rate at (d) crucible wall (right),
(e) center, (f) crucible wall (left); and at higher cooling rate at (g) crucible wall (left),
(h) center, and (i) crucible wall (right).
Effect of Cooling rate on Fraction Solid and DCP
In the current experimental work, the temperatures at which phase change occurred for
7075 were found to change by altering the cooling rate used. Eutectic and solidus
temperatures were 470.2°C and 467.6°C for the slow cooling rate. The eutectic and
solidus temperatures for the higher cooling rate were 482.7°C and 479.2°C respectively.
The liquidus temperature for both cooling rates was not much affected with the different
cooling rates used. The liquidus temperatures for the slow cooling rate and the higher
cooling rate were 639.9°C and 643°C. Both the eutectic and solidus temperature
formation were transformed near liquidus temperature for the higher cooling rate. In
contrast, the formations of eutectic and solidus temperatures for the slow cooling rate
occurred far from the liquidus temperature. The eutectic and solidus temperatures
increased with the increment of the cooling rate. The fraction solid values were also
1692
changed by use of different cooling rates. The difference between the fraction solid
graph for slow cooling and for the higher cooling rate was apparent at the 0.7 fraction
solid location (see Figure 3). In comparing these results with other reported results
similar trends were found (Bӓckerud et al., 1991). Possible explanations for the results
were presented by Hosseini, Shabestari, and Gholizadeh (2013). The cooling rate shows
a strong relationship with the formation of DCP. The DCP temperature for the slow
cooling rate and the higher cooling rate occurred at 615.2°C and 633.1°C respectively,
as shown in Figure 3. The formation of DCP was delayed with a slow cooling rate. The
use of the higher cooling rate (in this work 0.4°C/s) accelerated formation of DCP and
allowed it to occur close to the liquidus temperature. This was due to the growth rate of
the dendrite arms increasing with the increasing cooling rate. This finding supports
previous research linking cooling rate and DCP (Zeer, Pervukhin, & Zelenkova, 2011) .
Effect of Cooling Rate on Microstructure
The formation of microstructures were highly dependent on the cooling rate. The
microstructures for the different cooling rates in Figure 6 shows that the higher cooling
rate (0.4°C/s) was less spherical compared with microstructures for the slow cooling
rate (0.03°C/s). The present findings seem to be consistent with other research which
found that changes in the microstructure were mainly caused by using the different
cooling rates (Bunck, Warnken, & Buhrig-Polaczek, 2010), however, the higher
cooling rate and short solidification time reduce the grain size. The incremental cooling
rate not only created finer microstructure but at the same time reduced the shape factor.
CONCLUSIONS
The thermal analysis with different cooling rates were successfully investigated. The
temperatures at which material phase changes occurred changed significantly with the
different cooling rates used. The eutectic and solidus temperature for a slow cooling rate
(0.03°C/s) occurred at 470.2°C and 467.6°C, and for higher cooling rate (0.4°C/s)
occurred at 482.7°C and 479.2°C respectively. The liquidus temperature for both
cooling rates was not much affected by the variation in cooling rates. The DCP
formation was delayed with the slow cooling rate and advanced with the higher cooling
rate. This was due to the change of cooling rates affecting the solidification time and
dendritic arm growth rate. The DCP was formed at a temperature of 615.2°C for the
slow cooling rate, and at 633.1°C for the higher cooling rate. The different cooling rates
also had a significant effect on features of the microstructure: a more spherical and
globular microstructure formed at the slow cooling rate compared with the higher
cooling rate.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the support from Dublin City University and the
Ministry of Education, Malaysia for funding this work.
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1694
AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR PREDICTING ENGINE FRICTION LOSSES

IN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES
Mohammed Kamil3, M.M. Rahman1,2* and Rosli A. Bakar1

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaysia Pahang
*E-mail: mustafizur@ump.edu.my
Phone: +(6)-094246239, Fax: +(6)-09-4246222
2
Automotive Engineering Centre, University of Malaysia Pahang
26600 Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia.
3
ABSTRACT
A comprehensive computer model (EFLP) has been developed for carrying out friction
estimation and analysis of sparks ignited in reciprocating engines. EFLP considers five
major loss components in an automotive engine: the crankshaft, piston, valvetrain,
auxiliary components and pumping losses. Hydrodynamic, mixed, and boundary layer
regimes are used to model the friction phenomena. The main building blocks of EFLP
are empirical engine friction models based on experimental data. EFLP is constructed
using MATAB-based engine code for estimating engine performance. The friction in a
4-cylinder 4-stroke engine is inspected. The results predicted by EFLP were validated
according to a case study available in the literature. The validation showed that EFLP
predictions are realistic and accurate.
Keywords: Engine friction; Pumping losses; Valvetrain friction; Auxiliary friction.
INTRODUCTION
Developing a model for determining friction loss is a top priority when modeling
internal combustion engines, when working with any type of fuel(Azad, Ameer Uddin,
& Alam, 2012; Kamil, Rahman, & Bakar, 2011, 2013; Kapilan, Ashok Babu, &
Reddy, 2010; Mat Yasin, Mamat, Sharma, & Yusop, 2012; Rahim, Mamat, Taib, &
Abdullah, 2012). The accuracy of such a model is of significant importance for
predicting transient behavior in the engine, and the corresponding fuel consumption.
Unfortunately, friction losses are impossible to overcome completely. Friction
minimization is therefore a major consideration in design and operation (Heywood,
1988; Kamil, Rahman, & Bakar, 2011b; Rahman, Hamada, & A. Aziz, 2013; Rahman,
Hamada, Bakar, & Maleque, 2012; Rahman, Hamada, & Kadirgama, 2011). The
lubrication of various moving components has been described as the key to the life of
the engine (Hamada, Rahman, Abdullah, Bakar, & A. Aziz, 2013; Hamada, Rahman, &
Aziz, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c; Hamada, Rahman, & Aziz, 2013; Kamil et al., 2011b;
Kamil, Rahman, Bakar, & Kadirgama, 2012). Almost every car manufacturer has their
own investigation and study group for friction in the engine, including Toyota (Nakada,
1994); Nissan (Hamai & Kai, 1990); Ford (Wang, Chang, Hsieh, & Lin, 1996) and
GM (Goenka, Paranjpe, & Jeng, 1992; Paranjpe & Cusenza, 1992). With these models
it is possible to estimate friction (and wear) for different engine speeds and loads. The
most well-known and commonly used model is that of Patton, Nitschke, and Heywood
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An integrated model for predicting engine friction losses in internal combustion engines
(1989). Their model predicts friction mean effective pressure (FMEP) for SI engines,
based on a combination of fundamental scaling laws and empirical results, included
predictions of rubbing losses from the crankshaft, reciprocating, and valvetrain
components, auxiliary losses from engine accessories, and pumping losses from the
intake and exhaust systems. However, the data used to develop this model dates back to
the mid-1980s, and thus, Sandoval and Heywood (2003) modified Paton’s model. Their
strategy involved comparing the predictions of Patton’s model with more recent engine
friction data, and determining the changes that needed to be made to certain conditions
in this friction model. It was found that the pumping losses over the intake and exhaust
strokes, and the conditions representing the cylinder gas pressure loading effects needed
to be modified, and appropriate adjustments were made. The authors expanded the
model to include lubricant viscosity as one of the variables, so that the effects of
component temperatures on engine friction during cold start and warm-up transients
could be predicted (Rahman, Kamil, & Bakar, 2011; Rahman, Mohammed, & Bakar,
2009a; Rahman, Mohammed, & Bakar, 2009b, 2009c; Sandoval & Heywood, 2003).
Over the last two decades, large gains have been made, mostly through empirical
methods, in reducing engine friction and improving its reliability and durability. Further
significant improvements are possible, however, these improvements will be more
difficult than in the past. It will be necessary to have a good mathematical friction and
lubrication model for the robust design of mechanical components and for
understanding how friction is developed, how it is distributed among components, and
how it can be reduced. In addition, mathematical models are necessary to respond to one
of the pressing needs for automotive industry-faster product development. Reliable
predictive models are absolutely essential for reducing development time. This paper
describes a model for the friction analysis of automotive engines using MATLAB
codes.
ENGINE FRICTION MODEL
The model is developed from several components. Each component estimates the
friction in a main part of the engine. The five components are the main building blocks
including crankshaft friction, reciprocating friction, valvetrain friction, accessories
friction, and pumping losses.
Crankshaft Friction
The friction in the crankshaft is sourced from three components and is calculated as
Eq. (1):
  NDb3 Lb nb   D   N 2 Db2 Lb nb 
FMEPcs  cb  2   cs  2 b   1.35  1010   (1)
o  B Lnc   B Lnc   nc 
where Db is the bearing diameter,  is the oil viscosity, o is the reference viscosity, Lb
is the bearing length, nb is the number of bearings, nc is the number of cylinders, L is
engine stroke, N is the engine speed, and B is cylinder bore.
The first term is the friction in the main journal bearing of the crankshaft. The
FMEP of a journal bearing array, with nb bearings, was scaled linearly with engine
speed, assuming constant bearing clearance and oil viscosity (Heywood, 1988). The
1696
proportionality constant was suggested by Patton et al. (1989) as cb = 3.03 × 10-4 (kPa-
min/rev-mm) for 10W-30 oil grade. The oil properties are included in the constant cb.
The presence of the term  / 0 was suggested by Sandoval and Heywood (2003) to
generalize the correlation stated in Eq. (1), and is suitable for any other type of oil. The
reference viscosity for 10W-30 oil grade is 10.8 cSt at 100 0C. The typical viscosity data
for several different oil grades are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Typical test data for engine oil viscosity (Rahman, Mohammed, Bakar,
Muhamad, & Kumaran, 2009)
Oil grade 5W-20 5W-30 10W-30 10W-40 20W-50

cSt at 40 0C 49.2 66.1 74.8 98.9 174.4
Kinematic Viscosity cSt at 100 0C 8.6 11 10.8 14.4 19.1
The second term in Eq. (1) represents the front and rear main bearing seal
friction. The crankshaft bearing seals operate in a boundary lubrication regime, since the
seals directly contact the crankshaft surface. As the normal force, the seal lip load and
the friction force are constant and FMEP is independent of engine speed (Goenka et al.,
1992). The proportionality constant was suggested by Goenka et al. (1992) as cs = 1.22
× 105 (kPa-mm2). The third term accounts for losses due to the transport of oil through
the bearing, and accounts for turbulent dissipation, i.e. the work required to pump the
fluids through flow restrictions (Patton et al., 1989).
Reciprocating Friction
The reciprocating parts producing friction are the piston skirt, piston rings and
connected road. The friction from the piston ring has two components: one resulting
from the ring tension and the other component from the gas pressure loading.
  S p   500  1    NDb3 Lb nb 
FMEPrecip  c ps  c 1     3.03  10 4
  (2)
o  B  pr  N  B 2  o  B 2 Lnc 
where S p is the mean piston speed. The first term gives the piston friction, assuming a
hydrodynamic regime. Viscosity scaling was also incorporated in this term, as proposed
by Sandoval and Heywood (2003). In addition, the piston skirt length and skirt
clearance were scaled directly with the bore B (Sandoval & Heywood, 2003). Again,
the proportionality constant cps was suggested by (Patton et al., 1989) as (cps = 294 kPa-
mm-s/m); and included oil properties. The second term is for the friction component in
the piston rings due to ring tension under a mixed regime. Piston ring tension and
surface roughness were included to take into account the decreases in piston friction that
have occurred in these two areas. The friction coefficient was assumed to be inversely
proportional to the engine speed. The value of 1+500/N was used to make the friction
coefficient decrease by a factor of 1.8 from low to high speeds. The proportionality
constant (cpr =4.06 ×104 KPa-mm2) was proposed by Patton et al. (1989). The third term
accounts for the hydrodynamic regime journal bearing friction from the connecting rod
bearings. This term is similar to the bearing friction term in the crankshaft friction term.
1697
pi   1.33 KS p  
FMEPgasL  6.98 0.088   0.128  (5)
pa  o 
where pi and pa are the intake manifold pressure and atmospheric pressure respectively;
and  is the compression ratio. It used the product of the intake pressure and a factor
which included the compression ratio and mean piston speed derived from the physics
of the compression process. The constant K is equal to 2.38 × 10-2 s/m (Patton et al.,
1989)
Valvetrain Friction
The term of the valvetrain friction includes estimates of camshaft, cam follower, and
valve actuation mechanism friction, for a variety of valvetrain configurations (Patton et
al., 1989). The model is able to predict friction for the common types of valve
configurations, and is expressed as:
  Nnb  500  nv   Nn 
FMEPvt  244  2   4.12  C ff 1     Crf  v 
o  B Lnc   N  Lnc   Lnc 
(6)
  lv1.max N 0.5nv  500  lv max nv 
  Com 1 
5
 Coh   
o  BLnc   N  Lnc 
where nv is the number of valves and lvmax is the peak valve lift. The first term
represents the camshaft bearing friction as a hydrodynamic regime. It is similar to that
of the main crankshaft and connecting rod bearings friction. The constant (244 kPa-
mm3) was suggested as the proportionality constant, plus an additional value of 4.12
kPa to account for the camshaft seals (Patton et al., 1989). The next two terms predict
friction resulting from the relative motion between the cam lobe and the cam follower.
The second term predicts friction in the mixed regime for flat follower configurations.
The third term predicts rolling contact friction for roller follower configurations. Either
the second term or the third term should be used and the second must be discarded
depending on the type of follower being investigated. The forth term, oscillating
hydrodynamic friction, predicts friction caused by relative motion between valvetrain
components whose lubrication states were either completely or partially hydrodynamic,
such as the valve lifter in the lifter bore or the valve in the valve guide. The friction
coefficient was assumed to be proportional to the valve lift, and inversely proportional
to the engine speed. The fifth term represents the oscillating mixed friction regime.
The constants Cff, Crf, Coh and Com in the valvetrain term in Eq. (6) are dependent of
the valvetrain configuration being considered in the model. Single Overhead Camshaft
(SOHC) and Double Overhead Camshaft (DOCS) are the two main means of
configuring the valvetrain. In SOHC, the camshaft is situated in the cylinder head,
above the valves. The valves are opened and closed either directly, with a shim between
the cam lobe and the valve stem, or via a rocker arm. SOHC engine valve configurations
typically have two or three valves per cylinder. In the DOHC configuration, two
camshafts are used in each cylinder head. This allows the easy implementation of four
valves per cylinder setup. The disadvantages of such a setup are more weight, greater
cost and increased complexity. Beyond this main classification, several designs are
available under each configuration. Table 2 lists the most common types of valvetrain
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(Heywood, 1988) and Figure 1 presents some of these designs. Table 3 shows values
for the constants Cff, Crf, Coh and Com for different valvetrain configurations.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Figure 1. Various valvetrain designs (CPG, 2011); (a) Finger type follower (b) Center
pivot rocker (c) Center pivot with lifter (d) direct active
Table 2. Valve train designs (Heywood, 1988).
Type I OHC Overhead cam; direct acing/ flat or roller follower

Type II OHC Overhead cam; End pivot rocker/ flat or roller follower
Type III OHC Overhead cam; Center pivot rocker/flat or roller follower
Type IV CIB Cam-in-block; rocker arm/flat or roller follower
Table 3. Constants for valvetrain friction term (Heywood, 1988)
Flat Roller Oscillating Oscillating

Follower Follower Hydrodynamic Mixed
Crf (KPa-
Cff (KPa- Coh (KPa-mm-
mm- Com (KPa)
mm) min/rev)1/2
Configuration Type min/rev)
Single overhead I 200 0.0076 0.5 107
cam (SOHC)
Double overhead I 133 0.0050 0.5 10.7
cam (DOHC)
Single overhead II 600 0.0227 0.2 42.8
cam (SOHC)
Single overhead III 400 0.0151 0.5 21.4
cam (SOHC)
Cam in block (CIB) IV 400 0.0151 0.5 32.1
Accessory Friction
The component of the accessory (or auxiliary) friction term is an empirical match to the
sum of oil pump, water pump, and non-charging alternator friction. All the auxiliary
component friction torques were assumed to be proportional to the engine displacement.
(Heywood, 1988) suggest an accessory mean effective pressure FMEPaux of the form:
1699
FMEPaux  8.32  1.86  103 N  7.45  107 N 2 (7)
The constants were determined from data from a group of small high-speed diesel
engines.
Pumping Losses
The pumping losses term predicts intake and exhaust pumping mean effective pressures,
each defined as the difference between cylinder pressure and atmospheric pressure
integrated over the volume of the intake or exhaust stroke. The pumping friction losses
mean effective pressure FMEPpl is calculated by Eq. (8)
 p   S2   p   S2 
2 2 2
p 
FMEPpl   pa  pi   3  10  i   2 p 4   0.178 i S p   3  103  i   2 p 4  (8)
3
 pa   nv ri   pa   pa   nv ri 
where ri and re are the intake valve diameter/bore and exhaust valve diameter/bore ratios
respectively. The first term is the intake manifold vacuum, calculated as the difference
between atmospheric and intake pressure. The second term predicts the intake port and
valve pressure drop. The third term estimates the exhaust system pressure drop, derived
from measurements from typical production engine systems, and the fourth term is the
exhaust valve and port pressure drop.
Supplementary Models
The atmospheric pressure (pa) is 101.325 kPa throughout the simulation. As concerns
the intake pressure (pi), it is assumed that the effective open area (from the air passage)
remains constant for a throttle open higher than 80%, and that when the throttle is fully
closed, the intake manifold pressure is 10% of the absolute atmospheric pressure. Thus
it is estimated as Eq.(9):
Throttle open friction

pi  pa  0.9   pa  0.1 (9)
0.8
The mean engine speed is calculated as Eq. (10):
S p  2 LN (10)
ENGINE FRICTION LOSSES PROGRAM (EFLP) VALIDATION
The case study given in Patton et al. (1989) has been used for EFLP validation
purposes. Table 4 lists the specifications of the engine and friction parameters used in
this case. EFLP runs the simulation for an engine with the specifications in Table 4 and
the results obtained agreed completely with those documented in Patton et al. (1989).
Figure 2 depicts the comparison between the EFLP predictions and the results for the
friction losses in different parts of the engine. The agreement is quite clear which
reflects the validity of EFLP. Furthermore, Table 5 shows the exact FMEP values for
each component and the total FMEP of the engine for more precise comparison.
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Table 4. Engine parameters of the case study (Patton et al., 1989)
Parameter Value Parameter Value

Bore (mm) 86 Intake valves/cylinder
Stroke (mm) 86 Exhaust valves/cylinder 2
Number of cylinders 4 Intake valve diameter (mm) 35
Compression ratio 9 Exhaust valve diameter (mm) 31
Atmospheric pressure (kPa) 101 Maximum valve lift (mm) 11
Intake pressure (kPa) 101 Number of crankshaft bearings 5
Exhaust pressure (kPa) 103 Crankshaft bearing diameter (mm) 56
Number of connecting rod bearings 4 Crankshaft bearing length (mm) 21
Connecting rod bearing diameter (mm) 48 Number of camshafts 1
Connecting rod bearing length (mm) 42 Valvetrain type SOHC
type I
Table 5. Detailed comparison for the FMEP values between EFLP (Patton et al.,
1989)
Main Components FMEP FMEP (kPa) Relative

(kPa) (EFLP) error %
Detailed components
Crankshaft 15.87 15.911 0.25
(total)
Crankshaft main 6.59 6.5881 0.028
bearings
Connecting rod bearings 6.64 6.6381 0.028
Crankshaft seals 2.64 2.6853 1.71
Piston (total) 57.04 57.039 0.001
Piston skirt 29.4 29.4 0
Piston ring tension 7.32 7.3193 0.009
Gas pressure 20.32 20.3203 0.001
Valvetrain 25.8 25.5135 1.11
(total)
Camshaft bearings 5.56 5.2708 5.20
Valvetrain flat follower 12.4 12.4031 0.025
Valvetrain oscillating 7.3 7.2992 0.01
mixed
Valvetrain oscillating 0.54 0.5404 0.07
hydrodynamic
Pumping losses 20.45 20.6454 0.95
(total)
Intake manifold 2.78 2.8308 1.82
Intake valves 0 0 0
Exhaust valves 13.16 13.1649 0.037
Exhaust system 4.51 4.5997 1.98
Accessory 20.28 20.6059 1.6
(total)
Overall Total 139.44 139.6659 0.16
FMEP
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Figure 2. Comparison of FMEP predictions between EFLP, and Patton et al. (1989)
Reducing the friction losses and wear of the parts subjected to relative motion is the
main aim of the engine design. Engine speed is the major operation parameter
controlling the friction losses. This is true of all the empirical relationships that have
been shown to correlate with experimental observations on the friction in four stroke
engines. The empirical relationships documented in Patton et al. (1989) are examples of
this trend. In this section attention is therefore paid to exploring the trends of the
different components of friction loss with engine speed, according to the predictions of
EFLP. The results are presented here for an engine with the key parameters listed in
Table 4. The friction behavior of the different engine components are presented in the
following section. The contribution of each individual part is highlighted to assess the
weight of each part. Figure 3 presents the trends of crankshaft friction. Clearly, the
friction loss of the crankshaft bearing seat does not depend on engine speed and remains
constant for all investigated speed ranges. Furthermore, it represents the most basic
elements of total crankshaft friction; approximately 80% of the friction was accounted
for by the hydrodynamic and turbulent dissipation term. Figure 4 presents the piston
friction behavior with engine speed. The skirt and connecting rod bearing FMEP
increase linearly with engine speed, while the piston rings and gas pressure FMEP
decrease with engine speed. At higher speeds the majority of the friction is from the
piston skirt. This is because the piston skirt is designed to meet the side thrust forces
originating from the rotation of the connecting rod; which augment the increasing piston
speed.
1702
Figure 3. Crankshaft friction behavior with engine speed
Figure 4. Piston friction behavior with engine speed
Figure 5 shows the friction losses in the valvetrain. It is notable that valvetrain is
the main source of friction losses in the engine over the entire engine speed range. This
is due to the high loads carried by the valvetrain over the entire speed range. More
specifically, at lower speeds, the valvetrain is primarily under loads due to spring forces,
while at higher speeds the inertia forces of the component masses dominate. It can also
be seen from the shape of the FEMPvt versus the speed curve that the cam follower
interface contributes the largest friction loss due to the very high loads and small contact
areas. The other characteristic feature seen here is the higher loss at lower speeds which
is contradictory to other component behavior. Figure 6 describes the constituents of the
pumping loss friction. The pumping mean effective pressure is the sum of the pressure
1703
drops across flow restrictions during the intake and exhaust strokes. It is a measure of
the work required to move the fuel-air mixture into and out of an engine (Ferguson and
Kirkpatrick, 2001). The major losses for the tested condition are in the intake system
which depends on the manifold and ambient pressures only.
Figure 5. Valvetrain friction behavior with engine speed
Figure 6. Pumping loss behavior with engine speed
Figure 7 presents the total engine FMEP in its components and shows the weight of
each component. Evidently, the components losses all increase with engine speed except
1704
that of the valvetrain. In addition, the main contributor is the piston friction, followed by
the pumping losses. Additional details regarding the contribution of each component to
the total friction power are given in Figure 8. Figure 9 is illustrated to investigate the
effect of the throttle position on the lost friction power. Insignificant differences are
seen for the entire engine speed range inspected.
Figure 7. Engine friction component behavior with engine speed
Figure 8. Contribution of component friction to total engine friction power
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Figure 9. Friction power variation with engine throttle for different engine speeds
CONCLUSIONS
This paper gives an overview of EFLP, a comprehensive computer analysis model for
friction analysis of automotive engines. Details of the mathematical formulation of the
friction phenomenon were first described. EFLP provides a unique tool to examine the
impact of engine design changes on engine friction. As a result of the difficulty in
accurately measuring friction in a running engine, a comprehensive mathematical tool,
such as the one described in this paper, is invaluable in designing inherently low-friction
engines and in minimizing friction for existing designs. Case studies, such as the one
presented in this paper, are very easy to perform with EFLP because of the flexibility of
the analysis models.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the University of Malaysia Pahang
for providing laboratory facilities and financial support (RDU110332).
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SAE Technical Paper No. 2003-01-0725.
Wang, C. C., Chang, Y. J., Hsieh, Y. C., & Lin, Y. T. (1996). Sensible heat and friction
characteristics of plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers having plane fins.
International Journal of Refrigeration, 19(4), 223-230.
1708
EFFECT OF PREHEATED JATROPHA OIL AND JATROPHA OIL METHYL

ESTER WITH PRODUCER GAS ON DIESEL ENGINE PERFORMANCE
C. Nayak 1,*, B. P. Pattanaik2 and S. K. Nayak2

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, SOA University
Bhubaneswar- 30, Odisha, India
*
E-mail- Chandra_kec@rediffmail.com
Phone- +91-9861938217
2
School of Mechanical Engineering, KIIT University
Bhubaneswar-751024, Odisha, India
ABSTRACT
The present experimental study demonstrates the performance and emission

characteristics of a single cylinder dual fuel diesel engine with producer gas as the
primary fuel and diesel, preheated Jatropha oil and Jatropha oil methyl ester as injected
fuels. In order to reduce the viscosity of Jatropha oil, a shell and tube type heat
exchanger was designed and fabricated for preheating Jatropha oil using engine exhaust
gas. The performance parameters, such as brake specific fuel consumption, brake
thermal efficiency and exhaust gas temperature, have shown improved results with
baseline diesel and producer gas, whereas the above parameters are very close to other
test fuels under different loading conditions. All the emission parameters are found to be
on the higher side for preheated oil- compared to diesel-producer gas dual fuel operation
at all load conditions. With Jatropha oil methyl ester-producer gas dual fuel operation,
however, emission parameters such as CO2, smoke and NOx are higher compared to
diesel-producer gas operation. The smoke emission for preheated Jatropha oil-producer
gas dual fuel operation is approximately 60% higher than that of diesel-producer gas
operation at full load. From the present experimental investigation it may be concluded
that alternative fuel combinations such as preheated Jatropha oil-producer gas and
Jatropha oil methyl ester-producer gas can successfully replace diesel as the major fuel
in diesel engines with little modification. The present paper also recommends further
investigation to improve fuel properties and in-cylinder combustion phenomena of
preheated Jatropha oil and its methyl ester before use in a diesel engine.
Keywords: Dual fuel, diesel engine, producer gas, performance, emission.
INTRODUCTION
Due to the high brake thermal efficiency of diesel engines compared to gasoline engines
they have become more popular in the transportation and agriculture sector. As a result
of the rapid depletion, rising price, uncertainties over the supply of petroleum fuels and
the need to clean up the environment, an intensive research for alternative fuels has
been triggered (Azad, Ameer Uddin, & Alam, 2012; Edwin, Nagarajan, & Nagalingam,
2008; Ghobadian, Najafi, & Nayebi, 2013; Mat Yasin, Mamat, Sharma, & Yusop,
2012; Rahim, Mamat, Taib, & Abdullah, 2012; Senthil Kumar, Ramesh, &
Nagalingam, 2003a; Soon, Rus, Anika, & Hasan, 2013). A lot of research is conducted
into renewable fuels which are clean burning, and are being investigated as alternative
1709
Effect of preheated Jatropha oil and Jatropha oil methyl ester with producer gas on diesel engine performance
fuels (Aziz Hairuddin, Wandel, & Yusaf, 2013; Sundar Raj & Sendilvelan, 2010;
Yusaf, Hamawand, Baker, & Najafi, 2013). Alcohols, vegetable oil and its derivatives,
gaseous fuel such as hydrogen, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquid petroleum gas
(LPG) and producer gas are used as good alternative fuels for internal combustion (IC)
engines in dual fuel mode (Azad et al., 2012; Lata & Misra, 2010; Senthil Kumar,
Ramesh, & Nagalingam, 2003b). The physical-chemical properties of vegetable oil are
comparable with diesel and can be used to run a diesel engine without any modification
(Senthil Kumar et al., 2003a). Due to higher viscosity and lower volatility the nature of
vegetable oil causes engine problems such as mixture formation, atomization and spray
penetration, resulting in low brake thermal efficiency, increased smoke and gummy
deposits on engine components (Kalam & Masjuki, 2004; Ramadhas, Jayaraj, &
Muraleedharan, 2008). The fuel preheating technique offers the advantage of using
heavy fuels in normal diesel engines without any modification. Past investigations have
showed that preheated vegetable oils in diesel engines resulted in improved brake
thermal efficiency, reduced smoke and particulate emissions (Bari, Lim, & Yu, 2002).
Dual fuel operation in diesel engines over single mode operation results in lower smoke
emissions with improved thermal efficiency. A conventional diesel engine can be easily
be modified to dual fuel mode. In a dual fuel engine, a gaseous fuel is inducted as the
primary fuel and ignited by diesel/neat vegetable oil/bio-diesel as the pilot fuel (Nwafor,
2000). Jatropha curcas is very popular among the rural population of India due to its
many uses. This plant can grow in the western part of India and consumes less water.
Depending upon its cultivation, seed collection, oil extraction, and bio-diesel production
processes, this plant can generate large-scale employment (Pradeep & Sharma, 2007).
Jatropha biodiesel is a sulfur free renewable fuel and still exhibits excellent lubricant
properties (Sharma, 2003). It is safer than diesel oil due to its higher flash and fire
point. Jatropha biodiesel possesses low calorific value and enhances nitrogen oxide
(NOx) emissions due to the presence of oxygen, however, the presence of oxygen
results in a lower carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emission as result of
the complete combustion of bio diesel. Higher bulk modulus is responsible for the
dynamic advance of injection timing in bio diesel fuelled engines (Szybist, 2003). Bio-
diesels are the mono alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from renewable
sources, for use in diesel engines. Bio-diesel from Jatropha oil (JO) is produced through
transesterification processes in which straight vegetable oils are mixed with methanol in
the presence of catalyst. Catalysts such as sodium or potassium hydroxide are generally
used (Murugesan, Umarani, Subramanian, & Nedunchezhian, 2009). The objective of
the transesterification process is to reduce the viscosity and density of neat vegetable oil
and bring it closer to that of diesel. The bio-diesel thus obtained is engine friendly and
its properties are very close to diesel fuel (Senthil Kumar, Ramesh, & Nagalingam,
2001; Sharma, 2003). Many researchers have reported that in spite of the many
advantages of Jatropha oil bio-diesel (JOBD), it emits higher NOx emissions compared
to diesel fuel (Chairman, 2003; Sharma, 2003) which is a serious environmental effect.
The presence of oxygen in its structure, and higher bulk modulus and boiling point of
JOBD are the factors responsible for aggravating the NOx emission (Sharma, 2003;
Szybist, 2003).
Producer gas is a clear burning gas obtained from solid bio fuels by converting
them into gaseous fuel inside a gasifier. A gasifier is a simple chemical reactor where
both physical and chemical reactions take place. Producer gas can be generated from
various sources such as bagasse, coir-pith, ground nut shell, saw dust, straw wood chips
etc. From the literature it is revealed that according to direction of flow, gasifiers are of
1710
Nayak et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1709-1722
three types: up draft, down draft and cross draft (Ramadhas et al., 2008). The
composition of producer gas obtained during gasification is measured using gas
chromatography as shown in Table 1. Krishna and Ajit Kumar (1994) used coffee husk
as a biomass for gasification and analyzed the performance of a diesel engine on dual
fuel mode. They found that the maximum percentage diesel replacement was on 31%.
Martin, Vikoria, and Gunnar (1999) analyzed the waste wood gasification process from
a mill which was coupled with a combined cycle power production system. A
photograph of the sample of Babul wood pieces used in the gasifier is shown in Figure
1. The laminar burning velocity of producer gas (at 0.1MPa, 300K) is about 0.5m/s as
mentioned in the literature (Banapurmath & Tewari, 2009). It is a low-density energy
fuel having low calorific value compared to diesel, natural gas and biogas. The
knocking tendency of producer gas is low due to the presence of inert raw gas, carbon
dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2) (Banapurmath & Tewari, 2009). The main objective of
the present work is to test the technical feasibility of using pure Jatropha oil under
preheated conditions, and its methyl ester, in combination with woody biomass
producer gas in dual fuel mode in a diesel engine as a substitute for diesel fuel.
MATERIALS & METHODOLOGY
A schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown in Figure 2. The experimental

setup consists of a single cylinder 4-stroke dual fuel diesel engine coupled with
generator and bulb loading devices supplied by Parkas Diesels Pvt. Ltd, Agra. A
downdraft type biomass gasifier, gas cooler, and gas filter was supplied by Anker
Scientific Energy Technology Pvt. Ltd. Baroda. A photograph of the experimental setup
is shown in Figure 3. The detailed specifications of the engine and downdraft woody
biomass gasifier are given in Tables 3 and 4 respectively. The biomass is loaded from
the top of the gasifier and ash is removed at regular intervals. The partial combustion of
biomass in the gasifier reactor is converted into high temperature producer gas, which
enters the gas cooler. The moisture, tar and dust particles are removed through two sets
of filters. At the outlet of the filter pipe a mechanical valve is provided to control the gas
flow rate. For gas flow measurement, an orifice meter and a manometer is connected to
a surge tank. Manometers are used to measure air and gas flow separately. The producer
gas and air are mixed in the intake pipe and then the mixture enters the engine cylinder.
The engine was always operated at its rated speed of 1500rpm, injection timing of 23°
before top dead center (BTDC) and an injection pressure of 220 bars. Tests were carried
out under different load conditions using test fuels such as baseline diesel, neat
preheated Jatropha oil (PJO) and Jatropha oil methyl ester (Mohammadi, Rafiee,
Emam-Djomeh, & Keyhani) with constant producer gas flow rate in dual fuel mode
operation. The Jatropha oil was heated in a shell and tube heat exchanger using engine
exhaust gas. In dual fuel operation, the gas flow rate was measured using an orifice
meter and manometer attached to the gas surge tank. To obtain a particular gas flow
rate, the head difference in the manometer tube was kept constant by rotating a
mechanical control valve. For different gas flow rates, the head difference is thus varied
by rotating the control valve. The injected diesel flow rate was not maintained as
constant. The temperature of the combustion gas before entering the cooling system was
measured with the help of a thermocouple and found to be 458 °C, and after cooling and
cleaning, was found to be 37 °C.
The performance and emission were observed under different load conditions for all test
fuels and compared with the baseline diesel. The AVL make a 5-gas analyzer (model
1711
No. AVL Degas 444) and smoke meter (model no. AVL 437 C) with an accuracy of
±1%, which was used to measure exhaust gas emission parameters and smoke opacity
respectively. Parameters such as CO, HC and CO2 were measured by NDIR (non-
dispersive infrared) methods and NOX and Oxygen (O2) were measured using electro-
chemical methods.
Figure 1. Photograph of sample of wood pieces
Table 1. Composition of producer gas
Constituents Percentage (%) Levels

Low High
Carbon monoxide 19±3 16 22
Carbon dioxide 10±3 7 13
Hydrogen 18±2 16 20
Nitrogen 50 - 50
Methane Up to 3 - 3
Table 2. Properties of producer gas
Parameters Values
Calorific value ratio 1000 Kcal/ NM3
Stoichiometric air/fuel 1.16:1
Adiabatic flame 1546±25K (Banapurmath et al., 2009)
temperature
Laminar burning velocity 0.5±0.05 m/s (Banapurmath et al., 2009)
Density 1.281 Kg/m3 (Banapurmath et al., 2009)
Octane number 100-105
1712
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the test engine setup
Figure 3. Photograph of the test engine setup with gasifier
1713
Table 3. Properties of JO, JOME and diesel.
Property Diesel Jatropha oil JOME

3
Density (kg/m ) 830 981 880
Kinematic viscosity at 40o C (cSt) 2.5 37 5.65
Calorific value(KJ/Kg) 42,500 37,500 38,450
Cetane No. 48 45 50
o
Cloud point ( C) -12 9 -
Flash point (oC) 70 239 171
Pour point (oC) -17 4 -
Table 4. Variation in viscosity of PJO with temperature.
Temperature (oC) Kinematic Viscosity of PJO (cSt)

40 37.0
60 25.1
80 17.5
100 10.25
120 8.2
140 6.85
Table 5. Test engine specification
Parameters Specification
Machine supplier Ankur Scientific Energy Technologies Pvt.
Ltd. Vadodara – 390 024, India
Type “Prakash” make,7.5 KVA Diesel generating set
No. of cylinders One
No. of strokes 4-Stroke
Rated power 7.5 kW
Bore 80 (mm)
Stroke length 110 (mm)
Rated speed 1500 (rpm)
Table 6. Specification of the gasifier used.
Parameter Specification
Model WBG – 10 in Scrubbed, Clean Gas Mode
Rated Gas Flow 25 (Nm3/hr)
Gasifier type Downdraft
Gasification temperature 1050 – 1100 (oC)
Fuel Storage Capacity 100 (Kg).
Rated hourly consumption 8 – 9 (Kg).
Fuel type and size Wood/woody waste with maximum dimension not exceeding 25
mm in diameter and length
Typical conversion efficiency >75%
Permissible moisture content Less than 20% (wet basis)
in biomass
1714
Engine Performance Characteristics
Figure 4 shows the variation in brake thermal efficiency (BTE) with engine load for
diesel–Producer gas, PJO–Producer gas and JOME–Producer gas dual fuel operation.
Continuous improvement in BTE with increase in load was observed for all dual fuel
combinations. This was because with an increase in load, the cylinder charge
temperature increases, which promotes better combustion and leads to an increase in
BTE. Again, the brake thermal efficiency of PJO-Producer gas operations were found to
be lower than JOME–Producer gas and diesel–Producer gas operation. This is attributed
to the lower calorific value, higher viscosity and energy consumption of PJO compared
to JOME and diesel. A similar result was obtained by Chauhan, Naveen, and Cho
(2012). It was also found that at higher engine loads, i.e. above 60%, the increase in
BTE for all dual fuel combinations gradually reduces. This is because at 60% above
load, due to fuel richness and incomplete combustion, BTE reduces gradually (Chauhan
et al., 2012).
Figure 4.Variation in BTE with Load
The variation in brake specific energy consumption (BSEC) for various engine
loads for all test fuels is shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that the BSEC for all test
conditions gradually decreases with an increase in load because of improved
combustion rates at higher load. The decrease in BSEC is also lower at higher loads for
all dual fuel operations. A possible reason is that it is due to better combustion as a
result of higher charge temperature at higher load (Chauhan, Naveen, Jun, & Lee,
2010). It is noted that the highest value of BSEC was obtained with PJO-Producer gas
operation compared to JOME-Producer gas and diesel-Producer gas operation. This was
due to the higher density, lower heating value and poor atomization of PJO compared to
JOME and diesel oil (Chauhan et al., 2012; Chauhan et al., 2010).
1715
Figure 5. Variation in BSEC with Load
Figure 6 shows the variation in exhaust gas temperature (EGT) with different
engine loads for the above three test fuels. It was found that the EGT linearly increases
with an increase in engine load for all test conditions. This is due to the fact that at
higher engine loads, higher energy is supplied to the engine and the combustion rate is
higher, which results in higher EGT (Pattanaik, Nayak, & Nanda, 2013). The highest
value of EGT is obtained with JOME-Producer gas dual fuel operation compared to
PJO-Producer and diesel-Producer gas for the range of engine loads. This may be due to
the greater availability of oxygen in JOME and PJO molecular structure compared to
diesel, which enhances the combustion temperature resulting higher EGT, or may be
due to the higher viscosity of JOME and PJO, meaning more energy is released after the
combustion phase resulting in higher EGT (Chauhan et al., 2012).
Figure 6. Variation in EGT with load
1716
Engine Emission Characteristics
Figure 7 depicts the variation in HC emissions with engine load for the above
mentioned dual fuel engine operations. The results obtained indicate that the HC
emission increases with increase in engine load for all three test conditions. This is
because at higher engine loads the availability of more fuel in the combustion chamber
increases the possibility of incomplete combustion (Chauhan et al., 2012). The HC
emissions were found to be highest in the case of PJO-Producer operation due to
incomplete combustion as a result of higher viscosity and poor atomization of PJO
compared to diesel and JOME. Again the minimum HC emission was found in JOME-
Producer gas operation, which is due to the availability of oxygen in the JOME
molecular structure which promotes better combustion and thus lowers HC emissions
(Chauhan et al., 2012).
Figure 7. Variation in HC emission with load
Figure 8 shows the variation in CO emission with engine loads during dual fuel
operation with three test fuels. The results obtained show that with an increase in engine
load, the CO emission increases for all test conditions. This is due to the fact that with
the increase in load in diesel engines, the fuel flow rate increases by decreasing the fresh
air which results in incomplete combustion and thus more CO emissions (Agarwal &
Rajamanoharan, 2009). The CO emission was found to be highest in PJO-Producer gas
due to poor atomization and the higher viscosity of PJO compared to diesel and JOME.
However, JOME-Producer gas shows lower values of CO emission compared to diesel-
Producer gas and PJO-producer gas operation. This is attributed to the higher
percentage of oxygen present in JOME molecular structure, which leads to better
combustion and generates lower CO emissions (Chauhan et al., 2012). Figure 9 shows
the variation in CO2 emissions with engine loads for all three test conditions in dual fuel
mode. It was found that the CO2 emission increases with an increase in load for all test
fuels. With the increase in load, the producer gas flow rate increases, which is a mixture
1717
of CO and CO2 resulting in more CO2 emissions during combustion. However, the
JOME-Producer gas operation produces the highest CO2 emissions compared to the
other two dual fuel combinations. This is due to the availability of more oxygen in the
JOME molecular structure, the conversion from CO to CO2 is enhanced during
combustion.
Figure 8. Variation in CO emission with load
Figure 9. Variation in CO₂ emission with load
Figure 10 shows the variation in smoke emissions with engine load. It shows
that with an increase in load the smoke emission increase for all test conditions. Again it
is found that the combustion in PJO-Producer gas dual fuel mode produces the highest
smoke emission due to the higher viscosity of PJO compared to JOME and diesel.
Further, it was observed that the smoke opacity level of JOME-Producer gas is higher
than that of diesel-Producer gas operation, due to the heavier molecular weight of
JOME compared to diesel (Banapurmath, Yaliwal, Hosmath, & Tewari, 2012; Haiter
Lenin, Ravi, Arumugham, & Thyagarajan, 2012). Figure 11 shows the variation in
NOx emission with engine load while operating under all three given test fuels. The
results obtained indicate an increase in NOx emissions with an increase in engine load
1718
for all test fuels. This is because with an increase in load, energy input increases and
results in higher combustion temperature, and thus more NOx emissions. It was also
found that the NOx emission is highest for vegetable oil (JOME and PJO)-Producer gas
operation compared to conventional diesel. This is due to the fact that vegetable oil
contains more oxygen. The formation of NOx emissions are basically due to two
factors: higher combustion temperature and the availability of oxygen. In a comparison
between JOME- Producer gas and PJO-Producer gas operation, JOME- Producer gas
shows higher values of NOx emission, because a higher Cetane number and better
atomization of JOME compared to PJO leads to higher combustion temperatures
resulting in better combustion.
Figure 10. Variation in smoke emissions with load
Figure 11. Variation in NOx emission with load
CONCLUSIONS
The primary objective of the present investigation was to test the effectiveness of PJO-
producer gas and JOME-Producer gas in dual fuel mode operation in a single cylinder
1719
CI engine. The secondary objective was to measure the various engine performances
and emission parameters of the above combination of fuels. The following conclusions
are drawn from this experimental investigation:
1. The BTE for diesel-producer gas was found to be higher than the other dual fuel
operations of the engine, whereas BSEC was found to be lowest for diesel-
producer gas and highest for PJO-producer gas dual fuel operation of the engine.
2. The HC, CO and smoke emissions were found to be highest for PJO-producer
gas dual fuel operation and the lowest for diesel-producer gas dual fuel operation
of the engine.
3. The CO2 emission for JOME-producer gas dual fuel operation was found to be
highest and lowest for diesel-producer gas operation.
4. The EGT and the NOx emissions were found to be highest for JOME-producer
gas dual fuel operation. The same parameters were found to be lowest for diesel-
producer gas dual fuel operation of the engine.
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NOMENCLATURE
Parameters Description
CI Compression Ignition
DI Direct Injection
JOME Jatropha oil Methyl Ester
JO Jatropha Oil
PJO Preheated Jatropha Oil
CNG Compressed Natural Gas
LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas
JOBD Jatropha oil Bio-diesel
ACA Alternating Current
N2 Nitrogen gas
HC Hydrocarbon
CO Carbon monoxide
CO2 Carbon dioxide
NOx Nitrogen oxide
HSU Heritage Smoke Unit
MJ/m3 Mega Joules per Cubic meter
Kg/m3 Kilo grams per cubic meter
KJ/kg Kilo Joules per Kilogram
cSt Centi Stokes
w/w Weight by weight
rpm Revolutions per minute
Nm3/hr Newton cubic meter per hour
KJ/KWhr Kilo Joules per Kilo Watt hour
Ppm Parts per million
NM3 Normal cubic meters
1722
MODAL ANALYSIS OF DISSIMILAR PLATE METAL JOINING WITH

DIFFERENT THICKNESSES USING MIG WELDING
M. M. Hatifi1*, M. H. Firdaus1and A. Y. Razlan2

1
Advanced Structural Integrity and Vibration Research Group (ASIVR)
Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
*Email: hatifi@ump.edu.my
Phone: +09-4246265 Fax: +09-4244222
2
Innovative Manufacturing Design and Processes Expert Group (i-MDP),
Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering
Universiti Malaysia Pahang,
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a study of the dynamic behavior of joining hybrid parts, stainless
steel and aluminum alloy, by MIG welding. The objective is to analyze the effect of
welding on dissimilar plates of stainless steel and aluminum. A finite element model of
joining stainless steel and aluminum alloy by welding was built using a structural three-
dimensional (3D) solid modeling element. Impact testing using hammer excitation and
accelerometer response measuring techniques was conducted to measure the vibration
properties of the hybrid parts. The natural frequency and the mode shape graph from
experimental modal analysis were then compared with the results that were obtained
from finite elements (FE) and showed good agreement. Joining welding gives effect to
dynamic properties (mode shape) of modal analysis, especially mode 1,3 (bending
pattern) and mode 4 (second twisting). The results show significant points about the
effect of MIG welding of dissimilar plate in terms of their dynamic properties compared
to welding of the same material. Through comparison of the simulation results and the
experimental measurements, it can be assumed that, besides the welding-brazing
process, other key manufacturing processes such as cladding, buttering and heat
treatment should also be taken into account to accurately predict the dynamic properties
in the whole range of dissimilar metal joining.
Keywords: Modal analysis; welding-brazing; dissimilar plate.
INTRODUCTION
Dissimilar metal welds are commonly used in nuclear power plants to connect low alloy
steel components and austenitic stainless steel piping systems. The integrity assessment
and life estimation for such welded structures require consideration of dynamic
properties. However, it is very costly and time-consuming to carry out experiments to
obtain dynamic properties data. An alternative approach is a computational procedure
based on the finite element method, which is effective in solving non-linear problems
(Dike, Cadden, Corderman, Schultz, & McAninch, 1996; Dong, Zhang, & Li, 1998).
Nowadays, metal inert gas welding is an effective technology used throughout the
1723
Modal analysis of dissimilar plate metal joining with different thicknesses using MIG welding
industry (Wang et al., 2012). It is used widely in advanced construction and equipment,
especially in the automotive industry to join parts. The combination of building
materials which commonly uses aluminum and steel is in high demand for welding
technology. Joining between aluminum alloys and stainless steel has proved to be
significant for the construction industry. Joining between aluminum alloy and steel is
also important in the transportation industry, particularly given the need to design
lightweight vehicle bodies (Charde, 2012a; Rahman, Arrifin, Nor, & Abdullah, 2008;
Rahman, Rosli, Noor, Sani, & Julie, 2009; Sakayama et al., 2013; Shah, Akhtar, &
Ishak, 2013). Joining of aluminum and steel by fusion welding is difficult because the
compound is a mixture of two substances and forms a brittle intermetallic compound
(IMC) in the joints (Charde, 2012b; Thomy, 2012). The joint has two characteristics:
on the base, the metal is aluminum alloy with a low melting point, mixed with molten
filler metal to form a weld joint, while the surface is steel with a high melting point
metal with brazing, which acts like a response with the filler metal melts to form a
solder layer interface formed braze joints (Lin, Song, Yang, Fan, & Zhang, 2010). The
joining of aluminum alloy and stainless steel can be difficult for aluminum and non-
metallic iron fusion welding. This is due to the large difference between the melting
points (660 ºC for Al and 1538 ºC for Fe), the close to zero solid solubility of aluminum
metal, and the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds. The difference in the
thermal properties of the two materials, such as expansion coefficient, conductivity, and
specific heat, leads to internal stresses after welding fusion (Song, Lin, Yang, Ma, &
Liu, 2009). Song et al. (2009) said that tungsten arc inert gas (TIG) new welding–
brazing techniques have become a hot research field to participate in an aluminum alloy
to stainless steel. In the dynamic arc heating process, the liquid filler metal (aluminum
alloy) is not wet and spread on the surface of the steel, although the Al-Zn coated steel
surface can promote the wetting and spreading to fill the metal.
For this project, using metal inert gas welding (Migeon, Texier, & Pineau,
2000), brazing may produce the same result. The effect of different welding on the joint
characteristics of aluminum alloy and stainless steel with MIG welding is shown in
Figure 1. The Al–Cu filler metal spreads fully on the steel surface to form a sound joint.
The joint has typical welding–brazing dual characteristics: on the aluminum alloy side,
the base metal with a low melting point is a welding joint, which mixes with the molten
filler metal to form a fusion area, while on the stainless steel side, the steel surface with
a high melting point is a brazing joint, which reacts with the molten filler metal to form
the brazing interface layer (Borrisutthekul, Mitsomwang, Rattanachan, & Mutoh, 2010;
Wang et al., 2012).The hybrid component has a higher technical and economic
potential. The vibration characteristic is a frequent problem that affects the result of
joining dissimilar materials such as aluminum alloys and stainless steel by welding.
This characteristic is a vital aspect of analyzing and designing structures, especially
those that involve dynamic characteristics. Much of the structure of a vehicle body
contains welding points, changes in compliance areas welded joints due to fatigue
damage that can have a major impact on the nature of the above-mentioned structures
(Shang, Barkey, Wang, & Lim, 2003). The main objective of this investigation is to
study the effect of welding–brazing from MIG welding on the vibration characteristics
of dissimilar plates with different thicknesses. Finite element modeling was used to find
the natural frequencies and mode shapes. Experimental modal analysis will be done to
validate the results obtained from FE analysis.
1724
Hatifi et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1723-1733
Aluminum
Stainless Steel
Figure 1. Joining dissimilar plate by MIG welding.
Figure 2. Mesh diagram of assembled parts with weld bead.
FINITE ELEMENT MODELING
The finite element modeling was carried out in the free-free boundary condition and the
mesh was constructed using three parts, representing the aluminum alloy plate, stainless
steel plate and weld bead. The element type used for the aluminum alloy plate was
aluminum alloy 1100 H14, the stainless steel plate was stainless steel SUS304, and the
weld bead was aluminum alloy 4043, as shown in Figure 2. The experiment was carried
out by setting the analysis type to Natural Frequency (modal), changing the units from
metric mks (SI) to custom unit and changing the length to millimetre (mm) and force to
Newton (N). The element definition was set to tetrahedron and the mesh size was
defined as 70%. The result is better if a higher percentage of mesh size is set, but a
super-computer is then required to perform the analysis (Husain et al., 2010). For this
experiment, 30-50 mode shapes were analyzed and no loading or boundary condition
1725
was imposed on the test specimen. The free boundary condition was simulated by
supporting the structure with a soft material such as sponge. The mesh structure for
joining the aluminum alloy and stainless steel with weld bead is shown in Figure 2. The
simulation was done part by part so that it could be compared to the experimental
analysis later. The colors in Figure 2 show the dissimilar materials: red for aluminum,
green for stainless steel, and the yellow between the red and green shows the weld bead.
EXPERIMENTAL MODAL ANALYSIS
Experimental tests were designed in order to measure the natural frequency and mode
shape of the hybrid plates with MIG welding for comparison with FEM results. The
joining between aluminum alloy and stainless steel was done using metal inert gas
(Migeon et al., 2000) welding, as shown in Figure 3, before conducting the
experimental modal analysis. In this figure, the left side is stainless steel and the right
side is aluminum alloy and these were joined using metal inert gas with a welding
current of 252 W and speed of 18 m/min (Migeon et al., 2000). The figure shows the
appearance of the aluminum–steel butt joint made by MIG welding–brazing. It was
observed that the joint has a good front and back and no crack appears on the welded
seam/steel interface. The flux slag carpets on the half surface of the welded seam on the
steel side due to its low gravity, and the residual flux deposits on the steel surface near
the welded seam.
Stainless Steel Aluminum
(a)
(b)
Figure 3. Joining plate by MIG welding: (a) front view; (b) side view
Figure 3(b) shows the molten steel flow and the fracture that occurred at the root
interface seams / welded steel after welding with a high heat input. It shows the typical
1726
cross-section of the aluminum–steel butt joint. The stainless steel plate is 2 mm thick,
while the aluminum plate is 3mm thick. The Al–Cu filler metal spread fully on the steel
surface to form a sound joint. The joint has typical welding–brazing dual characteristics:
on the aluminum alloy side, similar to Song’s research in terms of technique, the base
metal with a low melting point is a welding joint, which mixes with the molten filler
metal to form a fusion area, while on the stainless steel side, the steel surface with a
high melting point is a brazing joint, which reacts with the molten filler metal to form
the brazing interface layer.
In the experiment, an impact hammer was used to run experimental modal

testing on the Al–Cu joint. The component was interfaced with a host computer,
allowing for coordination of the operation of the overall system and enhancing the data
processing capabilities. An impact hammer test is the most common method of
measuring FRFs (frequency response functions). (Herlufsen, 1984; Ramsey, 1983).
The hammer impacts a transient impulsive force excitation to the dissimilar plate. The
impact is intended to excite a wide range of frequencies so that the DAQ (data
acquisition system) can measure the vibration of the device across this range of
frequencies. In the experiment, an accelerometer was used and was connected to the
DAQ. The accelerometer is a device for measuring the vibration of a structure,
producing an output signal proportional to the acceleration. It works by having some
kind of force measuring sensor with a mass attached to it so that when the dissimilar
plate is forced to vibrate, a force proportional to acceleration will be produced. The
dynamic force signal is recorded by the DAQ. After the impact, the dissimilar plate
vibration was measured with the accelerometer and recorded by the DAQ, and the data
was transferred to the computer and the FRF was obtained by comparing the force
excitation and the response acceleration signals. Figure 4 shows an experimental setup
for a measurement system with tags numbered 1 to 5. Tag number 1 is the impact
hammer, 2 is the triaxial accelerometer, 3 is the NI DAQ, 4 is the laptop and 5 is the
dissimilar plate.
Figure 4. Experiment modal analysis setup
1727
Natural Frequencies
In order to clarify the results that were obtained from this research, results from the
experimental and numerical analysis were compared according to the impact on the
welding of the dissimilar plate. Table 1 shows the natural frequencies obtained from the
finite element models and experimental modal testing when joining aluminum alloy and
stainless steel with a weld, and the percentage of error in the different cases. Mode
shape 5 had the lowest percentage error while mode 2 had the highest percentage error.
Table 1. Comparison of natural frequency analysis between FEA and experimental

modal analysis.
Mode
Theoretical Experimental Error (%)
shape
1 839.676 792 5.678
2 1043.93 1120 7.287
3 1848.8 1940 4.933
4 2605.52 2490 4.434
5 2935.05 2940 0.169
Figure 5 shows the frequency of finite element models and the experimental
modal testing of the joining plate between aluminum alloy and stainless steel. All the
points that were struck by the hammer resemble each other. This shows that the objects
were designated with a certain natural frequency that differed only slightly with
distance; the distance was measured from both ends, which means that the value of
frequency at one end is the same as at the other end and is the same as any other point
that is mirrored on the other side.
3500
3000
Theoretical
2500
Frequency (Hz)
Experimental
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1 2 3 4 5
Modes Shape
Figure 5. Comparison of natural frequency analysis.
1728
Although the differences are small, it is clear that the highest natural frequency
is gained with mode 5. Both the numerical and experimental results indicate that the
inclusion of residual stresses when joining dissimilar metals tends to raise the natural
frequency, as these stresses are mainly tensile in nature, thus increasing the lateral
stiffness of the plates, leading to an increase in natural frequency. The increase in
natural frequency due to residual stresses is small because these stresses are acting on
small areas (Society) relative to the area of the plate.
(i) (ii)
(a)
(i) (ii)
(b)
Figure 6. Numerical (i) and experimental (ii) analysis of mode shapes when joining
dissimilar plates by MIG welding: (a) Mode 1; (b) Mode 2.
1729
(i) (ii)
(c)
(i) (ii)
(d)
(i) (ii)
(e)
Figure 7. Numerical (i) and experimental (ii) analysis of mode shapes when
joining dissimilar plates by MIG welding: (c) Mode 3; (d) Mode 4;
(e) Mode 5.
1730
Mode Shapes
Mode shapes are deformation patterns of resonant frequencies and a variety of different
deformation shapes were produced, depending on the excitation force frequency. These
deformation patterns are referred to as the structure’s mode shapes. From the
experimental analysis, a set of data was collected during the impact hammer testing. The
testing was made at 42 points selected at the joining plate between the aluminum alloy
and stainless steel, consisting of 18 points in the aluminum alloy area, 18 points in the
stainless steel area and 6 points in the welded area. Point numbers 1 to 24 represented
the aluminum plate and points 19 to 42 represented the stainless steel plate. Numerical
analysis was done by finite element analysis (FEM) and was compared to the
experimental results for the mode shapes. This pattern deformation is referred to as the
mode shape structure. That is actually not perfectly correct from the standpoint of pure
mathematics, but for a brief discussion here, this pattern of deformation is very close to
the mode shapes from a practical point of view. Figure 6 and 7 show the five mode
shapes when joining dissimilar plate aluminum alloy and stainless steel by welding. The
figure compares every mode shape from the numerical analysis (i) with that from
experimental analysis (ii). There is a second bending deformation pattern for mode 5.
The red color indicates the maximum displacement that occurred in the mode and the
blue color is the minimum displacement. The mode shapes obtained numerically and
experimentally are almost identical. The maximum difference in natural frequency
ocurred in the second mode, with a value of 7.287%, which is almost acceptable. The
natural frequencies obtained experimentally and numerically are verified to be in good
agreement, since the maximum difference occurred in the range of 4.5%. This is a good
proof for the validity of the experimental and numerical frequency expressions.
CONCLUSIONS
In this research on joining stainless steel and aluminum alloy using MIG welding, the
results are similar to those of the study by Song et al. (2009), which showed that
welding by MIG will produce welding–brazing joining because of the different melting
points. Referring to the results obtained, it can be seen that the numerical and
experimental results showed good agreement. It was found that the residual stresses
produced in each piece have a significant effect on the natural frequency of the
dissimilar plate, where the natural frequency increases when residual stresses are
included. Joining by welding–brazing affects the dynamic properties (mode shape) in
the modal analysis, especially modes 1 and 3 (bending pattern) and mode 4 (second
twisting).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was sponsored by the Univerisity Malaysia Pahang, Kuantan, Malaysia under
grant number RDU 110316.
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1731
Charde, N. (2012a). Characterization of spot weld growth on dissimilar joints with

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H. (2013). Dissimilar metal joining technologies for steel sheet and aluminum
alloy sheet in auto body. Nippon Steel Tech. Rep, 103, 91-98.
Shah, L. H., Akhtar, Z., & Ishak, M. (2013). Investigation of aluminum-stainless steel
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1732
Thomy, D.-I. C. (2012). Laser-mig hybrid welding of aluminium to steel—effect of

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1733
FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF A LAMINATED COMPOSITE BEAM

WITH VARIOUS BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
Murat Balcı1, Mustafa Oğuz Nalbant1, Ercan Kara1 and Ömer Gündoğdu2
1
Bayburt University, Faculty of Engineering,
Mechanical Engineering,
Bayburt, Turkey.
Phone: +90-458-2111178
Email: mbalci@bayburt.edu.tr
2
AtatürkUniversity, Faculty of Engineering,
Mechanical Engineering, Erzurum, Turkey.
ABSTRACT
This study presents a free vibration analysis of a laminated composite beam, based on
the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. A numerical model of the laminated composite beam
was obtained for various boundary conditions based on different length-to-thickness
ratios for a number of layers, using the finite element method. A planar beam bending
element with two nodes, each having two degrees of freedom, was chosen according to
Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The natural frequencies of the laminated composite beam
were obtained for each case, and presented in such a way as to display the effect of
these changes on the natural frequencies. Eight natural frequencies of clamped-free,
clamped-clamped (CC) and simple-simple (SS) composite beams were first obtained for
different length-to-thickness ratios (Lx /h), numbers of layers, layer angles and for their
different positions. It can be seen that natural frequencies decrease for all modes with
increasing length-to-thickness ratio in all cases.
Keywords: Finite element method; Laminated composite beam; Euler-Bernoulli beam;

free vibration.
INTRODUCTION
The use of composites as engineering materials has increased greatly in recent years.
They took the place of other engineering materials due to their strength, light weight,
resistance to corrosion and wear, and other superior properties. These physical
properties thus need to be known in order to be analyzed and structurally designed. A
variety of composite materials have been investigated in the literature, and in this study,
laminated composite materials have been chosen for research. Having a high
strength/weight ratio, these materials are produced through a range of plys, which have
orthotropic features, one on top of another, with different angles and forms. Their
mechanical properties are thus related to their forms and angles. For this reason, it is
possible to make produce the desired properties for different loading conditions. On the
other hand, the analyses of these materials is more complicated than that of isotropic
materials because of their anisotropic structures. It is necessary to analyze the free
vibration behaviors of the laminated composite materials used in various engineering
fields. Many researchers have tackled the vibration problem of laminated composites.
For instance Thambiratnam and Zhuge (1996) implemented a finite element model to
1734
Balcı et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1734-1746
undertake a free vibration analysis of isotropic beams with uniform cross sections on an
elastic foundation using Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. Huang, Shih, and Kim (2009)
attempted to use an inverse vibration method to solve the forced vibration problem
raised in cutting tools that were modeled as Euler-Bernoulli beams. In numerical
solutions, the conjugate gradient method was utilized, and simulation results for the
beam displacements were used to estimate external forces on the cutting tool. Della and
Shu (2005) analytically solved the free vibration problem of composite beams with two
overlapping delaminations. In their study, various boundary conditions were
investigated, natural frequencies and mode shapes were obtained, and they compared
their results with experimental findings. Miller and Adams (1975) investigated the
effects of shear deformation on the free vibration of an orthotropic cantilever beam,
studying the free vibration analysis of orthotropic clamped free beams, using the Euler-
Bernoulli beam theory without including the effect of shear deformation. Free vibration
analysis of a cross-ply laminated composite beam on Pasternak foundation was
investigated. Natural frequencies of beams on Pasternak foundations were computed
using the finite element method on the basis of Timoshenko beam theory by Jafari-
Talookolaei and Ahmadian (2007). The effects of delamination length and orientation
angle on the natural frequency of symmetric composite beams were investigated
analytically and numerically. The analytical method was developed using the
Timoshenko beam theory by (Çallioğlu & Atlihan, 2011). In this paper, the effect of
changes in boundary conditions and ply angles on the natural frequencies of layered
composite beams were investigated, based on length-to-thickness ratios. The finite
element method was used for the analysis with the Euler-Bernoulli beam assumption. A
MATLAB program was developed to solve the problem. The first eight frequencies
were computed and presented both in tabular form and as graphics.
CLASSICAL LAMINA BEAM THEORY (CLBT)
Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, also known as the Classical Lamina Beam Theory
(CLBT), neglects the transverse shear deformation and normal strain effects (Özutok &
Madenci, 2013). The geometry of the composite laminated beam is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows the coordinates and geometry of laminated composite beam.
Figure 1. Euler-Bernoulli beam theory (Wang, Reddy, & Lee, 2000)
1735
Free vibration analysis of a laminated composite beam with various boundary conditions
Figure 2. Coordinates and geometry of laminated composite beam
The relationship between the strain ε and the axial displacement u is given by: (Petyt,
1990)
du
 (1)
dx
The relationship between the axial displacement u and the rotation of the cross-section
ϴ is obtained as: (Petyt, 1990)
du   z d (2)
The relationship between the deflection of beam w and the rotation of the cross-section
ϴ can be written as
dw
 (3)
dx
from the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory (Wang et al., 2000). If the Eq. (3) and (2) are
substituted into Eq. (1),
d 2w
  z 2 (4)
dx
can be obtained (Wang et al., 2000). The curvature of the beam from Eq. (4) can be
written as: (Petyt, 1990)
d 2w
 2 (5)
dx
1736
MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE BEAM
Figure 3 presents the geometry of laminated composite beam. The stress-strain

relationship for a laminated composite Euler-Bernoulli beam is given by Hooke’s law
as: (Wang et al., 2000)
    D  (6)
where [D] is a bending stiffness matrix, and σ represents the stress. The material was
assumed to be linear orthotropic.
Figure 3. Geometry of laminated composite beam (Atlihan et al., 2009)
Each term in Eq. (6) is defined as the following: (Kollár & Springer, 2003)
Ti
    x  y  xy 
i
(7)
    x  y  xy 
i Ti
(8)
i
Q11 Q12 0 
Q   Q12 0 
i
Q22
 0 0 Q66 
(Manning)
Q  represents the reduced elastic constants matrix for the i layer, which is given in Eq.
i th
(Manning) as: (Reddy, 2004)
E1 12 E2
Q11  , Q12 
1  1221 1  1221
E2
Q22  , Q66  G12
1  1221 (10)
1737
Figure 4. The x, y, z laminate coordinate system, the x1, x2, x3 ply coordinate system,
and the ply angle (Kollár & Springer, 2003)
 x  x  T  x y
1 2
(Papuga)
where T  is the transformation matrices for stress and strain, respectively.

Where the elements in the stiffness matrix, Q  matrix is
Q   T QT T
 
(Wang et al.)
The stiffness matrices of the laminate are defined as: (Kollár & Springer, 2003)
 Qij  zk  zk 1   Qij  zk  zk 1 
1 N 1 N
 zk  zk 1 
N (k ) (k ) (k )
Aij   Qij Bij  2 2
Dij  3 3
k 1 2 k 1 3 k 1
The geometric and physical properties of the laminated composite beam used in
MATLAB are provided in Table 1.
Table 1. Geometric and physical properties of laminated composite beam (Balci, 2011).
Ex=38 GPa Ey=3.8 GPa Ez=3.8 GPa

Gxy=1.9 GPa Gxz=1.9 GPa Gyz=0.76 GPa
υxy=0.25 υyz=0.25 ρ=1295 kg/m3
Lx=1 m b=0.01 m
FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
A planar beam bending element with two nodes, each having two-degree-of-freedom,
was chosen, obeying Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The beam element, with the same
1738
degree of freedom as beam deflection w and the rotation of the cross-section ϴ, is

depicted in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Plane beam bending element (Balci, 2011)
The potential energy for a laminated composite beam element in bending vibration is
given as: (Lee, 1988).
1 T 1
U  e q t 1 B  D Bx  q
T
(13)
2
The kinetic energy of a laminated composite beam element in bending vibration is:
(Lee, 1988).
1 T
Te  q e   N  N  v q
T
(14)
2
If the potential and kinetic energy expressions are substituted in the Hamilton principle:
(Petyt, 1990)
t1 t1
L    (T  U )dt    Wdt (15)
t0 t0
is obtained, where W expresses the work done by external forces. If Eq. (Manning) is
minimized for a system under undamped free vibration, the equation of motion of a
beam undergoing bending vibrations can be obtained as: (Balci, 2011)
me  qe   k e  q  0 (16)
where [me] and [ke] are the mass and stiffness matrices, respectively. If the curvature of
the Euler-Bernoulli beam is re-written
d 2w d 2
  w   Dw (17)
dx 2 dx 2
where D is the linear differential operator and w displacement, beam displacement

equation is then: (Kollar and Springer, 2003)
1739
w = Nd (18)
where N represents shape function and d nodal displacement operator. The nodal
displacement operator is given as
 wi 
  w 
d   dwi    i  (19)
   
 dx 
i
If the Eq. (19) is substituted in Eq. (18) the expression
  Dw  DNd    Bd (20)
is obtained [24], where the expression B is the strain-displacement matrix. If the

stiffness matrix for the bending laminated composite beam element is: (Lee, 1988).
 k e  t 11 B  D Bx

T
(21)
The mass matrix for the bending laminated composite beam element is (Lee, 1988).
 me   e   N   N  V
T
(22)
If the mass and stiffness matrices developed for the bending beam element are
combined so as to represent an Euler-Bernoulli beam,
 M   e1 me
n
(23)
 K   e1 k
n
e
are obtained, where the matrices [M] and [K] are respectively the global mass and
stiffness matrices, and n the number of finite elements used in the model.
DEVELOPMENT OF SHAPE FUNCTION
The plain beam element shown in Figure 5 has two nodes with two degrees of freedom,
and thus it has four degrees of freedom in total. To determine shape function, a cubic
polynomial with four terms for each degree of freedom has been chosen as the
displacement shape function from the Pascal triangle shown in Figure 6.
w( x)  a1  a2 x  a3 x 2  a4 x3 (24)
Beam displacement can be written in the following form: (De Abreu, Ribeiro, & Steffen
Jr, 2004)
w  P a
T
(25)
1740
In Eq. (25), a is the coefficient vector and P is the interpolation polynomial term vector.
The coefficient and interpolation polynomial term vectors are given in the following
format (De Abreu et al., 2004)
a  a1 a4 
T
a2 a3
(26)
P  1 x3
T
x x2
Figure 6. Pascal Triangle (Bhavikatti, 2005)
If the displacement polynomial given in Eq. (24) is substituted into Eq. (18) in a matrix
form and expanded for each node: (Abreu, Riberio, & Steffen, 2004),
d   X a (27)
is obtained. X in Eq. (27) represents the expanded displacement matrix of dimension

4x4. Then, Eq. (27) is solved for the coefficient vector:
a   X  d
1
(28)
If Eq. (28) is substituted in Eq. (25), one may obtain:
w  P  X  d
T 1
(29)
If Eq. (29) is substituted in Eq. (28) and reorganized, the shape function is developed in
the form below:
N  P  X 
T 1
(30)
DYNAMICS ANALYSIS
The equation of motion for the beam undergoing undamped free vibration was given in
Eq. (16). The equation of motion for the global system is
1741
 M q+ K q = 0 (31)
for which a harmonic solution can be proposed in the following form:
q = ψ sin(ωt) (32)
If Eq. (32) is substituted into Eq. (31)
-  M ψ ω2 sin(ωt)+  K ψ sin(ωt)= 0 (33)
is obtained. If Eq. (33) is further reorganized, it takes the following eigenvalue problem
of the form
 
 K  - ω2  M  ψ = 0 (34)
where    2 are eigenvalues representing vibration frequencies while  are

eigenvectors representing vibration modes (Balci, 2011).
A numerical model for the laminated composite beam problem was constructed in
MATLAB with clamped-free (Chirn & McFarlane, 2000), clamped-clamped (CC), and
simple-simple supported (SS) boundary conditions. Laminated composite beams with
four layers having [0/90/90/0] and [-45 45 45 -45] also two layers having [-45 45] and
six layers having [0 -45 45 45 -45 0] orientation angles were used for natural frequency
analysis. As shown in Table 2 and Figure 7, it is understood that when length-to-
thickness ratio increases, natural frequency decreases. That result is the same for all
modes analyzed in this study.
Table 2. Natural Frequency (Hz) estimates for (Chirn & McFarlane) laminated
composite beam with four layers having [0/90/ 90/ 0].
Free Natural Vibration Frequencies (Hz)

Lx / h
Mode Mode Mode Mode 7 Mode 8
Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6
1 2 3
20 41.3 258.7 724.3 1419.4 2346.4 3505.1 4895.6 6517.8
50 16.5 103.5 289.7 567.8 938.6 1402.1 1958.2 2607.1
100 8.3 51.7 144.9 283.9 469.3 701 979.1 1303.6
4.127 25.869 72.434 141.943 234.642 350.514 489.562 651.783
200
9 3 7 1 2 8 0 7
2.750 17.239 48.270 156.365 233.583 326.244 434.348
300 94.5909
8 3 5 5 1 1 7
2.064 12.934 36.217 117.321 175.257 244.781 325.891
400 70.9716
0 6 4 1 4 0 8
1.651 10.347 28.973 140.205 195.824 260.713
500 56.7773 93.8569
2 7 9 9 8 5
1742
When the layer angles changed from 45 degree to 90, it was observed that the
natural frequency increases, as can be seen in Figure 9. The simulation results obtained
for the CF laminated composite beam with four layers [-45/45/ 45/ -45] are shown in
Table 3 and Figure 8. The number of layers were compared and it was observed that
natural frequencies for first mode increased with the number of layers increasing, as
seen in in Figure10.
7000 mode1
Natural Frequency (Hz)
6000 mode2
5000 mode3
4000 mode4
3000 mode5
2000 mode6
1000
mode7
0
mode8
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Length-to-thickness ratio
Figure 7. Natural Frequency (Hz) graph for (Chirn & McFarlane) laminated composite
beam with four layers having [0/90/ 90/ 0]
Table 3. Natural Frequency (Hz) estimates for (Chirn & McFarlane) laminated
composite beam with four layers having [-45/45/ 45/ -45].
Free Vibration Natural Frequencies (Hz)

Lx / h
Mode Mode Mode
Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8
1 2 3
20 17.3 108.5 303.8 595.3 984 1470 2053.1 2733.4
50 6.9 43.4 121.5 238.1 393.6 588 821.2 1093.4
3.462 21.697 60.754 119.054 196.805 293.992 410.617 546.680
100
3 7 3 2 1 7 9 6
1.731 10.848 30.377 146.996 205.309 273.340
200 59.5271 98.4025
2 9 1 4 0 3
1.153 20.243 136.817 182.154
300 7.2297 39.6688 65.5755 97.9584
6 3 9 0
0.855 15.188 102.654 136.670
400 5.4244 29.7635 49.2013 73.4982
6 6 5 2
0.692 12.150 109.336
500 4.3395 23.8108 39.3610 58.7985 82.1236
4 9 1
1743
3000 mode1
2500 mode2
mode3
2000
mode4
1500
mode5
1000
mode6
500 mode7
0 mode8
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Figure 8. Natural frequency (Hz) estimates for (Chirn & McFarlane) laminated
composite beam with four layers having [-45/45/ 45/ -45]
45
40 [0/90/90/0]
35
30 [-45/45/45/-45]
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Figure 9. Natural Frequencies (Hz) compared [0 90 90 0] to [-45 45 45 -45] for (Chirn
& McFarlane) laminated composite beam
40
35
[45/-45]
30
[-45/45/45/-45]
25
[0/-45/45/45/-45/0]
20
15
10
5
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Figure 10. Natural Frequencies (Hz) compared to two, four and six layers
CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the free vibrations of a laminated composite beam were studied using
classical lamination theory for different boundary conditions and length-to-thickness
ratios for a number of layers. A finite element model of the beam was developed and
1744
solved in MATLAB to analyze the free vibration of the beam. The first eight natural
frequencies of clamped-free, clamped-clamped and simple-simple composite beams
were obtained for different length-to-thickness ratios (Lx /h), numbers of layers, layer
angles and for their different positions. It can be seen that natural frequencies for all
modes decrease with an increase in length-to-thickness ratio for all cases. It was
observed that natural frequency increases when the boundary condition of the beam
changed from respectively clamped-free, simple-simple and clamped-clamped. The
natural frequencies for the first mode also increased with the increasing number of
layer. In future work the mode shapes will be estimated in graphical form for laminated
composite beams with different boundaries and number of layers.
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plate with localized piezoelectric sensors and actuators. Journal of the Brazilian
Society of Mechanics Science & Engineering, 26(2), 117-128.
Balci, M. (2011). Estimation of physical properties of laminated composites via the
method of inverse vibration problem. (PhD Thesis), Ataturk University,
Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Erzurum.
Bhavikatti, S. S. (2005). Finite element analysis (Vol. 334). New Delhi: New Age
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Çallioğlu, H., & Atlihan, G. (2011). Vibration analysis of delaminated composite beams
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Özutok, A., & Madenci, E. (2013). Free vibration analysis of cross-ply laminated
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Thambiratnam, D., & Zhuge, Y. (1996). Free vibration analysis of beams on elastic
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Wang, C., Reddy, J. N., & Lee, K. (2000). Shear deformable beams and plates:
Relationships with classical solutions: Elsevier.
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1746
EFFECT OF COMPRESSION RATIO ON THE PERFORMANCE OF

DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR THE GAS TURBINE
Thamir K. Ibrahim1,3 and M.M. Rahman1,2

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaysia Pahang
26600, Pahang, Malaysia
Phone: +6094246239; Fax: +6094246222
2
Automotive Engineering Centre, University of Malaysia Pahang
26600, Pahang, Malaysia
3
ABSTRACT
Finding clean and safe energy is the greatest challenge to meeting the requirements of a
green environment. These requirements given way the long time governing authority of
steam turbine (ST) in the world power generation, and gas turbine (GT) will replace it.
It is therefore necessary to predict the characteristics of the GT and optimize its
operating strategy by developing a simulation system. Several configurations of GT
plants are proposed by thermal analysis. The integrated model and simulation code for
exploiting the performance of GT plants have been developed using MATLAB code.
The performance codes for heavy-duty GT power plants were validated with the Bassily
model and the results have been satisfactory. Results of performance enhancing
strategies show that higher power output occurs in the intercooler-reheat GT (IHGT)
strategy (286 MW). At a compression ratio of 12.4 in the intercooler-regenerative-
reheat GT (IRHGT) strategy, the highest (best) thermal efficiency obtained was 50.7%.
In the IHGT, the lowest thermal efficiency obtained was 22% to 39.3% in the presence
of a compression ratio between 3 and 30. The lowest fuel consumption (0.14 kg/kWh)
occurred in the IRHGT strategy. Compression ratios are thus strongly influenced by the
overall performance of the GT.
Keywords: Gas turbine; compression ratio; strategies; performance.
INTRODUCTION
A GT power plant is compact and light in order to improve its performance (Bassily,
2001). The stationary turbines for power generation do not have these constraints
(Bassily, 2002). GT plants have been effectively working as heavy-duty plants (large
scale) to generate electricity, where GTs presented a better generation system (Ibrahim,
Rahman, & Abdalla, 2011a, 2011b; Poullikkas, 2005). Engineers have explored many
strategies to apply to enhancing the performance of GT power plants. Different methods
have been used to increase the net power of GT plants. Many studies (Ibrahim, Rahman,
& Alla, 2010; Ibrahim & Rahman, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c; Rahman, Ibrahim, &
Abdalla, 2011a; Rahman, Ibrahim, Kadirgama, Mamat, & Bakar, 2011b; Rahman et
al., 2010) have presented a comprehensive design methodology to obtain the best
performance of a GT plant. Parametric study of the effects of regenerating, intercooling,
and reheating in a wide-range of existing GT is presented (Ibrahim & Rahman, 2012a,
1747
Effect of compression ratio on the performance of different strategies for the gas turbine
2012b; Sayyaadi & Aminian, 2010). Applications of the proposed design steps have
been implemented in three existing GT with wide-ranging design complexities. The
performances of the modified GTs are presented and compared. A stage by stage
analysis of the compressor and turbine sections of the modified GT is performed
(Ibrahim et al., 2011a, 2011b; Ibrahim & Rahman, 2012a). All the modified GT plants
were found to have improved performance, with a cycle efficiency increase of 9% to
26%, in comparison to their original values (Ibrahim et al., 2011b; Ibrahim & Rahman,
2012a; Sayyaadi & Aminian, 2010). The effects of the compression ratio, turbine inlet
temperature and relative humidity, on the performance of the complex GT cycle were
studied, through a computational thermodynamic analysis. The complex GT cycle
consisted of the indirect intercooled reheat regenerative GT with inlet air affected by the
indirect evaporative cooling and air evaporative aftercooling of the compressor
discharge (Harvey & Kane, 1997; Ibrahim & Rahman, 2012a; Rahman et al., 2011b).
The power output, and thermal efficiency varied significantly with the effect of the
compression ratio, turbine inlet temperature and relative humidity. The objective of this
study was to investigate the influence of the compression ratio on the performance of
different strategies of the gas turbine.
METHODOLOGY
An important contribution of this study is to enhance the performance of GT and CCGT

plants through the proposed integrated strategy, including all enhancing elements
(modifications). These strategies provide incorporated simulation and optimization tools
for effective operation parameters and ambient conditions for the performance of gas
turbines, using all the enhancing elements, two-shafts, an intercooler, regeneration and
reheating, as shown in Figure 1. These strategies aim to combine the different
configurations of the enhancing elements to show their effects on the total performance
of GT and CCGT power plants in ambient temperature and operation parameters and
then to validate data from real GT and CCGT performances with the results from the
performance enhancing strategies (PES).
Intercooler Gas Turbine
The work of an intercooler GT (IGT) cycle is as shown in Figure 1(a):
    a 1    a 1 
  1   rp  1 
a   r a  1 
WGnet  C pgTIT . t 1  
 g 1 
 C T    2  1  x  p  (1)
m     c 
 
pa 1
    m c  
 rp g 
2 
   
   
Eq. (2) expresses the heat supplied for the IGT cycle:
  a 1   a 1  
  rp  1
a    r a  1  
Qadd  C pg TIT  T1  T2   2  x   1  x  p   (2)
      c  
c
 
     
1748
Ibrahim and Rahman /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1747-1757
Regenerative Gas Turbine
From Figure 1(b), Eq. (3) expresses the network of the regenerative GT (RGT) cycle:
(a) ITGT (b) RTGT
(c)IGT (d)RGT
(e)IHGT
(f)RHGT (g) IRTGT
(h)IRHGT
Figure 1. Configurations of gas turbine performance enhancing strategies.
1749
   a 1 
C  TIT t   r a 
WGnet  pg 1  1   C paT1  p  (3)
 g 1
m     mc 
 r g   
 p 
Eq. (4) expresses the heat supplied for the RGT:
   a 1
    
  rp  a  1     
 C pg  TIT  T1 1     1 
1
Qadd     TIT  1  t 1   1   (4)
  c    g
 
   g  
    rp  
Intercooler-Two-Shaft Gas Turbine
The work of an intercooler-two-shaft GT (ITGT) cycle is as shown in Figure 1(c):
WGnet  C pg T6  T7  (5)
Eq. (6) expresses the heat supplied for the (ITGT) cycle:
   a 1   a 1  
   r a 1  r a  1  
Qadd  C pg TIT  T1  1  2  x  p
  1  x  p
  (6)
   c   c  
 
      
Regenerative-Two-Shaft Gas Turbine
From Figure 1(d), Eq. (7) expresses the network of the regenerative two-shaft GT
(RTGT) cycle:
WGnet  C pg T5  T6  (7)
Eq. (8) expresses the heat supplied for the RTGT:
Qadd  C pg TIT  T3  (8)
Intercooler-Reheat Gas Turbine
From the energy balance for Figure 1(e), Eq. (9) expresses the network of the
intercooler-reheat GT (IHGT) cycle:
WGnet  C pg TIT  T8  (9)

Eq. (10) expresses the heat supplied for the IHGT cycle:
Qadd  C pg TIT  T4  

a  m
C pg m f m
 fad 
TIT  T6 
m 
a  m
f  (10)
1750
Eq. (11) expresses the additional fuel burning in the second CC and is equal to m fad
m fad 
 
C pg m a  m f TIT  T6 
LHV  comb  C pgTIT 
(11)
Regenerative-Reheat Gas Turbine
From the energy balance for Figure 1(f) Eq. (12) expresses the network of the
regenerative-reheat GT (RHGT) cycle:
WGnet  C pg TIT  T7  (12)
Eq. (13) expresses the heat added for the RHGT cycle:
Qadd  C pg TIT  T3   C pg TIT  T5  (13)
Intercooler-Regenerative-Two-Shaft Gas Turbine
From the energy balance for Figure 1(g) Eq. (14) expresses the network of the
intercooler- regenerative-two-shaft GT (IRTGT) cycle:
WGnet  C pg T7  T8  (14)
Eq. (15) expresses the heat added for the IRTGT cycle:
Qadd  C pg TIT  T5  (15)
Intercooler-Regenerative-Reheat Gas Turbine
From the energy balance for Figure 1(h) Eq. (16) expresses the network of the
intercooler- regenerative-reheat GT (IRHGT) cycle:
WGnet  C pg T8  T9  (16)
Eq. (17) expresses the heat added for the IRHGT cycle:
Qadd  C pg TIT  T5   C pg TIT  T7 

(33)
To increase performance, a study of the effects of specific parameters and the

development of plant models according to the behavior of the load of the GT plant was
carried out. Study is required to understand the dependency of the important plant
variables on the GT power output, exhaust gas temperature, fuel and air flow rate. This
study presents the effects of the compression ratio on the performance of the GT plant.
The energy balance is used to obtain the effects of the factors on the thermal efficiency,
specific fuel consumption and power output. A comparison between the simulated
1751
thermal efficiency of the intercooler-regenerative-reheat GT and the Bassily model

(Bassily, 2001), combined with the effects of the different values of the compression
ratio and turbine inlet temperature, is presented in Figure 2. The compression ratio rises
until it reaches 12.6 at a turbine inlet temperature of 1400K, and 15 at a turbine inlet
temperature of 1700K, and then the thermal efficiency increases accordingly. The
thermal efficiency starts to decrease with the increase in compression ratio, after
reaching these compression ratios. In the regenerative strategy, thermal efficiency
started to increase with the compression ratio after it had reached the value of 15.
Thermal efficiency increased as there was a reduction in the losses due to the heat
recovered from the flue gases (Dellenback, 2002). The regenerative model, when
applied to reduce the exhaust temperature, proved to be inefficient after the
compression ratio reached 15 (Elmegaard & Qvale, 2004; Ibrahim et al., 2011b;
Rahman et al., 2010). There were also two values added in the comparison, such as,
1400 and 1700 K, for the turbine inlet temperature. The increase in the turbine inlet
temperature leads to an increase in thermal efficiency. When compared to the Bassily
model, the simulation results for this model were satisfactory (Bassily, 2001). A
number of graphs represent the variation in the performance of the GT plants, and the
effect of the compression ratio. The effect of the compression ratio on the temperature
of the exhaust gases of the GT, for different configurations of performance enhancing
strategies, is shown in Figure 3. The strategies that used the regenerative (RHGT,
IRHGT, IRGT, IRTGT and RTGT) showed an increase in the exhaust temperature with
an increase in the compression ratio, while the strategies that were without the
regenerative (STG, ITGT and IHGT) showed a decrease in the temperature of exhaust
gases from the GT with an increase in the compression ratio. This usually occurs when
the regenerative strategies are applied to recover the energy from the exhaust gases at a
low compression ratio (Canière, Willockx, Dick, & De Paepe, 2006; Ibrahim et al.,
2011b; Kumar, 2010). Thus, the increase in the compression ratio leads to a decrease in
the exhaust temperature.
When the compression ratio increased from 3 to 30 in the strategies with
regenerative, the exhaust temperature increased by approximately 120 to 300K, owing
to more heat being recovered from the exhaust gases in the regenerative heat exchanger
at a low compression ratio (Dellenback, 2002; Harvey & Kane, 1997). When the
compression ratio increased from 3 to 30 for other strategies, the exhaust temperature
decreased by approximately 210 to 390K. It was also observed that the highest exhaust
temperature occurred at IHGT, while the lowest exhaust temperatures occurred at
IRGT. It also became evident that a significant variation in the exhaust temperatures
was obtained at higher compression ratios, while minimum variations were obtained at
lower compression ratios. The characteristic curves of all performance enhancing
strategies at a turbine inlet temperature of 1450 K, constant ambient temperature of
288.15 K, and relative humidity of 60% are shown in Figure 4. As mentioned above, the
thermal efficiency increased with the increase in compression ratio, after the value of
the compression ratio reached 6.4 for the regenerative strategies (RHGT, IRHGT, IRGT
and RTGT). The thermal efficiency decreased for an increase in the compression ratio,
after the value of compression ratio reached 12.4 in the IRTGT strategy. The thermal
efficiency increased with an increase in the compression ratio, for all the strategies
without regenerative (STG, ITGT and IHGT). This was due to the low exhaust
temperature as compared to other strategies, as can be seen in Figure 3.
1752
Figure 2. Comparison between simulated thermal efficiency of the intercooler-

regenerative-reheat gas turbine and Bassily model with the effect of the compression
ratio.
Figure 3. Effect of compression ratio on the exhaust temperature of the gas-turbine

plants.
1753
At a compression ratio of 12.4 in the IRHGT, the highest (best) thermal

efficiency obtained was 50.7%, and in the IHGT, the lowest thermal efficiency of
between 22% to 39.3% was obtained in the presence of a compression ratio between 3
and 30. Similarly, a noticeable variation in the thermal efficiency was observed at the
lowest compression ratio, while an insignificant variation in the thermal efficiency was
obtained at a low compression ratio for all the performance enhancing strategies of the
GT. Compared to the previous models of Bassily (2002), a reasonable result was
obtained.
Figure 4. Effect of compression ratio on the thermal efficiency of the gas-turbine plants.
The variation in the effect of the compression ratio on the specific fuel
consumption for different performance enhancing strategies of the GT cycle is shown in
Figure 5. It can also be seen that the specific fuel consumption decreased with the
increase of the compression ratio for the strategies without regenerative. The elevated
temperatures at which the air exits the compressors and enters the combustion chamber
of the GT are the main factors behind this (Dellenback, 2002; Kumar, 2010; Sayyaadi
& Aminian, 2010). Specific fuel consumption was thus dropped in order to attain the
required turbine inlet temperature. Specific fuel consumption increased with the
increase in the compression ratio in the presence of the regenerative strategies. Under
the influence of the compression ratio, a lower specific fuel consumption of 0.15
kg/kWh in the IRHGT strategy was obtained. This is as the heat from the exhaust was
recovered by using the regenerative. This heat was used to increase the temperature of
the air entering the combustion chamber (Canière et al., 2006; Ibrahim et al., 2011b;
Poullikkas, 2005).
1754
Figure 5. Variation of compression ratio on the specific fuel consumption of the gas-
turbine plants.
Figure 6. Effect of variation of the compression ratio on the power output of the gas-
turbine plants.
1755
When the compression ratio increased from 3 to 30, the higher value of the
specific fuel consumption varied from 0.336 to 0.189kg/kWh in the IHGT. The high
compression ratio seemed to have an impact on specific fuel consumption, while the
effect of the low compression ratio was insignificant. Figure 6 shows the effect of the
compression ratio on the power output of the GT plants for different performance
enhancing strategies. Due to the mass flow rate through the GT, the power output also
increases as the compression ratio increases. This results in an increase in the network
as well as the power output. These conditions occurs in all the GT strategies, with the
exception of SGT and RTGT, where after reaching the compression ratio of 15 there
was a decrease in the power output with the increase in the compression ratio. In all the
GT strategies, the lower compression ratios showed insignificant variations in power
output, while it was significant for the high compression ratio. In addition, when the
compression ratio increased from 3 to 30, the lower output strategy in the RTGT
strategy increased from 132 to 169MW. On the other hand, in the IHGT strategy, there
was higher output, increased from 144 to 286 MW after reaching a compression ratio
from 3 to 30.
CONCLUSIONS
Complete models of the performance enhancing strategies for configurations of the GT

power plant, with effects of the compression ratio, have been used in this
thermodynamic study. The simulated modeling results are as follows:
i) The compression ratios are strongly influenced in the thermal efficiency of the
GT power plant for all strategies.
ii) Peak GT thermal efficiency occurred in the intercooler-regenerative-reheat GT
(IRHGT). Efficiency quoted range about 50.7%.
iii) The peak power output was about 286MW; it occurred in the intercooler-
regenerative-reheat GT (IRHGT) at the higher compression ratio.
REFERENCES
Bassily, A. (2001). Performance improvements of the intercooled reheat regenerative

gas turbine cycles using indirect evaporative cooling of the inlet air and
evaporative cooling of the compressor discharge. Proceedings of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy, 215(5), 545-
557.
Bassily, A. (2002). Performance improvements of the recuperated gas turbine cycle
using absorption inlet cooling and evaporative aftercooling. Proceedings of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy,
216(4), 295-306.
Canière, H., Willockx, A., Dick, E., & De Paepe, M. (2006). Raising cycle efficiency by
intercooling in air-cooled gas turbines. Applied Thermal Engineering, 26(16),
1780-1787.
Dellenback, P. A. (2002). Improved gas turbine efficiency through alternative
regenerator configuration. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power,
124(6), 441-446.
1756
Elmegaard, B., & Qvale, B. r. (2004). Regenerative gas turbines with divided
expansion. Paper presented at the ASME Turbo Expo 2004: Power for Land,
Sea, and Air.
Harvey, S., & Kane, N. D. (1997). Analysis of a reheat gas turbine cycle with chemical
recuperation using aspen. Energy Conversion and Management, 38(15), 1671-
1679.
Ibrahim, T. K., Rahman, M., & Abdalla, A. N. (2011a). Gas turbine configuration for
improving the performance of combined cycle power plant. Procedia
Ibrahim, T. K., Rahman, M., & Abdalla, A. N. (2011b). Improvement of gas turbine
performance based on inlet air cooling systems: A technical review.
International Journal of Physical Sciences, 6(4), 620-627.
Ibrahim, T. K., Rahman, M., & Alla, A. N. A. (2010). Study on the effective parameter
of gas turbine model with intercooled compression process. Scientific Research
and Essays, 5(23), 3760-3770.
Ibrahim, T. K., & Rahman, M. M. (2012a). Parametric simulation of triple-pressure
reheat combined cycle: A case study. Advanced Science Letters, 13(1), 263-268.
Ibrahim, T. K., & Rahman, M. M. (2012b). Parametric study of a two-shaft gas turbine
cycle model of power plant. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and
Engineering, 36, 012024.
Ibrahim, T. K., & Rahman, M. M. (2012c). Thermal impact of operating conditions on
the performance of a combined cycle gas turbine. Journal of Applied Research
and Technology, 10(4), 567-577.
Kumar, P. (2010). Optimization of gas turbine cycle using optimization technique.
(Master Thesis), Thapar University Patiala, India.
Poullikkas, A. (2005). An overview of current and future sustainable gas turbine
technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 9(5), 409-443.
Rahman, M., Ibrahim, T. K., & Abdalla, A. N. (2011a). Thermodynamic performance
analysis of gas-turbine power-plant. International Journal of the Physical
Sciences, 6(14), 3539-3550.
Rahman, M., Ibrahim, T. K., Kadirgama, K., Mamat, R., & Bakar, R. A. (2011b).
Influence of operation conditions and ambient temperature on performance of
gas turbine power plant. Advanced Materials Research, 189, 3007-3013.
Rahman, M. M., Ibrahim, T. K., Taib, M. Y., Noor, M. M., Kadirgama, K., & Bakar, R.
A. (2010). Thermal analysis of open-cycle regenerator gas-turbine power-plants.
WASET, 68, 94-99.
Sayyaadi, H., & Aminian, H. R. (2010). Design and optimization of a non-tema type
tubular recuperative heat exchanger used in a regenerative gas turbine cycle.
Energy, 35(4), 1647-1657.
Wang, J., Lu, M.-X., Zhang, L., Chang, W., Xu, L.-N., & Hu, L.-H. (2012). Effect of
1757
CORROSION COMPARISON OF GALVANIZED STEEL AND ALUMINUM IN

AQUEOUS ENVIRONMENTS
M. Merajul Haque, S. Alam Limon, Md. Moniruzzaman* and

Md. Mohar Ali Bepari

*E-mail: mmoniruzzaman@mme.buet.ac.bd
Phone: +88029665650/7237; Fax: +88029665618
ABSTRACT
A corrosion test of galvanized steel and aluminum was carried out in three different
aqueous environments, 5% NaCl solution, sea water and rain water, using the
immersion test technique. Corrosion rate was measured in mdd (mg/dm2/day) units.
Aluminum was considered as a possible alternative to galvanized steel. The corrosion
characteristics of the corroded samples were investigated by XRD, XRF and SEM
analysis. Although various results were obtained all through this study, aluminum was
seen as more corrosion resistant than galvanized steel in the conditions tested in all three
aqueous environments. Galvanized steel might be more corrosion resistant than
aluminum in long term exposure in rain water. Without taking into account cost
comparisons, aluminum can be used as a substitute for galvanized steel in industrial
structures (roofing sheets) and water distribution systems.
Key words: Corrosion rate (mdd), galvanized steel, aluminum, aqueous environment.
INTRODUCTION
Metals are very important engineering materials, but the most serious drawback to their
mechanical and electrical properties is corrosion. This has a huge economic and
environmental impact on virtually all facets of the world’s infrastructure, from
highways, bridges and buildings, to oil and gas, chemical processing and water and
wastewater systems. In addition to causing severe damage and threatening public safely,
corrosion disrupts regular operations and requires the extensive repair and replacement
of failed assets. Corrosion can only be reduced, however, it cannot be prevented because
thermodynamically it is a spontaneous phenomenon. Depending on environment, the
corrosion of a particular material can be fast or slow. Sensitized 18-8 stainless steel, for
example, is severely attacked in hours by polythionic acid (Syed, 2006). Although the
famous iron Delhi Pillar in India was made almost 2000 years ago, and is almost as
good as new, it should be noted that it has been exposed to mostly arid conditions
(Fontana, 1987). Attempting to reduce corrosion is vital for better industrial production,
public safety, avoiding health hazards etc.
Galvanized steel is used in aqueous environments in many indoor and outdoor
applications where rust resistance is needed. It is used in applications such as
underground pipelines, under sea water, frames to build houses, and many household
appliances, automotive body parts, telecommunication industry, power transmission
lines, thermal power plant etc. (Lin, Lu, & Kong, 2008; Sherif, Almajid, Bairamov, &
1758
Merajul Haque et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1587-1500
Al-Zahrani, 2012). The protection obtained by zinc (Zn) coating is due to the barrier
and galvanic double protective effect (Bajat, Stanković, Jokić, & Stevanović, 2010;
Kartsonakis, Balaskas, Koumoulos, Charitidis, & Kordas, 2012). Atmospheric
corrosion of galvanized steel structures begins through an electrochemical process when
the Zn surface becomes wet with rain, mist, or dew (Nriagu, 1978). The American
Galvanizers Association (AGA) conducted tests of the corrosion of galvanized steel in
water collected from marine environments all over the USA and found that soft water,
tropical sea water, and high oxygen content causes higher corrosion in zinc coating of
galvanized steel (American Galvanizers Association).
Aluminum (Al) is one of the most abundant elements in nature. Its low density,
high elastic modulus, thermal and electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance and its
capacity to form alloys with many elements makes it one of the most useful materials in
construction (Hatch, 1984). Al is used in buildings for a wide spectrum of applications,
including plumbing products and replacement windows. The corrosion of Al has mainly
been investigated through field studies (Graedel, 1989). Few laboratory investigations
in controlled environments have been published. In one study, it was found that Al has
very low resistance to a corrosive environment (3%NaCl) in a static regime, and
corrosion processes take place on the Al surface (Hagioglu, Gheorghies, Cantaragiu, &
Moisa, 2010). In another study, the effect of rain on Al alloy and galvanized steel
roofing sheets, as well as their relative corrosion resistance, was studied (Abdulkarim,
Abdullahi, & Salam, 2009). The corrosion behavior of pure Al after different
immersion intervals in 3.5% NaCl solutions was also studied, and it appeared that the
corrosion rate of Al decreased with increasing immersion time due to the growing
thickness of the corrosion product (Sherif, Almajid, Latif, & Junaedi, 2011)
In Bangladesh, roofing systems in most houses in rural areas and some houses in
urban areas involve galvanized steel sheets. There is little use of Al as roofing sheets,
but the application of Al as window frames has recently been increasing. Similarity in
applications both for galvanized steel and Al put them in similar environments like
saline water, humid atmosphere, rain, weather and so on. Corrosion is the major, and a
common challenge to these materials. Although much study has been independently
conducted on the corrosion of galvanized steel and Al in various environments,
corrosion study of these two materials in common environments are rare. This work
makes a comparative study of corrosion behavior of galvanized steel and Al in three
aqueous environments, 5% NaCl solution, sea water and rain water. Aqueous
environments are chosen as the corroding media because in real case scenarios the
substrates come in contact with liquid and gases such as chemical processing plants,
plumbing applications, oil rigs, offshore petroleum pipelines, household appliances,
roofing sheets, machine parts, marine structures etc.
Galvanized steel sheets and Al sheets of 4.5 × 2.0cm in size were taken as substrates.
All substrates were cut from the main sheet by a hand shear cutting machine. The
thickness of both substrates was 0.5mm. The area (A in dm2) of all the substrates was
measured using slide calipers. A schematic of the sample geometry is shown in
Figure 1(a). All the substrates were cleaned with detergent, washed with acetone and
dried. The initial weight (wi in mg) of all the substrates was measured using an
electronic weighing balance. All parameters were measured at ambient temperature. A
5% NaCl solution was prepared using deionized water and reagent grade NaCl salt; sea
1759
Corrosion comparison of galvanized steel and aluminum in aqueous environments
water was collected from the Bay of Bengal in the Chittagong area; and rain water was
collected during rain in Dhaka city. All substrates were then immersed in liquid
environments (5% NaCl solution, sea water and rain water). For each environment, five
samples were dipped in beakers containing the liquid and kept there for T days (T = 1,
2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively). The experimental set up for corrosion test by immersion is
shown in Figure 1(b). All the substrates were then cleaned again with detergent, washed
with acetone and dried. Final weights (wf in mg) were measured for all substrates. A
flow chart of the experimental procedure for the corrosion test is shown in Figure 2.
(a) (b)
Figure 1. (a) Schematic geometry of sample and (b) experimental set up of corrosion
test by immersion technique.
Area measurement Cleaning with detergent Wash with acetone & dry
Cleaning with detergent Immerse in solution Weigh the sample (wi)
Wash with acetone & dry Weigh the sample (wf)
Figure 2. Flow chart of the experimental procedure for corrosion test by immersion.
Corrosion rate in mdd (mg/dm2/day) unit was measured by using the following formula:
Corrosion rate =
Where, wi = initial weight of sample in mg

Wf = final weight of sample in mg
T = immersion time in day
A = Area of sample in dm2
Corroded surface characteristics were investigated using XRD (X-ray diffractometer),

and XRF (x-ray fluorescence). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was then
1760
employed to inspect the surface morphology of the bare substrates and corroded
samples.
Corrosion in Aqueous Environments
The change in corrosion rate with exposure time for galvanized steel and Al in various
environments is shown in Figure 3. A varied corrosion rate with exposure time both for
galvanized steel and Al was observed in various environments. For example, the
corrosion rate decreases and increases with an increase of exposure time in 5% NaCl
solution and sea water respectively for both the substrates. A decreasing trend in the
corrosion rate was observed for galvanized steel in rain water which is in contrast to Al
which showed an increasing corrosion rate with exposure time. Within these diverse
patterns, the only replicable result was that the corrosion rate for galvanized steel is
higher than that of Al for every test condition. The diverse corrosion behavior in various
environments is discussed separately in the following paragraphs.
30 3
(a) (b)
25 2.5 Galvanized steel
Galvanized steel Aluminium
Aluminium
20 2
15 1.5
10 1
5 0.5
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Exposure time (days) Exposure time (days)
6
(c)
5
4 Galvanized steel
Aluminium
3
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Exposure time (days)
Figure 3. Corrosion rate as a function of the exposure time of galvanized steel and Al
under immersion test in (a) 5% NaCl solution, (b) sea water and (c) rain water.
(a) Corrosive environment: 5% NaCl solution
Both galvanized steel and Al immersed in 5% NaCl solution showed decreasing

corrosion rates with increasing exposure time (Figure 3(a)). The value of corrosion rates
in mdd for the Al sample in 5% NaCl environment was much lower than for galvanized
1761
steel. Chlorides are severely corrosive to Zn (American Galvanizers Association), so

initially the corrosion rate was high. As most of the Zn corrodes early, decreasing the
chloride concentration in an NaCl environment with time, corrosion rate decreases with
increasing exposure time. Surface analyses of corroded samples by XRF test are shown
in Table 1. A galvanized steel sample surface after corrosion in 5% NaCl solution
contains 47.14% Zn and 32.25% Fe which indicates major corrosion of the sample. The
appearance of this corroded sample is shown in Figure 4. A small fraction of the entire
sample surface is seen covered by Zn coating. The non-adherent corrosion products
found in the beaker bottom are ZnCl2 (white crystalline powder or granule). In the XRD
pattern, Zn and chloride peaks are found (Figure 5(a)). Moderate Al corrosion is
supposed to be occurred in 5% NaCl solution exposing 62% Al and 36.71% O2 as seen
in the XRF test. Dissolved O2 and CO2 in distilled water are believed to form protective
a film of aluminum oxide to resist further corrosion (Sherif et al., 2011) resulting in
much less corrosion of Al in 5% NaCl solution compared to galvanized steel.
b) Corrosive environment: sea water
Sea water is high in salt content in the form of various chlorides and often the presence
of sulfide is detrimental (Jayaraman, 1951). It is a good electrolyte and corrosion is
affected by oxygen content, temperature and biological organism (Al-Fozan & Malik,
2005). It also contains carbonates which form a protective film on a Zn (American
Galvanizers Association) as well as on an Al surface (Wan Nik, Sulaiman, Fadhli, &
Rosliza, 2010). The corrosion rate in sea water is thus much less than in 5% NaCl
solution for both the samples. The corrosion rate gradually increases with increasing
exposure time (Figure 3(b)). Although the corrosion curve in sea water shows an
increasing trend, the absolute value in mdd is much lower than in 5% NaCl solution as
seen through the Y-axis scale. The presence of Ca and Mg ions also inhibit corrosion in
sea water because they form a protective film of carbonates (American Galvanizers
Association).
Table 1. XRF data of samples after corrosion.
Corrosion
Sample Elements Mass (%) Remarks
environment
Zn 47.14
5% NaCl solution Much Zn corrosion
Fe 32.25
Galvanized Zn 82.43
Sea water Less Zn corrosion
steel Fe 14.13
Zn 77.01
Rain water Moderate Zn corrosion
Fe 12.33
Al 61.99
5% NaCl solution Moderate Al corrosion
O 36.71
Al 85.23
Al Sea water Less Al corrosion
O 13.58
Al 98.8
Rain water Negligible Al corrosion
O Nil
The presence of 82.43% Zn in the XRF test (Table 1) on the corroded galvanized
steel sheet in sea water ensures a lesser amount of Zn surface corrosion than in the 5%
1762
NaCl solution. This is further supported by only 14.13% Fe exposure of galvanized steel
in the sea water corrosion test. An almost linear increase of Al corrosion rate is
observed in sea water (Figure 3(b)). XRF data (Table 1) indicates Al and oxygen
contents are 85.23% and 13.58% respectively. Graedel (1989) reported that enhanced
corrosion occurs in marine environments. Wilkinson and Patterson (1941) investigated
the effect of NaCl particles on the corrosion of Al at 293 K. The weight change due to
NaCl particles was linear with time. Sanyal and Bhandwar (1962) also reported similar
results in their investigation of the effect of NaCl particles on the corrosion of Al at
313 K.
Zn coating
Exposed Fe after Zn corrosion
Figure 4. Photograph of galvanized steel sample after corrosion.
Figure 5. XRD pattern of galvanized steel after five days immersion in (a) 5% NaCl
solution, (b) rain water.
1763
(c) Corrosive environment: rain water
Rain water causes higher corrosion than sea water. Rain water falls through the
atmosphere so it collects oxygen gas which increases the corrosion rate. Rain water was
collected from Dhaka city. As the pollution is high in Dhaka city, the rain water is
acidic in nature (Abdulkarim et al., 2009), and thus the corrosion rate is high. In the
case of galvanized steel initially the amount of reactants was high but with increasing
exposure time this amount decreased resulting in inhibition of the corrosion rate
(Figure 3(c)). The XRD test revealed several peaks of Zn (Figure 5(b)). The XRD
pattern shows deviations because of the formation of an amorphous phase on the
surface. The amorphous phase is Simonkollite [Zn5(OH)8Cl2.H20]. The XRF test
(Table 1) revealed 77.01% Zn on steel substrate indicating more Zn corrosion than for
sea water. When the Zn surface becomes wet with rain, an electrochemical process
begins, resulting in corrosion of galvanized steel (Nriagu, 1978). A film of basic zinc
carbonate, 2ZnCO33Zn(OH)2, forms on galvanized steel structures in long exposures
(Flinn, Cramer, Carter, Hurwitz, & Linstrom, 1986). This film tends to inhibit further
Zn corrosion resulting in a decrease of the corrosion rate with exposure time. However,
there are environmental conditions in which film removal processes compete with film
formation. In the case of Al, the corrosion rate increases (Figure 3(c)) but the mdd
values are very small. XRD shows only an Al peak and XRF indicates less Al
deterioration (Al is 98.8% in the corroded sample) (Table 1). It is generally agreed that
deposition of SO2, and chlorides and the pH in rain water are major factors that
determine the corrosion rate of Al. In the presence of SO2, oxidizing agents such as O3
and H2O2 may also play a role in the corrosion of Al (Graedel, 1989). Compared to
galvanized steel, Al corrodes rather slowly in rain water, because it forms an insulating
amorphous oxide film of low solubility in air and aqueous solutions over the pH range
from 4 to 8.6 (Syed, 2006). The corrosion rate in mdd for both galvanized steel and Al
equalized after five days of exposure. The corrosion rate of galvanized steel tends to
decrease whereas that of Al shows an increasing trend. This suggests that galvanized
steel might be of superior corrosion resistance compared to Al after five days exposure
in rain water.
Surface Morphology of Corroded Sample
SEM images of galvanized steel samples are shown in Figure 6. The samples were
exposed for five days in corrosive environments. The SEM image of the unetched
substrate sample shows an almost uniform surface (Figure 6(a)) before the corrosion
test. Differences in surface elevation are visible as the sample surface is not polished.
The sample in 5% NaCl solution corrosion test shows some white corrosion product, or
nodules, which are randomly arranged over the corroded surface, and also shows a
separate layer on the surface. A sample corroded in sea water reveals a few white
nodules attached to the sample surface. The sample of rain water shows a cavity, and
some corrosion products or nodules (Figure 6(d)). These are small in number and
randomly oriented over the surface. Thus major corrosion products appear on the
sample tested in 5% NaCl solution. This morphology is consistent with the corrosion
measurement result found in Figure 3. SEM images of Al samples are shown in
Figure 7. These samples were also exposed for five days in a corrosive environment.
The SEM image of the unetched base sample shows almost uniform surface (Figure
7(a)).
1764
White nodule
(a) (b)
Separate
layer
(c) (d)
Corrosion
cavity
White nodule
Figure 6. SEM of galvanized steel (a) before corrosion; after corrosion in (b) 5% NaCl
solution; (c) sea water and (d) rain water. All corrosion tests were continued for 5 days.
(a) (b)
Corrosion
product
Surface
patch
(c) (d)
Corrosion
cavity
Corrosion product
Figure 7. SEM of Al (a) before corrosion; after corrosion in (b) 5% NaCl solution; (c)
sea water and (d) rain water. All corrosion tests were continued for 5 days
The SEM image of the Al sample corroded in 5% NaCl solution shows

corrosion product embedding on the surface which inhibits further corrosion of the Al
1765
sample in this environment. A longitudinal surface patch is also observed along with the
corrosion product (Figure 7(b)). The sample in sea water shows generation of large
corrosion products which forced the layer apart sometime after the corrosion
commenced (Figure 7(c)). The corrosion products might be basic aluminum sulfates and
amorphous aluminum sulfate hydrate under these conditions (Barton, 1976; Graedel,
1989), because in addition to chlorides, sea water contains sulfide salts (Jayaraman,
1951). Identification of the corrosion products would be confirmed by Energy
Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and XRD analyses exactly over the products. Stress developed
during corrosion is believed to be responsible for corrosion product removal. Corrosion
product wedging action causes the propagation of exfoliation attack (Fontana, 1967)
which increases the corrosion rate as time passes, i.e. exposure time increases. A
consistent corrosion rate data is seen in Figure 3(b). Corrosion in rain water produced
cavities on the surface.
CONCLUSIONS
A corrosion test of galvanized steel and Al was conducted in 5% NaCl solution, sea
water and rain water. Compositional variation, corroded surface characteristics and
surface morphology were studied. Based on the experimental results and analysis, the
following conclusions have been drawn:
a) Varied results were obtained for both galvanized steel and Al. Corrosion rate
decreases with increase of exposure time in a 5% NaCl solution both for Al and
galvanized steel. In comparison, an increasing trend in corrosion rate is observed
for both the samples in sea water. The result in rain water is seen to be decreasing
and increasing for galvanized steel and Al respectively.
b) The highest corrosion rate for galvanized steel (25.59 mdd) is found in a 5% NaCl
environment whereas no corrosion occurred in sea water after one day of
exposure.
c) The highest corrosion rate for Al (5.71 mdd) is found in a 5% NaCl environment
whereas no corrosion is seen in either sea water or rain water environments after
two days and one day of exposure respectively.
d) Al is proved to be more corrosion resistant in all three environments under the test
conditions performed in this study. For long term exposure in rain water,
galvanized steel might be more corrosion resistant than Al.
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1767
PLATE FIN AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER MODELING: EFFECTS OF

PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS FOR TURBULENT FLOW REGIME
Arafat A. Bhuiyan1*, M. Ruhul Amin2, Rezwanul Karim1

and A.K.M. Sadrul Islam1
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Islamic University of Technology (IUT)
Gazipur-1704, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Fax: +880 2 9291260
*
E-mail: arafat@iut-dhaka.edu
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717-3800, USA. Fax: (406) 994-6292
ABSTRACT
In the current study, the air-side turbulent thermal and hydraulic characteristics of
finned tube heat exchanger of staggered tube arrangement are simulated with steady-
state solvers using ANSYS CFX12.0, a Commercial CFD code for turbulent flow
regimes. The k-ω model was used to predict the turbulent flow characteristics through
the finned tube heat exchanger. The level of confidence of this numerical model was
based on a comparison with previous experimental data from the literature, comparing
the friction factor f and Colburn factor j, and reasonable agreement is found between the
simulations and experimental data. Detailed analysis of the effect of thermal and
hydraulic performance of related parameters such as longitudinal pitch, transverse pitch,
and fin pitch are also critically evaluated for turbulent flow regime. The increase in the
longitudinal pitch and transverse pitch causes a decrease in the heat transfer and
pressure drop performance as the flow becomes free and less compact with the increase
in the tube pitch. The effect of fin pitch on the heat exchanger performance
demonstrates that a decrease in the fin pitch shows the opposite performance to that of
the longitudinal and transverse pitches.
Keywords: Plain fin; Turbulence; Friction factor; Colburn factor; Efficiency index.
INTRODUCTION
Plate finned tube heat exchangers of plain fin form are normally used for the purposes
of heating, air conditioning, ventilating, and refrigeration, as a result of their simplicity.
This type of fin is normally used to increase heat transfer performance in the heat
exchanger, which can be characterized by the flow pattern. For an air-cooled heat
exchanger, thermal resistance is usually on the air side (Yuan, 2000). In order to
increase performance and to reduce size and weight, the use of enhanced surfaces is
very popular. Many attempts have been made to investigate the thermal and hydraulic
characteristics of plain fin-and tube heat exchangers. Several authors (Choi, 2010;
Goldstein Jr, 1976; Lu et al., 2011; Pongsoi, Pikulkajorn, Wang, & Wongwises, 2012)
have investigated the effects of the number of tube rows on staggered plate finned tube
heat exchangers. Several correlations have been proposed to the effects of heat transfer
and pressure drop on the performance of heat exchangers for plain fin geometry which
gave predictive ability for the plain fin heat exchangers having larger tube diameter,
larger longitudinal and transverse tube pitch (Eckels & Rabas, 1987; Junqi, Jiangping,
1768
Bhuiyan et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1768-1781
Zhijiu, Yimin, & Wenfeng, 2007; Kayansayan, 1993; Şahin, Akkoca, Öztürk, & Akilli,
2006; Yuan, 2000; Zhang, He, & Tao, 2009) proposed correlations for heat transfer
and friction characteristics for several geometric parameters in the thermal and
hydraulic performance of a number of plain-fin heat exchangers. A number of studies
(Eckels & Rabas, 1987; Syam Sundar, Sharma, & Parveen, 2009) have been conducted
into the effect of fin spacing in the performance of fin tube heat exchangers provided
test results for the investigation of the effect of fin spacing and fin length. Numerous
studies have measured the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop over an eight tube
row in-lined tube array (Eckels & Rabas, 1987; Kundu, Haji-Sheikh, & Lou, 1991;
Launder & Massey, 1978; Şahin et al., 2006; Tang, Min, Xie, & Wang, 2009) . The
experimental data available up to 1994 has been reviewed in the book by Nakonieczny
(2006). Yuan (2000) reported airside performance for 15 samples of plain fin-and-tube
heat exchangers. They examined the effects of several geometrical parameters,
including the number of tube rows, fin spacing and fin thickness.
Several numerical studies for plain fin-and-tube heat exchangers are found in the
literature. Most of them concentrated on 2-D and laminar flow conditions ((Aslam
Bhutta et al., 2012; Chen & Wung, 1989; Fujii, Fujii, & Nagata, 1984; Kundu et al.,
1991; Launder & Massey, 1978; Tutar & Akkoca, 2004; Yuan, 2000)). Kundu et al.
(1991)reported 2-D numerical results comparing with experimental data to show the
influence of fin spacing on the heat transfer and pressure drop over a four-row in-line
cylinder between two parallel plates for 50 ≤ ReH ≤ 500. It was reported that 2-D flow
modeling cannot sufficiently forecast heat transfer characteristics. Due to the
complicated flow structure between the fins, 3-D numerical studies tend to be difficult.
Few researchers have reported 3-D modeling for plain-fin configuration in their
numerical studies (Aslam Bhutta et al., 2012; Chiu & Jang, 2009; Jang, Wu, & Chang,
1996; Junqi et al., 2007; Kundu et al., 1991; Şahin et al., 2006; Tutar & Akkoca,
2004). Most of these study has been conducted around the laminar to transitional flow
range. Most of the study does not attempt to compare the numerical results obtained
using different turbulence models with the experimental data. Therefore the suitability
of any particular turbulence model for the practical applications of the plate-fin heat
exchanger is not addressed. This author studied the suitability of different turbulent
models, the k-ɛ model, RNG k-ɛ model, and k-ɷ model and finally k-ɷ model was
considered an appropriate choice for turbulent flow (Bhuiyan, Islam, & Amin,
2012a).This author has previously also investigated the flow characteristics for plain
and wavy fin tube staggered and inline arrangements for laminar and transitional flow
range (Bhuiyan et al., 2012a; Bhuiyan, Amin, & Islam, 2012b; Bhuiyan, Islam, &
Amin, 2011). The effects of different geometric parameters such as longitudinal, pitch,
transverse pitch, and fin pitch for plain fin, as well as wavy angle and wavy height for
the wavy fin have also already been investigated, but all these studies were limited for
laminar to the transitional range. In this study, the simulation results for plain fin,
considering staggered arrangements for turbulent (2100 ≤ ReH ≤ 7000) flow range, will
be investigated to determine their effect on the heat transfer and pressure drop
performance based on the available experimental data of (Yuan, 2000)and as a
continuation of the numerical work of the authors for laminar flow (Bhuiyan et al.,
2011)and transitional flow (Bhuiyan et al., 2012a; Bhuiyan et al., 2012b). A detailed
analysis of the effect of the geometrical parameters mentioned above will also be
presented.
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Plate fin and tube heat exchanger modeling: Effects of performance parameters for turbulent flow regime
MATHEMATICAL MODEL
This study was based on thermal transport with convective heat transfer where air is
considered as the working media assuming constant properties (k = 0.0261W/mK, μ
=1.831x10-05 Ns/m2, ρ =1.185 kgm-3). Assumptions are: 1) Steady 3-D incompressible
flows, 2) No viscous dissipation and viscous work, and 3) Effects of body force and
buoyancy are neglected. For turbulent flow solutions, the k-ω turbulent model is used.
The conservation laws for mass, momentum and the energy equations are given below:
[ ] (1)
𝑝 𝑗
𝜌 (𝑢𝑗 ) − + [(𝜇 + 𝜇 𝑇 ) ( + )] (2)
𝑗 𝑗 𝑗
𝑇 𝜇𝑇 𝐶𝑃 𝑇
𝜌𝐶𝑃 (𝑢𝑗 ) [(𝜆 + ) ] (3)
𝑗 𝑗 𝑃𝑟𝑇 𝑗
where, 𝜇 𝑇 = Turbulent viscosity,

𝑇 =Turbulent Prandtl number.
In the current study, 𝑇 is considered as suggested by (Yuan, 2000). In
the k-ω turbulent model the 𝜇 𝑇 is linked to the k and ω via the following equation:
𝜇𝑇 𝜌 (4)
where, k = Turbulence kinetic energy; ω = Turbulence frequency
The modified transport equations for k and ω can be expressed as: (Menter, 1994)
𝜇
𝜌 (𝑢𝑗 ) [(𝜇 + 𝜎 𝑇 ) ]+ − 𝛽 ′ 𝜌𝑘 (5)
𝑗 𝑗 𝑘3 𝑗
𝜇 1
𝜌 (𝑢𝑗 ) [(𝜇 + 𝜎 𝑇 ) ] + 2(1 − 𝐹1 )𝜌 𝜎 + 𝛼3 − 𝛽3 𝜌𝜔2 (6)
𝑗 𝑗 𝜔3 𝑗 𝜔2 𝑗 𝑗
where, F1 is a blending function and its value is a function of the wall distance. The
model constants are given as α1=5/9, =0.09, 1=0.075, 1 2, 1 2, 𝛼2 ,
𝛽2 2 , 2 1, 2 1 (Menter, 1994; Panse, 2005; Reddy &
Gartling, 2010).
COMPUTATIONAL DOMAIN AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
As mentioned earlier, this study is based on the experimental work of (Menter, 1994)
and is a continuation of the numerical work of (Bhuiyan et al., 2012a; Bhuiyan et al.,
2011)and the geometry considered for the analysis are plain fin, with inline and
staggered tube arrangements. The detailed geometric dimensions are given in Table 1.
The coordinate systems are shown in
Figure 1. The boundaries of the domain consist of inlet and outlet boundaries, symmetry
planes and solid walls. The computational domain extends further than the heat
exchangers to downstream, to reduce the numerical oscillations (Şahin et al., 2006)The
major boundary conditions of the prescribed domain are given below:
1770
(i). Inlet: At the upstream boundary, constant velocity and constant temperature
are considered;
(ii). Outlet: At the downstream end of the computational domain, Neumann
boundary conditions are assumed.
(iii). Wall: A no-slip condition is considered at the solid surfaces with constant
wall temperature.
(iv). Symmetry: Symmetry conditions are considered on the mid planes between
two fins. This symmetry of the problem is used to model only one half of the domain for
the computational purposes. Symmetry boundary conditions are prescribed at the center
plane, tube center plane and the top symmetry plane.
(a) Inline configuration (b) Staggered configuration
Figure 1. Illustration of the main domain and coordinate system.
Table 1. Geometric dimensions of heat exchanger model (Wang, Chang, Hsieh, & Lin,
1996).
Parameters Dimension
Tube diameter (D) 9.525 mm
Longitudinal tube pitch (Ll) 19.05 mm
Transverse tube pitch (Lt) 25.40 mm
Fin Pitch (Fp) 3.530 mm
Number of tube row (N) 4
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
Grid sensitivity tests were made by recursive refinement and comparison between the
multiple numerical results. The variation of f and j in the domain are investigated to
determine the independence of the value of these parameters for a given number of
nodes. This process was repeated for three different cases, as presented in
Table 2 for the plain fin configuration, until the variation of those parameters were
negligible for different grid size, so that the numerical predictions could be regarded as
grid independent. A comparatively fine grid was set for the fin and tube region, and a
coarser grid was allowed in the extended portion of the geometry to conserve
computational resources. It was found that an unstructured mesh system with triangular
mesh containing 141700 nodes and 451756 elements is considered fine enough to
resolve the flow features in all simulations. For all simulation cases, y+ values in the
near-wall region are less than 1.
1771
Table 2. Different grid resolutions for the plain fin staggered configurations.
Case No of nodes No of elements

Case-I 91821 241610
*Case-II 141700 451756
Case-III 191480 540402
*Used in the present study.
CODE VALIDATION
As mentioned earlier, this computational study simulated the experimental work of

Wang et al. (1996) for the turbulent flow range of the fin configuration, where friction
factor and Colburn factor are measured for the heat exchanger.
Figure 2 shows the comparison between the numerical data for f and j respectively with
the published experimental data (Wang et al., 1996) for the turbulent flow regime. The
maximum difference between the experimental data and the numerical results was less
than 7% and 12% in the case of f and j respectively. A reasonably good agreement was
found between experimental and numerical trends. It can be seen from these figures,
that as the Reynolds number, ReH, is increasing, the friction factor, f, and Colburn
factor, j, are decreasing. The Reynolds number is increasing with increased turbulence,
and the heat transfer and pressure drop is going downstream as observe from these
figures.
1772
Figure 2: Comparison of the present numerical results with the experimental data (Wang
et al., 1996).
The current study considered the turbulent (2000 ≤ReH ≤70000) flow range to
investigate the flow distinction among the plain fin of two different tube arrangements
and the effects of various geometrical parameters in terms of two major performance
parameters namely f and j. The k-ω turbulent model was used to solve the turbulent
problems considering various turbulent quantities such as the rate of dissipation of
turbulent energy and turbulent viscosity. This model is widely used and is a tested
turbulence model. A numerical study considering various turbulent models and their
effectiveness in the transitional regime for similar geometries has been conducted
recently (Bhuiyan et al., 2012a; Bhuiyan et al., 2012b).
1773
Figure 3: Flow comparison for different tube arrangement for various flow regimes.
(a) Pressure drop, (b) Heat transfer, and (c) Efficiency.
The suitability of the k-ω turbulent model has been evaluated comparing other
models with the turbulent model and considerable success has been achieved in
predicting performance by using this model. The distinctiveness in flow comparisons
between staggered and inline arrangements have been demonstrated previously
(Bhuiyan et al., 2012a; Bhuiyan et al., 2012b). For the plain fin staggered
configurations flow interruption takes place on both sides of the domain. Because of the
repeated interruption of the flow due to staggered tubes on both sides of the domain for
this fin configuration, a smaller recirculation zone is observed at the trailing edge of the
domain. The flow variation in terms of f and j for these two arrangements for a turbulent
regime are shown in Figure 3 along with the comparison of the laminar and transition
flow from (Bhuiyan et al., 2012a; Bhuiyan et al., 2012b).The trend is very similar to
the general trend in friction factor and Colburn factor by Kayansayan (1993) as well as
the trend observed for the laminar and transitional regime by the same author. From the
plot it can be seen that the friction factor and Colburn factor tend to be almost parallel to
each other. The slopes of the two parameters also generally tend to reduce as the
Reynolds number is increased. It can be reported from this flow analysis that for the
plain fin staggered arrangements, a higher difference in heat transfer and pressure drop
is found when compared with the plain fin in-line configurations. This is due to the tube
arrangement which provides flow obstructions and thus generates a pressure drop in the
related domain.
1774
The effect of various geometrical parameters which are essential in design and
development have not been previously explored in detail. The numerical results reported
by Bhuiyan et al. (2012a); (Bhuiyan et al., 2012b) explore flow characteristics and the
effects of different geometrical parameters on thermal and hydraulic performance in the
laminar and transition range. This study explores a few of those particular parameters
for the plain fin staggered arrangement in the turbulent flow regime in order to support
designers in choosing better geometry. In order to study the effects of longitudinal pitch,
three test cases are considered, with all the other parameters being kept constant for the
studied configuration. The effects of longitudinal pitch have been studied in numerical
detail for laminar and turbulent regimes. The effects are studied with the help of
pressure drop characteristics represented by the friction factor and heat transfer
characteristics represented by the Colburn factor.
Figure 4(a) shows the dissimilarity of the friction factor, f, against ReH for the
three longitudinal pitch cases. Figure 4(a) indicates that the friction factor decreases
with the increase in the longitudinal pitch. The friction factor decreases with the
increase in longitudinal tube pitch from 19.05 to 28.575mm and 19.05 to 38.10mm,
(21% and 34% respectively). It is evident from the figures that the pressure drop is
indeed affected by the value of longitudinal pitch. The trend indicates that the pressure
drop reduces as the value of the longitudinal pitch is increased. With the increase in
longitudinal pitch, the flow mixing does not occur as often in the flow field. The
increase in longitudinal pitch decreases the flow mixing and therefore the friction factor,
similarly to the experimental work (Wang et al., 1996). The trend in Figure 4(b)
indicates that there is a higher Colburn factor, j, for the low value of longitudinal pitch
for each case of a Reynolds number. The Colburn factor decreases with the increase in
longitudinal tube pitch from 19.05 to 28.575mm and 19.05 to 38.10mm (11% and 19%
respectively). This phenomenon can be attributed to the assumption that at low
longitudinal pitch, the fluid tends to mix well and there is thus greater absorption of heat
from the walls. Another observation is that the difference in the value of the Colburn
factor, in the cases of varied longitudinal pitch, lowers as the Reynolds number goes up.
The efficiency index versus Reynolds number plot indicates that the efficiency index
increases as the longitudinal pitch increases, as presented in Figure 4(c). This can be
explained in that the efficiency of the heat exchanger depends on good heat transfer
between the fluid and the fin and the low pressure drop of the flow. The Colburn factor
decreases with the increase in longitudinal pitch. At the same time, the friction factor
decreases with the increases in longitudinal pitch, but the efficiency increase when the
percentage decreases in the friction factor is more than the percentage decrease in the
Colburn factor. This means that as the flow becomes free with the increases in
longitudinal pitch, the change of pressure is more significant than the heat transfer. This
is why the efficiency index increases.
1775
Figure 4. Effects of Longitudinal Pitch (Ll) for various flow regimes.

(a) Pressure Drop, (b) Heat Transfer and (c) Efficiency.
The effects of transverse tube pitch on the heat transfer and pressure drop
performance for the same configuration have been analyzed for the turbulent flow range
(2100 ≤ ReH ≤7000) by running three test cases. In each case, the transverse tube pitch
(Lt) is changed, keeping all other geometrical parameters constant so that the effects of
the transverse pitch over the heat exchanger performance can be analyzed. The same
behavior has been observed for transverse pitch as for longitudinal pitch.
1776
Figure 5: Effects of Transverse Pitch (Lt) for various flow regimes.

Figure 5(a) shows the characteristics of f against ReH for variation of transverse
tube pitch. The figure indicates that the friction factor goes down as the transverse tube
pitch increases. The value of f decreases with the increase of Lt from 25.4 to 30.4mm
and 25.4 to 35.4mm (13% and 25% respectively). Figure 5(b) shows the variation of the
Colburn factor against the Reynolds number for the three transverse tube pitch cases.
The figure indicates that the Colburn factor decreases with the increase in the transverse
tube pitch. For a particular Reynolds number of ReH = 3000, the Colburn factor
1777
decreases with the increase of transverse tube pitch from 25.4 to 30.4mm and 25.4
to35.4mm (5% and 9% respectively). The trend indicates that the pressure drop reduces
as the value of transverse pitch is increased as longitudinal pitch. With the increase in
transverse pitch, there is less flow mixing in the flow field. This singularity can also be
attributed to the assumption that at low transverse pitch, the fluid tends to mix well and
thus, has more absorption of heat from the walls.
The variation of efficiency index against ReH for different Lt is presented in the
last plot of Figure 5(c). The efficiency index increases with the increase of transverse
tube pitch from 25.4 to 30.4 mm and 25.4 to 35.4mm (7.88% and 15.93% respectively).
This can be explained in that the efficiency of the heat exchanger depends on good heat
transfer between the fluid and the fin and the low pressure drop of the flow. The
Colburn factor decreases with the increases of transverse tube pitch. At the same time,
the friction factor decreases with the increases of longitudinal tube pitch. The efficiency
increases, as the percentage decreases in the friction factor, is more than the percentage
decrease in the Colburn factor. This means as the flow becomes free with the increases
of transverse pitch the change in pressure is more significant than heat transfer. This is
why the efficiency index increases. There is a significant effect of fin pitch on the
friction factor as shown in Figure 6(a). The fin spacing strongly influences the overall
pressure drop and therefore the friction factor. The figure indicates the variation of the
friction factor against the Reynolds number for various fin pitch cases. The figure
indicates that the friction factor decreases with the decrease in the fin pitch. For ReH =
3000, the friction factor decreases with the decrease of fin pitch from 3.53 to 2.53mm
and 3.53 1.53mm (21% and 36% respectively). This statement can be explained in that
longitudinal pitch and transverse tube pitch are kept constant; when fin pitch is reduced
the flow becomes more streamlined. This flow streamlining caused by the reduction in
fin pitch simplifies the flow and creates better flow mixing. Reduction in the fin pitch
also reduces the tube surface area which affects the friction factor. The inference is that
if the fin spacing is too high, the pressure drop tends to increase and therefore the
friction factor also increases. If the fin spacing is too small, the pressure drop is less.
Figure 6(b) indicates that the Colburn factor decreases with the decrease in fin
pitch. The Colburn factor decreases with the decrease of fin pitch from 3.53 to 2.53mm
and 3.53 to 1.53mm (7 % and 16 % respectively). This observation can also be
explained on the basis of flow streamlining and the flow simplification keeping the
longitudinal pitch and transverse tube pitch constant while the fin pitch is reduced. The
flow simplification reduces the heat transfer performance. The reductions in fin pitch
effects the heat transfer area and thus minimizes the Colburn factor. A higher heat
transfer is observed for higher values of fin pitch. The effect subsides as the Reynolds
number increases. It can also be seen from the figure that the efficiency index increases
with the decreases in fin pitch. This observation suggests that even though the heat
transfer performance decreases with the decrease in fin pitch, the efficiency for the
surface increases due to the corresponding decrease in the friction factor. The pressure
drop and the heat transfer both decrease with the decrease in the fin pitches for the plain
fin staggered configuration, but the percentage decrease in the heat transfer performance
is lower than the percentage decrease in the pressure drop. As a result the efficiency
index increases with the decrease in the fin pitches.
1778
Figure 6: Effects of Fin Pitch (Fp) for various flow regimes.

CONCLUSIONS
Numerical investigations of heat transfer and pressure drop for a turbulent flow regime
were carried out in this study. A K-Omega Turbulence model was employed for the
flow range with 5% turbulence intensity. The effect of flow distinction between plain
fin staggered and an inline arrangement is significant. The findings can be concluded as
follows:
1779
a) The increase in the longitudinal pitch causes a decrease in heat transfer and
pressure drop performance as the flow becomes free and less compact with the
increase in the tube pitch. As the pressure drop decrease is more significant than
heat transfer, so the efficiency increases with the increase in tube pitch.
b) It was found, as with the effects of longitudinal pitch that with the increase in the
transverse pitch there is a decrease in heat transfer and pressure drop
performance. As the flow becomes less compact with the increase in the
transverse pitch, f and j decrease.
c) The effect of fin pitch on the heat exchanger performance demonstrates that the
decrease in the fin pitch shows opposite performance to the longitudinal and
transverse pitches. As the fin pitch decreases, the flow becomes more
streamlined. It affects the heat transfer performance as well as pressure drop
characteristics. The efficiency index increases with the decrease in the fin.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Islamic University of

Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh and Montana State University Bozeman, USA for
providing laboratory facilities.
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Syam Sundar, L., Sharma, K. V., & Parveen, S. (2009). Heat transfer and friction factor
analysis in a circular tube with Al2O3 nanofluid by using computational fluid
dynamics. International Journal of Nanoparticles, 2(1), 191-199.
Tang, L. H., Min, Z., Xie, G. N., & Wang, Q. W. (2009). Fin pattern effects on air-side
heat transfer and friction characteristics of fin-and-tube heat exchangers with
large number of large-diameter tube rows. Heat Transfer Engineering, 30(3),
171-180.
Tutar, M., & Akkoca, A. (2004). Numerical analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer
characteristics in three-dimensional plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers.
Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications, 46(3), 301-321.
Wang, C.-C., Chang, Y.-J., Hsieh, Y.-C., & Lin, Y.-T. (1996). Sensible heat and friction
characteristics of plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers having plane fins.
International Journal of Refrigeration, 19(4), 223-230.
Yuan, Z. (2000). Numerical study of periodically turbulent flow and heat transfer in a
1781
channel with transverse fin arrays. International Journal of Numerical Methods

for Heat & Fluid Flow, 10(8), 842-861.
Zhang, J. F., He, Y. L., & Tao, W. Q. (2009). 3D numerical simulation on shell-and-
tube heat exchangers with middle-overlapped helical baffles and continuous
baffles-part i: Numerical model and results of whole heat exchanger with
middle-overlapped helical baffles. International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, 52(23), 5371-5380.
NOMENCLATURE
CP J/kg K Specific heat at constant pressure

D m Tube diameter
Fp m Fin pitch
Ft m Fin thickness
f Friction factor
H m Fin spacing
h W/m2K Average heat transfer coefficient
j Colburn factor
k m2/s2 Turbulence kinetic energy
L m Flow length
Ll m Longitudinal tube pitch
Lt m Transverse tube pitch
m kg/s Mass flow rate
Nu Nusselt Number
P Pa Local pressure
Pin Pa Inlet pressure
Pk kg/m.s3 Share production of turbulence
Pr Prandtl Number
ReH Reynolds number based on fin spacing, ρuH/µ
T °C Temperature
Tin °C Inlet temperature
TWall °C Wall temperature
u m/s Velocity
uin m/s Inlet(frontal) velocity
ε m2/s3 Turbulence dissipation rate
k W/m.K Thermal conductivity
μ Ns/m2 Dynamic viscosity
μT Ns/m2 Turbulent viscosity
ρ kg/m3 Fluid density
1782
ELECTRODE WEAR RATE OF GRAPHITE ELECTRODES DURING

ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE MACHINING PROCESSES ON TITANIUM
ALLOY TI-5AL-2.5SN
Md. Ashikur Rahman Khan3, M. M. Rahman1,2* and K. Kadirgama1

1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaysia Pahang,
2
Automotive Engineering Centre, University of Malaysia Pahang,
Phone: +6094246239; Fax: +6094246222
3
Department of Information and Communication Technology
Noakhali Science & Technology University, Bangladesh
ABSTRACT
The proper selection of machining parameters can result in better machining

performance in the electrical discharge machining process. However, this job is not
always easy since the phenomena occurring between the electrodes in EDM are not yet
fully understood. This study reports the development of a comprehensive mathematical
model for the electrode wear rate (EWR) of a graphite tool in EDM on Ti-5Al-2.5Sn
alloy, which has not yet been presented. Experiments for positive polarity of the
graphite electrode, based on design of experiment (DOE), are first conducted. Modeling
and analysis are carried out through the response surface methodology, utilizing the
experimental results. A confirmation test is also executed to confirm the validity and the
accuracy of the mathematical model developed. The confirmation test exhibits an
average error of less than 6%. Negative electrode wear is evidenced for particular
settings. The combination of 15A peak current, 350µs pulse-on time, 180µs pulse-off
time and 95V servo-voltage and positive polarity causes negative tool wear. It is
apparent that the developed model can evaluate electrode wear rate accurately and
successfully.
Keywords: Graphite, Electrode wear rate, Ti-5Al-2.5Sn, EDM
INTRODUCTION
Titanium alloy (Ti-5Al-2.5Sn) was selected for the present study on the basis of its use
in a wide range of applications. It offers a reduction of aircraft weight. Titanium alloys
have many uses, yet there is a key problem in machining when using conventional
techniques such as turning, milling, drilling, grinding, and reaming (Khan, Rahman,
Kadirgama, & Ismail, 2012; Khan, Rahman, Kadirgama, Maleque, & Bakar, 2011b;
Rahman, Khan, Kadirgama, Noor, & Bakar, 2010b, 2011a; Rahman, Khan, Noor,
Kadirgama, & Bakar, 2011b). One of the crucial difficulties in cutting a hard material
like titanium alloy is tool wear (Rahman Khan, Rahman, Kadirgama, & Ismail, 2012;
Rahman et al., 2011a). In fact, titanium and its alloys are difficult to machine in
comparison with steel and aluminum alloys by all conventional machining methods.
This is due to a number of the inherent properties of titanium alloys. Titanium alloys
1782
Khan et al. /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 9 (2014) 1782-1792
introduce heat, deflection, galling and welding, chatter, and vibration during cutting
operations due to their low modulus of elasticity and thermal conductivity, and their
chemical reactivity. High temperatures, rapid tool wear, short tool life and high costs are
thus associated with the conventional machining of titanium alloys (Rahman, Khan,
Kadirgama, Noor, & Bakar, 2010a; Rahman et al., 2010b). High cutting temperatures
and strong adhesion between the tool and work-piece material increase tool wear. A
number of researchers have attempted to machine these materials with different cutting
tools such as straight-grade cemented-carbides (Wo-Co), polycrystalline diamond
(PCD), straight tungsten-carbide tools, cemented TiN tools, pure aluminum-oxide
ceramic tools, TiC-coated tools, cubic boron nitride (CBN), sintered diamond tools, and
natural diamond tools. During machining, the cutting temperature of the titanium alloy
was raised to 727 °C–1077 °C, even at a low cutting speed. Of all these cutting tools,
the ceramic and CBN tools resulted in the most excessive wear. This wear can cause a
chemical reaction, and even adhesion, between the tool and workpiece materials. A
similar performance was observed in the case of sintered diamond tools. Although
diamond tools yield low wear rates, the cutting operation cannot be continued since the
temperature at the soldered part of the tip exceeds the melting point. In addition to these
difficulties, the higher cost of these special tools limits the conventional machining of
titanium alloys. Although the above-mentioned tool materials seem to be effective in
machining, they cannot be recommended for the machining of titanium and its alloys
(Hascalik, Caydas, & Gurun, 2007; Kumar & Singh, 2010; Singh & Singh, 2011). It is
recognized that electrical discharge machining can be used effectively in machining
hard, high-strength, and temperature-resistant materials (Khan, Rahman, Kadirgama,
Maleque, & Ishak, 2011c; Najiha, Rahman, Kamal, Yusoff, & Kadirgama, 2012;
Yusoff, Mohamed Suffian, & Taib, 2011). EDM is also a process that demands
expertise, and the mechanism of metal erosion during sparking is not fully understood
due to the complex thermal conduction behaviors in the machining vicinity (Wang et
al., 2012). Accordingly, it has been hard to establish models that accurately correlate
the process variables and performance. The parameter settings given by the
manufacturers are only applicable to the common steel grades (Khan et al., 2011b). A
single parameter change influences the process in a complex way. Modelling the
process is an effective way of solving the tedious problem of relating the process
parameters to the performance measure (Perazolli, Simoes, Coleto, & Moura Filho,
2005).
Numerous work has been performed towards correlating the EDM process
parameters and the performance characteristics. Many researchers have also attempted
to investigate the impact of the process parameters on the performance characteristics.
The influence of EDM parameters on electrode wear (EW) was analyzed when
conducting the machining on cemented carbide or hard metal such as 94WC–6Co
(Perazolli et al., 2005). Quadratic models were developed for the resulting electrode
wear. It was noted that in the case of tool wear, the intensity factor is the most
influential, followed by its own pure quadratic effect and the interaction effect of
intensity and pulse time. A semi-empirical model for tool wear was presented for
various workpiece and tool electrode combinations (Dave, Desai, & Raval, 2012). This
model was established by employing dimensional analysis based on process parameters,
which were screened by design of experiments. Modelling, and analysis of the effects of
machining parameters on the performance characteristic as electrode wear rate in the
EDM process of Al2O3+TiC mixed ceramic, were carried out using response surface
methodology (Rahman, 2011). Central composite design (CCD) was adopted for
1783
Electrode wear rate of graphite electrodes during electrical discharge machining processes on
titanium alloy Ti-5Al-2.5sn
experiment plan. It was shown that the discharge current, and the pulse-on time have a
statistically significant effect on electrode wear rate. (Dave et al., 2012; Rahman Khan
et al., 2012) developed a regression equation for EDM performance characteristics of
70%WC/30%Co through design of experiments and statistical analysis. A study was
conducted to investigate the effect of current and tool dimension on the EDM
characteristics of a mild steel work piece (Dave et al., 2012).The response variables
were predicted using regression analysis and artificial neural network techniques. In
another study, (Khan et al., 2011a) modelled the performance characteristics in EDM
on AISI D2 tool steel taking into account four input variables: discharge current, pulse
duration, pulse-off time and applied voltage. For this, experimentation and analysis
were performed in accordance with central composite design (CCD) along with
response surface method. Mathematical models were developed for correlating the
various machining parameters and one of the most dominant machining criteria was
electrode wear ratio (Khan et al., 2011a). Optimal combinations of the process
parameters were obtained for achieving the controlled electrical discharge machining of
the workpieces utilizing response surface method.
Although a number of investigations and studies have been conducted, to the
best knowledge of the authors and according to a literature study, a relationship between
the electrode wear of graphite tools and the process variables in the EDM process on Ti-
5Al-2.5Sn is still lacking. One existing model cannot be used for new or dissimilar
material, and experimental investigations are always required. This research work
therefore concentrates purely on the electrode wear of graphite tools. The present paper
emphasizes the development of mathematical models for correlating the various
machining parameters, namely peak current, pulse-on time, pulse-off time, and servo
voltage on, one of the most significant criteria - electrode wear rate. It also aims to
determine the values of the selected parameters, which cause less tool wear on the
graphite electrode during the electrical discharge machining of selected titanium
material.
EXPERIMENTAL SET UP
Design of Experiment
The present study aims to assess the correlation between the electrode wear rate of a
graphite electrode in EDM process on titanium alloy Ti-5Al-2.5Sn. Response surface
methodology was employed throughout the experiment to build the connection between
the electrode wear rate and process parameters such as peak current, pulse-on time,
pulse-off time and servo-voltage. For this reason, the experiment was accomplished
according to design of experiment, since design of experiment provides an advantage in
saving time and costs by reducing the number of experiments (Najiha et al., 2012).
Axial point central composite design (CCD) was adopted as design of experiment.
When using these methods, there is a possibility that the experiments will stop after a
few runs and it will be decided that the prediction model is satisfactory. The four
factors, peak current, pulse-on time, pulse-off time and servo voltage, are chosen as
independent process variables in accordance with the literature consulted and EDM
characteristics, as well as preliminary experimentations. The effects of the parameters
considered were verified through preliminary experiments. The low and high levels of
the process variables are given in Table 1. Accordingly, the five levels of peak current
were set at 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 A, those of pulse-on time were set at 10, 95, 180, 265 and
1784
350 µs, those of pulse-off time set at 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 µs, and the levels of
servo voltage were set at 75, 85, 95 and 115 V. A total of 93 experimental runs,
including two replications, were thus conducted as the main experiments. The mean
value of measured electrode wear rate was selected. During experiments, the remaining
machining parameters were kept constant.
Table 1. Process parameters and their levels.
Designation Process parameters Levels

Low (-2) High (+2)
X1 Peak Current, Ip (A) 1 29
X2 Pulse-on time, Ton (µs) 10 350
X3 Pulse-of time, Toff (µs) 60 300
X4 Servo voltage, Sv (V) 75 115
The workpiece material was titanium alloy Ti-5Al-2.5Sn with the following
composition: 0.02% C, 0.15% Fe, 2.6% Sn, 5.1% Al and rest Ti. To develop the
relationship between various EDM process parameters and electrode wear rate, a
cylindrical graphite electrode of 20mm diameter and 50mm length was used for
machining the work sample. Kerosene was selected as a dielectric because of its high
flash point, good dielectric strength, transparent characteristics, low viscosity and
specific gravity (Najiha et al., 2012). Each experiment was conducted at a fixed supply
voltage, 120V, and at a constant dielectric flushing pressure of 0.15MPa. The
experimental set up is shown in Figure 1. A new set of workpiece and graphite tool was
applied for each run. The full set of runs, according to the design of experiment, were
carried out in a state of positive polarity. To evaluate electrode wear rate, the electrode
was weighed before and after machining using a digital single pan balance (maximum
capacity = 210 gm, precision = 0.1 mg), and is reported in units of gm. Electrode wear
rate was calculated by measuring the average amount of the electrode eroded and the
machining time as follows (Najiha et al., 2012):
(a) (b)
Figure 1. Experimental set up: (a) before machining, (b) during machining
1785
1000  We
EWR  mg/min (1)
t
where We=W1  W2
We is the weight loss of the electrode in gm,
W1 is the weight of the electrode before machining in gm,
W2 is the weight of the electrode after machining in gm
t is the machining time in minutes.
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING
Response surface methodology is an assortment of mathematical and statistical

techniques that are useful for the modelling and analysis of problems in which a
response of interest is biased by several variables and the objective is to optimize this
response (Kadirgama, Noor, Rahman, Bakar, & Hossein, 2009). It is a sequential
experimentation strategy for empirical model building and optimization. A model of the
response to independent input variables can be acquired by carrying out
experimentation and applying regression analysis. In RSM, the independent process
parameters can be represented in quantitative form as:
Y = f (X1, X2, X3, . . . Xn) ± ε (2)
where, Y is the response, f is the response function, ε is the experimental error, and X1,
X2, X3, . . ., Xn are independent variables.
The form of f is unknown and may be very complex. RSM therefore aims to
approximate f using a suitable lower ordered polynomial in some region of the
independent process variables. If the response can be well modeled by a linear function
of the independent variables, Eq. (2) can be written as
Y   0   1X 1   2 X 2  ...........   n X n   (3)
On the other hand, the second-order model is normally used when the response
function is nonlinear. However, if the model is not well fitted by the linear function then
a higher order polynomial such as the quadratic model can be used. In the present study,
both the linear model and second-order (quadratic model) model were studied. The
experimental values were analyzed and a mathematical model then developed that
illustrates the relationship between the process variable and the output (Kadirgama et
al., 2009). The mathematical models based on a second-order polynomial are given as
n n n
Y   0    i X i    ii X i   Xi X j  
2
ij (4)
i 1 i 1 i , j 1,i  j
where Y is the corresponding response, Xi is the input variables, Xi2 and XiXj are the
squares and interaction terms, respectively, of these input variables. βo, βi, βij and βii are
the unknown regression coefficients. In this work, Eq. (4) can be rewritten according to
the four variables used as:
Y   0  1 X 1   2 X 2   3 X 3   4 X 4  11 X12   22X 22   33X 32   44X 24

(5)
 12 X 1 X 2  13 X 1 X 3  14 X 1 X 4   23 X 2 X 3   24 X 2 X 4   34 X 3 X 4
1786
where X1, X2, X3, and X4 are four input variables as peak current (Ip), pulse-on time
(Ton), pulse-off time (Toff) and servo voltage (Sv), respectively.
It is essential to check the adequacy of the fitted model, because an incorrect or
under-specified model can lead to a confusing evaluation of the response. Whether the
model is under specified can be verified by checking the fit of the model. For this
purpose, analysis of variances (ANOVA) was performed. A confirmation test was
conducted in order to test the accuracy of the model.
Model for Electrode Wear Rate
Table 2 displays the coded value of the selected parameters as DOE, and the measured
EWR during experiment. Analyses were performed using the experimental data through
response surface methodology. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed for both
the single-order and second-order model. Model adequacy checking includes a test for
significance of the regression model, model coefficients, and lack-of-fit. In this paper,
the results for second-order modelling have been presented since it provided a more
accurate result when compared with the single-order model. The results of the quadratic
model for electrode wear rate, in the form of ANOVA, are given in Table 3 and 4. Table
3 shows the coefficients, standard errors on estimation of the coefficients ‘SE coef’ and
p-value. P-value is used to determine whether a factor is significant or insignificant.
Usually, it is compared against an alpha value of 0.05 as the F-ratio is calculated for a
95% confidence level. If the p-value is lower than 0.05, the factor is significant.
Accordingly, factor X1, X2, X3 and X4, interaction effect of factors except the effect of
factor X1 with factor X4 and the second-order terms of factors X1, X2, X3 and X4 have
significant effect.
Table 4 shows the results obtained using ANOVA, such as the coefficient of
determination (R2), standard deviation (S), adjusted R2, predicted R2. The coefficient of
determination is the ratio of the sum of squares of the predicted responses (corrected for
the mean) to the sum of squares of the observed responses (also corrected for the mean)
(Kansal et al., 2005). Generally, the higher the R2, the better the model fits the data, and
it is always between 0 and 100%. Standard deviation (S) is measured in units of the
response variable and represents the standard distance that data values fall from the
regression line (Kadirgama & Abou-El-Hossein, 2005). For a given study, the better the
equation predicts the response, the lower the value of S. Adjusted R2 accounts for the
number of predictors in the model that describe the significance of the relationship.
Predicted R2 is used in regression analysis to indicate how well the model predicts
responses for new observations. Larger values of predicted R2 suggest a model of
greater predictive ability. The value of R2 (R-squared) and adjusted R2 is over 99%.
This means that the mathematical model provides an excellent explanation of the
relationship between the independent variables (factors) and the response (EWR).
Similarly, the obtained values of standard deviation and R2– predicted evidence that the
proposed model is adequate to predict the response. The associated P-value for the
model is lower than 0.05 (i.e. α = 0.05, or 95% confidence), which indicates that the
model is considered statistically significant. When the p-value is less than the α-level,
this suggests that the model does not accurately fit the data. The p-value for the lack-of-
fit is 0.191, which is larger than 0.05 (i.e. α=0.05, or 95% confidence) (Kadirgama &
1787
Abou-El-Hossein, 2005). Thus, the lack-of-fit term is insignificant as it is desired. The

fit summary recommended that the quadratic model is statistically significant for
analysis of EWR, therefore, based on equation (5), the mathematical relation for
correlating the electrode wear rate and the above mentioned process variables is
obtained as follows:
TWR  1.34155 - 0.0619188 I p - 0.0111534 Ton  0.00354923 Toff  0.0118027 S v

 0.00335602 I p2  9.91020  10 -6 Ton2 - 7.35223  10 -6 Toff2 - 1.24916  10 -4 S v2
(6)
- 1.23759  10 -4 I pTon - 6.01964  10 -5 I pToff - 2.63756  10 -5 I p S v
 7.81620  10 -6 TonToff  5.35383  10 -5 Ton S v - 1.78650  10 -5 Toff S v
Table 2. Experimental results for EWR according to the design of experiment (with
coded value of the parameters).
Process parameters Observed value

Peak current Pulse-on Pulse-off Servo- EWR
(A) time (µs) time (µs) voltage (V) (mg/min)
0 0 0 0 0.2034
-1 1 1 -1 0.2707
2 0 0 0 0.9024
0 0 0 0 0.2072
0 0 0 -2 0.2700
0 0 0 0 0.2094
-1 -1 -1 -1 0.6800
1 1 1 -1 0.1233
-1 1 1 1 0.2238
0 0 0 0 0.2022
-1 -1 1 1 0.4159
0 0 -2 0 0.1321
-1 1 -1 -1 0.1583
1 -1 -1 1 0.7432
1 -1 1 1 0.5444
-1 -1 -1 1 0.4946
1 1 1 1 0.0774
1 1 -1 -1 0.1086
-2 0 0 0 0.8192
0 0 0 0 0.2052
0 0 2 0 0.0622
0 0 0 0 0.1983
1 -1 1 -1 0.7860
1 1 -1 1 0.0922
1 -1 -1 -1 0.9289
0 0 0 2 0.0361
-1 1 -1 1 0.1568
0 -2 0 0 0.9874
-1 -1 1 -1 0.6421
0 2 0 0 -0.0086
0 0 0 0 0.2085
1788
Table 3. ANOVA (estimated regression coefficients) for EWR.
Term Coefficient SE coefficient P-value

Constant 1.34155 0.001912 0.000
Ip (A) -0.0619188 0.001033 0.000
Ton (µs) -0.0111534 0.001033 0.000
Toff (µs) 0.00354923 0.001033 0.000
Sv (V) 0.0118027 0.001033 0.000
Ip (A) × Ip (A) 0.00335602 0.000946 0.000
Ton (µs) × Ton (µs) 0.0000099102 0.000946 0.000
Toff (µs) × Toff (µs) -0.00000735223 0.000946 0.000
Sv (V) × Sv (V) -0.000124916 0.000946 0.000
Ip (A) × Ton (µs) -0.000123759 0.001265 0.000
Ip (A) × Toff (µs) -0.0000601964 0.001265 0.000
Ip (A) × Sv (V) -0.0000263756 0.001265 0.164
Ton (µs) × Toff (µs) 0.00000781620 0.001265 0.000
Ton (µs) × Sv (V) 0.0000535383 0.001265 0.000
Toff (µs) × Sv (V) -0.0000178650 0.001265 0.000
Table 4. ANOVA Table for electrode wear rate.
Source DOF Sum of squares Mean squares F-ratio P

Regression 14 2.72470 0.194621 7601.73 0.000
Linear 4 1.61069 0.402671 15727.98 0.000
Square 4 0.95657 0.239143 9340.72 0.000
Interaction 6 0.15744 0.026240 1024.90 0.000
Residual error 16 0.00041 0.000026
Lack-of-Fit 10 0.00032 0.000032 2.08 0.191
Pure Error 6 0.00009 0.000015
Total 30 2.72511
Standard deviation (S) = 0.00505986
R2 = 99.98%
R2-adjusted = 99.97%
R2-predicted = 99.93%
Confirmation Experiments
The data from the confirmation test, and the comparisons with the predicted value for
EWR are listed in Table V. From the analysis, it can be observed that the calculated
error is small. A confirmation test establishes the error of the mathematical model for
EWR 5.13% to 6.70% with a mean value 5.74% when the polarity is positive. This
clearly confirms the excellent reproducibility of the experimental conclusions.
Minimum EWR
Statistical analysis was also performed in order to determine the minimum electrode
wear rate. In this study, negative electrode wear is evidenced for particular settings. The
paper reveals that a combination of 15A peak current, 350µs pulse-on time, 180µs
pulse-off time and 95V servo-voltage along with positive polarity causes negative tool
1789
wear. Consequently, the maximum negative tool wear rate (-0.4049 mg/min) is found in
the combination of Ip=16.5 A, Ton=350 µs, Toff = 60 µs and Sv =75 V. This can be
explained by the molten materials accumulated on the electrode surface near to the
workpiece during machining. This foreign material is attached with the tool surface and
protects the tool electrode surface against wear. Observation also revealed that more
tool wear exists in the early stage of machining since the initial surface of the tool is not
covered with workpiece material, afterwards wear rate decreases.
Table 5. Results from confirmation experiment.
Ip (A) Ton (µs) Toff (µs) Sv (V) EWR (mg/min) Error (%)
Expt. Pred.
15 180 120 85 0.2204 0.2317 5.13
5 95 120 85 0.8570 0.7996 6.70
22 265 240 75 0.1186 0.1116 5.90
8 95 60 85 0.6574 0.6229 5.24
Average 5.74
CONCLUSIONS
This paper attempted to develop a mathematical model that accurately correlates the
process variables and machining performance, electrode wear rate of EDM process on
Ti-5Al-2.5Sn with graphite electrode. A mathematical model was developed based on
response surface methodology utilizing experimental data. The fitness of the model was
verified by employing analysis of variance through RSM. The accuracy of the
developed model was found to have an average error of 5.74%. Thus, the
comprehensive models were found to be adequate and to correlate EWR with the four
process variables. These mathematical models can successfully predict the performance
characteristics of EDM in terms of the electrode wear of a graphite electrode in an EDM
process on Ti-5Al-2.5Sn. The study also aimed to establish the combination of the fo

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International Journal of Automotive &

Mechanical Engineering (IJAME)

© Universiti Malaysia Pahang

Title and Authors Page

Experimental Study and Computational Modelling of Gas-Fired Pulse 1

Modeling and Vibration Analysis of Road Profile Measuring System 13

Fatigue Life Prediction based on Macroscopic Plastic Zone on Fracture Surface 29

Phase Analysis and Densification of Steatite-based Ceramics 38

Experimental Investigations of Oxygen Stripping from Feed Water in A Spray 46

Comparison of Statistically Controlled Machining Solutions of Titanium Alloys 66

Flexural Properties of Alkaline Treated Sugar Palm Fibre Reinforced Epoxy 79

Study of Flow in Air-Intake System for A Single-Cylinder Go-Kart Engine 91

Professor Dr. Hj. Rosli Abu Bakar, Malaysia. Email: rosli@ump.edu.my

Dr. Md. Mustafizur Rahman, Malaysia. Email: mustafizur@ump.edu.my

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

© All rights reserved.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELLING OF

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Keywords: Pulse combustion, gas-fired, aerodynamic valve, modelling.

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Eqs 1 to 10 with some auxiliary relationships constitute basically the

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

m k, T k, pk—mass, temperature and pressure inside of the

Figure 7: Basic dimensions of the boiler model; I, II—burner connections,

On the basis of highly satisfactory results achieved in twenty-five years of

Figure 8: A view of the burner placed on the boiler model at connection I

c p —specific heat for a constant pressure Indices:

MODELLING AND VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF A ROAD PROFILE

C. B. Patel1, P. P. Gohil1 and B. Borhade2

Figure 1: Longitudinal surface profiling (Michael and Steven, 1998)

An algorithm is to be developed to measure the road profile, which contains different

Figure 2: Working of road profile measuring system

Figure 3: Dynamic model (Half car) of vehicle

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AND VALIDATION

A 4 degree of freedom (DOF) mathematical model of a complete vehicle was developed

As discussed above, the original vehicle contains so many nonlinear systems.

 Both front and rear axle have bouncing motion.

Figure 4: Free body diagram of half car model

Eqs 1 to 4 can be represented in matrix form:

Eq. 5 can be represented as Eq. 6 as follows:

 Wheel Lift-off and Ride Comfort study of Three-wheeled Vehicle over

(a) 5 DOF (b) 4 DOF

Figure 5: Vertical acceleration half sine wave bump profile

(a) Front left wheel (b) Rear left wheel

(c ) Front left wheel (4 DOF) (d) Real left wheel (4 DOF)

Table 1: Assumptions for 10 DOF and 4 DOF models

10 DOF (Paulo et al., 2001) 4DOF

HALF CAR MODEL SIMULATION

A half car vehicle dynamic MATLAB-Simulink model (4DOF) is developed to validate

Half car model properties

Table 2: 4 DOF Model considerations

Parameter Value Unit