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The analysis of tapered structures using a component-wise approach based on refined one-dimensional models
No full textThis paper presents the results of a static analysis on reinforced thin-walled tapered structures using refined one-dimensional models. The structural model is based on a one-dimensional formulation derived from the Carrera Unified Formulation. This formulation provides a quasi three-dimensional solution, thanks to the use of polynomial expansions to describe the displacement field over the cross-section. According to which type of expansion is used, various classes of refined one-dimensional elements are obtained. Lagrange expansions were used in this work. The use of these models allows each structural component to be considered separately; this methodology is called the component-wise approach. After an initial assessment of the structural model, different kinds of aeronautical structures, which gradually become more complex, have been studied. The stress and displacement fields have been obtained. The results have been compared with those obtained using commercial tools. Three- and two-dimensional models have been used for comparison purposes. The results show the capability of the present advanced one-dimensional models to achieve accurate results while avoiding high computational costs
Energy demand profile generation with detailed time resolution at an urban district scale: A reference building approach and case study
No full textThe energy demand in urban areas has increased dramatically over the last few decades because of the intensive urbanization that has taken place. Because of this, the European Union has introduced directives pertaining to the energy performance of buildings and has identified demand side management as a significant tool for the optimization of the energy demand. Demand side management, together with thermal energy storage and renewable energy technologies, have mainly been studied so far at a building scale. In order to study and define potential demand side management strategies at an urban scale, an integrated urban scale assessment needs to be conducted. DiDeProM, a model that can be used to generate detailed thermal energy demand profiles, at an urban district scale, has been developed in the current study. It is a bottom-up engineering model, based on samples of the representative building technique. A parametric analysis of the important variables of building energy performance at an urban scale has then been carried out. This has generated a database of normalized thermal energy demand profiles with an hourly time resolution. The final step of the process includes the generation of a detailed overall thermal energy demand profile at an urban district scale. DiDeProM was applied to a block of buildings in Turin (Italy) as a case study. After the calibration of the simulation model on real monitored data, a parametric analysis on 300 scenarios for a reference building was conducted, generating a database of seasonal thermal heating energy demand profiles with hourly time steps. An average hourly heating profile was generated from this database according to a specific aggregation approach. The DiDeProM application indicated that the model works properly at the scale of a typical small block of buildings, and it is able to generate a total thermal energy demand profile, with detailed time resolution, at an urban district scale. These profiles will be used to create demand side management strategies that will integrate thermal energy storage and renewable energy technologies at a district scale
Spazi violenti. Un'esperienza di collaborazione tra istituzione universitaria e carcere
No full textIl saggio descrive le caratteristiche dell'intervento progettuale di un team di docenti e studenti di architettura in due aree all'interno della Casa Circondariale Lorusso e Cutugno di Torino - lo spazio colloqui , estensione all'aperto del parlatorio del carcere, e lo spazio relax destinato al personale di custodia- e le linee guida seguite nella realizzazione, curata da studenti, reclusi e guardie carcerarie
Energy and economic analysis of a water scrubbing based biogas upgrading process for biomethane injection into the gas grid or use as transportation fuel
No full textAn industry oriented strategy for the finite element simulation of paperboard creasing and folding
No full textThe numerical simulation of paperboard creasing and folding processes is of increasing importance for the Q3 design and production of safe and reliable packaging systems. The extreme material anisotropy and the complexity of these processes require however simulation capabilities which are seldom available in commercial codes. Several approaches have been proposed in the literature over the years, in most cases making use of non-linear material models developed ad hoc for this purpose. These models, some of which are very effective and accurate, are not in general available in commercial codes and are often based on the definition of a large number of parameters. In this paper, the possibility to obtain acceptable, first-hand simulation results using only features already available in a commercial code is investigated. An advanced continuum constitutive model, recently presented in the literature, has been used as a reference for tuning the model and for assessing its accuracy. It is shown how standard features, usually available in state-of-the-art commercial codes, can be employed to deal with the extreme material anisotropy, obtaining qualitatively good results in both the creasing and folding phases. The used standard model accounts for the extremely high anisotropy by means of embedded shell elements, playing the role of reinforcements in the fibre direction. The matrix is assumed to be isotropic and elastoplastic, with properties determined based on the behaviour in the thickness direction. The adopted plasticity model is a modified Drucker-Prager model with a cutoff on the tensile pressure side, available in the used commercial code. The procedure adopted for the identification of the small number of required material parameters is also discussed
Comparative specific energy consumption between air transport and high-speed rail transport: A practical assessment
No full textHigh-speed railways have recently conquered market shares that were previously only covered by air transport, at daily distances up to 600-800 km, or by cars, for journeys of 100-150 km, mainly thanks to the much higher speeds that have been reached by high-speed trains since the late Nineties. However, in recent years, the relevance of the dependence of the transport sector on black-oil and the consequent emissions have drawn attention to the importance of energy efficiency as a significant parameter to compare alternative transport modes in a more complete way than travel time and covered distance. This paper has the purpose of: - quantifying and comparing the specific energy consumption of air transport with that of high-speed rail transport; - determining the ranges in which operating, sometimes also investing, in one of these two modes would be convenient from the usage viewpoint and from an energy perspective; - determining where there is still notable competition between these modes. The comparative analysis has been carried out taking into account original data and assessments linked to energy consumption, but it has also been considered important to investigate several other factors, such as the price of electricity compared to that of kerosene. It has been possible, through the use of rail simulation and of two different air transport simulation tools, to evaluate the consumption of the two transport modes in order to compare the two modal alternatives; rather original outcomes have been obtained. Owing to the presence of a number of variables that can play an important role in a comparative specific energy consumption study on air and high speed rail transport, further analyses are envisaged. However, the present work represents a first, fundamental step towards obtaining a more complete vision of the problem
Terahertz mechanical vibrations in lysozyme: Raman spectroscopy vs modal analysis
No full textThe mechanical behaviour of proteins is receiving an increasing attention from the scientific community. Recently it has been suggested that mechanical vibrations play a crucial role in controlling structural configuration changes (folding) which govern proteins biological function. The mechanism behind protein folding is still not completely understood, and many efforts are being made to investigate this phenomenon. Complex molecular dynamics simulations and sophisticated experimental measurements are conducted to investigate protein dynamics and to perform protein structure predictions; however, these are two related, although quite distinct, approaches. Here we investigate mechanical vibrations of lysozyme by Raman spectroscopy and linear normal mode calculations (modal analysis). The input mechanical parameters to the numerical computations are taken from the literature. We first give an estimate of the order of magnitude of protein vibration frequencies by considering both classical wave mechanics and structural dynamics formulas. Afterwards, we perform modal analyses of some relevant chemical groups and of the full lysozyme protein. The numerical results are compared to experimental data, obtained from both in-house and literature Raman measurements. In particular, the attention is focused on a large peak at 0.84 THz (29.3 cm^-1) in the Raman spectrum obtained analyzing a lyophilized powder sample
Compressive buckling for symmetric TWB with non-zero warping stiffness
No full textTorsion and bending/torsion buckling may occur for compressed thin-walled open profiles used in engineering and architecture applications. We report experimental results provided by PZT pickups stuck on thin-walled aluminium beams with open modified cruciform cross-section, exhibiting non-zero warping stiffness. The buckling loads and the natural frequencies corresponding to various compressive forces were detected for free and (at least partially) restrained warping of the ends of the specimens. The results are compared with those of a FEM (commercial) and an in-house numerical code that examines the stability of non-trivial equilibrium paths in a dynamic setting. The results seem new and confirm that: (a) PZT pickups can be efficient in extracting modal parameters of thin-walled beams; (b) the numerical simulations are robust and accurate in finding the buckling loads in all analyzed configurations
Interdisciplinary life cycle data analysis within a knowledge-based system for product cost estimation
No full textNanostructured bulk-heterojunction solar cells based on amorphous carbon
No full textAmorphous carbon (a-C) has the potential to provide properties important to solar photovoltaics that are comparable to those of silicon-based materials with further advantages such as low cost, solution processing, air stability, and higher thermal resistance. We employ accurate computational approaches to explore and understand active layers based on bulk heterojunctions containing a-C. Our results show that interfaces with a-C and other carbon nanostructures could enable successful electron and hole extraction as well as reduced sources for carrier recombination. Ab initio molecular dynamics and density functional theory calculations are carried out for a large statistical set of interfaces between a-C structures of different densities and either carbon nanotubes or fullerenes. We show that the energy alignment at such interfaces can be widely tuned as a function of a-C density, doping chemistry, or nanostructure size to obtain type-II heterostructures and that the optical properties of such interfaces would be highly favorable for sunlight harvesting