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The operation of gas generators brings relatively high thermo-mechanical loads on the gas generator structure. The objective of this article is to determine the operating conditions, in terms of mechanical loads at extremely high temperatures in very limited and narrow space, of a multifunctional bulkhead for application on specific kinds of gas generators with back-to-back rotor concept. The paper contains numerical analysis and experimental investigation for determining the loads and behavior of the structure. Numerical analysis indicates that there is significant influence of the Tesla turbine effect on flow parameters. Also, uneven pressure distribution and significant thermal loads are identified. With experimental investigation and subsequent exploitation tests, it was concluded that the presented methodology identifies the operating conditions, truthfully simulates the bulkhead stress state and deformations and that the presented design solution satisfied all demands. Regarding results obtained by these numerical simulations, the innovative design solution for the multifunctional bulkhead was proposed.

Beside their technological importance in soldering, the low melting eutectic alloys based on bismuth and indium have potential for commercial application in the field of phase- change materials (PCMs). In this respect, the knowledge of their microstructure and thermal properties such as melting temperature, latent heat of melting, supercooling tendency, thermal conductivity, etc. is of large importance. In this study, two ternary eutectic Bi-In-Sn alloys were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Microstructure of the prepared eutectic alloys was analyzed using SEM- EDS and identification of co-existing phases was done. Melting temperatures and latent heats of eutectic melting were measured using DSC technique. Experimentally obtained results were compared with the results of thermodynamic calculation according to CALPHAD (calculation of phase diagram) approach and good mutual agreement was obtained.

Reducing natural resources caused by the growth of the world’s population, meeting the growing demands of consumers, and preventing environmental pollution requires the development of sustainable and efficient procedures that include the valorization of wastes [...]

Abstract This paper proposes a probabilistic extension to flexible hybrid state estimation (FHSE) for cyber-physical systems (CPSs). The main goal of the algorithm is improvement of the system state tracking when realistic communications are taken into account, by optimizing information and communication technology (ICT) usage. These advancements result in: 1) coping with ICT outages and inevitable irregularities (delay, packet drop and bad measurements); 2) determining the optimized state estimation execution frequencies based on expected measurement refresh times. Additionally, information about CPSs is gathered from both the phasor measurement units (PMU) and SCADA-based measurements. This measurement transfer introduces two network observability types, which split the system into observable (White) and unobservable (Grey) areas, based on 1) deployed measuring instruments (MIs) and 2) received measurements. A two-step bad data detection (BDD) method is introduced for ICT irregularities and outages. The proposed algorithm benefits are shown on two IEEE test cases with time-varying load/generation: 14-bus and 300-bus.

AbstractWhile several recent studies have focused on global insect population trends, all are limited in either space or taxonomic scope. As global monitoring programs for insects are currently not implemented, inherent biases exist within most data. Expert opinion, which is often widely available, proves to be a valuable tool where hard data are limited. Our aim is to use global expert opinion to provide insights on the root causes of potential insect declines worldwide, as well as on effective conservation strategies that could mitigate insect biodiversity loss. We obtained 753 responses from 413 respondents with a wide variety of spatial and taxonomic expertise. The most relevant threats identified through the survey were agriculture and climate change, followed by pollution, while land management and land protection were recognized as the most significant conservation measures. Nevertheless, there were differences across regions and insect groups, reflecting the variability within the most diverse class of eukaryotic organisms on our planet. Lack of answers for certain biogeographic regions or taxa also reflects the need for research in less investigated settings. Our results provide a novel step toward understanding global threats and conservation measures for insects.

Abstract The dynamics of isolated-photon plus two-jet production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1. Cross sections are measured as functions of a variety of observables, including angular correlations and invariant masses of the objects in the final state, γ + jet + jet. Measurements are also performed in phase-space regions enriched in each of the two underlying physical mechanisms, namely direct and fragmentation processes. The measurements cover the range of photon (jet) transverse momenta from 150 GeV (100 GeV) to 2 TeV. The tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as the next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Sherpa are compared with the measurements. The next-to-leading-order QCD predictions describe the data adequately in shape and normalisation except for regions of phase space such as those with high values of the invariant mass or rapidity separation of the two jets, where the predictions overestimate the data.