Peter Myler

This study focuses on the deformation characteristics of hybrid orthotropic composite sandwich beams under axial and bending loading. The homogeneous cores of the hybrid orthotropic sandwich beams affect different parameters on structures. We followed by analytically determining effective material properties to study response of the hybrid sandwich beam under axial and bending loading. Ensuing, we programmed all steps and procedures of solution algorithm into commercially available MATLABTM 2020 code to simulate practical scenarios. Subsequently, we collected and processed data in tabular and graphical forms to facilitate analyses. We compared simulation generated results to the data results available in the literature and found to be within the acceptable range of (±6%) deviations. We observed that the hybrid structure beams had undergone less deformation that confirmed that the hybrid structure beams have comprehensive mechanical advantages as well as has high strength and specific energy absorption capabilities. Based on comparison of the results, the hybrid beams are more damage resistant and tolerant than beams made of the other type of materials. Since hybrid sandwich beams are relatively light, economical, and perform better under axial and bending deformations. Therefore, this study could also be extended to investigate performance of the orthotropic sandwich beam structures under multiple loading directions as well as proposes that the usage of the hybrid sandwich beam components will be useful in global structures.

The 4th Industrial Revolution incorporates the digital revolution in several fields, including artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, IoT, manufacturing, etc. Due to the advancement in difficult-to-cut materials, technology like abrasive waterjet machine (AWJM) in non-traditional manufacturing has been a benefit to the industry, and it can almost cut any material and is also considered environmentally friendly. The machine uses water, abrasives and electricity which are natural resources, and the purpose of the study is to optimize these resources for the AWJM which are relatively very complex considering the different varying parameters and material properties. The methodology is discussed with a case study of NC 3015S AWJ machine for studying sustainability using different method/tools like SCLM, ABCD and TSPDs approach which will illustrate the combined technical and sustainability assessment. An approach for working with abrasive waterjet machine on reducing cost and machining time which focusses on the four pillars of sustainability (social, economic, environmental and technology) has been presented. The discussions are demonstrated by cost/hour calculations, i.e., 45$/h for machining Ti6AL4V material, and how different machine and cutting parameters affect the total process economy was understood with abrasives contributed almost 65% of the total cost. Furthermore, a cloud-based knowledge sharing model is proposed by linking the sustainability with technology and how it can benefit the current SMEs to improve their productivity with abrasive waterjet machines.

Sandwich structures fabricated from an aluminium skinned foam enclosed within a carbon fibre reinforced composite structure have the potential application for high-performance on- and off-road automotive vehicles. The deformations and failure of these types of structures are presented, and results indicate that the application of aluminium face sheets with aluminium foam (AF) aids to prevent the delamination of the outer layers of carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP). The load carrying capacity has been increased by utilising a manufacturing method to maintain the adhesion between the core and the skins until the failure stage is reached. The core shear and de-bonded issue associated with this type of sandwich structure can be addressed by this manufacture method. The peak average flexure load capacity of an aluminium foam sandwich structure (AFSS) with a completely wrapped around CFRP skin was 2800 N with a mass of 191 g. This compares favourably with previously used AFSS without the skins, which had a peak average load of 600 N and a mass of 125 g. An initial finite element model for comparison purposes has been developed to represent the structure’s behaviour and predict the associated failure loads. It is proposed that CFRP wrapped around AFSS enhances the structural performance without significant weight gain.

In thermoplastic composites, the polymeric matrix upon exposure to heat may melt, decompose and deform prior to burning, as opposed to the char-forming matrices of thermoset composites, which retain their shape until reaching a temperature at which decomposition and ignition occur.
In this work, a theoretical and numerical heat transfer model to simulate temperature variations during the melting, decomposition and early stages of burning of commonly used thermoplastic matrices is proposed. The scenario includes exposing polymeric slabs to one-sided radiant heat in a cone calorimeter with heat fluxes ranging from 15 to 35 kW/m2. A one-dimensional finite difference method based on the Stefan approach involving phase-changing and moving boundary conditions was developed by considering convective and radiative heat transfer at the exposed side of the polymer samples. The polymers chosen to experimentally validate the simulated results included polypropylene (PP), polyester (PET), and polyamide 6 (PA6). The predicted results match well with the experimental results

A novel laboratory scale testing equipment has been designed and developed, which combines impact and heat/fire conditions to enable the testing of composite laminates, including the ability to capture debris/particles released during the test. This incorporates a pendulum impactor to create impact whilst the sample is exposed to a cone heater at a particular heat flux for a specified period of time.
A protocol for testing samples under different conditions and capturing particles released, both from the front and back faces, along with effluents has been provided. A carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy composite was impacted whilst being exposed to different heat fluxes for a range of time periods. A loss of stiffness related to the heating exposure time was found to affect the damage type. At lower heat fluxes, the captured particles included broken carbon fibres, decomposed resinous particles and resin coated fibres. Quantitative and morphological analyses of captured particles demonstrated that the sizes of decomposed resin particles and fibres reduced with longer exposure time or increased heat flux. This information could be useful to provide insight into potential health hazards of components of the composites.

Abrasive water jet (AWJ) cutting has been widely used in industries because of its precise cutting tech- nique. However, the effectiveness of AWJ cutting is dependent on machine operating parameters and the material properties. In this research AWJ cutting was applied on Titanium Ti6AL4V Grade 5 material to investigate the effects on depth of cut (DoC) and roughness. Taguchi L 27 experiments were conducted at three levels with operating parameters such as water pressure, transverse speed, abrasive mass flow rate, abrasive orifice size; a novel approach of ratio 3:1 was adopted with nozzle and orifice diameter to accommodate more parameters for investigation and to inspect the variation of these parameters in real time. Minitab 2017 software was used to simulate the influencing parameters with ANOVA. (GRA) Grey relational analysis linked with Taguchi technique represents a novel approach to optimization. It is a normalization estimation technique extended to elucidate the complex multi -performance character- istics. GRA is used for optimizing the process parameter which helped in determining the optimal param- eters for roughness and depth of cut, ANOVA was used for analyzing the effect of independent variables on dependent variables, as per ANOVA the P values and the S/N ration rank indicated that water pressure was the most influencing parameter for surface roughness and transverse speed was the most influencing parameter for the depth of cut. The prediction of cutting depth through GRA optimization proved a valu- able tool for the controlled depth milling (CDM) in Ti6Al4V material. (c) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer -review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2nd International Con- ference on Recent Advances in Materials & Manufacturing Technologies.

The effects of matrices from co-cured blends of an unsaturated polyester (UP) with inherently fire-retardant and char-forming phenolic resoles (PH) on the mechanical and fire performances of resultant glass fibre-reinforced composites have been investigated. Three different phenolic resoles with increasing order of compatibility with UP have been used. These are: (i) an ethanol soluble resin, (PH-S), (ii) an epoxy-functionalized resin (PH-Ep), and (iii) an allyl-functionalized resin (PH-Al). The mechanical properties of the composites increased with increasing compatibility with two resin types as might be expected, but not previously demonstrated. However, even with the least compatible resin (PH-S), the impact properties were unaffected and the flexural/tensile properties while reduced, were still acceptable for certain applications. Fire properties were however, in reverse order as previously observed in cast resin samples from these composites. Moreover, the reduction in flammability was less compared to those of the cast resin samples, reported previously, explained here based on the insulating effect of glass fibre reinforcement.

This paper aims to use machine learning methods to predict the service life of rotary lip seals to aid manufacturers and users improving the current maintenance procedures. Seals are widely used in most engineering applications. The knowledge of condition of seals throughout their working life is important due to the fact that they are often used on high value engineering products. As the current material properties of the seal and the working environment various, it is difficult to predict useful life of the rotary lip seal. In this paper, the factors relating to life of rotary lip seals are investigated and discussed. The application of machine learning methods using actual testing data in order to estimate the useful life of the seals has been presented. The early results show good agreement between actual and predicted values.

Objectives:
Conduct a comprehensive epidemiological study of match injury characteristics (incidence, severity, causes, diagnostics, and temporal trends) in professional rugby league.
Design:
Prospective cohort design.
Methods:
Data was captured over the 2013, '14, and '15 seasons, collected via an online-reporting survey tool, and underpinned by nominal group technique-agreed definitions. Injury details were provided by club medical staff in accordance to the survey fields from all European Super League teams (e.g. injury occurrence/return dates, diagnosis, mechanism, recurrence). All time-loss injuries have been reported.
Results:
Injury incidence of 57 injuries/1000h has been observed over the three-year period, with an average of 34days missed per injury. The final 20-min period was the most significant period for injury occurrence, and higher incidence of injury/1000h played was during the start of the season in February, although an absolute injury risk for injury frequency was shown in April due to the greatest playing time. Forward positions reported the highest injury incidence whilst tackle activities were the most frequent mechanism of injury. Concussions and hamstring strains (5 injuries/1000h) were the most commonly diagnosed injuries, although the knee joint region (10 injuries/1000h) was the most frequently injured area.
Conclusions:
In light of the most common injury diagnoses, mechanisms, identified seasonal risk, and time of match, the data should look to inform player preparation in terms of physical conditioning and tackle technique in order to optimise player welfare and availability for participation.

A great number of studies have been done on aerodynamic test for the racing car. Due to critical competition among the racing car teams, the results of the studies will only been published when they are obsolete. This study was conducted by using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) utilising SolidWorksTM to perform simulations about the airflow on the front and rear wings of a racing car with different angles of attack. The analysis generates the theoretical Lift force, Down force, and Drag force for a racing car wing. Consequently, at higher velocity, the down force and interrelated induced drag increases. The maximum speed on a straight part is thus reduced due to the increase in induced drag. Finally, tests from the C15 wind tunnel also show similar trends to those derived from the simulations. Compared with results of Model geometry and wind tunnel tested, it is shown that an angle between -10 degrees and -20 degrees below the horizontal indicates the stalling conditions.