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An Experimental Investigation Characterizing The Tribological Performance Of Natural And Synthetic Biolubricants Composed Of Carboxylic Acids For Energy Conservation And Sustainability, Carlton Jonathan Reeves

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades the lubrication industry has been striving to bring bio-based lubricants known as biolubricants to prominence. The reasons for the increased environmental initiatives are due to depletion of oil reserves, increases in oil price, stringent government regulations on petroleum-based oils, and most importantly, concerns for protecting the environment. With an estimated, 50% of all lubricants entering the environment and much of these being composed of toxic mineral oils, biolubricants have begun to witness a resurgence. This experimental investigation seeks to develop a new class of ecofriendly biolubricants that are less toxic to the environment, derived from …

Modeling The Relaxation Time Of Dna Confined In A Nanochannel, Douglas R. Tree, Yanwei Wang, Kevin D. Dorfman

Faculty Publications

Using a mapping between a Rouse dumbbell model and fine-grained Monte Carlo simulations, we have computed the relaxation time of λ-DNA in a high ionic strength buffer confined in a nanochannel. The relaxation time thus obtained agrees quantitatively with experimental data [Reisner et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 196101 (2005)] using only a single O(1) fitting parameter to account for the uncertainty in model parameters. In addition to validating our mapping, this agreement supports our previous estimates of the friction coefficient of DNA confined in a nanochannel [Tree et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 228105 …

Motion And Force Transmission Of A Flexible Instrument Inside A Curved Endoscope, Jitendra P. Khatait

Jitendra P Khatait

Flexible instruments are increasingly used to perform advanced and complex surgical procedures either manually or robotically. The success of flexible instruments in surgery requires high motion and force fidelity, and controllability of the tip. However, the friction and the limited stiffness of such instruments limit their motion and force transmission. The implementation of flexible instruments in surgery necessitates their characterization, the development of proper tools to understand the effect of various mechanical parameters on their overall performance, and an improvement in motion and force fidelity. Therefore, this thesis describes 2-D and 3-D flexible multibody models of a flexible surgical instrument …

Direct Observation Of Self-Assembled Chain-Like Water Structures In A Nanoscopic Water Meniscus, Byung I. Kim, Ryan D. Boehm, Jeremy R. Bonander

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sawtooth-like oscillatory forces generated by water molecules confined between two oxidized silicon surfaces were observed using a cantilever-based optical interfacial force microscope when the two surfaces approached each other in ambient environments. The humidity-dependent oscillatory amplitude and periodicity were 3-12 nN and 3-4 water diameters, respectively. Half of each period was matched with a freely jointed chain model, possibly suggesting that the confined water behaved like a bundle of water chains. The analysis also indicated that water molecules self-assembled to form chain-like structures in a nanoscopic meniscus between two hydrophilic surfaces in air. From the friction force data measured simultaneously, …

Experimental And Theoretical Investigations Of Lube Oil Performance And Engine Friction, William Fredrick Rohr

Doctoral Dissertations

The feasibility of using a motored small, single-cylinder 517 cc Hatz 1D50 diesel engine to evaluate lube oil performance and engine friction at conditions typical for a fired engine is investigated in the present study. In addition a commercial engine modeling software, AVL Excite Power Unit, is used to predict the effects of lube oil formulations on the engine friction of the same engine. The motored engine can be operated with and without compression and with and without the engine oil pump. Lube oil performance is evaluated for 19 different lube oils by using either instantaneous motoring torque (motoring torque …

Investigation Of Friction And Wear Characteristics Of Palm Biodiesel

A.S. Md Abdul Haseeb

Use of biodiesel in automobile engine is creating tribology related new challenges. The present study aims to assess the friction and wear characteristics of palm biodiesel at different concentration level by using four-ball wear machine. The investigated fuels were biodiesel (B100), diesel (B0) and three different biodiesel blends such as B10 (10% biodiesel in diesel), B20, B50. Tests were conducted at 75 °C under a normal load of 40 kg for 1 h at four different speeds viz, 600, 900, 1200 and 1500 rpm. Worn surfaces of the balls were examined by SEM. Results showed that wear and friction decreased …

The Schrödinger Equation With Friction From The Quantum Trajectory Perspective, Sophya V. Garashchuk, Vaibhav Dixit, Bing Gu, James Mazzuca

Faculty Publications

Similarity of equations of motion for the classical and quantum trajectories is used to introduce afriction term dependent on the wavefunction phase into the time-dependent Schrödingerequation. The term describes irreversible energy loss by the quantum system. The force offriction is proportional to the velocity of a quantum trajectory. The resulting Schrödinger equationis nonlinear, conserves wavefunction normalization, and evolves an arbitrary wavefunction into the ground state of the system (of appropriate symmetry if applicable). Decrease in energy is proportional to the average kinetic energy of the quantum trajectory ensemble. Dynamics in the high friction regime is suitable for simple models of …

Perception Of Slipperiness And Prospective Risk Of Slipping At Work, Theodore K. Courtney, Santosh K. Verma, Wen-Ruey Chang, Yueng-Hsiang Huang, David A. Lombardi, Melanye J. Brennan, Melissa J. Perry

Environmental and Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Objectives: Falls are a leading cause of injury at work, and slipping is the predominant cause of falling. Prior research has suggested a modest correlation between objective measures (such as coefficient of friction, COF) and subjective measures of slipperiness (such as worker perceptions) in the workplace. However, the degree of association between subjective measures and the actual risk of slipping at the workplace is unknown. This study examined the association between perception of slipperiness and the risk of slipping.

Methods: 475 workers from 36 limited-service restaurants participated in a 12-week prospective cohort study. At baseline, demographic information was collected, participants …

Instability Of An Idealized Tidal Mixing Front: Symmetric Instabilities And Frictional Effects, K. H. Brink, Deepak A. Cherian

Journal of Marine Research

Finite amplitude instability of an idealized tidal mixing front is considered for cases where there is an active symmetric instability during the early stages of evolution. This can happen either when the initial front is sharp, or when a bottom stress leads to a well-mixed bottom boundary layer under the front. In either case, there is an initial phase, several days long, of slantwise convection, after which a much more energetic and spatially distributed baroclinic or barotropic instability dominates. The presence of an initial symmetrically unstable phase has no obvious effect on the subsequent eddy evolution. Bottom friction does lead …

Investigation Of Friction And Wear Characteristics Of Palm Biodiesel

A.S. Md Abdul Haseeb

Use of biodiesel in automobile engine is creating tribology related new challenges. The present study aims to assess the friction and wear characteristics of palm biodiesel at different concentration level by using four-ball wear machine. The investigated fuels were biodiesel (B100), diesel (B0) and three different biodiesel blends such as B10 (10% biodiesel in diesel), B20, B50. Tests were conducted at 75 °C under a normal load of 40 kg for 1 h at four different speeds viz, 600, 900, 1200 and 1500 rpm. Worn surfaces of the balls were examined by SEM. Results showed that wear and friction decreased …

Zones Of Friction, Zones Of Traction: The Connected Household In Climate Change And Sustainability Policy, L M. Head, C Farbotko, C Gibson, N Gill, Gordon R. Waitt

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Households are increasingly addressed as a focus of environmental policy, with varying degrees of success in achieving more sustainable outcomes at the domestic level. Part of the problem is black boxing, in which the inherent complexity of households tends to be taken for granted. Here we draw on cultural environmental research to put forward a more sophisticated conceptualisation - the connected household approach. The connected household framework uses the themes of governance, materiality and practice to illustrate and explain the ways everyday life, and the internal politics of households, are connected to wider systems of provision and socioeconomic networks. We …

A Novel Cost Effective Method For Vehicle Tire-Road Friction Coefficient Estimation, Boyuan Li, Haiping Du, Weihua Li

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The tire-road friction coefficient is critical to vehicle longitudinal, lateral and roll dynamics and control because tire is the only contact part between the vehicle body and the road. However, direct measurement of tire-road friction coefficient is impossible in practice. This paper presents a novel cost effective method for vehicle tire-road friction coefficient estimation. This method only needs the measurements of the wheel angular velocity, the traction/brake torque and the longitudinal acceleration, which are all available from the commonly installed sensors in ordinary passenger vehicles, and can be used to estimate the individual tire-road friction coefficient. There are three steps …

Effect Of Particle Properties On The Discrete Element Simulation Of Wall Friction, Andrew Grima, Peter Wypych

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Modelling the interaction between particles and boundaries is of great interest and importance in many Discrete Element Method (DEM) applications where boundary failure conditions dictate the flow behaviour and velocity gradients of a bulk material. Bulk wall friction angles in DEM models are dependent on the mechanical properties of the particles and boundary material as well as the constraints of the contact models used, especially the tangential and rolling torque components. This paper examines the parameters determined from the calibration inclination test by conducting direct wall shear tests to validate the accuracy of the calibration parameters and the sensitivity of …

Some Influences On Wall Friction Measurements - A Preliminary Investigation, Wendy Halford, Cameron Lawler, Andrew P. Grima, Peter C. Arnold

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The concept of measuring the friction between a bulk solid and a wall material is very simple. However, experience together with previous wall friction measurement research suggest that variables that influence wall friction values are difficult to quantify and, so far, are proving unreliable to predict with any degree of confidence. In this paper some preliminary test results are presented for different bulk solids on different wall plates where variables examined include particle size distribution, moisture content, test cell size and shear speed. The outcomes presented confirm the authors' belief that with the present state of knowledge about wall friction …

Household Sustainability Dilemmas And Challenges Surrounding Keeping Warm In Winter And Hot Water: Older, Social Housing Tenant Households In Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, Katrina Jayne Skellern

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This thesis explores the household sustainability dilemmas and challenges surrounding hot water and winter warming of older, social housing tenant households in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Hot water and warming are generally identified as two of the key contributors of Australian household greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, Commonwealth and State energy efficiency policies target social and low income households through the provision of education programs and auditors to help households improve energy efficiency, save money and the environment by lowering emissions. Yet, research repeatedly suggests that education alone is inadequate to sustain behavioural change, and low income households are already …

Anticipating The Friction Coefficient Of Friction Materials Used In Automobiles By Means Of Machine Learning Without Using A Test Instrument, Mustafa Ti̇mur, Fati̇h Aydin

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

The most important factor for designs in which friction materials are used is the coefficient of friction. The coefficient of friction has been determined taking such variants as velocity, temperature, and pressure into account, which arise from various factors in friction materials, and by analyzing the effects of these variants on friction materials. Many test instruments have been produced in order to determine the coefficient of friction. In this article, a study about the use of machine learning algorithms instead of test instruments in order to determine the coefficient of friction is presented. Isotonic regression was selected as the machine …

Atomistic Simulations To Micro-Mechanisms Of Adhesion In Automotive Applications, Fatih Gurcag Sen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed at depicting atomistic and microstructural aspects of adhesion and friction that appear in different automotive applications and manufacturing processes using atomistic simulations coupled with tribological tests and surface characterization experiments. Thin films that form at the contact interfaces due to chemical reactions and coatings that are developed to mitigate or enhance adhesion were studied in detail. The adhesion and friction experiments conducted on diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings against Al indicated that F incorporation into DLC decreased the coefficient of friction (COF) by 30% -with respect to H-DLC that is known to have low COF and anti-adhesion properties …