Flexure control using piezostack actuators: design and implementation

In this paper, the application of high control authority piezostack actuators (PSAs) for active vibration control of large-scale flexible structures is studied. The idea is to add PSAs at appropriate locations of a flexible structure in order to strengthen its stiffness characteristics. In this regard, a flexible link of a macro-micro manipulator system actuated with PSAs is considered. The design of a mechanism for converting the force produced by a PSA to a bending moment is presented and a model for a system consisting of a flexible beam and a PSA is obtained. To this end, the solution of the governing partial differential equation with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions is obtained. Using singular value decomposition of the controllability Grammian of the system, optimum values for actuator parameters are obtained. The experimental results confirm that the suggested method can open up new possibilities in active vibration control of large-scale structures that require a large amount of control authority.     

A Method for the Acetylation of Alcohols Catalyzed by Heteropolyoxometallates

Summary. Esterifications of acetic acid with some linear, secondary, tertiary, and benzylic alcohols mediated by catalytic amounts of Keggin, Wells–Dawson, and Preyssler type heteropolyacids were carried out under reflux at mild reaction conditions with good to excellent yields. Among the examined catalysts, H₃PW₁₂O₄₀ and H₁₄NaP₅W₃₀O₁₁₀ revealed better results than other heteropolyacids. This work was performed with the aim of simplifying the esterification process by omitting any solvents and mineral acid catalysts. Easy work-up, low cost, and acidic waste reduction, which are all important features from the environmental and economical points of view, are distinct aspects of this protocol. Heteropolyacid catalysts could be separated after a simple work-up and reused for several times.     

A new look at XRD patterns of archaeological ceramic bodies

In this paper, the general rules of phase transformations in calcareous clay bodies during firing were used to estimate the equivalent firing temperature (EFT) of seventeenth century polychrome Persian haft rang tiles based on their X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. The novelty of this work is, however, that it handles the XRD patterns of archaeological clay bodies with principal component analysis (PCA) in order to have a new look at their firing and thermal behaviour. Statistically handling the XRD patterns, different clusters were discriminated in the clay bodies whose mineralogical composition showed various proportions of amorphous and quartz contents. The results showed interesting trends in the different clusters in terms of the EFT, quartz content and the density of the bodies. The present work uses PCA to have a new look at XRD patterns of archaeological clay bodies and, moreover, to interpret the PCA results in order to estimate the EFT of a large number of archaeological clay bodies.     

OXIDATIVE DEPROTECTION OF TRIMETHYLSILYL ETHERS WITH HEXAMETHYLENETETRAMINEBROMINE SUPPORTED ONTO SILICA GEL UNDER MICROWAVE IRRADIATION IN SOLVENTLESS SYSTEM

Hexamethylenetetramine-bromine supported onto[3pc] silica gel rapidly converts trimethylsilyl ethers to their corresponding carbonyl compounds under microwave irradiation in solventless system.     

Electrochemical platform for simultaneous determination of levodopa,acetaminophen and tyrosine using a graphene and ferrocene modified carbon paste electrode

Microchimica Acta - A carbon paste electrode (CPE) was modified with graphene and ethyl 2-(4-ferrocenyl-[1,2,3]triazol-1-yl) acetate (EFTA) and used for electrocatalytic oxidation of levodopa....     

Assessment of high-resolution methods for numerical simulations of compressible turbulence with shock waves

Flows in which shock waves and turbulence are present and interact dynamically occur in a wide range of applications, including inertial confinement fusion, supernovae explosion, and scramjet propulsion. Accurate simulations of such problems are challenging because of the contradictory requirements of numerical methods used to simulate turbulence, which must minimize any numerical dissipation that would otherwise overwhelm the small scales, and shock-capturing schemes, which introduce numerical dissipation to stabilize the solution. The objective of the present work is to evaluate the performance of several numerical methods capable of simultaneously handling turbulence and shock waves. A comprehensive range of high-resolution methods (WENO, hybrid WENO/central difference, artificial diffusivity, adaptive characteristic-based filter, and shock fitting) and suite of test cases (Taylor–Green vortex, Shu–Osher problem, shock-vorticity/entropy wave interaction, Noh problem, compressible isotropic turbulence) relevant to problems with shocks and turbulence are considered. The results indicate that the WENO methods provide sharp shock profiles, but overwhelm the physical dissipation. The hybrid method is minimally dissipative and leads to sharp shocks and well-resolved broadband turbulence, but relies on an appropriate shock sensor. Artificial diffusivity methods in which the artificial bulk viscosity is based on the magnitude of the strain-rate tensor resolve vortical structures well but damp dilatational modes in compressible turbulence; dilatation-based artificial bulk viscosity methods significantly improve this behavior. For well-defined shocks, the shock fitting approach yields good results.     

Polyvinylimidazole/sol–gel composite as a novel solid‐phase microextraction coating for the determination of halogenated benzenes from aqueous solutions

A polyvinylimidazole/sol–gel composite is proposed as a novel solid‐phase microextraction fiber to extract five halobenzenes from the headspace of aqueous solutions in combination with gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. The prepared fiber was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The obtained results showed that porous polyvinylimidazole/sol–gel composite was chemically deposited on fused silica fiber. The effect of important extraction parameters including extraction temperature, extraction time, and salt content were investigated. The optimum conditions were as follows: extraction temperature 25°C, extraction time 20 min, and salt concentration 30 w/v%. Detection limits and relative standard deviations of the developed method for halogenated benzenes were below 0.1 pg/mL and 15%, respectively. Repeatability of the proposed method, explained by relative standard deviation, varied between 5.48 and 9.15% (n = 5). The limits of detection (S/N = 3) ranged between 0.01 and 0.10 ng/L using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry with selected ion monitoring mode. For real sample analysis, three types of water samples with different matrices (ground, surface, and tap water) were studied. The optimized procedure was applied to extraction and method validation of halogenated benzenes in spiked water samples.