009432   Goyal V C;Jain S K;Pareek N (NO, Natn Inst of Hydrology, Roorkee-247 667, Email: vcg@nih.ernet.in) : Water logging and drainage assessment in Ravi-Tawi irrigation command (J&K) using remote sensing approach. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 2005, 33(1), 7-15.

Remote sensing and GIS are powerful tools, which could be effectively used to study the dynamic behaviour of waterlogged areas. In the study waterlogged and salt-affected areas have been estimated in the command area of Ravi-Tawi Irrigation Complex in Jammu region. About 14% of the total command area is water logged/salt-affected. Being a new project, the area is likely to grow in future when the project runs with its installed capacity, and as the distributaries expand in the command area. Plausible causes of water logging have been discussed, and remedial measures suggested for reclaiming operations.

3 illus, 3 tables, 13 ref

009431   Goswami R;Arlekar J N;Murty C V R (Dep of Civil Engng, IIT, Kanpur-208 016) : Limitations of available Indian hot-rolled I-sections for use in seismic steel moment resisting frames. J Struct Engng 2005, 32(3), 159-68.

Steel hot rolled I-sections have been in use in construction since long in India. With advancement of technology to build moment resisting frames to resist seismic actions, a review of the existing available sections is required to assess their applicability. Reiterates the important aspects of the seismic design philosophy and investigates the available sections in light of the same. The sectional properties (strength and stability) are studied in light of the different code requirements for desired performance under strong seismic conditions. Indian hot-rolled I-sections (tapered and parallel flanges) are found inadequate for use in tall structures in high seismic regions.

11 illus, 3 tables, 20 ref

009430   Gogoi I;Maity D (Dep of Civil Engng, Indian Inst of Technol, Guwahati-781 309) : Seismic performance of ageing concrete dams. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2005, 85(February), 241-6.

A of a concrete gravity dam presents a new challenge for the development of a methodology that can adequately predict the stability of the dam under seismic conditions. Most of the existing dams were designed and built when advanced and sophisticated techniques of analysis were not available. A numerical algorithm is presented for the seismic analysis of a concrete dam in the vicinity of infinite reservoir with the application of damage mechanics considering fluid-struaure interaction. An attempt is made to capture the effect of degradation of stiffness and strength due to chemical and mechanical damage of concrete due to ageing. The predicted performance of the aged dam is found to be significant, which can be used for timely reanalysis and retrofitting of dams.

6 illus, 20 ref

009429   Dhananjaya H R;Pandey P C;Nagabhushanam J (Dept. of Civil Engng, M.I.T., Manipal-576 119) : Mindlin-Reissner theory based new 4-node quadrilateral plate bending element for integrated force method. J Struct Engng 2005, 32(3), 179-94.

Integrated Force Method (IFM) is a novel matrix formulation developed for analyzing civil, mechanical and aerospace engineering structures. In this method all independent/internal forces are treated as unknown variables which are calculated by simultaneously imposing equations of equilibrium and compatibility conditions. Presents formulation of a new four-node quadrilateral plate bending element based on the Mindlin-Reissner plate theory for analyzing the plate bending problems using IFM. The performance of this proposed element is studied by considering plate bending benchmark problems and the results are compared with those of the displacement based finite elements along with the exact solutions. The performance of the element is quite excellent for both thin and moderately thick plate bending situations.

32 illus, 24 tables, 32 ref

009428   Dhabadgaonkar S M (NO, Environmental Engng Consultant, Laxmi, 58, PMG Layout, Narendra Nagar, Nagpur-440 015) : Unified inlet unit (UIU) for water treatment plants. J Indian Wat Wks Ass 2005, 37(2), 105-12.

the concept of the Unified Inlet Unit (UIU) for Water Treatment Plants (WTP) have been presented. The proposed UIU is an integrated compact unit that accomplishes, with minimum head loss, several functions such as receiving raw water, flash mixing, separation of grit, flow measurement, aeration, flow division to the different WTPs at the site in an appropriate manner. The only change in UIU is that the flash mixing operation is carried out ahead of aeration in contrast with aeration followed by flash mixing in the conventional flow sheet for water treatment. In fact, the UIU was primarily developed and constructed in the year 1993 out of the need to provide the requisite head for the proposed additional 1000 mm Φ PSC pipeline to carry additional raw water flow from impounding reservoir to the WTP-site for augmentation of the existing 25 MLD capacity water supply scheme to 95 MLD for a city in Maharashtra. The circumstances that necessitated the development of UIU are outlined in more detail. This UIU is successfully functioning for the past more than 10 years. Since the unit provides all the advantages & no disadvantages, the author feels that the new plants should also be designed with UIU.

2 illus

009427   Dave K G (NO, , ) : Some aspects of construction of check dams in the catchment of reservoirs. J Indian Wat Wks Ass 2005, 37(2), 113-4.

2 ref

009426   Das R (NO, Res Cent Imarat, Hyderabad-500 069) : Advances in active radar seeker technology. Def Sci J 2005, 55(3), 329-36.

Active radar seekers have gained wide applications in the terminal phase of missile guidance to provide hit-to-kill capability. Till recently, coherent monopulse tracker configurations were being used extensively for air-to-air missile seekers as well as surface-to-air missile seekers, while special real-beam technique-based seekers have been employed in antiship and land-attack systems. Features of active radar seekers have been described against different targets and background conditions to bring out the fact that the seeker design is highly application-specific in nature. The emerging trends in radar seeker technology have been identified wrt ever-changing threat scenario coupled with newer electronic countermeasure techniques, including the latest developments in components, subsystems, as well as implementation aspects.

^iia8 illus, 5 ref

009425   Das M;Sarma A K;Das M M (NO, Indian Inst of Technol, Guwahati North Guwahati, Guwahati-781 039) : Effect of resistance parameter in the numerical solution of non-linear unsteady equations of surge tank. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2005, 11(2), 101-10.

Non-linear equations of continuity and momentum representing oscillation of water in surge tank due to instantaneous closure of turbine valve are solved by different numerical methods. Effect of using variable friction factor in place of constant value of turbulent friction factor is investigated. To assess the numerical solutions, a laboratory model of surge tank with constant upstream reservoir head is fabricated. The laboratory observations of rise and fall of pressure head in the surge tank is made against time. Comparison of numerical solutions with the observed laboratory data clearly indicates the effectiveness of using variable friction factor in computing unsteady equations of surge tank.

7 illus, 3 tables, 14 ref

009424   Das A;Srihari V;Madhan Babu S; Ananthapadmanaban S (Sch of Civil Engng, SASTRA Deemed Univ, Thanjavur-613 402) : Estimatiion of oxygen requirement in a mass bathing tank during mahamaham 2004 (southern Kumbhamela). Indian J Envir Ecoplann 2005, 10(1), 1-8.

Tradition of mass bathing is mostly being carried out in many of the temple tanks and rivers all over the country on any set of auspicious dates with base as sun or moon. But, with constant influx of pollutants to the water-bodies, the lack of the basic sanitary consciousness of galloping public have made the condition of water scary to dip into due to ever increasing environmental degradation. Monitoring studies have been carried out in case of many water bodies, starting from temple tanks to rivers, ponds, lakes and even in seas. Thus, the study of Mahamaham tank bathing was aimed for a better sanitary and social objective and to know how of this paper study, for adoption at different conditions of near similar conditions can also be extended.

7 illus, 8 ref

009423   Chaudhuri S K;Nandi R K (NO, Res Cent Imarat, Hyderabad-500 069) : Transfer alignment for space vehicles launched from a moving base. Def Sci J 2005, 55(3), 245-52.

Alignment of the inertial measurement unit (IMU) is a prerequisite for any space vehicle with self-contained navigation and guidance for any mission-critical application. Normally, inertial measurement unit is aligned through gyro-compassing using the stored data for heading. In case of launch from a moving base, it is essential to align the inertial measurement unit in the vehicle (slave unit) with that mounted on the moving platform (master unit). The master inertial navigation system is more accurate, stable, and calibrated wrt the slave unit. An error propagation system involving the misalignment between the master and the slave has been formulated involving the three misalignment angles, three velocity errors, and three positional errors. The manoeuvre of the moving base excites the sensors of both the master and the slave inertial navigation systems for the generation of data to be used in aligning the slave inertial measurement unit of the inertial navigation system (strapdown mode). The entire duration of manoeuvre has to be reduced to a minimum with minimum effort of manoeuvre. This involves the deployment of an adaptive estimator and a linear quadratic Gaussian regulator for alignment of the strapdown slave inertial navigation system.

9 illus, 2 ref

009422   Chaudhary A B;pUttarkar A K D;Vora P; Bhattacherjee R N (NO, Defence Res & Dev Laboratory, Hyderabad-500 058) : Post-flight analysis and design improvement in command guidance system for a short-range surface-to-air missle system. Def Sci J 2005, 55(3), 293-305.

Short-range missile with command-to line-of-sight and three-beam guidance has been considered in the paper. The earlier command guidance system (CGS) design shows unacceptably high-low-frequency weave-mode oscillations, leading to high latax and body rate oscillations, even for benign, low-speed non-manoeuvring target engagements. For successful target engagements with the three-beam guidance, missile is to be handed over from wide-to-medium receiver beam, and finally, from medium-to-the most accurate narrow receiver beam, depending on the angular error wrt line-of-sight as early as possible. Due to large amplitude oscillation in the earlier CGS design, the handing over of the missile to narrow receiver beam, and in many cases, to the medium receiver beam, itself could not take place, leading to failure of guidance. In the paper, the cause for this undesirable high magnitude weave-mode oscillation has been analysed in detail. After establishing this, saturation aspects of the earlier CGS design; a simple implementable CGS re-design was carried out to reduce this saturation aspect drastically for preserving almost full-phase advance effects of the linear new analogue compensators designed to give the required stability margins of guidance loop.

18 illus, 10 ref

009421   Bhanu Prakasham Reddy N (Dep of Civil Engng, N.B.K.R. Inst of Sci & Technol, Vidyanagar, Nellore-524 413) : Study on the effect of converging boundary on flow through porous media. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2005, 11(2), 73-89.

Flow behaviour through porous media with converging boundaries is analysed theoretically and the modifications in the Forchheimer equation needed to incorporate the effect of convergence are brought out. An experimental investigation on the effect of convergence factors on the resistance law relating friction factor (f_R) and Reynolds number (R_R) using the hydraulic radius as the characteristic length was carried out in a Convergent flow permeameter. In the study, crushed rock of size 4.93 mm were used as media and water as fluid, to study the variation of friction factor (f_R) and Reynolds number (R_R) with different ratios of the width and with convergence factors.

10 illus, 1 table, 12 ref

009420   Bhakal L;Dubey B;Sarma A K (Dep of Civil Engng, Indian Inst of Technol, Guwahati, Assam-781 039, Email: aks@iitg.ernet.in) : Estimation of bank erosion in the river Brahmaputra near agyathuri by using geographic information system. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 2005, 33(1), 81-4.

2 illus, 1 table, 5 ref

009419   Bassin J K;Gupta A B (Natn Environmental Engng Res Inst, Zonal Laboratory, New Delhi-110054) : Automated worksheet for computing equalization tank volume for quantity and quality equalization. J Indian Wat Wks Ass 2005, 37(2), 125-31.

Wastewater treatment facility is installed to render wastewater suitable for discharge after treatment. It has been observed that the flow rate of influent to a wastewater treatment plant is almost always variable in time as also its organic content. Flow variations cause operational upsets in biological treatment units such as activated sludge process (ASP). Therefore, it is recommended that the inflow to such biological systems be constant so that the only variability to the biological process results from the influent wastewater quality. Usually an equalization tank is provided for flow equalization whereby dampening of fluctuations in organic loading also occurs. An assessment of quality equalization (fluctuations in organic loading) resulting from quantity (flow) equalization is necessary to ascertain the actual loading conditions on the biological process. An MS Excel worksheet for computing the volume of equalization tank for flow equalization has been presented and the resultant effect on organic loading has been assessed. Effect of providing additional volume of equalization on organic loading can also be studied. It also brings out the importance of quality equalization as an additional decision variable.

4 illus, 2 tables, 5 ref

009418   Athar M;Jamil M;Ashfaq G (Dep of Civil Engng, Aligarh Muslim Univ, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh) : New relationship for sediment removal efficiency of vortex chamber type sediment extractor. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2005, 11(2), 111-31.

New relationship for estimating the sediment removal efficiency of vortex chamber type sediment extractor is developed using the data from literature. The procedure for design of vortex chamber extractor is listed and illustrated through examples. Data from laboratories and field have been analysed for validation of the existing relationships on its sediment removal efficiency.

8 illus, 7 tables, 19 ref

009417   Appa Rao G;Raghu Prasad B K (Dep of Civil Engng, Sri Venkateswara Univ, Tirupati-517 502) : Size effect and fracture process zone in high strength concrete. J Struct Engng 2005, 32(3), 207-15.

Experimental observations on the fracture properties of concrete are reported. The size effect and fracture parameters in direct tension on double edge notch compact tension specimen (DENCTS) have been undertaken. Lack of ductility in high strength concrete (HSC) is a serious concern, which has to be understood. Concretes with compressive strength greater than 75MPa are used. Brittleness and/or otherwise ductility of concrete depend upon the extent of fracture process zone (FPZ) in concrete in front of the crack. The study undertakes various parameters influencing the brittleness and size of FPZ in HSC. From the experimental observations a complex size effect on nominal tensile strength of HSC exists. Though the behavior of concrete is very brittle, a characteristic size of 220 mm seems to be the lowest to achieve a possible size effect in HSC in direct tension. The fracture energy of concrete seems to be an independent of the size of test specimen. A model has been proposed to evaluate the size of FPZ based on the experimental data. The lowest bound solution to the FPZ is equal to the size of coarse aggregate, while the upper bound solution gives a value equal to half of the size of the uncracked ligament length. The brittle behavior of HSC is responsible for the development of very strong interface in concrete.

5 illus, 6 tables, 29 ref

009416   Anoop M B;Rao K B;Shilpa K;Gopalakrishnan S (Structural Engng Res Cent, CSIR Campus, Taramani, Chennai-600 113) : Reliability-based optimal design of a steel trussbridge girder using fuzzy system reliability analysis. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2005, 85(February), 247-53.

Study presented is to demonstrate the use of fuzzy system reliability analysis method for the reliability-based optimal design of structural systems. A procedure has been proposed for reliability-based optimal design. The optimization is carried out using genetic algorithms. An example of optimal design of a steel truss bridge girder is used to illustrate the proposed procedure in design decision-making.

8 illus, 2 tables, 19 ref

009415   Ananthanarayan B;Makhija E;Shivaraj K A (NO, IISc, Bangalore-560 012) : Hunting for pentaquarks. Curr Sci 2005, 89(2), 250-1.

13 ref

009414   Amit Shaw (Structs Lab Dep of Civil Engng, Indian Inst of Sci, Bangalore-560 012) : A novel form of interpolating and reproducing kernel method and numerical studies on the nonlinear dynamics of pipe whip. J Struct Engng 2005, 32(3), 233-7.

3 illus, 17 ref

009413   Ahmad S;Akhtar S (Dep of Civil Engng, Aligarh Muslim Univ, Aligarh-202 002) : Artificial neural network for wind loads on low-rise hip roof buildings. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2005, 85(February), 228-35.

Wind loads on low-rise buildings depend on many variables and so extensive wind tunnel testing is required to assess the loads and responses. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is generally used in situations where the interaction between the variables is too complicated for an analytical solution or where uncertainties exist in the problem domain. Therefore, application of ANN for assessing wind loads on low-rise buildings is a promising preposition. A back-propagation neural network is used to model the problem. The neural network is trained and tested with wind tunnel data obtained on hip roof buildings having varying roof pitch from roof angles 10° to 40° (at increments of 5°) and wind induced interference data obtained on a single as well as three similar interference buildings. The results show that neural network can be effectively used to solve a number of wind load and interference problems through processing of limited data derived from wind tunnel tests.

12 illus, 4 tables, 5 ref

009412   Agarwal A K;Mohan D;Singh R S (Dep of Mechanical Engng, Inst of Technol BHU, Varanasi-221 005) : Traffic planning in a constrained network using entropy maximisation approach. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2005, 85(February), 237-40.

Traffic planning is necessary to manage current traffic and its future growth. Planning of traffic facilities plays an important role in urban development planning also. An effort has been made to develop a generalized transport planning model based on the concept of maximisation of entropy. The model considers restriction on level of traffic volume in various blocks that consist of certain number of regions. This is generally envisaged to help in bringing down automotive traffic generated pollution level and travel time. Cases of both asymmetric and symmetric traffic flow have been considered. Numerical problems are taken to illustrate the behaviour and use of the model.

2 tables, 15 ref

009411   Abraham A;Harikrishna P;Gomathinayagam S; Lakshmanan N (Structural Engng Res Cent, CSIR, Taramani, Chennai-600 113) : Failure investigation of microwave towers during cyclones. J Struct Engng 2005, 32(3), 147-57.

Open latticed steel towers are used widely in a variety of civil engineering applications. Along the east coast of India, many latticed towers, located in cyclone prone zones, have collapsed during cyclones with lesser wind speeds than the design basic wind speed. Dynamic effects of wind for design of lattice towers are simplified by most of international codes of practice with the use of Gust Effectiveness Factor (GEF). The application of gust effectiveness factor have been evaluated as per various international codes of practice and are compared. Case studies of failure analysis to identify the causes of possible failure of two microwave latticed towers, which collapsed in cyclonic wind conditions, are presented. Characteristics of a measured cyclone wind turbulence spectrum are used along with a practiced gust effectiveness factor approach or equivalent for the dynamic analysis.

^ccr11 illus, 3 tables, 21 ref

008189   Yalcin S;Ubeyli M;Acir A (Bahcesehir Universitesi, Fen-Edebiyat Fakultesi, Istanbul, Turkey, Email: mubeyli@etu.edu.tr) : Neutronic analysis of a high power density hybrid reactor using innovative coolants. Sadhana 2005, 30(4), 585-600.

Neutronic investigation of a deuterium-tritium (DT) driven hybrid reactor using ceramic uranium fuels, namely UC, UO₂ or UN under a high neutron wall load (NWL) of 10 MW/m² at the first wall is conducted over a period of 24 months for fissile fuel breeding for light water reactors (LWRs). New substances, namely, Flinabe or Li₂₀Sn₈₀ are used as coolants in the fuel zone to facilitate heat transfer out of the blanket. Natural lithium is also utilized for comparison to these two innovative coolants. Neutron transport calculations are performed on a simple experimental hybrid blanket with cylindrical geometry with the help of the SCALE 4.3 system by solving the Boltzmann transport equation with the XSDRNPM code in 238 neutron groups and an S₈-P₃ approximation. The investigated blanket using Flinabe or Li₂₀Sn₈₀ shows better fissile fuel breeding and fuel enrichment characteristics compared to that with natural lithium which shows that these two innovative coolants can be used in hybrid reactors for higher fissile fuel breeding performance. Furthermore, using a high NWL of 10MW/m₂ at the first wall of the investigated blanket can decrease the time for fuel rods to reach the level for charging in LWRs.

8 illus, 3 tables, 51 ref

008188   Tulapurkara E G (Dep Aerospace Engng, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600 036, Email: egt@ae.iitm.ac.in) : Hundred years of the boundary layer. Sadhana 2005, 30(4), 499-512.

Concept of the boundary layer was proposed by Ludwig Prandtl in 1904. This concept has allowed prediction of skin friction drag, heat transfer from the wall and separation of the boundary layer, which in turn enables proper design of airplanes, ships, other vehicles and equipment through/around which fluid flow takes place. The centenary of the proposal by Prandtl is being celebrated in various ways. The article is an attempt at presenting some of the developments in boundary layers. The article begins with a brief description of Prandtl's work. Subsequent sections deal with (a) a brief account of his 1904 paper, (b) some aspects of developments in boundary layer research and applications, (c) discussion of a few contributions from India in the area of boundary layers, and concluding remarks.

10 illus, 18 ref

008187   Suribabu C R;Neelakantan T R (Sch Civ Engng, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur-613 402) : Design of water distribution network by a non-iterative two-stage optimization. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2005, 11(2), 18-40.

Iron-iterative two-stage linear programming based optimization model is proposed for the design of water distribution networks. Being non-iterative, the model is simpler than the iterative models proposed by others. In the first stage, the optimal flow distribution is found. In the second stage, the formulation is to find the optimum cost for the optimally distributed flow; i.e. the diameters of pipe segments in each link are found. Thus the result of the first stage is being used in the second stage. The results obtained by the proposed algorithm are better and/or comparable with the already published results for the benchmark problems.

2 illus, 10 tables, 32 ref

008186   Sumesh M A;Joseph B;Mahapatra D P (NO, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560 012, Email: dpm@iopb.res.in) : Optical fibre-linked remote control system for multiple devices. Sadhana 2005, 30(4), 601-9.

Author has reported on the development of a simple control system which can handle multiple devices through an optical fibre data link. The devices are controlled using a set of DACs through serial data communication via a serial port of a PC. Serial data from the PC get converted to parallel mode using a homemade "serial in parallel out" (SIPO) device at the remote end. The functioning of this to control multiple devices is presented and discussed.

10 illus, 9 ref

008185   Srividya K;Thandaveswara B S (Dep Civ Engng, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600 036) : CFD analysis for sea-chest design. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2005, 11(2), 58-72.

Presents a series of numerical simulations intended to determine whether the use of CFX, a commercially available computational fluid dynamics software may provide a viable alternative to the use of physical models for predicting the occurrence of vortices and swirl in pump intakes. Single pump sump experimental data are used for validating the CFX analysis. Experimental setup for the Sea-Chest model of scale 1:4 was fabricated and experiments are conducted for different parameters like baffle positions, suction pipe spacing and suction depths. Velocity measurements and dye injections were used to characterize the flow in the physical model. In experimental runs presence of the vortices were observed. Results from experimental investigation and from CFX simulations are compared to obtain optimal parameters. With these optimal parameters CFX analysis is made for the SEA-Chest prototype size.

14 illus, 3 tables, 18 ref

008184   Srinivas Kumar S;Chatterji B N (NO, JNTU College of Engineering, Kakinada-533 003) : Robust similarity measures for stereo correspondence. J Instn Engrs-Pt CP 2004, 85 (November), 44-51.

Normalized cross correlation (NCC), Sum of squared differences (SSD), and Sum of absolute differences (SAD) are the linear correlation measures generally used for stereo correspondence. These measures fail to establish the correspondence under non- ideal conditions such as specular reflection, occlusion etc. In the paper, the similarity measures for stereo correspondence based on rank correlation techniques are considered. The performance of various rank correlation techniques for stereo matching is compared in terms of discriminatory power, sensitiveness and minimum false matches. Experiments conducted on real stereo images suggest the superiority of Kendall's rank correlation over the other measures under non-ideal conditions.

10 illus, 3 tables, 12 ref

008183   Sengupta D K;Rao R B (NO, Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar-751 013) : Deinking of Indian newspaper by agglomerate floatation. J Instn Engrs-Pt CH 2004, 85(September), 36-8.

Recycling of newspapers is done after deinking. One of the most important methods of deinking is floatation. As the ink particles are fine in nature, the agglomerate floatation has been tried and found to be efficient in separating ink panicles with only 2.2%-3.5% loss of brightness and the paper recovery is more than 95%.

4 tables, 6 ref

008182   Sehgal R;Angra S;Sharma V (Dep Mechanical Engng, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur-177 005) : Failure mode analysis of riveted joints. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2004, 86(April), 20-5.

Failure of riveted structures/machine components lead to various direct losses, such as, the cost of repair work, the cost of the work to prevent future failure, and accident compensation and indirect losses, such as, decrease in production and a damage to company's image. Joints being the weakest elements in any structure/machine are likely to fail first. It is therefore, imperative to understand the failure of these joints. Understanding a failure occurrence and its propagation will lead to a better appreciation of riveted joints from reliability point of view. It may be possible that a few cause events or failure causes may be crucial and could be minimised at design or fabrication stage leading to failure minimisation of such joints. A procedure based on digraph modelling and matrix approach is suggested for failure analysis of riveted joints. The failure logic digraph for riveted joint is defined which considers contributing cause events and their interrelations. The digraph is analysed using connection and reachability matrices. The reachability matrix for the joint help in identifying the stage relationship among various cause events and evaluate the importance of the cause events for the failure modes. It, therefore, provides direction for appropriate action for minimisation of failure mode thus improving the reliability of the joints.

1 illus, 1 table, 17 ref

008181   Saxena P C;Suri P K;Chauhan R K (Sch Computer System Sci, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110 067) : Modelling time in query languages. J Instn Engrs-Pt CP 2004, 85 (November), 34-7.

Approach to handle time in relational query languages is outlined. The approach is based on extending Boolean and Comparison operators by allowing their operands to be sets of intervals. Proposed model provides temporal retrieval capability using an extended logic for comparison and Boolean operators. The extended logic allows these operators to accept sets of intervals and return results in the form of sets of intervals. New syntax for retrieval statements is defined in order to separate the process of selecting entities (tuples) and the process of selecting required values of temporal attributes from the chosen entities. The extensions presented offer a good degree of flexibility in expressing different temporal requirements.

4 ref

008180   Sawant P J;Joshi S G (Dep Mechanical Engng, Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli-416 415) : Theoretical analysis of unstable vibration of tyre mass-suspension system with cab of a typical road vehicle. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2004, 86(April), 38-44.

Unstable vibration is often generated in a rotating machine system in which a rotor is rotating under constant pressure between the outer circumference of the rotor and the system in contact with it. The tyre of a road vehicle rotates under constant pressure between the outer circumference of the tyre and road in contact with it. Many wear patterns are generated on the follower wheel tyre, such as, heel and toe wear, taper wear, and polygonal wear. Sueoka, et al have thoroughly investigated experimentally and analytically the polygonal wear of truck, bus and car tyre and have explained the generation mechanism of the polygonal wear by considering analytical models of tyre mass system and tyre mass with suspension system of road vehicles. The method of analysis of Sueoka, et al. has been extended to analyze the I unstable vibration of tyre mass-suspension system with cab of a typical road vehicle. Also, the effect of variation of the side wall stiffness of tyre on the regions of instability of vibration of tyre mass-suspension with cab system has been studied. From these results, it is seen that there exists a value of the side wall stiffness which gives minimum spread and minimum degree of instability in almost all the modes of vibration of the tyre mass-suspension system with cab. This ensures increased life of the tyre, especially at the higher speeds of the road vehicles.

4 illus, 5 tables, 6 ref

008179   Sathyanarayanan P L;Ramprabhu R (Combat Vehicles Res Devlopment Establ, , Avadi, Chennai-600 054) : Improving cooling system efficiency of battle tank engines by optimal systems integration. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2004, 86(April), 7-11.

Overheating of vehicle engines, under high ambient temperatures was found to reduce if some of the peripheral systems could be modified to increase heat transfer capability. The major peripherals of a cooling system are the cooling water pump, radiator, oil pump, oil coolers and cooling fans. Each one, if modified in isolation, affects the overall performance of the system significantly. A thorough investigation of the dependency of each system individually and in combination, will help in optimizing the overall efficiency of the system, minimising power loss and maximising heat dissipation capability within the available space/volume. A case study of how the overheating problem of tracked vehicles (battle tank) was solved by such a study is illustrated. By the study, an economical solution was arrived at, implemented and proved successful under extremes of operating conditions. The details of these investigations, modifications and results are elaborately discussed.

9 illus, 2 tables, 6 ref

008178   Roy I (Open, Cast Division of CMPD, Ranchi) : Engineering properties of an opencast spoil material associated with instability of spoil dump. J Instn Engrs-Pt MN 2004, 85(February), 47-51.

Deals with geo-technical characteristics of internal dump material of Sasti Opencast Coal Mine of Western Coalfield Limited (WCL), India. Also presents the recommended combination of height and slope of internal dumps under Sasti Opencast Coal Mine.

3 illus, 4 tables, 7 ref

008177   Rawtani L;Rana J L;Tiwari A K (NO, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal) : Shape preserving ANN for curve fitting with optimally sized hidden layer. J Instn Engrs-Pt CP 2004, 85 (November), 52-4.

Scientific knowledge is often available in literature as set of measurement data. A method is developed for ANN and mathematical modelling of such data. Numerical techniques such as polynomials, splines, hermites etc, as-well as ANN learning algorithms like backpropagation, are based on minimization of sum of the squares of errors at the given data points. Modelling errors could be positive or negative at data and intermediate points, thus the shape of the curve may not be preserved. The method insists that turnings occur only at the prescribed turning points, thus preserving the desired shape. It is shown that the optimal number of neurons in the hidden layer is one more than the number of turning points in the data set. The method is applied to data sets for which modelling results, using conventional methods, are already available in the literature, bringing out the superiority of the present method.

5 illus, 9 ref

008176   Ratnam C;Sridhar B;Prakasa Rao (Dep Mechanical Engng, University College of Engineering Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530 003) : Frequency analysis of a multi-cylinder four-stroke diesel engine crankshaft by using the transfer matrix and finite element methods. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2004, 86(April), 1-6.

Natural frequencies of torsional vibration of a multi-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engine crankshaft are determined by the transfer matrix method (TMM) and the finite element method (FEM) which are accepted as best methods among the many methods developed to deal with vibration problems. The natural frequency of a system is important as it is the main cause of various types of failures like resonance of the whirling modes of a crankshaft are suspected to be the cause of excessive bearing noise or fatigue failure. The high level harmonic forcing torque developed in reciprocating engines can produce large torsional stress levels resulting in early fatigue in crankshaft. Therefore, by knowing the natural frequencies and frequency modes of the engine the limitations in use of the engine working speeds can be fixed. A simultaneous iteration technique is used in solution of the FEM. The frequencies obtained by the TMM and those obtained by FEM are found in good agreement.

8 illus, 2 tables, 8 ref

008175   Raheman H;Phadatare A G;Sahu R K (Agric Fd Engng Dep, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721 302, Email: hifjur@agfe.iitkgp.ernet.in) : Karanja esterified oil: an alternative renewable fuel for diesel engines in controlling air pollution. J rur Technol 2005, 1(6), 299-302.

Results of investigations carried out in studying the fuel properties of esterified karanja oil and its blend with diesel fuel from 20 to 80% by volume and in running a diesel engine with these fuels. Engine tests have been carried out with the aim of obtaining comparative measures of torque, power, specific fuel consumption and emissions such as CO, smoke density and NO_x to evaluate and compute the behavior of the diesel engine running on above mentioned fuels. The reduction in exhaust emissions together with increase in torque, brake power, brake thermal efficiency and reduction in brake specific fuel consumption made the blends of karanja esterified oil (B20 and B40) a suitable alternative fuel for diesel and thus could help in controlling air pollution.

8 illus, 12 ref

008174   Pawar A N;Jajoo B N (NO, Government Polytechnic, Yavatmal-445 001) : Analysis of heat transfer in ceramic coated cylinder head and valves of diesel engines. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2004, 86(April), 45.

Model has been developed for comprehensive predictions and assessments of varying temperature and heat transfer through cylinder head and valves of diesel engine. Gas wall heat transfer calculations are based on Annand's heat transfer model for IC engines. Emphasies on prediction of effect of variation in temperature, rate of heat transfer and cumulative heat transfer through cylinder head and cylinder valves with and without ceramic insulation coating on cylinder head and on face of the inlet and exhaust valves at identical conditions. Material used for cylinder head and valves is cast iron. Thermal insulation materials like partial stabilised zirconia and silicon nitride of 1mm and 0.5 mm thickness are used on cylinder head and on inlet and exhaust valves. Heat transfer models have been developed for cylinder head, inlet and exhaust valves with and without thermal insulation coating, which is incorporated in the simulated program.

10 illus, 7 ref

008173   Panigrahi D C;Sahu H B (Dep Min Engng, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad-826 004) : Development of a new method for assessment of spontaneous heating susceptibility of coal. J Instn Engrs-Pt MN 2004, 85(February), 42-6.

Presents the development of a method, namely, Critical Air Blast (CAB) rate for assessing the proneness of coal to spontaneous heating. Extensive investigations have been undertaken for determining the critical air blast rates of 31 coal samples collected from different Indian Coalfields, spreading over eight mining companies. The crossing point temperatures of these samples-have been determined and a brief comparative study between the results of these two methods is presented. It has been observed that critical air blast rate predicts the spontaneous heating susceptibility of coals more closely than crossing point temperature.

2 illus, 1 table, 7 ref

008172   Ozceyhan V;Altuntop N (Erciyes Universitesi Muhendislik Fakultesi, Makine Muhendisligi Bolumu, 38039 Kayseri,Turkey, Email: ozceyhan@erciyes.edu.tr) : Heat transfer and thermal stress analysis in grooved tubes. Sadhana 2005, 30(4), 537-53.

Heat transfer and thermal stresses, induced by temperature differences in the internally grooved tubes of heat transfer equipment, have been analysed numerically. The analysis has been conducted for four different kinds of internally grooved tubes and three different mean inlet water velocities. Constant temperature was applied from the external surface of the tube. Energy and governing flow equations were solved using finite difference scheme. Finite element method (FEM) was used to compute the thermal stress fields. Grooving effects on the thermal stress ratio have been discussed. As a result, maximum thermal stress occurs in the case of p=d for all water inlet velocities. The maximum thermal stress ratio positions inside the tube have been indicated as MX for all investigated cases. In the light of the thermal stress values, various designs can be applied to reduce thermal stress in grooved tubes.

11 illus, 1 table, 36 ref

008171   Murthy P V V S;Ramgopal K;Vishnu M;Rao V; Bamji M S (Dangoria Charitable trust, , 1-7-1074, Musheerabad, Hyderabad-500 020, Email: mbamji@sancharnet.in) : Strategies for augmenting rural sanitation and drinking water supply -impact on environment, health and women's awareness. J rur Technol 2005, 1(6), 271-5.

Rural areas in general have poor facilities for liquid and solid waste disposal, and safe drinking water supply. This contributes to the heavy burden of morbidity and mortality. The Dangoria Charitable Trust has tried to improve the sanitary conditions, particularly removal of stagnant waste water emerging from households, in two villages of the Narsapur Mandal in Medak District of the South Indian state of A.P., through application of a double soakage pit, waste water disposal system. The design was a modification of a structure developed by the Central Building Research Institute (C.B.R.I.) to suit the local resources and conditions. The project was part of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) supported coordinated project on water, health and sanitation. Within a the village, locations having perennial stagnation of wastewater from households due to lack of suitable drainage were identified. Individual and where possible common structures for two households were constructed. The latter ran in to problems, due to lack of cooperation between the women stakeholders who were trained to own and maintain the structures. Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) surveys done on women stakeholders, before a initiating the project and after two years revealed satisfaction with the technology, though many would have initially preferred to divert the water to a common open drain. Women's knowledge regarding link between water-borne and other infectious diseases and degraded sanitation also improved markedly. Household morbidity survey showed reduction in diarrhoeal and other infectious morbidities. The structures work well even in heavy monsoon, except in couple of locations where there is black soil. The model is recommended for rural areas with appropriate soil quality. The other components of the project were, improvement in drinking water supply through repair and maintenance of bore wells by trained women mechanics, construction of individual latrines, provision of solid waste disposal bins, school sanitation (latrines and bore well) and demonstration of rainwater harvesting structure.

2 tables, 2 ref

008170   Muni Reddy M G;Nellamani S (Dep Ocean Engng, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai-600 036) : Performance of an offshore low-crested breakwater as a rehabilitation structure. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2005, 11(2), 41-57.

Low-crested offshore rubble mound breakwaters (LCB) are gaining more popularity as a potential coastal protection structures, where a moderate transmission is allowed with significant energy dissipation. Presents results obtained from a physical model study to understand the transmission and reflection characteristics of LCB as a defence structure in front of a vertical seawall. Paper mainly focuses on the influence of crest level of LCB in reducing the water surface elevations between two structures and on reflection characteristics of the combined system. In the study, five different relative crest heights (h/d) are used keeping the water depth constant and varying the breakwater height. The results of this investigation can be used in the design of seawalls with less overtopping or for preventing the heavy overtopping on existing seawalls from severe storms. This type of protection can also be used as a rehabilitation measure in situations wherein it is required to reduce the wave forces to enhance the functional life of seawalls that are damaged by extreme wave conditions.

9 illus, 2 tables, 25 ref

008169   Mallikarjuna P;Pradip Kumar G N;Chandra Sekhar M (Dep Civ Engng, SVU College of Engineering, Tirupati-517502) : Empirical modelling and correlation analysis of evapotranspiration. ISH J Hydraul Engng 2005, 11(2), 1-17.

Study aims to arrive at a suitable empirical model for reasonable estimation of crop evapotranspiration for Tirupati. Nellore and Anakapalli regions of Andhra Pradesh. The influence of climatic factors such as humidity, temperature, wind velocity, sunshine hours and vapour pressure on daily crop evapotranspiration is also studied to develop a relationship among them for different crops for these regions.

5 illus, 4 tables, 10 ref

008168   Mallick D S (NO, Development Consultants Pvt Ltd, 24 B, Park Street, Kolkata-700 016) : Compression process of liquid ring vacuum pump. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2004, 86(April), 31-7.

Makes an effort to establish that the compression process effected in a liquid ring vacuum pump is near-isowermal. Concludes that the effect of convective mass transfer in a liquid ring vacuum pump is so dominant that sufficient heat transfer takes place during the process of compression and, as a result, near-isothermal process is achieved. The method adopted for a typical case study is convective mass transfer calculation, applying Colbum analogy and results obtained conclude that the effect of mass transfer is so overwhelming that the effect should be-similar for almost all the families of liquid ring vacuum pumps. An experiment was also conducted with the same parameters and results obtained by the experiment are found to tally with the theoretical approach.

6 illus, 1 tables, 3 ref

008167   Makh S U;Mishra R A (Dep Electron Technol, Takshashila-Mahavidyalaya, Shamnagar, Amravati (M.S.)-444 605, Email: sanjaymakh38@rediffmail.com) : Cellular generations in mobile communication. Phys Educ 2005, 22(2), 119-37.

The world is undergoing a major telecommunications revolution that will provide ubiquitous communication access to citizens, wherever they are. Mobile communications have become much more passive than any one could have imagined when the cellular concept was first discussed in Bell Laboratories in 1947. The worldwide cellular and personal communication subscriber base surpassed 600 million users in late 2001 and the number of individual subscribers is projected to reach 2 Billion by the end of 2006. The wide spread success of cellular has led to the development of newer wireless systems and standards for many other types of telecommunications besides mobile voice telephone calls. Discusses the cellular generations in mobile communication since 1946.

7 illus, 2 tables, 22 ref

008166   Datta S K;Pandey R K (Botanic Garden Floriculture, National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow-226 001, Email: subodhskdatta@yahoo.com) : Cultivation of Jatropha curcas - a viable biodiesel source. J rur Technol 2005, 1(6), 304-9.

Jatropha curcas has been reported as an efficient substitute fuel for diesel engine. The seed oil is non-edible and capable on growing on waste lands so that it cultivations does not exert any pressure on agricultural land. It can easily be grown by seeds and stem cuttings. Importance of curcas oil and cultivation of J. curcas and role of cultural practices on production have been discussed.

2 tables, 7 ref

008165   Bhosale S N;Deshpande D K;Latte M V (Kittel Sci Coll, , Dharwad-580 002) : Application of weighted least-squares technique for designing equiripple FIR higher-order digital differentiators. J Instn Engrs-Pt CP 2004, 85 (November), 29-33.

Attempt is made to apply weighted least-squares technique for designing equiripple FIR higher-order digital differentiators. This method involves an iterative algorithm in which the appropriate frequency-dependent weighting function that yields an equiripple design is determined. In general, the peak errors obtained by present method are very close to those determined by Parks-McClellan method, while they are much than those estimated by eigenfilter, least-squares and genetic algorithm method.

5 illus, 2 tables, 7 ref

008164   Bhattacharya J;Sachdeva J (Dep Min Engng, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721 302) : Control chart for limestone quality for supply to cement plant with varying sample size. J Instn Engrs-Pt MN 2004, 85(February), 25-9.

Quality control techniques, particularly 'control charts', are used widely in cement industries for stringent quality control. However, the problem of plotting control charts having unequal sub-group sizes often arises. There are several suggested solutions to this problem. Univariate Control Charts have been investigated and a guideline is proposed to deal with varying sample size sub-groups in X and R charts. To make the result more realistic, a simple weighted average X's, with weights n, is taken for X in general, usually when n's are small and range R is used. A detailed investigation of the control chart with varying sample sizes is presented through a case study. The trials have been conducted in a captive limestone mine of a cement plant in India. Since the quality of limestone varies substantially at different stages of its excavation; a modified control chart is used to analyse the variation of quality.

3 tables, 7 ref

008163   Bharat Krishna S;Ganesan V (Internal Combust Engine Lab Dep Mechanical Engng, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai-600 036) : CFD analysis of flow through vane swirlers. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2004, 86(April), 12-19.

Work reports a computational study of steady flow through vane swirlers for various vane angles from 15° to 60° insteps of 15°. Three-dimeniional flow within the flow geometry and through the swirler have been simulated by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using the code FLUENT. Flow has been simulated by solving the appropriate governing equations, namely, conservation of mass and momentum using the SIMPLE-algorithm. Turbulence has been modelled using Reynolds's Stress Model (RSM). Already available experimental measurements have been used for validating the numerical predictions. It is seen that the predicted results agree quite closely with experiments. Also it is seen that the RSM seems to be appropriate for swirling flows, especially for flows with high swirl, as in the case of gas turbine combustors.

10 illus, 15 tables

008162   Ali A R M (Dep Mechanical Engng, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.) : Plastic deformation and springback of pre-loaded rod under subsequent torsion. J Instn Engrs-Pt MC 2004, 86(April), 26-30.

Contains two aspects of work to examine the elastic-plastic behaviour of pre-loaded circular rods subjected to subsequently applied torque, i.e., twisting within the plastic region. In the first, uniform diameter and reduced section rods of mild steel (En8), fitted with strain gauges, were subjected to initial axial yield loads using a custom built torque-tension machine and then holding the initial axial displacements constant, the specimens were gradually twisted Then the measurements of the resulting torque and load were recorded using appropriate load cells as well as by the fitted strain gauges. Experimental results with fitted strain gauges show that, even when the axial displacements of the preloaded rods were held constant, the strain gauges readings increase rapidly with the decrease in the initially applied axial loads, as recorded by the appropriate cell, at the confined zone where the plastic deformation begins. Elsewhere of the specimens the strain readings decrease due to elastic recovery of the material. Secondly, the experimental results thus obtained have been compared with Brooks's theoretical predictions, developed for strain-hardening material.

7 illus, 6 ref