Experimental and Numerical Validation of an Armor Plate Test Stand

Since the emergence of the first armoured vehicles on battlefields, armour shield was mainly centred on conventional metallic materials, widespread solutions nowadays. For a long time, weight reduction in armoured protection, which represents the largest part of the vehicle’s overall weight, has been the key parameter for vehicle manufacturers looking forward to optimizing fuel consumption, thus increasing the payload and offering increased manoeuvrability to vehicles. The solution generally developed is a combination between those metallic plates and materials lighter than the current steel armour. In this context, the hybridization of some well-known ballistic alloys with textile composite materials appears to be a high-potential solution for armour-plated protection. Indeed, used as a backing, textile composite materials present some worthwhile properties such as having a very low density compared with steel and good behaviour in terms of ballistic efficiency. The use of a textile composite backing allows a reduction in the thickness of the metal plate by a few millimetres, which has a huge impact on the total protection weight. The difficulty of this hybridization is, of course, to reduce the total mass of the protection solution as cautiously as possible while ensuring the safety of the vehicle. The textile composite backing is also efficient in containing the pieces of shrapnel, which might break loose from the metal plate during impact. However, observations from today’s military theatres of operation reveal that the spectrum of armoured vehicle threats has changed over the last decade with the development of new non-conventional threats commonly referred to as ‘improvised explosive devices’. Those devices generate high-velocity projectiles (accelerated up to a few hundred or thousand metres per second), which are able to perforate most existing armour plating. Thus, performances of today’s armoured solutions are required to be upgraded, in order to provide a better protection level. This improved protection level against new threats can be achieved by developing a composite backing more efficient to stop these projectiles. This study proposes to test and compare the behaviour and efficiency of three different textile composite backings used as up-armouring solutions. Two of those textile backings are innovative composite solutions developed in our textile laboratory, and the third one is a benchmark composite generally used as armouring protection. This study deals with the overall protection, and impact tests are performed on real armour configuration with the metal plate on the front face. Nevertheless, only the impact behaviour of textile composite backings has been investigated in this study. The parameters of the metal plate such as the nature of the alloy and its thickness were defined by our vehicles’ manufacturing partner and cannot therefore be communicated. They remain constant in the three configurations tested, allowing a clear comparison.

The mechanical response of energetic materials, especially those used in improvised explosive devices, is of great interest to improve understanding of how mechanical excitations may lead to improved detection or detonation. The materials are comprised of crystals embedded into a binder. Microstructural modelling can give insight into the interactions between the binder and the crystals and thus the mechanisms that may lead to material heating and but there needs to be validation of these models and they also require estimates of constituent material properties. Addressing these issues, nonlinear viscoelastic models of the low frequency behavior of a surrogate material-mass system undergoing base excitation have been constructed, and experimental data have been collected and used to estimate the order of components in the system model and the parameters in the model. The estimation technique is described and examples of its application to both simulated and experimental data are given. From the estimated system model the material properties are extracted. Material properties are estimated for a variety of materials and the effect of aging on the estimated material properties is shown.

<div class="htmlview paragraph">Recent legislation including the California Clean Air Act of 1988 and the Federal Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 will regulate exhaust emissions from small utility, lawn, and garden equipment engines. In an attempt to gain as much understanding as possible in a short time, SwRI has conducted a series of tests to investigate the effectiveness of late 1960's automotive emission reduction technology on small engines. Experiments were conducted utilizing air injection into the exhaust, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), and ignition timing changes. The test engine was a 4 stroke generator set engine rated 5.88 Kw at 3600 rpm. Results show these technologies to be very effective in reducing hydrocarbons (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NO<sub>x</sub>), and carbon monoxide (C0).</div>

The presence of up to 2.5 percent (%) of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) in Total Abu Al Bukhoosh (TABK) production fluids with gas pressures of up to 290 bars at the wellhead, introduces specific risks due to its extreme toxicity and its corrosive effects on production equipment. This paper describes TABK's experience in managing these risks in the context of an increasingly complex and maturing field. The TABK H2S management system is focused on four main areas: Personnel Protection, Plant Integrity, Safe Operations and Minimization of Environmental Impact. TABK has implemented specific H2S safety measures to ensure the protection of its offshore personnel. These include the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), warning alarms & emergency actions, dedicated escape and evacuation provisions and procedures, the installation of an emergency air supply (cascade system), H2S training, communications and emergency drills. To guarantee the plant integrity, the operating parameters of all major rotating machines, affected by the H2S content of the fuel gas, are monitored continuously. An optimized risk-based inspection plan and a system of permanent corrosion monitoring assure the integrity of the equipment and mitigate against the "loss of containment" risk. Safe operations are assured through a rigorous work permit system, reinforced by systematic risk assessments, simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) dossiers and an adapted management of change procedure. Safety studies including gas dispersion modeling have been carried out to determine safety distances based on critical H2S concentration limits. TABK's future plans for reducing the environmental impact of its operations, include actions to lower the concentration of H2S in the fuel gas by installing a fuel gas sweetening unit and reducing flaring by the implementation of a Flare Recovery Compressor (FRC). With these measures and procedures, TABK has reinforced its maintenance, safety, environmental protection and operational plans to guarantee the integrity and reliability of its installations.

VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research) has designed and installed a 150 kVA smart grid test platform to back up future smart grid research with nearly real-life situations. The test platform has a low voltage electrical distribution system(3×230 VAC or 3×400+N VAC) that integrates it's different energy research laboratories. The wiring can be done with cables in a flexible way close to real distribution grid conditions. This VITO test platform is able to emulate or simulate a smart grid access network with smart meters and several distributed power generators, energy storage and flexible loads. This paper will explore the power line modem evaluation and testing possibilities of this test platform. A first series is connected to creating a particular harsh communication environment with noise, low impedance and real cables. A second series of possible tests is related to functional testing, such as: dynamic topology changes, repeater functionality, configuration, traffic flow for particular applications, coexistence, etc. The paper also includes some first test platform screening tests on access impedance and transfer function (9-500 kHz).

The history of the Vehicular Technology Society (VTS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) is traced from its establishment in 1949 as the Vehicular and Railroad Communications Professional Group, through its existence as the Professional Group on Vehicular Communications, (PGVC), and up to its present role in mobile communications, automotive technology, and transportation systems.

An experimental and numerical approach - characterisation of power cartridge for water-jet application

_ Flanders Hydraulics and the Maritime Technology Division of Ghent University have proposed a hybrid testing platform for the development and validation of motion control algorithms for autonomous navigation in shallow and confined water, which consists of towing tank facilities and simulators. Within this framework, the towing tank at Flanders Maritime Laboratory, Ostend, Belgium, featured in large size, tuneable water depth, and a state-of-the-art free-running system, a series of autonomous manoeuvering tests with increasing complexity are designed and carried out. These manoeuvres, including acceleration with heading keeping, path following, speed control, and their combinations, are enabled by implementing guidance and control algorithms on a physical ship model, namely the benchmark ship KVLCC2 at a scale of 1/75. The controllable environment and large space of the tank basin facilitate the upgrade of the existing algorithms and the development of new algorithms. The definition of the autonomous manoeuvres, experimental setup, and parameter settings are elaborated and the effect of implementing different guidance strategies is discussed. Recorded results demonstrate good agreement between the measurements and the expectations, and control accuracy is quantified with evaluation indices. In summary, the feasibility and flexibility of the testing platform and the effectiveness of the algorithms are proved through extensive experiments. Keywords guidance and control; free-running test; physical testing platform; path following; speed control

The development of Ural-432065 specialized all-wheel vehicle chassis with STA-5TM replaceable technological superstructure for application of solid mineral fertilizers complies with the agrotechnical, safe operation and maintenance requirements. Safety requirements and warning descriptions are reflected in the service manual in both text and graphical forms. It is important to study this manual before starting. The relevant symbols are represented on the equipment in locations of working organs and servo units. The Ural-432065 chassis with STA-5TM replaceable technological superstructure is intended for agricultural and municipal works, such as application of dry granulated fertilizers and spreading of earth-moist lime, sand, broken stone, salt and mixtures. General view of the STA-5TM superstructure, its specification, composition, principle of operation, operator control, hydraulic circuit description, electrical schematic diagram, features of operation and service are presented. Amount of fertilizer is controlled by the principal slide gate. Under transportation mode, the slide gate should be occluded. Distribution of granular fertilizers is carried out by the spreading discs. Distributing width is 10-36 m. The adjustment is made on the basis of table of application rate or by means of passing of measuring distance, taking into account the grain size, volume weight, surface structure and moisture. Operation of the STA-5TM replaceable technological superstructure for application of solid mineral fertilizers based on Ural-432065 vehicle chassis is provided by the performance and technology standards, regulated by relevant documents, available and handy to the operator. Design capabilities and used constituent parts allow to increase the operating efficiency as a part of technological complexes with rise in labor productivity.

In order to solve the uncertainty problem of the vibration measuring point selection of the winding deformation by vibration method. The test platform is set based on the vibration mechanism of transformer. Through a S11-M-500kVA/35kV test transformer, a series of tests on the normal and fabricated fault winding are made to obtain research dates. The difference between the data was quantified by the Euclidean distance and the 100HZ amplitude variation rate. Calculated the 1/6, 1/3 and 1/2 measure points of Euclidean distance are 0.013347, 0.003901 and 0.002584; and amplitude change rates in 100Hz are 68%, 23% and 13%. The analysis results of different winding test data show that the two characteristic quantities used in this paper can be used for the detection of winding deformation., and 1/6 point is better for Winding deformation detection by vibration analysis.

In order to ensure the safe and stable operation of the large power grid with high proportion of renewable energy access, the automatic voltage control (AVC) system of the new energy power station is very important. The control strategy of the AVC and the response characteristics of the voltage and reactive power regulating equipment will affect the AVC regulation effect directly. However, the pure digital simulation software cannot simulate its actual response characteristic. This paper established a hardware in loop (HIL) testing platform based on RT-LAB real-time simulation system. The real AVC controller and the real static var generator (SVG) controller hardware are connected to RT-LAB testing platform via I/O physical interface and MODBUS communication, and the HIL coordinated simulation testing scheme is studied based on FPGA of RT-LAB. With established testing platform, the voltage regulating characteristic and reactive power replacement capacity of AVC control strategy is verified.

Reliably detecting the ignition of an arc flash inside low-voltage metal enclosed switchgear using an arc flash detection system presents a number of technical challenges and requires careful system design to provide maximum equipment and personnel protection. The proper placement of sensors throughout the switchgear is critical to ensuring reliable arc flash detection. Given the large number of potential switchgear design variations, the best way to ensure reliable arc flash detection is through verification of sensor placement by creating true arcing events at a high power test lab using worst-case switchgear configurations in which the detection system will be applied. This paper will briefly discuss the tradeoffs between fiber optic and wired point sensors and will provide extensive treatment of methods to determine sensor placement, sensitivity and quantity within a given low-voltage switchgear design as well as strategies to avoid nuisance operation of the arc flash detection system.

At present the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) with ammonia as reducing agent is frequently used for Diesel powered vehicles to decrease significantly the nitric oxide (NOx) emissions. The preparation of ammonia includes numerous sub-processes that need to be understood completely to develop exhaust gas systems efficiently. Within a co-operation project between Daimler AG and the Institute for Powertrains and Automotive Technology (IPA) of the Vienna University of Technology especially the CFD simulation method was employed successfully to solve this task.

Positive Rate of Serology and RT-PCR for COVID-19 among healthcare workers during different periods in Wuhan, China

This paper presents a continuation of projects spanning the last two years. In year one, the physical characteristics and medical effects of burns and Improvised Explosive Device, IED, blasts were investigated [1]. In year two, the possible use of commercial intumescent materials with fabric was studied [2]. The identified needs for research into the effect of undergarments on burn protection are focused in this study. Additionally, Thermal Protective Performance, TPP-(ISO 17492) and Air Permeability, AP-(ASTM D737) tests were performed to gather the data needed for the analysis of flame and thermal resistance as well as comfort and breathability. Out of the seven samples evaluated, the Sample D, composed of 94% m-aramid, 5% p-aramid and 1% static dissipative fiber, shirt had the best overall performance in terms of air permeability, average TPP rating, and time to second degree burn. Another finding was that polyester undershirts may be dangerous in the event of a flash fire situation because the fabric could melt and stick to the Soldier’s skin causing more severe burn injury. Additionally, an initial framework for a basic mathematical model representing the system was created. This model can be further refined to yield more accurate results and eventually be used to help predict the material properties required in fabrics to design a more protective undergarment.