The investigations centered on how addition of Gezawa clay (GC) affects the refractory properties of the Gezawa stone (GS) (Silica Stone) with a view to finding the optimum percentage of the blend that will give good refractory properties. The samples were crushed, ground, sieved and the chemical compositions were determined. Test samples were produced by blending the Gezawa stone with various proportions of Gezawa clay. The refractoriness of the samples was measured, and the samples were then fired to 1100and standard properties such as thermal shock resistance, cold crushing strength and apparent porosity were determined. The result shows that addition of Gezawa clay to Gezawa stone improves its thermal shock resistance but reduces the refractoriness, while the porosity was found to be within the specified range for fire clay and the cold crushing strength of the samples was high. Compromise could be made in selecting the percentage that would suit certain application.

This work investigates the crash response of conical tubes made from different steel grades ranging from low to high strength steels using finite element (FE) simulations. The FE model was first validated against experimental results before being applied for the numerical analysis using LS DYNA software. Peak crushing load, mean load, energy absorption, crush force efficiency (CFE) and specific energy absorption (SEA) were evaluated from the cones of different steel grades and of various thicknesses. It was found that high strength steel exhibit high SEA and low CFE values. Both SEA and CFE were found to increase with increase in tube wall thickness for the five steel compared. For improved safety of the occupant, steel-CA5 is best because of higher CFE values for 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm and 2.5mm thicknesses. For better weight reduction, steel-DP600 with SEA of 10.6 kJ/kg is the best. Steel-HA3 and steel-SAP H440 with 2.5 mm thickness offer moderate CFE and SEA values. The findings of this study are useful in designing high safety performance vehicle front energy absorption components.

In this work, anthropometric data measured from three-year-old Nigerian child were compared with United States anthropometric database collected by Snyder, 1977 which formed the basis of US anthropometry used today. Further comparison was also carried out with the dimensions of crash dummies: Hybrid III three-year-old (HIII 3YO) and Q3s dummies in order to determine the validity of using such crash dummies for safety evaluation of cars and child restraint systems (CRS) used for Nigerian children. Anthropometric survey was performed on 30 Nigerian children aged 2.5 to 3.5 years old. Twenty three standard measurements were taken from each child including the weight, height and circumferences etc. Various percentiles mean and standard deviation values were obtained and compared with international database. As observed, the dimensions of three-year-old Nigerian child appeared to be about 25% lower than US data reported by Snyder. Significant difference was also found between the dimensions of three-year-old Nigerian child and crash dummies. This study provides the external dimensions of 3-year-old Nigerian child that could be used for crash dummy and CRS design.

The application of molasses as a binder in sand mold operation was investigated. Standard Sand Mold mixture (5 cm diameter x 5 cm height) were made with 1-5% molasses and Chalawa sand the balance. The molding Properties such as ; Green Compressive Strength(GCS), Green Shear Strength(GSS), Dry Compressive Strength(DCS), Dry Shear Strength(DSS), Green Shatter Index, Green Permeability, Flowability, and Compactibility of sand molasses mixture were obtained. 2% Molasses-sand mixture was selected for molding the prototype cast based on the highest values of the Green Compressive Strength, Green Permeability, and excellent Flowability (96.4%) observed in the experiments. The result shows that molasses alone could not be used as a binder. This is further supported by the low values of Green Shatter Index (31.3%) and Compactibility (25%) reported.

Anthropometric test device (ATD) is surrogate used in automotive crash testing. Female ATDs used worldwide in the evaluation of vehicle safety performance was produced based on anthropometry of U.S. population. This work is aimed at assessing the differenc dimensions of Nigerian female adults from three major ethnic groups and ATDs, utilizing data reported in the literature. The comparison revealed differences varying from 0.5% to 2.1% in stature and 1.5% to 16.7% in the body wei represent Igbo female because the difference in both stature and weight is within 2%. It was also found that female ATDs could not represent Hausa and Yoruba female population. ATD stature and weight targets differ from the Nigerian female population by less than 11 percentile points. This will lead to different injury outcomes in vehicular crashes. Vehicles certified using the ATD might not be safer for Nigerian female occupant. Therefore, car designers and m consider the anthropometric differences in their future designs to ensure that vehicle used by Nigerians are evaluated using ATDs that truly represent the population.