The performance of sandwich beams with expanded metal sheets as core was studied under transverse impact loading. Relationships between the force and displacement at the mid-span of the sandwich beams were obtained from the experiments. Numerical simulations were carried out using ABAQUS/EXPLICT and the results were thoroughly compared with the experimental results. Then, the influence of the core layer number, cell orientation, size of the cell, and thickness of the substrates was investigated. The results showed that the increase in the core layers up to three times increased the energy absorption ( Ea) by 33.88%. Moreover, increasing the thickness by up to three times increased the Ea by 61.33%. It was found that effects of the cell size and cell orientation on the Ea were dependent on each other, governing the low-velocity impact response of the sandwich beams with lattice cores.

No abstract

No abstract

This research investigates the effects of the addition of Fe2O3 and Al2O3 nanoparticles (30, 60, and 90 ppm) and Fe2O3-Al2O3 hybrid nanoparticles to pure diesel fuel on the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine. The results indicated that fuel blends improved the combustion (in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate), performance (power, fuel consumption, and thermal and exergy efficiency), and emission characteristics of the engine. The results showed that the peak combustion pressure increased by 4% and the heat release rate was improved by 15% in comparison with pure diesel with the addition of the nanoparticles. Moreover, the rate of pressure rise increased by 18% compared to pure diesel with nanoparticle additives. Based on the results, the effects of Fe2O3 fuel blends on brake power, BTE, and CO emission were more than Al2O3 fuel blends, such that it increased power and thermal efficiency by 7.40 and 14%, respectively, and reduced CO emissions by 21.2%; moreover, the blends with Al2O3 nanoparticle additives in comparison with Fe2O3 nanoparticle blends showed a better performance in reducing BSFC (9%), NOx (23.9%), and SO2 (23.4%) emissions. Overall, the Fe2O3-Al2O3 hybrid fuel blend is the best alternative if the performance and emission characteristics of the engine are both considered.

No abstract