An alternating current potential drop (ACPD) technique is used for sizing depth of surface cracks in metallic components. Crack depth estimations are prone to large deviations when ACPD measurements are made on very shallow and finite length cracks, especially in low conducting materials such as austenitic stainless steel (SS). Detailed studies have been carried out to investigate the influence of crack length and aspect ratio (length to depth) on depth estimation by performing measurements on electric discharge machined notches with the aspect ratio in the range of 1 to 40 in SS plates. In notches with finite length, an additional path for current to flow through the surface along the length is available causing the notch depths to be underestimated. The experimentally observed deviation in notch depth estimates is explained from a simple mathematical approach using the equivalent resistive circuit model based on the additional path available for the current to flow. A scheme is proposed to accurately measure the depth of cracks with finite lengths in SS components.

SummaryTall buildings are vulnerable to lateral loading. The facades of these buildings are susceptible to wind loads. It is very difficult to assess the wind condition around the tall building in the presence of other surrounding buildings due to the wind interference effect. An experiment is carried out in the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel at Tokyo Polytechnic University, Japan, to study the wind interference effect on tall buildings with varying plan ratios. The maximum and minimum local peak pressure coefficient contours on front face of the principal building are plotted. The interference effect is quantified in terms of interference zone charts. It is observed that interference zones extend over a larger area as the building plan ratios increases. The minimum interference factor depends on the plan ratios of the interfering building especially along the oblique direction. The results of this study may be useful for the preliminary design of cladding of tall buildings with interfering buildings.

Now-a-days the tall buildings are the symbol of urbanization. Lateral forces are the major factor which distinguishes the tall buildings from other low rise buildings and wind force is the most significant lateral force on the tall buildings. Wind around high-rise buildings in cities may create serious problems even at the pedestrian level. This problem may lead to discomfort of the pedestrians and occupants of the low rise building near tall buildings. The level of disturbance to the users of pedestrian areas can be different depending on the characteristics of the wind, including mean magnitude, uniformity, ambient temperature, etc. If wind characteristics are assessed properly, then remedial measures may be taken. The wind-tunnel experiments are considered to be the most suitable approach for the evaluation of such effects, but now-a-days Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical techniques can be a good alternative to costly and time consuming experimentation. In this paper the issues of pedestrian wind environment near tall buildings and interference effect in two and three tall buildings is addressed. These tall buildings of same cross sections are placed in tandem. The shorter one (h) is placed in front of the taller building (2h). Effect of the presence of a shorter building in front of a taller building on the wind characteristics has been discussed. Another building of same height (h) as that of the shorter building is also introduced to investigate the effect in between two existing buildings. The effect of spacing to height ratio on pressure at pedestrian level is also developed through CFD. ANSYS FLUENT has been used for the simulation of the wind flow around buildings.

This article attempts to analyze the economic growth in the districts of Odisha by compiling an index for financial inclusion which included various dimensions of financial inclusion and resulted in a number between 0 and 1, where 0 is the worst condition of a district and 1 gives complete financial inclusion. The indicators used here are banking penetration, availability of banking services and usage of banking system. The study shows that Khurda district leads with the highest value, followed by Ganjam and Cuttack districts. The results were in accordance with the Planning Commission, Government of India, in defining underdeveloped districts. Some empirical findings were also conducted to examine the dynamic relationship between the financial inclusion indicators such as credit flows to the districts of Odisha, deposits in the banking sector and presence of bank branches per 1,000 sq km, and growth indicators like gross domestic product (GDP) in the case of districts of Odisha.

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