scholarly journals Assessing the Compressive and Impact Behavior of Plastic Safety Toe Caps through Computational Modelling

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 4332
Author(s):  
Pedro Veiga Rodrigues ◽  
Bruno Ramoa ◽  
Ana Vera Machado ◽  
Philip Cardiff ◽  
João Miguel Nóbrega

Toe caps are one of the most important components in safety footwear, but have a significant contribution to the weight of the shoe. Efforts have been made to replace steel toe caps by polymeric ones, since they are lighter, insulated and insensitive to magnetic fields. Nevertheless, polymeric solutions require larger volumes, which has a negative impact on the shoe’s aesthetics. Therefore, safety footwear manufacturers are pursuing the development of an easy, low-cost and reliable solution to optimize this component. In this work, a solid mechanics toolbox built in the open-source computational library, OpenFOAM®, was used to simulate two laboratory standard tests (15 kN compression and 200 J impact tests). To model the polymeric material behavior, a neo-Hookean hyper-elasto-plastic material law with J2 plastic criteria was employed. A commercially available plastic toe cap was characterized, and the collected data was used for assessment purposes. Close agreements, between experimental and simulated values, were achieved for both tests, with an approximate error of 5.4% and 6.8% for the displacement value in compression and impact test simulations, respectively. The results clearly demonstrate that the employed open-source finite volume computational models offer reliable results and can support the design of toe caps for the R&D footwear industry.

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 2944
Author(s):  
Benjamin James Ralph ◽  
Marcel Sorger ◽  
Benjamin Schödinger ◽  
Hans-Jörg Schmölzer ◽  
Karin Hartl ◽  
...  

Smart factories are an integral element of the manufacturing infrastructure in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. Nevertheless, there is frequently a deficiency of adequate training facilities for future engineering experts in the academic environment. For this reason, this paper describes the development and implementation of two different layer architectures for the metal processing environment. The first architecture is based on low-cost but resilient devices, allowing interested parties to work with mostly open-source interfaces and standard back-end programming environments. Additionally, one proprietary and two open-source graphical user interfaces (GUIs) were developed. Those interfaces can be adapted front-end as well as back-end, ensuring a holistic comprehension of their capabilities and limits. As a result, a six-layer architecture, from digitization to an interactive project management tool, was designed and implemented in the practical workflow at the academic institution. To take the complexity of thermo-mechanical processing in the metal processing field into account, an alternative layer, connected with the thermo-mechanical treatment simulator Gleeble 3800, was designed. This framework is capable of transferring sensor data with high frequency, enabling data collection for the numerical simulation of complex material behavior under high temperature processing. Finally, the possibility of connecting both systems by using open-source software packages is demonstrated.


1985 ◽  
Vol 38 (10) ◽  
pp. 1279-1281
Author(s):  
R. J. Clifton ◽  
F. P. Chiang

Mechanical failure of machine parts, structures, and microelectronic components has a strong negative impact on the safety, security, and productivity of our people. Prevention of these failures is a principal focus of solid mechanics, which uses analysis, experiment, and computation to provide the understanding necessary for failure reduction through improved design, fabrication, and inspection. Experimental mechanics plays a critical role in this effort since it provides the data base for the calculations and the means for testing the validity of proposed theoretical models of failure. Current trends in experimental mechanics show increased use of optical methods for monitoring the displacements, velocities, and strains of surfaces. This trend has gained impetus from the attractiveness of noncontact methods for hostile environments and dynamically loaded bodies. Advances in laser technology have enhanced the instrumentation associated with these methods. Another trend is the investigation of material behavior under more complex loading conditions, made possible by the availability of servo-controlled testing machines with computer interfaces. Still another trend is the increased attention given to defects, such as inclusions, cracks, and holes, because of their importance in failure mechanisms. Opportunities for future contributions from experimental mechanics appear to be great and to occur across a broad range of technological problems. A central theme of future research appears to be increased emphasis on measurements at the micron and submicron scale in order to advance the understanding of material response and failure at the micromechanical level. Increased attention will also be given to internal measurements of defects, deformations and residual stresses because of their importance in developing a fundamental understanding of failure. Automated data reduction and control of experiments will greatly increase the information obtained from experiments and its usefulness for the development of mathematical models. Other important research directions include improved methods for measurements of in situ stresses in rocks, improved measurements of displacements and physiological parameters in biological systems, capability for long-term monitoring of the integrity of structures, and improved sensors for feedback control of mechanical systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
Ettore Potente ◽  
Cosimo Cagnazzo ◽  
Alessandro Deodati ◽  
Giuseppe Mastronuzzi

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Constanta Tudor ◽  
Dorina Nicoleta Mocuta ◽  
Ruxandra Florina Teodorescu ◽  
Dragos Ion Smedescu

Soil pollution with plastics represents a great threat to plants, animals, but especially to humans, as a very small quantity of the plastic which is discarded daily is recycled or incinerated in waste facilities, much of it reaching landfills where their decomposition lasts up to 1000 years and during this time the toxic substances penetrate the soil and the water. If, initially, the pollution with plastics has been identified and recognized in the aquatic environment, recent studies show that plastics residues exist in huge quantities in the soil. The present study focuses on the analysis of factors that pollute soil, so the various studies that have been carried out claim that soil pollution with plastic is much higher and increases in an aggressive manner, being estimated to be 4 to 23 times higher than water pollution with plastics, and the accumulation of microplastics in the soil has a negative impact on soil biota. Thus, once the plastic material accumulates in the soil, it is assimilated to organic matter and the mineral substitutes of the soil and persists for several hundred years.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Fang ◽  
Jonathan Kia-Sheng Phua ◽  
Terrence Chiew ◽  
Daniel De-Liang Loh ◽  
Lincoln Ming Han Liow ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, community care facilities (CCF) were set up as temporary out-of-hospital isolation facilities to contain the surge of cases in Singapore. Confined living spaces within CCFs posed an increased risk of communicable disease spread among residents. OBJECTIVE This inspired our healthcare team managing a CCF operation to design a low-cost communicable disease outbreak surveillance system (CDOSS). METHODS Our CDOSS was designed with the following considerations: (1) comprehensiveness, (2) efficiency through passive reconnoitering from electronic medical record (EMR) data, (3) ability to provide spatiotemporal insights, (4) low-cost and (5) ease of use. We used Python to develop a lightweight application – Python-based Communicable Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (PyDOSS) – that was able perform syndromic surveillance and fever monitoring. With minimal user actions, its data pipeline would generate daily control charts and geospatial heat maps of cases from raw EMR data and logged vital signs. PyDOSS was successfully implemented as part of our CCF workflow. We also simulated a gastroenteritis (GE) outbreak to test the effectiveness of the system. RESULTS PyDOSS was used throughout the entire duration of operation; the output was reviewed daily by senior management. No disease outbreaks were identified during our medical operation. In the simulated GE outbreak, PyDOSS was able to effectively detect an outbreak within 24 hours and provided information about cluster progression which could aid in contact tracing. The code for a stock version of PyDOSS has been made publicly available. CONCLUSIONS PyDOSS is an effective surveillance system which was successfully implemented in a real-life medical operation. With the system developed using open-source technology and the code made freely available, it significantly reduces the cost of developing and operating CDOSS and may be useful for similar temporary medical operations, or in resource-limited settings.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 572
Author(s):  
Mads Jochumsen ◽  
Taha Al Muhammadee Janjua ◽  
Juan Carlos Arceo ◽  
Jimmy Lauber ◽  
Emilie Simoneau Buessinger ◽  
...  

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been proven to be useful for stroke rehabilitation, but there are a number of factors that impede the use of this technology in rehabilitation clinics and in home-use, the major factors including the usability and costs of the BCI system. The aims of this study were to develop a cheap 3D-printed wrist exoskeleton that can be controlled by a cheap open source BCI (OpenViBE), and to determine if training with such a setup could induce neural plasticity. Eleven healthy volunteers imagined wrist extensions, which were detected from single-trial electroencephalography (EEG), and in response to this, the wrist exoskeleton replicated the intended movement. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited using transcranial magnetic stimulation were measured before, immediately after, and 30 min after BCI training with the exoskeleton. The BCI system had a true positive rate of 86 ± 12% with 1.20 ± 0.57 false detections per minute. Compared to the measurement before the BCI training, the MEPs increased by 35 ± 60% immediately after and 67 ± 60% 30 min after the BCI training. There was no association between the BCI performance and the induction of plasticity. In conclusion, it is possible to detect imaginary movements using an open-source BCI setup and control a cheap 3D-printed exoskeleton that when combined with the BCI can induce neural plasticity. These findings may promote the availability of BCI technology for rehabilitation clinics and home-use. However, the usability must be improved, and further tests are needed with stroke patients.


2011 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. 557-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINA RAASCH

Open source (OS) has raised significant attention in industrial practice and in scholarly research as a new and successful mode of product development. This paper is among the first to study open source development processes outside their original context, the software industry. In particular, we investigate the development of tangible products in so-called open design projects. We study how open design projects address the challenges usually put forward in the literature as barriers to the open development of tangible products. The analysis rests on the comparative qualitative investigation of four cases from different industries. We find that, subject to certain contingencies, open design processes can be organized to resemble OSS development processes to a considerable degree. Some practices are established specifically to uphold OS principles in the open design context, while others starkly differ from those found in OSS development. Our discussion focusses on different aspects of modularity as well as the availability of low-cost tools.


2021 ◽  
Vol 191 ◽  
pp. 518-523
Author(s):  
Oqaidi Mohammed ◽  
Ait Abdelouahid Rachida ◽  
Debauche Olivier ◽  
Marzak Abdelaziz
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Hany F. Abdalla ◽  
Mohammad M. Megahed ◽  
Maher Y. A. Younan

A simplified technique for determining the shakedown limit load of a structure employing an elastic-perfectly-plastic material behavior was previously developed and successfully applied to a long radius 90-degree pipe bend. The pipe bend is subjected to constant internal pressure and cyclic bending. The cyclic bending includes three different loading patterns namely; in-plane closing, in-plane opening, and out-of-plane bending moment loadings. The simplified technique utilizes the finite element method and employs small displacement formulation to determine the shakedown limit load without performing lengthy time consuming full cyclic loading finite element simulations or conventional iterative elastic techniques. In the present paper, the simplified technique is further modified to handle structures employing elastic-plastic material behavior following the kinematic hardening rule. The shakedown limit load is determined through the calculation of residual stresses developed within the pipe bend structure accounting for the back stresses, determined from the kinematic hardening shift tensor, responsible for the translation of the yield surface. The outcomes of the simplified technique showed very good correlation with the results of full elastic-plastic cyclic loading finite element simulations. The shakedown limit moments output by the simplified technique are used to generate shakedown diagrams of the pipe bend for a spectrum of constant internal pressure magnitudes. The generated shakedown diagrams are compared with the ones previously generated employing an elastic-perfectly-plastic material behavior. These indicated conservative shakedown limit moments compared to the ones employing the kinematic hardening rule.


2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 184a
Author(s):  
Dylan George ◽  
Ashley Cadby ◽  
Timothy D. Craggs

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