• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1092-1100
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• 2010

Bacteria, fungi, and protozoa inhabiting the rumen, the largest chamber of the ruminants' stomach, release large quantities of hydrogen during the fermentation of carbohydrates. The hydrogen is used by coexisting methanogens to produce methane in energy-yielding processes. This work shows, for the first time, a fundamental possibility of using a hydrogen-rich fermentation gas produced by selected rumen ciliates to feed a low-temperature hydrogen fuel cell. A biohydrogen fuel cell (BHFC) was constructed consisting of (i) a bioreactor, in which a hydrogen-rich gas was produced from glucose by rumen ciliates, mainly of the Isotrichidae family, deprived of intra- and extracellular bacteria, methanogens, and fungi; and (ii) a chemical fuel cell of the polymer-electrolyte type (PEFC). The fuel cell was used as a tester of the technical applicability of the fermentation gas produced by the rumen ciliates for power generation. The average estimated hydrogen yield was ca. 1.15 mol $H_2$ per mole of fermented glucose. The BHFC performance was equal to the performance of the PEFC running on pure hydrogen. No fuel cell poisoning effects were detected. A maximum power density of $1.66\;kW/m^2$ (PEFC geometric area) was obtained at room temperature. The maximum volumetric power density was $128\;W/m^3$ but the coulombic efficiency was only ca. 3.8%. The configuration of the bioreactor limited the continuous operation time of this BHFC to ca. 14 h.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 1992

Recently, the problem which actively control the unwanted noise propagated from the technical structure by the generated secondary sound has become considerable topic from the environmental preservation point of view. In most of these studies, active noise control deals with a plane wave propagation at low frequency using adaptive filtering techniques. On the other hand, in real acoustic systems are mostly short due to the limitation of geometric configuration. In this case, the acoustic properties such as reflections and resonances inside the acoustic system should be considered. In this paper, the acoustic modeling method for short length duct was introduced using the transfer matrix method, and the active noise control problem was investigated with \implementation of FIR filter for the transfer function of control system derived from this modeling method. The identification methods for the acoustic model of actual control system was proposed by numerical computation technique based on the estimation of optimal FIR filter coefficients. The acceptable attenuation on the real acoustic system and stability of the controller are predicted in this computational simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.77-86
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• 2013

Embankments on soft ground experience significant deformation during time-dependent consolidation settlement, as well as an initial undrained settlement. Since infinitesimal strain theory assumes no configuration change and minute strain during deformation, finite strain analysis is required for better prediction of geotechnical problems involving large strain and geometric change induced by imposed loadings. Updated Lagrangian formulation is developed for time-dependent consolidation combining both force equilibrium and mass conservation of fluid, and mechanical constitutive equation is written in Janumann stress rate. Numerical convergence during Newton's iteration in large deformation analysis is improved by Nagtegaal's approach of considering the effect of rotation in mechanical constitutive relationship. Numerical simulations are conducted to discuss numerical reliability and applicability of developed numerical code: deformation of cantilever beam, two-dimensional consolidation. The numerical results show that developed formulation can efficiently describe large deformation problems. Proposed formulation is expected to facilitate the upgrading of a numerical code based on infinitesimal strain theory to that based on finite strain analysis.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.468-480
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• 1998

The temporal and spatial distributions of soot volume fractions were measured for single toluene droplet flames as a function of pressure under the normal-gravity condition. In order to characterize the transient nature of the flame and sooting regions, a full-field light extinction and subsequent tomographic inversion technique was used. The reduction in sooting as a function of pressure was assessed by comparison of the maximum soot volume fractions at several vertical positions along the axis above the droplet. The maximum soot volume fraction was reduced by 70% when the pressure was reduced by 60% from 1 atm to 0.4 atm. The reduction in sooting is attributed to variation of the geometric configuration of flame which reduces the system Grashof number as well as only the change in the adiabatic flame temperature as the pressure decreases. The gravimetrically-measured total soot yield was also compared to the optically-measured soot volume fraction to obtain a correlation between the two measurements. As a result, the total soot yield was linearly proportional to the optically-measured maximum soot volume fraction and linearly reduced as the pressure decreased. Accordingly, the non-intrusive full-field light extinction-measurements were able to be calibrated not only to measure soot volume fraction, but to simultaneously evaluate the total soot yield emitted from the toluene droplet flame (which is useful in the practical application).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.329-337
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• 2016

As a turbulence-enhancing device, a mixing vane, which is installed at a spacer grid of the fuel assembly, plays an important role in improving convective heat transfer by generating either swirl flow in the subchannels or cross flow between the fuel rod gaps. Therefore, both the geometric configuration and the arrangement pattern of a mixing vane are important factors in determining the performance of a mixing vane. In this study, in order to examine the flow-distribution features inside a $5{\times}5$ fuel assembly with split-type mixing vanes, which was used in the benchmark calculation of the OECD/NEA, we conduct simulations using the commercial computational fluid dynamics software, ANSYS CFX R.14. We compare the predicted results with measured data obtained from the MATiS-H (Measurement and Analysis of Turbulent Mixing in Subchannels-Horizontal) test facility. In addition, we discuss the effect of the split-type mixing vanes on the flow pattern inside the fuel assembly.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.389-395
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• 2016

In this paper, vibration characteristics in terms of the airfoil cross-sectional shape was examined by using the EDISON co-rotational plane beam-transient analysis. Co-Rotational plane beam analysis is appropriate for large rotation and small strain. Assuming aircraft wing as a cantilevered beam, natural frequencies of each airfoil cross-sectional shape were estimated using VABS program and fast Fourier transformation(FFT). VABS conducts finite element analysis on the cross-section including the detailed geometry and material distribution to estimate the beam sectional properties. Under the same airfoil geometric configuration and material selection, variation of material induced difference in the deflection and natural frequencies. It was observed that variation of the natural frequency was dependent on variation of the airfoil shape and material.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.355-367
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• 2004

The heat transfer and friction characteristics of the heat exchangers having sinusoidal wave fins were experimentally investigated. Twenty-nine samples having different waffle heights (1.5 mm and 2.0 m), fin pitches (1.3mm to 1.7mm) and tube rows (one to three) were tested. Focus was given to the effect of the waffle configuration (herringbone or sinusoidal) on the heat transfer and friction characteristics. Results show that the sinusoidal wave geometry provides higher heat transfer coefficients and friction factors than the herringbone wave geometry, and the difference increases as the number of row increases. The i/f ratios of the herringbone wave geometry, however, are larger than those of the sinusoidal wave geometry. Compared to the herringbone wave geometry, the sinusoidal wave geometry yielded a weak row effect, which suggests a superior heat transfer performance at the fully developed flow region. Possible explanation is provided considering the flow characteristics in wavy channels. Within the present geometric range, the effect of the waffle height on the heat transfer coefficient was not prominent. The effect of the fin pitch was also negligible. Existing correlations highly overpredicted both the heat transfer coefficients and friction factors. A new correlation was developed using the present data.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.459-467
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• 2012

In this work, the configuration of a haptic gripper featuring magnetorheological(MR) brakes is proposed and an optimal design of the MR brakes for the haptic griper is performed considering the required braking torque, the uncontrollable torque(zero-field friction torque) and mass of the brakes. Several configurations of MR brake is proposed such as disc-type, serpentine-type and hybrid-type. After the configurations of the MR brakes are proposed, braking torque of the brakes is analyzed based on Bingham rheological model of the MR fluid. The zero-field friction torque of the MR brakes is also analyzed. An optimization procedure based on finite element analysis integrated with an optimization toolbox is developed for the MR brakes. The purpose of the optimal design is to find optimal geometric dimensions of the MR brake structure that can produce the required braking torque and minimize the mass of the MR brakes. In addition, the uncontrollable torque of the MR brakes is constrained to be much smaller than the required braking torque. Based on the developed optimization procedure, optimal solution of the proposed MR brakes are achieved and the best MR brake is determined. The working performance of the optimized MR brake is then investigated.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.21-27
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• 2018

It is difficult to fabricate and maintain moving parts of expander at cryogenic temperature. This paper describes numerical analysis and experimental investigation on a cryogenic reciprocating expander without moving piston. An intake valve which takes high-pressure gas, and an exhaust valve which discharges low-pressure gas, are connected to a tube. The inside pressure of the tube is pulsated for work production. This geometric configuration is similar to that of pulse tube refrigerator but without regenerator. An orifice valve and a reservoir are installed to control the phase of the mass flow and the pressure. At the warm end, a heat exchanger rejects the heat which is converted from the produced work of the expanded gas. For the numerical analysis, mass conservation, energy conservation, and local mass function for valves are used as the governing equations. Before performing cryogenic experiments, we carried out the expander test at room temperature and compared the performance results with the numerical results. For cryogenic experiments, the gas is pre-cooled by liquid nitrogen, and then it enters the pulse tube expander. The experiments are controlled by the opening of the orifice valve. Numerical analysis also found the expander conditions that optimize the expander performance by changing the intake pressure and valve timing as well as the opening of the orifice valve. This paper discusses the experimental data and the numerical analysis results to understand the fundamental behavior of such a newly developed non-mechanical expander and elucidate its potential feature for cryogenic application.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.673-685
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• 2007

Reinforced concrete beams can be strengthened in a structural retrofit process by attaching steel plates to their sides by bolting. Whilst bolting produces a confident degree of shear connection under conditions of either static or seismic overload, the plates are susceptible to local buckling. The aim of this paper is to investigate the local buckling of unilaterally-restrained plates with point supports in a generic fashion, but with particular emphasis on the provision of the restraints by bolts, and on the geometric configuration of these bolts on the buckling loads. A numerical procedure, which is based on the Rayleigh-Ritz method in conjunction with the technique of Lagrange multipliers, is developed to study the unilateral local buckling of rectangular plates bolted to the concrete with various arrangements of the pattern of bolting. A sufficient number of separable polynomials are used to define the flexural buckling displacements, while the restraint condition is modelled as a tensionless foundation using a penalty function approach to this form of mathematical contact problem. The additional constraint provided by the bolts is also modelled using Lagrange multipliers, providing an efficacious method of numerical analysis. Local buckling coefficients are determined for a range of bolting configurations, and these are compared with those developed elsewhere with simplifying assumptions. The interaction of the actions in bolted plates during buckling is also considered.