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In the present work, the mechanical performance of novel sandwich composite panels based on 3D-knitted spacer fabrics has been investigated. Composite panels were produced using three different types of spacer fabrics having different structural parameters. The sandwich panels were fabricated based on an unsaturated polyester resin using a modified vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process which allowed the formation of low-density core structures. The produced sandwich composite panels were characterized for flexural, compressive, and impact properties. The effect of different fabric structural parameters (such as cross-thread density, linear density of yarn used in face and core, and structure of face) on the processability and mechanical behavior of composite panels has been thoroughly investigated. The results showed that the composite panels based on spacer fabrics having lesser cross-thread density and made of coarser yarns performed better with respect to compressive and impact properties, whereas the best flexural properties were obtained in case of spacer fabrics with high cross-thread density and made of finer yarns.

The application of gasification to thermally treat biomass as carbon neutral resources has been constrained by the technical challenges associated with tar formations, which cause operational problems in downstream equipment for syngas processing. Catalysts, such as transition metals, calcined rocks and char, can be used to catalyse tar reforming. Biochars, which are naturally produced during biomass gasification, are particularly attractive as an alternative catalyst due to their catalytic functions, low cost and long endurance. Despite these promising characteristics, adequate knowledge on the relationship between the porous structure of biochar and its deactivation by coking during the steam reforming of tars is not available. In this work, the influence of the porous structure of biochar on its performance across time for reforming tar was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor, over a temperature range from 650 to 850 °C. Regular biochar and physically activated biochar from the same precursor biomass were employed as bed material. The tar samples were the composed mixture of benzene, toluene and naphthalene. Both fresh and spent catalysts were analysed with Brunauer-Emmet-Teller, tplot, Fourier Transform Infrared and Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy. Results showed that, while at moderate temperatures of 650 and 750 °C, the activated biochar offered a higher tar conversion but more severe deactivation than that of the regular biochar. At the high temperature of 850 °C, the difference in the catalytic performance between the two chars was negligible, and over 90% of the initial tar species were removed throughout the 3-hour long experiments. At 850 °C, the coke deposited in the meso-and macro-pores of both chars was gasified, leading to a stable catalytic performance of both chars. The results indicated that meso-and macro-porous biochars are resilient and active enough to become a viable option for tar steam reforming.

The Harmonic Balance method is an attractive solution for computing periodic responses and can be an alternative to time domain methods, at a reduced computational cost. The current paper investigates using a Harmonic Balance method for simulating limit cycle oscillations under uncertainty. The Harmonic Balance method is used in conjunction with a nonintrusive polynomial-chaos approach to propagate variability and is validated against Monte Carlo analysis. Results show the potential of the approach for a range of nonlinear dynamical systems, including a full wing configuration exhibiting supercritical and subcritical bifurcations, at a fraction of the cost of performing time domain simulations. Prediction of Limit Cycle Oscillations under Uncertainty using a Harmonic Balance MethodRichard Hayes, Simão P. Marques 1, School of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringQueen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK, BT9 5AH AbstractThe Harmonic Balance method is an attractive solution for computing periodic responses and can be an alternative to time domain methods, at a reduced computational cost. The current paper investigates using a Harmonic Balance method for simulating limit cycle oscillations under uncertainty. The Harmonic Balance method is used in conjunction with a nonintrusive polynomial-chaos approach to propagate variability and is validated against Monte Carlo analysis. Results show the potential of the approach for a range of nonlinear dynamical systems, including a full wing configuration exhibiting supercritical and subcritical bifurcations, at a fraction of the cost of performing time domain simulations.

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This paper presents an efficient optimization process, where the parameters defining the features in a feature-based CAD model are used as design variables. The process exploits adjoint methods for the computation of gradients, and as such the computational cost is essentially independent of the number of design variables, making it ideal for optimization in large design spaces. The novelty of this paper lies in linking the adjoint surface sensitivity information with geometric sensitivity values, referred to as design velocities, computed for CAD models created in commercial CAD systems (e.g. CATIA V5 or Siemens NX). This process computes gradients based on the CAD feature parameters, which are used by the optimization algorithm, which in turn updates the values of the same parameters in the CAD model. In this paper, the design velocity and resulting gradient calculations are validated against analytical and finite-difference results. The proposed approach is demonstrated to be compatible with different commercial CAD packages and computational fluid dynamics solvers.

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