Multiscale modelling and experimental analysis of ultrasonic-assisted drilling of GLARE fibre metal laminates

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Ultrasonic-assisted drilling (UAD) of Glass laminate aluminium reinforced epoxy (GLARE) at high cutting speeds (Spindle speeds: 3000–7500 rpm; feed rates 300–750 mm/min) by analysing the thrust force and hole quality metrics (surface roughness, hole size, and burr formations. The research also...

Influence of surface roughness on the mode II fracture toughness and fatigue resistance of bonded composite-to-steel joints

Hybrid bi-material concepts in engineering structures where fibre-polymer composites are used together with steel structural members have potential to reduce material usage, extend fatigue life and improve structural reliability. The bond performance of the bi-material composite-to-steel interface is of crucial importance and highly relies on...

Systematic errors observed in CryoSat-2 elevation swaths on mountain glaciers and their implications

Our awareness of ice caps' and mountain glaciers' sensitivity to climate change has driven major advances in the application of remote sensing techniques during the past decade. Regarding ESA's SARIn altimeter CryoSat-2, processing the full waveform to generate swaths of elevation estimates has become standard practice in regions of complex...

Numerical simulation and characterization of speckle noise for laser Doppler vibrometer on moving platforms (LDVom)

Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) is extensively applied in remote and precise vibration measurements for structural monitoring. Speckle noise is a severe signal issue restricting LDV applications, mainly when an LDV scans from moving platforms. Realistic simulations and thorough characterizations of speckle noise can support the despeckle...

Learning to Feel Textures: Predicting Perceptual Similarities From Unconstrained Finger-Surface Interactions

Whenever we touch a surface with our fingers, we perceive distinct tactile properties that are based on the underlying dynamics of the interaction. However, little is known about how the brain aggregates the sensory information from these dynamics to form abstract representations of textures. Earlier studies in surface perception all used...

Surface texture characterization for thin-wall NASA HR-1 Fe–Ni–Cr alloy using laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED)

Additive Manufacturing (AM) offers new design and manufacturing opportunities of thin-wall microchannel heat exchangers for aerospace and industrial applications. Laser Powder Directed Energy Deposition (LP-DED) is an AM process providing large scale manufacturing of thin-wall microchannel heat exchangers. Successful industrialization of the LP...

Machining GLARE fibre metal laminates: a comparative study on drilling effect between conventional and ultrasonic-assisted drilling

GLARE laminates are multi-layered metal-composite materials created from bonding sheets of metallic alloys with carbon or glass fibre layers. The application of hybrid-conventional machining processes such as ultrasonic-assisted drilling (UAD) is becoming of great interest to the aerospace industry due to its capability in reducing the...

On the influence of glass fiber mat on the mixed-mode fracture of composite-to-metal bonded joints

In this work, the influence of a layer of glass fiber mat (GFM) inserted in a bi-material bonded joint interface is investigated as a toughening mechanism to improve the fracture performance of bonded structures. Composite-to-metal bonded specimens were manufactured by hand lay-up using two different consolidation processes: at room pressure...

Fatigue behaviour of non-welded wrapped composite joints for steel hollow sections in axial load experiments

Design and execution of fatigue load dominated circular hollow section (CHS) multi-membered structures, such as offshore jacket and floating structures for wind turbines, truss bridges, etc., is hinged on fatigue performance of critical welded joints. An innovative jointing technology of wrapped composite joint connects steel hollow sections by...

Effect of surface roughness on heat transfer in Rayleigh-Bénard convection

This paper reports on an experimental study of the effects of surface roughness on the flow and heat transfer in cubical Rayleigh-Bénard convection cells for Rayleigh numbers between 10⁷ and 10¹⁰. In the rough cells the top and bottom surfaces are equipped with square arrays of copper cubes. In line with other studies,...

Materials aspects of hydro-abrasive wear in the dredging industry

A better understanding of the wear mechanism of materials is essential to selecting suitable materials to prolong service time and reduce costs. Wear resistance is not an intrinsic material property but a response to a system including multiples parameters determined by the material, the counter body, the load condition, and the environment....