Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites through 3D printed Auxetic and Non-Auxetic Reinforcement: A numerical and experimental research

Currently concrete is one of the most used building materials in the world. Despite its ability to withstand compressive loads, concrete has a low tensile strength, making it prone to cracking when pulled apart. Therefore, reinforcement is required to withstand the tensile stresses. This is generally achieved by applying steel rebars into the...

Hydrocarbon Seeded ABS - Nitrous Hybrid Engine Development: Experimental Validation of an Analytical Design Tool

After the breakup of the Stratos III vehicle, inertial roll coupling was pinpointed to be the root cause. In order to battle the problem a propulsive roll control system was suggested to keep the roll rate under acceptable bounds. A restartable hybrid rocket engine using nitrous oxide and ABS plastic was proposed. 27 tests have been performed of...

Improving the adhesion strength of polymers: effect of surface treatments

To improve their adhesion strength, polymeric surfaces are usually modified through different treatments. This study investigates the effect of mechanical, chemical, and energetic treatments on the bonding strength of ethylene propylene diene methylene (EPDM), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) materials. Three...

Micro-scale computational analysis of Fused Filament Fabricated Materials: Experimentally-validated Finite Element Analyses of Representative Volume Elements

This work aims at predicting the elasto-plastic and fracture behavior of ABS polymers obtained by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). The strategy adopted is to characterize the microstructure of Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) of the material, as well as the mechanical properties of the polymeric filament used in the FFF process and then...

Effect of UV/ozone treatment on the wettability and adhesion of polymeric systems

The impact of UV/ozone treatment on the wettability and adhesion of ethylene propylene diene methylene (EPDM) rubber, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) was investigated using contact angle measurements, OWRK surface free energy model, standardized adhesion tests, and spectroscopic and microscopic observations...

Design of an anti-lock brake algorithm based on wheel load measurements

Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) is an active safety system nowadays implemented in every new car and could prevent the wheels from locking during heavy braking. Steering becomes ineffective and the brake distance longer than necessary when the wheels are locked. ABS has reduced the amount of non-fatal crashes significantly, but there are still...

Design and Implementation of Adaptive Brake Pressure Controller

Road safety has been the subject of interest for research from the time the first automotive was invented. Safety has been characterized by many factors but the most prominent is maintaining control over the vehicle motion in all situations. Modern safety systems especially Antilock Braking System (ABS) in combination with Electronic Stability...

Design and Implementation of a Novel Force and Brake Pressure based Anti-lock Braking System

System Identification of the Brake Setup in the TU Delft Vehicle Test Lab

Testing facilities such as the TU Delft Vehicle Test Lab (VTL) are needed to provide necessary experimental data to validate and to compare the performance of several ABS controllers like the Feed-Forward Braking controller. Before testing ABS controllers with the VTL measurement system, it needs to be improved first. Earlier measurements...