Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering and Sciences

Characterization of Plantain Fiber Reinforced High Density Polyethylene Composite for Application in Design of Auto Body Fenders

Ihueze, Christopher Chukwutoo, Obiora Jeremiah Obiafudo, Christian Emeka Okafor — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0100

High density polyethylene composite reinforced with natural plantain fiber was
produced using injection moulding technique. The production process utilized the popular L18
Taguchi experimental design which allowed for investigating the effects of the major production
variables (the machine parameters) such as; barrel(melt) temperature, mold temperature, injection
pressure, holding pressure, back pressure, clamping force and shaft speed in the final mechanical
property of the product. Moreover, the need to use improved fiber volume fraction/particle size
and appropriate compactibilizer mass was verified. The various mechanical tests conducted on
the new composite material reveal that fiber volume fraction of 0.1, particle size of 75μm and
compactibilizer mass of 0.00024kg yields a high quality composite material with improved
mechanical properties suitable for auto body fender application. The Taguchi robust design
technique was applied for "the greater the better" to obtain the highest signal-to-noise ratio
(SNratio) for quality characteristics (strengths) in the determination of optimum factor levels. The
improved PFRHDPEC was found to have optimum tensile strength of 87.44MPa
, yield strength of
76.6MPa
, Flexural strength of 77.03J, Rockwell Hardness strength of 756.99, Impact strength of
16.21J and density of 993kg/m3
. The result shows that the auto body fender produced based on
compactibilized PFRHDPEC has an advantage of reduced density compared to that of steel and
alternative composite materials

Review of Oil and Gas Composite Piping System

Ihueze, Christopher Chukwutoo, Chukwumuanya, Emmanuel Okechukwu — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0100

Continued increase in the use of vessels for storage, industrial processing, and power
generation under unusual conditions of pressure, temperature, and environment has given special
emphasis to analytical and environmental methods for determining their operating stresses.
Creeps, fracture, fatigue, explosion, vibration, expansion, buckling loads, etc constitute factors
known to cause some form of stresses and deformations or failure in composite material vessels
used in oil and gas industry. Good knowledge of the nature and magnitude of these stresses
enables provision of the adequate methods for their prevention and control. The study aimed at
modeling the wall thickness of an oil pipeline (pressurized cylindrical vessels) used in
transferring oil from one location to another. In doing so, a review of some published works on
such factors as creeps, fracture, fatigue failure, expansion, buckling loads, etc was also made. A
liquid flow problem was formulated and solved using a number of the existing design failure
theories used in the design of oil and gas piping systems. The solved problem shows vividly how
the wall thickness of an oil pipeline under fluid pressure can be determined and selected from
among the existing commercial standard pipe sizes. It is hoped that this work will answer some of
the questions asked by engineering students during lectures on theories and design of pressure
vessels.

Small and Large Deflections in Slabs and Cantilevers Using Isogeometric and Finite Element Analysis Approach: Implications for Buildings under Erosion Effects

Umeononankume P. E, Ezeagu C.A — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0100

In this study, the deflection behaviour of structural elements was reviewed in detail in
order to ascertain the possible failure behaviour of structures in erosion prone regions of
Anambra State. The study was approached using isogeometric and finite element analysis using
MATLAB and C++ programming language. The study focused more on deflection sensitive
structural components such as plates and cantilevers. Using isogeometric analysis (IGA), the
small deflection of a 6m x 6m clamped plate subjected to a serviceability pressure load was found
to be 0.0627% more than the exact solution. IGA gave better result than finite element analysis
carried out using StaadPro software (matrix size: 20 x 20) which was 1.1173% higher than the
exact solution. Using Mindlin plate theory (incorporating shear deformation), IGA results were
0.1856% higher than finite element analysis result. On considering the large deformation of the
square plate element at serviceability limit state at 100 iteration steps, the results show that the
maximum deflection was 1.613mm, exactly the same with small deflection theory. At ultimate
limit state (failure load), the result from large deflection analysis increased to 2.375mm
(32.084% increase) at 100 iteration steps.