Behavior of Inflatable Drop-Stitch Fabric Panels Subjected to Bending and Compression

In this paper, the mechanics of inflatable drop-stitch panels are investigated, including the impact of large shear deformations, nonlinearity due to wrinkling of the panel skin that occurs under net compressive strain, work done by the confined internal air, and the effect of the drop-stitch yarns on the panel skin stresses. A large deflection finite element (FE) analysis framework is presented that allows for a panel's stability and post-buckling response to be quantified. The FE code is verified through comparison with available analytical solutions, and the impact of critical response drivers is examined. The FE models are then used to explore the capacity of panel walls when used as part of a shelter subject to realistic wind and snow loads and to assess the dependence of the capacity on the important design parameters of inflation pressure and panel depth. The analyses indicate that while the drop-stitch panel capacity is sensitive to the panel depth and inflation pressure, panels with reasonable cross-sectional dimensions are viable for use in structural applications where they must support significant compression and bending. Future work should focus on increasing the structural efficiency and capacity by increasing the panel shear stiffness and operational inflation pressure.

In Situ, Real-Time Temperature Mapping and Thermal FE Simulations of Large-Format 3D Printed PETG/CF Vertical Wall

This work focuses on simulating the thermal history of a vertical wall consisting of a thermoplastic composite material, poly(ethylene terephthalate) glycol (PETG) with short carbon fiber reinforcement, manufactured using a Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) system. The incremental deposition process used in additive manufacturing, which corresponds to the repeated deposition of hot material onto cooler material, contributes to the presence of residual stresses and part warping. The prediction of these mechanisms is dependent on thermal history of the part, and the major motivation of this work was to improve the accuracy of finite element (FE) models used to quantify the thermal history of large-format additively manufactured parts. Thermocouples were placed throughout the part at varying heights to measure temperature as a function of time. The FE model developed found a thermal contact conductance between the printed part and the bed of 10 W/m2K and convection coefficient values that linearly varied from 3 to 15 W/m2K through the wall height when making a temperature comparison with the output from the thermocouples. It is also demonstrated that the FE model with a constant convection coefficient under-predicts model temperature at the beginning of the manufacturing process when compared against the model with a variable convection coefficient. The impact of this difference was seen in the stress values, which were larger for the model with a constant convection coefficient. Finally, a correlation equation was derived which allows the findings to be generalized to other vertical structures manufactured on the BAAM. In summary, this work offers valuable insights on material characterization, real-time thermocouple placement, and FE modeling of large-format additively manufactured parts.

Uptake of mercury by thiol-grafted chitosan gel beads

This study describes the synthesis and characterization of thiol-grafted chitosan beads for use as mercury (Hg) adsorbents. Chitosan flakes were dissolved and formed into spherical beads using a phase inversion technique, then crosslinked to improve their porosity and chemical stability. Cysteine was grafted onto the beads in order to improve the adsorption affinity of Hg to the beads. The beads possessed an average diameter of 3.2 mm, porosity of 0.9, specific surface area of approximately 100 m2/g, average pore size of approximately 120 angstroms, and specific gravity of 2.0. Equilibrium and kinetic uptake experiments were conducted to study the uptake of Hg by the beads. The adsorption capacity was approximately 8.0 mmol-Hg/g-dry beads at pH 7, and decreased with decreasing pH. Hg adsorption kinetics was modeled as radial pore diffusion into a spherical bead with nonlinear adsorption. Use of the nonlinear Freundlich isotherm in the diffusion equation allowed modeling of the uptake kinetics with a single tortuosity factor of 1.5 +/- 0.3 as the fitting parameter for all initial Hg concentrations, chitosan loadings, and agitation rates. At agitation rates of 50 and 75 rpm, where uptake rate was reduced significantly due to the boundary layer effect, the mass transfer coefficient at the outside boundary was also used as a fitting parameter to model the kinetic data. At agitation rates higher than 150 rpm, pore diffusion was the rate-limiting step. The beads exhibited a high initial uptake rate followed by a slower uptake rate suggesting pore diffusion as the rate-determining step especially at high agitation rates. Higher uptake rates observed in this study compared to those in a previous study of chitosan-based crab shells indicate that dissolution and gel formation increase the porosity and pore accessibility of chitosan.

Kinetics of cadmium uptake by chitosan-based crab shells

Crushed crab shells were chemically treated to transform the chitin present into chitosan. Three particle sizes with average diameters of 0.65, 1.43 and 3.38 mm, average pore diameters ranging from approximately 300 to 540 A, and a specific surface area of approximately 30 m2/g were obtained. Batch experiments were performed to study the uptake equilibrium and kinetics of cadmium by chitosan. Adsorption equilibrium followed a Freundlich relationship and was found to be independent of particle size indicating that adsorption takes place largely in the pore space. A high initial rate of cadmium uptake was followed by a slower uptake rate suggesting intraparticle diffusion as the rate-limiting step. The kinetic uptake data were successfully modeled using a pore diffusion model incorporating nonlinear adsorption. The effect of boundary layer resistance was modeled through inclusion of a mass transfer expression at the outside boundary. Two fitting parameters, the tortuosity factor (tau) and the mass transfer coefficient at the outside boundary (k(c)) were used. These parameters were unique for all solute and sorbent concentrations. The tortuosity factors varied from 1.5 for large particles to 5.1 for small particles. The mass transfer coefficient varied from 2 x 10(-7) m/s at 50 rpm to 2 x 10(-3) m/s at 200 rpm. At agitation rates below 100 rpm, boundary layer resistance reduced the uptake rate significantly. Its very high sorption capacity and relatively low production cost make chitosan an attractive sorbent for the removal of heavy metals from waste streams.