Abstract: The world is getting modernized and industrialized day by day. As a result vehicles and engines are increasing. But energy sources used in these engines are limited and decreasing gradually. This situation leads to seek an alternative fuel for diesel engine. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engine. The esters of vegetables oil animal fats are known as Biodiesel. This paper investigates the prospect of making of biodiesel from jatropha oil. Jatropha curcas is a renewable non-edible plant. Jatropha is a wildly growing hardy plant in arid and semi-arid regions of the country on degraded soils having low fertility and moisture. The seeds of Jatropha contain 50-60% oil. In this study the oil has been converted to biodiesel by the well-known transesterification process and used it to diesel engine for performance evaluation.

Abstract: An inflatable cell model of paragrlider’s wing canopy has been investigated in wind tunnel experiments, which is designed to represent the dynamic behaviors of each cell comprising the canopy. Effects of air-intake of paraglider canopy have also been investigated in this study. The improvement of the shape of air intake and pressure distribution from the standpoints of aerodynamics will contribute to raise flexible wing gliding ratio and safety. To perform the experiment, flexible wing canopy cell model and simplified rigid air intake model had been prepared. Cross-sectional wing profiles and internal surface pressures of the cell model are measured at different angle of attack and Reynolds number, to understand the formation characteristic of paraglider wing canopy model. The cell model is fully inflated at greater than a few degrees angle of attack. In order to understand the lift and drag behaviors, external pressure distributions of the cell model are measured.

Abstract: A finite element model is developed to study the mechanical behavior of nano-structured materials. The model serves as a link between computational chemistry and solid mechanics by substituting discrete molecular structures with an equivalent-continuum model. The model reported here is a continuation of a previous model, which was developed by the authors and was applied to determine the effective stiffness of a graphene sheet. The present model is developed by bending the previously developed graphene sheet model around its vertical edge to form a single wall carbon nanotube, which, then, has been characterized to find its mechanical properties.

Abstract: Copper–graphite composites with graphite contents 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 wt.% was formed by powder metallurgy. Effect of the processing parameters on the wear resistance and the compression strength of the composites were studied. Three compaction pressures (150, 250, and 350 MPa) and three sintering temperatures (900, 950, and 1000 oC) were applied. Lead or zinc with 0.5, 1, and 1.5 wt.% of was mixed with (copper/2.5 or 5 wt.% graphite composites) which give good values of hardness, compressive strength and wear resistance. The wear testing was carried out using a pin-on-disc wear tester. Vickers hardness measurements were used to investigate the hardness of the products. For copper graphite composites, increase of compaction pressure and sintering temperature increased the relative density of both green and sintered parts which increases the mechanical properties. At low graphite contents (0 to 5 wt %) the copper particles were coherent. So, the wear resistance increases. and with increasing amount of graphite, particles of graphite work as insulation to the particles of copper, so the mechanical properties and wear resistance were reduced. Improvement in the mechanical properties and wear resistance was observed when adding 0.5, 1, 1.5 wt% of lead or zinc to copper- graphite (cu+2.5 or 5 wt% graphite) composites.

Abstract: A generalizes model presenting the sandwich beams was developed to calculate the flexural rigidity and sandwich beams dynamic characteristics . Different cases such as sandwich beams multi layer cores, sandwich beams multi cells, sandwich beams with holes in its cores having different shapes and different orientations were investigated. The finite element code ANSYS 11 was used for free vibration analysis of the sandwich beams; the natural frequencies and mode shapes and the static deflection of the sandwich beams were calculated. The obtained results from the finite element code ANSYS 11 such as static deflections, static rigidity and natural frequencies were compared with that obtained from the generalized equations according the cases of investigations which appear to be in good agreement with each others, therefore the generalized model can be used for the best design of the sandwich beams.

Abstract: This paper contains the flow characteristics over a blunt and non-blunt plate. To investigate the effect of air-intake of paraglider one blunt and one non-blunt model has been prepared. To achieve the goal of this research flow visualization, local flow velocity measurement and surface pressure measurement has been conducted. Flow visualization done by smoke wire method and flow velocity measured by hot wire anemometer method. After the investigation it has been found that that the air intake is very important to inflate the flexible wing and maintain the inner pressure during flight period at different situation and it has also vital rule to create lower pressure on the lower surface of the wing, consequently increase the lift coefficient.

Abstract: The laminated composite beams are basic structural components used in a variety of engineering structures such as airplane wings, helicopter blades and turbine blades as well as many others in the aerospace, mechanical, and civil industries. An important element in the dynamic analysis of composite beams is the computation of their natural frequencies and mode shapes. This is important because composite beam structures often operate in complex environmental conditions and are frequently exposed to a variety of dynamic excitations. In this paper, a combined finite element and experimental approach is used to characterize the vibration behavior of composite beams. To this end, some beams are made using the hand-lay-up process. Glass fiber is used as reinforcement in the form of bidirectional fabric and general purpose polyester resin as matrix for the composite material of beams. Experimental dynamic tests are carried out using specimens with different fiber orientations. From the results, the influence of fiber orientations on the flexural natural frequencies is investigated. Also, these experiments are used to validate the results obtained from the finite element software ANSYS.

Abstract: This paper describes the potential of winglets for the reduction of induced drag without increasing the span of the aircraft. For this experiment a model aircraft has been constructed by aluminum-alloy whose wings profile is NACA 4315. There are three different types (rectangular, triangular and circular) of winglet are constructed for experiment. Aerodynamic characteristics for the model aircraft wing with rectangular, triangular and circular winglets and without winglet have been studied using a subsonic wind tunnel of 36cm×36cm rectangular test section. Drag measurements are carried out using an external balance. Tests are carried out on the aircraft model with and without winglet at the Reynolds numbers 0.16× , 0.18× , 0.20× , 0.23× and 0.25× . The experimental results show that the drag decreases by 26.4% - 30.9% as compared to the aircraft model with and without winglet for the maximum Reynolds number considered in the present study.