Wheel out-of-roundness (OOR) inevitably jeopardizes the safety of railway operations. Regular visual inspection and checking by experienced workers are the commonly adopted practices to identify wheel defects. However, the defects may not be spotted in time. The paper puts forward a new method to real-time monitor wheel OOR based on PVDF strain sensor. Track strain response upon wheel-rail inte...

Mechanical loads play a significant role in determining long bone shape and strength, but less work has explored how these loads influence flat bones like the scapula, which has been shown to vary with locomotor preference among primate taxa. Here, we tested the effects of voluntary running and climbing exercise in mice to examine how the mechanical loads borne from different locomotor patterns...

This paper studies the surface finish and integrity of glass, silicon, some advanced ceramics and aluminum-based metal matrix composites (MMCs) reinforced with ceramic particles, precision machined by various machining processes. The studies revealed that grinding/lapping operations using inexpensive machine tools can produce ductile streaks on glass and silicon surfaces under good grinding/lap...

This paper proposes a novel and mechanically decoupled leg and wheel hybrid transformable robot called HyTRo-I that combines two mobility concepts. For example, while wheeled vehicles shares higher speed than legged and tracked machines on a flat ground, they have relatively lower degree of flexibility than the other two on irregular terrain. The HyTRo-I robot evolves three motion modes: wheele...

In this paper we present the linearized equations of motion for a bicycle as a benchmark. The results obtained by pencil-and-paper and two programs are compared. The bicycle model we consider here consists of four rigid bodies, viz. a rear frame, a front frame being the front fork and handlebar assembly, a rear wheel and a front wheel, which are connected by revolute joints. The contact between...

rotary atomizers are commonly used in spray dryers to atomize feed. one destructive effect of wheel rotation is the creation of a vacuum inside the wheel that conducts hot air from the chamber into the wheel and can lead to atomizer blockage and an explosion. the present work determined the air-pumping characteristics of a rotary atomizer with a 50 mm wheel diameter. the vacuum pressure and pow...

A new type of holonomic omnidirectionul vehicle which consists of wheel mechanisms without free rollers but with conventional tires is presented. We first present a concept of the new driving wheel mechanism with a tire in the conventional style such QS a rubber tire or a pneumatic tire,"Offset Steered Driving Wheel". The configuration of the wheel has an offset distance between a wheel axle an...