Jinxing Li^1,#, Jingjing Liao^1,#, Jun Zhang¹, Xiaojian Zhou^1,2,*, Hisham Essawy³, Guanben Du^1,2

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.12, pp. 1607-1616, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.013976

Abstract In this study, pre-concentrated bark, furfuryl alcohol and other biomass raw materials were used to prepare foaming materials by high-speed mechanical stirring without using a foaming agent. We investigated the effect of the postadded water amount on the properties of foaming materials. In particular, we determined basic physical properties of these materials, including the limiting oxygen index (LOI), porosity, thermal conductivity, thermogravimetric analysis, pore size distribution, and microstructure. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the pore size distribution was uniform and the pore size increased with increasing water volume. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG/ DTG) showed that when the… More >

Basharat Ullah¹, Umar Khan¹, Hafiz Abdul Wahab¹, Ilyas Khan^2,*, Dumitru Baleanu^3,4,5, Kottakkaran Sooppy Nisar⁶

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.66, No.1, pp. 947-960, 2021, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2020.012430

Abstract The investigation of Thermal performance in nanofluids and hybrid nanofluids over a curved stretching infinite region strengthens its roots in engineering and industry. Therefore, the comparative thermal analysis in SiO₂–H₂O and (MoS₂–SiO₂)–H₂O is conducted over curved stretching surface. The model is reduced in the dimensional version via similarity transformation and then treated numerically. The velocity and thermal behavior for both the fluids is decorated against the preeminent parameters. From the analysis, it is examined that the motion of under consideration fluids declines against Fr and λ. The thermal performance enhances for higher volumetric fraction and λ. Further, it is noticed… More >

Yunping Zhao, Jianzhuang Lu^*, Xiaowen Chen

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.66, No.1, pp. 517-535, 2021, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2020.012380

Abstract Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are widely used in many fields. Due to their high throughput and high level of computing characteristics, however, an increasing number of researchers are focusing on how to improve the computational efficiency, hardware utilization, or flexibility of CNN hardware accelerators. Accordingly, this paper proposes a dynamically reconfigurable accelerator architecture that implements a Sparse-Winograd F(2 2.3 3)-based high-parallelism hardware architecture. This approach not only eliminates the pre-calculation complexity associated with the Winograd algorithm, thereby reducing the difficulty of hardware implementation, but also greatly improves the flexibility of the hardware; as a result, the accelerator can realize the… More >

Yuhao Jia¹, Bin Cheng^1,2,*, Xiyang Li^1,2, Hui Zhang^1,2, Yinglong Dong¹

Energy Engineering, Vol.117, No.6, pp. 413-427, 2020, DOI:10.32604/EE.2020.012019

Abstract In order to study the effect of icing on the wind turbine blade tip speed ratio and wind energy utilization coefficient under working conditions, it is important to better understand the growth characteristics of wind turbine blade icing under natural conditions. In this paper, the icing test of the NACA4412 airfoil wind turbine was carried out using the natural low temperature wind turbine icing test system. An evaluation model of icing degree was established, and the influence of wind speed and icing degree on the performance parameters of wind turbines was compared and analyzed. It is shown that icing is… More >

Asaad H. Sayer¹, Hameed B. Mahood^2,*

Energy Engineering, Vol.117, No.6, pp. 367-379, 2020, DOI:10.32604/EE.2020.011156

Abstract Salinity gradient solar ponds (SGSPs) provide a tremendous way to collect and store solar radiation as thermal energy, and can help meet the critical need for sustainable ways of producing fresh water. However, surface evaporation results in the loss of both water and heat. This study therefore theoretically investigates the effect on temperatures within an SGSP when its surface is covered with a layer of air encased in a nylon bag. An earlier SGSP model was slightly modified to add the air layer and to estimate the temperature distributions of the upper layer or the upper convective zone (UCZ) and… More >

Jiaqi He¹, Yangjun Luo^1,2,*

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.125, No.2, pp. 777-800, 2020, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2020.010688

Abstract For structures that only the predicted bounds of uncertainties are available, this study proposes a Bayesian method to logically evaluate the nonprobabilistic reliability of structures based on multi-ellipsoid convex model and performance test data. According to the given interval ranges of uncertainties, we determine the initial characteristic parameters of a multi-ellipsoid convex set. Moreover, to update the plausibility of characteristic parameters, a Bayesian network for the information fusion of prior uncertainty knowledge and subsequent performance test data is constructed. Then, an updated multi-ellipsoid set with the maximum likelihood of the performance test data can be achieved. The credible non-probabilistic reliability… More >

Bengang Zhang^1,2,#, Xuedong Xi^3,#, Zhigang Wu^1,*, Hong Lei^2,*, Lifen Li¹, Meifen Tian¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.11, pp. 1429-1441, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.011985

Abstract According to the preparation method commonly used for soy proteinbased adhesives, alfalfa leaf protein was used as the raw material to prepare alfalfa leaf protein-based wood adhesive. Differential scanning calorimetry analyzer (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize properties of the alfalfa leaf protein-based adhesive in this paper. The results revealed the following: (1) Chemical compositions and chemical structures of the alfalfa leaf protein were basically identical with those of the soy protein, both belonging to spherical proteins with the basis and potential for protein adhesives preparation, and spatial cross-linked network structures would… More >

Yinghua Zhang^1,2, Jian Liu¹, Yunfeng Peng¹, Yanfang Dong², Changming Zhao^3,*

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.125, No.1, pp. 239-257, 2020, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2020.010778

Abstract Aiming for ultra-reliable low-latency wireless communications required in industrial internet of things (IIoT) applications, this paper studies a simple cognitive radio non-orthogonal multiple access (CR-NOMA) downlink system. This system consists of two secondary users (SUs) dynamically interfered by the primary user (PU), and its performance is characterized by the outage probability of the SU communications. This outage probability is calculated under two conditions where, a) the transmission of PU starts after the channel state information (CSI) is acquired, so the base station (BS) is oblivious of the interference, and b) when the BS is aware of the PU interference, and… More >

Rongfeng Chen¹, Changqing Miao^2,*

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.14, No.3, pp. 205-228, 2020, DOI:10.32604/sdhm.2020.08997

Abstract In order to study the fatigue properties of rib-to-deck welded connection and rib-to-rib welded connection in orthotropic steel bridge decks, a multi-scale finite element model was set up to analyze the stress distribution characteristics and the load test was conducted on the Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge. Comparing the vehicle test results with the multi-scale finite element model results to verify the accuracy of the finite element simulation for the stress response of two welded details. The results indicated that: The stress at the rib-to-deck welded connection and the rib-to-rib welded connection are the bending stress and the membrane stress, respectively;… More >

Louis Francois Marie^1,*, Sunkara Prudhvi Raj², Policherla Venkata Sai³, Tara MacLeod¹, Morapakala Srinivas², K. Srinivas Reddy³, Tadhg Seán O’Donovan⁴

Energy Engineering, Vol.117, No.5, pp. 323-342, 2020, DOI:10.32604/EE.2020.011035

Abstract Non-centrifugal cane sugar (NCS), known as Jaggery, is a form of unre- fined sugar which contains molasses. The integration of renewable energy resources in the production of NCS, have been analysed. The work investigates the energy requirements of a system incorporating a freeze-concentrator and a solar thermal heater to reduce the reliance on the combustion of bagasse or other fuels in a Jaggery production process. Depending on the extent to which freeze concentration can be incorporated into the process, results show that the minimum theoretical energy required to produce Jaggery can be reduced by 91.30% overall. Although difficult in practice,… More >