ENGINEERING NEWS IN BRIEF

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                  ENGINEERING NEWS IN BRIEF
                        E-Mail Newsletter

                               No.37
             Issued by the Asian TOP Panel, Januaary 2005

           The Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society (CMES)
           The Institution of Engineers, Indonesia (PII)
           The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)
           The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (KSME)

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According to the agreement made in the 2nd Asian TOP Panel Meeting,
the ENGINEERING NEWS IN BRIEF (E-mail newsletter) has now been edited
by the KSME for the year 2005.

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[Contents]

(1) Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMecE) awarded Prof. Lu Yongxiang Honorary Fellow (Source: CMES)
(2) Chinese Mechanical Engineering Delegation visited United Kingdom and Germany (Source: CMES)
(3) CMES delegation visited America (Source: CMES)
(4) Semi-active Damper Using Magnetorheological Fluid (MR Damper) (Source: JSME)
(5) Finite Element Analysis of Thin Membrane Structures (Source: JSME)
(6) Development of Echo PIV Using Ultrasound Contrast Agent (Source : KSME)

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(1) Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMecE) awarded Prof. Lu Yongxiang Honorary Fellow (Source: CMES)

Prof. Lu Yongxiang, Director of China Academy of Science, President of Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society has been awarded Honorary Fellow of Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMecE) on January 8, 2005 since his outstanding contribution on promoting the development of Mechanical Engineering field and the communion among engineers of China and United Kingdom.
Over hundred of years, Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMecE) awarded one engineer or professor honorary fellow who made excellent accomplishment on engineering technology and contribution on the progress of mechanical engineering subjects every year. Professor Lu Yongxiang is the first Chinese scholar to gain this title.

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(2) Chinese Mechanical Engineering Delegation visited United Kingdom and Germany (Source: CMES)

Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society delegation with ten persons led by Prof. Song Tianhu, vice president, general secretary of CMES visited United Kingdom and Germany on Nov. 29- Dec. 14, 2004. They visited the cooperation societies: IMechE, IEE, IIE,TWI, VDI, DVS, VDMA and some Germany companies: Essen Welding Company, IBG, BINZELPhoenix Contact, Phoenix Testlab, DQS etc. The delegation also visited Cambridge University and other cooperation partners during their staying in Europe.
These relevant societies, enterprises and universities held talk with CMES colleagues. All the parties are satisfied with their cooperation situation and believe the visit will promote their friendship and understanding, strengthen the cooperation relationship further. It also developed the working scope of CMES to Europe widely.

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(3) CMES delegation visited America (Source: CMES)

CMES delegation with 13 persons led by Prof. Ding Peifan, deputy general secretary of CMES joined the 2004 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and RD & D EXPO on Nov.13, 2004 and visited Irvine Henry Samueli Engineering Colleague of California University, Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering and Concordia University in Montreal.
The delegation visited the lab of INRF in California. Many kinds of research subjects showed the latest development in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University. The research work carried out in the Microsystems, Biology Microsystems, MEMS and other aspects. The State Fuel Cell Research Center the delegation visited was found in 1998 and now over 20 projects are carrying out there. The advanced fuel cell technology developed in this center put the vehicle with complex hydrogen fuel cell into the American market.
The delegation visited Pratt & Whitney Group during their visit in Canada. The advanced manufacture technique and management model have left good impression on all the delegates
This visit enhanced the cooperation relationship between CMES and ASME, CSME certainly.

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(4) Semi-active Damper Using Magnetorheological Fluid (MR Damper) (Source: JSME)

Hiroshi SODEYAMA, SANWA TEKKI CORPORATION

In recent years, there has been increasing research in several industrial fields for development of semi-active vibration control devices. In particular, dampers using magnetorheological (MR) fluids have been attracting great research interest.
MR fluids consist of a carrier medium such as hydrocarbon-oil or silicone-oil with micron-sized magnetically polarizable particles dispersed in them. When the MR fluid is exposed to the magnetic field, the particles in the fluid connect to each other like a chain that resists the fluid flow. Applied magnetic fields drastically change the viscosity of MR fluids from an oily state to a semi-solid state. MR dampers utilize this fluid characteristic. The MR damper is basically composed of a cylinder, a piston, an MR fluid and an electromagnet. The electromagnet is driven by the supplied electric current and induces the required magnetic field inside the damper.
By adjusting the current on the basis of the optimal control theory, the dynamic characteristics of the MR damper can be controlled as a semi-active damper. Various MR dampers have already been used in practical vibration control applications. A large scale, 400 kN, MR damper have also been developed to mitigate seismic damage of full-scale building structures.

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(5) Finite Element Analysis of Thin Membrane Structures (Source: JSME)

Kyoichi NAKASHINO, JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY (ISAS/JAXA)
Takashi IWASA, JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY (ISAS/JAXA)

Despite the recent developments of finite element (FE) technology, FE analysis of very thin membranes remains a challenging issue because of their highly nonlinear nature. The above issue is addressed using two different approaches, i.e., FE analysis using membrane element and that using shell element. In both cases, focus is placed on membrane wrinkling. We first present FE analysis using membrane element, where wrinkling is accounted for by tension field (TF) theory. It is well known that three-dimensional FE analysis using conventional membrane elements tends to be numerically unstable. However, the introduction of TF theory proves to be highly effective to overcome the numerical instabilities, thus providing an efficient tool for FE analysis of thin membrane structures. We also present FE analysis using mixed interpolation of tensorial components (MITC) shell element is described. The main advantage of shell element over membrane element is its ability to predict detailed shapes of membrane wrinkles. With the use of MITC shell element, wrinkling pattern of a deformed membrane is successfully predicted through bifurcation analysis. An experimental result is also provided, which confirms the validity of the numerical analysis.

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(6) Development of Echo PIV Using Ultrasound Contrast Agent (Source : KSME)

Professor Hyoung-Bum Kim reported that he developed a method of Echo PIV using ultrasound contrast agent in a recent issue of KSME Transactions (no. 12, vol. 28, 2004). He combined ultrasound echo images with digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) method to develop a two-dimensional, two-component velocity field measurement technique which is appropriate for opaque flow conditions including blood flow in clinical applications. Advanced PIV processing algorithms including an iterative scheme and window offsetting were used to increase spatial resolution. The optimum concentration of the ultrasound contrast agent used for seeding was found. Velocity validation tests in fully developed laminar pipe flow showed good agreement with both optical PIV measurements and the known analytic solution based on a volume flow measurement.

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Editor : Professor Mansoo Choi of Seoul National University,
           Director of General Affairs, KSME
           ksme@ksme.or.kr