Open microfluidics, the study of microflows having a boundary with surrounding air, encompasses different aspects such as paper or thread-based microfluidics, droplet microfluidics and open-channel microfluidics. Open-channel microflow is a flow at the micro-scale, guided by solid structures, and having at least a free boundary (with air or vapor) other than the advancing meniscus. This book is devoted to the study of open-channel microfluidics which (contrary to paper or thread or droplet microfluidics) is still very sparsely documented, but bears many new applications in biology, biotechnology, medicine, material and space sciences. Capillarity being the principal force triggering an open microflow, the principles of capillarity are first recalled. The onset of open-channel microflow is next analyzed and the fundamental notion of generalized Cassie angle (the apparent contact angle which accounts for the presence of air) is presented. The theory of the dynamics of open-channel microflows is then developed, using the notion of averaged friction length which accounts for the presence of air along the boundaries of the flow domain. Different channel morphologies are studied and geometrical features such as valves and capillary pumps are examined. An introduction to two-phase open-channel microflows is also presented showing that immiscible plugs can be transported by an open-channel flow. Finally, a selection of interesting applications in the domains of space, materials, medicine and biology is presented, showing the potentialities of open-channel microfluidics.

Structural Health Monitoring of Aerospace Composite Structures offers a comprehensive review of established and promising technologies under development in the emerging area of structural health monitoring (SHM) of aircraft composite structures.

Beginning with a description of the different types of composite damage, which differ fundamentally from the damage states encountered in metallic airframe materials, the book moves on to describe the SHM methods and sensors currently under consideration before considering application examples related to specific composites, SHM sensors and detection methods. Expert author Victor Giurgiutiu closes with a valuable discussion of the advantages and limitations of various sensors and methods, helping you to make informed choices in your structure research and development.

With nondestructive continual and on-demand damage detection high on the agenda in aerospace to manage the structural unknowns associated with new composite dominated models making their way into commercial use, Structural Health Monitoring of Aerospace Composite Structures is an authoritative reference on a critical topic.
The first comprehensive review of one of the hottest areas in aerospace structures, providing breadth and detail to bring engineers and researchers up to speed on this rapidly developing field

Covers the main classes of SHM sensors, including fiber optic sensors, piezoelectric wafer active sensors, electrical properties sensors and conventional resistance strain gauges, and considers their applications and limitation

Includes details of active approaches, including acousto-ultrasonics, vibration, frequency transfer function, guided-wave tomography and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (ECIS), among other emerging methods

Biopolymers: Applications and Trends provides an up-to-date summary of the varying market applications of biopolymers characterized by biodegradability and sustainability. It includes tables with the commercial names and properties of each biopolymer family, along with biopolymers for each marketing segment, not only presenting all the major market players, but also highlighting trends and new developments in products. The book includes a thorough breakdown of the vast range of application areas, including medical and pharmaceutical, packaging, construction, automotive, and many more, giving engineers critical materials information in an area which has traditionally been more limited than conventional polymers. In addition, the book uses recent patent information to convey the latest applications and techniques in the area, thus further illustrating the rapid pace of development and need for intellectual property for companies working on new and innovative products.

Improve and optimize efficiency of HVAC and related energy systems from an exergy perspective. From fundamentals to advanced applications, Exergy Analysis of Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration provides readers with a clear and concise description of exergy analysis and its many uses. Focusing on the application of exergy methods to the primary technologies for heating, refrigerating, and air conditioning, Ibrahim Dincer and Marc A. Rosen demonstrate exactly how exergy can help improve and optimize efficiency, environmental performance, and cost-effectiveness. The book also discusses the analysis tools available, and includes many comprehensive case studies on current and emerging systems and technologies for real-world examples. From introducing exergy and thermodynamic fundamentals to presenting the use of exergy methods for heating, refrigeration, and air conditioning systems, this book equips any researcher or practicing engineer with the tools needed to learn and master the application of exergy analysis to these systems.

This book is a profound compendium on strain gages and their application in materials science and all fields of engineering. It covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of strength and stress analysis using the technique of strain gages. A brief historical review about strain gage inventions is looking at the "who, when and how". The comprehensive bibliography leads to additional background information. Particular consideration is given to the stress analysis in order to verify the mechanical properties and capacity of components with focus on stability and serviceability, optimization, and safety checks, as well as in order to foresee inspection and monitoring. The practice-oriented descriptions of the principles of the measurement, installation and experimental set-ups derives from the author`s own experiences in the field. Particular emphasis is laid on the correct planning and assessment of measurements, and on the interpretation of the results. Step-by-step guidance is given for many application examples, and comments help to avoid typical mistakes. The book is an indispensable reference work for experts who need to analyze structures and have to plan measurements which lead to reliable results. The book is instructive for practitioners who must install reliable measurement circuits and judge the results. The book is also recommended for beginners to get familiar with the problems and to learn about the possibilities and the limits of the strain gage technique. (Package: Print + ePDF)

Biomimetic engineering takes the principles of biological organisms and copies, mimics or adapts these in the design and development of new materials and technologies. Biomimetic Technologies reviews the key materials and processes involved in this groundbreaking field, supporting theoretical background by outlining a range of applications. Beginning with an overview of the key principles and materials associated with biomimetic technologies in Part One, the book goes on to explore biomimetic sensors in more detail in Part Two, with bio-inspired tactile, hair-based, gas-sensing and sonar systems all reviewed. Biomimetic actuators are then the focus of Part Three, with vision systems, tissue growth and muscles all discussed. Finally, a wide range of applications are investigated in Part Four, where biomimetic technology and artificial intelligence are reviewed for such uses as bio-inspired climbing robots and multi-robot systems, microrobots with CMOS IC neural networks locomotion control, central pattern generators (CPG's) and biologically inspired antenna arrays.

Chitosan in Biomedical Applications provides a thorough insight into the complete chitosan chemistry, collection, chemical modifications, characterization and applications of chitosan in biomedical applications and healthcare fields. Chitosan, a biopolymer of natural origin, has been explored for its variety of applications in biomedical research, medical diagnostic aids and material science. It is the second most abundant natural biopolymer after cellulose, and considered as an excellent excipient because of its non-toxic, stable, biodegradable properties. Several research innovations have been made on applications of chitosan in biomedical applications. The book explores key topics, such as molecular weight, degree of deacetylation, and molecular geometry, along with an emphasis on recent advances in the field written by academic, industry, and clinical researchers. Chitosan in Biomedical Applications will be of interest to those in biomedical fields including the biomaterials and tissue engineering community investigating and developing biomaterials for biomedical applications, particularly graduate students, young faculty and others exploring chitosan-based materials.

This book highlights the notion of Circular Economy under the umbrella of Sustainability because of the widespread momentum it is gaining. Today the whole world is certainly in emergent need of an alternative system to traditional economy which is linear, i.e. make, use and dispose to get rid-off the waste and very important to ensure continuous use of resources, which is possible by the advent of circular economy. A circular economy aims to utilize the resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them during use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life vis-a-vis traditional linear model. This book discusses circular economy in terms of assessment with various case studies.

Modelling and Simulation of Reactive Flows presents information on modeling and how to numerically solve reactive flows. The book offers a distinctive approach that combines diffusion flames and geochemical flow problems, providing users with a comprehensive resource that bridges the gap for scientists, engineers, and the industry. Specifically, the book looks at the basic concepts related to reaction rates, chemical kinetics, and the development of reduced kinetic mechanisms. It considers the most common methods used in practical situations, along with equations for reactive flows, and various techniques-including flamelet, ILDM, and Redim-for jet flames and plumes, with solutions for both. In addition, the book includes techniques to accelerate the convergence of numerical simulation, and a discussion on the analysis of uncertainties with numerical results, making this a useful reference for anyone who is interested in both combustion in free flow and in porous media.

This volume discusses the role of ZIF-8 composites in water decontamination as an adsorbent and photocatalyst. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are advanced porous materials and are promising adsorbents with facile modifications, high specific surface area, controllable porosity, and tailored surface properties. Water pollution is a major concern and has endangered human health. Recently, researchers have designed MOFs for use in remediation.

Using HPC for Computational Fluid Dynamics: A Guide to High Performance Computing for CFD Engineers offers one of the first self-contained guides on the use of high performance computing for computational work in fluid dynamics. Beginning with an introduction to HPC, including its history and basic terminology, the book moves on to consider how modern supercomputers can be used to solve common CFD challenges, including the resolution of high density grids and dealing with the large file sizes generated when using commercial codes. Written to help early career engineers and post-graduate students compete in the fast-paced computational field where knowledge of CFD alone is no longer sufficient, the text provides a one-stop resource for all the technical information readers will need for successful HPC computation.

Hydraulic gates are utilized in multiple capacities in modern society. As such, the failure of these gates can have disastrous consequences, and it is imperative to develop new methods to avoid these occurrences. Dynamic Stability of Hydraulic Gates and Engineering for Flood Prevention is a critical reference source containing scholarly research on engineering techniques and mechanisms to decrease the failure rate of hydraulic gates. Including a range of perspectives on topics such as fluid dynamics, vibration mechanisms, and flow stability, this book is ideally designed for researchers, academics, engineers, graduate students, and practitioners interested in the study of hydraulic gate structure.

This book is a detailed introduction to mechanical alloying, offering guidelines on the necessary equipment and facilities needed to carry out the process and giving a fundamental background to the reactions taking place. El-Eskandarany, a leading authority on mechanical alloying, discusses the mechanism of powder consolidations using different powder compaction processes. A new chapter will also be included on thermal, mechanically-induced and electrical discharge-assisted mechanical milling.

Fully updated to cover recent developments in the field, this second edition also introduces new and emerging applications for mechanical alloying, including the fabrication of carbon nanotubes, surface protective coating and hydrogen storage technology. El-Eskandarany discusses the latest research into these applications, and provides engineers and scientists with the information they need to implement these developments. The industrial applications of nanocrystalline and metallic glassy powders are presented.

The book also contains over 200 tables and graphs to illustrate the milling processes and present the properties and characteristics of the resulting materials.
Guides readers through each step of the mechanical alloying process, covering best practice techniques and offering guidelines on the required equipment.

Tables and graphs are used to explain the stages of the milling processes and provide an understanding of the properties and characteristics of the resulting materials.

A comprehensive update on the previous edition, including new chapters to cover new applications.

Fluoropolymers are used in applications demanding service at enhanced temperature while maintaining their structural integrity and have excellent combination of chemical, physical and mechanical properties. Advancements in materials and processing technology mean that a huge amount of research is currently taking place into new, high performance applications for specialty fluorinated polymers. This book is a complete review of the current research in synthesizing new fluorinated high performance polymers and their application in the field of low dielectric constant materials, membrane based separation (gas and liquid) and proton exchange membranes. Special emphasis is given to the preparation of soluble high performance polymers by incorporating fluorine and different structural elements so as to use these classes of polymers in different membrane based applications, including low dielectric constant materials, gas separation, pervaporation, proton exchange membranes in fuel cells, and more. The coverage of processing properties and commercial aspects - as well as a practical assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of specialty fluoropolymers compared to other materials - enables engineers and product designers to apply the latest scientific developments in this area in a practical setting.

Many physical properties of our universe, such as the relative strength of the fundamental interactions, the value of the cosmological constant, etc., appear to be fine-tuned for existence of human life. One possible explanation of this fine tuning assumes existence of a multiverse, which consists of a very large number of individual universes having different physical properties. Intelligent observers populate only a small subset of these universes, which are fine-tuned for life. In this book we will review several interesting metamaterial systems, which capture many features of important cosmological models and offer insights into the physics of many other non-trivial spacetime geometries, such as microscopic black holes, closed time-like curves (CTCs) and the Alcubierre warp drive.

Written in the perspective of an experimental chemist, this book puts together some fundamentals from chemistry, solid state physics and quantum chemistry, to help with understanding and predicting the electronic and optical properties of organic semiconductors, both polymers and small molecules. The text is intended to assist graduate students and researchers in the field of organic electronics to use theory to design more efficient materials for organic electronic devices such as organic solar cells, light emitting diodes and field effect transistors. After addressing some basic topics in solid state physics, a comprehensive introduction to molecular orbitals and band theory leads to a description of computational methods based on Hartree-Fock and density functional theory (DFT), for predicting geometry conformations, frontier levels and energy band structures. Topological defects and transport and optical properties are then addressed, and one of the most commonly used transparent conducting polymers, PEDOT:PSS, is described in some detail as a case study.

Nanoparticle therapeutics: Production Technologies, Types of Nanoparticles, and Regulatory Aspects employs unique principles for applications in cell-based therapeutics, diagnostics and mechanistics for the study of organ physiology, disease etiology and drug screening of advanced nanoparticles and nanomaterials. The book focuses on the extrapolation of bioengineering tools in the domain of nanotechnology and nanoparticles therapeutics, fabrication, characterization and drug delivery aspects. It acquaints scientists and researchers on the experiential and experimental aspects of nanoparticles and nanotechnology to equip their rational application in various fields, especially in differential diagnoses and in the treatment of diverse diseased states. This complete resource provides a holistic understanding of the principle behind formation, characterization, applications, regulations and toxicity of nanoparticles employing myriad principles of nanotechnology. Investigators, pharmaceutical researchers, and advanced students working on technology advancement in the areas of designing targeted therapies, nanoscale imaging systems and diagnostic modalities in human diseases where nanoparticles can be used as a critical tool for technology advancement in drug delivery systems will find this book useful.

This book, the second edition of the first monograph fully devoted to UV degradation and stabilization ever published in English, has 12 chapters discussing different aspects of UV related phenomena occurring when polymeric materials are exposed to UV radiation. In the introduction the existing literature has been reviewed to find out how plants, animals and humans protect themselves against UV radiation. This review permits evaluation of mechanisms of protection against UV used by living things and potential application of these mechanisms in protection of natural and synthetic polymeric materials. This is followed by chapters with a more detailed look at more specific aspects of UV degradation and stabilization.

PVC stabilization, the most important aspect of formulation and performance of this polymer, is discussed in details. This book contains all information required to design successful stabilization formula for any product made out of PVC. Separate chapters review information on chemical structure, PVC manufacturing technology, morphology, degradation by thermal energy, UV, gamma, other forms of radiation, mechanodegradation, and chemical degradation. The chapter on analytical methods used in studying of degradative and stabilization processes helps in establishing system of checking results of stabilization with different stabilizing systems. Stabilization and stabilizers are discussed in full detail in the most important chapter of this book. The final chapter contains information on the effects of PVC and its additives on health, safety and environment. This book contains analysis of all essential papers and patents published until recently on the above subject. It either locates the answers to relevant questions and offers solutions or gives references in which such answers can be found. PVC Degradation and Stabilization is must to have for chemists, engineers, scientists, university teachers and students, designers, material scientists, environmental chemists, and lawyers who work with polyvinyl chloride and its additives or have any interest in these products. This book is the one authoritative source on the subject.