Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Columnas de gravas'

Los suelos blandos son los más comunes en necesitar algún tipo de mejoramiento o refuerzo, y la elección de la técnica dependerá de las características del suelo, costo, tiempo y otros factores importantes. Entre estos métodos, se encuentra la técnica de la columna de grava, la cual permite acelerar la consolidación de los suelos blandos, mejorar la capacidad portante, reducir los asentamientos, y por tanto las características geotécnicas del suelo. La presente tesis consistirá en analizar y estudiar la metodología de columnas de grava como una técnica de mejora para un suelo de tipo arcilloso. Para ello, se aplicará la técnica en un caso de estudio para una obra ubicada en Cajamarca y se analizarán los asentamientos con y sin columna de grava. Se utilizarán los ensayos de laboratorio necesarios para la obtención de los parámetros geotécnicos del suelo en estudio. A partir de estos datos y utilizando el método de Priebe, se determinarán las dimensiones de las columnas de grava y posteriormente se calculará el asentamiento por consolidación primaria. El resultado obtenido permite ver favorablemente la reducción de los asentamientos.
Soft soils are the most common in needing some type of improvement or reinforcement, and the choice of technique will depend on the characteristics of the soil, cost, time and other important factors. Among these methods is the gravel column technique, which allows to accelerate the consolidation of soft soils, reduce settlements, improve bearing capacity and therefore the geotechnical characteristics of the soil. This thesis will consist of analyzing and studying the gravel column methodology as an improvement technique for a clay-type soil. For this, the technique will be applied in a case study for a work located in Cajamarca and settlements with and without a gravel column will be analyzed. The necessary laboratory tests will be used to obtain the geotechnical parameters of the soil under study. From these data and using the Priebe method, the dimensions of the gravel columns will be determined and then the settlement by primary consolidation will be calculated. The result obtained allows a favorable view of the reduction of settlements.
Tesis

El mejoramiento de los suelos utilizando columnas de grava es un procedimiento constructivo desarrollado desde el siglo XIX en Europa debido al incremento en la demanda de suelos adecuados para la construcción de infraestructura que sirviera para el desarrollo de una sociedad. Nuestro país posee gran diversidad de suelos, muchos de los cuales, especialmente en la costa, están conformados por depósitos de arena que no servirían como base de cimentación para la construcción de edificaciones debido a su baja densidad relativa. El mejoramiento de suelos arenosos mediante el uso de columnas de grava es un método de mejora del terreno no muy difundido en nuestro país pese a la gran cantidad de beneficios que obtenemos de su uso, entre los cuales tenemos el incremento de la densidad relativa del terreno, reducción de asentamientos, aceleración del proceso de consolidación, disminución del riesgo de licuefacción, entre otros. Basándonos en este problema, este proyecto de tesis iniciará dando una vista general de los métodos de mejoramiento de suelo utilizados en la actualidad, enfocándonos principalmente en el uso de columnas de grava, se describirán sus características generales, el procedimiento de diseño de las columnas y los diferentes procesos constructivos que se utilizan. Se identificarán también los tipos de suelo en los cuales se obtienen resultados óptimos, se describirán los beneficios adicionales que ofrecen las columnas de grava en comparación con otros métodos de mejoramiento y los ensayos de verificación que se realizan para comprobar la eficiencia del mejoramiento; posteriormente se presentarán los resultados obtenidos en el suelo luego de haber realizado un mejoramiento con columnas de grava y se compararán estos resultados con las características del suelo natural con la finalidad de determinar el grado de mejoramiento alcanzado. Por último se realizará el diseño de una cimentación superficial analizando las zapatas por corte y asentamiento, se realizará el diseño de una cimentación profunda basada en la resistencia a la penetración de los suelos y se analizarán los resultados obtenidos.
Tesis

A lo largo de los años el uso común de solo cimentaciones superficiales y profundas como alternativa de estructuras de apoyo sobre el terreno ha limitado el uso óptimo de los recursos disponibles. Esto conlleva que en muchos casos se plantee la utilización de cimentaciones profundas, pilotes, en proyectos en lo que se puede aprovechar las condiciones geomecánicas del terreno y poder plantear una cimentación mucho más eficiente y efectiva. El método de columnas de grava es una alternativa de cimentación intermedia entre las dos antes mencionadas que consiste en mejorar las características resistentes y elásticas del suelo. El sistema se basa en tomar estas propiedades como ángulo de fricción interna, cohesión y módulo de deformación para incorporarle la mejora a través de las columnas de grava, las cuales poseen características conocidas y controladas. El objetivo es obtener un suelo con propiedades geotécnicas más favorables que las iniciales como resultado de la suma de las condiciones del suelo sin mejora y el aporte de las inclusiones. El presente estudio consiste en revisar los métodos de diseño y constructivos de las distintas metodologías de tratamiento de terreno, en especial las columnas de grava. Esto para desarrollar el diseño de esta metodología de mejora a través de un caso práctico y comparar las ventajas de esta sobre el diseño de una cimentación profunda mediante pilotes. En el caso práctico se realiza el diseño de la cimentación en estudio a partir de los resultados de las investigaciones geotécnicas proporcionadas, las cuales permiten determinar los parámetros resistentes y deformacionales del terreno natural. Es así como se pasa a desarrollar y presentar los resultados del diseño, los cuales muestran que la alternativa de mejoramiento de terreno resulta mucho más eficiente en términos económicos e ingenieriles, ya que se obtienen parámetros geotécnicos favorables que cumplen con las solicitaciones de la estructura a proyectar que en un inicio eran insuficientes, las características del suelo, para los requerimientos del proyecto.
Tesis

Las columnas de grava constituyen uno de los métodos habituales de mejora del terreno para la cimentación de terraplenes o estructuras en suelos blandos. Mejoran la capacidad portante y la estabilidad al deslizamiento y reducen el valor del asiento y el tiempo que tarda en producirse.Las columnas acortan el camino de drenaje de una forma similar a los drenes verticales. Por ello, suelen emplearse las mismas soluciones para estudiar su consolidación radial. Sin embargo, las columnas son mucho más rígidas que los drenes y soportan una parte importante de la carga. En esta tesis se ha desarrollado una solución analítica que permite incluir la interacción radial y vertical entre el suelo y la columna en el estudio de su consolidación radial. La solución permite obtener las tensiones y las deformaciones en cualquier instante a través de una sencilla hoja de cálculo.Se presentan también los resultados de la instrumentación realizada en dos obras reales en las que el terreno fue mejorado con columnas de grava.
Stone columns, either by the vibro-replacement or vibro-displacement methods, are one of the most common improvement techniques for foundation of embankments or structures on soft soils. The main effects usually considered with respect to the untreated ground conditions are: improvement of bearing capacity, reduction of total and differential settlements, acceleration of consolidation, improvement of the stability of embankments and natural slopes, and reduction of liquefaction potential.In this thesis, a new closed-form solution that includes the radial and vertical interaction between soil and column has been developed. The solution gives all the stresses and displacements at any time by means of a simple spreadsheet.The instrumentation of two different field sites where the ground was improved with stone columns is shown and analysed.

El tratamiento con columnas de grava es uno de los métodos de mejora del terreno empleados habitualmente para la cimentación de terraplenes o estructuras sobre suelos blandos. El estudio realizado en esta Tesis Doctoral se centra en analizar: - La influencia de la densidad de la grava de la columna - El empleo de columnas ensacadas con geotextil. El análisis de la influencia de la densidad de la grava se ha realizado mediante ensayos realizados en laboratorio en modelo reducido con dos densidades de la grava diferentes y varias áreas de sustitución. Los ensayos se realizaron en una célula edométrica Rowe-Barden instrumentada en la que se ha estudiado el comportamiento de una rebanada de una celda unidad. El análisis de los resultados se ha centrado en el reparto tensional suelo-columna, la reducción de asientos y la disipación de presiones intersticiales. Para completar el estudio se han realizado simulaciones numéricas de los ensayos, además los resultados experimentales se han comparado con los obtenidos del empleo de las soluciones analíticas más relevantes. El estudio de columnas ensacadas se ha llevado a cabo de forma análoga mediante ensayos a escala reducida en el laboratorio. Los resultados se han contrastado con los obtenidos de simulaciones numéricas y de las soluciones analíticas más representativas.
Stone columns are a soft soil improvement method usually employed in embankments and structures foundations under soft soils. The study carried out in this PhD Thesis is focused on the analysis of: - The influence of the density of the gravel in the column and - The encasement of stone columns with geotextile. With the aim of study the influence of the density of the gravel, laboratory small scale tests have been carried out with two different densities and several areas replacement ratios. These tests have been developed in a Rowe-Barden cell where the behavior of a unit cell is analyzed. The cell employed is instrumented in order to measure total and pore pressures as well as displacements. The results obtained were analyzed from the point of soil-column stress ratio, settlement reduction and dissipation of pore pressures. In order to complement the study, numerical analyses simulating the laboratory tests have been executed employing several constitutive models. Their results have been compared with the experimental ones. Finally, experimental results have been compared with the ones obtained from the most relevant analytical solutions. The study of encased stone columns has been carried out in a similar way as the mentioned previously for the analysis of the density. Small scale test similar to those presented before but this time using two different geotextiles. This time, as well as before, experimental results have been compared with the ones from the numerical simulations and the ones obtained from the most important analytical solutions.

El estudio del proceso de consolidación radial alrededor de las columna de grava y de la interacción suelo-columna suele realizarse analizando una celda unitaria formada por una columna de grava central y el área de terreno circundante, sobre la cual ejerce su acción de mejora. En esta tesis doctoral se ha modelizado a escala reducida una celda unidad para analizar la transferencia de carga entre la columna y el terreno y el proceso de consolidación que se produce alrededor de la columna, para condiciones de carga vertical rígida.Se han realizado ensayos con columnas de dos diámetros distintos, con el fin de estudiar también la influencia del área de suelo blando reemplazada por la columna. Se presentan los resultados obtenidos en cada ensayo, su interpretación, y la comparación con soluciones teóricas existentes. Todo ello tanto para el análisis de la consolidación radial como para el comportamiento deformacional del conjunto suelo-columna.
The analysis of the radial consolidation process around the column and the column-soil interaction is based on the study of a unit cell approach, which consists of a central column of gravel and the surrounding soil. In this thesis, a unit cell in small scale has been reproduced with the aim of analyzing load transfer between soil and column, settlement reduction and radial consolidation process that happen when a rigid vertical load is applied on surface.Tests with two different geometries are carried out.From the results, some conclusions related to consolidation process, stress concentration factor and settlement reduction have been obtained for each testing geometry.The influence of the replacement area has been studied comparing the results of both geometries.Finally, the results are presented and interpreted using some existing analytical solutions related to consolidation process and stone columns deformation.

La presente tesis estudia como eliminar el potencial de licuefacción del suelo en el Puerto del Callao, específicamente en el Muelle 5E, mediante el uso de columnas de grava. Donde el análisis del potencial de licuefacción se hace mediante el método de SEED&IDRISS modificado, se realizaron los cálculos con un sismo de grado 8.5 en la escala de Richter. Los datos del terreno fueron hallados mediante los ensayos de penetración estándar (SPT). Para dar solución al problema de licuefacción del suelo, se aplicaron columnas de grava, el diseño de estas se calculó mediante el método de SEED&BOOKER, estas permiten densificar el terreno y drenar el agua existente, disminuir los asientos totales y diferencial, y aumenta la capacidad portante del suelo. Finalmente, la tesis tiene como fin poder demostrar mediante la comparación del calculo de potencial de licuefacción antes y después de la aplicación de las columnas de grava, así como mediante el numero de golpes del ensayo SPT se puede ver las mejora del terreno.
This thesis studies how to eliminate the potential for soil liquefaction in the Port of Callao, specifically in Pier 5E, through the use of gravel columns. Where the analysis of the liquefaction potential is done by the modified SEED & IDRISS method, the calculations were made with an earthquake of grade 8.5 on the Richter scale. Terrain data were found by standard penetration tests (SPT). To solve the soil liquefaction problem, gravel columns were applied, the design of these was calculated using the SEED & BOOKER method, these allow to densify the land and drain the existing water, reduce the total and differential settlements, and increase the capacity. bearing from the ground. Finally, the thesis aims to be able to demonstrate by comparing the calculation of liquefaction potential before and after the application of the gravel columns, as well as by means of the number of hits of the SPT test, the improvement of the terrain can be seen.
Tesis

The aluminium alloys for electrical conductivity applications are generally not grain refinedsince the addition of grain refiners drops the electrical conductivity by introducing impuritiesinto the melt. Non-grain refined aluminium may lead to bar fracture and cracks during themetalworking process. The present study focuses to find an optimum balance between the grain refiner addition andthe electrical conductivity of commercial EC grade 1070 aluminium alloy for electricalapplication. In order to reach this goal, the electrical conductivity and the macrostructure ofcommercial EC grade 1070 aluminium (commercial pure aluminium) have been studiedunder a series of controlled lab scale trails. Specific addition levels of different grain refiners(TiBloy, Al-5Ti-1B, Al-3Ti-0.15C, and Al-3Ti-1B) were added to the metal melt and sampleswere taken at specific time intervals. The collected samples were sectioned, ground andmacro-etched. Thereafter, the macrostructure was analysed by the use of a digital camera andthe electrical conductivity was measured at temperature. The obtained result was expressed asa percentage of the International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS %). The macro-structuralanalysis showed that TiBloy, Al-5Ti-1B, and Al-3Ti-1B, with the maximum addition level of0.1%, cannot grin refine commercial pure aluminium. However, at higher grain refiner levelsthe number of columnar grains increased and their size decreased. The Al-3Ti-0.15C master alloy, with the same addition level as the once chosen for the othergrain refiners (up to 0.1%), showed significantly better grain refining. By the addition of0.1% of this grain refiner the macrostructure became very equiaxed already after 30 minutesof grain refiner addition. The fading of the Al-3Ti-0.15 master alloy was, however, observedfor samples with a long holding time. Nevertheless, by maximum addition level (0.1%) and a90 minutes holding time the macrostructure remained as equiaxed grains. The electrical conductivity results showed that none of the applied grain refiners (TiBloy, Al-5Ti-1B, Al-3Ti-0.15C, and Al-3Ti-1B), with the maximum addition level of 0.1%, decreasedthe electrical conductivity of commercial pure aluminium.

Ferritic stainless steel is typically used in the automotive industry to fabricate welded tube that is plastically deformed for flanging, bending and necking. The effect of welding parameters during autogenous gastungsten arc welding (GTAW) of thin sheet on the weld metal structure and tensile properties were determined. Two grades of ferritic stainless steels, a titanium-containing Grade 441 and a titanium-free molybdenum-containing Grade 436, were used as base metal. Statistical analysis was used to determine the influence of welding parameters on the microstructure of autogenous GTAW welds. The results of Grade 441 indicated that the welding speed and peak welding current had a statistically significant influence on the amount of equiaxed grains that formed. For Grade 436, the same welding parameters (welding speed and peak welding current) had a statistically significant influence on the grain size of the weld metal grains. The ductility of a tensile test coupon machined parallel to the weld direction, for both base metal grades, was unaffected by the welding parameters or the weld metal microstructure. The elongation was determined by the amount of weld metal in the gauge area of a tensile coupon. The titanium content of the base material seems to have the most significant effect on the formation of equiaxed grains.
Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2019.
Metallurgical Engineering
MEng
Unrestricted

Nesta tese, estudamos o problema de Empacotamento de Bicliques. Um biclique é um grafo bipartido completo. No problema de Empacotamento de Bicliques são dados um inteiro k e um grafo bipartido G e deseja-se encontrar um conjunto de k bicliques, subgrafos de G, dois a dois disjuntos nos vértices, tal que a quantidade total de arestas dos bicliques escolhidos seja máxima. No caso em que k=1, temos o problema de Biclique máximo. Esses dois problemas possuem aplicações na área de Bioinformática. Mantemos neste trabalho um enfoque prático, no sentido de que nosso interesse é resolver instâncias desses dois problemas com tamanho razoavelmente grande. Para isso, utilizamos técnicas de Programação Linear Inteira. Para avaliar os métodos propostos aqui, mostramos resultados de experimentos computacionais feitos com instâncias vindas de aplicações e também com instâncias geradas aleatoriamente.
In this thesis, we study the Biclique Packing problem. A biclique is a complete bipartite graph. In the Biclique Packing problem we are given an integer k and a bipartite graph G and we want to find a set of k vertex disjoint bicliques of G, such that the total number of biclique\'s edges is maximum. When k=1, we have the Maximum Biclique problem. These two problems have applications in Bioinformatics. In this work we keep a practical focus, in the sense that we are interested in solving large size instances of these problems. To tackle these problems, we use Integer Linear Programming techniques. In order to evaluate the methods proposed here, we show results of computational experiments carried out with practical application\'s instances and also with randomly generated ones.

Traumas nas asas de aves são muito comuns, causando lesões em tecidos moles e ossos, e tendem, muitas vezes a causar desvascularização da região, o que implica em complicação no tratamento além de facilitar a instalação de processo infeccioso. Com o objetivo de estudar possível vascularização via enxerto muscular pediculado, foram utilizados 12 pombos, divididos em dois grupos iguais (E e S), para a avaliação do uso de enxerto pediculado de músculo peitoral como técnica de revascularização de defeito criado em porção distal de bíceps braquial. As asas contralaterais de todos os animais foram utilizadas para a avaliação termográfica, sendo este grupo de n=12 denominado C. As asas contralaterais de dois animais foram utilizadas como controle anatômico para a avaliação histomorfométrica, grupo este denominado A. Realizaram-se avaliações clínica, termográfica, angiográfica e histomorfométrica para quantificação e qualificação da vascularização, e determinação da viabilidade desta técnica, em até vinte e um dias. A técnica causou pouca morbidade, exceto em dois animais do grupo E que apresentaram necrose parcial do enxerto, porém isto não resultou em falha da técnica. As avaliações termográficas demonstraram que imediatamente após a cirurgia, tanto leito doador, quanto leito receptor apresentaram redução da temperatura, porém esta temperatura aumentou gradativamente, sendo que no grupo E, a temperatura, aos sete dias foi mais baixa, quando compaprada ao grupo S e ao grupo A, e aos catorze dias não houve diferença significativa entre os grupos. A avaliação angiográfica post mortem determinou patência de vasos principais e secundários em todos os animais, comprovando tratar-se de técnica que causa baixa mortificação do tecido no sítio doador, e na asa. A avaliação histomorfométrica incluiu dados de área total de vasos por amostra, área total de tecido, diâmetro médio dos vasos, número absoluto de vasos, e percentagem de tecido ocupada por vasos. Tal avaliação demonstrou aumento importante da vascularização dos dois grupos avaliados, sendo que o único parâmetro que apresentou diferença entre os dois, foi o número de vasos, aumentado no grupo E. Conclui-se que o enxero apresenta neovascularização importante, e provavelmente cria ambiente adequado para promover cicatrização de lesão pobremente vacularizadas em aves.
Trauma in avian wings is very common, causing lesions in soft tissue and bones, and they tend to, many times, cause avascularization of the region, which aggravates treatment and allows for the installation of infectious processes. Twelve pigeons, divided in two equal groups (E and S) were used for the evaluation of the use of a pectoral muscle flap as revascularization technique for a distal biceps brachii defect. Contralateral wings os all animals were used for termographic evaluation, and this group with n=12 was called C. Contraletarl wings of two animals were used as anatomic control for the histomorphometric evaluation, and this group was called A. Clinical, termographic, angiographic and histomorphometric evaluations were made to quantify and qualify the vascularization, and determine the viability of this technique. The technique caused little morbidity, except for two animals in group E, who had partial necrosis of the grafts, but that didnt result in failure of the technique. Termography showed that after surgery, both, donor and receptor sites had a reduced temperature, but it increased gradually. Group E showed a lower temperature at seven days, when compared to group S and to group C, and at fourteen days, there was no significant difference between groups. Post mortem angiografic evaluation determined patency of main and secondary vessels in all animals, proving to be a low morbidity technique for the donor site and for the wing. Histomorphometric evaluation includes total area of vessels and of soft tissue, mean vessel diameter, total vessel number and percentage of soft tissue covered by vessels. This evaluation showed and important increase of vascularization of both groups, and only total number of vessels was different among groups, being bigger in group E. We conclude that the graft shows important neovascularization, and probably creates adequate environment for the healing of little vascular bird wounds.

The vertex coloring problem is a classic problem in graph theory that asks for a partition of the vertex set into a minimum number of stable sets. This thesis presents our studies on three vertex (re)coloring problems on graphs and on a problem related to a long-standing conjecture on subdivision of digraphs. Firstly, we address the convex recoloring problem in which an arbitrarily colored graph G is given and one wishes to find a minimum weight recoloring such that each color class induces a connected subgraph of G. We show inapproximability results, introduce an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation that models the problem and present some computational experiments using a column generation approach. The k-fold coloring problem is a generalization of the classic vertex coloring problem and consists in covering the vertex set of a graph by a minimum number of stable sets in such a way that every vertex is covered by at least k (possibly identical) stable sets. We present an ILP formulation for this problem and show a detailed polyhedral study of the polytope associated with this formulation. The last coloring problem studied in this thesis is the proper orientation problem. It consists in orienting the edge set of a given graph so that adjacent vertices have different in-degrees and the maximum in-degree is minimized. Clearly, the in-degrees induce a partition of the vertex set into stable sets, that is, a coloring (in the conventional sense) of the vertices. Our contributions in this problem are on hardness and upper bounds for bipartite graphs. Finally, we study a problem related to a conjecture of Mader from the eighties on subdivision of digraphs. This conjecture states that, for every acyclic digraph H, there exists an integer f(H) such that every digraph with minimum out-degree at least f(H) contains a subdivision of H as a subdigraph. We show evidences for this conjecture by proving that it holds for some particular classes of acyclic digraphs.
O problema de coloração de grafos é um problema clássico em teoria dos grafos cujo objetivo é particionar o conjunto de vértices em um número mínimo de conjuntos estáveis. Nesta tese apresentamos nossas contribuições sobre três problemas de coloração de grafos e um problema relacionado a uma antiga conjectura sobre subdivisão de digrafos. Primeiramente, abordamos o problema de recoloração convexa no qual é dado um grafo arbitrariamente colorido G e deseja-se encontrar uma recoloração de peso mínimo tal que cada classe de cor induza um subgrafo conexo de G. Mostramos resultados sobre inaproximabilidade, introduzimos uma formulação linear inteira que modela esse problema, e apresentamos alguns resultados computacionais usando uma abordagem de geração de colunas. O problema de k-upla coloração é uma generalização do problema clássico de coloração de vértices e consiste em cobrir o conjunto de vértices de um grafo com uma quantidade mínima de conjuntos estáveis de tal forma que cada vértice seja coberto por pelo menos k conjuntos estáveis (possivelmente idênticos). Apresentamos uma formulação linear inteira para esse problema e fazemos um estudo detalhado do politopo associado a essa formulação. O último problema de coloração estudado nesta tese é o problema de orientação própria. Ele consiste em orientar o conjunto de arestas de um dado grafo de tal forma que vértices adjacentes possuam graus de entrada distintos e o maior grau de entrada seja minimizado. Claramente, os graus de entrada induzem uma partição do conjunto de vértices em conjuntos estáveis, ou seja, induzem uma coloração (no sentido convencional) dos vértices. Nossas contribuições nesse problema são em complexidade computacional e limitantes superiores para grafos bipartidos. Finalmente, estudamos um problema relacionado a uma conjectura de Mader, dos anos oitenta, sobre subdivisão de digrafos. Esta conjectura afirma que, para cada digrafo acíclico H, existe um inteiro f(H) tal que todo digrafo com grau mínimo de saída pelo menos f(H) contém uma subdivisão de H como subdigrafo. Damos evidências para essa conjectura mostrando que ela é válida para classes particulares de digrafos acíclicos.

Modularity Density Maximization is a graph clustering problem which avoids the resolution limit degeneracy of the Modularity Maximization problem. This thesis aims at solving larger instances than current Modularity Density heuristics do, and show how close the obtained solutions are to the expected clustering. Three main contributions arise from this objective. The first one is about the theoretical contributions about properties of Modularity Density based prioritizers. The second one is the development of eight Modularity Density Maximization heuristics. Our heuristics are compared with optimal results from the literature, and with GAOD, iMeme-Net, HAIN, BMD- heuristics. Our results are also compared with CNM and Louvain which are heuristics for Modularity Maximization that solve instances with thousands of nodes. The tests were carried out by using graphs from the “Stanford Large Network Dataset Collection”. The experiments have shown that our eight heuristics found solutions for graphs with hundreds of thousands of nodes. Our results have also shown that five of our heuristics surpassed the current state-of-the-art Modularity Density Maximization heuristic solvers for large graphs. A third contribution is the proposal of six column generation methods. These methods use exact and heuristic auxiliary solvers and an initial variable generator. Comparisons among our proposed column generations and state-of-the-art algorithms were also carried out. The results showed that: (i) two of our methods surpassed the state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of time, and (ii) our methods proved the optimal value for larger instances than current approaches can tackle. Our results suggest clear improvements to the state-of-the-art results for the Modularity Density Maximization problem.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an innovative manufacturing process which offers near-net shape fabrication of complex components, directly from CAD models, without dies or substantial machining, resulting in a reduction in lead-time, waste, and cost. For example, the buy-to-fly ratio for a titanium component machined from forged billet is typically 10-20:1 compared to 5-7:1 when manufactured by AM. However, the production rates for most AM processes are relatively slow and AM is consequently largely of interest to the aerospace, automotive and biomedical industries. In addition, the solidification conditions in AM with the Ti alloy commonly lead to undesirable coarse columnar primary β grain structures in components. The present research is focused on developing a fundamental understanding of the influence of the processing conditions on microstructure and texture evolution and their resulting effect on the mechanical properties during additive manufacturing with a Ti6Al4V alloy, using three different techniques, namely; 1) Selective laser melting (SLM) process, 2) Electron beam selective melting (EBSM) process and, 3) Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process. The most important finding in this work was that all the AM processes produced columnar β-grain structures which grow by epitaxial re-growth up through each melted layer. By thermal modelling using TS4D (Thermal Simulation in 4 Dimensions), it has been shown that the melt pool size increased and the cooling rate decreased from SLM to EBSM and to the WAAM process. The prior β grain size also increased with melt pool size from a finer size in the SLM to a moderate size in EBSM and to huge grains in WAAM that can be seen by eye. However, despite the large difference in power density between the processes, they all had similar G/R (thermal gradient/growth rate) ratios, which were predicted to lie in the columnar growth region in the solidification diagram. The EBSM process showed a pronounced local heterogeneity in the microstructure in local transition areas, when there was a change in geometry; for e.g. change in wall thickness, thin to thick capping section, cross-over’s, V-transitions, etc. By reconstruction of the high temperature β microstructure, it has been shown that all the AM platforms showed primary columnar β grains with a <001>β.

Yes
Resistance spot welding of aluminum (Al5754) to magnesium (AZ31B) alloys results in the formation of a variety of solidification microstructures and intermetallic compounds that may affect the in-service performance of the weld. This study evaluates the relationship between the welding parameters and the properties of the weld nugget that is formed, and clarifies the morphological and microstructural evolutions within the weld regions during the low-current “small-scale” resistance spot welding of Al5754 to AZ31B. The investigations included a combination of microstructural characterization and thermodynamic analysis of the weld region. The results show that the welding time and clamping force parameters have significant effects on the properties of the nugget formed. The optimal welding parameters were found to be 300 ms welding time and 800 N clamping force. Weld nuggets formed with lower welding time and clamping force were undersized and contained extensive porosity. Meanwhile, a clamping force above 800 N caused gross deformation of the test samples and the expulsion of the molten metal during the welding process. The most significant microstructural changes occurred at the weld/base metal interfaces due to the formation of Al17Mg12 and MgAl2O4 intermetallic compounds as well as significant compositional variation across the weld pool. The thermal gradient across the weld pool facilitated the formation of several microstructural transitions between equiaxed and columnar dendrites.