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This paper aims to evaluate the theoretical performance of elliptical dam bearing (EDB). The objective of this paper is to study the influence of eccentricity ratio, dam parameters and micropolarity parameters on the stability of EDB with respect to micropolar lubrication.

In this study, the modified Reynolds’ equation for dynamic state is solved using the finite element method and Galerkin technique. A MATLAB code is written to compute pressure and stability and also to analyse the characteristics. The stability parameters of an EDB are computed for selected values of eccentricity ratios at four levels in the range of 0.20 to 0.35 and for length-diameter ratio of 2.0.

The results from stability analysis reveal that micropolar lubricated EDB provides better stability at smaller material length due to increased effective viscosity. Hence, it is better to select the smaller characteristic length and higher dam width to achieve optimum performance of these bearings.

Very few researchers investigated the effects of working eccentricity, bearing dam and micropolar fluid parameters on the EDB in the past. It is important to study these aspects for optimum performance of bearings.

This study aims to investigate the stability performance of partial journal bearings of 120° and 180° partial angles with micropolar lubricant.

To investigate the stability characteristics of partial journal bearing, a MATLAB source code is written. To solve the Reynolds’ equation, the finite element method is used. Stability performances of 120° and 180° partial journal bearings are computed for a wide range of non-dimensional micropolar fluid parameters and working eccentricities.

The presented results provide design data for stability parameters in terms of equivalent stiffness, whirl frequency ratio, critical mass and threshold speed of the rotor with respect to eccentricities and material size of the lubricant. The stability of 180° partial journal bearing is found to be higher than 120° partial journal bearing.

In open literature, it is rare to find the stability of a partial journal bearing lubricated with micropolar fluid. Very few researchers have studied the combined effect of eccentricities and micropolar lubricant parameters on the dynamic performance of such bearings. Hence, it is important to study the dynamic stability to explore the complete investigation of the performance of partial journal bearings with micropolar fluid.

The purpose of this paper is to present the effect of the preload on the static characteristics of three-lobe bearings lubricated with a fluid blended with high polymer additives modeled as a couple stress fluid.

Based on the micro-continuum theory, the modified Reynolds equation for couple stress fluids is solved using a finite difference method to obtain the distribution of the pressure, the load-carrying capacity, the attitude angle, the friction coefficient and the side leakage for various values of the couple stress parameter and the preload factor.

The results show that the presence of a couple stress in the lubricants improves the static characteristics of this type of bearing compared to those lubricated with Newtonian fluids for any value of the preload factor. Thus, it is found that the preload significantly affects the performance of the three-lobe journal bearing lubricated with a couple stress fluid or a Newtonian fluid. Moreover, the investigation showed that increasing the preload factor exhibits an increase in the load carrying capacity and the attitude angle, but it decreases the friction coefficient and the side leakage especially at a lower preload factor. Furthermore, using a couple stress fluid and a higher preload factor led to a significant rise in the load carrying capacity and a significant reduction in the friction coefficient.

This study helped improve the performance characteristics of the three-lobe journal bearing.

The presence of couple stress in the lubricants improves the static characteristics of this type of bearing compared to those lubricated with Newtonian fluids for any value of the preload factor. The usage of the couple stress fluid and the higher preload factor led to a significant rise in the load carrying capacity and a significant reduction in the friction coefficient.

Purpose – This chapter studies the lyrics and music videos of Palestinian hip-hop artists, exploring their narratives of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and constructions of identity and place.

Design/methodology/approach – This semiotic analysis profiles lyrics and music videos found almost exclusively on the Internet. The dominant themes that the chapter discusses emerge directly from the data, creating important connections across borders and requiring a transnational analytical framework.

Findings – Artists in Palestine and in the diaspora appropriate concepts and terminology from criminal justice to narrate life under occupation. In contrast to this construction of occupation, artists also employ metaphors of nature to signify a biological connection to the land of Palestine that represents both victimization and a steadfast and “rooted” resistance. Mapped onto this cross-borders shared semiotics are implications for new understandings of place and identity.

Research limitations – Limitations exist in both content and methodology. Interpreting in the lyrics an embrace of a primordial connection to the land should raise concerns about Orientalist representations of non-Westerners. I devote a section of the chapter to problematizing the primordial Palestinian. In terms of method, I speak no Arabic or Hebrew, though I have taken steps to mitigate this problem, including privileging songs in English or with English translations and employing the assistance of an Arabic and Hebrew speaker.

Originality/value – Despite these limitations, this chapter contributes to an understanding of the transnational potential of hip-hop to craft counter-hegemonic narratives of identity, place, and conflict.

Outlines the scientific evidence surrounding the occurrences of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeldt‐Jakob Disease (CJD) in the UK. Examines the background to and development of the recent outbreaks and their possible causes. Looks in detail at the role of prions, the encephalopathy infective agent, the origins of the disease and its transmission in cattle and the controls which have been introduced to minimize the impact of the disease. Examines the evidence as to whether BSE can be transmitted to humans in the form of V‐CJD (variant Creutzfeldt‐Jakob Disease), in the light of the UK government announcement of 20 March 1996 that eating infected beef products was the most likely cause. Briefly discusses which parts of BSE‐infected cattle carry the infective agent, measures taken which affect the food chain and research which is being undertaken in the field. Concludes that muscle meat, milk and milk products and tallow from British beef are safe within the normal meaning of the term.

The purpose of this paper was to conceive a fast method to verify design and performance of elliptical pocket journal bearings.

The computer-aided verification of pocket journal bearings is performed by means of a suitable finite element analysis method.

The results of sample analyses indicate that the machining tolerances are very influential on elliptical pocket bearing performances, and they must be included among the input data.

Although elliptical pocket bearings are widely used in turbomachineries, the influence of their design on performance has not been specifically investigated. A lot of works about tribological models are available, but few of them focus on their application to bearing design at the industrial level.

There has been a general promotion of small and medium sized dams as the solution to supply water for domestic, sanitation and other livelihood purposes in the less industrialised countries of the world. This paper aims to communicate and share ideas and experiences with policy makers and other engineering practitioners in issues related to the sedimentation of, and the development of small and medium sized dams so that relevant issues are taken into account in the planning, design and implementation of such small and medium sized dams.

This paper, which is a viewpoint, utilises the findings of various research work carried out in Zimbabwe and findings from other regional and international literature as a basis for discussion and arriving at some engineering and other developmental policy recommendations. The research work utilised and analysed in this paper is based on actual field work carried out by others as cited.

The paper concludes that the following policy and technical issues should always be borne in mind in the promotion of small and medium sized dams: the predicted increase in rainfall intensities due to climate change/variability requires the review of existing small and medium sized dam spillway capacity designs; an increase in the minimum storage ratios of small and medium sized dams should be made from the current recommended 0.1‐0.3; further research work is required to validate the postulation that rainfall intensities are increasing due to the effects of climate change/variability resulting in increased sedimentation of reservoirs; whilst sediments are required for ecosystem sustenance, they can also be viewed as a pollutant in respect of certain other human water supply needs; do not build small dams on large catchments as such small dams will silt‐up quickly and thereafter pose challenges in the management and disposal of the accumulated sediments and nutrients when decommissioning/rehabilitating them; every dam site, irrespective of the resultant dam size, should be developed to its maximum potential in respect of the dam site's water yield and/or prevailing topography; WHO predicts that road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030. The “vulnerable road users” and/or their estates should also receive like attention and timely compensation benefits as advocated for the large dam's “disadvantaged and vulnerable” people.

Every year, about 1 per cent of the world's reservoir capacities are lost to sedimentation. Most researchers postulate that an increase in the intensity of rainfall due to climate change/variability is imminent and will result in increased sediment loads with resultant negative impacts on dam reservoir life‐spans and usefulness. This paper discusses the advantages, disadvantages and efficiency of small and medium sized dams in satisfying the various beneficiary needs in the less industrialised countries of the world. The technical issues that have to be considered in the design and construction of such small and medium sized dams in order to minimise the negative impacts of sedimentation in their development are also presented and discussed. The opinions and conclusions drawn in the viewpoint are those of the author.

The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamic performance of an orifice-compensated three-pad hydrostatic squeeze film damper.

A numerical model has been developed and presented to study the effect of eccentricity ratio and pressure ratio on the static and dynamic characteristics of an orifice-compensated three-pad hydrostatic squeeze film damper. It is assumed that the fluid flow is incompressible, laminar, isothermal and steady-state. The finite difference method has been used to solve Reynolds equation governing the lubricant flow in film thickness of hydrostatic bearing. The numerical results obtained are discussed, analyzed and compared between three- and four-lobe hydrostatic journal bearings available in the literature.

It was found that the influence of eccentricity ratio on dynamic characteristics of an orifice-compensated three-pad hydrostatic squeeze film damper appears to be essentially controlled by the concentric pressure ratio. It was also found that the three-pad hydrostatic squeeze film damper has higher stiffness than three and four-lobe hydrostatic journal bearings.

In fact, the results obtained show that this type of hydrostatic squeeze film damper provides hydrostatic designers a new bearing configuration suitable to control rotor vibrations.

The current trend of modern industry is to use machineries which rotate at high speed along with the capability of carrying heavy rotor loads. This paper aims at static thermal analysis of two different profiles of non-circular journal bearings – a true elliptical bearing and orthogonal bearing.

The Reynolds equation has been solved through finite difference method to compute the oil film pressure. Parabolic temperature profile approximation technique has been used to solve the energy equation and thus used for computation of various bearing performance characteristics such as thermo-hydrodynamic oil film pressure, temperature, load capacity, Sommerfeld number and power loss characteristics across the bearing. The effect of ellipticity ratio on the bearing performance characteristics has also been obtained for both the elliptical and vertical offset bearing using three different commercially available grades of oil (Hydrol 32, 68 and 100).

It has been observed that the thermo-hydrodynamic pressure and temperature rise of the oil film is less in orthogonal bearing as compared to the true elliptical bearing for same operating conditions. The effect of ellipticity ratio of non-circularity on bearing performance parameters have been observed to be less in case of elliptical bearing as compared to orthogonal bearing. It has been concluded that though the rise in oil film temperature is high for true elliptical bearing, but still it should be preferred over orthogonal profile under study, as it has comparably good load-carrying capacity.

The performance parametric analysis will help the designers to select such kind of non-circular journal bearing for various applications.

The non-circular journal bearings may be used over circular journal bearings because of their superior thermal stability. The paper aims at experimental study of thermal performance of two different true elliptical and orthogonally displaced non-circular journal bearing profiles.

The experiments have been conducted on a specially designed test rig which simultaneously evaluates oil film pressure and temperature along the circumference of non-circular journal bearing. The tests are conducted for the designed true elliptical and orthogonally displaced journal bearing at three different rotational speeds of 2,000, 3,000 and 4,000 rpm under the influence of steadily applied load varied from 0.5 to 2.0 kN. The data collected during experimentation have been used to evaluate thermal performance parameters such as maximum pressure, flow rate and effective temperature of the bearings under study.

It has been observed experimentally that two lobes of pressure and temperature have been obtained for both the elliptical and orthogonally displaced journal bearing. The negative pressure zone (cavitation area) has been observed to be reduced along the circumference for both the journal bearings which results in less thermal degradation of an oil as compared to circular journal bearing. The oil film pressure and temperature increases with the increase in radial load of both the bearings. The maximum temperature rise of oil film is more in case of elliptical bearing as compared to the orthogonally displaced bearing.

The experimental data presented in this paper will help the designers to select such kind of non-circular journal bearing for various applications. The designed bearings have resulted in reduced cavitation zone and two positive pressure lobes have been observed which may result in application of such bearings as an alternate for circular journal bearing.