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The footwear industry requires highly skilled technicians but there are considerable training problems: numbers are small, they are widely scattered, training is required at irregular and often unpredictable times and the application of basic knowledge varies considerably. This article describes an approach to training technicians under these conditions which is both rapid and effective.

For training plans to be truly effective they must be capable of not only achieving their training objectives but of implementation within the constraints of their particular situations. Increased training expertise in most industries has succeeded in developing training programmes which fulfil their stated aims. Yet many schemes fail to become operational, or degenerate after short periods because of lack of attention to the limitations surrounding them. These limiting factors, the boundaries of the resources available, need to be carefully studied and considered at early stages of planning the training strategy if we are not to waste considerable effort in training developments. Finance is the oft quoted limitation, but in many cases manpower resources can be more serious and a major factor in determining an acceptable programme. Certainly the smaller firms have always been in the position of tailoring their training to their resources even if this does not completely satisfy their needs nor employ the best possible training methods. In today's depressed economic climate many firms are having to rethink their training policies to meet the new constraints. Trainers unaccustomed to this change of emphasis in the approach may find the following case studies of both interest and value.

The present economic situation and the Government emphasis on training pose the question: is the effort on training being directed for maximum return? Since training really started getting off the ground ten years ago, considerable strides have been made. The experienced human resource manager now has a variety of techniques available backed by proven research findings. Nevertheless, it appears that Government direction does not always take account of this expertise when planning manpower strategies. This article suggests an approach which takes into account not only the current state of training, but also Britain's position in the world and economic situation.

The main purpose of this work is to arrive at a three-dimensional (3D) numerical solution on mixed convection in a cubic cavity with a longitudinally located triangular fin in different sides.

The 3D governing equations are solved via finite volume technique by writing a code in FORTRAN platform. The governing parameters are chosen as Richardson number, 0.01 ≤ Ri ≤ 10 and thermal conductivity ratio 0.01 ≤ Rc ≤ 100 for fixed parameters of Pr = 0.7 and Re = 100. Two cases are considered for a lid-driven wall from left to right (V+) and right to left (V−).

It is observed that entropy generation due to heat transfer becomes dominant onto entropy generation because of fluid friction. The most important parameter is the direction of the moving lid, and lower values are obtained when the lid moves from right to left.

The main originality of this work is to arrive at a solution of a 3D problem of mixed convection and entropy generation for lid-driven cavity with conductive triangular fin attachments.

Establishing toughness performance in concrete using steel fibres is well understood, and design guides are available to assist with this process. What is less readily understood is the use of Type 2 synthetic fibres to provide toughness. This problem is exacerbated by the wide range of synthetic fibres available, with each different fibre providing different structural properties. This paper seeks to address this issue.

The paper examines the relative pull‐out values of two single fibre types, i.e. steel and Type 2 synthetic fibres. The pull‐out test results have informed the doses of fibre additions to beams which have been used to equate near equal toughness performance for each fibre type.

The results show that synthetic Type 2 fibres, when used at a prescribed additional volume, can provide toughness equal to steel fibre concrete.

The scientific study of fibre pull‐out behaviour is well understood and described herein under additional reading. Practical testing to show contractors and clients how to balance the dose of fibres in concrete, so that synthetic fibres could be used as a steel fibre replacement, is not well researched. This paper bridges the information gap.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a numerical study of conjugate heat transfer by mixed convection and conduction in a lid-driven enclosure with thick vertical porous layer. The effect of the relevant parameters: Richardson number (Ri=0.1, 1, 10) and thermal conductivity ratio (Rk=0.1, 1, 10, 100) are investigated.

The studied system is a two dimensional lid-driven enclosure with thick vertical porous layer. The left vertical wall of the enclosure is allowed to move in its own plane at a constant velocity. The enclosure is heated from the right vertical wall isothermally. The left and the right vertical walls are isothermal but temperature of the outside of the right vertical wall is higher than that of the left vertical wall. Horizontal walls are insulated. The governing equations are solved by finite volume method and the SIMPLE algorithm.

From the finding results, it is observed that: for the two studied cases, heat transfer rate along the hot wall is a decreasing function of thermal conductivity ratio irrespective of Richardson numbers contrary to the heat transfer rate along the fluid-porous layer interface which is an increasing function of thermal conductivity ratio. At forced convection dominant regime, the difference between heat transfer rate for upward and downward moving wall is insensitive to the thermal conductivity ratio. For downward moving wall, average Nusselt number is higher than that of upward moving wall.

Some applications: building applications, furnace design, nuclear reactors, air solar collectors.

From the bibliographic work and the authors’ knowledge, the conjugate mixed convection in lid-driven partially porous enclosures has not yet been investigated which motivates the present work that represent a continuation of the preceding investigations.

This study aims to numerically scrutinize the entropy generation minimization and mixed convective heat transfer of multi-walled carbon nanotubes–Fe₃O₄/water hybrid nanofluid flow in a lid-driven square enclosure with heat generation in the presence of a porous layer on inner surfaces, considering local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) approach and the non-Darcy flow model.

The dimensionless governing equations for hybrid nanofluid and solid phases are solved by applying the finite volume method and semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations algorithm.

The roles of the internal heat generation in the porous layer, LTNE model and nanoparticles volume fraction on mixed convection phenomenon and entropy generation are introduced for lid-driven cavity hybrid nanofluid flow. Based on the investigation of entropy generation and heat transfer, the minimum total entropy generation and average Nusselt numbers are found at 1 ≤ Ri ≤ 10 where the effect of the forced and free convection flow directions being opposite each other is very significant. When considering various nanoparticle volume fractions, it becomes evident that the minimum entropy generation occurs in the case of φ = 0.1%. The outcomes of LTNE number reveal the operating parameters in which thermal equilibrium occurs between hybrid nanofluid and solid phases.

The analysis of entropy generation under various shear and buoyancy forces plays a significant role in the suitable thermal design and optimization of mixed convective heat transfer applications. This research significantly contributes to the optimization of design and the advancement of innovative solutions across diverse engineering disciplines, such as packed-bed thermal energy storage and thermal insulation.

Seeks to examine the bond strength of a large range of structural polypropylene fibres, as used in concrete, to determine the most effective fibre capable of transmitting load (N/mm²) between fibre and cement within the concrete matrix.

Following fibre selection characterised by the highest bond strength, determined from a series of pull out tests, BS flexural tests were carried out using high bond strength fibres (40 mm × 0.9 mm diameter used at 6 kg/m³) to determine whether or not structural polypropylene fibres had any effect on the ultimate flexural strength of fibre‐reinforced concrete, when compared with the plain control sample. Fibre orientation, type of rupture failure mode and post‐crack performance were examined.

Even structural fibre dispersion was found to be best achieved with the use of monofilament polypropylene fibres (19 mm × 22 micron used at 0.9 × kg/m³) in addition to the 6 kg/m³ structural fibre dose. Structural polypropylene fibres were found not to provide additional flexural strength however, they did provide post‐crack control, limiting the crack width with subsequent enhanced durability that in turn will provide lower life cycle costs.

In addition to increased durability the use of fibre reinforcement negates the need to place steel reinforcement bars.

Investigates the ambiguity in literature between claims made by different investigators regarding the effects of polypropylene fibres on compressive and flexural strengths.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mixed convection of a two-phase water–aluminum oxide nanofluid in a cavity under a uniform magnetic field.

The upper wall of the cavity is cold and the lower wall is warm. The effects of different values of Richardson number, Hartmann number, cavitation length and solid nanoparticles concentration on the flow and temperature field and heat transfer rate were evaluated. In this paper, the heat flux was assumed to be constant of 10 (W/m²) and the Reynolds number was assumed to be constant of 300 and the Hartmann number and the volume fraction of solid nanoparticles varied from 0 to 60 and 0 to 0.06, respectively. The Richardson number was considered to be 0.1, 1 and 5. Aspect ratios were 1, 1.5 and 2.

Comparison of the results of this paper with the results of the numerical and experimental studies of other researchers showed a good correlation. The results were presented in the form of velocity and temperature profiles, stream and isotherm lines and Nusselt numbers. The results showed that by increasing the Hartmann number, the heat transfer rate decreases. An increase from 0 to 20 in Hartmann number results in a 20 per cent decrease in Nusselt numbers, and by increasing the Hartmann number from 20 to 40, a 16 per cent decrease is observed in Nusselt number. Accordingly, it is inferred that by increasing the Hartmann number, the reduction in the Nusselt number is decreased. As the Richardson number increased, the heat transfer rate and, consequently, the Nusselt number increased. Therefore, an increase in the Richardson number results in an increase of the Nusselt number, that is, an increase in Richardson number from 0.1 to 1 and from 1 to 5 results in 37 and 47 per cent increase in Nusselt number, respectively.

Even though there have been numerous investigations conducted on convection in cavities under various configurations and boundary conditions, relatively few studies are conducted for the case of nanofluid mixed convection in square lid-driven cavity under the effect of magnetic field using two-phase model.

The purpose of this paper is to perform the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation with experimental validation to investigate the particle segregation effect in abrupt and smooth shapes circulating fluidized bed (CFB) risers.

The experimental investigations were carried out in lab-scale CFB systems and the CFD simulations were performed by using commercial software BARRACUDA. Special attention was paid to investigate the gas-particle flow behavior at the top of the riser with three different superficial velocities, namely, 4, 6 and 7.7 m/s. Here, a CFD-based noble simulation approach called multi-phase particle in cell (MP-PIC) was used to investigate the effect of traditional drag models (Wen-Yu, Ergun, Wen-Yu-Ergun and Richardson-Davidson-Harrison) on particle flow characteristics in CFB riser.

Findings from the experimentations revealed that the increase in gas velocity leads to decrease the mixing index inside the riser. Moreover, the solid holdup found more in abrupt riser than smooth riser at the constant gas velocity. Despite the more experimental investigations, the findings with CFD simulations revealed that the MP-PIC approach, which was combined with different drag models could be more effective for the practical (industrial) design of CFB riser. Well agreement was found between the simulation and experimental outputs. The simulation work was compared with experimental data, which shows the good agreement (<4%).

The experimental and simulation study performed in this research study constitutes an easy-to-use with different drag coefficient. The proposed MP-PIC model is more effective for large particles fluidized bed, which can be helpful for further research on industrial gas-particle fluidized bed reactors. This study is expected to give throughout the analysis of CFB hydrodynamics with further exploration of overall fluidization.