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This paper presented the stress concentration factor (SCF) around the half circular edge of tensile specimens made of syntactic foam using finite element software Strand7 software. The study is a preliminary effort, which investigates the effect of variations of crack geometry on the stress concentration factor on a tensile specimen subjected to a constant, uniform, uniaxial tensile load. The material property is graded for varying Young’s Modulus and Poisson’s Ratio with different composition of glass microballoons. Finally, a uniform pressure is applied at the top and the model is constrained with symmetric boundary conditions at the left and bottom. As the result, these numerical results for both SCF experimental and simulation model are compared to those obtained from analytic fracture mechanics procedures and are found to be varied. In addition, the SCF is sensitive to the modulus of elasticity, particularly for lower composition weight percentage (wt.%), while it is also varied with the different weight percentage (wt.%) of glass microballoons, which is led by 2 wt.% specimen.

In this study we show the comparative study of job satisfaction in Public and Private Bank sectors. This paper will investigate as to what extent job satisfaction has lead to good working performance in formal organization. The study will examine the factors which influence employee’s job satisfaction in organization such as Job involvement, Organizational commitment, Quality of work life, organizational climate and Job content. This study also represent that the Private bank officers have higher levels of job satisfaction than those from public sectors as they enjoy better facilities and supportive work environment. In order to study the objective primary data were collected with a sample size of 400 which was collected at randomly from 10 equally selected public and private Banks. Finally an attempt has been made to regression and correlation analysis on job satisfaction and variables among the public and private bank employees in Bangladesh. Key words: job satisfaction, banking sectors, contributing variables, Performance analysis.

This paper demonstrates the applicability of artificial neural networks (ANNs) that use multiple bck-propagation networks (MBP) and a non-linear autoregressive exogenous model (NARX) for predicting the deflection of a smart wind turbine blade specimen. A neural network model has been developed to perform the deflection with respect to the number of wires required as the output parameter, and parameters such as load, current, time taken and deflection as the input parameters. The network has been trained with experimental data obtained from experimental work. The various stages involved in the development of a genetic algorithm based neural network model are addressed in detail in this paper.

This paper demonstrates the applicability of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) that use Multiple Back-Propagation networks (MBP) and Non-linear Autoregressive with Exogenous (NARX) for predicting the deflection of the smart wind turbine blade specimen. A neural network model has been developed to perform the deflection with respect to a number of wires required as the output parameter. The parameter includes load, current, time taken and deflection as input parameters. The network has been trained with experimental data obtained from experimental work. The various stages involved in the development of genetic algorithm based neural network model are addressed at length in this paper.

The wind turbine blade is a very important part of the rotor. Extraction of energy from wind depends on the design of the blade. The advancement of fibre composite materials have provided the best solutions to overcome inefficiencies caused by traditional materials used in wind turbine construction. At present, the majority of wind turbine blades are constructed with glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP). The use of composite materials eventually have solved some of the problems associated with efficient operation of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) such as gravitational forces due to weight but there are other unresolved problems such as long term material property degradation, local shape deformation of the profile of the wind turbine blades etc. This project aims to address the adverse structural response of the blade profile with the variation of operational parameters such as wind velocity and material properties on blade’s performances. For this reason, the shape memory alloy (SMA), which is Nitinol (NiTi) has been embedded in the blade to alleviate the load. A parametric blade model utilising the Abaqus finite element program has been developed to efficiently predict the deflection of the blade. Result obtained from Abaqus is compared with the current experimental work. It was found that the numerical model developed in FEA agreed relatively well with the experimental work, thus validating underlying assumptions.

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Engineering, Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology, To provide reliable and cost-effective infrastructure services to the public, governments around the globe often seek participation from the private sector with an emphasis on their ability to provide private finance. As such, most countries exploit competitive tendering to award Privately Financed Infrastructure (PFI) projects to sponsors representing the private sector. Within the framework of competitive procurement, sponsors not only strive to maximize their potential of winning such ventures at the tendering stage, but they also aspire to achieve a certain level of profit reflecting the risk associated with their investment. Moreover, owing to their limited financial capacity, sponsors must seek external funds from financial institutions (lenders) and, consequently, make their best efforts to maximize the potential of attracting lenders. This challenging process is mainly governed by a project’s concession length, base price (such as initial tariff/toll), and debt-to-equity ratio – collectively known as concessionary items. Owing to multiparty involvement, a state of optimality always reigns in determining the ideal values of concessionary items. Although profitability plays the pivotal role, chasing optimal values of concessionary items thus appears as an intrinsic uphill struggle to potential sponsors. Without resolving multiparty conflicting financial interests, the selected values of concessionary items may not only be suboptimal but may also be erroneous, leading to the sponsor’s failure in winning the bid for procuring the project. An exhaustive review of existing literature reveals that previously developed financial analysis models cannot adequately capture the complexities associated with determining optimal values of concessionary items through evaluating their aggregated impact on PFI project cash flows.

The presentation was in a joint workshop participated by Australian and Japanese researchers on FRP materials, which is also a part of Fibre Composites in Civil Infrastructure Road Show in Japan 2009.

To provide reliable and cost-effective infrastructure services to the public, governments around the globe often seek participation from the private sector with an emphasis on their ability to provide private finance. As such, most countries exploit competitive tendering to award Privately Financed Infrastructure (PFI) projects to sponsors representing the private sector. Within the framework of competitive procurement, sponsors not only strive to maximize their potential of winning such ventures at the tendering stage, but they also aspire to achieve a certain level of profit reflecting the risk associated with their investment. Moreover, owing to their limited financial capacity, sponsors must seek external funds from financial institutions (lenders) and, consequently, make their best efforts to maximize the potential of attracting lenders. This challenging process is mainly governed by a project’s concession length, base price (such as initial tariff/toll), and debt-to-equity ratio – collectively known as concessionary items. Owing to multiparty involvement, a state of optimality always reigns in determining the ideal values of concessionary items. Although profitability plays the pivotal role, chasing optimal values of concessionary items thus appears as an intrinsic uphill struggle to potential sponsors. Without resolving multiparty conflicting financial interests, the selected values of concessionary items may not only be suboptimal but may also be erroneous, leading to the sponsor’s failure in winning the bid for procuring the project. An exhaustive review of existing literature reveals that previously developed financial analysis models cannot adequately capture the complexities associated with determining optimal values of concessionary items through evaluating their aggregated impact on PFI project cash flows., Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Engineering, Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology, Full Text