003702   Roy R;Ghoshal S P (Electrical Engineering Dep, S V National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat) : Optimization of auction based bidding costs for deregulated power market. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2008, 89(June), 22-6.

The Lagrangian technique in economic dispatch optimization relies on the convexity of the production cost function. But, it falls in optimization specially when the Genco's bidden cost function may become concave in a deregulated power market. Evolutionary computation techniques, such as, genetic algorithm and particle swarm are well applicable to optimization of concave bidden cost functions. Binary coded genetic algorithm (GA) and two varieties of particle swarm optimizations are adopted for solving concave bidden cost optimization problem with various test cases like 10 units, 20 units and 30 units. In some cases, the particle swarm with inertia weight approach yields lesser bidding cost than genetic algorithm, whereas, the same with constriction factor approach consistently yields least bidding" costs in all test cases.

7 illus, 4 tables, 7 ref

003701   Roy D;Abe K;Basak B (Electrical Engineering Dep, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah) : Performance comparison of flux-concentration type and conventional type tubular linear induction motor using three-phase equivalent circuit parameters. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2008, 89(June), 27-33.

In the case of conventional type tubular linear induction motor (LIM), due to the higher value of leakage reactance, the air gap flux decreases. In the flux-concentration type linear induction motor (FCLIM), the leakage flux reduces considerably and more flux is concentrated into the air gap, resulting in an increase of the developed thrust. The performance characteristics obtained using per phase equivalent circuit parameters are not accurate mainly due to the configuration of primary core with ends and the unbalanced input voltages. In this work, the performance characteristics of FCLIM and normal tubular LIM are compared using three-phase equivalent circuit parameters, which are determined considering the unbalanced input currents and mutual reactances.

10 illus, 2 tables, 3 ref

003700   Reddy V S;Rao P V R (Electrical Engineering, NIT, Warangal-506 004) : Supplementary HVDC controls for multi-machine system stability improvement. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2008, 89(June), 41-6.

This paper deals with the improvement of multi-machine power system stability using supplementary HVDC controls. The current controller model and the line dynamics are considered in the stability analysis. Initially, combination of control signals required for the HVDC power modulation is determined to improve the power system stability. A fuzzy logic controller is then proposed, which utilizes a set of control rules to vary the gains of the above controller and this has been found to improve the system stability further.

9 illus, 1 table, 7 ref

003699   Ray K S;Rai C S (Electronic Science Dep, L S College, Muzaffarpur) : Radiation characteristics of microstrip annular slot antenna in weakly ionized plasma medium. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 49-52.

Theoretical investigation has been carried out to evaluate the effect of weakly ionized plasma on the radiation characteristics of microstrip annular slot antenna. For this purpose, the dimension of the annular slot has been assumed to be sufficiently small and only the principal TEM mode of the coaxial line has been taken into account. Therefore, under such condition, the magnetic surface current density and electric vector potential have been used to obtain the electric field and magnetic field components of such antenna. The effective relative permittivity of the plasma has been expressed in terms of gas temperature and electronic temperature. It has been found that the maxim um radiation is found along the end fire direction having main lobe in broadside direction and side lobe along the end-fire direction. It is observed that the presence of plasma medium slightly modifies the radiation characteristics of the antenna, however the radiation becomes more omni directional in half space with decreasing value of plasma permittivity.

3 illus, 10 ref

003698   Ray G ;Das S K;Tyagi B (Electrical Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721 302) : Stabilization of inverted pendulam via fuzzy control. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 88(Sept), 58-62.

In this paper, a fuzzy logic based control scheme is presented to swing-up the pendulum from vertical down position to a vertical up position (stabilizing zone) and then a different stabilizing fuzzy-controller is switched on to balance the pendulum at an upright position. The proposed fuzzy control scheme has a capability to capture the control objectives and also it has an excellent stabilizing ability in suffering an external impact acting on the pendulum system and substantially maintain a better stability domain of attraction than the conventional control algorithm. The effectiveness of the fuzzy stabilizing controller is verified by carrying out experiments on an inverted digital pendulum control systems, whose cart displacement is limited within the finite track length. The results of this paper are compared to that of traditional control algorithm.

6 illus, 3 tables, 8 ref

003697   Ravi Shankar A U;Suresha S N;Kashinath B (Civil Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, P.O. Srinivasnagar-575 025, Email: aurshankar@yahoo.com) : Characterisation of lateritic soil modified with pond ash and cement. Indian Highw 2008, 36(6), 21-7.

Lateritic Soils (LS) are considered to be the major source of marginal material in the western coastal areas of South India. Certain inherent properties of LS need modification for its bulk usage in the road construction. The LS modified with suitable methods and materials will be suitable for use in the construction of highway/runway pavements, embankments etc. Presents the results of investigation on the behavior of LS modified with Pond Ash (PA), and blend of LS, PA, and Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). The properties, like, grain size distribution, Atterberg limits, moisture-density relation and hydraulic conductivity are studied for the LS blended with PA in the range of 5-20%. The mixture of LS with 20% PA was selected for further modification with OPC in the range of 1-4%. The properties like moisture-density relation, hydraulic conductivity, CBR, UCC and modulus of subgrade reactions are evaluated.

9 illus, 2 tables, 16 ref

003696   Rallapalli N P;Sharma S;Jain A (Electronics and Telecommunication Dep, SGSITS College, Indore-452 003) : Simulation of adaptive filter for hybrid echo cancellation. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 64-9.

The telephone network generates echoes at points internal to and near the end of a telephone connection. Echo cancelation is used to combat this echo for speech and data transmission. Generally two types of echoes exist in the telephone-network, hybrid echo and acoustic echo. Hybrid echo exists due to the impedance mismatch in the hybrid circuit (hybrid circuit provides conversion between two-wire line and four-wire lines) in the telephone network. The acoustic echo is created by the loudspeaker in a phone. The sound comes out of it, bounces from the walls and other objects in the room, reflects and comes back to the phone's microphone. Because of these echoes, the listener hears multiple versions of the same speech. In the present paper the performance of the echo canceller is evaluated. Adaptive filters are used for the echo cancellation. Three algorithms (LMB, NLMB, fast-LMS) have been simulated using MATLAB for adapting the filter coefficients. Performances of these algorithms have been compared with respect to the computational complexity, mean square error and echo return loss enhancement (ERLE). Comparative test results shows that fast-LMS algorithm provides least mean square error, more ERLE, and also less complexity.

6 illus, 1 table, 9 ref

003695   Rajoria K B;Sharma V K (Modckopn Engineers, , K-2035, C R Park, new Delhi-110 019) : Rain water harvesting for ground water recharging - a case study of Delhi. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2008, 88(Feb), 48-60.

The city of Delhi, the capital of India, has witnessed unprecedented pace of urbanization in the decades after independence in 1947. As a result of rapid urban development that has outstripped expectations, the water supply infrastructure has failed to match demand. The speed of urbanization and its concomitant demand on the urban water supply system over a period led to a situation when ecological sustainable water supply system, ie, piped supply from perennial rivers gradually became vulnerable to meet the ever-growing demand of the population. With the result the underground water reserves came to supplement the water shortages through a system of extraction by tube wells, bore wells etc. Over the period, ground water was over exploited by the affluent class, unplanned habitation pockets apart from extensive withdrawal by construction, industry and irrigation sector. The extraction of ground water reserves thus far exceeded the natural recuperation through rainwater ground percolation and by 1990s situation became alarming. Depletion of ground water table and deterioration of quality of water due to leaching of harmful metal compounds, shrinking aquifers all have posed before city planers, civic agencies and engineers a formidable challenge as to not only to check the further depletion of underground water aquifers but to replenish the same. Borne out of such challenge and development of acute awareness to unsustainable nature of ground water extraction system, the program-of 'rain water harvesting' has been launched in the city of Delhi in a concerted manner involving Government agencies, residential colony societies, civic bodies, NGOs and private individuals. The concept of 'rain water harvesting' (RWH) is aptly conveyed in the slogan 'catch water where it falls' and therefore involves the activity of rain water storage as well as other activities aimed at harvesting and conserving surface and ground water. This paper explains how an easy yet innovative engineering solutions like RWH can help in salvaging the vulnerable situation in water supply system and thereby contribute toward shifting the date of resource failure, if any, to a farther future.

23 illus, 2 tables, 10 ref

003694   Purusothaman T;Anadurai S;Gopalakrishnan V (NO, Governments College of Engineering, Coimbatore-641 013) : An efficient hybrid re-keying mechanism for secure group communication. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 12-16.

Many standard algorithms are openly available for encryption and authentication, in the literature. Even newly developed algorithms are also available to the hackers through net. The security relies only on the keys used in these algorithms. Hence, a scalable and effective key management mechanism is required to safegaurd the multicasted information in a secure group communication. So, instead of using centralized, distributed or decentralized methods a hybrid method, was proposed. The existing hybrid architecture combines Iolus and omitted key approach of centralized flat key management (CFKM). But here, the storage complexity of the algorithm is high as each member needs to keep more number of keys. Also, collusion attack is a major problem with the CFKM mechanism. In this paper an improved hybrid re-keying mechanism is proposed. The salient features of this method is that, the storage complexity is reduced significantly by combining the centralized approach of one-way function trees (OFT) with the de-centralized approach of Iolus. In addition to this, collusion attacks are also prevented. The hybrid re-keying mechanism reduces the processing load of the root server and associated networking devices by using a decentralized architecture within sub-groups.

3 illus, 1 table, 7 ref

003693   Prasanna Kumar R;Dhinakaran G (NO, School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA University, Thanjavur-613 402, Email: rpkumar111@rediffmail.com) : Field measurement of control delay at signalized intersections under heterogeneous traffic conditions. Indian Highw 2008, 36(2), 49-55.

Highway Capacity Manual 2000 (HCM 2000) designates mean control delay as the primary performance measure for signalized intersections to determine the Level of Service (LOS). Delay estimation at signalized intersections has been extensively studied in the literature and several methods for estimating vehicle delay at signalized intersections have been widely used. However, the exploration on the method for estimating the delay is still continuously conducted. An attempt is made to estimate the control delay at two signalized intersections located in Tiruchirapalli city (a medium sized city in Tamil Nadu) through the field procedure given in HCM 2000. Using the measured delays, the operating levels of service for the study intersections are assessed.

2 illus, 5 tables, 8 ref

003692   Prakash K B;Kulkarni D K (Civil Engineering Dep, College of Engineering and Technology, Belgaum-590 008) : Performance of polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete with different combinations of admixtures for the construction of pavements. Indian Highw 2008, 36(2), 29-36.

Now a days highways or runways are utilizing different types of fibers in their construction. Fibers offer many advantages along with crack free surface. Many a times the fiber reinforced concrete has to be produced with the combination of admixtures. The main objective of this experimental study was to study the effect of addition of combination of admixtures on the strength properties of polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete. The strength properties like compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength were evaluated. The workability characteristics were also studied. The different combinations of admixtures selected for the study were: Superplasticiser + Air Entraining Agent + Shrinkage Reducing Admixture (S+AEA+SRA). Superplasticiser + Air Entraining Agent + Viscosity Modifying Admixture (S+AEA+VMA). The different percentages of polypropylene fibers used in the experimentation were varied from 0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3% (by volume fraction). The experimental results indicated that the polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete achieves maximum strength with the combination of admixtures (S+AEA+SRA) and (S+AEA+VMA) as compared to the reference mix. Also the test results indicated that the strength properties of polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete increased as the percentage of fiber in it increased. Hence, it can be suggested for the construction of highways or runways.

4 illus, 6 tables, 17 ref

003691   Petrov P T (NO, , Drujba 2 Sofia 1582, Bulgaria) : New approach to sampling sinusoidal and cosinusoidal signals. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 17-21.

A new approach towards error calculation during the analog to digital conversion of sinusoidal and cosinusoidal signals due to non-sampling of the analog signal into its maximal and minimal value have been discussed. Formulae for calculating the sampling factor N, the sampling frequency Fd and the bits in to the coding word (number of the converter bits) n are given. The approach is important because the sinusoidal and eosinusoidal signals with or without direct current component are basic analog test signals, for every analog channel and signal conversion system.

4 tables, 3 ref

003690   Mondal D P;Vinod E M;Das S;Rao T S V C (NO, Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (CSIR), Bhopal-462 026, Email: modaldp@yahoo.com) : High stress abrasive wear behaviour of shot peened AA2014 Al-alloy. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2008, 15(1), 41-50.

AA2014 Al alloy specimens (in the form of plates) have been shot peened to varying intensity levels (0.14 to 0.48 mm ALMEN 'N') and the effect of shot peening intensity on the subsurface plastic deformation, surface and subsurface residual stress field, depth of peening and microstructure evolution has been investigated. The influence of shot peening intensity on the high stress abrasive wear behaviour has also been investigated. The wear rate reduced significantly due to mild shot peening. Intensive shot peening did not lead to any significant improvement in wear resistance, rather beyond a critical peening intensity, the wear resistance of material starts deteriorating.

11 illus, 3 tables, 27 ref

003689   Moinuddin A A;Singh S (Electronics Engineering Dep, Z H College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002) : Accurate pathloss prediction in wireless environment. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 9-11.

Accuracy of an existing pathloss model is going to suffer when the yare used in the environment other than for which they have been developed. For accurate pathloss prediction in wireless environment, it is necessary to perform site-specific field measurements. In this paper, a pathloss model for a suburban environment is given. The model is developed from the field-measured data. The developed model is compared with the Hata model, which is widely used for pathloss prediction in the wireless environments.

1 illus, 1 table, 5 ref

003688   Mohanty K B (Electrical Enginnering NIT Rourkela-769 008, , ) : Input-output linearinzing and decoupling control of an induction motor drive. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 88(Sept), 45-51.

This paper presents an input-output linearizing and decoupling control scheme for speed control of an induction motor drive. In this scheme, the motor model is linearized and torque and flux are decoupled b, use of non-lineal' control along with proportional-cum-integral controllers. The control scheme is implemented and tested in laboratory.

5 illus, 14 ref

003687   Mohanraj E K;Kandasamy S (Civil Engineering Dep, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai-638 052) : Experimental behaviour of axially loaded hollow steel columns in-filled with concrete. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2008, 88(Feb), 23-9.

The experimental study of twelve steel tubular columns of circular section filled with plain, fibre reinforced and partial replacement of coarse aggregate by rubber; granite, and construction and demolition (C&D) debris concrete. The specimens were tested under axial compression to investigate the effects of fibre, rubber, granite and C&D debris concrete on the strength and structural behaviour of composite columns. Hollow steel columns of similar specimen were also tested as reference columns. The test results were illustrated by load-deflection curves. Various characteristics, such as, strength, stiffness, ductility and failure mode are discussed. Interpretation of the experimental results indicates that the use of fibre reinforced, rubber; granite and C&D debris concrete as infill material has a considerable effect on the strength and behaviour of composite columns.

9 illus, 3 tables, 13 ref

003686   Mishra S S (Civil Engineering Dep, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli-791 109) : Influences of mass lumping and reduction of dof on the natural frequency of a long cable-stayed bridge. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2008, 88(Feb), 7-12.

Accurate determination of natural frequencies of long span cable-stayed bridges is important for bridge engineers who are concerned with the safety and stability from dynamic point of view. The natural frequencies of the structure have important bearing on the scheme of distribution and representation of its mass. In this study, therefore, natural frequencies corresponding to consistent and various non-consistent mass matrices from a three-dimensional finite element model of a 1020 m long main-span cable-stayed bridge have been considered for investigating the performance and appropriateness of different mass matrices. Two different orders of reduced degrees-of-freedom have also been considered to judge the relative merits of various mass matrices. It is shown that giving more weight to consistent mass in an excessively reduced order of degrees-of-freedom results in lower natural frequencies. Particle masses with no rotational inertias are rejected for such a slender bridge as these yield higher frequencies in almost all modes barring two lowest modes. Combined mass matrix composed of an average of the diagonal ad hoc lumped mass matrix with rotational inertias and the consistent mass matrix offers less computational burden and yields good results.

4 illus, 3 tables, 22 ref

003685   Mina H L;Sethi N K (PWD, Govt. of Rajasthan, , Rajasthan) : Capacity aspects & delays at roundabouts. Indian Highw 2008, 36(4), 29-34.

4 illus, 2 tables, 11 ref

003684   Mehta R K;Datta K;Goswami S K (Electrical Engineering Dep, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700 032) : Observer-based lateral autopilot for tail-controlled missiles. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 88(Sept), 15-23.

A reduced-order observer based linear controller design approach for a tail-controlled missile lateral autopilot in pitch plane is presented. The autopilot incorporates integral control for improved command tracking response and disturbance rejection. Parametric model uncertainty has been considered and stabi1ity robustness study has been carried out assigning a bound on the deviations in aerodynamic coefficients and actuator frequency. A step by step design methodology has been proposed for achieving performance satisfying specified stability margins. The methodology provides some control over peak body-rate, fin deflection and fin deflection .rate of the missile which may be utilized to meet hardware constraints. A numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the developed methodology.

5 illus, 3 tables, 12 ref

003683   Manchikanti S;Raju G V R P (Civil Engineering Dep, JNTU, Kakinada-533 003) : Laboratory study on the effect of electrolytes on properties of expansive soil used in pavement sub-grade. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2008, 88(Feb), 3-6.

The swelling properties of problematic soils, such as, black cotton soils, depend on the type of clay, mineral, crystal lattice structure, cation-exchange capacity, ability of water absorption, density and water content. Many techniques have been tried to alleviate the problems posed by expansive soils, 2 which have met with limited success and hence, the attempts to devise better techniques are still going on. Chemical modification by adding lime and lime-pozzolana mixes has been practiced for the last two decades. However, due to low solubility (about 1.2 g/l at 20°C) of lime and mixing problems involved, many researchers have reported that CaCl₂ could be an effective alternative to conventional lime treatment, due to its ready dissolvability in water and to supply adequate calcium ions, for exchange reactions. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the efficacy of electrolytes like KCl, CaCl₂ and FeC₃ on the properties of expansive clay and it is observed that, the FeCl₃ treatment showed the best performance when compared with that of the other treatments.

4 illus, 1 table, 20 ref

003682   Kumar M (Haryana PWD (B&R) Branch, , Chandigarh) : Challenges of globalisation to PWD system. Indian Highw 2008, 36(4), 35-41.

To have a sustained growth rate of about 9% per annum, a good road network has a commanding position and is the life line of country's economy. More than 99% of road network is being maintained at present by PWD and other allied agencies. Since budgetary sources being scarce, so it is a time when globalisation need to be brought in PWD system in a big way. PWD has to have a paradigm shift leading to challenges that needs a change in institutional arrangements, change in empowerment, change in role from a provider to procurer and emphasis on facilitation. There is also a requirement of strengthening of organization structure, human resource management and in its systems & processes. PWD's may have to use a mix of implementation options while substantially increasing the proportion of BOT (Toll) and BOT (Annuity) in its mix.

3 tables, 6 ref

003681   Kulkarni P S;Yadav O P (Electrical Engineering, Visvesvarya National Institute of Technology, Deemed University, Nagpur-440-011) : SRMC based transmission pricing for wheeling transactions under deregulated environment of power sector. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2008, 89(June), 34-40.

Apply an important wheeling pricing technique called short run marginal cost (SRMC) based pricing. Wheeling transaction is the transmission of active and reactive power from a seller to a buyer through the transmission network owned by a third party The third party is the wheeling utility, which carries this power and should be paid for this service, since, it has to bear the cost of losses from such transactions. Proper pricing of active and reactive power is an important issue for economic and secure operation of power systems in a transmission open access environment. Though the marginal cost of reactive power generation appears to be smaller than for real power, it is important to note that the cost differences between the entry and exit buses for real and reactive power arc significantly comparable. IEEE-30 bus system has been considered for the investigations.

6 illus, 2 tables, 18 ref

003680   Kulkarni A P;Deshpande P P (Machenical Engineering Dep, Sinhgad Institute of Technol, Pune-410 401, Email: pravinpd@hotmail.com) : Computer simulation studies on Delhi iron pillar: estimation of weight. Curr Sci 2008, 94(1), 120-2.

Computational approach for estimation of weight of the world-famous Delhi Iron Pillar has been presented. The CATIA V5R16 software was used to prepare component drawings based on dimensions from the literature. The weight of the decorative bell capital was estimated as 646 kg and the main body as 5865 kg, thereby giving the entire weight of the pillar as 6511 kg. The methodology utilized in this communication can be employed to determine precise weights of significant historical objects.

4 illus, 2 tables, 9 ref

003679   Keshavarz M H (Chemistry Dep, Malek-Ashtar Univ of Technology, Shahin-Shahr P.O. Box 83145/115, Islamic Republic of Iran, Email: mhkir@yahoo.com) : Relationship between the electric spark sensitivity and detonation pressure. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2008, 15(3), 281-6.

A new method for the prediction of electric spark sensitivity of polynitro arenes through maximum obtainable detonation pressure has been proposed. This work uses two additional factors. which depend on the contribution of some structural parameters. Twelve polynitro arenes as training set were applied to optimize new correlation and twenty two polynitro arenes as test set were also used to check the validity of the method. The calculated electric spark sensitivities have a root mean square (rms) deviation of 2.27 J and a maximum deviation of 4.48 J from experimental data for training set. The rms and maximum deviations of predicted electric spark sensitivities from experimental values for test set are 2.28 and 4.77 J, respectively.

2 tables, 27 ref

003678   Kapoor R;Saini M (NO, YMCA Institute of Engineering, Faridabad) : New signal processing technique for power system disturbance detection and classification. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 88(Sept), 9-14.

A prototype multiwavelet-based recognition and DS-technique for classifying power quality disturbances is implemented and tested under various events. First, the multiresolution-analysis of multiwavelet transform technique is used for the analysis of the power system disturbances. The features are extracted from multiwavelet transform at the different resolution levels make up knowledge base which is then compared to that of IEEE standards in Heuristic Classifier and Chi-square distribution factor is derived from the last resolution level in Statistical Classifier. DS-technique has been used for the decision making between the results of Heuristic Classifier and Statistical Classifier" for the recognition the power system disturbances. Various events are tested, such as, voltage sag, voltage swell, outage, interruption, oscillatoryª impulsive, oscillatory-transient, noise and notching show that the classifier can detect and classify different power disturbance types efficiently Five hundred samples are tested and their results are shown later on with help of the confusion table.

4 illus, 4 tables, 12 ref

003677   Kanwar V;Kwatra N;Aggarwal;Gambir M L (NO, Punjab Technical University, Ladowali Road, Jalndhar-144 001) : Evaluation of dynamic parameters of a three-storey RCC building model using vibration techniques. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2008, 88(Feb), 13-17.

The need for structural health monitoring systems is continuously growing to maintain existing civil infrastructure. For the purpose of assuring seismic safety, it is necessary to monitor the damage for its occurrence, its location and the extent of damage. Undetected damage may potentially lead to more seismic damage under future earthquakes and eventually to catastrophic failure. Information on the damage may be utilised to make decisions on maintenance and structural safety of existing buildings, rapid evaluation of condition of damaged structure after future earthquakes, estimation of residual life of structures, feasibility of repair and retrofitting of structures, partial replacement or demolition of structure and financial planning for renovation and rehabilitation. In order to investigate the relation between the change in vibration characteristics and the earthquake damage, a series of experimental tests on a model of framed reinforced concrete building in the form of vibration records under different level of controlled damage was conducted.

4 illus, 4 tables, 12 ref

003676   Indulkar C S;Ramalingam K (NO, , B3 Gokul Society, Vasna Road, Baroda, Gujarat-390 015) : Control of power flow in parallel transmission lines with a regulating transformer and voltage-sensitive loads. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 88(Sept), 24-9.

The effects of the magnitude and phase of the complex transformation ratio of a regulating transformer in one of two parallel transmission lines on the power flows are investigated. Constant power load as well as voltage-sensitive constant current and constant impedance loads are considered. It is shown that the power losses differ widely for the different voltage-sensitive loads.

7 illus, 3 tables, 11 ref

003675   Ince P;Alyamac K E (Civil Engineering Dep, Engineering Faculty, Firat Univ, Elazig, Turkey, Email: rince@firat.edu.tr) : Determination of fracture parameters of concrete based on water-cement ratio. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2008, 15(1), 14-22.

The aim of study is to predict formulas based on the Abrams' Law between fracture parameters of concrete and w/c. Therefore, a series of three-point bend test on specimens were performed. The beams were made from mixes with water/cement ratios varying in the range of 0.34-0.85. The fracture parameters for each mix were calculated according to a popular fracture mechanics approach - two-parameter model. The present experimental data indicate that the fracture parameters of two-parameter model are inversely proportional to w/c ratios. In conclusion, the test results are in agreement with the Abrams' Law.

6 illus, 4 tables, 22 ref

003674   Hota P K;Dash S K (Training and Placement Dep, Orissa Instiute of Technology, Burla, Sambalpur-768 018) : Optimal generation dispatch of a gas-fired steam plant with take-or-pay fuel contract. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2008, 89(June), 17-21.

Presents a simple problem formulation of a gas-fired steam plant with take-or-pay fuel contract and then develops an algorithm based on sequential quadratic programming (SQP) approach to solve this problem. The general purpose Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno's (BEGS) method of optimization has been used. In order to obtain the optimal dispatch over a schedule period, the relevant problem is formulated as a constrained non-linear optimization problem. In the formulation, the fuel constraints are taken into account in addition to the load constraints and the operation constraints. The solution methodology is demonstrated through a test example, in which the generation loadings of a fuel-constrained and an equivalent steam unit are scheduled in a 24-h schedule horizon.

2 tables, 8 ref

003673   Ghosh S (NO, ICT (P) Ltd, New Delhi) : Compaction of concrete by immersion vibrators for durable highway structures. Indian Highw 2008, 36(2), 37-47.

Concrete durability is affected by several varied factors, such as, improper choice of materials, poor design and detailing, poor mix design etc. These factors, however, can be brought under control with improved material, better design and detailing by opting for wider sections and use of modern automatic batching plants to produce good quality of concrete. Durable concrete requires being dense so as to reduce diffusion of harmful elements and salts. Lack of adequate supervision in compaction of concrete has frequently resulted in poor in-situ quality of an otherwise well produced concrete defeating the very purpose of employing expensive modern equipment and methods for production of concrete. The compaction of concrete by vibration has revolutionized the concept of concrete technology, making possible practical use of low slump and rather stiff mixes for production of high quality concrete with required degree of strength, density, durability and impermeability. Compaction methods should be such that they will not cause segregation of aggregates and will result in a dense homogeneous concrete free of voids and porous pockets. High frequency immersion vibrators are most commonly used for compaction of reinforced and prestressed concrete because of their efficacy and ease of operation even in thin and narrow sections with dense reinforcement and prestressing cable ducts. Other types of vibrators that are used in highway structures are screed and form vibrators but always in combination with immersion vibrators. Some guidelines for compacting concrete by immersion type vibrators based on tests and field experience, are presented.

13 illus, 3 tables, 11 ref

003672   Ghosh P K;Nukala S K (Metallurgical & Materials Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee-247 667, Email: prakgfmt@iitr.ernet.in) : Properties of adhesive joint of inorganic nano-filler composite adhesive. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2008, 15(1), 68-74.

The characteristics of adhesive joints of aluminium sheet containing epoxy based composite adhesives containing nano-filler of ZrO₂ powder have been studied. The composite adhesives containing 10, 15 and 20 wt.% of about 20±3 nm size ZrO₂ powder are applied to mechanically treated aluminium substrates. The single lap joints of the composite adhesive are characterized by their tensile lap shear strength as a function of the bond-line thickness as well as the amount of filler. The characteristics of the composite adhesive joint have been compared to those of the conventional epoxy adhesive joints. The bond-line thickness of the adhesive with respect to the amount of the ZrO₂ nano-filler has been optimised for maximum tensile single lap shear strength of the adhesive joint of mechanically treated aluminium substrate. In comparison to conventional epoxy adhesive joints, the nano-filler epoxy based adhesive joint of aluminium shows significantly improved lap shear strength as a function of bond line thickness of adhesive and amount of filler in it.

8 illus, 32 ref

003671   Ghosh J K;Somvanshi A;Mittal R C (Geomatics Engineering Division, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee-247 667, Email: gikumfce@iitr.ernet.in) : Faractal feature for classification of hyperspectral images of Moffit Field, USA. Curr Sci 2008, 94(3), 356-8.

Spectral reflectance of any pixel in a remote-sensing image depends on the characteristics of the particular object present in the instantaneous field of view of the sensor. Since fractal geometry provides a means for describing and analysing the geometry of linear figures, the fractal dimension (FD) of the spectral reflectance curve (SRC) of a land cover (LC) may be used as a feature for representation of characteristics of LC, FD of SRC for major land-cover classes, based on Hausdorff metric, has been used as a feature to classify hyperspectral remote sensing images. From the separabilities of FDs of different LCs, it is concluded that FD of SRC of LC can be used as a feature for classification of US images.

4 illus, 3 tables, 15 ref

003670   Ganesh Babu K V;Reddy T S;Velmurugan S;Iryo T;Asakura Y (Engineering and Safety Div, CRRI, Mathura Road, P.O. CRRI, New Delhi-110 020, Email: timmappagari@yahoo.co.in) : Micro-evaluation of physiological reactions of drivers to variable message signs under fogy conditions on a simulated section of expressway. Indian Highw 2008, 36(6), 53-60.

Variable Message Signs (VMS) used to provide motorists with enroute traveler information, such as, road weather conditions, speeds to be adopted for safe travel, traffic incidents etc. The objective of the study is to analyse the physiological reactions of the drivers when traffic advisory information is provided through VMS under foggy conditions on a simulated section of expressway. A mid-level driving simulator is used to evaluate the physiological reactions at installed three VMS locations under with VMS and without VMS scenarios. Analysis of variance on physiological reactions (heartbeat) rejects the null hypothesis at 75% level of confidence and there was less stress on the subjects when subjects (drivers) are driving in with VMS scenario compared to without VMS scenario. Overall, it can be inferred from the study that the advisory information provided through VMS had positive effect on physiological reactions under foggy conditions.

8 illus, 2 tables, 3 ref

003669   Dutta J C;Sharma S;Roy S (Electronics Dep, , Tezpur-784 028) : Ion sensitive field effect trtansistors (ISFETs): transducers for biosensors. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 34-8.

Ion sensitive field effect transistors (ISFETs), capable of measuring pH or ions in solutions have drawn attention in the rapidly developing field of biosensors. Research work on ISFETs and related biosensors oriented for use in the field of medical, clinical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, biotechnology etc are rapidly increasing. Many ISFET based sensors have been reported in recent years, most of which have been successfully commercialized. In this paper, the chronology of development of ISFET, the theory, the operation principle and the modelling of ISFET are described.

6 illus, 14 ref

003668   Dudul S V (Applied Electronics Dep, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati-444 602) : Classification of radar returns from the ionosphere using RBF neural network. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 26-33.

An optimal classifier is designed using a RBF neural network for classification of radar returns from the ionosphere. It is shown that the proposed RBF neural network, consistently, has 100% accuracy on 'bad' instances and 99.1935% accuracy on 'good' instances. The results prove that the proposed RBF neural network classifier clearly outperforms its MLP counterpart in various performance measures, such as area under the ROC curve and classification accuracy on different testing data sets.

5 illus, 9 tables, 11 ref

003667   Dey P P;Chandra S;Gangopadhyay S (Traffic Engineering and Safety Div, CRRI, New Delhi, Email: deyparthapratim@rediffmail.com) : Speed studies on two-lane Indian highways. Indian Highw 2008, 36(6), 9-19.

Most of the studies available in the literature indicate that the speed of the vehicles in the traffic stream is normally distributed. The study shows that while the speed of an individual vehicle type is normally distributed, the speed data of all vehicles combined at a section of highway may or may not follow a normal distribution. It depends upon the composition of traffic stream and traffic volume both. Data collected at 18 different sections of two-lane highways in India are analyzed and it is observed that the proportion of slow moving vehicles alone is not a true indicator of type of speed distribution. The Spreade Ratio (SR) defined as the ratio of the difference between 85th and 50th percentile to the difference between 50th and 15th percentile speed, is better correlated with the shape ofthe speed distribution curve. The speed data are normally distributed only whe SR is in the range of 0.069-1.35

9 illus, 7 tables, 25 ref

003666   Cinitha A;Samuel Knight G M;Ramamurti V (Structural Engineering Div, College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai-600 025) : Evaluation of fundamental frequency of steel building frames - an experimental modal analysis. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2008, 88(Feb), 18-22.

The dynamic characteristics of steel moment resisting space frames both numerically and experimentally. The advances in experimental techniques have enabled clear understanding on the behaviour of structures subjected to dynamic loading; such as, wind earthquake, blast and impact. Small-scale models are easy to fabricate and test and proved economical due to limitation on capacities of testing facilities. Dynamic response of scaled model of a three-storey sil1gle bay steel frame is studied. Inductive acceleration against excitation frequency behaviour is studied for the model. Model analysis has been carried out using a developed finite element source code. It closely predicted experimental behaviour. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of height of the building, height of storeys, number of storeys, size of beams and columns on the fundamental frequency of the buildlng. Based on the experimental and numerical investigations the importance of studying the dynamic characteristics o[moment resisting steel space frame is well established.

8 illus, 9 ref

003665   Choudhury D (Civil Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ) : Response of soil slopes under earthquake conditions using 2-dof dynamic model. J Instn Engrs-Pt CI 2008, 88(Feb), 41-7.

Analyses for stability of slopes are of high importance related to civil engineering and more so under earthquake conditions. For dynamic analyses, conventionally either pseudo-static or pseudo-dynamic approaches or the simplest single degree freedom model for the slope-soil system is conventionally used which are found to perform not well during the recent earthquake disasters. In this paper, a better simplified two degree-of-freedom (2-dof) mass-spring-dashpot dynamic model has been proposed to estimate the displacement-time history response on soil slope under free and forced vibration modes of typical earthquake loading conditions and the dynamic magnification curves for various frequency ratio are obtained typically which will be useful for design of such typical soil slopes unde1" seismic condition in practice. Comparison of present model shows a better performance over existing model and more so the dynamic behaviour is captured in a true sense compared to conventional pseudostatic and pseudo-dynamic approaches.

6 illus, 19 ref

003664   Chell G C;Mondal S;Bairagi G (Mechanical Engineering Dep, Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College, Jalpaiguri-735 102, Email: gcchell@rediffmail.com) : Large deflection analysis of rhombic sandwich plates placed on elastic foundation. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2008, 15(1), 7-13.

Presents non-linear analysis of rhombic sandwich plates placed on elastic foundation under uniform load. Banerjee's hypothesis¹ involving a new form of energy expression in the total potential energy of the system has been employed. As a consequence the differential equation is decoupled keeping intact its non-linear character. The aim of the study is to analyze the non-linear behaviour of rhombic sandwich plates placed on elastic foundation for different skew angles. The results have been obtained both for movable and immovable edges from a single cubic equation. Numerical results (central deflection versus load) have been computed and compared with known results (K=0) for square sandwich plates only. The corresponding linear analysis (K=0) is also presented. The results thus obtained are in good agreement with those repoted in the literature.

10 illus, 3 tables, 20 ref

003663   Chavan P D (NO, Frischmann Prabhu (India) Pvt. Ltd, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra) : Approach to airfield pavement design for major Airport. Indian Highw 2008, 36(6), 29-41.

Design of airfield pavements is entirely different from that of road pavements. Numebr of softwares are available for design of road pavements, flexible as well as rigid. In case of airfield pavements, the parameters required for airfield pavement design are 1) Annual aircraft traffic movement of next 20 years for all categories of aircrafts 2) Physical characteristics of aircrafts 3) Maximum take off weight of aircrafats 4) Wheel configuration of aircrafts and 5) Physical characteristics of soil on which pavement is to be constructed. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) an International body is doing continuous research on the subject and publishes literature including developing software. Aircraft manufacturers also publish pavement design charts for the aircrafts they manufacture considering all parameters. International and domestic airports in India are up for changing their faces to meet ever-growing traffic demand. This will require inter alia revamping of existing pavements as well as new pavements. Gives the procedure of pavement design of new flexible and rigid pavements for a typical Airport.

6 illus, 22 tables, 9 ref

003662   Chakrabarti A;Mukhopadhyay A K (Electrical Engineering Dep, Netaji Subhash Engineering, Garia, Kolkata-700 152) : Transient analysis of three-phase inductio motor using matrix method. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 88(Sept), 63-70.

A generalized dynamic model of a three-phase squirrel cage induction motor has been developed using d and q variables in a stationary reference frame. This model can predict performance of the motor during switching transients and balanced fault conditions. The transient as well as steady state behaviour of squirrel cage induction motor has been investigated for direct switching; three-phase symmetrical short circuit fault, blocked rotor and open rotor condition. The matrix method of analysis has been employed for the simulation of the induction motor. The simulated results have been verified using an experimental model in the laboratory.

7 illus, 11 ref

003661   Brind Kumar;Ransinchung G D R N (Civil Engineering Dep, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hidu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh) : Review of sampling techniques for soils and aggregates in highway contruction. Indian Highw 2008, 36(6), 43-52.

Objective of the study is to present the proper sampling techniques for soils and aggregates in highway construction. Compliance to proper sampling techniques are essential to obtain reliable laboratory results. The increase in highways construction activities recently has resulted in increasing demand for greater precision in material properties. At least three sample specimens are tested for obtaining requisite parameters for soils and aggregates. Samples for the test should be representative of their original formation and collected in accordance with the procedure set forth in various codes and manuals both at national and international level. It is therefore desirable that, those engaged in field and laboratory testing activities should not only have adequate knowledge of testing procedures, but also a basic understanding of the sampling techniques, so that reliable results are obtained which will lead to incorporation of proper data into design.

20 illus, 2 tables, 6 ref

003660   Bhatt D;Gaur A;Gupta A B (NO, STUP Consultants Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi) : Application and modification of FHWA model for noise prediction. Indian Highw 2008, 36(2), 57-64.

Monitoring of ambient noise levels at three locations of Jaipur City, Rajasthan, India due to vehicular traffic was carried out in the highly noisy zones. Modeling was attempted at all the sites for predicting noise levels. FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) model was used to determine its suitability & performance under existing conditions of Jaipur city. This model takes into account traffic parameters, highway geometrics, location of receiver, attenuation by ground obstruction and effect of presence of barriers. The data collected at three different sites of Jaipur, have been analysed and compared with the values predicted by FHWA model. It was observed that there is an unexplained difference of 5 to 10 db (A) between the observed and predicted noise levels. This irregularity can be attributed to excessive blowing of horns, a factor not considered in the FHWA model. Hence a correction factor suggested in Choudhary et.al. 2004 has been applied using the correlation between traffic density, expressed as fraction of saturation capacity, and average unexplained noise level difference from the model. The modified FHWA model gave very good results with a difference of -1 dB(A) to +1 dB(A) between the observed and calculated values at some locations. But it did not predict well at other points. The results were analyzed again and it was found that where the volume of tractor trolley traffic was high a significant difference remained high after applying correction factor. Correction factor was again applied after removing noise levels of tractor trolley and the prediction were within + I to -1 db. This brings out the need for redefining the basic noise equation for tractor trolley.

3 illus, 8 tables, 10 ref

003659   Bhat K P;Deshpande R A;Sutar R B;Vaidya A C (NO, Institute of Armament Technology, Pune-411 025) : Approach for hardware realisation of block enciphering scheme with channel coding. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 3-8.

The hardware implementation approach for an endomorphic transformation based block enciphered data transmission scheme has been discussed along with a single error correcting convolutional code. Design rules and procedure for threshold decoding is elaborated. The proposal is suitable for a low security, binary symmetric channel (BSC) application.

11 illus, 1 table, 8 ref

003658   Bera S C;Chattopadhyay S;Roy J K;Naskar A; Mandal M (Applie Physics Dep, University of Calcutta, Kolkata-700 009) : Grounded passive transducer by using a novel technique of measurement. J Instn Engrs-Pt ET 2007, 88(July), 59-63.

In any passive grounded transducer, the parameters like resistance, capacitance or inductance is generally measured by an ac bridge network. The change of this parameter due to change of a process variable is generally very small and so it may suffer from the measurement errors due to stray capacitance between the bridge nodal points and also due to the incidental or accidental degradation of isolation between the transducer ground and bridge circuit common. In the present paper, a modified operational amplifier based ac bridge network has been designed where no isolation between transducer ground and circuit common is required. Moreover, the bridge output nodal points are virtually maintained a t the same potentials. Hence, the effect of stray capacitance on the measurement error is minimized. Experiment has been performed with the proposed bridge network by using a variable capacitor as well as by using a grounded transducer. The experimental results are presented in the paper which reveal a good linearity and repeatability of the bridge network.

7 illus, 12 ref

003657   Banerjee S;Prasad D;Pal J (Electrical Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur-718 209) : Design, implementation and testing of an electromagnetic levitation system. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2008, 89(June), 9-16.

Describe the design principle of a dc attraction type electromagnetic suspension system where a hollow steel cylinder of 658 g mass is levitated under a fixed I-core (solenoid type) electromagnet with a single degree-of-freedom. Electromagnet exhibits non-linear force against distance characteristics and hence, this controller has been designed by using linear small perturbation model of the magnet at the desired operating point. In all previously reported papers^1-3 the system design has been done by considering a suitable voltage source as the exciting input to the magnet coil. In the present work, over all system order reduction has been tried by taking a controlled current source as the excitation for the magnet coil. The resulting system is simpler and has second order transfer function. The present work also reports a very simple power electronic converter suitable for this scheme of levitation. The proposed circuit uses only one power switch in contrast to commonly used asymmetrical H-bridge type converter⁴. The present circuit, though less energy efficient compared to the asymmetrical bridge converter will be quite cost effective for low power applications. The prototype has been successfully tested and levitation demonstrated.

16 illus, 4 ref

003656   Arya R;Choube S C;Arya L D (Electrical Engineering Dep, SGSITS, Indore-254 415) : Time allocation for radial distribution system. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2008, 89(June), 3-8.

A methodology for reliability improvement of a radial distribution system. Total increased cost due to modifications in failure rates and repair time is optimized subject to reliability constraints and bounds on these modifications. The problem is solved using decomposition technique. One pad determines optimum failure rates subject to minimization of cost function depending on changes of failure rate while other part optimizes cost function depending on average of changes of repair time. For each part, particle swarm optimization (PSO) has been used to obtain optimum solution. The developed algorithm has been implemented on a sample radial distribution system.

15 ref

003655   Arya L D;Titare L S (Electrical Engineering Dep, SGSITS, Indore, Madhya Pradesh) : Monovariable method for voltage stability Improvement based on schur's inequality. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 88(Sept), 3-8.

A corrective rescheduling methodology has been proposed for increasing loadability margin. Schur's inequality has been used and new sensitivity relation has been derived for this purpose. Derived sensitivities have been directly used for rescheduling one control variable at a time. Again if required, sensitivities are updated and used to reschedule another control variable. This has been repeated till all operating constraints are satisfied. Developed algorithm has been implemented on a 6-bus, 7-line standard test system.

8 illus, 4 tables, 14 ref

003654   Akpinar M V (Insaat Muhendisligi Bolumu, Karadeniz Teknik Univ, Trabzon, Turkey, Email: mvakpinar@yahoo.com) : Effects of truck load position on longitudinal joint deterioration. Indian J Engng Mater Sci 2008, 15(1), 36-40.

Longitudinal joint cracks between asphalt mats are common problems in asphalt pavements and often deteriorate faster than other areas. The cracks resulting from the deteriorated longitudinal joints are very important for determining the performance life of the asphalt pavements. Cracks in the longitudinal joints allow the ingress of water into the pavement leading to further disintegration. In the urban areas asphalt paving is often done in stages to facilitate traffic control. In most widening projects, the lane marking does not coincide with the edge of the pavement. This results in traffic loads traveling at variable distance from the edge although the most common assumption in modern flexible pavement evaluation and design is that the wheel path is located about 50-100 cm from the edge of the pavement. It is suspected that the loading near the edge is one of the primary causes of longitudinal joint deterioration. In this study, mechanistic analysis with the finite element (FE) technique has been conducted to predict pavement response at the longitudinal joint under the truck load at different lateral positions relative to the joint. The FE analysis results showed that the position of the truck significantly affects the strains at the longitudinal. Tremendous increase in tensile strain was observed as the truck position nears the longitudinal joint. Maximum critical strains occur when the truck is positioned right at the longitudinal joint. The lane marking should be done in such a way that the right wheel path is located about 53 cm from the longitudinal joint.

4 illus, 1 table, 10 ref

003653   Agrawal M L;Maitra B;Ghosh M K (Civil Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal) : Modelling of socio-economic impacts due to highway development project based on public perception. Indian Highw 2008, 36(4), 71-6.

Assessment of impacts on socio-economic attributes is a crucial component of highway planning and development process. A methodology is presented for the quantification of impact on socio-economic attributes based on the perception of people in the influence area of the project. The variation of impact with distance from highway is modeled for each socio-economic attribute. The spatial distribution of impact is considered in estimating impact values for different socio-economic attributes. Aggregation of impacts on socio-economic attributes is suggested by considering the impact values for different attributes and their relative weights.

7 illus, 4 tables, 19 ref