The paper reports on numerical simulation of impact problems on fiber reinforced plastic composite laminated plates reinforced with Kevlar 29. The ballistic impact caused by STANAG-2920 projectile is analyzed to obtain an estimate for the V50 and the global damage. All estimate have been carried out using the finite difference numerical code AUTODYN-3D, are compared with the experimental data to illustrate the performance of the simulation. Good correlation between resulting simulations and experimental results is demonstrated both in terms of deformation and damage of the laminates and ballistic performance.

An adaptive p-refinement procedure for the implementation of the displacement model of the hybrid-{T}refftz finite element formulation is presented. The procedure is designed to select and implement automatically the degrees of freedom in the domain (displacements) and on the boundary (surface forces) of the element to attain a prescribed level of accuracy. This accuracy is measured on the strain energy of the system for a prescribed finite element mesh. Local measures of error can be easily accounted for. The performance of the adaptive procedure suggested is illustrated using two-dimensional potential problems.

Co-combustion tests of dry sewage sludges with coal were performed in a pilot bubbling FBC aiming at the characterization of ashes and determining the behaviour of heavy metals in the process. The tests showed compliance with the regulatory levels as far as heavy metal emissions were concerned. The bottom ashes, which accounted for about 70% of the total ash production, were obtained in a granular form, with diameters ranging from 0.5 to 4 mm. The heavy metals were distributed in ashes obtained from different locations of the installation and their concentrations were found to vary depending on the location of capture. The increase in heavy metals content in bottom ashes was not found to lead to higher leachability and ecotoxicity compared to sewage sludges, suggesting that there could be opportunities for their further use. Mercury suffered vaporisation inside the reactor, thus leaving bottom ashes free of contamination by it. However, there was observed a strong retention of mercury in cyclone ashes due to the presence of unburned carbon which probably acted as an adsorbent. The effluent mercury was also found to be mostly associated with the particulate fraction, being less than 20% emitted in gaseous forms. The results suggested that the combustion of the sewage sludge could successfully be carried out and the amount of unburned carbon leaving the combustor but captured in cyclone was large enough to ensure substantial retention of mercury at low temperatures, hence could contribute to an improvement of the mercury release which still remains an issue of great concern to resolve during combustion of waste materials.

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The hybrid-{T}refftz displacement element is applied to the elastodynamic analysis of bounded and unbounded media in the frequency domain. The displacements are approximated in the domain of the element using local solutions of the wave equation, the Neumann conditions are enforced directly and the surface forces are approximated on the Dirichlet and inter-element boundaries of the finite element mesh. Two alternative elements are developed to model unbounded media, namely a finite element with absorbing boundaries and an unbounded element that satisfies explicitly the Sommerfeld condition. The finite element equations are derived from the fundamental relations of elastodynamics written in the frequency domain. The numerical implementation of these equations is discussed and numerical tests are presented to assess the performance of the formulation.

The design and development of a transparent, easy to use and affordable ICT infrastructure is a key pre-requisite for the effective large-scale implementation of the collaborative network organizations such as virtual organizations, professional virtual communities, e-science communities, etc. This chapter introduces an overview of the main classes of infrastructures required by different types of virtual organizations and summarizes the main approaches followed by a number of research projects in the area.

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{A stochastic variational principle for the classical Burgers equation is established. A solution of this equation can be considered as the velocity field of a stochastic process which is a minimum of an energy functional. A family of stochastic constants of the motion, determined in terms of the probability distribution of that process, yields the complete list of symmetries of the Burgers equation.}

Monitoring systems have traditionally been developed with rigid objectives and functionalities, and tied to specific languages, libraries and run-time environments. There is a need for more flexible monitoring systems which can be easily adapted to distinct requirements. On-line monitoring has been considered as increasingly important for observation and control of a distributed application. In this paper we discuss monitoring interfaces and architectures which support more extensible monitoring and control services. We describe our work on the development of a distributed monitoring infrastructure, and illustrate how it eases the implementation of a complex distributed debugging architecture. We also discuss several issues concerning support for tool interoperability and illustrate how the cooperation among multiple concurrent tools can ease the task of distributed debugging.

The introduction of new courses on virtual organizations at the engineering education level is an important element for the broad acceptance of this new paradigm. This article summarizes the experience with an initiative of teaching Virtual Enterprises / Virtual Organizations subjects to Electrical and Computer Engineering students. The course structure, both in its lecture and lab work components, is described. Finally, some lessons learned with two editions of this course are presented.