Stress & Deflection Analysis of Belleville Spring

IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSRJMCE)
ISSN : 2278-1684 Volume 2, Issue 5 (Sep-Oct 2012), PP 01-06

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Stress and Deflection Analysis of Belleville Spring

1
H.K.Dubey,
2
Dr. D.V. Bhope
1
Pg Student of Dept of Mechanical Engineering R.C.E.R.T, Chandrapur, India
2
Professor, Dept of Mechanical Engineering R.C.E.R.T, Chandrapur, India

Abstrac: This paper reports stress and deflection analysis of a Belleville Spring using finite element method.
The different combinations of ratios of its outer diameter and inner diameter i.e. (D/d) and its Height to
thickness i.e. (h/t) have been considered to investigate the principal stresses on inner (i) and outer (o)
surfaces of the spring along with the deflections. Finite element method is used for analysis. The FE results are
compared with existing analytical results.
Keywords: Stress, Deflection, Finite element method, Belleville Spring

I. Introduction
A Belleville spring, disc spring, Belleville washer, conical compression washers are all names for the
same type of spring. It has a frusto-conical shape which gives the washer a spring characteristic. Belleville
washers are typically used as springs, or to apply a pre-load or flexible quality to a bolted joint or bearing. A
conical washer can be stacked to create a powerful compression spring. The Belleville washer is often used to
support applications that have high loads and insufficient space for a coil spring. Disc springs are conical shaped
washers designed to be loaded in the axial direction only. The spring geometry consists of four parameters
namely Internal Diameter (d), Outer Diameter (D), Thickness (t), and Height (h) which is shown in figure 1.

Figure 1: Front view& Top view of a Belleville Spring

A Belleville spring experiences a deflection and stress when a load is applied in the axial direction. It
has a very non-linear relation between the load applied and the axial deflection. The stress distribution is non-
uniform for this spring. The axial force is applied at the periphery of the inner diameter due to which the stresses
are induced at the inner surface & at the outer surface, which depends on geometric parameters. The deflections
and the stresses induced at the inner surface and at the outer surface depend on the ratios of its height to
thickness (h/t) and its outer diameter to inner diameter (D/d). This work deals with the deflection and the
stresses induced in Belleville spring due to constant axial force acting on the inner surface of the conical spring
for various ratios of (h/t) & (D/d).

II. Literature Review
Many researchers have carried out stress and deflection analysis of a Belleville spring. Monica
Carfagni
[1]
carried out the stress and deflection analysis to prepare a CAD method for the checkout and design
of the Belleville springs. The method eliminates the need to resort to conventional trial-and-error techniques. In
a matter of seconds, it rapidly and accurately checks out and designs Belleville springs, outputting the load-
deflection characteristics in graphic and table formats and can generate a dimensioned drawing. G. Schrfmmer
[2]

carried out the stress and deflection analysis of a slotted Belleville spring to develop a analytical relationship for
deflection and stress of a slotted conical spring.

III. Introduction To Problem, Scope & Methodology
Though the geometry of the Belleville spring appears to be simple with conical shape but the stress
distribution is quiet complex due to the axial load. It is predicted that the axial load is responsible for axial
compressive stress and also for bending stress induced in the Belleville spring. The analytical equations are
Stress And Deflection Analysis Of Belleville Spring
derived largely on the basis of bending moments to simplify the derivations. In finite element analysis it is
possible to model the exact geometry of the spring and to investigate the effect of axial load on the stresses, and
deflections of the spring. Hence it is possible to determine the exact values of stresses in Belleville spring which
are induced on account of the combination of axial stress and bending stress.
Therefore, the present work deals with the determination of stresses and deflection in Belleville spring
using FEA. The results obtained from FE analysis are compared with existing analytical equations. This study
will lead to justify the validity of existing analytical equations and to estimate the conditions where it may
become error prone. The scope & methodology is described as follows:
- In the Present research work an approach for the analysis of a Belleville Spring has been carried out under
axial compressive load (static axial load of 1000N has been considered for analysis).
- The Various geometrical parameters of a Belleville Spring i.e. D, d, h & t have been varied to investigate
the stresses and the deflections induced in the Belleville spring. Following ratios are considered for
analysis:-
D/d= 1.2, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5 & h/t= 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2, 2.25, 2.5, 2.75,3
- Lastly, the FE results have been compared with the existing analytical equations available for the Belleville
Spring and an effort have been made to show the variations in the stresses and deflections with respect to
the geometrical parameters and an attempt have been made to establish certain relations which will help to
evaluate the stresses & deflection for any geometry of a Belleville Spring with accuracy. The load
deflection characteristic is also investigated.

IV. Finite Element Analysis Of Belleville Spring
In this work a simple Belleville Spring analysis has been done. For Each ratio of D/d, all h/t ratios have
been varied to calculate the Deflection, principal stresses on Inner and Outer surface which are induced in the
spring. Outer Diameter of Belleville Spring is considered as 125 mm and Height of the spring is considered as 5
mm. A constant Force of 1000N has been applied on the inner surface of the spring in Y- direction. The analysis
is done by imposing boundary conditions such that the spring could deflect only along X&Z-direction. The
analytical equations for deflection & stresses are given in equations (1) to (6):
] )
2
)( [(
1
4
3 2
2
t t h t h D M
E
F +
=
o
o
(1)
2
/
1 ) / (
) / ( log 14 . 3
6
(

=
d D
d D
d D e
M (2)
(
+

= t C h C
D M
E
i 2 1
2 2
)
2
(
1
4 o
o
o (3)
(
= t C h C
E
o 2 1
2
)
2
(
1
4 o
o
o (4)
(
= 1
) / ( log
1 ) / (
log 14 . 3
6
1
d D e
d D
d
D
e
C
(5)
(

=
2
1 ) / (
log 14 . 3
6
2
d D
d
D
e
C
(6)
Where M, C
1
, C
2
are Constants, E= modulus of Elasticity (2*10
5
Mpa) and = poisons ratio (0.3). The
representative stress and deformation contours for principal stresses on inner & outer surface along with the
deflection are shown in figures 2, 3,& 4 as an illustration for D/d= 1.5 & h/t= 1.5.The load- deflection
characteristic of the spring is also studied for the ratio of D/d=2;h/t=1.5 and D/d=4;h/t=1.5. The force is varied
from 100N to 1000N for load deflection characteristics. The results are presented in forthcoming sections.


Figure 2: Deformation (Deflection) of a Belleville spring (mm)

Figure 3: Minimum Principle Stress Contour at the Inner Surface (MPa)

Figure 4: Maximum Principle Stress Contour at the outer Surface (MPa)

V. Results
The FE analysis revealed the principal stresses of outer and inner surface along with the deflections for
various ratios of D/d and h/t. The variation of deflection and principal stresses are shown in from figure 5 to
figure 19.The principal stresses and deflections are also determined using analytical equations and its
comparison are also shown in figure 5 to figure 19.

Figure 5: Deflection for D/d=1.2 Figure 6: Deflection for D/d=2


Figure 7: Deflection for D/d=3 Figure 8: Deflection for D/d=4

Figure 9: Deflection for D/d=5 Figure 10: Principal Stress on Inner
Surface for D/d=1.2

Figure 11: Principal Stress on Inner Figure 12: Principal Stress on Inner
Surface for D/d=2 Surface for D/d=3

Figure 13: Principal Stress on Inner Figure 14: Principal Stress on Inner


Figure 15: Principal Stress on Outer Figure 16: Principal Stress on Outer
Surface for D/d=1.2 Surface for D/d=2

Figure 17: Principal Stress on Outer Figure 18: Principal Stress on Outer

Figure 19: Principal Stress on Outer Surface for D/d=5

The load deflection characteristics for D/d=2;h/t=1.5 and D/d=4;h/t=1.5 are shown in figure20 & 21
respectively.

Figure 20: Load Deflection Characteristic for D/d=2 & h/t= 1.


Figure 21: Load Deflection Characteristic for D/d=4 & h/t= 1.5

VI. Discussion And Conclusion
1. It is observed from the figs.5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 that the nature of variation is similar between analytical and FE
values for deflection. It is also observed that as the ratio of D/d varies from 1.2 to 5 the deviation between
analytical and FE values increases. It is also observed that for each ratio of D/d as h/t is increasing, the
deviation between analytical and FE values is also increasing. This trend observed for deflection may be
due to the following facts:
- As D/d ratio goes on increasing, the Conicality of the spring also increases. Due to this Bending stress
predominates the axial compressive stress and this deviation may have occured.
- As h/t increases the spring behavior approaches to that of a plate due to reduction in its thickness.
2. From the figs 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 it can be observed that the principal stresses at the inner side of the
spring is exactly same for the analytical calculations & FE results with a few exceptions for all values of
D/d & h/t.
3. From the figs. 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 it is seen that the analytical values of principal stresses for the Outer
surface are more than FE values for all ratios of D/d & h/t. But as h/t increases the deviation between
analytical and FE values also increases. This trend is also observed for deflection.
4. From figs. 20 & 21 i.e. load-deflection characteristic it is seen that the Belleville spring with lower ratio of
D/d has marginal deviation of deflection between analytical and FE values with the increase in magnitude
of the force. However for higher ratios of D/d the deviation of deflection between FE and analytical values
is quiet noticeable. This is due to the non-linear behavior of the conical spring. Thus the analytical
equations of deflection may become error prone for higher values of D/d and h/t for higher loads.
Thus, it can be concluded that the analytical equation for Belleville springs though estimates the
maximum stresses and deflection for certain cases , but finite element analysis is recommended for accurate
estimation of maximum stress and deflection in case of Belleville spring under given loading condition.
References

[1]. Almen. J. O., and Laszlo, A., "The Uniform Section Disk Spring," Trans. ASME, Vol. 58, 1936, pp. 305-314.
[2]. Spotts, M. F., "Mechanical Design Analysis," Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1964, pp. 80-90.
[3]. Shigley J.E. Mechanical engineerng design. McGraw-Hill International Edition (1986).
[4]. Wahl, A. M., "Mechanical Springs", McGraw Hill Book Co, New York, 1963, pp. 179-181.
[5]. Schremmer, G., "Endurance Strength and Optimum Dimensions of Belleville Springs," ASME-paper 68-WA/DE-9, 1968.
[6]. Belleville SpringsDesign Manual, E. C. Styberg Eng. Co., Racine, Wis.
[7]. Schnorr Disc Spring Handbook, Karl A. Neise Inc., Woodside New York.


Behavior of Lateral Resistance of Flexible Piles in Layered Soils
1
B.S.Chawhan,
2
S.S.Quadri,
3
P.G.Rakaraddi,
1
Asst. Prof, Govt. Engineering College, Haveri-581110,
2
Prof.and Head, BVBCET, Hubli-580031,
3
Associate Professor,BEC, Bagalkot,
Abstract: This paper presents an experimental investigation on the lateral load carrying capacity of model
piles of different flexural stiffness embedded in loose sand between dense sand and dense sand between loose
sand layered soil strata. Attempts has been made to study the variation of lateral stiffness, eccentricity and soil
layer thickness ratio and the effect of various parameters on the magnitude of N
h
. The result of a model tested
for the piles embedded in IS grade-II dry Ennore sand under monotonic lateral loadings. Experimental results
are used for the load-deflection curves (p-y curves) for laterally loaded piles. The proposed p-y curves were
compared to the existing curves with N
h
and were evaluated with the experimental data. The ultimate lateral soil
resistance and subgrade modulus were investigated and discussed.
Key Words: Subgrade modulus, flexural stiffness, ground line deflection, model tests, piles, soil-pile
interaction.

I. Introduction:
Pile foundations are the most popular form of deep foundations used for both onshore and offshore
structures.They are often used to transfer large loads from the superstructures into deeper, competent soil layers
particularly when the structures is to be located on shallow, weak soil layers. Piles are frequently subjected to
lateral forces and moments; for example, in quay and harbor structures, where horizontal forces are caused by
the impact of ships during berthing and wave action; in offshore structures subjected to wind and wave action;
in pile-supported earth retaining structures; in lock structures, in transmission-tower foundations, where high
wind forces may act; and in structures constructed in earthquake areas such as Japan or the West Coast of the
United States.
The ultimate capacity of flexible piles and small pile groups in homogeneous and layered sand has been
reported by Meyerhof and Ghosh 1989. But the state of art does not indicate a definite methodology by which
the values of N
h
can be obtained. Most of the investigators agree that N
h
depends on soil and pile properties and
value decreases with the increase in lateral load. Palmer et.al. (1954) indicated that width of pile has an effect on
deflection, pressure and moment along pile even when flexural stiffness (EI) of pile is kept constant. Murthy
(1992) has developed some relationship between N
h
and other parameters like soil properties, flexural strength
and lateral load. Dewaikar and Patil (2006) studied the analysis of laterally loaded pile in cohesionless soil and
the Byung Tak Kim, Nak-Kyung Kim, Woo Jin Lee, and Young Su Kim studied the experimental Load Transfer
Curves of Laterally Loaded Piles (April 2004).
This paper presents the experimental investigation of lateral load carrying capacity of model piles of
various materials in homogeneous sand (both in loose and dense state), loose between dense and dense between
loose sand layers with horizontal loads acting at various eccentricities. In all the tests, the outer diameter (d) and
depth of embedment (D) of piles are kept constant.

II. Experimental Set-Up And Model Tests
The test were carried in IS grade-II dry Ennore sand having placement density of 13.35kN/m
3
and =31
0
for
loose soil condition and 15.89kN/m
3
, =39
0
for dense condition. The tests were conducted in two steps. a) The
soil condition is loose sand layer between dense sand layer with H/D ratio of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 0.90. b) The
soil condition is dense sand layer between loose sand layer with H/D ratio of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75,and 0.90, where
H is the thickness of middle layer and D is the total depth of embedment of the pile(=300mm). In both the cases
the eccentricities of 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200mm are conducted in homogeneous loose sand layer and dense sand
layer. The outside diameters of the piles are 16mm for solid Steel and Wooden Piles. Hollow Aluminium pile
with 16mm outside and 0.3mm thickness. The embedment depths of all the piles are 300mm. The flexural
rigidity of steel, wooden and Aluminium piles were 642.106Nm
2
, 506.12Nm
2
and 51.041Nm
2
respectively. The
relative stiffness factors for steel, wooden and Aluminium were 0.1192, 0.939 and 0.0094 respectively for
Loose sand layer and 0.0263, 0.0207 and 0.0020 for Dense sand layer. The horizontal displacement and rotation
of pile cap are recorded by L.V.D.T. and two dial gauges. The stabilized Rainfall-Technique this standard
technique is available in standard literature and this technique was used to pour the sand in the testing steel
tank. Figure.1 shows schematic sketch of experimental setup.
Behavior Of Lateral Resistance Of Flexible Piles In Layered Soils

Fig.1 Schematic sketch of experimental setup

The ultimate load bearing capacity of model piles are obtained from load deflection curves by the
following criteria.
(A). Single tangent method
(B). Double tangent method
(C). Load corresponding to ground line deflection
equal to 10% pile diameter
(D).Load corresponding to ground line deflection equal to 20% pile diameter
(E). Log-Log method.
It is observed that different criteria yield different ultimate load (vide Table-1). For the present
analysis, the average of first three criteria is taken as ultimate pile capacity.

III. Method Of Analysis
Reese and Matlock (1956) have developed a set of equations based on dimensional analysis for
computing deflection, slope, moment etc, along the pile. These equations are very useful for predicting the non-
linear behavior of laterally loaded piles provided the magnitude of N
h
is known at each load level. For
deflection and slope of free head pile at ground level, the following equations are given by Reese and Matlock
(1956).
EI
MT
EI
PT
Y
g
2 3
62 . 1 435 . 2
+ = (1)
EI
MT
EI
PT
S
g
75 . 1 62 . 1
2
+ = (2)
where,Relative Stiffness factor
4
1
+
|
|
.
|
\
|
=
n
h
N
EI
T (3)
P=Lateral load at pile head; M=Moment at pile head (=P*e); e=Eccentricity of horizontal load measured from
ground level; and EI=Flexural stiffness of the model pile.
From the observed lateral resistance and corresponding ground line deflection and rotation, the value of
coefficient of soil modulus variation N
h
is estimated for different types of model piles by using the above
equations (1) and (2).
Murthy .V.N.S (1976) has proposed the equations for determining N
h
in cohesionless soil at each stage of
loading as
m
t
h
P
A
N = (4)
where P
t
= Lateral load at pile head, m is a constant equal to 0.8 and A is a factor which is a function of the
effective unit weight of the soil and flexural stiffness EI of the pile.
( )
P
A
P
EIB C
N
s
t
f
h
= =
2
1
5 . 1
156
(5)
where, P
t
=Lateral load; A
s
=Constant for pile in sand; P=Pt(1+0.67e/T); and C
f
=Correction factor for the angle
of friction = 3*10
-5
(1.315)
, where is in degrees.

IV. Results and Discussions
The experimental results were carried out and tabulated in following Table-1 and Table-2.
Table-1 presents ultimate loads of model Aluminium piles (embedded in Dense between loose sand layer)
estimated from observed load deflection curves using different criteria mentioned earlier. It can be noted that
ultimate load of a pile is not unique but depends on different methods or criteria. Table-2 presents ultimate loads
of different pile materials in Loose between Dense layers estimated from observed experimental values. It can
be noted that ultimate lateral resistance of pile decreases with the increase of H/D ratio in Loose between dense
sand layer where as it increases with the increase of H/D ratio in Dense between Loose sand layer. Fig.2 shows
typical load deflection curves of steel, wooden and aluminium piles embedded in loose sand between dense sand
layer with e=50mm, H/D=0.25. In fig.3 the lateral load deflection curves of aluinium pile embedded in dense
sand between loose sand layer having H/D=0.9 with varying eccentricity. The figure reveals that ultimate lateral
resistance of pile decreases with increase in eccentricity. This phenomena is observed in all types of model piles
irrespective of all condition (i.e loose sand layer, dense sand layer, loose sand layer between dense sand layer
and dense sand layer between loose sand layer).
In fig.4 the variation of coefficient of soil modulus v/s flexural stiffness(EI) curve of three model piles
in dense between loose sand layer having h/D=0.90 with varying eccentricity. The figure reveals that flexural
stiffness of pile increases with increase in variation of coefficient of soil modulus. This phenomena is observed
in all conditions of soil layers.
In fig.5 indicates the variation ultimate load of model piles with flexural stiffness EI when they are
embedded in dense sand layer between loose sand layer having various H/D ratio and e=50mm. this reveals that
ultimate load increases with increase in flexural stiffness of pile when all other conditions are kept constant.
Table-1.Comparison of ultimate load (N) by various methods (Aluminium pile, H/D=0.5, Dense between loose
sand layer).

Eccentricity, e in mm
Methods
(Different Criteria)
e (mm) A B C D E
50 20 14 16 32 33
100 19 19 15 26 33
150 12 09 12 24 26
200 10 08 08 22 24

Table-2. Ultimate load (N) of different pile (Steel, Wooden, and Aluminium pile, H/D=0.5, Dense between
Loose sand layer).
Eccentricity
, e in mm
H/D Steel
Woode
n
Alum
inum
50 0.50 16.96 29.66 14.98
100 0.50 13.04 22.82 11.52
150 0.50 11.74 20.54 10.37
200 0.50 10.43 18.25 9.22
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
40.00
45.00
50.00
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00
L
o
a
d

(
N
)
Deformation(mm)
Fig.2 Load Deflection Curve of
model piles embedded in dense
between loose sand layer
steel Pile
Aluminium
Pile
Wooden Pile
S

0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
0.00 10.00 20.00
L
o
a
d
(
N
)
Deflection(mm)
Fig.3 Load Deflection Curve of
Aluminium Pile embedded in
dense between loose sand layer
0mm ecc
50mm ecc
100mm ecc
150mm ecc
200mm ecc

Fig.4. Variation of soil modulus N
h
with Flexural stiffness of piles embedded in dense between loose sand layer,
H/D=0.90, n=2/3.
Fig.5. Variation of ultimate load with Flexural stiffness of piles embedded in dense between loose sand layer.

Dense sand layer between loose
sand layer, H/D=0.9

Dense sand layer between loose
sand layer, H/D=0.9
V. Conclusions
The following conclusions are made based on the experimental investigations.
(i) The ultimate lateral resistance of single pile decreases with the increase in eccentricity of load, it is
about 8 to 11%.
(ii) The ultimate resistance of single pile subjected to horizontal load decreases with increase in eccentricity
of load on the same pile provided the depth of embedment remains constant for homogeneous loose and
dense layers, also loose between dense and dense between loose layered soils, and it is about 10 to 12%.
(iii) The ultimate lateral resistance of pile increases with increased value of flexural stiffness of pile and it is
about 8 to 13% and the magnitude of N
h
decreases with the increase in magnitude of horizontal load
irrespective of flexural stiffness of pile and soil condition.
(iv) In dense sand, the magnitude of N
h
increases with the increase in value of flexural stiffness of pile where
as in case of loose sand the value decreases with the increase in EI value of piles and the ultimate lateral
load carried is more (10 to 12%) in dense between loose sand layer and vice versa.
The tests may be conducted in multiple layers of Loose sand layer and Dense sand layer with constant and
variable thickness of layers and also the Variation of Coefficient of soil modulus (N
h
) in a different soil
layers along the depth can be studied.

References
[1]. Byung Tak Kim, nak-Kyung Kim, Woo Jin, Lee
[2]. and Young Su Kim. (2004), Experimental Load- Transfer Curves of Laterally Loaded Piles In Nak-Dong River Sand, Journal of
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 130(4),416-425.
[3]. Dewaikar D.M and Patil P.A. (2006), Analysis of a Laterally Loaded Pile in Cohesionless Soil, IGC 2006,14-16 December
2006, Chennai, INDIA, 467-4.
[4]. Dewaikar D.M and Patil, D.S.(2001), Behaviour of laterally loaded piles in cohesion-less soil under oneway cyclic loading, The
New Millennium Conference, 14-16 December-2001.
[5]. Ghosh,D.P and Meyerhof,G.G.(1989), The ultimate bearing capacity of flexible piles in layered sand under eccentric and inclined
loads, Indian Geotech.J,(19)3, 187-201.
Murthy.V.N.S. (1992), Nonlinear Behaviour of Piles Subjected to Static Lateral Loading.
[6]. P.Bandopadhyay and. B.C.Chattopadhyay. (1989), Ultimate Lateral Resistance of Vertical Piles, (2)4, 165-168.
[7]. Rees.L.C and Metlock.H. (1956), Non-dimensional solutions proportional to depth, Prooceedings 8
th
Texas conference on Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Special publication no.29, Bureau of Engineering Research, University of Texas, Austin.
[8]. Terzaghi.K.(1955), Evaluation of coeeficient of subgrade reaction, Geotechnique, (5)4, 297-326.

ISSN: 2278-1684 Volume 2, Issue 5 (Sep-Oct 2012), PP 12-19
www.iosrjournals.org 12 | P a g e

Measuring Transit Accessibility Potential: A Corridor Case Study

Rajesh J Pandya
Town Planner, Town Planning Department, Surat Municipal Corporation, Gujarat, India

ABSTRACT: Buses are the most widely used and essential component of a public transit system and the
selection of a bus route are very important as it affects the overall performance of the system and its efficiency.
Moreover the bus routes and bus stop locations are very important criteria for selection of this mode of
transport by commuters. Bus stops attain their importance to the transit service as they are the main points of
contact between the passenger and the bus. Considering spatial attributes, both the location and the spacing of
bus routes and bus stops significantly affect transit service performance and passenger satisfaction, as they
influence travel time in addition to their role in ensuring reasonable accessibility. Knowing that every transit
trip begins and ends with pedestrian travel, access to a bus stop is considered a critical factor for assessing the
accessibility of the stop location. In this paper, on the basis of the actual population surrounding the stop, the
potential of a particular bus route / corridor is estimated for a particular corridor so as to assess a bus route /
corridor on a more spatial basis. This potential measures the efficiency of a bus route / corridor through the
surrounding road network, which can be used to compare the performance / efficiency of two or more routes /
corridors in a system and also o ways to improve the performance of a particular route by increasing number
of bus stops or changing their locations.

I. INTRODUCTION
Public transportation is a key component of a sustainable transportation system that improves mobility
without placing economic and environmental burden of increased auto ownership on the travelling population.
Due to lack of public transport facilities, significant growth in personalized vehicle population and considerable
reduction in city bus transportation is observed.
Most of the metropolitan cities lack proper accessibility to public transport. Transport and land use
planning have a significant role in promoting accessibility, and at the same time accessibility is becoming
increasingly important in making sound and sustainable land use and transport decisions. Therefore, t is
important to develop models that are able to measure accessibility to public transport networks.

II. ACCESSIBILITY CONCEPT
Accessibility is a commonly used concept in transport planning, urban planning and in geography.
Accessibility is often defined as the ease of travel between two locations. The Oxford Advanced learner's
Dictionary (2000) defines 'accessible' as "that can be reached, entered, used, seen, etc." Accessibility can be
defined as the effort or ease with which activities can be reached using the available transportation system.
Accessibility has been regarded a property of places showing how easily they can be accessed from other places,
as well as a property of people indicting how easily they can reach a set of potential destinations.

2.1 ACCESSIBILITY MEASURES: CERTAIN APPROACHES
Baradaran & Ramjerdi (2001) classified the approaches for measuring accessibility into:
Travel cost approach which reflects the "spatial separation" characteristics of a transportations net work, i.e.,
distance, time, generalize cost, etc.
Constraints based approach which reflects the number of activities (or opportunities) that can be reached from
an origin point within a certain time limit.
Gravity approach derived from the gravity model formula, which reflects both the attractiveness of zones and
the quality of the transportation system that connects them.
Utility based approach developed on basis of disaggregate / behavioral approach originally proposed by Ben
akiva and Lerman(1978) and therefore they reflect, in addition to the characteristics of the transportation system,
the utility that different alternatives of services or facilities have to the users;
Composite approach developed by combining the space time and utility based models and it assumes uniform
travel speed;

2.2 TRANSIT ACCESSIBILITY
Many factors contribute to transit accessibility, including reasonable proximity from the origin and the
destination to the service, safe, pleasant and comfortable walking pathways to transit facilities, and acceptable
parking facilities for cars or bicycles, etc. In public transit planning, access to the service and accessibility
provided by the service are two very important issues (Murray et al 1998). Access is the ease with which people
can reach the transit stop. Accessibility is the suitability of the transit system in helping people get to their
destinations in a reasonable amount of time as shown in Fig 1.

Fig 1 Public Transport System Access
(Source: Murray et al 1998)
Of the many factors, walking distance to transit facilities is recognized as an important determinant of
transit use. A quarter mile approximately 400 m. is the commonly accepted distance for people willing to walk
to use transit (Demetsky and Lin 1982) Cerero (1994) found that proximity to a rail station was a much stronger
determinant of transit use than land use mix or quality of the walking environment. Levinson and Brown West
(1984) indicated in their study that transit use sharply drop after the first 0.06 mile, and diminish beyond 0.36
mile. Zhao, Li, and Chow (2002) found that transit use deteriorates exponentially with walking distance to
transit stops. A decay function was developed to reflect the deteriorating trend in transit use with respect to walk
distance. So, increasing suitable access to transit systems is seen as a means of attracting more people to the
transit system.

2.3 MEASURING TRANSIT ACCESS
GIS can be thought of as a system, digitally creates and "manipulates" spatial areas that may be
jurisdictional, purpose or application oriented for which a specific GIS is developed. For measurement of
accessibility GIS is very important tool. Traditionally, transit access is measured using the GIS buffer technique.
In this method access is defined as a walking distance to a public transit stop, and then all the areas within the
threshold distance of all stops are identified. People living in the areas identified as within the threshold distance
are said to have suitable access. Generally the specified distance is quarter mile from bus stops. There are
problems with this method. One is that it assumes Euclidean walking distance to a transit stop. When in reality
the pathways are always longer, and must follow the actual street network. Another issue is that information on
the exact residence or location of individuals is not available. The most precise geographic information which
exists is census data reported at some aggregate scale.

III. STUDY CORRIDOR
3.1 Location and Linkages
Dumas road is one of the major roadway corridor for the city of Surat. It is located on the western part
of the city. It starts from Athwa gate junction at the inner ring road and ends at the coastal villages of Dumas
and Bhimpore. The population density is very high at the eastern part of the corridor where, important
government establishment like Government Multi story Office Complex, Police Bhavan, Session and District
Courts generate a very high volume of traffic. Moreover educational and commercial campuses, hospitals and
commercial establishments also add to the heavy traffic flow.
A number of important traffic routes are linked with this corridor like inner ring road at Athwa
junction; Ghod Dod road at Parle Point junction; City light road at Jani Farsan junction; Piplod / University
Road at Kargil Chowk; Vesu Road near Big Bazar, Udhana Magdalla Road at Y junction and the 90 mts. outer
ring road i.e. Sachin Magdalla National Highway. These major roads are very important linkages and increase
the importance of Athwa Dumas Corridor.

ORIGIN
DENSTINATION
ACCESSIBI
LITY
WITHIN
NETWORK
Access
Access
85
57
88
58
93
101
91
97
96
94
89
90
60
61
34
62
59
33
37
13
99
30
92
SW.Z.
11
10
12
13
02
100
98
98
98
02
01
03 04
06
07
08
09
10
11
14 13
12
15
17
16
18
20
19
21
22
24
23
05
31
29
30
28
26
25
27
32
339
491
379
276
33
395
95
491
548
647
589
389
271
501
293
5
0
1
6
1
8
316
766
337
892
3
9
9
1
9
4
1
9
3
1
7
6
1
1
9
3
3
0
1
6
6
4
6
5
6
6
4
2
3
4
6
4
1
9
6
3
6
1613
Locations of Bus stops
R
IV
E
R
T
A
P
I

Fig 2 Athwa Dumas Corridor and Location of Bus Stops

3.2 DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE
This corridor of length 16.47 km is located the South West (Athwa) administrative zone of Surat City
and in doing so it passes through nine different census ward out of which three wards are in the old city limits
and six census wards fall within the areas newly annexed into municipal limits after 2006. The population and
density of these words are shown in Table 1 and 2.At present there are 33 designated bus stops along the route.

Table 1 Census Wards of Old City Areas Through which Athwa Dumas Road passes
Ward Nos.
33
( TP 5 Athwa Umra)
61
(Umra)
62
(Piplod)
Population 30,585 54,046 17,588
Density 17,991 11,852 9,160

Table 2 Census Wards of New City Areas Through which Athwa Dumas Road passes
Ward Nos. 95
(Rundh)
96
(Magdalla)
97
(Gavier)
99
(Dumas)
100
(Sultanabad)
101
(Bhimpor)
Populations 4355 6104 2585 7225 3659 7861
Density 1192 2655 637 351 814 1230

IV. POTENTIAL OF CORRIDOR.
4.1 Public Transit Accessibility Index (PTAI)
It is required to bring the walking distance in certain modules for relative comparison so that one can
consider the level of service status. In view of this Accessibility Index value with reference to walking distance
accessibility may be defined as the increase of walking distance (in Kilometers).

TABLE 3 PUBLIC TRANSIT ACCESSIBILITY INDEX
Walking Distance (Meters) < 250 350 * 450 550 > 950
PTAI (WD) 4 2.85 2.2 1.81 1.05
* 1x 1000 = 2.85
350

Here the PTAI (WD) value of 250, 350, 450, and 950 are converted into index values of 4, 2.85, 2.22,
1.81 and 1.05. Higher the index value better is the transit accessibility.

4.2 Potential of a Bus Stop
BUS STOP BUS STOP
1 2 3 n-2 n-1 n
d
L (Length of corridor)

FIGURE 3 SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF BUS ROUTE

Number of Bus Stop = i (1 to n)
Population of Zone = Pi Persons
Area of Zone = Zi Square kilometer
Density of Zone Di = Pi / Zi Person per square kilometer

Public Transit Accessibility Index
for a Walking Distance w = PTAI w
Area within walking distance Aw = w2
Population catered by Bus Stop (i)
Within Walking Distance w is Piw = Di x Aiw
Potential of Bus Stop for
walking distance w (i) = Piw x PTAI w
Gross Potential of Bus Stop for all three walking distance = Potential w
Average Potential of Bus Stop = Gross Potential (i) + GrossP(i + i)
2 d
n
Average Potential of Bus Stop
Overall Potential Index of route = i=1
'L'

4.3 Calculating the Potential
(1)First of all the density of population for the census ward within which the bus-stop is located is
found.
Density (persons / km2) = (population of Zone) Di = Pi
Area of Zone Zi

(2) For different walking distance (250 m, 350m, 450 m)
The Public Transit Accessibility Index (PTAI) is found.
Walking
Distance (w)
250 350 450
PTAI (w) 4.00 2.86 2.22

(3) Population within the command area (walking distance) of bus-stop which has direct walking accessibility to
bus stop is calculated and D (i) is found.

Population (iw) = Density Di x Aw
Potential of a bus stop (i) for a walking distance w is for = P iw x PTAI (w).
(4) Using different walking distances 250m,350m and 450 m different potentials for all bus stops is found and
the sum of all three potentials for a particular bus stop gives the gross potential of a bus stop (i) for all three
walking distances. Using 6TPAI (i) and using gross potential of adjacent bus stops the average Potential of a bus
stop is found.
(5) Sum total of all the Average potentials divided by number of stops gives the overall Public Transport
Accessibility Index of the route per bus stop.
Overall Potential = Average Potential
Total number of bus stops
If the sum is divided by the total length of the route (bus corridor 'L') we get the overall Potential per
running kilometer. n
Average Potential of Bus Stop
Overall Potential = i=1
Length of the Route 'L'

In the present case study the potential of the corridor is calculated w.r.t. 33 present / designated stops
and also w.r.t length of the corridor (per km).the Potential w.r.t length can be utilized for comparison of
performance / potential of different corridors or for some corridor for different time.
The potential w.r.t bus stands ( per stop) can be used for analysis of improvement of the bus route by
increasing the number of bus stands and their locations.

V. CONCLUSION
Using the powerful GIS network analysis functions, indices can be developed to assist in the
assessment of a bus stop locations, also the process can be used to find out the potential of the bus route as a
whole or for different parts of it. The results can be utilized for improvement of the performance of the public
transport system and can be used for further studies.
Accessibility and linkage with potential users of the bus stop and using information on population
densities for different urban districts and transforming it in terms of persons per km; hence, an extra important
attribute for the polyline layer can be added other than the travel distance or time. This can be viewed as a three
dimensional coordinate where the third dimension represents the population. Moreover, the effect of time on the
demand variability also can be introduced through the use of appropriate data in morning / evening peak periods
or even on a seasonal basis.
Distribution of potential users within the circular buffer zone for example, by creating various circles
radiating from the location of the bus stop with 50m increments and locating the share of the total network
length in km within each.
Study of accessibility thirst areas and analysing ways to meet this requirement so as to satisfy a demand
and at the same time improve the potential of the transit system.
Analysis of important routes meeting, closing and making with the present Athwa Dumas corridor
under study and the effect of changes, variations, improvement of the new additional roads.
Accessing the effect of feeder services though para transit modes or feeder routes to strengthen the existing bus
route. Suggesting new bus stops after assessing the shortfall for present condition and additional requirement for
projected population growth and development of the area.

REFERENCES

[1] AccessibilityGuidelineforBuildingandFacilitiescap:10TransportationFacilities,Availableashttp://www.accessboard.gov/adaag/html/a
daag2.htm;
[2] Ammons, D.N.2001, Municipal Benchmarks: Assessing Local Performance and Establishing Community Standards, Second
Edition. Sage,thousand Oaks,CA.
[3] Central Ohio Transit Authority, 1999, Planning and Development Guidelines for Public Transit.COTA,Columbus,OH.
[4] Christchurch, Bus Stop Location Policy, Available as http://www.ccc.govt.nz/policy/bus-2,asp;
[5] Mohamed A. Foda, Using GIS for Measuring Transit Stop Accessibility Considering Actual Pedestrian Road Network.

APPENDIX I
PTAI ( i ) FOR WALKING DISTANCE 250 METRE
Bus
Stop

CensusWard
Area
(Sq.
Km)
Pop.
at 2011
Density
(Persons
per Km
2
)
For Walking Distance 250 Meter
PTAI=
1/0.250
Pop. 250 =
D x 0.1964
P(i) x
PTAI
1 33 1.7 30585 17991 4.00 3533.47 14133.87
2 33 1.7 30585 17991 4.00 3533.47 14133.87
3 33 1.7 30585 17991 4.00 3533.47 14133.87
4 33 1.7 30585 17991 4.00 3533.47 14133.87
5 33 1.7 30585 17991 4.00 3533.47 14133.87
6 33 1.7 30585 17991 4.00 3533.47 14133.87
7 61 4.56 54046 11852 4.00 2327.77 9311.08
8 61 4.56 54046 11852 4.00 2327.77 9311.08
9 62 1.92 17588 9160 4.00 1799.11 7196.42
10 62 1.92 17588 9160 4.00 1799.11 7196.42
11 62 1.92 17588 9160 4.00 1799.11 7196.42
12 62 1.92 17588 9160 4.00 1799.11 7196.42
13 62 1.92 17588 9160 4.00 1799.11 7196.42
14 95 3.652 4355 1192 4.00 234.21 936.83
15 95 3.652 4355 1192 4.00 234.21 936.83
16 95 3.652 4355 1192 4.00 234.21 936.83
17 95 3.652 4355 1192 4.00 234.21 936.83
18 96 2.299 6104 2655 4.00 521.46 2085.82
19 96 2.299 6104 2655 4.00 521.46 2085.82
20 97 4.061 2585 637 4.00 125.02 500.07
21 97 4.061 2585 637 4.00 125.02 500.07
22 97 4.061 2585 637 4.00 125.02 500.07
23 97 4.061 2585 637 4.00 125.02 500.07
24 97 4.061 2585 637 4.00 125.02 500.07
25 99 20.577 7225 351 4.00 68.96 275.84
26 99 20.577 7225 351 4.00 68.96 275.84
27 99 20.577 7225 351 4.00 68.96 275.84
28 99 20.577 7225 351 4.00 68.96 275.84
29 100 4.491 3659 815 4.00 160.02 640.06
30 100 4.491 3659 815 4.00 160.02 640.06
31 100 4.491 3659 815 4.00 160.02 640.06
32 100 4.491 3659 815 4.00 160.02 640.06
33 101 6.389 7861 1230 4.00 241.65 966.60

APPENDIX II
PTAI ( ii ) FOR WALKING DISTANCE 350 METRE
Bus
Stop

CensusWa
rd
Area
(Sq.
Km)
Pop.
at 2011
Density
(Persons
per Km
2
)
For Walking Distance 350 Metre
PTAI =
1/0.350
Pop. 350 =
D(i) x 0.385
Pop. of
350-250
P(i) x
PTAI
1 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.86 6926.60 3393.14 9694.67
2 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.86 6926.60 3393.14 9694.67
3 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.86 6926.60 3393.14 9694.67
4 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.86 6926.60 3393.14 9694.67
5 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.86 6926.60 3393.14 9694.67
6 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.86 6926.60 3393.14 9694.67
7 61 4.56 54046 11852 2.86 4563.09 2235.32 6386.64
8 61 4.56 54046 11852 2.86 4563.09 2235.32 6386.64
9 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.86 3526.76 1727.65 4936.16
10 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.86 3526.76 1727.65 4936.16
11 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.86 3526.76 1727.65 4936.16
12 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.86 3526.76 1727.65 4936.16
13 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.86 3526.76 1727.65 4936.16
14 95 3.652 4355 1192 2.86 459.11 224.90 642.59
15 95 3.652 4355 1192 2.86 459.11 224.90 642.59
16 95 3.652 4355 1192 2.86 459.11 224.90 642.59
17 95 3.652 4355 1192 2.86 459.11 224.90 642.59
18 96 2.299 6104 2655 2.86 1022.20 500.75 1430.70
19 96 2.299 6104 2655 2.86 1022.20 500.75 1430.70
20 97 4.061 2585 637 2.86 245.07 120.05 343.01
21 97 4.061 2585 637 2.86 245.07 120.05 343.01
22 97 4.061 2585 637 2.86 245.07 120.05 343.01
23 97 4.061 2585 637 2.86 245.07 120.05 343.01
24 97 4.061 2585 637 2.86 245.07 120.05 343.01
25 99 20.577 7225 351 2.86 135.18 66.22 189.20
26 99 20.577 7225 351 2.86 135.18 66.22 189.20
27 99 20.577 7225 351 2.86 135.18 66.22 189.20
28 99 20.577 7225 351 2.86 135.18 66.22 189.20
29 100 4.491 3659 815 2.86 313.68 153.66 439.03
30 100 4.491 3659 815 2.86 313.68 153.66 439.03
31 100 4.491 3659 815 2.86 313.68 153.66 439.03
32 100 4.491 3659 815 2.86 313.68 153.66 439.03
33 101 6.389 7861 1230 2.86 473.70 232.05 663.01

APPENDIX III
PTAI ( ii ) FOR WALKING DISTANCE 450 METRE
Bus
Stop

Census
Ward
Area
(Sq.
Km)
Pop.
at 2011
Density
(Persons
per Km
2
)
For WalkingDistance 450 Metre
PTAI
=
1/0.450
Pop. 450 =
D(i) x 0.6364
Pop. of
450-350
D(i) x
PTAI
1 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.22 11449.58 4522.98 10051.07
2 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.22 17991.18 11064.57 24587.94
3 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.22 17991.18 11064.57 24587.94
4 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.22 17991.18 11064.57 24587.94
5 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.22 17991.18 11064.57 24587.94
6 33 1.7 30585 17991 2.22 17991.18 11064.57 24587.94
7 61 4.56 54046 11852 2.22 11852.19 7289.10 16198.00
8 61 4.56 54046 11852 2.22 11852.19 7289.10 16198.00
9 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.22 9160.42 5633.66 12519.24
10 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.22 9160.42 5633.66 12519.24
11 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.22 9160.42 5633.66 12519.24
12 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.22 9160.42 5633.66 12519.24
13 62 1.92 17588 9160 2.22 9160.42 5633.66 12519.24
14 95 3.652 4355 1192 2.22 1192.50 733.39 1629.75
15 95 3.652 4355 1192 2.22 1192.50 733.39 1629.75
16 95 3.652 4355 1192 2.22 1192.50 733.39 1629.75
17 95 3.652 4355 1192 2.22 1192.50 733.39 1629.75
18 96 2.299 6104 2655 2.22 2655.07 1632.87 3628.59
19 96 2.299 6104 2655 2.22 2655.07 1632.87 3628.59
20 97 4.061 2585 637 2.22 636.54 391.47 869.94
21 97 4.061 2585 637 2.22 636.54 391.47 869.94
22 97 4.061 2585 637 2.22 636.54 391.47 869.94
23 97 4.061 2585 637 2.22 636.54 391.47 869.94
24 97 4.061 2585 637 2.22 636.54 391.47 869.94
25 99 20.577 7225 351 2.22 351.12 215.94 479.86
26 99 20.577 7225 351 2.22 351.12 215.94 479.86
27 99 20.577 7225 351 2.22 351.12 215.94 479.86
28 99 20.577 7225 351 2.22 351.12 215.94 479.86
29 100 4.491 3659 815 2.22 814.74 501.07 1113.48
30 100 4.491 3659 815 2.22 814.74 501.07 1113.48
31 100 4.491 3659 815 2.22 814.74 501.07 1113.48
32 100 4.491 3659 815 2.22 814.74 501.07 1113.48
33 101 6.389 7861 1230 2.22 1230.40 756.69 1681.54

APPENDIX IV

POTENTIAL INDEX FOR OVERALL ATHWA DUMAS CORRIDOR
B
us
St
op

Ce
ns
-
us
W
ar
d
Area
(Sq.
Km)
Pop.
at
2011
Densi
ty
(Pers
ons
per
Km
2
)
Potential for Walking
Diastance
Sum Of
{D(i) x
PTAI(i)}
Average
of
adjacent
stops
Dist
ance
betw
een
Bus
Stop
s
Potenti
al
Index
250
Meter
350
Meter
450
Meter
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 33 1.7 30585 17991 14133.87 9694.67 10051.07 33879.61
2 33 1.7 30585 17991 14133.87 9694.67 24587.94 48416.48 41148.05 339 121.38
3 33 1.7 30585 17991 14133.87 9694.67 24587.94 48416.48 48416.48 491 98.61
4 33 1.7 30585 17991 14133.87 9694.67 24587.94 48416.48 48416.48 379 127.75
5 33 1.7 30585 17991 14133.87 9694.67 24587.94 48416.48 48416.48 276 175.42
6 33 1.7 30585 17991 14133.87 9694.67 24587.94 48416.48 48416.48 395 122.57
7 61 4.56 54046 11852 9311.08 6386.64 16198.00 31895.72 40156.10 491 81.78
8 61 4.56 54046 11852 9311.08 6386.64 16198.00 31895.72 31895.72 548 58.20
9 62 1.92 17588 9160 7196.42 4936.16 12519.24 24651.82 28273.77 647 43.70
10 62 1.92 17588 9160 7196.42 4936.16 12519.24 24651.82 24651.82 589 41.85
11 62 1.92 17588 9160 7196.42 4936.16 12519.24 24651.82 24651.82 389 63.37
12 62 1.92 17588 9160 7196.42 4936.16 12519.24 24651.82 24651.82 271 90.97
13 62 1.92 17588 9160 7196.42 4936.16 12519.24 24651.82 24651.82 501 49.21
14 95 3.652 4355 1192 936.83 642.59 1629.75 3209.16 13930.49 293 47.54
15 95 3.652 4355 1192 936.83 642.59 1629.75 3209.16 3209.16 501 6.41
16 95 3.652 4355 1192 936.83 642.59 1629.75 3209.16 3209.16 618 5.19
17 95 3.652 4355 1192 936.83 642.59 1629.75 3209.16 3209.16 316 10.16
18 96 2.299 6104 2655 2085.82 1430.70 3628.59 7145.12 5177.14 766 6.76
19 96 2.299 6104 2655 2085.82 1430.70 3628.59 7145.12 7145.12 337 21.20
20 97 4.061 2585 637 500.07 343.01 869.94 1713.02 4429.07 892 4.97
21 97 4.061 2585 637 500.07 343.01 869.94 1713.02 1713.02 399 4.29
22 97 4.061 2585 637 500.07 343.01 869.94 1713.02 1713.02 194 8.83
23 97 4.061 2585 637 500.07 343.01 869.94 1713.02 1713.02 193 8.88
24 97 4.061 2585 637 500.07 343.01 869.94 1713.02 1713.02 176 9.73
25 99 20.577 7225 351 275.84 189.20 479.86 944.91 1328.96 1193 1.11
26 99 20.577 7225 351 275.84 189.20 479.86 944.91 944.91 301 3.14
27 99 20.577 7225 351 275.84 189.20 479.86 944.91 944.91 664 1.42
28 99 20.577 7225 351 275.84 189.20 479.86 944.91 944.91 656 1.44
29 100 4.491 3659 815 640.06 439.03 1113.48 2192.57 1568.74 642 2.44
30 100 4.491 3659 815 640.06 439.03 1113.48 2192.57 2192.57 346 6.34
31 100 4.491 3659 815 640.06 439.03 1113.48 2192.57 2192.57 419 5.23
32 100 4.491 3659 815 640.06 439.03 1113.48 2192.57 2192.57 636 3.45
33 101 6.389 7861 1230 966.60 663.01 1681.54 3311.15 2751.86 1613 1.71
Overall Potential Index=37.43 per stop Total=
1235.06
Overall Potential Index=74.98 per km


The Performance Evaluation of a Cassava Pelletizer

1
O. B. Oduntan,
2
O. A. Koya,
3
M. O. Faborode,
4
A. O. Oduntan

1
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria.
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife 22005, Nigeria.
3
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile-Ife 22005.Nigeria.
4National Horticultural Research Institute, P.M.B.5432, Idi-Ishin Ibadan Nigeria

Abstract: This paper reports on the performance evaluation of a machine for cottage level production of pellets
from cassava mash. Peeling, grating and drying freshly harvested cassava tubers, produced cassava flour. The
flour was mixed with water at different blend ratios to form cassava mash of different moisture contents. The
performance of the pelletizer was evaluated in terms of the density, durability, crushing strength and cyanide
content of the pellets, and the throughput of the machine, against the moisture content of the mash (18, 20 and
22 % w.b.), die size (4, 6 and 8 mm) and the auger speed (90, 100 and 120 rpm). Test results showed that the
bulk density and the durability of pellets decreased while the moisture content increased significantly (p<0.05)
and separately with increasing die size and moisture content of cassava mash. The pellets with the best quality
attributes were obtained from cassava mash at 18% moisture content (w.b.) through the 4 mm die at 90 rpm and
a maximum throughput of 54 kg/hr. The machine, thus, provides a significant leverage in the utilization of
cassava as pelletized animal feed.
Key Words: Density, die, durability, pelletizer, throughput.

I. Introduction
Global production of cassava tubers and the post-harvest processing activities have been on the
increase in the last 20 years. The products from cassava tuber are prepared for human and animal consumption
and industrial use, but with growing emphasis on animal consumption and industrial uses. Until recently, about
85% of the world production of cassava was consumed by man. The remaining 15% was shared between animal
and chemical industries [1].
However, the tuber is best administered in pelletized form, when it must be fed, or compounded with
other ingredients, as animal feed. Compounding cassava with other ingredients for livestock feeds has gained
wide practice in Latin America, Asia and the European Union [2]. The pellets also have better keeping quality
and required less storage space compared to raw tubers [3].
Over time, series of processing equipment at different levels of sophistication were imported into
Nigeria for the pelletization process [4]; [5]. Major problems associated with such machines included high
initial and maintenance costs, requirement for highly skilled maintenance engineering staff and dependency on
expensive infrastructure facilities. On the other hand, it is arguable that local manufacture of machines is both
technically and economically feasible in Nigeria [6]. In this direction, previous designs have employed complex
technological processes, mimicking the imported versions [7]. Consequently, the pelletizing plant remained
capital intensive and prohibitive for the class of small and medium scale investors. Therefore, the development
of versions of simply designed pelletizer should be seen as technological development to satisfy a niche market
in the industry. Thus, this work was conceived in the search for a simple technology to process cassava flour to
pellets using locally available materials. Hence, the main objectives of this work were to design and fabricate a
cassava pelletizer; and evaluate its performance.

II. Performance Test
2.1 The Experimental Pelletizer
The pelletizer (Fig. 1) is basically a combination of an auger and a die. The die serves as a back plate
for retaining the pressure exerted by the auger; whilst, the perforations in the die allow the compressed mash
wriggle out to form pellets. A helical auger is mounted on a tapering shaft which is supported on bearings so
that the shaft rotates freely in the stationary cylindrical barrel.
Cassava mash is introduced into auger through the inlet gate of the barrel. The auger conveys the mash
to the die and builds up pressure for its extrusion. Pressure resulting from rotating auger forces the mash through
the perforations in the die, compressing and forming it into pellets. The pellets were allowed to break off by
force of gravity, so that, sizing was random, but excessively long particles are likely to be readily broken during
handling. The pelletizer consists of the following parts: the barrel, a shaft on which is welded the auger, the
The Performance Evaluation Of A Cassava Pelletizer
hopper, heat exchanger barrel, reduction gear and the frame. Each component was designed following standard
engineering principle [8].

Fig 1: A picture of the experimental cassava pelletizer

2.2 Performance Evaluation
2.2.1 Sample preparation
Cassava tubers were obtained from a local farm in Ibadan, Nigeria. The tubers were washed, peeled
with knife, grated and dried into cassava flour. The moisture content of the cassava flour at the time of the
experiment was determined using the oven method [9]. Samples of the flour were conditioned by adding water
at different blend ratio (2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 kg of water to 10 kg of the flour) for 10 minute in a mixer (Fexod AS
170, Nigeria). The samples were dried gradually at 140
o
C in a heat chamber and weighed occasionally until the
predetermined moisture content of 18, 20 and 22% (w.b) were obtained. Each experimental run was replicated
three times.

2.2.2 Quality assessments of the pellets
The performance of the pelletizer was evaluated on the basis of the throughput of the machine and the
quality of pellets recovered at the various shaft speeds and die sizes, for cassava mash of different initial
moisture contents. Quality of the pellet was defined in terms of its durability, crushing strength, bulk density and
the cyanide content.
The durability (D
u
) of the pellets was determined according to ASABE S269.4 [10]. A 100 g sample
of the pellet was tumbled at 50 rpm for 10 min in a dust tight enclose (Engineering Laboratory Equipment,
London). Sieves with 3, 5, and 7 mm apertures were used respectively for the pellets extruded from the 4, 6 and
8 mm dies. Durability was expressed as the percent ratio of the mass of pellets retained on the sieve after
tumbling (M
pa
) to mass of pellet before tumbling (M
pb
). Durability is said to be high when the measured value is
above 80%, medium when between 70 and 80% and low when below 70% [7]:

u
D = % 100
pb
pa
M
M
(1)
Bulk density of the pellet was determined as recommended by ASABE S269.4 [10]. A container was
filled using a funnel, without compacting the content. The material was levelled with the top surface of the
container and weighed. Pellet and flour bulk densities were obtained from the ratios of the measured masses of
samples in the container to the volume of the container. Five measurements of each experimental run were taken
to obtain the average values and standard deviations. Bulk density is an important parameter in the design of
systems for drying, ventilation and cooling of pellets during storage [12]; [13].
The strength at rupture of the specimens of the pellet was measured in diametral compression (Lloyd
instruments, model 1000R, Hampshire, UK). The compression test equipment was fitted with a 500 N load cell.
The length of each pellet was measured with a calliper and recorded before it was positioned for compression at
a rate of 10 mm/min. Thus, the force applied on the pellet increased gradually and the load at breakage was
noted.
In the determination of the cyanide content, 0.1 g of pellet from each of the 4, 6 and 8 mm dies was
weighed into a flatbottom plastic bottle with a screw cap lid; 0.5 mL of 0.1M-phosphate buffer at pH 6 was
added with a pipette [14]. A yellow picrate paper was attached to a plastic strip in the bottle containing sample
but not touching the liquid in the bottle. The bottle was immediately closed with the screw-capped lid. A blank
was also prepared, as above, into another screw capped bottle and the difference was used in calculating the
total cyanide content.

III. Results And Discussion
3.1 Quality Attributes of the Pellets
A summary of the quality attributes of the pellets extruded from the machine is shown in Table 1. A
typical trend of the moisture content of the pellets is shown in Fig. 2. The results show that pellets extruded
through the largest holes and at the highest speed are more moisture-laden than pellets from the narrow die at
the least speed. This is not unusual, because running the mash against a smaller die holes generate heat and
pressure in the barrel, which reduced the moisture content of the pellet. However, statistical analysis showed
that only the moisture content of the

Fig. 2: Effect of die size on the moisture content of the pellet from cassava mash at 18% moisture content
(w.b.) pelletized at various speeds.

mash and die size had significant effects on the moisture content of the pellets, but the effect of the speed of the
pelletizer was not significant (Table 2).

3.2 Effects of Machine Parameters on Product Quality
Performance evaluation of the machine showed that bulk density of the pellets decreased with higher
diameter of the die through which the pellets were extruded, indicating that the bigger pellets are more loosely
packed, providing more voids to facilitate air flow for ventilation and drying, but requiring more space for
handling and transportation.
Similarly, the crushing strength and the durability of the pellets decreased with the die size, showing
that the bigger pellets will crumble more readily during handling than the smaller ones. Maximum durability of
84 % was recorded at 20 % (w.b.) moisture content using 4 mm die, while the least was 62% using the 8 mm
die. It is likely that the binding forces in small size pellets have strengthened the bond between individual
particles in the pellet. Furthermore, the higher quantity of heat generated in the barrel due to the stricter
frictional resistance, due to the small hole size (4 mm) must have enhanced starch gelatinization in the pellet,
thus, binding the particles together more firmly. A typical curve of variation of pellets durability with die size
at the different auger speeds is shown in Fig. 3. Statistical analysis showed that only the die size has significant
effect on pellet durability.

Fig. 3: Effect of die size on the durability of the pellets at 18% MC pelletized at various speeds and die sizes.

A summary of the effects of the moisture content of the mash and the operational parameters of the
machine on the quality of the pellets is shown in Table 3. The corresponding throughput capacities of the
machine are also shown in the table.

TABLE 3: Summary of Duncans multiple range tests on main effects (speed, moisture content and die)
on pellets moisture content, durability and machine throughput

Variable MC (%) Durability (%) Throughput (kg/hr)
Speed 90 18.11
a
73.84
a
51.7
a

100 18.16
a
73.36
a
54.4
b

120 18.25
a
74.11
a
50.4
b

MC 18 16.32
a
74.30
a
53.5
a

20 18.17
b
73.81
a
59.2
b

22 20.02
c
73.76
a
52.4
b

Die 4 17.49
a
81.87
a
53.7
b

6 18.28
b
75.79
b
53.6
b

8 18.75
c
63.66
c
57.7
a

Values with the same superscript in the same column are not significantly different at p<0.05.

IV. Conclusions
Simple, but viable machinery for converting cassava mash to highly durable pellets was developed.
Feeding cassava mash with initial moisture content in the range 18 to 22% (w.b.) yielded pellets with 11-13%
(w.b.), moisture content; 530-635 kg/m
3
, bulk density; 8.86-34.24 MPa, crushing strength; and 59.3-85.7%,
durability, 25.2-67.2 kg/hr throughput capacity. The work shows that only the moisture content of the mash and
die size have significant effects on the moisture content of pellets. Furthermore, the bulk density, crushing
strength and durability of the pellets decreased with higher diameter of the die.

References
[1]. Adeeko, K. A. and Ajibola, O. O, Processing factors affecting yield and quality of mechanically expressed groundnut oil, Journal of
Agricultural Engineering Research, 45, 1990, 31-43.
[2]. Ashaye O. A., Couple A. A., Fasoyiro S. B. and Adeniji A, Effect of Location and Storage Environment on the Quality Attributes of
Gari in South-Western Nigeria, World Journal of Agricultural Sciences 1(1) 2005, 52-55.
[3]. Hrishi, N. Problems and prospects of cassava production in India. Cassava Processing and Storage. In: Proceedings of an
interdisciplinary workshop, Thailand, Int. Develop. Res. Centre IDRC-031e 1974 pp.59-62.
[4]. Prestlokken, E, Protein value of expander-treated barley and oats or ruminants, Agricultural University of Norway, Doctor
Scientiarum Thesis 1999:5,142pp, 1999
[5]. Pabis, S., Jayas, D. S, Grain drying Theory and Practice (John Wiley, New York, 1998)
[6]. Odigboh, E. U, Mechanization of cassava production and processing: A decade of design and development, University of Nigeria
Inaugural Lecture, Series No.8, 1985.
[7]. Kwatai, J. T, Rural Cassava Processing and Utilization Centre UNICEF/IITA Collaborative Program for Household Food Security (
Lidato Press, Ibadan, 1986)
[8]. Oduntan, O. B, Development of a cassava pelletizer. Unpublished M.Sc. Thesis. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria,
2010.
[9]. American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Standard practice for reporting uniaxial strength data and estimating Weibull
distribution parameters for advanced ceramics.(ASTM, 1995) C 1239-95: 1-18.
[10]. American Society of Agriculture and Biological Engineering (ASABE), Standard S269.4 Cubes, pellets and crumbles-definitions
and methods for determining density, durability, and moisture content. (ASABE, 2003) St. Joseph, M1
[11]. Adapa. P. K., Schoenau, G. J., Tabi, L. G., Sokhansanj. S. and Crerar. B .J. (2003), Pelleting of fractionated alfalfa products.
ASABE Paper No. 036069. ASABE Paper, Joseph, M1,
[12]. Fasina, O. O. and Sokhansanj, S, Modelling the bulk cooling of alfalfa pellets, Journal of Drying Tech. 13, 1995, 1881-1904.
[13]. Pipa F. and Frank, G, High-pressure conditioning with annular gap expander. A new way of feed processing: Advances in Feed
Technology (2), (Verlag Moritz Schafer, Detmold, 1989).
[14]. Bradbury, M.G., Egan, S.V. and Bradbury, J.H. Determination of all forms of cyanogens in cassava roots and cassava products
using picture paper kits, Journal of Science Food Agriculture, 79, 1999, 593 601.


Finite Element Analysis of Various Shapes of Flexures

Sunil Girde
1
, Prof. Y. L. Yanarkar
2

1,2
Department of Mechanical Engineering Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering, Research and Technology,
Chandrapur (M.S.) India

Abstract: The flexural bearing is used for micro-machining and precision applications where low
displacement is involved. It offers the advantage of almost frictionless, vibration free and maintenance free
operation. The bearing element is deformed to provide desire relative motion between the surfaces. They are
made up of deformable bodies called flexure. These flexures are to be designed for required displacement.
However the analytical procedure for analysis of the flexure is not available. Hence, an alternative approach
of using FEA is applied for design of flexure analysis.
In this work flexure having different size and shape such as triangular, square, rectangular and
elliptical are analyzed. The analysis of all the above shapes with various thicknesses for least axial,
maximum radial stiffness and equivalent stresses is made. Later the results have been analyzed to choose
optimum design of flexure.
Key Words: Flexural Bearing, Stress Analysis, Deformation, Finite Element Analysis

I. Introduction
For micro-machining and precision applications where low displacement are involved the
frictionless, vibration-free flexural bearing are advantageous to the conventional bearings that involves
friction. The nature of application demands that the least energy be wasted in the bearing function. Hence,
maintenance free flexural bearings are the most suitable options. These are made-up of deformable bodies
called flexure, which deform on application of load retrieved their position removal of it. The flexural
bearing is unconventional and use in specific applications. It does not have standardized conventional design
procedure. The relations for standard design are not available. Hence, FEM is the tool in designing flexural
bearings. Malpani [1], Gaunekar et.al [2]

have presented the FE analysis approach using the circular shape
flexure with spiral cuts.
The present study is on different shapes of flexures and thicknesses. The most commonly available
shapes triangular, rectangular, elliptical and square are considered as different possible shapes. For
triangular three flexural cuts and for all other shapes four flexure cuts have been chosen for this analysis. The
thicknesses for all the flexure are varied from 0.15 to 0.6mm in the steps of 0.15 mm. The FE models of all
the combination of shapes and thickness were made with periphery fixed and load applied at the center hole
in the steps of 0.5N from 0.5N to 5N. Each of flexure for with and without fillet flexural cuts was analyzed.
Fig. 1.1 shows the discretization of elliptical shapes flexure. The table 1.1 shows the discretization details of
flexures of various shapes.

Fig. 1.1: Discritization of Elliptical Flexural Bearing

1.1: Detail of Discritization of Various Flexures
Sr.
No.
Shape Thickness
(mm)
With Fillet Without Fillet
No. of
Nodes
No.
of
Element
s
No. of
Nodes
No.
of
Element
s
1

Elliptical
0.15 4057
2
1800
5
NA NA
0.3 3349
5
1468
3
NA NA
0.45 16070
0
7672
4
NA NA
0.6 9042
3
4219
5
NA NA

Finite Element Analysis Of Various Shapes Of Flexures

2

Rectangu
lar
0.15 1610
8
200
5
13848
7
1885
7 0.3 1329
8
163
5
31383
0
5992
5 0.45 10717
4
1803
2
14159
5
6693
2 0.6 7479
2
1236
4
30099
5
5736
9

3

Triangula
r
0.15 3435
2
446
6
11630
8
2116
8 0.3 3444
2
1546
9
13820
1
2380
2
0.45 3885
0
609
6
16925
0
3328
5 0.6 2835
5
432
6
19606
1
3720
6

4

Square
0.15 7460
6
991
1
7016
4
928
5 0.3 1333
3
163
7
30521
1
5819
4 0.45 10966
1
1843
0
30567
3
5829
3 0.6 7421
2
1223
2
29836
7
5682
3
II. Analysis Results
Each of the FE model prepared above was analyzed using ANSYS
()
workbench and
results of displacement in axial and lateral direction and Von Misses stresses were noted. It was found
that all the flexures have similar pattern as the thickness drops axial deformation increases.
The FE results for the triangular case with and without fillet are tabulated in table 1.2 and 1.3
respectively.
Fig. 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4, 1.5 shows schematic view of Von Misses stresses and axial deflection of triangular
flexure with and without fillet respectively.

1.2: Triangular Shape Flexure 0.6mm thickness without fillet
Sr.
No.
Force
(N)
Lateral Deformation (mm) Axial
Deformation
(mm)
Von
Misses
Stress (MPa)
Axial
Stiffness
(N/mm)
Radial/Lateral
Stiffness
(N/mm)
X Y Z
1 0.5 0.0002782 0.000138082 0.041543 0.006328 12.03563 1796.881
2 1 0.0004174 0.000276169 0.083086 0.126556 12.03572 2395.783
3 1.5 0.0004174 0.000414251 0.12463 0.189829 12.03563 3593.667
4 2 0.0005565 0.000552322 0.166177 0.253116 12.03536 3593.664
5 2.5 0.0004632 0.000690433 0.2077 0.316386 12.03659 5396.456
6 3 0.0008348 0.000828503 0.24926 0.379673 12.03563 3593.662
7 3.5 0.0009739 0.000966574 0.29081 0.442944 12.03535 3593.662
8 4 0.0011130 0.001104685 0.33235 0.506216 12.0355 3593.664
9 4.5 0.0012522 0.001243543 0.3738 0.569502 12.03852 3593.664
10 5 0.0013913 0.001380866 0.46139 0.6158 10.83682 3593.663

Fig. 1.3: Axial Deflection Developed in Triangular Type Flexural Bearing without fillet at 5N force
1.3: Triangular Shape Flexure 0.6mm thickness with fillet

Sr.
No.

Force
(N)

Lateral
Deformation (mm)

Axial
Deformation
(mm)
Von
Misses
Stress
(MPa)

Axial
Stiffness
(N/mm)
Radial/
Lateral
Stiffness
(N/mm)
1 0.5 0.0002 0.0002 0.0626 0.0337 7.98 2500
2 1 0.0004 0.0004 0.12531 0.0675 7.98 2500
3 1.5 0.00064 0.00065 0.1879 0.1012 7.98 2343.75
4 2 0.00085 0.00085 0.2506 0.135 7.98 2352.94
5 2.5 0.00107 0.00108 0.3132 0.1687 7.98 2329.92
6 3 0.00128 0.0013 0.3759 0.2025 7.98 2343.75
7 3.5 0.0015 0.00151 0.4386 0.2362 7.98 2333.33
8 4 0.00171 0.00173 0.5012 0.2699 7.98 2339.181
9 4.5 0.00193 0.00195 0.5639 0.3037 7.98 2331.606
10 5 0.00214 0.00216 0.6265 0.3374 7.98 2336.448

Fig. 1.4: Axial Deflection Developed in Triangular Type Flexural Bearing with fillet at 5N force

Fig. 1.5: Von misses Stresses Developed in Triangular Type Flexural Bearing with at 5N force fillet

The Fig. 1.6 to 1.8 shows the Von Misses stresses distribution within the flexure. It should be noted
that at the sharp corners of flexural cuts the Von Misses stresses are high due to stress concentration factor. This
phenomenon is found to be present in all the shapes of flexural without fillet.

Fig. 1.6: Von Misses Stress Vs Thickness for Square Flexure


Fig. 1.8: Von Misses Stresses Vs Thickness for Rectangular Flexure

Fig. 1.9: Axial deflection Vs Thickness for Flexures

Fig. 1.9 shows the variation of axial deflection verses thickness that for all flexures. Since too
thin flexures tend to have more stresses and more lateral deformation, the flexures with 0.15 mm
thickness were found to be not suitable. Among rest of the thicknesses, the elliptical flexures were found
to have more axial displacement for applied load applied load.
The table 1.4 shows the FE results for different shapes and thicknesses at 5N force and obtained
axial and lateral deformation. From the table it is evident that the elliptical flexures were found to have
more axial deformation. The Fig. 1.9 shows the variation of axial deformation against thickness for various
shapes, Hence it may be stated that for higher axial deformation as required by design, elliptical flexures are
most suitable.
However it was also found that the elliptical flexures show higher radial/lateral deformation for the
applied load that the other shapes. Hence decision parameters of ratio radial stiffness to axial stiffness may
be chosen as higher the stiffness ratio more the desirable flexure. Fig. 1.10 depicts the relationship between
stiffness ration and thickness for various shapes. Further it should also be noted that the maximum Von
Misses stresses for elliptical flexures were found to be higher than stresses for other shapes. Therefore it
can be said that when the radial/ lateral deformation and stresses in the flexure are to be limited the
shapes other than elliptical shapes offer better choice. Fig. 1.11 shows the stress variation among different
shapes for 5N applied load.

1.4 : Optimization Of Various Shapes Of Flexure Bearing With Fillet

Shape

Thickness
(mm)

Force
(N)
Von
Misses
Stress
(MPa)

Axial
Deflection
(mm)

Radial
Deflection
(mm)

Axial
Stiffness
(N/mm)

Radial
Stiffness
(N/mm)

Radial /Lateral
Stiffness/Axial
Stiffness(N/mm
)

Square
0.15
0.3
0.45
0.6

5 N
4.386
1.552
0.543
0.3164
44.423
5.3772
1.7212
1.0239
0.02621
0.00633
0.0030
0.00242
0.11255
0.9298
2.9049
6.707
190.8396
789.8894
1666.67
2840.9091
1695.5984
849.5261
573.7443
423.57374

Triangular
0.15
0.3
0.45
0.6

5 N
5.129
1.4131
0.6081
0.3374
36.287
2.9594
1.4452
0.6265
0.03147
0.0052
0.0037
0.00214
0.13779
1.6895
3.45972
7.9808
159.0482
963.5974
1351.3514
2336.4486
1154.2797
570.3447
390.59559
292.7586

Rectangula
r
0.15
0.3
0.45
0.6

5 N
4.6569
1.223
0.6091
0.3112
59.812
5.3913
1.7306
0.7495
0.03489
0.0062
0.00302
0.00175
0.1148
0.9274
2.8891
6.67111
196.07
806.4516
1655.6291
2857.1428
1707.9268
869.5816
573.0605
428.2859

Elliptical
0.15
0.3
0.45
0.6

5 N
8.1969
3.9785
1.5228
1.5052
53.875
35.917
8.0241
8.6327
0.0387
0.0258
0.00773
0.01117
0.09281
0.1392
0.6231
0.7955
129.198
193.7984
646.6101
614.7717
1713.6968
1392.2298
1037.73086
772.81169

Fig. 1.10 : Ratio of Lateral Stiffness to Axial Stiffness Vs Thickness

Fig. 1.11: Von Misses Stresses Vs Thickness for All Shape Flexures

III. Conclusion:
From the analysis results it may be concluded that the flexures with fillet have better distribution of
stresses that flexures without fillet. Furthers the different shapes of flexures with fillet were investigated
using FEA and it was found that they offers almost the similar behavior with comparable stresses when
loaded. Though the elliptical flexures offer more axial deformation and hence could be a better choice.
This advantage is negated by the more lateral/ radial deflection and the higher stresses in the flexure. Hence it
may be concluded that the exact choice of flexure may be made depending on acceptable stresses levels,
shape and space requirement of the application for which the flexural is to be used.

Reference
[1]. Saurabh Anand Malpani, Yogesh Yenarkar, Suhas Deshmukh, FE Analysis of flexural bearing for linear compressor, International
Journal of applied research in Mechanical Engg. Vol. I, issue-I, 2011. S. Gaunekar, T. Goddenhenrich, C. Heiden, Finite
element analysis & testing of flexure-bearing elements,

Cryogenics-1996, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 359-364.
[2]. W. E. Kepple, Dave W. Read, Fouad Y. Zeidan, Christian Paraskevakos, Matthew P. Dawson, proceedings of the 15
th

International pump users symposium.
[3]. M. Mai, I. Ruchlich, C.Rosenhagen & Th. Wiedmann, Development of the miniature flexure bearing cryocoolers, SFO70,
International Cryocoolers Conference, INC, Boulder Co, 2009.
[4]. C. Rosenhagen & Th. Wiedmann, Flexure Bearing Compressor in the One Watt Linear (OWL) Envelope,

Electrodynamic
oscillating compressor Part- 1, pp.656-663 and Part-2, pp.664-670.
[5]. Shorya Awtar, Alexander H., Slocum, Parasitic Error-free Symmetric Diaphragm Flexure, and a set of precision compliant
mechanisms based it: Three and Five DOF flexible torque couplings, Five DOF motion stage, single DOF linear/axial bearing,
Paper publish in precission in Engg. Research Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
[6]. Willem Van de Groep, Tony Benschop, Wordragen, The development of a new generation of miniature long life linear
coolers,

Conference ICC16, p.1 of 10 year 2010, Thals publication.
[7]. T.R. Chandrupatla. A.D. Belagundu, Finite elements in engineering (Pearsons Education)
[8]. Practical finite element analysis finite to infinite publications, Pune By Nitin Gokhale, Sanjay Deshpande.
[9]. Timoshenko, Theory of plates and shells ( Mc Gr a w Hi l l p u b l i c a t i o n ) , second edition, p p. 62, 63

Torque Control System for Diesel Engine
Rajesh H, Arihant U
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College Of Engineering, Sriperumbudur, India.

Abstract: This paper presents an idea on torque control system for variable speed diesel engine. A
dynamometer assembly is designed to measure the frictional torque on the disc and hence the engine torque.
The resistance or frictional torque offered by the dynamometer will vary with time in a desired manner. A
transducer is used to measure the torque or force which is the output from dynamometer and is of
electromechanical type. The load acting on the transducer creates bending in the sides and a strain gauge has
been used to sense the strain. The output of the strain bridge is proportional to the load applied and hence the
transducer will give an electrical output proportional to the force. Thus the output of the measuring system will
be an emf. The emf signal is proportional to the load torque. However a calibration graph would be necessary
to relate the emf output to the load torque.
Keywords - Diesel engine, Dynamometer assembly, Emf signal- load torque, Transducer, Strain gauge,

I. INTRODUCTION
The experimental work on these engines has been conducted from no load to full load at constant
speeds. On these engines, no facilities exist for a continuous variation of load torque and speed. In case of
automobile engines depending upon the road conditions and road speed, the engine speed and torque will vary.
The road speeds and tractive resistances faced by the vehicle are converted to engine speeds and engine brake
torque. Variation of road speed and tractive resistance over a period of time, thus become a variation of engine
speed and torque. This setup facilitates varying the load torque representing the variations of the driving cycles,
on the test bed.

II. COMPONENTS
The components used in setup are disc type dynamometer, torque and speed transducers, stepper
motors. The torque sensor is a U- type beam with strain gauges bonded on it. The engine torque creates bending
and consequent strain on the gauges. The gauges form a Wheatstone bridge circuit. The output from the bridge
is an emf signal proportional to the torque. The speed is measured by directly connecting a tachgenerator, which
is a small dc dynamo. The output of the tachgenerator is an electrical emf which is proportional to the engine
torque. By applying brakes on the disc of the dynamometer, the braking torque can be varied and hence the load
torque also varies respectively. Therfore engine torque can be controlled to the desired value as per the
requirement through the braking system.

III. SPRING ARRANGEMENT
It starts with a stepper motor receiving the input from the suitably fabricated electronic system and
gives the desired turning moment to the sleeve. As the sleeve rotates, it results in the screw moving axially
without rotation. The screw does not rotate as it is held in position by the lock screw. As a result of which the
screw arrangement moves forward or backward depending upon the rotation given to it by the stepper motor
through the sleeve. The head of the screw mechanism fits into the plunger. So as the screw mechanism moves
forward, the plunger also moves forward through the sleeve. The cavity inside the sleeve is incorporated with
Belleville springs, ten to be precise. As the ram moves forward the plunger compresses the Belleville springs
and moves forward against the spring force. The other end of the ram is attached to the brake shoe and hence the
brake shoes are pressed against the disc of the dynamometer. Hence brakes are applied. When the brakes are to
be released the stepper motor rotates in the opposite direction and spring force helps in bringing the screw back
to its original position and there will be no contact between brake shoe and disc. Hence the application of brake
is stopped now.

Torque Control System For Diesel Engine

Fig 1: Exploded View Of Screw Arrangement

IV. TORQUE CONTROL SYSTEM
Here torque is applied by means of a screw and nut arrangement. The nut would be turned by the
stepper motor and would move the screw back and forth. The screw would control the pressure applied on the
brake pads through a set of disc springs (Belleville type). Thus advancing the screw will increase the brake
torque and vice versa. The applied torque is sensed using a strain gauge mounted in U beam. Torque Indicator is
a strain gauge signal conditioner and amplifier used to measure Torque due to load applied on the engine. The
strain gauge is bonded on the Specimen and is connected in the form of Wheatstone bridge. The Torque
measuring setup is a complete system which can be used to conduct measurement tensional load applied on the
engine. The Torque indicator is provided with zero balancing facility through adjustable potentiometer. The
system operates on 230V Ac supply. Digital strain indicator is given the output from the Wheatstone bridge to
measure the micro strain. The instrument comprises of inbuilt power supply for self and also for the strain gauge
excitation, strain gauge signal conditioner and amplifier. The main features of the strain indicator are front panel
strain gauge Bridge balancing with the help of potentiometer. The whole system is self-contained with all
accessories included. The instrument is enclosed in a tapered fiber glass box.

Fig 2: Block Diagram Showing Torque Control Process

V. RESULTS
We have tested that it is possible for us to continuously vary the speed and load torque in the ranges of
speed: (800-3000) rpm and load torque: (0-16) Nm. The calibration graph for torque of the engine is also drawn.

Table 1: Values between Meter Reading & Dynamometer Torque.
SLNo STRAIN METER READING DYANAMOMETER TORQUE
1 3.8 4.41
2 7.5 8.83
3 11.4 13.25
4 13.2 15.45
5 18 22.07
6 22 26.5
7 25.6 30.9
8 29.4 35.3

Torque Control System For Diesel Engine

Fig 3: Graph between Meter Reading and Dynamometer Reading

VI. CONCLUSION
The Torque Control System which we designed is tested for its consistency. Further, the electronic
control unit will be developed for automatic torque control of the engine.

VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank our guide, Dr.T.V.Balasubramanian, Visiting Professor, Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Sriperumbudur, for all his time and efforts
in guiding us through the entire process and for his valuable expertise and inputs for making this work success.

REFERENCES
[1] Shigley J.E and Mischke C. R., Mechanical Engineering Design, Sixth Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill , 2003.
[2] Sundararajamoorthy T. V, Shanmugam .N, "Machine Design", Anuradha Publications, Chennai, 2003..
[3] Maitra G.M., Prasad L.V., Hand book of Mechanical Design, II Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill, 1985.
[4] Bhandari, V.B., Design of Machine Elements, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd., 1994.
[5] Ugural A.C, "Mechanical Design, An Integrated Approach", McGraw-Hill, 2003.


Moisture Absorption Evolution of Gfrp Laminates Subjected To
Different Environmental Conditions

P.Sampath Rao
1
, Dr. M.Manzoor Hussain
2
, R.Kishore
3

1
Research scholar JNT University Hyderabad. Mechanical Engineering Department Vijay Rural Eng. College,
Nizamabad A.P.INDIA
2
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department JNT University Hyderabad. A.P.INDIA
3
Asst. Professor Mechanical Engineering Department Vijay Rural Eng. College, Nizamabad

Abstract: Fibre composites are being used in various applications from aerospace, military, marine boats and
submarine to renewable energy generation. Higher energy demands across the developed and growing world
for the usage and replacement of conventional materials with polymer composite materials for engineering
applications which is always questioned by the end user, unless the research oriented reliable supporting
certification is made available. The reinforcement materials are highly hygroscopic, the matrix material
provides protection to the reinforcement. When the parts made of composite materials are exposed to
environment, water molecules travel along the reinforcement and cause damage to the interfacial bonding,
further the performance of the composite laminate get effected. In this scenario, the investigation related to this
aspect requires quantitative assessment which is carried out with accelerated simulation of the real time
situation to provide a scope to chacterization of Glass fibre reinforced polymer composite (GFRP) laminates
subjected to variable environmental conditions. This investigation was to study the effect on weight gain and
mechanical property of GFRP laminate subjected to different environmental conditions. The test results reviled
that remarkable reduction in tensile property and moisture absorption for samples in water absorbed more
moisture than NaOH and salt water.
Keywords: Glass fibre reinforced polymer composite (GFRP), Resin transfer moulding(RTM), Moisture
absorption, tensile modulus and Environmental conditions.

I. Introduction
Glass fibre reinforced composite materials are low cost, light-weight, better mechanical properties,
free from health hazard, and thus have the potential for aircraft, automobile and similar structural
application..Recently, glass-fibre -reinforced polymers(GFRP) are being increasingly used in construction
applications ranging from seismic retrofit of columns and strengthening of walls, slabs, to new building frames
and even bridges because of a number of advantageous characteristics and anticorrosion properties [1 and2].It is
also well known that there is a degradation of material property during its service life, as it is often subjected to
environments with high temperature and humidity or having a sharp rise and fall of temperature (thermal
spikes). The deterioration that occurs is GFRP during the service life is in general, linked to the level of
moisture that is absorbed. The absorption of moisture can be attributed largely to the affinity for moisture of
specific functional groups of a highly polar nature in the cured resin. The absorption of moisture causes
plasticization of the resin to occur with a concurrent swelling and lowering the glass transition temperature of
the resin. This adversely effects the fiber-matrix adhesion properties, resulting debonding at fiber/matrix
interfaces, micro-cracking in the matrix, fiber fragmentations, continuous cracks and several other phenomena
that actually degrades the mechanical property of the composites.
With reference to the work related to Long-Term Deterioration of GFRP in Water and Moist
Environment [3], the results are indicating the effects of water and moisture on the durability of pultruded
glass-fibre-reinforced polymers (GFRP) with vinylester resin for applications in normal air conditions. They
conducted deterioration tests , including both immersion and atmosphere conditions at various temperatures
and found that cracks appear at surface GFRP specimens and The weight decreases were due to the overlay of
two different phenomena: the surface treatment oil used as sizing on the glass-fibre cloth, and the remaining
styrene within the specimens being dissolved away. On similar way experimental work has been done with
polyester -glass fibre reinforced composites. The environmental stress cracking failure due to temperature and
moisture has been studied for glass fiber reinforced composites [6]. Moisture does not only affect the adhesive
bond of the bonded system in service, but also during the application of FRP on concrete surface. Tests on
CFRP bonded to concrete with initially damp surface using a modified cantilever beam indicated reduction in
bond strength when compared to specimens with initially dry concrete surface [7]. Since the failure under effect
of moisture generally occurs by either concrete delamination or concreteepoxy interface separation. The effects
of variable moisture conditions on the fracture toughness of concrete/FRP bonded system are studied by means
Moisture Absorption Evolution Of Gfrp Laminate Subjected To Different Environmental Conditions
of the peel and shear fracture toughness determined from the conditioned test specimens. Moisture conditions
can result in strength degradation [8]. The objective of this work is to investigate experimentally the moisture
absorption evolution of GFRP laminates subjected to different environmental conditions. For this number of
specimens are prepared and exposed in different moisture environmental conditions. To know the weight
changes of material due to water absorption at room temperature. For this series of experiments are conducted
and results are interpreted to know behaviour of the materials under immersion of different moisture
environment. .

II. Experimental
2.1 Production of laminates using RTM
The Resin transfer molding (RTM) machine,(as shown in Fig1) a, closed mould process, consists of
resin injection equipment, it has a hollow cylinder fitted with pressure gauge, valve and pressure pump and
mould plates. The materials used for GFRP laminates are polyester resin (with density 1.35g/cm
3
manufactured
by Ciba Geigy Ltd. and supplied by Northern polymers New Delhi India) and Glass fiber mats (woven fabric
glass fiber with density 450g/cm
2
manufactured by Saint Gobian Ltd.India) with composition of 60%matrix
(polyester resin) and 40% of glass fiber. The specifications for the laminate preparation are (i)injection
pressures, 30-40 psi. (ii) Curing Temperature room temperature. The glass fiber mats are placed between the
mould plates and clamped before sending the resin. The chemically combined resin that is resin mixed with 2%
of accelerator (cobalt nathylene) and 2%of catalyst (methyl ethyl keypricperoxide) is poured inside the hollow
cylinder through the valve present at top cap and immediately the valve is closed and the air is pumped into
hollow cylinder up to maximum pressure of 40Psi. The bottom valve of the cylinder is slowly released so that
pressurized chemical resin enters in to the mould and it is spread equally in to all directions. To get a well-
shaped laminate allow the mould to be idle for 4 to 5 hours and laminate is solidified then unseal the mould
separate the lower and upper mould parts . The laminate is slightly sticky to the mould surface and removed
forcibly and laminate of mould shape is as shown fig.2.Since such laminate obtained is difficult to test, and to
have moisture test for that laminates are sliced to standard ASTMD638 specimen of dimensions 50 mm X 30
mm X 8mm mm .

Fig. 2: Composite laminate piece

Fig.3 GFRP Composite Laminate
2.2 Testing of the Laminates
The laminates obtained by RTM process are 300mm X 300mm X 8mm as shown in the fig. 2 from
that standard specimen of dimensions 250mm X 30mm X 8mm are prepared (fig.3) and that slice in to size of
50mm X 30mm X 8mm . The specimen thus prepared were exposed to several moist environments water, salt
water and NaOH solution for different exposure time. For moisture absorption test, numbers of weighted
specimens are exposed in tubs containing water, salt water and NaOH solution at room temperature for 18 days
as shown in fig3. At every 3 days few specimens are taken from water tub, salt water tub and NaOH tub at
room temperature and weighed, the results are noted in tables 1,2 and3. The weight gain (%)of specimens
exposed in different moisture conditions are presented in table4 and plotted the Graph (as shown in graph1).

Fig.3:GFRP Specimens exposed in different moisture conditions

III. Results & Discussions
The aim of this work is to investigate the absorption of moisture in E-Glass / polyester resin composites
under different moist environmental conditions to understand the overall effect of moisture absorption on the
weight and mechanical property .The experimental results are presented in tables 1,2,3 and4.

3.1 Theory of Moisture Absorption :
Weight gain of the preconditioned specimens was carefully monitored by weighing multiple specimens
periodically, with precautions taken to remove the surface moisture by wiping them before weighing.
Percentage weight gain was determined as
M=( Weight of specimen Weight of dry specimen )X100
( Weight of dry specimen )

As the natural process of moisture absorption in resin matrices is normally very slow, so Ficks second law for a
concentration independent moisture diffusion process for a long period of exposure in the solution can be
approximated as
M = { 1- 8/p2 exp(-p2 D t /h2)} M
m
(2)
where D, t, h, M
m
are the composite diffusion coefficient, time at maximum moisture content ,
specimen thickness, and maximum moisture content respectively.

3.2 Effect of Moisture Absorption on weight and tensile property
This work focused on the investigation of the effect of moisture impact on GFRP composite
laminates under different moisture environmental (water, salt water & NaOH solution) conditions. The test
results are analysed the relations of weight gain verses exposure time and tensile modulus verses exposure
time were plotted at various water salinity conditions as shown in graphs 1and 2. The test results shows
moisture absorbed is different for different environmental conditions, it is clear that the weight gain is more in
water than NaOH and salt water respectively. The reasons are all the voids of laminates filled rapidly in water
than NaOH, saltwater due to capillary action and water seepage into fiber-matrix inter-phase .The way of
moisture absorbed is dependent upon many factors like type of climatic exposure, severity of exposure
humidity and temperature . The effect of moisture absorption on weight gain for the E-Glass/polyester resin
composite material as shown in graph1. It can be observed that initially, there is almost a linear increase in the
equilibrium moisture content, then after gradually increases and expected to approaches constant saturation
level. From graph2,it was observed that tensile modulus decreased to some extent with the presence of moisture.
Strains are parallel and transverse to the fibres at functional failure (leakage) showed a little variation in the
presence of moisture at room temperature. The effective water damage was apparent in the matrix and at the
fibrematrix interface where there was less resin adhesion to the fibres with increasing exposure time. Fibre
strength was also negatively affected, possibly due to either leaching out of the glass fibres interface layer or
glass fibre embrittlement, less effective bonding and load distribution at the fibrematrix interface.

3.2.1 Effect of water on tensile modulus
The tensile strength of GFRP laminates exposed to water at room temperature is decreases gradually
over exposure period of 18 days after continuous exposure the reduction of tensile modulus expected to
maintain constant. The reasons can be initially rapid entering of water particles into fibrematrix interface due
to capillary action. After certain period of time, a saturation stage is reached and no more water seep into fibre-
matrix phase .All the voids of laminates filled with moisture and which act as a plasticizer to fevor the property.

3.2.2 Effect of salt water on tensile modulus
The tensile strength of GFRP laminates exposed to salt water at room temperature is decreases
gradually. For same exposure period , reduction of the tensile modulus is more in salt water compare to water.
The reasons are matrix swelling and debonding fibre-matrix interface are more effective in saltwater .

3.2.3 Effect of NaOH on tensile modulus
The tensile strength of GFRP laminates exposed to NaOH solution at room temperature is decreases
with exposure time. The reduction in strength due to attack of NaOH base on polyester resin. The base solution
react with polyester resin surface and erodes it. Finally concluded that NaOH base deteriorates surface the
composite material and leads to reduction in the strength.

Table 1 : specimens exposed to water
Specimen exposed in water
Specimen no Weights of specimen in grams with exposure time
0 3 days 6 days 9 days 12 days 15 days 18days
1 17.7 18.4 19.2 19.6 19.8 19.9 20.2
2 18.9 20.5 21.6 22.1 22.4 22.6 22.8
3 19.0 19.8 20.8 21.9 22.2 22.4 22.6
4 19.4 20.2 20.8 21.3 21.9 22.2 22.4
5 19.6 20.6 21.2 21.6 22.0 22.4 22.5
Total wt 93.6 99.5 103.6 106.5 108.3 109.5 110.5
%of wt. gain 0 6.3034 10.6837 13.7820 15.7051 16.9871 18.0555

Table2: specimens exposed to salt water
Specimen exposed in salt water
1 17.3 17.9 18.6 19.3 19.5 19.7 19.9
2 18.4 19.2 20.6 21.1 21.8 22.0 22.2
3 22.8 23.4 23.8 23.1 23.4 23.8 24.1
4 20.3 20.9 22.0 22.3 22.6 22.8 23.1
5 19.6 20.5 21.0 21.4 21.8 22.1 22.4
Total wt 98.4 101.9 106.0 107.2 109.1 110.4 111.7
%of wt.gain 0 3.5569 7.7235 8.9430 10.8739 12.1951 13.5162
Table.3 Specimen exposed in NaOH solution
Specimen exposed in NaOH solution
1 17.3 19.0 18.5 19.1 19.8 20.3 20.6
2 21.3 22.2 22.8 23.4 23.9 24.3 24.6
3 22.0 23.1 23.9 24.5 24.9 25.3 25.6
4 21.9 22.6 22.9 23.3 23.9 24.1 24.2
5 19.6 20.4 21.0 21.6 22.0 22.4 22.5
Total wt 102.1 107.3 109.1 111.9 114.5 116.4 117.5
%of wt. gain 0 5.093 6.8560 9.5984 12.1449 14.0058 15.0832
Table 4 : The weight gain (%) and tensile modulus of specimens exposed in different
moisture conditions
Exposure
time
In days
Weight gain in different moisture
conditions

Variation in tensile modulus in
different moisture conditions
(Gpa)
Water Salt water NaOH Water Salt water NaOH
0 0 0 0 0.97 0.97 0.97
3 6.3034 3.5569 5.0930 0.964 0.960 0.950
6 10.6837 7.7235 6.8560 0.952 0.942 0.925
9 13.7820 8.9430 9.5984 0.945 0.936 0.911
12 15.7051 10.8739 12.1449 0.924 0.920 0.901
15 16.9871 12.1951 14.0058 0.913 0.886 0.868
18 18.0555 13.5162 15.0832 0.902 0.878 0.857

Graph1: Weight gain V/S Exposure time for Specimens exposed in different moisture conditions

Graph2: Tensile modulusV/S Exposure time for Specimens exposed in different moisture
conditions

IV. Conclusions
The experimental investigation showed effect of moisture absorption and remarkable reduction in
mechanical strength (tensile modulus) of GFRP Composites which are exposed to different water salinity and at
room temperature for different exposure time. The experimental results shows weight gain and reduction in
tensile modulus of GFRP Specimens in order of water, NaOH and salt water. The moisture present in matrix of
composite material causes matrix swelling ,inter-phase debonding ,physical damage of matrix inter-phase and
hydrolysis of composite materials are the main reasons for the reduction in tensile strength. The following
conclusions may be drawn for this study :
i The Composite material moisture absorption is more.
ii. The presence of moisture or water particles in the matrix, fiber-matrix interface of composite materials
attack on the glass fibres, all these are the reason for the reduction of mechanical properties. But in both normal
and frozen conditions the damage is more severe in case of frozen moisture.

iii. The weight gain of laminate is more in water by reasons of capillary action, wicking action less
concentration and density as compare to salt water and NaOH solution.
iv. Debonding at the fiber/matrix interface in a fiber bundle is caused after the amount of absorbed moisture
reaches to a saturation level, and as a result the tensile elastic modulus remains constant.

References:
[1] Busel, J. P. FRP composites in construction applicationA profile in progress, SPI Composite Institute-1995
[2] Meiarashi, S., Kishima, T., Nishizaki, I., and Sasaki, I. Application of fiber reinforced plastics to construction structural
materials.Volume 1:. Cooperative Research Report No. 252, 1998
[3] Nishizaki and Meiarashi,S (2002) Long term Deteration GFRP in Water and Moist Environment Journal of Composite for
Construction, Vol.6 NO.1 PP21-27.
[4] Moisture Absorption and Desorption of Composite Materials by author Chi-Hung shen and George S. Springer journal of
composite materials january1976]
[5] The "Durability of bamboo-glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix hybrid composites" by author MOE MOE THWE, KIN LIO
publised in journal of Composites Science and Technology 63 (2003) 375387
[6] The environmental stress corrosion cracking of glass fibre-reinforced laminates and single E-glass filaments by author
F.R.JONES. J.W.ROCK, J.E.BAILEY (19833)1059-1071
[7] Wan B, Petrou MF, Harries KA. The effects of the presence of water on the durability of bond between CFRP and concrete. J
Reinf Plast Composites 2006; 25(8):87590.
[8] C.Tukta and O.Buyukozturk on the Deterioration of FRP/concrete bond system under variable moisture conditions quantified by
fracture mechanic Composites: PartB 42(2011)145-154 Elsevier.
[9] Long-term water immersion ageing characteristics of GFRP composites by K.Berketis publised in journal of
springerScience+Business2009.
[10] Mechanical testing of advanced fibre composites J M Hodgkinson Wood Head Publishng Limited.
[11] Springer G.S.,Environmental ffects on Composite materials Vol.2 (1984), Lancaster PA:Technomic publishing co.inc.

IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE)
ISSN: 2278-1684 Volume 2, Issue 5 (Sep-Oct. 2012), PP 39-47

Inclusion of Human Power (HP) In Micro Grids Portfolio: A
Solution for Indian Rural Electrification

Deepak Jhalani
1
, Dr Himanshu Chaudhary
2

1
(Graduate Engineer Trainee, GS E&C India Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, India)
2
(Associate professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur,
Rajasthan, India)

ABSTRACT : This paper first discusses the importance of electricity in development of India along with its
current status. It explores the gap between power requirement and power production in current and in
prospective Indian power scenario. Then it suggests human power (HP) as an alternative which needs to be
included in portfolio for providing electricity power to rural India through Micro Grid combinations with solar
energy, wind energy and biomass energy due to its inherent advantages. Further discussion on Micro Grid
layouts and implementation of layout in association with economics is carried out with a study on Jaipur,
Rajasthan in a computer software HOMER.
Keywords - Economic comparison of alternative power sources, Grid electrification, Human power, rural
electricity, Power in India.

I. INTRODUCTION
Each year since 1990 the Human Development Report has published the Human Development Index
(HDI) which was introduced as an alternative to conventional measures of national development, such as level
of income and the rate of economic growth. The HDI represents a push for a broader definition of well-being
and provides a composite measure of three basic dimensions of human development: health, education and
income. India's HDI is 0.547, which gives the country a rank of 134 out of 187 countries with comparable data.
The HDI of South Asia as a region increased from 0.356 in 1980 to 0.548 today, placing India below the
regional average which shows Indias poor condition. Electricity is the crucial reason behind Indias
backwardness because electricity is central to nearly all aspects of our lives, access to power is fundamental to a
higher standard of living and directly related to socioeconomic development. In addition, electrotechnologies
enhance public health and welfare through greater efficiency, safety and a cleaner environment.[1]
The electricity sector in India had an installed capacity of 185.5 Gigawatt (GW) as of November 2011,
the world's fifth largest. Even then out of the 1.4 billion people of the world who have no access to electricity in
the world, India accounts for over 300 million. Despite an ambitious rural electrification

program, some 400
million Indians lose electricity access during blackouts. So it amount to around 700 million of people who does
not have access to electricity or connected to unreliable electric connection only in India. The status of
electricity in India is not going to improve also in near future as in 12
th
five year plan (from 2012-2017) capacity
addition will be around only 50 GW so total installed capacity will become around 256 GW by 2017 which
makes 119 Watts of capacity per capita which is again very low as per the international standards. So India has
to look forward for alternative ways for providing power for rural electrification if it wants to improve standard
of living of its citizens.
Micro grids have proved their certain advantages over the span of time. India's network losses
exceeded 32% in 2010, compared to world average of less than 15%. So this makes micro grid highly suitable
option for India. Discussion on advantage and applicability of micro grids will make this report lengthy so it
can be referred from other resources.
Since inception of human life on this earth, human power has been considered as a valuable power
source. Starting from BayGen radio (first human powered commercial radio) to most advanced Play and Freeze
Ice Cream Maker(human powered ice maker) there have been around 211 human powered products in market
since 2010. available resource oriented alternative to solve this problem. Human power has all the
characteristics which are required to meet the requirements of rural off-grid India in the mean time of next at
least 10 years till 2022.
We are suggesting that other human powered generators like merry go round generator, hand-crank
generator and bicycle generator should be considered in portfolio for rural electrification through microgrid on
the basis of economic merit of the other combinations available which can combine any of the renewable power
sources like solar power, wind power and biomass energy. All these options in portfolio with these type of
human powered

Inclusion of Human Power (HP) in Micro Grids Portfolio: A solution for Indian rural electrification
Figure 1

Human Development Index (HDI) of India from 1980 to present in comparison.
generators can be installed for small number of household in close vicinity, as this does not have any
transmission and distribution losses and expenditure, only resource requirement is human hours and highly
customizable in case of human powered generators, it can come out to be highly economical and resource
stringent.[2][3][4]
II. STATUS OF ELECTRICITY IN INDIA
In December 2011, over 300 million Indian citizens had no access to electricity. Over one third of
India's rural population lacked electricity, as did 6% of the urban population. Of those who did have access to
electricity in India, the supply was intermittent and unreliable. In 2010, blackouts and power shedding
interrupted irrigation and manufacturing across the country.
The per capita average annual domestic electricity consumption in India in 2009 was 96 kWh in rural
areas and 288 kWh in urban areas for those with access to electricity, in contrast to the worldwide per capita
annual average of 2600 kWh and 6200 kWh in the European Union.
As of January 2012, one report found the per capita total consumption in India to be 778 kWh.
Electricity distribution network in India is inefficient compared to other networks in the world. India's network
losses exceeded 32% in 2010, compared to world average of less than 15%. As in previous years, during the
year 201011, demand for electricity in India far outstripped availability, both in terms of base load energy and
peak availability. Base load requirement was 861,591 (MU) against availability of 788,355 MU, a 8.5% deficit.
During peak loads, the demand was for 122 GW against availability of 110 GW, a 9.8% shortfall. Table 1 shows
the electricity sector capacity and availability in India (excludes effect of blackouts / power-shedding). Table 1
clearly highlights the shortage of electricity in India. [5]
Despite an ambitious rural electrification program, some 400 million Indians lose electricity access
during blackouts.

While 80% of Indian villages have at least an electricity line, just 52.5% of rural households
have access to electricity. In urban areas, the access to electricity is 93.1% in 2008. The overall electrification
rate in India is 64.5% while 35.5% of the population still lives without access to electricity.
Table 1
Current status of electricity in India
Item Value Date reported
Total installed capacity ( GW ) 185.5 November 2011
Available base load supply (MU) 837374 May 2011
Available peak load supply (GW) 118.7 May 2011
Demand base load (MU) 933741 May 2011
Demand peak load (GW) 136.2 May 2011

The 17th electric power survey of India report claims:
Over 201011, India's industrial demand accounted for 35% of electrical power requirement, domestic
household use accounted for 28%, agriculture 21%, commercial 9%, public lighting and other
miscellaneous applications accounted for the rest.
The electrical energy demand for 201617 is expected to be at least 1392 Tera Watt Hours, with a peak
electric demand of 218 GW.
The electrical energy demand for 202122 is expected to be at least 1915 Tera Watt Hours, with a peak
electric demand of 298 GW.
If current average transmission and distribution average losses remain same (32%), India needs to add about 135
GW of power generation capacity, before 2017, to satisfy the projected demand after losses. But as shown in
Fig. 2, India currently consumes average electricity power much below than satisfactory level of consumption.
As shown in table 2, likely installed power capacity in India by 2017 will be around 256 GW in spite of the
power requirement of the level 340 GW and if we consider the current transmission and distribution losses
which is around 25 %, required power capacity by 2017 amounts to 420 GW, which is much higher than likely
installed capacity 256GW of 2017.[6][7][8]
Table 2
Status of Electricity in India for near future

DESCRIPTION POWER (MW)
Existing installed capacity as on March 2012
*
199627
Installed capacity as on November 2011
#
185000
Projects under construction for likely benefits during 12th plan by 2017
##
58683
Power requirement by 2017
**
340000
Considering the same T&D losses as today power generation capacity
required by 2017

420000
Likely installed power capacity of India by 2017 256000

*
Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power, Government of India .March 31, 2012 installed capacity status.
#
Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power, Government of India, November 2011.
**
Powering India: The Road to 2017, A report by Mckinskey & Company. Requirement calculated on the basis that by 2012, 100% villages
will be connected to electric grid.
##
12
th
five year plan 2012-2017, Ministry of Power, Government of India.


Fig.2 Country-by-country total average electrical base power used per Capita in 2005. Even today in
2011 India with 185 GW installed capacity and peak load supply of 119 GW have power around 100 W
per capita which is well below than the satisfactory level.
III. FINDING ALTERNATIVES FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATION PROBLEM
Clearly from the above discussions it is clear that India is far behind the satisfactory level of development status,
India ranks a low 134 among 187 countries in terms of the human development index (HDI), which assesses
long-term progress in health, education and income indicators, said a UN report released in November 2011.
This very low annual electricity consumption 778 KWhr/per capita and low installed power availability of
below 100 W / per capita is the crucial factor behind this very low unsatisfactory level of HDI. Considering the
constraints associated with high quality coal availability, administration efficiency, high cost of imported crude
oil, high cost associated with renewable energy alternatives like solar and wind energy, land acquisition and
many more issues makes 100% reliable power for all next to fantasy in near future.
As Government of India claims through Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidhyut Yojna (RGGVY) grid connectivity of
100% by year 2012, India does not have enough power to supply. Even going with the 12
th
plan by government
of India estimation the expected installed capacity of 256GW and Indian population of 1.283 billion installed
power capacity per capita will be around 190 W/ capita which is well below satisfactory level by year 2017.
India should go for practical and fresh approaches for solving this problem and it needs quick response from our
side because implication of these approaches are enormous we cannot wait till 2050 for providing respectable
life to our citizens. The important implication of electricity in rural life can be summarised as -
Fetching water for domestic consumption from distance will be eliminated rather it will be pumped
through electricity which will save lot of human energy and time which will lead to economic
empowerment to women.
Local health centres can be operated.
Water can be treated locally which will lead to better health.
Around 500 million who are connected to electric grid in India face unreliability issues of grid and 300
million who are not connected to electric grid both use kerosene and fuelwood for domestic lighting , if
method can be replaced by some renewable energy method then this can affect environment positively
and can save lots of emissions.
So considering the importance of rural electrification and its immediate requirement we need a low cost, highly
efficient, fast to install, pervasive and locally available resource oriented alternative to solve this problem. And
human power is an alternative which meets most of these requirements and we will discuss further in detail
about this in later part of this report.[9][10]
IV. HUMAN POWER AS AN OPTION
Human power is an attractive energy source. Muscle converts food into positive mechanical work with
peak efficiencies of approximately 25%, comparable to that of internal combustion engines. The work can be
performed at a high rate, with 100 W mechanical easily sustainable by the average person and twice that
sustainable by elite athletes. Food, the original source of the metabolic energy required by muscles, is nearly as
rich an energy source as gasoline and approximately 100 fold greater than batteries of the same weight. Given
these attractive properties, it is not surprising that around 250 of inventions have focused on converting human
mechanical power into electrical power which includes hand crank and bicycle generators as well as windup
flashlights, radios, and cell phone chargers. Even the latest applications of Human power like PavGen tiles in
London Olympic 2012 and Hybrid Urban Illumination system CITYLIGHT Led Street Lamp have grasped lot
of attentions from the scientific community.
Maximum sustainable power output is one of the constraints on human powered devices which
determine how much power a human can output (Davies and Rennie, 1968). NASA's research on maximum
sustained mechanical work (Fig. 3) shows that a 100W mechanical energy output can be sustained for about 4 h.
Of course, power output will vary from person to person and depends on the health and age of the individual,
but knowing the general range of power outputs possible helps to design the system. It is reasonable to assume
that most healthy people in developing countries should be able to sustain an output of 100W for at least an hour
a day.
Considering this 100 W for one hour of sustained power capability for an average human this amounts
to 36.5 KWh (electricity units) annually for daily generation of one hour which is 37.2 % of current rural per
capita electricity consumption (98 units per capita) for India. So this clearly indicates given the worrisome
condition of electricity in rural India, this amount of power can bring significant improvement. Here just for
making a capacity evaluation we did not consider efficiency for conversion of mechanical energy to electrical
energy and other losses. Comparative range of electrical devices along with human power capacity has been
shown in fig. 4.
There are 3 potential devices Bicycle generator, Merry Go Round generator and Hand-Crank generator
which can be used to harvest human energy on such a scale are shown in Table 3 along with their capacity and
capital cost.[11][12][13].
In India the electrical demand outweighs the capacity such that there are regular electrical grid-power
outages (rolling brownouts) and blackouts. The unreliability of the grid and limited rural electrication are two
problems where Human Power can play a signicant role; however, it is largely ignored. Many people in
underdeveloped region of country accept scheduled load shedding. They may only get electricity 4 to 12 h a day
or every 2 days (Sven and Peters, 2011)[10]. This load shedding case applies to India perfectly. That means the
rest of the time they do not have access to electricity from the electric grid. This is a failure of the systems'
electric power capacity and can be dened as unreliability. If one assumes that 50% of electricity consumers
connected to the electric grid use diesel generators when the electric grid is not available this is a large amount
of additional greenhouse gas emissions as a direct result of unreliable electric grids. These unreliability events
should be investigated further. Back-up electricity is potentially as important as primary electricity generating
devices in terms of diesel fuel consumed and the relation within the climate-poverty development nexus
(Casillas and Kammen, 2010)[11].
HP is only useful for small loads in rural areas, or to act as a back-up emergency system for critical
loads. This suits best for our rural population smaller load requirement for the purpose of water pumping,
lighting, water cleaning and to operate small devices like radio. HP is not intended to be the only power source
in places of high electricity consumption like hospitals. Many electrical devices and appliances have been
produced to meet a particular need or make a particular activity more efficient. These technologies are important
to the health and technological progress of a society.
Figure 3
Reproduced from NASA experimental results on sustained maximum power for one person (Roth,
1966)[13].

Fig. 4
Role of Human Power: What kind of Devices can be operated through it?
We propose that electricity generation in rural India can be made totally local, which can act later as platform
for reliable grid connected power. This human power system can actually work as a system which can meet their
lighting, pumping power and other devices like radio electric load. There are three best parts associated with this
type of system
First this system will totally depend upon locally available renewable resources including man hours,
which is quite easily available in rural India.
Second, the system is highly customized that can be modified according to capacity requirement.
Third, this system is highly decentralised form of power generation and distribution so it eliminates all
type of administrative expenses, transmission and distribution losses from the system unlike
conventional method of electricity generation, distribution and consumption.

Table 3
Potential of different human powered devices for power generation along with their cost
Human powered device Power
range
Total capital cost
(US $) Bicycle 100-150
W
75-500
Hand-crank 50-100 W 50-500
Merry go round 100-600
W
500-2400

As shown in figure 5 there can be multiple combinations for power generation and this can be chosen based
upon the power requirement, other resource availability like solar irradiance of region and wind speed of region
and most importantly cost associated with these systems. Human power can be utilized through combinations of
microgrid for human powered devices clubbed with other off-grid power options like biomass energy, wind
energy or solar energy.
Fig. 5
Human powered electricity generation with various microgrid combination

V. A CASE STUDY ON JAIPUR
The objective of this analysis is to find scope for implementation of microgrid possibility with all the
possible power sources available through HOMER in rural town near Jaipur.
The represents the ground level implementation of human powered rural electrification system proposed in
earlier sections of this paper. We are now analyzing possible combinations of renewable power sources solar
energy, wind energy and human power for cost and performance superiority. For this analysis we have chosen
Jaipur, Rajasthan for our study area and HOMER software (Software developed by National Renewable Energy
Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy) for comparative study of all possible combinations.

5.1. Methodology behind analysis
1. We will consider a triplet of household in this analysis which are situated in rural part of Jaipur and not
connected to any electric grid or grid does supply reliable power for their domestic usage.
2. We will assume that all the three houses are situated so nearly that there will bo negligible transmission
and distribution cost and losses associated with this.
3. As per census of India 2011, average number of member in a rural household is 5 and we will go with
data.
4. This HOMER model comes from the G8 Task Force recommendation of 100Wh/day/Household (HH)
to 1 kWh/day/HH of electricity to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (UN, 2008). The
power load models the household (HH) electricity usage in terms of the development goals.
5. Solar irradiance and wind speed is approximated for concerned village to be same as Jaipur.
6. Home appliances taken in analysis like DC water pump, DC table fan and DC lighting is available in
Jaipur. These are the specific products which have been developed for utilization of solar power
worldwide.
5.2 Load Profile considered for this microgrid for triplet of house
Keeping Millenium Development Goal (MGD) of United Nations of providing power of amount atleast 100 Wh
/HH/daily and basic requirement of a house these home appliances have been assigned to households.

Table 4 Typical load conditions considered for Households
Load description
Load
requiremen
t (W)
Load timing
Monthly
Power
consumption
(Wh)
Lighting 3 5W DC CFL 4 hours daily for each HH 45 18:00 22:00 5400
DC water pump a 50 W 2 hours daily 50 06:00 08:00 3000
Radio of 40 W 1 hour daily for each HH 120 17:00 18:00 3600
Table fan DC 40W 2 hour daily for each HH 120 13:00 15:00 7200
Total - -
19200(19.2kW
h)

So solving through the software HOMER we got average electricity consumption as 640 Wh/day and peak
power requirement of 213 W which has been obtained through season to season variation provided by the
software.[15]
5.3 Setting up system alternatives
We have considered solar power, wind energy, hand crank generator, Merry go round and bicycle
generator in our portfolio for meeting the load requirement of triplet HH system. In our analysis each power
generation option has been considered along with its capacity and all types of cost associated with the
alternatives which include capital cost, maintenance cost and replacement cost. In this analysis we have
considered solar irradiance profile and wind speed profile of Jaipur for throughout the year. Figure 6 represents
the overall system layout.[16][17]
5.4 Results
After simulating the system shown in figure 6 in HOMER software the best system proposed by the software is
Figure. 6
Layout of power system considered for optimizing the microgrid combinations for application in triplet
HH of Jaipur in HOMER.
a micro-grid combination of Hand-crank generator and bicycle generator. And the net product cost associated
with this system is 734$ which includes capital cost for installation and operation and maintenance cost of this
proposed micro-grid.
VI. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
As India is one of the fastest growing economy and aims at double digit growth of GDP (Gross
domestic product) , it still faces a rural poor India within this growing India which lives in villages lacks basic
infrastructure hardly has access to education, good health, clean drinking water and electricity and all these
substandard values has led India to a human development index of 0.547, which gives the country a rank of 134
out of 187 countries with comparable data. If India wants to sustain this high growth rate of GDP it has to look
after the rural India and should generate equal economic opportunity in this part of India too. GOI is willing to
achieve 100 % grid connectivity throughout India. But considering the constraints associated with high quality
coal availability, administration efficiency, high cost of imported crude oil, high cost associated with renewable
energy alternatives like solar and wind energy, land acquisition and many more issues makes 100% reliable
power for all next to fantasy in near future. So India have to choose some alternative which can serve in mean
time for its rural underprivileged population, it has to think about alternatives in terms of off- grid power sources
which can serve locally.
Rural electrification needs a low cost, highly efficient, fast to install, pervasive and locally available
resource oriented alternative to solve this problem. Human power has all the characteristics which are required
to meet the requirements of rural off-grid India in the mean time of next at least 10 years till 2022.
We in the last section of report suggested that other human powered generators like merry go round
generator, hand-crank generator and bicycle generator should be considered in portfolio for rural electrification.
As these type of human powered generators can be installed for small number of household in close vicinity, as
this does not have any transmission and distribution losses and expenditure , only resource requirement is
human hours and highly customizable , it can come out to be highly economical and resource stringent.
We have included a case study of a off-grid or connected to unreliable grid village near Jaipur
considering the off-grid power alternatives available to this place including solar energy, wind power and
human powered generators for a triplet of household in that village. We based on the work done by R.
Mechenteg concluded that micro-grid combinations including human power generators can result into
economical results and highly competitive power generation systems. This analysis was done in HOMER
software v2.80.
REFERENCES
[1] http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/IND.html
[2] 12
th
Five year plan Government of India www.gov.in.
[3] Report on 17
TH
Electric power survey of India Oct.-Nov.2005.
[4] Powering India : The Road to 2017, A report by Mckinskey & Company.
[5] http://www.powermin.nic.in/.
[6] Final_RGGVY_Policy_Brief, March 2012.
[7] India Power Consumption to double by 2020, Report by KPMG , November 2009.
[8] http://censusindia.gov.in.
[9] Vijay Modi, Improving Electricity Services in Rural India, CGSD Working Paper No. 30 December 2005.
[10] Rangan Banerjee, Overview of Renewable Energy Scenario in India, Energy Systems Engineering, Lecture
delivered at RENET Workshop, IIT Bombay, September 21, 2006.
[11] OHANNES J.H. PAULIDES, J.W. JANSEN,LAURENTIU ENCICA,ELENA A. LOMONOVA &MICHELSMIT
Human-powered small-scale generation system for a sustainable dance club, IEEE INDUSTRY
APPLICATIONS MAGAZINE SEPT j OCT 2011.
[12] CHARLES KIRUBI, ARNE JACOBSON, DANIEL M. KAMMEN and ANDREW MILLS Community-Based
Electric Micro-Grids Can Contribute to Rural Development: Evidence from Kenya,
doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2008.11.005.
[13] Abigail R. Mechtenberg , Kendra Borchers, Emanuel Wokulira Miyingo , Farhan Hormasji,Amirtha Hariharan ,
John Vianney Makanda , Moses Kizza Musaazi ,Human power (HP) as a viable electricity portfolio option below
20W/Capita , Energy for Sustainable Development 2012.
[14] O. A. Soysal, H. S. Soysal, A Residential Example of Hybrid Wind-Solar Energy System: WISE.
[15] Sven N, Peters J. Electricity usage in micro-enterprises evidence from Lake Victoria, Uganda. Energy Sustain
Dev 2011;15:2131.
[16] Giri Venkataramanan and Chris Marnay Are microgrids a viable paradign for electricity supply expansion ?
IEEE power & energy magazine June 2008.
[17] D. Brandt, AC mini-grids: The future of community scale renewable energy, Home Power, vol. 109, pp. 48
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ISSN : 2278-1684 Volume 2, Issue 5 (Sep-Oct 2012), PP 01-06

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Stress & Deflection Analysis of Belleville Spring

Stress & Deflection Analysis of Belleville Spring

Stress & Deflection Analysis of Belleville Spring