The effects of dual-fuel on improving the ballistic efficiency of a low energy sugar-based solid rocket propellant were investigated in this paper. This was achieved by establishing a threshold proportion of sucrose to sorbitol that provided the highest ballistic efficiency, using a beam load cell (model single-point 2,000 kg linearly defined by 0-20 kN force, with ±.005 percent precision). Seven different propellant formulations were prepared, loaded into the rocket motor and tested for performance. The major performance parameters of interest were the thrust, total impulse, burn time, delivered specific impulse, delivered characteristic velocity, and the chamber pressure. The formulations tested were potassium nitrate–sucrose propellant (65% KNO3 and 35% sucrose (C12H22O11)) (KNSU); potassium nitrate-sorbitol propellant (65% KNO3 and 35% sorbitol (C6H14O6)) (KNSB); modified potassium nitrate-sucrose propellant (65% KNO3, 32% sucrose (C12H22O11)), and 3% carbon (C) (MODKNSU); potassium nitrate-sucrose-sorbitol propellant (65% KNO3, 25% sucrose (C12H22O11)), and 10% sorbitol (C6H14O6) (KNERK); potassium nitrate-sucrose-sorbitol-carbon propellant (65% KNO3, 24% sucrose (C12H22O11), 10% sorbitol (C6H14O6), and 1% carbon (C)) (MODKNERK); and finally a propellant made from KNO3, sucrose (C12H22O11), sorbitol (C6H14O6), carbon (C) and iron II oxide(Fe2O3) combinations in 65, 30, 3, 1, 1% proportion respectively. The novel result obtained from these experiments was applied to boost the performance of a KNSB rocket propellant motor during a rocket launch experiment. Both static and dynamic rocket motor internal ballistic parameters were then compared. The measured delivered motor average thrust and the effective propellant burn times were recorded as: (164.15N, 3.97s); (102.95N, 6.53s); (65.66N, 9.38s); (79.09N, 3.77s); (243.98N, 3.77s) and (92.6N, 5.89s) respectively. The MODKNERK, was established to produce a most efficient motor and with the full delivery of its ballistic energy. It was also established, that the ballistic and rocket motor efficiency of a lower energy rocket motor can be improved by starting the ignition of such motor with fast burning dual-fuel rocket propellant (MODKNERK).
Target tracking is a process that may find applications in different domains such as video surveillance, robot navigation and human computer interaction. In this work we have considered the problem of tracking a moving object in a multi agent environment. The environment is a rectangular space bounded by walls. The first agent is the target and it moves randomly in the space. The second agent should follow the target, keeping as close as possible without crashing with it. It uses sensors to detect the position of the target. The sensor readings give the distance and the angle from the target. We use reinforcement learning to train the tracker to detect any change in the movement of the target and stay within a certain range from it. Reinforcement learning is a form of machine learning in which the agent learns by interacting with the environment. By doing so, for each action taken, the agent receives a reward from the environment, which is used to determine positive or negative behaviour. The goal of the agent is to maximise the total reward received during the interaction. This form of machine learning has applications in different areas, such as: game solving with the most known game being AlphaGO; robotics, for design of hard-to engineer behaviours; traffic light control, personalized recommendations, etc. The sensor readings may have continuous values, making a very large state space. We approximate the value function using neural networks and use different reward functions for learning the best policy.
The study was carried out on the physico-mechanical properties of plaster of Paris (Gypsum plaster) reinforced with paper pulp in order to improve the weight of plaster paste and to obtain materials of lighter weight that solve problems such as poor flexural strength, and crack propagation. To do this experiment, the considerable basis of a standard of 2 kg of plaster of Paris was taken as the test sample. Gradually plaster of Paris was substituted with paper pulp paste in a water basin in proportions K0, K1, K2, K3, K4, K5 and K6 representing the different percentages of 0%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100% of mixture respectively. After the above observations, the following parameters on fresh and hardened samples were tested: the start time of reaction, and end time of hardening, consistency, the flexural and compressive strength, shrinkage, and apparent density. At the end of these tests, it was determined that, the incorporation of small amounts of paper pulp (2 kg samples) into the plaster paste improves its flexural properties. But from k0 to k6, properties related to bending and compression began to gradually fall which is a consequence of the augmentation of the amount of paper paste in the plaster paste. The presence of paper pulp in the plaster of Paris paste increases the time of hardening of the plaster cement from one proportion to another, reduces the workability of the mixed paste, significantly solves the problem of removal, the apparent density drops when waste paper paste is increased in the mixed plaster. Because of its light weight, low density, its acceptable Mechanical properties, these new materials are recommended for exploitation in the manufacturing of popular lightweight construction finishing like panels for ceiling or walls, staff works and other applications.
This study considered a newly proposed Exponentiated Complementary Mukherjee-Islam distribution obtained by exponentiating the Complementary Mukherjee-Islam distribution. Some properties of the new distribution were derived and results from the distribution indicated that the distribution is a better alternative than its baseline distribution. The new distribution is therefore a creditable addition to the existing family of exponentiated distributions.
During drilling operations, it is essential to keep the wellbore pressure within the maximum value of the fracture pressure and minimum value of the pore pressure of the formation. To handle this challenge, the fracture pressure of the formation must be known as it is significant to determining the mud window design. This study developed a correlation that could predict the formation fracture pressure in the Niger Delta deep offshore field. Two different fields were considered for this model named Field 1 and 2. From these fields, fracture pressure data were gotten from 21 wells during leak off test (LOT) at different casing shoe depths. While carrying-out the analysis of data, assumptions were made that the formations throughout the Niger Delta basin obeys the principle of horizontality. Also, that the fracture pressure at same depth is uniform with the pressure at other location in the Delta. Scatter plot was used as the tool for the data analysis. A line of best fit was drawn to arrive at the correlation. This correlation has an R2 coefficient values of 0.9969. In conclusion, the correlation gotten from this study for predicting fracture pressure has shown to align with some data sets from the Niger Delta fields with very little variation. This can be used for planning of further drilling operations in the Niger Delta to make it easier, faster and more economical.
