Journal of Advances in Engineering and Technology [JAET] Volume 02 Issue i
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://rda.sliit.lk/handle/123456789/3534
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Publication Open Access A Spring – Loaded Actuator Developed By DC 3481 Silicone / Polyaniline – Based Dielectric Polymer Film(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2023-10) Dissanayake, D.M.N.T.; Wijerathne, W.D.C.C.; Shakaf, S.; Samaraweera, M.A.R.L.; Asela, A.U.; Premarathna, A.K.C.P.Dielectric polymer films play a significant role in soft robotics in actuator development. Silicone and acrylic materials are commonly used for creating dielectric polymer films with superior properties compared to other potential materials such as PVDF and Polyurethane. Published literature reports applying different fillers to enhance the electromechanical response of dielectric polymers. Starting with an already-reported novel dielectric polymer based on polyaniline/DC 3481 silicon, we report the fabrication and characterization of a spring-loaded actuator. Here we developed a simple spring-loaded actuator, and three different designs were used to optimize the actuator design. As per research outcomes, it can be concluded that paper tie-based clamping provides the best configuration for the actuator in terms of high deflection and low tendency to short-circuit. The developed actuator renders the maximum deflection of 4.19 mm at 2 kV voltage, and the actuation time is approximately 115 s. The proposed actuator is superior to many reported actuators in terms of maximum deflection and corresponding voltage. The proposed actuator and the corresponding dielectric polymer thus have potential applications in developing actuators for haptics with comparatively high deflection.Publication Open Access Prediction of Post-Construction Settlement of Road Embankment on Soft Soil Deposits(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2023-10) Vidurapriya, K. V. D.; Jayaratne, G. A. N.; Thilakasiri, H. S.Organic soils are often considered problematic soils around the world due to several reasons. Excessive settlement is one of the main concerns when constructing infrastructure on soft grounds with organic soil deposits. Ground improvement is mainly carried out on the sub surfaces that lack the strength and stability to bear the structure to be constructed and undergo large settlement during operation. Different soft-ground treatment methods must be applied based on the soil properties to reduce the expected settlements during construction and operation periods. In this context, it is essential to know the behaviour of the subsurface after the ground improvement process. This study mainly investigates the accuracy of the settlement prediction methods during the post-construction stage of the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway Project in Sri Lanka. Settlement prediction was done for the Defect Liability Period using the hyperbolic method, the Mesri method and the Ladd method. A comparison of the predicted settlement with the measured field settlement was done to assess the accuracy of the settlement prediction methods. The comparison showed that the hyperbolic method was more accurate and convenient for predicting the settlement of the embankment.Publication Open Access Contact Position Estimation in the Event of Simultaneous Multiple Contacts in Vision-based Tactile Sensors(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2023-10) Senarath, W. A. T. N; Fernando, S. A. W; Rajakaruna, R. M. T.PTactile sensors are used to detect physical contact or pressure. They provide feedback about the physical environment and allow more natural and intuitive interaction with machines. Tactile sensors have many applications in the fields of agriculture, space exploration, health and automotive. Capacitive, resistive, as well as vision (optical) based tactile sensors have been proposed in the literature. This paper proposes a novel approach to solving the problem of estimating the contact locations in the event of simultaneous multiple contacts in vision-based tactile sensors. The relationship between the contact force and the resulting physical deformation of the sensor material of a large-scale tactile sensor was studied with the aid of a custom-built hardware unit. Hardware architecture consists of a custom-designed flat rectangular sensor surface coupled with a mono-vision camera to capture the surface deformation. This method can capture detailed information on the resulting deformation for multiple simultaneous contacts. A software -based deformation estimation algorithm is proposed, where the grid array of marker positions was estimated with a tracking algorithm, an estimation algorithm, and a graphical representation algorithm. Moreover, separate analyses have been carried out to find the best suitable method to observe the deformation of the sensor material. In this study, the approach that was taken to find the contact position and deformation, produced results with an accuracy of more than 97%. Consequently, these results show that this method outperforms existing state-of-the-art techniques in terms of accuracy in the detection of the contact position.Publication Open Access Comparative Lifecycle Analysis of Sri Lankan Non-Conventional Roofing Materials(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2023-10) Fernando, W.A.N; Karunaratne, SBuilding materials, especially roofing products, play a major role as they are essential for any building construction. Knowledge of the environmental performance of building materials is vital when building life cycle assessment. However, only a few studies have been conducted in Sri Lanka in this regard. The present study focuses on the environmental life cycle assessment of two different nonconventional roofing materials used in Sri Lanka. Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate roofing sheets and Calicut-type clay roofing tiles have been selected for the study. In order to measure and calculate environmental impacts of both types of roofing materials, field data was collected quantitatively and noted as per ISO14040 and ISO14044. Using the Cradle-to-Gate LCA technique and OpenLCA software, the environmental impacts as midpoint and endpoint categories were evaluated. As the main output of the study, environmental performance of these two roofing materials were compared, the hotspots of the manufacturing process and the causes were also identified. . Accordingly, the global warming potential of Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate roofing sheets and Calicut-type clay roofing tiles is 13.5 kgs of CO2 eq. and 8.95 kgs of CO2 eq. respectively. Further, comparison of the endpoint categories showed the resource depletion was most impactful, indicating 0.814012 points and0.65305 points, respectively for the two roofing material types. Further, kiln firing was identified as the environmental hotspot contributing most to the endpoint and midpoint impact categories for clay roofing tiles, while mixing materials by hot mixer was the hotspot for Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate roofing sheets. In addition, the overall results demonstrated how the production process of clay tile influences more than the Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate roofing sheet on both the midpoint as well as the endpoint impact categories.Publication Open Access Machine Learning-Based Indoor Localization System with Human- Computer Interaction System(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2023-10) Jayasundara, A; Malasinghe, LUnderstanding the indoor whereabouts of individuals and objects is important, especially for those who fall within the 71% of visually impaired individuals with a school education, students in 450 special education units and many other areas and aspects in Sri Lanka. Researchers have declared that, there isn’t any particularly good localization system, and the performance should be evaluated considering the approach and application. The most well-known indoor positioning (IP) technologies that have been historically deployed are Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RFID (radio frequency identification), IR (Infrared), and UV (ultraviolet) whereas received signal strength (RSSI), fingerprinting, and triangulation methods have been used as common IP techniques. The combination of both IP technologies and techniques creates an IP system, and the integration of machine learning and IoT with the structured system essentially delivers an accurate and more advanced system. This paper contains a detailed, analytical review of a developed indoor positioning system derived from the existing indoor localization techniques, localization technologies, localization systems, algorithms, and performance matrixes. This also provides a comprehensive comparison between numerous existing systems to justify the proposed solution. This project has been developed to achieve better accuracy through low-cost deployment as an effective system to fill the gap in the scarcity of positioning systems in the world. This paper presents a descriptive introduction and problem definition, a critical discussion of results, machine learning models, benefits of the project, and future works. As later justified, ESP32 microcontroller and BLE beacons are utilized with RSSI fingerprinting method to develop this IP system and, as a part of the project, two data visualization methods have been introduced here using NodeRED dashboard and LC display. Overall, this project was developed with an effective combination of RSSI fingerprinting, IoT protocols, machine learning, and data interpretation methods.Publication Open Access Off-Grid Wind-Solar Hybrid Energy System for Analaitivu Island in Sri Lanka(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2023-10) Liyanagama, N; Ravindra, D; Bopitiya, P; Guruvita, KThe objective of this project is to implement an off-grid wind-solar hybrid energy system with a battery bank system for Analaitivu island in Sri Lanka, which has no connection to the main grid. The hybrid model is developed by analyzing the wind-solar weather pattern of the island to fulfill the energy demand by choosing the ideal combination of solar cells and wind generatorsPublication Open Access Development of a Simplified Method of Designing Pervious Concrete Mixes using chip aggregate(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2023-10) Fernando, B. J. S.; Naanayakkara, D.Pervious concrete can be referred to a sustainable paving material which reduces urban runoff, heat-island effect and improves the ground water quality. Due to the lack of awareness and the unavailability of a simplified design method, the applications are limited in the local context. In this research study, a new method of preparing pervious concrete mixes using commercially available chip aggregate together with coarse aggregate was developed. Five volume based binary combinations were prepared with varying coarse aggregate and chip aggregate proportions. A simple mix design method which is based on the porosity of the pervious concrete was used to determine the required cement paste content. For each aggregate combination, cement paste contents were calculated for four different design porosities. Overall, twenty pervious concrete mixes were prepared and test specimens for compressive strength, bending strength and permeability tests were conducted. Based on the test results, relationships between aggregate combination, compressive strength, permeability, and cement paste content were identified and a simplified graphical method of designing pervious concrete mixes to achieve required strength and permeability characteristics was introduced. Further, the addition of chip aggregate enhanced the strength characteristics while retaining adequate permeability.Publication Open Access Evaluation of Mechanical Characteristics of Rice-Husk-Bricks(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2023-10) Tilakasena, R.S; Tharmarajah, GConstruction activities and materials extraction are major contributors to environmental pollution. To address this issue, the utilization of bio-based materials presents a promising sustainable alternative for the construction industry. Bio-based materials encompass a broad category of organic matter that can be either synthesized or naturally derived. One such noteworthy bio-based material is rice husk, which exhibits pozzolanic properties. Abundantly available as an agricultural waste product, rice husk holds potential as a viable substitute in construction processes. This study is dedicated to investigating the feasibility of replacing fine aggregates, traditionally comprised of sand, in cement blocks with untreated rice husk on a volumetric basis. In contrast to being used merely as an additive, this research delves into the possibility of substantially replacing sand with a higher proportion of rice husk, ranging from 20% to 80%, in the composition of cement blocks. The findings of this study reveal that up to 40% of the sand content in cement blocks can be effectively replaced with untreated rice husk while still meeting the requisite strength standards for non-load bearing blocks. Moreover, this study demonstrates an additional advantage in terms of weight reduction. Substituting sand with rice husk leads to a remarkable 30% reduction in the overall weight of the blocks. These results underscore the potential benefits of integrating rice husk into construction materials as an environmentally friendly and weight-efficient alternative.