Search

The transition of students from high school to university is a changing and complicated stage. It is during the initial phase when most drop-outs from engineering degrees occur. There are several reasons for this, however, the most highlighted ones are: i) the mismatch between the students knowledge level after finishing high school and the initial level required by the university degrees; and ii) the lack of a habit and constancy of study on the part of the students. The proposed project aims to design specific tools to improve academic performance in the initial phase of the Degree in Industrial Technologies imparted at ESEIAAT by addressing the two problems mentioned before. In light of this, the measures adopted to solve these points will be tackled separately and properly explained in the following two blocks: block I) Initial level acces, block II) Monitoring of self-learning. Finally, an assessment of the strategies followed will be carried out in a final phase, block III) Integration project.

Glass fibre is the most widely used material for reinforcing thermoplastic matrices presently and its use continues to grow. A significant disadvantage of glass fibre, however, is its impact on the environment, in particular, due to the fact that glass fibre-reinforced composite materials are difficult to recycle. Polyamide 6 is an engineering plastic frequently used as a matrix for high-mechanical performance composites. Producing polyamide monomer requires the use of a large amount of energy and can also pose harmful environmental impacts. Consequently, glass fibre-reinforced Polyamide 6 composites cannot be considered environmentally friendly. In this work, we assessed the performance of a road cycling pedal body consisting of a composite of natural Polyamide 11 reinforced with lignocellulosic fibres from stone-ground wood, as an alternative to the conventional glass fibre-reinforced Polyamide 6 composite (the most common material used for recreational purposes). We developed a 3D model of a pedal with a geometry based on a combination of two existing commercial choices and used it to perform three finite-element tests in order to assess its strength under highly demanding static and cyclic conditions. A supplementary life cycle analysis of the pedal was also performed to determine the ecological impact. Based on the results of the simulation tests, the pedal is considered to be mechanically viable and has a significantly lower environmental impact than fully synthetic composites.

Flexible Multibody System Dynamics (FMSD) is a simulation technique that can be used to study the behavior of the mechanical systems that consists of one or more deformable bodies. A deformable body can be modeled using a number of approaches while the floating frame of reference formulation is a widely used approach. In that approach, flexibility within Multibody System Dynamics (MSD) is described by employing the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with a modal reduction approach. The applicability of an FMSD in the feeding mechanism of vertebrate structures is tested in order to utilize the potential of the method in biological research. Flexible Multibody System Dynamics is explored studying the feeding mechanism in a skull of Edingerella madagascariensis. Firstly, a static structural analysis is done using FEA and secondly, dynamic solutions based on FMSD are obtained by varying the number of deformation modes used in the modal reduction analysis. The conclusion is that use of this approach is feasible and efficient for the study of feeding mechanisms in vertebrate structures when a dynamic response should be evaluated.

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a powerful tool for functional morphology purposes. The accuracy of the final results depends on the mesh generation and the quality of the mesh. This is especially important in vertebrates as they present a complex biological structure, implying a complex geometry and, consequently, mesh generation should be performed with a consistent criterion. The aim of this paper is to discuss different ways to create a mesh of a vertebrate structure with different mesh generation methods and give recommendations on how to generate an efficient mesh without exceeding computational limits. Topics such as quality of the mesh, suitability of the mesh and reliability of the mesh are introduced to help the generation of the mesh. In this case, the use of convergence procedures assures the results of the computational solution and can be a good solution for the vertebrate models. The skull of a Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is used as a case study.

El propósito de esta obra es aportar una visión global del estado actual de la técnica y los recientes desarrollos sobre la aplicabilidad de los materiales compuestos en la obra civil y la edificación. El libro recoge una colección de trabajos de investigación de expertos nacionales e internacionales, que abordan los retos actuales y futuros en este campo, proporcionando, a través de una amplia variedad de casos de estudio, una hoja de ruta con las habilidades técnicas y los conocimientos prácticos necesarios para el empleo de materiales compuestos en nuevas aplicaciones. Los textos son –en la medida de lo posible– autocontenidos en sus partes, permitiendo una lectura acorde al interés particular de cada lector. En ellos se presentan fundamentos técnicos, resultados de investigaciones, y se revisan y compilan referencias bibliográficas actualizadas que complementan y permiten al lector adquirir un conocimiento más profundo de los temas expuestos, encaminándolo hacia posibles futuras líneas de investigación. Escrito por profesionales e investigadores con experiencia en este campo, este libro pretende ser un texto de referencia para los no iniciados en la temática y una herramienta de estudio e investigación para lectores de niveles más avanzados.