Colin Burvill

Influence of Muscle-Tendon Wrapping on Calculations of Joint Reaction Forces in the Equine Distal Forelimb

The equine distal forelimb is a common location of injuries related to mechanical overload. In this study, a two-dimensional model of the musculoskeletal system of the region was developed and applied to kinematic and kinetic data from walking and trotting horses. The forces in major tendons and joint reaction forces were calculated. The components of the joint reaction forces caused by wrapping of tendons around sesamoid bones were found to be of similar magnitude to the reaction forces between the long bones at each joint. This finding highlighted the importance of taking into account muscle-tendon wrapping when evaluating joint loading in the equine distal forelimb.

Enhancing the Quality Function Deployment Conceptual Design Tool

The quality function deployment (QFD) conceptual design tool has been of significant benefit to customer satisfaction, while reducing the associated design time and cost. Observation of novice designers in tertiary engineering design courses identified a range of impediments to the robust transfer of QFD capabilities to the novice designers. These impediments appear to limit the perceived merit of QFD in novice designers and stymie its subsequent practical application. Given the improved design outcomes associated with QFD, a series of enhancements has been developed to overcome these impediments and assist the robust transfer of QFD capabilities to novice designers. The traditional QFD tool does not engage with customer requirements that constrain the feasibility of a design solution. This limitation restricts the applicability of QFD as an overarching design reference because an additional repository is required to document design constraints and may result in confusion in novice designers and flawed design outcomes if design constraints are used. A novel differential assessment method has been developed to overcome this limitation by enabling the inclusion of design constraints. The outcomes of this paper contribute to design education by facilitating the robust transfer of QFD capabilities and providing novel enhancements that expand the useful outcomes associated with QFD.

Mechanical loading of the distal end of the third metacarpal bone in horses during walking and trotting

OBJECTIVE To assess the net mechanical load on the distal end of the third metacarpal bone in horses during walking and trotting. ANIMALS 3 Quarter Horses and 1 Thoroughbred. PROCEDURES Surface strains measured on the left third metacarpal bone of the Thorough-bred were used with a subject-specific model to calculate loading (axial compression, bending, and torsion) of the structure during walking and trotting. Forelimb kinematics and ground reaction forces measured in the 3 Quarter Horses were used with a musculoskeletal model of the distal portion of the forelimb to determine loading of the distal end of the third metacarpal bone. RESULTS Both methods yielded consistent data regarding mechanical loading of the distal end of the third metacarpal bone. During walking and trotting, the distal end of the third metacarpal bone was loaded primarily in axial compression as a result of the sum of forces exerted on the metacarpal condyles by the proximal phalanx and proximal sesamoid bones. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results of strain gauge and kinematic analyses indicated that the major structures of the distal portion of the forelimb in horses acted to load the distal end of the third metacarpal bone in axial compression throughout the stance phase of the stride.

The role of government, universities, and businesses in advancing technology for SMEs’ innovativeness

Knowledge and technologies play an essential part in this rapid-response capability, by maintaining opportunities for continuous improvement and innovation needed in the development of sustainable competitive advantage. However, the low capability of SMEs to provide the required resources is a barrier to the in-house technology development. Consequently, external resources such as government, businesses, and universities, to support their performance in developing technological capabilities utilize so-called ‘knowledge and technology transfer’ programs, which are needed as a shortcut to improve technological process innovation. This study provides theoretical and empirical support for the role of government, businesses, and universities in transferring knowledge and technology for SMEs’ innovativeness in emerging economies and the impact of process innovation on SMEs’ competitiveness. The results suggest policy directions for governments to support SMEs in emerging economies.

Strain measurement of softened Eucalyptus regnans wood during bending operation using a low-cost single camera optical method

Abstract An important requirement for developing an understanding of wood bending mechanics is to determine the mechanical response of softened wood during bending. This involves experimentally measuring wood’s deformation or strain. Many wood bending studies have been conducted over the past 80 years to increase the understanding and investigate methods of ultimately improving the wood bending operation. The majority of these studies investigated the particular type of method of softening, using minimum bending radius and quality as a measured response. However, there is sparse literature in the public domain that offers a means of gaining an understanding of the mechanics of a wood specimen during a bending operation. This paper introduces a low-cost optical-based method for measuring engineering strain in softened wood. The method requires minimal specialised equipment and has been successfully used to determine the engineering strain response of Eucalyptus regnans during the bending process.

Wood bending mechanics: effect of resultant end-force

Abstract An innovative means of measuring the end-forces in a softened wood specimen during a bending process has been developed, incorporating a resultant end-force sensor. The impact of end-forces on wood deformation and associated bending performance has been investigated, and a correlation was found to exist between end-force and bending performance. The technique enables the systematic control of axial compression end-forces so that bending induced wood failure, as measured by longitudinal strain at the convex edge, can be minimised. While incorporating traditional manual end-force adjustment, it is envisaged that that this technique could facilitate automation of the bending process. Friction was identified as a significant impediment to the establishment of a reliable relationship between end-force and wood strain during bending.

Tuning natural modes of vibration by prestress in the design of a harmonic gong

Prestresses are purposefully added to an object to improve its performance, such as tuning a guitar string by adding tension. This paper reports how the normal modes of a sheet metal component can be tuned through the prestresses generated by cold-forging small dimples. Finite element analysis showed that the frequencies of specific mode shapes were differentially affected by the location of residual stress fields due to dimple formation in relation to modal stress fields. The frequencies of overtones were most sensitive to the depth of the dimples located near the maxima of modal stresses. Using this approach a series of musical gongs were designed with up to the first five overtones tuned to within 5% of the harmonic series. The balance of harmonic and inharmonic overtones in these gongs that are well resolved by the human cochlea may constitute a set of recognizable musical timbres with sufficient harmonicity to produce an unambiguous pitch for most listeners. Since many other mechanical properties of sheet metal components are affected by residual stresses this manufacturing technique may have broader application in design engineering.

Industrial environmental performance evaluation: A Markov-based model considering data uncertainty

Commonly, operational aspects of an industrial process are not included when evaluating the process environmental performance. These aspects are important as operational failures can intensify adverse environmental impacts or can diminish the chance of making any amelioration. This paper proposes to include these operational aspects by applying a method called Industrial Environmental Performance Evaluation. To have a reliable environmental performance measure for assisting policy-making in an organization, two types of uncertainty are considered in the proposed method. The first type is the epistemic uncertainty due to imperfect knowledge about the environmental impacts of the process. Epistemic uncertainty is considered by using the potential probability of material release during operating and non-operating periods of the process. The second type is aleatory uncertainty due to potential stochastic behaviour of the process. Aleatory uncertainty is modelled through a Markov-based model and is considered by the state probability distribution vectors. The proposed method is employed to analyze an existing formaldehyde production process as a case study. The analysis shows the relation between environmental and operational performances of the process. Process owners can use this analysis for improving the environmental and operational aspects of their process and achieve accuracy in their environmental decisions.

Determining an Optimum Model for the Bending ofEucalyptus regnansWood Heated by Microwave Energy

Abstract Microwave wood bending involves softening wood using microwave energy and then bending it into a required shape. An experimental framework was developed that included two sets of experimen...

Investigation of end force distributions during wood bending using a novel differential-end-force sensor

Abstract This paper reports on the development and calibration of a novel differential-end-force sensor to measure the variation of end-force across a wood specimens end-section during bending. Two experiments were conducted using Eucalyptus regnans microwave bending specimens that showed that the type of end-restraint does affect the distribution of end-force relative to the thickness of the wood specimen. This differential-end-force approach has the potential to improve the performance of the wood bending process, in particular in semi-automated production settings where excessive compressive end forces could result in the failure of bent wood components with associated production delays and losses.