NOx-smoke trade-off characteristics of minor vegetable oil blends synergy with oxygenate in a commercial CI engine.

The present study investigates the effect of blending oxygenate namely diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (diglyme) with minor vegetable oil namely rubber seed oil (RSO), babassu oil (BSO), and their blends in various proportions (R75B25, R50B50, and R25B75) on NOx-smoke trade-off and other engine characteristics. The tests were conducted on a commercial twin cylinder compression-ignition (CI) engine commonly used in tractors. The potential of the blends with diglyme is assessed based on performance, emission, and combustion characteristics of the engine at different load conditions.

Geometrical and material parameters to assess the macroscopic mechanical behaviour of fresh cranial bone samples.

The present study aims at providing quantitative data for the personalisation of geometrical and mechanical characteristics of the adult cranial bone to be applied to head FE models. A set of 351 cranial bone samples, harvested from 21 human skulls, were submitted to three-point bending tests at 10 mm/min. For each of them, an apparent elastic modulus was calculated using the beam's theory and a density-dependant beam inertia.