islam-optimizationandexperimental-2019.pdf (1.96 MB)
Optimization and experimental verification of the vibro-impact capsule system in fluid pipeline
journal contribution
posted on 2019-02-01, 00:00 authored by Yao Yan, Yang Liu, Haibo Jiang, Zhike Peng, Alasdair Crawford, James Williamson, Jamie Thomson, Gearoid Kerins, Azat Yusupov, Sheikh Shariful IslamThis paper studies the prototype development of the vibro-impact capsule system aiming for autonomous mobile sensing for pipeline inspection. Self-propelled progression of the system is obtained by employing a vibro-impact oscillator encapsuled in the capsule without the requirement of any external mechanisms, such as wheels, arms, or legs. A dummy capsule prototype is designed, and the best geometric parameters, capsule and cap arc lengths, for minimizing fluid resistance forces are obtained through two-dimensional and three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analyses, which are confirmed by wind tunnel tests. In order to verify the concept of self-propulsion, both original and optimized capsule prototypes are tested in a fluid pipe. Experimental results are compared with computational fluid dynamics simulations to confirm the efficacy of the vibro-impact self-propelled driving.