Faculty Publications
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Item Methods to monitor resources and logistic planning at project sites(Springer, 2019) Challa, P.R.; Das, B.B.Construction projects are unique and complex in nature. Various resources such as men, material, plant and machinery, capital, information, space, time, and above all local infrastructure are involved in the construction activity. Hence, controlling and monitoring the flow of resources plays a vital role in the timely completion of the project contributing to reduced delays leading to time and cost optimization. Productivity analysis of transit mixer, workmen have been done through data collected from a commercial project and suggestions to improve the same have been proposed. Logistics of two different sites one with onsite storage and other with offsite storage have been studied and recommendations to improve the logistics are provided. Some of the methods to monitor the resources on site have been proposed, which can be used without any hindrances at the construction project sites. Further, based on planned resources, a simplified logistics planning template and labour productivity monitoring data sheet which can be updated based on project’s progress is developed that can be used with ease at project site considering all the necessary factors. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019.Item Productivity Analysis of Shuttering Works for Sewage Treatment Plant(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2021) Pandey, A.; Chaudhary, P.K.; Das, B.B.Formwork is considered as important element of construction projects like in traditional reinforced concrete infrastructure projects. It is labor-intensive work that requires highly skilled workers such as carpenters, bar benders, etc., to execute the work more accurately and efficiently. In view of the fact that it is difficult to find high-skilled workers for formwork process and hence it is important to find the ways or methods of formwork construction that is less labor dependent or in other words methods that are highly productive with minimum number of workers. The quality of formwork exerts a direct influence on the surface of concrete and on its dimensions. Since reinforced concrete work is involved in majority of the buildings, the level of workmanship of the construction project can be identified by seeing the quality of formwork. In order to improve the productivity of the formwork process and its quality then it is necessary to improve its working methodology by identifying the bottlenecks using scientific management. And as we very well know that money is always the center of discussion in our construction projects. To complete the project within its expected, designed cost of the project is one of the major requirements of the project to become a successful project. That’s why the topic ‘Productivity analysis in shuttering for Sewer Treatment Plant Project’ is a great tool to analyze the shortcomings in the present methodology of formwork erection and to mechanize a highly effective model for formwork and this can be achieved by the productivity analysis. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item Effect of cover materials on heat and mass transfer coefficients in a plastic solar still(Taylor and Francis Inc. dwt@deswater.com, 2009) Phadatare, M.K.; Verma, S.K.The intention of this work was to study the effect of cover materials on heat and mass transfer coefficient and hence productivity of the still. Two plastic stills having similar geometrical features were constructed to maintain the comparison under the same weather conditions. The condensing surface of one still was an acrylic (plastic) cover (3 mm thick) while of the other still it was a glass cover (3 mm thick), both fixed in an aluminum frame. It was found that for water depth of 10 cm the plastic solar still with the glass cover produced 30-35% more output than the plastic solar still with Plexiglas cover. The evaporative heat transfer coefficient for the glass cover still was 57% more than that for the still with the plastic cover which resulted in a higher output. Plastic can be used as the structural material for solar stills but increased costs do not always increase the distillate output, © 2009 Desalination Publications.Item Impact assessment of watershed development programme - A case study of Itagi watershed(2010) Palakshappa, K.; Nagaraj, M.K.; Shivapur, A.V.Soil, water and vegetation are the important gifts of nature to mankind. Welfare and development of mankind and its civilization revolves around conservation and development of these vital natural resources, which are so interdependent that one can not be managed efficiently without the other two. Watershed Development Programs (WDP) going on in India basically as soil and water conservative programs (as a policy response to the increasing environmental crisis and non-sustainability of agriculture especially in the dry land/semi-arid regions) has modified substantially with the introduction of watershed guidelines in 1994 by the Government of India. In the present study the area considered for assessment is Itagi sub watershed in Ranebennur taluk, Haveri district, Karnataka. During the watershed development programme soil and water conservation structures were constructed in the study area in the year 2004. The analysis of data reveals that there is an improvement in the groundwater recharge, increase in yield of the wells, increase in agricultural production, reduction in soil erosion and many other tangible and intangible benefits as a result of this watershed development programme. © 2010 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.Item Induced stresses in blasting gallery panel during depillaring based on field instrumentation(CAFET INNOVA Technical Society cafetinnova@gmail.com 1-2-18/103, Mohini Mansion, Gagan Mahal Road, Domalguda, Hyderabad 500029, 2012) Kumar Reddy, S.; Sastry, V.R.Selection of a suitable mining method for economical and safe underground extraction of a thick coal seam is an extremely delicate process and brings a number of geo-technical parameters into consideration. In fact, single lift working of full thickness of a thick coal seam has always a verge over the multi slice working due to favorable economics and high production and productivity. Charbonnage de France (CdF) proposed Blasting Gallery (BG) for extraction of virgin thick seams as well as developed pillars in thick seams in single lift. The method was very successful resulting in 85% of extraction with high productivity. But, this method experienced strata control problems during final extraction. Due to strata problems, the method was not successful at East Katras Colliery where overriding of the pillars occurred in one panel. Two BG panels (BG 2/2 and BG 1/10 panels) at GDK No. 8 Incline, Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) were also closed prematurely due to strata problems. In this paper, strata monitoring data of stress cells in pillars of a blasting gallery panel is analyzed for the induced stresses in a Blasting Gallery panel during depillaring in specific geo-mining and working conditions of a underground mine in Southern part of India. © 2012 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY.Item Effect of Wire Material on Productivity and Surface Integrity of WEDM-Processed Inconel 706 for Aircraft Application(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2016) Sharma, P.; Dupadu, D.; Narendranath, S.Inconel 706 is a recently developed superalloy for aircraft application, particularly in turbine disk which is among the most critical components in the gas turbine engines. Recently, wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) attained success in machining of gas turbine components which require complex shape profiles with high precision. To achieve the feasibility in machining of these components, the research work has been conducted on Inconel 706 superalloy using WEDM process. And, the effect of different wire materials (i.e., hard brass wire, diffused wire, and zinc-coated wire) on WEDM performance characteristics such as cutting speed, surface topography, surface roughness, recast layer formation, residual stresses, and microstructural and metallurgical alterations have been investigated. Even though, zinc-coated wire exhibits improved productivity, hard brass wire was found to be beneficial in terms of improved surface quality of the machined parts. Additionally, lower tensile residual stresses were obtained with hard brass wire. However, diffused wire has a moderate effect on productivity and surface quality. Under high discharge energy, higher elemental changes were observed and also the white layer was detected. © 2016, ASM International.Item Improvement of overall equipment performance of underground mining machines- a case study(AMSE Press 16 Avenue Grauge Blanche Tassin-la-Demi-Lune 69160, 2018) Balaraju, B.; Raj, G.; Chivukula, M.S.Production and productivity of any industry mainly depends on effective utilization of men and machinery. Underground mine production for the last few decades in India is not in satisfactory level, due to less mechanization. The maximum amount is expended for introducing the large scale mechanized equipment. Hence, mechanization in loading system has made advantageous towards production. In spite of this Load Haul Dumper (LHD) is one and used as loading and hauling machine for intermediate of operation. During the operation of the equipment, possible major breakdowns are occurred in some aspects. Therefore, these lead to reduce the percentage availability and utilization of the machines. As a result of this, it is very essential to analyze the performance of LHD machines, to reduce the cost during the operations. The higher availability of machine gives an optimum utilization, which increase the production and productivity of these principal intensive items. Keeping this in view, this paper focuses on improvement of overall equipment performance (OEP) by calculating the percentage availability and capacity utilization of LHDs in underground mines. Further an attempt is also emphasized to identify the contributing factors of performance improvement. © 2018 AMSE Press. All Rights Reserved.Item Improvement of overall equipment performance of underground mining machines- a case study(AMSE Press 16 Avenue Grauge Blanche Tassin-la-Demi-Lune 69160, 2018) Balaraju, R.J.; Raj, G.; Murthy, S.C.Production and productivity of any industry mainly depends on effective utilization of men and machinery. Underground mine production for the last few decades in India is not in satisfactory level, due to less mechanization. The maximum amount is expended for introducing the large scale mechanized equipment. Hence, mechanization in loading system has made advantageous towards production. In spite of this Load Haul Dumper (LHD) is one and used as loading and hauling machine for intermediate of operation. During the operation of the equipment, possible major breakdowns are occurred in some aspects. Therefore, these lead to reduce the percentage availability and utilization of the machines. As a result of this, it is very essential to analyze the performance of LHD machines, to reduce the cost during the operations. The higher availability of machine gives an optimum utilization, which increase the production and productivity of these principal intensive items. Keeping this in view, this paper focuses on improvement of overall equipment performance (OEP) by calculating the percentage availability and capacity utilization of LHDs in underground mines. Further an attempt is also emphasized to identify the contributing factors of performance improvement. © © 2017 IIETA. All Rights Reserved.Item Can minimum tillage enhance productivity? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Kenya(Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Jena, P.R.Conservation agriculture has been touted as a sustainable and productivity enhancing agricultural practice and increasingly being promoted in the developing countries. Previous research shows that this practice has increased agricultural productivity in the developed countries. This paper revolves around the central question – whether minimum tillage practice, which has succeeded in the developed countries under large scale farming, could bring out similar impacts for smallholder farmers in the developing countries. To examine this, plot level survey data are collected from a randomly selected sample households from the maize-dominant farming system of Kenya. Quasi experimental impact evaluation methods like endogenous switching regression has been applied to elucidate the impact of adoption of minimum tillage. Results show that adoption of minimum tillage has saved on labour by reducing the average total and female labour use in maize production thereby creating scope for undertaking other income generating activities. However, maize productivity is not found to have increased as an effect of minimum tillage adoption. Findings show that a major reason for such absence of yield impact is due to the fact that farmers adopting minimum tillage are often not practicing it together with other components of conservation agriculture. More importantly there is also serious irregularities in which other required supporting inputs, namely fertilizer and irrigation and agricultural management practices are used. © 2019 Elsevier LtdItem Maintenance management of load haul dumper using reliability analysis(Emerald Group Holdings Ltd., 2020) Balaraju, B.; Govinda Raj, M.; Ch.S.N, M.Purpose: Load haul dumper (LHD) is one of the main ore transporting machineries used in underground mining industry. Reliability of LHD is very significant to achieve the expected targets of production. The performance of the equipment should be maintained at its highest level to fulfill the targets. This can be accomplished only by reducing the sudden breakdowns of component/subsystems in a complex system. The identification of defective component/subsystems can be possible by performing the downtime analysis. Hence, it is very important to develop the proper maintenance strategies for replacement or repair actions of the defective ones. Suitable maintenance management actions improve the performance of the equipment. This paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: Reliability analysis (renewal approach) has been used to analyze the performance of LHD machine. Allocations of best-fit distribution of data sets were made by the utilization of Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K–S) test. Parametric estimation of theoretical probability distributions was made by utilizing the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) method. Findings: Independent and identical distribution (IID) assumption of data sets was validated through trend and serial correlation tests. On the basis of test results, the data sets are in accordance with IID assumption. Therefore, renewal process approach has been utilized for further investigation. Allocations of best-fit distribution of data sets were made by the utilization of Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K–S) test. Parametric estimation of theoretical probability distributions was made by utilizing the MLE method. Reliability of each individual subsystem has been computed according to the best-fit distribution. In respect of obtained reliability results, the reliability-based preventive maintenance (PM) time schedules were calculated for the expected 90 percent reliability level. Research limitations/implications: As the reliability analysis is one of the complex techniques, it requires strategic decision making knowledge for the selection of methodology to be used. As the present case study was from a public sector company, operating under financial constraints the conclusions/findings may not be universally applicable. Originality/value: The present study throws light on this equipment that need a tailored maintenance schedule, partly due to the peculiar mining conditions, under which they operate. This study mainly focuses on estimating the performance of four numbers of well-mechanized LHD systems with reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) modeling. Based on the drawn results, reasons for performance drop of each machine were identified. Suitable recommendations were suggested for the enhancement of performance of capital intensive production equipment. As the maintenance management is only the means for performance improvement of the machinery, PM time intervals were estimated with respect to the expected rate of reliability level. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.