Faster depletion of fossil fuels and ever increasing prices of petroleum products have thrown challenges for their efficient usage and development of innovative designs in combustion engines. Among the recent developments, emphasis is on the design of compact and simple rotary vane engines which can use a variety of fuels. In the paper, “Computer-Aided Modeling of Six Chamber Rotary Engine”, the authors, Bhushan R Mahajan, S S Khandare and A V Vanalkar, have presented simulation results of rotary type stroke less engine consisting of six vanes. In the analysis, the authors have used various sizes of stator rotor diameter in the models and recorded the volumes and pressures of different zones along the rotor to get optimized value of compression ratio and cubic capacity. The authors, by varying the vane angles at an interval of 5o, have derived the pressure variations, both with and without combustion of air fuel. With the use of six vanes, the analysis suggests that a compression ratio of 8.64 could be achieved with smooth simulation of mechanism.

Hydraulic transport of solid materials through pipes has been employed industrially for nearly a century. The introduction of solid particles into a stream of fluid requires extra energy to be imparted to the fluid to overcome the increased pressure drop. Again, as far as saltation and choking are concerned, the pipe bends and straight pipes are important elements in the designing of transport process. Hence, it is necessary to determine the mechanism of flow of particles in pipe bends, since the bends are prone to excessive wear. CFD modeling fairly predicts pressure drops for the flow. In the paper, “CFD Modeling and Experimental Investigation of Bimodal Slurry Flow in Straight Pipeline with Horizontal Bends”, the authors, Kanwar Pal Singh, Arvind Kumar and Deo Raj Kaushal, have studied the flow of bimodal slurry with a mixture of silica sand and fly ash at 80:20 ratio with solid concentration 8.82% by volume to investigate the pressure drop, concentration and particle size distribution along pipeline and pipe bends with flow velocity range keeping up to 3.56 m/s. CFD modeling analysis is done for measurement of solid distribution profiles along pipe cross-section and drop in pressure along pipeline and horizontal bends for same slurry sample, and the results are correlated with experimental outcomes.

With the ongoing technological developments and increased competitiveness, the manufacturing industries are striving to improve the strategies to comply with the market demands and stay in the business. The performance of the equipment can be best evaluated with a knowledge of failure and repair rates of each subsystem and maintainability of system. The fertilizer plants are no exception, and in the paper, “A Mathematical Model for the Performance Evaluation of a Fertilizer Plant”, the author Sanjeev Kumar, has presented the details of a model of urea decomposition system of a fertilizer plant—based on the Markovian approach—with the idea of enhancing the productivity of the plant. In the modal analysis, the author has used the real data of a plant and investigated the various parameters of system failure and repair rates, as well as their effects on the system performance. The developed model could help in evaluating the system performance and carry out modification, and in the routine maintenance of system.

Optimization of machining parameters is very crucial for product quality, costs of production and time of production. The physical properties of the workpiece material have a straight effect on its machinability, while operating parameters, tool material, tool geometry and workpiece requirements have indirect influence on the machinability. A comprehensive knowledge of factors affecting machinability helps in the selection of workpiece designs and cutting tool material, and to achieve the most favorable machining combination. In the paper, “Machining Parameters Optimization of AISI 4340”, the authors, Jignesh Khara, Manojkumar V Sheladiya and G D Acharya, have carried out experimental investigations by varying the cutting speed, feed rate and nose radius, and used ANOVA and gray relational analyses to optimize the machinability aspects of AISI 4340 alloy steel utilizing carbide tools. The authors have suggested that the feed rate is the most dominating parameter affecting average surface roughness (Fa) value, followed by nose radius and cutting speed, and presented the optimized parameters.

Over the last century, there has been a 20-fold increase in the consumption of energy worldwide. In view of the faster depletion of fossil fuels, emphasis is on the lookout for alternate fuels such as biofuel, which can give us the same efficiency and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the paper, “An Experimental Investigation of Thumba-Diesel Fueled Operated Variable Compression Ratio Diesel Engine”, the authors, Rahul Goyal, Mayur Deo, Nishant Chaudhary, Parth Chauhan, Aditya Chauhan and Pradeep Kumar Gupta, have investigated the use of thumba oil-diesel blends in various proportions. The authors have suggested the best Compression Ratio (CR) for maximum Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) and also the optimal blend ratio of thumba oil-diesel blends.