International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Research

  The advent of e-commerce has prompted many manufacturers to redesign their traditional channel structure by engaging in direct sales. In this paper, we present a dual channel inventory model based on queuing theory in a manufacturer-retailer supply chain, consisting of a traditional retail channel and a direct channel which stocks are kept in both upper and lower echelon. The system receives stochastic demand from the both channel which each channel has an independent demand arrival rate. A lost-sales model which no backorder is allowed is supposed. The replenishment lead times are assumed independent exponential random variables for both warehouse and the retail store. Under the replenishment inventory policy, the inventory position is kept constant at a base-stock level. To analyze the chain performance, an objective function included holding and lost sales costs is defined. At the end, a proposed algorithm named, Best Neighborhood (BN) is used to find a good solution for inventory and the results are compared with Simulated Annealing (SA) solutions.

  In this paper Semi-Markov models are used to forecast the triple dimensions of next earthquake occurrences. Each earthquake can be investigated in three dimensions including temporal, spatial and magnitude. Semi-Markov models can be used for earthquake forecasting in each arbitrary area and each area can be divided into several zones. In Semi-Markov models each zone can be considered as a state of proposed Semi-Markov model. At first proposed Semi-Markov model is explained to forecast the three mentioned dimensions of next earthquake occurrences. Next, a zoning method is introduced and several algorithms for the validation of the proposed method are also described to obtain the errors of this method.

Cutoff grade is a grade used to assign a destination label to a parcel of material. The optimal cutoff grades depend on all the salient technological features of mining, such as the capacity of extraction and of milling, the geometry and geology of the orebody, and the optimal grade of concentrate to send to the smelter. The main objective of each optimization of mining operation is to maximize the net present value of the whole mining project, but this approach without consideration of environmental issues during planning is not really an optimum design. Lane formulation among the all presented algorithms is the most commonly used method for optimization of cutoff grades. All presented models for optimum cutoff grades are ore-oriented and in none of them the costs related to waste materials which must to be minimized during the mine life are considered. In this paper, after comparison of traditional and modern approaches for cutoff grade optimization in open pit mines, a real case study is presented and discussed to ensure optimality of the cutoff grades optimization process.

The Outburst can be defined as a sudden release of coal and rock accompanied by large quantities of gas into the underground coal mine workings which represents a major hazard in underground coal mines. Gas drainage has been proven to be successful in reducing outburst hazards by decreasing the in-situ gas pressure. One of aspect of gas drainage from coal seams is coal matrix volume changes. Current study is primarily concerned with experimental studies related to coal volume change (coal shrinkage) under various gas types and pressures. Two types of tests were conducted on each sample, the adsorption test for coal swelling and the desorption test for coal shrinkage. The gases used in the study were CH₄, CO₂, CH₄/CO₂ (50-50% volume), and N₂. In this research, tests were conducted with respect to volumetric change behavior in different gases and their corresponding comparative results were presented.

Planning and design procedure of an open pit mining project just can be started after ultimate pit determination. In the carried out study in this paper it was shown that the most important factor in ultimate pit determination and in consequence in the whole planning and design procedure of an open pit mine is the metal price. Metal price fluctuations in recent years were exaggerated and imposed a high degree of uncertainty to the mine planning procedure while none of the existent algorithms of the pit limit determination consider the metal price uncertainty. Real Option Approach (ROA) is an efficient method of decision making in the condition of uncertainty. This approach usually used for evaluation of defined natural resources projects up to now. This study considering the metal price uncertainty used real option approach to prepare a methodology for determining the Ultimate Pit Limits (UPL). The study was carried out on a non-ferrous metallic cylindrical ore deposit but the achieved methodology can be adjusted for all kinds of the deposits. The achieved methodology was comprehensively described through the examples in a way that can be used by the mine planners.

Low temperature plasma assisted nit riding treatments of 316 stainless steel produce a complex layer constituted by tow different metastable f.c.c. solid solution denoted ( γ _N1 and γ _N2 ). About the formation of these double layers, different hypothesis was proposed in the literature. For verifying these hypotheses, the effects of differentes conditions such as nit riding temperature, cleaning and nit riding duration and cooling state have been studied. The results show that γ _N2 sub layer produce during the ion bombardment cleaning procedure, before the nit riding treatment. Also the formation of the γ _N2 layer is not connected to the cooling state of the sample after nit riding treatment.

In this research, the life expectancy of ball bearings in industrial applications is estimated based on known parameters. The overall mathematical calculation of such behavior is based on the theory of Lundberg and Palmgren. The proposed life estimation equation however lacks certain points to make it qualified as universal. A firm conclusion therefore could not be obtained on the basis of this equation alone, particularly when different operating conditions are involved. One such example is the life of ball bearings while operating in clean lubricant environment, which is approximately up to 20 times longer than the calculated life based on the previously prescribed equations. On the other hand, active life under contaminated lubricants is nearly close to one-tenth of the calculated life originally thought to be correct .

The exhaust gases of gas turbine power plant carry a significant amount of thermal energy that is usually expelled to the atmosphere this causes a reduction in net work and efficiency of gas turbine. On the other hand, the generated power and efficiency of gas turbine plants depend largely on the temperature of the inlet air, So that they both increase as the inlet air temperature decreases. The mentioned two problems can be solved by installing an absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC) at gas turbine inlet, working with thermal energy of exhaust gases. In this research, effect of inlet air cooling on gas turbine performance is studied. The work shows that, the net work and the efficiency will increase by 6-10% and 1-5% respectively for every 10°C decrease of inlet temperature. Since, coefficient of performance (COP) of ARC is low, with high pressure ratios in simple gas turbine (SGT) and with low pressure ratios in regenerative gas turbine (RGT), thermal energy of exhaust gases can not supply all the needed thermal energy for refrigeration cycle. The results show that, when an ejector is included in refrigeration cycle, the need for external energy source required for refrigeration cycle is reduced . 

In this paper a non-diagonal regulator, based on the QFT method, is synthesized for an uncertain MIMO plant whose output and control signals are subjected to hard time-domain constraints. This procedure includes the design of a non-diagonal pre-controller based on a new simple approach, followed by the sequential design of a diagonal QFT controller. We present a new formulation for the latter stage, which shows the role of off-diagonal elements in the design procedure. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method .