Search results

This research explores the antecedents of tourist satisfaction and revisit intention, especially in light of the post-pandemic environment that pushed tourism to the lowest level in the present decade. A comprehensive conceptual model based on the brand equity theory (BET) is developed, and interrelationships between brand heritage, community support and benefits, hedonism, culture, tourist satisfaction and revisit intention.

The data were collected from 670 tourists visiting one of the heritage destinations in southern India (Kanchipuram). After checking the psychometric properties of the survey instrument, the hypotheses were tested using path analysis and Hayes's PROCESS macros.

The results indicate that heritage brand of destination sites is positively associated with (1) tourist satisfaction and (2) tourist revisit intention. The findings also support the positive effect of attractiveness of products is positively related to tourist satisfaction, which in turn, is a significant predictor of tourist revisit intention. The findings also support that community support benefits moderating the relationship between heritage brand and attractiveness of products in heritage destinations tourist satisfaction.

This study has several implications for practicing managers engaged in maintaining heritage destinations. As this research highlights the importance of heritage brands of destinations in influencing tourist satisfaction, local communities and policymakers need to provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities at these destinations. Further, local entrepreneurs are motivated to invest in delivering products that attract tourists.

The conceptual model developed in this study, is first of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that investigates the effect of hedonism (second moderator) moderating the relationship between tourist satisfaction and culture (first moderator) in influencing tourists to revisit their intention. In addition to direct relationships, the moderating role of community support and benefits, culture and hedonism makes a unique contribution to the bourgeoning literature on tourism especially in Indian context.

This study aims to present the numerical study on supersonic jet mixing characteristics of the co-flow jet by varying lip thickness (LT). The LT chosen for the study is 2 mm, 7.75 mm and 15 mm.

The primary nozzle is designed for delivering Mach 2.0 jet, whereas the secondary nozzle is designed for delivering Mach 1.6 jet. The Nozzle pressure ratio chosen for the study is 3 and 5. To study the mixing characteristics of the co-flow jet, total pressure and Mach number measurements were taken along and normal to the jet axis. To validate the numerical results, the numerical total pressure values were also compared with the experimental result and it is proven to have a good agreement.

The results exhibit that, the 2 mm lip is shear dominant. The 7.75 mm and 15 mm lip is wake dominant. The jet interaction along the jet axis was also studied using the contours of total pressure, Mach number, turbulent kinetic energy and density gradient. The radial Mach number contours at the various axial location of the jet was also studied.

The effect of varying LT in exhaust nozzle plays a vital role in supersonic turbofan aircraft.

Supersonic co-flowing jet mixing effectiveness by varying the LT between the primary supersonic nozzle and the secondary supersonic nozzle has not been analyzed in the past.

This paper aims to present the jet mixing effectiveness of triangular tabs with semi-circular corrugations to control the subsonic and sonic correctly expanded jets.

Three semi-circular corrugated triangular tabs (Tab A, Tab B and Tab C) of equal blockage 5.11% are used, in which the corrugation locations on the tabs are varied. The offset distance between the semi-circular corrugations at the leaned edges of the triangular tabs are 0.0, 0.75 and 1.5 mm for the Tabs A, B and C, respectively. Two identical semi-circular corrugated tabs has been placed exactly 180° apart at the exit of the convergent nozzle. The pitot pressure measurements were taken to study the jet mixing characteristics of the tabs for the jet exit Mach numbers of 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0, and it is compared with the free jet.

The jet centerline pitot pressure decay reveals that, Tab A is very effective than Tab B and Tab C. For the jet exit Mach numbers of 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0, the potential core reduction for the Tab A is found to be 69.1%, 69.7% and 70.8%, respectively, when compared with the free jet.

The semi-circular corrugated triangular tabs were found to be more effective than the plain triangular tabs of equal blockage ratio for reducing the core length with minimum thrust loss.

The offset distance of the semi-circular corrugations are varied along the leaned sides of the triangular tabs, which is the novelty of this study.

The purpose of this study is to analyse numerically and experimentally the effects of lip thickness (LT) and bypass ratio on co-flowing nozzle under subsonic and correctly expanded sonic jet decay at different Mach numbers.

Co-flowing jets from co-flowing nozzles of different LTs, 0.2, 1 and 1.5 Dp (where Dp is the primary nozzle exit diameter = 10 mm), with an annular gap of 10 mm at main jet exit Mach numbers 0.6 have been studied experimentally and the other cases have been performed numerically. The co-flowing jet with 2 mm LT was used for comparison.

Co-flowing jet axial pitot pressure decay, axial static pressure decay, axial velocity decay, radial velocity decay and streamline velocity contours were analyzed. The results illustrate that the mixing of the co-flowing jet with profound LT is prevalent to the co-flowing jet with 2 mm LT, at all Mach numbers of the current study. Also, the LT of the co-flowing jet has a strong impact on jet mixing. Co-flowing jets with 10 mm and 15 mm LT with a constant co-flow width of 10 mm experience a considerably advanced mixing than co-flowing jets with 2 mm LT and a co-flow width of 10 mm.

The application of bypassed co-flow jet is in turbofan engine operates efficiently in modern civil aircraft.

All subsonic jets are considered correctly expanded with negligible variation in axial static pressure. However, in the present study, static pressure along the centerline varies sinusoidally up to 9% and 12% above and below atmospheric pressure, respectively, for primary jet exit Mach number 1.0. The sinusoidal variation is less for primary jet exit Mach numbers 0.6 and 0.8 in static pressure decay.

This study aims to analyze co-flowing jets (CFJs) with constant velocity ratio (VR) and varying primary nozzle lip thickness (LT) to find a critical LT in CFJs below which mixing enhances and beyond which mixing inhibits.

CFJs were characterized with a constant VR and varying LTs. A single free jet with a diameter equal to that of a primary nozzle of the CFJ was used for characteristic comparison. Numerical simulation is carried out and is validated with the experimental results.

The results show that within a critical limit, the mixing enhanced with an increase in LT. This was signified by a reduction in potential core length (PCL). Beyond this limit, mixing inhibited leading to the elongation of PCL. This limit was controlled by parameters such as LT and constant VR. A new region termed as influential wake zone is identified.

In this study, the VR is maintained constant and bypass ratio (BR) was varied from low value to very high values. Presently, subsonic commercial turbo fan operates under low to ultra-high BR. Hence the present study becomes vital to the current scenario.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first effort to find the critical value of LT for a constant VR for compressible co-flow jets. The CFJs with constant VR and varying LT have not been studied in the past. The present study focuses on finding a critical LT below which mixing enhances and above which mixing inhibits.

The effect of increasing lip thickness (LT) and Mach number on subsonic co-flowing Jet (CFJ) decay at subsonic and correctly expanded sonic Mach numbers has been analysed experimentally and numerically in this study. This study aims to a critical LT below which mixing enhances and above which mixing inhibits.

LT is the distance, separating the primary nozzle and the secondary duct, present in the co-flowing nozzle. The CFJ with LT ranging from 2 mm to 150 mm at jet exit Mach numbers of 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 were studied in detail. The CFJ with 2 mm LT is used for comparison. Centreline total pressure decay, centreline static pressure decay and near field flow behaviour were analysed.

The result shows that the mixing enhances until a critical limit and a further increase in the LT does not show any variation in the jet mixing. Beyond this critical limit, the secondary jet has a detrimental effect on the primary jet, which deteriorates the process of mixing. The CFJ within the critical limit experiences a significantly higher mixing. The effect of the increase in the Mach number has marginal variation in the total pressure and significant variation in static pressure along the jet axis.

In this study, the velocity ratio (VR) is maintained constant and the bypass ratio (BR) was varied from low value to very high values for subsonic and correctly expanded sonic. Presently, commercial aircraft engine operates under these Mach numbers and low to ultra-high BR. Hence, the present study becomes essential.

This is the first effort to find the critical value of LT for a constant VR for a Mach number range of 0.6 to 1.0, compressible CFJ. The CFJs with constant VR of unity and varying LT, in these Mach number range, have not been studied in the past.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting consumers' online purchase intention and to explore whether there was any significant difference between the path coefficients for males and females.

Data were collected by distributing questionnaires to 668 Indonesian consumers who were actively using the internet. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and multi-group analysis (MGA) in SmartPLS 3.0 software.

Results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and personal innovativeness are three influential factors and have a higher path coefficient in both the male and female groups. Anxiety shows a negative and significant relationship with online purchase intention for female consumers than for male consumers. Furthermore, the results of MGA analysis indicate that most factor coefficients in the determinants of online purchase intentions are not significantly different between males and females.

These results help the web retailers to consider the important factors in their strategies when they make strategic decisions as key factors affecting online buying intention. Besides this, the strong relationship between anxiety and intention for females has important implications for managers and designers should pay attention to this factor when designing the content on their business website.

Even though several marketing scholars discuss the factors influencing online shopping behavior, a few studies have shown the role of anxiety and personal innovativeness and their effect on online purchasing that fitted as supplements into the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). In addition, so far, no studies have effectively made a comparative analysis across gender, i.e. are personal and UTAUT factors in the determinants of online purchase intention significantly different across gender?

The objectives of the paper were to develop a theoretical framework of the online shopping experiences (OSE) concept, identify its constituent dimensions and subdimensions, and propose and test a comprehensive measurement scale that would incorporate and reconcile existing fragmented approaches to the phenomenon.

This paper utilized a mixed-method approach to conceptualize a complex phenomenon of online shopping experiences (OSE). Study 1 employed the grounded theory approach to understand the phenomenon, propose its comprehensive definition and a conceptual model. Study 2 developed and tested a comprehensive OSE measurement scale.

The study conceptualized OSE as a second-order construct with four mutually-connected constituent dimensions of OSE: practices, context, values and emotions, and their respective 21 subdimensions. It developed and validated a comprehensive scale that is superior to earlier proposed fragmented measures of OSE.

The proposed theoretical framework can serve as a foundation for the OSE research stream and consolidate existing findings by providing a conceptual umbrella for different OSE aspects addressed in earlier research. The OSE measurement scale can be used to assess the impact of each OSE component on satisfaction and loyalty in different shopping situations.

The findings can assist retailers in evaluating usefulness of various tools in eliciting certain experiential effects, devising specific approaches to consumers at different touch points along their dynamic OSEs and developing engagement tactics for various shopping environments.

The study combined qualitative and quantitative approaches to offer a most comprehensive and unifying conceptualization and measurement instrument of OSEs.

The most promising replacements for the industrial applications are particle reinforced metal matrix composites because of their good and combined mechanical properties. Currently, the need of matrix materials for industrial applications is widely satisfied by aluminium alloys. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the tribological behaviour of the zinc oxide (ZnO) particles reinforced AA6061 composites prepared by stir casting route.

In this study, AA6061 aluminium alloy matrix reinforced with varying weight percentages (3%, 4.5% and 6%) of ZnO particles, including monolithic AA6061 alloy samples, is cast by the most economical fabrication method, called stir casting. The prepared sample was subjected to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, experimental density measurement by Archimedian principle and theoretical density by rule of mixture and hardness test to investigate mechanical property. The dry sliding wear behaviour of the composites was investigated using pin-on-disc tribometer with various applied loads of 15 and 20 N, with constant sliding velocity and distance. The wear rate, coefficient of friction (COF) and worn surfaces of the composite specimens and their effects were also investigated in this work.

XPS results confirm the homogeneous distribution of ZnO microparticles in the Al matrix. The Vickers hardness result reveals that higher ZnO reinforced (6%) sample have 34.4% higher values of HV than the monolithic aluminium sample. The sliding wear tests similarly show that increasing the weight percentage of ZnO particles leads to a reduced wear rate and COF of 30.01% and 26.32% lower than unreinforced alloy for 15 N and 36.35% and 25% for 20 N applied load. From the worn surface morphological studies, it was evidently noticed that ZnO particles dispersed throughout the matrix and it had strong bonding between the reinforcement and the matrix, which significantly reduced the plastic deformation of the surfaces.

The uniqueness of this work is to use the reinforcement of ZnO particles with AA6061 matrix and preparing by stir casting route and to study and analyse the physical, hardness and tribological behaviour of the composite materials.

In-situ aluminum metal matrix composites (AMMC) have taken over the use of ex-situ AMMC due to the generation of finer and thermodynamically stable intermetallic compounds. However, conventional processing routes pose inevitable defects like porosity and agglomeration of particles. This paper aims to study current state of progress in in-situ AMMC fabricated by Friction Stir Processing.

Friction stir processing (FSP) has successfully evolved to be a favorable in-situ composite manufacturing technique. The dynamics of the process account for a higher plastic strain of 35 and a strain rate of 75 per second. These processing conditions are responsible for grain evolution from rolled grain → dislocation walls and dislocation tangles → subgrains → dislocation multiplication → new grains. Working of matrix and reinforcement under ultra-high strain rate and shorter exposure time to high temperatures produce ultra-fine grains. Do the grain evolution modes include subgrain boundaries → subgrain boundaries and high angle grain boundaries → high angle grain boundaries.

Further, the increased strain and strain rate can shave and disrupt the oxide layer on the surface of particles and enhance wettability between the constituents. The frictional heat generated by tool and workpiece interaction is sufficient enough to raise the temperature to facilitate the exothermic reaction between the constituents. The heat released during the exothermic reaction can even raise the temperature and accelerate the reaction kinetics. In addition, heat release may cause local melting of the matrix material which helps to form strong interfacial bonds.

This article critically reviews the state of the art in the fabrication of in-situ AMMC through FSP. Further, FSP as a primary process and post-processing technique in the synthesis of in-situ AMMC are also dealt with.