Natural fiber composites (NFCs) are an evolving area in polymer sciences. Fibers extracted from natural sources hold a wide set of advantages such as negligible cost, significant mechanical characteristics, low density, high strength-to-weight ratio, environmental friendliness, recyclability, etc. Luffa cylindrica, also termed luffa gourd or luffa sponge, is a natural fiber that has a solid potential to replace synthetic fibers in composite materials in diverse applications like vibration isolation, sound absorption, packaging, etc. Recently, many researches have involved luffa fibers as a reinforcement in the development of NFC, aiming to investigate their performance in selected matrices as well as the behavior of the end NFC. This paper presents a review on recent developments in luffa natural fiber composites. Physical, morphological, mechanical, thermal, electrical, and acoustic properties of luffa NFCs are investigated, categorized, and compared, taking into consideration selected matrices as well as the size, volume fraction, and treatments of fibers. Although luffa natural fiber composites have revealed promising properties, the addition of these natural fibers increases water absorption. Moreover, chemical treatments with different agents such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and benzoyl can remarkably enhance the surface area of luffa fibers, remove undesirable impurities, and reduce water uptake, thereby improving their overall characteristics. Hybridization of luffa NFC with other natural or synthetic fibers, e.g., glass, carbon, ceramic, flax, jute, etc., can enhance the properties of the end composite material. However, luffa fibers have exhibited a profuse compatibility with epoxy matrix.

A gravity current in a channel at the presence of a triangular obstacle was investigated using LES simulation and the Eulerian approach. The Saffman–Mei equation was also applied to examine the effect of shear-induced lift force on particle deposition. To this end, particles were considered as Lagrangian markers and injected into gravity current. It is important to keep in mind that the interaction between the gravity current and particles was treated as a one-way coupling. The results show that shear-induced lift force prevents particles to deposit at the entrance of channel, where the velocity gradient is high. Furthermore, a reduction in the rate of sediment deposition can be seen again in the vicinity of obstacle due to high velocity gradient. The important result is that the shear-induced lift force has an important role in the cases with considerable velocity gradient in quasi-steady flows and this force can affect the pattern of sedimentation over time. Q criterion is utilized to depict the vortical structures of flow. Vortical structures with larger diameter, that indicate stronger vortexes, has been seen in various sections of channel, especially in the region near the obstacle due to the presence of obstacle.

The current paper is aimed to investigate the effects of waviness, random orientation, and agglomeration factor of nanoreinforcements on wave propagation in fluid-conveying multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-reinforced nanocomposite cylindrical shell based on first-order shear deformable theory (FSDT). The effective mechanical properties of the nanocomposite cylindrical shell are estimated employing a combination of a novel form of Halpin-Tsai homogenization model and rule of mixture. Utilized fluid flow obeys Newtonian fluid law and it is axially symmetric and laminar flow and it is considered to be fully developed. The effect of flow velocity is explored by implementing Navier-Stokes equation. The kinetic relations of nanocomposite shell are calculated via FSDT. Moreover, the governing equations are derived using the Hamiltonian approach. Afterward, a method which solves problems analytically is applied to solve the obtained governing equations. Effects of a wide range of variants such as volume fraction of MWCNTs, radius to thickness ratio, flow velocity, waviness factor, random orientation factor, and agglomeration factor on the phase velocity and wave frequency of a fluid conveying MWCNTs-reinforced nanocomposite cylindrical shell were comparatively illustrated and the results were discussed in detail.