Search results for: unconventional energy source.

Authors: Helia Barzegar Sedigh, Farzaneh Hamedi, Payam Ashtari

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There are some limitations in common structural systems, such as providing appropriate lateral stiffness, adequate ductility, and architectural openings at the same time. Consequently, the concept of T-Resisting Frame (TRF) has been introduced to overcome all these deficiencies. The configuration of TRF in this study is a Vertical Plate Girder (VPG) which is placed within the span and two Horizontal Plate Girders (HPGs) connect VPG to side columns at each story level by the use of rigid connections. System performance is improved by utilizing rigid connections in side columns base joint. Shear yield of HPGs causes energy dissipation in TRF; therefore, high plastic deformation in web of HPGs and VPG affects the ductility of system. Moreover, in order to prevent shear buckling in web of TRF’s members and appropriate criteria for placement of web stiffeners are applied. In this paper, an experimental study is conducted by applying cyclic loading and using finite element models and numerical studies such as push over method are assessed on shear and flexural yielding of HPGs. As a result, seismic parameters indicate adequate lateral stiffness, and high ductility factor of 6.73, and HPGs’ shear yielding achieved as a proof of TRF’s better performance.

Keywords: Experimental study, finite element model, flexural and shear yielding, T-resisting frame.

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Authors: Abbas Ghanbari-Malidarreh

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In most wheat growing moderate regions and especially in the north of Iran climate, is affected grain filling by several physical and abiotic stresses. In this region, grain filling often occurs when temperatures are increasing and moisture supply is decreasing. The experiment was designed in RCBD with split plot arrangements with four replications. Four irrigation treatments included (I0) no irrigation (check); (I1) one irrigation (50 mm) at heading stage; (I2) two irrigation (100 mm) at heading and anthesis stage; and (I3) three irrigation (150 mm) at heading, anthesis and early grain filling growth stage, two wheat cultivars (Milan and Shanghai) were cultured in the experiment. Totally raining was 453 mm during the growth season. The result indicated that biological yield, grain yield and harvest index were significantly affected by irrigation levels. I3 treatment produced more tillers number in m2, fertile tillers number in m2, harvest index and biological yield. Milan produced more tillers number in m2, fertile tillers in m2, while Shanghai produced heavier tillers and grain 1000 weight. Plant height was significant in wheat varieties while were not statistically significant in irrigation levels. Milan produced more grain yield, harvest index and biological yield. Grain yield shown that I1, I2, and I3 produced increasing of 5228 (21%), 5460 (27%) and 5670 (29%) kg ha-1, respectively. There was an interaction of irrigation and cultivar on grain yields. In the absence of the irrigation reduced grain 1000 weight from 45 to 40 g. No irrigation reduced soil moisture extraction during the grain filling stage. Current assimilation as a source of carbon for grain filling depends on the light intercepting viable green surfaces of the plant after anthesis that due to natural senescence and the effect of various stresses. At the same time the demand by the growing grain is increasing. It is concluded from research work that wheat crop irrigated Milan cultivar could increase the grain yield in comparison with Shanghai cultivar. Although, the grain yield of Shanghai under irrigation was slightly lower than Milan. This grain yield also was related to weather condition, sowing date, plant density and location conditions and management of fertilizers, because there was not significant difference in biological and straw yield. The best result was produced by I1 treatment. I2 and I3 treatments were not significantly difference with I1 treatment. Grain yield of I1 indicated that wheat is under soil moisture deficiency. Therefore, I1 irrigation was better than I0.

Keywords: anthesis, grain yield, irrigation, supplementary, Wheat.

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Authors: M. S. El-Asfoury, M. A. El-Hadek

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The complex shape of the human pelvic bone was successfully imaged and modeled using finite element FE processing. The bone was subjected to quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions simulating the effect of both weight gain and impact. Loads varying between 500 – 2500 N (~50 – 250 Kg of weight) was used to simulate 3D quasi-static weight gain. Two different 3D dynamic analyses, body free fall at two different heights (1 and 2 m) and forced side impact at two different velocities (20 and 40 Km/hr) were also studied. The computed resulted stresses were compared for the four loading cases, where Von Misses stresses increases linearly with the weight gain increase under quasi-static loading. For the dynamic models, the Von Misses stress history behaviors were studied for the affected area and effected load with respect to time. The normalization Von Misses stresses with respect to the applied load were used for comparing the free fall and the forced impact load results. It was found that under the forced impact loading condition an over lapping behavior was noticed, where as for the free fall the normalized Von Misses stresses behavior was found to nonlinearly different. This phenomenon was explained through the energy dissipation concept. This study will help designers in different specialization in defining the weakest spots for designing different supporting systems.

Keywords: Pelvic Bone, Static and Dynamic Analysis, Three- Dimensional Finite Element Analysis.

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Authors: O. Miraliyari

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This article attempts to analyze functionally graded beam thermal buckling along with piezoelectric layers applying based on the third order shearing deformation theory considering various boundary conditions. The beam properties are assumed to vary continuously from the lower surface to the upper surface of the beam. The equilibrium equations are derived using the total potential energy equations, Euler equations, piezoelectric material constitutive equations and third order shear deformation theory assumptions. In order to fulfill such an aim, at first functionally graded beam with piezoelectric layers applying the third order shearing deformation theory along with clamped -clamped boundary conditions are thoroughly analyzed, and then following making sure of the correctness of all the equations, the very same beam is analyzed with piezoelectric layers through simply-simply and simply-clamped boundary conditions. In this article buckling critical temperature for functionally graded beam is derived in two different ways, without piezoelectric layer and with piezoelectric layer and the results are compared together. Finally, all the conclusions obtained will be compared and contrasted with the same samples in the same and distinguished conditions through tables and charts. It would be noteworthy that in this article, the software MAPLE has been applied in order to do the numeral calculations.

Keywords: Thermal buckling, functionally graded beam, piezoelectric layer, various boundary conditions.

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Authors: Avadhoot Bhosale, Robin Davis P., Pradip Sarkar

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The seismic performance of buildings with irregular distribution of mass, stiffness and strength along the height may be significantly different from that of regular buildings with masonry infill. Masonry infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frames are very common structural forms used for multi-storey building construction. These structures are found to perform better in past earthquakes owing to additional strength, stiffness and energy dissipation in the infill walls. The seismic performance of a building depends on the variation of material, structural and geometrical properties. The sensitivity of these properties affects the seismic response of the building. The main objective of the sensitivity analysis is to found out the most sensitive parameter that affects the response of the building. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis by considering 5% and 95% probability value of random variable in the infills characteristics, trying to obtain a reasonable range of results representing a wide number of possible situations that can be met in practice by using pushover analysis. The results show that the strength-related variation values of concrete and masonry, with the exception of tensile strength of the concrete, have shown a significant effect on the structural performance and that this effect increases with the progress of damage condition for the concrete. The seismic risk assessments of the selected frames are expressed in terms of reliability index.

Keywords: Fragility curve, sensitivity analysis, reliability index, RC frames.

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Authors: Joanna Błach, Anna Doś, Maria Gorczyńska, Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala

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Financial innovations can be regarded as the cause and the effect of the evolution of the financial system. Most of financial innovations are created by various financial institutions for their own purposes and needs. However, due to their diversity, financial innovations can be also applied by various business entities (other than financial institutions). This paper focuses on the potential application of financial innovations by non-financial companies. It is assumed that financial innovations may be effectively applied in all fields of corporate financial decisions integrating financial management with the risk management process. Appropriate application of financial innovations may enhance the development of the company and increase its value by improving its financial situation and reducing the level of risk. On the other hand, misused financial innovations may become the source of extra risk for the company threatening its further operation. The main objective of the paper is to identify the major types of financial innovations offered to non-financial companies by the banking system in Poland. It also aims at identifying the main factors determining the creation of financial innovations in the banking system in Poland and indicating future directions of their development. This paper consists of conceptual and empirical part. Conceptual part based on theoretical study is focused on the determinants of the process of financial innovations and their application by the nonfinancial companies. Theoretical study is followed by the empirical research based on the analysis of the actual offer of the 20 biggest banks operating in Poland with regard to financial innovations offered to SMEs and large corporations. These innovations are classified according to the main functions of the integrated financial management, such as financing, investment, working capital management and risk management. Empirical study has proved that the biggest banks operating in the Polish market offer to their business customers many types and classes of financial innovations. This offer appears vast and adequate to the needs and purposes of the Polish non-financial companies. It was observed that financial innovations pertained to financing decisions dominate in the banks’ offer. However, due to high diversification of the offered financial innovations, business customers may effectively apply them in all fields and areas of integrated financial management. It should be underlined, that the banks’ offer is highly dispersed, which may limit the implementation of financial innovations in the corporate finance. It would be also recommended for the banks operating in the Polish market to intensify the education campaign aiming at increasing knowledge about financial innovations among business customers.

Keywords: Banking products and services, banking sector in Poland, corporate financial management, financial innovations, theory of innovation.

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Authors: Tadahiro Wada, Hiroyuki Hanyu

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In this study, to clarify the effectiveness of an aluminum/chromium/tungsten-based-coated tool for cutting sintered steel, tool wear was experimentally investigated. The sintered steel was turned with the (Al60,Cr25,W15)N-, (Al60,Cr25,W15)(C,N)- and (Al64,Cr28,W8)(C,N)-coated cemented carbide tools according to the physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. Moreover, the tool wear of the aluminum/chromium/tungsten-based-coated item was compared with that of the (Al,Cr)N coated tool. Furthermore, to clarify the tool wear mechanism of the aluminum/chromium/tungsten-coating film for cutting sintered steel, Scanning Electron Microscope observation and Energy Dispersive x-ray Spectroscopy mapping analysis were conducted on the abraded surface. The following results were obtained: (1) The wear progress of the (Al64,Cr28,W8)(C,N)-coated tool was the slowest among that of the five coated tools. (2) Adding carbon (C) to the aluminum/chromium/tungsten-based-coating film was effective for improving the wear-resistance. (3) The main wear mechanism of the (Al60,Cr25,W15)N-, the (Al60,Cr25,W15)(C,N)- and the (Al64,Cr28,W8)(C,N)-coating films was abrasive wear.

Keywords: Cutting, physical vapor deposition coating method, tool wear, tool wear mechanism, sintered steel.

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Authors: D. S. Jaya, G. P. Deepthi

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Groundwater is vital to the livelihoods and health of the majority of the people, since it provides almost the entire water resource for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses. Groundwater quality comprises the physical, chemical and bacteriological qualities. The present investigation was carried out to determine the physicochemical and bacteriological quality of the ground water sources in the residential areas of Karakulam Grama Panchayath in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala state in India. Karakulam is located in the eastern suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram city. The major drinking water source of the residents in the study area is wells. The present study aims to assess the portability and irrigational suitability of groundwater in the study area. The water samples were collected from randomly selected dug wells and bore wells in the study area during post monsoon and pre monsoon seasons of the year 2014 after a preliminary field survey. The physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters of the water samples were analyzed following standard procedures. The concentration of heavy metals (Cd, Pb and Mn) in the acid digested water samples were determined by using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results showed that the pH of well water samples ranged from acidic to alkaline level. In majority of well water samples (>54 %) the iron and magnesium content were found high in both the seasons studied, and the values were above the permissible limits of WHO drinking water quality standards. Bacteriological analyses showed that 63% of the wells were contaminated with total coliforms in both the seasons studied. Irrigational suitability of groundwater was assessed by determining the chemical indices like Sodium Percentage (%Na), Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), Permeability Index (PI), and the results indicate that the well water in the study area are good for irrigation purposes. Therefore, the study reveals the degradation of drinking water quality groundwater sources in Karakulam Grama Panchayath in Thiruvananthapuram District, Keralain terms of its chemical and bacteriological characteristics, and is not potable without proper treatment. In the study, more than 1/3rdof the well water samples tested were positive for total coliforms, and the bacterial contamination may pose threat to public health. The study recommends the need for periodic well water quality monitoring in the study area and to conduct awareness programs among the residents.

Keywords: Bacteriological, groundwater, irrigational suitability, physicochemical, potability.

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Authors: Karim Shiraazi, Mahyar Asheghi Milani, Alireza Sadeghi, Eram Azami, Ahadollah Azami

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A passive system "Qanat" is collection of some underground wells. A mother-well was dug in a place far from the city where they could reach to the water table maybe 100 meters underground, they dug other wells to direct water toward the city, with minimum possible gradient. Using the slope of the earth they could bring water close to the surface in the city. The source of water or the appearance of Qanat, land slope and the ownership lines are the important and effective factors in the formation of routes and the segment division of lands to the extent that making use of Qanat as the techniques of extracting underground waters creates a channel of routes with an organic order and hierarchy coinciding the slope of land and it also guides the Qanat waters in the tradition texture of salt desert and border provinces of it. Qanats are excavated in a specified distinction from each other. The quantity of water provided by Qanats depends on the kind of land, distance from mountain, geographical situation of them and the rate of water supply from the underground land. The rate of underground waters, possibility of Qanat excavation, number of Qanats and rate of their water supply from one hand and the quantity of cultivable fertile lands from the other hand are the important natural factors making the size of cities. In the same manner the cities with several Qanats have multi central textures. The location of cities is in direct relation with land quality, soil fertility and possibility of using underground water by excavating Qanats. Observing the allowable distance for Qanat watering is a determining factor for distance between villages and cities. Topography, land slope, soil quality, watering system, ownership, kind of cultivation, etc. are the effective factors in directing Qanats for excavation and guiding water toward the cultivable lands and it also causes the formation of different textures in land division of farming provinces. Several divisions such as orderly and wide, inorderly, thin and long, comb like, etc. are the introduction to organic order. And at the same time they are complete coincidence with environmental conditions in the typical development of ecological architecture and planning in the traditional cities and settlements order.

Keywords: Qanat, Settlement Formation, Hot-Arid Region, Sustainable Development

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Authors: Andrea Tundis, Carlos García Cordero, Rolf Egert, Alfredo Garro, Max Mühlhäuser

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Resilience is an important system property that relies on the ability of a system to automatically recover from a degraded state so as to continue providing its services. Resilient systems have the means of detecting faults and failures with the added capability of automatically restoring their normal operations. Mastering resilience in the domain of Cyber-Physical Systems is challenging due to the interdependence of hybrid hardware and software components, along with physical limitations, laws, regulations and standards, among others. In order to overcome these challenges, this paper presents a modeling approach, based on the concept of Dynamic Cells, tailored to the management of Smart Grids. Additionally, a heuristic algorithm that works on top of the proposed modeling approach, to find resilient configurations, has been defined and implemented. More specifically, the model supports a flexible representation of Smart Grids and the algorithm is able to manage, at different abstraction levels, the resource consumption of individual grid elements on the presence of failures and faults. Finally, the proposal is evaluated in a test scenario where the effectiveness of such approach, when dealing with complex scenarios where adequate solutions are difficult to find, is shown.

Keywords: Cyber-physical systems, energy management, optimization, smart grids, self-healing, resilience, security.

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Authors: Robson da Cunha Santos, Caio Cezar R. Bonifacio, Diego Mureb Quesada, Gerson Gomes Cunha

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The paper is related to the safety of oil wells and environmental preservation on the planet, because they require great attention and commitment from oil companies and people who work with these equipments. This must occur from drilling the well until it is abandoned in order to safeguard the environment and prevent possible damage. The project had as main objective the constitution resulting from comparatives made among books, articles and publications with information gathered in technical visits to operational bases of Petrobras. After the visits, the information from methods of utilization and present managements, which were not available before, became available to the general audience. As a result, it is observed a huge flux of incorrect and out-of-date information that comprehends not only bibliographic archives, but also academic resources and materials. During the gathering of more in-depth information on the manufacturing, assembling, and use aspects of DHSVs, several issues that were previously known as correct, customary issues were discovered to be uncertain and outdated. Information of great importance resulted in affirmations about subjects as the depth of the valve installation that was before installed to 30 meters from the seabed (mud line). Despite this, the installation should vary in conformity to the ideal depth to escape from area with the biggest tendency to hydrates formation according to the temperature and pressure. Regarding to valves with nitrogen chamber, in accordance with books, they have their utilization linked to water line ≥ 700 meters, but in Brazilian exploratory fields, their use occurs from 600 meters of water line. The valves used in Brazilian fields are able to be inserted to the production column and self-equalizing, but the use of screwed valve in the column of production and equalizing is predominant. Although these valves are more expensive to acquire, they are more reliable, efficient, with a bigger shelf life and they do not cause restriction to the fluid flux. It follows that based on researches and theoretical information confronted to usual forms used in fields, the present project is important and relevant. This project will be used as source of actualization and information equalization that connects academic environment and real situations in exploratory situations and also taking into consideration the enrichment of precise and easy to understand information to future researches and academic upgrading.

Keywords: Downhole, Teaching Material, Books, Practice.

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Authors: R. Rahmoun-Mrabet

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It is acknowledged that our style of speaking changes according to a wide range of variables such as gender, setting, the age of both the addresser and the addressee, the conversation topic, and the aim of the interaction. These differences in style are noticeable in monolingual and multilingual speech communities. Yet, they are more observable in speech communities where two or more codes coexist. The linguistic situation in Algeria reflects a state of bilingualism because of the coexistence of Arabic and French. Nevertheless, like all Arab countries, it is characterized by diglossia i.e. the concomitance of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Algerian Arabic (AA), the former standing for the ‘high variety’ and the latter for the ‘low variety’. The two varieties are derived from the same source but are used to fulfil distinct functions that is, MSA is used in the domains of religion, literature, education and formal settings. AA, on the other hand, is used in informal settings, in everyday speech. French has strongly affected the Algerian language and culture because of the historical background of Algeria, thus, what can easily be noticed in Algeria is that everyday speech is characterized by code-switching from dialectal Arabic and French or by the use of borrowings. Tamazight is also very present in many regions of Algeria and is the mother tongue of many Algerians. Yet, it is not used in the west of Algeria, where the study has been conducted. The present work, which was directed in the speech community of Tlemcen-Algeria, aims at depicting some of the outcomes of the contact of Arabic with French such as code-switching, borrowing and interference. The question that has been asked is whether Algerians are aware of their use of borrowings or not. Three steps are followed in this research; the first one is to depict the sociolinguistic situation in Algeria and to describe the linguistic characteristics of the dialect of Tlemcen, which are specific to this city. The second one is concerned with data collection. Data have been collected from 57 informants who were given questionnaires and who have then been classified according to their age, gender and level of education. Information has also been collected through observation, and note taking. The third step is devoted to analysis. The results obtained reveal that most Algerians are aware of their use of borrowings. The present work clarifies how words are borrowed from French, and then adapted to Arabic. It also illustrates the way in which singular words inflect into plural. The results expose the main characteristics of borrowing as opposed to code-switching. The study also clarifies how interference occurs at the level of nouns, verbs and adjectives.

Keywords: Bilingualism, borrowing, code-switching, interference, language contact.

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Authors: A. Sharahi, R. Tehrani, A. Mollajan

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The final step to complete the “Analytical Systems Engineering Process” is the “Allocated Architecture” in which all Functional Requirements (FRs) of an engineering system must be allocated into their corresponding Physical Components (PCs). At this step, any design for developing the system’s allocated architecture in which no clear pattern of assigning the exclusive “responsibility” of each PC for fulfilling the allocated FR(s) can be found is considered a poor design that may cause difficulties in determining the specific PC(s) which has (have) failed to satisfy a given FR successfully. The present study utilizes the Axiomatic Design method principles to mathematically address this problem and establishes an “Axiomatic Model” as a solution for reaching good alternatives for developing the allocated architecture. This study proposes a “loss Function”, as a quantitative criterion to monetarily compare non-ideal designs for developing the allocated architecture and choose the one which imposes relatively lower cost to the system’s stakeholders. For the case-study, we use the existing design of U. S. electricity marketing subsystem, based on data provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The result for 2012 shows the symptoms of a poor design and ineffectiveness due to coupling among the FRs of this subsystem.

Keywords: Allocated Architecture, Analytical Systems Engineering Process, Functional Requirements (FRs), Physical Components (PCs), Responsibility of a Physical Component, System’s Stakeholders.

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Authors: V. Sulakatko, F. U. Vogdt, I. Lill

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Construction technology and on-site construction activities have a direct influence on the life cycle costs of energy efficiently renovated apartment buildings. The systematic inadequacies of the External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) which occur during the construction phase increase the risk for all stakeholders, reduce mechanical durability and increase the life cycle costs of the building. The economic effect of these shortcomings can be minimised if the risk of the most significant on-site activities is recognised. The objective of the presented ETICS economic assessment concept is to evaluate the economic influence of on-site shortcomings and reveal their significance to the foreseeable future repair costs. The model assembles repair techniques, discusses their direct cost calculation methods, argues over the proper usage of net present value over the life cycle of the building, and proposes a simulation tool to evaluate the risk of on-site activities. As the technique is dependent on the selected real interest rate, a sensitivity analysis is anticipated to determine the validity of the recommendations. After the verification of the model on the sample buildings by the industry, it is expected to increase economic rationality of resource allocation and reduce high-risk systematic shortcomings during the construction process of ETICS.

Keywords: Activity-based cost estimating, Cost estimation, ETICS, Life cycle costing.

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Authors: Ali K. M. Al-Nasrawi, Uday A. Al-Hamdany, Sarah M. Hamylton, Brian G. Jones, Yasir M. Alyazichi

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Surface elevation dynamics have always responded to disturbance regimes. Creating Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) to detect surface dynamics has led to the development of several methods, devices and data clouds. DEMs can provide accurate and quick results with cost efficiency, in comparison to the inherited geomatics survey techniques. Nowadays, remote sensing datasets have become a primary source to create DEMs, including LiDAR point clouds with GIS analytic tools. However, these data need to be tested for error detection and correction. This paper evaluates various DEMs from different data sources over time for Apple Orchard Island, a coastal site in southeastern Australia, in order to detect surface dynamics. Subsequently, 30 chosen locations were examined in the field to test the error of the DEMs surface detection using high resolution global positioning systems (GPSs). Results show significant surface elevation changes on Apple Orchard Island. Accretion occurred on most of the island while surface elevation loss due to erosion is limited to the northern and southern parts. Concurrently, the projected differential correction and validation method aimed to identify errors in the dataset. The resultant DEMs demonstrated a small error ratio (≤ 3%) from the gathered datasets when compared with the fieldwork survey using RTK-GPS. As modern modelling approaches need to become more effective and accurate, applying several tools to create different DEMs on a multi-temporal scale would allow easy predictions in time-cost-frames with more comprehensive coverage and greater accuracy. With a DEM technique for the eco-geomorphic context, such insights about the ecosystem dynamic detection, at such a coastal intertidal system, would be valuable to assess the accuracy of the predicted eco-geomorphic risk for the conservation management sustainability. Demonstrating this framework to evaluate the historical and current anthropogenic and environmental stressors on coastal surface elevation dynamism could be profitably applied worldwide.

Keywords: DEMs, eco-geomorphic-dynamic processes, geospatial information science. Remote sensing, surface elevation changes.

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Authors: B. Bahmani Firouzi, T. Niknam, M. Nayeripour

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With Power system movement toward restructuring along with factors such as life environment pollution, problems of transmission expansion and with advancement in construction technology of small generation units, it is expected that small units like wind turbines, fuel cells, photovoltaic, ... that most of the time connect to the distribution networks play a very essential role in electric power industry. With increase in developing usage of small generation units, management of distribution networks should be reviewed. The target of this paper is to present a new method for optimal management of active and reactive power in distribution networks with regard to costs pertaining to various types of dispersed generations, capacitors and cost of electric energy achieved from network. In other words, in this method it-s endeavored to select optimal sources of active and reactive power generation and controlling equipments such as dispersed generations, capacitors, under load tapchanger transformers and substations in a way that firstly costs in relation to them are minimized and secondly technical and physical constraints are regarded. Because the optimal management of distribution networks is an optimization problem with continuous and discrete variables, the new evolutionary method based on Ant Colony Algorithm has been applied. The simulation results of the method tested on two cases containing 23 and 34 buses exist and will be shown at later sections.

Keywords: Distributed Generation, Optimal Operation Management of distribution networks, Ant Colony Optimization(ACO).

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Authors: Leonor Varandas, Pedro D. Gaspar, Martim L. Aguiar

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One of the biggest concerns in the field of agriculture is around the energy efficiency of robots that will perform agriculture’s activity and their charging methods. In this paper, two different charging methods for agricultural standalone docking stations are shown that will take into account various variants as field size and its irregularities, work’s nature to which the robot will perform, deadlines that have to be respected, among others. Its features also are dependent on the orchard, season, battery type and its technical specifications and cost. First charging base method focuses on wireless charging, presenting more benefits for small field. The second charging base method relies on battery replacement being more suitable for large fields, thus avoiding the robot stop for recharge. Existing many methods to charge a battery, the CC CV was considered the most appropriate for either simplicity or effectiveness. The choice of the battery for agricultural purposes is if most importance. While the most common battery used is Li-ion battery, this study also discusses the use of graphene-based new type of batteries with 45% over capacity to the Li-ion one. A Battery Management Systems (BMS) is applied for battery balancing. All these approaches combined showed to be a promising method to improve a lot of technical agricultural work, not just in terms of plantation and harvesting but also about every technique to prevent harmful events like plagues and weeds or even to reduce crop time and cost.

Keywords: Agricultural mobile robot, charging base methods, battery replacement method, wireless charging method.

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Authors: Fl. Loury, P. Sablonière

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In this paper a stochastic scenario-based model predictive control applied to molten salt storage systems in concentrated solar tower power plant is presented. The main goal of this study is to build up a tool to analyze current and expected future resources for evaluating the weekly power to be advertised on electricity secondary market. This tool will allow plant operator to maximize profits while hedging the impact on the system of stochastic variables such as resources or sunlight shortage.

Solving the problem first requires a mixed logic dynamic modeling of the plant. The two stochastic variables, respectively the sunlight incoming energy and electricity demands from secondary market, are modeled by least square regression. Robustness is achieved by drawing a certain number of random variables realizations and applying the most restrictive one to the system. This scenario approach control technique provides the plant operator a confidence interval containing a given percentage of possible stochastic variable realizations in such a way that robust control is always achieved within its bounds. The results obtained from many trajectory simulations show the existence of a ‘’reliable’’ interval, which experimentally confirms the algorithm robustness.

Keywords: Molten Salt Storage System, Concentrated Solar Tower Power Plant, Robust Stochastic Model Predictive Control.

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Authors: Juhee Lee, Yongjun Lee

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In designing a low-energy-consuming buildings, the heat transfer through a large glass or wall becomes critical. Multiple layers of the window glasses and walls are employed for the high insulation. The gravity driven air flow between window glasses or wall layers is a natural heat convection phenomenon being a key of the heat transfer. For the first step of the natural heat transfer analysis, in this study the development and application of a finite volume method for the numerical computation of viscous incompressible flows is presented. It will become a part of the natural convection analysis with high-order scheme, multi-grid method, and dual-time step in the future. A finite volume method based on a fully-implicit second-order is used to discretize and solve the fluid flow on unstructured grids composed of arbitrary-shaped cells. The integrations of the governing equation are discretised in the finite volume manner using a collocated arrangement of variables. The convergence of the SIMPLE segregated algorithm for the solution of the coupled nonlinear algebraic equations is accelerated by using a sparse matrix solver such as BiCGSTAB. The method used in the present study is verified by applying it to some flows for which either the numerical solution is known or the solution can be obtained using another numerical technique available in the other researches. The accuracy of the method is assessed through the grid refinement.

Keywords: Finite volume method, fluid flow, laminar flow, unstructured grid.

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Authors: Toi Limazie, Xun'an Zhang, Xianjie Wang

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This paper focuses on the Mega-Sub Controlled Structure Systems (MSCSS) performances and characteristics regarding the new control principle contained in MSCSS subjected to strong earthquake excitations. The adopted control scheme consists of modulated sub-structures where the control action is achieved by viscous dampers and sub-structure own configuration. The elastic-plastic time history analysis under severe earthquake excitation is analyzed base on the Finite Element Analysis Method (FEAM), and some comparison results are also given in this paper. The result shows that the MSCSS systems can remarkably reduce vibrations effects more than the mega-sub structure (MSS). The study illustrates that the improved MSCSS presents good seismic resistance ability even at 1.2g and can absorb seismic energy in the structure, thus imply that structural members cross section can be reduce and achieve to good economic characteristics. Furthermore, the elasto-plastic analysis demonstrates that the MSCSS is accurate enough regarding international building evaluation and design codes. This paper also shows that the elasto-plastic dynamic analysis method is a reasonable and reliable analysis method for structures subjected to strong earthquake excitations and that the computed results are more precise.

Keywords: controlling effectiveness, Elasto-plastic dynamic analysis, Mega-Sub Controlled Structure, Plastic hinge pattern.

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Authors: Md Abdullah Al Faruque, Ram Balachandar

Abstract:

Sudden change of bed condition is frequent in open channel flow. Change of bed condition affects the turbulence characteristics in both streamwise and wall-normal direction. Understanding the turbulence intensity in open channel flow is of vital importance to the modeling of sediment transport and resuspension, bed formation, entrainment, and the exchange of energy and momentum. A comprehensive study was carried out to understand the extent of the effect of Reynolds number and bed roughness on different turbulence characteristics in an open channel flow. Four different bed conditions (impervious smooth bed, impervious continuous rough bed, pervious rough sand bed, and impervious distributed roughness) and two different Reynolds numbers were adopted for this cause. The effect of bed roughness on different turbulence characteristics is seen to be prevalent for most of the flow depth. Effect of Reynolds number on different turbulence characteristics is also evident for flow over different bed, but the extent varies on bed condition. Although the same sand grain is used to create the different rough bed conditions, the difference in turbulence characteristics is an indication that specific geometry of the roughness has an influence on turbulence characteristics. Roughness increases the contribution of the extreme turbulent events which produces very large instantaneous Reynolds shear stress and can potentially influence the sediment transport, resuspension of pollutant from bed and alter the nutrient composition, which eventually affect the sustainability of benthic organisms.

Keywords: Open channel flow, Reynolds Number, roughness, turbulence.

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Authors: Fatima Z. Cherhabil, Mammar Sedrati, Sonia-Sabrina Bendib‎

Abstract:

In order to support the continued growth, critical latency of ‎IoT ‎applications and ‎various obstacles of traditional data centers, ‎Mobile Edge ‎Computing (MEC) has ‎emerged as a promising solution that extends the cloud data-processing and decision-making to edge devices. ‎By adopting a MEC structure, IoT applications could be executed ‎locally, on ‎an edge server, different fog nodes or distant cloud ‎data centers. However, we are ‎often ‎faced with wanting to optimize conflicting criteria such as ‎minimizing energy ‎consumption of limited local capabilities (in terms of CPU, RAM, storage, bandwidth) of mobile edge ‎devices and trying to ‎keep ‎high performance (reducing ‎response time, increasing throughput and service availability) ‎at the same ‎time‎. Achieving one goal may affect the other making Task Offloading (TO), ‎Resource Allocation (RA) and Service Placement (SP) complex ‎processes. ‎It is a nontrivial multi-objective optimization ‎problem ‎to study the trade-off between conflicting criteria. ‎The paper provides a survey on different TO, SP and RA recent Multi-‎Objective Optimization (MOO) approaches used in edge computing environments, particularly Artificial Intelligent (AI) ones, to satisfy various objectives, constraints and dynamic conditions related to IoT applications‎.

Keywords: Mobile Edge Computing, Multi-Objective Optimization, Artificial Intelligence ‎Approaches, Task Offloading, Resource Allocation, Service Placement‎.

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Authors: Sanaz Seraj, Shohre Rouhani

Abstract:

Recently, graphene has gained much attention because of its unique optical, mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. Graphene has been used as a key material in the technological applications in various areas such as sensors, drug delivery, super capacitors, transparent conductor, and solar cell. It has a superior quenching efficiency for various fluorophores. Based on these unique properties, the optical sensors with graphene materials as the energy acceptors have demonstrated great success in recent years. During quenching, the emission of a fluorophore is perturbed by a quencher which can be a substrate or biomolecule, and due to this phenomenon, fluorophore-quencher has been used for selective detection of target molecules. Among fluorescence dyes, 1,8-naphthalimide is well known for its typical intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) and photo-induced charge transfer (PET) fluorophore, strong absorption and emission in the visible region, high photo stability, and large Stokes shift. Derivatives of 1,8-naphthalimides have found applications in some areas, especially fluorescence sensors. Herein, the fluorescence quenching of graphene oxide has been carried out on a naphthalimide dye as a fluorescent probe model. The quenching ability of graphene oxide on naphthalimide dye was studied by UV-VIS and fluorescence spectroscopy. This study showed that graphene is an efficient quencher for fluorescent dyes. Therefore, it can be used as a suitable candidate sensing platform. To the best of our knowledge, studies on the quenching and absorption of naphthalimide dyes by graphene oxide are rare.

Keywords: Fluorescence, graphene oxide, naphthalimide dye, quenching.

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Authors: K. Machida, H. Yamada

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Displacement measurement was conducted on compact normal and shear specimens made of acrylic homogeneous material subjected to mixed-mode loading by digital image correlation. The intelligent hybrid method proposed by Nishioka et al. was applied to the stress-strain analysis near the crack tip. The accuracy of stress-intensity factor at the free surface was discussed from the viewpoint of both the experiment and 3-D finite element analysis. The surface images before and after deformation were taken by a CMOS camera, and we developed the system which enabled the real time stress analysis based on digital image correlation and inverse problem analysis. The great portion of processing time of this system was spent on displacement analysis. Then, we tried improvement in speed of this portion. In the case of cracked body, it is also possible to evaluate fracture mechanics parameters such as the J integral, the strain energy release rate, and the stress-intensity factor of mixed-mode. The 9-points elliptic paraboloid approximation could not analyze the displacement of submicron order with high accuracy. The analysis accuracy of displacement was improved considerably by introducing the Newton-Raphson method in consideration of deformation of a subset. The stress-intensity factor was evaluated with high accuracy of less than 1% of the error.

Keywords: Digital image correlation, mixed mode, Newton-Raphson method, stress intensity factor.

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Authors: Mohsen Noroozi, Maryam Khalili

Abstract:

Creating cities, objects and spaces that are economically, environmentally and socially sustainable and which meet the challenge of social interaction and generation change will be one of the biggest tasks of designers. Social sustainability is about how individuals, communities and societies live with each other and set out to achieve the objectives of development model which they have chosen for themselves. Urban lightning as one of the most important elements of urban furniture that people constantly interact with it in public spaces; can be a significant object for designers. Using intelligence by internet of things for urban lighting makes it more interactive in public environments. It can encourage individuals to carry out appropriate behaviors and provides them the social awareness through new interactions. The greatest strength of this technology is its strong impact on many aspects of everyday life and users' behaviors. The analytical phase of the research is based on a multiple method survey strategy. Smart lighting proposed in this paper is an urban lighting designed on results obtained from a collective point of view about the social sustainability. In this paper, referring to behavioral design methods, the social behaviors of the people has been studied. Data show that people demands for a deeper experience of social participation, safety perception and energy saving with the meaningful use of interactive and colourful lighting effects. By using intelligent technology, some suggestions are provided in the field of future lighting to consider the new forms of social sustainability.

Keywords: Behavior model, internet of things, social sustainability, urban lighting.

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Authors: Zsolt János Viharos, Krisztián Balázs Kis, Imre Paniti, Gábor Belső, Péter Németh, János Farkas

Abstract:

The paper presents the results and industrial applications in the production setup period estimation based on industrial data inherited from the field of polymer cutting. The literature of polymer cutting is very limited considering the number of publications. The first polymer cutting machine is known since the second half of the 20th century; however, the production of polymer parts with this kind of technology is still a challenging research topic. The products of the applying industrial partner must met high technical requirements, as they are used in medical, measurement instrumentation and painting industry branches. Typically, 20% of these parts are new work, which means every five years almost the entire product portfolio is replaced in their low series manufacturing environment. Consequently, it requires a flexible production system, where the estimation of the frequent setup periods' lengths is one of the key success factors. In the investigation, several (input) parameters have been studied and grouped to create an adequate training information set for an artificial neural network as a base for the estimation of the individual setup periods. In the first group, product information is collected such as the product name and number of items. The second group contains material data like material type and colour. In the third group, surface quality and tolerance information are collected including the finest surface and tightest (or narrowest) tolerance. The fourth group contains the setup data like machine type and work shift. One source of these parameters is the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) but some data were also collected from Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings. The number of the applied tools is one of the key factors on which the industrial partners’ estimations were based previously. The artificial neural network model was trained on several thousands of real industrial data. The mean estimation accuracy of the setup periods' lengths was improved by 30%, and in the same time the deviation of the prognosis was also improved by 50%. Furthermore, an investigation on the mentioned parameter groups considering the manufacturing order was also researched. The paper also highlights the manufacturing introduction experiences and further improvements of the proposed methods, both on the shop floor and on the quotation preparation fields. Every week more than 100 real industrial setup events are given and the related data are collected.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, low series manufacturing, polymer cutting, setup period estimation.

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Authors: A. Q. Sobia, A. Shyzleen, M. S. Hamidah, I. Azmi, S. F. A. Rafeeqi, S. Ahmad

Abstract:

Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures strengthened with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) lack in thermal resistance under elevated temperatures in the event of fire. This phenomenon led to the lining of strengthened concrete with thin high performance cementitious composites (THPCC) to protect the substrate against elevated temperature. Elevated temperature effects on THPCC, based on different cementitious materials have been studied in the past but high-alumina cement (HAC)-based THPCC have not been well characterized. This research study will focus on the THPCC based on HAC replaced by 60%, 70%, 80% and 85% of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). Samples were evaluated by the measurement of their mechanical strength (28 & 56 days of curing) after exposed to 400°C, 600°C and 28°C of room temperature for comparison and corroborated by their microstructure study. Results showed that among all mixtures, the mix containing only HAC showed the highest compressive strength after exposed to 600°C as compared to other mixtures. However, the tensile strength of THPCC made of HAC and 60% GGBS content was comparable to the THPCC with HAC only after exposed to 600°C. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images of THPCC accompanying Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis revealed that the microstructure deteriorated considerably after exposure to elevated temperatures which led to the decrease in mechanical strength.

Keywords: Ground granulated blast furnace slag, high aluminacement, microstructure at elevated temperature and residual strength.

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Authors: Loai Ben Naji, Osama M. Ibrahim, Khaled J. Al-Fadhalah

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The objective of this paper is to investigate the formation and adhesion of a protective aluminum-oxide (Al₂O₃, alumina) layer on the surface of Iron-Chromium-Aluminum Alloy (Fe-Cr-Al) sintered-metal-fibers. The oxide-scale layer was developed via multi-stage thermal oxidation at 930 ^oC for 1 hour, followed by 1 hour at 960 ^oC, and finally at 990 ^oC for 2 hours. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images show that the multi-stage thermal oxidation resulted in the formation of predominantly Al₂O₃ platelets-like and whiskers. SEM images also reveal non-uniform oxide-scale growth on the surface of the fibers. Furthermore, peeling/spalling of the alumina protective layer occurred after minimum handling, which indicates weak adhesion forces between the protective layer and the base metal alloy.  Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis of the heat-treated Fe-Cr-Al sintered-metal-fibers confirmed the high aluminum content on the surface of the protective layer, and the low aluminum content on the exposed base metal alloy surface. In conclusion, the failure of the oxide-scale protective layer exposes the base metal alloy to further oxidation, and the fragile non-uniform oxide-scale is not suitable as a support for catalysts.

Keywords: High-temperature oxidation, alumina protective layer, iron-chromium-aluminum alloy, sintered-metal-fibers.

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Authors: Zhichao Jiao, Craig Farnham, Jihui Yuan, Kazuo Emura

Abstract:

It is common to use the outdoor design weather data to select the air-conditioning capacity in the building design stage. The meteorological elements of outdoor design weather data are usually selected based on their excess frequency separately while the dependency between the elements is not well considered. It means that the simultaneous occurrence probability of these elements is smaller than the original excess frequency which may cause an overestimation of selecting air-conditioning capacity. Therefore, the copula approach which can capture the dependency between multivariate data was used to model the joint distributions of the meteorological elements, like air temperature and global solar radiation. We suggest a method based on the specific simultaneous occurrence probability of these two elements of selecting more credible outdoor design conditions. The hourly weather data at 12 noon from 2001 to 2010 in Tokyo, Japan are used to analyze the dependency structure and joint distribution, the Gaussian copula represents the dependence of data best. According to calculating the air temperature and global solar radiation in specific simultaneous occurrence probability and the common exceeding, the results show that both the air temperature and global solar radiation based on simultaneous occurrence probability are lower than these based on the conventional method in the same probability.

Keywords: Copula approach, Design weather database, energy conservation, HVAC.

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Authors: Ime R. Udotong, Justina I. R. Udotong

Abstract:

Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil and the highest crude oil & condensate producer in Nigeria has its operational base and an oil terminal, the Qua Iboe terminal (QIT) located at Ibeno, Nigeria. Other oil companies like Network Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd, Frontier Oil Ltd; Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd; Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd and Nigerian Agip Energy, a subsidiary of the Italian ENI E&P operate onshore, on the continental shelf and in deep offshore of the Atlantic Ocean, respectively with the coastal waters of Ibeno, Nigeria as the nearest shoreline. This study was designed to delineate the oil-polluted sites in Ibeno, Nigeria using microbiological and physico-chemical characterization of soils, sediments and ground and surface water samples from the study area. Results obtained revealed that there have been significant recent hydrocarbon inputs into this environment as observed from the high counts of hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms in excess of 1% at all the stations sampled. Moreover, high concentrations of THC, BTEX and heavy metals contents in all the samples analyzed corroborate the high recent crude oil input into the study area. The results also showed that the pollution of the different environmental media sampled were of varying degrees, following the trend: ground water > surface water > sediments > soils.

Keywords: Microbiological characterization, oil-polluted sites, physico-chemical analyses, total hydrocarbon content.

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