Search results for: Ground nut shell

Authors: Yehya Abdellatif, Ahmed Alsalaymeh, Iyad Muslih, Ali Alshduifat

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Photovoltaic (PV) power generation systems, mainly small scale, are rapidly being deployed in Jordan. The impact of these systems on the grid has not been studied or analyzed. These systems can cause many technical problems such as reverse power flows and voltage rises in distribution feeders, and real and reactive power transients that affect the operation of the transmission system. To fully understand and address these problems, extensive research, simulation, and case studies are required. To this end, this paper studies the cloud shadow effect on the power generation of a ground mounted PV system installed at the test field of the Renewable Energy Center at the Applied Science University.

Keywords: Photovoltaic, cloud effect, MPPT, power transients.

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Authors: S. Feli, S. Tavousi Tafreshi, A. Ghasemi

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The present paper aims at evaluating the response of three-dimensional buildings with in-plan stiffness irregularities that have been subjected to two-way excitation ground motion records simultaneously. This study is broadly-based fragility assessment with greater emphasis on structural response at in-plan flexible and stiff sides. To this end, three type of three-dimensional 5-story steel building structures with stiffness eccentricities, were subjected to extensive nonlinear incremental dynamic analyses (IDA) utilizing Ibarra-Krawinkler deterioration models. Fragility assessment was implemented for different configurations of braces to investigate the losses in buildings with center of resisting (CR) eccentricities.

Keywords: Ibarra Krawinkler, fragility assessment, flexible and stiff side, center of resisting.

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Authors: M. S. Nourbakhsh, M. E. Khosroshahi

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Laser soldering is based on applying some soldering material (albumin) onto the approximated edges of the cut and heating the solder (and the underlying tissues) by a laser beam. Endogenous and exogenous materials such as indocyanine green (ICG) are often added to solders to enhance light absorption. Gold nanoshells are new materials which have an optical response dictated by the plasmon resonance. The wavelength at which the resonance occurs depends on the core and shell sizes, allowing nanoshells to be tailored for particular applications. The purposes of this study was use combination of ICG and different concentration of gold nanoshells for skin tissue soldering and also to examine the effect of laser soldering parameters on the properties of repaired skin. Two mixtures of albumin solder and different combinations of ICG and gold nanoshells were prepared. A full thickness incision of 2×20 mm2 was made on the surface and after addition of mixtures it was irradiated by an 810nm diode laser at different power densities. The changes of tensile strength σt due to temperature rise, number of scan (Ns), and scan velocity (Vs) were investigated. The results showed at constant laser power density (I), σt of repaired incisions increases by increasing the concentration of gold nanoshells in solder, Ns and decreasing Vs. It is therefore important to consider the tradeoff between the scan velocity and the surface temperature for achieving an optimum operating condition. In our case this corresponds to σt =1800 gr/cm2 at I~ 47 Wcm-2, T ~ 85ºC, Ns =10 and Vs=0.3mms-1.

Keywords: Tissue soldering, gold nanoshells, indocyanine green, combination, tensile strength.

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Authors: Sumit Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Chandan Deep Singh

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This paper presents modeling and simulation of flexible robot in an underwater environment. The underwater environment completely contrasts with ground or space environment. The robot in an underwater situation is subjected to various dynamic forces like buoyancy forces, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces. The underwater robot is modeled as Rayleigh beam. The developed model further allows estimating the deflection of tip in two directions. The complete dynamics of the underwater robot is analyzed, which is the main focus of this investigation. The control of robot trajectory is not discussed in this paper. Simulation is performed using Symbol Shakti software.

Keywords: Bond graph modeling, dynamics. modeling, Rayleigh beam, underwater robot.

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Authors: R. Xu, X. Zhao, X. Li, C. Kwan, C.-I Chang

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An image texture analysis and target recognition approach of using an improved image texture feature coding method (TFCM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) for target detection is presented. With our proposed target detection framework, targets of interest can be detected accurately. Cascade-Sliding-Window technique was also developed for automated target localization. Application to mammogram showed that over 88% of normal mammograms and 80% of abnormal mammograms can be correctly identified. The approach was also successfully applied to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) images for target detection.

Keywords: Image texture analysis, feature extraction, target detection, pattern classification.

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Authors: K. Krizova, R. Hela, S. Keprdova

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This paper introduces selected composition of conventional concretes and their resulting mechanical properties at different ages of concrete. With respect to utilization of mineral admixtures, fly ash and ground limestone agents were included in addition to pure Portland binder. The proposal of concrete composition remained constant in basic concrete components such as cement and representation of individual contents of aggregate fractions; weight dosing of admixtures and water dose were only modified. Water dose was chosen in order to achieve identical consistence by settlement for all proposals of concrete composition. Mechanical properties monitored include compression strength, static and dynamic modulus of concrete elasticity, at ages of 7, 28, 90, and 180 days.

Keywords: Cement, mineral admixtures, microstructure of concrete, mechanical properties.

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Authors: Nishanth Murugan, Mohammed Niyasdeen Nejaamtheen, S. Sounder Rajan

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The accelerated growth in aircraft industries desire effectual schemes, programs, innovative designs of advanced systems to accomplishing the augmenting need for home-free air transportation. In this paper, a contemporary conceptual design of an airplane has been proposed without landing gear systems in order to reducing accidents, time consumption, and to eliminating drawbacks by using superconducting levitation phenomenon. This invention of an airplane with superconductive material coating, on the solar plexus region assist to reduce weight by approximately 4% of the total takeoff weight, and cost effective. Moreover, we conjectured that superconductor landing system reduces ground friction, mission fuel, total drag, take-off and landing distance.

Keywords: Aircraft landing system, Magnetic levitation, Superconductors, Take-off and landing.

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Authors: Alaa Al Hawari, Mohammad Khader, Tarek Zayed, Osama Moselhi

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In this paper, an effective non-destructive, noninvasive approach for leak detection was proposed. The process relies on analyzing thermal images collected by an IR viewer device that captures thermo-grams. In this study a statistical analysis of the collected thermal images of the ground surface along the expected leak location followed by a visual inspection of the thermo-grams was performed in order to locate the leak. In order to verify the applicability of the proposed approach the predicted leak location from the developed approach was compared with the real leak location. The results showed that the expected leak location was successfully identified with an accuracy of more than 95%.

Keywords: Thermography, Leakage, Water pipelines, Thermograms.

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Authors: Gaurav Kumar, Dharmbir Prasad, Rudra Pratap Singh

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In the current work, adaptive extended Kalman filter (AEKF) is presented for solution of ground radar based ballistic missile (BM) tracking problem in re-entry phase with unknown ballistic coefficient. The estimation of trajectory of any BM in re-entry phase is extremely difficult, because of highly non-linear motion of BM. The estimation accuracy of AEKF has been tested for a typical test target tracking problem adopted from literature. Further, the approach of AEKF is compared with extended Kalman filter (EKF). The simulation result indicates the superiority of the AEKF in solving joint parameter and state estimation problems.

Keywords: Adaptive, AEKF, ballistic missile, EKF, re-entry phase, target tracking.

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Authors: Mohammad J. Almalkawi

Abstract:

A broadband wire monopole antenna loaded by inhomogeneous stack of annular dielectric ring resonators (DRRs) is proposed. The proposed antenna exhibits a broad impedance bandwidth from 3 to 30 GHz. This is achieved by adding an external step matching network at the antenna feed point. The matching network is comprised of three annular DRRs possessing different permittivity values and sharing the same axial over a finite ground plane. The antenna performance is characterized using full-wave EM simulation. Compared to previous-reported wire antennas with improved bandwidth achieved by DRRs, the proposed topology provides relatively compact realization and superior broadband performance.

Keywords: Broadband, dielectric ring resonator, wire monopole antenna.

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Authors: Glenda Minguito, Jenith Banluta

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One of the critical aspects of humanitarian operations is the distribution of relief goods to an affected community. The common assumption is that relief goods are prepositioned during disasters which are not applicable in developing countries like the Philippines. During disasters, the on-the-ground government agencies and responders have to procure, sort, weigh and pack the relief goods. There is a need to review the relief goods preparation as it seriously affects the delivery of necessary aid for human survival. This study also identifies the ideal location of the assembly hub to minimize the distance to the affected community. This paper reveals that location and resources are dependent on the type of disasters encountered at the local level. The Center-of-Gravity method and Multiple Activity Chart were applied in the analysis.

Keywords: Humanitarian supply chain, location decision, resource allocation, local level.

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Authors: Paweł Żur, Alicja Żur, Andrzej Baier

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Modal analysis is a crucial tool in the field of engineering for understanding the dynamic behavior of structures. In this study, numerical modal analysis was conducted on a multi-material 3D-printed composite bushing, which comprised a polylactic acid (PLA) outer shell and a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) flexible filling. The objective was to investigate the modal characteristics of the bushing and assess its potential for practical applications. The analysis involved the development of a finite element model of the bushing, which was subsequently subjected to modal analysis techniques. Natural frequencies, mode shapes, and damping ratios were determined to identify the dominant vibration modes and their corresponding responses. The numerical modal analysis provided valuable insights into the dynamic behavior of the bushing, enabling a comprehensive understanding of its structural integrity and performance. Furthermore, the study expanded its scope by investigating the entire shaft mounting of a small electric car, incorporating the 3D-printed composite bushing. The shaft mounting system was subjected to numerical modal analysis to evaluate its dynamic characteristics and potential vibrational issues. The results of the modal analysis highlighted the effectiveness of the 3D-printed composite bushing in minimizing vibrations and optimizing the performance of the shaft mounting system. The findings contribute to the broader field of composite material applications in automotive engineering and provide valuable insights for the design and optimization of similar components.

Keywords: 3D printing, composite bushing, modal analysis, multi-material.

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Authors: K. Dimitropoulos, N. Grammalidis, I. Gragopoulos, H. Gao, Th. Heuer, M. Weinmann, S. Voit, C. Stockhammer, U. Hartmann, N. Pavlidou

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Existing ground movement surveillance technologies at airports are subjected to limitations due to shadowing effects or multiple reflections. Therefore, there is a strong demand for a new sensing technology, which will be cost effective and will provide detection of non-cooperative targets under any weather conditions. This paper aims to present a new intelligent system, developed within the framework of the EC-funded ISMAEL project, which is based on a new magnetic sensing technology and provides detection, tracking and automatic classification of targets moving on the airport surface. The system is currently being installed at two European airports. Initial experimental results under real airport traffic demonstrate the great potential of the proposed system.

Keywords: Air traffic management, magnetic sensors, multitracking, A-SMGCS.

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Authors: Md R. Islam, Rafiqul A. Tarefder

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This study presents the moisture variations of unbound layers from April 2012 to January 2014 in the Interstate 40 (I-40) pavement section in New Mexico. Three moisture probes were installed at different layers inside the pavement which measure the continuous moisture variations of the unbound layers. Data show that the moisture contents of unbound layers are typically constant throughout the day and month unless there is rainfall. Moisture contents of all unbound layers change with rainfall. Change in ground water table may affect the moisture content of unbound layers which has not been investigated in this study. In addition, the Level 3 predictions of moisture contents using the Pavement Mechanistic- Empirical (ME) Design software were compared and found quite reasonable. However, results presented in the current study may not be applicable for pavement in other regions.

Keywords: Asphalt pavement, moisture probes, resilient modulus, climate model.

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Authors: Ji-il Park, Donghan Koo, Hyungtae Seo, Jihyuk Park, Heewon Park, Sukyung Park, Kyung-Soo Kim, and Soohyun Kim

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In the paper, the energetic features of the loaded gait are newly analyzed depending on the trunk flexion change. To investigate the loaded gait, walking experiments are performed for five subjects and, the ground reaction forces and kinematic data are measured. Based on these information, we compute the impulse, momentum and mechanical works done on the center of body mass, through the trunk flexion change. As a result, it is shown that the trunk flexion change does not affect the impulses and momentums during the step-to-step transition as well. However, the direction of the pre-collision momentum does change depending on the trunk flexion change, which is degenerated just after (or during) the collision period.

Keywords: Loaded gait, collision, impulse, gravity, heel strike, push-off, gait analysis.

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Authors: Trevor N. Haas, Thomas van der Kolf

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South Africa has some regions which are susceptible to moderate seismic activity. A peak ground acceleration of between 0.1g and 0.15g can be expected in the southern parts of the Western Cape. Unreinforced Masonry (URM) is commonly used as a construction material for 2 to 5 storey buildings in underprivileged areas in and around Cape Town. URM is typically regarded as the material most vulnerable to damage when subjected to earthquake excitation. In this study, a three-storey URM building was analysed by applying seven earthquake time-histories, which can be expected to occur in South Africa using a finite element approach. Experimental data was used to calibrate the in- and out-of-plane stiffness of the URM. The results indicated that tensile cracking of the in-plane piers was the dominant failure mode. It is concluded that URM buildings of this type are at risk of failure especially if sufficient ductility is not provided. The results also showed that connection failure must be investigated further.

Keywords: URM, Seismic Analysis, FEM.

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Authors: Jamal Moshtagh, Hassan Pourvali Souraki

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In North America, Most power distribution systems employ a four-wire multi-grounded neutral (MGN) design. This paper has explained the inherent characteristics of multi-grounded three-phase four-wire distribution systems under unbalanced situations. As a result, the mechanism of voltage swell and voltage sag in MGN feeders becomes difficult to understand. The simulation tool that has been used in this paper is MATLAB under Windows software. In this paper the equivalent model of a full-scale multigrounded distribution system implemented by MATLAB is introduced. The results are expected to help utility engineers to understand the impact of MGN on distribution system operations.

Keywords: Distribution systems, multi- grounded, neutral, three-phase four-wire, ground.

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Authors: Z. W. Zhong, C. Xu, W. K. Choi

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To build a thin fan-out wafer-level package, the package had to be ground to a thin level. In this work, the influence of the grinding processes on the strength of the fan-out wafer-level packages was investigated. After different grinding processes, all specimens were placed on a three-point-bending fixture installed on a universal tester for three-point-bending testing, and the strength of the fan-out wafer-level packages was measured. The experiments revealed that the average flexure strength increased with the decreasing surface roughness height of the fan-out wafer-level package tested. The grinding processes had a significant influence on the strength of the fan-out wafer-level packages investigated.

Keywords: FOWLP strength, surface roughness, three-point bending, grinding.

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Authors: G. S. Ryu, K. T. Koh, H. Y. Kim, G. H. An, D. W. Seo

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Geopolymer mortar is produced by alkaline activation of pozzolanic materials such as fly ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) and fly ash (FA). Its unique reaction pathway facilitates rapid strength development in comparison with hydration of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Geopolymer can be fabricated using various types and dosages of alkali-activator, which effectively gives a wider control over the performance of the final product. The present study investigates the effect of types of precursors and curing conditions on the fresh state and strength development characteristics of geopolymers, thereby comparatively exploring the effect of precursors from various sources of origin. The obtained result showed that the setting time and strength development of the specimens with the identical mix proportion but different precursors displayed significant variations.

Keywords: Alkali-activated material, blast furnace slag, fly ash, Flowability, strength development.

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Authors: Jamal A. Gledan, Othman A. Azzeidani

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During the last decade, Libya established a new Geodetic Datum called Libyan Geodetic Datum 2006 (LGD 2006) by using GPS, whereas the ground traversing method was used to establish the last Libyan datum which was called the Europe Libyan Datum 79 (ELD79). The current research paper introduces ELD79 to LGD2006 coordinate transformation technique, the accurate comparison of transformation between multiple regression equations and the three – parameters model (Bursa-Wolf). The results had been obtained show that the overall accuracy of stepwise multi regression equations is better than that can be determined by using Bursa-Wolf transformation model.

Keywords: Geodetic datum, horizontal control points, traditional similarity transformation model, unconventional transformation techniques.

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Authors: Petri Vaattovaara, Zoran D. Ristovski, Martin Graus, Marcus Müller, EijaAsmi, Luca Di Liberto, StaffanSjögren, Douglas Orsini, Caroline Leck, Ari Laaksonen

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Due to climate warming and consequently due to ice and snow melting of the Arctic Ocean, the highly biologically active ocean surface area has been expanding quickly making possible longer marine biota growth seasons during polar summers. That increase the probability of the remote marine environment secondary contribution, especially secondary organic contribution, to the particle production and particle growth events and particle properties, consequently effecting on the open ocean, pack ice and ground based regions radiation budget and thus on the feedbacks between arctic biota, particles, clouds, and climate.

Keywords: Arctic Ocean, ice melting, nucleation, secondary organics, clouds, climate.

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Authors: V. Rodas, L. Almache

Abstract:

The interaction effects between the existing soil and the substructure of a 5-story building with an underground one, were evaluated in such a way that the structural-geotechnical concepts were validated through the method of impedance factors with a program based on the method of the finite elements. The continuous wall-type foundation had a constant thickness and followed inclined and orthogonal directions, while the ground had homogeneous and medium-type characteristics. The soil considered was type C according to the Ecuadorian Construction Standard (NEC) and the corresponding foundation comprised a depth of 4.00 meters and a basement wall thickness of 40 centimeters. This project is part of a mid-rise building in the city of Azogues (Ecuador). The hypotheses raised responded to the objectives in such a way that the model implemented with springs had a variation with respect to the embedded base, obtaining conservative results.

Keywords: interaction, soil, substructure, springs, effects, modeling, embedment

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Authors: Ying-Chang Yu, Yuan-Lung Lo

Abstract:

Building ventilation performance is an important indicator of indoor comfort. However, in addition to the geometry of the building or the proportion of the opening, the ventilation performance is also very much related to the actual wind pressure of the building. There are more and more contemporary building designs built with multi-layer exterior envelope. Due to ventilation and view observatory requirement, the porous outer layer of the building is commonly adopted and has a significant wind damping effect, causing the phenomenon of actual wind pressure loss. However, the relationship between the wind damping effect and the actual wind pressure is not linear. This effect can make the indoor ventilation of the building rationalized to reasonable range under the condition of high wind pressure, and also maintain a good amount of ventilation performance under the condition of low wind pressure. In this study, wind tunnel experiments were carried out to simulate the different wind pressures flow through the porous outer layer, and observe the actual wind pressure strength engage with the window layer to find the decreasing relationship between the damping effect of the porous shell and the wind pressure. Experiment specimen scale was designed to be 1:50 for testing real-world building conditions; the study found that the porous enclosure has protective shielding without affecting low-pressure ventilation. Current study observed the porous skin may damp more wind energy to ease the wind pressure under high-speed wind. Differential wind speed may drop the pressure into similar pressure level by using porous skin. The actual mechanism and value of this phenomenon will need further study in the future.

Keywords: Renault number, porous media, wind damping, wind tunnel test, building ventilation.

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Authors: HoYoung Son, Ki Young Kim, Woo Young Jung

Abstract:

This study investigated the change of weir structure performances when durability of concrete, which is the main material of weir structure, decreased due to their aging by mean of seismic fragility analysis. In the analysis, it was assumed that the elastic modulus of concrete was reduced by 10% in order to account for their aged deterioration. Additionally, the analysis of seismic fragility was based on Monte Carlo Simulation method combined with a 2D nonlinear finite element in ABAQUS platform with the consideration of deterioration of concrete. Finally, the comparison of seismic fragility of model pre- and post-deterioration was made to study the performance of weir. Results show that the probability of failure in moderate damage for deteriorated model was found to be larger than pre-deterioration model when peak ground acceleration (PGA) passed 0.4 g.

Keywords: Weir, FEM, concrete, fragility, aging.

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Authors: Axel Panning, Robert Niese, Ayoub Al-Hamadi, Bernd Michaelis

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The segmentation of mouth and lips is a fundamental problem in facial image analyisis. In this paper we propose a method for lip segmentation based on rg-color histogram. Statistical analysis shows, using the rg-color-space is optimal for this purpose of a pure color based segmentation. Initially a rough adaptive threshold selects a histogram region, that assures that all pixels in that region are skin pixels. Based on that pixels we build a gaussian model which represents the skin pixels distribution and is utilized to obtain a refined, optimal threshold. We are not incorporating shape or edge information. In experiments we show the performance of our lip pixel segmentation method compared to the ground truth of our dataset and a conventional watershed algorithm.

Keywords: Feature extraction, Segmentation, Image processing, Application

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Authors: Shatirah Akib, Teuku K. Syamsura, S.M. Shirazi, Moatasem M. Fayyadh, Budhi Primasari

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the following protection of scouring countermeasures by using Bentonite-Enhanced Sand (BES) mixtures. The concept of underground improvement is being used in this study to reduce the void of the sand. The sand bentonite mixture was used to bond the ground soil conditions surrounding the pile of integral bridge. The right composition of sand bentonite mixture was proposed based on previous findings. The swelling effect of bentonite also was investigated to ensure there is no adverse impact to the structure of the integral bridge. ScourScour, another name for severe erosion, occurs when the erosive capacity of water resulting from natural and manmade events exceeds the ability of earth materials to resist its effects. According to AASHTO LRFD Specifications (Section C3.7.5), scour is the most common reason for the collapse of highway bridges in the United States

Keywords: bentonite, integral bridge, possible protection, scouring

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Authors: E. C. Mattos, V. S. M. G. Daros, R. Dal Col, A. L. Nascimento

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to present the results of a retrospective survey on the foreign matter found in foods analyzed at the Adolfo Lutz Institute, from July 2001 to July 2015. All the analyses were conducted according to the official methods described on Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) for the micro analytical procedures and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the macro analytical procedures. The results showed flours, cereals and derivatives such as baking and pasta products were the types of food where foreign matters were found more frequently followed by condiments and teas. Fragments of stored grains insects, its larvae, nets, excrement, dead mites and rodent excrement were the most foreign matter found in food. Besides, foreign matters that can cause a physical risk to the consumer’s health such as metal, stones, glass, wood were found but rarely. Miscellaneous (shell, sand, dirt and seeds) were also reported. There are a lot of extraneous materials that are considered unavoidable since are something inherent to the product itself, such as insect fragments in grains. In contrast, there are avoidable extraneous materials that are less tolerated because it is preventable with the Good Manufacturing Practice. The conclusion of this work is that although most extraneous materials found in food are considered unavoidable it is necessary to keep the Good Manufacturing Practice throughout the food processing as well as maintaining a constant surveillance of the production process in order to avoid accidents that may lead to occurrence of these extraneous materials in food.

Keywords: Food contamination, extraneous materials, foreign matter, surveillance.

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Authors: L. Parisi

Abstract:

Kinematic data wisely correlate vector quantities in space to scalar parameters in time to assess the degree of symmetry between the intact limb and the amputated limb with respect to a normal model derived from the gait of control group participants. Furthermore, these particular data allow a doctor to preliminarily evaluate the usefulness of a certain rehabilitation therapy. Kinetic curves allow the analysis of ground reaction forces (GRFs) to assess the appropriateness of human motion. Electromyography (EMG) allows the analysis of the fundamental lower limb force contributions to quantify the level of gait asymmetry. However, the use of this technological tool is expensive and requires patient’s hospitalization. This research work suggests overcoming the above limitations by applying artificial neural networks.

Keywords: Kinetics, kinematics, cyclograms, neural networks.

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Authors: A.H. Akhaveissy

Abstract:

Nonlinear finite element method and Serendipity eight nodes element are used for determining of ground surface settlement due to tunneling. Linear element with elastic behavior is used for modeling of lining. Modified Generalized plasticity model with nonassociated flow rule is applied for analysis of a tunnel in Sao Paulo – Brazil. The tunnel had analyzed by Lades- model with 16 parameters. In this work modified Generalized Plasticity is used with 10 parameters, also Mohr-Coulomb model is used to analysis the tunnel. The results show good agreement with observed results of field data by modified Generalized Plasticity model than other models. The obtained result by Mohr-Coulomb model shows less settlement than other model due to excavation.

Keywords: Non-associated flow rule, Generalized plasticity, tunnel excavation, Excavation method.

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Authors: Bernd Kiefer, Abraham Gebru Tesfay, Dietrich Klakow

Abstract:

The motivation of our work is to detect different terrain types traversed by a robot based on acoustic data from the robot-terrain interaction. Different acoustic features and classifiers were investigated, such as Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient and Gamma-tone frequency cepstral coefficient for the feature extraction, and Gaussian mixture model and Feed forward neural network for the classification. We analyze the system’s performance by comparing our proposed techniques with some other features surveyed from distinct related works. We achieve precision and recall values between 87% and 100% per class, and an average accuracy at 95.2%. We also study the effect of varying audio chunk size in the application phase of the models and find only a mild impact on performance.

Keywords: Terrain classification, acoustic features, autonomous robots, feature extraction.

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