Search results for: stiffness reduction

Authors: Renato Santos Paulinelli Raposo, Vinicius Resende Domingues, Manoel Porfirio Cordao Neto

Abstract:

Rapid drawdown is one of the cases referred to ground stability study in dam projects. Due to the complexity generated by the combination of loads and the difficulty in determining the parameters, analyses of rapid drawdown are usually performed considering the immediate reduction of water level upstream. The proposal of a simulation, considering the gradual reduction in water level upstream, requires knowledge of parameters about consolidation and those related to unsaturated soil. In this context, the purpose of this study is to understand the methodology of collection and analysis of parameters to simulate a rapid drawdown in dams. Using a numerical tool, the study is complemented with a hypothetical case study that can assist the practical use of data compiled. The referenced dam presents homogeneous section composed of clay soil, a height of 70 meters, a width of 12 meters, and upstream slope with inclination 1V:3H.

Keywords: Dam, GeoStudio, rapid drawdown, stability analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1191

Authors: Benjamin Y. M. Kwan, Hon Keung Kwan

Abstract:

Noise contamination in a magnetic resonance (MR) image could occur during acquisition, storage, and transmission in which effective filtering is required to avoid repeating the MR procedure. In this paper, an iterative asymmetrical triangle fuzzy filter with moving average center (ATMAVi filter) is used to reduce different levels of salt and pepper noise in a brain MR image. Besides visual inspection on filtered images, the mean squared error (MSE) is used as an objective measurement. When compared with the median filter, simulation results indicate that the ATMAVi filter is effective especially for filtering a higher level noise (such as noise density = 0.45) using a smaller window size (such as 3x3) when operated iteratively or using a larger window size (such as 5x5) when operated non-iteratively.

Keywords: Brain images, Fuzzy filters, Magnetic resonance imaging, Salt and pepper noise reduction.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2213

Authors: Shengman Zhao, Yang Yu, Shenghui Cui

Abstract:

Using logarithmic mean Divisia decomposition technique, this paper analyzes the change in industrial energy intensity of Fujian Province in China, based on data sets of added value and energy consumption for 35 selected industrial sub-sectors from 1999 to 2009. The change in industrial energy intensity is decomposed into intensity effect and structure effect. Results show that the industrial energy intensity of Fujian Province has achieved a reduction of 51% over the past ten years. The structural change, a shift in the mix of industrial sub-sectors, made overwhelming contribution to the reduction. The impact of energy efficiency’s improvement was relatively small. However, the aggregate industrial energy intensity was very sensitive to both the changes in energy intensity and in production share of energy-intensive sub-sectors, such as production and supply of electric power, steam and hot water. Pathway to reduce industrial energy intensity for energy conservation in Fujian Province is proposed in the end.

Keywords: Decomposition analysis, energy intensity, Fujian Province, industry.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1388

Authors: R. Srinivasa Rao, S. V. L. Narasimham

Abstract:

This paper presents a novel approach for optimal reconfiguration of radial distribution systems. Optimal reconfiguration involves the selection of the best set of branches to be opened, one each from each loop, such that the resulting radial distribution system gets the desired performance. In this paper an algorithm is proposed based on simple heuristic rules and identified an effective switch status configuration of distribution system for the minimum loss reduction. This proposed algorithm consists of two parts; one is to determine the best switching combinations in all loops with minimum computational effort and the other is simple optimum power loss calculation of the best switching combination found in part one by load flows. To demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm, computer simulations are carried out on 33-bus system. The results show that the performance of the proposed method is better than that of the other methods.

Keywords: Distribution system, network reconfiguration, powerloss reduction, radial network, heuristic technique.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2775

Authors: James A Foster, Guglielmo S Aglietti

Abstract:

Multifunctional structures are a potentially disruptive technology that allows for significant mass savings on spacecraft. The specific concept addressed herein is that of a multifunctional power structure. In this paper, a parametric optimisation of the design of such a structure that uses commercially available battery cells is presented. Using numerical modelling, it was found that there exists several trade-offs aboutthe conflict between the capacity of the panel and its mechanical properties. It was found that there is no universal optimal location for the cells. Placing them close to the mechanical interfaces increases loading in the mechanically weak cells whereas placing them at the centre of the panel increases the stress inthe panel and reduces the stiffness of the structure.

Keywords: Design Optimization, Multifunctional Structures, Power Storage.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1634

Authors: U. Mutman, S. B. Coskun

Abstract:

In this study Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) is employed to investigate free vibration of an Euler beam with variable stiffness resting on an elastic foundation. HPM is an easy-to-use and very efficient technique for the solution of linear or nonlinear problems. HPM produces analytical approximate expression which is continuous in the solution domain. This work shows that HPM is a promising method for free vibration analysis of nonuniform Euler beams on elastic foundation. Several case problems have been solved by using the technique and solutions have been compared with those available in the literature.

Keywords: Homotopy Perturbation Method, Elastic Foundation, Vibration, Beam

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2218

Authors: Shams-ul-Islam, Raheela Manzoor, Zhou Chao Ying

Abstract:

A two-dimensional numerical study for flow past a square cylinder in presence of flat plate both at upstream and downstream position is carried out using the single-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann method for gap spacing 0.5 and 1. We select Reynolds numbers from 80 to 200. The wake structure mechanism within gap spacing and near wake region, vortex structures around and behind the main square cylinder in presence of flat plate are studied and compared with flow pattern around a single square cylinder. The results are obtained in form of vorticity contour, streamlines, power spectra analysis, time trace analysis of drag and lift coefficients. Four different types of flow patterns were observed in both configurations, named as (i) Quasi steady flow (QSF), (ii) steady flow (SF), (iii) shear layer reattachment (SLR), (iv) single bluff body (SBB). It is observed that upstream flat plate plays a vital role in significant drag reduction. On the other hand, rate of suppression of vortex shedding is high for downstream flat plate case at low Reynolds numbers. The reduction in mean drag force and root mean square value of drag force for upstream flat plate case are89.1% and 86.3% at (Re, g) = (80, 0.5d) and (120, 1d) and reduction for downstream flat plate case for mean drag force and root mean square value of drag force are 11.10% and 97.6% obtained at (180, 1d) and (180, 0.5d).

Keywords: Detached flat plates, drag and lift coefficients, Reynolds numbers, square cylinder, Strouhal number.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2180

Authors: Samorn Hirunpraditkoon, Nathaporn Tunthong, Anotai Ruangchai, Kamchai Nuithitikul

Abstract:

The production of activated carbon from low or zero cost of agricultural by-products or wastes has received great attention from academics and practitioners due to its economic and environmental benefits. In the production of bamboo furniture, a significant amount of bamboo waste is inevitably generated. Therefore, this research aimed to prepare activated carbons from bamboo furniture waste by chemical (KOH) activation and determine their properties and adsorption capacities for water treatment. The influence of carbonization time on the properties and adsorption capacities of activated carbons was also investigated. The finding showed that the bamboo-derived activated carbons had microporous characteristics. They exhibited high tendency for the reduction of impurities present in effluent water. Their adsorption capacities were comparable to the adsorption capacity of a commercial activated carbon regarding to the reduction in COD, TDS and turbidity of the effluent water.

Keywords: Activated carbon, Bamboo, Water treatment, Chemical activation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5129

Authors: N.H. Abdurahman, Y. M. Rosli, N. H. Azhari, S. F. Tam

Abstract:

The direct discharge of palm oil mill effluent (POME) wastewater causes serious environmental pollution due to its high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Traditional ways for POME treatment have both economical and environmental disadvantages. In this study, a membrane anaerobic system (MAS) was used as an alternative, cost effective method for treating POME. Six steady states were attained as a part of a kinetic study that considered concentration ranges of 8,220 to 15,400 mg/l for mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and 6,329 to 13,244 mg/l for mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS). Kinetic equations from Monod, Contois and Chen & Hashimoto were employed to describe the kinetics of POME treatment at organic loading rates ranging from 2 to 13 kg COD/m3/d. throughout the experiment, the removal efficiency of COD was from 94.8 to 96.5% with hydraulic retention time, HRT from 400.6 to 5.7 days. The growth yield coefficient, Y was found to be 0.62gVSS/g COD the specific microorganism decay rate was 0.21 d-1 and the methane gas yield production rate was between 0.25 l/g COD/d and 0.58 l/g COD/d. Steady state influent COD concentrations increased from 18,302 mg/l in the first steady state to 43,500 mg/l in the sixth steady state. The minimum solids retention time, which was obtained from the three kinetic models ranged from 5 to 12.3 days. The k values were in the range of 0.35 – 0.519 g COD/ g VSS • d and values were between 0.26 and 0.379 d-1. The solids retention time (SRT) decreased from 800 days to 11.6 days. The complete treatment reduced the COD content to 2279 mg/l equivalent to a reduction of 94.8% reduction from the original.

Keywords: COD reduction, POME, kinetics, membrane, anaerobic, monod, contois equation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2567

Authors: Rajesh Bera, Durbadal Mandal, Rajib Kar, Sakti P. Ghoshal

Abstract:

This paper describes optimal thinning of an Elliptical  Cylindrical Array (ECA) of uniformly excited isotropic antennas  which can generate directive beam with minimum relative Side Lobe  Level (SLL). The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method, which  represents a new approach for optimization problems in  electromagnetic, is used in the optimization process. The PSO is used  to determine the optimal set of ‘ON-OFF’ elements that provides a  radiation pattern with maximum SLL reduction. Optimization is done  without prefixing the value of First Null Beam Width (FNBW). The  variation of SLL with element spacing of thinned array is also  reported. Simulation results show that the number of array elements  can be reduced by more than 50% of the total number of elements in  the array with a simultaneous reduction in SLL to less than -27dB.

 

Keywords: Thinned array, Particle Swarm Optimization, Elliptical Cylindrical Array, Side Lobe Label.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2671

Authors: Farid A., Ismail A., Rabee I., Zalat R. El Amir A.

Abstract:

This study was designed for assessment of 3 types of Cysteine protease inhibitors (CPIs) fluromethylketone (FMK), vinyl sulfone (VS) and sodium nitro prussid (SNP), to define which of them is the best for curing S. mansoni infection in mice? In vitro, treated S. mansoni adult worms recorded a mortality rate after 1 hr of exposure to 500 ppm of FMK, VS and SNP as 75, 70 and 60%, respectively. FMK+PZQ treatment recorded the maximum reduction in worm burden (97.2% at 5 wk PI). VS treatment alone or combined with PZQ increases IgM, total IgG, IgG2 and IgG4 levels. In EM study, the completely implanted spines were reported in the degenerated tegument of adult worms in all groups treated with CPIs. VS+PZQ Treatment increased Igs levels but, its effect was different on worm reduction. So, it is not enough to eliminate the infection and FMK+PZQ considered the antischistosomicidal drug of choice.

Keywords: Praziquantel, fluromethylketone, vinyl sulfone, sodium nitro prussid.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1586

Authors: G.Durai, N.Rajamohan, C.Karthikeyan, M.Rajasimman

Abstract:

In this study, aerobic digestion of tannery industry wastewater was carried out using mixed culture obtained from common effluent treatment plant treating tannery wastewater. The effect of pH, temperature, inoculum concentration, agitation speed and initial substrate concentration on the reduction of organic matters were found. The optimum conditions for COD reduction was found to be pH - 7 (60%), temperature - 30ÔùªC (61%), inoculum concentration - 2% (61%), agitation speed - 150rpm (65%) and initial substrate concentration - 1560 mg COD/L (74%). Kinetics studies were carried by using Monod model, First order, Diffusional model and Singh model. From the results it was found that the Monod model suits well for the degradation of tannery wastewater using mixed microbial consortium.

Keywords: Tannery, Wastewater, Biological treatment, Aerobic, Mixed culture, Kinetics.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3168

Authors: S. Barabas, A.Fota.

Abstract:

In this paper is study the possibility of successfully implementing of hollow roller concept in order to minimize inertial mass of the large bearings, with major results in diminution of the material consumption, increasing of power efficiency (in wind power station area), increasing of the durability and life duration of the large bearings systems, noise reduction in working, resistance to vibrations, an important diminution of losses by abrasion and reduction of the working temperature. In this purpose was developed an original solution through which are reduced mass, inertial forces and moments of large bearings by using of hollow rollers. The research was made by using the method of finite element analysis applied on software type Solidworks - Nastran. Also, is study the possibility of rapidly changing the manufacturing system of solid and hollow cylindrical rollers.

Keywords: Large bearings, Von Mises stress, hollow rollers, flexible manufacturing system

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2249

Authors: N. Reppas, Y. L. Gui, B. Wetenhall, C. T. Davie, J. Ma

Abstract:

A theoretical constitutive model describing the stress-strain behavior of rock subjected to different confining pressures is presented. A bounding surface plastic model with hardening effects is proposed which includes the effect of temperature drop. The bounding surface is based on a mapping rule and the temperature effect on rock is controlled by Poisson’s ratio. Validation of the results against available experimental data is also presented. The relation of deviatoric stress and axial strain is illustrated at different temperatures to analyze the effect of temperature decrease in terms of stiffness of the material.

Keywords: Bounding surface, cooling of rock, plasticity model, rock deformation, elasto-plastic behavior.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 918

Authors: Ahmed Badawi, J. Michael Johnson, Mohamed Mahfouz

Abstract:

This paper proposes new enhancement models to the methods of nonlinear anisotropic diffusion to greatly reduce speckle and preserve image features in medical ultrasound images. By incorporating local physical characteristics of the image, in this case scatterer density, in addition to the gradient, into existing tensorbased image diffusion methods, we were able to greatly improve the performance of the existing filtering methods, namely edge enhancing (EE) and coherence enhancing (CE) diffusion. The new enhancement methods were tested using various ultrasound images, including phantom and some clinical images, to determine the amount of speckle reduction, edge, and coherence enhancements. Scatterer density weighted nonlinear anisotropic diffusion (SDWNAD) for ultrasound images consistently outperformed its traditional tensor-based counterparts that use gradient only to weight the diffusivity function. SDWNAD is shown to greatly reduce speckle noise while preserving image features as edges, orientation coherence, and scatterer density. SDWNAD superior performances over nonlinear coherent diffusion (NCD), speckle reducing anisotropic diffusion (SRAD), adaptive weighted median filter (AWMF), wavelet shrinkage (WS), and wavelet shrinkage with contrast enhancement (WSCE), make these methods ideal preprocessing steps for automatic segmentation in ultrasound imaging.

Keywords: Nonlinear anisotropic diffusion, ultrasound imaging, speckle reduction, scatterer density estimation, edge based enhancement, coherence enhancement.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1906

Authors: Muzaffer Borekci, Murat S. Kirçil

Abstract:

Predicting the collapse potential of a structure during earthquakes is an important issue in earthquake engineering. Many researchers proposed different methods to assess the collapse potential of structures under the effect of strong ground motions. However most of them did not consider degradation and softening effect in hysteretic behavior. In this study, collapse potential of SDOF systems caused by dynamic instability with stiffness and strength degradation has been investigated. An equation was proposed for the estimation of collapse period of SDOF system which is a limit value of period for dynamic instability. If period of the considered SDOF system is shorter than the collapse period then the relevant system exhibits dynamic instability and collapse occurs.

Keywords: Collapse, degradation, dynamic instability, seismic response.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2097

Authors: Shahrazed Medeghri, Saad Hamzaoui, Mokhtar Zerdali

Abstract:

The metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) is obtained from the reduction of silica (SiO₂) in an induction furnace or an electric arc furnace. Impurities inherent in reduction process also depend on the quality of the raw material used. Among the applications of the silicon, it is used as a substrate for the photovoltaic conversion of solar energy and this conversion is wider as the purity of the substrate is important. Research is being done where the purpose is looking for new methods of manufacturing and purification of silicon, as well as new materials that can be used as substrates for the photovoltaic conversion of light energy. In this research, the technique of production of silicon in an induction furnace, using a high vacuum for fusion. Diatomaceous Silica (SiO2) used is 99 mass% initial purities, the carbon used is 6N of purity and the particle size of 63μm as starting materials. The final achieved purity of the material was above 50% by mass. These results demonstrate that this method is a technically reliable, and allows obtaining a better return on the amount 50% of silicon.

Keywords: Induction, amorphous silica, carbon microstructure, silicon.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1663

Authors: Eakkasak Susakunphaisan, Pichai Namprakai, Withaya Puangsombut

Abstract:

The objective of this paper was to designing a ventilation system to enhance the performance of roof solar collector (RSC) for reducing heat accumulation inside the house. The RSC has 1.8 m2 surface area made of CPAC monier roof tiles on the upper part and gypsum board on the lower part. The space between CPAC monier and gypsum board was fixed at 14 cm. Ventilation system of modified roof solar collector (modified RSC) consists of 9 tubes of 0.15m diameter and installed in the lower part of RSC. Experimental result showed that the temperature of the room, and attic temperature. The average temperature reduction of room of house used modified RSC is about 2oC. and the percentage of room temperature reduction varied between 0 to 10%. Therefore, modified RSC is an interesting option in the sense that it promotes solar energy and conserve energy.

Keywords: roof solar collector, heat accumulation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1513

Authors: S. Kittipongvises, T. Mino, C. Polprasert

Abstract:

Global climate change has become the preeminent threat to human security in the 21st century. From mitigation perspective, this study aims to evaluate the performance of biogas renewable project under clean development mechanism activities (namely Korat-Waste-to-Energy) in Thailand and to assess local perceptions towards the significance of climate change mitigation and sustainability of such project in their community. Questionnaire was developed based on the national sustainable development criteria and was distributed among systematically selected households within project boundaries (n=260). Majority of the respondents strongly agreed with the reduction of odor problems (81%) and air pollution (76%). However, they were unsure about greenhouse gas reduction from such project and ignorant about the key issues of climate change. A lesson learned suggested that there is a need to further investigate the possible socio-psychological barriers may significantly shape public perception and understandings of climate change in the local context.

Keywords: Climate Change Mitigation, Local Perspective, Sustainability, Thailand

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1631

Authors: C. Chaiyaraksa, T. Khamko

Abstract:

This study investigated the influence of limestone and sepiolite on heavy metals accumulation in the soil and soybean. The soil was synthesized to contaminate with zinc 150 mg/kg, copper 100 mg/kg, and cadmium 1 mg/kg. The contaminated soil was mixed with limestone and sepiolite at the ratio of 1:0, 0:1, 1:1, and 2:1. The amount of soil modifier added to soil was 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.8%. The metals determination was performed on soil both before and after soybean planting and in the root, shoot, and seed of soybean after harvesting. The study was also on metal translocate from root to seed and on bioaccumulation factor. Using of limestone and sepiolite resulted in a reduction of metals accumulated in soybean. For soil containing a high concentration of copper, cadmium, and zinc, a mixture of limestone and sepiolite (1:1) was recommended to mix with soil with the amount of 0.2%. Zinc could translocate from root to seed more than copper, and cadmium. From studying the movement of metals from soil to accumulate in soybean, the result was that soybean could absorb the highest amount of cadmium, followed by zinc, and copper, respectively.

Keywords: Heavy metals, limestone, sepiolite, soil, soybean.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 739

Authors: Ahmed W. Oda, Ahmed El-Desouky, Hassan Mahdy, Osama M. Moussa

Abstract:

Nanomaterials have many applications in the field of asphalt paving. Two locally produced nanomaterials were used in the asphalt binder modification. The nanomaterials used are Nanosilica (NS), and Nanoclay (NC). The virgin asphalt binder was characterized by the conventional tests. The bitumen was modified by 3%, 5% and 7% of NS and NC. The penetration index (PI), and the retaining penetration (RP) was calculated based on the results of the penetration and the softening point tests. The results show that the RP becomes 95.35% at 5% NS modified bitumen and reaches 97.56% when bitumen is modified with 3% NC. The results show significant improvement in the bitumen stiffness when modified by the two types of nanomaterials, either fresh or aged (stored).

Keywords: Bitumen, modified bitumen, aged, stored, nanomaterials.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 819

Authors: Basant H. El-Refay, Nabeel T. Faiad

Abstract:

Background: The high prevalence of obesity in Egypt has a great impact on the health care system, economic and social situation. Evidence suggests that even a moderate amount of weight loss can be useful. Aim of the study: To analyze the effects of lower body positive pressure supported treadmill training, conducted with hypocaloric diet, on body composition of obese children. Methods: Thirty children aged between 8 and 14 years, were randomly assigned into two groups: intervention group (15 children) and control group (15 children). All of them were evaluated using body composition analysis through bioelectric impedance. The following parameters were measured before and after the intervention: body mass, body fat mass, muscle mass, body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat and basal metabolic rate (BMR). The study group exercised with antigravity treadmill three times a week during 2 months, and participated in a hypocaloric diet program. The control group participated in a hypocaloric diet program only. Results: Both groups showed significant reduction in body mass, body fat mass and BMI. Only study group showed significant reduction in percentage of body fat (p = 0.0.043). Changes in muscle mass and BMR didn't reach statistical significance in both groups. No significant differences were observed between groups except for muscle mass (p = 0.049) and BMR (p = 0.042) favoring study group. Conclusion: Both programs proved effective in the reduction of obesity indicators, but lower body positive pressure supported treadmill training was more effective in improving muscle mass and BMR.

Keywords: Children, Hypocaloric diet, Lower body positive pressure supported treadmill, obesity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4324

Authors: A. Daftari, W. Kudla

Abstract:

Liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the strength  and stiffness of a soil is reduced by earthquake shaking or other rapid  cyclic loading. Liquefaction and related phenomena have been  responsible for huge amounts of damage in historical earthquakes  around the world.  Modeling of soil behavior is the main step in soil liquefaction  prediction process. Nowadays, several constitutive models for sand  have been presented. Nevertheless, only some of them can satisfy this  mechanism. One of the most useful models in this term is  UBCSAND model. In this research, the capability of this model is  considered by using PLAXIS software. The real data of superstition  hills earthquake 1987 in the Imperial Valley was used. The results of  the simulation have shown resembling trend of the UBC3D-PLM  model. 

Keywords: Liquefaction, Plaxis, Pore-Water pressure, UBC3D-PLM.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7103

Authors: A. R. Shirazinejad, I. Noryati, A. Rosma, I. Darah

Abstract:

Lactic acid alone and its combined application with nisin were evaluated for reducing population of naturally occurring microorganisms on chilled shrimp. Fresh shrimps were dipped in 0, 1.0% and 2.0% (v/v) lactic acid alone and their combined application with 0.04 (g/L/kg) nisin solution for 10 min. Total plate counts of aerobic bacteria (TPCs), Psychrotrophic counts, population of Pseudomonas spp., H2S producing bacteria and Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on shrimps were determined during storage at 4 °C. The results indicated that total plate counts were 2.91 and 2.63 log CFU/g higher on untreated shrimps after 7 and 14 days of storage, respectively, than on shrimps treated with 2.0% lactic acid combined with 0.04 (g/L/kg) nisin. Both concentrations of lactic acid indicated significant reduction on Pseudomonas counts during storage, while 2.0% lactic acid combined with nisin indicated the highest reduction. In addition, H2S producing bacteria were more sensitive to high concentration of lactic acid combined with nisin during storage.

Keywords: Shrimp, lactic acid, nisin, spoilage bacteria

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2461

Authors: Ferinar Moaidi, Mahdi Moaidi

Abstract:

Environmental issues and the ever-increasing in demand of electrical energy make it necessary to have distributed generation (DG) resources in the power system. In this research, in order to realize the goals of reducing losses and improving the voltage profile in a microgrid, the allocation and sizing of DGs have been used. The proposed Genetic Algorithm (GA) is described from the array of artificial intelligence methods for solving the problem. The algorithm is implemented on the IEEE 33 buses network. This study is presented in two scenarios, primarily to illustrate the effect of location and determination of DGs has been done to reduce losses and improve the voltage profile. On the other hand, decisions made with the one-level assumptions of load are not universally accepted for all levels of load. Therefore, in this study, load modelling is performed and the results are presented for multi-levels load state.

Keywords: Distributed generation, genetic algorithm, microgrid, load modelling, loss reduction, voltage improvement.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1058

Authors: J. Khorshidi, E. Zare, A.R. Khademi

Abstract:

The reduction of energy consumption through improvements in energy efficiency has become an important goal for all industries, in order to improve the efficiency of the economy, and to reduce the emissions of Co₂ caused by power generation. The objective of this paper is to investigate opportunities to increase process energy efficiency at the distillation unit of Shiraz oil refinery in south of Iran. The main aim of the project is to locate energy savings by use of pinch technology and to assess them. At first all the required data of hot and cold streams in preheating section of distillation unit has been extracted from the available flow sheets and then pinch analysis has been conducted. The present case study is a threshold one which does not need any utilities. After running range, targeting several heat exchanger networks were designed with respect to operating conditions and different ΔT_min. The optimal value of ΔT_min was calculated to be 22.3 °C. Based on this optimal value, there will be 5% reduction in annual total cost of heat exchanger network.

Keywords: Pinch technology, heat exchanger network, operating cost.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1682

Authors: M. Soltan Rezaee, M. R. Ghazavi, A. Najafi, W.-H. Liao

Abstract:

Generally, different rods in shaft systems can be misaligned based on the mechanical system usages. These rods can be linked together via U-coupling easily. The system is self-stimulated and may cause instabilities due to the inherent behavior of the coupling. In this study, each rod includes an elastic shaft with an angular stiffness and structural damping. Moreover, the mass of shafts is considered via attached solid disks. The impact of the system architecture and shaft mass on the instability of such mechanism are studied. Stability charts are plotted via a method based on Floquet theory. Eventually, the unstable points have been found and analyzed in detail. The results show that stabilizing the driveline is feasible by changing the system characteristics which include shaft mass and architecture.

Keywords: Coupling, mechanical systems, oscillations, rotating shafts.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 762

Authors: M. Vijaya Kini, R. S. Pai, D. Srikanth Rao, Satish Shenoy B, R. Pai

Abstract:

The stability characteristics of water lubricated journal bearings having three axial grooves are obtained theoretically. In this lubricant (water) is fed under pressure from one end of the bearing, through the 3-axial grooves (groove angles may vary). These bearings can use the process fluid as the lubricant, as in the case of feed water pumps. The Reynolds equation is solved numerically by the finite difference method satisfying the boundary conditions. The stiffness and damping coefficient for various bearing number and eccentricity ratios, assuming linear pressure drop along the groove, shows that smaller groove angles better results.

Keywords: 3-axial groove, dynamic characteristics, groovelocation, water lubricated bearings.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2131

Authors: Asmatullah Chaudhry, Anwar M. Mirza

Abstract:

We present a general comparison of punctual kriging based image restoration for different neighbourhood sizes. The formulation of the technique under consideration is based on punctual kriging and fuzzy concepts for image restoration in spatial domain. Three different neighbourhood windows are considered to estimate the semivariance at different lags for studying its effect in reduction of negative weights resulted in punctual kriging, consequently restoration of degraded images. Our results show that effect of neighbourhood size higher than 5x5 on reduction in negative weights is insignificant. In addition, image quality measures, such as structure similarity indices, peak signal to noise ratios and the new variogram based quality measures; show that 3x3 window size gives better performance as compared with larger window sizes.

Keywords: Image restoration, punctual kriging, semi-variance, structure similarity index, negative weights in punctual kriging.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2356

Authors: Abbas Khoshhal, Masoud Rahimi, Sayed Reza Shabanian, Ammar Abdulaziz Alsairafi

Abstract:

In the present study, the rate of NOx emission in a combustion chamber working in conventional combustion and High Temperature Air Combustion (HiTAC) system are examined using CFD modeling. The effect of peak temperature, combustion air temperature and oxygen concentration on NOx emission rate was undertaken. Results show that in a fixed oxygen concentration, increasing the preheated air temperature will increase the peak temperature and NOx emission rate. In addition, it was observed that the reduction of the oxygen concentration in the fixed preheated air temperature decreases the peak temperature and NOx emission rate. On the other hand, the results show that increase of preheated air temperature at various oxygen concentrations increases the NOx emission rate. However, the rate of increase in HiTAC conditions is quite lower than the conventional combustion. The modeling results show that the NOx emission rate in HiTAC combustion is 133% less than that of the conventional combustion.

Keywords: CFD Modeling, HiTAC, NOx, Combustion.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1914