Search results for: high performance fiber reinforced cement composites
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 11003

Search results for: high performance fiber reinforced cement composites

10073 Integrated Water Management for Lafarge Cement-Jordan

Authors: Azzam Hamaideh, Abbas Al-Omari, Michael Sturm

Abstract:

This study aims at implementing integrated water resources management principles to the Lafarge Cement Jordan at Al-Fuhais plant. This was accomplished by conducting water audits at all water consuming units in the plant. Based on the findings of the water audit, an action plan to improve water use efficiency in the plant was proposed. The main elements of which are installing water saving devices, re-use of the treated wastewater, water harvesting, raising the awareness of the employees, and linking the plant to the water demand management unit at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

The analysis showed that by implementing the proposed action plan, it is expected that the industrial water demand can be satisfied from non-conventional resources including treated wastewater and harvested water. As a consequence, fresh water can be used to increase the supply to Al-Fuhais city which is expected to reflect positively on the relationship between the factory and the city. 

Keywords: Integrated water resources management, non-conventional water resources, water awareness, water demand management, water harvesting, water saving devices.

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10072 Ribeirinhos: A Sustainability Assessment of Housing Typologies in the Amazon Region

Authors: A. K. M. De Paula, R. Tenorio

Abstract:

The 20th century has brought much development to the practice of Architecture worldwide, and technology has bridged inhabitation limits in many regions of the world with high levels of comfort and conveniences, most times at high costs to the environment. Throughout the globe, the tropical countries are being urbanized at an unprecedented rate and housing has become a major issue worldwide, in light of increased demand and lack of appropriate infra-structure and planning. Buildings and urban spaces designed in tropical cities have mainly adopted external concepts that in most cases do not fit the needs of the inhabitants living in such harsh climatic environment, and when they do, do so at high financial, environmental and cultural costs. Traditional architectural practices can provide valuable understanding on how self-reliance and autonomy of construction can be reinforced in rural-urban tropical environments. From traditional housing knowledge, it is possible to derive lessons for the development of new construction materials that are affordable, environmentally friendly, culturally acceptable and accesible to all.Specifically to the urban context, such solutions are of outmost importance, given the needs to a more democratic society, where access to housing is considered high in the agenda for development. Traditional or rural constructions are also ongoing through extensive changes eventhough they have mostly adopted climate-responsive building practices relying on local resources (with minimum embodied energy) and energy (for comfort and quality of life). It is important to note that many of these buildings can actually be called zero-energy, and hold potential answers to enable transition from high energy, high cost, low comfort urban habitations to zero/low energy habitations with high quality urban livelihood. Increasing access to modern urban lifestyels have also an effect on the aspirations from people in terms of performance, comfort and convenience in terms of their housing and the way it is produced and used. These aspirations are resulting in transitions from localresource dependent habitations- to non-local resource based highenergy urban style habitations. And such transitions are resulting in the habitations becoming increasingly unsuited to the local climatic conditions with increasing discomfort, ill-health, and increased CO2 emissions and local environmental disruption. This research studies one specific transition group in the context of 'water communities' in tropical-equatorial regions: Ribeirinhos housing typology (Amazonas, Brazil). The paper presents the results of a qualitative sustainability assessment of the housing typologies under transition, found at the Ribeirinhos communities.

Keywords: Vernacuilar and Tropical Architecture, SustainableHousing Design, Urban-rural Housing, Living Transitions

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10071 Performance Comparison and Analysis of Serial Concatenated Convolutional Codes

Authors: Dongwon Lee, Eon Kyeong Joo

Abstract:

In this paper, the performance of three types of serial concatenated convolutional codes (SCCC) is compared and analyzed in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. In Type I, only the parity bits of outer encoder are passed to inner encoder. In Type II and Type III, both the information bits and the parity bits of outer encoder are transferred to inner encoder. As results of simulation, Type I shows the best bit error rate (BER) performance at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). On the other hand, Type III shows the best BER performance at high SNR in AWGN channel. The simulation results are analyzed using the distance spectrum.

Keywords: Distance spectrum, MAP algorithm, SCCC.

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10070 Design Application Procedures of 15 Storied 3D Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall-Frame Structure

Authors: H. Nikzad, S. Yoshitomi

Abstract:

This paper presents the design application and reinforcement detailing of 15 storied reinforced concrete shear wall-frame structure based on linear static analysis. Databases are generated for section sizes based on automated structural optimization method utilizing Active-set Algorithm in MATLAB platform. The design constraints of allowable section sizes, capacity criteria and seismic provisions for static loads, combination of gravity and lateral loads are checked and determined based on ASCE 7-10 documents and ACI 318-14 design provision. The result of this study illustrates the efficiency of proposed method, and is expected to provide a useful reference in designing of RC shear wall-frame structures.

Keywords: Structural optimization, linear static analysis, ETABS, MATLAB, RC shear wall-frame structures.

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10069 Improvement of Load Carrying Capacity of an RCC T-Beam Bridge Longitudinal Girder by Replacing Steel Bars with SMA Bars

Authors: N. K. Paul, S. Saha

Abstract:

An innovative three dimensional finite element model has beed developed and tested under two point loading system to examine the structural behavior of the longitudinal reinforced concrete Tee-beam bridge girder, reinforcing with steel and shape memory alloy bars respectively. 25% of steel bars are replaced with superelastic Shape Memory Alloy bars in this study. Finite element analysis is performed using ANSYS 11.0 program. Experimentally a model of steel reinforced girder has been casted and its load deflection responses are checked with ANSYS analysis. A comparison of load carrying capacity for the model between steel RC girder and the girder combined reinforcement with SMA and steel are also performed.

Keywords: Shape memory alloy, bridge girder, ANSYS, load-deflection.

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10068 Preparation and Some Mechanical Properties of Composite Materials Made from Sawdust, Cassava Starch and Natural Rubber Latex

Authors: Apusraporn Prompunjai, Waranyou Sridach

Abstract:

The composite materials were prepared by sawdust, cassava starch and natural rubber latex (NR). The mixtures of 15%w/v gelatinized cassava starch and 15%w/v PVOH were used as the binder of these composite materials. The concentrated rubber latex was added to the mixtures. They were mixed rigorously to the treated sawdust in the ratio of 70:30 until achive uniform dispersion. The batters were subjected to the hot compression moulding at the temperature of 160°C and 3,000 psi pressure for 5 min. The experimental results showed that the mechanical properties of composite materials, which contained the gelatinized cassava starch and PVOH in the ratio of 2:1, 20% NR latex by weight of the dry starch and treated sawdust with 5%NaOH or 1% BPO, were the best. It contributed the maximal compression strength (341.10 + 26.11 N), puncture resistance (8.79 + 0.98 N/mm2) and flexural strength (3.99 + 0.72N/mm2). It is also found that the physicochemical and mechanical properties of composites strongly depends on the interface quality of sawdust, cassava starch and NR latex.

Keywords: Composites, sawdust, cassava starch, natural rubber (NR) latex, surface chemical treatments.

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10067 An Advanced Exponential Model for Seismic Isolators Having Hardening or Softening Behavior at Large Displacements

Authors: Nicolò Vaiana, Giorgio Serino

Abstract:

In this paper, an advanced Nonlinear Exponential Model (NEM), able to simulate the uniaxial dynamic behavior of seismic isolators having a continuously decreasing tangent stiffness with increasing displacement in the relatively large displacements range and a hardening or softening behavior at large displacements, is presented. The mathematical model is validated by comparing the experimental force-displacement hysteresis loops obtained during cyclic tests, conducted on a helical wire rope isolator and a recycled rubber-fiber reinforced bearing, with those predicted analytically. Good agreement between the experimental and simulated results shows that the proposed model can be an effective numerical tool to predict the force-displacement relationship of seismic isolation devices within the large displacements range. Compared to the widely used Bouc-Wen model, unable to simulate the response of seismic isolators at large displacements, the proposed one allows to avoid the numerical solution of a first order nonlinear ordinary differential equation for each time step of a nonlinear time history analysis, thus reducing the computation effort. Furthermore, the proposed model can simulate the smooth transition of the hysteresis loops from small to large displacements by adopting only one set of five parameters determined from the experimental hysteresis loops having the largest amplitude.

Keywords: Base isolation, hardening behavior, nonlinear exponential model, seismic isolators, softening behavior.

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10066 Seismic Response of Reinforced Concrete Buildings: Field Challenges and Simplified Code Formulas

Authors: Michel Soto Chalhoub

Abstract:

Building code-related literature provides recommendations on normalizing approaches to the calculation of the dynamic properties of structures. Most building codes make a distinction among types of structural systems, construction material, and configuration through a numerical coefficient in the expression for the fundamental period. The period is then used in normalized response spectra to compute base shear. The typical parameter used in simplified code formulas for the fundamental period is overall building height raised to a power determined from analytical and experimental results. However, reinforced concrete buildings which constitute the majority of built space in less developed countries pose additional challenges to the ones built with homogeneous material such as steel, or with concrete under stricter quality control. In the present paper, the particularities of reinforced concrete buildings are explored and related to current methods of equivalent static analysis. A comparative study is presented between the Uniform Building Code, commonly used for buildings within and outside the USA, and data from the Middle East used to model 151 reinforced concrete buildings of varying number of bays, number of floors, overall building height, and individual story height. The fundamental period was calculated using eigenvalue matrix computation. The results were also used in a separate regression analysis where the computed period serves as dependent variable, while five building properties serve as independent variables. The statistical analysis shed light on important parameters that simplified code formulas need to account for including individual story height, overall building height, floor plan, number of bays, and concrete properties. Such inclusions are important for reinforced concrete buildings of special conditions due to the level of concrete damage, aging, or materials quality control during construction. Overall results of the present analysis show that simplified code formulas for fundamental period and base shear may be applied but they require revisions to account for multiple parameters. The conclusion above is confirmed by the analytical model where fundamental periods were computed using numerical techniques and eigenvalue solutions. This recommendation is particularly relevant to code upgrades in less developed countries where it is customary to adopt, and mildly adapt international codes. We also note the necessity of further research using empirical data from buildings in Lebanon that were subjected to severe damage due to impulse loading or accelerated aging. However, we excluded this study from the present paper and left it for future research as it has its own peculiarities and requires a different type of analysis.

Keywords: Seismic behavior, reinforced concrete, simplified code formulas, equivalent static analysis, base shear, response spectra.

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10065 Concept of a Pseudo-Lower Bound Solution for Reinforced Concrete Slabs

Authors: M. De Filippo, J. S. Kuang

Abstract:

In construction industry, reinforced concrete (RC) slabs represent fundamental elements of buildings and bridges. Different methods are available for analysing the structural behaviour of slabs. In the early ages of last century, the yield-line method has been proposed to attempt to solve such problem. Simple geometry problems could easily be solved by using traditional hand analyses which include plasticity theories. Nowadays, advanced finite element (FE) analyses have mainly found their way into applications of many engineering fields due to the wide range of geometries to which they can be applied. In such cases, the application of an elastic or a plastic constitutive model would completely change the approach of the analysis itself. Elastic methods are popular due to their easy applicability to automated computations. However, elastic analyses are limited since they do not consider any aspect of the material behaviour beyond its yield limit, which turns to be an essential aspect of RC structural performance. Furthermore, their applicability to non-linear analysis for modeling plastic behaviour gives very reliable results. Per contra, this type of analysis is computationally quite expensive, i.e. not well suited for solving daily engineering problems. In the past years, many researchers have worked on filling this gap between easy-to-implement elastic methods and computationally complex plastic analyses. This paper aims at proposing a numerical procedure, through which a pseudo-lower bound solution, not violating the yield criterion, is achieved. The advantages of moment distribution are taken into account, hence the increase in strength provided by plastic behaviour is considered. The lower bound solution is improved by detecting over-yielded moments, which are used to artificially rule the moment distribution among the rest of the non-yielded elements. The proposed technique obeys Nielsen’s yield criterion. The outcome of this analysis provides a simple, yet accurate, and non-time-consuming tool of predicting the lower-bound solution of the collapse load of RC slabs. By using this method, structural engineers can find the fracture patterns and ultimate load bearing capacity. The collapse triggering mechanism is found by detecting yield-lines. An application to the simple case of a square clamped slab is shown, and a good match was found with the exact values of collapse load.

Keywords: Computational mechanics, lower bound method, reinforced concrete slabs, yield-line.

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10064 Transient Analysis & Performance Estimation of Gate Inside Junctionless Transistor (GI-JLT)

Authors: Sangeeta Singh, Pankaj Kumar, P. N. Kondekar

Abstract:

In this paper, the transient device performance analysis of n-type Gate Inside JunctionLess Transistor (GI-JLT) has been evaluated. 3-D Bohm Quantum Potential (BQP) transport device simulation has been used to evaluate the delay and power dissipation performance. GI-JLT has a number of desirable device parameters such as reduced propagation delay, dynamic power dissipation, power and delay product, intrinsic gate delay and energy delay product as compared to Gate-all-around transistors GAA-JLT. In addition to this, various other device performance parameters namely, on/off current ratio, short channel effects (SCE), transconductance Generation Factor (TGF) and unity gain cut-off frequency (fT ) and subthreshold slope (SS) of the GI-JLT and GAA-JLT have been analyzed and compared. GI-JLT shows better device performance characteristics than GAA-JLT for low power and high frequency applications, because of its larger gate electrostatic control on the device operation.

Keywords: Gate-inside junctionless transistor GI-JLT, Gate-all-around junctionless transistor GAA-JLT, propagation delay, power delay product.

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10063 Effect of Crashed Stone on Properties of Fly Ash Based-Geopolymer Concrete with Local Alkaline Activator in Egypt

Authors: O. M. Omar, G. D. Abd Elhameed, A. M. Heniegal H. A. Mohamadien

Abstract:

Green concrete are generally composed of recycling materials as hundred or partial percent substitutes for aggregate, cement, and admixture in concrete. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, efforts are needed to develop environmentally friendly construction materials. Using of fly ash based geopolymer as an alternative binder can help reduce CO2 emission of concrete. The binder of geopolymer concrete is different from the ordinary Portland cement concrete. Geopolymer Concrete specimens were prepared with different concentration of NaOH solution M10, M14, and, M16 and cured at 60ºC in duration of 24 hours and 8 hours, in addition to the curing in direct sunlight. Thus, it is necessary to study the effects of the geopolymer binder on the behavior of concrete. Concrete is made by using geopolymer technology is environmental friendly and could be considered as part of the sustainable development. In this study, the Local Alkaline Activator in Egypt and crashed stone as coarse aggregate in fly ash based-geopolymer concrete was investigated. This paper illustrates the development of mechanical properties. Since the gained compressive strength for geopolymer concrete at 28 days was in the range of 22.5MPa – 43.9MPa.

Keywords: Geopolymer, molarity, sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate.

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10062 Influence of Flexural Reinforcement on the Shear Strength of RC Beams without Stirrups

Authors: Guray Arslan, Riza S. O. Keskin

Abstract:

Numerical investigations were conducted to study the influence of flexural reinforcement ratio on the diagonal cracking strength and ultimate shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) beams without stirrups. Three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analyses (FEAs) of the beams with flexural reinforcement ratios ranging from 0.58% to 2.20% subjected to a mid-span concentrated load were carried out. It is observed that the load-deflection and loadstrain curves obtained from the numerical analyses agree with those obtained from the experiments. It is concluded that flexural reinforcement ratio has a significant effect on the shear strength and deflection capacity of RC beams without stirrups. The predictions of diagonal cracking strength and ultimate shear strength of beams obtained by using the equations defined by a number of codes and researchers are compared with each other and with the experimental values.

Keywords: Finite element, flexural reinforcement, reinforced concrete beam, shear strength.

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10061 Effect of Transverse Reinforcement on the Behavior of Tension Lap splice in High-Strength Reinforced Concrete Beams

Authors: Ahmed H. Abdel-Kareem, Hala. Abousafa, Omia S. El-Hadidi

Abstract:

The results of an experimental program conducted on seventeen simply supported concrete beams to study the effect of transverse reinforcement on the behavior of lap splice of steel reinforcement in tension zones in high strength concrete beams, are presented. The parameters included in the experimental program were the concrete compressive strength, the lap splice length, the amount of transverse reinforcement provided within the splice region, and the shape of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars. The experimental results showed that the displacement ductility increased and the mode of failure changed from splitting bond failure to flexural failure when the amount of transverse reinforcement in splice region increased, and the compressive strength increased up to 100 MPa. The presence of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars had pronounced effect on increasing the ultimate load, the ultimate deflection, and the displacement ductility. The prediction of maximum steel stresses for spliced bars using ACI 318-05 building code was compared with the experimental results. The comparison showed that the effect of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars has to be considered into the design equations for lap splice length in high strength concrete beams.

Keywords: Ductility, high strength concrete, tension lap splice, transverse reinforcement, steel stresses.

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10060 Pipelined Control-Path Effects on Area and Performance of a Wormhole-Switched Network-on-Chip

Authors: Faizal A. Samman, Thomas Hollstein, Manfred Glesner

Abstract:

This paper presents design trade-off and performance impacts of the amount of pipeline phase of control path signals in a wormhole-switched network-on-chip (NoC). The numbers of the pipeline phase of the control path vary between two- and one-cycle pipeline phase. The control paths consist of the routing request paths for output selection and the arbitration paths for input selection. Data communications between on-chip routers are implemented synchronously and for quality of service, the inter-router data transports are controlled by using a link-level congestion control to avoid lose of data because of an overflow. The trade-off between the area (logic cell area) and the performance (bandwidth gain) of two proposed NoC router microarchitectures are presented in this paper. The performance evaluation is made by using a traffic scenario with different number of workloads under 2D mesh NoC topology using a static routing algorithm. By using a 130-nm CMOS standard-cell technology, our NoC routers can be clocked at 1 GHz, resulting in a high speed network link and high router bandwidth capacity of about 320 Gbit/s. Based on our experiments, the amount of control path pipeline stages gives more significant impact on the NoC performance than the impact on the logic area of the NoC router.

Keywords: Network-on-Chip, Synchronous Parallel Pipeline, Router Architecture, Wormhole Switching

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10059 Enhance the Modeling of BLDC Motor Based on Fuzzy Logic

Authors: Murugan Marimuthu, Jeyabharath Rajaih

Abstract:

This paper describes a simple way to control the speed of PMBLDC motor using Fuzzy logic control method. In the conventional PI controller the performance of the motor system is simulated and the speed is regulated by using PI controller. These methods used to improve the performance of PMSM drives, but in some cases at different operating conditions when the dynamics of the system also vary over time and it can change the reference speed, parameter variations and the load disturbance. The simulation is powered with the MATLAB program to get a reliable and flexible simulation. In order to highlight the effectiveness of the speed control method the FLC method is used. The proposed method targeted in achieving the improved dynamic performance and avoids the variations of the motor drive. This drive has high accuracy, robust operation from near zero to high speed. The effectiveness and flexibility of the individual techniques of the speed control method will be thoroughly discussed for merits and demerits and finally verified through simulation and experimental results for comparative analysis.

Keywords: Hall position sensors, permanent magnet brushless DC motor, PI controller, Fuzzy Controller.

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10058 An Efficient Run Time Interface for Heterogeneous Architecture of Large Scale Supercomputing System

Authors: Prabu D., Andrew Aaron James, Vanamala V., Vineeth Simon, Sanjeeb Kumar Deka, Sridharan R., Prahlada Rao B.B., Mohanram N.

Abstract:

In this paper we propose a novel Run Time Interface (RTI) technique to provide an efficient environment for MPI jobs on the heterogeneous architecture of PARAM Padma. It suggests an innovative, unified framework for the job management interface system in parallel and distributed computing. This approach employs proxy scheme. The implementation shows that the proposed RTI is highly scalable and stable. Moreover RTI provides the storage access for the MPI jobs in various operating system platforms and improve the data access performance through high performance C-DAC Parallel File System (C-PFS). The performance of the RTI is evaluated by using the standard HPC benchmark suites and the simulation results show that the proposed RTI gives good performance on large scale supercomputing system.

Keywords: RTI, C-MPI, C-PFS, Scheduler Interface.

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10057 Reducing Humic Acid and Disinfection By-products in Raw Water using a Bio-activated Carbon Filter

Authors: Wei-Pin Tseng, Jie-Chung Lou, Ming-Ching Wu, Huang-Ming Fang

Abstract:

For stricter drinking water regulations in the future, reducing the humic acid and disinfection byproducts in raw water, namely, trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) is worthy for research. To investigate the removal of waterborne organic material using a lab-scale of bio-activated carbon filter under different EBCT, the concentrations of humic acid prepared were 0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.12, 0.17, 0.23, and 0.29 mg/L. Then we conducted experiments using a pilot plant with in-field of the serially connected bio-activated carbon filters and hollow fiber membrane processes employed in traditional water purification plants. Results showed under low TOC conditions of humic acid in influent (0.69 to 1.03 mg TOC/L) with an EBCT of 30 min, 40 min, and 50 min, TOC removal rates increases with greater EBCT, attaining about 39 % removal rate. The removal rate of THMs and HAAs by BACF was 54.8 % and 89.0 %, respectively.

Keywords: Bio-activated carbon filter, hollow fiber membrane, humic acid, THMs, HAAs, Water Treatment

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10056 Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Usage and Financial Performance of Branches in Jordanian Banking Industry

Authors: Hamzah Hussein Al-mawali, Yuserrie Zainuddin, Noor Nasir Kader Ali

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of management accounting, particularly performance measurement systems within the BSC framework, by investigating empirically the extent of multiple performance measures usage and their effects on the financial performance of Jordanian banks in the branches level. Nevertheless, the result of this study shows that the non-financial measures usages, particularly, customer oriented indicators and product/ service oriented indicators, appears to be important as it enhances firm performance. Remarkably, the findings reveal that there is positive relationship between the usages of multiple performance measures via overall BSC measures and financial performance in the branches level.

Keywords: Performance measurements systems, BalancedScorecard, Jordan.

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10055 Synthesis and Properties of Chitosan-Graft Polyacrylamide/Gelatin Superabsorbent Composites for Wastewater Purification

Authors: H. Ferfera-Harrar, N. Aiouaz, N. Dairi

Abstract:

Superabsorbent polymers received much attention and are used in many fields because of their superior characters to traditional absorbents, e.g., sponge and cotton. So, it is very important but challenging to prepare highly and fast-swelling superabsorbents. A reliable, efficient and low-cost technique for removing heavy metal ions from wastewater is the adsorption using bio-adsorbents obtained from biological materials, such as polysaccharides-based hydrogels superabsorbents. In this study, novel multi-functional superabsorbent composites type semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (Semi-IPNs) were prepared via graft polymerization of acrylamide onto chitosan backbone in presence of gelatin, CTS-g-PAAm/Ge, using potassium persulfate and N,N’-methylene bisacrylamide as initiator and crosslinker, respectively. These hydrogels were also partially hydrolyzed to achieve superabsorbents with ampholytic properties and uppermost swelling capacity. The formation of the grafted network was evidenced by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The porous structures were observed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). From TGA analysis, it was concluded that the incorporation of the Ge in the CTS-g-PAAm network has marginally affected its thermal stability. The effect of gelatin content on the swelling capacities of these superabsorbent composites was examined in various media (distilled water, saline and pH-solutions). The water absorbency was enhanced by adding Ge in the network, where the optimum value was reached at 2 wt. % of Ge. Their hydrolysis has not only greatly optimized their absorption capacity but also improved the swelling kinetic.These materials have also showed reswelling ability. We believe that these super-absorbing materials would be very effective for the adsorption of harmful metal ions from wastewater.

Keywords: Chitosan, gelatin, superabsorbent, water absorbency.

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10054 Cleaning Performance of High-Frequency, High-Intensity 360 kHz Frequency Operating in Thickness Mode Transducers

Authors: R. Vetrimurugan, Terry Lim, M. J. Goodson, R. Nagarajan

Abstract:

This study investigates the cleaning performance of high intensity 360 kHz frequency on removal of nano-dimensional and sub-micron particles from various surfaces, uniformity of the cleaning tank and run to run variation of cleaning process. The uniformity of the cleaning tank was measured by two different methods i.e. 1. ppbTM meter and 2. Liquid Particle Counting (LPC) technique. The result indicates that the energy was distributed more uniformly throughout the entire cleaning vessel even at the corners and edges of the tank when megasonic sweeping technology is applied. The result also shows that rinsing the parts with 360 kHz frequency at final rinse gives lower particle counts, hence higher cleaning efficiency as compared to other frequencies. When megasonic sweeping technology is applied each piezoelectric transducers will operate at their optimum resonant frequency and generates stronger acoustic cavitational force and higher acoustic streaming velocity. These combined forces are helping to enhance the particle removal and at the same time improve the overall cleaning performance. The multiple extractions study was also carried out for various frequencies to measure the cleaning potential and asymptote value.

Keywords: Power distribution, megasonic sweeping, thickness mode transducers, cavitation intensity, particle removal, laser particle counting, nano, submicron.

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10053 Using the PGAS Programming Paradigm for Biological Sequence Alignment on a Chip Multi-Threading Architecture

Authors: M. Bakhouya, S. A. Bahra, T. El-Ghazawi

Abstract:

The Partitioned Global Address Space (PGAS) programming paradigm offers ease-of-use in expressing parallelism through a global shared address space while emphasizing performance by providing locality awareness through the partitioning of this address space. Therefore, the interest in PGAS programming languages is growing and many new languages have emerged and are becoming ubiquitously available on nearly all modern parallel architectures. Recently, new parallel machines with multiple cores are designed for targeting high performance applications. Most of the efforts have gone into benchmarking but there are a few examples of real high performance applications running on multicore machines. In this paper, we present and evaluate a parallelization technique for implementing a local DNA sequence alignment algorithm using a PGAS based language, UPC (Unified Parallel C) on a chip multithreading architecture, the UltraSPARC T1.

Keywords: Partitioned Global Address Space, Unified Parallel C, Multicore machines, Multi-threading Architecture, Sequence alignment.

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10052 A High Level Implementation of a High Performance Data Transfer Interface for NoC

Authors: Mansi Jhamb, R. K. Sharma, A. K. Gupta

Abstract:

The distribution of a single global clock across a chip has become the major design bottleneck for high performance VLSI systems owing to the power dissipation, process variability and multicycle cross-chip signaling. A Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture partitioned into several synchronous blocks has become a promising approach for attaining fine-grain power management at the system level. In a NoC architecture the communication between the blocks is handled asynchronously. To interface these blocks on a chip operating at different frequencies, an asynchronous FIFO interface is inevitable. However, these asynchronous FIFOs are not required if adjacent blocks belong to the same clock domain. In this paper, we have designed and analyzed a 16-bit asynchronous micropipelined FIFO of depth four, with the awareness of place and route on an FPGA device. We have used a commercially available Spartan 3 device and designed a high speed implementation of the asynchronous 4-phase micropipeline. The asynchronous FIFO implemented on the FPGA device shows 76 Mb/s throughput and a handshake cycle of 109 ns for write and 101.3 ns for read at the simulation under the worst case operating conditions (voltage = 0.95V) on a working chip at the room temperature.

Keywords: Asynchronous, FIFO, FPGA, GALS, Network-on- Chip (NoC), VHDL.

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10051 Nonlinear Finite Element Modeling of Unbonded Steel Reinforced Concrete Beams

Authors: Fares Jnaid, Riyad Aboutaha

Abstract:

In this paper, a nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was carried out using ANSYS software to build a model able of predicting the behavior of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams with unbonded reinforcement. The FEA model was compared to existing experimental data by other researchers. The existing experimental data consisted of 16 beams that varied from structurally sound beams to beams with unbonded reinforcement with different unbonded lengths and reinforcement ratios. The model was able to predict the ultimate flexural strength, load-deflection curve, and crack pattern of concrete beams with unbonded reinforcement. It was concluded that when the when the unbonded length is less than 45% of the span, there will be no decrease in the ultimate flexural strength due to the loss of bond between the steel reinforcement and the surrounding concrete regardless of the reinforcement ratio. Moreover, when the reinforcement ratio is relatively low, there will be no decrease in ultimate flexural strength regardless of the length of unbond.

Keywords: FEA, ANSYS, Unbond, Strain.

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10050 Synthesis, Characterization and PL Properties of Cds Nanoparticles Confined within a Functionalized SBA-15 Mesoprous

Authors: Azam Anaraki Firooz, Ali Reza Mahjoub, Reza Donyaei Ziba

Abstract:

A simple and dexterous in situ method was introduced to load CdS nanocrystals into organofunctionalized mesoporous, which used an ion-exchange method. The products were extensively characterized by combined spectroscopic methods. X- ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) demonstrated both the maintenance of pore symmetry (space group p6mm) of SBA-15 and the presence of CdS nanocrystals with uniform sizes of about 6 - 8 nm inside the functionalized SBA-15 channels. These mesoporous silica-supported CdS composites showed room temperature photoluminescence properties with a blue shift, indicating the quantum size effect of nanocrystalline CdS.

Keywords: Semiconductors, luminescence, mesoporous material, CdS.

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10049 Maximizing Performance of the Membranes Based on Quaternized Polysulfone/Polyvinil Alcohol for Biomedical Applications: Rheological Investigations

Authors: A. Filimon, R. M. Albu, E. Avram

Abstract:

The rheological response of blends obtained from quaternized polysulfone and polyvinyl alcohol in N-methyl-2- pyrrolidone as against structural peculiarity of polymers from the blend, composition of polymer mixtures, as well as the types of interactions were investigated. Results show that the variation of polyvinyl alcohol composition in the studied system determines changes of the rheological properties, suggesting that the PVA acts as a plasticizer. Consequently, rheological behavior of complex system, described by the nonlinear flow curve, indicates the impact of polyvinil alcohol content to polysulfone solution, in order to facilitate the subsequently preparation of bioactive membranes.

Keywords: Membranes for biomedical applications, quaternized polysulfone/polyvinyl alcohol composites, rheological properties.

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10048 A Cell-Based Multiphase Interleaving Buck Converter with Bypass Capacitors

Authors: T. Taufik, R. Prasetyo, D. Dolan, D. Garinto

Abstract:

Today-s Voltage Regulator Modules (VRMs) face increasing design challenges as the number of transistors in microprocessors increases per Moore-s Law. These challenges have recently become even more demanding as microprocessors operate at sub voltage range at significantly high current. This paper presents a new multiphase topology with cell configuration for improved performance in low voltage and high current applications. A lab scale hardware prototype of the new topology was design and constructed. Laboratory tests were performed on the proposed converter and compared with a commercially available VRM. Results from the proposed topology exhibit improved performance compared to the commercially available counterpart.

Keywords: Voltage Regulator Modules, dc-dc converters, powerelectronics.

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10047 Replacing Fibre Reinforced Concrete with Bitumen Asphalt in Airports

Authors: Y. Mohammadi, H. M. Ghasemzadeh, T. B. Talari, M. A. Ghorbani

Abstract:

Concrete pavement has superior durability and longer structural life than asphalt pavement. Concrete pavement requires less maintenance compared to asphalt pavement which requires maintenance and major rehabilitation. Use of the concrete pavement has been grown over the past decade in developing countries. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has been successfully used in design of concrete pavement in past decade. In this research, the effect of fibre volume fraction in modulus of rupture, load-deflection, equivalent flexural strength (fe,3) and the equivalent flexural strength ratio (Re,3) has been used in different fibre volume fraction. Crimped-type flat steel fibre of size 50 x 2.0 x 0.6 mm was used with 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% volume fraction. Beam specimens of size 500 x 100 x 100 mm were used for flexural as well as with JCI method for analysis flexural toughness, equivalent flexural strength. It was obtained as the 2% fibre volume fractions; reduce 45% of the concrete pavement thickness.

Keywords: Concrete pavement, Equivalent flexural strength, Fibre, Load-deflection curves.

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10046 Flexible Laser Reduced Graphene Oxide/ MnO2 Electrode for Supercapacitor Applications

Authors: Ingy N. Bkrey, Ahmed A. Moniem

Abstract:

We succeeded to produce a high performance and flexible graphene/Manganese dioxide (G/MnO2) electrode coated on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The graphene film is initially synthesized by drop-casting the graphene oxide (GO) solution on the PET substrate, followed by simultaneous reduction and patterning of the dried film using carbon dioxide (CO2) laser beam with power of 1.8 W. Potentiostatic Anodic Deposition method was used to deposit thin film of MnO2 with different loading mass 10 – 50 and 100 μg.cm-2 on the pre-prepared graphene film. The electrodes were fully characterized in terms of structure, morphology, and electrochemical performance. A maximum specific capacitance of 973 F.g-1 was attributed when depositing 50μg.cm-2 MnO2 on the laser reduced graphene oxide rGO (or G/50MnO2) and over 92% of its initial capacitance was retained after 1000 cycles. The good electrochemical performance and long-term cycling stability make our proposed approach a promising candidate in the supercapacitor applications.

Keywords: Electrode Deposition, Flexible, Graphene oxide, Graphene, High Power CO2 Laser, MnO2.

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10045 Column Size for R.C. Frames with High Drift

Authors: Sunil S. Mayengbam, S. Choudhury

Abstract:

A method to predict the column size for displacement based design of reinforced concrete frame buildings with higher target inter storey drift is reported here. The column depth derived from empirical relation as a function of given beam section, target inter-story drift, building plan features and common displacement based design parameters is used. Regarding the high drift requirement, a minimum column-beam moment capacity ratio is maintained during capacity design. The method is used in designing four, eight and twelve story frame buildings with displacement based design for three percent target inter storey drift. Non linear time history analysis of the designed buildings are performed under five artificial ground motions to show that the columns are found elastic enough to avoid column sway mechanism assuring that for the design the column size can be used with or without minor changes.

Keywords: Column size, point of contra flexure, displacement based design, capacity design.

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10044 Effects of the Coagulation Bath and Reduction Process on SO2 Adsorption Capacity of Graphene Oxide Fiber

Authors: Özge Alptoğa, Nuray Uçar, Nilgün Karatepe Yavuz, Ayşen Önen

Abstract:

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a very toxic air pollutant gas and it causes the greenhouse effect, photochemical smog, and acid rain, which threaten human health severely. Thus, the capture of SO2 gas is very important for the environment. Graphene which is two-dimensional material has excellent mechanical, chemical, thermal properties, and many application areas such as energy storage devices, gas adsorption, sensing devices, and optical electronics. Further, graphene oxide (GO) is examined as a good adsorbent because of its important features such as functional groups (epoxy, carboxyl and hydroxyl) on the surface and layered structure. The SO2 adsorption properties of the fibers are usually investigated on carbon fibers. In this study, potential adsorption capacity of GO fibers was researched. GO dispersion was first obtained with Hummers’ method from graphite, and then GO fibers were obtained via wet spinning process. These fibers were converted into a disc shape, dried, and then subjected to SO2 gas adsorption test. The SO2 gas adsorption capacity of GO fiber discs was investigated in the fields of utilization of different coagulation baths and reduction by hydrazine hydrate. As coagulation baths, single and triple baths were used. In single bath, only ethanol and CaCl2 (calcium chloride) salt were added. In triple bath, each bath has a different concentration of water/ethanol and CaCl2 salt, and the disc obtained from triple bath has been called as reference disk. The fibers which were produced with single bath were flexible and rough, and the analyses show that they had higher SO2 adsorption capacity than triple bath fibers (reference disk). However, the reduction process did not increase the adsorption capacity, because the SEM images showed that the layers and uniform structure in the fiber form were damaged, and reduction decreased the functional groups which SO2 will be attached. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analyzes were performed on the fibers and discs, and the effects on the results were interpreted. In the future applications of the study, it is aimed that subjects such as pH and additives will be examined.

Keywords: Coagulation bath, graphene oxide fiber, reduction, SO2 gas adsorption.

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