Search results for: water recycling.

Authors: Robert G. Nini

Abstract:

The quality of road pavement is affected mostly by the type of sub-grade which is acting as road foundation. The roads degradation is related to many factors especially the climatic conditions, the quality, and the thickness of the base materials. The thickness of this layer depends on its California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test value which by its turn is highly affected by the quantity of water infiltrated under the road after heavy rain. The capacity of the base material to drain out its water is predominant factor because any change in moisture content causes change in sub-grade strength. This paper studies the effect of the soaking period of soil especially clay on its CBR value. For this reason, we collected many clayey samples in order to study the effect of the soaking period on its CBR value. On each soil, two groups of experiments were performed: main tests consisting of Proctor and CBR test from one side and from other side identification tests consisting of other tests such as Atterberg limits tests. Each soil sample was first subjected to Proctor test in order to find its optimum moisture content which will be used to perform the CBR test. Four CBR tests were performed on each soil with different soaking period. The first CBR was done without soaking the soil sample; the second one with two days soaking, the third one with four days soaking period and the last one was done under eight days soaking. By comparing the results of CBR tests performed with different soaking time, a more detailed understanding was given to the role of the water in reducing the CBR of soil. In fact, by extending the soaking period, the CBR was found to be reduced quickly the first two days and slower after. A precise reduction factor of the CBR in relation with soaking period was found at the end of this paper.

Keywords: California bearing ratio, clay, proctor test, soaking period, sub-grade.

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Authors: Farshid Fathinia, Mohammad Parsazadeh, Amirhossein Heshmati

Abstract:

Turbulent forced convection flow in a 2-dimensional channel over periodic grooves is numerically investigated. Finite volume method is used to study the effect of turbulence model. The range of Reynolds number varied from 10000 to 30000 for the ribheight to channel-height ratio (B/H) of 2. The downstream wall is heated by a uniform heat flux while the upstream wall is insulated. The investigation is analyzed with different types of nanoparticles such as SiO2, Al2O3, and ZnO, with water as a base fluid are used. The volume fraction is varied from 1% to 4% and the nanoparticle diameter is utilized between 20nm to 50nm. The results revealed 114% heat transfer enhancement compared to the water in a grooved channel by using SiO2 nanoparticle with volume fraction and nanoparticle diameter of 4% and 20nm respectively.

Keywords: Forced convection, Periodic grooves, Nanofluids, Turbulent model, Heat transfer.

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Authors: Helene Martin, Solmaz Boroomandi Barati, Jean-Charles Pinoli, Stephane Valette, Yann Gavet

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In the present work we developed an image processing algorithm to measure water droplets characteristics during dropwise condensation on pillared surfaces. The main problem in this process is the similarity between shape and size of water droplets and the pillars. The developed method divides droplets into four main groups based on their size and applies the corresponding algorithm to segment each group. These algorithms generate binary images of droplets based on both their geometrical and intensity properties. The information related to droplets evolution during time including mean radius and drops number per unit area are then extracted from the binary images. The developed image processing algorithm is verified using manual detection and applied to two different sets of images corresponding to two kinds of pillared surfaces.

Keywords: Dropwise condensation, textured surface, image processing, watershed.

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Authors: Moatlhodi Wise Letshwenyo, Lesedi Lebogang

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Botswana is an arid country that needs to start reusing wastewater as part of its water security plan. Pilot scale slow sand filtration in combination with roughing filter was investigated for the treatment of effluent from Botswana International University of Science and Technology to meet Botswana irrigation standards. The system was operated at hydraulic loading rates of 0.04 m/hr and 0.12 m/hr. The results show that the system was able to reduce turbidity from 262 Nephelometric Turbidity Units to a range between 18 and 0 Nephelometric Turbidity Units which was below 30 Nephelometric Turbidity Units threshold limit. The overall efficacy ranged between 61% and 100%. Suspended solids, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, and Chemical Oxygen Demand removal efficiency averaged 42.6%, 45.5%, and 77% respectively and all within irrigation standards. Other physio-chemical parameters were within irrigation standards except for bicarbonate ion which averaged 297.7±44 mg L^-1 in the influent and 196.22±50 mg L^-1 in the effluent which was above the limit of 92 mg L^-1, therefore averaging a reduction of 34.1% by the system. Total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and Escherichia coli in the effluent were initially averaging 1.1 log counts, 0.5 log counts, and 1.3 log counts respectively compared to corresponding influent log counts of 3.4, 2.7 and 4.1, respectively. As time passed, it was observed that only roughing filter was able to reach reductions of 97.5%, 86% and 100% respectively for faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and total coliforms. These organism numbers were observed to have increased in slow sand filter effluent suggesting multiplication in the tank. Water quality index value of 22.79 for the physio-chemical parameters suggests that the effluent is of excellent quality and can be used for irrigation purposes. However, the water quality index value for the microbial parameters (1820) renders the quality unsuitable for irrigation. It is concluded that slow sand filtration in combination with roughing filter is a viable option for the treatment of secondary effluent for reuse purposes. However, further studies should be conducted especially for the removal of microbial parameters using the system.

Keywords: Irrigation, roughing filter, slow sand filter, turbidity, water quality index.

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Authors: Aparajita Goswami, Mihir K Purkait

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In the present study Schwertmannite (an iron oxide hydroxide) is selected as an adsorbent for defluoridation of water. The adsorbent was prepared by wet chemical process and was characterized by SEM, XRD and BET. The fluoride adsorption efficiency of the prepared adsorbent was determined with respect to contact time, initial fluoride concentration, adsorbent dose and pH of the solution. The batch adsorption data revealed that the fluoride adsorption efficiency was highly influenced by the studied factors. Equilibrium was attained within one hour of contact time indicating fast kinetics and the adsorption data followed pseudo second order kinetic model. Equilibrium isotherm data fitted to both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models for a concentration range of 5-30 mg/L. The adsorption system followed Langmuir isotherm model with maximum adsorption capacity of 11.3 mg/g. The high adsorption capacity of Schwertmannite points towards the potential of this adsorbent for fluoride removal from aqueous medium.

Keywords: Adsorption, fluoride, isotherm study, kinetics, schwertmannite.

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Authors: A. Gandomkar, R. Dehghani

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Drought is natural and climate phenomenon and in fact server as a part of climate in an area and also it has significant environmental, social ,and economic consequences .drought differs from the other natural disasters from this viewpoint that it s a creeping phenomenon meaning that it progresses little and its difficult to determine the time of its onset and termination .most of the drought definitions are on based on precipitation shortage and consequently ,the shortage of water some of the activities related to the water such as agriculture In this research ,drought condition in Fars province was evacuated using SPI method within a 37 year – statistical –period(1974-2010)and maps related to the drought were prepared for each of the statistical period years. According to the results obtained from this research, the years 1974, 1976, 1975, 1982 with SPI (-1.03, 0.39, -1.05, -1.49) respectively, were the doughiest years and 1996,1997,2000 with SPI (2.49, 1.49, 1.46, 1.04) respectively, the most humid within the studying time series and the rest are in more normal conditions in the term of drought.

Keywords: Fars Province, Drought, SPI Method, Time Series

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Authors: M. Grabowski, K. Macnar, J. Skrzyński

Abstract:

Huge losses in apple production are caused by pathogens that cannot be seen shortly after harvest. After-harvest thermotherapy treatments can considerably improve control of storage diseases on apples and become an alternative to chemical pesticides. In the years 2010-2012 carried out research in this area. Apples of 'Topaz' cultivar were harvested at optimal maturity time for long storage and subject to water bath treatment at 45, 50, 52, 55°C for 60, 120, 180 and 240 seconds. The control was untreated fruits. After 12 and 24 weeks and during so called simulated trade turnover the fruits were checked for their condition and the originators of diseases were determined by using the standard phytopathological methods. The most common originator of 'Topaz' apple infection during storage were the fungi of genus Gloeosporium. In this paper it was proven that for effective protection of 'Topaz' apples against diseases, thermotherapy by using water treatments at temperature range of 50-52°C is quite sufficient.

Keywords: apple storage diseases, prolonged fruit storage, 'Topaz' apples, thermotherapeutic treatments.

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Authors: C. Elavarasi, T. Shanmuganantham

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A coplanar waveguide (CPW) feed is presented, and comprising a split ring resonator (SRR) loaded fractal with water lily shape is used for multi band applications. The impedance matching of the antenna is determined by the number of Koch curve fractal unit cells. The antenna is designed on a FR4 substrate with a permittivity of ε_{r =} 4.4 and size of 14 x 16 x 1.6 mm³ to generate multi resonant mode at 3.8 GHz covering S band, 8.68 GHz at X band, 13.96 GHz at Ku band, and 19.74 GHz at K band with reflection coefficient better than -10 dB. Simulation results show that the antenna exhibits the desired voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) level and radiation patterns across the wide frequency range. The fundamental parameters of the antenna such as return loss, VSWR, good radiation pattern with reasonable gain across the operating bands are obtained.

Keywords: Monopole antenna, fractal, metamaterial, waterlily shape, split ring resonator, multiband.

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Authors: Emad Hazbkhah. Abdolreza zahiri, Hossein ghorbanizade kharazi

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The present paper is a case study about exploitation of Kheir Abad river (Khoozestan, Iran) water resources and the problems caused by river sediments around the pumping stations. The weak points and strong points of Boneh Basht pumping station have been studied by experienced experts, work teams, and consulting engineers and technical and executive solutions have been suggested. Therefore, the suggestions of this article are based on the performed studies and are proposed in order to evaluate the logical solutions. Rather complicated processes resulting from the interaction of water flows and sediments observed at Boneh Basht pumping station occur at other pumping stations in almost the same way. Therefore, Boneh Basht pumping station can be selected as a sample (pilot) and up-to-date theories and experiences can be applied to this station and the results can be offered to other stations.

Keywords: Boneh Basht , Iran , Pumping Station, Sedimentation

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Authors: Valmir Baloshi, Fran Gjoka, Nehat Çollaku, Elvin Toromani

Abstract:

As a sediment production mechanism, soil erosion is the main environmental threat to the Bovilla watershed, including the decline of water quality of the Bovilla reservoir that provides drinking water to Tirana city (the capital of Albania). Therefore, an experiment with 25 erosion plots for soil erosion monitoring has been set up since June 2017. The aim was to determine the soil loss on plot and watershed scale in Bovilla watershed (Tirana region) for implementation of soil and water protection measures or payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs. The results of erosion monitoring for the period June 2017 - May 2018 showed that the highest values of surface runoff were noted in bare land of 38829.91 liters on slope of 74% and the lowest values in forest land of 12840.6 liters on slope of 64% while the highest values of soil loss were found in bare land of 595.15 t/ha on slope of 62% and lowest values in forest land of 18.99 t/ha on slope of 64%. These values are much higher than the average rate of soil loss in the European Union (2.46 ton/ha/year). In the same sloping class, the soil loss was reduced from orchard or bare land to the forest land, and in the same category of land use, the soil loss increased with increasing land slope. It is necessary to conduct chemical analyses of sediments to determine the amount of chemical elements leached out of the soil and end up in the reservoir of Bovilla. It is concluded that PES programs should be implemented for rehabilitation of sub-watersheds Ranxe, Vilez and Zall-Bastar of the Bovilla watershed with valuable conservation practices.

Keywords: ANOVA, Bovilla, land cover, slope, soil loss, watershed management.

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Authors: M. R. Gholizadeh, N. Bhuiyan, M. Salari

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In the near future, companies will be increasingly forced to shift their activities along a new road in order to decrease the harmful effects of their design, production and after-life on our environment. Products must meet environmental standards to not only prevent penalties but to consider the sustainability for future generations. However, the most important factor that companies will face is selecting a reasonable strategy to maximize their profit. Thus, companies need to have precise forecast from their profit after design stage through Trade-off analysis. This paper is an attempt to introduce a mathematical model that considers effective factors that impact the total profit when products are designed for resource and energy efficiency or recyclability. The modification is according to different strategies based on a Cost-Volume-Profit model. Here, the cost structure consists of Recycling cost, Development cost, Ramp-up cost, Production cost, and Pollution cost. Also, the model shows the effect of implementation of design for recyclable on revenue structure through revenue of used parts and revenue of recycled materials. A numerical example is used to evaluate the proposed model. Results show that fulfillment of Green Product Development not only can reduce the environmental impact of products but also it will increase profit of company in long term.

Keywords: Green Product, Design for Environment, C-V-P Model, Trade-off analysis.

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Authors: Bouchmel Mliki, Chaouki Ali, Mohamed Ammar Abbassi

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In this numerical study, natural convection of Cu–water nanofluid in a cavity submitted to different heating modes on its vertical walls is analyzed. Maxwell-Garnetts (MG) and Brinkman models have been utilized for calculating the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of nanofluid, respectively. Influences of Rayleigh number (Ra = 10³−10⁶), nanoparticle volume concentration (f = 0-0.04) and Hartmann number (Ha = 0-90) on the flow and heat transfer characteristics have been examined. The results indicate that the Hartmann number influences the heat transfer at Ra = 10⁶ more than other Raleigh numbers, as the least effect is observed at Ra = 10³. Moreover, the results show that the solid volume fraction has a significant influence on heat transfer, depending on the value of Hartmann, heat generation or absorption coefficient and Rayleigh numbers.

Keywords: Heat transfer, linearly/sinusoidally heated, Lattice Boltzmann Method, natural convection, nanofluid.

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Authors: H. C. Chang, J. R. Wang, A. L. Ho, S. W. Chen, J. H. Yang, C. Shih, L. C. Wang

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To confirm the reactor and containment integrity of the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR), we perform the analysis of main steamline break (MSLB) transient by using the TRACE, PARCS, and SNAP codes. The process of the research has four steps. First, the ABWR nuclear power plant (NPP) model is developed by using the above codes. Second, the steady state analysis is performed by using this model. Third, the ABWR model is used to run the analysis of MSLB transient. Fourth, the predictions of TRACE and PARCS are compared with the data of FSAR. The results of TRACE/PARCS and FSAR are similar. According to the TRACE/PARCS results, the reactor and containment integrity of ABWR can be maintained in a safe condition for MSLB.

Keywords: ABWR, TRACE, PARCS, SNAP.

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Authors: K. Shahril, A. Nizam, M. Sabri, A. Siti Rohana, H. Salmah

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Chemical modifier (Acrylic Acid) is used as filler treatment to improve mechanical properties and swelling behavior of polypropylene/coconut fiber (PP/CF) composites by creating more adherent bonding between CF filler and PP Matrix. Treated (with chemical modifier) and untreated (without chemical modifier) composites were prepared in the formulation of 10 wt%, 20 wt%, 30 wt%, and 40 wt%. The mechanical testing indicates that composite with 10 wt% of untreated composite has the optimum value of tensile strength, and the composite with chemical modifier shows the tensile strength was increased. By increasing of filler loading, elastic modulus was increased while the elongation at brake was decreased. Meanwhile, the swelling test discerned that the increase of filler loading increased the water absorption of composites and the presence of chemical modifier reduced the equilibrium water absorption percentage.

Keywords: Coconut fiber, polypropylene, acid acrylic, ethanol, chemical modifier, composites.

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Authors: Kalyan Kumar Mandal, Damodar Maity

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The degradation of concrete due to various hygrochemo- mechanical actions is inevitable for the structures particularly built to store water. Therefore, it is essential to determine the material properties of dam-like structures due to ageing to predict the behavior of such structures after a certain age. The degraded material properties are calculated by introducing isotropic degradation index. The predicted material properties are used to study the behavior of aged dam at different ages. The dam is modeled by finite elements and displacement and is considered as an unknown variable. The parametric study reveals that the displacement is quite larger for comparatively lower design life of the structure because the degradation of elastic properties depends on the design life of the dam. The stresses in dam cam be unexpectedly large at any age with in the design life. The outcomes of the present study indicate the importance of the consideration ageing effect of concrete exposed to water for the safe design of dam throughout its life time.

Keywords: Hygro-chemo-mechanical, isotropic degradation, finite element method, Koyna earthquake.

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Authors: Yue Sun, Yuan Wang

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The Grand Canal of China has been in use for more than two thousand years. It runs through the central and eastern regions of China and communicates with the five major river systems of Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River from north to south. It is a complex, systematic and comprehensive water conservancy project in the period of agricultural civilization and includes the three parts of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, the Sui and Tang Dynasties Canal and the Eastern Zhejiang Canal. It covers eight provinces and cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan and Anhui. The Grand Canal is an important channel connecting the Central Plains and the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, and it is also an important waterway trade channel. Nowadays, although the Grand Canal no longer bears the burden of communicating water transportation between the north and the south, the site of the Grand Canal is still a “historical museum” of the lifestyle of people who lived on the canal from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the Republic of China. By means of literature reading and field investigation, this paper compares the different protection strategies of the Grand Canal in the region between the ancient villages of Huaxian and Xunxian, which witness the vicissitudes of canal water transport, to explore whether the protective renovation of historical and cultural routes is “protection” or “destruction”, and puts forward some protection suggestions.

Keywords: The Grand Canal, heritage conservation, cultural route, ancient villages, strategies.

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Authors: Chaiyakrit Raoupatham, Ram Hari Dhakal, Chalermchai Wanichlamlert

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This paper aimed to introduce the solution of concrete slump recovery using chemical admixture type-F (superplasticizer, naphthalene base) to the practice in order to solve unusable concrete problem due to concrete loss its slump, especially for those tropical countries that have faster slump loss rate. In the other hand, randomly adding superplasticizer into concrete can cause concrete to segregate. Therefore, this paper also develops the estimation model used to calculate amount of second dose of superplasticizer need for concrete slump recovery. Fresh properties of ordinary Portland cement concrete with volumetric ratio of paste to void between aggregate (paste content) of 1.1-1.3 with water-cement ratio zone of 0.30 to 0.67 and initial superplasticizer (naphthalene base) of 0.25%-1.6% were tested for initial slump and slump loss for every 30 minutes for one and half hour by slump cone test. Those concretes with slump loss range from 10% to 90% were re-dosed and successfully recovered back to its initial slump. Slump after re-dosed was tested by slump cone test. From the result, it has been concluded that, slump loss was slower for those mix with high initial dose of superplasticizer due to addition of superplasticizer will disturb cement hydration. The required second dose of superplasticizer was affected by two major parameters, which were water-cement ratio and paste content, where lower water-cement ratio and paste content cause an increase in require second dose of superplasticizer. The amount of second dose of superplasticizer is higher as the solid content within the system is increase, solid can be either from cement particles or aggregate. The data was analyzed to form an equation use to estimate the amount of second dosage requirement of superplasticizer to recovery slump to its original.

Keywords: Estimation model, second superplasticizer dosage, slump loss, slump recovery.

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Authors: Chun-Wei Lin, Yu-Lin Chen

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As global industry developed rapidly, the energy demand also rises simultaneously. In the production process, there’s a lot of energy consumed in the process. Formally, the energy used in generating the heat in the production process. In the total energy consumption, 40% of the heat was used in process heat, mechanical work, chemical energy and electricity. The remaining 50% were released into the environment. It will cause energy waste and environment pollution. There are many ways for recovering the waste heat in factory. Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system can produce electricity and reduce energy costs by recovering the waste of low temperature heat in the factory. In addition, ORC is the technology with the highest power generating efficiency in low-temperature heat recycling. However, most of factories executives are still hesitated because of the high implementation cost of the ORC system, even a lot of heat are wasted. Therefore, this study constructs a nonlinear mathematical model of waste heat recovery equipment configuration to maximize profits. A particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed to generate the optimal facility installation plan for the ORC system.

Keywords: Green facility planning, organic rankine cycle, particle swarm optimization, waste heat recovery.

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Authors: A. Mir, C. Aribi, B. Bezzazi

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Work presented is interested in the characterization of the quasistatic mechanical properties and in fatigue of a composite laminated in jute/epoxy. The natural fibers offer promising prospects thanks to their interesting specific properties, because of their low density, but also with their bio-deterioration. Several scientific studies highlighted the good mechanical resistance of the vegetable fiber composites reinforced, even after several recycling. Because of the environmental standards that become increasingly severe, one attends the emergence of eco-materials at the base of natural fibers such as flax, bamboo, hemp, sisal, jute. The fatigue tests on elementary vegetable fibers show an increase of about 60% of the rigidity of elementary fibers of hemp subjected to cyclic loadings. In this study, the test-tubes manufactured by the method infusion have sequences of stacking of 0/90° and ± 45° for the shearing and tensile tests. The quasistatic tests reveal a variability of the mechanical properties of about 8%. The tensile fatigue tests were carried out for levels of constraints equivalent to half of the ultimate values of the composite. Once the fatigue tests carried out for well-defined values of cycles, a series of static tests of traction type highlights the influence of the number of cycles on the quasi-static mechanical behavior of the laminate jute/epoxy.

Keywords: Jute, epoxy resin, mechanical, static, dynamic behavior.

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Authors: Ehsan Yazdanpanah Moghadam, Muthukumaran Packirisamy

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In the present study, a design of the suspended polymeric microfluidic platform is introduced that is fabricated with three polymeric layers. Changing the microchannel plane to be perpendicular to microcantilever plane, drastically decreases moment of inertia in that direction. In addition, the platform is made of polymer (around five orders of magnitude less compared to silicon). It causes significant increase in the sensitivity of the cantilever deflection. Next, although the dimensions of this platform are constant, by misaligning the embedded microchannels laterally in the suspended microfluidic platform, the sensitivity can be highly increased. The investigation is studied on four fluids including water, seawater, milk, and blood for flow ranges from low rate of 5 to 70 µl/min to obtain the best design with the highest sensitivity. The best design in this study shows the sensitivity increases around 50% for water, seawater, milk, and blood at the flow rate of 70 µl/min by just misaligning the embedded microchannels in the suspended polymeric microfluidic platform.

Keywords: Microfluidic, biosensor, MEMS.

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Authors: Darius Jay R. Bongay, Roberto L. Ngo

Abstract:

This study investigated the removal efficiency of electrokinetic remediation of copper-contaminated soil at different combinations of enhancement reagents used as anolyte and catholyte. Sodium hydroxide (at 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 M concentrations) and distilled water were used as anolyte, while lactic acid (at 0.01, 0.1, and 0.5 M concentrations), ammonium citrate (also at 0.01, 0.1, and 0.5 M concentrations) and distilled water were used as catholyte. A continuous voltage application (1.0 VDC/cm) was employed for 240 hours for each experiment. The copper content of the catholyte was determined at the end of the 240-hour period. Optimization was carried out with a Response Surface Methodology - Optimal Design, including F test, and multiple comparison method, to determine which pair of anolyte-catholyte was the most significant for the removal efficiency. "1.0 M NaOH" was found to be the most significant anolyte while it was established that lactic acid was the most significant type of catholyte to be used for the most successful electrokinetic experiments. Concentrations of lactic acid should be at the range of 0.1 M to 0.5 M to achieve maximum percent removal values.

Keywords: Electrokinetic remediation, copper contamination, heavy metal contamination, soil remediation

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Authors: Francesco Ruscio, Paolo Paoletti, Jens Thomas, Paul Myers, Sebastiano Fichera

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This paper presents the development of a low-cost monitoring system for a hydroponic urban vertical farm, enabling its automation and a quantitative assessment of the farm performance. Urban farming has seen increasing interest in the last decade thanks to the development of energy efficient and affordable LED lights; however, the optimal configuration of such systems (i.e. amount of nutrients, light-on time, ambient temperature etc.) is mostly based on the farmers’ experience and empirical guidelines. Moreover, even if simple, the maintenance of such systems is labor intensive as it requires water to be topped-up periodically, mixing of the nutrients etc. To unlock the full potential of urban farming, a quantitative understanding of the role that each variable plays in the growth of the plants is needed, together with a higher degree of automation. The low-cost monitoring system proposed in this paper is a step toward filling this knowledge and technological gap, as it enables collection of sensor data related to water and air temperature, water level, humidity, pressure, light intensity, pH and electric conductivity without requiring any human intervention. More sensors and actuators can also easily be added thanks to the modular design of the proposed platform. Data can be accessed remotely via a simple web interface. The proposed platform can be used both for quantitatively optimizing the setup of the farms and for automating some of the most labor-intensive maintenance activities. Moreover, such monitoring system can also potentially be used for high-level decision making, once enough data are collected.

Keywords: Automation, hydroponics, internet of things, monitoring system, urban farming.

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Authors: M. Al-Majidi, A. Lampropoulos, A. Cundy

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Geopolymer (cement-free) concrete is the most promising green alternative to ordinary Portland cement concrete and other cementitious materials. While a range of different geopolymer concretes have been produced, a common feature of these concretes is heat curing treatment which is essential in order to provide sufficient mechanical properties in the early age. However, there are several practical issues with the application of heat curing in large-scale structures. The purpose of this study is to develop cement-free concrete without heat curing treatment. Experimental investigations were carried out in two phases. In the first phase (Phase A), the optimum content of water, polycarboxylate based superplasticizer contents and potassium silicate activator in the mix was determined. In the second stage (Phase B), the effect of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) incorporation on the compressive strength of fly ash (FA) and Slag based geopolymer mixtures was evaluated. Setting time and workability were also conducted alongside with compressive tests. The results showed that as the slag content was increased the setting time was reduced while the compressive strength was improved. The obtained compressive strength was in the range of 40-50 MPa for 50% slag replacement mixtures. Furthermore, the results indicated that increment of water and superplasticizer content resulted to retarding of the setting time and slight reduction of the compressive strength. The compressive strength of the examined mixes was considerably increased as potassium silicate content was increased.

Keywords: Fly ash, geopolymer, potassium silicate, room temperature treatment, slag.

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Authors: Hocine Hammoum, Karima Bouzelha, Lounis Ziani, Lounis Hamitouche

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In this paper, we study a complex structure which is an apartment building surmounted by a reinforced concrete water tank. The tank located on the top floor of the building is a container with capacity of 1000 m³. The building is complex in its design, its calculation and by its behavior under earthquake effect. This structure located in Algiers and aged of 53 years has been subjected to several earthquakes, but the earthquake of May 21^st, 2003 with a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale that struck Boumerdes region at 40 Kms East of Algiers was fatal for it. It was downgraded after an investigation study because the central core sustained serious damage. In this paper, to estimate the degree of its damages, the seismic performance of the structure will be evaluated taking into account the hydrodynamic effect, using a static equivalent nonlinear analysis called pushover.

Keywords: Performance analysis, building, reinforced concrete tank, seismic analysis, nonlinear analysis, hydrodynamic, pushover.

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Authors: W. Witchayanuwat, S. Kheawhom

Abstract:

In this work, we experimentally study heat transfer from exhaust particulate air of detergent spray drying tower to water by using coiled tube heat exchanger. Water flows in the coiled tubes, where air loaded with detergent particles of 43 micrometers in diameter flows within the shell. Four coiled tubes with different coil pitches are used in a counter-current flow configuration. We investigate heat transfer coefficients of inside and outside the heat transfer surfaces through 400 experiments. The correlations between Nusselt number and Reynolds number, Prandtl number, mass flow rate of particulates to mass flow rate of air ratio and coiled tube pitch parameter are proposed. The correlations procured can be used to predicted heat transfer between tube and shell of the heat exchanger.

Keywords: Shell and coiled tube heat exchanger, Spray drying tower, Heat transfer coefficients.

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Authors: Ronbanchob Apiratikul

Abstract:

This research studied recycled waste by the Recyclable Material Bank Project of 4 universities in the central region of Thailand for the evaluation of reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared with landfilling activity during July 2012 to June 2013. The results showed that the projects collected total amount of recyclable wastes of about 911,984.80 kilograms. Office paper had the largest amount among these recycled wastes (50.68% of total recycled waste). Groups of recycled waste can be prioritized from high to low according to their amount as paper, plastic, glass, mixed recyclables, and metal, respectively. The project reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to about 2814.969 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The most significant recycled waste that affects the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is office paper which is 70.16% of total reduced greenhouse gasses emission. According to amount of reduced greenhouse gasses emission, groups of recycled waste can be prioritized from high to low significances as paper, plastic, metals, mixed recyclables, and glass, respectively.

Keywords: Recycling, garbage bank, waste management, recyclable wastes, greenhouse gasses.

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Authors: A.H. Sajedipoor, N. Hedayat, A.Rohani, Z.Yazdi

Abstract:

Sediment formation and its transport along the river course is considered as important hydraulic consideration in river engineering. Their impact on the morphology of rivers on one hand and important considerations of which in the design and construction of the hydraulic structures on the other has attracted the attention of experts in arid and semi-arid regions. Under certain conditions where the momentum energy of the flow stream reaches a specific rate, the sediment materials start to be transported with the flow. This can usually be analyzed in two different categories of suspended and bed load materials. Sedimentation phenomenon along the waterways and the conveyance of vast volume of materials into the canal networks can potentially influence water abstraction in the intake structures. This can pose a serious threat to operational sustainability and water delivery performance in the canal networks. The situation is serious where ineffective watershed management (poor vegetation cover in the water basin) is the underlying cause of soil erosion which feeds the materials into the waterways that intern would necessitate comprehensive study. The present paper aims to present an analytical investigation of the sediment process in the waterways on one hand and estimation of the sediment load transport into the lined canals using the SHARC software on the other. For this reason, the paper focuses on the comparative analysis of the hydraulic behaviors of the Sabilli main canal that feeds the pumping station with that of the Western canal in the Greater Dezful region to identify effective factors in sedimentation and ways of mitigating their impact on water abstraction in the canal systems. The method involved use of observational data available in the Dezful Dastmashoon hydrometric station along a 6 km waterway of the Sabilli main canal using the SHARC software to estimate the suspended load concentration and bed load materials. Results showed the transport of a significant volume of sediment loads from the waterways into the canal system which is assumed to have arisen from the absence of stilling basin on one hand and the gravity flow on the other has caused serious challenges. This is contrary to what occurs in the Sabilli canal, where the design feature which incorporates a settling basin just before the pumping station is the major cause of reduced sediment load transport into the canal system.Results showed that modification of the present design features by constructing a settling basin just upstream of the western intake structure can considerably reduce the entry of sediment materials into the canal system. Not only this can result in the sustainability of the hydraulic structures but can also improve operational performance of water conveyance and distribution system, all of which are the pre-requisite to secure reliable and equitable water delivery regime for the command area.

Keywords: Sedimentation, main canal, Sabilli, western canal, dez diversion weir.

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Authors: Meor Othman Hamzah, Lillian Gungat, Nur Izzi Md. Yusoff, Jan Valentin

Abstract:

The recent hike in raw materials costs and the quest for preservation of the environment has prompted asphalt industries to adopt greener road construction technology. This paper presents a study on such technology by means of asphalt recycling and use of warm mix asphalt (WMA) additive. It evaluates the effects of a WMA named RH-WMA on binder rheological properties and asphalt mixture performance. The recycled asphalt, obtained from local roads, was processed, fractionated, and incorporated with virgin aggregate and binder. For binder testing, the recycled asphalt was extracted and blended with virgin binder. The binder and mixtures specimen containing 30 % and 50 % recycled asphalt contents were mixed with 3 % RH-WMA. The rheological properties of the binder were evaluated based on fundamental, viscosity, and frequency sweep tests. Indirect tensile strength and resilient modulus tests were carried out to assess the mixture’s performances. The rheological properties and strength performance results showed that the addition of RH-WMA slightly reduced the binder and mixtures stiffness. The percentage of recycled asphalt increased the stiffness of binder and mixture, and thus improves the resistance to rutting. Therefore, the integration of recycled asphalt and RH-WMA can be an alternative material for road sustainable construction for countries in the tropics.

Keywords: Recycled asphalt, warm mix additive, rheological, mixture performance.

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Authors: F. Esmaeilzadeh, M. E. Zeighami, J. Fathi

Abstract:

This paper describes a one-dimensional numerical model for natural gas production from the dissociation of methane hydrate in hydrate-capped gas reservoir under depressurization and thermal stimulation. Some of the hydrate reservoirs discovered are overlying a free-gas layer, known as hydrate-capped gas reservoirs. These reservoirs are thought to be easiest and probably the first type of hydrate reservoirs to be produced. The mathematical equations that can be described this type of reservoir include mass balance, heat balance and kinetics of hydrate decomposition. These non-linear partial differential equations are solved using finite-difference fully implicit scheme. In the model, the effect of convection and conduction heat transfer, variation change of formation porosity, the effect of using different equations of state such as PR and ER and steam or hot water injection are considered. In addition distributions of pressure, temperature, saturation of gas, hydrate and water in the reservoir are evaluated. It is shown that the gas production rate is a sensitive function of well pressure.

Keywords: Hydrate reservoir, numerical modeling, depressurization, thermal stimulation, gas generation.

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Authors: Noor Muzamil Mohamad, Abdul Manaf Ali, Hamzah Mohd Salleh

Abstract:

Phytases (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate phosphohydrolases; EC 3.1.3.8) catalyze the hydrolysis of phytic acid (myoinositol hexakisphosphate) to the mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, and pentaphosphates of myo-inositol and inorganic phosphate. Therrmophilic bacteria isolated from water sampled from hot spring. About 120 isolates of bacteria were successfully isolated form hot spring water sample and tested for extracellular phytase producing. After 5 passages of the screening on the PSM media, 4 isolates were found stable in producing phytase enzyme. The 16s RDNA sequencing for identification of bacteria using molecular technique revealed that all isolates those positive in phytase producing are belong to Geobacillus spp. And Anoxybacillus spp. Anoxybacillus rupiensis UniSZA-7 were identified for their carbon source utilization using Phenotype Microarray Plate of Biolog and found they utilize several kind of carbon source provided.

Keywords: Phytase, Phytic Acid, Thermophilic Bacteria, PSM Media and Phytase Assay

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