Search results for: volumetric mass density
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2054

Search results for: volumetric mass density

614 An Experimental Study on Effects of Applying the Pulsating Flow to a Gas-Solid Fluidized Bed

Authors: Rezvan Alamian, Alireza Baniassadi, Hassan Basirat Tabrizi

Abstract:

There have been widespread applications of fluidized beds in industries which are related to the combination of gas-solid particles during the last decade. For instance, in order to crack the catalyses in petrochemical industries or as a drier in food industries. High capacity of fluidized bed in heat and mass transfer has made this device very popular. In order to achieve a higher efficiency of fluidized beds, a particular attention has been paid to beds with pulsating air flow. In this paper, a fluidized bed device with pulsating flow has been designed and constructed. Size of particles have been used during the test are in the range of 40 to 100μm. The purpose of this experimental test is to investigate the air flow regime, observe the particles- movement and measure the pressure loss along the bed. The effects of pulsation can be evaluated by comparing the results for both continuous and pulsating flow. Results of both situations are compared for various gas speeds. Moreover the above experiment is numerically simulated by using Fluent software and its numerical results are compared with the experimental results.

Keywords: Fluidized bed, pulsating flow, gas-solid particles, pressure loss, experiments, Fluent.

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613 Numerical Optimization Design of PEM Fuel Cell Performance Applying the Taguchi Method

Authors: Shan-Jen Cheng, Jr-Ming Miao, Sheng-Ju Wu

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is applied Taguchi method on the optimization for PEMFC performance, and a representative Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is selectively performed for statistical analysis. The studied factors in this paper are pressure of fuel cell, operating temperature, the relative humidity of anode and cathode, porosity of gas diffusion electrode (GDE) and conductivity of GDE. The optimal combination for maximum power density is gained by using a three-level statistical method. The results confirmed that the robustness of the optimum design parameters influencing the performance of fuel cell are founded by pressure of fuel cell, 3atm; operating temperature, 353K; the relative humidity of anode, 50%; conductivity of GDE, 1000 S/m, but the relative humidity of cathode and porosity of GDE are pooled as error due to a small sum of squares. The present simulation results give designers the ideas ratify the effectiveness of the proposed robust design methodology for the performance of fuel cell.

Keywords: PEMFC, numerical simulation, optimization, Taguchi method.

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612 Experimental Investigations on the Influence of Properties of Jatropha Biodiesel on Performance, Combustion, and Emission Characteristics of a DI-CI Engine

Authors: P. V. Rao

Abstract:

The aim of the present research work is to investigate the influence of Jatropha biodiesel properties on various characteristics of a direct injection compression ignition engine. The experiments were performed at different engine operating regimes with the injection timing prescribed by the engine manufacturer for diesel fuel. The engine characteristics with Jatropha biodiesel were compared against those obtained using diesel fuel. From the results, it is observed that the biodiesel performance and emissions are lower than that of diesel fuel. However, the NOx emission of Jatropha biodiesel is more than that of diesel fuel. These high NOx emissions are due to the presence of unsaturated fatty acids and the advanced injection caused by the higher bulk modulus (or density) of Jatropha biodiesel Furthermore, the possibility for reduction of NOx emissions without expensive engine modifications (hardware) was investigated. Keeping this in mind, the Jatropha biodiesel was preheated. The experimental results show that the retarded injection timing is necessary when using Jatropha biodiesel in order to reduce NOx emission without worsening other engine characteristics. Results also indicate improved performance with the application of preheated biodiesel. The only penalty for using preheated biodiesel is the increase of smoke (soot).

Keywords: chemical properties, combustion, exhaust emissions, Jatropha biodiesel

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611 A Novel Four-Transistor SRAM Cell with Low Dynamic Power Consumption

Authors: Arash Azizi Mazreah, Mohammad T. Manzuri Shalmani, Hamid Barati, Ali Barati

Abstract:

This paper presents a novel CMOS four-transistor SRAM cell for very high density and low power embedded SRAM applications as well as for stand-alone SRAM applications. This cell retains its data with leakage current and positive feedback without refresh cycle. The new cell size is 20% smaller than a conventional six-transistor cell using same design rules. Also proposed cell uses two word-lines and one pair bit-line. Read operation perform from one side of cell, and write operation perform from another side of cell, and swing voltage reduced on word-lines thus dynamic power during read/write operation reduced. The fabrication process is fully compatible with high-performance CMOS logic technologies, because there is no need to integrate a poly-Si resistor or a TFT load. HSPICE simulation in standard 0.25μm CMOS technology confirms all results obtained from this paper.

Keywords: Positive feedback, leakage current, read operation, write operation, dynamic energy consumption.

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610 The Effects of Four Organic Cropping Sequences on Soil Phosphorous Cycling and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi

Authors: R. J. Parham, J. D. Knight

Abstract:

Organic farmers across Saskatchewan face soil phosphorus (P) shortages. Due to the restriction on inputs in organic systems, farmers rely on crop rotation and naturally-occurring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for plant P supply. Crop rotation is important for disease, pest, and weed management. Crops that are not colonized by AMF (non-mycorrhizal) can decrease colonization of a following crop. An experiment was performed to quantify soil P cycling in four cropping sequences under organic management and determine if mustard (non-mycorrhizal) was delaying the colonization of subsequent wheat. Soils from the four cropping sequences were measured for inorganic soil P (Pi), AMF spore density (SD), phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA, for AMF biomarker counts), and alkaline phosphatase activity (ALPase, related to AMF metabolic activity). Plants were measured for AMF colonization and P content and uptake of above-ground biomass. A lack of difference in AMF activity indicated that mustard was not depressing colonization. Instead, AMF colonization was largely determined by crop type and crop rotation.

Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, crop rotation, organic farming, phosphorous, soil microbiology.

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609 Reaction Rate of Olive Stone during Combustion in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed

Authors: A. Soria-Verdugo, M. Rubio-Rubio, J. Arrieta, N. García-Hernando

Abstract:

Combustion of biomass is a promising alternative to reduce the high pollutant emission levels associated to the combustion of fossil flues due to the net null emission of CO2 attributed to biomass. However, the biomass selected should also have low contents of nitrogen and sulfur to limit the NOx and SOx emissions derived from its combustion. In this sense, olive stone is an excellent fuel to power combustion reactors with reduced levels of pollutant emissions. In this work, the combustion of olive stone particles is analyzed experimentally in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor (BFB). The bubbling fluidized bed reactor was installed over a scale, conforming a macro-TGA. In both equipment, the evolution of the mass of the samples was registered as the combustion process progressed. The results show a much faster combustion process in the bubbling fluidized bed reactor compared to the thermogravimetric analyzer measurements, due to the higher heat transfer coefficient and the abrasion of the fuel particles by the bed material in the BFB reactor.

Keywords: Olive stone, combustion, reaction rate, thermogravimetric analysis, fluidized bed.

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608 An Innovation and Development System for a New Hybrid Composite Technology in Aerospace Industry

Authors: M. Fette, J. P. Wulfsberg, A. Herrmann, R.-H. Ladstaetter

Abstract:

Lightweight design represents an important key to successful implementation of energy-saving, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly means of transport in the aerospace and automotive industry. In this context the use of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) which are distinguished by their outstanding mechanical properties at relatively low weight, promise significant improvements. Due to the reduction of the total mass, with the resulting lowered fuel or energy consumption and CO2 emissions during the operational phase, commercial aircraft will increasingly be made of CFRP. An auspicious technology for the efficient and economic production of high performance thermoset composites and hybrid structures for future lightweight applications is the combination of carbon fibre sheet moulding compound, tailored continuous carbon fibre reinforcements and metallic components in a one-shot pressing and curing process. This paper deals with a hybrid composite technology for aerospace industries, which was developed with the help of a special innovation and development system.

Keywords: Composite, development, hybrid, innovation, system.

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607 The Mechanistic and Oxidative Study of Methomyl and Parathion Degradation by Fenton Process

Authors: Chihhao Fan, Ming-Chu Liao

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the chemical degradation of the organophosphorus pesticide of parathion and carbamate insecticide of methomyl in the aqueous phase through Fenton process. With the employment of batch Fenton process, the degradation of the two selected pesticides at different pH, initial concentration, humic acid concentration, and Fenton reagent dosages was explored. The Fenton process was found effective to degrade parathion and methomyl. The optimal dosage of Fenton reagents (i.e., molar concentration ratio of H2O2 to Fe2+) at pH 7 for parathion degradation was equal to 3, which resulted in 50% removal of parathion. Similarly, the optimal dosage for methomyl degradation was 1, resulting in 80% removal of methomyl. This study also found that the presence of humic substances has enhanced pesticide degradation by Fenton process significantly. The mass spectroscopy results showed that the hydroxyl free radical may attack the single bonds with least energy of investigated pesticides to form smaller molecules which is more easily to degrade either through physio-chemical or bilolgical processes.

Keywords: Fenton Process, humic acid, methomyl, parathion, pesticides

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606 Methods for Manufacture of Corrugated Wire Mesh Laminates

Authors: Jeongho Choi, Krishna Shankar, Alan Fien, Andrew Neely

Abstract:

Corrugated wire mesh laminates (CWML) are a class of engineered open cell structures that have potential for applications in many areas including aerospace and biomedical engineering. Two different methods of fabricating corrugated wire mesh laminates from stainless steel, one using a high temperature Lithobraze alloy and the other using a low temperature Eutectic solder for joining the corrugated wire meshes are described herein. Their implementation is demonstrated by manufacturing CWML samples of 304 and 316 stainless steel (SST). It is seen that due to the facility of employing wire meshes of different densities and wire diameters, it is possible to create CWML laminates with a wide range of effective densities. The fabricated laminates are tested under uniaxial compression. The variation of the compressive yield strength with relative density of the CWML is compared to the theory developed by Gibson and Ashby for open cell structures [22]. It is shown that the compressive strength of the corrugated wire mesh laminates can be described using the same equations by using an appropriate value for the linear coefficient in the Gibson-Ashby model.

Keywords: cellular solids, corrugation, foam, open-cell, metal mesh, laminate, stainless steel

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605 Detecting and Locating Wormhole Attacks in Wireless Sensor Networks Using Beacon Nodes

Authors: He Ronghui, Ma Guoqing, Wang Chunlei, Fang Lan

Abstract:

This paper focuses on wormhole attacks detection in wireless sensor networks. The wormhole attack is particularly challenging to deal with since the adversary does not need to compromise any nodes and can use laptops or other wireless devices to send the packets on a low latency channel. This paper introduces an easy and effective method to detect and locate the wormholes: Since beacon nodes are assumed to know their coordinates, the straight line distance between each pair of them can be calculated and then compared with the corresponding hop distance, which in this paper equals hop counts × node-s transmission range R. Dramatic difference may emerge because of an existing wormhole. Our detection mechanism is based on this. The approximate location of the wormhole can also be derived in further steps based on this information. To the best of our knowledge, our method is much easier than other wormhole detecting schemes which also use beacon nodes, and to those have special requirements on each nodes (e.g., GPS receivers or tightly synchronized clocks or directional antennas), ours is more economical. Simulation results show that the algorithm is successful in detecting and locating wormholes when the density of beacon nodes reaches 0.008 per m2.

Keywords: Beacon node, wireless sensor network, worm hole attack.

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604 Adsorption Refrigeration Working Pairs: The State-of-the-Art in the Application

Authors: Ahmed N. Shmroukh, Ahmed Hamza H. Ali, Ali K. Abel-Rahman

Abstract:

Adsorption refrigeration working pair is a vital and is the main component in the adsorption refrigeration machine. Therefore the development key is laying on the adsorption pair that leads to the improvement of the adsorption refrigeration machine. In this study the state-of-the-art in the application of the adsorption refrigeration working pairs in both classical and modern adsorption pairs are presented, compared and summarized. It is found that the maximum adsorption capacity for the classical working pairs was 0.259kg/kg for activated carbon/methanol and that for the modern working pairs was 2kg/kg for maxsorb III/R-134a. The study concluded that, the performances of the adsorption working pairs of adsorption cooling systems are still need further investigations as well as developing adsorption pairs having higher sorption capacity with low or no impact on environmental, to build compact, efficient, reliable and long life performance adsorption chillier. Also, future researches need to be focused on designing the adsorption system that provide efficient heating and cooling for the adsorbent materials through distributing the adsorbent material over heat exchanger surface, to allow good heat and mass transfer between the adsorbent and the refrigerant.

Keywords: Adsorption, Adsorbent/Adsorbate Pairs, Refrigeration.

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603 Modeling of Thermal Processes Associated to an Electric Arc

Authors: Allagui Hatem, Ghodbane Fathi

Abstract:

The primary objective of this paper is to study the thermal effects of the electric arc on the breaker apparatus contacts for forecasting and improving the contact durability. We will propose a model which takes account of the main influence factors on the erosion contacts. This phenomenon is very complicated because the amount of ejected metal is not necessarily constituted by the whole melted metal bath but this depends on the balance of forces on the contact surface. Consequently, to calculate the metal ejection coefficient, we propose a method which consists in comparing the experimental results with the calculated ones. The proposed model estimates the mass lost by vaporization, by droplets ejection and by the extraction mechanism of liquid or solid metal. In the one-dimensional geometry, to calculate of the contact heating, we used Green’s function which expresses the point source and allows the transition to the surface source. However, for the two- dimensional model we used explicit and implicit numerical methods. The results are similar to those found by Wilson’s experiments.

Keywords: Electric arc, thermal effect, erosion, contact, durability.

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602 Segmentation of Lungs from CT Scan Images for Early Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

Authors: Nisar Ahmed Memon, Anwar Majid Mirza, S.A.M. Gilani

Abstract:

Segmentation is an important step in medical image analysis and classification for radiological evaluation or computer aided diagnosis. The CAD (Computer Aided Diagnosis ) of lung CT generally first segment the area of interest (lung) and then analyze the separately obtained area for nodule detection in order to diagnosis the disease. For normal lung, segmentation can be performed by making use of excellent contrast between air and surrounding tissues. However this approach fails when lung is affected by high density pathology. Dense pathologies are present in approximately a fifth of clinical scans, and for computer analysis such as detection and quantification of abnormal areas it is vital that the entire and perfectly lung part of the image is provided and no part, as present in the original image be eradicated. In this paper we have proposed a lung segmentation technique which accurately segment the lung parenchyma from lung CT Scan images. The algorithm was tested against the 25 datasets of different patients received from Ackron Univeristy, USA and AGA Khan Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan.

Keywords: Computer Aided Diagnosis, Medical ImageProcessing, Region Growing, Segmentation, Thresholding,

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601 Performance Comparison of Particle Swarm Optimization with Traditional Clustering Algorithms used in Self-Organizing Map

Authors: Anurag Sharma, Christian W. Omlin

Abstract:

Self-organizing map (SOM) is a well known data reduction technique used in data mining. It can reveal structure in data sets through data visualization that is otherwise hard to detect from raw data alone. However, interpretation through visual inspection is prone to errors and can be very tedious. There are several techniques for the automatic detection of clusters of code vectors found by SOM, but they generally do not take into account the distribution of code vectors; this may lead to unsatisfactory clustering and poor definition of cluster boundaries, particularly where the density of data points is low. In this paper, we propose the use of an adaptive heuristic particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for finding cluster boundaries directly from the code vectors obtained from SOM. The application of our method to several standard data sets demonstrates its feasibility. PSO algorithm utilizes a so-called U-matrix of SOM to determine cluster boundaries; the results of this novel automatic method compare very favorably to boundary detection through traditional algorithms namely k-means and hierarchical based approach which are normally used to interpret the output of SOM.

Keywords: cluster boundaries, clustering, code vectors, data mining, particle swarm optimization, self-organizing maps, U-matrix.

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600 Wavelet Enhanced CCA for Minimization of Ocular and Muscle Artifacts in EEG

Authors: B. S. Raghavendra, D. Narayana Dutt

Abstract:

Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings are often contaminated with ocular and muscle artifacts. In this paper, the canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is used as blind source separation (BSS) technique (BSS-CCA) to decompose the artifact contaminated EEG into component signals. We combine the BSSCCA technique with wavelet filtering approach for minimizing both ocular and muscle artifacts simultaneously, and refer the proposed method as wavelet enhanced BSS-CCA. In this approach, after careful visual inspection, the muscle artifact components are discarded and ocular artifact components are subjected to wavelet filtering to retain high frequency cerebral information, and then clean EEG is reconstructed. The performance of the proposed wavelet enhanced BSS-CCA method is tested on real EEG recordings contaminated with ocular and muscle artifacts, for which power spectral density is used as a quantitative measure. Our results suggest that the proposed hybrid approach minimizes ocular and muscle artifacts effectively, minimally affecting underlying cerebral activity in EEG recordings.

Keywords: Blind source separation, Canonical correlationanalysis, Electroencephalogram, Muscle artifact, Ocular artifact, Power spectrum, Wavelet threshold.

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599 Performance of Flat Plate Loop Heat Pipe for Thermal Management of Lithium-Ion Battery in Electric Vehicle Application

Authors: Bambang Ariantara, Nandy Putra, Rangga Aji Pamungkas

Abstract:

The development of electric vehicle batteries have resulted in very high energy density lithium-ion batteries. However, this progress is accompanied by the risk of thermal runaway, which can result in serious accidents. Heat pipes are heat exchangers that are suitable to be applied in electric vehicle battery thermal management for their lightweight, compact size and do not require external power supply. This paper aims to examine experimentally a Flat Plate Loop Heat Pipe (FPLHP) performance as a heat exchanger in thermal management system of lithium-ion battery for electric vehicle application. The heat generation of the battery was simulated using a cartridge heater. Stainless steel screen mesh was used as the capillary wick. Distilled water, alcohol and acetone were used as working fluids with a filling ratio of 60%. It was found that acetone gives the best performance that produces thermal resistance of 0.22 W/°C with 50°C evaporator temperature at heat flux load of 1.61 W/cm2.

Keywords: Electric vehicle, flat plate loop heat pipe, lithium-ion battery, thermal management system.

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598 Faster FPGA Routing Solution using DNA Computing

Authors: Manpreet Singh, Parvinder Singh Sandhu, Manjinder Singh Kahlon

Abstract:

There are many classical algorithms for finding routing in FPGA. But Using DNA computing we can solve the routes efficiently and fast. The run time complexity of DNA algorithms is much less than other classical algorithms which are used for solving routing in FPGA. The research in DNA computing is in a primary level. High information density of DNA molecules and massive parallelism involved in the DNA reactions make DNA computing a powerful tool. It has been proved by many research accomplishments that any procedure that can be programmed in a silicon computer can be realized as a DNA computing procedure. In this paper we have proposed two tier approaches for the FPGA routing solution. First, geometric FPGA detailed routing task is solved by transforming it into a Boolean satisfiability equation with the property that any assignment of input variables that satisfies the equation specifies a valid routing. Satisfying assignment for particular route will result in a valid routing and absence of a satisfying assignment implies that the layout is un-routable. In second step, DNA search algorithm is applied on this Boolean equation for solving routing alternatives utilizing the properties of DNA computation. The simulated results are satisfactory and give the indication of applicability of DNA computing for solving the FPGA Routing problem.

Keywords: FPGA, Routing, DNA Computing.

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597 Water Demand Prediction for Touristic Mecca City in Saudi Arabia using Neural Networks

Authors: Abdel Hamid Ajbar, Emad Ali

Abstract:

Saudi Arabia is an arid country which depends on costly desalination plants to satisfy the growing residential water demand. Prediction of water demand is usually a challenging task because the forecast model should consider variations in economic progress, climate conditions and population growth. The task is further complicated knowing that Mecca city is visited regularly by large numbers during specific months in the year due to religious occasions. In this paper, a neural networks model is proposed to handle the prediction of the monthly and yearly water demand for Mecca city, Saudi Arabia. The proposed model will be developed based on historic records of water production and estimated visitors- distribution. The driving variables for the model include annuallyvarying variables such as household income, household density, and city population, and monthly-varying variables such as expected number of visitors each month and maximum monthly temperature.

Keywords: Water demand forecast; Neural Networks model; water resources management; Saudi Arabia.

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596 Nonlinear Propagation of Acoustic Soliton Waves in Dense Quantum Electron-Positron Magnetoplasma

Authors: A. Abdikian

Abstract:

Propagation of nonlinear acoustic wave in dense electron-positron (e-p) plasmas in the presence of an external magnetic field and stationary ions (to neutralize the plasma background) is studied. By means of the quantum hydrodynamics model and applying the reductive perturbation method, the Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation is derived. Using the bifurcation theory of planar dynamical systems, the compressive structure of electrostatic solitary wave and periodic travelling waves is found. The numerical results show how the ion density ratio, the ion cyclotron frequency, and the direction cosines of the wave vector affect the nonlinear electrostatic travelling waves. The obtained results may be useful to better understand the obliquely nonlinear electrostatic travelling wave of small amplitude localized structures in dense magnetized quantum e-p plasmas and may be applicable to study the particle and energy transport mechanism in compact stars such as the interior of massive white dwarfs etc.

Keywords: Bifurcation theory, magnetized electron-positron plasma, phase portrait, the Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation.

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595 Pull-In Instability Determination of Microcapacitive Sensor for Measuring Special Range of Pressure

Authors: Yashar Haghighatfar, Shahrzad Mirhosseini

Abstract:

Pull-in instability is a nonlinear and crucial effect that is important for the design of microelectromechanical system devices. In this paper, the appropriate electrostatic voltage range is determined by measuring fluid flow pressure via micro pressure sensor based microbeam. The microbeam deflection contains two parts, the static and perturbation deflection of static. The second order equation regarding the equivalent stiffness, mass and damping matrices based on Galerkin method is introduced to predict pull-in instability due to the external voltage. Also the reduced order method is used for solving the second order nonlinear equation of motion. Furthermore, in the present study, the micro capacitive pressure sensor is designed for measuring special fluid flow pressure range. The results show that the measurable pressure range can be optimized, regarding damping field and external voltage.

Keywords: MEMS, pull-in instability, electrostatically actuated microbeam, reduced order method.

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594 Bone Proteome Study in Ovariectomised Rats Supplemented with Palm Vitamin E

Authors: Patrick Nwabueze Okechukwu, Ima Nirwana Soelaiman, Gabriele Anisah Ruth Froemming, Mohd Yusri Idorus, Norazlina Mohamed

Abstract:

Supplementation of palm vitamin E has been reported to prevent loss of bone density in ovariectomised female rats. The mechanism by which palm vitamin E exerts these effects is still unknown. We hypothesized that palm vitamin E may act by preventing the protein expression changes. Two dimensional poly acyrilamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) and PD Quest software genomic solutions Investigator (proteomics) was used to analyze the differential protein expression profile in femoral and humeri bones harvested from three groups of rats; sham-operated rats (SO), ovariectomised rats (Ovx) and ovariectomised rats supplemented for 2 months with palm vitamin E. The results showed that there were over 300 valued spot on each of the groups PVE and OVX as compared to about 200 in SO. Comparison between the differential protein expression between OVX and PVE groups showed that ten spots were down –regulated in OVX but up-regulated in PVE. The ten differential spots were separately named P1-P10. The identification and understanding of the pathway of the differential protein expression among the groups is ongoing and may account for the molecular mechanism through which palm vitamin E exert its anti-osteoporotic effect.

Keywords: Palm vitamin E, ovariectomised, osteoporosis protein expression, 2-d-page.

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593 Loudspeaker Parameters Inverse Problem for Improving Sound Frequency Response Simulation

Authors: Y. T. Tsai, Jin H. Huang

Abstract:

The sound pressure level (SPL) of the moving-coil loudspeaker (MCL) is often simulated and analyzed using the lumped parameter model. However, the SPL of a MCL cannot be simulated precisely in the high frequency region, because the value of cone effective area is changed due to the geometry variation in different mode shapes, it is also related to affect the acoustic radiation mass and resistance. Herein, the paper presents the inverse method which has a high ability to measure the value of cone effective area in various frequency points, also can estimate the MCL electroacoustic parameters simultaneously. The proposed inverse method comprises the direct problem, adjoint problem, and sensitivity problem in collaboration with nonlinear conjugate gradient method. Estimated values from the inverse method are validated experimentally which compared with the measured SPL curve result. Results presented in this paper not only improve the accuracy of lumped parameter model but also provide the valuable information on loudspeaker cone design.

Keywords: Inverse problem, cone effective area, loudspeaker, nonlinear conjugate gradient method.

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592 Thermal Resistance Analysis of Flexible Composites Based on Al2O3 Aerogels

Authors: Jianzheng Wei, Duo Zhen, Zhihan Yang, Huifeng Tan

Abstract:

The deployable descent technology is a lightweight entry method using an inflatable heat shield. The heatshield consists of a pressurized core which is covered by different layers of thermal insulation and flexible ablative materials in order to protect against the thermal loads. In this paper, both aluminum and silicon-aluminum aerogels were prepared by freeze-drying method. The latter material has bigger specific surface area and nano-scale pores. Mullite fibers are used as the reinforcing fibers to prepare the aerogel matrix to improve composite flexibility. The flexible composite materials were performed as an insulation layer to an underlying aramid fabric by a thermal shock test at a heat flux density of 120 kW/m2 and uniaxial tensile test. These results show that the aramid fabric with untreated mullite fibers as the thermal protective layer is completely carbonized at the heat of about 60 s. The aramid fabric as a thermal resistance layer of the composite material still has good mechanical properties at the same heat condition.

Keywords: Aerogel, aramid fabric, flexibility, thermal resistance.

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591 Determining the Best Method of Stability Landslide by Using of DSS (Case Study: Landslide in Hasan Salaran, Kurdistan Province in Iran)

Authors: S. Kamyabi, M. Salari, H. Shahabi

Abstract:

One of the processes of slope that occurs every year in Iran and some parts of world and cause a lot of criminal and financial harms is called landslide. They are plenty of method to stability landslide in soil and rock slides. The use of the best method with the least cost and in the shortest time is important for researchers. In this research, determining the best method of stability is investigated by using of Decision Support systems. DSS is made for this purpose and was used (for Hasan Salaran area in Kurdistan). Field study data from topography, slope, geology, geometry of landslide and the related features was used. The related data entered decision making managements programs (DSS) (ALES).Analysis of mass stability indicated the instability potential at present. Research results show that surface and sub surface drainage the best method of stabilizing. Analysis of stability shows that acceptable increase in security coefficient is a consequence of drainage.

Keywords: Landslide, Decision Support systems, stability, Hasan Salaran landslide, Kurdistan province, Iran.

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590 Effect of Leachate Presence on Shear Strength Parameters of Bentonite-Amended Zeolite Soil

Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, H. Keshavarz Hedayati

Abstract:

Over recent years, due to increased population and increased waste production, groundwater protection has become more important, therefore, designing engineered barrier systems such as landfill liners to prevent the entry of leachate into groundwater should be done with greater accuracy. These measures generally involve the application of low permeability soils such as clays. Bentonite is a natural clay with low permeability which makes it a suitable soil for using in liners. Also zeolite with high cation exchange capacity can help to reduce of hazardous materials risk. Bentonite expands when wet, absorbing as much as several times its dry mass in water. This property may effect on some structural properties of soil such as shear strength. In present study, shear strength parameters are determined by both leachates polluted and not polluted bentonite-amended zeolite soil with mixing rates (B/Z) of 5%-10% and 20% with unconfined compression test to obtain the differences. It is shown that leachate presence causes reduction in resistance in general.

Keywords: Bentonite, zeolite, leachate, shear strength parameters, unconfined compression tests.

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589 Reliability Analysis for Cyclic Fatigue Life Prediction in Railroad Bolt Hole

Authors: Hasan Keshavarzian, Tayebeh Nesari

Abstract:

Bolted rail joint is one of the most vulnerable areas in railway track. A comprehensive approach was developed for studying the reliability of fatigue crack initiation of railroad bolt hole under random axle loads and random material properties. The operation condition was also considered as stochastic variables. In order to obtain the comprehensive probability model of fatigue crack initiation life prediction in railroad bolt hole, we used FEM, response surface method (RSM), and reliability analysis. Combined energy-density based and critical plane based fatigue concept is used for the fatigue crack prediction. The dynamic loads were calculated according to the axle load, speed, and track properties. The results show that axle load is most sensitive parameter compared to Poisson’s ratio in fatigue crack initiation life. Also, the reliability index decreases slowly due to high cycle fatigue regime in this area.

Keywords: Rail-wheel tribology, rolling contact mechanic, finite element modeling, reliability analysis.

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588 Spatial Pattern and GIS-Based Model for Risk Assessment – A Case Study of Dusit District, Bangkok

Authors: Morakot Worachairungreung

Abstract:

The objectives of the research are to study patterns of fire location distribution and develop techniques of Geographic Information System application in fire risk assessment for fire planning and management. Fire risk assessment was based on two factors: the vulnerability factor such as building material types, building height, building density and capacity for mitigation factor such as accessibility by road, distance to fire station, distance to hydrants and it was obtained from four groups of stakeholders including firemen, city planners, local government officers and local residents. Factors obtained from all stakeholders were converted into Raster data of GIS and then were superimposed on the data in order to prepare fire risk map of the area showing level of fire risk ranging from high to low. The level of fire risk was obtained from weighted mean of each factor based on the stakeholders. Weighted mean for each factor was obtained by Analytical Hierarchy Analysis.

Keywords: Fire Risk Assessment, Geographic Information System: GIS, Raster Analysis and Analytical Hierarchy Analysis.

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587 Relationship of Sleep Duration with Obesity and Dietary Intake

Authors: Seyed Ahmad Hosseini, Makan Cheraghpour, Saeed Shirali, Roya Rafie, Matin Ghanavati, Arezoo Amjadi, Meysam Alipour

Abstract:

Background: There is a mutual relationship between sleep duration and obesity. We studied the relationship between sleep duration with obesity and dietary Intake. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 444 male students in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science. Dietary intake was analyzed by food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Anthropometric indices were analyzed. Participants were being asked about their sleep duration and they were categorized into three groups according to their responses (less than six hours, between six and eight hours, and more than eight hours). Results: Macronutrient, micronutrient, and antioxidant intake did not show significant difference between three groups. Moreover, we did not observe any significant difference between anthropometric indices (weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and percentage body fat). Conclusions: Our study results show no significant relationship between sleep duration, nutrition pattern, and obesity. Further study is recommended.

Keywords: Sleep duration, obesity, dietary intake, cross-sectional.

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586 The Use of Rice Husk Ash as a Stabilizing Agent in Lateritic Clay Soil

Authors: J. O. Akinyele, R. W. Salim, K. O. Oikelome, O. T. Olateju

Abstract:

Rice Husk (RH) is the major byproduct in the processing of paddy rice. The management of this waste has become a big challenge to some of the rice producers, some of these wastes are left in open dumps while some are burn in the open space, and these two actions have been contributing to environmental pollution. This study evaluates an alternative waste management of this agricultural product for use as a civil engineering material. The RH was burn in a controlled environment to form Rice Husk Ash (RHA). The RHA was mix with lateritic clay at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10% proportion by weight. Chemical test was conducted on the open burn and controlled burn RHA with the lateritic clay. Physical test such as particle size distribution, Atterberg limits test, and density test were carried out on the mix material. The chemical composition obtained for the RHA showed that the total percentage compositions of Fe2O3, SiO2 and Al2O3 were found to be above 70% (class “F” pozzolan) which qualifies it as a very good pozzolan. The coefficient of uniformity (Cu) was 8 and coefficient of curvature (Cc) was 2 for the soil sample. The Plasticity Index (PI) for the 0, 2, 4, 6, 8. 10% was 21.0, 18.8, 16.7, 14.4, 12.4 and 10.7 respectively. The work concluded that RHA can be effectively used in hydraulic barriers and as a stabilizing agent in soil stabilization.

Keywords: Rice husk ash, pozzolans, paddy rice, lateritic clay.

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585 Assessment the Effect of Setback in Height of Frame on Reinforcement Structures

Authors: Farshad Mehrabi, Ali kheirodin, Mohsen Gerami

Abstract:

Ambiguities in effects of earthquake on various structures in all earthquake codes would necessitate more study and research concerning influential factors on dynamic behavior. Previous studies which were done on different features in different buildings play a major role in the type of response a structure makes to lateral vibrations. Diagnosing each of these irregularities can help structure designers in choosing appropriate setbacks for decreasing possible damages. Therefore vertical setback is one of the irregularity factors in the height of the building where can be seen in skyscrapers and hotels. Previous researches reveal notable changes in the place of these setbacks showing dynamic response of the structure. Consequently analyzing 48 models of concrete frames for 3, 6 and 9 stories heights with three different bays in general shape of a surface decline by height have been constructed in ETABS2000 software, and then the shape effect of each and every one of these frames in period scale has been discussed. The result of this study reveals that not only mass, stiffness and height but also shape of the frame is influential.

Keywords: period, concrete frame, irregularity in height, decrease in plan surface, dynamic behavior

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