Search results for: water security.

Authors: Imen Mejri, Ahmed Mahmoudi, Mohamed A. Abbassi, Ahmed Omri

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The Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) with double populations is applied to solve the steady-state laminar natural convective heat transfer in a triangular cavity filled with water. The bottom wall is heated, the vertical wall is cooled, and the inclined wall is kept adiabatic. The buoyancy effect was modeled by applying the Boussinesq approximation to the momentum equation. The fluid velocity is determined by D2Q9 LBM and the energy equation is discritized by D2Q4 LBM to compute the temperature field. Comparisons with previously published work are performed and found to be in excellent agreement. Numerical results are obtained for a wide range of parameters: the Rayleigh number from  to  and the inclination angle from 0° to 360°. Flow and thermal fields were exhibited by means of streamlines and isotherms. It is observed that inclination angle can be used as a relevant parameter to control heat transfer in right-angled triangular enclosures.

 

Keywords: Heat transfer, inclination angle, Lattice Boltzmann Method, Nusselt number, Natural convection, Rayleigh number.

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Authors: Roslinda Nazar, Amin Noor, Khamisah Jafar, Ioan Pop

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In this paper, the steady laminar three-dimensional boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a copper (Cu)-water nanofluid in the vicinity of a permeable shrinking flat surface in an otherwise quiescent fluid is studied. The nanofluid mathematical model in which the effect of the nanoparticle volume fraction is taken into account is considered. The governing nonlinear partial differential equations are transformed into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations using a similarity transformation which is then solved numerically using the function bvp4c from Matlab. Dual solutions (upper and lower branch solutions) are found for the similarity boundary layer equations for a certain range of the suction parameter. A stability analysis has been performed to show which branch solutions are stable and physically realizable. The numerical results for the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number as well as the velocity and temperature profiles are obtained, presented and discussed in detail for a range of various governing parameters.

Keywords: Heat Transfer, Nanofluid, Shrinking Surface, Stability Analysis, Three-Dimensional Flow.

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Authors: Márcia Afonso, Marisa Dinis-Almeida, Cristina Fael

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Climate change, namely precipitation patterns alteration, has led to extreme conditions such as floods and droughts. In turn, excessive construction has led to the waterproofing of the soil, increasing the surface runoff and decreasing the groundwater recharge capacity. The permeable pavements used in areas with low traffic lead to a decrease in the probability of floods peaks occurrence and the sediments reduction and pollutants transport, ensuring rainwater quality improvement. This study aims to evaluate the porous asphalt performance, developed in the laboratory, with addition of cellulosic fibres. One of the main objectives of cellulosic fibres use is to stop binder drainage, preventing its loss during storage and transport. Comparing to the conventional porous asphalt the cellulosic fibres addition improved the porous asphalt performance. The cellulosic fibres allowed the bitumen content increase, enabling retention and better aggregates coating and, consequently, a greater mixture durability. With this solution, it is intended to develop better practices of resilience and adaptation to the extreme climate changes and respond to the sustainability current demands, through the eco-friendly materials use. The mix design was performed for different size aggregates (with fine aggregates – PA1 and with coarse aggregates – PA2). The percentage influence of the fibres to be used was studied. It was observed that overall, the binder drainage decreases as the cellulose fibres percentage increases. It was found that the PA2 mixture obtained most binder drainage relative to PA1 mixture, irrespective of the fibres percentage used. Subsequently, the performance was evaluated through laboratory tests of indirect tensile stiffness modulus, water sensitivity, permeability and permanent deformation. The stiffness modulus for the two mixtures groups (with and without cellulosic fibres) presented very similar values between them. For the water sensitivity test it was observed that porous asphalt containing more fine aggregates are more susceptible to the water presence than mixtures with coarse aggregates. The porous asphalt with coarse aggregates have more air voids which allow water to pass easily leading to ITSR higher values. In the permeability test was observed that asphalt porous without cellulosic fibres presented had lower permeability than asphalt porous with cellulosic fibres. The resistance to permanent deformation results indicates better behaviour of porous asphalt with cellulosic fibres, verifying a bigger rut depth in porous asphalt without cellulosic fibres. In this study, it was observed that porous asphalt with bitumen higher percentages improve the performance to permanent deformation. This fact was only possible due to the bitumen retention by the cellulosic fibres.

Keywords: Binder drainage, cellulosic fibres, permanent deformation, porous asphalt.

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Authors: Nael Hirzallah, Sana Nseir

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Merchants are competing to offer the use of mobile payment to encourage shopping. many mobile payment systems were made available in various locations worldwide; however, they have various drawbacks. This paper proposes a new mobile payment system that discusses the main drawbacks of these systems, namely security and speed of transaction. The proposal is featured by being simple to use by customers and merchants. Furthermore, the proposed system depends on a new authentication factor that is introduced in this paper and called by Two-Factors Authentication Plus, (2FA+).

Keywords: Electronic Commerce, Payment schemes, Mobile Payment, Authentication Factors, Mobile Applications.

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Authors: Nasser M. Amaitik, Nabil A. Alfagi

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The world-s largest Pre-stressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe (PCCP) water supply project had a series of pipe failures which occurred between 1999 and 2001. This has led the Man-Made River Authority (MMRA), the authority in charge of the implementation and operation of the project, to setup a rehabilitation plan for the conveyance system while maintaining the uninterrupted flow of water to consumers. At the same time, MMRA recognized the need for a long term management tool that would facilitate repair and maintenance decisions and enable taking the appropriate preventive measures through continuous monitoring and estimation of the remaining life of each pipe. This management tool is known as the Pipe Risk Management System (PRMS) and now in operation at MMRA. Both the rehabilitation plan and the PRMS require the availability of complete and accurate pipe construction and manufacturing data This paper describes a systematic approach of data collection, analysis, evaluation and correction for the construction and manufacturing data files of phase I pipes which are the platform for the PRMS database and any other related decision support system.

Keywords: Asbuilt, History, IMD, MMRA, PDBMS & PRMS

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Authors: Cristina S. Decano, Vitaliana U. Malamug, Melissa E. Agulto, Helen F. Gavino

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This study aimed to introduce new natural fiber to be used in the production of geotextile net for mitigation of soil erosion. Fiber extraction from the stalks was the main challenge faced during the processing of stalks to ropes. Thus, an investigation on the extraction procedures of corn (Zea mays L.) stalk under biological and chemical retting was undertaken. Results indicated significant differences among percent fiber yield as affected by the retting methods used with values of 15.07%, 12.97%, 11.60%, and 9.01%, for dew, water, chemical (1 day after harvest and15 days after harvest), respectively, with the corresponding average extracting duration of 70, 82, 89, and 94 minutes. Physical characterization of the developed corn stalk geotextile net resulted to average mass per unit area of 806.25 g/m² and 241% water absorbing capacity. The effect of corn stalk geotextile net in mitigating soil erosion was evaluated in a laboratory experiment for 30^o and 60^o inclinations with three treatments: bare soil (A₁), corn stalk geotextile net (A₂) and combined cornstalk geotextile net and vegetation cover (A₃). Results revealed that treatment A₂ and A₃ significantly decreased sediment yield and an increase in terms of soil loss reduction efficiency. The cost of corn stalk geotextile net is Php 62.41 per square meter.

Keywords: Corn stalk, natural geotextile, retting, soil erosion.

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Authors: H.Soussi, M.Hussain, H.Afifi, D.Seret

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Key management is a vital component in any modern security protocol. Due to scalability and practical implementation considerations automatic key management seems a natural choice in significantly large virtual private networks (VPNs). In this context IETF Internet Key Exchange (IKE) is the most promising protocol under permanent review. We have made a humble effort to pinpoint IKEv2 net gain over IKEv1 due to recent modifications in its original structure, along with a brief overview of salient improvements between the two versions. We have used US National Institute of Technology NIIST VPN simulator to get some comparisons of important performance metrics.

Keywords: Quantitative Analyses, IKEv1, IKEv2, NIIST.

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Authors: Boris Golman, Wittaya Julklang

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The heat and mass transfer was investigated during the falling rate period of spray drying of a slurry droplet. The effect of the porosity of crust layer formed from primary particles during liquid evaporation was studied numerically using the developed mathematical model which takes into account the heat and mass transfer in the core and crust regions, the movement of the evaporation interface, and the external heat and mass transfer between the drying air and the droplet surface. It was confirmed that the heat transfer through the crust layer was more intense in the case of the dense droplet than the loose one due to the enhanced thermal conduction resulting in the higher average droplet temperature. The mass transfer was facilitated in the crust layer of loose droplet owing to the large pore space available for diffusion of water vapor from the evaporation interface to the outer droplet surface. The longer drying time is required for the droplet of high porosity to reach the final moisture content than that for the dense one due to the larger amount of water to be evaporated during the falling rate.

Keywords: Spray Drying, Slurry Droplet, Heat and Mass Transfer, Crust Layer Porosity, Mathematical Modeling.

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Authors: T. V. K. Gupta, J. Ramkumar, Puneet Tandon, N. S. Vyas

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Abrasive Water Jet Machining is an unconventional machining process well known for machining hard to cut materials. The primary research focus on the process was for through cutting and a very limited literature is available on pocket milling using AWJM. The present work is an attempt to use this process for milling applications considering a set of various process parameters. Four different input parameters, which were considered by researchers for part separation, are selected for the above application, i.e., abrasive size, flow rate, standoff distance and traverse speed. Pockets of definite size are machined to investigate surface roughness, material removal rate and pocket depth. Based on the data available through experiments on SS304 material, it is observed that higher traverse speeds gives a better finish because of reduction in the particle energy density and lower depth is also observed. Increase in the standoff distance and abrasive flow rate reduces the rate of material removal as the jet loses its focus and occurrence of collisions within the particles. ANOVA for individual output parameter has been studied to know the significant process parameters.

Keywords: Abrasive flow rate, surface finish, abrasive size, standoff distance, traverse speed.

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Authors: Ahmad Amiri, Hamed K. Arzani, S. N. Kazi, B. T. Chew

Abstract:

Since graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) is a promising material due to desirable thermal properties, this paper is related to the thermophysical and heat transfer performance of covalently functionalized GNP-based water/ethylene glycol nanofluid through an annular channel. After experimentally measuring thermophysical properties of prepared samples, a computational fluid dynamics study has been carried out to examine the heat transfer and pressure drop of well-dispersed and stabilized nanofluids. The effect of concentration of GNP and Reynolds number at constant wall temperature boundary condition under turbulent flow regime on convective heat transfer coefficient has been investigated. Based on the results, for different Reynolds numbers, the convective heat transfer coefficient of the prepared nanofluid is higher than that of the base fluid. Also, the enhancement of convective heat transfer coefficient and thermal conductivity increase with the increase of GNP concentration in base-fluid. Based on the results of this investigation, there is a significant enhancement on the heat transfer rate associated with loading well-dispersed GNP in base-fluid.

Keywords: Nanofluid, turbulent flow, forced convection flow, graphene, annular, annulus.

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Authors: M. Kumpugdee-Vollrath, J.-P. Krause, S. Bürk

Abstract:

Most of the drugs used for pharmaceutical purposes are poorly water-soluble drugs. About 40% of all newly discovered drugs are lipophilic and the numbers of lipophilic drugs seem to increase more and more. Drug delivery systems such as nanoparticles, micelles or liposomes are applied to improve their solubility and thus their bioavailability. Besides various techniques of solubilization, oil-in-water emulsions are often used to incorporate lipophilic drugs into the oil phase. To stabilize emulsions surface active substances (surfactants) are generally used. An alternative method to avoid the application of surfactants was of great interest. One possibility is to develop O/W-emulsion without any addition of surface active agents or the so called “surfactant-free emulsion or SFE”. The aim of this study was to develop and characterize SFE as a drug carrier by varying the production conditions. Lidocaine base was used as a model drug. The injection method was developed. Effects of ultrasound as well as of temperature on the properties of the emulsion were studied. Particle sizes and release were determined. The long-term stability up to 30 days was performed. The results showed that the surfactant-free O/W emulsions with pharmaceutical oil as drug carrier can be produced.

Keywords: Emulsion, lidocaine, Miglyol, size, surfactant, light scattering, release, injection, ultrasound, stability.

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Authors: Damian Ramajo, Santiago Corzo, Norberto Nigro

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A Multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) two-phase model was developed with the aim to simulate the in-core coolant circuit of a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) of a commercial nuclear power plant (NPP). Due to the fact that this PHWR is a Reactor Pressure Vessel type (RPV), three-dimensional (3D) detailed modelling of the large reservoirs of the RPV (the upper and lower plenums and the downcomer) were coupled with an in-house finite volume one-dimensional (1D) code in order to model the 451 coolant channels housing the nuclear fuel. Regarding the 1D code, suitable empirical correlations for taking into account the in-channel distributed (friction losses) and concentrated (spacer grids, inlet and outlet throttles) pressure losses were used. A local power distribution at each one of the coolant channels was also taken into account. The heat transfer between the coolant and the surrounding moderator was accurately calculated using a two-dimensional theoretical model. The implementation of subcooled boiling and condensation models in the 1D code along with the use of functions for representing the thermal and dynamic properties of the coolant and moderator (heavy water) allow to have estimations of the in-core steam generation under nominal flow conditions for a generic fission power distribution. The in-core mass flow distribution results for steady state nominal conditions are in agreement with the expected from design, thus getting a first assessment of the coupled 1/3D model. Results for nominal condition were compared with those obtained with a previous 1/3D single-phase model getting more realistic temperature patterns, also allowing visualize low values of void fraction inside the upper plenum. It must be mentioned that the current results were obtained by imposing prescribed fission power functions from literature. Therefore, results are showed with the aim of point out the potentiality of the developed model.

Keywords: CFD, PHWR, Thermo-hydraulic, Two-phase flow.

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Authors: Gopal Nandan, P. K. Sahooa, Ravi Kumara, B Chatterjeeb, D. Mukhopadhyayb, H. G. Leleb

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In a nuclear reactor Loss of Coolant accident (LOCA) considers wide range of postulated damage or rupture of pipe in the heat transport piping system. In the case of LOCA with/without failure of emergency core cooling system in a Pressurised Heavy water Reactor, the Pressure Tube (PT) temperature could rise significantly due to fuel heat up and gross mismatch of the heat generation and heat removal in the affected channel. The extent and nature of deformation is important from reactor safety point of view. Experimental set-ups have been designed and fabricated to simulate ballooning (radial deformation) of PT for 220 MWe IPHWRs. Experiments have been conducted by covering the CT by ceramic fibers and then by submerging CT in water of voided PTs. In both the experiments, it is observed that ballooning initiates at a temperature around 665´┐¢C and complete contact between PT and Caldaria Tube (CT) occurs at around 700´┐¢C approximately. The strain rate is found to be 0.116% per second. The structural integrity of PT is retained (no breach) for all the experiments. The PT heatup is found to be arrested after the contact between PT and CT, thus establishing moderator acting as an efficient heat sink for IPHWRs.

Keywords: Pressure Tube, Calandria Tube, Thermo-mechanicaldeformation, Boiling heat transfer, Reactor safety

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Authors: L. Khan mohammadi, J. Vaseghi Amiri, B. Navayi neya , M. Davoodi

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Because of the reservoir effect, dynamic analysis of concrete dams is more involved than other common structures. This problem is mostly sourced by the differences between reservoir water, dam body and foundation material behaviors. To account for the reservoir effect in dynamic analysis of concrete gravity dams, two methods are generally employed. Eulerian method in reservoir modeling gives rise to a set of coupled equations, whereas in Lagrangian method, the same equations for dam and foundation structure are used. The Purpose of this paper is to evaluate and study possible advantages and disadvantages of both methods. Specifically, application of the above methods in the analysis of dam-foundationreservoir systems is leveraged to calculate the hydrodynamic pressure on dam faces. Within the frame work of dam- foundationreservoir systems, dam displacement under earthquake for various dimensions and characteristics are also studied. The results of both Lagrangian and Eulerian methods in effects of loading frequency, boundary condition and foundation elasticity modulus are quantitatively evaluated and compared. Our analyses show that each method has individual advantages and disadvantages. As such, in any particular case, one of the two methods may prove more suitable as presented in the results section of this study.

Keywords: Lagrangian method, Eulerian method, Earthquake, Concrete gravity dam

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Authors: John S. Anagnostopoulos, Dimitrios E. Papantonis

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The incorporation of computational fluid dynamics in the design of modern hydraulic turbines appears to be necessary in order to improve their efficiency and cost-effectiveness beyond the traditional design practices. A numerical optimization methodology is developed and applied in the present work to a Turgo water turbine. The fluid is simulated by a Lagrangian mesh-free approach that can provide detailed information on the energy transfer and enhance the understanding of the complex, unsteady flow field, at very small computing cost. The runner blades are initially shaped according to hydrodynamics theory, and parameterized using Bezier polynomials and interpolation techniques. The use of a limited number of free design variables allows for various modifications of the standard blade shape, while stochastic optimization using evolutionary algorithms is implemented to find the best blade that maximizes the attainable hydraulic efficiency of the runner. The obtained optimal runner design achieves considerably higher efficiency than the standard one, and its numerically predicted performance is comparable to a real Turgo turbine, verifying the reliability and the prospects of the new methodology.

Keywords: Turgo turbine, Lagrangian flow modeling, Surface parameterization, Design optimization, Evolutionary algorithms.

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Authors: D. M. Onyango, P. O. Angienda

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The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the epidemiology of waterborne diarrhoeal among children aged 6-36 months old in Busia town, western Kenya. The study was carried out between Feb. 2008 and Feb. 2010. Cases of diarrhoea reported in 385 households were linked to household water handling practices. A mother with a child of 6-36 months old was also included in the study. Diarrhoea prevalence among children 6-36 months was 16.7% in Busia town, Bwamani (19.6%) and Mayenje (10.6%) clustered in Mayenje sub-location reported the highest and the lowest prevalence of diarrhoea. There was a positive correlation between the prevalence of diarrhoea in children and the level of the mother-s education, 29.9% (n= 100). Diarrhoea cases decreased in range from 35.5% (n =102) to 4.8% (n= 16), corresponding to increase in age from 6-35 months on average. In conclusion, prevalence of diarrhoea in children of 6-36 months old was 16.7% in Busia town. This was higher in children whose mother-s age was below 18 years and with low level of education, the rate decreased with increase in age of children. Prevalence of diarrhoea in children aged 6-36months in households was higher in children aged 6-17 and 36 months and whose mothers were less educated and fell between the ages of 18-24 years. The Influence of human activities at the main source of drinking water on the prevalence of diarrhoea in these children was insignificant.

Keywords: Diarrhoea, Children, Mortality, Waterborne disease,

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Authors: Ryan B. Escorial, Elmer A. Maravillas, Chris Jordan G. Aliac

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This study presents a small-scale water pumping system utilizing a fuzzy logic inference system attached to a renewable energy source. The fuzzy logic controller was designed and simulated in MATLAB fuzzy logic toolbox to examine the properties and characteristics of the input and output variables. The result of the simulation was implemented in a microcontroller, together with sensors, modules, and photovoltaic cells. The study used a grand rapid variety of lettuce, organic substrates, and foliar for observation of the capability of the device to irrigate crops. Two plant boxes intended for manual and automated irrigation were prepared with each box having 48 heads of lettuce. The observation of the system took 22-31 days, which is one harvest period of the crop. Results showed a 22.55% increase in agricultural productivity compared to manual irrigation. Aside from reducing human effort, and time, the smart irrigation system could help lessen some of the shortcomings of manual irrigations. It could facilitate the economical utilization of water, reducing consumption by 25%. The use of renewable energy could also help farmers reduce the cost of production by minimizing the use of diesel and gasoline.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic controller, intelligent system, precision agriculture, renewable energy.

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Authors: Ji Wenzhan, Zhang Tao, Li Guoyou

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Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world. At the same time, the world produces a large amount of construction waste each year. Waste concrete is processed and treated, and the recycled aggregate is used to make pervious concrete, which enables the construction waste to be recycled. Pervious concrete has many advantages such as permeability to water, protection of water resources, and so on. This paper tests the recycled aggregate obtained by crushing high-strength waste concrete (TOU) and low-strength waste concrete (PU), and analyzes the effect of porosity, amount of cement, mineral admixture and recycled aggregate on the strength of permeable concrete. The porosity is inversely proportional to the strength, and the amount of cement used is proportional to the strength. The mineral admixture can effectively improve the workability of the mixture. The quality of recycled aggregates had a significant effect on strength. Compared with concrete using "PU" aggregates, the strength of 7d and 28d concrete using "TOU" aggregates increased by 69.0% and 73.3%, respectively. Therefore, the quality of recycled aggregates should be strictly controlled during production, and the mix ratio should be designed according to different use environments and usage requirements. This test prepared a recycled aggregate permeable concrete with a compressive strength of 35.8 MPa, which can be used for light load roads and provides a reference for engineering applications.

Keywords: Recycled aggregate, pervious concrete, compressive strength, permeability.

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Authors: Sattar B. Sadkhan, Najlae Falah Hameed

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The Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) is the elliptic curve analogue of DSA, where it is a digital signature scheme designed to provide a digital signature based on a secret number known only to the signer and also on the actual message being signed. These digital signatures are considered the digital counterparts to handwritten signatures, and are the basis for validating the authenticity of a connection. The security of these schemes results from the infeasibility to compute the signature without the private key. In this paper we introduce a proposed to development the original ECDSA with more complexity.

Keywords: Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, DSA.

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Authors: V. Agrawal, A. Sharma

Abstract:

High Strength Concrete (HSC) is defined as concrete that meets special combination of performance and uniformity requirements that cannot be achieved routinely using conventional constituents and normal mixing, placing, and curing procedures. It is a highly complex material, which makes modeling its behavior a very difficult task. This paper aimed to show possible applicability of Neural Networks (NN) to predict the slump in High Strength Concrete (HSC). Neural Network models is constructed, trained and tested using the available test data of 349 different concrete mix designs of High Strength Concrete (HSC) gathered from a particular Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) batching plant. The most versatile Neural Network model is selected to predict the slump in concrete. The data used in the Neural Network models are arranged in a format of eight input parameters that cover the Cement, Fly Ash, Sand, Coarse Aggregate (10 mm), Coarse Aggregate (20 mm), Water, Super-Plasticizer and Water/Binder ratio. Furthermore, to test the accuracy for predicting slump in concrete, the final selected model is further used to test the data of 40 different concrete mix designs of High Strength Concrete (HSC) taken from the other batching plant. The results are compared on the basis of error function (or performance function).

Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks, Concrete, prediction ofslump, slump in concrete

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Authors: Luca Indovina, Carmela Coppola, Carlo Altucci, Riccardo Barberi, Rocco Romano

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In this paper a real court case, held in Italy at the Court of Nola, in which a correct physical description, conducted with both a Monte Carlo and biophysical analysis, would have been sufficient to arrive at conclusions confirmed by documentary evidence, is considered. This will be an example of how forensic physics can be useful in confirming documentary evidence in order to reach hardly questionable conclusions. This was a libel trial in which the defendant, Mr. DS (Defendant for Slander), had falsely accused one of his neighbors, Mr. OP (Offended Person), of having caused him some damages. The damages would have been caused by an external plaster piece that would have detached from the neighbor’s property and would have hit Mr DS while he was in his garden, much more than a meter far away from the facade of the building from which the plaster piece would have detached. In the trial, Mr. DS claimed to have suffered a scratch on his forehead, but he never showed the plaster that had hit him, nor was able to tell from where the plaster would have arrived. Furthermore, Mr. DS presented a medical certificate with a diagnosis of contusion of the cerebral cortex. On the contrary, the images of Mr. OP’s security cameras do not show any movement in the garden of Mr. DS in a long interval of time (about 2 hours) around the time of the alleged accident, nor do they show any people entering or coming out from the house of Mr. DS in the same interval of time. Biophysical analysis shows that both the diagnosis of the medical certificate and the wound declared by the defendant, already in conflict with each other, are not compatible with the fall of external plaster pieces too small to be found. The wind was at a level 1 of the Beaufort scale, that is, unable to raise even dust (level 4 of the Beaufort scale). Therefore, the motion of the plaster pieces can be described as a projectile motion, whereas collisions with the building cornice can be treated using Newtons law of coefficients of restitution. Numerous numerical Monte Carlo simulations show that the pieces of plaster would not have been able to reach even the garden of Mr. DS, let alone a distance over 1.30 meters. Results agree with the documentary evidence (images of Mr. OP’s security cameras) that Mr. DS could not have been hit by plaster pieces coming from Mr. OP’s property.

Keywords: Biophysical analysis, Monte Carlo simulations, Newton’s law of restitution, projectile motion.

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Authors: Cigdem Yangin-Gomec, Aigerim Jaxybayeva, Orhan Ince

Abstract:

In this study, the anaerobic treatability of chicken manure diluted with tap water (with an influent feed ratio of 1 kg of fresh chicken manure to 6 liter of tap water) was investigated in a lab-scale anaerobic sludge bed (ASB) reactor inoculated with the granular sludge already adapted to chicken manure. The raw waste digested in this study was the manure from laying-hens having average total solids (TS) of about 30% with ca. 60% volatile content. The ASB reactor was fed semi-continuously at ambient operating temperature range (17-23^◦C) at a HRT of 13 and 26 days for about 6 months, respectively. The respective average total and soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) removals were ca. 90% and 75%, whereas average biomethane production rate was calculated ca. 180 lt per kg of COD_removed from the ASB reactor at an average HRT of 13 days. Moreover, total suspended solids (TSS) and volatile suspended solids (VSS) in the influent were reduced more than 97%. Hence, high removals of the organic compounds with respective biogas production made anaerobic stabilization of the diluted chicken manure by ASB reactor at ambient operating temperatures viable. By this way, external heating up to 35^◦C (i.e. anaerobic processes have been traditionally operated at mesophilic conditions) could be avoided in the scope of this study.

Keywords: Ambient anaerobic digestion, biogas recovery, poultry manure.

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Authors: Sanjib Kr Pal, S. Bhattacharyya

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Mixed convection of Cu-water nanofluid in an enclosure with thick wavy bottom wall has been investigated numerically. A co-ordinate transformation method is used to transform the computational domain into an orthogonal co-ordinate system. The governing equations in the computational domain are solved through a pressure correction based iterative algorithm. The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed for a wide range of Richardson number (0.1 ≤ Ri ≤ 5), nanoparticle volume concentration (0.0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.2), amplitude (0.0 ≤ α ≤ 0.1) of the wavy thick- bottom wall and the wave number (ω) at a fixed Reynolds number. Obtained results showed that heat transfer rate increases remarkably by adding the nanoparticles. Heat transfer rate is dependent on the wavy wall amplitude and wave number and decreases with increasing Richardson number for fixed amplitude and wave number. The Bejan number and the entropy generation are determined to analyze the thermodynamic optimization of the mixed convection.

Keywords: Entropy generation, mixed convection, conjugate heat transfer, numerical, nanofluid, wall waviness.

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Authors: Behrouz Mosayebi Dehkordi

Abstract:

Simultaneous effects of temperature, immersion time, salt concentration, sucrose concentration, pressure and convective dryer temperature on the combined osmotic dehydration - convective drying of edible button mushrooms were investigated. Experiments were designed according to Central Composite Design with six factors each at five different levels. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to determine the optimum processing conditions that yield maximum water loss and rehydration ratio and minimum solid gain and shrinkage in osmotic-convective drying of edible button mushrooms. Applying surfaces profiler and contour plots optimum operation conditions were found to be temperature of 39 °C, immersion time of 164 min, salt concentration of 14%, sucrose concentration of 53%, pressure of 600 mbar and drying temperature of 40 °C. At these optimum conditions, water loss, solid gain, rehydration ratio and shrinkage were found to be 63.38 (g/100 g initial sample), 3.17 (g/100 g initial sample), 2.26 and 7.15%, respectively.

Keywords: Dehydration, Mushroom, Optimization, Osmotic, Response Surface Methodology

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Authors: Behrouz Mosayebi Dehkordi

Abstract:

Simultaneous effects of temperature, immersion time, salt concentration, sucrose concentration, pressure and convective dryer temperature on the combined osmotic dehydration - convective drying of edible button mushrooms were investigated. Experiments were designed according to Central Composite Design with six factors each at five different levels. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to determine the optimum processing conditions that yield maximum water loss and rehydration ratio and minimum solid gain and shrinkage in osmotic-convective drying of edible button mushrooms. Applying surfaces profiler and contour plots optimum operation conditions were found to be temperature of 39 °C, immersion time of 164 min, salt concentration of 14%, sucrose concentration of 53%, pressure of 600 mbar and drying temperature of 40 °C. At these optimum conditions, water loss, solid gain, rehydration ratio and shrinkage were found to be 63.38 (g/100 g initial sample), 3.17 (g/100 g initial sample), 2.26 and 7.15%, respectively.

Keywords: Dehydration, mushroom, optimization, osmotic, response surface methodology.

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Authors: Tanvi P. Medshinge, Prasad Vaidya, Monisha E. Royan

Abstract:

In India, cooling loads in residential sector is a major contributor to its total energy consumption. Due to the increasing cooling need, the market penetration of air-conditioners is further expected to rise. Natural Ventilation (NV), however, possesses great potential to save significant energy consumption especially for residential buildings in moderate climates. As multifamily residential apartment buildings are designed by repetitive use of prototype designs, deriving individual NV based design prototype solutions for a combination of different wind incidence angles and orientations would provide significant opportunity to address the rise in cooling loads by residential sector. This paper presents the results of NV performance of a selected prototype apartment design with a cluster of four units in Pune, India, and an attempt to improve the NV performance through design modifications. The water table apparatus, a physical modelling tool, is used to study the flow patterns and simulate wind-induced NV performance. Quantification of NV performance is done by post processing images captured from video recordings in terms of percentage of area with good and poor access to ventilation. NV performance of the existing design for eight wind incidence angles showed that of the cluster of four units, the windward units showed good access to ventilation for all rooms, and the leeward units had lower access to ventilation with the bedrooms in the leeward units having the least access. The results showed improved performance in all the units for all wind incidence angles to more than 80% good access to ventilation. Some units showed an additional improvement to more than 90% good access to ventilation. This process of design and performance evaluation improved some individual units from 0% to 100% for good access to ventilation. The results demonstrate the ease of use and the power of the water table apparatus for performance-based design to simulate wind induced NV.  

Keywords: Prototype design, water table apparatus, NV, wind incidence angles, simulations, fluid dynamics.

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Authors: Ganesan V.

Abstract:

Application of Expert System in the area of agriculture would take the form of Integrated Crop Management decision aids and would encompass water management, fertilizer management, crop protection systems and identification of implements. In order to remain competitive, the modern farmer often relies on agricultural specialists and advisors to provide information for decision-making. An expert system normally composed of a knowledge base (information, heuristics, etc.), inference engine (analyzes knowledge base), and end user interface (accepting inputs, generating outputs). Software named 'CROP-9-DSS' incorporating all modern features like, graphics, photos, video clippings etc. has been developed. This package will aid as a decision support system for identification of pest and diseases with control measures, fertilizer recommendation system, water management system and identification of farm implements for leading crops of Kerala (India) namely Coconut, Rice, Cashew, Pepper, Banana, four vegetables like Amaranthus, Bhindi, Brinjal and Cucurbits. 'CROP-9-DSS' will act as an expert system to agricultural officers, scientists in the field of agriculture and extension workers for decision-making and help them in suggesting suitable recommendations.

Keywords: Diagnostic, inference engine, knowledge base and user interface.

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Authors: P. Chatrabhuti, S. Visessri, T. Charinpanitkul

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Precision irrigation (PI) technology has emerged as a solution to optimize water usage in agriculture, aiming to maximize crop yields while minimizing water waste. Developing a PI for commercialization requires developers to research, synthesize, evaluate, and select appropriate technologies and make use of such information to produce innovative products. The objective of this review is to facilitate innovators by providing them with a summary of existing knowledge and the identification of gaps in research linking to the innovative development of PI. This paper reviews and synthesizes technologies and components relevant to precision irrigation, highlighting its potential benefits and challenges. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework is used for the review. As a result of this review, the different technologies have limitations and may only be suitable for specific orchards or spatial settings. The current technologies are readily available in a range of options, from affordable controllers to high-performance systems that are both reliable and precise. Furthermore, the future prospects for incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques hold promise for advancing autonomous irrigation systems.

Keywords: Innovation synthesis, technology assessment, precision irrigation technologies, precision irrigation components, new product development.

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Authors: A. S. Soğancı

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Expansive soils are often encountered in many parts of the world, especially in arid and semi-arid fields. Such kind of soils, generally including active clay minerals in low water content, enlarge in volume by absorbing the water through the surface and cause a great harm to the light structures such as channel coating, roads and airports. The expansive soils were encountered on the path of Apa-Hotamış conveyance channel belonging to the State Hydraulic Works in the region of Konya. In the research done in this area, it is predicted that the soil has a swollen nature and the soil should be filled with proper granular equipments by digging the ground to 50-60 cm. In this study, for purpose of helping the other research to be done in the same area, it is thought that instead of replacing swollen soil with the granular soil, by stabilizing it with polypropylene fiber and using it its original place decreases effect of swelling percent, in this way the cost will be decreased. Therefore, laboratory tests were conducted to study the effects of polypropylene fiber on swelling characteristics of expansive soil. Test results indicated that inclusion of fiber reduced swell percent of expansive soil. As the fiber content increased, the unconfined compressive strength was increased. Finally, it can be said that stabilization of expansive soils with polypropylene fiber is an effective method.

Keywords: Expansive soils, polypropylene fiber, stabilization, swelling percent.

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Authors: P. Martínez-Nieto, M. Vanegas-Hoyos, M. Zapata-Pineda, J. Robles-Camargo

Abstract:

The aquatic plants are a promising renewable energy resource. Lake Fúquene polluting macrophytes, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes C. Mart.) and Brazilian elodea (Egeria densa Planch.), were saccharifiedby different treatments and fermented to ethanol by native yeasts. Among the tested chemical and biological methods for the saccharification, Pleurotus ostreatus at 10% (m/v) was chosen as the best pre-treatment in both macrophytes (P<0.01). Subsequently 49 yeasts were isolated from Lake Fúquene and nine strains were selected, which presented the highest precipitates characteristic of ethanol in the iodoform test. The fermentations from water hyacinth and Brazilian elodea hydrolysates using these yeasts produced ethanol at a rate between 0.38 to 0.80gL-1h-1 and 0.15 to 0.27gL-1h-1 respectively. The ethanol presence was confirmed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The nine yeasts chosen were preliminarily identified as belonging to the genera Candida spp., Brettanomyces sp. and Hansenula spp.

Keywords: Bio-ethanol, Chemical hydrolysis, Invasive aquatic macrophytes, Native yeasts fermenting, P. ostreatus

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