Search results for: investigation.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1628

Search results for: investigation.

248 Use of GIS for the Performance Evaluation of Canal Irrigation System in Rice Wheat Cropping Zone

Authors: Umm-e- Kalsoom, M. Arshad, Sadia Iqbal, M. Usman, M. Adnan

Abstract:

The research study evaluated the performance of irrigation system by using special scientific tools like Remote Sensing and GIS technology, so that proper measurements could be taken for the sustainable agriculture and water management. Different performance evaluation parameters had been calculated for the purposed data was gathered from field investigation and different government and private organizations. According to the calculations, organic matter ranges from 0.19% (low value) to 0.76% (high value). In flat irrigation system for wheat yield ranges from 3347.16 to 5260.39 kg/ha, while the total water applied to wheat crop ranges from 252.94 to 279.19 mm and WUE ranges from 13.07 to 18.37 kg/ha/mm. For rice yield ranges from 3347.47 to 5433.07 kg/ha with total water supplied to rice crop ranges from 764.71 to 978.15 mm and WUE ranges from 3.49 to 5.71 kg/ha/mm. Similarly, in raised bed system wheat yield ranges from 4569.13 to 6008.60 kg/ha, total water supplied ranges from 158.87 to 185.09 mm and WUE ranges from 27.20 to 33.54 kg/ha/mm while in rice crop, yield ranges from 5285.04 to 6716.69 kg/ha, total water supplied ranges from 600.72 to 755.06 mm and WUE ranges from 6.41 to 10.05 kg/ha/mm. Almost 51.3% water saving is observed in bed irrigation system as compared to flat system. Less water supplied to beds is more affective as its WUE value is higher than flat system where more water is supplied in both the seasons. Similarly, RWS values show that maximum water deficit while minimum area is getting adequate water supply. Greater yield is recorded in bed system as plant per square meter is more in bed system in comparison of flat system Thus, the integration of GIS tools to regularly compute performance indices could provide irrigation managers with the means for managing efficiently the irrigation system.

Keywords: Field survey, Relative Water Supply (RWS), Remote sensing maps, Water Use Efficiency (WUE).

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247 Experimental Investigation of Gas Bubble Behaviours in a Domestic Heat Pump Water Heating System

Authors: J. B. Qin, X. H. Jiang, Y. T. Ge

Abstract:

The growing awareness of global warming potential has internationally aroused interest and demand in reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. Much national energy in the UK had been consumed in the residential sector mainly for space heating and domestic hot water production. Currently, gas boilers are mostly applied in the domestic water heating which contribute significantly to excessive CO2 emissions and consumption of primary energy resources. The issues can be solved by popularizing heat pump systems that are attributable to higher performance efficiency than those of traditional gas boilers. Even so, the heat pump system performance can be further enhanced if the dissolved gases in its hot water circuit can be efficiently discharged.  To achieve this target, the bubble behaviors in the heat pump water heating system need to be extensively investigated. In this paper, by varying different experimental conditions, the effects of various heat pump hot water side parameters on gas microbubble diameters were measured and analyzed. Correspondingly, the effect of each parameter has been investigated. These include varied system pressures, water flow rates, saturation ratios and heat outputs. The results measurement showed that the water flow rate is the most significant parameter to influence on gas microbubble productions. The research outcomes can significantly contribute to the understanding of gas bubble behaviors at domestic heat pump water heating systems and thus the efficient way for the discharging of the associated dissolved gases.  

Keywords: Dissolved gases in water, heat pump, domestic water heating system, microbubble formation.

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246 Hash Based Block Matching for Digital Evidence Image Files from Forensic Software Tools

Authors: M. Kaya, M. Eris

Abstract:

Internet use, intelligent communication tools, and social media have all become an integral part of our daily life as a result of rapid developments in information technology. However, this widespread use increases crimes committed in the digital environment. Therefore, digital forensics, dealing with various crimes committed in digital environment, has become an important research topic. It is in the research scope of digital forensics to investigate digital evidences such as computer, cell phone, hard disk, DVD, etc. and to report whether it contains any crime related elements. There are many software and hardware tools developed for use in the digital evidence acquisition process. Today, the most widely used digital evidence investigation tools are based on the principle of finding all the data taken place in digital evidence that is matched with specified criteria and presenting it to the investigator (e.g. text files, files starting with letter A, etc.). Then, digital forensics experts carry out data analysis to figure out whether these data are related to a potential crime. Examination of a 1 TB hard disk may take hours or even days, depending on the expertise and experience of the examiner. In addition, it depends on examiner’s experience, and may change overall result involving in different cases overlooked. In this study, a hash-based matching and digital evidence evaluation method is proposed, and it is aimed to automatically classify the evidence containing criminal elements, thereby shortening the time of the digital evidence examination process and preventing human errors.

Keywords: Block matching, digital evidence, hash list.

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245 Public Service Ethics in Public Administration: An Empirical Investigation

Authors: Kalsoom Sumra

Abstract:

The increasing concern of public sector reforms brings new challenges to public service ethics in developing countries not only at central level but also at local level. This paper aims to identify perceptions on public service ethics of public officials and examines more generally the understanding of public servants in Pakistan towards public service ethics in local public organizations. The study uses an independently administered structured questionnaire to collect data to know the extent of the recognition of public service ethics in local organizations. A total of 150 completed questionnaires are analyzed received from public servants working at the local level in Pakistan. The analysis explores how traditional, social patterns and cultural ethics can provide us with a rounded picture of the main antecedents, moderators of public service ethics in Pakistan. Moreover, the findings of this study contribute in association of public service ethics which are crucial in ongoing political and administrative culture of Pakistan, the most crucial core for public organizational ethical climate. This study also has numerous implications for local public administration and it highlights the importance of expanding research agenda on public service ethics in developing settings with challenging institutional contexts with imperfect training and operating environments. This study may well be particularly important for practice of public service ethics in developing countries in public administration. To the best of author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to provide an initial step in practical implications to emphasize relevant public service ethics in public administration in developing transparent and accountable organization.

Keywords: Public service ethics, accountability and transparency, public service reforms, public administration, organizational ethical climate.

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244 Sources of Water Supply and Water Quality for Local Consumption: The Case Study of Eco-Tourism Village, Suan Luang Sub- District Municipality, Ampawa District, Samut Songkram Province, Thailand

Authors: Paiboon Jeamponk, Tasanee Ponglaa, Patchapon Srisanguan

Abstract:

The aim of this research paper was based on an examination of sources of water supply and water quality for local consumption, conducted at eco- tourism villages of Suan Luang Sub- District Municipality of Amphawa District, Samut Songkram Province. The study incorporated both questionnaire and field work of water testing as the research tool and method. The sample size of 288 households was based on the population of the district, whereas the selected sample water sources were from 60 households: 30 samples were ground water and another 30 were surface water. Degree of heavy metal contamination in the water including copper, iron, manganese, zinc, cadmium and lead was investigated utilizing the Atomic Absorption- Direct Aspiration method. The findings unveiled that 96.0 percent of household water consumption was based on water supply, while the rest on canal, river and rain water. The household behavior of consumption revealed that 47.2 percent of people routinely consumed water without boiling or filtering prior to consumption. The investigation of water supply quality found that the degree of heavy metal contamination including metal, lead, iron, copper, manganese and cadmium met the standards of the Department of Health.

Keywords: Sources of water supply, water quality, water supply.

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243 Improvement of Gas Turbine Performance Test in Combine Cycle

Authors: M. Khosravy-el-Hossani, Q. Dorosti

Abstract:

One of the important applications of gas turbines is their utilization for heat recovery steam generator in combine-cycle technology. Exhaust flow and energy are two key parameters for determining heat recovery steam generator performance which are mainly determined by the main gas turbine components performance data. For this reason a method was developed for determining the exhaust energy in the new edition of ASME PTC22. The result of this investigation shows that the method of standard has considerable error. Therefore in this paper a new method is presented for modifying of the performance calculation. The modified method is based on exhaust gas constituent analysis and combustion calculations. The case study presented here by two kind of General Electric gas turbine design data for validation of methodologies. The result shows that the modified method is more precise than the ASME PTC22 method. The exhaust flow calculation deviation from design data is 1.5-2 % by ASME PTC22 method so that the deviation regarding with modified method is 0.3-0.5%. Based on precision of analyzer instruments, the method can be suitable alternative for gas turbine standard performance test. In advance two methods are proposed based on known and unknown fuel in modified method procedure. The result of this paper shows that the difference between the two methods is below than %0.02. In according to reasonable esult of the second procedure (unknown fuel composition), the method can be applied to performance evaluation of gas turbine, so that the measuring cost and data gathering should be reduced.

Keywords: Gas turbine, Performance test code, Combined cycle.

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242 An Investigation of Surface Texturing by Ultrasonic Impingement of Micro-Particles

Authors: Nagalingam Arun Prasanth, Ahmed Syed Adnan, S. H. Yeo

Abstract:

Surface topography plays a significant role in the functional performance of engineered parts. It is important to have a control on the surface geometry and understanding on the surface details to get the desired performance. Hence, in the current research contribution, a non-contact micro-texturing technique has been explored and developed. The technique involves ultrasonic excitation of a tool as a prime source of surface texturing for aluminum alloy workpieces. The specimen surface is polished first and is then immersed in a liquid bath containing 10% weight concentration of Ti6Al4V grade 5 spherical powders. A submerged slurry jet is used to recirculate the spherical powders under the ultrasonic horn which is excited at an ultrasonic frequency and amplitude of 40 kHz and 70 µm respectively. The distance between the horn and workpiece surface was remained fixed at 200 µm using a precision control stage. Texturing effects were investigated for different process timings of 1, 3 and 5 s. Thereafter, the specimens were cleaned in an ultrasonic bath for 5 mins to remove loose debris on the surface. The developed surfaces are characterized by optical and contact surface profiler. The optical microscopic images show a texture of circular spots on the workpiece surface indented by titanium spherical balls. Waviness patterns obtained from contact surface profiler supports the texturing effect produced from the proposed technique. Furthermore, water droplet tests were performed to show the efficacy of the proposed technique to develop hydrophilic surfaces and to quantify the texturing effect produced.

Keywords: Surface texturing, surface modification, topography, ultrasonic.

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241 Time Effective Structural Frequency Response Testing with Oblique Impact

Authors: Khoo Shin Yee, Lian Yee Cheng, Ong Zhi Chao, Zubaidah Ismail, Siamak Noroozi

Abstract:

Structural frequency response testing is accurate in identifying the dynamic characteristic of a machinery structure. In practical perspective, conventional structural frequency response testing such as experimental modal analysis with impulse technique (also known as “impulse testing”) has limitation especially on its long acquisition time. The high acquisition time is mainly due to the redundancy procedure where the engineer has to repeatedly perform the test in 3 directions, namely the axial-, horizontal- and vertical-axis, in order to comprehensively define the dynamic behavior of a 3D structure. This is unfavorable to numerous industries where the downtime cost is high. This study proposes to reduce the testing time by using oblique impact. Theoretically, a single oblique impact can induce significant vibration responses and vibration modes in all the 3 directions. Hence, the acquisition time with the implementation of the oblique impulse technique can be reduced by a factor of three (i.e. for a 3D dynamic system). This study initiates an experimental investigation of impulse testing with oblique excitation. A motor-driven test rig has been used for the testing purpose. Its dynamic characteristic has been identified using the impulse testing with the conventional normal impact and the proposed oblique impact respectively. The results show that the proposed oblique impulse testing is able to obtain all the desired natural frequencies in all 3 directions and thus providing a feasible solution for a fast and time effective way of conducting the impulse testing.

Keywords: Frequency response function, impact testing, modal analysis, oblique angle, oblique impact.

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240 Effect of Fines on Liquefaction Susceptibility of Sandy Soil

Authors: Ayad Salih Sabbar, Amin Chegenizadeh, Hamid Nikraz

Abstract:

Investigation of liquefaction susceptibility of materials that have been used in embankments, slopes, dams, and foundations is very essential. Many catastrophic geo-hazards such as flow slides, declination of foundations, and damage to earth structure are associated with static liquefaction that may occur during abrupt shearing of these materials. Many artificial backfill materials are mixtures of sand with fines and other composition. In order to provide some clarifications and evaluations on the role of fines in static liquefaction behaviour of sand sandy soils, the effect of fines on the liquefaction susceptibility of sand was experimentally examined in the present work over a range of fines content, relative density, and initial confining pressure. The results of an experimental study on various sand-fines mixtures are presented. Undrained static triaxial compression tests were conducted on saturated Perth sand containing 5% bentonite at three different relative densities (10, 50, and 90%), and saturated Perth sand containing both 5% bentonite and slag (2%, 4%, and 6%) at single relative density 10%. Undrained static triaxial tests were performed at three different initial confining pressures (100, 150, and 200 kPa). The brittleness index was used to quantify the liquefaction potential of sand-bentonite-slag mixtures. The results demonstrated that the liquefaction susceptibility of sand-5% bentonite mixture was more than liquefaction susceptibility of clean sandy soil. However, liquefaction potential decreased when both of two fines (bentonite and slag) were used. Liquefaction susceptibility of all mixtures decreased with increasing relative density and initial confining pressure.  

Keywords: Bentonite, brittleness index, liquefaction, slag.

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239 A Study on the Effect of Mg and Ag Additions and Age Hardening Treatment on the Properties of As-Cast Al-Cu-Mg-Ag Alloys

Authors: Ahmed. S. Alasmari, M. S. Soliman, Magdy M. El-Rayes

Abstract:

This study focuses on the effect of the addition of magnesium (Mg) and silver (Ag) on the mechanical properties of aluminum based alloys. The alloying elements will be added at different levels using the factorial design of experiments of 22; the two factors are Mg and Ag at two levels of concentration. The superior mechanical properties of the produced Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys after aging will be resulted from a unique type of precipitation named as Ω-phase. The formed precipitate enhanced the tensile strength and thermal stability. This paper further investigated the microstructure and mechanical properties of as cast Al–Cu–Mg–Ag alloys after being complete homogenized treatment at 520 °C for 8 hours followed by isothermally age hardening process at 190 °C for different periods of time. The homogenization at 520 °C for 8 hours was selected based on homogenization study at various temperatures and times. The alloys’ microstructures were studied by using optical microscopy (OM). In addition to that, the fracture surface investigation was performed using a scanning electronic microscope (SEM). Studying the microstructure of aged Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys reveal that the grains are equiaxed with an average grain size of about 50 µm. A detailed fractography study for fractured surface of the aged alloys exhibited a mixed fracture whereby the random fracture suggested crack propagation along the grain boundaries while the dimples indicated that the fracture was ductile. The present result has shown that alloy 5 has the highest hardness values and the best mechanical behaviors.

Keywords: Precipitation hardening, aluminum alloys, aging, design of experiments, analysis of variance, heat treatments.

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238 Molecular Identification of ESBL Genesbla GES-1, blaVEB-1, blaCTX-M blaOXA-1, blaOXA-4,blaOXA-10 and blaPER-1 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains Isolated from Burn Patientsby PCR, RFLP and Sequencing Techniques

Authors: Fereshteh Shacheraghi, Mohammad Reza Shakibaie, Hanieh Noveiri

Abstract:

Fourty one strains of ESBL producing P.aeruginosa which were previously isolated from burn patients in Kerman University general hospital, Iran were subjected to PCR, RFLP and sequencing in order to determine the type of extended spectrum β- lactamases (ESBL), the restriction digestion pattern and possibility of mutation among detected genes. DNA extraction was carried out by phenol chloroform method. PCR for detection of bla genes was performed using specific primer for each gene. Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) for ESBL genes was carried out using EcoRI, NheI, PVUII, EcoRV, DdeI, and PstI restriction enzymes. The PCR products were subjected to direct sequencing of both the strands for identification of the ESBL genes.The blaCTX-M, blaVEB-1, blaPER-1, blaGES-1, blaOXA-1, blaOXA-4 and blaOXA-10 genes were detected in the (n=1) 2.43%, (n=41)100%, (n=28) 68.3%, (n=10) 24.4%, (n=29) 70.7%, (n=7)17.1% and (n=38) 92.7% of the ESBL producing isolates respectively. The RFLP analysis showed that each ESBL gene has identical pattern of digestion among the isolated strains. Sequencing of the ESBL genes confirmed the genuinety of PCR products and revealed no mutation in the restriction sites of the above genes. From results of the present investigation it can be concluded that blaVEB-1 and blaCTX-M were the most and the least frequently isolated ESBL genes among the P.aeruginosa strains isolated from burn patients. The RFLP and sequencing analysis revealed that same clone of the bla genes were indeed existed among the antibiotic resistant strains.

Keywords: ESBL genes, PCR, RFLP, Sequencing, P.aeruginosa

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237 Numerical Investigation of Soft Clayey Soil Improved by Soil-Cement Columns under Harmonic Load

Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, E. Ghanbari Alamouty

Abstract:

Deep soil mixing is one of the improvement methods in geotechnical engineering which is widely used in soft soils. This article investigates the consolidation behavior of a soft clay soil which is improved by soil-cement column (SCC) by numerical modeling using Plaxis2D program. This behavior is simulated under vertical static and cyclic load which is applied on the soil surface. The static load problem is the simulation of a physical model test in an axisymmetric condition which uses a single SCC in the model center. The results of numerical modeling consist of settlement of soft soil composite, stress on soft soil and column, and excessive pore water pressure in the soil show a good correspondence with the test results. The response of soft soil composite to the cyclic load in vertical direction also compared with the static results. Also the effects of two variables namely the cement content used in a SCC and the area ratio (the ratio of the diameter of SCC to the diameter of composite soil model, a) is investigated. The results show that the stress on the column with the higher value of a, is lesser compared with the stress on other columns. Different rate of consolidation and excessive pore pressure distribution is observed in cyclic load problem. Also comparing the results of settlement of soil shows higher compressibility in the cyclic load problem.

Keywords: Area ratio, consolidation behavior, cyclic load, numerical modeling, soil-cement column.

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236 A Study on Cement-Based Composite Containing Polypropylene Fibers and Finely Ground Glass Exposed to Elevated Temperatures

Authors: O. Alidoust, I. Sadrinejad, M. A. Ahmadi

Abstract:

High strength concrete has been used in situations where it may be exposed to elevated temperatures. Numerous authors have shown the significant contribution of polypropylene fiber to the spalling resistance of high strength concrete. When cement-based composite that reinforced by polypropylene fibers heated up to 170 °C, polypropylene fibers readily melt and volatilize, creating additional porosity and small channels in to the matrix that cause the poor structure and low strength. This investigation develops on the mechanical properties of mortar incorporating polypropylene fibers exposed to high temperature. Also effects of different pozzolans on strength behaviour of samples at elevated temperature have been studied. To reach this purpose, the specimens were produced by partial replacement of cement with finely ground glass, silica fume and rice husk ash as high reactive pozzolans. The amount of this replacement was 10% by weight of cement to find the effects of pozzolans as a partial replacement of cement on the mechanical properties of mortars. In this way, lots of mixtures with 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% of polypropylene fibers were cast and tested for compressive and flexural strength, accordance to ASTM standard. After that specimens being heated to temperatures of 300, 600 °C, respectively, the mechanical properties of heated samples were tested. Mechanical tests showed significant reduction in compressive strength which could be due to polypropylene fiber melting. Also pozzolans improve the mechanical properties of sampels.

Keywords: Mechanical properties, compressive strength, Flexural strength, pozzolanic behavior.

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235 Study on Mitigation Measures of Gumti Hydro Power Plant Using Analytic Hierarchy Process and Concordance Analysis Techniques

Authors: K. Majumdar, S. Datta

Abstract:

Electricity is recognized as fundamental to industrialization and improving the quality of life of the people. Harnessing the immense untapped hydropower potential in Tripura region opens avenues for growth and provides an opportunity to improve the well-being of the people of the region, while making substantial contribution to the national economy. Gumti hydro power plant generates power to mitigate the crisis of power in Tripura, India. The first unit of hydro power plant (5MW) was commissioned in June 1976 & another two units of 5 MW was commissioned simultaneously. But out of 15MW capacity at present only 8MW- 9MW power is produced from Gumti hydro power plant during rainy season. But during lean season the production reduces to 0.5MW due to shortage of water. Now, it is essential to implement some mitigation measures so that the further atrocities can be prevented and originality will be possible to restore. The decision making ability of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Concordance Analysis Techniques (CAT) are utilized to identify the better decision or solution to the present problem. Some related attributes are identified by the method of surveying within the experts and the available reports and literatures. Similar criteria are removed and ultimately seven relevant ones are identified. All the attributes are compared with each other and rated accordingly to their importance over the other with the help of Pair wise Comparison Matrix. In the present investigation different mitigation measures are identified and compared to find the best suitable alternative which can solve the present uncertainties involving the existence of the Gumti Hydro Power Plant.

Keywords: Concordance Analysis Techniques, Analytic Hierarchy Process, Hydro Power.

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234 Estimation of Bio-Kinetic Coefficients for Treatment of Brewery Wastewater

Authors: Abimbola M. Enitan, Josiah Adeyemo

Abstract:

Anaerobic modeling is a useful tool to describe and simulate the condition and behaviour of anaerobic treatment units for better effluent quality and biogas generation. The present investigation deals with the anaerobic treatment of brewery wastewater with varying organic loads. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) of the influent and effluent of the bioreactor were determined at various retention times to generate data for kinetic coefficients. The bio-kinetic coefficients in the modified Stover–Kincannon kinetic and methane generation models were determined to study the performance of anaerobic digestion process. At steady-state, the determination of the kinetic coefficient (K), the endogenous decay coefficient (Kd), the maximum growth rate of microorganisms (μmax), the growth yield coefficient (Y), ultimate methane yield (Bo), maximum utilization rate constant Umax and the saturation constant (KB) in the model were calculated to be 0.046 g/g COD, 0.083 (d¯¹), 0.117 (d-¹), 0.357 g/g, 0.516 (L CH4/gCODadded), 18.51 (g/L/day) and 13.64 (g/L/day) respectively. The outcome of this study will help in simulation of anaerobic model to predict usable methane and good effluent quality during the treatment of industrial wastewater. Thus, this will protect the environment, conserve natural resources, saves time and reduce cost incur by the industries for the discharge of untreated or partially treated wastewater. It will also contribute to a sustainable long-term clean development mechanism for the optimization of the methane produced from anaerobic degradation of waste in a close system.

Keywords: Brewery wastewater, methane generation model, environment, anaerobic modeling.

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233 Experimental and Numerical Study of the Effect of Lateral Wind on the Feeder Airship

Authors: A. Suñol, D. Vucinic, S.Vanlanduit, T. Markova, A. Aksenov, I. Moskalyov

Abstract:

Feeder is one of the airships of the Multibody Advanced Airship for Transport (MAAT) system, under development within the EU FP7 project. MAAT is based on a modular concept composed of two different parts that have the possibility to join; respectively they are the so-called Cruiser and Feeder, designed on the lighter than air principle. Feeder, also named ATEN (Airship Transport Elevator Network), is the smaller one which joins the bigger one, Cruiser, also named PTAH (Photovoltaic modular Transport Airship for High altitude),envisaged to happen at 15km altitude. During the MAAT design phase, the aerodynamic studies of the both airships and their interactions are analyzed. The objective of these studies is to understand the aerodynamic behavior of all the preselected configurations, as an important element in the overall MAAT system design. The most of these configurations are only simulated by CFD, while the most feasible one is experimentally analyzed in order to validate and thrust the CFD predictions. This paper presents the numerical and experimental investigation of the Feeder “conical like" shape configuration. The experiments are focused on the aerodynamic force coefficients and the pressure distribution over the Feeder outer surface, while the numerical simulation cover also the analysis of the velocity and pressure distribution. Finally, the wind tunnel experiment is compared with its CFD model in order to validate such specific simulations with respective experiments and to better understand the difference between the wind tunnel and in-flight circumstances.

Keywords: MAAT project Feeder, CFD simulations, wind tunnel experiments, lateral wind influence.

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232 Investigation of the Operational Principle and Flow Analysis of a Newly Developed Dry Separator

Authors: Sung Uk Park, Young Su Kang, Sangmo Kang, Yong Kweon Suh

Abstract:

Mineral product, waste concrete (fine aggregates), waste in the optical field, industry, and construction employ separators to separate solids and classify them according to their size. Various sorting machines are used in the industrial field such as those operating under electrical properties, centrifugal force, wind power, vibration, and magnetic force. Study on separators has been carried out to contribute to the environmental industry. In this study, we perform CFD analysis for understanding the basic mechanism of the separation of waste concrete (fine aggregate) particles from air with a machine built with a rotor with blades. In CFD, we first performed two-dimensional particle tracking for various particle sizes for the model with 1 degree, 1.5 degree, and 2 degree angle between each blade to verify the boundary conditions and the method of rotating domain method to be used in 3D. Then we developed 3D numerical model with ANSYS CFX to calculate the air flow and track the particles. We judged the capability of particle separation for given size by counting the number of particles escaping from the domain toward the exit among 10 particles issued at the inlet. We confirm that particles experience stagnant behavior near the exit of the rotating blades where the centrifugal force acting on the particles is in balance with the air drag force. It was also found that the minimum particle size that can be separated by the machine with the rotor is determined by its capability to stay at the outlet of the rotor channels.

Keywords: Environmental industry, Separator, CFD, Fine aggregate.

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231 Vibration Characteristics of Functionally Graded Material Skew Plate in Thermal Environment

Authors: Gulshan Taj M. N. A., Anupam Chakrabarti, Vipul Prakash

Abstract:

In the present investigation, free vibration of functionally graded material (FGM) skew plates under thermal environment is studied. Kinematics equations are based on the Reddy’s higher order shear deformation theory and a nine noded isoparametric Lagrangian element is adopted to mesh the plate geometry. The issue of C1 continuity requirement related to the assumed displacement field has been circumvented effectively to develop C0 finite element formulation. Effective mechanical properties of the constituents of the plate are considered to be as position and temperature dependent and assumed to vary in the thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution. The displacement components of a rectangular plate are mapped into skew plate geometry by means of suitable transformation rule. One dimensional Fourier heat conduction equation is used to ascertain the temperature profile of the plate along thickness direction. Influence of different parameters such as volume fraction index, boundary condition, aspect ratio, thickness ratio and temperature field on frequency parameter of the FGM skew plate is demonstrated by performing various examples and the related findings are discussed briefly. New results are generated for vibration of the FGM skew plate under thermal environment, for the first time, which may be implemented in the future research involving similar kind of problems.

Keywords: Functionally graded material, finite element method, higher order shear deformation theory, skew plate, thermal vibration.

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230 Modeling of PZ in Haunch Connections Systems

Authors: Peyman Shadman Heidari, Roohollah Ahmady Jazany, Mahmood Reza Mehran, Pouya Shadman Heidari, Mohammad khorasani

Abstract:

Modeling of Panel Zone (PZ) seismic behavior, because of its role in overall ductility and lateral stiffness of steel moment frames, has been considered a challenge for years. There are some studies regarding the effects of different doubler plates thicknesses and geometric properties of PZ on its seismic behavior. However, there is not much investigation on the effects of number of provided continuity plates in case of presence of one triangular haunch, two triangular haunches and rectangular haunch (T shape haunches) for exterior columns. In this research first detailed finite element models of 12tested connection of SAC joint venture were created and analyzed then obtained cyclic behavior backbone curves of these models besides other FE models for similar tests were used for neural network training. Then seismic behavior of these data is categorized according to continuity plate-s arrangements and differences in type of haunches. PZ with one-sided haunches have little plastic rotation. As the number of continuity plates increases due to presence of two triangular haunches (four continuity plate), there will be no plastic rotation, in other words PZ behaves in its elastic range. In the case of rectangular haunch, PZ show more plastic rotation in comparison with one-sided triangular haunch and especially double-sided triangular haunches. Moreover, the models that will be presented in case of triangular one-sided and double- sided haunches and rectangular haunches as a result of this study seem to have a proper estimation of PZ seismic behavior.

Keywords: Continuity plate, FE models, Neural network, Panel zone, Plastic rotation, Rectangular haunch, Seismic behavior

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229 The DAQ Debugger for iFDAQ of the COMPASS Experiment

Authors: Y. Bai, M. Bodlak, V. Frolov, S. Huber, V. Jary, I. Konorov, D. Levit, J. Novy, D. Steffen, O. Subrt, M. Virius

Abstract:

In general, state-of-the-art Data Acquisition Systems (DAQ) in high energy physics experiments must satisfy high requirements in terms of reliability, efficiency and data rate capability. This paper presents the development and deployment of a debugging tool named DAQ Debugger for the intelligent, FPGA-based Data Acquisition System (iFDAQ) of the COMPASS experiment at CERN. Utilizing a hardware event builder, the iFDAQ is designed to be able to readout data at the average maximum rate of 1.5 GB/s of the experiment. In complex softwares, such as the iFDAQ, having thousands of lines of code, the debugging process is absolutely essential to reveal all software issues. Unfortunately, conventional debugging of the iFDAQ is not possible during the real data taking. The DAQ Debugger is a tool for identifying a problem, isolating the source of the problem, and then either correcting the problem or determining a way to work around it. It provides the layer for an easy integration to any process and has no impact on the process performance. Based on handling of system signals, the DAQ Debugger represents an alternative to conventional debuggers provided by most integrated development environments. Whenever problem occurs, it generates reports containing all necessary information important for a deeper investigation and analysis. The DAQ Debugger was fully incorporated to all processes in the iFDAQ during the run 2016. It helped to reveal remaining software issues and improved significantly the stability of the system in comparison with the previous run. In the paper, we present the DAQ Debugger from several insights and discuss it in a detailed way.

Keywords: DAQ debugger, data acquisition system, FPGA, system signals, Qt framework.

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228 Analysis of Energy Consumption Based on Household Appliances in Jodhpur, India

Authors: A. Kumar, V. Devadas

Abstract:

Energy is the basic element for any country’s economic development. India is one of the most populated countries, and is dependent on fossil fuel and nuclear-based energy generation. The energy sector faces huge challenges and is dependent on the import of energy from neighboring countries to fulfill the gap in demand and supply. India has huge setbacks for efficient energy generation, distribution, and consumption, therefore they consume more quantity of energy to produce the same amount of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to the developed countries. Technology and technique use, availability, and affordability in the various sectors are varying according to their economic status. In this paper, an attempt is made to quantify the domestic electrical energy consumption in Jodhpur, India. Survey research methods have been employed and stratified sampling technique-based households were chosen for conducting the investigation. Pre-tested survey schedules are used to investigate the grassroots level study. The collected data are analyzed by employing statistical techniques. Thereafter, a multiple regression model is developed to understand the functions of total electricity consumption in the domestic sector corresponding to other independent variables including electrical appliances, age of the building, household size, education, etc. The study resulted in identifying the governing variable in energy consumption at the household level and their relationship with the efficiency of household-based electrical and energy appliances. The analysis is concluded with the recommendation for optimizing the gap in peak electrical demand and supply in the domestic sector.

Keywords: Appliance, consumption, electricity, households.

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227 Influence of Thermal Cycle on Temperature Dependent Process Parameters Involved in GTA Welded High Carbon Steel Joints

Authors: J. Dutta, Narendranath S.

Abstract:

In this research article a comprehensive investigation has been carried out to determine the effect of thermal cycle on temperature dependent process parameters developed during gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding of high carbon (AISI 1090) steel butt joints. An experiment based thermal analysis has been performed to obtain the thermal history. We have focused on different thermophysical properties such as thermal conductivity, heat transfer coefficient and cooling rate. Angular torch model has been utilized to find out the surface heat flux and its variation along the fusion zone as well as along the longitudinal direction from fusion boundary. After welding and formation of weld pool, heat transfer coefficient varies rapidly in the vicinity of molten weld bead and heat affected zone. To evaluate the heat transfer coefficient near the fusion line and near the rear end of the plate (low temperature region), established correlation has been implemented and has been compared with empirical correlation which is noted as coupled convective and radiation heat transfer coefficient. Change in thermal conductivity has been visualized by analytical model of moving point heat source. Rate of cooling has been estimated by using 2-dimensional mathematical expression of cooling rate and it has shown good agreement with experimental temperature cycle. Thermophysical properties have been varied randomly within 0 -10s time span.

Keywords: Thermal history, Gas tungsten arc welding, Butt joint, High carbon steel.

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226 Extended Intuitionistic Fuzzy VIKOR Method in Group Decision Making: The Case of Vendor Selection Decision

Authors: Nastaran Hajiheydari, Mohammad Soltani Delgosha

Abstract:

Vendor (supplier) selection is a group decision-making (GDM) process, in which, based on some predetermined criteria, the experts’ preferences are provided in order to rank and choose the most desirable suppliers. In the real business environment, our attitudes or our choices would be made in an uncertain and indecisive situation could not be expressed in a crisp framework. Intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) could handle such situations in the best way. VIKOR method was developed to solve multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. This method, which is used to determine the compromised feasible solution with respect to the conflicting criteria, introduces a multi-criteria ranking index based on the particular measure of 'closeness' to the 'ideal solution'. Until now, there has been a little investigation of VIKOR with IFS, therefore we extended the intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) VIKOR to solve vendor selection problem under IF GDM environment. The present study intends to develop an IF VIKOR method in a GDM situation. Therefore, a model is presented to calculate the criterion weights based on entropy measure. Then, the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy weighted geometric (IFWG) operator utilized to obtain the total decision matrix. In the next stage, an approach based on the positive idle intuitionistic fuzzy number (PIIFN) and negative idle intuitionistic fuzzy number (NIIFN) was developed. Finally, the application of the proposed method to solve a vendor selection problem illustrated.

Keywords: Group decision making, intuitionistic fuzzy entropy measure, intuitionistic fuzzy set, vendor selection VIKOR.

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225 Growth and Yield Assessment of Two Types of Sorghum-Sudangrass Hybrids as Affected by Deficit Irrigation

Authors: A. Abbas Khalaf, L. Issazadeh, Z. Arif Abdullah, J. Hassanpour

Abstract:

In order to evaluate the growth and yield properties of two Sorghum-Sudangrass hybrids under different irrigation levels, an investigation was done in the experiment site of Collage of Agriculture, University of Duhok, Kurdistan region of Iraq (36°5´38 N, 42°52´02 E) in the years 2015-16. The experiment was conducted under Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications, which main factor was irrigation treatments (I100, I75 and I50) according to evaporation pan class A and type of Sorghum-Sudangrass hybrids (KH12SU9001, G1) and (KH12SU9002, G2) were factors of subplots. The parameters studied were: plant height (cm), number of green leaves per plant; leaf area (m2/m2), stem thickness (mm), percent of protein, fresh and dry biomass (ton.ha-1) and also crop water productivity. The results of variance analysis showed that KH12SU9001 variety had more amount of leaf area, percent of protein, fresh and dry biomass yield in comparison to KH12SU9002 variety. By comparing effects of irrigation levels on vegetative growth and yield properties, results showed that amount of plant height, fresh and dry biomass weight was decreased by decreasing irrigation level from full irrigation regime to 5 o% of irrigation level. Also, results of crop water productivity (CWP) indicated that improvement in quantity of irrigation would impact fresh and dry biomass yield significantly. Full irrigation regime was recorded the highest level of CWP (1.28-1.29 kg.m-3).

Keywords: Deficit irrigation, growth, Sorghum-Sudangrass hybrid, yield.

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224 Simulation Aided Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Framework for Manufacturing Design and Management

Authors: Mijoh A. Gbededo, Kapila Liyanage, Ilias Oraifige

Abstract:

Decision making for sustainable manufacturing design and management requires critical considerations due to the complexity and partly conflicting issues of economic, social and environmental factors. Although there are tools capable of assessing the combination of one or two of the sustainability factors, the frameworks have not adequately integrated all the three factors. Case study and review of existing simulation applications also shows the approach lacks integration of the sustainability factors. In this paper we discussed the development of a simulation based framework for support of a holistic assessment of sustainable manufacturing design and management. To achieve this, a strategic approach is introduced to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing decision supporting tools. Investigation reveals that Discrete Event Simulation (DES) can serve as a rock base for other Life Cycle Analysis frameworks. Simio-DES application optimizes systems for both economic and competitive advantage, Granta CES EduPack and SimaPro collate data for Material Flow Analysis and environmental Life Cycle Assessment, while social and stakeholders’ analysis is supported by Analytical Hierarchy Process, a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method. Such a common and integrated framework creates a platform for companies to build a computer simulation model of a real system and assess the impact of alternative solutions before implementing a chosen solution.

Keywords: Discrete event simulation, life cycle sustainability analysis, manufacturing, sustainability.

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223 A Study on Fundamental Problems for Small and Medium Agricultural Machinery Industries in Central Region Area

Authors: P. Thepnarintra, S. Nikorn

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Agricultural machinery industry plays an important role in the industrial development especially the production industry of the country. There has been continuing development responding to the higher demand of the production. However, the problem in agricultural machinery production still exists. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate problems on fundamental factors of industry based on the entrepreneurs’ point of view. The focus was on the small and medium size industry receiving factory license type number 0660 from the Department of Industrial Works. The investigation was on the comparison between the management of the small and medium size agricultural industry in 3 provinces in the central region of Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 189 company managers or managing directors, of which 101 were from the small size and 88 were from the medium size industry. The data were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation with independent sample T-test at the statistical significance .05. The results showed that the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers in the central region of Thailand reported high problems in every aspect. When compared the problems on basic factors in running the business, it was found that there was no statistically difference at .05 in managing of the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers. However, there was a statistically significant difference between the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers on the aspect of policy and services of the government. The problems reported by the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers were the services on public tap water and the problem on politic and stability of the country.

Keywords: Agricultural machinery, manufacturers, problems, on running the business.

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222 Electricity Price Forecasting: A Comparative Analysis with Shallow-ANN and DNN

Authors: Fazıl Gökgöz, Fahrettin Filiz

Abstract:

Electricity prices have sophisticated features such as high volatility, nonlinearity and high frequency that make forecasting quite difficult. Electricity price has a volatile and non-random character so that, it is possible to identify the patterns based on the historical data. Intelligent decision-making requires accurate price forecasting for market traders, retailers, and generation companies. So far, many shallow-ANN (artificial neural networks) models have been published in the literature and showed adequate forecasting results. During the last years, neural networks with many hidden layers, which are referred to as DNN (deep neural networks) have been using in the machine learning community. The goal of this study is to investigate electricity price forecasting performance of the shallow-ANN and DNN models for the Turkish day-ahead electricity market. The forecasting accuracy of the models has been evaluated with publicly available data from the Turkish day-ahead electricity market. Both shallow-ANN and DNN approach would give successful result in forecasting problems. Historical load, price and weather temperature data are used as the input variables for the models. The data set includes power consumption measurements gathered between January 2016 and December 2017 with one-hour resolution. In this regard, forecasting studies have been carried out comparatively with shallow-ANN and DNN models for Turkish electricity markets in the related time period. The main contribution of this study is the investigation of different shallow-ANN and DNN models in the field of electricity price forecast. All models are compared regarding their MAE (Mean Absolute Error) and MSE (Mean Square) results. DNN models give better forecasting performance compare to shallow-ANN. Best five MAE results for DNN models are 0.346, 0.372, 0.392, 0,402 and 0.409.

Keywords: Deep learning, artificial neural networks, energy price forecasting, Turkey.

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221 Investigation of Rehabilitation Effects on Fire Damaged High Strength Concrete Beams

Authors: Eun Mi Ryu, Ah Young An, Ji Yeon Kang, Yeong Soo Shin, Hee Sun Kim

Abstract:

When high strength reinforced concrete is exposed to high temperature due to a fire, deteriorations occur such as loss in strength and elastic modulus, cracking and spalling of the concrete. Therefore, it is important to understand risk of structural safety in building structures by studying structural behaviors and rehabilitation of fire damaged high strength concrete structures. This paper aims at investigating rehabilitation effect on fire damaged high strength concrete beams using experimental and analytical methods. In the experiments, flexural specimens with high strength concrete are exposed to high temperatures according to ISO 834 standard time temperature curve. From four-point loading test, results show that maximum loads of the rehabilitated beams are similar to or higher than those of the non-fire damaged RC beam. In addition, structural analyses are performed using ABAQUS 6.10-3 with same conditions as experiments to provide accurate predictions on structural and mechanical behaviors of rehabilitated RC beams. The parameters are the fire cover thickness and strengths of repairing mortar. Analytical results show good rehabilitation effects, when the results predicted from the rehabilitated models are compared to structural behaviors of the non-damaged RC beams. In this study, fire damaged high strength concrete beams are rehabilitated using polymeric cement mortar. The predictions from the finite element (FE) models show good agreements with the experimental results and the modeling approaches can be used to investigate applicability of various rehabilitation methods for further study.

Keywords: Fire, High strength concrete, Rehabilitation, Reinforced concrete beam.

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220 Numerical Study on the Flow around a Steadily Rotating Spring: Understanding the Propulsion of a Bacterial Flagellum

Authors: Won Yeol Choi, Sangmo Kang

Abstract:

The propulsion of a bacterial flagellum in a viscous fluid has attracted many interests in the field of biological hydrodynamics, but remains yet fully understood and thus still a challenging problem. In this study, therefore, we have numerically investigated the flow around a steadily rotating micro-sized spring to further understand such bacterial flagellum propulsion. Note that a bacterium gains thrust (propulsive force) by rotating the flagellum connected to the body through a bio motor to move forward. For the investigation, we convert the spring model from the micro scale to the macro scale using a similitude law (scale law) and perform simulations on the converted macro-scale model using a commercial software package, CFX v13 (ANSYS). To scrutinize the propulsion characteristics of the flagellum through the simulations, we make parameter studies by changing some flow parameters, such as the pitch, helical radius and rotational speed of the spring and the Reynolds number (or fluid viscosity), expected to affect the thrust force experienced by the rotating spring. Results show that the propulsion characteristics depend strongly on the parameters mentioned above. It is observed that the forward thrust increases in a linear fashion with either of the rotational speed or the fluid viscosity. In addition, the thrust is directly proportional to square of the helical radius and but the thrust force is increased and then decreased based on the peak value to the pitch. Finally, we also present the appropriate flow and pressure fields visualized to support the observations.

Keywords: Fluid viscosity, hydrodynamics, similitude, propulsive force.

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219 The Development of a Low Carbon Cementitious Material Produced from Cement, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag and High Calcium Fly Ash

Authors: Ali Shubbar, Hassnen M. Jafer, Anmar Dulaimi, William Atherton, Ali Al-Rifaie

Abstract:

This research represents experimental work for investigation of the influence of utilising Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and High Calcium Fly Ash (HCFA) as a partial replacement for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and produce a low carbon cementitious material with comparable compressive strength to OPC. Firstly, GGBS was used as a partial replacement to OPC to produce a binary blended cementitious material (BBCM); the replacements were 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50% by the dry mass of OPC. The optimum BBCM was mixed with HCFA to produce a ternary blended cementitious material (TBCM). The replacements were 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50% by the dry mass of BBCM. The compressive strength at ages of 7 and 28 days was utilised for assessing the performance of the test specimens in comparison to the reference mixture using 100% OPC as a binder. The results showed that the optimum BBCM was the mix produced from 25% GGBS and 75% OPC with compressive strength of 32.2 MPa at the age of 28 days. In addition, the results of the TBCM have shown that the addition of 10, 15, 20 and 25% of HCFA to the optimum BBCM improved the compressive strength by 22.7, 11.3, 5.2 and 2.1% respectively at 28 days. However, the replacement of optimum BBCM with more than 25% HCFA have showed a gradual drop in the compressive strength in comparison to the control mix. TBCM with 25% HCFA was considered to be the optimum as it showed better compressive strength than the control mix and at the same time reduced the amount of cement to 56%. Reducing the cement content to 56% will contribute to decrease the cost of construction materials, provide better compressive strength and also reduce the CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

Keywords: Cementitious material, compressive strength, GGBS, HCFA, OPC.

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