In this paper, mesoscale modeling is performed to simulate and understand fracture behavior of two concrete composites: cement and asphalt concrete using disk-shaped compact tension (DCT) tests. Mesoscale models are used as alternative to macroscale models to obtain better realistic behavior of composite and heterogeneous materials such as cement and asphalt concrete. In mesoscale models, aggregate and matrix are represented as distinct materials and each material has its characteristic properties. Disk-shaped compact tension test is used to obtain tensile strength and fracture energy of materials. This test can be used as a better alternative to other tests such as three points bending tests because it is more convenient for both field and laboratory specimens in addition to its accurate results. Comparing the numerical results of the mesoscale models of cement and asphalt concrete specimens with experimental data shows that these models can predict the behavior of these composite materials very well as seen in the curves of load-crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD). Also, the mesoscale modeling highlights the variability of crack direction where it is dependent on the random distribution of aggregate.
Survival analysis is widely applied to data that described by the length of time until the occurrence of an event under interest such as death or other important events. The purpose of this paper is to use the dynamic methodology which provides a flexible method, especially in the analysis of discrete survival time, to estimate the effect of covariate variables through time in the survival analysis on dialysis patients with kidney failure until death occurs. Where the estimations process is completely based on the Bayes approach by using two estimation methods: the maximum A Posterior (MAP) involved with Iteratively Weighted Kalman Filter Smoothing (IWKFS) and in combination with the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. While the other
... Show MoreThe study aims to predict Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) as a water quality indicator parameter at spatial and temporal distribution of the Tigris River, Iraq by using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model. This study was conducted on this river between Mosul and Amarah in Iraq on five positions stretching along the river for the period from 2001to 2011. In the ANNs model calibration, a computer program of multiple linear regressions is used to obtain a set of coefficient for a linear model. The input parameters of the ANNs model were the discharge of the Tigris River, the year, the month and the distance of the sampling stations from upstream of the river. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the distance and discharge
... Show MoreDeep beams are used in wide construction fields such as water tanks, foundations, and girders in multi-story buildings to provide certain areas free of columns. In practice it is quite often occurring to create web opening in deep beams to supply convenient passage of ventilation ducts, cable channels, gas and water pipes. Experimental studies of ten 10 deep beams were carried out, where two of them are control specimens without openings and eight with large web openings in the shear spans. The variables that have been adopted are the ratio of the shear span to the overall depth of the member cross-section, location and dimensions of the opening. Test results showed that there was a decrease in the load carrying capacity of deep bea
... Show MoreDeep beams are used in wide construction fields such as water tanks, foundations, and girders in multi-story buildings to provide certain areas free of columns. In practice it is quite often occurring to create web opening in deep beams to supply convenient passage of ventilation ducts, cable channels, gas and water pipes. Experimental studies of ten 10 deep beams were carried out, where two of them are control specimens without openings and eight with large web openings in the shear spans. The variables that have been adopted are the ratio of the shear span to the overall depth of the member cross-section, location and dimensions of the opening. Test results showed that there was a decrease in the load carrying capacity of deep bea
... Show MoreTo decrease the impact on the environment of building waste, the recycled aggregate may be used in various sustainable engineering applications, such as roller compacted concrete pavement (RCCP). This research examined how using recycled aggregate as a partial replacement for natural aggregate as coarse or fine affected the mechanical properties of roller-compacted concrete pavement. The recycled aggregate was crushed and sieved to coarse and fine aggregate before being used in the roller-compacted concrete pavement. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength were all evaluated after the samples were prepared at 28 and 90 days of curing. According to the study's findings, the partial replacem
... Show MoreElectro-kinetic remediation technology is one of the developing technologies that offer great promise for the cleanup of soils contaminated with heavy metals. A numerical model was formulated to simulate copper (Cu) transport under an electric field using one-dimensional diffusion-advection equations describing the contaminant transport driven by chemical and electrical gradients in soil during the electro-kinetic remediation as a function of time and space. This model included complex physicochemical factors affecting the transport phenomena, such as soil pH value, aqueous phase reaction, adsorption, and precipitation. One-dimensional finitedifference computer program successfully predicted meaningful values for soil pH profiles and Cu
... Show MoreThe aims of this study are to measure the defect rate and analyze the problems of production of ready concrete mixture plant by using Six Sigma methodology which is a business strategy for operations improvement depending basically on the application of its sub-methodology DMAIC improvement cycle and the basic statistical tools where the process sigma level of concrete production in the case study was 2.41 σ.
The turning process has various factors, which affecting machinability and should be investigated. These are surface roughness, tool life, power consumption, cutting temperature, machining force components, tool wear, and chip thickness ratio. These factors made the process nonlinear and complicated. This work aims to build neural network models to correlate the cutting parameters, namely cutting speed, depth of cut and feed rate, to the machining force and chip thickness ratio. The turning process was performed on high strength aluminum alloy 7075-T6. Three radial basis neural networks are constructed for cutting force, passive force, and feed force. In addition, a radial basis network is constructed to model the chip thickness ratio. T
... Show MorePower-electronic converters are essential elements for the effective interconnection of renewable energy sources to the power grid, as well as to include energy storage units, vehicle charging stations, microgrids, etc. Converter models that provide an accurate representation of their wideband operation and interconnection with other active and passive grid components and systems are necessary for reliable steady state and transient analyses during normal or abnormal grid operating conditions. This paper introduces two Laplace domain-based approaches to model buck and boost DC-DC converters for electromagnetic transient studies. The first approach is an analytical one, where the converter is represented by a two-port admittance model via mo
... Show MoreIn this study, vegetable tanned leather waste of cow (VTLW-C) is used as adsorbent for removing methyl violet 10B dye from aqueous solution. The VTLW-C adsorbent was characterized by FTIR and SEM in order to evaluate its surface properties before using in adsorption experiments. Batch adsorption method was applied to study the effect of different factors such as weight of leather waste, time of shaking, and starting concentration of methyl violet 10B dye. Different isothermal models such as Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D–R) were used to analyze the experimental data. Kinetic study proceeds using (PFO) kinetic model and (PSO) kinetic model. The results showed better agreement with the Freundlich model; this means
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