The melting duration in the photovoltaic/phase-change material (PV/PCM) system is a crucial parameter for thermal energy management such that its improvement can realize better energy management in respect to thermal storage capabilities, thermal conditions, and the lifespan of PV modules. An innovative and efficient technique for improving the melting duration is the inclusion of an exterior metal foam layer in the PV/PCM system. For detailed investigations of utilizing different metal foam configurations in terms of their convective heat transfer coefficients, the present paper proposes a newly developed mathematical model for the PV/PCM–metal foam assembly that can readily be implemented with a wide range of operating condition

Pushover analysis is an efficient method for the seismic evaluation of buildings under severe earthquakes. This paper aims to develop and verify the pushover analysis methodology for reinforced concrete frames. This technique depends on a nonlinear representation of the structure by using SAP2000 software. The properties of plastic hinges will be defined by generating the moment-curvature analysis for all the frame sections (beams and columns). The verification of the technique above was compared with the previous study for two-dimensional frames (4-and 7-story frames). The former study leaned on automatic identification of positive and negative moments, where the concrete sections and steel reinforcement quantities the

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computerized database management system for accumulating, storage, retrieval, analysis, and display spatial data. In general, GIS contains two broad categories of information, geo-referenced spatial data and attribute data. Geo-referenced spatial data define objects that have an orientation and relationship in two or three-dimensional space, while attribute data is qualitative data that can be counted for recording and analysis. The main aim of this research is to reveal the role of GIS technology in the enhancement of bridge maintenance management system components such as the output results, and make it more interpretable through dynamic colour coding and more sophisticated visualization

Modified unsaturated polyester (MUPE) was blended with Cellulose (Cls) and with ethyl cellulose (ECls) at ambient conditions in the presence of ethyl methyl ketone peroxide (EMKP) as hardener. The blends containing different weight percentages (5-25 %) of Cls or ECls. Mechanical properties (impact strength, hardness, and bending) and dielectric constant were determined. The results observed that Cls increases the impact strength, hardness, and dielectric constant and decreases the bending of the MUPS, while ECls causes an increase in the three mechanical behaviours and a decrease in the dielectric constant of the MU-PS.

Using an environmentally friendly chemical process, a novel nanocomposite consisting of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and silver(I) oxide (Ag2O) nanoparticles was successfully synthesized in this work, and its optical properties along with photoelectric performance were investigated. Ag2O is a narrow-bandgap p-type semiconductor with strong visible light response but exhibits poor carrier separation and structural instability during exposure to radiation. In order to overcome shortcomings encountered with Ag2O, rGO was used as a conductive support to produce rGO@Ag2O nanocomposites with improved electronic interactions. Various characterization tests, including energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), field emission scanning electron mic

In this study three inorganic nano additives, namely; CaCO3, Al2O3 and SiO2 were used to prepare nanocomposites of unsaturated polyester in order to modify their mechanical properties, i.e. tensile strength, elongation, impact and hardness. The results indicated that all the three additives were effective to improve the mechanical properties up to 4% by weight. The effectiveness of them follows the order : CaCO3 > Al2O3 > SiO2 This is due to their particle size in which CaCO3 (13nm), Al2O3 (20-30nm) and SiO2 (15-20nm).