Improving in assembling technology has provided machines of higher evaluation with better resistances and managed behavior. This machinery led to remarkably higher dynamic forces and therefore higher stresses. In this paper, a dynamic investigation of rectangular machine diesel and gas engines foundation at the top surface of one-layer dry sand with various states (i.e., loose, medium and dense) was carried out. The dynamic investigation is performed numerically by utilizing limited component programming, PLAXIS 3D. The soil is accepted as flexible totally plastic material submits to Mohr-Coulomb yield basis. A harmonic load is applied at the foundation with amplitude of 10 kPa at a frequency of (10, 15 and 20) HZ and se

The removal of cadmium ions from simulated groundwater by zeolite permeable reactive barrier was investigated. Batch tests have been performed to characterize the equilibrium sorption properties of the zeolite in cadmium-containing aqueous solutions. Many operating parameters such as contact time, initial pH of solution, initial concentration, resin dosage and agitation speed were investigated. The best values of these parameters that will achieved removal efficiency of cadmium (=99.5%) were 60 min, 6.5, 50 mg/L, 0.25 g/100 ml and 270 rpm respectively. A 1D explicit finite difference model has been developed to describe pollutant transport within a groundwater taking the pollutant sorption on the permeable reactive barrier (PRB), which i

Soils that cause effective damages to engineer structures (such as pavement and foundation) are called problematic or difficult soils (include collapsible soil, expansive soil, etc.). These damages occur due to poor or unfavorited engineering properties, such as low shear strength, high compressibility, high volume changes, etc. In the case of expansive soil, the problem of the shrink-swell phenomenon, when the soil reacts with water, is more pronounced. To overcome such problems, soils can be treated or stabilized with many stabilization ways (mechanical, chemical, etc.). Such ways can amend the unfavorited soil properties. In this review, the pozzolanic materials have been selected to be presented and discussed as chem

This study was set out to investigate factors affecting labor productivity on construction in the north of Iraq (Kurdistan) and to rank all the factors based on engineers, contractors, and designer’s opinions. 76 factors were analyzed based on previous literature and a pilot study. Next, by using online Google Form, a questionnaire form was created and sent to people who have experience in the construction industry. Afterward, the questionnaire form was sent to targeted people by email and social media apps. Factors were divided into nine groups “Management, Technical and Technology, Human and Workforce, Leadership, Motivation, Safety, Time, Material and Equipment, and External”. However, 202 respondents participated in this study,

Seepage through earth dams is one of the most popular causes for earth dam collapse due to internal granule movement and seepage transfer. In earthen dams, the core plays a vital function in decreasing seepage through the dam body and lowering the phreatic line. In this research, an alternative soil to the clay soil used in the dam core has been proposed by conducting multiple experiments to test the permeability of silty and sandy soil with different additives materials. Then the selected sandy soil model was used to represent the dam experimentally, employing a permeability device to measure the amount of water that seeps through the dam's body and to represent the seepage line. A numerical model was adopted using Geo-Studio software i

Climate change causes water shortage (water scarcity) in addition to the dams built by neighboring countries, which caused a lack of Iraq's water share. Therefore, evaluating the irrigation system requires considering its suitability, adequacy, and efficiency. Irrigation is considered adequate when it maintains water availability within the root zone, and if the amount to be added is determined, irrigation efficiency becomes possible by avoiding water loss. Babil Governorate is considered one of the agricultural governorates in the country that depends on its irrigation from Shatt Al-Hilla. The study area is the Elaj project. Three fields were selected for the project (B₁, B_2, and B₃). These fields are lo

This research utilized natural asphalt (NA) deposits from sulfur springs in western Iraq. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of an asphalt mixture incorporating NA and verify its suitability for local pavement applications. To achieve this, a combination of two types of NA, namely soft SNA and hard HNA, was blended to create a binder known as Type HSNA. The resulting HSNA exhibited a penetration grade that adhered to Iraqi specifications. Various percentages of NA (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%) were added to petroleum asphalt. The findings revealed enhanced physical properties of HSNA, which also satisfied the requirements outlined in the Iraqi specifications for asphalt cement.

Consequently, HS

Buildings begin to deteriorate gradually over time due to several factors, including environmental influences, improper use of the building, and neglected repairs for damages during the building's life span. Effective maintenance practices can minimize operational costs, extend the life of building systems and components, improve energy efficiency, and maintain property value. This paper aims to review articles related to building maintenance to identify factors affecting maintenance practices. After conducting the review, the result was that there were 33 factors affecting building maintenance categorized into six groups: management-related factors, manpower-related factors, technical-related factors, financial-

Roller compacted concrete (RCC) is a material with no slumps and is made from the same raw materials as conventional concrete. The roller compacted dam method, the high paste technique, the corps of engineers method, and the maximum density method are all ways of designing RCC. The evolution of RCC has resulted in a substantial change in construction projects, most notably in dams, because of the sluggish pace of conventional placement, consolidation, and compacting. The construction process was accelerated by incorporating RCC into dams, resulting in a shorter construction period. Research shows that the dams that used RCC had completed one to two years sooner than the dams that used regular concrete (Bagheri an

Despite recent attempts to improve safety in the construction sector, this sector is considered dangerous and unsafe. Iraq is one of the emerging nations that suffers from a lack of construction safety management. In 2018, the construction sector in Iraq was responsible for 38% of all industrial accidents. Creating a safety program minimizes this problem by making safety an intrinsic part of construction projects. As a result, this article aims to identify the crucial safety factors that affect the safety performance in Iraqi construction projects. After conducting a critical literature review of the related literature, a list of 35 sub-factors classified into nine categories of main factors was chosen to rank each facto

The road network serves as a hub for opportunities in production and consumption, resource extraction, and social cohabitation. In turn, this promotes a higher standard of living and the expansion of cities. This research explores the road network's spatial connectedness and its effects on travel and urban form in the Al-Kadhimiya and Al-Adhamiya municipalities. Satellite images and paper maps have been employed to extract information on the existing road network, including their kinds, conditions, density, and lengths. The spatial structure of the road network was then generated using the ArcGIS software environment. The road pattern connectivity was evaluated using graph theory indices. The study demands the abstractio

Substantial research has been performed on Building Information Modeling (BIM) in various topics, for instance, the use and benefit of BIM in design, construction, sustainable environment building, and Facility assets over the past several years. Although there are various studies on these topics, Building Information Modeling (BIM) awareness through facilities management is still relatively poor. The researcher's interest is increased in BIM study is based heavily upon the perception that it can facilitate the exchange and reuse of information during various project phases. This property and others can be used in the Iraqi Construction industry to motivate the government to eliminate the change resistance to use innovat

Construction is a complicated process that takes place in an almost uncontrollable environment. Although projects can be carefully planned in advance in principle, there is a chance that unforeseen events and crises can disrupt these plans, affecting project development. Because the initial investment expenditures in construction projects are so large, they may be quickly influenced by crises, resulting in significant financial losses. The 2014 financial crisis was one of the most prominent crises that Iraq faced, which significantly impacted various activities in general and the construction industry in particular. Despite the importance of crisis management systems, the researchers found a great lack of local studies l

Urban environments face serious climate challenges due to rapid urban expansion, exacerbating the surface urban heat island (SUHI) phenomenon. This study proposes a hybrid framework based on Multi-sensor Fusion technology within the cloud computing environment of the Google Earth Engine platform to overcome the limitations of single data sources. Focusing on Baghdad from 2018 to 2023, Multi-spectral, radar, and atmospheric satellite datasets (Landsat 8/9, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-5P) were integrated to accurately extract morphological and environmental variables at the standardized residential neighborhood scale. A spatiotemporal model was constructed based on the random forest algorithm to evaluate the relative

Waste polyester fibers (WPFs) were used to prepare a range of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) composites with maleic anhydride-grafted polyethylene (PE-g-MA) as compatibilizer, and these were characterized. The objective of the research was to enhance the mechanical properties of HDPE and to encourage the use of plastic and textile waste. The composite specimens were made using single-screw extrusion, and tensile, flexural, impact, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), density, porosity, and water absorption were measured. A systematic evaluation of fiber orientation and recycled HDPE (r-HDPE) content was made. The results showed that the fiber orientation had a significant influence on the stress transfer and failur

Yet little is known about the synergism of quaternary bio-based nanocomposite systems on cement mortar performance. For the first time, this research examines a quaternary nanocomposite comprising nano-chitosan, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyacrylic acid (PAA), and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized via ultrasonication and added to Ordinary Portland Cement mortar at 1.0 wt. % of cement. To study the effects of PVA and PAA on compressive strength, four systems (Za1–Za4) were fixed at nano-chitosan = 1.50 g and AgNO₃ = 10 mL while changing PVA content (0.25- 1.50 g) and PAA content (0.125-0.750 g) to a cement: sand ratio of 1:2.75 and w/c = 0.485. We compared these variables of compressive strength, water absorpti

The advances in computer technologies have caused new architectural formations in contemporary buildings. They were characterized by free forms with diverse formal relationships that appear at different levels within the building, especially the surface formation level and the mass formation level. Also, the methods of embodiment of these formations and their mechanisms varied. Difficulties in distinguishing these new formations within the main structure have led to the need to find new structural solutions that embody these formations. In contemporary architecture, the relationship between the main and the secondary structure is defined by a hierarchy of the load-bearing roles. The research problem arises from the absen

This paper proposes a hybrid artificial intelligence (AI) model that combines an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to predict the Quality of Service (QoS) in 5G networks. The model utilizes radio channel indicators such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), and Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) to forecast throughput and latency levels. These indicators are critical factors affecting network performance; however, the nonlinear relationship among them makes traditional analytical models inadequate for accurate QoS prediction. The importance of the current study lies in estimating QoS in 5G networks b

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have emerged as an effective tool for spatial data acquisition in construction projects, offering high-resolution information suitable for monitoring earthwork operations and construction progress. The objectives of this study are to quantitatively assess the applicability and accuracy of UAV-based photogrammetry for monitoring the cut-and-fill activities in road construction projects in real-world conditions. A UAV survey was performed at an active urban road construction site with a multirotor platform featuring a high resolution RGB camera. The Structure from Motion (SfM) approach was used for photogrammetric processing to create dense point clouds, digital elevation models (DEMs) and O

Path planning in autonomous robotic systems (ARS) is challenging, especially in dynamic or uncertain environments. Many classical methods are computationally expensive and lack adaptability to real-world scenarios. In order to improve the overall path-planning capabilities of robots; this paper introduces a new smart robotic navigation system which uses Software Defined Network (SDN) and Multi-Spike Elman Neural Network (MS-ENN). The introduced system includes an innovative way to encode temporal information using multiple spikes which can capture much greater amounts of detail about changing environmental characteristics than conventional artificial neural networks. Additionally, it includes a spiking wave-front planner

The evolution of shell structure and nuclear deformation in neutron-rich nuclei remains one of the major challenges in nuclear structure physics, particularly near regions associated with shell erosion and shape coexistence. In the present work, neutron-rich isotones with neutron numbers N=50 and N=34 are investigated within the Hartree–Fock (HF) plus Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) framework using the Skyrme SLy5 parameterization. The potential energy surfaces (PES) are calculated as functions of the quadrupole deformation parameter β₂ in order to determine the equilibrium nuclear shapes and examine the evolution of shell stability in neutron-rich systems. The calculated results for ⁷⁰Ca sho

This work studied the textural properties of three adsorbents using nitrogen adsorption–desorption at a constant low temperature (77 K). The adsorbents are (a) mesoporous silica (MS), (b) mesoporous silica modified with Fe₃O₄ (MSF), and (c) mesoporous silica modified with Fe₃O₄ and coated with deacetylated chitin (MSFDAC). The adsorption–desorption isotherm curve demonstrated that the studied adsorbents have a mesoporous structure of type IV, according to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) classification. The obtained results show that the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) isotherm fits the data better than the Langmuir and the Freundlich isotherms

Groundwater depletion, climate change, and rising water demand are the primary challenges to the sustainable management of water resources in arid/semi-arid areas, such as Iraq. This study evaluates current models for groundwater and their performance and assesses the recent advancements in groundwater modeling techniques. It addresses that currently, numerical models, Artificial intelligence (AI), and remote sensing techniques are being implemented separately. Physically based models are widely used in groundwater modelling due to their reliable performance in simulating groundwater flow and transport processes. It was widely used in Iraqi and international groundwater studies, constituting 62% and 60% of groundwater st

Increasing carbon emissions pose a serious issue affecting the environment. Several methods have been proposed to reduce this phenomenon. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and enhanced oil recovery EOR are among these methods, which typically involve injecting CO₂ into geological formations to store CO₂ or to enhance oil production. The effectiveness of these methods relies heavily on the interaction between CO₂, rock, and water.  This review summarizes most of the important studies that focused on the alteration of mineralogy, porosity, permeability, and wettability of the host rock, employing different methods such as core flooding and static soaking. Despite extensive research on CO₂–water–rock interaction

Cell-Free Massive MIMO is believed to be one of the most promising designs of future wireless networks due to its ability to provide more coverage, high reliability and improved spectral efficiency, while also supporting secure communication through distributed access point (AP) cooperation. However, secure downlink transmission in cell-free massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (CF-mMIMO) systems becomes challenging when an active eavesdropper (Eve) is located near the targeted user. To achieve high secrecy spectral efficiency (SSE) with a limited number of active APs and a restricted power budget under Nakagami-m fading and imperfect channel state information (CSI), a secrecy-oriented AP selection algorithm is propose