This study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From

A twisted-fin array as an innovative structure for intensifying the charging response of a phase-change material (PCM) within a shell-and-tube storage system is introduced in this work. A three-dimensional model describing the thermal management with charging phase change process in PCM was developed and numerically analyzed by the enthalpy-porosity method using commercial CFD software. Efficacy of the proposed structure of fins for performing better heat communication between the active heating surface and the adjacent layers of PCM was verified via comparing with conventional longitudinal fins within the same design limitations of fin material and volume usage. Optimization of the fin geometric parameters including the pitch, numb

The intelligent buildings provided various incentives to get highly inefficient energy-saving caused by the non-stationary building environments. In the presence of such dynamic excitation with higher levels of nonlinearity and coupling effect of temperature and humidity, the HVAC system transitions from underdamped to overdamped indoor conditions. This led to the promotion of highly inefficient energy use and fluctuating indoor thermal comfort. To address these concerns, this study develops a novel framework based on deep clustering of lagrangian trajectories for multi-task learning (DCLTML) and adding a pre-cooling coil in the air handling unit (AHU) to alleviate a coupling issue. The proposed DCLTML exhibits great overall control and is

In this study, the effect of intersecting ribs with inclined ribs on the heat transfer and flow characteristics of a high aspect ratio duct has been numerically investigated. The Relative roughness pitch (P/e) is 10 and the Reynolds number range from 35,700 to 72,800. ANSYS (Fluent-Workbench 18.0) software has been utilized to solve the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the Standard k-ε turbulence model. Three ribbed models have been used in this study. Model 1 which is a just inclined ribs, Model 2 which has a single longitudinal rib at the center with inclined ribs and Model 3 which has two longitudinal ribs at the sides. The results showed that the heat transfer rate has been enhanced when the int

Among several separation processes, the air flotation distinguish as remarkably high potential separation process related to its high separation efficiency and throughput, energy-efficient, simple process, cost-effective, applicable to a wide range of oily wastewater and no by-products. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of the type and concentration of surfactant on the stability of oil-water emulsion and efficiency of the separation process. For this purpose, three types of surfactant where used (anionic SDS, mixed nonionic Span 85/Tween 80, and cationic CTAB). The results demonstrated that the Span 85/Tween 80 surfactant has the best stability, and it increases with the surfactant concentration augmentation. The removal ef

Sustainable pavements are pavements that meet the requirements of present generation without influencing the capability of the future generation to meet their needs. One of the problems of the warm mix asphalt is that it has low resistance to moisture damage; therefore, the aim of this research paper is to study the possibility of producing more durable warm mixes against the moisture damage with the use of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) which has not been studied before. Six replacement rates (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%) for the coarse version aggregate (VA) with RCA were studied. The Marshall mix design method was used to determine the optimum asphalt cement content for each replacement rate. Thereafter, specimens with the opt

In the current study, a novel approach for separating ethanol-water mixture by microbubble distillation technology was investigated. Traditional distillation processes require large amounts of energy to raise the liquid to its boiling point to effect removal of volatile components. The concept of microbubble distillation by comparison is to heat the gas phase rather than the liquid phase to achieve separation. The removal of ethanol from the thermally sensitive fermentation broths was taken as a case of study. Consequently the results were then compared with those which could be obtained under equilibrium conditions expected in an “ideal” distillation unit. Microbubble distillation has achieved vapour compositions higher than th

The purpose of this research was to evaluate rice husk functionalized with Mg-Fe-layered double hydroxide (RH-Mg/Fe-LDH) as an adsorbent for the removal of meropenem antibiotic (MA) from an aqueous solution. Several batch experiments were undertaken using various conditions. Based on the results, the optimal Mg/Fe-LDH adsorbent with a pH of 9 and an M2+/M3+ ratio of 0.5 was associated with the lowest particle size (specifically. 11.1 nm). The Langmuir and Freundlich models were consistent with the experimental isotherm data (R2 was 0.984 and 0.993, respectively), and MA’s highest equilibrium adsorption capacity was 43.3 mg/g. Additionally, the second-order model was consistent with the adsorption kinetic results.

In this study, the effect of the thermal conductivity of phase change material (PCM) on the performance of thermal energy storage has been analyzed numerically. A horizontal concentric shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage system (LHTESS) has been performed during the solidification process. Two types of paraffin wax with different melting temperatures and thermal conductivity were used as a PCM on the shell side, case1=0.265W/m.K and case2=0.311 W/m.K. Water has been used as heat transfer fluid (HTF) flow through in tube side. Ansys fluent has been used to analyze the model by taking into account phase change by the enthalpy method used to deal with phase transition. The numerical simulatio

Contamination of surface and groundwater with excessive concentrations of fluoride is of significant health hazard. Adsorption of fluoride onto waste materials of no economic value could be a potential approach for the treatment of fluoride-bearing water. This experimental and modeling study was devoted to investigate for the first the fluoride removal using unmodified waste granular brick (WGB) in a fixed bed running in continuous mode. Characterization of WGB was carried out by FT-IR, SEM, and EDX analysis. The batch mode experiments showed that they were affected by several parameters including contact time, initial pH, and sorbent dosage. The best values of these parameters that provided maximum removal percent (82%) with the in

Data steganography is a technique used to hide data, secret message, within another data, cover carrier. It is considered as a part of information security. Audio steganography is a type of data steganography, where the secret message is hidden in audio carrier. This paper proposes an efficient audio steganography method that uses LSB technique. The proposed method enhances steganography performance by exploiting all carrier samples and balancing between hiding capacity and distortion ratio. It suggests an adaptive number of hiding bits for each audio sample depending on the secret message size, the cover carrier size, and the signal to noise ratio (SNR). Comparison results show that the proposed method outperforms state of the art methods

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a relatively new class of materials of unique porous structures and exceptional properties. Currently, more than 110,000 types of MOFs have been reported among the countless possibilities. In this study, we have synthesised a novel MOF using zirconium chloride as the metal source and 4,4'-dicarboxy-2,2'-biquinoline (bicinchoninic acid disodium salt) as the linker, which reacted in N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent. Three preparation methods were employed to prepare five types of the MOF, and they were compared to optimize the synthesis conditions. The resulting MOFs, named Zr-BADS, were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), microscopy, and

The performance of the pavement in terms of vehicle safety and tire wear is affected by the friction behavior of the pavement. To highlight the main characteristics that affect the production of better friction resistance of the pavement surface in this work. The micro-texture and macro-texture of the asphalt surface of Baghdad Airport highway were studied using two methods: (sand patch method and the British pendulum test). The sand patch was examined by drawing sand grains of a specific volume, while the micro-texture was analyzed using a BPT under dry and wet surface conditions. All data obtained from the two examinations were analyzed and modelled statistically using SPSS 25 software. Results show that skid resistance of pavemen

The importance of specifying proper aggregate grading for achieving satisfactory performance in pavement applications has long been recognized. To improve the specifications for superior performance, there is a need to understand how differences in aggregate gradations within the acceptable limits may affect unbound aggregate base behavior. The effects of gradation on strength, modulus, and deformation characteristics of high-quality crushed rock base materials are described here. Two crushed rock types commonly used in constructing heavy-duty granular base layers in the State of Victoria, Australia, with three different gradations each were used in this study. The gradations used represent the lower, medium, and upper gradation li

Reliable estimation of critical parameters such as hydrocarbon pore volume, water saturation, and recovery factor are essential for accurate reserve assessment. The inherent uncertainties associated with these parameters encompass a reasonable range of estimated recoverable volumes for single accumulations or projects. Incorporating this uncertainty range allows for a comprehensive understanding of potential outcomes and associated risks. In this study, we focus on the oil field located in the northern part of Iraq and employ a Monte Carlo based petrophysical uncertainty modeling approach. This method systematically considers various sources of error and utilizes effective interpretation techniques. Leveraging the current state of a