scholarly journals The green bulkhead: a vertical wetland design for urban harbors

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 76-79
Author(s):  
Peter I May ◽  
Matthew Lagomarsino ◽  
Patrick Kangas

In urban harbors there is a reliance on the “gray infrastructure” of armored bulkheads along shorelines. While this form of shoreline technology provides stability and eliminates erosion, it limits shoreline biodiversity and lacks aesthetic value. In this paper, a living shoreline concept, termed the Green Bulkhead, is described and demonstrated. This is a kind of artificial vertical wetland with plants grown in a porous plastic fabric that is draped over the surface of an existing bulkhead. The system is irrigated with water that is pumped from the harbor. Several alternate designs have been tested for different medium types, planting patterns and water pumping regimes. It is proposed that the green bulkhead system can provide limited treatment wetland services in an urban setting where cost-effective water quality management options are minimal. Testing found that high percentages of sediment were retained within the matrix of the different media. The system has aesthetic benefits by “greening” the harbor environment with wetland plants and, because of its vertical orientation, it can be managed adaptively for sea level rise. This work is a report of an on-going ecological engineering project with demonstrations along the Baltimore, Maryland Inner Harbor and the Anacostia Waterfront in Washington, DC.

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 95-102
Author(s):  
János Fehér ◽  
István Galambos ◽  
Zsuzsa Lehoczki

Water quality management has been a priority in Hungary in the past decades. Focus was especially upon improving water supply and stimulating economic development. On 1st January 1996 new Law on General Regulations for Environmental Protection (No. 53/1995) and the Act on Water Management (No. 57/1995) came into force. These laws are framework laws providing objectives to the development of the legal instrumentation of environmental and water protection. These new regulations should reflect the transitional nature of Hungary and should stimulate and facilitate the use of the most cost-effective and efficient forms of water quality management. Furthermore the regulations should aim at harmonization with EC directives. To support the elaboration of the new regulations case studies were carried out in the frame of a EU PHARE financed project to give answers to several water quality management and economic questions, such as (a) the way in which water quality objectives can be set when dealing with transboundary loads and vulnerable groundwater resources; (b) how to address industries in sanitation; (c) how to formulate collection and treatment requirements in the case of a very sensitive surface water originating in a river basin with predominantly non-vulnerable groundwater resources; (d) the cost effective sanitation strategy; (e) the determination of permissible loads by using water quality models; and (f) how to allocate this load among pollution sources. The paper is gives an overview of the case study with the discussion of the conclusions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Saghafi ◽  
Mohamad Fotouhi ◽  
Giangiacomo Minak

This paper reviews recent works on the application of nanofibers and nanoparticle reinforcements to enhance the interlaminar fracture toughness, to reduce the impact induced damage and to improve the compression after impact performance of fiber reinforced composites with brittle thermosetting resins. The nanofibers have been mainly used as mats embedded between plies of laminated composites, whereas the nanoparticles have been used in 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D dimensional patterns to reinforce the matrix and consequently the composite. The reinforcement mechanisms are presented, and a comparison is done between the different papers in the literature. This review shows that in order to have an efficient reinforcement effect, careful consideration is required in the manufacturing, materials selection and reinforcement content and percentage. The selection of the right parameters can provide a tough and impact resistant composite with cost effective reinforcements.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 145-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviane Costa Correia ◽  
Sergio Francisco Santos ◽  
Holmer Savastano Jr ◽  
Vanderley Moacyr John

Vegetable fibers produced from agroindustrial resources in the macro, micro and nanometric scales have been used as reinforcement in cementitious materials. The cellulosic pulp, besides being used as the reinforcing element, is also the processing fiber that is responsible for the filtration system in the Hatcheck method. On the other hand, the nanofibrillated cellulose has the advantage of having good mechanical performance and high specific surface, which contributes to improve the adhesion between fiber and matrix. In the hybrid reinforcement, with micro and nanofibers, the cellulose performs bonding elements with the matrix and acts as stress transfer bridges in the micro and nano-cracking network with the corresponding strengthening and toughening of the cementitious composite. Some strategies are studied to mitigate the degradation of the vegetable fibers used in cost-effective and non-conventional fiber cement, as well as to reach a sustainable fiber cement production. As a practical example, the accelerated carbonation curing at early age is a developing technology to increase the durability of composite materials: it decreases porosity, promotes a higher density in the interface generating a good fiber–matrix adhesion and a better mechanical behavior. Thus, the vegetable fibers are potentially applicable to produce high mechanical performance and sustainable cementitious materials for use in the Civil Construction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (12(112)) ◽  
pp. 47-52
Author(s):  
Raad Mohammed Abed ◽  
Ali Yousuf Khenyab ◽  
Hussain Jasim M. Alalkawi

Aluminum is expected to remain the core material for many critical applications such as aircraft and automobiles. This is due to the high resistance to different environmental conditions, desired and manageable mechanical properties, as well as high fatigue resistance. Aluminum nanocomposites such as AA6061/Al2O3 can be made in many ways using a liquid metallurgy method. The main challenges for this method in the production of nanocomposites are the difficulties of achieving a uniform distribution of reinforcing materials and possible chemical reactions between the reinforcing material and the matrix. For structural applications exclusive to aerospace sectors. The growing cost-effective nanocomposites mass production technology with essential operational and geometric flexibility is a big challenge all the time. Each method of preparing AA6061/Al2O3 nanocomposites can provide different mechanical properties. In the present study, nine nanocomposites were prepared at three stirring temperatures (800, 850, and 900 °C) with the level of Al2O3 addition of 0, 5, 7, and 9 wt %. The results of tensile, hardness and fatigue tests revealed that the composite including 9 wt % Al2O3 with 850 °C stirring temperatures has the best properties. It was also revealed that the 850 °C stirring temperature (ST) with 9 wt % Al2O3 composite provide an increase in tensile strength, VHN and reduction in ductility by 20 %, 16 % and 36.8 % respectively, compared to zero-nano. Also, the fatigue life at the 90 MPa stress level increased by 17.4 % in comparison with 9 wt % nanocomposite at 800 °C (ST). Uniform distributions were observed for all nine microstructure compositions.


Author(s):  
Taylor Robertson ◽  
Xiao Huang ◽  
Richard Kearsey

Particulate enhanced oxide ceramics are an attractive class of materials for high temperature applications because they possess many of the high temperature capabilities of monolithic ceramics but also have enhanced mechanical properties due to their multi-phase structure. High temperature structural ceramics have the potential to operate above at higher temperatures than current super alloys; however, processing costs and lack of reliability has prevented their commercialization. In this work a particulate reinforced ceramic composed entirely of oxides is proposed as a more oxidation resistant and cost effective structural ceramic which will have potentially improved resistance to environmental degradation. Zirconia Toughened Alumina (ZTA), as the matrix, has enhanced toughness, strength, and creep resistance over single phase alumina or zirconia. ZTA can further be strengthened by the incorporation of SiC type whiskers; however, these whiskers are prone to deterioration at temperatures above 1000°C through oxidation. In this work Mullite, in whisker form, is proposed as the reinforcement to ZTA due to its stability in oxidizing atmospheres at high temperatures. Mullite whiskers are grown through the molten salt method and incorporated into the ZTA matrix using a colloidal processing route in this study. The composition of the ZTA matrix is 15wt% Yttria stabilized Zirconia (YSZ), 85 wt% α-Alumina. The Mullite whiskers make up 20 vol% of the composite, yielding a final composition of 71.6 wt% Alumina, 12.7 wt% YSZ, and 15.6 wt% Mullite. The green compacts are fired in a two stage sintering process incorporating atmospheric pressure sintering to 92% density (seal the pore channels) and then hot isostatic pressure pressing (HIP) to increase the density. Samples have been tested for room temperature flexural strength using a three point bend test and fracture toughness through Gong’s Vickers indentation method. The results of microstructure study and mechanical tests are reported in this paper.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Venkatachalam ◽  
A. Kumaravel

This paper presents the characterization of A356 composite reinforced with fly ash and basalt ash produced by stir casting method. Aluminium metal matrix composites (AMC) are used in wide variety of applications such as structural, aerospace, marine, automotive etc. Stir casting is cost effective manufacturing process and it is useful to enhance the attractive properties of AMCs. Three sets of hybrid AMC are prepared by varying the weight fraction of the reinforcements (3% basalt + 7% fly ash, 5% basalt + 5% fly, 7% basalt + 3% fly ash). The effect of reinforcements on the mechanical properties of the hybrid composites such as hardness, tensile, compressive and impact strength were studied. The obtained results reveal that tensile, compressive and impact strength was increased when weight fraction of fly ash increased, whereas the hardness increases when weight fraction of the basalt ash increased. Microscopic study reveals the dispersion of the reinforcements in the matrix.


1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 119-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Belyaeva ◽  
John M. Higgins ◽  
Natalia Kirpichnikova ◽  
Irina Lanzova ◽  
James R. Hagerman

The Water Problem Institute of the Russian Academy of Science and the Tennessee Valley Authority are participating in a joint project to demonstrate the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in managing water resources under the changing economic system in Russia. The purpose is to improve decisions by better organizing, analyzing, and presenting water resource data and management options. Results to date include development of a conceptual approach and review of existing data. The project area includes the Upper Volga River Basin which encompasses the Moscow metropolitan area. Data are being managed at three levels depending on the scale and detail (i.e., regional, watershed, and local). Initial conclusions indicate a great potential for this technology, but many obstacles due to the current economic situation.


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