A Fundamental Equation of State for Chloroethene for Temperatures from the Triple Point to 430 K and Pressures to 100 MPa

A fundamental equation of state in terms of the Helmholtz energy is presented for chloroethene (vinyl chloride). Due to its fundamental nature, it can be used to consistently calculate all thermodynamic state properties in the fluid region. Based on the underlying experimental database, it is valid from the triple-point temperature 119.31 K to 430 K with a maximum pressure of 100 MPa. In addition to the accurate reproduction of experimental data, correct extrapolation behavior during the development of the equation was attained. This enables the equation to be applied in modern mixture frameworks.

Investigation of ANN architecture for predicting the compressive strength of concrete containing GGBFS

An extensive simulation program is used in this study to discover the best ANN model for predicting the compressive strength of concrete containing Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS). To accomplish this purpose, an experimental database of 595 samples is compiled from the literature and utilized to find the best ANN architecture. The cement content, water content, coarse aggregate content, fine aggregate content, GGBFS content, carboxylic type hyper plasticizing content, superplasticizer content, and testing age are the eight inputs in this database. As a result, the optimal selection of the ANN design is carried out and evaluated using conventional statistical metrics. The results demonstrate that utilizing the best architecture [8–14–4–1] among the 240 investigated architectures, and the best ANN model, is a very efficient predictor of the compressive strength of concrete using GGBFS, with a maximum R2 value of 0.968 on the training part and 0.965 on the testing part. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is performed over 500 Monte Carlo simulations using the best ANN model to determine the reliability of ANN model in predicting the compressive strength of concrete. The findings of this research may make it easier and more efficient to apply the ANN model to many civil engineering challenges.

Characterisation of the plane anisotropy and its effect on interstitial free steel thin sheet metal forming simulation

The main purpose of this paper is to study the orthotropic plastic behaviour of the cold-rolled interstitial free steel HC260Y when it is submitted to various loading directions under monotonic tests. The experimental database included tensile tests carried out on specimens (in the as-received condition and after undergoing an annealing heat treatment) cut in different orientations according to the rolling direction. A model was proposed, depending on a plasticity criterion, a hardening law and an evolution law, which takes into account the anisotropy of the material. To validate the proposed identification strategy, a comparison with the experimental results of the planar tension tests, carried out on specimens cut parallel to the rolling direction, was considered. The obtained results allowed the prediction of the behaviour of this material when it is subjected to other solicitations whether simple or compound.

An Efficient Hybrid Grey Wolf Optimization Based KELM Approach for Prediction of the Discharge Coefficient of Submerged Radial Gates

Radial gates are widely used hydraulic structures for flow control in irrigation canals. Accurately prediction of discharge coefficient through radial gates is considered as a challenging hydraulic subject, particularly under highly submerged flow conditions. Incurring the advantages of Kernel-depend Extreme Learning Machine (KELM), this study offers a Grey Wolf Optimization-based KELM (GWO-KELM) for effective prediction of discharge coefficient through submerged radial gates. Additionally, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) methods are also presented for comparative purposes. To build prediction models using GWO-KELM, GPR, and SVM an extensive experimental database was established, consisting of 2125 data samples gathered by the US Bureau of Reclamation. From simulation results, it is observed that the proposed GWO-KELM approach with input parameters of the ratio of the downstream flow depth to the gate opening (y3/w) and submergence ratio (y1-y3/w) provides the best performance with the correlation coefficient (R) of 0.983, the Determination Coefficient (DC) of 0.966 and the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of 0.027. Furthermore, the obtained results showed that the employed kernel-depend methods are capable of a statistically predicting the discharge coefficient under varied submergence conditions with satisfactory level of accuracy.

Effect of Nickel as Stress Factor on Phenol Biodegradation by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KB2

This study focuses on the phenol biodegradation kinetics by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KB2 in a nickel-contaminated medium. Initial tests proved that a nickel concentration of 33.3 mg·L−1 caused a cessation of bacterial growth. The experiments were conducted in a batch bioreactor in several series: without nickel, at constant nickel concentration and at varying metal concentrations (1.67–13.33 g·m−3). For a constant Ni2+ concentration (1.67 or 3.33 g·m−3), a comparable bacterial growth rate was obtained regardless of the initial phenol concentration (50–300 g·m−3). The dependence µ = f (S0) at constant Ni2+ concentration was very well described by the Monod equations. The created varying nickel concentrations experimental database was used to estimate the parameters of selected mathematical models, and the analysis included different methods of determining metal inhibition constant KIM. Each model showed a very good fit with the experimental data (R2 values were higher than 0.9). The best agreement (R2 = 0.995) was achieved using a modified Andrews equation, which considers the metal influence and substrate inhibition. Therefore, kinetic equation parameters were estimated: µmax = 1.584 h−1, KS = 185.367 g·m−3, KIS = 106.137 g·m−3, KIM = 1.249 g·m−3 and n = 1.0706.

Ductile crack initiation and growth on a plasticized Polyvinylchloride during air bag deployment

With the goal of ensuring the security of passengers for automotive industry, the present work addresses the ductile fracture process of plasticized PVC. Dedicated clamped single edge notch bending (SENB) specimens were used to characterize the mechanisms of crack initiation and propagation for the studied material. The exploitation of the experimental database associated with finite element simulation of the crack propagation allowed, on the one hand, the calibration factor η p of this specific SENB specimen to be established, as a function of the crack depth ratio. On the other hand, the fracture toughness of the studied plasticized PVC was estimated to be 10.8 kJ/m 2 , value which was close to that reported in the literature for modified PVC. By using this fracture toughness value, a methodology aiming at the prediction of ductile crack initiation of the PVC skin integrated into a real dashboard (full scale test) was proposed.

Modeling and Simulation of Combined Heat and Mass Transfer in Zeolite SAPO-34 Coating for an Adsorption Heat Pump

Heat and mass transfers inside an adsorbent bed of an adsorption heat pump (AHP) are considered poor; consequently, they can cause low system performance. They should be enhanced so as to increase the coefficient of performance of the cooling machine. The aim of this work is to study an adsorbent bed coated with the zeolite SAPO-34. A simulation model based on governing equations for energy, mass, and momentum transfers is developed using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The system zeolite SAPO-34/water has been considered. Modeling results are validated by experimental database available at the Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies “Nicola Giordano,” Italy. It has been shown that the adsorption heat pump performance is affected by both heat and mass transfer. The enhancement of heat transfer solely is not sufficient to attain high values of specific cooling power. In the case of water vapor/SAPO-34 pair, mass transfer has a significant impact on the duration of the cooling step which should be shortened if one would want to increase the specific cooling power. The sole way to do it is to enhance mass transfer inside porous adsorbent.

Clay as a Sustainable Binder for Concrete—A Review

The negative environmental impacts of Portland cement as a binder in the construction industry have created a growing impetus to develop sustainable alternative binders. Various types of clay have been considered as potential cement replacements. The impact of clays as cement replacement depends on the dosage and treatment methods. This paper presents a comprehensive review to determine the effects of different types of clay on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete mixtures by analyzing the experimental database reported by the literature, including raw, calcined, modified, nano, and organo. This study intends to show the process of optimizing the use of clay in concrete, the reason behind converting raw clay to modified types, and research gaps through a comparison study between different types of clays. The present review study shows that clay-based concrete mixtures have higher thixotropy and yield stress values, improving shape stability. This results in lower early-age shrinkage of the concrete. However, the high floc strength of clay-based concrete causes a reduction in flowability. Treatment methods of raw clay, such as calcination and nano-sized clay particles, improve concrete compressive strength. General results of the previous studies highlight that all types of clay investigated positively affect the resistance of concrete to environmental attack.

Simultaneous Observation of Tungsten Spectra of W0 to W46+ Ions in Visible, VUV and EUV Wavelength Ranges in the Large Helical Device

Spectroscopic studies for emissions released from tungsten ions have been conducted in the Large Helical Device (LHD) for contribution to the tungsten transport study in tungsten divertor fusion devices and for expansion of the experimental database of tungsten line emissions. Tungsten ions are distributed in the LHD plasma by injecting a pellet consisting of a small piece of tungsten metal wire enclosed by a carbon tube. Line emissions from W0, W5+, W6+, W24+–W28+, W37+, W38+, and W41+–W46+ are observed simultaneously in the visible (3200–3550 Å), vacuum ultraviolet (250–1050 Å), and extreme ultraviolet (5–300 Å) wavelength ranges and the wavelengths are summarized. Temporal evolutions of line emissions from these charge states are compared for comprehensive understanding of tungsten impurity behavior in a single discharge. The charge distribution of tungsten ions strongly depends on the electron temperature. Measurements of emissions from W10+ to W20+ are still insufficient, which is addressed as a future task.

On the Application of Wavelet Transform in Jet Aeroacoustics

Wavelet transform has become a common tool for processing non-stationary signals in many different fields. The present paper reports a review of some applications of wavelet in aeroacoustics with a special emphasis on the analysis of experimental data taken in compressible jets. The focus is on three classes of wavelet-based signal processing procedures: (i) conditional statistics; (ii) acoustic and hydrodynamic pressure separation; (iii) stochastic modeling. The three approaches are applied to an experimental database consisting of pressure time series measured in the near field of a turbulent jet. Future developments and possible generalization to other applications, e.g., airframe or propeller noise, are also discussed.