Search results for " Structural"
showing 10 items of 1751 documents
On the hydraulic behaviour of ITER Shield Blocks #14 and #08. Computational analysis and comparison with experimental tests
2016
Abstract As a consequence of its position and functions, the ITER blanket system will be subjected to significant heat loads under nominal reference conditions. Therefore, the design of its cooling system is particularly demanding. Coolant water is distributed individually to the 440 blanket modules (BMs) through manifold piping, which makes it a highly parallelized system. The mass flow rate distribution is finely tuned to meet all operation constraints: adequate margin to burn out in the plasma facing components, even distribution of water flow among the so-called plasma-facing “fingers” of the Blanket First Wall panels, high enough water flow rate to avoid excessive water temperature in …
Steady state and transient thermal–hydraulic analyses on ITER divertor module
2005
Abstract One of the most challenging components of ITER is the divertor devoted at controlling the characteristics of the plasma boundary, exhausting the α particles and reducing the impurities in the plasma. The thermal–hydraulic design of the divertor is particularly, demanding because of the high heat loads and the cooling flow margin in the plasma-facing components (PFCs). The pressure drop is limited by the pumping power and also avoiding the risk of reaching critical heat flux (CHF). Furthermore, for maintenance operation foreseen, each single divertor cassette should be drained and dried before withdrawing it out from the vacuum vessel. To address these requirements, European Fusion …
Performance of a historical cantilever reinforced concrete bridge with half-joint degradation
2022
The lack of maintenance of roadway concrete bridges built from the Second World War until the 70 s of the 20th century has led in recent years to an ever-increasing request for safety assessments. When bridge performance in terms of Serviceability Limit State (SLS) and Ultimate Limit State (ULS) has to be evaluated, in-situ visual inspections and load tests for safety and maintenance assessment have to be coupled with structural analysis. In order to identify a sound bridge structural model and to assess the actual conservation state, more refined models than those usually considered for section and reinforcement design should be used to reproduce the results of load tests and perform globa…
The impact on port competition of the integration of port and inland transport services
2015
The performance of the transport chain is important for the efficiency and competitiveness of an economy. In the context of port competition, there has been an increasing cooperation between firms involved in the intermodal transport chain including seaport services. This paper examines the economic incentives and welfare implications to the integration of port activities with inland transport services under inter-ports competition. Although ports find it advantageous to engage in such integration process it may be detrimental to welfare, since shippers’ aggregate surplus decreases – noting that farther away users benefit at the expense of those closer to the ports. Several scenarios not le…
The spatial evaluation of the radiative human body heat exchanges: An effective contribution for limiting energy consumption and achieving better ind…
2018
Abstract Radiative heat exchanges inside buildings remarkably affect the thermal balance of the human body in confined spaces and the related thermal comfort sensations of people. The mean radiant temperature is an important component of this balance. Unfortunately, it is usually computed by means of too simplified relationships, which significantly influence the comfort evaluations. Such simplified approaches are also accountable for a less effective design of HVAC systems which, in turn, could result in high energy consumption in the climatization of buildings. However, an accurate evaluation of the mean radiant temperature, especially when high intensity sources are present in a given in…
Algorithms for the calculation of the projected area factors of seated and standing persons
1991
Moderate thermal environments, other than being affected by the mutual radiative heat exchange at low frequency among the internal surfaces, are often characterized by the presence of high intensity sources, that is, radiant sources showing a small area, a high emission temperature and a strongly directional beam. The sun's direct radiation can be considered to be among these radiant sources. In these cases, the computation of the mean radiant temperature and, consequently, the evaluation of the thermal comfort conditions, require knowledge of the “project area factor”, fp, of the subject. Moreover, the fp parameters are also applicable to derivation of the shape factors between subjects an…
Small-angle X-ray scattering reveals differences between the quaternary structures of oxygenated and deoxygenated tarantula hemocyanin
1996
Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) curves have been recorded for the oxygenated and deoxygenated states of the 4 x 6-meric hemocyanin from the tarantula Eurypelma californicum. A comparison of the curves shows that the quaternary structures of the two states are different by three criteria, which all indicate that the hemocyanin is less compact in the oxygenated compared to the deoxygenated form: (a) The radius of gyration is 8.65 +/- 0.05 nm for the deoxy- and 8.80 +/- 0.05 nm for the oxy-form. (b) The maximum particle dimension amounts to 25.0 +/- 0.5 nm for the deoxy- and to 27.0 +/- 0.5 nm for the oxy-form. (c) A dip in the intramolecular distance distribution function p(r) is more pro…
Critical Structural Defects Explain Filamin A Mutations Causing Mitral Valve Dysplasia
2019
Mitral valve diseases affect approximately 3% of the population and are the most common reasons for valvular surgery because no drug-based treatments exist. Inheritable genetic mutations have now been established as the cause of mitral valve insufficiency, and four different missense mutations in the filamin A gene (FLNA) have been found in patients suffering from non-syndromic mitral valve dysplasia (MVD). The FLNA protein is expressed, in particular, in endocardial endothelia during fetal valve morphogenesis and is key in cardiac development. The FLNA-MVD causing mutations are clustered in the N-terminal region of FLNA. How the mutations in FLNA modify its structure and function, have mos…
Evaluation of the Effects of the Enriched-Organic Diets Composition on European Sea Bass Welfare through a Multi-Parametric Approach
2020
Three groups of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) were fed for seven months, with either a conventional diet or two different organic diets, which contain organic vegetables and a natural antioxidant compound. The two organic diets differed themselves in terms of raw proteins, fish oil, and lipid contents. Sea bass welfare condition was assessed in relation to these three diets, using 16 different indicators. These were: swimming activity (recovery test, muscle activity), haematological and serological stress indicators (haematocrit, haemoglobin, red-blood-cell count, cortisol, glucose, lactate), aspecific immunity parameter (lysozyme), indicators of exposure to organic contaminants …
A practical protocol for calibration of nutrient removal wastewater treatment models
2011
Activated sludge models can be very useful for designing and managing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). However, as with every model, they need to be calibrated for correct and reliable application. Activated sludge model calibration is still a crucial point that needs appropriate guidance. Indeed, although calibration protocols have been developed, the model calibration still represents the main bottleneck to modelling. This paper presents a procedure for the calibration of an activated sludge model based on a comprehensive sensitivity analysis and a novel step-wise Monte Carlo-based calibration of the subset of influential parameters. In the proposed procedure the complex calibration i…