Search results for " Structural"
showing 10 items of 1751 documents
Assessing the Effect of Drivers’ Gender on Their Intention to Use Fully Automated Vehicles
2021
Although fully automated vehicles (SAE level 5) are expected to acquire a major relevance for transportation dynamics by the next few years, the number of studies addressing their perceived benefits from the perspective of human factors remains substantially limited. This study aimed, firstly, to assess the relationships among drivers’ demographic factors, their assessment of five key features of automated vehicles (i.e., increased connectivity, reduced driving demands, fuel and trip-related efficiency, and safety improvements), and their intention to use them, and secondly, to test the predictive role of the feature’ valuations over usage intention, focusing on gender as a key …
Citizens’ perceptions in relation to transport systems and infrastructures: a nationwide study in the dominican republic
2021
One of the challenges currently faced by emerging countries is to get their citizens to decide to use sustainable transport for their regular trips, in order to reduce the current vehicular pollution rates. The objective of this descriptive research is to examine the perceptions of Dominicans regarding the state of the country’s transport systems and road infrastructure. For this purpose, a nationwide survey procedure was performed. This cross-sectional research used the data retrieved from a sample of 1260 citizens aged over 18, proportional in gender, age, habitat, and province of the Dominican Republic. The results showed how Dominicans believe that, compared to other road features, pede…
Structural assessment of a whole toroidal sector of the HELIAS 5-B breeding blanket
2021
Abstract The European roadmap for the realization of fusion energy considers the stellarator line as a possible long-term alternative to a tokamak DEMO. In this context, from the plasma physics standpoint, the most promising option is a five-field period power plant called HELIcal-axis Advanced Stellarator (HELIAS) 5-B. In order to allow the electricity production, the HELIAS 5-B reactor must be endowed with a breeding blanket (BB). Hence, in this paper, the advancements in the HELIAS 5-B BB design are reported. In particular, the structural assessment of a whole BB period, extending along toroidal direction for 72 °, is depicted. A geometric configuration encompassing dummy BB segments has…
Preliminary structural assessment of the HELIAS 5-B breeding blanket
2019
Abstract The European Roadmap to the realisation of fusion energy, carried out by the EUROfusion consortium, considers the stellarator concept as a possible long-term alternative to a tokamak fusion power plant. To this purpose a pivotal issue is the design of a HELIcal-axis Advanced Stellarator (HELIAS) machine equipped with a tritium Breeding Blanket (BB), considering the achievements and the design experience acquired in the pre-conceptual design phase of the tokamak DEMO BB. Therefore, within the framework of EUROfusion Work Package S2 R&D activity, a research campaign has been launched at KIT. The scope of the research has been the determination of a preliminary BB segmentation scheme …
Which new semantic for new shapes?
2006
There are two innovations which have drastically changed the building process: the operational continuity of the design and construction phases, and the software allowing not only the representation but also the autonomous creation of complex shapes never before thought of just because they could not be represented. This last innovation gave rise to a new design paradigm whose tools, according to their supporters, are the most advanced fields of mathematics and information science. Some ways of using these new possibilities gave rise to a radical, problematic, change in the relationship net between the designer’s intentions, the shapes through which they express them (invented or self-gener…
Architectural technologies for life environment: Spent coffee ground reuse in lime-based mortars. A preliminary assessment for innovative green therm…
2022
Spent coffee ground, the residue obtained from the brewing process, is the primary unavoidable (inedible) waste from the coffee consumption. As coffee production and beverage consumption are increasing worldwide, a more sustainable waste management is required since the usual disposal in landfill is a liability to both humans and the environment. This paper is aimed at showing a possible alternative reuse of coffee ground wastes in novel green building materials intended for thermo-plastering applications in construction, in a circular economy context. Coffee waste was used in various percentages (up to 17.5%) to assess the engineering performance of the produced bio-composite mortars. The …
Criteria for validity of thermodynamic equations from non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations
2008
Abstract The assumption of local equilibrium is validated in four different systems where heat and mass are transported. Mass fluxes up to 13 kmol / m 2 s and temperature gradients up to 10 12 K / m were used. A two-component mixture, two vapor–liquid interfaces, a chemical reaction in a temperature gradient and gas adsorbed in zeolite were studied using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. In all cases, we verified that thermodynamic variables obeyed normal thermodynamic relations, with an accuracy better than 5%. The heat and mass fluxes, and the reaction rate were linearly related to the driving forces. Onsager's reciprocal relations were validated for two systems. Equipartiti…
The role of nanoparticles in decreased washout of underwater concrete
2019
Abstract The paper presents research results of the influence of SiO2 nanoparticles on the washout of underwater concrete and hardened concrete. Based on infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric (TGA) analyses of the applied anti-washout admixture (AWA), its chemical structure was determined. A beneficial effect of SiO2 nanoparticles on the reduction of the mix washout was demonstrated and the most probable reason for that phenomenon was given, taking into account the AWA chemical structure and its behaviour in the concrete mix environment. It was found that a dosing method of AWA and nanoparticles to the concrete influenced the washout.
Preliminary thermal optimization and investigation of the overall structural behaviour of the EU-DEMO water-cooled lead lithium left outboard blanket…
2022
The conceptual design phase of the EU-DEMO reactor has been recently launched, with the aim of evolving the DEMO pre-conceptual layout towards a more robust and articulated geometric configuration able to cope with most of the design requirements and to show further margins for the passing of the current potential show-stoppers. Hence, the achievement of the conceptual design of the Water-Cooled Lead Lithium Breeding Blanket (WCLL BB) is one of the milestones the EUROfusion consortium aims to achieve in the close future. To this purpose, within the framework of the research activities promoted by EUROfusion, a research campaign has been launched at the University of Palermo, in close cooper…
Experimental tests on Li-ceramic breeders for the helium cooled pebble bed (HCPB) blanket design
2003
The Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) Test Blanket Module (TBM) to be tested in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Reactor foresees the utilization of Lithiate ceramics as Tritium breeder in form of pebble beds. Since 1998, ENEA has launched many experimental activities for the evaluation of the breeder thermomechanics and the interaction between the pebble beds and the prismatic steel containment walls. Main objectives of these activities are the measurement of the pebble bed effective thermal conductivity, the wall heat transfer coefficient, the pressure loads and deformations on the lateral walls and their dependency from the mechanical constraints. The paper presents …