Search results for "Civil Engineering"
showing 10 items of 1216 documents
Multi-Objective Building Envelope Optimization through a Life Cycle Assessment Approach
2019
This work describes a methodology for the identification of the optimal features for the envelope of a residential building. The optimization process allows minimizing operating energy consumption, investment costs and life cycle energy and environmental embodied impacts. A dynamic model for the estimation of building energy consumption during its use phase has been employed, while literature data were adopted for embodied energy and global warming potential impacts. The considered variables refer to the envelope of the building, i.e. external walls and roof insulation and external walls thermal mass. The model was obtained combining EnergyPlus building energy simulator and MOBO, a versatil…
A model for predicting the potential diffusion of solar energy systems in complex urban environments
2011
Abstract The necessity to reduce greenhouse gases emission produced by energy building consumptions and to cut the energy bill (mainly due to the use of fossil sources) leads to the employment of renewable energy sources in new planned scenarios. In particular, more and more often municipal energy and environmental plans pay great attention to the possibilities of employment of the solar technologies at urban scale. Solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) systems are, by far, the most suitable tools to be utilized in urban areas. Obviously, the proper adoption of such systems in buildings does call for the availability of calculation methods suitable to provide the actual level of exploitation …
Silicate and Hydroxide Concentration Influencing the Properties of Composite Al2O3-TiO2 PEO Coatings on AA7075 Alloy
2021
This work evaluates the effect of sodium meta-silicate pentahydrate (SMS) and potassium hydroxide concentrations on properties of Al2O3-TiO2 coatings produced through plasma electrolytic oxidation in a solution containing 3 g L−1 potassium titanyl oxalate, (PTO), using a unipolar waveform with constant current density. The surface and cross-section characteristics of PEO coatings including morphology, elemental distribution, and phase composition were evaluated using FESEM, EDS, and XRD techniques. Voltage-time response indicated the concentration of SMS and KOH had a significant effect on the duration of each stage of the PEO process. More cracks and pores were formed at the higher concent…
Dynamic response of equivalent orthotropic plate model for stiffened plate: numerical-experimental assessment
2017
Abstract Over the last two decades, homogenization-based modeling techniques have attracted considerable attention. In fact, through these methods, structures such as corrugated or stiffened plates, commonly referred to as structurally orthotropic plates, can be approximately studied as equivalent flat plates with orthotropic behavior. Specifically, these homogenization techniques allow for the direct determination of the equivalent flexural and torsional rigidities which appear in the governing equation for the deflection of the equivalent orthotropic plate. It is worth noting that, the determined equivalent material properties retain the dependence on the geometric parameters of the origi…
Cloaking In-Plane Elastic Waves with Swiss Rolls
2020
We propose a design of cylindrical cloak for coupled in-plane shear waves consisting of concentric layers of sub-wavelength resonant stress-free inclusions shaped as Swiss rolls. The scaling factor between inclusions&rsquo
Present-day use of an empirical wave prediction method
2016
Knowledge of the offshore wave climate is key to the design of coastal engineering structures and to the study of shoreline evolution. To date, the available wave data have been limited both in time and space; even though there are several options for obtaining wave data calculated using complex numerical models at basin scale, design issues can in some cases be solved by means of simpler models. This paper shows whether, under certain conditions and in an enclosed basin, an old empirical model can provide results that are good enough to determine the design condition necessary for engineering purposes. The empirical model chosen to answer this question is called Sverdrup–Munk–Bretschneide…
Smart grid for offshore wind farms: Towards an information model based on the IEC 61400-25 standard
2012
Nowadays, wind energy is one of the most recognized renewable energy sources. Onshore wind farms have been built in many countries, such as Denmark, Norway, UK, Italy, Brazil and the US. To utilize the more stable wind resources, wind farms have moved off the shore, first to shallow waters near shore and now extending to deeper waters and far off the shore. Deep-water offshore solutions will give access to large areas with high wind, and less sensitivity to noise, visual impacts and size. However, the cost of developing and operating an offshore wind farm is many times larger than onshore due to large water depths and harsh offshore environments. Hence, the needs for fast and automatic data…
COMPARISON OF TWO SIMPLIFICATION METHODS FOR SHORELINE EXTRACTION FROM DIGITAL ORTHOPHOTO IMAGES
2018
Abstract. The coastal ecosystems are very sensitive to external influences. Coastal resources such as sand dunes, coral reefs and mangroves has vital importance to prevent coastal erosion. Human based effects also threats the coastal areas. Therefore, the change of coastal areas should be monitored. Up-to-date, accurate shoreline information is indispensable for coastal managers and decision makers. Remote sensing and image processing techniques give a big opportunity to obtain reliable shoreline information. In the presented study, NIR bands of seven 1:5000 scaled digital orthophoto images of Riga Bay-Latvia have been used. The Object-oriented Simple Linear Clustering method has been utili…
Special Issue on Signal Processing and Machine Learning for Biomedical Data
2021
This Special Issue is focused on advanced techniques in signal processing, analysis, modelling, and classification, applied to a variety of medical diagnostic problems. Biomedical data play a fundamental role in many fields of research and clinical practice. Very often the complexity of these data and their large volume makes it necessary to develop advanced analysis techniques and systems. Furthermore, the introduction of new techniques and methodologies for diagnostic purposes, especially in the field of medical imaging, requires new signal processing and machine learning methods. The recent progress in machine learning techniques, and in particular deep learning, revolutionized various f…
Bentonites with grafted aminogroups: Synthesis, protolytic properties and assessing Cu(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) adsorption capacity
2019
Abstract Bentonites with grafted methylaminopropyl (NHCH3-Bent), aminopropyl (NH2-Bent), ethylenediaminopropyl (En-Bent) and diethylenetriaminopropyl (Dien-Bent) groups were synthesized by silylation procedure. The successful covalent grafting of silylating agents on the bentonite was confirmed by 29Si NMR, FTIR and thermal analysis. The effects of polar (ethanol) and non-polar (dioxane) solvents on grafting process were compared. The samples prepared in ethanol showed the increase of d001 value from initial 1.44 nm to 1.63–2.05 nm proportionally to the loading amount of grafted silane. However, an almost constant value of d001 (1.96–2.10 nm) was observed for all samples obtained in dioxane…