Search results for "Civil and Structural Engineering"

Five-years-long effects of the Italian policies for photovoltaics on the energy demand coverage of grid-connected PV systems installed in urban conte…

2016

Abstract The paper examines the responsiveness of the electricity demand coverage in urban contexts to the changes in the Italian policies for PV systems. The morphological configuration of building roofs according to the number of covered flats, annual data of PV generation and electricity consumptions were considered in the transition from the feed-in tariff (FIT) mechanism to the tax credits scheme currently in force. With the aim of assessing the changes over time in three representative cities, the fluctuations both in the premiums for the produced electricity and the tax credits applied to the PV system costs were observed from July 2010 to February 2016. Furthermore, the main time-va…

Characterization of renewable reductants and charcoal-based pellets for the use in ferroalloy industries

2018

This study investigates the effect of high-temperature pyrolysis and post-treatment processes on spruce and oak charcoal yields and CO2 reactivity in a slow pyrolysis reactor. Post-treatment processes such as co-pyrolysis of biomass and recirculated tar mixture with that to the distillation of the charcoal-tar blend gave similar increase in charcoal yields. From a technological standpoint, co-pyrolysis of charcoal and tar mixture decreased the CO2 reactivity of the charcoal approaching that of fossil-based coke. This emphasize the importance of tar addition and high temperature treatment on charcoal properties. Moreover, the findings of this work show the potential use of the tar organic fr…

Linking the Kinetic Energy Fraction and Equivalent Length Method for Trickle Irrigation Design under Local Losses

2020

New methods using analytical relationships to design drip irrigation laterals and subunits have been introduced in recent years based on the assumption that minor losses can be neglected. This assumption could be relaxed by applying the equivalent method, which makes it possible to account for minor losses, such as those caused by emitter connections, through formulas based on the rationale that an equivalent length of the drip lateral produces the same losses. However, equivalent length formulas are empirical; thus, they do not necessarily cover the entire range of conditions in the real-world contexts in which the formulas will be applied, and their extrapolation could lead to erroneous r…

Experimental study and numerical simulation of inclined rectangular weirs

2018

Inclined rectangular weirs, also named pivot weirs, are used both to adjust the upstream water level and to increase the flow capacity compared with that of normal rectangular weirs. However, the experimental studies available in the literature present contradictory conclusions for the inclined weir discharge capacity. In this paper, new experimental runs and numerical simulations were performed to investigate the effect of the rectangular weir inclination angle on the stage-discharge formula. The experiments were carried out using inclination angles ranging from 30° to 90°. Buckingham's theorem of dimensional analysis was used to obtain an equation for the flow magnification ratio (the dis…

Discussion of "extraction of the flow rate equation under free and submerged flow conditions in pivot weirs with different side contractions" by N. S…

2018

This paper is the discusison of the paper "Extraction of the flow rate equation under free and submerged flow conditions in pivot weirs with different side contractions" by N. Sheikh Rezazadeh Nikou, M. J. Monem, and K. Safavi.

Closure to “Extraction of the Flow Rate Equation under Free and Submerged Flow Conditions in Pivot Weirs with Different Side Contractions” by N. Shei…

2018

Cross-correlation of whitened vibration signals for low-speed bearing diagnostics

2019

Abstract Rolling-element bearings are crucial components in all rotating machinery, and their failure will initially degrade the machine performance, and later cause complete shutdown. The period between an initial crack and complete failure is short due to crack propagation. Therefore, early fault detection is important to avoid unexpected machine shutdown and to aid in maintenance scheduling. Bearing condition monitoring has been applied for several decades to detect incipient faults at an early stage. However, low-speed conditions pose a challenge for bearing fault diagnosis due to low fault impact energy. To reliably detect bearing faults at an early stage, a new method termed Whitened …

Integrated GNSS/IMU Hub Motion Estimator for Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Installation

2019

Abstract Offshore wind turbines (OWTs) have become increasingly popular for their ability to harvest clean offshore wind energy. Bottom-fixed foundations are the most used foundation type. Because of its large diameter, the foundation is sensitive to wave loads. For typical manually assisted blade-mating operations, the decision to perform the mating operation is based on the relative distance and velocity between the blade root center and the hub, and in accordance with the weather window. Hence, monitoring the hub real-time position and velocity is necessary, whether the blade installation is conducted manually or automatically. In this study, we design a hub motion estimation algorithm f…

Autonomous ultrasonic inspection using Bayesian optimisation and robust outlier analysis

2020

The use of robotics is beginning to play a key role in automating the data collection process in Non Destructive Testing (NDT). Increasing the use of automation quickly leads to the gathering of large quantities of data, which makes it inefficient, perhaps even infeasible, for a human to parse the information contained in them. This paper presents a solution to this problem by making the process of NDT data acquisition an autonomous one as opposed to an automatic one. In order to achieve this, the robotic data acquisition task is treated as an optimisation problem, where one seeks to find locations with the highest indication of damage. The resulting algorithm combines damage detection tech…

Vibration Control of a High-Speed Precision Servo Numerically Controlled Punching Press: Multidomain Simulation and Experiments

2017

A three-degree-of-freedom mathematical vibration model of a high-speed punching press was developed in order to explore the vibration modes of the punching press. A multidomain model of the punching press was established to predict the kinematic state during different conditions, as well as the effects of load fluctuation on the motor speed. Experimental measurements of the acceleration of the punching press were carried out. The results comparison reveals that the multidomain model is consistent with the vibration model and the experimental measurements. Modal analysis and structure modification of the punching press were conducted. The foundation at the base of the punching press was impr…