Search results for "Structural Engineering"
showing 10 items of 1998 documents
Improvement of energy efficiency and quality of street lighting in South Italy as an action of Sustainable Energy Action Plans. The case study of Com…
2015
Abstract Existing street lighting systems, in most of South Italy cities, are often inefficient due to the obsolescence of lamps and luminaires and of ineffective light control systems unable to implement efficient on-off and dimming strategies. Energy efficiency improvement, in street lighting systems, is often one of the key actions to be adopted by Public Administration in their Sustainable Energy Action Plan in the framework of the “Covenant of Majors” activities. As a task of FACTOR 20 project, a set of planning options has been analysed and proposed. Particularly, street lighting efficiency projects have been studied for representative case studies. A detailed survey of the public lig…
Backcalculation of airport pavement moduli and thickness using the Lévy Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm
2016
Interpretation of NDTdata is crucial in any Airport Pavement Management System (APMS), in order to implement strategies to maintain airport pavementssince they allow to estimate their remaining life and related maintenance needs and activities. In this paper, the AntColony Optimization algorithmwasused for backcalculation of pavement moduli from surface deflection data. The algorithm’s performances are illustrated and improvement in prediction quality is demonstrated both in terms of goodness of fitness and computational effort. Moreover, it is proved that the proposed algorithm is also able to predict layer thicknesses, taking into account their variation too.
Multicriteria evaluation of heating choices for a new sustainable residential area
2015
Abstract The city of Loviisa in Finland is planning a new sustainable residential area with a total of 240,000 m2 of residential houses and apartment buildings with services. The city wants to promote sustainable energy solutions in the area, considering various renewable energy forms for heating. The aim of this research is to evaluate which heating system would be best for a new single-family house when different technical, economic, environmental and usability criteria are considered. A group of experts evaluated the alternative heating systems with respect to the criteria. The citizens were involved with a questionnaire to provide preference information for different criteria. Altogethe…
Validation of portable 2D force binding systems for cross-country skiing
2013
The aim of the present study was to design, construct and scientifically validate a two-dimensional force measurement binding system for cross-country skiing. The system consists of two force measurement bindings. One binding was designed for analysing classic skiing (vertical and anterior–posterior [along the ski] force components) and the other one for skate (freestyle) skiing (vertical and medio-lateral [transverse to the ski] force components). Validation was accomplished using a three-step process: (1) accuracy tests for the sensors in two temperatures, (2) sport-specific imitation jump test on standard force plates in a laboratory and (3) comparing the system against force measurement…
Recommendation of RILEM TC237-SIB: protocol for characterization of recycled asphalt (RA) materials for pavement applications
2018
This recommendation proposes an experimental protocol to characterize Recycled Asphalt (RA) materials. The guidelines presented in this document are based on the results of a Round Robin Test (RRT) organized by the RILEM Technical Committee 237-SIB “Testing and characterization of sustainable innovative bituminous materials and systems” and provide information on the testing procedure, data analysis and indications for the preparation of a test report.
Experimental Research of Thermal Comfort Conditions in Small Test Buildings with Different Types of Heating
2015
Abstract The aim of this study is detailed analysis of long-term monitoring data of thermal comfort conditions and energy efficiency in small test buildings equipped with different heating systems. Calculations of PPD index and local thermal discomfort factors are provided for the test buildings during three weeks of heating season. It is shown that the type of heating system has influence not only on heating energy need, but also on thermal comfort conditions in the room.
The TLCD Passive Control: Numerical Investigations vs. Experimental Results
2012
Very recently the tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) is receiving an increasing interest from researchers concerned with vibration control, to be considered an alternative device with respect to the tuned mass damper (TMD), since the former has low cost, easy adjustment, flexible installation. However, in recent studies the authors [1] have pointed out that for TMD the analytical formulation provides results that are in good agreement with the experimental ones, while for TLCD it has been deducted that the analytical formulation needs further investigation. In fact using the classical formulation of the problem, numerical results are very different from the experimental results obtained by t…
Finite-element performance comparison of IPMSMs with unsymmetrical double-layer windings
2017
This paper presents a comparison of the performances between IPMSMs (Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine) with a symmetrical and with two different types of unsymmetrical windings. The aim is to demonstrate that the adoption of slightly unsymmetrical windings does not significantly affect the performances of the machines, both in terms of cogging torque and torque/load angle characteristics, providing also the advantage of a higher possibility of choice in terms of slot number/poles ratio. More in particular, an IPMSM model (named IPMSM-1) derived from a commercial geometry equipped with a symmetrical winding is analyzed by using a Finite Element Method (FEM) approach. The simulat…
Mean flow, secondary currents and bed shear stress at a 180-degree laboratory bend with and without enhanced permeable groins as an Eco-friendly rive…
2022
River restoration aims to apply environmentally-friendly structures for bank protection in meandering rivers to restore their natural habitat. Enhanced Permeable Groin (EPG) is a novel river restoration technique that can improve the fish habitat environment in a river system by creating a series of eco-friendly scour pools. This study reports the results of two groups of 3D velocity measurements in a 180-degree channel bend in cases with and without an EPG for clear water conditions to characterize the mechanisms leading to the primary stages of the scouring phenomenon. The analysis revealed that the presence of an EPG amplified the velocity magnitude in the regions near the tip of the van…
Reverse electrodialysis performed at pilot plant scale: Evaluation of redox processes and simultaneous generation of electric energy and treatment of…
2017
Abstract This paper describes the experimental campaign carried out with a reverse electrodialysis (RED) demonstration plant (Marsala, Italy) with the main aims of: (i) evaluating the effect of various operating parameters, including the redox processes, on the system performances; (ii) using the plant for the simultaneous generation of electric energy and treatment of wastewater. The prototype (44 × 44 cm2, 500 cell pairs) was tested using both real (brackish water and brine) and artificial solutions. Tests with two different electrode rinse solutions (with or without iron redox couples) were performed. In agreement with the data obtained in the laboratory, the presence of iron ions contri…