New moment-rotation equation for welded steel beam-to-column connections

A three-parameter tangent inverse equation is generically proposed for the non-linear moment-rotation (M-θ) relationship of semi-rigid steel beam-to-column connections. The parameters are the initial stiffness, the plastic stiffness, and a reference moment. Two commonly used welded moment connections are picked up for moment-rotation calculation and comparison between the results of the proposed model and those of a detailed nonlinear finite elements modeling. Semi-analytical equations are proposed for calculating the parameters containing basic factors affecting behavior of the connections. The coefficients of the equations are computed based on a data bank developed in this study using the finite element method. A large number of finite elements models covering the whole range of common dimensions of the above connections are analyzed. Accuracy of the finite element model is verified on the basis of the available test results from previous studies. Tensile tests for determination of material properties of weld to be used in the modeling are conducted. Comparison between the results of the semi-analytical equations and the finite element models shows that the proposed model is able to estimate the moment-rotation curves of the welded beam-to-column connections with very good accuracy.     

An investigation on the impacts of regulatory interventions on wind power expansion in generation planning

Large integration of intermittent wind generation in power system has necessitated the inclusion of more innovative and sophisticated approaches in power system investment planning. This paper presents a novel framework on the basis of a combination of stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) algorithm and game theory to study the impacts of different regulatory interventions to promote wind power investment in generation expansion planning. In this study, regulatory policies include Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) incentive, quota and tradable green certificate. The intermittent nature and uncertainties of wind power generation will cause the investors encounter risk in their investment decisions. To overcome this problem, a novel model has been derived to study the regulatory impacts on wind generation expansion planning. In our approach, the probabilistic nature of wind generation is modeled. The model can calculate optimal investment strategies, in which the wind power uncertainty is included. This framework is implemented on a test system to illustrate the working of the proposed approach. The result shows that FITs are the most effective policy to encourage the rapid and sustained deployment of wind power. FITs can significantly reduce the risks of investing in renewable energy technologies and thus create conditions conducive to rapid market growth.     

Hybrid intelligent water drops algorithm to unrelated parallel machines scheduling problem: a just-in-time approach

Minimising earliness and tardiness penalties as well as maximum completion time (makespan) simultaneously on unrelated parallel machines is tackled in this research. Jobs are sequence-dependent set-up times and due dates are distinct. Since the machines are unrelated, jobs processing time/cost on different machines may vary, i.e. each job could be processed at different processing times with regard to other machines. A mathematical model which minimises the mentioned objective is proposed which is solved optimally via lingo in small-sized cases. An intelligent water drop (IWD) algorithm, as a new swarm-based nature-inspired optimisation one, is also adopted to solve this multi-criteria problem. The IDW algorithm is inspired from natural rivers. A set of good paths among plenty of possible paths could be found via a natural river in its ways from the starting place (source) to the destination which results in eventually finding a very good path to their destination. A comprehensive computational and statistical analysis is conducted to analyse the algorithms’ performances. Experimental results reveal that the proposed hybrid IWD algorithm is a trustable and proficient one in finding very good solutions, since it is already proved that the IWD algorithm has the property of the convergence in value.     

On the microstructure of micro-pins manufactured by a novel progressive microforming process

Microforming is defined as the process of production of metallic micro-parts with at least two dimensions in sub-millimeter range. Many of these microforming processes have been investigated in laboratory-scale, which is not suitable for industrial applications. In this work, the feasibility of producing copper micro-pins using a novel progressive microforming process is demonstrated. This process has a good potential for mass production of micro-parts. The material flow behavior and the microstructure of the formed micro-pins were investigated by means of optical microscopy and simulation. From this study of material flow behavior with respect to different process conditions (die diameter, die design and punch diameters used), it will be shown how the respective material flow behavior in the progressive forming process influenced the microstructure evolution in the formed micro-pin. It was found in the experimental results that there is a soft zone on the micro-pins surface under specific process conditions. The microhardness results were consistent with the microstructural observations. Simulation was employed to understand the material flow direction under the punch during the microforming process and evaluate the position of the neutral zone in the disk-shape head of the micro-pin produced. This understanding of the neutral zone position with relation to the metal dead-zone as well as the material flow behavior was necessary to explain the dead-zone leakage in the microstructure and the occurrence of the soft zone. By decreasing the punch to die diameter ratio, and also choosing a die without entrance fillet radius, it was shown that the soft zones at the pin surface could be either minimized or entirely removed.     

Experimental investigation of adverse effect of frost formation on microchannel evaporators,part 1: Effect of fin geometry and environmental effects

This study experimentally investigated the frost growth on louvered folded fins in microchannel heat exchangers when used in outdoor air-source heat pump systems. The effects of surface temperature, fin geometries, and air environmental conditions were studied. The overall aim was to isolate and quantify the effect of geometry from surface temperature effects. Experimental data of frost weight, local frost thickness, air pressure drop across the coils, time of frost–defrost cycles and heat transfer rates were recorded. Data showed that the frosting time and the frost growth rates depended mainly on the local fin surface temperature. Lower fin density was beneficial because it delayed the blockage of the air flow. The fin length and fin depth had minor effects on frosting performance. The air humidity had a fairly significant effect on rate of frost formation while air velocity seemed to have a small effect on the frost growth rate.     

Free vibration analysis of orthotropic plates with variable thickness resting on non-uniform elastic foundation by element free Galerkin method

This study intends to investigate the vibration behavior of a thin square orthotropic plate resting on non-uniform elastic foundation and its thickness varying in one or two directions. By using the classical plate theory and employing element free Galerkin method, it is shown that the fundamental frequency coefficients obtained are in good agreement with available results in the literature. The effects of thickness variation, foundation parameter and boundary conditions on frequency are investigated. The results show that the method converges very fast regardless of parameters involved.     

Fate of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles during Anaerobic Digestion of Wastewater and Post-Treatment Processing of Sewage Sludge

The rapid development and commercialization of nanomaterials will inevitably result in the release of nanoparticles (NPs) to the environment. As NPs often exhibit physical and chemical properties significantly different from those of their molecular or macrosize analogs, concern has been growing regarding their fate and toxicity in environmental compartments. The wastewater-sewage sludge pathway has been identified as a key release pathway leading to environmental exposure to NPs. In this study, we investigated the chemical transformation of two ZnO-NPs and one hydrophobic ZnO-NP commercial formulation (used in personal care products), during anaerobic digestion of wastewater. Changes in Zn speciation as a result of postprocessing of the sewage sludge, mimicking composting/stockpiling, were also assessed. The results indicated that "native" Zn and Zn added either as a soluble salt or as NPs was rapidly converted to sulfides in all treatments. The hydrophobicity of the commercial formulation retarded the conversion of ZnO-NP. However, at the end of the anaerobic digestion process and after postprocessing of the sewage sludge (which caused a significant change in Zn speciation), the speciation of Zn was similar across all treatments. This indicates that, at least for the material tested, the risk assessment of ZnO-NP through this exposure pathway can rely on the significant knowledge already available in regard to other "conventional" forms of Zn present in sewage sludge.     

Cost optimization of a combined power and water desalination plant with exergetic,environment and reliability consideration

The present study deals with the multi-objective optimization for designing a combined gas turbine and multi stage flash desalination plant. In optimization approach, the exergetic, economic and environmental aspects have been considered, simultaneously. In order to achieve the optimal design, Multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is applied as a suitable optimization technique. The thermoenvironomic objective function is obtained by integrating the environmental impacts and thermoeconomic objective. By applying the optimization approach, this objective function is minimized, whereas system exergy efficiency is maximized. Moreover, equipment reliability using the state-space and the continuous Markov method is incorporated in optimization results to improve the products' cost values. The optimization results show that the cost of products and environmental cost impact are reduced by 13.4% and 53.4%, respectively, whereas a 14.8% increase happens in total exergy efficiency. Therefore, improvement in all objectives has been achieved using the optimization process, although the power and water productions have not changed much. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis shows the relationship between the fuel cost, pollution damage cost and the objective functions.     

CMOS silicon avalanche photodiodes for NIR light detection: a survey

This paper surveys recent research on CMOS silicon avalanche photodiodes (SiAPD) and presents the design of a SiAPD based photoreceiver dedicated to near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) application. Near-infrared spectroscopy provides an inexpensive, non-invasive, and portable means to image brain function, and is one of the most efficient diagnostic techniques of different neurological diseases. In NIRS system, brain tissue is penetrated by near-infrared (NIR) radiation and the reflected signal is captured by a photodiode. Since the reflected NIR signal has very low amplitude, SiAPD is a better choice than regular photodiode for NIR signal detection due to SiAPD`s ability to amplify the photo generated signal by avalanche multiplication. Design requirements of using CMOS SiAPDs for NIR light detection are discussed, and the challenges of fabricating SiAPDs using standard CMOS process are addressed. Performances of state-of-the-art CMOS SiAPDs with different device structures are summarized and compared. The efficacy of the proposed SiAPD based photoreceiver is confirmed by post layout simulation. Finally, the SiAPD and its associated circuits has been implemented in one chip using 0.35 μm standard CMOS technology for an integrated NIRS system.     

Effects of nanowollastonite on biological resistance of medium-density fiberboard against Antrodia vaillantii

The effect of wollastonite nanofibers (NW) on biological resistance of medium-density fiberboards (MDF) made from wood and chicken-feather fibers (CF) against Antrodia vaillantii was studied. NW content of 10 % and CF content of 5 and 10 %, based on the dry weight of wood fibers, were applied to the MDF matrix, giving a total of six different MDF mixing treatments. Mass loss values were measured roughly following the EN 113 specifications. The results showed that NW significantly decreased mass loss to a considerable extent in all mixing ratios, proving its potential to be used as a suitable preservative in wood-composite materials without environmental hazards. A CF content of 5 % showed improving effects on biological resistance, while CF of 10 % was too high and resulted in a weak MDF-matrix; eventually the biological resistance did not improve properly. NW ameliorated part of the undesirable effect of adding chicken feather fibers to the MDF-matrix. A significantly high correlation was found between mass loss versus water absorption (R ² of 81 %), implying that the penetration of water and fungal hyphae can have rather similar patterns. It can be concluded that NW not only can be used to improve the biological resistance in wood-composite materials against fungi attack, but it can also reduce some of the undesirable properties of chicken feathers, thus providing a reliable and renewable resource for natural fibers to be used in the MDF manufacturing industry.