An experimental study of forced convective heat transfer for fully developed Al 2 O 3 –water nanofluid in an annulus tube

Nanofluids have been known as practical materials to ameliorate heat transfer within diverse industrial systems. The current work presents an empirical study on forced convection effects of Al₂O₃–water nanofluid within an annulus tube. A laminar flow regime has been considered to perform the experiment in high Reynolds number range using several concentrations of nanofluid. Also, the boundary conditions include a constant uniform heat flux applied on the outer shell and an adiabatic condition to the inner tube. Nanofluid particle is visualized with transmission electron microscopy to figure out the nanofluid particles. Additionally, the pressure drop is obtained by measuring the inlet and outlet pressure with respect to the ambient condition. The experimental results showed that adding nanoparticles to the base fluid will increase the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and average Nusselt number. In addition, by increasing viscosity effects at maximum Reynolds number of 1140 and increasing nanofluid concentration from 1% to 4% (maximum performance at 4%), HTC increases by 18%.     

Comparison and evaluation of dust detection algorithms using MODIS Aqua/Terra Level 1B data and MODIS/OMI dust products in the Middle East

Dust storms have a major impact on air quality, economic loss, and human health over large regions of the Middle East. Because of the broad extent of dust storms and also political–security issues in this region, satellite data are an important source of dust detection and mapping. The aim of this study was to compare and evaluate the performance of five main dust detection algorithms, including Ackerman, Miller, normalized difference dust index (NDDI), Roskovensky and Liou, and thermal-infrared dust index (TDI), using MODIS Level 1B and also MODIS Deep Blue AOD and OMI AI products in two dust events originating from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Overall, results showed that the performance of the algorithms varied from event to event and it was not possible to use the published dust/no-dust thresholds for the algorithms tested in the study area. The MODIS AOD and OMI AI products were very effective for initial dust detection and the AOD and AI images correlated highly with the dust images at provincial scale (p-value <0.001), but the application of these products was limited at local scale due to their poor spatial resolution. Results also indicated that algorithms based on MODIS thermal infrared (TIR) bands or a combination of TIR and reflectance bands were better indicators of dust than reflectance-based ones. Among the TIR- based algorithms, TDI performed the best over water surfaces and dust sources, and accounted for approximately 93% and 90% of variations in the AOD and OMI AI data.     

Analysis of nonpremixed multiregion laminar flames through biofuel porous particles considering the effect of heat recirculation

In this study, a comprehensive analysis is conducted to evaluate the effects of heat recirculation and particle porosity on combustion characteristics of multizone counterflow nonpremixed flames fed with porous biofuel particles. For this purpose, the structure of flame contains preheat, postvaporization, and oxidizer zones. Additionally, Lycopodium is considered as the volatile biofuel, especially due to its appreciable flammability and dispensability. Dimensionalized and nondimensionalized forms of mass and energy conservation equations are scrutinized in each zone. To explore of the thermal recirculation effect, a specific term is included in the energy conservation equation. The variation of several parameters, including flame temperature, particle radius, mass fraction of the gaseous fuel and oxidizer, mass particle content, equivalence ratio, and particle porosity, is studied in this work considering and ignoring the thermal recirculation impact. As a result, increasing heat recirculation coefficient from $k=0$ to 1 will rise the flame temperature and shift the flame position to the left side (fuel nozzle). Furthermore, consideration of the thermal heat recirculation will improve the gaseous fuel production in the preheat and postvaporization zones. Additionally, an increase in mass concentration and reduction of particles radius and porosity would lead to a rise in the flame temperature.     

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Regional Trends and Shift Changes of Autocorrelated Temperature Series in Urmia Lake Basin

Recently, the Urmia Lake located in northwestern Iran which is the second largest hyper saline in the world suffers from the significant fluctuations of water level and surface area. The current study tries to investigate the spatiotemporal trends of mean (T_mean), maximum (T_max) and minimum (T_min) temperatures of monthly, seasonal and annual time-series. To do so, the data of 15 temperature gauge stations within the Urmia Lake basin, for the period 1972–2011 was employed. The pre-whitening approach was applied to remove the effects of serial correlation in the air temperature series based on the Mann-Kendall (MK) test. The results of Ljung-Box test showed positive serial correlation in the T_mean and T_max series for all of the stations at the 0.05 significance level. In the monthly series, the significant warming trends in the T_mean series were more perceptible than the same ones in T_max series; however, T_max trend was found more than T_min series. The Mann–Whitney (MW) test detected a significance upward shift changes in the annual T_mean, T_max and T_min series of about 86, 73 and 80 % of the stations, respectively. The average magnitude of significant warming trends in annual T_mean, T_max and T_min series were (+) 0.58 °C, (+) 0.52 °C and (+) 0.69 °C per decade, respectively. Furthermore, the interpolation maps showed that warming trends in the east and west of Urmia Lake were more than southern area. Therefore, the results showed that the basin has suffered from increasing trends in the T_mean, T_max and T_min over the recent decades. Finally, significant changes were found in 1980s and 1990s based on the Mann-Kendall ranks and change point tests. In this study, it is interesting that the period of significant changes in warming trends were close to the beginning of decreasing water level of the Lake.     

Micromechanical machining of soda lime glass

Micromechanical machining, which is the mechanical removal of materials using miniature cutting tools, is one of the fabrication methods in the microrealm that has recently attracted a great deal of attention because it has the advantage of being able to machine complex shapes from brittle materials. The most challenging problem in the mechanical machining of brittle material is the fabrication of fracture-free surfaces. To avoid brittle fractures, a thorough investigation is required to find the machining parameters in the ductile cutting regime, which is characterized by plastic deformation of the material when the chip thickness is smaller than the critical value. In this study, cutting forces and surface characteristics of soda lime glass are examined in detail. Conical scratch tests are performed to identify the critical chip thickness, and the cutting forces in the ductile regime are modeled. In addition, coated ball end mill cutters were used to perform machining on inclined soda lime glass to investigate the feed rate effects, up and down milling, and depth of cuts on the surface finish and to examine tool wear.     

Effect of chemical solvents on the technological characteristics of hemp fibre/polypropylene composites

The effects of different chemical solvents on the technological properties of hemp fibre-reinforced polypropylene composites were evaluated in this experimental work. Composite profiles consisting of hemp fibre and polypropylene at 50% weight ratios, with 2% of coupling agent were fabricated using melt compounding followed by injection moulding. The composite specimens were then immersed in CH₃COOH, HNO₃, H₂SO₄, NaOH, NH₃, and C₆H₅NH₂ for different time intervals. Then, the weight loss and mechanical strength of samples were measured. Results indicated that the chemical reagents had significant effect on the weight loss of the composites. The weight loss ratio of the control samples was lower than that of those samples exposure to the chemical solvents. The tensile strength and modulus, and impact strength of composite specimens decreased after exposure to the chemical solvents. The highest mechanical reduction was observed in the case of NaOH. SEM micrographs showed that the extent of degradation increased in composites when they are exposed to chemical solvents.     

Effect of SRTM resolution on morphometric feature identification using neural network—self organizing map

In this study, we present a semi-automatic procedure using Neural Networks—Self Organizing Map—and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEMs to characterize morphometric features of the landscape in the Man and Biosphere Reserve “Eastern Carpathians”. We investigate specially the effect of two resolutions, SIR-C with 3 arc seconds and X-SAR with 1 arc second for morphometric feature identification. Specifically we investigate how the SRTM/C band data with 30 m interpolated grid, corresponding to SRTM/X band 30 m, affect the morphometric characterization and topography derivatives. To reduce misregistration between the DEMs, spatial co-registration was performed and a RMSE of 0.48 pixel was achieved. Morphometric parameters such as slope, maximum curvature, minimum curvature and cross-sectional curvature are derived using a bivariate quadratic approximation on 90 m, 30 m and interpolated 30 m DEMs. Self Organizing Map (SOM) is used for the classification of morphometric parameters into ten exclusive and exhaustive classes. These classes were analyzed as morphometric features such as ridge, channel, crest line and planar for all data sets based on feature space (scatter plot), morphometric signatures and 3D inspection of the area. The map quality is analyzed by oblique views with contour lines overlaid. Using the X band DEM with 30 m grid as benchmark, a change detection technique was used to quantify differences in morphometric features and to assess the scale effect going from a 90 m (C-band) DEM to an interpolated 30 m DEM. The same procedure is used to study the effect of different resolutions on morphometric features. Morphometric parameters were computed by a moving window size 5 × 5 (corresponding to 450 m on the ground) over SRTM- 90 m. To cover the same ground area, a moving window size of 15 × 15 is used for the 30 m DEM. The change analysis showed the amount of resolution dependency of morphometric features. Overall, the results showed that the introduced method is very useful for identification of morphometric features based on SRTM resolution. Decreasing the grid size from 90 m to 30 m reveals considerably more detailed information emphasizing local conditions. Comparison between results from DEM-30 m as reference data set and interpolated 30 m, showed a rate of change of 31.5% which is negligible. About 17% of this rate correspond to classes with mean slope > 10°. Of the morphometric parameters, the cross sectional curvature is most sensitive to DEM resolution. Increasing spatial resolution reduces the main constrains for morphometric analysis with SRTM 90 m data, such as unrealistic features and isolated single elements in the output map. So in case of lack of high resolution data, the SRTM 90 m data could be interpolated and used for further geomorphic analysis.     

Influences of clinoptilolite and surfactant-modified clinoptilolite zeolite on nitrate leaching and plant growth

The increasing demands for environmental protection and sustainable food production require an increase in the use of natural and non-toxic materials for agriculture. In this study, the feasibility of using surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ) in comparison with zeolite clinoptilolite (Cp) application to reduce nitrate leaching and enhance crop growth was investigated. The effects of size (millimeter and nanometer) and application rate (20 g kg(-1) and 60 g kg(-1)) of Cp and SMZ on nitrate leaching and crop response were also evaluated. Using soil lysimeters, it was determined that the maximum and mean nitrate concentration in the leachate of SMZ-amended soil were significantly (p<0.05) lower than those of Cp-amended soil. The amount of NO(3)-N leached from SMZ- and Cp-amended lysimeters at the higher application rate (60 g kg(-1)) was approximately 26% and 22% lower, respectively, than that from the control system. The mean grain yield, grain nitrogen content, stover dry matter, and N uptake were significantly greater in Cp-amended than SMZ-amended lysimeters. There was no significant effect due to the particle size of the two soil amendments. The results implicitly suggest that plants may have a better response if Cp is used as a fertilizer carrier rather than SMZ when applied at a rate of 60 g kg(-1).     

Mechanistic modeling and accurate measurement of micro end milling forces

Micro milling operations can fabricate miniaturized components with high relative accuracy. Since micro machining operations are different than conventional macro machining processes, due to the large negative rake angle and elasto-plastic effects, it is important that the modeling of micro end milling forces incorporates the dynamics of the tool, ploughing and elastic recovery. This study examines the mechanistic modeling of shearing and ploughing domain cutting regimes to accurately predict micro milling forces. The tool dynamics are indirectly identified by performing receptance coupling analysis. Furthermore, the Kalman filter compensation method is used to precisely measure the forces to obtain the cutting constants.