bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stable random lasing in CdSSe micropowders
Authors: Leanenia M.S. , Nagorny A.V. , Urmanov B.D. , Shulenkova V.A. , Yablonskii G.P.
Published: June 2019

The random lasing in CdS micropowder in the green region (near 520 nm) at room temperature under optical pumping by pulsed Nd3+ : YAG and N2 lasers at wavelengths of 355 and 337 nm, respectively, is studied. The influence of fluctuations of pump pulse output energy on the random lasing action in CdS micropowder is determined. It is shown that the use of a pump laser with highly stable output power and high spatial beam uniformity (in particular, an N2 laser) provides stable random lasing in CdSSe micropowders. The lasing is characterised by the presence of a clear structure of narrow lines in the spectrum and stability of their position during pulsed operation at a repetition rate of 700 Hz at wavelengths of 525, 570, 600, and 650 nm with thresholds in the range of 1100 – 1600 kW cm−2.
Chloris circumfontinalis (Poaceae): a recently discovered species from the saline scalds surrounding artesian springs in north-eastern Australia
Authors: Fahey Patrick S. , Fensham Roderick J. , Laffineur Boris , Cook Lyn G.
Published: June 2019

The artesian springs of inland Australia are a unique habitat in what is otherwise an arid environment. They support a rich collection of endemic flora and fauna. Here, morphological and molecular data are employed to describe a new species, Chloris circumfontinalis Fahey & Fensham, endemic to artesian spring systems in central Queensland. A morphological ordination failed to distinguish this species from other Australian native flora, but the shape of the florets distinguishes it from the species with which it co-occurs. Phylogenies estimated from molecular data showed that the species represents a distinct lineage that may be sister to species of Chloris from outside Australia. Chloris circumfontinalis occurs only in the saline scalds that form around the springs, and population surveys at the two sites where it occurs indicated a threat status of Endangered under the IUCN Red List criteria.
Compilations of theBustānof Saʿdī in Iran, Central Asia, and Turkey, ca. 1470–1550
Authors: Balafrej Lamia
Published: June 2019

This article presents two hitherto unstudied compilations of verses from theBustānof Saʿdī. Both circulated in the Persianate world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The article provides an analysis of the compilations’ content as well as their relation to the completeBustān. By highlighting certain stories and themes at the expense of others, and by ordering these passages in a way that differs from the completeBustān, each compilation transforms Saʿdī’s text into a shorter, more homogenous composition, with distinct formal, thematic, and generic qualities. The shorter compilation presents a series of aphorisms, forming a mirror for princes. The longer one offers a selection of stories and lessons and emphasizes mystical themes, including aspects of Sufi erotic theology. This article also investigates the manuscript copies of these compilations, revealing their use and transmission in Iran, Turkey, and Central Asia between 1470 and 1550.
Toward Resolved Simulations of Burning Fronts in Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts
Authors: Zingale M. , Eiden K. , Cavecchi Y. , Harpole A. , Bell J. B. , Chang M. , Hawke I. , Katz M. P. , Malone C. M. , Nonaka A. J. , Willcox D. E. , Zhang W.
Published: June 2019

We discuss the challenges of modeling X-ray bursts in multi-dimensions, review the different calculations done to date, and discuss our new set of ongoing simulations. We also describe algorithmic improvements that may help in the future to offset some of the expense of these simulations, and describe what may be possible with exascale computing.
The structure of magnetic turbulence in the heliosheath region observed by Voyager 2 at 106 AU
Authors: Fraternale Federico , Pogorelov Nikolai V , Richagrdson John D. , Tordella Daniela
Published: June 2019

It is currently believed that the turbulent fluctuations pervade the outermost heliosphere. Turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and their link may be responsible for magnetic energy conversion in these regions. The governing mechanisms of such anisotropic and compressible magnetic turbulence in the inner heliosheath (IHS) and in the local interstellar medium (LISM) still lack a thorough description. The present literature mainly concerns large scales which are not representative of the inertial-cascade dynamics of turbulence. Moreover, lack of broadband spectral analysis makes the IHS dynamics critically understudied. Our recent study [1] shows that 48 s magnetic-field data from the Voyager mission are appropriate for a spectral analysis over a frequency range of six decades, from 5 × 10−8 Hz to 10−2 Hz. Here, focusing on the Voyager 2 observation interval from 2013.824 to 2016.0, we describe the structure of turbulence in a sector zone of the IHS. A spectral break around 7 × 10−7 Hz (magnetic structures with size ℓ ≈ 1.3 Astronomical Units) separates the energy-injection regime from the inertial-cascade regime of turbulence. A second scale is observed around 6 × 10−5 Hz (ℓ ≈ 0.017 AU) and corresponds to a peak of compressibility and intermittency of fluctuations.
A Dynamical Model of the Heliosphere with the Adaptive Mesh Refinement
Authors: Matsumoto Tomoaki , Shiota Daikou , Kataoka Ryuho , Miyahara Hiroko , Miyake Shoko
Published: June 2019

A three-dimensional time-dependent heliospheric model is developed with the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) technique. The AMR code, SFUMATO, is adopted, which has been originally developed for star-formation problems. The solar wind model is based on the space weather forecast system, SUSANOO, and it is imposed on the inner boundary at r = 25 R
⊙. The solar wind model is derived from magnetogram synoptic maps, which are observed daily. Using the potential field source surface models, the WS formula, and a few empirical laws, the MHD parameters at the inner boundary are reproduced. The heliospheric model here extends up to 14 au, and the AMR grid resolves the heliospheric current sheets and co-rotating interaction regions with refined resolutions. The AMR grid brings considerable improvement in the fine features in the outer region of r ≳ 2 au compared to the concentric nested grid, of which resolution has the relationship Δx ∝ r, similar to spherical coordinates. The refinement criteria are based mainly on the distance from the Sun, the anti-parallel toroidal magnetic fields, and the density of the solar wind.
Particle-in-Cell Simulations of Plasma Dynamics in Cometary Environment
Authors: Sishtla Chaitanya Prasad , Olshevsky Vyacheslav , Chien Steven W. D. , Markidis Stefano , Laure Erwin
Published: June 2019

We perform and analyze global Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations of the interaction between solar wind and an outgassing comet with the goal of studying the plasma kinetic dynamics of a cometary environment. To achieve this, we design and implement a new numerical method in the iPIC3D code to model outgassing from the comet: new plasma particles are ejected from the comet “surface” at each computational cycle. Our simulations show that a bow shock is formed as a result of the interaction between solar wind and outgassed particles. The analysis of distribution functions for the PIC simulations shows that at the bow shock part of the incoming solar wind, ions are reflected while electrons are heated. This work attempts to reveal kinetic effects in the atmosphere of an outgassing comet using a fully kinetic Particle-in-Cell model.
GPU Acceleration of an Established Solar MHD Code using OpenACC
Authors: Caplan R. M. , Linker J. A. , Mikić Z. , Downs C. , Török T. , Titov V. S.
Published: June 2019

GPU accelerators have had a notable impact on high-performance computing across many disciplines. They provide high performance with low cost/power, and therefore have become a primary compute resource on many of the largest supercomputers. Here, we implement multi-GPU acceleration into our Solar MHD code (MAS) using OpenACC in a fully portable, single-source manner. Our preliminary implementation is focused on MAS running in a reduced physics “zero-beta” mode. While valuable on its own, our main goal is to pave the way for a full physics, thermodynamic MHD implementation. We describe the OpenACC implementation methodology and challenges. “Time-to-solution” performance results of a production-level flux rope eruption simulation on multi-CPU and multi-GPU systems are shown. We find that the GPU-accelerated MAS code has the ability to run “zero-beta” simulations on a single multi-GPU server at speeds previously requiring multiple CPU server-nodes of a supercomputer.
thornado-transport: IMEX schemes for two-moment neutrino transport respecting Fermi-Dirac statistics
Authors: Chu Ran , Endeve Eirik , Hauck Cory D. , Mezzacappa Anthony , Messer Bronson
Published: June 2019

We develop implicit-explicit (IMEX) schemes for neutrino transport in a background material in the context of a two-moment model that evolves the angular moments of a neutrino phase-space distribution function. Considering the upper and lower bounds that are introduced by Pauli’s exclusion principle on the moments, an algebraic moment closure based on Fermi-Dirac statistics and a convex-invariant time integrator both are demanded. A finite-volume/first-order discontinuous Galerkin(DG) method is used to illustrate how an algebraic moment closure based on Fermi-Dirac statistics is needed to satisfy the bounds. Several algebraic closures are compared with these bounds in mind, and the Cernohorsky and Bludman closure, which satisfies the bounds, is chosen for our IMEX schemes. For the convex-invariant time integrator, two IMEX schemes named PD-ARS have been proposed. PD-ARS denotes a convex-invariant IMEX Runge-Kutta scheme that is high-order accurate in the streaming limit, and works well in the diffusion limit. Our two PD-ARS schemes use second-and third-order, explicit, strong-stability-preserving Runge-Kutta methods as their explicit part, respectively, and therefore are second-and third-order accurate in the streaming limit, respectively. The accuracy and convex-invariance of our PD-ARS schemes are demonstrated in the numerical tests with a third-order DG method for spatial discretization and a simple Lax-Friedrichs flux. The method has been implemented in our high-order neutrino-radiation hydrodynamics (thornado) toolkit. We show preliminary results employing tabulated neutrino opacities.
Video Processing Techniques for the Contactless Investigation of Large Oscillations
Authors: Civera M , Zanotti Fragonara L , Surace C
Published: June 2019

The experimental acquisition of large vibrations presents various technical difficulties. Especially in the case of geometric nonlinearities, dealing with very flexible, very light structures causes minimal variations in mass or stiffness to affect severely the dynamical response. Thus, sensors’ added masses change the behaviour of the structure with respect to the unloaded condition. Moreover, the most common tools regularly employed for acquisition in vibration analysis - that is to say, laser vibrometers and accelerometers - are often designed with small amplitudes in mind. Their recordings are known to lack accuracy when the investigated structure undergoes large or very large motions, due to geometrical reasons. Image-based measurement techniques offer a valid solution to this problem. Here, an ensemble of three video processing techniques are benchmarked against each other and tested as viable options for the non-contact dynamic characterisation of slender beam-like structures. The methods have been applied to the case study of an aluminium spar for a highly-flexible airwing prototype and compared to the measurements recorded by a laser velocimeter and several Raspberry PI Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), which also proved to be minimally invasive.
Patient Specific Diagnostics for cardiovascular diseases based on diagnostic imaging: an application to the aneurism of the ascending aorta
Authors: Querzoli G. , Satta V. , Matta G. , Ferrari S. , Badas M. G. , Bitti G.
Published: June 2019

In the framework of a collaboration between clinicians and engineers (namely, the Department of Radiology of the Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari and the group of experimental hydraulics at DICAAR - University of Cagliari), methodologies for the application of the in vitro study of the cardiovascular fluid mechanics to the support of the physical interpretation of the diagnostic imaging data are being tested. To this aim, we set up a mock-loop able to reproduce the physiologic pulsatile flow and designed to host a replica of aortic root made of transparent silicon rubber. Then, we developed a procedure to obtain a transparent and compliant replica of a patient specific ascending aorta from diagnostic images. The patient specific aorta model can be inserted in the mock-loop to study the fluid dynamics by means of particle image velocimetry techniques. We compared the flow in three cases, corresponding to physiological conditions, mild and severe aortic root dilation, observing significant differences in the redirection of the transvalvular jet and vortex evolution in the aortic flow. The observed fluid dynamics differences may have relevant implications on the thromboembolism and vascular tissue damage potential.
A non-invasive stochastic-optical method (SOM) for estimating the volume fraction in granular flows: application on interrogation windows with different aspect ratios
Authors: Sarno Luca , Nicolina Papa Maria , Tai Yih-Chin , Carleo Luigi , Villani Paolo
Published: June 2019

Granular flows are involved in geophysical phenomena and industrial applications. The knowledge of the volume fraction is essential for better understanding their dynamics. Indeed, this quantity is highly coupled with the rheology of granular media. Here, we investigated the performance of the stochastic-optical method (SOM), proposed by [Sarno et al. Granular Matter (2016) 18: 80]. The method works thanks to highly-controlled illumination conditions, guaranteed by a flickering-free planar lamp, and uses a high-speed digital camera. Namely, the indirect estimation of the near-wall volume fraction c3D
is made possible by the estimation of a quantity, called two-dimensional volume fraction c2D
, which is measurable through an opportune binarization of gray-scale images. With the purpose of assessing the performance of the SOM method on rectangular interrogation windows with different aspect ratios, we present a novel experimental campaign on dispersions of matte-white plastic beads immersed in a dense fluid, where the angle of incidence of light was 25°. Moreover, we explored various settings of the binarization algorithm, incorporated in the SOM method. The accuracy of the method is found to be reasonably high with a root-mean-square error on c3D
lower than 0.03 for a wide range of settings and independently from the aspect ratio.
Hull wake measurement in steady drift using a boroscopic stereo-PIV system
Authors: Capone A , Alves Pereira F , Maiocchi A , Camussi R , Di Felice F
Published: June 2019

Particle Image Velocimetry measurements in towing tanks usually require ad-hoc solutions to address the need to protect electronic equipment from water. Pioneering works in this field rely upon fully underwater probe systems to address this issue, as in [1]. In this work we present an approach based on the use of endoscopic equipment (boroscopes) to carry out towing-tank Stereo PIV (SPIV) measurements of the hull wake of a ship model in steady drift. A boroscopic SPIV system provides increased flexibility thanks to the absence of water-proof camera casings. The only underwater components of the presented apparatus are the boroscope tubes and the light-sheet forming device, which are not critical in terms of water protection. The major drawbacks are the reduced light-collecting efficiency of the boroscope devices as well as the geometric deformations and aberrations due to the short focal length, which must be specifically addressed with adequate algorithms. The boroscope-based SPIV system presented in this work features three cameras for redundancy and to increase measurement accuracy. We present the results of towing-tank testing of the hull wake of a twin-screw model at Froude number Fr = 0.24 in straight-ahead and steady drift conditions.
Feasibility study of FBG-based sensors for prognostics in aerospace applications
Authors: Berri P C , Dalla Vedova M D L , Maggiore P , Scolpito T
Published: June 2019

In recent years, aerospace systems have undergone a huge technical-scientific impulse, evolving new high-performance intelligent solutions able to perform diagnostic and prognostic functions autonomously. In this scenario, an important role is certainly played by the new types of sensors combining high performance (in terms of sensibility, accuracy, and reliability) with a marked resilience to external disturbances (e.g. EM noise or electrostatic discharges) and other environmental factors. Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs)sensors, suitable for measuring various engineering parameters in both static and dynamic modes, meet all these requirements; in aerospace, they could replace several traditional sensors, not only in structural monitoring but also in a much wider range of system applications including the diagnostic and prognostic of mechatronic devices. In this paper, the authors propose the first results of their investigation about the use of optical sensors for Electromechanical (EMA) and Electrohydrostatic Actuators (EHA). FBGs allow determination of aerodynamic hinge loads and minimally invasive measurements of local temperatures: the firsts are needed for in-flight model-based prognostics, whereas the detection of local heating allows to early infer an incipient partial short circuit of EM motor, a progressive power electronics failure or abnormal friction dissipation e.g. at bearing level. In order to assess the capabilities of optical sensors, evaluating different installation techniques and defining suitable configurations for the aforementioned mechatronic systems, a dedicated test bench has been developed and used for calibrating FBGs, analyzing their behaviour in different conditions of strain and temperature and conceiving a proper thermo-mechanical compensation strategy.
Place Energy and Urban Scene Drama in Iraqi City Centers (Case study Rusafa district in Baghdad-Iraq)
Authors: Hamzah Malk Jamal , AbdulJalil Mustafa
Published: June 2019

The concept of place energy aroused as one of the historical concepts of active regeneration over time, several studies have tried to activate its part in dealing with the place, but all of them have addressed the place internally only and didn’t take into consideration the outer part of place. Because of the prominence of this concept in our urban life, this study has tried to activate the concept of place energy at the urban level to go beyond the cramped frame that was created for it. Where the place has outstanding importance in making human interaction within society, particularly its urban part. The study will analyze the energy of the place which is related to people’s collective events and the memory of city residents, and how to deal with it and adapt it to the formation of the urban structure which gets closer to the ideal, and the possibility of benefiting from it in dealing with the spatial and the social dimensions within the city, while giving planning decisions to help activating this energy towards the Urban scene drama with which the community interacts and produces a live drama, this research focuses on the concept of place energy that shows the relationship between humans and place. The collective memory of the people will be adopted to discover their mental map according to their relative priority to the urban event to determine the important landmarks of the city and thus the energy nodes in the city, then these nodes will be analyzed in space syntax to reach to the relationship between these nodes and the urban structure, to reach to a scenario that arranges the urban scene.
Sustainable engineering factors Affecting the generation of dwelling Solid Waste in some Residential neighborhoods in the Karkh district of Baghdad City in 2014
Authors: Alwan Kareem Hassan , Hamden Maarib Youssef
Published: June 2019

The world concern deeply in the creation of a healthy and happy environment for sustainable human living, to improve the human output in all activities of the life, so it is significantly concerned in finding the best procedure in the disposal of solid waste from the urban area. The recent improvements in economic, social and environment due to the national development and spatial analysis, led to increase in solid waste generated from different sources and to increase in the demands on this service, so it is necessary to study, and analysis quality and quantity of generated solid wastes effected on this problem. This study expresses the indicators in four selected neighborhoods of Baghdad residential areas in engineering and planning views by using quantitative approaches with the help of the different statistical methods. The researchers get off the effected of many variables; This discrepancy was due to a change in the behavior of the community and the diversity of the needs of its adult and child members as a result of the change in the general lifestyle. The problem of research is the environmental problems due to the accumulation of solid waste regarding health, environment aesthetic, and the lack of identification of indicators affecting them. Most urban areas suffered from increasing the volume of substantial waste dwelling from the residential area relative to the speed and convenience of dealing with techniques methods of modern planning ensure fair distribution of service based on updated planning indicators. Updating the spatial, temporal, engineering and economic indicators that have a limited impact on achieving the practical goal of this service and ensuring its continuity efficiently when dealing with the factors affecting the generation of household waste in residential areas. Identification and spatial analysis of factors affecting environmental pollution due to the generation of household waste using plastic bags in the study area by using quantitative and statistical methods. Several explanatory indicators can be used to estimate the number of plastic bags offered by dwelling units in the study area to decrease environmental pollution.
Improvement of the Traffic Management of Deactivated Al-Faris Al-Arabi Signalized Roundabout in Baghdad City
Authors: Al-Obaidi Mahmood K J
Published: June 2019

Baghdad city, the capital of Iraq has mainly suffered from influences of transportation highway modes especially at intersections. Traffic management system TMS leads to improve the level of service LOS of the intersections by reducing traffic congestion, delay and time wasted during travel. This research studied the improving of TMS for deactivated Al-Faris Al-Arabi signalized roundabout that considered the important area near city center. Traffic data collected manually by group of engineers during March and April, 2018. Highway Capacity Software HCS2010 used to assess and improve the TMS for current and future forecasted flow. Results showed that roundabout operating on LOS F with a high delay of time and saturation flow. Three solutions proposed to improve the traffic conditions considering of modifying the geometric features with changing and optimizing the timing plan of traffic signals. It showed a highly improving in LOS from F to B, improving saturation flow to less than one and reducing in delay time to about 43 times of that at existing conditions. In addition to analysis results, 18 years has been expected to carry the future forecasted data. Finally, architectural model has been achieved to display the pre and post improvement of the study area.
The impact of UAV flight planning parameters on topographic mapping quality control
Authors: Ali H H , Abed F M
Published: June 2019

There is a growing need for up-to-date data for rapid decision making in the modern digital age. Recently, the need for high-resolution topographic maps is highly demanding by most mapping clients. With the maturing automatic structure from mobile and multi-view stereoscopy software, small organizations and individuals now have the ability to make their own surveys based on mobile mapping devices. This study looks at how feasible using low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) as a mobile mapping device for photogrammetric topographical surveys. It is showing the impact of different UAV flight settings and parameters on the accuracy of mapping products. An automatic scenario for photogrammetric flight mission and its execution are proposed and described. The focus of this research is to generate 3D point clouds from digital imagery using low-cost UAV and showing the relationship between flight mission settings and the quality of the delivered 3D data. Automatic solution is presented and analysed, which automatically generate 3D point clouds from arbitrary image configurations. Results delivered within millimetres based on specific flight setting and optimal quality control considerations. Accuracy assessment and validation process was adopted based on statistical assessments according to ground truth 3D adjusted measurements to assure validity.
Dynamic modulus of elasticity of geopolymer lightweight aggregate concrete
Authors: Khalil Wasan I , Abbas Waleed A , Nasser Ibtesam F
Published: June 2019

The production processes of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), accompanying with bad environment influences such as, huge energy consumption, greenhouse gases emissions and natural resource exploitation; but fly ash-based geopolymer concrete is produced without (OPC), yet that has many sustainable environment benefits. In this study locally artificial lightweight aggregate was used to produce lightweight fly ash geopolymer concrete. The dynamic modulus of elasticity for geopolymer lightweight concrete produced by using locally artificial aggregate was investigated. Reference lightweight geopolymer concrete containing natural normal weight fine aggregate without fiber, lightweight geopolymer concrete reinforced with two volume fractions of steel fibers (0.25 and 0.5); in addition to four concrete mixtures containing artificial coarse lightweight aggregate and artificial lightweight fine aggregate with 25, 50, 75 and 100% volumetric replacement to natural normal weight fine aggregate (sand) were prepared. The dynamic modulus of elasticity was tested at 28day age for all specimens using resonance frequency method. The results demonstrate that the incorporation of artificial fine lightweight aggregate as a volumetric replacement to natural fine aggregate in concrete geopolymer lightweight concrete reduces the dynamic modulus of elasticity gradually with the increase of artificial lightweight aggregate content.
The Impact of Climatic Elements on Formal Optimization for Educational Space (Evaluation of the reality of local school buildings in Baghdad)
Authors: Moffeq Maysaa , Abdulrehman Abdulla
Published: June 2019

The Educational Space is an important element of learning and providing an environment that is appropriate to the needs of students helps to increas the level of education, So good design helps improve learning outcomes. For this reason, the design process of the classroom needs appropriate attention taking into account the climatic elements such as Heat, Solar radiation, Wind, Humidity and affecting the student’s comfort and the effectiveness of education The present study defines the research problem as a reformulation of a scientific aspect to study of the relations between Climatic Elements and design of school buildings as specific, The aim of the research is to (Evaluate local school models in Baghdad using a program Grasshopper to reach the optimal form for the local environment, the research use a program to introduce climate elements For Baghdad, the research contains three axes: discussing the relation between the climatic elements and design of school buildings and discussing studies about school sustainable design secondly, then Formulation of the theoretical framework, thirdly, its application in practical study, And finally presenting the findings and recommendations..
The role of multi-story structural building systems on reducing embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions
Authors: Hassan Susan Abed , al Wahid Jassim Jamal Abed
Published: June 2019

During the last decades many structural building systems were implemented in multi-story buildings production. Each of these systems consumes energy and produce carbon emissions from the early stage from the extraction of materials to the construction of a building. The selection of structural building systems with low embodied energy and carbon emissions reduces the impact of buildings on the global environment. The purpose of this research is to make a comparison in embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions between the most conventional building structural systems for multi-story building in Iraq. Through examine different solutions for structural building systems. This research aims to identify the most efficient structural building systems and materials in embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions for multi-story buildings in Iraq. Results demonstrated that the building of reinforced concrete structure has provided better results and consumed less embodied the energy and carbon emissions, as compared to the pre-cast concrete and steel structural building systems.
Agro-Climatic Zones (ACZ) Using Climate Satellite Data in Iraq Republic
Authors: Alwan Imzahim A , Karim Hussein H , Aziz Nadia A
Published: June 2019

Agro-climatology is highly worthy in the identification of agro-climates with the climate change conditions to introduce new agricultural crops. Agro-Climatic Zones permits recognizing areas with different potential products according to their climate change environmental conditions. This study aims to produce Agro-Climatic Zones map using satellite-based climate data in Iraq. Climate data based on satellite data were downloaded and processed with a spatial resolution of 0.25º, then interpolated using the spline method. The annual precipitation was downloaded from TRMM_3B43 v7 satellite data from 1998 to 2018 and the average annual air temperature for the period 2000 to 2018 was downloaded from the GLDAS Model (NOAH025_M v2.1). The GIS-based approach was implemented to create the necessary datasets and to develop an Agro-Climatic Zones map in the Iraq Republic. The results have mapped Iraq republic Agro-Climatic Zones into five zones, which are arid, cool winter, very warm summer (ACZ 1 represent about 48.8 % of the total area); arid, mild winter, very warm summer (ACZ 2 about 36.8 % of the total area); semi-arid, cool winter, very warm summer (ACZ 3 about 8.8 % of the total area); semi-humid to Mediterranean, cool winter, very warm summer (ACZ 4 about 4.2 % of the total area); and very humid to humid, cold to cool winter, warm summer (ACZ 5 about 1.4 % of the total area).
Practical analysis procedures of steel portal frames having different connections rigidities using modified stiffness matrix and end-fixity factor concept
Authors: Msabawy Ali , Mohammad Fouad
Published: June 2019

The real behaviour of connections in the steel buildings is often underestimated by designers at the structural analysis and design stages, despite their influences on the structural performance, deflection limits and a possibility of achieving a reduction in the material weights, which can significantly reduce the overall cost and amount of energy embodied. This paper, therefore, described systematic and simplified procedures to conduct a first-order elastic structural analysis of the semi-rigid steel portal frames in order to implement a design optimization using a Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) algorithm within Solver Add-in tool in Microsoft Excel. The written program used the robustness and efficiency of the Finite Element (FE) method with the versatility of a spreadsheet format in Excel. To simulate the semi-rigid response of the connections, the mathematical representation through End-Fixity Factor and the Modified Stiffness Matrix were used to incorporate such behaviour into structural analysis packages. To validate the written program, a computer-based analysis was conducted using Prokon® software and comparing analysis results with those obtained from the Excel spreadsheet. It demonstrates that Excel’s results were perfectly accurate. Consequently, the procedure of establishing spreadsheets as a finite element analysis software for a certain form of frames demonstrates its validity.
Eco-friendly Utilizing of Iron Filings in Production Reactive Powder Concrete
Authors: Alsaad Aymen J. , Radhi Mushtaq Sadiq , Taher Muntadher J.
Published: June 2019

The goal of this study is to assess the opportunity of utilizing waste iron filings in altered fractions as a fine aggregate replacement to produce the reactive powder concrete. Four different fractions of waste iron filing were adopted to reactive powder concrete mixture to measure the difference, which may be achieved in the strengths of the reactive powder concrete. In order to accomplish the aim of the investigation, compressive strength, and direct tensile strength were executed to determine the effect of iron filings on the strength of reactive powder concrete. Consistent with the experimental results, it can be stated that higher fraction of waste iron filings is more effective than the other percentages in both compressive and direct tensile strength because it acquires the maximum strength properties in the shortest duration. The increasing of the compressive strength and the direct tensile strength at 28 days for 30 % of the irons filings was 30.3% and 31.8% correspondingly.
Utilization of Pulverized Local Wastes for Production Sustainable Reactive Powder Concrete
Authors: Radhi Mushtaq Sadiq , Abdul Rasoul Zainab M. R. , Ridha Mahmmod Laith Mohammed
Published: June 2019

The aim of current experimental research is to examine the performance of the Reactive Powder Concrete modified by Pulverized Local Wastes materials. In this research, Reactive Powder Concrete was adapted by using local wastes (finely crushed ceramic tiles wastes) with Portland cement, silica fume, water, and chemical admixture through partially replacement of fine sand for sustainable practice in construction. This study exploited normal curing process at ambient temperatures as an alternative of higher temperatures steam curing for sustainability of construction works. To assess the behavior of the modified Sustainable Reactive Powder Concrete mixes, splitting and compressive strengths of Reactive Powder Concrete were inspected experimentally, and then associated with traditional Reactive Powder Concrete mix (the control mix). Furthermore, the hardened density of the modified Sustainable Reactive Powder Concrete was checked. The inquiry results directed that substituting the fine sand partially by Pulverized Local Wastes (finely crushed ceramic tiles wastes) is an adequate method for construction applications. Consequently, the compressive strength and spilling strength of modified Sustainable Reactive Powder were maintained by using 10 % of finely crushed ceramic tiles wastes. Results illustrate that Reactive Powder Concrete have an insignificant strength loss with 10 % sand replacement for compressive strength and splitting strength. The reduction percent in the compressive strength and splitting strength at 28 days are 12.37% and 8.55%, respectively, linked with related control mix.
Evaluation of sustainable metakaolin-geopolymer concrete with crushed waste clay brick
Authors: Khalil Wasan I. , Frayyeh Qais Jawad , Ahmed Mahmood F.
Published: June 2019

In the last decades, with the speed up of urban construction and infrastructure, the large amounts of new concrete and, at the same time a huge quantity of construction and demolition waste are generated every year. Therefore, the sustainability of concrete technology and building industry has taken priority with respect to, CO2 emission during cement manufacturing, natural resources depletion, environmental pollution and ecology unbalance. This study aims to assess the possibility of produce a more eco-friendly geopolymer concrete using Iraqi metakaolin (MK) and crushed waste clay brick (CWCB) as coarse aggregate, regarding the highest compressive strength and more sustainable curing method. The variations in the mechanical properties of MK-based geopolymer concrete with different contents (0%, 10%, 20%, and 30%) of waste clay brick as a replacement by volume of natural coarse aggregate were investigated. The fresh density and mechanical properties (compressive, splitting and flexural strengths), also the dry density was evaluated at age of 7 and 28 days. The results showed that all mixes with CWCB had lower fresh and dry densities. Geopolymer concrete mix with 30% CWCB showed a reduction in fresh and dry densities of 3.22%and 6.30 % respectively relative to the concrete mix without CWCB. Also, the compressive and splitting tensile strength reduce with the increase of CWCB content, the percentage reduction is 53.37% and 45.09% for 30% CWCB replacement level respectively relative to reference specimens (0% CWCB aggregate). On the other hand, specimens with 10% of CWCB showed a slight improvement in flexural strength, while with 20 and 30% CWCB there is a reduction in flexural strength. Generally, production of moderate strength MK-geopolymer concrete incorporates waste clay brick as coarse aggregate will improve the sustainability and lead to open wide areas for civil engineering applications.
Properties of Metakaolin Based Pervious Geopolymer Concrete
Authors: Khalil Wasan I. , Frayyeh Qais J. , Abed Haider T.
Published: June 2019

Utilizing Geopolymer binder instead of Portland cement in pervious concrete or ordinary concrete is the one solution toward reducing emission of carbon dioxide in the environment. Metakaolin (MK) used as a binding material to produce Pervious Geopolymer Concrete (PGC) in this investigation. Different PGC mixes were prepared and their, density, void content and compressive strength were tested. The effects of different proportions of alkaline liquid to metakaolin ratio AL/MK (0.5, 0.55 and 0.6); metakaolin to coarse aggregate MK:CA ratio (1:5, 1:6 and 1:7); superplasticizer dosages (0, 1, 2 and 3% by weight of MK); and the effect of using a fine aggregate at levels of 5 and 10% by weight of coarse aggregate were investigated. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) having a concentration of 12 molarity with sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) to (NaOH) ratio of 2 are used as an alkaline activator to produce all PGC mixes. All PGC specimens cured at elevated temperature of 50°C for five hours after 24 hours of casting and tested after 7 days. The Results show that the optimum AL/MK ratio and superplasticizer dosage were 0.6 and 2% respectively. The compressive strength and oven-dry density were increased by about (19%, 20% and 32%) and (4.5%, 7.2% and 5.2%) for 1:5, 1:6 and 1:7 MK:CA ratio, respectively, while porosity was decreased up to 18% with the inclusion of 10% fine aggregate by weight of coarse aggregate.
A Review of Previous Studies on the Reinforced Concrete Corbels
Authors: Abdul-Razzaq K S , Dawood A A , Mohammed A H
Published: June 2019

Corbels are short-hunched cantilevers that project from inner face of columns to support heavy concentrated loads or beam reactions. They are very important structural elements for supporting precast beams, girders and any other form of precast structure systems. ACI 318-14 provisions allow the structural design of shear-controlled corbels through either an empirical design method such as the shear-friction method or the strut-and-tie modeling (STM). This paper reviews some previous research studies on reinforced concrete corbels. From this literature; it was concluded that the STM method provides a more accurate estimation of ultimate load capacity and behavior than the shear-friction method. The ultimate shear strength increases with increasing main reinforcement, compressive strength (f’c), the presence of fibers, while it decreases with the increase of shear span-to-effective depth ratio (a/d) and horizontal to vertical load ratio (Nu/Vu).
Performances of Steel-Concrete Composite Construction with Demountable Shear Connectors – Review
Authors: Al-Muslih Abdulhadi Th. , Al-Hadithy Laith Kh.
Published: June 2019

Composite steel-concrete constructions with demountable (bolted) have the prime privilege of the capability to be untied and taken to pieces, furthermore, they remain suitable for tying again to assemble efficient composite structures. Long-term behavior and durability issues may need replacement of concrete slabs or their parts through maintenance of composite bridge decks. It is a complicated procedure and requires a lot of time in case of the popular traditional welded head stud. Dismantling and replacement of concrete slabs can be effortless by using bolted shear connectors. It is also so important for the sustainability stand point owing to remove of the structure at its life time end easily. Construction by using demountable shear connectors permits the development of faster erection methods. During casting of the reinforced concrete slab bolts can be embedded in it. Then, on site, they are assembled to the predrilled top flange of the steel section of the composite member. For certain application, composite structures with demountable shear connectors can prove their competition economically for their faster erection and lower life cycle costs. The present paper provides a comprehensive overview of most recent published research on composite steel-concrete systems in which the two partial interaction components (slip and uplift resistances) are furnished by demountable shear connectors. It also describes, in detail, properties of the main types of shear connection demount abilities innovated so far.
Behaviour of reinforced concrete deep beams in previous studies
Authors: Abdul-Razzaq Khattab Saleem , Jalil Ali Mustafa , Jebur Sarah Farhan
Published: June 2019

This paper is a comprehensive study of the reinforced concrete simple deep beams based on previous experimental and theoretical studies. Forevermore, it is a review of the methods of analysis that recommended by ACI code or suggested by some researchers. The main parameters that were taken into considerations were: shear span to effective depth ratio (a/d), amount of flexural reinforcement (ρ), web shear reinforcement (ρh
and ρv
), steel fiber volumetric ratio (Vf), compressive strength of used concrete (f’c), existence of openings with different shapes and sizes in addition to strengthening them. Researchers found that increasing a/d ratio about 50-67% leads to decrease deep beam ultimate capacity by about 17-23%, respectively. Increasing ρ leads to decrease ductility. Increasing ρh
and ρv
or both, increases capacity by different ratios. Removing only ρv
leads to a decrease in ultimate capacity by about 19%, removing only ρh
leads to a decrease in ultimate capacity by about 10%, while removing both, leads to about 31% reduction in ultimate capacity. Using Vf = 0.4% causes increasing in cracking and ultimate capacity by about 33% and 11%, respectively, while using Vf = 0.8% causes increasing in cracking and ultimate capacity by about 64% and 33%, respectively. Increasing f’c about 50% leads to increase the ultimate capacity by about 39-52%. It was also found that opening existence decreases the ultimate capacity especially when they lie in the strut paths, more specifically, they decrease ultimate capacity by about 3-69%, while strengthening them by steel plates leads to increase ultimate capacity by about 9-27%.
Applications of GIS for Bridges Maintenance Service
Authors: Wattan S , Al-Bakri M
Published: June 2019

AThe Bridge Maintenance Management System (BMMS) is an application system that uses existing data from a Bridge Management System database for monitoring and analysis of current bridges performance, as well as for estimating the current and future maintenance and rehabilitation needs of the bridges. In a transportation context, the maintenance management is described as a cost-effective process to operate, construct, and maintain physical money. This needs analytical tools to support the allocation of resources, materials, equipment, including personnel, and supplies. Therefore, Geographic Information System (GIS) can be considered as one tool to develop the road and bridge maintenance management system.

This research aims to use GIS to create a database for bridge maintenance system. Two study areas have been chosen: the old construction bridge (Al-Qadisiyah) and the newly constructed bridge (Barboty). Both of them are in Al-Muthanna city\Iraq. The creation of database was based on field surveying data. In order to monitor the damages and decline of the bridges, four periodically observations have been achieved. The first analysis of the observations was conducted by graphical analysis which gave the results between all the observations. The second part of analysis included the process of documenting the cracks observed in both study areas via hyperlink tool. This tool can display each of the bridge cracks in the form of window that contains full information for each crack such as, photo of the crack, station number of the crack, coordinates of the crack, type of crack, the crack description, and risk levels of the crack. This information may help to save cost, time and effort to decision makers in the relevant institutions.
Determine the factors that affecting on the applicability of Build Operate Transfer contracts for infrastructure in Iraq
Authors: Kaleel Tareq A. , Kareem Muntadher
Published: June 2019

The traditional project delivery systems in Iraq is unsubstantial, due to the delays and poor planning to manage these projects within the required quality and within the allocated budget by the public sector. Build Operate Transfer (BOT) approach, considered an option helps the governments to overcome the above problems. This research aims to determine the factors of applicability of BOT for infrastructure project in Iraq. The research initiates with reviewing the references about BOT and fieldwork process, which includes personal interviews and preparing closed questionnaire forms, the distribution of these forms to the sample members of the research to answer questions, collect these forms, and analyze the results statically. By discussing, the results found that the percentages of the factors affecting the applicability of the BOT are in three weights medium, good and very good. The percentage of medium Weight was about 9% and the good weight was about 19%. The very good weight was 72%. In addition to in this research, indicate the political and security stability among the decision factors as the most important, with 72.64% effect on the BOT applicability.