Plastic soil exhibits unfavorited geotechnical properties (when saturation), which causes negative defects to engineering structures. Different attempts (included various materials) were conducted to proffer solutions to such defects by experimenting in practical ways. On one hand, these attempts aimed to improve the engineering characteristics of plastic soil, and on the other hand, to use problematic waste materials as a stabilizer, like cement kiln dust, and to reduce environmental hazards. This paper explored the shrinkage, plasticity, and strength behavior of plastic soil enhanced with cement dust. The cement dust contents were 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by dry weight of soil. An experimental series of shrinkage and p

The Ant System Algorithm (ASA) is a member of the ant colony algorithms family in swarm intelligence methods (part of the Artificial Intelligence field), which is based on the behavior of ants seeking a path and a source of food in their colonies. The aim of This algorithm is to search for an optimal solution for Combinational Optimization Problems (COP) for which is extremely difficult to find solution using the classical methods like linear and non-linear programming methods. 

The Ant System Algorithm was used in the management of water resources field in Iraq, specifically for Haditha dam which is one of the most important dams in Iraq. The target is to find out an efficient management system for

The effects of using aqueous nanofluids containing covalently functionalized graphene nanoplatelets with triethanolamine (TEA-GNPs) as novel working fluids on the thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) have been investigated. Water-based nanofluids with weight concentrations of 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1% of TEA-GNPs with specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m2/g were prepared. An experimental setup was designed and built and a simulation program using MATLAB was developed. Experimental tests were performed using inlet fluid temperatures of 30, 40, and 50 °C; flow rates of 0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 kg/min; and heat flux intensities of 600, 800, and 1000 W/m2. The FPSC’s efficiency increased as the flow rate and hea

The enhancement of ZnSe/Si Heterojunction by adding some elements (V, In and Cu) as impurities is the main goal because they contribute to the manufacturing of renewable energy equipment, such as solar cells. This paper describes the preparation of thin films ZnSe with V, In and Cu doped using thermal evaporation method with a vacuum of 10–5 Torr. The thin film was obtained from this work could be applied in heterojunction solar cell because of several advantages including high absorption coefficient value and direct band gap. The samples prepared on a glass and n-type Si wafer substrate. These films have been annealed for 1 h in 450 K. X-ray diffraction XRD results indicated that ZnSe thin film possesses poly-crystalline structure after

In this study, copper was removed from an aqueous solution through electromembrane extraction (EME), a new approach that utilises a two-chamber electrochemical cell. It consists of two electrodes (stainless steel cathode and graphite anode) and a solid liquid membrane (SLM). SLM is composed of supporting polypropylene membrane impregnated with1-octanol as an organic solvent and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (DEHP) as a carrier. The effects of process parameters such as applied voltage, pH and copper concentration on the removal of copper were investigated. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimise these parameters and their interactions. Results indicated that pH has the major effect on the removal of copper, followed

In this study, a different design of passive air Solar Chimney(SC)was tested by installing it in the south wall of insulated test room in Baghdad city. The SC was designed from vertical and inclined parts connected serially together, the vertical SC (first part) has a single pass and Thermal Energy Storage Box Collector (TESB (refined paraffin wax as Phase Change Material(PCM)-Copper Foam Matrix(CFM))), while the inclined SC was designed in single pass, double passes and double pass with TESB (semi refined paraffin wax with copper foam matrix) with selective working angle ((30^o, 45^o and 60^o). A computational model was employed and solved by Finite Volume Method (FVM) to simulate the air i