Motives: The research deals with the issue of urban sprawl on agricultural lands. It is an urban problem caused by rapid urbanization and poor planning. It is considered one problem that threatens cities with environmental and health disasters. It also threatens agricultural life and the green belt surrounding cities. Changes in urban sprawl on agricultural land are associated with complex processes that lead to multiple social, economic, political, and environmental risks and thus pose a threat and an obstacle to the sustainability of cities. Aim: The research aims to study and evaluate the reality of the city of Baghdad and the extent of its ability and flexibility to withstand the disaster of urban sprawl on agricultural lands. The research also the aim of this research to identify the gaps and the reasons that led to this disaster and reach solutions that may reduce this phenomenon that burdens the economy and the Iraqi people who suffer from difficult economic conditions. In addition to raising awareness about the effects of urban sprawl on agricultural lands and the environment, clarifying the role of participation and the limits of responsibility that can be entrusted to government and academic agencies at all levels, individually or collectively, to participate and find solutions to the risk of extensive urban sprawl. Results: In assessing the reality of the study area, the research relied on the city resilience scorecard, which the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and with the support of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European Commission. Field surveys and the opinions of specialists were relied upon to study the reality of the city of Baghdad to determine the extent to which it was affected by the disaster of encroachment on agricultural lands. There are gaps between planning and contemporary challenges among the most important research findings. Planning is increasingly decoupled from the contemporary urban challenges associated with rapid urbanization. The results of the practical study showed that the division of land uses in the city of Baghdad is not deep and incomplete. Also, it is not regularly reviewed according to the map of the expected risks, including the state of urban sprawl on agricultural lands in the city. Consequently, the city’s inability to withstand the disaster resulting from urban sprawl and the problems that result from it in the environmental, health, or social aspects. Based on the results, the research reached a set of recommendations, including the need for continuous updating to detect urban sprawl on agricultural lands. This is done using the latest remote sensing data and taking quick precautions against these expansions, in addition to the importance of updating building controls and standards regularly (or periodically) to take the changing data and evidence about risks to enhance the city of Baghdad’s ability to withstand the disaster of the decline of agricultural lands.
The finite element approach is used to solve a variety of difficulties, including well bore stability, fluid flow production and injection wells, mechanical issues and others. Geomechanics is a term that includes a number of important aspects in the petroleum industry, such as studying the changes that can be occur in oil reservoirs and geological structures, and providing a picture of oil well stability during drilling. The current review study concerned about the advancements in the application of the finite element method (FEM) in the geomechanical field over a course of century.
Firstly, the study presented the early advancements of this method by development the structural framework of stress, make numerical computer solution
... Show MorePermanent deformation (rutting) of asphalt mixtures is one of the major forms of distress. Aggregate gradation is one of the most important factors affecting the permanent deformation of asphalt mixtures. Other variables are also important to understand their effects on the mixture such as temperature, binder content and compaction level. For this purpose 6 different aggregate gradations have been chosen and each one of them has been manufactured / tested with different variables. The results showed that at relatively low temperature there is little effect of aggregate packing on the permanent deformation. However, as the temperature increases the effect of gradation becomes apparent, in that the better the packing the better the resistance
... Show MoreNanocrystalline copper sulphide (Cu2-xS) powders were synthesized by chemical precipitation from their aqueous solutions composed of different molar ratio of copper sulfate dehydrate (CuSO4.5H2O) and thiorea (NH2)2CS as source of Cu+2, S-2 ions respectively, and sodium ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid dehydrate (EDTA) as a complex agent. The compositions, morphological and structural properties of the nanopowders were characterized by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The compositional results showed that the copper content was high and the Sulfur content was low for both CuS and Cu2S nanopowders. SEM images shows that all products consist of aggregate o
... Show MoreSix proposed simply supported high strength-steel fiber reinforced concrete (HS-SFRC) beams reinforced with FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) rebars were numerically tested by finite element method using ABAQUS software to investigate their behavior under the flexural failure. The beams were divided into two groups depending on their cross sectional shape. Group A consisted of four trapezoidal beams with dimensions of (height 200 mm, top width 250 mm, and bottom width 125 mm), while group B consisted of two rectangular beams with dimensions of (125 ×200) mm. All specimens have same total length of 1500 mm, and they were also considered to be made of same high strength concrete designed material with 1% volume fraction of steel fiber.
... Show MoreThis study has been undertaken to postulate the mechanism of impact test at low velocities. Thin-walled tubes of 100Cr6 were deformed under axial compression. In the present work there are seven velocities (4.429,4.652,5.240,5.600,5.942,6.264, 6.569) m\sec were applied to show how they effect the load, change in length, also the kinetic energy. However, the comparison between the obtained results and the other studies (Alexandar[3] , Abramowicz[4], Ayad[5]) was made the present work and Ayad data show good agreement. Load, change in length, kinetic energy were determined to understand the impact test.
This paper describes flexural behavior of two spans continuous rectangular concrete beams reinforced with mild steel and partially prestressing strands, to evaluate using different prestressing level and prestressing area in continuous prestressed beams at serviceability and ultimate stages. Six continuous concrete beams with 4550 mm length reinforced with mild steel reinforcement and partially prestressed with two prestressing levels of (0.7fpy or 0.55fpy.) of and different amount of 12.7 mm diameter seven wire steel strand were used. Test results showed that the partially prestressed reinforced beams with higher prestressing level exhibited the narrowest crack width, smallest deflection and strain in both steel and concrete at ul
... Show MoreThis paper investigates the issue of surface-type effects on traffic noise in Baghdad. Since the raw materials for both flexible and rigid paving are available from local sources, the decision on selecting the type of paving which depends on the budget of the project and the road's importance and function. Knowing that for high traffic volumes and a high percentage of heavy vehicles, rigid pavement is more suitable compared to flexible pavement. In Baghdad, some highways consist of flexible pavement and others of combined pavement (flexible segments and rigid segments), so the study of the effect of surface type on traffic noise becomes an important matter. This study selected three highways: one with flexible pavement a
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