Four simply supported reinforced concrete (RC) beams were test experimentaly and analyzed using the extended finite element method (XFEM). This method is used to treat the discontinuities resulting from the fracture process and crack propagation in that occur in concrete. The Meso-Scale Approach (MSA) used to model concrete as a heterogenous material consists of a three-phasic material (coarse aggregate, mortar, and air voids in the cement paste). The coarse aggregate that was used in the casting of these beams rounded and crashed aggregate shape with maximum size of 20 mm. The compressive strength used in these beams is equal to 17 MPa and 34 MPa, respectively. These RC beams are designed to fail due to flexure when subjected to lo

This study aims to compare the response of reinforced concrete (RC) T-beams strengthened with carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite with that of non-strengthened control beams when subjected to monotonic two-point loading until failure for flexural once and shear again. The experimental programme tested eight RC T-beams, which included two reference beams without strengthening and six strengthened beams. The eight beams were divided into two main groups according to strengthening (flexural and shear). Experimental analysis was performed to study the effect of the CFRP laminate width in the flexural group and the spacing of CFRP U-wrap sheets in the shear group on the ultimate load capacity, load-strain relationship, and l

The study of vegetative change of cities is one of the most important studies related to human life because of its direct correlation with the temporal conditions that occur. These include the economic problems that force people to move and look for job opportunities in the city, which leads to an increase in the population density of cities, especially for cities with an important economic and administrative location as in the capital city of Baghdad. In this study, the effect of the increasing in population density was analyzed on the urban planning of Baghdad city. The decreasing in vegetation was due to the increasing of urban areas on the outskirts of the city, which led to an increase in its area. Moreover, urban cities increased t

Sewer sediment deposition is an important aspect as it relates to several operational and environmental problems. It concerns municipalities as it affects the sewer system and contributes to sewer failure which has a catastrophic effect if happened in trunks or interceptors. Sewer rehabilitation is a costly process and complex in terms of choosing the method of rehabilitation and individual sewers to be rehabilitated.  For such a complex process, inspection techniques assist in the decision-making process; though, it may add to the total expenditure of the project as it requires special tools and trained personnel. For developing countries, Inspection could prohibit the rehabilitation proceeds. In this study, the researchers propos

Face Recognition Systems (FRS) are increasingly targeted by morphing attacks, where facial features of multiple individuals are blended into a synthetic image to deceive biometric verification. This paper proposes an enhanced Siamese Neural Network (SNN)-based system for robust morph detection. The methodology involves four stages. First, a dataset of real and morphed images is generated using StyleGAN, producing high-quality facial images. Second, facial regions are extracted using Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Networks (R-CNN) to isolate relevant features and eliminate background noise. Third, a Local Binary Pattern-Convolutional Neural Network (LBP-CNN) is used to build a baseline FRS and assess its susceptibility to d

The uptake of Cd(II) ions from simulated wastewater onto olive pips was modeled using artificial neural network (ANN) which consisted of three layers. Based on 112 batch experiments, the effect of contact time (10-240 min), initial pH (2-6), initial concentration (25-250 mg/l), biosorbent dosage (0.05-2 g/100 ml), agitation speed (0-250 rpm) and temperature (20-60ºC) were studied. The maximum uptake (=92 %) of Cd(II) was achieved at optimum parameters of 60 min, 6, 50 mg/l, 1 g/100 ml, 250 rpm and 25ºC respectively.

Tangent sigmoid and linear transfer functions of ANN for hidden and output layers respectively with 7 neurons were sufficient to present good predictions for cadmium removal efficiency with coefficient of correlatio

The aim of this research is to assess the validity of Detailed Micro-Modeling (DMM) as a numerical model for masonry analysis. To achieve this aim, a set of load-displacement curves obtained based on both numerical simulation and experimental results of clay masonry prisms loaded by a vertical load. The finite element method was implemented in DMM for analysis of the experimental clay masonry prism. The finite element software ABAQUS with implicit solver was used to model and analyze the clay masonry prism subjected to a vertical load. The load-displacement relationship of numerical model was found in good agreement with those drawn from experimental results. Evidence shows that load-displacement curvefound from the finite element m