Reliability analysis methods are used to evaluate the safety of reinforced concrete structures by evaluating the limit state function 𝑔(𝑋𝑖). For implicit limit state function and nonlinear analysis , an advanced reliability analysis methods are needed. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) can be used in this case however, as the number of input variables increases, the time required for MCS also increases, making it a time consuming method especially for complex problems with implicit performance functions. In such cases, MCS-based FORM (First Order Reliability Method) and Artificial Neural Network-based FORM (ANN FORM) have been proposed as alternatives. However, it is important to note that both MCS-FORM and ANN-FORM can also be time-con

The design, construction and investigation of experimental study of two compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs) with tubular absorber have been presented. The performance of CPCs have been evaluated by using outdoor experimental measurements including the instantaneous thermal efficiency. The two CPCs are tested instantly by holding them on a common structure. Many tests are conducted in the present work by truncating one of them in three different levels. For each truncation the acceptance half angle (θ_c) was changed. Geometrically, the acceptance half angle for standard CPC is (26^o). For the truncation levels for the other CPC 1, 2 and 3 the acceptance half angle were 20^o, 26^o and 5

Abstract

A new type of solar air heater was designed, fabricated, and tested in Baghdad, Iraq winter conditions. The heater consists of two main parts. The horizontal section was filled with the black colored iron chip while the vertical part has five pipes filled with Iraqi paraffin wax. A fan was fixed at the exit of the air. Two cases were studied: when the air moved by natural convection and when forced convection moved it. The studied air heater has proven its effectiveness as it heated the air passing through it to high temperatures. The results manifest that using little air movement makes the temperatures, stored energies, and efficiencies of the two studied cases converge

In this study, the induced splined shaft teeth contact and bending stresses have been investigated numerically using finite element method(Ansys package version 11.0) with changing the most effecting design parameter,(pressure angle, teeth number, fillet radius and normal module), for internal and external splined shaft. Experimental work has been achieved using two dimensional photoelastic techniques to get the contact and bending stresses; the used material is Bakelite sheet type “PSM-4”.
The results of numerical stress analysis indicate that, the increasing of the pressure angle and fillet radius decrease the bending stress and increase the contact stress for both internal and external spline shaft teeth while the increasing of

This work, deals with Kumaraswamy distribution. Kumaraswamy (1976, 1978) showed well known probability distribution functions such as the normal, beta and log-normal but in (1980) Kumaraswamy developed a more general probability density function for double bounded random processes, which is known as Kumaraswamy’s distribution. Classical maximum likelihood and Bayes methods estimator are used to estimate the unknown shape parameter (b). Reliability function are obtained using symmetric loss functions by using three types of informative priors two single priors and one double prior. In addition, a comparison is made for the performance of these estimators with respect to the numerical solution which are found using expansion method. The

Electrochemical Grinding (ECG) process is a mechanically assisted electrochemical process for material processing. The process is able to successfully machine electrically conducting harder materials at faster rate with improved surface finish and dimensional control. This research studies the effect of applied current, electrolyte concentration, spindle speed and the gap between workpiece and tool on hardness and material removal rate during electrochemical grinding for stainless steel 316. The characteristic features of the electrochemical grinding process are explored through Taguchi-design-based experimental studies. The better hardness can be obtained at 10 A of the current, 150 g/l of the electrolyte concentration, 0.3 mm of gap an

 A dynamic analysis method has been developed to investigate and characterize embedded delamination on the dynamic response of composite laminated structures. A nonlinear finite element model for geometrically large amplitude free vibration intact plate and delamination plate analysis is presented using higher order shear deformation theory where the nonlinearity was introduced  in the Green-Lagrange sense. The governing equation of the vibrated plate were derived using the Variational approach. The effect of different orthotropicity ratio, boundary condition and delamination size on the non-dimenational fundamental frequency and frequency ratios of plate for different stacking sequences are studied. Finally th

The experimental study showed the use of closed cavity wall (the thickness of the cavity 5cm) made a percentage reduction in the cooling load caused by heat gain from the wall by (21.5 %) compared with the conventional wall. also the thermal resistance of the closed cavity was an average (0.2 m².^oC/W).

The experimental results of the study showed that the use of closed cavity wall reduced the average temperature of the inner surface of the wall during the day, and that the reduction was an average (0.45 ^oC)  when compared with the conventional wall , as well as the use of closed cavity wall reduced the temperature difference range of the inner surface of the wall during the day, and that the

Vibration analysis plays a vital role in understanding and analyzing the behavior of the structure. Where, it can be utilized from this analysis in the design process of the structures in different engineering applications, check the quality and safety of the structure under different working conditions. This work presents experimental measurements and numerical solutions to an out of plane vibration of a rectangular plate with a circular hole. Free edges rectangular plates with different circular holes diameters were studied. The effects of hole location on the plate natural frequencies were also investigated. A finite element modeling (using ANSYS Software) has been used to analyze the vibration characteristics of the plates. A good agree

Creep testing is an important part of the characterization of composite materials. It is crucial to determine long-term deflection levels and time-to-failure for these advanced materials. The work is carried out to investigate creep behavior on isotropic composite columns. Isotropy property was obtained by making a new type of composite made from a paste of particles of carbon fibers mixed with epoxy resin and E-glass particles mixed with epoxy resin. This type of manufacturing process can be called the compression mold composite or the squeeze mold composite. Experimental work was carried out with changing the fiber concentration (30, 40 and 50% mass fraction), cross section shape, and type of composite. The creep results showed that th