This study focuses on improving the safety of embankment dams by considering the effects of vibration due to powerhouse operation on the dam body. The study contains two main parts. In the first part, ANSYS-CFX is used to create the three-dimensional (3D) Finite Volume (FV) model of one vertical Francis turbine unit. The 3D model is run by considering various reservoir conditions and the dimensions of units. The Re-Normalization Group (RNG) k-ε turbulence model is employed, and the physical properties of water and the flow characteristics are defined in the turbine model. In the second phases, a 3D finite element (FE) numerical model for a rock-fill dam is created by using ANSYS®, considering the dam connection with its powerhouse

Bearing capacity of soil is an important factor in designing shallow foundations. It is directly related to foundation dimensions and consequently its performance. The calculations for obtaining the bearing capacity of a soil needs many varying parameters, for example soil type, depth of foundation, unit weight of soil, etc. which makes these calculation very variable–parameter dependent. This paper presents the results of comparison between the theoretical equation stated by Terzaghi and the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) technique to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of the strip shallow footing on sandy soils. The results show a very good agreement between the theoretical solution and the ANN technique. Results revealed that us

The cathodic deposition of zinc from simulated chloride wastewater was used to characterize the mass transport properties of a flow-by fixed bed electrochemical reactor composed of vertical stack  of stainless steel nets, operated in batch-recycle mode. The electrochemical reactor employed potential value in such a way that the zinc reduction occurred under mass transport control. This potential was determined by hydrodynamic voltammetry using a borate/chloride solution as supporting electrolyte on stainless steel rotating disc electrode. The results indicate that mass transfer coefficient (K_m) increases with increasing of flow rate (Q) where .The electrochemical reactor proved to be efficient in removing zinc and was abl

The esterification of oleic acid with 2-ethylhexanol in presence of sulfuric acid  as homogeneous catalyst was investigated in this work to produce 2-ethylhexyl oleate (biodiesel) by using semi batch reactive distillation. The effect of reaction temperature (100 to 130°C), 2-ethylhexanol:oleic acid molar ratio (1:1 to 1:3) and catalysts concentration (0.2 to 1wt%) were studied. Higher conversion of 97% was achieved with operating conditions of reaction temperature of 130°C, molar ratio of free fatty acid to alcohol of 1:2 and catalyst concentration of 1wt%. A simulation was adopted from basic principles of the reactive distillation using MATLAB to describe the process. Good agreement was achieved.

Tight reservoirs have attracted the interest of the oil industry in recent years according to its significant impact on the global oil product. Several challenges are present when producing from these reservoirs due to its low to extra low permeability and very narrow pore throat radius. Development strategy selection for these reservoirs such as horizontal well placement, hydraulic fracture design, well completion, and smart production program, wellbore stability all need accurate characterizations of geomechanical parameters for these reservoirs. Geomechanical properties, including uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), static Young’s modulus (Es), and Poisson’s ratio (υs), were measured experimentally using both static and dynamic met