A bolted–welded hybrid demountable shear connector for use in deconstructable steel–concrete composite buildings and bridges was proposed. The hybrid connector consisted of a partially threaded stud, which was welded on the flange of a steel section, and a machined steel tube with compatible geometry, which was bolted on the stud. Four standard pushout tests according to Eurocode 4 were carried out to assess the shear performance of the hybrid connector. The experimental results show that the initial stiffness, shear resistance, and slip capacity of the proposed connector were higher than those of traditional welded studs. The hybrid connector was a ductile connector, according to Eurocode 4, with slip capacity higher than 6 mm. A nonli

Photovoltaic (PV) devices are widely used renewable energy resources and have been increasingly manufactured by many firms and trademarks. This condition makes the selection of right product difficult and requires the development of a fast, accurate and easy setup that can be implemented to test available samples and select the cost effective, efficient, and reliable product for implementation. An automated test setup for PV panels using LabVIEW and several microcontroller-based embedded systems were designed, tested, and implemented. This PV testing system was fully automated, where the only human intervention required was the instalment of PV panel and set up of required testing conditions. The designed and implemented system was

This thesis was aimed to study gas hydrates in terms of their equilibrium conditions in bulk and their effects on sedimentary rocks. The hydrate equilibrium measurements for different gas mixtures containing CH4, CO2 and N2 were determined experimentally using the PVT sapphire cell equipment. We imaged CO2 hydrate distribution in sandstone, and investigated the hydrate morphology and cluster characteristics via μCT. Moreover, the effect of hydrate formation on the P-wave velocities of sandstone was investigated experimentally.

In light of the development in computer science and modern technologies, the impersonation crime rate has increased. Consequently, face recognition technology and biometric systems have been employed for security purposes in a variety of applications including human-computer interaction, surveillance systems, etc. Building an advanced sophisticated model to tackle impersonation-related crimes is essential. This study proposes classification Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) models, utilizing Viola-Jones, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Mutual Information (MI), and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) techniques. The two proposed facial classification systems are J48 with LDA feature extraction method as input, and a one-dimen

Wellbore instability is one of the major issues observed throughout the drilling operation. Various wellbore instability issues may occur during drilling operations, including tight holes, borehole collapse, stuck pipe, and shale caving. Rock failure criteria are important in geomechanical analysis since they predict shear and tensile failures. A suitable failure criterion must match the rock failure, which a caliper log can detect to estimate the optimal mud weight. Lack of data makes certain wells' caliper logs unavailable. This makes it difficult to validate the performance of each failure criterion. This paper proposes an approach for predicting the breakout zones in the Nasiriyah oil field using an artificial neural network. It

The 3D electro-Fenton technique is, due to its high efficiency, one of the technologies suggested to eliminate organic pollutants in wastewater. The type of particle electrode used in the 3D electro-Fenton process is one of the most crucial variables because of its effect on the formation of reactive species and the source of iron ions. The electrolytic cell in the current study consisted of graphite as an anode, carbon fiber (CF) modified with graphene as a cathode, and iron foam particles as a third electrode. A response surface methodology (RSM) approach was used to optimize the 3D electro-Fenton process. The RSM results revealed that the quadratic model has a high R2 of 99.05 %. At 4 g L-1 iron foam particles, time of 5 h, and

Urban expansion and its environmental and safety effects are one of the critical information needed for future development planning, safety considerations and environmental management. This work used two methods to monitor urban expansion and it's environmental and safety effects, the first is based on Google Maps for the years 2002 and 2010, and the second was the usage of spatial videos for the year 2013. Although the usage of satellite images is critical to know and investigate the general situation and the total effects of the expansion on a large piece of area, but the Spatial videos do a very detailed fine scale investigation, site conditions regarding both environmental and safety cannot be easily distinguished fr