An experiment was carried out to study the effect of soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil texture on the distance of the wetting front, cumulative water infiltration (I), infiltration rate (IR), saturated water conductivity (Ks), and water holding capacity (WHC). Three levels ( 0, 10, 20, and 30 g OC kg-1 ) from organic carbon (OC) were mixed with different soil materials sandy, loam, and clay texture soils. Field capacity (FC) and permanent wilting point (PWP) were estimated. Soil materials were placed in transparent plastic columns(12 cm soil column ), and water infiltration(I) was measured as a function of time, the distance of the wetting front and Ks. Results showed that advance wetting front as a function of time for soil column was 6 minutes and with no differences between OC levels for sandy soils, while it ranged between 90 minutes (0% OC) - 130 minutes (3% OC) for loam soils, and between 470 minutes (0 %OC) and 590 minutes (1%OC) for clay soils, at the same time cumulative water infiltration(I) increases at the beginning of infiltration and decreases with time and levels of OC. The highest infiltration values were in sandy soils, giving data of 0.05 and 0.12 cm min-1, with no significant differences with OC rates. IR values decreased when OC increased in loam soils, and IR increased exponentially in clay soils with increasing OC levels. The values of Ks decrease with increasing OC for sandy and loam soils, and increase when OC increases above 3% for clay soils. FC and WP values were increased for sandy, loam and clay soils when OC was increased. The AW values decreased for both sandy and clay soils compared to loam soils. It can be concluded that AW can be estimated from FC values regardless of texture and OC by the linear function: AW=0.51(FC)+0.005.
The study presents the test results of Completely Decomposed Granite (CDG) soil tested under drained triaxial compression, direct shear and simple shear tests. Special attention was focused on the modification of the upper halve of conventional Direct Shear Test (DST) to behave as free
head in movement along with vertical strain control during shear stage by using Geotechnical Digital System (GDS). The results show that Free Direct Shear Test (FDST) has clear effect on the measured shear stress and vertical strain during the test. It has been found that shear strength
parameters measured from FDST were closer to those measured from simple shear and drained triaxial compression test. This study also provides an independent check on
Mechanical and thermal properties of composites, consisted of unsaturated polyester resin, reinforced by different kinds of natural materials (Orange peels and Date seeds) and industrial materials (carbon and silica) with particle size 98 µm were studied. Various weight ratios, 5, 10, and 15 wt. % of natural and industrial materials have been infused into polyester. Tensile, three-point bending and thermal conductivity tests were conducted for the unfilled polyester, natural and industrial composite to identify the weight ratio effect on the properties of materials. The results indicated that when the weight ratio for polyester with date seeds increased from 10% to 15%, the maximum Young’s modulus decreased by 54%. When the weight rat
... Show MoreCohesive soils present difficulties in construction projects because it usually contains expansive clay minerals. However, the engineering properties of cohesive soils can be stabilized by using various techniques. The research aims to elaborate on the influences of using hydrated lime on the consistency, compaction, and shear strength properties of clayey soil samples from Sulaimnai city, northern Iraq. The proportions of added hydrated lime are 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% to the natural soil sample. The results yielded considerable effects of hydrated lime on the engineering properties of the treated soil sample and enhancement its strength. The soil's liquid limit, plasticity index, and optimum moisture content were de
... Show MoreIn this research, the performance of electrocoagulation (EC) using aluminum (Al) electrodes with Monopolar- parallel (MP-P), and bipolar - series (BP-S) arrangement for simultaneous removal of dissolved silica, and hardness ions (calcium, and magnesium) from synthetic blowdown water of cooling tower were investigated. The effects of current density, initial pH and time of electrolysis on the removal efficiency were studied in a batch stirred unit to find out the best-operating conditions. The obtained results for each target species are evidence that BP-S approach is the best for both electrodes configuration operated at a Current density of 1mA/cm2 through 30 min of treatment and pH=10 with the removal of
... Show MoreThe present research included sampling and analysis of 41 soil samples , the samples cover various areas of Nasiriyah city (industrial,commercial,residential and agricultural ) to estimate pollution levels of lead element and determine the correlation between lead concentration and natural factors in soil which represent sedimentary organic matter content, granular gradient, clay minerals and non-clay minerals . The results of the current study showed that the average concentration of lead in the soil samples was 61.12 ppm , it was noticed an increase in the concentration of lead in environmental components in the area of this study especially in residential , industrial and commercial location and the impact of natural factors of the so
... Show MoreBackground: Fixed orthodontic appliances impede the maintenance of oral hygiene and result in plaque accumulation leads to enamel demineralization caused by acids produced by bacteria. Studies on plaque control strategies in orthodontic populations are limited. This might be caused by difficulties in the quantitative evaluation of dental plaque because the teeth have various levels of bracket coverage, and different tooth sizes and malocclusions, making the traditional categorical indices complex. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of different hygiene protocols on plaque quantity on bands with different attachments. Materials and method: Twenty patients had four bands within the orthodontic appliance. Then randomly divided into
... Show MoreIn the present study, the growth and total lipid contents of two oleaginous fungal isolates Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus fumigatus were compared in different nitrogen and organic carbon sources. Artificially the fungi were cultured on media consisting of various mono- or di- or polysaccharides and peptone or yeast extract as elementary sources for carbon and nitrogen, respectively. Media containing sucrose /yeast extract or glucose/ yeast extract were the most effective for lipid production from fungal, during two weeks incubation period, the highest biomass of dry weight was (19.6 , 18.8) g / L , (25.8 , 30.5) g /L and lipid yield (1, 0.97 )g/L, (0.65, 0.65) g/ L for two isolates Aspergillus terreus
... Show MoreThe choice of gate dielectric materials is fundamental for organic field effect transistors (OFET), integrated circuits, and several electronic applications. The operation of the OFET depends on two essential parameters: the insulation between the semiconductor layer and the gate electrode and the capacitance of the insulator. In this work, the electrical behavior of a pentacene-based OFET with a top contact / bottom gate was studied. Organic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and inorganic hafnium oxide (HfO2) were chosen as gate dielectric materials to lower the operation voltage to achieve the next generation of electronic applications. In this study, the performance of the OFET was studied using monolayer and bilayer gate insulators. To mo
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