Solar distillers are a sustainable and simple solution for addressing water scarcity, but their limited productivity restricts their effectiveness. This work aimed to assess the thermal performance of a novel tracked, tilted, hexagonal tubular solar still (HTSS) of four-sectioned U-channel receiver. Two identical HTSSs were side-to-side tested in Baghdad-Iraq (33.3°N, 43.3°E) from June to September 2024. The thermal evaluation of single-axis tracking solar still, tilted at (5° to 15°) with the horizontal axis and charged with and without hydrogel beads for water depth of 60 mm. The still's thermal performance is assessed by analyzing heat transfer coefficients, energy and exergy efficiencies, as well as conducting cost and environmental impact analyses. A considerable improvement in still yield is achieved as hydrogel is charged in. Results showed that the still thermal efficiency is uplifted by (87.79, 96.24, and 108.26 %) for (2000, 4000, and 6000 beads), respectively, as the tilt angle increases from 5° to 15°. It was found that the present still (with 6000 hydrogel beads, and tilted at 15°) has the best thermal and exergy efficiencies and produces 16.72 l/m2, accompanied by 9.91 ton/year emission reduction of CO2, with a competitive cost for water production of 0.039 $/liter.
Continuous escalation of the cost of generating energy is preceded by the fact of scary depletion of the energy reserve of the fossil fuels and pollution of the environment as developed and developing countries burn these fuels. To meet the challenge of the impending energy crisis, renewable energy has been growing rapidly in the last decade. Among the renewable energy sources, solar energy is the most extensively available energy, has the least effect on the environment, and is very efficient in terms of energy conversion. Thus, solar energy has become one of the preferred sources of renewable energy. Flat-plate solar collectors are one of the extensively-used and well-known types of solar collectors. However, the effectiveness of the coll
... Show MoreScrew piles are widely used in supporting structures subjected to pullout forces, such as power towers and offshore structures, and this research investigates their performance in gypseous soil of medium relative density. The bearing capacity and displacement of a single screw pile model inserted in gypseous soil with various diameters (D = 20, 30, and 40) mm are examined in this study. The soil used in the testing had a gypsum content of 40% and the bedding soil had a relative density of 40%. To simulate the pullout testing in the lab, a physical model was manufactured with specific dimensions. Three steel screw piles with helix diameters of 20, 30, and 40 mm are used, with a total length of 500 mm. The helix is continuous over the
... Show MoreThe moisture sorption isotherms of Mefenamic acid tablets were investigated by measuring the experimental equilibrium moisture content (EMC) using the static method of saturated salt solutions at three temperatures (25, 35, and 45°C) and water activity range from 0.056 to 0.8434. The results showed that EMC increased when relative humidity increased and the sorption capacity decreased, the tablets became less hygroscopic and more stable when the temperature increased at constant water activity. The sorption curves had a sigmoid shape, type II according to Brunauer’s classification. The hysteresis effect was significant along with the whole sorption process. The results were fitted to three models: Oswin, Smith, and Guggen
... Show MoreIn the present work, the effect of size of zinc dust particles on
AC argon discharge characteristics are investigated
experimentally. The plasma characteristics are determined by
using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) techniques. The
results illustrated that the electron temperature (Te) in the present
and absent of Zinc dust particle is reduced with increasing of
pressure. The electron temperature decreases with increasing of
Zinc dust size. Excitation temperature Tex is reduces with
increasing of Ar pressure in present and absent of zinc dust
particles. The present of Zinc dust reduce the Tex of Ar in both
Zinc dust size. The electron density increasing in the present and
absent of both zinc dust siz
The piled raft is a geotechnical composite construction consisting of three elements: piles, raft and soil.
In the design of piled rafts, the load shared between the piles and the raft, and the piles are used up to a
load level that can be of the same order of magnitude as the bearing capacity of a comparable single
pile or even greater. Therefore, the piled raft foundation allows reduction of settlements in a very
economic way as compared to traditional foundation concepts.
This paper presents experimental study to investigate the behavior of piled raft system in sandy
soil. A small scale “prototype” model was tested in a sand box with load applied to the system through
a compression machine. The settlement was
A cantilever beam is made from composite material which is consist of (matrix: polyester) and (particles: Silicon-Carbide) with different volume fraction of particles. A force is applied at the free end of beam with different values. The experimental maximum deflection of beam which occurs at the point of the applied load is recorded. The deflection and slope of beam are analyzed by using FEM modeling. MATLAB paltform is built to assemble the equations, vector and matrix of FEM and solving the unknown variables (deflection and slope) at each node. Also ANSYS platform is used to modeling beam in finite element and solve the problem. The numerical methods are used to compare the results with the theoretical and experimental data. A good ag
... Show MoreAbstract
This paper represents a study of the effect of the soil type, the drilling parameters and the drilling tool properties on the dynamic vibrational behavior of the drilling rig and its assessment in the drilling system. So first, an experimental drilling rig was designed and constructed to embrace the numerical work.
The experimental work included implementation of the drill-string in different types of soil with different properties according to the difference in the grains size, at different rotational speeds (RPM), and different weights on bit (WOB) (Thrust force), in a way that allows establishing the charts that correlate the vibration acceleration, the rate of penetration (ROP), and the power
... Show MoreCreep 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
... Show MoreVibration 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
... Show MoreSuccessfully, theoretical equations were established to study the effect of solvent polarities on the electron current density, fill factor and efficiencies of Tris (8-hydroxy) quinoline aluminum (Alq3)/ ZnO solar cells. Three different solvents studied in this theoretical works, namely 1-propanol, ethanol and acetonitrile. The quantum model of transition energy in donor–acceptor system was used to derive a current formula. After that, it has been used to calculate the fill factor and the efficiency of the solar cell. The calculations indicated that the efficiency of the solar cell is influenced by the polarity of solvents. The best performance was for the solar cell based on acetonitrile as a solvent with electron current density of (5.0
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