This paper aims to validate a proposed finite element model to be adopted in predicting displacement and soil stresses of a piled-raft foundation. The proposed model adopts the solid element to simulate the raft, piles, and soil mass. An explicit integration scheme has been used to simulate nonlinear static aspects of the piled-raft foundation and to avoid the computational difficulties associated with the implicit finite element analysis.

The validation process is based on comparing the results of the proposed finite element model with those of a scaled-down experimental work achieved by other researchers. Centrifuge apparatus has been used in the experimental work to generate the required stresses to simulate t

Total quality management  considers one of the modern scientific entrances  which practiced by productivity service organizations alike to provide appropriate quality required outputs according to the needs and desires of customers manage , enable the organization seeking to continue and grow in light of the increasing competition from the satisfy and provide the appropriate total quality management requirements whenever led to face risks that they may have  in a manner in which they can be addressed and find ways to avoid them in the future when repeated.                          &n

A high settlement may take place in shallow footing when resting on liquefiable soil if subjected to earthquake loading. In this study, a series of shaking table tests were carried out for shallow footing resting on sand soil. The input motion is three earthquake loadings (0.05g, 0.1g, and 0.2g). The study includes a reviewing of theoretical equations (available in literatures), which estimating settlement of footings due to earthquake loading, calibration, and verification of these equations with data from the shaking table test for improved soil by grouting and unimproved soil. It is worthy to note that the grouting materials considered in this study are the Bentonite and CKD slurries. A modification to the seismic set

The proposed design of neural network in this article is based on new accurate approach for training by unconstrained optimization, especially update quasi-Newton methods are perhaps the most popular general-purpose algorithms. A limited memory BFGS algorithm is presented for solving large-scale symmetric nonlinear equations, where a line search technique without derivative information is used. On each iteration, the updated approximations of Hessian matrix satisfy the quasi-Newton form, which traditionally served as the basis for quasi-Newton methods. On the basis of the quadratic model used in this article, we add a new update of quasi-Newton form. One innovative features of this form's is its ability to estimate the energy functio

Trace Elements (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni) level were examined in hair of donors from industrial areas, cities and village, and in permanent contact with a polluted workplace environment in lattakia. Hair sample were analyzed for their contents of the trace elements by inductivity coupled plasma- mass spectrometer (ICP- MS). It was found that the contents of (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni) in the hair were significantly higher in the industrial areas and cities, while in the village had the lower concentration of elements. Correlation coefficients between the levels of the elements in hair found in this study showed that hair is a good indicator of Environmental Pollution.

 Bored piles settlement behavior under vertical loaded is the main factor that affects the design requirements of single or group of piles in soft soils. The estimation of bored pile settlement is a complicated problem because it depends upon many factors which may include ground conditions, validation of bored pile design method through testing and validation of theoretical or numerical prediction of the settlement value. In this study, a prototype single and bored pile group model of arrangement (1*1, 1*2 and 2*2) for total length to diameter ratios (L/D) is 13.33 and clear spacing three times of diameter, subjected to vertical axial loads. The bored piles model used for the test was 2000

Iraq is highly dependent on international markets to provide food for its residents. As imported food prices are highly dependent on crude oil prices in global markets, any shock in oil prices will have an impact on food consumption in the country. As a result, it is essential to study the demand for imported food at every time period. To the best of our knowledge as researchers, as not even a single study is available in the literature, this paper is considered the first to study the demand for imported food groups in Iraq. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to estimate demand elasticities for several imported food categories in Iraq. This study uses an Almost Ideal Demand System model to analyze the demand for imported f

This study presents an adaptive control scheme based on synergetic control theory for suppressing the vibration of building structures due to earthquake. The control key for the proposed controller is based on a magneto-rheological (MR) damper, which supports the building. According to Lyapunov-based stability analysis, an adaptive synergetic control (ASC) strategy was established under variation of the stiffness and viscosity coefficients in the vibrated building. The control and adaptive laws of the ASC were developed to ensure the stability of the controlled structure. The proposed controller addresses the suppression problem of a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) building model, and an earthquake control scenario was conducted and simulat

This research presents experimental and theoretical investigation of 15 reinforced concrete spliced and nonspliced girder models. Splices of hooked dowels and cast in place joints, with or without strengthening steel plates were used. Post-tensioning had been used to enhance the splice strength for some spliced girders. The ANSYS computer program was used for analyzing the spliced and non-spliced girders. A nonlinear three dimensional element was used to represent all test girders. The experimental results have shown that for a single span girder using steel plate connectors in the splice zone has given a sufficient continuity to resist flexural stresses in this region. The experimental results have shown that the deflection of hooked do

In this article, the solvability of some proposal types of the multi-fractional integro-partial differential system has been discussed in details by using the concept of abstract Cauchy problem and certain semigroup operators and some necessary and sufficient conditions.