This paper deals with prediction the effect of soil re-moulding (smear) on the ultimate bearing capacity of driven piles. The proposed method based on detecting the decrease in ultimate bearing capacity of the pile shaft (excluding the share of pile tip) after sliding downward. This was done via conducting an experimental study on three installed R.C piles in a sandy clayey silt soil. The piles were installed so that a gap space is left between its tip and the base of borehole. The piles were tested for ultimate bearing capacity according to ASTM D1143 in three stages. Between each two stages the pile was jacked inside the borehole until a sliding of about 200mm is achieved to simulate the soil re-moulding due to actual pile driving. The re

The clutch system is essential for gently transmitting power from the engine to the gearbox, in addition to other tasks such as absorbing vibration, inertia reducing, and working as a protector against the overload for the motor and the components of power transmission. A new approach is developed for this research paper, to find a dry clutch system’s optimal design and operational parameters to improve performance and thermal behavior. Three design factors were selected to design the numerical tests based on the Taguchi method which are the friction material, the applied pressure function, and the dimensionless radius ratio R. A three-dimensional finite element model was developed, and the numerical cases were designed using the Taguchi

Cyber security is a term utilized for describing a collection of technologies, procedures, and practices that try protecting an online environment of a user or an organization. For medical images among most important and delicate data kinds in computer systems, the medical reasons require that all patient data, including images, be encrypted before being transferred over computer networks by healthcare companies. This paper presents a new direction of the encryption method research by encrypting the image based on the domain of the feature extracted to generate a key for the encryption process. The encryption process is started by applying edges detection. After dividing the bits of the edge image into (3×3) windows, the diffusions

In the field of construction project management, time and cost are the most important factors to be considered in planning every project, and their relationship is complex. The total cost for each project is the sum of the direct and indirect cost. Direct cost commonly represents labor, materials, equipment, etc.
Indirect cost generally represents overhead cost such as supervision, administration, consultants, and interests. Direct cost grows at an increasing rate as the project time is reduced from its original planned time. However, indirect cost continues for the life of the project and any reduction in project time means a reduction in indirect cost. Therefore, there is a trade-off between the time and cost for completing construc

In this paper, a new class of nonconvex sets and functions called strongly -convex sets and strongly -convex functions are introduced. This class is considered as a natural extension of strongly -convex sets and functions introduced in the literature. Some basic and differentiability properties related to strongly -convex functions are discussed. As an application to optimization problems, some optimality properties of constrained optimization problems are proved. In these optimization problems, either the objective function or the inequality constraints functions are strongly -convex. 

A substantial percentage of the world’s energy consumption (almost 40%) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (around 37%) come from the construction industry, especially schools. This work presents a new hybrid artificial intelligence (AI) engineering model that aims to maximize energy performance on campuses in a holistic way. Modules for data-driven forecasting, metaheuristic optimization, and real-time adaptive control are all part of the concept. A thorough energy simulation of a university campus building is used in conjunction with the AI model to assess its performance through a co-simulation framework. Findings show that yearly peak electricity demand may be reduced by 18.7% and total site energy consumption by 22.4% when co

Multi-belled piles are piles with enlarged ends; these piles have one or further bells at the lower third part of the pile. These piles are suitable for many soils with problems such as softening clay, the variation of groundwater table, expansive soils, black cotton soil, and loose sand. The current study reviewed the behavior of belled piles in multi-layer soils subjected to axial compression and pullout loading. The review covered the experimental and theoretical works on belled piles in multi-layered soils. These piles were subjected to static and dynamic loadings in compression and pullout cases. Most theoretical results focused on software such as PLAXIS 3D. The axial load applied on the piles comes from the upper

 A new technique in cultivation by installing membrane sheet below the crop’s root zone was helped to save irrigation water in the root zone, less farm losses, increasing the field water use efficiency and water productivity. In this paper, the membrane sheet was installed below the root zone of zucchini during the summer growing season 2017 in open field.  This research was carried out in a private field in Babil governorate at Sadat Al Hindiya Township reached 72 km from Baghdad. Surface trickle irrigation system was used for irrigation process. Two treatment plots were used, treatment plot T1 using membrane sheet and treatment plot T2 without using the membrane sheet. The applied irrigation water, time of