Utilization Potential of Glass Fiber and Crumbled Rubber as Subgrade Reinforcement for Expansive Soil

Due to its high potential for volume change, expansive soil is a problematic building material that can cause harm to road infrastructure. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of glass fiber and rubber on the properties of expansive soil and their suitability as subgrade reinforcement in road applications. For different percentages of glass fiber and rubber in the soil, the Maximum Dry Density (MDD), Optimum Moisture Content (OMC), and CBR were measured. The results demonstrated that the incorporation of glass fiber and rubber improved the soil's properties. With increasing fiber and rubber content, the MDD and CBR increased, while the OMC decreased. In addition, the strength of the reinforced soil was significantly greater than that of the unreinforced soil. The research indicates that the addition of glass fiber and rubber can improve the efficacy of expansive soil as subgrade reinforcement in road applications.   Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2023-04-03-06 Full Text: PD

Reduction of effective cost for seawater desalination using floated solar energy in south of Jordan Aqaba Port

The major issue that prevails all over the world is potable water. Only 1% of all Earth’s water exists as liquid, whereas less than 3% as freshwater, mostly glaciers, and 97% as salt water. Desalination is the process of removing salt from sea water in order to obtain fresh water. Nowadays, scientists are exploring seawater desalination for potable water. Another key concern that exists in any country is clean energy. The energy crisis is due to overconsumption of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal. Engineers try various sources of renewable energy. The cost of potable water and clean energy, say, the cost pertaining to capital, operation, maintenance, performance, and fuel, has increased year after year. The technologies for generating renewable energy, like solar and wind, do not have fuel costs. Modern desalination techniques incur a high initial investment and a higher maintenance cost. The life-cycle cost per litre of potable water generated by the solar stills is lower than that of conventional methods. The most cost-effective way to power desalination plants is with solar power. Seawater desalination with the use of solar power is employed in these regions as a viable alternative solution. Jordan is a country in western Asia. Water and energy sources are scarce in Jordan, with water availability in Jordan is estimated to be less than 100 m3 per year. Jordan imports 95% of its energy needs. Jordan plans to generate 14% of the country’s electricity by utilizing wind and solar energy. The use of solar stills in Jordan can reduce the dependency on oil and gas for power generation. The use of floating solar stills for seawater desalination represents a promising tool for Jordan. Solar stills work on the evaporation and condensation processes. They distil water by using the heat of the sun. Efficiency and productivity have been measured to quantify the performance of solar stills. Solar stills have the advantages of simplicity, low cost, ease of maintenance, and low environmental impact. In this paper, an attempt is made to analyze the types, materials, components, design, performance, cost, benefits, advantages, and limitations of solar stills. The paper also discussed the reduction of the effective cost of seawater desalination using floated solar energy in Jordan's Aqaba Port

On the population median estimation using quartile double ranked set sampling

In this article, quartile double ranked set sampling (QDRSS) method is considered for estimating the population median. The sample median based on QDRSS is suggested as an estimator of the population median. The QDRSS is compared with the simple random sampling (SRS), ranked set sampling (RSS) and quartile ranked set sampling (QRSS) methods. A real data set is used for illustration. It turns out that, for the symmetric distributions considered in this study, the QDRSS estimators are unbiased of the population median and are more than their counterparts using SRS, RSS and QRSS based on the same sample number of measured units. For asymmetric distributions, QDRSS is biased and it is more efficient than SRS, QRSS for all sample size m while it is more efficient than RSS if m>4