Effect of Activated Pozzolan with Ca(OH) 2 and nano-SiO2 on Microstructure and Hydration of High-Volume Natural Pozzolan Paste

The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of activated pozzolan on hydration and microstructure of high-volume natural pozzolan paste. Thermal activation of natural pozzolan with Ca(OH)2 has been applied with nano-silica (NS) as activator at three different temperatures. X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), laser particle analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy were employed. In order to analyze the test results, notions of “pre C-S-H” based on XRD and TGA results of activated pozzolan powders has been used. SEM images indicated microstructural improvements of the pastes with activated pozzolans compared to paste with natural pozzolan and natural pozzolan incorporating NS, showing the pore-filling effect of activated pozzolans. The microstructural improvements were proportion to the amount of pre C-S-H formed during the activation of pozzolan

An Artificial Neural Network For Hedging Crude Oil

A neural network model for hedging crude oil is introduced.  The NYMEX futures prices is used to investigate the effectiveness of this model. Empirical results show that the neural network model reduces price risk more than other approaches

The Best Location of Belt Truss System in Tall Buildings Using Multiple Criteria Subjected to Blast Loading

The main goal of this paper is to investigate the effect of blast phenomenon on structures to determine the best location of belt truss system in tall buildings. For this purpose, one of the exterior frames of a tall steel building, in which the belt truss is located, is considered. The steel frame model is subjected to two different charges of equivalent weight which are applied in two different standoff distances. In this research, the best location of the belt truss system is determined using OpenSees software based on the nonlinear dynamic analysis. The best location of the belt truss system for different types of loading is investigated both with and without considering the post-buckling effect for all members of the belt truss system. The results show that when blast charges are located in a 5-meter range from the building (R=5), post buckling effect of truss elements are more obvious than the case in which blast charges are located in a 10-meter range (R=10); this, in turn, causes the amount of base moment to be completely different when the belt truss is located in the first storey in comparison to the cases where the belt truss is located in any other stories. In addition, if the explosion occurs near the building when the base moment is considered as a criterion, the post buckling effect has a significant role

Finite Element Analysis of Functionally Graded Beams using Different Beam Theories

The present study deals with buckling, free vibration, and bending analysis of Functionally Graded (FG) and porous FG beams based on various beam theories. Equation of motion and boundary conditions are derived from Hamilton’s principle, and the finite element method is adopted to solve problems numerically. The FG beams are graded through the thickness direction, and the material distribution is controlled by power-law volume fraction. The effects of the different values of the power-law index, porosity exponent, and different boundary conditions on bending, natural frequencies and buckling characteristics are also studied. A new function is introduced to approximate the transverse shear strain in higher-order shear deformation theory. Furthermore, shifting the position of the neutral axis is taken into account. The results obtained numerically are validated with results obtained from ANSYS and those available in the previous work. The results of this study specify the crucial role of slenderness ratio, material distribution, and porosity condition on the characteristic of FG beams. The deflection results obtained by the proposed function have a maximum of six percent difference when the results are compared with ANSYS. It also has better results in comparison with the Reddy formulae, especially when the beam becomes slender. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2020-03091604 Full Text: PD

Optimal Location of Energy Dissipation Outrigger in High-rise Building Considering Nonlinear Soil-structure Interaction Effects

Buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) emerged to improve the seismic performance of high-rise structures as compared to the ordinary diagonal bracing. In this paper, the seismic performance of braced buildings with the BRB outrigger system is investigated to determine the optimal configuration of BRB outrigger, considering the nonlinear SSI effect. For this purpose, the nonlinear dynamic analysis is carried out on four braced buildings with a BRB outrigger system placed on three different soil types. The outrigger configuration changes from first to the top story to capture the seismic performance of different locations of BRB outrigger. It is observed that the outrigger location affects the seismic performance, which is measured in terms of inter-story drift ratio, story displacement, story shear, and energy dissipation capacity. The results are compared to the fixed base condition buildings, which proves considering SSI, shifts the optimal location to the upper story of the structure. Moreover, the effect of soil’s stiffness on the seismic responses of structures and the optimal BRB outrigger location is investigated. Finally, the merits of BRB outrigger are shown by comparing its seismic performance that of the conventional outrigger, under frequent, basic, and rare earthquakes. The results show that the optimal locations of different 2-D buildings rested on the dense soil, medium soil, and soft clay are obtained at 0.6, 0.65, and 0.7 of the building’s height (H), respectively. Also, the results show that the optimum location of the BRB outrigger system based on the energy dissipation criteria is 0.45H to 0.65H

Energy, economic, and environmental analysis of converging air-based photovoltaic-thermal (air/PV-T) systems: A yearly benchmarking

Two converging channel configurations of photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) systems, i.e., inlet and outlet at different sides (Case 1) and the inlet at the middle and outlets at the sides (Case 2), are investigated numerically. The results reveal that Case 1 features a nearly uniform and lower temperature distribution (up to 7 °C) for practical air flows, and the appropriate convergence ratio is 2:1 (inlet to outlet channel height) for which the PV surface temperature is lower by 8 °C than that of a similar conventional collector. Meanwhile, energy analyses based on the so called ‘rate of extra energy gain per PV surface area..