Finite element analysis of unreinforced masonry walls with different bond patterns

Masonry is the oldest building material, yet it is also the least understood due to the non-linear and composite nature of masonry, which consists of brick units, mortar, and unit-mortar contact. In this paper, the response of a two-dimensional masonry wall with a window opening subjected to an in-plane lateral pushover loading is simulated by varying the interface properties of brick such as crushing, elastic, cracking, and shear properties. The simplified micro-modeling technique with the Engineering Masonry model for bricks and linear stiffness properties for the interfaces in the bed and head joints is employed to investigate the geometric nonlinear behavior of the masonry wall. The pushover curves obtained from the numerical simulations indicate that there is a significant influence on the lateral load response of the wall due to elastic, crushing, and shear parameters while the cracking parameters have less impact on the ductile capacity of the structure. Moreover, the study is also extended to examine the effect of bond patterns such as English, Stretcher, Flemish, and Header bond with varied aspect ratios of 1,1.5 and 0.75. In all four bond patterns, it was observed that the walls with lower aspect ratios exhibited higher strength. Further, in comparison to the other bond patterns, walls with the Flemish bond pattern demonstrated higher strengths at both lower and higher aspect ratios

A state-of-the-art review of the electrocoagulation technology for wastewater treatment

The continued increase in urbanisation and industrialisation across the world has dramatically increased the amount and variety of waste, and, in particular, wastewater, being generated. Wastewaters contain a large variety of both organic and inorganic contaminants. Various wastewater treatment technologies have been developed over the last few decades to address the increasing concern around effective contaminant removal from wastewater. Electrocoagulation (EC) is one such technology that is broad-based, highly reliable, and cost-effective. It also has a high pollutant removal efficiency and generates less sludge when compared with other techniques. However, despite being effectively used to treat a wide range of wastewater, a thorough examination of its efficiency under various process variables has not been critically examined. Various operating factors, such as pH, current density, the conductivity of the solution, electrode material, and mixing conditions, impact the electrocoagulation system. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the electrocoagulation technique and examine the current challenges to the efficiency of the technique due to the various operating conditions. Some recent advances in the EC technology that present opportunities to improve treatment efficiency and increase the scope to treat newer varieties of wastewater are addressed