State of the reverse osmosis membrane of sea water corso plant desalination (Algiers)

AbstractSeawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination is being increasingly emphasized as a strategy for conservation of limited resources of freshwater. Although desalination has been developed for the last few decades, the SWRO operation is still affected by membrane fouling. The membrane fouling of SWRO has a significant impact on operation of desalination plants. We follow the evolution of the permeate conductivity during three months of the sea water Corso (Algiers) plant desalination. The purpose of this work is to conduct an autopsy of fouled membranes in seawater using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled by an analysis EDX. This membrane shows a change of the surface morphology, which justifies the abrupt increase in the conductivity of the permeate in May 2006. In order to identify the nature of the fouling deposit, we analysed this deposit by Xrays diffraction (XRD)

Structure and Anticipatory Movements of the S6 Gate in K v Channels

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Transient growth analysis of the flow past a circular cylinder

We apply direct transient growth analysis in complex geometries to investigate its role in the primary and secondary bifurcation/transition process of the flow past a circular cylinder. The methodology is based on the singular value decomposition of the Navier-Stokes evolution operator linearized about a two-dimensional steady or periodic state which leads to the optimal growth modes. Linearly stable and unstable steady flow at Re=45 and 50 is considered first, where the analysis demonstrates that strong two-dimensional transient growth is observed with energy amplifications of order of 10(3) at U-infinity tau/D approximate to 30. Transient growth at Re=50 promotes the linear instability which ultimately saturates into the well known von-Kaacutermaacuten street. Subsequently we consider the transient growth upon the time-periodic base state corresponding to the von-Kaacutermaacuten street at Re=200 and 300. Depending upon the spanwise wavenumber the flow at these Reynolds numbers are linearly unstable due to the so-called mode A and B instabilities. Once again energy amplifications of order of 10(3) are observed over a time interval of tau/T=2, where T is the time period of the base flow shedding. In all cases the maximum energy of the optimal initial conditions are located within a diameter of the cylinder in contrast to the spatial distribution of the unstable eigenmodes which extend far into the downstream wake. It is therefore reasonable to consider the analysis as presenting an accelerator to the existing modal mechanism. The rapid amplification of the optimal growth modes highlights their importance in the transition process for flow past circular cylinder, particularly when comparing with experimental results where these types of convective instability mechanisms are likely to be activated. The spatial localization, close to the cylinder, of the optimal initial condition may be significant when considering strategies to promote or control shedding

Quantification of Outdoor Thermal Comfort Levels under Sea Breeze in the Historical City Fabric: The Case of Algiers Casbah

Thermal comfort in cities is an influential factor for citizens’ wellbeing and life quality. Urban microclimate studies have gained popularity following increasing urbanization trends and global climate change in recent years. Urban fabric and morphology in traditional cities represent a unique pattern both spatially and climatically. However, few studies have investigated traditional cities’ urban thermal comfort conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the thermal comfort in different subspaces of Algiers Casbah’s historic urban fabric, which falls in the hot Mediterranean climate (Csa). This research evaluated the human thermal sensation by applying the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) index. The methodology used was a mixed approach, including field measurements, calculations, and a survey questionnaire. The results indicate the presence of a high-stress level during the measurement periods, and notable differences between the subspaces in January (ΔPETMax.Jan = 3.7 °C) and August (ΔPETMax.Aug = 2.2 °C). The highest discomfort was recorded in spaces with collapsed buildings, especially during the hot hours of the day. The findings also highlight a strong impact of the sky view factor on the mean radiant temperature (Tmrt) and the physiological equivalent temperature (PET). The study discusses recommendations and ways to improve the design of outdoor spaces and relieve heat stress in the streets of traditional cities. Finally, this work helps urban managers and heritage conservators in urban rehabilitation policies concerning outdoor microclimate improvement

Modelling and control of an omnidirectional mobile manipulator

A new approach to control an omnidirectional mobile manipulator is developed. The robot is considered to be an individual agent aimed at performing robotic tasks described in terms of a displacement and a force interaction with the environment. A reactive architecture and impedance control are used to ensure reliable task execution in response to environment stimuli. The mechanical structure of our holonomic mobile manipulator is built of two joint manipulators mounted on a holonomic vehicle. The vehicle is equipped with three driven axles with two spherical orthogonal wheels. Taking into account the dynamical interaction between the base and the manipulator, one can define the dynamics of the mobile manipulator and design a nonlinear controller using the input-state linearization method. The control structure of the robot is built in order to demonstrate the main capabilities regarding navigation and obstacle avoidance. Several simulations were conducted to prove the effectiveness of this approach

Robustness Adaptive Control For a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor

This paper presents a vector control permanent magnet synchronous motor drive using backstepping control design. Backstopping control is proposed for replacing the existing PI controller to obtain high performance motion control systems for the speed control loop. Stability analysis based on Lyapunov theory is also performed to guarantee the convergence of the speed tracking error from all possible initials conditions. Computer simulations have been carried out in order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes. The results show that accurate tracking performance of the PMSM has been achieved

Comparative study of passivity and RST regulator applied to doubly fed induction machine

International audienceIn this paper we are interested in the control of Doubly Fed Induction Machine (DFIM) using the Passivity Based Control (PBC). This work presents a solution to the problem of DFIM that requires a state observer. The proposed method shows very important advantages for nonlinear systems, especially in the trajectory tracking to achieve the needed DFIM performance. In the obtained results, the passivity provides high efficiency in DFIM based system, namely in its stability and robustness. An improvement behavior has been observed in comparison to the results given by the RST controller