Analytical model and data-driven approach for concrete moisture prediction

The advent of smart sensing technologies has opened up new avenues for addressing the billion dollar problem in the wastewater industry of H2S corrosion in concrete sewer pipes, where there is a growing interest in monitoring the environmental properties that govern the rate of corrosion. In this context, this paper proposes a methodology to predict the moisture content of concretes through data-driven approach by using Gaussian Process Regression modeling. The experimental program in this study practices measurements during wetting and drying phases of concrete. The obtained moisture data is used to train the prediction model against interpreted electrical resistivity data. The data of analytical model formulated from Archie's Law is then analyzed with experimental and Gaussian Process prediction data

Estimation of crop coefficient for Marigold (Tagetes erecta (L.)) under drip irrigated greenhouse

Crop water consumption (ETc) varies from region to region depending on crop type, growth stages, soil, and climate conditions. In order to obtain full yield and avoid unnecessary water usage, the water demand of the cultivated plants should be accurately calculated, and irrigation water should be applied in accordance with plant needs. In this, the study was carried out in field No.C3 of Central farm at Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Kumulur, Trichy district to determine the growth stage-specific crop coefficient (Kc) and pan coefficient (Kp) for the greenhouse grown marigold (Tagetes erecta (L.). Since, a large area was occupied by a ClassA pan, the reduced-size evaporative pans (20 and 60 cm compared with Class A pan) was used and pan coefficient was determined as 0.93 and 0.96 respectively. A pan coefficient (Kp) was used to convert pan evaporation (Epan) to grass reference evapotranspiration (ETo). Based on the tensiometer readings, the depleted moisture content was taken to reckon the crop coefficient for different growth stage. The results revealed that crop coefficient (Kc) for marigold was observed as 0.37 during the initial stage (Kcin), 0.8 during mid-stage (Kcmid) and 0.47 (Kcfin) during the final stage. These results would be helpful for crop water requirement and irrigation scheduling for similar condition

ANALYSIS OF GRE PIPES WITH EPOXY RESIN COMPOSITE MATERIAL AND MATERIAL TEST SPECIFICATION

At present scenario composite materials has been extensively used in variety of fields right from house holds to aircrafts for its superior properties like lower specific weight, strength to weight ratio and modulus to weight ratio. In this project effort has been made to extend its application to pipes. Conventional pipes have its own disadvantages such as higher specific weight, low corrosion resistance and low strength which can be replaced by the composite pipes .Design of composite pipe has been done as conventional pipe for its inner diameter and its wall thickness. Structural analysis has been made with ANSYS 12 for its deformation and stress. Comparative study of ANSYS results for M.S.PIPES, and GRE pipes were done to justify the usage of GRE pipes.Filament winding process has been adopted to manufacture GRE pipes in a conventional lathe by implementing a winding setup. Hardness test and compressive test of GRE pipes to be done to assess its strength, leak and corrosion test for its ability to carry liquids.   Key words:- {?} ij -Stress component,    [C]    ijkl- Stiffness marix,  {? } ij -        Strain component ,                     [S]ijkl -  Compliance matrix ,   GRE - Glass reinforced epoxy,  PAN -  Poly acrylo nitrile

A Study on Pulmonary Tuberculosis in HIV Reactive Persons

INTRODUCTION : Tuberculosis, an ancient disease, continues to remain even today as a major public health problem in much of the developing countries like India. The Problem is now complicated by relentless spread of Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes Acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic and the emergence of multi drug resistant strains. Infection with HIV results in progressive immunodeficiency and renders the infected person become increasingly vulnerable to wide range of pathogens. In many parts of the world Tuberculosis is the most common opportunistic infection in HIV infected person. The immune defects produced by HIV influence the natural course of TB infection. Thus the HIV pandemic has altered both the epidemiology of TB and measures for approaches to its control. In populations where the risk of TB and HIV infections are high, the incidence of TB is expected to increase particularly in countries like India. In this study, an attempt has been made to study the Clinical Spectrum, laboratory and radiological changes in patients having pulmonary TB in HIV Patients. AIMS OF THE STUDY : 1. To study the clinical spectrum of pulmonary TB and HIV patients attending our Medical college Hospital. (both inpatients and outpatients). 2. To study the laboratory and radiological changes in the above said patients. 3. To evaluate the diagnostic limitations of tuberculin test and sputum smear microscopy for AFB in patients having tuberculosis infection in HIV. MATERIALS AND METHODS : The study was conducted in the Antiretroviral therapy (ART) op in Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital, Salem in 2005. Inclusion Criteria : 1. Patients included in the age group between 12 and 60. 2. Patients with CD4+ cells counts with less than or equal to 200 cells per mm3 ( < 200 ). 3. Newly diagnosed cases of pulmonary TB in HIV patients. 4. Both sputum positive and sputum negative with X-ray and clinical evidence of PTB in HIV positive patients. 5. Patients having pulmonary manifestations only. Exclusion Criteria : 1. Patients with age group of 60. 2. Patients with CD4+ cell counts more than 200 cells per mm3 (> 200). 3. Patients having only extrapulmonary manifestation like, pleural effusion, lymphadenopathy, Meningitis etc. 4. Patients having chronic ailements like CRF, Diabetes Mellitus, CCF, Stroke etc. Methods : In this study, the eligible patients attending both medicine OPD and ART OP were evaluated in the following way. (a) Detailed History taking. (b) Physical examination. (c) Laboratory examinations which includes complete hemogram, blood biochemistry, Sputum smears, X – ray chest, CD4+ cell count, Tuberculin test and LFT, if needed USG abdomen and CT scan. The details are collected in a Proforma. CONCLUSION : a) In our part of the world Tuberculosis is the common opportunistic infection even in advanced stages of HIV infection. b) It commonly affects male in the productive age groups (21 to 40). c) Most of the patients in advanced stages usually present with more than 3 of the 5 clinical features such as cough with expectoration, dyspnoea, fever, weight loss and hemoptysis. d) Oral thrush is present in about 35% patients which serves as an indicator of severity of disease (HIV infection). e) Patients with Tuberculosis in HIV positive persons can present with normal X-ray even in advanced stages of HIV disease also. Hence presence of normal X-ray does not rule out the possibility of Tuberculosis in HIV patients. f) Patients in later stages of HIV infection usually present with atypical radiological patterns such as lower zone infiltrates, mid zone and lower zone cavities, pleural effusions, and hilar / paratracheal lymphadenopathy although classical upper zone infiltrates and cavities occur in less than 25 to 30% of patients. g) Majority of the patients (42%) were in the CD4+ cell counts range of 100 to 200 Cells / mm3. With the conventional sputum positivity and if Tuberculin test not providing an adequate diagnostic help, familiarity with the clinico – radiological spectrum of Tuberculosis is absolutely necessary

Predictive analytics for detecting sensor failure using autoregressive integrated moving average model

© 2017 IEEE. Sensors play a vital role in monitoring the important parameters of critical infrastructure. Failure of such sensors causes destabilization to the entire system. In this regard, this paper proposes a predictive analytics solution for detecting the failure of a sensor that measures surface temperature from an urban sewer. The proposed approach incorporates a forecasting technique based on the past time series of sparse data using an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. Based on the 95% forecast interval and continuity of faulty data, a criterion was set to detect anomalies and to issue a warning for sensor failure. The forecasted and faulty data were assumed Gaussian distributed. By using the probability density of the distribution, the mean and variance were computed for faulty data to examine the abnormality in the variance value of each day to detect the sensor failure. The experimental results on the sewer temperature data are appealing

Frequency sweep based sensing technology for non-destructive electrical resistivity measurement of concrete

© 2019 International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction I.A.A.R.C. All rights reserved. Electrical resistivity is an important parameter to be monitored for the conditional assessment and health monitoring of aging and new concrete infrastructure. In this paper, we report the design and development of a frequency sweep based sensing technology for non-destructive electrical resistivity measurement of concrete. Firstly, a sensing system prototype was developed based on the Wenner probe arrangement for the electrical resistivity measurements. This system operates by integrating three major units namely current injection unit, sensing unit and microcontroller unit. Those units govern the overall operations of the sensing system. Secondly, the measurements from the developed unit were compared with the measurements of the commercially available device at set conditions. This experimentation evaluated the measurement performance and demonstrated the effectiveness of the developed sensor prototype. Finally, the influence of rebar and the effect of frequency on the electrical measurements were studied through laboratory experimentation on a concrete sample. Experimental results indicated that the electrical resistivity measurements taken at a closer proximity to the rebar had its influence than the measurements taken away from the rebar in the ideal set condition. Also, the increase in electrical resistivity to the increase in frequency was observed, and then the measurements show lesser variations to higher frequency inputs

Robust sensing suite for measuring temporal dynamics of surface temperature in sewers

© 2018, The Author(s). Sewerage systems are paramount underground infrastructure assets for any nation. In most cities, they are old and have been exposed to significant microbial induced corrosion. It is a serious global problem as they pose threats to public health and economic repercussions to water utilities. For managing sewer assets efficaciously, it is vital to predict the rate of corrosion. Predictive models of sewer corrosion incorporate concrete surface temperature measurements as an observation. However, currently, it has not been fully utilized due to unavailability of a proven sensor. This study reports the feasibility of infrared radiometer for measuring the surface temperature dynamics in the aggressive sewer conditions. The infrared sensor was comprehensively evaluated in the laboratory at different environmental conditions. Then, the sensor suite was deployed in a Sydney based sewer for three months to perform continuous measurements of surface temperature variations. The field study revealed the suitability of the developed sensor suite for non-contact surface temperature measurements in hostile sewer conditions. Further, the accuracy of the sensor measurements was improved by calibrating the sensor with emissivity coefficient of the sewer concrete. Overall, this study will ameliorate the present sewer corrosion monitoring capabilities by providing new data to models predicting sewer corrosion

Design and performance of subirrigation system in maize (Zea mays) in Kumulur farm, Trichy district, Tamil Nadu, India

Subirrigation system can furnish water to plants. The upward flux and the discharge rate must satisfy the plant’s lifesaving irrigation needs during summer. The experiment was laid out in  A-block of Eastern farm, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Kumulur, Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Subirrigation system spacing was arrived using Moody's equation calculated as 10 m. The experiment was laid out in spilt plot design with three replications. Four drain spacing levels (7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 m) were the main plot treatments and two levels of depth and diameter of drain pipes (75 cm, 60 cm &amp; 75 mm, 63 mm) were the sub plot treatments. The highest volumetric water content was recorded in 7.5 m spacing + 45 cm soil depth + lower reach (S1T3T1). Capillary rise on water table management system under subirrigation mode was fixed as 33.5 cm and the average deep percolation loss was obtained in 0.3 cm/d at development stage of crop period. The highest maize yield (4.30 t/ha) was obtained in 7.5 m spacing + 60 cm drain depth + 75 mm diameter (S1D3). The highest water use efficiency of (0.86 kg/m3) was recorded in 7.5 m spacing + 60 cm drain depth + 75 mm drain diameter (S1D3). This subirrigation system could furnish water to plants due to upward flux and the same system also functioned efficiently under drainage modes and removed the waterlogging during wet periods.       

Capacitive Sensor Based 2D Subsurface Imaging Technology for Non Destructive Evaluation of Building Surfaces

Understanding the underlying structure of building surfaces like walls and floors is essential when carrying out building maintenance and modification work. To facilitate such work, this paper introduces a capacitive sensor-based technology which can conduct non-destructive evaluation of building surfaces. The novelty of this sensor is that it can generate a real-time 2D subsurface image which can be used to understand structure beneath the top surface. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations are done to understand the best sensor head configuration that gives optimum results. Hardware and software components are custom-built to facilitate real-time imaging capability. The sensor is validated by laboratory tests, which revealed the ability of the proposed capacitive sensing technology to see through common building materials like wood and concrete. The 2D image generated by the sensor is found to be useful in understanding the subsurface structure beneath the top surface

Estimation of land surface temperature for Coimbatore District using Landsat imagery

The impact of climate change is visually witnessed in the present environment by various natural disasters. This phenomenon of land surface temperature is one of the significant aspects to be estimated for the study of climate change. The increase in Land Surface Temperature (LST) may be due to ongoing developments in the field of urbanization and globalization. The objective of the study was to estimate the increase in the LST in relation to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and assess the spatial variation in the LST due to land use/land cover change. The study utilized Landsat 8 data to assess the land-use changes and their relation with LST in one of the main urbanized cities, i.e.  Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu, using Landsat imagery due to the availability of various land cover types by using the mathematical expressions in ARCMAP software. This study compares the LST between 2015 and 2020 to observe the change in the NDVI and LST over a period of 5 years in the Coimbatore district. There was an increase of 1°C in 5 years and the area of high LST had been increased comparatively. The maximum LST was found to be 73°C in 2015, which increased to 74°C in the year 2020 ;and the minimum LST was found to be 15°C in 2015, which increased to 19°C in the year 2020 depicting the ongoing change in the land use of the district. The study findings will help promulgate sustainable urban land-use policies and can be used for mitigating climate change