• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental Modelling

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The importance of applying an appropriate approach to modelling wastewater treatment plants

  • Dzubur, Alma;Serdarevic, Amra
    • Coupled systems mechanics
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.121-132
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    • 2022
  • Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are designed and built to remove contaminants from wastewater. WWTPs are composed of various facilities equipped with hydro-mechanical and electrical equipment. This paper presents a comparison of two different approaches for WWTPs modelling. Static modelling is suitable for determining the dimensions of facilities and equipment capacity. The special significance of this approach is for the design of new plants, i.e., when a very small number of input data on the quantities and composition of the influent wastewater is available. Dynamic modelling is expensive, time consuming and requires great expertise in the use of simulators, models and very good understanding of the treatment processes. Also, dynamic modelling is very important to use for optimization, consideration of future scenarios and also possible scenarios on the plant. The comparison of two approaches was made on the input data from the biggest and most important plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H)-WWTP Butila (Sarajevo). The main idea is to show the differences between two demanding accesses. It is important to know how to apply an adequate approach to research and solve the set task. The II phase of the plant Butila, which includes the removal of nutrients, is planned in several years and therefore the importance of research has increased.

Modelling CO2 and NOx on signalized roundabout using modified adaptive neural fuzzy inference system model

  • Sulaiman, Ghassan;Younes, Mohammad K.;Al-Dulaimi, Ghassan A.
    • Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.107-113
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    • 2018
  • Air quality and pollution have recently become a major concern; vehicle emissions significantly pollute the air, especially in large and crowded cities. There are various factors that affect vehicle emissions; this research aims to find the most influential factors affecting $CO_2$ and $NO_x$ emissions using Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) as well as a systematic approach. The modified ANFIS (MANFIS) was developed to enhance modelling and Root Mean Square Error was used to evaluate the model performance. The results show that percentages of $CO_2$ from trucks represent the best input combination to model. While for $NO_x$ modelling, the best pair combination is the vehicle delay and percentage of heavy trucks. However, the final MANFIS structure involves two inputs, three membership functions and nine rules. For $CO_2$ modelling the triangular membership function is the best, while for $NO_x$ the membership function is two-sided Gaussian.

Modeling shear behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with externally bonded CFRP sheets

  • Khan, Umais;Al-Osta, Mohammed A.;Ibrahim, A.
    • Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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    • v.61 no.1
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    • pp.125-142
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    • 2017
  • Extensive research work has been performed on shear strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) beams retrofitted with externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) in form of strips. However, most of this research work is experimental and very scarce studies are available on numerical modelling of such beams due to truly challenging nature of modelling concrete shear cracking and interfacial interaction between components of such beams. This paper presents an appropriate model for RC beam and to simulate its cracking without numerical computational difficulties, convergence and solution degradation problems. Modelling of steel and CFRP and their interfacial interaction with concrete are discussed. Finally, commercially available non-linear finite element software ABAQUS is used to validate the developed finite element model with key tests performed on full scale T-beams with and without CFRP retrofitting, taken from previous extensive research work. The modelling parameters for bonding behavior of CFRP with special anchors are also proposed. The results presented in this research work illustrate that appropriate modelling of bond behavior of all the three types of interfaces is important in order to correctly simulate the shear behavior of RC beams strengthened with CFRP.

Concrete structures under combined mechanical and environmental actions: Modelling of durability and reliability

  • Vorechovska, Dita;Somodikova, Martina;Podrouzek, Jan;Lehky, David;Teply, Bretislav
    • Computers and Concrete
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.99-110
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    • 2017
  • Service life assessments which do not include the synergy between mechanical and environmental loading are neglecting a factor that can have a significant impact on structural safety and durability assessment. The degradation of concrete structure is a result of the combined effect of environmental and mechanical factors. In order to make service life design realistic it is necessary to consider both of these factors acting simultaneously. This paper deals with the advanced modelling of concrete carbonation and chloride ingress into concrete using stochastic 1D and 2D models. Widely accepted models incorporated into the new fib Model Code 2010 are extended to include factors that reflect the coupled effects of mechanical and environmental loads on the durability and reliability of reinforced concrete structures. An example of cooling tower degradation by carbonation and an example of a bended reinforced concrete beam kept for several years in salt fog are numerically studied to show the capability of the stochastic approach. The modelled degradation measures are compared with experimental results, leading to good agreement.

Trend of Physical Modelling For Ground Subsidence And Study of Its Application (지반함몰 모형실험 연구동향 및 적용방안 고찰)

  • Jeong, Seong-Yun;Jeong, Yeong-Hoon;Kim, Dong Soo
    • Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.1-10
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    • 2017
  • Recently, increasing cases of ground subsidence in the urban area has become social issue, and related bill has been passed. Ground subsidence occurs through complex combination of various factors, and numerical analysis of this problem is limited thereby. This is why verification of ground subsidence mechanism has been conducted through physical modelling. Previous researches has been focused on modelling ground subsidence caused by utility pipe defects, and there has been insufficient physical modelling study on ground subsidence caused by various reasons such as groundwater flow and excavation activity. Also, most previous physical modelling studies were performed in 1g condition, which cannot take the in-situ stress condition into the evaluation of the ground subsidence mechanism. Therefore, in this study, physical modelling techniques to simulate various conditions is discussed by studying the previous researches on the ground subsidence mechanism through physical modelling. Also, centrifuge modelling test is suggested in this study as the technique to perform more reliable evaluation of ground subsidence mechanism. Lastly, this study suggests to apply the techniques used in the evaluation of ground subsidence mechanism into Ground Stability Assessment.

Flood Risk Management for Weirs: Integrated Application of Artificial Intelligence and RESCON Modelling for Maintaining Reservoir Safety

  • Idrees, Muhammad Bilal;Kim, Dongwook;Lee, Jin-Young;Kim, Tae-Woong
    • Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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    • 2020.06a
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    • pp.167-167
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    • 2020
  • Annual sediment deposition in reservoirs behind weirs poses flood risk, while its accurate prediction remains a challenge. Sediment management by hydraulic flushing is an effective method to maintain reservoir storage. In this study, an integrated approach to predict sediment inflow and sediment flushing simulation in reservoirs is presented. The annual sediment inflow prediction was carried out with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) modelling. RESCON model was applied for quantification of sediment flushing feasibility criteria. The integrated approach was applied on Sangju Weir and also on estuary of Nakdong River (NREB). The mean annual sediment inflow predicted at Sangju Weir and NREB was 400,000 ㎥ and 170,000 ㎥, respectively. The sediment characteristics gathered were used to setup RESCON model and sediment balance ratio (SBR) and long term capacity ratio (LTCR) were used as flushing efficiency indicators. For Sangju Weir, the flushing discharge, Qf = 140 ㎥/s with a drawdown of 5 m, and flushing duration, Tf = 10 days was necessary for efficient flushing. At NREB site, the parameters for efficient flushing were Qf = 80 ㎥/s, Tf = 5 days, N = 1, Elf = 2.24 m. The hydraulic flushing was concluded feasible for sediment management at both Sangju Weir and NREB.

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A Study on the Application of Ecological Structural Dynamic Modelling (생태 모델링기법으로서 동적구조모형의 고찰)

  • Kim, Jwa-Kwan
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.213-222
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    • 2004
  • Exergy is defined as the amount of work (entropy-free energy) a system can perform when it is brought into thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment. Exergy measures the distance from the inorganic soup in energy terms. Therefore, exergy can be considered as fuel for any system that converts energy and matter in a metabolic process. The aim of this study is to introduce structural dynamic modelling which is based on maximum exergy principle. Especially, almost ecological models couldn't explain algal succession until now. New model (structural dynamic model) is anticipated to predict or explain the succession theory. If the new concept using maximum exergy principle is used, algal succession can be explained in many actual cases. Therefore, It is estimated that structural dynamic model using maximum exergy principle might be a excellent tool to understand succession of nature from now on.

Force-deformation behaviour modelling of cracked reinforced concrete by EXCEL spreadsheets

  • Lam, Nelson;Wilson, John;Lumantarna, Elisa
    • Computers and Concrete
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.43-57
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    • 2011
  • Force-deformation modelling of cracked reinforced concrete is essential for a displacement-based seismic assessment of structures and can be achieved by fibre-element analysis of the cross-section of the major lateral resisting elements. The non-linear moment curvature relationship obtained from fibre-element analysis takes into account the significant effects of axial pre-compression and contributions by the longitudinal reinforcement. Whilst some specialised analysis packages possess the capability of incorporating fibre-elements into the modelling (e.g., RESPONSE 2000), implementation of the analysis on EXCEL is illustrated in this paper. The outcome of the analysis is the moment-curvature relationship of the wall cross-section, curvature at yield and at damage control limit states specified by the user. Few software platforms can compete with EXCEL in terms of its transparencies, versatility and familiarity to the computer users. The program has the capability of handling arbitrary cross-sections that are without an axis of symmetry. Application of the program is illustrated with examples of typical cross-sections of structural walls. The calculated limiting curvature for the considered cross-sections were used to construct displacement profiles up the height of the wall for comparison with the seismically induced displacement demand.