• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental applications

Search Result 2,157, Processing Time 0.031 seconds

Factors affecting the infiltration rate and removal of suspended solids in gravel-filled stormwater management structures

  • Guerra, Heidi B.;Yuan, Qingke;Kim, Youngchul
    • Membrane and Water Treatment
    • /
    • v.10 no.1
    • /
    • pp.67-74
    • /
    • 2019
  • Apparent changes in the natural hydrologic cycle causing more frequent floods in urban areas and surface water quality impairment have led stormwater management solutions towards the use of green and sustainable practices that aims to replicate pre-urbanization hydrology. Among the widely documented applications are infiltration techniques that temporarily store rainfall runoff while promoting evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge through infiltration, and diffuse pollutant reduction. In this study, a laboratory-scale infiltration device was built to be able to observe and determine the factors affecting flow variations and corresponding solids removal through a series of experiments employing semi-synthetic stormwater runoff. Results reveal that runoff and solids reduction is greatly influenced by the infiltration capability of the underlying soil which is also affected by rainfall intensity and the available depth for water storage. For gravel-filled structures, a depth of at least 1 m and subsoil infiltration rates of not more than 200 mm/h are suggested for optimum volume reduction and pollutant removal. Moreover, it was found that the length of the structure is more critical than the depth for applications in low infiltration soils. These findings provide a contribution to existing guidelines and current understanding in design and applicability of infiltration systems.

Evolution of post-peak localized strain field of steel under quasi-static uniaxial tension: Analytical study

  • Altai, Saif L.;Orton, Sarah L.;Chen, Zhen
    • Structural Engineering and Mechanics
    • /
    • v.83 no.4
    • /
    • pp.435-449
    • /
    • 2022
  • Constitutive modeling that could reasonably predict and effectively evaluate the post-peak structural behavior while eliminating the mesh-dependency in numerical simulation remains to be developed for general engineering applications. Based on the previous work, a simple one-dimensional modeling procedure is proposed to predict and evaluate the post-peak response, as characterized by the evolution of localized strain field, of a steel member to monotonically uniaxial tension. The proposed model extends the classic one-dimensional softening with localization model as introduced by (Schreyer and Chen 1986) to account for the localization length, and bifurcation and rupture points. The new findings of this research are as follows. Two types of strain-softening functions (bilinear and nonlinear) are proposed for comparison. The new failure criterion corresponding to the constitutive modeling is formulated based on the engineering strain inside the localization zone at rupture. Furthermore, a new mathematical expression is developed, based on the strain rate inside and outside the localization zone, to describe the displacement field at which bifurcation occurs. The model solutions are compared with the experimental data on four low-carbon cylindrical steel bars of different lengths. For engineering applications, the model solutions are also compared to the experimental data of a cylindrical steel bar system (three steel bars arranged in series). It is shown that the bilinear and nonlinear softening models can predict the energy dissipation in the post-peak regime with an average difference of only 4%.

Corrosion Behavior of Ytterbium Silicates in Water Vapor Atmosphere at High Temperature for Environmental Barrier Coating Applications (환경차폐코팅용 이터븀 실리케이트의 고온 수증기부식 거동)

  • Min-Ji Kim;Jae-Hyeong Choi;Seongwon Kim
    • Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
    • /
    • v.56 no.6
    • /
    • pp.443-450
    • /
    • 2023
  • SiC/SiCf CMC is vulnerable to water vapor corrosion at a high temperature of 1500℃. So, EBC (Environmental Barrier Coating) materials are required to protect Si-based CMCs. Ytterbium silicates are reported to have coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) similar to that of the base material, such as SiC/SiCf CMC. When the EBC are materials exposed to high temperature environment, the interface between ytterbium silicates and SiC/SiCf CMC is not separated, and the coating purpose can be safely achieved. For the perspective of EBC applications, thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer with different CTE is formed by the reaction with water vapor in EBC, which leads to a decrease in life time. In this study, we prepare two types of ytterbium silicates to observe the corrosion behavior during the expose to high temperature and water vapor. In order to observe this behavior, the steam-jet furnace is prepared. In addition, phase formation of these ytterbium silicates is analyzed with microstructures by the before/after steam-jet evaluation at 1500℃ for 100 h.

Three-dimensional porous graphene materials for environmental applications

  • Rethinasabapathy, Muruganantham;Kang, Sung-Min;Jang, Sung-Chan;Huh, Yun Suk
    • Carbon letters
    • /
    • v.22
    • /
    • pp.1-13
    • /
    • 2017
  • Porous materials play a vital role in science and technology. The ability to control their pore structures at the atomic, molecular, and nanometer scales enable interactions with atoms, ions and molecules to occur throughout the bulk of the material, for practical applications. Three-dimensional (3D) porous carbon-based materials (e.g., graphene aerogels/hydrogels, sponges and foams) made of graphene or graphene oxide-based networks have attracted considerable attention because they offer low density, high porosity, large surface area, excellent electrical conductivity and stable mechanical properties. Water pollution and associated environmental issues have become a hot topic in recent years. Rapid industrialization has led to a massive increase in the amount of wastewater that industries discharge into the environment. Water pollution is caused by oil spills, heavy metals, dyes, and organic compounds released by industry, as well as via unpredictable accidents. In addition, water pollution is also caused by radionuclides released by nuclear disasters or leakage. This review presents an overview of the state-of-the-art synthesis methodologies of 3D porous graphene materials and highlights their synthesis for environmental applications. The various synthetic methods used to prepare these 3D materials are discussed, particularly template-free self-assembly methods, and template-directed methods. Some key results are summarized, where 3D graphene materials have been used for the adsorption of dyes, heavy metals, and radioactive materials from polluted environments.

Use of Bioluminescent Indicator Acinetobacter Bacterium for Screening and Characterization of Active Antimicrobial Agents

  • Haleem Abd-El;A.M. Desouky;Zaki Sahar A.
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • /
    • v.16 no.11
    • /
    • pp.1706-1712
    • /
    • 2006
  • Because of the need for new antimicrobial substances with novel mechanisms of action, we report here the use of an Acinetobacter reporter system for high-throughput screening of active antimicrobial agents. The bioreporter Acinetobacter strain DF4/PUTK2 carrying luciferase genes luxCDABE was chosen because of its ecological importance and it is widespread in nature. This bioreporter is genetically engineered to emit light constitutively that can be measured in real time by luminometry. Hence, this reporter system was employed to determine the bacteriostatic actions of spent-culture supernatants derived from twelve bacterial isolates. Out of the results, the strongest bioluminescence inhibitory effect of the supernatants was recorded with Bacillus cereus strain BAC (S5). Subsequently, ethyl acetate extracts of extracellular products of strain BAC (S5) were separated by a thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Based on the bioluminescence inhibitory assay, three fractions were found to have antimicrobial activity. One fraction (C) having the strongest antimicrobial activity was further purified using TLC and characterized by IR, $^1H$ NMR, mass spectrometry, SDS-PAGE, and amino acid composition analysis. The results predicted the presence of 2-pyrrolidone-S-carboxylic acid (PCA) and the octadeconic-acid-like fatty acid. Fraction C also demonstrated a broad inhibitory activity on several Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. In conclusion, the Acinetobacter reporter system shows great potential to be a reliable, sensitive, and real-time indicator of the bacteriostatic actions of the antimicrobial agents.

Pressure Sensitive Adhesion Performances of SIS/SBS based UV-curable Pressure Sensitive Adhesives using Thiol-ene Reaction (Thiol-ene 반응을 이용한 UV경화형 SIS/SBS계 점착제의 점착물성)

  • Lim, Dong-Hyuk;Do, Hyun-Sung;Kim, Hyun-Joong;Yoon, Goan-Hee;Bang, Jung-Suk
    • Journal of Adhesion and Interface
    • /
    • v.6 no.3
    • /
    • pp.19-25
    • /
    • 2005
  • Synthetic rubber based pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) usually containing SIS or SBS block copolymer, tackifier, plasticizer, and other additives are now widely used on various applications. As these PSAs are physically crosslinked and can be applied without the use of solvent, they are thermally processable and environmentally friendly. However these PSAs cannot be used in high temperature applications and in applications where solvent and chemical resistance properties are required. We developed the PSA adding UV curable system, such as thiol-ene system, to increase adhesion properties at elevated temperature. The adhesion properties such as probe tack, peel strength, shear adhesion failure temperature (SAFT) were evaluated. The probe tack test was conducted with varying probe materials and coating thickness of PSAs. Using the contact angle, the surface property of the cured PSAs was also observed.

  • PDF

A Review of Magnetic Exploration in Korea (한국의 자력탐사)

  • Park, Yeong-Sue;Lim, Mu-Taek;Rim, Hyoung-Rae;Koo, Sung-Bon
    • 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
    • /
    • 2008.10a
    • /
    • pp.13-20
    • /
    • 2008
  • Magnetic method is rapid, cheap and simple geophysical exploration technique, and has wide range of applications such as resources prospecting, geological structure investigation and even geotechnical and environmental problems. Documents during Japanese occupation says that magnetic method was used for exploring metallic ore deposits and hot spring, and that a geomagnetic observatory was operated. From mid 1950's, magnetic explorations for natural resources such as metallic ore, uranium, coal, and groundwater were intensively executed for industrialization. Magnetic survey techniques were rapidly advanced during 1970's and 1980's with improvements of instruments, growth of geophysical manpower, and availability of computers. Decline of mining industry since mid 1980's moved the exploration objects from traditional resources to new ones such as groundwater and geothermal resources. Recently appeared applications such as natural hazard assessment, and engineering and environmental studies increased the magnetic method's utility in the realm of exploration.

  • PDF

Energy harvesting techniques for health monitoring and indicators for control of a damaged pipe structure

  • Cahill, Paul;Pakrashi, Vikram;Sun, Peng;Mathewson, Alan;Nagarajaiah, Satish
    • Smart Structures and Systems
    • /
    • v.21 no.3
    • /
    • pp.287-303
    • /
    • 2018
  • Applications of energy harvesting from mechanical vibrations is becoming popular but the full potential of such applications is yet to be explored. This paper addresses this issue by considering an application of energy harvesting for the dual objective of serving as an indicator of structural health monitoring (SHM) and extent of control. Variation of harvested energy from an undamaged baseline is employed for this purpose and the concept is illustrated by implementing it for active vibrations of a pipe structure. Theoretical and experimental analyses are carried out to determine the energy harvesting potential from undamaged and damaged conditions. The use of energy harvesting as indicator for control is subsequently investigated, considering the effect of the introduction of a tuned mass damper (TMD). It is found that energy harvesting can be used for the detection and monitoring of the location and magnitude of damage occurring within a pipe structure. Additionally, the harvested energy acts as an indicator of the extent of reduction of vibration of pipes when a TMD is attached. This paper extends the range of applications of energy harvesting devices for the monitoring of built infrastructure and illustrates the vast potential of energy harvesters as smart sensors.

From Airborne Via Drones to Space-Borne Polarimetric- Interferometric SAR Environmental Stress- Change Monitoring ? Comparative Assessment of Applications

  • Boerner, Wolfgang-Martin;Sato, Motoyuki;Yamaguchi, Yoshio;Yamada, Hiroyoshi;Moon, Woo-Il;Ferro-Famil, Laurent;Pottier, Eric;Reigber, Andreas;Cloude, Shane R.;Moreira, Alberto;Lukowski, Tom;Touzi, Ridha
    • Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
    • /
    • 2003.11a
    • /
    • pp.1433-1435
    • /
    • 2003
  • Very decisive progress was made in advancing fundamental POL-IN-SAR theory and algorithm development during the past decade. This was accomplished with the aid of airborne & shuttle platforms supporting single -to-multi-band multi-modal POL-SAR and also some POL-IN-SAR sensor systems, which will be compared and assessed with the aim of establishing the hitherto not completed but required missions such as tomographic and holographic imaging. Because the operation of airborne test-beds is extremely expensive, aircraft platforms are not suited for routine monitoring missions which is better accomplished with the use drones or UAVs. Such unmanned aerial vehicles were developed for defense applications, however lacking the sophistic ation of implementing advanced forefront POL-IN-SAR technology. This shortcoming will be thoroughly scrutinized resulting in the finding that we do now need to develop most rapidly POL-IN-SAR drone-platform technology especially for environmental stress-change monitoring with a great variance of applications beginning with flood, bush/forest-fire to tectonic-stress (earth-quake to volcanic eruptions) for real-short-time hazard mitigation. However, for routine global monitoring purposes of the terrestrial covers neither airborne sensor implementation - aircraft and/or drones - are sufficient; and there -fore multi-modal and multi-band space-borne POL-IN-SAR space-shuttle and satellite sensor technology needs to be further advanced at a much more rapid phase. The existing ENVISAT with the forthcoming ALOSPALSAR, RADARSAT-2, and the TERRASAT will be compared, demonstrating that at this phase of development the fully polarimetric and polarimetric-interferometric modes of operation must be viewed and treated as preliminary algorithm verification support modes and at this phase of development are still not to be viewed as routine modes.

  • PDF

Low-power Environmental Monitoring System for ZigBee Wireless Sensor Network

  • Alhmiedat, Tareq
    • KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
    • /
    • v.11 no.10
    • /
    • pp.4781-4803
    • /
    • 2017
  • Environmental monitoring systems using Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) face the challenge of high power consumption, due to the high levels of multi-hop data communication involved. In order to overcome the issue of fast energy depletion, a proof-of-concept implementation proves that adopting a clustering algorithm in environmental monitoring applications will significantly reduce the total power consumption for environment sensor nodes. In this paper, an energy-efficient WSN-based environmental monitoring system is proposed and implemented, using eight sensor nodes deployed over an area of $1km^2$, which took place in the city of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia. The effectiveness of the proposed environmental monitoring system has been demonstrated through adopting a number of real experimental studies.