• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.210-215
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• 2018

Coal seam gas (CSG) water, to be discharged, has been usually treated in reverse osmosis (RO) plants which require extensive and expensive pre-treatment. However, current low gas prices have been a great driver for relevant industries to seek for alternative cost-effective technologies in the aspect of its beneficial use and fit-for-purpose usable water production. In this paper, a combined system with a two-stage pore control fiber (PCF) filtration and a RO system was designed and tested for CSG water treatment. Also, a coagulation reactor was placed in front of the PCF to further enhance suspended solid removal. More than 99% of SS were removed through the PCF filtration while organic, total nitrogen and total phosphorous were mostly removed by the RO system. Especially along with a decrease in conductivity, the total dissolved solid derived from salts was mainly removed in the RO system. Having $OH^-$ undetected, $HCO_3{^-}$ was found to be a dominant compound and its removal efficiency was 97-98% after the RO treatment. And a Fe(III) type of Polytetsu, which was the first to be tested in this paper, was found to be a better option than a Al(III) type of Poly Aluminium Chloride due to its greater coagulation efficiency and applicability at a broader range of pH than the Al(III) type. In addition, there was no noticeable change in oxidation reduction potential, suggesting that an additional process is required to oxidize non-ionic organic carbons (detected as total organic carbon).

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.268-274
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• 2012

To perform quick measurements of black carbon (BC) particles deposited on foliar surfaces of forest tree species, we investigated an optical method for measuring the amount of BC extracted from foliar surfaces and collected on quartz fiber filters. The seedlings of Fagus crenata, Castanopsis sieboldii, Larix kaempferi and Cryptomeria japonica were exposed to submicron BC particles for one growing season (1 June to 7 December 2009). At the end of the growing season, the leaves or needles of the seedlings were harvested and washed with deionized water followed by washing with chloroform to extract the BC particles deposited on the foliar surfaces. The extracted BC particles were collected on a quartz fiber filter. The absorption spectrum of the filters was measured by spectrophotometer with an integrating sphere. To obtain the relationship between the absorbance of the filter and the amount of BC particles on the filter, the amount of BC particles on the filter was determined as that of elemental carbon (EC) measured by a thermal optical method. At wavelengths below 450 nm, the absorption spectrum of the filter showed absorption by biological substances, such as epicuticular wax, resulting in the low coefficient of determination ($R^2$) in the relationship between the amount of EC on the filter ($M_{EC}$, ${\mu}g\;C\;cm^{-2}$ filter area) and the absorbance of the filter. The intercept of the regression line between $M_{EC}$ and the absorbance of the filter at 580 nm ($A_{580}$) was closest to 0. There was a significant linear relationship between the $A_{580}$ and $M_{EC}$ ($R^2$=0.917, p<0.001), suggesting that the amount of BC particles collected on the filter can be predicted from the absorbance. This optical method might serve as a simple, fast and cost-effective technique for measuring the amount of BC on foliar surfaces.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.232-239
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• 2011

Fabric fibrous filter has been used in various industrial applications owing to the low cost and wide generality. However, the basic properties of fabric materials often limit the practical utilization including hot gas cleaning. This study attempts to find new coatings of porous fibrous filter media in order to overcome its insufficient thermal resistance and durability. Teflon was one of the plausible chemicals to supplement the vulnerability against frequent external thermal impacts. A foaming agent composed of Teflon and some organic additives was tentatively coated on the glass fiber mat. The present test Teflon foam coated filter was fount to be useful for hot gas cleaning, up to $250^{\circ}C$-$300^{\circ}C$. Close examination using XPS(X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) and Contact angle proved the binding interactions between carbon and fluorine, which implies coating stability. The PTFE/Glass foam coated filter consisted of more than 95% (C-F)n bond, and showed super-hydrophobic with good-oleophobic characteristics. The contact angle of liquid droplets on the filter surface enabled to find the filter wet-ability against liquid water or oil.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.515-527
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• 2022

The application of fibers in concrete obviously enhances the properties of concrete, also the application of natural fibers in concrete is raising due to the availability, low cost and environmentally friendly. Besides, predicting the mechanical properties of concrete in general and shear strength in particular is highly significant in concrete mixture with fiber nanocomposite reinforced concrete (FRC) in construction projects. Despite numerous studies in shear strength, determining this strength still needs more investigations. In this research, Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) have been employed to determine the strength of reinforced concrete with fiber. 180 empirical data were gathered from reliable literature to develop the methods. Models were developed, validated and their statistical results were compared through the root mean squared error (RMSE), determination coefficient (R²), mean absolute error (MAE) and Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Comparing the RMSE of PSO (0.8859) and ANFIS (0.6047) have emphasized the significant role of structural parameters on the shear strength of concrete, also effective depth, web width, and a clear depth rate are essential parameters in modeling the shear capacity of FRC. Considering the accuracy of our models in determining the shear strength of FRC, the outcomes have shown that the R² values of PSO (0.7487) was better than ANFIS (2.4048). Thus, in this research, PSO has demonstrated better performance than ANFIS in predicting the shear strength of FRC in case of accuracy and the least error ratio. Thus, PSO could be applied as a proper tool to maximum accuracy predict the shear strength of FRC.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.757-774
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• 2016

Soils are usually weak in tension therefore different materials such as geosynthetics are used to address this inadequacy. Worldwide annual consumption of geosynthetics is close to $1000million\;m^2$, and the value of these materials is probably close to US$1500 million. Since the total cost of the construction is at least four or five times the cost of the geosynthetic itself, the impact of these materials on civil engineering construction is very large indeed. Nevertheless, there are several significant problems associated with geosynthetics, such as creep, low modulus of elasticity, and susceptibility to aggressive environment. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) was introduced over two decades ago in the field of structural engineering that can also be used in geotechnical engineering. CFRP has all the benefits associated with geosynthetics and it boasts higher strength, higher modulus, no significant creep and reliability in aggressive environments. In this paper, the performance of a CFRP reinforced retaining wall is investigated using the finite element method. Since the characterization of behavior of soils and interfaces are vital for reliable prediction from the numerical model, soil and interface properties are obtained from comprehensive laboratory tests. Based on the laboratory results for CFRP, backfill soil, and interface data, the finite element model is used to study the behavior of a CFRP reinforced wall. The finite element model was verified based on the results of filed measurements for a reference wall. Then the reference wall simulated by CFRP reinforcements and the results. The results of this investigations showed that the safety factor of CFRP reinforced wall is more and its deformations is less than those for a retaining wall reinforced with ordinary geosynthetics while their construction costs are in similar range.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.5
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• pp.611-622
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• 2021

Composite material-due to low density-causes weight savings, which results in lower fuel consumption of transport vehicles. The aim of the research was to change the existing base-plate of the aluminum airplane container with the composite sandwich plate in order to reduce the weight of the containers of cargo aircrafts. The newly constructed sandwich plate consists of aluminum honeycomb core and composite face-sheets. The face-sheets consist of glass or carbon or hybrid fiber layers. The orientations of the fibers in the face-sheets were 0°, 90° and ±45°. Multi-objective optimization method was elaborated for the newly constructed sandwich plates. Based on the design aim, the importance of the objective functions (weight and cost of sandwich plates) was the same (50%). During the optimization nine design constraints were considered: stiffness, deflection, facing stress, core shear stress, skin stress, plate buckling, shear crimping, skin wrinkling, intracell buckling. The design variables were core thickness and number of layers of the face-sheets. During the optimization both the Weighted Normalized Method of the Excel Solver and the Genetic Algorithm Solver of Matlab software were applied. The mechanical properties of composite face-sheets were calculated by Laminator software according to the Classical Lamination Plate Theory and Tsai-Hill failure criteria. The main added-value of the study is that the multi-objective optimization method was elaborated for the newly constructed sandwich structures. It was confirmed that the optimal new composite sandwich construction-due to weight savings and lower fuel consumption of cargo aircrafts - is more advantageous than conventional all-aluminum container.