Journal of Engineering

This paper describes flexural behavior of two spans continuous rectangular concrete beams
reinforced with mild steel and partially prestressing strands, to evaluate using different
prestressing level and prestressing area in continuous prestressed beams at serviceability and
ultimate stages. Six continuous concrete beams with 4550 mm length reinforced with mild steel
reinforcement and partially prestressed with two prestressing levels of (0.7fpy or 0.55fpy) of and
different amount of 12.7 mm diameter seven wire steel strand were used. Test results showed
that the partially prestressed reinforced beams with higher prestressing level exhibited the
narrowest crack width, smallest deflection and strain in both steel and concrete at ultimate
service load, the deflection decreased by (3.60% & 32.49%) and the crack width decreased by
(20.0%) and (75.0%) when increasing the prestressing level from (0.55fpy) to (0.7fpy) for beams
reinforced with one and two strands respectively. Deflection of beams with two strands
decreased by (44.81% & 22.2%) compared with beams of one strand at prestressing level of (0.7
fpy) and (0.55 fpy), respectively. At ultimate load, using ACI-Code recommended moment
redistribution led to more agreement between theoretical and experimental loads for both
ordinary reinforced and partially prestressed beams.

Permanent deformation (Rutting) of asphalt pavements which appears in many roads in Iraq,
have caused a major impact on pavement performance by reducing the useful service life of
pavement and creating services hazards for highway users. The main objective of this research is
investigating the effect of some contributory factors related to permanent deformation of asphalt
concrete mixture. To meet the objectives of this research, available local materials are used
including asphalt binder, aggregates, mineral filler and modified asphalt binder. The Superpave
mix design system was adopted with varying volumetric compositions. The Superpave Gyratory
Compactor was used to compact 24 asphalt concrete cylindrical specimens. To collect the
required data and investigate the development of permanent deformation in asphalt concrete
under repeated loadings, Wheel-Tracking apparatus has been used in a factorial testing program
during which 44 slab samples; with dimensions of 400×300×50 mm; were tested to simulate
actual pavement. Based on wheel-tracking test results, it has been concluded that increasing the
compaction temperature from 110 to 150ºC caused a decreasing in permanent deformation by
20.5 and 15.6 percent for coarse and fine gradation control asphalt mixtures respectively. While
the permanent deformation decreased about 21.3 percent when the compaction temperature is
increased from 110 to 150ºC for coarse gradation asphalt mixtures modified with styrene
butadiene styrene SBS with 3 percent by asphalt binder weight.

The non-isothermal crystallization kinetics and crystalline properties of nanocomposites
poly butyleneterephthalate, [PBT] /multiwalled-carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were tested by
differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). PBT/(MWCNTs) nanocomposite was prepared by
ultrasonicated of MWCNTs (0.5, 1, 2, 4 wt %) in dichloromethane (DCM) and after that the
powdered PBT polymer was added to the MWCNTs solution. The non-isothermal crystallization
results show that increasing the MWCNTs contents, decreased the melting temperature (Tm) of
PBT/(MWCNTs) nanocomposite as compared with pure PBT, while resulting in improving the
degree of crystallinity. These results indicated that a little amount of MWCNTs can be evident
strong nucleating agent in PBT nanocomposites. Avrami kinetics model results given a good
agreement with the frequent investigation. The Kissinger method shows the MWCNTs had a
well nucleation effect on the crystallization of PBT, and the enhancement activation energy (Ea)
with increased the MWCNTs in PBT/ (MWCNTs) nanocomposite.

The use of biopolymer material Chitosan impregnated granular activated carbon CHGAC
as adsorbent in the removal of lead ions pb2+ from aqueous solution was studied using batch
adsorption mode. The prepared CHGAC was characterized by Scanning Electronic Microscopy
(SEM) and atomic-absorption spectrophotometer. The adsorption of lead ions onto Chitosan-
impregnated granular activated carbon was examined as a function of adsorbent weight, pH and
contact time in Batch system. Langmuir and Freundlich models were employed to analyze the
resulting experimental data demonstrated that better fitted by Langmuir isotherm model than
Freundlich model, with good correlation coefficient. The maximum adsorption capacity calculated
from the pseudo second order model in conformity to the experimental values. This means that the
adsorption performance of lead ions onto CHGAC follows a pseudo second order model, which
illustrates that the adsorption of Pb2+ onto CHGAC was controlled by chemisorption. The granular
activated carbon GAC impregnated by Chitosan was effectively applied as adsorbent for the
elimination of lead ions from aqueous solution.

In this work, the design and implementation of a smart energy metering system has been
developed. This system consists of two parts: billing center and a set of distributed smart
energy meters. The function of smart energy meter is measuring and calculating the cost of
consumed energy according to a multi-tariff scheme. This can be effectively solving the
problem of stressing the electrical grid and rising consumer awareness. Moreover, smart energy
meter decreases technical losses by improving power factor. The function of the billing center
is to issue a consumer bill and contributes in locating the irregularities on the electrical grid
(non-technical losses). Moreover, it sends the switch off command in case of the consumer bill
is not paid. For implementation of smart energy meter, the microcontroller (PIC 18F45K22) is
used. For communication between billing center and smart energy meters, ZigBee technology
is adopted. The necessary program for smart energy meter is written in MicroC PRO, while the
program for billing center is written in visual C#.

Compression for color image is now necessary for transmission and storage in the data bases
since the color gives a pleasing nature and natural for any object, so three composite techniques
based color image compression is implemented to achieve image with high compression, no loss
in original image, better performance and good image quality. These techniques are composite
stationary wavelet technique (S), composite wavelet technique (W) and composite multi-wavelet
technique (M). For the high energy sub-band of the 3rd level of each composite transform in each
composite technique, the compression parameters are calculated. The best composite transform
among the 27 types is the three levels of multi-wavelet transform (MMM) in M technique which
has the highest values of energy (En) and compression ratio (CR) and least values of bit per pixel
(bpp), time (T) and rate distortion )R(D)). Also the values of the compression parameters of the
color image are nearly the same as the average values of the compression parameters of the three
bands of the same image.

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of magnetized water on accumulated
infiltration depth. A test rig was designed and constructed for this purpose was installed at the
water tests laboratory of the Department of Water Resources Engineering at the University of
Baghdad. The investigation was carried out by using two types of soil, different flow velocities
throughout magnetizing device and different configuration of magnets over and under the water
passage of the magnetizing device. The soils that were used in the experiments are clayey and
sandy soils. Six different flow velocities throughout magnetizing device ranged between 0.29 to
1.19 cm/s and ten configurations of arranging the magnets over and under the water passage of
the magnetizing device were used. The magnates are sintered neodymium-iron-boron type.
Tests results obtained with magnetized water were compared with those of untreated water.
Results showed that magnetizing water increases the accumulated infiltration depth for the two
types of soil. The highest increase in the accumulated infiltration depth is achieved under low
flow velocity throughout the magnetizing device and with ten magnets. This highest increase for
the clayey and sandy soils was 98.2% and 34.2%, respectively.

The growing population and the rising standard of living in cities as well as the
increased commercial, industrial and agricultural activities around the world led to
massive production of waste containing different materials and one of them is the
municipal solid waste (MSW), so there is a major problem facing the cities around the world about the waste, how to collect, transfer it and how to discard it. Because the
accumulation of wastes, whether in the city alleys or in its squares and especially in
its residential areas affect the health of their populations besides this situation will be
a major indication of the deteriorating quality of life in the city, as hygiene considered
a fundamental criterion for the city beauty as well as an indication of the protection
provided by the city to their environment and the level of protection provided to the
health of city residence. The accumulated waste which is left in the city without
treatment significantly affects the psychological behavior of the residence of these
areas towards their community and environment and therefore their behavior towards
their regions and their cities. From here emerged the general research problem
concerning the modern civilization and its lifestyle that produced great amounts of
(municipal solid waste), which became a big problem facing the modern cities
concerning their collection, transportation and finally their disposal, how can these
great amounts of waste be used whether by recycling, energy recovery or transferring
to plant fertilizers ... etc. To serve the sustainable growth of these modern cities, this
lead to the specific research problem concerning the lack of clarity concerning the
impact of waste collection, transporting and treating and city urban environment and
its townscape. Research Hypothesis: The process of collecting, transporting and
treating city solid waste or using it has a great impact on city urban environment and
its townscape.

This paper deals with studying the effect of hole inclination angle on computing slip
velocity and consequently its effect on lifting capacity. The study concentrates on selected
vertical wells in Rumaila field, Southern Iraq. Different methods were used to calculate lifting
capacity. Lifting capacity is the most important factor for successful drilling and which reflex on
preventing hole problems and reduces drilling costs. Many factors affect computing lifting
capacity, so hence the effect of hole inclination angle on lifting capacity will be shown in this
study. A statistical approach was used to study the lifting capacity values which deal with the
effect of hole inclination angle and those values that do not put the effect of hole inclination
angle under consideration. Results illustrated that low hole inclination angles had a slight effect
on lifting capacity values , but this study could be used on high inclination angles like directional
wells or horizontal wells , hence high hole inclinations angle will yields high effect on lifting
capacity values.