Journal of Engineering

The present study highlights the effects of medium fuel oil (MFO) on the chemical, physical
and mechanical properties of clay soil samples (disturbed and undisturbed) obtained from the
site of the electrical power plant in the campus of the University of Baghdad at Al-Jadriah
distract in Baghdad/Iraq. The soil sample has classified according to the unified soil
classification system (USCS) as CL and described as lean clay of low plasticity. The medium
fuel oil is an industrial wastewater disposed as a byproduct from the fuel used in the electricity
power plant. The soil samples are artificially contaminated with two percentages of medium
fuel oil, 10 and 20 % in related to the dry weight of soil. The soil samples had mixed with the
contaminant (MFO) by the hands and then left for 4 days for homogeneity. A series of
laboratory tests are conducted on both natural and artificially contaminated soil samples to
measure the effects of medium fuel oil on the chemical, physical and mechanical properties of
soil samples. The results of tests showed that the medium fuel oil has significant impacts on
some properties of soil and slight effects on the others. Increasing the percentage of
contaminant causes a slight decrease in the liquid limit and particle size distribution; on the
other hand, it causes a considerable increase in the consolidation parameters and decrease in
shear strength parameters. Also, there is a slight change in the chemical composition of soil
samples.

It is impractical to monitor lakes water quality by conventional field methods because of
expense and time consuming. Satellite image is more convenient to be used to collect the
required data for monitoring and assessing lakes water quality. This study aims to develop a
water clarity estimation model based on remote sensing and GIS techniques to estimate and
assess the water clarity within Dokan Lake in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Twenty points in the
lake were selected and studied at autumn and spring seasons. For assessing water clarity, the
Secchi Disk Transparency (SDT) and the Trophic State Index (TSI) were used at these twenty
stations in the lake. Multiple linear regression is used to obtain mathematical models for
estimating the water clarity depending on spectral reflectance of Landsat 8 OLI. In this study, the
new band (coastal blue) of Landsat 8 OLI has been undertaken in developing of the monitoring
models. Moreover, new Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and new 7 band ratios with 16
band combinations have been investigated. The obtained highest determination coefficient values
for SDT and TSI were 0.98 and 0.87 for autumn season and 0.95 and 0.97 for spring season
respectively. Generally, for spring season, the performance of all models is reduced due to
seasonal change, variance of parameters and other factors. The developed models were used to
map the water clarity distribution within Dokan Lake. The results of the developed SDT and TSI
models showed that the correlation of all bands of Landsat 8 OLI is appropriate to monitor the
water clarity. These models can be effectively used to monitor the water clarity within the lake
with conservation of time efforts and cost.

Housing in Iraq became intractable problem, due to fragmental approach in treating and
solutions. Mobilizing all abilities within collective frameworks is required; such as partnership
approach. Research problem is the absence of clear vision for integration type between
housing sectors that cause real difficulties of housing provision. Research aims to offer flexible
formula integrating potential of various sectors in the framework of a comprehensive
housing strategy. Hypothesis is: effective partnership is possible in light of the integration
public sector as activating element with private sector as active element to produce driving
force for housing process. It has reviewed most of concepts, patterns and formats of
partnerships, in light of some developing countries experiences. There is no crystallized effective
partnership formula in Iraq. Research proposed formula based on complementary integration of
private sector, and (ngo), and users, under the roof of (public sector). This formula was tested in
light of inquiry of five categories of those concerned with housing affairs. Results were often
compatible with basic joints of the formula and relatively compliant with its mechanism details.
Conclusion: partnership is possible in light of individual potentialities, activated by non
conventional means with legislative reforms.

In this paper, the axisymmetric bending behavior of FG_CNTRC moderately thick
cylinder under the effect of internal pressure and thermal load is investigated. Three kinds of
distributions of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) are utilized, that is uniform and
two types of functionally graded distributions of CNTs through the radial direction of
cylinder. The governing equations are derived based on the elasticity theory. The steady state
heat conduction with convection heat transfer on the inner surface of cylinder and the thermo
elastic equations are solved numerically by the finite element method. A computer program
by Fortran95 (FTN95) has been built to obtain the temperature distribution and displacement
field through the radial and longitudinal direction of the cylinder. In detail, parametric studies
have been achieved to show the effect of convection heat transfer coefficient and the kind of
CNTs distributions on the bending response of the cylinder. It’s found that the percentage
increasing in the radial displacement (Ur) about (34%), when the value of conduction heat
transfer coefficient increase from (hc=5 W/m2 K) to (hc=5 W/m2 K). Also, it’s found that, the
value of (Ur = 0.15) for FG_V as compared with the value (Ur = 0.1) for the FG_X
distribution. Moreover, the influence of various boundary conditions is also investigated. The
accuracy of the current study is validated by comparative study with that available in the
literature and found that the percentage error between two studies in the range of (0.022%,
0.042%, and 0.047%) for UD, FG_V and FG_X distribution respectively. So, there is a good
agreement for the results.

In this study four types of cellulose-rich municipal solid wastes (residuals) of orange, banana peel,
corn residues, and saw dust were used as raw materials. These cellulosic substrates usually have a
lot of lignin content which prevents the process of saccharification by microorganisms. Thus
pretreatment methods of enzymatic, acid or base with enzymatic treatment and dilute acid followed
by autoclaving were necessary to dignify these wastes and to obtain higher reducing sugar yields
and hence higher ethanol production. Dilute HCl acid of 1% followed by autoclaving at 121℃ for
30 min proved to give good result where significant amounts of reducing sugars were obtained at
the end of the saccharification process. Orange peel proved to give the highest glucose
concentration of an average of 6000 mg/l on day 4 of the saccharification process. Fermentation
was carried out for the hydrolyzed samples using Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. The amount of
ethanol produced after fermentation was found to be the highest for orange peel having a value of
1300 mg/l after 96h of incubation. As science is proceeding, engineered microorganisms could
help to produce sustainable fuels from cellulose-rich municipal solid wastes in the future.

In this study eleven models of the rocket fins were made of hyper composite material with
different values of volume fraction of components (70%, 60%,50% for polyester, 40%,
30%,25%,20%,10% for fibers and 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%,40%for powder) to produce an
isotropic composite plate structure. The reinforcement of the matrix is done by mixing of the
polyester resin with the carbon fiber and carbon powder. Mechanical and thermal properties were
evaluated by conducting several tests. A concentrated load was applied on these models the effect of
adding the carbon powder on the maximum deflection and the effect of temperature on this
deflection were studied and discussed. The temperature range was suggested according to the matrix
ability and applications. The experimental results were verified numerically using ANSYS finite
element program. The results showed that the addition of carbon powder to the composite material
composed of polyester and glass fiber leads to increase the value of Young 's Modulus (maximum
value 6.36 GPa) and decrease the amount of maximum deflection. The maximum deflection was
increased with the increasing of temperature. The lowest value of maximum deflection was
occurred in the model composed of (50% polyester,30%glass fiber and 20% powder) which reached
to 1.56 mm. The comparison between experimental and numerical results showed a good agreement
between them.

The deterioration of buried sewers during their lifetime can be affected by several factors leading
to bad performance and can damage the infrastructure similar to other engineering structures. The
Hydraulic deterioration of the buried sewers caused by sewer blockages while the structural
deterioration caused by sewer collapses due to sewer specifications and the surrounding soil
characteristics and the groundwater level. The main objective of this research is to develop
deterioration models, which are used to predict changes in sewer condition that can provide
assessment tools for determining the serviceability of sewer networks in Baghdad city. Two
deterioration models were developed and tested using statistical software SPSS, the multiple
discriminant model (MDM) and neural network model (NNM). Zublin trunk sewer in Baghdad city
was selected as a case study. The deterioration model based on the NNDM provide the highest
overall prediction efficiency which could be attributed to its inherent ability to model complex
processes. The MDDM provided relatively low overall prediction efficiency, this may be due to the
restrictive assumptions by this model. For the NNDM the confusion matrix gave overall prediction
efficiency about 87.3% for model training and 70% for model validation, and the overall conclusion
from these models may predict that Zublin trunk sewer is of a poor condition.

This paper presents a new development of an on-line hybrid self-tuning control algorithm of the
Field Programmable Gate Array - Proportional Integral Derivative - Pulse Width Modulation
(FPGA-PID-PWM) controller for DC-DC buck converter which is used in battery operation of
mobile applications. The main goal in this work is to propose structure of the hybrid Bees-PSO
tuning control algorithm which has a capability of quickly and precisely searching in the global
regions in order to obtain optimal gain parameters for the proposed controller to generate the best
voltage control action to achieve the desired performance of the Buck converter output. Matlab
simulation results and Xilinx development tool Integrated Software Environment (ISE)
experimental work show the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed on-line hybrid Bees
PSO tuning control algorithm in terms of obtaining smooth and unsaturated state voltage control
action and minimizing the tracking voltage error of the Buck converter output. Moreover, the
fitness evaluation number is reduced.

This paper deals with the subject of modern urban transformations in the townscape of
the centers of historical cities, bringing changes to these centers, which represents the research
problem. The research aims to clarify the impact of changes in the physical urban scene and
the importance of assimilation of urban transformations to create a good civilized image in the
future of Alnajaf historical city center.
The most important findings of the research show that what distinguishes the case of the
historic center is a weakness in the panoramic installation urban scene, and the absence of
regular unit that combines the installation because of the spaces between the high rises on one
hand, and the absence of the true concept of urban renewing in the entire general context. So
the search is stressed to the need to add functional activities taking into account the urban
transformations and support the future of the historic center with the support of the moral and
material heritage of the historic city center, and contribute to social sustainability and activate
the environmental and economic environment of the urban side.