Journal of Engineering

This study evaluates the turbidity removal efficiency of the AL-Muthana Water Treatment Plant (WTP) using data from previous years (2016 to 2020). Turbidity is a key indicator of water quality, and its removal is crucial for making water safe to drink. The average raw water turbidity was 26.7 NTU, with a minimum of 14 NTU and a maximum of 48 NTU. The study found that the removal efficiency varied between 68.8% and 78.5% over the years, with the goal being to achieve a turbidity value of 5 NTU for filtered water.

The study investigates the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete L-shaped spandrel beams when tension reinforcement is laterally distributed over the effective flange width. Using the finite element method, numerical analysis was performed on discretized beam models validated with experimentally verified specimens. A parametric study evaluated the influence of various factors on the beam's flexure behavior. Results indicated that distributing more than 33% of the web tension reinforcement over the flange width led to a significant drop in flexure strength and excessive deflection. The study recommends not exceeding this distribution to maintain structural integrity.

The research investigates the use of alternative soils to traditional clay in the core of zoned earth dams to reduce seepage. Experiments were conducted to test the permeability of silty and sandy soils with various additives. A numerical model using Geo-Studio software (SEEP/W) was employed to simulate the experimental model. The results showed that sandy soil with 10% cement kiln dust (CKD) and 5% cement had permeability close to clay soil. The model was calibrated with core soils from HIMREEN and HADITHA earth dams, showing high agreement between simulated and real cases.

The study investigates the impact of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) links on the Kurdistan power system, which has been expanded over the years. The main problem addressed is the active and reactive power losses in long transmission lines1. Using a 132kV, 50 Hz, 36-bus system as a case study, load flow analysis was performed using the ETAP.16 program with the Newton-Raphson method. The results showed that incorporating HVDC links significantly reduced power losses

The study focuses on extracting Methylene Blue (MB), a cationic dye, from synthetic wastewater using a Bulk Liquid Membrane (BLM) technique. The feed phase was an aqueous solution of MB, soybean oil was used as the liquid membrane phase, and tri-octyl amine acted as the carrier. The stripping phase was a hydrochloric acid solution. Various parameters like equilibrium time, pH of feed and stripping phases, stirring speed, carrier concentration, initial feed concentration, and strip phase concentration were studied to determine the optimal conditions for maximum extraction and recovery of MB. The removal efficiency of MB using soybean oil was found to be 92% under the optimal conditions: pH in the feed phase (11), pH in the stripping phase (5), initial concentration of MB (20 ppm), carrier concentration (7% v/v), and stirring speed (250 rpm).

This paper proposes a novel method for generating True Random Numbers (TRNs) using electromechanical switches. The proposed generator is implemented using an FPGA board. The system utilizes the phenomenon of electromechanical switch bounce to produce a randomly fluctuated signal that is used to trigger a counter to generate a binary random number. Compared to other true random number generation methods, the proposed approach features a high degree of randomness using a simple circuit that can be easily built using off-the-shelf components. The proposed system is implemented using a commercial relay circuit connected to an FPGA board that is used to process and record the generated random sequences. Applying statistical testing on the experimentally generated sequences revealed a high degree of randomness, which proves its viability to modern applications, such as cryptography and communication system simulation and modeling.