Journal of Engineering

This paper discusses the indispensable role of sewer systems in urban cities for protecting public health and the environment. The study emphasizes the need for sustainable and scientific operation, maintenance, and rehabilitation of these networks. The authors propose a methodology based on serviceability and performance indicator (PI) principles, comprising two enhanced PI curves to evaluate individual sewers depending on operational factors such as flowing velocity and wastewater level. The methodology was tested in a case study of al-Rusafa in Baghdad city, where two combined trunk sewers (Zeblin and ET-trunks) were analyzed under average and peak dry weather flow scenarios. The performance evaluation showed a sub-index ranging from 0.5 (minimum level of performance) to 1 (excellent performance), indicating that these trunks, if well maintained, will provide sufficient service to the catchment. The study provides a prioritizing tool to help decision-makers manage the sewerage system better.

The present work investigates the feasibility of removing vanadium (V) and nickel (Ni) from Iraqi heavy gas oil using activated bentonite. Different operating parameters such as the degree of bentonite activation, activated bentonite loading, and operating time were investigated for their effect on heavy metal removal efficiency. Experimental results of the adsorption test show that the Langmuir isotherm predicts well the experimental data, and the maximum bentonite uptake of vanadium was 30 mg/g. The bentonite activated with 50 wt% H₂SO₄ shows a 75% removal for both Ni and V. Results indicated that within approximately 5 hours, the vanadium removal efficiencies were 33%, 45%, and 60% at vanadium loadings of 10, 30, and 40 ppm, respectively. Further processing of heavy gas oil with 10 ppm vanadium shows a continuous slight increase in metal removal with operating time. At 10, 20, 40, and 50 hours, the removal efficiency was 68%, 75%, 78%, and 78%, respectively. Results indicated that an equilibrium concentration of 10 ppm of vanadium was attained after 30 hours, while for nickel at a loading of 4 and 7 ppm, the equilibrium was achieved after 40 hours. Results depicted that activated bentonite has higher selectivity towards vanadium. Results depict that activated bentonite (ACB) has a remarkable capacity for the removal of V and Ni from heavy gas oil.

The gypseous soil may be one of the problems that face the engineers especially when it used as a foundation for hydraulic structures, roads, and other structures. Gypseous soil is strong soil and has good properties when it is dry, but the problem arises when building hydraulic installations or heavy buildings on this soil after wetting the water to the soil by raising the water table level from any source or from rainfall which leads to dissolve the gypsum content. Cement-stabilized soil has been successfully used as a facing or lining for earth channel, highway embankments and drainage ditches to reduce the risk of erosion and collapsibility of soil. This study is deliberate the treatment of gypseous soil by using a mixture of soil-cement. Collapsibility and settlement tests were carried out on gypseous soil brought from Karbla Governorate with a gypsum content (42.55%) soil mixed with various amounts of cement (2%,3%,5%,8%,10%,13%,and 15 %) by Wight and compacted to max. dry density 16.5 kN/m 3 with O.M.C. ( 12.8 % ) . The experimental tests were conducted on a flume with constant velocity (0.148 m/sec) during the test. The results marked that (10) % of cement decreases the collapsibility about 86.54% and the gypsum contained in the soil remain the same nearly after 28 day. Beside that the research shows that the minimum curing time is 14 days.

Trickle irrigation is a system for supplying filtered water and fertilizer directly into the soil, allowing it to dissipate under low pressure in a predetermined pattern. An equation to estimate the wetted area of unsaturated soil with water uptake by roots was simulated numerically using the HYDRUS-2D/3D software. The study used two soil types with different saturated hydraulic conductivity and two types of crops (tomato and corn). Different values of emitter discharge and initial volumetric soil moisture content were assumed. The water uptake by roots was presented as a continuous sink function and introduced into Richard's equation in the unsaturated zone. Equations for wetted depth and radius were predicted, showing good agreement with experimental fieldwork results. The maximum error of the predicted results was 23%, with a modeling efficiency (EF) of 0.98 and a root mean square error (RMSE) below 0.95 cm.

Asphaltene is one of the fractions of crude oil that is soluble in aromatics such as benzene or toluene and insoluble in alkanes such as n-heptane, n-pentane, or petroleum ether. Asphaltene precipitation is a common problem in both oil recovery and refinery processes due to changes in pressure, oil composition, or temperature. This study investigates the stability of asphaltene in dead crude oil samples from different Iraqi oil fields. The samples were analyzed using SARA (saturate, aromatic, resin, and asphaltene) analysis after separating the asphaltene through filtration. The stability was assessed by adding petroleum ether and using the colloidal instability index (CII). The results indicated that all samples showed asphaltene instability, suggesting a tendency to precipitate asphaltene if the composition changes due to the presence of alkanes in live oil conditions, such as gas injection or pressure changes.

In this paper, a Modified Weighted Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (MW-LEACH) protocol is implemented to improve the Quality of Service (QoS) in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) with a mobile sink node. The Quality of Service is measured in terms of Throughput Ratio (TR), Packet Loss Ratio (PLR), and Energy Consumption (EC). The protocol is implemented based on Python simulation. Simulation results showed that the proposed protocol provides better Quality of Service in comparison with the Weighted Low Energy Cluster Hierarchy (W-LEACH) protocol by 63%.

With the increased development in digital media and communication, the need for methods to protect and secure data has become very important. This paper presents a new method to protect color images from unauthorized access using watermarking. The watermarking algorithm hides the encoded mark image in the frequency domain using Discrete Cosine Transform. The main principle of the algorithm is to encode the frequent mark in the cover color image. The watermark image bits are spread by repeating the mark and arranging it in an encoded method that provides more robustness and security. The proposed algorithm's efficiency is measured using factors such as Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Normalized Correlation Coefficient (NC). The watermark robustness and feasibility are measured using various types of attacks.

The objective of this paper is to improve the asphalt mixtures' resistance to moisture by using hydrated lime as an anti-stripping additive. Two types of asphalt binder were utilized: asphalt grades (40-50) and (60-70) with one type of aggregate of 19.0 mm aggregate nominal maximum size, and limestone dust as a mineral filler. The Marshall method was adopted to find the optimum asphalt content. Two parameters were determined to evaluate the moisture susceptibility, namely: The Index of Retained Strength and the Tensile Strength Ratio. The hydrated lime was added by 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 percentages (by weight of aggregate) using the saturated surface dry method. It was concluded that using hydrated lime will improve the moisture damage resistance. The value of tensile strength ratio increased by 24.50% and 29.16% for AC (40-50) and AC (60-70) respectively. Furthermore, the index of retained strength also increased by 14.28% and 17.50% for both asphalt grades. The optimum hydrated lime content was found to be 1.5%.

This paper aims to study the second-order geometric nonlinearity effects of P-Delta on the dynamic response of tall reinforced concrete buildings due to a wide range of earthquake ground motion forces, including minor earthquakes up to moderate and strong earthquakes. The frequency domain dynamic analysis procedure was used for response assessment. Reinforced concrete building models with different heights up to 50 stories were analyzed. The finite element software ETABS (version 16.0.3) was used to analyze reinforced concrete building models. The study reveals that the percentage increase in buildings' sway and drift due to P-Delta effects are nearly constant for specific building height irrespective of the seismic design category assigned to the building. Generally, the increase in building lateral displacement and story drift due to P-Delta effects for all seismic design categories is less than 2% for 10-story buildings, whereas this increase for 20 stories or taller buildings is significant with a maximum value around 16% for 50-story buildings. As for column forces, the study shows that, generally, columns' bending moment increases and shear force decreases when P-Delta effects are accounted for. In conclusion, the study recommended that the effects of P-Delta need to be addressed for all SDCs allowed by ASCE7-10, and the most important factor to abandon P-Delta effects is the building height limit.

This research focuses on the most important economic benefits expected when applying the three standards of sustainability in construction projects (economic, environmental, and social). Fuzzy AHP, a multi-decision decision-making technique for evaluating construction projects, was used to achieve speed and accuracy in the results. The results of the data analysis showed that the economic standards take the greatest relative importance (60%) among the three sustainability standards. Therefore, the implementation of any standards needs a cost, so the economic benefit of any project is ranked first before implementing any sustainable project.

This paper aims to study the second-order geometric nonlinearity effects of P-Delta on the dynamic response of tall reinforced concrete buildings due to a wide range of earthquake ground motion forces, including minor earthquakes up to moderate and strong earthquakes. The frequency domain dynamic analysis procedure was used for response assessment. Reinforced concrete building models with different heights up to 50 stories were analyzed. The finite element software ETABS (version 16.0.3) was used to analyze reinforced concrete building models. The study reveals that the percentage increase in buildings' sway and drift due to P-Delta effects are nearly constant for specific building height irrespective of the seismic design category assigned to the building. Generally, the increase in building lateral displacement and story drift due to P-Delta effects for all seismic design categories is less than 2% for 10-story buildings, whereas this increase for 20 stories or taller buildings is significant with a maximum value around 16% for 50-story buildings. As for column forces, the study shows that, generally, columns' bending moment increases and shear force decreases when P-Delta effects are accounted for. In conclusion, the study recommended that the effects of P-Delta need to be addressed for all SDCs allowed by ASCE7-10, and the most important factor to abandon P-Delta effects is the building height limit.

This research focuses on the most important economic benefits expected when applying the three standards of sustainability in construction projects (economic, environmental, and social). Fuzzy AHP, a multi-decision decision-making technique for evaluating construction projects, was used to achieve speed and accuracy in the results. The results of the data analysis showed that the economic standards take the greatest relative importance (60%) among the three sustainability standards. Therefore, the implementation of any standards needs a cost, so the economic benefit of any project is ranked first before implementing any sustainable project.