Journal of Engineering and Sustainable Development (JEASD)

The recognition of the vehicle license plate systems is considered to be one of the important computer intelligent systems. In this research, a simple algorithm is proposed to analyze and recognize the new style of Iraqi vehicle license plates. The proposed algorithm is based on some steps performed respectively, the first step is the color recognition of the right-hand rectangle bar of the license plate to decide the class of the vehicle using the properties of the HSV color model, the second step is to analyze the Arabic alphanumeric region of the license plate in order to recognize the Arabic (Hindi Numeral System) numbers by testing geometric areas, and recognizing Arabic Letter by indicating and measuring the extrema points of the letter image under process, the third step is to analyze the state name to decide which state the vehicle registered in. The proposed system is tested on samples of license plate captured images using a digital camera with a fixed distance from the vehicle (5 meters), the results of the analysis were accepted by about 75% and failed by 25%.

In the present work, an experimental study is carried out to enhance the performance of the water chiller system by using nanofluid (water+TiO2 ) on the shell side of the chiller with different volume concentrations (0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1%). Experimental work includes two parts; In the first one COP of the system is calculated by using two alternative refrigerants (R-407c and R-134a). In the second part, the optimum COP is found using various concentrations of TiO2 nanofluid for systems with an alternative refrigerant. Experimental results show that the COP of R-134a is better than R407c which will be used in the second part of the present study with nanofluid on the shell side of the system. The COP with (0.1%) nanofluid has been found to increase by (8.5%).

Transportation considered one of the main factors of urban growth. Quantify and analyze the spatial-temporal relationship between urban growth and transportation for Baqubah using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) approaches. Six urban growth and transportation indices are developed to analyze spatial-temporal urban growth and transportation changes and their relationship: 1) annual urban spatial expansion index, 2) land use change index, 3) population density index, 4) transportation infrastructure expansion index, 5) road density index, 6) road area density index. The results show that Baqubah has experienced a rapid population growth, a large spatial expansion, rapidly changing land use and expanding transportation infrastructure during the past five decades (1959-2014). The expansion in infrastructure has not been able to accommodate increases in travel demand, hence causing high levels of congestion. The population growth was accompanied by a population density increase from 80 p/ha for urban land in 1957 to 112.9 p/ha in 2014.Also, a gap between the transportation infrastructure expansion and residential area growth.

The use of chaotic sequences which have low cross-correlation can be useful for spreading the direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) system. In this paper, a chaotic multiple access communication system based on Orthogonal Chaotic Vector (OCV) generated from the Rikitake system has been proposed. The simulation results proved that the performance of the proposed system is almost the same regardless of the number of users in the Additive White Gaussian noise AWGN channel. The results also showed that for single user transmission and at bit-error-rate of 10-3, the proposed system can achieve signal-to-noise ratio gains of 7 dB and 9 dB over traditional DS-CDMA in AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels respectively. While for 4 users transmission and at a bit-error-rate of 10-3, the proposed system can achieve signal-to-noise ratio gains of 7 dB and 9 dB over traditional DS-CDMA in AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels respectively.

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of repeated low-velocity impacts experimentally on composite materials in which two types of laminated composite beams are used (2D and 3D woven fabric/lamination (80:20) resin) under repeated impact tests. The tests were performed and exposed to repeat low-velocity impacts (1.4 m/s) for all tests by using an impact fatigue apparatus that is designed and manufactured. The effect of repeated impacts is studied on peak load, a number of laminate, and drop masses with respect to a number of cycles under gravity fall. A comparison is made between 2D & 3D samples for all layers of composite materials. Results show that the mechanical properties of all specimens decrease with an increase in the number of impacts per unit time, experimental results also show that the 3D samples have more resistance to impact damage than 2D samples so that samples of 3D five layers are stronger and they have longer lifetime fatigue from 2D six layers samples. The comparison between 2D-6 layers and 3D-5 layers appeared that 3D-5 layers are more efficient and more resistant to impact where the increase in lifetime percentage at energy 12.63J, 7.13J, 4.69J, and 3.36J were 100%, 64%, 42%, and 37%. The stiffness of 2D & 3D laminate composite beams is reduced by 30% when the samples are a failure.

Powder mixed electric discharge machining (PMEDM) is one of the new innovations for the enhancement of capabilities of the electric discharge machining process. This paper is an attempt to study the effect of SiC powder mixed in the kerosene dielectric fluid. The type of electrodes, the peak current and the pulse-on time are the main selected EDM input parameters. The workpiece and the electrodes materials are the AISI D2 die steel and copper and graphite materials, respectively. The output responses considered are the workpiece surface roughness (SR), the material removal rate (MMR) and the tool wear ratio (TWR). The experiments are planned using the response surface methodology (RSM) design procedure. Empirical models are developed for SR, MRR and TWR using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression models to study the effect of process parameters. The best results for the productivity of the process (MRR) were obtained when using graphite electrodes at pulse current (22 A), pulse on duration (120 μs) and with silicon carbide (SiC) powder mixing in kerosene dielectric at reaches (76.76 mm³/min). These results improved the material removal rate by (264%) with respect to the corresponding value obtained when using copper electrodes with kerosene dielectric alone. The best (TWR) results of the process were obtained when using graphite electrodes at pulse current (8 A), pulse on duration (40 μs) and using the kerosene dielectric alone reduced to the level (0.1023 %)...

This study presents an experimental investigation of the behavior of concrete wall panels subjected to axial distributed loading and also evaluates the effect of slenderness ratio( H/t ) and concrete strength on lateral deflection and behavior of concrete wall panels. The experimental program includes testing eight concrete wall panels hinged at the top and bottom with free sides, by applying distributed load. These panels are divided into four groups, the first group with normal strength concrete, the second group with high strength concrete, the third group with modified reactive powder concrete (MRPC), and the fourth group with reactive powder concrete (RPC). Each group consists of two panels, one with a slenderness ratio of H/t=20 and the other with H/t=14. The obtained results indicate that as the concrete strength of wall panels increases, the behavior of the panels tends toward the brittle failure, also the results show that the lateral deflection of the panel increase as the slenderness ratio (H/t) increase. The failure load for panels with RPC mix is greater than the failure load for panels with normal, high strength, MRPC mixes by about 96%, 39%, and 17% respectively (H/t=20). The failure load for panels with RPC mix is more than the failure load for panels with normal, high strength, MRPC mixes by about 98%, 36%, and 16% respectively for H/t=14. The mode of failure for all panels was buckling failure and the line of failure lies near the center of the panel.

The vibration problems are accomplished in many application areas, such as in automobiles, aircraft, helicopters, machines...etc., vibration may cause systems failure or reduce their performance. This paper studies the experimental and theoretical control of vibration using a developed tuned damper (based on variable piston area( to provide optimal vibration reduction at different conditions. The experimental work was carried out on a particular system, which is mainly composed of the beam, harmonic excitation source (exciter), passive spring, and tuned damper. Also, the system is provided by an electronics system to acquire the sensor signal and drive the damper according to the control algorithm. The neural network system identification (NNSI) was utilized to identify all system components as one model based on the inputs - output data that is collected from the experiment. In addition, the mathematical model of the system was derived and used with an experimental damping ratio at different damper piston angles (0-60) to verify the experimental results. The implemented controller is a model predictive controller (MPC), which was designed based on NNSI in MATLAB Toolbox to control the system vibration. The MPC explicitly handles the measurable disturbance (excitation frequency) of the predictive model. The results showed that the model predictive controller with a semi-active tuned damper effectively reduced the root mean square (RMS) of acceleration in the resonance region in which the maximum time of vibration reduction from higher RMS to a minimum level is 1.39 seconds...

Axial liquid dispersion coefficient was studied in air-tap water systems (bubble columns) and air-tap water-PVC solid particles systems for different column diameters, 10, 15, and 30 cm, Each column had a gas distributor plate with perforated holes of 2 mm diameter. The superficial gas velocity was varied in the range of 0.87–7.54 cm/s. The overall gas holdup was measured experimentally by bed expansion technique and the liquid-phase axial dispersion coefficients were obtained by adjusting the experimental profiles of tracer concentration with the predictions of the model. The experimental results show the overall gas hold-up decreases with an increase in column diameter and solid concentration. The experimental results show that the one-dimensional axial dispersion coefficient, Dax, L, reveals strong scale dependence. Liquid phase axial dispersion coefficient increases with the diameter of the reactor and with solid concentration. Correlations have been used for the estimation of the overall gas holdup and the liquid phase dispersion coefficient in the gas-liquid-solid system bubble column.

Thermal conductivity and performance of the natural composite materials as thermal insulators after exposure to ultraviolet radiation effect are investigated. An accelerated weathering chamber has been manufactured to investigate the ultraviolet radiation effect on composite materials. The composite materials were prepared of polyester resin which was reinforced with fiberglass, jute, and eggshell powder. The experimental work has been divided into two parts. The first part studies the effect of ultraviolet radiation on the thermal conductivity of the composite materials with different volume fractions (20%, 40%, and 60%) using Lee's disc method. The second part deals with manufacturing three test chambers (reference chamber, unaffected chamber, and affected chamber) with dimensions of (50×50×50cm). These chambers are used to investigate the performance of composite materials, with specimens dimensions of (50×50cm) and 4mm thickness for volume fractions of (30% and 60%), as thermal insulators after weathering with ultraviolet radiation. Experimental results indicate that cladding the external wall of the chamber with affected or unaffected composite materials gives lower temperature distribution inside the chamber throughout the day than without cladding. The thermal conductivity of fiberglass and eggshell composite materials with ultraviolet radiation effect is higher than that without ultraviolet radiation effect. While the thermal conductivity of jute composite material decreases after exposure to ultraviolet effect Jute composite material gives a higher temperature reduction of (19%) compared with fiberglass composite material (10%) and eggshell composite material (9%).

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the conversion of the three-phase induction motors (IM) to run as three-phase induction generators (IG) by using capacitors proportional to the load power and the generator power. The potential of these capacitors must not be less than 450 V and connected in parallel with three-phase output. The generator must be run on full load to balance the inductive loads which connect to a generator with the capacitive loads. The experimental results indicate that the three phases IM with high power reaches 90 KW can be led as three phases IG with power (112.5 KVA).

This study is devoted to investigating the structural behavior of reinforced concrete hollow beams filled with cellular concrete blocks (thermostone) under the effect of shear. The number (or location) of the thermostone blocks is the major variable adopted in this research, while, the other variables are kept constant for all tested specimens. The experimental part includes casting and testing of five (200x300x1200mm) beam specimens with different locations of internal thermostone blocks. The experimental results indicated that the shear strength is increased (from 33%) to (70%) for beams containing internal ribs in comparison with the reference beam. Also, the change of beam state from hollow section to solid section led to increasing the capacity by about (100%). Comparison with ACI-318 Code empirical equation for shear takes place and the results indicated that the ultimate loads are in good agreement with the experimental results.

Recent methods for torsional design of reinforced concrete beams tend to the use of space truss analogy,instead of the earlier skew bending theory. A total of (101) rectangular beams made of normal strengthconcrete (NSC) that failed under pure torsion are considered in this work. NSC is defined as having thecylinder compressive strength f’c ≤ 40.1 MPa. These have been taken from the literature.Regression analysiswas performed on the results to obtain two representative equations to predict: cracking torsional moment (Tcr)and torsional resistance moment (Tr). The first equation is based on (3) major parameters that include concretecompressive strength (f’c) and sectional dimensions, while the second one is based on (7) major parameterswhich include the quantification of the influence of both transverse and longitudinal reinforcement.When theexisting code design methods were applied, they gave a coefficient of variation (COV) value ranges between(20.9-33.1) percent for the ratio of tested / calculated torsional strength (Tu-test / Tr-calc.). In contrast, theproposed equation has led to a COV of (12.9) percent.

Recent methods for the torsional design of reinforced concrete beams tend to the use of space truss analogy, instead of the earlier skew bending theory. A total of (101) rectangular beams made of normal strength concrete (NSC) that failed under pure torsion are considered in this work. NSC is defined as having the cylinder compressive strength f’c ≤ 40.1 MPa. These have been taken from the literature. Regression analysis was performed on the results to obtain two representative equations to predict: cracking torsional moment (Tcr)and torsional resistance moment (Tr). The first equation is based on (3) major parameters that include concrete compressive strength (f’c) and sectional dimensions, while the second one is based on (7) major parameters which include the quantification of the influence of both transverse and longitudinal reinforcement. When the existing code design methods were applied, they gave a coefficient of variation (COV) value ranging between(20.9-33.1) percent for the ratio of tested/calculated torsional strength (Tu-test / Tr-calc.). In contrast, the proposed equation has led to a COV of (12.9) percent.

Software-defined radio (SDR) technology offers resilience, efficient market hypothesis cost, and less power consumption leading communications ahead, with widely reaching advantageousness accomplished by service providers and product advancers through to end-users. Over the past couple of decades, many Mobile communication standards have evolved and even today researchers are going to develop new standards. Different standards of Mobile communication use different types of hardware circuitry. The existing mobile communication standards are primarily regional and not global. So efforts are going on to develop a system that can support multiple mobile communication standards using the same hardware but swapping the software. The main aim of this paper is to present a scheme for Bit error rate (BER)in SDR. We do the source-to-sink transmission simulation by using Quadrature AmplitudeModulation, then, we compare the differences of BER versus SNR performances for input.