Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, two basic new call admission control policies in soft-handoff regions in Code-Division Multiple-Access (CDMA) cellular networks are compared. The two policies are Independent Decision Policy (IDP), which is, approximately, equivalent to a directed retry policy proposed for non-CDMA cellular networks and Collective Decision Policy (CDP). The merits in this comparison include the tradeoff between carried traffic and quality loss probability while maintaining other traffic parameters (such as blocking and dropping (handoff failure) probabilities) sufficiently low. Using numerical results, it is deduced that the CDP leads to a better overall performance. Another important issue... 

The equalizing wake flow into the propeller behind the ship is important from the hydrodynamic performance viewpoint. In this study, numerical simulations of the DTMB4119 propeller with two symmetric and asymmetric duct types behind the KRISO Container Ship (KCS) are performed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In order to improve the wake equaling flow, a combined duct and stators' configurations are installed before the propeller in the stern of the ship and its hydrodynamic performance is studied using CFD. A duct with the NACA4415 section and two types of stator configurations are selected. The STAR-CCM+ software using the finite volume discretization method was used to solve the... 

Direct-drive permanent magnet synchronous generators enjoy numerous advantages including improved reliability, low maintenance, long life, and developed performance characteristics. In recent years, many researchers have worked on these generators to enhance their performance, especially for the wind turbine application. The focus of this paper is on the development of a step-by-step method for the design of a permanent magnet synchronous generator. Then, the winding function method is used to model the generator and calculate its output characteristics analytically. The analytical results of the designed generator are validated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and it is demonstrated that... 

This study introduces a simple and efficient method to determine the peak floor acceleration (PFA) at different performance levels for three types of plane reinforced concrete (RC) structures: moment-resisting frames (MRFs), infilled–moment-resisting frames (I-MRFs), and wall-frame dual systems (WFDSs). By associating the structural maximum PFA response with the deformation response, the acceleration-sensitive nonstructural components, and the building contents, can be designed to adhere to the performance-based seismic design of the supporting structure. Thus, the proposed method can accompany displacement-based seismic design methods to design acceleration-sensitive nonstructural elements... 

Interface engineering has emerged as a great strategy for fabrication of high efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, we deposit a thin layer of ZnS as a buffer layer at the interface of the perovskite absorber and electron transporting layer (ETL) using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The impact of the ZnS layer on the photovoltaic characteristics of PSCs was investigated by comparison of two mesoscopic configurations, in which the ZnS layer is grown on compact TiO2 and on mesoporous TiO2 surfaces. Our results revealed that the addition of an ultrathin ZnS layer between the perovskite and ETL drastically improves the charge extraction properties and reduces... 

We hereby demonstrate symmetric and asymmetric supercapacitors (SSCs and ASCs) based on core/shell-like Ni-Co oxide@cotton//Fe2O3-carbon nanotubes@cotton that are capable of storing a remarkable amount of energy, while retaining a high power density and long cycle life. Hierarchical, porous structures of Ni-Co-O nano-rod (NR) decorated Pd-activated cotton fibers (CFs) were fabricated using an eco-benign hydrothermal method and directly used as the cathode of the supercapacitors. Fe2O3-single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) decorated CFs were employed as anodes of the fabricated ASCs. The assembled Ni-Co-O@cotton//Fe2O3-SWCNTs@cotton based ASCs possessed the benefits of a relatively high energy... 

The development of efficient and cost-effective catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction is highly desirable for applications that are based on sustainable and clean technologies. In this study, we report the synthesis of a series of cerium(iv) oxide and nickel diselenide nanocomposites (NiSe2/CeO2) as efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in an alkaline medium. The ratios of the two substances were optimized to reach the highest catalytic activity. The structure and morphology of synthesized materials were investigated by XRD, FE-SEM, EDX, BET, XPS, and TEM techniques. It was observed that the nanocomposite with a 10 : 1 mass ratio of NiSe2to CeO2showed the best... 

Progression in the renewable energy field is tied to the development of high-performance energy storage devices with superior power and energy densities. Herein, an innovative material design was employed to prepare binder-free nickel-cobalt sulfide (NCS) on niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5)-decorated carbon spheres (CSs). Initially, CSs were directly grown on nickel foam (NF) via a hydrothermal carbonization approach. Core/shell-like NCS@Nb2O5@CS-NF was then synthesized through a hydrothermal process, followed by an electrodeposition process. When employed as an electrode material, NCS@Nb2O5@CS-NF achieved an excellent volumetric capacity of 9300 C L−1 at a current density of 18 A L−1. Later, an... 

Measuring urban environmental performance supports understanding and improving the livability and sustainability of a city. Creating a more livable and attractive environment facilitates a greater shift to active and greener transport modes. Two key aspects, among many others, that determine the environmental performance of an urban area are greenery and noise. This study aims to map street-level greenery and traffic noise using emerging data sources including crowd-sourced mobile phone-based data and street-level imagery data in Sydney, Australia. Results demonstrate the applicability of emerging data sources and the presented advanced techniques in capturing the seasonal variations in... 

The emerging environmental consequences of overdependence on fossil fuels have pushed many countries to invest in clean and renewable sources of power. Countries like Iran where these sources can be found in abundance can take advantage of this potential to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. This study investigated the feasibility of the standalone use of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to power buildings in the Bostegan village in the Hormozgan province of Iran. Technical, economic, and environmental assessments were performed with the help of the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software, and the optimal configuration for the system components was... 

The emerging environmental consequences of overdependence on fossil fuels have pushed many countries to invest in clean and renewable sources of power. Countries like Iran where these sources can be found in abundance can take advantage of this potential to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. This study investigated the feasibility of the standalone use of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to power buildings in the Bostegan village in the Hormozgan province of Iran. Technical, economic, and environmental assessments were performed with the help of the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software, and the optimal configuration for the system components was... 

The random decisions of electric vehicle (EV) drivers, together with the vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) energy transfer modes, make scheduling for an intelligent parking lot (IPL) more complex; thus, they have not been considered simultaneously during IPL planning in other studies. To fill this gap, this paper presents a complete optimal schedule for an IPL in which all the above-mentioned items are considered simultaneously. Additionally, using a complete objective function—including charging/discharging rates and prices, together with penalties, discounts, and reward sets—increases the profits of IPL and EV owners. In addition, during peak times, the demand for energy... 

The process of coarsening the detailed geological model of a reservoir to simulation models is known as upscaling. There are two fundamental steps in the procedure of upscaling, i.e., defining the coarse grid geometry and calculating the average properties for the generated coarse grid. In this paper, the focus will be on investigating the applicability of optimization in the context of coarse grid geometry definition. To do so, different objective function candidates will be defined, and their behavior in terms of predicting the two-phase flow accuracy of coarse grids will be analyzed to determine the proper objective function. A modified objective function employing the idea of analytical... 

Control Performance Assessment (CPA) and tuning of PID controllers are studied in this paper. We propose a framework for systematic analysis of the tradeoff between the structural complexity of the controller and its performance. As the measure of the controller performance, an LQG based index is used. The problem is augmented with an additional term which forces sparsity on the complexity of a decentralized PID controller. The desired complexity is controlled via a weighting parameter which determines the cost of each additional element (i.e., P, I, and D terms). The result is a decentralized multivariable PID controller in which the complexity of each loop controller is optimized such that... 

Control Performance Assessment (CPA) and tuning of PID controllers are studied in this paper. We propose a framework for systematic analysis of the tradeoff between the structural complexity of the controller and its performance. As the measure of the controller performance, an LQG based index is used. The problem is augmented with an additional term which forces sparsity on the complexity of a decentralized PID controller. The desired complexity is controlled via a weighting parameter which determines the cost of each additional element (i.e., P, I, and D terms). The result is a decentralized multivariable PID controller in which the complexity of each loop controller is optimized such that... 

This paper presents the results of an experimental work in order to evaluate the performance of a novel proposed retrofitting technique on a typical dome-roof adobe building by shaking table tests. For this purpose, two specimens, scaled 2:3, were subjected to a total of nine shaking table tests. The unretrofitted specimen, constructed by common practice, is designed to evaluate seismic performance and vulnerability of dome-roof adobe houses. The retrofitted specimen, exactly duplicating the first specimen, is retrofitted based on the results obtained from unretrofitted specimen tests, and the improvement in seismic behavior of the structure is investigated. Zarand earthquake (2005) Chatrood... 

We study the application of cooperative control and game theoretic approaches to wind farm optimization. The conventional (greedy) wind farm control strategy seeks to individually maximize each turbine power. However, this strategy does not maximize the overall power production of wind farms due to the aerodynamic interactions (wake effect) between the turbines. We formulate the wind farm power optimization problem as an identical interest game which can also be used to solve other cooperative control problems. Two model-free learning algorithms are developed to obtain the optimal axial induction factors of the turbines and maximize power production. The algorithms are simulated for a... 

Here, nadir echo suppression (NES) in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites is studied in detail. Moreover, advantages of suppressing the nadir echo in space domain, by beamforming, rather than in time domain, which imposes stringent restrictions on radar timing, are addressed. Performing NES in time domain restricts the swath width, as well as the selection of the pulse repetition frequency (PRF). It is shown that the spatial NES could increase the swath width by ∼25%. It also increases the freedom in PRF selection, which is useful in multiple-swath imaging modes and high-resolution wide-swath satellites. Furthermore, it is useful in confining the operating PRF range of SAR satellites,... 

This paper describes a three-dimensional (3D) finite-element (FE) model developed to assess the seismic behaviour of a novel prefabricated beam-to-beam connection termed a double-bolted flush end-plate beam (DBFEB) splice connection under cyclic loading. The seismic response was analysed and evaluated in terms of the hysteretic behaviour, rigidity, resistance degradation, ductility, energy dissipation capacity and equivalent damping coefficient. It is shown that the required performance can be achieved by controlling the end-plate thickness as well as the bolt grade and diameter; these parameters were therefore chosen as the key geometric variables investigated here for parametric study.... 

A precise model of the behavior of complex systems such as solar chimney power plants (SCPP) would be much beneficial. Also, such a model would be quite contributing to the control of solar chimney operation. In this paper, the identification and modeling of SCPP utilizing ANN and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) are discussed. The modeling is based on the data of three working days which were taken of a built pilot in University of Zanjan, Iran. The input parameters are time, radiation and ambient temperature, while the output is the air velocity at the inlet of the chimney. The results of ANN model and ANFIS model were compared; it was found that ANFIS model exhibited better...