Sharif Digital Repository

It has become essential to scrutinize and evaluate software development methodologies, mainly because of their increasing number and variety. Evaluation is required to gain a better understanding of the features, strengths, and weaknesses of the methodologies. The results of such evaluations can be leveraged to identify the methodology most appropriate for a specific context. Moreover, methodology improvement and evolution can be accelerated using these results. However, despite extensive research, there is still a need for a feature/criterion set that is general enough to allow methodologies to be evaluated regardless of their types. We propose a general evaluation framework which addresses... 

Influence of joints behavior on arch dams operation during the earthquakes is investigated. The case study is the Karun-1 double curvature arch dam with the height of 200 meters. The arch dam-foundation-reservoir systems are modeled with and without joints and estimate the effects of contraction and lift joints on stresses and displacements response histories for assessing the earthquake performance. According to nolinear dynamical analysis results, inclusion of the contraction and lift joints considerably influenced the dam response  

In the present work, two cavitation modeling strategies, namely the barotropic cavitation model and the transport equation-based model are applied and assessed for the numerical simulation of inviscid cavitating flows over two-dimensional and axisymmetric geometries. The algorithm uses the preconditioned Euler equations employing the interface capturing method for both the cavitation models. A same numerical solution procedure is used herein for discretizing the governing equations resulting from these two cavitation modeling strategies for the assessment to be valid and reliable. A central difference finite-volume scheme employing the suitable dissipation terms to account for density jumps... 

In this study a novel symmetrical metal-free organic dye for applications in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was synthesized. This dye (D) was designed with A-π-D-π-A framework and synthesized with 9,9-dioctylfluorene as electron donor, phenylene as π-spacer and cyanoacetic acid as electron acceptor. The chemical structure of product was determined using UV-Vis, FT-IR, CNMR, HNMR spectroscopy techniques. The presence of a phenylene π-bridge between the donor and the acceptor units and the di-anchoring moieties in this structure led to enhancement of conjugation lengths and molar extinction coefficient (ε) that is promising for further improvement of the conversion efficiency of DSSCs  

In this study a novel symmetrical metal-free organic dye for applications in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was synthesized. This dye (D) was designed with A-π-D-π-A framework and synthesized with 9,9-dioctylfluorene as electron donor, phenylene as π-spacer and cyanoacetic acid as electron acceptor. The chemical structure of product was determined using UV-Vis, FT-IR, CNMR, HNMR spectroscopy techniques. The presence of a phenylene π-bridge between the donor and the acceptor units and the di-anchoring moieties in this structure led to enhancement of conjugation lengths and molar extinction coefficient (ε) that is promising for further improvement of the conversion efficiency of DSSCs.... 

Self-excited vibrations known as chatter are considered as the most detrimental issue in micro-turning processes. Occurring unpredictably, they adversely affect the tool life, productivity rate and surface quality of the machining processes. In this paper, a novel machining arm is modeled as a piezoelectric stacked rod which is subjected to a chatter force in the orthogonal micro-turning process. Due to the fact that machining processes are affected by various sources of uncertainties, H∞ robust control approach is used to suppress the chatter vibrations of the machining arm in the presence of tool wear and dynamic model parameter variations. Also, input control force of the system is... 

Copper based hybrid composites containing nano-sized silicon carbide and carbon nanotubes reinforcements with minimal porosity were fabricated via mechanical milling followed by hot pressing technique. Microstructures of the powders and consolidated materials were studied using scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscope. Microstructural characterization of the materials revealed that the addition of nanosized silicon carbide reinforcement lowered the grain growth rate and enhanced the homogenization during mechanical milling. Microhardness measurements and compression test showed considerable improvements in mechanical... 

In this study, the microstructural and mechanical features of monolithic pure Cu and Cu matrix nanocomposites reinforced with three different fractions (2, 4, and 6 vol%) of SiC nanoparticles (n-SiC) fabricated via a combination of high energy mechanical milling and hot pressing techniques were investigated. The fabricated composites exhibited homogeneous distribution of the n-SiC with few porosities. It was found that the grain refinement, the planar features within the grains, and the lattice strains increase with increase in the n-SiC content. The yield and compressive strengths of the nanocomposites were significantly improved with increases in the n-SiC content up to 4 vol%; then they... 

A novel MED-based desalination system for low-grade heat sources with a temperature between 65 °C and 90 °C has been proposed. Low-grade heat-driven desalination systems are of the most important methods for increasing energy efficiency and assisting the environment along with alleviating the water scarcity problem. The new proposed system is known as cascade multi-effect distillation (CMED). It is designed based on multi-step heat extraction from the heat source fluid (HSF). Multi-step heat absorption helps to form two arrays of MED effects and to utilize two boosters to achieve better performance. The advantage of this system is less complexity (for example, lower vapor injection), and... 

Cu/SiC nanocomposite powders with homogeneously distributed nanosize SiC particles were produced by high energy mechanical milling (MM). Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and micro-hardness and density measurements were performed to understand the effects of microstructure and hardness on compaction behavior during MM. The effects of SiC nanoparticle content and mechanical milling time on apparent density (AD) and tap density (TD) of the nanocomposite powders were systematically investigated. The Hausner ratio (HR), defined as TD to AD, were estimated to evaluate friction between the particles. Increasing MM duration and SiC content resulted... 

Nanostructured Cu and Cu-2 vol% SiC nanocomposite were produced by high energy mechanical milling and hot pressing technique. Microstructure development during fabrication process was investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, scanning transmission electron microscope, and electron backscatter diffraction techniques. The results showed that the microstructure of copper and copper-based nanocomposite composed of a mixture of equiaxed nanograins with bimodal and non-random misorientation distribution. The presence of SiC nanoparticles refined the grain structure of the copper matrix while the fraction of low angle grain boundaries was increased. Evaluation of mechanical...