Sharif Digital Repository

Infrastructure systems play a critical role in the economic and social activities of a community. Effective and continuous performance of these infrastructure systems is essential to the welfare and prosperity of the communities. Infrastructure systems comprise networks of interdependent assets that are built through a long and costly process. These assets are subject to a variety of factors that reduce the performance and reliability over time. These factors also increase the vulnerability of infrastructure assets in face of future probable hazards. In order to ensure the continuous and uninterrupted performance of infrastructure assets in post-hazard situations, asset managers should plan... 

The aim of this research is to examine and propose solutions for financing projects aimed at reducing vulnerability in the oil industry's infrastructure against earthquakes and enhancing their seismic resilience. Design and construction issues, as well as the gradual deterioration of oil infrastructure, increase their vulnerability to earthquakes. Earthquakes can disrupt the proper and continuous functioning of these infrastructures by causing damage. Such disruptions or interruptions in the performance of oil industry infrastructure can have significant economic and social consequences. To mitigate these damages, investment in vulnerability reduction measures is essential. Financing... 

It is well known that Cu/Al2O3 nanocomposites have high potential for use in structural, electrical applications which enhanced mechanical characteristics are required. In the present work, in order to improve the in-situ oxidation kinetic of solute element, chromium was used instead of aluminum. At the initial stage, elemental Cu and Cr powders were mechanically alloyed for 60h under argon atmosphere. It was followed by mechanically milling of Cu-Cr pre-alloyed and Cu2O powders. The nanocomposite specimens, containing different amounts of Cr2O3, depending on the Cr content in the range of 1-3 wt. %, were produced by in-situ oxidation of Cu-Cr pre-alloyed powders. To prevent oxidation of... 

Basically, it is required that the materials used as electrical contacts should have good thermal and electrical conductivity and certain strength. The copper base composites with fine TiO2 particles as reinforcement have almost identical electrical and thermal conductivity with copper; in addition, they have the advantage over pure copper in high strength owing to the dispersion of the fine TiO2 particles, which improve copper matrix strength through impeding dislocation movement. In this present work, at the initial stage, Cu and Ti powders were mechanically alloyed for 60h under Argon atmosphere, and then added Cu2O powders as oxidant. The specimens, containing different amounts of TiO2,... 

In this study, a Chebyshev collocation spectral lattice Boltzmann method (CCSLBM) is developed and assessed for the computation of low speed flows. Both steady and unsteady flows are considered here. The discrete Boltzmann equation (DBE) with the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) approximation based on the pressure distribution function is considered and the space discretization is performed by the Chebyshev collocation spectral method to achieve a highly accurate flow solver. To provide accurate unsteady solutions, the time integration of the temporal term in the LB equation is made by the fourth-order Runge-Kuta scheme. To achieve numerical stability and accuracy, the physical boundary... 

The receptivity, transition and stability mechanisms of supersonic and hypersonic boundary layers to freestream disturbances are one of the most complex studies in fluid mechanics. It is well known that turbulent flows generate much higher shear forces on the surface of vehicles and hence much higher viscous heating rates than a laminar flow would at the same flight conditions. Therefore, the accurate prediction of boundary layer behavior is a critical part of the aerodynamic design of high-speed vehicles and thermal protection systems. Formation of a bow shock in front of the vehicle makes the receptivity of flow-field more complex than and different from those of low-speed subsonics. Since... 

Asset management involves making decisions related to selecting the most cost-effective asset improvement strategies. There is an increasing interest of risk-based approaches in the field of asset management. During the asset life various risk factors might influence the asset performance and the maintenance cost, therefore, it is important to incorporate these risk factors, which affect the necessity and timing of various activities. This study develops a systemic risk-based asset management methodology (framework) to manage the maintenance of infrastructure assets. This paper presents an overview of uncertainty problems in cost estimating of bridge in the future and also discusses... 

The construction industry is faced with the problem of growing number of claims. If not settled, claims may lead to dispute among parties. Researchers have investigated claims from various perspectives. Nevertheless, more studies should be conducted in order to enhance the understanding about the root-causes of construction claims. The objective of this study is to utilize a systematic and well-structured methodology based on literature review, survey and interviews with experts in order to identify and classify the root-causes of claims of contractors as well as the situations that give rise to construction claims. Moreover, this study contributes to the claim terminology by distinguishing... 

The aim of this research is presentation of A framework to select the appropriate combination of retrofit and insurance in order to reduce earthquake losses. The vulnerability of buildings to earthquakes can lead to significant damage to owners and residents of these buildings. It is imperative that appropriate measures be taken to reduce these adverse effects before the risk occurs. Some of these measures, such as seismic retrofit of buildings, can reduce the vulnerability of buildings and, consequently, financial and human losses. Some other measures like insurance, in the event of an earthquake, can reduce the financial losses incurred by owners and residents of vulnerable buildings.... 

For application such as electrical contacts and spot welding electrodes, both high electrical conductivity and wear resistance are required. Additionally, such parts should have structural stability at evaluated temperature. Copper based composites containing carbides or oxides reinforcement can be the good choice for production of such parts. In present work, in-situ Cu/NbC composite via mechanical alloying with homogenous distribution of nano reinforcement particle has been produced. For this purpose, in first stage, copper powder was milled with 5, 8, 10 and 12 wt. % of niobium powder in two types of mills, i. e. vibratory dicky mill and planetary ball mill for 5 and 32 h respectively. At... 

In applications requiring high density and good mechanical properties, tungsten heavy alloys are of interest [1]. Due to lack of intermetallic phase in microstructure of 90W-7Ni-3Fe alloy, it is more attractive to use. At present work, the powder metallurgically produced specimens were cold swaged. At this work, during the production and swaging, some parameters were changed. Powders of tungsten, nickel and iron were milled for an hour with the speed of 50 rpm in Retsch Planetry/PM 400 MA ball mill. At the first route, elemental powders mixture after 1 minute were reached to 30MPa, after that were heated at rate of 50°C/min to 1500°C in vacuum (hot press or HP). At the second route, powders... 

Cogeneration technologies such as Combined Heat and Power (CHP) have promising features for providing the electrical energy that various industries require while reducing the emissions and other environmental impacts of these industries. Investments in CHP systems require substantial implementation costs followed by a relatively long period of recovering the invested capital through savings in utilities bills. Appropriate timing of CHP system investments can reduce capital expenses and enhance returns on investments. An appropriate investment valuation method is needed to identify the appropriate time to implement a given CHP system and to find the values of properly scheduled investments.... 

Earthquakes can cause significant economic damage to society. These damages include direct economic damage, ie, the cost incurred by the community to rebuild damaged infrastructure. In addition, damaging the infrastructure, the earthquake reduces the level of infrastructure service, and thus, disrupts the businesses that rely on it. The consequences of such disruptions, such as a decline in the level of productivity and efficiency of firms, or an increase in the rate of unemployment and migration from the community, can cause indirect economic damage to society. The costs incurred to society by disasters can be reduced by adopting appropriate solutions. In many cases, however, the incentives... 

In recent years, requirement to increase projectile performance, leads to a great interest in high angle of attack Aerodynamics. Projectile Maneuverability is a concept which is defined by having the capability to perform at high angles of attack while maintaining attached flow over the tail, rather than a capability of performing a mission in minimum possible duration. Interaction between body, wing and tail vortices can delay vortex breakdown over the wing and as a result may enhance projectile maneuverability. Studies show that wing aspect ratio and tail location have a remarkable influence on the vortices interaction and thus projectile maneuverability. In the present study, a series of... 

Nowadays, one of the most important desires of the human being is to reduce his living environmental pollution. Using the diluted combustion systems in new gas turbines in order to produce the minimum amount of has been done to satisfy this desire. It should be noted that reducing this amount and using the lower flame temperature will result in some consequences. The most important problem occurred in industrial and aerial gas turbines are the instability of the combustion due to dilution of the fuel to air mixture which it results in heat release fluctuations. If the heat release fluctuations and acoustic pressure are in the same phases, the amplitude of the fluctuations will increase which... 

In this study, copper-alumina composite specimens with different reinforcement content were produced in two routes, i.e. in-situ and ex-situ; one specimen as functionally graded material (FGM) was also produced. In first method, copper and aluminum powders were initially alloyed by mechanical alloying route and then the copper oxide powder was added as oxidizer. For the fabrication of Cu-Al2O3 composites using ex-situ method, alumina nano particles powder was added to elemental copper powder. FGM specimen consists of five layers, i.e. pure copper, copper matrix composite having 2, 3, 4, and 5 volume percent alumina. To reduce the particles agglomeration and homogeneous distribution of... 

In this investigation, nanostructure Fe3Al was produced by mechanical milling initially. Pure iron and aluminum powders were milled with suitable ratio 86Fe-14Al by weight. Milling was done up to 120 h times and with BPR 10 and BPR 20. Morphological changes, powder density and size, phase and structural changes, grain size and lattice strain were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser particle size analyzer (LPSA). 40 h mechanical alloying with BPR 20 led to the corresponding intermetallic compound, Fe3Al with a nanocrystalline structure. Therefore Fe3Al/ZrO2 micro and nanocomposite powders were synthesized with manufactured by milling of... 

Based on progress madein industry, considering the essence of human resource health is an inevitable subject. Ventilation is an important matter which affects the quality and efficiency of production due to its coherence with providing a healthy and suitable workplace. In this regard, there are some settings for industrial ventilation systems which are designed to satisfy related health and hygiene standards.Simulation of ventilation systems based on CFD methods is a great contribution to choose anappropriate ventilation system type. In this study, by modeling the proposed ventilation setting in a 3D environment, we are assured that the system is capable of industrial ventilation in welding... 

In this work, a high-order accurate gas kinetic scheme based on the compact finite-difference Boltzmann method (CFDBM) is developed and applied for simulating the compressible rarefied gas flows. Here, the Shakhov model of the Boltzmann equation is considered and the spatial derivative term in the resulting equation is discretized by using the fourth-order compact finite-difference method and the time integration is performed by using the third-order TVD Runge-Kutta method. A filtering procedure with three discontinuity-detecting sensors is applied and examined for the stabilization of the solution method especially for the problems involving the discontinuity regions such as the shock. The...