Sharif Digital Repository

Abstract: Using adhesively bonded composite patch repairs has been increased in various industries to improve the structural integrity of cracked metallic structures in recent decades. Monitoring of crack propagation and composite patch debonding, as two dominant failure mechanisms in this repair technique, plays a significant role in the integrity assessment of the component. This research conducts an experimental investigation on the simultaneous monitoring of these two failure mechanisms in a cracked metallic specimen repaired by a composite patch. For this purpose, the electromechanical impedance method was used to evaluate the feasibility of recognizing the type of damage at any phase... 

Feed-in tariff (FiT) is one of the most efficient ways that many governments throughout the world use to stimulate investment in renewable energies (REs) technology. For governments, financial management of the policy could be challenging as it needs a considerable amount of budget to support RE producers during the long remuneration period. In this paper, it has been illuminated that the early growth of REs capacity could be a temporary boost. And the socio-economic structure of the system will backlash the policy if some social mechanisms are not considered. Social tolerance for paying REs tax and potential investors’ trust emanated from budget-related mechanisms -which have rarely been... 

Hydrogen bonding interactions between thymine nucleobase and 2'-deoxythymidine nucleoside (dT) with some biological anions such as F - (fluoride), Cl - (chloride), OH - (hydroxide), and NO 3 - (nitrate) have been explored theoretically. In this study, complexes have been studied by density functional theory (B3LYP method and 6-311++G (d,p) basis set). The relevant geometries, energies, and characteristics of hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) have been systematically investigated. There is a correlation between interaction energy and proton affinity for complexes of thymine nucleobase. The nature of all the interactions has been analyzed by means of the natural bonding orbital (NBO) and quantum theory... 

Density functional theory (DFT) method and B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) basis set were used to determine coordination geometries, binding strength, and metal ion affinity (MIA) for interaction of 2′-deoxythymidine (dT) with alkali metal cations including Li+, Na+, and K+. Calculations demonstrated that the interaction of dT with these cations is tri-coordinated η (O2, O4′, O5′). Among these cations, Li + cation exhibited the most tendency for interaction with dT. Cations via their interaction with dT can affect the N-glycosidic bond length, the values of pseudorotation of the sugar ring, the orientation of base unit with respect to sugar ring and the acidity of O5′H, O3′H, and N3H groups in 2′-dT... 

TiO2 layers were grown via pulse type microarc oxidation process under different applied voltages, frequencies, and duty cycles. Surface chemical composition and phase structure of the synthesized layers were studied utilizing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) were employed to investigate surface morphology and topography of the layers. It was revealed that the layers had a porous structure with both anatase and rutile phases. The anatase relative content in the layers increased with the applied frequency; meanwhile, it decreased with duty cycle at low applied voltages, but... 

The standard model of cosmology with nearly Gaussian, isotropic, scale invariant and adiabatic initial conditions describes the cosmological observations well. However, the study of any deviation from the mentioned conditions will open up a new horizon to the physics of early universe. In this work, we study the effect of the oscillatory and step-like features in potentials of inflationary models in late time large scale structure observations. Mainly we study the matter power spectrum, number density of the structures, dark matter halo bias and specifically CMB lensing. We show that the oscillatory models can introduce some degeneracy with late time effects on BAO scale. We also conclude... 

Dust deposition on the surface of solar systems is one of the main parameters that significantly affects the performance of such systems. In this study, the effect of dust deposition density on the performance of photovoltaic modules (PV) and photovoltaic-thermal systems (PVT) is numerically investigated. Accordingly, all layers of a monocrystalline silicon PV module for both systems are simulated. Moreover, the effect of various system parameters on the performance of both clean and dusty PV module and PVT system are studied. The studied parameters included: solar radiation intensity, ambient temperature, coolant inlet temperature, and coolant inlet velocity. The obtained results indicate... 

The application of electropulsing treatment (EPT) is studied on the microstructure and hardness of cold-rolled low carbon steel. The effects of electrical pulses on the grain refinement, precipitate size evolution and hardness are investigated. It is found that applying electrical pulse decreases the grain and precipitate size and increases the hardness in the early stages of electropulsing, but the grain and precipitate size is increased and the hardness is decreased by continuing electropulsing. Also, the effect of electropulsing treatment variables as well as treated time and number of periods are discussed. It is demonstrated that increasing treated time can accelerate achieving maximum... 

Heat pumps as the only end-use cooling/heating technology with a Coefficient of Performance (COP) greater than one, have attracted a great deal of attention over the past decade. In this study, the long-term energy and exergy analysis of four different types of heat pump systems: a common Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP), an ASHP with Ground Air Heat Exchanger (GAHE), a Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) with Horizontal Ground Water Heat Exchanger (HGWHE), and a GSHP with Vertical Ground Water Heat Exchanger (VGWHE) is performed. It is considered that all systems are used for space cooling and heating of a residential building. A mathematical model that takes into account the variations of building... 

Ejector refrigeration system has many advantages over traditional compressor-based systems, including: simplicity, low installation and operating costs and the ability to operate with low-grade thermal energy sources. However, its main drawbacks are low Coefficient of Performance (COP) and failure at high ambient temperatures. To overcome these problems, a novel methodology for designing a multi-ejector refrigeration system is proposed. This system utilizes a parallel array of ejectors instead of one ejector. Therefore, the system can continuously operate at its optimum efficiency. Each ejector works within a specific range of condensing pressures. The condenser pressure governs the... 

In recent years horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers (GHEs) has attracted a growing interest as heat source/sink for ground source heat pump systems. Horizontal GHEs initial installation costs are lower than the vertical ones; however, they require larger land area and more pipes. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce their required land area and pipe length by improving their thermal performance. In this study, a numerical modal based on 3-D simulation of GHE with computational fluid dynamics methods is developed. The model is used to evaluate the thermal performance and initial installation cost of horizontal GHEs. Four different types of horizontal GHEs: linear, spiral, horizontal and... 

Solar Chimney (SC) can play a significant role in energy consumption reduction of ventilation applications. The primary purpose of this study is to ameliorate the performance of an inclined rooftop SC integrated with the Phase Change Material (PCM) and Photovoltaic (PV) module, called the SC-PCM-PV system. To this aim, the effects of using finned absorbers and composite PCMs on the performance of the SC-PCM-PV system are investigated for the first time. A 3D-CFD model is developed via the finite volume method to examine the impact of various design parameters, including fin number, fin thickness, PCM type, and PCM mass on natural ventilation duration, ventilation capacity, and power output.... 

In this study, transient 2D/axisymmetric simulations of cavitating flows are performed using a modified 'Volume-of-Fluid' (VOF) technique. Simulation of the cavitation is based on a homogenous equilibrium flow model. To predict the shape of the cavity, the Navier-Stokes equations in addition to an advection equation for the liquid volume fraction are solved. Mass transfer between the phases is treated as a sink term in the VOF equation. The numerical method is used for different geometries in a wide range of cavitation numbers. Computed shapes of cavities were found to be in good agreement with those of the reported experiments. The simulation results also compared well with those obtained... 

Solar-driven ejector refrigeration (SER) systems have been granted special attention as a green and sustainable replacement for conventional vapor compression cooling systems. However, despite their significant advantages, SER systems suffer from a relatively low coefficient of performance and failure at high ambient temperatures and low solar radiations. Therefore, the need for an auxiliary heat source and cooling system has hindered their adoption in practice. In an attempt to eliminate the need for an auxiliary heat source and cooling system, this contribution puts forward a novel Solar-driven Multi-Ejector Refrigeration (SMER) system with an internal heat exchanger, a regenerator, and a... 

Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers (HGHE) as a means of exploiting geothermal energy has come to the fore for a few decades. Various analytical and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods have been proposed to predict the performance of the HGHEs. The available analytical approaches are fast; however, they are based on various simplifications and assumptions, affecting their accuracy. On the other hand, CFD methods are more accurate, but their computational cost is a burden. Therefore there is an acute need for an accurate and fast method for predicting the long-term performance of HGHEs. To this aim, this study puts forward a novel hybrid analytical-numerical model for predicting the...