Abstract: The United States military is now commonly responding to complex humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters around the world. From catastrophic earthquakes in Haiti to typhoons devastating the Philippines, U.S. military assistance is requested when the event exceeds the local government's ability to assist the population. This study assesses the characteristics of catastrophes that surpass a nation’s individual ability to respond and recover from the event. The paper begins with a historical summary of military aid and then analyzes over 40 years of the United States military humanitarian response. Over 300 military operations were reviewed and coded based on the nature of the disaster. This in-depth study reviewed the U.S. military’s deployment events for cyclones and earthquakes to determine the strength of the natural disaster requiring external assistance. The climatological data for cyclone landfall and magnitude data for earthquake epicenters were identified, grouped into regions and analyzed for time-based trends. The results showed that foreign countries will likely request the U.S. military for cyclones with speeds greater or equal to 125 miles an hour and earthquakes at the magnitude of 7.4 or higher. These results of this study will assist the geographic combatant commands in determining future military response requirements.
Abstract: Petroleum refining is a chemical process in which the raw material (crude oil) is converted to finished commercial products for end users. The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit is a key asset in refineries, requiring optimised processes in the context of engineering design. Following the first stage of separation of crude oil in a distillation tower, an additional 40 per cent quantity is attainable in the gasoline pool with further conversion of the downgraded product of crude oil (residue from the distillation tower) using a catalyst in the FCC process. Effective removal of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon and heavy metals from FCC gasoline requires greater separation efficiency and involves an enormous environmental significance. The FCC unit is primarily a reactor and regeneration system which employs cyclone systems for separation. Catalyst losses in FCC cyclones lead to high particulate matter emission on the regenerator side and fines carryover into the product on the reactor side. This paper aims at demonstrating the importance of FCC unit design criteria in terms of technical performance and compliance with environmental legislation. A systematic review of state-of-the-art FCC technology was carried out, identifying its key technical challenges and sources of emissions. Case studies of petroleum refineries in Nigeria were assessed against selected global case studies. The review highlights the need for further modelling investigations to help improve FCC design to more effectively meet product specification requirements while complying with stricter environmental legislation.
Abstract: The geographical location of Bangladesh makes it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Climate-induced phenomena mainly affect the south-central region of Bangladesh (Laxmipur district) where they have begun to occur more frequently. The aim of the study was to identify the hydro-climatic factors that lead to weather-related disasters in the coastal areas and analyse the consequences of these factors on coastal livelihoods, with possible adaptation options using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools. The present study showed several disasters such as land erosion, depressions and cyclones, coastal flooding, storm surge, and precipitation. The frequency of these disasters is of a noticeable rate. Surveys have also discovered that land erosion is ongoing. Tidal water is being introduced directly into the mainland, and as a result of the salt intrusion, production capacity is declining. The coastal belt is an important area for fishing activities, but due to changed fishing times and a lack of Alternative Income Generating Activities (AIGAs), people have been forced to search for alternative livelihood options by taking both short-term and long-term adaptation options. Therefore, in order to increase awareness and minimize the losses, vulnerable communities must be fully incorporated into disaster response strategies. The government as well as national and international donor organizations should come forward and resolve the present situation of these vulnerable groups since otherwise, they will have to endure endless and miserable suffering due to the effects of climate change ahead in their lives.
Abstract: With the rapid development of subsea oil and gas exploitation, the demand for the related underwater process equipment is increasing fast. In order to reduce the energy consuming, people tend to separate the gas and oil phase directly on the seabed. Accordingly, an advanced separator is needed. In this paper, the pressure drop of a new type of separator named Gas Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone (GLCC) which is used in the subsea system is investigated by both experiments and numerical simulation. In the experiments, the single phase flow and gas-liquid two phase flow in GLCC were tested. For the simulation, the performance of GLCC under both laboratory and industrial conditions was calculated. The Eulerian model was implemented to describe the mixture flow field in the GLCC under experimental conditions and industrial oil-natural gas conditions. Furthermore, a relationship among Euler number (Eu), Reynolds number (Re), and Froude number (Fr) is generated according to similarity analysis and simulation data, which can present the GLCC separation performance of pressure drop. These results can give reference to the design and application of GLCC in deep sea.
Abstract: This paper is about the development of non-invasive heart rate and oxygen saturation in human blood using Altera NIOS II soft-core processor system. In today's world, monitoring oxygen saturation and heart rate is very important in hospitals to keep track of low oxygen levels in blood. We have designed an Embedded System On Peripheral Chip (SOPC) reconfigurable system by interfacing two LED’s of different wavelengths (660 nm/940 nm) with a single photo-detector to measure the absorptions of hemoglobin species at different wavelengths. The implementation of the interface with Finger Probe and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) was carried out using NIOS II soft-core system running on Altera NANO DE0 board having target as Cyclone IVE. This designed system is used to monitor oxygen saturation in blood and heart rate for different test subjects. The designed NIOS II processor based non-invasive heart rate and oxygen saturation was verified with another Operon Pulse oximeter for 50 measurements on 10 different subjects. It was found that the readings taken were very close to the Operon Pulse oximeter.
Abstract: Tropical cyclone is one among the worst natural hazards that results in a trail of destruction causing enormous damage to life, property, and coastal infrastructures. In a global perspective, the Indian Ocean is considered as one of the cyclone prone basins in the world. Specifically, the frequency of cyclogenesis in the Bay of Bengal is higher compared to the Arabian Sea. Out of the four maritime states in the East coast of India, Odisha is highly susceptible to tropical cyclone landfall. Historical records clearly decipher the fact that the frequency of cyclones have reduced in this basin. However, in the recent decades, the intensity and size of tropical cyclones have increased. This is a matter of concern as the risk and vulnerability level of Odisha coast exposed to high wind speed and gusts during cyclone landfall have increased. In this context, there is a need to assess and evaluate the severity of coastal risk, area of exposure under risk, and associated vulnerability with a higher dimension in a multi-risk perspective. Changing climate can result in the emergence of a new hazard and vulnerability over a region with differential spatial and socio-economic impact. Hence there is a need to have coastal vulnerability projections in a changing climate scenario. With this motivation, the present study attempts to estimate the destructiveness of tropical cyclones based on Power Dissipation Index (PDI) for those cyclones that made landfall along Odisha coast that exhibits an increasing trend based on historical data. The study also covers the futuristic scenarios of integral coastal vulnerability based on the trends in PDI for the Odisha coast. This study considers 11 essential and important parameters; the cyclone intensity, storm surge, onshore inundation, mean tidal range, continental shelf slope, topo-graphic elevation onshore, rate of shoreline change, maximum wave height, relative sea level rise, rainfall distribution, and coastal geomorphology. The study signifies that over a decadal scale, the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) depends largely on the incremental change in variables such as cyclone intensity, storm surge, and associated inundation. In addition, the study also performs a critical analysis on the modulation of PDI on storm surge and inundation characteristics for the entire coastal belt of Odisha State. Interestingly, the study brings to light that a linear correlation exists between the storm-tide with PDI. The trend analysis of PDI and its projection for coastal Odisha have direct practical applications in effective coastal zone management and vulnerability assessment.
Abstract: A waste-to-energy plasma system was designed by Necsa for commercial use to create electricity from unsorted municipal waste. Fly ash particles must be removed from the syngas stream at operating temperatures of 1000 °C and recycled back into the reactor for complete combustion. A 2D2D high efficiency cyclone separator was chosen for this purpose. During this study, two cyclone design methods were explored: The Classic Empirical Method (smaller cyclone) and the Flow Characteristics Method (larger cyclone). These designs were optimized with regard to efficiency, so as to remove at minimum 90% of the fly ash particles of average size 10 μm by 50 μm. Wood was used as feed source at a concentration of 20 g/m3 syngas. The two designs were then compared at room temperature, using Perspex test units and three feed gases of different densities, namely nitrogen, helium and air. System conditions were imitated by adapting the gas feed velocity and particle load for each gas respectively. Helium, the least dense of the three gases, would simulate higher temperatures, whereas air, the densest gas, simulates a lower temperature. The average cyclone efficiencies ranged between 94.96% and 98.37%, reaching up to 99.89% in individual runs. The lowest efficiency attained was 94.00%. Furthermore, the design of the smaller cyclone proved to be more robust, while the larger cyclone demonstrated a stronger correlation between its separation efficiency and the feed temperatures. The larger cyclone can be assumed to achieve slightly higher efficiencies at elevated temperatures. However, both design methods led to good designs. At room temperature, the difference in efficiency between the two cyclones was almost negligible. At higher temperatures, however, these general tendencies are expected to be amplified so that the difference between the two design methods will become more obvious. Though the design specifications were met for both designs, the smaller cyclone is recommended as default particle separator for the plasma system due to its robust nature.
Abstract: Nowadays, to decrease the number of downtimes in the industries such as metal mining, petroleum and chemical industries, predictive maintenance is crucial. In order to have efficient predictive maintenance, knowing the performance of critical equipment of production line such as pumps and hydro-cyclones under variable operating parameters, selecting best indicators of this equipment health situations, best locations for instrumentation, and also measuring of these indicators are very important. In this paper, computer aided engineering (CAE) tools are implemented to study some important elements of copper process line, namely slurry pumps and cyclone to predict the performance of these components under different working conditions. These modeling and simulations can be used in predicting, for example, the damage tolerance of the main shaft of the slurry pump or wear rate and location of cyclone wall or pump case and impeller. Also, the simulations can suggest best-measuring parameters, measuring intervals, and their locations.
Abstract: There are about 1% of the world population suffering
from the hidden disability known as epilepsy and major developing
countries are not fully equipped to counter this problem. In order to
reduce the inconvenience and danger of epilepsy, different methods
have been researched by using a artificial neural network (ANN)
classification to distinguish epileptic waveforms from normal brain
waveforms. This paper outlines the aim of achieving massive
ANN parallelization through a dedicated hardware using bit-serial
processing. The design of this bit-serial Neural Processing Element
(NPE) is presented which implements the functionality of a complete
neuron using variable accuracy. The proposed design has been tested
taking into consideration non-idealities of a hardware ANN. The NPE
consists of a bit-serial multiplier which uses only 16 logic elements
on an Altera Cyclone IV FPGA and a bit-serial ALU as well as a
look-up table. Arrays of NPEs can be driven by a single controller
which executes the neural processing algorithm. In conclusion, the
proposed compact NPE design allows the construction of complex
hardware ANNs that can be implemented in a portable equipment
that suits the needs of a single epileptic patient in his or her daily
activities to predict the occurrences of impending tonic conic seizures.
Abstract: Cyclone Hudhud which battered the city of Visakhapatnam on 12th October, 2014, damaged many buildings, public amenities and infrastructure facilities along the Visakha- Bheemili coastal corridor. More than half the green cover of the city was wiped out. Majority of the trees along the coastal corridor suffered from complete or partial damage. In order to understand the different ways that trees incurred damage during the cyclone, a damage assessment study was carried out by the author. The areas covered by this study included two university campuses, several parks and residential colonies which bore the brunt of the cyclone. Post disaster attempts have been made to restore many of the trees that have suffered from partial or complete damage from the effects of extreme winds. This paper examines the various ways that trees incurred damage from the cyclone Hudhud and presents some examples of the restoration efforts carried out by educational institutions, public parks and religious institutions of the city of Visakhapatnam in the aftermath of the devastating cyclone.
Abstract: Introduction: This work is aimed to represent the use of the OPTI-JET CS MD1 MR prototype for application of neutral electrolyzed oxidizing water (NEOW) in magnetic resonance rooms. Material and Methods: We produced and used OPTI-JET CS MD1 MR aerosolisator whereby was performed aerosolization. The presence of microorganisms before and after the aerosolisation was recorded with the help of cyclone air sampling. Colony formed units (CFU) was counted. Results: The number of microorganisms in magnetic resonance 3T room was low as expected. Nevertheless, a possible CFU reduction of 87% was recorded. Conclusions: The research has shown that the use of EOW for the air and hard surface disinfection can considerably reduce the presence of microorganisms and consequently the possibility of hospital infections. It has also demonstrated that the use of OPTI-JET CS MD1 MR is very good. With this research, we started new guidelines for aerosolization in magnetic resonance rooms. Future work: We predict that presented technique works very good but we must focus also on time capacity sensors, and new appropriate toxicological studies.
Abstract: Within this paper, latest results on processing of energetic nanomaterials by means of the Spray Flash Evaporation technique are presented. This technology constitutes a highly effective and continuous way to prepare fascinating materials on the nano- and micro-scale. Within the process, a solution is set under high pressure and sprayed into an evacuated atomization chamber. Subsequent ultrafast evaporation of the solvent leads to an aerosol stream, which is separated by cyclones or filters. No drying gas is required, so the present technique should not be confused with spray dying. Resulting nanothermites, insensitive explosives or propellants and compositions are foreseen to replace toxic (according to REACH) and very sensitive matter in military and civil applications. Diverse examples are given in detail: nano-RDX (n-Cyclotrimethylentrinitramin) and nano-aluminum based systems, mixtures (n-RDX/n-TNT - trinitrotoluene) or even cocrystalline matter like n-CL-20/HMX (Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane/ Cyclotetra-methylentetranitramin). These nanomaterials show reduced sensitivity by trend without losing effectiveness and performance. An analytical study for material characterization was performed by using Atomic Force Microscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and combined techniques as well as spectroscopic methods. As a matter of course, sensitivity tests regarding electrostatic discharge, impact, and friction are provided.
Abstract: A Rice Sheller is used for obtaining polished white
rice from paddy. There are about 3000 Rice Shellers in Punjab and
50000 in India. During the process of shelling lot of dust is emitted
from different unit operations like paddy silo, paddy shaker, bucket
elevators, huskers, paddy separator etc. These dust emissions have
adverse effect on the health of the workers and the wear and tear of
the shelling machinery is fast. All the dust emissions spewing out of
these unit operations of a rice Sheller were contained by providing
suitable hoods and enclosures while ensuring their workability. These
were sucked by providing an induced draft fan followed by a high
efficiency cyclone separator that has got an overall dust collection
efficiency of more than 90%. This cyclone separator replaced two
cyclone separators and a filter bag house, which the Rice Sheller was
already having. The dust concentration in the stack after the
installation of cyclone separator is well within the stipulated
standards. Besides controlling pollution, there is improvement in the
quality of products like bran and the life of shelling machinery has
enhanced. The payback period of this technology is less than four
shelling months.
Abstract: Scrubbing by a liquid spraying is one of the most
effective processes used for removal of fine particles and soluble
gas pollutants (such as SO2, HCl, HF) from the flue gas. There are
many configurations of scrubbers designed to provide contact
between the liquid and gas stream for effectively capturing
particles or soluble gas pollutants, such as spray plates, packed bed
towers, jet scrubbers, cyclones, vortex and venturi scrubbers. The
primary function of venturi scrubber is the capture of fine particles
as well as HCl, HF or SO2 removal with effect of the flue gas
temperature decrease before input to the absorption column. In this
paper, sulfur dioxide (SO2) from flue gas was captured using new
design replacing venturi scrubber (1st degree of wet scrubbing).
The flue gas was prepared by the combustion of the carbon
disulfide solution in toluene (1:1 vol.) in the flame in the reactor.
Such prepared flue gas with temperature around 150°C was
processed in designed laboratory O-element scrubber. Water was
used as absorbent liquid. The efficiency of SO2 removal, pressure
drop and temperature drop were measured on our experimental
device. The dependence of these variables on liquid-gas ratio was
observed. The average temperature drop was in the range from
150°C to 40°C. The pressure drop was increased with increasing of
a liquid-gas ratio, but no too much as for the common venturi
scrubber designs. The efficiency of SO2 removal was up to 70 %.
The pressure drop of our new designed wet scrubber is similar to
commonly used venturi scrubbers; nevertheless the influence of
amount of the liquid on pressure drop is not so significant.
Abstract: The Port of Townsville conducts regular annual
maintenance dredging to maintain depths of its harbor basin and
approach channels for the navigational safety of the vessels against
the natural accumulation of marine sediments. In addition to the
regular maintenance dredging, the port undertakes emergency
dredging in cases where large quantities of sediments are mobilized
and deposited in port waters by cyclone or major flood events. The
maintenance dredging material derived from the port may be
disposed at sea or on land in accordance with relevant state and
commonwealth regulations. For the land disposal, the dredged mud
slurry is hydraulically placed into containment ponds and left to
undergo sedimentation and self-weight consolidation to form fill
material for land reclamation. This paper provides an overview of the
maintenance dredging at the Port of Townsville and emphasis on
maintenance dredging requirements, sediment quality, bathymetry,
dredging methods used, and dredged material disposal options.
Abstract: The separation efficiency of a hydrocyclone has
extensively been considered on the rigid particle assumption. A
collection of experimental studies have demonstrated their
discrepancies from the modeling and simulation results. These
discrepancies caused by the actual particle elasticity have generally
led to a larger amount of energy consumption in the separation
process. In this paper, the influence of particle elasticity on the
separation efficiency of a hydrocyclone system was investigated
through the Finite Element (FE) simulations using crude oil droplets
as the elastic particles. A Reitema-s design hydrocyclone with a
diameter of 8 mm was employed to investigate the separation
mechanism of the crude oil droplets from water. The cut-size
diameter eter of the crude oil was 10 - Ðçm in order to fit with the
operating range of the adopted hydrocylone model. Typical
parameters influencing the performance of hydrocyclone were varied
with the feed pressure in the range of 0.3 - 0.6 MPa and feed
concentration between 0.05 – 0.1 w%. In the simulation, the Finite
Element scheme was applied to investigate the particle-flow
interaction occurred in the crude oil system during the process. The
interaction of a single oil droplet at the size of 10 - Ðçm to the flow
field was observed. The feed concentration fell in the dilute flow
regime so the particle-particle interaction was ignored in the study.
The results exhibited the higher power requirement for the separation
of the elastic particulate system when compared with the rigid
particulate system.
Abstract: The experimental results on combustion of rice husk
in a conical fluidized bed combustor (referred to as the conical FBC)
using silica sand as the bed material are presented in this paper. The
effects of excess combustion air and combustor loading as well as the
sand bed height on the combustion pattern in FBC were investigated.
Temperatures and gas concentrations (CO and NO) along over the
combustor height as well as in the flue gas downstream from the ash
collecting cyclone were measured. The results showed that the axial
temperature profiles in FBC were explicitly affected by the
combustor loading whereas the excess air and bed height were found
to have minor influences on the temperature pattern. Meanwhile, the
combustor loading and the excess air significantly affected the axial
CO and NO concentration profiles; however, these profiles were
almost independent of the bed height. The combustion and thermal
efficiencies for this FBC were quantified for different operating
conditions.
Abstract: Heavy rains are one of the features of arid and semi
arid climates which result in flood. This kind of rainfall originates
from environmental and synoptic conditions. Mediterranean cyclones
are the major factor in heavy rainfall in Iran, but these cyclones do
not happen in some parts of Iran such as Southern and Southeastern
areas. In this study, it has been tried to pinpoint the synoptic reasons
of heavy rainfall in Isfahan through the analysis of the relationship
between this rainfall in Isfahan and atmospheric system over Iran and
the areas around it. The findings of this study show that the major
factor have is the arrival of Sudanese low pressure system in this
region from the southwest, of course if the ascent local conditions
such as heat occur, the heaviest rains happen in Isfahan. In fact this
kind of rainfall in Isfahan has a Sudanese origin and if it is
accompanied by Mediterranean system, heavier rain falls.
Abstract: Numerical analysis of flow characteristics and
separation efficiency in a high-efficiency cyclone has been performed.
Several models based on the experimental observation for a design
purpose were proposed. However, the model is only estimated the
cyclone's performance under the limited environments; it is difficult to
obtain a general model for all types of cyclones. The purpose of this
study is to find out the flow characteristics and separation efficiency
numerically. The Reynolds stress model (RSM) was employed instead
of a standard k-ε or a k-ω model which was suitable for isotropic
turbulence and it could predict the pressure drop and the Rankine
vortex very well. For small particles, there were three significant
components (entrance of vortex finder, cone, and dust collector) for
the particle separation. In the present work, the particle re-entraining
phenomenon from the dust collector to the cyclone body was observed
after considerable time. This re-entrainment degraded the separation
efficiency and was one of the significant factors for the separation
efficiency of the cyclone.
Abstract: Hydrocyclones flow field study is conducted by performing a parametric study. Effect of cone angle on deoiling hydrocyclones flow behaviour is studied in this research. Flow field of hydrocyclone is obtained by three-dimensional simulations with OpenFOAM code. Because of anisotropic behaviour of flow inside hydrocyclones LES is a suitable method to predict the flow field since it resolves large scales and model isotropic small scales. Large eddy simulation is used to predict the flow behavior of three different cone angles. Differences in tangential velocity and pressure distribution are reported in some figures.