Thermodynamic performance analysis of a R245fa organic Rankine cycle (ORC) with different kinds of heat sources at evaporator

The first and the second law analyses of a 20 kWe R245fa organic Rankine cycle (ORC) with low grade temperature heat sources were numerically studied. There were three different heat sources such as hot water, saturated steam, and combined hot water/saturated steam used to supply heat at the ORC evaporator. The heat source temperature was varied…

Performance and economic evaluation of a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T)-cascade heat pump for combined cooling, heat and power in Tropical climate area

Performance analysis of a new PV/T-cascade heat pump design having 7-kW maximum cooling capacity for combined cooling, heat and power was simulated with the climate of Chiang Mai, a city in tropical area. The technique could enhance both electrical performance of PV/T module, and heat pump thermal performance for cool water (below 17oC) and hot…

Performance analysis of biomass boiler-organic Rankine cycle with assisted cascade heat pump for combined heat and power generation including exergy-costing

Performance analyses and economic evaluations based on exergy-costing of a biomass-boiler organic Rankine cycle coupled with a cascade heat pump system for combined heat and power generation were investigated. The net power outputs of the Rankine cycles were 7 and 20 kWe at the condensing and evaporating temperatures of 40 and 100oC, respectively. The heat…

Optimized Effective Strain Model for Externally Bonded FRP Shear Strengthened RC Members

Discrepancies in the current design guidelines on externally bonded FRP shear strengthening for reinforced concrete (RC) structures had initiated this research study. It is generally believed that the erroneous and irrelevant effective FRP strain models adopted in many of the design guidelines, which are derived entirely based on the 45-deg truss analogy, contributes significantly for…

Response of UHPC-Concrete Composite Structural Members Using Implicit and Explicit Finite Element Method

This paper investigates the response of UHPC-concrete composite structural members using implicit and explicit finite element (FE) methods. Both methods were prepared and conducted individually for the FE analysis under static loading condition. Results of the implicit and explicit analysis were compared to experimental results conducted in previous study. Both the implicit and explicit methods…

Suitability of optimized truss model to predict the FRP contribution to shear resistance for externally bonded FRP strengthened RC beams without internal stirrups

Shortcoming in the current design guidelines on externally bonded FRP shear strengthened members has initiated a motivation to relook the whole shear design approach. It is understood that effective FRP strain models used in present design guidelines are basically calibrated from the experimental data based on the conservative and unrealistic 45-deg truss model. This paper…

Numerical Simulation of the Blast-Resistant Response of Ultrahigh-Performance Concrete Structural Members

This paper presents the blast responses of ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) structural members obtained using finite element (FE) modelling. The FE model was developed using LS-DYNA with an explicit solver. In the FE simulation, the concrete damage model, which is a plasticity-based constitutive material model, was employed for the concrete material. The simulation results were verified…

Research on HGV Collisions with Concrete Bridge Piers

Bridge piers are highly vulnerable to accidental collision with heavy truck vehicles. Current design and assessment codes account the effect of vehicle collision by means of an equivalent static load. This methodology although is simple but have raised many concerns on their suitability to reflect the exact collision condition, which is highly dynamic. Therefore many…

Numerical Assessment of Ultra-high Performance Concrete Material

Reinforced concrete (RC) structural members strengthened with ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) have shown excellent performance in past experimental investigations. However, methods of predicting their capacity are currently very limited. This paper presents six independent methods of predicting the shear capacity of UHPC–concrete composite members based on the application of existing design codes. Three of these methods…

Prediction of Shear Capacity of UHPC–concrete Composite Structural Members Based on Existing Codes

Reinforced concrete (RC) structural members strengthened with ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) have shown excellent performance in past experimental investigations. However, methods of predicting their capacity are currently very limited. This paper presents six independent methods of predicting the shear capacity of UHPC–concrete composite members based on the application of existing design codes. Three of these methods…