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Go to Editorial ManagerSeveral governments around the world announced new strategies regarding their construction industry. These strategies focus on reducing construction projects' time, cost and improving their impact on the environment. To achieving these goals within the proposed time scale, these authorities advise their stakeholders to start to implement different methods in project delivery such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Geographic Information System (GIS), and many more. All these new technologies and methods will reduce human errors in the project lifecycle which will lead to reducing project waste. In addition, this will pave the road to automation in construction. Automation will help to mitigate the huge number of clashes and mistakes. Iraq an oil-depended country suffering from economic crises due to the considerable reduction in oil prices. This struggle must enforce the government to use this opportunity to solve current project problems such as project delays and budgets overrun and rethink how to reduce construction project time and cost. However, the applicability and understanding of these new methods and technologies need to be explored first among the Iraqi construction industry. This paper will investigate the understanding of automation in construction among different disciplines working with different experiences in the Iraq construction industry. The method of survey was used to sightsee their view regarding automation in construction understanding, benefits, and the challenges. The results reveal that there a positive view in terms of understating the meaning of automation in construction. In addition, several benefits are identified as the most effective gains if these new methods are implemented. Furthermore, more than a few challenges also have been acknowledged that need to be considered to increase the successfulness of implementing automation in construction.
Construction projects are complex projects and their organisations are characterised by a high degree of fragmentation since they are distributed in large areas and clearly they involves of many activities, each one being divided into sub-activities and so on. Hear clear and good communication between projects stakeholders leads to the project being more successful in contrast to when the communication is weak. This paper compares two methods of communication used in Iraqi construction projects during the implementation stage, namely the Face to Face (FTF) approach which is characterised as expensive and disruptive and Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) which represents the modern method in the communication field. The results show that the CMC method is more productive and economic than FTF and takes less time when completing an implementation work; in addition, the people are less affected by emotional factors in the construction project in contrast to FTF.
The problem of construction debris has been emerged as one of the most important environmental problems in the Iraqi governorates due to higher rates of population growth and the need for the establishment of new construction projects to rebuilding Iraq. Therefore, this research aims to estimate the quantity of construction debris in Basra governorate and suggested method for recycling the homogeneous to rubble material that can be used in the building after admixing with cement. The study estimated the quantity of this debris in Basra during the study period, amounting to a full year up to 177.907 tons, that is equivalent to an average of 0.06 tons/m². And recycling of debris concrete to give the results of the usual approach to the concrete and be within the limits allowed in the code of Iraq and the U.S. and can be used in the production of non-loading concrete blocks.
This study aims to evaluate quality of groundwater samples in south of Basrah Province for industrial, construction and agricultural purposes. Groundwater samples were collected in summer season of the year 2015 from (29) wells located in different districts in Basrah province (Safwan, Zubair and Um- Qasir). The groundwater samples were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS) and other major ions. The chemical results indicate that the groundwater in the study area was unsuitable for industrial uses according to standard classification. Some other standard classification recommended that, the unsuitable groundwater could be used after treatment of some of its element while groundwater in study area may be used for construction purposes with suitable treatment of high ions concentration. After studying the factors that determine the suitability of groundwater for irrigation purpose such as pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, Sodium ratio(Na%) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR). The groundwater in study area can be classify based on (EC) values, as unacceptable for irrigation except for very salt-tolerant plants and excellent drainage. According to other parameters like Na% and SAR , groundwater of the study area are classify as poor to very poor water and need for suitable treatment before using it.
In this research ,the sediment load in Shat Al- Gharaf River , lies in the south of Iraq ,has been studied . Two empirical formulas those have been presented by ; Bagnold and Van Rijin were adopted as a deterministic equations for computing the sediment discharge in selected reaches of river . The application of these equations requires to do different hydraulic , sediment , and geometric measurements for the selected reaches . Accordingly , thirteen sections along the river within a study area have been adopted . After analyzing the available data , a new formula for estimating the suspended sediment load in Shat Al-Gharaf was developed , depending on the data for ten sections of this river and by using SPSS program , the determination coefficient of the new formula was (R 2 =0.94) . The validity of the established formula has been verified using some well related (i.e., nearly the same hydraulics and geometrical circumstances) of field data over the world was selected from published literatures [8] these are : Colorado river data of the U.S.B.R.(1958) ,River data from Leopold (1969) , and India canal data of Chaudry et.al.(1970). As well as ,those observed in the remaining three sections of present river , the verification shows a good agreement . The results of the adopted two formulas and the new formula were compared with field measurements using Discrepancy Ratio (bais) method . The suggested new formula gave the best results where 50% of data located within a discrepancy ratio close to one and 30% of data located within an error ±20% , that is refer to suitability adoption this formula as a deterministic equation to estimate the sediment load in Shat Al-Garaf river within a study reach .
This study focuses on the design and construction of an automated device for evaluating the scratch resistance of polymeric materials by measuring the force required to produce surface scratches and calculating the corresponding friction coefficient from device input–output data. The device was fabricated using locally available materials, with several components manufactured in local mechanical workshops. It comprises four main subsystems: mechanical components, scratching mechanism, electrical and electronic units, and an operating control program. The developed device offers the following specifications: normal load range of 0.1–325 N, sliding speed of 1–35 mm/s, tangential force measurement capacity of 0.1–294 N via a load cell, sample dimensions of 10–195 mm in length, 10–125 mm in width, and 0.25–50 mm in thickness, a maximum scratch length of 195 mm, and an adjustable indenter height ranging from 0.25 to 50 mm above the platform surface. Scratch testing and friction coefficient measurements were conducted on pure PMMA and PMMA reinforced with silicon dioxide (SiO₂) nanoparticles. Experimental results demonstrated increased scratch resistance and reduced friction coefficients with higher SiO₂ weight ratios. Additionally, the performance evaluation confirmed that the designed device is capable of accurately and rapidly measuring the tangential forces associated with scratching through a simple operational procedure.
Over the past years, researchers have been focusing on development the robotics and actuation due to increase demand for these applications like industrial engineering, oil industry, healthcare, aerospace … etc. This work involves the design, construction and control of the Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuator. The industrial actuator has many characteristics able to be measured, which have an impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of the actuator while the execution of its tasks. The most important measurable characteristics are repeatability and accuracy. The current system typically is using Nitinol (Nickle Titanium Naval Ordinance Lab), which is one of the Shape Memory Alloy that contract when applying specific heat on it, and it can be used as an actuator. This work presents SMA in the shape of a spring to operate and control the accurate position of the 2-D system which containing four SMA springs, two SMA springs for the x -axis and two SMA springs for the y - axis. The theoretical design and calculations for SMA springs have been presented to collect information about the SMA springs. In a practical manner, the SMA spring characteristic like force and displacement were collected by a test bed that was designed and constructs before making the final rig. The setting shape of the SMA spring was presented and done as per the theoretical calculations. In the rig, each axis works as a two-direction actuator, the actuator is not prone to precise position points due to hysteresis and temperature variation. The SMA spring exhibited hysteresis and imprecise pointing, for that employing PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) with tracking mode controller to compensate the hysteresis. PID control system is played a decisive role with tracking mode model that achieves the aim behind the construction of the experimental rig. Good results have been obtained presented in three cases of drawing different shapes.
This research concerns with the fracture behavior of reinforced concrete beams without shear reinforcement numerically. The software ABAQUS is adapted to simulate the crack propagation using the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM), taking into account materials nonlinearities using concrete damage plasticity CDP criteria. XFEM is used to solve the discontinuity problems in the simulation. The maximum principal stress failure criterion is selected for damage initiation, and an energy-based damage evolution law based on a model- independent fracture criterion is selected for damage propagation. The traditional nonlinear finite element analysis is used to specify the crack initiation position, which is required to specify the crack location in the analysis of beams using XFEM. Three-dimensional reinforced concrete beam models are investigated subjected to three and four-point loading tests. Simply supported beams under the effect of applied static load are investigated. An elastic perfectly plastic model is used for modeling the longitudinal steel bars. The main variables considered in the study are beam depth and the shear span with beam length. The numerical results are compared with the available experimental results to demonstrate the applicability of the model. The XFEM provides the capability to predict the concrete member fracture behavior.
In this paper, a new approach for the positioning (localization) of multi-node systems is presented. Each node including the beacon node contains two types of sensors: one for the distance sensing and the other type is for communication. The main idea of our proposed approach is to use the control of beacon to construct a nodes' tree which is going to be used later by the nodes to know the paths in which the information will flow. During the tree construction the identities of nodes will be known. Every node except the beacon will use the information obtained from its previous neighbor in the tree to find its own location and orientation. Several simulations using visual basic 2012 are implemented to discern the performance of this algorithm.
The study investigates the behaviour of reinforced concrete corner joints under monotonically increasing loads which tend to increase the right angle between the two joint members. The experimental results for two case studies are considered, and the ANSYS computer code is employed to create three-dimensional models for corner joints within the context of the finite element method. The effect of reinforcement details at the corner joint is studied for commonly used detailing systems, and the nonlinear response is traced throughout the entire load range up to failure. The results obtained are generally in good agreement with the experiments, and show that the detailing system has a significant effect on corner joint behaviour, with efficiencies ranging from as low as 54% up to 147%.
Time series analysis for hydrological phenomena has an important role in water resources engineering. In this study, seven models of ARIMA family are tested for forecasting the monthly discharge at Hit station on Euphrates river in Iraq. The statistical analyses were done for models with help of IBM SPSS statistics 21 software, The number of observations used is equal to 480 reading, start from October 1932 and end at September 1972, this period represents the near-natural stream flow of the river before the construction of dams in Syria and Turkey. Statistical tests such as T-test and F-test were used to detect any change in Mean and Variance at 95% significant probability level. Results showed that the best model is (2,0,1)×(0,1,1) 12 which gives minimum error and good agreement between observed and forecast discharge.
Basrah is considered as the economic capital of Iraq. In recent years, it showed a rapid growth in population and, accordingly, an increasing investment in construction industries. This paper presents information about the geotechnical characteristics of Basrah soil. For this purpose, geotechnical data have been collected covering wide areas of the city. The study area was divided into two zones, one of them was further divided into three subzones. For each of the zones considered, geotechnical information including typical soil profiles, Standard Penetration Test (SPT-N) values, Atterberg limits, sieve analysis results, consolidation test results and other physical aspects were given. Furthermore, chemical analysis of Basrah soil was also presented. According to field and laboratory results, soils in this region can be classified into two distinct zones. The eastern zone, which mainly forms of soft and medium cohesion soils extended from the soil surface down to a depth of (16 – 26) m, and, the western zone, which can be identified by the sandy surficial and stratigraphic soil.
Wastewater lagoons have proven to be an economically and environmentally beneficial alternative to traditional methods for treating sewage because of their unique properties, which include simplicity of use and inexpensive construction, energy, and maintenance costs. It is a natural wastewater treatment process that exploits the interactions between bacteria, algae, and other microorganisms and their surroundings to remove pathogens, organic matter, suspended particles, phosphates, ammonia, and nitrates. Stabilization lagoons are widely used throughout the world as they have proved to be a perfectly acceptable and satisfactory treatment system, the effluents produced in tertiary lagoons have been used for irrigation and aquaculture in many countries, indicating the high quality achieved during treatment in these units. This aim of this research is to overview the literature on lagoons' classification, design, and historical development. It also includes a set of relevant pilot and laboratory-scale experiments. As well as a comprehensive review of factors affecting lagoon performance, including sun's light, DO, pH, temperature, and nutrients. The relationship between these factors and their use in efficient contaminant removal is also discussed.
The Mobile Manipulator Robot (MMR) has many applications in different aspects of the life, for example, grasping and transporting, mining, military, manufacturing, construction and others. The benefits of MMR rise in dangerous place where the human cannot reach such as disaster areas and dangerous projects sites. In this work, the PID controller is combined with Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) to structure the Fuzzy Supervisory Controller (FSC) to overcome the drawbacks of PID controller and to obtain the advantages of FLC. Two approaches are suggested for the navigation of Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR). These are; goal reaching fuzzy control (GRFC) and the obstacle avoidance fuzzy control (OAFC). The hardware implementation of the AMR is performed using AVR ATmega32 microcontroller, two DC motors, light dependent resistor (LDR) and five Infra Red sensors. While, the Laboratory robot arm with some fabrications is used as manipulator arm with a five degrees-of- freedom. Then a microcontroller is employed to implement the proposed controller for MMR. The designed MMR is tested in real environments and give a good navigation.
It is very crucial to minimize the environmental impact that induced from the development of industry, by applying strict policies and innovate eco-friendly industries. Indeed, construction manufacture considered as one of the most industries that affect the environment, especially concrete production and usage in structural buildings. For instance, traditional concrete, which is consists of a high amount of cement, is contributed to the emission of CO 2 . Therefore, researchers seeking to develop a new technology of concrete by replacement some amount of cement by materials which are considered to become more friendly to the environment. Nowadays, this new technology is known as Green Concrete. The importance of using green concrete is not only to decrease the emission amounts of CO 2 but also to replace cement by industrial waste. In this paper, a review has been presented to understand green concrete benefits and materials that may be used instead of cement and aggregate.
Although estuarine locations provide natural safety and protection for the construction of harbours and other infrastructure, they are prone to natural filling due to sediment settlement. As a result, dredging is required regularly to keep navigation channels and harbours safe and functional. A numerical model has been developed in this study to compute annual sediment load in Khour Al-Zubair Port, South of Iraq, setting up a MIKE 21 FM model. MIKE 21 FM was developed by the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) where provides the capability of simulation of a hydrodynamic model (HD) coupled with the mud transport model (MT). The model operates with an unstructured mesh of triangles and quadrilateral elements of different sizes. Field and experimental data were provided during two periods (Neap and Spring) for calibration and verification process. According to the sensitivity analysis results, it is clear that the settling velocity is an essential parameter. Based on the results of the calibrated model, there is annual sedimentation of 1220500.64 tons/year. The primary deposition took place in the meandering of the Khour Al-Zubair estuary and behind the piers.
One of the major problems in industry are new welding trainees cost, it drains the budget of many companies, particularly in industrialized countries, through raw material costs for preparation, welding wires, electric and fumes in addition to time spent. Recently a new technique was appeared; it is called virtual welding training system (VWTS) to reduce the training cost. In the present work a VWTS technique was built, a simulation of electrode motion is upgraded by using LVDT to represent the welding arc length while a DC motor with gearbox connect to the steel rode is used to represent welding electrode consumption. A 2D graphs with touch screen monitor are used to represent welding process. All sensors were calibrated to generate a VWTS. Accepted results obtained in training new welding trainees in the shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) training.
An-Najaf Province is one of the most important cities in Iraq and is experiencing rapid population growth and continuous expansion of infrastructure, including residential buildings, hotels, bridges, and commercial centers. This study aims to establish a spatial database of gypsum content in soils across An-Najaf Province, including Najaf city center and Al-Kufa city, to support safe geotechnical design. A total of 464 boreholes and in situ test records were analyzed using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to assess the spatial variability of gypsum content. The adopted methodology comprised four main stages: data collection, georeferencing of geotechnical data, application of interpolation methods, and map generation. Nine geotechnical distribution maps were produced for depths of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 35 m. Results indicated that the 0–4 m depth layer is predominantly moderately gypsiferous, with gypsum content ranging between 10–25%. The 4–8 m depth layer is mainly slightly gypsiferous, with values between 3–10%, while deeper layers from 8 to 35 m are very slightly gypsiferous, with contents ranging from 0.3–3%. These findings show that the near-surface layers (0–4 m) exceed the allowable gypsum content limit of 10%, which may pose potential risks to construction stability, particularly in combination with the high groundwater levels in the Najaf region.