Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Solar Textiles came out of the idea that everyone has windows in their homes which need to be shaded. The question was simple, why are we not utilizing the sun’s rays which are hitting the shades throughout the day. The project explored the idea of creating solar curtains which would collect the sun’s energy and put it back into the curtain itself. Solar power, solar sensing, fabrics, shapes and movement is what this thesis is intending to explore. How to bring all of these aspects into a simple curtain that could be put into any household;making the world a more beautiful and ecologically friendly place.

No description available.

Glass facade/curtain wall assemblies are commonly used in modern building construction as part of building envelop. This system has a number of advantages, including pleasant architectural appearance, building energy optimization, acceptable fire resistance and low maintenance. However, they pose tremendous risk towards maliciously intended acts of terror in the form of bomb blasts. The literature review conducted revealed lack of previous research on mullion strengthening/hardening. The present study has the objective of developing hardening techniques for curtain wall mullions to withstand high-intensity impulsive blast loads. Combined experimental and analytical research was conducted for the development of mullion retrofit techniques using the Shock Tube Facility of the University of Ottawa. The test program involved retrofitting existing, commercially used aluminum mullions with steel plates and subjecting them to different levels of blast loads. The mullions were retrofitted with three techniques with the help of steel L shaped angles, steel plates and with a combination of steel HSS sections and plates. The results indicated an increase of load carrying capacity of the mullions up to a factor of 2.2 with up to 30% reduction in mid-height displacements. It was shown that the steel hardening components developed full composite action with the existing aluminum section, indicating the effectiveness of the hardening technology. The analytical research followed the experimental research with the main objective of validating experimental results, as well as validating the assumption of full composite action between the core aluminum mullion and the hardening plates. The first step was to develop resistance functions followed by the validation of main analytical tool RC-Blast and the UFC charted solution. Following excellent agreement between these two analytical tools, RC-Blast was further validated against the experimental results. In addition, Pressure-impulse (P-I) diagrams were developed as design aids for different pressure-impulse combinations. The retrofit techniques developed were applied to a selected prototype building to assess their feasibility for use in practice. Two different blast threats were considered for this application. Conclusions were drawn regarding the effectiveness of the curtain wall hardening techniques for use in practice.

The purpose of the thesis study is designing a visitor center which will be used by tourist who are visiting the city and as well as the by the people who lives in the city. Therefore the visitor center will be functioned as a city center in the middle of the most important tourist attraction location of Istanbul. Besides functioning as a city center project will analyze the most important architecture element of 21st century, curtain wall. / Master of Architecture

­^¤åºK­n In the wet wafer cleaning process, the wafer surfaces are washed with toxic solutions such as ammonia and sulfuric acid which was not to allow to enter the surroundings i.e. clean room. Therefore, common practice is to reduce the pressure differential between the wet bench and the surroundings to a very low pressure difference level while maintaining a high exhaust flow rate for toxic fumes. In such a case, the isolation of process area from the surrounding area may be compromised i.e. there is a danger that the surrounding air was suctioned to the process area. Conceptually, this dilemma can be solved by creating an air buffer between the wafer process area and the surrounding area. This study aims to determine/prove-in the optimal operational conditions and geometries of such design by both CFD analysis and experimental verification. This thesis includes three parts. First, the detailed experimental data to a bio-clean bench installed with the guide-vane design are conducted. The data are then used to verify the feasibility/accuracy of the CFD model. Second, the optimal operational conditions and geometries of a full-scale isothermal wet bench with the guide-vane design are determined by CFD simulation that takes most influential factors into account. These influential factors include exhaust pressures, length of the guide- vane, guide-vane angle and downward face velocity of the filter etc. The results show that the air curtain created by the guide-vane is able to isolate the process area from surrounding area, and vise-versa. Third, the thermal effect of ammonia solution on the distribution of ammonia vapor are examined. The shape of the thermal plume that encounters the downward air stream of the filter is discussed intensively. In general, this thesis provides significant information in improving the isolation effect of wet benches by the air-curtain design.

In this study, a numerical model is used to investigate the evaporation and flow characteristics of heated liquid sheets and films. The liquid is modeled as water and as black liquor, a byproduct produced by paper mills. In the pulping process, black liquor is concentrated in an evaporator as a falling film. The effectiveness of the evaporator is reduced due to fouling on heat transfer surfaces. Two flow arrangements are studied: falling films, where the liquor and steam are separated by a heat transfer surface; and liquid curtains, which is a thin sheet of liquid falling due to gravity surrounded by steam. For the liquid curtain, the liquid and gas come into direct contact, therefore there is no place for fouling to occur allowing for a more consistent operation of the evaporator. This type of arrangement is not currently used in paper mills but is being investigated in this work to determine its feasibility. The fluid system is simulated using the finite volume method with a single-fluid field to capture the liquid-gas interface. This study investigates how the breakup of a liquid curtain is affected by flow parameters and how the breakup into droplets influences the evaporation characteristics of the liquid curtain. It is found that the falling film evaporator has a much higher liquid evaporation rate than evaporating as a liquid curtain. However the falling film evaporator has an entrance length with no evaporation, and liquid curtains allow for evaporation to start occurring very near the inlet. If reducing length of the evaporator is a priority, liquid curtain evaporators can obtain a higher evaporation rate than falling films within the same distance. Falling film evaporation has a higher steam efficiency than a liquid curtain evaporator. However, for short evaporator lengths the rate at which water is removed from a liquid curtain evaporator is much greater, but at the cost of a higher steam consumption rate.

The safety and security of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities has prompted the need for continued study of LNG mitigation systems. Water spray systems are widely recognized as an effective measure for dispersing LNG vapor clouds. Currently, there are no engineering guidelines available for water curtain applications in the LNG industry due to a lack of understanding of the complex interactions between the LNG vapor cloud and water droplets. This research applies computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to investigate the forced dispersion of LNG vapor using upward-oriented full-cone spray nozzles. A Eulerian-Lagrangian approach was applied to simulate the energy and momentum exchange between the continuous (gas flow) and discrete (droplets) phases. Discussed are the physical parameters that are essential inputs to the CFD simulation of the water spray-LNG system. The experimental data collected from the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center’s outdoor LNG spill work in March 2009 at the Brayton Fire Training Field were used to calibrate the physical parameters. The physical mechanisms of the water spray application were investigated using LNG forced dispersion modeling. The effects of momentum imparting from the droplets to the air- vapor mixture, thermal transfer between the two phases (droplet/vapor) and effects of various levels of air entrainment rates on the behavior of the LNG vapors are evaluated. Lastly, the key parametric dependences of the design elements for an effective water curtain system are investigated. The effects of different droplet sizes, droplet temperatures, nozzle cone angles, and installation configurations of water spray applications on LNG vapor behavior are analyzed. This work aims to investigate the complex interaction of the water droplet-LNG vapor system, which will serve in developing guidelines and establishing engineering criteria for a site-specific LNG mitigation system. Finally, the potentials of applying CFD modeling in providing guidance for setting up the design criteria for an effective forced mitigation system as an integrated safety element for LNG facilities are discussed.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Eng.Sc.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1974. / "January 1972." Includes bibliographical references.