Thermal Characterization of Concrete and Cement Mortar from Construction Sites and Industrial Production Units in the City of Ouagadougou with a View to Standardization in Energy Certification

The present study allowed to carry out a thermal characterization of concrete and cement mortar. Thermal tests were carried out with the KD2 Pro device, on concrete and mortar samples taken from twenty-six (26) construction sites of office buildings and two (2) industrial production units in the city of Ouagadougou. The tests were carried out on rectangular specimens after four weeks (4) of conservation on the site of construction or production of materials. This study seeks to determine the thermal properties of the materials, in particular the thermal conductivity, the thermal diffusivity and the thermal capacity of the samples, in the real conditions of execution of the buildings and environment. The thermal conductivity varies from 1.413 to 1.965 W/m·K, 0.940 - 1.658 W/m·K and 0.703 - 1.149 W/m·K respectively for concrete, cinder block mortar and plaster mortar. Regarding the other properties, especially the capacity and thermal diffusivity, the values vary respectively, from 1070.59 - 1974.67 kJ/kg·K and (3.74 - 6.70) × 10-7 m2/s for concrete, from 1123.69 - 1586.81 kJ/kg·K and (3.38 - 5.65) × 10-7 m2/s for plaster mortar and 1202.51 - 1736.01 kJ/kg·K and (3.82 - 7.36) × 10-7 m2/s for the mortar of building blocks. The conductivity, capacity and thermal diffusivity of industrial mortar vary from 1.019 - 1.229 W/m·K, 792.18 - 1862.58 J/kg·K and (2.75 - 6.80) × 10-7 m2/s, respectively. Only the correlations made between the thermal properties and the density of the samples of the plaster mortar, give good relations namely R2 = 0.9308 for the thermal conductivity, R2 = 0.7823 for the thermal capacity and R2 = 0.9272 for the thermal diffusivity. This study contributes to the establishment of a thermal regulation in Burkina Faso for the adoption of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Directive 05 on energy efficiency in buildings.

Anomalous low-temperature heat capacity in antiperovskite compounds

The low-temperature heat capacities are studied for antiperovskite compounds AX M_3（A = Al, Ga, Cu, Ag, Sn, X = C,N, M = Mn, Fe, Co）. A large peak in（C- γ T）/T^3 versus T is observed for each of a total of 18 compounds investigated,indicating an existence of low-energy phonon mode unexpected by Debye T^3 law. Such a peak is insensitive to the external magnetic field up to 80 k Oe（1 Oe = 79.5775 A·m-1）. For compounds with smaller lattice constant, the peak shifts towards higher temperatures with a reduction of peak height. This abnormal peak in（C- γ T）/T^3 versus T of antiperovskite compound may result from the strongly dispersive acoustic branch due to the heavier A atoms and the optical-like mode from the dynamic rotation of X M_6 octahedron. Such a low-energy phonon mode may not contribute negatively to the normal thermal expansion in AX M_3 compounds, while it is usually concomitant with negative thermal expansion in open-structure material（e.g., ZrW_2O_8, Sc F_3）.

The Solving of the Inverse Thermal Conductivity Problem for Study the Short Linear Heat Pipes

The results of studies by solving the inverse thermal conductivity problem of the heat capacity of evaporator of the short linear heat pipes (HP’s) with a Laval nozzle-liked vapour channel and intended for cooling spacecraft and satellites with strict take-off mass regulation are presented. Mathematical formulation of the inverse problem for the HP’s thermal conductivity in one-dimensional coordinate system is accompanied by the measurement results using the monotonic heating method in a vacuum adiabatic calorimeter the HP’s surface temperatures along the longitudinal axis over the entire temperature load range, thermal resistance, and arrays of thermal power data on the evaporator Qev and vortex flow calorimeter Qcond for the condensation surface allow us to estimate the average value of the evaporator heat capacity Cev by solving the inverse thermal conductivity problem in the HP’s evaporator region. Since at the beginning of working fluid boiling for a certain time interval, the temperature of the capillary-porous evaporator remains close to constant, and with the continuation of heating and by solving the inverse thermal conductivity problem, it becomes possible to calculate the heat capacity of the working evaporator and the evaporation specific heat of the boiling working fluid and compare it with the table values.

Comparing phreatic evaporation at zero water table depth with water surface evaporation

Salt-affected soils are mostly found in irrigated areas within arid and semi-arid regions where the groundwater table is shallow.Soils of this type have become an increasingly severe problem because they threaten both the environment and the sustainable development of irrigated agriculture.A tool to estimate phreatic evaporation is therefore urgently required to minimize the salinization potential of salt-affected areas.In this context,phreatic evaporation at zero water table depth(E0)is a key parameter for establishing a model for calculating phreatic evaporation.The aim of this study was to explore the law of phreatic evaporation and to develop structurally rational empirical models for calculating phreatic evaporation,based on E0data of six types of soil(i.e.,gravel,fine sand,sandy loam,light loam,medium loam,and heavy loam)observed using the non-weighing lysimeter and water surface evaporation(E601)data observed using a E601 evaporator of same evaporation area with a lysimeter-tube at the groundwater balance station of the Weigan River Management Office in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,China,during the non-freezing period(April to October)between 1990 and 1994.The relationship between E0and E601was analyzed,the relationship between the ratio of E0to E601and the mechanical compositions of different soils was presented,and the factors influencing E0were discussed.The results of this study reveal that E0is not equal to E601.In fact,only values of the former for fine sand are close to those of the latter.Data also show that E0values are related to soil texture as well as to potential atmospheric evaporation,the ratio of E0to E601and the silt-clay particle content(grain diameter less than 0.02 mm)is negatively exponentially correlated,and that soil thermal capacity plays a key role in phreatic evaporation at E0.The results of this analysis therefore imply that the treatment of zero phreatic depth is an essential requirement when constructing groundwater balance stations to study the law of phreatic evaporation.

Impacts of solar multiple on the performance of direct steam generation solar power tower plant with integrated thermal storage

Solar multiple （SM） and thermal storage capacity are two key design parameters for revealing the performance of direct steam generation （DSG） solar power tower plant. In the case of settled land area, SM and thermal storage capacity can be optimized to obtain the minimum levelized cost of electricity （LCOE） by adjusting the power generation output. Taking the dual-receiver DSG solar power tower plant with a given size of solar field equivalent electricity of 100 MWe in Sevilla as a reference case, the minimum LCOE is 21.77 /kWhe with an SM of 1.7 and a thermal storage capacity of 3 h. Besides Sevilla, two other sites are also introduced to discuss the influence of annual DNI. When compared with the case of Sevilla, the minimum LCOE and optimal SM of the San Jose site change just slightly, while the minimum LCOE of the Bishop site decreases by 32.8% and the optimal SM is reduced to 1.3. The influence of the size of solar field equivalent electricity is studied as well. The minimum LCOE decreases with the size of solar field, while the optimal SM and thermal storage capacity still remain unchanged. In addition, the sensitivity of different investment in sub-system is investigated. In terms ofoptimal SM and thermal storage capacity, they can decrease with the cost of thermal storage system but increase with the cost of power generation unit.

A Reexamination of Methods of Hierarchic Composition in the AHP

This paper demonstrates that we should use two different hierarchic composition methods for the two different types of levels in the AHP. The first method is using the weighted geometric mean to synthesize the judgments of alternative-type-level elements, which is the only hierarchic composition method for the alternative-type level in an AHP hierarchy, and the rank is preserved automatically. The second one is using the weighted arithmetic mean to synthesize the priorities of the criteria-type-level elements, which is the only hierarchic composition method for all the criteria-type levels, and rank reversals are allowed.