Optimisation of Thermal Comfort of Building in a Hot and Dry Tropical Climate: A Comparative Approach between Compressed Earth/Concrete Block Envelopes

Compressed earth blocks (CEB) are an alternative to cement blocks in the construction of wall masonry. However, the optimal architectural construction methods for adequate thermal comfort for occupants in hot and arid environments are not mastered. This article evaluates the influence of architectural and constructive modes of buildings made of CEB walls and concrete block walls, to optimize and compare their thermal comfort in the hot and dry tropical climate of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Two identical pilot buildings whose envelopes are made of CEB and concrete blocks were monitored for this study. The thermal models of the pilot buildings were implemented in the SketchUp software using an extension of EnergyPlus. The models were empirically validated after calibration against measured thermal data from the buildings. The models were used to do a parametric analysis for optimization of the thermal performances by simulating plaster coatings on the exterior of walls, airtight openings and natural ventilation depending on external weather conditions. The results show that the CEB building displays 7016 hours of discomfort, equivalent to 80.1% of the time, and the concrete building displays 6948 hours of discomfort, equivalent to 79.3% of the time. The optimization by modifications reduced the discomfort to 2918 and 3125 hours respectively;i.e. equivalent to only 33.3% for the CEB building and 35.7% for the concrete building. More study should evaluate thermal optimizations in buildings in real time of usage such as residential buildings commonly used by the local middle class. The use of CEB as a construction material and passive means of improving thermal comfort is a suitable ecological and economical option to replace cementitious material.

Three-Di mensional Model for Strip Hot Rolling

A three-dimensional model for strip hot rolling was developed, in which the plastic deformation of strip, the thermal crown of rolls, roll deflection and flattening were calculated by rigid-plastic finite element method, finite difference method, influential function method and elastic finite element method respectively. The roll wear was taken into consideration. The model can provide detailed information such as rolling pressure distribution, contact pressure distribution between backup rolls and work rolls, deflection and flattening of work rolls, lateral distribution of strip thickness, and lateral distribution of front and back tensions. The finish rolling on a 1 450 mm hot strip mill was simulated.

Mathematical Modeling and Effect of Various Hot-Air Drying on Mushroom(Lentinus edodes)

An experimental study was performed to determine the characteristics and drying process of mushroom （Lentinus edodes） by 6 different hot-air drying methods namely isothermal drying, uniform raise drying, non-uniform raise drying, uniform intermittent drying, non-uniform intermittent drying and combined drying. The chemical composition （dry matter, ash, crude protein, crude fat, total sugars, dietary fiber, and energy）, color parameters （L, a＊, b＊, c＊, and h~） and rehydration capacities were determined. Among all the experiments, non-uniform intermittent drying reached a better comprehensive results due to the higher chemical composition, better color quality associated with high bright （26.381＋5.842）, high color tone （73.670＋2.975）, low chroma （13.349a：3.456） as well as the highest rehydration （453.76% weigh of dried body）. Nine kinds of classical mathematical model were used to obtained moisture data and the Midili-kucuk model can be described by the drying process with the coefficient （R2 ranged from 0.99790 to 0.99967）, chi-square （X2 ranged from 0.00003 to 0.00019） and root mean square error （RMSE ranged from 0.000486 to 0.0012367）.

Recrystallization model for hot-rolling of 5182 aluminum alloy

A recrystallization model for hot rolling of 5182 aluminum alloy was presented by means of the fractional softening during double interval deformation. It is found that the recrystallization rate depends on strain rate more sensitively than deformation temperature, and the time for full recrystallization is very short as strain rate is greater than 1?s -1 . Using the recrystallization—time—temperature curves, the desirable hot rolled microstructure can be obtained by controlling the rolling speed, temperature and cooling rate before cooling during the last pass in reversing mill.[

Modeling of metadynamic recrystallization kinetics after hot deformation of low-alloy steel Q345B

Based on the steady-state strain measured by single-pass hot compression tests,the method by a double-pass hot compression testing was developed to measure the metadynamic-recrystallization kinetics.The metadynamic recrystallization behavior of low-alloy steel Q345B during hot compression deformation was investigated in the temperature range of 1 000-1 100℃,the strain rate range of 0.01-0.10 s -1 and the interpass time range of 0.5-50 s on a Gleeble-3500 thermo-simulation machine.The results show that metadynamic recrystallization during the interpass time can be observed.As the deformation temperature and strain rate increase,softening caused by metadynamic recrystallization is obvious.According to the data of thermo-simulation,the metadynamic recrystallization activation energy is obtained to be Qmd=100.674 kJ/mol and metadynamic recrystallization kinetics model is set up.Finally,the error analysis of metadynamic recrystallization kinetics model proves that the model has high accuracy(correlation coefficient R=0.988 6).

Microstructure evolution model based on deformation mechanism of titanium alloy in hot forming

The microstructure evolution in hot forming will affect the mechanical properties of the formed product. However, the microstructure is sensitive to the process variables in deformation process of metals and alloys. A microstructure evolution model of a titanium alloy in hot forming, which included dislocation density rate and primary α phase grain size, was presented according to the deformation mechanism and driving forces, in which the effect of the dislocation density rate on the grain growth was studied firstly. Applying the model to the high temperature deformation process of a TC6 alloy with deformation temperature of 11331223K, strain rate of 0.0150s^-1 and height reduction of 30%, 40% and 50%, the material constants in the present model were calculated by the genetic algorithm(GA) based objective optimization techniques. The calculated results of a TC6 alloy are in good agreement with the experimental ones.

Mathematical modeling of induction heating of discard substitution block for billet hot extrusion process

A magnetic and temperature field-coupled mathematical model is proposed to calculate the induction heating process of a discard substitution block for billet hot extrusion process. The mathematical model is validated by comparing simulation results with temperature measurements recorded during physical modeling. Based on systematical analysis of calculation results, a quantitative sawtooth induction power curve was proposed to realize the aim of achieving the best distributed temperature field in the block within the shortest induction time.

Opti mization and Model of Laminar Cooling Control Systemfor Hot Strip Mills

The structure of laminar cooling control system for hot rolling was introduced and the control mode, cooling strategy, segment tracking and model recalculation were analyzed. The parameters of air/water cooling models were optimized by regressing the data gathering in situ, and satisfactory effect was obtained. The coiling temperature can be controlled within ±15℃.

Self-Learning and Its Application to Laminar Cooling Model of Hot Rolled Strip

The mathematical model for online controlling hot rolled steel cooling on run-out table （ROT for abbreviation） was analyzed, and water cooling is found to be the main cooling mode for hot rolled steel. The calculation of the drop in strip temperature by both water cooling and air cooling is summed up to obtain the change of heat transfer coefficient. It is found that the learning coefficient of heat transfer coefficient is the kernel coefficient of coiler temperature control （CTC） model tuning. To decrease the deviation between the calculated steel temperature and the measured one at coiler entrance, a laminar cooling control self-learning strategy is used. Using the data acquired in the field, the results of the self-learning model used in the field were analyzed. The analyzed results show that the self-learning function is effective.

A Constitutive Model for Hot Pressing of Powders

Based on an assumption that the effective pressure in hot pressing related to the applied pressure varies with the relative density of the compact in a power law form. a three-dimensional viscoelastic model that depicts the viscoelastic detormation behaviour of powder compacts in hot pressing has been developed. It has been shown by the experimental data that the proposed model in which the parameters are determined by means of nonlinear regression analysis can be used to describe the density-time relationship for the hot pressing of pure magnesium oxide and atomized iron powders and to estimate the end-point relative density of the compact.

Work roll thermal contour prediction model of nonoriented electrical steel sheets in hot strip mills

The demands for profile and flatness of nonoriented electrical steels are becoming more and more severe. The temperature field and thermal contour of work rolls are the key factors that affect the profile and flatness control in the finishing trains of the hot rolling. A theoretic mathematical model was built by a two-dimensional finite difference to calculate the temperature field and thermal contour at any time within the entire rolling campaign in the hot rolling process. To improve the calculating speed and precision, some special solutions were introduced, including the development of this model, the simplification of boundary conditions, the computation of heat transfer coefficient, and the narrower mesh along the edge of the strip. The effects of rolling pace and work roll shifting on the temperature field and thermal contour of work rolls in the hot rolling process were demonstrated. The calculated results of the prediction model are in good agreement with the measured ones and can be applied to guiding profile and flatness control of nonoriented electrical steel sheets in hot strip mills.

Hot deformation behavior and constitutive modeling of Q345E alloy steel under hot compression

Q345E as one of typical low alloy steels is widely used in manufacturing basic components in many fields because of its eminent formability under elevated temperature. In this work, the deformation behavior of Q345 E steel was investigated by hot compression experiments on Gleeble-3500 thermo-mechanical simulator with the temperature ranging from 850 °C to 1150 °C and strain rate ranging from 0.01 s^(-1) to 10 s^(-1). The experimental results indicate that dynamic softening of Q345 E benefits from increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate. The mathematical relationship between dynamic softening degree and deformation conditions is established to predict the dynamic softening degree quantitatively, which is further proved by some optical microstructures of Q345 E. In addition, the experimental results also reveal that the stress level decreases with increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate. The constitutive equation for flow stress of Q345 E is formulated by Arrihenius equation and the modified Zener-Hollomon parameter considering the compensation of both strain and strain rate. The flow stress values predicted by the constitutive equation agree well with the experimental values, realizing the accurate prediction of the flow stress of Q345 E steel under hot deformation.

Modelling and Inversion of Ground Magnetic and Electromagnetic Data for Delineation of Subsurface Structures at Siloam Hot Spring in the Soutpansberg Basin

Geophysical surveys utilising magnetic and electromagnetic techniques were carried out at the Siloam hot spring. The spring is in the Soutpansberg Basin in the northern part of South Africa. The research was to investigate groundwater bearing structures at the hot spring. Magnetic survey results showed that the spring occurs between two north dipping dykes. The two dykes could be faulted segments of a single dyke or sill. Magnetic susceptibility results highlighted the presence of metamorphic and volcanic rocks. Electromagnetic survey results showed that the hot spring was within a roughly east to west trending, zone with high electrical conductivity values. Based on the survey results, water is exploiting fractures in the dyke or sill.

Modelling of Microstructural Evolution and Prediction of Mechanical Properties of Plain Carbon Strip Steel in Hot Rolling Process

Based on hot rolling production line of strip steel, the off-line in-house software, termed as ROLLAN (Rolling Analysis), is developed. The code is mainly used to predict the evolution of temperature, rolling force, fraction and grain size of recrystallization, fraction and grain size of phase transformation and final mechanical properties. Almost all the processing parameters affecting microstructure and mechanical properties in the schedule from reheating to the coiling process are considered in detail. Self-learning coefficient is adopted to adjust the deviation between predicted and measured temperatures, such as roughing exit temperature (RT2), finishing exit temperature (FT7) and coiling temperature (CT). Due to the application of low-speed-threading, increasing-speed-rolling and decreasing-speed-delivery process during finishing rolling and different cooling condition, after coiling the thermal-mechanical history of different position, along strip longitudinal direction is different resulting in inhomogeneous mechanical properties. So the segments are divided along longitudinal direction to identify the variation of microstructure and mechanical properties. An example of plain carbon strip steel Q235 with various thickness is used to compare the calculated mechanical properties with measured ones. For the specific grade of Q235 , the maximum deviation of tensile strength is less than 10.3 MPa, the yield strength is less than 13.2 MPa, and elongation is less than 1.99%. Further work will focus on the on-line application and consider the effect of macrosegregation and sulfur content of cast slab.

Dynamic modeling of twin roll casting AZ41 magnesium alloy during hot compression processing

A dynamic material model of Mg-4.51Al-1.19Zn-0.5Mn-0.5Ca(AZ41,mass fraction,%)magnesium alloy was put forward.The results show that the dynamic material model can characterize the deformation behavior and microstructure evolution and describe the relations among flow stress,strain,strain rates and deformation temperatures.Statistical analysis shows the validity of the proposed model.The model predicts that lower deformation temperature and higher strain rate cause the sharp strain hardening. Meanwhile,the flow stress curve turns into a steady state at high temperature and lower strain rate.The moderate temperature of 350 ℃and strain rate of 0.01 s-1 are appropriate to this alloy.

Analysis of Ecosystem Degradation Factors in Yuanmou Arid-Hot Valleys Based on Interpretative Structural Model

For ecological restoration and reconstruction of the degraded area, it is an important premise to correctly understand the degradation factors of the ecosystem in the arid-hot valleys. The factors including vegetation degradation, land degradation, arid climate, policy failure, forest fire, rapid population growth, excessive deforestation, overgrazing, steep slope reclamation, economic poverty, engineering construction, lithology, slope, low cultural level, geological hazards, biological disaster, soil properties etc, were selected to study the Yuanmou arid-hot valleys. Based on the interpretative structural model （ISM）, it has found out that the degradation factors of the Yuanmou arid-hot valleys were not at the same level but in a multilevel hierarchical system with internal relations, which pointed out that the degradation mode of the arid-hot valleys was ＂straight （appearance）-penetrating-background＂. Such researches have important directive significance for the restoration and reconstruction of the arid-hot valleys ecosystem.

HOT DUCTILITY OF 304HC STAINLESS STEEL AND THE MODEL OF RESISTANCE TO DEFORMATION

The ductility map of 304HC stainless was determined by using the Gleeble-1500 dynamic thermal-mechanical simulator. The effect of Cu on the hot ductility of 304HC stainless steel was analyzed and the mathematical model of resistance to deformation was established. The microstructure, inclusion and fracture surface were studied by using the method of micro structure analysis, scanning, energy spectrum and electron microscope. The results show that Cu has effect on the hot ductility, and the hot ductility of 304HC stainless steel decrease with the increase of content of Cu. The deformation temperature also has much effect on the hot ductility, the suitable deformation temperature are 1100-1200℃. The reason of it is that the Cu rich chemical compounds were precipitated from austenite phase during cooling. The Cu rich chemical compounds are brittle substance such as Cu2S, Cu2O and ε-Cu etc.

MODELING OF FERRITE GRAIN GROWTH OF LOW CARBON STEELS DURING HOT ROLLING

For most commercial steels the prediction of the final properties depends on accurately calculating the room temperature ferrite grain size. A grain growth model is proposed for low carbon steels Q235B during hot rolling. By using this model, the initial ferrite grain size after continuous cooling and ferrite grain growing in coiling procedure can be predicted. In-plant trials were performed in the hot strip mill of Ansteel. The calculated final ferrite grain sizes are in good agreement with the experimental ones. It is helpful both for simulation of microstructure evolution and prediction of mechanical properties.

Modeling of Slab Induction Heating in Hot Rolling by FEM

FEM (Finite Element Method) has been widely used to solve temperature in hot rolling. The heat gen-erating rate of electromagnetic field has been discussed in order to improve the efficiency and accuracy in the solution of induction heating. A new heat generating rate model was proposed and derived from the calculated results by FEM software in consideration of work frequency, source current density, and the air gap between induction coil and slab. The calculated distribution of heat generating rate in the skin depth by the model is satisfying and reliable compared with that of FEM software. Then, the mathematic model of the heat generating rate model is considered as the density of heat reservoir to solve the temperature in induction heating. Moreover, the temperature evolution of slab in induction heating from a hot rolling plant has been solved by the developed FE code and the calculated temperature has a good agreement with the measured value. Therefore, the heat generating rate model is suitable and efficiency to solve the temperature in induction heating by FEM.

A Straightforward Mathematical Model of Hot Metal Desulphurization

A straightforward kinetic model for the hot metal desulphurization process is presented. The model contains some of the most important parameters and variables that govern the process. The inputs, outputs and parameters of a desulphurization program employed at industry are discussed. The model is able to cope with different injection policies of desulphurizers such as mono- injection, co-injection or multi-injection. When compared to the rotary impeller method, results of this model shows that the weight of lime consumed in the lance injection method is lesser than that consumed in the rotary impeller method for the same conditions of the hot metal charge.