Publications related to Malfunction diagnosis of thermal power plants based on advanced exergy analysis: The case with multiple malfunctions occurring simultaneously

Model uncertainties in action effects and load bearing capacity calculation in statically indeterminate reinforced concrete structures

Alain Nussbaumer, Aurelio Muttoni, Xhemsi Malja

For the dimensioning and assessment of structures, it is common practice to compare action effects with sectional resistances. Extensive studies have been performed to quantify the model uncertainty on the resistance side. However, for statically indetermi ...

Ernst & Sohn2024

Reliability analysis and partial safety format calibration considering the characteristics of the resistance of reinforced concrete structures

Qianhui Yu

Every engineering calculation is an approximation of reality, with inevitable uncertainties involved. This fact implies that a reliability verification accounting for the uncertainties is a necessary step in the design and assessment of structures. Nowaday ...

EPFL2023

Reliable Microsecond-Scale Distributed Computing

Athanasios Xygkis

The landscape of computing is changing, thanks to the advent of modern networking equipment that allows machines to exchange information in as little as one microsecond. Such advancement has enabled microsecond-scale distributed computing, where entire dis ...

EPFL2023

Considerations on the partial safety factor format for reinforced concrete structures accounting for multiple failure modes

Aurelio Muttoni, Miguel Fernández Ruiz, Qianhui Yu

The increasing usage of nonlinear analyses for the design of reinforced concrete structures and the necessity of codes of practice to provide a consistent safety format for them is one of the challenges that new generations of codes of practice are facing. ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2022

Cyclic thermomechanical behaviour of pile-soil interface and design methods for energy pile foundations

Elena Ravera

Energy piles are shallow geothermal systems integrated into structures already required for structural functions of civil works that provide both geothermal energy supply and structural support to the built environments. This research work is driven by the ...

EPFL2021

Uncertainties in the Seismic Assessment of Historical Masonry Buildings

Katrin Beyer, Francesco Vanin, Igor Tomic

Seismic assessments of historical masonry buildings are affected by several sources of epistemic uncertainty. These are mainly the material and the modelling parameters and the displacement capacity of the elements. Additional sources of uncertainty lie in ...

2021

Combined exergy analysis, energy integration and optimization of syngas and ammonia production plants: A cogeneration and syngas purification perspective

François Maréchal, Shivom Sharma, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego

Modern ammonia production plants are equipped with efficient energy integration networks able to recover an important fraction of the waste heat exergy available throughout the chemical system. However, in order to drive the endothermic reforming reactions ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2020

Exergy assessment and techno-economic optimization of bioethanol production routes

François Maréchal

Currently, electricity generation and second-generation ethanol production from lignocellulosic feedstocks represent technological alternatives in the bioenergy sector. Nevertheless, the introduction of new production processes denotes a real challenge due ...

2020

Multi-objective optimization and exergoeconomic analysis of a continuous solar-driven system with PCM for power, cooling and freshwater production

Hossein Pourrahmani

In this article, three different modes of a novel integrated system would be evaluated by the application of high temperature Thermal Energy Storage (TES) to produce electricity, cooling, and freshwater. Freshwater is produced using the reverse osmosis (RO ...

Elsevier2020

Statistical Fatigue Investigation and Failure Prediction of a Healable Composite System

Véronique Michaud, Amaël Maximilien Cohades, Nathan Klaus Hostettler

Fiber reinforced polymers are massively used as an alternative to metals in structural applications. The brittle nature of their matrix, however, makes them more susceptible to crack formation and propagation resulting in costly repair operations and incre ...

2020

Can automotive MEMS be reliably used in space applications? An assessment method under sequential bi-parameter testing

Maxime Auchlin, Volker Gass, Olha Sereda

Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) automotive inertial measurement units were subjected to severe accumulative stress conditions: thermal shocks (high temperature gradients), temperature cycling (low gradients) and mechanical vibration are combined in an A-th ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2020

Effect of a second layer on the time to failure of compressed riprap as mountain riverbank protection

Anton Schleiss, Mário Jorge Rodrigues Pereira Da Franca, Mona Jafarnejad Chaghooshi, Michael Pfister

Recently, Jafarnejad, Franca, Pfister, and Schleiss [2017. Time-based failure analysis of compressed riverbank riprap. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 55(2), 224–235. doi: 10.1080/00221686.2016.1212940] presented an experimental study on the stability of co ...

Taylor & Francis Ltd2019

Exergoeconomic optimization of a solar driven system with reverse osmosis desalination unit and phase change material thermal energy storages

Hossein Pourrahmani

The goal of the current article is to suggest a novel solar system to produce power, fresh water, and cooling. As solar energy is unavailable at nights, a novel thermal storage system (TES) based on phase change material (PCM) is used to store the required ...

Elsevier2019

Comparative exergy and economic assessment of fossil and biomass-based routes for ammonia production

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego

The use of biomass gasification for partially or totally replacing methane in the integrated syngas and ammonia production plant is compared with the performance of the conventional route, typically based on steam methane reforming. However, by undertaking ...

Elsevier2019

Stiffness and Strength Estimation of Damaged Unreinforced Masonry Walls Using Crack Pattern

Katrin Beyer, Kiarash Mohtasham Dolatshahi

After an earthquake, the residual stiffness and strength of structural elements are typically estimated based on a qualitative visual inspection of cracks that is prone to error. In this paper a new approach is proposed to automatically estimate the update ...

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD2022

Energy and Exergy Analysis of a Cruise Ship

Karin Andersson, Tuong-Van Nguyen, Francesco Baldi

In recent years, the International Maritime Organization agreed on aiming to reduce shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50% with respect to 2009 levels. Meanwhile, cruise ship tourism is growing at a fast pace, making the challenge of achieving this goa ...

2018

The mechanics of punching in reinforced concrete slabs and footings without shear reinforcement

João Tiago Ramos Bernardo de Santa Rita Simões

Punching shear failures of structural concrete members have been the focus of attention of numerous works presented over the last decades. Although various rational approaches have been developed to predict these failures, there is still no unanimity on a ...

EPFL2018

Improved thermo-mechanical reliability of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells

Fabio Greco

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) based systems are co-generators of electricity and heat that excel for their high efficiency, low pollutant emissions and fuel flexibility. Their reliability is close to meet the requirements for market deployment. Recent resea ...

EPFL2018

Exergy assessment of future energy transition scenarios with application to Switzerland

Daniel Favrat, François Richard Vuille, François Maréchal, Victor Codina Gironès, Matteo Allais

Using an exergy based indicator is highly desirable to compare future national energy strategies. A new web- based information platform called energyscope.ch, informing the general public on the Swiss energy transition was presented at ECOS2016. This paper ...

2017

Combined Exergy Analysis and Energy Integration for the Optimization of Nitrogen Fertilizer Plants

François Maréchal, Shivom Sharma, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego

Modern ammonia production plants are equipped with efficient energy integration networks able to recover an important fraction of the enthalpy of reaction released by the exothermic chemical systems. However, to fully supply the exergy demands of the highl ...

University of San Diego2017