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The blades of wind turbines placed in cold climate regions are exposed to the risk of icing phenomena which impact their lifetimes. This paper proposes a numerical model to simulate 50 mm ice thickness localized on the tip side of a horizontal wind turbine blade, and to study its mechanical behavior. The wind turbine blade wasmodeled with the finite element method (FEM)in ABAQUS software taking into account aerodynamic, centrifugal and inertial loads under the conditions of service of the blade.Numerical tests haveevaluated the behavior of different composite materials and compared with each other. Damage mode based on the Hashin criteria was defined. Carbon fibers were considered to be the most rigid material which results in thinner, stiffer and lighter blades.

A series of split Hopkinson pressure bar tests on two-dimensional and three-dimensional woven composites were presented in order to obtain a reliable comparison between the two types of composites and the effect of the z-yarns along the third direction. These tests were done along different configurations: in-plane and out-of-plane compression test. For the three-dimensional woven composite, two different configurations were studied: compression responses along to the stitched direction and orthogonal to the stitched direction. It was found that three-dimensional woven composites exhibit an increase in strength for both: in-plane and out-of-plane tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OCP is the world's largest exporter and producer of phosphate rock, In this context, OCP has adopted a new improvement plan which proposes to develop production of phosphate rock from 28 to 47 million tons in 2020. The horizon industrial advancement program of OCP excepted to increase water consumption of 73 to 181 million m3 / year for its various operations. In this paper we will do a feasibility study to achieve a positive energy balance due to the energy collected generated by an exothermic system for sulfuric acid production in two chemical processing sites (Jorf Lasfar and Asfi) and renewable energy integration in two mining operation sites: Khouribga, Ben Guerir for meet the growing needs on energy. The principal purpose of this article is to develop an innovative idea of a desalination plant to produce fresh water from seawater by using renewable marine energy, principally hydrokinetic and wave energy. The main achievements will be connected with the environment protection, low maintenance and its accessibility to small communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine energy is one of the most exciting emerging forms of renewable energy. Tidal turbines are used to extract this energy and installed on the seabed at locations with catastrophic loading. The present paper employs the finite element method to simulate the behavior of GRP composite nozzle of a tidal turbine under low-velocity impact with implementation of a failure criterion. To investigate this situation, a parametric analysis is conducted which deals with the effect of velocity, energy and geometry of the impactor. The mechanical behavior has been analyzed as both kinematic effect due to deflection of the composite structure and dynamic effect caused by the interaction between the impactor and the hydrodynamic and hydrostatic pressures over the loading. The stress and the deformation distribution are presented. On the other hand, damage modeling was formulated based on Hashin criteria for intra-laminar damage. The effects of the impact velocity and the panel’s flexibility on the initiation and propagation of damage have been investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The covid-19 outbreak has caused a shortage of masks and other healthcare products for the general public around the globe. In addition, it has also affected the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) used by healthcare services because of a sudden increase in their demand. This significant disruption in the global supply chain of these products resulted in, leaving many staff and patients without protection. The additive manufacturing (AM) industry is going through extraordinary times and can provide emergency responses to help deal with the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of the present work is therefore to perform an up-to-date review to determine the capacity of AM to provide exclusive benefits for the medical healthcare supplies sector to fight this current situation. In this review, it is found that AM technology has proved that it can be used as a volume manufacturing technology for the ongoing crisis. However, the standardization and certification are appeared to represent the main challenges for adopting the AM in healthcare against COVID-19. Furthermore, additively manufactured materials for medical applications must be developed for medical environments. Most printed medical products for COVID-19 require biocompatibility evaluation and shall prove their ability to sterilize. Finally, this review concluded that AM technology can fulfill the requirements of face masks and ventilator parts for healthcare systems for proper controlling and treating of COVID-19 patients when the safety and efficacy of these devices are ensured.

Currently, the emergence of a novel human coronavirus disease, named COVID-19, has become a great global public health concern causing severe respiratory tract infections in humans. Yet, there is no specific vaccine or treatment for this COVID-19 where anti-disease measures rely on preventing or slowing the transmission of infection from one person to another. In particularly, there is a growing effort to prevent or reduce transmission to frontline healthcare professionals. However, it is becoming an increasingly international concern respecting the shortage in the supply chain of critical single-use personal protective equipment (PPE). To that scope, we aim in the present work to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest 3D printing efforts against COVID-19, including professional additive manufacturing (AM) providers, makers and designers in the 3D printing community. Through this review paper, the response to several questions and inquiries regarding the following issues are addressed: technical factors connected with AM processes; recommendations for testing and characterizing medical devices that additively manufactured; AM materials that can be used for medical devices; biological concerns of final 3D printed medical parts, comprising biocompatibility, cleaning and sterility; and limitations of AM technology.