Experimental Investigation on Behavior of Rectangular Concrete-Filled Tubular Columns Considering Diaphragms.

Concrete-filled tubular (CFT) columns have been widely used as structural members because CFT columns synergize the advantages of steel and concrete resulting in high strength, high ductility, and large energy dissipation capacity. Numerous studies have been performed to understand the behavior of CFT columns. However, the behavior of CFT columns remains uncertain due to their inelastic behavior and uncertain confinement effects, especially when failure occurs. In addition, diaphragms, which are generally installed, make it more complicated to understand the behavior of CFT columns. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the diaphragms on the failure behavior of the CFT columns. To this end, eighteen rectangular CFT columns were tested with five different loading cases. The experimental results suggest that the size of the diaphragm has significant effects on the compressive strength and toughness of the CFT columns. In order to facilitate the proper composite actions of steel and concrete, the size of a diaphragm has to be at least three-quarters of the cross-sectional area.

The influence of hydraulic loads on depth filtration.

The influence of hydraulic loads on the detachment of particles from the collector surface or from previously retained particles was observed in a packed glass beads column. A hydraulic shock load (i.e., 20% increase of flow rate) was applied after 4 h of particle attachment at a constant flow rate. A single type of particle suspension (Min-U-Sil 5, nearly pure SiO(2)) and three different chemical conditions (pH control, alum and polymer destabilization) were utilized. The magnitude of particle detachment increased with increasing particle size for non-Brownian particles because more shear force was applied to large particles due to their large surface area. More favorable particles (i.e., particles with small surface charge) were detached to a lesser extent than unfavorable particles during the hydraulic shock loads application. This phenomenon can be caused by floc strength. In some cases, when the zeta potential of influent particles was relatively high, the magnitude of detachment of bigger particles (e.g., 4.0-5.0 µm) was less than that of smaller particles (e.g., 3.0-4.0 µm). This can be attributable to the breakup of detached flocs as an individual particle. It was also found that the shape of the curve relating the magnitude of particle detachment and particle size can be concave, linear, or convex depending on physicochemical conditions such as floc strength.

Fate of THMs and HAAs in low TOC surface water.

A total of 30 conventional surface water treatment plants (WTPs) implementing prechlorination and postchlorination simultaneously from different regions in Korea were investigated to assess formation and removal of THMs and HAA(5). All water was low in total organic carbon (TOC) ranging from 0.74 to 6.20 mg/L with an average of 1.63 mg/L. The ranges of THMs and HAA(5) levels were 4.5-84.3 microg/L and 1.5-90.8 microg/L, respectively. THMs concentration was more sensitive to water temperature than HAA(5) and the ratio of THMs in summer over winter was 2.06. The sum of dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) and trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) was 97% of HAA(5). The extent of formation and speciation of DBPs varied greatly by season and geography. The concentration of DCAA and TCAA of the finished water was comparable on a yearly base, but more TCAA was noticed in summer and the opposite trend was noticed in winter. This can be caused by different biodegradability in the sand filter between DCAA and TCAA that formed through prechlorination. Investigation on the removal of preformed DBPs in the GAC filter-adsorber (FA) revealed that breakthrough of THMs and HAA(5) was noticed after 3 months of operation. However, gradual improvement (>90%) in HAA(5) removal was observed again after breakthrough, which could be attributable to biodegradation. Heterotrophic plate counts confirmed active biological activity in the GAC FA.

Influence of surface charge distributions and particle size distributions on particle attachment in granular media filtration.

Filtration experiments were performed with a laboratory-scale filter using spherical glass beads with 0.55 mm diameter as collectors. Suspensions were made with Min-U-Sil 5 particles, and two different methods (pH control and polymer dosing) were used for destabilization. In the pH control experiments, all particles had negative surface charge, and those with lower (absolute value) charge were selectively attached to the collectors, especially during the early stage of filtration. This selective attachment of the lower charged particles caused the zeta potential distribution (ZPD) of the effluent to move to a more negative range. However, the ZPD of the effluent did not continue moving to more negative values during the later stages of filtration, and this result was attributed to two reasons: ripening effects and detachment of flocs. In the polymer experiments, substantial differences were found between experiments performed with negatively charged particles (underdosing) and those with positively charged particles (overdosing). With under-dosing, the results were similar to the pH control experiments (which also had negatively charged particles), but with overdosing, the effluent's ZPDs in the early stages did not overlap with those of the influent and more highly charged particles were removed more efficiently than lesser-charged particles. It is hypothesized that, despite a substantial period of pre-equilibration of media and coagulant, this equilibrium shifted when particles were also added. It was assumed that coagulant molecules previously adsorbed to the particles desorbed and subsequently attached to the filter media because of surface area differences in the particle and filter media.

DBPs removal in GAC filter-adsorber.

A rapid sand filter and granular activated carbon filter-adsorber (GAC FA) were compared in terms of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and disinfection by-products (DBPs) removal. A water treatment plant (WTP) that had a high ammonia concentration and DOC in raw water, which, in turn, led to a high concentration of DBPs because of a high dose of pre-chlorination, was investigated. To remove DBPs and DOC simultaneously, a conventional rapid sand filter had been retrofitted to a GAC FA at the Buyeo WTP in Korea. The overall removal efficiency of DBPs and DOC was higher in the GAC FA than in the sand filter, as expected. Breakthrough of trihalomethanes (THMs) was noticed after 3 months of GAC FA operation, and then removal of THMs was minimal (<10%). On the other hand, the removal efficiency of five haloacetic acids (HAA(5)) in the GAC FA was better than that of THMs, though adsorption of HAA(5) decreased rapidly after 3.5 months of GAC FA operation. And then, gradual improvement (>90%) in HAA(5) removal efficiency was again observed, which could be attributed to biodegradation. At the early stage of GAC FA operation, HAA(5) removal was largely due to physical adsorption, but later on biodegradation appeared to prevail. Biodegradation of HAA(5) was significantly influenced by water temperature. Similar turbidity removal was noticed in both filters, while better manganese removal was confirmed in the sand filter rather than in the GAC FA.