Andreas Öchsner

Graeme E. Murch

Ali Shokuhfar

João M.P.Q. Delgado

This is special topic volume Recent Trends in Mass Transport in Solids and Liquids focuses on the mass transport in its broadest sense spanning the atomic scale right up to the macro scale. There is also a special focus on real engineering applications of mass transport.

Recent Trends in Mass Transport in Solids and Liquids

Fernando A.N. Silva

António C. Azevedo

Bernardo Horowitz

This book offers a new calculation procedure of the structural behavior of grouped layout of silos, easy to use and with satisfactory responses. Groups of reinforced concrete silos are structures commonly used in the food industry, where it is usually necessary to separate the storage of different types and sources of grain. The grouped layout of silos has numerous benefits when compared with single-cell silos in which the emphasis is on creating further space for silage, normally referred to as interstice – a space formed between the edges of the group’s cells. This economic benefit, on the other hand, raises a structural problem for the designer of this type of building, which is to assess the magnitude of bending moments and hoop forces due to the structural continuity of the walls in the interstice region of the cells. Bending moments assume extreme values exactly when the interstice is loaded and the other cells in the group are empty. To develop the formulation of the proposed analysis models, a parametric study was carried out that allowed the adequate consideration of the variables involved. The idea is to help professionals, engineers, industrials and academics involved in this advanced interdisciplinary field as a comprehensive guide for courses offered at different levels of learning (undergraduate and postgraduate).

Design of Reinforced Concrete Silo Groups

Ariosvaldo Ribeiro

This book discusses the effects of soluble mineral salts on ceramic brick masonry walls in Petrolina, a city in Pernambuco, Brazil, located 780 km from the ocean. To shed light on this phenomenon, the authors mapped the pathologies originating from the effects of soluble mineral salts and installed wells to monitor the underground water supply at five locations in the city where the phenomenon most frequently occurs. Further, they analyzed samples of soil, groundwater, and bricks affected by the phenomenon and measured levels of chloride in the atmosphere at these sites. The results obtained indicate that the pathological manifestations are influenced by the high levels of soluble salts observed in the soil and groundwater samples collected, and are not affected by chloride in the atmosphere.

Salt Damage in Ceramic Brick Masonry

Current water-treatment technologies require considerable energy consumption. Thus, closely linked to the problem of water shortage is the impending energy crisis. Therefore, intensive research is being aimed at developing water purification processes that are based upon using renewable energy, such as solar energy, rather than energy generated using fossil fuels. There has been an accumulation of reports on the development of photocatalysts, which enable water purification using solar energy as the only driving force. Such photocatalysts, based upon oxide semiconductors, permit the conversion of solar energy into the chemical energy that is required for the oxidation of toxic organic compounds in water. The most promising photocatalyst is titanium dioxide, TiO2, and its solid solutions. The research on TiO2 photocatalysis is multidisciplinary, and progress in this area requires the application of concepts of catalysis and photocatalysis as well as concepts of solid-state chemistry.

João M.P.Q. Delgado

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