In this work, a theoretical procedure has been developed to calculate the performance of a centrifugal pump using theoretical and empirical internal and external energy loss equations. These equations were implemented in the prediction program allowing the calculation of head, power and efficiency of the pump for varying input geometries, rotational speeds and fluid properties. The prediction program was tested for two centrifugal pumps of different impeller geometries handling either water or viscous fluids with different viscosities, at varying rotational speeds. Two different experimental rigs with different impeller geometries were used to generate experimental data. In the first rig, one impeller geometry was considered and data were obtained for three rotational speeds. In the second rig two different impellers of different geometries were also tested at different speeds. In both rigs, the centrifugal pump is composed of the two essential elements, namely the impeller and the casing. Good agreement was achieved when both predicted and experimental results were compared for all impeller geometries and rotational speeds considered.

The coefficients of discharge of 30° inclined holes having a length to diameter ratio of 6, and rounded entries or exits have been measured for a range of crossflow conditions. The rounding radius varied from 0 to 1 hole diameters, and the crossflow Mach numbers from 0 to 0.5. Rounding the hole inlet was found to be beneficial, with increases of up to 15% being obtained at high coolant (inlet) side crossflow Mach numbers. Rounding the exit produced no significant benefit. The crossflow effects have been correlated using inlet and outlet additive loss coefficients. These reflect the changes in pressure drop across the hole necessary to maintain the hole mass flow rate when crossflows are applied. The correlated data have been incorporated in a computer program which gives good predictions of discharge coefficient in the presence of either a coolant crossflow or a mainstream crossflow or both.

Due to the increase in demand for building materials and their high prices in most developing countries, many researchers are trying to recycle waste for use as secondary raw materials. The aim of this study is the optimization of a mixture of compressed earth blocks based on two sediments. These sediments were tested through the Vicat test to determine the proportion of each one and the optimal water content. The mixtures were treated by adding 10% of blast furnace slag and different proportions of dissolved glass in a NaOH solution. The results indicated that the mixture of 70% Oran sediments with 30% Sidi Lakhdar sediments treated with 4% glass waste produced a CEB (compressed earth block) with high compressive strength with low porosity. In addition, formulated CEBs have a very good resistance to water immersion.

Analytical closed-form solution to the stress distribution associated with a hole in finite plates subjected to tension has not been obtained yet. Wherefore, a method developed in this paper is based on a Beltrami-Michell methodology analyzing the Kirsch's problem under finite dimensions conditions of both plane stress and plane strain. This aimed ability is achieved by combining the Beltrami-Michell plane equations, isochromatic information on the boundaries only; and the finite difference method into an effectual hybrid method for analyzing rectangular plates of finite width with circular holes. Furthermore, the Beltrami-Michell methodology suggested may be applied on other plate and cut-out forms.

Four temperature-based evapotranspiration models were applied and compared to daily measurements obtained by a Piche evaporimeter in a Mediterranean climate zone of the semi arid type in the North-West of Algeria. Direct measurements of evaporation obtained by Piche on five stations were corrected by the Bouchet model. Evapotranspiration was calculated according to the following models: Blaney-Criddle, Blaney-Criddle (SCS), Linacre and Romanenko. The results showed that the best model is the Blaney-Criddle (SCS) one which gave excellent results for almost all of the stations studied, presenting the lowest statistical parameters [root mean squared error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE) and t-statistic and a higher index of agreement (d). The Blaney-Criddle (SCS) also showed the lowest overestimation of evapotranspiration compared with other models. Therefore, the Blaney-Criddle (SCS) model is the most suitable model for estimating the daily evapotranspiration when direct evaporation measurements are not available.