For many years, structural health monitoring (SHM) has held significant importance across diverse engineering sectors. The main aim of SHM is to assess the health status and understand distinct features of structures by analyzing real-time data from physical measurements. The dynamic response (DR) is a significant tool in SHM studies. This response is used primarily to detect variations or damage by examining the vibration signals of DR. Numerous scholarly articles and reviews have discussed the phenomenon and importance of using DR to predict damages in uniform thickness (UT) plate structures. However, previous reviews have predominantly focused on the UT plates, neglecting the equally important varying thickness (VT) plate structures. Given the significance of VT plates, especially for academic researchers, it is essential to compile a comprehensive review that covers the vibration of both the UT and VT cracked plate structures and their identification methods, with a special emphasis on VT plates. VT plates are particularly significant due to their application in critical components of various applications where optimizing the weight, aerodynamics, and dimensions is crucial to meet specific design specifications. Furthermore, this review critically evaluates the damage identification methods, focusing on their accuracy and applicability in real-world applications. This review revealed that current research studies are inadequate in describing crack path identification; they have primarily focused on predicting the quantification of cracks in terms of size or possible location. Identifying the crack path is crucial to avoid catastrophic failures, especially in scenarios where the crack may propagate in critical dimensions of the plate. Therefore, it can be concluded that an accurate analytical and empirical study of crack path and damage identification in these plates would be a novel and significant contribution to the academic field.

This study demonstrates the successful integration of a Fresnel lens into a hybrid solar cooking and thermoelectric generation system, providing both thermal energy for cooking and electrical power generation. The study analyzed various tank designs to enhance heat transfer, improve heat distribution, and optimize the cooking surface. The best-performing design, featuring an aluminium heat sink with fins, achieved the highest fluid temperature of 54.44°C, with superior heat transfer efficiency and uniform distribution. Other designs using stainless steel and copper showed promise but faced challenges, such as uneven heat spread and inefficient baffle configurations. The findings underscore the critical role of material selection and design optimization in enhancing the thermal performance of hybrid solar systems.

This paper presents the design, and simulation of a novel concentrated solar power (CSP) system integration with solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) to generate superheated steam required for efficient hydrogen production. The system comprises of 10 parabolic dish collectors, SiSiC cavity receivers, and a heat exchanger with two components. An evaporator and a superheater collectively achieve a high thermal efficiency of 73%. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations demonstrated that the SiSiC receiver can maintain an air outlet temperature of 1555K, which is 8% more efficient than a similar design reported in the literature. This would facilitate the generation of superheated steam necessary for the SOE process. A water flow rate of 28.8kg/h directly influences the system's hydrogen production capacity, which reaches 2.56kg/h at optimal conditions. The heat exchanger components were designed using Aspen EDR, while the entire system simulation was conducted using Aspen Plus, demonstrating the system's potential to meet industrial standards for sustainable hydrogen production. This article serves as a good reference in investigating the feasibility of CSP-SOE systems as a promising pathway for large-scale renewable hydrogen production.

Hydrogen is increasingly recognised as a cornerstone of future clean energy systems, yet its large-scale production remains constrained by efficiency and sustainability challenges. Concentrated solar power (CSP) coupled with thermochemical water-splitting cycles offers a promising solution, with the Sulfur–Iodine (S–I) cycle standing out due to its high theoretical efficiency and full water-splitting capability. This study aims to design and assess a solar cavity receiver integrated with the S–I cycle for efficient hydrogen generation. CFD simulations in ANSYS Fluent were employed to evaluate receiver performance, achieving an outlet air temperature of 1405 K at a mass flow rate of 0.00285 kg/s and a thermal efficiency of 80%. The absorbed heat was subsequently coupled with an Aspen Plus model of the S–I cycle. Scaling the system to ten parabolic dish collectors resulted in a hydrogen output of 0.75 kg/h and an overall efficiency of 57.7%. Model validation against published experimental data confirmed the robustness of the approach. These results highlight the potential of optimised cavity receivers in advancing CSP-driven thermochemical hydrogen production.