Journal of Energy Engineering

Hourly wind-speed data for 11 years (1983–1993), historical ground-water table data, and performance test results under varying conditions for two mechanical windpumps and one electrical windpump were used at Bushland, Tex., to evolve major recommendations pertaining to wind-powered irrigation management. Stochastic analysis of hourly wind-speed data showed that the average daily wind speed lies most frequently in the range of 5.5–6 m/s, with the upper and lower limits being 16 and 4.5 m/s, respectively. This is conducive to most of the wind energy conversion systems manufactured today. The discharge of the electrical windpump was more than four times higher than the mechanical windpumps at high wind speeds. The performance of the electrical windpump was also much better at a high operating head (60 m) than at low operating heads under high wind regimes, showing its suitability for ground-water pumping in the Southern High Plains. Stochastic estimation of daily windpump discharge revealed that pumping rates are high in the spring and autumn seasons, favoring irrigation of a winter wheat crop. The trend of variation in unit reservoir capacity, under different levels of daily demand and risk, shows that wind-powered irrigation systems with high risk can be adopted under higher economic return conditions. Though the results obtained in this study are applicable mainly to the Southern High Plains of the United States, the methodology developed will have general applicability.

This paper covers the development of the design blast loads for buildings in petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants as reported by the ASCE Task Committee on Blast Resistant Design. It briefly discusses the overall design process for such buildings and the considerations and methods for predicting the blast loading from vapor cloud explosions. The main focus is on determining the building component loads once the incident blast overpressure is defined.