The dimensions of many water streams, which satisfy proper hydraulic conditions, may not be compatible with the designed dimensions of an irrigation work that needs to be constructed in some locations. The design requirements of such irrigation works may involve a contraction in the channel width in the required location. This contraction, of course, affects different flow properties and the scour hole formed downstream of these structures. Therefore, the present experimental study aims to investigate the effect of the transition angle and the contraction on the flow properties and on the scour phenomenon downstream water structures. Through 460 experimental runs, carried out on 20 experimental models, the study proved that, for an efficient hydraulic performance and economic design, the best transition angle (θ) for the approaches of water structures is 30° with a relative contracted width ratio (r = b/B) not less than 0.6.
Schools in hot arid climate depend on courtyard to encourage students’ for social activity. In order to improve Outdoor Thermal Comfort (OTC), applying passive mitigation strategies in the courtyard is critical issue. This paper aims to improve students’ thermal comfort in school courtyards throughout the study of a public school with an E-shaped style in New Assiut City. Hence, different shading strategies (shading with different heights, vegetation, and hybrid) are simulated by using ENVI-met model v 5.0.0 to improve OTC for students in school courtyards. Firstly, monitoring was conducted inside outer courtyards. Then nine scenarios of passive strategies were implemented inside two courtyards with a ratio H/W = 0.4 and 0.7. After that, Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) was used to compare different scenarios. The results found, by applying hybrid orthogonal and diagonal staggered shading with trees in …