Flat-plate System Research Articles

Pots to Plots: Microshock Weed Control Is an Effective and Energy Efficient Option in the Field

Seeking low environmental impact alternatives to chemical herbicides that can be integrated into a regenerative agriculture system, we developed and tested flat-plate electrode weeding equipment applying ultra-low-energy electric shocks to seedlings in the field. Better than 90% control was achieved for all species, with energy to treat 5 weeds m−2 equivalent to 15 kJ ha−1 for L. didymum and A. powellii, and 363 kJ ha−1 (leaf contact only) and 555kJ ha−1 (plants pressed to soil) for in-ground L. multiflorum, all well below our 1 MJ ha−1 target and a fraction of the energy required by any other weeding system. We compared applications to the leaves only or to leaves pressed against the soil surface, to seedlings growing outside in the ground and to plants growing in bags filled with the same soil. No previous studies have made such direct comparisons. Our research indicated that greenhouse and in-field results are comparable, other factors remaining constant. The in-ground, outdoor treatments were as effective and efficient as our previously published in-bag, greenhouse trials. The flat-plate system tested supports sustainable farming by providing ultra-low-energy weed control suitable for manual, robotic, or conventional deployment without recourse to tillage or chemical herbicides.

Towards a reduction of emissions and cost-savings in homes: Techno-economic and environmental impact of two different solar water heaters

South Africa currently has the highest carbon emission intensity per kilowatt of electricity generation globally, and its government intends to reduce it. Some of the measures taken by the government include a reduction of emissions in the building sector using solar water heating (SWH) systems. However, there is currently no study in the country that comprehensively assesses the technical, economic, and environmental impact of SWH systems across the country. This study therefore used the System Advisor Model (SAM) to model two different technologies of SWH systems (i.e., flat plate (FPC) and evacuated tube (EPC) SWH) at five different locations (i.e., Pretoria, Upington, Kimberley, Durban, and Cape Town) strategically selected across the country. According to the study, the optimum azimuth for both the evacuated tube and flat plate SWH system in South Africa is 0°. Installing FPC and EPC at the different locations would yield payback periods of 3.2 to 4.4 years and 3.5 to 4.3 years, respectively. Comparably, levelized cost of energy for the FPC and EPC will range from 7.47 to 9.62 cents/kWh and 7.66 to 9.24 cents/kWh, respectively, based on where the SWH system is located. Depending on where the facility is located, the annual cost savings for the FPC system would be between $486 and $625, while the EPC system would save between $529 and $638. Using SWHs can reduce CO2 emissions by 75–77% for the evacuated tube system and 69–76% for the flat plate system annually, depending on the location.

Solar photocatalysis application in UWWTP outlets - simulations based on predictive models in flat-plate reactors and pollutant degradation studies with in silico toxicity assessment

The application of the solar photocatalysis for the degradation of residual pollutants found in surface water was demonstrated. Semi-pilot scale flat-plate cascade reactor (FPCR) was used to study the degradation of model organic pollutants: enrofloxacin (ENRO), 17β-estradiol (E2) and 1H-benzotriazole (1H-BT) over TiO2 thin-film supported on glass fibers. A modular panel with full-spectra solar lamps with appropriate UVB and UVA irradiation levels was used as a simulation of sunlight. Pollutant degradation in FPCR was estimated using predictive models; intrinsic reaction rate constants (ki) for ENRO, E2 and 1H-BT independent of the reactor size, flow rate and irradiation conditions were determined: 9.60, 3.35 and 0.37 109 s−1 W−0.5 m1.5, respectively. Main degradation products (DPs), formed upon hydroxylation, ring opening and oxidation, were identified using LC-QTOF-MS. The ecotoxicological impact was assessed via T.E.S.T. and ECOSAR open-source tools showing the formation of less harmful DPs after sufficient reaction time. Pollutant degradation was simulated at four locations of interest, i.e. exhausts from urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTPs) in Zagreb, Croatia (45°N), Krakow, Poland (50°N), Sevilla, Spain (37°N) and Ioannina, Greece (39.6°N). Results have proved that a simple flat-plate system with supported photocatalysts can be easily scaled up and incorporated at the outlet of UWWTP for the reduction of pollutant load and related toxicity. The exhaust canal in Zagreb with the estimated length of a photocatalytic layer of 122 m for the > 90% degradation of all target pollutants was discussed as the best installation site among studied locations. Environmental ImplicationA multi-disciplinary approach to the tentative application of TiO2 solar photocatalysis outdoors to reduce pollutant loads and toxicity in surface waters was demonstrated. Possible application at four selected locations in Europe, as an additional step in water treatment after urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTPs) was discussed. Target pollutants were studied under environmentally relevant conditions (sunlight levels, water matrix, simulation of process on a real scale at selected geographical location), at both higher and low concentrations.

Dual-axis solar tracking system with different control strategies for improved energy efficiency

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are rapidly increasing worldwide but are often installed as fixed flat-plate systems with predefined angles. This paper focuses on constructing a closed-loop solar tracking system (STS) to accurately measure the sun's location in real time, enabling solar panels to collect maximum solar radiation. A sensor-based feedback controller compares sunlight intensity to a threshold, driving a motor to rotate the dual-axis tracking motor and turn the PV panel toward the sun. The system, consisting of an electrical and mechanical system, was designed using the SIMULINK platform and SOLIDWORKS platform for real-life solar tracker systems. Simulation results show that the tracker stand construction in the SP-13 program for three 335-watt PV panels has sufficient strength against normal and critical wind speeds. These findings will greatly benefit the development of a dual-axis real-time sun tracker PV system.

Increasing melting and solidification performances of a phase change material-based flat plate solar collector equipped with metal foams, nanoparticles, and wavy wall-Y-shaped surface

This paper presents solutions to improve the thermal performances of paraffin as a Phase Change Material (PCM) in solar flat-plate collector systems for domestic and industrial solar applications. These solutions are regarded as an effective way to solve the problem of energy supply and demand time delay. To address this issue, three different methods were proposed together or separately, namely using 10 PPIs aluminum foams with 0.92 or 0.95 porosity, various types of 5%wt nanoparticles, and modifications to the geometry in three different configurations: straight (Case A), wavy wall (Case B), and wavy wall-Y-shaped fin combinations (Case C). Because of melting, thermal energy is stored within the PCM during sun exposition; once the sun source is not available, thanks to the PCM solidification, thermal energy is released. Numerical predictions of phase change and temperature evolution are done – and extensively validated - by means of well-established approaches like enthalpy-porosity method, porous media approach, and nanoparticles single-phase homogeneous model. If comparisons are done with pure paraffin, it has been found that nano-powders in Case B and Case C reduce melting time by 18.15% and 40.70%, respectively. A reduction of 86.19% and 87.21% can be found if only metal foams, or nanoparticles with foams, are included. Furthermore, solidification time for Case C with nanoparticles and 0.95 or 0.92 porosity foams, in comparison with Case B-Pure paraffin, becomes lower of 84.49% and 89.18%, respectively. This suggests that metal foams play the most important role in improving cycling times in such applications, even if nanoparticles and wavy walls are helpful too. The heat storage rate has been found to be higher of an order of magnitude if both metal foam and nanoparticles are added to the paraffin in Case C.

Seismic Analysis of a Multi-Storey Building with Different Types of Slabs

Earthquake plays an influential role in the analysis and design of structures. Unless the structures are designed and constructed to withstand seismic forces, failure cannot be avoided. Buildings can be made seismically sound with proper structure design, detailing and construction practice. The configuration of a building is very much important for the seismic performance of buildings. The important aspects that affect the seismic configuration of a building are overall geometry and structural system. This parameter varies in their behaviour in the flat slab, waffle slab and conventional slab. Therefore introducing different types of slabs becomes very crucial for a structural engineer when it comes to better performance of RC structure. The objective of this paper is to study the seismic behaviour of multi-storeyed buildings with different types of slab systems. The study is done by considering the varying number of stories i.e. low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise buildings. The study aims to find an effective slab system for both regular and irregular structures. The different types of slabs considered are flat plate system, flat slab with drop system and waffle slab system which is compared with the conventional slab system. Seismic assessment using response spectrum analysis is done. For low-rise to high-rise buildings, the seismic behaviour of the waffle slab is more effective.

A machine-learning-based model for seismic performance assessment of interior slab-column connections

Slab-column connections are the most critical components in flat plate systems under seismic actions due to their brittle failure mode. Finite element analysis (FEA) can be adopted as an extension of experimental testing to potentially lead to the development of modern design codes by providing significant information on the punching shear failure process of connections. However, the available concrete constitutive models in FEA packages fail in simulating the hysteretic response of the connections under cyclic loads. Moreover, it is shown that the available design code recommendations and empirical models are not accurate tools for assessing the seismic performance of these connections (e.g., unbalanced moment and/or drift capacity). In an effort to overcome these limitations, a dataset of previously tested experiments is compiled to predict the ultimate load and drift of the connections using the multi-variate non-linear regression model. Additionally, there is a need to develop a new constitutive material model for seismic performance assessment of the connections to capture the complete hysteretic response of the connection using numerical FEA. Consequently, a deep neural network is trained over the accumulated dataset and integrated into the OpenSees source code to determine the seismic performance of the connections. For data augmentation, a generative neural network model of autoencoders known as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) is constructed to generate synthetic data. The proposed material model is found to have significantly improved precision in capturing the hysteretic response of flat plates. The developed models showed higher accuracy than the design code estimations and empirical models.

Efficiency of shear studs manufactured from threaded bars on the punching behavior of flat slabs

Punching resistance in flat slab systems in reinforced concrete structures is often provided with drop panels or shear reinforcement around columns. Shear studs are effectively used in these structures as shear reinforcement. However, factory-made shear studs may not be available in all locations and small quantities for small projects. Therefore, cheap shear studs that can be manufactured from widely available materials in small quantities can be very useful in certain cases. In this study, shear studs manufactured from threaded bars, widely available in hardware stores, are used for providing punching resistance to flat slabs. Stud heads were formed with T-section nuts. Four slab specimens, two with shear studs and two without, were cast and tested under concentrated loads at their mid-point. The slabs had 2150×2150×150 mm dimensions and they were cast with two different longitudinal reinforcement ratios. Test results showed that manufactured shear studs significantly increased the load and deformation capacities of the slabs. Slabs with shear studs were able to show up to three times higher bending deformations and they were able to sustain up to 50% higher loads. The study has shown that these studs can be effectively used for punching strengthening purposes in flat plate systems or in other cases where punching resistance is needed.

Innovative sensorless dual-axis solar tracking system using particle filter

Renewable energy (RE), particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, is a promising alternative to traditional energy sources for worldwide electricity generation. In recent years, PV generation capacity has increased rapidly due to a considerable reduction in installation costs. Nevertheless, in PV systems, energy generation is significantly less than the installed capacity due to the PV modules’ orientation. Hence, this study proposes an innovative solar tracking system to enhance PV energy generation. Previous research classified solar tracking systems into two categories: sensor-based and sensorless solar tracking systems. However, tracking performance inevitably deteriorates when implementing sensor-based solar tracking systems in low-visibility conditions. Conversely, sensorless solar tracking systems require substantial historical meteorological data based on geographic location and complex mathematical models estimating the sun’s position, increasing computational complexity. This study aims to overcome these difficulties by proposing a sensorless dual-axis solar tracking system that does not require historical meteorological data, complex mathematical models, and sun position sensors to track the sun’s position. Particle filter (PF), a robust sampling-based tracking algorithm, is applied to develop an innovative solar tracking strategy. Initially, a set of samples (also called particles) is generated as inputs to PF corresponding to the proposed tracking system’s orientation angles: daily and elevation angles. Next, PV power is captured as a measurement of each particle, and a weight associated with the PV power is estimated to represent each particle’s relative significance. Furthermore, each particle is estimated and updated recursively, considering its measurement to determine the sun’s probable position. The tracking strategy is terminated once the particles’ weights are equal, indicating that the optimal position has been achieved (convergence). A comparative study is conducted over 60 days under various weather conditions to evaluate the proposed tracking system’s performance compared with that of a fixed flat-plate system. The experimental results indicate that the proposed tracking system improves energy generation performance (after accounting for operational energy consumption) by 20.1% compared with the fixed flat-plate system.

Lubrication impact of ferrofluid on cylinder‐plate system: A comparative study using two flow models

AbstractSqueeze‐film characteristics between a long cylinder and an infinite flat plate system are analysed. Ferrofluid (FF) lubricant controlled by transverse uniformly strong magnetic field is used for reducing wear and prolonging life of the system. The modified combined Reynolds equation is derived using two different FF flow models (Shliomis and Jenkins), and continuity equation. The expression for dimensionless film‐pressure, load‐carrying capacity and squeeze time are derived and calculated numerically for different control parameters. The results show significant improvement in the performance of the system when smaller value of minimum film thickness is chosen. Moreover, the phenomenon can be simulated by both the models equally with proper choice of the parameters.

Performance Evaluation of an Evacuated Flat-Plate Collector System for Domestic Hot Water Applications

AbstractRapid population growth and increasing energy demand in developing countries are the key drivers behind rising concerns such as energy poverty and environmental degradation. Harnessing solar energy can help the developing countries inch closer to sustainable economic growth. This article presents the performance analysis of a solar water heating system based on an evacuated flat-plate collector (EFPC). EFPCs offer higher optical performance and lower thermal losses in comparison with conventional solar collectors. In this study, a multiparametric analysis provides the guidelines for the design and optimization of a novel low vacuum EFPC system under ambient conditions, for domestic hot water (DHW) applications. A small-scale solar thermal collector system based on a low vacuum (17.5–20 kPa) EFPC of a total area of 4.0 m2 is designed and installed. The system is coupled with a storage tank composed of the helical copper coil configuration inside the tank, which is used as a heat exchanger from a primary loop to a secondary loop. A series of real-time experiments are performed under ambient conditions from December to April. The thermal efficiency of the EFPCs reaches a maximum value of 73.2%, with the glycol–water mixture as a heat transfer fluid at an inlet temperature of 31.2 °C, when the ambient temperature is 15.3 °C, average irradiance is 679.2 Wm−2, and vacuum pressure is 20 kPa. For this duration, the exergy efficiency reaches a peak value of 16%. This EFPC system provides 100 liters of hot water at 57–69 °C per day for DHW consumption when the average ambient temperature is 24 °C. The overall results highlight the potential of EFPCs for hot water applications. Furthermore, an efficiently optimized EFPC system can also be used for space heating during the winter season.

Simulation of heat and mass transfer process in a flat-plate loop heat pipe and experimental comparison

A loop heat pipe is a passive heat transfer device with strong robustness, high efficiency, and good performance, and has been widely utilized in numerous thermal control systems. Herein, an intensive study of a flat-plate evaporator LHP from the perspective of experiment and simulation is presented. First, the vapor leakage problem, which was a common issue for most LHP systems, was solved by filling the assembly clearance with epoxy glue, and a flat-plate LHP system was fabricated to verify its operating performance. Test results indicated that the loop stably performed under various working conditions without temperature oscillation. The maximum heat flux was 11.25 W/cm2 and the minimum thermal resistance was 0.1340 °C/W. The heater surface temperature remained low except during the dry-out state in wick at the maximum heat load condition where a sharp increase was observed, and temperature hysteresis occurred during variable heat load tests owing to the transport lag in long liquid line. Based on the above experiment, an efficient 3-D CFD computational model was built to simulate the heat and mass transfer process in a flat-plate evaporator by the Volume of Fluid method. In addition, the flow regime with two-phase distribution at the scale of the entire evaporator was calculated by considering the structure effect. Boundary conditions were derived from the experiment and the mass flow rate at the evaporator inlet was deduced from the heat leakage effect in liquid line. Calculation results demonstrated that four symmetric vortices developed inside the compensation chamber and generated uneven subcooled liquid infiltration in wick, further leading to a slight offset of high-temperature zone to the evaporator inlet side. Parameter analysis indicated that the ribs conducted 84 % of the heat conduction using thermal paths formed between the heater surface and liquid–vapor interface. The vapor volume percentage in the vapor collector was above 80 %, and increasing the heat load reduced the vapor volume in wick as well as the percentage of heat adsorbed during evaporation. Experimental comparison illustrated that the model exhibited a high accuracy with an error less than 10.29 %.

TRNSYS Modeling of flat plate and vacuum tube solar collector systems for residential use under equatorial middle altitude climate condition

In this work, residential solar systems were simulated to predict feeding domestic hot water, using TRNSYS (TraNsient SYstem Simulation software), under the operating conditions in Cuenca, Ecuador. The type of research is quantitative and with a correlational approach. Using data from an experimental test, a technical sheet was prepared that sought to identify the main variables to be applied in the model. The diffuse and direct radiation data were obtained by applying the isotropic diffuse model. When simulating in the software, the results show that the system presents an efficiency of 56.54% when heating water in a range of 30° to 45 °C. For the validation of the model, the chisquared statistical test was applied, with which it was determined that the simulated data follow the same distribution as the real data.

Enhancement of the Solar-Thermal Response of Flat-plate Collector Coated with a Heat-resistant Paint

Abstract: A commercially available heat-resistant paint (HRP) is used as the primary component of a composite coating for low-temperature flat collector system. The same is mixed with small amounts of carbon black powder (CBP), lithium metal oxide (LMO) powder or both in an attempt to enhance the coating solar-thermal conversion characteristics. The optical characteristics of these coatings are investigated by means of optical microscopy, optical spectrophotometry and measurement of reflectance. The solar-thermal conversion characteristics are investigated by measuring the maximum collector temperature due to exposure to solar radiation. Results show that the solar-thermal conversion (maximum temperature) of the collector plate can be improved with the addition of CBP and LMO particles at low concentrations. The solar-thermal characteristics of the coatings are reported and compared with those of different coatings. The coatings prepared in the present work can easily be applied on the collector surface, which makes them suitable for flat-plate collector systems. Keywords: Flat plat collector, Selective coating, Optical properties, Solar irradiance.

Cost Estimate and Input Energy of Floor Systems in Low Seismic Regions

Reinforced concrete (RC) as a material is most commonly used for buildings construction. Several floor systems are available following the structural and architectural requirements. The current research study provides cost and input energy comparisons of RC office buildings of different floor systems. Conventional solid, ribbed, flat plate and flat slab systems are considered in the study. Building models in three-dimensional using extended three-dimensional analysis of building systems (ETABS) and in two-dimensional using slab analysis by the finite element (SAFE) are developed for analysis purposes. Analysis and design using both software packages and manual calculations are employed to obtain the optimum sections and reinforcements to fit cities of low seismic intensities for all the considered building systems. Two ground motion records of low peak ground acceleration (PGA) levels are used to excite the models to measure the input energies. Uniformat cost estimating system is adopted to categorize building components according to 12 divisions. Also, Microsoft (MS) Project is utilized to identify the construction cost and duration of each building system. The study shows that floor system significantly causes changes in the input energy to structures. In addition, the slight increase in the PGA increases the amount of input energy particularly flat plate system. Estimated cost of the flat plate system that the flat slab system is of higher value as compared to ribbed and conventional slab systems. The use of drop panels increases this value as well. Moreover, the estimated cost of the ribbed slab system exceeds that of conventional system.

Computational study for natural convection effects on temperature during batch and continuous industrial scale radio frequency tempering/thawing processes

Radio frequency (RF) processing have been used for tempering and thawing. There have been significant experimental and mathematical model based studies for this process especially in the last two decades. The modeling studies applied the convective boundary condition with effective heat transfer coefficient and constant medium temperature in through field flat plate RF systems. The objective of this study was first to develop a mathematical model for conjugate heat transfer (natural convection) in a staggered through field electrode RF system and to use this model for natural convection effects in industrial scale processes. For this purpose, the developed comprehensive mathematical model was experimentally validated using the data from frozen tuna samples. The air temperature variation was also used for validation. Then, the developed model was used in industrial scale process simulations with the presence of natural convection. The industrially preferred flat plate systems were used in this part to determine the temperature and electric field evolutions. The results demonstrated the significant effect of the natural convection on sample surface temperature distribution and temperature change of air within the cavity. The evolved natural convection resulted in the variation of the heat transfer coefficient along the sample surfaces with significant changes in temperature. Based on these results, it might be concluded that the effect of air temperature change within the cavity during an RF processes should also be controlled and considered for industrial system design and process optimization.

Exergy optimization of a multi‐stage solar micro‐cogeneration system

This paper proposes a dynamic model of a solar-based micro-cogeneration system called photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collector to perform a design optimization of the multi-stage PVT system. The parametric study reveals the most important design parameters influencing the water-based flat-plate PVT system performance. The analysis also shows an existing trade-off between thermal and electrical efficiencies during the PVT operation. A novel exergy-based multi-objective design optimization method is demonstrated to find a trade-off design solution of the multi-stage PVT collector which compromises between the electrical and thermal exergy efficiencies under different weather conditions. The electrical and thermal exergy efficiencies are defined to be the objective functions of the Matlab gamultiobj-function, which is a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II). As a result of the algorithm, the Pareto optimal sets were derived that revealed the optimal solutions taking into account the trade-off nature of the optimization problem. The decision-making method called an ideal point method was used in the decision-making process to find the final optimal solutions for different weather conditions. The results revealed that the optimal number of the PVT collectors in series depended on the weather conditions and decreased from 3 to 2 if the conditions got cooler.

Improvement of an open sun drying system for dried banana product using solar tracking system: a case study in Thailand

ABSTRACT This paper proposes an open sun drying (OSD) system for dried banana products using automatic dual-axis solar tracking. A pseudo-azimuthal mounting structure is implemented to rotate around the primary (daily angle) and secondary (elevation angle) axes. The proposed drying system uses a simple light-dependent resistor (LDR) orientation to control the rotating axes and follow the sun trajectory. The rotation in the primary axis adjusts the daily angle from east to west, which changes each hour. The secondary axis is rotated for the elevation angle from north to south direction, a seasonal change. The experiment was conducted at the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Rayong Campus, Rayong province, Thailand, to validate the performance of the proposed system compared with two conventional OSD systems: horizontal flat-plate and tilted. The effect of the solar tracking system on the drying characteristics of dried bananas is evaluated by considering moisture content, moisture ratio, drying rate, and drying time. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed drying system can reduce the drying time for banana products compared with the tilted system by 18.87% and the horizontal flat-plate system by 21.82%. Moreover, the experiment reveals that the electrical energy consumed by the proposed drying system is only 32.26 Wh/day. Finally, the economic analysis confirms that the payback period of the proposed drying system is approximately 0.76 years.

A novel UV sensor-based dual-axis solar tracking system: Implementation and performance analysis

The application of photovoltaic (PV) systems has been increasing rapidly worldwide in the field of sustainable electricity generation. However, the efficiency of PV systems depends significantly on the orientation of solar PV modules. To enhance the efficiency of PV systems, previous studies focused mainly on the development of sensor-based solar tracking systems using sun position sensors. In particular, they used light-dependent resistors (LDRs), which detect the visible light spectrum. However, LDRs have significant limitations (e.g., saturation of light intensity and ineffectiveness under low-visibility conditions) that can adversely affect the solar tracking performance. Utilization of ultraviolet (UV) spectrum captured by UV sensors displays the potential for overcoming the limitations of LDRs. This is owing to the enhancement of UV radiation by the cloud effect during overcast conditions and the capability of UV sensors. Considering this, we propose a novel UV sensor-based dual-axis solar tracking system to improve tracking movements and PV energy generation by utilizing the advantages of UV radiation enhancement and UV sensor capability. Four intensity signals of UV radiation obtained by UV sensors are compared and employed as inputs to the solar tracking system after it is implemented on a pseudo-azimuthal mounting structure, which is capable of following the sun trajectory through daily and elevation angles. A comparative analysis is performed to evaluate the solar tracking performance of the proposed solar tracking system with respect to that of a fixed flat-plate system and conventional LDR-based solar tracking system. The experimental results reveal that our tracking system increases energy generation (after accounting for the operational energy consumption) by 19.97% and 11.00% compared with the fixed flat-plate system and LDR-based solar tracking system, respectively. Moreover, the proposed solar tracking system performs effectively in terms of movement tracking under the tested conditions. Finally, the economic performance evaluation demonstrates that the proposed tracking system is profitable.

Effect of dynamic load redistribution in reinforced concrete flat-plate structures under collapse

An initial punching shear failure or column loss in a reinforced concrete flat-plate structure may lead to the dynamic load redistribution to the surrounding connections. The dynamic demand and capacity at these connections will determine if subsequent failures occur leading to collapse of the structure. Therefore, the effect of dynamic load needs investigation in order to evaluate the collapse potential of the structure. This paper analyzes previous experimental work as well as new computational models to determine the effect of the dynamic load in terms of the dynamic load amplification as well as the dynamic capacity. The dynamic load amplification in flat-plate structures may be much less than what is used in current design guidelines. In addition, while the dynamic strength is relatively unchanged from the static, the ductility may be greater for connections with low reinforcement ratios. The results show that including the dynamic capacity can increase the load of the flat-plate system considered in this study to resist collapse progression by only approximately 0.5 kN/m2 (10 psf).