One of the major problems facing the road construction engineer is the collapsible granular soil which may be used for embankment construction. Problems appears when such compacted soil come in touch with water, it exhibits cracking and uncontrolled settlement. Collapsible soils are defined as any unsaturated soil that goes through a radical rearrangement of practice and great loss of volume upon wetting, with or without additional loading. An attempt has been made in this investigation to stabilize the collapsible soil of Nasiriya with asphalt emulsion. Specimens of pure and asphalt emulsion stabilized soil have been prepared using optimum fluid content and tested. The first group of specimens of (60x60x20) cm have been tested for direct shear under various normal stresses of (27.5, 55, 83, 110, and 220) kPa. Under dry and soaked conditions. The second group of specimens of (75) mm diameter and (19) mm height have been tested for compressibility characteristics at dry and soaked test conditions. It was concluded that the cohesion has increased (30 and 9) folds and the angle of internal friction exhibits (3.7 and 8.3) folds increment for dry and soaked for asphalt stabilized soil as compared to untreated soil. The compression index (Cc) decreases by (78 and 15) % after stabilization for dry and soaked test conditions respectively, while the void ratio exhibits an increments of (21.4 and 70.5) % for dry and soaked test as compared to untreated soil.
The efforts embedded in this paper have been devoted to designing, preparing, and testing warm mix asphalt (WMA) mixtures and comparing their behavior against traditional hot mix asphalt mixtures. For WMA preparation, the Sasobit wax additive has been added to a 40/50 asphalt binder with a concentration of 3%. An experimental evaluation has been performed by conducting the Marshall together with volumetric properties, indirect tensile strength, and wheel tracking tests to acquire the tensile strength ratio (TSR), retained stability index (RSI), and rut depth. It was found that the gained benefit of reduction in mixing and compaction temperatures was reversely associated with a noticeable decline in Marshall properties and moisture s
... Show MoreDue to increasing cost of asphalt binder, significant economic savings can be realized by using the amount from reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in the production of new hot mix asphalt (HMA). Moreover, this is an environmentally friendly option as it reduces the demand for virgin materials. It has to be remarked that in Iraq RAP is not used in the production of HMA and this valuable material is mostly degraded for use in lower value applications. Four mixtures were designed, which contains three different percent RAP, it is (0%, 5%, 15%) with asphalt grade (40-50) and (25%) with asphalt grade (60-70), it has been changed the grade of asphalt when adding RAP (25%) to compensate for the aged binder in the RAP when adding to mixture. All type
... Show MoreIn this research, nanocomposites of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and a mixture of nano silica (SiO2) and nano zirconia (ZrO2) were prepared in different weight percentages of the nano fillers to improve some of the properties of PMMA resin to be used as a denture base material. The nano filles were surface modified with a coupling agent and added to the PMMA in different amounts. Impact strength, transverse strength, hardness and roughness were tested for both control and experimental groups. The results indicate that PMMA/silica/zirconia nanocomposites, prepared with 5% by weight of both types of fillers, had a slight increase in impact s
In this paper, mesoscale modeling is performed to simulate and understand fracture behavior of two concrete composites: cement and asphalt concrete using disk-shaped compact tension (DCT) tests. Mesoscale models are used as alternative to macroscale models to obtain better realistic behavior of composite and heterogeneous materials such as cement and asphalt concrete. In mesoscale models, aggregate and matrix are represented as distinct materials and each material has its characteristic properties. Disk-shaped compact tension test is used to obtain tensile strength and fracture energy of materials. This test can be used as a better alternative to other tests such as three points bending tests because it is more convenient for both field and
... Show MoreGas compressibility factor or z-factor plays an important role in many engineering applications related to oil and gas exploration and production, such as gas production, gas metering, pipeline design, estimation of gas initially in place (GIIP), and ultimate recovery (UR) of gas from a reservoir. There are many z-factor correlations which are either derived from Equation of State or empirically based on certain observation through regression analysis. However, the results of the z-factor obtained from different correlations have high level of variance for the same gas sample under the same pressure and temperature. It is quite challenging to determine the most accurate correlation which provides accurate estimate for a range of pressures,
... Show MoreIn many oil fields only the BHC logs (borehole compensated sonic tool) are available to provide interval transit time (Δtp), the reciprocal of compressional wave velocity VP.
To calculate the rock elastic or inelastic properties, to detect gas-bearing formations, the shear wave velocity VS is needed. Also VS is useful in fluid identification and matrix mineral identification.
Because of the lack of wells with shear wave velocity data, so many empirical models have been developed to predict the shear wave velocity from compressional wave velocity. Some are mathematical models others used the multiple regression method and neural network technique.
In this study a number of em
... Show MoreImproving the accuracy of load-deformation behavior, failure mode, and ultimate load capacity for reinforced concrete members subjected to in-plane loadings such as corbels, wall to foundation connections and panels need shear strength behavior to be included. Shear design in reinforced concrete structures depends on crack width, crack slippage and roughness of the surface of cracks.
This paper illustrates results of an experimental investigation conducted to investigate the direct shear strength of fiber normal strength concrete (NSC) and reactive powder concrete (RPC). The tests were performed along a pre-selected shear plane in concrete members named push-off specimens. The effectiveness of concrete compressiv
... Show MoreThis study aims to investigate the behavior and strength of self-compacted ferrocement slabs under punching shear load. Experimental results of thirteen square ferrocement slabs of 500×500 mm simply supported on all edges are presented. The main parameters investigated include the volume fraction of reinforcement, slab thickness and size of load-bearing plate. The load deflection and cracking characteristics of the tested slabs are studied and compared. The test results showed that the volume fraction of wire mesh has significant effect on both ultimate load and displacement. The increase of slab thickness leads to decrease in deflection values and increase in stiffness of slabs. Both ductility and stiffness increase as the
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