This study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From experimental observations, when the girder specimen was cracked and the transverse steel reinforcement bars started straining, the CFRP strips started to work more effectively and contributed together with the transverse steel reinforcement to resist torsion load. Additionally, Finite Element (FE) simulations were developed using Abaqus to model the torsional behavior of the retrofitted girders, the results of which were validated with the experimental data. With the numerical model, the effect of concrete compressive strength, transverse reinforcement spacing, and CFRP strip spacing were examined. The effectiveness of the CFRP strips in enhancing the torsional strength of the girder was found to increase with increasing the spacing between the transverse reinforcement.
This paper presents a numerical simulation for the combined effect of surface roughness and non-Newtonian behavior of the lubricant on the performance of misaligned journal bearing. The modified Reynolds equation to include the effect of non-Newtonian lubricant and bearing surface roughness has been formulated. The model accounts for the lubricant viscosity dependence on temperature and shear rate. In order to make a complete thermo-hydrodynamic analysis (THD) of rough surface misaligned journal bearing lubricated with non-Newtonian lubricant, the modified Reynolds equation coupled with the energy, heat conduction equations, the equation related the viscosity and temperature with appropriate boundary conditions have been solved simultane
... Show MoreTwelve species from Brassicaceae family were studied using two different molecular techniques: RAPD and ISSR; both of these techniques were used to detect some molecular markers associated with the genotype identification. RAPD results, from using five random primers, revealed 241 amplified fragments, 62 of them were polymorphic (26%).
ISSR results showed that out of seven primers, three (ISSR3, UBC807, UBC811) could not amplify the genomic DNA; other primers revealed 183 amplified fragments, 36 of them were polymorphic (20%). The similarity evidence and dendrogram for the genetic distances of the incorporation between the two techniques showed that the highest similarity was 0.897 between the va
... Show MoreThe analysis of the root cause techniques is a reasonable option to be made to assess the root causes of the funding of construction projects. There are a variety of issues related to financing in construction industries in Iraq. The root,cause analysis is the impact of security and social conditions on financial funding. Variety tools of root cause analysis have originated from literature, as common methods for the detection of root causes. The purpose of this study was to identify and diagnose causes that lead to obstruction of financial funding in the construction projects in the republic of Iraq from the contractors' point of view and their interaction with a number of variables. The study diagnosed nine causes of fi
... Show MoreForeign trade receives a good deal of economists' attention for its active contribution to economic growth, and imports of goods and services that could not be produced locally constitute an important share of the local economy. Agricultural imports constitute an important share of the total imports due to their role in fulfilling the needs of local markets; however, the agricultural sector in Iraq contributes no more than a limited share of the country's need, which has encouraged the import of a variety of fruits, vegetables and strategic crops and different types of red and white meat. For the sake of identifying the factors affecting the demand on agricultural imports in Iraq, the following factors has been analyzed: th
... Show MoreLung cancer is one of the most serious and prevalent diseases, causing many deaths each year. Though CT scan images are mostly used in the diagnosis of cancer, the assessment of scans is an error-prone and time-consuming task. Machine learning and AI-based models can identify and classify types of lung cancer quite accurately, which helps in the early-stage detection of lung cancer that can increase the survival rate. In this paper, Convolutional Neural Network is used to classify Adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and normal case CT scan images from the Chest CT Scan Images Dataset using different combinations of hidden layers and parameters in CNN models. The proposed model was trained on 1000 CT Scan Images of cancerous and non-c
... Show MoreThis paper discusses using H2 and H∞ robust control approaches for designing control systems. These approaches are applied to elementary control system designs, and their respective implementation and pros and cons are introduced. The H∞ control synthesis mainly enforces closed-loop stability, covering some physical constraints and limitations. While noise rejection and disturbance attenuation are more naturally expressed in performance optimization, which can represent the H2 control synthesis problem. The paper also applies these two methodologies to multi-plant systems to study the stability and performance of the designed controllers. Simulation results show that the H2 controller tracks a desirable cl
... Show MoreThis research presents an experimental investigation on the influence of metakaolin replacement percentage upon some properties of different concrete types. Three types of concrete were adopted (self- compacted concrete, high performance concrete and reactive powder concrete) all of high sulphate (SO3) percentage from the fine aggregate weight, 0.75%. Three percentages of metakaolin replacement were selected to be studied (5, 7 and 10) %. Three types of concrete properties (compressive, flexural and splitting tensile strength) were adopted to achieve better understanding for the influence of adding metakaolin.. The output results indicated that the percentage of metakaolin had a different level of positive effect on the compressive strength
... Show Moreloaded reinforced concrete circular short columns. An experimental investigation into the behavior
of 24 short reinforced concrete columns with and without steel fibers was carried out. The columns
had a circular section (200 mm diameter and 900 mm long). Test variables include concrete
strength, spacing of spiral reinforcement, and inclusion of steel fibers. The axial stress and axial
strains were obtained and used to evaluate the effects of the presence of steel fibers. It was found
that the addition of steel fibers slightly improves the load carrying capacity of the tested columns
whereas it significantly enhances the ductility of these specimens. Test results also indicated that for
the same confinement parameter