Concrete structures are exposed to aggressive environmental conditions that lead to corrosion of the embedded reinforcement and pre-stressing steel. Consequently, the safety of concrete structures may be compromised, and this requires a significant budgets to repair and maintain critical infrastructure. Prediction of structural safety can lead to significant reductions in maintenance costs by maximizing the impact of investments. The aim of this paper is to establish a framework to assess the reliability of existing post-tensioned concrete bridges. A time-dependent reliability analysis of an existing post-tensioned involving the assessment of Ynys-y-Gwas bridge has been presented in this study. The main cause of failure of this bridge was corrosion of tendons, making it a relevant case study to evaluate the effect of corrosion on bridge safety. Uncertainties associated with material properties, geometry, loads and corrosion parameters are taken into account. The probabilistic models of the uncertainties are combined with a non-linear finite element analysis to study the effect of tendons pitting corrosion on the post-tensioned concrete bridge. The limit state function considered is flexural strength. The Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS) method is used to compute the statistical parameters of the resisting bending moment through a MATLAB code running ABAQUS. It was found that the reliability index for the first year of bridge service life is below the minimum value acceptable for structures. The study confirmed that this bridge was a high risk structure due to its design and location. The proposed framework can be used by engineers and researchers as a tool to support decision for segmental post-tensioned (PT) bridges maintenance since they need for a regular inspection due to their risk to corrosion.
The amount of protein in the serum depends on the balance between the rate of its synthesis, and that of its catabolism or loss. Abnormal metabolism may result from nutritional deficiency, enzyme deficiency, abnormal secretion of hormones, or the actions of drugs and toxins. Renal cancer is the third most common malignancy of the genitourinary system, and accounts for 3% of adult malignancies globally. Total serum proteins were measured in malignant kidney tumor, benign kidney tumors, and non tumoral kidney diseases patient groups, as well as in healthy individuals. A significant decrease (p< 0.001) of total serum protein levels in patients with malignant kidney tumors when compared with those of benign tumors, non tumoral diseases, and hea
... Show MoreThis study aimed to investigate the role of Big Data in forecasting corporate bankruptcy and that is through a field analysis in the Saudi business environment, to test that relationship. The study found: that Big Data is a recently used variable in the business context and has multiple accounting effects and benefits. Among the benefits is forecasting and disclosing corporate financial failures and bankruptcies, which is based on three main elements for reporting and disclosing that, these elements are the firms’ internal control system, the external auditing, and financial analysts' forecasts. The study recommends: Since the greatest risk of Big Data is the slow adaptation of accountants and auditors to these technologies, wh
... Show MoreCoronavirus disease (Covid-19) has threatened human life, so it has become necessary to study this disease from many aspects. This study aims to identify the nature of the effect of interdependence between these countries and the impact of each other on each other by designating these countries as heads for the proposed graph and measuring the distance between them using the ultrametric spanning tree. In this paper, a network of countries in the Middle East is described using the tools of graph theory.
The performance of asphalt concrete pavement has affected by many factors, the temperature is the most important environmental one which has a large effect on the structural behavior of flexible pavement materials. The main cause of premature failure of pavement is the rutting, Due to the viscoelastic nature of the asphalt cement, rutting is more pronounced in hot climate areas because the viscosity of the asphalt binder which is
inversely related to rutting is significantly reduced with the increase in temperature resulting in a more rut susceptible paving mixtures. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of temperatures variations on the permanent deformation parameters (perm
This research studies the influence of water source on the compressive strength of high strength concrete. Four types of water source were adopted in both mixing and curing process these are river, tap, well and drainage water (all from Iraq-Diyala governorate). Chemical analysis was carried out for all types of the used water including (pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), Turbidity, chloride, total suspended solid (TSS), and sulfates). Depending on the chemical analysis results, it was found that for all adopted sources the chemical compositions was within the ASTM C 1602/C 1602M-04 limits and can be satisfactorily used in concrete mixtures. Mixture of high strength concrete for compressive strength of (60 MPa) was designed and checked using
... Show MoreThyroid hemiagenesis (THA) is a rare congenital anomaly in which one lobe of thyroid gland fails to develop during embryological stage. Agenesis may be unilateral, total or isthmic. Left thyroid lobe is more commonly involved than right lobe in hemiagenesis. Agenesis of the isthmus was seen in 50% of cases. Left sided hemiagenesis is more common than right sided hemiagenesis with a Left to right ratio of 4:1. Clinically patients can be euthyroid, hypothyroid or hyperthyroid. Often it is diagnosed as an incidental finding during ultrasonography (USG) study of neck, which can easily diagnose this condition.
Actual incidence of THA is unknown; most cases are diagnosed in patients admitted for thyroid scan or thyroid surgery because
... Show MoreThis research deals with the study of the relationship between the success factors as the independent variable and product strategies as the dependent variable , has reacted to these variables to form the frame , which is the research which centered research problem about the extent to which industrial companies the vision and knowledge of Muslim women survive and develop in the business market , which can be expressed about the extent of awareness of corporate success factors and the use of product strategies and what the relationship between the factors and strategies , while expressing the importance of research to make the focus on the product occupies a paramount importance in the industrial sector companies in relation to t
... Show MoreThe parametric programming considered as type of sensitivity analysis. In this research concerning to study the effect of the variations on linear programming model (objective function coefficients and right hand side) on the optimal solution. To determine the parameter (θ) value (-5≤ θ ≤5).Whereas the result، the objective function equal zero and the decision variables are non basic، when the parameter (θ = -5).The objective function value increases when the parameter (θ= 5) and the decision variables are basic، with the except of X24, X34.Whenever the parameter value increase, the objectiv
... Show MoreInternal curing is a method that has been advised to decrease the primary age cracking, mainly of concrete mixes using low (water to cementitious materials - w/cm) ratios corresponding to the self-compacting concrete-(SCC). This research aims to study the effect of the internal curing using saturated lightweight aggregate- (LWA) on the steel reinforcing corrosion in SCC. In this research, crushed bricks or thermostone were partially replaced by (20%) by the weight of sand and volumetrically measured. The results showed that the steel reinforcement of internally cured concrete showed a slight increase in corrosion up to 300 days of exposure to the saline solution (containing 3.5% NaCl). The ability of using the crushed bricks or thermostone
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