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.
Joints are among the most widespread geologic structures as they are found in most each exposure of rock. They differ greatly in appearance, dimensions, and arrangement, besides they occur in quite different tectonic environments. This study is important because joints provide evidence on what kind of stress produced them (history of deformation) and also because they change the characteristics of the rocks in which they occur. The Measured data of joints from the studied area which are located in the high folded zone – Northeast of Iraq, were classified according to their relationship with the tectonic axes by projecting them stereographically using Schmidt net in GEOrient ver.9.5.0 software. The joint systems revealed the orientation of
... Show MoreBackground: Primary healthcare in Egypt has undergone significant reforms since the 1990s, including the pioneering Family Health Program (FHP). However, limited evaluation exists regarding the FHP's impact on enhancing the delivery of primary healthcare services. The primary objective of this study was to analyze and understand the efficiency and effectiveness of the FHP in altering the delivery of primary healthcare in Egypt. We aimed to outline the fundamental characteristics of the primary healthcare system, compare them between the conventional and the newly reformed FHP centers, and gauge the awareness level of these variances among key decision-makers, focusing specifically on Cairo, Egypt. Methods: This cross-sectional study employe
... Show MoreBumpiness in the atmosphere is the vertical movement of air, whether
upward or downward movement and the bumpiness is accompanied by areas
of unrest in the air and wind. And contribute to each of the coups thermal
fronts, wind, wind and thunderstorms. Moreover, bumpiness is net of the
reasons that lead to circumstances is appropriate to cut the wind, and this
contributes to the formation of bumpiness in the atmosphere. The study found
that the noon of the times, which is expected to occur where clear-air
bumpiness during flights because of the warmth of the earth's surface. The
study found increased incidence of air hole during the summer, especially
July, due to increased incidence of coup surface, while the s
Impact strength of self-compacted concrete is a field of interest, mostly when the concrete is produced from sustainable materials. This research's main objective is to clarify the ability to use two types of Portland limestone cement (Karasta and Tasluja) in self compacted concrete under impact loading, further to the economic and environmental benefits of the limestone cement. The impact loading was applied by a low-speed test, using the drop ball on concrete. Moreover, the study reveals the resistance of the grids reinforced concrete to impact loading by using polymer grid, and steel grid reinforced concrete slabs. Mixes reinforced by steel mesh had the highest results, indicating that the steel mesh was more robust because it had
... Show MoreConventional concretes are nearly unbendable, and just 0.1 percent of strain potential makes them incredibly brittle and stiff. This absence of bendability is a significant cause of strain failure and has been a guiding force in the production of an elegant substance, bendable concrete, also known as engineered cement composites, abbreviated as ECC. This type of concrete is capable of displaying dramatically increased flexibility. ECC is reinforced with micromechanical polymer fibers. ECC usually uses a 2 percent volume of small, disconnected fibers. Thus, bendable concrete deforms but without breaking any further than conventional concrete. This research aims to involve this type of concrete, bendable concrete, that will give solut
... Show MoreThis paper presents experimentally a new configuration of shear connector for Steel-Concrete-Steel (SCS) sandwich beams that is derived from truss configuration. It consists of vertical and inclined shear connectors welded together and to cover steel plates infilled with concrete. Nine simply supported SCS beams were tested until the failure under a concentrated central load (three- point bending). The beams were similar in length (1100mm), width (100mm), and the top plate thickness (4mm). The test parameters were; beam thickness (150, 200, 250, and 300mm), the bottom plate thickness (4, and 6mm), the diameter of the shear connectors (10, 12, and 16mm), and the connector spacing (100, 200, and 250mm). The test results sh
... Show MoreIn this paper, we study the impact of the variable rotation and different variable on mixed convection peristaltic flow of incompressible viscoplastic fluid. This is investigated in two dimensional asymmetric channel, such as the density, viscosity, rate flow, Grashof number, Bingham number, Brinkman number and tapered, on the mixed convection heat transfer analysis for the peristaltic transport of viscoplastic fluid with consideration small Reynolds number and long wavelength, peristaltic transport in asymmetric channel tapered horizontal channel and non-uniform boundary walls to possess different amplitude wave and phases. Perturbation technique is used to get series solutions. The effects of different values of these parame
... Show MoreGender and culture are among the factors that influence the process of understanding and interpreting different types of communication, especially images. The current study, which is a part of a master’s thesis, aims at investigating the role of gender and culture in interpreting and understanding the caricatures that deal with women’s issues in Arab societies. To this end, the researchers adopted Barthes’ (1957) concepts of denotation and connotation in his theory of mythologies in addition to Langacker’s (1987) theory of (Domains). The research concludes that the female subjects have better cognitive abilities in investing the signs within the selected caricatures. The other factor the study reached to is that the respondents
... Show MoreBackground: Recent implant surgical approach aims to cause less trauma, invasiveness and pain as much as possible and to reduce patient and surgeon discomfort, time of surgery and time needed for functional implant loading. Flapless surgical techniques considered recently as one of the most popular techniques that may achieve these aims especially enhancing osseointegration and subsequently implant stability within less time than the traditional flapped surgical technique. So this study aimed to make a comparison between flapped and flapless surgical techniques in resulted implant stability according to resonance frequency analysis RFA and in duration of surgical operation. Materials and methods: A total of 26 patients with 41 implants (o
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