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.
Organogel as a system was to estimate its capacity to delay and slow the drug release in the duodenum. The gelators, 12HSA (12-hydroxystearic acid), span 60. span 40 were used; the castor oil (CO) and anise oil (AO) also represented the liquid phase. To achieve the goal of this work was by using diclofenac sodium (DS). Organogels specifications were by estimating thermal attitude using tabletop rheology and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The organogel strength study was by applying oscillatory rheology tests the amplitude sweep and the frequency sweep. Realizing the morphology of the organogel was done utilizing an optical microscope. CO and AO binding capacity was also manifested. The transition temperatures for all organogels
... Show MoreBeryllium Zinc Oxide (BexZn1-xO) ternary nano thin films were deposited using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique under a vacuum condition of 10-3 torr at room temperature on glass substrates with different films thicknesses, (300, 600 and 900 nm). UV-Vis spectra study found the optical band gap for Be0.2Zn0.8O to be (3.42, 3.51 and 3.65 eV) for the (300, 600 and 900nm) film thicknesses, respectively which is larger than the value of zinc oxide ZnO (3.36eV) and smaller than that of beryllium oxide BeO (10.6eV). While the X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern analysis of ZnO, BeO and Be 0.2 Zn 0.8 O powder and nano-thin films indicated a hexa
... Show MoreIn the present study, the physical characteristics of elastomer (EL) blend with natural polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Dexrin (D), Arabic gum (AG), and corn starch (CS) based on high-density fiberboard wood adhesives were investigated. The EL blends were prepared by dissolving AG, D, PVA, and CS in deionized water at 70 °C for 1 h under magnetic stirring continuously until the solution was clear, and blends were made with a weight of 60/40 (w/w); then were cast into a mold with a 20 cm diameter and left at room temperature for 24 h to ensure complete water removal and drying of the samples. The prepared EL and EL blend structures, adhesion strengths, roughness, wettings, and dielectric strengths, were investigated. The modifi
... Show MoreIn the present work, a first-row divalent d-transition metal obtained from curcumin(Curc) and L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanin(L-dopa)have been synthesized which their complexes and characterized by C.H.N, conductance, spectral methods: FT-IR, Ultra–Visible. Magneto-chemical measurements, molar conductance ΛM (1×10−3 mol/L in DMSO):36- 0.84 ohm-1.cm2.mol-1 (non-electrolyte).
The data shows that the complexes have the structure [M((II))-(Curc)-(L-dopa)] system. Electronic and magnetic data suggest an octahedral geometry for all complexes in which the (L-dopa) and curcumin act as bidentate ligands.
Curcumin coordinated to the metal ions M (II) through the lone pair of el
... Show MoreThis paper deals with finding an approximate solution to the index-2 time-varying linear differential algebraic control system based on the theory of variational formulation. The solution of index-2 time-varying differential algebraic equations (DAEs) is the critical point of the equivalent variational formulation. In addition, the variational problem is transformed from the indirect into direct method by using a generalized Ritz bases approach. The approximate solution is found by solving an explicit linear algebraic equation, which makes the proposed technique reliable and efficient for many physical problems. From the numerical results, it can be implied that very good efficiency, accuracy, and simplicity of the pre
... Show MoreThe present study aims to assess the water quality and the hydrochemical characteristics and seasonal variation of surface water on the aspect of trace elements in Al-Tarmiyah District, Baghdad, Iraq. Ten water samples were collected, four from surface water and six from groundwater on October 2017, and on April 2018. All samples were analyzed for physiochemical parameters such as water temperature, pH, EC, TDS,TH,TSS, major ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, SO42-, Cl-, and HCO3-), and nutrients (NO3-, and PO43-). In addition, samples were analyzed for trace elements that include Fe, Al, Pb, Zn, Mn, Cr,
... Show MoreThe aim of this research is to employ starch as a stabilizing and reducing agent in the production of CdS nanoparticles with less environmental risk, easy scaling, stability, economical feasibility, and suitability for large-scale production. Nanoparticles of CdS have been successfully produced by employing starch as a reducing agent in a simple green synthesis technique and then doped with Sn in certain proportions (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5%).According to the XRD data, the samples were crystallized in a hexagonal pattern, because the average crystal size of pure CdS is 5.6nm and fluctuates in response to the changes in doping concentration 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 %wt Sn, to become 4.8, 3.9, 11.5, 13.1, 9.3 nm respectively. An increase in crystal
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