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.
Renal transplantation is a principal treatment option for end-stage kidney failure. Bone loss and fracture are serious complication of kidney transplantation, associated with morbidity and mortality. The pathogenesis of post transplantation bone loss is multifactorial and complex
Rapid worldwide urbanization and drastic population growth have increased the demand for new road construction, which will cause a substantial amount of natural resources such as aggregates to be consumed. The use of recycled concrete aggregate could be one of the possible ways to offset the aggregate shortage problem and reduce environmental pollution. This paper reports an experimental study of unbound granular material using recycled concrete aggregate for pavement subbase construction. Five percentages of recycled concrete aggregate obtained from two different sources with an originally designed compressive strength of 20–30 MPa as well as 31–40 MPa at three particle size levels, i.e., coarse, fine, and extra fine, were test
... Show MoreIn this paper, we derived an estimator of reliability function for Laplace distribution with two parameters using Bayes method with square error loss function, Jeffery’s formula and conditional probability random variable of observation. The main objective of this study is to find the efficiency of the derived Bayesian estimator compared to the maximum likelihood of this function and moment method using simulation technique by Monte Carlo method under different Laplace distribution parameters and sample sizes. The consequences have shown that Bayes estimator has been more efficient than the maximum likelihood estimator and moment estimator in all samples sizes
A two-dimensional computational study had been performed regarding aerodynamic forces and pressures affecting a cambered inverted airfoil, CLARK-Y smoothed with ground effects by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, using the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0 solver. Turbulence effects are modeled using the Menter shear-stress transport (SST) two-equation model. The negative lift (down-force), drag forces and pressures surface were predicted through the simulation of wings over inverted wings in different parameters namely; varying incidences i.e. angles of attack of the airfoils, varying the ride hide from the ground covering various force regions, two-dimensional cross-section of the inverted front wings to be
... Show MoreBackground: Vitamin D improves innate immunity by enhancing the expression of antimicrobial peptides. The antimicrobial action of cathelicidin is widespread and effective against cariogenic bacteria. This research aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D deficiency on the level of salivary cathelicidin concerning dental caries experience.
Subjects and Methods: A case-control study was carried out, and the sample was composed of 80 females; the study group involved 40 females with a serum vitamin D concentration of less than 10 ng/ml. In addition to the control group involving 40 females wh
... Show MoreThe need for Dewatering is very important in construction workshops field and sometimes it needs to pay more attention as a result of its impacts on causing additional settlement of nearby pile foundations. Dewatering construction may become a costly topic if ignored during project planning and designing .In this paper a simplified procedure maybe adopted to calculate the foundation settlement induced by using dewatering system which is required to lower the water table level to reach a dry condition during construction. Synthesized case study adopted at a specified location in Baghdad city and analysis are computed for two types of piles both of them are submerged with water. Results shows the effect of dewatering on pile foundatio
... Show MoreThe investigation of machine learning techniques for addressing missing well-log data has garnered considerable interest recently, especially as the oil and gas sector pursues novel approaches to improve data interpretation and reservoir characterization. Conversely, for wells that have been in operation for several years, conventional measurement techniques frequently encounter challenges related to availability, including the lack of well-log data, cost considerations, and precision issues. This study's objective is to enhance reservoir characterization by automating well-log creation using machine-learning techniques. Among the methods are multi-resolution graph-based clustering and the similarity threshold method. By using cutti
... Show MoreThis deals with estimation of Reliability function and one shape parameter (?) of two- parameters Burr – XII , when ?(shape parameter is known) (?=0.5,1,1.5) and also the initial values of (?=1), while different sample shze n= 10, 20, 30, 50) bare used. The results depend on empirical study through simulation experiments are applied to compare the four methods of estimation, as well as computing the reliability function . The results of Mean square error indicates that Jacknif estimator is better than other three estimators , for all sample size and parameter values