Bendable concrete, also known as Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a type of ultra-ductile cementitious composites reinforced with fibres to control the width of cracks. It has the ability to enhance concrete flexibility by withstanding strains of 3% and higher. The properties of bendable concrete mixes (compressive strength, flexural strength, and drying shrinkage) are here assessed after the incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials, silica fume, polymer fibres, and the use of ordinary Portland cement (O.P.C) and Portland limestone cement (IL). Mixes with Portland limestone cement show lower drying shrinkage and lower compressive and flexural strength than mixes with ordinary Portland cement, due to the ratio o

This paper studies the effects of stiffeners on shear lag in steel box girders with stiffened flanges. A three-dimensional linear finite element analysis using STAAD.Pro V8i program has been employed to evaluate and determine the actual top flange stress distribution and effective width in steel box girders. The steel plates of the flanges and webs have been modeled by four-node isoparametric shell elements, while the stiffeners have been modeled as beam elements. Different numbers (4, 8, and 15) for the steel stiffeners have been used in this study to establish their effects on the shear lag and longitudinal stresses in the flange. Using stiffeners reduced the magnitude of the top flange longitudinal stresses about 40%, but did

In this study, structures damage identification method based on changes in the dynamic characteristics
(frequencies) of the structure are examined, stiffness as well as mass matrices of the curved
(in and out-of-plane vibration) beam elements is formulated using Hamilton's principle. Each node
of both of them possesses seven degrees of freedom including the warping degree of freedom. The
curved beam element had been derived based on the Kang and Yoo’s thin-walled curved beam theory
in 1994. A computer program was developing to carry out free vibration analyses of the curved
beam as well as straight beam. Comparing with the frequencies for other researchers using the general
purpose program MATLAB. Fuzzy logic syste

Controlling public expenditures is one of the main objectives of the public budget. The public budget often suffers from a deficit, whether in developed or developing countries, because expenditures are usually greater than the revenues generated. This requires the existence of financial rules that are adhered to by the government, which in turn leads to discipline. Fiscal policy leads to a reduction in the obligations incumbent on the government.  Adhering to the financial rules would correct the course of fiscal policy in Iraq, with the need to direct oil revenues in the years of financial abundance when global oil prices rise to sovereign funds similar to other rentier countries, which contributes to maintaining the stabi

The performance of composite prestressed concrete beam topped with reinforced concrete flange structures in fire depends upon several factors, including the change in properties of the two different materials due to fire exposure and temperature distribution within the composition of the composite members of the structure. The present experimental work included casting of 12 identical simply supported prestressed concrete beams grouped into 3 categories, depending on the strength of the top reinforced concrete deck slab (20, 30, and 40 MPa). They were connected together by using shear connector reinforcements. To simulate the real practical fire disasters, 3 composite prestressed concrete beams from each group were exposed to high t

     Stable isotopic technique and hydrochemistry was used in studying the water resources interaction of near Haditha Reservoir area, western Iraq. Throughout the study area, 14 groundwater samples (Bashina, Zwachi springs and Wells), 8 surface water samples from the study area, and 7 spring samples were analyzed for 2H and 18O stable isotopes and hydrochemical analysis. In this study, the temperature, altitude and continental effects on the isotopic composition of rain water in Iraq were studied. The climate of the study area is classified as semi-arid to arid region. The results show a variation in the isotopic values of Haditha reservoir and Euphrates river. This variation is due to the effect of the low surface area and the

Near surface mounted (NSM) carbon fibers reinforced polymer (CFRP) reinforcement is one of the techniques for reinforcing masonry structures and is considered to provide significant advantages. This paper is composed of two parts. The first part presents the experimental study of brick masonry walls reinforced with NSM CFRP strips under combined shear-compression loads. Masonry walls have been tested under vertical compression, with different bed joint orientations 90° and 45° relative to the loading direction. Different reinforcement orientations were used including vertical, horizontal, and a combination of both sides of the wall. The second part of this paper comprises a numerical analysis of unreinforced brick masonry (URM) wa

The effects of using aqueous nanofluids containing covalently functionalized graphene nanoplatelets with triethanolamine (TEA-GNPs) as novel working fluids on the thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) have been investigated. Water-based nanofluids with weight concentrations of 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1% of TEA-GNPs with specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m2/g were prepared. An experimental setup was designed and built and a simulation program using MATLAB was developed. Experimental tests were performed using inlet fluid temperatures of 30, 40, and 50 °C; flow rates of 0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 kg/min; and heat flux intensities of 600, 800, and 1000 W/m2. The FPSC’s efficiency increased as the flow rate and hea