The aim of this study is to propose mathematical expressions for estimation of the flexural strength of plain concrete members from ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) measurements. More than two hundred pieces of precast concrete kerb units were subjected to a scheduled test program. The tests were divided into two categories; non-destructive ultrasonic and bending or rupture tests. For each precast unit, direct and indirect (surface) ultrasonic pulses were subjected to the concrete media to measure their travel velocities. The results of the tests were monitored in two graphs so that two mathematical relationships can be drawn. Direct pulse velocity versus the flexural strength was given in the first relationship while the second equation des

The conception and experimental assessment of a removable friction-based shear connector (FBSC) for precast steel-concrete composite bridges is presented. The FBSC uses pre-tensioned high-strength steel bolts that pass through countersunk holes drilled on the top flange of the steel beam. Pre-tensioning of the bolts provides the FBSC with significant frictional resistance that essentially prevents relative slip displacement of the concrete slab with respect to the steel beam under service loading. The countersunk holes are grouted to prevent sudden slip of the FBSC when friction resistance is exceeded. Moreover, the FBSC promotes accelerated bridge construction by fully exploiting prefabrication, does not raise issues relevant to precast co

Background: several new inflammatory markers have emerged as strong predictors of cardiovascular disease in healthy and non-healthy subjects, one of these markers is hs-CRP, which has been proposed as independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and it is positively associated with body weight. Little is known, however, about the utility of hs-CRP and other biomarkers in obese hypertensive Iraqi post menopausal women.The aim of study is to examine the hypothesis that there is a relation between obesity, hypertension and a chronic low-grade inflammatory status (represented by high hs-CRP).
Patients and Methods: A total number of 99 postmenopausal women classified into obese hypertensive group (

Emulsion Liquid Membrane (ELM) is an emerging technology that removes contaminants from water and industrial wastewater. This study investigated the stability and extraction efficiency of ELM for the removal of Chlorpyrifos Pesticide (CP) from wastewater. The stability was studied in terms of emulsion breakage. The proposed ELM included n-hexane as a diluent, span-80 as a surfactant, and hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a stripping agent. Parameters such as mixing speed, aqueous feed solution pH, internal-to-organic membrane volume ratio, and external-to-emulsion volume ratio were investigated. A minimum emulsion breakage of 0.66% coupled with a maximum chlorpyrifos extraction and stripping efficiency were achieved at 96.1% and 95.7% at b

  In this research, the study effect of additive titanium dioxide powder (TiO2) as a lone composite ( Ep+TiO2) and a mixture of (TiO2) and silicon oxide (SiO2), ( Ep+ TiO2+SiO2)as a hybrid composite on the mechanical and physical properties for epoxy coating. Thescompsiteswere prepared by (Hand Lay- the molding) method. The samples were tested for compressive strength, surface hardness, modulus of elasticity, thermal conductivity and diffusion coefficient, from the results obtained showed improvement in mechanical properties after adding ceramic powders, as the alone composite (EP+ TiO₂) had the highest compressive strength ( 53.738 ) ᴍPa, the hybrid composite ( EP+TiO₂ +SiO₂ ) had the

This paper investigates the recovery for time-dependent coefficient and free boundary for heat equation. They are considered under mass/energy specification and Stefan conditions. The main issue with this problem is that the solution is unstable and sensitive to small contamination of noise in the input data. The Crank-Nicolson finite difference method (FDM) is utilized to solve the direct problem, whilst the inverse problem is viewed as a nonlinear optimization problem. The latter problem is solved numerically using the routine optimization toolbox lsqnonlin from MATLAB. Consequently, the Tikhonov regularization method is used in order to gain stable solutions. The results were compared with their exact solution and tested via

      In this work, the gamma-ray shielding parameters of red clay and boron-doped red clay with different sample thicknesses are theoretically and experimentally reported. These shielding parameters are considered at a photon energy of 0.662 MeV emitted from ¹³⁷Cs. The theoretical calculations are demonstrated using the XCom software program, while a scintillation detector, NaI(TI), with an efficiency of 98% is used to attain the experimental results of the mass attenuation coefficient of the prepared samples. The acquired results show that the boron-doped clay delivers a higher mass attenuation coefficient as compared to those of pure clay. Additionally, the mass attenuation coefficient exhibits an increasing behavior w

Worldwide, enormous amounts of waste cause major environmental issues, including scrap tires and plastic, and large waste, a consequence of the demolition of buildings, including crushed concrete, crushed clay bricks, and crushed thermo-stone. From that point, it’s possible to consider that the recycling processes for these materials and using them in the manufacturing field will reduce the adverse effects on the environment of these wastes and the consumption of natural resources. Sustainable concrete blocks can be considered as one of the products produced by using these materials as partial volume replacement of the coarse, fine aggregate, or cement content, considering their dry density, workability, absorption, co

Six proposed simply supported high strength-steel fiber reinforced concrete (HS-SFRC) beams reinforced with FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) rebars were numerically tested by finite element method using ABAQUS software to investigate their behavior under the flexural failure. The beams were divided into two groups depending on their cross sectional shape. Group A consisted of four trapezoidal beams with dimensions of (height 200 mm, top width 250 mm, and bottom width 125 mm), while group B consisted of two rectangular beams with dimensions of (125 ×200) mm. All specimens have same total length of 1500 mm, and they were also considered to be made of same high strength concrete designed material with 1% volume fraction of steel fiber.