The utilization and incorporation of glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRP) in structural applications and architectural constructions are progressively gaining prominence. Therefore, this paper experimentally and numerically investigates the use of GFRP I-beams in conjunction with concrete slabs to form composite beams. The experimental design incorporated 2600 mm long GFRP I-beams which were connected compositely to concrete slabs with a 500 mm width and 80 mm thickness. The concrete slabs are categorized into two groups: concrete slabs cast using normal-strength concrete (NSC), and concrete slabs prepared using high-strength concrete (HSC). Various parameters like the type of concrete (normal and high-strength concrete), type of stiffeners bonded to the composite section (bolt–epoxy or bolt only), and inclusion of corrugated metal sheets were investigated. To obtain the full shear connection between the GFRP I-sections and concrete slabs, two rows of shear connectors in the form of bolts were utilized. These shear connectors were erected to the top flange of the GFRP I-sections to compositely connect between the GFRP I-beams and the concrete slabs as well as the corrugated metal sheets. The strengthening of the shear webs of GFRP I-beams with GFRP T-section stiffeners resulted in an enhancement in the flexural and shear strength. The failure loads in the case of the bolt–epoxy connection for the stiffeners were 8.2% and 10.0% higher than those in the case of bolt only when the concrete compressive strengths were 20.1 MPa and 52.3 MPa, respectively. Moreover, the effect of the concrete compressive strength was vital where the failure loads increased by 79.9% and 77.1% when HSC was used instead of NSC for the cases of bolt–epoxy and bolt only, respectively. The epoxy adhesive used in conjunction with mechanical connectors, specifically bolts, resulted in sufficient composite action and delayed shear failure within the web of the GFRP beam. For the specimens with bolt–epoxy connection, strain levels in the concrete slabs were consistently higher than in the other specimens with bolts alone at the same loading level. The concrete slabs integrated with HSC registered strain levels that were 20.0% and 21.8% greater for bolt–epoxy and bolt-only connections, respectively, when compared to those using normal-strength concrete (NSC). This discrepancy can likely be credited to the enhanced composite interaction between the concrete slabs and the GFRP I-beams. In addition, ABAQUS software (version 6.2) was used to develop FE models to analyze the tested composite beams and provide a parametric study using the verified models.
Permanent deformation, fatigue and thermal cracking are the three typical distresses of flexible pavement. Using hydrated lime (HL) into the conventional limestone mineral additive has been widely practiced, including in Europe, to improve the mechanical properties of hot mix asphalt (HMA) concrete and as the result the durability of the constructed pavement. Large number of experimental studies have been reported to find the optimum addition of HL for the improvement on HMA concrete mechanical properties, moisture susceptibility and fatigue resistance. Pavement in service is under complex thermomechanical stress-strain conditions due to coupled atmospheric and surrounding environment temperature variation and the traffic loading. To predic
... Show MoreThis paper reports test results and describes a numerical investigation of the effectiveness of using carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) fabrics for strengthening concrete cylinders that have been undamaged and damaged due to heating under preload. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether there is any difference in the performance of CFRP-wrapped cylinders if the wrapping is done under preload, and those for which neither heating, cooling nor wrapping was done under preload. The cylinders were exposed to 30% of maximum load at ambient temperature during heating and cooling before being wrapped under preload. Of 18 Ø 100 × 200 mm identical cylinders, 6 were left as control samples without heating, 12 were exposed t
... Show MoreFlexible pavements are subjected to three main distress types: fatigue crack, thermal crack, and permanent deformation. Under severe climate conditions, thermal cracking particularly contributes largely to a considerable scale of premature deterioration of pavement infrastructure worldwide. This challenge is especially relevant for Europe, as weather conditions vary significantly throughout the year. Hydrated lime (HL) has been recognized as an effective additive to improve the mechanical properties of asphalt concrete for pavement applications. Previous research has found that a replacement of conventional limestone dust filler using hydrated lime at 2.5% of the total weight of aggregates generated an optimum improvement in the mec
... Show MoreA paraffin wax and copper foam matrix were used as a thermal energy storage material in the double passes air solar chimney (SC) collector to get ventilation effect through daytime and after sunset. Air SC collector was installed in the south wall of an insulated test room and tested with different working angles (30o, 45o and 60o). Different SC types were used; single pass, double passes flat plate collector and double pass thermal energy storage box collector (TESB). A computational model based on the finite volume method for transient tw dimensional domains was carried out to describe the heat transfer and storage in the thermal energy storage material of collector. Also, equivalent specific heat metho
... Show MoreThe main objectives of this study were investigating the effects of the maximum size of coarse Attapulgite aggregate and micro steel fiber content on fresh and some mechanical properties of steel fibers reinforced lightweight self-compacting concrete (SFLWSCC). Two series of mixes were used depending on maximum aggregate size (12.5 and 19) mm, for each series three different steel fibers content were used (0.5 %, 1%, and 1.5%). To evaluate the fresh properties, tests of slump flow, T500 mm, V funnel time, and J ring were carried out. Tests of compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural tensile strength, and calculated equilibrium density were done to evaluate mechanical properties. For reference mixes, the
... Show MoreIn this research, the study of thermal treating by laser, plasma glow discharge and tubular furnace on Ti-6Al-4V alloy coated with hydroxyapatite by methods of dip coating and electrophoretic deposition .A group of samples was coated by dip coating and another group was coated by electrophoretic deposition. The first group was treated by pulse laser 10 (mJ) as energy for samples from both coating with uniform distributed pulses on every single sample surface, The second thermal treating was made by plasma glow discharge in a locally made system with argon atmosphere, 600 Volt , and 6 cm distance between the electrodes, The third treating was made by tubular furnace in air atmosphere and 400 °C for 1 hour duration. T
... Show MoreService companies always working to increase their competitiveness and efficiency of the survival, growth and development in the present and the future, including insurance companies, so as to increase competition, especially after the emergence of the civil companies dramatically after 2003, has become the goal of recent studies carried out by the organizations is the human capital, because its success and excellence and achievement its objectives depends on the human, and this does not mean that the other components are not important, but also rely on the rights which has increased interest in the search for the way in which they can guide the behaviors and values and their own language in line with the organization's strategy an
... Show MoreTMA Technique was used to study the behavior of the thermal expansion (α) of the unsaturated polyester resin(UP) containing ratios wt % of different phenolic Bakelite. We can through this technique evaluate the coefficient of linear thermal expansion (α) on the one hand and the glass transition temperature(Tg) of his other hand of polymer composite prepared .Evidenced from this study that extravagant increases the ratio of phenolic Bakelite in polyester prepared led to a decrease in the Tg and it was observed that there is increase in the values of (α) in low temperture and decrease in high temperture due to transformation of polymeric material from elastic to plastic , and therefore, increase the ratio to 15% phenoli
... Show MoreThe aim of this work covers the synthesis and characterization of the new tertra dentate ligand (H4L) containing (N and O) as donor set atoms kind (N2O2) where: H4L=Bis-1,2 (2,4dihydroxybenzylediene phylinediamine . The preparation of ligand contains reaction 2, 4 Dihydroxy benzaldehyde and o-phenylene diamine . Schiff base was reacted with some metal ions in the presence of methanol to give the complexes in the general formula [M (H2L)] where: MII = Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd. All compounds were characterized by spectroscopic methods I.R , U.V.-Vis, metal content and molar conductivity measurements, showed that the complexes are non-electrolyte. The proposed geometry for all of the proposed complexes was a tetrahedral while Ni comp
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