This study presents experimental and numerical investigations on seven one-way, reinforced concrete (RC) slabs with a new technique of slab weight reduction using polystyrene-embedded arched blocks (PEABs). All slabs had the same dimensions, steel reinforcement, and concrete compressive strength. One of these slabs was a solid slab, which was taken as a control slab, while the other six slabs were cast with PEABs. The main variables were the ratio of the length of the PEABs to the length of the slab (lp/L) and the ratio of the height of the PEABs to the total slab depth (hP/H). The minimum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 6% with a minimum reduction in the slab weight of 15%. In contrast, the maximum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 24% with a maximum reduction in the slab weight of 40%. Moreover, the mode of failure changed from flexure to shear failure, especially for those slabs with an lP/L ratio equal to one. The geometric and material non-linearity was adopted in the proposed finite element (FE) model to simulate the slabs with PEABs using Abaqus software. Good agreement was obtained between the developed FE and experimental results.
The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status for samples at the age of 17-15 years. These samples were taken from secondary schools and universities in Baghdad area, 123 of them were male and 261 were female. Data on weight, height and body mass index (BMI) were determined in each individual. Smaller sample of 215 individuals (male and female) from the original sample was taken in order to record their nutritional behavior and daily food intake during the 24 hours prior to the visit through personal meeting using special questionnaire. The results showed that the weight and the height were within the range of the people of neighboring Arab countries, who are in the same age. Beside 44.4- 55.95% of these samples were within t
... Show MoreThis work is concerned with the study of the effect of cement types, particularly OPC and SRPC, which are the main cement types manufactured in Iraq. In addition, study the effect of mineral admixtures, which are HRM and SF on the resistance of high performance concrete (HPC) to internal sulphate attack. The HRM is used at (10%) and SF is used at (8 and 10)% as a partial replacement by weight of cement for both types. The percentages of sulphate investigated are (1,2 and 3)% by adding natural gypsum as a partial replacement by weight of fine aggregate. The tests carried out in this work are: compressive strength, flexural strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, and density at the age of 7, 28, 90 and 120 days.
The r
... Show MoreConcrete 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 c
... Show MoreThis paper presents an experimental study for strengthening existing columns against axial compressive loads. The objective of this work is to study the behavior of concrete square columns strengthening with circulation technique. In Iraq, there are significantly more reinforced rectangular and square columns than reinforced circular columns in reinforced concrete buildings. Moreover, early research studies indicated that strengthening of rectangular or square columns using wraps of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) provided rather little enhancement to their load-carrying capacity. In this paper, shape modification technique was performed to modify the shape (cross section) of the columns from square columns into circular colu
... Show MoreThis study aims to assess the suitability of the sediments present in Tigris River, Tikrit city, northern Iraq for concrete production and road building purposes. Representative samples were collected from three selected stations at the study area using the channel modeling method. According to the grain size analysis, the sediments were classified as a type of poorly graded gravels (GP) depending on the unified soil classification system. The true specific gravity of the soil ranged between 2.28 and 2.568. The chemical analysis of the study samples revealed that gypsum content ranged between 0.82 and 1.69 %. Total soluble salts ranged 2.45- 3.87%, the organic matter content ranged 0.14- 0.76%, and the pH value was between 7.73 and 7.38%
... Show MoreHydrated lime has been recognized as an effective additive used to improve asphalt concrete properties in pavement applications. However, further work is still needed to quantify the effect of hydrated lime on asphaltic concrete performance under varied weather, temperature, and environmental conditions and in the application of different pavement courses. A research project was conducted using hydrated lime to modify the asphalt concretes used for the applications of wearing (surface), leveling (binder), and base courses. A previous publication reported the experimental study on the resistance to Marshall stability and the volumetric properties, the resilient modulus, and permanent deformation at three different weather temperatures. This
... Show MoreIn this research the relation between skin resistances and standard penetration test of over consolidated
clay soils has been studied. The research includes doing boreholes at Babil governorate in Iraq to get
undisturbed samples and standard penetration test. Determination skin friction from direct shear test between
smooth concrete and soil was explored in laboratory for design purposes and correlated with standard
penetration test values. In many foundation design problems, the shear strength between soil and
foundation materials were estimated or correlated without any direct methods for measurement.
Twelve strain controlled direct shear tests were performed simulate the shear strength interaction
between smooth c
The cement slurry is a mixture of cement, water and additives which is established at the surface for injecting inside hole. The compressive strength is considered the most important properties of slurry for testing the slurry reliability and is the ability of slurry to resist deformation and formation fluids. Compressive strength is governed by the sort of raw materials that include additives, cement structure, and exposure circumstances. In this work, we use micro silica like pozzolanic materials. Silica fume is very fine noncrystalline substantial. Silica fume can be utilized like material for supplemental cementations for increasing the compressive strength and durability of cement. Silica fume has very fine particles size less
... Show MoreBackground: Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women worldwide. In Iraq, there is a tendency for this disease to be diagnosed in younger ages, at advanced stages with a prevalence of more aggressive tumor behavior.
Patients and Methods: The study included a total of 216 women with breast lumps and proven breast cancer who visited the Main Referral Training Center for Early Detection of Breast Tumors in the Medical City Teaching Hospital in Baghdad (85 patients) and the Specialized Clinics belonging to the major hospitals of Hilla (62 patients) and Karbala (69 patients) complaining of apparent breast lumps.
Results: 31% of patients was in the age category (40-49 years), 38.4% of patients who