This paper presents a study (experimentally) for strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) beams with Near-Surface-Mounted (NSM) technique. The use of this technique with CFRP strips or rebars is an efficient technology for increasing the strength for flexure and shear or for repairing damaged reinforced concrete (RC) members. The objective of this research is to study, experimentally, RC beams either repaired or strengthened with NSM CFRP strips and follow their flexural behavior and failure modes. NSM-CFRP strips were used to strengthen three RC beam specimens, one of them was initially strengthened and tested up to failure. Four beam specimens have been initially subjected to preloading to 50% and 80% of ultimate load. Two of the specimens were either repaired or strengthened with NSM-CFRP strips. All the repaired/strengthened pre-damaged beams have been tested up to failure by using compression-testing machine. An appropriate-scale model was adopted. All the specimens have a cross-sectional dimension of 150 mm with an effective span of 110 mm. Depends on the experimental results, a better performance of the strengthened concrete specimens was obtained in both strength and serviceability. As a comparison with the control beam specimen, all the repaired specimens show a very good increase of about 40% in the load-carrying capacity and a high improvement in resistance to cracking of about 120% in NSM. On the other hand, the test results of NSM CFRP-strengthened concrete specimens with a preloading of 50% and 80% of the ultimate load show an increase of about 9% to 20% in the load-carrying capacity, for 50% and 80% pre-loading, respectively an improvement in deflection of about 2% to 27% in NSM, for 80% and 50% pre-loading, respectively.
Pots experiment was conducted in the green house of Biology Department, College of Education ( Ibn-AL-Haithum), University of Baghdad , during the growing season of 2005-2006 , to study the effect of five levels of urea fertilizer (0,50,100,150and 200) mg/pot in on vegetative growth of one wheat cultivar (Adanania) upon randomized complete block design with four replications. The results showed that significant difference between urea fertilizer levels above in vegetative growth characteristics ( plant height , leaf area , chlorophyll content, dry matter weight , relative efficiency and relative yield ) It was also showed that 200 mg/pot level was superior to urea fertilizer levels others in above charac
... Show MoreThis study investigated the structural behavior of a beam–slab member fabricated using a steel C-Purlins beam carrying a profile steel sheet slab covered by a dry board sheet filled with recycled aggregate concrete, called a CBPDS member. This concept was developed to reduce the cost and self-weight of the composite beam–slab system; it replaces the hot-rolled steel I-beam with a steel C-Purlins section, which is easier to fabricate and weighs less. For this purpose, six full-scale CBPDS specimens were tested under four-point static bending. This study investigated the effect of using double C-Purlins beams face-to-face as connected or separated sections and the effect of using concrete material that contains different recycled
... Show MoreDespite extensive investigations, an effective treatment for sepsis remains elusive and a better understanding of the inflammatory response to infection is required to identify potential new targets for therapy. In this study we have used RNAi technology to show, for the first time, that the inducible lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 2 (LPCAT2) plays a key role in macrophage inflammatory gene expression in response to stimulation with bacterial ligands. Using siRNA- or shRNA-mediated knockdown, we demonstrate that, in contrast to the constitutive LPCAT1, LPCAT2 is required for macrophage cytokine gene expression and release in response to TLR4 and TLR2 ligand stimulation but not for TLR-independent stimuli. In addition, cells transfe
... Show MoreThis paper reports an evaluation of the properties of medium-quality concrete incorporating recycled coarse aggregate (RCA). Concrete specimens were prepared with various percentages of the RCA (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%). The workability, mechanical properties, and durability in terms of abrasion of cured concrete were examined at different ages. The results reveal insignificant differences between the recycled concrete (RC) and reference concrete in terms of the mechanical and durability-related measurements. Meanwhile, the workability of the RC reduced vastly since the replacement of the RCA reached 75% and 100%. The ultrasound pulse velocity (UPV) results greatly depend on the porosity of concrete and the RC exhibited higher poros
... Show MoreA twisted-fin array as an innovative structure for intensifying the charging response of a phase-change material (PCM) within a shell-and-tube storage system is introduced in this work. A three-dimensional model describing the thermal management with charging phase change process in PCM was developed and numerically analyzed by the enthalpy-porosity method using commercial CFD software. Efficacy of the proposed structure of fins for performing better heat communication between the active heating surface and the adjacent layers of PCM was verified via comparing with conventional longitudinal fins within the same design limitations of fin material and volume usage. Optimization of the fin geometric parameters including the pitch, numb
... Show MoreBearing capacity of a concrete pile in fine grained cohesive soils is affected by the degree of saturation of the surrounding soil through the contribution of the matric suction. In addition, the embedded depth and the roughness of the concrete pile surface (expressed as British Pendulum Number BPN) also have their contribution to the shear strength of the concrete pile, consequently its bearing capacity. Herein, relationships among degree of saturation, pile depth, and surface roughness, were proposed as a mathematical model expressed as an equation where the shear strength of a pile can be predicted in terms of degree of saturation, depth, and BPN. Rel
... Show More- The sandy soil with high gypsum content (usually referred to as gypseous soil) covers vast area in south, east, middle and west regions of Iraq, such soil possess a type of cohesive forces when attached with optimum amount of water, then compacted and allowed to cure, but losses its strength when flooded with water again. Much work on earth reinforcement was published which concentrate on the gain in bearing capacity in the reinforced layer using different types of cohesive or cohesion less soil and various types of reinforcement such as plastic, metal, grids, and synthetic textile. Little attention was paid to there enforce gypseous soil. The objective of this work is to study the interaction between such soil and reinforcement strips
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