In order to promote sustainable steel-concrete composite structures, special shear connectors that can facilitate deconstruction are needed. A lockbolt demountable shear connector (LB-DSC), including a grout-filled steel tube embedded in the concrete slab and fastened to a geometrically compatible partial-thread bolt, which is bolted on the steel section's top flange of a composite beam, was proposed. The main drawback of previous similar demountable bolts is the sudden slip of the bolt inside its hole. This bolt has a locked conical seat lug that is secured inside a predrilled compatible counter-sunk hole in the steel section's flange to provide a non-slip bolt-flange connection. Deconstruction is achieved by demounting the tube from the top of the slab by unfastening using a simple modified wrench. The mechanical behaviour of the proposed connector is assessed by four pushout tests that were conducted per Eurocode 4 recommendations. The tests showed high shear resistance, and high stiffness as compared to other DSCs, while the slip capacity results classified the LB-DSC as a ductile shear connector according to Eurocode 4. A refined nonlinear finite element model (FEM) was validated through the tests and reliably reproduced the experimental behaviour. Consequently, the calibrated FEM model was applied to carry out extensive parametric analyses to investigate the strength and geometry effects of concrete slab, infilled grout, tube, and bolt on the structural behaviour of the LB-DSC. On the basis of numerical and experimental results, a design equation is derived to predict the shear resistance of the LB-DSC.
The local asphalt concrete fracture properties represented by the fracture energy, J-integral, and stress intensity factor are calculated from the results of the three point bending beam test made for pre notches beams specimens with deformation rate of 1.27 mm/min. The results revealed that the stress intensity factor has increased by more than 40% when decreasing the testing temperature 10˚C and increasing the notch depth from 5 to 30mm. The change of asphalt type and content have a limited effect of less than 6%.
A flexible pavement structure usually comprises more than one asphalt layer, with varying thicknesses and properties, in order to carry the traffic smoothly and safely. It is easy to characterize each asphalt layer with different tests to give a full description of that layer; however, the performance of the whole; asphalt structure needs to be properly understood. Typically, pavement analysis is carried out using multi-layer linear elastic assumptions, via equations and computer programs such as KENPAVE, BISAR, etc. These types of analysis give the response parameters including stress, strain, and deflection at any point under the wheel load. This paper aims to estimate the equivalent Resilient Modulus (MR) of the asphalt concrete
... Show MoreA flexible pavement structure usually comprises more than one asphalt layer, with varying thicknesses and properties, in order to carry the traffic smoothly and safely. It is easy to characterize each asphalt layer with different tests to give a full description of that layer; however, the performance of the whole; asphalt structure needs to be properly understood. Typically, pavement analysis is carried out using multi-layer linear elastic assumptions, via equations and computer programs such as KENPAVE, BISAR, etc. These types of analysis give the response parameters including stress, strain, and deflection at any point under the wheel load. This paper aims to estimate the equivalent Resilient Modulus (MR) of the asphalt concrete
... Show MoreIn this paper, an intelligent tracking control system of both single- and double-axis Piezoelectric Micropositioner stage is designed using Genetic Algorithms (GAs) method for the optimal Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller tuning parameters. The (GA)-based PID control design approach is a methodology to tune a (PID) controller in an optimal control sense with respect to specified objective function. By using the (GA)-based PID control approach, the high-performance trajectory tracking responses of the Piezoelectric Micropositioner stage can be obtained. The (GA) code was built and the simulation results were obtained using MATLAB environment. The Piezoelectric Micropositioner simulation model with th
... Show MoreBackground: Debonding and fracture of artificial teeth from denture bases are common clinical problem, bonding of artificial teeth to heat cure acrylic and high impact heat cure acrylic denture base materials with autoclave processing method is not well known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of autoclave processing method on shear bond of artificial teeth to heat cure denture base material and high impact heat cure denture base material. Materials and methods: Heat polymerized (Vertex) and high impact acrylic (Vertex) acrylic resins were used. Teeth were processed to each of the denture base materials after the application of different surface treatments. The sample (which consist of artificial tooth attached to the dentur
... Show MoreRemovable dental prostheses remain a reliable treatment for edentulous patients. Conventional fabrication requires multiple steps, whereas computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD-CAM), particularly 3D printing, offers faster and more cost-effective alternatives. This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the effect of sandblasting on surface roughness and shear bond strength of silicone soft liner bonded to 3D-printed and heat-cured acrylic denture base materials. Eighty specimens were divided into four groups: heat-cured control, 3D-printed control, heat-cured sandblasted, and 3D-printed sandblasted. Surface roughness was measured using a profilometer, while shear bond strength was tested with a universal testing machine. D
... Show MoreFeed Forward Back Propagation artificial neural network (ANN) model utilizing the MATLAB Neural Network Toolbox is designed for the prediction of surface roughness of Duplex Stainless Steel during orthogonal turning with uncoated carbide insert tool. Turning experiments were performed at various process conditions (feed rate, cutting speed, and cutting depth). Utilizing the Taguchi experimental design method, an optimum ANN architecture with the Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm was obtained. Parametric research was performed with the optimized ANN architecture to report the impact of every turning parameter on the roughness of the surface. The results suggested that machining at a cutting speed of 355 rpm with a feed rate of 0.07 m
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