It is suitable to use precast steel-concrete composite beams to quickly assemble a bridge or a building, particularly in isolated regions where cast-in-situ concrete is not a practical option. If steel-concrete composite beams are designed to allow demountability, they can also be extremely useful in the aftermath of natural disasters, such as earthquakes or flooding, to replace damaged infrastructure. Furthermore, rapid replacement of slabs is extremely beneficial in case of severe deterioration due to long-term stressors such as fatigue or corrosion. The only way to rapidly assemble and disassemble a steel-concrete composite structure is to use demountable shear connectors to connect/disconnect the steel beams to/from the concrete slab. In an attempt to respond to this demand, recent research developed a removable Friction-Based Shear Connector (FBSC), which eliminates slippage in the steelconcrete interface at SLS (i.e. it offers full-interaction). This paper describes the experimental program that assessed the flexural behaviour of a 9.0 m precast steel-concrete composite beam equipped with FBSCs. The design of the composite beam was based on a 32% degree of partial shear connection, i.e. considerably below the minimum degree specified in Eurocode 4. The paper gives a detailed account of the test results that clearly show that the composite beam with the FBSCs is effective and has properties that match design needs for both SLS and ULS verifications
In this research, damping properties for composite materials were evaluated using logarithmic decrement method to study the effect of reinforcements on the damping ratio of the epoxy matrix. Three stages of composites were prepared in this research. The first stage included preparing binary blends of epoxy (EP) and different weight percentages of polysulfide rubber (PSR) (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%). It was found that the weight percentage 5% of polysulfide was the best percentage, which gives the best mechanical properties for the blend matrix. The advantage of this blend matrix is that; it mediates between the brittle properties of epoxy and the flexible properties of a blend matrix with the highest percentage of PSR. The second stage
... Show MoreIn this work polymeric composites were done from unsaturated polyester as a matrix reinforced with glass fiber type (E-glass) with two different volume fraction 20% & 40%. Fatigue tests showed that the number of fatigue cycles to failure limit for samples reinforced with uniform (woven Roving 0-90°) E-glass fiber and random (continuous fibers) with volume fraction 40% more than that for the same samples with volume fraction 20%. Also the fatigue results showed that the uniform samples failed with fatigue cycles more than that of random.
This study proposed control system that has been presented to control the electron lens resistance in order to obtain a stabilized electron lens power. This study will layout the fundamental challenges, hypothetical plan arrangements and development condition for the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) in progress at Fermilab. Thus, an effective automatic gain control (AGC) unit has been introduced which prevents fluctuations in the internal resistance of the electronic lens caused by environmental influences to affect the system's current and power values and keep them in stable amounts. Utilizing this unit has obtained level balanced out system un impacted with electronic lens surrounding natural varieties.
In this research, beam expander, BEX, is explained and designed for illuminating the
remote flying target. The BEX is optically designed to be suited for Nd:YAG laser of given
specifications. The BEX is modified to be zoom one to meet the conditions of preventing the
receiving unit; i.e the photodetector, from getting saturated at near and far laser tracking.
Decollimation could be achieved by automatic motor, which controls zoom lens of the BEX
according to the required expansion ratio of beam expander
Low grade crude palm oil (LGCPO) presents as an attractive option as feedstock for biodiesel production due to its low cost and non-competition with food resources. Typically, LGCPO contains high contents of free fatty acids (FFA), rendering it impossible in direct trans-esterification processes due to the saponification reaction. Esterification is the typical pre-treatment process to reduce the FFA content and to produce fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). The pre-treatment of LGCPO using two different acid catalysts, such as titanium oxysulphate sulphuric acid complex hydrate (TiOSH) and 5-sulfosalicylic acid dihydrate (5-SOCAH) was investigated for the first time in this study. The optimum conditions for the homogenous catalyst (5-SOCAH) wer
... Show MoreThere are many different methods for analysis of two-way reinforced concrete slabs. The most efficient methods depend on using certain factors given in different codes of reinforced concrete design. The other ways of analysis of two-way slabs are the direct design method and the equivalent frame method. But these methods usually need a long time for analysis of the slabs.
In this paper, a new simple method has been developed to analyze the two-way slabs by using simple empirical formulae, and the results of final analysis of some examples have been compared with other different methods given in different codes of practice.
The comparison proof that this simple proposed method gives good results and it can be used in analy
... Show MoreThe 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
... Show MoreThe 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 mointered 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 equati