Construction joints are stopping places in the process of placing concrete, and they are required because in many structures it is impractical to place concrete in one continuous operation. The amount of concrete that can be placed at one time is governed by the batching and mixing capacity and by the strength of the formwork. A good construction joint should provide adequate flexural and shear continuity through the interface.
In this study, the effect of location of construction joints on the performance of reinforced concrete structural elements is experimentally investigated.
Nineteen beam specimens with dimensions of 200×200×950 mm were tested. The variables investigated are the location of the construction joints
... Show MoreEarth dams in regions with moderate to high seismic activity are crucial for protecting downstream communities. Iraq and its neighboring areas have seen recurrent seismic activity, notably the 2017 Halabja Earthquake, which potentially compromised the integrity of the existing earth dam. The Darbandikhan Dam, affected by an earthquake, has inadequacies in its crest and downstream slope, presenting a greater danger of significant earthquake-induced damage compared to cyclic shocks. Consequently, evaluating the dam's safety is essential for safeguarding downstream residents and identifying optimal ways to avert slope stability failure amid recurrent seismic activity. Iraq's seismicity map is being updated to reflect earthquake magni
... Show MoreAffinity is a term used to describe the amount of the adhesion bond between asphalt binder and aggregate. Adhesion force may be used as indicator to the amount of energy or work required to breakdown the adhesive bond between asphalt binder and aggregate. In order to study affinity between asphalt binder and aggregate, a modified device is manufacture locally similar to Rolling Bottle Test (RBT) to Predicted the degree of affinity between asphalt binder and aggregate; taking into consideration mineral composition with physical properties of asphalt binder to measure required force to separate asphalt binder from aggregate surface. In this study, suggest new parameters to represent the stripping or affinity phenomena (aff
... Show MoreIn the last few years, the use of artificial neural network analysis has increased, particularly, in geotechnical engineering problems and has demonstrated some success. In this research, artificial neural network analysis endeavors to predict the relationship between physical and mechanical properties of Baghdad soil by making different trials between standard penetration test, liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, cohesion, angle of internal friction, and bearing capacity. The analysis revealed that the changes in natural water content and plastic limit have a great effect on the cohesion of soil and the angle of internal friction, respectively. . On the other hand, the liquid limit has a great impact on the bearing capacity and
... Show MoreIn the last few years, the use of artificial neural network analysis has increased, particularly, in geotechnical engineering problems and has demonstrated some success. In this research, artificial neural network analysis endeavors to predict the relationship between physical and mechanical properties of Baghdad soil by making different trials between standard penetration test, liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, cohesion, angle of internal friction, and bearing capacity. The analysis revealed that the changes in natural water content and plastic limit have a great effect on the cohesion of soil and the angle of internal friction, respectively. . On the other hand, the liquid limit has a great impact on the bearing capacity and
... Show MoreIn the last few years, the use of artificial neural network analysis has increased, particularly, in geotechnical engineering problems and has demonstrated some success. In this research, artificial neural network analysis endeavors to predict the relationship between physical and mechanical properties of Baghdad soil by making different trials between standard penetration test, liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, cohesion, angle of internal friction, and bearing capacity. The analysis revealed that the changes in natural water content and plastic limit have a great effect on the cohesion of soil and the angle of internal friction, respectively. . On the other hand, the liquid limit has a great impact on the bearing capacity and
... Show MoreA long-span Prestressed Concrete Hunched Beam with Multi-Quadrilateral Opening has been developed as an alternative to steel structural elements. An experimental program was created and evaluated utilizing a single mid-span monotonic static load on simply supported beams, which included six beams with openings and the solid control beam without openings, to investigate the performance of such beams. The number and height of the quadrilateral openings are the variables to consider. According to test results, the presence of openings in the prestressed concrete hunched beam with multi-quadrilateral opening did not considerably affect their ultimate load capacity with respect to a contro
The effect of using grinded rocks of (quartzite and porcelanite) as powder of (10 and 20) % replacement by weight of cement for self-compacting concrete slabs was investigated in this study. Five slabs with 15 concrete cubes were tested experimentally at 28 days to study the compressive strength, ultimate load, ultimate deflection, ductility, crack load and steel strain. The test results show that, the compressive strength improvement when replacement of local rock powder reached to (7.3, 4.22) % for (10 and 20) % quartzite powder and (11.3, 16.1) % for (10 and 20) % porcelanite powder, respectively compared to the reference specimen. The ultimate load percentage increase for slabs with (10 and 20) % rep
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