Dust and bird residue are problems impeding the operation of solar street lighting systems, especially in semi-desert areas, such as Iraq. The system in this paper was designed and developed locally using simple and inexpensive materials. The system runs automatically. It Connects to solar panels used in solar street lighting, and gets the required electricity from the same solar system. Solar panels are washed with dripping water in less than half a minute by this system. The cleaning period can also be controlled. It can also control, sensing the amount of dust the system operates. The impact of different types of falling dust on panels has also been studied. This was collected from different winds and studied their impact o

This paper presents experimentally a new configuration of shear connector for Steel-Concrete-Steel (SCS) sandwich beams that is derived from truss configuration. It consists of vertical and inclined shear connectors welded together and to cover steel plates infilled with concrete. Nine simply supported SCS beams were tested until the failure under a concentrated central load (three- point bending). The beams were similar in length (1100mm), width (100mm), and the top plate thickness (4mm). The test parameters were; beam thickness (150, 200, 250, and 300mm), the bottom plate thickness (4, and 6mm), the diameter of the shear connectors (10, 12, and 16mm), and the connector spacing (100, 200, and 250mm). The test results sh

An experimental investigation based on thirty three simple pullout cylinder specimens was conducted to study the bond-slip trend between concrete and steel reinforcement. Plain and deformed steel reinforcement bars were used in this investigation. The effect of bar diameter, concrete compressive strength and development length on bond-slip relation was detected. The results showed that the bond strength increases with increasing of compressive strength and with decreasing of bar diameter and development length. A nonlinear regression analysis for the experimental results yields in a mathematical correlation to predict the bond strength as a function of concrete compressive strength, reinforcing bar diameter and its yield stress. The minimum

Durability of hot mix asphalt (HMA) against moisture damage is mostly related to asphalt-aggregate adhesion. The objective of this work is to find the effect of nanoclay with montmorillonite (MMT) on Marshall properties and moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixture. Two types of asphalt cement, AC(40-50) and AC(60-70) were modified with 2%, 4% and 6% of Iraqi nanoclay with montmorillonite. The Marshall properties, Tensile strength ratio(TSR) and Index of retained strength(ISR) were determined in this work. The total number of specimens was 216 and the optimum asphalt content was 4.91% and 5% for asphalt cement (40-50) and (60-70) respectively. The results showed that the modification of asphalt cement with MMT led to increase Marsh

Experimental research was carried out on eight reinforced concrete beams to study the embedded length of the longitudinal reinforcement. Six beams were casted using self compacted concrete, and the two other beams were casted using normal concrete. The test was carried out on beams subjected to two point loads. The strain and the slip of the main reinforcement have been measured by using grooves placed during casting the beams at certain places. The measured strain used to calculate the longitudinal stresses (bond stress) surrounding the bar reinforcement, The study was investigated the using of self compacted concrete SCC on the embedded length of reinforcing bars, and comparing the results with normal concrete. The test results show th

This study aimed to investigate the influence of longitudinal steel embedded tubes located at the center of the column cross-section on the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) columns. The experimental program consisted of 8 testing pin-ended square sectional columns of 150×150 mm, having a total height of 1400 mm, subjected to eccentric load. The considered variables were the steel square tube sizes of 25, 51 and 68 mm side dimensions and the load eccentricity (50 and 150) mm. RC columns were concealed steel tubes with hollow ratios of 3%, 12% and 20% depending on tube sizes used. The experimental results indicated an improvement in the overall behavior of eccentric columns when steel embedded tubes are used. The maximum gain in

In this paper, the time-history responses of a square plan two-story reinforced concrete prototype building, considering the elastic and inelastic behavior of the materials, were studied numerically. ABAQUS software was used in three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear dynamic analysis to predict the inelastic response of the buildings. Concrete Damage Plasticity Model (CDPM) has been used to model the inelastic behavior of the reinforced concrete building under seismic excitation. The input data included geometric information, material properties, and the ground motion. The building structure was designed only for gravity load according to ACI 318 with

Test results of six half-scale reinforced concrete flat plates connections with an opening in the vicinity of the column are reported. The test specimens represent a portion of a slab bounded by the lines of contraflexure around the column. The tests were designed to study the effect of openings on the punching shear behavior of the slab-column connections. The test parameters were the location and the size of the openings. One specimen had no opening and the remaining five had various arrangements of openings around the column. All specimens were cast with normal density concrete of approximately 30 MPa compressive strength. The openings in the specimens were square, with the sides parallel to the sides of the column. Three sizes of ope