In this research, experimental and numerical studies were carried out to investigate the performance of encased glass-fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) beams under fire. The test specimens were divided into two peer groups to be tested under the effect of ambient and elevated temperatures. The first group was statically tested to investigate the monotonic behavior of the specimens. The second group was exposed to fire loading first and then statically tested to explore the residual behavior of the burned specimens. Adding shear connectors and web stiffeners to the GFRP beam was the main parameter in this investigation. Moreover, service loads were applied to the tested beams during the fire. Utilizing shear connectors, web stiffeners, and both enhanced the load-carrying capacities of the encased beams by 100.6%, 97.3%, and 130.8%, respectively. Comparisons between the burned and unburned peer beams were presented with losses in the load-carrying capacity of the burned beams. These losses were the highest in the cases of shear connectors and web stiffeners due to the obtained severe damage, which led to more reductions in the residual behavior of the burned beams. Numerical analyses were performed using the general-purpose finite element (FE) ABAQUS package to conduct a parametric study. The investigated parameters included the effect of the exposure duration and the temperature level. The results of the FE analysis showed good agreement with the experimental results. Additional reductions in the residual capacities of the fire-damaged beams were observed due to exposure to longer fire durations. The improvements in the beam capacities due to using shear connectors and web stiffeners relative to the reference beams under the same exposure time decreased as the exposure duration increased. Furthermore, increasing the temperature to 700 °C, 800 °C, 900 °C, and 950 °C caused reductions in the residual capacities by about 25%, 45%, 70%, and 80%, respectively, for the encased beams in comparison to their peers at ambient temperature.
In this study, the effect of construction joints on the performance of reinforced concrete beams was experimentally investigated. Seven beam specimens, with dimensions of 200×100×1000 mm, were fabricated. The variables were considered including; the location and configuration of the joints. One beam was cast without a joint (Reference specimen), two specimens were fabricated with a one horizontal joint located either at tension, or compression zone. The fourth
beam had two horizontal joints placed at tension, and compression area. The remaining specimens were with one or two inclined joints positioned at the shear span or beam’s mid-span. The specimens were subjected to a monotonic central concentrated loading until the failure. T
Solar collectors, in general, are utilized to convert the solar energy into heat energy, where it is employed to generate electricity. The non-concentrating solar collector with a circular shape was adopted in the present study. Ambient air is heated under a translucent roof where buoyant air is drawn from outside periphery towards the collector center (tower base). The present study is aimed to predict and visualize the thermal-hydrodynamic behavior for airflow under inclined roof of the solar air collector, SAC. Three-dimensional of the SAC model using the re-normalization group, RNG, k−ε turbulence viscus model is simulated. The simulation was carried out by using ANSYS-FLUENT 14.5. The simulation
... Show MoreBlades of gas turbine are usually suffered from high thermal cyclic load which leads to crack initiated and then crack growth and finally failure. The high thermal cyclic load is usually coming from high temperature, high pressure, start-up, shut-down and load change. An experimental and numerical analysis was carried out on the real blade and model of blade to simulate the real condition in gas turbine. The pressure, temperature distribution, stress intensity factor and the thermal stress in model of blade have been investigated numerically using ANSYS V.17 software. The experimental works were carried out using a particular designed and manufactured rig to simulate the real condition that blade suffers from. A new cont
... Show MoreThis research concerns study the crack growth in the wall of pipes made of low carbon steel under the impact load and using the effect of hygrothermal (rate of moisture 50% and 50℃ temperature). The environmental conditions were controlled using high accuracy digital control with sensors. The pipe have a crack already. The test was performed and on two type of specimens, one have length of 100cm and other have length 50cm. The results were, when the humidity was applied to the pipe, the crack would enhance to growth (i.e. the number of cycles needed to growth the crack will reduce). In addition, when the temperature was increase the number of cycles needed to growth the crack are reduced because the effect of heat on the mechanical pro
... Show MoreThis search concerns study the crack growth in the wall of pipes made of low carbon steel under the impact load and using the effect of moisture (rate of moisture 50%). The environmental conditions were controlled using high accuracy digital control with sensors. The pipe has a crack already. The test was performed and on two type of specimens, one has a length of 100cm and other have length 50cm. The results were, when the humidity was applied to the pipe, the crack would enhance to grow (i.e. the number of cycles needed to grow the crack will reduce). In addition, when the test performed on the specimens of length 50cm the number of cycles needed to grow the crack is increased due to the effect of bending stress on the
... Show MoreThis research aimed to predict the permanent deformation (rutting) in conventional and rubberized asphalt mixes under repeated load conditions using the Finite Element Method (FEM). A three-dimensional (3D) model was developed to simulate the Wheel Track Testing (WTT) loading. The study was conducted using the Abaqus/Standard finite element software. The pavement slab was simulated using a nonlinear creep (time-hardening) model at 40°C. The responses of the viscoplastic model under the influence of the trapezoidal amplitude of moving wheel loadings were determined for different speeds and numbers of cycles. The results indicated that a wheel speed increase from 0.5Km/h to 1.0Km/h decreased the rut depth by about 22% and 24% in conv
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