Fiber reinforced polymer composite is an important material for structural application. The diversified application of FRP composite has taken center of attraction for interdisciplinary research. However, improvements on mechanical properties of this class of materials are still under research for different applications. In this paper we have modified the epoxy matrix by Al₂O₃, SiO₂ and TiO₂ nano particles in glass fiber/epoxy composite to improve the mechanical and physical properties. The composites are fabricated by hand lay-up method. It is observed that mechanical properties like flexural strength, hardness are more in case of SiO₂ modified epoxy composite compare to other nano

In this paper, an exact stiffness matrix and fixed-end load vector for nonprismatic beams having parabolic varying depth are derived. The principle of strain energy is used in the derivation of the stiffness matrix.
The effect of both shear deformation and the coupling between axial force and the bending moment are considered in the derivation of stiffness matrix. The fixed-end load vector for elements under uniformly distributed or concentrated loads is also derived. The correctness of the derived matrices is verified by numerical examples. It is found that the coupling effect between axial force and bending moment is significant for elements having axial end restraint. It was found that the decrease in bending moment was
in the

This paper studies the effect of contact areas on the transient response of mechanical structures. Precisely, it investigates replacing the ordinary beam of a structure by two beams of half the thickness, which are joined by bolts. The response of these beams is controlled by adjusting the tightening of the connecting bolts and hence changing the magnitude of the induced frictional force between the two beams which affect the beams damping capacity. A cantilever of two beams joined together by bolts has been investigated numerically and experimentally. The numerical analysis was performed using ANSYS-Workbench version 17.2. A good agreement between the numerical and experimental results has been obtained. In general, results s

Biaxial hollow slab is a reinforced concrete slab system with a grid of internal spherical voids included to reduce the self-weight. This paper presents an experimental study of behavior of one-way prestressed concrete bubbled slabs. Twelve full-scale one-way concrete slabs of (3000mm) length with rectangular cross-sectional area of (460mm) width and (150mm) depth. Different parameters like type of specimen (solid or bubbled slabs), type of reinforcement (normal or prestress), range of PPR and diameter of plastic spheres (100 or 120mm) are considered. Due to the using of prestressing force in bubbled slabs (with ratio of plastic sphere diameter D to slab thickness H, D/H=0.67), the specimens showed an increase in ultimat

As asphalt concrete wearing course (ACWC) is the top layer in the pavement structure, the material should be able to sustain stresses caused by direct traffic loading. The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of aggregate gradation and mineral filler type on Marshall Properties.  A detailed laboratory study is carried out by preparing asphalt mixtures specimens using locally available materials including asphalt binder (40-50) penetration grade, two types of aggregate gradation representing SCRB and ROAD NOTE 31 specifications and two types of  mineral filler including limestone dust and coal fly ash. Four types of mixtures were prepared and tested. The first type included SCRB specification and

Ethanol as a solvent, a precursor of titanium isopropoxide and a stabilizer of either hydrochloric acid or ammonium hydroxide was used to prepare a titanium dioxide aqueous solution. The aqueous solutions with different values of pH and the morphology of the resultant reaction of the nanoparticles of titanium dioxide were investigated. The X-ray diffraction showed that at low temperatures and with acidic solutions, rutile structures are more favorable to grow on titanium dioxide synthesized, while at low and average temperatures and with base solutions, anatase phase is more pronounced. The crystalline form and the re-confirmation of the crystallite size growth were observed by the scanning electron microscopy. The atomic force micr