Soft clays are generally sediments deposited by rivers, seas, or lakes. These soils are fine-grained plastic soils with appreciable clay content and are characterized by high compressibility and low shear strength. To deal with soft soil problems there is more than one method that can be used such as soil replacement, preloading, stone column, sand drains, lime stabilization and Prefabricated Vertical Drains, PVDs. A numerical modeling of PVD with vacuum pressure was analyzed to investigate the effect of this technique on the consolidation behavior of fully and different depths of partially saturated soft soils. Laboratory experiments were also conducted by using a specially-designed large consolidmeter cell. Five tests were conducted with a vacuum pressure of about 40 kPa applied for a period of 30 days where the degree of consolidation reached 75% based on pore-water pressure distribution. The results showed that using vacuum pressure with vertical drains reduces the consolidation time by about 68%. Existence of an unsaturated soil layer decreases settlement of soil by about 22%, 32%, 425, 54% as the unsaturated depth increases by 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2L respectively and causes a rapid increase in soil pore-water pressure.
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 MoreThis study was aimed to investigate the effect of essential oil extracted from the yellow peels of Citrus aurantium on the growth of four species of fungi: Penicillium expansum, Penicillium oxalicum, Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium proliferatum and effect of one fungicide: Aliette (fosetyl-aluminum) against these fungi. The results showed that the essential oil of C. aurantium inhibited the radial growth of P. oxalicum at concentration 4.5% while P. expansum and F. oxysporum at concentrations 5% and F. proliferatum at concentrations 5.5% additionally the one fungicide tested showed inhibitory effect on radial growth of these fungi. So that there is a negative relationship between the increasing of concentration and radial growth of fungi.
Materials recycling has a significant economic and environmental impact; as a result, steel, aluminium, plastic, and other recyclable materials have been pushed for use in construction materials. One of these recyclable materials is the crumb rubber, has been considered as a pavement component. The general behaviour of the composite rubber-hot mix asphalt system would be varied from that of the conventional rubber free mix. In this review, desirable characteristics of hot mix asphalt are highlighted first. Also, effect of gradation and the main types of rubber are specified. Afterward, many studies that considered the crumb rubber as a waste product and its associated mixture and modifiers are reviewed. The factors affect the crumb
... Show MoreThe life insurance companies need a sound system to use it in selecting Insurable risks so they can avoid or reduce possible losses that may be insured to a minimum levels , But the application within IRAQI INSURANCE COMPANY reflects that it still depends on a traditional ways in the procedures used to select that risks .
This research represents an attempt to put acceptable suggestions about developing a system for selecting insurable risks which used now by iraqi insurance company by recognizing the risks of life insurance , determining kinds of risks which can difined as normal and upnormal risks , rectification of the
... Show MoreBackground:The technology of nanoparticles has been expanded to many aspects of modern life. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles were of many nanomaterials utilized in biomedical applications. The interactions between nanoparticles and proteins are believed to be the base for the biological effect of the nanoparticles. The oxidation reaction of many substances is catalyzed by oxidizing enzymes called peroxidases. The activity of salivary peroxidase is elevated with periodontal diseases. the aim ofthis study is to examine the action of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on salivary peroxidase activity.Material and method75 participants were enrolled in this study—Periodontitis group with 44 participants and the non-periodontitis group with 31 pa
... Show MoreFluoxetine (FX) is an antidepressant drug administered only orally in humans. Despite the wide use of FX, until now, there is only limited literature concerning the pharmacokinetics (PK) of FX and the effect of food on its PK. Thus, the objective of this investigation was to study the PK of FX in Arabic healthy male adult volunteers under fasting and fed conditions. In the fasting study, FX 20 mg capsules (Prozac®, Eli Lilly, Canada) were administered to 41 volunteers after overnight fasting of 12 hours, followed by blood sampling from each volunteer immediately before dosing (zero time) and then at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 96, 120, and eventually at 144 hours after FX dosing. The fed study was conduct
... Show Moreloaded reinforced concrete circular short columns. An experimental investigation into the behavior
of 24 short reinforced concrete columns with and without steel fibers was carried out. The columns
had a circular section (200 mm diameter and 900 mm long). Test variables include concrete
strength, spacing of spiral reinforcement, and inclusion of steel fibers. The axial stress and axial
strains were obtained and used to evaluate the effects of the presence of steel fibers. It was found
that the addition of steel fibers slightly improves the load carrying capacity of the tested columns
whereas it significantly enhances the ductility of these specimens. Test results also indicated that for
the same confinement parameter
Nowadays, the use of recycled waste construction materials instead of aggregates is becoming popular in construction owing to its environmental benefits. This paper presents an experimental and analytical campaign to study the behavior of axially loaded columns constructed from recycled aggregates. The latter was used instead of natural aggregates, and they were collected from the waste of previous concrete constructions. Different concrete mixtures made from varying amounts of recycled aggregates ranged from 0 to 50% of the total coarse aggregate were conducted to achieve 28 MPa. The effect of steel fibers is another investigated variable with volumes ranged from 0 to 2% concerning concrete’s mixture. The experimental
... Show MoreGlobal warming and environmental damage have become major problems. The production of Portland cement releases large quantities of gas, which cause pollution to the atmosphere. This problem can be solved via the use of sustainable materials, such as glass powder. This study investigates the effect of partial replacement of cement with sustainable glass powder at various percentages (0, 15, 20, and 25%) by weight of cement on some mechanical properties (compressive strength, flexural strength, absorption, and dry density) of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) containing a percentage of Polypropylene fibers (PRPC) of 1% by weight. Furthermore, steam curing was performed for 5 hours at 90oC after hardening the sample directly. The RPC was
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