A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel-concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents bolts from slipping within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes the typical construction tolerance issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly. Therefore, it can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow including the following: (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (3) steel beams can be replaced, whereas precast decks and shear connectors can be reused. A series of push-out tests are conducted to assess the behavior of the connector and quantify the effect of important parameters. The experimental results show shear resistance, stiffness, and slip capacity significantly higher than those of welded shear studs along with superior stiffness and strength against slab uplift. Identical tests reveal negligible scatter in the shear load-slip displacement behavior. A design equation is proposed to predict the shear resistance with absolute error less than 8%.
The Financial systems can be classified into two types. The first is the market–oriented, which is applied in United States and United Kingdom. While the second is bank-oriented as in Japan and Germany.
This study tries to explain the reasons which make some countries adopt the first one instead of the second, and the contrary. So the study consists of three sections. The first deals with the concept of financial system and it are functions. The second displays the indicators which are used to classify the financial systems, while the third one is devoted to the factors that determine the type of financial system .These sections followed by some conclusions.
The present study aims to get experimentally a deeper understanding of the efficiency of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets applied to improve the torsional behavior of L-shaped reinforced concrete spandrel beams in which their ledges were loaded in two stages under monotonic loading. An experimental program was conducted on spandrel beams considering different key parameters including the cross-sectional aspect ratio (
This paper aims to study the second-order geometric nonlinearity effects of P-Delta on the dynamic response of tall reinforced concrete buildings due to a wide range of earthquake ground motion forces, including minor earthquake up to moderate and strong earthquakes. The frequency domain dynamic analysis procedure was used for response assessment. Reinforced concrete building models with different heights up to 50 stories were analyzed. The finite element software ETABS (version 16.0.3) was used to analyze reinforced concrete building models.
The study reveals that the percentage increase in buildings' sway and drift due to P-Delta effects are nearly constant for specific building height irrespective of the seism
... Show MoreAddition of bioactive materials such as Titanium oxide (TiO2), and incorporation of bio inert ceramic such as alumina (Al2O3), into polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been adopted as an effective approach to improve bone-implant interfaces. In this paper, hot pressing technique has been adopted as a production method. This technique gave a homogenous distribution of the additive materials in the proposed composite biomaterial. Different compositions and compounding temperatures have been applied to all samples. Mechanical properties and animal model have been studied in all different production conditions. The results of these new TiO2/Al2O3/PEEK biocomposites with different
... Show MoreIn this paper we use Bernstein polynomials for deriving the modified Simpson's 3/8 , and the composite modified Simpson's 3/8 to solve one dimensional linear Volterra integral equations of the second kind , and we find that the solution computed by this procedure is very close to exact solution.
Two different polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl chloride (PVA/PVC) hollow fiber composite nanofiltration membranes were prepared after PVC hollow fiber membranes were coated using dip-coating method with PVA aqueous solution, which was composed of PVA, fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether (AEO9), and water [PVA/AEO9/water (4:0.5:95.5) wt%]. Effect of two different PVC hollow fiber immersion times in coating solution were studied. Cross-section, internal and external surfaces of the PVC hollow fibers and PVA/PVC composite nanofiltration membranes structures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), pure water permeation flux and solutes rejection. It was found that, the coating layer thickness on the outer surface of the 19 wt% P
... Show MoreThe modern steer-by-wire (SBW) systems represent a revolutionary departure from traditional automotive designs, replacing mechanical linkages with electronic control mechanisms. However, the integration of such cutting-edge technologies is not without its challenges, and one critical aspect that demands thorough consideration is the presence of nonlinear dynamics and communication network time delays. Therefore, to handle the tracking error caused by the challenge of time delays and to overcome the parameter uncertainties and external perturbations, a robust fast finite-time composite controller (FFTCC) is proposed for improving the performance and safety of the SBW systems in the present article. By lumping the uncertainties, parameter var
... Show MoreThe aesthetic expression and its orders are important for steel structures forming. Steel structures are a compilation of structural elements, where its shapes have standard dimensions and pre-fabricated. As the steel construction systems not only aim to achieve the functional requirements for users, but must also have the symbolic aesthetics which provides visually and cognitive expression for viewers. In this sense the research interested in expressional aesthetics in these systems and highlights the importance of attention as structural items. Therefore the visual items which related with steel structures contain some of the most powerful forms of modern architecture, steel structures with a glass cladding, agility an
... Show MoreThe smart city concept has attracted high research attention in recent years within diverse application domains, such as crime suspect identification, border security, transportation, aerospace, and so on. Specific focus has been on increased automation using data driven approaches, while leveraging remote sensing and real-time streaming of heterogenous data from various resources, including unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance cameras, and low-earth-orbit satellites. One of the core challenges in exploitation of such high temporal data streams, specifically videos, is the trade-off between the quality of video streaming and limited transmission bandwidth. An optimal compromise is needed between video quality and subsequently, rec
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