Most of the recent works related to the construction industry in Iraq are focused on investigating the validity of local raw materials as alternatives to the imported materials necessary for some practical applications, especially in thermal and sound insulation. This investigation includes the use of limestone dust as partial substitution of cement in combination with foam agent and silica fume to produce sustainable Lightweight Foam Concrete (LWFC). This study consists of two stages. In the first stage, trial mixes were performed to find the optimum dosage of foam agent. Limestone dust was used as a partial replacement for cement. Chemical analysis and fineness showed great similarity with cement. Many concrete mixes were prepared with the content of lime dust powder being 10%, 14%, and 18% as partial replacement of cement by weight. The results indicate that the compressive strength at 7, 28, and 90 days of age was increased for specimens with 14% limestone dust. The best results in compressive strength show an increase at 7 days and a decrease at 28 and 90 days for concrete specimens with 14% limestone dust. In addition, the results show a decrease in dry density for concrete containing 14% lime dust. In the second stage, different percentages of Polypropylene Fibers were added to the concrete, all mixes, containing a constant content of limestone dust of 14% by weight of cement, were modified using different percentages of Polypropylene Fibers (1%, 1.5 %, and 2% by volume) and the best percentage was found to be 1%. The addition of Polypropylene Fibers enhances splitting tensile and flexural strength at 28 days by 14.55% and 55% respectively.
The research discussed the topic of the functional role of responsive materials in being elements of a functional transformation in the design of industrial products, based on the study of the structures of smart materials and their performance capabilities at the level of action and self-reaction that characterize this type of materials.
Basic features of responsive materials have been identified to be elements of self-functional insertion into the industrial product design, which contributes to raising the efficiency and functional capacity of the industrial product and enhancing the ability of products to perform self-acting interactions in the structural structure of the material structure of the product and its ability to res
... Show MoreA recent study compared experimentally the hydraulic and thermal activity of twisted tape inserts for two types, metal foam twisted tape (MFTT) and traditional twisted tape (TTT), in a double pipe heat exchanger. The investigation goal of the innovatively designed MFTT is to enhance the heat transfer process, which provides a higher thermal enhancement factor over those of TTT under the same conditions. Heat transfer activity in terms of Nusselt number (
Numerical study has been conducted to investigate the thermal performance enhancement of flat plate solar water collector by integrating the solar collector with metal foam blocks.The flow is assumed to be steady, incompressible and two dimensional in an inclined channel. The channel is provided with eight foam blocks manufactured form copper. The Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy model is utilized to simulate the flow in the porous medium and the Navier-Stokes equation in the fluid region. The energy equation is used with local thermal equilibrium (LTE) assumption to simulate the thermofield inside the porous medium. The current investigation covers a range of solar radiation intensity at 09:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 04:00
... Show MoreWhen the flange of a reinforced concrete spandrel beam is in tension, current design codes and specifications enable a portion of the bonded flexure tension reinforcement to be distributed over an effective flange width. The flexural behavior of the RC L-shaped spandrel beam when reinforcement is laterally displaced in the tension flange is investigated experimentally and numerically in this work. Numerical analysis utilizing the finite element method is performed on discretized flanged beam models validated using experimentally verified L-shaped beam specimens to achieve study objectives. A parametric study was carried out to evaluate the influence of various factors on the beam’s flexure behavior. Results showed that
... Show MoreThis paper demonstrates an experimental and numerical study aimed at comparing the influence of openings of different configurations on the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete gable roof beams. The experimental program consisted of testing six simply supported gable beams subjected to mid-point concentrated load. The variable which has been investigated in this work was opening's configuration (quadrilateral or circular) with the same upper and lower chords depth. The results indicate improvement in the beams’ flexural behavior when circular openings were used compared with that of quadrilateral openings, represented by an increase in ultimate load capacity and a decrease in deflection at the service limit. Also, there was an
... Show MoreIn this research a theoretical study has been carried out on the behavior and strength of simply supported composite beams strengthened by steel cover plate taking into consideration partial interaction of shear connectors and nonlinear behavior of the materials and shear connectors. Following the procedure that already has been adopted by Johnson (1975), the basic differential equations of equilibrium and compatibility were reduced to single differential equation in terms of interface slip between concrete slab and steel beam. Furthermore, in order to consider the nonlinear behavior of steel, concrete and shear connectors, the basic equation was rearranged so that all terms related to materials are isol
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