For structural concrete members that may expose to serious earthquake, overload or accident impact, the design of ductility must be given the same importance as the flexural strength. The aim of this investigation is to study the change in ductility of structural concrete flexural members during their exposure to limited cycles of repeated loading. Twenty full-scale beam specimens have been fabricated in to two identical groups; each group consisted of ten specimens. The first group was tested under monotonic static loading to failure and regarded as control beams, while the specimens of the second group were subjected to ten cycles of repeated loading with constant load interval, which ranged between 40% and 60% of ultimate load. Specimens in each group were categorized as follows: two traditional reinforced concrete specimens with different intensity of tension reinforcement; three partially prestressed specimens with bonded strands; three partially prestressed specimens with unbonded strands; and two fully prestressed concrete specimens. The main variable, which was considered for all specimens was the partial prestressing ratio (PPR). It was observed that, the ductility of reinforced concrete beams was insignificantly increased during subjecting to limited repeated loading. For fully prestressed and partially prestressed concrete beams with high level of PPR, the ductility was significantly enhanced, while, it was decreased for specimens with small level of PPR.
This paper demonstrates an experimental and numerical study on the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) columns with longitudinal steel embedded tubes positioned at the center of the column cross-section. A total of 12 pin-ended square sectional columns of 150 × 150 mm having a total height of 1400 mm were investigated. The considered variables were the steel tube diameters of 29, 58, and 76 mm and the load eccentricity (0, 50, and 150) mm. Accordingly, these columns were divided into three groups (four columns in each group) depending on the load eccentricity (e) to column depth (h) ratio (e/h = 0, 1/3, and 1). For each group, one column was solid (reference), and the other three columns contained steel tubes with hollow rat
... Show MoreThe excessive permanent deformation (rutting) in asphalt-concrete pavements resulting from frequent repetitions of heavy axle loads is studied in this paper. Rutting gradually develops with additional load applications and appears as longitudinal depressions in the wheel path. There are many causes of the rutting of asphalt roads, such as poor asphalt mixing and poor continuous aggregate gradation. All factors affecting the mixture resistance to permanent deformation must be discussed, and all must be properly considered to reduce the rutting propensity of asphalt-aggregate mixtures. In this study, several mixtures were produced with the most common techniques in rutting resistance (using the most effective additives for each mixture), and
... Show MoreReflective cracking is one of the primary forms of deterioration in pavements. It is widespread when Asphalt concrete (AC) overlays are built over a rigid pavement with discontinuities on its surface. Thus, this research work aims to reduce reflection cracks in asphalt concrete overlay on the rigid pavement. Asphalt Concrete (AC) slab specimens were prepared in three thicknesses (4, 5, and 6 cm). All these specimens were by testing machine designed and manufactured at the Engineering Consulting Office of the University of Baghdad to examine for the number of cycles and loads needed to propagate the reflection cracking in the asphalt concert mixture at three temperatures (20, 30, and 30°C). It was noticed that the higher thickness A
... Show MoreStructural buildings consist of concrete and steel, and these buildings have confronted many challenges from various aggressive environments against the materials manufactured from them. It contains high water levels and buildings whose concrete cover may be damaged and thus lead to the deterioration and corrosion of steel. It was important to have an alternative to steel, such as the glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP), which is distinguished by its great effectiveness in resisting corrosion, as well as its strong tensile resistance. Still, one of its drawbacks is that it has a low modulus of elasticity. This research article aims to conduct a numerical study using the nonlinear fi
Modified asphalt is considered one of the alternatives to address the problems of deficiencies in traditional asphalt concrete, as modified asphalt addresses many of the issues that appear on the pavement layers in asphalt concrete, resulting from heavy traffic and vehicles loaded with loads that exceed the design loads and the large fluctuations in the daily and seasonal temperatures of asphalt concrete. The current study examined the role of polyphosphoric acid (PPA) as a modified material for virgin asphalt when it was added in different proportions (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%) of the asphalt weight. The experimental program includes the volumetric characteristics associated with the Marshall test, the physical properties, and th
... Show MoreThis study reports the fabrication of tin oxide (SnO2) thin films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The effect of 60Co (300, 900, and 1200 Gy) gamma radiation on the structural, morphological, and optical features is systematically demonstrated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and ultraviolet-visible light analysis (UV-Vis), respectively In XRD tests, the size of the crystallites decreased from 45.5 to 40.8 nm for the control samples and from 1200 Gy to 60Co for the irradiated samples. Using FESEM analysis, the particle diameter revealed a similar trend to that attained using XRD; in particular, the average diameters were 93.8 and
... Show MoreQuantum dots (QDs) can be defined as nanoparticles (NPs) in which the movement of charge carriers is restricted in all directions. CdTe QDs are one of the most important semiconducting crystals among other various types where it has a direct energy gap of about 1.53 eV. The aim of this study is to exaine the optical and structural properties of the 3MPA capped CdTe QDs. The preparation method was based on the work of Ncapayi et al. for preparing 3MPA CdTe QDs, and hen, the same way was treated as by Ahmed et al. via hydrothermal method by using an autoclave at the same temperature but at a different reaction time. The direct optical energy gap of CdTe QDs is between 2.29 eV and 2.50 eV. The FTIR results confirmed the covalent bonding betwee
... Show MoreThis contribution reports a comprehensive investigation into the structural, electronic and thermal properties of bulk and surface terbium dioxide (TbO2); a material that enjoys wide spectra of catalytic and optical applications. Our calculated lattice dimension of 5.36 Å agrees well with the corresponding experimental value at 5.22 Å. Density of states configuration of the bulk structure exhibits a semiconducting nature. Thermo-mechanical properties of bulk TbO2 were obtained based on the quasi-harmonic approximation formalism. Heat capacities, thermal expansions and bulk modulus of the bulk TbO2 were obtained under a wide range of temperatures and pressures. The dependency of these properties on operational pressure is very evident. Cle
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