Rapid worldwide urbanization and drastic population growth have increased the demand for new road construction, which will cause a substantial amount of natural resources such as aggregates to be consumed. The use of recycled concrete aggregate could be one of the possible ways to offset the aggregate shortage problem and reduce environmental pollution. This paper reports an experimental study of unbound granular material using recycled concrete aggregate for pavement subbase construction. Five percentages of recycled concrete aggregate obtained from two different sources with an originally designed compressive strength of 20–30 MPa as well as 31–40 MPa at three particle size levels, i.e., coarse, fine, and extra fine, were tested for their properties, i.e., the optimum moisture content density, Californian bearing ratio, and resilient modulus. A characterization of the resilient modulus of the mixes under complex stress conditions was performed. The characterized modulus model was used in the nonlinear analysis of the pavement structure under traffic loading using KENALYER software. Consequently, the two critical responses, i.e., the tensile strain at the bottom of the asphalt layer and the vertical compressive strain at the top of the subgrade, were computed and compared for the pavement structures with varying types and percentages of recycled concrete aggregate used in the subbase layer.
The main aim of this research is to introduce financing cost optimization and different financing alternatives. There are many studies about financing cost optimization. All previous studies considering the cost of financing have many shortcomings, some considered only one source of financing as a credit line without taking into account different financing alternatives. Having only one funding alternative powers, restricts contractors and leads to a very specific financing model. Although it is beneficial for the contractor to use a long-term loan to minimize interest charges and prevent a substantial withdrawal from his credit line, none of the existing financial-based planning models have considered long-term loans in
... Show MoreThis paper presents the design, construction and investigates an experimental study of a parabolic Trough Solar Collector (PTSC). It is constructed of multi – piece glass mirror to form the parabolic reflector (1.8 m ? 2.8 m) its form were checked with help of a laser and carbon steel rectangular as receiver. Sun tracker has been developed (using two – axis) to track solar PTSC according to the direction of beam propagation of solar radiation. Using synthetic oil as a heat transfer its capability to heat transfer and load high temperature (?400 oc). The storage tank is fabricated with stainless steel of size 50 L. The experimental tests have been carried out in Baghdad climatic conditions (33.3o N, 44.4o E) during selective days of the
... Show MoreConstruction projects are complicated in nature and require many considerations in contractor selection. One of the complicated interactions is that between performance with the project size, and contractor financial status, and size of projects contracted. At the prequalification stage, the financial requirements restrict the contractors to meet minimum limits in financial criteria such as net worth, working capital and annual turnover, etc. In construction projects, however, there are cases when contractors meet these requirements but show low performance in practice. The model used in the study predicts the performance by training of a neural network. The data used in the study are 72 of the most recent roadw
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