Concrete structures are exposed to aggressive environmental conditions that lead to corrosion of the embedded reinforcement and pre-stressing steel. Consequently, the safety of concrete structures may be compromised, and this requires a significant budgets to repair and maintain critical infrastructure. Prediction of structural safety can lead to significant reductions in maintenance costs by maximizing the impact of investments. The aim of this paper is to establish a framework to assess the reliability of existing post-tensioned concrete bridges. A time-dependent reliability analysis of an existing post-tensioned involving the assessment of Ynys-y-Gwas bridge has been presented in this study. The main cause of failure of this bridge was corrosion of tendons, making it a relevant case study to evaluate the effect of corrosion on bridge safety. Uncertainties associated with material properties, geometry, loads and corrosion parameters are taken into account. The probabilistic models of the uncertainties are combined with a non-linear finite element analysis to study the effect of tendons pitting corrosion on the post-tensioned concrete bridge. The limit state function considered is flexural strength. The Monte-Carlo simulation (MCS) method is used to compute the statistical parameters of the resisting bending moment through a MATLAB code running ABAQUS. It was found that the reliability index for the first year of bridge service life is below the minimum value acceptable for structures. The study confirmed that this bridge was a high risk structure due to its design and location. The proposed framework can be used by engineers and researchers as a tool to support decision for segmental post-tensioned (PT) bridges maintenance since they need for a regular inspection due to their risk to corrosion.
In this research, an organobentonite (HDTMA-BT) was prepared by modifying a jordanian bentonite (BT) with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide. By means of in situ free radical polymerization in THF with AIBN as the initiator, this organobentonite is used to prepare the polymethylmethacrylate-bentonite (PMA-HDTMA-BT) nanocomposite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to characterize both HDTMA-BT and PMA-HDTMA-BT. Those adsorbents were used in a batch process to remove Pb(II), Cr(III) ions, and p-chlorophenol (PCP) from aqueous solution. Investigated factors included adsorbent dosage, initial pH solution, contact time, an
... Show MoreTrickle irrigation is a system for supplying filtered water and fertilizer directly into the soil and water and it is allowed to dissipate under low pressure in an exact predetermined pattern. An equation to estimate the wetted area of unsaturated soil with water uptake by roots is simulated numerically using the HYDRUS-2D/3D software. In this paper, two soil types, which were different in saturated hydraulic conductivity were used with two types of crops tomato and corn, different values of emitter discharge and initial volumetric soil moisture content were assumed. It was assumed that the water uptake by roots was presented as a continuous sink function and it was introduced into Richard's equation in the unsaturated z
... Show MoreAdsorption of lead ions from wastewater by native agricultural waste, precisely tea waste. After the activation and carbonization of tea waste, there was a substantial improvement in surface area and other physical characteristics which include density, bulk density, and porosity. FTIR analysis indicates that the functional groups in tea waste adsorbent are aromatic and carboxylic. It can be concluded that the tea waste could be a good sorbent for the removal of Lead ions from wastewater. Different dosages of the adsorbents were used in the batch studies. A random series of experiments indicated a removal degree efficiency of lead reaching (95 %) at 5 ppm optimum concentration, with adsorbents R2 =97.75% for tea. Three mo
... Show MoreThe meniscus has a crucial function in human anatomy, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (M.R.I.) plays an essential role in meniscus assessment. It is difficult to identify cartilage lesions using typical image processing approaches because the M.R.I. data is so diverse. An M.R.I. data sequence comprises numerous images, and the attributes area we are searching for may differ from each image in the series. Therefore, feature extraction gets more complicated, hence specifically, traditional image processing becomes very complex. In traditional image processing, a human tells a computer what should be there, but a deep learning (D.L.) algorithm extracts the features of what is already there automatically. The surface changes become valuable when
... Show MoreIn this work, composite materials were prepared by mixing different concentrations of ferrites with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer. Using the electrospinning technique, these composites were deposited on a p-type silicon wafer. The prepared samples demonstrated nanofibers in both pure PAN polymers and their composites with ferrite. Prior to examining the humidity sensing effectiveness with a percentage of relative humidity at a frequency of 10 kHz, based on ambient temperature and a relative humidity range of 50–100%, the composite nanofibers demonstrated stronger humidity sensing compared to the pure PAN nanofibers, which demonstrated a powerful resistance response. More precisely, the PAN@ferrite nanocomposite showed a broad adsorption
... Show MoreQuadrupole Q moments and effective charges are calculated for 9C, 11C, 17C and 19C exotic nuclei using shell model calculations. Excitations out of major shell space are taken into account through a microscopic theory which are called core-polarization effects. The simple harmonic oscillator potential is used to generate the single particle matrix elements of 9,11,17,19C. The present calculations with core-polarization effects reproduced the experimental and theoretical data very well.
In this research, the problem of multi- objective modal transport was formulated with mixed constraints to find the optimal solution. The foggy approach of the Multi-objective Transfer Model (MOTP) was applied. There are three objectives to reduce costs to the minimum cost of transportation, administrative cost and cost of the goods. The linear membership function, the Exponential membership function, and the Hyperbolic membership function. Where the proposed model was used in the General Company for the manufacture of grain to reduce the cost of transport to the minimum and to find the best plan to transfer the product according to the restrictions imposed on the model.
In this work, the fusion cross section , fusion barrier distribution and the probability of fusion have been investigated by coupled channel method for the systems 46Ti+64Ni, 40Ca+194Pt and 40Ar+148Sm with semi-classical and quantum mechanical approach using SCF and CCFULL Fortran codes respectively. The results for these calculations are compared with available experimental data. The results show that the quantum calculations agree better with experimental data, especially bellow the Coulomb barrier, for the studied systems while above this barrier, the two codes reproduce the data.
In this research, beam expander, BEX, is explained and designed for illuminating the
remote flying target. The BEX is optically designed to be suited for Nd:YAG laser of given
specifications. The BEX is modified to be zoom one to meet the conditions of preventing the
receiving unit; i.e the photodetector, from getting saturated at near and far laser tracking.
Decollimation could be achieved by automatic motor, which controls zoom lens of the BEX
according to the required expansion ratio of beam expander