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.
Software testing is a vital part of the software development life cycle. In many cases, the system under test has more than one input making the testing efforts for every exhaustive combination impossible (i.e. the time of execution of the test case can be outrageously long). Combinatorial testing offers an alternative to exhaustive testing via considering the interaction of input values for every t-way combination between parameters. Combinatorial testing can be divided into three types which are uniform strength interaction, variable strength interaction and input-output based relation (IOR). IOR combinatorial testing only tests for the important combinations selected by the tester. Most of the researches in combinatorial testing appli
... Show MoreLaboratory studies were conducted at the biological control unit, college of Agriculture, University of Baghdad to evaluate some biological aspects of the predator Chilocorus bipustulatus (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), which is considered one of the most important predators on many insect pests, especially the scale insect, Parlatoria blanchardi, (Homoptera: Diaspididae) on date palms. The results showed that biological parameters of the predator were varied according to different degree of temperature. Egg incubation period was significantly different and reached to 7.5 and 5.44 day at 25 and 30°C respectively, Fertility was the same 100% at both temperature degrees. Larval growth periods were 17.41 and 16.12 day as well as the mortality
... Show MoreObjectives: This study aims to assess and compare the micro-shear bond strength (μSBS) of a novel resin-modified glass-ionomer luting cement functionalized with a methacrylate co-monomer containing a phosphoric acid group, 30 wt% 2-(methacryloxy) ethyl phosphate (2-MEP), with different substrates (dentin, enamel, zirconia, and base metal alloy). This assessment is conducted in comparison with conventional resin-modified glass ionomer cement and self-adhesive resin cement. Materials and methods: In this in vitro study, ninety-six specimens were prepared and categorized into four groups: enamel (A), dentin (B), zirconia (C), and base metal alloys (D). Enamel (E) and dentin (D) specimens were obtained from 30 human maxillary first premolars e
... Show MoreThe study involved preparing a new compound by combining between 2- hydroxybenzaldehyde and (Z)-3-hydrazineylideneindolin-2-one resulting in Schiff bases and metal ions: Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) forming stable minerals-based-Schiff complexes. The formation of resulting Schiff bases is detected spectrally using LC-Mss which gave corresponding results with theoretical results, 1H-NMR proves the founding of N=CH signal, FT-IR indicates the occurrence of imine band and UV-VIs mean is proved the ligand formation. On the other hand, minerals-based-Schiff was characterized using the same spectral means that relied with ligand (Schiff bases). Those means gave satisfactory results and proved the suggested distinguishable geometries
... Show Morefication of benzaldehyde (C6H5CHO) and O- amino aniline O-C6H4(NH2)2 in ethanol with 8- Hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) . Formed compounds were acquired of 1:1:2 molar proportion reactions for metal ions and ligands (L) and 2(8HQ) during reaction for MCl2 .nH2O salt products complexes conformable into the forms [M(L)(8HQ)2] ,where M = Mn(II),Co(II) and Ni(II). Whole the compounds were identified during the basis of their; FT-IR and U.V spectrum, melting point, molar conduct, identify of the percentage from the metal at the complexes via flame (AAS), C, H and N content of the Schiff base (L) and metal complexes were analysis and magnetic susceptibility menstruations. A hexagonal coordinated metal complexes were proposed to the separated complexes of
... Show MoreThis paper presents a comparison study on thermal performance conic cut twist tape inserts in laminar flow of nanofluids through a constant heat fluxed tube. Three tape configurations, namely, quadrant cut twisted tape (QCT), parabolic half cut twisted tape (PCT), and triangular cut twisted (VCT) of twist ratio= 2.93 and cut depth= 0.5 cm were used with 1% and 2% volume concentration of SiO2/water and TiO
... Show MoreThe H-Point Standard Addition Method (H-PSAM) has been applied for spectrophotometric simultaneous determination of Cimetidine and Erythromycin ethylsuccinate using Bromothymol Blue (BTB) as a chromogenic complexing agent in a buffer solution at pH 5.5.