This paper presents an experimental study for strengthening existing columns against axial compressive loads. The objective of this work is to study the behavior of concrete square columns strengthening with circulation technique. In Iraq, there are significantly more reinforced rectangular and square columns than reinforced circular columns in reinforced concrete buildings. Moreover, early research studies indicated that strengthening of rectangular or square columns using wraps of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) provided rather little enhancement to their load-carrying capacity. In this paper, shape modification technique was performed to modify the shape (cross section) of the columns from square columns into circular columns. Shape modification technique is also called circularization technique because the cross section is modified from square into circular cross section. Then, the circularized columns were wrapped with CFRP wraps. Shape modification is the strengthening method adopted in this paper as a mean to strengthen existing square columns. Columns studied in this paper are short columns with square sections as a special case of rectangular columns. Columns in this study are plain concrete columns (having concrete strength of = 24.41 MPa) with no internal steel reinforcement. The aim of this research is to study experimentally the behavior of circularized concrete square columns confined with CFRP wraps. Then, for better understanding, the results were compared with another, more widely used, strengthening technique which is the direct wrapping of square columns with CFRP wraps. Thus, investigating experimentally the effectiveness of the two aforementioned strengthening techniques in increasing the load-carrying capacity and ductility of the existing concrete columns. The methodology of this research is that six plain concrete short square columns were casted. These six columns were exerted to compressive pressure using concrete testing machine. These six columns were divided into three groups, each group consisted of 2 columns. The three groups were classified as follows: first group (titled L0) consisted of two square columns which were not strengthened by any method, second group (titled L1) consisted of two square columns confined by one layer of CFRP wraps, finally, the third group (titled LC1) consisted of two circularized square columns confined by one layer of CFRP wraps.Experimental results showed that load bearing capacity and ductility of square columns have been significantly enhanced. Test results showed that shape modification technique (columns LC1) produced enhancement in load carrying capacity about 167.8 % of the original non-strengthened columns (columns L0). Furthermore, square columns wrapped by one layer of CFRP wraps (columns L1) produced enhancement in load carrying capacity about 56.1% of the original non-strengthened columns (columns L0). As such, it was evident that circularization technique resulted in enhancement in load carrying capacity far more than the enhancement obtained from wrapping the square columns with CFRP wraps.
In this paper, a new equivalent lumped parameter model is proposed for describing the vibration of beams under the moving load effect. Also, an analytical formula for calculating such vibration for low-speed loads is presented. Furthermore, a MATLAB/Simulink model is introduced to give a simple and accurate solution that can be used to design beams subjected to any moving loads, i.e., loads of any magnitude and speed. In general, the proposed Simulink model can be used much easier than the alternative FEM software, which is usually used in designing such beams. The obtained results from the analytical formula and the proposed Simulink model were compared with those obtained from Ansys R19.0, and very good agreement has been shown. I
... Show MoreThis investigation proposed an identification system of offline signature by utilizing rotation compensation depending on the features that were saved in the database. The proposed system contains five principle stages, they are: (1) data acquisition, (2) signature data file loading, (3) signature preprocessing, (4) feature extraction, and (5) feature matching. The feature extraction includes determination of the center point coordinates, and the angle for rotation compensation (θ), implementation of rotation compensation, determination of discriminating features and statistical condition. During this work seven essential collections of features are utilized to acquire the characteristics: (i) density (D), (ii) average (A), (iii) s
... Show MoreIn general, path-planning problem is one of most important task in the field of robotics. This paper describes the path-planning problem of mobile robot based on various metaheuristic algorithms. The suitable collision free path of a robot must satisfies certain optimization criteria such as feasibility, minimum path length, safety and smoothness and so on. In this research, various three approaches namely, PSO, Firefly and proposed hybrid FFCPSO are applied in static, known environment to solve the global path-planning problem in three cases. The first case used single mobile robot, the second case used three independent mobile robots and the third case applied three follow up mobile robot. Simulation results, whi
... Show MoreThe increasing demand for energy has encouraged the development of renewable resources and environmentally benign fuel such as biodiesel. In this study, ethyl fatty esters (EFEs), a major component of biodiesel fuel, were synthesized from soybean oil using sodium ethoxide as a catalyst. By-products were glycerol and difatty acyl urea (DFAU), which has biological characteristics, as antibiotics and antifungal medications. Both EFEs and DFAU have been characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. The optimum conditions were studied as a function of reaction time, reactant molar ratios, catalyst percentage and the effect of organic solvents. The conversion ratio of soybea
... Show MoreIn this work, the switching nonlinear dynamics of a Fabry-Perot etalon are studied. The method used to complete the solution of the differential equations for the nonlinear medium. The Debye relaxation equations solved numerically to predict the behavior of the cavity for modulated input power. The response of the cavity filled with materials of different response time is depicted. For a material with a response time equal to = 50 ns, the cavity switches after about (100 ns). Notice that there is always a finite time delay before the cavity switches. The switch up time is much longer than the cavity build-up time of the corresponding linear cavity which was found to be of the order of a few round-trip ti
... Show MoreImage classification is the process of finding common features in images from various classes and applying them to categorize and label them. The main problem of the image classification process is the abundance of images, the high complexity of the data, and the shortage of labeled data, presenting the key obstacles in image classification. The cornerstone of image classification is evaluating the convolutional features retrieved from deep learning models and training them with machine learning classifiers. This study proposes a new approach of “hybrid learning” by combining deep learning with machine learning for image classification based on convolutional feature extraction using the VGG-16 deep learning model and seven class
... Show MoreAgricultural companies could push investment forward and help in production base variation and developing production techniques. They also play a significant role in organizing and providing requirements of market economy. This work aimed at studying economic efficiency of the six agricultural companies that are registered at Iraqi stock market for the period 2005-2016. Capital of these companies was between (300 million-7.5 billion IQD). Several financial analysis indicators were applied such as activity percentages. Average of capital circulation was 0.91 for private company of agricultural production، and lowest share was for Iraqi company for producing and marketing field crops. Assets average circulation was highest for the pr
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