A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel‐concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high‐strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (i) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (ii) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (iii) steel beams can b

The mechanical function of the heart is governed by the contractile properties of the cells, the mechanical stiffness of the muscle and connective tissue, and pressure and volume loading conditions on the organ. Although ventricular pressures and volumes are available for assessing the global pumping performance of the heart, the distribution of stress and strain that characterize regional ventricular function and change in cell biology must be known. The mechanics of the equatorial region of the left, ventricle was modeled by a thick-walled cylinder. The tangential (circumferential) stress, radial stress and longitudinal stress in the wall of the heart have been calculated. There are also significant torsional shear in the wall during b

The Sonic Scanner is a multifunctional instrument designed to log wells, assess elastic characteristics, and support reservoir characterisation. Furthermore, it facilitates comprehension of rock mechanics, gas detection, and well positioning, while also furnishing data for geomechanical computations and sand management. The present work involved the application of the Sonic Scanner for both basic and advanced processing of oil-well-penetrating carbonate media. The study aimed to characterize the compressional, shear, Stoneley slowness, rock mechanical properties, and Shear anisotropy analysis of the formation. Except for intervals where significant washouts are encountered, the data quality of the Monopole, Dipole, and Stoneley modes is gen

Flow of water under concrete dams generates uplift pressure under the dam, which may cause the dam to function improperly, in addition to the exit gradient that may cause piping if exceeded a safe value. Cutoff walls usually used to minimize the effect of flow under dams. It is required to
1)minimize the flow quantity to conserve water in the reservoir, it is also required to
2)minimize the uplift pressure under the dam to maintain stability of the dam, and it is required to

3) minimize the exit gradient to prevent quick condition to occur at the toe of the dam where piping may occur and may cause erosion of the soil. Varying the angle of cutoff walls affects its influence on the factors aforementioned that are required to

Image compression is a suitable technique to reduce the storage space of an image, increase the area of storage in the device, and speed up the transmission process. In this paper, a new idea for image compression is proposed to improve the performance of the Absolute Moment Block Truncation Coding (AMBTC) method depending on Weber's law condition to distinguish uniform blocks (i.e., low and constant details blocks) from non-uniform blocks in original images. Then, all elements in the bitmap of each uniform block are represented by zero. After that, the lossless method, which is Run Length method, is used for compressing the bits more, which represent the bitmap of these uniform blocks. Via this simple idea, the result is improving

The present work is an attempt to develop design data for an Iraqi roof and wall constructions using the latest ASHRAE Radiant Time Series (RTS) cooling load calculation method. The work involves calculation of cooling load theoretically by introducing the design data for Iraq, and verifies the results experimentally by field measurements. Technical specifications of Iraqi construction materials are used to derive the conduction time factors that needed in RTS method calculations. Special software published by Oklahoma state university is used to extract the conduction factors according to the technical specifications of Iraqi construction materials.  Good agreement between the average theoretical and measured cooli

Mixed convection heat transfer to air inside an enclosure is investigated experimentally. The bottom wall of the enclosure is maintained at higher temperature than that of the top wall which keeps in oscillation motion, whereas the left and right walls are well insulated. The differential temperature of the bottom and top walls changed several times in order to accurately characterize the temperature distribution over a considerable range of Richardson number. Adjustable aspect ratio box was built as a test rig to determine the effects of Richardson number and aspect ratio on the flow behavior of the air inside the enclosure. The flow fields and the average Nusselt number profiles were presented in this wo