The present work is concerned with the investigation of the behavior and ultimate capacity of axially loaded reinforced concrete columns in presence of transverse openings under axial load plus uniaxial bending. The experimental program includes testing of twenty reinforced concrete columns (150 × 150 × 700 mm) under concentric and eccentric load. Parameters considered include opening size, load eccentricity and influence of the direction of load eccentricity with respect to the longitudinal axis of the opening. Experimental results are discussed based on load – lateral mid height deflection curves, load – longitudinal shortening behavior, ultimate load and failure modes. It is found that when the direction of load

Undoubtedly, rutting in asphalt concrete pavement is considered a major dilemma in terms of pavement performance and safety faced by road users as well as the road authorities. Rutting is a bowl-shaped depression in the wheel paths that develop gradually with the increasing number of load applications. Heavy axle loadings besides the high pavement summer temperature enhance the problem of rutting. According to the AASHTO design equation for flexible pavements, a 1.1 in rut depth will reduce the present serviceability index of relatively new pavement, having no other distress, from 4.2 to 2.5. With this amount of drop in serviceability, the entire life of the pavement in effect has been lost. Therefore, it is crucial to look at the mechani

Improving the accuracy of load-deformation behavior, failure mode, and ultimate load capacity for reinforced concrete members subjected to in-plane loadings such as corbels, wall to foundation connections and panels need shear strength behavior to be included. Shear design in reinforced concrete structures depends on crack width, crack slippage and roughness of the surface of cracks.

This paper illustrates results of an experimental investigation conducted to investigate the direct shear strength of fiber normal strength concrete (NSC) and reactive powder concrete (RPC). The tests were performed along a pre-selected shear plane in concrete members named push-off specimens. The effectiveness of concrete compressiv

Porous asphalt paving is a modern design method that differs from the usual asphalt pavements' traditional designs. The difference is that the design structure of porous pavements allows the free passage of fluids through their layers, which controls or reduces the amount of runoff or water accumulated in the area by allowing the flow of rain and surface runoff.  The cross-structure of this type of paving works as a suitable method for managing rainwater and representing groundwater recharge. The overall benefits of porous asphalt pavements include environmental services and safety features, including controlling the build-up of contaminated metals on the road surface, rainwater management, resistance to slipping ac

Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars have gained popularity as a corrosion-resistant alternative to traditional steel reinforcement in Reinforced Concrete (RC) elements. This study investigates the flexural behavior of PRC panels reinforced with GFRP bars. The study variables included the GFRP reinforcement ratio and the number of embedded steel section distributions. Six concrete panels were fabricated, each measuring 2500 mm in length, with a rectangular cross-section of 750 mm in width and 150 mm in thickness. All panels were reinforced with GFRP bars and divided into two groups based on the reinforcement ratios of 0.532% and 0.266%. For each group, one panel served as the control specimen, while the remaining two were inte

Erythrocytes aggregation is an important physiological phenomenon in the circulation of blood, and is a basic characteristic of normal blood that plays a major role in cardiovascular system especially in the microcirculation. Blood samples have been taken from (30) volunteers (15 male, and 15 female), their ages (20-30) years. The Erythrocytes Sedimentation Rate (ESR) for those subjects was measured at different Packed Cells Volume (PCV) (10%-25%), and also it was measured at different temperature (10oC-25oC). The results show that there was a highly significant decrease (P<0.01) in ESR when the PCV increase and a highly significant increase (P<0.01) in ESR when the temperatures increase. The conclusion from these results is that the ESR va

sensor sampling rate (SSR) may be an effective and crucial field in networked control systems.  Changing sensor sampling period after designing the networked control system is a critical matter for the stability of the system. In this article, a wireless networked control system with multi-rate sensor sampling is proposed to control the temperature of a multi-zone greenhouse. Here, a behavior based Mamdany fuzzy system is used in three approaches, first is to design the fuzzy temperature controller, second is to design a fuzzy gain selector and third is to design a fuzzy error handler. The main approach of the control system design is to control the input gain of the fuzzy temperature controller depending on the cur

The main goal of this work is to obtain the plasma electron temperature Te by optical emission spectroscopy of low pressure microwave argon plasma, as a function of working pressure and microwave power. A plasma system was designed and constructed in our laboratory using a magnetron of domestic microwave oven with power 800W without any commercial part. The applied voltage on the magnetron electrical circuit is changed for the purpose of obtaining the variable values of the microwave power. The spectral detection is performed with a spectrometer of wavelength range (200−1000nm). The working pressure and magnetron applied voltage were 0.3-3.0mbar and 180-240V, respectively. Two methods had been applied to estimate the electron temperatu

A solar updraft tower power plant (solar tower) is a solar thermal power plant that utilizes a combination of solar

air collector and central updraft tube to generate an induced convective flow which drives pressure staged turbines to generate electricity.

 This paper presents practical results of a prototype of a solar chimney with thermal mass, where the glass surface is replaced by transparence plastic cover. The study focused on chimney's basements kind effect on collected air temperatures. Three basements were used: concrete, black concrete and black pebbles basements. The study was conducted in Baghdad from August to November 2009.

The results show that the best chimney efficiency attaine