The optimal design of any structural elements requires examining all environmental risks, emergency accidents, and standard load cases. Exposure to fire is one of the most common safety threats. Nowadays wide developments are achieved in the field of concrete technology, therefore, experimental and theoretical investigations should be performed on the characteristics of such developed materials under different loading conditions. This study investigates the impact of fire exposure on the mechanical characteristics of self-compacting concrete, specifically compressive and tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and stress-strain relation. The adopted fire exposure consisted of six steady-state temperatures (300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800°C) for one hour and a sudden cooling method. Four glass fiber volume fractions were adopted: 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5%. The glass fiber volume fractions considered (0.5-1.5%) improved the mechanical properties investigated. Two states were detected for the effect of fire exposure. The effect of fire exposure was inversely proportional to fiber content in burning temperatures of 300-700°C, while the reduction in mechanical properties of 1.5% fiber content was greater than those of 0.5 and 1% when the temperature increased to 800°C. Furthermore, the addition of glass fiber changed the brittle mode stress-strain relation to semi-ductile for the non-burned and burned up to 600°C specimens, whereas a brittle behavior was detected when the temperature increased above 600°C. In general, a similar effect was noticed for all the glass fiber ratios considered regarding the slope of the stress-strain linear stage compared to the non-burned specimens, which was more salient when the burning temperature increased.
For more than a decade, externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites successfully utilized in retrofitting reinforced concrete structural elements. The function of CFRP reinforcement in increasing the ductility of reinforced concrete (RC) beam is essential in such members. Flexural and shear behaviors, ductility, and confinement were the main studied properties that used the CFRP as a strengthening material. However, limited attention has been paid to investigate the energy absorption of torsion strengthening of concrete members, especially two-span concrete beams. Hence, the target of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of CFRP-strengthening technique with regard to energy absorption of two-span RC
... Show MoreIn order to implement the concept of sustainability in the field of construction, it is necessary to find an alternative to the materials that cause pollution by manufacturing, the most important of which is cement. Because factory wastes provide siliceous and aluminous materials and contain calcium such as fly ash and slag that are used in the production of high-strength geopolymer concrete with specifications similar to ordinary concrete, it was necessary for developing this type of concrete that is helping to reduce CO2 (dioxide carbon) in the atmosphere. Therefore, the aim of this study was to study the influence of incorporating various percentages of slag as a replacement for fly ash and the effect of sl
... Show MoreThis paper demonstrates an experimental and numerical study aimed at comparing the influence of openings of different configurations on the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete gable roof beams. The experimental program consisted of testing six simply supported gable beams subjected to mid-point concentrated load. The variable which has been investigated in this work was opening's configuration (quadrilateral or circular) with the same upper and lower chords depth. The results indicate improvement in the beams’ flexural behavior when circular openings were used compared with that of quadrilateral openings, represented by an increase in ultimate load capacity and a decrease in deflection at the service limit. Also, there was an
... Show MoreIn this research, damping properties for composite materials were evaluated using logarithmic decrement method to study the effect of reinforcements on the damping ratio of the epoxy matrix. Three stages of composites were prepared in this research. The first stage included preparing binary blends of epoxy (EP) and different weight percentages of polysulfide rubber (PSR) (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%). It was found that the weight percentage 5% of polysulfide was the best percentage, which gives the best mechanical properties for the blend matrix. The advantage of this blend matrix is that; it mediates between the brittle properties of epoxy and the flexible properties of a blend matrix with the highest percentage of PSR. The second stage
... Show MoreThe materials of soil were affected by multi reasons; such as human activities, floods, tidal waves, ... etc. The change of the soil contents could be measured through different indexes; such as electric conductivities, salinity, concentration of the heavy elements, and concentration of essential elements ... etc. The land cover is affected by natural influences, like tidal energy, which plays a negative role in the salinization of land adjacent to the coasts, causing a problem for soils in all its details represented in changing of the dissolved elements in soil. One of the most important natural factors that cause soil salinity is human activity in all its forms, and one of the most important causes of salinity is the phenomenon o
... Show MoreIn the current research, we investigated the absorption spectrum for R590 and C480 dyes in ethanol solvent for different dye solution concentrations of 10-4, 10-5 and 10-6M. These dyes have been prepared and studied before and after gamma irradiation (first, second ionization) using cesium-137 source with absorbed doses of 18.36 Gy (time exposure of 10 days) and 73.44 Gy (with time exposure of 40 days). We noticed that the absorption intensity was decreased with decreasing concentration, before gamma irradiation while the absorption spectrum peak shifted towards the short wavelength (blue shift). It was also found that the intensity of absorption spectrum increased and shifted the absorption spectrum peak towards the long wavelength (red
... Show MoreA new pavement technology has been developed in Highway engineering: asphalt pavement production is less susceptible to oxidation and the consequent damages. The warm mix asphalt (WMA) is produced at a temperature of about (10-40) oC lower than the hot asphalt paving. This is done using one of the methods of producing a WMA. Although WMA's performance is rather good, according to previous studies, as it is less susceptible to oxidation, it is possible to modify some of its properties using different materials, including polymers. Waste tires of vehicles are one of the types of polymers because of their flexible properties. The production of HMA, WMA, and WMA modified with proportions of (1, 1.5, and 2%) of rub
... Show MoreIn this work, MWCNT in the epoxy can be prepared at room temperature and thickness (1mm) at different concentration of CNTs powder. Optical properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced epoxy have been measured in the range of (300-800)nm. The electronic transition in pure epoxy and CNT/epoxy indicated direct allowed transition. Also, it is found that the energy gap of epoxy is 4.1eV and this value decreased within range of (4.1-3.5)eV when the concentration of CNT powder increased from (0.001-0.1)% respectively.
The optical constants which include (the refractive index (n), the extinction coefficient (k), real (ε1) and imaginarily (ε2) part of dielectric constant calculated in the of (300-800)nm at different concent
Unsaturated soil can raise many geotechnical problems upon wetting and drying resulting in swelling upon wetting and collapsing (shrinkage) in drying and changing in the soil shear strength. The classical principles of saturated soil are often not suitable in explaining these phenomena. In this study, expansive soil (bentonite and sand) were tested in different water contents and dry unit weight chosen from the compaction curve to examine the effect of water content change on soil properties (swelling pressure, expansion index, shear strength (soil cohesion) and soil suction by the filter paper method). The physical properties of these soils were studied by conducting series of tests in laboratory. Fitting methods
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