Probabilistic seismic damage assessment of reinforced concrete buildings considering directionality effects

Most of buildings and structures are usually projected according to two main axes. However, the geographical position of these buildings varies randomly. Such random distributions of the azimuthal positions of structures, in most of the cities, generally, are not accounted for when assessing their seismic risk; certainly, the direction of the seismic loads is another highly random variable. Moreover, an additional important source of uncertainty is related to the structural response, mainly due to the random character of the mechanical properties. There is a consensus that uncertainties must be considered for adequately assessing the seismic risk of structures, but these directionality effects have not been deeply explored so far. In this article, the influence of the high uncertainty involved in these input variables on the expected seismic damage is analysed. Thus, an actual earthquake, which affected the southern part of Spain, is studied. Notably, damages on a group of affected buildings, located close to the epicentre, are analysed and discussed in detail. The results show that the influence of the random azimuthal position of structures is an important source of uncertainty and that it should be taken into account when estimating the expected seismic risk in urban areas.     

Study of physicochemical properties of flutamide-loaded Ocimum basilicum microspheres with ex vivo mucoadhesion and in vitro drug release

Drug which shows extensive first pass effect is difficult task that, needs to be solved by formulators in the pharmaceutical science. The low oral bioavailability (49%) of flutamide may be due to poor wettability, low aqueous solubility and extensive first pass effect. The aim of present investigation was to prepare flutamide loaded microspheres and incorporate it into suppositories for rectal delivery to avoid first pass effect and enhance residence time. Flutamide loaded mucoadhesive microspheres of Ocimum Basilicum mucilage (OBM) were prepared using spray drying and characterized by percent production yield, encapsulation efficiency, particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity index, DSC, SEM, XRPD, in vitro drug release and stability studies. Moreover, ex vivo mucoadhesion was investigated using falling liquid film technique to determine the adhesion of microspheres to sheep rectal mucosa. The microspheres had nearly spherical shape and size about 2.53?μm. The encapsulation efficiency and mucoadhesion of optimized formulation MBF10 were found to be 69.6?±?2.3% and 89.01?±?2.18%, respectively. Percent CDR of optimized flutamide loaded mucoadhesive microspheres was found to be 88.7?±?1.3 at 7?h. In conclusion, OBM microparticles based suppository could be used to deliver drug through rectal delivery.     

On the thermal conductivity of bimodal SiC/A356 composites fabricated via powder metallurgy route

The present study investigates the thermal conductivity of bimodal SiC particulate distribution in aluminum matrix composites fabricated via powder metallurgy route. The effects of the SiC_p reinforcement size distribution and processing parameters such as sintering time and temperature on the thermal conductivity have been examined. The Box–Behnken experimental array was employed to identify the effects of selected variables on the thermal conductivity of the composite. A reasonable augmentation in the thermal conductivity was observed with an increase in sintering time and %volume fraction of fine SiC particulates. It has been demonstrated that the matrix doped with fine SiC particulates (37?µm) occupied interstitial positions and formed continuous SiC–matrix network resulting in minimizing the micropores that contributed for good thermal conductivity, that is, 235?W/mK. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were conducted to evaluate the microstructure architecture and interfacial phase formation.     

Thermal management and catalytic combustion stability characteristics of premixed methane/air in heat recirculation meso‐combustors

In order to illuminate heat recirculation effect on catalytic combustion stability and further improve energy conversion efficiency in meso‐combustor, the catalytic combustion characteristics of the combustor with/without preheating channels are numerically studied at steady conditions. It is found that methane conversion rate and combustion efficiency increases by 2% to 3% and approximately 9% in the heat recirculation meso‐combustor, indicating that heat recirculation effect facilitates more complete combustion of methane and medium components. Preheating channels show positive effects on improving combustion stability in the heat recirculation meso‐combustor. On one hand, preheating channels facilitate heat recirculation effect, and heat recirculation rate exceeds 10% for all cases and reaches 31.8% with an inlet velocity of 0.5 m/s, leading to significant increment of methane‐specific enthalpy at the preheating channel outlet. On the other hand, Rh(s)/O(s) ratios of catalytic surface and catalytic surface temperature in main reaction zone are enlarged by the preheating channels, facilitating methane adsorption at catalytic surface. Specially, most of fuels are consumed in a shorter distance with higher methane conversion speed, which brings benefits to promote combustion efficiency and may be helpful to inhibit the combustion instability in heat recirculation meso‐combustors.     

The control of paracetamol particle size and surface morphology through crystallisation in a spray dryer

The parameters governing the crystallisation of paracetamol using various conventional techniques has been extensively studied, however the factors influencing the drug crystallisation using spray drying is not as well understood. The aim of this work was to investigate the crystallisation of an active pharmaceutical ingredient through evaporative crystallisation using a spray dryer to study the physicochemical properties of the drug and to use semi-empirical equations to gain insight into the morphology and particle size of the dried powder. Paracetamol solutions were spray dried at various inlet temperatures ranging from 60 °C to 120 °C and also from a series of inlet feed solvent compositions ranging from 50/50% v/v ethanol/water to 100% ethanol and solid-state characterisation was done. The size and morphology of the dried materials were altered with a change in spray drying parameters, with an increase in inlet temperature leading to an increase in particle Sauter mean diameter (from 3.0 to 4.4 µm) and a decrease in the particle size with an increase in ethanol concentration in the feed (from 4.6 to 4.4 µm) as a result of changes in particle density and atomised droplet size. The morphology of the dried particles consisted of agglomerates of individual crystallites bound together into larger semi-spherical agglomerates with a higher tendency for particles having crystalline ridges to form at higher ethanol concentrations of the feed.     

夹杂物对工程机械用钢Q345FCA疲劳寿命的影响

采用QBWP-6000J型简支梁旋转弯曲疲劳试验机测定了高疲劳寿命工程机械用钢Q345FCA的疲劳寿命;采用扫描电镜(SEM)对疲劳断口形貌进行了观察,并用附带的能谱仪(EDS)寻找断口上的夹杂物;借助夹杂物自动分析系统对钢中的夹杂物进行了分析。通过对试验数据的分析,计算得出了Q345FCA钢和Q345钢夹杂物的表面临界尺寸、次表面临界尺寸和内部临界尺寸。结果表明,Q345FCA钢的疲劳极限为273 MPa,Q345钢的疲劳极限为266 MPa。Q345FCA钢和Q345钢中夹杂物尺寸均小于临界夹杂物尺寸,且断口形貌显示所有疲劳断裂均不是由夹杂物所引起,夹杂物不是疲劳源。     

激光散射法测定大方无烟煤粒度的测试条件的选择

利用激光粒度分布仪对大方无烟煤进行了测试，目的是为了选取测量过程中最佳测试条件。结果发现测试条件对试验结果的影响较大，特别是分散剂、超声时间、搅拌池泵转速对测试结果的影响尤为显著。最终确定了激光粒度分布仪测试样品的合理测试条件，即分散剂为无水乙醇，无烟煤折射率为1.66，吸收率为0.46，在搅拌池中的超声时间为180 s，搅拌池泵转速为1 600 r·min^-1。另外，取样方法中，试管法和四分法均具有良好的代表性。     

二层沟槽织构对机床导轨表面润滑特性的影响

通过构建二层沟槽织构模型，仿真研究沟槽织构表面的流体动力效应。结果表明：沟槽容积相同时，与单层沟槽相比，二层沟槽的平均油膜压力可以达到单层沟槽的2.31倍；保持二层沟槽的量纲一总深度[β]1、第一层沟槽量纲一宽度[α]1不变时，随着第二层量纲一深度[β]2的增大，平均油膜压力先增大后减小，[β]2为4.4时，平均油膜压力达到最大值；第二层沟槽的量纲一宽度[α]2从0.25增大到0.45时，沟槽内的旋涡区也随之增大，平均油膜压力逐渐减小。