Displacement and curvature estimation for the design of reinforced concrete slender walls

Previous earthquakes, such as the 2010 Maule earthquake in Chile, have demonstrated the need to establish suitable predictors of compressive or tensile strains in concrete or steel in reinforced concrete shear walls, which can provide limit states or confinement requirements. Slender walls are commonly controlled by flexural deformations that can be divided into elastic and inelastic components. This study provides calibrated expressions for the elastic and inelastic components of flexural deformations using a fiber model for slender walls. These expressions are obtained for rectangular and T‐shaped walls. The elastic component is dependent on the axial load and the boundary steel reinforcement ratio. The impact of wall coupling is investigated, which requires a correction for the elastic component. The investigation of the inelastic component is based on a plastic hinge model, in which the length of the plastic hinge is a function of the lateral inelastic drift of the wall among other parameters. The traditional linear inelastic curvature distribution over the wall height is also modified for cases with steel reinforcement with a long yield plateau or low strain hardening, which results in a larger curvature at the wall base. The distribution is validated with experimental data from the literature. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

深圳宝安国际机场 中国深圳

<正>深圳新航站楼的照明设计旨在实现一种平衡之美:光照勾勒出建筑的外形,优化标志性设计的形象,并极具实用性:灯光帮助乘客在陆空之间往返。在机场的持续运行过程中,我们格外留意24小时一周期内照明对乘客乘坐体验的影响。航站楼长度为1.5公里,双层屋顶如波浪般延绵起伏,设计独特,点缀着数千个六角天窗。六角天窗引入自然光,创造出动态的光影图案,在多变的设计中,我们有意使人造光与其交相辉映,从而使白日至黑夜过     

Anaerobic digestion of olive mill wastewaters in biofilm reactors packed with granular activated carbon and "Manville" silica beads

Anaerobic digestion is one of the most promising technologies for disposing olive mill wastewaters (OMWs). The process is generally carried out in the conventional contact bioreactors, which however are often unable to efficiently remove OMW phenolic compounds, that therefore occur in the effluents. The possibility of mitigating this problem by employing an anaerobic OMW-digesting microbial consortium passively immobilized in column reactors packed with granular activated carbon (GAC) or "Manville" silica beads (SB) was here investigated. Under batch conditions, both GAC- and SB-packed-bed biofilm reactors exhibited OMW COD and phenolic compound removal efficiencies markedly higher (from 60% to 250%) than those attained in a parallel anaerobic dispersed growth reactor developed with the same inoculum; GAC-reactor exhibited COD and phenolic compound depletion yields higher by 62% and 78%, respectively, than those achieved with the identically configured SB-biofilm reactor. Both biofilm reactors also mediated an extensive OMW remediation under continuous conditions, where GAC-reactor was much more effective than the corresponding SB-one, and showed a tolerance to high and variable organic loads along with a volumetric productivity in terms of COD and phenolic compound removal significantly higher than those averagely displayed by most of the conventional and packed-bed laboratory-scale reactors previously proposed for the OMW digestion.     

Adsorption of rotavirus and bacteriophage MS2 using glass fiber coated with hematite nanoparticles

Batch and flow-through experiments were conducted to investigate the removal and inactivation of rotavirus (RV) and bacteriophage MS2 using glass fiber coated with hematite nanoparticles. Batch tests showed a high removal of MS2 (2.49 × 10¹¹ plaque forming unit/g) and RV (8.9 × 10⁶ focal forming unit/g) at a low concentration of hematite nanoparticles in solution (0.043 g/L and 0.26 g/L, respectively). Virus adsorption was, however, decreased in the presence of bicarbonate ions and natural organic matter (NOM) in solution, suggesting a great affinity of iron oxide nanoparticles for these competitors. Adsorption on hematite nanoparticles by MS2 and RV was also tested with aquifer groundwater under saturated flow conditions to mimic environmental conditions with promising results (8 × 10⁸ plaque forming unit/g and 3 × 10⁴ focal forming unit/g, respectively). Desorption of up to 63% of infectious MS2 and only 2% of infectious RV from hematite nanoparticles were achieved when an eluant solution containing beef extract and glycine was used. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed evidence of electrostatic adsorption of apparently intact MS2 and structurally damaged RV particles to hematite nanoparticles. Results from this research suggest that a cartridge made of glass fiber coated with hematite nanoparticles could be used as a point-of-use device for virus removal for drinking water treatment.     

采用实际模型对自动齿轮箱凸轮作动器的效率和磨损的研究

本文研究自动齿轮箱凸轮作动器的效率和磨损,着重于接触动力学。采用罚函数方法仿真凸轮和从动杆间接触,该模型基于有限元与连续弹性基础梁理论近似。采用Hertz理论考虑凸轮和从动杆间相对运动时主要曲率的变化计算基础模量。为比较接触力和不同凸轮轮廓的磨损,该模型仿真概括了整个档位。     

Characterization of a lab-scale platinum filament pyrolyzer for studying the fast devolatilization of solid fuels

Platinum filament pyrolyzers achieve very high temperature and heating rate and can provide useful parameters for practical applications in combustion, pyrolysis and gasification processes. The critical use of an experimental instrument is necessary to provide reliable data. In this work, a commercial pyrolyzer (CDS Pyroprobe 2000) is characterized to obtain a correspondence between the nominal and the effective operating conditions. This is the basis for the modeling estimation of the effective thermal history of the sample during each experimental run. The experimental results obtained performing the devolatilization of coals, biomass and waste fuels using the pyrolyzer are compared with those obtained in a conventional thermogravimetric balance, to evaluate the effects of extremely different operating conditions. The amount of volatile released programming the most severe thermal conditions using the pyrolyzer (thus in conditions more similar to large-scale plants) differs significantly from that of thermogravimetric runs. Global kinetics are obtained fitting the experimental results and using the thermal history of the sample from the model results. They depend strongly on the conditions used for the devolatilization. Global kinetics obtained in the thermogravimetric balance runs (low heating rate) overestimate the rate of devolatilization in the pyrolyzer (high heating rate).     

Hyperspectral data influenced by sample matrix: the importance of building relevant reference spectral libraries to map materials of interest

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and mapping are increasingly used for visualization and identification of nanoparticles (NPs) in a variety of matrices, including aqueous suspensions and biological samples. Reference spectral libraries (RSLs) contain hyperspectral data collected from materials of known composition and are used to detect the known materials in experimental samples through a one‐to‐one pixel “mapping” process. In some HSI studies, RSLs created from raw NPs were used to map NPs in experimental samples in a different matrix; for example, RSLs created from NPs in suspension to map NPs in biological tissue. Others have utilized RSLs created from NPs in the same matrix. However, few studies have systematically compared hyperspectral data as a function of the matrix in which the NPs are found and its impact on mapping results. The objective of this study is to compare RSLs created from metal oxide NPs in aqueous suspensions to RSLs created from the same NPs in rat tissues following in vivo inhalation exposure, and to investigate the differences in mapping that result from the use of each RSL. Results demonstrate that the spectral profiles of these NPs are matrix dependent: RSLs created from NPs in positive control tissues mapped to experimental tissues more appropriately than RSLs created from NPs in suspension. Aqueous suspension RSLs mapped 0‐602 out of 500,424 pixels per tissue image while tissue RSLs mapped 689‐18,435 pixels for the same images. This study underscores the need for appropriate positive controls for the creation of RSLs for mapping NPs in experimental samples.     

Histology, histochemistry and stereology of the adipose fin of Prochilodus lineatus

The adipose fin is small, nonpared, and usually located medially between the dorsal and caudal fin. Its taxonomic occurrence is very restrict; thus, it represents an important trace for taxon distinction. As it does not play a known vital physiological roll and it is easily removed, it is commonly used in marking and recapture studies. The present study characterizes the adipose fin of Prochilodus lineatus, as it is poorly explored by the literature. The adipose fin consists basically of a loose connective core, covered by a stratified epithelium supported by collagen fibers. At the epithelium, pigmented cells and alarm substance cells are found. Despite the name, adipocytes or lipid droplets are not observed on the structure of the fin.     

Physical and Tribological Properties Degradation of Silicone Rubber Using Jatropha Biolubricant

This article aims to investigate the degradation of physical and tribological properties (friction coefficients and wear resistance) of a dynamic sealing material (silicone rubber [VMQ]) exposed to Jatropha oil (JO), engine mineral oil (EMO), and a blend (B20; 80% EMO–20% JO), separately. JO has demonstrated better lubricating properties than EMO in various mechanical applications; however, the degradation of elastomers by using this oil has not been studied yet, nor have its effect on their tribological properties. The physical degradation was evaluated by conducting static immersion tests (670 h at 25 °C) based on ASTM-D471 and ASTM-D7216 methods. Hence, the changes in mass, volume, tensile and tear strengths, and hardness of VMQ were measured. In addition, creep compliance tests were conducted to determine the changes in viscoelastic properties and the changes in morphology and topography were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical profilometry, respectively. In addition, the compositional changes were determined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analyses to complement the degradation examination. Changes in the friction coefficients were determined by ball-on-disk tests and changes in wear resistance were obtained by accelerated wear tests (microabrasion tests). Finally, VMQ exhibited no significant physical and compositional degradation due to immersion in the three lubricants. However, considerable changes in the friction coefficients and wear resistance were observed; the change in the friction coefficients was minimal using JO. In addition, the coefficients using JO were 50% lower than those for EMO and the changes in wear resistance were lowest after immersion in JO.