Verification of unified effective stress theory based on the effect of moisture on mechanical properties of fiber reinforced unsaturated soil

The unified effective stress theory based on suction stress (SSCC theory) enables the characterization of soils under both saturated and unsaturated conditions with one closed-form relationship. This study provides experimental verification of this theory through the unconfined compressive strength test (UCS) and indirect tensile test strength (ITS) on silty clay soil stabilized with fiber. A series of matric suction, ITS, and UCS tests were conducted to validate the SSCC theory through the representation of the results of ITS and UCS tests in terms of mean total stress (p) versus deviatoric stress (q) and mean effective stress (p`) versus deviatoric stress (q). The results of the validation procedures showed that the SSCC theory is applicable and valid at a range of 6%–16% of water content on the silty clay and the silty clay fiber-reinforced soils. There is a small fluctuation in the increase of ITS and UCS values with increasing fiber content due to randomly oriented distribution of the fiber. The addition of glass fiber does not significantly affect the capacity of water retention of the soil. It improves the condition of the mechanical soil properties at the end of construction more than of the effective stress condition.     

Stabilization of Indian peat using alkali-activated ground granulated blast furnace slag

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Peat is an exceptionally problematic soil for construction purposes and is often stabilized by traditional stabilizers (like cement), which...     

Measurement of additional shear during sludge conditioning and dewatering

Optimum polymer dose is influenced both by the polymer demand of the sludge and the shear applied during conditioning. Sludge exposed to additional shear following conditioning will experience a decrease in cake solids concentration for the same polymer dose. Therefore, it is necessary to measure or quantify the additional shear in order to optimize the conditioning and dewatering. There is currently no direct or indirect method to achieve this. The main objective of this study was to develop a method based on torque rheology to measure the amount of shear that a sludge network experiences during conditioning and dewatering. Anaerobically digested sludge samples were exposed to increasing levels of mixing intensities and times, and rheological characteristics of samples were measured using a torque rheometer. Several rheological parameters were evaluated including the peak torque and totalized torque (area under the rheograms). The results of this study show that at the optimum polymer dose, a linear relationship exists between the applied shear and the area under the rheograms, and this relationship can be used to estimate an unknown amount of shear that the sludge was exposed to. The method is useful as a research tool to study the effect of shear on dewatering but also as an optimization tool in a dewatering automation system based on torque rheology.     

LES study of the influence of the nose shape and yaw angles on flow structures around trains

Large-eddy simulation (LES) is made of the flow around a generic train model at two different yaw angles of 90^° and 35^°. The Reynolds numbers, based on the freestream velocity and the height of the train, are 3×10⁵ and 3.7×10⁵ for the yaw angles of 90^° and 35^°, respectively. The primary objective is to investigate the influence of the nose shape and yaw angles on the flow structures and the train aerodynamics. Both the time-averaged and instantaneous flows are explored. In the case of the 90^° yaw angle, the LES results show that the influence of the three-dimensional flow from the nose of the train on the time-averaged wake flow is limited to a region of a length of 3.5 train heights from the tip of the nose in the direction of the length of the train. The instantaneous flow shows an unsteady vortex shedding due to the shear layer instabilities on the periphery of the recirculation region and the exterior flow. In the case of the 35^° yaw angle, weak vortex shedding is found in the wake. Instead, unstable vortices are found in the lower part of the recirculation region. These vortices detach from and reattach to the train surface in a regular fashion leaving disturbances on the train surface and hence affecting the aerodynamic coefficients. The influence of the shape of the nose on the flow structures is investigated by repeating the simulations at the 90^° yaw angle on a short nose model. The short nose model is identical to the long nose model whilst the length of its nose is half that of the long nose. The short-nose simulation shows highly unsteady and three-dimensional flow around the nose yielding more vortex structures in the wake. These structures result in a surface flow that differs from that in the long-nose train flow. They also influence the dominating frequencies that arise due to the shear layer instabilities.     

Damage avoidance design of special truss moment frames with energy dissipating devices

An innovative concept using energy dissipating devices, such as buckling restrained braces (BRB), is proposed for special truss moment frames (STMF). The configuration of the proposed system consists of pins introduced at the ends of the top and bottom chord elements of the special segments. Subsequently, energy dissipating devices are used in the form of diagonal braces inside the special segments. An energy-based design methodology is adopted such that the BRBs are designed to provide sufficient energy dissipation capacity with respect to seismic input energy demand on the structure. This energy-based methodology is demonstrated to be accurate by means of a series of nonlinear time-history analyses. The overall seismic response of the proposed system is contrasted with the conventional STMF in terms of story displacements, interstory drifts, story shears and overturning moments, as well as observed damage to structural elements. The proposed system leads to more predictable seismic response and would potentially allow lighter construction and significant cost savings, due to significantly reduced member forces (up to 50% compared with conventional design). Furthermore, damage to structural elements is largely mitigated, hence allowing damage avoidance design of STMFs.     

阿拉伯东部地区宗教文化对传统建筑的影响

伊斯兰教和阿拉伯语是西亚地区统一的主要特征.它们构成了这些国家的共性,然而又有一些因素可将西亚世界区分开来,宗教就是其中2一。阿拉伯国家都是穆斯林国家, 它们的建筑是世界伊斯兰建筑的一部分,“伊斯兰建筑”概念本身就体现了宗教在地域建筑特征形成过程中所起的作用。地域性文化是地域性建筑的重要构成,宗教文化则是地域性文化诸因素之一。     

Photochemical reduction and reoxidation of aqueous mercuric chloride in the presence of ferrioxalate and air

In this study, ferric oxalate is used to represent the photosensitive Fe(III) complexes as well as the diacid compounds which are at significant concentrations in cloud and rain droplets. Because of the common carboxylate functional group; ferric oxalate is also used as a model to represent humic substances found in natural water. UVA irradiation of aqueous acidic mercuric chloride (pH 1-4) in the presence of an excess of ferrioxalate results in partial reduction of the mercuric ion to elemental mercury. The pseudo-first-order rate constant "kobs" for the photoreduction reaction is pH-dependent as is the yield of residual Hg(II). When exposed to visible irradiation the rate is about 10 times slower and no reaction was observed in the dark. The inferred mechanism of photoreduction involves the reaction of Hg(II) with a secondary photoproduct, the strongly reducing radical anion CO2-*. In the presence of dissolved oxygen, competition for CO2-* between Hg(II) and O2 reduces the rate and efficiency of mercuric ion reduction. The O2-*/HO2 products do not reduce Hg(II). On the contrary, their disproportionation leads to the formation of H2O2 which causes a re-oxidation of Hg(0) at pH values of 相似文献   

Experimental investigation on the performance of multi-tiered geogrid mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls with wrap-around facing subjected to earthquake loading

Construction of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls in multi-tiered configurations is a promising solution for increasing the height of such walls. The good performance of this type of walls after recent major earthquakes was reported in a number of technical studies. In the present study, an experimental approach was adopted to compare the seismic performance of single-tiered and multi-tiered MSE walls using physical modeling and through conducting a series of uniaxial shaking table tests. To do so, several geogrid-reinforced soil walls with wrap-around facing (i.e., three-, two-, and single-tiered) with a total height of 10 m were designed in the form of prototypes of 1-m-height wall models. The step-wise intensified sinusoidal waves were applied to the models in 14 typical forms. Comparing the shaking table test results confirmed the post-earthquake advantages of multi-tiered MSE walls. The results revealed that tiered walls exhibited better behaviors under earthquake loading in terms of the seismic stability of the wall, displacement of the wall crest, horizontal displacement of the wall facing, deformation mode and failure mechanism of the wall, settlement of backfill surface, and seismic acceleration responses.     

A comparison of three turbulence models for the prediction of parallel lobed jets in perforated panel optimization

The general context of the present study is the design of high induction HVAC air diffusers by means of passive jet control. When the diffuser is a perforated panel with lobed orifices (Meslem et al. 2010), the optimization of jet induction consists in improving the orifice’s geometry, the spacing between orifices and their arrangement on the panel. In this study, the flow field of a turbulent twin cross-shaped jet is investigated numerically using the standard k-ε model, the Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-ω model and the Reynolds Stress Model (RSM). The results are compared with PIV measurements. The objective is to assess their capability and limitations to predict the significant features of twin jet flow when the flow is numerically resolved through a lobed diffuser. It is shown that the k-ε and RSM models are more appropriate for predicting potential jet core length, the change in jet centreline streamwise velocity, and flow expansion in the symmetry plane of the twin jet flow. However, these models overestimate the overall flow expansion and the jet volumetric flow rate. The SST k-ω model seems more appropriate for the prediction of such dynamic integral quantities. A high level of turbulent kinetic energy predicted by the k-ε and RSM models in the near field of jets is probably the reason for this overestimation of jet induction. The SST k-ω model would appear to be the most appropriate tool for optimizing orifice design, orifice to orifice spacing and relative orifice orientation on a perforated panel diffuser.     

Thermodynamical analysis of dry cooling tower and solar chimney power plant combination

Solar chimney power plant is one of the rather new technologies that can produce power from solar energy. Its high stack is one of the important parts of the system in which the differential density of air among its top and bottom sections causes air-flow. Dry cooling towers are used in industries for cooling condensing water by utilising this concept and generating air-flow. The structural and conceptual similarity between these two systems cause the feasibility of their combination and usage of waste energy in industries. In this article, a simple and useful analytical thermodynamic model is improved in order to estimate the thermodynamic flow properties for combining both systems. Results show that the stack height and diameter are effective parameters in recovery of power. Moreover, the results show that the collector area does not remarkably affect the system performance.