Pushdown resistance as a measure of robustness in progressive collapse analysis

This paper presents a technique termed ‘pushdown analysis’ that can be used to investigate the robustness of building systems by computing residual capacity and establishing collapse modes of a damaged structure. The proposed method is inspired by the pushover method commonly used in earthquake engineering. Three variants of the technique, termed uniform pushdown, bay pushdown and incremental dynamic pushdown, are suggested and exercised using nonlinear analysis on 10-story steel moment frames designed for moderate and high levels of seismic risk. Simulation results show that the frame designed for high seismic risk is more robust than the corresponding one designed for moderate seismic risk. The improved performance is attributed to the influence of seismic detailing, specifically, the presence of reduced beam sections and stronger columns. It is shown that the dynamic impact factors associated with column removal are significantly lower than the commonly used value of 2.0 and are in line with lower values in the guidelines recently proposed by the US Department of Defense. The study suggests that seismic ‘fuses’ can play a role in the design for robustness and a discussion of the implications of this observation is provided.     

Retraining local and global buckling behavior of steel plastic hinges using CFRP

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites have been shown to be particularly well suited for external strengthening of reinforced concrete members. However, there is limited information about how they can be used to strengthen steel structures that are susceptible to local and global instabilities. This paper discusses test results of full-scale steel flexural specimens subjected to reversed cyclic loading, some of which are wrapped with CFRP in the plastic hinge region. The main variables investigated are lateral bracing, to study the effect of CFRP wrapping on local buckling and lateral torsional buckling, wrapping scheme, and number of layers of fibers. The test results show that application of CFRP in the plastic hinge region of flexural members has substantial benefits. In particular, the CFRP wraps can increase the size of the yielded plastic hinge region, slow down the occurrence of local buckling, and delay lateral torsional buckling. These benefits reduce strain demands in the critical plastic hinge region and substantially improve energy dissipation capacity within the plastic hinge region.     

Ultra-high performance concrete and fiber reinforced concrete: achieving strength and ductility without heat curing

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) and ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHP-FRC) were introduced in the mid 1990s. Special treatment, such as heat curing, pressure and/or extensive vibration, is often required in order to achieve compressive strengths in excess of 150 MPa (22 ksi). This study focuses on the development of UHP-FRCs without any special treatment and utilizing materials that are commercially available on the US market. Enhanced performance was accomplished by optimizing the packing density of the cementitious matrix, using very high strength steel fibers, tailoring the geometry of the fibers and optimizing the matrix-fiber interface properties. It is shown that addition of 1.5% deformed fibers by volume results in a direct tensile strength of 13 MPa, which is 60% higher than comparable UHP-FRC with smooth steel fibers, and a tensile strain at peak stress of 0.6%, which is about three times that for UHP-FRC with smooth fibers. Compressive strength up to 292 MPa (42 ksi), tensile strength up to 37 MPa (5.4 ksi) and strain at peak stress up to 1.1% were also attained 28 days after casting by using up to 8% volume fraction of high strength steel fibers and infiltrating them with the UHPC matrix.     

Synthesis and characterization of polyurethane – Treated waste milled light bulbs composites

In this study, polyurethane (PU)-milled light bulbs glass composites were synthesized and characterized. The main interest in this study that the polyurethane derived from renewable resources and waste glass are used to form the composite constituents as an attempt towards environmental preservation. Castor oil and polymeric diphenyl methane di-isocyanates (PMDI) were used in NCO/OH ratio = 2 for polyurethane synthesis. Milled glass with average particles size less than 300 μm were prepared based on waste light bulbs. Silane A1100 (as a compatibilizer) was used in order to improve the value of recycled milled glass beads. The adhesion force between polyurethane matrix and milled glass beads was evaluated using mechanical and physical tests. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate dispersion and fracture surfaces of the composites. Infrared spectrum (IR), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) behavior, and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), were employed to characterize the developed composite materials in details. Chemical resistance (weight change, thickness swelling) was measured in oil, water and dilute acetic acid media. Furthermore, tensile strength and hardness were investigated using universal materials testing machines. A slight increase in the hardness values was reported along with the increasing in particulate fillers loading up to 10% as a considerable improvement has been detected when milled glass reached 20%. The DSC analysis showed the presence of treated milled glass beads influences the thermal behavior of pure PU and composites. This can be attributed to enhancing the physical bonding between PU and silica group. Waste milled glass showed a significant effect on the thermal degradation of the composites in the presence of coupling agent. Further analysis on the tensile strength of the composites indicated that such improved mechanical properties may be attributed to the presence of coupling agent.     

Effects of minor additions of ruthenium on the passivation of duplex stainless-steel corrosion in concentrated hydrochloric acid solutions

The effects of minor additions of ruthenium (0.14%, 0.22%, and 0.28%) on the passivation of duplex stainless-steel (DSS, Fe–22%Cr–9%Ni–3%Mo) corrosion in 2 M HCl solutions have been studied using open-circuit potential (OCP), potentiodynamic cyclic polarization, potentiostatic current–time, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and weight loss measurements. OCP measurements showed an increased shift in the corrosion potential to more positive values with increasing Ru content. Polarization and EIS experiments indicated that the presence of Ru and the increase of its content decrease the corrosion rate, critical and passive current density, and polarization resistance. Moreover, it shifts the corrosion and pitting potentials to more positive values. Current–time measurements at −100, −50, and 50 mV versus Ag/AgCl also confirmed that the severity of pitting corrosion decreases with an increasing Ru content. Weight-loss time data showed good agreement with the electrochemical measurements.     

Infrared Signature of Novel Super-Thermite (Fe<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript>/Mg) Fluorocarbon Nanocomposite for Effective Countermeasures of Infrared Seekers

Infrared (IR) guided missiles are real threat; they caused 90% of aircraft damage. Fluorocarbon polymer nanocomposite based on super-thermites can offer superior thermal signature to countermeasure IR guided missile seekers. This study reports on the sustainable fabrication of mono-dispersed colloidal Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles with 3 nm average particle size. Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles were dispersed in acetone for subsequent integration in fluorocarbon polymer. The impact of Fe₂O₃ content on thermal signature was evaluated using (FT-MIR 2–6 μm) spectrophotometer. Nanocomposite polymer with 8 wt% Fe₂O₃ offered an increase in the average intensity of α (2–3 μm) and β (4–5 μm) bands by 50 and 85% respectively to that of reference formulation. Quantification of stimulated emitting species in the combustion flame was conducted using ICT thermodynamic code. The developed nanothermite particles extended the primary reaction zone by 183%. Full discussions about combustion zones with associated exothermic chemical reactions have been represented.     

Effect of Zn and Pb as alloying elements on the electrochemical behavior of brass in NaCl solutions

The electrochemical behavior of brasses with various Zn content (5.5–38 mass%) and brass (Cu–38Zn) with different Pb contents (1–3.4 mass%) in 0.6 M NaCl was investigated. The effects of temperature, immersion time, and concentration of chloride ions on the behavior of the different alloys were studied. The pitting corrosion behavior of Cu–Zn alloys and leaded–brass alloys in 0.6 M NaCl solution was also investigated. Open-circuit potential measurements (OCP), polarization techniques and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used. The results show that the increase in the Zn content increases the corrosion rate of the brass alloys in chloride solutions, while the increase of Pb content in Cu–38Zn–Pb decreases the corrosion rate of the alloy. Long immersion time of the alloys in the aqueous electrolyte improves their stability due to the formation of passive film on the alloy surface. The breakdown potential is shifted to more negative direction with increasing the Zn content, whereas it shifts towards positive values with increasing Pb content. Equivalent circuit model for the electrode/electrolyte interface under different conditions was proposed to illustrate the electrochemical processes taking place at the interface. The electrochemical behavior of the different alloys was discussed in view of the fitting results.     

Online model-based diagnosis to support autonomous operation of an advanced life support system

This article describes methods for online model-based diagnosis of subsystems of the advanced life support system (ALS). The diagnosis methodology is tailored to detect, isolate, and identify faults in components of the system quickly so that fault-adaptive control techniques can be applied to maintain system operation without interruption. We describe the components of our hybrid modeling scheme and the diagnosis methodology, and then demonstrate the effectiveness of this methodology by building a detailed model of the reverse osmosis (RO) system of the water recovery system (WRS) of the ALS. This model is validated with real data collected from an experimental testbed at NASA JSC. A number of diagnosis experiments run on simulated faulty data are presented and the results are discussed.