Wave Passage and Ground Motion Incoherency Effects on Seismic Response of an Extended Bridge

This paper investigates the implications of ground motion spatial variability on the seismic response of an extended highway bridge. An existing 59-span, 2,164-meter bridge with several bearing types and irregularity features was selected as a reference structure. The bridge is located in the New Madrid Seismic Zone and supported on thick layers of soil deposits. Site-specific bedrock input ground motions were selected based on a refined probabilistic seismic hazard analysis of the bridge site. Wave passage and ground motion incoherency effects were accounted for after propagating the bedrock records to the ground surface. The results obtained from inelastic response-history analyses confirm the significant impact of wave passage and ground motion incoherency on the seismic behavior of the bridge. The amplification in seismic demands exceeds 150%, whereas the maximum suppression of these demands is less than 50%. The irregular and unpredictable changes in structural response owing to asynchronous earthquake records necessitate in-depth seismic assessment of major highway bridges with advanced modeling techniques to realistically capture their complex seismic response.     

Effect of extraction conditions on the yield and purity of ulvan extracted from Ulva lactuca

A study of the influence of extraction conditions (pH: 1.5 and 2; temperature: 80 °C and 90 °C; extraction time: 1–3 h), on the yield, chemical composition and purity of the sulphated cell wall polysaccharides ulvan, extracted from the green seaweed Ulva lactuca and precipitated by alcohol is carried out. The alcohol precipitate yields varied from 21.68% to 32.67% (%dw/dw) depending on the pH. At pH 2, the alcohol precipitate yields and the uronic acid recovery from extract juice are higher than those obtained at pH 1.5. Other compounds than ulvan such as cellulose, hemicellulose, proteins and ash are solubilized from the cell walls of Ulva lactuca at both pH, and they are precipitated with alcohol. The alcohol precipitate obtained from different extraction conditions has high uronic acid (20.37%–23.60%) and neutral sugar content (20.09%–29.12%), especially when the conditions (pH, temperature) are drastic. It contains rhamnose (13.35%–15.59%), glucose (2.90%–10.97%), and xylose (2.36%–2.73%). A decrease in the molecular weight of ulvan was observed at acid pH, and for long extraction times. The presence of proteins (1.94%–2.32%) and inorganic material (33.36%–47.15%) in alcohol precipitate prove the lower purity of ulvan extracted and shows that ulvan precipitation with ethanol is not specific.     

Testing and verification in service‐oriented architecture: a survey

Service‐oriented architecture (SOA) is gaining momentum as an emerging distributed system architecture for business‐to‐business collaborations. This momentum can be observed in both industry and academic research. SOA presents new challenges and opportunities for testing and verification, leading to an upsurge in research. This paper surveys the previous work undertaken on testing and verification of service‐centric systems, which in total are 177 papers, showing the strengths and weaknesses of current strategies and testing tools and identifying issues for future work. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exfoliation of Kaolinite Nanolayers in Poly(methylmethacrylate) Using Redox Initiator System Involving Intercalating Component

Injection molding is one of the most widely employed methods for the fabri- cating of polymer articles, being characterized by high production rates and accurately dimensioned products. The process includes the flow of polymer melt through a runner system and gates followed by injection into a cold mold, packing under high pressure, and subsequent cooling to solidification. Accordingly, during the injection-molding process the polymer undergoes simultaneous mechanical and therma! influences while in fluid, rubbery, and glassy states. Such effects introduce residual stresses and strains into the final product [1,2], resulting in highly anisotropic mechanical behavior [3–9] and warpage and shrinkage [10–13]. Thus, understanding the factors governing the residual-stress development during molding is of great importance.     

Catalytic Effect of Various Kaolinite Forms on the Emulsion Polymerization of Vinylacetate Using Acetone Sodium Bisulfite as Initiator

Kaolinite was intercalated with N-methylformamide (NMF) and dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), separately. The intercalation of these species expanded the basal space of kaolinite from 0.72 to 1.08 and 1.13 nm, respectively as shown by the X-ray diffraction (XRD). Emulsion polymerization of vinylacetate (VAc) was carried out at different temperatures (60–80°C) using acetone sodium bisulfite as initiator in the absence and presence of untreated as well as the modified forrms of kaolinite (K-NMF, K-DMSO). The results revealed that the presence of kaolinite decreased the rate of polymerization (Rp) by factor of 4 at 60 and 70°C and 7 at 80°C and also the activation energy of polymerization (E _a ) was decreased from 43.35 × 10⁴ to 10.32 × 10⁴ J mole^?1 if compared with the polymerization of VAc in absence of kaolinite. Using the modified forms of kaolinite (K-NMF, K-DMSO) enhanced the Rp and reduced effectively the E _a to ? 27.92 and ? 55.78, respectively. Conversely to untreated kaolinite, the Rp was declining with increasing the temperature in these cases. In all cases, Rp was the highest in the absence of any kaolinite form but in the same time the E _a was also the highest. These results were discussed and explained on the basis of the catalytic activity of the different forms, radical scavenging nature of the kaolinite, and chain transfer.     

Influence of Electron Beam Irradiation and Coupling Agents on the Thermal Stability of Sugar Cane Bagasse Fiber-Thermoplastics Scrape Composite

The influence of blending of sugar cane bagasse with thermoplastics scrape as well as incorporation of some coupling agents has been conducted using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In addition, the effect of electron beam preirradiation of low density polyethylene on the properties of the bagasse-LDPE composite was also studied. Simulation of TGA data reveals that the presence of bagasse fiber accelerates the volatilization of either polypropylene or polyvinylchloride. On the other hand, polyethylene and polystyrene were stable against the heat evolved during the pyrolysis of bagasse fibers. Also, it was found that incorporation of a mixture of pentaerithrol tetraacrylate (PETA) and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as coupling agents improve the thermal stability of low density polyethylene whereas the role of irradiation was insignificant. Moreover, pronounced enhancement in the thermal stability was detected in polypropylene followed by polystyrene and polyvinylchloride on using PETA.     

The boundary element modelling of the human body exposed to the ELF electromagnetic fields

In this paper a cylindrical model of human body exposed to the extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic field is presented. The analysis is based on the solution of the simplified integral equation for thick wires. The numerical solution of the integral equations is performed by the Galerkin–Bubnov variant of the boundary element method. Several numerical results for the ELF exposures are presented.     

Stress block parameters for concrete flexural members reinforced with superelastic shape memory alloys

The unique properties of superelastic shape memory alloys (SMAs) have motivated researchers to explore their use as reinforcing bars. The capacity of a steel reinforced concrete (RC) section is calculated by assuming a maximum concrete strain ε _c-max and utilizing stress block parameters, α ₁ and β ₁, to simplify the non-linear stress–strain curve of concrete. Recommended values for ε _c-max, α ₁, and β ₁ are given in different design standards. However, these values are expected to be different for SMA RC sections. In this paper, the suitability of using sectional analysis to evaluate the monotonic moment–curvature relationship for SMA RC sections is investigated. A parametric study is then conducted to identify the characteristics of this relationship for steel and SMA RC sections. Specific mechanical properties are assumed for both steel and SMA. Results were used to evaluate ε _c-max, α ₁, and β ₁ values given in the Canadian standards and to propose equations to estimate their recommended values for steel and SMA RC sections.     

Green's First Identity Method for Boundary-Only Solution of Self-Weight in BEM Formulation for Thick Slabs

The present paper develops a new technique for treatment of self-weight for building slabs in the boundary element method (BEM). Due to the use of BEM in the analysis, all defined variables are presented on the slab boundary (mesh is defined only along the slab boundary). Self-weight, however, is usually defined over slab domain, hence domain discretisation is required, which spoils the main advantage of the BEM. In this paper a new method is presented to transform self-weight domain integrals to the boundary for such slabs. The proposed method is based on using the so-called Green's first identity. All new kernels for generalized displacements, stress-resultants, and tractions are derived and listed explicitly. The present formulation is implemented into computer code and several examples are tested. Results are compared against results obtained from other numerical method to prove the accuracy and validity of the present formulation.     

Effect of packing on void morphology in resin transfer molded E‐glass/epoxy composites

Effects of applying a packing pressure on void content, void morphology, and void spatial distribution were investigated for resin transfer molding (RTM) E‐glass/epoxy composites. Packing pressures of zero and 570 kPa were respectively applied to center‐gated composites containing 17.5% randomly oriented, E‐glass fiber preform. Radial samples of these disk‐shaped composites were utilized to evaluate voidage via microscopic image analysis. Two adjacent surfaces were cut from each molded disk in order to evaluate void presence from both through‐the‐thickness and planar views. The packed composite was found to contain almost 92% less void content than the unpacked composite. While void fractions of 2.2 and 2.6% were measured, respectively, from the through‐the‐thickness and planar surfaces of the unpacked composite, only 0.2% void content was observed in the packed composite from both surfaces. Digital images obtained from through‐the‐thickness surface showed that average void size dropped from 59.3 μm in the unpacked composite to 31.7 μm in the packed composite. A similar reduction in average void size from 66.7 to 41.1 μm was observed from the planar surfaces. Circular voids were found to experience higher removal rates at 99%, followed by cylindrical and elliptical voids at 83 and 81%, respectively; while irregular voids show slightly lower void removal rates at 67%. Void proximity to fiber bundles was also observed to affect void reduction as voids located inside fiber tows experience lower void reduction rates. Along the radial direction of the molded disks, removal of voids with different proximities to fibers seems to depend on their arrangement at the end of the filling stage. These findings are believed to ascertain packing as an effective void removal method for RTM and similar liquid composite molding processes. POLYM. COMPOS., 26:614–627, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers