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Classification System for Semi-Rigid Beam-to-Column Connections
Get PDFThe current study attempts to recognise an adequate classification for a semi-rigid beam-to-column connection by investigating strength, stiffness and ductility. For this purpose, an experimental test was carried out to investigate the moment-rotation (M-theta) features of flush end-plate (FEP) connections including variable parameters like size and number of bolts, thickness of end-plate, and finally, size of beams and columns. The initial elastic stiffness and ultimate moment capacity of connections were determined by an extensive analytical procedure from the proposed method prescribed by ANSI/AISC 360-10, and Eurocode 3 Part 1-8 specifications. The behaviour of beams with partially restrained or semi-rigid connections were also studied by incorporating classical analysis methods. The results confirmed that thickness of the column flange and end-plate substantially govern over the initial rotational stiffness of of flush end-plate connections. The results also clearly showed that EC3 provided a more reliable classification index for flush end-plate (FEP) connections. The findings from this study make significant contributions to the current literature as the actual response characteristics of such connections are non-linear. Therefore, such semirigid behaviour should be used to for an analysis and design method
Slime mold microfluidic logical gates
Get PDFWe demonstrate how logical operations can be implemented in ensembles of protoplasmic tubes of acellular slime mold Physarum polycephalum. The tactile response of the protoplasmic tubes is used to actuate analogs of two- and four-input logical gates and memory devices. The slime mold tube logical gates display results of logical operations by blocking flow in mechanically stimulated tube fragments and redirecting the flow to output tube fragments. We demonstrate how XOR and NOR gates are constructed. We also exemplify circuits of hybrid gates and a memory device. The slime mold based gates are non-electronic, simple and inexpensive, and several gates can be realized simultaneously at sites where protoplasmic tubes merge
Error in prediction due to data type availability in a coupled hydro-mechanical model
Get PDFDifferent types of data provide different type of information. The present research analyzes the error on prediction obtained under different data type availability for calibration. The contribution of different measurement types to model calibration and prognosis are evaluated. A coupled 2D hydro-mechanical model of a water retaining dam is taken as an example. Here, the mean effective stress in the porous skeleton is reduced due to an increase in pore water pressure under drawdown conditions. Relevant model parameters are identified by scaled sensitivities. Then, Particle Swarm Optimization is applied to determine the optimal parameter values and finally, the error in prognosis is determined. We compare the predictions of the optimized models with results from a forward run of the reference model to obtain the actual prediction errors. The analyses presented here were performed calibrating the hydro-mechanical model to 31 data sets of 100 observations of varying data types. The prognosis results improve when using diversified information for calibration. However, when using several types of information, the number of observations has to be increased to be able to cover a representative part of the model domain. For an analysis with constant number of observations, a compromise between data type availability and domain coverage proves to be the best solution. Which type of calibration information contributes to the best prognoses could not be determined in advance. The error in model prognosis does not depend on the error in calibration, but on the parameter error, which unfortunately cannot be determined in inverse problems since we do not know its real value. The best prognoses were obtained independent of calibration fit. However, excellent calibration fits led to an increase in prognosis error variation. In the case of excellent fits; parameters' values came near the limits of reasonable physical values more often. To improve the prognoses reliability, the expected value of the parameters should be considered as prior information on the optimization algorithm
Comparison of various functionally graded femoral prostheses by finite element analysis
Get PDFThis study is focused on finite element analysis of a model comprising femur into which a femoral component of a total hip replacement was implanted. The considered prosthesis is fabricated from a functionally graded material (FGM) comprising a layer of a titanium alloy bonded to a layer of hydroxyapatite. The elastic modulus of the FGM was adjusted in the radial, longitudinal, and longitudinal-radial directions by altering the volume fraction gradient exponent. Four cases were studied, involving two different methods of anchoring the prosthesis to the spongy bone and two cases of applied loading. The results revealed that the FG prostheses provoked more SED to the bone. The FG prostheses carried less stress, while more stress was induced to the bone and cement. Meanwhile, less shear interface stress was stimulated to the prosthesis-bone interface in the noncemented FG prostheses. The cement-bone interface carried more stress compared to the prosthesis-cement interface. Stair climbing induced more harmful effects to the implanted femur components compared to the normal walking by causing more stress. Therefore, stress shielding, developed stresses, and interface stresses in the THR components could be adjusted through the controlling stiffness of the FG prosthesis by managing volume fraction gradient exponent
Ideology, neoliberalism and sustainable development
Get PDFThis paper examines the interactions between issues such as ideology, neoliberalism, institution-building and sustainable development. The central focus of the paper is to demonstrate that the neoliberalism hasn’t succeeded just because it is an economic strategy which better serves the interests of the capitalist class (though it must be stressed that this fact has obviously contributed) but mainly because it has been promoted as an attractive economic strategy by respected, well organized and transnationalized institutions all around the globe, and understand the reasons behind this institutional support. After reviewing the interrelationships between the Bretton-Woods institutions and their relationship with the concepts of neoliberalism and sustainable development, the paper concludes claiming that the so-called neoliberal ideology operates behind the discourses of growth, progress and sustainability and that it is in charge of softening domination by diffusing legitimating ideas and granting concessions to subordinate forces, thus implying significations and values that transcend the possible manipulation of the world as an object
“Battlers” and their homes: About self-production of residences made by the brazilian new middle class
Get PDFThe article presents preliminary results and qualitative analysis obtained from the doctoral research provisory entitled “How do Brazilian ‘battlers’ reside?”, which is in progress at the Institute for European Urban Studies, Bauhaus Univer-sity Weimar. It critically discusses the contradictions of the production of residences in Brazil made by an emerging so-cial group, lately called the Brazilian new middle class. For the last ten years, a number of government policies have provoked a general improvement of the purchasing power of the poor. Between those who completely depend on the government to survive and the upper middle class, there is a wide (about 100 million people) and economically stable lower middle group, which has found its own ways of dealing with its demand for housing. The conventional models of planning, building and buying are not suitable for their technical, financial and personal needs. Therefore, they are con-currently planners, constructors and residents, building and renovating their own properties themselves, but still with very limited education and technical knowledge and restricted access to good building materials and constructive ele-ments, formal technicians, architects or engineers. On the one hand, the result is an informal and more or less autono-mous self-production, with all sorts of technical problems and very interesting and creative spatial solutions to every-day domestic situations. On the other hand, the repercussions for urban space are questionable: although basic infrastructure conditions have improved, building densities are high and green areas are few. Lower middle class neigh-bourhoods present a restricted collective everyday life. They look like storage spaces for manpower; people who live to work in order to be able to consume—and build—what they could not before. One question is, to what extent the lat-est economic rise of Brazil has really resulted in social development for lower middle income families in the private sphere regarding their residences, and in the collective sphere, regarding the neighbourhoods they inhabit and the ur-ban space in general
Spatial time domain reflectometry and its application for the measurement of water content distributions along flat ribbon cables in a full-scale levee model
Get PDFSpatial time domain reflectometry (spatial TDR) is a new measurement method for determining water content profiles along elongated probes (transmission lines). The method is based on the inverse modeling of TDR reflectograms using an optimization algorithm. By means of using flat ribbon cables it is possible to take two independent TDRmeasurements from both ends of the probe, which are used to improve the spatial information content of the optimization results and to consider effects caused by electrical conductivity. The method has been used for monitoring water content distributions on a full-scale levee model made of well-graded clean sand. Flood simulation tests, irrigation tests, and long-term observations were carried out on the model. The results show that spatial TDR is able to determine water content distributions with an accuracy of the spatial resolution of about ±3 cm compared to pore pressure measurements and an average deviation of ±2 vol % compared to measurements made using another independent TDR measurement system
An extended isogeometric thin shell analysis based on Kirchhoff-Love theory
No full textAn extended isogeometric thin shell analysis based on Kirchho_-Love theor
Continuum modeling of the cohesive energy for the interfaces between _lms, spheres, coats and substrates
No full textContinuum modeling of the cohesive energy for the interfaces between _lms, spheres, coats and substrate
Uncertainties propagation in metamodel-based probabilistic optimization of CNT/polymer composite structure using stochastic multi-scale modeling
No full textUncertainties propagation in metamodel-based probabilistic optimization of CNT/polymer composite structure using stochastic multi-scale modelin