Search results for " Structural"
showing 10 items of 1751 documents
Toward more realistic viscosity measurements of tyre rubber–bitumen blends
2014
AbstractThe measurement of rheological properties of the tyre rubber bitumen blends is often challenging due to presence of suspended tyre rubber’s crumbs. Furthermore, the phase separation during the course of measurements makes the viscosity of these non-homogeneous blends difficult to ascertain. In this study, a new dual helical impeller was designed and manufactured to be used with a rotational viscometer in order to have a real-time control of the viscosity while performing a laboratory mixing of the blends. Layer based manufacturing techniques showed to be a convenient method to produce complex shaped impeller prototypes before manufacturing the more expensive stainless steel assembly…
Optimisation of liquid rubber modified bitumen for road pavements and roofing applications
2020
Abstract Polymer Modified Bitumens (PMBs) are largely used for pavement and roofing membranes applications with Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Block copolymer (SBS) playing a major role in both markets despite its constantly increasing price due to the rising demand for quality bitumen modifiers. On the other hand, there is an increasing trend of recycling end of life tyres generating Recycled Tyre Rubber (RTR) at affordable price. This investigation aims at engineering a modified bitumen with a combination of Liquid Rubber (LR), a homogeneous blend of 50–70% RTR pre-processed in combination with heavy oils, and a wax denominated Ethylene Bis Stearamide (EBS). In the first phase, the effect of L…
Artificial Ground Motions and Nonlinear Response of RC Structures
2020
The selection of seismic inputs for nonlinear dynamic analysis is widely debated, mainly focusing on the advantages and disadvantages provided by the choice of natural, simulated, or artificial records. This work proves the differences in the structural behavior of RC buildings when using accelerograms with different levels of stationarity. Initially, nonlinear response under three sets of accelerograms equivalent in terms of pseudo acceleration spectrum is evaluated and compared. Then, the results of incremental dynamic analyses are compared by the statistical point of view considering different levels of irregularity for the reference structure.
Mixed finite elements for nonlocal elastic multilayered composite plate refined theories
2020
Abstract A novel mixed finite element formulation for the layerwise analysis of nonlocal multilayered composite plates is presented. The finite elements are formulated starting from the weak form of a set of governing equations for the laminate layers that were deduced via the Reissner Mixed Variational Theorem. The primary variables, namely displacements and out-of-plane stresses, are expressed at layer level as through-the-thickness expansions of suitable selected functions with coefficients approximated by the finite element scheme. The through-the-thickness expansion order is considered as a free parameter. This way, finite elements for different refined higher order plate theories can …
Cold recovery during regasification of LNG part one: Cold utilization far from the regasification facility
2010
The paper deals with cold recovery during LNG regasification. The applications analyzed pertain to the use in deep freezing agro food industry and in space air conditioning facilities in commercial sector (Supermarkets and Hypermarkets) of cold recovered from the regasification process. A modular LNG regasification unit is proposed having the regasification capacity of 2 billion standard cubic meters/year of gas and it is based on use of a Power Cycle working with Ethane, this unit allows operation of cold energy transfer, contained in LNG to be regasified, in a range of temperatures suitable for multipurpose use of cold, reducing regasification process irreversibility. Some electric energy…
Cold recovery during regasification of LNG part two: applications in an Agro Food Industry and a Hypermarket
2011
Abstract The paper deals with the cold energy available during LNG regasification, which can be recovered and utilized both inside the LNG regasification area and at a distance, such as in deep freezing agro food industry facilities and for space conditioning in the commercial and residential sector (e.g. Supermarkets and Hypermarkets). The feasibility study of this kind of application has been carried out at DREAM, Palermo University, within the framework of a research program. The results of a feasibility study of the kind of venture proposed, starting from its conceptual design and with a thorough thermodynamic and economic analysis, demonstrated the suitability and the profitability of …
Measuring the Regional Incidence of Taxes and Public Expenditure: The Available Methodology and its Limitations
2014
This article reviews the basic methodology used to estimate the regional incidence of taxes and public expenditure, which we call the fiscal incidence approach, and compares it with the cash flow approach, which measures tax revenues and expenditures in terms of the associated monetary cash flows. In this context, it considers critically the particular version of the cash flow approach used in Spain. The article also looks at the different ways in which economists have tried to decompose fiscal balances into a structural or distributive component and a cyclical component, and critically reviews present practices.
Parameters affecting the fundamental period of infilled RC frame structures
2015
Despite the fact that the fundamental period appears to be one of the most critical parameters for the seismic design of structures according to the modal superposition method, the so far available in the literature proposals for its estimation are often conflicting with each other making their use uncertain. Furthermore, the majority of these proposals do not take into account the presence of infills walls into the structure despite the fact that infill walls increase the stiffness and mass of structure leading to significant changes in the fundamental period numerical value. Toward this end, this paper presents a detailed and in-depth analytical investigation on the parameters that affect…
Effect of customer heterogeneity on the relationship satisfaction–loyalty
2014
Abstract The need to study the differences among consumers due to their behavioural heterogeneity and the highly competitive consumer markets is recognized. In this paper, we analyse the potential heterogeneous shopping assessment in retail and how that experience may influence on consequent customer loyalty in a different way. The effects of satisfaction on attitudinal and behavioural loyalty and positive word of mouth are estimated by a finite-mixture structural equation model, and unobserved heterogeneity is analysed simultaneously. The results show that there are three latent segments where the strength of causal relationships differs which mean that there is an overestimation of the im…
A data analysis approach to evaluate the impact of the capacity utilization on the energy consumption of wastewater treatment plants
2019
Abstract The reduction of energy consumption in Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is a challenge for the scientific community and for the public authorities. A source of excessive energy cost is the mismatching between operational and design inflow (i.e. capacity utilization): this issue is very relevant above all in areas with high demographic seasonality. Consequently, it is really important to have operational decision criteria to evaluate the impact of a low capacity utilization on energy consumption. In order to provide the scientific community and the plant managers with an adequate criterion, we propose a user-friendly methodology to identify critical conditions of capacity utiliz…