Search results for "Stiffening"
showing 10 items of 17 documents
Constructive Optimization of Vulcanization Installations in Order to Improve the Performance of Conveyor Belts
2019
Conveyor belts of special importance must have superior mechanical characteristics. The joining by vulcanization of the conveyor belts allows to obtain superior performances, but it has been found that at the vulcanizing joint of the conveyor belts, there is a &ldquo
Stochastic Tension-Stiffening Approach for the Solution of Serviceability Problems in Reinforced Concrete: Constitutive Modeling
2015
A number of studies have indicated that the tension-stiffening law is an important input parameter in a numerical analysis of serviceability (deformations and cracking) problems of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The stochastic nature of concrete cracking, which results in a large scatter of experimental results, renders the constitutive modeling a very difficult task. Even data obtained from short-term tests are to some degree uncertain due to time-dependent processes occurring in concrete, such as shrinkage and creep relaxation. This article provides statistical analysis tools that can be readily applied to engineering practice. Stochastic principles are applied to modeling of tensio…
Evaluation of infilled frames: an updated in-plane-stiffness macro-model considering the effects of vertical loads
2015
The influence of masonry infills on the in-plane behaviour of RC framed structures is a central topic in the seismic evaluation and retrofitting of existing buildings. Many models in the literature use an equivalent strut member in order to represent the infill but, among the parameters influencing the equivalent strut behaviour, the effect of vertical loads acting on the frames is recognized but not quantified. Nevertheless a vertical load causes a non-negligible variation in the in-plane behaviour of infilled frames by influencing the effective volume of the infill. This results in a change in the stiffness and strength of the system. This paper presents an equivalent diagonal pin-jointed…
Simplified flexural response of steel-fiber reinforced concrete beams
2008
In the present paper, an analytical model is proposed that is able to determine the flexural response of supported beams under four-point bending tests. Cases of normal strength reinforced concrete beams with longitudinal bars in the presence of reinforcing hooked steel fibers and transverse stirrups are considered. A simplified analytical model is presented that is able to calculate the load-deflection curves and the maximum and ultimate deflections occurring in the case of shear or flexure failures. In the case of shear failure, the maximum shear strength of the beams is evaluated by using a recent analytical expression proposed by the author able to account for the shear-to-moment intera…
Measuring (biological) materials mechanics with atomic force microscopy. 2. Influence of the loading rate and applied force (colloidal particles)
2020
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is the most often used tool to study the mechanical properties of eukaryotic cells. Due to their complex assembly, cells show viscoelastic properties. When performing experiments, one has to consider the influence of both loading rate and maximum load on the measured mechanical properties. Here, we employed colloidal particles of various sizes (from 2 to 20 μm diameter) to perform force spectroscopy measurements on endothelial cells at loading rates varying from 0.1 to 50 μm/s, and maximum loads ranging from 1 to 25 nN. We were able to determine the non-linear dependence of cell viscoelastic properties on the loading rate which followed a weak power law. In add…
Infilled frames: Developments in the evaluation of cyclic behaviour under lateral loads
2005
In order to consider the modified seismic response of framed structures in the presence of masonry infills, proper models have to be formulated. Because of the complexity of the problem, a careful definition of an equivalent diagonal pin-jointed strut, able to represent the horizontal force-interstorey displacement cyclic law of the actual infill, may be a solution. In this connection the present paper, continuing a previous work in which a generalised criterion for the determination of the ideal cross-section of the equivalent strut was formulated, analizes some models known in literature for the prediction of the lateral cyclic behaviour discussing their field of validity. As a support of…
Infilled frames: developments in the evaluation of the stiffening effect of infills
2003
In order to consider the modified seismic response of framed structures in the presence of masonry infills, proper models have to be formulated. Because of the complexity of the problem, a careful definition of a diagonal pin-jointed strut, able to represent the horizontal force-interstorey displacement cyclic law of the actual infill, may be a solution. In this connection the present paper shows a generalized criterion for the determination of the ideal cross-section of the strut mentioned before. The procedure is based on the equivalence between the lateral stiffness of the actual infilled frame scheme during the conventional elastic stage of the response and the lateral stiffness of the …
A comparative study of fatigue behaviour of flax/epoxy and glass/epoxy composites
2012
Experimental investigations on flax and glass fabrics reinforced epoxy specimens, i.e. FFRE and GFRE, submitted to fatigue tests are presented in this paper. Samples having [0/90]3S and [±45]3S stacking sequences, with similar fibre volume fractions have been tested under tension–tension fatigue loading. The specific stress-number of cycles to failure (S–N) curves, show that for the [0/90]3S specimens, FFRE have lower fatigue endurance than GFRE, but the [±45]3S FFRE specimens offer better specific fatigue endurance than similar GFRE, in the studied life range (<2 × 10^6). Overall, the three-stage stiffness degradation is observed in all cases except for [0/90]3S FFRE specimens, which prese…
Thermal optimization of the Helium-Cooled Lithium Lead breeding zone layout design regarding TBR enhancement
2017
Abstract Within the framework of EUROfusion R&D activities, CEA-Saclay has carried out an investigation of the thermal and mechanical performances of alternative designs intended to enhance the Tritium Breeding Ratio (TBR) of the Helium-Cooled Lithium Lead (HCLL) Breeding Blanket (BB) for DEMO. Neutronic calculations performed on the 2014 DEMO HCLL baseline predicted a value of TBR equal to 1.07, lower than the required value of 1.1, necessary to ensure the tritium self-sufficiency of the breeding blanket taking into account uncertainties. In order to reach the TBR target, the strategy of the steel amount reduction inside the HCLL module breeding zone (BZ) has been followed by suppressing s…
On the effect of stiffening plates configuration on the DEMO Water Cooled Lithium Lead Breeding Blanket module thermo-mechanical behaviour
2019
Abstract Within the framework of the pre-conceptual design of the EU-DEMO Breeding Blanket (BB) supported by EUROfusion action, results of the research activities carried out in the last years have highlighted that changes in the proposed Water Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) BB design have to be considered, especially as to the liquid breeder circulation path within the BB module. Therefore, in view of the definition of a final WCLL BB module layout, a parametric campaign of numerical analyses has been carried out at the University of Palermo in order to assess the impact of different SPs configurations on the module thermo-mechanical performances. To this purpose, attention has been focussed o…