Search results for "Structural engineering"
showing 10 items of 1998 documents
Performance of a historical cantilever reinforced concrete bridge with half-joint degradation
2022
The lack of maintenance of roadway concrete bridges built from the Second World War until the 70 s of the 20th century has led in recent years to an ever-increasing request for safety assessments. When bridge performance in terms of Serviceability Limit State (SLS) and Ultimate Limit State (ULS) has to be evaluated, in-situ visual inspections and load tests for safety and maintenance assessment have to be coupled with structural analysis. In order to identify a sound bridge structural model and to assess the actual conservation state, more refined models than those usually considered for section and reinforcement design should be used to reproduce the results of load tests and perform globa…
The impact on port competition of the integration of port and inland transport services
2015
The performance of the transport chain is important for the efficiency and competitiveness of an economy. In the context of port competition, there has been an increasing cooperation between firms involved in the intermodal transport chain including seaport services. This paper examines the economic incentives and welfare implications to the integration of port activities with inland transport services under inter-ports competition. Although ports find it advantageous to engage in such integration process it may be detrimental to welfare, since shippers’ aggregate surplus decreases – noting that farther away users benefit at the expense of those closer to the ports. Several scenarios not le…
The spatial evaluation of the radiative human body heat exchanges: An effective contribution for limiting energy consumption and achieving better ind…
2018
Abstract Radiative heat exchanges inside buildings remarkably affect the thermal balance of the human body in confined spaces and the related thermal comfort sensations of people. The mean radiant temperature is an important component of this balance. Unfortunately, it is usually computed by means of too simplified relationships, which significantly influence the comfort evaluations. Such simplified approaches are also accountable for a less effective design of HVAC systems which, in turn, could result in high energy consumption in the climatization of buildings. However, an accurate evaluation of the mean radiant temperature, especially when high intensity sources are present in a given in…
Algorithms for the calculation of the projected area factors of seated and standing persons
1991
Moderate thermal environments, other than being affected by the mutual radiative heat exchange at low frequency among the internal surfaces, are often characterized by the presence of high intensity sources, that is, radiant sources showing a small area, a high emission temperature and a strongly directional beam. The sun's direct radiation can be considered to be among these radiant sources. In these cases, the computation of the mean radiant temperature and, consequently, the evaluation of the thermal comfort conditions, require knowledge of the “project area factor”, fp, of the subject. Moreover, the fp parameters are also applicable to derivation of the shape factors between subjects an…
Evaluation of the Effects of the Enriched-Organic Diets Composition on European Sea Bass Welfare through a Multi-Parametric Approach
2020
Three groups of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) were fed for seven months, with either a conventional diet or two different organic diets, which contain organic vegetables and a natural antioxidant compound. The two organic diets differed themselves in terms of raw proteins, fish oil, and lipid contents. Sea bass welfare condition was assessed in relation to these three diets, using 16 different indicators. These were: swimming activity (recovery test, muscle activity), haematological and serological stress indicators (haematocrit, haemoglobin, red-blood-cell count, cortisol, glucose, lactate), aspecific immunity parameter (lysozyme), indicators of exposure to organic contaminants …
A practical protocol for calibration of nutrient removal wastewater treatment models
2011
Activated sludge models can be very useful for designing and managing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). However, as with every model, they need to be calibrated for correct and reliable application. Activated sludge model calibration is still a crucial point that needs appropriate guidance. Indeed, although calibration protocols have been developed, the model calibration still represents the main bottleneck to modelling. This paper presents a procedure for the calibration of an activated sludge model based on a comprehensive sensitivity analysis and a novel step-wise Monte Carlo-based calibration of the subset of influential parameters. In the proposed procedure the complex calibration i…
Supporting public decision process in buildings energy retrofitting operations: the application of a Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding model to a cas…
2020
Abstract The challenge of promoting sustainable cities and reaching the objectives developed by the European Green Deal includes the renovation of the building sector, as it is responsible for 40% of energy consumption in Europe. Regional or local public administrations have to allocate their financial resources for improving the energy performances of their building stock and to face a multidimensional problem, where different aspects – such as energy efficiency, financial-economic feasibility and environmental protection – have to be harmonized. The present study proposes a Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding model, which includes the ELECTRE TRI-nC method, for supporting the public decisio…
Closure to "Deducing a drain spacing formula by applying dimensional analysis and self-similarity theory" by Vito Ferro
2017
This paper is a closure of the discussions to the paper "Deducing a drain spacing formula by applying dimensional analysis and self-similarity theory"
Modular Paradigm for Composites: Modeling Hydrothermal Degradation of Glass Fibers
2021
Fiber-reinforced composite materials are often used in structural applications in humid, marine, and offshore environments. Superior mechanical properties are compromised by environmental ageing and hydrolytic degradation. Glass fibers are the most broadly used type of fiber reinforcement to date. However, they are also most severely affected by environmental degradation. The glass fiber degradation rates depend on: (1) glass formulation; (2) environmental factors: pH, T, stress; (3) sizing; (4) matrix polymer; (5) fiber orientation and composite layup. In this short review (communication), seven modules within the Modular Paradigm are reviewed and systematized. These modeling tools, encomp…
Stochastic response of MDOF wind-excited structures by means of Volterra series approach
1998
Abstract The role played by the quadratic term of the forcing function in the response statistics of multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) wind-excited linear-elastic structures is investigated. This is accomplished by modeling the structural response as a Volterra series up to the second order and neglecting the wind-structure interaction. In order to reduce the computational effort due to the calculation of a large number of multiple integrals, required by the used approach, a recent model of the wind stochastic field is adopted.