Search results for "TLA"
showing 10 items of 1764 documents
Self-Healing Properties of Bioinspired Amorphous CaCO3/Polyphosphate-Supplemented Cement
2020
There is a strong interest in cement additives that are able to prevent or mitigate the adverse effects of cracks in concrete that cause corrosion of the reinforcement. Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP), a natural polymer that is synthesized by bacteria, even those on cement/concrete, can increase the resistance of concrete to progressive damage from micro-cracking. Here we use a novel bioinspired strategy based on polyP-stabilized amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) to give this material self-healing properties. Portland cement was supplemented with ACC nanoparticles which were stabilized with 10% (w/w) Na&ndash
The Suitability of Chemically and Thermally Activated Quaternary Clays of Latvia as Raw Material for Geopolymer Binders
2013
It is now accepted that new binders are needed to replace Portland cement (PC) for enhanced environmental and durability performance. The urge to reduce emissions of carbon and the fact that PC structures having built a few decades ago are already facing disintegration problems points out the handicaps of PC binders. Research works carried out in developing of alkali-activated binders show that this new type of binder could have a huge potential to become as alternative building material. Latvian Quaternary clays were studied from the point of view of the national economy, analysing the physical properties and chemical composition of those sediments in connection with the possibilities of …
A Computer Control System for the Hydraulic Stand MZPK 100 for Biaxial Fatigue Testing
2006
This paper presents a two-channel digital control system for the hydraulic stand MZPK 100 designed for fatigue tests of cruciform specimens under biaxial tension-compression. In the past, the fatigue test stand MZPK 100 was provided with unreliable analog control power cubicles. Application of the computer with an analog and digital input-output signal path board, Matlab/Simulink software and a new control box equipped with the necessary electronic subassemblies (responsible for proper switching of the hydraulic supplier, command electrovalves, conditioning of signals from sensors and so on) enables replacement of the old analog system by a new two-channel digital control system. Nowadays, …
A Digital Control System for the Hydraulic Fatigue Stand SHM 250b
2006
Unreliable and inflexible analog control systems of fatigue test stands applied in laboratories are being replaced by systems enabling easy development and implementation of new test ideas. This paper presents a digital control system applied in the fatigue test stand SHM 250b. It is based on a new electronic system and the I/O board RT-DAQ4/PCI with the software Matlab/Simulink used for communication with the board. The control system for the fatigue test stand SHM 250b gives the possibility of performing fatigue tests under controlled strain ε(t), stress σ(t) and energy parameter W(t) which is calculated from the stress and strain signals. The applied control system is now used, depending…
Atlas for the properties of elemental two-dimensional metals
2018
Common two-dimensional (2D) materials have a layered three-dimensional (3D) structure with covalently bonded, atomically thin layers held together by weak van der Waals forces. However, in a recent transmission electron microscopy experiment, atomically thin 2D patches of iron were discovered inside a graphene nanopore. Motivated by this discovery, we perform a systematic density-functional study on atomically thin elemental 2D metal films, using 45 metals in three lattice structures. Cohesive energies, equilibrium distances, and bulk moduli in 2D are found to be linearly correlated to the corresponding 3D bulk properties, enabling the quick estimation of these values for a given 2D metal a…
A Simplified Analytical Approach for Optimal Planning of Distributed Generation in Electrical Distribution Networks
2019
DG-integrated distribution system planning is an imperative issue since the installing of distributed generations (DGs) has many effects on the network operation characteristics, which might cause significant impacts on the system performance. One of the most important characteristics that mostly varies because of the installation of DG units is the power losses. The parameters affecting the value of the power losses are number, location, capacity, and power factor of the DG units. In this paper, a new analytical approach is proposed for optimally installing DGs to minimize power loss in distribution networks. Different parameters of DG are considered and evaluated in order to achieve a hig…
Optimal placement of 3D sensors considering range and field of view
2017
This paper describes a novel approach to the problem of optimal placement of 3D sensors in a specified volume of interest. The coverage area of the sensors is modelled as a cone having limited field of view and range. The volume of interest is divided into many, smaller cubes each having a set of associated Boolean and continuous variables. The proposed method could be easily extended to handle the case where certain sub-volumes must be covered by several sensors (redundancy), for example ex-zones, regions where humans are not allowed to enter or regions where machine movement may obstruct the view of a single sensor. The optimisation problem is formulated as a Mixed-Integer Linear Program …
Driven Primary Regulation for Minimum Power Losses Operation in Islanded Microgrids
2018
The paper proposes an improved primary regulation method for inverter-interfaced generating units in islanded microgrids. The considered approach employs an off-line minimum losses optimal power flow (OPF) to devise the primary frequency regulation curve’s set-points while satisfying the power balance, frequency and current constraints. In this way, generators will reach an optimized operating point corresponding to a given and unique power flow distribution presenting the minimum power losses. The proposed approach can be particularly interesting for diesel-based islanded microgrids that face, constantly, the issue of reducing their dependency from fossil fuels and of enhancing their gener…
Advantages of fitting contrast curves using logistic function: a technical note.
2013
Objective The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the contrast properties of an imaging system can be ideally fitted with the use of stripe patterns and the logistic function. Study Design Stripe patterns with defined amounts of line pairs (lp/mm) per mm (10-20 lp/mm) were recorded with the use of digital photostimulable storage phosphor. Scan data and normalized image data were analyzed with the use of ImageJ and MatLab to calculate different contrast curves. Results For original scan data, the goodness of fit was 0.0000019 (sum of squared error [SSE]). The R-square was 0.9998. For normalized data the goodness of fit was 0.0007 (SSE) and the R-square 0.998. An amount of 50% contrast …
North Atlantic Ice‐Rafting, Ocean and Atmospheric Circulation During the Holocene: Insights From Western Mediterranean Speleothems
2019
In this study, we present a Holocene rainfall index based on three high-resolution speleothem records from the Western Mediterranean, a region under the influence of the westerly winds belt modulated by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). On centennial to millennial timescales, we show that the North Atlantic ice-rafting events were likely associated with negative NAO-like conditions during the Early Holocene and the Late Holocene. However, our data reveal that this is not clearly the case for the mid-Holocene ice-rafting events, during which we also show evidence of positive NAO-like patterns from other paleo-oceanographic and paleo-atmospheric data. Hence, contradictory mechanisms invol…