Renovation Effect of Flax FRP-Reinforced Cracked Concrete Slabs under Impact Loadings

The impact behaviour of flax fibre-reinforced polymer (FFRP) renovated coconut fibre-reinforced concrete (CFRC) slabs was investigated through two series of experiments and theoretical analysis. The first experiment was carried out to find out the effectiveness of FFRP retrofitted method for the partly damaged concrete structure and its performance under impact loadings. The renovation process was applied on the pre-cracked rectangular CFRC slabs of 600 mm × 300 mm × 50 mm with FFRP laminates, before the repeated impact tests. Then, the parameters of these slabs, i.e., impact force history, deflection history and damage pattern, were discussed in detail. Another experiment was conducted on the FFRP-CFRC square slabs with a dimension of 600 mm × 600 mm × 50 mm. Based on test results, the effect of different FFRP configurations was discussed to find out the effective reinforcement method. In addition, the two-degree-of-freedom spring-mass model was applied to predict the impact force. Results demonstrate that FFRP composites have a good potential to be utilised as renovated construction materials under dynamic load conditions.

Soil Stabilization using Waste Cotton Clothes Coated with Bitumen

Properties of soil can be enhanced by using different stabilization techniques. Cotton clothes have a high tensile Strength as compare to natural fibers. In this study waste cotton clothes coated with bitumen were used for stabilization of soil. As waste cotton clothes are cost effective and eco-friendly, they can be modified and used as effective reinforcement material/stabilizer. Experiment was carried out by adding 1% and 2% of waste cotton cloth coated with bitumen to improve its strength characteristics.

LAB-SCALE TESTS OF INCOHERENT ROCK REINFORCEMENT USING TWO-COMPONENT POLYMER BLENDS

The study addresses improvement of physical and mechanical properties of incoherent sediments by means of their chemical reinforcement using two-component resins. The lab-scale testing data on reinforcement of fine-grained quartz sand using two-component activated mineral and polyurethane resin blends are presented. Resins were injected by two ways on the tests. The first method was sequential injection of the polymer blend components in rock samples. The second method was injection of finished polymer blends. The two-component activated mineral and polyurethane resin blends ensure more effective reinforcement of incoherent sediment rocks as against foamed polyurethane blends. The uniaxial compression strength of reinforced fine-grained sand is 2.5-3 times higher in case of sequential injection of the components than in injection of finished mixtures. The elasticity modulus of the reinforced samples is 5.5-6 times higher in sequential injection than in injection of finished blends. The test results are useful for selection and optimization of injection method for two-component polymer blends in stabilization of broken rocks and in water-proofing of underground excavations.

Evaluation of Mechanical Properties of Micro-Titanium and CNT Reinforced Copper Based MMC

Copper based composites plays a vital role in the field of marine, aerospace, automobile and power sector for making of components like electrical sliding contacts, gears, bearings, bushes, brakes and clutches etc. Even though promising reinforcements are available for the composites, always researchers search for the new combination of matrix and reinforcement for tailored properties and cost effectiveness. CNT is one of the effective reinforcement used in the metal matrix composites by various researches because of its excellent properties. The present work is focused on the preparation of copper/CNTs/Micro-Titanium composite through stir casting technique performance studies of the composite are made on the mechanical properties. The composite prepared with reinforcement such as CNTs and Micro-Titanium of 0.5, 1, 1.5 % and 1, 3 & 5wt. % were studied. The Tensile strength, Compression strength, Hardness was found out via experimentation.

Development of effective fiber-reinforced concrete compositions used in transportation structures

The possibility of producing fiber-reinforced concrete with high deformation properties by regulating the microstructure and using it in the design of transport structures was considered. It was found that to create high-performance transport structures, it is necessary to modify fiber mixtures with complex additives, i. e. increase the strength of fiber-reinforced concrete at the micro-level. To obtain a denser structure of the concrete matrix, complex additives were used – ultrafine additive (silica fume) and Master Air 200 B air-entraining additive. It was experimentally proved that using such additives reduces the water-cement ratio and further strengthens the concrete matrix structure. The design of the unloading structure on the railway line constructed from the Karadag station (Republic of Azerbaijan) to the SOCAR oil and gas processing and petrochemical complex using fiber-reinforced concrete modified with complex additives was made. The results of designing the fiber-reinforced concrete unloading structure were analyzed and the results of designing the fiber-reinforced concrete unloading structure and the regular concrete unloading structure were compared. As a result of the comparison, it was found that using fiber-reinforced concrete decreases the cross-section diameter of the effective reinforcement of the slab – the cross-section diameter of the effective reinforcement of the pavement slab decreases from Æ2×32 mm to Æ32 mm in the upper and Æ25 mm in the lower row, respectively. Crack resistance is also increased compared to regular concrete. Thus, in order to create structures with high transport and operational parameters, it is necessary to modify fiber-reinforced concrete mixtures with complex additives

The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Reinforcement by Cemented-Carbide Plates in Two Design Variants of the Chisels Intended for Cultivation–Sowing Aggregates

Field tribological tests of two design variants of chisels used in the teeth of a cultivation-sowing unit were carried out in this research. A characteristic feature of the first variant of chisels was the reinforcement of their contact surface and almost the entire rake surface by plates made of cemented carbides. On the other hand, the second variant of chisels was reinforced only in the area of the blade by two plates made of cemented carbides, soldered on the rake face of the elements. The use of the first variant of chisels contributed to a significant reduction in the wear rate of elements, especially in terms of thickness and width loss. Effective reinforcement of the rake face, with relatively lower resistance to length reduction in the elements, raises doubts as to the validity of the use of cemented-carbide plates on almost the entire length of their rake face, because the applied variant of chisels contributed to a significantly higher price. However, the second variant of chisels effectively limited the intensity of the loss of the length of the elements, and the cause of the loss of their usefulness as part of the base material wear. It was found that the main wear mechanism of the cemented-carbide plates consisted of matrix removal under the influence of the finest fraction of the soil, which weakened the embedding of carbides, and then crushing or chipping of carbide grains from the matrix, whereas the dominant wear mechanisms of martensitic steel were grooving and micro-cutting.

Improvement of Stop-Hole Method on Fatigue-Cracked Steel Plates by Using High-Strength Bolts and CFRP Strips

Steel bridges are extremely damaged by fatigue subjected to cycling load. Therefore, it is often necessary to put forward effective reinforcement to strengthen steel structures during the daily maintenance. In this study, two repairing methods of high-strength bolts and high-modulus CFRP strips on the basis of stop-hole repair method were introduced, respectively, to investigate fatigue improvement of cracked steel plates. First of all, numerical analysis was conducted to predict the repair efficiency and investigate the optimal parameters of each method. Variables studied were stop-hole diameter, pretightening force of bolt, and size of CFRP patch. Subsequently, a total of 12 specimens were tested to study the repairing efficiency of cracked steel plates with various strengthening methods through cyclic loading. At the same time, the failure mode and fatigue life were analyzed to present the improvement of fatigue performance. In addition, the experimental results were compared against the S-N curves of this strengthened fatigue detail. The outcomes of this study revealed that an improvement in the influence of fatigue-crack repair with the adoption of these two strengthening methods was evident. Numerical results showed that the addition of these materials could significantly diminish stress concentration factor around hole edge and improve their fatigue performance in comparison with only stop-hole method. Fatigue test results indicated that the crack initiation life of specimens repaired by stop-hole method was more than 20 times that of the unrepaired specimens. The high-strength bolt reinforced stop hole and CFRP patched stop hole can extend the crack initiation life by 9 and 8 times, respectively, in contrast to control specimens with sole stop-hole method. Finally, it was demonstrated that repairing damaged steel plates with stop-hole method alone was not enough to satisfy the fatigue strength requirements of various countries. But the fatigue strength category of damaged steel plates after further repairing with high-strength bolts and high-elastic-modulus CFRP, respectively, was higher than category A of AASHTO.