Thermal response of integral abutment bridges with mechanically stabilized earth walls.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-01

The advantages of integral abutment bridges (IABs) include reduced maintenance costs and increased useful life spans. : However, improved procedures are necessary to account for the impacts of cyclic thermal displacements on IAB components, : includi...

Inspection Based Evaluation of a Danish Road Bridge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thoft-Christensen, Palle

In this paper it is shown how an inspection-based evaluation of a Danish road bridge may be performed using the BRIDGE1 and BRIDGE2 bridge management systems produced within the EC-supported research programme "Assessment of Performance and Optimal Strategies for Inspection and Maintenance...

Monitoring and Evaluation of a Long-Span Raiway Bridge Using SENTINEL-1 Data

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Q.; Crosetto, M.; Monserrat, O.; Crippa, B.

2017-09-01

This paper is focused on displacement monitoring of a bridge, which is one of the key aspects of its structural health monitoring. A simplified Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) approach is used to monitor the displacements of the Nanjing Dashengguan Yangtze River High-speed Railway Bridge (China). This bridge is 1272 m long and hosts a total of 6 railway lines. The analysis was based on a set of twenty-nine Sentinel-1A images, acquired from April 2015 to August 2016. A dense set of measurement points were selected on the bridge. The PSI results show a maximum longitudinal displacement of 150 mm, on each side of the bridge. The displacements are strongly correlated with the temperature, showing that they are due to thermal expansion. Using the PSI results, the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) of the whole bridge was estimated. The result agrees well with the CTE of the bridge materials. Using a regression model, the PSI-measured displacements were compared with in-situ measurements. The paper proposes a procedure to assess the performance of the movable bearings of the bridge, which is based on the PSI measurements.

Detection of insulation flaws and thermal bridges in insulated truck box panels

OpenAIRE

Lei, Lei; Bortolin, Alessandro; Bison, Paolo ©; Maldague, X.

2017-01-01

This paper focuses on the detection of defects and thermal bridges in insulated truck box panels, utilising infrared thermography. Unlike the traditional way in which passive thermography is applied, this research uses both heating and cooling methods in active thermography configurations. Lamp heating is used as the hot external stimulation, while a compressed air jet is applied as the cold external stimulation. A thermal camera captures the whole process. In addition, numerical simulations ...

Key Royale bridge five year evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-01

This report describes the design, construction, instrumentation, and five-year evaluation of the Key Royale Bridge substructure. The primary focus was the evaluation of the implementation of highly reactive supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) ...

Study on bridge checking evaluation based on deformation-Stress data

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jing Xian; Cheng, Ying Jie

2018-06-01

Bridge structure plays a very important role in human traffic. The evaluation of bridge structure after a certain period of operation has always been the focus of the bridge. Based on the data collected from the health inspection system of a continuous rigid frame bridge on a highway in Yunnan, China, it is found that there is a certain linear relationship between the deformation and stress of the bridge structure. In view of a specific section of the structure, the stress value of this section can be derived according to its deformation value. The coefficient K can be calculated by comparing the estimated value to the actual measured value. According to the range of the K value, the structural state of the bridge can be evaluated to a certain extent.

A probabilistic bridge safety evaluation against floods.

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Kuo-Wei; Muto, Yasunori; Chen, Wei-Lun; Wu, Bang-Ho

2016-01-01

To further capture the influences of uncertain factors on river bridge safety evaluation, a probabilistic approach is adopted. Because this is a systematic and nonlinear problem, MPP-based reliability analyses are not suitable. A sampling approach such as a Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) or importance sampling is often adopted. To enhance the efficiency of the sampling approach, this study utilizes Bayesian least squares support vector machines to construct a response surface followed by an MCS, providing a more precise safety index. Although there are several factors impacting the flood-resistant reliability of a bridge, previous experiences and studies show that the reliability of the bridge itself plays a key role. Thus, the goal of this study is to analyze the system reliability of a selected bridge that includes five limit states. The random variables considered here include the water surface elevation, water velocity, local scour depth, soil property and wind load. Because the first three variables are deeply affected by river hydraulics, a probabilistic HEC-RAS-based simulation is performed to capture the uncertainties in those random variables. The accuracy and variation of our solutions are confirmed by a direct MCS to ensure the applicability of the proposed approach. The results of a numerical example indicate that the proposed approach can efficiently provide an accurate bridge safety evaluation and maintain satisfactory variation.

Evaluating fire-damaged components of historic covered bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Brian Kukay; Charles Todd; Tyler Jahn; Jenson Sannon; Logan Dunlap; Robert White; Mark Dietenberger

2016-01-01

Arson continues to claim many historic covered bridges. Site-specific, post-fire evaluations of the structural integrity of a bridge are often necessary in a fire’s aftermath. Decisions on whether individual wood components can be rehabilitated, reconstructed, or replaced must be made. This report includes coverage of existing approaches and exploratory approaches that...

Nondestructive Evaluation of Railway Bridge by System Identification Using Field Vibration Measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ho, Duc Duy; Hong, Dong Soo; Kim, Jeong Tae

2010-01-01

This paper presents a nondestructive evaluation approach for system identification (SID) of real railway bridges using field vibration test results. First, a multi-phase SID scheme designed on the basis of eigenvalue sensitivity concept is presented. Next, the proposed multi-phase approach is evaluated from field vibration tests on a real railway bridge (Wondongcheon bridge) located in Yangsan, Korea. On the steel girder bridge, a few natural frequencies and mode shapes are experimentally measured under the ambient vibration condition. The corresponding modal parameters are numerically calculated from a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model established for the target bridge. Eigenvalue sensitivities are analyzed for potential model-updating parameters of the FE model. Then, structural subsystems are identified phase-by-phase using the proposed model-updating procedure. Based on model-updating results, a baseline model and a nondestructive evaluation of test bridge are identified

Fatigue evaluation for Tsing Ma Bridge using structural health monitoring data

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Hung-tin Tommy; Ko, Jan Ming; Li, Zhao-Xia

2001-08-01

Fatigue assessment for the Tsing Ma Bridge (TMB) are presented based on the British standard BS5400 and the real-time structural health monitoring data under railway loading. TMB, as an essential portion of transport network for the Hong Kong airport, is the longest suspension bridge in the world carrying both highway and railway traffic. The bridge design has been mainly based on BS5400. A structural health monitoring system - Wind and Structural Health Monitoring System (WASHMS) for TMB has been operated since the bridge commissioning in May 1997. In order to assess the fatigue behavior of TMB under railway loading, strain gauges were installed on the bridge deck to measure the strain-time histories as soon as the bridge is loaded by a standard railway loading due to the service of an actual train. The strain-time history data at the critical members are then used to determine the stress spectrum, of which the rainflow method recommended for railway bridges by BS5400 is applied to count cycles of stress range. Miner's law is employed to evaluate fatigue damage and remaining service life of the bridge. The evaluated results of fatigue damage and remaining service life would help us to well understand about the fatigue design of the bridge and status in fatigue accumulation.

Thermal expansion and magnetic properties of benzoquinone-bridged dinuclear rare-earth complexes.

Science.gov (United States)

Moilanen, Jani O; Mansikkamäki, Akseli; Lahtinen, Manu; Guo, Fu-Sheng; Kalenius, Elina; Layfield, Richard A; Chibotaru, Liviu F

2017-10-10

The synthesis and structural characterization of two benzoquinone-bridged dinuclear rare-earth complexes [BQ(MCl 2 ·THF 3 ) 2 ] (BQ = 2,5-bisoxide-1,4-benzoquinone; M = Y (1), Dy (2)) are described. Of these reported metal complexes, the dysprosium analogue 2 is the first discrete bridged dinuclear lanthanide complex in which both metal centres reside in pentagonal bipyramidal environments. Interestingly, both complexes undergo significant thermal expansion upon heating from 120 K to 293 K as illustrated by single-crystal X-ray and powder diffraction experiments. AC magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal that 2 does not show the slow relation of magnetization in zero dc field. The absent of single-molecule behaviour in 2 arises from the rotation of the principal magnetic axis as compared to the pseudo-C 5 axis of the pentagonal bipyramidal environment as suggested by ab initio calculations. The cyclic voltammetry and chemical reduction experiments demonstrated that complexes 1 and 2 can be reduced to radical species containing [BQ 3 ˙ - ]. This study establishes efficient synthetic strategy to make bridged redox-active multinuclear lanthanide complexes with a pentagonal bipyramidal coordination environment that are potential precursors for single-molecule magnets.

Evaluation of streambed scour at bridges over tidal waterways in Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Conaway, Jeffrey S.; Schauer, Paul V.

2012-01-01

The potential for streambed scour was evaluated at 41 bridges that cross tidal waterways in Alaska. These bridges are subject to several coastal and riverine processes that have the potential, individually or in combination, to induce streambed scour or to damage the structure or adjacent channel. The proximity of a bridge to the ocean and water-surface elevation and velocity data collected over a tidal cycle were criteria used to identify the flow regime at each bridge, whether tidal, riverine, or mixed, that had the greatest potential to induce streambed scour. Water-surface elevations measured through at least one tide cycle at 32 bridges were correlated to water levels at the nearest tide station. Asymmetry of the tidal portion of the hydrograph during the outgoing tide at 12 bridges indicated that riverine flows were stored upstream of the bridge during the tidal exchange. This scenario results in greater discharges and velocities during the outgoing tide compared to those on the incoming tide. Velocity data were collected during outgoing tides at 10 bridges that experienced complete flow reversals, and measured velocities during the outgoing tide exceeded the critical velocity required to initiate sediment transport at three sites. The primary risk for streambed scour at most of the sites considered in this study is from riverine flows rather than tidal fluctuations. A scour evaluation for riverine flow was completed at 35 bridges. Scour from riverine flow was not the primary risk for six tidally-controlled bridges and therefore not evaluated at those sites. Field data including channel cross sections, a discharge measurement, and a water-surface slope were collected at the 35 bridges. Channel instability was identified at 14 bridges where measurable scour and or fill were noted in repeated surveys of channel cross sections at the bridge. Water-surface profiles for the 1-percent annual exceedance probability discharge were calculated by using the Hydrologic

Unsupervised Performance Evaluation Strategy for Bridge Superstructure Based on Fuzzy Clustering and Field Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yubo Jiao

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Performance evaluation of a bridge is critical for determining the optimal maintenance strategy. An unsupervised bridge superstructure state assessment method is proposed in this paper based on fuzzy clustering and bridge field measured data. Firstly, the evaluation index system of bridge is constructed. Secondly, a certain number of bridge health monitoring data are selected as clustering samples to obtain the fuzzy similarity matrix and fuzzy equivalent matrix. Finally, different thresholds are selected to form dynamic clustering maps and determine the best classification based on statistic analysis. The clustering result is regarded as a sample base, and the bridge state can be evaluated by calculating the fuzzy nearness between the unknown bridge state data and the sample base. Nanping Bridge in Jilin Province is selected as the engineering project to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Bridging the Evaluation Gap

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Paul Wouters

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Paul Wouters’ essay is concerned with bridging the gap between what we value in our academic work and how we are assessed in formal evaluation exercises. He reflects on the recent evaluation of his own center, and reminds us that it is productive to see evaluations not as the (obviously impossible attempt to produce a true representation of past work, but rather as the exploration and performance of “who one wants to be.” Reflecting on why STS should do more than just play along to survive in the indicator game, he suggests that our field should contribute to changing its very rules. In this endeavor, the attitude and sensibilities developed in our field may be more important than any specific theoretical concepts or methodologies.

Timber bridge evaluation : a global nondestructive approach using impact generated FRFs

Science.gov (United States)

Angus Morison; C.D. Van Karsen; H.A. Evensen; J.B. Ligon; J.R. Erickson; R.J. Ross; J.W. Forsman

2002-01-01

Bridges require periodic inspections to ensure the safety of those using the structure. A visual inspection has historically been the most common form of investigation for timber bridges. This poses many problems when inspecting bridge timbers since often the damage is internal, leaving no visible signs of decay on the surface. Localized nondestructive evaluation (NDE...

Comprehensive evaluation of fracture critical bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-02-01

Two-girder steel bridges are classified as fracture critical bridges based on the definition given in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. In a fracture critical bridge a failure of a tension member leads to collapse of the bridge. However, ...

Evaluation of Dynamic Load Factors for a High-Speed Railway Truss Arch Bridge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ding Youliang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Studies on dynamic impact of high-speed trains on long-span bridges are important for the design and evaluation of high-speed railway bridges. The use of the dynamic load factor (DLF to account for the impact effect has been widely accepted in bridge engineering. Although the field monitoring studies are the most dependable way to study the actual DLF of the bridge, according to previous studies there are few field monitoring data on high-speed railway truss arch bridges. This paper presents an evaluation of DLF based on field monitoring and finite element simulation of Nanjing DaShengGuan Bridge, which is a high-speed railway truss arch bridge with the longest span throughout the world. The DLFs in different members of steel truss arch are measured using monitoring data and simulated using finite element model, respectively. The effects of lane position, number of train carriages, and speed of trains on DLF are further investigated. By using the accumulative probability function of the Generalized Extreme Value Distribution, the probability distribution model of DLF is proposed, based on which the standard value of DLF within 50-year return period is evaluated and compared with different bridge design codes.

New type of thermal analyzer with a micro-air-bridge heater

Science.gov (United States)

Kimura, Mitsuteru; Hayasaka, Junichi

1997-11-01

Miniaturized sensor for thermal analysis is fabricated using micromachining technique and its fundament al characteristics are obtained. This device fabricated in a Si substrate consists of monolithically integrated components of an air-bridge type microheater, a thin film thermocouple and a sample-holder. Boiling points of liquid samples, water and methanol, are observed in the heating curve and the heating-rate curve, and sudden decrease of the temperature at the dropping time of the liquid samples at room temperature due to the effect of evaporation heat is also observed. Loss of the sample due to the evaporation during heating was theoretically discussed.

Myocardial bridging as evaluated by 16 row MDCT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Canyigit, Murat; Hazirolan, Tuncay; Karcaaltincaba, Musturay; Dagoglu, Merve Gulbiz; Akata, Deniz; Aytemir, Kudret; Oto, Ali; Balkanci, Ferhun; Akpinar, Erhan; Besim, Aytekin

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out the prevalence, appearance and clinical symptoms of myocardial bridging (MB) by MDCT coronary angiography (CTA). Materials and methods: A total of 280 (50 females) consecutive patients followed with coronary artery disease or postoperative stent and bypass control, underwent CTA performed by 16-MDCT scanner between January 2006 and April 2006. Short axis multiplanar reformatted images were evaluated. MBs were classified as complete and incomplete bridges with respect to continuity of the myocardium over the tunneled segment of left anterior descending artery (LAD) in interventricular groove and the cut-off value is 1.3 mm. Patients diagnosed with MB on CTA who had prior catheter angiography studies were re-evaluated for the presence of MB. Results: One hundred and twenty MBs [98 (81.6%) on LAD, 2 (1.6%) on diagonal branch, 11 (9.1%) on obtuse marginal, 4 (3.3%) on right coronary artery, 5 (4.1%) on ramus intermedius artery] were detected in 108 (38.5%) patients. Eighty-five (70.8%) of bridged segments in 79 (28.2%) patients were complete and the rest [35 (29.2%) in 34 (12.1%) patients] were incomplete. In 12 patients two MBs (either on different arteries or on the same artery) were detected. The length of bridged segments in patients with complete and incomplete MBs varied between 4-50.9 mm (mean 18 mm) and 4-37.3 mm (mean 13.6 mm), respectively, and the depth of myocardium over the artery ranged between 1-6.4 mm (mean 2.3 mm) and 1-1.2 mm (mean 1 mm), respectively. Thirty (27.7%) out of 108 patients, in whom MB was detected on CTA, were found to have correlative catheter angiography studies, retrospectively and MB was detected only in 4 (13.3%) out of 30 patients. Conclusion: MDCT coronary angiography is a non-invasive, efficient method in the diagnosis of MB avoiding the procedural risks that catheter angiography carries. MDCT coronary angiography allows direct visualization of the bridge itself and may thus give

Sensing sheet: the response of full-bridge strain sensors to thermal variations for detecting and characterizing cracks

Science.gov (United States)

Tung, S.-T.; Glisic, B.

2016-12-01

Sensing sheets based on large-area electronics consist of a dense array of unit strain sensors. This new technology has potential for becoming an effective and affordable monitoring tool that can identify, localize and quantify surface damage in structures. This research contributes to their development by investigating the response of full-bridge unit strain sensors to thermal variations. Overall, this investigation quantifies the effects of temperature on thin-film full-bridge strain sensors monitoring uncracked and cracked concrete. Additionally, an empirical formula is developed to estimate crack width given an observed strain change and a measured temperature change. This research led to the understanding of the behavior of full-bridge strain sensors installed on cracked concrete and exposed to temperature variations. It proves the concept of the sensing sheet and its suitability for application in environments with variable temperature.

Structural Behavior of a Long-Span Partially Earth-Anchored Cable-Stayed Bridge during Installation of a Key Segment by Thermal Prestressing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sang-Hyo Kim

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This study investigated structural behavior of long-span partially earth-anchored cable-stayed bridges with a main span length of 810 m that use a new key segment closing method based on a thermal prestressing technique. A detailed construction sequence analysis matched with the free cantilever method (FCM was performed using a three-dimensional finite element (FE model of a partially earth-anchored cable-stayed bridge. The new method offers an effective way of connecting key segments by avoiding large movements resulting from the removal of the longitudinal restraint owing to the asymmetry of axial forces in the girders near the pylons. The new method develops new member forces through the process of heating the cantilever system before installing the key segment and cooling the system continuously after installing key segments. The resulting forces developed by the thermal process enhance the structural behavior of partially earth-anchored cable-stayed bridges owing to decreased axial forces in the girders.

Energy-based damping evaluation of cable-stayed bridges and its application to Tsurumi Tsubasa bridge; Shachokyo shindo gensui no energy teki hyokaho to Tsurumi Tsubasakyo eno tekiyo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamaguchi, H. [Saitama University, Saitama (Japan). Faculty of Engineering; Takano, H.; Ogasawara, M.; Shimosato, T. [Metropolitan Expressway Public Corp., Tokyo (Japan); Kato, M.; Kato, H. [NKK Corp., Tokyo (Japan)

1996-07-21

This paper provides and discusses a more common energy-based evaluation method of vibration damping in cable-stayed bridges. This method was applied to data obtained from the field vibration test of the Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge. The damping was defined as dissipation energy in one cycle against the total potential energy. The dissipation energy from shoe friction, aerodynamic damping, and dampers for cables was added to the method proposed by Yamaguchi, et. al., in which the energy of girders, towers, and cables were quantitated, and the dissipation energy was determined from the loss factor of each constituent, to evaluate the damping of whole bridge. Thus, a more common energy-based evaluation method was provided. This method was applied to the damping obtained from the field vibration test of Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge. Consequently, it was found that the damping of whole bridge was significantly affected by the shoe friction, aerodynamic damping, and dampers for cables. Distinguished damping characteristics of the Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge could be explained by the energy-based evaluation. Validity of the energy-based evaluation method for damping of cable-stayed bridges was demonstrated. 15 refs., 9 figs., 6 tabs.

A low-noise measurement system for scanning thermal microscopy resistive nanoprobes based on a transformer ratio-arm bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Świątkowski, Michał; Wojtuś, Arkadiusz; Wielgoszewski, Grzegorz; Rudek, Maciej; Piasecki, Tomasz; Jóźwiak, Grzegorz; Gotszalk, Teodor

2018-04-01

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a widely used technology for the investigation and characterization of nanomaterials. Its functionality can be easily expanded by applying dedicated extension modules, which can measure the electrical conductivity or temperature of a sample. In this paper, we introduce a transformer ratio-arm bridge setup dedicated to AFM-based thermal imaging. One of the key features of the thermal module is the use of a low-power driving signal that prevents undesirable tip heating during resistance measurement, while the other is the sensor location in a ratio-arm transformer bridge working in the audio frequency range and ensuring galvanic isolation of the tip, enabling contact-mode scanning of electronic circuits. The proposed expansion module is compact and it can be integrated onto the AFM head close to the cantilever. The calibration process and the resolution of 11 mK of the proposed setup are shown.

Simple Evaluation of Load-Carrying Capacity of Multi-Span Folding Bridges based on Floating Supports

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Marszałek

2014-12-01

Full Text Available [b]Abstract[/b]. The papers covers simple evaluation of load-carrying capacity of multi-span folding bridges based on floating supports. Combined bridges built in this approach, could be used as a temporary crossing. The methodology of this evaluation is shown graphically on the basis of designed nomograms for two existing bridge structures i.e. MS-54 and DMS-65, mounted on rigid and floating supports. These nomograms facilitate the simple and fast determination of the impact of changing fixed support into floating support with different bridge length spans on the carrying capacity of the bridge. The paper also presents the influence of long-term use (enlarging the mounting backlash in the joints of these structures on the carrying capacity of the bridge.[b]Keywords[/b]: building, folding bridges, nomograms, assembly clearances

Seismic Vulnerability Evaluation of a Three-Span Continuous Beam Railway Bridge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chongwen Jiang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In order to evaluate the seismic vulnerability of a railway bridge, a nonlinear finite element model of typical three-span continuous beam bridge on the Sichuan-Tibet railway in China was built. It further aimed at performing a probabilistic seismic demand analysis based on the seismic performance of the above-mentioned bridge. Firstly, the uncertainties of bridge parameters were analyzed while a set of finite element model samples were formulated with Latin hypercube sampling method. Secondly, under Wenchuan earthquake ground motions, an incremental dynamic method (IDA analysis was performed, and the seismic peak responses of bridge components were recorded. Thirdly, the probabilistic seismic demand model for the bridge principal components under the prerequisite of two different kinds of bearing, with and without seismic isolation, was generated. Finally, comparison was drawn to further ascertain the effect of two different kinds of bearings on the fragility components. Based on the reliability theory, results were presented concerning the seismic fragility curves.

Evaluation of High-Speed Railway Bridges Based on a Nondestructive Monitoring System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mosbeh R. Kaloop

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, trains’ velocities in Korea increased more than the speed used in the design of some bridges. Accordingly, this paper demonstrates the evaluation of a railway bridge due to high-speed trains’ movement. A nondestructive monitoring system is used to assess the bridge performance under train speeds of 290, 360, 400 and 406 km/h. This system is comprised of a wireless short-term acceleration system and strain monitoring sensors attached to the bridge girder. The results of the analytical methods in time and frequency domains are presented. The following conclusions are obtained: the cross-correlation models for accelerations and strain measurements are effective to predict the performance of the bridge; the static behavior is increased with train speed developments; and the vibration, torsion, fatigue and frequency contents analyses of the bridge show that the bridge is safe under applied trains’ speeds.

Streambed scour evaluations and conditions at selected bridge sites in Alaska, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Beebee, Robin A.; Schauer, Paul V.

2015-11-19

Streambed scour potential was evaluated at 18 river- and stream-spanning bridges in Alaska that have unknown foundation details or a lack of existing scour analysis. All sites were evaluated for stream stability and long-term scour potential. Contraction scour and abutment scour were calculated for 17 bridges, and pier scour was calculated for 7 bridges that had piers. Vertical contraction (pressure flow) scour was calculated for sites with overtopping floods (where the modeled water surface was higher than the superstructure of the bridge). In most cases, hydraulic models of the 1- and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability floods (also known as the 100- and 500-year floods, respectively) were used to derive hydraulic variables for the scour calculations. Alternate flood values were used in scour calculations for sites where smaller floods overtopped a bridge or where standard flood-frequency estimation techniques did not apply. Scour was also calculated for large recorded floods at several sites. Equations for scour in cohesive soils were used for sites where streambed sediment was silt-sized or smaller.

Structural evaluation of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge : element level analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

2008-07-01

The primary objective of the structural evaluation of the John A. Roebling Bridge is to determine the maximum allowable gross vehicle weight (GVW) that can be carried by the bridge deck structural elements such as the open steel grid deck, channels, ...

Reliability Evaluation of Bridges Based on Nonprobabilistic Response Surface Limit Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuyong Chen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Due to many uncertainties in nonprobabilistic reliability assessment of bridges, the limit state function is generally unknown. The traditional nonprobabilistic response surface method is a lengthy and oscillating iteration process and leads to difficultly solving the nonprobabilistic reliability index. This article proposes a nonprobabilistic response surface limit method based on the interval model. The intention of this method is to solve the upper and lower limits of the nonprobabilistic reliability index and to narrow the range of the nonprobabilistic reliability index. If the range of the reliability index reduces to an acceptable accuracy, the solution will be considered convergent, and the nonprobabilistic reliability index will be obtained. The case study indicates that using the proposed method can avoid oscillating iteration process, make iteration process stable and convergent, reduce iteration steps significantly, and improve computational efficiency and precision significantly compared with the traditional nonprobabilistic response surface method. Finally, the nonprobabilistic reliability evaluation process of bridge will be built through evaluating the reliability of one PC continuous rigid frame bridge with three spans using the proposed method, which appears to be more simple and reliable when lack of samples and parameters in the bridge nonprobabilistic reliability evaluation is present.

Preparation and Thermal Properties of Molecular-Bridged Expanded Graphite/Polyethylene Glycol Composite Phase Change Materials for Building Energy Conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Dong; Chen, Meizhu; Liu, Quantao; Wan, Jiuming; Hu, Jinxuan

2018-05-16

Using phase change materials (PCMs) in building envelopes became a reliable method to improve indoor comfort and reduce buildings' energy consumption. This research developed molecular-bridged expanded graphite (EG)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) composite PCMs (m-EPs) to conserve energy in buildings. The m-EPs were prepared through a vacuum absorption technique, and a titanate coupling agent was used to build a molecular bridge between EG and PEG. SEM, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), the leakage test, microcalorimetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were conducted to characterize the morphology, pore structure, absorbability, and modifying effects of the m-EPs. The phase change temperature, latent heat, thermal stability, and thermal conductivity of the m-EPs were determined by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), TGA, and a thermal constants analyzer. Results showed that the maximum mass ratio of PEG to EG without leakage was 1:7, and a stable connection was established in the m-EPs after modification. Compared with the unmodified EPs, the supercooling degree of the m-EPs reduced by about 3 °C, but the latent heats and initial decomposition temperatures increased by approximately 10% and 20 °C, respectively, which indicated an improvement in the thermal energy storage efficiency. The thermal conductivities of the m-EPs were 10 times higher than those of the pristine PEGs, which ensured a rapid responding to building temperature fluctuations.

Railway bridge monitoring during construction and sliding

Science.gov (United States)

Inaudi, Daniele; Casanova, Nicoletta; Kronenberg, Pascal; Vurpillot, Samuel

1997-05-01

The Moesa railway bridge is a composite steel concrete bridge on three spans of 30 m each. The 50 cm thick concrete deck is supported on the lower flanges of two continuous, 2.7 m high I-beams. The bridge has been constructed alongside an old metallic bridge. After demolishing this one, the new bridge has been slid for 5 m by 4 hydraulic jacks and positioned on the refurbished piles of the old bridge. About 30 fiber optic, low-coherence sensors were imbedded in the concrete deck to monitor its deformations during concrete setting and shrinkage, as well as during the bridge sliding phase. In the days following concrete pour it was possible to follow its thermal expansion due to the exothermic setting reaction and the following thermal and during shrinkage. The deformations induced by the additional load produced by the successive concreting phases were also observed. During the bridge push, which extended over six hours, the embedded and surface mounted sensors allowed the monitoring of the curvature variations in the horizontal plane due to the slightly uneven progression of the jacks. Excessive curvature and the resulting cracking of concrete could be ruled out by these measurements. It was also possible to observe the bridge elongation under the heating action of the sun.

Evaluating the performance of skewed prestressed concrete bridge after strengthening

Science.gov (United States)

Naser, Ali Fadhil; Zonglin, Wang

2013-06-01

The objectives of this paper are to explain the application of repairing and strengthening methods on the damaged members of the bridge structure, to analyze the static and dynamic structural response under static and dynamic loads after strengthening, and to evaluate the structural performance after application of strengthening method. The repairing and strengthening methods which are used in this study include treatment of the cracks, thickening the web of box girder along the bridge length and adding internal pre-stressing tendons in the thickening web, and construct reinforced concrete cross beams (diaphragms) between two box girders. The results of theoretical analysis of static and dynamic structural responses after strengthening show that the tensile stresses are decreased and become less than the allowable limit values in the codes. The values of vertical deflection are decreased after strengthening. The values of natural frequencies after strengthening are increased, indicating that the strengthening method is effective to reduce the vibration of the bridge structure. Therefore, the strengthening methods are effective to improve the bearing capacity and elastic working state of the bridge structure and to increase the service life of the bridge structure.

Development and performance evaluation of fiber reinforced polymer bridge.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-03-01

Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) have become more popular construction materials in the last decade due to the reduction of : material costs. The installation and performance evaluation of the first FRP-wrapped balsa wood bridge in Louisiana is descri...

Evaluation of corrosion and corrosion control on interstate 89 bridge #30 and #31.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

This report summarizes the evaluation of the performance of cathodic protection installed on I-89 bridges over : Gile Pond Road (NH Route 114) during a rehabilitation project in 1987. : Control bridges of I-89 over Hominy Pot Road, approximately 1.5 ...

Condition assessment of timber bridges. 2, Evaluation of several stress-wave tools

Science.gov (United States)

Brian K. Brashaw; Robert J. Vatalaro; James P. Wacker; Robert J. Ross

2005-01-01

This study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of several stress-wave devices widely used for locating deteriorated areas in timber bridge members. Bridge components containing different levels of natural decay were tested using various devices. The specimens were then sawn (along their length) into slabs to expose their interior condition. The...

middle range theory evaluation: bridging the theory-practice gap

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The importance underlying the practice of nursing education must continue ... describes selected middle range theory evaluation as a tool for bridging ... engaging in innovative ways of acquiring competency. ..... performances, that guides learners attitudes towards ... Reference knowledge acquired by work experience.

Issues in bridge deck damage evaluation using aerial photos

Science.gov (United States)

Natarajan, M.; Chen, S. E.; Boyle, C.; Martin, E.; Hauser, E.

2012-04-01

Small format aerial photography (SFAP) with low flying technique is proposed for damage evaluation of bridge decks. High resolution images obtained using under-belly photography can be used to quantify the various bridge deck problems. The conventional truck-mount or vehicle-mount deck imaging technologies require a large number of image samples. Hence the physical scanning is time consuming and it is also challenging consider the size and location of a bridge. Aerial imaging overcomes these issues, but they face different kinds of challenges that are posed by obstacles such as shadow from trees, power lines and vehicles, signs and luminaries structures. The image resolution uncertainty, which is a function of the pilot skills and flying conditions, may also add additional challenges to aerial imaging technique. Hence different image processing tools have to be integrated into a single package to achieve the desired task. This paper summarizes the challenges faced and the preliminary results are presented and discussed.

Structural Performance Evaluation of Tsing MA Bridge Deck Using Long-Term Monitoring Data

Science.gov (United States)

Ni, Y. Q.; Xia, H. W.; Ko, J. M.

The Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong is suspension bridge with a main span of 1377 m carrying both highway and railway traffic. After completing its construction in 1997, the bridge was instrumented by the Hong Kong SAR Government Highways Department with a long-term structural health monitoring system comprising about 300 sensors permanently installed on the bridge. As part of this monitoring system, a total of 110 strain gauges have been installed to measure strain at the deck cross-sections and bearings. In this study, a method for real-time structural performance evaluation of the stiffening deck system making use of long-term strain measurement data is proposed and verified using the strain monitoring data from a typical deck cross-section of the Tsing Ma Bridge.

The role of salt bridges on the temperature adaptation of aqualysin I, a thermostable subtilisin-like proteinase.

Science.gov (United States)

Jónsdóttir, Lilja B; Ellertsson, Brynjar Ö; Invernizzi, Gaetano; Magnúsdóttir, Manuela; Thorbjarnardóttir, Sigríður H; Papaleo, Elena; Kristjánsson, Magnús M

2014-12-01

Differences in salt bridges are believed to be a structural hallmark of homologous enzymes from differently temperature-adapted organisms. Nevertheless, the role of salt bridges on structural stability is still controversial. While it is clear that most buried salt bridges can have a functional or structural role, the same cannot be firmly stated for ion pairs that are exposed on the protein surface. Salt bridges, found in X-ray structures, may not be stably formed in solution as a result of high flexibility or high desolvation penalty. More studies are thus needed to clarify the picture on salt bridges and temperature adaptation. We contribute here to this scenario by combining atomistic simulations and experimental mutagenesis of eight mutant variants of aqualysin I, a thermophilic subtilisin-like proteinase, in which the residues involved in salt bridges and not conserved in a psychrophilic homolog were systematically mutated. We evaluated the effects of those mutations on thermal stability and on the kinetic parameters. Overall, we show here that only few key charged residues involved in salt bridges really contribute to the enzyme thermal stability. This is especially true when they are organized in networks, as here attested by the D17N mutation, which has the most remarkable effect on stability. Other mutations had smaller effects on the properties of the enzyme indicating that most of the isolated salt bridges are not a distinctive trait related to the enhanced thermal stability of the thermophilic subtilase. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

LMFBR thermal-striping evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brunings, J.E.

1982-10-01

Thermal striping is defined as the fluctuating temperature field that is imposed on a structure when fluid streams at different temperatures mix in the vicinity of the structure surface. Because of the uncertainty in structural damage in LMFBR structures subject to thermal striping, EPRI has funded an effort for the Rockwell International Energy Systems Group to evaluate this problem. This interim report presents the following information: (1) a Thermal Striping Program Plan which identifies areas of analytic and experimental needs and presents a program of specific tasks to define damage experienced by ordinary materials of construction and to evaluate conservatism in the existing approach; (2) a description of the Thermal Striping Test Facility and its operation; and (3) results from the preliminary phase of testing to characterize the fluid environment to be applied in subsequent thermal striping damage experiments

Neighborhood Bridges: 2010-2011 Evaluation Report

Science.gov (United States)

Ingram, Debra

2011-01-01

In 2010-2011, students in twenty-five classrooms from eleven schools in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area participated in The Children's Theatre Company's Neighborhood Bridges (Bridges) program. The Children's Theatre Company contracted with the University of Minnesota's Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) to…

Non-destructive inspection protocol for reinforced concrete barriers and bridge railings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chintakunta, Satish R. [Engineering and Software Consultants, Inc., 14123 Robert Paris Ct., Chantilly, VA 20151 (United States); Boone, Shane D. [Federal Highway Administration, Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center, 6300 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101 (United States)

2014-02-18

Reinforced concrete highway barriers and bridge railings serve to prevent errant vehicles from departing the travel way at grade separations. Despite the important role that they play in maintaining safety and their ubiquitous nature, barrier inspection rarely moves beyond visual inspection. In August 2008, a tractor-trailer fatally departed William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge after it dislodged a section of the bridge barrier. Investigations following the accident identified significant corrosion of the anchor bolts attaching the bridge railing to the bridge deck. As a result of the information gathered during its investigation of the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration concerning Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of concrete bridge railings. The Center for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) at Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA is currently evaluating feasibility of using four technologies - ground penetrating radar (GPR), ultrasonic pulse-echo, digital radiography and infrared thermal imaging methods to develop bridge inspection methods that augment visual inspections, offer reliable measurement techniques, and are practical, both in terms of time and cost, for field inspection work. Controlled samples containing predefined corrosion levels in reinforcing steel were embedded at barrier connection points for laboratory testing. All four NDE techniques were used in the initial phase I testing. An inspection protocol for detecting and measuring the corrosion of reinforced steel embedded in the anchorage system will be developed as part of phase II research. The identified technologies shall be further developed for field testing utilizing a structure with a barrier in good condition and a structure with a barrier in poor condition.

Non-destructive inspection protocol for reinforced concrete barriers and bridge railings

Science.gov (United States)

Chintakunta, Satish R.; Boone, Shane D.

2014-02-01

Reinforced concrete highway barriers and bridge railings serve to prevent errant vehicles from departing the travel way at grade separations. Despite the important role that they play in maintaining safety and their ubiquitous nature, barrier inspection rarely moves beyond visual inspection. In August 2008, a tractor-trailer fatally departed William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge after it dislodged a section of the bridge barrier. Investigations following the accident identified significant corrosion of the anchor bolts attaching the bridge railing to the bridge deck. As a result of the information gathered during its investigation of the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration concerning Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of concrete bridge railings. The Center for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) at Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA is currently evaluating feasibility of using four technologies - ground penetrating radar (GPR), ultrasonic pulse-echo, digital radiography and infrared thermal imaging methods to develop bridge inspection methods that augment visual inspections, offer reliable measurement techniques, and are practical, both in terms of time and cost, for field inspection work. Controlled samples containing predefined corrosion levels in reinforcing steel were embedded at barrier connection points for laboratory testing. All four NDE techniques were used in the initial phase I testing. An inspection protocol for detecting and measuring the corrosion of reinforced steel embedded in the anchorage system will be developed as part of phase II research. The identified technologies shall be further developed for field testing utilizing a structure with a barrier in good condition and a structure with a barrier in poor condition.

Evaluation of bridge instability caused by dynamic scour based on fractal theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Tzu-Kang; Shian Chang, Yu; Wu, Rih-Teng; Chang, Kuo-Chun

2013-01-01

Given their special structural characteristics, bridges are prone to suffer from the effects of many hazards, such as earthquakes, wind, or floods. As most of the recent unexpected damage and destruction of bridges has been caused by hydraulic issues, monitoring the scour depth of bridges has become an important topic. Currently, approaches to scour monitoring mainly focus on either installing sensors on the substructure of a bridge or identifying the physical parameters of a bridge, which commonly face problems of system survival or reliability. To solve those bottlenecks, a novel structural health monitoring (SHM) concept was proposed by utilizing the two dominant parameters of fractal theory, including the fractal dimension and the topothesy, to evaluate the instability condition of a bridge structure rapidly. To demonstrate the performance of this method, a series of experiments has been carried out. The function of the two parameters was first determined using data collected from a single bridge column scour test. As the fractal dimension gradually decreased, following the trend of the scour depth, it was treated as an alternative to the fundamental frequency of a bridge structure in the existing methods. Meanwhile, the potential of a positive correlation between the topothesy and the amplitude of vibration data was also investigated. The excellent sensitivity of the fractal parameters related to the scour depth was then demonstrated in a full-bridge experiment. Moreover, with the combination of these two parameters, a safety index to detect the critical scour condition was proposed. The experimental results have demonstrated that the critical scour condition can be predicted by the proposed safety index. The monitoring system developed greatly advances the field of bridge scour health monitoring and offers an alternative choice to traditional scour monitoring technology. (paper)

Tidal Energy Conversion Installation at an Estuarine Bridge Site: Resource Evaluation and Energy Production Estimate

Science.gov (United States)

Wosnik, M.; Gagnon, I.; Baldwin, K.; Bell, E.

2015-12-01

The "Living Bridge" project aims to create a self-diagnosing, self-reporting "smart bridge" powered by a local renewable energy source, tidal energy - transforming Memorial Bridge, a vertical lift bridge over the tidal Piscataqua River connecting Portsmouth, NH and Kittery, ME, into a living laboratory for researchers, engineers, scientists, and the community. The Living Bridge project includes the installation of a tidal turbine at the Memorial Bridge. The energy converted by the turbine will power structural health monitoring, environmental and underwater instrumentation. Utilizing locally available tidal energy can make bridge operation more sustainable, can "harden" transportation infrastructure against prolonged grid outages and can demonstrate a prototype of an "estuarine bridge of the future". A spatio-temporal tidal energy resource assessment was performed using long term bottom-deployed Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) at two locations: near the planned deployment location in 2013-14 for 123 days and mid-channel in 2007 for 35 days. Data were evaluated to determine the amount of available kinetic energy that can be converted into usable electrical energy on the bridge. Changes in available kinetic energy with ebb/flood and spring/neap tidal cycles and electrical energy demand were analyzed. The target deployment site exhibited significantly more energetic ebb tides than flood tides, which can be explained by the local bathymetry of the tidal estuary. A system model is used to calculate the net energy savings using various tidal generator and battery bank configurations. Different resource evaluation methodologies were also analyzed, e.g., using a representative ADCP "bin" vs. a more refined, turbine-geometry-specific methodology, and using static bin height vs. bin height that move w.r.t. the free surface throughout a tidal cycle (representative of a bottom-fixed or floating turbine deployment, respectively). ADCP operating frequencies and bin

Evaluation of myocardial bridging by coronary computed tomography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barros, Marcio Vinicius Lins; Rabelo, Daniel Rocha; Siqueira, Maria Helena Albernaz, E-mail: marciovlbarros@uol.com.br [Hospital Mater Dei, Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Garretto, Luiza Samarane; Paula, Marcela Mascarenhas De; Carvalho, Marina Oliveira; Alves, Marina Rangel Moreira Barros [Faculdade de Saude e Ecologia Humana (FASEH), Vespasiano, MG (Brazil)

2013-01-15

The myocardial bridge (MB) is defined as a segment of an epicardial coronary artery that has an intramural course in the myocardium. Although MB is clinically silent in most cases, has been associated with myocardial ischemia, arrhythmias and sudden death. Coronary conventional angiography is the gold standard for detection of MB, but is invasive and cannot be sufficiently sensitive compared to autopsy studies. Recently, multislice computed tomography of coronary arteries (MCTCA) has allowed the detection of coronary artery course, including PM. Objectives: to evaluate MB prevalence in patients with suspected coronary artery disease undergoing MCTCA and to evaluate the predictive value of this method at medium term. Methods: during the period 2008 to 2011, 498 consecutive patients were examined by TMC for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, being conducted to evaluate the presence of BM and followed for a mean follow-up of 23 months for the occurrence of cardiovascular hard events (death, hospitalization or revascularization). Results: patients mean age was 55.3 ± 14.2, being male 71.1%. Among the patients, 7.6% (38 patients) showed MB. Main findings included angina pectoris in 40% and a positive stress test in 34%. 34.2% had atherosclerotic disease, and one patient had significant coronary stenosis. During follow-up, no patients showed adverse events. Conclusion: MCTCA is a noninvasive technique with high accuracy in anatomical evaluation of the coronary arteries and may be particularly useful to assess the incidence, location and morphology of myocardial bridging in vivo. (author)

Thermal environment evaluation. Evaluation de l'ambiance thermique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tilley, B

1988-01-01

This document describes interior thermal environment analysis and the techniques involved at three applicable stages of evaluation. They range from the study of plans and archives to physical measurement with sophisticated instrumentation. Environmental factors that influence the thermal state of the building occupant are measured. The occupant's perception of the thermal environment may also be investigated. One of the most important building functions is to isolate the occupants from adverse exterior thermal conditions and provide a productive and healthy interior environment. The thermal environment is determined by clothing level, activity level, air velocity, ambient air temperature, mean radiant temperature and moisture level. Since an optimal thermal environment may not be optimal in terms of the building's energy efficiency, the evaluation process will have to draw upon expertise in energy use and other disciplines at the stage where solutions are recommended. 16 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.

Myocardial bridging: evaluation with multislice computed tomography coronary angiography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barros, M.V.L. de; Rabelo, D.R.; Nunes, M.C.P.; Siqueira, M.H.A. [Mater Dei Hospital, Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil)

2012-04-15

Myocardial bridging (MB) is defined as a segment of a major epicardial coronary artery that proceeds intramurally through the myocardium beneath the muscle bridge. Although MB is clinically silent in most cases, it has been associated with myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, and sudden death. Conventional coronary angiography (CCA) is the gold standard for detection, but it is invasive and may not be sensitive enough to detect a thin bridge. Recently, multislice computed tomography coronary angiography (MCTCA) have made possible the clear detection of the entire running courses of coronary arteries and the MB itself. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence MB in patients suspect to coronary artery disease submitted to MCTCA and assessing the predictive value of this method in the midterm. Methods: 498 consecutive patients were examined by MCTCA for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and followed for a mean follow-up of 17 months for the occurrence of cardiovascular events (death, hospitalization and / or revascularization myocardial). Results: The mean age of patients was 58.4 ± 12.5 years old, 74.3% male. Among the patients, 6,02% (30 patients) showed MB. The major indications were angina pectoris in 45,8% and positive stress testing in 33,3%. 62,5% showed absent atherosclerotic disease and only 1 patient showed moderade descending anterior stenosis. During the follow-up none patient showed hard events. Conclusion: Patients with MB could present with angina pectoris and positive stress testing and showed midterm excellent prognosis. MCTCA is an alternative noninvasive imaging tool that allows for easy and accurate evaluation of MB.

Thermal CFD Analysis of Tubular Light Guides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ondřej Šikula

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Tubular light guides are applicable for daylighting of windowless areas in buildings. Despite their many positive indoor climate aspects they can also present some problems with heat losses and condensation. A computer CFD model focused on the evaluation of temperature distribution and air flow inside tubular light guides of different dimensions was studied. The physical model of the tested light guides of lengths more than 0.60 m proves shows that Rayleigh numbers are adequate for a turbulent air flow. The turbulent model was applied despite the small heat flux differences between the turbulent and laminar model. The CFD simulations resulted into conclusions that the growing ratio of length/diameter increases the heat transmission loss/linear transmittance as much as by 50 percent. Tubular light guides of smaller diameters have lower heat transmission losses compared to the wider ones of the same lengths with the same outdoor temperature being taken into account. The simulation results confirmed the thermal bridge effect of the tubular light guide tube inside the insulated flat roof details. The thermal transmittance of the studied light guides in the whole roof area was substituted with the point thermal bridges. This substitution gives possibility for simple thermal evaluation of the tubular light pipes in roof constructions.

Evaluation of seismic damage to bridges and highway systems in Shelby County, Tennessee

Science.gov (United States)

Jernigan, John Bailey

Past earthquakes have demonstrated that bridges are one of the most vulnerable components of highway transportation systems. In addition to bridges, roadways may also be subject to damage, particularly in an area prone to earthquake-induced liquefaction. As a consequence, the highway transportation systems after an earthquake might be impaired and the post-earthquake emergency response might be compromised. Furthermore, the impact on the regional economy might be very significant from the damage to highway systems. Since highway transportation systems are critical lifelines for people living in an urban area, it is important to evaluate the vulnerability of bridges and highway systems in earthquake-prone regions. Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee are located close to the southwestern segment of the New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ). This zone produced three of the largest earthquakes in North America in 1811--1812. Presently, the NMSZ is still active and is considered by engineers, seismologists, and public officials as the most hazardous seismic zone in the central and eastern United States. Bridges in the Memphis area were generally not designed for seismic resistance until 1990. Therefore, the majority of existing bridges might suffer damage from earthquakes occurring in the NMSZ. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the expected damage to bridges and roadways on the major routes in Memphis and Shelby County resulting from New Madrid earthquakes with the aid of geographic information system (GIS) technology. The road network selected for this study includes all the Interstate highway system, all the primary and secondary routes maintained by the state, and most of the major arterial routes. There are 452 bridges on the selected roadway systems and data pertinent to these bridges and roadway systems were collected and implemented as a GIS database. The bridges in the Memphis area were classified into several types and damage states were determined

EVALUATION OF THE BRIDGING COURSE OFFERED AT A UNIVERSITY TO FOREIGN STUDENTS: BATCHES OF 2012 AND 2013

OpenAIRE

Beatriz Eugenia Orantes Perez; Djemari Mardapi

2015-01-01

This evaluation was a case study of the bridging language program offered at YSU to KNB students, it evaluated the generations 2012/2013. The focus of this evaluation was to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the bridging program. This was a summative evaluation used the CIPP method. It was a pragmatic parallel mix-method design research. The analysis technique was descriptive for the qualitative data; and it was descriptive statistical for the quantitative data; Triangulation was used....

Seismic evaluation and ranking of embankments for bridges on and over the parkways in Western Kentucky.

Science.gov (United States)

2008-06-01

This study represents one of the Seismic Evaluation of Bridges on and over the Parkways in Western Kentucky investigative series. The effort is focused on the seismic vulnerability of bridge embankments against slope instability and liquefaction pote...

Bridge monitoring by interferometric deformation sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Inaudi, Daniele; Vurpillot, Samuel; Casanova, Nicoletta

1996-09-01

In many concrete bridges, the deformations are the most relevant parameter to be monitored in both short and long- terms. Strain monitoring gives only local information about the material behavior and too many such sensors would therefore be necessary to gain a complete understanding of the bridge behavior. We have found that fiber optic deformation sensors, with measurement bases of the order of one to a few meters, can give useful information both during the first days after concrete pouring and in the long term. In a first phase it is possible to monitor the thermal expansion due to the exothermic setting reaction and successively the thermal and drying shrinkages. Thanks to the long sensor basis, the detection of a crack traverse to the measurement region becomes probable and the evolution of cracks can therefore be followed with a reduced number of sensors. In the long-term it is possible to measure the geometric deformations and therefore the creeping of the bridge under static loads, especially under its own weight. In the past two years, our laboratory has installed hundreds of fiber optic deformation sensors in more than five concrete, composite steel-concrete, refurbished and enlarged bridges (road, highway and railway bridges). The measuring technique relies on low-coherence interferometry and offers a resolution down to a few microns even for long-term measurements. This contribution briefly discusses the measurement technique and then focuses on the development of a reliable sensor for direct concrete embedding and on the experimental results obtained on these bridges.

A technical report on structural evaluation of the Meade County reinforced concrete bridge.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

This is a technical report on the first phase of the evaluation of the Meade County reinforced concrete bridge. : The first three chapters introduce the main problem and provide a general review of the existing evaluation : methods and the procedures...

Thermal Analysis Of Cover Plate Of Galvanizing Bath Tub At Bridge amp Roof Co. I Ltd. By Shape Modification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anirban Jana

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This project is aimed for thermally analyzing stress and strain on cover plate of galvanizing bath tub at Bridge amp Roof co. I Ltd in order to maintain 450C in bath tub. Along with analysis part cover plate shape was modified due to its continuous use amp prevailing conditions at the workshop. The cover plate consist of insulating materials compacted to retain the heat in the bath tub. The thermal convection of air is less than thermal resistance of insulating materials used thus heat loss is negligible. Thermal convection air 0.0579 w m k Thermal Resistance Insulator 7.046 w m k. Thermal analysis report show at 450C. Deformation is effecting end portion 2-3 mm. Stress amp Strain at that portion is also low 0.1-0.3 Mpa. Heat transfer of air is more than insulating materials. Thus Heat transfer rate of Insulating materials being low they dont conduct heat from the bath tub to the atmosphere. So temperature of the bath tub is maintained. QA 1806.25 W Heat transfer rate of Air by convection QI 270.43 W Heat transfer rate of Insulation materials

Integral abutment bridges under thermal loading : numerical simulations and parametric study.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-01

Integral abutment bridges (IABs) have become of interest due to their decreased construction and maintenance costs in : comparison to conventional jointed bridges. Most prior IAB research was related to substructure behavior, and, as a result, most :...

Copper(II) cyanido-bridged bimetallic nitroprusside-based complexes: Syntheses, X-ray structures, magnetic properties, 57Fe Moessbauer spectroscopy and thermal studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Travnicek, Zdenek; Herchel, Radovan; Mikulik, Jiri; Zboril, Radek

2010-01-01

Three heterobimetallic cyanido-bridged copper(II) nitroprusside-based complexes of the compositions [Cu(tet)Fe(CN) 5 NO].H 2 O (1), where tet=N,N'-bis(3-aminopropyl)ethylenediamine, [Cu(hto)Fe(CN) 5 NO].2H 2 O (2), where hto=1,3,6,9,11,14-hexaazatricyclo[12.2.1.1 6,9 ]octadecane and [Cu(nme) 2 Fe(CN) 5 NO].H 2 O (3), where nme=N-methylethylenediamine, were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, 57 Fe Moessbauer and FTIR spectroscopies, thermal analysis, magnetic measurements and single-crystal X-ray analysis. The products of thermal degradation processes of 2 and 3 were studied by XRD, 57 Fe Moessbauer spectroscopy, SEM and EDS, and they were identified as mixtures of CuFe 2 O 4 and CuO. - Three heterobimetallic cyano-bridged copper(II) nitroprusside-based complexes of the general compositions of [Cu(L)Fe(CN) 5 NO].xH 2 O, where L=N,N'-bis(3-aminopropyl)ethylenediamine (complex 1), 1,3,6,9,11,14-hexaazatricyclo[12.2.1.1 6,9 ]-octadecane (complex 2) and N-methylethylenediamine (complex 3), were synthesized, and fully structurally and magnetically characterized. SEM, EDS, XRD and 57 Fe Moessbauer experiments were used for characterization of thermal decomposition products of complexes 2 and 3.

Evaluation of a High Temperature SOI Half-Bridge MOSFET Driver, Type CHT-HYPERION

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Richard; Hammoud, Ahmad

2010-01-01

Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology utilizes the addition of an insulation layer in its structure to reduce leakage currents and to minimize parasitic junctions. As a result, SOIbased devices exhibit reduced internal heating as compared to the conventional silicon devices, consume less power, and can withstand higher operating temperatures. In addition, SOI electronic integrated circuits display good tolerance to radiation by virtue of introducing barriers or lengthening the path for penetrating particles and/or providing a region for trapping incident ionization. The benefits of these parts make them suitable for use in deep space and planetary exploration missions where extreme temperatures and radiation are encountered. Although designed for high temperatures, very little data exist on the operation of SOI devices and circuits at cryogenic temperatures. In this work, the performance of a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) SOI half-bridge driver integrated circuit was evaluated under extreme temperatures and thermal cycling. The investigations were carried out to establish a baseline on the functionality and to determine suitability of this device for use in space exploration missions under extreme temperature conditions.

EXTRACTING ROOF PARAMETERS AND HEAT BRIDGES OVER THE CITY OF OLDENBURG FROM HYPERSPECTRAL, THERMAL, AND AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Bannehr

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Remote sensing methods are used to obtain different kinds of information about the state of the environment. Within the cooperative research project HiReSens, funded by the German BMBF, a hyperspectral scanner, an airborne laser scanner, a thermal camera, and a RGB-camera are employed on a small aircraft to determine roof material parameters and heat bridges of house tops over the city Oldenburg, Lower Saxony. HiReSens aims to combine various geometrical highly resolved data in order to achieve relevant evidence about the state of the city buildings. Thermal data are used to obtain the energy distribution of single buildings. The use of hyperspectral data yields information about material consistence of roofs. From airborne laser scanning data (ALS digital surface models are inferred. They build the basis to locate the best orientations for solar panels of the city buildings. The combination of the different data sets offers the opportunity to capitalize synergies between differently working systems. Central goals are the development of tools for the collection of heat bridges by means of thermal data, spectral collection of roofs parameters on basis of hyperspectral data as well as 3D-capture of buildings from airborne lasers scanner data. Collecting, analyzing and merging of the data are not trivial especially not when the resolution and accuracy is aimed in the domain of a few decimetre. The results achieved need to be regarded as preliminary. Further investigations are still required to prove the accuracy in detail.

Evaluating abdominal core muscle fatigue: Assessment of the validity and reliability of the prone bridging test.

Science.gov (United States)

De Blaiser, C; De Ridder, R; Willems, T; Danneels, L; Vanden Bossche, L; Palmans, T; Roosen, P

2018-02-01

The aims of this study were to research the amplitude and median frequency characteristics of selected abdominal, back, and hip muscles of healthy subjects during a prone bridging endurance test, based on surface electromyography (sEMG), (a) to determine if the prone bridging test is a valid field test to measure abdominal muscle fatigue, and (b) to evaluate if the current method of administrating the prone bridging test is reliable. Thirty healthy subjects participated in this experiment. The sEMG activity of seven abdominal, back, and hip muscles was bilaterally measured. Normalized median frequencies were computed from the EMG power spectra. The prone bridging tests were repeated on separate days to evaluate inter and intratester reliability. Significant differences in normalized median frequency slope (NMF slope ) values between several abdominal, back, and hip muscles could be demonstrated. Moderate-to-high correlation coefficients were shown between NMF slope values and endurance time. Multiple backward linear regression revealed that the test endurance time could only be significantly predicted by the NMF slope of the rectus abdominis. Statistical analysis showed excellent reliability (ICC=0.87-0.89). The findings of this study support the validity and reliability of the prone bridging test for evaluating abdominal muscle fatigue. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Forces in wingwalls from thermal expansion of skewed semi-integral bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-01

Jointless bridges, such as semi-integral and integral bridges, have become more popular in recent years because of their simplicity in the construction and the elimination of high costs related to joint maintenance. Prior research has shown that skew...

Evaluating local and overall thermal comfort in buildings using thermal manikins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Foda, E.

2012-07-01

Evaluation methods of human thermal comfort that are based on whole-body heat balance with its surroundings may not be adequate for evaluations in non-uniform thermal conditions. Under these conditions, the human body's segments may experience a wide range of room physical parameters and the evaluation of the local (segmental) thermal comfort becomes necessary. In this work, subjective measurements of skin temperature were carried out to investigate the human body's local responses due to a step change in the room temperature; and the variability in the body's local temperatures under different indoor conditions and exposures as well as the physiological steady state local temperatures. Then, a multi-segmental model of human thermoregulation was developed based on these findings to predict the local skin temperatures of individuals' body segments with a good accuracy. The model predictability of skin temperature was verified for steady state and dynamic conditions using measured data at uniform neutral, cold and warm as well as different asymmetric thermal conditions. The model showed very good predictability with average absolute deviation ranged from 0.3-0.8 K. The model was then implemented onto the control system of the thermal manikin 'THERMINATOR' to adjust the segmental skin temperature set-points based on the indoor conditions. This new control for the manikin was experimentally validated for the prediction of local and overall thermal comfort using the equivalent temperature measure. THERMINATOR with the new control mode was then employed in the evaluation of localized floor-heating system variants towards maximum energy efficiency. This aimed at illustrating a design strategy using the thermal manikin to find the optimum geometry and surface area of a floor-heater for a single seated person. Furthermore, a psychological comfort model that is based on local skin temperature was adapted for the use with the model of human

Rapid replacement of bridge deck expansion joints study - phase I.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-12-01

Bridge deck expansion joints are used to allow for movement of the bridge deck due to thermal expansion, dynamics loading, and : other factors. More recently, expansion joints have also been utilized to prevent the passage of winter de-icing chemical...

ANDERS: future of concrete bridge deck evaluation and rehabilitation

Science.gov (United States)

Gucunski, Nenad; Moon, Franklin

2011-04-01

The Automated Nondestructive Evaluation and Rehabilitation System (ANDERS) aims to provide a uniquely comprehensive tool that will transform the manner in which bridge decks are assessed and rehabilitated. It is going to be achieved through: 1) much higher evaluation detail and comprehensiveness of detection at an early stage deterioration, 2) comprehensive condition and structural assessment at all stages of deterioration, and 3) integrated assessment and rehabilitation that will be minimally invasive, rapid and cost effective. ANDERS is composed of four systems. that merge novel imaging and NDE techniques, together with novel intervention approaches to arrest the deterioration processes. These technologies are incorporated within a series of human-operated and robotic vehicles. To perform assessments, ANDERS will be equipped with two complimentary nondestructive approaches. The first, Multi-Modal Nondestructive Evaluation (MM-NDE) System aims to identify and characterize localized deterioration with a high degree of resolution. The second, Global Structural Assessment (GSA) System aims to capture global structural characteristics and identify any appreciable effects of deterioration on a bridge structure. Output from these two approaches will be merged through a novel Automated Structural Identification (Auto St-Id) approach that will construct, calibrate, and utilize simulation models to assess overall structural vulnerability and capacity. These three systems comprise the assessment suite of ANDERS and will directly inform the Nondestructive Rehabilitation (NDR) System. The NDR System leverages robotics for the precision and rapid delivery of novel materials capable of halting the early-stage deterioration identified.

Precast concrete elements for accelerated bridge construction : laboratory testing, field testing, evaluation of a precast concrete bridge, Madison County bridge.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

The importance of rapid construction technologies has been recognized by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Iowa : DOT Office of Bridges and Structures. Recognizing this a two-lane single-span precast box girder bridge was constructed ...

Evaluating the life cycle environmental impact of short span bridges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Du, Guangli; Pettersson, Lars; Karoumi, Raid

2016-01-01

impact of the construction sector. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic method for assessing the environmental impact of products and systems, but its application in bridges is scarce. In Swede, most of the bridges are short spans and the type of concrete slab-frame bridge (CFB) accounts...... for a large share. Soil steel composite bridge (SSCB) is a functional equivalent solution for CFB. In order to mitigate the environmental burdens of short span bridges, this paper performed a comparative LCA study between these two types of bridge. The results indicate that the initial material consumption...

Bridge scour monitoring technologies : development of evaluation and selection protocols for application on river bridges in Minnesota.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-01

Bridge failure or loss of structural integrity can result from scour of riverbed sediment near bridge abutments or : piers during high-flow events in rivers. In the past 20 years, several methods of monitoring bridge scour have been : developed spann...

Germanium-overcoated niobium Dayem bridges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holdeman, L.B.; Peters, P.N.

1976-01-01

Overcoating constriction microbridges with semiconducting germanium provides additional thermal conductivity at liquid-helium temperatures to reduce the effects of self-heating in these Josephson junctions. Microwave-induced steps were observed in the I-V characteristics of an overcoated Dayem bridge fabricated in a 15-nm-thick niobium film; at 4.2 K (T/sub c/-T=2.6 K), at least 20 steps could be counted. No steps were observed in the I-V characteristics of the bridge prior to overcoating. In addition, the germanium overcoat can protect against electrical disturbances at room temperature

Field performance of timber bridges. 16, North Siwell Road stress-laminated bridge

Science.gov (United States)

J. A. Kainz

The North Siwell Road bridge was constructed during December 1994 in Hinds County, Mississippi. The bridge is a single-span, stress-laminated T-beam structure that measures 9.1 m (30 ft) long and 8.7 m (28.5 ft) wide. Performance of the bridge was monitored for 24 months, beginning at the time of installation. Monitoring involved gathering and evaluating data relative...

Evaluation of bridge decks using non-destructive evaluation (NDE) at near highway speeds for effective asset management.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

Remote sensing technologies allow for the condition evaluation of bridge decks at near highway speed. : Data collection at near highway speed for assessment of the top of the concrete deck and proof of : concept testing for the underside of the deck ...

Evaluation of fleet management techniques for timber highway bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Brent M. Phares; Travis K. Hosteng; Justin Dahlberg; Michael A. Ritter

2011-01-01

The general condition of the nation's bridges presents a complex management issue when considering cost, safety, and time. Consequently, the management of those bridges can become an overwhelming task. The need for a management system that is specific to rural systems may help to improve the management of this significant number of bridges. Although individual...

Performance Evaluation of an Intel Haswell- and Ivy Bridge-Based Supercomputer Using Scientific and Engineering Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Saini, Subhash; Hood, Robert T.; Chang, Johnny; Baron, John

2016-01-01

We present a performance evaluation conducted on a production supercomputer of the Intel Xeon Processor E5- 2680v3, a twelve-core implementation of the fourth-generation Haswell architecture, and compare it with Intel Xeon Processor E5-2680v2, an Ivy Bridge implementation of the third-generation Sandy Bridge architecture. Several new architectural features have been incorporated in Haswell including improvements in all levels of the memory hierarchy as well as improvements to vector instructions and power management. We critically evaluate these new features of Haswell and compare with Ivy Bridge using several low-level benchmarks including subset of HPCC, HPCG and four full-scale scientific and engineering applications. We also present a model to predict the performance of HPCG and Cart3D within 5%, and Overflow within 10% accuracy.

Risk Identification in the Early Design Stage Using Thermal Simulations—A Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seyed Masoud Sajjadian

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The likely increasing temperature predicted by UK Climate Impacts Program (UKCIP underlines the risk of overheating and potential increase in cooling loads in most of UK dwellings. This could also increase the possibility of failure in building performance evaluation methods and add even more uncertainty to the decision-making process in a low-carbon building design process. This paper uses a 55-unit residential unit project in Cardiff, UK as a case study to evaluate the potential of thermal simulations to identify risk in the early design stage. Overheating, increase in energy loads, carbon emissions, and thermal bridges are considered as potential risks in this study. DesignBuilder (DesignBuilder Software Ltd., Stroud, UK was the dynamic thermal simulation software used in this research. Simulations compare results in the present, 2050, and 2080 time slices and quantifies the overall cooling and heating loads required to keep the operative temperature within the comfort zone. Overall carbon emissions are also calculated and a considerable reduction in the future is predicted. Further analysis was taken by THERM (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA and Psi THERM (Passivate, London, UK to evaluate the thermal bridge risk in most common junctions of the case study and the results reveal the potential of thermal assessment methods to improve design details before the start of construction stage.

Comparison among Detailed and Simplified Calculation Methods for Thermal and Energy Assessment of the Building Envelope and the Shadings of a New Wooden nZEB House

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Carletti

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with research carried out by the University of Florence on the thermal and energy performances of a recently built nZEB in Mediterranean Italian area. Heterogeneous component and thermal bridges performances have been analysed and critically evaluated with different calculation methods, and the results in terms of energy consumptions for heating and cooling have been compared. Some solar shading devices have been evaluated to reduce the building energy need for cooling. Main results of the research are presented for the components and thermal bridges properties and for the energy balance of the building implemented with different solar shadings.

BTC method for evaluation of remaining strength and service life of bridge cables.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-01

"This report presents the BTC method; a comprehensive state-of-the-art methodology for evaluation of remaining : strength and residual life of bridge cables. The BTC method is a probability-based, proprietary, patented, and peerreviewed : methodology...

Nondestructive Evaluation of Concrete Bridge Decks with Automated Acoustic Scanning System and Ground Penetrating Radar.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Hongbin; Pashoutani, Sepehr; Zhu, Jinying

2018-06-16

Delamanintions and reinforcement corrosion are two common problems in concrete bridge decks. No single nondestructive testing method (NDT) is able to provide comprehensive characterization of these defects. In this work, two NDT methods, acoustic scanning and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), were used to image a straight concrete bridge deck and a curved intersection ramp bridge. An acoustic scanning system has been developed for rapid delamination mapping. The system consists of metal-ball excitation sources, air-coupled sensors, and a GPS positioning system. The acoustic scanning results are presented as a two-dimensional image that is based on the energy map in the frequency range of 0.5⁻5 kHz. The GPR scanning results are expressed as the GPR signal attenuation map to characterize concrete deterioration and reinforcement corrosion. Signal processing algorithms for both methods are discussed. Delamination maps from the acoustic scanning are compared with deterioration maps from the GPR scanning on both bridges. The results demonstrate that combining the acoustic and GPR scanning results will provide a complementary and comprehensive evaluation of concrete bridge decks.

Improved bridge joint materials and design details.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-01

Expansion joints accommodate bridge movements that result from factors such as thermal expansion and contraction, concrete shrinkage, creep effects, live loading, settlement of the foundation and substructure, and environmental stressors. Expansion j...

Performance of stress-laminated timber highway bridges in cold climates

Science.gov (United States)

James P. Wacker

2009-01-01

This paper summarizes recent laboratory and field data studies on thermal performance of stress-laminated timber highway bridges. Concerns about the reliability of stress-laminated deck bridges when exposed to sub-freezing temperatures triggered several investigations. Two laboratory studies were conducted to study the effects of wood species, preservative, moisture...

Exodermic bridge deck performance evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

In 1998, the Wisconsin DOT completed a two"leaf bascule bridge in Green Bay with an exodermic deck system. The exodermic deck consisted of 4.5"in thick cast"in"place reinforced concrete supported by a 5.19"in tall unfilled steel grid. The concrete an...

ERA OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR BRIDGES CONSTRUCTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. V. Klyuchnyk

2010-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper the possibilities of protection of bridge structures from corrosion by thermal spraying of aluminum or zinc, which provides the long-term protection (approximately 50 years, are presented.

Streambed scour evaluations and conditions at selected bridge sites in Alaska, 2013–15

Science.gov (United States)

Beebee, Robin A.; Dworsky, Karenth L.; Knopp, Schyler J.

2017-12-27

Streambed scour potential was evaluated at 52 river- and stream-spanning bridges in Alaska that lack a quantitative scour analysis or have unknown foundation details. All sites were evaluated for stream stability and long-term scour potential. Contraction scour and abutment scour were calculated for 52 bridges, and pier scour was calculated for 11 bridges that had piers. Vertical contraction (pressure flow) scour was calculated for sites where the modeled water surface was higher than the superstructure of the bridge. In most cases, hydraulic models of the 1- and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability floods (also known as the 100- and 500-year floods, respectively) were used to derive hydraulic variables for the scour calculations. Alternate flood values were used in scour calculations for sites where smaller floods overtopped a bridge or where standard flood-frequency estimation techniques did not apply. Scour also was calculated for large recorded floods at 13 sites.Channel instability at 11 sites was related to human activities (in-channel mining, dredging, and channel relocation). Eight of the dredged sites are located on active unstable alluvial fans and were graded to protect infrastructure. The trend toward aggradation during major floods at these sites reduces confidence in scour estimates.Vertical contraction and pressure flow occurred during the 0.2-percent or smaller annual exceedance probability floods at eight sites. Contraction scour exceeded 5 feet (ft) at four sites, and total scour at piers (pier scour plus contraction scour) exceeded 5 ft at four sites. Debris accumulation increased calculated pier scour at six sites by an average of 2.4 ft. Total scour at abutments exceeded 5 ft at 10 sites. Scour estimates seemed excessive at two piers where equations did not account for channel armoring, and at four abutments where failure of the embankment and attendant channel widening would reduce scour.

Evaluation of Summer Bridge Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Lisa D.; Paz, Chiara C.

2009-01-01

Many colleges and universities in the United States offer summer programs for their incoming students. While programs are structured and administered in a variety of ways and target various student populations, the most common type of summer bridge program aims to serve historically underrepresented students and students of low socioeconomic…

Displacement monitoring and modelling of a high-speed railway bridge using C-band Sentinel-1 data

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Qihuan; Crosetto, Michele; Monserrat, Oriol; Crippa, Bruno

2017-06-01

Bridge displacement monitoring is one of the key components of bridge structural health monitoring. Traditional methods, usually based on limited sets of sensors mounted on a given bridge, collect point-like deformation information and have the disadvantage of providing incomplete displacement information. In this paper, a Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) approach is used to monitor the displacements of the Nanjing Dashengguan Yangtze River high-speed railway bridge. Twenty-nine (29) European Space Agency Sentinel-1A images, acquired from April 25, 2015 to August 5, 2016, were used in the PSI analysis. A total of 1828 measurement points were selected on the bridge. The results show a maximum longitudinal displacement of about 150 mm on each side of the bridge. The measured displacements showed a strong correlation with the environmental temperature at the time the images used were acquired, indicating that they were due to thermal expansion of the bridge. At each pier, a regression model based on the PSI-measured displacements was compared with a model based on in-situ measurements. The good agreement of these models demonstrates the capability of the PSI technique to monitor long-span railway bridge displacements. By comparing the modelled displacements and dozens of PSI measurements, we show how the performance of movable bearings can be evaluated. The high density of the PSI measurement points is advantageous for the health monitoring of the entire bridge.

Enhancing the Thermal Resistance of a Novel Acidobacteria-Derived Phytase by Engineering of Disulfide Bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Hao; Miao, Renyun; Liu, Tianhai; Cao, Xuelian; Wu, Xiang; Xie, Liyuan; Huang, Zhongqian; Peng, Weihong; Gan, Bingcheng

2016-10-28

A novel phytase of Acidobacteria was identified from a soil metagenome, cloned, overexpressed, and purified. It has low sequence similarity (phytases. At the optimum pH (2.5), the phytase shows an activity level of 1,792 μmol/min/mg at physiological temperature (37°C) and could retain 92% residual activity after 30 min, indicating the phytase is acidophilic and acidostable. However the phytase shows poor stability at high temperatures. To improve its thermal resistance, the enzyme was redesigned using Disulfide by Design 2.0, introducing four additional disulfide bridges. The half-life time of the engineered phytase at 60°C and 80°C, respectively, is 3.0× and 2.8× longer than the wild-type, and its activity and acidostability are not significantly affected.

Microscale solid-state thermal diodes enabling ambient temperature thermal circuits for energy applications

KAUST Repository

Wang, Song; Cottrill, Anton L.; Kunai, Yuichiro; Toland, Aubrey R.; Liu, Pingwei; Wang, Wen-Jun; Strano, Michael S.

2017-01-01

rectifications range from 1.18 to 1.34. We show that such devices perform reliably enough to operate in thermal diode bridges, dynamic thermal circuits capable of transforming oscillating temperature inputs into single polarity temperature differences – analogous

Evaluation of performance and maximum length of continuous decks in bridges : part 1.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-01

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the performance history of continuous bridge decks in the State of Georgia, to determine why the current design detail works, to recommend a new design detail, and to recommend the maximum and/or optimum l...

Thermal fluid mixing behavior during medium break LOCA in evaluation of pressurized thermal shock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Jae Won; Bang, Young Seok; Seul, Kwang Won; Kim, Hho Jung

1998-01-01

Thermal fluid mixing behavior during a postulated medium-size hot leg break loss of coolant accident is analyzed for the international comparative assessment study on pressurized thermal shock (PTS-ICAS) proposed by OECD-NEA. the applicability of RELAP5 code to analyze the thermal fluid mixing behavior is evaluated through a simple modeling relevant to the problem constraints. Based on the calculation result, the onset of thermal stratification is investigated using Theofanous's empirical correlation. Sensitivity calculations using a fine node model and crossflow model are also performed to evaluate the modeling capability on multi-dimensional characteristics related to thermal fluid mixing

Evaluation of properties and thermal stress field for thermal barrier coatings

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

王良; 齐红宇; 杨晓光; 李旭

2008-01-01

In order to get thermal stress field of the hot section with thermal barrier coating (TBCs), the thermal conductivity and elastic modulus of top-coat are the physical key properties. The porosity of top-coat was tested and evaluated under different high temperatures. The relationship between the microstructure (porosity of top-coat) and properties of TBCs were analyzed to predict the thermal properties of ceramic top-coat, such as thermal conductivity and elastic modulus. The temperature and stress field of the vane with TBCs were simulated using two sets of thermal conductivity data and elastic modulus, which are from literatures and this work, respectively. The results show that the temperature and stress distributions change with thermal conductivity and elastic modulus. The differences of maximum temperatures and stress are 6.5% and 8.0%, respectively.

Evaluation of stresses generated in steel finger joint of bridge by X-ray stress measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kohri, Ami; Kawano, Yutaka; Nishido, Takayuki

2017-01-01

In a steel bridge, the evaluation of the stress generated in the finger joint without a gap to absorb temperature change can be an index when evaluating the remaining life. This study chose as the object the finger joint of a diagonal bridge, where the generated stress state is considered to be more complicated, prepared a finger joint test specimen that simulated an actual part, and performed a load test. For judgment, FEM analysis, non-destructive X-ray stress measurement, and measurement of the generated stress using strain gauge were applied. Compared with the FEM analysis results, the difference in the stress value was generated due to the difference in the contact state, but the trends of the stress distribution were equivalent. In addition, the same measurement value as the strain gauge was obtained, and the validity of the X-ray stress measurement method was confirmed. As a result, it was found that the stress measurement method by X-ray is effective for measuring the generated stress including the residual stress of the finger joint without gap at a bridge. (A.O.)

Polymeric salt bridges for conducting electric current in microfluidic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Shepodd, Timothy J [Livermore, CA; Tichenor, Mark S [San Diego, CA; Artau, Alexander [Humacao, PR

2009-11-17

A "cast-in-place" monolithic microporous polymer salt bridge for conducting electrical current in microfluidic devices, and methods for manufacture thereof is disclosed. Polymeric salt bridges are formed in place in capillaries or microchannels. Formulations are prepared with monomer, suitable cross-linkers, solvent, and a thermal or radiation responsive initiator. The formulation is placed in a desired location and then suitable radiation such as UV light is used to polymerize the salt bridge within a desired structural location. Embodiments are provided wherein the polymeric salt bridges have sufficient porosity to allow ionic migration without bulk flow of solvents therethrough. The salt bridges form barriers that seal against fluid pressures in excess of 5000 pounds per square inch. The salt bridges can be formulated for carriage of suitable amperage at a desired voltage, and thus microfluidic devices using such salt bridges can be specifically constructed to meet selected analytical requirements.

Half bridge resonant converter for ignition of thermal plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pena E, L.

1997-01-01

In this work the background, design, implementation and performance of a half bridge resonant converter (HBRC) used as an electronic ignition system for arc plasma torch generation is presented. The significance of the design lies in its simplicity, versatility and low cost. The system operates like a high voltage supply attached to electrodes before gaseous breakdown and like open circuit when electric arc is established. Resonant converter is implemented with a high voltage and high speed power driver intended for control the power MOSFET transistors connected in half bridge topology with L C load. The HBRC operates besides interference into domestic electric supply line (120 V, 60 Hz) as well electric measurement devices. Advantages and limitations of the converter are reviewed. Experimental impedance variation in the medium as a function of frequency operation and some experiences in striking arcs are also presented. (Author)

Human Thermal Model Evaluation Using the JSC Human Thermal Database

Science.gov (United States)

Bue, Grant; Makinen, Janice; Cognata, Thomas

2012-01-01

Human thermal modeling has considerable long term utility to human space flight. Such models provide a tool to predict crew survivability in support of vehicle design and to evaluate crew response in untested space environments. It is to the benefit of any such model not only to collect relevant experimental data to correlate it against, but also to maintain an experimental standard or benchmark for future development in a readily and rapidly searchable and software accessible format. The Human thermal database project is intended to do just so; to collect relevant data from literature and experimentation and to store the data in a database structure for immediate and future use as a benchmark to judge human thermal models against, in identifying model strengths and weakness, to support model development and improve correlation, and to statistically quantify a model s predictive quality. The human thermal database developed at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) is intended to evaluate a set of widely used human thermal models. This set includes the Wissler human thermal model, a model that has been widely used to predict the human thermoregulatory response to a variety of cold and hot environments. These models are statistically compared to the current database, which contains experiments of human subjects primarily in air from a literature survey ranging between 1953 and 2004 and from a suited experiment recently performed by the authors, for a quantitative study of relative strength and predictive quality of the models.

Shear evaluation of tapered bridge girder panels with steel corrugated webs near the supports of continuous bridges

OpenAIRE

Zevallos, E.; Hassanein, M.F.; Real Saladrigas, Esther; Mirambell Arrizabalaga, Enrique

2016-01-01

Because of public construction budgets were cut over the last few years, new bridge girders with corrugated webs to reduce the construction costs have become more widely studied and used. In spite that tapered bridge girders with corrugated webs (BGCWs) are used in modern bridges, their shear strength and behaviour rarely exists in literature. Based on available literature, the web of the linearly tapered BGCWs may be divided into three typologies with different structural response to shear f...

Thermal processes evaluation for RWMC wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-01-01

The objective of this activity was to provide a white paper that identifies, collects information, and presents a preliminary evaluation of ''core'' thermal technologies that could be applied to RWMC stored and buried mixed waste. This paper presents the results of the following activities: General thermal technology identification, collection of technical and cost information on each technology, identification of thermal technologies applicable to RWMC waste, evaluation of each technology as applied to RWMC waste in seven process attributes, scoring each technology on a one to five scale (five highest) in each process attribute. Reaching conclusions about the superiority of one technology over others is not advised based on this preliminary study alone. However, the highly rated technologies (i.e., overall score of 2.9 or better) are worthy of a more detailed evaluation. The next step should be a more detailed evaluation of the technologies that includes onsite visits with operational facilities, preconceptual treatment facility design analysis, and visits with developers for emerging technologies. 2 figs., 6 tabs

Thermal fatigue evaluation of partially cooled pipes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawasaki, N.; Kasahara, N.; Takasho, H.

2004-01-01

Concerning thermal striping phenomenon with a cold/hot spot, effect of the thermal spot on fatigue strength was investigated. The thermal spot causes membrane stress and enhances bending stress in the structure. Increased stress shortens the fatigue life and accelerates the crack propagation rate. The mechanism to increase stress was found to be the structural constraint of thermal strain by the thermal spot. To consider this mechanism, constraint efficiency factors were introduced to the thermal stress evaluation method based on frequency transfer functions developed by authors. Proposed method with these factors was validated through comparisons with cyclic FEA considering thermal spots. (orig.)

Thermal fluid mixing behavior during medium break LOCA in evaluation of pressurized thermal shock

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, Jae Won; Bang, Young Seok; Seul, Kwang Won; Kim, Hho Jung [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1998-12-31

Thermal fluid mixing behavior during a postulated medium-size hot leg break loss of coolant accident is analyzed for the international comparative assessment study on pressurized thermal shock (PTS-ICAS) proposed by OECD-NEA. The applicability of RELAP5 code to analyze the thermal fluid mixing behavior is evaluated through a simple modeling relevant to the problem constraints. Based on the calculation result, the onset of thermal stratification is investigated using Theofanous`s empirical correlation. Sensitivity calculations using a fine node model and crossflow model are also performed to evaluate the modeling capability on multi-dimensional characteristics related to thermal fluid mixing. 6 refs., 8 figs. (Author)

Bridge maintenance to enhance corrosion resistance and performance of steel girder bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Moran Yanez, Luis M.

The integrity and efficiency of any national highway system relies on the condition of the various components. Bridges are fundamental elements of a highway system, representing an important investment and a strategic link that facilitates the transport of persons and goods. The cost to rehabilitate or replace a highway bridge represents an important expenditure to the owner, who needs to evaluate the correct time to assume that cost. Among the several factors that affect the condition of steel highway bridges, corrosion is identified as the main problem. In the USA corrosion is the primary cause of structurally deficient steel bridges. The benefit of regular high-pressure superstructure washing and spot painting were evaluated as effective maintenance activities to reduce the corrosion process. The effectiveness of steel girder washing was assessed by developing models of corrosion deterioration of composite steel girders and analyzing steel coupons at the laboratory under atmospheric corrosion for two alternatives: when high-pressure washing was performed and when washing was not considered. The effectiveness of spot painting was assessed by analyzing the corrosion on steel coupons, with small damages, unprotected and protected by spot painting. A parametric analysis of corroded steel girder bridges was considered. The emphasis was focused on the parametric analyses of corroded steel girder bridges under two alternatives: (a) when steel bridge girder washing is performed according to a particular frequency, and (b) when no bridge washing is performed to the girders. The reduction of structural capacity was observed for both alternatives along the structure service life, estimated at 100 years. An economic analysis, using the Life-Cycle Cost Analysis method, demonstrated that it is more cost-effective to perform steel girder washing as a scheduled maintenance activity in contrast to the no washing alternative.

Evaluation of Different Software Packages in Flow Modeling under Bridge Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Taghi Dastorani

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This study is an independent and a comparative research concerning the accuracy, capability and suitability of three well-known packages ofISIS, MIKE11 and HEC-RAS as hydraulic river modeling software packages for modeling the flow through bridges. The research project was designed to assess the ability of each software package to model the flow through bridge structures. It was carried out using the data taken from experiments completed by a 22-meter laboratory flume at theUniversityofBirmingham. The flume has a compound cross section containing a main channel and two flood plains on either side. For this study a smooth main channel and a smooth floodplain have been assumed. Two types of bridges are modeled in this research; a multiple opening semi-circular arch bridge and a single opening straight deck bridge. For each bridge, two different simulations were carried out using two different upstream boundaries as low flow and high flow simulations. According to the results, all three packages were able to model arch and US BPR bridges but in some cases they presented different results. The highest water elevation upstream the bridge (maximum afflux was the main parameter to be compared to the measured values.ISISand HEC-RAS (especially HEC-RAS seem to be more efficient to model arch bridge. However, in some cases, MIKE 11 produced considerably higher results than those of the other two packages. To model USBPR bridge, all three packages produced reasonable results. However, the results by HEC-RAS are the best when the outputs are compared to the experimental data.

Test facilities for evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beck, D.F.; Allen, G.C.; Shipers, L.R.; Dobranich, D.; Ottinger, C.A.; Harmon, C.D.; Fan, W.C.; Todosow, M.

1992-01-01

Interagency panels evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) development options have consistently recognized the need for constructing a major new ground test facility to support fuel element and engine testing. This paper summarizes the requirements, configuration, and baseline performance of some of the major subsystems designed to support a proposed ground test complex for evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion fuel elements and engines being developed for the Space Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (SNTP) program. Some preliminary results of evaluating this facility for use in testing other NTP concepts are also summarized

Evaluation of external exposure during building and operation of concrete bridges constructions that reuse the conditionally released steels - 59120

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panik, Michal; Necas, Vladimir

2012-01-01

This paper presents ongoing results of the project presented at ICEM'10 [1] related to the topics of reusing the conditionally released materials from decommissioning. The subject of the reuse of conditionally released materials in this case is modeling of bridge constructions which reuse the conditionally released steel in the form of reinforcement bars for the concrete bridges. A general approach for the project was presented at ICEM'10. The activities of the project continue in evaluating the individual effective doses from the external exposure based on reused conditionally released steels separately for public and for professionals (the internal exposure will be evaluated in next stages of the project). Evaluated scenarios are related to critical groups of professionals constructing the bridges (worker's scenarios). The computer code VISIPLAN 3D ALARA 4.0 planning tool was used for the calculation of the individual effective dose for professionals. Various limits of the annual individual effective dose are used for the evaluation of calculation results. The aim of the ongoing modeling is to develop a set of data of maximal radioactivity concentration for individual radionuclides in the conditionally released steel used in the bridges model constructions in order not to exceed the limits for the individual effective dose. (authors)

Evaluating seismic reliability of Reinforced Concrete Bridge in view of their rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boubel Hasnae

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Considering in this work, a simplified methodology was proposed in order to evaluate seismic vulnerability of Reinforced Concrete Bridge. Reliability assessment of stress limits state and the applied loading which are assumed to be random variables. It is assumed that only their means and standard deviations are known while no information is available about their densities of probabilities. First Order Reliability Method is applied to a response surface representation of the stress limit state obtained through quadratic polynomial regression of finite element results. Then a parametric study is performed regarding the influence of the distributions of probabilities chosen to model the problem uncertainties for Reinforced Concrete Bridge. It is shown that the probability of failure depends largely on the chosen densities of probabilities, mainly in the useful domain of small failure probabilities.

40 CFR 91.427 - Catalyst thermal stress resistance evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Catalyst thermal stress resistance... Procedures § 91.427 Catalyst thermal stress resistance evaluation. (a)(1) The purpose of the evaluation procedure specified in this section is to determine the effect of thermal stress on catalyst conversion...

Fiber Bragg Grating Temperature Sensors in a 6.5-MW Generator Exciter Bridge and the Development and Simulation of Its Thermal Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kleiton de Morais Sousa

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This work reports the thermal modeling and characterization of a thyristor. The thyristor is used in a 6.5-MW generator excitation bridge. Temperature measurements are performed using fiber Bragg grating (FBG sensors. These sensors have the benefits of being totally passive and immune to electromagnetic interference and also multiplexed in a single fiber. The thyristor thermal model consists of a second order equivalent electric circuit, and its power losses lead to an increase in temperature, while the losses are calculated on the basis of the excitation current in the generator. Six multiplexed FBGs are used to measure temperature and are embedded to avoid the effect of the strain sensitivity. The presented results show a relationship between field current and temperature oscillation and prove that this current can be used to determine the thermal model of a thyristor. The thermal model simulation presents an error of 1.5 °C, while the FBG used allows for the determination of the thermal behavior and the field current dependence. Since the temperature is a function of the field current, the corresponding simulation can be used to estimate the temperature in the thyristors.

Fiber Bragg grating temperature sensors in a 6.5-MW generator exciter bridge and the development and simulation of its thermal model.

Science.gov (United States)

de Morais Sousa, Kleiton; Probst, Werner; Bortolotti, Fernando; Martelli, Cicero; da Silva, Jean Carlos Cardozo

2014-09-05

This work reports the thermal modeling and characterization of a thyristor. The thyristor is used in a 6.5-MW generator excitation bridge. Temperature measurements are performed using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. These sensors have the benefits of being totally passive and immune to electromagnetic interference and also multiplexed in a single fiber. The thyristor thermal model consists of a second order equivalent electric circuit, and its power losses lead to an increase in temperature, while the losses are calculated on the basis of the excitation current in the generator. Six multiplexed FBGs are used to measure temperature and are embedded to avoid the effect of the strain sensitivity. The presented results show a relationship between field current and temperature oscillation and prove that this current can be used to determine the thermal model of a thyristor. The thermal model simulation presents an error of 1.5 °C, while the FBG used allows for the determination of the thermal behavior and the field current dependence. Since the temperature is a function of the field current, the corresponding simulation can be used to estimate the temperature in the thyristors.

System evaluation of improved thermal stability jet fuels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Binns, K.E.; Dieterle, G.L.; Williams, T. [Univ. of Dayton Research Institute, OH (United States)

1995-05-01

A single-pass, single-tube heat exchanger device called the Phoenix rig and a single-pass, dual-heat exchanger system called the Extended Duration Thermal Stability Test system are specific devices/systems developed for evaluating jet fuel thermal stability. They have been used extensively in the evaluation of various jet fuels and thermal stability additives. The test results have indicated that additives can substantially improve the thermal stability of conventional jet fuels. Relationships of oxygen consumption, residence time, bulk, and wetted wall temperatures on coking deposits that form in the heated tubes have also been investigated.

Steel bridges structural health monitoring based on operational modal analysis accommodating evaluation of uncertainty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeid Jahan

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Structural damage detection is based on that the dynamic response of structure will change because of damage. Hence, it is possible to estimate the location and severity of damage leads to changes in the dynamic response before and after the damage. In this study, the genetic fuzzy system has been used for bridge structural health monitoring. A key objective of using genetic algorithms is to automate the design of fuzzy systems. This method is used for damage detection of a single span railway bridge with steel girders and a concrete bridge. For studying damage detection, the numerical models of these two bridges are built with the measured dynamic characteristics. A three-dimensional finite element model and a single two-dimensional girders model of the bridge have been constructed to study usefulness of the genetic fuzzy system for damage detection and the effectiveness of modeling. After analysis to control the uncertainties, the measured frequencies are contaminated with some noise and the effect of that on the achievement of damage detection method is evaluated. The present study has shown that the natural frequency has appropriate sensitivity to different damage scenarios in the structure. In addition, the natural frequency in comparison with other modal parameters, is less affected by random noise. Increasing the number of measurement modes and using torsional modes, will lead to an accurate damage diagnosis even in symmetrical structures.

Numerical analysis of dynamic response of vehicle–bridge coupled system on long-span continuous girder bridge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lipeng An

2016-07-01

Full Text Available To systematically study the vehicle–bridge coupled dynamic response and its change rule with different parameters, a vehicle model with seven degrees of freedom was built and the total potential energy of vehicle space vibration system was deduced. Considering the stimulation of road roughness, the dynamic response equation of vehicle–bridge coupled system was established in accordance with the elastic system principle of total potential energy with stationary value and the “set-in-right-position” rule. On the basis of the self-compiled Fortran program and bridge engineering, the dynamic response of long-span continuous girder bridge under vehicle load was studied. This study also included the calculation of vehicle impact coefficient, evaluation of vibration comfort, and analysis of dynamic response parameters. Results show the impact coefficient changes with lane number and is larger than the value calculated by the “general code for design of highway bridges and culverts (China”. The Dieckmann index of bridge vibration is also related to lane number, and the vibration comfort evaluation is good in normal conditions. The relevant conclusions from parametric analyses have practical significance to dynamic design and daily operation of long-span continuous girder bridges in expressways. Safety and comfort are expected to improve significantly with further control of the vibration of vehicle–bridge system.

Aesthetic coatings for concrete bridge components

Science.gov (United States)

Kriha, Brent R.

This thesis evaluated the durability and aesthetic performance of coating systems for utilization in concrete bridge applications. The principle objectives of this thesis were: 1) Identify aesthetic coating systems appropriate for concrete bridge applications; 2) Evaluate the performance of the selected systems through a laboratory testing regimen; 3) Develop guidelines for coating selection, surface preparation, and application. A series of site visits to various bridges throughout the State of Wisconsin provided insight into the performance of common coating systems and allowed problematic structural details to be identified. To aid in the selection of appropriate coating systems, questionnaires were distributed to coating manufacturers, bridge contractors, and various DOT offices to identify high performing coating systems and best practices for surface preparation and application. These efforts supplemented a literature review investigating recent publications related to formulation, selection, surface preparation, application, and performance evaluation of coating materials.

Cognitive Appraisals Affect Both Embodiment of Thermal Sensation and Its Mapping to Thermal Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Keeling, Trevor P; Roesch, Etienne B; Clements-Croome, Derek

2016-01-01

The physical environment leads to a thermal sensation that is perceived and appraised by occupants. The present study focuses on the relationship between sensation and evaluation. We asked 166 people to recall a thermal event from their recent past. They were then asked how they evaluated this experience in terms of 10 different emotions (frustrated, resigned, dislike, indifferent, angry, anxious, liking, joyful, regretful, proud). We tested whether four psychological factors (appraisal dimensions) could be used to predict the ensuing emotions, as well as comfort, acceptability, and sensation. The four dimensions were: the Conduciveness of the event, who/what caused the event (Causality), who had control (Agency), and whether the event was expected (Expectations). These dimensions, except for Expectations, were good predictors of the reported emotions. Expectations, however, predicted the reported thermal sensation, its acceptability, and ensuing comfort. The more expected an event was, the more uncomfortable a person felt, and the less likely they reported a neutral thermal sensation. Together, these results support an embodied view of how subjective appraisals affect thermal experience. Overall, we show that appraisal dimensions mediate occupants' evaluation of their thermal sensation, which suggests an additional method for understanding psychological adaption.

Microscale solid-state thermal diodes enabling ambient temperature thermal circuits for energy applications

KAUST Repository

Wang, Song

2017-05-10

Thermal diodes, or devices that transport thermal energy asymmetrically, analogous to electrical diodes, hold promise for thermal energy harvesting and conservation, as well as for phononics or information processing. The junction of a phase change material and phase invariant material can form a thermal diode; however, there are limited constituent materials available for a given target temperature, particularly near ambient. In this work, we demonstrate that a micro and nanoporous polystyrene foam can house a paraffin-based phase change material, fused to PMMA, to produce mechanically robust, solid-state thermal diodes capable of ambient operation with Young\\'s moduli larger than 11.5 MPa and 55.2 MPa above and below the melting transition point, respectively. Moreover, the composites show significant changes in thermal conductivity above and below the melting point of the constituent paraffin and rectification that is well-described by our previous theory and the Maxwell–Eucken model. Maximum thermal rectifications range from 1.18 to 1.34. We show that such devices perform reliably enough to operate in thermal diode bridges, dynamic thermal circuits capable of transforming oscillating temperature inputs into single polarity temperature differences – analogous to an electrical diode bridge with widespread implications for transient thermal energy harvesting and conservation. Overall, our approach yields mechanically robust, solid-state thermal diodes capable of engineering design from a mathematical model of phase change and thermal transport, with implications for energy harvesting.

Engineering and introduction of de novo disulphide bridges in organophosphorus hydrolase enzyme for thermostability improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Farnoosh, Gholamreza; Khajeh, Khosro; Latifi, Ali Mohammad; Aghamollaei, Hossein

2016-12-01

The organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) has been used to degrade organophosphorus chemicals, as one of the most frequently used decontamination methods. Under chemical and thermal denaturing conditions, the enzyme has been shown to unfold. To utilize this enzyme in various applications, the thermal stability is of importance. The engineering of de novo disulphide bridges has been explored as a means to increase the thermal stability of enzymes in the rational method of protein engineering. In this study, Disulphide by Design software, homology modelling and molecular dynamics simulations were used to select appropriate amino acid pairs for the introduction of disulphide bridge to improve protein thermostability. The thermostability of the wild-type and three selected mutant enzymes were evaluated by half-life, delta G inactivation (ΔGi) and structural studies (fluorescence and far-UV CD analysis). Data analysis showed that half-life of A204C/T234C and T128C/E153C mutants were increased up to 4 and 24 min, respectively; however, for the G74C/A78C mutant, the half-life was decreased up to 9 min. For the T128C/E124C mutant, both thermal stability and Catalytic efficiency (kcat) were also increased. The half-life and ΔGi results were correlated to the obtained information from structural studies by circular dichroism (CD) spectrometry and extrinsic fluorescence experiments; as rigidity increased in A204C/T2234C and T128C/E153C mutants, half-life and ΔGi also increased. For G74C/A78C mutant, these parameters decreased due to its higher flexibility. The results were submitted a strong evidence for the possibility to improve the thermostability of OPH enzyme by introducing a disulphide bridge after bioinformatics design, even though this design would not be always successful.

Thermal morphing anisogrid smart space structures: thermal isolation design and linearity evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Phoenix, Austin A.

2017-04-01

To meet the requirements for the next generation of space missions, a paradigm shift is required from current structures that are static, heavy and stiff, toward innovative structures that are adaptive, lightweight, versatile, and intelligent. A novel morphing structure, the thermally actuated anisogrid morphing boom, can be used to meet the design requirements by making the primary structure actively adapt to the on-orbit environment. The anisogrid structure is able to achieve high precision morphing control through the intelligent application of thermal gradients. This active primary structure improves structural and thermal stability performance, reduces mass, and enables new mission architectures. This effort attempts to address limits to the author's previous work by incorporating the impact of thermal coupling that was initially neglected. This paper introduces a thermally isolated version of the thermal morphing anisogrid structure in order to address the thermal losses between active members. To evaluate the isolation design the stiffness and thermal conductivity of these isolating interfaces need to be addressed. This paper investigates the performance of the thermal morphing system under a variety of structural and thermal isolation interface properties.

Estimating bridge stiffness using a forced-vibration technique for timber bridge health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

James P. Wacker; Xiping Wang; Brian Brashaw; Robert J. Ross

2006-01-01

This paper describes an effort to refine a global dynamic testing technique for evaluating the overall stiffness of timber bridge superstructures. A forced vibration method was used to measure the frequency response of several simple-span, sawn timber beam (with plank deck) bridges located in St. Louis County, Minnesota. Static load deflections were also measured to...

Delamination detection in reinforced concrete using thermal inertia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Del Grande, N K; Durbin, P F.

1998-01-01

We investigated the feasibility of thermal inertia mapping for bridge deck inspections. Using pulsed thermal imaging, we heat-stimulated surrogate delaminations in reinforced concrete and asphalt-concrete slabs. Using a dual-band infrared camera system, we measured thermal inertia responses of Styrofoam implants under 5 cm of asphalt, 5 cm of concrete, and 10 cm of asphalt and concrete. We compared thermal maps from solar-heated concrete and asphalt-concrete slabs with thermal inertia maps from flash-heated concrete and asphalt-concrete slabs. Thermal inertia mapping is a tool for visualizing and quantifying subsurface defects. Physically, thermal inertia is a measure of the resistance of the bridge deck to temperature change. Experimentally, it is determined from the inverse slope of the surface temperature versus the inverse square root of time. Mathematically, thermal inertia is the square root of the product of thermal conductivity, density, and heat capacity. Thermal inertia mapping distinguishes delaminated decks which have below-average thermal inertias from normal or shaded decks. Key Words: Pulsed Thermal Imaging, Thermal Inertia, Detection Of Concrete Bridgedeck Delaminations

Integral abutment bridges under thermal loading : field monitoring and analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-01

Integral abutment bridges (IABs) have gained popularity throughout the United States due to their low construction and maintenance costs. Previous research on IABs has been heavily focused on substructure performance, leaving a need for better unders...

Synthesis, spectroscopic, thermal and structural properties of [M(3-aminopyridine)2Ni(μ-CN)2(CN)2]n (M(II) = Co and Cu) heteropolynuclear cyano-bridged complexes

Science.gov (United States)

Kartal, Zeki

2016-01-01

Two novel cyano-bridged heteropolynuclear complexes, [Co(3-aminopyridine)2Ni(μ-CN)2(CN)2]n and [Cu(3-aminopyridine)2Ni(μ-CN)2(CN)2]n have been synthesized and characterized by elemental, thermal, FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopies. The structures of complexes have been determined by X-ray powder diffraction. The FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of complexes have been recorded in the region of 3500-400 cm-1 and 3500-100 cm-1, respectively. General information was acquired about structural properties of these complexes from FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra by considering changes at characteristic peaks of the cyano group and 3AP. The splitting of the ν(Ctbnd N) stretching bands in the FT-IR spectra for complexes indicates the presence of terminal and bridging cyanides. The thermal behaviors of these complexes have been also investigated in the range of 25-950 °C using TG and DTG methods. Magnetic susceptibility measurements were made at room temperature using Gouy-balance.

Bridge scour countermeasure assessments at select bridges in the United States, 2014–16

Science.gov (United States)

Dudunake, Taylor J.; Huizinga, Richard J.; Fosness, Ryan L.

2017-05-23

In 2009, the Federal Highway Administration published Hydraulic Engineering Circular No. 23 (HEC-23) to provide specific design and implementation guidelines for bridge scour and stream instability countermeasures. However, the effectiveness of countermeasures implemented over the past decade following those guidelines has not been evaluated. Therefore, in 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, began a study to assess the current condition of bridge-scour countermeasures at selected sites to evaluate their effectiveness. Bridge-scour countermeasures were assessed during 2014-2016. Site assessments included reviewing countermeasure design plans, summarizing the peak and daily streamflow history, and assessments at each site. Each site survey included a photo log summary, field form, and topographic and bathymetric geospatial data and metadata. This report documents the study area and site-selection criteria, explains the survey methods used to evaluate the condition of countermeasures, and presents the complete documentation for each countermeasure assessment.

Neighborhood Bridges: 2012-2013 Evaluation Report

Science.gov (United States)

Ingram, Debra

2013-01-01

Neighborhood Bridges is a nationally recognized literacy program using storytelling and creative drama to help children develop their critical literacy skills and to transform them into storytellers of their own lives. In 2012-2013, a total of 640 students in grades three through six from twenty-three classrooms in eleven schools across the…

Comparison of evaluation results of piping thermal fatigue evaluation method based on equivalent stress amplitude

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Takafumi; Kasahara, Naoto

2012-01-01

In recent years, reports have increased about failure cases caused by high cycle thermal fatigue both at light water reactors and fast breeder reactors. One of the reasons of the cases is a turbulent mixing at a Tee-junction, where hot and cold temperature fluids are mixed, in a coolant system. In order to prevent thermal fatigue failures at Tee-junctions. The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers published the guideline which is an evaluation method of high cycle thermal fatigue damage at nuclear pipes. In order to justify safety margin and make the procedure of the guideline concise, this paper proposes a new evaluation method of thermal fatigue damage with use of the 'equivalent stress amplitude.' Because this new method makes procedure of evaluation clear and concise, it will contribute to improving the guideline for thermal fatigue evaluation. (author)

Evaluation of damping property of long-span prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridges; Chodai PC shachokyo no gensui tokusei ni kansuru kosatsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamanobe, S.; Niihara, Y.; Minami, H.; Kono, T. [Kajima Corp., Tokyo (Japan)

1999-09-30

As to the dynamic design in the antiseismic design of PC cable-stayed bridges, evaluation of damping is important. Since it is difficult to evaluate damping property theoretically and analytically, a lot of studies have not been made about how to set up damping coefficients. In this study, using analytical models of existing long-span PC cable-stayed bridges, to clarify causes of damping of long-span PC cable-stayed bridge, the rate of strain energy in each member was examined. Equivalent damping coefficients of each member, effects of friction in movable bearing, and effects of basically radiational damping were studied. The correspondence with the results of the vibration experiments conventionally made were studied. (translated by NEDO)

Seismic evaluation of K basin bridge cranes (HOI-320 ampersand HOI-418) and supporting structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winkel, B.V.; Kanjilad, S.K.

1996-03-01

The Safety Class 1 100-K fuel storage basins are vulnerable to impact damage if a bridge crane were to fall during a seismic event. The pupose of this report is to address the adequacy of the K Basin bridge cranes to resist a seismic-induced fall. The approach used to demonstrate adequacy against falling, was to evaluate the crane structural components relative to requirements specified in ASME NOG-1, Rules for Construction of Overhead and Gantry Cranes. Additionally, wheel lift-off and the adequacy of the crane supporting structure, are addressed. Seismic adequacy of the mechanical hoist equipment is not addressed in this report

Vehicle - Bridge interaction, comparison of two computing models

Science.gov (United States)

Melcer, Jozef; Kuchárová, Daniela

2017-07-01

The paper presents the calculation of the bridge response on the effect of moving vehicle moves along the bridge with various velocities. The multi-body plane computing model of vehicle is adopted. The bridge computing models are created in two variants. One computing model represents the bridge as the Bernoulli-Euler beam with continuously distributed mass and the second one represents the bridge as the lumped mass model with 1 degrees of freedom. The mid-span bridge dynamic deflections are calculated for both computing models. The results are mutually compared and quantitative evaluated.

Evaluation of a highway bridge constructed using high strength lightweight concrete bridge girders.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-01

The use of high performance concretes to provide longer bridge spans has been limited due to the capacity of existing infrastructure to handle the load of the girders during transportation. The use of High Strength Lightweight Concrete (HSLW) can pro...

Evaluation charts of thermal stresses in cylindrical vessels induced by thermal stratification of contained fluid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furuhashi, Ichiro; Kawasaki, Nobuchika; Kasahara, Naoto

2008-01-01

Temperature and thermal stress in cylindrical vessels were analysed for the thermal stratification of contained fluid. Two kinds of temperature analysis results were obtained such as the exact temperature solution of eigenfunction series and the simple approximate one by the temperature profile method. Furthermore, thermal stress shell solutions were obtained for the simple approximate temperatures. Through comparison with FEM analyses, these solutions were proved to be adequate. The simple temperature solution is described by one parameter that is the temperature decay coefficient. The thermal stress shell solutions are described by two parameters. One is the ratio between the temperature decay coefficient and the load decay coefficient. Another is the nondimensional width of stratification. These solutions are so described by few parameters that those are suitable for the simplified thermal stress evaluation charts. These charts enable quick and accurate thermal stress evaluations of cylindrical vessel of this problem compared with conventional methods. (author)

Evaluation charts of thermal stresses in cylindrical vessels induced by thermal stratification of contained fluid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furuhashi, Ichiro; Kawasaki, Nobuchika; Kasahara, Naoto

2007-01-01

Temperature and thermal stress in cylindrical vessels were analysed for the thermal stratification of contained fluid. Two kinds of temperature analysis results were obtained such as the exact temperature solution of eigen-function series and the simple approximate one by the temperature profile method. Furthermore, shell solutions of thermal stress were obtained for the simple approximate temperatures. Through comparison with FEM analyses, these solutions were proved to be adequate. The simple temperature solution is described by one parameter that is the temperature decay factor. The shell solutions of thermal stress are described by two parameters. One is the ratio between the temperature decay factor and the local decay factor. Another is the non-dimensional width of stratification. These solution are so described by few parameters that those are suitable for the simplified thermal stress evaluation charts. These charts enable quick and accurate thermal stress evaluations of cylindrical vessel of this problem compared with conventional methods. (author)

47 CFR 80.1007 - Bridge-to-bridge radiotelephone installation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bridge-to-bridge radiotelephone installation. 80.1007 Section 80.1007 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND... Bridge-to-Bridge Act § 80.1007 Bridge-to-bridge radiotelephone installation. Use of the bridge-to-bridge...

An expert system for the esthetic rating of bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

1990-01-01

The expert system presented should facilitate the in-depth analysis of bridge esthetics and encourage high standards for the appearance of bridges. The procedure described systematically evaluates features of a target bridge in relation to a similar ...

A Facile Approach to Evaluate Thermal Insulation Performance of Paper Cups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yudi Kuang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Paper cups are ubiquitous in daily life for serving water, soup, coffee, tea, and milk due to their convenience, biodegradability, recyclability, and sustainability. The thermal insulation performance of paper cups is of significance because they are used to supply hot food or drinks. Using an effective thermal conductivity to accurately evaluate the thermal insulation performance of paper cups is complex due to the inclusion of complicated components and a multilayer structure. Moreover, an effective thermal conductivity is unsuitable for evaluating thermal insulation performance of paper cups in the case of fluctuating temperature. In this work, we propose a facile approach to precisely analyze the thermal insulation performance of paper cups in a particular range of temperature by using an evaluation model based on the MISO (Multiple-Input Single-Output technical theory, which includes a characterization parameter (temperature factor and a measurement apparatus. A series of experiments was conducted according to this evaluation model, and the results show that this evaluation model enables accurate characterization of the thermal insulation performance of paper cups and provides an efficient theoretical basis for selecting paper materials for paper cups.

An overheight vehicle bridge collision monitoring system using piezoelectric transducers

Science.gov (United States)

Song, G.; Olmi, C.; Gu, H.

2007-04-01

With increasing traffic volume follows an increase in the number of overheight truck collisions with highway bridges. The detection of collision impact and evaluation of the impact level is a critical issue in the maintenance of a concrete bridge. In this paper, an overheight collision detection and evaluation system is developed for concrete bridge girders using piezoelectric transducers. An electric circuit is designed to detect the impact and to activate a digital camera to take photos of the offending truck. Impact tests and a health monitoring test were conducted on a model concrete bridge girder by using three piezoelectric transducers embedded before casting. From the experimental data of the impact test, it can be seen that there is a linear relation between the output of sensor energy and the impact energy. The health monitoring results show that the proposed damage index indicates the level of damage inside the model concrete bridge girder. The proposed overheight truck-bridge collision detection and evaluation system has the potential to be applied to the safety monitoring of highway bridges.

Development and validation of deterioration models for concrete bridge decks - phase 1 : artificial intelligence models and bridge management system.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-01

This research documents the development and evaluation of artificial neural network (ANN) models to predict the condition ratings of concrete highway bridge decks in Michigan. Historical condition assessments chronicled in the national bridge invento...

Low-stress photosensitive polyimide suspended membrane for improved thermal isolation performance

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, J.; Xing, R. Y.; Wu, W. J.; Liu, H. F.; Liu, J. Q.; Tu, L. C.

2017-11-01

In this paper, we introduce a method of isolating thermal conduction from silicon substrate for accommodating thermal-sensitive micro-devices. This method lies in fabrication of a low-stress photosensitive polyimide (PSPI) suspension structure which has lower thermal conductivity than silicon. First, a PSPI layer was patterned on a silicon wafer and hard baked. Then, a cavity was etched from the backside of the silicon substrate to form a membrane or a bridge-shape PSPI structure. After releasing, a slight deformation of about 20 nm was observed in the suspended structures, suggesting ultralow residual stress which is essential for accommodating micro-devices. In order to investigate the thermal isolation performance of the suspended PSPI structures, micro Pirani vacuum gauges, which are thermal-sensitive, had been fabricated on the PSPI structures. The measurement results illustrated that the Pirani gauges worked as expected in the range from 1- 470 Pa. Moreover, the results of the Pirani gauges based on the membrane and bridge structures were comparable, indicating that the commonly used bridge-shape structure for further reducing thermal conduction was unnecessary. Due to the excellent thermal isolation performance of PSPI, the suspended PSPI membrane is promising to be an outstanding candidate for thermal isolation applications.

Post-Earthquake Traffic Capacity of Modern Bridges in California

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-01

Evaluation of the capacity of a bridge to carry self-weight and traffic loads after an earthquake is essential for a : safe and timely re-opening of the bridge. In California, modern highway bridges designed using the Caltrans : Seismic Design Criter...

Thermal Analysis Evaluation of Spent Fuel Storage Rack for Research Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Sangjin; Oh, Jinho; Kwak, Jinsung; Lee, Jongmin [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

Spent fuel storage rack is to store spent fuel assemblies. The spent fuel storage rack is submerged in the designated pool for cooling. Due to the condition change of the pool water, the effect of thermal load on spent fuel storage rack must be analyzed and evaluated. In this paper, thermal stress analysis is performed and evaluated on a spent fuel storage rack. For thermal stress evaluation of the spent fuel storage rack, load combinations and allowable criteria in ASME Sec. III NB-3220 are applied. In cases of A-1 and B-1, the same temperature applied on the whole model, thermal stress doesn't occur because there is no constraint about the thermal expansion. The support frame is located on the pool bottom in free standing type and the racks are located in the support frame with enough space. Thermal expansion was considered and reflected in the design of spent fuel storage rack in advance. Thermal stress analysis is performed and evaluated on a spent fuel storage rack with consideration of pool water temperature variation. The thermal analysis including a linear heat transfer and the thermal stress analysis is performed for the racks and support frame and resulted stresses are within allowable criteria.

Thermal shock fatigue behavior of TiC/Al2O3 composite ceramics

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

SI Tingzhi; LIU Ning; ZHANG Qingan; YOU Xianqing

2008-01-01

The thermal shock fatigue behaviors of pure hot-pressed alumina and 30 wt. % TiC/Al2O3 composites were studied. The effect of TiC and Al2O3 starting particle size on the mechanical properties of the composites was discussed. Indentation-quench test was conducted to evaluate the effect of thermal fatigue temperature difference (ΔT) and number of thermal cycles (N) on fatigue crack growth (Δα). The mechanical properties and thermal fatigue resistance of TiC/Al2O3 composites are remarkably improved by the addition of TiC. The thermal shock fatigue of monolithic alumina and TiC/Al2O3 composites is due to a "true" cycling effect (thermal fatigue). Crack deflection and bridging are the predominant reasons for the improvement of thermal shock fatigue resistance of the composites.

The South Carolina bridge-scour envelope curves

Science.gov (United States)

Benedict, Stephen T.; Feaster, Toby D.; Caldwell, Andral W.

2016-09-30

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, conducted a series of three field investigations to evaluate historical, riverine bridge scour in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions of South Carolina. These investigations included data collected at 231 riverine bridges, which lead to the development of bridge-scour envelope curves for clear-water and live-bed components of scour. The application and limitations of the South Carolina bridge-scour envelope curves were documented in four reports, each report addressing selected components of bridge scour. The current investigation (2016) synthesizes the findings of these previous reports into a guidance manual providing an integrated procedure for applying the envelope curves. Additionally, the investigation provides limited verification for selected bridge-scour envelope curves by comparing them to field data collected outside of South Carolina from previously published sources. Although the bridge-scour envelope curves have limitations, they are useful supplementary tools for assessing the potential for scour at riverine bridges in South Carolina.

Identification and evaluation of pavement-bridge interface ride quality improvement and corrective strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Bridge owners have long recognized that the approach pavement at bridges is prone to exhibiting both settlement and : cracking, which manifest as the bump at the end of the bridge. This deterioration requires considerable on-going : maintenance...

Thermal behavior of IDOT integral abutment bridges and proposed design modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has increasingly constructed integral abutment bridges (IABs) : over the past few decades, similar to those in many other states. Because the length and skew limitations : currently employed by IDOT ha...

40 CFR 90.427 - Catalyst thermal stress resistance evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 20 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Catalyst thermal stress resistance... Gaseous Exhaust Test Procedures § 90.427 Catalyst thermal stress resistance evaluation. (a) The purpose of... catalyst conversion efficiency for Phase 1 engines. The thermal stress is imposed on the test catalyst by...

Testing thermal comfort of trekking boots: an objective and subjective evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Arezes, P M; Neves, M M; Teixeira, S F; Leão, C P; Cunha, J L

2013-07-01

The study of the thermal comfort of the feet when using a specific type of shoe is of paramount importance, in particular if the main goal of the study is to attend to the needs of users. The main aim of this study was to propose a test battery for thermal comfort analysis and to apply it to the analysis of trekking boots. Methodologically, the project involves both objective and subjective evaluations. An objective evaluation of the thermal properties of the fabrics used in the boots was developed and applied. In addition, the thermal comfort provided when using the boots was also assessed both subjective and objectively. The evaluation of the thermal comfort during use, which was simulated in a laboratory environment, included the measurement of the temperature and moisture of the feet. The subjective assessment was performed using a questionnaire. From the results obtained, it was possible to define an optimal combination of fabrics to apply to trekking boots by considering the provided thermal insulation, air permeability and wicking. The results also revealed that the subjective perception of thermal comfort appears to be more related to the increase in temperature of the feet than to the moisture retention inside the boot. Although the evaluation of knits used in the boots indicated that a particular combination of fibres was optimal for use in the inner layer, the subjective and objective evaluation of thermal comfort revealed that the evaluation provided by users did not necessarily match the technical assessment data. No correlation was observed between the general comfort and specific thermal comfort assessments. Finally, the identification of thermal discomfort by specific foot areas would be useful in the process of designing and developing boots. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Dragon bridge - the world largest dragon-shaped (ARCH steel bridge as element of smart city

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chinh Luong Minh

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Dragon Bridge - The world’s largest dragon-shaped steel bridge, with an installation cost of $85 million USD, features 6 lanes for two separate directions, 666 meters of undulating steel in the shape of a dragon in the Ly Dynasty, the symbol of prosperity in Vietnamese culture. This unique and beautifully lit bridge, which also breathes fire and sprays water. It’s the purposeful integration of the lighting hardware articulates the dragon’s form, and the fire-breathing dragon head. This project transcends the notion of monumental bridge with dynamic colour-changing lighting, creating an iconic sculpture in the skyline that is both reverent and whimsical. The signature feature of the bridge was the massive undulating support structure resembling a dragon flying over the river. The dragon is prominent in Vietnamese culture as a symbol of power and nobility. Dragon Bridge stands out as a model of innovation. It has received worldwide attention in the design community and from the global media for its unique arch support system. Dragon Bridge serves as an example of how aesthetic quality of a design can serve cultural, economic and functional purposes. The article presents design solutions of the object and the evaluation of the technical condition before putting the facility into service.

47 CFR 80.331 - Bridge-to-bridge communication procedure.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bridge-to-bridge communication procedure. 80..., Alarm, Urgency and Safety Procedures § 80.331 Bridge-to-bridge communication procedure. (a) Vessels subject to the Bridge-to-Bridge Act transmitting on the designated navigational frequency must conduct...

Performance Evaluation Facility for Fire Fighting Thermal Imager

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Sung Chan; Amon, Francine; Hamins, Anthony

2007-01-01

The present study investigates the characteristics of obscuring media inside an optical smoke cell, which is a bench-scale testing facility for the evaluation of thermal imaging cameras used by fire fighters. Light extinction coefficient and visibility through the smoke cell is characterized by the measured laser transmittance. The laser transmittance along the axial direction of the smoke cell is relatively uniform at upper and lower part for various air/fuel volume flow rate. Contrast level based image quality of visible CCD camera through the smoke cell is compared with that of thermal imaging camera. The optical smoke cell can be used as well-controlled and effective laboratory-scale test apparatus to evaluate the performance of thermal imaging camera for fire fighting application

Evaluation of thermal network correction program using test temperature data

Science.gov (United States)

Ishimoto, T.; Fink, L. C.

1972-01-01

An evaluation process to determine the accuracy of a computer program for thermal network correction is discussed. The evaluation is required since factors such as inaccuracies of temperatures, insufficient number of temperature points over a specified time period, lack of one-to-one correlation between temperature sensor and nodal locations, and incomplete temperature measurements are not present in the computer-generated information. The mathematical models used in the evaluation are those that describe a physical system composed of both a conventional and a heat pipe platform. A description of the models used, the results of the evaluation of the thermal network correction, and input instructions for the thermal network correction program are presented.

Carbon nanotube thermal interfaces and related applications

OpenAIRE

Hodson, Stephen L

2016-01-01

The development of thermal interface materials (TIMs) is necessitated by the temperature drop across interfacing materials arising from macro and microscopic irregularities of their surfaces that constricts heat through small contact regions as well as mismatches in their thermal properties. Similar to other types of TIMs, CNT TIMs alleviate the thermal resistance across the interface by thermally bridging two materials together with cylindrical, high-aspect ratio, and nominally vertical cond...

Efficient field testing for load rating railroad bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Schulz, Jeffrey L.; Brett C., Commander

1995-06-01

As the condition of our infrastructure continues to deteriorate, and the loads carried by our bridges continue to increase, an ever growing number of railroad and highway bridges require load limits. With safety and transportation costs at both ends of the spectrum. the need for accurate load rating is paramount. This paper describes a method that has been developed for efficient load testing and evaluation of short- and medium-span bridges. Through the use of a specially-designed structural testing system and efficient load test procedures, a typical bridge can be instrumented and tested at 64 points in less than one working day and with minimum impact on rail traffic. Various techniques are available to evaluate structural properties and obtain a realistic model. With field data, a simple finite element model is 'calibrated' and its accuracy is verified. Appropriate design and rating loads are applied to the resulting model and stress predictions are made. This technique has been performed on numerous structures to address specific problems and to provide accurate load ratings. The merits and limitations of this approach are discussed in the context of actual examples of both rail and highway bridges that were tested and evaluated.

Design and introduction of a disulfide bridge in firefly luciferase: increase of thermostability and decrease of pH sensitivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Imani, Mehdi; Hosseinkhani, Saman; Ahmadian, Shahin; Nazari, Mahboobeh

2010-08-01

The thermal sensitivity and pH-sensitive spectral properties of firefly luciferase have hampered its application in a variety of fields. It is proposed that the stability of a protein can be increased by introduction of disulfide bridge that decreases the configurational entropy of unfolding. A disulfide bridge is introduced into Photinus pyralis firefly luciferase to make two separate mutant enzymes with a single bridge. Even though the A103C/S121C mutant showed remarkable thermal stability, its specific activity decreased, whereas the A296C/A326C mutant showed tremendous thermal stability, relative pH insensitivity and 7.3-fold increase of specific activity. Moreover, the bioluminescence emission spectrum of A296C/A326C was resistant against higher temperatures (37 degrees C). Far-UV CD analysis showed slight secondary structure changes for both mutants. Thermal denaturation analysis showed that conformational stabilities of A103C/S121C and A296C/A326C are more than native firefly luciferase. It is proposed that since A296 and A326 are situated in the vicinity of the enzyme active site microenvironment in comparison with A103 and S121, the formation of a disulfide bridge in this region has more impact on enzyme kinetic characteristics.

Survey of evaluation methods for thermal striping in FBR structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miura, Naoki; Nitta, Akito; Take, Kohji

1988-01-01

In the upper core structures or the sodium mixing tee of Fast Breeder Reactors, sodium mixing streams which are at different temperatures produce rapid temperature fluctuations, namely 'thermal striping', upon component surfaces, and it is apprehended that the high-cycle thermal fatigue causes the crack initiation and propagation. The thermal striping is one of the factors which is considered in FBR component design, however, the standard evaluation method has not built up yet because of the intricacy of that mechanism, the difficulty of an actual proof, the lack of data, and so on. In this report, it is intended to survey of the datails and the present situation of the evaluation method of crack initiation and propagation due to thermal striping, and study the appropriate method which will be made use of the rationalization of design. So it is ascertained that the method which use a quantitative prediction of crack propagation is optimum to evaluate the thermal striping phenomenon. (author)

Engineering and introduction of de novo disulphide bridges in ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The engineeringof de novo disulphide bridges has been explored as a means to increase the thermal stability of enzymes in the rationalmethod of protein engineering. In this study, Disulphide by Design software, homology modelling and moleculardynamics simulations were used to select appropriate amino acid pairs for ...

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY ANALYSIS OF GASES

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, W.J.

1949-06-01

This patent describes apparatus for the quantitative analysis of a gaseous mixture at subatmospheric pressure by measurement of its thermal conductivity. A heated wire forms one leg of a bridge circuit, while the gas under test is passed about the wire at a constant rate. The bridge unbalance will be a measure of the change in composition of the gas, if compensation is made for the effect due to gas pressure change. The apparatus provides a voltage varying with fluctuations of pressure in series with the indicating device placed across the bridge, to counterbalance the voltage change caused by fluctuations in the pressure of the gaseous mixture.

Evaluation of thermal physical properties for fast reactor fuels. Melting point and thermal conductivities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kato, Masato; Morimoto, Kyoichi; Komeno, Akira; Nakamichi, Shinya; Kashimura, Motoaki; Abe, Tomoyuki; Uno, Hiroki; Ogasawara, Masahiro; Tamura, Tetsuya; Sugata, Hirotada; Sunaoshi, Takeo; Shibata, Kazuya

2006-10-01

Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed a fast breeder reactor (FBR), and plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) having low density and 20-30%Pu content has used as a fuel of the FBR, Monju. In plutonium, Americium has been accumulated during long-term storage, and Am content will be increasing up to 2-3% in the MOX. It is essential to evaluate the influence of Am content on physical properties of MOX on the development of FBR in the future. In this study melting points and thermal conductivities which are important data on the fuel design were measured systematically in wide range of composition, and the effects of Am accumulated were evaluated. The solidus temperatures of MOX were measured as a function of Pu content, oxygen to metal ratio (O/M) and Am content using thermal arrest technique. The sample was sealed in a tungsten capsule in vacuum for measuring solidus temperature. In the measurements of MOX with Pu content of more than 30%, a rhenium inner capsule was used to prevent the reaction between MOX and tungsten. In the results, it was confirmed that the melting points of MOX decrease with as an increase of Pu content and increase slightly with a decrease of O/M ratio. The effect of Am content on the fuel design was negligible small in the range of Am content up to 3%. Thermal conductivities of MOX were evaluated from thermal diffusivity measured by laser flash method and heat capacity calculated by Neumann- Kopp's law. The thermal conductivity of MOX decreased slightly in the temperature of less than 1173K with increasing Am content. The effect of Am accumulated in long-term storage fuel was evaluated from melting points and thermal conductivities measured in this study. It is concluded that the increase of Am in the fuel barely affect the fuel design in the range of less than 3%Am content. (author)

Evaluation of bridge deck with shrinkage-compensating concrete.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-01

Concrete bridge decks are susceptible to premature cracking and to corrosion of reinforcing steel. Low-permeability : concrete does not always ensure durability if the concrete has excessive cracks that facilitate the intrusion of aggressive solution...

Live-load performance evaluation of historic covered timber bridges in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Junwon Seo; Travis K. Hosteng; Brent M. Phares; James P. Wacker

2015-01-01

The National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program (NHCBP), sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), was established to preserve the covered timber bridge structures that were constructed in the early 1800s. Today, many of the approximately 880 covered timber bridges still in existence in the United States are closed to vehicular traffic;...

Solar Thermal System Evaluation in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinyu Zhang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available More than 581 solar thermal systems (STSs, 98 counties, and 47 renewable application demonstration cites in China need to be inspected by the end of 2015. In this study, the baseline for performance and economic evaluation of STSs are presented based on the site test data and related references. An index used to evaluate STSs was selected, and methods to acquire the parameters used to calculate the related index were set. The requirements for sensors for testing were specified. The evaluation method was applied to three systems and the result shows that the evaluation method is suitable for the evaluation of STSs in China.

Seismic performance evaluation of multi-span existing masonry arch bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Laterza, Michelangelo; D'Amato, Michele; Casamassima, Vito Michele

2017-07-01

Existing old masonry arch bridges represent an architectural and cultural heritage of inestimable value, assuming nowadays an important strategic role since most of them are still in service and link roads of primary importance for vehicular traffic. They were mostly built in the last century without considering any horizontal action, and nowadays are serving roads characterized by a transit loads certainly heavier and more frequent than the ones of past. Moreover, very often due to absence of maintenance and to weathering conditions, the elements deteriorate more and more with a consequent loss of integrity and reduction of their carrying capacity. In this paper the seismic assessment of an old multi span masonry arch bridge still in service is illustrated. Pushover analyses are performed with the aim to investigate the numerical model sensitivity and the influence on the global nonlinear response of the bridge components.

thermal power stations' reliability evaluation in a hydrothermal system

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dr Obe

A quantitative tool for the evaluation of thermal power stations reliability in a hydrothermal system is presented. ... (solar power); wind (wind power) and the rest, thermal power and ... probability of a system performing its function adequately for ...

Precast concrete elements for accelerated bridge construction : laboratory testing, field testing, and evaluation of a precast concrete bridge, Black Hawk County.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

The importance of rapid construction technologies has been recognized by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Iowa : DOT Office of Bridges and Structures. Black Hawk County (BHC) has developed a precast modified beam-in-slab bridge (PMBI...

Reliability Evaluation of a Single-phase H-bridge Inverter with Integrated Active Power Decoupling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tang, Junchaojie; Wang, Haoran; Ma, Siyuan

2016-01-01

it with the traditional passive DC-link solution. The converter level reliability is obtained by component level electro-thermal stress modeling, lifetime model, Weibull distribution, and Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) method. The results are demonstrated by a 2 kW single-phase inverter application.......Various power decoupling methods have been proposed recently to replace the DC-link Electrolytic Capacitors (E-caps) in single-phase conversion system, in order to extend the lifetime and improve the reliability of the DC-link. However, it is still an open question whether the converter level...... reliability becomes better or not, since additional components are introduced and the loading of the existing components may be changed. This paper aims to study the converter level reliability of a single-phase full-bridge inverter with two kinds of active power decoupling module and to compare...

A technical report on structural evaluation of the Meade County reinforced concrete bridge : research [summary].

Science.gov (United States)

2009-01-01

Meade County Bridge is a two-lane highway reinforced concrete bridge with two girders each with 20 continuous spans. The bridge was built in 1965. It has been reported that in early years of the bridge service period, a considerable amount of cracks ...

Verification of LRFD Bridge Design and Analysis Software for INDOT

OpenAIRE

Varma, Amit H.; Seo, Jungil

2009-01-01

NCHRP Process 12-50 was implemented to evaluate and verify composite steel I-girder bridge design software used commonly in Indiana. A test-bed of twenty one bridges was developed with the guidance from an Indiana Department of Transportation appointed research advisory panel (RAP). The test-bed included five simple-span and sixteen multi-span bridge superstructures. More than 80 parameters were required to define a bridge and they include bridge span, girder spacing, number of beams, section...

The clinical application value of myocardial perfusion imaging in evaluating coronary artery myocardial bridge patients with symptoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yuetao; Fu Ning; Ding Xuemei; Lu Cunzhi; Zhu Feng; Wang Guanmin; Huang Yijie; Wang Linguang

2008-01-01

Objective: Myocardial bridge is a common inborn coronary artery anomaly, myocardial bridge may be associated with myocardial ischemia. Only a few patients with coronary artery myocardial bridge were evaluated with nuclear medicine techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of nuclear cardiology with myocardial perfusion technique in symptomatic myocardial bridge patients. Methods Nineteen myocardial bridge patients with the symptoms of chest pain and chest distress were analyzed retrospectively. 99 Tc m -methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) myocardial perfusion images (both exercise and rest) were performed in all. Imaging results were compared with the results of movement electrocardiogram (ECG) and coronary arteriography. The t test or χ 2 test was used to statistically analyze the data with Stata 7.0 software. Results: Of the 19 patients, 18 patients had myocardial bridge locating at the left anterior descending artery, 1 patient at the left anterior descending and left circumflex artery, the mean angiographic systolic occlusion within the myocardial bridge was (65.4 ± 22.1)%. Of these 19 patients, Exercise-rest 99 Tc m -MIBI myocardial perfusion imaging defined positive myocardial ischemia in 10 and negative in 9 patients. Of the 10 patients with 99 Tc m -MIBI myocardial perfusion imaging defined myocardial ischemia, 8 had reversible radioactive defect of partial anterior wall and (or) apex, 1 had reversible defect of post lateral wall and post septal wall, and 1 had reversible defect of inferior wall. The positive predictive value of myocardial perfusion imaging was 52.6% (10/19), which was higher than movement ECG [21.1% (4/19), χ 2 = 4.07, P 99 Tc m -MIBI myocardial periusion imaging defined myocardial ischemia. Six cases with Grade II stenosis, two were 99 Tc m -MIBI myocardial perfusion imaging defined myocardial ischemia. Eight cases with Grade III stenosis, seven were 99 Tc m -MIBI myocardial perfusion imaging defined myocardial

Polymeric materials for solar thermal applications

CERN Document Server

Köhl, Michael; Papillon, Philippe; Wallner, Gernot M; Saile, Sandrin

2012-01-01

Bridging the gap between basic science and technological applications, this is the first book devoted to polymers for solar thermal applications.Clearly divided into three major parts, the contributions are written by experts on solar thermal applications and polymer scientists alike. The first part explains the fundamentals of solar thermal energy especially for representatives of the plastics industry and researchers. Part two then goes on to provide introductory information on polymeric materials and processing for solar thermal experts. The third part combines both of these fields, dis

Evaluation of concrete bridge mix designs for control of cracking, phase I.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-11-01

Cracking of concrete is a common problem with concrete structures such as bridge decks, pavements and bridge : rail. The Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has recently invested in higher performing concrete mixes that are : more impervious and has hi...

Performance evaluation of concrete bridge decks reinforced with MMFX and SSC rebars.

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

This report investigates the performance of bridge decks reinforced with stainless steel clad (SSC) and micro-composite multistructural formable steel (MMFX) rebars. The two-span Galloway Road Bridge on route CR5218 over North Elkhorn Creek in Scott ...

Development of thermal fatigue evaluation methods of piping systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasahara, Naoto; Itoh, Takamoto; Okazaki, Masakazu; Okuda, Yukihiko; Kamaya, Masayuki; Nakamura, Akira; Nakamura, Hitoshi; Machida, Hideo; Matsumoto, Masaaki

2013-01-01

Nuclear piping has various kinds of thermal fatigue failure modes. Main causes of thermal loads are structural responses to fluid temperature changes during plant operation. These phenomena have complex mechanisms and so many patterns, that their problems still occur even though well-known issues. To prevent thermal fatigue due to above thermal loads, the JSME guideline is adopted. Both thermal load and fatigue failure mechanism have been investigated and summarized into the knowledgebase. Based on above knowledge, improved methods for the JSME guideline and Numerical simulation methods for thermal fatigue evaluation were studied. Furthermore, probabilistic failure analysis approach with main influence parameters were investigated to be applied for the plant system safety. (author)

Myocardial Bridge

Science.gov (United States)

... Center > Myocardial Bridge Menu Topics Topics FAQs Myocardial Bridge En español Your heart is made of muscle, ... surface of the heart. What is a myocardial bridge? A myocardial bridge is a band of heart ...

Integrated system of structural health monitoring and intelligent management for a cable-stayed bridge.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Bin; Wang, Xu; Sun, Dezhang; Xie, Xu

2014-01-01

It is essential to construct structural health monitoring systems for large important bridges. Zhijiang Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that was built recently over the Hangzhou Qiantang River (the largest river in Zhejiang Province). The length of Zhijiang Bridge is 478 m, which comprises an arched twin-tower space and a twin-cable plane structure. As an example, the present study describes the integrated system of structural health monitoring and intelligent management for Zhijiang Bridge, which comprises an information acquisition system, data management system, evaluation and decision-making system, and application service system. The monitoring components include the working environment of the bridge and various factors that affect bridge safety, such as the stress and strain of the main bridge structure, vibration, cable force, temperature, and wind speed. In addition, the integrated system includes a forecasting and decision-making module for real-time online evaluation, which provides warnings and makes decisions based on the monitoring information. From this, the monitoring information, evaluation results, maintenance decisions, and warning information can be input simultaneously into the bridge monitoring center and traffic emergency center to share the monitoring data, thereby facilitating evaluations and decision making using the system.

305 Building 2 ton bridge crane and monorail assembly analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Axup, M.D.

1995-12-01

The analyses in the appendix of this document evaluate the integrity of the existing bridge crane structure, as depicted on drawing H-3-34292, for a bridge crane and monorail assembly with a load rating of 2 tons. This bridge crane and monorail assembly is a modification of a 1 1/2 ton rated manipulator bridge crane which originally existed in the 305 building

Thermal management evaluation of the complex electro-optical system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nijemčević Srećko S.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The thermal management of a complex electro-optical system aimed for outdoor application is challenging task due to the requirement of having an air-sealed enclosure, harsh working environment, and an additional thermal load generated by sunlight. It is essential to consider the effect of heating loads in the system components, as well as the internal temperature distribution, that can have influence on the system life expectancy, operational readiness and parameters, and possibility for catastrophic failure. The main objective of this paper is to analyze internal temperature distribution and evaluate its influence on system component operation capability. The electro-optical system simplified model was defined and related thermal balance simulation model based on Solid Works thermal analysis module was set and applied for temperature distribution calculation. Various outdoor environment scenarios were compared to evaluate system temperature distribution and evaluate its influence on system operation, reliability, and life time in application environment. This work was done during the design process as a part of the electro-optical system optimization. The results show that temperature distribution will not be cause for catastrophic failure and malfunction operation during operation in the expected environment.

Thermal analysis on organic phase change materials for heat storage applications

Science.gov (United States)

Lager, Daniel

2016-07-01

In this paper, methodologies based on thermal analysis to evaluate specific heat capacity, phase transition enthalpies, thermal cycling stability and thermal conductivity of organic phase change materials (PCMs) are discussed. Calibration routines for a disc type heat flow differential scanning calorimetry (hf-DSC) are compared and the applied heating rates are adapted due to the low thermal conductivity of the organic PCMs. An assessment of thermal conductivity measurements based on "Laser Flash Analysis" (LFA) and the "Transient Hot Bridge" method (THB) in solid and liquid state has been performed. It could be shown that a disc type hf-DSC is a useful method for measuring specific heat capacity, melting enthalpies and cycling stability of organic PCM if temperature and sensitivity calibration are adapted to the material and quantity to be measured. The LFA method shows repeatable and reproducible thermal diffusivity results in solid state and a high effort for sample preparation in comparison to THB in liquid state. Thermal conductivity results of the two applied methods show large deviations in liquid phase and have to be validated by further experiments.

Evaluation of convergence behavior of metamodeling techniques for bridging scales in multi-scale multimaterial simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sen, Oishik; Davis, Sean; Jacobs, Gustaaf; Udaykumar, H.S.

2015-01-01

The effectiveness of several metamodeling techniques, viz. the Polynomial Stochastic Collocation method, Adaptive Stochastic Collocation method, a Radial Basis Function Neural Network, a Kriging Method and a Dynamic Kriging Method is evaluated. This is done with the express purpose of using metamodels to bridge scales between micro- and macro-scale models in a multi-scale multimaterial simulation. The rate of convergence of the error when used to reconstruct hypersurfaces of known functions is studied. For sufficiently large number of training points, Stochastic Collocation methods generally converge faster than the other metamodeling techniques, while the DKG method converges faster when the number of input points is less than 100 in a two-dimensional parameter space. Because the input points correspond to computationally expensive micro/meso-scale computations, the DKG is favored for bridging scales in a multi-scale solver

Using fractal analysis of thermal signatures for thyroid disease evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Gavriloaia, Gheorghe; Sofron, Emil; Gavriloaia, Mariuca-Roxana; Ghemigean, Adina-Mariana

2010-11-01

The skin is the largest organ of the body and it protects against heat, light, injury and infection. Skin temperature is an important parameter for diagnosing diseases. Thermal analysis is non-invasive, painless, and relatively inexpensive, showing a great potential research. Since the thyroid regulates metabolic rate it is intimately connected to body temperature, more than, any modification of its function generates a specific thermal image on the neck skin. The shapes of thermal signatures are often irregular in size and shape. Euclidean geometry is not able to evaluate their shape for different thyroid diseases, and fractal geometry is used in this paper. Different thyroid diseases generate different shapes, and their complexity are evaluated by specific mathematical approaches, fractal analysis, in order to the evaluate selfsimilarity and lacunarity. Two kinds of thyroid diseases, hyperthyroidism and papillary cancer are analyzed in this paper. The results are encouraging and show the ability to continue research for thermal signature to be used in early diagnosis of thyroid diseases.

CFD evaluation of erosion rate around a bridge near a sand dune

Science.gov (United States)

He, Wei; Huang, Ning; Dun, Hongchao; Wang, Wenbo

2017-04-01

This study performs a series of simulations through solving the Navier-Stokes equations and the RNG k-ε turbulence model to investigate the wind erosion rates around a bridge in a desert area with sand dunes. The digital elevation model of sand dunes and the bridge model are obtained respectively from hypsographic map and construction drawings. Through combining them into the CFD software of Fluent the simulation zone was formed. The data of wind speed obtained from field observation is fitted into a logarithm format, which was imported into Fluent model as a inlet wind speed condition. Then, the effect of Dun-Go railway on wind-blown sand movement of the neighbouring environment is simulated. The results exhibit that affected by both the sand dune and bridge, the flow field is in a complex condition. It is also shown that the bridge in upstream of the sand dune will not increase the sand transport rate intensively, but change both wind velocity gradient and turbulence kinetic energy over surface of sand dune. On the other hand, when the bridge is built downstream the sand dune, simulation results show that sand deposition rate would be decreased in reference region downstream the pier.

Plasma-deposited hybrid silica membranes with a controlled retention of organic bridges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ngamou, P.H.T.; Creatore, M. [Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven (Netherlands); Overbeek, J.P.; Kreiter, R.; Van Veen, H.M.; Vente, J.F. [ECN, Energy research Centre of the Netherlands, Petten (Netherlands); Wienk, I.M.; Cuperus, P.F. [SolSep BV, Apeldoorn (Netherlands)

2013-03-05

Hybrid organically bridged silica membranes are suitable for energy-efficient molecular separations under harsh industrial conditions. Such membranes can be useful in organic solvent nanofiltration if they can be deposited on flexible, porous and large area supports. Here, we report the proof of concept for applying an expanding thermal plasma to the synthesis of perm-selective hybrid silica films from an organically bridged monomer, 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane. This membrane is the first in its class to be produced by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. By tuning the plasma and process parameters, the organic bridging groups could be retained in the separating layer. This way, a defect free film could be made with pervaporation performances of an n-butanol-water mixture comparable with those of conventional ceramic supported membranes made by sol-gel technology (i.e. a water flux of [similar]1.8 kg m'-{sup 2} h{sup -1}, a water concentration in the permeate higher than 98% and a separation factor of >1100). The obtained results show the suitability of expanding thermal plasma as a technology for the deposition of hybrid silica membranes for molecular separations.

Structural analysis and evaluation of actual PC bridge using 950 keV/3.95 MeV X-band linacs

Science.gov (United States)

Takeuchi, H.; Yano, R.; Ozawa, I.; Mitsuya, Y.; Dobashi, K.; Uesaka, M.; Kusano, J.; Oshima, Y.; Ishida, M.

2017-07-01

In Japan, bridges constructed during the strong economic growth era are facing an aging problem and advanced maintenance methods have become strongly required recently. To meet this demand, we develop the on-site inspection system using 950 keV/3.95 MeV X-band (9.3 GHz) linac X-ray sources. These systems can visualize in seconds the inner states of bridges, including cracks of concrete, location and state of tendons (wires) and other imperfections. At the on-site inspections, 950 keV linac exhibited sufficient performance. But, for thicker concrete, it is difficult to visualize the internal state by 950 keV linac. Therefore, we proceeded the installation of 3.95 MeV linac for on-site bridge inspection. In addition, for accurate evaluation, verification on the parallel motion CT technique and FEM analysis are in progress.

Integrated System of Structural Health Monitoring and Intelligent Management for a Cable-Stayed Bridge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Chen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available It is essential to construct structural health monitoring systems for large important bridges. Zhijiang Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that was built recently over the Hangzhou Qiantang River (the largest river in Zhejiang Province. The length of Zhijiang Bridge is 478 m, which comprises an arched twin-tower space and a twin-cable plane structure. As an example, the present study describes the integrated system of structural health monitoring and intelligent management for Zhijiang Bridge, which comprises an information acquisition system, data management system, evaluation and decision-making system, and application service system. The monitoring components include the working environment of the bridge and various factors that affect bridge safety, such as the stress and strain of the main bridge structure, vibration, cable force, temperature, and wind speed. In addition, the integrated system includes a forecasting and decision-making module for real-time online evaluation, which provides warnings and makes decisions based on the monitoring information. From this, the monitoring information, evaluation results, maintenance decisions, and warning information can be input simultaneously into the bridge monitoring center and traffic emergency center to share the monitoring data, thereby facilitating evaluations and decision making using the system.

Bridge Condition Assessment based on Vibration Responses of Passenger Vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyamoto, Ayaho; Yabe, Akito

2011-01-01

In this paper, we propose a new method of assessing the condition of existing short- and medium-span reinforced/prestressed concrete bridges based on vibration monitoring data obtained from a public bus. This paper not only describes details of a prototype monitoring system that uses information technology and sensors capable of providing more accurate knowledge of bridge performance than conventional ways but also shows a few specific examples of bridge condition assessment based on vehicle vibrations measured by using an in-service public bus equipped with vibration measurement instrumentation. This paper also describes a sensitivity analysis of deteriorating bridges based on simulation of the acceleration response of buses conducted by the 'substructure method' employing a finite element model to verify the above bridge performance results. The main conclusions obtained in this study can be summarized as follows: (1) Because the vibration responses of passenger vehicles, such as buses, have a good linear relationship with the vibration responses of the target bridges, the proposed system can be used as a practical monitoring system for bridge condition assessment. (2) The results of sensitivity analysis performed by the substructure method show that bus vibration responses are useful for evaluating target bridge performance. (3) The proposed method was applied to a network of real bridges in a local area to evaluate its effectiveness. The results indicate that the proposed method can be used to prioritize the repair/strengthening works of existing bridges based on various vibration information in order to help bridge administrators establish rational maintenance strategies.

Measurements of bridges' vibration characteristics using a mobile phone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. M. C. Pravia

Full Text Available ABSTRACTThis research presents an alternative way to perform a bridge inspection, which considers the dynamics parameters from the structure. It shows an experimental phase with use of a mobile phone to extract the accelerations answers from two concrete bridges, from those records is feasible to obtain natural frequencies using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT.Numerical models with uses finite element model (FEM allow to determine the natural frequencies from the two concrete bridges and compare with the experimental phase of each one. The final results shows it's possible to use mobiles phones to extract vibration answers from concrete bridges and define the structural behavior of bridges from natural frequencies, this procedure could be used to evaluate bridges with lower costs.

The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and the Storebælt Bridge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gimsing, Niels Jørgen

1999-01-01

With the completion of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and the Storebælt East Bridge the development of the suspension bridge technology in the 20th century has manifested itself in two impressive structures. With the present echnology may bridges of similar (and also more modest) dimensions...... will undoubtedly be built far into the next century. For bridges going beyond the spans of existing bridges it is, however, likely that new concepts will be developed....

Evaluation of hot spot factors for thermal and hydraulic design of HTTR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maruyama, So; Yamashita, Kiyonobu; Fujimoto, Nozomu; Murata, Isao; Sudo, Yukio; Murakami, Tomoyuki; Fujii, Sadao.

1993-01-01

High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) is a graphite-moderated and helium gas-cooled reactor with 30 MW in thermal power and 950degC in reactor outlet coolant temperature. One of the major items in thermal and hydraulic design of the HTTR is to evaluate the maximum fuel temperature with a sufficient margin from a viewpoint of integrity of coated fuel particles. Hot spot factors are considered in the thermal and hydraulic design to evaluate the fuel temperature not only under the normal operation condition but also under any transient condition conservatively. This report summarizes the items of hot spot factors selected in the thermal and hydraulic design and their estimated values, and also presents evaluation results of the thermal and hydraulic characteristics of the HTTR briefly. (author)

Determination of in-situ strength on selected bridge element concrete girder and slab of Nagtahan bridge using rebound hammer test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uy, Bernadette Betsy B.; Banaga, Renato T.

2013-01-01

This study examined the extent of the damage due to fire on the affected areas of the bridge structure. The need to assess the damage of the Nagtahan Bridge is very useful to provide appropriate measures in the repair or in the reinforcement of the bridge, hence will ensure its strength and integrity. The study included two (2) spans of the bridge deck/slab with specific locations of the bridge that were subjected for testing. The Rebound Hammer was used as a preliminary test in evaluating the bridge condition. Its capability is to assess the in-place uniformity of concrete, to delineate regions in a structure of poor quality or deteriorated concrete, and to estimate the in-place strength; and ultimately, for relative comparison between the different structures of the bridge. With the use of the NDT Rebound Hammer Test, the researchers were able to determine whether or not the in-situ strength of the bridge's concrete has been weakened due to fire. The DPW-Standard Specification is the government acceptable manual, containing the acceptance criteria, used as the basis for standard construction procedures in the department.(author)

Field performance of stress-laminated timber bridges on low-volume roads

Science.gov (United States)

M. A. Ritter; J. P. Wacker; S. R. Duwadi

1995-01-01

Stress-laminated timber bridges were first introduced in the United States in the late 1980s. Since that time, the concept of stress-laminating has received a great deal of attention and hundreds of bridges have been built. Most of these bridges are located on rural low-volume roads. To evaluate the performance of stress-laminated bridges, the United States Department...

Conceptual design for the thermal shield bridges and multilayer insulation in the interconnect region for the SSC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baritchi, D.; Nicol, T.; Boroski, W.

1991-01-01

The interconnect region serves as the connection area between magnets. In order to minimize radiant heat transfer in the interconnect area, the authors used shield bridges which span the 80K and 20K shield gap between adjacent magnets. A sliding joint between bridge sections on adjacent magnets accommodates contraction during cool-down. An investigation was done to determine which attachment schemes (riveted or bolted versus welded) are better for heat transfer. Each shield bridge is covered with the same multilayer insulation scheme used throughout the body of the magnet. These shield bridges also contain pressure reliefs for each shield in the event of an internal piping failure. The reliefs are located in the upper half of the shield section in order to prevent liquid spills from impinging directly onto the vacuum vessel wall

Bridge Management Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thoft-Christensen, Palle

In this paper bridge management systems are discussed with special emphasis on management systems for reinforced concrete bridges. Management systems for prestressed concrete bridges, steel bridges, or composite bridges can be developed in a similar way....

LDRD final report on nanocomposite materials based on hydrocarbon-bridged siloxanes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ulibarri, T.A.; Bates, S.E.; Loy, D.A.; Jamison, G.M.; Emerson, J.A.; Curro, J.G.

1997-05-01

Silicones [polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymers] are environmentally safe, nonflammable, weather resistant, thermally stable, low T{sub g} materials which are attractive for general elastomer applications because of their safety and their performance over a wide temperature range. However, PDMS is inherently weak due to its low glass transition temperature (T{sub g}) and lack of stress crystallization. The major goal of this project was to create a family of reinforced elastomers based on silsesquioxane/PDMS networks. Polydimethylsiloxane-based (PDMS) composite materials containing a variety of alkylene-arylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes were synthesized in order to probe short chain and linkage effects in bimodal polymer networks. Monte Carlo simulations on the alkylene-bridged silsesquioxane/PDMS system predicted that the introduction of the silsesquioxane short chains into the long chain PDMS network would have a significant reinforcing effect on the elastomer. The silsesquioxane-PDMS networks were synthesized and evaluated. Analysis of the mechanical properties of the resulting materials indicated that use of the appropriate silisesquioxane generated materials with greatly enhanced properties. Arylene and activated alkylene systems resulted in materials that showed superior adhesive strength for metal-to-metal adhesion.

Evaluation of the of thermal shock resistance of a castable containing andalusite aggregates by thermal shock cycles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, G.C.R.; Santos, E.M.B.; Ribeiro, S.; Rodrigues, J.A.

2011-01-01

The thermal shock resistance of refractory materials is one of the most important characteristics that determine their performance in many applications, since abrupt and drastic differences in temperature can damage them. Resistance to thermal shock damage can be evaluated based on thermal cycles, i.e., successive heating and cooling cycles followed by an analysis of the drop in Young's modulus occurring in each cycle. The aim of this study was to evaluate the resistance to thermal shock damage in a commercial refractory concrete with andalusite aggregate. Concrete samples that were sintered at 1000 deg C and 1450 deg C for 5 hours to predict and were subjected to 30 thermal shock cycles, soaking in the furnace for 20 minutes at a temperature of 1000 deg C, and subsequent cooling in circulating water at 25 deg C. The results showed a decrease in Young's modulus and rupture around 72% for samples sintered at 1000 ° C, and 82% in sintered at 1450 ° C. The refractory sintered at 1450 deg C would show lower thermal shock resistance than the refractory sintered at 1000 deg C. (author)

Ground test facilities for evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion engines and fuel elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, G.C.; Beck, D.F.; Harmon, C.D.; Shipers, L.R.

1992-01-01

Interagency panels evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion development options have consistently recognized the need for constructing a major new ground test facility to support fuel element and engine testing. This paper summarizes the requirements, configuration, and design issues of a proposed ground test complex for evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion engines and fuel elements being developed for the Space Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (SNTP) program. 2 refs

Sensing and Rating of Vehicle–Railroad Bridge Collision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vemuganti, Shreya; Ozdagli, Ali I.; Liu, Bideng

2017-01-01

Overhead collisions of trucks with low-clearance railway bridges cause more than half of the railway traffic interruptions over bridges in the United States. Railroad owners are required to characterize the damage caused by such events and assess the safety of subsequent train crossings. However...... and remotely quantify damage. This research proposes an impact rating strategy based on the information that best describes the consequences of vehicle-railway bridge collisions. A series of representative impacts were simulated using numerical finite element models of a steel railway bridge. Railway owners...... provided information about the bridge and impact characterization based on railway industry experience. The resulting nonlinear dynamic responses were evaluated with the proposed rating strategy to assess the effect of these impacts. In addition, a neural network methodology was implemented on a simplified...

SURGERY OF SYMPTOMATIC MYOCARDIAL BRIDGING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Maghamipour N. Safaei

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Myocardial bridging with systolic compression of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD may be associated with myocardial ischemia. In symptomatic myocardial bridging unresponsive to medical treatment, surgical unroofing of the left LAD can be performed. Little information is available about the long-term prognosis of patients with this coronary anomaly after the surgical unroofing, so we decided to evaluate the result of this operation. A total of 26 patients underwent surgical unroofing of myocardial bridging. Patients had a myocardial bridge of at least 3 cm in length in the middle of LAD and with more than 70% compression during systole. Unroofing was performed with cardiopulmonary bypass in 16 and with off pump technique in 10 patients. In 6 patients repeat angiographies for control of myotomy were done. In one of them a nonsignificant 20% narrowing was seen. Postoperative scintigraphic and angiographic studies demonstrated restoration of coronary flow and myocardial perfusion without residual myocardial bridges under beta-stimulation in 24 patients. Two patients had residual narrowing. With off pump technique, 1 patient had perforation of the right ventricle and 1 patient underwent reoperation because of incomplete unroofing during the first operation. None of the patients with cardiopulmonary bypass technique had residual chest pain or other complications. Surgical unroofing of myocardial bridging with the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass is a safe and easy procedure with low operative risk and with excellent functional results.

Design and evaluation of a low thermal electromotive force guarded scanner for resistance measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Jarrett, Dean G.; Marshall, James A.; Marshall, Thomas A.; Dziuba, Ronald F.

1999-06-01

The design and testing of a low thermal electromotive force guarded scanner, developed to provide completely guarded switching when used with actively guarded resistance bridge networks, is described. The design provides a continuous guard circuit trace on the scanner circuit boards that surrounds the relay contacts and protects the measurement circuit from leakages to ground. Modification to the circuit boards and relays of the guarded scanner are explained. Several tests were developed to evaluate the guarding effectiveness, including isolating sections of the guard circuit to create a potential drop between the main and guard circuits. Calibration of standard resistors using the guarded scanner has shown relative differences less than 1×10-6, 30×10-6, and 150×10-6 for measurements made with and without the guarded scanner at nominal resistances of 1, 10, and 100 GΩ, respectively. The substitution method was used to significantly reduce the relative differences between channels to less than 0.5×10-6, 3×10-6, and 30×10-6 for nominal resistances of 1, 10, and 100 GΩ, respectively. Applications for the guarded scanner in automated direct current measurement systems are presented.

Railroad Bridges

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Homeland Security — Bridges-Rail in the United States According to The National Bridge Inspection Standards published in the Code of Federal Regulations (23 CFR 650.3), a bridge isA...

Bridge approach slabs for Missouri DOT field evaluation of alternative and cost efficient bridge approach slabs.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

Based on a recent study on cost efficient alternative bridge approach slab (BAS) designs (Thiagarajan et : al. 2010) has recommended three new BAS designs for possible implementation by MoDOT namely a) 20 feet cast-inplace : slab with sleeper slab (C...

Implementation of Bridge Management System on Interurban Bridge in Maluku Province

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erwin Marasabessy

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Bridges as transport infrastructures play a vital role in smoothing traffic flows. The success of a bridge in playing its role and serving its function depends on its management. The Directorate General of Highways of the Ministry of Public Work has used a system to manage bridges known as the Bridge Management System (BMS. The system allows a systematic plan and provides a uniform procedure for all bridge operation activities on the national and provincial level. Data from Implementation Agency of National Inter-Urban Roads of Area IX, Northern Maluku in 2011 indicates that the total length of national roads in Maluku Province is 15,238.01 M, with a total of 562 bridges. In Ambon Island, especially, there are 52 bridges totaling 1,176.25 m in length. The study was conducted at several inter-urban bridges in Maluku Province of Ambon Island: Wai Batu Merah, Wai Ruhu, Wai Lawa, Wai Yari and Wai Tua bridges. Assessment of bridge structure conditions was conducted visually to determine the conditions of the existing bridges comprehensively by referring to the Bridge Management System (BMS complemented with a computer-based Bridge Management Information System (BMIS. Condition scores for the five bridges—Wai Batu Merah, Wai Ruhu, Wai Lawa, Wai Yari, and Wai Tua, according to Bridge Management System, are 2, 1, 2, 1, and 2 respectively. The scores of the five bridges indicate that their physical condition can be categorized as good or with minor defects. Based on technical screening, the proposed treatment for Wai Batu Merah, Wai Ruhu, Wai Lawa, dan Wai Tua bridges is the rehabilitation of their sub-elements. As for the Wai Yari Bridge, the treatment will be maintained regularly. The defect repair costs are IDR 149,138,238.00, IDR 81,048,000.00, IDR 174,579,106.10, IDR 79,233,324.01 and IDR 238,323,258.60 for Wai Batu, Wai Ruhu, Wai Lawa, Wai Yari, and Wai Tua Bridges, respectively.

Simplified Analytical Model of a Covered Burr-Arch-Truss Timber Bridge

Science.gov (United States)

F. Fanous; D. Rammer; T. Wipf

2013-01-01

Due to the importance of historical timber covered bridges throughout history, their preservation is necessary. However, conducting an accurate structural evaluation of these types of bridges has always caused difficulties to bridge engineers. This paper summarizes an investigation that was sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration and the USDA Forest Products...

Upgrade of the LHC magnet interconnections thermal shielding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Musso, Andrea; Barlow, Graeme; Bastard, Alain; Charrondiere, Maryline; Deferne, Guy; Dib, Gaëlle; Duret, Max; Guinchard, Michael; Prin, Hervé; Craen, Arnaud Vande; Villiger, Gilles [CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research, Meyrin 1211, Geneva 23, CH (Switzerland); Chrul, Anna [The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul.Radzikowskiego 152, 31-324 Krakow (Poland); Damianoglou, Dimitrios [NTUA National Technical University of Athens, Heeron Polytechniou 9, 15780 Zografou (Greece); Strychalski, Michał [Wroclaw University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Wyb. Wyspianskiego 27, Wroclaw, 50-370 (Poland); Wright, Loren [Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW (United Kingdom)

2014-01-29

The about 1700 interconnections (ICs) between the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) superconducting magnets include thermal shielding at 50-75 K, providing continuity to the thermal shielding of the magnet cryostats to reduce the overall radiation heat loads to the 1.9 K helium bath of the magnets. The IC shield, made of aluminum, is conduction-cooled via a welded bridge to the thermal shield of the adjacent magnets which is actively cooled. TIG welding of these bridges made in the LHC tunnel at installation of the magnets induced a considerable risk of fire hazard due to the proximity of the multi-layer insulation of the magnet shields. A fire incident occurred in one of the machine sectors during machine installation, but fortunately with limited consequences thanks to prompt intervention of the operators. LHC is now undergoing a 2 years technical stop during which all magnet's ICs will have to be opened to consolidate the magnet electrical connections. The IC thermal shields will therefore have to be removed and re-installed after the work is completed. In order to eliminate the risk of fire hazard when re-welding, it has been decided to review the design of the IC shields, by replacing the welded bridges with a mechanical clamping which also preserves its thermal function. An additional advantage of this new solution is the ease in dismantling for maintenance, and eliminating weld-grinding operations at removal needing radioprotection measures because of material activation after long-term operation of the LHC. This paper describes the new design of the IC shields and in particular the theoretical and experimental validation of its thermal performance. Furthermore a status report of the on-going upgrade work in the LHC is given.

Upgrade of the LHC magnet interconnections thermal shielding

Science.gov (United States)

Musso, Andrea; Barlow, Graeme; Bastard, Alain; Charrondiere, Maryline; Chrul, Anna; Damianoglou, Dimitrios; Deferne, Guy; Dib, Gaëlle; Duret, Max; Guinchard, Michael; Prin, Hervé; Strychalski, Michał; Craen, Arnaud Vande; Villiger, Gilles; Wright, Loren

2014-01-01

The about 1700 interconnections (ICs) between the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) superconducting magnets include thermal shielding at 50-75 K, providing continuity to the thermal shielding of the magnet cryostats to reduce the overall radiation heat loads to the 1.9 K helium bath of the magnets. The IC shield, made of aluminum, is conduction-cooled via a welded bridge to the thermal shield of the adjacent magnets which is actively cooled. TIG welding of these bridges made in the LHC tunnel at installation of the magnets induced a considerable risk of fire hazard due to the proximity of the multi-layer insulation of the magnet shields. A fire incident occurred in one of the machine sectors during machine installation, but fortunately with limited consequences thanks to prompt intervention of the operators. LHC is now undergoing a 2 years technical stop during which all magnet's ICs will have to be opened to consolidate the magnet electrical connections. The IC thermal shields will therefore have to be removed and re-installed after the work is completed. In order to eliminate the risk of fire hazard when re-welding, it has been decided to review the design of the IC shields, by replacing the welded bridges with a mechanical clamping which also preserves its thermal function. An additional advantage of this new solution is the ease in dismantling for maintenance, and eliminating weld-grinding operations at removal needing radioprotection measures because of material activation after long-term operation of the LHC. This paper describes the new design of the IC shields and in particular the theoretical and experimental validation of its thermal performance. Furthermore a status report of the on-going upgrade work in the LHC is given.

Long-term bridge performance high priority bridge performance issues.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-10-01

Bridge performance is a multifaceted issue involving performance of materials and protective systems, : performance of individual components of the bridge, and performance of the structural system as a whole. The : Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP)...

Building Bridges to Integrate Care (BRIDGES): Incubating Health Service Innovation across the Continuum of Care for Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharyya, Onil; Schull, Michael; Shojania, Kaveh; Stergiopoulos, Vicky; Naglie, Gary; Webster, Fiona; Brandao, Ricardo; Mohammed, Tamara; Christian, Jennifer; Hawker, Gillian; Wilson, Lynn; Levinson, Wendy

2016-01-01

Integrating care for people with complex needs is challenging. Indeed, evidence of solutions is mixed, and therefore, well-designed, shared evaluation approaches are needed to create cumulative learning. The Toronto-based Building Bridges to Integrate Care (BRIDGES) collaborative provided resources to refine and test nine new models linking primary, hospital and community care. It used mixed methods, a cross-project meta-evaluation and shared outcome measures. Given the range of skills required to develop effective interventions, a novel incubator was used to test and spread opportunities for system integration that included operational expertise and support for evaluation and process improvement.

Characteristics of a plasma flow field produced by a metal array bridge foil explosion

Science.gov (United States)

Junying, WU; Long, WANG; Yase, LI; Lijun, YANG; Manzoor, SULTAN; Lang, CHEN

2018-07-01

To improve the energy utilization efficiency of metal bridge foil explosion, and increase the function range of plasmas, array bridge foil explosion experiments with different structures were performed. A Schlieren photographic measurement system with a double-pulse laser source was used to observe the flow field of a bridge foil explosion. The evolution laws of plasmas and shock waves generated by array bridge foil explosions of different structures were analyzed and compared. A multi-phase flow calculation model was established to simulate the electrical exploding process of a metal bridge foil. The plasma equation of state was determined by considering the effect of the changing number of particles and Coulomb interaction on the pressure and internal energy. The ionization degree of the plasma was calculated via the Saha–Eggert equation assuming conditions of local thermal equilibrium. The exploding process of array bridge foils was simulated, and the superposition processes of plasma beams were analyzed. The variation and distribution laws of the density, temperature, pressure, and other important parameters were obtained. The results show that the array bridge foil has a larger plasma jet diameter than the single bridge foil for an equal total area of the bridge foil. We also found that the temperature, pressure, and density of the plasma jet’s center region sharply increase because of the superposition of plasma beams.

47 CFR 80.163 - Operator requirements of the Bridge-to-Bridge Act.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Operator requirements of the Bridge-to-Bridge... Requirements § 80.163 Operator requirements of the Bridge-to-Bridge Act. Each ship subject to the Bridge-to-Bridge Act must have on board a radio operator who holds a restricted radiotelephone operator permit or...

Long-term Evaluation of Type 2 Thyroplasty with Titanium Bridges for Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanuki, Tetsuji; Yumoto, Eiji

2017-07-01

Objectives Standard treatments of adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) provide temporary relief of symptoms. Type 2 thyroplasty offers a long-term solution; however, long-term voice outcome data are lacking. The objective of this study was to assess the long-term voice outcomes of type 2 thyroplasty with titanium bridges through use of a validated voice questionnaire. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting University hospital. Subjects and Methods Forty-seven consecutively enrolled patients with AdSD underwent type 2 thyroplasty with titanium bridges between August 2006 and November 2014. Questionnaires were completed during regularly scheduled follow-ups and, in some cases, were sent to patients who missed follow-up appointments. In 2015, questionnaires were mailed to all 47 patients and included a Voice Handicap Index-10 evaluation, as well as questions on postoperative vocal symptoms, surgical site, and status of the implanted titanium bridges. Results Of 47 patients with AdSD, 31 (66%) completed the questionnaires. The average follow-up interval was 41.3 months. No patient reported experiencing an adverse event around the surgical site, and almost all were satisfied with their voices postoperatively. The mean postoperative (>3 years) Voice Handicap Index-10 score improved significantly, from 26.3 to 9.4 (n = 17, P = .0009). Conclusions Type 2 thyroplasty for AdSD significantly improved patient quality of life and voice symptoms and continued to do so long after the surgery. The results of this study suggest that type 2 thyroplasty provides relief from vocal symptoms in patients with AdSD for >3 years.

Seismic evaluation and retrofit of deteriorated concrete bridge components.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-01

Corrosion of steel bars in reinforced concrete structures is a major durability problem for bridges constructed in the New York State : (NYS). The heavy use of deicing salt compounds this problem. Corrosion of steel bars results in loss of steel cros...

Thermal transport in semicrystalline polyethylene by molecular dynamics simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Tingyu; Kim, Kyunghoon; Li, Xiaobo; Zhou, Jun; Chen, Gang; Liu, Jun

2018-01-01

Recent research has highlighted the potential to achieve high-thermal-conductivity polymers by aligning their molecular chains. Combined with other merits, such as low-cost, corrosion resistance, and light weight, such polymers are attractive for heat transfer applications. Due to their quasi-one-dimensional structural nature, the understanding on the thermal transport in those ultra-drawn semicrystalline polymer fibers or films is still lacking. In this paper, we built the ideal repeating units of semicrystalline polyethylene and studied their dependence of thermal conductivity on different crystallinity and interlamellar topology using the molecular dynamics simulations. We found that the conventional models, such as the Choy-Young's model, the series model, and Takayanagi's model, cannot accurately predict the thermal conductivity of the quasi-one-dimensional semicrystalline polyethylene. A modified Takayanagi's model was proposed to explain the dependence of thermal conductivity on the bridge number at intermediate and high crystallinity. We also analyzed the heat transfer pathways and demonstrated the substantial role of interlamellar bridges in the thermal transport in the semicrystalline polyethylene. Our work could contribute to the understanding of the structure-property relationship in semicrystalline polymers and shed some light on the development of plastic heat sinks and thermal management in flexible electronics.

Bridge health monitoring metrics : updating the bridge deficiency algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-10-01

As part of its bridge management system, the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) must decide how best to spend its bridge replacement funds. In making these decisions, ALDOT managers currently use a deficiency algorithm to rank bridges that ...

The evaluation of the overall thermal comfort inside a vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Neacsu, Catalin; Tabacu, Ion; Ivanescu, Mariana; Vieru, Ionel

2017-10-01

The thermal comfort is one of the most important aspects of the modern vehicles that can influence the safety, the fuel consumption and the pollutions regulation. The objective of this paper is to compare the global and absolute thermal comfort indexes for two vehicles with different distribution air systems inside the car cockpit, one using only front air vents, and the other using both front and rear air vents. The methodology of calculus consists in using the 3D model of the interior vehicle, generally in a CAD format. Then, using a meshing software to create the finite element model of the interior surfaces inside the cockpit and the volume of internal air. Using the obtained finite element geometry, there will be conducted a Theseus FE calculus using the given boundary conditions. The results of the numerical simulation are presented in terms of graphs and figures and also PMV, PPD and DTS thermal comfort indexes. With the obtained results, we will then create the graphs that allows us to evaluate the global and absolute thermal comfort indexes. The results of the evaluation show us that the use of the method allow us to evaluate with a greater accuracy the thermal comfort for the whole vehicle, not only for each passenger, like the standard methods. This shows us that in terms of general and absolute thermal comfort, the vehicle that use front and rear systems is better than the version that use only a front system. The thermal comfort is an important aspect to be taken into account from the beginning of the design stage of a vehicle, by choosing the right air conditioning system. In addition, by using the numerical simulation, we are able to reduce the time needed for preliminary tests and be able to provide the vehicle to the market earlier, at a lower development cost.

Myocardial bridges of the coronary arteries in the human fetal heart.

Science.gov (United States)

Cakmak, Yusuf Ozgür; Cavdar, Safiye; Yalin, Aymelek; Yener, Nuran; Ozdogmus, Omer

2010-09-01

During the last century, many investigators reported on myocardial bridges in the adult human heart. In the present study, 39 human fetal hearts (the mean gestastional age was 30 weeks) were studied for myocardial bridging, and the results were correlated with adult data. Among the 39 (27 male and 12 female) fetal hearts studied, 26 bridges were observed on 18 fetal hearts (46.2%). Ten of the bridges had one myocardial bridge, whereas double myocardial bridges were observed in eight fetal hearts. The most frequent myocardial bridges were observed on the left anterior descending artery (LAD), which had 13 bridges (50%). Eight (30.7%) myocardial bridges were on the diagonal artery, and on the posterior descending artery there were five (19.3%). Myocardial bridges were not observed on the circumflex artery. The data presented in this study may provide potentially useful information for the preoperative evaluation of the newborn and may have a clinical implication for sudden fetal death.

47 CFR 80.309 - Watch required by the Bridge-to-Bridge Act.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Watch required by the Bridge-to-Bridge Act. 80... Safety Watches § 80.309 Watch required by the Bridge-to-Bridge Act. In addition to the watch requirement contained in § 80.148, all vessels subject to the Bridge-to-Bridge Act must keep a watch on the designated...

Algorithms for highway-speed acoustic impact-echo evaluation of concrete bridge decks

Science.gov (United States)

Mazzeo, Brian A.; Guthrie, W. Spencer

2018-04-01

A new acoustic impact-echo testing device has been developed for detecting and mapping delaminations in concrete bridge decks at highway speeds. The apparatus produces nearly continuous acoustic excitation of concrete bridge decks through rolling mats of chains that are placed around six wheels mounted to a hinged trailer. The wheels approximately span the width of a traffic lane, and the ability to remotely lower and raise the apparatus using a winch system allows continuous data collection without stationary traffic control or exposure of personnel to traffic. Microphones near the wheels are used to record the acoustic response of the bridge deck during testing. In conjunction with the development of this new apparatus, advances in the algorithms required for data analysis were needed. This paper describes the general framework of the algorithms developed for converting differential global positioning system data and multi-channel audio data into maps that can be used in support of engineering decisions about bridge deck maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement (MR&R). Acquisition of position and audio data is coordinated on a laptop computer through a custom graphical user interface. All of the streams of data are synchronized with the universal computer time so that audio data can be associated with interpolated position information through data post-processing. The audio segments are individually processed according to particular detection algorithms that can adapt to variations in microphone sensitivity or particular chain excitations. Features that are greater than a predetermined threshold, which is held constant throughout the analysis, are then subjected to further analysis and included in a map that shows the results of the testing. Maps of data collected on a bridge deck using the new acoustic impact-echo testing device at different speeds ranging from approximately 10 km/h to 55 km/h indicate that the collected data are reasonably repeatable. Use

Thermal fatigue and creep evaluation for the bed in tritium SDS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Woo-seok, E-mail: wschoi@kaeri.re.kr [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Yuseong, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Chang-gyu [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Yuseong, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Ju, Yong-sun [KOASIS, Yuseong, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Hyun-goo; Jang, Min-ho; Yun, Sei-hun [National Fusion Research Institute, Yuseong, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-11-01

Highlights: • To evaluate the integrity of the ITER tritium SDS bed, three kinds of assessments were conducted. • The structural analysis showed that the stress induced from the thermal load and the internal pressure is within the design stress intensity. • The combined fatigue and creep assessment was also performed according to the procedure of ASME code Subsection NH. • A new operation procedure to obtain more integrity margin was recommended. • The other operation procedure could be considered which makes the rapid operation possible giving up the marginal integrity. - Abstract: The primary vessel of ITER tritium SDS bed is made of stainless steel. It is heated beyond 500 °C to desorb tritium. During this process the primary vessel is subject to thermal stress. And it is also subject to thermal fatigue by the iterative process of absorption and desorption. In addition, its operation temperature range is in the thermal creep temperature region. Therefore, the tritium SDS bed should have sufficient design stress intensity under the high temperature operating conditions. It should also be free of damage due to fatigue during the design life. Thermal analysis and structural analysis was performed using a finite element method to calculate the temperature and the stress distribution of the ITER tritium SDS bed due to the internal pressure and thermal loads. The thermal fatigue and creep effects were also evaluated since the tritium SDS bed was heated to hot temperature region where creep occurs. Based on the distribution of the primary stress and secondary stress results, two evaluation cross-sections were selected. The evaluation showed that the calculated value on the cross-sections satisfied all of the limits of the design code requirements.

Seismic Response Analysis of Continuous Multispan Bridges with Partial Isolation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Tubaldi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Partially isolated bridges are a particular class of bridges in which isolation bearings are placed only between the piers top and the deck whereas seismic stoppers restrain the transverse motion of the deck at the abutments. This paper proposes an analytical formulation for the seismic analysis of these bridges, modelled as beams with intermediate viscoelastic restraints whose properties describe the pier-isolator behaviour. Different techniques are developed for solving the seismic problem. The first technique employs the complex mode superposition method and provides an exact benchmark solution to the problem at hand. The two other simplified techniques are based on an approximation of the displacement field and are useful for preliminary assessment and design purposes. A realistic bridge is considered as case study and its seismic response under a set of ground motion records is analyzed. First, the complex mode superposition method is applied to study the characteristic features of the dynamic and seismic response of the system. A parametric analysis is carried out to evaluate the influence of support stiffness and damping on the seismic performance. Then, a comparison is made between the exact solution and the approximate solutions in order to evaluate the accuracy and suitability of the simplified analysis techniques for evaluating the seismic response of partially isolated bridges.

Thermal Environment evaluation in Commercial kitchens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simone, Angela; Olesen, Bjarne W.

2012-01-01

as commercial kitchens? There is therefore a need to study the indoor environment in commercial kitchens and to establish standardized methods and procedures for setting criteria that have to be met for the design and operation of kitchens. The present paper introduces a data collection protocol based......The indoor climate in commercial kitchens is often unsatisfactory and the working conditions can have a significant effect on employees’ comfort and productivity. The type (fast food, casual, etc.) and climatic zone can influence the thermal conditions in the kitchens. Moreover, size...... and arrangement of the kitchen zones, appliances, etc., complicate further an evaluation of the indoor thermal environment in kitchens. In general, comfort criteria are expressed in international standards such as ASHRAE 55 or ISO EN7730. But are these standardised methods applicable for such environments...

Field performance of timber bridges. 7, Connell Lake stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

L. E. Hislop; M. A. Ritter

The Connell Lake bridge was constructed in early 1991 on the Tongass National Forest, Alaska, as a demonstration bridge under the Timber Bridge Initiative. The bridge is a stress-laminated deck structure with an approximate 36-ft length and 18-ft width and is the first known stress-laminated timber bridge constructed in Alaska. Performance of the bridge was monitored...

Track-Bridge Longitudinal Interaction of Continuous Welded Rails on Arch Bridge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rong Chen

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Taking arch bridges, including deck, half-through, and through arch bridges (short for DAB, HTAB, and TAB as examples, mechanics analysis models of longitudinal interaction between continuously welded rails (short for CWRs and arch bridges are established. Based on the finite element method (FEM, the longitudinal interaction calculation software of CWR on arch bridges has been developed. Focusing on an HTAB, the tension, compression, and deflection conditions are calculated and analyzed. The results show that the mechanics analysis models of three types of arch bridges can truly reflect the real state of the structure; the calculation software can be used for systematic research of the CWR on arch bridge; as for HTAB, temperature difference of arch rib has a small effect on rail tension/compression, and arch bridge can be simplified as a continuous beam for rail tension/compression additional force calculation; in calculation of deflection conditions of HTAB, it is suggested that train loads are arranged on half span and full span and take the direction of load entering bridge into account. Additionally, the deflection additional force variation of CFST basket handle arch bridge is different from that of ordinary bridge.

Modelling of hydrothermal instabilities in a capillary bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Pillai, Dipin; Wray, Alex; Narayanan, Ranga

2017-11-01

We examine the behaviour of a capillary bridge/boat suspended between two heated plates. Such systems are common in many physical situations such as crystal growth processes. However, as shown experimentally by Messmer et al., the system exhibits a complex array of behaviours driven by a Marangoni instability. While qualitative arguments have been advanced for these behaviours in the past, we develop a complete low-order model to elucidate the mechanisms at work. The model takes into account viscosity, surface tension, Marangoni stress and inertia as well as a full convection-diffusion equation for the thermal effects. Detailed comparisons of flow fields and thermal distributions are made with experiments. NASA NNX17AL27G and NSF 0968313.

Perturbative evaluation of the Thermal Wilson Loop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gava, E.; Jengo, R.

1981-06-01

The Thermal Wilson Loop 0 sup(β) dtauA 0 (tau, x-vector)>, representing an order parameter for the gauge theory and expected to be zero in the confining phase, is perturbatively evaluated up to the O(g 4 ) included for an SU(N) pure Yang-Mills theory. This evaluation should be meaningful at high temperature, β → 0. Its behaviour is discussed and a possible need for non-perturbative instanton-like contributions is pointed out. (author)

The effect of span length and girder type on bridge costs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Batikha Mustafa

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Bridges have an important role in impacting the civilization, growth and economy of cities from ancient time until these days due to their function in reducing transportation cost and time. Therefore, development of bridges has been a knowledge domain in civil engineering studies in terms of their types and construction materials to confirm a reliable, safe, economic design and construction. Girder-bridge of concrete deck and I-beam girder has been used widely for short and medium span bridges because of ease and low-cost of fabrication. However, many theoretical and practical investigations are still undertaken regarding the type of beam girder; i.e steel composite or prestressed concrete. This paper evaluates the effect of bridge span and the type of girder on the capital cost and life cycle costs of bridges. Three types of girders were investigated in this research: steel composite, pre-tensioned pre-stressed concrete and post-tensioned pre-stressed concrete. The structural design was analyzed for 5 span lengths: 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40m. Then, the capital construction cost was accounted for 15 bridges according to each span and construction materials. Moreover, the maintenance required for 50 years of bridge life was evaluated and built up as whole life costs for each bridge. As a result of this study, the influence of both span length and type of girder on initial construction cost and maintenance whole life costs were assessed to support the decision makers and designers in the selection process for the optimum solution of girder bridges.

Evaluation of Students' Understanding of Thermal Concepts in Everyday Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Hye-Eun; Treagust, David F.; Yeo, Shelley; Zadnik, Marjan

2012-01-01

The aims of this study were to determine the underlying conceptual structure of the thermal concept evaluation (TCE) questionnaire, a pencil-and-paper instrument about everyday contexts of heat, temperature, and heat transfer, to investigate students' conceptual understanding of thermal concepts in everyday contexts across several school years and…

Seismic enhancement of multi-span continuous bridges subjected to three-directional excitations

Science.gov (United States)

Aryan, H.; Ghassemieh, M.

2015-04-01

Considering the seismic ground motions as the excitations in only two principal horizontal directions of the bridges and ignoring the third vertical direction is a disregard for the seismic conditions of the region and the bridge distance from epicenter. Numerous cases of substantial damages have been reported among the bridges tremendously suffered from being exposed to the simultaneous three-directional seismic ground motions. Besides the significant compression and tension damages in the columns due to the presence of vertical excitation, it could lead to unexpected shear and flexural failures in the columns and other components as well. Because the axial force variation in the columns due to three-directional excitations, could affect the demands and capacities of the bridge’s components. With respect to this issue, several studies on the bridge damages during the earthquakes have urged researchers to offer efficient methods for bridges handling of the three-directional seismic excitations. Thus, this paper presents and evaluates a superelastic based system for designing as well as retrofitting the multi-span continuous (MSC) bridges that can cope with two- and three-directional seismic excitations. Efficiency evaluation of the proposed system is conducted through various nonlinear time history analyses on a three-dimensional model of a detailed MSC bridge using a suite of developed ground motions for the bridge region. Also, all the analyses are fulfilled based on variation of one influential design characteristic of the proposed system in order to achieve the optimal design. Several pertinent assessment parameters are used during the evaluation of the proposed system. Finally, the efficiency of the new system subjected to the vertical and horizontal seismic excitations is confirmed according to reduction of the bridge responses and improvement in nonlinear performance of the columns in comparison with the as-built bridge results.

Pressurized thermal shock evaluation of RPV-Stade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blauel, J.G.; Hodulak, L.; Siegele, D.; Nagel, G.; Hertlein, D.

1997-01-01

The presentation overviews the following issues: thermal shock analysis (thermohydraulics, temperatures and stresses, crack tip field parameters, cladding influence, methodology of fracture mechanics assessment); EOL safety evaluation for RPV Stade (initial conditions and input data, fracture toughness, load path diagrams, warm prestress effect, crack arrest, remaining load carrying capacity)

Pressurized thermal shock evaluation of RPV-Stade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blauel, J G; Hodulak, L; Siegele, D [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Werkstoffmechanik, Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany); Nagel, G [PreussenElektra AG, Hannover (Germany); Hertlein, D [Siemens AG Unternehmensbereich KWU, Erlangen (Germany)

1997-09-01

The presentation overviews the following issues: thermal shock analysis (thermohydraulics, temperatures and stresses, crack tip field parameters, cladding influence, methodology of fracture mechanics assessment); EOL safety evaluation for RPV Stade (initial conditions and input data, fracture toughness, load path diagrams, warm prestress effect, crack arrest, remaining load carrying capacity).

Transection of peripheral nerves, bridging strategies and effect evaluation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

IJkema-Paassen, J; Jansen, K; Gramsbergen, A; Meek, MF

Disruption of peripheral nerves due to trauma is a frequently Occurring clinical problem. Gaps in the nerve are bridged by guiding the regenerating nerves along autologous grafts or artificial guides. This review gives an overview oil the different methods of nerve repair techniques. Conventional

Evaluation of Thermal Margin Analysis Models for SMART

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seo, Kyong Won; Kwon, Hyuk; Hwang, Dae Hyun

2011-01-01

Thermal margin of SMART would be analyzed by three different methods. The first method is subchannel analysis by MATRA-S code and it would be a reference data for the other two methods. The second method is an on-line few channel analysis by FAST code that would be integrated into SCOPS/SCOMS. The last one is a single channel module analysis by safety analysis. Several thermal margin analysis models for SMART reactor core by subchannel analysis were setup and tested. We adopted a strategy of single stage analysis for thermal analysis of SMART reactor core. The model should represent characteristics of the SMART reactor core including hot channel. The model should be simple as possible to be evaluated within reasonable time and cost

Standard Practice for Evaluating Thermal Insulation Materials for Use in Solar Collectors

CERN Document Server

American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

1994-01-01

1.1 This practice sets forth a testing methodology for evaluating the properties of thermal insulation materials to be used in solar collectors with concentration ratios of less than 10. Tests are given herein to evaluate the pH, surface burning characteristics, moisture adsorption, water absorption, thermal resistance, linear shrinkage (or expansion), hot surface performance, and accelerated aging. This practice provides a test for surface burning characteristics but does not provide a methodology for determining combustibility performance of thermal insulation materials. 1.2 The tests shall apply to blanket, rigid board, loose-fill, and foam thermal insulation materials used in solar collectors. Other thermal insulation materials shall be tested in accordance with the provisions set forth herein and should not be excluded from consideration. 1.3 The assumption is made that elevated temperature, moisture, and applied stresses are the primary factors contributing to the degradation of thermal insulation mat...

Identification and evaluation of pavement-bridge interface ride quality improvement and corrective strategies : executive summary report.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Bridge owners have long recognized that the approach pavement at bridges is prone to exhibiting both : settlement and cracking, which manifest as the bump at the end of the bridge. This deterioration : requires considerable on-going maintenance...

Application of ceramics to the sliding seat of valve bridge; Valve bridge yodobu eno ceramics tekiyo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsui, T; Ono, T [Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Tokyo (Japan)

1997-10-01

For use in the valve train, using an OHV (over head valve) configuration. of a 4 valve diesel engine for trucks and buses; we developed a valve bridge, a component of a valve train, with a ceramic head that is made of silicon nitride(Si3N4) in contact with a rocker arm in order to reduce cost and improve wear resistance for further diesel engine emissions regulations. In order to evaluate the effect of this valve bridge, RIG tests and durability tests on actual engines were carried out. 7 figs., 2 tabs.

Preliminary data evaluation for thermal insulation characterization testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeClue, J.F.; Moses, S.D.; Tollefson, D.A.

1991-01-01

The purpose of Thermal Insulation Characterization Testing is to provide physical data to support certain assumptions and calculational techniques used in the criticality safety calculations in Section 6 of the Safety Analysis Reports for Packaging (SARPs) for drum-type packaging for Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, managed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. Results of preliminary data evaluation regarding the fire-test condition reveal that realistic weight loss consideration and residual material characterization in developing calculational models for the hypothetical accident condition is necessary in order to prevent placement of unduly conservative restrictions on shipping requirements as a result of overly conservative modeling. This is particularly important for fast systems. Determination of the geometric arrangement of residual material is of secondary importance. Both the methodology used to determine the minimum thermal insulation mass remaining after the fire test and the treatment of the thermal insulation in the criticality safety calculational models requires additional evaluation. Specific testing to be conducted will provide experimental data with which to validate the mass estimates and calculational modeling techniques for extrapolation to generic drum-type containers

Study of system safety evaluation on LTO of national project. Thermal fatigue evaluation of piping systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasahara, Naoto; Itoh, Takamoto; Okazaki, Masakazu; Okuda, Yukihiko; Kamaya, Masayuki; Nakamura, Akira; Nakamura, Hitoshi; Machida, Hideo

2012-01-01

Nuclear piping has various kinds of thermal fatigue failure modes. Main causes of thermal loads are structural responses to fluid temperature changes during plant operation. These phenomena have complex mechanisms and so many patterns, that their problems still occur even though well-known issues. To prevent thermal fatigue due to above thermal loads, the JSME guideline is adopted. Both thermal load and fatigue failure mechanism have been investigated and summarized into the knowledgebase. Numerical simulation methods for thermal fatigue evaluation were studied to replace structural tests. Theses knowledge was utilized to validate and justify the JSME guideline. Furthermore, new studies have been launched to apply above knowledge to enhance plant system safety. (author)

Probability Based Evaluation of Vehicular Bridge Load using Weigh-in-Motion Data

OpenAIRE

Widi Nugraha; Indra Djati Sidi

2016-01-01

Load and Resistance Factored Design (LRFD) method for designing bridge in Indonesia have been implemented for more than 25 years. LRFD method treating loads and strengths variables as random variables with specific safety factors for different loads and strengths variables type. The nominal loads, load factors, reduction factors, and other criteria for bridge design code can be determined to meet the reliability criteria. Statistical data of weigh-in-motion (WIM) vehicular loads measurement i...

Evaluation of heat sink materials for thermal management of lithium batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Dimpault-Darcy, E. C.; Miller, K.

Aluminum, neopentyl glycol (NPG), and resins FT and KT are evaluated theoretically and experimentally as heat sink materials for lithium battery packs. The thermal performances of the two resins are compared in a thermal vacuum experiment. As solutions to the sublimation property were not immediately apparent, a theoretical comparison of the thermal performance of NPG versus KT, Al, and no material, is presented.

Evaluation of heat sink materials for thermal management of lithium batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Dimpault-Darcy, E. C.; Miller, K.

1988-01-01

Aluminum, neopentyl glycol (NPG), and resins FT and KT are evaluated theoretically and experimentally as heat sink materials for lithium battery packs. The thermal performances of the two resins are compared in a thermal vacuum experiment. As solutions to the sublimation property were not immediately apparent, a theoretical comparison of the thermal performance of NPG versus KT, Al, and no material, is presented.

Thermal Conductivity of EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coatings Evaluated by a Steady-State Laser Heat Flux Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Dongming; Miller, Robert A.; Nagaraj, Ben A.; Bruce, Robert W.

2000-01-01

The thermal conductivity of electron beam-physical vapor deposited (EB-PVD) Zr02-8wt%Y2O3 thermal barrier coatings was determined by a steady-state heat flux laser technique. Thermal conductivity change kinetics of the EB-PVD ceramic coatings were also obtained in real time, at high temperatures, under the laser high heat flux, long term test conditions. The thermal conductivity increase due to micro-pore sintering and the decrease due to coating micro-delaminations in the EB-PVD coatings were evaluated for grooved and non-grooved EB-PVD coating systems under isothermal and thermal cycling conditions. The coating failure modes under the high heat flux test conditions were also investigated. The test technique provides a viable means for obtaining coating thermal conductivity data for use in design, development, and life prediction for engine applications.

The relative contributions of thermo-solutal Marangoni convections on flow patterns in a liquid bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Minakuchi, H.; Takagi, Y.; Okano, Y.; Gima, S.; Dost, S.

2014-01-01

A numerical simulation study was carried out to investigate the relative contributions of thermal and solutal Marangoni convections on transport structures in a liquid bridge under zero gravity. The liquid bridge in the model represents a three dimensional half-zone configuration of the Floating Zone (FZ) growth system. Three dimensional field equations of the liquid zone, i.e. continuity, momentum, energy, and diffusion equations, were solved by the PISO algorithm. Computations were performed using the open source software OpenFOAM. The numerical simulation results show that the flow field becomes three-dimensional and time-depended when the solutal Marangoni number is larger than the critical value. It was also shown that not only flow patterns but also the azimuthal wave number (m) changes due to the competing contributions of thermal and solutal Marangoni convective flows.

Synthesis, Structure and Thermal Behavior of Oxalato-Bridged Rb+ and H3O+ Extended Frameworks with Different Dimensionalities

Science.gov (United States)

Kherfi, Hamza; Hamadène, Malika; Guehria-Laïdoudi, Achoura; Dahaoui, Slimane; Lecomte, Claude

2010-01-01

Correlative studies of three oxalato-bridged polymers, obtained under hydrothermal conditions for the two isostructural compounds {Rb(HC2O4)(H2C2O4)(H2O)2}∞1, 1, {H3O(HC2O4)(H2C2O4).2H2O}∞1, 2, and by conventional synthetic method for {Rb(HC2O4)}∞3, 3, allowed the identification of H-bond patterns and structural dimensionality. Ferroïc domain structures are confirmed by electric measurements performed on 3. Although 2 resembles one oxalic acid sesquihydrate, its structure determination doesn’t display any kind of disorder and leads to recognition of a supramolecular network identical to hybrid s-block series, where moreover, unusual H3O+ and NH4+ similarity is brought out. Thermal behaviors show that 1D frameworks with extended H-bonds, whether with or without a metal center, have the same stability. Inversely, despite the dimensionalities, the same metallic intermediate and final compounds are obtained for the two Rb+ ferroïc materials.

Seismic performance evaluation of an historical concrete deck arch bridge using survey and drawing of the damages, in situ tests, dynamic identification and pushover analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bergamo, Otello; Russo, Eleonora; Lodolo, Fabio

2017-07-01

The paper describes the performance evaluation of a retrofit historical multi-span (RC) deck arch bridge analyzed with in situ tests, dynamic identification and FEM analysis. The peculiarity of this case study lies in the structural typology of "San Felice" bridge, an historical concrete arch bridge built in the early 20th century, a quite uncommon feature in Italy. The preservation and retrofit of historic cultural heritage and infrastructures has been carefully analyzed in the international codes governing seismic response. A complete survey of the bridge was carried out prior to sketching a drawing of the existing bridge. Subsequently, the study consists in four steps: material investigation and dynamic vibration tests, FEM analysis and calibration, retrofit assessment, pushover analysis. The aim is to define an innovative approach to calibrate the FEM analysis through modern experimental investigations capable of taking structural deterioration into account, and to offer an appropriate and cost-effective retrofitting strategy.

Data collection and evaluation of continuity detail for John James Audubon Bridge No. 61390613004101.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-10-01

This report summarizes findings from monitoring data that was collected over a two-year period from Bridge No. : 61390613004101 in the John James Audubon Project, which was formerly designated as Bridge #2 prior to : construction completion. The brid...

Spectral and thermal investigation of tetrabenzoylacetonatobenzoylacetonediuranyl

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostyuk, N.N.; Dik, T.A.; Klavsut', G.N.; Umrejko, D.S.

1989-01-01

Uranium(6) compound with benzoylacetone (NBA) of [(UO 2 ) 2 (NBA)(BA) 4 ] composition was prepared by the method of electrochemical synthesis in oxidizing medium. Spectral and thermal investigation (data of IR, Raman spectra, TG, DTA) was conducted to show that four NBA molecules entered the compound as acidoligands and one NBA molecule (being a bridge) - as neutral ligand in keto-form. Mechanism of thermal decomposition was suggested and kinetic parameters of thermolysis of examined substance were calculated

Bridges

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zant, W.

2017-01-01

We estimate to what extent bridges in Mozambique lead to transport cost reductions and attribute these reductions to key determinants, in particular road distance, road quality and crossing borders. For identification we exploit the introduction of a road bridge over the Zambezi river, in August

Thermal paint production: the techno-economic evaluation of muscovite as insulating additive.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela Fernandes Ribas

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Muscovite is known by its thermal and electrical insulating properties. Based on this, it was hypothesized that its addition on paints should increase the thermal resistance. The use of muscovite as mineral insulating is pointed out as advantageous due to its low cost compared to other materials used for this purpose, such as the ceramic microsphere. The use of a low cost material could open the access to the medium and low income families, implying two aspects: the life quality increase by thermal comfort and the increase of energy saving. Thus, this part of the population could open a new market to thermal paints. Aiming to contribute to this issue, this work evaluated the thermal insulation performance of commercial paints containing muscovite additions and determined the economic evaluation for its industrial production. The thermal paint was formulated by adding 10%, 20% and 40% of muscovite to the commercial paint. This was applied on steel reinforced mortar boards. Thermal insulation tests were carried out in bench scale using an adapted box. The economic evaluation of the industrial production of muscovite-based thermal paint was conducted, considering the Brazilian economic market in this activity. The results showed its ability as an insulating agent due to a reduction of 0.667 °C/mm board by the addition of 40% muscovite. The economic analysis also demonstrated the feasibility of the thermal paint industrial production. The payback is favorable to 5 years when compared to the Selic short-term lending rate, with 21.53% of internal rate return and a net present value of US$ 15,085.76.

Probability Based Evaluation of Vehicular Bridge Load using Weigh-in-Motion Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Widi Nugraha

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Load and Resistance Factored Design (LRFD method for designing bridge in Indonesia have been implemented for more than 25 years. LRFD method treating loads and strengths variables as random variables with specific safety factors for different loads and strengths variables type. The nominal loads, load factors, reduction factors, and other criteria for bridge design code can be determined to meet the reliability criteria. Statistical data of weigh-in-motion (WIM vehicular loads measurement in Northern Java highway, Cikampek - Pamanukan, West Java (2011, used in as statistical loads variable. A 25 m simple span bridge with reinforced concrete T-girder is used as a model for structural analysis due to WIM measured and nominal vehicular load based on RSNI T-02-2005, with applied bending moment of girder as the output. The distribution fitting result of applied bending moment due to WIM measured vehicular loads is lognormal. The maximum bending moment due to RSNI T-02-2005 nominal vehicular load is 842.45 kN-m and has probability of exceedance of 5x10-5. It can be concluded, for this study, that the bridge designed using RSNI T-02-2005 is safely designed, since it has reliability index, β of 5.02, higher than target reliability, β ranging from 3.50 or 3.72.

Vertical Deformation Monitoring of the Suspension Bridge Tower Using GNSS: A Case Study of the Forth Road Bridge in the UK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qusen Chen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The vertical deformation monitoring of a suspension bridge tower is of paramount importance to maintain the operational safety since nearly all forces are eventually transferred as the vertical stress on the tower. This paper analyses the components affecting the vertical deformation and attempts to reveal its deformation mechanism. Firstly, we designed a strategy for high-precision GNSS data processing aiming at facilitating deformation extraction and analysis. Then, 33 months of vertical deformation time series of the southern tower of the Forth Road Bridge (FRB in the UK were processed, and the accurate subsidence and the parameters of seasonal signals were estimated based on a classic function model that has been widely studied to analyse GNSS coordinate time series. We found that the subsidence rate is about 4.7 mm/year, with 0.1 mm uncertainty. Meanwhile, a 15-month meteorological dataset was utilised with a thermal expansion model (TEM to explain the effects of seasonal signals on tower deformation. The amplitude of the annual signals correlated quite well that obtained by the TEM, with the consistency reaching 98.9%, demonstrating that the thermal effect contributes significantly to the annual signals. The amplitude of daily signals displays poor consistency with the ambient temperature data. However, the phase variation tendencies between the daily signals of the vertical deformation and the ambient temperature are highly consistent after February 2016. Finally, the potential contribution of the North Atlantic Drift (NAD to the characteristics of annual and daily signals is discussed because of the special geographical location of the FRB. Meanwhile, this paper emphasizes the importance of collecting more detailed meteorological and other loading data for the investigation of the vertical deformation mechanism of the bridge towers over time with the support of GNSS.

Field performance of timber bridges. 4, Graves Crossing stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

J. P. Wacker; M. A. Ritter

The Graves Crossing bridge was constructed October 1991 in Antrim County, Michigan, as part of the demonstration timber bridge program sponsored by the USDA Forest Service. The bridge is a two-span continuous, stress-laminated deck superstructure and it is 36-ft long and 26-ft wide. The bridge is one of the first stress-laminated deck bridges to be built of sawn lumber...

Managing Transitions, Building Bridges: An Evaluation of a Summer Bridge Program for African American Scientists and Engineers

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Jennifer Michelle

2016-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to highlight the potential of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) summer bridge programs to promote college persistence by fostering a positive science identity among participants that is culturally consistent with the values and experiences of African American students. Design/methodology/approach:…

Myocardial Bridging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shi-Min Yuan

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Myocardial bridging is rare. Myocardial bridges are most commonly localized in the middle segment of the left anterior descending coronary artery. The anatomic features of the bridges vary significantly. Alterations of the endothelial morphology and the vasoactive agents impact on the progression of atherosclerosis of myocardial bridging. Patients may present with chest pain, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia and even sudden death. Patients who respond poorly to the medical treatment with β-blockers warrant a surgical intervention. Myotomy is a preferred surgical procedure for the symptomatic patients. Coronary stent deployment has been in limited use due to the unsatisfactory long-term results.

Low Vertical Clearance Truss Bridges : Risk Assessment and Retrofit Mitigation Study

Science.gov (United States)

2017-11-10

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has over 60 steel truss bridges in its inventory with vertical clearances less than the minimum 16-6 required for new bridges. This study evaluates the risks of oversized vehicle impacts...

The hepatic bridge.

Science.gov (United States)

Sugarbaker, Paul H

2018-07-01

The hepatic bridge forms a tunnel of liver parenchyma that may obscure peritoneal metastases associated with the round ligament. Visualization and then resection of nodules associated with this structure is necessary. The incidence of a hepatic bridge and the extent that it covered the round ligament was determined in consecutive patients. Extent of coverage of the round ligament by the hepatic bridge was determined: Class 1 indicates up to one-third of the round ligament obscured, Class 2 up to two-thirds and Class 3 more than two-thirds. In 102 patients in whom the round ligament of the liver could be completely visualized, 50 had a hepatic bridge. Class 1 was 22 (44%) of the bridges, Class 2 was 16 (32%) and Class 3 was 12 (24%). A hepatic bridge was more frequently present in 28 of 45 male patients (62%) vs. 22 of 57 female patients (38%). Approximately one-half of our patients having cytoreductive surgery for peritoneal metastases were observed to have a hepatic bridge. Up to 56% of these patients have Class 2 or 3 hepatic bridge and may require division of the hepatic bridge to completely visualize the contents of the tunnel created by this structure. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd, BASO ~ The Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.

Some aspects of technical models within bridge management system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grković Slobodan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Bridge Management System (BMS represents a rational and systematic approach to organizing and conducting of all activities related to bridge maintenance. Main goal of BMS is helping the bridge owner to make an optimal decision with respect to bridge maintenance budget, whether it is dedicated to one bridge or to group of bridges, by securing that the decision is made on the basis of Life-Cycle Cost (LCC estimates. The structure of BMS is based on condition rating and Bridge Database (BD, Deterioration model (DM, Cost Model for evaluation of costs and Optimization Model for choosing the most rational maintenance strategy. Relationship between bridge condition rating and DM with maintenance costs within BMS is very important. Predictions regarding future intensity and rate of bridge deterioration depends on multitude of factors and it is a consequence of several simultaneous actions and deterioration processes (DP which need to be included into DMs. DMs are mostly based on modeling of physical and chemical actions and processes or they are based on statistical analysis of large number of data regarding the condition of existing bridges, or on artificial intelligence models, etc. Stochastic models based on Markov processes are applied within more advanced contemporary BMS. Due to social and economic circumstances and lack of financial resources over the last two decades in Republic of Serbia bridge maintenance was neglected and creation of BD was discontinued. The paper deliberates some aspects of technical models within BMS, with DMs being pointed out, development of BD within bridge maintenance in Republic of Serbia and it gives an overview of sophisticated BMS and current advances in this field.

Evaluation of in-situ thermal energy storage for lunar based solar dynamic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Crane, Roger A.

1991-01-01

A practical lunar based thermal energy storage system, based on locally available materials, could significantly reduce transportation requirements and associated costs of a continuous, solar derived power system. The concept reported here is based on a unique, in-situ approach to thermal energy storage. The proposed design is examined to assess the problems of start-up and the requirements for attainment of stable operation. The design remains, at this stage, partially conceptional in nature, but certain aspects of the design, bearing directly on feasibility, are examined in some detail. Specifically included is an engineering evaluation of the projected thermal performance of this system. Both steady state and start-up power requirements are evaluated and the associated thermal losses are evaluated as a basis for establishing potential system performance.

Species Identification and Design Value Estimation of Wooden Members in Covered Bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Alex C. Wiedenhoeft; David E. Kretschmann

2014-01-01

Covered timber bridges are historic structures with unique aesthetic value. To preserve this value and maintain bridges in service, robust evaluation of their performance and safety is necessary. The strength of the timber found in covered bridges can vary considerably, not only because of age and condition, but also because of species and grade. For the practicing...

Fatigue analysis and life prediction of composite highway bridge decks under traffic loading

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando N. Leitão

Full Text Available Steel and composite (steel-concrete highway bridges are currently subjected to dynamic actions of variable magnitude due to convoy of vehicles crossing on the deck pavement. These dynamic actions can generate the nucleation of fractures or even their propagation on the bridge deck structure. Proper consideration of all of the aspects mentioned pointed our team to develop an analysis methodology with emphasis to evaluate the stresses through a dynamic analysis of highway bridge decks including the action of vehicles. The design codes recommend the application of the curves S-N associated to the Miner's damage rule to evaluate the fatigue and service life of steel and composite (steel-concrete bridges. In this work, the developed computational model adopted the usual mesh refinement techniques present in finite element method simulations implemented in the ANSYS program. The investigated highway bridge is constituted by four longitudinal composite girders and a concrete deck, spanning 40.0m by 13.5m. The analysis methodology and procedures presented in the design codes were applied to evaluate the fatigue of the bridge determining the service life of the structure. The main conclusions of this investigation focused on alerting structural engineers to the possible distortions, associated to the steel and composite bridge's service life when subjected to vehicle's dynamic actions.

Bridge resource program.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

The mission of Rutgers Universitys Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) Bridge Resource Program (BRP) is to provide bridge engineering support to the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT)s Bridge Engineering an...

Flaw evaluation of thermally aged cast stainless steel in light-water reactor applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, S.; Kuo, P.T.; Wichman, K.; Chopra, O.

1997-01-01

Cast stainless steel may be used in the fabrication of the primary loop piping, fittings, valve bodies, and pump casings in light-water reactors. However, this material is subject to embrittlement due to thermal aging at the reactor temperature, that is 290 o C (550 o F). The Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) recently completed a research program and the results indicate that the lower-bound fracture toughness of thermally aged cast stainless steel is similar to that of submerged arc welds (SAWs). Thus, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has accepted the use of SAW flaw evaluation procedures in IWB-3640 of Section XI of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code to evaluate flaws in thermally aged cast stainless steel for a license renewal evaluation. Alternatively, utilities may estimate component-specific fracture toughness of thermally aged cast stainless steel using procedures developed at ANL for a case-by-case flaw evaluation. (Author)

Bridged graphite oxide materials

Science.gov (United States)

Herrera-Alonso, Margarita (Inventor); McAllister, Michael J. (Inventor); Aksay, Ilhan A. (Inventor); Prud'homme, Robert K. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

Bridged graphite oxide material comprising graphite sheets bridged by at least one diamine bridging group. The bridged graphite oxide material may be incorporated in polymer composites or used in adsorption media.

Accelerated bridge paint test program.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-06

The accelerated bridge paint (AB-Paint) program evaluated a new Sherwin-Williams two-coat, : fast-curing paint system. The system is comprised of an organic zinc-rich primer (SW Corothane I : Galvapac One-Pack Zinc-Rich Primer B65 G11) and a polyurea...

Laboratory and field testing of an accelerated bridge construction demonstration bridge : US Highway 6 bridge over Keg Creek.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-01

The US Highway 6 Bridge over Keg Creek outside of Council Bluffs, Iowa is a demonstration bridge site chosen to put into practice : newly-developed Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) concepts. One of these new concepts is the use of prefabricated ...

Natural canopy bridges effectively mitigate tropical forest fragmentation for arboreal mammals.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory, Tremaine; Carrasco-Rueda, Farah; Alonso, Alfonso; Kolowski, Joseph; Deichmann, Jessica L

2017-06-20

Linear infrastructure development and resulting habitat fragmentation are expanding in Neotropical forests, and arboreal mammals may be disproportionately impacted by these linear habitat clearings. Maintaining canopy connectivity through preservation of connecting branches (i.e. natural canopy bridges) may help mitigate that impact. Using camera traps, we evaluated crossing rates of a pipeline right-of-way in a control area with no bridges and in a test area where 13 bridges were left by the pipeline construction company. Monitoring all canopy crossing points for a year (7,102 canopy camera nights), we confirmed bridge use by 25 mammal species from 12 families. With bridge use beginning immediately after exposure and increasing over time, use rates were over two orders of magnitude higher than on the ground. We also found a positive relationship between a bridge's use rate and the number of species that used it, suggesting well-used bridges benefit multiple species. Data suggest bridge use may be related to a combination of bridge branch connectivity, multiple connections, connectivity to adjacent forest, and foliage cover. Given the high use rate and minimal cost, we recommend all linear infrastructure projects in forests with arboreal mammal populations include canopy bridges.

Guardrails for Use on Historic Bridges: Volume 2—Bridge Deck Overhang Design

OpenAIRE

Frosch, Robert J.; Morel, Adam J.

2016-01-01

Bridges that are designated historic present a special challenge to bridge engineers whenever rehabilitation work or improvements are made to the bridges. Federal and state laws protect historically significant bridges, and railings on these bridges can be subject to protection because of the role they play in aesthetics. Unfortunately, original railings on historic bridges do not typically meet current crash-test requirements and typically do not meet current standards for railing height and...

Energy saving and consumption reducing evaluation of thermal power plant

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Xiu; Han, Miaomiao

2018-03-01

At present, energy saving and consumption reduction require energy saving and consumption reduction measures for thermal power plant, establishing an evaluation system for energy conservation and consumption reduction is instructive for the whole energy saving work of thermal power plant. By analysing the existing evaluation system of energy conservation and consumption reduction, this paper points out that in addition to the technical indicators of power plant, market activities should also be introduced in the evaluation of energy saving and consumption reduction in power plant. Ttherefore, a new evaluation index of energy saving and consumption reduction is set up and the example power plant is calculated in this paper. Rresults show that after introducing the new evaluation index of energy saving and consumption reduction, the energy saving effect of the power plant can be judged more comprehensively, so as to better guide the work of energy saving and consumption reduction in power plant.

Two-Dimensional Analysis of Cable Stayed Bridge under Wave Loading

Science.gov (United States)

Seeram, Madhuri; Manohar, Y.

2018-06-01

In the present study finite element analysis is performed for a modified fan type cable-stayed bridge using ANSYS Mechanical. A cable stayed bridge with two towers and main deck is considered for the present study. Dynamic analysis is performed to evaluate natural frequencies. The obtained natural frequencies and mode shapes of cable stayed bridge are compared to the existing results. Further studies have been conducted for offshore area application by increasing the pylon/tower height depending upon the water depth. Natural frequencies and mode shapes are evaluated for the cable stayed bridge for offshore area application. The results indicate that the natural periods are higher than the existing results due to the effect of increase in mass of the structure and decrease in stiffness of the pylon/tower. The cable stayed bridge is analyzed under various environmental loads such as dead, live, vehicle, seismic and wave loading. Morison equation is considered to evaluate the wave force. The sum of inertia and drag force is taken as the wave force distribution along the fluid interacting height of the pylon. Airy's wave theory is used to assess water particle kinematics, for the wave periods ranging from 5 to 20 s and unit wave height. The maximum wave force among the different regular waves is considered in the wave load case. The support reactions, moments and deflections for offshore area application are highlighted. It is observed that the maximum support reactions and support moments are obtained due to wave and earthquake loading respectively. Hence, it is concluded that the wave and earthquake forces shall be given significance in the design of cable stayed bridge.

Lateral vibration analysis of continuous bridges utilizing equal displacement rule

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Biao Wei

Full Text Available The application of equal displacement rule simplifies the evaluation of lateral displacement demand forSDOF system. For complex multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF structures such as continuous bridge systems, however, it requires more investigations. In this paper, a comprehensive parametric study of the ratio of maximum inelastic displacement to maximum elastic displacement for typical continuous bridges is performedto advance the application of equal displacement rule to MDOF systems. Particurlarly for the bridges with long periods, this adapted methodlogy is further simplified. It is concluded that equal displacement rule of MDOF is applicable to continuous bridges when the periods of the main modes are no less than the limiting period, which usually serves as an indication to the level of inelastic deformation for a bridge subjected to an earthquake.

Application of Composite Structures in Bridge Engineering. Problems of Construction Process and Strength Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Flaga, Kazimierz; Furtak, Kazimierz

2015-03-01

Steel-concrete composite structures have been used in bridge engineering from decades. This is due to rational utilisation of the strength properties of the two materials. At the same time, the reinforced concrete (or prestressed) deck slab is more favourable than the orthotropic steel plate used in steel bridges (higher mass, better vibration damping, longer life). The most commonly found in practice are composite girder bridges, particularly in highway bridges of small and medium spans, but the spans may reach over 200 m. In larger spans steel truss girders are applied. Bridge composite structures are also employed in cable-stayed bridge decks of the main girder spans of the order of 600, 800 m. The aim of the article is to present the cionstruction process and strength analysis problems concerning of this type of structures. Much attention is paid to the design and calculation of the shear connectors characteristic for the discussed objects. The authors focused mainly on the issues of single composite structures. The effect of assembly states on the stresses and strains in composite members are highlighted. A separate part of problems is devoted to the influence of rheological factors, i.e. concrete shrinkage and creep, as well as thermal factors on the stresses and strains and redistribution of internal forces.

Forces in wingwalls from thermal expansion of skewed semi-integral bridges : executive summary report.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-01

Bridges that utilize expansion joints have an overall higher maintenance cost due to leakage at the expansion joint leading to deterioration of the joint, as well as structural components beneath the joint including the superstructure and substructur...

Dynamic assessment of bridge deck performance considering realistic bridge-traffic interaction

Science.gov (United States)

2017-09-01

Concrete bridge decks are directly exposed to daily traffic loads and may experience some surface cracking caused by excessive stress or fatigue accumulation, which requires repair or replacement. Among typical bridges in North America, bridge decks ...

Evaluating shallow-flow rock structures as scour countermeasures at bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-01

A study to determine whether or not shallow-flow rock structures could reliably be used at bridge abutments in place of riprap. Research was conducted in a two-phase effort beginning with numerical modeling and ending with field verification of model...

Evaluation of thermal shock strengths for graphite materials using a laser irradiation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jae Hoon; Lee, Young Shin; Kim, Duck Hoi; Park, No Seok; Suh, Jeong; Kim, Jeng O.; Il Moon, Soon

2004-01-01

Thermal shock is a physical phenomenon that occurs during the exposure to rapidly high temperature and pressure changes or during quenching of a material. The rocket nozzle throat is exposed to combustion gas of high temperature. Therefore, it is important to select suitable materials having the appropriate thermal shock resistance and to evaluate these materials for rocket nozzle design. The material of this study is ATJ graphite, which is the candidate material for rocket nozzle throat. This study presents an experimental method to evaluate the thermal shock resistance and thermal shock fracture toughness of ATJ graphite using laser irradiation. In particular, thermal shock resistance tests are conducted with changes of specimen thickness, with laser source irradiated at the center of the specimen. Temperature distributions on the specimen surface are detected using type K and C thermocouples. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to observe the thermal cracks on specimen surface

Bridge continuous deformation measurement technology based on fiber optic gyro

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, Weibing; Hu, Wenbin; Liu, Fang; Tang, Jianguang; Li, Sheng; Yang, Yan

2016-03-01

Bridge is an important part of modern transportation systems and deformation is a key index for bridge's safety evaluation. To achieve the long span bridge curve measurement rapidly and timely and accurately locate the bridge maximum deformation, the continuous deformation measurement system (CDMS) based on inertial platform is presented and validated in this paper. Firstly, based on various bridge deformation measurement methods, the method of deformation measurement based on the fiber optic gyro (FOG) is introduced. Secondly, the basic measurement principle based on FOG is presented and the continuous curve trajectory is derived by the formula. Then the measurement accuracy is analyzed in theory and the relevant factors are presented to ensure the measurement accuracy. Finally, the deformation measurement experiments are conducted on a bridge across the Yangtze River. Experimental results show that the presented deformation measurement method is feasible, practical, and reliable; the system can accurately and quickly locate the maximum deformation and has extensive and broad application prospects.

Joint Removal Implications : Thermal Analysis and Life-Cycle Cost

Science.gov (United States)

2018-04-01

Deck joints are causing significant bridge deterioration and maintenance problems for Departments of Transportation (DOTs). Colorado State University researchers partnered with the Colorado DOT to analyze the effects of temperature change and thermal...

Evaluation of thermal-hydraulic parameter uncertainties in a TRIGA research reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mesquita, Amir Z.; Costa, Antonio C.L.; Ladeira, Luiz C.D.; Rezende, Hugo C.; Palma, Daniel A.P.

2015-01-01

Experimental studies had been performed in the TRIGA Research Nuclear Reactor of CDTN/CNEN to find out the its thermal hydraulic parameters. Fuel to coolant heat transfer patterns must be evaluated as function of the reactor power in order to assess the thermal hydraulic performance of the core. The heat generated by nuclear fission in the reactor core is transferred from fuel elements to the cooling system through the fuel-cladding (gap) and the cladding to coolant interfaces. As the reactor core power increases the heat transfer regime from the fuel cladding to the coolant changes from single-phase natural convection to subcooled nucleate boiling. This paper presents the uncertainty analysis in the results of the thermal hydraulics experiments performed. The methodology used to evaluate the propagation of uncertainty in the results was done based on the pioneering article of Kline and McClintock, with the propagation of uncertainties based on the specification of uncertainties in various primary measurements. The uncertainty analysis on thermal hydraulics parameters of the CDTN TRIGA fuel element is determined, basically, by the uncertainty of the reactor's thermal power. (author)

Cable Supported Bridges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gimsing, Niels Jørgen

Cable supported bridges in the form of suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges are distinguished by their ability to overcome large spans.The book concentrates on the synthesis of cable supported bridges, covering both design and construction aspects. The analytical part covers simple methods...... to quantify the different structural configurations and allows a preliminary optimization of the main structure.Included are the most recent advances in structural design, corrosion protection of cables, aerodynamic safety, and erection procedures....

Bridge Diagnosis by Using Nonlinear Independent Component Analysis and Displacement Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Juanqing; Yeh, Yichun; Ogai, Harutoshi

A daily diagnosis system for bridge monitoring and maintenance is developed based on wireless sensors, signal processing, structure analysis, and displacement analysis. The vibration acceleration data of a bridge are firstly collected through the wireless sensor network by exerting. Nonlinear independent component analysis (ICA) and spectral analysis are used to extract the vibration frequencies of the bridge. After that, through a band pass filter and Simpson's rule the vibration displacement is calculated and the vibration model is obtained to diagnose the bridge. Since linear ICA algorithms work efficiently only in linear mixing environments, a nonlinear ICA model, which is more complicated, is more practical for bridge diagnosis systems. In this paper, we firstly use the post nonlinear method to change the signal data, after that perform linear separation by FastICA, and calculate the vibration displacement of the bridge. The processed data can be used to understand phenomena like corrosion and crack, and evaluate the health condition of the bridge. We apply this system to Nakajima Bridge in Yahata, Kitakyushu, Japan.

In vitro evaluation of fracture resistance of Fiber-Reinforced Composite inlay bridges in upper anterior and lower posterior teeth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jalalian E.

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Considering flexural strength of fiber-reinforced composites (FRC and also the role of conservative cavities in protecting sound tissue of abutments, the aim of this study was to evaluate the fracture resistance of these bridges by handmade samples in vitro.Materials and Methods: In this experimental in vitro study, 44 sound newly extracted teeth were used to make 22 fixed inlay bridges including 11 three unit anterior upper inlay bridges substituting clinical model of upper central and 11 three unit posterior lower inlay bridges substituting clinical model of lower first molar. Specimens were prepared with FRC and mounted with artificial PDL in acryl. Cases were exposed to final load by using Universal Testing Machine (Instron 1195 with the speed of 1 mm/min. Statistical analysis was performed by Kolmogorov- Smirnov, independent sample T and Kaplan-Meier tests with p<0.05 as the level of significance.Results: Based on the statistical tests, the 95% confidence interval of mean was 450-562 N in anterior and  1473- 1761 N in posterior area. Fracture strength was high in the studied groups. Fractures in both groups occurred on composite facing, and the framework remained intact. The highest percentage of fracture in posterior teeth was in the middle of pontic towards the distal connector and in the anterior teeth in the lateral connector, between central pontic and lateral abutment. Using the independent sample T  test a significant statistical difference was observed between two groups (P<0.001. The fracture resistance of anterior samples was lower than the posterior ones.Conclusion: Based on the results of this study regarding the high fracture resistance in both areas FRC inlay bridges could be recommended for upper anterior and lower posterior teeth in clinical dentistry certainly more studies are needed to ascertain this treatment option.

Bivariate Gaussian bridges: directional factorization of diffusion in Brownian bridge models.

Science.gov (United States)

Kranstauber, Bart; Safi, Kamran; Bartumeus, Frederic

2014-01-01

In recent years high resolution animal tracking data has become the standard in movement ecology. The Brownian Bridge Movement Model (BBMM) is a widely adopted approach to describe animal space use from such high resolution tracks. One of the underlying assumptions of the BBMM is isotropic diffusive motion between consecutive locations, i.e. invariant with respect to the direction. Here we propose to relax this often unrealistic assumption by separating the Brownian motion variance into two directional components, one parallel and one orthogonal to the direction of the motion. Our new model, the Bivariate Gaussian bridge (BGB), tracks movement heterogeneity across time. Using the BGB and identifying directed and non-directed movement within a trajectory resulted in more accurate utilisation distributions compared to dynamic Brownian bridges, especially for trajectories with a non-isotropic diffusion, such as directed movement or Lévy like movements. We evaluated our model with simulated trajectories and observed tracks, demonstrating that the improvement of our model scales with the directional correlation of a correlated random walk. We find that many of the animal trajectories do not adhere to the assumptions of the BBMM. The proposed model improves accuracy when describing the space use both in simulated correlated random walks as well as observed animal tracks. Our novel approach is implemented and available within the "move" package for R.

On-site bridge inspection with partial CT by 3.95Mev X-band linac source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Wenjing; Zhu, Haito; Jin, Ming

2012-01-01

Since more and more bridges built several decades ago in Japan have become aged and dangerous, the non-destructive evaluation of those bridges is really an urgent problem. CT system with portable 3.95MeV linacs for bridge inspection is considered to work on-site, considering the law of Japanese radiation protection allows using linacs up to 4MeV outside radiation controlled area. The system would confirm the internal steel situation of bridges and analyze structural strain and stress with 3D model built from sectional imaging to evaluate load-bearing performance. The reconstruction process of bridge imaging is based on partial scanned data because bridge shape confines possible scanning angle to smaller than 180deg and a few translations. A small concrete sample with internal steel bars and attachment accessories is scanned in laboratory as preliminary work. (author)

Bridge Programs in Illinois: Results of the 2010 Illinois Bridge Status Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, J. L.; Harmon, T.

2010-01-01

This report provides a summary of major results of the Illinois Bridge Status Survey, administered online between April and June 2010. The purpose of the survey was to understand the extent to which bridge programs are being implemented in Illinois, as well as to build an online directory of bridge programs. Bridge programs are an emerging…

Field performance of timber bridges. 6, Hoffman Run stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

M. A. Ritter; P. D. Hilbrich Lee; G. J. Porter

The Hoffman Run bridge, located just outside Dahoga, Pennsylvania, was constructed in October 1990. The bridge is a simple-span, single-lane, stress-laminated deck superstructure that is approximately 26 ft long and 16 ft wide. It is the second stress-laminated timber bridge to be constructed of hardwood lumber in Pennsylvania. The performance of the bridge was...

Evaluation of terrestrial photogrammetric point clouds derived from thermal imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Metcalf, Jeremy P.; Olsen, Richard C.

2016-05-01

Computer vision and photogrammetric techniques have been widely applied to digital imagery producing high density 3D point clouds. Using thermal imagery as input, the same techniques can be applied to infrared data to produce point clouds in 3D space, providing surface temperature information. The work presented here is an evaluation of the accuracy of 3D reconstruction of point clouds produced using thermal imagery. An urban scene was imaged over an area at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, viewing from above as with an airborne system. Terrestrial thermal and RGB imagery were collected from a rooftop overlooking the site using a FLIR SC8200 MWIR camera and a Canon T1i DSLR. In order to spatially align each dataset, ground control points were placed throughout the study area using Trimble R10 GNSS receivers operating in RTK mode. Each image dataset is processed to produce a dense point cloud for 3D evaluation.

Bridge density functional approximation for non-uniform hard core repulsive Yukawa fluid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Shiqi

2008-01-01

In this work, a bridge density functional approximation (BDFA) (J. Chem. Phys. 112, 8079 (2000)) for a non-uniform hard-sphere fluid is extended to a non-uniform hard-core repulsive Yukawa (HCRY) fluid. It is found that the choice of a bulk bridge functional approximation is crucial for both a uniform HCRY fluid and a non-uniform HCRY fluid. A new bridge functional approximation is proposed, which can accurately predict the radial distribution function of the bulk HCRY fluid. With the new bridge functional approximation and its associated bulk second order direct correlation function as input, the BDFA can be used to well calculate the density profile of the HCRY fluid subjected to the influence of varying external fields, and the theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the corresponding simulation data. The calculated results indicate that the present BDFA captures quantitatively the phenomena such as the coexistence of solid-like high density phase and low density gas phase, and the adsorption properties of the HCRY fluid, which qualitatively differ from those of the fluids combining both hard-core repulsion and an attractive tail. (condensed matter: structure, thermal and mechanical properties)

Mixed Waste Integrated Program interim evaluation report on thermal treatment technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillins, R.L.; DeWitt, L.M.; Wollerman, A.L.

1993-02-01

The Mixed Waste Integrated Program (MWIP) is one of several US Department of Energy (DOE) integrated programs established to organize and coordinate throughout the DOE complex the development of technologies for treatment of specific waste categories. The goal of the MWIP is to develop and deploy appropriate technologies for -the treatment of DOE mixed low-level and alpha-contaminated wastes in order to bring all affected DOE installations and projects into compliance with environmental laws. Evaluation of treatment technologies by the MWIP will focus on meeting waste form performance requirements for disposal. Thermal treatment technologies were an early emphasis for the MWIP because thermal treatment is indicated (or mandated) for many of the hazardous constituents in DOE mixed waste and because these technologies have been widely investigated for these applications. An advisory group, the Thermal Treatment Working Group (TTWG), was formed during the program's infancy to assist the MWIP in evaluating and prioritizing thermal treatment technologies suitable for development. The results of the overall evaluation scoring indicate that the four highest-rated technologies were rotary kilns, slagging kilns, electric-arc furnaces, and plasma-arc furnaces. The four highest-rated technologies were all judged to be applicable on five of the six waste streams and are the only technologies in the evaluation with this distinction. Conclusions as to the superiority of one technology over others are not valid based on this preliminary study, although some general conclusions can be drawn

Drill pipe bridge plug

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Winslow, D.W.; Brisco, D.P.

1991-01-01

This patent describes a method of stopping flow of fluid up through a pipe bore of a pipe string in a well. It comprises: lowering a bridge plug apparatus on a work string into the pipe string to a position where the pipe bore is to be closed; communicating the pipe bore below a packer of the bridge plug apparatus through the bridge plug apparatus with a low pressure zone above the packer to permit the fluid to flow up through the bridge plug apparatus; engaging the bridge plug apparatus with an internal upset of the pipe string; while the fluid is flowing up through the bridge plug apparatus, pulling upward on the work string and the bridge plug apparatus and thereby sealing the packer against the pipe bore; isolating the pipe bore below the packer from the low pressure zone above the packer and thereby stopping flow of the fluid up through the pipe bore; disconnecting the work string from the bridge plug apparatus; and maintaining the bridge plug apparatus in engagement with the internal upset and sealed against the pipe bore due to an upward pressure differential applied to the bridge plug apparatus by the fluid contained therebelow

DOE evaluates nine alternative thermal technologies for treatment of mixed waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1995-01-01

In June 1993, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Technology Development commissioned a study to evaluate 19 thermal technologies for treating DOE's mixed waste. The study was divided into two phases: Phase I evaluated ten conventional incineration techniques (primarily rotary kiln), and Phase II looked at nine innovative, alternative thermal treatment technologies. The treatment processes were evaluated as part of an integrated waste treatment system, which would include all of the facilities, equipment, and methods required to treat and dispose DOE mixed waste. The relative merits and life-cycle costs were then developed for each of the 19 waste treatment systems evaluated. The study also identified the additional research and development, demonstration, and testing/evaluation steps that would be necessary for the waste treatment systems to successfully treat DOE mixed waste. 3 tabs., 2 refs

Bridge deck surface temperature monitoring by infrared thermography and inner structure identification using PPT and PCT analysis methods

Science.gov (United States)

Dumoulin, Jean

2013-04-01

One of the objectives of ISTIMES project was to evaluate the potentialities offered by the integration of different electromagnetic techniques able to perform non-invasive diagnostics for surveillance and monitoring of transport infrastructures. Among the EM methods investigated, we focused our research and development efforts on uncooled infrared camera techniques due to their promising potential level of dissemination linked to their relative low cost on the market. On the other hand, works were also carried out to identify well adapted implementation protocols and key limits of Pulse Phase Thermography (PPT) and Principal Component Thermography (PCT) processing methods to analyse thermal image sequence and retrieve information about the inner structure. So the first part of this research works addresses infrared thermography measurement when it is used in quantitative mode (not in laboratory conditions) and not in qualitative mode (vision applied to survey). In such context, it requires to process in real time thermal radiative corrections on raw data acquired to take into account influences of natural environment evolution with time, thanks to additional measurements. But, camera sensor has to be enough smart to apply in real time calibration law and radiometric corrections in a varying atmosphere. So, a complete measurement system was studied and developed [1] with low cost infrared cameras available on the market. In the system developed, infrared camera is coupled with other sensors to feed simplified radiative models running, in real time, on GPU available on small PC. The whole measurement system was implemented on the "Musmeci" bridge located in Potenza (Italy). No traffic interruption was required during the mounting of our measurement system. The infrared camera was fixed on top of a mast at 6 m elevation from the surface of the bridge deck. A small weather station was added on the same mast at 1 m under the camera. A GPS antenna was also fixed at the

Design and evaluation of steel bridges with double composite action

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-01

This report presents findings from a cooperative USF/URS/FDOT research study undertaken to develop design rules for : double composite steel bridges. In the study, a 48 ft long, 16 ft wide, 4 ft. 10 in. deep trapezoidal HPS 70W box section : desig...

Analysis, prediction, and case studies of early-age cracking in bridge decks

Science.gov (United States)

ElSafty, Adel; Graeff, Matthew K.; El-Gharib, Georges; Abdel-Mohti, Ahmed; Mike Jackson, N.

2016-06-01

Early-age cracking can adversely affect strength, serviceability, and durability of concrete bridge decks. Early age is defined as the period after final setting, during which concrete properties change rapidly. Many factors can cause early-age bridge deck cracking including temperature change, hydration, plastic shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage, and drying shrinkage. The cracking may also increase the effect of freeze and thaw cycles and may lead to corrosion of reinforcement. This research paper presents an analysis of causes and factors affecting early-age cracking. It also provides a tool developed to predict the likelihood and initiation of early-age cracking of concrete bridge decks. Understanding the concrete properties is essential so that the developed tool can accurately model the mechanisms contributing to the cracking of concrete bridge decks. The user interface of the implemented computer Excel program enables the user to input the properties of the concrete being monitored. The research study and the developed spreadsheet were used to comprehensively investigate the issue of concrete deck cracking. The spreadsheet is designed to be a user-friendly calculation tool for concrete mixture proportioning, temperature prediction, thermal analysis, and tensile cracking prediction. The study also provides review and makes recommendations on the deck cracking based mainly on the Florida Department of Transportation specifications and Structures Design Guidelines, and Bridge Design Manuals of other states. The results were also compared with that of other commercially available software programs that predict early-age cracking in concrete slabs, concrete pavement, and reinforced concrete bridge decks. The outcome of this study can identify a set of recommendations to limit the deck cracking problem and maintain a longer service life of bridges.

Thermal conductivity evaluation of high burnup mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel pellet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amaya, Masaki; Nakamura, Jinichi; Nagase, Fumihisa; Fuketa, Toyoshi

2011-01-01

The thermal conductivity formula of fuel pellet which contains the effects of burnup and plutonium (Pu) addition was proposed based on the Klemens' theory and reported thermal conductivities of unirradiated (U, Pu) O 2 and irradiated UO 2 pellets. The thermal conductivity of high burnup MOX pellet was formulated by applying a summation rule between phonon scattering parameters which show the effects of plutonium addition and burnup. Temperature of high burnup MOX fuel was evaluated based on the thermal conductivity integral which was calculated from the above-mentioned thermal conductivity formula. Calculated fuel temperatures were plotted against the linear heat rates of the fuel rods, and were compared with the fuel temperatures measured in a test reactor. Since both values agreed well, it was confirmed that the proposed thermal conductivity formula of MOX pellets is adequate.

Bridging Anticoagulation

Science.gov (United States)

... clinical centers in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. A more detailed description of the study is ... Your Personal Message Send Message Share on Social Media Bridging Anticoagulation The BRIDGE Study Investigators Circulation. 2012; ...

International Contribution to the Highway Agency's Bridge Related Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nowak, A. S.; Thoft-Christensen, Palle

and prediction of the remaining life. However, the parameters, which are involved in the evaluation process, are random variable. Therefore, a considerable research effort has been directed at the development of probability-based methodology. The research projects considered in the paper include the development...... of reliability models for analysis of bridges subjected to corrosion and fatigue, and reliability-based optimization of maintenance strategies for bridges....

Bridge Suture for Successful McDonald Emergency Cerclage.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Masaaki; Hori, Yoshiaki; Shirafuji, Aya; Kato, Mitsunori; Kato, Jyun; Kobayashi, Hiroto; Tsuchida, Toru; Fukae, Tsukasa

2017-01-01

To create awareness about a surgical technique termed bridge suture, which is performed as a pretreatment before a McDonald cerclage is performed on an emergency to treat severe cervical insufficiency. Procedures for bridge suture were reviewed in detail and outcomes of 16 patients treated with bridge suture followed by McDonald cerclage were evaluated retrospectively. Using the bridge suture, the edges of uterine cervix were temporarily sutured and the external uterine os was closed, while the hourglass-shaped fetal membranes were concomitantly confined within the cervix; subsequently, a McDonald cerclage was performed. Over a 22-year period, 16 patients with a dilated cervix and bulging fetal membranes were treated using the technique of bridge suture followed by an emergency cerclage. The mean gestational age at cerclage was 22.5 weeks; the mean gestational age at delivery was 30.7 weeks; and the mean interval between cerclage and delivery was 8.2 weeks. In 15 out of 16 cases, cerclage was performed without encountering any complications. No maternal complications, including cervical laceration, were observed. The mean body weight of 17 neonates, including that of a twin, was 1,516 g and of them, 15 neonates survived. The important outcome of bridge suture is the replacement of fetal membranes back into the uterine cavity before McDonald's cerclage is performed. Pretreatment with bridge suture may facilitate the performance of a successful emergency cerclage and contribute to good maternal and neonatal outcomes. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Actinide data in the thermal energy range - International Evaluation Co-operation Volume 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tellier, Henri; Weigmann, H.; Sowerby, M.; Mattes, Margarete; Matsunobu, Hiroyuki; Tsuchihashi, Keichiro; Halsall, M.J.; Weston, L.; Deruytter, A.J.

1994-01-01

A Working Party on International Evaluation Co-operation was established under the sponsorship of the OECD/NEA Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) to promote the exchange of information on nuclear data evaluations, validation, and related topics. Its aim is also to provide a framework for co-operative activities between members of the major nuclear data evaluation projects. This includes the possible exchange of scientists in order to encourage co-operation. Requirements for experimental data resulting from this activity are compiled. The Working Party determines common criteria for evaluated nuclear data files with a view to assessing and improving the quality and completeness of evaluated data. The Parties to the project are: ENDF (United States), JEFF/EFF (NEA Data Bank Member countries), and JENDL (Japan). Co-operation with evaluation projects of non-OECD countries are organised through the Nuclear Data Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This report was issued by a Subgroup investigating actinide data in the thermal energy range. Thermal nuclear constants for the primary actinides have been extensively studies, but the most recent evaluations are not in full agreement with thermal reactor calculations. The objective of the Subgroup was to identify the origin of these differences and to reassess the recent evaluations. A considerable effort was devoted to the η of U-235, where analysis of lattice temperature coefficient measurements has suggested an energy dependent shape below thermal energy

Construction of precast high performance concrete segmental bridges.

OpenAIRE

Ruiz Ripoll, Lidia

2016-01-01

The construction of both medium and long span precast concrete segmental bridges is widely spread throughout Spain. Usually, the segments have multiple-keyed epoxy joints, and are assembled by internal prestressing. Yet, there is a more recent type of bridge with dry joints and external prestressing. In these last ones, shear is transferred through physical support between keys and friction between faces of the compressed joint. This shear force is evaluated using friction coefficients from t...

Bridging the Gap

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kramer Overgaard, Majken; Broeng, Jes; Jensen, Monika Luniewska

Bridging the Gap (BtG) is a 2-year project funded by The Danish Industry Foundation. The goal of Bridging the Gap has been to create a new innovation model which will increase the rate at which Danish universities can spinout new technology ventures.......Bridging the Gap (BtG) is a 2-year project funded by The Danish Industry Foundation. The goal of Bridging the Gap has been to create a new innovation model which will increase the rate at which Danish universities can spinout new technology ventures....

Nondestructive assessment of timber bridges using a vibration-based method

Science.gov (United States)

Xiping Wang; James P. Wacker; Robert J. Ross; Brian K. Brashaw

2005-01-01

This paper describes an effort to develop a global dynamic testing technique for evaluating the overall stiffness of timber bridge superstructures. A forced vibration method was used to measure the natural frequency of single-span timber bridges in the laboratory and field. An analytical model based on simple beam theory was proposed to represent the relationship...

Long Span Bridges in Scandinavia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gimsing, Niels Jørgen

1998-01-01

The first Scandinavian bridge with a span of more than 500 m was the Lillebælt Suspension Bridge opened to traffic in 1970.Art the end of the 20th century the longest span of any European bridge is found in the Storebælt East Bridge with a main span of 1624 m. Also the third longest span in Europe...... is found in Scandinavia - the 1210 m span of the Höga Kusten Bridge in Sweden.The Kvarnsund Bridge in Norway was at the completion in 1991 the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, and the span of 530 m is still thge longest for cable-stayed bridges in concrete. The Øresund Bridge with its sapn of 490...

Measurement of thermal conductivity of Bi2Te3 nanowire using high-vacuum scanning thermal wave microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Kyungbae; Hwang, Gwangseok; Kim, Hayeong; Kim, Jungwon; Kim, Woochul; Kim, Sungjin; Kwon, Ohmyoung

2016-02-01

With the increasing application of nanomaterials in the development of high-efficiency thermoelectric energy conversion materials and electronic devices, the measurement of the intrinsic thermal conductivity of nanomaterials in the form of nanowires and nanofilms has become very important. However, the current widely used methods for measuring thermal conductivity have difficulties in eliminating the influence of interfacial thermal resistance (ITR) during the measurement. In this study, by using high-vacuum scanning thermal wave microscopy (HV-STWM), we propose a quantitative method for measuring the thermal conductivity of nanomaterials. By measuring the local phase lag of high-frequency (>10 kHz) thermal waves passing through a nanomaterial in a high-vacuum environment, HV-STWM eliminates the measurement errors due to ITR and the distortion due to heat transfer through air. By using HV-STWM, we measure the thermal conductivity of a Bi2Te3 nanowire. Because HV-STWM is quantitatively accurate and its specimen preparation is easier than in the thermal bridge method, we believe that HV-STWM will be widely used for measuring the thermal properties of various types of nanomaterials.

A numerical study on the structural integrity of self-anchored cable-stayed suspension bridges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paolo Lonetti

2016-10-01

Full Text Available A generalized numerical model for predicting the structural integrity of self-anchored cable-stayed suspension bridges considering both geometric and material nonlinearities is proposed. The bridge is modeled by means of a 3D finite element approach based on a refined displacement-type finite element approximation, in which geometrical nonlinearities are assumed in all components of the structure. Moreover, nonlinearities produced by inelastic material and second order effects in the displacements are considered for girder and pylon elements, which combine gradual yielding theory with CRC tangent modulus concept. In addition, for the elements of the suspension system, i.e. stays, hangers and main cable, a finite plasticity theory is adopted to fully evaluate both geometric and material nonlinearities. In this framework, the influence of geometric and material nonlinearities on the collapse bridge behavior is investigated, by means of a comparative study, which identifies the effects produced on the ultimate bridge behavior of several sources of bridge nonlinearities involved in the bridge components. Results are developed with the purpose to evaluate numerically the influence of the material and geometric characteristics of self-anchored cable-stayed suspension bridges with respect also to conventional bridge based on cablestayed or suspension schemes

Numerical thermal analysis of the vertical external partition made as the frame thin-walled steel structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Major Maciej

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents numerical thermal analysis of the vertical external partitions made in the lightweight steel framing technology. Steel posts that perform the structural role lead to the formation of linear thermal bridges and have a negative effect on the level of thermal transmittance U. Therefore, optimal solutions are being explored for such technologies. One of the solutions is to use perforated Thermo sections. The effect of perforated Thermo sections on energy loss was verified through comparison to the wall made of solid sections. Furthermore, the calculations analysed the effect of linear thermal bridges that are formed on wall connections in the corner. Computer simulation was employed to emphasize the significant differences in the temperature distribution in both analysed wall structures that resulted from constructional solutions.

Integral Abutment and Jointless Bridges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristian-Claudiu Comisu

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Integral bridges, or integral abutment and jointless bridges, as they are more commonly known in the USA, are constructed without any movement joints between spans or between spans and abutments. Typically these bridges have stub-type abutments supported on piles and continuous bridge deck from one embankment to the other. Foundations are usually designed to be small and flexible to facilitate horizontal movement or rocking of the support. Integrally bridges are simple or multiple span ones that have their superstructure cast integrally with their substructure. The jointless bridges cost less to construct and require less maintenance then equivalent bridges with expansion joints. Integral bridges present a challenge for load distribution calculations because the bridge deck, piers, abutments, embankments and soil must all be considered as single compliant system. This paper presents some of the important features of integral abutment and jointless bridge design and some guidelines to achieve improved design. The goal of this paper is to enhance the awareness among the engineering community to use integral abutment and jointless bridges in Romania.

Bridge deterioration models to support Indiana's bridge management system.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-02-01

An effective bridge management system that is equipped with reliable deterioration models enables agency engineers to carry out : monitoring and long-term programming of bridge repair actions. At the project level, deterioration models help the agenc...

Evaluation of Thermal and Thermo-mechanical Behavior of Full-scale Energy Foundations

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Kyle D.

This study focuses on the thermo-mechanical and thermal behavior of full-scale energy foundations installed as part of two buildings recently constructed in Colorado. The soil stratigraphy at each of the sites differed, but both foundations were expected to function as primarily end-bearing elements with a tip socketed into rock. The heat exchanger configurations were also different amongst the foundations at both sites, permitting evaluation of the role of heat exchange. A common thread for both energy foundation case histories was the monitoring of the temperature and axial strain within the foundations during heat exchange operations. The first case study involves an evaluation of the long-term thermo-mechanical response of two full-scale energy foundations installed at the new Denver Housing Authority (DHA) Senior Living Facility at 1099 Osage St. in Denver, Colorado. Due to the construction schedule for this project, the thermal properties of the foundations and surrounding subsurface could not be assessed using thermal response tests. However, instrumentation was incorporated into the foundations to assess their long-term heat exchange response as well as the thermo-mechanical strains, stresses, and displacements that occurred during construction and operation of the ground-source heat pump system. The temperature changes within the foundations during heating and cooling operations over a period of approximately 600 days ranged from 9 to 32 °C, respectively. The thermal axial stresses in the foundations were calculated from the measured strains, and ranged from 3.1 MPa during heating to --1.0 MPa during cooling. These values are within reasonable limits for reinforced concrete structures. The maximum thermal axial stress was observed near the toe of both foundations, which is consistent with trends expected for end-bearing toe boundary conditions. The greatest thermal axial strains were observed near the top of the foundations (upward expansion during

Nuclear thermal rocket nozzle testing and evaluation program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davidian, K.O.; Kacynski, K.J.

1993-01-01

Performance characteristics of the Nuclear Thermal Rocket can be enhanced through the use of unconventional nozzles as part of the propulsion system. In this report, the Nuclear Thermal Rocket nozzle testing and evaluation program being conducted at the NASA Lewis Research Center is outlined and the advantages of a plug nozzle are described. A facility description, experimental designs and schematics are given. Results of pretest performance analyses show that high nozzle performance can be attained despite substantial nozzle length reduction through the use of plug nozzles as compared to a convergent-divergent nozzle. Pretest measurement uncertainty analyses indicate that specific impulse values are expected to be within plus or minus 1.17%

Damage assessment of bridge infrastructure subjected to flood-related hazards

Science.gov (United States)

Michalis, Panagiotis; Cahill, Paul; Bekić, Damir; Kerin, Igor; Pakrashi, Vikram; Lapthorne, John; Morais, João Gonçalo Martins Paulo; McKeogh, Eamon

2017-04-01

Transportation assets represent a critical component of society's infrastructure systems. Flood-related hazards are considered one of the main climate change impacts on highway and railway infrastructure, threatening the security and functionality of transportation systems. Of such hazards, flood-induced scour is a primarily cause of bridge collapses worldwide and one of the most complex and challenging water flow and erosion phenomena, leading to structural instability and ultimately catastrophic failures. Evaluation of scour risk under severe flood events is a particularly challenging issue considering that depth of foundations is very difficult to evaluate in water environment. The continual inspection, assessment and maintenance of bridges and other hydraulic structures under extreme flood events requires a multidisciplinary approach, including knowledge and expertise of hydraulics, hydrology, structural engineering, geotechnics and infrastructure management. The large number of bridges under a single management unit also highlights the need for efficient management, information sharing and self-informing systems to provide reliable, cost-effective flood and scour risk management. The "Intelligent Bridge Assessment Maintenance and Management System" (BRIDGE SMS) is an EU/FP7 funded project which aims to couple state-of-the art scientific expertise in multidisciplinary engineering sectors with industrial knowledge in infrastructure management. This involves the application of integrated low-cost structural health monitoring systems to provide real-time information towards the development of an intelligent decision support tool and a web-based platform to assess and efficiently manage bridge assets. This study documents the technological experience and presents results obtained from the application of sensing systems focusing on the damage assessment of water-hazards at bridges over watercourses in Ireland. The applied instrumentation is interfaced with an open

Finite element modelling for fatigue stress analysis of large suspension bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Tommy H. T.; Guo, L.; Li, Z. X.

2003-03-01

Fatigue is an important failure mode for large suspension bridges under traffic loadings. However, large suspension bridges have so many attributes that it is difficult to analyze their fatigue damage using experimental measurement methods. Numerical simulation is a feasible method of studying such fatigue damage. In British standards, the finite element method is recommended as a rigorous method for steel bridge fatigue analysis. This paper aims at developing a finite element (FE) model of a large suspension steel bridge for fatigue stress analysis. As a case study, a FE model of the Tsing Ma Bridge is presented. The verification of the model is carried out with the help of the measured bridge modal characteristics and the online data measured by the structural health monitoring system installed on the bridge. The results show that the constructed FE model is efficient for bridge dynamic analysis. Global structural analyses using the developed FE model are presented to determine the components of the nominal stress generated by railway loadings and some typical highway loadings. The critical locations in the bridge main span are also identified with the numerical results of the global FE stress analysis. Local stress analysis of a typical weld connection is carried out to obtain the hot-spot stresses in the region. These results provide a basis for evaluating fatigue damage and predicting the remaining life of the bridge.

Evaluation of thermal margin for HANARO core

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Cheol; Chae, Hee Taek; Kim Heon Il; Lim, I. C.; Lee, C. S.; Kim, H

1999-08-01

During the commissioning and the start-up of the HANARO, various design parameters were confirmed and measured. For safer operation of HANARO and resolution of the CHF penalty issue which is one of unresolved licensing problems, thermal margins for normal and transient conditions were re-evaluated reflecting the commissioning and the start-up test results and the design modifications during operation. The re-evaluation shows that the HANARO meets the design criteria for ONB margin and fuel centerline temperature under normal condition. For upset condition, it also satisfies the safety limits for CHFR and fuel centerline temperature. (Author). 11 refs., 13 tabs., 4 figs.

Automatic Bridge Control System

OpenAIRE

M. Niraimathi; S.Sivakumar; R.Vigneshwaran; R.Vinothkumar; P.Babu

2012-01-01

Bridge vibration control is an important issue whose purpose is to extend the structural service life of bridges. Normally, the bridge is modeled as an elastic beam or plate subject to a moving vehicle. However, the moving truck on a bridge is a complicated problem that must still be researched. In this paper, wepropose a new method, to overcome the huge load in the bridge a load cell is used at the entry which will monitor the load continuously at both ends. To escape from the heavy water fl...

Fatigue evaluation of piping connections under thermal transients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aquino, C.T.E. de; Maneschy, J.E.

1993-01-01

In designing nuclear power plant piping, thermal transients, caused by non-steady operation conditions, should be considered. These events may reduce considerably the lifetime of the pipes, creating the necessity of using structural elements designed in such a way to minimize the acting thermal stresses. Typical examples of the usage of these elements are the connections between pipes of small and large diameters, in which it is usually used a weldolet. Nevertheless, in some situations, the thermal stresses caused by the transients are greater than the allowable limits, being, in this case, an alternative for best results, the introduction of a special fitting replacing the weldolet. Such a fitting is designed in a way to permit a better distribution of the stresses, reducing its maximum value to acceptable levels. This paper intends to present a fatigue evaluation of a connection, using the above mentioned fitting, when subjected to a load expressed in terms of a step thermal gradient, varying from 263 deg to 40 deg C. Two different methodologies are used in this analysis: (a) Determination of the temperature distribution from the heat transfer equations for piping, being the stresses calculated according to ASME III NB-3600. (b) Thermal and stress analyses using axisymmetric elements, according to the rules presented at ASME III NB-3200. In the first case, named simplified analysis, the computer code used is the PIPESTRESS, while in the second case, the ANSYS program was adopted

Environmental Assisted Fatigue Evaluation of Direct Vessel Injection Piping Considering Thermal Stratification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Taesoon; Lee, Dohwan

2016-01-01

As the environmentally assisted fatigue (EAF) due to the primary water conditions is to be a critical issue, the fatigue evaluation for the components and pipes exposed to light water reactor coolant conditions has become increasingly important. Therefore, many studies to evaluate the fatigue life of the components and pipes in LWR coolant environments on fatigue life of materials have been conducted. Among many components and pipes of nuclear power plants, the direct vessel injection piping is known to one of the most vulnerable pipe systems because of thermal stratification occurred in that systems. Thermal stratification occurs because the density of water changes significantly with temperature. In this study, fatigue analysis for DVI piping using finite element analysis has been conducted and those results showed that the results met design conditions related with the environmental fatigue evaluation of safety class 1 pipes in nuclear power plants. Structural and fatigue integrity for the DVI piping system that thermal stratification occurred during the plant operation has conducted. First of all, thermal distribution of the piping system is calculated by computational fluid dynamic analysis to analyze the structural integrity of that piping system. And the fatigue life evaluation considering environmental effects was carried out. Our results showed that the DVI piping system had enough structural integrity and fatigue life during the design lifetime of 60 years

Lifetime fatigue reliability evaluation of short to medium span bridges under site-specific stochastic truck loading

OpenAIRE

Yan, Donghuang; Luo, Yuan; Yuan, Ming; Lu, Naiwei

2017-01-01

Bridges are vulnerable to the fatigue damage accumulation caused by traffic loading over the service period. A continuous growth in both the vehicle weight and the traffic volume may cause a safety hazard to existing bridges. This study presented a computational framework for probabilistic modeling of the fatigue damage accumulation of short to medium span bridges under actual traffic loading. Stochastic truck-load models were simulated based on site-specific weigh-in-motion measurements. A r...

Design and Construction of Operation Bridge for Research Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Kwangsub; Choi, Jinbok; Lee, Jongmin; Oh, Jinho

2015-01-01

The operation bridge contains a lower working deck mounted on a saddle that travels on rails. Upright members are mounted on the saddle to support the upper structure and two hoist monorails. The saddle contains an anti-derail system that is composed of seismic lugs and guide rollers. The operation bridge travels along the rails to transport the fuel assembly, irradiated object, and reactor components in the pools by using tools. Hoists are installed at the top girder. The hoist is suspended from the monorail by means of a motor driven trolley that runs along the monorail. Movements of hoist and trolley are controlled by using the control pendant switch. Processes of design and construction of the operation bridge for the research reactor are introduced. The operation bridge is designed under consideration of functions of handling equipment in the pool and operational limits for safety. Structural analysis is carried out to evaluate the structural integrity in the seismic events. Tests and inspections are also performed during fabrication and installation to confirm the function and safety of the operation bridge

New evaluation of thermal neutron scattering libraries for light and heavy water

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marquez Damian Jose Ignacio

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the design and safety of thermal nuclear reactors and for verification of criticality safety conditions on systems with significant amount of fissile materials and water, it is necessary to perform high-precision neutron transport calculations and estimate uncertainties of the results. These calculations are based on neutron interaction data distributed in evaluated nuclear data libraries. To improve the evaluations of thermal scattering sub-libraries, we developed a set of thermal neutron scattering cross sections (scattering kernels for hydrogen bound in light water, and deuterium and oxygen bound in heavy water, in the ENDF-6 format from room temperature up to the critical temperatures of molecular liquids. The new evaluations were generated and processable with NJOY99 and also with NJOY-2012 with minor modifications (updates, and with the new version of NJOY-2016. The new TSL libraries are based on molecular dynamics simulations with GROMACS and recent experimental data, and result in an improvement of the calculation of single neutron scattering quantities. In this work, we discuss the importance of taking into account self-diffusion in liquids to accurately describe the neutron scattering at low neutron energies (quasi-elastic peak problem. To improve modeling of heavy water, it is important to take into account temperature-dependent static structure factors and apply Sköld approximation to the coherent inelastic components of the scattering matrix. The usage of the new set of scattering matrices and cross-sections improves the calculation of thermal critical systems moderated and/or reflected with light/heavy water obtained from the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP handbook. For example, the use of the new thermal scattering library for heavy water, combined with the ROSFOND-2010 evaluation of the cross sections for deuterium, results in an improvement of the C/E ratio in 48 out of

New evaluation of thermal neutron scattering libraries for light and heavy water

Science.gov (United States)

Marquez Damian, Jose Ignacio; Granada, Jose Rolando; Cantargi, Florencia; Roubtsov, Danila

2017-09-01

In order to improve the design and safety of thermal nuclear reactors and for verification of criticality safety conditions on systems with significant amount of fissile materials and water, it is necessary to perform high-precision neutron transport calculations and estimate uncertainties of the results. These calculations are based on neutron interaction data distributed in evaluated nuclear data libraries. To improve the evaluations of thermal scattering sub-libraries, we developed a set of thermal neutron scattering cross sections (scattering kernels) for hydrogen bound in light water, and deuterium and oxygen bound in heavy water, in the ENDF-6 format from room temperature up to the critical temperatures of molecular liquids. The new evaluations were generated and processable with NJOY99 and also with NJOY-2012 with minor modifications (updates), and with the new version of NJOY-2016. The new TSL libraries are based on molecular dynamics simulations with GROMACS and recent experimental data, and result in an improvement of the calculation of single neutron scattering quantities. In this work, we discuss the importance of taking into account self-diffusion in liquids to accurately describe the neutron scattering at low neutron energies (quasi-elastic peak problem). To improve modeling of heavy water, it is important to take into account temperature-dependent static structure factors and apply Sköld approximation to the coherent inelastic components of the scattering matrix. The usage of the new set of scattering matrices and cross-sections improves the calculation of thermal critical systems moderated and/or reflected with light/heavy water obtained from the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) handbook. For example, the use of the new thermal scattering library for heavy water, combined with the ROSFOND-2010 evaluation of the cross sections for deuterium, results in an improvement of the C/E ratio in 48 out of 65

Influence of microclimate on the sustainability and reliability of weathering steel bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Kubzova, M.; Krivy, V.; Kreislova, K.

2018-04-01

Reliability and sustainability of bridge structures designed from weathering steel are influenced by the development of a sufficiently protective layer of corrosion products on its surface. The development of this protective layer is affected by several parameters such as air pollution around the bridge structure, the microclimate under the bridge, the location of surface within the bridge structure and the time of wetness. Design of structural details also significantly influences the development of the protective corrosion layer. The article deals with the results of the experimental tests carried out on the road bridge located in the city of Ostrava in the Czech Republic. The development of the protective corrosion layer on the surface of the bridge is significantly influenced by the intensive traffic under the bridge construction and the design solution of the bridge itself. Attention is focused mainly on the influence of chloride deposition on the protective function of the corrosion layer. Corrosion samples were placed on the bridge to evaluate the influence of the above-mentioned parameters. The deposition rate of chlorides spreading from the road to surfaces of the steel structure is also measured.

Increase in mean platelet volume in patients with myocardial bridge.

Science.gov (United States)

Bilen, Emine; Tanboga, Ibrahim Halil; Kurt, Mustafa; Kocak, Umran; Ayhan, Huseyin; Keles, Telat; Bozkurt, Engin

2013-01-01

Myocardial bridge is associated with atherosclerosis altered in shear stress and endothelial dysfunction. Mean platelet volume (MPV), a determinant of platelet activation, is shown to be related with atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction. In this study, we aimed to evaluate platelet function assessed by MPV in patients with myocardial bridge. Forty-two patients with myocardial bridge in the left anterior descending artery (LAD) and 43 age- and gender-matched healthy participants were included in the study. Myocardial bridging was defined as an intramyocardial systolic compression or milking of a segment of an epicardial coronary artery on angiography. For the entire study population, MPV was measured using an automatic blood counter. The study population consisted of 42 patients with myocardial bridge (52.7 ± 10.2, 76.2% male) and 43 age- and sex-matched healthy control participants (52.1 ± 10.4, 74.4% male). Compared to the control group, MPV value was significantly higher in patients with myocardial bridge (8.9 ± 1.24 vs 8.3 ± 0.78; P = .01). Further, there were no significant differences between groups regarding hemoglobin level, platelet count, fasting blood glucose, and creatinine levels. Our study findings indicated that myocardial bridge is associated with elevated MPV values. Our results might partly explain the increased cardiovascular events in patients with myocardial bridge.

Development of a guide for prioritization of railway bridges for repair and replacement.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

The objective of this study was to develop evaluation bases for the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of existing : railway bridges. Considering the importance of bridges to the railway network, the research involved the review and : analysis o...

Characterization of systems for external insulation and retrofitting with emphasis on the thermal performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rudbeck, Claus; Rose, Jørgen

1999-01-01

During the last decade retrofitting of buildings has received increased attention not only in northern Europe but throughout the world. Retrofitting of buildings is usually performed to solve one or more of the following problems: poor indoor climate, excessive heat losses, insufficient durability...... a building designer with such a choice, key parameters for insulation systems are described in a uniform manner stating their performance with regards to aesthetics, heat transfer, moisture, durability, fire and economy. Parameters given for the total insulation capability enable the building designer...... to include the effect of thermal bridges by performing simple calculations, a task which normally requires the use of numerical models. The results show that thermal bridges in external insulation systems may decrease their thermal resistance by more than 25%.Key parameters was calculated by the use...

Analysis of Static Load Test of a Masonry Arch Bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jing-xian; Fang, Tian-tian; Luo, Sheng

2018-03-01

In order to know whether the carrying capacity of the masonry arch bridge built in the 1980s on the shipping channel entering and coming out of the factory of a cement company can meet the current requirements of Level II Load of highway, through the equivalent load distribution of the test vehicle according to the current design specifications, this paper conducted the load test, evaluated the bearing capacity of the in-service stone arch bridge, and made theoretical analysis combined with Midas Civil. The results showed that under the most unfavorable load conditions the measured strain and deflection of the test sections were less than the calculated values, the bridge was in the elastic stage under the design load; the structural strength and stiffness of the bridge had a certain degree of prosperity, and under the in the current conditions of Level II load of highway, the bridge structure was in a safe state.

Field performance of timber bridges. 5, Little Salmon Creek stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

M. A. Ritter; J. A. Kainz; G. J. Porter

The Little Salmon Creek bridge was constructed in November 1988 on the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. The bridge is a simple span, single-lane, stress-laminated deck superstructure that is approximately 26-ft long and 16-ft wide. The bridge is unique in that it is the first known stress-laminated timber bridge to be constructed of hardwood lumber. The...

Field performance of timber bridges. 9, Big Erick`s stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

J. A. Kainz; J. P. Wacker; M. Nelson

The Big Erickas bridge was constructed during September 1992 in Baraga County, Michigan. The bridge is 72 ft long, 16 ft wide, and consists of three simple spans: two stress-laminated deck approach spans and a stress-laminated box center span. The bridge is unique in that it is one of the first known stress-laminated timber bridge applications to use Eastern Hemlock...

Combined Differential and Static Pressure Sensor based on a Double-Bridged Structure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Casper; Jespersen, S.T.; Krog, J.P.

2005-01-01

A combined differential and static silicon microelectromechanical system pressure sensor based on a double piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge structure is presented. The developed sensor has a conventional (inner) bridge on a micromachined diaphragm and a secondary (outer) bridge on the chip...... substrate. A novel approach is demonstrated with a combined measurement of outputs from the two bridges, which results in a combined deduction of both differential and static media pressure. Also following this new approach, a significant improvement in differential pressure sensor accuracy is achieved....... Output from the two bridges depends linearly on both differential and absolute (relative to atmospheric pressure) media pressure. Furthermore, the sensor stress distributions involved are studied by three-dimensional finite-element (FE) stress analysis. Furthermore, the FE analysis evaluates current...

Application of liquid crystals in thermal nondestructive evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panakal, J.P.; Mukherjee, S.; Ghosh, J.K.

1983-01-01

In recent years, thermal nondestructive evaluation using Cholestric liquid crystals have found wide applications in industry. Thermography using Cholesteric liquid crystals can be used for detection of nonbonds in metallic composites, hot spots in electronic circuits and preliminary examination of welded pressure vessels. This paper presents the results of experiments on thermography of components using encapsulated liquid crystals. (author)

Hydraulic modeling of flow impact on bridge structures: a case study on Citarum bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Siregar, R. I.

2018-02-01

Flood waves because of the rapid catchment response to high intense rainfall, breaches of flood defenses may induce huge impact forces on structures, causing structural damage or even failures. Overflowing stream that passes over the bridge, it means to discharge flood water level is smaller than the capacity of the river flow. In this study, the researches present the methodological approach of flood modeling on bridge structures. The amount of force that obtained because of the hydrostatic pressure received by the bridge at the time of the flood caused the bridge structure disrupted. This paper presents simulation of flow impact on bridge structures with some event flood conditions. Estimating the hydrostatic pressure developed new model components, to quantify the flow impact on structures. Flow parameters applied the model for analyzing, such as discharge, velocity, and water level or head that effect of bridge structures. The simulation will illustrate the capability of bridge structures with some event flood river and observe the behavior of the flow that occurred during the flood. Hydraulic flood modeling use HEC-RAS for simulation. This modeling will describe the impact on bridge structures. Based on the above modelling resulted, in 2008 has flood effect more than other years on the Citarum Bridge, because its flow overflow on the bridge.

Numerical study on human model shape and grid dependency for indoor thermal comfort evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seo, Jin Won; Choi, Yun Ho; Park, Jae Hong

2013-01-01

Various computer-simulated person (CSP) models have been used to represent occupants in indoor airflow simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Despite the capability of CFD to predict temperature and velocity fields in an automotive cabin or a room in a building, it is more difficult to evaluate the degree of thermal comfort considered by the CSP models. Up to now, the shapes of CSP models and their grid characteristics have not been studied for the evaluation of indoor thermal comfort. In this paper, the effects of the human model's shape and the physical characteristics of the grids are studied. The FLUENT code is used for analysis, and the predicted mean vote (PMV), predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD), and equivalent homogeneous temperature (EHT) values are used for the evaluation and comparison of thermal comfort. The computational results show that the CSP shape and grid features do not affect the global flow fields or the evaluations of PMV and PPD. However, more precise results are obtained from the evaluation of thermal comfort by EHT when detailed human models with a prism grid are used.

Numerical study on human model shape and grid dependency for indoor thermal comfort evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seo, Jin Won; Choi, Yun Ho [Ajou University, Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jae Hong [LIG Nexl Co. Ltd, Seongnam (Korea, Republic of)

2013-02-15

Various computer-simulated person (CSP) models have been used to represent occupants in indoor airflow simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Despite the capability of CFD to predict temperature and velocity fields in an automotive cabin or a room in a building, it is more difficult to evaluate the degree of thermal comfort considered by the CSP models. Up to now, the shapes of CSP models and their grid characteristics have not been studied for the evaluation of indoor thermal comfort. In this paper, the effects of the human model's shape and the physical characteristics of the grids are studied. The FLUENT code is used for analysis, and the predicted mean vote (PMV), predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD), and equivalent homogeneous temperature (EHT) values are used for the evaluation and comparison of thermal comfort. The computational results show that the CSP shape and grid features do not affect the global flow fields or the evaluations of PMV and PPD. However, more precise results are obtained from the evaluation of thermal comfort by EHT when detailed human models with a prism grid are used.

Comparison of radiological and morphologic assessments of myocardial bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

Ercakmak, Burcu; Bulut, Elif; Hayran, Mutlu; Kaymaz, Figen; Bilgin, Selma; Hazirolan, Tuncay; Bayramoglu, Alp; Erbil, Mine

2015-09-01

In this study we aimed to compare the findings of coronary dual-source computed tomography angiography of myocardial bridges with cadaveric dissections. Forty-one isolated, non-damaged fresh sheep hearts were used in this study. Myocardial bridges of the anterior interventricular branch of the left coronary artery were demonstrated and analyzed by a coronary dual-source computed tomography angiography. Dissections along the left anterior interventricular branch of the left coronary artery were performed by using Zeiss OPMI pico microscope and the length of the bridges were measured. The depths of the myocardial bridges were measured from the stained sections by using the light microscope (Leica DM 6000B). MBs were found in all 41 hearts (100%) during dissections. Dual-source computed tomography angiography successfully detected 87.8% (36 of the 41 hearts) of the myocardial bridges measured on left anterior interventricular branch of left coronary artery. The lengths of the myocardial bridges were found 5-40 and 8-50 mm with dissection and dual-source computed tomography angiography, respectively. And the depths were found 0.7-4.5 mm by dual-source computed tomography angiography and 0.745-4.632 mm morphologically. Comparison of the mean values of the lengths showed statistically significantly higher values (22.0 ± 8.5, 17.7 ± 7.7 mm, p = 0.003) for the dissections. Radiological assessment also effectively discriminated complete bridges from incomplete ones. Our study showed that coronary computed tomography angiography is reliable in evaluating the presence and depth of myocardial bridges.

Light-weight aluminium bridges and bridge decks. An overview of recent applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maljaars, J.; Soetens, F.; Kluyver, D. de

2008-01-01

The last decades have shown a large increase in the application of aluminium alloys for light-weight bridges. For bridge construction, aluminium alloys have some specific advantages, but also some points of attention. This paper deals with some recent projects of aluminium bridges, and for these

Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring System for a High-Speed Railway Bridge Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Lai-Yi

2015-01-01

Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge, which serves as the shared corridor crossing Yangtze River for both Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway, is the first 6-track high-speed railway bridge with the longest span throughout the world. In order to ensure safety and detect the performance deterioration during the long-time service of the bridge, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system has been implemented on this bridge by the application of modern techniques in sensing, testing, computing, and network communication. The SHM system includes various sensors as well as corresponding data acquisition and transmission equipment for automatic data collection. Furthermore, an evaluation system of structural safety has been developed for the real-time condition assessment of this bridge. The mathematical correlation models describing the overall structural behavior of the bridge can be obtained with the support of the health monitoring system, which includes cross-correlation models for accelerations, correlation models between temperature and static strains of steel truss arch, and correlation models between temperature and longitudinal displacements of piers. Some evaluation results using the mean value control chart based on mathematical correlation models are presented in this paper to show the effectiveness of this SHM system in detecting the bridge's abnormal behaviors under the varying environmental conditions such as high-speed trains and environmental temperature. PMID:26451387

NDT-based bridge condition assessment supported by expert tools

Science.gov (United States)

Bień, J.; KuŻawa, M.

2016-06-01

This paper is focused on the progress in the application of Expert Tools supporting integration of inspection and NDT testing findings in order to effectuate effective decision making by bridge owners. Possibilities of knowledge representation in the intelligent computer Expert Tools by means of the multi-level hybrid network technology are described. These multi-level hybrid networks can be built of neural, fuzzy and functional components depending on the problem that needs to be solved and on the type of available information. Application of the technology is illustrated by an example of the Bridge Evaluation Expert Function (BEEF) implemented in the Railway Bridge Management System "SMOK" operated by the Polish State Railways.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR ON SITE EVALUATION OF THERMAL TRANSMITTANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandar Janković

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Thermal transmittance or U-value is an indicator of the building envelope thermal properties and a key parameter for evaluation of heat losses through the building elements due to heat transmission. It can be determined by calculation based on thermal characteristics of the building element layers. However, this value does not take into account the effects of irregularities and degradation of certain elements of the envelope caused by aging, which may lead to errors in calculation of the heat losses. An effective and simple method for determination of thermal transmittance is in situ measurement, which is governed by the ISO 9869-1:2014 that defines heat flow meter method. This relatively expensive method leaves marks and damages surface of the building element. Furthermore, the final result is not always reliable, in particular when the building element is light or when the weather conditions are not suitable. In order to avoid the above mentioned problems and to estimate the real thermal transmittance value an alternative experimental method, here referred as the natural convection and radiation method, is proposed in this paper. For determination of thermal transmittance, this method requires only temperatures of inside and outside air, as well as the inner wall surface temperature. A detailed statistical analysis, performed by the software package SPSS ver. 20, shows several more advantages of this method comparing to the standard heat flow meter one, besides economic and non-destructive benefits.

Full scale monitoring of wind and traffic induced response of a suspension bridge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheynet Etienne

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a full-scale analysis of wind and traffic-induced vibrations of a long-span suspension bridge in complex terrain. Several wind and acceleration sensors have been installed along the main span on Lysefjord Bridge in Norway. In the present study, three days of continuous records are analysed. Traffic-induced vibrations are dominant at low and moderated wind speed, with non-negligible effects on the overall bridge response for heavy vehicles only. Traffic and wind-induced vibrations are compared in terms of root mean square of the acceleration response, and three simples approaches are proposed to isolate records dominated by wind-induced vibration. The first one relies on the separation of nocturnal and diurnal samples. The second one is based on the evaluation of the time-varying root mean square of the acceleration response. The last one evaluates the relative importance of the high frequency domain of the acceleration bridge response. It appears that traffic-induced vibrations may have to be taken into account for the buffeting analysis of long-span bridge under moderated wind.

Development of bridge girder movement criteria for accelerated bridge construction.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

End diaphragms connect multiple girders to form a bridge superstructure system for effective resistance to earthquake loads. Concrete : girder bridges that include end diaphragms consistently proved to perform well during previous earthquake events. ...

Active Control of Suspension Bridges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thoft-Christensen, Palle

In this paper some recent research on active control of very long suspension bridges, is presented. The presentation is based on research work at Aalborg University, Denmark. The active control system is based on movable flaps attached to the bridge girder. Wind load on bridges with or without...... flaps attached to the girder is briefly presented. A simple active control system is discussed. Results from wind tunnel experiments with a bridge section show that flaps can be used effectively to control bridge girder vibrations. Flutter conditions for suspension bridges with and without flaps...

Effect of thermo-solutal Marangoni convection on the azimuthal wave number in a liquid bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Minakuchi, H.; Okano, Y.; Dost, S.

2017-06-01

A numerical simulation study was carried out to investigate the effect of thermo-solutal Marangoni convection on the flow patterns and the azimuthal wave number (m) in a liquid bridge under zero-gravity. The liquid bridge in the model represents a three dimensional half-zone configuration of the Floating Zone (FZ) growth system. Three dimensional field equations of the liquid zone, i.e. continuity, momentum, energy, and diffusion equations, were solved by the PISO algorithm. The physical properties of the silicon-germanium melt were used (Pr=6.37×10-3 and Sc=14.0, where Pr and Sc stand for the Prandtl number and the Schmidt number). The aspect ratio Asp was set to 0.5 (Asp= L/a, where L and a stand for the length of free surface and the radius of liquid bridge). Computations were performed using the open source software OpenFOAM. The numerical simulation results show that the co-existence of thermal and solutal Marangoni convections significantly affects the azimuthal wave number m in the liquid bridge.

Pilot Study for Investigating the Cyclic Response of the Recentering Bridge Bearing System Combined with the Friction Damper

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jong Wan Hu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The bridge bearing is one of the component members which provide resting supports between piers and decks. The bridge bearing is intended to control longitudinal movement caused by traffic flow and thermal expansion, thereby reducing stress concentration. In high seismicity area, the bridge bearing has been utilized as the base isolation system to mitigate acceleration transferred from the ground. Although the existing bridge bearing installed between superstructure and substructure provides extra flexibility to the base of the entire structure, considerable permanent deformation occurs due to lack of recentering capacity after earthquake. It is required to spend extra cost for repairing impaired parts. The bridge bearings integrated with superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA devices used for upgrading the recentering effect into the friction damper are proposed in this study. The refined finite element (FE analyses are introduced to reproduce the response of such new structures under cyclic loading condition. The bridge bearing systems that maintain uniform recentering capability are designed with various friction coefficients so as to examine energy dissipation and residual deformation through FE analyses. After observing FE analysis results, optimal design for the recentering bridge bearing system will be proposed to take advantage of energy dissipation and self-centering capacity.

Investigation of the thermal resistance of timber attic spaces with reflective foil and bulk insulation, heat flow up

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belusko, M.; Bruno, F.; Saman, W. [Institute for Sustainable Systems and Technologies, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Boulevard, SA 5095 (Australia)

2011-01-15

An experimental investigation was undertaken in which the thermal resistance for the heat flow through a typical timber framed pitched roofing system was measured under outdoor conditions for heat flow up. The measured thermal resistance of low resistance systems such as an uninsulated attic space and a reflective attic space compared well with published data. However, with higher thermal resistance systems containing bulk insulation within the timber frame, the measured result for a typical installation was as low as 50% of the thermal resistance determined considering two dimensional thermal bridging using the parallel path method. This result was attributed to three dimensional heat flow and insulation installation defects, resulting from the design and construction method used. Translating these results to a typical house with a 200 m{sup 2} floor area, the overall thermal resistance of the roof was at least 23% lower than the overall calculated thermal resistance including two dimensional thermal bridging. When a continuous layer of bulk insulation was applied to the roofing system, the measured values were in agreement with calculated resistances representing a more reliable solution. (author)

Evaluation of thermal margin during BWR neutron flux oscillation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeuchi, Yutaka; Takigawa, Yukio; Chuman, Kazuto; Ebata, Shigeo

1992-01-01

Fuel integrity is very important, from the view point of nuclear power plant safety. Recently, neutron flux oscillations were observed at several BWR plants. The present paper describes the evaluations of the thermal margin during BWR neutron flux oscillations, using a three-dimensional transient code. The thermal margin is evaluated as MCPR (minimum critical power ratio). The LaSalle-2 event was simulated and the MCPR during the event was evaluated. It was a core-wide oscillation, at which a large neutron flux oscillation amplitude was observed. The results indicate that the MCPR had a sufficient margin with regard to the design limit. A regional oscillation mode, which is different from a core-wide oscillation, was simulated and the MCPR response was compared with that for the LaSalle-2 event. The MCPR decrement is greater in the regional oscillation, than in the core wide -oscillation, because of the sensitivity difference in a flow-to-power gain. A study was carried out about regional oscillation detectability, from the MCPR response view point. Even in a hypothetically severe case, the regional oscillation is detectable by LPRM signals. (author)

High-speed railway bridge dynamic measurement based on GB-InSAR technology

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Miao; Ding, Ke-liang; Liu, Xianglei; Song, Zichao

2015-12-01

It is an important task to evaluate the safety during the life of bridges using the corresponding vibration parameters. With the advantages of non-contact and high accuracy, the new remote measurement technology of GB-InSAR is suitable to make dynamic measurement for bridges to acquire the vibration parameters. Three key technologies, including stepped frequency-continuous wave technique, synthetic aperture radar and interferometric measurement technique, are introduced in this paper. The GB-InSAR is applied for a high-speed railway bridge to measure of dynamic characteristics with the train passing which can be used to analyze the safety of the monitored bridge. The test results shown that it is an reliable non-contact technique for GB-InSAR to acquire the dynamic vibration parameter for the high-speed railway bridges.

Morphological aspects of myocardial bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

Lujinović, Almira; Kulenović, Amela; Kapur, Eldan; Gojak, Refet

2013-11-01

Although some myocardial bridges can be asymptomatic, their presence often causes coronary disease either through direct compression of the "tunnel" segment or through stimulation and accelerated development of atherosclerosis in the segment proximally to the myocardial bridge. The studied material contained 30 human hearts received from the Department of Anatomy. The hearts were preserved 3 to 5 days in 10% formalin solution. Thereafter, the fatty tissue was removed and arterial blood vessels prepared by careful dissection with special reference to the presence of the myocardial bridges. Length and thickness of the bridges were measured by the precise electronic caliper. The angle between the myocardial bridge fibre axis and other axis of the crossed blood vessel was measured by a goniometer. The presence of the bridges was confirmed in 53.33% of the researched material, most frequently (43.33%) above the anterior interventricular branch. The mean length of the bridges was 14.64 ± 9.03 mm and the mean thickness was 1.23 ± 1.32 mm. Myocardial bridge fibres pass over the descending blood vessel at the angle of 10-90 degrees. The results obtained on a limited sample suggest that the muscular index of myocardial bridge is the highest for bridges located on RIA, but that the difference is not significant in relation to bridges located on other branches. The results obtained suggest that bridges located on other branches, not only those on RIA, could have a great contractive power and, consequently, a great compressive force, which would be exerted on the wall of a crossed blood vessel.

Scan-rate dependence in protein calorimetry: the reversible transitions of Bacillus circulans xylanase and a disulfide-bridge mutant.

OpenAIRE

Davoodi, J.; Wakarchuk, W. W.; Surewicz, W. K.; Carey, P. R.

1998-01-01

The stabilities of Bacillus circulans xylanase and a disulfide-bridge-containing mutant (S100C/N148C) were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal inactivation kinetics. The thermal denaturation of both proteins was found to be irreversible, and the apparent transition temperatures showed a considerable dependence upon scanning rate. In the presence of low (nondenaturing) concentrations of urea, calorimetric transitions were observed for both proteins in the second...

Field performance of timber bridges. 17, Ciphers stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

James P. Wacker; James A. Kainz; Michael A. Ritter

In September 1989, the Ciphers bridge was constructed within the Beltrami Island State Forest in Roseau County, Minnesota. The bridge superstructure is a two-span continuous stress-laminated deck that is approximately 12.19 m long, 5.49 m wide, and 305 mm deep (40 ft long, 18 ft wide, and 12 in. deep). The bridge is one of the first to utilize red pine sawn lumber for...

Bony ankylosis following thermal and electrical injury

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Balen, P.F.; Helms, C.A. [Dept. of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (United States)

2001-07-01

Objective. Bony ankylosis has been described following trauma, paralysis, psoriasis, Reiter's syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, juvenile chronic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Reports of bony ankylosis following thermal and electrical injury are limited.Design and patients. Thirteen cases of burn-related joint ankylosis in four patients are presented.Conclusion. Patients with burns from thermal or electrical injury may develop bony ankylosis among other radiographic manifestations. This bony ankylosis may result either from bridging extra-articular heterotopic ossification with preservation of the underlying joint or from intra-articular fusion due to joint destruction. (orig.)

Design and Evaluation of a Thermal Tactile Display for Colour Rendering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhen Jia

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a novel method of manipulating both thermal change rate and thermal intensity to convey colour information by using a thermal tactile display. The colour-space transformation from {red, green, blue} to {hue, saturation, intensity} is introduced, and the mapping between colour and temperature is established based on warm and cold colours. Considering the lower resolution of the tactile channel, six limited stimulation levels are generated to represent colours. Based on the semi-infinite body model, the thermal response within the skin for each stimulation form is investigated. The Peltier element of the display is designed to convey different thermal stimuli to the human finger. Two experiments are performed to evaluate the performance of the display: colour identification and discrimination. Experimental results indicate that there is a response bias among the perceived colours for the traditional method of only employing thermal intensity, but there is no response bias for the proposed method; subjects’ mean recognition accuracy with the proposed method is significantly higher than that gained using the traditional method. Furthermore, colour information of the captured images can be reliably discriminated by using this devised thermal tactile display.

Fragility curves for bridges under differential support motions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Konakli, Katerina

2012-01-01

This paper employs the notion of fragility to investigate the seismic vulnerability of bridges subjected to spatially varying support motions. Fragility curves are developed for four highway bridges in California with vastly different structural characteristics. The input in this analysis consists...... of simulated ground motion arrays with temporal and spectral nonstationarities, and consistent with prescribed spatial variation patterns. Structural damage is quantified through displacement ductility demands obtained from nonlinear time-history analysis. The potential use of the ‘equal displacement’ rule...... to approximately evaluate displacement demands from analysis of the equivalent linear systems is examined....

Criteria for assessment of bridge aesthetic and visual quality

Science.gov (United States)

Rozentale, I.; Paeglitis, A.

2017-10-01

The bridge designers should find an ideal balance between structure, economy, buildability, aesthetics, durability and harmony with industrial or natural landscape. During the last years, the society has adopted documents providing procedures for evaluation of the impact of the structural appearance on surrounding landscape. The European Landscape Convention defines the landscape as an area perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors. The Convention indicates the methods for clear and objective assessment of the landscape’s visual qualities. The esthetical qualities of bridge structures, appearance and attraction should satisfy not only the technicians - engineers and architects, but mostly the surrounding population. Each of these groups has a different perception of esthetical qualities of structure. Many authors have used different methods and criteria for assessment of bridge aesthetics. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the bridge aesthetic and visual quality assessment methods and criteria.

Bridge SHM system based on fiber optical sensing technology

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Sheng; Fan, Dian; Fu, Jiang-hua; Huang, Xing; Jiang, De-sheng

2015-09-01

The latest progress of our lab in recent 10 years on the area of bridge structural health monitoring (SHM) based on optical fiber sensing technology is introduced. Firstly, in the part of sensing technology, optical fiber force test-ring, optical fiber vibration sensor, optical fiber smart cable, optical fiber prestressing loss monitoring method and optical fiber continuous curve mode inspection system are developed, which not only rich the sensor types, but also provides new monitoring means that are needed for the bridge health monitoring system. Secondly, in the optical fiber sensing network and computer system platform, the monitoring system architecture model is designed to effectively meet the integration scale and effect requirement of engineering application, especially the bridge expert system proposed integration of sensing information and informatization manual inspection to realize the mode of multi index intelligence and practical monitoring, diagnosis and evaluation. Finally, the Jingyue bridge monitoring system as the representative, the research on the technology of engineering applications are given.

Evaluation of thermal overload in boiler operators.

Science.gov (United States)

Braga, Camila Soares; Rodrigues, Valéria Antônia Justino; Campos, Julio César Costa; de Souza, Amaury Paulo; Minette, Luciano José; de Moraes, Angêlo Casali; Sensato, Guilherme Luciano

2012-01-01

The Brazilians educational institutions need a large energy demand for the operation of laundries, restaurants and accommodation of students. Much of that energy comes from steam generated in boilers with wood fuel. The laboral activity in boiler may present problems for the operator's health due to exposure to excessive heat, and its operation has a high degree of risk. This paper describes an analysis made the conditions of thermal environment in the operation of a B category boiler, located at a Higher Education Institution, located in the Zona da Mata Mineira The equipments used to collect data were Meter WBGT of the Heat Index; Meter of Wet Bulb Index and Globe Thermometer (WBGT); Politeste Instruments, an anemometer and an Infrared Thermometer. By the application of questionnaires, the second phase consisted of collecting data on environmental factors (temperature natural environment, globe temperature, relative humidity and air velocity). The study concluded that during the period evaluated, the activity had thermal overload.

Thermally activated flux creep in A15 lattice superconductor microbridges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lykov, A.N.; Prishchepa, S.L.

1984-01-01

Current-voltage characteristics were measured for bridges of superconductors having A15 lattices at low voltages; it was found that the characteristics are then exponential, the exponential range being proportional to the resistivity of the films. The existence of thermally activated flux creep in such contacts was demonstrated by experiment. The temperature dependence of the critical bridge current was measured. It was shown that flux creep considerably affects this current. Several parameters of Abrikosov vortex motion were estimated, taking into account the interaction with pinning centers

Remarks on crack-bridging concepts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bao, G.; Suo, Z.

1992-01-01

The article draws upon recent work by us and our colleagues on metal and ceramic matrix composites for high temperature engines. The central theme here is to deduce mechanical properties, such as toughness, strength and notch-ductility, from bridging laws that characterize inelastic processes associated with fracture. A particular set of normalization is introduced to present the design charts, segregating the roles played by the shape, and the scale, of a bridging law. A single material length, γ 0 E/σ 0 , emerges, where γ 0 is the limiting-separation, σ 0 the bridging-strength, and E the Young's modulus of the solid. It is the huge variation of this length-from a few manometers for atomic bond, to a meter for cross-over fibers - that underlies the richness in material behaviors. Under small-scale bridging conditions, γ 0 E/σ 0 is the only basic length scale in the mechanics problem and represents, with a pre-factor about 0.4, the bridging zone size. A catalog of small-scale bridging solutions is compiled for idealized bridging laws. Large-scale bridging introduces a dimensionless group, a/(γ 0 E/σ 0 ), where a is a length characterizing the component. The group plays a major role in all phenomena associated with bridging, and provides a focus of discussion in this article. For example, it quantifies the bridging scale when a is the unbridged crack length, and notch-sensitivity when a is hole radius. The difference and the connection between Irwin's fracture mechanics and crack bridging concepts are discussed. It is demonstrated that fracture toughness and resistance curve are meaningful only when small-scale bridging conditions prevail, and therefore of limited use in design with composites. Many other mechanical properties of composites, such as strength and notch-sensitivity, can be simulated by invoking large-scale bridging concepts. 37 refs., 21 figs., 3 tabs

Designing a highly sensitive Eddy current sensor for evaluating damage on thermal barrier coating

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jong Min; Kim, Hak Joon; Song, Sung Jin; Seok, Chang Seong; Lee, Yeong Ze [Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Seul Gi [LG Electronics, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2016-06-15

A thermal barrier coating (TBC) has been widely applied to machine components working under high temperature as a thermal insulator owing to its critical financial and safety benefits to the industry. However, the nondestructive evaluation of TBC damage is not easy since sensing of the microscopic change that occurs on the TBC is required during an evaluation. We designed an eddy current probe for evaluating damage on a TBC based on the finite element method (FEM) and validated its performance through an experiment. An FEM analysis predicted the sensitivity of the probe, showing that impedance change increases as the TBC thermally degrades. In addition, the effect of the magnetic shield concentrating magnetic flux density was also observed. Finally, experimental validation showed good agreement with the simulation result.

Economic Functions Proposal of Urgency Prioritization of Investment Projects of Operated Railway Bridges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pitoňák Martin

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The main objective of the article is to describe the proposals of economic functions within the prioritization of urgency investments of operated railway bridges within a comprehensive evaluation of existing bridges. The purpose of the paper is a comprehensive assessment of existing bridges and to define determinants and determinants of decision-making and designing a mechanism of decision-making procedures of prioritized infrastructure measures in the form of repairs and reconstructions of bridges resulting from the records of supervising activities based not only on technical but also economic aspects to the railway infrastructure manager.

STRENGTHENING CONCRETE HOLLOW SECTION GIRDER BRIDGE USING POLYURETHANE-CEMENT MATERIAL (PART B

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haleem K. Hussain

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents experimental study to retrofitted reinforced concrete Hollow Section Bridge. The study was carried out on the White River Bridge structure (Bai xi da Qiao / China. The effect of retrofitting on stress and strain of beams at the critical section was studied. Evaluating the bridges girder after strengthening using new material called PolyurethaneCement material (PUC as an external material .This study present the strain and deflection before and after strengthening the bridge girders. The results has shown that the overall state of the bridge structural strengthening is in good condition. The enhancement was significant in stiffness of the bridge structure. Regarding to the results of static load test, the experimental values strain and deflection are less than theoretical values, indicating that the stiffness of the structure, overall deformation and integrity satisfy the designed and standard requirements and the working performance are in good condition, and flexure capacity has a certain surplus.

49 CFR 236.312 - Movable bridge, interlocking of signal appliances with bridge devices.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Movable bridge, interlocking of signal appliances with bridge devices. 236.312 Section 236.312 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to... SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND APPLIANCES Interlocking Standards § 236.312 Movable bridge, interlocking of signal...

Fatigue evaluation of the increased weight limit on transit railway bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-01

The recent increase of freight railcar weight limits from 263,000 lbs. to 286,000 lbs. raises concerns for the safety of bridges : on transit passenger rail systems, since they were not designed for this weight increase. Thus, there is a need to asse...

Establishment of a JSME code for the evaluation of high-cycle thermal fatigue in mixing tees

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moriya, Shoichi; Fukuda, Toshihiko; Matsunaga, Tomoya; Hirayama, Hiroshi; Shiina, Kouji; Tanimoto, Koichi

2004-01-01

This paper describes a JSME code for high-cycle thermal fatigue evaluation by thermal striping in mixing tees with hot and cold water flows. The evaluation of thermal striping in a mixing tee has four steps to screen design parameters one-by-one according to the severity of the thermal load assessed from design conditions using several evaluation charts. In order to make these charts, visualization tests with acrylic pipes and temperature measurement tests with metal pipes were conducted. The influence of the configurations of mixing tees, flow velocity ratio, pipe diameter ratio and so on was examined from the results of the experiments. This paper makes a short mention of the process of providing these charts. (author)

PGSFR Core Thermal Design Procedure to Evaluate the Safety Margin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Sun Rock; Kim, Sang-Ji [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-10-15

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has performed a SFR design with the final goal of constructing a prototype plant by 2028. The main objective of the SFR prototype plant is to verify the TRU metal fuel performance, reactor operation, and transmutation ability of high-level wastes. The core thermal design is to ensure the safe fuel performance during the whole plant operation. Compared to the critical heat flux in typical light water reactors, nuclear fuel damage in SFR subassemblies arises from a creep induced failure. The creep limit is evaluated based on the maximum cladding temperature, power, neutron flux, and uncertainties in the design parameters, as shown in Fig. 1. In this work, the core thermal design procedures are compared to verify the present PGSFR methodology based on the nuclear plant design criteria/guidelines and previous SFR thermal design methods. The PGSFR core thermal design procedure is verified based on the nuclear plant design criteria/guidelines and previous methods in LWRs and SFRs. The present method aims to directly evaluate the fuel cladding failure and to assure more safety margin. The 2 uncertainty is similar to 95% one-side tolerance limit of 1.96 in LWRs. The HCFs, ITDP, and MCM reveal similar uncertainty propagation for cladding midwall temperature for typical SFR conditions. The present HCFs are mainly employed from the CRBR except the fuel-related uncertainty such as an incorrect fuel distribution. Preliminary PGSFR specific HCFs will be developed by the end of 2015.

Seismic response of cable stayed bridges under multi support excitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahmoud Reza ُُShiravand

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In this Study, the seismic response of cable stayed bridges have been evaluated under multi-support excitations. There are three sources that cause the earthquake wave characteristics change during its propagation path. Local site effect, loss of coherency and wave passage effect are three sources of spatial variation of seismic ground motions. In long span structures, such as cable supported bridges, this phenomenon is more evident and traditional analyzing (uniform excitation may not be valid and be conservative. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the response of cable stayed bridges under non-uniform excitations. For this purpose, the non-uniform time histories were artificially generated using Kriging method based on a set of known time history in the west support of bridge. Nonlinear time history analysis was performed and cables axial force, deck moment, pylons moment and finally drift ratio of bridge have been examined in order to investigate how non-uniform excitation change the seismic response of bridge compared with uniform excitations. Results show non-uniform excitation in some bridge components increase responses and decreases in the others. In non-uniform excitation, although total time history energy is lesser than uniform excitation, it can significantly change the distribution of the forces and makes differential displacement between cables supports and increase the possibility of failure.

Thermal energy effects on articular cartilage: a multidisciplinary evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Lee D.; Ernsthausen, John; Ionescu, Dan S.; Studer, Rebecca K.; Bradley, James P.; Chu, Constance R.; Fu, Freddie H.; Farkas, Daniel L.

2002-05-01

Partial thickness articular cartilage lesions are commonly encountered in orthopedic surgery. These lesions do not have the ability to heal by themselves, due to lack of vascular supply. Several types of treatment have addressed this problem, including mechanical debridement and thermal chondroplasty. The goal of these treatments is to provide a smooth cartilage surface and prevent propagation of the lesions. Early thermal chondroplasty was performed using lasers, and yielded very mixed results, including severe damage to the cartilage, due to poor control of the induced thermal effects. This led to the development (including commercial) of probes using radiofrequency to generate the thermal effects desired for chondroplasty. Similar concerns over the quantitative aspects and control ability of the induced thermal effects in these treatments led us to test the whole range of complex issues and parameters involved. Our investigations are designed to simultaneously evaluate clinical conditions, instrument variables for existing radiofrequency probes (pressure, speed, distance, dose) as well as the associated basic science issues such as damage temperature and controllability (down to the subcellular level), damage geometry, and effects of surrounding conditions (medium, temperature, flow, pressure). The overall goals of this work are (1) to establish whether thermal chondroplasty can be used in a safe and efficacious manner, and (2) provide a prescription for multi-variable optimization of the way treatments are delivered, based on quantitative analysis. The methods used form an interdisciplinary set, to include precise mechanical actuation, high accuracy temperature and temperature gradient control and measurement, advanced imaging approaches and mathematical modeling.

Cooperativity of complex salt bridges

OpenAIRE

Gvritishvili, Anzor G.; Gribenko, Alexey V.; Makhatadze, George I.

2008-01-01

The energetic contribution of complex salt bridges, in which one charged residue (anchor residue) forms salt bridges with two or more residues simultaneously, has been suggested to have importance for protein stability. Detailed analysis of the net energetics of complex salt bridge formation using double- and triple-mutant cycle analysis revealed conflicting results. In two cases, it was shown that complex salt bridge formation is cooperative, i.e., the net strength of the complex salt bridge...

Evaluation of thermal conductivity of heat-cured acrylic resin mixed with A1203

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ebadian B.

2002-08-01

Full Text Available One of the most important characteristics of denture base is thermal conductivity. This property has a major role in secretions of salivary glands and their enzymes, taste of the food and gustatory response. Polymethyl methacrylate used in prosthodontics is relatively an insulator. Different materials such as metal fillers and ceramics have been used to solve this problem. The aim of this study was the evaluation of AI2O3 effect on thermal conductivity of heat-cured acrylic resin. Acrylic resin was mixed with AI2O3 in two different weight rates (15 and 20 % of weight. So, group 1 and 2 were divided on this basis. Samples with pure acrylic resin were considered as control group. 18 cylindrical patterns were made in 9x9 mm dimensions and thermocouple wires embedded in each sample to act as conductor. The specimens were put in water with 70±1°C thermal range for 10 minutes. Then, thermal conductivity was measured. The results were analyzed with variance analysis and Dunken test. There was significant difference between thermal conductivity of all groups in all period times. It the first seconds, thermal conductivity in groups 1 and 2 were more than control group. Therefore, for developing of thermal conductivity of acrylic resin, A1203 can be used. Certainly, other characteristic of new resin should be evaluated.

Improvement and evaluation of thermal, electrical, sealing and mechanical contacts, and their interface materials

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Xiangcheng

Material contacts, including thermal, electrical, seating (fluid sealing and electromagnetic sealing) and mechanical (pressure) contacts, together with their interface materials, were, evaluated, and in some cases, improved beyond the state of the art. The evaluation involved the use of thermal, electrical and mechanical methods. For thermal contacts, this work evaluated and improved the heat transfer efficiency between two contacting components by developing various thermal interface pastes. Sodium silicate based thermal pastes (with boron nitride particles as the thermally conductive filler) as well as polyethylene glycol (PEG) based thermal pastes were developed and evaluated. The optimum volume fractions of BN in sodium silicate based pastes and PEG based pastes were 16% and 18% respectively. The contribution of Li+ ions to the thermal contact conductance in the PEG-based paste was confirmed. For electrical contacts, the relationship between the mechanical reliability and electrical reliability of solder/copper and silver-epoxy/copper joints was addressed. Mechanical pull-out testing was conducted on solder/copper and silver-epoxy/copper joints, while the contact electrical resistivity was measured. Cleansing of the copper surface was more effective for the reliability of silver-epoxy/copper joint than that of solder/copper joint. For sealing contacts, this work evaluated flexible graphite as an electromagnetic shielding gasket material. Flexible graphite was found to be at least comparable to conductive filled silicone (the state of the art) in terms of the shielding effectiveness. The conformability of flexible graphite with its mating metal surface under repeated compression was characterized by monitoring the contact electrical resistance, as the conformability is important to both electromagnetic scaling and fluid waling using flexible graphite. For mechanical contacts, this work focused on the correlation of the interface structure (such as elastic

Timber in Bridge Structures

OpenAIRE

Detkin, Viktoria

2016-01-01

The purpose of this final year project was to study the properties of timber as a structural material and the suitability of wood in load bearing members for bridge structures. For a case study, an existing timber bridge was selected. Due to its condition the bridge should be replaced. The design of a new bridge with steel beams holding a glulam deck was made. During the case study the replacement of steel beams by glulam timber ones was discussed. Some calculations were made in order to ...

Risk Assessment for Bridges Safety Management during Operation Based on Fuzzy Clustering Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xia Hanyu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, large span and large sea-crossing bridges are built, bridges accidents caused by improper operational management occur frequently. In order to explore the better methods for risk assessment of the bridges operation departments, the method based on fuzzy clustering algorithm is selected. Then, the implementation steps of fuzzy clustering algorithm are described, the risk evaluation system is built, and Taizhou Bridge is selected as an example, the quantitation of risk factors is described. After that, the clustering algorithm based on fuzzy equivalence is calculated on MATLAB 2010a. In the last, Taizhou Bridge operation management departments are classified and sorted according to the degree of risk, and the safety situation of operation departments is analyzed.

Development and evaluation of thermal model reduction algorithms for spacecraft

Science.gov (United States)

Deiml, Michael; Suderland, Martin; Reiss, Philipp; Czupalla, Markus

2015-05-01

This paper is concerned with the topic of the reduction of thermal models of spacecraft. The work presented here has been conducted in cooperation with the company OHB AG, formerly Kayser-Threde GmbH, and the Institute of Astronautics at Technische Universität München with the goal to shorten and automatize the time-consuming and manual process of thermal model reduction. The reduction of thermal models can be divided into the simplification of the geometry model for calculation of external heat flows and radiative couplings and into the reduction of the underlying mathematical model. For simplification a method has been developed which approximates the reduced geometry model with the help of an optimization algorithm. Different linear and nonlinear model reduction techniques have been evaluated for their applicability in reduction of the mathematical model. Thereby the compatibility with the thermal analysis tool ESATAN-TMS is of major concern, which restricts the useful application of these methods. Additional model reduction methods have been developed, which account to these constraints. The Matrix Reduction method allows the approximation of the differential equation to reference values exactly expect for numerical errors. The summation method enables a useful, applicable reduction of thermal models that can be used in industry. In this work a framework for model reduction of thermal models has been created, which can be used together with a newly developed graphical user interface for the reduction of thermal models in industry.

Field performance of timber bridges. 10, Sanborn Brook stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

P. D. Hilbrich Lee; J. P. Wacker; M. A. Ritter

The Sanborn Brook bridge was constructed in August 1991, 10 miles northeast of Concord, New Hampshire, as part of the demonstration timber bridge program of the USDA Forest Service. The bridge is a simple-span, double-lane, stress-laminated deck superstructure constructed from Southern Pine lumber and is approximately 25 ft long and 28 ft wide with a skew of 14 degrees...

Simulation of multivariate diffusion bridges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bladt, Mogens; Finch, Samuel; Sørensen, Michael

We propose simple methods for multivariate diffusion bridge simulation, which plays a fundamental role in simulation-based likelihood and Bayesian inference for stochastic differential equations. By a novel application of classical coupling methods, the new approach generalizes a previously...... proposed simulation method for one-dimensional bridges to the mulit-variate setting. First a method of simulating approzimate, but often very accurate, diffusion bridges is proposed. These approximate bridges are used as proposal for easily implementable MCMC algorithms that produce exact diffusion bridges...

GPS for structural health monitoring - case study on the Basarab overpass cable-stayed bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Lepadatu, Alexandru; Tiberius, Christian

2014-04-01

The Basarab cable-stayed bridge is a newly built structure in Bucharest, Romania, which was inaugurated in June 2011. Before the oficial opening, in order to assure its qualification for trafic, it had to pass several loading tests with convoys of trucks and trams. For this, besides a priori evaluation using the Finite Element Method (FEM), levelling and acceleration measurements were made to identify vertical displacements, as well as vibration frequencies of the bridge. The three-day loading trial of the bridge represented a good opportunity for setting-up a GPS campaign for structural monitoring of the Basarab bridge. Taking advantage of the redundancy obtained via simultaneous multi-sensor measurements, it was possible to compare and validate the GPS estimated displacements with both FEM and levelling. Moreover, the dynamic behaviour of the bridge during a dynamic loading test was evaluated using a 20 Hz GPS observation rate and validated afterwards with vibration frequency estimates from acceleration time series. Along with simulations (FEM) and laboratory tests, the in situ monitoring of a structure has a particular importance in establishing the safety of a newly-built structure. Furthermore, in some cases permanent monitoring is needed for safety and economic reasons, especially for strategic structures such as dams and bridges. GPS technology can satisfy this request due to its real-time processing capability and thus it can be looked upon as a new and promising tool for dynamic evaluation of engineering structures. In this contribution we have also assessed the performance of GPS with regard to accuracy and false alarm probability demands for the continuous monitoring of the Basarab cable-stayed bridge.

Comparative evaluation of thermal degradation for biodiesels derived from various feedstocks through transesterification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Hui; Niu, Sheng-li; Lu, Chun-mei; Cheng, Shi-qing

2015-01-01

Highlights: • TG–FTIR is employed to evaluate thermal degradation characteristics of biodiesels. • Lower content of unsaturated fatty acid is responsible for higher thermal stability. • Evolved products are alkanes, aldehyde/ketones, ethers, alkenes and CO 2 . - Abstract: Biodiesel is commonly derived from various feedstocks through transesterification. Since thermal degradation is concerned with a lot of scientific applications, it is essential to evaluate the thermal degradation characteristics for biodiesel. In this study, thermal degradation of biodiesel is investigated through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The fatty acid composition and the characteristic functional groups of biodiesel are detected by gas chromatography (GC) and FTIR in advance. Then, TGA experiments are conducted at linear heating rates from 20 °C min −1 to 40 °C min −1 under nitrogen atmosphere in temperature range from 25 °C to 600 °C. Subsequently, the activation energy, including enthalpy, is determined by Friedman method and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa method and the reaction order is calculated through the Avrami theory. In addition, the pre-exponential factor, the Gibbs free energy, and the entropy are also calculated. Finally, to obtain a comprehensive understanding for thermal degradation of biodiesels, all evolved products are detected by FTIR in real time

Evaluation of the Structure Stability of a Plate Girder Bridge Using MIDAS Structure Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Eui Soo; Kim, Jong Hyuk [National Forensic Service, Wonju (Korea, Republic of)

2014-04-15

Recently, as a means of resolving the issue of legal liability in the event of an accident or a disaster, a wide variety of simulation techniques, such as structural and structure-fluid interaction analysis, have been used in the field of forensic engineering. The plate girder bridge discussed in this paper was being constructed between a pier and an abutment to expand an existing bridge, but an accident whereby the bridge overturned occurred at the end of the concrete laying process for a protective wall. This accident was caused by additional loads not being considered at the time of the design as well as the actual construction being different from the design. The additional loads ultimately generated a negative support force. In this study, we determined the cause of the accident by comparing the structural stability of the original design with that of the additional, non-conforming construction using MIDAS structural analysis.

Evaluation of the Structure Stability of a Plate Girder Bridge Using MIDAS Structure Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Eui Soo; Kim, Jong Hyuk

2014-01-01

Recently, as a means of resolving the issue of legal liability in the event of an accident or a disaster, a wide variety of simulation techniques, such as structural and structure-fluid interaction analysis, have been used in the field of forensic engineering. The plate girder bridge discussed in this paper was being constructed between a pier and an abutment to expand an existing bridge, but an accident whereby the bridge overturned occurred at the end of the concrete laying process for a protective wall. This accident was caused by additional loads not being considered at the time of the design as well as the actual construction being different from the design. The additional loads ultimately generated a negative support force. In this study, we determined the cause of the accident by comparing the structural stability of the original design with that of the additional, non-conforming construction using MIDAS structural analysis

Steel-soil composite bridge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Du, Guangli; Pettersson, Lars; Karoumi, Raid

2017-01-01

viability, while their environmental performance is overlooked. Today’s designers are urged to seek new design options to reduce the environmental burdens. Sweden owns more than 24574 bridges and most of them are short spans. Among them, the slab frame bridge (CFB) is a common solution. Soil steel composite...... bridge (SSCB), alternatively, is a functionally equivalent solution to CFB and shows advantages in low cost and easy construction. This paper compares the environmental performance between these two bridge types based on life cycle assessment (LCA). The analysis and result shows that, the SSCB...

Building water bridges in air: Electrohydrodynamics of the floating water bridge

Science.gov (United States)

Marín, Álvaro G.; Lohse, Detlef

2010-12-01

The interaction of electrical fields and liquids can lead to a phenomenon that defies intuition. Some famous examples can be found in electrohydrodynamics as Taylor cones, whipping jets, or noncoalescing drops. A less famous example is the floating water bridge: a slender thread of water held between two glass beakers in which a high voltage difference is applied. Surprisingly, the water bridge defies gravity even when the beakers are separated at distances up to 2 cm. In this paper, experimental measurements and simple models are proposed and discussed for the stability of the bridge and the source of the flow, revealing an important role of polarization forces on the stability of the water bridge. On the other hand, the observed flow can only be explained due to the non-negligible free charge present in the surface. In this sense, the floating water bridge can be considered as an extreme case of a leaky dielectric liquid [J. R. Melcher and G. I. Taylor, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 1, 111 (1969)].

Evaluation of Electrical and Thermal Conductivity of Polymeric ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROF HORSFALL

especially in the industries for example producing capacitors other than being littered and .... establishing hydrogen bridges. ... provided by the graphite and direct transfer of energy .... electromagnetic components, solar batteries, non-.

National Bridge Inventory (NBI) Bridges

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Homeland Security — The NBI is a collection of information (database) describing the more than 600,000 of the Nation's bridges located on public roads, including Interstate Highways,...

Wright-Fisher diffusion bridges.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffiths, Robert C; Jenkins, Paul A; Spanò, Dario

2017-10-06

The trajectory of the frequency of an allele which begins at x at time 0 and is known to have frequency z at time T can be modelled by the bridge process of the Wright-Fisher diffusion. Bridges when x=z=0 are particularly interesting because they model the trajectory of the frequency of an allele which appears at a time, then is lost by random drift or mutation after a time T. The coalescent genealogy back in time of a population in a neutral Wright-Fisher diffusion process is well understood. In this paper we obtain a new interpretation of the coalescent genealogy of the population in a bridge from a time t∈(0,T). In a bridge with allele frequencies of 0 at times 0 and T the coalescence structure is that the population coalesces in two directions from t to 0 and t to T such that there is just one lineage of the allele under consideration at times 0 and T. The genealogy in Wright-Fisher diffusion bridges with selection is more complex than in the neutral model, but still with the property of the population branching and coalescing in two directions from time t∈(0,T). The density of the frequency of an allele at time t is expressed in a way that shows coalescence in the two directions. A new algorithm for exact simulation of a neutral Wright-Fisher bridge is derived. This follows from knowing the density of the frequency in a bridge and exact simulation from the Wright-Fisher diffusion. The genealogy of the neutral Wright-Fisher bridge is also modelled by branching Pólya urns, extending a representation in a Wright-Fisher diffusion. This is a new very interesting representation that relates Wright-Fisher bridges to classical urn models in a Bayesian setting. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of several types of curing and protective materials for concrete : final report on part II : installation report and initial condition survey of bridge decks.

Science.gov (United States)

1970-01-01

Thirty-nine test panels were installed on three interstate bridges to evaluate several combinations of curing and protective treatments for concrete. Panels were cured with white pigmented liquid membrane and white polyethylene, both with and without...

Critical traffic loading for the design of prestressed concrete bridge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassan, M.I.U.

2009-01-01

A study has been carried out to determine critical traffic loadings for the design of bridge superstructures. The prestressed concrete girder bridge already constructed in Lahore is selected for the analysis as an example. Standard traffic loadings according to AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) and Pakistan Highway Standards are used for this purpose. These include (1) HL-93 Truck, (2) Lane and (3) Tandem Loadings in addition to (4) Military tank loading, (5) Class-A, (6) Class-B and (7) Class-AA loading, (8) NLC (National Logistic Cell) and (9) Volvo truck loadings. Bridge superstructure including transom beam is analyzed Using ASD and LRFD (Load and Resistance Factor Design) provisions of AASHTO specifications. For the analysis, two longer and shorter spans are selected. This includes the analysis of bridge deck; interior and exterior girder; a typical transom beam and a pier. Dead and live loading determination is carried out using both computer aided and manual calculations. Evaluation of traffic loadings is done for all the bridge components to find out the critical loading. HL-93 loading comes out to be the most critical loading and where this loading is not critical in case of bridge decks; a factor of 1.15 is introduced to make it equivalent with HL-93 -Ioading. SAP-2000 (Structural Engineering Services of Pakistan) and MS-Excel is employed for analysis of bridge superstructure subjected to this loading. Internal forces are obtained for the structural elements of the bridge for all traffic loadings mentioned. It is concluded that HL-93 loading can be used for the design of prestressed concrete girder bridge. Bridge design authorities like NHA (National Highway Authority) and different cities development authorities are using different standard traffic loadings. A number of suggestions are made from the results of the research work related to traffic loadings and method of design. These recommendations may be

National Bridge Inventory System (NBI)

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — The NBI System is the collection of bridge inspection information and costs associated with bridge replacements of structurally deficient bridges on and off the NHS....

Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring System for a High-Speed Railway Bridge Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

You-Liang Ding

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge, which serves as the shared corridor crossing Yangtze River for both Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway, is the first 6-track high-speed railway bridge with the longest span throughout the world. In order to ensure safety and detect the performance deterioration during the long-time service of the bridge, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM system has been implemented on this bridge by the application of modern techniques in sensing, testing, computing, and network communication. The SHM system includes various sensors as well as corresponding data acquisition and transmission equipment for automatic data collection. Furthermore, an evaluation system of structural safety has been developed for the real-time condition assessment of this bridge. The mathematical correlation models describing the overall structural behavior of the bridge can be obtained with the support of the health monitoring system, which includes cross-correlation models for accelerations, correlation models between temperature and static strains of steel truss arch, and correlation models between temperature and longitudinal displacements of piers. Some evaluation results using the mean value control chart based on mathematical correlation models are presented in this paper to show the effectiveness of this SHM system in detecting the bridge’s abnormal behaviors under the varying environmental conditions such as high-speed trains and environmental temperature.

Extracorporeal Life Support Bridge to Ventricular Assist Device: The Double Bridge Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Marasco, Silvana F; Lo, Casey; Murphy, Deirdre; Summerhayes, Robyn; Quayle, Margaret; Zimmet, Adam; Bailey, Michael

2016-01-01

In patients requiring left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support, it can be difficult to ascertain suitability for long-term mechanical support with LVAD and eventual transplantation. LVAD implantation in a shocked patient is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Interest is growing in the utilization of extracorporeal life support (ECLS) as a bridge-to-bridge support for these critically unwell patients. Here, we reviewed our experience with ECLS double bridging. We hypothesized that ECLS double bridging would stabilize end-organ dysfunction and reduce ventricular assist device (VAD) implant perioperative mortality. We conducted a retrospective review of prospectively collected data for 58 consecutive patients implanted with a continuous-flow LVAD between January 2010 and December 2013 at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Twenty-three patients required ECLS support pre-LVAD while 35 patients underwent LVAD implantation without an ECLS bridge. Preoperative morbidity in the ECLS bridge group was reflected by increased postoperative intensive care duration, blood loss, blood product use, and postoperative renal failure, but without negative impact upon survival when compared with the no ECLS group. ECLS stabilization improved end-organ function pre-VAD implant with significant improvements in hepatic and renal dysfunction. This series demonstrates that the use of ECLS bridge to VAD stabilizes end-organ dysfunction and reduces VAD implant perioperative mortality from that traditionally reported in these "crash and burn" patients. Copyright © 2015 International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evaluating the coefficient of thermal expansion using time periods of minimal thermal gradient for a temperature driven structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Reilly, J.; Abdel-Jaber, H.; Yarnold, M.; Glisic, B.

2017-04-01

Structural Health Monitoring aims to characterize the performance of a structure from a combination of recorded sensor data and analytic techniques. Many methods are concerned with quantifying the elastic response of the structure, treating temperature changes as noise in the analysis. While these elastic profiles do demonstrate a portion of structural behavior, thermal loads on a structure can induce comparable strains to elastic loads. Understanding this relationship between the temperature of the structure and the resultant strain and displacement can provide in depth knowledge of the structural condition. A necessary parameter for this form of analysis is the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE). The CTE of a material relates the amount of expansion or contraction a material undergoes per degree change in temperature, and can be determined from temperature-strain relationship given that the thermal strain can be isolated. Many times with concrete, the actual amount of expansion with temperature in situ varies from the given values for the CTE due to thermally generated elastic strain, which complicates evaluation of the CTE. To accurately characterize the relationship between temperature and strain on a structure, the actual thermal behavior of the structure needs to be analyzed. This rate can vary for different parts of a structure, depending on boundary conditions. In a case of unrestrained structures, the strain in the structure should be linearly related to the temperature change. Thermal gradients in a structure can affect this relationship, as they induce curvature and deplanations in the cross section. This paper proposes a method that addresses these challenges in evaluating the CTE.

Nondestructive assessment of single-span timber bridges using a vibration- based method

Science.gov (United States)

Xiping Wang; James P. Wacker; Angus M. Morison; John W. Forsman; John R. Erickson; Robert J. Ross

2005-01-01

This paper describes an effort to develop a global dynamic testing technique for evaluating the overall stiffness of timber bridge superstructures. A forced vibration method was used to measure the natural frequency of single-span timber bridges in the laboratory and field. An analytical model based on simple beam theory was proposed to represent the relationship...

THERMAL EVALUATION OF ALTERNATE SHIPPING CASK FOR GTRI EXPERIMENTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Donna Post Guillen

2014-06-01

The Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) has many experiments yet to be irradiated in support of the High Performance Research Reactor fuels development program. Most of the experiments will be irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), then later shipped to the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF) located at the Materials and Fuels Complex for post irradiation examination. To date, the General Electric (GE)-2000 cask has been used to transport GTRI experiments between these facilities. However, the availability of the GE-2000 cask to support future GTRI experiments is at risk. In addition, the internal cavity of the GE-2000 cask is too short to accommodate shipping the larger GTRI experiments. Therefore, an alternate shipping capability is being pursued. The Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, Research Reactor (BRR) cask has been determined to be the best alternative to the GE-2000 cask. An evaluation of the thermal performance of the BRR cask is necessary before proceeding with fabrication of the newly designed cask hardware and the development of handling, shipping, and transport procedures. This paper presents the results of the thermal evaluation of the BRR cask loaded with a representative set of fueled and non-fueled experiments. When analyzed with identical payloads, experiment temperatures were found to be lower with the BRR cask than with the GE-2000 cask. From a thermal standpoint, the BRR cask was found to be a suitable alternate to the GE-2000 cask.

Development of thermal hydraulic evaluation code for CANDU reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Man Woong; Yu, Seon Oh; Choi, Yong Seog; Shin, Chull; Hwang, Soo Hyun

2004-02-01

To enhance the safety of operating CANDU reactors, the establishment of the safety analysis codes system for CANDU reactors is in progress. As for the development of thermal-hydraulic analysis code for CANDU system, the studies for improvement of evaluation model inside RELAP/CANDU code and the development of safety assessment methodology for GSI (Generic Safety Issues) are in progress as a part of establishment of CANDU safety assessment system. To develop the 3-D thermal-hydraulic analysis code for moderator system, the CFD models for analyzing the CANDU-6 moderator circulation are developed. One model uses a structured grid system with the porous media approach for the 380 Calandria tubes in the core region. The other uses a unstructured grid system on the real geometry of 380 Calandria tubes, so that the detailed fluid flow between the Calandria tubes can be observed. As to the development of thermal-hydraulic analysis code for containment, the study on the applicability of CONTAIN 2.0 code to a CANDU containment was conducted and a simulation of the thermal-hydraulic phenomena during the accident was performed. Besides, the model comparison of ESFs (Engineered Safety Features) inside CONTAIN 2.0 code and PRESCON code has also conducted

Evaluation of the thermal comfort of ceramic floor tiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmeane Effting

2007-09-01

Full Text Available In places where people are bare feet, the thermal sensation of cold or hot depends on the environmental conditions and material properties including its microstructure and crustiness surface. The uncomforting can be characterized by heated floor surfaces in external environments which are exposed to sun radiation (swimming polls areas or by cold floor surfaces in internal environments (bed rooms, path rooms. The property named thermal effusivity which defines the interface temperature when two semi-infinite solids are putted in perfect contact. The introduction of the crustiness surface on the ceramic tiles interferes in the contact temperature and also it can be a strategy to obtain ceramic tiles more comfortable. Materials with low conductivities and densities can be obtained by porous inclusion are due particularly to the processing conditions usually employed. However, the presence of pores generally involves low mechanical strength. This work has the objective to evaluate the thermal comfort of ceramics floor obtained by incorporation of refractory raw materials (residue of the polishing of the porcelanato in industrial atomized ceramic powder, through the thermal and mechanical properties. The theoretical and experimental results show that the porosity and crustiness surface increases; there is sensitive improvement in the comfort by contact.

Social determinants of denture/bridge use: Japan gerontological evaluation study project cross-sectional study in older Japanese.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamoto, Tatsuo; Kondo, Katsunori; Aida, Jun; Suzuki, Kayo; Misawa, Jimpei; Nakade, Miyo; Fuchida, Shinya; Hirata, Yukio

2014-06-03

Studies suggest that using a denture/bridge may prevent disability in older people. However, not all older people with few remaining teeth use a denture/bridge. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the social determinants which promote denture/bridge use among older Japanese. A total of 54,388 (25,630 males and 28,758 females) community-dwelling individuals aged 65 or over, living independently, able to perform daily activities, and with 19 or fewer teeth. The dependent variable was denture/bridge use. Socio-demographics, number of teeth, present illness, social participation, social support, and social networks were used as individual-level independent variables. Data for social capital were aggregated and used as local district (n = 561 for males, n = 562 for females) -level independent variables. Number of dentists working in hospitals/clinics per population and population density were used as municipality (n = 28) -level independent variables. Three-level multilevel Poisson regression analysis was performed for each sex. High equivalent income, low number of teeth, present illness, and living in a municipality with high population density were significantly associated with denture/bridge use in both sexes in the fully adjusted models (p social groups in females in the fully adjusted model (p social capital. Denture/bridge use was significantly associated with high economic status and present illness in both sexes, high educational attainment in males, and participation in social groups in females among community-dwelling older Japanese after adjusting for possible confounders.

Thermal Environment Evaluation in Commercial Kitchens of United States

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simone, Angela; Olesen, Bjarne W.

The indoor climate in commercial kitchens is often unsatisfactory and the working conditions can have a significant effect on employees’ comfort and productivity. The differences between type (fast food, dining, etc.) and climatic zone can have an influence on the environment conditions and on th......The indoor climate in commercial kitchens is often unsatisfactory and the working conditions can have a significant effect on employees’ comfort and productivity. The differences between type (fast food, dining, etc.) and climatic zone can have an influence on the environment conditions...... of defining the values of thermal comfort parameters in kitchens. It can also help to evaluate if the standardized methods are applicable for such non-uniform environment, like commercial kitchens. By using an established method and procedure for evaluating the indoor thermal comfort in commercial kitchens...... more than 100 kitchens environments in the United States were investigated in summer and winter. Results show the influence due to type of kitchen (fast food, casual, etc.) and climatic region. Physical measurement confirmed that communally the workers are exposed to a warm or hot environment...

Evaluation of solar thermal storages with quantitative flow visualisation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Logie, W.; Frank, E.; Luzzi, A.

2008-07-15

The non-intrusive Quantitative Flow Visualisation (QFV) Techniques of Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) have been evaluated in the context of experimental investigations on solar Thermal Energy Storages (TES). Much competence and experience has been gained in the integration of these powerful yet complex and time consuming flow analysis methods into the realm of laboratory experimentation. In addition to gathering experience in the application of QFV techniques, a number of charging and discharging variations were considered in light of exergetic evaluation for the influence they have on the ability of a TES to stratify. The contemporary awareness that poorly chosen pitch to diameter ratios by the design of immersed coil heat exchangers leads to a reduction in heat exchange and an increase in mixing phenomenon has been confirmed. The observation of two combitank (combined domestic hot water and space heating) configurations has shown that free convective heat transfer forces in the form of mixing energy play a significant role in the stratification efficiency of thermal energy storages. (author)

Bridge health monitoring with consideration of environmental effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Yuhee; Kim, Hyunsoo; Shin, Soobong; Park, Jongchil

2012-01-01

Reliable response measurements are extremely important for proper bridge health monitoring but incomplete and unreliable data may be acquired due to sensor problems and environmental effects. In the case of a sensor malfunction, parts of the measured data can be missing so that the structural health condition cannot be monitored reliably. This means that the dynamic characteristics of natural frequencies can change as if the structure is damaged due to environmental effects, such as temperature variations. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a systematic procedure of data analysis to recover missing data and eliminate the environmental effects from the measured data. It also proposed a health index calculated statistically using revised data to evaluate the health condition of a bridge. The proposed method was examined using numerically simulated data with a truss structure and then applied to a set of field data measured from a cable stayed bridge

Bridge health monitoring with consideration of environmental effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Yuhee; Kim, Hyunsoo; Shin, Soobong [Inha Univ., Incheon (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jongchil [Korea Expressway Co., (Korea, Republic of)

2012-12-15

Reliable response measurements are extremely important for proper bridge health monitoring but incomplete and unreliable data may be acquired due to sensor problems and environmental effects. In the case of a sensor malfunction, parts of the measured data can be missing so that the structural health condition cannot be monitored reliably. This means that the dynamic characteristics of natural frequencies can change as if the structure is damaged due to environmental effects, such as temperature variations. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a systematic procedure of data analysis to recover missing data and eliminate the environmental effects from the measured data. It also proposed a health index calculated statistically using revised data to evaluate the health condition of a bridge. The proposed method was examined using numerically simulated data with a truss structure and then applied to a set of field data measured from a cable stayed bridge.

Thermal conductivity of a film of single walled carbon nanotubes measured with infrared thermal imager

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Ya; Inoue, Taiki; Xiang, Rong; Chiashi, Shohei; Maruyama, Shigeo

Heat dissipation has restricted the modern miniaturization trend with the development of electronic devices. Theoretically proven to be with high axial thermal conductivity, single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) have long been expected to cool down the nanoscale world. Even though the tube-tube contact resistance limits the capability of heat transfer of the bulk film, the high intrinsic thermal conductivity of SWNT still glorify the application of films of SWNT network as a thermal interface material. In this work, we proposed a new method to straightly measure the thermal conductivity of SWNT film. We bridged two cantilevered Si thin plate with SWNT film, and kept a steady state heat flow in between. With the infrared camera to record the temperature distribution, the Si plates with known thermal conductivity can work as a reference to calculate the heat flux going through the SWNT film. Further, the thermal conductivity of the SWNT film can be obtained through Fourier's law after deducting the effect of thermal radiation. The sizes of the structure, the heating temperature, the vacuum degree and other crucial impact factors are carefully considered and analyzed. The author Y. F. was supported through the Advanced Integration Science Innovation Education and Research Consortium Program by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology.

A Study on an Evaluation of PWR Piping Thermal Stratification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, H.; Kim, B.N.; Lee, S.K.; Jeong, I.S.; Chjung, B.S.; Lee, S.H. [Korea Electric Power Research Institute, Taejeon (Korea, Republic of)

1997-12-31

This report presents the determination of thermal stratification phenomenon of pressurizer surge line for Kori unit No.4. With this regards, the integrity of related piping was evaluated by both various stress analysis and fatigue analysis. (author). 23 refs., 61 figs., 22 tabs.

Strength monitoring of bridge constructions and features of its application. Part 2. Continuous monitoring of bridge construction status

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ovchinnikov Igor Georgievich

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The article describes a system of continuous monitoring of bridge constructions — a system of observation over the operating conditions and behavior of the bridge structure, which is aimed at ensuring the preservation of its functional application properties within the specified limits, realized on the continuous, long-term basis with the use of instrumentation and ensures on-line presentation of information on the status of structure. To illustrate, one may consider the existing systems of continuous monitoring for a number of bridge constructions in the United States, Japan, Europe, South Korea, Greece and Russia. The article suggests to examine the systems of continuous monitoring of «Commodore John Barry» truss bridge, «Akashi-Kaikyo» suspension bridge, «Siggenthal» reinforced-concrete arch bridge, «Nimhe» suspension bridge, «Jindo»cable-stayed bridge, «Yandzhon» suspension bridge, «Banghwa» bridge, «Seohae» bridge and «Rio-Antirrio» bridge. In addition one may consider monitoring of the longitudinal launching of the bridge superstructures over the Volga River near the village Pristannoye in Saratov region. Finally, it was drawn the conclusion that monitoring of bridge constructions from the standpoint of their consumers is aimed at solving such important problems as preservation of bridge structures, increase in service life of bridge structures through timely detection of faults and their elimination, as well as preservation of bridge structure carrying capacity by controlling their behavior during the operation and improving the efficiency of expenditure of monetary resources for repair activities by correct determination of time and type of the necessary repair.

Evaluating Thermal Comfort in a Naturally Conditioned Office in a Temperate Climate Zone

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Andrés Gallardo

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This study aims to determine the optimal approach for evaluating thermal comfort in an office that uses natural ventilation as the main conditioning strategy; the office is located in Quito-Ecuador. The performance of the adaptive model included in CEN Standard EN15251 and the traditional PMV model are compared with reports of thermal environment satisfaction surveys presented simultaneously to all occupants of the office to determine which of the two comfort models is most suitable to evaluate the thermal environment. The results indicate that office occupants have developed some degree of adaptation to the climatic conditions of the city where the office is located (which only demands heating operation, and tend to accept and even prefer lower operative temperatures than those considered optimum by applying the PMV model. This is an indication that occupants of naturally conditioned buildings are usually able to match their comfort temperature to their normal environment. Therefore, the application of the adaptive model included in CEN Standard EN15251 seems like the optimal approach for evaluating thermal comfort in naturally conditioned buildings, because it takes into consideration the adaptive principle that indicates that if a change occurs such as to produce discomfort, people tend to react in ways which restore their comfort.

Evaluation of Ultrasonic and Thermal Nondestructive Evaluation for the Characterization of Aging Degradation in Braided Composite Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Richard E.

2010-01-01

This paper examines the ability of traditional nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to measure the degradation of braided polymer composite materials subjected to thermal-humidity cycling to simulate aging. A series of braided composite coupons were examined using immersion ultrasonic and pulsed thermography techniques in the as received condition. These same specimens were then examined following extended thermal-humidity cycling. Results of this examination did not show a significant change in the resulting (NDE) signals.

Field performance of timber bridges. 15, Pueblo County, Colorado, stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

L. E. Hislop

The Pueblo County 204B bridge was constructed in March 1990 in Pueblo, Colorado, as a demonstration bridge under the USDA Forest Service Timber Bridge Initiative. The stress-laminated deck superstructure is approximately 10 m long, 9 m wide, and 406 mm deep, with a skew of 10 degrees. Performance monitoring was conducted for 3 years, beginning at...

Uranyl soaps - thermal, electronic and infrared spectral study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solanki, A.K.; Bhandari, A.M.

1981-01-01

The electronic and infrared spectra and TGA thermogram of uranyl soaps (laurate, mystrate, palmitate and stearate) have been studied. The environment about the UO 2+ 2 ion would comprise two 'short bite' bidentate carboxylate groups and oxygen atoms bridging from adjacent carboxylic molecules. The uranyl soaps have UO 2+ 2 vibronic absorption (approx. equal to 22730 cm -1 ) in the range found for eight coordinate uranyl complexes. The greater resistance to thermal degradation (approx. equal to 300 0 C) of these soaps and their stepwise thermal degradation infer strong metal-ligand interaction. (orig.) [de

Dynamic and Fatigue Analysis of an 18th Century Steel Arch Bridge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boumechra, Nadir; Hamdaoui, Karim

2008-01-01

Within the 'Oran-Tlemcen' railway line realization project (159 km), several bridges were built by the Railroads Algerian West Company. 7 km from the east of Tlemcen city, this railway line must cross a very broken mountainous collar, that's why the French engineer 'Gustave Eiffel' was solicited to construct a 68 m length bridge. In 1890, an arch steel truss bridge was realized. The bridge presents 300 m of apron curvature radius and, currently, is considered as one of the most important monuments of the Algerian historical heritage. Considering the age of the bridge and the evolution of the railway loads in time, it was essential to check the good behavior of the studied structure. For that, analyses to verify the physical and mechanical properties of the growth iron members are made. A finite element model of the bridge was built and numerical simulations were drawn. The structural vibration conducted analysis permit to understand the behavior of this particular structure, then to evaluate (in detail) the rate of the structure fatigue

Principles of Bridge Reliability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thoft-Christensen, Palle; Nowak, Andrzej S.

The paper gives a brief introduction to the basic principles of structural reliability theory and its application to bridge engineering. Fundamental concepts like failure probability and reliability index are introduced. Ultimate as well as serviceability limit states for bridges are formulated......, and as an example the reliability profile and a sensitivity analyses for a corroded reinforced concrete bridge is shown....

Design and construction of superstructure in prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridge. ; Aomori Bay Bridge. PC shachokyo jobuko no sekkei to seko. ; Aomori Bay Bridge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ishibashi, T.; Fujimori, S.; Oba, M.; Tsuyoshi, T. (East Japan Railway Co., Tokyo (Japan))

1991-12-01

Aomori Bay Bridge is a 1,219m long elevated bridge, a part of No.2 Bay Highway of 1,993m in total length crossing over Aomori railway station which was planned in ordecr to integrate the port facilities of Aomori Harbor and expedite cargo traffic smoothly. Of this Bay Bridge, its main bridge portion crossing over Aomori railway station and the sea area was planned as a continuous prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridge of 498m in total length and consisting of three portions including the central portion in which the main span between the central bridge piers was 240m. It is scheduled to open in the summer of 1992. With regard to the design of this bridge, special care for the view of the bridge has been taken covering from the structure style to the accessories. For this bridge, a large scale underground continuous wall solid base with a box-shaped section consisting of 6 chambers was adopted for the base of a main tower. It has the cantilever suspension structure of the wide girder with the inverted Y-shaped pylons. For its stav cable, was adopted a large capacity stay cable with standard tensile strength of 1,942 fabricated on the site and for its covering tube, a FRP tube was adopted. In this article, the construction of the main girder and stay cables, and the construction control during their installation by projection are reported. 7 refs., 14 figs., 9 tabs.

Evaluation of bond strength of isothermally aged plasma sprayed thermal barrier coating

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Dae Jin; Lee, Dong Hoon; Koo, Jae Mean; Song, Sung Jin; Seok, Chang Sung [Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Mun Young [Korea Plant Service and Engineering Co., Ltd., Seongnam (Korea, Republic of)

2008-07-15

In this study, disk type of thermal barrier coating system for gas turbine blade was isothermally aged in the furnace changing exposure time and temperature. For each aging condition, bond tests for three samples were conducted for evaluating degradation of adhesive or cohesive strength of thermal barrier coating system. For as-sprayed condition, the location of fracture in the bond test was in the middle of epoxy which have bond strength of 57 MPa. As specimens are degraded by thermal aging, bond strength gradually decreased and the location of failure was also changed from within top coat at the earlier stage of thermal aging to the interface between top coat and TGO at the later stage due to the delamination in the coating.

Thermal conductivity and rectification in asymmetric archaeal lipid membranes

Science.gov (United States)

Youssefian, Sina; Rahbar, Nima; Van Dessel, Steven

2018-05-01

Nature employs lipids to construct nanostructured membranes that self-assemble in an aqueous environment to separate the cell interior from the exterior environment. Membrane composition changes among species and according to environmental conditions, which allows organisms to occupy a wide variety of different habitats. Lipid bilayers are phase-change materials that exhibit strong thermotropic and lyotropic phase behavior in an aqueous environment, which may also cause thermal rectification. Among different types of lipids, archaeal lipids are of great interest due to their ability to withstand extreme conditions. In this paper, nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations were employed to study the nanostructures and thermal properties of different archaeols and to investigate thermal rectification effects in asymmetric archaeal membranes. In particular, we are interested in understanding the role of bridged phytanyl chains and cyclopentane groups in controlling the phase transition temperature and heat flow across the membrane. Our results indicate that the bridged phytanyl chains decrease the molecular packing of lipids, whereas the existence of cyclopentane rings on the tail groups increases the molecular packing by enhancing the interactions between isoprenoid chains. We found that macrocyclic archaeols have the highest thermal conductivity, whereas macrocyclic archaeols with two cyclopentane rings have the lowest. The effect of the temperature on the variation of thermal conductivity was found to be progressive. Our results further indicate that small thermal rectification effects occur in asymmetric archaeol bilayer membranes at around 25 K temperature gradient. The calculated thermal rectification factor was around 0.09 which is in the range of rectification factor obtained experimentally for nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes (0.07). Such phenomena may be of biological significance and could also be optimized for use in various engineering

Arts Impact: Lessons from ArtsBridge

Science.gov (United States)

Shimshon-Santo, Amy R.

2010-01-01

Arts Impact summarizes lessons learned at the ArtsBridge Program. It is informed by in-depth participant observation, logic modeling, and quantitative evaluation of program impact on K-12 students in inner city schools and arts students at the University of California Los Angeles over a two year period. The case study frames its analysis through a…

Impact Coefficient Analysis of Long-Span Railway Cable-Stayed Bridge Based on Coupled Vehicle-Bridge Vibration

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Yongle Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Compared with medium and small span bridges, very limited attention has been paid on the research of the impact coefficient of long-span railway bridges. To estimate the impact effects of long-span railway bridges subjected to moving vehicles, a real long-span railway cable-stayed bridge is regarded as the research object in this study, and a coupled model of vehicle-bridge system is established. The track irregularities are taken as the system excitation and the dynamic responses of the vehicle-bridge system are calculated. The impact effects on main girder, stayed cable, bearings, and bridge tower are discussed at various vehicle speeds. The results show that different components of the long-span railway cable-stayed bridge have different impact coefficients. Even for each part, the impact coefficient is also different at different local positions. It reveals that the impact coefficients in the actual situation may have significant differences with the related code clauses in the present design codes.

Accelerated Aging of Polymer Composite Bridge Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlson, Nancy Margaret; Blackwood, Larry Gene; Torres, Lucinda Laine; Rodriguez, Julio Gallardo; Yoder, Timothy Scott

1999-03-01

Accelerated aging research on samples of composite material and candidate ultraviolet (UV) protective coatings is determining the effects of six environmental factors on material durability. Candidate fastener materials are being evaluated to determine corrosion rates and crevice corrosion effects at load-bearing joints. This work supports field testing of a 30-ft long, 18-ft wide polymer matrix composite (PMC) bridge at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). Durability results and sensor data from tests with live loads provide information required for determining the cost/benefit measures to use in life-cycle planning, determining a maintenance strategy, establishing applicable inspection techniques, and establishing guidelines, standards, and acceptance criteria for PMC bridges for use in the transportation infrastructure.

Bridge deck concrete volume change : final contract report.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-01

Concrete structures such as bridge decks, with large surface area relative to volume, shrink and crack, thus reducing service life performance and increasing operation costs. The project evaluated the early, first 24 hours, and long-term, 180 days, s...

Evaluation of thermal properties of sintered beryllium oxide produced from Indian beryl ore

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nair, Sathi R.; Ghanwat, S.J.; Patro, P.K.; Syambabu, M.; Mawal, N.E.; Mahata, T.; Sinha, P.K.

2014-01-01

Beryllium oxide (BeO) ceramics possess many interesting properties such as good thermal conductivity, high electrical resistivity, high chemical and thermal stability, low dielectric constant, low dielectric loss and low neutron absorption coefficient. These properties lead to its wide use in vacuum electronics technology, nuclear technology, microelectronics and photoelectron technology. The above properties depend on the purity of the material as well as density and microstructure of the sintered body. For high temperature application thermal conductivity and thermal expansion are two important parameters. In the present study, high purity fine BeO powder has been prepared by beryllate route starting with crude beryllium hydroxide. The powder has been sintered at 1550℃ and sintered samples have been evaluated for its thermal properties

Evaluation of a thermal SCWR core with sub-channel analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Xiaojing; Cheng Xu

2008-01-01

A previous study shows that the two-row fuel assembly has much more favorable neutron-physical and thermal-hydraulic behaviour than the existing one-row fuel assemblies. With this new developed two-row fuel assembly, a thermal SCWR core design is proposed Assessment of this design is carried out in this paper. The performance of this new core design is investigated with 3-D coupled thermal-hydraulic/neutronic calculations. During the coupling procedure, the thermal-hydraulic behaviour is analyzed using a single-channel code and the neutron-physical performance is computed with a 3-D reactor physical code. This paper presents the main results achieved so far related to the distribution of some neutronic and thermal-hydraulic parameters. Since the power distribution in some fuel assemblies is extremely uneven, sub-channel analysis is applied to the hottest and most non-uniform assembly in the core. The sub-channel analysis is performed with the power and thermal hydraulic parameters from the coupling results. It provides the hot channel factor and the maximal cladding surface temperature more precisely. The power and mass flux distribution in these assemblies are illustrated in detail for the demonstration purpose. The difference of the results evaluated with two different methods, i.e. sub-channel analysis and single-channel analysis, shows the importance of applying sub-channel analysis. A sensitivity analysis of some important parameters is also carried out. (author)

Systematic Review: Bridging the Gap in RPN-to-RN Transitions.

Science.gov (United States)

Suva, Grace; Sager, Shelley; Mina, Elaine Santa; Sinclair, Nancy; Lloyd, Monique; Bajnok, Irmajean; Xiao, Sarah

2015-07-01

To review the evidence examining the influences of successful education and professional role transition for registered practical nurses (RPNs) pursuing a baccalaureate degree in nursing (BScN) and registered nurse (RN) licensure through RPN-to-RN bridging programs. Systematic review of papers published between 1995 and 2014 that evaluated students' education and professional role transitions from RPN to RN. Thirty-nine papers were selected that observed or studied the change or transition in designation from RPN to RN, or its equivalent, through bridging programs and analyzed thematically according to Meleis, Sawyer, Im, Hilfinger Messias, and Schumacher's transition model. Personal, community, and social conditions related to preparation for entry, program enrolment, and postgraduate clinical integration influence successful education and professional role transitions for RPN-to-RN bridging students. Providing key transition supports may enhance the potential for successful student transition into and throughout a bridging program, but further research is necessary to enhance this understanding and to recommend best practices for optimizing students' success. The evidence from this review identifies facilitators and barriers to successful education and professional role transition for RPN-to-RN bridging students, and identifies important considerations for future research. © 2015 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Methods of evaluating protective clothing relative to heat and cold stress: thermal manikin, biomedical modeling, and human testing.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Catherine; Blanchard, Laurie A; Cadarette, Bruce S; Endrusick, Thomas L; Xu, Xiaojiang; Berglund, Larry G; Sawka, Michael N; Hoyt, Reed W

2011-10-01

Personal protective equipment (PPE) refers to clothing and equipment designed to protect individuals from chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive hazards. The materials used to provide this protection may exacerbate thermal strain by limiting heat and water vapor transfer. Any new PPE must therefore be evaluated to ensure that it poses no greater thermal strain than the current standard for the same level of hazard protection. This review describes how such evaluations are typically conducted. Comprehensive evaluation of PPE begins with a biophysical assessment of materials using a guarded hot plate to determine the thermal characteristics (thermal resistance and water vapor permeability). These characteristics are then evaluated on a thermal manikin wearing the PPE, since thermal properties may change once the materials have been constructed into a garment. These data may be used in biomedical models to predict thermal strain under a variety of environmental and work conditions. When the biophysical data indicate that the evaporative resistance (ratio of permeability to insulation) is significantly better than the current standard, the PPE is evaluated through human testing in controlled laboratory conditions appropriate for the conditions under which the PPE would be used if fielded. Data from each phase of PPE evaluation are used in predictive models to determine user guidelines, such as maximal work time, work/rest cycles, and fluid intake requirements. By considering thermal stress early in the development process, health hazards related to temperature extremes can be mitigated while maintaining or improving the effectiveness of the PPE for protection from external hazards.

Comparative evaluation of bidirectional dual active bridge DC-DC converter variants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sfakianakis, G.; Everts, J.; Huisman, H.; Lomonova, E.A.

2016-01-01

For the realization of DC-DC converters in automotive industry, the Dual Active Bridge (DAB) converter seems to be a promising choice because of its soft-switching and high-power-density capability. Contrary to the traditional 3 level - 3 level (3-3L) DAB, a 3 level - 5 level (3-5L) DAB can operate

Field performance of timber bridges. 8, Lynches Woods Park stress-laminated deck bridge

Science.gov (United States)

J. P. Wacker; M. A. Ritter; D. Conger

The Lynches Woods Park bridge was constructed during the summer of 1990 in Newberry, South Carolina. It is a single-span, single-lane, stress-laminated deck superstructure that measures approximately 30 ft long, 16 ft wide, and 14 in. deep. The bridge is unique in that is one of the first known stress-laminated deck bridges to be constructed of Southern Pine lumber...

Identifying Time Periods of Minimal Thermal Gradient for Temperature-Driven Structural Health Monitoring

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