Assessing the feasibility of impregnating phase change materials in lightweight aggregate for development of thermal energy storage systems

This paper assesses the feasibility of impregnation/encasement of phase change materials (PCMs) in lightweight aggregates (LWAs). An impregnation process was adopted to carry out the encasement study of two different PCMs in four different LWAs. The leakage of the impregnated/encased PCMs was studied when they were submitted to freeze/thawing and oven drying tests, separately. The results confirmed that, the impregnation/encasement method is effective with respect to the large thermal energy storage density, and can be suitable for applications were PCMs cannot be incorporated directly such as asphalt road pavements.

Behaviour of a dovetail joint solved using force analyses

Dovetail joints are one of the most cornrnonly used joints during Gothic and Baroque periods. Despite being coristructed in the sarne way during the ages, there is no analyticai solution available to help its analysis and design so required in reconstruction works of existing timber structures. An analytical solution based on the principie of virtual works under different types of loading is presented in this paper as weli as differences in bearing capacity of the joint for chosen types of loading, when different wood species are used. The accuracy of the presented solution is confirrned by data obtained from experimental tests of scaied modeis of a dovetail joint.

Flexural strengthening of RC beams using hybrid composite plate (HCP): experimental and analytical study

Hybrid Composite Plate (HCP) is a reliable recently proposed retrofitting solution for concrete structures, which is composed of a strain hardening cementitious composite (SHCC) plate reinforced with Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). This system benefits from the synergetic advantages of these two composites, namely the high ductility of SHCC and the high tensile strength of CFRPs. In the materialstructural of HCP, the ultra-ductile SHCC plate acts as a suitable medium for stress transfer between CFRP laminates (bonded into the pre-sawn grooves executed on the SHCC plate) and the concrete substrate by means of a connection system made by either chemical anchors, adhesive, or a combination thereof. In comparison with traditional applications of FRP systems, HCP is a retrofitting solution that (i) is less susceptible to the detrimental effect of the lack of strength and soundness of the concrete cover in the strengthening effectiveness; (ii) assures higher durability for the strengthened elements and higher protection to the FRP component in terms of high temperatures and vandalism; and (iii) delays, or even, prevents detachment of concrete substrate. This paper describes the experimental program carried out, and presents and discusses the relevant results obtained on the assessment of the performance of HCP strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams subjected to flexural loading. Moreover, an analytical approach to estimate the ultimate flexural capacity of these beams is presented, which was complemented with a numerical strategy for predicting their load-deflection behaviour. By attaching HCP to the beams’ soffit, a significant increase in the flexural capacity at service, at yield initiation of the tension steel bars and at failure of the beams can be achieved, while satisfactory deflection ductility is assured and a high tensile capacity of the CFRP laminates is mobilized. Both analytical and numerical approaches have predicted with satisfactory agreement, the load-deflection response of the reference beam and the strengthened ones tested experimentally.

Searches for heavy long-lived charged particles with the ATLAS detector in proton--proton collisions at s√ = 8 TeV

Searches for heavy long-lived charged particles are performed using a data sample of 19.8 fb−1 from proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√ = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess is observed above the estimated background and limits are placed on the mass of long-lived particles in various supersymmetric models. Long-lived tau sleptons in models with gauge-mediated symmetry breaking are excluded up to masses between 440 and 385 GeV for tan(beta) between 10 and 50, with a 290 GeV limit in the case where only direct tau slepton production is considered. In the context of simplified LeptoSUSY models, where sleptons are stable and have a mass of 300 GeV, squark and gluino masses are excluded up to a mass of 1500 and 1360 GeV, respectively. Directly produced charginos, in simplified models where they are nearly degenerate to the lightest neutralino, are excluded up to a mass of 620 GeV. R-hadrons, composites containing a gluino, bottom squark or top squark, are excluded up to a mass of 1270, 845 and 900 GeV, respectively, using the full detector; and up to a mass of 1260, 835 and 870 GeV using an approach disregarding information from the muon spectrometer.

Effects of fermentation residues on the melt processability and thermomechanical degradation of PHBV produced from cheese whey using mixed microbial cultures

"Available online 28 March 2016"