Autonomy and regulation of state agencies:Reinforcement, indifference or compensation?

This paper analyses the relationships between the autonomy and regulation of state agencies in Norway, Ireland and Flanders (Belgium). The empirical basis is provided by broad surveys of public sector organizations carried out in 2002-2004. Three hypotheses on these relationships are formulated and examined, indicating different patterns. The reinforcement hypothesis, stating a negative relationship does not get any support. On the other hand, the compensation hypothesis, stating a positive relationship gets some support. In general, however, the indifference hypothesis, stating low or no correlations seems to be the most adequate. The hypotheses are also linked to prevalent administrative doctrines, and the empirical findings indicate how relevant they are. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008.

Fatigue Life Assessment and Static Testing of Structural GFRP Tubes Based on Coupon Tests

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) hollow tubes are used in structural applications, such as utility poles and pipelines. Concrete-filled FRP tubes (CFFTs) are also used as piles and bridge piers. Applications such as poles and marine piles are typically governed by cyclic bending. In this paper, the fatigue behavior of glass-FRP filament-wound tubes is studied using coupons cut from the tubes. Several coupon configurations were first examined in 24 tension and five compression monotonic loading tests. Fatigue tests were then conducted on 81 coupons to examine several parameters; namely, loading frequency as well as maximum-to-ultimate (max ult) and minimum-to-maximum (min max) stress ratios, including tension tension and tension compression, to simulate reversed bending. The study demonstrated the sensitivity of test results and failure mode to coupon configuration. The presence of compression loads reduced fatigue life, while increasing load frequency increased fatigue life. Stiffness degradation behavior was also established. To achieve at least one million cycles, it is recommended to limit (max ult) to 0.25. Models were used to simulate stiffness degradation and fatigue life curve of the tube. Fatigue life predictions of large CFFT beams showed good correlation with experimental results. © 2008 ASCE.

Structural reinforcement of microvascular networks using electrostatic layer-by-layer assembly with halloysite nanotubes

We demonstrate a method for tailoring local mechanical properties near channel surfaces of vascular structural polymers in order to achieve high structural performance in microvascular systems. While synthetic vascularized materials have been created by a variety of manufacturing techniques, unreinforced microchannels act as stress concentrators and lead to the initiation of premature failure. Taking inspiration from biological tissues such as dentin and bone, these mechanical deficiencies can be mitigated by complex hierarchical structural features near to channel surfaces. By employing electrostatic layer-by-layer assembly (ELbL) to deposit films containing halloysite nanotubes onto scaffold surfaces followed by matrix infiltration and scaffold removal, we are able to controllably deposit nanoscale reinforcement onto 200 micron diameter channel surface interiors in microvascular networks. High resolution strain measurements on reinforced networks under load verify that the halloysite reduces strain concentrations and improves mechanical performance.

Influence of concrete composition on anchorage bond behavior of prestressing reinforcement

An experimental research addressing the effects of concrete composition and strength on anchorage bond behavior of prestressing reinforcement is presented to clarify the effect of material properties that have appeared contradictory in previous literature. Bond stresses and anchorage lengths have been obtained in twelve concrete mixes made up of different cement contents (C) – 350 to 500 kg/m3 – and water/cement (w/c) ratios – 0.3 to 0.5 – with compressive strength at 24 h ranging from 24 to 55 MPa. A testing technique based on measuring the prestressing force in specimens with different embedment lengths has been used. The results show that anchorage length increases when w/c increases, more significantly when C is higher; the effect of C reveals different trends based on w/c. The obtained anchorage bond stresses are greater for higher concrete compressive strength, and their average ratio of 1.45 with respect to transmission bond stresses implies a potential bond capacity.

Pull-out behaviour of steel grid soil reinforcement embedded in silty sand

This paper investigates the pull-out behaviour (particularly the bearing resistance) of a steel grid reinforcement embedded in silty sand using laboratory tests and numerical analyses. It is demonstrated that the various common analytical equations for calculating the bearing component of pull-out resistance give a wide range of calculated values, up to about 200% disparity. The disparity will increase further if the issue of whether to use the peak or critical state friction angle is brought in. Furthermore, these equations suggest that the bearing resistance factor, N, is only a function of soil friction angle which is not consistent with some design guidelines. In this investigation, a series of large scale laboratory pull-out tests under different test pressures were conducted. The test results unambiguously confirmed that the N factor is a function of test pressure. A modified equation for calculating N is also proposed. To have more in-depth understanding of the pull-out behaviour, the tests were modelled numerically. The input parameters for the numerical analysis were obtained from laboratory triaxial tests. The analysis results were compared with the experimental results. Good agreement between experimental and numerical results was achieved if the strain-softening behaviour from peak strength to critical state condition was captured by the soil model used. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Effect of geosynthetic reinforcement creep on the long term performance of an embankment

Geo-synthetic reinforcements are often used to enhance the stability of geotechnical structures such as embankments. These geosynthetic polymers often show significant creep deformational behaviour. In the short-term performance of a geotechnical structure, it may not play a significant role. However, while dealing with the long term behaviour, it is necessary to investigate its effect. In this paper two plane strain fully coupled finite element analysis have been conducted; one with and the other without taking into account of the creep behaviour of geosynthetics. A well documented field case of Leneghans embankment (Geogrid improved wide embankment constructed near Sydney, Australia in 1990s) have been used for this purpose. It is evident from the analyses that though the geosynthetic reinforcements may play a vital role in the performance/stability of an embankment in the early days (during and after construction), its contribution may become insignificant with time and the creep of geo-synthetic may not play a significant role in the long term stability. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.