938 resultados para Point method


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Precipitation-induced runoff and leaching from milled peat mining mires by peat types: a comparative method for estimating the loading of water bodies during peat production. This research project in environmental geology has arisen out of an observed need to be able to predict more accurately the loading of watercourses with detrimental organic substances and nutrients from already existing and planned peat production areas, since the authorities capacity for insisting on such predictions covering the whole duration of peat production in connection with evaluations of environmental impact is at present highly limited. National and international decisions regarding monitoring of the condition of watercourses and their improvement and restoration require more sophisticated evaluation methods in order to be able to forecast watercourse loading and its environmental impacts at the stage of land-use planning and preparations for peat production.The present project thus set out from the premise that it would be possible on the basis of existing mire and peat data properties to construct estimates for the typical loading from production mires over the whole duration of their exploitation. Finland has some 10 million hectares of peatland, accounting for almost a third of its total area. Macroclimatic conditions have varied in the course of the Holocene growth and development of this peatland, and with them the habitats of the peat-forming plants. Temperatures and moisture conditions have played a significant role in determining the dominant species of mire plants growing there at any particular time, the resulting mire types and the accumulation and deposition of plant remains to form the peat. The above climatic, environmental and mire development factors, together with ditching, have contributed, and continue to contribute, to the existence of peat horizons that differ in their physical and chemical properties, leading to differences in material transport between peatlands in a natural state and mires that have been ditched or prepared for forestry and peat production. Watercourse loading from the ditching of mires or their use for peat production can have detrimental effects on river and lake environments and their recreational use, especially where oxygen-consuming organic solids and soluble organic substances and nutrients are concerned. It has not previously been possible, however, to estimate in advance the watercourse loading likely to arise from ditching and peat production on the basis of the characteristics of the peat in a mire, although earlier observations have indicated that watercourse loading from peat production can vary greatly and it has been suggested that differences in peat properties may be of significance in this. Sprinkling is used here in combination with simulations of conditions in a milled peat production area to determine the influence of the physical and chemical properties of milled peats in production mires on surface runoff into the drainage ditches and the concentrations of material in the runoff water. Sprinkling and extraction experiments were carried out on 25 samples of milled Carex (C) and Sphagnum (S) peat of humification grades H 2.5 8.5 with moisture content in the range 23.4 89% on commencement of the first sprinkling, which was followed by a second sprinkling 24 hours later. The water retention capacity of the peat was best, and surface runoff lowest, with Sphagnum and Carex peat samples of humification grades H 2.5 6 in the moisture content class 56 75%. On account of the hydrophobicity of dry peat, runoff increased in a fairly regular manner with drying of the sample from 55% to 24 30%. Runoff from the samples with an original moisture content over 55% increased by 63% in the second round of sprinkling relative to the first, as they had practically reached saturation point on the first occasion, while those with an original moisture content below 55% retained their high runoff in the second round, due to continued hydrophobicity. The well-humified samples (H 6.5 8.5) with a moisture content over 80% showed a low water retention capacity and high runoff in both rounds of sprinkling. Loading of the runoff water with suspended solids, total phosphorus and total nitrogen, and also the chemical oxygen demand (CODMn O2), varied greatly in the sprinkling experiment, depending on the peat type and degree of humification, but concentrations of the same substances in the two sprinklings were closely or moderately closely correlated and these correlations were significant. The concentrations of suspended solids in the runoff water observed in the simulations of a peat production area and the direct surface runoff from it into the drainage ditch system in response to rain (sprinkling intensity 1.27 mm/min) varied c. 60-fold between the degrees of humification in the case of the Carex peats and c. 150-fold for the Sphagnum peats, while chemical oxygen demand varied c. 30-fold and c. 50-fold, respectively, total phosphorus c. 60-fold and c. 66-fold, total nitrogen c. 65-fold and c. 195-fold and ammonium nitrogen c. 90-fold and c. 30-fold. The increases in concentrations in the runoff water were very closely correlated with increases in humification of the peat. The correlations of the concentrations measured in extraction experiments (48 h) with peat type and degree of humification corresponded to those observed in the sprinkler experiments. The resulting figures for the surface runoff from a peat production area into the drainage ditches simulated by means of sprinkling and material concentrations in the runoff water were combined with statistics on the mean extent of daily rainfall (0 67 mm) during the frost-free period of the year (May October) over an observation period of 30 years to yield typical annual loading figures (kg/ha) for suspended solids (SS), chemical oxygen demand of organic matter (CODmn O2), total phosphorus (tot. P) and total nitrogen (tot. N) entering the ditches with respect to milled Carex (C) and Sphagnum (S) peats of humification grades H 2.5 8.5. In order to calculate the loading of drainage ditches from a milled peat production mire with the aid of these annual comparative values (in kg/ha), information is required on the properties of the intended production mire and its peat. Once data are available on the area of the mire, its peat depth, peat types and their degrees of humification, dry matter content, calorific value and corresponding energy content, it is possible to produce mutually comparable estimates for individual mires with respect to the annual loading of the drainage ditch system and the surrounding watercourse for the whole service life of the production area, the duration of this service life, determinations of energy content and the amount of loading per unit of energy generated (kg/MWh). In the 8 mires in the Köyhäjoki basin, Central Ostrobothnia, taken as an example, the loading of suspended solids (SS) in the drainage ditch networks calculated on the basis of the typical values obtained here and existing mire and peat data and expressed per unit of energy generated varied between the mires and horizons in the range 0.9 16.5 kg/MWh. One of the aims of this work was to develop means of making better use of existing mire and peat data and the results of corings and other field investigations. In this respect combination of the typical loading values (kg/ha) obtained here for S, SC, CS and C peats and the various degrees of humification (H 2.5 8.5) with the above mire and peat data by means of a computer program for the acquisition and handling of such data would enable all the information currently available and that deposited in the system in the future to be used for defining watercourse loading estimates for mires and comparing them with the corresponding estimates of energy content. The intention behind this work has been to respond to the challenge facing the energy generation industry to find larger peat production areas that exert less loading on the environment and to that facing the environmental authorities to improve the means available for estimating watercourse loading from peat production and its environmental impacts in advance. The results conform well to the initial hypothesis and to the goals laid down for the research and should enable watercourse loading from existing and planned peat production to be evaluated better in the future and the resulting impacts to be taken into account when planning land use and energy generation. The advance loading information available in this way would be of value in the selection of individual peat production areas, the planning of their exploitation, the introduction of water protection measures and the planning of loading inspections, in order to achieve controlled peat production that pays due attention to environmental considerations.

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This Paper deals with the analysis of liquid limit of soils, an inferential parameter of universal acceptance. It has been undertaken primarily to re-examine one-point methods of determination of liquid limit water contents. It has been shown by basic characteristics of soils and associated physico-chemical factors that critical shear strengths at liquid limit water contents arise out of force field equilibrium and are independent of soil type. This leads to the formation of a scientific base for liquid limit determination by one-point methods, which hitherto was formulated purely on statistical analysis of data. Available methods (Norman, 1959; Karlsson, 1961; Clayton & Jukes, 1978) of one-point liquid limit determination have been critically re-examined. A simple one-point cone penetrometer method of computing liquid limit has been suggested and compared with other methods. Experimental data of Sherwood & Ryley (1970) have been employed for comparison of different cone penetration methods. Results indicate that, apart from mere statistical considerations, one-point methods have a strong scientific base on the uniqueness of modified flow line irrespective of soil type. Normalized flow line is obtained by normalization of water contents by liquid limit values thereby nullifying the effects of surface areas and associated physico-chemical factors that are otherwise reflected in different responses at macrolevel.Cet article traite de l'analyse de la limite de liquidité des sols, paramètre déductif universellement accepté. Cette analyse a été entreprise en premier lieu pour ré-examiner les méthodes à un point destinées à la détermination de la teneur en eau à la limite de liquidité. Il a été démontré par les caractéristiques fondamentales de sols et par des facteurs physico-chimiques associés que les résistances critiques à la rupture au cisaillement pour des teneurs en eau à la limite de liquidité résultent de l'équilibre des champs de forces et sont indépendantes du type de sol concerné. On peut donc constituer une base scientifique pour la détermination de la limite de liquidité par des méthodes à un point lesquelles, jusqu'alors, n'avaient été formulées que sur la base d'une analyse statistique des données. Les méthodes dont on dispose (Norman, 1959; Karlsson, 1961; Clayton & Jukes, 1978) pour la détermination de la limite de liquidité à un point font l'objet d'un ré-examen critique. Une simple méthode d'analyse à un point à l'aide d'un pénétromètre à cône pour le calcul de la limite de liquidité a été suggérée et comparée à d'autres méthodes. Les données expérimentales de Sherwood & Ryley (1970) ont été utilisées en vue de comparer différentes méthodes de pénétration par cône. En plus de considérations d'ordre purement statistque, les résultats montrent que les méthodes de détermination à un point constituent une base scientifique solide en raison du caractère unique de la ligne de courant modifiée, quel que soit le type de sol La ligne de courant normalisée est obtenue par la normalisation de la teneur en eau en faisant appel à des valeurs de limite de liquidité pour, de cette manière, annuler les effets des surfaces et des facteurs physico-chimiques associés qui sans cela se manifesteraient dans les différentes réponses au niveau macro.

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In this paper, we solve the distributed parameter fixed point smoothing problem by formulating it as an extended linear filtering problem and show that these results coincide with those obtained in the literature using the forward innovations method.

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The following problem is considered. Given the locations of the Central Processing Unit (ar;the terminals which have to communicate with it, to determine the number and locations of the concentrators and to assign the terminals to the concentrators in such a way that the total cost is minimized. There is alao a fixed cost associated with each concentrator. There is ail upper limit to the number of terminals which can be connected to a concentrator. The terminals can be connected directly to the CPU also In this paper it is assumed that the concentrators can bo located anywhere in the area A containing the CPU and the terminals. Then this becomes a multimodal optimization problem. In the proposed algorithm a stochastic automaton is used as a search device to locate the minimum of the multimodal cost function . The proposed algorithm involves the following. The area A containing the CPU and the terminals is divided into an arbitrary number of regions (say K). An approximate value for the number of concentrators is assumed (say m). The optimum number is determined by iteration later The m concentrators can be assigned to the K regions in (mk) ways (m > K) or (km) ways (K>m).(All possible assignments are feasible, i.e. a region can contain 0,1,…, to concentrators). Each possible assignment is assumed to represent a state of the stochastic variable structure automaton. To start with, all the states are assigned equal probabilities. At each stage of the search the automaton visits a state according to the current probability distribution. At each visit the automaton selects a 'point' inside that state with uniform probability. The cost associated with that point is calculated and the average cost of that state is updated. Then the probabilities of all the states are updated. The probabilities are taken to bo inversely proportional to the average cost of the states After a certain number of searches the search probabilities become stationary and the automaton visits a particular state again and again. Then the automaton is said to have converged to that state Then by conducting a local gradient search within that state the exact locations of the concentrators are determined This algorithm was applied to a set of test problems and the results were compared with those given by Cooper's (1964, 1967) EAC algorithm and on the average it was found that the proposed algorithm performs better.

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The steady MHD mixed convection flow of a viscoelastic fluid in the vicinity of two-dimensional stagnation point with magnetic field has been investigated under the assumption that the fluid obeys the upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) model. Boundary layer theory is used to simplify the equations of motion. induced magnetic field and energy which results in three coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations which are well-posed. These equations have been solved by using finite difference method. The results indicate the reduction in the surface velocity gradient, surface heat transfer and displacement thickness with the increase in the elasticity number. These trends are opposite to those reported in the literature for a second-grade fluid. The surface velocity gradient and heat transfer are enhanced by the magnetic and buoyancy parameters. The surface heat transfer increases with the Prandtl number, but the surface velocity gradient decreases.

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A new form of a multi-step transversal linearization (MTL) method is developed and numerically explored in this study for a numeric-analytical integration of non-linear dynamical systems under deterministic excitations. As with other transversal linearization methods, the present version also requires that the linearized solution manifold transversally intersects the non-linear solution manifold at a chosen set of points or cross-section in the state space. However, a major point of departure of the present method is that it has the flexibility of treating non-linear damping and stiffness terms of the original system as damping and stiffness terms in the transversally linearized system, even though these linearized terms become explicit functions of time. From this perspective, the present development is closely related to the popular practice of tangent-space linearization adopted in finite element (FE) based solutions of non-linear problems in structural dynamics. The only difference is that the MTL method would require construction of transversal system matrices in lieu of the tangent system matrices needed within an FE framework. The resulting time-varying linearized system matrix is then treated as a Lie element using Magnus’ characterization [W. Magnus, On the exponential solution of differential equations for a linear operator, Commun. Pure Appl. Math., VII (1954) 649–673] and the associated fundamental solution matrix (FSM) is obtained through repeated Lie-bracket operations (or nested commutators). An advantage of this approach is that the underlying exponential transformation could preserve certain intrinsic structural properties of the solution of the non-linear problem. Yet another advantage of the transversal linearization lies in the non-unique representation of the linearized vector field – an aspect that has been specifically exploited in this study to enhance the spectral stability of the proposed family of methods and thus contain the temporal propagation of local errors. A simple analysis of the formal orders of accuracy is provided within a finite dimensional framework. Only a limited numerical exploration of the method is presently provided for a couple of popularly known non-linear oscillators, viz. a hardening Duffing oscillator, which has a non-linear stiffness term, and the van der Pol oscillator, which is self-excited and has a non-linear damping term.

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Non-standard finite difference methods (NSFDM) introduced by Mickens [Non-standard Finite Difference Models of Differential Equations, World Scientific, Singapore, 1994] are interesting alternatives to the traditional finite difference and finite volume methods. When applied to linear hyperbolic conservation laws, these methods reproduce exact solutions. In this paper, the NSFDM is first extended to hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, by a novel utilization of the decoupled equations using characteristic variables. In the second part of this paper, the NSFDM is studied for its efficacy in application to nonlinear scalar hyperbolic conservation laws. The original NSFDMs introduced by Mickens (1994) were not in conservation form, which is an important feature in capturing discontinuities at the right locations. Mickens [Construction and analysis of a non-standard finite difference scheme for the Burgers–Fisher equations, Journal of Sound and Vibration 257 (4) (2002) 791–797] recently introduced a NSFDM in conservative form. This method captures the shock waves exactly, without any numerical dissipation. In this paper, this algorithm is tested for the case of expansion waves with sonic points and is found to generate unphysical expansion shocks. As a remedy to this defect, we use the strategy of composite schemes [R. Liska, B. Wendroff, Composite schemes for conservation laws, SIAM Journal of Numerical Analysis 35 (6) (1998) 2250–2271] in which the accurate NSFDM is used as the basic scheme and localized relaxation NSFDM is used as the supporting scheme which acts like a filter. Relaxation schemes introduced by Jin and Xin [The relaxation schemes for systems of conservation laws in arbitrary space dimensions, Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics 48 (1995) 235–276] are based on relaxation systems which replace the nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws by a semi-linear system with a stiff relaxation term. The relaxation parameter (λ) is chosen locally on the three point stencil of grid which makes the proposed method more efficient. This composite scheme overcomes the problem of unphysical expansion shocks and captures the shock waves with an accuracy better than the upwind relaxation scheme, as demonstrated by the test cases, together with comparisons with popular numerical methods like Roe scheme and ENO schemes.

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An analysis is performed to study the unsteady combined forced and free convection flow (mixed convection flow) of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting fluid in the vicinity of an axisymmetric stagnation point adjacent to a heated vertical surface. The unsteadiness in the flow and temperature fields is due to the free stream velocity, which varies arbitrarily with time. Both constant wall temperature and constant heat flux conditions are considered in this analysis. By using suitable transformations, the Navier-Stokes and energy equations with four independent variables (x, y, z, t) are reduced to a system of partial differential equations with two independent variables (eta, tau). These transformations also uncouple the momentum and energy equations resulting in a primary axisymmetric flow, in an energy equation dependent on the primary flow and in a buoyancy-induced secondary flow dependent on both primary flow and energy. The resulting system of partial differential equations has been solved numerically by using both implicit finite-difference scheme and differential-difference method. An interesting result is that for a decelerating free stream velocity, flow reversal occurs in the primary flow after certain instant of time and the magnetic field delays or prevents the flow reversal. The surface heat transfer and the surface shear stress in the primary flow increase with the magnetic field, but the surface shear stress in the buoyancy-induced secondary flow decreases. Further the heat transfer increases with the Prandtl number, but the surface shear stress in the secondary flow decreases.

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In this study we explore the concurrent, combined use of three research methods, statistical corpus analysis and two psycholinguistic experiments (a forced-choice and an acceptability rating task), using verbal synonymy in Finnish as a case in point. In addition to supporting conclusions from earlier studies concerning the relationships between corpus-based and ex- perimental data (e. g., Featherston 2005), we show that each method adds to our understanding of the studied phenomenon, in a way which could not be achieved through any single method by itself. Most importantly, whereas relative rareness in a corpus is associated with dispreference in selection, such infrequency does not categorically always entail substantially lower acceptability. Furthermore, we show that forced-choice and acceptability rating tasks pertain to distinct linguistic processes, with category-wise in- commensurable scales of measurement, and should therefore be merged with caution, if at all.

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The effect of surface mass transfer velocities having normal, principal and transverse direction components (�vectored� suction and injection) on the steady, laminar, compressible boundary layer at a three-dimensional stagnation point has been investigated both for nodal and saddle points of attachment. The similarity solutions of the boundary layer equations were obtained numerically by the method of parametric differentiation. The principal and transverse direction surface mass transfer velocities significantly affect the skin friction (both in the principal and transverse directions) and the heat transfer. Also the inadequacy of assuming a linear viscosity-temperature relation at low-wall temperatures is shown.

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The aims were to determine whether measures of acceleration of the legs and back of dairy cows while they walk could help detect changes in gait or locomotion associated with lameness and differences in the walking surface. In 2 experiments, 12 or 24 multiparous dairy cows were fitted with five 3-dimensional accelerometers, 1 attached to each leg and 1 to the back, and acceleration data were collected while cows walked in a straight line on concrete (experiment 1) or on both concrete and rubber (experiment 2). Cows were video-recorded while walking to assess overall gait, asymmetry of the steps, and walking speed. In experiment 1, cows were selected to maximize the range of gait scores, whereas no clinically lame cows were enrolled in experiment 2. For each accelerometer location, overall acceleration was calculated as the magnitude of the 3-dimensional acceleration vector and the variance of overall acceleration, as well as the asymmetry of variance of acceleration within the front and rear pair of legs. In experiment 1, the asymmetry of variance of acceleration in the front and rear legs was positively correlated with overall gait and the visually assessed asymmetry of the steps (r ≥0.6). Walking speed was negatively correlated with the asymmetry of variance of the rear legs (r=−0.8) and positively correlated with the acceleration and the variance of acceleration of each leg and back (r ≥0.7). In experiment 2, cows had lower gait scores [2.3 vs. 2.6; standard error of the difference (SED)=0.1, measured on a 5-point scale] and lower scores for asymmetry of the steps (18.0 vs. 23.1; SED=2.2, measured on a continuous 100-unit scale) when they walked on rubber compared with concrete, and their walking speed increased (1.28 vs. 1.22m/s; SED=0.02). The acceleration of the front (1.67 vs. 1.72g; SED=0.02) and rear (1.62 vs. 1.67g; SED=0.02) legs and the variance of acceleration of the rear legs (0.88 vs. 0.94g; SED=0.03) were lower when cows walked on rubber compared with concrete. Despite the improvements in gait score that occurred when cows walked on rubber, the asymmetry of variance of acceleration of the front leg was higher (15.2 vs. 10.4%; SED=2.0). The difference in walking speed between concrete and rubber correlated with the difference in the mean acceleration and the difference in the variance of acceleration of the legs and back (r ≥0.6). Three-dimensional accelerometers seem to be a promising tool for lameness detection on farm and to study walking surfaces, especially when attached to a leg.

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A novel optical method is proposed and demonstrated, for real-time dimension estimation of thin opaque cylindrical objects. The methodology relies on free-space Fraunhofer diffraction principle. The central region, of such tailored diffraction pattern obtained under suitable choice of illumination conditions, comprises of a pair of `equal intensity maxima', whose separation remains constant and independent of the diameter of the diffracting object. An analysis of `the intensity distribution in this region' reveals the following. At a point symmetrically located between the said maxima, the light intensity varies characteristically with diameter of the diffracting object, exhibiting a relatively stronger intensity modulation under spherical wave illumination than under a plane wave illumination. The analysis reveals further, that the said intensity variation with diameter is controllable by the illumination conditions. Exploiting these `hitherto unexplored' features, the present communication reports for the first time, a reliable method of estimating diameter of thin opaque cylindrical objects in real-time, with nanometer resolution from single point intensity measurement. Based on the proposed methodology, results of few simulation and experimental investigations carried-out on metallic wires with diameters spanning the range of 5 to 50 mu m, are presented. The results show that proposed method is well-suited for high resolution on-line monitoring of ultrathin wire diameters, extensively used in micro-mechanics and semiconductor industries, where the conventional diffraction-based methods fail to produce accurate results.

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Our ability to infer the protein quaternary structure automatically from atom and lattice information is inadequate, especially for weak complexes, and heteromeric quaternary structures. Several approaches exist, but they have limited performance. Here, we present a new scheme to infer protein quaternary structure from lattice and protein information, with all-around coverage for strong, weak and very weak affinity homomeric and heteromeric complexes. The scheme combines naive Bayes classifier and point group symmetry under Boolean framework to detect quaternary structures in crystal lattice. It consistently produces >= 90% coverage across diverse benchmarking data sets, including a notably superior 95% coverage for recognition heteromeric complexes, compared with 53% on the same data set by current state-of-the-art method. The detailed study of a limited number of prediction-failed cases offers interesting insights into the intriguing nature of protein contacts in lattice. The findings have implications for accurate inference of quaternary states of proteins, especially weak affinity complexes.

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Many physical problems can be modeled by scalar, first-order, nonlinear, hyperbolic, partial differential equations (PDEs). The solutions to these PDEs often contain shock and rarefaction waves, where the solution becomes discontinuous or has a discontinuous derivative. One can encounter difficulties using traditional finite difference methods to solve these equations. In this paper, we introduce a numerical method for solving first-order scalar wave equations. The method involves solving ordinary differential equations (ODEs) to advance the solution along the characteristics and to propagate the characteristics in time. Shocks are created when characteristics cross, and the shocks are then propagated by applying analytical jump conditions. New characteristics are inserted in spreading rarefaction fans. New characteristics are also inserted when values on adjacent characteristics lie on opposite sides of an inflection point of a nonconvex flux function, Solutions along characteristics are propagated using a standard fourth-order Runge-Kutta ODE solver. Shocks waves are kept perfectly sharp. In addition, shock locations and velocities are determined without analyzing smeared profiles or taking numerical derivatives. In order to test the numerical method, we study analytically a particular class of nonlinear hyperbolic PDEs, deriving closed form solutions for certain special initial data. We also find bounded, smooth, self-similar solutions using group theoretic methods. The numerical method is validated against these analytical results. In addition, we compare the errors in our method with those using the Lax-Wendroff method for both convex and nonconvex flux functions. Finally, we apply the method to solve a PDE with a convex flux function describing the development of a thin liquid film on a horizontally rotating disk and a PDE with a nonconvex flux function, arising in a problem concerning flow in an underground reservoir.

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To evaluate the parameters in the two-parameter fracture model, i.e. the critical stress intensity factor and critical crack tip opening displacement for the fracture of plain concrete in Mode 1 for the given test configuration and geometry, considerable computational effort is necessary. A simple graphical method has been proposed using normalized fracture parameters for the three-point bend (3PB) notched specimen and the double-edged notched (DEN) specimen. A similar graphical method is proposed to compute the maximum load carrying capacity of a specimen, using the critical fracture parameters both for 3PB and DEN configurations.