Time-dependent behaviour of reinforced concrete slabs

In this thesis is studied the long-term behaviour of steel reinforced slabs paying particular attention to the effects due to shrinkage and creep. Despite the universal popularity of using this kind of slabs for simply construction floors, the major world codes focus their attention in a design based on the ultimate limit state, restraining the exercise limit state to a simply verification after the design. For Australia, on the contrary, this is not true. In fact, since this country is not subjected to seismic effects, the main concern is related to the long-term behaviour of the structure. Even if there are a lot of studies about long-term effects of shrinkage and creep, up to date, there are not so many studies concerning the behaviour of slabs with a cracked cross section and how shrinkage and creep influence it. For this reason, a series of ten full scale reinforced slabs was prepared and monitored under laboratory conditions to investigate this behaviour. A wide range of situations is studied in order to cover as many cases as possible, as for example the use of a fog room able to reproduce an environment of 100% humidity. The results show how there is a huge difference in terms of deflections between the case of slabs which are subjected to both shrinkage and creep effects soon after the partial cracking of the cross section, and the case of slabs which have already experienced shrinkage effects for several weeks, when the section has not still cracked, and creep effects only after the cracking.

Slow Strain Rate Testing and Stress Corrosion Cracking of Ultra-Fine Grained and Conventional Al-Mg Alloy

Stress corrosion cracking susceptibility was investigated for an ultra-fine grained (UFG) AI-7.5Mg alloy and a conventional 5083 H111 alloy in natural seawater using slow strain rate testing (SSRT) at very slow strain rates between 1E(-5) s(-1), 1E(-6) s(-1) and 1E(-7) s(-1). The UFG Al-7.5Mg alloy was produced by cryomilling, while the 5083 H111 alloy is considered as a wrought manufactured product. The response of tensile properties to strain rate was analyzed and compared. Negative strain rate sensitivity was observed for both materials in terms of the elongation to failure. However, the UFG alloy displayed strain rate sensitivity in relation to strength while the conventional alloy was relatively strain rate insensitive. The mechanical behavior of the conventional 5083 alloy was attributed to dynamic strain aging (DSA) and delayed pit propagation while the performance of the UFG alloy was related to a diffusion-mediated stress relaxation mechanism that successfully delayed crack initiation events, counteracted by exfoliation and pitting which enhanced crack initiation. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

COMPRESSION BEHAVIOR AT HIGH STRAIN RATE FOR AN ULTRA HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE

The need for a stronger and more durable building material is becoming more important as the structural engineering field expands and challenges the behavioral limits of current materials. One of the demands for stronger material is rooted in the effects that dynamic loading has on a structure. High strain rates on the order of 101 s-1 to 103 s-1, though a small part of the overall types of loading that occur anywhere between 10-8 s-1 to 104 s-1 and at any point in a structures life, have very important effects when considering dynamic loading on a structure. High strain rates such as these can cause the material and structure to behave differently than at slower strain rates, which necessitates the need for the testing of materials under such loading to understand its behavior. Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC), a relatively new material in the U.S. construction industry, exhibits many enhanced strength and durability properties compared to the standard normal strength concrete. However, the use of this material for high strain rate applications requires an understanding of UHPC’s dynamic properties under corresponding loads. One such dynamic property is the increase in compressive strength under high strain rate load conditions, quantified as the dynamic increase factor (DIF). This factor allows a designer to relate the dynamic compressive strength back to the static compressive strength, which generally is a well-established property. Previous research establishes the relationships for the concept of DIF in design. The generally accepted methodology for obtaining high strain rates to study the enhanced behavior of compressive material strength is the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). In this research, 83 Cor-Tuf UHPC specimens were tested in dynamic compression using a SHPB at Michigan Technological University. The specimens were separated into two categories: ambient cured and thermally treated, with aspect ratios of 0.5:1, 1:1, and 2:1 within each category. There was statistically no significant difference in mean DIF for the aspect ratios and cure regimes that were considered in this study. DIF’s ranged from 1.85 to 2.09. Failure modes were observed to be mostly Type 2, Type 4, or combinations thereof for all specimen aspect ratios when classified according to ASTM C39 fracture pattern guidelines. The Comite Euro-International du Beton (CEB) model for DIF versus strain rate does not accurately predict the DIF for UHPC data gathered in this study. Additionally, a measurement system analysis was conducted to observe variance within the measurement system and a general linear model analysis was performed to examine the interaction and main effects that aspect ratio, cannon pressure, and cure method have on the maximum dynamic stress.

Planimetric ice-flow convergence and flow-orthonormal strain rate across the Antarctic Ice Sheet, with links to model result files

Fast-flowing ice streams discharge most of the ice from the interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet coastward. Understanding how their tributary organisation is governed and evolves is essential for developing reliable models of the ice sheet's response to climate change. Despite much research on ice-stream mechanics, this problem is unsolved, because the complexity of flow within and across the tributary networks has hardly been interrogated. Here I present the first map of planimetric flow convergence across the ice sheet, calculated from satellite measurements of ice surface velocity, and use it to explore this complexity. The convergence map of Antarctica elucidates how ice-stream tributaries draw ice from the interior. It also reveals curvilinear zones of convergence along lateral shear margins of streaming, and abundant convergence ripples associated with nonlinear ice rheology and changes in bed topography and friction. Flow convergence on ice-stream tributaries and their feeding zones is markedly uneven, and interspersed with divergence at distances of the order of kilometres. For individual drainage basins as well as the ice sheet as a whole, the range of convergence and divergence decreases systematically with flow speed, implying that fast flow cannot converge or diverge as much as slow flow. I therefore deduce that flow in ice-stream networks is subject to mechanical regulation that limits flow-orthonormal strain rates. These properties and the gridded data of convergence and flow-orthonormal strain rate in this archive provide targets for ice- sheet simulations and motivate more research into the origin and dynamics of tributarization.

Mechanical behavior and deformation micromechanisms of polypropylene nonwoven fabrics as a function of temperature and strain rate

The mechanical behavior and the deformation and failure micromechanisms of a thermally-bonded polypropylene nonwoven fabric were studied as a function of temperature and strain rate. Mechanical tests were carried out from 248 K (below the glass transition temperature) up to 383 K at strain rates in the range ≈10−3 s−1 to 10−1 s−1. In addition, individual fibers extracted from the nonwoven fabric were tested under the same conditions. Micromechanisms of deformation and failure at the fiber level were ascertained by means of mechanical tests within the scanning electron microscope while the strain distribution at the macroscopic level upon loading was determined by means of digital image correlation. It was found that the nonwoven behavior was mainly controlled by the properties of the fibers and of the interfiber bonds. Fiber properties determined the nonlinear behavior before the peak load while the interfiber bonds controlled the localization of damage after the peak load. The influence of these properties on the strength, ductility and energy absorbed during deformation is discussed from the experimental observations.

Host factor I, Hfq, binds to Escherichia coli ompA mRNA in a growth rate-dependent fashion and regulates its stability

The stability of the ompA mRNA depends on the bacterial growth rate. The 5′ untranslated region is the stability determinant of this transcript and the target of the endoribonuclease, RNase E, the key player of mRNA degradation. An RNA-binding protein with affinity for the 5′ untranslated region ompA was purified and identified as Hfq, a host factor initially recognized for its function in phage Qβ replication. The ompA RNA-binding activity parallels the amount of Hfq, which is elevated in bacteria cultured at slow growth rate, a condition leading to facilitated degradation of the ompA mRNA. In hfq mutant cells with a deficient Hfq gene product, the RNA-binding activity is missing, and analysis of the ompA mRNA showed that the growth-rate dependence of degradation is lost. Furthermore, the half-life of the ompA mRNA is prolonged in the mutant cells, irrespective of growth rate. Hfq has no affinity for the lpp transcript whose degradation, like that of bulk mRNA, is not affected by bacterial growth rate. Compatible with our results, we found that the intracellular concentration of RNase E and its associated degradosome components is independent of bacterial growth rate. Thus our results suggest a regulatory role for Hfq that specifically facilitates the ompA mRNA degradation in a growth rate-dependent manner.

Optimisation of strain rate imaging for application to stress echocardiography

We sought to improve the feasibility of strain rate imaging (SRI) during dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) in 56 subjects at low risk of coronary disease. The impact of several SRI changes during acquisition were studied, including: (1) changing from fundamental to harmonic imaging; (2) parallel beam-forming; (3) alteration of spatial resolution and (4) narrow sector acquisition. We assessed SR signal quality, a quantitative measure of signal noise and measurements of SRI. Of 1462 segments evaluated, 6% were uninterpretable at rest and 8% at peak stress. Signal quality was optimised by increasing temporal (p = 0.01) and spatial resolution (p<0.0001 vs. baseline imaging) at rest and peak. Increasing spatial resolution also minimised signal noise (p<0.0001). Inter-observer variability of time to peak SR and peak SR were less with high temporal and spatial resolution. SRI quality can be improved with harmonic imaging and higher temporal resolution but optimisation of spatial resolution is critical. (C) 2004 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine Biology.

Prediction of subclinicial left ventricular dysfunction with strain rate imaging in patients with asymptomatic severe mitral regurgitation

This study sought the ability of strain rate imaging to detect subclinical left ventricular dysfunction, as evidenced by reduced contractile reserve (CR) in 32 asymptomatic patients with isolated severe mitral regurgitation. Compared with CR- patients (n = 10), CR+ patients (n = 22) had significantly higher end-systolic strain and peak systolic strain rate, but these parameters were not significantly different between CR+ patients and matched normal controls. (C) 2004 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.

Measurement of strain and strain rate by echocardiography - Ready for prime time?

Strain and strain rate (SR) are measures of deformation that are basic descriptors of both the nature and the function of cardiac tissue. These properties may now be measured using either Doppler or two-dimensional ultrasound techniques. Although these measurements are feasible in routine clinical echocardiography, their acquisition and analysis nonetheless presents a number of technical challenges and complexities. Echocardiographic strain and SR imaging has been applied to the assessment of resting ventricular function, the assessment of myocardial viability using low-dose dobutamine infusion, and stress testing for ischemia. Resting function assessment has been applied in both the left and the fight ventricles, and may prove particularly valuable for identifying myocardial diseases and following up the treatment response. Although the evidence base is limited, SR imaging seems to be feasible and effective for the assessment of myocardial viability. The use of the technique for the detection of ischemia during stress echocardiography is technically challenging and likely to evolve further. The clinical availability of strain and SR measurement may offer a solution to the ongoing need for quantification of regional and global cardiac function. Nonetheless, these techniques are susceptible to artifact, and further technical development is necessary.

Relationship between myocardial perfusion and dysfunction in diabetic cardiomyopathy: A study of quantitative contrast echocardiography and strain rate imaging

Objective: To use quantitative myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) and strain rate imaging (SRI) to assess the role of microvascular disease in subclinical diabetic cardiomyopathy. Methods: Stress MCE and SRI were performed in 48 patients (22 with type II diabetes mellitus (DM) and 26 controls), all with normal left ventricular systolic function and no obstructive coronary disease by quantitative coronary angiography. Real-time MCE was acquired in three apical views at rest and after combined dipyridamole-exercise stress. Myocardial blood flow (MBF) was quantified in the 10 mid- and apical cardiac segments at rest and after stress. Resting peak systolic strain rate (SR) and peak systolic strain (epsilon) were calculated in the same 10 myocardial segments. Results: The DM and control groups were matched for age, sex and other risk factors, including hypertension. The DM group had higher body mass index and left ventricular mass index. Quantitative SRI analysis was possible in all patients and quantitative MCE in 46 (96%). The mean e, SR and MBF reserve were all significantly lower in the DM group than in controls, with diabetes the only independent predictor of each parameter. No correlation was seen between MBF and SR (r = -0.01, p = 0.54) or between MBF and epsilon ( r = -0.20, p = 0.20). Conclusions: Quantitative MCE shows that patients with diabetes but no evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease have impaired MBF reserve, but abnormal transmural flow and subclinical longitudinal myocardial dysfunction are not related.

2D strain - a new approach to strain and strain rate: the solution to the angle-dependence of tissue Doppler?

Purpose: Tissue Doppler strain rate imaging (SRI) have been validated and applied in various clinical settings, but the clinical use of this modality is still limited due to time-consuming postprocessing, unfavorable signal to noise ratio and major angle dependency of image acquisition. 2D Strain (2DS) measures strain parameters through automated tissue tracking (Lagrangian strain) rather than tissue velocity regression. We sought to compare the accuracy of this technique with SRI and evaluate whether it overcomes the above limitations. Methods: We assessed 26 patients (13 female, age 60±5yrs) at low risk of CAD and with normal DSE at both baseline and peak stress. End systolic strain (ESS), peak systolic strain rate (SR), and timing parameters were measured by two independent observers using SRI and 2D Strain. Myocardial segments were excluded from the analyses if the insonation angle exceeded 30 degrees or if the segments were not visualized; 417 segments were evaluated. Results: Normal ranges for TVI and CEB approaches were comparable for SR (-0.99 ± 0.39 vs -0.88 ± 0.36, p=NS), ESS (-15.1 ± 6.5 vs -14.9 ± 6.3, p=NS), time to end of systole (174 ± 47 vs 174 ± 53, p=NS) and time to peak SR (TTP; 340 ± 34 vs 375 ± 57). The best correlations between the techniques were for time to end systole (rest r=0.6, p