Field and laboratory performance evaluation of a field-blended rubber asphalt.

ALICE is one of four major experiments of particle accelerator LHC installed in the European laboratory CERN. The management committee of the LHC accelerator has just approved a program update for this experiment. Among the upgrades planned for the coming years of the ALICE experiment is to improve the resolution and tracking efficiency maintaining the excellent particles identification ability, and to increase the read-out event rate to 100 KHz. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to update the Time Projection Chamber detector (TPC) and Muon tracking (MCH) detector modifying the read-out electronics, which is not suitable for this migration. To overcome this limitation the design, fabrication and experimental test of new ASIC named SAMPA has been proposed . This ASIC will support both positive and negative polarities, with 32 channels per chip and continuous data readout with smaller power consumption than the previous versions. This work aims to design, fabrication and experimental test of a readout front-end in 130nm CMOS technology with configurable polarity (positive/negative), peaking time and sensitivity. The new SAMPA ASIC can be used in both chambers (TPC and MCH). The proposed front-end is composed of a Charge Sensitive Amplifier (CSA) and a Semi-Gaussian shaper. In order to obtain an ASIC integrating 32 channels per chip, the design of the proposed front-end requires small area and low power consumption, but at the same time requires low noise. In this sense, a new Noise and PSRR (Power Supply Rejection Ratio) improvement technique for the CSA design without power and area impact is proposed in this work. The analysis and equations of the proposed circuit are presented which were verified by electrical simulations and experimental test of a produced chip with 5 channels of the designed front-end. The measured equivalent noise charge was <550e for 30mV/fC of sensitivity at a input capacitance of 18.5pF. The total core area of the front-end was 2300?m × 150?m, and the measured total power consumption was 9.1mW per channel.

Comportamento mecânico e desempenho estrutural de materiais reciclados e estabilizados com espuma de asfalto.

Em busca de soluções estruturais para restauração de pavimentos rodoviários que que sejam eficientes, mas ao mesmo tempo que sejam econômicas e impactem o mínimo possível na dinâmica de operação da malha rodoviária, tem sido difundida a metodologia de reciclagem a frio de pavimentos com a estabilização com espuma de asfalto. A redução de custos devido a reutilização de material e a menor necessidade de transporte de insumos, além da possibilidade de realização da restauração em um curto espaço de tempo, têm contribuído para a crescente utilização do processo. Este trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar o desempenho e o comportamento mecânico de uma mistura reciclada estabilizada com espuma asfalto, para melhor entender os efeitos do confinamento e do teor de umidade do material, visto que este passa por um processo de cura quando já em serviço. Foi acompanhado um trecho experimental onde o pavimento foi restaurado com a aplicação de uma base reciclada estabilizada com espuma de asfalto. O segmento foi monitorado através do controle tecnológico de execução e de levantamentos deflectométricos com FWD. Verificou-se que as deflexões após quase 24 meses da execução do trecho reduziram consideravelmente. Paralelamente, foram realizados ensaios de resistência à tração por compressão diametral, módulo de resiliência triaxial e de deformação permanente para diferentes procedimentos de cura para verificação do efeito da saída da água nas mudanças de comportamento mecânico do material. Verificou-se ainda o efeito das tensões de confinamento no módulo de resiliência de materiais estabilizados com espuma de asfalto e determinaram-se os parâmetros de cisalhamento do material através de ensaiosTriaxiais Monotônicos. Pode-se concluir que a cura é uma consideração importante tanto com relação a sua duração, quanto com relação ao seu efeito no comportamento do material.

Using Sewage-Sludge Ash as Filler in Bituminous Mixes

In this study, the behavior of bituminous mixes made with sewage sludge ash (SSA) as mineral filler was investigated. The behavior of these mixes was evaluated with the Cantabro, indirect tensile strength, water sensitivity, permanent deformation, and resilient modulus tests. The results show that SSA waste may be used in bituminous mixes at approximately 2–3% weight percent, maintaining adequate levels of cohesion and adhesion in the mixtures, which is comparable to mixtures made with active fillers such as hydrated lime and cement. Moreover, its use does not increase permanent deformations. However, the resilient modulus test gave slightly lower results for mixes made with SSA than for mixtures made with other fillers. It may be concluded that SSA waste may be used as a filler for bituminous mixes with better results than for mixes made with limestone fillers and with similar results for mixes made with other fillers such as hydrated lime and cement.

Mechanistic modeling of fracture in asphalt mixtures under compressive loading

When an asphalt mixture is subjected to a destructive compressive load, it experiences a sequence of three deformation stages, as follows: the (1) primary, (2) secondary, and (3) tertiary stages. Most literature research focuses on plastic deformation in the primary and secondary stages, such as prediction of the flow number, which is in fact the initiation of the tertiary stage. However, little research effort has been reported on the mechanistic modeling of the damage that occurs in the tertiary stage. The main objective of this paper is to provide a mechanistic characterizing method for the damage modeling of asphalt mixtures in the tertiary stage. The preliminary study conducted by the writers illustrates that deformation during the tertiary flow of the asphalt mixtures is principally caused by the formation and propagation of cracks, which was signaled by the increase of the phase angle in the tertiary phase. The strain caused by the growth of cracks is the viscofracture strain, which can be obtained by conducting the strain decomposition of the measured total strain in the destructive compressive test. The viscofracture strain is employed in the research reported in this paper to mechanistically characterize the time-dependent fracture (viscofracture) of asphalt mixtures in compression. By using the dissipated pseudostrain energy-balance principle, the damage density and true stress are determined and both are demonstrated to increase with load cycles in the tertiary stage. The increased true stress yields extra viscoplastic strain, which is the reason why the permanent deformation is accelerated by the occurrence of cracks. To characterize the evolution of the viscofracture in the asphalt mixtures in compression, a pseudo J-integral Paris' law in terms of damage density is proposed and the material constants in the Paris' law are determined, which can be employed to predict the fracture of asphalt mixtures in compression. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

A new creep test method for asphalt mixtures

A new creep test, Partial Triaxial Test (PTT), was developed to study the permanent deformation properties of asphalt mixtures. The PTT used two duplicate platens whose diameters were smaller than the diameter of the cylindrical asphalt mixtures specimen. One base platen was centrally placed under the specimen and another loading platen was centrally placed on the top surface of the specimen. Then the compressive repeated load was applied on the loading platen and the vertical deformation of the asphalt mixture was recorded in the PTTs. Triaxial repeated load permanent deformation tests (TRT) and PTTs were respectively conducted on AC20 and SMA13 asphalt mixtures at 40°C and 60°C so as to provide the parameters of the creep constitutive relations in the ABAQUS finite element models (FEMs) which were built to simulate the laboratory wheel tracking tests. The real laboratory wheel tracking tests were also conducted on AC20 and SMA13 asphalt mixtures at 40°C and 60°C. Then the calculated rutting depth from the FEMs were compared with the measured rutting depth of the laboratory wheeling tracking tests. Results indicated that PTT was able to characterize the permanent deformation of the asphalt mixtures in laboratory. The rutting depth calculated using the parameters estimated from PTTs' results was closer to and showed better matches with the measured rutting than the rutting depth calculated using the parameters estimated from TRTs' results. Main reason was that PTT could better simulate the changing confinement conditions of asphalt mixtures in the laboratory wheeling tracking tests than the TRT.

A generalized Drucker–Prager viscoplastic yield surface model for asphalt concrete

A generalized Drucker–Prager (GD–P) viscoplastic yield surface model was developed and validated for asphalt concrete. The GD–P model was formulated based on fabric tensor modified stresses to consider the material inherent anisotropy. A smooth and convex octahedral yield surface function was developed in the GD–P model to characterize the full range of the internal friction angles from 0° to 90°. In contrast, the existing Extended Drucker–Prager (ED–P) was demonstrated to be applicable only for a material that has an internal friction angle less than 22°. Laboratory tests were performed to evaluate the anisotropic effect and to validate the GD–P model. Results indicated that (1) the yield stresses of an isotropic yield surface model are greater in compression and less in extension than that of an anisotropic model, which can result in an under-prediction of the viscoplastic deformation; and (2) the yield stresses predicted by the GD–P model matched well with the experimental results of the octahedral shear strength tests at different normal and confining stresses. By contrast, the ED–P model over-predicted the octahedral yield stresses, which can lead to an under-prediction of the permanent deformation. In summary, the rutting depth of an asphalt pavement would be underestimated without considering anisotropy and convexity of the yield surface for asphalt concrete. The proposed GD–P model was demonstrated to be capable of overcoming these limitations of the existing yield surface models for the asphalt concrete.

Rutting performance of asphalt pavements

Cold in-place recycling (CIR) and cold central plant recycling (CCPR) of asphalt concrete (AC) and/or full-depth reclamation (FDR) of AC and aggregate base are faster and less costly rehabilitation alternatives to conventional reconstruction for structurally distressed pavements. This study examines 26 different rehabilitation projects across the USA and Canada. Field cores from these projects were tested for dynamic modulus and repeated load permanent deformation. These structural characteristics are compared to reference values for hot mix asphalt (HMA). A rutting sensitivity analysis was performed on two rehabilitation scenarios with recycled and conventional HMA structural overlays in different climatic conditions using the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design (MEPDG). The cold-recycled scenarios exhibited performance similar to that of HMA overlays for most cases. The exceptions were the cases with thin HMA wearing courses and/or very poor cold-recycled material quality. The overall conclusion is that properly designed CIR/FDR/CCPR cold-recycled materials are a viable alternative to virgin HMA materials.

Comportamento mecânico de um agregado reciclado a partir de resíduos de construção e demolição submetido a carregamentos cíclicos

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geotecnia, 2016.

Packaging and Deployment of Large Planar Spacecraft Structures

This thesis presents a set of novel methods to biaxially package planar structures by folding and wrapping. The structure is divided into strips connected by folds that can slip during wrapping to accommodate material thickness. These packaging schemes are highly efficient, with theoretical packaging efficiencies approaching 100%. Packaging tests on meter-scale physical models have demonstrated packaging efficiencies of up to 83%. These methods avoid permanent deformation of the structure, allowing an initially flat structure to be deployed to a flat state.

Also presented are structural architectures and deployment schemes that are compatible with these packaging methods. These structural architectures use either in-plane pretension -- suitable for membrane structures -- or out-of-plane bending stiffness to resist loading. Physical models are constructed to realize these structural architectures. The deployment of these types of structures is shown to be controllable and repeatable by conducting experiments on lab-scale models.

These packaging methods, structural architectures, and deployment schemes are applicable to a variety of spacecraft structures such as solar power arrays, solar sails, antenna arrays, and drag sails; they have the potential to enable larger variants of these structures while reducing the packaging volume required. In this thesis, these methods are applied to the preliminary structural design of a space solar power satellite. This deployable spacecraft, measuring 60 m x 60 m, can be packaged into a cylinder measuring 1.5 m in height and 1 m in diameter. It can be deployed to a flat configuration, where it acts as a stiff lightweight support framework for multifunctional tiles that collect sunlight, generate electric power, and transmit it to a ground station on Earth.

Role of silicon in resisting subsurface plastic deformation in tribology of aluminium-silicon alloys

Silicon particles standing proud on aluminium-silicon alloy surfaces provide protection in tribology. Permanent sinking of such particles into the matrix under load can be deleterious. The mechanical response of the alloy to nano-indentation of single silicon particles embedded in the matrix is explored. A nominal critical pressure required to plastically deform the matrix to permanently embed the particle is determined experimentally. Within a framework suggested by two-dimensional models of plastic response to indentation, a probable correlation is established between the normal mean pressure required to cause permanent sinking of silicon particles and a factor which relates the relevant particle dimensions.

Position measurements at five permanent GPS stations in the Bavarian Alps as part of the Geodetic Alpine Integrated Network (GAIN) of the ALPS-GPSQUAKENET project

In the frame of the transnational ALPS-GPSQUAKENET project, a component of the Alpine Space Programme of the European Community Initiative Programme (CIP) INTERREG III B, the Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut (DGFI) in Munich, Germany, installed in 2005 five continuously operating permanent GPS stations located along the northern Alps boundary in Bavaria. The main objective of the ALPS-GPSQUAKENET project was to build-up a high-performance transnational space geodetic network of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers in the Alpine region (the so-called Geodetic Alpine Integrated Network, GAIN). Data from this network allows for studying crustal deformations in near real-time to monitor Earthquake hazard and improve natural disaster prevention. The five GPS stations operatied by DGFI are mounted on concrete pillars attached to solid rock. The names of the stations are (from west to east) Hochgrat (HGRA), Breitenberg (BREI), Fahrenberg (FAHR), Hochries (HRIE) and Wartsteinkopf (WART). The provided data series start from October 7, 2005. Data are stored with a temporal spacing of 15 seconds in daily RINEX files.

Layered titanate nanofibers as efficient adsorbents for removal of toxic radioactive and heavy metal ions from water

Titanate nanofibers with two formulas, Na2Ti3O7 and Na1.5H0.5Ti3O7, respectively, exhibit ideal properties for removal of radioactive and heavy metal ions in wastewater, such as Sr2+ , Ba2+ (as substitute of 226Ra2+), and Pb2+ ions. These nanofibers can be fabricated readily by a reaction between titania and caustic soda and have structures in which TiO6 octahedra join each other to form layers with negative charges; the sodium cations exist within the interlayer regions and are exchangeable. They can selectively adsorb the bivalent radioactive ions and heavy metal ions from water through ion exchange process. More importantly, such sorption finally induces considerable deformation of the layer structure, resulting in permanent entrapment of the toxic bivalent cations in the fibers so that the toxic ions can be safely deposited. This study highlights that nanoparticles of inorganic ion exchangers with layered structure are potential materials for efficient removal of the toxic ions from contaminated water.

Econometric analysis of stuctural systems with permanent and transitory shocks

This paper considers the implications of the permanent/transitory decomposition of shocks for identification of structural models in the general case where the model might contain more than one permanent structural shock. It provides a simple and intuitive generalization of the influential work of Blanchard and Quah [1989. The dynamic effects of aggregate demand and supply disturbances. The American Economic Review 79, 655–673], and shows that structural equations with known permanent shocks cannot contain error correction terms, thereby freeing up the latter to be used as instruments in estimating their parameters. The approach is illustrated by a re-examination of the identification schemes used by Wickens and Motto [2001. Estimating shocks and impulse response functions. Journal of Applied Econometrics 16, 371–387], Shapiro and Watson [1988. Sources of business cycle fluctuations. NBER Macroeconomics Annual 3, 111–148], King et al. [1991. Stochastic trends and economic fluctuations. American Economic Review 81, 819–840], Gali [1992. How well does the ISLM model fit postwar US data? Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, 709–735; 1999. Technology, employment, and the business cycle: Do technology shocks explain aggregate fluctuations? American Economic Review 89, 249–271] and Fisher [2006. The dynamic effects of neutral and investment-specific technology shocks. Journal of Political Economy 114, 413–451].

Synthesis and modifications of metal oxide nanostructures and their applications

Transition metal oxides are functional materials that have advanced applications in many areas, because of their diverse properties (optical, electrical, magnetic, etc.), hardness, thermal stability and chemical resistance. Novel applications of the nanostructures of these oxides are attracting significant interest as new synthesis methods are developed and new structures are reported. Hydrothermal synthesis is an effective process to prepare various delicate structures of metal oxides on the scales from a few to tens of nanometres, specifically, the highly dispersed intermediate structures which are hardly obtained through pyro-synthesis. In this thesis, a range of new metal oxide (stable and metastable titanate, niobate) nanostructures, namely nanotubes and nanofibres, were synthesised via a hydrothermal process. Further structure modifications were conducted and potential applications in catalysis, photocatalysis, adsorption and construction of ceramic membrane were studied. The morphology evolution during the hydrothermal reaction between Nb2O5 particles and concentrated NaOH was monitored. The study demonstrates that by optimising the reaction parameters (temperature, amount of reactants), one can obtain a variety of nanostructured solids, from intermediate phases niobate bars and fibres to the stable phase cubes. Trititanate (Na2Ti3O7) nanofibres and nanotubes were obtained by the hydrothermal reaction between TiO2 powders or a titanium compound (e.g. TiOSO4·xH2O) and concentrated NaOH solution by controlling the reaction temperature and NaOH concentration. The trititanate possesses a layered structure, and the Na ions that exist between the negative charged titanate layers are exchangeable with other metal ions or H+ ions. The ion-exchange has crucial influence on the phase transition of the exchanged products. The exchange of the sodium ions in the titanate with H+ ions yields protonated titanate (H-titanate) and subsequent phase transformation of the H-titanate enable various TiO2 structures with retained morphology. H-titanate, either nanofibres or tubes, can be converted to pure TiO2(B), pure anatase, mixed TiO2(B) and anatase phases by controlled calcination and by a two-step process of acid-treatment and subsequent calcination. While the controlled calcination of the sodium titanate yield new titanate structures (metastable titanate with formula Na1.5H0.5Ti3O7, with retained fibril morphology) that can be used for removal of radioactive ions and heavy metal ions from water. The structures and morphologies of the metal oxides were characterised by advanced techniques. Titania nanofibres of mixed anatase and TiO2(B) phases, pure anatase and pure TiO2(B) were obtained by calcining H-titanate nanofibres at different temperatures between 300 and 700 °C. The fibril morphology was retained after calcination, which is suitable for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. It has been found by TEM analysis that in mixed-phase structure the interfaces between anatase and TiO2(B) phases are not random contacts between the engaged crystals of the two phases, but form from the well matched lattice planes of the two phases. For instance, (101) planes in anatase and (101) planes of TiO2(B) are similar in d spaces (~0.18 nm), and they join together to form a stable interface. The interfaces between the two phases act as an one-way valve that permit the transfer of photogenerated charge from anatase to TiO2(B). This reduces the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes in anatase, enhancing the activity for photocatalytic oxidation. Therefore, the mixed-phase nanofibres exhibited higher photocatalytic activity for degradation of sulforhodamine B (SRB) dye under ultraviolet (UV) light than the nanofibres of either pure phase alone, or the mechanical mixtures (which have no interfaces) of the two pure phase nanofibres with a similar phase composition. This verifies the theory that the difference between the conduction band edges of the two phases may result in charge transfer from one phase to the other, which results in effectively the photogenerated charge separation and thus facilitates the redox reaction involving these charges. Such an interface structure facilitates charge transfer crossing the interfaces. The knowledge acquired in this study is important not only for design of efficient TiO2 photocatalysts but also for understanding the photocatalysis process. Moreover, the fibril titania photocatalysts are of great advantage when they are separated from a liquid for reuse by filtration, sedimentation, or centrifugation, compared to nanoparticles of the same scale. The surface structure of TiO2 also plays a significant role in catalysis and photocatalysis. Four types of large surface area TiO2 nanotubes with different phase compositions (labelled as NTA, NTBA, NTMA and NTM) were synthesised from calcination and acid treatment of the H-titanate nanotubes. Using the in situ FTIR emission spectrescopy (IES), desorption and re-adsorption process of surface OH-groups on oxide surface can be trailed. In this work, the surface OH-group regeneration ability of the TiO2 nanotubes was investigated. The ability of the four samples distinctively different, having the order: NTA > NTBA > NTMA > NTM. The same order was observed for the catalytic when the samples served as photocatalysts for the decomposition of synthetic dye SRB under UV light, as the supports of gold (Au) catalysts (where gold particles were loaded by a colloid-based method) for photodecomposition of formaldehyde under visible light and for catalytic oxidation of CO at low temperatures. Therefore, the ability of TiO2 nanotubes to generate surface OH-groups is an indicator of the catalytic activity. The reason behind the correlation is that the oxygen vacancies at bridging O2- sites of TiO2 surface can generate surface OH-groups and these groups facilitate adsorption and activation of O2 molecules, which is the key step of the oxidation reactions. The structure of the oxygen vacancies at bridging O2- sites is proposed. Also a new mechanism for the photocatalytic formaldehyde decomposition with the Au-TiO2 catalysts is proposed: The visible light absorbed by the gold nanoparticles, due to surface plasmon resonance effect, induces transition of the 6sp electrons of gold to high energy levels. These energetic electrons can migrate to the conduction band of TiO2 and are seized by oxygen molecules. Meanwhile, the gold nanoparticles capture electrons from the formaldehyde molecules adsorbed on them because of gold’s high electronegativity. O2 adsorbed on the TiO2 supports surface are the major electron acceptor. The more O2 adsorbed, the higher the oxidation activity of the photocatalyst will exhibit. The last part of this thesis demonstrates two innovative applications of the titanate nanostructures. Firstly, trititanate and metastable titanate (Na1.5H0.5Ti3O7) nanofibres are used as intelligent absorbents for removal of radioactive cations and heavy metal ions, utilizing the properties of the ion exchange ability, deformable layered structure, and fibril morphology. Environmental contamination with radioactive ions and heavy metal ions can cause a serious threat to the health of a large part of the population. Treatment of the wastes is needed to produce a waste product suitable for long-term storage and disposal. The ion-exchange ability of layered titanate structure permitted adsorption of bivalence toxic cations (Sr2+, Ra2+, Pb2+) from aqueous solution. More importantly, the adsorption is irreversible, due to the deformation of the structure induced by the strong interaction between the adsorbed bivalent cations and negatively charged TiO6 octahedra, and results in permanent entrapment of the toxic bivalent cations in the fibres so that the toxic ions can be safely deposited. Compared to conventional clay and zeolite sorbents, the fibril absorbents are of great advantage as they can be readily dispersed into and separated from a liquid. Secondly, new generation membranes were constructed by using large titanate and small ã-alumina nanofibres as intermediate and top layers, respectively, on a porous alumina substrate via a spin-coating process. Compared to conventional ceramic membranes constructed by spherical particles, the ceramic membrane constructed by the fibres permits high flux because of the large porosity of their separation layers. The voids in the separation layer determine the selectivity and flux of a separation membrane. When the sizes of the voids are similar (which means a similar selectivity of the separation layer), the flux passing through the membrane increases with the volume of the voids which are filtration passages. For the ideal and simplest texture, a mesh constructed with the nanofibres 10 nm thick and having a uniform pore size of 60 nm, the porosity is greater than 73.5 %. In contrast, the porosity of the separation layer that possesses the same pore size but is constructed with metal oxide spherical particles, as in conventional ceramic membranes, is 36% or less. The membrane constructed by titanate nanofibres and a layer of randomly oriented alumina nanofibres was able to filter out 96.8% of latex spheres of 60 nm size, while maintaining a high flux rate between 600 and 900 Lm–2 h–1, more than 15 times higher than the conventional membrane reported in the most recent study.

Influence of axial deformation on modal strain energy

Axial loads of load bearing elements impact on the vibration characteristics. Several methods have been developed to quantify axial loads and hence axial deformations of individual structural members using their natural frequencies. Nevertheless, these methods cannot be applied to individual members in structural framing systems as the natural frequency is a global parameter for the entire framing system. This paper proposes an innovative method which uses modal strain energy phenomenon to quantify axial deformations of load bearing elements of structural framing systems. The procedure is illustrated through examples and results confirm that the proposed method has an ability to quantify the axial deformations of individual elements of structural framing systems