Modelling effects of axial load on behaviour of pile groups in laterally-spreading soil

Previous research into the behaviour of piled foundations in laterally-spreading soil deposits has concentrated on pile groups that carry small or negligible axial loads. This paper presents dynamic centrifuge test results for 2 x 2 pile groups with bending and geometric properties similar to real 0.5 m diameter tubular steel and solid circular reinforced-concrete field piles. Axial loads applied represented upper-bounds on typical working loads. The simultaneous scaling of the relevant properties controlling both lateral and axial behaviour allows comparisons to be drawn regarding the particular mechanisms of failure that would dominate for each type of pile. Flexible reinforced-concrete piles which tend to carry lower loads were found to be dominated by lateral effects, while steel piles, which are much stiffer and usually carry greater loads are dominated by settlement considerations. © 2006 Taylor & Francis Group.

Identification and effectiveness of self-help groups in Cambodia

The CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) seeks to reduce poverty and improve food security for the millions of small-scale fishers and farmers who depend on the world’s floodplains, deltas and coasts. AAS combines more conventional approaches for introducing and scaling technical innovations, such as applied research and training, with approaches that foster innovation and promote institutional and policy change. Specifically, AAS utilizes participatory action research with communities to identify technology and policy solutions that best meet community long-term needs. One of the themes identified under AAS is the role of self-help groups in increasing livelihood resilience of agriculture and fisheries communities. As AAS establishes a hub of operations in Cambodia, AAS and Oxfam America are cooperating to investigate the potential of community-based self-help groups as a strategy for AAS implementation. As part of this cooperation, Oxfam America undertook this consultancy to analyze and describe the role, efficiency and effectiveness of the various types of self-help groups in Cambodia. This report gives an overview of this program which aims to conduct a field-based study to identify the types, main characteristics and effectiveness of self-help groups, with a particular focus on livelihood resilience of agriculture and fisheries communities.

Modelling effects of axial load on behaviour of pile groups in laterally-spreading soil

Previous research into the behaviour of piled foundations in laterally-spreading soil deposits has concentrated on pile groups that carry small or negligible axial loads. This paper presents dynamic centrifuge test results for 2×2 pile groups with bending and geometric properties similar to real 0.5m diameter tubular steel and solid circular reinforced-concrete field piles. Axial loads applied represented upper-bounds on typical working loads. The simultaneous scaling of the relevant properties controlling both lateral and axial behaviour allows comparisons to be drawn regarding the particular mechanisms of failure that would dominate for each type of pile. Flexible reinforced-concrete piles which tend to carry lower loads were found to be dominated by lateral effects, while steel piles, which are much stiffer and usually carry greater loads are dominated by settlement considerations. © 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, London.

Drain groups in liquefiable soil

One of the major concerns for engineers in seismically active regions is the prevention of damage caused by earthquake-induced soil liquefaction. Vertical drains can aid dissipation of excess pore pressures both during and after earthquakes. Drain systems are designed using standard design charts based around the concept of a unit cell, assuming each drain is surrounded by more drains. It is unclear how predictable drain performance is outside that unit cell concept, for example, drains at the edge of a group. Centrifuge testing is a logical method of performing controlled experiments to establish the efficacy of vertical drains. Centrifuge testing is used to identify the effect of drains dealing with very different catchment areas. The importance of this is further highlighted by the results of a test where the same drains have been modified so that each should behave as a unit cell. It is shown that drains with large catchment areas perform more poorly than unit cells, and also have a knock-on detrimental effect on other drains. Copyright © 2011, IGI Global.

Effect of pile spacing on pile demand for small pile groups in laterally spreading soil

Liquefaction-induced lateral spreading has been responsible for widespread damage to pile foundations in many large earthquakes. The specification of inertial and kinematic pile and pile cap demands is a particularly challenging aspect of the analysis of pile foundations in laterally spreading soils. This paper presents and examines the results from a pair of dynamic centrifuge tests focusing on pile and pile cap demands for small pile groups with different pile spacings. Inertial and kinematic pile cap forces and lateral pile group interaction are examined with regard to the overturning mechanism that dominated the pile group response. © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group.

Effects of polymerization conditions on hydrophilic groups in aromatic polyamide thin films

For polyamide used in reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, the content of pendant acid groups is critical to its performance. In this work, FTIR was used to analyze the acid contents in the polyamide films prepared via interfacial polymerization of trimesic acid trichloride (TMC) in hexane and 1,3-phenylenediamine (MPDA) in water, and the effects of reaction conditions, including monomer concentrations, time, and temperature, were studied. It was found that more pendant acid groups are present in the polyramide film at higher TMC concentrations or lower MPDA concentrations, and longer reaction times and lower temperatures also favor the formation of the free acids. These results can be explained by the monomer diffusion in the interfacial polymerization process. This work may help the design and fabrication of RO membranes with different hydrophilicity and target performance.

Study on a carbosilane liquid crystalline (LC) dendrimer of the first generation - Containing twelve 4-butoxyazobenzene mesogenic groups in periphery

The divergent synthesis of a new carbosilane liquid-crystalline (LC) dendrimer of the first generation (D1) is described. Twelve 4-butoxyazobenzene groups are used as mesogenic fragments and attached in the periphery of the molecule. Structure and properties of D1 were characterized by element analysis, H-1 NMR, MALDI-TOF-MS, IR, UV-Vis, polarizing optical micrograph, DSC and WAXD. It is argued that mesophase of nematic type is realized. It is shown that the mesophase type of the dendrimer essentially depends on the chemical nature of the mesogenic groups. Phase behavior of D1 is K82N1331132N67K. The melting point of D1 is 30similar to43 degreesC lower than that of M5, its clearing temperature is 9 similar to 11 degreesC higher than that of M5 and its mesophase region is enlarged by 39 similar to 54 degreesC compared to that of M5. Eight extinguished brushes emanating from a stationary point are observed, corresponding to the high-strength disclination of S = + 2 of dendrimer. The clearing enthalpy of D1 is smaller than the value that is commonly found for phase transition n-i in LC and LC polymers. This may be due to the presence of branched dendrimer cores which cannot be easily deformed to fit into the anisotropic LC phase structure.

A study of the crystallographic equivalence of ether and ketone groups in poly(aryl ether ketone)s

Crystallographic equivalence of ether and ketone in all para-substituted PAEKs crystallized in form I was discussed in this paper. In a word, crystallographic equivalence between ether and ketone groups is tenable when polymer contains only phenyl rings in the repeat unit. If a polymer contains a diphenyl group in the repeat unit, two cases should be distinguished. In the case of PEDEKK and PEEKDK, crystallographic equivalence between ether and ketone linkages is untenable, However, in the case of PEDK and PEDEKDK, crystallographic equivalence between ether and ketone linkages is still tenable.