• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.297-314
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• 2016

As the study of internal corrosion of pipeline need a large number of experiments as well as long time, so there is a need for new computational technique to expand the spectrum of the results and to save time. The present work represents a new non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique for detecting the internal corrosion inside pipeline by evaluating the dielectric properties of steel pipe at room temperature by using electrical capacitance sensor (ECS), then predict the effect of pipeline environment temperature (${\theta}$) on the corrosion rates by designing an efficient artificial neural network (ANN) architecture. ECS consists of number of electrodes mounted on the outer surface of pipeline, the sensor shape, electrode configuration, and the number of electrodes that comprise three key elements of two dimensional capacitance sensors are illustrated. The variation in the dielectric signatures was employed to design electrical capacitance sensor (ECS) with high sensitivity to detect such defects. The rules of 24-electrode sensor parameters such as capacitance, capacitance change, and change rate of capacitance are discussed by ANSYS and MATLAB, which are combined to simulate sensor characteristic. A feed-forward neural network (FFNN) structure are applied, trained and tested to predict the finite element (FE) results of corrosion rates under room temperature, and then used the trained FFNN to predict corrosion rates at different temperature using MATLAB neural network toolbox. The FE results are in excellent agreement with an FFNN results, thus validating the accuracy and reliability of the proposed technique and leads to better understanding of the corrosion mechanism under different pipeline environmental temperature.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.105-120
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• 2011

The strengthening and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures with externally bonded carbon fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates has shown excellent performance and, as a result, this technology is rapidly replacing steel plate bonding techniques. This paper addresses this issue, and presents results deals with the influence of external bonded CFRP-reinforcement on the time-dependent behavior of reinforced concrete beams. A total of eight reinforced concrete beams with cracked and un-cracked section, with and without externally bonded CFRP laminates, were investigated for their creep and shrinkage behavior. All the beams considered in this paper were simply supported and subjected to a uniform sustained loading for the period of six months. The main parameters of this study are two types of sustained load and different degrees of strengthening scheme for both cracked and un-cracked sections of beams. Both analytical and experimental work has been carried out on strengthened beams to investigate the cracking and deflection performance. The applied sustained load was 56% and 38% of the ultimate static capacities of the un-strengthened beams for cracked and un-cracked section respectively. The analytical values based on effective modulus method (EMM) are compared to the experimental results and it is found that the analytical values are in general give conservative estimates of the experimental results. It was concluded that the attachment of CFRP composite laminates has a positive influence on the long term performance of strengthened beams.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.3_4
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• pp.465-482
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• 2013

Recently, a novel stress sensor, which utilizes the elasto-magnetic (EM) effect of ferromagnetic materials, has been developed to measure stress in steel cables and wires. In this study, the effectiveness of this EM based stress sensors for monitoring of the cable tension force of a real scale cable-stayed bridge was investigated. Two EM stress sensors were installed on two selected multi-strand cables in Hwa-Myung Bridge, Busan, South Korea. Conventional lift-off test was conducted to obtain reference cable tension forces of two test cables. The reference forces were used to calibrate and validate cable tension force measurements from the EM sensors. Tension force variations of two test cables during the second tensioning work on Hwa-Myung Bridge were monitored using the EM sensors. Numerical simulations were conducted to compare and verify the monitoring results. Based on the results, the effectiveness of EM sensors for accurate field monitoring of the cable tension force of cable-stayed bridge is discussed.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.3-14
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• 2020

Magnesium is the third most abundant structural metal after aluminum and iron. Magnesium is the lightest metal in the common metals. It has a density 33 % less than aluminum and 77% lower than steel. However, the primary magnesium production process is highly energy intensive. The recycling of magnesium scrap reduces the energy consumption and environmental burden, comparing to the primary metal production. However, the amount of recovered metal from scrap is limited because of the difficulties to remove the impurities in the scrap. This work provides an overview of the magnesium production and recycling process.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.3
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• pp.313-323
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• 2020

Non-destructive tests are commonly used in construction industry to access the quality and strength of concrete. However, till date there is no non-destructive testing method that can be adopted to evaluate the bond condition of reinforced concrete beams. In this regard, the presented research work details the use of ultra-sonic pulse velocity test method to evaluate the bond condition of reinforced concrete beam. A detailed experimental research was conducted by testing four identical reinforced concrete beam samples. The samples were loaded in equal increments till failure and ultra-sonic pulse velocity readings were recorded along the length of the beam element. It was observed from experimentation that as the cracks developed in the sample, the ultra-sonic wave velocity reduced for the same path length. This reduction in wave velocity was used to identify the initiation, development and propagation of internal micro-cracks along the length of reinforcement. Using the developed experimental methodology, researchers were able to identify weak spots in bond along the length of the specimen. The proposed method can be adopted by engineers to access the quality of bond for steel reinforcement in beam members. This allows engineers to carryout localized repairs thereby resulting in reduction of time, cost and labor needed for strengthening. Furthermore, the methodology to apply the proposed technique in real-world along with various challenges associated with its application have also been highlighted.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.181-197
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• 2015

Assessing the condition of paint on civil structures is an important but challenging and costly task, in particular when it comes to large and complex structures. Current practices of visual inspection are labour-intensive and time-consuming to perform. In addition, this task usually relies on the experience and subjective judgment of individual inspectors. In this study, hyperspectral imaging and classification techniques are proposed as a method to objectively assess the state of the paint on a civil or other structure. The ultimate objective of the work is to develop a technology that can provide precise and automatic grading of paint condition and assessment of degradation due to age or environmental factors. Towards this goal, we acquired hyperspectral images of steel surfaces located at long (mid-range) and short distances on the Sydney Harbour Bridge with an Acousto-Optics Tunable filter (AOTF) hyperspectral camera (consisting of 21 bands in the visible spectrum). We trained a multi-class Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier to automatically assess the grading of the paint from hyperspectral signatures. Our results demonstrate that the classifier generates highly accurate assessment of the paint condition in comparison to the judgement of human experts.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.24-29
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• 2019

In this work we investigated the friction and wear characteristics of a magnesium alloy, which has been receiving much attention as a light metal in industrial applications such as automobiles and aerospace. Magnesium is one of the lightest structural material that has high specific strength, lightweight, low density and good formability. However, current issue of using magnesium alloy is that magnesium has weakness against temperature. As the temperature increases, magnesium undergoes poor creep resistance and ease of softening, and therefore, its mechanical strength decreases sharply. To solve this issue, a new type of magnesium alloy that retains high strength at high temperature has been proposed. The tribological behavior of this alloy was investigated using a tribotester with reciprocating motion and heating plate. A stainless steel ball was used as a counter surface. Results showed that extrusion process has similar wear behavior to the commonly used casting process but retains good mechanical strength and durability. The presence of an alloying element enhanced the wear properties especially in high temperature. This study is expected to be utilized as fundamental data for the replacement of high density materials currently used in mechanical industries to a much lighter and durable heat-resistant materials.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.5
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• pp.579-589
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• 2019

Numerous experimental studies have been conducted on reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened in shear with externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (EBFRP). The objectives of this work are to study the behavioral trends of shear strengthened EBFRP RC beams after updating the existing database. The previously published databases have been updated, enriched and cross checked for completeness, redundancy and consistency. The updated database now contains data on 698 EBFRP beams and covers the time span from 1992 to 2018. The collected database then refined applying certain filters and used to investigate and capture better interactions among various influencing parameters affecting the shear strength of EBFRP beams. These parameters include the type and properties of FRP, fiber orientation as well as the strengthening scheme, the shear and the longitudinal steel reinforcement ratios, the shear span ratio, and the geometry of the member. The refined database is used to test the prediction accuracy of the existing design models. Considerable scatters are found in the results of all tested prediction models and in many occasions the predictions are unsafe. To better understand the shear behavior of the EBFRP RC beams and then enhance the prediction models, it was concluded that focused experimental programs should be carried out.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.395-405
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• 2019

In the present work, the effects of cutting parameters on surface roughness parameters (Ra), tool wear parameters (VBmax), tool vibration (Vy) and material removal rate (MRR) during hard turning of AISI 4140 steel using coated carbide tool have been evaluated. The relationships between machining parameters and output variables were modeled using response surface methodology (RSM). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to quantify the effect of cutting parameters on the studied machining parameters and to check the adequacy of the mathematical model. Additionally, Multi-objective optimization based desirability function was performed to find optimal cutting parameters to minimize surface roughness, and maximize productivity. The experiments were planned as Box Behnken Design (BBD). The results show that feed rate influenced the surface roughness; the cutting speed influenced the tool wear; the feed rate influenced the tool vibration predominantly. According to the microscopic imagery, it was observed that adhesion and abrasion as the major wear mechanism.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.467-477
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• 2019

The objective of this work is to analyze by traction tests, the mechanical behavior of an assembly of type metal / metal by various assembly processes; bonding, riveting and hybrid, on the one hand to show the advantage of a hybrid assembly with respect to the other processes, and on the other hand, to analyze by the finite element method the distribution of the stresses in the various components of the structure and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the use of a hybrid assembly with respect to other processes. The number of rivets has been considered. The results show clearly that the value of the different stresses is reduced in the case of a hybrid junction and that the number of rivets in an assembly can be reduced by using a hybrid joint.