Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Strength'

Utilization of composites in critical design applications requires an extensive engineering experience data base which is generally lacking, especially for rapidly developing constituent fibers. As a supplement, an accurate reliability theory can be applied in design. This investigation is a part of a research effort to develop a probabilistic model of composite reliability capable of using data produced in small laboratory test samples to predict the behavior of large structures with respect to their actual dimensions. This work included testing of composite strength which was then used in exploring the methodology of predicting composite reliability from the parent single filament fiber strength statistics. This required testing of a coordinate set of test samples which consisted of a composite and its parent fibers. Previously collected fiber strength statistics from two different production spools were used in conjunction with the current effort. This investigation established that, for a well made composite, the Local Load Sharing Model of reliability prediction exhibited outstanding correlation with experimental data and was sufficiently sensitive to predict deficient composite strength due to a specific fiber spool with an abnormally weak lower tail. In addition, it provided an upper bound on the composite reliability. This investigation is unique in that is used a coordinate set of data with an unambiguous genesis of parent fiber and subsequent composite. The findings of this investigation are also definitive in that six orders of extrapolation of size in reliability prediction has been verified

Endurance can be defined as the ability to maintain or to repeat a given force or power output. The sport performance-endurance relationship is a multi-factorial concept. However, evidence indicates that maximum strength is a major component. Conceptually, endurance is a continuum. The literature indicates that (a) maximum strength is moderately to strongly related to endurance capabilities and associated factors, a relationship that is likely stronger for high intensity exercise endurance (HIEE) activities than for low intensity exercise endurance (LIEE); (b) strength training can increase both HIEE and LIEE, the effect being greater for HIEE; (c) the volume of strength training plays a role in endurance adaptation; and (d) mechanical specificity and training program variables also play a role in the degree of adaptation..

Questions remain about the range of abilities autistic children possess and what constitutes effective treatment. Strength-based intervention contrasts with traditional autistic intervention approaches that focus on children's deficits. Studies on strength-based intervention approaches have not revealed how children's strengths are identified and have not used the insights of parents for this purpose. Neurodiversity serves as the conceptual framework because the tenets of neurodiversity align with those of strength-based approaches and hold that autism is a variation of the human condition rather than a disability. The purpose of this qualitative interpretive phenomenological study was to explore how the parent-identified strengths of autistic children may act as the basis for the advancement of strength-based intervention. The research questions focused on identifying the strengths of autistic children through semistructured interviews with 15 parents of high-functioning autistic children, who were recruited using purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using a three-level method, and six themes emerged: Routine, Caring for Others, Relationship with Parent, Intervention in School, Therapy, and Outlook for the Future. Practical implications for community psychology include development of strength-based approaches based on altruism, parent-child relationships, and positive outlooks for the future. Further research is recommended on caring for others and displaying affection in relation to strength-related constructs, such as resiliency and growth. Effective strength-based interventions may help autistic children develop based on their strengths, leading to positive social change.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (February) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Unilateral strength training of the less affected (LA) limb has been shown to improve strength bilaterally. This improved strength is referred to as cross-education in the literature. This intervention has the potential to be beneficial for individuals who cannot train both sides of the body due to post-stroke hemiparesis. To date only one group has researched cross-education in the upper limb in stroke, with varied results. The main purpose of our work was to determine if strength training of the LA forearm would change patterns of cortical excitability bilaterally after stroke, and additionally affect changes in strength and function bilaterally. Twenty-four participants with chronic (> 6 months) stroke-related hemiparesis engaged in three baseline sessions separated by 4-7 days. During these sessions individuals’ forearm strength, motor function, and motor impairment were tested, along with a TMS based assessment of corticospinal excitability and intracortical circuits. On a fourth visit participants completed their first training session using the LA arm, then were given the same wrist extension strength-training device to take home. Participants completed three 25-minute training sessions, weekly; one in the laboratory and the remaining two at home. After 5 weeks of training, participants returned to the laboratory for post-intervention retention tests. Cross-education increased strength in the LA wrist extensors (p = 0.026) and the untrained, more-affected (MA) wrist extensors (p = 0.05) in participants with chronic stroke, at the 1-week retention test. Further, LA arm strength remained increased at 5-week retention test (p = 0.023) despite there being no further training. There were strength improvements in the majority of participants in both their trained (17 of 24) and untrained (12 of 24) wrist extensors. There was a decrease in corticospinal inhibition in the LA hemisphere, and a release of interhemispheric inhibition (IHI) bilaterally. A significant increases in motor function and a decrease in motor impairment was seen, respectively. Results indicate that cross-education could be a valuable tool for increasing strength in chronic stroke. Cross-education training of the LA upper limb may allow individuals who do not have adequate function in their MA limb prior to training engage in rehabilitative interventions post-training.
Medicine, Faculty of
Graduate

The main structural objectives in column design are strength and ductility. For higher strength concretes these design objectives are offset by generally poor concrete ductility and early spalling of the concrete cover. When fibres are added to the concrete the post peak characteristics are enhanced, both in tension and in compression. Most of the available experimental data, on fibre reinforced concrete and fibre reinforced high strength concrete columns, suggest that an improvement in both ductility and load carrying capacity due to the inclusion of the fibres. In this thesis the ductility and strength of fibre reinforced high strength concrete are investigated to evaluate the effect of the different parameters on the performance of columns. The investigation includes both experimental and the numerical approaches with 56 high strength fibre reinforced concrete columns being tested. The concrete strength ranged between 80 and 100 MPa and the columns were reinforced with 1, 2 or 2.6 percent, by weight, of end hooked steel fibres. The effect of corrugated Polypropylene fibres on the column performance was also examined. No early spalling of the cover was observed in any of the steel fibre reinforced column tested in this study. A numerical model was developed for analysis of fibre and non-fibre reinforced eccentrically loaded columns. The column is modelled as finite layers of reinforced concrete. Two types of layers are used, one to represent the hinged zone and the second the unloading portion of the column. As the concrete in the hinged layers goes beyond the peak for the stress verus strain in the concrete the section will continue to deform leading to a localised region within a column. The numerical model is compared with the test data and generally shows good correlation. Using the developed model, the parameters that affect ductility in fibre-reinforced high strength concrete columns are investigated and evaluated. A design model relating column ductility with confining pressure is proposed that includes the effects of the longitudinal reinforcement ratio, the loading eccentricity and the fibre properties and content and design recommendations are given.

Le béton auto-plaçant renforcé de fibres (BAPF) est l’un des récents développements dans le monde de la technologie du béton combinant les performances de l’auto-consolidation avec la ductilité post-pic et les nombreux avantages face à la fissuration grâce à la présence des fibres dans le béton. L’utilisation de BAPF accroît l’efficacité économique globale de la phase de construction en réduisant la main d’oeuvre, ou la consommation d’énergie requise, en accélérant la vitesse de construction, la réduction ou l’élimination de ferraillage conventionnel et à la simplification des détails et placement du ferraillage. Le BAPF a gagné en popularité dans ses utilisations durant les dernières années telles dans les tabliers de ponts, les poutrelles et les poutres. En dépit de preuve d’amélioration de synergie entre la technologie d’auto-placement et l’ajout de fibres dans le BAPF, il est obligatoire de déterminer les propriétés convenables de ce matériau pour trouver les caractéristiques inappropriées dans le béton à l’état frais et durci. A cet égard, les défauts, tels l’agglomération de fibres, la ségrégation et la performance d’écoulement et le placement incorrects à cause de propriétés rhéologiques inappropriées à l’état frais, entraînent une réduction dans la résistance évaluée. L’objectif principal de cette étude est d’évaluer les propriétés du béton auto-plaçant (BAP), des mélanges intégrant différentes teneurs en granulats et du BAPF (avec insertion de différents types et teneurs de fibres). Ceci peut aider au développement de BAPF avec une rhéologie adaptée et une performance mécanique adéquate incluant une résistance d’adhésion et de cisaillement convenable pour des applications structurelles. Dans le but d’évaluer l’effet des fibres sur les propriétés rhéologiques de BAP à l’état frais, des mélanges intégrant quatre types de fibres avec différents élancement (L/D) seront étudiés. Ces fibres incluent des crochets d’acier (STH 55/30), du fil d’acier tréfilé (STN 65/13), de la macro-fibre synthétique de propylène (PP 56/38) et de l’alcool polyvinylique (PVA 60/12) avec différentes teneurs volumiques (0.25%, 0.5%) ajoutées au BPA de référence. Tous les mélanges ont un rapport w/b fixé à 0,42 et la teneur en granulats grossiers est respectivement de 29, 32 et 35% par volume de béton. Les caractéristiques de béton frais ont été évaluées en considérant l’affaissement, l'évaluation du temps d’écoulement (V-funnel), l'amplitude à l'écoulement du BAP (J-Ring), le tassement de surface et le rhéomètre ConTec. Les propriétés du béton durci, en particulier la résistance à la compression, la résistance à la traction par fendage, la résistance à la flexion, et le module élastique ont été évaluées. L’effet des types de fibres, des teneurs en fibres et en granulats sur la résistance à la rupture et la robustesse du BAP au cisaillement des mélanges optimisés, incluant le BAP de référence, le SCCAGG (32% and 35%), le FRSCC ST-H (0.25% and 0.5%), le FRSCCPP (0.25% and 0.5%), le PVA (0.25% and 0.5%) et le ST-N (0.25% and 0.5%) ont été testés en utilisant l’essai de cisaillement direct pour évaluer la résistance en cisaillement et la résistance résiduelle du béton. Les résultats des essais prennent en considération la capacité portante en cisaillement de l’élément structurel fabriqué à partir de BAPF. Les résultats des essais montrent que l’ajout de fibres était beaucoup plus efficace que l’accroissement de la teneur en agrégats sur la résistance au cisaillement du BAP. L’amélioration de la contrainte au cisaillement à la rupture comparée au mélange de référence est plus grande avec 16.3% pour l’ajout de fibre de type STN 0.5%, 15.8% pour l’ajout de fibre de type STH 0.5%, 14.92% pour l’ajout de fibre de type PP 0.5% et 7.73% pour l’ajout de fibre de type PVA 0.5%. De plus, l’ajout de fibres améliore le comportement post-pic en cisaillement du BPA en comparaison à l’augmentation de la teneur en granulats. L’augmentation de la teneur en fibres de 0.25% à 0.5%, par volume de béton, a amélioré la résistance et la ténacité au cisaillement, le comportement en flexion peu importe le type de fibres. Cette amélioration a été la plus élevée dans le cas du STH 0.5% et la plus basse pour des valeurs de PVA0.5%. La réponse de la résistance à l’adhésion des barres d’armatures localisées à différentes hauteurs de l’élément de mur (effet top-bar) a été étudiée pour des mélanges optimisés; le BPA de référence, les mélanges ST-H 0.5, et PP 0.5 ont été testés à travers l’essai d’arrachement direct des barres coulées dans le large élément de mur. Utilisation de fibres de propylène et de fibres à crochets d’acier au BPA a légèrement augmenté le facteur de modification à l’adhérence (effet top-bar) de 1 dans le cas du BPA jusque 1,1 et 1,2 pour les fibres de propylène et de crochets d’acier respectivement. Les éléments de mur fabriqués à partir du mélange de BPA de référence a montré la distribution de résistance la plus uniforme avec moins de 5% de réduction de sa résistance à l’adhérence sur la hauteur. Ces pertes de résistance à l’adhérence pour les éléments de mur coulés avec du BPA intégrant les de fibres de propylène et de fibres à crochets d’acier sont respectivement de 10% et 20%.
Abstract : Fiber reinforced self-consolidating concrete (FR-SCC) is one of the recent developments in the world of concrete technology which combines the self-consolidating performance with the post-peak ductility and multiple cracking advantages due to presence of fiber reinforcement in concrete. The use of FR-SCC increases the overall economic efficiency of the construction process by reducing the workforce, or energy consumption required, increasing speed of construction, reduction or elimination of the conventional reinforcement and to the simplification of reinforcement detailing and placement. The FR-SCC has gained increasing popularity applications in the last few years such as bridge decks, girders and beams. Despite the improvement evidence of synergy between self-consolidating technology and fiber addition in the FR-SCC, finding adequate properties of this material is mandatory to find any improper characteristics in the fresh and hardened states. In this regards, defects, such as fiber clustering, segregation and improper flow performance and placement due to improper rheological properties in the fresh state, which leads to reduction in strength, are evaluated. The main objective of this study is to evaluate some rheological and mechanical properties of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) mixtures with different aggregate contents and FR-SCC (incorporating different fiber types and contents). This can help to develop of FR-SCC with adapted rheology and proper mechanical performance including bond strength and shear strength for structural application. In order to evaluate the effect of fibers on rheological properties of SCC in the fresh state, mixtures incorporating four types of fibers with different aspect ratio (L/D) were investigated. The fibers included steel hooked (STH 55/30), steel drawn wire needles (STN 65/13), synthetic macro-fiber propylene (PP 56/38) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA 60/12) with variety of volume content (0.25%, 0.5%) added to the SCC reference. All mixtures has a fixed w/b ratio of 0.42 and different coarse aggregate contents of 29, 32 and 35%, by volume of concrete. The fresh concrete characteristics were evaluated by considering the slump flow, V-funnel, J-Ring, surface settlement and ConTec rheometer. The hardened properties, mainly compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, flexural toughness, and modulus of elasticity were evaluated. The effect of fiber type, fiber content, and coarse aggregate content on ultimate shear load and shear toughness of the optimized mixtures. The mixtures including SCC reference, SCC with aggregate volume of 32% and 35% (SCCAGG 32% and SCCAGG 35%), SCC incorporating ST-H fibers with the dosages of 0.25% and 0.5% (FRSCC ST-H 0.25% and FRSCC ST-H 0.5%), SCC incorporating PP fibers with the dosages of 0.25% and 0.5% (FRSCC PP 0.25% and FRSCC PP 0.5%), SCC incorporating PVA fibers with the dosages of 0.25% and 0.5% (FRSCC PVA 0.25% and FRSCC PVA 0.5%) and SCC incorporating ST-N fibers with the dosages of 0.25% and 0.5% (FRSCC ST-N 0.25% and FRSCC ST-N 0.5%) were tested using the direct shear push-off test to evaluate shear strength and residual shear strength of the concrete. These test results could be used in the shear load carrying capacity of the structural element made by FRSCC. The test results show that adding fiber was much more effective than increasing aggregate content on the shear strength behaviour of SCC. The ultimate shear stress improvement of the mixtures incorporating fiber compared to the SCC reference mixture were 16.3% for STN 0.5%, 15.8% for STH 0.5%, 14.92% for PP 0.5%, and 7.73% for PVA 0.5% mixture. Moreover, adding fibers improved the post-peak shear behaviour of SCC compared to addition of aggregate content. Increasing the fiber content from 0.25% to 0.5%, by volume of concrete, improved shear strength, shear toughness and flexural toughness behaviour regardless of the fiber types. This enhancement was highest in the case of STH 0.5% and lowest values for PVA0.5%. The bond strength response of rebars located at different heights of the wall element (top-bar effect) investigated for optimized mixtures, including SCC reference, ST-H 0.5, and PP 0.5 mixtures was tested through direct pull-out test of rebars cast in the large wall elements. Adding propylene and steel hooked fibers to SCC is found to slightly increase the bond modification factor (top-bar effect) from 1 in the case of SCC up to 1.1 and 1.2 for propylene and steel hooked fibers, respectively. The wall elements made with SCC reference mixture showed the most uniform bond strength distribution and had less than 5% reduction of bond strength along the height. These bond strength losses for wall element cast with SCC incorporating 0.5 % of steel hooked fiber and that of propylen fiber with the same volume are 10% and 20%, respectively.

Compression strength of unstiffened elements in cold—reduced high strength steel G550 and G450 steel to Australian Standard AS 1397-1993 are investigated experimentally and theoretically in this thesis. The thesis describes two series of tests. The first one is material property tests performed on tension and compression coupons cut from high strength steel sheet in 0.6 mm or 1.0 mm thickness with nominal yield stress of 550 MPa and 1.5 mm thickness with nominal yield stress of 450 MPa. The second is compression tests performed on stub angles cut from high strength steel sheet in 0.6 mm and 1.0 mm thickness with nominal yield stress of 550 MPa. A numerical simulation on the angle compression tests using the commercial finite element computer program ABAQUS is also presented as part of this thesis. The effect of changing variables, such as geometric imperfections and end boundary conditions is also investigated. The ABAQUS analysis gives accurate simulations of the tests and is in good agreement with the experimental results. The results of the column tests and ABAQUS simulation have been compared with the design procedures in the Australian/New Zealand Standard for Cold- Formed Steel Structures (AS/NZS 4600). The stub column tests show that the current design rules give too conservative predictions of the compressive section capacities of the column members used in their current form for G550 steel. A design proposal is presented in this thesis to account for the effects peculiar to high strength thin steels on the section and member capacities.

The successful production of high-strength concrete which meets the desired strength and durability is dependent on optimising its rheological (or flow) properties and reducing its loss of workability during the transportation, placing and compaction stages. The research presented in this thesis aimed to: 1. Determine whether mix stability and compactability can be adequately described by the two Bingham parameters of yield value and plastic viscosity. 2. Reduce the uncertainties in material selection with regards to the performance of superplasticizers and cement replacement materials. 3. Examine how the two Bingham parameters vary at different degrees of compaction by vibration. 4. Determine how these influence the strength development characteristics in the hardened state. 5. An additional aim was to carry out any modifications to the test apparatus and methods which experience makes necessary. Measurements with Tattersall's MH two-point workability test apparatus indicated that mix stability correlates more closely with the yield value than with plastic viscosity, whilst the opposite is true with respect to compactability under self-weight. The performance of conventional and new-generation superplasticizers (based on SMF, SNF, MLS, Vinyl and Acrylate polymers) was evaluated with different dosages, mixing procedures and cements. The SNF superplasticizer produced slightly lower initial workabilities than the Acrylate superplasticizer, but the longest workability retentions of the superplasticizers tested. Partial cement replacements by CSF in binary blends produced lower superplasticizer dosage demands, higher initial workabilities and longer workability retentions than those due to PFA and GGBS. When used in ternary blended cements, CSF enhanced the performance of mixes containing PFA or GGBS at w/b ratios of 0.30-0.22. A novel method developed to assess the vibration response of fresh concretes has, for the first time, demonstrated that both the yield value and plastic viscosity decrease during compaction. The method has also demonstrated that the maximum compressive strengths and densities of concretes compacted for different vibration durations/amplitudes coincide with the attainment of zero yield value. Continuous reductions in plastic viscosity during vibration mainly reduced the homogeneity of concrete compacted in short columns.

Thesis: S.M. in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2017.
Vita. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 39-43).
Studies of social networks have often taken the existence of a social tie as a proxy for the transmission of information. However, other studies of social networks in the labor market propose that the likelihood of information transmission might depend on strength of the tie; and that tie strength is a potentially important source of the tie's value. After all, even if job seekers have social ties to those who have valuable job information, the seekers will gain little information benefit when the ties do not actually transmit the information. This paper clarifies the conditions under which social ties might provide information benefits. We use a survey vignette experiment and ask MBA students about their likelihood of relaying job information via strong ties (to friends) or weak ties (to acquaintances), holding constant the structural locations spanned by the tie and job seekers' fit with the job. The results support the claim that strength of tie has a causal effect on the chances of information transmission: potential referrers are more likely to relay job information to their friends than to acquaintances. The larger implication of these findings is that whatever benefits there might be to using weak ties to reach distant nonredundant information during job search, these benefits need to be considered against the likely fact that people connected via weak ties are less likely to actually share information about job opportunities than are people to whom the job seeker is strongly tied.
by Minjae Kim.
S.M. in Management Research

A literature survey of the properties and uses of high strength concrete, defined for this study as having a strength in excess of 60 N/tnm2, has shown that of prime need is a systematic, reproducible procedure for attaining high strength concrete. The "Maximum Density Theory", i.e. the requirement that the aggregate occupies as large a relative volume as possible, has been adopted as an approach to optimisation of the mix proportions. However, this does not consider the effect that the aggregate suIface area has on the requirement of excess paste for lubrication. To investigate the combined effect of void content and surface area, mixes with lower sand proportions than that required for minimum void content were tested for slump. The optimum sand proportion is the one that produces the highest slump, for a particular cement content. This procedure has been called: "The Modified Maximum Density Theory". Having thus optimised the cement and aggregate contents, partial cement replacement by mineral admixtures, at low water-cement ratios, has been investigated in order to assess: a) their contribution to long term strengths, b) their contribution to reducing the heat evolution of concrete mixes, and c) their effect on the workability of concrete. Condensed silica fume (at replacement levels of up to 15%) produced higher compressive strengths than ordinary Portland cement. Ground granulated blast furnace slag (at replacement levels of up to 30%) can be used without decreasing the 28-day strength. Replacement by 20% pulverised fuel ash resulted in a 15% decrease in the 28-day strength and equal strength to ordinary Portland cement concrete at ages beyond 56-days. Temperature measurements during hydration, under adiabatic conditions, have however shown that these replacement levels do not lower the temperature rise at a water-binder ratio of 0.26. The higher levels required for significant temperature reduction will also cause a significant reduction in the strength. To offset this ground granulated blast furnace slag (58%) and pulverised fuel ash (36%) in combination with 10% condensed silica fume 4 were used. These combinations reduced the temperature rise by more than 10°C while the reduction in the 28-day compressive strength was less than 15%. Partial cement replacement by pulverised fuel ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag improved the workability and therefore allowed a reduction in the superplasticiser dosage required for a given slump. The use of condensed silica fume reduces the workability at low superplasticiser dosages, but it has a water-reducing effect above a certain superplasticiser dosage. Results from these studies have been used to formulate guidelines for the proportioning of materials for producing high strength concrete.

Over the last few decades, concrete deep beam research has attracted attentions of both academics and professionals due to the increasing use of this type of structural members in construction projects. Evaluating the ultimate strength of concrete deep beams has been a great challenge because of the complexity of these structural members. Moreover, using high strength material and having openings in the web increase the difficulties of predicting the ultimate strength. Normally, web openings are introduced to accommodate services such as air-conditioning ducts, cables, and other essential services. However, the existence of web openings causes geometric discontinuity within the beam and non-linear stress distributions over the depth of the beam. Furthermore, present Codes of Practices do not cover the design of deep beams with web openings. The focus of this thesis is to develop a set of simple and reliable design equations for high strength concrete deep beams with web openings. Deep beams without web reinforcement but with web openings are given particular attention in this investigation, which constitutes three major components: experimental, numerical and theoretical studies.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith School of Engineering
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
Full Text

Theoretical strength of solids is defined as the ultimate strength beyond which plastic deformation, fracture, or decohesion would occur. Understanding the microscopic origin from quantum mechanics and thermoelastic formulation is of great importance to mechanical properties and engineering design of various solids. While quite a few theory models have been made in the past century by several generations of scientists, including Frankel and Born, a general and convincing framework has not been fully established. We study this issue from three respects: (1) Unify various elastic stability criteria for solids that determine an upper bound of theoretical strength; (2) with ab initio method, we test the elastic stability conditions of crystal Au. The phenomenon of bifurcation is observed: under hydrostatic expansion, the rhombohedral modulus reaches zero first of all; while under uniaxial tensile stress, the tetragonal shear modulus first reaches zero; (3) propose a nonlinear theoretical formulation of stability criterion. As an analytic method, this scheme is quite simple, in the mean time, it saves computation resource.

The society today is dependent on information technology and with the help of the technologymakes it easier to access information. Due to the constantly growing network environment,various techniques of accessing and handling information have developed. One of the mostused solutions to access and protect information is by using a password. The purpose of apassword is to protect sensitive and important data from unauthorized users who intentionallyor accidentally access the system. This can lead to unsolicited modifications of the original dataas well as unauthorized access of confidential information. Humans are those who design theinformation security, but at the same time the ones who are the weakest link in the securitychain. To prevent unauthorized access it is important to have a strong and tamper proofpassword. A good password should be easy to remember, hard to guess by others and bedifficult to predict by a person or software. The goal in this study is to find a good balancebetween a memorable and a secured password. The study will compare three types ofconstructions for password, own set, modified dictionary and association against each other tofind the one which is the strongest and the most memorable.

Recently, covering arrays have been the subject of considerable research attention as they hold both theoretical interest and practical importance due to their applications to testing. In this thesis, we perform the first comprehensive study of a generalization of covering arrays called variable strength covering arrays, where we dictate the interactions to be covered in the array by modeling them as facets of an abstract simplicial complex. We outline the necessary background in the theory of hypergraphs, combinatorial testing, and design theory that is relevant to the study of variable strength covering arrays. We then approach questions that arise in variable strength covering arrays in a number of ways. We demonstrate their connections to hypergraph homomorphisms, and explore the properties of a particular family of abstract simplicial complexes, the qualitative independence hypergraphs. These hypergraphs are tightly linked to variable strength covering arrays, and we determine and identify several of their important properties and subhypergraphs. We give a detailed study of constructions for variable strength covering arrays, and provide several operations and divide-and-conquer techniques that can be used in building them. In addition, we give a construction using linear feedback shift registers from primitive polynomials of degree 3 over arbitrary finite fields to find variable strength covering arrays, which we extend to strength-3 covering arrays whose sizes are smaller than many of the best known sizes of covering arrays. We then give an algorithm for creating variable strength covering arrays over arbitrary abstract simplicial complexes, which builds the arrays one row at a time, using a density concept to guarantee that the size of the resultant array is asymptotic in the logarithm of the number of facets in the abstact simplicial complex. This algorithm is of immediate practical importance, as it can be used to create test suites for combinatorial testing. Finally, we use the Lovasz Local Lemma to nonconstructively determine upper bounds on the sizes of arrays for a number of different families of hypergraphs. We lay out a framework that can be used for many hypergraphs, and then discuss possible strategies that can be taken in asymmetric problems.

Concrete is still the most widely used construction material of modern times. In very recent years attempts have been made by using steel fibre reinforcement to improve the inherent weaknesses that concrete possesses such as its low tensile strength and the tendency to shrink on drying and to creep under stress. In this context, the use of steel fibre reinforcement together with high strength concrete corbel joints has been investigated. This study came after fibre reinforced concrete had received wide recognition for its crack and deformation control, ductility and energy absorption characteristics. In the present study, the fracture behaviour and deformation characteristics of plain conventionally reinforced concrete corbels with and without steel fibre reinforcement has been investigated. The different types of steel fibres used and other experimental materials are described in chapter 3, whereas chapter 2 gives a review of the old and current design approaches used for concrete corbel design. In chapter 4 the deformation, cracking and ultimate strength of plain high strength concrete corbels has been studied with different cube strength ranged between 25 to 90 N/mm². In chapter 5 a proposed theory to predict the ultimate strength of high and normal strength concrete corbels, conventionally reinforced, has been derived. The influence of steel fibre reinforcement on the performance of conventionally reinforced concrete corbels has been studied in chapter 6. Melt extract steel fibres were used in the majority of the corbels together with other types such as crimped, hooked and plastic fibres (polypropylene). In the same chapter 6, the theory has been extended to account for the strength gained by fibre addition. The effect of steel fibre reinforcement on the shear transfer strength has been studied in chapter 7. The theory proposed in chapter 5 has been further extended to predict the shear strength of 'push-off' type of specimens of plain and fibre reinforced concrete, with conventional steel reinforcement.

This research studied the shotcrete strength development with time for worst and best conditions. The study included the minimum strength required of the shotcrete to support itself and how much time is required for that strength to develop after application including minimum strength required of the shotcrete to support an excavation. A field instrument was invented to indicate when re-entry conditions of the shotcrete have been met in situ.

This study concerns the strength and behaviour of low-rise shear walls made from high-strength concrete under reversed cyclic loading. The response of such walls is often strongly governed by the shear effects leading to the shear induced or brittle failure. The brittle nature of high-strength concrete poses further difficulties in obtaining ductile response from shear walls. An experimental program consisting of six high-strength concrete shear walls was carried out. Specimens were tested under inplane axial load and reversed cyclic displacements with the test parameters investigated being longitudinal reinforcement ratio, transverse reinforcement ratio and axial load. Lateral loads, lateral displacements and the strains of reinforcement in edge elements and web wall were measured. The test results showed the presence of axial load has a significant effect on the strength and ductility of the shear walls. The axially loaded wall specimens exhibited a brittle behaviour regardless of reinforcement ratio whereas the specimen with no axial load had a lower strength but higher ductility. It was also found that an increase in the longitudinal reinforcement ratio gave an increase in the failure load while an increase in the transverse reinforcement ratio had no significant effect on the strength but influenced the failure mode. A non-linear finite element program based on the crack membrane model and using smeared-fixed crack approach was developed with a new aggregate interlock model incorporated into the finite element procedure. The finite element model was corroborated by experimental results of shear panels and walls. The finite element analysis of shear wall specimens indicated that while strengths can be predicted reasonably, the stiffness of edge elements has a significant effect on the deformational results for two-dimensional analyses. Therefore, to capture the deformation of walls accurately, three-dimensional finite element analyses are required. The shear wall design provisions given in the current Australian Standard and the Building Code of American Concrete Institute were compared with the experimental results. The comparison showed that the calculated strengths based on the codes are considerably conservative, specially when there exists the axial load.

All exercises in terms of strength training can be divided into two groups: basic and isolating. Basic trainings are those who activate two and more joints. For example, bench press, deadlift, pulling up on a crossbeam, etc. Isolating strength trainings include qualitative training of group of muscles or one exact muscle, while only one joint on one side of the body is involved into performance. The groundwork of sportsmen strength training, especially beginners, should be basic trainings with any weights. They affect different muscle groups unidirectional (each of them performs its particular work), however none of them gets a fully loaded.

Several thousand tests throughout the world have been conducted on the shear strength of screw connections in cold-formed steel, however, little to no research has been conducted on how various thicknesses of insulation placed between two sheets of steel, such as a steel panel and structural supporting member, affects a screw's shear strength. Elemental tests were conducted as part of this study at Virginia Tech where rolled fiberglass insulation was placed between two pieces of steel connected by self-drilling screws and tested to failure. The results were compared to the North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members to determine if the presence of insulation affected the shear and tensile strengths of screw connections involving insulation. A series of diaphragm tests were also preformed to confirm the elemental tests. While the presence of insulation between two steel sheets connected by screws reduces the shear strength of the connection, the current equations for predicting this strength in the North American Specification are adequate. When the data acquired from this study and the screw shear data obtained in past research were combined, it was clear that the data collected during this study fell within the scatter of the data used to develop Section E4.3 of the North American Specification neglecting the need for modification.
Master of Science

Studies on strength delivery and related fields have so far concentrated on finding the locations in the mill where fibres are damaged and what the damages consist of. However, fibres will invariably encounter mechanical stresses along the fibreline and in this thesis a new concept is introduced; the vulnerability of fibres to mechanical treatment. It is hypothesised that fibres with different properties have different abilities to withstand the mechanical forces they endure as they are discharged from the digester and transported through valves, pumps and various washing and bleaching equipment. In the thesis, results are presented from trials where pulps with significantly different hemicellulose compositions were high-intensity mixed at pH 13, 70°C and 10% pulp consistency and pulp strength evaluated. By varying alkalinity and temperature, pulps with different carbohydrate composition could be obtained. High alkali concentration and low temperature resulted in high glucomannan content and low xylan content, whereas cooking at low alkali concentration and high temperature rendered a pulp with low glucomannan and high xylan content. The high alkalinity pulp was stronger, determined as tear index at given tensile index. The pulp viscosity was also higher for this pulp. However, when the pulps were subjected to high-intensity mixing, the high alkalinity pulp lost in tear strength and the re-wetted zero-span tensile strength was substantially reduced. The pulp cooked at high alkalinity was thus interpreted as being more vulnerable to mechanical treatment than the pulp obtained by cooking at low alkalinity. Another pair of pulps was manufactured at high and low sodium ion concentrations, but otherwise with similar chemical charges. The pulp obtained by cooking at low sodium ion concentration became stronger, evaluated as tear index at a given tensile index and the curl index was substantially lower, 8% compared to 12% for the pulp cooked at a high sodium ion concentration. The viscosity was 170 ml/g higher for the pulp manufactured at low sodium ion concentration. When the pulps were subjected to high-intensity mixing, the tear strength of the pulp manufactured at high sodium ion concentration was reduced. The re-wetted zero-span tensile index decreased also after mixing. The pulp obtained by cooking at higher sodium ion concentration was thus interpreted as being more vulnerable to mechanical treatment than the pulp manufactured at lower sodium ion concentration. In the thesis, two reasons for the low strength delivery of industrially produced pulps compared to laboratory-cooked pulps are put forward. Since the ionic strength of mill cooking liquor systems is much higher than is normally used in laboratory cooking, this can partly explain the difference in strength between mill- and laboratory-cooked pulp. A higher sodium ion concentration was shown in this thesis work to give a pulp of lower strength. Secondly, it is suggested that the difference in retention time of the black liquor in laboratory cooking and continuous mill cooking systems can explain the difference in tensile strength between laboratory-cooked and mill-produced pulp. The black liquor in a continuous digester has a longer retention time in the digester than the chips. This gives a longer time for the dissolved xylan to degrade and, as a consequence, the xylan deposited on the mill pulp fibres will be more degraded than the xylan deposited on the laboratory-cooked pulp fibres. In the thesis, results are also presented from studies using different strength-enhancing chemicals. The fibre surfaces of bleached never-dried and once-dried pulp were modified by the polyelectrolyte multilayer technique using cationic and anionic starch. Although the pulps absorbed the same amount of starch, the never-dried pulp reached a higher tensile index than the once-dried pulp. When the starch-treated never-dried pulp was dried and reslushed it still had higher tensile index than the never-dried untreated pulp. The starch layers were thus able to counteract part of the hornification effect. The never-dried starch treated pulps were subsequently dried, reslushed and beaten. Pulp with starch layers had a better beatability evaluated as the tensile index obtained after given number of PFI revolutions than dried untreated pulp. Hence, there is a potential to increase the tensile index of market pulp by utilising the polyelectrolyte multilayer technique before drying. Addition of CMC to bleached mill pulp and laboratory-cooked pulp increased the tensile strength to the same degree for both pulps. CMC addition had a straightening effect on the fibres, the shape factor increased and this increased the zero-span tensile strength also.
QC 20100519

This thesis details the research work undertaken during the course of study for the Engineering Doctorate degree. The work is in the form of project which aims to develop knowledge about the rolling characteristics and properties of high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels with both singular and dual additions of niobium and vanadium. This aim has been achieved through extensive laboratory hot rolling studies of a range of steel compositions, mechanical testing and metallographic examination as well as detailed analysis of data recorded during the laboratory hot rolling process to determine mean flow stresses during the laboratory hot rolling process. The results highlight the occurrence of a temperature of non recrystallisation in the niobium grades and determine the necessary levels of vanadium required to obtain comparable properties to niobium based HSLA steels. Vanadium based HSLA steels could be used to slightly extent the gauge width matrix compared to existing niobium based HSLA steels. For higher strength products the effects of dual additions of niobium and vanadium at high, medium and low levels are observed and taking the properties, processability and cost into account suggested optimum combinations are highlighted.

In an attempt to determine the value of dry-land weight training on swimming performance, two groups of twenty four intercollegiate male swimmers were equated based upon pre-swimming performance, swim power values, stroke specialities, and collegiate swimming experience. At the start of a swimming season there were no significant differences (p>0.05) between the swim training group (SWIM, N=12) and the combined weight and swim training group (COMBO, N=12). Throughout the 13 weeks of their competitive swimming season, both SWIM and COMBO swam together six days a week. In addition, the COMBO engaged in a weight training program three days a week between the third and eleventh weeks (for eight weeks) of the season. The weight training program, using free weights, was intended to simulate arm actions and muscle actions similar to those used during front crawl swimming. Both COMBO and SWIM groups had significant but similar power gains (p<0.05) as measured on the biokinetic swim bench and during a tethered swim. Swimmers in both groups experienced a significant (p<0.05) increase in competitive swim performance from 1991 to 1992 (0.89 ± 0.60% in COMBO and 0.87 ± 0.4Q% in SWIM) whereas no change in distance per stroke (p>0.05) was observed throughout the course of this investigation. Mean total testosterone levels were not altered during the weight training period in either group. No significant (p>0.05) differences were found between the groups in any of the swim power and swimming performance tests. In this investigation, dry-land weight training did not improve swimming performance despite the fact that the COMBO was able to increase the weights used during strength training by 25 to 35%. The lack of positive transfer between dry-land strength gains and swimming propulsive force may be due to the specificity of training.
Human Performance Laboratory

The primary objective of this research was to investigate the shear strength of concrete bridge decks with GFRP top-mat reinforcement. Several models currently exist to predict the shear strength during the design process; however, previous research at Virginia Tech indicates that the existing equations are overly conservative. For this research, a series of concrete decks with varying lengths were tested in a laboratory environment in a two-span continuous configuration, during which data was collected on deflections, rebar strain, crack widths, and ultimate load. It was concluded that the existing equations, particularly the guidelines of ACI 440, are grossly over-conservative for GFRP-reinforced concrete bridge decks continuous over multiple supports. It was suggested that this is due to multiple factors, including additional support provided by the typically-neglected steel reinforcement in the bottom mat and a higher shear strength of the uncracked portion of concrete due to higher compressive stresses in the section as a result of the continuous deck configuration. The second objective of this research was to investigate the effects of environmental exposure on the composite deck and the individual GFRP rebar. Three deck specimens were subjected to differing environmental conditions, including one that was placed into service at an interstate weigh station. All three decks were tested in the same manner as those in the shear investigation. Additionally, live load tests were conducted on the weigh station deck during the time it was in place and tensile tests were conducted on rebar that were extracted from the concrete decks. In the live load testing, the GFRP strains increased by more than 200% over the period of service, which was likely due to a combination of a reduction in GFRP stiffness and a greater amount of cracking. During the laboratory tests on the decks, no clear correlation between conditioning and deflections or cracking was found. The ultimate strength actually increased with conditioning, with the weigh station specimen exhibiting the highest shear strength. Finally, the results of the rebar tensile tests suggested a decrease in both modulus of elasticity and ultimate tensile strength of the GFRP with environmental exposure when compared to unconditioned bars.
Master of Science

From within the disciplinary location of Practical Theology, this study will argue that some of the practices of the contemporary Black Church are not as relevant and constructive as they could be.  This current state of Black Church praxis is due, in part, to inadequate methods used in the creation and maintenance of Black Church praxis. Using a Practical Theology method, this thesis will study this phenomenon and seek to find ways to address key issues that impact church praxis in the African American context and develop an approach to creating Black Church praxis that is relevant, constructive and faithful to the Christian gospel message. This study will show how the values and meanings that are in and behind Black Church praxis are the products of particular and historical locations, or Black thematic universe. This study will also show how the historical Black thematic universe, which shaped much of the early Black Church in America, has begun to fade and there is emerging a contemporary Black thematic universe whose dominant realities differ from it. This study will also argue that the religious and historical legacy of the Black Church is characterized by a praxiological commitment to the creation and maintenance of relevant and constructive praxis.  That praxis, historically, was created and maintained by drawing on the full resources of the Black faith community – historical, cultural, religious, and theological – to create an informed faith response to the existential realities of is contextual location. This is a key strength of the Black faith tradition in America, which this study argues must be recovered and revised in light of the contemporary context in which the Black Church now finds itself.

The use of fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) in repairing and strengthening bridges has been researched in recent years. In particular, attaching unidirectional FRP to the tension face of reinforced concrete beams has provided an increase in stiffness and load capacity of the structure. However, due to the brittle nature of the unidirectional FRP, the ductility of the beam decreases. One possible solution to this problem is the use of cross-ply or off-axis FRP laminates. This thesis focuses on the investigation of the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with one of two different FRP orientations (0°/90° and ±45°). More particularly, the change in strength and ductility of the beams as the number of FRP layers are altered is investigated. Seven under-reinforced concrete beams were constructed and tested to failure. With the exception of the control beam, each specimen was applied with two, three, or four layers of either 0°/90° and ±45° FRP orientations. To predict the flexural behavior of the specimens, a theoretical model was derived using basic concepts, past research, and the tested properties of the concrete, steel reinforcement, and FRP. Also, two methods were used to analyze the ductility of the tested beams. Along with the test details of each specimen; the moment, deflection, CFRP strain, crack patterns, and mode of failure are discussed. The results included an increase in load capacity with respect for the number of CFRP layers applied for both orientations. Also, the ductility of the beams were reduced by adding CFRP orientations.
Master of Science

The failure behavior of collagenous soft tissues is important for clinical problems of plaque rupture and trauma. Cyclic tests require high frequencies that may affect the strength properties of the soft tissues. Experimental results of mechanical response of blood vessels to physiologic loads can be used to model and predict plaque rupture and direct medical therapy or surgical intervention. The goal of the study is to measure the mechanical failure properties of arteries to determine if they are strain rate and cycle dependant and to measure the progressive damage of arteries with time dependent loading. Ring specimens of porcine carotid arteries were preconditioned and then pulled to failure. In all cases, the intima broke first. Ultimate stress increased as a weak function of increasing strain rates. The ultimate stress at 100 mm/s was 4.54 MPa, greater than the 3.26 MPa at 0.1 mm/s. Strain rates between 1 and 100 mm/s correspond to a cyclic frequency of 0.5 Hz to 5 Hz for fatigue testing. In contrast, ultimate strain in arteries was independent of strain rate over the range tested. The creep tests showed a logarithmic relationship between stress magnitude and stress duration for this soft tissue. The creep testing indicates that damage is accumulating above certain threshold stress levels. The values of ultimate strength showed a 35% increase after 10,000 cycling loading. In contrast, the ultimate strain had a 13% decrease after cycling and the difference was statistically significant with p=0.018. The testing results showed that there were no significant differences on strength among fresh arteries and arteries stored at 5¡ã C for up to two weeks. The test results may be useful for developing a mathematical model to predict the behavior of arterial soft tissues and may be extended to estimate fracture and fatigue in the atherosclerotic plaque cap.

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effect of association strength on TOT (tip-of-the-tongue states) and recall. Two hundred nineteen undergraduate students studied pictures and names of 24 imaginary animals that were presented on a large computer screen. The strength of association between the cue and target was manipulated by varying the number of times the picture and the name were presented simultaneously, while keeping the number of presentations for each picture or the target constant across conditions. After the study phase, participants were cued by each picture to recall the imaginary animal names. Participants were asked to rate their strength of TOT on a scale ranging 0 to 3 for each item if they could not think of the name at the moment. Participants also made subjective judgments as to how many times they saw the picture and name of the animal co-occur on the same screen at the study phase, and then they performed a recognition test at the end. The results indicated that the frequency and strength of TOTs linearly increased as a function of number of co-occurrences; the correlation between TOT strength and the participants?? subjective estimation of number of co-occurrences was greater than the correlation between TOT strength and the actual number of co-occurrences. This pattern of results was found even when recall increased along with the increase in number of co-occurrences and was more pronounced particularly when recall was reduced either by interference (Experiment 1) or by increased number of critical items (Experiments 2 & 3) and also by a reduced number of co-occurrence conditions and an increased gap between one level to the next (Experiment 3). Results suggest that an increase in association strength concomitantly increases TOT strength especially when the activation of the target is under threshold for recall and that people may use rules of thumb, or heuristic when they report TOTs by estimating the strength of the cue-target association.

The main goal of this PhD project was to develop a method for non-linear strength analysis of net structures applied in the aquaculture and fishing industries, e.g. net cages and trawls. The work focused on the aquaculture net cage, which was applied in experiments and analyses, and included research to establish knowledge within material properties and failure modes of traditional netting materials for aquaculture. It was chosen to focus on tensile properties and to study elastic and plastic behaviour, fracture, creep behaviour and cod bite damage. The project consisted of three main activities: tensile testing of netting materials, studies and testing of cod bite damage and resistance, and structural analysis of aquaculture net cages. Net cages are built as a system of ropes and netting. They are designed to transfer and carry all major forces through the ropes. Loads from current, waves, weights and handling induce forces in the net cage, which must be dimensioned to withstand this. Analyzing an aquaculture net cage is both complex and time consuming due to non-linear effects, detailed geometry and dynamic loads. The behaviour of the net cage is dominated by very large deformations and displacements, and materials with non-linear properties. There is a need for verified analysis methods and specific guidance on how to reduce the complexity of a net cage analysis. In order to perform a strength analysis of a net cage, it is crucial to know the material properties of the netting material. Traditionally, the material property of major interest for the aquaculture industry has been the tensile breaking strength of netting (mesh) and ropes, and comparatively little focus has been on their detailed stiffness properties and general behaviour prior to fracture. A new test method was established to determine the uniaxial tensile properties of knotless netting materials. It was applied on a variety of netting materials and stress-strain relations were developed. Data on temporary creep properties, recovery of strain post creep and post creep tensile properties of a selection of Raschel knitted netting materials was presented. Post creep tensile testing showed that the length and force at break were not significantly affected by the creep load history. Cod farmers have reported that cod interact with the cage netting through biting and thereby create wear and tear. The nature of the cod bite attack on traditional, multifilament netting materials was described based on studies of cod interaction with traditional knotless netting and resulting fracture damage on netting fibres. Field experiments were performed, subjecting panels of netting to cod bite in commercial cod cages. In addition, a test method was developed to simulate damage on traditional netting from cod bite, and a prototype bite-jig was designed and assembled. It was concluded that netting materials for cod aquaculture must be resistant to cod bite or be repellent or uninteresting for cod. A method for numerical analysis of net cages in constant uniform current was developed and verified for limited solidity, deformations and current velocities. Various new designs for aquaculture net cages were presented and compared to a traditional net cage with regard to stresses in the netting material and deformation of the net cage.

This research work deals with the development of the shearbox apparatus by introducing a micro-computer to automatically collect all the results, and to apply normal and shear stresses. A continuous statement of time, channel number, and transducer input and output is produced for each test, the sequences of applied rates of displacement and normal stresses for which were programmed.

Bone drilling is a major part of orthopaedic surgery performed during the internal fixation of fractured bones. At present, information related to drilling force, drilling torque, rate of drill bit penetration and drill bit rotational speed is not available to orthopaedic surgeons, clinicians and researchers as bone drilling is performed manually. This research demonstrates that bone drilling force data if recorded in-vivo, during the repair of bone fractures, can provide information about the strength/quality of the bone. Drilling force does not give a direct measure of bone strength; therefore it has been correlated with the shear strength and screw pullout strength to determine the efficacy in estimating the bone strength. Various synthetic bone material densities and animal bones have been tested to demonstrate the use of drilling force data. A novel automated experimental test rig, which enables drilling tests, screw insertion and screw pullout tests to be carried out in a controlled environment, has been developed. Both drilling and screw pullout tests have been carried out in a single setting of the specimen to reduce the experimental errors and increase repeatability of the results. A significantly high value of correlation (r² > 0.99) between drilling force & shear strength and also between drilling force & normalised screw pullout strength in synthetic bone material was found. Furthermore, a high value of correlation (r² = 0.958 for pig bones and r² = 0.901 for lamb bones) between maximum drilling force & normalised screw pullout strength was also found. The result shows that drilling data can be used to predict material strength. Bone screws are extensively used during the internal fixation of fractured bones. The amount of screw been tightened is one of the main factor which affects the bone-screw fixation quality. Over tightening of screw can result into the loss of bone-screw fixation strength, whereas under tightening can result in the screw loosening. Therefore, optimum tightening of the screw is important to achieve the maximum bone-screw fixation strength. At present, optimum tightening of the screw is entirely dependent upon the skill and judgment of the surgeon, which is predominantly based on the feel of the screw tightening torque. Various studies have been reported in the literature to develop an algorithm to set an optimum tightening torque value to be used in surgery. A method which is based on the use of rotation angle of the screw while tightening, rather than using screw insertion/tightening torque, to optimise the bone-screw fixation strength is proposed in this research. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been successfully demonstrated on the synthetic bone material using the designed test rig. The optimum angle for the tested screw was found to be 120° which is equivalent to 33% of the screw pitch.

The effect of xylan from different plant species on tensile properties of spruce pulp was studied. Xylans from spruce, birch, wheat straw and rice husks were mixed with the fresh white liquor and added at the later stages of separate kraft cooks, in exchange of the black liquor removed from the system at that time. Results show that xylans, from rice husk, wheat straw and birch, gave stronger pulps. However it was only possible to attach small quantities of xylans onto the fibers. Moreover, pulps containing birch and rice xylan were easier to beat than the other pulps in the study.

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Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Psychology

The study of composite beams is characterised by the connection between the two components: the concrete slab and the steel girder. In this thesis, two different problems, related to this connection were studied: the problem of partial interaction in composite beams of long spans with low degrees of shear connection, and the problem of transverse flexibility of the stud connection 'joint' between the concrete slab and the steel beam as part of a discrete inverted U-frame. This thesis is therefore divided into two separate parts. The study of beams with partial shear connection and solid slabs or slabs with metal decking is considered in the first part. Such beams, with a uniform stud spacing over each shear span, with spans longer than 10 m - generally propped during construction, and with low degrees of shear connection, could fail prematurely and suddenly in shear rather than gradually in bending, due to the limited slip deformation capacity of the studs in shear. In order to investigate the behaviour of simply supported and continuous composite beams with different degrees of shear connection, different geometry and different shear spans under design ultimate loading conditions, a numerical computer simulation program was written. The program takes account of the relative displacement between the slab and the beam and the non-linear behaviour of steel, concrete and stud connectors. A data bank of maximum slip results for different beams is obtained for ultimate beam loads designed to the interpolation method in Eurocode 4. The computer simulation gives a conservative but safe assessment of the suitability of the degree of interaction for a specific design ultimate load . The results were used to formulate a tentative design method for composite beams with solid slabs and partial shear connection. Discrete inverted U-frame action exists between composite bridge beams with intermittent vertical web stiffeners which provide lateral restraint to the bottom flange in the hogging bending region near the internal supports. The design method in BS 5400:Part 3 for discrete U-frame action gives values for the transverse flexibility of a number of standard structural steel connections which are used in the calculation of the effective buckling length and the lateral deflection of the compression flange. To obtain similar values for steel-concrete joints, tests were done to scale 1:1 on six flange-slab connections with different stud configurations, but constant conservative dimensions for the steel flange and the concrete slab. Their crack patterns can be predicted by using a truss analogy. All test specimens either failed in shear or by puffing out of the studs, and shear cracking and shear failure criteria for concrete beams can be used to predict the cracking and failure loads. The transverse elastic flexibiities of the joints in these tests only represent the behaviour of the same joints in a complete structure up to the point where the shear cracks propagated over the full width of the specimens. Based on these few test results, a limited tentative design equation is proposed for the transverse flexibility of these type of stud connections, although further research is required into the influence of the increased flexibility on the buckling mode and the variation of the flexibility with variables other than the stud configurations.