Capacity of grillage foundations under horizontal loading

Grillage foundations are an alternative to solid surface mudmats for supporting seabed infrastructure, offering improved hydrodynamic performance and savings in foundation material. Recent research has demonstrated that grillages can be designed to have similar vertical bearing capacity to a mudmat with the same footprint. This is extended herein by: (a) determining grillage performance under horizontal loading at constant vertical load (V-H); (b) the application and development of existing plasticity-based models for predicting performance; (c) comparing the V-H behaviour with surface mudmats; and (d) discussing the implications for design. Experimental tests were conducted in sands over a range of densities and in two different modes, representing different installation procedures. In over-penetrated tests, the foundations were installed to achieve a vertical bearing capacity V 0, followed by horizontal loading at a constant vertical load with V &lt; V 0. In normally penetrated tests, foundations were installed to V 0 before horizontal loading at constant vertical load with V = V 0. Both normalised V-H yield surfaces and a plasticity-based simulation model are presented for use in design. Laboratory-scale grillages offer improved horizontal capacity in loose and medium-dense sands and similar horizontal capacity in very dense sand, compared with surface mudmats. Permission is granted by ICE Publishing to print one copy for personal use. Any other use of these PDF files is subject to reprint fees. http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/journals</p

Enhanced toluene removal using granular activated carbon and a yeast strain candida tropicalis in bubble-column bioreactors

The yeast strain Candida tropicalis was used for the biodegradation of gaseous toluene. Toluene was effectively treated by a liquid culture of C. tropicalis in abubble-column bioreactor, and the tolueneremoval efficiency increased with decreasing gas flow rate. However, toluene mass transfer from the gas-to-liquid phase was a major limitation for the uptake of toluene by C. tropicalis. The tolueneremoval efficiency was enhanced when granularactivatedcarbon (GAC) was added as a fluidized material. The GAC fluidized bioreactor demonstrated tolueneremoval efficiencies ranging from 50 to 82% when the inlet toluene loading was varied between 13.1 and 26.9 g/m3/h. The yield value of C. tropicalis ranged from 0.11 to 0.21 g-biomass/g-toluene, which was substantially lower than yield values for bacteria reported in the literature. The maximum elimination capacity determined in the GAC fluidized bioreactor was 172 g/m3/h at atoluene loading of 291 g/m3/h. Transient loading experiments revealed that approximately 50% of the toluene introduced was initially adsorbed onto the GAC during an increased loading period, and then slowly desorbed and became available to the yeast culture. Hence, the fluidized GAC mediated in improving the gas-to-liquid mass transfer of toluene, resulting in a high tolueneremoval capacity. Consequently, the GAC bubble-column bioreactor using the culture of C. tropicalis can be successfully applied for the removal of gaseous toluene

Performance of perforated FRP stub beams subject to static transverse actions

This paper presents an experimental programme designed to investigate the failure mode and ultimate capacity of pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) cellular profiles subject to transverse loading. Presented in this study are the results of the characterisation of twenty six GFRP 152 × 76 × 6.4 mm I stub beams, 300 mm long. The beam specimens were categorised as plain for the control tests and those with circular or rectangular openings, centrally positioned. The specimens were subject to different loading configurations, noted as End Bearing with solid ground (EB), Interior Two Flange (ITF), Interior Bearing with solid base (IB) and End Two Flange (ETF). Results indicate a reduction in load-carrying capacity of the specimens with the opening when compared to the control specimens. The reduction was up to 20% for the specimens with circular openings and up to 25% for specimens with rectangular openings. The study revealed that loading configuration IB and ITF exhibit larger nonlinear behaviour and deformability than loading configurations EB and ETF. Various research has been conducted on its mechanical properties, connections, pultrusion techniques and web crippling behaviour of thin-walled GFRP section. Limited research can be found in the literature on the behaviour of pultruded GFRP beams with large perforation, subject to transverse static loadings.<br/

Stamina of a non-gasketed flange joint under combined internal pressure and axial loading

The performance of a bolted flange joint is characterized mainly by its 'strength' and 'sealing capability'. A number of numerical and experimental studies have been conducted to study these characteristics under internal pressure loading conditions alone. However, limited work is found in the literature under conditions of combined internal pressure and axial loading. The effect of external, axial loading pressure being unknown, the optimal performance of the bolted flange joint cannot be achieved. Current design codes do not address the effects of axial loading on structural integrity and sealing ability. To study joint strength and sealing capability under combined loading conditions, an extensive experimental and numerical study of a non-gasketed flange joint was carried out. Actual joint load capacity was determined at both design and test stages with the maximum external axial loading that can be applied for safe joint performance. Experimental and numerical results have been compared and overall joint performance and behaviour is discussed in detail

Stamina of a non-gasketed flange joint under combined internal pressure, axial and bending loading : an experimental study

The performance of a bolted flange joint is characterized mainly by its 'strength' and 'sealing capability'. A number of numerical and experimental studies have been conducted to study these characteristics under internal pressure loading conditions alone. However, limited work is found in the literature under conditions of combined internal pressure and axial loading. The effect of external, axial loading pressure being unknown, the optimal performance of the bolted flange joint cannot be achieved. Current design codes do not address the effects of axial loading on structural integrity and sealing ability. To study joint strength and sealing capability under combined loading conditions, an extensive experimental and numerical study of a non¬gasketed flange joint was carried out. Actual joint load capacity was determined at both design and test stages with the maximum external axial loading that can be applied for safe joint performance. Experimental and numerical results have been compared and overall joint performance and behaviour is discussed in detail

Direct method-based statistical limit analysis of wc-co composites

In this paper, a direct method-based prediction of load-bearing capacity of nonperiodic WC-Co composites is presented. The main goal is to generalize the methodology of limit analysis on periodic heterogeneous media to materials with random microstructures. For such materials, the admissible macroscopic loading domains demonstrate remarkable scatter among RVE models of identical size and constituents but different morphologies. Limit analysis is performed on samples of a group of RVE models converted automatically from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The corresponding admissible loading domains are numerically determined and statistically interpreted. The obtained results for plastic limit loads by direct method are compared with those from conventional incremental analysis

Dynamic behavior and damping capacity of auxetic foam pads

A novel set of auxetic (negative Poisson's ratio) open cell polyurethane foam has been developed and tested under dynamic loading conditions to assess the viscoelastic response under white noise random excitation and compressive cycling. Foam pads normalized to standard ISO 13753 have been tested at room temperature and frequency bandwidth 10-500 Hz to assess transmissibility characteristics for possible antivibration glove applications. The results show that the ISO 13753 normalized transmissibility for these foams falls below 0.6 above 100 Hz, with lower peak maximum stresses under indentation compared to conventional open cell solids. These results suggest possible use of the auxetic foam for pads or linens against « white fingers« vibration applications. Further tests have been conducted on cyclic compressive loading up to 3 Hz and loading ratios of 0.95 for loading histories up to 100000 cycles. The damping capacity of the auxetic foams showed and increase by a factor 10 compared to the conventional foams used to manufacture the negative Poisson's ratio ones, and stiffness degradation stabilized after few tens on cycles

Update, comparing different plate treatments and design

Eight electrochemical cells were tested for precycling capacity and compared. The cell design variables included teflon treatment, silver treatment, light loading, and a polypropylene separator. Data are presented in tabular form

Cracking in asphalt materials

This chapter provides a comprehensive review of both laboratory characterization and modelling of bulk material fracture in asphalt mixtures. For the purpose of organization, this chapter is divided into a section on laboratory tests and a section on models. The laboratory characterization section is further subdivided on the basis of predominant loading conditions (monotonic vs. cyclic). The section on constitutive models is subdivided into two sections, the first one containing fracture mechanics based models for crack initiation and propagation that do not include material degradation due to cyclic loading conditions. The second section discusses phenomenological models that have been developed for crack growth through the use of dissipated energy and damage accumulation concepts. These latter models have the capability to simulate degradation of material capacity upon exceeding a threshold number of loading cycles.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft