Experimental behavior of masonry wall-to-timber elements connections strengthened with injection anchors

Out-of-plane failure mechanisms observed in stone masonry buildings subjected to seismic action are often a direct result of poor connections between structural elements. During a seismic event these weak connections become incapable of assuring proper load transmission. Therefore, the need to prevent these phenomena is of critical importance in understanding the behavior of unstrengthened masonry buildings along with the necessity of developing effective strengthening solutions. This paper presents injection anchors as a viable option to improve anchorage between masonry and timber elements on historical buildings, as for example wall-to-timber framed wall or wall-to-timber diaphragm connections. The experimental campaign consisted of quasi-static monotonic and cyclic pullout tests performed on real scale specimens, representative of wall-to-timber framed wall connections found in late 19th century buildings of downtown Lisbon, Portugal. Combined cone-bond failure was obtained in all 7 tests. Boundary conditions of the specimens greatly affected the results in terms of maximum pullout force, dissipated energy, and strength degradation. Displacement ductility of the strengthened connections is high. The force-displacement curves clearly pointed out the influence on the results of the wall's compressive stress state and the contribution of friction in the grout/masonry interface.This work was partially funded by project FP7-ENV-2009-1-244123-NIKER of the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission, which is gratefully acknowledged. Authors would like to thank the technical staff of the Structures Lab. of University of Minho for the assistance provided preparing and carrying out the tests and also, Monumenta, Ltd. for the construction of the masonry walls and Cintec (R) for the installation of the injection anchors

Local stress measurement using the thermoelastic effect

A technique for measuring local stresses in metallic specimens is proposed and tested. The technique depends on the experimental measurement of temperature changes in stressed members due to adiabatic elastic deformation. At a free boundary in a body under plane stress, these temperature changes are directly related to the value of the tangential principal stress. The technique is suited for measurement of stress-concentration effects, since the temperature changes can be measured with thermocouples featuring extremely small junctions.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43937/1/11340_2006_Article_BF02326342.pd

2D and 3D separation of stresses using automated photoelasticity

A procedure for the separation of full-field photoelastic images for use with an automated polariscope is described. Regions of background in the image are identified thus producing the boundary of the model. The shear difference method is used to calculate the components of stress along all raster lines in the image using photoelastic parameters at the boundary points to calculate the initial values of stress. Algorithms were also used to evaluate the stress components along raster lines which did not contain boundary points. A plastic template was used to evaluate the efficiency of the boundary routine. It was found that it was able to identify edges to within approximately one pixel on screen. The complete procedure for stress separation was evaluated using a stress frozen disc in compression and a turbine slot. The values of stress found using the automated polariscope with the stress-separation procedure were found to agree well with theory and with results determined using the method of Tardy compensation and manual analysis. The automated polariscope was also used to analyze three-dimensional stress components along arbitrary lines of a 3D model. A two-model slicing regime was used to analyze a strut subjected to a vertical load. This work was compared to results obtained by Frocht and Guernsey on an identical model machined from Fosterite and subjected to a higher load. Good agreement was found between the results for points away from the region of loading. Significant differences were found near to the load point, however. A finite element analysis of the same problem suggested that this was due to the effects of plasticity

Efficacy of intralesional sodium thiosulfate injections for disabling tumoral calcinosis: Two cases

International audienceINTRODUCTION:Tumoral calcinosis (TC) is a difficult-to-treat complication that can occur during several diseases such as dermatomyositis or genetic hyperphosphatemia. It is a painful and disabling condition that can lead to local complications including joint mobility reduction, cutaneous ulceration and superinfection. For the largest lesions, the treatment relies essentially on surgery. Intravenous sodium thiosulfate (STS) is efficient to treat calciphylaxis in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Local injections of STS seem efficient in superficial calcifications.OBJECTIVE:To report the efficacy and safety of intra-lesional injections of STS in tumoral calcinosis.RESULTS:We report two cases of successful intra-lesional injections of STS. A 44-year-old woman, with a history of dermatomyositis, presenting large subcutaneous calcifications in the right elbow, and a 42-year-old man, with a history of familial tumoral calcinosis, presenting large intramuscular calcifications in the right buttock, received weekly intra-lesional of 1-3g STS injections for 12 and 21 months, respectively. In both cases, the treatment relieved pain and greatly reduced the tumoral calcinosis with a very significant functional improvement without specific adverse effects. In case 1, TC size decreased from 28.7*56.0mm at baseline to 21.5*30.6mm at M12 treatment (59% reduction). In case 2, TC reduced from 167.5*204.3mm at baseline to 86.2*85.2mm at M21 treatment (79% reduction).CONCLUSION:Local injection of STS could be a promising therapeutic strategy for large and deep TC lesions and could therefore be an alternative to surgery