The Protection of Masonry Blocks with Using Hydrophobization Before Load Due to Increased Moisture

The Faculty of Civil Engineering (Brno University of Technology) has for several years been developing and researching the properties of modern building materials. One area of research is the development and modification of the properties of masonry elements, particularly masonry blocks that are able to withstand increased moisture loads. These masonry blocks can be used as protection in buildings in flood areas or buildings that may be prone to damage from natural disasters. Increased moisture is one of the most common problems encountered in building structures. Most problems concern moisture in liquid form, which can have significant effects on changing the properties of materials and structures. If the structure of brick blocks is changed by moisture in liquid form due to porosity and water absorption, thereby affecting load, it can reduce the service life of masonry blocks. This paper investigates the use of special silicone products on the surface layer of ceramic masonry elements. The application of these silicone agents forms a protective surface layer on masonry blocks, protecting them via hydrophobisation and the effects of increased humidity. Hydrophobisation reduces water absorption into masonry blocks and eliminates the negative effects of moisture on the properties of masonry blocks. Through hydrophobisation, masonry blocks can be extremely effective for use as preventive protection in case of failure or damage on the part of conventional waterproofing measures

Behaviour of Cement Composites with Lightweight and Heavyweight Aggregates at High Temperatures

This paper presents new results of the research of the influenceof individual input components done on the behaviour of cementbased composite materials exposed to high temperatures. Anew approach of this research lies in combining a fraction ofbasalt fine aggregate and an aggregate base on expanded clayfor a composite material with lower volume weight and higherstrengths and a resistance to high temperatures. In the field ofdispersed reinforcement, new polypropylene fibers treated bylow temperature plasma were tested. Degradation of the structureof designed mixtures was evaluated by comparing densitychanges, mechanical and acoustic properties before and afterexposure to high temperatures. An optical microscope was usedfor determining the width of cracks caused by a thermal load.The contribution of this research was the use of non-destructivemethods for diagnostics of quality and properties of designedconcrete mixtures exposed to high temperatures

The ABC130 barrel module prototyping programme for the ATLAS strip tracker

For the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS Detector, its Inner Detector, consisting of silicon pixel, silicon strip and transition radiation sub-detectors, will be replaced with an all new 100 % silicon tracker, composed of a pixel tracker at inner radii and a strip tracker at outer radii. The future ATLAS strip tracker will include 11,000 silicon sensor modules in the central region (barrel) and 7,000 modules in the forward region (end-caps), which are foreseen to be constructed over a period of 3.5 years. The construction of each module consists of a series of assembly and quality control steps, which were engineered to be identical for all production sites. In order to develop the tooling and procedures for assembly and testing of these modules, two series of major prototyping programs were conducted: an early program using readout chips designed using a 250 nm fabrication process (ABCN-25) and a subsequent program using a follow-up chip set made using 130 nm processing (ABC130 and HCC130 chips). This second generation of readout chips was used for an extensive prototyping program that produced around 100 barrel-type modules and contributed significantly to the development of the final module layout. This paper gives an overview of the components used in ABC130 barrel modules, their assembly procedure and findings resulting from their tests.Comment: 82 pages, 66 figure

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements