"A Taste of What Desire seeks": Sensing the Holy in Liturgical Life

The spiritual symbology of liturgical phenomena have been the subject of several classic commentaries in the Byzantine patristic tradition, as well as of several modern scholarly studies. However, research on the senses, materiality and their effects on the liturgical experience is still in its early stages. Beyond the aesthetic wonder these phenomena aroused, they could also engender a mystical synaesthesia that invited the faithful to glimpse invisible beauty, sense the intelligible and experience immaterial illumination. This paper explores whether there is a theological framework that underpins and illuminates the process of sense perception in liturgical life that emerges in the early patristic period. The theological construct, “the senses of the soul” (τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αἰσθητήρια) will be used as a point of departure for exploring this process. After alluding to the senses of sight, smell, touch and taste, the paper will give particular emphasis to the sense of hearing. &nbsp

Stability of geosynthetic reinforced embankments over stone column-improved soft soil

The stability of embankments on soft soils is a common problem; the reinforcement of this type of soil by a geosynthetic sheet above stone columns is a recent technique, for an excellent distribution of the vertical stresses on the stone columns and the soft soils. This paper focuses on the numerical analysis of a geosynthetic-reinforced embankment over stone column-improved soft soil. The finite difference code Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions (FLAC3D) was used to determine the optimal placement of the geosynthetic sheet. The embankment fill, the subsoil, and the stone columns were modeled by an elasto-plastic model with a Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion and associated flow rule. In this study, several geometrical and mechanical parameters have been considered, such as the stiffness modulus, the placement of geosynthetic sheet, and the internal friction angle of the embankment fill. The factor of safety obtained by 3D numerical method was compared with those obtained by 2D numerical methods. The results of this study show the effect of the placement and stiffness of the geosynthetic sheet on the factor of safety

Pushover analysis of the reinforced concrete frames with soft first storey using a fiber hinge model

In seismic zones, the problem with the soft storey is amongst the factors that causes the formation of the rupture mechanism in reinforced concrete structures due to variation in the lateral stiffness between levels. Most seismic codes have addressed this phenomenon in realizing the admissible lateral stiffness ratio between levels, without specifying the method to be used in determining this stiffness. The current study is aiming at determining the secant stiffness of each level by using the level capacity curve obtained by nonlinear static pushover analysis, based on a fiber hinge model. The results obtained made it possible to plot a curve that represents the variation of the elastic or secant stiffness ratio between the first level and the second level of a construction as a function of a displacement at the top of the structure. This curve examines the possibility of occurrence of a first soft storey for different points of performance

Using mathematical models and artificial neural networks for predicting the compressive strength of concrete with steel fibers exposed to high temperatures

In this study mathematical methods and artificial neural network (ANN) model are used to predict the compressive strength of concrete with steel fibers exposed at high temperatures. The data used in the models construction were obtained from laboratory experiments. The compressive strength was experimentally determined for specimens containing three volume fractions of steel fibers 0.19%,0.25%, 0.5% were used and two different water/cement ratios (w/c of 0.35 and 0.45). Specimens were subjected to various heating-cooling cycles from the room temperature to 200, 400, and 600°C. The inputs models of ANN were temperature, w/c, percentage of porosity, ultrasonic pulse velocity; percentage of steel fibers and percentage superplasticizer, the output was the compressive strength of concrete. Four mathematical models were development to predict the compressive strength. Three mathematical models including a number of functions to express the strength-porosity relationship, and other model used to establish the relationships between strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity. Mathematical methods, artificial neural network and their results were evaluated and compared. The results show that ANN has good potential to be used as a tool for predicting the compressive strength of concrete with steel fibers exposed to high temperatures

The relationship between the compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity concrete with fibers exposed to high temperatures

The paper analyses the effects of high temperatures on the concrete residual strength using ultrasonic velocity (UPV). An experimental investigation was conducted to study the relationship between UPV residual data and compressive strength of concrete with different mixture proportions, cubic specimens with water-cement ratio of 0.35. They were heated in an electric furnace at temperatures ranging from 200°C to 600°C. In this experiment a comparison was made between the four groups which include two types of fibers steel 0,19%, 0,25% and 0,5%, polypropylene: 0,05%, 0,11% 0,16 % by volume. Cube specimens were tested in order to determine ultrasonic velocity. The compressive strength was tested too. According to the results, relations were established between ultrasonic velocity in the specimens and the compressive strength at different temperature and the range of the velocity of the waves were also determined for this kind of concrete. Result of the test showed that UPV test can be successfully used in order to verify the consistency of structures damaged by fire

Numerical study of the bearing capacity of a strip footing on tow layered clay under inclined loading

The bearing capacity of a strip footing resting on a homogeneous and isotropic soil has been the subject of numerous theoretical and experimental studies. However, in practice the soil is never homogeneous. It is therefore important to introduce the effect of stratification on the bearing capacity. This paper aims to indicate the modifications that must be made to the bearing capacity of a rough strip footing resting on two layered clay subjected to inclined load. The finite-difference code Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC) is used to estimate the bearing capacity factor Nc* as well as the failure envelope and the inclination factors ic, in the case of inclined loading. The study is carried out considering two layers clays of different shear strengths, where the thickness of the upper clay layer is comparable to the width of a rigid footing. The results obtained show clearly that the bearing capacity of a strip footing is generally depends on the strength ratio of the soil layers (cu1/cu2) and the relative thickness of the top layer (D/B)

Numerical study of geogrid-reinforced segmental earth retaining wall

Geogrid-reinforced soil segmental retaining walls have gained wide popularity because of their ease of installation and quick construction. This paper focuses on the numerical analysis using the FLAC3D (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions), the influence of the inclined blocs on the behavior of geogrid-reinforced soil segmental retaining walls. The results show that the inclination of the segmental blocks influences the shear stress transmitted to the blocks, the lateral displacement, the tensile loads and the strains in the geogrid layers.Résumé : Les ouvrages de soutènement à parement cellulaire renforcés par des nappes de géogrille constituent à l’heure actuelle une solution économique. De nombreuses études expérimentales, théoriques et numériques ont été menées pour l’optimisation du dimensionnement de ces ouvrages. La présente étude s’intéresse à l’étude numérique en utilisant le code FLAC3D (Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions), de l’influence de l’inclinaison des blocs sur le comportement des murs de soutènement à parement cellulaire en sol renforcé par géogrille. Les résultats numériques obtenus montrent que l’inclinaison des blocs influence considérablement la contrainte de cisaillement transmise aux blocs, le déplacement latéral, les forces de traction ainsi que les déformations dans les nappes de géogrilles.Mots clés : Géogrille, interface, renforcement, modélisation numérique, soutènement cellulaires

Numerical study of a vertical pullout capacity of strip anchor plate on a frictional soil

This paper presents a numerical study of the ultimate pullout capacity of an isolated strip plate anchor, using the finite element method by Plaxis 2D software. The plate anchor is assumed rigid horizontally installed in a frictional soil and subjected to a centered vertical load. The soil behavior is governed by an elastic-perfectly plastic law, and Mohr-Coulomb criterion was adopted. The ultimate pullout capacity is expressed in terms of pullout factor Nγ for different values of the depth H and the internal friction angle of soil φ'. The numerical results obtained allow us to propose a simple relationship to calculate the pullout factor of a strip plate anchor embedded horizontally in frictional soil. The numerical results of this study are finally compared to those available in the literature